Usage of Carbon Isotopes in Characterizing Groundwater Age, Flow Direction, Flow Velocity and Recharge Area

AbstractCarbon-13 and Carbon-14 isotopes were utilized in this study to determine the age, flow direction, flow velocity and recharge area of groundwater in the two main aquifers of Kuwait. For this purpose 20 groundwater samples were collected from the Kuwait group aquifer and lower Dammam formation aquifer. The collected groundwater samples were analyzed for 14C activity and 13C activity. 14C activity was measured using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and expressed as percentage modern carbon (pmc) while 13C was measured using an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) and expressed as permil (‰) in the form of CO2 gas. The interpretation of the analysis results of carbon isotopes data indicated that the general groundwater flow direction is towards north east and the estimated groundwater velocities are 11 to 30 m/a for Kuwait group aquifer and 12 to 21 m/a for Dammam formation aquifer. Based on the estimated groundwater velocities, the approximate location of the recharge areas of these aquifers was identified. The groundwater ages calculated for Kuwait group aquifer varied from 800 a B.P for modern ground water in the northern part to 22500 a B.P for very old groundwater in the northeastern part, while the age of Dammam formation groundwater is 26000 to 36000 a B.P

Structural behavior of damaged reinforced concrete beams under static cyclic loading

Bridges are regarded as one of the most important components of transportation infrastructure. More and more repairs, inspections, alterations, and construction processes are required to maintain safe usage due to increasing travel demands in addition to bridge infrastructure aging. In this paper, we will discuss the experimental investigation using five reinforced concrete beams to evaluate the effect of making damage to experimental beams under static cyclic loading to investigate their ductility and energy dissipation. The defective parameters taken into consideration in the experimental program were the gap in the concrete mold and mild steel at the middle bottom reinforcement. All tested specimens had the same cross-sectional dimensions. The concrete dimensions of the beams were 200 mm in width and 300 mm in height, and the beam's length was selected to be 2200 mm, having a clear span of 2000 mm between the supports, they were tested in positive bending using a 3-point bending load system. According to the results, when (RC) beams were subjected to any of the mentioned types of damage, they showed a significant decrease in ultimate capacities ranging from 3.03% to 19.31%. The ANSYS model shows an average difference with the experimental program within 4 % as an acceptable agreement

Integrated microfossil biostratigraphy, facies distribution, and depositional sequences of the upper Turonian to Campanian succession in northeast Egypt and Jordan

Six upper Turonian to Campanian sections in Egypt (Sinai) and Jordan were studied for their microfossil biostratigraphy (calcareous nannofossils and planktonic foraminifera), facies distribution and sequence stratigraphic frameworks. Carbonate (mostly chalk) and chert lithofacies dominate the basinward northern sections passing laterally and vertically to mixed carbonate/siliciclastic lithofacies towards the shoreline in the southeast. Twenty-six lithofacies types have been identified and grouped into six lithofacies associations: littoral siliciclastic facies belt; peritidal carbonate; intertidal carbonate platform/ramp; high-energy ooidal shoals and shelly biostromes; shallow subtidal; and pelagic facies association. The following calcareous nannofossil biozones were recognized: Luianorhabdus malefomis (CC12) (late Turonian), Micula staurophora (CC14) (early Coniacian), Reinhardtites anthophorus (CC15) (late Coniacian), Lucianorhabdus cayeuxii (CC16) (early Santonian) and Broinsonia parca parca (CC18) (Campanian). Equivalent planktonic foraminifera zones recognized are: Dicarinella concavata (Coniacian), the lower most part of Dicarinella asymetrica (earliest Santonian) and Globotruncanita elevata (early Campanian). The integrated zonation presented here is considered to provide higher resolution than the use of either group alone. The absence of calcareous nannofossil biozones CC13 and CC17 in most of the studied sections, associated with regional vertical lithofacies changes, indicates that recognition of the Turonian/Coniacian and Santonian/Campanian stage boundary intervals in the region have been hampered by depositional hiatuses at major sequence boundaries resulting in incomplete sections. These disconformities are attributed to eustatic sea-level fluctuations and regional tectonics resulting from flexuring of the Syrian Arc fold belt. The Coniacian to Santonian succession can be divided into three third-order depositional sequences, which are bounded by four widely recognized sequence boundaries

L’hemorragie grave du peripartum en milieu de reanimation dans un centre universitaire tunisien de niveau 3: épidémiologie et facteurs de risque de mortalité maternelle

