Recharge variability and sensitivity to climate: The example of Gidabo River Basin, Main Ethiopian Rift

AbstractStudy regionGidabo River Basin, located in the south eastern Main Ethiopian Rift (MER).Study focusThe focus is to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of groundwater recharge, identify the drivers that govern its distribution, and to improve the understanding of its sensitivity to precipitation and temperature in the MER by applying the semi-distributed hydrological model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT).New hydrological insights for the regionThe average annual recharge for 1998–2010 reveals a remarkable decrease from the highland (410mm/year) towards the rift floor (25mm/year). Both the spatial and temporal recharge variability is mainly controlled by the climate. In the rift floor, recharge is found to occur only when annual precipitation exceeds a threshold of approximately 800mm. A sensitivity analysis reveals that annual recharge is very sensitive to variations in precipitation and moderately sensitive to temperature changes. The relative sensitivity increases from the highland to the rift floor across the watershed. Increases in both precipitation and temperature, as suggested by climate change projections for Ethiopia, appear to have an overall positive impact on recharge in the majority of the catchment. These findings have implications also for other catchments where recharge is spatially nonuniform and provide a basis for further investigations into the assessment of groundwater resources and their vulnerability to climate change at the watershed and sub-watershed scale

Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra and Xpert MTB/RIF assays for extrapulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in adults.

