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Production of biogas using waste products (Water Hyacinth and Cow Dung)    
Ekong, Emem Archibong

Ekong, Emem Archibong

and 1 more

December 31, 2022
This research was carried out to make use of water hyacinth to produce biogas which may solve the problem of water hyacinth management as well as provide a solution to energy and power shortages. Samples of water-hyacinth were identified and collected and the cow dung was obtained from an abattoir. One (1) single 120 improvised rubber cylinder can be used as an anaerobic. Three (3)  of water was added for the 30 days retention time. The cow dung was mixed with water at a ratio of 3 : 1. The slurry of cow dung and water hyacinth substrates was then fed to the for the fermentation process to begin. Experiments were carried out during the cool season and dry season (20– 40◦C). The gas was collected and stored in the gas bag. The volume of was measured using an EL- STER HANDEL GMBH MAINZ volumetric meter, which has a limit of detection of less than 0.0010m3. The products obtained from the anaerobic digestion of water hyacinth were the compost that is removed from the at the end of the digestion process. The study’s evaluation of production potential over a 30 days period revealed marked seasonal variations in biogas outflow.
AMSD: The Australian Message Sticks Database
Piers Kelly
junran.lei

Piers Kelly

and 2 more

July 19, 2017
Message sticks are marked objects, typically made of wood, used in Indigenous Australia for facilitating important long-distance communications. Between the 1880s and the 1910s, settlers and scholars took great interest in message sticks and this was reflected in efforts to document, collect and conserve them in museums worldwide. However, by this period, the practice was already undergoing profound changes, having been abandoned in many parts of the continent and transformed in others. Today their use continues in parts of northern Australia as a means of coordinating negotiations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations, as an artistic genre, and in narrative expositions in which message sticks figure as a central theme. Despite such continuities, many questions concerning the history, pragmatics and global significance of message stick communication remain unanswered. To begin to address this we have compiled the Australian Message Sticks Database, a new resource hosted at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, and The Australian National University, Canberra. It contains images and data for over 1000 individual message sticks sourced from museums, and supplemented with information derived from published and published manuscripts and private collections. For the first time, metadata on Australian message sticks can be evaluated as a single set allowing scholars to explore previously intractable questions about their histories, meanings and purposes.
Scientific collaboration in the era of COVID-19
Alberto Pepe
Matteo Cavalleri

Alberto Pepe

and 4 more

November 29, 2022
We're in a crisis  We are in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis. Just weeks since its outbreak, the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has already affected, and will continue to affect, our daily lives, around the globe, for the foreseeable future. The answers and the solutions to this crisis will come from science. But the crisis affects science, too.It affects students, educators, and researchers; not just their day-to-day lives, social ties, and work routines, but also their ability to actively collaborate, convene in face-to-face meetings, attend academic conferences, teach and learn in an open university setting, pay a visit to the library, work overnight at the laboratory, and so on.But the thing is: science cannot stop. Scientific progress must go on. For each one of the challenges that scientists face in this time of crisis, there is, or there will be, a solution. We believe that the solution is not to be found in a single technological tool, product, framework, institution, funding agency, or company. It is the global cyber-infrastructure of scientific collaboration, built on scientific rigor, intellectual curiosity, and cooperation, that will enable science to advance in such difficult times. The power of scientific collaborationAs scientists, publishers, science communicators and technologists, we believe that: a. Science is the solution to the ongoing crisis. Now more than ever, reliance on the scientific method, rigor and clarity of scientific communication, transparency, reproducibility, and seamless sharing of all research data (including negative results), are fundamental to solving this health crisis and advancing human progress.b. Global collaboration and cooperation, beyond and above national and economic interests, is necessary not only at the scientific level, but also at the political and societal level. We're more interconnected and interdependent today than ever. And such interconnectedness extends to the ecological ecosystem in which we live. A crisis of such scale requires global solidarity, bipartisan political action, civic participation, and long-term thinking.
Proxy-Model Comparison for the Eocene-Oligocene Transition in Southern High Latitudes
Emily Tibbett
Natalie J. Burls

Emily Tibbett

and 3 more

December 16, 2022
The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) marks the shift from greenhouse to icehouse conditions at 34 Ma, when a permanent ice sheet developed on Antarctica. Climate modeling studies have recently assessed the drivers of the transition globally. Here we revisit those experiments for a detailed study of the southern high latitudes in comparison to the growing number of mean annual sea surface temperature (SST) and mean air temperature (MAT) proxy reconstructions, allowing us to assess proxy-model temperature agreement and refine estimates for the magnitude of the pCO2 forcing of the EOT. We compile and update published proxy temperature records on and around Antarctica for the late Eocene (38-34 Ma) and early Oligocene (34-30 Ma). Compiled SST proxies cool by up to 3°C and MAT by up to 4°C between the timeslices. Proxy data were compared to previous climate model simulations representing pre- and post-EOT, typically forced with a halving of pCO2. We scaled the model outputs to identify the magnitude of pCO2 change needed to drive a commensurate change in temperature to best fit the temperature proxies. The multi-model ensemble needs a 30 or 33% decrease in pCO2, to best fit MAT or SST proxies respectively, a difference of just 3%. These proxy-model intercomparisons identify pCO2 as the primary forcing of EOT cooling, with a magnitude (-200 or -243 ppmv) approaching that of the pCO2 proxies (-150 ppmv). However individual model estimates span -66 to -375 ppmv, thus proxy-model uncertainties are dominated by model divergence.
Supporting Information for "Intelligent Shape Decoding of a Soft Optical Waveguide Se...
Chi Hin Mak
Yingqi Li

