Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SAR information integrated processing and its application method study

Summary form only given. Although Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can capture rich land cover information as a most important advanced technique in the field of international earth observation, the application effects still limited significantly. The reason is that the study of SAR imaging processing, SAR image processing and SAR applications are conducted respectively, the integrated study are lacked for parameter selection of SAR imaging processing and SAR image processing and targets identification of SAR application. Focusing on above science problems, the study for phase high fidelity model of high precision interferometric SAR, SAR non-stationary backscattering characteristics and cognition, SAR three-dimensional electromagnetic scattering modeling and its scattering mechanism and SAR multi-parameters optimization information extraction has been conducted. The typical natural distributed targets and man-made targets such as surface deformation, sea ice, building complex and collapsed building are selected, the method and application study oriented to SAR environmental parameters inversion are conduced, the main result and conclusion are as follows: (1) The overall theoretical frames of SAR information integrated processing was proposed; The simulation and ground validation system used to assess the effects of SAR information integrated processing was created; furthermore, the spaceborne SAR imaging algorithm with three steps focusing processing was proposed and realized the multi-modal integrated imaging processing and improved the imaging processing precision. (2) In terms of SAR information integrated processing of natural targets, focusing on phase high fidelity imaging processing of interferometric SAR surface deformation monitoring, an novel spaceborne SAR high fidelity simulation method based on stationary RCS and improved Goldstein SAR interferogram filter based on empirical mode decomposition were proposed. Focusing on multi-parameters optimization processing of sea ice types classification, the multi-channel spaceborne SAR sparse imaging method based on compressive sensing, Kalman filter for removal of scalloping and inter-scan banding in ScanSAR images and SVM sea ice classification method combined with sea ice concentration were proposed. (3) In terms of SAR information integrated processing of man-made targets, focusing on non-stationary backscattering from building complex, mitigation of azimuth ambiguities in spaceborne stripmap SAR iamges using selective restoration, SAR image despeckling by selective 3D filtering of multiple compressive reconstructed images and man-made target detection in urban areas based on a new azimuth stationary extraction method were proposed. Focusing on three-dimensional modeling and fast extraction of collapsed building, H-a-p method used for collapsed building extraction was proposed.
Effects of AT1 receptor blockade on renal injury and mitogen-activated protein activity in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

BACKGROUND The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is an important intracellular mediator of angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced cell growth and differentiation. Here, we examined the effect of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) receptor blockade on renal injury and MAPK activity in Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) rats. METHODS DS rats were maintained on a high (H: 8.0%NaCl, N= 8) or low (L: 0.3%NaCl, N= 7) salt diet, or H + candesartan cilexetil (10 to 15 mg/kg/day, N= 8). Urinary protein excretion (UproteinV), renal cortical collagen content, and glomerular injury (assessed by semiquantitative morphometric analysis) were determined after 4-week treatments. Plasma and kidney Ang II levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Protein levels of AT1 and AT2 receptors in the renal cortical tissues were analyzed by Western-blotting analyses. MAPKs activities, including extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK)1/2, c-Jun NH2-terminal kinases (JNK), p38 MAPK, and Big-MAPK-1 (BMK1), were measured by Western-blotting analyses or in vitro kinase assays. RESULTS DS/H rats showed higher mean blood pressure (MBP), UproteinV, and renal cortical collagen content than DS/L rats. Increased ERK1/2, JNK, and BMK1 activities were observed in renal cortical tissues of DS/H rats (approximately 6.3-, 4.5-, and 2.5-fold, respectively), whereas p38 MAPK activity was unchanged. Plasma Ang II levels were significantly reduced in DS/H rats compared with DS/L rats, whereas kidney Ang II contents and AT1 receptor protein levels were similar. Candesartan did not alter MBP, but significantly reduced UproteinV and collagen content, and ameliorated progressive sclerotic and proliferative glomerular changes. Furthermore, candesartan decreased renal tissue Ang II contents (from 216 +/- 19 to 46 +/- 3 fmol/mL) and ERK1/2, JNK, and BMK1 activities (-45%, -60%, and -70%, respectively) in DS/H rats. CONCLUSION In DS hypertensive rats, some of the renoprotective effects of AT1 receptor blockade are accompanied by reductions in intrarenal Ang II contents and MAPK activity, which might not be mediated through arterial pressure changes.
Controlling health expenditures--the Canadian reality.

