Hyporheic hydraulic geometry: Conceptualizing relationships among hyporheic exchange, storage, and water age

Hyporheic exchange is now widely acknowledged as a key driver of ecosystem processes in many streams. Yet stream ecologists have been slow to adopt nuanced hydrologic frameworks developed and applied by engineers and hydrologists to describe the relationship between water storage, water age, and water balance in finite hydrosystems such as hyporheic zones. Here, in the context of hyporheic hydrology, we summarize a well-established mathematical framework useful for describing hyporheic hydrology, while also applying the framework heuristically to visualize the relationships between water age, rates of hyporheic exchange, and water volume within hyporheic zones. Building on this heuristic application, we discuss how improved accuracy in the conceptualization of hyporheic exchange can yield a deeper understanding of the role of the hyporheic zone in stream ecosystems. Although the equations presented here have been well-described for decades, our aim is to make the mathematical basis as accessible as possible and to encourage broader understanding among aquatic ecologists of the implications of tailed age distributions commonly observed in water discharged from and stored within hyporheic zones. Our quantitative description of “hyporheic hydraulic geometry,” associated visualizations, and discussion offer a nuanced and realistic understanding of hyporheic hydrology to aid in considering hyporheic exchange in the context of river and stream ecosystem science and management.

Development and Evolution of Unisexual Flowers: A Review

The development of unisexual flowers has been described in a large number of taxa, sampling the diversity of floral phenotypes and sexual systems observed in extant angiosperms, in studies focusing on floral ontogeny, on the evo-devo of unisexuality, or on the genetic and chromosomal bases of unisexuality. We review here such developmental studies, aiming at characterizing the diversity of ontogenic pathways leading to functionally unisexual flowers. In addition, we present for the first time and in a two-dimensional morphospace a quantitative description of the developmental rate of the sexual organs in functionally unisexual flowers, in a non-exhaustive sampling of angiosperms with contrasted floral morphologies. Eventually, recommendations are provided to help plant evo-devo researchers and botanists addressing macroevolutionary and ecological issues to more precisely select the taxa, the biological material, or the developmental stages to be investigated.

Modelling for Clinical and Psysiological Evaluation of Diabetes and Glucose Homeostasis

There is a long history of arithmetic simulations in the domain of gluconeogenesis. There are various reasons why frameworks are used. Paradigms have been employed to calculate physiologically relevant parameters from intermediate experimental evidence, to offer a clear quantitative description of pathophysiology processes, and to identify clinical relevance indicators from basic empirical procedures. The creation and application of frameworks in this field has expanded in response to the rising social effect of type 2 diabetes that entails a disruption of the glycemic homeostasis system. The frameworks' emphasis has ranged from depictions of entire body functions to lymphocytes (form “in Vivo” to “in Vitro”) study, following the methodologies of physiologic and medicinal exploration. Framework-based techniques to connecting in vivo and in vitro research, and also multi-resolution systems that combine the two domains, have been presented. The arithmetic and psychological domains have had varying levels of effectiveness and influence.

Metal matrix nanocomposites in tribology: Manufacturing, performance, and mechanisms

Metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) become irreplaceable in tribology industries, due to their supreme mechanical properties and satisfactory tribological behavior. However, due to the dual complexity of MMNC systems and tribological process, the anti-friction and anti-wear mechanisms are unclear, and the subsequent tribological performance prediction and design of MMNCs are not easily possible: A critical up-to-date review is needed for MMNCs in tribology. This review systematically summarized the fabrication, manufacturing, and processing techniques for high-quality MMNC bulk and surface coating materials in tribology. Then, important factors determining the tribological performance (mainly anti-friction evaluation by the coefficient of friction (CoF) and anti-wear assessment with wear rate) in MMNCs have been investigated thoroughly, and the correlations have been analyzed to reveal their potential coupling/synergetic roles of tuning tribological behavior of MMNCs. Most importantly, this review combined the classical metal/alloy friction and wear theories and adapted them to give a (semi-)quantitative description of the detailed mechanisms of improved anti-friction and anti-wear performance in MMNCs. To guarantee the universal applications of these mechanisms, their links with the analyzed influencing factors (e.g., loading forces) and characteristic features like tribo-film have been clarified. This approach forms a solid basis for understanding, predicting, and engineering MMNCs’ tribological behavior, instead of pure phenomenology and experimental observation. Later, the pathway to achieve a broader application for MMNCs in tribo-related fields like smart materials, biomedical devices, energy storage, and electronics has been concisely discussed, with the focus on the potential development of modeling, experimental, and theoretical techniques in MMNCs’ tribological processes. In general, this review tries to elucidate the complex tribo-performances of MMNCs in a fundamentally universal yet straightforward way, and the discussion and summary in this review for the tribological performance in MMNCs could become a useful supplementary to and an insightful guidance for the current MMNC tribology study, research, and engineering innovations.

Towards a quantitative description of excitonic couplings in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes: quantum chemistry driven multiscale approaches

A structure-based quantitative calculation of excitonic couplings between photosynthetic pigments has to describe the dynamical polarization of the protein/solvent environment of the pigments, giving rise to reaction field and screening...

