Identification of Artificial Recharge Sites for Nand Samand Catchment

Security of groundwater is widely regarded as a serious impediment to India's economic and social progress. According to the Central Ground Water Board's (CGWB) assessment, India's groundwater tables are plummeting at an alarming rate, with reserves in some regions reaching critical levels. Unregulated groundwater use in southern peninsular India has also resulted in excessive extraction, lowering the 'critical' threshold. With over 30 million groundwater structures in use, India is on the verge of a disaster of over-extraction that will leave 60% of all aquifers in critical condition within the next two decades. To resolve the issue, a variety of renewable groundwater solutions must be implemented. Artificial recharge is a procedure that augments groundwater at a pace that is significantly greater than the rate of replenishment under natural conditions, which may give a solution. The current study is for the Nand Samand catchment in the district of Rajasthan. The investigation of artificial groundwater recharge sites is being conducted using an integrated Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) approach. Thematic maps such as topographic elevation, post-mosoon groundwater level, recharge, slope, transmissivity and soils map are created, and weighted overlay analysis is used to identify areas suitable for artificial recharge. Keywords: Nand Samand catchment, artificial recharge zone, thematic map, remote sensing, GIS

C-type lectin 4 regulates broad-spectrum melanization-based refractoriness to malaria parasites

Anopheles gambiae melanization-based refractoriness to the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has rarely been observed in either laboratory or natural conditions, in contrast to the rodent model malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei that can become completely melanized by a TEP1 complement-like system-dependent mechanism. Multiple studies have shown that the rodent parasite evades this defense by recruiting the C-type lectins CTL4 and CTLMA2, while permissiveness to the human malaria parasite was not affected by partial depletion of these factors by RNAi silencing. Using CRISPR/Cas9-based CTL4 knockout, we show that A. gambiae can mount melanization-based refractoriness to the human malaria parasite, which is independent of the TEP1 complement-like system and the major anti-Plasmodium immune pathway Imd. Our study indicates a hierarchical specificity in the control of Plasmodium melanization and proves CTL4 as an essential host factor for P. falciparum transmission and one of the most potent mosquito-encoded malaria transmission-blocking targets.

Influence of lead acetate on seed germination and growth of young alfalfa plants

This study presents the results of testing the effect of different concentrations of lead-acetate on seed germination and young Seedlings of alfalfa. Тhe experiment was organized so that in the first variant, only lead-acetate of different concentrations (10-5, 10-4, 10-3, 10-2 and 2 x 10-2 M) was used, and in the second, next to the lead acetate EDTA concentration of 0.012 % was added. The results of this study in which natural conditions are imitated showed that the percentage of alfalfa seed germination decreases with increasing lead-acetate concentrations. In a medium of high concentration of lead acetate 10-2 and 2 x 10-2, a small number of seeds (39% and 32 (32%) germinated. In the same treatments with EDTA, the toxic effects of lead acetate were reduced, and seed germination was better (59% and 43% seeds germinated). It has been noticed that lead has toxic effects on the growth of alfalfa roots and stems. In the variant in which EDTA was used, the negative influence of lead on and growth of alfalfa seedlings was significantly mitigated.

Influence of lead acetate on seed germination and growth of young alfalfa plants

This study presents the results of testing the effect of different concentrations of lead-acetate on seed germination and young Seedlings of alfalfa. Тhe experiment was organized so that in the first variant, only lead-acetate of different concentrations (10-5, 10-4, 10-3, 10-2 and 2 x 10-2 M) was used, and in the second, next to the lead acetate EDTA concentration of 0.012 % was added. The results of this study in which natural conditions are imitated showed that the percentage of alfalfa seed germination decreases with increasing lead-acetate concentrations. In a medium of high concentration of lead acetate 10-2 and 2 x 10-2, a small number of seeds (39% and 32 (32%) germinated. In the same treatments with EDTA, the toxic effects of lead acetate were reduced, and seed germination was better (59% and 43% seeds germinated). It has been noticed that lead has toxic effects on the growth of alfalfa roots and stems. In the variant in which EDTA was used, the negative influence of lead on and growth of alfalfa seedlings was significantly mitigated.

Does Nursing Behaviour of Sows in Loose-Housing Pens Differ from That of Sows in Farrowing Pens with Crates?

