The scientific contributions of George Washington Carver

2 unnumbered pages, 60 pages"During the twenty-two years from 1921 to January 5, 1943, George Washington Carver achieved both national and inter­national fame. Prominent among the words often used to describe him is the expression ’’great scientist". Biographers and re­porters active in this two-decade period compiled long lists of Carver’s scientific contributions. The purpose of this report is to evaluate these scientific contributions. For this report Dr. Carver’s career is divided into two parts। the first started in 1895, when he went to Tuskegee Institute at the request of Booker T. Washington, and lasted until the death of Booker T. Washington late in 1915. The second division of Carver’s career can itself be considered in two phases: the shorter somewhat obscure part dating from 1916 to about 1921, and the longer portion from 1921 until his death on January 5, 1943. It was during this last portion of his life after he was al­ ready at least fifty-seven years of age that Dr. Carver became famous."--Introduction.Department of Interior. National Park Service

A cross-sectional study of predatory publishing emails received by career development grant awardees

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the scope of academic spam emails (ASEs) among career development grant awardees and the factors associated with the amount of time spent addressing them. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of career development grant investigators via an anonymous online survey was conducted. In addition to demographic and professional information, we asked investigators to report the number of ASEs received each day, how they determined whether these emails were spam and time they spent per day addressing them. We used bivariate analysis to assess factors associated with the amount of time spent on ASEs. SETTING: An online survey sent via email on three separate occasions between November and December 2016. PARTICIPANTS: All National Institutes of Health career development awardees funded in the 2015 fiscal year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Factors associated with the amount of time spent addressing ASEs. RESULTS: A total of 3492 surveys were emailed, of which 206 (5.9%) were returned as undeliverable and 96 (2.7%) reported an out-of-office message; our overall response rate was 22.3% (n=733). All respondents reported receiving ASEs, with the majority (54.4%) receiving between 1 and 10 per day and spending between 1 and 10 min each day evaluating them. The amount of time respondents reported spending on ASEs was associated with the number of peer-reviewed journal articles authored (p<0.001), a history of publishing in open access format (p<0.01), the total number of ASEs received (p<0.001) and a feeling of having missed opportunities due to ignoring these emails (p=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: ASEs are a common distraction for career development grantees that may impact faculty productivity. There is an urgent need to mitigate this growing problem

The Oxidative Decarboxylation Of Polyaminocarboxylic Acids - II. A Comparative Kinetic Study Of The Oxidation Of NTA, EDTA, CDTA And Dtpa With Cerium(IV) In Sulfuric Acid Media

The rates of oxidation of four chelating agents, NTA, EDTA, CDTA, and DTPA with Ce(IV), in sulfuric acid media, were determined spectrophotometrically by a stopped-flow technique. The reductive ability is in the order CDTA \u3e EDTA \u3e DTPA \u3e NTA. The influence of varying the acidity of the medium was studied, and in each case a maximum in the rate constant vs. [H+] plot was observed. A possible interpretation of the reactivities and the influence of acidity is advanced. © 1971 Springer-Verlag

The Impact of a water-imposed interruption of growth in the Las Vegas region

This study is prompted by the expectation that water supplies for the Las Vegas Valley, both those used currently and those additional quantities available from existing sources, cannot sustain significant further economic growth of the region beyond the year 2006. There are five parts to this study. Part I uses a regional econometric (REMI) model to project the growth of the Las Vegas region to natural maturity, essentially unconstrained by an overriding water shortage. Part II is a reinforcing cross-section analysis of metropolitan areas in the United States to learn the most common natural growth patterns and those that have produced a good quality of life with a minimum of major local disturbances. This analysis gives attention to employment, population, income, and other key economic and social indicators. We give special attention to events in cities that are nearer to or at levels of maturity still many years away for Las Vegas. Part III of this study looks at the performance of sectors of the Las Vegas economy between 1970 and 1989. In particular, we identify those sectors of the Las Vegas economy that are sensitive to variations in growth, particularly during the 1979 to 1983 recession period. Part IV examines the impact of an unrelieved water shortage after 2006 on the Las Vegas socioeconomic future, giving special attention to the fraction of employment that depends on historically high growth rates to predict the impact of rapid decline of that employment. In Part IV, we employ the depth and power of the REMI model to portray the consequences for Las Vegas of a sharp drop in growth after 2006. In this part, we simulate a sixty percent reduction in construction employment, based on the experience of other cities investigated in Part II. We trace this disruption of growth through reduced employment, population, output, and income. We measure the effect of the water shortage by comparing the values of economic variables with a water shortage with a control forecast produced under the assumption of adequate water supplies. Part IV also includes a partial analysis of a Las Vegas water shortage on rural Nevada and on the state of Nevada as a whole. Part V investigates the impact on rural areas of construction and operation of a system bringing water from outlying areas to the Las Vegas region. We are aware that final planning for such a system is not yet completed. We have used a reasonable set of expenditures, locations, and periods that can be expected to occur. These simulations provide a plausible estimate of the effects of both the construction and operation of a water-delivery system on employment and income in those rural areas. As more definite information emerges, appropriate changes can readily be made and new analysis of impacts can be quickly provided

