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Abstract Background The aim was to validate the correlation between corneal shape parameters and axial length growth (ALG) during orthokeratology using Image-Pro Plus (IPP) 6.0 software. Methods This retrospective study used medical records of myopic children aged 8–13 years (n = 104) undergoing orthokeratology. Their corneal topography and axial length were measured at baseline and subsequent follow-ups after lens wear. Corneal shape parameters, including the treatment zone (TZ) area, TZ diameter, TZ fractal dimension, TZ radius ratio, eccentric distance, pupil area, and pupillary peripheral steepened zone(PSZ) area, were measured using IPP software. The impact of corneal shape parameters at 3 months post-orthokeratology visit on 1.5-year ALG was evaluated using multivariate linear regression analysis. Results ALG exhibited significant associations with age, TZ area, TZ diameter, TZ fractal dimension, and eccentric distance on univariate linear regression analysis. Multivariate regression analysis identified age, TZ area, and eccentric distance as significantly correlated with ALG (all P

Due to a high spatial angle resolution and low circuit cost of massive hybrid analog and digital (HAD) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), it is viewed as a valuable green communication technology for future wireless networks. Integrating the massive HAD-MIMO with direction of arrival (DOA) will provide an even ultra-high performance of DOA measurement, which can the fully-digital (FD) MIMO. However, phase ambiguity is a challenge issue for a massive HAD-MIMO DOA estimation. In this paper, we consider three parts: detection, estimation, and Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB). First, a multi-layer-neural-network (MLNN) detector is proposed to infer the existence of emitters. Then, a two-layer HAD (TLHAD) MIMO structure is proposed to estimate the DOA and eliminate phase ambiguity using only one time block. Simulation results show that the proposed MLNN detector is much better than both the existing generalized likelihood ratio test (GRLT) and the ratio of maximum eigen-value (Max-EV) to minimum eigen-value (R-MaxEV-MinEV) in terms of detection probability. Additionally, the proposed TLHAD structure can achieve the corresponding CRLB.

ABSTRACT Noncarbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (non-CP-CRE) are increasingly recognized as important contributors to prevalent carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) infections. However, there is limited understanding of mechanisms underlying non-CP-CRE causing invasive disease. Long- and short-read whole-genome sequencing was used to elucidate carbapenem nonsusceptibility determinants in Enterobacterales bloodstream isolates at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. We investigated carbapenem nonsusceptible Enterobacterales (CNSE) mechanisms (i.e., isolates with carbapenem intermediate resistance phenotypes or greater) through a combination of phylogenetic analysis, antimicrobial resistance gene detection/copy number quantification, porin assessment, and mobile genetic element (MGE) characterization. Most CNSE isolates sequenced were non-CP-CRE (41/79; 51.9%), whereas 25.3% (20/79) were Enterobacterales with intermediate susceptibility to carbapenems (CIE), and 22.8% (18/79) were carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE). Statistically significant copy number variants (CNVs) of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) genes (Wilcoxon Test; P-value

This study evaluates the impact of satellite soil moisture (SM) data assimilation (DA) on regional weather and ozone (O3) modeling over the southeastern US during the summer. Satellite SM data are assimilated into the Noah land surface model using an ensemble Kalman filter approach within National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Land Information System framework, which is semicoupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting model with online Chemistry (WRF-Chem; standard version 3.9.1.1). The DA impacts on the model performance of SM, weather states, and energy fluxes show strong spatiotemporal variability. Dense vegetation and water use from human activities unaccounted for in the modeling system are among the factors impacting the effectiveness of the DA. The daytime surface O3 responses to the DA can largely be explained by the temperature-driven changes in biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds and soil nitric oxide, chemical reaction rates, and dry deposition velocities. On a near-biweekly timescale, the DA modified the mean daytime and daily maximum 8 h average surface O3 by up to 2–3 ppbv, with the maximum impacts occurring in areas where daytime surface air temperature most strongly (i.e., by ∼2 K) responded to the DA. The DA impacted WRF-Chem upper tropospheric O3 (e.g., for its daytime-mean, by up to 1–1.5 ppbv) partially via altering the transport of O3 and its precursors from other places as well as in situ chemical production of O3 from lightning and other emissions. Case studies during airborne field campaigns suggest that the DA improved the model treatment of convective transport and/or lightning production. In the cases that the DA improved the modeled SM, weather fields, and some O3-related processes, its influences on the model's O3 performance at various altitudes are not always as desirable. This is in part due to the uncertainty in the model's key chemical inputs, such as anthropogenic emissions, and the model representation of stratosphere–troposphere exchanges. This can also be attributable to shortcomings in model parameterizations (e.g., chemical mechanism, natural emission, photolysis and deposition schemes), including those related to representing water availability impacts. This study also shows that the WRF-Chem upper tropospheric O3 response to the DA has comparable magnitudes with its response to the estimated US anthropogenic emission changes within 2 years. As reductions in anthropogenic emissions in North America would benefit the mitigation of O3 pollution in its downwind regions, this analysis highlights the important role of SM in quantifying air pollutants' source–receptor relationships between the US and its downwind areas. It also emphasizes that using up-to-date anthropogenic emissions is necessary for accurately assessing the DA impacts on the model performance of O3 and other pollutants over a broad region. This work will be followed by a Noah-Multiparameterization (with dynamic vegetation)-based study over the southeastern US, in which selected processes including photosynthesis and O3 dry deposition will be the foci.

