Actual Terrain Research Articles

Correlation of an <i>ex Vivo</i> Model with Clinical Application of an Epigenetic Modifier, Inhibiting Tumor Growth and Metastasis, in Resistant Cholangiocarcinoma—A Case Study

Bile duct cancer is a rare form of cancer, with approximately 2000 new cases diagnosed in the United States each year. The prognosis of this disease is very grave, especially in the form of intrahepatic (IHCC), as there is no person with stage four who lives for 5 years, and the average prognosis is less than a year, a majority of patients die in less than 6 months despite all therapies. It is suggested that one of the key elements in the disease progression is the intratumoral hypoxia inducible factor one alfa (HIF-1a) as a regulator of malignant behavior and recently described as a new prognostic indicator of IHCC. (9, 10) HIF is a key regulator under the microenvironmental (terrain) influence, and therefore studies of the cell lines in an in vitro environment where there is no hypoxia, usually fail to translate to a clinical outcome in vivo, unless the cells are transfected by full-length HIF-1alpha (fL HIF-1alpha) and dominant-negative HIF-1alpha (dn HIF-1alpha). To overcome this barrier, an ex vivo model is designed at MD Anderson experimental therapeutics where the patient tumor sample is transferred to the mice and treated with drugs, where the tumor can cross talk with the actual terrain and mimic the human stroma where the HIF can be triggered. Results show significant tumor necrosis on the intrahepatic cholangiocacinoma, only after 5 days of exposure to an experimental compound that is known to suppress hypoxia-induced accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) through inhibiting protein synthesis. (11, 12) Further this is explored in the same actual patient with terminal diagnosis, and proves itself with promising initial response. Here, we review this method and the clinical perspectives, and suggest this method to be studied in larger trials.

Characterization of mountain drainage patterns for GPS-denied UAS navigation augmentation

We present a novel approach to use mountain drainage patterns for GPS-denied navigation of small unmanned aerial systems, such as the ScanEagle, utilizing a down-looking fixed focus monocular imager. Our proposal allows for extension of GPS-denied missions in mountain areas, with no assumption of human-made geographic objects. We leverage the analogy between mountain drainage patterns, human aeteriograms, and human fingerprints, to match local drainage patterns to parallax occlusion maps of geo-registered radar returns (GRRR). The GRRR data may be loaded on-board the aircraft pre-mission to avoid the need for a scanning aperture radar during the mission. For recognition purpose, we represent a given mountain area with a set of spatially distributed mountain minutiae, i.e., details found in the drainage patterns, so that conventional minutiae-based fingerprint matching approaches can be used to match real-time camera images against template images in the training set. We use medical arteriography processing technique to extract the patterns. The minutiae-based representation of mountains is achieved by first exposing mountain ridges and valleys with a series of filters and then extracting mountain minutiae from these ridges/valleys. Our results are experimentally validated on actual terrain data and show the effectiveness of minutiae-based mountain representation method.

Development and Application of Two-Dimensional Numerical Model on Shallow Water Flows Using Finite Volume Method

This present study develops a 2-D numerical scheme to simulate the velocity and depth on the actual terrain by using shallow water equations. The computational approach uses the HLL scheme as a basic building block, treats the bottom slope by lateralizing the momentum flux, then refines the scheme using the Strang splitting to deal with the frictional source term. Besides, a decoupled algorithm is also adopted to compute the aggradation and degradation of bed-level elevation by using the Manning-Strickler formula and Exner’s relationship. The main purpose is to set up the window interface of 2-D numerical model and increase the realization of engineers on these characteristics of hydraulic treatment and maintenance.

In situ Determination of Load Bearing Capacity of Soils on the Airfields

The article presents the results of the earth structures’ bearing capacity evaluation and objectification for airfields by means of CBR (California Bearing Ratio) parameter. In order to quantify actual terrain conditions, in situ testing methods are advancing against laboratory testing. However, the optimal solution is to combine precise laboratory testing with in situ measurements. A correlation between CBR values and moisture content values of the backfilling soil of runway strips from earth structure of Žilina Airport was made within the frame of author's research activities. The CBR tests were performed on the clayey gravel specimens, which were prepared in the test cylinders used for a Proctor modified test. It has been found that the correlation allows determining of the moisture level to meet requirements of the RWY recommended by Aerodrome Design Manual [1]. The newest results of CBR in situ measurements on the aerodrome earth structures are also presented. CBR in situ values were objectified by the CLEGG device WS 32830. This device quantifies the value of rate of compaction from in situ tests based on CIV values (Clegg Impact Value) [2].

Study of Combined Forecast Model of Wind Power Output Based on GM-Weibull Wind Speed Distribution

The grey theory is employed to establish the grey prediction-wind speed Weibull distribution model and calculate the Weibull distribution parameters according to the randomness and intermittence of the wind power output. The wind speed distribution of the wind farm and the effective wind power density are predicted accurately, the wind power and the electric fan efforts in generating capacity and other important data can be obtained according to the actual terrain wind farm wind speed data.

Privacy-Preserving Proximity Based Services

Recently, with the dramatic popular of geo-social networks and location based services (LBS), more and more mobile users are willing to enjoy the proximity services, which is a friend-alarm when the buddies happen to be in proximity. However, the services provider (SP) and some compromised buddies could try to steal the user’s exact location information. Hence, location privacy preserving is still a challenge question in proximity based services. Unfortunately, existing methods only consider Euclidean distance to calculate neighbors, which would bring great deviation for distance measurement in the actual terrain. To my knowledge, this article is the first time extending to the 3D surface and proposes a novel technique for the privacy-preserving proximity services. The technique utilizes simplicial triangulation decomposition on 3D surface, and the user's location is generalized with a triangular area space, then a more precise proximity distance measurement method based on the triangle fractal is proposed. Next, we design a privacy-preserving proximity query protocol, which provide complete privacy with respect to the SP and the buddies. Final, the experiments shows that our methods have practicality in the services quantity and privacy.

Kuzgun Baraj Gölü Havzasında Arazi Kullanım Sınıflarının Tespiti ve Erozyon Riskinin Değerlendirmesi

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have important tools for determination of some characteristics of natural resources enable us to get accurate results that by eliminating time, labor and processes that require high cost. The purpose of this study, determine land uses using geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies according to the European Environment Agency, air, water, soil, land cover, coastal erosion, biotopes and so on. Issues carried out under the project CORINE detected the parameters within the framework of watershed scale. Error level was determined by comparing the shapes of the actual terrain with the results obtained by using these technologies. According to the results detected sub class such as; 5 level of 1, 10 level of 2 and 15 level of 3. Assessed the relationship between land use map according to the CORINE and actual erosion risk map produced the for the same area. According to these results, low-risk areas are forests and meadow (24.66%), and medium and high risk areas are grassland and unproductive soil lands (34.98%) in terms of the actual erosion risk in the watershed area. Results provided by technologies such as geographic information systems and remote sensing were compared current land use maps of the classic method and identified a high correlation between them (%89.9) . In this study, in the determination and monitoring of future changes in land use and incorrect land use, by reducing the negative effects of desertification and drought will be benefit for sustainable use natural resources.

Efficient Power Conservation Mechanism in Spline Function Defined WSN Terrain

Coverage is a vital issue that ensures that basic functions are available in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). These functions provide communications during emergency rescue or in war environments. Sensor nodes must be dispersed and survive in place for a long time in order to accurately monitor all events. However, sensor nodes rely on limited battery energy restricted to the lifetime of the entire network. When few sensor nodes are awake during an epoch, the entire network lifetime becomes longer. This implies that the coverage problem must be solved based on the energy efficiency issue. In order to strengthen the coverage ratio with a limited number of sensor nodes, practical coverage algorithms were proposed in the existing researches but investigated in a 2-D plane, which is not suitable for a realistic environment. Few researchers have investigated the WSN coverage problem for a 3-D space. The actual terrain is rugged and bumpy that prevents deploying sensor nodes in three-dimension space. In this paper, we consider the field of interest as a complex surface but also use the spline function to obtain factual information about a complex surface. Furthermore, dynamic programming is utilized to optimize the sensing radius for reducing the power consumption.

CFDによる実在地形周りの流れの計算

CFDによる実在地形周りの流れの計算

Dense Regional Active Networks and High Accuracy Positioning Services. A Case Study Based on the Andalusian Positioning Network (Southern Spain)

Today, a great number of regional-scale active networks are established all over the world for multiple applications. High accuracy real time positioning services are provided via Internet and continuous GNSS data from permanent stations are freely available through public data files for post-processing. Both solutions should be referred to a compatible realization of European Terrestrial Reference System when they are combined. This paper presents the current status of a regional active network in southern Spain (Andalusian Positioning Network, RAP) and analyzes the difference, in terms of availability, time required to fix ambiguities, precision, accuracy and repeatability of RTK positioning, between single-base Real Time Kinematic (RTK) and network RTK (NRTK) approaches, both based on this dense active network. To check the RTK performance an extensive process control was undertaken across Andalusia (Southern Spain). The initial results of the tests applied on 60 geodetic sites are presented. The tests results show that, in the case of regional active networks with distances “reference-rover” less than 30 km, NRTK and nearest single-base RTK solutions present the same level of precision and accuracy. The spatial distribution of RAP stations guarantees an effective coverage within the region, but their altimetric distribution should be adjusted to the actual terrain morphology in order to achieve reliable, homogeneous and high accuracy positioning across the network. The results achieved in this applied research may be of interest to RAP users and also to other regional and local networks covering a similar area and with analogous structural characteristics.

A Simple Three-Dimensional Terrain Modeling Method for Complex Terrain Wind Environment Simulation

In order to solve the problems in complex terrain modeling by computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulation at prophase, such as difficulty in collecting data, tedious modeling process, wasting times and so on. In this paper, combined various commonly digital technology，and the transformation between the network terrain file and CFD (PHOENICS) solid model is realized by using a new set of outdoor complex terrain rapid digital modeling method. Take mountain city -Chongqing as an object to analyses the near-surface wind environment. The method is directly generated by the network terrain data without any screening or simplified. The virtual model can be matched the actual terrain with the extreme. By using the simulation cycle for complex terrain, time will be greatly shortened for urban planning.

Impact of rain snow threshold temperature on snow depth simulation in land surface and regional atmospheric models

This study investigates the impact of rain snow threshold (RST) temperatures on snow depth simulation using the Community Land Model (CLM) and the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF—coupled with the CLM and hereafter referred to as WRF_CLM), and the difference in impacts. Simulations were performed from 17 December 1994 to 30 May 1995 in the French Alps. Results showed that both the CLM and the WRF_CLM were able to represent a fair simulation of snow depth with actual terrain height and 2.5°C RST temperature. When six RST methods were applied to the simulation using WRF_CLM, the simulated snow depth was the closest to observations using 2.5°C RST temperature, followed by that with Pipes’, USACE, Kienzle’s, Dai’s, and 0°C RST temperature methods. In the case of using CLM, simulated snow depth was the closest to the observation with Dai’s method, followed by with USACE, Pipes’, 2.5°C RST temperature, Kienzle’s, and 0°C RST temperature method. The snow depth simulation using the WRF_CLM was comparatively sensitive to changes in RST temperatures, because the RST temperature was not only the factor to partition snow and rainfall. In addition, the simulated snow related to RST temperature could induce a significant feedback by influencing the meteorological variables forcing the land surface model in WRF_CLM. In comparison, the above variables did not change with changes in RST in CLM. Impacts of RST temperatures on snow depth simulation could also be influenced by the patterns of temperature and precipitation, spatial resolution, and input terrain heights.

The Effect of Topographic Variability on Initial Condition Sensitivity of Low-Level Wind Forecasts. Part II: Experiments Using Real Terrain and Observations

Abstract A study by Bieringer et al., which is Part I of this two-part study, demonstrated analytically using the shallow-water equations and numerically in controlled experiments that the presence of terrain can result in an enhancement of sensitivities to initial condition adjustments. The increased impact of adjustments to initial conditions corresponds with gradients in the flow field induced by the presence of the terrain obstacle. In cross-barrier flow situations the impact of the initial condition adjustments on the final forecast increases linearly as the height of the terrain obstacle increases. While this property associated with initial condition perturbations may be present in an analytic and controlled numerical environment, it is often difficult to realize these benefits in a more operationally realistic setting. This study extends the prior work to a situation with actual terrain, Doppler radar wind observations over the terrain, and observations from a surface mesonet for model verification. The results indicate that the downstream surface wind forecast was improved more when the initial conditions adjusted through the assimilation of Doppler radar data originated from areas with terrain gradients than from regions where the terrain was relatively flat. This result is consistent with the findings presented in Part I and suggests that when varying terrain elevation is present upstream of a target forecast area, a greater benefit (in terms of forecast accuracy) can be made by targeting additional observations in the regions containing variable terrain than regions where the terrain is relatively flat.

Examination of Errors in Near-Surface Temperature and Wind from WRF Numerical Simulations in Regions of Complex Terrain

Abstract The performance of an advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) in predicting near-surface atmospheric temperature and wind conditions under various terrain and weather regimes is examined. Verification of 2-m temperature and 10-m wind speed and direction against surface Mesonet observations is conducted. Three individual events under strong synoptic forcings (i.e., a frontal system, a low-level jet, and a persistent inversion) are first evaluated. It is found that the WRF model is able to reproduce these weather phenomena reasonably well. Forecasts of near-surface variables in flat terrain generally agree well with observations, but errors also occur, depending on the predictability of the lower-atmospheric boundary layer. In complex terrain, forecasts not only suffer from the model's inability to reproduce accurate atmospheric conditions in the lower atmosphere but also struggle with representative issues due to mismatches between the model and the actual terrain. In addition, surface forecasts at finer resolutions do not always outperform those at coarser resolutions. Increasing the vertical resolution may not help predict the near-surface variables, although it does improve the forecasts of the structure of mesoscale weather phenomena. A statistical analysis is also performed for 120 forecasts during a 1-month period to further investigate forecast error characteristics in complex terrain. Results illustrate that forecast errors in near-surface variables depend strongly on the diurnal variation in surface conditions, especially when synoptic forcing is weak. Under strong synoptic forcing, the diurnal patterns in the errors break down, while the flow-dependent errors are clearly shown.

Risk assessment of highways affected by debris flows in Wenchuan earthquake area

Since the Wenchuan earthquake in China on May 12th, 2008, highways in earthquake-affected areas have been frequently interrupted by debris flows. We analyzed the hazard effect modes and damage processes along highways and developed three key indexes, scale of debris flows, deposits on highways and river blockage, to describe quantitatively the highway disasters. By combining the empirical methods and the actual terrain conditions, we proposed new methods to determine the value of hazard indexes. In addition, we used the economic value and resistance of highway as vulnerability assessment indexes, then determined the specific subindexes for the subgrade, bridges and culverts, and developed a way for the quantified vulnerability zoning. Moreover, we proposed the assessment and mapping methods for highway risk. The risk is described into 5 grades: extremely low risk, low risk, middle risk, high risk and extremely high risk. We applied these methods in a case study carried out on provincial highway S303 from Yingxiu Town to Wolong Town, in Wenchuan County. Analysis of debris flow risk for the whole highway, showed that the total length of highway in extremely low risk area was 28.26 km, 4.83 km in low risk area, 8.0 km in middle risk area, 3.65 km in high risk area, and 3.06 km in extremely high risk area. The assessment results are consistent with the field survey data which reflected the disaster situation. This risk method can be used objectively to evaluate the debris-flow risk along highways, and is useful for highway reconstruction in mountainous areas suffering from active debris flows.

Fast integral equation algorithms for the solution of electromagnetic wave propagation over general terrains

In this paper a fast numerical algorithm to solve an integral equation model for wave propagation along a perfectly conducting two-dimensional terrain is suggested. It is applied to different actual terrain profiles and the results indicate very good agreement with published work. In addition, the proposed algorithm has achieved considerable saving in processing time. The formulation is extended to solve the propagation over lossy dielectric surfaces. A combined field integral equation (CFIE) for wave propagation over dielectric terrain is solved efficiently by utilizing the method of moments with complex basis functions. The numerical results for different cases of dielectric surfaces are compared with the results of perfectly conducting surface evaluated by the IE conventional algorithm.

A Two-Stage Quality Control Method for 2-m Temperature Observations Using Biweight Means and a Progressive EOF Analysis

Abstract The relatively smooth terrain embedded in the numerical model creates an elevation difference against the actual terrain, which in turn makes the quality control of 2-m temperature difficult when forecast or analysis fields are utilized in the process. In this paper, a two-stage quality control method is proposed to address the quality control of 2-m temperature, using biweight means and a progressive EOF analysis. The study is made to improve the quality control of the observed 2-m temperature collected by China and its neighboring areas, based on the 6-h T639 analysis from December 2009 to February 2010. Results show that the proposed two-stage quality control method can secure the needed quality control better, compared with a regular EOF quality control process. The new method is, in particular, able to remove the data that are dotted with consecutive errors but showing small fluctuations. Meanwhile, compared with the lapse rate of temperature method, the biweight mean method is able to remove the systematic bias generated by the model. It turns out that such methods make the distributions of observation increments (the difference between observation and background) more Gaussian-like, which ensures the data quality after the quality control.

지형 험준도를 고려한 프로파일 기반 지형참조항법과 관성항법의 결합 알고리즘

In recent years alternative navigation system such as a DBRN (Data-Base Referenced Navigation) system using geophysical information is getting attention in the military navigation systems in advanced countries. Specifically TRN (Terrain Referenced Navigation) algorithm research is important because TRN system is a practical DBRN application in South Korea at present time. This paper presents an integrated navigation algorithm that combines a linear profile-based TRN and INS (Inertial Navigation System). We propose a correlation analysis method between TRN performance and terrain roughness index. Then we propose a conditional position update scheme that utilizes the position output of the conventional linear profile type TRN depending on the terrain roughness index. Performance of the proposed algorithm is verified through Monte Carlo computer simulations using the actual terrain database. The results show that the TRN/INS integrated algorithm, even when the initial INS error is present, overcomes the shortcomings of linear profile-based TRN and improves navigation performance.

Airport Terrain-Induced Turbulence Simulations Integrated with Weather Prediction Data

The wind environment at an airport is affected by terrain features. In Japan, Shonai Airport is known to frequently have wind shear over the runway due to the turbulence induced by the neighboring hills in winter. In this study, large eddy simulation (LES) is performed to investigate the turbulence around Shonai Airport. The initial and boundary conditions are given according to the weather prediction data by the Japan Meteorological Agency non-hydrostatic model (JMANHM). These data are downscaled and transferred to LES domains, which consider actual terrain features as the boundary conditions on the ground, using the two-way nesting method. The present simulations indicate that terrain features may have a significant influence on the turbulence appearing in flight paths; i.e., aircraft safety may depend on wind direction. In addition, it is shown that the present simulation method can predict the turbulence induced by terrain features based on good agreement of results with the turbulence actually observed using a Doppler radar.

경사도 분석에 적용하는 단위격자크기가 골프장의 입지 평가에 미치는 영향 분석(환경적 측면에서)

본 연구에서는 골프장 건설사업에 대한 사전환경성 검토과정에서 입지 및 환경 영향성을 평가하기 위해 실시하는 지형의 경사도 분석에 적용되는 단위 격자크기에 따라 상이한 입지평가 결과가 도출되는 문제점에 대하여 조사 분석하였다. 이를 위해 환경성 사전 협의를 통과하여 현재 공사가 진행 중이거나 협의가 진행 중인 12개 골프장을 대상으로 단위격자 크기의 변화에 따른 경사도 비율의 변화를 분석함으로써 실제 지형을 정확히 반영할 수 있는 단위 격자크기를 분석하였다. 그리고 연구대상 골프장 사업지에 대하여 도출된 단위 격자크기를 적용하여 환경성 평가의 협의 가능 여부를 재검증하였다. 연구결과, 경사도의 분석을 위해 설정한 단위 격자크기가 커질수록 경사도가 높은 구역의 경사도 비율이 저평가됨을 확인할 수 있었으며, 본 연구의 설정 중 <TEX>$5m{\times}5m$</TEX>의 격자크기를 적용하였을 경우가 실제 지형에 가장 근접하는 분석결과를 도출할 수 있었으므로 이를 환경부에 건의하여 경사도 분석을 위한 단위 격자크기의 기준을 <TEX>$5m{\times}5m$</TEX>로 개정할 수 있도록 하였다. 더불어 본 연구에서 제안한 단위격자 크기를 적용하여 연구대상 골프장에 대한 경사도 비율을 재분석할 경우, 4개소의 골프장이 관련 규정의 협의기준을 초과하는 것으로 분석되어 환경적 측면에서 골프장 입지로서 부적절한 입지임을 입증할 수 있었다. In this study, the problems were analyzed that derived a different position evaluation results depending on the unit grid size that are applied to the terrain slope analysis conducted to assess the its position and environmental impacts in the prior environment reviewing process of golf course construction projects. For this purpose, the unit grid size were analyzed that can precisely reflect a actual terrain by analyzing the change of a slope percentage according to the change of unit grid size about 12 golf courses is currently in progress of construction work through the environmental consultation or ongoing consultation. And the consultation availability of environmental assessment was reverified by applying the unit grid size derived through this study about a study golf course. In the result of study, the bigger grid size for slope analysis is set, the greatly gradient is changed and the slope ratio of the higher elevation was lowly evaluated in comparison with actual terrain. The analytical result that most closely match the actual terrain was extracted in the case applied <TEX>$5m{\times}5m$</TEX> of the unit grid sizes setting in this study. So, we proposed this study results to the ministry of environment and could be amended the unit grid size of <TEX>$5m{\times}5m$</TEX> as standard for the analysis of slope. Also, if new grid size for site evaluation is applied to the study sites, 4 sites exceed the standard suggested the existing regulations and they are not proper as golf course site in flank of environment.