cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
St. Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica

Chapter 6 introduces St. Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica and its Charismatic religious leaders both inside and outside of PAWI as well as their various types of religious networking strategies in the Caribbean. This introduction leads to a larger analysis of the Charismatic movement in all three countries developing some of the major themes of this book including (1) the challenges of church growth and power, (2) the dialectical process of external adversity and internal conflict in the Charismatic movement, and (3) the simultaneous process of structural centralization and decentralization as the church continues to grow in numbers and power. The chapter ends with insight on the Charismatic movement’s capacity to defy rationality and its potential to make social change while questioning Weber’s iron cage.
Probing and mapping plasmonic systems by spectroscopic methods(Conference Presentation)

Rare earth ions having both electric and magnetic dipole transitions in emission spectra can be used as local probe to provide information on degree of modification and local distribution of optical electric and magnetic fields in plasmonic systems. In our research, we use highly luminescent organic systems with Eu3+ to study and analyze modification of magnetic and electric dipoles emission in different environment, including systems having plasmonic electric resonance or magnetic resonance in the range of Eu3+ emission, and flat metal. Experimental setup based on selective detection of the particular transition was built and used for probing and mapping of electric and magnetic fields in plasmonic systems and metasurfaces. The method developed can find applications in characterization of plasmonic systems and metamaterials, and engineering of emission properties of rare earth ions and other emitters.
How to Connect the Americas: An IS/IT Academic Research Plan for Tomorrow

During the last decade we have engaged in several heretofore separate and at least initially, somewhat independent research initiatives: 1) Virtual teams and collaborative technologies [Ballantine, Becker, et. al.; 1999], [Becker, Ballantine, et. al., 1999, 2001], [Becker; 2003], [Becker and Cline; 2005]; 2) building bridges between researches across the borders of the Americas [Becker and Sanchez; 2006, 2007, and 2008]; and 3) analyzing the dramatic and alarming declines in IS/IT majors [Becker, Hassan, and Naumann, 2006]. Within the last few years we have come to discover that these research streams appear to be converging in a welcome and pleasantly synergistic manner. When combined these research streams result in an action plan to utilize a combination of virtual collaborative technologies and face-to-face interactions with faculty and students throughout the Americas to increase the number of IS/IT majors at all educational levels: undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees. This paper describes what brought us to this epiphany and my plan for the next year-long phase of this study, which will commence in summer 2009 for this author. A partial list of the planned activities, objectives and metrics are shown in Appendix 1
Thinking locally: Environmental reconstruction of Middle and Later Stone Age archaeological sites in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia based on ungulate stable isotopes

Our knowledge of the Pleistocene environments of Africa consists primarily of data at a scale too coarse to capture the full habitat variation important to hominins 'on the ground.' These environments are complex, highly variable, and poorly understood. As such, data from individual sites are a needed addition to our current paleoenvironmental reconstructions. This study offers a site-based approach focusing on stable isotope analyses of fossil faunal tooth enamel from three archaeological sites in tropical Africa. Carbon and oxygen stable isotope data are reported from the sites of Porc Epic, Ethiopia, Lukenya Hill, Kenya, and Kalemba Rockshelter, Zambia. Stable isotope data from tooth enamel are used to measure two environmental variables: (1) aridity based on oxygen isotope composition and (2) dietary reconstructions of fossil ungulates based on the relative proportions of C3 browse and C4 graze in the diet. These data allow for a preliminary assessment of existing models that attempt to explain the behavioral and technological variation characteristic of the transition between the Middle and Later Stone Ages. Results indicate spatial and temporal variation in aridity and phytogeography in tropical Africa during the Pleistocene, suggesting that no single model is likely to provide an explanation for the transition at all sites across Africa.
Storage Schemes for Spatio-Temporal Network Datasets

Emerging large-sized Spatial Network Big Data require novel data storage and access methods. Increasingly, these big data contain both spatial and temporal network data. Given a spatio-temporal network (STN) and a set of STN operations, the goal of the Storing Spatio-Temporal Networks (SSTN) problem is to produce an efficient method of storing STN data that minimizes disk I/O costs for given STN operations. The SSTN problem is important for many societal applications, such as surface and air transportation management systems. The problem is NP hard, and is challenging due to an inherently large data volume and novel semantics (e.g., Lagrangian reference frame). This chapter describes storage methods that minimize disk I/O costs for two STN operations (i.e., LGetOneSuccessor() and LGetAllSuccessors()).
Bootstrapping analogs of the two-sample hotelling’s T2 test

Suppose there are two independent random samples from two populations or groups. A common multivariate two-sample test of hypotheses is versus where is a population location measure of the ith popu...
A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 15-mediated glycocalyx shedding contributes to vascular leakage during inflammation.

Aims Endothelial hyperpermeability exacerbates multiple organ damage during inflammation or infection. The endothelial glycocalyx, a protective matrix covering the luminal surface of endothelial cells (ECs), undergoes enzymatic shedding during inflammation, contributing to barrier hyperpermeability. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 15 (ADAM15) is a sheddase capable of cleaving the ectodomains of membrane-bound molecules. Herein, we tested whether and how ADAM15 is involved in glycocalyx shedding and vascular leakage during sepsis. Methods and results Dextran-150kD exclusion assay revealed lipopolysaccharide (LPS) significantly reduced glycocalyx thickness in mouse cremaster microvessels. Consistently, shedding products of glycocalyx constituents, including CD44 ectodomain, were detected with an increased plasma level after cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis. The direct effects of CD44 ectodomain on endothelial barrier function were evaluated, which revealed CD44 ectodomain dose-dependently reduced transendothelial electrical resistance (TER) and caused cell-cell adherens junction disorganization. Furthermore, we examined the role of ADAM15 in CD44 cleavage and glycocalyx shedding. An in vitro cleavage assay coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry confirmed ADAM15 cleaved CD44 at His235-Thr236 bond. In ECs with ADAM15 knockdown, LPS-induced CD44 cleavage and TER reduction were greatly attenuated, whereas, ADAM15 overexpression exacerbated CD44 cleavage and TER response to LPS. Consistently, ADAM15 knockout in mice attenuated CLP-induced increase in plasma CD44. Intravital and electron microscopic images revealed ADAM15 deficiency prevented LPS-induced glycocalyx injury in cremaster and pulmonary microvasculatures. Functionally, ADAM15-/- mice with better-preserved glycocalyx exhibited resistance to LPS-induced vascular leakage, as evidenced by reduced albumin extravasation in pulmonary and mesenteric vessels. Importantly, in intact, functionally vital human lungs, perfusion of LPS induced a significant up-regulation of ADAM15, accompanied by elevated CD44 in the effluent and increased vascular permeability to albumin. Conclusion Together, our data support the critical role of ADAM15 in mediating vascular barrier dysfunction during inflammation. Its mechanisms of action involve CD44 shedding and endothelial glycocalyx injury.
The hrp Gene Cluster of Erwinia Amylovora

From a library of E. amylovora DNA, a clone, pCPP430, was identified that contains the entire hrp gene cluster. The cosmid complemented all (18) original Hrp- transposon-induced mutants of E. amylovora and bestows on Escherichia coli, and all other members of the Enterobacteriaceae tested, the ability to elicit the hypersensitive response in tobacco and other plants. Mutagenesis of pCPP430 revealed that the cluster spans ca. 40kb. Only the rightmost ca. 25 kb of the cluster is necessary to elicit the K+ efflux / H+ influx exchange reaction in tobacco cell suspension culture. This region hybridizes with a portion of the hrp cluster of Pseudomonas syringae, the wts (watersoaking) region of DNA of E. stewartii, and with genomic DNA of several other phytopathogenic bacteria. Studies of the regulation of hrp genes in E. amylovora, using the sglucuronidase reporter gene and through isolation of mRNA showed that the hrp genes are regulated in response to the nutritional status of the bacterium, rather than to compounds produced by plant cells or osmotic concentration. The predicted protein of one hrp locus is homologous to the conserved domain of several prokaryotic regulatory proteins including HrpS from P. syringae, NifA from Klebsiella pneumoniae and Rhizobium and NtrC from several bacteria.
Synthetic head and neck and phantom images for determining deformable image registration accuracy in magnetic resonance imaging

PURPOSE Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides noninvasive evaluation of patient's anatomy without using ionizing radiation. Due to this and the high soft-tissue contrast, MRI use has increased and has potential for use in longitudinal studies where changes in patients' anatomy or tumors at different time points are compared. Deformable image registration can be useful for these studies. Here, we describe two datasets that can be used to evaluate the registration accuracy of systems for MR images, as it cannot be assumed to be the same as that measured on CT images. ACQUISITION AND VALIDATION METHODS Two sets of images were created to test registration accuracy. (a) A porcine phantom was created by placing ten 0.35-mm gold markers into porcine meat. The porcine phantom was immobilized in a plastic container with movable dividers. T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and CT images were acquired with the porcine phantom compressed in four different ways. The markers were not visible on the MR images, due to the selected voxel size, so they did not interfere with the measured registration accuracy, while the markers were visible on the CT images and were used to identify the known deformation between positions. (b) Synthetic images were created using 28 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients who had MR scans pre-, mid-, and postradiotherapy treatment. An inter- and intrapatient variation model was created using these patient scans. Four synthetic pretreatment images were created using the interpatient model, and four synthetic post-treatment images were created for each of the pretreatment images using the intrapatient model. DATA FORMAT AND USAGE NOTES The T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and CT scans of the porcine phantom in the four positions are provided. Four T1-weighted synthetic pretreatment images each with four synthetic post-treatment images, and four T2-weighted synthetic pretreatment images each with four synthetic post-treatment images are provided. Additionally, the applied deformation vector fields to generate the synthetic post-treatment images are provided. The data are available on TCIA under the collection MRI-DIR. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS The proposed database provides two sets of images (one acquired and one computer generated) for use in evaluating deformable image registration accuracy. T1- and T2-weighted images are available for each technique as the different image contrast in the two types of images may impact the registration accuracy.
Inhibition of thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase induces synthetic lethality in lung cancers with compromised glutathione homeostasis