Chi Hin Mak

and 8 more

January 30, 2023
Figure S1. (A) LED & PD placement of the fish-shaped waveguide sensor. (B) Sandwiched PDMS structure of the soft waveguide sensor, where opaque and semi-opaque layers are silicone-dyed to enable internal reflection.
High-performance Biopolymer Cryogels for Transient Sensing Ecology-drones 
Fabian Wiesemüller

Fabian Wiesemüller

and 6 more

January 30, 2023
Aerial robots can autonomously collect temporal and spatial high-resolution environmental data. This data can then be utilized to develop mathematical ecology models to understand the impact of climate change on our habitat. In case of the drone's malfunction the incorporated materials can threaten vulnerable environments. The recent introduction of transient robotics has enabled the development of biodegradable, environmental sensing drones capable of degrading in their environment. However, manufacturing methods for environmental sensing transient drones are rarely discussed. In this work, we highlight a manufacturing framework and material selection process featuring biopolymer-based, high-strength composite cryogels and printed carbon-based electronics for transient drones. We found that gelatin and cellulose based cryogels mechanically outperform other biopolymer composites while having a homogeneous micro-structure and high stiffness-to-weight ratio. The selected materials are used to manufacture a flying-wing air-frame, while the incorporated sensing skin is capable of measuring the elevons' deflection angles as well as ambient temperature. Our results demonstrate how gelatin-cellulose cryogels can be used to manufacture lightweight transient drones while printing carbon conductive electronics is a viable method for designing sustainable, integrated sensors. The proposed methods can be used to guide the development of lightweight and rapidly degrading robots, featuring eco-friendly sensing capabilities.Corresponding author(s) Email:   fabian.wiesemueller@empa.ch, mirko.kovac@empa.ch 
Tourette syndrome research highlights from 2022
Andreas Hartmann
Per Andrén

Andreas Hartmann

and 9 more

January 31, 2022
Copyright © 2022, the authors. 
Einstein-Poincare synchronization and general transformations of coordinates
ivan fordjarini

ivan fordjarini

January 24, 2023
Einstein-Poincare synchronization and deformation of space-time by gravity are sufficient for obtaining Lorentz transformation starting from Galileo transformation.
MDPI Article Template
Josh Nicholson

Josh Nicholson

July 25, 2016
AbstractA single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: 1) Background: Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; 2) Methods: Describe briefly the main methods or treatments applied; 3) Results: Summarize the article’s main findings; and 4) Conclusion: Indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article, it must not contain results which are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.
The promise and challenges of structural variant discovery: A conservation case study...
Jana Wold
Joseph Guhlin

Jana Wold

and 4 more

December 24, 2022
There is growing interest in the role of structural variants (SVs) as drivers of local adaptation and speciation. From a conservation genomics perspective, the characterisation of SVs in threatened species provides an exciting opportunity to complement existing approaches that use single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to detect adaptive variation, identify conservation units, guide pairing decisions and inform conservation translocations. However, little is known about whole-genome SV frequency and size distributions, especially for small populations. To explore the impacts that SV discovery and genotyping strategies may have on characterisation of SV diversity in non-model organisms, we explore a near whole-species resequence dataset, and long-read sequence data for a subset of highly represented individuals in the critically endangered kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus). We demonstrate that even when using a highly contiguous reference genome, different discovery and genotyping strategies can significantly impact the type, size and location of SVs characterised, which indicates researchers should exercise caution when drawing conclusions at the individual-scale. Further, we find that genotyping SVs discovered with long-read data at the population-scale with short-read data remains challenging. Despite this, we found that all six strategies used to characterise SVs in kākāpō reflected similar trends at the population-scale including the identification of population structure. We are optimistic that increased accessibility to long-read sequencing and advancements in bioinformatic approaches (e.g., multi-reference approaches like genome graphs) will alleviate challenges associated with resolving SV characteristics below the species level and facilitate the characterisation of population- and individual-level SVs in threatened species around the globe.
Assessment Of Use Of Digital Healthcare Services and Telemedicine In Healthcare Organ...
Aydan Kayserili

