Use of ERTS data for a multidisciplinary analysis of Michigan resources

The author has identified the following significant results. The results of this investigation of ratioing simulated ERTS spectral bands and several non-ERTS bands (all collected by an airborne multispectral scanner) indicate that significant terrain information is available from band-ratio images. Ratio images, which are based on the relative spectral changes which occur from one band to another, are useful for enhancing differences and aiding the image interpreter in identifying and mapping the distribution of such terrain elements as seedling crops, all bare soil, organic soil, mineral soil, forest and woodlots, and marsh areas. In addition, the ratio technique may be useful for computer processing to obtain recognition images of large areas at lower costs than with statistical decision rules. The results of this study of ratio processing of aircraft MSS data will be useful for future processing and evaluation of ERTS-1 data for soil and landform studies. Additionally, the results of ratioing spectral bands other than those currently collected by ERTS-1 suggests that some other bands (particularly a thermal band) would be useful in future satellites

Differential Responses of Human Regulatory T Cells (Treg) and Effector T Cells to Rapamycin

Background: The immunosuppressive drug rapamycin (RAPA) promotes the expansion of CD4+ CD25highFoxp3+ regulatory\ud T cells via mechanisms that remain unknown. Here, we studied expansion, IL-2R-c chain signaling, survival pathways and resistance to apoptosis in human Treg responding to RAPA.\ud Methodology/Principal Findings: CD4+CD25+ and CD4+CD25neg T cells were isolated from PBMC of normal controls (n = 21)\ud using AutoMACS. These T cell subsets were cultured in the presence of anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies and 1000 IU/mL IL-2 for 3 to 6 weeks. RAPA (1–100 nM) was added to half of the cultures. After harvest, the cell phenotype, signaling via the PI3K/ mTOR and STAT pathways, expression of survival proteins and Annexin V binding were determined and compared to values obtained with freshly-separated CD4+CD25high and CD4+CD25neg T cells. Suppressor function was tested in co-cultures with autologous CFSE-labeled CD4+CD25neg or CD8+CD25neg T-cell responders. The frequency and suppressor activity of Treg were increased after culture of CD4+CD25+ T cells in the presence of 1–100 nM RAPA (p,0.001). RAPA-expanded Treg were largely CD4+CD25highFoxp3+ cells and were resistant to apoptosis, while CD4+CD25neg T cells were sensitive. Only Treg upregulated anti-apoptotic and down-regulated pro-apoptotic proteins. Treg expressed higher levels of the PTEN protein than CD4+CD25neg cells. Activated Treg6RAPA preferentially phosphorylated STAT5 and STAT3 and did not utilize the PI3K/ mTOR pathway.\ud Conclusions/Significance: RAPA favors Treg expansion and survival by differentially regulating signaling, proliferation and sensitivity to apoptosis of human effector T cells and Treg after TCR/IL-2 activation

Christ and His Kingdom: A Review of R.H. Boll

https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/crs_books/1146/thumbnail.jp

Failure of a Dredged Slope in a Sensitive Clay

During construction of a new wharf facility in Portland, Maine, an underwater slope failed during dredging and subsequent driving of piles through the slope. The construction and failure of the slope are described. The major factors which contributed to the failure were: 1) high sensitivity of the silty clay, 2) placement of riprap on the crest of the slope to 4 to 6 ft above the design elevation, 3) method of dredging which caused high shear stresses and probable disturbed zones near the toe of the slope, 4) dredging slope steeper than design slope, 5) pile driving causing localized disturbed zones with low strength around the piles, and 6) sequence of dredging and pile driving

Isolation and characterization of CD34+ blast-derived exosomes in acute myeloid leukemia

Exosomes are membrane-bound vesicles found in all biological fluids. AML patients' plasma collected at diagnosis contains elevated exosome levels relative to normal donor (ND) plasma. The molecular profile of AML exosomes changes in the course of therapy and may serve as a measure of disease progression or response to therapy. However, plasma contains a mix of exosomes derived from various cell types. To be able to utilize blast-derived exosomes as biomarkers for AML, we have developed an immunoaffinity-based capture method utilizing magnetic microbeads coated with anti-CD34 antibody (Ab). This Ab is specific for CD34, a unique marker of AML blasts. The capture procedure was developed using CD34+ exosomes derived from Kasumi-1 AML cell culture supernatants. The capture capacity of CD34microbeads was shown to linearly correlate with the input exosomes. A 10 uL aliquot of CD34 microbeads was able to capture all of CD34+ exosomes present in 100-1,000 uL of AML plasma. The levels of immunocaptured CD34+ exosomes correlated with the percentages of CD34+ blasts in the AML patients' peripheral blood. The immunocaptured exosomes had a typical cup-shaped morphology by transmission electron microscopy, and their molecular cargo was similar to that of parental blasts. These exosomes were biologically-active. Upon co-incubation with natural killer (NK) cells, captured blast-derived exosomes down-regulated surface NKG2D expression, while non-captured exosomes reduced expression levels of NKp46. Our data provide a proof-of-principle that blast-derived exosomes can be quantitatively recovered from AML patients' plasma, their molecular profile recapitulates that of autologous blasts and they retain the ability to mediate immune suppression. These data suggest that immunocaptured blast-derived exosomes might be useful in diagnosis and/or prognosis of AML in the future. © 2014 Hong et al

Towards practical classical processing for the surface code: timing analysis

Topological quantum error correction codes have high thresholds and are well suited to physical implementation. The minimum weight perfect matching algorithm can be used to efficiently handle errors in such codes. We perform a timing analysis of our current implementation of the minimum weight perfect matching algorithm. Our implementation performs the classical processing associated with an nxn lattice of qubits realizing a square surface code storing a single logical qubit of information in a fault-tolerant manner. We empirically demonstrate that our implementation requires only O(n^2) average time per round of error correction for code distances ranging from 4 to 512 and a range of depolarizing error rates. We also describe tests we have performed to verify that it always obtains a true minimum weight perfect matching.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, version accepted for publicatio

Sex-specific fundamental and formant frequency patterns in a cross-sectional study

An extensive developmental acoustic study of the speech patterns of children and adults was reported by Lee and colleagues [Lee et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 1455-1468 (1999)]. This paper presents a reexamination of selected fundamental frequency and formant frequency data presented in their report for 10 monophthongs by investigating sex-specific and developmental patterns using two different approaches. The first of these includes the investigation of age- and sex-specific formant frequency patterns in the monophthongs. The second, the investigation of fundamental frequency and formant frequency data using the critical band rate (bark) scale and a number of acoustic-phonetic dimensions of the monophthongs from an age- and sex-specific perspective. These acoustic-phonetic dimensions include: vowel spaces and distances from speaker centroids; frequency differences between the formant frequencies of males and females; vowel openness/closeness and frontness/backness; the degree of vocal effort; and formant frequency ranges. Both approaches reveal both age- and sex-specific development patterns which also appear to be dependent on whether vowels are peripheral or non-peripheral. The developmental emergence of these sex-specific differences are discussed with reference to anatomical, physiological, sociophonetic and culturally determined factors. Some directions for further investigation into the age-linked sex differences in speech across the lifespan are also proposed