450 research outputs found
Estimation of transported pollutant load in Ardila catchment using the SWAT model
Excess of organic matter and nutrients in the water body promotes algae blooms, which can accelerate the eutrophication process, situation often observed in the Ardila river. This river was identified as very polluted and classified as critical for Alqueva-Pedrogão System. The aim of this study was to estimate the transported nutrients load in a transboundary catchment using the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model and to determine the contribution off nutrients load in the entire catchment. Ardila catchment is about 3711 Km2 and is located in the East part of Portugal (22%) and Badajoz province on Spanish soil (78%). It was discretized into 32 sub-basins using automated delineation routine, and 174 hydrologic response unit. Monthly average meteorological data (time period from 1947 to 1998) were used to generate daily values through the Weather Generator Model incorporated in SWAT. Real daily precipitation series data (1931 to 2003) were introduced. The model was calibrated and verified using: flow data (1950 to 2000) and nutrients (1981 to 1999). Model performance was evaluated using statistical parameters, such as Nach-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and root mean square error (R2). Calibration and verification flow results showed a satisfactory agreement between simulated and measured monthly date from 1962 to 1972 (NSE=0.8; R2 = 0.9). The results showed that the most important diffuse pollution comes from the two main tributary off Spain. The estimated nitrogen load contribution per year was about 71% (Spain) and 29% (Portugal). The SWAT model application reveals a useful tool for integrated water management
Vitamin E-analog Trolox prevents endoplasmic reticulum stress in frozen-thawed ovarian tissue of capuchin monkey (Sapajus apella)
Ovarian fragments were exposed to 0.5 M sucrose
and 1 M ethylene glycol (freezing solution; FS) with or
without selenium or Trolox. Histological and ultrastructural
analyses showed that the percentages of normal follicles in
control tissue and in tissue after exposure to FS+50 μM
Trolox were similar. Trolox prevented endoplasmic reticulum
(ER)-related vacuolization, which is commonly observed in
oocytes and stromal tissue after exposure to FS. From the evaluated stress markers, superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1)
was up-regulated in ovarian tissue exposed to FS+10 ng/ml
selenium. Ovarian fragments were subsequently frozenthawed
in the presence of FS with or without 50 μM Trolox,
followed by in vitro culture (IVC). Antioxidant capacity in
ovarian fragments decreased after freeze-thawing in Troloxfree
FS compared with FS+50 μMTrolox. Although freezing
itself minimized the percentage of viable follicles in each solution, Trolox supplementation resulted in higher rates of
viable follicles (67 %), even after IVC (61 %). Furthermore,
stress markers SOD1 and ERp29 were up-regulated in ovarian
tissue frozen-thawed in Trolox-free medium. Relative mRNA
expression of growth factors markers was evaluated after
freeze-thawing followed by IVC. BMP4, BMP5, CTGF,
GDF9 and KL were down-regulated independently of the
presence of Trolox in FS but down-regulation was less pronounced
in the presence of Trolox. Thus, medium supplementation
with 50 μMTrolox prevents ER stress and, consequently,
protects ovarian tissue from ER-derived cytoplasmic
vacuolization. ERp29 but not ERp60, appears to be a key
marker linking stress caused by freezing-thawing and cell
vacuolization.http://link.springer.com/journal/441hb201
The Milky Way Bulge: Observed properties and a comparison to external galaxies
The Milky Way bulge offers a unique opportunity to investigate in detail the
role that different processes such as dynamical instabilities, hierarchical
merging, and dissipational collapse may have played in the history of the
Galaxy formation and evolution based on its resolved stellar population
properties. Large observation programmes and surveys of the bulge are providing
for the first time a look into the global view of the Milky Way bulge that can
be compared with the bulges of other galaxies, and be used as a template for
detailed comparison with models. The Milky Way has been shown to have a
box/peanut (B/P) bulge and recent evidence seems to suggest the presence of an
additional spheroidal component. In this review we summarise the global
chemical abundances, kinematics and structural properties that allow us to
disentangle these multiple components and provide constraints to understand
their origin. The investigation of both detailed and global properties of the
bulge now provide us with the opportunity to characterise the bulge as observed
in models, and to place the mixed component bulge scenario in the general
context of external galaxies. When writing this review, we considered the
perspectives of researchers working with the Milky Way and researchers working
with external galaxies. It is an attempt to approach both communities for a
fruitful exchange of ideas.Comment: Review article to appear in "Galactic Bulges", Editors: Laurikainen
E., Peletier R., Gadotti D., Springer Publishing. 36 pages, 10 figure
Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities
A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by
the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an
explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were
chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in
2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that
time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the
broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles
could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII
program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the -factories and CLEO-c
flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the
Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the
deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality,
precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for
continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states
unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such
as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the
spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b},
and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical
approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The
intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have
emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and
cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review
systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing
directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K.
Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D.
Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A.
Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair
Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 February 2013-31 March 2013
This article documents the addition of 142 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources database. Loci were developed for the following species: Agriophyllum squarrosum, Amazilia cyanocephala, Batillaria attramentaria, Fungal strain CTeY1 (Ascomycota), Gadopsis marmoratus, Juniperus phoenicea subsp. turbinata, Liriomyza sativae, Lupinus polyphyllus, Metschnikowia reukaufii, Puccinia striiformis and Xylocopa grisescens. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Amazilia beryllina, Amazilia candida, Amazilia rutila, Amazilia tzacatl, Amazilia violiceps, Amazilia yucatanensis, Campylopterus curvipennis, Cynanthus sordidus, Hylocharis leucotis, Juniperus brevifolia, Juniperus cedrus, Juniperus osteosperma, Juniperus oxycedrus, Juniperus thurifera, Liriomyza bryoniae, Liriomyza chinensis, Liriomyza huidobrensis and Liriomyza trifolii. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Peer Reviewe
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