Solar Power Plant Detection on Multi-Spectral Satellite Imagery using Weakly-Supervised CNN with Feedback Features and m-PCNN Fusion

Most of the traditional convolutional neural networks (CNNs) implements bottom-up approach (feed-forward) for image classifications. However, many scientific studies demonstrate that visual perception in primates rely on both bottom-up and top-down connections. Therefore, in this work, we propose a CNN network with feedback structure for Solar power plant detection on middle-resolution satellite images. To express the strength of the top-down connections, we introduce feedback CNN network (FB-Net) to a baseline CNN model used for solar power plant classification on multi-spectral satellite data. Moreover, we introduce a method to improve class activation mapping (CAM) to our FB-Net, which takes advantage of multi-channel pulse coupled neural network (m-PCNN) for weakly-supervised localization of the solar power plants from the features of proposed FB-Net. For the proposed FB-Net CAM with m-PCNN, experimental results demonstrated promising results on both solar-power plant image classification and detection task.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 4 table

Transformation of peptide nanotubes into a vesicle via fusion driven by stereo-complex formation.

Two types of peptide nanotubes, one is prepared from an amphiphilic peptide having a right-handed helix segment and the other from that having a left-handed helix segment, are shown to transform the morphology into a vesicle by membrane fusion due to stereo-complex formation between these helical segments

Collagen gene expression during chondrogenesis from chick periosteum-derived cells

AbstractChick periosteum-derived cells, which do not enter the chondrogenic cell lineage during normal bone development and growth, exhibit chondrogenic potential in high cell density culture conditions. In such cultures, collagen gene expression was temporally analyzed at the mRNA level by a reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) procedure, which showed that α1(II) and α1(IX) collagen mRNAs are coordinately increased, coincident with the onset of overt chondrogenesis, and subsequently decreased as chondrocytes exhibited hypertrophic characteristics. α1(X) collagen mRNA was detected well before the onset of chondrogenesis and markedly increased along with the hypertrophic change. For α2(I) collagen, both the bone/tendon form and the cartilage form of mRNA were detected throughout the culture period. This culture system provides an experimental vehicle capable of investigating the molecular events involved in the full range of chondrogenic differentiation starting from uncommitted periosteum-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Novel erythrocyte pits in small tropical ruminant, lesser mouse deer.

We examined unique erythrocyte pits of the peripheral blood and bone marrow in the lesser mouse deer, Tragulus javanicus, using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Under the SEM observation, the pit was observed as a hole on both mature erythrocytes of the peripheral blood and immature erythrocytes of the bone marrow. By the TEM, the mature erythrocytes had a vacuole, which showed complicated shape and occupied considerable space within the cytoplasm. The vacuole was communicated extracellularly by perforation, which corresponded to the hole on the cell surface. In the bone marrow, erythroblast and reticulocytes have a cytoplasmic vacuole. This abnormal feature of the erythrocytes is peculiar to the mouse deer, and not found in other tropical ruminants. Despite the disadvantage of volume loss from the small erythrocytes, the mouse deer were healthy and showed no signs of anaemia

Outburst of LS V+44 17 Observed by MAXI and RXTE, and Discovery of a Dip Structure in the Pulse Profile

We report on the first observation of an X-ray outburst of a Be/X-ray binary pulsar LS V +44 17/RX J0440.9+4431, and the discovery of an absorption dip structure in the pulse profile. An outburst of this source was discovered by MAXI GSC in 2010 April. It was the first detection of the transient activity of LS V +44 17 since the source was identified as a Be/X-ray binary in 1997. From the data of the follow-up RXTE observation near the peak of the outburst, we found a narrow dip structure in its pulse profile which was clearer in the lower energy bands. The pulse-phase-averaged energy spectra in the 3$-$100 keV band can be fitted with a continuum model containing a power-law function with an exponential cutoff and a blackbody component, which are modified at low energy by an absorption component. A weak iron K$\alpha$ emission line is also detected in the spectra. From the pulse-phase-resolved spectroscopy we found that the absorption column density at the dip phase was much higher than those in the other phases. The dip was not seen in the subsequent RXTE observations at lower flux levels. These results suggest that the dip in the pulse profile originates from the eclipse of the radiation from the neutron star by the accretion column.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Polypharmacy and Clinical Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy is a common problem among patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) who often have multiple comorbidities. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to define the number of medications at hospital discharge and whether it is associated with clinical outcomes at 1 year. METHODS: We evaluated the number of medications in 2578 patients with ADHF who were ambulatory at hospital discharge in the Kyoto Congestive Heart Failure Registry and compared 1-year outcomes in 4 groups categorized by quartiles of the number of medications (quartile 1, ≤ 5; quartile 2, 6-8; quartile 3, 9-11; and quartile 4, ≥ 12). RESULTS: At hospital discharge, the median number of medications was 8 (interquartile range, 6-11) with 81.5% and 27.8% taking more than 5 and more than 10 medications, respectively. The cumulative 1-year incidence of a composite of death or rehospitalization (primary outcome measure) increased incrementally with an increasing number of medications (quartile 1, 30.8%; quartile 2, 31.6%; quartile 3, 39.7%; quartile 4, 50.3%; P < .0001). After adjusting for confounders, the excess risks of quartile 4 relative to those of quartile 1 remained significant (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: In the contemporary cohort of patients with ADHF in Japan, polypharmacy at hospital discharge was common, and excessive polypharmacy was associated with a higher risk of mortality and rehospitalizations within a 1-year period. Collaborative disease management programs that include a careful review of medication lists and an appropriate deprescribing protocol should be implemented for these patients

