Reducing a pigeon population to a tolerable or minimal impact level is a subject about which one can find much antiquated and impractical information. Most technical literature reports on the biology of pigeons and associated disease factors. The intention of this paper is to describe the practical application of large-scale pigeon population reduction programs that have been at least 90% effective in 45 out of 46 cases over the past four years. Human relations, exclusion, trapping, toxic perches and Avitrol are discussed.

The catalytic (C) subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is a member of the AGC group of protein kinases. PKA has served as a structural and biochemical prototype for understanding the protein kinase superfamily. In cells, PKA is regulated primarily by three different mechanisms : cAMP binding to the regulatory subunits, PKI, and phosphorylation on the turn motif and activation loop. The main focus of this dissertation was to investigate the role of turn motif and activation loop phosphorylation on the regulation of PKA structure and function. The molecular basis for activation loop (Thr197) phosphorylation was explored using biochemical and structural methods. An X-ray crystal structure of the unphosphorylated C-subunit revealed that the N- and C- lobes of the kinase were separated and there was a dramatic loss in hydrogen bonding at the active site. These changes were correlated with a decrease in activity, loss of stability, and increased dynamics of the enzyme as measured by hydrogen/deuterium exchange. Next, the role of turn motif (Ser338) phosphorylation in the C-terminal tail of PKA was investigated by structural and biochemical methods. Even though the structure of the unphosphorylated protein was similar to wild type PKA, our studies showed that the phosphorylation at the turn motif was a necessary precursor for activation loop phosphorylation, and is essential for maintaining normal PKA activity in mammalian cells. Finally, the phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase (PDK1) is known to phosphorylate the activation loops of numerous AGC kinases. We sought to determine the molecular basis for substrate recognition and activation loop phosphorylation by PDK1. An internal Glu-Arg salt bridge was found to be a critical nonlinear recognition motif in all PDK1 substrates tested. This salt bridge is highly conserved and disease-associated SNPs at the Glu and Arg positions have been found in numerous protein kinases indicating that this may be a common recognition motif in the protein kinase superfamily

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression programs in the pancreas; however, little is known about the role of miRNA pathways during endocrine cell specification and maturation during neonatal life. In this study, we deleted Dicer1, an essential RNase for active miRNAs biogenesis, specifically from NGN3+ endocrine progenitor cells. We found that deletion of Dicer1 in endocrine progenitors did not affect the specification of hormone-expressing endocrine cells. However, the islets in the mutant mice in the neonatal period exhibited morphological defects in organization and loss of hormone expression, and the mutant mice subsequently developed diabetes. Dicer1-deficient β-cells lost insulin expression while maintaining the expression of β-cell transcription factors such as Pdx1 and Nkx6.1 early in the postnatal period. Surprisingly, transcriptional profiling showed that that the Dicer1-deficient endocrine cells expressed neuronal genes before the onset of diabetes. The derepression of neuronal genes was associated with a loss in binding of the neuronal transcriptional repressor RE-1-silencing transcription factor to its targets in Dicer1-deficient β-cells. These studies suggest that miRNAs play a critical role in suppressing neuronal genes during the maturation of endocrine cells.

Light propagation volumes is a real-time single bounce indirect lighting approximation that uses spherical harmonics for light representation and a grid-based light transport. The technique is useful for applying indirect light to participating media, glossy specular reflection, and indirect diffuse illumination, but this thesis focuses on the indirect diffuse illumination. When applying indirect diffuse light, the light propagation volume method has issues with light bleeding, self lighting, and surface lighting artifacts. Also, when the indirect diffuse lighting is applied to more complex geometry, there is a lack of directional influence in the shading, producing a flat lighting effect, uncharacteristic of diffuse shading. I modify the light propagation volume approach by extending the spherical harmonics from two bands to three bands and describe a higher order propagation approach that considers 26 directions of propagation versus the original six. The new resulting technique is called higher order light propagation volumes. Higher order light propagation volumes are able to combat some of the problems present with light propagation volumes. The new technique reduces the appearance of lighting artifacts, and at the same time promotes a light distribution in scenes that resembles reference implementations, such as path tracing. Lastly, indirect diffuse illumination applied with the new technique produces higher quality diffuse shading detail because the directional representation of light is better preserved with the combination of extended spherical harmonics light representation and the higher order propagation method

Scales are widely used to evaluate subjective dimensions in questionnaires. Two main formats are used: Likert scalesand Visual Analogue Scales (VAS). Previous studies have shown mixed results regarding which format to favor. The aimof the current study is to compare formats and presentation types for each type of scale. 658 participants participated inthe study and completed a trust scale. Several characteristics of scales (e.g., valence of anchors) were explored, and 11formats of scales were compared. The results show that participants’ responses were different according to the type ofscale (i.e., Likert or VAS), the initial cursor’s position in the VAS, and the anchors’ valence in the VAS. Differences interms of reliability were found between VAS formats and the number of categories in Likert scales. These findings suggestthat the scale format is crucial and may influence data collection as well as suggesting related conclusions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an increasingly prevalent field that influences a number of other areas. It generates a multitudeof reactions among the general population, particularly anxiety, which impacts on the development, deployment, andregulation of AI. Nevertheless, experimental data on public perceptions toward AI are generally lacking. To fill thisgap, this paper presents a large-scale experiment conducted on the influence of the terms used to describe AI on peoplesperception. In a preliminary study (705 participants), words related to AI were extracted. In a second experiment (552participants), the impact of these terminologies on anxiety toward AI was explored. An unprecedented effect of wordingand a positive bias of perception toward computers was revealed by these experiments, compared to robots and newtechnologies. This research paves the way for future studies on the effect of words on perception in the field of AI andnew technologies.

Thanks to research breakthroughs, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gained popularity in recent years. Nevertheless, itsacceptability by general public is a poorly researched subject. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology(UTAUT), a popular model to evaluate acceptability, is generally used for technological products. The purpose of thisstudy is to ensure that UTAUT is an appropriated model to evaluate AI acceptability. In this paper, 705 participants wereinvited to evaluate the acceptability of tools that integrate AI at work in 2030. Relying on UTAUT, performance expectancy,effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and intention to use were evaluated. Structural modeling sug-gests a significant influence of performance expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions on intention to use AI(explained variance of 81%). This research paves the way for prospective research on the overall acceptability of AI.

This document is a report from the DOE Workshop on the Management, Analysis, and Visualization of Experimental and Observational Data. The workshop, held 29 September through 1 October 2015, brought together scientists and researchers from across DOE to discuss issues related to managing and working with data from DOE experimental and observational science projects. The report articulates a number of research topics in mathematics, computer science, and data science that are urgently needed to help minimize or eliminate impediments currently facing a broad set of experimental and observational science projects in DOE.