#The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

[absmarchive]

Reconstruction of Facts: Roe vs. Wade

[kuramirocket]

Mexican-American professor guides next generation of STEM professionals

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's Dr. Cristina Villalobos, the director of the Center of Excellence in STEM Education, stands outside the science building on Thursday Sept., 14, 2023 in Edinburg, Texas

Cristina Villalobos’ life is a mathematical statement: to get an answer you have to follow necessary steps, but her equation is far from over and she does it all while guiding Hispanic students in their own equations of life.

Villalobos is a Myles and Slyvia Aaronson endowed professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the founding director of the Center of Excellence in STEM.

The renowned mathematics professor has made it her life’s ambition to push students, especially Hispanics and other minorities, into pursuing bachelors, masters and PhDs in STEM fields.

“When I go to meetings across the nation, one of the number one things is increasing the number of minorities getting PhDs in STEM fields," Villalobos said. “It’s exciting to prepare these students, provide them with opportunities … and tell them you can make an impact.”

The Donna native and first generation Mexican-American college graduate started from humble beginnings. Both of her parents are from Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Villalobos said education was a top priority in her household.

Always having a strong interest in mathematics, Villalobos took part in the TexPREP program at legacy institution Pan American University, which sparked her decision to major in mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin. She would then get her master’s and doctoral degrees in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University.

“So when I came here to UT Pan American hoping that, you know, like any faculty you want to make an impact on students’ lives and especially since we are an Hispanic Serving Institution,” Villalobos said. “We’ve got so much potential here of students who we can develop into leaders.”

Villalobos has helped send off students to get PhDs in math, with many other students already working at Chevron, NASA or being tenure track faculty at other universities.

“So, that’s really exciting to see them making an impact and increasing the number of Latinos getting STEM degrees. … you want to prepare students and you want to provide them with opportunities,” she said. “Because many times students may not know that there are these opportunities, but if you provide them with opportunities, open up the doors, they’re wanting to do it, and they’re willing to meet those expectations and go above that.”

That ambition to ignite and guide the next generation of mathematicians helped establish the Center of Excellence in STEM education.

It is the only one at a Hispanic Serving Institution, or HSI.

The center focuses on strengthening academic STEM programs, facilitating professional development in faculty and students, and increasing the number of STEM graduates particularly from underrepresented groups. By giving workshops on how to prepare research posters, applying to summer research programs and more, Villalobos wanted to give students that information and support that she noticed the university lacked.

The center also focuses on K-12 outreach with over 16,000 students each year being exposed to STEM education through on-campus visits. Villalobos said through hands-on experience students are taught STEM skills but most importantly are opened to the world of exploring and being curious.

“Maybe that’s an avenue that they want to explore more as they’re progressing through middle school and high school and so we want to be that,” she said. “And hopefully, you know, we’ll have the next up and coming scientists getting the bachelor’s degree and, you know, on to a PhD and maybe even a Nobel Prize, so that’s really exciting.”

Villalobos’ dedication to the next generation of STEM students has immeasurable influence on Hispanics and other minorities in the STEM field and that influence has not gone unnoticed.

In 2013, she received the Distinguished Undergraduate Institution Mentor Award from the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos & Hispanics and Native Americans in Science. In 2016, she received the Outstanding Latina Faculty Service and Teaching Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Service.

In 2019, Villalobos received the Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science and Diversifying Computing.

The award that tops it off is the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, which she received in 2020.

“I feel like there’s still a lot more to do,” Villalobos said. “I don’t see my job as resting anytime soon. I just want to push on and get more students to finish their bachelor’s degree and become leaders.”

And given that UTRGV is an HSI, there’s enormous potential to make a national impact.

“And I tell students, ‘You gotta be at the table.’ You know, making decisions with others who may not know the Latino population,” she said. “But you do. Because you grew up in this area. You know the needs of our community, so that’s very important.”

Source

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alix Breeden at Daily Kos:

Elon Musk has been carving out his own “utopia” in Texas for years.  From Brownsville to Bastrop, the world’s richest and most unserious man has laid his claim on the Lone Star State—and now, he is petitioning the local government for the right to make it official. On Dec. 12, Musk’s team sent a letter to local legislators requesting a vote to turn Starbase—a SpaceX worksite within Brownsville where the aerospace company launches rockets—into its own city. 

“To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley,” Kathryn Lueders, the general manager of Starbase, wrote in a letter to the county. But Brownsville, a town speckled with pro-Musk murals and plagued with gaping income disparity, has already been labeled by some as Musk’s first “company town,” or a city where a single company owns or controls just about everything.  About 350 miles north of Starbase lies the Musk-named Snailbrook—a township also filled with Musk’s meddling that mimics the controversial company towns littered throughout American history.

One of Musk’s Bastrop corporations is Boring Co., which is a tunneling company known for ghosting on its promises and wreaking ecological havoc.

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, relocated to Bastrop after Musk threw a fit over California’s bureaucratic red tape, joining his Starlink, Neuralink, and SpaceX facilities there. 

Surrounding this collection of workers is Hyperloop Plaza, which boasts businesses exclusively for Musk’s workforce. A cafe and medical office joined the plaza earlier this month.  More recently, Musk has made headway on his long-awaited Montessori school, Ad Astra. Last month, per Bloomberg, the tech mogul received an initial permit to launch the preschool with as many as 21 pupils.  The school is a piece of Musk’s long-term plan to also incorporate a university, according to Business Insider. Musk notably conversed with hip hop artist Kanye West (whose own school drew controversy for questionable treatment of children) about his town and school plans, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Co-”President” Elon Musk has a creepy quest to build company towns across Texas, including the proposed incorporation of Starbase, Texas.

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

From the Library of Anne Rice (Part 3)

Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. New York: Crown Publishing, 2011. Lightly annotated. 

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars.  New York: Penguin Books, 2012. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Le Carre, John. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.  New York: Bloomsbury, 2005. Ownership signature. Tabbed. 

Martin, George R.R. A Dance with Dragons. New York: Bantam Books, 2011. Ownership signature. 

Metalious, Grace. Peyton Place. New York: Julian Messner, 1957. Ownership signature. 

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones.  New York: Back Bay Books, 2007. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Sheldon, Sidney. The Other Side of Midnight. New York: Willam Morrow & Company, Inc., 1973. Ownership signature.

Sienkiewicz, Henryk. Quo Vadis. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2002. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Silva, Daniel. The Kill Artist.  New York: Random House, 2000. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Susann, Jacqueline. Once is Not Enough. New York: Willam Morrow & Company, Inc., 1973. Ownership signature. Lightly annotated. 

Susann, Jacqueline. Valley of the Dolls. New York: New Market Home Library, 1996. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Turow, Scott. Identical. New York/London: Grand Central Publishing, 2013. Ownership signature. 

Turow, Scott. Identical. New York/London: Grand Central Publishing, 2013. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Bowman, Carol. Children's Past Lives. New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

Burpo, Todd with Lynn Vincent. Heaven is for Real. Nashville, Dallas, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Nelson, 2010.

Fronkzac, Paul Joseph and Alex Tresniowski. The Foundling. New York: Howard Books, 2017.

Greven, Philip. Spare the Child. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.

Joyce, Stephen H. Suffer the Captive Children. By the Author, 2004.

Malarkey, Kevin & Alex The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2011.

Mcfarland, Hillary. Quivering Daughter. Dallas, Texas: Darklight Press, 2010.

Postman, Neil. The Disappearance of Childhood. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.

Rafferty, Mary and Eoin O'Sullivan. Suffer the Little Children. New York: Continuum, 1999.

Reilly, Frances. Suffer the Little Children. London: Hachett UK, 2008.

Szalavitz, Maia. Help at Any Cost. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.

Taylor, Marjorie. Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Tucker, Jim B. Life Before Life. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.

Woititz, Janet Geringer.  Adult Children of Alcoholics. Deerbeach, Florida: Health Communications, Inc., 1983.

Bloom, Harold. The Book of J. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Collins, Andrew. From the Ashes of Angels. Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Company, 2001. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Collins, John J. The Scepter and the Star. New York: Doubleday, 1995. Annotated.

Cook, John Granger. The Interpretation of the New Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism. Hendrickson Publish, 2002. Ownership signature.  

Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Scriptures. [Oxford]: Oxford University Press, 2003. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Enns, Peter. The Bible Tells Me So... HarperOne, 2014. Ownership signature.  

Fox, Everett. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. Ownership signature. Annotated.

House, H. Wayne. Charts of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1981. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Howard, Thomas. Evangelical is Not Enough. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1984. Ownership signature.  

Lockhart, Douglas, Jesus the Heretic. Shaftsbury, Dorset: Element, 1997. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Luckert, Karl W. Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire. State University of New York Press, 1991.  

Parenti, Michael. God and His Demons. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2010. Ownership signature.  

Shaw, Russell. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitors Publishing, 1997. Annotated.

Sparrow, W. Shaw. The Gospels In Art. New York: Frederick A, Stokes Company, 1904. Annotated.

Townsend, Mark. The Gospel of Falling Down. Winchester, UK: O Books, 2007. Inscribed by author.  

Valenti, Connie Ann. Stories of Jesus. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2012. Inscribed by author.  

Yallop, David A. In God's Name. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1984. Annotated.

Zuesse, Eric. Christ's Ventriloquists. New York: Hyacinth Editions, 2012. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Cayce, Edgar.  On Atlantis. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1968. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Collins, Andrew. Gobekli, Tepe Genesis of the Gods.  Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Company, 2014. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Cremo, Michael A. and Richard L. Thompson. Forbidden Archaeology. Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Publishing, 2003. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Eno, Paul F.  Faces at the Window.  By the Author, 1998. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Fiore, Edith. The Unquiet Dead. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Hoagland, Richard C. and Mike Bar. Dark Mission: The Secret History of Nasa.  Feral House, 2007. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Icke, David.  The Biggest Secret. David Icke Books, 1999. Ownership Signature.  

Joseph, Frank. The Atlantis Encyclopedia. Career Press, 2005. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Knight, Christopher and Alan Butler. Before the Pyramids.  London: Watkins Publishing. 1988. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Leshan, Lawrence. A New Science of the Paranormal. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 2009. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Peake, Anthony. The Out-of-Body Experience. Watkins, 2011. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Redfern, Nick. Shapeshifters Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publication 2017. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Roberts, Scott Alan. The Secret History of the Reptilians.  Pompton, N.J.: New Page Books, 2013. Ownership Signature.  

Spence, Lewis. The Occult Sciences in Atlantis. London: The Aquarian Press, 1970. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Temple, Robert with Olivia Temple. The Sphinx Mystery. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2009. Ownership Signature. Lightly Annotated

Thyme, Lauren O. The Lemurian Way. Lakeville, Minnesota: Glade Press, 2012. Ownership Signature.  

Wilson, Colin and Rand Flem-Ath. The Atlantis Blueprint. Delta Trade Paperback, 2000. Ownership Signature. Annotated.

[rjzimmerman]

Do the recent or right-now-ongoing crazy global weather scare you? Bother you? Interest you?

I'm pulling this from various media sources, because there is so much crazy weather happening now, or that has happened within the last couple of weeks, it seems like no single media source is picking it up.

From Heatmap AM:

Houston’s floods – More than 400 people in and around Houston, Texas, evacuated their homes over the weekend due to flooding. At least one person, a child, was killed. In one nearby county, more than 21 inches of rain fell over five days last week. The rain has tapered off but the cleanup has just begun.

Brazil’s rain – In Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, days of intense rain caused the Guaiba River to overflow and flood more than 340 cities, including the region’s capital of Porto Alegre. At least 78 people are dead and more than 115,000 have been forced to evacuate. One climatologist calledthe catastrophe “a disastrous cocktail” of climate change and the El Niño effect. “It looks like a scene out of a war,” said Rio Grande do Sul governor Eduardo Leite. 

Chile’s fires – Fires in Chile’s Valparaiso region, fueled by an intense heat wave and enduring drought, have killed at least 51 people and burned more than 64,000 acres.

Kenya’s deluge – Flooding and landslides in Kenya from unrelenting rainfall have killed more than 200 people. It is still raining and the weather is forecast to worsen throughout the month of May.

Southeast Asia’s heat wave – A lengthy heat wave has shattered temperature records across Southeast Asia, forcing many schools to close. One weather historian called the heat wave “the most extreme event in world climatic history.” 

From the Associated Press (AP):

A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay area and closed Northern California mountain highways also set a single-day snowfall record for the season on Sunday (May 5) in the Sierra Nevada. The wet weather system had mostly moved out of the state by Sunday morning, but officials warned that roads would remain slick after around two feet (60 centimeters) of snow fell in some areas of the Sierra. “Did anyone have the snowiest day of the 2023/2024 season being in May on their winter bingo card?” the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab asked on the social platform X. The 26.4 inches (67 centimeters) of snowfall on Sunday beat the second snowiest day of the season — March 3rd — by 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters), according to the lab.

From Yale Climate Connections:

For the first time since the 2010s, a high-risk outlook for severe weather (level 5 of 5) has been issued for parts of the Great Plains. The outlook was put in place at 8 a.m. EDT Monday, May 6, and updated at 12:30 p.m. EDT Monday by the NOAA/National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, as a busy few days of severe weather moved into high gear. Dozens of tornadoes could erupt by midweek, including in and near Oklahoma on Monday and across a broad swath of the mid-Mississippi and lower Ohio River valleys on Wednesday. Many of the worst tornado U.S. outbreaks of recent years have played out across the Mississippi Valley and Southeast, but multiple rounds of twisters have hammered the Plains since late April, taking at least seven lives and wreaking what will no doubt be hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

From Wikipedia:

On 16 April 2024, heavy rains caused floods in the United Arab Emirates, affected cities of mainly Dubai and Sharjah, the northern Emirates, and different areas of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. According to the National Center for Meteorology (United Arab Emirates) , this was the country's heaviest rainfall recorded in 75 years. The floods in the Emirates were a part of the greater Persian Gulf floods.

[haleviyah]

Gaza Strip Vs. Rio Grande Valley: Who Really Needs Help?

I recall as a child that it takes about 35 -40 minutes to drive straight from Mission, Texas to Mercedes, Texas. This is the same distance to drive across the Gaza strip (South to North) with no traffic or detours.

From Lopezville to the River? roughly 8 - 12 minutes. That's how far Gaza is from east to west. Or should I say, that's how far WE are from the river Rio Grande.

McAllen's population alone in 2024 is 145 K with about 90% or more being of Mexican Latino descent, however the current metro population of McAllen FINALLY broke 1.1 million in 2024 with a healthy increase of population excluding immigration. (Congrats!)

As of right now:

Rio Grande Valley as a WHOLE is 2,671,028 and counting.

Gaza is CLAIMED to have 2 million. Yet Gaza received more in foreign aid in 9 months than the city of McAllen's police force has received in 20 years! Mind you, the State of Texas' Troopers and Rangers are their own and fighting a battle against human traffickers and cartel members. Biden never visited once to congratulate/support our force directly.

So... Biden, D.C. Pro-Hamas folk, Netanyahu... explain your logic here!

How does a strip of sand filled with radical militants get all the sympathy or media attention in contrast to honest Hispanics protecting their home?

I am not angry at Israel, but Zion my rebuke to you is you should know better and quit listening to what the government says, likewise with the United States. Israel, listen to the Rio Grande. We know the hearts and the underbelly of American Politics like our sister cities along the border. We know what they are really like and if they won't give a rat's ass about us, they won't give a rat's ass about you, Israel. I hate to say it but it's true. So don't fall for their charms. Need proof? Ask them "What about the Rio Grande? Are you going to help border security near McAllen?" and watch them dodge the question or clam up I guarantee that. Just try it and watch, Israel. You'd be amazed of how much these guys don't care... You are going through enough as it is, the last thing we want for you is to be fed more BS from D.C. Keep that in mind.

Now for Netanyahu: You are a lot of things, but humble isn't one of them. You do realise you drove the Jews out of Gaza during your political career while Arik Sharon was PM. You were the one who okay'ed the kibbutzim to have realestate near the border of Gaza unarmed... yet you're flabbergasted when the Hamassacre happened? WOW! And I thought D.C. treated the Rio Grande poorly...

Israel is even paying up the welfare for everything while you drag your feet and kick the can down the road... and you are surprised how your enemies are taking advantage of you? Taking advantage of "being nice" or "being friendly". I guess you were too distracted by your own dumb decisions on "making friends" you fail to realise that your war is costing others as well beyond Gaza. I am not talking about the universities shouting "From River to the Sea!", I am also talking about US border towns such as the Rio Grande and Yuma, Arizona. We have seen our fair share of radical extremists come through the river thanks to men like Biden, Netanyahu! THAT SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING! Why are Latino towns suddenly seeing Hamas headbands?

American Jews are being attacked by these people sneaking in, this open border policy Biden wants is fuelling the antisemitic invasion into the USA... And you're not going to talk about it?!

I don't know why in Hell you congratulated Biden's illegitimate ass back on November 3, 2020 but know this: if you give a shit about America, Benjamin, if you say we're "friends" or "allies" or even see us as "New Zion" as some Jews have fondly nick-named us, then tell Biden to close the border NOW! Tell Biden to leave Gaza and Ukraine alone and fix his own borders first!

