Influence of Topography on the Distribution and Structure of Woody Plants in the Senegalese Sahel (Sandy Ferlo)

This study describes the floristic composition and structure of a woody stand in the Senegalese Sahel, paying particular attention to the edaphic factors of its floristic composition. A stratified inventory considering the different relief units was adopted. Woody vegetation was surveyed using a dendrometric approach. The results obtained show that the flora is dominated by a few species adapted to drought, such as Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del., Calotropis procera Ait. and Boscia senegalensis (Pers.). The distribution of this flora and the structure of the ligneous plants are linked to the topography. In the lowlands, the flora is more diversified and the ligneous plants reach their optimum level of development compared with the higher relief areas. In the lowlands, there are a few woody species which, in the past, were indicative of better climatic conditions. These are Anogeissus leiocarpus (DC.), Commiphora africana (A. Rich.), Feretia apodanthera Del., Loeseneriella africana (A. Smith), Mitragyna inermis (Willd.) and Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich). It is important that their reintroduction into reforestation projects takes account of their edaphic preference.

Substrate topography as a powerful tool to modify glial cell biology and interactions

Traumatic injuries to the central nervous system(CNS) result in disruption of the intricate network of axons which connect functionally related neurons that are widely distributed throughout the brain and spinal cord.Under normal conditions,maintenance of this complex system is structurally and functionally supported by astrocytes (ACs)and other glial cells,the processes of which form a framework surrounding neuronal cell bodies,dendrites,axons,and synapses.

The effect of topographic density variations on the geoid and orthometric heights in Hong Kong

Utilizing the adopted average topographic density of 2670 kg/m^(3)in the reduction of gravity anomalies introduces errors attributed to topographic density variations,which consequently affect geoid modeling accuracy.Furthermore,the mean gravity along the plumbline within the topography in the definition of Helmert orthometric heights is computed approximately by applying the Poincar e-Prey gravity reduction where the topographic density variations are disregarded.The Helmert orthometric heights of benchmarks are then affected by errors.These errors could be random or systematic depending on the specific geological setting of the region where the leveling network is physically established and/or the geoid model is determined.An example of systematic errors in orthometric heights can be given for large regions characterized by sediment or volcanic deposits,the density of which is substantially lower than the adopted topographic density used in Helmert's definition of heights.The same applies to geoid modeling errors.In this study,we investigate these errors in the Hong Kong territory,where topographic density is about 20%lower than the density of 2670 kg/m^(3).We use the digital rock density model to estimate the effect of topographic density variations on the geoid and orthometric heights.Our results show that this effect on the geoid and Helmert orthometric heights reach maxima of about 2.1 and 0.5 cm,respectively.Both results provide clear evidence that rock density models are essential in physical geodesy applications involving gravimetric geoid modeling and orthometric height determination despite some criticism that could be raised regarding the reliability of these density models.However,in regions dominated by sedimentary and igneous rocks,the geological information is essential in these applications because topographic densities are substantially lower than the average density of 2670 kg/m^(3),thus introducing large systematic errors in geoid and orthometric heights.

Sedimentary architecture of submarine channel-lobe systems under different seafloor topography:Insights from the Rovuma Basin offshore East Africa

Seafloor topography plays an important role in the evolution of submarine lobes.However,it is still not so clear how the shape of slope affects the three-dimensional(3-D)architecture of submarine lobes.In this study,we analyze the effect of topography factors on different hierarchical lobe architectures that formed during Pliocene to Quaternary in the Rovuma Basin offshore East Africa.We characterize the shape,size and growth pattern of different hierarchical lobe architectures using 3-D seismic data.We find that the relief of the topographic slope determines the location of preferential deposition of lobe complexes and single lobes.When the topography is irregular and presents topographic lows,lobe complexes first infill these depressions.Single lobes are deposited preferentially at positions with higher longitudinal(i.e.across-slope)slope gradients.As the longitudinal slope becomes higher,the aspect ratio of the single lobes increases.Lateral(i.e.along-slope)topography does not seem to have a strong influence on the shape of single lobe,but it seems to affect the overlap of single lobes.When the lateral slope gradient is relatively high,the single lobes tend to have a larger overlap surface.Furthermore,as the average of lateral slope and longitudinal slope gets greater,the width/thickness ratio of the single lobe is smaller,i.e.sediments tend to accumulate vertically.The results demonstrate that the shape of slopes more comprehensively influences the 3-D architecture of lobes in natural deep-sea systems than previously other lobe deposits and analogue experiments,which helps us better understand the development and evolution of the distal parts of turbidite systems.

Unveiling three-dimensional sea surface signatures caused by internal solitary waves:insights from the surface water ocean topography mission

Internal solitary waves(ISW),characterized by large amplitude and long propagation distance,are widespread in global oceans.While remote sensing images have played an essential role in studying ISWs,they mainly exploit two-dimensional image information.However,with the launch of the surface water ocean topography(SWOT)satellite on December 16,2022,a unique opportunity has emerged to capture wide-swath three-dimensional ISW-induced sea surface information.In this study,we examine ISWs in the Andaman Sea using data from the Ka-band Radar Interferometer(KaRIN),a crucial sensor onboard SWOT.KaRIN not only provides backscattering satellite images but also employs synthetic aperture interferometry techniques to retrieve wide-swath two-dimensional sea surface height measurements.Our observations in the Andaman Sea revealed the presence of ISWs characterized by dark-bright strips and surface elevation solitons.The surface soliton has an amplitude of 0.32 m,resulting in an estimation of ISW amplitude of approximately 60 m.In contrast to traditional two-dimensional satellite images or nadir-looking altimetry data,the SWOT mission’s capability to capture threedimensional sea surface information represents a significant advancement.This breakthrough holds substantial promise for ISW studies,particularly in the context of ISW amplitude inversion.

Atmospheric transmission algorithm for pulsed X-rays from high-altitude nuclear detonations based on scattering correction

In high-altitude nuclear detonations,the proportion of pulsed X-ray energy can exceed 70%,making it a specific monitoring signal for such events.These pulsed X-rays can be captured using a satellite-borne X-ray detector following atmospheric transmission.To quantitatively analyze the effects of different satellite detection altitudes,burst heights,and transmission angles on the physical processes of X-ray transport and energy fluence,we developed an atmospheric transmission algorithm for pulsed X-rays from high-altitude nuclear detonations based on scattering correction.The proposed method is an improvement over the traditional analytical method that only computes direct-transmission X-rays.The traditional analytical method exhibits a maximum relative error of 67.79% compared with the Monte Carlo method.Our improved method reduces this error to within 10% under the same conditions,even reaching 1% in certain scenarios.Moreover,its computation time is 48,000 times faster than that of the Monte Carlo method.These results have important theoretical significance and engineering application value for designing satellite-borne nuclear detonation pulsed X-ray detectors,inverting nuclear detonation source terms,and assessing ionospheric effects.

Influence of topography on the fine structures of stratospheric gravity waves:An analysis using COSMIC-2 temperature data

We derive the potential energy of gravity waves(GWs)in the upper troposphere and stratosphere at 45°S-45°N from December 2019 to November 2022 by using temperature profiles retrieved from the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology,Ionosphere,and Climate-2(COSMIC-2)satellite.Owing to the dense sampling of COSMIC-2,in addition to the strong peaks of gravity wave potential energy(GWPE)above the Andes and Tibetan Plateau,we found weak peaks above the Rocky,Atlas,Caucasus,and Tianshan Mountains.The land-sea contrast is responsible for the longitudinal variations of the GWPE in the lower and upper stratosphere.At 40°N/S,the peaks were mainly above the topographic regions during the winter.At 20°N/S,the peaks were a slight distance away from the topographic regions and might be the combined effect of nontopographic GWs and mountain waves.Near the Equator,the peaks were mainly above the regions with the lowest sea level altitude and may have resulted from convection.Our results indicate that even above the local regions with lower sea level altitudes compared with the Andes and Tibetan Plateau,the GWPE also exhibits fine structures in geographic distributions.We found that dissipation layers above the tropopause jet provide the body force to generate secondary waves in the upper stratosphere,especially during the winter months of each hemisphere and at latitudes of greater than 20°N/S.