Sows confined to farrowing crates are restricted in performing natural behaviour such as maternal behaviour. Loose-housing farrowing pens (LH) and farrowing pens with crates (FC) were compared regarding sows’ nursing behaviour via video analyses over four weeks per batch (one day per week). Nursing frequency was similar in LH and FC pens (1.25 ± 0.82 vs. 1.19 ± 0.75 nursings/sow/hour; p > 0.05). However, nursing duration differed between the two systems (LH: 5.7 ± 4.6 min vs. FC: 7.0 ± 5.0 min; odds ratio (OR) 1.168, p = 0.011). In LH pens, more nursing bouts were sow-terminated than in FC pens (OR 0.427, p = 0.001). The probability of sow-terminated nursing occurring increased from week 1 to week 4 (OR 3.479, adjusted p (padj) < 0.001), while that of observing unnursed piglets decreased from week 1 to week 4 (OR 0.301, padj < 0.001) and rose with increasing litter size (OR 1.174, p = 0.010). We conclude that nursing behaviour was affected by the farrowing system, with shorter nursing duration and more nursing terminations by the sow in LH than in FC pens. Since this corresponds to the nursing behaviour of sows in semi-natural conditions, it can be assumed that sows in LH pens are more likely to exhibit natural nursing behaviour.

Diamondoids and thiadiamondoids generated from hydrothermal pyrolysis of crude oil and TSR experiments

Diamondoid compounds are widely used to reflect thermal maturation of high mature source rocks or oils and oil cracking extents. However, diamondoids and thiadiamondoids were demonstrated to have newly been generated and decomposed in our hydrothermal pyrolysis of crude oil and TSR experiments. Our results show that adamantanes and diamantanes are generated primarily within the maturity range 0.48–2.1% and 1.2–3.0% EasyRo, respectively. Their formation is enhanced and the decomposition of diamantanes obviously lags at elevated temperatures compared with anhydrous experiments. MDI, EAI, DMAI-1, DMDI-2 may serve as reliable maturity proxies at > ca.1.0% EasyRo, and other isomerization indices (TMAI-1, TMAI-2 and DMAI-2) are effective for the highly mature organic matter at EasyRo > 2.0%. The extent of oil cracking (EOC) calculated from the broadly used (3- + 4-) MD method (Dahl et al. in Nature 399:54–56, 1999) is proven to overestimate, especially for highly cracked samples due to the new generation of (3- + 4-) MD. Still, it can be corrected using a new formula at < 3.0% EasyRo. Other diamondoid-related indices (e.g., EAI, DMDI-2, As/Ds, MAs/MDs, DMAs/DMDs, and DMAs/MDs) can also be used to estimate EOC. However, these indices cannot be applied to TSR-altered petroleum. TSR is experimentally confirmed to generate diamantanes and thiaadmantanes at 1.81% EasyRo likely via direct reactions of reduced S species with hydrocarbons and accelerate the decomposition of diamantanes at > 2.62% EasyRo compared with thermal chemical alteration (TCA). More studies are needed to assess specific mechanisms for the formation of thiadiamondoids under natural conditions.

Units of Military Fortification Complex as Phenomenon Elements of the Czech Borderlands Landscape

This paper is focused on selected units of casemates with enhanced fortification in the military fortification complex of the Czech borderlands landscape as specific forms of brownfields. They represent a functional system that interacts with surrounding nature, landscape character, and human society. Four approaches were chosen to study the function and potential of selected individual abandoned casemates with enhanced fortification, where each of them corresponds to one of the four landscape layers: genius loci, socio-economic sphere, functional relationship (between human and the landscape), and natural conditions. There is a corresponding research method for each of the landscape layers (guided interview with respondents, data analysis on abandoned casemates with enhanced fortifications as brownfields, analysis of their landscape functions, and zoological survey of interior). The main results could show that abandoned casemates with enhanced fortifications can play important roles in all landscape layers: stories and genius loci, abandoned casemates with enhanced fortification as a special type of military brownfield but also as a semi-natural ecosystem, and the same time as a habitat for invertebrates. The analyses and surveys conducted clearly demonstrate that abandoned casemates with enhanced fortification as units of military fortification complex of the Czech borderlands landscape perform several hidden important functions in the landscape for which they cannot be viewed as brownfields. This hidden functional potential is most likely best described by the concept of hidden singularity, which offers itself for integration into basic approaches to brownfields.