BACKGROUND: Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Xpert Ultra) and Xpert MTB/RIF are World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended rapid nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) widely used for simultaneous detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and rifampicin resistance in sputum. To extend our previous review on extrapulmonary tuberculosis (Kohli 2018), we performed this update to inform updated WHO policy (WHO Consolidated Guidelines (Module 3) 2020). OBJECTIVES: To estimate diagnostic accuracy of Xpert Ultra and Xpert MTB/RIF for extrapulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in adults with presumptive extrapulmonary tuberculosis. SEARCH METHODS: Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register, MEDLINE, Embase, Science Citation Index, Web of Science, Latin American Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Registry, and ProQuest, 2 August 2019 and 28 January 2020 (Xpert Ultra studies), without language restriction. SELECTION CRITERIA: Cross-sectional and cohort studies using non-respiratory specimens. Forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis: tuberculous meningitis and pleural, lymph node, bone or joint, genitourinary, peritoneal, pericardial, disseminated tuberculosis. Reference standards were culture and a study-defined composite reference standard (tuberculosis detection); phenotypic drug susceptibility testing and line probe assays (rifampicin resistance detection). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias and applicability using QUADAS-2. For tuberculosis detection, we performed separate analyses by specimen type and reference standard using the bivariate model to estimate pooled sensitivity and specificity with 95% credible intervals (CrIs). We applied a latent class meta-analysis model to three forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. We assessed certainty of evidence using GRADE. MAIN RESULTS: 69 studies: 67 evaluated Xpert MTB/RIF and 11 evaluated Xpert Ultra, of which nine evaluated both tests. Most studies were conducted in China, India, South Africa, and Uganda. Overall, risk of bias was low for patient selection, index test, and flow and timing domains, and low (49%) or unclear (43%) for the reference standard domain. Applicability for the patient selection domain was unclear for most studies because we were unsure of the clinical settings. Cerebrospinal fluid Xpert Ultra (6 studies) Xpert Ultra pooled sensitivity and specificity (95% CrI) against culture were 89.4% (79.1 to 95.6) (89 participants; low-certainty evidence) and 91.2% (83.2 to 95.7) (386 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have tuberculous meningitis, 168 would be Xpert Ultra-positive: of these, 79 (47%) would not have tuberculosis (false-positives) and 832 would be Xpert Ultra-negative: of these, 11 (1%) would have tuberculosis (false-negatives). Xpert MTB/RIF (30 studies) Xpert MTB/RIF pooled sensitivity and specificity against culture were 71.1% (62.8 to 79.1) (571 participants; moderate-certainty evidence) and 96.9% (95.4 to 98.0) (2824 participants; high-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have tuberculous meningitis, 99 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-positive: of these, 28 (28%) would not have tuberculosis; and 901 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-negative: of these, 29 (3%) would have tuberculosis. Pleural fluid Xpert Ultra (4 studies) Xpert Ultra pooled sensitivity and specificity against culture were 75.0% (58.0 to 86.4) (158 participants; very low-certainty evidence) and 87.0% (63.1 to 97.9) (240 participants; very low-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have pleural tuberculosis, 192 would be Xpert Ultra-positive: of these, 117 (61%) would not have tuberculosis; and 808 would be Xpert Ultra-negative: of these, 25 (3%) would have tuberculosis. Xpert MTB/RIF (25 studies) Xpert MTB/RIF pooled sensitivity and specificity against culture were 49.5% (39.8 to 59.9) (644 participants; low-certainty evidence) and 98.9% (97.6 to 99.7) (2421 participants; high-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have pleural tuberculosis, 60 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-positive: of these, 10 (17%) would not have tuberculosis; and 940 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-negative: of these, 50 (5%) would have tuberculosis. Lymph node aspirate Xpert Ultra (1 study) Xpert Ultra sensitivity and specificity (95% confidence interval) against composite reference standard were 70% (51 to 85) (30 participants; very low-certainty evidence) and 100% (92 to 100) (43 participants; low-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have lymph node tuberculosis, 70 would be Xpert Ultra-positive and 0 (0%) would not have tuberculosis; 930 would be Xpert Ultra-negative and 30 (3%) would have tuberculosis. Xpert MTB/RIF (4 studies) Xpert MTB/RIF pooled sensitivity and specificity against composite reference standard were 81.6% (61.9 to 93.3) (377 participants; low-certainty evidence) and 96.4% (91.3 to 98.6) (302 participants; low-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have lymph node tuberculosis, 118 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-positive and 37 (31%) would not have tuberculosis; 882 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-negative and 19 (2%) would have tuberculosis. In lymph node aspirate, Xpert MTB/RIF pooled specificity against culture was 86.2% (78.0 to 92.3), lower than that against a composite reference standard. Using the latent class model, Xpert MTB/RIF pooled specificity was 99.5% (99.1 to 99.7), similar to that observed with a composite reference standard. Rifampicin resistance Xpert Ultra (4 studies) Xpert Ultra pooled sensitivity and specificity were 100.0% (95.1 to 100.0), (24 participants; low-certainty evidence) and 100.0% (99.0 to 100.0) (105 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have rifampicin resistance, 100 would be Xpert Ultra-positive (resistant): of these, zero (0%) would not have rifampicin resistance; and 900 would be Xpert Ultra-negative (susceptible): of these, zero (0%) would have rifampicin resistance. Xpert MTB/RIF (19 studies) Xpert MTB/RIF pooled sensitivity and specificity were 96.5% (91.9 to 98.8) (148 participants; high-certainty evidence) and 99.1% (98.0 to 99.7) (822 participants; high-certainty evidence). Of 1000 people where 100 have rifampicin resistance, 105 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-positive (resistant): of these, 8 (8%) would not have rifampicin resistance; and 895 would be Xpert MTB/RIF-negative (susceptible): of these, 3 (0.3%) would have rifampicin resistance. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Xpert Ultra and Xpert MTB/RIF may be helpful in diagnosing extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Sensitivity varies across different extrapulmonary specimens: while for most specimens specificity is high, the tests rarely yield a positive result for people without tuberculosis. For tuberculous meningitis, Xpert Ultra had higher sensitivity and lower specificity than Xpert MTB/RIF against culture. Xpert Ultra and Xpert MTB/RIF had similar sensitivity and specificity for rifampicin resistance. Future research should acknowledge the concern associated with culture as a reference standard in paucibacillary specimens and consider ways to address this limitation

Étude et conception d'un système programmable de collecte et de transmission de données pour les réseaux de capteurs sans fil

