Social Media Adoption Among Small-Market Mississippi Newspapers

This study attempts to examine the attitudes, application and results of Mississippi newspapers’ and others’ use of social media. The goals are to determine the worth of social media to Mississippi newspapers, and to try to identify if there is any anecdotal or other information linking the use of social media to increased readership (print or electronic) and ad sales. Additional goals are to identify if there are any innovative or creative ways newspapers are utilizing social media so that these methods may be employed by other newspapers. The diffusion of innovations theory is an important aspect of this study, and is inherent in much of the survey questions and results collected. The final goal of the study is to determine a general sense of the worth of social media expressed in the attitudes of various Mississippi newspaper personnel. The study was conducted via a Qualtrics survey distributed directly to 33 Mississippi newspaper editors and reporters, and via invitation on various listservs and social media platforms. There were 68 responses. The study found that despite the perception that the adoption of social media platforms by newspapers had no tangible effect upon either advertising sales nor circulation, newspapers are generally satisfied with their use of social media and are applying these platforms in new and creative ways. This study is important because prior to this date, no such research has been conducted specifically pertaining to Mississippi newspapers

Effects of Planting Depth of Soybean (Glycine Max) on Growth and Development

Effects of Planting Depth of Soybean (Glycine max) on Growth and Development Hutson School of Agriculture, Murray, KY Mentor: Dr. Megan Taylor Hannah DeJournett, Mallory White, Mason Welden The objective of this study was to examine the effects of soybean (Glycine max) seed placement on growth and development. Several abiotic and biotic factors influence germination and emergence, planting depth is no exception. Planting depth is a management practice that can be controlled at the time of planting, making it an ideal candidate for experimentation. To determine the effect of planting depth on soybeans, soybeans were established at different depths. Previous studies have shown that a seeding depth of 1.57 inches (4.0 cm) had a positive impact on the morphological development of soybean plants (Limede et al). To determine the optimal range for soybean placement, plants were evaluated at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 inch seeding depths. The effect that depth has on soybeans was found via the monitoring of emergence, plant height, and growth stage. A randomized complete block design was utilized for this study. Data was collected 3, 6, 9, and 13 days after planting. ANOVA and t-tests assuming unequal variances were used to compare relationships between depth, germination, and development. Time was identified as a significant factor for both growth and development. Overall, from the data that was collected and analyzed, there were no significant differences found regarding the impact of planting depth of soybeans on growth and emergence. Within the fourteen day span of this experiment, no distinct differences could be identified. In production agriculture, soybeans are planted within a large window of depths depending on soil moisture and planting date. From this research, planting depth does not affect emergence or the initial growth of soybeans. It’s been concluded that there would be reason to believe that extending this experiment\u27s timeline could yield significant results relating to the original question of seeding depth and growth and development. Relevant words: planting depth, Glycine max, emergenc

Authentication Based on Periocular Biometrics and Skin Tone

Face images with masks have a major effect on the identification and authentication of people with masks covering key facial features such as noses and mouths. In this paper, we propose to use periocular region and skin tone for authenticating users with masked faces. We first extract the periocular region of faces with masks, then detect the skin tone for each face. We then train models using machine learning algorithms Random Forest, XGBoost, and Decision Trees using skin tone information and perform classification on two datasets. Experiment results show these models had good performance

Investigating the Existence of Word Callers

Numerous investigations of reading ability have identified students who demonstrate adequate oral reading fluency rates but fail to reflect understanding on measures of reading comprehension (Buly & Valencia, 2002; Catts, Compton, Tomblin, & Bridges, 2012; Hamilton & Shinn, 2003; Jenkins, Hudson, & Johnson, 2007; Jorm, 1983; Meisinger, Bradley, Schwanenflugel, Kuhn, & Morris, 2009; Morris, 1998; Torppa et al., 2007). This group of struggling readers is sometimes referred to as word callers; however, there has been debate among scholars (Hamilton & Shinn, 2003; Stanovich, 1993) regarding whether such a group exists, if the term is a misnomer (Spencer, Quinn, & Wagner, 2014), or if the label is too broad (Stanovich, 1993). Word callers are typically defined by their performance on two factors, reading fluency and reading comprehension. So far, researchers have mainly focused on data from common, universal assessments to determine the existence of word callers. In this investigation data-mining techniques were used to determine if word callers exist among a sample of first through fourth grade students attending a Tennessee school district. Identification was based on criteria requiring a reading fluency score that is a minimum of 14.04 Normal Curve Equivalent points greater than a student’s reading comprehension score. A small number of word callers were identified using a single assessment, the STAR-Reading Assessment (Renaissance Learning, Inc., 2015), which includes both reading fluency and reading comprehension scores. Instructional implications of this research are important, as the earlier that word callers are identified, the easier their challenges are to remediate (Catts, 1997; Johnson, Jenkins, Petscher, & Catts, 2009; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Torgesen, 2002)

