Impact of climate change on domestic water accessibility in Bamenda III Sub-Division, North West region, Cameroon

The effects of climate change are felt most at the household level, when taps and springs run dry for several weeks or months, forcing people to access potable water from doubtful sources. There has been an increase in the population of Bamenda III without a proportionate increase in the water supply capacity. This has resulted in severe water crises, even though Bamenda III municipality has water supplies from the Council, Community, CAMWATER, natural springs and streams, wells and boreholes. Household data on water accessibility against a backdrop of a changing climate was collected using 269 questionnaires to assess perceptions on the state of water resources and climate. Rainfall data were collected from 1963-2019 and results revealed that mean annual rainfall is at 182.52 mm, with a standard deviation of 29.16 and a Coefficient of Variation of 15.69%, while the mean Standardized Precipitation Index is -0.07 (mild dryness), and rainfall has reduced by -2.07 mm from 1963-2019. The population attributed problems of water accessibility to climate change, urbanization and poor water governance. It is recommended that sustainable water management through Nature-based Solutions and Ecosystem-based Adaptation should be implemented from the watershed to the community level.

Selection of Coffee Shop Business Locations Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process Method

The Coffee Shop business is one of the trending businesses in Indonesia, so competition in this business field can be said to be increasing rapidly. In order to get a strategic business location, the majority of decision makers are wrong in choosing the location of their business, this is due to the lack of analysis and to the data from the location survey and the lack of decision-making limitations in analyzing the survey data. For this reason, it is necessary to create a system, where this system uses the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to assist in processing survey data. The application of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method in determining the location of the Coffee Shop business is determined using 7 (criteria) criteria including rental prices, buildings, clean water, accessibility, distance to offices, internet connections and electricity sources. The final result of the process using the AHP method is ranking of several alternative locations that have been set, and several alternative locations get the highest global weight, it becomes recommendations for the development of this coffee shop business

Potable Water Accessibility in the Slums of Douala IV Municipality, Cameroon

The proliferation of slums in sub-Saharan Africa validates the need for renewed interest on access to basic services–potable water in this case. In the context of Bonaberi Douala, recent evidence on potable water accessibility is lacking, amidst rising population growth. To close this knowledge gap, this paper draws from a sample of 1115 households in 8 neighborhoods of Bonaberi to: (1) assess potable water accessibility and (2) examine the regularity of water flow. The results revealed that only 51.3% of slum dwellers have pipe water connections, while 33.4% rely on public standpipes. Furthermore, 28.4% make use of boreholes, while 46% use rainwater. About 12.5% of the population cover a distance of more than 200 m to fetch water. The pattern of water flow in several neighbourhoods is irregular; this precipitates the spread of waterborne diseases. The paper recommends that a control committee should be set aside to check water quality and reduce the spread of water-related diseases. The government and other local stakeholders should promote community water projects that can supply potable water in these slums.

Water Accessibility Refinement of the Extended Structure of KirBac1.1 in the Closed State

NMR structures of membrane proteins are often hampered by poor chemical shift dispersion and internal dynamics which limit resolved distance restraints. However, the ordering and topology of these systems can be defined with site-specific water or lipid proximity. Membrane protein water accessibility surface area is often investigated as a topological function via solid-state NMR. Here we leverage water-edited solid-state NMR measurements in simulated annealing calculations to refine a membrane protein structure. This is demonstrated on the inward rectifier K+ channel KirBac1.1 found in Burkholderia pseudomallei. KirBac1.1 is homologous to human Kir channels, sharing a nearly identical fold. Like many existing Kir channel crystal structures, the 1p7b crystal structure is incomplete, missing 85 out of 333 residues, including the N-terminus and C-terminus. We measure solid-state NMR water proximity information and use this for refinement of KirBac1.1 using the Xplor-NIH structure determination program. Along with predicted dihedral angles and sparse intra- and inter-subunit distances, we refined the residues 1–300 to atomic resolution. All structural quality metrics indicate these restraints are a powerful way forward to solve high quality structures of membrane proteins using NMR.

Analysis of borehole water accessibility in Samaru Community, Zaria Metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Purpose: This study is aimed at analyzing the water accessibility in Samaru Community, Zaria Metropolis, in Nigeria with a borehole as the center for attraction. Research methodology: Questionnaires, interview, and observation methods were applied in data collection and systematic sampling was adopted in selecting the respondents. The questionnaires were administered from January 2021 to August 2021. Results: The results revealed that the hand pump borehole was the major source of water supply in the study area with 71%. The consumption of water per capita of the majority of respondents, 61%, was less than 30 liters against WHO standards. Then, 59% of respondents cover a distance of between 1-2 km to get access to their water supply. Findings further revealed that cooking use of borehole water was 38% against drinking that is 24%. Additionally, some water-borne diseases like typhoid fever and cholera were reported in some cases. Limitation: The issue at hand virtually affects the whole of the metropolis but eight researchers could not cover all sections because of the limitation of time. Contribution: Research on the provision of clean water and sanitation cannot be overemphasized as they are objective six of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) because of their importance in life.

