Detection of stressed oil palms from an airborne sensor using optimized spectral indices

Existing vegetation indices and red-edge techniques have been widely used for the assessment of vegetation status and vegetation health from remote-sensing instruments. This study proposed and applied optimized Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Applications (AISA) airborne hyperspectral indices in assessing and mapping stressed oil palm trees. Six vegetation indices, four red-edge techniques, a standard supervised classifier and three optimized AISA spectral indices were compared in mapping diseased oil palms using AISA airborne hyperspectral imagery. The optimized AISA spectral indices algorithms used newly defined reflectance values at wavelength locations of 734 nm (near-infrared (NIR)) and 616 nm (red). The selection of these two bands was based on laboratory statistical analysis using field spectroradiometer reflectance data. These two bands were then applied to the AISA airborne hyperspectral imagery using the three optimized algorithms for AISA data. The newly formulated AISA hyperspectral indices were D2 = R ₆₁₆/R ₇₃₄, normalized difference vegetation index a (NDVIa)?=?(R ₇₃₄ – R ₆₁₆)/(R ₇₃₄?+?R ₆₁₆) and transformed vegetation index a (TVIa)?=?((NDVIa?+?0.5)/(abs (NDVIa?+?0.5))?×?[abs (NDVIa?+?0.5)]^1/2. The classification results from the optimized AISA hyperspectral indices were compared with the other techniques and the optimized AISA spectral indices obtained the highest overall accuracy. D2 and NDVIa obtained 86% of overall accuracy followed by TVIa with 84% of overall accuracy.     

Monitoring 2-D gel-induced modifications of proteins by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

In addition to more than 200 endogenously produced post-translational modifications, a detailed analysis of 2-D gel-separated proteins must also consider other modifications that a protein can experience during various steps of its separation. This review describes the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry to investigate some of these modifications, which can originate during sample preparation and/or during the separation phase. The analyses described were mostly conducted at pH 9-9.5, and yielded reliable information on stable adduct formation that involved protein-bound amino acids and a number of gel components, including acrylamide derivatives, gel cross-linkers, and Immobiline chemicals. The -SH group of Cys was found to be the prime target of such adducts; however, longer reaction times revealed the involvement of the epsilon-NH2 of Lys. The same analysis revealed that the failure to achieve full reduction/alkylation prior to any electrophoretic step could result in protein-protein interaction, which could lead to a number of spurious spots in the final 2-D map. The implications of these modifications on the MS analysis in particular and on proteome research in general are discussed.     

Optimizing Estimation of a Statistically Undefined System

Consideration was given to the optimal choice of the parameters for the best estimation of the phase state of a linear system fallible to the action of the Gaussian perturbation with undefined covariances of increments. The matrices at system perturbation and those in the measurement equation are the parameters to be selected for the choice of the observer player. The undefined increment matrices are selected by the opponent player. Both parameters are limited by compact sets. The problem comes to a differential game for the Riccati equation with a performance criterion in the form of a matrix trace. In a special case, consideration was given to the problem with constant matrices. Used were the methods of minimax optimization, optimal control theory, and the theory of differential games. Examples were considered.     

On the location of different titanium sites in Ti–OMS-2 and their catalytic role in oxidation of styrene

Octahedral manganese oxide molecular sieves (OMS-2) modified by impregnation of TiO₂ exhibit a higher catalytic activity for oxidation of styrene with tert-butylhydroperoxide in comparison to titanium-incorporated OMS-2, where the styrene conversions were ca. 70% and 45–50%, respectively. The framework of titanium species has no effect on the enhancement of catalytic activity, while the non-framework of titanium species induces a synergetic effect that enhances the oxidation of styrene with tert-butylhydroperoxide.     

世博轴阳光谷钢结构设计与研究

世博轴及地下综合体工程为2010年上海世博会园区标志性建筑之一,其顶棚结构由阳光谷钢结构和索膜结构组成。针对阳光谷体型尺度大、曲面空间复杂、悬挑跨度大、三角形网格组成的单层钢结构体系的特点,结构设计进行了多遇地震作用下的弹性分析、反应谱法罕遇地震作用分析、罕遇地震作用下结构的弹塑性时程分析。分析结果表明,阳光谷结构不仅在各种荷载组合工况下处于弹性工作状态,并且具有较好的抗震性能,达到了大震弹性的抗震能力;结构的控制荷载主要为风荷载;结构传力途径丰富,具有良好的承载能力。     

