Bias adjustment of satellite precipitation estimation using ground-based measurement: A case study evaluation over the southwestern United States

Reliable precipitation measurement is a crucial component in hydrologic studies. Although satellite-based observation is able to provide spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation, the measurements tend to show systematic bias. This paper introduces a grid-based precipitation merging procedure in which satellite estimates from the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS) are adjusted based on the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) daily rain gauge analysis. To remove the bias, the hourly CCS estimates were spatially and temporally accumulated to the daily 1°×1° scale, the resolution of CPC rain gauge analysis. The daily CCS bias was then downscaled to the hourly temporal scale to correct hourly CCS estimates. The bias corrected CCS estimates are called the adjusted CCS (CCSA) product. With the adjustment from the gauge measurement, CCSA data have been generated to provide more reliable high temporal/spatial-resolution precipitation estimates. In the case study, the CCSA precipitation estimates from the proposed approach are compared against ground-based measurements in high-density gauge networks located in the southwestern United States. © 2009 American Meteorological Society

Exploring the Intrabinary Shock from the Redback Millisecond Pulsar PSR J2129-0429

published_or_final_versio

Test of a Novel Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 6C Type Specific Polyclonal Antiserum (Factor Antiserum 6d) and Characterisation of Serotype 6C Isolates in Denmark

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2007, Park <it>et al. </it>identified a novel serotype among <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>serogroup 6 which they named serotype 6C. The aim of this study was to evaluate with the Neufeld test a novel <it>S. pneumoniae </it>serotype 6C type specific polyclonal antiserum. In addition, serotype 6C isolates found in Denmark in 2007 and 2008 as well as eight old original serotype 6A isolates were characterised.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, 181 clinical <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>isolates from Denmark 2007 and 2008 were examined; 96 isolates had previously been typed as serotype 6A and 85 as serotype 6B. In addition, eight older isolates from 1952 to 1987, earlier serotyped as 6A, were examined. Serotype 6C isolates were identified by PCR and serotyping with the Neufeld test using the novel type specific polyclonal antiserum, factor antiserum 6 d, in addition to factor antisera 6b, 6b* (absorbed free for cross-reactions to serotype 6C) and 6c. All antisera are commercially available and antiserum 6b obtained from the supplier after 1 January 2009 is antiserum 6b*. All serotype 6C isolates were further characterised using multi-locus sequence typing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When retesting all 96 original serotype 6A isolates by PCR and the Neufeld test, 29.6% (24 of 81) of the invasive isolates in Denmark from 2007 and 2008 were recognised as serotype 6C. In addition, three of eight old isolates originally serotyped as 6A were identified to be serotype 6C. The oldest serotype 6C isolate was from 1962. The serotype 6C isolates belonged to eleven different sequence types (ST) and nine clonal complexes (CC), ST1692 (CC395), ST386 (CC386) and ST481 (CC460) were the predominant types.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We tested a novel polyclonal antiserum 6 d, as well as modified antiserum 6b*, provided a scheme for the serotyping of <it>S. pneumoniae </it>serogroup 6 using the Neufeld test and compared the serotyping method with PCR based methods. The two types of methods provided the same results. In future, it will, therefore, be possible to test also serotype 6C in accordance to the standard method for serotyping of <it>S. pneumoniae </it>recommended by WHO.</p> <p>Among all invasive isolates from Denmark 2007 and 2008, serotype 6C constituted 29.6% of the original serotype 6A isolates. The serotype 6C isolates were found to be diverse belonging to a number of different STs and CCs of which most have been observed in other countries previously. Serotype 6C is regarded as an "old" serotype being present among <it>S. pneumoniae </it>isolates in Denmark for at least 48 years. The genetic diversity of serotype 6C isolates and their genetic relationship to other serotypes suggested that serotype 6C strains may have arisen from several different independent recombination events involving different parental strains such as serotypes 6A, 6B, 23F and 4.</p

Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology International Workshop 2014

published_or_final_versio

Searches for Millisecond Pulsar Candidates among the Unidentified <i>Fermi</i> Objects

postprin

Retinal Biomarker Discovery for Dementia in an Elderly Diabetic Population

Dementia is a devastating disease, and has severe implications on affected individuals, their family and wider society. A growing body of literature is studying the association of retinal microvasculature measurement with dementia. We present a pilot study testing the strength of groups of conventional (semantic) and texture-based (non-semantic) measurements extracted from retinal fundus camera images to classify patients with and without dementia. We performed a 500-trial bootstrap analysis with regularized logistic regression on a cohort of 1,742 elderly diabetic individuals (median age 72.2). Age was the strongest predictor for this elderly cohort. Semantic retinal measurements featured in up to 81% of the bootstrap trials, with arterial caliber and optic disk size chosen most often, suggesting that they do complement age when selected together in a classifier. Textural features were able to train classifiers that match the performance of age, suggesting they are potentially a rich source of information for dementia outcome classification

Interconnections of Reactive Oxygen Species Homeostasis and Circadian Rhythm in Neurospora crassa.

Abstract Significance: Both circadian rhythm and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are fundamental features of aerobic eukaryotic cells. The circadian clock enhances the fitness of organisms by enabling them to anticipate cycling changes in the surroundings. ROS generation in the cell is often altered in response to environmental changes, but oscillations in ROS levels may also reflect endogenous metabolic fluctuations governed by the circadian clock. On the other hand, an effective regulation and timing of antioxidant mechanisms may be crucial in the defense of cellular integrity. Thus, an interaction between the circadian timekeeping machinery and ROS homeostasis or signaling in both directions may be of advantage at all phylogenetic levels. Recent Advances: The Frequency-White Collar-1 and White Collar-2 oscillator (FWO) of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is well characterized at the molecular level. Several members of the ROS homeostasis were found to be controlled by the circadian clock, and ROS levels display circadian rhythm in Neurospora. On the other hand, multiple data indicate that ROS affect the molecular oscillator. Critical Issues: Increasing evidence suggests the interplay between ROS homeostasis and oscillators that may be partially or fully independent of the FWO. In addition, ROS may be part of a complex cellular network synchronizing non-transcriptional oscillators with timekeeping machineries based on the classical transcription-translation feedback mechanism. Future Directions: Further investigations are needed to clarify how the different layers of the bidirectional interactions between ROS homeostasis and circadian regulation are interconnected. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 00, 000-000

Minimization of phonon-tunneling dissipation in mechanical resonators

Micro- and nanoscale mechanical resonators have recently emerged as ubiquitous devices for use in advanced technological applications, for example in mobile communications and inertial sensors, and as novel tools for fundamental scientific endeavors. Their performance is in many cases limited by the deleterious effects of mechanical damping. Here, we report a significant advancement towards understanding and controlling support-induced losses in generic mechanical resonators. We begin by introducing an efficient numerical solver, based on the "phonon-tunneling" approach, capable of predicting the design-limited damping of high-quality mechanical resonators. Further, through careful device engineering, we isolate support-induced losses and perform the first rigorous experimental test of the strong geometric dependence of this loss mechanism. Our results are in excellent agreement with theory, demonstrating the predictive power of our approach. In combination with recent progress on complementary dissipation mechanisms, our phonon-tunneling solver represents a major step towards accurate prediction of the mechanical quality factor.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure