Michigan State University

About: Michigan State University is a education organization based out in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 60109 authors who have published 137074 publications receiving 5633022 citations. The organization is also known as: MSU & Michigan State.

Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and user’s guide

Abstract: Working memory (WM) span tasks—and in particular, counting span, operation span, and reading span tasks—are widely used measures of WM capacity. Despite their popularity, however, there has never been a comprehensive analysis of the merits of WM span tasks as measurement tools. Here, we review the genesis of these tasks and discuss how and why they came to be so influential. In so doing, we address the reliability and validity of the tasks, and we consider more technical aspects of the tasks, such as optimal administration and scoring procedures. Finally, we discuss statistical and methodological techniques that have commonly been used in conjunction with WM span tasks, such as latent variable analysis and extreme-groups designs.

Characterization of microbial diversity by determining terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of genes encoding 16S rRNA.

Abstract: A quantitative molecular technique was developed for rapid analysis of microbial community diversity in various environments. The technique employed PCR in which one of the two primers used was fluorescently labeled at the 5' end and was used to amplify a selected region of bacterial genes encoding 16S rRNA from total community DNA. The PCR product was digested with restriction enzymes, and the fluorescently labeled terminal restriction fragment was precisely measured by using an automated DNA sequencer. Computer-simulated analysis of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (T-RFLP) for 1,002 eubacterial sequences showed that with proper selection of PCR primers and restriction enzymes, 686 sequences could be PCR amplified and classified into 233 unique terminal restriction fragment lengths or "ribotypes." Using T-RFLP, we were able to distinguish all bacterial strains in a model bacterial community, and the pattern was consistent with the predicted outcome. Analysis of complex bacterial communities with T-RFLP revealed high species diversity in activated sludge, bioreactor sludge, aquifer sand, and termite guts; as many as 72 unique ribotypes were found in these communities, with 36 ribotypes observed in the termite guts. The community T-RFLP patterns were numerically analyzed and hierarchically clustered. The pattern derived from termite guts was found to be distinctly different from the patterns derived from the other three communities. Overall, our results demonstrated that T-RFLP is a powerful tool for assessing the diversity of complex bacterial communities and for rapidly comparing the community structure and diversity of different ecosystems.

New parton distributions for collider physics

Abstract: We extract new parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton by global analysis of hard scattering data in the general-mass framework of perturbative quantum chromodynamics Our analysis includes new theoretical developments together with the most recent collider data from deep-inelastic scattering, vector boson production, and single-inclusive jet production Because of the difficulty in fitting both the D0 Run-II W lepton asymmetry data and some fixed-target DIS data, we present two families of PDFs, CT10 and CT10W, without and with these high-luminosity W lepton asymmetry data included in the global analysis With both sets of PDFs, we study theoretical predictions and uncertainties for a diverse selection of processes at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN Large Hadron Collider