Aydan Kayserili

January 20, 2023
Aydan Kayserili 1 Ece Colkesen21 Assistant Professor, HealthCare Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Toros University, Mersin, TürkiyeDOI: 0000-0002-5360-72232 Research Assistant, Healthcare Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Toros University, Mersin, TürkiyeDOI: 000-0002-9818-6362ABSTRACTThe Purpose of the Study: The objective of the study was to better understand the process and level of digitalization of healthcare services, as well as the use of tele-medicine in healthcare settings.Materials and Methods: In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with total of 20 functional leaders who led the digitalization process in healthcare organizations via zoom application. For the data analysis, interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed.Findings: Findings indicated that receiving an HIMMS level 7 certificate was a goal of all public hospitals but was not the key for private healthcare organizations although their healthcare services have nearly become digitalized. The key benefits regarding the digital healthcare services included savings, efficiency, increased patient safety, reduced medical errors, and speed access to patient records, digital archiving and closed loop drug delivery system. Digital healthcare services were very valuable in every single area particularly, intensive care units. Use of telemedicine in public hospitals was limited to transferring patient data to e-pulse. However, the use of telemedicine services in private hospitals was becoming increasingly popular.Highlights: (1) The digitalization of healthcare services was a goal of all hospitals due to the benefits of technology (2 ) HIMMS EMRAM certification was a goal for public hospitals but not for private hospitals (3) Use of Telemedicine in public setting is limited; however, private hospitals are expanding their telemedicine services (4) The number of digital hospitals has been increasing in Turkiye.Key words: Digital healthcare services, tele-medicine, digital hospitals, HIMMS, EMRAM
Geophysical Prospecting Template
Alberto Pepe

Alberto Pepe

February 21, 2019
This is a generic template designed for use by the Geophysical Prospecting Journal. Please consult the journal's author guidelines in order to confirm that your manuscript complies with the journal’s requirements. When you are ready to submit your manuscript, download / export it in LaTeX, Word, or PDF format and submit your document via the submission portal. Please replace this text with your abstract. Keywords --- keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3, keyword 4, keyword 5, keyword 6, keyword 7
Grazing by semi-feral cattle and horses supports plant species richness and uniquene...
christofferbonavent
Kent Olsen

