Legislators’ Guide of IPERBS, January 2006

For more than 50 years, IPERS has provided a core retirement plan covering most Iowa local and state public employees. With approximately 300,000 members and almost 2,400 covered employers, IPERS is the largest public retirement system in Iowa. The Legislature designed IPERS to provide monthly lifetime annuities that supplement social security benefits and personal savings, enabling public employees to care for themselves in retirement. The Legislature also intended for IPERS to be an employee benefit that would help Iowa’s public employers recruit and retain qualified personnel. As a defined benefit plan, the monthly benefit IPERS members receive is calculated using a formula. A member’s benefit increases as his or her years of service and salary increase. Because IPERS is a defined benefit plan, the Legislature is assured that the money contributed by public employees and their employers for retirement is used as intended. The benefit is paid as a lifetime monthly annuity. IPERS members cannot borrow or withdraw their money while in public employment.

A Guide to Workforce Drug Testing in Iowa, October 13, 2010

The purpose of the State of Iowa’s drug testing law—Iowa Code Section 730.5 (& Administrative Code Section 641)—is to enhance worker safety, by creating workplaces that are free of drugs and substance abuse. One tool available to private sector employers is drug testing (inclusive of alcohol testing), that often is coupled with educational efforts as part of a comprehensive drug-free workplace program. Each employer must first decide if drug and/or alcohol testing is appropriate for them. Under Iowa law, workplace drug or alcohol testing is optional for private sector employers. Federal laws or regulations governing drug or alcohol testing supersede state law in Iowa.

Quantization of AdS3 black holes in external fields: semiclassical results from pure gravity

(2+1)-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) gravity is quantized in the presence of an external scalar field. We find that the coupling between the scalar field and gravity is equivalently described by a perturbed conformal field theory at the boundary of AdS3. This allows us to perform a microscopic computation of the transition rates between black hole states due to absorption and induced emission of the scalar field. Detailed thermodynamic balance then yields Hawking radiation as spontaneous emission, and we find agreement with the semiclassical result, including greybody factors. This result also has application to four and five-dimensional black holes in supergravity.

First-passage-time statistics for diffusion processes with an external random force

We present exact equations and expressions for the first-passage-time statistics of dynamical systems that are a combination of a diffusion process and a random external force modeled as dichotomous Markov noise. We prove that the mean first passage time for this system does not show any resonantlike behavior.

A Guide to Workplace Drug Testing in Iowa, October 13, 2010

The purpose of the State of Iowa’s drug testing law—Iowa Code Section 730.5 (& Administrative Code Section 641)—is to enhance worker safety, by creating workplaces that are free of drugs and substance abuse. One tool available to private sector employers is drug testing (inclusive of alcohol testing), that often is coupled with educational efforts as part of a comprehensive drug-free workplace program. Each employer must first decide if drug and/or alcohol testing is appropriate for them. Under Iowa law, workplace drug or alcohol testing is optional for private sector employers. Federal laws or regulations governing drug or alcohol testing supersede state law in Iowa.

Adsorption kinetics in the presence of external fields

In this article we present a detailed analysis of the kinetics of a class of sequential adsorption models that take into account the effect of externally applied fields (as an electric field, or a shear rate) on the adsorption. The excluded volume interactions related to the finite size of the adsorbing particles are modified by the external fields. As a result, new adsorption mechanisms appear with respect to the ones used to describe the kinetics in a quiescent fluid. In particular, if the adsorbing particles are allowed to roll over preadsorbed ones, adsorption becomes non local even in the simplest geometry. An exact analytic theory cannot be developed, but we introduce a self-consistent theory that turns out to agree with the simulation results over all the range of the parameters.

Offender Assessments Help Guide Use of Treatment Resources, Data Download, Iowa Department of Corrections, December 2009

The Department of Corrections contracts with Spectrum Health Systems to conduct front-end substance abuse assessments at the inmate reception center – Iowa Medical and Classification Center. Such assessments are considered vital in so far as 80-85% of offenders in DOC institutions list alcohol/drug problems as one of their top three need areas.

Adsorption kinetics in the presence of external fields

In this article we present a detailed analysis of the kinetics of a class of sequential adsorption models that take into account the effect of externally applied fields (as an electric field, or a shear rate) on the adsorption. The excluded volume interactions related to the finite size of the adsorbing particles are modified by the external fields. As a result, new adsorption mechanisms appear with respect to the ones used to describe the kinetics in a quiescent fluid. In particular, if the adsorbing particles are allowed to roll over preadsorbed ones, adsorption becomes non local even in the simplest geometry. An exact analytic theory cannot be developed, but we introduce a self-consistent theory that turns out to agree with the simulation results over all the range of the parameters.

Guide Specification for Highway Construction Texturing Concrete Pavement for Reduced Tire/Pavement Noise using Diamond Grinding, March 1, 2011

This document provides language that can be used by an Owner-Agency to develop materials and construction specifications with the objective of reducing tire/pavement noise. While the practices described herein are largely prescriptive, they have been demonstrated to increase the likelihood of constructing a durable, quieter concrete surface.

