Groundwater bacteriological quality assessment: impact of urbanization and agricultural activity

Groundwater from boreholes is the major source of bottled water in Algeria. The aim of this study is to determine the bacteriological quality of groundwater that serves bottled water production. A total of 73 groundwater boreholes were sampled and analyzed for the required bacteriological parameters. The analysis was performed in accordance to ISO standards methods. There should be no bacteria growth for each bacteriological parameter to qualify the groundwater of good bacteriological quality. The bacteriological analysis highlighted that 37 of the 73 groundwater samples (51%) were of poor bacteriological quality while 36 of them (49%) were of good bacteriological quality. Total coliforms and E. coli were the major sources of contamination with respectively 35 and 24 contaminated samples, followed in order by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, enterococci and sulfite reducing anaerobic bacteria spores with respectively 8, 7 and 2 contaminated samples. Bacteriological quality was strongly and negatively correlated with urbanization and/or agricultural activity parameter (r = −0.454). The performed logistic regression model showed that the presence of urbanization or agricultural activity multiplies significantly (P < 0.001) the risk by 7 of being a poor bacteriological quality groundwater. These findings are useful to avoid drill costs and to take the best strategy to protect groundwaters.

Dominant Mental State and Mood in People with Different Professional Self-Awareness

The research featured the effect of dominant mental state on professional self-awareness. The survey was conducted as part of personnel audit and involved 113 employees of an agricultural holding with 1–5 years of experience. The empirical data were provided by two questionnaires: Professional Self-Awareness and Determining the Dominant State. The activity parameter reflected the level of claims and setting for professional self-development. As an indicator of professional selfawareness, it is connected with such parameters of mental state as "active (passive) attitude to the life" and "high (low) tonus". The positivity indicator defines one’s acceptance and perception of oneself as a professional. It is interconnected with "vigor" as a mental state indicator. In subjects with an active-positive professional self-awareness, synthonic and active types of mood prevailed. In situations where activity dominated over positivity, active mood also domineered. Synthonic mood dominated if positivity indicators were more pronounced than activity. Subjects with a balanced professional self-awareness demonstrated a happy and enthusiastic mood. Enthusiastic mood prevailed when activity dominated, a happy mood increased with increasing positivity. Passive-negative professional self-awareness was associated with a contemplative mood. The research can help to prevent tonic "risk conditions", e.g. overwork and asthenic conditions. In addition, the study can be used to develop an active-positive professional self-awareness in employees, as well as the sense of vocational and psychological well-being.

Diagnostics of interstellar medium parameters on non-discrete timing irregularities of pulsars

In this paper, a large homogenous sample of Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) radio pulsars was used to investigate the statistical effects of interstellar medium (ISM) parameters: dispersion and rotation measure (DM and RM, respectively) on non-discrete timing irregularities of our sample (whose observed timing activity timescales span over 40 years). This is done by using the correlations between the measured DM and RM, and some parameters that have been commonly used to measure non-discrete timing irregularities [timing activity parameter (A), the amount of timing fluctuations absorbed by the cubic term (σR23), measure of pulsar rotational stability (σz ) and stability parameter (∆8)]. Our results show that ISM parameters positively correlate (r > 0.60) with the pulsar timing irregularities parameters of our sample. The significant relationships observed are discussed.

Ca II H&K stellar activity parameter: a proxy for extreme ultraviolet stellar fluxes

Atmospheric escape is an important factor shaping the exoplanet population and hence drives our understanding of planet formation. Atmospheric escape from giant planets is driven primarily by the stellar X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. Furthermore, EUV and longer wavelength UV radiation power disequilibrium chemistry in the middle and upper atmospheres. Our understanding of atmospheric escape and chemistry, therefore, depends on our knowledge of the stellar UV fluxes. While the far-ultraviolet (FUV) fluxes can be observed for some stars, most of the EUV range is unobservable due to the lack of a space telescope with EUV capabilities and, for the more distant stars, due to interstellar medium absorption. Therefore, it becomes essential to have an indirect means for inferring EUV fluxes from features observable at other wavelengths. We present here analytic functions for predicting the EUV emission of F-, G-, K-, and M-type stars from the log R′HK activity parameter that is commonly obtained from ground-based optical observations of the Ca II H&K lines. The scaling relations are based on a collection of about 100 nearby stars with published log R′HK and EUV flux values, the latter of which are either direct measurements or inferences from high-quality FUV spectra. The scaling relations presented here return EUV flux values with an accuracy of about a factor of three, which is slightly lower than that of other similar methods based on FUV or X-ray measurements.

Decorrelation of a class of Gibbs particle processes and asymptotic properties of U-statistics

We study a stationary Gibbs particle process with deterministically bounded particles on Euclidean space defined in terms of an activity parameter and non-negative interaction potentials of finite range. Using disagreement percolation, we prove exponential decay of the correlation functions, provided a dominating Boolean model is subcritical. We also prove this property for the weighted moments of a U-statistic of the process. Under the assumption of a suitable lower bound on the variance, this implies a central limit theorem for such U-statistics of the Gibbs particle process. A by-product of our approach is a new uniqueness result for Gibbs particle processes.