Am Yisrael Chai. The Holy Land deserves and WILL receive better than someone like you.

And as for Biden... you want to say "Sorry"? You want to say "Let's send help!"

You're too late.

50+ years too late!

Let's not forget how cartels spiked ever since you started your career, Joseph. You were ILLEGALLY sworn as a Senator of Delaware, since then you had every open opportunity to send the Coast Guard of Delaware since '69 to Texas to fight king pins taking over Latin America.

Ohio did it recently.

Florida is helping Texas.

Where the hell are you?!

Pablo Escobar's cocaine empire was taking off in the 80s, you were still in office Joseph, and you just sat on your ass with "Just Say No"... you do realise that sometimes people don't have the option of saying "No".

There are hundreds of cases where there are women and kids that were kidnapped and trafficked over the border because of YOU! They never had a chance to just say "no" because they were COERCED! Do you know what that word means, Biden? It means they were FORCED to come with the cartel otherwise they'll kill their families or loved ones. Some kids that were kidnapped their parents are probably dead by now, there is no way they can return home. The men and women posing with them at the check points aren't even their real parents and yet you want them to come in... "Come in, come in" Kamala said. "Thank you, Biden" the coyote responded on the Rio Grande... I remember those instances.

Biden, do you know why the cartel kills the parents? No witnesses! They want to leave the impression that they were never there, they work in the shadows and the best way to cover their trail is by DEATH. Killing anyone who spills the beans or even low-key saw what they were up to. Just like how Hamas is treating Gazans and Israelis... they're just like the cartel if not worse! And yet you're giving them leeway to keep going.

So that little "Just Say No" slogan didn't do shit then and won't do shit now. For 50 years you didn't do shit and you're still not doing shit! Yet you want to latino vote with your couch of a wife chopping up Spanish faster the your son chops cocaine?

No.

You abandoned the Rio Grande Valley for a strip of sand that hates us and Israel for hatred's sakes... there is no making peace with Hamas or the cartels. That opportunity was gone ever since the first shots were fired; they want everyone - Jew and Gentile - dead, and yet you give money to them... You abandoned you post as "president" to these United States and chose a bed with terrorists and king pins that are killing us all. You don't care about anyone but your own form vengeance for Beau - everyone else be damned.

I hope you remember this before you close your eyes one last time Biden: YOU DID THIS, YOU FANNED THESE FIRES!

You will see the people you screwed over in the next life, including people from the Rio Grande, Gaza, Israel and Mexico... and no amount of ass kissing to G-d or the devil is going to save you.

[mathhombre]

Summer Math

As usual, great work from OURFA2M2.

REU Programs

Discrete and Continuous Analysis in Appalachia

Program Runs: June 3 - July 26

Application Deadline: March 4th

Undergraduate US citizens who expect to graduate AFTER July 26, 2024, and especially such students attending university in the Appalachian region apply for the DCAA REU. The projects center around probability and data analysis, as well as linear algebra and combinatorics. 

Participants will receive a $4,800 stipend and paid housing for 8 weeks during Summer 2024.

Participants funded by DCAA must be US Citizens or Permanent Residents of the United States. Students who are women, underrepresented minorities, first-generation college students, and those whose home institution have limited research opportunities in mathematics are encouraged to apply.

Applied Mathematics and Computational and Data Science

Hosted at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 

Program Runs: June 13th - August 12th

Review of applications will begin on March 15, 2024 and offers will be made by April 1, but competitive late applications may be considered until April 15. 

Students will work collaboratively on group research projects in applied mathematics, mathematical modeling, and computational and data science, including applying theoretical models to physical and biological phenomena. In the application the student should choose one of the two possible research topics:

Wave Phenomena and Mathematical Modeling

Mathematical Modeling of Spatial Processes and Deep Spatial Learning

Only US citizens or permanent residents are eligible. 

Women and underrepresented groups in Mathematics are encouraged to apply!

Stipend $5400 plus $900 meal allowance and $1000 travel expenses. Housing will be provided. 

Computational Modeling Serving The Community

Program runs: June 10th - August 16th

Application Deadline: March 31st

Held Virtually in 2024

The focus of this REU is computational modeling to serve and enhance communities. Students will be involved in multi-disciplinary, community-based research projects and trained in computational thinking across different disciplines. In doing so, they will gain an understanding of the potential and limits of these tools and how they can serve diverse communities.

The activities of this virtual REU Site will involve a 2-week training followed by an 8-week research project completed under a faculty mentor’s guidance and with the involvement of a community partner.

Only US citizens or permanent residents are eligible. 

Students from institutions with limited STEM and research opportunities (such as 2-year community colleges) and tribal colleges/universities are specifically encouraged to apply.

Stipend $7000 + $1400 meal allowance and $2200 housing allowance

REU Program in Algebra and Discrete Mathematics at Auburn University

Program Dates: May 28 - July 19

Application Deadline: March 25th

See the program webpage for more info on problems and ares.

Participants will receive a stipend of $4,500 and will live near campus at 191 College with housing paid.

NSF funding is restricted to US citizens and permanent residents. Other self-funded students are welcome to apply.

Polymath Jr.

Program Runs: June 20th - August 14th

Application Deadline: April 1st

Application Here

The Polymath Jr program is an online summer research program for undergraduates. The program consists of research projects from a wide variety of fields. For more information go to the website linked above.

The goal of the original polymath project is to solve problems by forming an online collaboration between many mathematicians. Each project consists of 20-30 undergraduates, a main mentor, and additional mentors (usually graduate students). This group works towards solving a research problem and writing a paper.  Each participant decides what they wish to obtain from the program, and participates accordingly. 

MathILy-EST

Program runs: June 16th - August 10th

Application Deadline: April 2th

In 2024 the MathILy-EST topic will be combinatorial geometry of origami, an area that mixes discrete mathematics, geometry, and analysis, under the direction of Dr. Thomas Hull.