Christoffer Bonavent

and 7 more

October 31, 2022
AbstractQuestion:  How do naturalistic grazing in contrast to mowing and free succession affect plant community composition and species richness in a temperate grassland grazed by semi-feral cattle and horses?Location: Mols Laboratory, DenmarkMethods: We investigated grazing exclosures in the rewilding area of the Mols Laboratory, four years after its establishment. We focused on moist to dry grassland vegetation, i.e. excluding scrub and woodland. Each experimental block consisted of five 5 × 9 m plots, representing four fenced treatments, i.e. summer-only grazing, winter-only grazing, full exclosure with annual autumn mowing and full exclosure with passive succession. The matrix was grazed by large herbivores at close-to-natural densities, i.e. regulated bottom-up by the carrying capacity of the area. Hence, the seasonal grazing treatments were grazed at close-to-natural animal density. Quantitative plant community composition was assessed using the point-intercept method in 25 × 25 cm quadrats, supplemented with biomass calibration models based on additional quadrats, in which above-ground plant biomass was harvested after recording and the material sorted to species and weighed. Uniqueness was assessed as the sum of inverse range sizes for constituent species.Results: We found an appreciably higher plant species richness in grazing treatments than under annual mowing and full exclosure, but only minor differences between seasonal grazing treatments. Uniqueness was highest in year-round and winter-only grazing and lowest in summer-only grazing. The forb:graminoid ratio tended to be high in the winter-only grazing treatment, whereas annual mowing was associated with dominance of graminoids over forbs. Full exclosure plots had accumulation of litter and the lowest species richness. Initial heterogeneity between plots within blocks and a systematic differences between blocks in moist and dry grasslands seemed to swamp treatment effects at this early point after the establishment of the experiment. Data analysis using the biomass estimates derived from the calibration models yielded only minor differences in the patterns described above, when compared to the results obtained using the raw number of intercepts.Conclusions: Grazing under near-natural conditions is a goal in itself in ecological restoration, but also proposed as an efficient management tool to promote conservation of grassland plants and communities. We found both plant species richness and the prevalence of rarer species (unicity) to be higher with grazing than mowing/abandonment. Similarly, the tendency for forbs to prevail under grazing may translate into enhanced floral resources for anthophilous insects. Summer-only grazing at low density of large herbivores was not significantly different from winter-only and year-round grazing, but this treatment was much closer to natural grazing than intensive summer grazing typical of agri-environmental practices.Keywords: biomass estimation, disturbance regime, point-intercept method, rewilding, uniquenessIntroductionGrazing by large herbivorous mammals is a key process shaping vegetation structure and habitat conditions for plants and other organisms (Bakker et al. 2016; Malhi et al. 2016; Galetti et al. 2018). In European conservation management, there is a strong tradition of aiming at mimicking traditional practices in agriculture and livestock husbandry, e.g. extensive haymaking and summer grazing (Varga et al. 2016). In reality, however, actual conservation management is often strongly constrained by the opportunities compatible with modern high input-high output farm management and agri-environment support schemes (Newton et al. 2012). Either way, conservation management practice is not always rooted in ecological theory and often fails to deliver the desired outcomes for biodiversity (Maxwell et al. 2020; Kindvall et al. 2022). Attempts to apply first principles to grazing management can be comprised under the term “naturalistic grazing”, which may be characterized as landscape-scale conservation management, under which grazing as a natural process is seen as an aim in itself, and where human intervention therefore is reduced to a minimum and where herbivore density is not human-controlled, but left to be resource-regulated (Hodder et al. 2005). Although “naturalistic grazing” is considered open-ended with regard to effects on herbivore populations and vegetation, monitoring the effects is crucial to our understanding of how grazing as a natural process works and interacts with other natural conditions and processes.In large contiguous landscapes, habitat use by large herbivores often shows substantial variation in diurnal, seasonal and between-year patterns. Animal activity tend to be concentrated in certain areas, while large areas may be much more extensively used, e.g. wet areas may be avoided during winter, but preferred in spring and summer (Górecka-Bruzda et al. 2020). Traditional European livestock husbandry had, and continues to have, the growth and survival of domestic animals as its core purpose. Therefore, summer-only grazing on pastures and winter feeding of stabled animals was traditionally the norm in Denmark, in particular for cattle, while some horses have traditionally been left on pastures year-round (Fritzbøger 2004). The pattern of summer-only grazing is strongly reinforced in modern North-European livestock husbandry, in which standard practice is to turn livestock out at very high density (e.g. 800-1000 kg·ha-1) during a short period of intensive grazing at the peak of the growing season (typically May through September or shorter). One way of investigating the resulting impact on vegetation of the annual timing of herbivore activity is to compare areas, to which animal access is restricted to certain parts of the year  (Bullock et al. 2001). Modern European grasslands are often highly grass dominated. The relatively low prevalence of forbs may, however, be a legacy effect of past megafauna extinctions. It has been hypothesized that megafauna once sustained much higher abundance of forbs in grasslands (Bråthen et al. 2021). The shift in dominant growth form has likely been exacerbated by the more recent demise of large herbivores from European landscapes at large, and natural areas in particular. The shift has probably propagated to higher trophic levels, i.e. mega-diverse consumer taxa, e.g. arthropods and fungi  (Brunbjerg et al. 2018). Flower-visiting insects have attracted particular attention, partly because this functional group is particularly threatened by both land-use intensification and abandonment, and partly because some anthophilous insect taxa have shown dramatic declines in species richness and abundance (e.g. Hallmann et al. 2017; Warren et al. 2021). The ratio in vegetation of forbs to graminoids has therefore been particularly highlighted, as most forbs have flowers offering resources to anthophilous insects, while graminoids all have wind-pollinated flowers.The response of vegetation structure to grazing regime will likely involve changes in quantitative plant community composition, with the activities of large herbivores promoting the abundance of certain species, while limiting others. We therefore applied the point-intercept method to quantitatively recording vegetation structure (Jonasson 1988; Godínez-Alvarez et al. 2009; Bonham 2013). Non-destructivity is a virtue of the method, which was desired in the current setup of long-term monitoring plots, also surveyed for other groups of organisms. However, because of differences in plant architecture, the intercept-based abundance does not translate directly to biomass-based abundance. We therefore made calibration models per species and/or functional groups, based on an additional set