L'hémorragie grave du péripartum demeure une des causes principales de mortalité maternelle. L'objectif de notre étude était de décrire le profil épidémiologique des patientes qui ont été prises en charge en milieu de réanimation suite à une hémorragie grave du péripartum et de rechercher d'éventuels facteurs de risque de mortalité. Notre étude est rétrospective descriptive et analytique. Nous avons inclus tous les cas d'hémorragie du péripartum ayant séjourné en unité de réanimation obstétricale du centre de maternité et de néonatologie de Tunis (CMNT) au cours de la période allant de janvier 2010 à Décembre 2013. Nous avons recueilli les paramètres démographiques, obstétricaux, ceux relatifs à la prise en charge chirurgicale et réanimatoire, les scores de gravité SAPS obstétrical et APACHEII, ainsi que la morbi-mortalité. Au total nous avons colligé 322 cas sur quatre ans. La répartition annuelle des patientes ainsi que les caractéristiques démographiques et obstétricales étaient comparables dans leur globalité sur les quatre années. Les pratiques thérapeutiques étaient également comparables. Le taux global de mortalité par hémorragie dans notre unité était à 4,7%, avec un taux annuel de mortalité stable. L'analyse des facteurs de risque de mortalité par hémorragie en milieu de réanimation a montré une association statistiquement significative entre la survenue du décès et les facteurs suivants : recours aux catécholamines, survenue de sepsis, oedème pulmonaire aigu, coagulation intravasculaire disséminée, insuffisance rénale aigue avec recours à l'hémodialyse, SDRA ou TRALI, atteinte neurologique grave, défaillance multiviscérale et arrêt cardiaque récupéré

Chemical and isotopic fractionation of lead in the surface soils of Egypt

Chemical fractionation via sequential extraction (SEP) combined with isotopic analysis of Pb was used to investigate the origins and reactivity of Pb in 66 topsoil samples collected from 12 different locations in Egypt. The total soil Pb concentrations (TPb) covered a wide range (∼80–16,000 mg kg−1), but were only elevated in four industrial and urban locations within Cairo and Alexandria. In all the other locations values of TPb were generally low and were close to the average crustal Pb concentration of 14 mg kg−1. The largest Pb fraction in all soils, with the exception of two industrial locations, was the ‘residual’ fraction (38–63% of TPb) followed by Pb bound to ‘organic’ and ‘metal oxide’ phases. The Pb isotopic signatures (206Pb/207Pb vs 208Pb/207Pb) of all samples in all SEP fractions were highly variable, suggesting a heterogeneous mix of Pb contamination sources; however, they aligned closely to a binary mixing line between geogenic and petrol Pb sources. There were similar Pb isotopic patterns across all of the non-residual fractions with measureable data (F2 – F4) suggesting that the non-residual anthropogenic-Pb and geogenic-Pb have been assimilated into common pools within the soil. Binary and ternary source-apportionment models based on Pb isotopic ratios and abundances showed that the relative contribution of petrol-Pb and geogenic-Pb can be ascribed with reasonable certainty. However, the contribution of further sources can only be accounted for if the isotopic abundance of all end-members are known and are at the periphery of the soils dataset

Design and Implementation of a Compact Automated Spirulina Cultivation System for Households

Spirulina is considered to be the most nutritious whole food source in nature. It is promoted as a dietary supplement and an active ingredient in functional foods. Factors such as conflicts, supply chain disruptions, and economic fallout are driving food prices to unprecedented levels. Low- and middle-income populations are affected by these rising costs. The design and implementation of a compact Spirulina cultivation system to be used in the household is presented in this paper. The system contains light, temperature, pH, and turbidity sensors. All sensors are connected to microcontrollers which activate a heater, air pump, mixing pump, pool fall pump, and two LEDs according to the readings received to ensure proper and continuous growth of Spirulina. The proposed system is user-friendly, economical, and can be easily stored and operated at homes to stimulate and monitor the growth of Spirulina. The primary objective of the proposed compact cultivation system is to furnish the necessary tools for generating a nutritionally valuable food source on a smaller scale, specifically within households, at a relatively affordable cost

Discovery of 6.035GHz Hydroxyl Maser Flares in IRAS18566+0408

We report the discovery of 6.035GHz hydroxyl (OH) maser flares toward the massive star forming region IRAS18566+0408 (G37.55+0.20), which is the only region known to show periodic formaldehyde (4.8 GHz H2CO) and methanol (6.7 GHz CH3OH) maser flares. The observations were conducted between October 2008 and January 2010 with the 305m Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico. We detected two flare events, one in March 2009, and one in September to November 2009. The OH maser flares are not simultaneous with the H2CO flares, but may be correlated with CH3OH flares from a component at corresponding velocities. A possible correlated variability of OH and CH3OH masers in IRAS18566+0408 is consistent with a common excitation mechanism (IR pumping) as predicted by theory.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

On dimension reduction in Gaussian filters

A priori dimension reduction is a widely adopted technique for reducing the computational complexity of stationary inverse problems. In this setting, the solution of an inverse problem is parameterized by a low-dimensional basis that is often obtained from the truncated Karhunen-Loeve expansion of the prior distribution. For high-dimensional inverse problems equipped with smoothing priors, this technique can lead to drastic reductions in parameter dimension and significant computational savings. In this paper, we extend the concept of a priori dimension reduction to non-stationary inverse problems, in which the goal is to sequentially infer the state of a dynamical system. Our approach proceeds in an offline-online fashion. We first identify a low-dimensional subspace in the state space before solving the inverse problem (the offline phase), using either the method of "snapshots" or regularized covariance estimation. Then this subspace is used to reduce the computational complexity of various filtering algorithms - including the Kalman filter, extended Kalman filter, and ensemble Kalman filter - within a novel subspace-constrained Bayesian prediction-and-update procedure (the online phase). We demonstrate the performance of our new dimension reduction approach on various numerical examples. In some test cases, our approach reduces the dimensionality of the original problem by orders of magnitude and yields up to two orders of magnitude in computational savings