Pulmonary Edema and Pleural Effusion Detection Using Efficient Net-V1-B4 Architecture and AdamW Optimizer from Chest X-Rays Images

This paper presents a novelmulticlass systemdesigned to detect pleural effusion and pulmonary edema on chest Xray images,addressing the critical need for early detection in healthcare.A new comprehensive dataset was formed by combining 28,309 samples from the ChestX-ray14,PadChest,and CheXpert databases,with 10,287,6022,and 12,000 samples representing Pleural Effusion,Pulmonary Edema,and Normal cases,respectively.Consequently,the preprocessing step involves applying the Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization(CLAHE)method to boost the local contrast of the X-ray samples,then resizing the images to 380×380 dimensions,followed by using the data augmentation technique.The classification task employs a deep learning model based on the EfficientNet-V1-B4 architecture and is trained using the AdamW optimizer.The proposed multiclass system achieved an accuracy(ACC)of 98.3%,recall of 98.3%,precision of 98.7%,and F1-score of 98.7%.Moreover,the robustness of the model was revealed by the Receiver Operating Characteristic(ROC)analysis,which demonstrated an Area Under the Curve(AUC)of 1.00 for edema and normal cases and 0.99 for effusion.The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposedmulti-class system,which has the potential to assist clinicians in timely and accurate diagnosis,leading to improved patient outcomes.Notably,ablation-CAM visualization at the last convolutional layer portrayed further enhanced diagnostic capabilities with heat maps on X-ray images,which will aid clinicians in interpreting and localizing abnormalities more effectively.

Single Tooth Segmentation on Panoramic X-Rays Using End-to-End Deep Neural Networks

In dentistry, panoramic X-ray images are extensively used by dentists for tooth structure analysis and disease diagnosis. However, the manual analysis of these images is time-consuming and prone to misdiagnosis or overlooked. While deep learning techniques have been employed to segment teeth in panoramic X-ray images, accurate segmentation of individual teeth remains an underexplored area. In this study, we propose an end-to-end deep learning method that effectively addresses this challenge by employing an improved combinatorial loss function to separate the boundaries of adjacent teeth, enabling precise segmentation of individual teeth in panoramic X-ray images. We validate the feasibility of our approach using a challenging dataset. By training our segmentation network on 115 panoramic X-ray images, we achieve an intersection over union (IoU) of 86.56% for tooth segmentation and an accuracy of 65.52% in tooth counting on 87 test set images. Experimental results demonstrate the significant improvement of our proposed method in single tooth segmentation compared to existing methods.

GNSS Technology’s Contribution to Topography: Evaluative Study of Gaps between Methods Topographies

New information and communication technologies have led to the emergence of new techniques in our daily lives. Indeed, in topography, a lightning development of new techniques and new devices has been noticed. This development has given rise to a multitude of choices of devices and various classes of precision. This implies that the decision-makers have to study the adequate equipment and the appropriate technique according to the topographic task to be realized. The objective is not to compare GNSS and topographic techniques, but to point out the contribution of the Global Navigation Satelite System (GNSS) techniques of topographic work. Thus, a theoretical study with a critical eye on the scientific principle of calculating the third topographic dimension followed by a leveling campaign, Real Time Kinematic (RTK) surveys will be used in order to be able to compare and interpret the result from these campaigns. The study of the difference resulting from the practical campaigns will allow us to identify the contribution of GNSS technology.

