Showing papers by "University of Wisconsin-Madison published in 1970"

Distribution of Residual Autocorrelations in Autoregressive-Integrated Moving Average Time Series Models

Abstract: Many statistical models, and in particular autoregressive-moving average time series models, can be regarded as means of transforming the data to white noise, that is, to an uncorrelated sequence of errors. If the parameters are known exactly, this random sequence can be computed directly from the observations; when this calculation is made with estimates substituted for the true parameter values, the resulting sequence is referred to as the "residuals," which can be regarded as estimates of the errors. If the appropriate model has been chosen, there will be zero autocorrelation in the errors. In checking adequacy of fit it is therefore logical to study the sample autocorrelation function of the residuals. For large samples the residuals from a correctly fitted model resemble very closely the true errors of the process; however, care is needed in interpreting the serial correlations of the residuals. It is shown here that the residual autocorrelations are to a close approximation representable as a singular linear transformation of the autocorrelations of the errors so that they possess a singular normal distribution. Failing to allow for this results in a tendency to overlook evidence of lack of fit. Tests of fit and diagnostic checks are devised which take these facts into account.

RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in virions of Rous sarcoma virus.

Abstract: Viral RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase: RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase in Virions of Rous Sarcoma Virus

Distinguishing Homologous From Analogous Proteins

Abstract: Fitch, W. M. (Dept. Physiological Chem., U. Wisconsin, Madison 53706) 1970. Distinguishing homologous from analogaus proteins. Syst. Zool., 19:99-113.-This work provides a means by which it is possible to determine whether two groups of related proteins have a common ancestor or are of independent origin. A set of 16 random amino acid sequences were shown to be unrelated by this method. A set of 16 real but presumably unrelated proteins gave a similar result. A set of 24 model proteins which was composed of two independently evolving groups, converging toward the same chemical goal, was correctly shown to be convergently related, with the probability that the result was due to chance being <10'. A set of 24 cytochromes composed of 5 fungi and 19 metazoans was shown to be divergently related, with the probability that the result was due to chance being < 10-'. A process was described which leads to the absolute minimum of nucleotide replacements required to account for the divergent descent of a set of genes given a particular topology for the tree depicting their ancestral relations. It was also shown that the convergent processes could realistically lead to amino acid sequences which would produce positive tests for relatedness, not only by a chemical criterion, but by a genetic (nucleotide sequence) criterion as well. Finally, a realistic case is indicated where truly homologous traits, behaving in a perfectly expectable way, may nevertheless lead to a ludicrous phylogeny. The demonstration that two proteins are related has been attempted using two different criteria. One criterion is to show that their chemical structures are very similar. An early example of this approach was the observation of the relatedness of the oxygen carrying proteins, myoglobin and hemoglobin (Watson and Kendrew, 1961). More recent is the relatedness of two enzymes in carbohydrate metabolism, lysozyme and alpha-lactalbumin (Brew, Vanaman and Hill, 1967). The other criterion is to show that underlying genetic structures of the proteins are more alike than one would expect by chance. This is now possible because our knowledge of the genetic code permits us to determine how many nucleotide positions, at the minimum, must differ in the genes encoding the two presumptively homologous proteins. One then compares the answer obtained to the number of differences one would expect for unrelated proteins. An example of this approach is the observation of the relatedness of plant and bacterial ferredoxins (Matsubara, Jukes and Cantor, 1969) for which added evidence has been produced (Fitch, 1970a). But regardless of the approach, the impulse, too powerful to resist, is to conclude that a particular pair of proteins had a common genic ancestor if they meet whichever criterion the observer uses. Now two proteins may appear similar because they descend with divergence from a common ancestral gene (i.e., are homologous in a time-honoured meaning dating back at the least to Darwin's Origin of Species) or because they descend with convergence from separate ancestral genes (i.e., are analogous). And, if a common genic ancestor is to be the conclusion, a genetic criterion should be superior to a chemical criterion. This is because analogous gene products, although they have no common ancestor, do serve similar functions and may well be expected to have similar chemical structures and thereby be confused with homologous gene products. This danger can only be increased by using a chemical, as opposed to a genetic, criterion.

Findings and Theory in the Study of Fear Communications

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the empirical results and theoretical underpinnings of studies of fear arousing communications. It focuses on the interrelationship of emotional and instrumental behavior. The chapter presents an overview of the key components of fear communication experiments and introduces the two major theoretical paradigms that can be used to interpret the findings. The first and historically most important of the paradigms is the fear drive model, a variant of the classic drive reduction model used in many animal learning studies. It assumes that the emotional response of fear functions as a drive that mediates belief change and behavior change. The second paradigm was suggested by the experimental data. This model assumes that the communication produces both persuasion and fear; fear does not cause persuasion. The chapter reviews the evidence regarding interactions between the level of fear elicited by the communication and other factors such as personality variables and recommendation effectiveness. It reveals that the outcomes are often influenced by complex contingencies. But despite the complexity, serious effort has been made to identify empirical regularities and presents a theoretical model to provide conceptual integration.

Evaluation of Pollen Viability by Enzymatically Induced Fluorescence; Intracellular Hydrolysis of Fluorescein Diacetate

Abstract: Viable pollen grains immersed in a solution of fluorescein diacetate, made up in a concentration of about 10−6 M in sucrose of suitable tonicity (usually about 0.5 M), rapidly accumulate free fluorescein, which can be detected by its fluorescence. This fluorochromatic reaction (FCR) probably depends upon the entry of the nonpolar substrate into the vegetative cell where it is hydrolyzed by esterase to give the polar product, fluorescein, which is retained by the cell membrane. The test is primarily one for the integrity of the plasmalemma of the vegetative cell. Since this integrity is likely to be closely correlated with viability, the FCR provides an effective method for assessing pollen quality.

Industrialization and Social Stratification

Abstract: This paper reviews the current state of knowledge about the effects of industrialization upon systems of social stratification. Taking societies as the unit of observation, we consider the relationships between level of industrialization and (1) the distribution of status characteristics in the population (the structure of stratification); (2) the pattern of interrelations among status characteristics (the process of stratification); and (3) the form of linkages between status characteristics and other aspects of social behavior (the consequences of stratification). A set of propositions is specified, a few of which are empirically well established but most of which yet require empirical testing.

Assembly Mapping of 30S Ribosomal Proteins from E. coli

Abstract: An assembly map of 30S ribosomal subunits has been constructed. The assembly reaction is sequential and cooperative. The map may reflect the topological relationships among ribosomal proteins in the ribosomal structure.

On the Stability of Biped Locomotion

Abstract: The stability of legged machines in locomotion is considered. The general machine has a rigid body to which legs are attached. Locomotion is performed on level smooth surfaces.

Dissociation Energy and Long‐Range Potential of Diatomic Molecules from Vibrational Spacings of Higher Levels

Abstract: Dissociation energy and long range interatomic potential of diatomic molecules from vibrational spacings of higher levels

An improved method for determining codon variability in a gene and its application to the rate of fixation of mutations in evolution

Abstract: If one has the amino acid sequences of a set of homologous proteins as well as their phylogenetic relationships, one can easily determine the minimum number of mutations (nucleotide replacements) which must have been fixed in each codon since their common ancestor. It is found that for 29 species of cytochrome c the data fit the assumption that there is a group of approximately 32 invariant codons and that the remainder compose two Poisson-distributed groups of size 65 and 16 codons, the latter smaller group fixing mutations at about 3.2 times the rate of the larger. It is further found that the size of the invariant group increases as the range of species is narrowed. Extrapolation suggests that less than 10% of the codons in a given mammalian cytochrome c gene are capable of accepting a mutation. This is consistent with the view that at any one point in time only a very restricted number of positions can fix mutations but that as mutations are fixed the positions capable of accepting mutations also change so that examination of a wide range of species reveals a wide range of altered positions. We define this restricted group as the concomitantly variable codons. Given this restriction, the fixation rates for mutations in concomitantly variable codons in cytochrome c and fibrinopeptide A are not very different, a result which should be the case if most of these mutations are in fact selectively neutral as Kimura suggests.

