Stromal control of oncogenic traits expressed in response to the overexpression of GLI2, a pleiotropic oncogene.

Hedgehog signaling is often activated in tumors, yet it remains unclear how GLI2, a transcription factor activated by this pathway, acts as an oncogene. We show that GLI2 is a pleiotropic oncogene. The overexpression induces genomic instability and blocks differentiation, likely mediated in part by enhanced expression of the stem cell gene SOX2. GLI2 also induces transforming growth factor (TGF)B1-dependent transdifferentiation of foreskin and tongue, but not gingival fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, creating an environment permissive for invasion by keratinocytes, which are in various stages of differentiation having downregulated GLI2. Thus, upregulated GLI2 expression is sufficient to induce a number of the acquired characteristics of tumor cells; however, the stroma, in a tissue-specific manner, determines whether certain GLI2 oncogenic traits are expressed

Content-Based Video Retrieval in Historical Collections of the German Broadcasting Archive

The German Broadcasting Archive (DRA) maintains the cultural heritage of radio and television broadcasts of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). The uniqueness and importance of the video material stimulates a large scientific interest in the video content. In this paper, we present an automatic video analysis and retrieval system for searching in historical collections of GDR television recordings. It consists of video analysis algorithms for shot boundary detection, concept classification, person recognition, text recognition and similarity search. The performance of the system is evaluated from a technical and an archival perspective on 2,500 hours of GDR television recordings.Comment: TPDL 2016, Hannover, Germany. Final version is available at Springer via DO

Flume studies using medium sand (0.45mm)

CER58DBS2.Includes bibliographical references.The results pertaining to the progress during the first year of a comprehensive study of fluvial hydraulics, specifically roughness in alluvial channels, are presented. The report is based on the data collected by using a recirculating rectangular flume of adjustable slope, 8 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and 150 feet long with an alluvial bed of sand approximately 0. 7 foot deep. A typical river sand has been utilized. Its median diameter, d, is 0.45 mm and its relative standard deviation, σ, is 1.60. A total of 45 runs have been completed over a range of bed roughness forms extending from the plane bed with no movement to antidunes. In order to achieve this range, the discharge was varied from 2 to 21 cubic feet per second, the average velocity was varied from 0.5 to 7 feet per second, the average depth of flow was varied from 0.3 to 1.0 foot, and the slope of water surface was varied from 0.00014 to 0.01. Other variables measured included: water temperature, bed roughness, suspended sediment load, and total sediment load. Terms describing channel roughness were formulated and tested based on the data collected. The results indicate, as one possibility, that the Chezy coefficient of discharge in dimensionless form C/√g is a function of parameters involving the Froude number, viscosity of fluid, fall velocity, specific weight of the sediment, median diameter of the sediment particles and slope of the water surface. The various expressions presented were formulated on the fundamental concepts of fluid mechanics, dimensional analysis, and a detailed study of the variations of the variables measured. In the two regimes of flow the following forms of bed roughness were observed. For tranquil flow regime: plane bed without movement, ripples, dunes and transition from dunes to rapid flow forms. For rapid flow regime: plane bed with movement, standing sand waves, and antidunes. These forms of bed roughness are discussed and defined in various relationships. Other data of both a laboratory and a field nature were combined with the flume data to develop a graphical relationship in which the form of bed roughness is related to size of bed material

An objective method for determining principal time scales of coherent eddy structures using orthonormal wavelets

A new, parameter-free method, based on orthonormal wavelet expansions is proposed for calculating the principal time scale of coherent structures in atmospheric surface layer measurements. These organized events play an important role in the exchange of heat, mass, and momentum between the land and the atmosphere. This global technique decomposes the energy contribution at each scale into organized and random eddy motion. The method is demonstrated on vertical wind velocity measurements above bare and vegetated surfaces. It is found to give nearly identical results to a local thresholding approach developed for signal de-noising that assigns the wavelet coecients to organized and random motion. The eect of applying anti-and/or near-symmetrical wavelet basis functions is also investigated.

