Groundwater quality and quantity are two major challenges in arid and semi-arid regions, due to their critical roles in sustainable agricultural development. Irrigated lands are spread all over Urmia Lake's surrounding plains in Iran. Due to the risk of saltwater intrusion as a result of over-exploitation from groundwater resources, it is important to monitor the groundwater quality and quantity t

Thermal properties of pure tungsten, irradiated in the Swiss neutron spallation source at the Paul Scherrer Institut, have been studied in the temperature range 25–500 °C. Disk-shaped specimens were prepared from a tungsten sheet which was irradiated with high energy protons and spallation neutrons. The specimens tested in this work received total damages of maximum 3.9 and 5.8 dpa at average irra

The concept of circular business models has been identified as an important enabler for companies moving towards circular practices. Circular business models help to prolong lifetimes of products and parts through successive cycles of reuse, repair, remanufacturing and closing material loops. To realise economic viability and reductions in environmental impacts from innovating towards a circular b

Climate change can lead to an increased frequency of extreme weather events, which may induce a decline in tree vitality, rendering the forest more vulnerable to other stress factors. In this study we used the ecosystem model LPJ-GUESS to compare the NPP of boreal conifers on till soil and sandy soil, simulating the growth of Norway spruce during the 21st century using climate model projections co

A tiered process was developed to assess the transformation, CO2 formation and uptake of four organic micropollutants by carrier-attached microorganisms from two municipal wastewater treatment plants. At the first tier, primary transformation of ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, and mecoprop by carrier-attached microorganisms was shown by the dissipation of the target compounds and the formation of

This paper reports on studies of multiple-injection strategies of gaseous fuel in a model combustion chamber and the role of jet-jet interactions on the mixing processes in the chamber using large-eddy simulation (LES). A high-pressure non-reacting gas flow injected through a jet with a nozzle diameter of 1.35 mm into a quiescent inert air environment is considered. First, we validate the method a

Background: The characteristics and prognosis of healthy obesity (HO) still remain unclear. We aimed to examine the characteristics of healthy severe obesity (HSO), defined by a novel approach, with a focus on self-reported physical activity (PA) and a genetic risk score for type 2 diabetes (GRS DM2). Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out in a subsample of severly obese subjects (BMI

Understanding and predicting dense granular flows is of importance in geology and industrial applications. Still, most theoretical work has been limited to flows and packings composed of discs or spheres, a narrow subset of all possible packings. To advance our understanding of more realistic flows we here study the granular rheology of ellipses in steady-state flow with a focus on the effects of

Proton therapy has shown potential for reducing doses to normal tissues in breast cancer radiotherapy. However data on the impact of protons when including internal mammary nodes (IMN) in the target for breast radiotherapy is comparatively scarce. This study aimed to evaluate normal tissue doses when including the IMN in regional RT with scanned proton beams, with and without respiratory gating. T

In transposition of the great arteries (TGA), certain coronary patterns have been associated with major adverse events early after the arterial switch operation (ASO). We sought to determine the impact of preoperative echocardiographic (ECHO) diagnosis on the intra­ and postoperative morbidity. All patients with TGA born between June 2001 and June 2017 and who underwent ASO were reviewed. Data on

The ALICE Collaboration reports the measurement of semi-inclusive distributions of charged-particle jets recoiling from a high-transverse momentum trigger hadron in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV. Jets are reconstructed from charged-particle tracks using the anti-kT algorithm with resolution parameter R=0.2 and 0.4. A data-driven statistical approach is used to correct the uncorrelated background

Abstract: Cognitively advanced animals are usually assumed to possess better self-control, or ability to decline immediate rewards in favour of delayed ones, than less cognitively advanced animals. It has been claimed that the best predictor of high such ability is absolute brain volume meaning that large-brained animals should perform better than small-brained ones. We tested self-control ability

In Justice in Young Adult Speculative Fiction, Marek C. Oziewicz argues, 'it is possible to study scripts through the lens of the author's cognition, through the reader's cognition, or as a textual matter with an implied author and reader' (9-10). Here we propose a fourth method for studying scripts in children's literature: as a textual matter. Unlike previous research in the field, we argue that

The aim of this paper is to study resonance conditions for acoustic particle focusing inside droplets in two-phase microfluidic systems. A bulk acoustic wave microfluidic chip was designed and fabricated for focusing microparticles inside aqueous droplets (plugs) surrounded by a continuous oil phase in a 380-μm-wide channel. The quality of the acoustic particle focusing was investigated by conside

Background Osmosis drives transcapillary ultrafiltration and water removal in patients treated with peritoneal dialysis. Crystalloid osmosis, typically induced by glucose, relies on dialysate tonicity and occurs through endothelial aquaporin-1 water channels and interendothelial clefts. In contrast, the mechanisms mediating water flow driven by colloidal agents, such as icodextrin, and combination