Comparison of functional and structural biodiversity using Sentinel-2 and airborne LiDAR data in agroforestry systems

Biodiversity plays a critical role in maintaining the health and stability of ecosystems. Biodiversity monitoring has traditionally been labor-intensive, prompting a shift towards remote sensing techniques for efficient and large-scale approaches. In this research, we explore the use of Sentinel-2 satellite data and airborne LiDAR data to evaluate and compare functional and structural biodiversity in agroforestry areas within two distinct ecoregions, namely the Montane forests ecoregion and the Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion in Columbia and Tanzania, respectively. The aim of the study is to compare functional diversity and structural diversity across varying spatial scales and land cover types including trees, cropland and grassland, thereby addressing the correlation and divergence between functional and structural diversity in different ecological contexts. Our methodology involves integrating airborne LiDAR data to assess structural diversity and Sentinel-2 data to estimate functional diversity based on the proxies of three key functional traits, leaf chlorophyll content (CHL), leaf anthocyanin content (ANTH), and specific leaf area (SLA). We developed two novel functional diversity indices, ShannonF and GiniF, which are modified versions of the well-established Shannon index and Gini index. These novel indices effectively incorporate both functional richness and evenness into their calculations. Our results indicated a significant correlation between our proposed ShannonF index and Shannon index derived from LiDAR, with stronger correlations at larger spatial scales. This study demonstrated that trees exhibit higher biodiversity than grassland and cropland across both study areas, with particularly high biodiversity in Colombia’s Montane forests ecoregion. These findings underscore the potential of integrating satellite and airborne LiDAR data for comprehensive biodiversity assessment in agroforestry systems, offering valuable insights for global ecosystem management and conservation efforts

SEKOLAH SEPAKBOLA USIA MUDA DI BANDA ACEH

Sepakbola merupakan olahraga yang sangat populer dan digemari di dunia, begitu juga di Indonesia. Tak heran jika hampir semua negara di dunia berlomba-lomba menggalang prestasi membanggakan di cabang olahraga ini. Indonesia belum mampu meraih prestasi yang membanggakan di cabang olahraga sepakbola, bahkan Indonesia sulit bersaing di kancah Internasional. Klub-klub sepakbola Aceh juga tidak dapat berbuat banyak di kompetisi internal, sedangkan Aceh merupakan salah satu provinsi yang banyak memunculkan pemain muda berbakat.Kualitas persepakbolaan di Indonesia yang rendah dan minim prestasi ini dikarenakan kurang pembinaan dan pelatihan pemain mulai dari usia dini untuk didik menjadi pemain profesional. Sarana pelatihan yang ada di Indonesia belum serius ke arah profesional seperti akademi sepakbola di Eropa. Di negara-negara maju dalam sepakbola, prestasi tim nasional pada umumnya dilatarbelakangi oleh sistem dan proses pembinaan klub yang sudah mapan.Sekolah sepakbola usia muda di Banda Aceh merupakan sebuah sarana pelatihan dan pembinaan sepakbola pemain usia dini di Banda Aceh. Pemain tersebut akan dididik, dilatih dan dibina sejak dini sebagai usaha pembibitan pemain sepakbola Aceh yang potensial. Sekolah sepakbola ini berlokasi di Lhong Raya, sesuai dengan rencana pengembangan kawasan pusat olahraga di Banda Aceh. Dengan mengusung tema arsitektur metafora, diharapkan bangunan sekolah sepakbola ini dapat menjadi objek arsitektur yang melekat di masyarakat.Tahap awal dalam proses perancangan Sekolah Sepakbola Usia Muda di Banda Aceh ini adalah studi literatur data dan studi banding. Selanjutnya permasalahan yang ada diidentifikasi dan dianalisis sesuai dengan batasan perancangan. Dalam lingkup batasan tema arsitektur metafora dan kondisi iklim setempat selanjutnya melahirkan konsep perancangan sesuai dengan hasil analisis.Kata kunci: olahraga, sekolah, sepakbolaBanda Ace