Glutathione (GSH)/GSH reductase (GSR) and thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase (TXNRD) are two major compensating thiol-dependent antioxidant pathways that maintain protein dithiol/disulfide balance. We hypothesized that functional deficiency in one of these systems would render cells dependent on compensation by the other system for survival, providing a mechanism-based synthetic lethality approach for treatment of cancers. The human GSR gene is located on chromosome 8p12, a region frequently lost in human cancers. GSR deletion was detected in about 6% of lung adenocarcinomas in The Cancer Genome Atlas database. To test whether loss of GSR sensitizes cancer cells to TXNRD inhibition, we knocked out or knocked down the GSR gene in human lung cancer cells and evaluated their response to the TXNRD inhibitor auranofin. GSR deficiency sensitized lung cancer cells to this agent. Analysis of a panel of 129 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines revealed that auranofin sensitivity correlated with the expression levels of the GSR, glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), and NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) genes. In NSCLC patient-derived xenografts with reduced expression of GSR and/or GCLC, growth was significantly suppressed by treatment with auranofin. Together, these results provide a proof of concept that cancers with compromised expression of enzymes required for GSH homeostasis or with chromosome 8p deletions that include the GSR gene may be targeted by a synthetic lethality strategy with inhibitors of TXNRD. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings demonstrate that lung cancers with compromised expression of enzymes required for glutathione homeostasis, including reduced GSR gene expression, may be targeted by thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase inhibitors.
Understanding Synergism of Cobalt Metal and Copper Oxide toward Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution

Understanding the synergism of bimetallic transition metal (TM)-based catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is very difficult because it is complicated to identify the surface active sites in a bimetal system. Herein, we rationally designed Cu oxide (CuOx) nanoarray film (NF) as an example to investigate the synergism and doping effects of iron group metals on OER. This is an advantage because CuOx is electrocatalytically inert and oxidatively stable, which is much better than carbon-based platforms. Especially, cobalt (Co) shows a much stronger synergism as compared with nickel (Ni) and iron (Fe). By introducing Co into the inert CuOx NFs, the Co active sites can be correlated to the OER activity by rationally regulating the morphology of CuOx NFs. In addition, the phase transformation from Cu2O to CuO occurs during the OER testing, further boosting the OER activity of Co-doped CuOx NF due to the hybridization change of Co active site. As a result, the Co-doped CuOx NF with 0.30 at. % Co (denoted...
O efeito do exercí­cio fí­sico em pacientes submetidos ao tratamento de hemodiálise

Estudos mostram efeitos beneficos do exerci­cio em pacientes que possuem doenca renal cronica e realizam hemodialise. Objetivo: Revisar na literatura estudos que abordem o papel do exerci­cio fi­sico em pacientes que realizam hemodialise. Metodos: Foi realizada uma revisao sistematica com os descritores exercise/exerci­cio fi­sico AND kidney disease/doenca renal, nas bases de dados Lilacs e Pubmed. Apos aplicacao dos criterios de inclusao e exclusao foram selecionados 22 estudos os quais passaram a ser analisados. Resultados: Foi identificada a melhora da qualidade do sono, assim como da qualidade de vida, reducao da sensacao de dor e melhoria da eficiencia diali­tica, apos aplicacao de um programa de exerci­cios. Conclusao: Estes achados demonstram que o programa de exerci­cios tem uma resposta positiva, alem de ser seguro. Porem nota-se a necessidade de mais estudos para identificacao do momento ideal de realizacao do exerci­cio assim como o tipo de exerci­cio.Palavras-chave: exerci­cio fi­sico, doenca renal, hipertensao.
Efficacy of Fungicide Seed Treatments in Controlling Blackleg of Canola

The efficacy of five fungicide seed treatments as a management tool against blackleg on spring canola was evaluated under greenhouse and field conditions in North Dakota. Blackleg, caused by Leptos...
Contributions of Eosinophils to Human Health and Disease

The human eosinophil has long been thought to favorably influence innate mucosal immunity but at times has also been incriminated in disease pathophysiology. Research into eosinophil biology has uncovered a number of interesting contributions by eosinophils to health and disease. However, it appears that not all eosinophils from all species are created equal. It remains unclear, for example, exactly how having eosinophils benefits the human host when helminth infections in the developed world have become scarce. This review focuses on our current state of knowledge as it relates to human eosinophils. When information is lacking, we discuss lessons learned from mouse studies that may or may not directly apply to human biology and disease. It is an exciting time to be an "eosinophilosopher" because the use of biologic agents that selectively target eosinophils provides an unprecedented opportunity to define the contribution of this cell to eosinophil-associated human diseases.
Stand-Up Comedy and Mental Health: Critiquing the Troubled Stand-Up Stereotype