Evaluation of advanced infection and prevention technical training

Evaluation of a technical education and training organization can provide positive outputs. This study aims to evaluate the implementation and understanding of the training participants regarding the knowledge of the training materials provided at the Advanced Infection and Prevention Technical Training for Health Workers at the Health Facilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic online, which was held at the Puslatkesda Provinsi DKI Jakarta. This study uses a quantitative description method using the Kirkpatrick Four Levels Evaluation Model, namely through four levels consisting of reaction, learning, behavior, and result. As for what was carried out in the study, it was evaluated at levels 1 and 2. This training was held in October 2020 Batch 1 with 40 participants. Instruments The instrument used is a questionnaire, and the results of the participants' assessment are in the form of pretest and posttestt. The source of data in this study is Puslatkesda data in 2020, namely primary data on the implementation of Advanced PPI Technical Training during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Following are the results of the research data analysis that of the seven evaluation categories at the reaction level to the implementation of the training. The results showed that as many as 18 respondents with a percentage of (45 percent) answered Very Satisfactory, then for reactions to resource persons an average, of 52.5-82.5 percent participants answered satisfactorily and very satisfactory. As for the evaluation of learning or learning, it appears that the average value of participants is 84.3, and there are 100 percent (40) training participants who have complete scores in the posttest stage. With all these descriptions, the Advanced Infection and Prevention Technical Training for Health Workers at Health Facilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic went well and satisfactorily.

An accurate analytical model for squirt flow in anisotropic porous rocks - Part 1: Classical geometry

Seismic wave propagation in porous rocks that are saturated with a liquid exhibits significant dispersion and attenuation due to fluid flow at the pore scale, so-called squirt flow. This phenomenon takes place in compliant flat pores such as microcracks and grain contacts that are connected to stiffer isometric pores. Accurate quantitative description is crucial for inverting rock and fluid properties from seismic attributes such as attenuation. Up to now, many analytical models for squirt flow were proposed based on simplified geometries of the pore space. These models were either not compared with a numerical solution or showed poor accuracy. We present a new analytical model for squirt flow which is validated against a three-dimensional numerical solution for a simple pore geometry that has been classically used to explain squirt flow; that is why we refer to it as classical geometry. The pore space is represented by a flat cylindrical (penny-shaped) pore whose curved edge is fully connected to a toroidal (stiff) pore. Compared with correct numerical solutions, our analytical model provides very accurate predictions for the attenuation and dispersion across the whole frequency range. This includes correct low- and high-frequency limits of the stiffness modulus, the characteristic frequency, and the shape of the dispersion and attenuation curves. In a companion paper (Part 2), we extend our analytical model to more complex pore geometries. We provide as supplementary material Matlab and symbolic Maple routines to reproduce our main results.

The Order in The Structure of Motives of Activity: Quantitative Description

The purpose of the study is to conduct an empirical verification of the validity of the theoretical assumption that there is an order in the structure of motives of activity, which is determined by the proportionality between the significance of each motive in their aggregate significance and is quantitatively manifested in the parameters of the hyperbolic H-distribution ranked by the parameter. The necessary conditions for solving this problem are highlighted: a) structural elements - weakly functionally dependent on each other motives; b) in the structure of motives, the functional significance of each has a quantitative expression, which must be measured through the organization of empirical research; c) the measure of the total functional significance of all motives is limited by the situation of activity and the costs of obtaining its product. On a sample of students of the first, second, third, fourth courses of technical and humanitarian specialties (N=860) using the method of subjective assessment of the significance of each of the three motives for studying at the university in their combined significance (“acquisition of knowledge”; “mastering a profession”; “obtaining a diploma”) and using a given level of the average error of approximation of empirical results with an H-distribution of 10%, it was found that statistically, at a level of error probability less than 20%, students with an average error below a given level predominate. The possible formal and substantive reasons that led to a decrease in the validity of the result are named. The interpretation of the results in the context of the “junction” of systems theory and activity theory is presented. The directions of further research in the context of the proposed model are determined.

Sundering of earthworms by the Fairy Pitta (Pitta nympha): an unexplored strategy of prey preparation for brood provisioning by avian vermivores

Ecological specialists utilize a restricted range of resources and have evolved adaptations to exploit their specialized resources. For example, avian insectivores that feed nestlings with grasshoppers, beetles, or moths perform insect prey preparation before feeding nestlings so that the nestlings are able to swallow the prey. This behavior is generally not expected for soft prey such as earthworms. However, an overview of photographic evidence available online suggested that earthworms are sundered by parents before bringing the prey to the nestlings in a range of species from several families of vermivores worldwide. Reports on the provisioning of nestlings by the vermivores are relatively scant and no report on earthworm sundering has been published. We studied earthworm sundering performed by parents provisioning their broods at four nests of the Fairy Pitta in Korea. The birds sundered earthworms more often when nestlings were smaller and when the earthworm was longer. This is the first quantitative description of earthworm sundering in avian vermivores. We present and evaluate four hypotheses for the function of sundering: provisioning of small nestlings, decreased detectability, hunting multiple prey, and transport of prey. Among these, provisioning of small nestlings seems the most feasible explanation of sundering by the Fairy Pitta as sundering the earthworm allows parents to efficiently provision the younger/smaller nestlings who would have difficulties swallowing unsundered earthworms. This specialized prey preparation technique of vermivores suggests a tight adaptive match between their parental behaviors and their diet (vermivory).