Information fusion for robust detection of scarce features/objects in high resolution electro-optical satellite imagery

We conducted research to develop and test methods to improve the detection of scarce objects in high-resolution electro-optical satellite imagery. We demonstrated improvements through various forms of information and data fusion that included heuristic analyses, fuzzy integrals, and neural learning. Scarce objects of interest included Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Sites, SAM Launch Pads (SAM LP), SAM Transporter Erectile Launchers (SAM TELs), Construction Sites, and Engineering Vehicles. We demonstrated improved detection and reduced error in broad area search for SAM Sites in Southeast China by fusing the larger feature with the detection of smaller, multi-scale elements/components (i.e. SAM TELs and LPs) within the larger feature using heuristics and neural learning. We expanded these techniques to demonstrate improved detection of Construction Sites. We next demonstrated the improved detection of small, scarce objects (i.e. Engineering Vehicles) by fusing the outputs from multiple deep CNNs of various architectures and sizes through multi-layer perceptrons and fuzzy integrals. Major improvements were then achieved by leveraging existing CNN models designed for 3-band (RGB) models to train and process 8-band multi-spectral imagery partitioned into a set of three 3-band images and then fusing the results using fuzzy integrals. We finally demonstrated that bounding-box object detection for SAM TELs could be improved by ensembling/fusing bounding-box results from multiple detectors using a novel Pseudo-Cell State Long-Short Term Memory (PCS-LSTM) neural network developed in this research. The PCS-LSTM is a two-layer, non-serial LSTM neural network architecture that utilizes bounding-box context to act as a first-layer quasi/pseudo cell memory.Includes bibliographical references

Porphyrin Iron(Ill) Mixed Function Oxidases: An Evolutionary Endpoint for Transition Metal(III) Reactions with Oxygen Donors

Peroxidases, catalases, and cytochrome P-450 enzymes have in common iron(III) protoporphyrin-IX as a cofactor. The reactions catalyzed by these enzymes can be, for the most part, duplicated by use of transition metal(III) porphyrins. Porphyrins serve admirably well as conjugated and rigidly planar ligands that prevent other than transformations of the ligated metal moiety at axial positions. The adjacent and distal axial positions serve to separate the enzyme-bound (distal) ligand from the reactive face (adjacent) of the iron(III). These features are not required, however, to mimic the chemical conversions that are catalyzed by peroxidases, catalases, and cytochrome P-450 enzymes. Indeed, other simple ligands may be used with a number of transition metals (cf. In the oxidation reactions catalyzed by peroxidases, catalases, and cytochrome P-450, an oxidant is initially formed that might be described as a "porphyrin-ironoxene" compound. The formation of the porphyriniron-oxene compound occurs by reaction of the iron(III) porphyrin with a reagent that may be symbolically represented as Z-OH. With horseradish (HR) peroxidase (distal axial ligand a histidine imidazole) and catalase (distal axial ligand a tyrosine hydroxyl function), Z-OH represents HO-OH (for both enzymes) and, in addition, alkyl-O-OH (for the peroxidase). The porphyrin-iron-oxene compound formed in these reactions is known as compound I. Much evidence exists to support the structure of compound I as being an iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin ~r-cation radical (Eq. 1, where X is imidazole or tyrosine-O , cf. Aside from the structures of the porphyrin-ironoxene species of HR peroxidase, catalase, and cytochrome P-450, a complete description of these systems requires a knowledge of the mechanisms of formation of the porphyrin-iron-oxene species and a description of their reactions with substrates. The electrochemical stepwise oxidation of iron(III)-hydroxy porphyrins to iron(IV)-oxo porphyrins (compound II oxidation level) and iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin ~r-cation radicals (compound I oxidation level) have been investigated The slopes of plots (/3lg) of log kyooH versus pK a of YOH were found to be markedly negative (-0.35 to -1.25), which is expected for such a polar reaction. When kvooH values for alkyl hydroperoxides were determined and included in the plots of log kyoon versus pKa of YOH for percarboxylic acids, it was found that a single linear free-energy line was obtained with 9 1987 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 0-87969-054-2/87 $1.00 567 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press on October 7, 2016 -Published by symposium.cshlp.org Downloaded fro

