Data describing the eco-physiological responses of Elaeagnus angustifolia grown under contrasting regime of water and fertilizer in coal-mined spoils

To improve our understanding of how coal mining areas can be re-vegetated and ecosystem function restored, we examined the potential effects of five water (W) regimes (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80% of field capacity), five nitrogen (N) (0, 24, 60, 96 and 120 mg kg‒1 soil) and five phosphorus (P) fertilizer doses (0, 36, 90, 144 and 180 mg kg‒1 soil), which control the growth and development of Elaeagnus angustifolia under adverse environmental conditions. To optimize the W-N-P application rate, three factors and five levels of central composite design along with an optimization technique named response surface methodology were utilized. Here we provide data on root-shoot biomass ratio, leaf dry matter content, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll (Chl) a, Chl b, membrane stability index and soluble protein content of E. angustifolia. The data described in this article are available in Mendeley Data, DOI: 10.17632/2vfbrdxyf2.2 [1]. These data could be used to evaluate the improvement in growth performance of E. angustifolia subjected to various regimes of W, N and P. This dataset showed that E. angustifolia grew optimally in coal-mine spoils when irrigated at 66% of field capacity and supplemented with 74.0 mg N and 36.0 mg P kg‒1 soil. This could considerably help the success of revegetation in coal-mined degraded arid areas where W is scarce. This article contains data complementary to the main research entitled "Fine-tuning of soil water and nutrient fertilizer levels for the ecological restoration of coal-mined spoils using Elaeagnus angustifolia" in the Journal of Environmental Management (Roy et al., 2020)

Pilot-Scale Continuous-Flow Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Filamentous Fungi

This study examined the potential of using the filamentous fungus Rhizopus oligosporus as a feedstock for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The fungal biomass, cultivated in thin stillage from a corn ethanol plant, was processed at pilot-scale using a 1.5-L capacity continuous-flow HTL system. HTL operating conditions of 300–400 °C at 27 MPa for 12–30 min were tested. Biocrude yields ranging from 48.2 to 60.9% were obtained. At low reaction temperatures (300 °C), yields as high as 59.9% could still be achieved. Aside from the least severe reaction condition studied (300 °C, 12 min), neither the yield nor elemental composition of the biocrude was significantly impacted by residence time or temperature, as is typically seen with batch reactors. Similarities in the biochemical and elemental composition between R. oligosporus and microalgae resulted in biocrude yields that were comparable to those previously reported for continuous-flow systems using microalgae. These findings demonstrate the viability of using fungal biomass as a feedstock for the HTL process, and they show that lower temperatures can be used at pilot-scale while still achieving maximal yields

Funding issues in a major strategic project: A case of investment appraisal

This paper describes and allows interaction with the issues involved in a major investment decision. In the summer of 1997, UKH faced major decisions concerning the purchase and funding of new plant and equipment. The authors were given excellent access to the company and were able to document key steps in the decision process. The issues are set out in a case study format that allows the reader to retrace the analyses carried out within UKH. A number of tasks are suggested that should test, develop and enhance a range of analytical, social and negotiation skills. The case can be handled in a variety of ways and most of the suggested tasks can be undertaken or omitted depending on the pedagogical objectives of the course/ instructor

Engineering squeezed states in high-Q cavities

While it has been possible to build fields in high-Q cavities with a high degree of squeezing for some years, the engineering of arbitrary squeezed states in these cavities has only recently been addressed [Phys. Rev. A 68, 061801(R) (2003)]. The present work examines the question of how to squeeze any given cavity-field state and, particularly, how to generate the squeezed displaced number state and the squeezed macroscopic quantum superposition in a high-Q cavity

The effect of BclI polymorphism of NR3C1 gene on asthma phenotypes in Egyptian children

Background: BclI is the promoter polymorphism observed within human glucocorticoid receptor gene (hGR/NR3C1) which plays an important role in the development of bronchial asthma (BA) and resistance to Glucocorticosteroids (GCs) in the severe BA. Objective: To assess the influence of BclI gene (rs41423247) polymorphisms on phenotypic expression of bronchial asthma in a group of Egyptian asthmatic children. Methods: This case control study included 135 asthmatic children with varying degrees of asthma severity. They were recruited from Allergy and Pulmonology Outpatient Clinic, Cairo University. Ninety healthy age and sex matched children served as the control group. Determination of BclI single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was done by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR- RFLP). Results: Our results revealed that the variants of BclI polymorphism: CC/CG/GG was found with frequency 73.3%, 26.7%, 0% in control group. While in asthmatic children, their frequency was 42.2%, 51.1%, 6.7%, respectively. This revealed a significant difference in distribution between cases and control, similarly there was a significant difference in frequency of allele G between both groups (P-value <0.001). The frequency of allele G/C showed statistically significance association with increased severity of bronchial asthma (P-value<0.001), with uncontrolled asthma and hospitalization (P value <0.001). Conclusion: The Bcl I polymorphism of hGR/NR3C1 gene is significantly associated with bronchial asthma. The GG phenotype is significantly associated with increased susceptibility to the development of severe asthma and uncontrolled asthma symptoms, with increased risk of hospitalization

Systemically administered central nervous system drugs induced ocular side effects: a review

