A Commune-Level Groundwater Potential Map for the Republic of Mali

Groundwater represents an essential resource in sub-Saharan Africa, where several hundred million people rely on aquifers for domestic supply. This paper presents a method to map groundwater potential in the Republic of Mali based on a spatially-distributed database of 26,040 boreholes. The database includes exhaustive information on key parameters such as borehole location, success rate of borehole production, depth, yield, static groundwater level or water quality. Representative variables were classified and interpreted jointly to develop a groundwater potential index for each of the 703 communes in Mali. This provides a methodological novelty because groundwater potential studies typically rely on indirect indicators such as lineaments, slope, soil moisture and landforms. Also, such large borehole databases have seldom been used to estimate groundwater potential. The highest indexes were obtained for the areas in and around the River Niger’s Inner Delta, including southern Tombouctou and the central parts of the Ségou and Mopti Regions. The lower Precambrian formations, which include the country’s thoroughly populated southern plateau, had moderate scores. The lowest groundwater potential was found in the northern part of the Kayes and Koulikoro Regions, as well as in the entire region of Kidal. By providing results at the commune scale, these outcomes show that groundwater potential across the country’s geological and hydrogeological units can be highly variable, and that local and regional-scale information may be useful for groundwater management purposes. These results are policy-relevant in a context of rapid change and population growth, where groundwater resources can be expected to be increasingly relied upon in the coming years

Estudiando la sequía: una experiencia para el aula de informática

El agua es un recurso tan escaso como necesario. En regiones donde imperan los climas semiáridos, como es el caso de la mayor parte de la Península Ibérica, la disponibilidad de agua puede estar condicionada por la sequía. El estudio de este riesgo natural está íntimamente relacionado con diversas disciplinas de las Ciencias de la Tierra, como la meteorología o la hidrología. Este artículo describe paso a paso la aplicación de una de las muchas técnicas existentes para el estudio de la sequía: la curva de desviaciones acumuladas. El alumno descarga de internet los datos de precipitación de la ciudad donde reside y los analiza con ayuda de una hoja de cálculo, caracterizando las principales sequías con perspectiva histórica. Por último se proponen diversos ejercicios de interpretación. Con las oportunas modificaciones, este ejercicio es adecuado para un amplio rango de titulaciones

Water versus Wireless Coverage in Rural Mali: Links and Paradoxes

Water and wireless coverage were evaluated in a rural commune of southern Mali. All improved water sources in the area were checked for operability, accessibility, and water quality, while wireless coverage was tested by means of smartphones, phone calls, and instant messaging applications. Theoretical water coverage exceeded 82% of the total village surface area, thus beating the national and sub-Saharan African averages, but dropped to just 39% when considering only serviceable and contamination-free sources. In contrast, wireless coverage exceeded 90%. These outcomes highlight a triple paradox: (1) water from theoretically safe (i.e., improved) water sources is often unsafe to drink; (2) wireless access is better than water access even though water is essential for human survival and telecommunications are not; and (3) excellent Internet coverage does not help a large number of people, who lack the skills, devices, or need to access it. While telecommunications seem to be making inroads towards universal access faster than the water sector, a survey of water committees uncovered a hidden nexus between both resources, revealing that increased wireless access is actually contributing to underpin water coverage in a variety of ways

Aprendizaje de la Microbiología a través de los medios de comunicación

Memoria ID-0031. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2015-2016

Promoter trapping in microalgae using the antibiotic paromomycin as selective agent

The lack of highly active endogenous promoters to drive the expression of transgenes is one of the main drawbacks to achieving efficient transformation of many microalgal species. Using the model chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and the paromomycin resistance APHVIII gene from Streptomyces rimosus as a marker, we have demonstrated that random insertion of the promoterless marker gene and subsequent isolation of the most robust transformants allows for the identification of novel strong promoter sequences in microalgae. Digestion of the genomic DNA with an enzyme that has a unique restriction site inside the marker gene and a high number of target sites in the genome of the microalga, followed by inverse PCR, allows for easy determination of the genomic region, which precedes the APHVIII marker gene. In most of the transformants analyzed, the marker gene is inserted in intragenic regions and its expression relies on its adequate insertion in frame with native genes. As an example, one of the new promoters identified was used to direct the expression of the APHVIII marker gene in C. reinhardtii, showing high transformation efficiencies.Junta de Andalucía (P09-CVI-5053)Junta de Andalucía (BIO-214

Consideraciones actuales acerca del diagnóstico de la neuropatía óptica isquémica

Introducción: la neuropatía óptica isquémica (NOI) constituye una devastadora entidad que en muchos casos produce de manera permanente pérdida de la visión en los pacientes. Objetivo: exponer los aspectos relacionados con el adecuado diagnóstico de la neuropatía óptica isquémica. Método: se realizó una búsqueda de los principales artículos científicos de los últimos años, así como de la literatura impresa que incluye el tema, siendo seleccionados los contenidos más relevantes para la confección del informe final. Resultados: en el diagnóstico de la enfermedad es imprescindible el estudio de la agudeza visual, visión de colores, campo visual y sensibilidad al contraste, como pruebas psicofísicas. En el exámen neuroftalmológico: los reflejos pupilares, la oftalmoscopia indirecta y biomicroscopía del polo posterior, así como la determinación de la presión intraocular. El espesor de la capa de fibras nerviosas retinianas y la papila puede estudiarse a través del HRT, OCT y la perimetria automatizada. Para complementar se realizan pruebas electrofisiológicas como los potenciales evocados visuales y el electrorretinograma a patrón, además del estudio de neuroimágenes como la Tomografía Axial Computarizada y la Resonancia Magnética Nuclear. Conclusiones: el correcto diagnóstico de la neuropatía óptica isquémica debe incluir un interrogatorio exhaustivo para la búsqueda de los principales factores de riesgo y los síntomas y signos propios de la enfermedad además de un examen oftalmológico completo donde no pueden faltar las pruebas psicofísicas, el examen neuroftalmológico y el estudio de neuroimagen

Uso de teléfonos móviles/pulsadores en el aprendizaje interactivo de la Microbiología

Memoria ID-0041. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2017-2018

Manual Borehole Drilling as a Cost-Effective Solution for Drinking Water Access in Low-Income Contexts

Water access remains a challenge in rural areas of low-income countries. Manual drilling technologies have the potential to enhance water access by providing a low cost drinking water alternative for communities in low and middle income countries. This paper provides an overview of the main successes and challenges experienced by manual boreholes in the last two decades. A review of the existing methods is provided, discussing their advantages and disadvantages and comparing their potential against alternatives such as excavated wells and mechanized boreholes. Manual boreholes are found to be a competitive solution in relatively soft rocks, such as unconsolidated sediments and weathered materials, as well as and in hydrogeological settings characterized by moderately shallow water tables. Ensuring professional workmanship, the development of regulatory frameworks, protection against groundwater pollution and standards for quality assurance rank among the main challenges for the future