The present article proposes a suite of programs aimed at (i) representing landscape organization in relation with the functioning of annual crops or breeding systems, (ii) evaluating water movements ...from biomass and hydrological exchanges, and (iii) analyzing the transfer dynamics of nutrients, suspended matter or fecal bacteria based on particle tracking methods. Simulations provided indications about the underlying processes that drive exchanges and sink-source effects operating at the landscape scale. OPALE was tested in three agricultural contexts and biophysical situations. Water flows and flows of associated matters were compared to data recorded at the catchment outlet, and showed the efficiency of the algorithms developed in the generic OPALE libraries. This article describes the underlying hypotheses and the full mathematical framework and procedures used to assess landscape eco-functionality. Several examples are given to illustrate the use of OPALE in landscape reconfiguration prospects (e.g. influence of landscape composition and structure on plant transpiration, stream flow, erosion, nutrient and organism fluxes in water) for the agroecological transition.
•OPALE is a suite of programs for the representation and analysis of landscapes in arable crops and grasslands conditions.•OPALE allows for efficient evaluation of water and matter outflows (nutrient, suspended matter and fecal bacteria).•OPALE leads to computed indicators to assess landscape functioning and water-related eco-functionality in various conditions.
The aim of the Sustainable Management of Sediments Dredged in Seaports (SEDIGEST) project is to assess the risks of treated port sediments for terrestrial ecosystems when deposited in quarries. We ...simulated the “ageing” of these sediments up to the “moment” when plants can germinate. Sediments were leached by water percolating through a laboratory column. Sediments 1 and 2, taken from the port of Toulon (France), were dried and aired. Sediment 3, taken from the port of Guilvinec (France), was stabilised with lime. Phytotoxicity was evaluated on the three artificially aged sediments using germination and early development tests (48 h to 7 days) by Phytotoxkit F
TM
bioassays. The three dilutions tested were performed with the reference “ISO substrate” and with
Lolium perenne
sp. (rye grass),
Sinapis alba
(white mustard), and
Lepidium sativum
(watercress). The tests performed with sediments 1 and 2 showed (1) a decrease of their toxicity to the germination of the species selected following leaching and (2) that
L
.
perenne
was the most sensitive species. The tests performed with sediment 3 showed that it was improper for colonisation even after leaching simulating 16 months of ageing. These germination tests on aged sediments identified the effects of leaching and made it possible to appreciate the capacity of the sediments to allow colonisation by plants.
Agricultural land use in the area of water bodies is generally considered to increase the nutrient status of the water body water and sediments, but is this also the case for already nutrient-rich ...fish ponds? We studied 83 fish ponds in the Dombes region, France, where 1100 ponds are located in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape. Different water and sediment parameters were analysed for ponds and in ditches after rainfall events. Land use was studied in the primary catchment of ponds and in a 100-m zone around ponds. Soil parameters of different land-use types were analysed and farmers interviewed about agricultural practices. Increasing cropping area in the catchment of the ponds is significantly correlated to higher PO ₄³⁻ concentration of pond water and to a lower degree, also to NO ₃⁻, but only in certain years with higher rainfall and with a more uneven distribution in spring. Sediment parameters were not significantly influenced. High NO ₃- concentration in the water of a ditch during significant rainfall events was found for a cropland dominated catchment. Citation Wezel, A., Arthaud, F., Dufloux, C., Renoud, F., Vallod, D., Robin, J., and Sarrazin, B., 2013. Varied impact of land use on water and sediment parameters in fish ponds of the Dombes agro-ecosystem, France. Hydrological Sciences Journal , 58 (4), 854–871.
The need to run complex workflows for a high energy physics experiment such as ATLAS has always been present. However, as computing resources have become even more constrained, compared to the wealth ...of data generated by the LHC, the need to use resources efficiently and manage complex workflows within a single grid job have increased. In ATLAS, a new Job Transform framework has been developed that we describe in this paper. This framework manages the multiple execution steps needed to 'transform' one data type into another (e.g., RAW data to ESD to AOD to final ntuple) and also provides a consistent interface for the ATLAS production system. The new framework uses a data driven workflow definition which is both easy to manage and powerful. After a transform is defined, jobs are expressed simply by specifying the input data and the desired output data. The transform infrastructure then executes only the necessary substeps to produce the final data products. The global execution cost of running the job is minimised and the transform can adapt to scenarios where data can be produced along different execution paths. Transforms for specific physics tasks which support up to 60 individual substeps have been successfully run. As the new transforms infrastructure has been deployed in production many features have been added to the framework which improve reliability, quality of error reporting and also provide support for multi-process jobs.
•Hydrological signatures about dynamics derived from distributed water level and soil moisture.•Information relevant to document impact of land use, rainfall type, soil moisture.•Information useful ...to diagnose simulated processes in distributed hydrological models.•Information useful to prioritize future model improvements or parameters estimation.•Qualitative information not sufficient to improve simulated water volume.