Les réseaux de capteurs sans fil (WSN) ont acquis une popularité considérable en raison de la variété des applications, du faible coût et de la facilité d'installation. Ils sont appliqués avec succès pour la surveillance des infrastructures, le transport, les applications militaires, l’agriculture, les catastrophes naturelles et l'alerte. Ils consistent en une collection de capteurs sans fil dispersés dans une zone d'intérêt pour détecter et acheminer les données vers des nœuds puits. Ces derniers transmettent les données collectées vers les centres de contrôle pour le traitement et le stockage grâce à l’utilisation de technologies sans fil hétérogènes. Cependant, les nœuds de réception peuvent perdre leur connexion avec les capteurs et/ou les centres de contrôle en raison de l'épuisement de la batterie, d'une défaillance matérielle, d'un changement environnemental temporaire, d'attaques humaines, de catastrophes naturelles, etc. L'une des solutions pour remédier à ce problème consiste à utiliser des nœuds puits mobiles qui se déplacent d'un domaine WSN à un autre pour collecter et transmettre des données grâce à différentes technologies radio. Les puits mobiles doivent être équipés de plusieurs interfaces radio. Ceci ajoute plusieurs défis tels que la flexibilité, le partage du spectre, la gestion des interfaces, etc. Pour répondre à ces défis, nous proposons un système programmable de collecte et de transmission de données pour les WSN (ProDACTIFS). Cela implique la conception d'un nouveau nœud de réception mobile basé sur une radio configurable et programmable appelée Software Defined Radio (SDR) et l'utilisation du paradigme Software-Defined Networking (SDN).La première partie de cette thèse détaille le nouveau puits mobile appelé Universal Sink Gateway (USG). Il utilise les plateformes SDR comme émetteur-récepteur pour mettre en œuvre toutes les technologies sans fil impliquées dans le processus de collecte et de transmission des données. La conception de l'USG nécessite de sélectionner une plate-forme SDR capable de mettre en œuvre plusieurs technologies sans fil. Afin de sélectionner une plate-forme SDR appropriée pour concevoir un nœud USG, nous effectuons d'abord une analyse théorique et expérimentale approfondie pour évaluer les performances des plates-formes SDR aux regard des exigences des différentes technologies radio. Enfin, nous présentons une analyse théorique de l'USG pour la collecte de données, le transfert de données et sa capacité de couverture du réseau.La deuxième partie de cette thèse présente la solution ProDACTIFS, qui utilise des nœuds USG pour la collecte et le transfert de données, et le paradigme SDN pour contrôler les décisions de transfert de données des nœuds USG. Les liens de communication dans lesquels les USG sont impliqués peuvent être interrompus ou dégradés en raison de la mobilité, de la distance, de catastrophes, etc. Il en résulte une transmission inefficace des données collectées vers le centre de contrôle. Ainsi, nous appliquons le paradigme SDN pour contrôler le routage des USG. Enfin, nous proposons deux cas d’usage du système ProDACTIFS. En premier lieu, nous concevons un réseau sans fil fiable et résilient pour une zone sinistrée où les infrastructures de réseau peuvent avoir été endommagées par des catastrophes de grande ampleur. Le réseau sans fil proposé permet de collecter et de transmettre les données des survivants et des sauveteurs de la zone sinistrée vers un centre de contrôle. Le deuxième cas d'utilisation, consiste en la conception d’une nouvelle génération de réseaux de capteurs sans fil adaptables pour les capteurs et objets en bordure de voie dans les environnements ferroviaires (NEWNECTAR). Dans les deux cas, nous démontrons par des résultats théoriques et/ou de simulation que la solution proposée peut collecter et transmettre des données avec une qualité de service garantie en ce qui concerne la latence, le débit, le partage du