The performance of foliage mass and crown radius models in forming the input of a forest reflectance model: A test on forest growth sample plots and Landsat 7 ETM+ images

Several published foliage mass and crown radius regression models were tested on the preparation of the input for the reflectance model of Kuusk and Nilson [Kuusk, A. and Nilson, T. (2000), A directional multispectral forest reflectance model. Remote Sensing of Environment, 72(2):244–252.] for 246 forest growth sample plots in Estonia. In each test, foliage mass and crown radius for trees in the sample plots were predicted with a particular pair of allometric regression models. The forest reflectance model was then run using the estimated foliage mass and crown radius values. Reflectance factors were simulated and compared with the reflectance values obtained from three atmospherically corrected Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) scenes. The statistics of linear regression between the simulated and measured reflectance factors were used to assess the performance of foliage and crown radius models. The hypothesis was that the best allometric regression models should provide the best fit in reflectance. The strongest correlation between the simulated and measured reflectance factors was found in the short-wave infrared band (ETM + 5) for all the images. The highest R² = 0.71 was observed in Picea abies dominated stands. No excellent combination of foliage mass and crown radius functions was found, but the ranking based on determination coefficients showed that some linear crown radius models are not applicable to our data. Processing of raster images, reflectance measurement for small sample plots, usage of tree-species-specific fixed parameters (specific leaf area, etc.), and the ignored influence of phenology introduced additional variation into the relationships between simulated and measured reflectance factors. Further studies are needed, but these preliminary results demonstrate that the proposed method could serve as an effective way of testing the performance of foliage mass and canopy cover regressions.     

Well-differentiated liposarcoma of the hypopharynx

We report a case of subacute bowel obstruction due to a compression of the rectosigmoid junction by a chronically distended bladder, occurring in a 91-year-old male suffering from a long-standing diabetes mellitus and a prostatic adenoma. Radiographic, water-soluble contrast enema and pelvic CT features are reported.     

Pulmonary carcinogenicity of relatively low doses of beta-particle radiation from inhaled 144CeO2 in rats

This study was conducted to examine the carcinogenic effects of inhaled beta-particle-emitting radionuclides, particularly in lower dose regions in which there were substantial uncertainties associated with available information. A total of 2751 F344/N rats (1358 males and 1393 females) approximately 12 weeks of age at exposure were used. Of these, 1059 rats were exposed to aerosols of 144CeO2 to achieve mean desired initial lung burdens (ILBs) of 18 kBq (low level), 247 rats to achieve mean ILBs of 60 kBq (medium level) and 381 rats to achieve mean ILBs of 180 kBq (high level). Control rats (total of 1064) were exposed to aerosols of stable CeO2. Based on the 95% confidence intervals of the median survival times and the cumulative survival curves, there were no significant differences in the survival of groups of female and male exposed rats relative to controls. The mean lifetime beta-particle doses to the lungs of the rats in the four groups were: low level, 3.6 +/- 1.3 (+/-SD) Gy; medium level, 12 +/- 4.5 Gy; and high level, 37 +/- 5.9 Gy. The crude incidence of lung neoplasms increased linearly with increasing doses to the lungs (controls, 0.57%; low level, 2.0%; medium level, 6.1%; and high level, 19%). The estimated linear risk coefficients for lung neoplasms per unit of dose to the lung were not significantly different for the three dose levels studied. The risk coefficient at the lower level was 39 +/- 14 (+/-SE) excess lung neoplasms per 10(4) rat Gy; at the medium level the risk was 47 +/- 12; and at the higher level the risk was 50 +/- 9.0. The relationship of beta-particle dose to the lung and the crude incidence of lung neoplasms was described adequately by a linear function. We concluded that the risk of lung neoplasms in rats per unit of radiation dose did not increase with decreasing mean beta-particle dose to the lung over the range of 3.6 to 37 Gy. The weighted average of these three values was 47 +/- 6.4 (+/-SE) excess lung neoplasms per 10(4) rat Gy. To extend the risk coefficients for lung neoplasms to lower doses by experimentation will require much larger numbers of rats than used in this study.     

Inversin, a novel gene in the vertebrate left-right axis pathway, is partially deleted in the inv mouse

A DNA fragment containing the recA gene of Gluconobacter oxydans was isolated and further characterized for its nucleotide sequence and ability to functionally complement various recA mutations. When expressed in an Escherichia coli recA host, the G. oxydans recA protein could efficiently function in homologous recombination and DNA damage repair. The recA gene's nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a protein of 344 amino acids with a molecular mass of 38 kDa. We observed an E. coli-like LexA repressor-binding site in the G. oxydans recA gene promoter region, suggesting that a LexA-like mediated response system may exist in G. oxydans. The expression of G. oxydans recA in E. coli RR1, a recA+ strain, surprisingly caused a remarkable reduction of the host wild-type recA gene function, whereas the expression of both Serratia marcescens recA and Pseudomonas aeruginosa recA gene caused only a slight inhibitory effect on function of the host wild-type recA gene product. Compared with the E. coli RecA protein, the identity of the amino acid sequence of G. oxydans RecA protein is much lower than those RecA proteins of both S. marcescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This result suggests that the expression of another wild-type RecA could interfere with host wild-type recA gene's function, and the extent of such an interference is possibly correlated to the identity of the amino acid sequence between the two classes of RecA protein.     

Land‐use dynamic discovery based on heterogeneous mobility sources

Nowadays, cities are the most relevant type of human settlement and their population has been endlessly growing for decades. At the same time, we are witnessing an explosion of digital data that capture many different aspects and details of city life. This allows detecting human mobility patterns in urban areas with more detail than ever before. In this context, based on the fusion of mobility data from different and heterogeneous sources, such as public transport, transport‐network connectivity and Online Social Networks, this study puts forward a novel approach to uncover the actual land use of a city. Unlike previous solutions, our work avoids a time‐invariant approach and it considers the temporal factor based on the assumption that urban areas are not used by citizens all the time in the same manner. We have tested our solution in two different cities showing high accuracy rates.     

Study of the kinetics of dissolution and preciptitation of complex carbides and their effect on martensitic transformation in corrosion-resistant steels

Conclusion Separation of martensitic transformation into several stages in martensitic corrosionresistant steels may be explained by a concentration gradient for carbon and carbide-forming elements in austenite as a result of precipitation of them during cooling.Spain. Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 7, pp. 7–8, July, 1991.     

Study of operating variables in the transformation of aqueous ethanol into hydrocarbons on an HZSM‐5 zeolite

With the aim of determining the possibilities of directly upgrading the liquid obtained from carbohydrate fermentation, the effect of operating conditions (temperature, space time, water content in the feed) has been studied in the catalytic transformation of aqueous ethanol into hydrocarbons on an HZSM‐5 zeolite in an isothermal fixed bed reactor. Special attention has been paid to the effect of water content on the yield, product distribution and catalyst deactivation. Although deactivation by coke decreases as the water content is increased, this content must be limited at 450 °C and higher temperatures in order to avoid irreversible deactivation of the catalyst by dealumination. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry