A GIS analysis for heavy metal assessment of sediment in coastal lagoon

International audienceThe determination of priority areas at risk for contaminant mobility challenges scientists and resource managers, who are increasingly prevailed upon to provide a predictive understanding of the processes and relative dangers associated with the degrading of the aquatic environment. Comprehensive and joint applications of GIS and statistics approach were applied in identification and spatial patterns of coastal water pollution sources with a large data set obtained through coastal water monitoring of Oualidia lagoon. This chapter describes environmental statute, discusses its ecological and socio-economic impacts and provides a GIS analysis for heavy metal assessment of sediments in coastal lagoon. The aim is to establish spatial correlations and between clays sediment distributions and total heavy metal concentrations. Further, it determines whether observed anomaly is due to natural geology (sediment grain size) or is affected by discharge from anthropogenic sources. Spatial distribution modelling of heavy metal concentrations are produced to indicate contamination plumes from possible anthropogenic sources and to reveal potential hot spots and dispersion patterns. A direct correlation between clay-enriched and high concentration of aluminium is detected, however regions of high concentrations of heavy metal indicate a relationship to anthropogenic sources

A GIS analysis for heavy metal assessment of sediment in coastal lagoon

International audienceThe determination of priority areas at risk for contaminant mobility challenges scientists and resource managers, who are increasingly prevailed upon to provide a predictive understanding of the processes and relative dangers associated with the degrading of the aquatic environment. Comprehensive and joint applications of GIS and statistics approach were applied in identification and spatial patterns of coastal water pollution sources with a large data set obtained through coastal water monitoring of Oualidia lagoon. This chapter describes environmental statute, discusses its ecological and socio-economic impacts and provides a GIS analysis for heavy metal assessment of sediments in coastal lagoon. The aim is to establish spatial correlations and between clays sediment distributions and total heavy metal concentrations. Further, it determines whether observed anomaly is due to natural geology (sediment grain size) or is affected by discharge from anthropogenic sources. Spatial distribution modelling of heavy metal concentrations are produced to indicate contamination plumes from possible anthropogenic sources and to reveal potential hot spots and dispersion patterns. A direct correlation between clay-enriched and high concentration of aluminium is detected, however regions of high concentrations of heavy metal indicate a relationship to anthropogenic sources

Love the wild swan: The selected works of Judith Edwards

Love the Wild Swan is the culmination of thirty years of clinical and teaching experience, undertaken by child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist Judith Edwards. Along with new material, the book consists of previously published papers spanning Edwards’s entire career, which have been carefully selected to chart the journey that every clinician and human being makes, from babyhood to adult life. Edwards offers an example of how the evolution of meanings occur and how lifelong learning about the self and the other takes place. The book is divided into four parts, with sections on observation, clinical work, teaching theory, and links between these ideas and ongoing life in the form of the arts, through poetry, film and sculpture

Using automatic computation to analyze the rate of shoreline change on the Kenitra coast, Morocco

International audienc

Evaluation of the anthropogenic influx of metal 1 and metalloid contaminants into the Moulay Bousselham lagoon, Morocco, using chemometric methods coupled to geographical information systems

International audienceSuperficial and cored sediment samples from the Moulay Bousselham lagoon and sub-watershed were analyzed for Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Ni, Cr, As, Hg, and Cd. The temporal and spatial distributions of the main contamination sources of heavy metals were identified and described using chemometric and geographic information system (GIS) methods. Sediments from coastal lagoons near urban and agricultural areas are commonly contaminated with heavy metals, and the concentrations found in surface sediments are significantly higher than those from 50–100 years ago. The concentrations of these elements decrease sharply with depth in the sediment column, and the elements are preferentially enriched in the <2-μm-sized fraction of the sediment. The zones of enhanced risk of heavy metals were detected by means of GIS-based geostatistical modeling. According to sediment pollution indices and statistical analysis, heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr, and Hg) that pose a risk have become largely enriched in the lagoon sediments during the recent period of agricultural intensification

Evaluation of the Viability of Lactobacillus spp. After the Production of Different Solid Dosage Forms

The work aims to provide evidence on the viability of Lactobacillus spp. and a spore form of Bacillus subtilis from nonprocessed bacteria to coated dosage forms (i.e., mini-tablets, pellets, and their coated forms). Lactobacillus spp. were cultivated overnight in MRS broth (10(9) cfu/mL) and B. subtilis spores were produced on plate count agar (107 cfu/mL) for 2 weeks. Bacteria and spores were freeze-dried in skim milk enriched with glycerol. The cakes were further processed into tablets (2.5 mm diameter) by direct compression with or without microcrystalline cellulose and inulin. Pellets (1-1.4 mm diameter) were produced by extrusion-spheronization of bacterial and spore suspensions with microcrystalline cellulose, lactose, inulin, and skim milk. Both tablets and pellets were film coated. The properties of the dosage forms, particularly the bacterial viability, were evaluated immediately after production and throughout storage for 6 months at 4 degrees C. The study has shown that for an adequate stabilization of the bacteria a protective matrix (e.g., skim milk) and cryoprotectors (e.g., glycerol) must be present at early stages of bacterial de-hydration. Tabletting had a less deleterious effect (2 log units) on bacteria when compared to pelletization (in some cases 3 log units). Enteric coating (15%, w/w) of either tablets or pellets did not affect the viability of the bacteria. (C) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 98:3329-3339, 2009. - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal [SFRH/BD/17193/2004]. - This work was supported by a research grant from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (SFRH/BD/17193/2004) and by material resources made available by Associacao Desenvolvimento Ensino Investigacao Microbiologia (ADEIM)

Assess the human and environmental vulnerability for coastal hazard by using a multi-criteria decision analysis

International audienc

Modelling the potential impacts of land use/cover change on terrestrial carbon stocks in north-west Morocco

International audienc

Classifying and mapping cultural ecosystem services using artificial intelligence and social media data

Quantifying and mapping cultural ecosystem services are complex because of their intangibility. Data from social media, such as geo-tagged photographs, has been proposed for mapping cultural use or appreciation of ecosystems. However, manual content analysis and classification of large numbers of photographs is time-consuming. The potential of deep learning for automating the analysis of crowdsourced social media content is still being explored in CES research. Here, we use a new deep learning model for automating the classification of natural and human elements relevant to CES from Flickr images. This approach applies a convolutional neural network architecture to analyze over 29,000 photographs from the Lithuanian coast and uses hierarchical clustering to group these photographs. The accuracy of the classification was assessed by comparison with manual classification. Over 37% of the photographs were taken for the landscape appreciation class, and 28% of the photographs were taken of nature, of animals or plants, which represent the nature appreciation class. The main clusters were identified in urban areas, more precisely in the main coastal cities of Lithuania. The distribution of the nature photographs was concentrated around particular natural attractions, and they were more likely to occur in parks and natural reserves with high levels of vegetation and animal cover. This approach that was developed for clustering the photographs was accurate and saved approximately 100 km of manual work. The method demonstrates how analyzing large numbers of digital photographs expands the analytical toolbox available to researchers and allows the quantification and mapping of CES at large geographical scales. Automated assessment and mapping of cultural ecosystem services could be used to inform urban planning and improve nature reserve management

Using Analytic Hierarchy Process to Map and Quantify the Ecosystem Services in Oualidia Lagoon, Morocco

International audienc