spectre et la reconfigurationWireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have gained considerable popularity due to various applications, low cost and ease of installation. They are successfully applied in various application domains such as structural monitoring, transportation, military applications, agricultural sector, natural disaster and warning, etc. They consist of a collection of wireless sensor nodes scattered in an area of interest to sense, and route data to sink nodes. The sink nodes, on the other hand, forward the collected data to control centers for processing and data storage. The data collection and forwarding operations involve utilization of heterogeneous wireless technologies. However, sink nodes can lose their connection with sensor nodes and/or control centers due to battery depletion, hardware failure, temporary environmental change, human attacks, natural disasters, etc. One of the solutions to remedy this problem is using mobile sink nodes that can move from one WSN domain to another to collect and forward data, which requires supporting various technologies. To do so, the mobile sinks should be equipped with multiple radio interfaces. This adds several challenges such as flexibility, complexity, sharing spectrum, interface management, etc. To respond to these challenges, in this thesis, we design a Programmable DAta CollecTIon and Forwarding system for WSN (ProDACTIFS). It involves the design of a new mobile sink node based on a configurable and programmable radio called Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform, and utilization of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm.The first part of this thesis is to design the new mobile sink based on SDR platforms. This sink node is called Universal Sink Gateway (USG), which uses SDR platforms as the wireless transceiver to implement all the wireless technologies involved in the data collection and forwarding process. The design of USG requires selecting SDR platforms capable of implementing multiple wireless technologies. However, due to the availability of several SDR platforms in the market, the selection process is challenging. Hence, to select a suitable SDR platform, we first conduct a thorough theoretical and experimental analysis to evaluate the performance of SDR platforms and map the performance of well-known SDR platforms with the requirements of different WSN technologies. This mapping is used to select appropriate SDR platforms to design a USG node. Finally, we present a theoretical analysis of USG for data collection, data forwarding and its network coverage capability.The second part of this thesis shows the architectural design of ProDACTIFS, which uses USG nodes for data collection and forwarding, and SDN paradigm to control the data forwarding decisions of the USG nodes. The communication links where USGs are involved can be interrupted or degraded due to mobility, distance, disasters, etc. This will result in inefficient forwarding of collected data to the control center. Thus, we apply the SDN paradigm to control USG node’s routing to solve network failures.Finally, we study two use-cases for the ProDACTIFS system. First, we design a reliable and resilient wireless network in a disaster area where network infrastructures could be damaged due to large-scale disasters. The proposed wireless network will allow to collect and forward data from survivors and rescuers in a disaster area to a control center. In the second use-case, we propose an adaptive WSN for data collection and forwarding for railway application. It is called a New gEneration of adaptable Wireless sensor NEtwork for wayside objeCTs in rAilway enviRonments (NEWNECTAR). In both cases, we demonstrate through theoretical and/or simulation results that the proposed solution can collect and forward data with guaranteed quality of service with respect to latency, throughput, sharing spectrum, and reconfiguratio

