Challenges to Implementing Environmental-DNA Monitoring in Namibia

By identifying fragments of DNA in the environment, eDNA approaches present a promising tool for monitoring biodiversity in a cost-effective way. This is particularly pertinent for countries where traditional morphological monitoring has been sparse. The first step to realising the potential of eDNA is to develop methodologies that are adapted to local conditions. Here, we test field and laboratory eDNA protocols (aqueous and sediment samples) in a range of semi-arid ecosystems in Namibia. We successfully gathered eDNA data on a broad suite of organisms at multiple trophic levels (including algae, invertebrates and bacteria) but identified two key challenges to the implementation of eDNA methods in the region: 1) high turbidity requires a tailored sampling technique and 2) identification of taxa by eDNA methods is currently constrained by a lack of reference data. We hope this work will guide the deployment of eDNA biomonitoring in the arid ecosystems of Namibia and neighbouring countries.

High-fidelity aeroelastic analyses of wind turbines in complex terrain: FSI and aerodynamic modelling

This paper shows high-fidelity Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) studies applied on the research wind turbine of the WINSENT project. In this project, two research wind turbines are going to be erected in the South of Germany in the WindForS complex terrain test field. The FSI is obtained by coupling the CFD URANS/DES code FLOWer and the multiphysics FEM solver Kratos, in which both beam and shell structural elements can be chosen to model the turbine. The two codes are coupled in both an explicit and an implicit way. The different modelling approaches strongly differ with respect to computational resources and therefore the advantages of their higher accuracy must be correlated with the respective additional computational costs. The presented FSI coupling method has been applied firstly to a single blade model of the turbine under standard uniform inflow conditions. It could be concluded that for such a small turbine, in uniform conditions a beam model is sufficient to correctly build the blade deformations. Afterwards, the aerodynamic complexity has been increased considering the full turbine with turbulent inflow conditions generated from real field data, in both a flat and complex terrains. It is shown that in these cases a higher structural fidelity is necessary. The effects of aeroelasticity are then shown on the phase-averaged blade loads, showing that using the same inflow turbulence, a flat terrain is mostly influenced by the shear, while the complex terrain is mostly affected by low velocity structures generated by the forest. Finally, the impact of aeroelasticity and turbulence on the Damage Equivalent Loading (DEL) is discussed, showing that flexibility is reducing the DEL in case of turbulent inflow, acting as a damper breaking larger cycles into smaller ones.

Physiological and sanitary quality of ryegrass seeds submitted to different defoliation frequencies

ABSTRACT: This study determined the effect of different defoliation frequencies in a long-cycle ryegrass cultivar on yield components and the physiological and sanitary quality of seeds. Four defoliation frequencies were applied (without, one, two, and three defoliations). The time between defoliations was 350 degree-days. At the first, second, and third defoliation time, the plants were 15 cm, 20 cm, and 35 cm, respectively, and were lowered to half their height. The yield components and plant structure were evaluated through the tillers, along with the physiological quality of the seeds, which was verified by germination tests, first germination count, accelerated aging, tetrazolium test, field emergence, and weight of a thousand seeds. For the sanitary quality analysis, the percentage (%) of fungi incidence in the seeds was verified. The second defoliation determined the seeds’ high physiological and sanitary quality due to the higher amount of primary and secondary tillers produced concerning the other treatments. However, there was no significant difference for the third defoliation since the aerial tillers issued the same quality of seeds originated from primary and secondary tillers. The average incidence of fungi such as Colletotrichum sp., Fusarium sp., Phoma sp., and Dreshslera spp. was lower in ryegrass plants subjected to three defoliations.

Development of Video Stop Motion Graphic Animation Oriented STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, And Mathematics) on Global Warming Materials in Junior High School

<p>This study aims to design and produce a stop motion graphic animation video oriented to STEAM global warming material that is used as a learning medium and to determine the response of students at MTs Manbaul Huda Ngaluran Karanganyar Demak to stop motion graphic animation video oriented STEAM global warming material. The research method used is Research and Development (R&amp;D) which refers to the Borg and Gall development procedure. This research includes 7 stages. The trial was carried out after going through a validity test by media experts and material experts. The trial was carried out at MTs Manbaul Huda Ngaluran Karanganyar Demak involving 28 students of class VII. meanwhile, the data analysis technique uses qualitative data from quantitative data for the development of STEAM-oriented video stop motion graphic animation products for global warming material in order to determine the feasibility of the developed media. The results showed that the media was feasible to use based on the percentage of media experts of 92% and material experts of 84.8%, the response of students to stop motion videos was very satisfied based on the results of small-scale trials getting an average score percentage of 96.95% and the test Field trials get an average score percentage of 85.7% which means that the stop motion graphic animation video media oriented to STEAM global warming material can be accepted by students.</p>

Numerical Modelling of Various Aspects of Pipe Pile Static Load Test

Due to the development of dedicated software and the computing capabilities of modern computers, the application of numerical methods to analyse more complex geotechnical problems is becoming increasingly common. However, there are still some areas which, due to the lack of unambiguous solutions, require a more thorough examination, e.g., the numerical simulations of displacement pile behaviour in soil. Difficulties in obtaining the convergence of simulations with the results of static load tests are mainly caused by problems with proper modelling of the pile installation process. Based on the numerical models developed so far, a new process of static load test modelling has been proposed, which includes the influence of pile installation on the soil in its vicinity and modelling of contact between steel pile and the soil. Although the presented method is not new, this is relevant and important for practitioners that may want to improve the design of displacement piles. The results of the numerical calculations were verified by comparing them with the results of pipe pile field tests carried out in a natural scale on the test field in Southern Poland.

Pengembangan Bahan Ajar Fiqih Model Majalah Anak Materi Thaharah Untuk Peningkatan Keefektifan Hasil Belajar

The aims of research and development included: 1) Design a magazine model development of teaching materials on the kid magazines model of thaharah material in class I Public Islamic Elementary School 2 Mojokerto. 2) Explain the feasibility of development of teaching materials on the kid magazines model of thaharah material as Instructional materials in class I Public Islamic Elementary School 2 Mojokerto. 3 ) Describe how much the increase of effectiveness of learning in teaching materials developed and applied magazine Instructional materials of Kid Magazines Model of Thaharah Material in class I Public Islamic Elementary School 2 Mojokerto. This type of research was research and development. The resulting product was Kid Magazines Model of Thaharah Material for students of class I Public Islamic Elementary School 2 Mojokerto. The model of development used the development model of Borg & Gall. The results of the development of teaching materials met valid criteria with the results of expert validation of material reached 90.91%, the validation results of design experts reached 89.28%, the results of teacher assessment reached 92.86%, small group trial reached 92.5%, and the test field experiment reached 90.83%. The average score of student learning outcomes of control class reached 87.22 and experimental class reached 78.51. On the results of the t-test using SPSS 16 with a significance level of 0.05 was obtained results tcount> ttable namely 3921> 2:00 meant that H0 was rejected and Ha. This showed that the teaching materials developed effective in improving the effectiveness of student learning outcomes in class I Public Islamic Elementary School 2 Mojokerto.

Experimental Exercises as an Element of Joint Combat Training of the Air Forces and Railway Troops in the Prewar Period and During the Great Patriotic War (1931-1945)

This article deals with the organization of experimental exercises of the Air Force and Railway Troops in the conditions of increasing military threat during the prewar period and the years of Great Patriotic War combat operations. The relevance of the study is due to the lack of scientific research on the history of interaction and joint combat training of aviation and special technical branches units. In the course of this research, the role and place of experimental exercises in the system of joint combat training of the Air Force and Railway Troops were defined, and the main areas of weapons and military equipment testing were analyzed. A conclusion was made about the fundamental role of the Gorokhovets Aviation and Railway Troops test field in the study of joint combat use and in the development of new models of air weapons and recovering equipment for Railway Troops. The effectiveness of using of the experience of such experimental exercises is positively assessed. Conclusions are formulated and scientific-theoretical recommendations are offered to improve joint combat training of Aviation and Railway Troops units at the present development level of the Russian Armed Forces.

Methodology for the Automated Visual Detection of Bird and Bat Collision Fatalities at Onshore Wind Turbines

The number of collision fatalities is one of the main quantification measures for research concerning wind power impacts on birds and bats. Despite being integral in ongoing investigations as well as regulatory approvals, the state-of-the-art method for the detection of fatalities remains a manual search by humans or dogs. This is expensive, time consuming and the efficiency varies greatly among different studies. Therefore, we developed a methodology for the automatic detection using visual/near-infrared cameras for daytime and thermal cameras for nighttime. The cameras can be installed in the nacelle of wind turbines and monitor the area below. The methodology is centered around software that analyzes the images in real time using pixel-wise and region-based methods. We found that the structural similarity is the most important measure for the decision about a detection. Phantom drop tests in the actual wind test field with the system installed on 75 m above the ground resulted in a sensitivity of 75.6% for the nighttime detection and 84.3% for the daylight detection. The night camera detected 2.47 false positives per hour using a time window designed for our phantom drop tests. However, in real applications this time window can be extended to eliminate false positives caused by nightly active animals. Excluding these from our data reduced the false positive rate to 0.05. The daylight camera detected 0.20 false positives per hour. Our proposed method has the advantages of being more consistent, more objective, less time consuming, and less expensive than manual search methods.