A geostatistical fusion approach using UAV data for probabilistic estimation of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca infection in olive trees

Xylella fastidiosa is one of the most destructive plant pathogenic bacteria worldwide, affecting more than 500 plant species. In Apulia region (southeastern Italy), X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca (Xfp) is responsible for a severe disease, the olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS), spreading epidemically and with dramatic impact on the agriculture, the landscape, the tourism, and the cultural heritage of this region. An early detection of the infected plants would hinder the rapid spread of the disease. The main objective of this paper was to define a geostatistical approach of data fusion, which combines remote (radiometric), and proximal (geophysical) sensor data and visual inspections with plant diagnostic tests, to provide probabilistic maps of Xfp infection risk. The study site was an olive grove located at Oria (province of Brindisi, Italy), where at the time of monitoring (September 2017) only few plants showed initial symptoms of the disease. The measurements included: 1) acquisitions of reflected electromagnetic radiation with UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) equipped with a multi-spectral camera; 2) geophysical surveys on the trunks of 49 plants with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR); 3) disease severity rating, by visual inspection of the proportion of canopy with symptoms; 4) qPCR (real time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction) data from tests on 61 plants. The data were submitted to a set of processing techniques to define a “data fusion” procedure, based on non-parametric multivariate geostatistics. The approach allowed marking those areas where the risk of infection was higher, and identifying the possible infection entry routes into the field. The probability map of infection risk could be used as an effective tool for a preventive action and for a better organization of the monitoring plans

Exploring the Bimodal Solar System via Sample Return from the Main Asteroid Belt: The Case for Revisiting Ceres

Abstract: Sample return from a main-belt asteroid has not yet been attempted, but appears technologically feasible. While the cost implications are significant, the scientific case for such a mission appears overwhelming. As suggested by the “Grand Tack” model, the structure of the main belt was likely forged during the earliest stages of Solar System evolution in response to migration of the giant planets. Returning samples from the main belt has the potential to test such planet migration models and the related geochemical and isotopic concept of a bimodal Solar System. Isotopic studies demonstrate distinct compositional differences between samples believed to be derived from the outer Solar System (CC or carbonaceous chondrite group) and those that are thought to be derived from the inner Solar System (NC or non-carbonaceous group). These two groups are separated on relevant isotopic variation diagrams by a clear compositional gap. The interface between these two regions appears to be broadly coincident with the present location of the asteroid belt, which contains material derived from both groups. The Hayabusa mission to near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (25143) Itokawa has shown what can be learned from a sample-return mission to an asteroid, even with a very small amount of sample. One scenario for main-belt sample return involves a spacecraft launching a projectile that strikes an object and flying through the debris cloud, which would potentially allow multiple bodies to be sampled if a number of projectiles are used on different asteroids. Another scenario is the more traditional method of landing on an asteroid to obtain the sample. A significant range of main-belt asteroids are available as targets for a sample-return mission and such a mission would represent a first step in mineralogically and isotopically mapping the asteroid belt. We argue that a sample-return mission to the asteroid belt does not necessarily have to return material from both the NC and CC groups to viably test the bimodal Solar System paradigm, as material from the NC group is already abundantly available for study. Instead, there is overwhelming evidence that we have a very incomplete suite of CC-related samples. Based on our analysis, we advocate a dedicated sample-return mission to the dwarf planet (1) Ceres as the best means of further exploring inherent Solar System variation. Ceres is an ice-rich world that may be a displaced trans-Neptunian object. We almost certainly do not have any meteorites that closely resemble material that would be brought back from Ceres. The rich heritage of data acquired by the Dawn mission makes a sample-return mission from Ceres logistically feasible at a realistic cost. No other potential main-belt target is capable of providing as much insight into the early Solar System as Ceres. Such a mission should be given the highest priority by the international scientific community

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Performance evaluation for optical backhaul and wireless front-end in hybrid optical-wireless access network

The hybrid optical-wireless access network (HOWAN) is a promising broadband access network. In this paper, the new architecture of the HOWAN is proposed and designed based on both a wavelengths division multiplexing/time division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM/TDM PON) at the optical backhaul and a wireless fidelity (WiFi) technology at the wireless front-end. The power budget of the optical backhaul based on maximum split ratio of 1/32 for each wavelength channel and a fiber length of 23 km from the central office (CO) to a 54 Mb/s access points (APs) along a 50 m outdoor wireless link is analyzed

Application of wastewater treatment by algae in irrigation of some economic plants in the field.