Several systemic drugs have reported ocular and visual side effects that affect patient management. It is imperative to be familiar with the associated side effects which can be mild or transient and may seriously threaten vision. This article deals briefly with the mechanisms and reasons that account for the impact that systemically administered central nervous system (CNS) drugs can exert on the visual or ocular system. The eye care practitioner can be instrumental in detecting and reporting ocular side effects, advising patients and collaborating with other members of the patient’s healthcare team. One of the difficulties include becoming familiar with the countless systemic medications prescribed to patients. Another is being able to correlate a particular side effect with a suspected drug. Several of the ocular adverse effects such as glaucoma, cataract, blurred vision, color vision, optic neuritis, maculopathy, dry eye, etc., are vision threatening and often patients fail to recognize or describe the symptoms appropriately. Therefore, physicians and paramedical members like staff nurses, clinical pharmacists and other members must make adequate observations while recommending these drugs to patients

Inertial range scaling of scalar flux spectra in uniformly sheared turbulence

A model based on two-point closure theory of turbulence is proposed and applied to study the Reynolds number dependency of the scalar flux spectra in homogeneous shear flow with a cross-stream uniform scalar gradient. For the cross-stream scalar flux, in the inertial range the spectral behavior agrees with classical predictions and measurements. The streamwise scalar flux is found to be in good agreement with the results of atmospheric measurements. However, both the model results and the atmospheric measurements disagree with classical predictions. A detailed analysis of the different terms in the evolution equation for the streamwise scalar flux spectrum shows that nonlinear contributions are governing the inertial subrange of this spectrum and that these contributions are relatively more important than for the cross-stream flux. A new expression for the scalar flux spectra is proposed. It allows us to unify the description of the components in one single expression, leading to a classical K^-7/3 inertial range for the cross-stream component and to a new K^-23/9 scaling for the streamwise component that agrees better with atmospheric measurements than the K^-3 prediction of J. C. Wyngaard and O. R. Cot\'e [Quart. J. R. Met. Soc. 98, 590 (1972)]

Monitoring the prevalence of methamphetamine-related presentations at psychiatric hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa

Objective: This study aimed to determine a demographic profile of methamphetamine (MA)-related admissions to major psychiatric services in Cape Town, obtain a substance use profile from admitted patients, a profile of common MA-related symptoms encountered during the assessment of the patients presenting with MA-related problems, and a brief profile of the psychiatric diagnoses made.Method: Staff in six psychiatric hospitals or wards in Cape Town collected data on methamphetamine related admissions between July and December 2008 using a one-page record review form. The data collection form consisted of the patient’s demographic details, presenting symptoms, previous admission details, current MA and other substance use information, and DSM-IV diagnosis. Results: A total of 235 forms were completed. Most patients were male (69%) and the mean age was 25 years. The most common presenting symptoms were aggressive behaviour (74%), followed by delusions (59%) and hallucinations (57%). Males were two times more likely to present with aggression as compared to females, while females were significantly more likely to present with depressed mood or euphoric/elevated mood. The majority of patients had substanceinduced psychotic disorder (41%), followed by schizophrenia (31%). Twelve percent (12%) had bipolar mood disorder.Conclusion: MA-related psychiatric admissions pose serious challenges to all health services dealing with these patients. Further training and treatment protocol development and distribution is indicated.Keywords: Methamphetamine; Admissions; Psychosis; South Afric

Sero-prevalence of West Nile virus in urban and peri-urban poultry farms of Guwahati, India

West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic, emerging mosquito-borne virus which can cause severe disease in the form of encephalitis and acute flaccid paralysis in humans. In Assam, northeast India, arboviruses seem to be re-emerging, however, WNV has been little studied. The present investigation was carried out from April, 2018 to March, 2019 to study sero-positivity of WNV in chicken in urban and peri-urban areas of Guwahati, the capital city of Assam. Four urban and four peri-urban areas of Guwahati were selected. A total of 864 chicken serum samples (72 samples per month) were screened by ELISA and further confirmed by haemagglutination inhibition (HI), which revealed that 3.13% of the chickens had been exposed to WNV, with 0.69% sero-positivity in urban areas compared to 5.56% in peri-urban. Peak sero-prevalence of WNV were reported during the month of July and August with 8.33% each with lowest sero-prevalence being recorded in November (1.39%) and no sero-positive birds from December to April. These results indicate that WNV is one of the actively circulating flaviviruses in Assam, and human febrile and encephalitic cases should be screened for the disease

Reynolds-number Dependence of Streamwise Velocity Fluctuations in Turbulent Pipe Flow

Statistics of the streamwise velocity component in fully-developed pipe flow are examined for Reynolds numbers in the range 5.5 x 10^4 < Re_D < 5.7 x 10^6. The second moment exhibits two maxima: one in the viscous sublayer is Reynolds-number dependent while the other, near the lower edge of the log region, is also Reynolds-number dependent and follows roughly the peak in Reynolds shear stress. The behaviour of both peaks is consistent with the concept of inactive motion which increases with increasing Reynolds number and decreasing distance from the wall. No simple scaling is apparent, and in particular, so-called "mixed" scaling is no better than wall scaling in the viscous sublayer and is actually worse than wall scaling in the outer region. The second moment is compared with empirical and theoretical scaling laws and some anomalies are apparent. The scaling of spectra using y, R and u_τ is examined. It appears that even at the highest Reynolds number, they exhibit incomplete similarity only: while spectra do collapse with either inner or outer scales for limited ranges of wave number, these ranges do not overlap. Thus similarity may not be described as complete and any apparent k_1^(-1) range does not attract any special significance and does not involve universal constants. It is suggested that this is because of the influence of inactive motion. Spectra also show the presence of very long structures close to the wall