Incorporating the social dimension into hydrogeochemical investigations for rural development: the Bir Al-Nas approach for socio-hydrogeology

A replicable multidisciplinary approach is presented for science-based groundwater management practices: Bir Al-Nas (Bottom-up IntegRated Approach for sustainabLe grouNdwater mAnagement in rural areaS). This approach provides a practical example of the concept of “socio-hydrogeology”, a way of incorporating the social dimension into hydrogeological investigations, as reinforced by the translation of the Arabic bir al-nas: “the people’s well”. To achieve this, hydrogeologists act as “social hydrologists” during their monitoring activities, which often bring them into contact with local communities and end users (and polluters) of water. Not only can they retrieve reliable information about traditional know-how and local issues, but they can also change the public perception of science/scientists to create the basis for mutual collaboration and understanding in view of implementing improved integrated groundwater management. The final outcomes are expected to be an increased awareness of communities at the local level and a clear understanding of their water issues and needs from the very early stages of the investigation. Although the importance of using such methods in groundwater analysis and management is widely recognized, hydrogeological investigations are currently dominated by sectorial approaches that are easier to implement but less sustainable. The pressure of population growth, the shift towards more water-dependent economies, climate change and its impact on water availability will require scientists to use a more integrated approach, such as Bir Al-Nas, when dealing with increasing water pollution and water-scarcity issues.A replicable multidisciplinary approach is presented for science-based groundwater management practices: Bir Al-Nas (Bottom-up IntegRated Approach for sustainabLe grouNdwater mAnagement in rural areaS). This approach provides a practical example of the concept of "socio-hydrogeology", a way of incorporating the social dimension into hydrogeological investigations, as reinforced by the translation of the Arabic bir al-nas: "the people's well". To achieve this, hydrogeologists act as "social hydrologists" during their monitoring activities, which often bring them into contact with local communities and end users (and polluters) of water. Not only can they retrieve reliable information about traditional know-how and local issues, but they can also change the public perception of science/scientists to create the basis for mutual collaboration and understanding in view of implementing improved integrated groundwater management. The final outcomes are expected to be an increased awareness of communities at the local level and a clear understanding of their water issues and needs from the very early stages of the investigation. Although the importance of using such methods in groundwater analysis and management is widely recognized, hydrogeological investigations are currently dominated by sectorial approaches that are easier to implement but less sustainable. The pressure of population growth, the shift towards more water-dependent economies, climate change and its impact on water availability will require scientists to use a more integrated approach, such as Bir Al-Nas, when dealing with increasing water pollution and water-scarcity issues

Copper-doped lanthanum manganite La 0.65 Ce 0.05 Sr 0.3 Mn 1−x Cu x O 3 influence on structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric effects

International audienc

Study of Critical Magnetic Behaviour in Nanocrystalline La0.65Ce0.05Sr0.3Mn1−xCuxO3 (x = 0, x = 0.05 and x = 0.15) Prepared by Pechini Method

International audienc

Inverse-raised-cosine fibers for next-generation orbital angular momentum systems

After a brief review of basic concepts of orbital angular momentum (OAM) in optical fibers, some general guidelines to design fiber profiles for OAM transmission are drawn. Following these guidelines, a novel few-mode fiber (FMF) for OAM transmission, based on the inverse-raised-cosine (IRC) function, is designed and numerically analyzed in terms of effective index separation among modes, differential group delay, and chromatic dispersion. Results are compared with those of the inverse-parabolic graded-index (IPGI) fiber. The proposed fiber performs comparably to the IPGI except for a wider modal separation that may reduce channel crosstalk

Structural investigations of N-methylformamide-water mixtures at various concentrations

Structural investigations of N-methylformamide-water mixtures (NMF-water) are performed at room temperature and atmospheric pressure for two water molar fractions x w = 0.66 and x w = 0.75 . This paper extends our recent study on the equimolar system. H-bond networks are preferentially formed between NMF and water molecules. Among a large variety of DFT optimized models, X-ray scattering data shows that the local order of each mixture is better described by a tetramer where one NMF molecule is connected to three water molecules. No self-association is observed in the considered systems. The effect of hydration is compared to the temperature and pressure effects in some hydrogen-bonded liquids