of quadrats, first subjected to point-intercept recording, next to total harvest and dry-mass estimation per species.Plant community species richness, or alpha diversity, is of core interest to evaluations of vegetation under contrasted grazing regime, although results may depend on the actual quadrat size applied. From the perspective of gamma diversity in the region or country, however, community unicity - the regional rarity of constituent species - is of higher relevance. One way to evaluate the contribution of individual communities to regional gamma diversity is the ‘Sum of inverse range-sizes’ (Guerin & Lowe 2015; Ejrnæs et al. 2018), in which constituent species are given decreasing weight with increasing regional occupancy. Also, from the perspective of biodiversity conservation, community unicity may be more relevant than alpha diversity, e.g. even locally species-poor communities may be of high regional conservation value, if they tend to consist of relatively rare species.Our overarching aim was to assess differences in grassland vegetation structure, community richness and unicity (the prevalence of less widespread species) as a snapshot after four years of naturalistic year-round grazing, as compared to seasonal grazing regimes, to mechanical mowing and to free succession after grazing abandonment and mowing regimes. Specifically, we aimed at investigating:1) Does plot-scale plant species richness vary between year-round grazing, seasonal grazing (all at naturalistic herbivore density), mowing and passive succession?2) Does forb to graminoid ratio vary between year-round grazing, seasonal grazing (all at naturalistic herbivore density), mowing and passive succession?3) Does plant community unicity vary between year-round grazing, seasonal grazing (all at naturalistic herbivore density), mowing and passive succession?A subordinate aim was the methodological issue of non-destructive assessment of quantitative plant community composition and the sufficiency of the point-intercept method as compared to biomass estimation. Materials and methodsStudy siteThe Mols Laboratory is an ecological research station, owned by the Natural History Museum, Aarhus. It is 120 ha located in the glacially shaped hilly landscape of Mols Bjerge at 56.22° latitude and 10.57° longitude. The area covers wide gradients in soil moisture, nutrient status and vegetation openness. Roughly half of the area is covered by open habitats, the other half by scrub and forests, with all types in a mosaic with gradients both between open and canopy-covered habitats and dry and moist habitats. The most frequent open habitat type, as categorized under the European Habitats Directive, was Species-rich Nardus grasslands (6230). Despite all research blocks but one (block 70 was not located in a designated habitat type) being assigned to this type of grassland, quite large variation in the species composition and topography between different parts of the area is evident, foremost between hilly glacial gravelly till and sandy marine foreland shaped by the higher sea-level of the Littorina transgression (Atlantic; 6800 - 3900 BCE). This contrast is presumably particularly linked to hydrology, with the marine foreland being somewhat impacted by exfiltration of groundwater from the hills.In 2016, as part of a rewilding project, 13 heads of Galloway cattle and 12 Exmoor ponies, supplemented 6 months later by a stallion, were released. Since then, the herds have lived there under near-natural conditions, which means that population size is determined by the carrying capacity, i.e. no supplementary feeding. As population size approaches carrying capacity, food shortage is likely to kick in during the late winter months, at which time weak individuals will die. In order to minimize possible suffering of the animals and to comply with Danish animal welfare legislation, the herds have been continually evaluated, following a scoring protocol based on body condition and behaviour. Individuals failing to meet a set threshold are removed from the area. This so-called “reactive” population management has led to a dynamic development in population size, with the population of large herbivores growing to a total of 44 cattle and 25 ponies in the summer of 2019, and subsequently decreasing to the current level of 12 cattle and 26 ponies. Assuming a standard body mass for cattle of 550 kg and 350 kg for horse, this is equivalent of a drop in large herbivore density from almost 300 kg/ha to 140 kg/ha.With the purpose of monitoring the effects of the naturalistic grazing regime, 22 randomly selected blocks for permanent vegetation monitoring were established in the spring of 2017. Each block contained four treatment plots, i.e. summer-only grazing (exclosure November through April), winter-only grazing (exclosure May through October), annual autumn mowing (full exclosure with one annual cut during September-October and the thatch removed) and passive succession (full exclosure), all embedded in the matrix of year-round grazing. Animal density was regulated by forage availability of the entire area, which means close to natural levels. Shrubs (but not trees) were initially removed from the mown plots in order to allow cutting by machinery, but not from the other treatments. Fencing did not prevent access to plots by herbivores such as red deer, roe deer and hare, only horse and cattle. Vegetation recordingIn order to select grassland blocks, all monitoring blocks were initially surveyed in order to establish the dominant vegetation type. Out of the initially established 22 blocks, one was discontinued, four were located in closed-canopy forest, four were almost entirely covered by dense scrub and four had scrub-grassland mosaics with too high scrub cover for the point-intercept method to be practically applicable in all treatment plots, leaving nine blocks with mostly open grassland vegetation (Fig. 1).Field work was carried out in two periods: September 1-16, 2020 and August 2-20, 2021. In the first period, sampling quadrats in treatment plots were put in the periphery of the established circular monitoring plots (see Supplementary materials, Appendix 1) and subjected to point-intercept vegetation recording, after which the above-ground biomass was cut as close to the soil surface as possible, immediately sorted into fractions by plant species (with standing litter as a separate fraction) and dried at 55 ˚C until constant weight. The resulting data were used to create calibration models per species or functional groups for the prediction of plant species above-ground biomass from non-destructive point-intercept counts. In the second time period, sampling quadrats were located within the circular monitoring plots and surveyed using the same point-intercept method as in the first round. The resulting records were 1) used as-is, 2) subjected to prediction of species’ biomass using the regression models of the first round.Due to time constraints, only six of the nine blocks were included in first round of field work and were thus included in the construction of calibration models (i.e. block numbers 60, 62 and 70 were not sampled). Similarly, mown plots were not sampled, as they were in the process of being mown while the vegetation surveys were carried out. Including newly mown plots would have compromised the reliability of calibration models. In the second year, the field work took place one month earlier, allowing point-intercept recordings in the annually mown plots.The total sample size for the two periods of fieldwork were: 6 blocks × 4 treatment plots = 24 quadrats in the first period (in 2020) and 9 blocks × 5 treatment plots = 45 quadrats in the second period (in 2021).
Menurunkan potensi kerugian lahan padi menggunakan kombinasi metode pemetaan resistiv...
Rendi Ermansyah
Anggi Rustini

