Étude expérimentale des transferts d'eau provoqués par l'irrigation sur une parcelle en moyenne vallée du fleuve Sénégal

Alors que l'irrigation paraît être le recours essentiel face aux besoins croissants de la population mondiale en céréales, la dégradation des sols et des eaux annihile presque totalement les efforts d'aménagement. Aussi l'étude de la dégradation des sols dans la moyenne vallée du fleuve Sénégal constitue l'un des quatre objectifs du pôle de recherches sur les systèmes irrigués sahéliens qui regroupe quatre pays dont le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Niger et le Sénégal. Le suivi de l'évolution des eaux et des sols sous culture apparaît indispensable pour garantir une agriculture irriguée rentable et durable dans la zone. Dans cette région, les risques de dégradation des sols font suite à l'effet de deux processus de dégradation que sont l'alcalinisation et la salinisation des sols. Ces types de dégradation sont fortement corrélés à la remontée des nappes d'eaux souterraines. Dans cet article, l'étude des transferts d'eau dans les parcelles irriguées par le biais d'un suivi expérimental " in situ " met en évidence les relations existantes entre les eaux d'irrigation et les mouvements de la nappe. L'étude a permis une meilleure compréhension de la dynamique hydrique au sein de la parcelle : saturation du profil et processus de recharge de la nappe. Elle a également permis de montrer que les échanges avec la nappe pendant la période d'irrigation sont négligeables. Cette pratique de la riziculture inondée, entraîne une variation de stock importante qui représente plus de 40% des apports et qui se traduit par une remontée de nappe de près de 2 mètres.Whereas irrigation appears to be the main approach to satisfy the growing worldwide demand for cereal, soil and water degradation continues to be an on-going problem in agriculture development. One of the main four concerns of the regional group for research on Sahelian irrigated systems (including Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) is soil degradation in the middle Senegal River valley. These soils are subject to various forms of degradation, mainly from salinisation and/or alkalinisation. These degradation processes are strongly correlated with water table dynamics, with water level fluctuations being significant. Therefore, to guarantee sustainable development of irrigated agriculture in the area, irrigation must be coupled with complete and permanent monitoring of soil and water quality.In this paper, we present a complete study concerning water transfer in irrigated plots and its effects on the groundwater table. The experimental site is located in the Podor region, at 16°.37'N, 14°.52'W in the Donaye irrigated area. The surface area is about 50 ha. Water supply is assured by filling a main channel using a group of pumps on the Doué River. Irrigation of the parcels is performed with siphons from this channel. The experimental plot of 0.33 ha is used for an underwater rice crop. One or two rice crop production harvests are made every year, with the decision been taken by the farmers. There is no drainage system in the area.The experimental plot was equipped with 8 piezometers located along a stream line. One is situated between the plot and the river in order to study the water movements caused by the exchange between the groundwater and the water in the river. Three are situated in the plot, one close to the Doué River, one in the middle of the plot and one near a dam, which is the opposite boundary compared to the river. Four other piezometers are located beyond the dam to estimate groundwater input and output at this boundary. Five tensiometers at 20, 40, 60, 95 and 135 cm depth are placed close to the piezometers located in the plot. Four water content profiles were measured during the irrigation period at depths 20, 40, 60 95 and 135 cm and the irrigation was performed over 84 days.The water table level variations at 2 meters were recorded. The groundwater inflow decreased during the first part of the irrigation period due to infiltration below the irrigated experimental plot. This inflow increased during a second period due to water level variations in the river close to this site. At the output, the head gradient did not vary appreciably and the outflow was assumed to be constant during the observation period. Moreover, this gradient is quite low and the flow rate is very low. The water content and pressure profiles clearly show the infiltration of water in the soil during irrigation. The head gradients show the water movement in the unsaturated soil during infiltration and evaporation. Upward flow due to evaporation is observed at about 10 days after irrigation. The last measured water profile (76 days after the end of irrigation) shows that evaporation modifies the water content profile until at least a depth of 120 cm.The water balance during the irrigation period showed that the input due to irrigation and precipitation was equal to 4150 m3. The evapotranspiration output was estimated to be 2370 m3. Groundwater exchange at the downstream boundary can be neglected during the duration of irrigation (84 days), since the average hydraulic gradient remained low (less than 0.8 %) and the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer was not important (about 250 cm/day). It was assumed that the water storage quantified with the rise of the groundwater level was equal to the difference between surface input and evapotranspiration (more than 40 % of the contributions), leading to a 27 % change in water content, which is quite reasonable for this type of soil (clay).The stored water was then recovered by evapotranspiration and groundwater outflow at the plot boundaries. We are away from a reasonable irrigation that would reduce the used water quantity and decrease the risk of soil degradation. This study allows a better understanding of the water dynamics in the experimental plot, which includes soil saturation, recharge processes, and exchanges between the aquifer and the river