In “Stand-Up Comedy and Mental Health: Critiquing the Troubled Stand-Up Stereotype,” philosopher and amateur stand-up comedian Sheila Lintott analyzes the nature and critically evaluates the evidence for the stereotype that stand-up comedians are an extraordinarily troubled lot, arguing that the evidence does not support the truth of the stereotype. In addition, this chapter explores the roots of the stereotype in the mad genius stereotype familiar since at least the time of Plato; considers reasons for its perpetuation among the public, academia, and stand-ups themselves; and surveys the negative consequences of the troubled stand-up stereotype, including a tendency to downplay the role the working conditions, climate, and culture of stand-up comedy plays in creating or exacerbating any mental health, social, and addiction challenges faced by comedians.
Underwater noise impairs social communication during aggressive and reproductive encounters

Human-generated noise pollution is of global concern, as designated by the World Health Organization ( WHO, 2011 , Burden of disease from environmental noise: Quantification of healthy life years lost in Europe. https://www.who.int/quantifying_ehimpacts/publications/e94888/en/). Increases in shipping, sonar use, pile driving, and more have all contributed to a rise in ambient underwater sound levels. Unfortunately, continuous low-intensity sounds, like shipping noise, are pervasive in shallow-shore environments where many social species live and correspond to the frequency ranges at which many fishes produce and detect acoustic stimuli. Noise has the potential to alter the sender's production of the signal, mask the signal itself (if acoustic), or change the receiver's physiology. We hypothesized that continuous tonal noise would impair social interactions and communication. To test this, we used highly social African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, to examine inter- and intrasexual interactions that occurred in a control or noisy environment (pure tones of 100–2000 Hz). During reproductive interactions, we found that males changed the location of their courtship behaviours. Instead of producing courtship quivers (and associated sounds) immediately next to gravid females, males produced these behaviours inside their spawning shelter. This change in location decreases the likelihood of the female detecting it. Also detrimental to acoustic communication, we found that noise-exposed gravid females had lower hearing sensitivity at 100–200 Hz, a major component of male courtship sounds. In addition, males changed their visual displays during male–male territorial interactions such that they spent more time with their eyebar displayed, suggesting an increase in visual signalling. Together, these data indicate that noise may impact all three components of social communication: signal production, signal reception and the signal itself, and highlights a possible cross-modal impact of noise on visual signalling. Subtle changes to social behaviours and communication, rather than dramatic effects such as injury or mortality, are important to evaluating sublethal impacts of noise on reproductive success and species survival.
A novel approach to percutaneous aortic thrombectomy.

Abstract Aortic mural thrombus in the absence of underlying aortic disease is rare and results in a risk of distant arterial embolization that can result in limb loss or other end organ damage. Current management involves open surgery, anticoagulation, and systemic thrombolysis; however, each carries inherent risks. We report the case of aortic thrombus with distal emboli in two patients, a 56-year-old man and a 68-year-old man, neither with underlying aortic pathology and both presenting with limb threatening ischemia. We performed percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy using the FlowTriever System (Inari Medical, Irvine, Calif) with successful removal of the aortic thrombus in both patients.
Performative Auto/biography as Transgressive Archives

This chapter discusses the ways that the “outlaw” genres (Kaplan), like those of Hurston, Lorde, Allison, Johnson, and Lim, are archival acts, assigning significance to an individual life through highly stylized and subversive performative writing. By examining what each text does as much as what it says, the analyses in this project highlight the ways writers “write out of turn” and dismantle the power structures that serve to reify dominant narratives of self, women, and autobiography. For the analyses of this book, rhetorical performativity as an analytic provides insights into the rhetorical strategies of authors’ writing across genres and provides contexts for creating transgressive archives in life writing. This chapter addresses the theoretical implications of developments in auto/biography studies, such as research fragments of autobiography, that are important to the methodology of analysis in this book. This chapter also discusses the ways that new and emerging writers are building on the works of these writers, further challenging what it means to write autobiographically. Writers such as Maggie Nelson, Zadie Smith, Suzanne Scanlon, and Eve Ewing are among many contemporary writers performing innovative autobiographical writing right now.
Applications of Molecular Small-Animal Imaging in Oncology

Cancer research involves understanding biological events on a micromolecular level (e.g., gene expression) as well as macromolecular level (e.g., tumor phenotype). In vitro studies of cancer cells have identified many genetic, epigenetic, proteomic, and signalling pathway changes that contribute to the ability of the cancer cell to survive, grow uncontrollably, and escape death. In vivo studies of tumor cells serve to understand how the tumor phenotype is affected by these changes and interactions with the host environment. Small animal models of cancer have been routinely used to understand cancer biology, and molecular imaging provides a tool to observe these biological events non-invasively in vivo. Applications of molecular imaging for cancer detection, staging, and therapy in small animals are described in this chapter with a focus on molecular imaging probe design for targeting cancer, and use of imaging to develop, target and deliver cancer therapeutics. Preclinical in vivo molecular imaging research in small animals is and will continue to be an integral part of clinical oncology practices.
CHAPTER 10 – Heteropolysaccharides I: Glycoproteins and Glycolipids

