Catchment variability and parameter estimation in multi-objective regionalisation of a rainfall–runoff model

This study attempts to examine if catchment variability favours regionalisation by principles of catchment similarity. Our work combines calibration of a simple conceptual model for multiple objectives and multi-regression analyses to establish a regional model between model sensitive parameters and physical catchment characteristics (PCCs). The objective is to test robustness of regionalisation by assessing if generalisation of a wide range of climatic, topographic and physiographic settings in a regional model favours simulation of stream flow at ungauged catchments. Constraints in this work are very stringent performance measures for selection of catchments to establish the regional model and the selection of only PCCs that are available through the database of the National River Flow Archive in the United Kingdom. As such some PCCs have been ignored that have proven to be effective in other studies. For this study 56 well-gauged catchments in England and Wales are used. For model calibration and runoff simulation of ungauged catchments the HBV model is applied. Optimum parameter sets are derived for 48 catchments through Monte Carlo Simulation using an 8-year simulation period. This study aims to adequately simulate all aspects of the hydrograph at the ungauged catchment and therefore four single objective functions are combined in a multi-objective function. After calibration, 17 catchments that are widely spread over England and Wales are selected to establish relationships for seven selected model parameters using 14 PCCs (area, mean elevation, hypsometric integral, catchment shape, standard average annual rainfall, five types of land use and four classes of hydrogeology). Single and multiple regression analysis are applied to identify these relationships. For six model parameters statistically significant relationships could be established three of which are plausible on the basis of hydrologic interpretation. The established relationships are validated at eight gauged catchments that are spread over the UK and cover a large range of values of catchment descriptors. These catchments are assumed ungauged and results revealed that, in general, model parameters determined by the established regional relationships do not perform better as compared to default parameter values. Similar results are obtained for additional validation runs using catchments that are not used in the regionalisation procedure. Since these parameters are based on model performance assessments in a wide range of catchment settings, this suggests that large variability in settings of PCCs does not favour regionalisation. Therefore, for selected catchments the applicability of regionalisation by principles of catchment similarity for HBV model parameters may be questioned

Investigation on Occurrence of Elevated Edges in Selective Laser Melting

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a layer-wise material additive process for the direct fabrication of functional metallic parts. During the process, successive layers of metal powder are fully molten and consolidated on top of each other by the energy of a high intensity laser beam. The process is capable of producing almost fully dense three-dimensional parts having mechanical properties comparable to those of bulk materials. However, one of the problems encountered in SLM process is the occurrence of elevated ridges of the solidified material at the edges of the successive layers. Those ridges reduce the dimensional accuracy and topology of the top surface. The edge-effect problem is encountered not only in SLM, but also in other production techniques applying melting processes such as LENS® (The Laser Engineered Net Shaping) and EBM (Electron Beam Melting). In this study, the reasons for elevated edges and solutions to this problem are investigated and reported. Different scan strategies as well as different hatching and contour parameters are tested to reduce the edge-effect problem. Besides, the influence of applying laser re-melting in combination to selective laser melting has been investigated. It turns out that re-melting layers deposited by SLM improves the part density and surface roughness, but creates on its own elevated edges.Mechanical Engineerin

Growing apple (Malus domestica) under tropical mountain climate conditions in Northern Ethiopia

Lack of effective chilling during the dormant season is one of the major problems when apples are growing under a tropical climate. We evaluated the response of different apple cultivars (Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Jonagold) grown on M9 rootstock with different dormancy-management practices. The trials were carried out between 2004 and 2006 in a tropical mountain area (Tigray, Ethiopia), where chilling conditions are poor with the aim of improving and synchronizing the bud break and the blossoming period of these apple cultivars. Two-year-old well-feathered trees were planted in two experimental trial sites in it randomized complete block design. Trees were subjected to the following treatments in two sets of experiments: one defoliation per year only; two defoliations per year, one defoliation followed by 1% hydrogen cyanamide (Dormex) treatment; one defoliation followed by 2% Dormex treatment; one defoliation followed by 40% winter oil; one defoliation followed by 0.5% Dormex and 2% winter oil; and a control with no defoliation or dormancy breaking treatments. The result show positive effects of the dormancy breaking agents oil the productivity of the trees after defoliation, with comparable results for the effectiveness of both Dormex and winter oil. There were On statistically significant differences between the Dormex closes. The defoliation treatment alone Was not sufficient to break dormancy for the cultivars Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Gala but showed promising results with dormancy breaking Jonagold. Yields increased as a result of better flowering time synchronization within a tree but even with the dormancy treatments the length of the flowering period was still spread over five weeks, where under it more temperate climate it lasted two to three weeks. The average fruit weight of Jonagold and Granny Smith can be considered as it good fruit quality while the fruit of other diploid cultivars like Golden, Gala and Fuji were rather small, which indicates chat fruit thinning by hand will be it necessity For these cultivars. Red colouration of the apples oil the cultivars Gala and Jonagold was excellent and meets the standards necessary for commercialization of these fruits. The sugar concentration of the fruits and the fruit firmness at harvest was high. The results of these first trials indicate that it is possible to develop new apple production in the mountain region of Tigray, Ethiopia

Difluorodithieno[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine as a strong acceptor for materials displaying thermally activated delayed fluorescence or room temperature phosphorescence

A novel strong electron-acceptor unit, 9,10-difluorodithieno[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine (DTPz), is synthesized and applied in the design of two donor-acceptor type emitters displaying long-lived delayed emission. Using either 9,9-dimethyl-9,10-dihydroacridine (DMAC) or triisopropyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT-TIPS) as the donor component, push-pull type chromophores exhibiting charge-transfer emission are obtained and found to afford either thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) for DMAC or room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) for BDT-TIPS

Engineering cytokine therapeutics

Cytokines have pivotal roles in immunity, making them attractive as therapeutics for a variety of immune-related disorders. However, the widespread clinical use of cytokines has been limited by their short blood half-lives and severe side effects caused by low specificity and unfavourable biodistribution. Innovations in bioengineering have aided in advancing our knowledge of cytokine biology and yielded new technologies for cytokine engineering. In this Review, we discuss how the development of bioanalytical methods, such as sequencing and high-resolution imaging combined with genetic techniques, have facilitated a better understanding of cytokine biology. We then present an overview of therapeutics arising from cytokine re-engineering, targeting and delivery, mRNA therapeutics and cell therapy. We also highlight the application of these strategies to adjust the immunological imbalance in different immune-mediated disorders, including cancer, infection and autoimmune diseases. Finally, we look ahead to the hurdles that must be overcome before cytokine therapeutics can live up to their full potential