Improvement of Fire Hydrant Design to Enhance Water Main Flushing

AbstractFlushing is a good practice to avoid problems related to sediment, bio-film growth, and corrosion. Artificial sediment was removed from fire hydrant with pilot scale water distribution main. The sediment removal in fire hydrant and main was carefully compared with different flow rate with velocity ranged from 0.3 to 3.0 m/s and the depth of fire hydrant from 0.5 m to 1.3m. The drain capability of fire hydrant decreased as the flow rate increased. Sediment with higher density was hard to remove from water main. The length effect of upward fire hydrant was relatively minor. Downward drain showed better efficiency for both sand and actual sediment

TISCC: A Surface Code Compiler and Resource Estimator for Trapped-Ion Processors

We introduce the Trapped-Ion Surface Code Compiler (TISCC), a software tool that generates circuits for a universal set of surface code patch operations in terms of a native trapped-ion gate set. To accomplish this, TISCC manages an internal representation of a trapped-ion system where a repeating pattern of trapping zones and junctions is arranged in an arbitrarily large rectangular grid. Surface code operations are compiled by instantiating surface code patches on the grid and using methods to generate transversal operations over data qubits, rounds of error correction over stabilizer plaquettes, and/or lattice surgery operations between neighboring patches. Beyond the implementation of a basic surface code instruction set, TISCC contains corner movement functionality and a patch translation that is implemented using ion movement alone. Except in the latter case, all TISCC functionality is extensible to alternative grid-like hardware architectures. TISCC output has been verified using the Oak Ridge Quasi-Clifford Simulator (ORQCS).Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Software to be released at https://github.com/ORNL-QCI/TISC

Communicating seasonal forecasts to farmers in Kaffrine, Senegal for better agricultural management

Our project explaining seasonal forecasting to farmers in central Senegal built common ground between scientific forecasting and traditional knowledge. It helped farmers understand and use seasonal forecasts to improve crop strategies, and let farmers explain to meteorologists what seasonal climate information they most needed, in turn improving the forecasts’ usefulness

Utilisation des plantes indigènes à effet insecticide pour la protection des denrées stockées contre des insectes ravageurs à Boukoko (Centrafrique)

Les paysans utilisent couramment des plantes indigènes pour protéger les denrées des attaques des ravageurs en Centrafrique. Des enquêtes ethnobotaniques effectuées auprès de 79 paysans centrafricains à Boukoko ont permis de collectionner 9 plantes indigènes à effet insecticide potentiel. Les données d’enquêtes ethnobotaniques ont été traitées par une analyse factorielle de correspondance dont les deux premiers axes expliquent 84,75% de la variance totale. Ces plantes se repartissent en 7 familles dont les Méliacées et les Huacées sont les plus utilisées; les écorces étant les parties les plus exploitées. Le dispositif utilisé pour les tests biologiques à l’égard de Sitophilus zeamaïs et Tribolium castaneum est un bloc complètement randomisé. Les variables mesurées sont le taux de mortalité et le nombre d’insectes émergés. Ces variables sont soumises à une analyse de variance modèle fixe à 4 facteurs dans Minitab 14. Les résultats ont montré qu’Afrostyrax lepidophyllus et Trichilia gilgiana sont les espèces les plus prometteuses. Le logiciel RIZA a été utilisé pour calculer les CL50. Trichilia gilgiana appliqué à Sitophilus zeamaïs et Tribolium castaneum après 25 jours de traitement a présenté respectivement une CL50 de 5,13 g/100g et de 5,30 g/100g de spéculations tandis qu’Afrostyrax lepidophyllus a présenté une CL50 de 5,60 g/100g et de CL 5,86 g/100g.Mots clés: Plantes indigènes, protection, denrées stockées, insectes ravageur

Efficiency of Traditional Maize Storage and Control Methods in Rural Grain Granaries: a Case Study from Senegal