This paper aimed to showing the effects of sewage water and processed water on antioxidant enzymes of broad bean, wheat, and radish plants. The results showed that, sewage and processed water induced significant increasing in catalase activity (CAT) in root (vegetative) and in most cases of the fruiting stage in broad bean and wheat but, in radish both sewage and processed water increased the CAT activity. Sewage and processed water induced slight increase in SOD activity in most cases of bean but the reverse in wheat, where the increasing was in vegetative stage but SOD reduced in fruiting in radish highly increase in vegetative root but in vegetative shoot and fruiting root the increase in SOD activity was lowered, SOD activity in fruiting shoot was reduced. Glutathione reductase was reduced in most cases of broad bean but increased significantly in wheat plant under irrigation with both sewage and processed water. In radish G.R. nearly not affected except in vegetative shoot it increased significantly and reduced but reduced significantly in fruiting shoot with both of sewage and processed water. POD and APX activity was increased markedly in all tested plants in most cases with irrigation by sewage and processed water except in vegetative shoot and fruiting root in radish were reduced. As a result MDA content in both broad bean and wheat plants was reduced in most cases when plants treated with both sewage and processed water but in radish they were around control (increase/ or decrease) in most cases . Also we determined the heavy metals content of the tested plants where, Fe content increased by sewage and processed water irrigation in broad bean and wheat but in radish sewage water reduced Fe content but processed water increased Fe content in fruiting stage. Mn content increased in most organs of broad bean and radish irrigated with sewage water but reduced when they was irrigated with processed water, the reverse was found in wheat. Ni content in broad bean reduced in fruiting stage after irrigation with both sewage and processed water, but increased in wheat nearly the same in radish. Cd content in fruiting stage (especially in seeds) was disappeared when tested plants irrigated by processed water. New Egyptian Journal of Microbiology Vol. 17 (2) 2007: pp. 40-5

Spectral efficient hybrid wireless optical broadband access network (WOBAN) based on transmission of wireless MIMO OFDM signals over WDM PON

In this paper, a spectral efficient hybrid wireless optical broadband access network (WOBAN) is proposed and demonstrated based on the transmission of wireless multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO OFDM) signals over wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM PON). By using radio over fiber (ROF) techniques, the optical fiber is well adapted to propagate multiple wireless services having different carrier frequencies. It is a known fact that multiple wireless signals having the same carrier frequency cannot propagate over a single optical fiber at the same time, such as MIMO signals feeding multiple antennas in fiber wireless (FiWi) system. A novel optical single-sideband frequency translation technique is designed and simulated to solve this problem. This technique allows four pairs of wireless MIMO OFDM signals with the same carrier frequency for each pair to be transmitted over a single optical fiber by using one optical source per wavelength. The crosstalk between the different MIMO channels with the same frequency is eliminated, since each channel is upconverted on specified wavelength with enough channel spacing between them. Also the maximum crosstalk level between the different MIMO channels with different frequencies is very low around -76 dB. The physical layer performance of the proposed WOBAN is analyzed in terms of the bit error rate (BER), error vector magnitude (EVM), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The proposed WOBAN achieves 7.68 Gb/s data rate for 20 km for the optical back-end and 240 Mb/s for the outdoor wireless front-end

Noble gases and nitrogen in the Almahata Sitta ureilite

A bulk sample (split from Almahata Sitta #36) and an acid resistant residue (from #44) have been analyzed for noble gases and nitrogen by step-wise combustion/pyrolysis. In the bulk sample, He and Ne are a mixture of cosmogenic and trapped components. Cosmic- ray exposure ages of 13.8 and 16.0 Ma are calculated based on 3He, and 21Ne, respectively. Except for a small amount of cosmogenic 3He, He, and Ne in the acid-resistant residue are not significantly above blank level. Ar, Kr, and Xe in both the bulk and residue are dominated by a trapped component, but the elemental ratios are different. While the ratios of 36Ar/132Xe and 84Kr/132Xe are about 400 and 1, respectively, in all the combustion steps of the residue, the bulk sample has about an order of magnitude more 132Xe in the corresponding combustion steps. It seems, an acid soluble phase is the host of this Xe-rich carrier and is different from a similar phase observed in the ureilite Allan Hills 82130. Nitrogen in the bulk sample and acid residue are 21.1 ppm (−36.8‰), and 249.5 ppm (−74.3‰), respectively. Peak release of C (monitored as CO + CO2), N, Ar, Kr, and Xe occurred at the 700 ° C combustion step of the residue, confirming diamond as the principal carrier for these gases. In the residue, the isotopic ratio 38Ar/36Ar shows a monotonic increase with release temperature

Development of new methods of computation and prediction of thermal comfort in production areas of garment tailoring enterprises with respect to thermophysical properties of packages of garments

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