MathILy-EST is an 8-week intensive summer research experience for exceptional first-year college students. MathILy-EST provides early research opportunities each year for nine college students who are deeply but informally prepared for mathematics research. The focus of the program is on first-year students, with second-year and entering college students also considered for participation.

Stipend- $4800, housing and meals included. 

Internships

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Summer Internship

Programs Begin: May and June

Registration Deadline: March 29th

Summer Internship ProgramThe JPL Summer Internship Program offers 10-week, full-time, summer internship opportunities at JPL to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. As part of their internships, students are partnered with JPL scientists or engineers, who serve as the students' mentors. Students complete designated projects outlined by their mentors, gaining educational experience in their fields of study while also contributing to NASA and JPL missions and science.

Conferences

Women in Data Science Livermore 

“WiDS Livermore is an independent event organized by LLNL ambassadors to coincide with the annual global Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference held at Stanford University and an estimated 200+ locations worldwide. All genders are invited to attend WiDS regional events, which features outstanding women doing outstanding work…This one-day technical conference provides an opportunity to hear about the latest data science related research and applications in a number of domains, and connect with others in the field. The program features thought leaders covering a wide range of domains from data ethics and privacy, healthcare, data visualization, and more.”

Hybrid, free event: In-person at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or Virtual

Registration Deadline: March 1, 2023

Date: March 13

The International Mathematics and Statistics Student Research Symposium (IMSSRS)

Date: April 13, 2023.

Location: Virtual

“IMSSRS is a free conference for all mathematics and statistics students (high school, community college, undergraduate, graduate) to share their research with the rest of the world, to learn about current research topics and to hang out with like-minded math and stat enthusiasts. Presenters must be students, but everyone is welcome as an attendee. Please feel free to share this opportunity with other students who might be interested.”

Abstract submission and registration deadlines: March 22, 2023.

To learn more, please visit the the IMSSRS website. 

OURFA2M2

Online Undergraduate Resource Fair for the 

Advancement and Alliance of Marginalized Mathematicians

Ashka Dalal, Gavi Dhariwal, Bowen Li, Zoe Markman, tahda queer, Jenna Race, Luke Seaton, Salina Tecle, Lee Trent ourfa2m2@gmail.com ourfa2m2.org

[bodyalive]

On the Texas Border, Folk Healers Bring Modern Touches to Their Ancient Practice

Known as curanderas, they carry on a tradition long revered in local Hispanic culture.

By Edgar Sandoval

Photographs by Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas

Edgar Sandoval grew up in Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley, where Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas lives and where both covered this story.

Dec. 16, 2023

On a recent day, Chriselda Hernandez heard a knock at her door in the Texas border town of Edinburg. It was a college student who said she was suffering from a string of bad luck. A drunken driver had crashed into her car. Then someone broke into the new car she was driving and stole her laptop. “I need a limpia,” she pleaded — a spiritual cleanse.

Ms. Hernandez moved to an altar in her living room that bore an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Slowly, she mixed a concoction of sage and palo santo, a wood native to South America, and lit it with a match. Then she turned back to the young woman and waved the healing smoke over her body.

“You are holding on to something,” Ms. Hernandez whispered to her. “Let it go. There is no shame.”

For generations, Hispanic communities along the Southern border have turned to curanderas, or folk healers, like Ms. Hernandez, often seen in the popular imagination as old women with candles and religious icons operating in the shadows of society out of rusty shacks.

But the ancient healing art has entered the age of Instagram. More and more younger people are taking on rituals they learned from their grandmothers and deploying them against 21st century problems. They conduct limpias on public beaches, trade recipes online for blocking “envy energies” and sell artisan candles bearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in shops. Their clients are often college-educated, like Clarissa Ochoa, the young woman who went to Ms. Hernandez for help.

“I think it’s an honor to be a curandera; it is something very beautiful, but also very limiting,” said Ms. Hernandez, 42. “I feel like we are breaking those boundaries, that curanderas are just herbs and little old ladies. My calling is just to heal whoever I can.”

A culture of folk healing preceded the arrival of Spaniard conquistadors to Latin America and Mexico. Over time, curanderos, a term used for healers of both genders, began mixing Indigenous rituals with elements of Catholicism and influences from Asian and African folk traditions along the way.

The practice has taken hold in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, located a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, in large part out of necessity. Hidalgo County, home to McAllen and a majority Hispanic population, has one of the highest rates in the nation of people without health insurance, and many people rely on curanderas for lack of other affordable options, said Servando Z. Hinojosa, a professor of anthropology who teaches a class on Mexican-American folk medicine at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Mr. Hinojosa said many Hispanic residents also tend to be mistrustful of the medical establishment. This is especially true when it comes to mental health. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that while the number of Black, Asian and white people who have sought mental health care treatments has climbed in recent years, there has been very little movement among Latinos.

“There’s an element of distrust, but there is also structural alienation,” Mr. Hinojosa said. “They are a population that will seek affordable resources, and they will go to where the products are and where the advice is to be found.”

In the past, the medical establishment has warned people not to rely on folk remedies for physical ailments, some of which can be harmful. Many Latino children have fallen ill and even died after consuming such remedies known as albayalde, azarcon and rueda, powders often used for stomach-related illnesses that have been found to contain lead.

Curanderismo has become so accepted in the Rio Grande Valley that it is not unusual to see street signs and TV ads advertising folk healing services.

Ms. Hernandez said her great-grandmothers had both been parteras, or midwives. When she was a little girl, she said, she discovered that she possessed her own set of gifts; as she grew older, she said, she began interacting with an entity she believes to be the Angel of Death, Azrael. She works at a cellphone call center and lives with a girlfriend in a modern house in the suburbs of Edinburg, a city close to the border.

“You make it your own. There is no right or wrong. You do what’s right for you,” Ms. Hernandez said.