Rendi Ermansyah

and 2 more

October 09, 2017
Identitas proposal Bagian ini memuat nama Ketua Tim Peneliti, Anggota Tim Peneliti (termasuk jumlah mahasiswa yang terlibat), KK, Fakultas/Sekolah, jumlah biaya, prioritas skema riset yang dituju, target output dan tanda tangan pengesahan Ketua Tim Peneliti :     Nama lengkap : Dr. Dasapta Erwin Irawan    Jabatan fungsional/golongan : Lektor    NIP : 19760417 200801 1 007    Fakultas/Sekolah : Fakultas Ilmu dan Teknologi Kebumian    Kelompok keahlian : Geologi Terapan    Alamat : Kota Baru ParahyanganAnggota Tim Peneliti :    1. Dr. Rusmawan Suwarman    2. Dr. Arno Dwi Kuncoro    3. Anggi Rustini, S.Si    4. Rendi Ermansyah Putra, S.TBiaya yang diusulkan: Rp. 100.000.000Jenis riset : 4. Program Riset MultidisiplinBidang fokus riset unggulan : Sumber daya air (Energi baru terbarukan)Topik penelitian : Sumber daya air (Energi baru terbarukan)Prioritas skema riset yang dituju :Target output : Ringkasan proposal Pada tahun 2016-2017, Kabupaten Subang mengalami bencana banjir yang parah seluas 1.200 hektar. Uniknya, pada saat yang sama seluas 50 haktar lahan sawah mengalami kekeringan (puso). Kondisi yang ekstrem ini perlu diketahui untuk dapat mengurangi potensi kerugian yang lebih besar di masa mendatang. Oleh karena itu, kami telah merancang metode multidisiplin dengan menggabungkan metode water balance dan pemetaan resistivitas. Luaran yang diharapkan dari riset ini adalah (1) peta lahan rawan kekeringan dan banjir dari tahun ke tahun, (2) kondisi bawah permukaan serta potensi sumber air di daerah yang rawan kekeringan dan banjir, (3) perhitungan pengelolaan sumberdaya air untuk lahan pertanian.  PendahuluanLatar belakang permasalahan Pendahuluan Pada tahun 2016-2017, Kabupaten Subang dilanda banjir parah seluas 1.200 hektar pada lahan padi yang menyebabkan 50 hektar diantaranya mengalami gagal panen (Republika, 2 Maret 2017). Menurut Dinas Pertanian Kabupaten Subang, daerah yang dilanda banjir tersebut merupakan wilayah lumbung padi yaitu areal persawahan yang terletak di Subang Utara diantaranya Kecamatan Blanakan, Ciasem, Sukasari, Purwadadi, Ciasem, Cikaum dan Pusakanagara. Kondisi tersebut terjadi karena intensitas curah hujan tinggi yang meluapkan sungai sehingga menyebabkan sawah tergenang dan padi menjadi busuk.  Uniknya di tempat yang sama, pada saat musim kemarau lahan padi di Kabupaten Subang juga dilanda kekeringan. Tercatat setidaknya setiap musim kemarau tiba, lahan padi yang mengalami kekeringan adalah sekitar 1,8% dari keseluruhan 80.000 hektar sawah di Subang  (Harian Pikiran Rakyat, 30 Agustus 2012), tersebar di  daerah Pantura yaitu Pusakanagara, Pusakajaya, Pamanukan, Compreng, Legon Kulon hingga ke Kecamatan Pagaden, Binong dan Pagaden Barat. Selama ini, wilayah tersebut sangat mengandalkan pasokan air dari bendungan Salamdarma yang terlebih dahulu melewati Indramayu sebelum sampai ke Pantura, akibatnya pasokan air yang sampai menjadi berkurang. Butuh waktu sekitar 9 jam untuk sampai ke Pantura dengan jumlah air yang sangat sedikit dibandingkan dengan luas area tanam. Salah satu cara yang dilakukan para petani untuk mengairi sawahnya di saat kekeringan adalah dengan melakukan pemompaan dari sumur bor, namun hasilnya tidak banyak membantu karena biaya operasioanal tinggi dan jumlahnya terbatas hanya bagi sebagian kecil petani yang memiliki alat pompa. Kerugian yang dialami sangat besar dan menimbulkan kekhawatiran akan datangnya kejadian yang sama pada saat musim hujan dan musim kemarau di masa mendatang. Sementara itu, data Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupaten Subang menunjukkan pada tahun 2012 adanya penurunan produksi padi sebanyak 0,02% dari tahun sebelumnya atau setara dengan 32.000 ton. Angka yang cukup fantastis mengingat bahwa Kabupaten Subang merupakan salah satu lumbung padi nasional.  
 Association between the myths of romantic love and the tolerance and perpetration of...
Judith Velasco Rodríguez
Francisco J. Sanmartín