Xp95 is phosphorylated within the proline rich domain during Xenopus oocyte maturation

Xp95 is the Xenopus ortholog of a conserved family of scaffold proteins that have in common an N-terminal Bro1 domain and a C-terminal proline rich domain (PRD). The regulation of this protein family is poorly understood. We previously showed that Xp95 undergoes a phosphorylation-dependant gel mobility shift during meiotic maturation of Xenopus oocytes, the only natural biological system in which post-translational modifications of this family has been demonstrated. Here we characterized Xp95 phosphorylation via two approaches. First, we tested a series of Xp95 fragments for the ability to gel-shift during oocyte maturation, and found that a fragment containing amino acids 705-786 is sufficient to cause a gel-shift. This fragment is within the N-terminal region of Xp95\u27s PRD (N-PRD). Second, we purified phosphorylated Xp95 and by mass spectrometry found that a 5080 Da peptide which maps to N-PRD (amino acids 706-756) contains two phosphorylation sites, one of which is T745, within the conserved CIN85 binding motif. By in vitro protein interaction assays, we that T745 is critical for CIN85/Xp95 interaction, and that Xp95 phosphorylation correlates with loss of binding to CIN85. We also show that an Alix fragment (amino acids 604-789) also undergoes a gel-shift during oocyte maturation and during colcemid-induced mitotic arrest of HeLa cells. These findings indicate that Xp95/Alix is phosphorylated on the PRD during M phase induction and that the PRD phosphorylation regulates partner protein interaction

The Pride of the South 1928-2014: The Ole Miss Band, A History

Founded in 1928, the University of Mississippi Marching Band, The Pride of the South, has entertained audiences throughout the South for almost ninety years. This book recalls the history of the group throughout its various eras and eleven directors, including photographs.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/libarts_book/1052/thumbnail.jp

SmartCGMS jako prostředí pro vývoj inzulinové pumpy v rámci in-silico pre-klinických testů akceptovaných FDA

Diabetes je civilizační choroba. Projevuje se zvýšenou hladinou glukózy v krvi. V dlouhodobém měřítku zvýšená hladina glukózy progresivně poškozuje orgány. V krátkodobém měřítku jsou komplikacemi hypo- a hyper-glykémie. Inzulin snižuje hladinu glukózy v krvi tím, že podporuje její utilizaci. Inzulinová pumpa dávkuje nastavenou rychlostí bazální inzulin do podkoží, aby regulovala hladinu glukózy v krvi. Pacient navíc dávkuje bolusový inzulin v závislosti na odhadnutém množství karbohydrátů v konzumovaném jídle. Regulátor inzulinové pumpy bere bolusový inzulin v potaz při stanovení bazálních dávek. V naší předcházející práci jsme navrhli paralelní architekturu pro monitorování a regulaci glukózy – SmartCGMS. Sjednocuje zdrojový kód a paradigma napříč reálnými, simulovanými a prototypovanými zařízeními. S postupujícím vývojem, zejména v oblasti regulačních algortmů, je nutné redukovat nároky SmartCGMS se zohledněním nízkopříkonových zařízení. V tomto článku představujeme úpravy, které vedly k redukování paralelizmu a implementaci uzavřené smyčky mezi senzorem a inzulinovou pumpou. S těmito úpravami je nyní možné provést pre-klinické testy s modely schválenými autoritou FDA.Diabetes is a widespread civilization disease. It manifests with an elevated blood glucose level. In the long-term, elevated blood glucose level continuously damages organs. In the short-term, hypo- and hyperglycemia are acute complications. Insulin lowers blood glucose level by promoting its utilization. At basal rate, insulin pump delivers insulin to subcutaneous tissue to control blood glucose level. In addition, patient doses insulin boluses in accordance with estimated carbohydrate content of consumed meal. Control algorithm of the pump considers the boluses, when calculating the basal rate. In our previous work, we have proposed a parallel-architecture for the next-generation of glucose monitoring - SmartCGMS. It unifies the source-code base and the glucose-monitoring-and-control paradigm across real, simulated and prototyped devices. As the development continues, especially towards the pump-control algorithms, we face a problem of reducing the SmartCGMS requirements when considering a low-power hardware. In this paper, we present the modifications that lead to a reduced number of threads, while implementing the closed-loop feedback between a glucose sensor and insulin pump to conduct FDA accepted in-silico pre-clinical trials