Another modern folk healer, Danielle López, 39, a former student of Mr. Hinojosa who said she also learned she had a don, a gift, as a young girl, has embraced the moniker of millennial curandera. She has combined the old traditions she learned from the grandmother who raised her, Consuelo López, and an aunt, Esperanza Rodriguez, with new skills learned at institutions of higher education.

Her academic record includes a master of arts in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in Mexican-American literature, medical anthropology and Latin art history at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is completing a doctorate in English with a focus on borderlands literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she is also a lecturer.

“For me it’s a continuity,” she said of her spiritual work. “I feel like we need it more now.”

It is not unusual for people to ask her for trabajitos, little jobs, including blessings, limpias and home remedies, when she is not buried in books. Not long ago, Ms. López got a request to bless a new business for a friend. When Ms. López cleansed the establishment with a bouquet of roses, six petals fell, prompting her to warn her friend that six people “did not have good intent.”

“They may say they are happy about her new business, but they are not.”

She also sometimes offers more science-based advice. When people tell her that they are feeling anxious or cannot sleep, she recommends that they cut their intake of sugar or caffeine. Because the advice comes from a curandera, she said, people tend to trust that she has their best interests at heart.

The concept of a curandera is so pervasive in Latino enclaves that in September the Texas Diabetes Institute, a state-of-the-art facility operated by University Health on San Antonio’s west side, a historical Mexican-American neighborhood, brought back to its lobby a sprawling wall-size painting, “La Curandera,” by the Chicano painter Jesus Treviño, who died early this year. The painting had been removed for restoration.

Still, when it comes to luck and matters of the heart, many people avoid professional help and turn to curanderas, because there is no substitute, said Sasha García, 39, a curandera who is known for her fire-red hair.

In northern Mexico, where Indigenous culture is not as widespread and the Catholic Church’s hold is stronger, Ms. García said, her ancestors often operated in the shadows to avoid the stigma associated with folk healers. By contrast, on the American side of the border, she not only feels freer to practice openly, but some Catholic priests stop by for her counsel, she said.

Ms. García welcomes clients at La Casa de la Santísima Yerberia in the city of Pharr, near McAllen, next to two imposing statues of La Santísima Muerte, skeletons each wearing red and black robes. Ms. García reminds people that while the image of La Santísima, a Latina version of the Grim Reaper, may evoke frightening emotions, death is to be revered.

“If you pray to her properly, she can heal and deliver love, freedom and wealth,” she said. “I only ask her for positive things.” (She laments that criminal elements along the border and in Mexico have appropriated the image.)

On a recent afternoon, Jocelyn Acevedo, 27, a frequent client of hers who runs a credit repair service, arrived for her monthly limpia. She had heard about Ms. García four years ago and after the first limpia, she said, she saw her business begin to boom. She was so convinced by the session that she since has regularly driven 60 miles from nearby Starr County, near the Rio Grande, for her sessions. She now has a tattoo of La Santísima.

Ms. García instructed Ms. Acevedo to rub three coconuts all over her body. Ms. García then broke them on the ground to release what she said was the negative energy her client had been carrying.

“Did it work? Of course,” Ms. Acevedo said.

Ms. García has embraced touches of modernity along with the old customs, including consultations now offered over FaceTime. Her clients have responded with their own offerings from popular culture, including a sign one brought in that now hangs on the front door: “Witch Parking Only.”

“No one listens,” Ms. García said with a smile. “The word may be becoming more modern, but we curanderas are still here. Just don’t park in my spot.”

Edgar Sandoval covers Texas for The Times, with a focus on the Latino community and the border with Mexico. He is based in San Antonio. More about Edgar Sandoval

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jerry Coyne

Published: Jan 7, 2024

Oops! Scientific American did it again, this time with an op-ed that could have been ripped from the pages of The Onion.  As is so common these days, the piece proposes that we change the language of science (astronomy in this case), since some of its terms are bad in four ways:

a.  They are violent, sexist, and triggering b. They are not “beautiful and elegant” like astronomy is, but grating; and they are “not kind” c.  They are non-inclusive, presumably helping keep minorities out of astronomy. d. They are untruthful and distort astronomy

In my view, none of these claims holds up, for the article is all Pecksniffian assertion with not a shred of evidence. Author Juan Madrid assumes the role of a bomb-sniffing dog, snuffling the field of astronomy for linguistic mines.

Click the headline below to read and weep, or find the piece archived here.  The author is identified this way (my link):

Juan P. Madrid is an assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The piece begins by describing a collision that will take place, 4 to 7 billion years hence, between the Milky Way and its closest galaxy, Andromeda.  Immediately the word “collision” is seen as triggering. One of Madrid’s students described the future collision instead as “a giant galactic hug.” But the person who sent me this link added this comment:

My wife says that if Andromeda doesn’t want the Milky Way to hug her then it’s interstellar sexual assault.

Indeed! But Madrid hastens to instruct us why using “collision” is not only grating, but misleading:

The kindness, but also the accuracy, of the language my student used was in sharp contrast to the standard description we use in astronomy to explain the final destiny of Andromeda and the Milky Way: “a collision.” But as astronomers have predicted, when Andromeda and the Milky Way finally meet, their stars will entwine and create a larger cosmic structure, a process that is more creating than destroying, which is what we envision when we use the term collision. A galactic hug is scientifically truthful, and it’s led me to believe that astronomers should reconsider the language we use.

First of all “collision” doesn’t mean “destroying”, but simply two objects hitting each other. In this case, two galaxies “collide”, but their stars are spread so far apart that they’ll simply merge into one big galaxy and star will not hit star.  You could say “merge” instead of “collide”, but that also implies that perhaps the stars will absorb each other.  If you want to convey the idea that “nothing gets banged up,” then, Madrid suggests using “galactic hug”. He actually wants astronomers, their classes, and their textbooks, to adopt this new, kind, and romantic term. (There are, of course, more salacious terms that could be used.)  But they won’t be because they sound dumb, and in fact “galactic hug” is just as inaccurate as the other terms, for “hug” implies that there is some mutual enfolding, when in fact, the entities merge and do not remain separate, as humans do when they have a (temporary) hug.  When Fred and Sue hug each other, they don’t merge into one person. . .

