•Lack of sufficient hydrologic information for regional predictive relationships.•The aridity index is a potential control of hydrologic indices.•The uncertainty varies with hydrologic index type.
...The five drainage systems of the Congo River Basin in central Africa.
This study aims to establish uncertainty ranges of hydrologic indices and to provide a basis for transferring hydrologic indices from gauged to ungauged sub-basins by identifying the most influential climate and physiographic attributes.
Only limited information on individual sub-basins natural hydrology exists across the Congo River Basin, limiting the application of commonly used regionalization approaches for prediction in ungauged sub-basins. This study uses predictive equations for the hydrologic indices across all climate and physiographic regions based only on the aridity index. The degree of uncertainty in the derived uncertainty bounds is less than 41% for both Q10/MMQ and Q50/MMQ indices across the basin. A greater degree of uncertainty is associated with the runoff ratio and the Q90/MMQ indices. The uncertainty is assumed to be due to uncertainty in rainfall and evapotranspiration estimates, a lack of spatial representativeness of the available observed streamflow data and other factors (e.g., geology) that might control the hydrologic indices rather than the aridity index alone. The uncertainty ranges provide the first estimates of hydrologic indices that are intended to constrain the outputs from hydrologic models and appropriately quantify prediction uncertainty and risks associated with water resources decision making.
•Bacterial cells coated with gold and annealed at 550°C generate gold nanoparticles.•TEM grid is used for easy localization of bacterial templates on glass substrate.•Sensitive SERS detection is ...reported for BPE molecule down to 10−12M.
We show herein for the first time the ability to fabricate highly sensitive SERS substrates using fixed Escherichia coli bacterial cells, used as templates after glutaraldehyde fixing, whereupon stable gold nanostructures of a suitable size for SERS generation were found lying on top of bacteria after an evaporation deposition procedure, followed by high temperature annealing. Thanks to the template effect provided by the bacterial cells, gold nanoparticles had been produced forming controlled agglomerate patterns containing high density plasmonic “hot spots”, thereby contributing to a remarkable enhancement of Raman signals. Moreover, a TEM copper grid marker used during the gold evaporation process, enabled to precisely correlate the optical properties (including LSPR and SERS spectra) and SEM morphology of a pre-defined area of gold nanostructures. It was observed that modulating either gold film thickness or annealing temperature, enabled to influence the LSPR properties of the produced Au NPs, and this was demonstrated by obtaining a highly sensitive SERS detection of a model compound, trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (BPE), down to 10−12M.
Multiple environmental and socio-economic indicators show that our current agriculture and the organization of the food system need to be revised. Agroecology has been proposed as a promising concept ...for achieving greater sustainability. This paper offers an overview and discussion of the concept based on existing literature and case studies, and explores the way it questions our current research approaches and education paradigms. In order to improve the sustainability of agriculture, the use of external and chemical inputs needs to be minimized. Agroecological farming practices seek to optimize ecological processes, thus minimizing the need for external inputs by providing an array of ecosystem services. Implementing such practices challenges the current structure of the food system, which has been criticized for its lack of social relevance and economic viability. An agroecological approach includes all stakeholders, from field to fork, in the discussion, design and development of future food systems. This inclusion of various disciplines and stakeholders raises issues about scientists and their research practices, as well as about the education of the next generation of scientists. Agroecology is based on the concept that agricultural practices and food systems cannot be dissociated because they belong to the same natural and socio-economic context. Clearly, agroecology is not a silver-bullet, but its principles can serve as avenues for rethinking the current approaches towards achieving greater sustainability. Adapting research approaches in line with indicators that promote inter- and transdisciplinary research is essential if progress is to be made.
Several theoretical approaches have discussed the role of children's expectations of their parent's responsiveness in explaining motivation to collaborate in acquiring skills. This study attempted to ...measure these expectations in 102 toddlers (M age = 26.4 months) through observations of attention-seeking (A-S) behaviors during caregiver's restricted availability. Child collaboration was coded during skill-learning tasks (imitation and block building), and parent responsiveness was observed during dyadic activities. Different A-S styles emerged, supporting the existence of both positive and negative expectations of responsiveness. A-S quality statistically mediated the link between parent responsiveness and child collaborative outcomes, even after controlling for temperament and mood. This is the first study to show that toddlers' expectations are a plausible mechanism linking parent responsiveness to child collaboration.
