Integration of Sentinel-1A Radar and SMAP Radiometer for Soil Moisture Retrieval over Vegetated Areas.

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) was originally designed to combine high-resolution active (radar) and coarse-resolution but highly sensitive passive (radiometer) L-band observations to achieve unprecedented spatial resolution and accuracy for soil moisture retrievals. However, shortly after SMAP was put into orbit, the radar component failed, and the high-resolution capability was lost. In this paper, the integration of an alternative radar sensor with the SMAP radiometer is proposed to enhance soil moisture retrieval capabilities over vegetated areas in the absence of the original high-resolution radar in the SMAP mission. ESA's Sentinel-1A C-band radar was used in this study to enhance the spatial resolution of the SMAP L-band radiometer and to improve soil moisture retrieval accuracy. To achieve this purpose, we downscaled the 9 km radiometer data of the SMAP to 1 km utilizing the Smoothing Filter-based Intensity Modulation (SFIM) method. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was then trained to exploit the synergy between the Sentinel-1A radar, SMAP radiometer, and the in situ-measured soil moisture. An analysis of the data obtained for a plant growing season over the Mississippi Delta showed that the VH-polarized Sentinel-1A radar data can yield a coefficient of correlation of 0.81 and serve as a complimentary source to the SMAP radiometer for more accurate and enhanced soil moisture prediction over agricultural fields.

Using Downscaled GRACE Mascon Data to Assess Total Water Storage in Mississippi Alluvial Plain Aquifer.

The importance of high-resolution and continuous hydrologic data for monitoring and predicting water levels is crucial for sustainable water management. Monitoring Total Water Storage (TWS) over large areas by using satellite images such as Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data with coarse resolution (1°) is acceptable. However, using coarse satellite images for monitoring TWS and changes over a small area is challenging. In this study, we used the Random Forest model (RFM) to spatially downscale the GRACE mascon image of April 2020 from 0.5° to ~5 km. We initially used eight different physical and hydrological parameters in the model and finally used the four most significant of them for the final output. We executed the RFM for Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The validating data R2 for each model was 0.88. Large R2 and small RMSE and MAE are indicative of a good fit and accurate predictions by RFM. The result of this research aligns with the reported water depletion in the central Mississippi Delta area. Therefore, by using the Random Forest model and appropriate parameters as input of the model, we can downscale the GRACE mascon image to provide a more beneficial result that can be used for activities such as groundwater management at a sub-county-level scale in the Mississippi Delta.

The chemistry of 2-hydroxy-ß-nitrostyrenes: versatile intermediates in synthetic organic chemistry.

The applications of 2-hydroxy-ß-nitrostyrenes as efficient bifunctional intermediates in organic synthesis are investigated in this review. For this purpose, reactions of 2-hydroxy-ß-nitrostyrenes with diverse molecules, including carbonyl compounds, 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, α,ß-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, hemiacetals, nitroalkenes, γ-butenolides, tetronic acid, azalactones, pyrazolones, enamines, malononitrile, methyleneindolinones, ylides, etc., were investigated to construct interesting biologically active scaffolds such as chromans, chromenes, coumarins, benzofurans and their fused and spiro rings, natural products, and other useful cyclic and acyclic compounds. The main focus is on the asymmetric synthesis of these compounds via cascade/domino/tandem reactions catalyzed by chiral organocatalysts. In this review, around 60 papers reported between the years 2000 and 2022 are presented.

Experimental characterization of colloidal silica gel for water conformance control in oil reservoirs.

High water production in oil fields is an area of concern due to economic issues and borehole/wellhead damages. Colloidal gels can be a good alternative to polymers to address this as they can tolerate harsh oil reservoir conditions. A series of bottle tests with different silica and NaCl concentrations were first conducted. The gelation time, cation valence, rheology, and viscosity were investigated to characterize the gels. The applicability of solid gels in porous media was finally inspected in a dual-patterned glass micromodel. Bottle test results showed that increasing NaCl concentration at a constant silica concentration can convert solid gels into two-phase gels and then viscous suspensions. Na+ replacement with Mg2+ resulted a distinctive behaviour probably due to higher coagulating ability of Mg2+. Rheology and viscosity results agreed with gelation times: gel with shortest gelation time had the highest viscosity and storage/loss modulus but was not the most elastic one. Water injection into glass micromodel half-saturated with crude oil and solid gel proved that the gel is strong against pressure gradients applied by injected phase which is promising for water conformance controls. The diverted injected phase recorded an oil recovery of 53% which was not feasible without blocking the water zone.

Adverse effects of brimonidine eye drop in children: A case series.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Brimonidine is increasingly used in the treatment of intraocular hypertension. CASE SUMMARY: We report on five paediatric patients suffering from brimonidine eye drop intoxication. The most frequent signs of the intoxication were a lowered level of consciousness and hypotonia. Other complications were apnea, bradycardia, hypotension and seizure. One of the patients needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Apnea in one of the cases was resistant to naloxone. Pupils were unremarkable in two cases. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: Brimonidine is potentially lethal for young infants. The absence of miosis and absence of response to naloxone is not a reason to rule out brimonidine poisoning.

Congenital goiter in North of Iran: A case report.

Congenital goiter (CG) is one of the rarest disorders observed in a newborn at birth diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Considering the simultaneity of pregnancy and baby's hypothyroidism at birth, the goiter can be caused by diabetes during pregnancy and hypothyroidism emergence in the baby.

Variations in Essential Oil Composition and Antioxidant Activity in Perovskia abrotanoides Kar. Collected from Different Regions in Iran.

Essential oil (EO) composition, phenolic content, and antioxidant activity were investigated in 17 P. abrotanoides populations collected from different geographical regions in Iran. The highest (3.61%) and lowest (1.25%) essential oil yields were measured in populations from Semnan Province (PSESM2 ) and PISKS from Isfahan Province, respectively. GC/MS analysis identified camphor (4.05 - 35.94%), 1,8-cineole (7.15 - 24.34%), borneol (0 - 21.75%), and α-pinene (2.05 - 10.33%) as the main constituents of Perovskia essential oil. Cluster analysis classified the studied populations into four different groups: (I) high camphene, (II) high camphor/1,8-cineole, (III) high borneol/δ-3-carene, and (IV) high α-cadinol/trans-caryophyllene. The highest flavonoid and phenolic contents were detected in PISAK from Isfahan Province (4.09 ± 0.05 mgQE/gDW, 58.51 ± 1.63 mgGAE/gDW) and PKRGS from Khorasan Province (3.80 ± 0.002 mgQE/gDW, 66.86 ± 0.002 mgGAE/gDW). DPPH and reducing power activity model systems identified PMASA and PKRKL as the populations with the highest antioxidant activity. Finally, the data obtained represented valuable information for introducing elite populations with EO components favorable to pharmaceutical and industrial applications.

Multilingual education of students on a global scale and perspective-international networking on the example of bioindication and biomonitoring (B&B technologies).

Living or formerly living organisms are being used to obtain information on the quality of the general health status of our environment by bioindication and biomonitoring methods for many decades. Thus, different roads toward this common scientific goal were developed by a lot of different international research groups. Global cooperation in between various scientific teams throughout the world has produced common ideas, scientific definitions, and highly innovative results of this extremely attractive working field. The transdisciplinary approach of different and multifaceted scientific areas-starting from biology, analytical chemistry, via health physics, up to social and economic issues-have surpassed mental barriers of individual scientists, so that "production" of straightforward common results related to the influence of material and immaterial environmental factors to the well-being of organisms and human life has now reached the forefront of international thinking. For the further sustainable development of our common scientific "hobby" of bioindication and biomonitoring, highest personal energy has to be given by us, being teachers to our students and to convince strategically decision makers as politicians to invest (financially) into the development of education and research of this innovative technique. Young people have to be intensively convinced on the "meaning" of our scientific doing, e.g., by extended forms of education. One example of multilingual education of students on a global scale and perspective is given here, which we started about 3 years ago.

Non-invasive diagnosis of fetal anemia due to maternal red-cell alloimmunization.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the value of measurement of velocity of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in the prediction of fetal anemia in alloimmunized pregnancies without ultrasound evidence of hydrops and to see if this could replace the invasive techniques in the diagnosis and management of this condition. METHODS: In a prospective cohort study, 65 non-hydropic fetuses with red blood cell alloimmunization were evaluated with ultrasound and Doppler imaging. This study was carried out at Feto Maternal Medicine Unit at Women's Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar from January 2003 to December 2003. Middle cerebral artery-peak systolic velocity (PSV) was measured. We interfered only if there is a sign of fetal anemia as indicated by changes in blood velocity in MCA using the table designed by Giancarlo Mari or the fetus developed signs of hydrops fetalis. Immediately after delivery, the blood was taken from umbilical cord for full blood count, blood group, bilirubin and antibodies level. Results before first fetal blood sampling (FBS) or delivery were analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients met the inclusion criteria for the study and were managed. Sixty-three women were alloimmunized with rhesus (Rh)-D antibodies and 2 with anti-C. With the conventional management, all 65 patients undergone amniocentesis to determine bilirubin levels. However, with non-invasive management, 60 women were safely prevented from undergoing invasive testing or invasive procedures. Amniocentesis was performed for only one (1.54%) patient, despite having a normal MCV-PSV which was carried out solely due to the care provider was insisting on this procedure and the result was normal. Planning delivery based on MCA-PSV allowed us to deliver 97% (63/65) of these babies without any signs of severe anemia between 28-38 weeks. Two (3%) of the fetuses were diagnosed as severely anemic with MCA-PSV. In both cases, anemia was confirmed by FBS and intra uterine transfusion was carried out immediately to the test. Only 2 babies were diagnosed anemic after birth and underwent blood transfusion. CONCLUSION: Doppler evaluation of MCA-PSV is effective in the prediction of fetal anemia in red blood cell alloimmunization. Using this technique will reduce the number of invasive procedures needed with the added risks of these procedures with good fetal outcome.