Jackson State University's Center for Spatial Data Research and Applications: New facilities and new paradigms

Jackson State University recently established the Center for Spatial Data Research and Applications, a Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing laboratory. Taking advantage of new technologies and new directions in the spatial (geographic) sciences, JSU is building a Center of Excellence in Spatial Data Management. New opportunities for research, applications, and employment are emerging. GIS requires fundamental shifts and new demands in traditional computer science and geographic training. The Center is not merely another computer lab but is one setting the pace in a new applied frontier. GIS and its associated technologies are discussed. The Center's facilities are described. An ARC/INFO GIS runs on a Vax mainframe, with numerous workstations. Image processing packages include ELAS, LIPS, VICAR, and ERDAS. A host of hardware and software peripheral are used in support. Numerous projects are underway, such as the construction of a Gulf of Mexico environmental data base, development of AI in image processing, a land use dynamics study of metropolitan Jackson, and others. A new academic interdisciplinary program in Spatial Data Management is under development, combining courses in Geography and Computer Science. The broad range of JSU's GIS and remote sensing activities is addressed. The impacts on changing paradigms in the university and in the professional world conclude the discussion

Escape from the List: Courage, Sacrifice, Survival

Anne Frank has been described as Hitler’s most famous victim. By virtue of her diary, which was in fact a heavily revised memoir that today might be considered to belong to the genre of creative non-fiction, Anne Frank has attained a kind of immortality that the art form of writing frequently provides. This should not, of course, trivialize her fate, nor the suffering of the multitudes of other victims of the Nazi regime, a group comprised of Jews, as well as non-Jews. Some of these stories have been told in great detail, while many others have not. What follows is the story of Elisabeth Rodrigues Lopes de la Peña, a Jewish girl whose family had fled the Spanish Inquisition to settle in the Netherlands. During the German occupation of Amsterdam during the Second World War, this family faced yet another existential threat, one that some of them did not survive. Elisabeth may well have ended up as yet one more entry in the long list of the Nazi’s victims, if not for the intervention and courageous efforts of her non-Jewish neighbors—efforts that were based in large part on their own deeply held religious beliefs and sense of morals. Elisabeth’s rescuers are known to Holocaust historians, and their names are enshrined in the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Israel, as well as in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Along with my Research Assistant Angelica Roman, I have conducted personal meetings and interviews with Elisabeth’s daughter, Carolyn Stewart. Ms. Stewart has graciously shared many heretofore unknown details of her mother’s story of rescue, as well as photographs and documents, including some that have been unseen by anyone in over sixty years. What follows is new insight into Elisabeth Rodrigues’ escape from the list: a true story of courage, sacrifice, and survival. I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance and support of the following people: Jennifer Crespo, Student Success Coordinator at Pace University in New York City, who generously provided funding for this project as part of the Pace Undergraduate Student – Faculty Research Program; Bonnie and Howard J. Price, without whose help this project would never have seen the light of day; my colleague at Pace University Dr. Maria Plochocki, for reviewing the manuscript and providing valuable suggestions; Gertjan Broek and Karolien Stocking Korzen at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam; Beth Slepian at The Anne Frank Center NYC, and my superbly talented Research Assistant, Angelica E. Roman ‘19, who tirelessly conducted research, helped revise early drafts, and patiently fielded a multitude of my requests while putting up with my numerous anxieties. Special thanks go to Carolyn Stewart, who traveled from Maryland to New York City for interviews, and who spent many hours communicating with Angelica and me over the course of several months. Carolyn shared many details and primary historical artifacts with us, and she relates her mother’s fascinating tale in a captivating and compelling manner. Our hope is that we can do this wonderful, inspiring story justice in the pages that follow

Non-autonomy of AGAMOUS function in flower development: use of a Cre/loxP method for mosaic analysis in Arabidopsis

Angiosperms use a multi-layered meristem (typically L1, L2 and L3) to produce primordia that then develop into plant organs, A number of experiments show that communication between the cell layers is important for normal development. We examined whether the function of the flower developmental control gene AGAMOUS involves communication across these layers. We developed a mosaic strategy using the Cre/loxP site-specific recombinase system, and identified the sector structure for mosaics that produced mutant flowers. The major conclusions were that (1) AGAMOUS must be active in the L2 for staminoid and carpelloid tissues, (2) that AGAMOUS must be active in the L2 and the L3 for floral meristem determinacy, and (3) that epidermal cell identity can be communicated by the L2 to the L1 layer

CLAVATA1, a regulator of meristem and flower development in Arabidopsis

We have investigated the effects on plant development of mutations in the Arabidopsis thaliana CLAVATA1 gene. In clavata1 plants, vegetative, inflorescence and floral meristems are all enlarged relative to wild type. The apical meristem can fasciate in the more severe mutant alleles, and this fasciation can occur prior to the transition to flowering. Flowers of clavata1 plants can have increased numbers of organs in all four whorls, and can also have additional whorls not present in wild-type flowers. Double mutant combinations of clavata1 with agamous, apetala2, apetala3 and pistillata indicate that CLAVATA1 controls the underlying floral meristem structure upon which these homeotic genes act. Double mutant combinations of clavata1 with apetala1 and leafy indicate CLAVATA1 plays a role in establishing and maintaining floral meristem identity, in addition to its role in controlling meristem size. In support of this, RNA expression patterns of AGAMOUS and APETALA1 are altered in clavata1 flowers

