Application of GIS-based machine learning algorithms for prediction of irrigational groundwater quality indices

Agriculture is considered one of the primary elements for socioeconomic stability in most parts of Sudan. Consequently, the irrigation water should be properly managed to achieve sustainable crop yield and soil fertility. This research aims to predict the irrigation indices of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percentage (Na%), permeability index (PI), and potential salinity (PS) using innovative machine learning (ML) techniques, including K-nearest neighbor (KNN), random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and Gaussian process regression (GPR). Thirty-seven groundwater samples are collected and analyzed for twelve physiochemical parameters (TDS, pH, EC, TH, Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+, HCO3−, Cl, SO4−2, and NO3−) to assess the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater and its suitability for irrigation purposes. The primary investigation indicated that the samples are dominated by Ca-Mg-HCO3 and Na-HCO3 water types resulted from groundwater recharge and ion exchange reactions. The observed irrigation indices of SAR, Na%, PI, and PS showed average values of 7, 42.5%, 64.7%, and 0.5, respectively. The ML modeling is based on the ion’s concentration as input and the observed values of the indices as output. The data is divided into two sets for training (70%) and validation (30%), and the models are validated using a 10-fold cross-validation technique. The models are tested with three statistical criteria, including mean square error (MSE), root means square error (RMSE), and correlation coefficient (R2). The SVR algorithm showed the best performance in predicting the irrigation indices, with the lowest RMSE value of 1.45 for SAR. The RMSE values for the other indices, Na%, PI, and PS, were 6.70, 7.10, and 0.55, respectively. The models were applied to digital predictive data in the Nile River area of Khartoum state, and the uncertainty of the maps was estimated by running the models 10 times iteratively. The standard deviation maps were generated to assess the model’s sensitivity to the data, and the uncertainty of the model can be used to identify areas where a denser sampling is needed to improve the accuracy of the irrigation indices estimates

Porous and highly responsive polymeric fabricated nanometrices for solubility enhancement of acyclovir; characterization and toxicological evaluation

Solubility is one of the major factors which affects several therapeutic mioeties in terms of their therapeutic efficacy. In the current study, we presented a porous and amorphous nanometrices system for the enhancement of the solubility of acyclovir. The polymeric network was fabricated by crosslinking polyethylene glycol-6000, polycaprolactone, and β-cyclodextrin with methacrylic acid by optimizing free radical polymerization technique using methylene bisacrylamide as a crosslinking agent. The formulated nanometrices were then characterized by zetasizer, FTIR, PXRD, Scanning electron microscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis, swelling, sol-gel fraction, drug loading, stability, solubility, and in-vitro dissolution analysis. Since the formulated system has to be administered orally, therefore to determine the in-vivo biocompatibility, nanometrices were administered orally to experimental animals. SEM images provided a rough and porous structure while PXRD showed an amorphous diffractogram of the unloaded and loaded nanometrices. Moreover, the particle size of the optimum loaded formulation was 25 nm higher than unloaded nanometrices due to the repulsion of the loaded drug. A significant loading of the drug with enhanced solubility and dissolution profiles was observed for the poorly soluble drug. The dissolution profile was quite satisfactory as compared to the marketed brand of drug which depicted that the solubility of the drug has been enhanced. Toxicity study conducted on rabbits confirmed the biocompatibility of the nanometrices. The systematic method of preparation, enhanced solubility and high dissolution profile of the formulated nanometrices may be proved as a promising technique to enhance the solubility of poorly aqueous soluble therapeutic agents

Analysis of dickson voltage multiplier for RF energy harvesting

This paper presents the RF energy harvesting parameters depending on the efficiency and the output DC voltage for input powers between-35dBm to 25dBm. In this study, multi-stage Dickson voltage multiplier (DVM) from 2 to 6-stages are designed and implemented with various load resistance i.e. 20-50-100-500 kΩ and different matching topology such L-matching, T-matching, and Pi-matching are applied, and also two Schottky diode models (e.g. HSMS-2852 and HSMS-2822) are used to design the DVM to see their effect on the efficiency. All the simulations are done by using the Advance Design System (ADS) 2017. The target frequency selected in the design is 915 MHz for Industrial, Scientific and Medical Radio Band (ISM band). The simulation results show that high efficiency and high output DC voltage are obtained for the DVM circuit design with matching compared to the DVM circuit without matching for low input power...