And so Madrid, combing the literature for other terms that are jarring and, he says, misleading, finds more, as of course he would. (You can do this in any field of biology, chemistry. or physics; all you need is a sufficiently diligent Pecksniff). I’ve singled out Madrid’s instances of bad language below by adding my own links, and putting those words in bold.

For instance, in galaxy evolution we invoke imagery strikingly similar to what you would expect if you were eavesdropping on Hannibal Lecter: words like cannibalism, harassment [JAC: no instance found],  starvation, strangulation, stripping or suffocation. There is a rather long list of foul analogies that have entered, and are now entrenched, in the lexicon of professional astronomy. We have grown accustomed to this violent language and as a community, we seldom question or reflect on its use. Strangulation is a particularly cringeworthy term in astronomy, referring to the decline of the number of stars born in some types of galaxies. This is a vicious crime where most often the victim is a woman; the perpetrator, a man. Yet, we use this word mindlessly to describe a slow astronomical process that takes millions of years. Under certain conditions, some galaxies use up or lose the gas that is the primordial ingredient to form stars. When that happens, galaxies make new stars at a lower rate. But these galaxies do not die or suffer great harm. They will continue to shine and will live their natural evolution. This is but one of many examples of violent language in our field that actually describes something gradual, slow and perhaps even gentle.

Madrid was savvy enough to impute misogyny to one of these terms: “strangulation”, giving some woke heft to his thesis. But if you look at how the terms are used, only someone who wants to be offended would be.  Moreover, they are not inaccurate. “Starvation“, for example, refers to something that cuts off the flow of gas that galaxies need for new star formation. I don’t find it inaccurate at all. In fact, none of these terms are inaccurate—what Madrid really objects to is that they are “triggering” and “unwelcoming”. He tries to sell his campaign to deep-six these terms as being “untruthful”, because he doesn’t want to look like an ideologue, but I’m not buying it. Also he allows “explosion” for the creation of a supernova, in most cases he finds this language “needlessly vicious and [promoting] inaccurate connotations.”

In short, Madrid finds this language triggering, for that’s the only explanation for why we should avoid this kind of “vicious” language.  And, as he says below,

The use of hypercharged words in our field ignores the fact that this violent imagery can trigger distress in colleagues who might have been victims of violence.

But there are two points to be made here. First, as I noted in a recent post, giving the relevant studies, “Trigger warnings don’t work” and can even cause more trauma. There is no evidence that using this sort of language somehow harms the students. In fact, the remedy for those who are traumatized by certain words is not to avoid exposure to them, but to learn to not be upset when you are exposed. There is therapy for this.

Second, as is so often the case in these screeds, Madrid gives no examples of how the “bad language” upsets people. He should be able to produce at least a dozen cases on the spot, like “Jane got upset and left the class when she heard the word ‘strangulation'”, or “Bob reported Professor Basement Cat to the university for using the term  ‘cannibalism’ on the astronomy exam, which, he said, made him think of the Donner Party and prevented him from completing the exam.”  In nearly all of these language-policing articles, there is a surfeit of outrage and a dearth of examples or evidence of harm.

But Madrid circumvents the lack of evidence and simply suggests ways that we can censor this language, again pretending he’s interested mainly in scientific truth:

To shift toward more welcoming and truthful language in astronomy, scientific journals can push to change the currently accepted language. The referee, or the scientific editor, can ask the authors to consider more appropriate descriptions of the physical processes involved. Referees, editors and editorial boards can step up to enforce scientific accuracy and stop the use of violent, misogynistic language that is now pervasive. This is a call for scientific precision. The use of hypercharged words in our field ignores the fact that this violent imagery can trigger distress in colleagues who might have been victims of violence.

“Can”, “could have”, “might have”. Where are the examples of this? The sweating professor gives none. And isn’t it amazing that the more accurate language is always the kinder language?

And, as expected, Madrid manages to drag race, inclusion, and diversity into his discussion, even though none of the terms above have anything to do with race. And this belies his faux concern mainly for scientific accuracy:

As astronomers, we must strive to create a more inclusive and diverse community that reflects the composition of our society. Valuable efforts to provide opportunities for women and minorities to succeed in astronomy have been created. However, by many metrics, the progress made towards gender equality and true diversity has been painfully slow. We must listen to the new generation of astronomers. My student showed me that while some astronomical processes can be intense, the universe revealed through astronomy provides us with the most fascinating sights known to humankind. Like many other young scientists, she thinks that when we explain astronomical phenomena with wording and phrases that share our excitement and appreciation, it also encourages others to join in and wonder what else we can discover together. The universe is beautiful, elegant and ever-changing. Astronomy would be wise to follow its lead.

And so, in the end, we see that this kind of misguided effort, concentrating on words rather than science itself, is part of the corruption that has entered science via DEI and its ideology.  What we have is one more attempt to control thought by controlling language.

There is no evidence that minorities and women are being kept out of astronomy because they don’t find its language “inclusive,”, though that’s really the thesis of Madrid’s piece.  But the very idea that this thesis is true is laughable. Promoting the idea that galaxies hug each other is not going to bring people pouring into astronomy.

Once again Scientific American, trying to ride the woke bandwagon, has fallen off the train. Blame not only the author, but the editor, who actually approved this nonsense.

==

These people are fucking lunatics.

[grrlscientist]

Frequent Mowing May Transform Poisonous Weeds Into ‘Superweeds’, from University of Arkansas + University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, published by Scientific Reports

by @GrrlScientist

[assignmenthelp001]

Time management is an essential skill for students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), especially in 2024, when balancing academics, extracurricular activities, and personal responsibilities is more challenging than ever. With tools like UTRGV Blackboard, effective planning, and services like Hnd Assignment Help, students can stay on top of their schedules and achieve their academic goals. This guide will help you master time management and make the most of your resources, including UTRGV Blackboard login and other tools.

