Spatio-temporal geostatistical modeling of hydrogeochemical parameters in the San Diego aquifer, Venezuela

The study is developed a spatio-temporal geostatistical modeling of hydrogeochemical parameters in the San Diego aquifer, Carabobo State, Venezuela during the period 2015-2017. ; which includes: 1) Collection of information as: a) Meteorological, b) Lithological profiles, c) pumping flow, d) water dynamic levels, e) Landsat Satellite Images and f) Digital Elevation Model. 2) Processing of information, including: a) Calibration of geostatistical models, b) validation of geostatistical models, c) calibration of forecast model, and d) application of forecast model. 3) Generation of Results, including: maps of the hydrogeochemical parameters showing spatio-temporal distribution of following parameters: Precipitation, Evapotranspiration, Pumping Flow, Infiltration, Volume Stored, Physico-chemical Parameters (PCP), Hydraulic Parameters, Mass Flow of PCP. The meteorological information has been gotten from the telemetric network of 31 climate monitoring stations close to San Diego aquifer managed by the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology belonging to Ministry of the Environment.  The database of water levels, physico-chemical parameters and pumping flow consists of 1201 pumping wells in the Carabobo State.  The San Diego aquifer is confined aquifer. Hydrological processes in the San Diego aquifer such as infiltration and permeability are influenced by the impermeability in the urban area of the Sand Diego aquifer, which is around 20% of the total area, reducing the contribution rates to the aquifer water. The division between the main water compositions corresponding to the water classes is coincident with the division of rocky material according to the geological periods triassic and quaternary, being the water classes:  1) Bicarbonate of Calcium and/or Magnesium Ca–Mg–HCO3 (North and Central regions, 95.16 km2, 81.25%) 2) Bicarbonate of Sodium Na–HCO3 (Central and South regions, 19.32 km2, 16.5%), 3) Sulfate or Chloride of Calcium and/or Magnesium Ca-Mg-SO4 and Ca-Mg-Cl (South region, 0.96 km2, 0.82%), 4) Sulfate and/or Chloride of Sodium Na-SO4 and Na-Cl (South region, 1.68 km2, 1.43%).  In the south region, the water is highly mineralized and its composition corresponds to the classes 2-4.  In the south region, it might be occurring an inverse hydraulic gradient from Valencia Lake to San Diego aquifer during the dry season, incorporating the water of the Valencia Lake to the San Diego aquifer and increasing the concentratio

NOMBRAMIENTOS DE INVESTIGADOR EMERITO DEL INSTITUTO DE ECOLOGIA, A.C.

Este es un gran día para el Instituto de Ecología, para el sistema Secretaría de Educación Pública-Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (SEP/CONACYT), y para la ciencia y la tecnología mexicanas. Hoy el Instituto otorga por primera vez en su historia el nombramiento de Investigador Emérito a cinco destacados académicos de nuestra casa. El Instituto de Ecología reconoce con este nombramiento su dedicación y sus logros en la investigación científica y tecnológica, y en la formación de recursos humanos

Spatio-temporal forecasting model of water balance variables in the San Diego aquifer, Venezuela

In this paper, a spatio-temporal forecasting model of water balance variables in the San Diego aquifer, Venezuela is proposed combining tools of GIS as the geostatistical analyst tool to make prediction of variables using statistical spatial prediction models based on the Ordinary Krigging followed by the application of forecasting models including those as: linear trend, quadratic trend, exponential trend, moving average, simple exponential smoothing, Brown’s linear exponential smoothing, quadratic exponential smoothing and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA). The spatio-temporal forecasting models of water balance variables in the San Diego aquifer have been calibrated and validated showing a successful adjustment to the water balance variables as the following five variables: 1) precipitation, 2) evapotranspiration, 3) pumping flow, 4) infiltration and 5) volume stored. In the calibration stage, the statistical spatial prediction model selected has been J-Bessel and the forecasting model selected has been Brown's quadratic exp. smoothing with constant alpha.  In the validation stage, the correlation coefficient has taken values upper to 0.98 and the determination coefficient upper to 0.96 confirming that the method used to generate the spatio-temporal forecasting model to achieve good predictions to the water balance variables

