87 research outputs found
Monitoring Agricultural Drought Using GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies in Upper Brantas Watershed
Droughts disasters occured in some parts of Indonesian area periodically. To anticipate land and crops caused by drought needs historical data and information. Remote sensing provides the good capability to achieve spatial distributed, wide area coverage and multi-temporal. The study purposes to utilize remote sensing technology for agricultural drought monitoring and assessing in Upper Brantas Watershed. This study had used NOAA AVHRR were achieved from clearest NOAA AVHRR data selected every month from April 1997 to November 1998 and Landsat TM acquired May and June 1997. The method used in this research considers the relationship among rainfall and fluctuation of NDVI and BT. The study shows that an NDVI value of less than 0,28 was recognized as an appropriate threshold for the identification of drought affected area. NDVI and BT have an inverse relationship. The value can be used to delineate the spatially distributed for agricultural drought monitoring and assessment. Moreover, the map can be used for helping to anticipate the drought risk by changing the cropping pattern and other farming system in drought areas
Constructive Hybrid Games
Hybrid games are models which combine discrete, continuous, and adversarial
dynamics. Game logic enables proving (classical) existence of winning
strategies. We introduce constructive differential game logic (CdGL) for hybrid
games, where proofs that a player can win the game correspond to computable
winning strategies. This is the logical foundation for synthesis of correct
control and monitoring code for safety-critical cyber-physical systems. Our
contributions include novel static and dynamic semantics as well as soundness
and consistency.Comment: 60 pages, preprint, under revie
Cinnamon extract induces tumor cell death through inhibition of NFÎșB and AP1
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Cinnamomum cassia </it>bark is the outer skin of an evergreen tall tree belonging to the family Lauraceae containing several active components such as essential oils (cinnamic aldehyde and cinnamyl aldehyde), tannin, mucus and carbohydrate. They have various biological functions including anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-inflammation, anti-diabetic and anti-tumor activity. Previously, we have reported that anti-cancer effect of cinnamon extracts is associated with modulation of angiogenesis and effector function of CD8<sup>+ </sup>T cells. In this study, we further identified that anti-tumor effect of cinnamon extracts is also link with enhanced pro-apoptotic activity by inhibiting the activities NFÎșB and AP1 in mouse melanoma model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Water soluble cinnamon extract was obtained and quality of cinnamon extract was evaluated by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis. In this study, we tested anti-tumor activity and elucidated action mechanism of cinnamon extract using various types of tumor cell lines including lymphoma, melanoma, cervix cancer and colorectal cancer <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>mouse melanoma model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cinnamon extract strongly inhibited tumor cell proliferation <it>in vitro </it>and induced active cell death of tumor cells by up-regulating pro-apoptotic molecules while inhibiting NFÎșB and AP1 activity and their target genes such as <it>Bcl-2</it>, <it>BcL-xL </it>and <it>survivin</it>. Oral administration of cinnamon extract in melanoma transplantation model significantly inhibited tumor growth with the same mechanism of action observed <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study suggests that anti-tumor effect of cinnamon extracts is directly linked with enhanced pro-apoptotic activity and inhibition of NFÎșB and AP1 activities and their target genes <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>mouse melanoma model. Hence, further elucidation of active components of cinnamon extract could lead to development of potent anti-tumor agent or complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of diverse cancers.</p
Turbulence and Fossil Turbulence in Oceans and Lakes
Turbulence is defined as an eddy-like state of fluid motion where the
inertial-vortex forces of the eddies are larger than any of the other forces
that tend to damp the eddies out. Energy cascades of irrotational flows from
large scales to small are non-turbulent, even if they supply energy to
turbulence. Turbulent flows are rotational and cascade from small scales to
large, with feedback. Viscous forces limit the smallest turbulent eddy size to
the Kolmogorov scale. In stratified fluids, buoyancy forces limit large
vertical overturns to the Ozmidov scale and convert the largest turbulent
eddies into a unique class of saturated, non-propagating, internal waves,
termed fossil-vorticity-turbulence. These waves have the same energy but
different properties and spectral forms than the original turbulence patch. The
Gibson (1980, 1986) theory of fossil turbulence applies universal similarity
theories of turbulence and turbulent mixing to the vertical evolution of an
isolated patch of turbulence in a stratified fluid as its growth is constrained
and fossilized by buoyancy forces. These theories apply to the dynamics of
atmospheric, astrophysical and cosmological turbulence.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, see http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~ir118
Accepted for publication by the Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnolog
Genetic Biomarkers for ALS Disease in Transgenic SOD1G93A Mice