MAXI GSC observations of a spectral state transition in the black hole candidate XTE J1752-223

We present the first results on the black hole candidate XTE J1752-223 from the Gas Slit Camera (GSC) on-board the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) on the International Space Station. Including the onset of the outburst reported by the Proportional Counter Array on-board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer on 2009 October 23, the MAXI/GSC has been monitoring this source approximately 10 times per day with a high sensitivity in the 2-20 keV band. XTE J1752-223 was initially in the low/hard state during the first 3 months. An anti-correlated behavior between the 2-4 keV and 4-20 keV bands were observed around January 20, 2010, indicating that the source exhibited the spectral transition to the high/soft state. A transient radio jet may have been ejected when the source was in the intermediate state where the spectrum was roughly explained by a power-law with a photon index of 2.5-3.0. The unusually long period in the initial low/hard state implies a slow variation in the mass accretion rate, and the dramatic soft X-ray increase may be explained by a sudden appearance of the accretion disk component with a relatively low innermost temperature (0.4-0.7 keV). Such a low temperature might suggest that the maximum accretion rate was just above the critical gas evaporation rate required for the state transition.Comment: Publication of Astronomical Society of Japan Vol.62, No.5 (2010) [in print

Bright X-ray flares from the BL Lac object Mrk 421, detected with MAXI in 2010 January and February

Strong X-ray flares from the blazar Mrk 421 were detected in 2010 January and February through the 7 month monitoring with the MAXI GSC. The maximum 2 -- 10 keV flux in the January and February flares was measured as 120 +- 10 mCrab and 164 +- 17 mCrab respectively; the latter is the highest among those reported from the object. A comparison of the MAXI and Swift BAT data suggests a convex X-ray spectrum with an approximated photon index of about 2. This spectrum is consistent with a picture that MAXI is observing near the synchrotron peak frequency. The source exhibited a spectral variation during these flares, slightly different from those in the previous observations, in which the positive correlation between the flux and hardness was widely reported. By equating the halving decay timescale in the January flare, $t_{\rm d} \sim 2.5 \times 10^{4}$ s, to the synchrotron cooling time, the magnetic field was evaluated as B = 0.045 G $(\delta/10)^{-1/3}$, where $\delta$ is the jet beaming factor. Assuming that the light crossing time of the emission region is shorter than the doubling rise time, $t_{\rm r} \lesssim 2 \times 10^{4}$ s, the region size was roughly estimated as $R < 6 \times 10^{15}$ cm $(\delta/10)$. These are consistent with the values previously reported. For the February flare, the rise time, $t_{\rm r} < 1.3 \times 10^{5}$ s, gives a loose upper limit on the size as $R < 4 \times 10^{16}$ cm $(\delta/10)$, although the longer decay time $t_{\rm d} \sim 1.4 \times 10^{5}$ s, indicates B = 0.015 G $(\delta/10)^{-1/3}$, which is weaker than the previous results. This could be reconciled by invoking a scenario that this flare is a superposition of unresolved events with a shorter timescale.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for PASJ (Vol. 62 No. 6

Long-term Monitoring of the Black Hole Binary GX 339-4 in the High/Soft State during the 2010 Outburst with MAXI/GSC

We present the results of monitoring the Galactic black hole candidate GX 339-4 with the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) / Gas Slit Camera (GSC) in the high/soft state during the outburst in 2010. All the spectra throughout the 8-month period are well reproduced with a model consisting of multi-color disk (MCD) emission and its Comptonization component, whose fraction is <= 25% in the total flux. In spite of the flux variability over a factor of 3, the innermost disk radius is constant at R_in = 61 +/- 2 km for the inclination angle of i = 46 deg and the distance of d=8 kpc. This R_in value is consistent with those of the past measurements with Tenma in the high/soft state. Assuming that the disk extends to the innermost stable circular orbit of a non-spinning black hole, we estimate the black hole mass to be M = 6.8 +/- 0.2 M_sun for i = 46 deg and d = 8 kpc, which is consistent with that estimated from the Suzaku observation of the previous low/hard state. Further combined with the mass function, we obtain the mass constraint of 4.3 M_sun < M < 13.3 M_sun for the allowed range of d = 6-15 kpc and i < 60 deg. We also discuss the spin parameter of the black hole in GX 339-4 by applying relativistic accretion disk models to the Swift/XRT data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Suzaku+MAXI special issue