Two-Photon Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Imaging of 4-Dimethylaminonaphthalimide Peptide and Protein Conjugates

We report detailed photophysical studies on the two-photon fluorescence processes of the solvatochromic fluorophore 4-DMN as a conjugate of the calmodulin (CaM) and the associated CaM-binding peptide M13. Strong two-photon fluorescence enhancement has been observed which is associated with calcium binding. It is found that the two-photon absorption cross-section is strongly dependent on the local environment surrounding the 4-DMN fluorophore in the CaM conjugates, providing sensitivity between sites of fluorophore attachment. Utilizing time-resolved measurements, the emission dynamics of 4-DMN under various environmental (solvent) conditions are analyzed. In addition, anisotropy measurements reveal that the 4-DMN–S38C–CaM system has restricted rotation in the calcium-bound calmodulin. To establish the utility for cellular imaging, two-photon fluorescence microscopy studies were also carried out with the 4-DMN-modified M13 peptide in cells. Together, these studies provide strong evidence that 4-DMN is a useful probe in two-photon imaging, with advantageous properties for cellular experiments.German Science Foundation (SO 1100/1-1

Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues

This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. There is no consensus on a definition of “local” or “local food systems” in terms of the geographic distance between production and consumption. But defining “local” based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers’ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Findings are mixed on the impact of local food systems on local economic development and better nutrition levels among consumers, and sparse literature is so far inconclusive about whether localization reduces energy use or greenhouse gas emissions.local food systems, farmers’ markets, direct-to-consumer marketing, direct-to-retail/ foodservice marketing, community supported agriculture, farm to school programs, Farmers’ Market Promotion Program, food miles, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Streamlining CCR Compliance

Streamlining CCR Compliance using a Groundwater Data Management System Authors Mr. Travis Clark - United States - Tetra Tech, Inc. Abstract An electric utility company partnered with Tetra Tech to develop a groundwater data management system (DMS) that streamlines their CCR groundwater monitoring process, automates data collection and storage, and provides a tool to ease tracking and confirm compliance across the utility. The DMS improves data quality by including sample planning tools and electronic data deliverables (EDD), a field data collection application for use at hundreds of locations at more than 15 waste facility sites, data processors to import field data exported from data loggers as well as lithology and well construction data exported from external geotechnical software, and a web-based interface to laboratories for EDD tracking and management. Additional features include immediate, interactive feedback on data uploads that mitigates quality drift and tightens workflows, complete data traceability by maintaining a history of all changes. For analysis and reporting, the DMS includes business intelligence dashboards for understanding analyte criteria exceedances, with reporting and analytics to determine trends and correlations. Additionally, automated, reproducible report tables were developed which save over three weeks of labor annually in report preparation. The utility’s DMS was developed from a core data management system and customized to suit the specific needs of the utility. The core DMS has a flexible design, as addition of new tables or fields to the database are automatically supported by the system software so no code changes are required. This allows the DMS to be easily customized to suit the needs of a particular groundwater monitoring program while minimizing costs. This DMS improved the utility’s ability to track compliance, plan their work, organize their data, prepare reports, and provided easy data access to everyone involved

Assessing the Accuracy of Manipulation Checks: Follow-up.

This study examines the accuracy with which participants complete a typical social psychology post-experimental inquiry following a procedure involving deception. Participants were randomly assigned to be informed or naïve to an ostensible purpose and were randomly assigned to be offered or not offered a reward for revealing awareness of the ostensible purpose and admission of receiving prior information. MANOVA analyses suggest that being informed and being offered a reward increase Awareness. Being offered a Reward actually decreased Admission. The implications of these results for deception research will be discussed

The Netherlands and 20th century migration

A panel of students presenting on topics relating to the history of migration in the 20th century

ROCs in Eyewitness Identification:Instructions versus Confidence Ratings

From the perspective of signal-detection theory, different lineup instructions may induce different levels of response bias (Clark, 2005). If so, then collecting correct and false identification rates across different instructional conditions will trace out the ROC – the same ROC that, theoretically, could also be traced out from a single instruction condition in which each eyewitness decision is accompanied by a confidence rating. We tested whether the two approaches do in fact yield the same ROC. Participants were assigned to a confidence rating condition or to an instructional biasing condition (liberal, neutral, unbiased, or conservative). After watching a video of a mock crime, participants were presented with instructions followed by a 6-person simultaneous photo lineup. The ROCs from both methods were similar, but they were not exactly the same. These findings have potentially important policy implications for how the legal system should go about controlling eyewitness response bias