A document by Keith Beven. Click on the document to view its contents.

Estimation of aquifer recharge is a prerequisite for understanding groundwater systems and sustainable water resources management. In arid and semi-arid areas, where access to hydrologic data for groundwater studies is often limited with spatial and temporal inconsistencies, data collection is difficult. Therefore, in these regions satellite products of meteorological data series have recently turned into the most reliable alternative. This study presents a daily groundwater recharge estimation in the NW part of the Lake Chad Basin using VisualBALAN, a water-soil-plant distributed model, from two data sources (ground and satellite-based meteorological data) under non-irrigated and irrigated land. Precipitation and temperature data from ground-based gauge stations and the Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation product (MSWEP), was gathered for the years 2005-2014; average annual values were 283 and 417 mm and 30 and 29 ℃ for gauges and for MSWEP, respectively. The estimated mean annual aquifer recharge from precipitation equals 10.9 and 14.7 mm/yr, while in irrigated areas was 33 and 41 mm/yr, for ground and satellite-based data, respectively, being always slightly higher for the satellite estimates. Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the dependency of input data in final recharge. Recharge estimates were mainly sensitive to soil type, soil parameters such as field capacity and wilting point, and to surface hydrology-related parameters such as curve number.

Interfacial polymerization (IP) has been the key method for fabricating thin film composite (TFC) membranes. However, the role of the substrate surface hydrophilicity in the IP-film formation remains a controversial issue to be further addressed. This study characterized the IP films formed on a series of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) substrates whose hydrophilicity were varied via different approaches, including the alkaline treatment and the deposition of various polycations. It was revealed that delamination could occur when the IP film was formed on a relatively hydrophilic surface; the integrity of the TFC membranes was substantially improved owing to the modification of polyelectrolyte deposition. On the other hand, the characterization indicated that the TFC membrane could have an enhanced efficiency when the substrate was relatively hydrophilic. It is established that the polyelectrolyte deposition can be exploited to effectively tune the substrate surface hydrophobicity, thereby increasing the degrees of freedom for optimizing TFC membranes fabrication.

Weeping was investigated using some tests and a numerical model. The tests were performed within a 1.22 m-diameter pilot-scale column including two chimney trays and two Nye test trays by air-water system. The rates of weeping were measured in Nye trays with two heights of the weir and a 5% hole area. Moreover, the weeping rate in outlet half and inlet half of the Nye tray and the total weeping rate were calculated. Afterward, an Eulerian-Eulerian CFD technique was used in the current study. The results show good consistency between the attained CFD findings and the experimental data.

In this paper, we construct a class of global large solution to the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations with the Coriolis force in critical Fourier-Besov space $\dot{FB}^{2-\frac{3}{p}}_{p,r}(\mathbb{R}^3)$. In fact, our choice of special initial data $u_0$ can be arbitrarily large in $\dot{FB}^{s}_{p,r}(\mathbb{R}^3)$ for any $s\in\R$ and $1\leq p,r\leq \infty$.

In this paper, we first propose a diffusive pathogen infection model with general incidence rate which incorporates cell-to-cell transmission. By applying the theory of monotone dynamical systems, we prove that the model admits the global threshold dynamics in terms of the basic reproduction number R0, which is defined by the spectral radius of the next generation operator. Then, we derive a discrete counterpart of the continuous model by nonstandard finite difference scheme. The results show that the discrete model preserves the positivity and boundedness of solutions in order to ensure the well-posedness of the problem. Moreover, this method preserves all equilibria of the original continuous model. By constructing appropriate Lyapunov functionals for both models, we show that the global threshold dynamics is completely determined by the basic reproduction number. Further, with the help of sensitivity analysis we also have identified the most sensitive parameters which effectively contribute to change the disease dynamics. Finally, we conclude the paper by an example and numerical simulations to improve and generalize some known results.

In this article, we use a fuzzy number in its parametric form and transform a non-linear fuzzy integral equations to its parametric form of the second kind as in the crisp case. The main focus is to solve the fuzzy non-linear integral equations for semi analytical solutions. The suggested treatment are presented for the solution of respective fuzzy non-linear integral equations including fuzzy non-linear Fredholm integral equation, fuzzy non-linear Volterra integral equations and fuzzy non-linear singular integral equation of Able's type kernel via an hybrid method of integral transform and decomposition technique. The proposed method is illustrated in details by solving few examples.