This chapter focuses on glycoproteins, which are a wide range of compounds of diverse structure and function, and are components of cell membranes, intercellular matrices, and extracellular fluids, such as plasma. They occur in soluble and membrane-bound forms. The proportion of carbohydrates varies considerably in glycoproteins derived from different tissues or from various sources. Glycoproteins containing high amounts of carbohydrate include glycophorin, a membrane constituent of human erythrocytes, and soluble blood group substances. In glycoproteins, the protein and the carbohydrate residues are bound in covalent linkage. The amino acid residue that participates in the N-glycosidic linkage is asparagine, and the amino acid residues that participate in O-glycosidic linkage are serine, threonine, hydroxylysine, and hydroxyproline. The glycoproteins exhibit microheterogeneity, which arises from incomplete synthesis or partial degradation and poses problems in the purification and characterization of glycoproteins. The monosaccharides are hexoses and their derivatives pentoses, and sialic acids derived from neuraminic acid, a nine-carbon sugar. The most common type of sialic acid is N-acetylneuraminic acid. In all glycoproteins, the polypeptide component is synthesized first on the membrane-bound ribosomes of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and then the carbohydrate side chains are added during passage through the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. The carbohydrate additions involve specific glycosyltransferases and their substrates and, in some glycoproteins, an oligosaccharide carrier known as dolichol. Glycoproteins can also be formed by addition of carbohydrate residues without any of the complex enzymatic pathways of carbohydrate addition.
Surface and cytoskeletal markers of rostrocaudal position in the mammalian nervous system

To identify cell surface molecules that define position in the mammalian nervous system, we previously characterized the binding of two monoclonal antibodies, ROCA1 and ROCA2, to adult rat sympathetic ganglia and intercostal nerves. The binding of ROCA1 is highest in rostral ganglia and nerves and declines in a graded manner in the caudal segments. ROCA2 labels the same cells in ganglia and nerves as ROCA1, but not in a position-selective manner. We now show by immunoblot analysis that ROCA1 recognizes two antigens in membrane/cytoskeletal fractions of peripheral nerves and ganglia: (1) a Triton X-100-insoluble, 60 kDa protein and (2) a Triton x-100- insoluble, 26 kDa protein. The 60 kDa protein is expressed at higher levels in rostral than in caudal intercostal nerves, and is identified as the intermediate filament protein peripherin. In contrast, it is the ROCA1 epitope on the 26 kDa protein, and not the protein itself, that is preferentially visualized immunohistochemically in rostral nerves and ganglia. We suggest that the ROCA1 epitope on the 26 kDa protein is masked in sections of caudal nerves and ganglia. Amino acid sequence data obtained from the affinity-purified 26 kDa protein indicate significant homology with human CD9, a cell surface protein implicated in intercellular signaling in hematopoietic cells. These results suggest that intermediate filament gene expression and epitope masking on the cell surface may be involved in functions related to position in the nervous system.
Discrepancy between Gauges and Satellite Estimates of Rainfall in Equatorial Africa

Abstract The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) satellite estimates have approximately twice the magnitude of estimates produced from the rain gauges used by the GPCP in central equatorial Africa. Different possible explanations are identified and investigated. The first is that there may not be enough GPCP rain gauges in the area to provide accurate estimates of rainfall for comparisons with satellite estimates. A comparison of the time-averaged GPCP rain gauge estimate with a long-term (over 40 yr) climatology indicates that the GPCP gauge estimates are similar to long-term rainfall averages, suggesting that the GPCP rain gauge analysis is not underestimating rainfall. Two other possible explanations related to the physical properties of the air masses in this region are studied. Evidence from the literature and from estimates of the effective radii of cloud droplets suggests that there may be an abundance of aerosols in central Africa, resulting in an abundance of cloud condensation nuclei...
The real problem of bridging the semantic gap

The "semantic gap" is a well-know problem in multimedia. The challenge is to accurately classify and effectively search multimedia content from automatically extracted low-level audio-visual features. While much effort is focused on developing the best machine learning approaches, not enough attention is placed on the required semantic coverage and the real utility of the classifiers in multimedia systems. Exacerbating the problem is the tremendous dearth of reliable training data across the diversity of semantics required for effective multimedia search in practice. Until we address the problems of what classifiers are needed in the large scale and how they can be sufficiently trained, research on bridging the "semantic gap" will not produce any real impact.
Success, strategy and skill: an experimental study

In many AI settings an agent is comprised of both action-planning and action-execution components. We examine the relationship between the precision of the execution component, the intelligence of the planning component, and the overall success of the agent. Our motivation lies in determining whether higher execution skill rewards more strategic playing. We present a computational billiards framework in which the interaction between skill and strategy can be experimentally investigated. By comparing the performance of different agents with varying levels of skill and strategic intelligence we show that intelligent planning can contribute most to an agent's success when that agent has imperfect skill.
Disentangling above- and below-ground competition between lianas and trees in a tropical forest