Shallow sea topography detection using fully Polarimetric Gaofen-3 SAR data based on swell patterns

Compared to single-polarization synthetic aperture radar(SAR)data,fully polarimetric SAR data can provide more detailed information of the sea surface,which is important for applications such as shallow sea topography detection.The Gaofen-3 satellite provides abundant polarimetric SAR data for ocean research.In this paper,a shallow sea topography detection method was proposed based on fully polarimetric Gaofen-3 SAR data.This method considers swell patterns and only requires SAR data and little prior knowledge of the water depth to detect shallow sea topography.Wave tracking was performed based on preprocessed fully polarimetric SAR data,and the water depth was then calculated considering the wave parameters and the linear dispersion relationships.In this paper,four study areas were selected for experiments,and the experimental results indicated that the polarimetric scattering parameterαhad higher detection accuracy than quad-polarization images.The mean relative errors were 14.52%,10.30%,12.56%,and 12.90%,respectively,in the four study areas.In addition,this paper also analyzed the detection ability of this model for different topographies,and the experiments revealed that the topography could be well recognized when the topography gradient is small,the topography gradient direction is close to the wave propagation direction,and the isobath line is regular.

Research on Representative Engineering Applications of Anemometer Towers Location in Complex TopographyWind Resource Assessment

The typical location and number of anemometer towers in the assessed area are the key to the accuracy of wind resource assessment in complex topography.As calculation examples,this paper used two typical complex topography wind farms in Guangxi,Yunnan province in China.Firstly,we simulated the wind resource status of the anemometer tower in the Meteodyn WT software.Secondly,we compared the simulated wind resource with the actual measured data by the anemometer tower in the same situation.Thirdly,we analyzed the influence of anemometer tower location and quantity in the accuracy of wind resource assessment through the comparison results.The results showed that the range which the anemometer tower can represent is limited(<5 kilometers),and the prediction error more than 5%.Besides,the anemometer towers in special terrain areas(such as wind acceleration areas)cannot be used as a representative choice.The relative error of the simulated average annual wind speed by choose different number of anemometer towers is about 4%,and the grid-connected power generation more than 6%.The representative effect of anemometer towers is of crucial for improving the accuracy of wind resource assessment in engineering applications.

Role of contrast-enhanced serial/spot abdominal X-rays in perioperative follow-up of patients undergoing abdominal surgery:An observational clinical study

BACKGROUND Many imaging methods such as ultrasonography,computed tomography(CT),magnetic resonance imaging,and endoscopy are used to identify the problems or complications that occur in the perioperative period and to determine the appropriate therapeutic approach.Specialists at surgical clinics and intensive care units sometimes need diagnostic procedures that can give quick results or reveal unexpected results.In particular,rapid on-site evaluation of patients followed under intensive care conditions has several advantages.AIM To determine the problems developing in patients in the perioperative period by contrast-enhanced abdominal X-ray(CE-AXR),revealing their current status or defining the effectiveness of CE-AXR.METHODS The files of the patients who underwent hepatopancreatobiliary or upper gastrointestinal surgery,whose CE-AXR film was taken,were reviewed retrospectively.Abdominal X-ray radiographs taken after ingestion of a watersoluble contrast agent(iohexol,300 mg,50 cc vial)and its application in a drain,nasogastric tube,or stent were evaluated.The contribution of the data obtained in patients who underwent CE-AXR to the diagnosis,follow-up,and treatment processes and the effectiveness of the application were investigated.RESULTS CE-AXR was applied to 131 patients in our clinic,most of whom underwent hepatopancreatobiliary or upper gastrointestinal surgery.It was determined that the data obtained from CE-AXR films taken in 98(74.8%)of the patients contributed to the diagnosis,treatment,and follow-up expectations and positively affected the clinical processes.CONCLUSION CE-AXR is a simple procedure that can be applied anywhere,especially in intensive care patients and at bedside,with a portable X-ray device.The simplicity of the procedure,less radiation exposure for the patients,less time wastage,reduction in the CT and endoscopy procedure burden and costs,quick results,rapid assessment of the situation,and enabling the monitoring of processes with repetitive procedures are important advantages.X-rays taken will be useful in terms of being a reference value during the follow-up period of the patient and determining the situation in medicolegal processes.

Histogram Matched Chest X-Rays Based Tuberculosis Detection Using CNN

Tuberculosis(TB)is a severe infection that mostly affects the lungs and kills millions of people’s lives every year.Tuberculosis can be diagnosed using chest X-rays(CXR)and data-driven deep learning(DL)approaches.Because of its better automated feature extraction capability,convolutional neural net-works(CNNs)trained on natural images are particularly effective in image cate-gorization.A combination of 3001 normal and 3001 TB CXR images was gathered for this study from different accessible public datasets.Ten different deep CNNs(Resnet50,Resnet101,Resnet152,InceptionV3,VGG16,VGG19,DenseNet121,DenseNet169,DenseNet201,MobileNet)are trained and tested for identifying TB and normal cases.This study presents a deep CNN approach based on histogram matched CXR images that does not require object segmenta-tion of interest,and this coupled methodology of histogram matching with the CXRs improves the accuracy and detection performance of CNN models for TB detection.Furthermore,this research contains two separate experiments that used CXR images with and without histogram matching to classify TB and non-TB CXRs using deep CNNs.It was able to accurately detect TB from CXR images using pre-processing,data augmentation,and deep CNN models.Without histogram matching the best accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,precision and F1-score in the detection of TB using CXR images among ten models are 99.25%,99.48%,99.52%,99.48%and 99.22%respectively.With histogram matching the best accuracy,sensitivity,specificity,precision and F1-score are 99.58%,99.82%,99.67%,99.65%and 99.56%respectively.The proposed meth-odology,which has cutting-edge performance,will be useful in computer-assisted TB diagnosis and aids in minimizing irregularities in TB detection in developing countries.

Evaluating the effects of topographical factors on the precipitation simulated by kilometer-scale versus quarter-degree dynamical downscaling models in eastern China

与传统的1/4度(≈25-30 km)动力降尺度模拟相比,公里尺度模拟的降水空间分布与观测结果更为接近.为了研究这一差异原因,本研究以华东地区为例,探究了地形因子在观测和模拟的降水中的作用.为了更好地体现地形因子对降水分布非均匀性的影响,以及不同地形因子作用的尺度差异,本研究采用多尺度地理加权回归模型,对五个主要地形因子与公里尺度和1/4度分辨率模拟的降水的关系进行了评估.基于观测数据的研究结果显示地形起伏度,地形高程和离海岸线距离对华东地区降水分布的非均匀性都有重要影响,其中地形起伏度在研究区大部分站点降水分布中起主导作用;公里尺度模拟结果基本反映了地形起伏度的主导作用;而1/4度模拟结果表现出降水对地形高程的过度依赖.本研究揭示了公里尺度地形分布对中国东部降水的非均匀分布的关键作用,研究结果可以为改进降水模拟提供新的思路.

俯仰式播种单体仿形性能检测试验台设计与试验

为解决播种单体仿形机构性能难以检测的问题,设计了俯仰式播种单体仿形性能检测试验台。阐述了试验台组成结构与工作原理,对其高速传动系统、液压升降系统、监控系统以及关键部件参数进行设计。应用ANSYS软件对台架整体和关键部件进行静力学分析和模态分析,验证结构设计的合理性。为检验俯仰式播种单体仿形性能检测试验台的实际检测效果,以德邦大为1205型牵引式免耕精量播种机播种单体为研究对象,先以液压杆伸出量与传送带速度为试验因素,以监控系统误差为评价指标进行试验。试验得出,在液压杆伸出量为0~200 mm范围内,监控系统角度传感器最大误差为0.69 mm;在传送带速度8~19 km/范围内,光电编码器最大误差为0.18 km/h。确认监控系统准确性后,再以单体速度为试验因素,采集速度8、10、12 km/h下地块的起伏数据为目标曲线,以地形起伏模拟曲线的绝对误差平均值为指标进行单因素试验,试验得出,所设计的试验台可有效模拟田间地面的起伏频率与起伏量,绝对误差平均值为1.86 mm,满足播种单体仿形性能检测需求。

山地地震勘探中的静校正对成像质量的影响及改进策略

在山地地震勘探中,地震数据常常被校正到固定基准面上进行偏移成像,从而造成成像失真。本文从数学上直接推导公式,证明了静校正后从基准面进行偏移会造成倾角误差;通过山地起伏地表正演模型,说明了静校正后从基准面偏移会扭曲波场,导致严重的偏移成像失真。此外,应用四川南部山区的实际案例,分别从基准面偏移及从起伏地表偏移,叠前时间偏移和深度偏移结果均表明,在复杂的山地地形中,剧烈的高差变化会导致固定基准面偏移成像失真,应用起伏地表偏移能改进山地地震勘探资料的成像质量。本文的研究结果对理论研究和实际地震数据处理具有重要意义。

塞斯纳172飞机发动机机匣脉冲激光清洗工艺研究

针对航空发动机机匣表面除漆需求,采用纳秒脉冲激光开展了塞斯纳172飞机发动机机匣表面漆层的激光清洗研究。通过对机匣除漆区域的表面形貌及粗糙度进行分析,探究了激光能量密度与扫描速度对机匣表面漆层清洗效果的影响规律,确定了机匣激光除漆最佳工艺参数,并对机匣除漆后的表面质量、显微硬度及粗糙度进行综合评估。结果表明,能量密度和扫描速度均显著影响机匣除漆质量,能量密度18.33 J/cm^(2)、扫描速度1600 mm/s时,可实现除漆率98.7%,表面粗糙度S_(a)为2.48μm,机匣本身未损伤,表面显微硬度提升1.9%,满足机匣表面除漆质量要求。研究结果为发动机机匣激光除漆提供了理论与技术支持。

基于历史地形学的古典园林复原方法研究:以16世纪无锡寄畅园为例

地形是古典园林的基底。本文提出“历史地形学”的古典园林复原方法,旨在通过复原历史地形进而推测复原园林布局及细部做法,于历史研究而言可补充历史文献不足、填补研究空缺时段,于园林设计实践而言更可解析园景变迁机制、促进传统造园手段得以灵活运用。本文以无锡寄畅园为例,从园址所在惠山的水文与地形条件出发,结合历史文献推断园内历史地形,从历史地形学的角度推演该园于16世纪明代初创及历次改建动作的可能性,对照历史文献运用排除法确定历史改建做法,完整清晰地呈现了一座园林在自然和人工的双重作用下不断演进、发展的鲜活面貌,可为当今城镇及风景建设中如何借自然之力、成人巧之景提供历史经验与借鉴。

切削速度对某新型易切削钢切屑形态及加工表面形貌影响

为了明确切削速度对某新型易切削钢切屑形态及加工表面形貌的影响规律,开展了不同切削速度下某新型易切钢的切削试验,研究切屑形态和已加工表面形貌并分析其产生原因。结果表明:宏观上,在切削速度大于150 m/min时,该易切削钢切屑以短管螺旋状为主,当切削速度小于150 m/min时,切屑以发条状和破断弧形为主,形成锯齿形切屑的临界切削速度大约在200 m/min;切削速度影响切屑底面形貌,在低速切削时,切屑底面较多大小不一的撕裂状凹坑、沟槽,当切削速度增大至200 m/min时,能够形成表面较光滑的切屑底面;低速切削该易切削钢时,工件表面粗糙度较大,3D形貌显示波峰高度、波谷深度也均较大,随着切削速度的增加,粗糙度减小,3D形貌亦趋于平缓。