cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Soil and Foliar Fertilization of Abies nordmanniana Under Container and Field Production

Abstract Considerable debates exist about the efficacy of foliar application of nutrients to Christmas trees, but little research has been conducted to determine whether this method of fertilization is beneficial. In this study, standard foliar and soil-applied fertilization products were applied to Nordmann fir Christmas trees under greenhouse and field-grown management regimes. On both sites, foliar nitrogen (N) and boron (B) concentrations, color, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were evaluated. Plant growth and needle chlorophyll/carotenoids were also monitored at the greenhouse site and sulfur (S) at the field site. At all sites, the soil-applied fertilizers were effective in increasing foliar N% compared to untreated and foliar applications. The foliar-applied products did not improve foliar N% compared to untreated trees. Foliar B concentrations were correlated with foliar fertilizer applications, indicating that B can be absorbed via foliar application. A second part of this study...
Demonstrated and inferred metabolism associated with cytosolic lipid droplets

Cytosolic lipid droplets were considered until recently to be rather inert particles of stored neutral lipid. Largely through proteomics is it now known that droplets are dynamic organelles and that they participate in several important metabolic reactions as well as trafficking and interorganellar communication. In this review, the role of droplets in metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the fly Drosophila melanogaster, and several mammalian sources are discussed, particularly focusing on those reactions shared by these organisms. From proteomics and older work, it is clear that droplets are important for fatty acid and sterol biosynthesis, fatty acid activation, and lipolysis. However, many droplet-associated enzymes are predicted to span a membrane two or more times, which suggests either that droplet structure is more complex than the current model posits, or that there are tightly bound membranes, particularly derived from the endoplasmic reticulum, which account for the association of several of these proteins.
Open academic analytics initiative: initial research findings

This paper describes the results on research work performed by the Open Academic Analytics Initiative, an on-going research project aimed at developing an early detection system of college students at academic risk, using data mining models trained using student personal and demographic data, as well as course management data. We report initial findings on the predictive performance of those models, their portability across pilot programs in different institutions and the results of interventions applied on those pilots.
Superresolution by spatial–temporal encoding methods

The Lukosz technique of superresolution by spatial and temporal frequency interaction is extended. The effects of various misalignments and other errors are considered. An implementation of the technique is presented. Experimental results are given.
Prediction of permeate flux decline in crossflow membrane filtration of colloidal suspension: a radial basis function neural network approach

The capability of a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) to predict long-term permeate flux decline in crossflow membrane filtration was investigated. Operating conditions of transmembrane pressure and filtration time along with feed water parameters such as particle radius, solution pH, and ionic strength were used as inputs to predict the permeate flux. Simulation results indicated that a single RBFNN accurately predicted the permeate flux decline under various experimental conditions of colloidal membrane filtrations and eventually produced better predictability than those of the regular multi-layer feed-forward backpropagation neural network (BPNN) and the multiple regression (MR) method. We believe further development of the artificial neural network approach will enable us to design and analyze full-scale processes from results of laboratory and/or pilot-scale experiments.
Outdoor advertising, obesity, and soda consumption: a cross-sectional study

Recent research has shown that neighborhood characteristics are associated with obesity prevalence. While food advertising in periodicals and television has been linked to overweight and obesity, it is unknown whether outdoor advertising is related to obesity. To test the association between outdoor food advertising and obesity, we analyzed telephone survey data on adults, aged 18–98, collected from 220 census tracts in Los Angeles and Louisiana. We linked self-reported information on BMI and soda consumption with a database of directly observed outdoor advertisements. The higher the percentage of outdoor advertisements promoting food or non-alcoholic beverages within a census tract, the greater the odds of obesity among its residents, controlling for age, race and educational status. For every 10% increase in food advertising, there was a 1.05 (95% CI 1.003 - 1.093, p<0.03) greater odds of being overweight or obese, controlling for other factors. Given these predictions, compared to an individual living in an area with no food ads, those living in areas in which 30% of ads were for food would have a 2.6% increase in the probability of being obese. There is a relationship between the percentage of outdoor food advertising and overweight/obesity.
The Relationship Between Segment-Level Manipulations And Audit Fees