Chemical group-transfer reactions by hydrolytic enzymes have considerable importance in biocatalytic synthesis and are exploited broadly in commercial-scale chemical production. Mechanistically, these reactions have in common the involvement of a covalent enzyme intermediate which is formed upon enzyme reaction with the donor substrate and is subsequently intercepted by a suitable acceptor. Here, we studied the glycosylation of glycerol from sucrose by sucrose phosphorylase (SucP) to clarify a peculiar, yet generally important characteristic of this reaction: partitioning between glycosylation of glycerol and hydrolysis depends on the type and the concentration of the donor substrate used (here: sucrose, α-D-glucose 1-phosphate (G1P)). We develop a kinetic framework to analyze the effect and provide evidence that, when G1P is used as donor substrate, hydrolysis occurs not only from the β-glucosyl-enzyme intermediate (E-Glc), but additionally from a noncovalent complex of E-Glc and substrate which unlike E-Glc is unreactive to glycerol. Depending on the relative rates of hydrolysis of free and substrate-bound E-Glc, inhibition (Leuconostoc mesenteroides SucP) or apparent activation (Bifidobacterium adolescentis SucP) is observed at high donor substrate concentration. Using G1P at a concentration excluding the substrate-bound E-Glc, the product ratio changes to a value consistent with reaction exclusively through E-Glc, independent of the donor substrate used. Collectively, these results give explanation for a kinetic behavior of SucP not previously accounted for, provide essential basis for design and optimization of the synthetic reaction, and establish a theoretical framework for the analysis of kinetically analogous group transfer reactions by hydrolytic enzymes.

The demand for 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) has increased sharply due to its role as a monomer for the synthesis of polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT). Although Clostridium butyricum is considered to be one of the most promising bio-producers for 1,3-PDO, its low productivity hinders its application on industrial scale because of the longer time needed for anaerobic cultivation. In this study, an excellent mutant of C. butyricum (DL07) was obtained with high-level titer and productivity of 1,3-PDO, i.e. 104.78 g/L and 3.38 g/(L•h) vs. 94.23 g/L and 3.04 g/(L•h) using pure or crude glycerol as substrate in fed-batch fermentation, respectively. Furthermore, a novel sequential fed-batch fermentation was investigated, in which the next bioreactor was inoculated by C. butyricum DL07 cells growing at exponential phase in the prior bioreactor. It could run steadily for at least eight cycles. The average concentration of 1,3-PDO in eight cycles was 84.62 g/L with the average productivity of 3.05 g/(L•h). The sequential fed-batch fermentation could achieve semi-continuous production of 1,3-PDO with higher productivity than repeated fed-batch fermentation, and would greatly contribute to the industrial production of 1,3-propanediol by C. butyricum. Key words: 1,3-Propanediol; glycerol; Clostridium butyricum; sequential fed-batch fermentation

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (AC) is a rare inherited myocardial disorder, a cause of sudden death in young people and atheletes; biventricular involvement is often involved. We report on a case of AC diagnosed with multimodality imaging, including transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), two-dimensional strain echocardiography (2DSE), real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. Especially, combination of 2DSE and RT-3DE was utilized in the diagnosis of AC. In a word, we review the cardiac anomalies associated with AC by multiple imaging techniques and highlight the supplementary role of new echocardiography techniques diagnosing AC when CMR contraindications exist for AC patients.

China is a new fast-developing olive oil producer country but with non-Mediterranean climate, resulting in the oils from China have been rarely studied. The scale of olive cultivation in China is growing at an amazing rate in recent years. ‘Coratina’ and ‘Koroneiki’ are the two major olive cultivated in China. Compared with environment condition, less concern was showed to the influences of olive tree age on the chemical composition of the oils. Thus, it is of great importance to investigate the characterizations of olive oils from trees at different ages to provided references for expanding the olive cultivation in China. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in the concentrations of oleic acid, linoleic acid, γ-tocopherol, squalene and phenolic compounds between Coratina and Koroneiki oils from trees at different ages. All kinds of determined antioxidant capacities (DPPH, FRAP, ABTS and ORAC) of olive oils were significantly related with phenolic compounds and tocopherols. The results showed that both cultivar and tree age had influence on the chemical composition and antioxidant capacities of virgin olive oils. The influence of tree age was generally weaker than the cultivar, but tree age had greater effect on the structure of phenolic compounds than cultivar.

