Northeastern State University

About: Northeastern State University is a education organization based out in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Wireless sensor network & Computer science. The organization has 477 authors who have published 831 publications receiving 21482 citations. The organization is also known as: NSU.

Innate Immunity in Plants: The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides

Abstract: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are part of innate immunity, establishing a first line of defense against pathogens. All plant organs express AMPs constitutively or in response to microbial challenges. Plant AMPs are structurally and functionally diverse. Five classes of AMPs are considered in this review, the thionins, defensins, lipid transfer proteins (LTPs), snakins, and a group of related knottins, cyclotides and hevein-like AMPs. Besides targeting fungal, bacterial, and oomycete pathogens, certain AMPs can be directed against other organisms, like herbivorous insects. The biological activity of plant AMPs primarily depends on interactions with membrane lipids, but other modes of action exist as in the case of defensins with α-amylase activity or a defensin-like peptide that interacts with a receptor kinase. Limited information exists on the regulated expression of plant AMPs, their processing, and posttranslational modification. Conclusive data on the role of certain AMPs in plant defense have only recently become available. This review can therefore only be considered as a snapshot of the progress in this field of research.

Stereoacuity of preschool children with and without vision disorders.

Abstract: Stereopsis, or depth perception, is based on the horizontal retinal image disparity between the two eyes. Stereoacuity, which is a threshold measure of the acuteness of this depth perception, provides an indication of the level of sensory binocularity an individual has. Reduced stereoacuity can be associated with vision disorders, including strabismus, amblyopia, or significant refractive error.1–10 Stereopsis testing is, therefore, often used clinically for detecting vision disorders and monitoring sensory binocularity. Random-dot (global) stereotesting is more effective than contour or line (local) stereotesting for detecting vision anomalies. There are fewer monocular cues for target detection, and perception of the target in depth requires binocular sensory input.1,9 There are several stereopsis tests that have been designed for younger children and are useful in pre-school settings for both screening and/or examination.10–16 Two-alternative forced-choice paradigms using random-dot stimuli have been found to have a high testability among younger pre-school children.17–19 The Stereo Smile II is a portable handheld random-dot stereogram (adapted from an earlier prototype called the Stereo Smile I) using a familiar “smiley face” as the stimulus against a random-dot background. The Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) Study is a multicenter, multidisciplinary, cross-sectional, two-phased study designed to evaluate the performance of vision screening tests for identifying preschool children with amblyopia, strabismus, significant refractive error, or unexplained reduced visual acuity (VA) who would benefit from a comprehensive vision examination. The results of the VIP Study provide evidence-based guidelines for preschool vision screening.20–23 Previous VIP Study results evaluated testability18,20,22,24 for several measures of stereoacuity in a screening setting including the Random Dot E, Randot Preschool Stereoacuity Test (RPST), and the Stereo Smile II. These studies demonstrated higher testability for the Stereo Smile II screening protocol, along with a higher sensitivity in detecting strabismus amonga preschool population.18,20,22 The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between stereoacuity and the presence, type, and severity of vision disorders in Head Start preschool children and to determine testability and expected levels of stereoacuity in an examination setting to establish normative data for preschool children without vision disorders.

Differentiated Data Aggregation Routing Scheme for Energy Conserving and Delay Sensitive Wireless Sensor Networks.

Abstract: Data aggregation is a widely adopted method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In the data aggregation networks, some parameters directly determine the delay of aggregation. In industrial applications, the data generated by different sensors have different requirements for delay or other QoS performance. In the previous study, a common strategy is that all kinds of data is aggregated into one frame when the condition is satisfied with a QoS requirement, which causes excessive energy consumption and severely impairs the lifetime of network. A Differentiated Data Aggregation Routing (DDAR) scheme is proposed to reduce energy consumption and guarantee that the delay could be controlled within the corresponding QoS requirement constraint. The primary contributions of the DDAR scheme are the following: (a) The DDAR scheme makes data with different QoS requirement route to the sink along the different paths. The parameters of the aggregators in each path, such as aggregation deadline (Tt) and the aggregation threshold (Nt), are configured according to the QoS requirements. Accordingly, energy consumption can be reduced without degrading the performance of data transmission. (b) Based on DDAR scheme, an improved DDAR scheme is proposed to further improve performance through fully utilize the residual energy in the nodes which are far from the sink. The frequency of aggregation of these nodes increases by reducing the value of Tt and Nt so as to further improve the energy efficiency and reduce delay. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with the previous scheme, this scheme reduces the delay by 25.01%, improves the lifetime by 55.45%, and increases energy efficiency by 83.99%. The improved DDAR scheme improves the energy efficiency by 33.97% and service guarantee rate by 10.11%.

Exploration of the construct of reliance among patients who talk with their providers about internet information.

Abstract: Three hundred fifty participants, recruited from Internet health message boards, completed online surveys about their experiences talking with health care providers about Internet health information. Two distinct dimensions of reliance emerged from the data, one regarding the patient's reliance on the health care provider for decision making and the other regarding the patient's reliance on the health care provider to stay healthy. Self-reliant patients tended to be female, have lower incomes, and report less frequent visits to the health care provider than did health-care-provider-reliant patients. Age, comfort level, and frequency of talking about Internet health information were not related to reliance level.

Enaminones via Ruthenium-Catalyzed Coupling of Thioamides and α-Diazocarbonyl Compounds

Abstract: Enaminones can be prepared via the Rh2(OAc)4-catalyzed coupling of α-diazocarbonyl compounds with thioamides. However, rhodium is the most expensive and least abundant among the dominant precious metals used for catalysis. Furthermore, a very limited substrate scope is known for the intermolecular rhodium catalyzed coupling reaction. Therefore, there is a need to find a more economical catalyst substitute with a broad substrate scope. In this paper, we describe the use of Ru(II) catalysts for the synthesis of enaminones. The reaction can be performed efficiently with the Grubbs first-generation catalyst or [(Ph)3P]3RuCl2 in a sealed tube. Both catalysts are much less expensive than Rh2(OAc)4. Secondary and tertiary thioamides, when reacted with α-diazodiesters, α-diazoketoesters, α-diazodiketones, and α-diazomonoketones give enaminones. Primary thioamides give thiazole derivatives when reacted with α-diazomonoketones. However, with other diazo compounds, primary thioamides also give enaminones. All enamin...