We examine the auditor’s sensitivity to manipulative financial reporting by investigating the relation between audit fees and segment-level manipulations. Segment reporting provides an interesting setting to examine auditor risk assessments because of the discretion afforded to management under existing regulations. Segment manipulations, a form of classification smoothing, are not in violation of accounting standards; nevertheless, these manipulations violate the spirit of faithful representation by distorting the performance of a subset of the reporting unit at the expense of (or to the benefit) of another subset. Because disaggregated information is used by analysts and investors in bottom-up forecasting, these distortions can influence firm value even though they do not affect bottom-line net income. Our measure of classification smoothing measures cost shifting between core operating segments and non-core segments to proxy for segment manipulation. We find that audit fees, a proxy for the auditor’s risk assessment, have a positive association with segment-level manipulations. Subsequent analyses suggest that higher audit fees are also due to the additional effort exerted in the presence of segment-level manipulations. Further, auditors appear justified in charging higher fees to clients that engage in segment manipulations as we document evidence of a positive association between restatements and segment-level manipulations. Collectively, these results suggest that auditors are aware of the risk associated with companies that engage in segment-level manipulations and auditors respond appropriately by charging higher fees and doing additional work.
Raspberry ketone increases both lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Raspberry ketone (RK) is a natural phenolic compound of the red raspberry. The dietary administration of RK to male mice has been reported to prevent high-fat diet-induced elevation in body weight and to increase lipolysis in white adipocytes. To elucidate a possible mechanism for the antiobesity action of RK, its effects on the expression and the secretion of adiponectin, lipolysis, and fatty acid oxidation in 3T3-L1 were investigated. Treatment with 10 μM of RK increased lipolysis significantly in differentiated 3T3-L1 cells. An immunoassay showed that RK increased both the expression and the secretion of adiponectin, an adipocytokine mainly expressed and secreted by adipose tissue. In addition, treatment with 10 μM of RK increased the fatty acid oxidation and suppressed lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. These findings suggest that RK holds great promise as an herbal medicine since its biological activities alter the lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
Measurement and Analysis of Variability in 45 nm Strained-Si CMOS Technology

A test-chip in a low-power 45 nm technology, featuring uniaxial strained-Si, has been built to study variability in CMOS circuits. Systematic layout-induced variation, die-to-die (D2D), wafer-to-wafer (W2W) and within-die (WID) variability has been measured over multiple wafers, analyzed and attributed to likely causes in the manufacturing process. Delay is characterized using an array of ring oscillators and transistor leakage current is measured with an on-chip ADC. The key results link systematic layout-dependent and die-to-die variability as being caused by gate patterning and material strain. In comparison to a previous 90 nm experiment, gate proximity now contributes less to frequency variability, causing a 2% change in overall performance, while strain has increased its contribution to about 5% of the overall performance.
Sgs1 RecQ Helicase Inhibits Survival of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cells Lacking Telomerase and Homologous Recombination

In yeast telomerase mutants, the Sgs1 RecQ helicase slows the rate of senescence and also facilitates the appearance of certain types of survivors of critical telomere shortening via mechanisms dependent on Rad52-dependent homologous recombination (HR). Here we describe a third function for Sgs1 in telomerase-deficient cells, inhibition of survivors that grow independent of Rad52. Unlike tlc1 rad52 double mutants, which do not form survivors of telomere dysfunction, tlc1 rad52 sgs1 triple mutants readily generated survivors. After emerging from growth crisis, the triple mutants progressively lost telomeric and subtelomeric sequences, yet grew for more than 1 year. Analysis of cloned chromosome termini and of copy number changes of loci genome-wide using tiling arrays revealed terminal deletions extending up to 57 kb, as well as changes in Ty retrotransposon copy numbers. Amplification of the remaining terminal sequences generated large palindromes at some chromosome termini. Sgs1 helicase activity but not checkpoint function was essential for inhibiting the appearance of the survivors, and the continued absence of Sgs1 was required for the growth of the established survivors. Thus, in addition to facilitating the maintenance of telomere repeat sequences via HR-dependent mechanisms, a RecQ helicase can prevent the adoption of HR-independent mechanisms that stabilize chromosome termini without the use of natural telomere sequences. This provides a novel mechanism by which RecQ helicases may help maintain genome integrity and thus prevent age-related diseases and cancer.
The convective engine paradigm for the supernova explosion mechanism and its consequences.

Abstract The convective engine paradigm for the explosion mechanism in core collapse supernovae is presented in a pedagogical manner. A candid evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses is attempted. The case where the convective mode corresponds to l = 1, m = 0 (one inflow, one outflow) is explored in more detail. I also discuss the potential importance of such a convective pattern for neutron star kicks.
Attentional Modulation of Visual Responses by Flexible Input Gain

Although it is clear that sensory responses in the cortex can be strongly modulated by stimuli outside of classical receptive fields as well as by extraretinal signals such as attention and anticipation, the exact rules governing the neuronal integration of sensory and behavioral signals remain unclear. For example, most experiments studying sensory interactions have not explored attention, while most studies of attention have relied on the responses to relatively limited sets of stimuli. However, a recent study of V4 responses, in which location, orientation, and spatial attention were systematically varied, suggests that attention can both facilitate and suppress specific sensory inputs to a neuron according to behavioral relevance. To explore the implications of such input gain, we modeled the effects of a center-surround organization of attentional modulation using existing receptive field models of sensory integration. The model is consistent with behavioral measurements of a suppressive effect that surrounds the facilitatory locus of spatial attention. When this center-surround modulation is incorporated into realistic models of sensory integration, it is able to explain seemingly disparate observations of attentional effects in the neurophysiological literature, including spatial shifts in receptive field position and the preferential modulation of low contrast stimuli. The model is also consistent with recent formulations of attention to features in which gain is variably applied among cells with different receptive field properties. Consistent with functional imaging results, the model predicts that spatial attention effects will vary between different visual areas and suggests that attention may act through a common mechanism of selective and flexible gain throughout the visual system.
Capillary Endothelial Cell Migration: Stimulating Activity of Aqueous Humor From Patients With Ocular Cancers

In double-masked studies, various concentrations of aqueous humor (AH) from 157 patients (208 samples) with ocular cancers, nonmalignant ocular lesions, and normal eyes were added to bovine capillary endothelial (BCE) cells plated onto gold-coated cover slips. The phagokinetic tracks made by 100 cells at each concentration were traced, and the mean area of migration plus or minus the standard error of the mean was determined. Data are expressed as the percentages of increase in mean track area made by 100 cells incubated in medium that contained AH samples beyond the mean area of 100 cells incubated in medium alone. The percentage increases in migration-stimulating activity were as follows: a) malignant ocular disease--retinoblastoma (30 samples), 34 +/- 2; malignant melanoma (55 samples), 37 +/- 3; b) nonmalignant ocular disease--cataracts, glaucoma, pseudoglioma, and diabetic retinopathy (36 samples), 14 +/- 2; c) control AH--no ocular disease (51 samples), 9 +/- 1; normal eyes and systemic cancer (36 samples), 38 +/- 6. The percentage increase in endothelial cell migration was as great in cases of systemic cancer as it was in cases of ocular cancer. The endothelial cell migration-stimulating activity in AH from patients with intraocular cancers was significantly higher than the levels in the other groups of patients having no systemic cancer (P much less than .001). In addition, when the results were compared in the control group and the group with benign ocular disease, no significant differences were detected (P greater than .01).
Judicial Review and Moral Rights

American style judicial review, until recently much celebrated for its rendering legislative and executive actions subject to judicial policing for violations of individual rights, is now subject to mounting attacks under the banner of popular sovereignty. Many who were for a long time quite sanguine about the so-called "countermajoritarian difficulty" have apparently now become convinced that it is a countermajoritarian nightmare. Larry Kramer wants to take constitutional interpretation in the United States away from the Supreme Court and put it in the hands of "the People," even in cases where individual rights are at stake. Mark Tushnet wants the U.S. Constitution to be "thinned," that is, reduced from its welter of specific provisions to the broad platitudes of its Preamble and the Declaration of Independence. On a more theoretical level, Jeremy Waldron has been consistently denouncing judicial review and the possibility of its invading other parts of the Anglophone world for its antidemocratic character, and particularly so when it purports to protect our rights against the government. And many other theorists have joined the piling on, on both positive and normative grounds. These attacks come, perhaps ironically, but perhaps unsurprisingly, as judicial review has taken hold in Europe and is poised to take hold elsewhere. My purpose here is to inquire whether these attacks have merit, and if so, just what that merit is. Is American style judicial review as a means of protecting our rights to be celebrated or condemned? Or is that a question that can even be answered independently of some partisan view of what our rights are and some empirical hunches regarding the best strategies for vindicating them? In what follows I shall not give a definitive answer to these questions, though I shall attempt to rule out some answers. What I will do is provide a framework for thinking about these questions and their possible answers.
Circulating Procollagen Type III N-Terminal Peptide and Mortality Risk in African Americans With Heart Failure.

