Actual Participant Research Articles

Sequential main-chain proton and carbon resonance assignments for wild-type yeast iso-1 ferrocytochrome c and identification of secondary structural elements.

Yeast iso-1 cytochrome c is a naturally occurring protein that possesses an unusually reactive Cys102 that imbues iso-1 with a complicated solution chemistry which includes spontaneous dimerization and poorly characterized redox reactions. For this reason previous studies of this typical member of the c-type cytochromes have been relegated to variant proteins in which the 102 position has been mutated, with most common changes involving serine and threonine. However, we have determined sequential 1H resonance assignments for the wild-type native protein because it is the actual participant in yeast mitochondrial electron transfer processes and because the wild-type native protein should be the fundamental assignment basis. In addition to 1H resonance assignments for 97 of 106 amino acids, we have also provided an extensive database of long-range NOEs. Comparison of these NOEs and a chemical shift index based upon alpha-H resonances has lead to identification of solution secondary structural elements that are consistent with the solid-state crystal structure. Although there is currently no efficient expression system that would facilitate isotope labeling of iso-1 cytochrome c, we tried to assess the usefulness of future heteronuclear experiments by using natural-abundance 1H/13C HMQC experiments to unambiguously assign 35 alpha-C resonances.

A Lovely Experiment

Albert Wattenberg, now a distinguished physicist emeritus at the University of Illinois, was one of the young physicists working with Enrico Fermi at Columbia University to create the first chain reaction. Wattenberg joined the group at the beginning of 1942, and relocated with others to Chicago that spring. This article was adapted from remarks he made at the 1992 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and deals with the first successful chain reaction and the people involved from the point of view of an actual participant. Last in a series of articles commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first controlled chain reaction.

Lost and Found in Time: Canadian Time-slip Fantasies for Children

Lost and Found in Time:Canadian Time-slip Fantasies for Children Barbara Carman Garner (bio) "Fantasy, to my mind, is looking at a world that is slightly skewed, tilted away from us so that we can have a good look at it without getting confused with the complexities of our own world. The inhabitants of fantasy are. . .folks. Simple folks, who may seem very much at home with the large-order items of all people everywhere: truth, honesty, faith, heroism, charity, and Life with a capital L." —Carol Kendall 'Lost' in a complex and intricate network of new family relationships in their real world, and 'found' in the past, which conditions them to cope with the present, becomes the common experience of time travellers in the Canadian time-slip fantasies that have appeared in the past decade. As each time-traveller discovers his new world, he ponders, "Why me?", but in coming to terms with the magical events happening around him, and by analyzing and applying object lessons either seen or participated in in his 'other world,' he reaches a new self-awareness and understanding of that "Life with a capital L" of which Kendall speaks. Time-travellers are drawn into the "other world" because they are needed, if not to change history, at least to give strength to some person in the past so that he may accomplish his quest or mission. Authors utilize one of three patterns to enable their protagonist to affect the past: She is either 1) a new character who moves in and influences decisions made in the past; 2) the inhabitant of the body of a person in the past; or 3) an observer of past events who can bring lost knowledge back to the present, and/or carry messages to the past. Time-travel is purposeful and both past and present are affected in the magic of a co-existent then and now. The young protagonists encounter an "other world" in which reality is only slightly skewed, for it is the real world as it existed in the past. Their experiences are similar to those of fairy-tale heroes and heroines who journey away from home to be tested and found worthy either of the precious object at the end of the journey, or to be reinstated in their rightful place in society as a result of their quest. In this paper I shall consider three representative Canadian time-slips to illustrate each of the patterns and to show the possibilities this sub-genre of fantasy provides for characters to overcome identity crises. At the conclusion of each time-slip, the main character has discovered the true meaning of home and family, a sense of belonging and a more mature self. The protagonists, most of whom are on the threshold of adulthood when the novel commences, have grown spiritually as a result of their time-travel. Rose, in Janet Lunn's The Root Cellar (1981), conforms to the first pattern; Meg, in Cora Taylor's The Doll (1987), becomes Morag in the past, illustrating the second pattern; and Elizabeth, in Who is Frances Rain? (1987), sees scenes that take place in the "other world," but never really enters that world, thereby providing an example of the third pattern. It may be coincidental that Lunn's treatment of Rose's development in The Root Cellar is the most successful of the three, but partially that success is due to the freedom and flexibility which the first pattern allows the main character by making her a free and fairly independent agent in her "other world." The second and third patterns offer different kinds of involvement in the "other world," but the protagonists are hampered by their "restricted selves," the one through becoming another character, and the other by being a mere by-stander or observer of actions rather than an actual participant in the life of the past. Although the passing of time in the secondary world (usually no time passes in the real world while the character is in the "other world") as well as the logic that operates there maybe different from these features in the real world, the journeys themselves conform to...

