SpACNN-LDVAE: Spatial Attention Convolutional Latent Dirichlet Variational Autoencoder for Hyperspectral Pixel Unmixing

The Hyperspectral Unxming problem is to find the pure spectral signal of the underlying materials (endmembers) and their proportions (abundances). The proposed method builds upon the recently proposed method, Latent Dirichlet Variational Autoencoder (LDVAE). It assumes that abundances can be encoded as Dirichlet Distributions while mixed pixels and endmembers are represented by Multivariate Normal Distributions. However, LDVAE does not leverage spatial information present in an HSI; we propose an Isotropic CNN encoder with spatial attention to solve the hyperspectral unmixing problem. We evaluated our model on Samson, Hydice Urban, Cuprite, and OnTech-HSI-Syn-21 datasets. Our model also leverages the transfer learning paradigm for Cuprite Dataset, where we train the model on synthetic data and evaluate it on real-world data. We are able to observe the improvement in the results for the endmember extraction and abundance estimation by incorporating the spatial information. Code can be found at https://github.com/faisalqureshi/cnn-ldva

Study of Eclipsing Binary and Multiple Systems in OB Associations II. The Cygnus OB Region: V443 Cyg, V456 Cyg and V2107 Cyg

Three presumably young eclipsing binary systems in the direction of the Cygnus OB1, OB3 and OB9 associations are studied. Component spectra are reconstructed and their orbits are determined using light curves and spectra disentangling techniques. V443 Cyg and V456 Cyg have circular orbits, while the light curve of V2107\,Cyg imposes a slightly eccentric orbit ($e=0.045\pm0.03)$. V443 Cyg harbours F-type stars, and not young early-A stars as previously suggested in the literature based on photometry solely. It appears to be situated in the foreground (distance $0.6\pm0.2$ kpc) of the young stellar populations in Cygnus. V456 Cyg, at a distance of $0.50\pm0.03$ kpc consists of a slightly metal-weak A--type and an early--F star. The age of both systems, on or very near to the main sequence, remains uncertain by an order of magnitude. V2107 Cyg is a more massive system ($8.9\pm2$ and $4.5\pm1.2 M_\odot$) at $1.5\pm0.5$ kpc and, also kinematically, a strong candidate-member of Cyg OB1. The more massive component is slightly evolved and appears to undergo non-radial $\beta Cep$-type pulsations. The Doppler signal of the secondary is barely detectable. A more extensive study is important to fix masses more precisely, and an asteroseismological study would then become appropriate. Nevertheless, the position of the primary in the HR-diagram confines the age already reasonably well to $20\pm5$ Myr, indicating for Cyg OB1 a similar extent of star formation history as established for Cyg OB2.Comment: 27 pages, including 9 figures and 6 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa

Xanthogranulomatous Pyelonephritis: A Rare Presentation

Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis is an uncommon chronic destructive disease process of renal parenchyma, associated with recurrent urinary tract infection. It is seen predominantly in females with no age specificity. The most common symptoms are flank or abdominal pain, fever, palpable mass, and gross hematuria. The common laboratory findings are leukocytosis and anemia. Urine cultures most often reveal Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis. Computed tomography is the mainstay of diagnostic imaging for xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis. Histologically, xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis presents a granulomatous inflammatory infiltrate mainly composed of lymphocytes, plasma cells, foamy histiocytes, and multinucleated giant cells. The differential diagnosis includes clear cell renal cell carcinoma, sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma, leiomyosarcoma, malakoplakia, tuberculosis, and interstitial nephritis. Treatment includes antibiotics and surgery. In this article, we report a case of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis in a 38-year-old male patient with recurrent urinary tract infection

A roadmap to develop dementia research capacity and capability in Pakistan: a model for low- and middle-income countries

Objective To produce a strategic roadmap for supporting the development of dementia research in Pakistan. Background While global research strategies for dementia research already exist, none is tailored to the specific needs and challenges of low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) like Pakistan. Methods We undertook an iterative consensus process with lay and professional experts to develop a Theory of Change-based strategy for dementia research in Pakistan. This included Expert Reference Groups (ERGs), strategic planning techniques, a “research question” priority survey, and consultations with Key Opinion Leaders. Results We agreed on ten principles to guide dementia research in Pakistan, emphasizing pragmatic, resource sparing, real-world approaches to support people with dementia, both locally and internationally. Goals included capacity/capability building. Priority research topics included raising awareness and understanding of dementia, and improving quality of life. Conclusion This roadmap may be a model for other LMIC health ecosystems with emerging dementia research cultures

Evaluation of black carbon emission inventories using a Lagrangian dispersion model - a case study over southern India

We evaluated three emission inventories of black carbon (BC) using Lagrangian particle dispersion model simulations and BC observations from a rural site in southern India (Gadanki; 13.48 degrees N, 79.18 degrees E) from 2008 to 2012. We found that 93 to 95% of the BC load at the observation site originated from emissions in India and the rest from the neighbouring countries and shipping. A substantial fraction (33 to 43%) of the BC was transported from northern India. Wet deposition is found to play a minor role in reducing BC mass at the site because of its proximity to BC sources during rainy season and relatively short rainy season over western and northern parts of India. Seasonally, the highest BC concentration (approx. 3.3 ug m^-3) is observed during winter, followed by spring (approx. 2.8 ug m^-3). While the model reproduced well the seasonal cycle, the modelled BC concentrations are significantly lower than observed values, especially in spring. The model bias is correlated to fire radiative power - a proxy of open biomass burning activity. Using potential emission sensitivity maps derived using the model, we suggest that underestimation of BC mass in the model during spring is due to the underestimation of BC fluxes over southern India (possibly from open-biomass-burning/forest-fires). The overall performance of the model simulations using three different emission inventories (SAFAR-India, ECLIPSE and RETRO) is similar, with ECLIPSE and SAFAR-India performing marginally better as both have about 30% higher emissions for India than RETRO. The ratio of observed to modelled annual mean BC conentration was estimated as 1.5 for SAFAR, 1.7 for ECLIPSE and 2.4 for RETRO

TLR5-Mediated Sensing of Gut Microbiota Is Necessary for Antibody Responses to Seasonal Influenza Vaccination

SummarySystems biological analysis of immunity to the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) in humans revealed a correlation between early expression of TLR5 and the magnitude of the antibody response. Vaccination of Trl5−/− mice resulted in reduced antibody titers and lower frequencies of plasma cells, demonstrating a role for TLR5 in immunity to TIV. This was due to a failure to sense host microbiota. Thus, antibody responses in germ-free or antibiotic-treated mice were impaired, but restored by oral reconstitution with a flagellated, but not aflagellated, strain of E. coli. TLR5-mediated sensing of flagellin promoted plasma cell differentiation directly and by stimulating lymph node macrophages to produce plasma cell growth factors. Finally, TLR5-mediated sensing of the microbiota also impacted antibody responses to the inactivated polio vaccine, but not to adjuvanted vaccines or the live-attenuated yellow fever vaccine. These results reveal an unappreciated role for gut microbiota in promoting immunity to vaccination

Experimental study and analysis of lubricants dispersed with nano Cu and TiO2 in a four-stroke two wheeler

The present investigation summarizes detailed experimental studies with standard lubricants of commercial quality known as Racer-4 of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (India) dispersed with different mass concentrations of nanoparticles of Cu and TiO2. The test bench is fabricated with a four-stroke Hero-Honda motorbike hydraulically loaded at the rear wheel with proper instrumentation to record the fuel consumption, the load on the rear wheel, and the linear velocity. The whole range of data obtained on a stationery bike is subjected to regression analysis to arrive at various relationships between fuel consumption as a function of brake power, linear velocity, and percentage mass concentration of nanoparticles in the lubricant. The empirical relation correlates with the observed data with reasonable accuracy. Further, extension of the analysis by developing a mathematical model has revealed a definite improvement in brake thermal efficiency which ultimately affects the fuel economy by diminishing frictional power in the system with the introduction of nanoparticles into the lubricant. The performance of the engine seems to be better with nano Cu-Racer-4 combination than the one with nano TiO2

Swimming dynamics of a micro-organism in a couple stress fluid : a rheological model of embryological hydrodynamic propulsion

Mathematical simulations of embryological fluid dynamics are fundamental to improving clinical understanding of the intricate mechanisms underlying sperm locomotion. The strongly rheological nature of reproductive fluids has been established for a number of decades. Complimentary to clinical studies, mathematical models of reproductive hydrodynamics provide a deeper understanding of the intricate mechanisms involved in spermatozoa locomotion which can be of immense benefit in clarifying fertilization processes. Although numerous non-Newtonian studies of spermatozoa swimming dynamics in non-Newtonian media have been communicated, very few have addressed the micro-structural characteristics of embryological media. This family of micro-continuum models include Eringen’s micro-stretch theory, Eringen’s microfluid and micropolar constructs and V.K. Stokes’ couple-stress fluid model, all developed in the 1960s. In the present paper we implement the last of these models to examine the problem of micro-organism (spermatozoa) swimming at low Reynolds number in a homogenous embryological fluid medium with couple stress effects. The micro-organism is modeled as with Taylor’s classical approach, as an infinite flexible sheet on whose surface waves of lateral displacement are propagated. The swimming speed of the sheet and rate of work done by it are determined as function of the parameters of orbit and the couple stress fluid parameter (α). The perturbation solutions are validated with a Nakamura finite difference algorithm. The perturbation solutions reveal that the normal beat pattern is effective for both couple stress and Newtonian fluids only when the amplitude of stretching wave is small. The swimming speed is observed to decrease with couple stress fluid parameter tending to its Newtonian limit as alpha tends to infinity. However the rate of work done by the sheet decreases with α and approaches asymptotically to its Newtonian value. The present solutions also provide a good benchmark for more advanced numerical simulations of micro-organism swimming in couple-stress rheological biofluids

Combined distributed turbo coding and space frequency block coding techniques

The distributed space-time (frequency) coding and distributed channel turbo coding used independently represent two cooperative techniques that can provide increased throughput and spectral efficiency at an imposed maximum Bit Error Rate (BER) and delay required from the new generation of cellular networks. This paper proposes two cooperative algorithms that employ jointly the two types of techniques, analyzes their BER and spectral efficiency performances versus the qualities of the channels involved, and presents some conclusions regarding the adaptive employment of these algorithms. © 2010 V. Bota et al.FP7/ICT/2007/21547