Guide Specification for Highway Construction Texturing Concrete Pavement for Reduced Tire/Pavement Noise using Artificial Turf Drag, March 1, 2011

This document provides language that can be used by an Owner-Agency to develop materials and construction specifications with the objective of reducing tire/pavement noise. While the practices described herein are largely prescriptive, they have been demonstrated to increase the likelihood of constructing a durable, quieter concrete surface. Guidance is provided herein for texturing the concrete surface since texture geometry has a paramount effect on tire/pavement noise. Guidance for curing is also provided to improve strength and durability of the surface mortar, and thus to improve texture durability.

Guide Specification for Highway Construction Texturing Concrete Pavement for Reduced Tire/Pavement Noise using Longitudinal Tining, March 1, 2011

This document provides language that can be used by an Owner-Agency to develop materials and construction specifications with the objective of reducing tire/pavement noise. While the practices described herein are largely prescriptive, they have been demonstrated to increase the likelihood of constructing a durable, quieter concrete surface. Guidance is provided herein for texturing the concrete surface since texture geometry has a paramount effect on tire/pavement noise. Guidance for curing is also provided to improve strength and durability of the surface mortar, and thus to improve texture durability.

Glutamine synthesis rate in the hyperammonaemic rat brain using simultaneous localized in vivo H-1 and N-15 MRS

Objectives: Glutamine synthetase is a critical step in the glutamate-glutamine cycle, the major mechanism of glutamate neurotransmission and is implicated in the mechanism of ammonia toxicity. 15N MRS is an alternative approach to 13C MRS in studying glutamate- glutamine metabolism. 15N MRS studies allow to measure an apparent glutamine synthesis rate (Vsyn) which reflects a combination of the glutamate- glutamine cycle activity (Vnt) and net glutamine accumulation. The net glutamine synthesis (Vsyn-Vnt) can be directly measured from 1H NMR. Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform in vivo localized 1H MRS interleaved with 15N MRS to directly measure the net glutamine synthesis rate and the apparent glutamine synthesis rate under 15N labeled ammonia infusion in the rat brain, respectively. Methods: 1H and 15N MRS data were acquired interleaved on a 9.4T system (Varian/Magnex Scientific) using 5 rats. 15NH4Cl solution was infused continuously into the femoral vein for up to 10 h (4.5 mmol/h/kg).1 The plasma ammonia concentration was increased to 0.95±0.08 mmol/L (Analox GM7 analyzer). 1H spectra were acquired and quantified as described previously.2 15N unlocalized and localized spectra were acquired using the sequence;3 and quantified using AMARES and an external reference method.4 The metabolic model used to analyze the total Gln and 5-15N labeled Gln time courses is shown on Figure 1A. Results: Glutamine concentration increased from 2.5±0.3 to 15±3.3 mmol/kg whereas the total glutamate concentrations remained unchanged (Figure 1B). The linear fit of the time-evolution of the total Gln from the 1H spectra gave the net synthesis flux (Vsyn-Vnt), which was 0.021± 0.006 mmol/min per g (Figure 1D). The 5-15N Gln peak (_271 ppm) was visible in the first and all subsequent scans, whereas the 2-15N Gln/Glu peak (_342 ppm) appeared after B1.5 h (Figure 1C). From the in vivo 5-15N Gln time course, Vsyn = 0.29±0.1 mmol/min per g and a plasma NH3 fractional enrichment of 71%±6% were calculated. Vnt was 0.26±0.1 mmol/min/g, obtained assuming a negligible Gln efflux.5 Vsyn and Vnt were within the range of 13C NMR measurements.6 Conclusion: The combination of 1H and 15N NMR allowed for the first time a direct and localized measurement of Vnt and apparent glutamine synthesis rate. Vnt is approximately one order of magnitude faster than the net glutamine accumulation.

Genome sequence of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

Aphids are important agricultural pests and also biological models for studies of insect-plant interactions, symbiosis, virus vectoring, and the developmental causes of extreme phenotypic plasticity. Here we present the 464 Mb draft genome assembly of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. This first published whole genome sequence of a basal hemimetabolous insect provides an outgroup to the multiple published genomes of holometabolous insects. Pea aphids are host-plant specialists, they can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they have coevolved with an obligate bacterial symbiont. Here we highlight findings from whole genome analysis that may be related to these unusual biological features. These findings include discovery of extensive gene duplication in more than 2000 gene families as well as loss of evolutionarily conserved genes. Gene family expansions relative to other published genomes include genes involved in chromatin modification, miRNA synthesis, and sugar transport. Gene losses include genes central to the IMD immune pathway, selenoprotein utilization, purine salvage, and the entire urea cycle. The pea aphid genome reveals that only a limited number of genes have been acquired from bacteria; thus the reduced gene count of Buchnera does not reflect gene transfer to the host genome. The inventory of metabolic genes in the pea aphid genome suggests that there is extensive metabolite exchange between the aphid and Buchnera, including sharing of amino acid biosynthesis between the aphid and Buchnera. The pea aphid genome provides a foundation for post-genomic studies of fundamental biological questions and applied agricultural problems.

Your Iowa ... and nation : class room guide post,1963.

Contains information to be used by teachers in classrooms including history of the the United States flag, the government of Iowa, the Constitution of Iowa, the birth of Americanism, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.