考虑弯矩作用梭形钢格构柱稳定承载力非线性有限元分析

以2010年上海世博会世博轴工程中采用的梭形钢格构柱为研究对象,应用大挠度弹塑性有限元法研究考虑弯矩作用时梭形格构柱的稳定承载力。分析了初始几何缺陷作用方向、分布形式对梭形格构柱稳定承载力的影响,并与试验结果进行了比较。分析结果表明：梭形格构柱在轴力和弯矩共同作用下的一阶弹性屈曲模态表现为“S”形和“C”形两种形式;考虑弯矩作用后,初始缺陷作用方向对梭形格构柱的稳定承载力有较大影响;对一阶屈曲模态为“S”形的梭形格构柱,计算稳定承载力时只需考虑“S”形缺陷的影响,而对一阶模态为“C”形的梭形格构柱有必要综合考虑“C”形和“S”形缺陷的影响。与试验结果比较表明,建议方法计算梭形格构柱的稳定承载力安全、合理。图12表1参11     

Detection of bovine DNA in raw and heat-processed foodstuffs, commercial foods and specific risk materials by a novel specific polymerase chain reaction method

The identification of beef in animal foods is a major concern not only for the prevention of commercial fraud, but also to avoid safety risks deriving from the presence of prohibited bovine material that might be harmful to both human and animal health. Here we report a novel set of bovine-specific primers, CYTbos1 (forward) and CYTbos2 (reverse), which allow the specific amplification of a 115 base pair fragment of the bovine cytochrome b gene (cytb) between nt 844 (mitochondrial site 15,590) and nt 958 (mitochondrial site 15,704), no cross-reaction being observed with DNA from another 12 frequent commercial meat species. The polymerase chain reaction product obtained is cleaved specifically by endonucleases ScaI and TspE1 to achieve further confirmation evidence. The sensitivity of the proposed method was 0.025%. The CYTbos primers successfully detected bovine DNA in meat samples processed for 20 min at 133 °C/300 kPa or for 2 h at 121 °C. CYTbos primers also detected bovine DNA in heat-processed commercial meat products exhibiting a complex nature, as well as in bovine specific risk materials. The proposed polymerase chain reaction method, aimed at detecting a small and specific fragment of the bovine mitochondrial DNA, may be especially useful for the direct identification of bovine DNA in foodstuffs subjected to severe heating under overpressure conditions.     

Magnesium substitution in brushite cements

The use of magnesium-doped ceramics has been described to modify brushite cements and improve their biological behavior. However, few studies have analyzed the efficiency of this approach to induce magnesium substitution in brushite crystals. Mg-doped ceramics composed of Mg-substituted β-TCP, stanfieldite and/or farringtonite were reacted with primary monocalcium phosphate (MCP) in the presence of water. The cement setting reaction has resulted in the formation of brushite and newberyite within the cement matrix. Interestingly, the combination of SAED and EDX analyses of single crystal has indicated the occurrence of magnesium substitution within brushite crystals. Moreover, the effect of magnesium ions on the structure, and mechanical and setting properties of the new cements was characterized as well as the release of Ca^2 + and Mg^2 + ions. Further research would enhance the efficiency of the system to incorporate larger amounts of magnesium ions within brushite crystals.     

Comparison of analytical techniques for nonlinear vibrations of a parametrically excited cantilever

This paper is concerned with second-order approximations to the steady-state principal parametric resonance response of a vertically mounted flexible cantilever beam subjected to a vertical harmonic base motion. The unimodal form of the nonlinear equation describing the in-plane large amplitude parametric response of the beam, derived in Krishnamurthy (Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Washington State University, 1986) based on the previous analysis in Crespo da Silva and Glynn (Journal of Structural Mechanics 1978; 6:437–48), is analysed using the harmonic balance (HB) and the perturbation method of multiple time scales (MMS). Single term HB, two terms HB, and second-order MMS with reconstitution version I (Nayfeh and Sanchez, Journal of Sound and Vibration 1989; 24:483–97) and version II (Rahman and Burton, Journal of Sound and Vibration 1989; 133:369–79) approximations to the steady-sate frequency–amplitude curves of the principal parametric resonance for each of the first four natural modes of the cantilever beam are compared with each other and with those obtained by numerically integrating the unimodal equation of motion. The time transformation is used in obtaining these approximations; also detuning is used in obtaining the square of the forcing MMS approximations. The obtained results show that, for the problem under consideration, the MMS version II is, in comparison with MMS version I, simpler to apply and leads to qualitatively more accurate second-order results. These results, however, show that the MMS version II tends to produce appreciable over corrections to the first-order results and may breakdown at relatively low response amplitudes, whereas the two terms HB solutions tend to improve the first-order results and lead to fairly accurate results even for relatively large response amplitudes.     

Investigation of beta-amyloid peptide by on-line high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

beta(1-39) amyloid peptide is one of the components of the cerebral amyloid deposits that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Solid-phase synthesis of this peptide resulted in a fairly complex crude product containing both the target peptide and a number of side products. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry allowed rapid and reliable identification of both the desired peptide and most of the side products which were found to have relative molecular masses above and below that of the target peptide.