Estimation of Soil Moisture in Bare Soils of the Northern Dry Zone of the Deccan Plateau, Karnataka, using Sentinel-1 Band C imagery

Soil moisture information is acritical input to water resource allocation, irrigation scheduling and climate risk management.The date of sowing is an important decision farmers take after initial rainfall occurs based on traditional knowledge and physical estimation of soil moisture. The present study was conducted on bare agriculture fields of Siruguppasub-district in Karnataka state in India to estimate surface soil moisture us in gradar remote sensing with the aim of developing an accurate and scalable methodology

X-Ray Photoabsorption in KLL Resonances of O VI And Abundance Analysis

It is shown that photoabsorption via autoionizing resonances may be appreciable and used for abundance analysis. Analogous to spectral lines, the `resonance oscillator strength' f_r may be defined and evaluated in terms of the differential oscillator strength df/d(epsilon) that relates bound and continuum absorption. X-ray photoabsorption in KLL (1s2s2p) resonances of O VI is investigated using highly resolved relativistic photoionization cross sections with fine structure. It is found that f_r is comparable to that for UV dipole transition in O VI (2s - 2p) and the X-ray (1s^2 ^1S_0 - 1s2p ^1P^o_1) transition in O VII. The dominant O VI(KLL) components lie at 22.05 and 21.87 Angstroms. These predicted absorption features should be detectable by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) and the X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM). The combined UV/X-ray spectra of O VI/O VII should yield valuable information on the ionization structure and abundances in sources such as the `warm absorber' region of active galactic nuclei and the hot intergalactic medium. Some general implications of resonant photoabsorption are addressed.Comment: Astrophys. J. Letters (in press), 9 pages, 3 figure

Accuracies of Soil Moisture Estimations Using a Semi-Empirical Model over Bare Soil Agricultural Croplands from Sentinel-1 SAR Data

This study describes a semi-empirical model developed to estimate volumetric soil moisture ( v ϑ) in bare soils during the dry season (March–May) using C-band (5.42 GHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery acquired from the Sentinel-1 European satellite platform at a 20 m spatial resolution. The semi-empirical model was developed using backscatter coefficient (σ° dB) and in situ soil moisture collected from Siruguppa taluk (sub-district) in the Karnataka state of India. The backscatter coefficients 0 VV σ and 0 VH σ were extracted from SAR images at 62 geo-referenced locations where ground sampling and volumetric soil moisture were measured at a 10 cm (0–10 cm) depth using a soil core sampler and a standard gravimetric method during the dry months (March–May) of 2017 and 2018. A linear equation was proposed by combining 0 VV σ and 0 VH σ to estimate soil moisture. Both localized and generalized linear models were derived. Thirty-nine localized linear models were obtained using the 13 Sentinel-1 images used in this study, considering each polarimetric channel Co-Polarization (VV) and Cross-Polarization(VH) separately, and also their linear combination of VV + VH. Furthermore, nine generalized linear models were derived using all the Sentinel-1 images acquired in 2017 and 2018; three generalized models were derived by combining the two years (2017 and 2018) for each polarimetric channel; and three more models were derived for the linear combination of 0 VV σ and 0 VH σ . The above set of equations were validated and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was 0.030 and 0.030 for 2017 and 2018, respectively, and 0.02 for the combined years of 2017 and 2018. Both localized and generalized models were compared with in situ data. Both kind of models revealed that the linear combination of 0 VV σ + 0 VH σ showed a significantly higher R2 than the individual polarimetric channels

Qubit metrology and decoherence

Quantum properties of the probes used to estimate a classical parameter can be used to attain accuracies that beat the standard quantum limit. When qubits are used to construct a quantum probe, it is known that initializing $n$ qubits in an entangled "cat state," rather than in a separable state, can improve the measurement uncertainty by a factor of $1/\sqrt{n}$. We investigate how the measurement uncertainty is affected when the individual qubits in a probe are subjected to decoherence. In the face of such decoherence, we regard the rate $R$ at which qubits can be generated and the total duration $\tau$ of a measurement as fixed resources, and we determine the optimal use of entanglement among the qubits and the resulting optimal measurement uncertainty as functions of $R$ and $\tau$.Comment: 24 Pages, 3 Figure

The Polonnaruwa meteorite: oxygen isotope, crystalline and biological composition

Results of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, Triple Oxygen Isotope analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) studies are presented for stone fragments recovered from the North Central Province of Sri Lanka following a witnessed fireball event on 29 December 2012. The existence of numerous nitrogen depleted highly carbonaceous fossilized biological structures fused into the rock matrix is inconsistent with recent terrestrial contamination. Oxygen isotope results compare well with those of CI and CI-like chondrites but are inconsistent with the fulgurite hypothesis.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 4 table

Safety and efficacy of intravenous pulse cyclophosphamide therapy in children with steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome

Background: Cyclophosphamide (Cyp) is a well-known alternative agent to spare the use of steroids and avoid the side effects that result from long-term steroid therapy in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS). Use of Cyp typically reduces the risk of relapse in comparison with prednisolone by about 50%. Objective: To study the safety and efficacy of intravenous pulse Cyp (IV Cyp) therapy in children with steroid-dependent NS (SDNS). Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective single-center analysis from a large government hospital in South India. The data were retrieved from the records of children attending the pediatric nephrology clinic between 2005 and 2016. Children with SDNS who received the complete schedule of IV Cyp were included in the study. Children who received other alternate drugs were excluded. Results: Fifty patients with SDNS were treated with IV Cyp, seven patients did not complete the treatment and were excluded from the analysis. 24 (56%) of the 43 patients stayed in remission throughout the course of Cyp treatment and prednisolone could be stopped and were considered as Cyp responsive. The remaining 19 (44%) children had relapsed while on Cyp therapy (Cyp resistant) and required treatment with alternate immunosuppressant drugs. 19 of the 24 Cyp responsive patients were in remission 6 months after stopping Cyp treatment (Cyp sensitive) while the remaining five patients relapsed within 6 months of stopping Cyp treatment (Cyp dependent). 9 children (20.9%) were relapse-free till the time of last follow-up with a median follow-up of 2.1 years. Among 24 children, 13 (30.23%) who responded were infrequently relapsing NS and 2 (4.5%) children were frequently relapsing NS

3-(6-Methyl-2-pyrid­yl)-2-phenyl-3,4-dihydro-1,3,2-benzoxaza­phosphinine 2-oxide

In the title compound, C19H17N2O2P, the six-membered 1,3,2-oxaza­phosphinine ring adopts a boat conformation with the phosphoryl O atom in an equatorial position. The dihedral angle between the 6-methyl-2-pyridyl and phenyl groups is 75.5 (1)°. These substituents are trans to each other, and are oriented at angles of 57.2 (1) and 74.8 (1)°, respectively, to the benzene ring. The crystal structure is stabilized by intra- and inter­molecular hydrogen bonds. The phosphoryl O atom participates in inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions with the neighbouring mol­ecules, forming centrosymmetric R 2 2(14) dimers

Unusual fish landings during monsoon season of 2018 along the Trivandrum and Kanyakumari coast

Bumper catch of Odonus niger (Redtoothed triggerfish) at Thengapattanam Fisheries Harbour and Moonfish Mene maculata along Vizhinjam coast was one of the major observations during the monsoon 2018. An estimated 50 t of O. niger was landed at the Thengapattanam Fisheries Harbour. Fishing vessels of 32 feet overall length (OAL) with two outboard engines (9.9hp each) operating boat seines were used for fishing

Fractional differentiability of nowhere differentiable functions and dimensions

Weierstrass's everywhere continuous but nowhere differentiable function is shown to be locally continuously fractionally differentiable everywhere for all orders below the `critical order' 2-s and not so for orders between 2-s and 1, where s, 1<s<2 is the box dimension of the graph of the function. This observation is consolidated in the general result showing a direct connection between local fractional differentiability and the box dimension/ local Holder exponent. Levy index for one dimensional Levy flights is shown to be the critical order of its characteristic function. Local fractional derivatives of multifractal signals (non-random functions) are shown to provide the local Holder exponent. It is argued that Local fractional derivatives provide a powerful tool to analyze pointwise behavior of irregular signals.Comment: minor changes, 19 pages, Late