Urban Landscape Fragmentation as an Indicator of Urban Expansion Using Sentinel-2 Imageries

Rapid urbanization in some cities has led to the emergence of numerous subsidiary settlements around their primary cities. Due to this rapid urbanization and growth, there is a great demand for urban land, mostly for commercial, industrial, and residential uses. Urban green spaces and vegetation are at risk due to a large amount of urban land, as seen by a decline in connectivity and increased fragmentation, especially due to land conversion. However, the identification of the spatial and momentary variability in the clustering and fragmentation of vegetation patterns in urban settings has not made full use of local indicators of spatial distribution measurements, such as Baqubah, a city in Iraq. Since it is essential to measure the degree of fragmentation and evaluate urban expansion trajectories consistently, this study proposes a new approach to assessing the anticipated direction of urban extension, using the fragmentation indicator of built-up patterns in urban areas. Sentinel-2 data was used to map the fragmented urban centres and their future extent in the city at a single time point. The proposed method employs indices to capture the initial distribution of spatial patterns of vegetation cover and built-up areas. The main extracted land cover classes, landscape fragmentation performance, and surface density analysis were accomplished in ArcGIS. The results indicate that the entire built-up area in Baqubah has a high degree of fragmentation at 75%, and about 23% of the open space within the urban extent of the city. Two predicted trajectories of urban expansion were also revealed: one may follow the external road direction, while the other is multi-directional, commencing from the edges of the built-up area. The study concludes that the new method is useful for comprehending and assessing urban landscape fragmentation, as well as anticipating its path. This integrated approach to remote sensing and GIS can sufficiently and effectively determine priority urban regions for successful planning and management. In addition, our study's findings highlight the potential of the suggested strategy as a useful spatially explicit method for determining the spatial clustering and fragmentation of urban landscape patterns. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-09-04 Full Text: PD

Influence of copper-impregnated basic oxygen furnace slag on the fresh- and hardened-state properties of antimicrobial mortars

Microbially induced concrete corrosion (MICC) is recognized as one of the main degradation mechanisms of sewer infrastructure worldwide. To help control this problem, a beneficial reuse path for basic oxygen furnace slag (BOFS) has emerged in which the incorporation of copper-laden BOFS particles into cementitious materials inhibits the growth of microorganisms responsible for MICC. This study investigated the effect of substituting fine aggregate with copper-laden BOFS particles (0.30–0.85 mm) on the hydration and microstructural evolution of portland cement mortars. In addition, the fate of copper in the cured cementitious matrix is elucidated and reported herein. As revealed by isothermal calorimetry, the total evolved heat at the end of the testing period (118 h) was similar when up to 40% of the fine aggregate mass was replaced with copper-laden BOFS particles of similar size, while delays in setting times were observed. Analysis of microstructural evolution using quantitative X-ray diffraction (QXRD) showed higher C–S–H contents when fine aggregate was replaced with copper-laden BOFS, indicating copper-laden BOFS exhibited some degree of pozzolanic reactivity. Electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) revealed that, while trace amounts of copper could be detected throughout the cement matrix, copper was predominantly localized in a 100 μm spherical region surrounding BOFS particles. Moreover, strong binding capacity of Fe-rich BOFS particles for copper was observed. Finally, compressive strengths of mixtures analyzed herein were not affected by the presence of copper-laden BOFS

