SAIS Celebrates 10 Years: A Historical Summary of the Southern Association for Information Systems Conferences from 1998 -2006

The Southern Association for Information Systems (SAIS) celebrates 10 years as the first regional chapter of AIS in the southeastern United States. The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical narrative of how the conference began and summary information taken from the conference proceedings regarding the number of papers presented, location of each conference, institutions represented, and leadership of the organization

Polarization and Charge Transfer in the Hydration of Chloride Ions

A theoretical study of the structural and electronic properties of the chloride ion and water molecules in the first hydration shell is presented. The calculations are performed on an ensemble of configurations obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of a single chloride ion in bulk water. The simulations utilize the polarizable AMOEBA force field for trajectory generation, and MP2-level calculations are performed to examine the electronic structure properties of the ions and surrounding waters in the external field of more distant waters. The ChelpG method is employed to explore the effective charges and dipoles on the chloride ions and first-shell waters. The Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules (QTAIM) is further utilized to examine charge transfer from the anion to surrounding water molecules. From the QTAIM analysis, 0.2 elementary charges are transferred from the ion to the first-shell water molecules. The default AMOEBA model overestimates the average dipole moment magnitude of the ion compared with the estimated quantum mechanical value. The average magnitude of the dipole moment of the water molecules in the first shell treated at the MP2 level, with the more distant waters handled with an AMOEBA effective charge model, is 2.67 D. This value is close to the AMOEBA result for first-shell waters (2.72 D) and is slightly reduced from the bulk AMOEBA value (2.78 D). The magnitude of the dipole moment of the water molecules in the first solvation shell is most strongly affected by the local water-water interactions and hydrogen bonds with the second solvation shell, rather than by interactions with the ion.Comment: Slight revision, in press at J. Chem. Phy

Heterogeneous Quantal Response Equilibrium and Cognitive Hierarchies

We explore an equilibrium model of games where players’ choice behavior is given by logit response functions, but their payoff responsiveness is heterogeneous. We extend the definition of quantal response equilibrium to this setting, calling it heterogeneous quantal response equilibrium (HQRE), and prove existence under weak conditions. We generalize HQRE to allow for limited insight, in which players can only imagine others with low responsiveness. We identify a formal connection between this new equilibrium concept, called truncated quantal response equilibrium (TQRE), and the Cognitive Hierarchy (CH) model. We show that CH can be approximated arbitrarily closely by TQRE. We report a series of experiments comparing the performance of QRE, HQRE, TQRE and CH. A surprise is that the fi of the models are quite close across a variety of matrix and dominance-solvable asymmetric information betting games. The key link is that in the QRE approaches, strategies with higher expected payoffs are chosen more often than strategies with lower expected payoff. In CH this property is not built into the model, but generally holds true in the experimental data

SpliceGrapher: detecting patterns of alternative splicing from RNA-Seq data in the context of gene models and EST data

We propose a method for predicting splice graphs that enhances curated gene models using evidence from RNA-Seq and EST alignments. Results obtained using RNA-Seq experiments in Arabidopsis thaliana show that predictions made by our SpliceGrapher method are more consistent with current gene models than predictions made by TAU and Cufflinks. Furthermore, analysis of plant and human data indicates that the machine learning approach used by SpliceGrapher is useful for discriminating between real and spurious splice sites, and can improve the reliability of detection of alternative splicing. SpliceGrapher is available for download at http://SpliceGrapher.sf.net

Staphylococcus aureus Colonization: Modulation of Host Immune Response and Impact on Human Vaccine Design

In apparent contrast to its invasive potential Staphylococcus aureus colonizes the anterior nares of 20–80% of the human population. The relationship between host and microbe appears particularly individualized and colonization status seems somehow predetermined. After decolonization, persistent carriers often become re-colonized with their prior S. aureus strain, whereas non-carriers resist experimental colonization. Efforts to identify factors facilitating colonization have thus far largely focused on the microorganism rather than on the human host. The host responds to S. aureus nasal colonization via local expression of anti-microbial peptides, lipids, and cytokines. Interplay with the co-existing microbiota also influences colonization and immune regulation. Transient or persistent S. aureus colonization induces specific systemic immune responses. Humoral responses are the most studied of these and little is known of cellular responses induced by colonization. Intriguingly, colonized patients who develop bacteremia may have a lower S. aureus-attributable mortality than their non-colonized counterparts. This could imply a staphylococcal-specific immune “priming” or immunomodulation occurring as a consequence of colonization and impacting on the outcome of infection. This has yet to be fully explored. An effective vaccine remains elusive. Anti-S. aureus vaccine strategies may need to drive both humoral and cellular immune responses to confer efficient protection. Understanding the influence of colonization on adaptive response is essential to intelligent vaccine design, and may determine the efficacy of vaccine-mediated immunity. Clinical trials should consider colonization status and the resulting impact of this on individual patient responses. We urgently need an increased appreciation of colonization and its modulation of host immunity

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in Children: Report of the Centers for Disease Control National Surveillance, 1982 to 1985