Abstract Background Procollagen type III N-terminal peptide (PIIINP) is a biomarker of cardiac fibrosis that is associated with heart failure prognosis in whites. Its prognostic significance in African Americans is unknown. We sought to determine whether PIIINP is associated with outcomes in African Americans with heart failure. Methods and Results Blood was collected from 138 African Americans with heart failure for determining PIIINP and genetic ancestry, and patients were followed prospectively for death or hospitalization for heart failure. PIIINP was inversely correlated with West African ancestry ( R 2 = 0.061; P = .010). PIIINP > 4.88 ng/mL was associated with all-cause mortality on univariate (hazard ratio [HR] 4.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2–11.0; P P = .002) analyses over a median follow-up period of 3 years. We also observed an increased risk for the combined outcome of all-cause mortality or hospitalization for heart failure with PIIINP > 4.88 ng/mL on univariate (HR 2.6, 95% CI 1.6–5.0; P P = .016) analyses. Conclusions High circulating PIIINP is associated with poor outcomes in African Americans with chronic heart failure, suggesting that PIIINP may be useful in identifying African Americans who may benefit from additional therapy to combat fibrosis as a means of improving prognosis.
NH125 kills methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus persisters by lipid bilayer disruption

Background: NH125, a known WalK inhibitor kills MRSA persisters. However, its precise mode of action is still unknown. Methods & results: The mode of action of NH125 was investigated by comparing its spectrum of antimicrobial activity and its effects on membrane permeability and giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) with walrycin B, a WalR inhibitor and benzyldimethylhexadecylammonium chloride (16-BAC), a cationic surfactant. NH125 killed persister cells of a variety of Staphylococcus aureus strains. Similar to 16-BAC, NH125 killed MRSA persisters by inducing rapid membrane permeabilization and caused the rupture of GUVs, whereas walrycin B did not kill MRSA persisters or induce membrane permeabilization and did not affect GUVs. Conclusion: NH125 kills MRSA persisters by interacting with and disrupting membranes in a detergent-like manner.
Two-dimensional numerical simulations of a cesium seeded hydrogen arcjet

The largest source of loss in efficiency in conventional arcjets is the energy required to ionize the propellant so an electric arc can flow. The addition of a small amount of cesium should provide adequate electrical conductivity, without the hydrogen being ionized. Simplified analysis predicts this cuts the frozen losses to one percent. A twodimensional model was developed, with a fluid for hydrogen and cesium, and a separate electron fluid. The flow was modelled by Navier-Stokes equations modified for thermal and chemical non-equilibrium, which are integrated by MacCormack's predictor-corrector scheme, and the electric potential solved by successive overrelaxation. The model predicts that the seeded arcjet can be run with the cesium fully ionized but the hydrogen having 'minimal dissociation or ionization. When the flow passes through the high current density region at the arc attachment point on the anode, the hydrogen did not ionize as was feared. The cesium was fairly uniformly spread throughout the constrictor as was the current density, so there was no formation of a narrow arc in the centre as in conventional arcjets. Consequently the constrictor must be an insulator or else the arc will attach at the constrictor inlet.
Variability in the human-hamster in vitro assay for fertility evaluation *

Sources of variability in the zona-free hamster egg penetration assay were evaluated. Internal consistency in the assay was examined in replicate experiments using sperm from 23 donors. The average difference in the percentage of fertilization between the replicates was 3.9%. Optimal preincubation conditions and insemination time were examined and shown to be 0.5 to 1.0×10 7 sperm/ml and 2 to 3 hours. Abstinence time was found to be a variable, and a critical abstinence of more than 12 hours was required. Prolonged exposure to seminal plasma (i.e., more than 30 minutes) produced a reduction in the fertilization test results. If the variables studied here are consistently controlled, then changes in the assay results greater than the experimental error should reflect true changes in the semen sample.
CHAPTER 4 – Fractal Reaction Kinetics

This chapter provides an introduction on fractal reaction kinetics. Fractal kinetics typically exhibit noninteger kinetic reaction orders and may be used to make the degree of heterogeneity that exists on the surface more quantitative. An increase in the degree of heterogeneity on the surface may be described by a higher fractal dimension. The examples are described in the chapter where variability in the adsorption rate coefficients is exhibited and the possible reasons for such variability are given in protein adsorption systems. The importance of intermolecular interactions is indicated in the reaction layer to the binding kinetics of an antigen to an immobilized antibody. Experimental evidence is also available that provides for attractive interactions in the surface-bound antibodies. The repulsive interactions are related in the reaction layer to the passivation of surfaces and analyzed the influence of a variable adsorption rate coefficient on protein adsorption. Data are presented in the chapter indicating that cohesive forces among macromolecules help stabilize the adsorbed proteins and antigen–antibody complexes at solid surfaces.
Enabling the Hardware for Computational Photography: Mark Horowitz Turned Ideas into Working Hardware Systems

Prof. Mark Horowitz?s work in solidstate circuits and very-large-scale integration is well known to most in the industry. However, many readers may be unaware of his fundamental contributions to the field of computational photography. He has repeatedly found opportunities to advance the state of the art by turning theoretical ideas into working hardware systems. Along the way, he mentored and guided several students toward successful research careers. In this article, written through a series of conversations with his students, two closely related projects in the computational imaging of light fields are reviewed.
On the feasibility of estimating ultrasonic shear wave attenuation using amplitude-based methods