Potential for biological control of rice yellow mottle virus vectors

Insect pests and disease infestations are the primary constraints in rice (Oryza sativa) production systems in Africa and Asia. For Cameroon in particular, the rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) is increasingly a serious problem to rice production. During the poulations of the various insect vectors of RMYV are not known, andhence the need for this study. Unfortunately, 2002 - 2004, two sampling methods were combined to assess the population of insects vectors of rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) in the three major irrigated rice ecosystems in northern Cameroon (Lagdo, Maga and Yagoua), and in low land rice fields. Sampling was conducted using sweepnet and D-Vac (sucking trap) fortnightly in 2002 and 2003 until mid October in low land rice fields, while in the irrigated fields, samplings occurred between December and April. Rearing using dead insects was conducted simultaneously in the laboratory to identify the parasitoid insect species. From samples obtained at differentsites: (i) the dominant structure of the RYMV insect vectors was analysed according to the rice phenology; and (ii) the diversity and the occurrence of potential major groups of predators and parasitoids were assessed. Among the RYMV insect vectors sampled: Chaetocnema pulla Chapuis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Chnootriba similisMulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Trichispa sericea Guerin-Meneville (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Locris rubra Fabricius (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), Oxya hyla Stål (Orthoptera: Acrididae), and Conocephalus longipennis (de Haan) (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) were the most encountered insect species during the rice growing seasons.With regard to predator populations, spiders (Araneae) were the most abundant, with high concurrency of Pardosa spp (> 42 %) in all sites. In Maga and Yagoua sites, the carabid beetle species, Abacetus crenulatus Dejean and Abacetus foveolatus Chaudoir, were the most numerous whereas the Lagdo site was highly colonisedby Clivina. erythropyga Putzeys. Paederus sabaeus Erichson, and Stenus ravus Puthz were the most abundant Staphylinid beetles. From reared dead RYMV insect vectors, Eurytoma spp., Pediobius spp., Tetrastichus spp. and Telenomus spp. emerged as parasitoids. Results of this study reveal a great potential of biological controlagainst rice yellow mottle virus vectors using predators and parastoids. This potential should be developed to manage the yield losses caused by the virus infection in rice cropping systems

Synthesis of phenylseleno sugars from epoxides and of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl derivatives for the study of their insecticidal activity

This work reports the synthesis of sugar epoxides and their derivatives obtained by reaction with the dianion of phenyl selenoacetic acid. Approaches to the introduction of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl units in pyranoid systems were investigated. Preparation of a protected D-glycero-hex-3-enepyranosid-2-ulose and of a D-erythro-hex-2-enono-1,5-lactone is described. Some of the synthesized compounds possess insecticidal activity against fruit flies, house flies, and white flies.Treaty of Windsor Programme, British Council, Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superiorinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mercado da energia eléctrica: uma modelação MPCC-NLP

O problema apresentado está relacionado com o mercado de energia eléctrica, modelado como um jogo de Stackelberg, onde a empresa líder de mercado tem o poder de manipular os preços e a capacidade de produção, de forma a maximizar o seu lucro. Devido às suas características particulares, o problema foi formulado como um Problema de Optimização com Restrições de Complementaridade (MPCC) e, posteriormente reestruturado num Problema de Programação Não Linear (NLP), com o intuito de tirar partido das suas propriedades, utilizando software específico

A MPCC-NLP approach for an electric power market problem

The electric power market is changing - it has passed from a regulated market, where the government of each country had the control of prices, to a deregulated market economy. Each company competes in order to get more clients and maximize its profits. This market is represented by a Stackelberg game with two firms, leader and follower, and the leader anticipates the reaction of the follower. The problem is formulated as a Mathematical Program with Complementarity Constraints (MPCC). It is shown that the constraint qualifications usually assumed to prove convergence of standard algorithms fail to hold for MPCC. To circumvent this, a reformulation for a nonlinear problem (NLP) is proposed. Numerical tests using the NEOS server platform are presented

Hubungan Polimorfisme Gen Me2 dengan Epilepsi Idiopatik Umum dan Respon Terapi Valproat

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: (1) Mendeteksipolimorfisme rs585344, rs645088 dan rs642698, genME2 pada EIU anak tanpa epilepsi untuk menentukanadanya hubungan polimorfime gen ME2 denganEIU. (2) Menentukan jumlah proporsi hilangnyabangkitan 6 bulan setelah pengobatan valproat padaEIU dengan genotipe mutan dan genotip bukanmutan polimorfisme rs585344, rs645088 dan rs642698gen ME2. Penelitian kasus-kontrol dilakukan selamaperiode Juli 2010 sampai April 2012 terhadap 92subjek EIU usia awitan anak dan remaja di RS HasanSadikin Bandung, RS Cipto Mangunkusumo Jakartadan RS St Borromeus Bandung, 336 subjek kontrol diRS Hasan Sadikin Bandung. Hasil penelitian denganuji chi-kuadrat menunjukkan perbedaan bermaknaproporsi genotip polimorfisme rs585344 gen ME2antara EIU usia awitan anak dan remaja dengankontrol (p 0,05). Didapatkan perbedaan bermakna genotipmutan polimorfisme rs585344, rs645088 dan rs642698gen ME2 EIU usia awitan anak < 11 tahun dengangenotip mutan polimorfisme rs585344, rs645088 danrs642698 gen ME2 EIU usia awitan anak ≥ 11 tahun(age-dependent penetrance)