Subjective Assessment of Sleep Quality Across the Menstrual Cycle in Women with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

Existing evidence demonstrates that sleep structure varies across the menstrual cycle in healthy women (1). These variations could be more severe in women suffering from premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) (2). In a previous study of healthy women, subjective sleep quality was shown to be constant across both phases of the menstrual cycle (3). The current study aims to test whether there exists a variation in subjective sleep quality of PMDD sufferers across the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle

Anxiolytic Effect of Melatonin in Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder

Increases in anxiety levels during the late-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle form important diagnostic criteria of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) (1). Evidence exists to support the hypothesis that tolerance to endogenous levels of melatonin might occur during the luteal phase in PMDD (2, 3). It was hypothesized that slow release (SR) melatonin administration during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle of participants with PMDD could significantly lower anxiety levels measured by self-report

Exaptation traits for megafaunal Mutualisms as a factor in plant domestication

Megafaunal extinctions are recurring events that cause evolutionary ripples, as cascades of secondary extinctions and shifting selective pressures reshape ecosystems. Megafaunal browsers and grazers are major ecosystem engineers, they: keep woody vegetation suppressed; are nitrogen cyclers; and serve as seed dispersers. Most angiosperms possess sets of physiological traits that allow for the fixation of mutualisms with megafauna; some of these traits appear to serve as exaptation (preadaptation) features for farming. As an easily recognized example, fleshy fruits are, an exaptation to agriculture, as they evolved to recruit a non-human disperser. We hypothesize that the traits of rapid annual growth, self-compatibility, heavy investment in reproduction, high plasticity (wide reaction norms), and rapid evolvability were part of an adaptive syndrome for megafaunal seed dispersal. We review the evolutionary importance that megafauna had for crop and weed progenitors and discuss possible ramifications of their extinction on: (1) seed dispersal; (2) population dynamics; and (3) habitat loss. Humans replaced some of the ecological services that had been lost as a result of late Quaternary extinctions and drove rapid evolutionary change resulting in domestication.Introduction Lost Seed-Dispersal Services - Small-Seeded Grains and Legumes - Large Fleshy Fruiting Plants Loss of Herbivory and Disturbance Regimes Plant Domestication - Exaptation Traits Supporting Domestication Anthropogenic Ecosystem Service

Inclusive 2H(3He,t) reaction at 2 GeV

The inclusive 2H(3He,t) reaction has been studied at 2 GeV for energy transfers up to 500 MeV and scattering angles from 0.25 up to 4 degrees. Data are well reproduced by a model based on a coupled-channel approach for describing the NN and N Delta systems. The effect of final state interaction is important in the low energy part of the spectra. In the delta region, the cross-section is very sensitive to the effects of Delta-N interaction and Delta N - NN process. The latter has also a large influence well below the pion threshold. The calculation underestimates the experimental cross-section between the quasi-elastic and the delta peaks; this is possibly due to projectile excitation or purely mesonic exchange currents.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in EPJ

Polarization squeezing with cold atoms

We study the interaction of a nearly resonant linearly polarized laser beam with a cloud of cold cesium atoms in a high finesse optical cavity. We show theoretically and experimentally that the cross-Kerr effect due to the saturation of the optical transition produces quadrature squeezing on both the mean field and the orthogonally polarized vacuum mode. An interpretation of this vacuum squeezing as polarization squeezing is given and a method for measuring quantum Stokes parameters for weak beams via a local oscillator is developed

Breakdown of Conformal Invariance at Strongly Random Critical Points

We consider the breakdown of conformal and scale invariance in random systems with strongly random critical points. Extending previous results on one-dimensional systems, we provide an example of a three-dimensional system which has a strongly random critical point. The average correlation functions of this system demonstrate a breakdown of conformal invariance, while the typical correlation functions demonstrate a breakdown of scale invariance. The breakdown of conformal invariance is due to the vanishing of the correlation functions at the infinite disorder fixed point, causing the critical correlation functions to be controlled by a dangerously irrelevant operator describing the approach to the fixed point. We relate the computation of average correlation functions to a problem of persistence in the RG flow.Comment: 9 page