Stability Analysis of Directional Tunnel in Sandy Soil

In recent times, water storage is becoming a confronting task because of the depletion of water resources worldwide. Domestic rainwater harvesting and human-made structures for water procurement achieved significance because of the increase in intermittent water accessibility. In turn, functional water infrastructures fetch prominence in the wake of constructive coordination among the communities in a locality. Low water security and losses through evaporation observed by practising different rainwater harvesting methods create a research gap to construct water infrastructure in rural areas to procure water productively. The current research work represents the model of a water storage structure, named directional tunnel (DT), which is placed below the ground level in a declination, as it reduces evaporation and temperature, thus storing rainwater for longer days. DT stores runoff and rainwater collected from the rooftop of multiple houses in a selected locality. The detailed working of the DT is discussed using Building Information Modelling (BIM) concept. Combined with the engineering geological characteristics, the DT’s stability during water storage comes into the picture as the whole structure interacts with the soil. The current study also focuses on the behaviour of DT with respect to sandy soil using PLAXIS 3D software, and the results are interpreted for practical viability.

Water-accessibility of interfibrillar spaces in spruce wood cell walls

Water interactions and accessibility of the nanoscale components of plant cell walls influence their properties and processability in relation to many applications. We investigated the water-accessibility of nanoscale pores within the fibrillar structures of unmodified Norway spruce cell walls by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and Fourier-transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy. The different sensitivity of SANS to hydrogenated ($$\hbox {H}_2\hbox {O}$$ H 2 O ) and deuterated water ($$\hbox {D}_2\hbox {O}$$ D 2 O ) was utilized to follow the exchange kinetics of water among cellulose microfibrils. FTIR spectroscopy was used to study the time-dependent re-exchange of OD groups to OH in wood samples transferred from liquid $$\hbox {D}_2\hbox {O}$$ D 2 O to $$\hbox {H}_2\hbox {O}$$ H 2 O . In addition, the effects of drying on the nanoscale structure and its water-accessibility were addressed by comparing SANS results and the kinetics of water exchange between never-dried and dried/rewetted wood samples. The results of the kinetic analyses allowed to identify two processes with different timescales. The diffusion-driven exchange of water in the spaces between microfibrils, which was observed with both SANS and FTIR, takes place within minutes and rather homogeneously. The second, slower process appeared only in the OD/OH re-exchange followed by FTIR, and it still continued after several weeks of immersion in $$\hbox {H}_2\hbox {O}$$ H 2 O . SANS could not detect any significant difference between the never-dried and dried/rewetted samples, whereas FTIR revealed a small portion of OD groups that resisted the re-exchange and this portion became larger with drying. Graphic abstract

Approach to Hygienic Water and Cleanliness Facilities for Rural Ugandans

This research contributes to the detailed discussion about the approach to secure, hygienic water and cleanliness in Uganda and its pastoral regions. The relationship between the sanitation and clean water access with destitution is also discussed. Although this document is not leading towards the policy recommendation but it is an overall idea of how Uganda progressed because of the provisions adopted by the government, local and international organizations, and NGOs, and how the country lacked before these steps taken. Most of the data mentioned is taken from the house surveys of a decade 2002-2013 alongside the qualitative data. Literature review is also considered and is divided in two sections: first included researches related to water accessibility and usage, while the second section included researches related to work done and progress for diarrheal diseases and sanitation. Afterwards, methodologies were discussed where, firstly, trends and then the limitations in access to the basic necessities of life that is clean water and hygiene are mentioned. At last, the implementations and how they affected the rural Ugandans was discussed.

Role of Selenium in Regulation of Plant Antioxidants, Chlorophyll Retention and Osmotic Adjustment under Drought Conditions: A Review

Environmental change is ascending as one of the most unpredictable issue, the effects of which are observable as rise in the onset of regular abiotic stresses like no or irregular precipitation, ascend in worldwide normal temperature, floods and so on. Among all the abiotic stresses, drought stress has become a sector of interest for decades. Drought stress can be chronic in locations with low water accessibility or irregular precipitation during the time of plant development consequently decreasing its growth and yield through its impact on plant photosynthetic rate, increased load of reactive oxygen species, changes in plant water relations and so on. A great deal of examination has been done to study the varieties of changes in the plants at the morphological, physiological and cellular level to identify the methodologies for enhancing plant drought resistance. In this regard "selenium" (Se) is considered exceptionally significant for improving plant growth and development. Spraying drought stressed plants or pre-treating the seeds with low dosage of Se have been shown to be associated with upgraded plant drought resistance. The present study is aimed to frame a review on the regulation of plant defense system, chlorophyll retention and plant water relations so as to provide comprehensive understanding into the changes caused by the application of Se which inturn are liable for improved plant drought tolerance.