Since national surveillance for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) began in 1981, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has received reports of more than 20,000 cases of AIDS in the United States. As of December 31, 1985, 307 of these cases had been diagnosed in children younger than 13 years of age. The number of cases is increasing rapidly. The number of cases reported in 1985 more than doubled those reported in 1984. The major risk factors in children for acquiring infection with the causative agent, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), were (1) having a mother known to be infected and/or at increased risk for infection and (2) receiving a transfusion of blood or blood products. Of the 307 children with AIDS, 73% were reported from one of four states: New York, New Jersey, Florida, and California. Most AIDS cases in children occur in black or Hispanic infants and toddlers. The estimated incubation period for AIDS in children has increased each surveillance year, with the longest incubation exceeding 7 years. The prognosis for children with AIDS is poor and infants less than 1 year of age have the shortest survival time following diagnosis. Continued national surveillance for AIDS is mandatory for establishing effective prevention programs to control the spread of the disease. The CDC encourages all health care personnel to report cases of AIDS to their public health departments

General Public Space Travel and Tourism

Travel and tourism is one of the world's largest businesses. Its gross revenues exceed $400 billion per year in the U.S. alone, and it is our second largest employer. U.S. private sector business revenues in the space information area now approximate$10 billion per year, and are increasing rapidly. Not so in the human spaceflight area. After spending $100s of billions (1998 dollars) in public funds thereon, and continuing to spend over$5 billion per year, the government is still the only customer for human spaceflight goods and services. Serious and detailed consideration was first given to the possibility of space being opened up to trips by the general public three decades ago, and some initial attempts to do so were made a dozen years ago. But the difficulties were great and the Challenger disaster put an end to them. In recent years professional space tourism studies have been conducted in the United Kingdom, Germany and, especially, Japan. In the U.S., technological progress has been pronounced; we have had nearly a decade's experience in seeing our astronauts travel to-from low Earth orbit (LEO) safely, and we expect to commence assembly of a LEO space station housing a half-dozen people this year. Too, NASA and our space industry now have new and promising space transportation development programs underway, especially the X-33 and X-34 programs, and some related, further generation, basic technology development programs. And five private companies are also working on the design of new surface - LEO vehicles. The first professional space tourism market studies have been conducted in several countries in the past few years, especially in Japan and here. The U.S. study makes it clear that, conceptually, tens of millions of us would like to take a trip to space if we could do so with reasonable safety, comfort and reliability, and at an acceptable price. Initial businesses will address the desires of those willing to pay a greater price and accept a greater risk. A two-year cooperative Space Act agreement study has been conducted by our National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Space Transportation Association. It was conducted by NASA and STA study leaders drawing upon the competence, experience and hard-nosed imagination of a national Steering Group and scores of attendees at a multi-day Workshop. The study has involved scores of professionals and business people from various areas: astronauts; space booster technology and operations professionals; a hotel architect and a hotel operator; an airline planner; insurance underwriters; space sickness experts; space theme park designers; space and travel and tourism association and business executives; a space-related financier; university tourism and space policy experts; present and former space-responsible government officials; space entrepreneurs; space writers; This study concludes that serious national attention should now be given to activities that would enable the expansion of today's terrestrial space tourism businesses, and the creation of in-space travel and tourism businesses. Indeed, it concludes that, in time, it should become a very important part of our Country's overall commercial and civil space business-program structure

Genome-wide analysis of alternative splicing in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome-wide computational analysis of alternative splicing (AS) in several flowering plants has revealed that pre-mRNAs from about 30% of genes undergo AS. <it>Chlamydomonas</it>, a simple unicellular green alga, is part of the lineage that includes land plants. However, it diverged from land plants about one billion years ago. Hence, it serves as a good model system to study alternative splicing in early photosynthetic eukaryotes, to obtain insights into the evolution of this process in plants, and to compare splicing in simple unicellular photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic eukaryotes. We performed a global analysis of alternative splicing in <it>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii </it>using its recently completed genome sequence and all available ESTs and cDNAs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our analysis of AS using BLAT and a modified version of the Sircah tool revealed AS of 498 transcriptional units with 611 events, representing about 3% of the total number of genes. As in land plants, intron retention is the most prevalent form of AS. Retained introns and skipped exons tend to be shorter than their counterparts in constitutively spliced genes. The splice site signals in all types of AS events are weaker than those in constitutively spliced genes. Furthermore, in alternatively spliced genes, the prevalent splice form has a stronger splice site signal than the non-prevalent form. Analysis of constitutively spliced introns revealed an over-abundance of motifs with simple repetitive elements in comparison to introns involved in intron retention. In almost all cases, AS results in a truncated ORF, leading to a coding sequence that is around 50% shorter than the prevalent splice form. Using RT-PCR we verified AS of two genes and show that they produce more isoforms than indicated by EST data. All cDNA/EST alignments and splice graphs are provided in a website at <url>http://combi.cs.colostate.edu/as/chlamy</url>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The extent of AS in <it>Chlamydomonas </it>that we observed is much smaller than observed in land plants, but is much higher than in simple unicellular heterotrophic eukaryotes. The percentage of different alternative splicing events is similar to flowering plants. Prevalence of constitutive and alternative splicing in <it>Chlamydomonas</it>, together with its simplicity, many available public resources, and well developed genetic and molecular tools for this organism make it an excellent model system to elucidate the mechanisms involved in regulated splicing in photosynthetic eukaryotes.</p