Trajectories of brain volumes in young children are associated with maternal education

Brain growth in early childhood is reflected in the evolution of proportional cerebrospinal fluid volumes (pCSF), grey matter (pGM), and white matter (pWM). We study brain development as reflected in the relative fractions of these three tissues for a cohort of 388 children that were longitudinally followed between the ages of 18 and 96 months. We introduce statistical methodology (Riemannian Principal Analysis through Conditional Expectation, RPACE) that addresses major challenges that are of general interest for the analysis of longitudinal neuroimaging data, including the sparsity of the longitudinal observations over time and the compositional structure of the relative brain volumes. Applying the RPACE methodology, we find that longitudinal growth as reflected by tissue composition differs significantly for children of mothers with higher and lower maternal education levels.publishedVersio

Subcellular localization of APMCF1 and its biological significance of expression pattern in normal and malignant human tissues

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>APMCF1 is a novel human gene first cloned from apoptotic MCF-7 cells. Our previous study found ectogenic APMCF1 could induce G1 arrest in hepatocarcinoma cell line HHCC. In order to search its broad expression profile for further understanding of its mechanism in tumor, we investigated a subcellular location of APMCF1 and performed an immunohistochemistry study including various tumor and normal tissues. Discovery from the expression characterization of AMPCF1 may have applicability in the analysis of its biological function in tumor.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We investigated subcellular localization of APMCF1 by transient transfection in green monkey kidney epithelial cells (COS-7) with a fusion protein vector pEGFP-APMCF1 and detected expression profile in a broad range of normal and malignant human tissues via tissue microarray (TMA) by immunohistochemistry with polyclonal antibody first produced in our laboratory.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>EGFP-APMCF1 was generally localized in the cytoplasm of COS-7 cell. Positive staining of APMCF1 was found in liver, lung, breast, colon, stomach, esophagus and testis, exhibited a ubiquitous expression pattern while its expression was up-regulated in tumor tissues compared with corresponding normal tissues. Normal brain neuron cells also showed expression of APMCF1, but negative in gliocyte cells and glioma. Both the normal and tumor tissues of ovary were absent of APMCF1 expression. Positive immunostaining for APMCF1 with large samples in liver, colon, esophagus, lung and breast carcinomas were 96% (51/53), 80% (44/55), 57% (30/53), 58% (33/57) and 34% (16/47) respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results revealed a cytoplastic expression pattern of APMCF1 and up-regulated in tumour tissues suggesting APMCF1 may have potential relationship with oncogenesis. The data presented should serve as a useful reference for further studies of APMCF1 functions in tumorigenesis and might provide a potential anti-tumor target.</p

Network evolution of regional brain volumes in young children reflects neurocognitive scores and mother's education

The maturation of regional brain volumes from birth to preadolescence is a critical developmental process that underlies emerging brain structural connectivity and function. Regulated by genes and environment, the coordinated growth of different brain regions plays an important role in cognitive development. Current knowledge about structural network evolution is limited, partly due to the sparse and irregular nature of most longitudinal neuroimaging data. In particular, it is unknown how factors such as mother’s education or sex of the child impact the structural network evolution. To address this issue, we propose a method to construct evolving structural networks and study how the evolving connections among brain regions as reflected at the network level are related to maternal education and biological sex of the child and also how they are associated with cognitive development. Our methodology is based on applying local Fréchet regression to longitudinal neuroimaging data acquired from the RESONANCE cohort, a cohort of healthy children (245 females and 309 males) ranging in age from 9 weeks to 10 years. Our findings reveal that sustained highly coordinated volume growth across brain regions is associated with lower maternal education and lower cognitive development. This suggests that higher neurocognitive performance levels in children are associated with increased variability of regional growth patterns as children age.publishedVersio

Surpassing the classical limit of microwave photonic frequency fading effect by quantum microwave photonics