Abstract Canada and the United States have conducted a large-scale social experiment on the effects of alternative ways of funding expenditures for health care. Two very similar societies, with (until recently) very similar systems of providing health care, have adopted radically different systems of reimbursement. The results of this experiment are of increasing interest to Americans, because the Canadian approach has avoided or solved several of the more intractable problems facing the United States. In particular, overall health expenditures have been constrained to a stable share of national income, and universality of coverage (without user charges) eliminates the problems of uncompensated care, individual burdens of catastrophic illness, and uninsured populations. The combination of cost control with universal, comprehensive coverage has surprised some American observers, who have questioned its reality, its sustainability, or both. We present a comparison of the Canadian and American data on expend.
Small Vessels-Big Problems : Novel Insights into Microvascular Mechanisms of Diseases Inhibition of endothelial nitric oxide synthase decreases breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231 adhesion to intact microvessels under physiological flows

Zhang L, Zeng M, Fu BM. Inhibition of endothelial nitric oxide synthase decreases breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231 adhesion to intact microvessels under physiological flows. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 310: H1735–H1747, 2016. First published April 8, 2016; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00109. 2016. —Nitric oxide (NO) at different concentrations may promote or inhibit tumor growth and metastasis under various conditions. To test the hypothesis that tumor cells prefer to adhere to the locations with a higher endothelial NO production in intact microvessels under physiological flows and to further test that inhibiting NO production decreases tumor cell adhesion, we used intravital fluorescence microscopy to measure NO production and tumor cell adhesion in postcapillary venules of rat mesentery under normal and reduced flow conditions, and in the presence of an endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) inhibitor, N-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA). Rats (SD, 250–300 g) were anesthetized. A midline incision ( 2 inch) was made in the abdominal wall, and the mesentery was taken out from the abdominal cavity and spread over a coverslip for the measurement. An individual postcapillary venule (35–50 m) was first loaded with 4,5diaminofluorescein diacetate (DAF-2 DA), a fluorescent indictor for NO. Then the DAF-2 intensity was measured for 30 min under a normal or reduced flow velocity, with and without perfusion with MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, and in the presence of L-NMMA. We found that tumor cells prefer to adhere to the microvessel locations with a higher NO production such as curved portions. Inhibition of eNOS by L-NMMA attenuated the flow-induced NO production and reduced tumor cell adhesion. We also found that L-NMMA treatment for 40 min reduced microvessel permeability to albumin. Our results suggest that inhibition of eNOS is a good approach to preventing tumor cell adhesion to intact microvessels under physiological flows.
Characterization of major histocompatibility complex DRB diversity in the endemic South African antelope Damaliscus pygargus: a comparison in two subspecies with different demographic histories

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II locus DRB was investigated by single‐strand conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP) and sequence analysis in the endemic South African antelope, Damaliscus pygargus, of which there are two subspecies. Greater polymorphism was found in the blesbok (D. p. phillipsi) subspecies (n = 44; 22 alleles) than in the bontebok (D. p. pygargus) subspecies (n = 45; 6 alleles). Erosion of allelic diversity in bontebok was most likely the result of two severe bottleneck events caused by hunting pressure and parasitic infection. A majority of the polymorphism observed was found within the peptide binding region (PBR) where dN/dS ratios were higher than for the non‐PBR region. This, and the apparent trans‐species relationship among alleles in a bovid phylogeny, suggest the evolution of diversity by heterosis or frequency‐dependent selection.
Strathprints Institutional Repository Comparing Explicit and Implicit Feedback Techniques for Web Retrieval: Trec-10 Interactive Track Report

(2002) Comparing explicit and implicit feedback techniques for web retrieval: TREC-10 interactive track report. Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Copyright c and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (http:// strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. (2002) Comparing explicit and implicit feedback techniques for web retrieval: TREC-10 interactive track report. Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in Strathprints to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the url
A Shallow-Water Model that Prevents Nonlinear Steepening of Gravity Waves

Abstract The shallow-water model is used as a testbench for understanding many fundamental dynamical problems (e.g. certain wave–mean interaction problems). One sometimes wants to allow large-amplitude gravity waves to propagate significant distances in such models without forming shocks. This paper presents a simple, and apparently unique, modification of the standard shallow-water model that prevents gravity wave shock formation, but which, at the same time, introduces only minimal changes in other aspects of the behavior. For instance, the presented modification is nondissipative as well as nondispersive, and it preserves the linear structure of the shallow-water equations as well as the nonlinear functional form and material invariance of shallow-water potential vorticity. The modification is derived theoretically and has been tested numerically in several ways in one and two dimensions.
Development of a Recombinant Antigen Vaccine against Infection with the Filarial Worm Onchocerca volvulus