Human tissues are known to be viscoelastic (VE), a type of material described by two behaviors: dispersion and attenuation. Several methods have been developed to measure shear wave dispersion, but quantifying shear wave attenuation (α) has been less successful, particularly using amplitude-based methods. Shear wave displacement amplitudes are dependent on several factors including geometric spreading, shear attenuation, and bias in ultrasonic displacement amplitude estimation. Recent developments using 3D single track location (STL) shear wave imaging have significantly reduced the error in effective tracking location arising from speckle bias, preserving the relative amplitudes of the shear wave. Using a cylindrically symmetric source, the shear wave can be modeled as a cylindrical wave, whose geometric decay is 1/√r. Shear wave displacements were generated from an analytic model and Gaussian white noise was added to the temporal shear wave velocity profiles to mimic jitter (25 dB SNR). One hundred realizations of noise were combined to model different radial trajectories from the excitation in the lateral-elevation plane of a volumetric acquisition. The time-domain Fourier Transform (FT) of these profiles was computed and shear attenuation as a function of frequency was estimated from the amplitude decay after correcting for geometric spreading. The results are compared with shear attenuation estimation obtained using the spectral spreading 2D-FT attenuation method. Root-mean-square-error (RMSE) compared to the analytic solution was calculated for both methods over the frequency range of 100 to 300 Hz. Both methods perform comparably with a large spatial extent (>40 mm); however the 2D-FT methods exhibit considerable bias with smaller window sizes.
Clinical Implications of Spliceosome Mutations: Epidemiology, Clonal Hematopoiesis, and Potential Therapeutic Strategies

Somatic mutations in genes that are involved in pre-mRNA splicing (i.e., spliceosome genes) occur in ~50% of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Commonly mutated spliceosome genes (e.g., SF3B1, SRSF2, and U2AF1)have variable prognostic significance in patients with myeloid malignancies. For example, SRSF2 and U2AF1 mutations are associated with worse and SF3B1 mutations with better clinical outcomes compared to patients without a spliceosome gene mutation. While multiple groups have shown that RNA splicing is altered in patients with spliceosome gene mutations, the contribution of these alterations to disease pathogenesis is largely unknown. Several groups have recently reported that RNA splicing and hematopoiesis are altered in mutant expressing mouse models, providing direct evidence that spliceosome gene mutations contribute to some MDS phenotypes. Spliceosome gene mutations have also been detected in the blood cells of healthy elderly individuals with clonal hematopoiesis who are at an increased risk of developing hematopoietic cancer, further implicating these mutations as early genetic drivers in MDS. Consistent with this possibility, spliceosome gene mutations tend to occur in the founding clone (i.e., present in every tumor cell in a patient) of myeloid malignancies. Collectively, these observations indicate that targeting mutant cells could have a large clinical impact. Several observations indicate that spliceosome gene mutations may create a genetic vulnerability in cells that could be exploited therapeutically. Spliceosome gene mutations are typically heterozygous and mutually exclusive of each other in patients, implying either a redundancy in pathogenic function of mutant genes or that a cell cannot tolerate two spliceosome perturbations at once. Accumulating evidence now suggests that heterozygous mutant cells require appropriate expression levels of the non-mutant residual allele or other splicing factors to maintain cell viability. Therefore, we and others hypothesize that cells harboring spliceosome mutations will have increased sensitivity to pharmacological perturbation of the spliceosome, providing a new treatment approach for patients with these mutations. To examine this, we used sudemycin compounds that bind the SF3B1 protein to modulate pre-mRNA splicing. We show that treatment of U2AF1 mutant mice with sudemycin results in attenuation of mutant-associated hematopoietic progenitor cell expansion compared to control treated mice. Collectively, data from our group and others suggest that cells expressing mutant spliceosome genes have an increased sensitivity to pharmacologic perturbation of splicing. Clinical trials are being designed to treat spliceosome mutant hematological cancers with splicing modulator compounds. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Molecular mechanism of voltage-dependent potentiation of KCNH potassium channels.