With energy-time entangled biphoton sources as the optical carrier and time-correlated single-photon detection for high-speed radio frequency (RF) signal recovery, the method of quantum microwave photonics (QMWP) has presented the unprecedented potential of nonlocal RF signal encoding and efficient RF signal distilling from the dispersion interference associated with ultrashort pulse carriers. In this letter, its capability in microwave signal processing and prospective superiority is further demonstrated. Both the QMWP RF phase shifting and transversal filtering functionality, which are the fundamental building blocks of microwave signal processing, are realized. Besides the perfect immunity to the dispersion-induced frequency fading effect associated with the broadband carrier in classical microwave photonics, a native two-dimensional parallel microwave signal processor is provided. These demonstrations fully prove the superiority of QMWP over classical MWP and open the door to new application fields of MWP involving encrypted processing

Silk-Derived Graphene-Like Carbon with High Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

A facile method to prepare the nanoporous and graphene-like carbon material from a natural silk fiber was developed by a potassium intercalation and carbonization procedure. The as-synthesized graphene-like fiber was employed for oxygen reduction reaction and exhibited impressive electrocatalytic activity

RCN1 induces sorafenib resistance and malignancy in hepatocellular carcinoma by activating c-MYC signaling via the IRE1α–XBP1s pathway

The increasing incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is of great concern globally, but the molecular pathogenesis of these tumors remains unclear. Sorafenib is a first-line drug for the treatment of advanced HCC. However, the efficacy of sorafenib in improving patient survival is limited, and most patients inevitably develop resistance to this drug. Recent studies have demonstrated that the activation of the IRE1α–XBP1s pathway might play a protective role in the response to sorafenib and contribute to malignancy in HCC. Here, we found that RCN1, an endoplasmic reticulum resident protein, is significantly upregulated in sorafenib-resistant HCC cells and promotes tumor progression. Our analysis showed that RCN1 may be an independent predictor of tumor recurrence and overall survival. Mechanistically, RCN1 promotes the dissociation of GRP78 from IRE1α in sorafenib-resistant cells by interacting with GRP78 through its EFh1/2 domain. Subsequently, the IRE1α–XBP1s pathway, a branch of the unfolded protein response, is sustainably activated. Interestingly, IRE1α–XBP1s pathway activity is required for c-MYC signaling, one of the most highly activated oncogenic pathways in HCC. These results suggest that RCN1-targeted therapy might be a feasible strategy for the treatment of HCC

Interventions to enhance return-to-work among young and middle-aged cancer survivors: a systematic review

Objective·To systematically evaluate the application of return-to-work intervention programs to young and middle-aged cancer survivors and its effectiveness in improving work-related outcomes in cancer survivors.Methods·An initial literature search of eight electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang was conducted with a time frame from inception to Aug 2nd, 2022 to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies of return-to-work interventions on work-related outcomes among cancer survivors. Two researchers independently conducted literature screening, data extraction, and methodological quality evaluation using the JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) Methodology Quality Evaluation Tool.Results·A total of 13 original studies were included, involving 11 return-to-work intervention programs, containing 2 045 cancer survivors. The results of the systematic evaluation showed that 10 of the intervention programs were multidisciplinary, with intervention modules on disease/mental health education, group discussions, physical rehabilitation, work capacity exercises, multidisciplinary team meetings and counselling. Among them, three interventions also included employers in the support program. The duration of the interventions ranged from 7 d to one year. Eight of the included interventions took return-to-work rates as a primary outcome, but only three reported that the difference was statistically significant, two of which were quasi-experimental studies without control group. Besides, no clear positive effects were found on work-related outcome such as length of return-to-work, change of work status, work ability, and work meaning.Conclusion·The content, format, intensity and frequency of return-to-work intervention programs for cancer survivors vary widely, and the effects of interventions on work-related outcomes are still unclear. Researchers should further explore the mechanisms that influence cancer survivors′ return-to-work, and develop multidisciplinary intervention programs based on this to effectively help young and middle-aged cancer survivors return-to-work and society. In addition, due to the limitations of study quality and intervention program heterogeneity, more high-quality experimental studies are needed to further validate the above findings