1 Light is thought to be the most limiting resource in tropical forests, and thus aboveground competition is commonly accepted as the mechanism that structures these communities. In many tropical forests, trees compete not only with other trees, but also with lianas, which compete aggressively for below-ground resources and thus may limit tree growth and regeneration. 2 Using a replicated experiment, we tested the relative strengths of above- and belowground competition from lianas on tree saplings in a disturbed forest in Cote d?Ivoire with a heterogeneous canopy and relatively high light penetration. We planted seedlings of three tree species and subjected them to below-ground competition with lianas (BGC), above- and below-ground competition with lianas (ABGC), or a liana-free control treatment. After 2 years, we harvested the saplings and compared the amount of above-ground biomass and its relative allocation among the three experimental treatments and different tree species. 3 Lianas competed intensely with saplings in this tropical forest, substantially limiting sapling growth. Saplings grown in the ABGC and BGC treatments had only 18.5% and 16.8% of the above-ground dry biomass of those grown in the liana-free control treatment. 4 Sapling biomass did not differ significantly among the ABGC and BGC treatments, suggesting that below-ground competition was the driving force behind liana vs. tree competition in this forest. Above-ground competition with lianas, however, did affect the allocation of biomass in saplings, resulting in shorter, thicker stems and a poorly developed crown. 5 Collectively, our findings suggest that below-ground competition with lianas plays a substantial role in limiting the growth of saplings in disturbed and secondary tropical forests, and above-ground effects may be due to a combination of above-ground competition and mechanical stress. 6 Disentangling above- and below-ground competition between lianas and trees is critical for a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of naturally regenerating tropical forests, as well as formulating successful management plans for sustainable timber harvest. Key-words: above-ground, below-ground, competition, Cote d?Ivoire, forest regeneration, lianas, trees, tropical forest
Neural maps of head movement vector and speed in the optic tectum of the barn owl

1. This study investigates the contribution of the optic tectum in encoding the metric and kinetic properties of saccadic head movements. We describe the dependence of head movement components (size, direction, and speed) on parameters of focal electrical stimulation of the barn owl's optic tectum. The results demonstrate that both the site and the amount of activity can influence head saccade metrics and kinetics. 2. Electrical stimulation of the owl's optic tectum elicited rapid head movements that closely resembled natural head movements made in response to auditory and visual stimuli. The kinetics of these movements were similar to those of saccadic eye movements in primates. 3. The metrics and kinetics of head movements evoked from any given site depended strongly on stimulus parameters. Movement duration increased with stimulus duration, as did movement size. Both the size and the maximum speed of the movement increased to a plateau value with current strength and pulse rate. Movement direction was independent of stimulus parameters. 4. The initial position of the head influenced the size, direction, and speed of movements evoked from any given site: when the owl initially faced away from the direction of the induced saccade, the movement was larger and faster than when the owl initially faced toward the direction of the induced movement. 5. A characteristic movement of particular size, direction, and speed could be defined for each site by the use of stimulation parameters that elicited plateau movements with normal kinetic profiles and by having the head initially centered on the body. The size, direction, and speed of these characteristic movements varied systematically with the site of stimulation across the tectum. The map of head movement vector (size and direction) was aligned with the sensory representations of visual and auditory space, such that the movement elicited from a given site when the owl initially faced straight ahead brought the owl to face that region of space represented by the sensory responses of the neurons at the site of stimulation. 6. The results imply that both the site and the amount of neural activity in the optic tectum contribute to encoding the metrics and kinetics of saccadic movements. A comparison of the present findings with previous studies on saccadic eye movements in primates and combined eye and head movements in cats suggests striking similarities in the ways in which tectal activity specifies a redirection in gaze to such dissimilar motor effectors as the eyes and head.
A comparative study of methods for estimating query language models with pseudo feedback

We systematically compare five representative state-of-the-art methods for estimating query language models with pseudo feedback in ad hoc information retrieval, including two variants of the relevance language model, two variants of the mixture feedback model, and the divergence minimization estimation method. Our experiment results show that a variant of relevance model and a variant of the mixture model tend to outperform other methods. We further propose several heuristics that are intuitively related to the good retrieval performance of an estimation method, and show that the variations in how these heuristics are implemented in different methods provide a good explanation of many empirical observations.
X-Eye: A reference format for eye tracking data to facilitate analyses across databases

Datasets of images annotated with eye tracking data constitute important ground truth for the development of saliency models, which have applications in many areas of electronic imaging. While comparisons and reviews of saliency models abound, similar comparisons among the eye tracking databases themselves are rare. In an earlier paper, we reviewed the content and purpose of over two dozen databases available in the public domain and discussed their commonalities and differences. A major issue is that the formats of the various datasets vary a lot owing to the nature of tools used for eye movement recordings, and often specialized code is required to use the data for further analysis. In this paper, we therefore propose a common reference format for eye tracking data, together with conversion routines for 16 existing image eye tracking databases to that format. Furthermore, we conduct a few analyses on these datasets as examples of what X-Eye facilitates.
Methyl and t-butyl reorientation in an organic molecular solid