This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating outlet discharge and observed internal variables in the evaluation of distributed hydrological models outputs. It proposes a general methodology for a diagnostic evaluation of a complex distributed hydrological model, based on discharge data at the outlet and additional distributed information such as water level and surface soil moisture data. The proposed methodology is illustrated using the PUMMA model in the Mercier sub-catchment (6.6 km2). Model parameters are specified according to field data and a previous study performed in a neighbouring catchment (Jankowfsky et al., 2014), without calibration. The distributed water level and soil moisture network of sensors were useful in the model evaluation process. Thus, model parameters are specified either using in situ information or results from previous studies. A stepwise approach is used for model evaluation. It includes standard water balance assessment as well as comparison of observed and simulated outlet discharge, whether on annual or event timescales. Soil moisture sensors are used to assess the ability of the model to simulate seasonal water storage dynamics based on a normalized index. The water level sensors network is used on two timescales: on a seasonal timescale, sensors network is used to assess the model’s ability to simulate intermittency; whereas on event timescales, sensors network is used in determining the model’s ability to reproduce observed reaction as well as response times. Event timescales do also focus on the correlation between hydrological response and either rainfall event or antecedent soil moisture variables. Results show that the non-calibrated model is quite effective at capturing water flow and soil water-storage dynamics, but it fails to reproduce observed runoff volume during events. There is strong indication of a deficiency in the characterization of catchment storage and upstream flowpath description. The soil water content and a network of water level sensors provide interesting information about soil moisture and river flow dynamics. They however fail to provide quantitative information about catchment storage. This study opens interesting perspectives for the evaluation of distributed hydrological models using hydrological signatures. Furthermore, it highlights the requirement of quantitative as well as qualitative signatures for improving such models.
Abstract Clinical decision support systems are a combination of software techniques to help the clinicians in their medical decision making process via functionalities ranging from basic signal ...analysis to therapeutic planning and computerized guidelines. The algorithms providing all these functionalities must be very carefully validated on real patient data and must be confronted to everyday clinical practice. One of the main problems when developing these techniques is the difficulty to obtain high-quality complete patient records, comprising data coming both from the biomedical equipment (high-frequency signals), and from numerous other sources (therapeutics, imagery, clinical actions, etc.). In this paper, we present an infrastructure for developing and testing such software algorithms. It is based on a bedside workstation where testing different algorithms simultaneously on real-time data is possible in the ward. It is completed by a collaborative portal enabling different teams to test their software algorithms on the same patient records, making comparisons and cross-validations more easily.
This study reports the monitoring of the water quality during filling and draining periods of a 24 ha pond built with a bypass ditch, and managed extensively for carp production. The total volume of ...water was determined by using a digital elevation model based on topographic data. Total suspended solids and main nutrients have been measured. An adapted hydrobiological score was calculated in the downstream. The results show that outlet opening and fish harvesting are critical steps for the export but concern only 5% of the total effluent volume. The effluent exported 8.5 t of total suspended solids and was rich in P and organic matter. The sedimentation in the ditch could explain that the receiving stream was not so affected by this organic discharge. Better practices of managing and harvesting could improve the quality of the effluent and limit its potential impact.Original Abstract: Afin d'evaluer l'impact potentiel de la vidange, les flux de nutriments et de matieres sont quantifies lors du remplissage et de la vidange d'un etang construit en derivation, a l'aval d'une chaine d'etangs. La cinetique de vidange a ete etablie a l'aide d'un modele numerique de terrain restituant la surface topographique de l'etang. Les matieres en suspension et les principaux nutriments ont ete regulierement quantifies. La qualite hydrobiologique du cours d'eau recepteur a ete controlee pendant et apres la vidange. L'etang a exporte 8.5 tonnes de matieres en suspension et des quantites de nutriments relativement elevees. Nos resultats confirment l'existence de deux phases critiques, ne concernant cependant qu'un tres faible volume d'effluent. Compte tenu des capacites elevees de sedimentation des matieres en suspension, la courte duree d'exposition associee a un lineaire de fosses suffisant pourrait limiter l'impact de ces matieres rejetees.
Excised tissue of benign prostatic hyperplasia from 15 men 60-89 years old was investigated by immunohistochemistry and specific histological staining. For each adenoma, 10 tissue sections (2-5 ...specimens per lobe according to its volume) were analyzed by computer-assisted image analysis (SAMBA 2002). There was evidence for a high ratio of stroma to glands: the mean proportions of glandular, muscular and fibrous areas were respectively 30.4, 14.9 and 54.7%. Each adenoma presented a homogeneous structure, but the proportions of the three tissue components differed significantly among adenomas (p < 0.001). These findings incite us to consider biopsy as a possible investigation of the morphology of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and thus we could choose an adequate therapy according to histologic composition.
In this document, we will present a three phase converter for Electric Vehicle (EV). First, the traction drive mode will be introduced, in order to show the chosen topology, which is a 3-phase ...3-level NPC inverter. Then, the same converter is reused as an interleaved PWM rectifier for the battery slow charging mode (3,3kW). Of course, the charger is controlled in PFC in order to reduce current harmonics rejections, and to control different power exchange during the battery charging mode. For both structures, the design of the passive elements will be detailed and the high frequency currents will be considered for the design. An experimental test bench has been developed in order to validate the theoretical study.
PDF