Aims. We study the mean number counts and two-point correlation functions, along with their covariance matrices, of cosmological surveys such as for clusters. In particular, we consider correlation ...functions averaged over finite redshift intervals, which are well suited to cluster surveys or populations of rare objects, where one needs to integrate over nonzero redshift bins to accumulate enough statistics. Methods. We develop an analytical formalism to obtain explicit expressions of all contributions to these means and covariance matrices, taking into account both shot-noise and sample-variance effects. We compute low-order as well as high-order (including non-Gaussian) terms. Results. We derive expressions for the number counts per redshift bins both for the general case and for the small window approximation. We estimate the range of validity of Limber’s approximation and the amount of correlation between different redshift bins. We also obtain explicit expressions for the integrated 3D correlation function and the 2D angular correlation. We compare the relative importance of shot-noise and sample-variance contributions, and of low-order and high-order terms. We check the validity of our analytical results through a comparison with the Horizon full-sky numerical simulations, and we obtain forecasts for several future cluster surveys.
For the first time, we present co-registered autofluorescence imaging and optical coherence tomography (AF/OCT) of excised human palatine tonsils to evaluate the capabilities of OCT to visualize ...tonsil tissue components. Despite limited penetration depth, OCT can provide detailed structural information about tonsil tissue with much higher resolution than that of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and Ultrasound. Different tonsil tissue components such as epithelium, dense connective tissue, lymphoid nodules, and crypts can be visualized by OCT. The co-registered AF imaging can provide matching biochemical information. AF/OCT scans may provide a non-invasive tool for detecting tonsillar cancers and for studying the natural history of their development.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The present study was designed to examine the effects of training in positive interpretations in clinically anxious children. A total of 87 children between 7 and 12 years of age were randomly ...assigned to either a positive cognitive bias modification training for interpretation (CMB-I) or a neutral training. Training included 15 sessions in a two-week period. Children with an interpretation bias prior to training in the positive training group showed a significant reduction in interpretation bias on the social threat scenarios after training, but not children in the neutral training group. No effects on interpretation biases were found for the general threat scenarios or the non-threat scenarios. Furthermore, children in the positive training did not self-report lower anxiety than children in the neutral training group. However, mothers and fathers reported a significant reduction in social anxiety in their children after positive training, but not after neutral training. This study demonstrated that clinically anxious children with a prior interpretation bias can be trained away from negative social interpretation biases and there is some evidence that this corresponds to reductions in social anxiety. This study also highlights the importance of using specific training stimuli.
•Parents report reduction in social anxiety after positive training in their child.•Parents report no reduction in anxiety after control training in their child.•Children do not report differences in anxiety after positive or control training.•Children showed a reduction in social threat scenarios after positive training.•Point 3 was only for children with a high interpretation bias prior to training.
Citrulline is a nonessential free amino acid, detectable in various biological fluids such as plasma, urine and cerebrospinal fluid. The plasma citrulline concentration is increasingly considered to ...be a reliable biomarker of enterocyte function. Current analysis usually involves lengthy HPLC separations as a part of classical amino acid profiling, or mass spectrometry usually in combination with derivatization. We employed UPLC-HILIC–tandem mass-spectrometry (MS/MS) of acetonitrile-derived supernatants from plasma samples of control subjects and of patients who had received myeloablative chemotherapy. Detection was achieved by the selected reaction monitoring of transitions:
m/
z 176
→
70 and 180
→
74 (for the deuterated standard), respectively. The method was precise and accurate with inter-day CV
<
3.9% (
n
=
30), recoveries ranging from 98.0 to 100.3% and high linearity from 0.3 to at least 2000
μmol/L. The results for 202 plasma samples agreed well with those obtained by the classical HPLC-fluorescence method. By a simple protein precipitation/extraction step and the UPLC separation the result can be available within 30
min of receipt with a capacity of at least 12 assays per hour. Citrulline in blood and plasma or serum was stable for at least 2 days at room temperature which would permit postal transport to the laboratory. The UPLC–MS/MS method for measuring plasma citrulline concentrations is fast and robust and is therefore an ideal tool for monitoring the intestinal enterocyte capacity of patients with various pathological conditions.
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