Mapping performance of irrigation schemes in Turkey

Water is a crucial resource and approximately 70% usage of it in the agriculture sector in Turkey. Water user associations are in charge of irrigation water management. The core aim of this study is to assess water user associations have command area more than 1,000 ha (WUAs) within the districts of DSI (State Hydraulic Works) and to create spatial maps to show the distribution of the performance indicators used constantly by researchers especially around Mediterranean countries during the period from 2011 to 2015. Frequency and panel data analysis are used to figure out the relationship among performance indicators and attributes such as water diversion type, management type, source of water and district no. Panel data analysis was applied to examine statistical assessment over time. As a result, current performance indicators show that excessive irrigation water used due to low technology and management problem. Performance indicators show high differences among districts due to climate, water resources, and crop pattern. Moreover, low irrigation efficiency can be increased with a transition to pressurized irrigation systems, so more are can be irrigated with less water

Shock-induced reaction in several liquids

Single-shock experiments have been completed in several liquids using multiple, embedded, electromagnetic Lagrangian particle velocity and impulse gauges to measure shock waveforms. The liquids include acrylonitrile, bromoform, diiodomethane, phenylacetylene, bromocyclopropane, and carbon disulfide. Some of these are known to exhibit shock-induced reaction and others are considered to be candidates for reaction studies. The ''universal'' liquid Hugoniot, which depends only on initial condition sound speed, was used to calculate the unreacted Hugoniot. Sound velocities were measured for those liquids with no data available. The effects of shock-induced reaction are clearly identified in the particle velocity waveforms for some materials, but there are remaining questions about whether reactions occur in others. The most impressive results are that the full reactive, two-wave structure was measured in phenylacetylene. On the reacting materials with two-wave structures, the particle velocity waveforms had a decrease behind the top of the first wave. This is thought to be evidence of an early reaction which occurs at the top of the first (nonreactive) wave. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab

Detonation wave profiles in HMX based explosives

Detonation wave profiles have been measured in several HMX based plastic bonded explosives including PBX9404, PBX9501, and EDC-37, as well as two HMX powders (coarse and fine) pressed to 65% of crystal density. The powders had 120 and 10 {micro}m average grain sizes, respectively. Planar detonations were produced by impacting the explosive with projectiles launched in a 72-mm bore gas gun. Impactors, impact velocity, and explosive thickness were chosen so that the run distance to detonation was always less than half the explosive thickness. For the high density plastic bonded explosives, particle velocity wave profiles were measured at an explosive/window interface using two VISAR interferometers. PMMA windows with vapor deposited aluminum mirrors were used for all experiments. Wave profiles for the powdered explosives were measured using magnetic particle velocity gauges. Estimates of the reaction zone parameters were obtained from the profiles using Hugoniots of the explosive and window

Observations of shock-induced reaction in liquid bromoform up to 11 GPA

Shock measurements on bromoform (CHBr{sub 3}) over the past 33 years at Los Alamos have led to speculation that this material undergoes a shock-induced reaction. Ramsay observed that it became opaque after a 1 to 2 {micro}s induction time when shocked to pressures above 6 GPa. McQueen and Isaak observed that it is a strong light emitter above 25 GPa. Hugoniot data start to deviate from the anticipated liquid Hugoniot at pressures above 10 GPa. The authors have used electromagnetic particle velocity gauging to measure wave profiles in shocked liquid bromoform. At pressures below 9 GPa, there is no mechanical evidence of reaction. At a pressure slightly above 10 GPa, the observed wave profiles are similar to those observed in initiating liquid explosives such as nitromethane. Their characteristics are completely different from the two-wave structures observed in shocked liquids where the products are more dense than the reactants. As with explosives, a reaction producing products which are less dense than the reactants is indicated. BKW calculations also indicate that a detonation type reaction may be possible

Progress in measuring detonation wave profiles in PBX9501

The authors have measured detonation wave profiles in PBX9501 (95 wt% HMX and 5 wt% binders) using VISAR. Planar detonations were produced by impacting the explosive with projectiles launched in a 72 mm bore gas gun. Particle velocity wave profiles were measured at the explosive/window interface using two VISARs with different fringe constants. Windows with very thin vapor deposited aluminum mirrors were used for all experiments. PMMA windows provided an undermatch, and LiF (Lithium Fluoride) windows provided an overmatch to the explosive, reacted and unreacted. While the present experiments do not have adequate time resolution to adequately resolve the ZND spike condition, they do constrain it to lie between 38.7 and 53.4 Gpa or 2.4 and 3.3 km/s. Accurate knowledge of the CJ state places the reaction zone length at 35 {+-} 12 ns ({approx} 0.3 mm). The present experiments do not show any effect of the window on the reaction zone; both window materials result in the same reaction zone length

Preterm infants harbour diverse Klebsiella populations, including atypical species that encode and produce an array of antimicrobial resistance- and virulence-associated factors

