Hualian River is abundant in runoff and high in sediment transport capacity. Most surface water is utilized for agricultural purposes, whereas domestic and industrial water usage relies on the ...copious amount of available groundwater. To understand the use of water resources in this basin, the fundamental characteristics and recharge of the groundwater need to be analyzed. In this study, the weight of different factors for potential groundwater recharge and the score under various characteristics were assessed based on the characteristics of the study area. A GIS approach was used to integrate five contributing factors: lithology, land cover/land use, lineaments, drainage, and slope. The results demonstrated that about 1.2% of the study area is designated as excellent potential groundwater recharge. Good, moderate and lower potential groundwater recharge areas cover 11.6, 11.7 and 29.9%, respectively; the area with poor potential groundwater recharge covers 45.6%. The results indicate that the most effective groundwater recharge potential zone is located in the Huatung Valley. In this region, the gravelly stratum and the concentration of drainage also help the streamflow recharge the groundwater system.
Due to the funding scale and complexity of lubricant regenerative technology, the selection of recycling technology and policy for waste lubricant oil can be viewed as a multiple-attribute decision ...process that is normally made by a review committee with experts from academia, industry, and the government. This study aims to provide a systematic approach towards the technology selection, in which two phase procedures are proposed. The first stage utilizes Fuzzy Delphi Method to obtain the critical factors of the regenerative technologies by interviewing the foregoing experts. In the second stage, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied to find the importance degree of each criterion as the measurable indices of the regenerative technologies. This study considers eight kinds of regenerative technologies which have already been widely used, and establishes a ranking model that provides decision makers to assessing the prior order of regenerative technologies. The empirical study indicates that the “Proper scale” is the most important evaluation criterion considered in overall experts. The demonstration of how the prior order of regenerative technologies changes under various domains of experts is addressed as well.
•Two new analytical models for radially divergent tracer tests are developed.•One model predicts reliable parameters by using absorbed and non-absorbed tracers.•This model uses a Robin boundary ...condition reflecting adsorption effect in skins.•The other model representing a standard model involves the parameter correlation.•The effect of vertical dispersion due to partial mixing lengths is significant.
This study develops two new analytical models for radially divergent tracer tests at a fully-penetrating well in two-zone confined aquifers of skin and formation zones. Mixing length in the well is below the well length for inducing vertical dispersion. One model treats skins as an adsorptive Robin boundary condition for reflecting the adsorption effect. The other model applies skin's governing equation. The analytical solutions of the models are derived. The deep neural network is applied to obtain second model's solution. Results suggest the boundary condition is applicable when a Peclet number is below 0.2 for dominant dispersion in skins. The analytical solution considering the boundary condition predicts reliable parameters by using absorbed and non-absorbed tracers to avoid parameter correlation. The other solutions demonstrate skin's width correlated to its retardation factor and skin's transverse dispersivity to formation's one. The parameter correlation results from the model formulation rather than model-solving methods.
Aims
Muscleblind‐like 2 (MBNL2) plays a crucial role in regulating alternative splicing during development and mouse loss of MBNL2 recapitulates brain phenotypes in myotonic dystrophy (DM). However, ...the mechanisms underlying DM neuropathogenesis during brain development remain unclear. In this study, we aim to investigate the impact of MBNL2 elimination on neuronal development by Mbnl2 conditional knockout (CKO) mouse models.
Methods
To create Mbnl2 knockout neurons, cDNA encoding Cre‐recombinase was delivered into neural progenitors of Mbnl2flox/flox mouse brains by in utero electroporation. The morphologies and dynamics of dendritic spines were monitored by confocal and two‐photon microscopy in brain slices and live animals from the neonatal period into adulthood. To investigate the underlying molecular mechanism, we further detected the changes in the splicing and molecular interactions of proteins associated with spinogenesis.
Results
We found that Mbnl2 knockout in cortical neurons decreased dendritic spine density and dynamics in adolescent mice. Mbnl2 ablation caused the adducin 1 (ADD1) isoform to switch from adult to fetal with a frameshift, and the truncated ADD1 failed to interact with alpha‐II spectrin (SPTAN1), a critical protein for spinogenesis. In addition, expression of ADD1 adult isoform compensated for the reduced dendritic spine density in cortical neurons deprived of MBNL2.
Conclusion
MBNL2 plays a critical role in maintaining the dynamics and homeostasis of dendritic spines in the developing brain. Mis‐splicing of downstream ADD1 may account for the alterations and contribute to the DM brain pathogenesis.
In Mbnl2‐knockout mouse model of myotonic dystrophy (DM), the density and dynamics of dendritic spines of cortical neurons were decreased during adolescence. Meanwhile, adducin 1 (ADD1) switched from adult to fetal isoform with a frameshift, causing the truncated ADD1 failing to interact with alpha‐II spectrin (SPTAN1), a critical protein for spinogenesis. Their roles in maintaining the dynamics and homeostasis of dendritic spines in the developing brain may underlie the neurological symptoms in DM patients.