In humans and other animals, electrical signals trigger the heart to beat and carry information around the brain and nervous system. Particular cells can generate these signals by regulating the flow of ions into and out of the cell via proteins called ion channels. These proteins sit in the membrane that surrounds the cell and will open or close in response to specific signals. For example, an ion channel in humans called hERG allows positively-charged potassium ions to flow out of a heart cell to help the cell return to its “resting” state after producing an electrical signal. Defects in hERG can alter the rhythm at which the heart beats, leading to a serious condition called Long QT syndrome. The human hERG channel is part of a family of related channels known as the KCNH channels. These channels are made of four protein subunits that assemble to form a pore that spans the cell membrane. When a cell is resting before producing an electrical signal, KCNH channels are generally closed. However, once an electrical signal starts, the flow of ions through other ion channels in the cell membrane changes an electrical property across the membrane known as the “voltage”. This change in voltage causes KCNH channels to open. Dai and Zagotta studied how a KCNH channel known as ELK from zebrafish responds to changes in membrane voltage. The experiments show that the manner in which ELK channels respond to the voltage is due to changes in how the subunits interact in the part of the channel that lies inside the cell. Further experiments using several new techniques reveal in much more detail how the shape of the channel alters as the voltage changes. These new techniques could also be used to observe how other KCNH channels in the heart and brain change shape in response to changes in voltage. This could lead to the design of new drugs to treat heart and neurological diseases.
Amiodarone decreased mortality in patients with ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction

Source Citation Pfisterer ME, Kiowski W, Brunner H, Burckhardt D, Burkart F. Long-term benefit of 1-year amiodarone treatment for persistent complex ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarct...
The persistence of the Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Hyaenidae) as a predator of Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea Eschscholtz, 1829 (Reptilia: Testudines: Cheloniidae) eggs

A few records of the Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena , a Near Threatened species, suggest that it can survive along coasts, preying on intertidal fauna. This record updates earlier information about the presence of the Striped Hyena preying on the Rushikulya Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea mass-nesting beach to show that the hyena persists in this human-dominated landscape. In addition, it provides details of the first direct sighting of the Striped Hyena feeding on sea turtle eggs. The implications of the presence of this predator for conservation and coastal development are discussed.
2-D NONSEPARABLE SCALING FUNCTION INTERPOLATION AND APPROXIMATION

Abstract The authors introduce nonseparable scaling function interpolation and show that its approximation can provide similar convergence properties as scalar wavelet system. Several equivalent statements of accuracy of nonseparable scaling function are also given. In the numerical experiments, it appears that nonseparable scaling function interpolation has better convergence results than scalar wavelet systems in some cases.
Institutional Legalization of Racism: Exploitation of the Core Groups

The institutionalization of racism in the United States happened over a period of hundreds of years during which time a variety of treaties, laws, and other legal mechanisms were used to endorse and support racial discrimination. This chapter focuses on the legalization of racism during the formation and expansion of the United States. It briefly describes the historical context for building the scaffolding that supports institutionalized racism. This chapter then traces the evolution of legalized discrimination, which is directly tied to the history of four core groups: First Nation Peoples, Africans, Mexicans, and Chinese. These four groups then historically were the initial targets of oppressive racial discrimination in the Unites States. Each group is discussed in terms of how components of the scaffolding, particularly the legal structures rung, established and maintained their subordinate position. Their lives were, and the lives of their ancestors are, molded through formal and informal institutional decisions within the white American societal. The chapter traces the history of each group and discusses how their positions in society were institutionalized by numerous treaties, laws, and other legal mechanisms that systematically exploited and subordinated each group.
Budgeted maximum coverage with overlapping costs: monitoring the emerging infections network

The Emerging Infections Network (EIN) (http://ein.idsociety.org/) is a CDC supported "sentinel" network of over 1400 members (currently), designed to connect clinical infectious disease specialists and public health officials. Members primarily communicate through an EIN managed listserv and discuss disease outbreaks, treatment protocols, effectiveness of vaccinations and other disease-control and prevention mechanisms, etc. Recently, researchers at Google and Yahoo! Research have used search engine query logs to tap into the online "wisdom of crowds" and produce disease outbreak trends for flu. Following this work, there is now interest in trying to monitor EIN discussions more carefully to disseminate timely and accurate information on clinical events of possible interest to health officials. We model the problem of monitoring a listserv, such as the EIN, as a type of budgeted maximum coverage problem that we call Budgeted Maximization with Overlapping Costs (BMOC). Even though BMOC seems superficially similar to the budgeted maximum coverage problem considered by Khuller et al. (Inf. Process. Lett., 1999), our problem is fundamentally different from an algorithmic point of view, due to its cost structure. We observe that the greedy algorithm that provides a constant-factor approximation to the budgeted maximum coverage problem can be arbitrarily bad for BMOC. We also present a reduction to BMOC from the k-densest subgraph problem that provides evidence indicating that obtaining a constant-factor approximation for our problem might be quite challenging. Nevertheless, experimental runs of the greedy algorithm on the EIN data show that greedy performs remarkably well relative to OPT. We identify a feature of our EIN data, that we call the overlap condition, and show that the greedy algorithm does indeed yield a constant-factor approximation guarantee if the overlap condition is satisfied. Using an implementation of the greedy algorithm for BMOC on the EIN data, we identify small sets of "bellwether" users who are good predictors of important discussions. We provide evidence to show that tracking just these users reduces the cost of monitoring the EIN significantly without causing any important discussions to be missed.
Plant Flavonoid Modulation of Immune and Inflammatory Cell Functions