The pathophysiological mechanisms of both familial and sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) are unknown, although growing evidence suggests that skeletal muscle tissue is a primary target of ALS toxicity. Skeletal muscle biopsies were performed on transgenic SOD1G93A mice, a mouse model of ALS, to determine genetic biomarkers of disease longevity. Mice were anesthetized with isoflurane, and three biopsy samples were obtained per animal at the three main stages of the disease. Transcriptional expression levels of seventeen genes, Ankrd1, Calm1, Col19a1, Fbxo32, Gsr, Impa1, Mef2c, Mt2, Myf5, Myod1, Myog, Nnt, Nogo A, Pax7, Rrad, Sln and Snx10, were tested in each muscle biopsy sample. Total RNA was extracted using TRIzol Reagent according to the manufacturer's protocol, and variations in gene expression were assayed by real-time PCR for all of the samples. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the linear correlation between transcriptional expression levels throughout disease progression and longevity. Consistent with the results obtained from total skeletal muscle of transgenic SOD1G93A mice and 74-day-old denervated mice, five genes (Mef2c, Gsr, Col19a1, Calm1 and Snx10) could be considered potential genetic biomarkers of longevity in transgenic SOD1G93A mice. These results are important because they may lead to the exploration of previously unexamined tissues in the search for new disease biomarkers and even to the application of these findings in human studies
Introduction to special section on Recent Advances in the Study of Optical Variability in the Near-Surface and Upper Ocean
Optical variability occurs in the near-surface and upper ocean on very short time and space scales (e.g., milliseconds and millimeters and less) as well as greater scales. This variability is caused by solar, meteorological, and other physical forcing as well as biological and chemical processes that affect optical properties and their distributions, which in turn control the propagation of light across the air-sea interface and within the upper ocean. Recent developments in several technologies and modeling capabilities have enabled the investigation of a variety of fundamental and applied problems related to upper ocean physics, chemistry, and light propagation and utilization in the dynamic near-surface ocean. The purpose here is to provide background for and an introduction to a collection of papers devoted to new technologies and observational results as well as model simulations, which are facilitating new insights into optical variability and light propagation in the ocean as they are affected by changing atmospheric and oceanic conditions
Identification of Shell Colour Pigments in Marine Snails Clanculus pharaonius and C. margaritarius (Trochoidea; Gastropoda)
This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
The attached file is the published version of the article
The relation between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and inorganic selenium in drinking water: a population-based case-control study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A community in northern Italy was previously reported to have an excess incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis among residents exposed to high levels of inorganic selenium in their drinking water.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To assess the extent to which such association persisted in the decade following its initial observation, we conducted a population-based case-control study encompassing forty-one newly-diagnosed cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and eighty-two age- and sex-matched controls. We measured long-term intake of inorganic selenium along with other potentially neurotoxic trace elements.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that consumption of drinking water containing â„ 1 ÎŒg/l of inorganic selenium was associated with a relative risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis of 5.4 (95% confidence interval 1.1-26) after adjustment for confounding factors. Greater amounts of cumulative inorganic selenium intake were associated with progressively increasing effects, with a relative risk of 2.1 (95% confidence interval 0.5-9.1) for intermediate levels of cumulative intake and 6.4 (95% confidence interval 1.3-31) for high intake.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on these results, coupled with other epidemiologic data and with findings from animal studies that show specific toxicity of the trace element on motor neurons, we hypothesize that dietary intake of inorganic selenium through drinking water increases the risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.</p
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Catalytic conversion of light alkanes: Quarterly report, January 1-March 31, 1992
The first Quarterly Report of 1992 on the Catalytic Conversion of Light Alkanes reviews the work done between January 1. 1992 and March 31, 1992 on the Cooperative Agreement. The mission of this work is to devise a new catalyst which can be used in a simple economic process to convert the light alkanes in natural gas to oxygenate products which can either be used as clean-burning, high octane liquid fuels, as fuel components or as precursors to liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuel. During the past quarter we have continued to design, prepare, characterize and test novel catalysts for the mild selective reaction of light hydrocarbons with air or oxygen to produce alcohols directly. These catalysts are designed to form active metal oxo (MO) species and to be uniquely active for the homolytic cleavage of the carbon-hydrogen bonds in light alkanes producing intermediates which can form alcohols. We continue to investigate three molecular environments for the active catalytic species that we are trying to generate: electron-deficient porphryinic macrocycles (PHASE I), polyoxometallates (PHASE II), and regular oxidic lattices including zeolites and related structures as well as other molecular surface structures having metal oxo groups (PHASE III)
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