In this study, a geostatistically based estimator is developed that simultaneously includes all observed transient hydrographs from hydraulic tomography to map aquifer heterogeneity. To analyze ...tomography data, a data preprocessing procedure (including diagnosing and wavelet denoising analysis) is recommended. A least squares approach is then introduced to estimate effective parameters and spatial statistics of heterogeneity that are the required inputs for the geostatistical estimator. Since wavelet denoising does not completely remove noise from observed hydrographs, a stopping criterion is established to avoid overexploitation of the imperfect hydrographs. The estimator and the procedures are then tested in a synthetic, cross-sectional aquifer with hierarchical heterogeneity and a vertical sandbox with prearranged heterogeneity. Results of the test indicate that with this estimator and preprocessing procedures, hydraulic tomography can effectively map hierarchical heterogeneity in the synthetic aquifer as well as in the sandbox. In addition, the study shows that using the estimated hydraulic conductivity and specific storage fields of the sandbox, the classic groundwater flow model accurately predicts temporal and spatial distributions of drawdown induced by an independent pumping event in the sandbox. On the other hand, the classic groundwater flow model yields less satisfactory results when equivalent homogeneous properties of the sandbox are used.
•The technology applies the current flow pattern and its resulting magnetic field.•Sandbox and field tests were conducted to assess the feasibility of this technology.•A specific characteristic of ...the contour image was used to determine contaminant zone.•Quantitative analysis showed high accuracy of this magnetic field survey method.•LNAPL distribution of a contaminated site was characterized by this technology.
Nonaqueous-phase liquids (NAPLs) usually move through the vadose zone not in a homogeneous spread manner but in the form of disconnected blobs, and they remain in the pores of porous media. A major challenge in remediating an NAPL-contaminated site is to detect and delineate the distribution of NAPLs. Geophysical technologies could act as investigating methods for sites with limited resources and time constraints. Based on the principle of magnetometric resistivity (MMR) method, in this study, we applied an electric current flow pattern and its resulting magnetic field to develop a new application for contaminated site investigation. The physical phenomena about the magnetic distribution, the flow pattern of electric current, and the influence of different media in packed sand were observed via sandbox experiments. A field test was performed at a light NAPL (LNAPL)-contaminated site by combining the magnetic field survey and a soil sample analysis. Two potential contaminated zones were determined according to the specific characteristics of the contour image plotted according to the magnetic field intensity collected on the ground. The quantitative results of the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) of 18 soil samples were used to verify the results of the magnetic field survey. The comparison results revealed that we obtained a high accuracy of 92.9% in the field test, which indicated that this technology could be used to investigate LNAPL-contaminated sites. Moreover, two phenomena, the scale effect led to poor resolution and the behavior of flow pattern disturbance distorted the survey images, were observed in both the sandbox experiment and the field test.
Climate change can directly or indirectly influence groundwater resources. The mechanisms of this influence are complex and not easily quantified. Understanding the effect of climate change on ...groundwater systems can help governments adopt suitable strategies for water resources. The baseflow concept can be used to relate climate conditions to groundwater systems for assessing the climate change impact on groundwater resources. This study applies the stable baseflow concept to the estimation of the groundwater recharge in ten groundwater regions in Taiwan, under historical and climate scenario conditions. The recharge rates at the main river gauge stations in the groundwater regions were assessed using historical data. Regression equations between rainfall and groundwater recharge quantities were developed for the ten groundwater regions. The assessment results can be used for recharge evaluation in Taiwan. The climate change estimation results show that climate change would increase groundwater recharge by 32.6% or decrease it by 28.9% on average under the climate scenarios, with respect to the baseline quantity in Taiwan. The impact of climate change on groundwater systems may be positive. This study proposes a method for assessing the impact of climate change on groundwater systems. The assessment results provide important information for strategy development in groundwater resources management.
Precipitation infiltration is one of the most significant triggering factors for slope failure occurrence in many places around the world. Knowledge of the mechanisms leading to precipitation-induced ...slope failures is of great importance to the management of landslide hazard. In this study, a soil water balance model is developed to estimate soil water flux during the process of infiltration from rainfall data, with consideration of storm periods and non-storm periods. Two important assumptions in this study are given: (1) instantaneous uniform distribution of the degree of saturation and (2) a linear relationship between evapotranspiration and the related degree of saturation. For storm periods, the Brooks and Corey model estimates both the soil water retention curve and soil water parameters. The infiltration partition is employed by an infinite-series solution of Philip in conjunction with the time compression approximation. For none-storm periods, evapotranspiration can be derived for the moisture depletion of soil water. This study presents a procedure for calculating the safety factor for an unsaturated slope suffering from precipitation infiltration. The process of infiltration into a slope due to rainfall and its effect on soil slope behavior are examined using modified Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion in conjunction with a soil water balance model. The results indicate that the matric suction, which is closely related to slope stability, is affected by the degree of saturation controlled by rainfall events.
Lissencephaly is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a loss of brain surface convolutions caused by genetic variants that disrupt neuronal migration. However, the genetic origins of the ...disorder remain unidentified in nearly one-fifth of people with lissencephaly. Using whole-exome sequencing, we identified a de novo BAIAP2 variant, p.Arg29Trp, in an individual with lissencephaly with a posterior more severe than anterior (P>A) gradient, implicating BAIAP2 as a potential lissencephaly gene. Spatial transcriptome analysis in the developing mouse cortex revealed that Baiap2 is expressed in the cortical plate and intermediate zone in an anterior low to posterior high gradient. We next used in utero electroporation to explore the effects of the Baiap2 variant in the developing mouse cortex. We found that Baiap2 knockdown caused abnormalities in neuronal migration, morphogenesis and differentiation. Expression of the p.Arg29Trp variant failed to rescue the migration defect, suggesting a loss-of-function effect. Mechanistically, the variant interfered with the ability of BAIAP2 to localize to the cell membrane. These results suggest that the functions of BAIAP2 in the cytoskeleton, cell morphogenesis and migration are important for cortical development and for the pathogenesis of lissencephaly in humans.
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