Judith Velasco Rodríguez

and 1 more

January 04, 2023
The myths of romantic love are so deeply rooted in our culture that they have shaped the way we conceive relationships. These myths have been linked to intimate partner violence, beginning in teen dating relationships. Since these myths are present throughout socialization, it is possible that their acceptance is associated with a higher perpetration of abuse, but also with its acceptance because of its normalization. This study explored the relationship of romantic love myths with the commission and tolerance of violent behavior in a sample of 70 participants between 13 and 17 years of age. The results showed a considerable acceptance of the myths of romantic love between adolescents, and a relationship between the myths and abusive behavior (both perpetrated and experienced), being psychological and relational abuse the most common. No gender differences were observed, which may support the hypothesis of bidirectionality, that is, boys and girls engage in abusive behavior in dating relationships. The implications of these results for prevention are discussed.Keywords:  dating violence, myths, romantic love, bidirectionality, adolescents
Mapping the Local Bubble's Magnetic Field in 3D
Theo O'Neill
Alyssa Goodman

Theo O'Neill

and 4 more

January 11, 2023
We present a 3D map of magnetic field orientation on the surface of the Local Bubble.  This map is the first of its kind to fully chart magnetic fields over an observed superbubble.  Recent work mapping the 3D shape and dynamics of the Local Bubble has revealed that the formation of all young stars within 200 pc of the Sun was triggered by the Bubble's rapid expansion.  The exact mechanics of this expansion, and the role that magnetic fields in the surrounding interstellar medium have played in regulating its evolution, is not yet clear.  By combining detailed models of the Bubble’s geometry (derived from 3D dust mapping) with the assumption that magnetic field vectors are tangent to the Bubble’s surface, we are able to infer the 3D magnetic field orientation from Planck plane-of-the-sky dust polarization orientations.  We analyze the relationship between the Bubble’s inferred magnetic field and background starlight polarimetry observations, and discuss how magnetic fields may have affected the dynamics of the Local Bubble and other nearby structures in the ISM.
Strong binding of Leupeptin with TMPRSS2 protease may be an alternate to Camostat and...
Jaganathan Ramakrishnan
Saravanan Kandasamy

Jaganathan Ramakrishnan

and 5 more

May 15, 2020
The unprecedented coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 outbreak at Wuhan, China caused acute respiratory infection to humans. There is no precise vaccine/therapeutic agents available to combat the COVID-19 disease. Some repurposed drugs are saving the life of diseased, but the complete cure is relatively less. Several drug targets have been reported to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, in that TMPRSS2 (Transmembrane protease serine 2) is one of the potential targets, inhibiting this protease stops the virus entry into the host human cell. Camostat mesylate, nafamostat and leupeptin are the drugs, in which the first two drugs are being used for COVID-19 and leupeptin also tested. To consider these as repurposed drugs for COVID-19, it is essential to understand their binding affinity and stability with TMPRSS2. In the present study, we performed the molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for the three molecules with the TMPRSS2. The docking study reveals that leupeptin molecule strongly binds with TMPRSS2 protein than the other two drug molecules. The RMSD and RMSF values of MD simulations shows, leupeptin and the amino acids of TMPRSS2 are very stable than the other molecules. Furthermore, leupeptin forms interactions with the key amino acids of TMPRSS2 and the same have been maintained during the MD simulations. This structural and dynamical information is useful to evaluate these drugs to be used as repurposed drugs, however, the strong binding profile of leupeptin with TMPRSS2, suggests, it may be considered as a repurposed drug for COVID-19 after clinical trial.
Le discariche dei rifiuti solidi urbani: evoluzione normativa, criteri di progettazio...
GIOSUE' PALOMBA

GIOSUE' PALOMBA

November 12, 2021
La tematica approfondita riguarda i rifiuti solidi urbani, il loro smaltimento negli impianti predisposti, ovvero discariche controllate, la normativa afferente ed il recupero energetico. Tali tematiche rappresentano un problema molto importante per l’impatto che hanno sull’ecosistema. La problematica è dovuta agli elementi che si creano nell’impianto, come biogas e percolato, i quali devono essere controllati per evitare emissioni nell’ambiente circostante. Il seguente elaborato ha come obiettivo lo studio e l’analisi di un impianto per lo smaltimento dei rifiuti e le normative ad esso collegate, al fine di individuare il progresso delle già menzionate leggi negli anni e le procedure attuabili per la captazione del biogas. Lo studio prevede un percorso basato sulla ricerca e confronto di dati, partendo da un’analisi dei rifiuti che arrivano all’impianto fino ad arrivare alle tecnologie che lo rappresentano. Dopodiché verrà realizzato un modello virtuale con l’utilizzo di un software, ed un plastico in scala al fine di descriverlo al meglio. Mediante tali strumenti possiamo far emergere lo scopo dell’elaborato, ovvero quello di evidenziare come un corretto smaltimento dei rifiuti, nel rispetto delle norme, può portare ad una diminuzione delle problematiche legate alle discariche. Dal lavoro svolto, inoltre, si è individuata l’importanza delle tecnologie esistenti negli impianti, in grado di proteggere l’ambiente e riutilizzare i prodotti come nel caso del biogas.
Fossils of parasitic fungi