ABSTRACT Efforts to control Onchocerca volvulus, the etiologic agent of river blindness, have been limited to vector control and drug treatment to eliminate microfilariae, with no means available to prevent infection. The goal of this study was to develop a vaccine against this infection using recombinant antigens that are expressed in the early larval stages of the parasite. Five recombinant antigens, Ov7, Ov64, OvB8, Ov9M, and Ov73k, were identified by screening adult and larval cDNA libraries with antibodies from immune humans, chimpanzees, or rabbits. When mice were immunized with the five individual recombinant antigens, statistically significant reductions in parasite survival were induced in mice immunized with Ov7, OvB8, or Ov64, when administered in alum but not when injected in Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA). Live larvae recovered from control and immunized mice were analyzed to determine their developmental stages. A decrease in the percentage of larvae molting from the third stage to the fourth stage was observed with mice immunized with Ov7, Ov64, or OvB8 in alum but not with mice immunized with Ov9 and Ov73k or with mice immunized with any of the five antigens in FCA. Mice immunized with a cocktail of the three protective antigens developed protective immunity equal to that seen with mice immunized with individual antigens. This study has identified, for the first time, three recombinant antigens capable of inducing protective immunity to O. volvulus. Furthermore, since the antigens functioned with alum as the adjuvant, this vaccine could potentially be used clinically to prevent river blindness in humans.
Cloning and functional expression of a first inducible avian cytochrome P450 of the CYP3A subfamily (CYP3A37).

CYP3As represent a family of cytochromes P450 involved in the metabolism of both endogenous and exogenous natural and synthetic compounds. Well described in mammals, none have yet been cloned and characterized in avian species. In this paper, we report the cloning and analysis of an avian CYP3A (CYP3A37). Using an RNA differential display approach, an 80-bp phenobarbital-inducible cDNA fragment was amplified from chicken embryo liver. Based on its homology with mammalian CYP3As, this fragment was used to clone a full-length cDNA consisting of 1638 bp encoding a putative protein of 509 amino acids. The sequence shares between 57.4 and 62% identity at the amino acid level with CYP3As of other species. This cDNA was designated CYP3A37 according to the current cytochrome P450 nomenclature. When expressed in COS1 cells, the CYP3A37 cDNA produced a protein of congruent with55 kDa, which was recognized by polyclonal anti-rat CYP3A1 antiserum. In a bacterial expression system, the CYP3A37 cDNA produced a protein capable of steroid 6beta-hydroxylation. At a substrate concentration of 100 microM, progesterone, testosterone, and androstenedione were found to be 6beta-hydroxylated at a rate of 15.4, 11.7, 12.2 nmol/min/nmol P450, respectively. Used as control, the human CYP3A4 gave similar hydroxylation rates. Finally, in both chicken embryo liver and chicken hepatoma cells (LMH), CYP3A37 mRNA was increased after treatment with typical CYP3A inducers, such as metyrapone, phenobarbital, dexamethasone, and pregnenolone 16alpha-carbonitrile, but not rifampicin. CYP2H1, a well-characterized inducible chicken cytochrome P450, also was induced by the same compounds, suggesting similar regulation of CYP3 and CYP2 genes in this species.
Age Estimation by a Dental Method: A Comparison of Lamendin’s and Prince & Ubelaker’s Technique

Abstract: Lamendin et al. (J Forensic Sci 1992;37:1373) developed a general technique to estimate age of adults at death using two dental features: periodontosis and translucency of the tooth root. Prince and Ubelaker (J Forensic Sci 2002;47:107) modified this method, creating a formula for each sex and for different ancestries, and obtained more precise age estimations. In the present study, the validity of each method was tested in 45 males and 34 females of Spanish Caucasian origin, and a novel formula, based on Prince and Ubelaker method, was specifically developed for a population of mixed racial origin (mestizo) from Colombia, and findings obtained were again compared with those yielded by Lamendin adult dental aging technique. The Prince and Ubelaker method proved more accurate than the Lamendin technique in the Spanish Caucasian population, and our Prince and Ubelaker‐based formula was also more accurate than the Lamendin et al. In both populations, the Lamendin method showed a higher mean error in estimations of the age of youngest and oldest individuals. These findings confirm the need to create specific formulas for each human group in order to obtain more accurate age estimates.
Scale-Free Networks Emerge out of Micro-Mechanism in an Agent-based Computational Economic Model

The scale-free network structures have been prominently investigated as models of many social and economical networks. However, the topology structures of these complex networks usually lack micro mechanism supporting. In this paper, we propose an agent-based computational economic system - artificial economy market (AEM), in which scale-free transaction networks emerge from local interactions between agents who have the capability of learning through transactions. With a CRA (classifier systems, rules, and actions) decision system, agent can adapt the environment more flexibly. Therefore, due to individual learning and adapting, scale-free transaction networks emerge automatically in our virtual market system. Furthermore, resource propagation takes place on a dynamic scale-free network, and some "pivotal nodes" which have a large number of links emerge in the propagation networks.
Ectopic Norrin Induces Growth of Ocular Capillaries and Restores Normal Retinal Angiogenesis in Norrie Disease Mutant Mice