The immune system is a highly complex, intricately regulated group of cells whose integrated function is essential to health. Cells of the immune system may interact in a cognate cell-cell manner and may also respond to intercellular messages including hormones and cytokines elaborated by various cells. The immune system can be modified by diet, pharmacological agents, environmental pollutants, and naturally occurring food chemicals such as the flavonoids. Some effects of the flavonoids on the function of T cells, B cells, macrophages, NK cells, basophils, mast cells, neutrophils, eosinophils, and platelets will be described. Each of these cell types is involved in immunity and inflammation and the effects of the flavonoids on these cells will be considered in this broad context. This review is selective and does not cover the literature exhaustively.
Effect of Voltage Oscillations on Response Properties in a Model of Sensory Hair Cell

Sensory hair cells in auditory and vestibular organs rely on active mechanisms to achieve high sensitivity and frequency selectivity. Recent experimental studies have documented self-sustained oscillations in hair cells of lower vertebrates on two distinct levels. First, the hair bundle can undergo spontaneous mechanical oscillations. Second, somatic electric voltage oscillations across the baso-lateral membrane of the hair cell have been observed. We develop a biophysical model of the bullfrog’s saccular hair cell consisting of two compartments, mechanical and electrical, to study how the mechanical and the voltage oscillations interact to produce coherent self-sustained oscillations and how this interaction contributes to the overall sensitivity and selectivity of the hair cell. The model incorporates nonlinear mechanical stochastic hair bundle system coupled bi-directionally to a Hodgkin-Huxley type system describing somatic ionic currents. We isolate regions of coherent spontaneous oscillations in the parameter space of the model and then study how coupling between compartments affects sensitivity of the hair cell to external mechanical perturbations. We show that spontaneous electrical oscillations may enhance significantly the sensitivity and selectivity of the hair cell.
Host Cues Mediate Growth and Establishment of Oak Mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum, Viscaceae), an Aerial Parasitic Plant

ABSTRACT The oak mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum, Viscaceae) is well-documented to exhibit preference for a few potential host species in a given locality, even when many potential host species are present. In trying to explain this distribution, we examined the mechanisms by which mistletoe seedlings recognize potentially suitable hosts in the Piney Woods ecoregion of east Texas. An initial survey of patterns of infection on the campus of Sam Houston State University revealed that water oak (Quercus nigra) was host to nearly half of the mistletoes observed, despite comprising less than 15% of trees surveyed. Field experiments demonstrated that light, host physiochemistry, and volatiles released from potential host trees serve as cues affecting the viability and establishment of mistletoe seedlings. These results provoked further study in controlled laboratory settings, in which it was demonstrated that chemical compounds in the bark of local host trees (compared to trees that serve as hosts elsewhere,...
Context for costumes: faceted access to historic costumes