We have determined the molecular and crystal structure of 4,5-dibromo-2,7-di-t-butyl-9,9-dimethylxanthene and measured the (1)H spin-lattice relaxation rate from 87 to 270K at NMR frequencies of omega/2pi=8.50, 22.5, and 53.0MHz. All molecules in the crystal see the same intra and intermolecular environment and the repeating unit is half a molecule. We have extended models developed for (1)H spin-lattice relaxation resulting from the reorientation of a t-butyl group and its constituent methyl groups to include these rotors and the 9-methyl groups. The relaxation rate data is well-fitted assuming that the t-butyl groups and all three of their constituent methyl groups, as well as the 9-methyl groups all reorient with an NMR activation energy of 15.8+/-1.6kJmol(-1) corresponding to a barrier of 17.4+/-3.2kJmol(-1). Only intramethyl and intra-t-butyl intermethyl spin-spin interactions need be considered. A unique random-motion Debye (or BPP) spectral density will not fit the data for any reasonable choice of parameters. A distribution of activation energies is required.
Development of two ELISA for estrogen and progesterone receptor with sufficient sensitivity for fine needle aspirate and core biopsy.

The quantitative determination of estrogen and progesterone receptors (PR and ER) in breast tumor cytosol has been routinely performed in clinical laboratories to aid in the selection between hormonal and chemotherapy and also to predict prognosis. However, the small amount of tissue available from the increasingly popular fine-needle aspiration and core biopsies from breast cancer patients requires more sensitive immunoassays for receptor quantification. We have developed two sensitive immuno-assays for ER and PR on microplate with the use of recently available anti-ER and anti-PR antibodies of higher affinity and a powerful signal magnification agent, namely Amdex. The calibrator was a pooled breast tumor cytosol used as calibrator and calibrated against Abbott kits. The protein concentration of the cytosol and the upper normal cutoffs for our assays were reduced to approximately 0.2 mg/mL and 3 fmol/0.2 mg/mL, respectively. Both assays have sensitivities close to 1 fmol/mL, which are sufficiently sensitive for the receptor quantification in fine-needle aspiration biopsies and cord biopsies of breast tumor. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 15:138–143, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Tissue-engineered spinal cord.

LIMITED SUCCESS has been reported in restoring function to spinal cord-injured rodents. Lower limb paralysis caused by complete spinal cord transection in neonatal rats less than 14 days of age may resolve, presumably because of the plasticity of the still-developing central nervous system (CNS). Less success has been achieved in functional repair of the injured adult spinal cord. Implants of immobilized nerve growth factor (NGF) appear to enhance the regrowth of ascending sensory axons across spinal cord gaps in adult rats. Limited but progressive improvement (over a 6-month period) of hind limb function in spinal cord-transected adult rats has been observed over a 6-month period after bridging the transected cord with multiple intercostal nerve grafts. In addition, much has been learned recently about the biology of stem cells. Stem cells isolated from the brain and the spinal cord of both neonatal and adult mice reportedly retain the potential to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Undifferentiated stem cells have been reported to propagate in culture by adding epidermal growth factor (EGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to the growth medium. Recent reports suggest that transplantation of immortalized neuronal stem cells into the spinal cord and cerebral cortex led to differentiation of such cells into site-specific neuronal and glial cells and also some functional recovery of the associated defects seen in spinal cord injury, Sly disease, and the myelin degenerative disorder found in the shiverer (shi) mouse. Thus, neuronal stem cells propagated in vitro appear to retain the developmental plasticity necessary to respond to local environmental cues. We postulated that resected segments of the spinal cord could be regenerated in adult rats by implanting spinal cord progenitor cells associated with an appropriate scaffolding or matrix.
The effect of mannosamine on the formation of lipid-linked oligosaccharides and glycoproteins in canine kidney cells

Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells normally form lipid-linked oligosaccharides having mostly the Glc3Man9GlcNAc2 oligosaccharide. However, when MDCK cells are incubated in 1 to 10 mM mannosamine and labeled with [2-3H]mannose, the major oligosaccharides associated with the dolichol were Man5GlcNAc2 and Man6GlcNAc2 structures. Since both of these oligosaccharides were susceptible to digestion by endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H, the Man5GlcNAc2 must be different in structure than the Man5GlcNAc2 usually found as a biosynthetic intermediate in the lipid-linked oligosaccharides. Methylation analysis also indicated that this Man5GlcNAc2 contained 1----3 linked mannose residues. Since pulse chase studies indicated that the lesion was in biosynthesis, it appears that mannosamine inhibits the in vivo formation of lipid-linked oligosaccharides perhaps by inhibiting the alpha-1,2-mannosyl transferases. Although the lipid-linked oligosaccharides produced in the presence of mannosamine were smaller in size than those of control cells and did not contain glucose, the oligosaccharides were still transferred in vivo to protein. Furthermore, the oligosaccharide portions of the glycoproteins were still processed as shown by the fact that the glycopeptides were of the complex and hybrid types and were labeled with [3H]mannose or [3H]galactose. In contrast, control cells produced complex and high-mannose structures but no hybrid oligosaccharides were detected. The inhibition by mannosamine could be overcome by adding high concentrations of glucose to the medium.
Staurosporine inhibits the extent of acetylcholine receptor recovery from carbachol-induced desensitization in snake twitch fibres.

