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1. Rain Drop Shapes and Scattering Calculations: A Case Study using 2D Video Disdrometer Measurements and Polarimetric Radar Observations at S-band During Hurricane Dorian Rain-Bands

   https://doi.org/10.23919/EuCAP51087.2021.9411181  

   Thurai, Merhala; Steger, Sophie; Teschl, Franz; Schonhuber, Michael; Wolff, David B. (April 2021, 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation)

   null (Ed.)

   On 9 September 2019, rain-bands of category-1 Hurricane Dorian passed over a ground instrumentation site in Delmarva peninsula, USA. Drop shapes derived from 2D Video Disdrometer measurements at this site were used to compute the S-band radar cross sections (RCS) for horizontal and vertical polarizations for each drop with equi-volume diameter > 2 mm. These are combined with RCS for the smaller drops assuming equilibrium shapes. Radar reflectivity (Zh ) and differential reflectivity (Zdr ) are calculated for each of the 3 minutes throughout the event which lasted for more than 8 hours. These are compared with simultaneous observations from an S-band polarimetric radar 38 km away. The comparisons highlight the impact of large amplitude drop oscillations on Zdr 

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2. Scattering Mechanisms and Modeling for Terahertz Wireless Communications

   https://doi.org/10.1109/icc.2019.8761205  

   Ju, Shihao; Shah, Syed Hashim; Javed, Muhammad Affan; Li, Jun; Palteru, Girish; Robin, Jyotish; Xing, Yunchou; Kanhere, Ojas; Rappaport, Theodore S. (May 2019, 2019 International Conference on Communications)

   null (Ed.)

   This paper provides an analysis of radio wave scattering for frequencies ranging from the microwave to the Terahertz band (e.g., 1 GHz - 1 THz), by studying the scattering power reradiated from various types of materials with different surface roughnesses. First, fundamentals of scattering and reflection are developed and explained for use in wireless mobile radio, and the effect of scattering on the reflection coefficient for rough surfaces is investigated. Received power is derived using two popular scattering models - the directive scattering (DS) model and the radar cross section (RCS) model through simulations over a wide range of frequencies, materials, and orientations for the two models, and measurements confirm the accuracy of the DS model at 140 GHz. This paper shows that scattering can become a prominent propagation mechanism as frequencies extend to millimeter-wave (mmWave) and beyond, but at other times can be treated like simple reflection. Knowledge of scattering effects is critical for appropriate and realistic channel models, which further support the development of massive multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) techniques, localization, ray tracing tool design, and imaging for future 5G and 6G wireless systems. 

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3. Single-Cell Infection of Influenza A Virus Using Drop-Based Microfluidics

   https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00993-22  

   Loveday, Emma Kate; Sanchez, Humberto S.; Thomas, Mallory M.; Chang, Connie B. (October 2022, Microbiology Spectrum)

   Kolawole, Abimbola O. (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT Drop-based microfluidics has revolutionized single-cell studies and can be applied toward analyzing tens of thousands to millions of single cells and their products contained within picoliter-sized drops. Drop-based microfluidics can shed insight into single-cell virology, enabling higher-resolution analysis of cellular and viral heterogeneity during viral infection. In this work, individual A549, MDCK, and siat7e cells were infected with influenza A virus (IAV) and encapsulated into 100-μm-size drops. Initial studies of uninfected cells encapsulated in drops demonstrated high cell viability and drop stability. Cell viability of uninfected cells in the drops remained above 75%, and the average drop radii changed by less than 3% following cell encapsulation and incubation over 24 h. Infection parameters were analyzed over 24 h from individually infected cells in drops. The number of IAV viral genomes and infectious viruses released from A549 and MDCK cells in drops was not significantly different from bulk infection as measured by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and plaque assay. The application of drop-based microfluidics in this work expands the capacity to propagate IAV viruses and perform high-throughput analyses of individually infected cells. IMPORTANCE Drop-based microfluidics is a cutting-edge tool in single-cell research. Here, we used drop-based microfluidics to encapsulate thousands of individual cells infected with influenza A virus within picoliter-sized drops. Drop stability, cell loading, and cell viability were quantified from three different cell lines that support influenza A virus propagation. Similar levels of viral progeny as determined by RT-qPCR and plaque assay were observed from encapsulated cells in drops compared to bulk culture. This approach enables the ability to propagate influenza A virus from encapsulated cells, allowing for future high-throughput analysis of single host cell interactions in isolated microenvironments over the course of the viral life cycle. 