[absmarchive]

The microscopical vision of the overturning of Roe v. Wade

[sorchanitua]

University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley Assistant Professorship in African American Literature and Culture

Deadline: December 1 Length/Track: Tenure track Description: “The search is open to all subfields and periods.” “We are especially interested in candidates whose research and teaching interests are positioned in and/or intersects with other genres and fields, such as transatlantic Black studies, gender studies, disability studies, Latinx studies, Caribbean studies, French-phoneme literature,…

[breakingnownews]

UTRGV Foundation Faces Controversy Over Scholarship Revisions: What's at Stake? The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Foundation has stirred up a significant debate by petitioning the state district court to amend an endowment fund established in 1989. This fund was...

[stubobnumbers]

CFB Promotion and Relegation - Southwest Conference

SWC Tier One - The SWC (FBS): Arkansas Tulsa Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech TCU SMU Houston Rice UTSA

SWC Tier Two - The Border Conference (FBS): Baylor UTEP North Texas Texas State Stephen F. Austin Sam Houston State New Mexico New Mexico State Utah State Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State)

SWC Tier Three - Southland Conference (FCS): Abilene Christian

Houston Christian

Lamar

Tarleton State

Incarnate Word

Central Arkansas

McNeese State

Nicholls State

Northwestern State (Go Demons!)

Southeastern Louisiana

SWC Tier Four - Lone Star Conference (D2): Angelo State Midwestern State Sul Ross State Texas - Permian Basin Texas A&M - Commerce Texas A&M - Kingsville West Texas A&M Eastern New Mexico Western New Mexico New Mexico Highlands

SWC Tier Five - Great American Conference (D2): Arkansas - Monticello Arkansas Tech Harding University Henderson State Ouachita Baptist Southern Arkansas Southeastern Oklahoma State Central Oklahoma East Central (OK.) Northeastern State (OK.)

SWC Tier Six - American Southwest Conference (D3): Austin College East Texas Baptist Hardin-Simmons Howard Payne Mary Hardin-Baylor McMurry Texas - Rio Grande Valley Southwestern (TX.) Texas Lutheran Trinity (TX.)

SWC Tier Seven - Little Southwest Conference (D3): Oklahoma Baptist Southern Nazarene Northwestern Oklahoma State Southwestern Oklahoma State Northeastern Oklahoma A&M New Mexico Military Institute Texas College Texas Wesleyan Nelson University North American University

[botanyone]

How Mowing Leads to an Obi-Wan Effect for Silverleaf Nightshade

How Mowing Leads to an Obi-Wan Effect for Silverleaf Nightshade https://ift.tt/CgbkAYw How can gardeners and farmers best keep weeds at bay? For those who don’t want to harm their gardens with chemicals cutting them down may seem the best solution. Unfortunately a study by Alejandro Vasquez and colleagues, published in Scientific Reports, finds that for one weed, silverleaf nightshade, cutting makes it stronger. Solanum elaeagnifolium. Photo: Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata / Wikimedia Commons. Silverleaf nightshade, Solanum elaeagnifolium, can be found from south Texas to South Africa and Greece. It infests fields and soaks valuable nutrients intended for cash crops. The weed with purple flowers has prickly spines and poisonous berries. Rupesh Kariyat, an associate professor of entomology and plant pathology with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, has been studying silverleaf nightshade for more than a decade. Kariyat began the study while at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, when he and his graduate student Alejandro Vasquez took on what turned into a five-year, two-part study to observe the effects of frequently mowed silverleaf nightshade.  Although studies have often highlighted weed fitness and defence traits resulting from disturbances like mowing, most were limited to foliar, or leaf, defences, Kariyat said. That changed when Vasquez and fellow master’s biology students monitored fields of mowed, unmowed and frequently mowed silverleaf nightshade. “Alejandro’s question was, ‘how do these flowers differ between mowed and unmowed plants?’” Kariyat said in a press release. “‘And does that have consequences for the insects that actually feed on them?’” The Mowing Experiment The team of scientists examined mowed and unmoved areas in the Rio Grande Valley, around Edinburg, Texas. The plots in southern Texas were all within 16 miles of each other, so would have been subjected to similar climactic and weather conditions.  At each site, the team collected flowers from both mowed and unmowed plants. They carefully measured an array of floral traits, including the size and mass of the flowers. Larger, heavier flowers can be more attractive to pollinators, giving plants a reproductive edge. The researchers also examined the flowers for signs of herbivore damage, such as bite marks or missing petals, to see if mowing influenced how much the plants were being munched on. But the team didn’t stop there. They wanted to know how the differences between mowed and unmowed plants might affect the herbivores that feed on them. To test this, they conducted feeding experiments using tobacco hornworm caterpillars, a common pest of many Solanaceae plants, including silverleaf nightshade. The researchers incorporated dried, ground-up flowers into the caterpillars’ artificial diet, simulating the natural feeding process. Some caterpillars were given food containing flowers from mowed plants, while others were fed flowers from unmowed plants. The team then carefully monitored the caterpillars’ growth over time to see how the different diets impacted their development. The Mowed Plant Paradox The results of these experiments were striking and somewhat counterintuitive. Rather than weakening the plants, mowing seemed to make silverleaf nightshade more robust and defensible. The flowers from mowed silverleaf nightshade plants were actually larger than those from their unmowed counterparts. However, there was a catch – although larger, the flowers from mowed plants were lighter. Flower diameter (mean + SE) of field collected Solanum elaeagnifolium plants in response to mowing treatment (A; unmowed and mowed) or the mowing frequency (B; low and high). Different letters above bars indicate significant difference (T-test, P