Maize storage and pest control method as practiced in traditional clay granaries in the Kédougou region in eastern Senegal were evaluated under rural conditions during two successive years. Three storage modes, i.e. maize cobs, winnowed and non-winnowed maize grains, were tested in seven granaries where the insecticidal plants Hyptis spicigera or H. suaveolens were either incorporated in the store structure or deposited as layers intermittently with maize. At the beginning of the storage period, all granaries were artificially infested with 7 pairs Tribolium castaneum and Sitophilus zeamais. No damage, losses or live insects were observed during 7 months of storage when maize cobs were placed between layers of H. spicigera. Compared with the control, incorporation of insecticidal plants within the granary bottom had no significant effect on the damage and loss level irrespective of the storage mode. Non-winnowed maize always suffered less damage and losses than the winnowed variant. In all granaries depredation, insect abundance and moisture content were highest toward the end of storage period between June and July

Staphylococcus aureus nasal and pharyngeal carriage in Senegal

AbstractNasal and pharyngeal swabs were collected from 132 patients admitted to the Principal Hospital in Dakar (Senegal), in January and February 2012. The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus carriage was 56.1% (n = 74): 40.2% for pharyngeal samples and 36.4% for nasal samples. None of the isolates was methicillin-resistant. Carriage was independently associated with being female (p <0.01) and large households (≥15 members) (p 0.04). The luk-PV genes encoding Panton–Valentine leukocidin (PVL) were present in 26.2% of the isolates. These data highlight the importance of the oropharynx as a site of colonization, and the high prevalence of PVL-positive isolates in Senegal as compared with industrialized countries

Aggravation de l’anémie et polymorphisme de l’haptoglobine au cours de la drépanocytose au Sénégal

La drépanocytose homozygote s’accompagne d’une augmentation de l’hémoglobine (Hb) plasmatique, susceptible d’exposer les hématies à un stress oxydant. L’haptoglobine présente trois phénotypes majeurs (Hp1-1, Hp 2-1 et Hp 2-2) susceptibles de fixer l’hémoglobine extracellulaire avec une efficacité différente. L’objectif de ce travail est de voir si la connaissance du phénotype d’Hp pouvait constituer un élément prédictifde l’anémie sévère. Pour cela, il a été recruté 68 drépanocytaires  homozygotes, âgés de 5 à 31 ans. Pour chaque patient, un témoin de même sexe et de même âge ± 2 ans a été recruté. Le phénotypage de l’Hp a été réalisé par électrophorèse sur gel de polyacrylamide. Les résultats du dosage de l’Hb font ressortir que les taux d’Hb sont significativement différentes chez les patients comparées à celles des témoins (p = 0,001). Lorsque la répartition a été faite en fonction du phénotype d’Hp, une différence statistiquement significative a étéretrouvée entre le phénotype Hp1-1 et le phénotype Hp2-2 (p &lt; 0,001) chez les patients et non chez les témoins. Les résultats de cette étude préliminaire suggéreraient que la connaissance du phénotype d’Hp seraitun facteur prédictif de l’anémie sévère au cours de la drépanocytose.Mots clés : Drépanocytose, anémie, phénotypes d’haptoglobine

Plasmodium falciparum malaria co-infection with tick-borne relapsing fever in Dakar

Abstract Background West African tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) due to Borrelia crocidurae and malaria are co-endemics in Senegal. Although expected to be high, co-infections are rarely reported. A case of falciparum malaria and B. crocidurae co-infection in a patient from Velingara (South of Senegal) is discussed. Case A 28\ua0year-old-male patient presented to Aristide Le Dantec Hospital for recurrent fever. He initially presented to a local post health of Pikine (sub-urban of Dakar) and was diagnosed for malaria on the basis of positive malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) specific to Plamodium falciparum . The patient was treated as uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Four days after admission the patient was referred to Le Dantec Hospital. He presented with fever (39\ua0\ub0C), soreness, headache and vomiting. The blood pressure was 120/80\ua0mmHg. The rest of the examination was normal. A thick film from peripheral blood was performed and addressed to the parasitology laboratory of the hospital. Thick film was stained with 10% Giemsa. Trophozoite of P. falciparum was identified at parasite density of 47 parasites per microlitre. The presence of Borrelia was also observed, concluding to malaria co-infection with borreliosis. Conclusions Signs of malaria can overlap with signs of borreliosis leading to the misdiagnosis of the latter. Thick and thin smear or QBC test or molecular method may be helpful to detect both Plamodium species and Borrelia . In addition, there is a real need to consider co-infections with other endemics pathogens when diagnosing malaria