Geoelectric investigation of groundwater potential in Khor Abu Habil drainage basin

Geoelectric investigation for groundwater in Abu Habil water shed, northern Kordofan and it’s environ was done using the Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) method. Twenty two vertical electrical soundings data were acquired within the locations in the study area Borehole data were also acquired. Electrical resistivity methods are frequently used as investigation tool in groundwater exploration to obtain, details about the location, depth and apparent resistivity of the subsurface layers. Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Sounding (V.E.S) measurements were conducted using a portable ABEM SAS1000 instrument. The acquired data cover a wide range of resisitvity values from 3.0 Ωm to more than 5500Ωm, which generally reflects the variation of resistivity within the sediments and the basement complex. However, the interpretation of vertical electrical sounding is presented in the form of geoelectrical sections. The general trend of these geological sections is east – The depth to the basement . west and north – south and structural contour maps are constructed on the basis of present VES interpretation. The present work can be correlated to previous gravity research which shows low gravity anomalies in Kordofan Province that indicate presence of thick sediments. The aquifer mostly sandstone and, sand with gravel, which is associated with intermediate resistivity range between (25 to 60 Ωm) and, the average static water level of about 72 meters in the study area. The study reflects the existence of relatively thick sediments, whereas the thickness does not exceed 25 m in the southwest

Effects of media design on anaerobic filter performance

An anaerobic filter is a column packed with highly porous material through which wastewater is passed, normally in an upwards manner. The reactor medium serves as a support for microorganisms which become attached to or otherwise retained within its interstitial pore spaces. As wastewater passes through the medium, the microorganisms decompose the organic materials in the wastewater and use them for growth and multiplication. The major by-products of this anaerobic reaction are methane and carbon dioxide gases;Whereas many aspects of anaerobic filter process have been investigated thoroughly, including its ability to handle high strength wastewaters, the effects of packing design and configuration on the degree of wastewater treatment have not been explored in much detail. The amounts of treatment attributed to attached bacterial growth and that attributed to suspended growth are not well-known;This study was designed to explore the effects of media design, size, and surface area on the performance of anaerobic filters. Four pilot-scale units measuring 0.51 m in diameter and 1.83 m in height were used. The units were packed with Pall rings, perforated spheres, and two sizes of corrugated modular media. The units were operated for 13 months at loading rates ranging from 0.5 to 16.0 gm COD/L-day, influent COD concentrations ranging from 1500 to 6000 mg/L, and a temperature of 30(DEGREES)C. The substrate was simulated grain alcohol production wastewater;The study results showed a strong correlation between media design and size and COD removal efficiency. Modular media which were associated with minimal short-circuiting resulted in substantially better treatment efficiencies than loose-fill media at all loading rates and influent waste concentrations. The study results also indicated that flocculated suspended solids within the media matrix were primarily responsible for organics removal. These results coupled with the results of biomass activity tests led to the conclusion that media specific surface area was not as critical a design parameter as is its equivalent pore diameter. ;A mathematical model was used to simulate the operation of the anaerobic filter system with emphasis on media related factors. The results suggest that the concept of media equivalent pore diameter is an effective approach to anaerobic filter media selection

Nitrate Removal from Groundwater Using Immobilized Heterotrophic Algae

The treatment efficiency of Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus species, immobilized in sodium alginate, was evaluated for removing nitrate from groundwater. The experiments were performed initially in batch mode and the best-performing conditions were replicated in sequencing batch reactor mode. S. sp. showed a higher nitrate uptake in short term than C. sorokiniana. Immobilized S. sp. and C. sorokiniana cells showed 90% nitrate removal in 9 and 12 days, respectively. The optimal ratio of algal beads/water was found to be 12.5% (v:v). Comparatively, suspended S. sp. cells were able to remove only up to 35% of nitrate in 8 days. Alginate immobilized S. sp. beads were capable of uptaking nitrate for 100 consecutive days in sequencing batch reactor mode. When tested in actual groundwater, 90% of nitrate was eliminated in 2 days without need for any additional carbon source. Immobilized algal beads can be a low-cost alternative technique to remove nitrate from groundwater as they are water-insoluble, non-toxic, easy to harvest, and offer high removal efficiency. Highlights: Utilization of immobilized algae is a practical method for nitrate treatment. • Cultivation of heterotrophic algae reduces retention time needed for treatment. • Actual groundwater is more suitable for nitrate removal than simulated lab water. • In natural water, additional carbon source is not required for successful removal. • Same algae beads could be reused for treatment for repeated cycles up to 100 days. Includes supplementary materials

