Effect of Locust Invasion and Mitigation Using Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study of North Sindh Pakistan

This study comprises the identification of the locust outbreak that happened in February 2020. It is not possible to conduct ground-based surveys to monitor such huge disasters in a timely and adequate manner. Therefore, we used a combination of automatic and manual remote sensing data processing techniques to find out the aftereffects of locust attack effectively. We processed MODIS -normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI ) manually on ENVI and Landsat 8 NDVI using the Google Earth Engine (GEE ) cloud computing platform. We found from the results that, (a) NDVI computation on GEE is more effective, prompt, and reliable compared with the results of manual NDVI computations; (b) there is a high effect of locust disasters in the northern part of Sindh, Thul, Ghari Khairo, Garhi Yaseen, Jacobabad, and Ubauro, which are more vulnerable; and (c) NDVI value suddenly decreased to 0.68 from 0.92 in 2020 using Landsat NDVI and from 0.81 to 0.65 using MODIS satellite imagery. Results clearly indicate an abrupt decrease in vegetation in 2020 due to a locust disaster. That is a big threat to crop yield and food production because it provides a major portion of food chain and gross domestic product for Sindh, Pakistan.

A Recent Update on Oral Anticoagulants

Atrial Fibrillation is very common among Americana; it is the irregular rhythm of the heart usually present with or without symptoms. It causes the formation of clots, clots go to the brain and cause a stroke. Anticoagulants have been known for a few decades to cause abrupt decrease around 50%) in the rate of stroke and prevent clotting at the required location and can cause bleeding. Anticoagulants aims for the safeguard and therapy of thromboembolism to prevent stroke. Previously used Anticoagulants are Warfarin, low molecular weight heparin and heparin. There were shortcoming of the drugs like parenteral route of administration, requires frequent monitoring due to variability in response, the onset of action is slow and there is bleeding in response to the drugs .In addition to heparin and vitamin k antagonist, anticoagulants that act on enzymatic agility or vigor brought about by of thrombin and factor Xa was exquisitely formulated. Implementation of the foresaid oral Anticoagulants requires knowledge of necessitate the comprehension of discrete indication, contraindications, characteristics. Research and repeated clinical trials have led to acceptance of few newer drugs which are working classically styled but better than Warfarin. In the last few years, Pradaxa (dabigatran), Xarelto (rivaroxaban), and Eliquis (dabigatran) have all been authorised by the FDA (apixaban). All three are ‘blood thinners,’ like warfarin, that lessen the overall risk of stroke associated with atrial fibrillation while also causing bleeding.

The Battery Life Estimation of a Battery under Different Stress Conditions

The prediction of capacity degradation, and more generally of the behaviors related to battery aging, is useful in the design and use phases of a battery to help improve the efficiency and reliability of energy systems. In this paper, a stochastic model for the prediction of battery cell degradation is presented. The proposed model takes its cue from an approach based on Markov chains, although it is not comparable to a Markov process, as the transition probabilities vary with the number of cycles that the cell has performed. The proposed model can reproduce the abrupt decrease in the capacity that occurs near the end of life condition (80% of the nominal value of the capacity) for the cells analyzed. Furthermore, we illustrate the ability of this model to predict the capacity trend for a lithium-ion cell with nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) at the cathode and graphite at the anode, subjected to a life cycle in which there are different aging factors, using the results obtained for cells subjected to single aging factors.

Accessory corpus luteum regression during pregnancy II: reproductive outcomes

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of accessory corpus luteum (CL) induction on fertility in dairy cows. On day 5 after artificial insemination (AI), lactating Holstein cows were assigned unequally to receive gonadotrophin-releasing hormone treatment (GnRH) (n = 641) or no treatment (control; n = 289). Cows had their blood sampled for progesterone (P4), and ovaries were scanned by ultrasound on days 5, 12, 19, 26, 33, 47, and 61 after AI. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed on days 26, 33, 47, and 61. On day 12, cows treated with GnRH were allocated to ipsilateral (n = 239) or contralateral (n = 241) groups based on the side of accessory CL formation relative to previous ovulation. Accessory CL cows had greater P4 than controls. In total, 52.7% (78/148) of pregnant cows in contralateral group had accessory CL regression earlier (<day 33; 30.8%) or later (days 33–61; 69.2%) in pregnancy with coincident decrease in P4. No cows with ipsilateral accessory CL underwent regression. There was no difference in pregnancy/AI among groups. Cows with contralateral accessory CL that underwent early regression had greater pregnancy loss (30%) than controls (10%), or cows with ipsilateral CL (3%) or contralateral CL with either later or no regression (12%). Cows with ipsilateral accessory CL had lower pregnancy loss than controls. In conclusion, elevating circulating P4 by the induction of accessory CL, particularly ipsilateral CL, increases P4 and reduces pregnancy loss. However, contralateral accessory CL that undergoes regression before day 33 of pregnancy has increased pregnancy loss, possibly due to an abrupt decrease in P4 at a pivotal period of pregnancy (days 26–33).

