Spatial variability of leaf wetness under different soil water conditions in rainfed jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) in the loess hilly region, China

Leaf wetness provides a wide range of benefits not only to leaves,but also to ecosystems and communities.It regulates canopy eco-hydrological processes and drives spatial differences in hydrological flux.In spite of these functions,little remains known about the spatial distribution of leaf wetness under different soil water conditions.Leaf wetness measurements at the top(180 cm),middle(135 cm),and bottom(85 cm)of the canopy positions of rainfed jujube(Ziziphus jujuba Mill.)in the Chinese loess hilly region were obtained along with meteorological and soil water conditions during the growing seasons in 2019 and 2020.Under soil water non-deficit condition,the frequency of occurrence of leaf wetness was 5.45%higher at the top than at the middle and bottom of the canopy positions.The frequency of occurrence of leaf wetness at the top,middle and bottom of the canopy positions was over 80%at 17:00‒18:00(LST).However,the occurrence of leaf wetness at the top was earlier than those at the middle and bottom of the canopy positions.Correspondingly,leaf drying at the top was also latter than those at the middle and bottom of the canopy positions.Leaf wetness duration at the middle was similar to that at the bottom of the canopy position,but about 1.46-3.01 h less than that at the top.Under soil water deficit condition,the frequency of occurrence of leaf wetness(4.92%-45.45%)followed the order of top>middle>bottom of the canopy position.As the onset of leaf wetness was delayed,the onset of wet leaf drying was advanced and the leaf wetness duration was shortened.Leaf wetness duration at the top was linearly related(R^(2)>0.70)to those at the middle and bottom of the canopy positions under different soil water conditions.In conclusion,the hydrological processes at canopy surfaces of rainfed jujube depended on the position of leaves,thus adjusting canopy structure to redistribute hydrological process is a way to meet the water need of jujube.

Development of Empirical Formulation for Bow Flare Slamming and Deck Wetness for Displacement Vessels

The paper presents an empirical method to calculate bow flare slamming pressure and the green water load. Many empirical formulae for various types of vessels have been provided by rules of ship classification societies. In the present work, attempt is made to develop generalized formulations for all types of displacement vessels. Extreme sea conditions are considered. Bow flare pressure is derived in terms of flare and waterline angles. Specific condition for limiting waterline angle is derived based on 2 D numerical simulations. Deck wetness is derived in terms of static and dynamic swell-up and the relative motion. Variation of static swell along the length is determined based on potential solution based analyses considering variation in vessels’ hull. 2 D wedge simulations are carried out to validate the formulation of dynamic swell-up. Results of the calculated bow flare and deck pressures are compared with various ship classification society formulations and the trends are found to be in good agreement in general barring at bow flare where lower pressure is found in most of the presented cases. Also IACS UR S21 A(2018) governing minimum pressure for deck scantlings is found to be conservative in few of the presented cases. Although scantlings assessment is not performed, the presented new formulations may help in realistic assessment of scantlings.

EVOLUTION LAW OF DRYNESS AND WETNESS IN KUNMING IN RECENT 300 YEARS

Using indexes of dryness and wetness in historical record over the recent recent years and rainfall data over the tatest century, the work involves itself with the study of climatological evolution of dryness and wetness. periodic variations of climate and interannual laws of variation. The discussion also covers the subjects of effects of El Nino. sunspot, predictors of general circulation on climatic variation of dryness and wetness. There arc main conclusions as follows: (1) The main cyclic variations of climate are 40 and 11 years in Kunming. the former being subject to that of El Nino and the latter to that of sunspots. They are two principal factors for periodic variations of dryness and wetness in Kunming. (2) A close relationship exists between interannual variations and general circulation factors for Kunming. The comprehensive influence as imposed by ENSO and allocations of W.C.E. patterns of circulation in the westerly are ma.tor weather and climate causes for the interannual variations of precipitation in Kunming.

