Bowling Green State University

About: Bowling Green State University is a education organization based out in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 8315 authors who have published 16042 publications receiving 482564 citations. The organization is also known as: BGSU.

Automated classification of RNA 3D motifs and the RNA 3D Motif Atlas

Abstract: The analysis of atomic-resolution RNA three-dimensional (3D) structures reveals that many internal and hairpin loops are modular, recurrent, and structured by conserved non-Watson–Crick base pairs. Structurally similar loops define RNA 3D motifs that are conserved in homologous RNA molecules, but can also occur at nonhomologous sites in diverse RNAs, and which often vary in sequence. To further our understanding of RNA motif structure and sequence variability and to provide a useful resource for structure modeling and prediction, we present a new method for automated classification of internal and hairpin loop RNA 3D motifs and a new online database called the RNA 3D Motif Atlas. To classify the motif instances, a representative set of internal and hairpin loops is automatically extracted from a nonredundant list of RNA-containing PDB files. Their structures are compared geometrically, all-against-all, using the FR3D program suite. The loops are clustered into motif groups, taking into account geometric similarity and structural annotations and making allowance for a variable number of bulged bases. The automated procedure that we have implemented identifies all hairpin and internal loop motifs previously described in the literature. All motif instances and motif groups are assigned unique and stable identifiers and are made available in the RNA 3D Motif Atlas (http://rna.bgsu.edu/motifs), which is automatically updated every four weeks. The RNA 3D Motif Atlas provides an interactive user interface for exploring motif diversity and tools for programmatic data access.

A Mathematical Foundation for the Analysis of Cladistic Character Compatibility

Abstract: Using formal algebraic definitions of “cladistic character” and “character compatibility”, the concept of “binary factors of a cladistic character” is formalized and used to describe and justify an algorithm for checking the compatibility of a set of characters. The algorithm lends itself to the selection of maximal compatible subsets when compatibility fails.

Self-Esteem, Depressive Symptoms, and Adolescents' Sexual Onset:

Abstract: We examine whether self-esteem and depressive symptoms influence sexual onset when important controls such as age, dating, race, and income are examined. Analyses are based on the first two waves of the restricted-use sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We examine adolescents who reported at wave 1 that they had not had sexual intercourse. Using logistic regression models run separately for males and for females, we find that depressive symptoms, when entered simultaneously, exert a greater effect than self-esteem on sexual onset. Depressive symptoms have less effect on sexual onset for African-American girls than for white girls. Higher self-esteem is associated with greater likelihood of sexual debut at older ages for boys. Our findings suggest that although many positive benefits of self-esteem have been suggested, the conceptual and empirical link between depressive symptoms and adolescent sexual onset may be more crucial.

Teaching Geology in the Field: Significant Geoscience Concept Gains in Entirely Field-based Introductory Geology Courses

Abstract: This study quantifies improvements in introductory students' concepts in geoscience after completion of a nine week, entirely field-based geology course. Sixty-three student participants in three consecutive introductory field programs demonstrated statistically significant improvements in geoscience concept knowledge as a result of their experiences on the field programs. Conceptual content gain was assessed using a 19-item, scaled Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI). The scaled GCI mean pre and post-test scores of field course participants show significantly greater improvement in geoscience concept understanding compared with scaled GCI scores from 29 other introductory geoscience courses from across the United States (n = 63 students). Geology courses taught as an extended field trip result in improvements in geoscience concepts for their introductory students that are significantly greater than comparable campus-based courses.

Testing for a finite mixture model with two components

Abstract: Summary. We consider a finite mixture model with k components and a kernel distribution from a general one-parameter family. The problem of testing the hypothesis k = 2 versus k > 3 is studied. There has been no general statistical testing procedure for this problem. We propose a modified likelihood ratio statistic where under the null and the alternative hypotheses the estimates of the parameters are obtained from a modified likelihood function. It is shown that estimators of the support points are consistent. The asymptotic null distribution of the modified likelihood ratio test proposed is derived and found to be relatively simple and easily applied. Simulation studies for the asymptotic modified likelihood ratio test based on finite mixture models with normal, binomial and Poisson kernels suggest that the test proposed performs well. Simulation studies are also conducted for a bootstrap method with normal kernels. An example involving foetal movement data from a medical study illustrates the testing procedure.