Conformational Preferences of cis-1,3-Cyclopentanedicarboxylic Acid and Its Salts by ^1H NMR Spectroscopy: Energetics of Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonds in DMSO

The conformational populations of cis-1,3- cyclopentanedicarboxylic acid (1) and its mono- and dianion were established in DMSO solution by comparing the vicinal proton−proton coupling constants (^3JHH) obtained in solution to their theoretical counterparts. Geometries used for ^3JHH theoretical estimation (using Karplus-type equations) were obtained from optimized structures at the B3LYP/6-31G-(2d,2p) level. The diacid (1) adopted many conformations, whereas the ionized species (1A mono- and 1B dianion) assumed single conformations. A downfield chemical shift of 19.45 ppm (Δδ_H = 7.43 ppm) observed at −60 °C was indicative of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in 1A, which was later corroborated by determining the ratio of the first (K_1) to the second (K_2) ionization constants. K_1/K_2 in DMSO (1.3 × 10^7) was significantly larger than the value in water (2 × 10). In addition, K_1/K_E = 200 (where K_E is the acidity constant of the monomethylester of 1) was greater than the intramolecular hydrogen bonding threshold value of 2. The calculated intramolecular hydrogen bond strength of 1A was ∼3.1 kcal mol^(−1), which is ∼2.7 kcal mol^(−1) more stable than the values for cis- 1,3-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (2A). Thus, the relative energies of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the monoanions 1A and 2A suggests that 1,3-diaxial conformers are more favored for cyclopentane than for cyclohexane rings

The Oxidative Decarboxylation Of Polyaminocarboxylic Acids - I. A Study Of The Reaction Of Ethylenedinitrilotetraacetic Acid (EDTA) With Cerium (IV) In Acid Solution

The reaction between Ce(IV) and EDTA was followed titrimetrically and spectrophotometrically and was found to occur in stages. Four equivalents of Ce(IV) are reduced per mole of EDTA almost instantaneously at room temperature. With increasing temperature and reaction time an ultimate of about 14 equivalents of Ce (IV) is consumed per mole of EDTA. Carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and other yet unidentified compounds are the products of oxidation of EDTA. The kinetics of the reaction in aqueous sulfuric acid was studied over the temperature range 11.7°-40°C by a spectrophotometric technique. The effects of the acidity of the medium and of added salts are reported. © 1969 Springer-Verlag

Predictive value of serial measurements of quality of life on all-cause mortality in prostate cancer patients: data from CaPSURE™ (cancer of the prostate strategic urologic research endeavor) database

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a legitimate construct for evaluating treatment and its side effects. Recently, predictive value of HRQOL on survival also has been of interest. In light of the longer survival in patients with prostate cancer and importance of quality of life, we seek to evaluate the association between HRQOL and survival using traditional and novel techniques. Patients from CaPSURE (Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor) who were treated within 6 months of diagnosis and had pre-treatment and sufficient post-treatment follow-up information constituted the study population. A sample consisting of 2,899 patients met the study criteria. SF-36 domains were used to measure HRQOL outcomes. Categorical variables were created for HRQOL based on the baseline distribution of the lower 10th percentile and the remainder of the patients. Association between HRQOL and survival (defined by all-cause mortality) in patients with prostate cancer was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models controlling for age at diagnosis, type of treatment received, clinical risk classification, and number of comorbidities. Sequential bootstrap resampling was implemented to evaluate stability of the model. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were fit using various time points over the course of follow-up. In the analysis looking at association of HRQOL baseline measurements, higher levels of physical function and general health were significantly associated with better survival (HR 0.49 95% CI 0.32–0.78 and HR 0.51 95% CI 0.35–0.75, respectively). Post-treatment analysis demonstrated similar results. In time-dependent analysis, higher levels of physical function, role physical, and general health were significantly associated with better survival (HR ranged from 0.57 to 0.65). In addition, analysis looking at change in HRQOL scores demonstrated an association between higher scores on physical function, role physical, vitality, social function, and general health and longer survival (HR ranged from 0.56 to 0.63). This study demonstrated that several domains of HRQOL were significantly associated with survival in a large group of patients with localized prostate cancer. This association was maintained over the course of disease regardless of the time of the assessment. Results from our study have both research and clinical relevance. They could provide information that enable us to not only improve communication with patients and families, but also to develop interventions and treatments best suited for the patient