Abstract Background To compare the efficacy of one initial intravitreal injection of conbercept (IVC) versus three monthly IVCs in patients with macular edema (ME) after branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). Both options were followed by a pro re nata (PRN) retreatment regimen. Methods This study retrospectively investigated and followed 60 patients with acute ME secondary to BRVO for over a year. 30 subjects received one initial injection (1 + PRN group); while, 30 received three monthly injections (3 + PRN group). The functional and anatomic outcomes were assessed during each follow-up. Results The general characteristics of the 60 subjects were as follows: mean [SD] age, 57.43 [13.06] years; 33 [55%] female; 36 [60%] non-ischemic form. Both groups showed a stable gain in visual acuity (VA) with similar logMAR (mean ± SD) (1 + PRN group 0.308 ± 0.399, 3 + PRN group 0.34 ± 0.352) during the first 12 months. Additionally, both groups exhibited a significant reduction in central foveal thickness (CFT) with no statistically significant difference between them (1 + PRN group 222.1 μm ± 197.1 μm, 3 + PRN group 228.4 μm ± 200.2 μm). Both treatment groups had similar improvements in logMAR and anatomic outcomes over time. The stratified analysis showed that patients with the non-ischemic form and those with the ischemic form had similar improvements in VA (0.346 ± 0.366 VS 0.29 ± 0.39, P = 0.575) during the 12 months follow-ups. The number of injections was lower in the 1 + PRN group (4.0 ± 1.6) than in the 3 + PRN group (4.7 ± 1.3) (P = 0.068). No adverse effects or unexpected safety issues were reported in either group. Conclusions Conbercept yielded significant improvements in VA and CFT among patients with BRVO induced ME, independent of their retinal ischemia status. The results showed that the 3 + PRN regimen do not lead to better functional outcomes or lower treatment needs in clinical practice as compared to the 1 + PRN regimen.

This study investigates an extreme weather event that impacted the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in March 2016, using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.7.1 coupled with its hydrological modeling extension package (WRF-Hydro). Six-hourly forecasted forcing records at 0.5∘ spatial resolution, obtained from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS), are used to drive the three nested downscaling domains of both standalone WRF and coupled WRF–WRF-Hydro configurations for the recent flood-triggering storm. Ground and satellite observations over the UAE are employed to validate the model results. The model performance was assessed using precipitation from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (30 min, 0.1∘ product), soil moisture from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2; daily, 0.1∘ product) and the NOAA Soil Moisture Operational Products System (SMOPS; 6-hourly, 0.25∘ product), and cloud fraction retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Atmosphere product (MODATM; daily, 5 km product). The Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), relative bias (rBIAS), and root-mean-square error (RMSE) are used as performance measures. Results show reductions of 24 % and 13 % in RMSE and rBIAS measures, respectively, in precipitation forecasts from the coupled WRF–WRF-Hydro model configuration, when compared to standalone WRF. The coupled system also shows improvements in global radiation forecasts, with reductions of 45 % and 12 % for RMSE and rBIAS, respectively. Moreover, WRF-Hydro was able to simulate the spatial distribution of soil moisture reasonably well across the study domain when compared to AMSR2-derived soil moisture estimates, despite a noticeable dry and wet bias in areas where soil moisture is high and low. Temporal and spatial variabilities of simulated soil moisture compare well to estimates from the NOAA SMOPS product, which indicates the model's capability to simulate surface drainage. Finally, the coupled model showed a shallower planetary boundary layer (PBL) compared to the standalone WRF simulation, which is attributed to the effect of soil moisture feedback. The demonstrated improvement, at the local scale, implies that WRF-Hydro coupling may enhance hydrological and meteorological forecasts in hyper-arid environments.