Norrie disease is an X-linked retinal dysplasia that presents with congenital blindness, sensorineural deafness, and mental retardation. Norrin, the protein product of the Norrie disease gene (NDP), is a secreted protein of unknown biochemical function. Norrie disease (Ndpy/-) mutant mice that are deficient in norrin develop blindness, show a distinct failure in retinal angiogenesis, and completely lack the deep capillary layers of the retina. We show here that the transgenic expression of ectopic norrin under control of a lens-specific promoter restores the formation of a normal retinal vascular network in Ndpy/- mutant mice. The improvement in structure correlates with restoration of neuronal function in the retina. In addition, lenses of transgenic mice with ectopic expression of norrin show significantly more capillaries in the hyaloid vasculature that surrounds the lens during development. In vitro, lenses of transgenic mice in coculture with microvascular endothelial cells induce proliferation of the cells. Transgenic mice with ectopic expression of norrin show more bromodeoxyuridine-labeled retinal progenitor cells at embryonic day 14.5 and thicker retinas at postnatal life than wild-type littermates, indicating a putative direct neurotrophic effect of norrin. These data provide direct evidence that norrin induces growth of ocular capillaries and that pharmacologic modulation of norrin might be used for treatment of the vascular abnormalities associated with Norrie disease or other vascular disorders of the retina.
Fast and Accurate PQoS Estimation over 802.11g Wireless Network

The deployment of WLAN-based solutions for efficient distribution of multimedia content over wireless links is rapidly increasing in the last few years. Nevertheless many performance issues concerning the delivery of high bit rate stream- oriented content using current IEEE 802.11 standards and the measurements of the customers satisfactions in terms of perceived quality, are still open and of great interest. This paper proposes a simple curve fitting technique for estimating, in a fast and accurate way, the perceived quality of streaming media contents delivered within a wireless network. The model accounts for the effects of various network parameters such as congestion, radio link power and video transmission bit rate. The correctness of the designed model has been verified through many different measurements in realistic wireless environments through an ad-hoc test bed.
Traffic features measurement based on multi-scale aggregation model

Analysis and measurement of traffic features are crucial for effective network management and traffic control. In this paper we proposed several traffic flow models to aggregate traffic packets in multi-scales and entropy to measure the feature distribution hierarchically, and then seek for the important features and appropriate scale for traffic monitoring. DFlow model is a group of packets with identical triples: source address, destination address and destination port, and HFlow the same source and destination addresses. By removing traffic features from the NetFlow model, the aggregation scales are extended. Source and Destination addresses are selected to investigate the traffic characters with different flow models. The experimental results using actual traffic show that the number of flows is reduced when the aggregation scale is extended, and the entropy of normal traffic addresses is stable along with the monitoring time. On the other hand, the entropy of destination address is increased when the aggregation scales extended. Investigations into the traffic show that this is caused by the widely used of HTTP and Point to Point protocols. Analysis of the worm scanning traffic shows that the abnormal behavior patterns are more regularly than normal behavior and traffic features have the same entropy with different flow models. The results also show that the appropriate scale for traffic monitoring is the Dflow model, which reduced the data records by more than 30% while retain the traffic characters.
Reflections on the Future of Organization Development

This article describes and interprets the results of interviews with 21 pioneering organization development (OD) thought leaders regarding the past, present, and future of the field. Interpretations of the data reveal a pattern of responses that reflects the evolution of the field; adds to our understanding of the definition, values, skills, and trends in the field; and supports recommendations for developing future OD practitioners and reconciling the discipline's currently fragmented state.
Chemically-treated single-walled carbon nanotubes as digitated penetrating electrodes in organic solar cells

In this work, we fabricated and characterized organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices with hybrid composite anodes containing single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) networks sandwiched between ITO and PEDOT : PSS. The SWCNTs used were initially grown on silicon wafers by a surfactant-free process based on ACCVD (alcohol catalytic chemical vapor deposition), and then transferred to glass substrates with pre-patterned indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes for the fabrication of our OPV devices. We also integrated H2SO4/HNO3-treated and N2H4-treated SWCNT networks into OPV devices to investigate the effect of chemically-treated SWCNTs on OPV devices' performance. We found that open-circuit voltage (Voc) of our OPV devices was insensitive to SWCNTs' work function shifting caused by the employed chemical treatments, while their short-circuit current (Jsc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) both varied in the order of: reference devices < devices with pristine SWCNT networks < devices with H2SO4/HNO3-treated SWCNT networks < devices with N2H4-treated SWCNT networks. In particular, we found that integration of N2H4-treated SWCNTs into the hybrid composite anode could enhance Jsc by 12% to 20% in P3HT : PCBM OPV devices (with PCE up to 4.02%). The improved performance in devices integrated with N2H4-treated SWCNTs can be attributed to (i) better crystallinity of the P3HT polymer, and (ii) increased hole-transport efficiency of the hybrid composite anode, both induced by the penetration/digitation of SWCNTs into the P3HT polymer layer.