EC95-742 Pollution Prevention: A Tool Kit for Vehicle Maintenance Shops

Would you like to: • Reduce your operating costs by using fewer materials and supplies? • Reduce hazardous and nonhazardous waste transportation and disposal costs? • Reduce liability and risks associated with hazardous waste? • Reduce the paperwork and record keeping requirements associated with hazardous waste? • Improve workplace safety and employee health? • Help safeguard the environment? • Improve your company\u27s image? • Increase your company\u27s business activities? If you answered Yes, to any of the above questions, you may want to look at the materials in this pollution prevention tool kit

Sacrococcygeal teratoma excision: a vertical rather than transverse wound closure

Background: The chevron incision has been the standard approach for sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT) excision. Here, we are reporting our experience of shifting to the vertical posterior sagittal approach.Patients and methods: During the period 2011 through 2016, we operated on 17 (16 female and one male) cases of SCT. Their age at presentation ranged from day 1 to 26 months (mean=4.8 months, median=2 months). The chevron incision was used in five, whereas the vertical posterior sagittal approach was used in 12 patients.Results: In this series, we had one case of perioperative mortality, in addition to another case of perineal wound disruption (in the group of vertical wound closure), which was managed conservatively (to heal by secondary intention) with a very satisfactory hidden scar at 6-month follow-up. Overall, we did not find the vertical approach to add any extra limitations to the surgical exposure or dissection; meanwhile, it provided a well-recognized cosmetic advantage.Conclusion: The vertical posterior sagittal approach for excision of SCT is both feasible and advantageous in terms of the cosmetic outcome. It provides a well-hidden scar in the natal cleft and preserves normal contouring of the buttocks.Keywords: buttock, cosmesis, posterior sagittal, reconstruction, sacrococcygeal teratom

Linkage disequilibrium and association mapping of drought tolerance in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) germplasm population from diverse regions of Pakistan

Drought stress is a major abiotic stress that limits crop production. Molecular association mapping techniques through linkage disequilibrium (LD) can be effectively used to tag genomic regions involved in drought stress tolerance. With the association mapping approach, 90 genotypes of cotton Gossypium hirsutum, from diverse regions of Pakistan were used. The morpho-physiological traits of all genotypes were evaluated in greenhouse under well-watered and drought stress conditions. Mean squares from analysis of variance for all morpho-physiological traits revealed highly significant variations (P≤0.05) between water levels and genotypes. Cotton varieties were screened for polymorphism with 180 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Out of these 180 SSR markers, 95 were polymorphic. Genotyping of the selected 95 SSR primer pairs generated 57.5% polymorphism, and the number of polymorphic alleles per primer was 2.10. Population structure, linkage disequilibrium, and association mapping between pairs of SSR marker loci were studied. The significance of pairwise LD (P≤0.005) among all possible SSR loci was evaluated at significant threshold values (R2≥0.05); 7.1% of the SSR marker pairs showed significant pairwise LD in 90 accessions of G. hirsutum. Also we observed a significant (R2) LD between 13 pairs of SSR loci; each pair within the same chromosome in a range of 180 cM between NAU1230 and NAU3095 loci in chromosome (D5) and 1.612 cM between NAU462 and NAU3414 in chromosome A9. This indicates tight linkage between two alleles on the same chromosome. Markers, NAU3414, NAU2691, NAU1141 and NAU1190 were associated with more than single traits under drought treatments. Highest phenotypic variance explaining (R2) was ascribed to NAU3011 chromosome D13 significantly (p≤0.001) associated with root length under drought treatment.Keywords: Cotton Gossypium hirsutum, drought stress, association mapping, linkage disequilibrium (LD), simple sequence repeats (SSRs