This study compared the rates and microbial community development in batch bioassays on autotrophic denitrification using elemental sulfur (S0), pyrite (FeS2), thiosulfate (S2O32–), and sulfide (S2–) as electron donor. The performance of two inocula was compared: digested sludge (DS) from a wastewater treatment plant of a dairy industry and anaerobic granular sludge (GS) from a UASB reactor treating dairy wastewater. All electron donors supported the development of a microbial community with predominance of autotrophic denitrifiers during the enrichments, except for sulfide. For the first time, pyrite revealed to be a suitable substrate for the growth of autotrophic denitrifiers developing a microbial community with predominance of the genera Thiobacillus, Thioprofundum, and Ignavibacterium. Thiosulfate gave the highest denitrification rates removing 10.94 mM NO3– day–1 and 8.98 mM NO3– day–1 by DS and GS, respectively. This was 1.5 and 6 times faster than elemental sulfur and pyrite, respectively. Despite the highest denitrification rates observed in thiosulfate-fed enrichments, an evaluation of the most relevant parameters for a technological application revealed elemental sulfur as the best electron donor for autotrophic denitrification with a total cost of 0.38 € per m3 of wastewater treated.

The spin-structure functions g1 and g2, and the spin-dependent partial cross-section σTT have been extracted from the polarized cross-sections differences, Δσ∥(ν,Q2) and Δσ⊥(ν,Q2) measured for the He3→(e→,e′)X reaction, in the E97-110 experiment at Jefferson Lab. Polarized electrons with energies from 1.147 to 4.404 GeV were scattered at angles of 6∘ and 9∘ from a longitudinally or transversely polarized 3He target. The data cover the kinematic regions of the quasi-elastic, resonance production and beyond. From the extracted spin-structure functions, the first moments Γ1‾(Q2), Γ2(Q2) and ITT(Q2) are evaluated with high precision for the neutron in the Q2 range from 0.035 to 0.24GeV2. The comparison of the data and the chiral effective field theory predictions reveals the importance of proper treatment of the Δ degree of freedom for spin observables.

We report on a precise measurement of double-polarization asymmetries in electron-induced breakup of He3 proceeding to pd and ppn final states, performed in quasi-elastic kinematics at Q2=0.25(GeV/c)2 for missing momenta up to 250MeV/c. These observables represent highly sensitive tools to investigate the electromagnetic and spin structure of He3 and the relative importance of two- and three-body effects involved in the breakup reaction dynamics. The measured asymmetries cannot be satisfactorily reproduced by state-of-the-art calculations of He3 unless their three-body segment is adjusted, indicating that the spin-dependent part of the nuclear interaction governing the three-body breakup process is much smaller than previously thought. Keywords: Double-polarization asymmetry, Helium-3 nucleus, Proton knock-out

It remains a challenge to find the structure and the distribution of the constituents of nucleons. Here the authors use a scattering method to get information about the gluons and quarks inside a proton and separate the contribution of Bethe-Heitler from the deeply virtual Compton scattering process.

Land and atmospheric initial conditions of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are often interpolated from a different model output. We perform case studies during NASA's SEAC4RS and DISCOVER-AQ Houston airborne campaigns, demonstrating that using land initial conditions directly downscaled from a coarser resolution dataset led to significant positive biases in the coupled NASA-Unified WRF (NUWRF, version 7) surface and near-surface air temperature and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) around the Missouri Ozarks and Houston, Texas, as well as poorly partitioned latent and sensible heat fluxes. Replacing land initial conditions with the output from a long-term offline Land Information System (LIS) simulation can effectively reduce the positive biases in NUWRF surface air temperature by ∼ 2 °C. We also show that the LIS land initialization can modify surface air temperature errors almost 10 times as effectively as applying a different atmospheric initialization method. The LIS-NUWRF-based isoprene emission calculations by the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN, version 2.1) are at least 20 % lower than those computed using the coarser resolution data-initialized NUWRF run, and are closer to aircraft-observation-derived emissions. Higher resolution MEGAN calculations are prone to amplified discrepancies with aircraft-observation-derived emissions on small scales. This is possibly a result of some limitations of MEGAN's parameterization and uncertainty in its inputs on small scales, as well as the representation error and the neglect of horizontal transport in deriving emissions from aircraft data. This study emphasizes the importance of proper land initialization to the coupled atmospheric weather modeling and the follow-on emission modeling. We anticipate it to also be critical to accurately representing other processes included in air quality modeling and chemical data assimilation. Having more confidence in the weather inputs is also beneficial for determining and quantifying the other sources of uncertainties (e.g., parameterization, other input data) of the models that they drive.

Due to the lack of free neutron targets, studies of the structure of the neutron are typically made by scattering electrons from either 2H or 3He targets. In order to extract useful neutron information from a 3He target, one must understand how the neutron in a 3He system differs from a free neutron by taking into account nuclear effects such as final state interactions and meson exchange currents. The target single spin asymmetry Ay0 is an ideal probe of such effects, as any deviation from zero indicates effects beyond plane wave impulse approximation. New measurements of the target single spin asymmetry Ay0 at Q2 of 0.46 and 0.96 (GeV/c)2 were made at Jefferson Lab using the quasi-elastic He↑3(e,e′n) reaction. Our measured asymmetry decreases rapidly, from >20% at Q2=0.46 (GeV/c)2 to nearly zero at Q2=0.96 (GeV/c)2, demonstrating the fall-off of the reaction mechanism effects as Q2 increases. We also observed a small ϵ-dependent increase in Ay0 compared to previous measurements, particularly at moderate Q2. This indicates that upcoming high Q2 measurements from the Jefferson Lab 12 GeV program can cleanly probe neutron structure from polarized 3He using plane wave impulse approximation. Keywords: Neutron, Quasi-elastic, Polarized, 3He, Electron scattering, Single spin asymmetry

We report on new p(e,e′p)π∘ measurements at the Δ+(1232) resonance at the low momentum transfer region, where the mesonic cloud dynamics is predicted to be dominant and rapidly changing, offering a test bed for chiral effective field theory calculations. The new data explore the Q2 dependence of the resonant quadrupole amplitudes and for the first time indicate that the Electric and the Coulomb quadrupole amplitudes converge as Q2→0. The measurements of the Coulomb quadrupole amplitude have been extended to the lowest momentum transfer ever reached, and suggest that more than half of its magnitude is attributed to the mesonic cloud in this region. The new data disagree with predictions of constituent quark models and are in reasonable agreement with dynamical calculations that include pion cloud effects, chiral effective field theory and lattice calculations. The measurements indicate that improvement is required to the theoretical calculations and provide valuable input that will allow their refinements.

We have performed precision measurements of the double-spin virtual-photon asymmetry A1 on the neutron in the deep inelastic scattering regime, using an open-geometry, large-acceptance spectrometer and a longitudinally and transversely polarized 3He target. Our data cover a wide kinematic range 0.277≤x≤0.548 at an average Q2 value of 3.078 (GeV/c)2, doubling the available high-precision neutron data in this x range. We have combined our results with world data on proton targets to make a leading-order extraction of the ratio of polarized-to-unpolarized parton distribution functions for up quarks and for down quarks in the same kinematic range. Our data are consistent with a previous observation of an A1n zero crossing near x=0.5. We find no evidence of a transition to a positive slope in (Δd+Δd¯)/(d+d¯) up to x=0.548. Keywords: Spin structure functions, Nucleon structure, Parton distribution functions, Polarized electron scattering

Aim of study: The aim of the work was to determine the optimum axillary shoot induction system by optimizing different factors.Area of study: The different factors which were pretreatment methods, media types, kinds of cytokinins and dark treatmentMaterial and methods: After pretreating and sterilizing, the stems of Wollemi pine which about 3cm long were cultured on three kinds of media (GD, DCR AND ms) with different concentration and type of cytokines (BA, ZT and TDZ), as well as dark treatment (0, and 4 weeks) and then exposure to tissue culture room. The experiments were randomized block designed and the results were analyzed with ANOVA.Main results: Rapid freezing in liquid nitrogen was the most effective pretreatment method, dark treatment for the first 4-weeks of stem explants cultured in induction media could increase the frequency of axillary shoot induction significantly. The highest frequency of axillary shoot induction (63%) was obtained when explants were cultured in 1/2GD medium with 6.8 μM TDZ combining 4-weeks dark treatment. Research highlights: The optimized conditions for shoot production in vitro can be useful for conservation in vitro of Wollemia nobilis.Keywords: Wollemia nobilis; in vitro conservation; tissue culture; an endangered relict conifer.

Using an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE), we investigate the potential soil moisture retrieval capability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aquarius radiometer (L-band 1.413 GHz) and scatterometer (L-band, 1.260 GHz). We estimate potential errors in soil moisture retrievals and identify the sources that could cause those errors. The OSSE system includes (i) a land surface model in the NASA Land Information System, (ii) a radiative transfer and backscatter model, (iii) a realistic orbital sampling model, and (iv) an inverse soil moisture retrieval model. We execute the OSSE over a 1000 × 2200 km2 region in the central United States, including the Red and Arkansas river basins. Spatial distributions of soil moisture retrieved from the radiometer and scatterometer are close to the synthetic truth. High root mean square errors (RMSEs) of radiometer retrievals are found over the heavily vegetated regions, while large RMSEs of scatterometer retrievals are scattered over the entire domain. The temporal variations of soil moisture are realistically captured over a sparely vegetated region with correlations 0.98 and 0.63, and RMSEs 1.28% and 8.23% vol/vol for radiometer and scatterometer, respectively. Over the densely vegetated region, soil moisture exhibits larger temporal variation than the truth, leading to correlation 0.70 and 0.67, respectively, and RMSEs 9.49% and 6.09% vol/vol respectively. The domain-averaged correlations and RMSEs suggest that radiometer is more accurate than scatterometer in retrieving soil moisture. The analysis also demonstrates that the accuracy of the retrieved soil moisture is affected by vegetation coverage and spatial aggregation.

In order to polarize 87Rb vapor effectively with ultranarrow linewidth diode laser, we studied the polarization as a function of some parameters including buffer gas pressure and laser power. Moreover, we also discussed the methods which split or modulate the diode laser frequency so as to pump the two ground hyperfine levels efficiently. We obtained some useful results through numerical simulation. If the buffer gas pressure is so high that the hyperfine structure is unresolved, the polarization is insensitive to laser frequency at peak absorption point so frequency splitting and frequency modulation methods do not show improvement. At low pressure and laser power large enough, where the hyperfine structure is clearly resolved, frequency splitting and frequency modulation methods can increase polarization effectively. For laser diodes, frequency modulation is easily realized with current modulation, so this method is attractive since it does not add any other components in the pumping laser system.

Model simulated soil moisture fields are often biased due to errors in input parameters and deficiencies in model physics. Satellite derived soil moisture estimates, if retrieved appropriately, represent the spatial mean of near surface soil moisture in a footprint area, and can be used to reduce bias of model estimates (at locations near the surface) through data assimilation techniques. While assimilating the retrievals can reduce bias, it can also destroy the mass balance enforced by the model governing equation because water is removed from or added to the soil by the assimilation algorithm. In addition, studies have shown that assimilation of surface observations can adversely impact soil moisture estimates in the lower soil layers due to imperfect model physics, even though the bias near the surface is decreased. In this study, an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) with a mass conservation updating scheme was developed to assimilate Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) soil moisture retrievals, as they are without any scaling or pre-processing, to improve the estimated soil moisture fields by the Noah land surface model. Assimilation results using the conventional and the mass conservation updating scheme in the Little Washita watershed of Oklahoma showed that, while both updating schemes reduced the bias in the shallow root zone, the mass conservation scheme provided better estimates in the deeper profile. The mass conservation scheme also yielded physically consistent estimates of fluxes and maintained the water budget. Impacts of model physics on the assimilation results are discussed.