Historic costumes, like many other kinds of museum objects, benefit from remote access to imagery: they are fragile, widely scattered, and of interest to scholars who may not find it easy to visit every possible repository. Cataloguing them involves multiple facets. Researchers may be interested in organisation by purpose, material, period, designer, or construction, whereas original descriptions may focus on colour or size. Vocabulary may be either current ('blouse') or obsolete ('shirtwaist'). And, as usual, some users will be posing carefully phrased queries while others are in a browsing mode. In common with many museum areas, images are also essential for many users. We are also experimenting with context; many costume collections are relatively small, and provision of an expanded view of an area may assist users.
An Evaluation of the Use of Remotely Sensed Parameters for Prediction of Incidence and Risk Associated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Gulf Coast Oysters (Crassostrea virginica)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently published a Vibrio parahaemolyticus risk assessment for consumption of raw oysters that predicts V. parahaemolyticus densities at harvest based on water temperature. We retrospectively compared archived remotely sensed measurements (sea surface temperature, chlorophyll, and turbidity) with previously published data from an environmental study of V. parahaemolyticus in Alabama oysters to assess the utility of the former data for predicting V. parahaemolyticus densities in oysters. Remotely sensed sea surface temperature correlated well with previous in situ measurements (R2 0.86) of bottom water temperature, supporting the notion that remotely sensed sea surface temperature data are a sufficiently accurate substitute for direct measurement. Turbidity and chlorophyll levels were not determined in the previous study, but in comparison with the V. parahaemolyticus data, remotely sensed values for these parameters may explain some of the variation in V. parahaemolyticus levels. More accurate determination of these effects and the temporal and spatial variability of these parameters may further improve the accuracy of prediction models. To illustrate the utility of remotely sensed data as a basis for risk management, predictions based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration V. parahaemolyticus risk assessment model were integrated with remotely sensed sea surface temperature data to display graphically variations in V. parahaemolyticus density in oysters associated with spatial variations in water temperature. We believe images such as these could be posted in near real time, and that the availability of such information in a user-friendly format could be the basis for timely and informed risk management decisions. Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a gram-negative, halophilic bacterium indigenous to coastal estuarine and marine environments, is the leading cause of vibrio-associated gastroenteritis in the United States (12, 31). Vibrio infections are most common in states bordering the Gulf of Mexico (15) and are usually associated with the consumption of raw shellfish, primarily oysters (5, 8, 13, 15). Outbreaks in 1997 in the Pacific Northwest (3) and in 1998 in Texas (9, 11), Washington, and New York (4, 11) raised the public health concerns throughout coastal states.
Qualitative Coding Boot Camp: An Intensive Training and Overview for Clinicians, Educators, and Administrators.

Introduction Qualitative coding is a tool for analyzing data involving strings of meaningful words. While many schools and universities have staff who can assist faculty with quantitative data anal...
"Give Me the Support I Want!": The Effect of Matching an Embodied Conversational Agent's Social Support to Users' Social Support Needs in Fostering Positive User-Agent Interaction

Do users' general social support needs influence their satisfaction with embodied conversational agents' (ECAs) social support? We examined this research question by conducting a 2 (an agent's social support: informational vs. emotional) x 2 (a user's general social support needs: informational vs. emotional) between-subjects online experiment. Participants (N = 132) first indicated their general social support needs and then interacted with a virtual health coach, Andy, who talked about the importance of stress management. Then, Andy gave participants either informational or emotional social support on their initiation to manage their stress. Our results indicate that participants rated Andy higher on trustworthiness and likability when her social support matched their support needs, and this pattern was especially stronger for those with emotional support needs. Moreover, for these participants, we found that trustworthiness and likability significantly mediated the effect of the agent's matched social support on their attitudinal and behavioral outcomes.
Recurrent early stage endometrial cancer: Patterns of recurrence and results of salvage therapy.

Abstract Objective To analyze our institutional experience and oncologic outcomes for salvage treatment for the recurrence of early-stage endometrial cancer patients. Methods We included women of all ages diagnosed with FIGO stage I-II, any grade endometrial cancer from 2000 to 2016 at our institutions who were treated with at least a hysterectomy. Recurrences in the pelvis and/or vagina were considered locoregional recurrences (LRR). Overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Univariate (UV) and multivariate (MV) Cox proportional hazards modeling was also used. Results A total of 2691 women were analyzed. The majority had endometrioid histology (91%), stage IA disease (61%), and were grade 1 (57%). With a median follow-up of 6.1 years, the overall rate of recurrence was 7.2%, and the rate of LRR was 3.7%. Women with vaginal-only recurrences had a longer median OS after recurrence (14.0 years) compared to both pelvic (1.2 years) and distant (1.0 year) failures. For women with vaginal-only recurrences, salvage radiotherapy (RT) was the only factor associated with improved OS on MVA (HR 0.1, p = .04). For women with pelvic recurrences, salvage surgery (HR 0.3, p = .01), salvage RT (HR 0.3, p Conclusions Failure rates for women with early-stage endometrial cancer are low. Women with vaginal-only recurrences have improved OS compared to pelvic or distant recurrences. Salvage RT appears to be an important factor for treatment of women with vaginal-only recurrences. Aggressive multimodality treatment may be beneficial for women with pelvic recurrences.
First branchial cleft fistula (Work Type 2) with an internal opening to the Eustachian tube: Case report and review of literature

First branchial cleft anomalies are rare congenital defects of the head and neck. This case report presents a 12-year-old patient with a draining cutaneous pit approximately 1-cm anterior and 5-mm inferior to the right angle of the mandible. Imaging revealed a fistula between the cutaneous pit and Eustachian tube. Further characterization with methylene blue injection into the cutaneous pit resulted in spillage through the right Eustachian tube. Surgical excision of the fistula revealed a cylindrical structure comprised of ectodermal and mesodermal features that most likely represented a Work Type 2 first branchial cleft fistula.