Density functional study of the adsorption and van der Waals binding of aromatic and conjugated compounds on the basal plane of MoS2

Accurate calculations of adsorption energies of cyclic molecules are of key importance in investigations of, e.g., hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysis. The present density functional theory (DFT) study of a set of important reactants, products, and inhibitors in HDS catalysis demonstrates that van der Waals interactions are essential for binding energies on MoS2 surfaces and that DFT with a recently developed exchange-correlation functional (vdW-DF) accurately calculates the van der Waals energy. Values are calculated for the adsorption energies of butadiene, thiophene, benzothiophene, pyridine, quinoline, benzene, and naphthalene on the basal plane of MoS2, showing good agreement with available experimental data, and the equilibrium geometry is found as flat at a separation of about 3.5 \uc5 for all studied molecules. This adsorption is found to be due to mainly van der Waals interactions. Furthermore, the manifold of adsorption-energy values allows trend analyses to be made, and they are found to have a linear correlation with the number of main atoms. \ua9 2009 American Institute of Physics

Acetaldehyde Silyl Enol Ethers in Enantioselective Mukaiyama Aldol Reactions: Enzyme-Like Organocatalysis in Action

Touched for the very first time! It is herein highlighted how acetaldehyde silyl enol ethers undergo enantioselective Mukaiyama aldol reaction with aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes. The chemistry relies on the use of the highly efficient and substrate-selective imidodiphosphorimidate catalyst, which displays some of the features of enzymatic catalysis

Application of Quadratic Constitutive Relation to One- Equation k-kL Turbulence Model

This paper analyzes the accuracy of the recently developed one-equation k-kL turbulence model with Quadratic Constitutive Relation (QCR) compared to the linear Boussinesq relation and Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model (ARSM). The computational results in several benchmark cases from NASA TMR are compared to other widely used one equation turbulence models with QCR, such as Spalart-Allmaras model (SA), Wray-Agarwal model (WA) and SST k-ω model. In particular, one-equation k-kL-QCR model shows good accuracy with experimental data for supersonic flow in a square duct where the effect of QCR is clearly visible in capturing the secondary flow vortices which is not feasible with the any standard model without QCR. In addition, both one-equation k-kL and one-equation k- kL-QCR models show better accuracy for subsonic separated flow in 3D NASA Glenn S- duct compared to other one-equation models. Other test cases show little difference in the results obtained without and with QCR

Conformation of 1,4-dihydropyridine — planar or boat-like?

AbstractThe geometry of the 1,4-dihydropyridine molecule was completely optimized employing three different ab initio basis sets (6–31 G*, 4–31 G, STO—3G). The most reliable 6–31G* basis set provides a very flat boat conformation which may easily undergo defolding to a planar ring arrangement. This result is discussed with respect to enzymatic redox cofactors and the pharmacological activity of dihydropyridine calcium antagonists

Mutations Closer to the Active Site Improve the Promiscuous Aldolase Activity of 4-Oxalocrotonate Tautomerase More Effectively than Distant Mutations

The enzyme 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase (4-OT), which catalyzes enol-keto tautomerization as part of a degradative pathway for aromatic hydrocarbons, promiscuously catalyzes various carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions. These include the aldol condensation of acetaldehyde with benzaldehyde to yield cinnamaldehyde. Here, we demonstrate that 4-OT can be engineered into a more efficient aldolase for this condensation reaction, with a &gt;5000-fold improvement in catalytic efficiency (kcat /Km ) and a &gt;10(7) -fold change in reaction specificity, by exploring small libraries in which only "hotspots" are varied. The hotspots were identified by systematic mutagenesis (covering each residue), followed by a screen for single mutations that give a strong improvement in the desired aldolase activity. All beneficial mutations were near the active site of 4-OT, thus underpinning the notion that new catalytic activities of a promiscuous enzyme are more effectively enhanced by mutations close to the active site.</p