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4. Polarimetric Radar Variables in Snowfall at Ka- and W-Band Frequency Bands: A Comparative Analysis

   https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0138.1  

   Matrosov, Sergey Y. (January 2021, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology)

   Abstract Dual-frequency millimeter-wavelength radar observations in snowfall are analyzed in order to evaluate differences in conventional polarimetric radar variables such as differential reflectivity ( Z DR ) specific differential phase shift ( K DP ) and linear depolarization ratio (LDR) at traditional cloud radar frequencies at Ka and W bands (~35 and ~94 GHz, correspondingly). Low radar beam elevation (~5°) measurements were performed at Oliktok Point, Alaska, with a scanning fully polarimetric radar operating in the horizontal–vertical polarization basis. This radar has the same gate spacing and very close beam widths at both frequencies, which largely alleviates uncertainties associated with spatial and temporal data matching. It is shown that observed Ka- and W-band Z DR differences are, on average, less than about 0.5 dB and do not have a pronounced trend as a function of snowfall reflectivity. The observed Z DR differences agree well with modeling results obtained using integration over nonspherical ice particle size distributions. For higher signal-to-noise ratios, K DP data derived from differential phase measurements are approximately scaled as reciprocals of corresponding radar frequencies indicating that the influence of non-Rayleigh scattering effects on this variable is rather limited. This result is also in satisfactory agreement with data obtained by modeling using realistic particle size distributions. Observed Ka- and W-band LDR differences are strongly affected by the radar hardware system polarization “leak” and are generally less than 4 dB. Smaller differences are observed for higher depolarizations, where the polarization “leak” is less pronounced. Realistic assumptions about particle canting and the system polarization isolation lead to modeling results that satisfactorily agree with observational dual-frequency LDR data. 

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5. The Retrieval of Drop Size Distribution Parameters Using a Dual-Polarimetric Radar

   https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15041063  

   Lee, GyuWon; Bringi, Viswanathan; Thurai, Merhala (February 2023, Remote Sensing)

   The raindrop size distribution (DSD) is vital for applications such as quantitative precipitation estimation, understanding microphysical processes, and validation/improvement of two-moment bulk microphysical schemes. We trace the history of the DSD representation and its linkage to polarimetric radar observables from functional forms (exponential, gamma, and generalized gamma models) and its normalization (un-normalized, single/double-moment scaling normalized). The four-parameter generalized gamma model is a good candidate for the optimal representation of the DSD variability. A radar-based disdrometer was found to describe the five archetypical shapes (from Montreal, Canada) consisting of drizzle, the larger precipitation drops and the ‘S’-shaped curvature that occurs frequently in between the drizzle and the larger-sized precipitation. Similar ‘S’-shaped DSDs were reproduced by combining the disdrometric measurements of small-sized drops from an optical array probe and large-sized drops from 2DVD. A unified theory based on the double-moment scaling normalization is described. The theory assumes the multiple power law among moments and DSDs are scaling normalized by the two characteristic parameters which are expressed as a combination of any two moments. The normalized DSDs are remarkably stable. Thus, the mean underlying shape is fitted to the generalized gamma model from which the ‘optimized’ two shape parameters are obtained. The other moments of the distribution are obtained as the product of power laws of the reference moments M3 and M6 along with the two shape parameters. These reference moments can be from dual-polarimetric measurements: M6 from the attenuation-corrected reflectivity and M3 from attenuation-corrected differential reflectivity and the specific differential propagation phase. Thus, all the moments of the distribution can be calculated, and the microphysical evolution of the DSD can be inferred. This is one of the major findings of this article. 

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