Schwarz und Weiß: Innere Fremdbilder

Sobel M. Schwarz und Weiß: Innere Fremdbilder. Aust C, tran.; In: Jancke G, Ulbrich C, eds. Vom Individuum zur Person: Neue Konzepte im Spannungsfeld von Autobiographietheorie und Selbstzeugnisforschung. Querelles. Vol 10.2005. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag ; 2005: 145-172

ETHIOPIAN FLORICULTURE INDUSTRY FROM CSR AND GOVERNANCE PERSPECTIVE : "HOW IS CSR PRACTICED IN ETHIOPIAN FLORICULTURE INDUSTRY AND DOES IT HAS A LINKAGE WITH THE GOVERNANCE SYSTEM?"

In today’s globalized business world Corporate Social Responsibility hasbecome the pioneer business issue with ethical business governance. Nonetheless,the idea is in the early developing stage in most of the underdevelopedcountries like Ethiopia. Unlike the developed world in which the corporategovernance system plays a kin role in ensuring the ethical business practice,countries without stock market like Ethiopia are faced with lack of wellestablished ethical business practice.   Ethiopian flower industry is at its infancy stage and generates aconsiderable amount of foreign currency and provides job opportunity for manycitizens. However it is still accused of unsustainable flower production.   This paper explores the practice of corporate social responsibility and therelated governance on Ethiopian flower industry. It highlights particularly oncorporate social responsibility practices and its implementation through theassistance of government bodies and other stakeholders. It attempts to revealthe growth of the industry, corporate social responsibility and governmentalregulations with its CSR drivers. The study also assesses convergence of theeconomical, ecological and human practices of flower farms with its related CSRdrivers in promoting their governance on corporate social responsibility. Finallythis research provides opportunity for students, researchers and stakeholdersto analyze and discuss on the current CSR issue of the industry

Coverage Extension of Software Defined Radio Platforms for 3GPP 4G/5G Radio Access Networks

WMNC 2021, 13th IFIP Wireless and Mobile Networking Conference, Montreal, QC, CANADA, 20-/10/2021 - 22/10/2021The quick development of Software Defined Radio (SDR) platforms has simplified experimenting 3GPP cellular wireless access technologies in software. Thus, many implementations of 3GPP 4G/5G SDR Radio Access Networks (S-RANs) have been developed in the literature. However, most of these S-RANs are tested and evaluated in laboratories within very short-range cells. One of the main reasons for this restricted test environment is the limitation of the output transmit power of SDR devices. The objective of this paper is to show how the cell coverage of 3GPP 4G/5G S-RANs can be extended (numerically and experimentally) to reach a desired cell size such as micro and macro-cells. For this purpose, we first model the communication between user equipment (UE) and eNodeB/gNodeB using an SDR-based radio transceiver in both uplink and downlink directions. Then, we extract the parameters affecting the transmitted and received signal power. After, we numerically analyze the impact of each parameter on the cell coverage. Finally, to validate the numerical analysis, we conduct experiments using a testbed based on an open-source S-RAN implementation to evaluate the transmit power, receive power, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and Block Error Rate (BLER). The obtained numerical and experimental results show that different 4G/5G cell sizes can be achieved by using appropriate external equipment including amplifiers, filters, and antennas calibrated according to the employed SDR device specification

Lanthanum substituted Ni-Zn ferrite (Ni0.75Zn0.25Fe2O4) nanomaterial and its composite with rGO for degradation of binary dyes under visible light irradiation

Magnetically separable lanthanum modified Ni-Zn spinel ferrite nanoparticles (Ni0.75Zn0.25La0.06Fe1.94O4) and Ni0.75Zn0.25La0.06Fe1.94O4@rGO nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by the sol-gel auto-combustion and sonication methods respectively, for the degradation of binary organic pollutants. The results of x-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the formation of the face centered cubic (FCC) ferrites with the crystallite sizes ranging between 29.74 and 44.94 nm. The optical bandgap of the nano-composite was found to be 1.691 eV as revealed by the diffused reflectance spectral (DRS) study. The formation of the desired composition nanoparticles with a nearly spherical shape and their homogeneous distribution on sheets of rGO were verified by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive x-ray (EDAX) instrument. The HR-TEM/SEAD analysis also revealed the formation of spherical polycrystalline nanoparticles and their uniform dispensability with a little agglomeration on the sheet of rGO. The degradation studies were conducted using binary dyes (MB and MO) under the irradiation of visible light in the presence of peroxide. The effects of catalyst dose, irradiation time, initial dye concentration, pH value, and recyclability of nanocomposites have been systematically studied. The findings showed that as compared to La3+ substituted Ni-Zn ferrite nanoparticles (78% for MB and 85 % for MO), the magnetic Ni0.75Zn0. 25La0.06Fe1.94O4@rGO nanocomposite exhibited as a potential photocatalyst towards the simultaneous degradation of both dyes (95% for MB and 98% MO) within 40 min under the optimized conditions. The hydroxyl radical (·OH) play a key role for Ni0.75Zn0.25La0.06Fe1.94O4@rGO nanocomposite photocatalyst for photocatalytical degradation of the binary dyes (methyl orange and methylene blue)