FEATURES OF DRYNESS AND WETNESS IN GUANGDONG PROVINCEOVER THE PAST FOUR DECADES

Precipitation data from 86 observing Stations for the past four decades (from the first operational use to 1994) are used to study and discuss the character of annually mean distribution in Guangdong. Grades of dryness and wetness on a year-to-year basis are determined and preliminary features of dryness and wetness are discussed for the whole of the province and individual regions according to a 5-grade standard of division. The result has shown that there is on an average a rainfall of 1748 mm per year across the province, with four major centers of maxima (of annual rainfall over 2000 mm) at Enping, Qingyuan, Haifeng and Longmen. For the mean across the province, the years 1959. 1 961. 1973.1975, 1991 are anomalously wet and the years 1956, 1963, 1977 and 1991 are anomalously dry. of them, 1973 is the unusually wet year (with the absolute value of precipitation anomaly over twice as large as the standard deviation) and 1956 and 1963 are the usual dry years. For the occurrence frequency of unusually wetness and dryness over individual river valleys in the province, there are more years of dryness in the valleys of the Xijiang and Dongjiang Rivers. More years of wetness in that of the Jianjiang River, and only years of wetness instead of years of dryness in the valleys of Beijiang and Hanjiang Rivers.

Effect of Multi-parameter Environmental Factors on Cucumber Leaf Surface Wetness

In this study, artificial leaf resistance was used to simulate leaf wetness. Specific to the solar greenhouse environment in Tianjin, microclimate monitoring equipment was installed for the collection of temperature group and humidity group data, as well as solar radiation and leaf wetness in the greenhouse. In order to reduce the complexity of multivariate factor prediction and ensure the richness of selected data types, correlation analysis was made to the 2 groups of data, screening 5 000 groups of data, including the humidity group data RH, RH_(20), RH_(40), temperature group data T, T_(20), T_(40), and solar radiation W. The data were then analyzed by principal component analysis, screening out 4 groups of principal components to show the leaf wetness index.

Numerical Modelling of the Topographic Wetness Index: An Analysis at Different Scales

A variety of landscape properties have been modeled successfully using topographic indices such as topographic wetness index (TWI), defined as ln(a/tanβ), where a is the specific upslope area and β is the surface slope. In this study, 25 m spatial resolution from digital elevation models (DEM) data were used to investigate the scale-dependency of TWI values when converting DEMs to 50 and 100 m. To investigate the impact of different spatial resolution, the two lower resolution DEMs were interpolated to the original 25 m grid size. In addition, to compare different flow-direction algorithms, a second objective was to evaluate differences in spatial patterns. Thus the values of TWI were compared in two different ways: 1) distribution functions and their statistics;and 2) cell by cell comparison of DEMs with the same spatial resolution but different flow- directions. As in previous TWI studies, the computed specific upstream is smaller, on average, at higher resolution. TWI variation decreased with increasing grid size. A cell by cell comparison of the TWI values of the 50 and 100 m DEMs showed a low correlation with the TWI based on the 25 m DEM. The results showed significant differences between different flow-diretction algorithms computed for DEMs with 25, 50 and 100 m spatial resolution.

Triangle Method for Estimating Soil Surface Wetness from Satellite Imagery in Allahabad District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Soil surface wetness is indispensable land surface parameter in agriculture, hydrology and environmental engineering. This paper explores the relationship between surface radiant temperature and fractional vegetation cover derived from satellite imagery to estimate soil surface wetness (triangle method) in Allahabad district. The pixel distributions create triangular shapes because the range of surface radiant temperature decreases as the amount of vegetation cover increases and sufficient number of pixels exists. A very weak correlation is found between the simulated soil surface wetness and ground measured soil moisture at deeper soil layers (R2 < 0.15) on all the dates under investigation. This is because the drying rates at the surface discontinue to be linearly correlated to that at lower levels (depths). The standing water pixels distort the shape of the triangle especially at lower left edge of the triangle. This distortion is removable. The spatial and temporal inhomogeneity of soil surface wetness is examined.

Asymmetric Drying and Wetting Trends in Eastern and Western China

As an important factor that directly affects agricultural production, the social economy, and policy implementation,observed changes in dry/wet conditions have become a matter of widespread concern. However, previous research has mainly focused on the long-term linear changes of dry/wet conditions, while the detection and evolution of the non-linear trends related to dry/wet changes have received less attention. The non-linear trends of the annual aridity index, obtained by the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition(EEMD) method, reveal that changes in dry/wet conditions in China are asymmetric and can be characterized by contrasting features in both time and space in China. Spatially, most areas in western China have experienced transitions from drying to wetting, while opposite changes have occurred in most areas of eastern China. Temporally, the transitions occurred earlier in western China compared to eastern China. Research into the asymmetric spatial characteristics of dry/wet conditions compensates for the inadequacies of previous studies, which focused solely on temporal evolution;at the same time, it remedies the inadequacies of traditional research on linear trends over centennial timescales. Analyzing the non-linear trend also provides for a more comprehensive understanding of the drying/wetting changes in China.

Segmentation of thermal infrared images of cucumber leaves using K-means clustering for estimating leaf wetness duration

Leaf wetness duration(LWD)is a critical parameter used to predict plant disease,but its determination under actual field conditions is a major challenge.In this study,a method for determining LWD using thermal infrared imaging was developed and applied to cucumber plants grown in a solar greenhouse.Thermal images of the plant leaves were captured using an infrared scanning camera,and a leaf wetness area segmentation method consisting of two procedures was applied.First,a color space conversion was performed automatically by an image-processing algorithm.Then,the K-means clustering algorithm was applied to enable the segmentation of the wetness area on the thermal image.Subsequently,to enable overall thermal image analysis,an initial leaf wetness threshold(LWT)of 5%was defined(where wetness values higher than 5%indicated that the leaf was in a wet state).The results of comparative experiments conducted using thermal images of plant leaves captured using an infrared scanning camera and human visual observation indicated that the estimated LWD values were generally higher than the observed LWD values,because slight leaf wetness condensations were overlooked by the human eye but detected by the infrared scanning camera.While these differences were not found to be statistically significant in this study,the proposed method for determining LWD using thermal infrared imaging may provide a new LWD detection method for cucumber and other plants grown in solar greenhouses.

THE RESPONSE OF SUMMER DRYNESS/WETNESS PROBABILITY IN NORTH CHINA TO GLOBAL WARMING

Using the data of summer(June—August)precipitation during the period of 1951—1990 in 14 stations over NorthChina,the wetness probability(WP)series based on gamma distribution has been built.Main temporal and spatial char-acteristics for the series of WP in the stations are extracted by using empirical orthogonal functions(EOFs).The spatialpatterns show that the dryness/wetness variations in the stations in the area are consistent with each other and its maincharacteristics can be represented by the WP series in Beijing.Having analysed the WP series of 120 years(1870—1989)in Beijing,the results show that the dry tendency has a re-sponse to the global warming.The variation of the dryness/wetness in the stations is associated with the temperaturevariation in the Northern Hemisphere.Their relation is negative.The degree of the reliance is associated with the centuryvariation of the temperature.

Grassland-type ecosystem stability in China differs under the influence of drought and wet events

Ecological stability is a core issue in ecological research and holds significant implications forhumanity. The increased frequency and intensity of drought and wet climate events resulting from climatechange pose a major threat to global ecological stability. Variations in stability among different ecosystemshave been confirmed, but it remains unclear whether there are differences in stability within the sameterrestrial vegetation ecosystem under the influence of climate events in different directions and intensities.China's grassland ecosystem includes most grassland types and is a good choice for studying this issue.This study used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index-12 (SPEI-12) to identify thedirections and intensities of different types of climate events, and based on Normalized DifferenceVegetation Index (NDVI), calculated the resistance and resilience of different grassland types for 30consecutive years from 1990 to 2019 (resistance and resilience are important indicators to measurestability). Based on a traditional regression model, standardized methods were integrated to analyze theimpacts of the intensity and duration of drought and wet events on vegetation stability. The resultsshowed that meadow steppe exhibited the highest stability, while alpine steppe and desert steppe had thelowest overall stability. The stability of typical steppe, alpine meadow, temperate meadow was at anintermediate level. Regarding the impact of the duration and intensity of climate events on vegetationecosystem stability for the same grassland type, the resilience of desert steppe during drought was mainlyaffected by the duration. In contrast, the impact of intensity was not significant. However, alpine steppewas mainly affected by intensity in wet environments, and duration had no significant impact. Ourconclusions can provide decision support for the future grassland ecosystem governance.

Wetting alternating with partial drying during grain filling increases lysine biosynthesis in inferior rice grain

Lysine content is a criterion of the nutritional quality of rice.Understanding the process of lysine biosynthesis in early-flowering superior grain(SG)and late-flowering inferior grain(IG)of rice would advance breeding and cultivation to improve nutritional quality.However,little information is available on differences in lysine anabolism between SG and IG and the underlying mechanism,and whether and how irrigation regimes affect lysine anabolism in these grains.A japonica rice cultivar was grown in the field and two irrigation regimes,continuous flooding(CF)and wetting alternating with partial drying(WAPD),were imposed from heading to the mature stage.Lysine content and activities of key enzymes of lysine biosynthesis,and levels of brassinosteroids(BRs)were lower in the IG than in the SG at the early grainfilling stage but higher at middle and late grain-filling stages.WAPD increased activities of these key enzymes,BR levels,and contents of lysine and total amino acids in IG,but not SG relative to CF.Application of 2,4-epibrassinolide to rice panicles in CF during early grain filling reproduced the effects of WAPD,but neither treatment altered the activities of enzymes responsible for lysine catabolism in either SG or IG.WAPD and elevated BR levels during grain filling increased lysine biosynthesis in IG.Improvement in lysine biosynthesis in rice should focus on IG.

Preparation of PrFe_(x)Co_(1-x)O_(3)/Mt catalyst and study on degradation of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid wastewater by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation

In this study,the perovskite nanocomposite PrFe_(x)Co_(1-x)O_(3)(Pr(S))was successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method;PrFe_(x)Co_(1-x)O_(3)/Al-pillared montmorillonite(Pr(S)/Mt)catalysts were prepared by impregnation(D)method and solid-melting(G)method,respectively,with Pr(S)as the active component and Al-pillared montmorillonite as the carrier.The catalysts were applied to treat the 2-hydroxybenzoic acid(2-HA)-simulated wastewater by catalytic wet peroxide oxidation(CWPO)technique,and the chemical oxygen demand(COD)removal rate and the 2-HA degradation rate were used as indicators to evaluate the catalytic performance.The results of the experiment indicated that the solid-melting method was more conducive to preparing the catalyst when the Co/Fe molar ratio of 7:3 and the optimal structural properties of the catalysts were achieved.The influence of operating parameters,including reaction temperature,catalyst dosage,H_(2)O_(2)dosage,pH,and initial 2-HA concentration,were optimized for the degradation of 2-HA by CWPO.The results showed that 97.64%of 2-HA degradation and 75.23%of COD removal rate were achieved under more suitable experimental conditions.In addition,after the catalyst was used five times,the degradation rate of 2-HA could still reach 76.93%,which implied the high stability and reusability of the catalyst.The high catalytic activity of the catalyst was due to the doping of Co into PrFeO_(3),which could promote the generation of HO·,and the high stability could be attributed to the loading of Pr(S)onto Al-Mt,which reduced the leaching of reactive metals.The study of reaction mechanism and kinetics showed that the whole degradation process conformed to the pseudo-firstorder kinetic equation,and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood method was applied to demonstrate that catalysis was dominant in the degradation process.

Extended wet sieving method for determination of complete particle size distribution of general soils

The traditional standard wet sieving method uses steel sieves with aperture?0.063 mm and can only determine the particle size distribution(PSD)of gravel and sand in general soil.This paper extends the traditional method and presents an extended wet sieving method.The extended method uses both the steel sieves and the nylon filter cloth sieves.The apertures of the cloth sieves are smaller than 0.063 mm and equal 0.048 mm,0.038 mm,0.014 mm,0.012 mm,0.0063 mm,0.004 mm,0.003 mm,0.002 mm,and 0.001 mm,respectively.The extended method uses five steps to separate the general soil into many material sub-groups of gravel,sand,silt and clay with known particle size ranges.The complete PSD of the general soil is then calculated from the dry masses of the individual material sub-groups.The extended method is demonstrated with a general soil of completely decomposed granite(CDG)in Hong Kong,China.The silt and clay materials with different particle size ranges are further examined,checked and verified using stereomicroscopic observation,physical and chemical property tests.The results further confirm the correctness of the extended wet sieving method.

Utility of real-time 3D visualization system in the early stage of phacoemulsification training

●AIM:To determine the teaching effects of a real-time three dimensional(3D)visualization system in the operating room for early-stage phacoemulsification training.●METHODS:A total of 10 ophthalmology residents of the first-year postgraduate were included.All the residents were novices to cataract surgery.Real-time cataract surgical observations were performed using a custom-built 3D visualization system.The training lasted 4wk(32h)in all.A modified International Council of Ophthalmology’s Ophthalmology Surgical Competency Assessment Rubric(ICO-OSCAR)containing 4 specific steps of cataract surgery was applied.The self-assessment(self)and expert-assessment(expert)were performed through the microsurgical attempts in the wet lab for each participant.●RESULTS:Compared with pre-training assessments(self 3.2±0.8,expert 2.5±0.6),the overall mean scores of posttraining(self 5.2±0.4,expert 4.7±0.6)were significantly improved after real-time observation training of 3D visualization system(P<0.05).Scores of 4 surgical items were significantly improved both self and expert assessment after training(P<0.05).●CONCLUSION:The 3D observation training provides novice ophthalmic residents with a better understanding of intraocular microsurgical techniques.It is a useful tool to improve teaching efficiency of surgical education.