Disentangling the scarcity of near-natural Iberian hydrological resources since 1980s: a multivariate-driven approach

A significant abrupt decrease of Winter Precipitation (WP) has been noticed in the Iberian Peninsula since the 1980s related to atmospheric drivers. This contribution assesses the long-term variability of water resources based on a multivariate-driven approach. For this purpose, the novel dataset of Near Natural Water Inflows to Reservoirs of Spain (NENWIRES) was created. Results confirm that Winter Water Inflows (WWI) have been modulated by the sudden decline in WP. These drastic reductions of WP/WWI were mainly controlled by the enhancement of the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAOi+). Nonetheless, our results also highlight the anthropogenic/physical causes contributing to the 1980s shift in the hydroclimate series. The rise of temperature, the cropland abandonment and forest extension provoked evapotranspiration gains and run-off weakening. NENWIRES most humid catchments registered the decrease of WWI promoted by NAOi+ persistence/frequency, while the land greening-up and ET rises explain the WWI losses in the Iberian semiarid environments. This contribution sheds some light on the recent debate about magnitude/drivers of streamflow declining over southern Europe. Therefore, it might help water planning with the goal of mitigating the climate change impacts affecting the water cycle.

Effect of minimonovision in bilateral implantation of a novel non-diffractive extended depth-of-focus intraocular lens: Defocus curves, visual outcomes, and quality of life

Purpose To evaluate overall patient satisfaction, spectacle independence, visual acuity, and prevalence of optical phenomena following bilateral implantation of a new non-diffractive extended depth-of-focus intraocular lens targeted for minimonovision. Methods Multicenter prospective case series. Postoperative far and near visual acuity at 3 months and patient quality of life by NEI-VFQ-25 questionnaire were assessed. Postoperative evaluation included defocus curves analysis, spectacle independence assessment, and recording of photic phenomena. Results The study enrolled 97 eyes of 59 patients that underwent femtosecond-assisted cataract surgery with AcrySof IQ Vivity intraocular lens implantation. Thirty subjects (60 eyes) were eligible for analysis. After 3 months, postoperative achieved binocular uncorrected visual acuity was −0.03 ± 0.06 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution for distance, 0.06 ± 0.06 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution for intermediate, and 0.19 ± 0.03 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution for near. Defocus curve showed a smooth profile with no abrupt decrease of visual acuity. Minimonovision significantly improved visual acuity compared to when minimonovision was neutralized, for values of defocus curves from −1 to −3 D ( p < 0.05). Twenty-six (87%) patients reported complete spectacle independence. High levels of satisfaction for distance and near vision resulted at VFQ-25 questionnaire. Only two patients complained of halos (6.7%) and one of them also of glare (3.3%). Conclusions Implantation of this new non-diffractive extended depth-of-focus intraocular lens with minimonovision resulted in satisfying far, intermediate, and near visual acuity with a consistent reduction of spectacle dependence and improvement in patient's quality of life.

Orogenic lithosphere and slabs in the greater Alpine area – interpretations based on teleseismic P-wave tomography

Based on recent results of AlpArray, we propose a new model of Alpine collision that involves subduction and detachment of thick (∼ 180 km) European lithosphere. Our approach combines teleseismic P-wave tomography and existing local earthquake tomography (LET), allowing us to image the Alpine slabs and their connections with the overlying orogenic lithosphere at an unprecedented resolution. The images call into question the conventional notion that downward-moving lithosphere and slabs comprise only seismically fast lithosphere. We propose that the European lithosphere is heterogeneous, locally containing layered positive and negative Vp anomalies of up to 5 %–6 %. We attribute this layered heterogeneity to seismic anisotropy and/or compositional differences inherited from the Variscan and pre-Variscan orogenic cycles rather than to thermal anomalies. The lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (LAB) of the European Plate therefore lies below the conventionally defined seismological LAB. In contrast, the lithosphere of the Adriatic Plate is thinner and has a lower boundary approximately at the base of strong positive Vp anomalies at 100–120 km. Horizontal and vertical tomographic slices reveal that beneath the central and western Alps, the European slab dips steeply to the south and southeast and is only locally still attached to the Alpine lithosphere. However, in the eastern Alps and Carpathians, this slab is completely detached from the orogenic crust and dips steeply to the north to northeast. This along-strike change in attachment coincides with an abrupt decrease in Moho depth below the Tauern Window, the Moho being underlain by a pronounced negative Vp anomaly that reaches eastward into the Pannonian Basin area. This negative Vp anomaly is interpreted as representing hot upwelling asthenosphere that heated the overlying crust, allowing it to accommodate Neogene orogen-parallel lateral extrusion and thinning of the ALCAPA tectonic unit (upper plate crustal edifice of Alps and Carpathians) to the east. A European origin of the northward-dipping, detached slab segment beneath the eastern Alps is likely since its down-dip length matches estimated Tertiary shortening in the eastern Alps accommodated by originally south-dipping subduction of European lithosphere. A slab anomaly beneath the Dinarides is of Adriatic origin and dips to the northeast. There is no evidence that this slab dips beneath the Alps. The slab anomaly beneath the Northern Apennines, also of Adriatic origin, hangs subvertically and is detached from the Apenninic orogenic crust and foreland. Except for its northernmost segment where it locally overlies the southern end of the European slab of the Alps, this slab is clearly separated from the latter by a broad zone of low Vp velocities located south of the Alpine slab beneath the Po Basin. Considered as a whole, the slabs of the Alpine chain are interpreted as highly attenuated, largely detached sheets of continental margin and Alpine Tethyan oceanic lithosphere that locally reach down to a slab graveyard in the mantle transition zone (MTZ).

ENSO predictability over the past 137 years based on a CESM ensemble prediction system

In this study, we conducted an ensemble retrospective prediction from 1881 to 2017 using the Community Earth System Model to evaluate El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) predictability and its variability on different timescales. To our knowledge, this is the first assessment of ENSO predictability using a long-term ensemble hindcast with a complicated coupled general circulation model (CGCM). Our results indicate that both the dispersion component (DC) and signal component (SC) contribute to the interannual variation of ENSO predictability (measured by relative entropy, RE). In detail, the SC is more important for ENSO events, whereas the DC is of comparable important for short lead times and in weak ENSO signal years. The SC dominates the seasonal variation of ENSO predictability, and an abrupt decrease in signal intensity results in the spring predictability barrier feature of ENSO. At the interdecadal scale, the SC controls the variability of ENSO predictability, while the magnitude of ENSO predictability is determined by the DC. The seasonal and interdecadal variations of ENSO predictability in the CGCM are generally consistent with results based on intermediate complexity and hybrid coupled models. However, the DC has a greater contribution in the CGCM than that in the intermediate complexity and hybrid coupled models.

Recent warming reverses forty-year decline in Catastrophic lake drainage and hastens Gradual lake drainage across northern Alaska

Lakes represent as much as ~25% of the total land surface area in lowland permafrost regions. Though decreasing lake area has become a widespread phenomenon in permafrost regions, our ability to forecast future patterns of lake drainage spanning gradients of space and time remain limited. Here, we modeled the drivers of gradual (steady declining lake area) and catastrophic (temporally abrupt decrease in lake area) lake drainage using 45 years of Landsat observations (i.e., 1975-2019) across 32,690 lakes spanning climate and environmental gradients across northern Alaska. We mapped lake area using supervised support vector machine classifiers and object based image analyses using five-year Landsat image composites spanning ~388,968 km2. Drivers of lake drainage were determined with boosted regression tree (BRT) models, using both static (e.g., lake morphology, proximity to drainage gradient) and dynamic predictor variables (e.g., temperature, precipitation, wildfire). Over the past 45 years, gradual drainage decreased lake area between 10-16%, but rates varied over time as the 1990s recorded the highest rates of gradual lake area losses associated with warm periods. Interestingly, the number of catastrophically drained lakes progressively decreased at a rate of ~37% decade-1 from 1975-1979 (102 to 273 lakes draining year-1) to 2010-2014 (3 to 8 lakes draining year-1). However this 40 year negative trend was reversed during the most recent time-period (2015-2019), with observations of catastrophic drainage among the highest on record (i.e., 100 to 250 lakes draining year-1), the majority of which occurred in northwestern Alaska. Gradual drainage processes were driven by lake morphology, summer air and lake temperature, snow cover, active layer depth, and the thermokarst lake settlement index (R2 adj=0.42, CV=0.35, p<0.0001), whereas, catastrophic drainage was driven by the thawing season length, total precipitation, permafrost thickness, and lake temperature (R2 adj=0.75, CV=0.67, p<0.0001). Models forecast a continued decline in lake area across northern Alaska by 15 to 21% by 2050. However these estimates are conservative, as the anticipated amplitude of future climate change were well-beyond historical variability and thus insufficient to forecast abrupt “catastrophic” drainage processes. Results highlight the urgency to understand the potential ecological responses and feedbacks linked with ongoing Arctic landscape reorganization.

Battery Life Estimation of a Battery Under Different Stress Conditions

The prediction of capacity degradation, and more generally of the behaviors related to battery aging, is useful in the design and use phases of a battery to help improve the efficiency and reliability of energy systems. In this paper, a stochastic model for the prediction of battery cell degradation is presented. The proposed model takes its cue from an approach based on Markov chains, although it is not comparable to a Markov process, as the transition probabilities vary as the number of cycles that the cell has performed varies. The proposed model can reproduce the abrupt decrease in the capacity that occurs near the end of life condition (80% of the nominal value of the capacity) for the cells analyzed. Furthermore, we illustrate the ability of this model to predict the capacity trend for a lithium-ion cell with nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) at the cathode and graphite at the anode subjected to a life cycle in which there are different aging factors, using the results obtained for cells subjected to single aging factors.