Investigation of polarimetric coherence optimization in persistent scatterer interferometry

"December 2010.""A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri--Columbia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science."Thesis supervisor: Dr. Justin J. Legarsky.Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) provides a means of imaging small deformations of the Earth's surface (millimeter scale). Furthermore, interferometric point target analysis (IPTA) and time-series analyses can be enhanced using polarimetric and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PolInSAR) processing techniques to improve detection of point targets or coherent scatterers (CS) that are characterized by a point-like scattering behavior. A mixture of single or multiple scattering mechanisms with a high range of backscattering amplitudes characterize many SAR images over a number of areas. However, the fact that a number of scatterers are characterized by a strongly polarized behavior and are located at different heights even within the same resolution cell make the combination of polarimetric and interferometric information a promising one. For the study site of Socorro, New Mexico, full polarization techniques provided a significant increase (i.e. more than doubled) in CSs compared to a non full polarization. Scattering mechanism and temporal behavior of the CSs were investigated. The CS scattering mechanism behavior was found consistent amongst the CS lists. Full polarization processing was found to increase the CS quantity significantly compared to single polarizations while maintaining high temporal coherence. Thus, this significant increase in full polarization CSs has the potential to increase the overall InSAR processing quality. For sites that challenge (e.g. vegetated areas and other low coherence environments) the single polarization InSAR processing, the full polarization increase in CSs may be essential for processing.Includes bibliographical references (pages 55-56)

The Influence of Shoe and Cleat Type on Lower Extremity Muscle Activation in Youth Baseball Pitchers

Background: Baseball pitching is a dynamic movement where the lower extremities generate and sequentially transfer energy to the upper extremities to maximize ball velocity. The need for lower body muscular strength to produce adequate push-off and landing forces has been documented; however, the influence footwear and surface inclination has on muscle activation remains unknown. Objectives: Determine how pitching in molded cleats and turf shoes from a pitching mound and flat ground affects stride-leg muscle activation in youth baseball pitchers while determining percent activation during each pitching phase. Methods: Cross – sectional study analyzing mean muscle activity and percent activation of the vastus medialis, semitendinosus, tibialis anterior, and medial gastrocnemius on the stride-leg of 11 youth baseball pitchers when pitching fastballs. Results: Footwear did not significantly alter vastus medialis or semitendinosus muscle activation (P \u3e 0.05). The turf shoe x pitching mound interaction elicited significantly (P \u3c 0.05) greater mean muscle activity in the medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior from stride foot contact to maximum glenohumeral internal rotation. Molded cleats produced greater activation levels in the tibialis anterior on flat ground from stride foot contact (0.374 ± 0.176 mV) to ball release (0.469 ± 0.150 mV). Conclusion: Findings suggest footwear significantly alters the activity level of the ankle stabilizing musculature. Youth baseball pitchers and coaches should be cognizant of what footwear is worn on a pitching surface. Maximal activation of the tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius can ensure the stride leg is adequately stabilized to absorb the momentum generated by trail leg

The epidemiology of fighting in group-housed laboratory mice

Injurious home-cage aggression (fighting) in mice affects both animal welfare and scientific validity. It is arguably the most common potentially preventable morbidity in mouse facilities. Existing literature on mouse aggression almost exclusively examines territorial aggression induced by introducing a stimulus mouse into the home-cage of a singly housed mouse (i.e. the resident/intruder test). However, fighting occurring in mice living together in long-term groups under standard laboratory housing conditions has barely been studied. We performed a point-prevalence epidemiological survey of fighting at a research institution with an approximate 60,000 cage census. A subset of cages was sampled over the course of a year and factors potentially influencing home-cage fighting were recorded. Fighting was almost exclusively seen in group-housed male mice. Approximately 14% of group-housed male cages were observed with fighting animals in brief behavioral observations, but only 14% of those cages with fighting had skin injuries observable from cage-side. Thus simple cage-side checks may be missing the majority of fighting mice. Housing system (the combination of cage ventilation and bedding type), genetic background, time of year, cage location on the rack, and rack orientation in the room were significant risk factors predicting fighting. Of these predictors, only bedding type is easily manipulated to mitigate fighting. Cage ventilation and rack orientation often cannot be changed in modern vivaria, as they are baked in by cookie-cutter architectural approaches to facility design. This study emphasizes the need to invest in assessing the welfare costs of new housing and husbandry systems before implementing them

Discovery of Two Rare Rigidly Rotating Magnetosphere Stars in the APOGEE Survey

The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)---one of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III programs---is using near-infrared (NIR) spectra of ~100,000 red giant branch star candidates to study the structure of the Milky Way. In the course of the survey, APOGEE also acquires spectra of hot field stars to serve as telluric calibrators for the primary science targets. We report the serendipitous discovery of two rare, fast-rotating B-stars of the sigma Ori E type among those blue field stars observed during the first year of APOGEE operations. Both of the discovered stars display the spectroscopic signatures of rigidly rotating magnetospheres (RRM) common to this class of highly magnetized (B ~ 10 kGauss) stars, increasing the number of known RRM stars by ~10%. One (HD 345439) is a main-sequence B-star with unusually strong He absorption (similar to sigma Ori E), while the other (HD 23478) fits a "He-normal" B3IV classification. We combine the APOGEE discovery spectra with other optical and NIR spectra of these two stars, and of sigma Ori E itself, to show how NIR spectroscopy can be a uniquely powerful tool for discovering more of these rare objects, which may show little/no RRM signatures in their optical spectra. We discuss the potential for further discovery of sigma Ori E type stars, as well as the implications of our discoveries for the population of these objects and insights into their origin and evolution

The utilisation of health research in policy-making: Concepts, examples and methods of assessment

The importance of health research utilisation in policy-making, and of understanding the mechanisms involved, is increasingly recognised. Recent reports calling for more resources to improve health in developing countries, and global pressures for accountability, draw greater attention to research-informed policy-making. Key utilisation issues have been described for at least twenty years, but the growing focus on health research systems creates additional dimensions. The utilisation of health research in policy-making should contribute to policies that may eventually lead to desired outcomes, including health gains. In this article, exploration of these issues is combined with a review of various forms of policy-making. When this is linked to analysis of different types of health research, it assists in building a comprehensive account of the diverse meanings of research utilisation. Previous studies report methods and conceptual frameworks that have been applied, if with varying degrees of success, to record utilisation in policy-making. These studies reveal various examples of research impact within a general picture of underutilisation. Factors potentially enhancing utilisation can be identified by exploration of: priority setting; activities of the health research system at the interface between research and policy-making; and the role of the recipients, or 'receptors', of health research. An interfaces and receptors model provides a framework for analysis. Recommendations about possible methods for assessing health research utilisation follow identification of the purposes of such assessments. Our conclusion is that research utilisation can be better understood, and enhanced, by developing assessment methods informed by conceptual analysis and review of previous studies

Recent Asian origin of chytrid fungi causing global amphibian declines

Globalized infectious diseases are causing species declines worldwide, but their source often remains elusive. We used whole-genome sequencing to solve the spatiotemporal origins of the most devastating panzootic to date, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a proximate driver of global amphibian declines. We traced the source of B. dendrobatidis to the Korean peninsula, where one lineage, BdASIA-1, exhibits the genetic hallmarks of an ancestral population that seeded the panzootic. We date the emergence of this pathogen to the early 20th century, coinciding with the global expansion of commercial trade in amphibians, and we show that intercontinental transmission is ongoing. Our findings point to East Asia as a geographic hotspot for B. dendrobatidis biodiversity and the original source of these lineages that now parasitize amphibians worldwide

Development and worldwide use of non-lethal, and minimal population-level impact, protocols for the isolation of amphibian chytrid fungi

© The Author(s) 2018.Parasitic chytrid fungi have emerged as a significant threat to amphibian species worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to isolate these pathogens into culture for research purposes. However, early methods of isolating chytrids from their hosts relied on killing amphibians. We modified a pre-existing protocol for isolating chytrids from infected animals to use toe clips and biopsies from toe webbing rather than euthanizing hosts, and distributed the protocol to researchers as part of the BiodivERsA project RACE; here called the RML protocol. In tandem, we developed a lethal procedure for isolating chytrids from tadpole mouthparts. Reviewing a database of use a decade after their inception, we find that these methods have been applied across 5 continents, 23 countries and in 62 amphibian species. Isolation of chytrids by the non-lethal RML protocol occured in 18% of attempts with 207 fungal isolates and three species of chytrid being recovered. Isolation of chytrids from tadpoles occured in 43% of attempts with 334 fungal isolates of one species (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) being recovered. Together, these methods have resulted in a significant reduction and refinement of our use of threatened amphibian species and have improved our ability to work with this group of emerging pathogens.T.W.J.G., M.C.F., D.S.S., A.L., E.C., F.C.C., J.B., A.A.C., C.M., F.S., B.R.S., S.O., were supported through the Biodiversa project RACE: Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European Amphibian Biodiversity (NERC standard grant NE/K014455/1 and NE/E006701/1; ANR-08-BDVA-002-03). M.C.F., J.S., C.W., P.G. were supported by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2014-273), M.C.F., A.C., C.W. were supported by the Morris Animal Foundation. J.V. was supported by the Bolyai János Research Grant of the Hunagrian Academy of Sciences (BO/00597/14). F.G. and D.G. were supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme Future Conservationist Award. C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). M.C.F. and A.C. were supported by. Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Project (152510704). GMR held a doctoral scholarship (SFRH/ BD/69194/2010) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. L.F.T., C.L., L.P.R. K.R.Z., T.Y.J., T.S.J. were supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2016/25358-3), the National Counsel of Technological and Scientifc Development (CNPq #300896/2016–6) and a Catalyzing New International Collaborations grant from the United States NSF (OISE-1159513). C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). T.M.D. was supported by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. B.W. was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2015R1D1A1A01057282).Peer Reviewe

Development and worldwide use of non-lethal, and minimal population-level impact, protocols for the isolation of amphibian chytrid fungi

T.W.J.G., M.C.F., D.S.S., A.L., E.C., F.C.C., J.B., A.A.C., C.M., F.S., B.R.S., S.O., were supported through the Biodiversa project RACE: Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European Amphibian Biodiversity (NERC standard grant NE/K014455/1 and NE/E006701/1; ANR-08-BDVA-002-03). M.C.F., J.S., C.W., P.G. were supported by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2014-273), M.C.F., A.C., C.W. were supported by the Morris Animal Foundation. J.V. was supported by the Bolyai János Research Grant of the Hunagrian Academy of Sciences (BO/00597/14). F.G. and D.G. were supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme Future Conservationist Award. C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). M.C.F. and A.C. were supported by. Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Project (152510704). GMR held a doctoral scholarship (SFRH/BD/69194/2010) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. L.F.T., C.L., L.P.R. K.R.Z., T.Y.J., T.S.J. were supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2016/25358-3), the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq #300896/2016–6) and a Catalyzing New International Collaborations grant from the United States NSF (OISE-1159513). C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). T.M.D. was supported by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. B.W. was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2015R1D1A1A01057282).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Placental Growth Factor Contributes to Micro-Vascular Abnormalization and Blood-Retinal Barrier Breakdown in Diabetic Retinopathy

OBJECTIVE: There are controversies regarding the pro-angiogenic activity of placental growth factor (PGF) in diabetic retinopathy (DR). For a better understanding of its role on the retina, we have evaluated the effect of a sustained PGF over-expression in rat ocular media, using ciliary muscle electrotransfer (ET) of a plasmid encoding rat PGF-1 (pVAX2-rPGF-1). MATERIALS AND METHODS: pVAX2-rPGF-1 ET in the ciliary muscle (200 V/cm) was achieved in non diabetic and diabetic rat eyes. Control eyes received saline or naked plasmid ET. Clinical follow up was carried out over three months using slit lamp examination and fluorescein angiography. After the control of rPGF-1 expression, PGF-induced effects on retinal vasculature and on the blood-external barrier were evaluated respectively by lectin and occludin staining on flat-mounts. Ocular structures were visualized through histological analysis. RESULTS: After fifteen days of rPGF-1 over-expression in normal eyes, tortuous and dilated capillaries were observed. At one month, microaneurysms and moderate vascular sprouts were detected in mid retinal periphery in vivo and on retinal flat-mounts. At later stages, retinal pigmented epithelial cells demonstrated morphological abnormalities and junction ruptures. In diabetic retinas, PGF expression rose between 2 and 5 months, and, one month after ET, rPGF-1 over-expression induced glial activation and proliferation. CONCLUSION: This is the first demonstration that sustained intraocular PGF production induces vascular and retinal changes similar to those observed in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy. PGF and its receptor Flt-1 may therefore be looked upon as a potential regulatory target at this stage of the disease

A Semantic Web Management Model for Integrative Biomedical Informatics

Data, data everywhere. The diversity and magnitude of the data generated in the Life Sciences defies automated articulation among complementary efforts. The additional need in this field for managing property and access permissions compounds the difficulty very significantly. This is particularly the case when the integration involves multiple domains and disciplines, even more so when it includes clinical and high throughput molecular data.The emergence of Semantic Web technologies brings the promise of meaningful interoperation between data and analysis resources. In this report we identify a core model for biomedical Knowledge Engineering applications and demonstrate how this new technology can be used to weave a management model where multiple intertwined data structures can be hosted and managed by multiple authorities in a distributed management infrastructure. Specifically, the demonstration is performed by linking data sources associated with the Lung Cancer SPORE awarded to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at Houston and the Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. A software prototype, available with open source at www.s3db.org, was developed and its proposed design has been made publicly available as an open source instrument for shared, distributed data management.The Semantic Web technologies have the potential to addresses the need for distributed and evolvable representations that are critical for systems Biology and translational biomedical research. As this technology is incorporated into application development we can expect that both general purpose productivity software and domain specific software installed on our personal computers will become increasingly integrated with the relevant remote resources. In this scenario, the acquisition of a new dataset should automatically trigger the delegation of its analysis