Klebsiella spp. are frequently enriched in the gut microbiota of preterm neonates, and overgrowth is associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), nosocomial infections and late-onset sepsis. Little is known about the genomic and phenotypic characteristics of preterm-associated Klebsiella as previous studies have focussed on recovery of antimicrobial-resistant isolates or culture independent molecular analyses. The aim of this study was to better characterize preterm-associated Klebsiella populations using phenotypic and genotypic approaches. Faecal samples from a UK cohort of healthy and sick preterm neonates (n=109) were screened on MacConkey agar to isolate lactose positive Enterobacteriaceae. Whole-genome sequences were generated for Klebsiella spp., and virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes identified. Antibiotic susceptibility profiling, and in vitro macrophage and iron assays were undertaken for the Klebsiella strains. Metapangenome analyses with a manually curated genome dataset were undertaken to examine diversity of Klebsiella oxytoca and related bacteria in a publicly available shotgun metagenome dataset. Approximately one-tenth of faecal samples harboured Klebsiella spp. (Klebsiella pneumoniae, 7.3 %; Klebsiella quasipneumoniae, 0.9 %; Klebsiella grimontii, 2.8 %; Klebsiella michiganensis, 1.8 %). Isolates recovered from NEC- and sepsis-affected infants and those showing no signs of clinical infection (i.e. 'healthy') encoded multiple -lactamases. No difference was observed between isolates recovered from ‘healthy’ and sick infants with respect to in vitro siderophore production (all encoded enterobactin in their genomes). All K. pneumoniae, K. quasipneumoniae, K. grimontii and K. michiganensis faecal isolates tested were able to reside and persist in macrophages, indicating their immune evasion abilities. Metapangenome analyses of published metagenomic data confirmed our findings regarding the presence of K. michiganensis in the preterm gut. There is little difference in the phenotypic and genomic characteristics of Klebsiella isolates recovered from 'healthy' and sick infants. Identification of -lactamases in all isolates may prove problematic when defining treatment regimens for NEC or sepsis, and suggests ‘healthy’ preterm infants contribute to the resistome. Refined analyses with curated sequence databases are required when studying closely related species present in metagenomic data

Dengue: a continuing global threat.

Dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever are important arthropod-borne viral diseases. Each year, there are ∼50 million dengue infections and ∼500,000 individuals are hospitalized with dengue haemorrhagic fever, mainly in Southeast Asia, the Pacific and the Americas. Illness is produced by any of the four dengue virus serotypes. A global strategy aimed at increasing the capacity for surveillance and outbreak response, changing behaviours and reducing the disease burden using integrated vector management in conjunction with early and accurate diagnosis has been advocated. Antiviral drugs and vaccines that are currently under development could also make an important contribution to dengue control in the future

Electromagnetic gauge measurements of shock initiating PBX9501 and PBX9502 explosives

The authors have used an embedded electromagnetic particle velocity gauge technique to measure the shock initiation behavior in PBX9501 and PBX9502 explosives. Experiments have been conducted in which up to twelve separate measurements have been made in a single experiment which detail the growth from an input shock to a detonation. In addition, another gauge element called a shock tracker has been used to monitor the progress of the shock front as a function of time, thus providing a position-time trajectory of the wave front as it moves through the explosive sample. This provides similar data to that obtained in a traditional wedge test and is used to determine the position and time that the wave attains detonation. Data on both explosives show evidence of heterogeneous initiation (growth in the front) and homogeneous initiation (growth behind the front) with the PBX9502 showing more Heterogeneous behavior and the PBX 9501 showing more homogeneous behavior

Cost benefit analysis of diversified farming systems across Europe: incorporating non-market benefits of ecosystem services

© 2023 The Authors. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This document is the Submitted version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Science of the Total Environment. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169272Crop diversification can enhance farm economic sustainability while reducing the negative impact on the environment and ecosystem services related. Despite the market and non-market benefits of crop diversification, monocropping is a widely used dominant practice in Europe. In this context, this works aims to assess the overall economic impact of several crop diversification systems across Europe and compared it to the monocropping system. For this purpose, an economic valuation by integrating market and non-market values for eight case studies distributed across three different European pedoclimatic regions (Southern Mediterranean, Northern Mediterranean and Boreal) is proposed. The economic valuation was conducted both in the short and medium-long term. For the short-term we conducted a social gross margin analysis, while for the medium-long term a cost-benefit analysis is developed. The results show an improvement in social gross margins for most of the diversification scenarios assessed when environmental and socio-cultural benefits are considered in the short-term. In the medium and long-term the transformation of cropping towards a more diversified agriculture is encouraged by greater economic benefits. These results provide a first insight in global economic performance of diversified cropping systems, whose main contribution relies on the integration of market and non-market values of ecosystem services from crop diversification. They are expected to be useful for guiding policy makers to promote crop diversification practices as a key instrument for building resilience in farming systems for an adaptive management to climate change

Changes to the LANL gas-driven two-stage gun: Magnetic gauge instrumentation, etc.

Our gas-driven two-stage gun was designed and built to do initiation studies on insensitive high explosives as well as other equation of state experiments on inert materials. Our preferred method of measuring initiation phenomena involves the use of magnetic particle velocity gauges. In order to accommodate this type of gauging in our two-stage gun, projectile velocity was sacrificed in favor of a larger experimental target area (obtained by using a 50 mm diameter launch tube). We have used magnetic gauging on our 72-mm bore diameter single-stage gun for over 15 years and it has proven a very effective technique to monitor reactive shock wave evolution. This technique has now been adapted to our gas-driven two-stage gun. We describe the method used, as well as some of the difficulties that arose while installing this technique. Several magnetic gauge experiments have been completed on plastic materials. Waveforms obtained in one experiment are given, along with the Hugoniot information that was obtained. This new technique is now working quite well, as is evidenced by the data. To our knowledge, this is the first time magnetic gauging has been used on a two-stage gun. We have also made changes to the burst diaphragm package in the transition section to ensure that the petals do not break off during the opening process and to increase the burst pressure. This will also be discussed briefly