Beliefs, attitudes and funding of assisted reproductive technology: Public perception of over 6,000 respondents from 6 European countries

Background Fertility rates in Europe are among the lowest in the world, which may be attributed to both biological and lifestyle factors. Cost and reimbursement of fertility treatments vary across Europe, although its citizens enjoy wide access to fertility care. Since few regional studies evaluating public support for fertility treatment exist, we conducted the Listening IVF and Fertility in Europe (LIFE) survey to ascertain public perception of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and gamete donation as a treatment for infertility among European men and women. Methods and findings This survey was distributed via an online questionnaire to 8,682 individuals who were voluntary participants in an online research panel residing in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, or the UK. The survey covered items to determine respondents’ beliefs regarding IVF and its success, the need for public funding, the use of IVF among modern families with different lifestyles, and the support for gamete donation. Results were analyzed by age, country of origin, sex, and sexual orientation. A total of 6,110 (70% of total) men and women responded. Among all respondents, 10% had undergone IVF treatment and 48% had considered or would consider IVF in case of infertility. Respondents estimated IVF mean success rate to be 47% and over half of respondents believed that availability of IVF would encourage people to delay conception. Although 93% of respondents believed that IVF treatment should be publicly funded to some extent, a majority believed that secondary infertility or use of fertility treatments allowing to delay parenthood should be financed privately. Survey respondents believed that the mean number of stimulated IVF cycles funded publicly should be limited 2 to 3 (average 2.4). 79% of respondents were willing to pay for IVF if needed with a mean amount of 5,400 € for a child brought to life through IVF. According to respondents, mean minimum and maximum ages for IVF should be 29 and 42 years old, respectively. The current survey showed support for egg and sperm donation (78%), for IVF in single women (61%) and for same-sex female couples (64%). When analyzing the results per group (i.e., sex, age, sexual orientation, and countries), youngest age groups, homosexuals, bisexuals, German respondents, and men had similar overall positive attitudes and beliefs toward IVF and opinions on public funding. Perceived limits to availability were stronger in women. Conclusion Overall, the survey results demonstrate a positive attitude among respondents in an online panel toward IVF, gamete donation, and support for public funding for fertility treatment. These findings could potentially drive discussions between patients and prescribers to explore IVF treatment and among legislators and payers to support public funding for these procedure

Cognition, behaviour and academic skills after cognitive rehabilitation in Ugandan children surviving severe malaria: a randomised trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Infection with severe malaria in African children is associated with not only a high mortality but also a high risk of cognitive deficits. There is evidence that interventions done a few years after the illness are effective but nothing is known about those done immediately after the illness. We designed a study in which children who had suffered from severe malaria three months earlier were enrolled into a cognitive intervention program and assessed for the immediate benefit in cognitive, academic and behavioral outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This parallel group randomised study was carried out in Kampala City, Uganda between February 2008 and October 2010. Sixty-one Ugandan children aged 5 to 12 years with severe malaria were assessed for cognition (using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, second edition and the Test of Variables of Attention), academic skills (Wide Range Achievement Test, third edition) and psychopathologic behaviour (Child Behaviour Checklist) three months after an episode of severe malaria. Twenty-eight were randomised to sixteen sessions of computerised cognitive rehabilitation training lasting eight weeks and 33 to a non-treatment group. Post-intervention assessments were done a month after conclusion of the intervention. Analysis of covariance was used to detect any differences between the two groups after post-intervention assessment, adjusting for age, sex, weight for age z score, quality of the home environment, time between admission and post-intervention testing and pre-intervention score. The primary outcome was improvement in attention scores for the intervention group. This trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN53183087.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant intervention effects were observed in the intervention group for learning mean score (SE), [93.89 (4.00) vs 106.38 (4.32), <it>P </it>= 0.04] but for working memory the intervention group performed poorly [27.42 (0.66) vs 25.34 (0.73), <it>P </it>= 0.04]. No effect was observed in the other cognitive outcomes or in any of the academic or behavioural measures.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this pilot study, our computerised cognitive training program three months after severe malaria had an immediate effect on cognitive outcomes but did not affect academic skills or behaviour. Larger trials with follow-up after a few years are needed to investigate whether the observed benefits are sustained.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN53183087">ISRCTN53183087</a></p