Pressure-driven changes to spontaneous flow in active nematic liquid crystals

We consider the effects of a pressure gradient on the spontaneous flow of an active nematic liquid crystal in a channel, subject to planar anchoring and no-slip conditions on the boundaries of the channel. We employ a model based on the Ericksen-Leslie theory of nematics, with an additional active stress accounting for the activity of the fluid. By directly solving the flow equation, we consider an asymptotic solution for the director angle equation for large activity parameter values and predict the possible values of the director angle in the bulk of the channel. Through a numerical solution of the full nonlinear equations, we examine the effects of pressure on the branches of stable and unstable equilibria, some of which are disconnected from the no-flow state. In the absence of a pressure gradient, solutions are either symmetric or antisymmetric about the channel midpoint; these symmetries are changed by the pressure gradient. Considering the activity-pressure state space allows us to predict qualitatively the extent of each solution type and to show, for large enough pressure gradients, that a branch of non-trivial director angle solutions exists for all activity values. Graphical abstract

QSAR-ANALYSIS OF POLYSUBSTITUTED FUNCTIONALIZED AMINOTHIAZOLES WITH ANTIHYPERTENSIVE ACTIVITY

Background. QSAR analysis is an important tool for the identification of pharmacophore fragments in biologically active substances and helps optimize the search for new effective drugs. Objective. The aim of the study was to determine the molecular descriptors for QSAR analysis of polysubstituted functionalized aminothiazoles as a theoretical basis for purposeful search de novo of potential antihypertensive drugs among the investigated compounds. Methods. Calculation of molecular descriptors and QSAR-models creation was carried out using the Hyper-Chem 7.5 and BuildQSAR packages. Results. The calculation of a number of molecular descriptors (electronic, steric, geometric, energy) was performed for 15 new polysubstituted functionalized aminothiazoles, with established in vivo antihypertensive activity. According to the calculated molecular descriptors and antihypertensive activity parameter, the QSAR models were derived НА = a + b ∙ X1 + c ∙ X2 + d ∙ X3 , where the activity parameter НА is antihypertensive activity and X1, X2, X3 are molecular descriptors. Conclusion. The study of ‘the structure - antihypertensive activity’ relationship for polysubstituted functionalized aminothiazoles was carried out. QSAR analysis revealed that volume, area, lipophilicity, dipole moment, refractivity, polarization of the molecule and energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital have the most significant effect on antihypertensive activity. It was suggested that the attained QSAR-models may have antihypertensive activity within abovementioned row of compounds and can be considered as theoretical basis for de novo design of new potential antihypertensive drugs.

Synthesis of Active MFe2O4/γ-Fe2O3 Nanocomposites (Metal = Ni or Co) for Reduction of Nitro-Containing Pollutants and Methyl Orange Degradation

Metal-ferrite/maghemite nanocomposites (NiFe2O4/***[Formula: see text]-Fe2O3 and CoFe2O4/[Formula: see text]-Fe2O[Formula: see text] were synthesized via doping maghemite with metal salt (NiCl2 or CoCl[Formula: see text] followed by reduction of metal ions using NaBH4. The synthesized metal-ferrite/maghemite nanocomposites were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and the amounts of the dopant-metal (Ni/Co) were determined using ICP-OES technique. Results showed that this synthetic route produced nanocomposites with highly active ferrite phases MFe2O4. The synthesized nanocomposites exhibited exceptional catalytic activities for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and 2-nitroaniline as well as the catalytic degradation of methyl orange. Specific activity parameter of NiFe2O4/[Formula: see text]-Fe2O3 and CoFe2O4/[Formula: see text]-Fe2O3 toward reduction of 4-NP reached 993.9 and 929.8[Formula: see text]s[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]g[Formula: see text], respectively. These high values of specific activities are higher than most reported metal-ferrite composites prepared via traditional co-precipitation methods. Besides, strong magnetic properties of the prepared metal-ferrite/maghemites facilitates easy separation process for several reuses.

New approaches for assessing the activities of operators of complex technical systems

Presented are new approaches for supporting the outcome grading for activities of operators of complex technical systems, which are based on comparisons of current exercises with the activity database patterns in both the wavelet representation metric associated with time series of activity parameters and the likelihood metric of eigenvalue trajectories for these parameters transforms as well as on probabilistic assessments of skill class recognition using sample distribution functions of exercise distances to cluster centers in a scaling space and Bayesian likelihood estimations with the aid of probabilistic profile of staying in activity parameter ranges. These techniques have demonstrated the capabilities of recognizing sets of abnormal exercises and detection of parameters characterizing operator mistakes to reveal the causes of abnormality. The techniques in question overcome limitations of existing methods and provide advantages over manual data analysis since they greatly reduce the combinatorial enumeration of the options considered.