Cihang Luo

and 2 more

January 06, 2023
Parasitic fungi occur in virtually every ecosystem, where they can significantly affect the functions of other organisms. Fungal parasites were probably also widespread in the geologic past. However, evidence of fossil fungi and their ecological roles is relatively rare. Here we demonstrate a spectrum of (putative) parasitic relationships in ancient continental ecosystems, using fossil examples of Chytridiomycota, zygomycetous fungi, Basidiomycota, and Ascomycota, along with several fungal fossils whose affinities remain unknown, from different periods of the Phanerozoic. Although many of the hosts no longer exist, the fungi involved mostly appear morphologically very similar to extant forms.
In vitro evaluation of BACtrack®'s smartphone-connected personal breath alcohol analy...
Aaron Olson

Aaron Olson

December 01, 2021
This study assessed the in vitro accuracy, precision, specificity, and measurement uncertainty of BACtrack®'s line of smartphone-connected breath alcohol analyzers. At the 0.080 g/210L ethanol vapor concentration the measurement uncertainty was determined to be ± 0.013, 0.004, and 0.006 g/210L for the Pro, C8, and C6 respectively at the 95% coverage interval. The analyzers showed an apparent ethanol response to isopropanol, and methanol, but not to acetone. BACtrack®'s smartphone-connected breath alcohol analyzers showed the ability to measure vaporous ethanol with confidence in the results.
FAQs

September 14, 2022
Frequently Asked Questions about ESS Open Archive
What explains the rural-urban inequalities in maternal health services utilization in...
Magashi Joseph Ntegwa
Evaline Mcharo G

Magashi J. Ntegwa

and 2 more

January 06, 2023
Background: Maternal mortality remains a public health issue in developing countries, with rural areas having higher rates compared to urban areas. Since effective utilization of maternal health services has the potential to reduce maternal mortality, this study measures the factors contributing to the existing rural-urban differences in the utilization of maternal health services in Tanzania Methods: We used Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2015/2016 data. Multi-stage stratified sampling was used to select study participants and we estimated a Fairlie decomposition to understand factors that contribute to inequality in maternal health services utilization between rural and urban areas in Tanzania using Stata 17. Results: The study findings revealed a considerably wide rural-urban disparity in the utilization of maternal health services. As the findings indicated, household wealth status is the major factor for that disparity. Other factors are women’s exposure to the media, women’s working status, and distance from the homesteads to the health facilities. Conclusion: Therefore, any policy geared toward bridging the gap between rural and urban areas in the utilization of maternal health services should focus on empowering women in terms of household economic status, media exposure, and employment.
Future aspects of micro-plastics and their management
Ekong, Emem Archibong

Ekong, Emem Archibong

January 04, 2023
Plastics are versatile materials of synthetic long-chain polymers with low cost, lightweight, recalcitrant properties. The market is mostly dominated by 6 classes of plastics:  Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polystyrene (PS), Poly-Urethane (PUR), and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).  Microparticles as being in the size range <5 mm (recognizing 333 μm as a practical lower limit when neuston nets are used for sampling.  Microplastic pollution has been a particular concern in recent years because of its prevalence in the ocean and potential ingestion by marine organisms.  A sustainable approach to both production and consumption of plastic materials with global efforts has been geared towards the management of marine debris via prevention. Recycling and reusing plastic products are some of the most effective actions to reduce the volumes of plastic wastes that must be flushed into the ocean. Finally, with the increase in microplastics and its effects on marine ecosystems, it is suggested that community and public vanguards could be initiated to develop a feasible platform for microplastics’ mitigation and ecosystem balance.  
Meta-module Mutual Assistance: A Bio-inspired Design for Self-assembly of Modular Spa...

Ning Zhao

and 7 more

January 02, 2023
The theoretical capability of modular robot to organize the overall robot into different structures with different functions has broad prospects in space exploration. Therefore, we develop a novel modular space robot named Space Module, and inspired by biological cooperative and mutual assistance behaviors, a novel self-assembly method is proposed for it.To solve the mobility problem of non-mobile modules, a new meta-modules design for Space Module is presented, based on which the concept of mutual assistance is utilized to achieve position and posture reachability of assembled unit while minimizing the effect of meta-modules on granularity. Then, an assembly planner is designed to obtain the assembly sequences according to the unique motion characteristics of meta-module and mutual assistance to realize the self-manufacturing of desired configurations. Finally, several demonstrations are given to verify the validity and feasibility of the proposed assembly method.Corresponding author(s) Email:   yhzhu@hit.edu.cn
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