Arabic Documents classification method a Step towards Efficient Documents Summarization

The massive growth of online information obliged the availability of a thorough research in the domain of automatic text summarization within the Natural Language Processing (NLP) community. To reach this goal, different approaches should be integrated and collaborated. One of these approaches is the classification od documents. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a successful framework for agricultural documents classification as a step forward for a language independent automatic summarization approach. The main target of our serial research is to propose a complete novel framework which not only responses to the question, but also gives the user an opportunity to find additional information that is related to the question. We implemented the proposed method. As a case study, the implemented method is applied on Arabic text in the agriculture field. The implemented approach succeeded in classifying the documents submitted by the user. The approach results have been evaluated using Recall, Precision and F-score measures. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15017

Design and Validation of New Data Acquisition System for Isolated Muscle Experiments: Application to Pharmacology Teaching and Research: Submitted: Jan 18, 2018 Accepted: Jan 30, 2018 Published online: Feb 7, 2018

In this paper we describe a new data acquisition (DAQ) system for pharmacology experiments involving isolated muscle contraction. The system is composed of hardware acquisition unit and computer software for analysis of signals representing muscle contractions. As compared to mechanoelectrical DAQ systems of other constructions, the advantages of the new system include a high sensitivity (in the order of 1 µN), a wide range of forces recorded (1 µN to 100 mN), linearity throughout the whole range, easy assembly, low costs, long-term calibration stability, good dynamic characteristics and full control graphical interface. The device can be readily adjusted to actual experimental conditions and a variety of muscle preparations. Experimental validation of our DAQ inside the Clinical Pharmacology Department at Mansoura University Faculty of Medicine showed that it can record contractions of isolated muscle preparations with good precision and accuracy. Accordingly, the DAQ system design presented herein with its dedicated software is largely suitable for isolated muscle experiments in both teaching and research in biomedical fields

Thermal Radiation and MHD Effects on Free Convective Flow of a Polar Fluid through a Porous Medium in the Presence of Internal Heat Generation and Chemical Reaction

An analysis is presented to study the MHD free convection with thermal radiation and mass transfer of polar fluid through a porous medium occupying a semi-infinite region of the space bounded by an infinite vertical porous plate with constant suction velocity in the presence of chemical reaction, internal heat source, viscous and Darcy's dissipation. The highly nonlinear coupled differential equations governing the boundary layer flow, heat, and mass transfer are solved by using a two-term perturbation method with Eckert number as a perturbation parameter. The results are obtained for velocity, angular velocity, temperature, concentration, skin friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number. The effect of various material parameters on flow, heat, and mass transfer variables is discussed and illustrated graphically

Magnetic resonance imaging of head and neck vascular anomalies: pearls and pitfalls

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe typical MRI features of the head and neck vascular anomalies and the possible diagnostic pitfalls.Patients and methods: Patients with extracranial vascular anomalies of the head and neck, who underwent MRI examinations between January 2013 and January 2016, were included in the study. Precontrast and postcontrast T1-WI,T2-WI, with and without fat saturation were acquired. When indicated, a noncontrast MR angiography was performed. Dynamic postcontrast MRI techniques were available in six children.Results: The study included 33 patients (age ranged from 10 to 20 years, mean: 49 months). MRI confirmed the clinical diagnosis in equivocal cases, and provided proper determination of lesion extension and/or associated intracranial anomalies. The study included 10 cases of vascular tumors (hemangioma), whereas the remaining 23 cases had the diagnosis of vascular malformations (one patient with arteriovenous malformation, one with capillary malformation, seven with venous, nine with macrocystic lymphatic, and five with microcystic lymphatic malformations).Conclusion: Vascular anomalies in the head and neck are mostly diagnosed on clinical basis; however, when the history is uncertain or the diagnosis is equivocal, a well-tailored MR examination can be a single valuable diagnostic tool providing structural and functional information.Keywords: children, head and neck, hemangioma, lymphatic malformation, magnetic resonance angiography, venous malformatio