Commercial potato chips offer diverse compositions, while the nutritional label verification of chips batches by official methods is difficult. Thus, alternative technology is required. Nutritional label information is commonly provided as percentages of several nutritional categories. These correspond to data mathematically so-called compositional, for which specific statistical methods have been developed. Near-infrared spectroscopy is a rapid and non-destructive technique proven as useful in many different applications in the food industry. However, the need for the specific treatment of the compositional references used with NIRS methods has been considered, so far, in a few recent studies only. The present study proposes the methodology for measuring the nutritional label components of potato chips fat. Compositional calibration models based on visible and near-infrared spectroscopy were fitted by partial least squares. They were used to estimate the composition of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated types of fat, as well as their total fat. This study proposes a useful compositional method for measuring the components of the potato chip's nutritional label or its verification.

Global warming may detrimentally affect symbiosis between dinoflagellates and other marine invertebrates. Heat stress has been found to induce cellular changes possibly via epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation. In this project, we exposed symbiotic dinoflagellates to hyper-thermal conditions (+7°C) in the presence of a DNA methylation inhibitor, the drug 5-AZA-2’-deoxycytidine (5-AZA). We monitored the early signs of oxidative stress and physiological changes in dinoflagellates cultures in vitro. Real-time analyses of the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant, reduced glutathione (GSH) were performed in living dinoflagellate cells using flow cytometry. After 24h of thermal stress, a 34% reduction in the algal density was noted only in the presence of DNA methylation inhibitor, while the opposite trend was reported in the cultures without 5-AZA, with a 33% increase in cell numbers. Our results revealed the negative effect of DNA methylation inhibitor drug on Symbiodiniaceae density and the size of cells when exposed to rising temperatures indicating the importance of DNA methylation for symbiotic dinoflagellates response to heat stress. Consequently, the plasticity of algal symbionts to adapt and survive in a thermally challenging marine environment may partially be influenced by DNA methylation.

During the present study the total 23 species of insects were discovered belonging to 8 orders of class Insecta, insects belongs to order Hemiptera was greater in number, mostly there were presences or abundance of larvae’s of both moths and butterflies were recorded. the species that were recorded are given in (fig.1)includes Periplaneta Americana, apema pest, ladybird beetel, green vegetable bug, ladybird beetel, specie of lady bird beetle, blue pansy, Nezara viridula, hawk moth larvae, fluffy caterpillar of moth, green bug, beetel, caterpillar, Inchworm, caterpillar, dytiscus marginlis, caterpillar, white fly, caterpillar, cinnbar moth, grasshopper lime butterfly. These insects were mostly recorded during the time of wheat harvesting other types of insects also recorded but not shooted.

Background: Allergic sensitization is commonly assessed in patients by performing the skin prick test (SPT) or determining specific IgE levels in blood samples with the ImmunoCAP assay, which measures each allergen and sample separately. This paper explores the possibility to investigate respiratory allergies with a high throughput method, the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) multiplex immunoassay, measuring IgE levels in low volumes of blood. Methods: The MSD multiplex immunoassay, developed and optimized with standards and allergens from Radim, was validated against the SPT and the ImmunoCAP assay. For 18 adults (15 respiratory allergy patients and 3 controls), blood collection and the SPT were performed within the same hour. Results: Pearson correlations and Bland-Altman analysis showed high comparability of the MSD multiplex immunoassay and the ImmunoCAP assay, except for house dust mite. The sensitivity of the MSD multiplexed assay was ≥75% for most allergens compared to the SPT and ImmunoCAP assay. Additionally, the specificity of the MSD multiplex immunoassay was ≥80% - the majority showing 100% specificity. Only the rye allergen had a low specificity when compared to the SPT, probably due to cross-reactivity. The reproducibility of the MSD multiplex immunoassay, assessed as intra- and inter-assay reproducibility and biological variability between different sampling moments, showed significantly high correlations (r=0.943-1) for all tested subjects (apart from subject 13; r=0.65-0.99). Conclusion: The MSD multiplex immunoassay is a reliable method to detect specific IgE levels against respiratory allergens in a multiplexed and high throughput way, using blood samples as small as from a finger prick.

