Hyperspectral image unmixing using a multiresolution sticky HDP

This paper is concerned with joint Bayesian endmember extraction and linear unmixing of hyperspectral images using a spatial prior on the abundance vectors.We propose a generative model for hyperspectral images in which the abundances are sampled from a Dirichlet distribution (DD) mixture model, whose parameters depend on a latent label process. The label process is then used to enforces a spatial prior which encourages adjacent pixels to have the same label. A Gibbs sampling framework is used to generate samples from the posterior distributions of the abundances and the parameters of the DD mixture model. The spatial prior that is used is a tree-structured sticky hierarchical Dirichlet process (SHDP) and, when used to determine the posterior endmember and abundance distributions, results in a new unmixing algorithm called spatially constrained unmixing (SCU). The directed Markov model facilitates the use of scale-recursive estimation algorithms, and is therefore more computationally efficient as compared to standard Markov random field (MRF) models. Furthermore, the proposed SCU algorithm estimates the number of regions in the image in an unsupervised fashion. The effectiveness of the proposed SCU algorithm is illustrated using synthetic and real data

Sherpa Inc. The Cultural Commoditization of the Sherpa Identity

This study examines the ways the Sherpa identity has been commoditized for a Western audience, the Sherpa responses to such a process and the repercussions it creates when understanding Sherpa cultural “authenticity.” Located in Kathmandu and the Solukhumbu district of Nepal, the findings were acquired through interviews with various members of the Sherpa community, discourse analysis and observation. This research concludes that the Sherpa community views their cultural commoditization as both a source of discredit and honor, creating difficulty in rationalizing how it both de-authenticates and re-asserts their Sherpa culture

Hold Fast!: Historical Bits of Pathos, Lore, Heroism and Satire About the Veteran Ninth Infantry Division, circa 1945

A 57-page publication produced by division historian Joseph B. Mittelman titled “Hold Fast!: Historical Bits of Pathos, Lore, Heroism and Satire About the Veteran Ninth Infantry Division” published in Germany circa 1945. The U.S. Army Ninth Division was activated on August 1, 1940 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and served in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany during World War II.https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-mss-wwtwo4/1001/thumbnail.jp

Ceramics as an Ethnic Identifier: Libyans in the Nile Delta during the Third Intermediate Period

This dissertation investigates whether or not ceramics can be used to determine ethnicity, demographics, and settlement patterns of Libyans living in Lower Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties 21-24, ca. 1100-713 BCE). As few Libyan ceramics have been found and collated, the ceramic corpora from Mendes, Tanis, and Sais - attested Egyptian centers of Libyan habitation - were compared to the assemblages from Memphis, a city which housed both Libyans and Egyptians, and Tell El-Retaba, a city with no known Libyan settlement. This study first aimed to define a distinct Libyan identity based on textual evidence from Egyptian and Classical authors and from the archaeological evidence that has been found and published in western Egypt and in Libya. Then, these attributes were compared to the changes in the Third Intermediate Period, which occurred in Egypt after the Libyan migration and rise to power. Finally, the ceramic data, including form, fabric, and decoration, from all five sites was compared to test if the Lower Egyptian ceramic corpora also changed due to the Libyan migrations. Analysis of the archaeological material from Libya, the Egyptian and Classical texts, and the geography and climate of Libya provide evidence that the Libyans were most likely semi-nomadic agropastoralists. They may have lived and traveled with their families, and formed a segmentary state tribal society. Surveys in western Egypt and in Libya found locally made ceramics, which should have been visible in the Egyptian archaeological record after the Libyan migration into the Nile Delta. The data show that there is a change in the fabric and form at all of the sites, except for Tell El-Retaba. However, other than the ceramics found at Mendes, surface treatment and decoration vary little on the ceramics found at the other four sites. Based on an examination and comparison of pottery from Mendes, Tanis, Sais, Memphis, and Tell El-Retaba, the ceramics from the Third Intermediate Period cannot be used on their own to determine Libyan ethnicity, demographics, or migration in Egypt

Microbiological Tests Performed During the Design of the International Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support Systems. Part 1, Bulk Phase

The design and manufacturing of the main Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) for the United States segments of the International Space Station (ISS) was an involved process that started in the mid 1980s, with the assessment and testing of competing technologies that could be used to clean the air and recycle water. It culminated in 2009 with the delivery and successful activation of the Water Recovery System (WRS) water processor (WP). The ECLSS required the work of a team of engineers and scientist working together to develop systems that could clean and/or recycle human metabolic loads to maintain a clean atmosphere and provide the crew clean water. One of the main goals of the ECLSS is to minimize the time spent by the crew worrying about vital resources not available in the vacuum of space, which allows them to spend most of their time learning to live in a microgravity environment many miles from the comforts of Earth and working on science experiments. Microorganisms are a significant part of the human body as well as part of the environment that we live in. Therefore, the ISS ECLSS design had to take into account the effect microorganisms have on the quality of stored water and wastewater, as well as that of the air systems. Hardware performance issues impacted by the accumulation of biofilm and/or microbiologically influenced corrosion were also studied during the ECLSS development stages. Many of the tests that were performed had to take into account the unique aspects of a microgravity environment as well as the challenge of understanding how to design systems that could not be sterilized or maintained in a sterile state. This paper will summarize the work of several studies that were performed to assess the impacts and/or to minimize the effects of microorganisms in open, semi-closed and closed loop life support system. The biofilm and biodeterioration studies that were performed during the design and test periods will be presented in a future publication

Fast cell membrane displacements in B lymphocytes Modulation by dihydrocytochalasin B and colchicine

AbstractA novel type of cell membrane movement was characterized in B lymphocytes. Local submicron cell membrane displacements, within the frequency range 0.3–15 Hz, were registered in a murine lymphoma B cell line by a novel optical method based on point dark field microscopy. The cell membrane displacements were measured by monitoring changes in light scattering from very small illuminated areas (0.25 μm2) at the edge of the cell surface. B lymphocytes manifest a relative change in light scattering of 7.7 ± 1.3% (mean ± SD) which corresponds to cell membrane transverse displacement of 131 ± 22 nm. The confinement of cell membrane displacements to microdomains (≤0.2 μm2) emerged from the observed dependence of the displacement amplitude on the area size from which it is monitored. Colchicine (1 μM) decreased membrane fluctuations down to a value of 88 ± 14 nm, whereas dihydrocytochalasin B (2 μM) increased the amplitude of membrane displacements up to 184 ± 31 nm. These findings demonstrate the existence of a dynamic mechanical interaction between the cytoskeleton and the cell membrane in the frequency range of 0.3–15 Hz. The modulation of these interactions by the disruption of microfilaments or microtubules is explained in terms of the induced strain changes imposed on the cell membrane

Adipocytes cause leukemia cell resistance to daunorubicin via oxidative stress response.

Adipocytes promote cancer progression and impair treatment, and have been shown to protect acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells from chemotherapies. Here we investigate whether this protection is mediated by changes in oxidative stress. Co-culture experiments showed that adipocytes protect ALL cells from oxidative stress induced by drugs or irradiation. We demonstrated that ALL cells induce intracellular ROS and an oxidative stress response in adipocytes. This adipocyte oxidative stress response leads to the secretion of soluble factors which protect ALL cells from daunorubicin (DNR). Collectively, our investigation shows that ALL cells elicit an oxidative stress response in adipocytes, leading to adipocyte protection of ALL cells against DNR