Contaminant-Source Detection in a Water Distribution System Using the Ensemble Kalman Filter

[EN] Early detection of a contamination leach into a water distribution system, followed by the identification of the source and an evaluation of the total amount of the contaminant that has been injected into the system, is of paramount importance in order to protect a water user's health. The ensemble Kalman filter, which has been recently applied in hydrogeology to detect contaminant sources in aquifers, is extended to the identification of a contaminant source and its intensity in a water distribution system. The driving concept is the assimilation of contaminant observations at the nodes of the pipeline network at specified time intervals until enough information has been collected to allow the positioning of the source and the estimation of its intensity. Several scenarios are analyzed considering sources at different nodes, with different delays between the beginning of the pollution and the start of the measurements, different sampling time intervals, and different observation ending times. The scenarios are carried out in the benchmarking Anytown network, demonstrating the ability of the ensemble Kalman filter for contaminant-source detection in real water distribution systems. The use of the ensemble Kalman filter supposed a major breakthrough in the inverse modeling of subsurface flow and transport, and the successful results of its application to the synthetic Anytown network warrant further exploration of its capabilities in the realm of water distribution systems. (C) 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.Butera, I.; Gómez-Hernández, JJ.; Nicotra, S. (2021). Contaminant-Source Detection in a Water Distribution System Using the Ensemble Kalman Filter. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. 147(7):1-11. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001383S111147

Thymus vulgaris Essential Oil and Hydro-Alcoholic Solutions to Counteract Wooden Artwork Microbial Colonization

Aromatic plants represent a source of natural products with medicinal properties, and are also utilized in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Recently, the need for eco-compatible and non-toxic products, safe for both the environment and human health, have been proposed for the sustainable conservation of historic–artistic artifacts. In this study, in order to counteract microbial colonization (Aspergillus sp., Streptomyces sp., Micrococcus sp.) on wooden artwork surfaces, Thymus vulgaris L. (Lamiaceae) essential oil (EO) and hydro-alcoholic (HA) solutions were applied in a polyphasic approach. The antimicrobial activities of EO and HA solutions were preliminarily assessed by agar disc diffusion (ADD) and well plate diffusion (WPD) in vitro methods, defining the specific concentration useful for bacterial and fungal genera, identified by optical microscopies, in vitro cultures (nutrient or Sabouraud agar), and DNA base molecular biology investigations. Specifically, the microbial patina was directly removed by a hydro-alcoholic solution (while evaluating the potential colorimetric change of the artwork’s surface) combined with exposure to EO volatile compounds, performed in a dedicated “clean chamber”. This study proposes, for the first time, the combined use of two plant extracts to counteract microbial development on wooden artworks, providing supplementary information on these products as bio-agents

An Automatic Palindrome Generator

In 1984 Dan Hoey, a US naval mathematician, wrote a computer which he used to create a 540-word expansion of Leigh Mercer\u27s Panama palindrome (PD). It began A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac... and ended ...a calmus, a diaryman, a bater, a canal Panama. (For the full PD, plus additional information, see http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/anagrams/panama/htm.

Programa de orientación y capacitación para la inserción laboral

El propósito de este trabajo es relatar las experiencias de intervención en orientación laboral y ocupacional. Éstas se vienen desarrollando desde la Facul­tad de Psicología de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, en escuelas públicas de nivel medio del partido de Avellaneda, desde el año 1990. Nuestra labor se orienta a articular las tareas de docencia, extensión y en los últimos años de investigación, desde el enfoque de la investigación-acción.Departamento de Psicologí

Guidance and training program for labor insertion

The purpose of this work is to account for intervention experiences in labor and occupational guidance. The School of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires, has been carrying out these experiences in secondary schools in the Avellaneda district since 1990. Our task approaches teaching and extramural activities, as well as research in the last years, from an action-research viewpoint.Departamento de Psicologí

The italian quaternary volcanism

The peninsular and insular Italy are punctuated by Quaternary volcanoes and their rocks constitute an important aliquot of the Italian Quaternary sedimentary successions. Also away from volcanoes themselves, volcanic ash layers are a common and frequent feature of the Quaternary records, which provide us with potential relevant stratigraphic and chronological markers at service of a wide array of the Quaternary science issues. In this paper, a broad representation of the Italian volcano logical community has joined to provide an updated comprehensive state of art of the Italian Quaternary volcanism. The eruptive history, style and dynamics and, in some cases, the hazard assessment of about thirty Quaternary volcanoes, from the north ernmost Mt. Amiata, in Tuscany, to the southernmost Pantelleria and Linosa, in Sicily Channel, are here reviewed in the light of the substantial improving of the methodological approaches and the overall knowledge achieved in the last decades in the vol canological field study. We hope that the present review can represent a useful and agile document summarising the knowledege on the Italian volcanism at the service of the Quaternary community operating in central Mediterranean area

Antiproliferative activity of withanolides against human breast cancer cell lines

The in vitro antiproliferative activity of a series of 22 naturally occurring withanolides was examined against the T-47D, MCF7, MCF7/BUS, MDA-MB-231, and SK-Br-3 human solid tumor breast cancer cell lines. The most active compound showed GI(50) values in the range 0.16-0.71 muM. The aromatic withanolide 19 exhibited specific activity for the estrogen-receptor-positive cell lines (T-47D, MCF7, and MCF7/BUS). Overall, the results demonstrated the relevance of the substitution pattern on the A and B rings on the resultant antiproliferative activity.Fil: Machín, Rubén. Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín. Unidad de Investigación; EspañaFil: Veleiro, Adriana Silvia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad de Microanálisis y Métodos Físicos Aplicados A la Química Orgánica (i); Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Nicotra, Viviana Estela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Oberti, Juan Carlos María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina; ArgentinaFil: Padrón, José. Universidad de La Laguna. BioLab. Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgánica “Antonio González”; Españ

Programa de orientación y capacitación para la inserción laboral

El propósito de este trabajo es relatar las experiencias de intervención en orientación laboral y ocupacional. Éstas se vienen desarrollando desde la Facul­tad de Psicología de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, en escuelas públicas de nivel medio del partido de Avellaneda, desde el año 1990. Nuestra labor se orienta a articular las tareas de docencia, extensión y en los últimos años de investigación, desde el enfoque de la investigación-acción.Departamento de Psicologí