Performance Analysis and Optimization of Energy Harvesting Modulation for Multi-User Integrated Data and Energy Transfer

Integrated data and energy transfer(IDET)enables the electromagnetic waves to transmit wireless energy at the same time of data delivery for lowpower devices.In this paper,an energy harvesting modulation(EHM)assisted multi-user IDET system is studied,where all the received signals at the users are exploited for energy harvesting without the degradation of wireless data transfer(WDT)performance.The joint IDET performance is then analysed theoretically by conceiving a practical time-dependent wireless channel.With the aid of the AO based algorithm,the average effective data rate among users are maximized by ensuring the BER and the wireless energy transfer(WET)performance.Simulation results validate and evaluate the IDET performance of the EHM assisted system,which also demonstrates that the optimal number of user clusters and IDET time slots should be allocated,in order to improve the WET and WDT performance.

The Peat-Organic-Soil in the Hula Valley

The main soil type, principle contributor of nutrients and available agricultural land in the Hula Valley is the organic Peat. Nevertheless, the relative contribution of Phosphorus from the Hula Valley to the Lake Kinneret inputs is lower than regional outsourcing. The Nitrogenic matter, mostly Nitrate migration from the Peat soil is significant. The implementation of efficient development is the key factor of Hula Land use. The financial beneficial success of the Hula land use is therefore dependent of Peat soil properties. The porosity of the Peat Soil is high and preferential pathway volume is low and Hydraulic Conductivity is therefore low. Consequently, the Mobile Spray Irrigation line was found as most suitable for cultivation in Peat Soil. Enhancement of Summer irrigation creating moisture elevation reduces Phosphorus migration from Peat Soil and is therefore recommended and recently implemented.

RIS-Assisted Cell-Free MIMO: A Survey

Cell-free(CF)multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO)is a promising technique to enable the vision of ubiquitous wireless connectivity for next-generation network communications.Compared to traditional co-located massive MIMO,CF MIMO allows geographically distributed access points(APs)to serve all users on the same time-frequency resource with spatial multiplexing techniques,resulting in better performance in terms of both spectral efficiency and coverage enhancement.However,the performance gain is achieved at the expense of deploying more APs with high cost and power consumption.To address this issue,the recently proposed reconfigurable intelligent surface(RIS)technique stands out with its unique advantages of low cost,low energy consumption and programmability.In this paper,we provide an overview of RIS-assisted CF MIMO and its interaction with advanced optimization designs and novel applications.Particularly,recent studies on typical performance metrics such as energy efficiency(EE)and spectral efficiency(SE)are surveyed.Besides,the application of RIS-assisted CF MIMO techniques in various future communication systems is also envisioned.Additionally,we briefly discuss the technical challenges and open problems for this area to inspire research direction and fully exploit its potential in meeting the demands of future wireless communication systems.

Enhanced growth after extreme wetness compensates for post-drought carbon loss in dry forests

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,the research team led by Prof.Liu HongYan(刘鸿雁)at the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE laboratory for Earth Surface Processes,Peking University,reported the compensation effect of extreme wetness for the growth loss in dry forests,which was published in Nature Communications(2019,doi:10.1038/s41467-018-08229-z).

Subconjunctival hemorrhage after wet cupping therapy: a case report

Introduction:Cupping therapy is an integrative and complementary medicine therapy that practiced worldwide by several civilizations for thousands of years.Cupping therapy is reported to be a relatively safe practice especially if performed by qualified therapists.Subconjunctival hemorrhage(SCH)is a common cause of eye redness and can be classified into traumatic and spontaneous.Case presentation:This case report discussed an adverse event related to wet cupping therapy.The patient developed SCH one day after performing cupping therapy.He was completely recovered after 2 weeks.This case report should increase the knowledge of cupping therapists regarding increasing safety of patient when performing wet cupping therapy on specific body parts especially,head,neck and cervical areas.Furthermore,it highlighted the importance of conducting research regarding the mechanical and physiological effects of cupping therapy.Conclusion:Adverse events related to cupping therapy should be reported with every patient.Cupping therapists should be aware of this possible mild adverse event.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first published adult case of SCH related to wet cupping therapy session.More studies are critically needed for evaluation of cupping therapy effects and adverse events especially when performed on head and neck.