Hierarchical Bayesian Spatial Models for Multispecies Conservation Planning and Monitoring

Biologists who develop and apply habitat models are often familiar with the statistical challenges posed by their data’s spatial structure but are unsure of whether the use of complex spatial models will increase the utility of model results in planning. We compared the relative performance of nonspatial and hierarchical Bayesian spatial models for three vertebrate and invertebrate taxa of conservation concern (Church’s sideband snails [Monadenia churchi], red tree voles [Arborimus longicaudus], and Pacific fishers [Martes pennanti pacifica]) that provide examples of a range of distributional extents and dispersal abilities. We used presence–absence data derived from regional monitoring programs to develop models with both landscape and site-level environmental covariates. We used Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms and a conditional autoregressive or intrinsic conditional autoregressive model framework to fit spatial models. The fit of Bayesian spatial models was between 35 and 55% better than the fit of nonspatial analogue models. Bayesian spatialmodels outperformed analogousmodels developed with maximum entropy (Maxent) methods. Although the best spatial and nonspatial models included similar environmental variables, spatial models provided estimates of residual spatial effects that suggested how ecological processes might structure distribution patterns. Spatialmodels built from presence–absence data improved fit most for localized endemic species with ranges constrained by poorly known biogeographic factors and for widely distributed species suspected to be strongly affected by unmeasured environmental variables or population processes. By treating spatial effects as a variable of interest rather than a nuisance, hierarchical Bayesian spatial models, especially when they are based on a common broad-scale spatial lattice (here the national Forest Inventory and Analysis grid of 24 km2 hexagons), can increase the relevance of habitat models to multispecies conservation planning

Prediction and prevention of the next pandemic zoonosis.

Most pandemics--eg, HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, pandemic influenza--originate in animals, are caused by viruses, and are driven to emerge by ecological, behavioural, or socioeconomic changes. Despite their substantial effects on global public health and growing understanding of the process by which they emerge, no pandemic has been predicted before infecting human beings. We review what is known about the pathogens that emerge, the hosts that they originate in, and the factors that drive their emergence. We discuss challenges to their control and new efforts to predict pandemics, target surveillance to the most crucial interfaces, and identify prevention strategies. New mathematical modelling, diagnostic, communications, and informatics technologies can identify and report hitherto unknown microbes in other species, and thus new risk assessment approaches are needed to identify microbes most likely to cause human disease. We lay out a series of research and surveillance opportunities and goals that could help to overcome these challenges and move the global pandemic strategy from response to pre-emption

The behavioural, cognitive, and neural corollaries of blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress

Recent research shows that blunted cardiovascular and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress are associated with adverse behavioural and health outcomes: depression, obesity, bulimia, and addictions. These outcomes may reflect suboptimal functioning of the brain’s fronto-limbic systems that are needed to regulate motivated behaviour in the face of challenge. In support of this, brain imaging data demonstrate fronto-limbic hypoactivation during acute stress exposure. Those demonstrating blunted reactions also show impairments of motivation, including lower cognitive ability, more rapid cognitive decline, and poorer performance on motivation-dependent tests of lung function. Persons exhibiting blunted stress reactivity display well established temperament characteristics, including neuroticism and impulsivity, characteristic of various behavioural disorders. Notably, the outcomes related to blunted stress reactivity are similar to those that define Reward Deficiency Syndrome. Accordingly, some individuals may be characterised by a broad failure in cardiovascular and cortisol responding to both stress and reward, reflecting fronto-limbic dysregulation. Finally, we proffer a model of blunted stress reactivity, its antecedents and sequelae, and identify future research priorities