Grasslands of the Great Plains: Their Nature and Use

This book is the result of a long-felt need by the authors and their students for a comprehensive survey of the numerous studies that have been made on plains grasslands. From southern Texas far into Saskatchewan the mid and short grasses form a magnificent prairie nearly 2,500 miles in length and approximately 400 miles wide. Kinds of communities, their composition, nature, significance and uses are fully described. Such information is of value not only to students, range technicians, and other professional conservationists, but also to ranchers and other land owners-in fact, to anyone interested in the economy of our midwestern grasslands. The damaging effects of drought on forage production in this unstable climate and the restoration of the plant cover are of such great importance that they have been given special attention. Climate, soils, and. the proper use of the forage for its sustained production are described. A third of a century of study and experimentation in plains grassland by the authors permits accurate description and interpretation. Important studies that have been made on the vegetation since the coming of the white man to the present day are reviewed. Early investigations have been recorded in papers, bulletins and books, many of which are now out of print or difficult of access. Therefore permission was asked and promptly given by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Duke University Press, Ecological Monographs, Ecology, and several other journals to re-use materials originally furnished by the authors. Such sources are carefully cited in the text. Only by such cooperation has this book been made possible. This great prairie land has been thoroughly examined as to its way of life both above ground and deep into the soil, which it has helped to build and so efficiently protects. Extensive, long-time investigations have elucidated many problems. The scope of the work has been broadened and deepened by the aid of a large number of advanced students who have sought graduate study in this field. To them, many of whom are today leaders in conservation of range management or in teaching a new generation of students the values of ecology in our economy, we are deeply grateful for their interest and cooperation. Two of them are so familiar with the grasslands of Texas and New Mexico, respectively, that each has contributed a chapter to this book. Both common and scientific names of grasses are according to Hitchcock and Chase (1950) revised Manual of the Grasses of the United States. Other scientific names follow Gleason\u27s New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora (1952) or Harrington\u27s Manual of the Plants of Colorado (1954). Common names are nearly all according to the second edition (1913) of Britton and Brown or the second edition of Standardized Plant Names (1942). 404 page

Statistics in the Jury Box: How Jurors Respond to Mitochondrial DNA Match Probabilities

This article describes parts of an unusually realistic experiment on the comprehension of expert testimony on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing in a criminal trial for robbery. Specifically, we examine how jurors who responded to summonses for jury duty evaluated portions of videotaped testimony involving probabilities and statistics. Although some jurors showed susceptibility to classic fallacies in interpreting conditional probabilities, the jurors as a whole were not overwhelmed by a 99.98% exclusion probability that the prosecution presented. Cognitive errors favoring the defense were more prevalent than ones favoring the prosecution. These findings lend scant support to the legal argument that mtDNA evidence (with modest exclusion probabilities) should be excluded because jurors are prone to overvalue such evidence. The article also introduces a new method for inferring the perceived probability of guilt that satisfies the burden of persuasion for most jurors

Testing Jury Reforms

DNA evidence has become a key law enforcement tool and is increasingly presented in criminal trials in Delaware and elsewhere. The integrity of the criminal trial process turns upon the jury\u27s ability to understand DNA evidence and to evaluate properly the testimony of experts. How well do they do? Can we assist them in the process

Science in the Jury Box: Jurors\u27 Views and Understanding of Mitochondrial DNA Evidence

This article describes parts of an unusually realistic experiment on the comprehension of expert testimony on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing in a criminal trial for robbery. Specifically, we examine how jurors who responded to summonses for jury duty evaluated portions of videotaped testimony involving probabilities and statistics. Although some jurors showed susceptibility to classic fallacies in interpreting conditional probabilities, the jurors as a whole were not overwhelmed by a 99.98% exclusion probability that the prosecution presented. Cognitive errors favoring the defense were more prevalent than ones favoring the prosecution. These findings lend scant support to the legal argument that mtDNA evidence (with modest exclusion probabilities) should be excluded because jurors are prone to overvalue such evidence. The article also introduces a new method for inferring the perceived probability of guilt that satisfies the burden of persuasion for most jurors