Using Microcomputer Game-Simulation Experiments to Study Family Response to the Mt. St. Helens Eruptions

Computerized game-simulation experiments were conducted as part of a larger study of response to the 1980 eruptions of Mt. St. Helens. Sixty 3-person families from three Washington state communities (experimental group) and 10 families from Minnesota (control group) were studied. Results of the game-simulation indicate that different aspects of individual preferences and family decisions with respect to relocation were (1) highly consistent in the game-simulation, (2) responsive to the simulated threat, and (3) compatible with response data from studies of other actual natural hazards. Family behavior in the game-simulation was strongly related to actual family behavior when the volcano erupted as reported by wives but weakly related to the family behavior as reported by husbands and teenagers. If the wives' reports of family responses to the actual threat of the volcano are more accurate than the husbands' or teenagers', then the data suggest close agreement between the game-simulation behaviors and how the same families responded to the real hazard. The control families showed behavior predictably different from that of the experimental sample in response to the game-simulation. Thus, to the extent that game-simulation experiments tap actual participant experiences, they generate realistic or externally valid responses. Keywords: game-simulation, experiment, decision making, family, disasters, computer.

Toward quality criteria for collective judgments

While most organizational and social decision making is done in a group or collective mode, there are few guides or evaluative criteria for judging when a high-quality outcome has been reached. Most past studies of group decision making have been conducted in laboratories using student subjects and factual problems with correct answers as means for judging outcome quality. Such proxies are rough approximations at best of real-world conditions where value differences can be intense and problems have no correct or best answer. Drawing upon the existing literature, evaluative criteria are proposed including process, content, and outcome concerns. An instrument based upon these criteria is then applied retrospectively to six cases of ad hoc collective decision making. Using dimensional analyses, a set of more detailed evaluative factors is derived from actual participant responses. The results provide some insights into the nature of high-quality collective judgments as well as the most effective procedures for their achievement.

Send the College Professor Back to High School

Abstract Internships put the student out in the real world of teaching. He is an actual participant, not a passive student in an unmeaningful classroom course which attempts to tell him what the real world of teaching is all about. Why not try this in reverse with the university faculty member serving as an intern at the secondary level?

Nine steps in social orientation

Since the time of Vittorino da Feltre, or earlier, each century has witnessed attempts at naturalizing and socializing the educational process, attempts which have culminated in the more recent philosophies of William Harris, Francis Parker, John Dewey, and others.1 This emphasis upon self-activity and social participation as essential elements of an adequate school program has resulted in a general realization that the educational objectives and outcomes of the traditional school program are not sufficient. The current popularity of curriculum revision programs, both local and state-wide, attests the extent to which public opinion has renounced formalistic and pedantic teaching. Renunciation, as used here, does not imply complete alienation from the traditional curriculum; instead, it is used to mean a disposal of only those elements which are neither conducive to orienting and adapting the individual child to the current social order nor of value in helping individuals to play an intelligent role in planning for a constantly improving society.2 The philosophy of this newly revised curriculum is to enable the child to adjust himself to society with a minimum of discomfiture; to so respet the abilities, interests, and experiences of the child that the individual will experience little effort in meeting the demands of the social group. To achieve such a highly desirable objective the individual must have an opportunity to become an actual participant in group life. He must be made to feel a sense of belongingness, to sense that he has traits, aptitudes, and abilities which have a marketable value from the standpoint of group approval. There is no more pitiable sight than that of a child who feels that he is unwanted in his group, who feels that he has no saleable assets which might prove of interest or value to a fellow consumer. Harris remarks: