Deep Neural Network Cloud-Type Classification (DeepCTC) model and its application in evaluating PERSIANN-CCS

Satellite remote sensing plays a pivotal role in characterizing hydrometeorological components including cloud types and their associated precipitation. The Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on the Polar Orbiting CloudSat satellite has provided a unique dataset to characterize cloud types. However, data from this nadir-looking radar offers limited capability for estimating precipitation because of the narrow satellite swath coverage and low temporal frequency. We use these high-quality observations to build a Deep Neural Network Cloud-Type Classification (DeepCTC) model to estimate cloud types from multispectral data from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the GOES-16 platform. The DeepCTC model is trained and tested using coincident data from both CloudSat and ABI over the CONUS region. Evaluations of DeepCTC indicate that the model performs well for a variety of cloud types including Altostratus, Altocumulus, Cumulus, Nimbostratus, Deep Convective and High clouds. However, capturing low-level clouds remains a challenge for the model. Results from simulated GOES-16 ABI imageries of the Hurricane Harvey event show a large-scale perspective of the rapid and consistent cloud-type monitoring is possible using the DeepCTC model. Additionally, assessments using half-hourly Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (MRMS) precipitation rate data (for Hurricane Harvey as a case study) show the ability of DeepCTC in identifying rainy clouds, including Deep Convective and Nimbostratus and their precipitation potential. We also use DeepCTC to evaluate the performance of the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS) product over different cloud types with respect to MRMS referenced at a half-hourly time scale for July 2018. Our analysis suggests that DeepCTC provides supplementary insights into the variability of cloud types to diagnose the weakness and strength of near real-time GEO-based precipitation retrievals. With additional training and testing, we believe DeepCTC has the potential to augment the widely used PERSIANN-CCS algorithm for estimating precipitation

Molecular Dipolar Crystals as High Fidelity Quantum Memory for Hybrid Quantum Computing

We study collective excitations of rotational and spin states of an ensemble of polar molecules, which are prepared in a dipolar crystalline phase, as a candidate for a high fidelity quantum memory. While dipolar crystals are formed in the high density limit of cold clouds of polar molecules under 1D and 2D trapping conditions, the crystalline structure protects the molecular qubits from detrimental effects of short range collisions. We calculate the lifetime of the quantum memory by identifying the dominant decoherence mechanisms, and estimate their effects on gate operations, when a molecular ensemble qubit is transferred to a superconducting strip line cavity (circuit QED). In the case rotational excitations coupled by dipole-dipole interactions we identify phonons as the main limitation of the life time of qubits. We study specific setups and conditions, where the coupling to the phonon modes is minimized. Detailed results are presented for a 1D dipolar chain

Enhancing the fixation of massive implants using bone marrow stromal cells.

Previous studies have shown that increased bone growth over massive prosthesis, promoted by hydroxyapatite (HA)-coated collars, can reduce aseptic loosening. Bone tissue engineering techniques using bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) may be able to further enhance bone growth and fixation of implants to host bone. The hypothesis of this study was that BMSCs could enhance bone growth and bone-implant contact around bone tumour replacements. Two sources of bone marrow stem cells were firstly investigated, including those isolated directly from ovine bone marrow (BMSCs), and those isolated from ovine peripheral blood (peripheral blood-derived bone marrow stromal-like cells, or PBSCs). PBSCs were isolated after mobilisation via induced blood loss, or treatment with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). BMSCs and PBSCs were characterised in vitro. A significant increase of fibroblastic colony-forming units (CFU-F) post-G-CSF treatment was observed only after white blood cell counts returned to normal levels, suggesting a possible steady-state balance between haematopoietic stem cells and BMSCs. Ovine BMSCs (oBMSCs), were found to survive and proliferate in fibrin glue or pressurised spray application. An in vivo mid-shaft tibial replacement model was then used to test the effect of autologous oBMSCs in fibrin glue on bone growth and bone-implant contact, when sprayed onto the HA-coated collars, compared to non-treated implants. Radiography showed that the oBMSCs more than doubled the amount of bone growth around the collars of the implants after six months (p=0.017 in the ML view, and p=0.05 in the AP view). Using histological techniques it was shown that bone area was significantly increased (p=0.02). Application of oBMSCs also reduced the radiolucent lines present between the new bone and implants, and improved bone-implant contact. This study demonstrated the potential of BMSCs to augment bone growth and bone-implant contact in conjunction with massive implants. The second in vivo study investigated the effect of BMSC cell dosage and use of allogeneic cells on new bone formation and bone-implant contact in a tibial transcortical pin model in sheep. Partially-HA-coated screws were sprayed with varying concentrations of autologous and allogeneic oBMSCs suspended in fibrin glue, and implanted. After six weeks, no significant difference in bone formation around the pins was found between groups (p>0.05), although the untreated group with HA coating-only had a significant increase in bone formation (p=0.03) compared to the other groups. In conclusion, this project has shown that ovine multipotent BMSCs and PBSCs can be isolated and expanded. When sprayed onto the HA-coated collars of massive implants, BMSCs can augment bone formation and bone-implant contact. However, another model spraying oBMSCs onto trans-cortical pins did not produce a significant increase in bone growth or bone-implant contact. The findings presented may have important clinical applications in the use of BMSCs to reduce aseptic loosening, which may improve the survival of massive implants

Research Notes : Correlation among seed yield, seed quality and nutritional traits in soybean

Introduction : In the present communication, the information obtained on correlations among 14 traits related to seed yield, seed quality and nu-trition in soybean germplasm has been discussed, The information on the nature of variation for these traits in the above material has been reported earlier (Rana et al., 1981). Materials and methods : The materials and methods were reported earlier by Rana et al. (1981)

Monitoring coronary blood flow by laser speckle contrast imaging after myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury in adult and aged mice

Introduction: Investigating coronary microvascular perfusion responses after myocardial infarction (MI) would aid in the development of flow preserving therapies. Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) is a powerful tool used for real-time, non-contact, full-field imaging of blood flow in various tissues/organs. However, its use in the beating heart has been limited due to motion artifacts. Methods: In this paper, we report the novel use of LSCI, combined with custom speckle analysis software (SpAn), to visualise and quantitate changes in ventricular perfusion in adult and aged mice undergoing ischaemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. The therapeutic benefit of inhibiting the actions of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-36 (IL-36) was also investigated using an IL-36 receptor antagonist (IL-36Ra). Results: Imaging from uncovered and covered regions of the left ventricle demonstrated that whilst part of the LSCI flux signal was derived from beating motion, a significant contributor to the flux signal came from ventricular microcirculatory blood flow. We show that a biphasic flux profile corresponding to diastolic and systolic phases of the cardiac cycle can be detected without mathematically processing the total flux data to denoise motion artifacts. Furthermore, perfusion responses to ischaemia and postischaemia were strong, reproducible and could easily be detected without the need to subtract motion-related flux signals. LSCI also identified significantly poorer ventricular perfusion in injured aged mice following IR injury which markedly improved with IL-36Ra. Discussion: We therefore propose that LSCI of the heart is possible despite motion artifacts and may facilitate future investigations into the role of the coronary microcirculation in cardiovascular diseases and development of novel therapies

Research Notes: Variation for seed yield, its quality and nutritional traits in soybeans

To bring about genetic improvement for any economic trait in economic plants, the foremost prerequisite is the presence of sufficient amount of genetic variability for the trait under improvement in the organism t o be improved. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to get the information on nature and magnitude of variability for various seed quality traits along with seed yield traits in the soybean germplasm maintained at the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur. Materials and methods: The material for the present study consisted of 250 diverse genotypes of soybeans of both indigenous and exotic origin , and 5 standard checks

Mesenchymal stem cells with increased stromal cell-derived factor 1 expression enhanced fracture healing

Treatment of critical size bone defects pose a challenge in orthopedics. Stem cell therapy together with cytokines has the potential to improve bone repair as they cause the migration and homing of stem cells to the defect site. However, the engraftment, participation, and recruitment of other cells within the regenerating tissue are important. To enhance stem cell involvement, this study investigated overexpression of stem cells with stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) using an adenovirus. We hypothesized that these engineered cells would effectively increase the migration of native cells to the site of fracture, enhancing bone repair. Before implantation, we showed that SDF-1 secreted by transfected cells increased the migration of nontransfected cells. In a rat defect bone model, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells overexpressing SDF-1 showed significantly (p=0.003) more new bone formation within the gap and less bone mineral loss at the area adjacent to the defect site during the early bone healing stage. In conclusion, SDF-1 was shown to play an important role in accelerating fracture repair and contributing to bone repair in rat models, by recruiting more host stem cells to the defect site and encouraging osteogenic differentiation and production of bone