Simulation of Surface and Subsurface Water Quality in Hyper-Arid Environments

Forty-eight water samples (30 groundwater and 18 surface water samples) were collected from the study region. Physical and chemical examinations were performed on the water samples to determine the values of various variables. Several graphs, sheets, and statistical measures, including the sodium solubility percentage (SSP), the sodium absorption ratio (SAR), and Piper’s diagram, were used to plot the concentration of the principal ions and the chloride mass balance (CMB). The contents of the variables were compared with the contents in other local areas and the standard allowable safe limits as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Water pH values were neutral for all water samples. Electric conductivity (EC) readings revealed that water samples vacillated from slightly mineralized to excessively mineralized. Water salinities were fresh and very fresh according to the total dissolved solids (TDS) amounts. The hardness of water ranged from medium to hard in the surface water and from medium to very hard in the groundwater samples. Bicarbonate, sodium, and calcium made up the highest amounts in the surface water samples. The highest concentrations of bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, and sodium were found in the groundwater. Diagrams show the major ion relationships as well as the type and origin of the water. According to Piper’s plots, most of the water samples under investigation were Ca-HCO3 type, Mg water types, followed by SO4.Ca-Cl water types. This highlighted the elemental preponderance of bicarbonate and alkaline earth (Ca2+ + Mg2+). This dominance is caused by evaporite and carbonate minerals dissolving in water because of anthropogenic activities and interaction processes. The groundwater recharge was estimated to be 0.89–1.6 mm/yr based on Chloride Mass Balance. The examined water samples can also be used for cattle, poultry, and irrigation. Additionally, the groundwater is of poorer quality than the surface water, although both types of water are adequate for various industries, with a range of 14 to 94 percent. With the exception of a few groundwater samples, the tested water samples are suitable for a number of applications

Performance characterization of a novel PV/T panel with nanofluids under the climatic conditions of Muscat, Oman

The study presents an experimental analysis of a novel mini channels-based Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) panel with nanofluid flow. The design consists of a PV plate attached to an aluminum substrate absorber plate having minichannels grooved on it to act as a solar collector and cooling mechanism for PV. The proposed design was tested for thermal and electrical efficiencies under the working fluids of water, Al2O3, and SiO2 nanofluids at 0.1% and 0.2% concentrations in water and at a flow rate of 0.005 l/s to 0.045 l/s. The experiments were carried out outdoors in a real environment and the measurements were taken for PV surface and fluid temperatures, incidence solar flux, electrical voltage, and current produced. The PV and PV/T performance was compared, and a noticeable enhancement in electrical efficiency was observed with the proposed design as compared to the bare PV module, and an appreciable augmentation in thermal efficiency was noticed when nanofluids were applied. The maximum electrical and thermal efficiencies of PV/T with 0.2% Al2O3 nanofluid were 19.1% and 73.4%, respectively; whereas for bare PV panels, the electrical efficiency was 18.7%. The Al2O3 nanofluid at 0.2% exhibited more than a 10% increase in thermal efficiency compared to water as a working fluid in PV/T

Investigation of petrophysical and hydrogeological parameters of the transboundary Nubian Aquifer system using geophysical methods

The recent research aims to investigate the petrophysical and hydrogeological parameters of the Nubian aquifer system (NAS) in Northern Khartoum State, Sudan, using integrated geophysical methods, including surface electrical resistivity and geophysical well-logging. The Nubian aquifer is a transboundary regional aquifer that covers vast areas in Sudan, Egypt, Libya and Chad. The well-logs, including self-potential (SP), natural gamma ray (GR), and long normal resistivity (RS), are integrated with Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) measurements to delineate the hydrostratigraphical units. As a result, two aquifers are detected. An upper aquifer comprises coarse sand with an average thickness of 50 m and a lower aquifer of sandstone with more than 200 m thickness. For a thorough evaluation of the aquifers, in the first stage, the petrophysical and hydrogeological parameters, including formation factor, total and effective porosity, shale volume, hydraulic conductivity, and transmissivity, are measured solely from geophysical well-logs. In the second step, the results of geophysical well logs are combined with VES and pumping test data to detect the spatial variation of the measured parameters over the study area. As a result, the hydraulic conductivity of the Nubian aquifers ranged from 1.9 to 7.8 m/day, while the transmissivity varied between 120 and 733 m2/day. These results indicated that the potentiality of the Nubian formation is high; however, in some regions, due to the sediment heterogeneity, the aquifers have intermediate to high potential. According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that the Nubian Aquifer in Khartoum state is ideal for groundwater development. This research discovered that geophysical approaches can be used to characterize moderately heterogeneous groundwater systems by comparing the Nubian aquifer with similar aquifer systems that have similar hydrogeological settings. This study emphasized the application of universal principles in extrapolating hydraulic parameters in hydrogeophysical surveys. This approach aims to reduce the costs and efforts associated with traditional hydrogeological approaches.Water Resource

Application of GIS-based machine learning algorithms for prediction of irrigational groundwater quality indices

Agriculture is considered one of the primary elements for socioeconomic stability in most parts of Sudan. Consequently, the irrigation water should be properly managed to achieve sustainable crop yield and soil fertility. This research aims to predict the irrigation indices of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percentage (Na%), permeability index (PI), and potential salinity (PS) using innovative machine learning (ML) techniques, including K-nearest neighbor (KNN), random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and Gaussian process regression (GPR). Thirty-seven groundwater samples are collected and analyzed for twelve physiochemical parameters (TDS, pH, EC, TH, Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+, HCO3−, Cl, SO4−2, and NO3−) to assess the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater and its suitability for irrigation purposes. The primary investigation indicated that the samples are dominated by Ca-Mg-HCO3 and Na-HCO3 water types resulted from groundwater recharge and ion exchange reactions. The observed irrigation indices of SAR, Na%, PI, and PS showed average values of 7, 42.5%, 64.7%, and 0.5, respectively. The ML modeling is based on the ion’s concentration as input and the observed values of the indices as output. The data is divided into two sets for training (70%) and validation (30%), and the models are validated using a 10-fold cross-validation technique. The models are tested with three statistical criteria, including mean square error (MSE), root means square error (RMSE), and correlation coefficient (R2). The SVR algorithm showed the best performance in predicting the irrigation indices, with the lowest RMSE value of 1.45 for SAR. The RMSE values for the other indices, Na%, PI, and PS, were 6.70, 7.10, and 0.55, respectively. The models were applied to digital predictive data in the Nile River area of Khartoum state, and the uncertainty of the maps was estimated by running the models 10 times iteratively. The standard deviation maps were generated to assess the model’s sensitivity to the data, and the uncertainty of the model can be used to identify areas where a denser sampling is needed to improve the accuracy of the irrigation indices estimates.Water Resource

Geophysical investigations for the identification of subsurface features influencing mineralization zones

The numerous hydrothermal alteration zones and subsurface structures affecting the mineralized deposits of the Dungash region were identified using aeromagnetic data. The Center of Exploration Targeting (CET) approach and several filters, such as reduction-to-pole, Tilt derivative, First Vertical Derivative, Horizontal gradient map, Downward continuation, analytical signal methods, regional, and residual separation, were used to analyze the aeromagnetic data. The research region is impacted by several structural trends running in the N-S, E-W, NW-SE, and NE-SW directions, and these trends are strongly related to the gold mineralization and surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones. In the NW-SE direction, four alteration zones have been identified. The research region's northern and eastern regions have shallower basement relief, with depths of only approximately 100 m, and those depths show that the area is rootless. Conversely, the basement relief and surface depths are lower in the study region's western and southern regions. The routes taken by the ascending hydrothermal fluids can be seen as aeromagnetic lineaments at the hydrothermal alteration zones. Mineralization appears to be linked to structural lineaments, as evidenced by airborne magnetic data. For gold prospecting, the aeromagnetic technique seems to be the most effective and efficient geophysical method because gold is typically found in severely deformed shear zones and faults.Water Resource

Conservative management of intraventricular migrating intracranial bullet: A case report

Background. The high mortality rate of a cranial bullet injury, the catastrophic damage of vital tissue, and the frequency of gunshot accidents made managing such cases highly effortful in neurosurgical trauma centres. One category of these injuries is the gravitational bullet injury, in which the bullet's movement depends on gravity after losing its kinetic energy. This paper aims to describe the conservative treatment plan we applied for a patient who suffered an intracranial gravitational bullet injury. Case description. The patient presented with a cranial bullet injury that migrated caudally to his lateral ventricle. This unapproachable location of the bullet made the surgical intervention undoable. Therefore, after the implication of resuscitative management, the patient went under heavy observation with a suitable follow-up plan. The patient's short-term outcome was excellent, and his Glasgow coma scale was 15 at the discharge. Conclusion. Conservative management in a gravitational bullet is one of the possible methods to reach the best outcome in non-operable patients. Such measures are highlighted in this case, even when a complication like a bullet migration may occur