Porcine circovirus-like agents comprise two types of viruses: porcine circovirus-like viruses (P1, P2, P3, and P4) and porcine circovirus-like mini agents (PCVL258, PCVL264, PCVL201, and PCVL347). Of these, P1 has been identified in pigs, cattle, goats, and rabbits in China; P2, P3, P4, PCVL258, and PCVL264 have been identified in pigs; and PCVL201 and PCVL347 have been identified in cattle. The purpose of this study was to determine whether dogs and cats have been exposed to porcine circovirus-like agents. We screened 158 serum samples from diseased dogs and 41 from cats in China by PCR and nucleotide sequencing. In dogs, approximately 18% (n=28) were positive for P1, 17% (n=26) for PCVL258, and 9% (n=14) for PCVL264; in cats, 17.1% (n=7) were positive for P1, 9.8% (n=4) for P4, and 14.6% (n=6) for PCVL258. The P1 genomes in this study consisted of 648 nucleotides (nt), and shared 96.8 to 100% nt identity with other P1 genomes in GenBank. The P4 genome shared 98.3 to 100% nt identity with other reported P4 genomes, and PCVL258 and PCVL264 showed 100% nt identity with previously reported genomes. To our knowledge, this is the first report on molecular characterization of porcine circovirus-like agents in dogs and cats. Further studies are needed to clarify the epidemiology, evolution, and pathogenesis of porcine circovirus-like agents in dogs and cats.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory tract infection caused by a novel human coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, leads to a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic cases to patients with mild and severe symptoms, with or without pneumonia. Given the huge influence caused by the overwhelming COVID-19 pandemic affecting over three million people worldwide, a wide spectrum of drugs is considered for the treatment in the concept of repurposing and off-label use. There is no knowledge about the diagnosis and clinical management of the drug hypersensitivity reactions that can potentially occur during the disease. This review brings together all the published information about the diagnosis and management of drug hypersensitivity reactions due to current and candidate off-label drugs and highlights relevant recommendations. Furthermore, it gathers all the dermatologic manifestations reported during the disease for guiding the clinicians to establish a better differential diagnosis of drug hypersensitivity reactions in the course of the disease.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy with His-bundle pacing (His-CRT) is evolving rapidly as a viable cardiac device strategy for the treatment of severe chronic heart failure. The success of this technique in patients with congenital heart disease is facilitated by advanced integrated imaging modalities. We report a case of His-CRT pacing for the management of a patient with heart failure with severely reduced ejection fraction, left bundle branch block and congenital heart disease characterized by Scimitar syndrome with cardiac dextroposition. We highlight the contribution of integrated imaging modalities to guide accurate lead positioning.

The effect of interactions of Li+, Na+ and K+ cations with two configuration of the A–G mispairs, AantiGanti and AsynGanti, on the geometries and hydrogen bond energies have been studied at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. For each ion type, the most stable complex in AantiGanti and AsynGanti configurations are related to binding cation to N3 atom of guanine and N1 atom of adenine, respectively. The AantiGanti configuration is higher in the absolute values of binding energy than the AsynGanti configuration, indicating that AantiGanti configuration is more stable than AsynGanti ones. The results indicate that the strength of hydrogen bonds depends on the type and position of cations in considered systems. The values of hydrogen bonding energies estimated by the EML formula in AantiGanti mismatch are higher than AsynGanti case. The influences of cations binding in hydrogen bond strength are confirmed by the results of natural bond orbital (NBO) and atoms in molecules (AIM) analyses

1. Data on reproductive features of temperate terrestrial isopods species is well-known, for some species this knowledge is still incipient. Armadillidium tunisiense is a newly discovered and endemic Tunisian with an only recent study concerning its breeding patterns. 2. Seen the interspecific and intraspecific variations due to local variations in environmental conditions. We decided to describe the main characteristics of A. tunisiense’s life cycle from the Chambi mountain, the highest point in Tunisia, by determining the population structure; the reproduction dynamics, the sex ratio and fertility. 3. The breeding patterns and the reproductive cycle of A. tunisiense were studied on 2908 individuals collected on regular bias from July 2009 to July 2011 from the Chambi mountain. Our specimens were divided into six categories. Where females were followed from the day of collection until their death. An in-depth study of a well-defined number (35 specimens) of reproductive females were desiccated to define the fertility by counting the eggs contained in the marsupium. 4. We found that A. tunisiense from the Chambi mountain is a semelparous species with a seasonal reproductive pattern, characterized by a reproduction period followed by a sexual rest. Also, we could’ve confirmed the positive relationship between the sizes of ovigerous females and fertility. With 5 eggs recuperated in a 5.2 mm female while 33 eggs were encountered in an 8 mm female. As well as for the sex ratio which characterized by fluctuation (0.49-1.12), but mainly in favor of females over that of males. 5. The combined results of the previous study and ours maintain on the role of environmental conditions that interfere to explain the interspecific variations were observed for the launch and the duration of the reproduction period. Thus, altitude might confirm the intraspecific variations between both studied populations of A. tunisiense.