Timing in trace conditioning of the nictitating membrane response of the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) : scalar, nonscalar, and adaptive features

Using interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 125, 250, and 500 msec in trace conditioning of the rabbit nictitating membrane response, the offset times and durations of conditioned responses (CRs) were collected along with onset and peak latencies. All measures were proportional to the ISI, but only onset and peak latencies conformed to the criterion for scalar timing. Regarding the CR’s possible protective overlap of the unconditioned stimulus (US), CR duration increased with ISI, while the peak’s alignment with the US declined. Implications for models of timing and CR adaptiveness are discussed

Disruption of an RNA helicase/RNAse III gene in Arabidopsis causes unregulated cell division in floral meristems

Arabidopsis thaliana floral meristems are determinate structures that produce a defined number of organs, after which cell division ceases. A new recessive mutant, carpel factory (caf), converts the floral meristems to an indeterminate state. They produce extra whorls of stamens, and an indefinite number of carpels. Thus, CAF appears to suppress cell division in floral meristems. The function of CAF is partially redundant with the function of the CLAVATA (CLV) and SUPERMAN (SUP) genes, as caf clv and caf sup double mutants show dramatically enhanced floral meristem over-proliferation. caf mutant plants also show other defects, including absence of axillary inflorescence meristems, and abnormally shaped leaves and floral organs. The CAF gene was cloned and found to encode a putative protein of 1909 amino acids containing an N-terminal DExH/DEAD-box type RNA helicase domain attached to a C-terminal RNaseIII-like domain. A very similar protein of unknown function is encoded by a fungal and an animal genome. Helicase proteins are involved in a number of processes, including specific mRNA localization and mRNA splicing. RNase III proteins are involved in the processing of rRNA and some mRNA molecules. Thus CAF may act through some type of RNA processing event(s). CAF gives rise to two major transcripts of 2.5 and 6.2 kb. In situ hybridization experiments show that CAF RNA is expressed throughout all shoot tissues

The CLAVATA and SHOOT MERISTEMLESS loci competitively regulate meristem activity in Arabidopsis

The CLAVATA (CLV1 and CLV3) and SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM) genes specifically regulate shoot meristem development in Arabidopsis. CLV and STH appear to have opposite functions: c1v1 and Clv3 mutants accumulate excess undifferentiated cells in the shoot and floral meristem, while stm mutants fail to form the undifferentiated cells of the shoot meristem during embryonic development. We have identified a weak allele of stm (stm-2) that reveals STM is not only required for the establish- ment of the shoot meristem, but is also required for the continued maintenance of undifferentiated cells in the shoot meristem and for proper proliferation of cells in the floral meristem. We have found evidence of genetic interactions between the CLV and STM loci. clv1 and c1v3 mutations partially suppressed the stm-1 and stm-2 phenotypes, and were capable of suppression in a dominant fashion. clv stm double mutants and plants homozygous for stm but heterozygous for clv, while still lacking an embryonic shoot meristem, exhibited greatly enhanced postembryonic shoot and floral meristem development. Although stm phenotypes are recessive, stm mutations dominantly suppressed clv homozygous and heterozygous phenotypes. These results indicate that the stm phenotype is sensitive to the levels of CLV activity, while the clv phenotype is sensitive to the level of STM activity. We propose that these genes play related but opposing roles in the regulation of cell division and/or cell differentiation in shoot and floral meristems

Some Remarks on Methods of QCD Analysis of Polarized DIS Data

The results on polarized parton densities (PDFs) obtained using different methods of QCD analysis of the present polarized DIS data are discussed. Their dependence on the method used in the analysis, accounting or not for the kinematic and dynamic 1/Q^2 corrections to spin structure function g_1, is demonstrated. It is pointed out that the precise data in the preasymptotic region require a more careful matching of the QCD predictions to the data in this region in order to determine the polarized PDFs correctly.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

DScent Final Report

DScent was a joint project between five UK universities combining research theories in the disciplines of computational inference, forensic psychology and expert decision-making in the area of counter-terrorism. This document discusses the work carried out by Leeds Metropolitan University which covers the research, design and development work of an investigator support system in the area of deception using artificial intelligence. For the purposes of data generation along with system and hypothesis testing the project team devised two closed world games, the Cutting Corners Board Game and the Location Based Game. DScentTrail presents the investigator with a ‘scent trail’ of a suspect’s behaviour over time, allowing the investigator to present multiple challenges to a suspect from which they may prove the suspect guilty outright or receive cognitive or emotional clues of deception (Ekman 2002; Ekman & Frank 1993; Ekman & Yuille 1989; Hocking & Leathers 1980; Knapp & Comadena 1979). A scent trail is a collection of ordered, relevant behavioural information over time for a suspect. There are links into a neural network, which attempts to identify deceptive behavioural patterns of individuals. Preliminary work was carried out on a behavioural based AI module which would work separately alongside the neural network, with both identifying deception before integrating their results to update DScentTrail. Unfortunately the data that was necessary to design such a system was not provided and therefore, this section of research only reached its preliminary stages. To date research has shown that there are no specific patterns of deceptive behaviour that are consistent in all people, across all situations (Zuckerman 1981). DScentTrail is a decision support system, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), which is intended to be used by investigators and attempts to find ways around the problem stated by Zuckerman above