2,874 research outputs found
Tracking ocean wave spectrum from SAR images
An end to end algorithm for recovery of ocean wave spectral peaks from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is described. Current approaches allow precisions of 1 percent in wave number, and 0.6 deg in direction
Behavior studies related to pesticides: agricultural chemicals and Iowa farmers
Chemicals play significant roles in agriculture today. In the United States they contribute to the immense capability of farmers to produce food and fiber. They are viewed as promising steps in economic development in parts of the world where population grows faster than food production.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/specialreports/1046/thumbnail.jp
Resilient distributed collection through information speed thresholds
Part 6: Large-Scale Decentralised SystemsInternational audienceOne of the key coordination problems in physically-deployed distributed systems, such as mobile robots, wireless sensor networks, and IoT systems in general, is to provide notions of “distributed sensing” achieved by the strict, continuous cooperation and interaction among individual devices. An archetypal operation of distributed sensing is data summarisation over a region of space, by which several higher-level problems can be addressed: counting items, measuring space, averaging environmental values, and so on. A typical coordination strategy to perform data summarisation in a peer-to-peer scenario, where devices can communicate only with a neighbourhood, is to progressively accumulate information towards one or more collector devices, though this typically exhibits problems of reactivity and fragility, especially in scenarios featuring high mobility. In this paper, we propose coordination strategies for data summarisation involving both idempotent and arithmetic aggregation operators, with the idea of controlling the minimum information propagation speed, so as to improve the reactivity to input changes. Given suitable assumptions on the network model, and under the restriction of no data loss, these algorithms achieve optimal reactivity. By empirical evaluation via simulation, accounting for various sources of volatility, and comparing to other existing implementations of data summarisation algorithms, we show that our algorithms are able to retain adequate accuracy even in high-variability scenarios where all other algorithms are significantly diverging from correct estimations
Weight gain and dietary intake during pregnancy in industrialized countries - a systematic review of observational studies
Background: Gestational weight gain (GWG) above the recently recommended ranges is likely to be related to adverse pregnancy outcomes and therefore a challenge in industrialized countries. Aims: We conducted a systematic review on observational studies in order to gain more evidence on whether diets with lower caloric/protein content or other diets might be associated with lower GWG. Methods: We searched in MEDLINE and EMBASE for observational studies written in English or German reporting associations between diet and GWG in singleton pregnancies of healthy women in industrialized countries. Results: We identified 12 studies which met the inclusion criteria. Five studies suggested significant positive associations between energy intake and GWG, whereas three found no significant association. Further significant positive associations of GWG were reported with respect to protein intake, animal lipids, energy density and a number of different food servings per day, whereas intake of carbohydrates and vegetarian diet were associated with less GWG. Conclusions: We suggest that GWG might be reduced by lower energy intake in pregnancy
Mitochondrial alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex generates reactive oxygen species
Mitochondria-produced reactive oxygen species (ROS) are thought to contribute to cell death caused by a multitude of pathological
conditions. The molecular sites of mitochondrial ROS production are not well established but are generally thought to be located in
complex I and complex III of the electron transport chain. We measured H
2
O
2
production, respiration, and NADPH reduction level in rat
brain mitochondria oxidizing a variety of respiratory substrates. Under conditions of maximum respiration induced with either ADP or
carbonyl cyanide
p
-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone,
ďż˝
-ketoglutarate supported the highest rate of H
2
O
2
production. In the absence of
ADP or in the presence of rotenone, H
2
O
2
production rates correlated with the reduction level of mitochondrial NADPH with various
substrates, with the exception of
ďż˝
-ketoglutarate. Isolated mitochondrial
ďż˝
-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (KGDHC) and pyruvate dehy-
drogenase (PDHC) complexes produced superoxide and H
2
O
2
. NAD
ďż˝
inhibited ROS production by the isolated enzymes and by perme-
abilized mitochondria. We also measured H
2
O
2
production by brain mitochondria isolated from heterozygous knock-out mice deficient
in dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase (Dld). Although this enzyme is a part of both KGDHC and PDHC, there was greater impairment of
KGDHC activity in Dld-deficient mitochondria. These mitochondria also produced significantly less H
2
O
2
than mitochondria isolated
from their littermate wild-type mice. The data strongly indicate that KGDHC is a primary site of ROS production in normally functioning
mitochondria
A dinucleotide deletion in the ankyrin promoter alters gene expression, transcription initiation and TFIID complex formation in hereditary spherocytosis
Ankyrin defects are the most common cause of hereditary spherocytosis (HS). In some HS patients, mutations in the ankyrin promoter have been hypothesized to lead to decreased ankyrin mRNA synthesis. The ankyrin erythroid promoter is a member of the most common class of mammalian promoters which lack conserved TATA, initiator or other promoter cis elements and have high G+C content, functional Sp1 binding sites and multiple transcription initiation sites. We identified a novel ankyrin gene promoter mutation, a TG deletion adjacent to a transcription initiation site, in a patient with ankyrin-linked HS and analyzed its effects on ankyrin expression. In vitro, the mutant promoter directed decreased levels of gene expression, altered transcription initiation site utilization and exhibited defective binding of TATA-binding protein (TBP) and TFIID complex formation. In a transgenic mouse model, the mutant ankyrin promoter led to abnormalities in gene expression, including decreased expression of a reporter gene and altered transcription initiation site utilization. These data indicate that the mutation alters ankyrin gene transcription and contributes to the HS phenotype by decreasing ankyrin gene synthesis via disruption of TFIID complex interactions with the ankyrin core promoter. These studies support the model that in promoters that lack conserved cis elements, the TFIID complex directs preinitiation complex formation at specific sites in core promoter DNA and provide the first evidence that disruption of TBP binding and TFIID complex formation in this type of promoter leads to alterations in start site utilization, decreased gene expression and a disease phenotype in viv
Coexistence of Singlet and Triplet Attractive Channels in the Pairing Interactions Mediated by Antiferromagnetic Fluctuations
We propose a phase diagram of quasi-low-dimensional type II superconductors
in parallel magnetic fields, when antiferromagnetic fluctuations contribute to
the pairing interactions. We point out that pairing interactions mediated by
antiferromagnetic fluctuations necessarily include both singlet channels and
triplet channels as attractive interactions. Usually, a singlet pairing is
favored at zero field, but a triplet pairing occurs at high fields where the
singlet pairing is suppressed by the Pauli paramagnetic pair-breaking effect.
As a result, the critical field increases divergently at low temperatures. A
possible relation to experimental phase diagrams of a quasi-one-dimensional
organic superconductor is briefly discussed. We also discuss a possibility that
a triplet superconductivity is observed even at zero field.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure (Latex, revtex.sty, epsf.sty
Nonmonotonic d_{x^2-y^2} Superconducting Order Parameter in Nd_{2-x}Ce_xCuO_4
Low energy polarized electronic Raman scattering of the electron doped
superconductor Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4 (T_c=22 K) has revealed a nonmonotonic
d_{x^2-y^2} superconducting order parameter. It has a maximum gap of 4.4 k_BT_c
at Fermi surface intersections with antiferromagnetic Brillouin zone (the ``hot
spots'') and a smaller gap of 3.3 k_BT_c at fermionic Brillouin zone
boundaries. The gap enhancement in the vicinity of the ``hot spots'' emphasizes
role of antiferromagnetic fluctuations and similarity in the origin of
superconductivity for electron- and hole-doped cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Quantum key distribution and 1 Gbit/s data encryption over a single fibre
We perform quantum key distribution (QKD) in the presence of 4 classical
channels in a C-band dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)
configuration using a commercial QKD system. The classical channels are used
for key distillation and 1 Gbps encrypted communication, rendering the entire
system independent from any other communication channel than a single dedicated
fibre. We successfully distil secret keys over fibre spans of up to 50 km. The
separation between quantum channel and nearest classical channel is only 200
GHz, while the classical channels are all separated by 100 GHz. In addition to
that we discuss possible improvements and alternative configurations, for
instance whether it is advantageous to choose the quantum channel at 1310 nm or
to opt for a pure C-band configuration.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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