Evolution of Diversity, Efficiency, and Community Stability

Abstract: The response in species diversity associated with successional change in vegetation, or in a more general sense, species diversity as a function of time in any system of primary producers, has been the subject of much speculation but little direct study. All evidence available shows that pioneer communities are low in diversity, that in mesic environments the peak in diversity in forest communities can be expected 100-200 years after the initiation of a secondary successional sequence (when elements of both the pioneer and the stable communities are present), and that a downturn in both diversity and primary production takes place when the entire community is made up of the shade-tolerant climax species. The natural tendency in forest systems toward periodic perturbation (at intervals of 50-200 years) recycles the system and maintains a periodic wave of peak diversity. This wave is associated with a corresponding wave in peak primary production. Specialization for the habitats in the early, middle, and later phases of the cycle has figured prominently in species-isolating mechanisms, giving rise to the diversity in each stage of the forest succession. It is concluded that any modifications of the system that preclude periodic, random perturbation and recycling would be detrimental to the system in the long run.

The second persona

Abstract: The Vidal description is more nearly a kind of journalism than a kind of criticism, but its thrust is clearly illustrative of the distinction the reader have become accustomed to making—the distinction between the man and the image, between reality and illusion. In the classical theories of rhetoric the implied auditor-this second persona-is but cursorily treated. More recently the readers have learned that the second persona may be favorably or unfavorably disposed toward the thesis of the discourse, or he may have a neutral attitude toward it. The expectation that a verbal token of ideology can be taken as implying an auditor who shares that ideology is something more than a hypothesis about a relationship. It rather should be viewed as expressing a vector of influence. Regarding the communism-as-cancer metaphor, it could make considerable difference to critical analysis whether a preoccupation with or morbid fear of cancer had any psychopathological significance, whether such a fear had been identified by psychiatrists.

The differential effects of unilateral lid closure upon the monocular and binocular segments of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus in the cat

Abstract: One eyelid has been sutured in each of three seven-day old kittens. Three months later the brains were fixed and stained by the Nissl method. In the contralateral lateral geniculate nucleus the cells of the deprived lamina A were smaller, more closely packed and paler staining than those in the normally innervated, ipsilateral lamina A. However, these changes were seen in the medial parts of the contralateral lamina A only. The lateral parts, which extend beyond the border of lamina A1 and which project to the monocular parts of the visual cortex showed no change. These results show that some geniculate cells are not affected by deprivation. The observations are consistent with the view that during normal development geniculate cell axons from adjacent laminae compete with each other for synaptic surfaces upon binocular cortical neurons: that unilateral lid suture upsets the balance of this competition and that the reduced perikaryal growth in the lateral geniculate nucleus is secondary to the unbalanced axonal development, which occurs in the binocular portions of the geniculocortical projection but which cannot occur in the monocular portions, where there is no competition.

Reactions of Alpha Methylene Lactone Tumor Inhibitors with Model Biological Nucleophiles

Abstract: Thiols are the most reactive nucleophilic reagents among the biological models investigated. They undergo "Michael-type" addition to the polyfunctional sesquiterpene lactones. The rapid rates of reaction with L-cysteine were measured and the reaction products were characterized. Each addition of thiol successively decreased the cytotoxicity of the adducts formed.

Large-scale features of monthly mean northern hemisphere anomaly maps of sea-level pressure

Abstract: Spatial patterns of circulation variability over the Northern Hemisphere and their changes during the past 70 yr (1899–1969) are examined using eigenvector analyses of mean January and July sea-level pressure maps. The first several eigenvectors display variability associated with the major centers of action (the subpolar oceanic Lows, the subtropical oceanic Highs, the winter Siberian High, and the summer Asiatic Low). The pattern of the first eigenvector of January suggests that the intensity and latitudinal position of the major circulation features over the North Atlantic are associated with the intensity and position of the Aleutian Low over the North Pacific. The time series of the coefficients of the hemispheric eigenvectors are used to identify intervals of change in the hemispheric circulation associated with features on the scale of thc major centers of action. These time series provide a more general description of circulation change than that obtained from local or regional indices; b...