Rationale: Whether asthma constitutes a risk factor for COVID-19 is unclear. Here we aimed to assess whether asthma, the most common chronic disease in children, is a risk factor for COVID-19 in pediatric populations. Methods: We performed a systematic literature search in three stages: First, we reviewed PubMed, EMBASE and CINAHL for systematic reviews of SARS-CoC-2 and COVID-19 in pediatric populations, and reviewed their primary articles; second, we searched PubMed for studies on COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 and asthma/wheeze, and evaluated whether the resulting studies included pediatric populations; third, we repeated the second search in BioRxiv.org and MedRxiv.org to find pre-prints that may have information on pediatric asthma. Results: In the first search, eight systematic reviews were found, of which five were done in pediatric population; after reviewing 67 primary studies we found no data on pediatric asthma as a comorbidity for COVID-19. In the second search, we found 34 results in PubMed, of which five reported asthma in adults, but none included data on children. In the third search, 23 pre-prints in MedRxiv were identified with data on asthma, but again none with pediatric data. We found only one report by the U.S. CDC stating that 40/345 (~11.5%) children with data on chronic conditions had “chronic lung diseases including asthma”. Conclusion: There is scarcely any data on whether childhood asthma (or other pediatric respiratory diseases) constitute risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 severity. Studies are needed that go beyond counting the number of cases in the pediatric age range.

For a long time we study the long division of numbers and polynomials and perform it from left to right as we know . In this paper we introduce new flexible and effective manual method for the division of numbers and polynomials which perform from right to left which we call it IBRAHITHM Division" . The method is easy and it has done without any problems when we divide numbers on an odd number except five and its multiplies . But we have some obstacles when we divide numbers by even numbers or a number five and its multiplies in the decimal system . The method can be use for all number systems such as decimal, binary , octal and hexadecimal Systems . Also we use this method to divide numbers with decimal fractions . We can use it to find the square roots of numbers. Finally we have built IBRAHITHM polynomial division and IBRAHITHM synthetic division. Our method here is characterized by the fact that it performs division and test the divisibility at the same time.Finally we introduce the relation between the standard algorithm division method and IBRAHITHM division method .

A mixed immunotherapy-chemotherapy treatment protocol is developed for cancer treatment. Immunotherapy alters the dynamics of the system by affecting on the parameters of the system, and then chemotherapy pushes the trajectory of the system toward the tumor-free equilibrium point. The chemotherapy protocol is derived using the pseudo-spectral controller. In this method, an infinite-horizon optimal control problem is proposed for a nonlinear cancer model. Then, the infinite-horizon optimal control of cancer is transformed into a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem. The efficient Legendre pseudo-spectral (LPS) scheme is suggested to solve the proposed problem. Moreover, to restrict the upper limit of the chemo-drug dose based on the age of the patients a Mamdani fuzzy system is designed. Simulation results on three cases; i.e. young, middle-aged and old patients, show the efficiency of the proposed treatment strategy. In each case the dynamics of the system is modified by immunotherapy, and then chemotherapy guides the trajectory of the system toward the tumor-free equilibrium point. After stopping the treatment, the trajectory of the system converges to this point due to the correction in the dynamics of the system.

The aim of this paper is to apply the Differential Transformation Method (DTM) to analyze and obtain the solution for the mathematical model described by the system of non-linear ordinary differential equations which describe the epidemiology of the most threatening virus called \textbf{Corona-virus} later labeled as COVID-19. Finally, the present study may help you to examine the wild class of real-world models and also aid to predict their behavior with respect to parameters considered in the model. The purpose of this study is to estimate the effectiveness of preventive measures, predicting future outbreaks, and potential control strategies using the mathematical model.