1. The effect of the protein kinase inhibitor, staurosporine, on the extent and time course of recovery following carbachol-induced desensitization was studied in snake twitch-muscle fibres maintained in an isotonic potassium propionate solution and voltage-clamped to +30 mV. 2. Pretreatment with staurosporine (0.5 microM) decreased the extent of recovery of spontaneous miniature endplate current (m.e.p.c.) amplitudes following desensitization by a sustained application of 540 microM carbachol. Recovery was inhibited by approximately 50% without altering the time course of m.e.p.c. recovery. 3. Staurosporine also produced a concentration-dependent (10 nM to 0.5 microM) decrease in the amplitude of a second carbachol-induced current, following a wash period, as compared to the amplitude of the current produced by the initial carbachol application. Pretreatment with 0.5 microM K252a, another wide spectrum protein kinase inhibitor, also decreased the extent of recovery of the response to a second carbachol application following desensitization. 4. Staurosporine pretreatment (0.5 microM) had no effect on either the kinetics of receptor-channel gating or the initial endplate sensitivity to agonist. This was determined by comparing the amplitude of the carbachol (540 microM)-induced currents and the amplitude and decay rate of m.e.p.cs in control and staurosporine-treated fibres. 5. Staurosporine had no effect on the time course of desensitization onset produced during the initial application of 540 microM carbachol or the depth of desensitization produced by the end of a 2-3 min exposure to 540 microM carbachol.6. Elevation of the external calcium concentration from 1 to 10mM during the 540 microM carbachol application completely antagonized the decreased extent of recovery of m.e.p.c. amplitude produced by pretreatment with 0.5 microM staurosporine.7. We suggest that phosphorylation of a population of acetylcholine receptors is required for complete recovery from desensitization, and that staurosporine inhibits the protein kinases responsible for this phosphorylation.8. We further propose that a transient increase in intracellular calcium, produced by an increase in calcium influx through agonist-activated endplate channels, stimulates additional protein kinase activity, which in turn, antagonizes the effect of staurosporine-treatment on recovery.
Asymptotic P N -Equivalent S N+1 Equations

The 1-D one-speed slab-geometry P N equations with isotropic scattering can be modified via an alternative moment closure to preserve the two asymptotic eigenmodes associated with the transport equation. Pomraning referred to these equations as the asymptotic P N equations. It is well-known that the 1-D slab-geometry S N+1 equations with Gauss quadrature are equivalent to the standard P N equations. In this article, we first show that if any quadrature set meets a certain criterion, the corresponding S N+1 equations will be equivalent to a set of P N equations with a quadrature-dependent closure. We then derive a particular family of quadrature sets that make the S N+1 equations equivalent to the asymptotic P N equations. Next we theoretically demonstrate several of the properties of these sets, relate them to an existing family of quadratures, numerically generate several example quadrature sets, and give numerical results that confirm several of their theoretically predicted properties.
Cellular interactions determine neuronal phenotypes in rodent retinal cultures.

Progenitor cells isolated from early rat embryo retinas differentiate into phenotypes normally generated early in retinal development (e.g., ganglion cells), whereas progenitors isolated from postnatal retinas differentiate into later-generated retinal cell types (e.g., rod photoreceptors; Reh and Kljavin, J. Neurosci. 9:4179-4189; 1989; Adler and Hatlee, 1989; Science 243:391-393; Sparrow, Hicks, and Barnstable, 1990, Dev. Brain Res. 51:69-84). To determine whether this change in committment is intrinsic to the progenitor cells, or alternatively can be modified by interactions with their developing environment, I co-cultured mouse and rat retinal cells, from different developmental stages, and identified the resulting phenotypes with species-specific and cell class-specific antibodies. I found that the phenotypes into which mouse neuroepithelial cells differentiate depends on the phenotypes of the rat cells that surround them. Retinal precursor cells from embryonic day (E) 10-12 will adopt the rod photoreceptor phenotype only when close to cells expressing this phenotype. By contrast, when the E10-12 retinal progenitor cells are cultured with cells from the cerebral cortex, they differentiate primarily into large multipolar neurons, similar in their morphology and antigen expression to retinal ganglion cells. These results indicate that interactions among the cells of the developing retina are important in the determination of cell fate.