Analysis of Methods to Detect Changes in Coverage fromWater Reservoirs of the Pao River Basin, Venezuela

In this paper, four methods of detecting changes in land use and coverage are applied to three reservoirs on the Pao river basin, Carabobo and Cojedes States, Venezuela: 1) difference of reflectance images, 2) reflectance images ratio, 3) difference of index images of vegetation and 4) difference of images of principal components. Eight Landsat satellite images corresponding to L5TM (1986, 1991, 2001), 2) L7ETM (2000, 2002, 2003) and 3) L8OLI (2015 and 2016) are used. The bitemporal change detection methods are: the difference in reflectance in the near-infrared region, the normalized difference in vegetation index, the principal components based on reflectance in the optical and infrared spectral regions and the reflectance ratio in the near infrared region. The global accuracy index varies between 86.67 and 100%, the Kappa coefficient between 0.6 and 1. The water quality changes are estimated in terms of the presence of only sediments, a mixture of sediments and algae; coverage from water to vegetation; the reflectance in the near infrared region and the concentration of sediments vary between 1 and 3%; 50 to 100 mg / l; 0.5 and 1%; 50 to 250 mg / l; an increase from 1% to 40%, respectively

SOIL AND GROUNDWATER REMEDIATION PROPOSAL IN AN AQUIFER OF VENEZUELA BY HYDROCARBON TRANSPORT GEOSTATISTICAL MODELING

In this paper, it is presented a remediation proposal for soil and groundwater remediation proposal in an aquifer of Venezuela by hydrocarbon transport geostatistical modeling. The contamination with hydrocarbons is occurring in the northern region of an aquifer of the Carabobo State implying that the contaminants might be transported toward downstream of the aquifer causing an impact on the water for human consumption and industrial uses. The condition of the confined aquifer due to the alternating layers of low plasticity clay with well graded sand has avoided that the hydrocarbons in the soil reach a concentration that exceeds to the environmental regulation. For groundwater, the concentration of the hydrocarbons such as TPH, TPH-GRO, Lead, Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, m.Xylene, o.Xylene and MTBE  is greater than to the environmental regulation.  In most of cases, the spatial prediction of hydrocarbons is explained by local polynomial interpolation of orders between 2 and 3, and in minor proportion by global polynomial interpolation of orders between 2 and 3.  The gradient of the linear regression function varies between 0.34 and 0.94. The proposal of remediation for hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater consists of applying of air injection and vapor extraction, requiring an estimated air injection of 13153 m3/d (323 cfm) and the vapor extraction of 5075 m3/d (125 cfm). The proposed wells for air injection (42) and vapor extraction (19) in a Carabobo State aquifer separated each 100 meters and 150 meters, respectivel

Method for Forecasting of Changes in Land Use and Land Cover Using Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques

In this investigation is proposed a method for forecasting of changes in land use and land cover using satellite remote sensing techniques.  This study includes thefollowing twelve stages: 1) acquisition of remote sensing data, 2) collection of the reflectance image time series, 3) preliminary processing of reflectance image time series, 4) transformation of reflectance image to principal components, 5) modelling of PC1 statistical spatial prediction, 6) calibration of forecasting models for the PC1 SSPM coefficients, 7) calibration of PC1 SSPM, 8) validation of PC1 SSPM, 9) forecasting of PC1 SSPM coefficients and 10) calibration of CP1 SSPM with forecasted coefficients, 11) application of change detection techniques and 12) comparison of methods. Sixteensatellite images are acquired from the Landsat satellite in the period from 1986 to 2016. The study unit is the Pao river basin. The proposed method is a hybrid combination that includes three types of applied models that are based on time series of reflectance images in sequence as follows: the principal component analysis, the statistical spatial prediction models and forecasting models for time series. The current study proposes a method that contributes to introduce the temporal pattern of LULC changes captured by the statistical spatial prediction method coefficients and provides results characterized by a seasonality parameter; which is able to reproduce the spatio-temporal variation collected by the reception of the reflectance variable by satellite sensor. The statistics of error predictions indicate gradients of the predicted and observed function approximated to the unity as well as near to zero for the errors. The samples evaluated in the validation stage give correlation coefficient upper to 0.6; being a successful adjust between observed and predicted values. The forecasted changes in the Pao river basin for 2020 and 20130 vary from: 5.54 to 8. 14%, 5.52 to 8. 14%. These changes are equivalent to those observed from 2000 and 2016 of 5.13% as well as from 1990 to 2016 of 7.05 %.

Lavado de activos y su relación con la rentabilidad, banco de la nación, 2020

Rosero, D. (2015); It indicates that the banking system worldwide has the need to increase its money laundering prevention measures that allow the formulation of new actions. That is why the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was formed in 1989. While in 2000 the GAFISUD South American Financial Action Group was formally created. Secondly; Money laundering is a system of processes and supervisions detailed in the standard, those that relate to the early identification and reporting of suspicious transactions, (Resolution SBS No. 2660-2015). That is why money laundering in financial entities and its effect on profitability was investigated; With the intention of showing the shortcomings regarding the handling of monetary and non-monetary operations, the objective of the study was; Determine the relationship between money laundering and the profitability of the nation's bank; 2020. The methodology used was: logical deduction; technical, survey; Instrument, the questionnaire; Design of the study, non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational, applied type, The most notable result is that there is a positive relationship (Rho = 0.096) between money laundering and profitability.Rosero, D. (2015); Indica que el sistema bancario a nivel mundial, tiene la necesidad de incrementar sus medidas de prevención de lavado de activos que permitan formular nuevas acciones. Por eso se conformó en 1989, el Grupo de Acción Financiera Internacional (GAFI). Mientras que en el año 2000 se crea formalmente al Grupo de Acción Financiera de Sudamérica GAFISUD. Por otro lado; El lavado de activos, es un sistema de procesos y supervisiones detallados en la norma, aquellos que se relacionan a la identificación temprana y al reporte de operaciones sospechosas, (Resolución SBS N° 2660-2015). Es por ello que se investigó el lavado de activos en entidades financieras y su relación con la rentabilidad; Con la intención de evidenciar las falencias en cuanto al manejo de las operaciones dinerarias y no dinerarias, el objetivo del estudio fue; Determinar la relación entre el lavado de activos y la rentabilidad del banco de la nación; 2020. La metodología que se usó fue: Deducción lógica; técnica, la encuesta; Instrumento, el cuestionario; Diseño del estudio, no experimental de corte transversal, descriptiva correlacional, de tipo aplicada y el resultado más notorio, es que existe una relación positiva (Rho=0.096), entre lavado de activos y la rentabilidad

Biocombustibles mediante residuos agroindustriales: por un mejor cuidado del medio ambiente del planeta

Biofuels through agro-industrial waste take into account that the positive impact on caring for the environment contributes significantly to sustainable development, since the generation of agro-industrial waste in the production process stage is currently a global problem, due to the fact that in most cases the by-products are not processed properly. This work seeks to reduce the high level of pollution generated by agro-industrial waste and the use of fossil fuels, through a planned bibliographic review, and to demonstrate that the use of biofuels based on agro-industrial waste is important in improving the quality of the environment. The methodology corresponds to the descriptive exploratory one through the compilation of scientific literature from quality and reliability indexed journals. The general objective is to establish that biofuels through agro-industrial waste contribute significantly to the impact on caring for the environment, and we obtain the following conclusions: (a) the use of biofuels through agro-industrial waste has positive impacts on the environment, (b) Biomass can be made using agro-industrial waste, (c) it minimizes the exploitation of natural resources and (d) it is viable to deal with the contamination of soil, air and water.Los biocombustibles mediante residuos agroindustriales, tienen en cuenta que el impacto positivo en el cuidado del medio ambiente, contribuye significativamente al desarrollo sostenible, ya que la generación de residuos agroindustriales en la etapa de procesos productivos es actualmente una problemática a nivel mundial, debido a que en la mayoría de los casos los subproductos no son procesados adecuadamente. En este trabajo se busca disminuir el alto índice de contaminación generada por los residuos agroindustriales y el uso de combustibles fósiles, mediante una revisión bibliográfica planificada, y demostrar que el uso de biocombustibles a base de residuos agroindustriales tiene importancia en el mejoramiento de la calidad del medio ambiente. La metodología corresponde a la exploratoria descriptiva mediante recopilación de literatura científica de revistas indexadas de calidad y confiabilidad. El objetivo general es fundamentar que los biocombustibles mediante residuos agroindustriales contribuyen significativamente con el impacto en el cuidado del medio ambiente, arribamos a las siguientes conclusiones: (a) el empleo de biocombustibles mediante residuos agroindustriales tiene impactos positivos en el medio ambiente, (b) se puede elaborar la biomasa mediante residuos agroindustriales, (c) se minimiza la explotación de recursos naturales y (d) es viable para hacer frente a la contaminación de suelo, aire y agua

ITI-007 demonstrates brain occupancy at serotonin 5-HT2A and dopamine D2 receptors and serotonin transporters using positron emission tomography in healthy volunteers

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.Rationale: Central modulation of serotonin and dopamine underlies efficacy for a variety of psychiatric therapeutics. ITI-007 is an investigational new drug in development for treatment of schizophrenia, mood disorders, and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine brain occupancy of ITI-007 at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, dopamine D2 receptors, and serotonin transporters using positron emission tomography (PET) in 16 healthy volunteers. Methods: Carbon-11-MDL100907, carbon-11-raclopride, and carbon-11-3-amino-4-(2-dimethylaminomethyl-phenylsulfanyl)-benzonitrile) (carbon-11-DASB) were used as the radiotracers for imaging 5-HT2A receptors, D2 receptors, and serotonin transporters, respectively. Brain regions of interest were outlined using magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) with cerebellum as the reference region. Binding potentials were estimated by fitting a simplified reference tissue model to the measured tissue-time activity curves. Target occupancy was expressed as percent change in the binding potentials before and after ITI-007 administration. Results: Oral ITI-007 (10-40 mg) was safe and well tolerated. ITI-007 rapidly entered the brain with long-lasting and dose-related occupancy. ITI-007 (10 mg) demonstrated high occupancy (>80 %) of cortical 5-HT2A receptors and low occupancy of striatal D2 receptors (~12 %). D2 receptor occupancy increased with dose and significantly correlated with plasma concentrations (r 2∈=∈0.68, p∈=∈0.002). ITI-007 (40 mg) resulted in peak occupancy up to 39 % of striatal D2 receptors and 33 % of striatal serotonin transporters. Conclusions: The results provide evidence for a central mechanism of action via dopaminergic and serotonergic pathways for ITI-007 in living human brain and valuable information to aid dose selection for future clinical trials

Pneumococcal carriage in sub-Saharan Africa--a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Pneumococcal epidemiology varies geographically and few data are available from the African continent. We assess pneumococcal carriage from studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) before and after the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) era. METHODS: A search for pneumococcal carriage studies published before 2012 was conducted to describe carriage in sSA. The review also describes pneumococcal serotypes and assesses the impact of vaccination on carriage in this region. RESULTS: Fifty-seven studies were included in this review with the majority (40.3%) from South Africa. There was considerable variability in the prevalence of carriage between studies (I-squared statistic = 99%). Carriage was higher in children and decreased with increasing age, 63.2% (95% CI: 55.6-70.8) in children less than 5 years, 42.6% (95% CI: 29.9-55.4) in children 5-15 years and 28.0% (95% CI: 19.0-37.0) in adults older than 15 years. There was no difference in the prevalence of carriage between males and females in 9/11 studies. Serotypes 19F, 6B, 6A, 14 and 23F were the five most common isolates. A meta-analysis of four randomized trials of PCV vaccination in children aged 9-24 months showed that carriage of vaccine type (VT) serotypes decreased with PCV vaccination; however, overall carriage remained the same because of a concomitant increase in non-vaccine type (NVT) serotypes. CONCLUSION: Pneumococcal carriage is generally high in the African continent, particularly in young children. The five most common serotypes in sSA are among the top seven serotypes that cause invasive pneumococcal disease in children globally. These serotypes are covered by the two PCVs recommended for routine childhood immunization by the WHO. The distribution of serotypes found in the nasopharynx is altered by PCV vaccination