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The work focuses on developing a classification tree approach for in-season crop mapping during early summer, by integrating optical (Landsat 8 OLI) and X-band SAR (COSMO-SkyMed) data acquired over a test site in Northern Italy. The approach is based on a classification tree scheme fed with a set of synoptic seasonal features (minimum, maximum and average, computed over the multi-temporal datasets) derived from vegetation and soil condition proxies for optical (three spectral indices) and X-band SAR (backscatter) data. Best performing input features were selected based on crop type separability and preliminary classification tests. The final outputs are crop maps identifying seven crop types, delivered during the early growing season (mid-July). Validation was carried out for two seasons (2013 and 2014), achieving overall accuracy greater than 86%. Results highlighted the contribution of the X-band backscatter (σ°) in improving mapping accuracy and promoting the transferability of the algorithm over a different year, when compared to using only optical features.

This research presents new analytical expressions to analyze interactions between streams of varying water level and a confined aquifer. The stream water level is assumed to vary exponentially with time. The expressions are obtained by means of Laplace and Fourier transform methods and the results are verified with those obtained from MODFLOW. In fact, we derive a new analytical expression for predicting of the groundwater level and flow rate in a confined aquifer between two streams of varying water level at the north and the right boundaries and two constant head boundaries at the left and the south ends. Also, a numerical example is used to investigate about the aquifer response to stream water level changes. Therefore the effects of variation water level of each stream on the flow rate at the left and the south boundaries and also at four points of the aquifer are discussed. Finally, some other new analytical expressions are also deduced for other types of boundary conditions.

Analytical simulation of groundwater flow is a necessary and useful technique to predict the various behavior patterns of a groundwater system. The main aim of the present study is to derive new analytical solutions to compute the unsteady flows inside an aquifer between two parallel streams of constant and varying heads. The problems are solved by means of Laplace transform method and the solution results are verified with the results of MODFLOW. It is observed that the obtained results agreed very well with the results of MODFLOW. The solutions are carried out for two cases of ascending and descending water levels and the obtained results are compared with each other. In addition, the sensitivity of hydraulic heads to aquifer parameters and how locations of water divide change by change in aquifer parameters are investigated. In sensitivity analysis of hydraulic heads to changes in recharge rate with different values of hydraulic conductivity, thickness, and length of the aquifer, it is shown that among these parameters the length of the aquifer is the most important parameter affecting the hydraulic heads. Furthermore, the sensitivity of flow rates to recharge rates and water level change rates are analyzed.

The interaction between surface water and groundwater is a significant topic in groundwater-related problems. This study suggests an exact model based on Laplace transformation to calculate the groundwater flow in river-aquifer systems. Exact models play an important role in simulating the future behavior of river-aquifer systems. Therefore, investigation of the exact models for river-aquifer systems is a hot topic in the hydraulics of groundwater flow modeling. The objective of this research is to present new exact models for simulating the hydraulics of groundwater flow in river-aquifer systems with a more general function of river level variation under recharge by means of Laplace transform method. A general function is adopted to describe the river level variation, in which some situations such as linear, exponential and power of time variations in the river level can be treated as special cases. The effects of variations in aquifer parameters on groundwater hydraulic head are evaluated. It is shown that the groundwater hydraulic head grows slower in aquifers with a greater thickness or hydraulic conductivity. In addition, the effect of changes in specific storage is too little on the groundwater hydraulic head. The variations in hydraulic heads due to changes in recharge rate with different values of thickness, hydraulic conductivity, specific storage, and length are analyzed. It is observed that the groundwater hydraulic head in an aquifer with a lesser length, higher hydraulic conductivity or higher thickness is less sensitive to a change in the recharge rate than in an aquifer with a higher length, lesser hydraulic conductivity or lesser thickness. Furthermore, it is shown that the differences in hydraulic heads due to the increase in recharge rate are not significant for different values of specific storage. The results of the present new exact models are successfully verified by the results obtained from the analytical solution of Bansal and Das. Also, for more reliability, the results are compared with those results of MODFLOW. The results show that the presented new exact models are accurate, robust and efficient. One of the advantages of the solutions is to investigate the sensitivity analysis of aquifer parameters, which has been carried out in this paper. Furthermore, in the present research a more general function describing river level variation is considered, in which the linear, exponential and power of time variations are special cases.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data can be combined in an integrated multi-source framework to identify burned areas at the regional scale. The proposed approach is based on the use of fuzzy sets theory and a region-growing algorithm. Landsat TM and (C-band) ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images acquired for the year 2003 have been processed to extract burned area maps over Portugal. Pre-post fire SAR backscatter temporal difference has been integrated with optical spectral indices to the aim of reducing confusion between burned areas and low-albedo surfaces. The output fuzzy score maps have been compared with reference fire perimeters provided by the Fire Atlas of Portugal. Results show that commission and omission errors in the output burned area maps are a function of the threshold applied to the fuzzy score maps; between the two extremes of the greatest producer’s accuracy (omission error < 10%) and user’s accuracy (commission error < 5%), an intermediate threshold value provides errors of about 20% over the study area. The integration of SAR backscatter allowed reducing local commission errors from 65.4% (using optical data, only) to 11.4%, showing to significantly mitigate local errors due to the presence of cloud shadows and wetland areas. Overall, the proposed method is flexible and open to further developments; also in the perspective of the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel missions operationally providing SAR and optical datasets.

This study investigated the feasibility of delivering a crop type map early during the growing season. Landsat 8 OLI multi-temporal data acquired in 2013 season were used to classify seven crop types in Northern Italy. The accuracy achieved with four supervised algorithms, fed with multi-temporal spectral indices (EVI, NDFI, RGRI), was assessed as a function of the crop map delivery time during the season. Overall accuracy (Kappa) exceeds 85% (0.83) starting from mid-July, five months before the end of the season, when maximum accuracy is reached (OA=92%, Kappa=0.91). Among crop types, rice is the most accurately classified, followed by forages, maize and arboriculture, while soybean or double crops can be confused with other classes.

After maxillary expansion, a long period of retention is necessary to prevent early relapse. Therefore, it is beneficial to accelerate bone formation in the expanding midpalatal suture to reduce relapse. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of dietary vitamin C on osteogenesis of rat midpalatal suture during expansion.Fifty-four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups, each with a control and an experimental subgroup. An open-loop spring was bonded to maxillary incisors of each animal to expand the premaxillary suture. Experimental groups received dietary vitamin C in their water. The rats in the three groups were sacrificed at three, nine or 17-day intervals after bonding the spring. Then, the premaxilla was dissected and sections were made and stained with hematoxylin and eosin and osteopontin marker. Osteoblasts and osteoclasts were counted in the suture. Two-way ANOVA and the Mann-Whitney-U test were used for analyzing the data.After three days, the number of osteoblasts was significantly higher in the vitamin C group but after nine days it was significantly higher in the control group and after seventeen days there were no significant differences between the groups. Osteoclast counts were not significantly different between vitamin C and control groups.Vitamin C had a positive effect on osteogenesis at the beginning of bone formation in the expanding suture, but after nine days it had a negative effect on suture osteogenesis in rats.

Objectives: Bone remodeling occurs during orthodontic treatment; this process enables tooth movement. Many factors can affect bone remodeling at the cellular level, such as nutritional supplements that can affect tooth movement. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of dietary vitamin C on orthodontic tooth movement in rats.  Materials and Methods: This study was carried out on 36 six-week male Wistar rats with a mean weight of 225+32 g, which were randomly allocated to two equal groups. Rats in the case group received 1wt% vitamin C in their daily water. Opening springs were placed on the incisor teeth of both case and control groups. After 17 days, rats were sacrificed; the distance between the mesio-incisal angles of these teeth was measured with a digital caliper. Histological sections were made containing incisor teeth and alveolar bone and stained by hematoxylin-eosin. The number of resorption lacunae was evaluated using light microscopy. Results: Our findings showed that the amount of tooth movement in the vitamin C group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.001). The osteoclast counts were significantly higher in vitamin C group (P=0.036). Conclusion: Oral vitamin C can increase orthodontic tooth movement in rats with more osteoclast lacunae around root in the pressure area.

ObjectiveTo investigate the humoral and cellular immune response to messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) on immunomodulatory treatment.MethodsEstablished patients at New York University Langone Health with IMID (n=51) receiving the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination were assessed at baseline and after second immunisation. Healthy subjects served as controls (n=26). IgG antibody responses to the spike protein were analysed for humoral response. Cellular immune response to SARS-CoV-2 was further analysed using high-parameter spectral flow cytometry. A second independent, validation cohort of controls (n=182) and patients with IMID (n=31) from Erlangen, Germany, were also analysed for humoral immune response.ResultsAlthough healthy subjects (n=208) and patients with IMID on biologic treatments (mostly on tumour necrosis factor blockers, n=37) demonstrate robust antibody responses (over 90%), those patients with IMID on background methotrexate (n=45) achieve an adequate response in only 62.2% of cases. Similarly, patients with IMID on methotrexate do not demonstrate an increase in CD8+ T-cell activation after vaccination.ConclusionsIn two independent cohorts of patients with IMID, methotrexate, a widely used immunomodulator for the treatment of several IMIDs, adversely affected humoral and cellular immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Although precise cut-offs for immunogenicity that correlate with vaccine efficacy are yet to be established, our findings suggest that different strategies may need to be explored in patients with IMID taking methotrexate to increase the chances of immunisation efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 as has been demonstrated for augmenting immunogenicity to other viral vaccines.