Subsidiary conditions and ghosts in dual resonance models

Abstract: We investigate the possible subsidiary conditions compatible with the equations of motion of dual-resonance models for the unrealistic choice of $\ensuremath{\alpha}(0)=1$. In the language of four-dimensional harmonic oscillators, we find one subsidiary condition for each mode of oscillation. All time components (in the c.m. system) can therefore be eliminated. We discuss the possibility of relaxing the condition $\ensuremath{\alpha}(0)=1$.

Total Synthesis of the Gene for an Alanine Transfer Ribonucleic Acid from Yeast

Abstract: By exploiting the natural ability of polynucleotides to align by base pairing and using polynucleotide kinase and ligase, chemically synthesized segments have been combined into a double stranded DNA corresponding to the gene for the earliest characterized tRNA.

U.S. Real Product and Real Factor Input, 1929-1967

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to provide a conceptual basis for separating social product and social factor input accounts into price and quantity components. Despite the essential similarity between concepts of real product and real factor input, the measurement of social factor outlay in constant prices is not well established in social accounting practice. Production accounts are constructed for the United States in current and constant prices, including social product and social factor outlay, for the period 1929–1967. The resulting estimates are applied to the measurement of total factor productivity and the study of the responsiveness of product and factor intensities to price changes.

Effects of Black Widow Spider Venom on the Frog Neuromuscular Junction: Effects on End-plate Potential, Miniature End-plate Potential and Nerve Terminal Spike

Abstract: Black widow spider venom causes exhaustion of miniature end-plate activity and depletes the nerve terminal of vesicles.

Dependence of the r-mottled aleurone phenotype in maize on mode of sexual transmission

Abstract: YPICAL R-mottling, the irregular distribution of anthocyanin in the aleurone Tlayer of maize endosperm, occurs upon crossing appropriate R R plants with r r (colorless) only when R R is the pollen parent (EMERSON 1918; KEMPTON 1919). When R R is used in the mating as female, the aleurone is solidly colored. From a conventional point of view the mottled and solidly colored phenotypes suggest the dosage effects associated with the unequal numbers of chromosome sets contributed to the triploid endosperm, two from the female and one from the male parent. This explapation assumes equal pigmenting action of R from the two origins. Furthermore, if parental source were to affect R expression, such an influence ordinarily would be confounded with the effect of dosage. ROMAN’S (1947) discovery that a given chromosome segment translocated to the centromeric portion of an accessory B chromosome in maize is transmitted by the male in duplicate provides an opportunity to vary the dosage of genes in such a segment independently of parental origin. Accordingly, his translocation B-loa, with the point of interchange in chromosome-10 between R and the centromere, permits introduction of two R factors into the endosperm via pollen. Unexpectedly on the R dosage interpretation, R R from the male when combined with rr from the female gave mottled, rather than solidly colored, kernels (ROMAN, cited by SCHWARTZ 1965; KERMICLE 1963). This observation called into question sufficiency of the dosage explanation and prompted further investigation. The evidence presented here shows the basis of the disparity in aleurone phenotype following reciprocal crosses between R R and r r plants is a pronounced difference in level of action at which R is transmitted to the endosperm through male and female gametophytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS The various alleles of R involved affect anthocyanin pigmentation of the aleurone and vegetative parts of the plant as follows: RV-Pigmented aleurone, red seedling and anthers; representative of those alleles which give darkly mottled aleurone in crosses to rgrg as female but solidly colored aleurone when rgrg is male. The particular Rr employed in experiments involving translocation B-loa was that present in the TB-loa stock obtained from the Maize Genetics Stock Center, University of Illinois, Urbana. A second source of Rr, that designated standard Rr in the Wisconsin collection, was 1Paper No. 1357 from the Laboratory of Genetics. Supported by AEC contract AT(ll-1)-1300 and NIH grant GM 15422-01.

GROWTH OF SALMONELLA AT LOW pH

Abstract: SUMMARY The growth of salmonellae was observed to occur at pH values as low as 4.05 × 0.05. The growth-limiting pH was dependent on several factors, most important the acid molecule itself. Additionally, the effect of temperature, relative oxygen supply and level of inoculum was studied. The salmonellae could not be “trained” to grow at a lower pH by sequential transfer at nearoptimum pH values.