New Integrated Hydrologic Approach for the Assessment of Rivers Environmental Flows Into the Urmia Lake

In the conducted researches recently the greatest focus has been on the environmental water supplement of rivers individually and independently. However, in closed basins leading to lakes and wetlands, a comprehensive and integrated view of all rivers in the basin is required simultaneously. This has affected Lake Urmia, which is the second largest saltwater lake in the world. This lake has been in danger of drying up in recent years as a result of not allocating the required environmental flow due to the increase in water resources consumption in the agricultural sector and climate change. In this study, a method derived from the flow duration curve (FDC) shifting method is presented in addition to the possibility of providing the environmental flow of rivers leading to the lake that can make the least amount of change in the hydrological characteristics of rivers to provide the volume of required water by the ecosystem of lakes or downstream wetlands. This method is based on daily data of hydrometric stations and, unlike the conventional method, which presents the results on a monthly basis, it can calculate the amount of environmental requirement of rivers in real-time according to the upstream inlet of the river. This method has been used in the Urmia Lake basin and according to the results, it can provide the environmental requirement of lake by allocating 70.5% of the annual flow of rivers and save the lake and the ecosystem of the region from the current critical conditions.

Pedalium murex L.: Potential genetic resource for herbal medicine and mucilage

Pedalium murex (Pedaliaceae), commonly known as large caltrops in English and bada gokharu in Hindi is an underutilized mucilaginous medicinal herb having multiple uses in traditional system of medicine. It is mainly used to cure reproductive disorders, like impotency in men, nocturnal emissions, gonorrhoea as well as leucorrhoea in women. It is also useful in the treatment of urinary and gastrointestinal tract disorders. The present paper deals with botanical identity, vernacular names, ecology, environmental requirement and growth conditions, origin and geographical distribution, morphological/botanical description, propagation and cultivation, usages as a source of food, mucilage, medicine and biodiesel, important Ayurvedic formulations, phytochemical and pharmacological profile, future prospect.

American Mammals Susceptibility to Dengue According to Geographical, Environmental, and Phylogenetic Distances

Many human emergent and re-emergent diseases have a sylvatic cycle. Yet, little effort has been put into discovering and modeling the wild mammal reservoirs of dengue (DENV), particularly in the Americas. Here, we show a species-level susceptibility prediction to dengue of wild mammals in the Americas as a function of the three most important biodiversity dimensions (ecological, geographical, and phylogenetic spaces), using machine learning protocols. Model predictions showed that different species of bats would be highly susceptible to DENV infections, where susceptibility mostly depended on phylogenetic relationships among hosts and their environmental requirement. Mammal species predicted as highly susceptible coincide with sets of species that have been reported infected in field studies, but it also suggests other species that have not been previously considered or that have been captured in low numbers. Also, the environment (i.e., the distance between the species' optima in bioclimatic dimensions) in combination with geographic and phylogenetic distance is highly relevant in predicting susceptibility to DENV in wild mammals. Our results agree with previous modeling efforts indicating that temperature is an important factor determining DENV transmission, and provide novel insights regarding other relevant factors and the importance of considering wild reservoirs. This modeling framework will aid in the identification of potential DENV reservoirs for future surveillance efforts.

Adaptation trail of selected Multipurpose Tree Species under Babille Condition East Hararghe Zone oromia, Ethiopia

Among several multipurpose tree species in the eastern parts of Ethiopia, Sesbania sesban, Moringa oliefera, Gravilea robusta, Cordia africna, Azadarichta indica and Leuceana leucocephala are common. However, their adaptability and growth performance of this tree species has not scientifically trailed in the study area. Therefore, the study was conducted to evaluate the adaptability of multipurpose tree species at Babille District, Oromia, Ethiopia, for three years (June 2016 - June 2019). The experiment was laid out in RCBD with three replications. Data on the growth parameters; diameter, plant height and survival rate were measured and recorded at interval of three months. Results revealed that there were highly significant (p <0.05) variations among tree species in height growth, RCD, DBH and survival rate at the study area. Among the species tasted, M. oliefera showed the highest performance followed by A. indica, S. sesban and L. leucocephala in terms of height growth, RCD and DBH at Babille condition. after three years of establishment, M. oliefera, A. indica, S. sesban and L. leucocephala showed the highest mean survival rate at the study area. Hence it can be inferred that the conditions of Babille district matched with the environmental requirement of those tree species. On the other hand, species of G. robusta showed lowest performance at the study area. Thus, the long dry season, which extended from eight to ten months in the study area, clearly explains the poor survival and growth response in some of the species. Generally, the study under Babille condition and related agro-ecology, we advocate these adapted species and properly allocate species into the site that grow and adapt well for further agroforestry practices at wider scale on which success of agroforestry practices and forest plantations depend.

American mammals susceptibility to dengue according to geographical, environmental and phylogenetic distances

ABSTRACTMany human emergent and re-emergent diseases have a sylvatic cycle. Yet, little effort has been put into discovering and modeling the wild mammal reservoirs of dengue (DENV), particularly in the Americas. Here, we show a species-level susceptibility prediction to dengue of wild mammals in the Americas as a function of the three most important biodiversity dimensions (ecological, geographical, and phylogenetic spaces), using machine learning protocols. Model predictions showed that different species of bats would be highly susceptible to DENV infections, where susceptibility mostly depended on phylogenetic relationships among hosts and their environmental requirement. Mammal species predicted as highly susceptible coincide with sets of species that have been reported infected in field studies, but it also suggests other species that have not been previously considered or that have been captured in low numbers. Also, the environment (i.e., the distance between the species’ optima in bioclimatic dimensions) in combination with geographic and phylogenetic distance is highly relevant in predicting susceptibility to DENV in wild mammals. Our results agree with previous modeling efforts indicating that temperature is an important factor determining DENV transmission, and provide novel insights regarding other relevant factors and the importance of considering wild reservoirs. This modeling framework will aid in the identification of potential DENV reservoirs for future surveillance efforts.

Clean Syn-Fuels via Hydrogenation Processes: Acidity–Activity Relationship in O-Xylene Hydrotreating

Transition metal sulfide catalysts are actually the most performing catalytic materials in crude oil hydrotreating (HDT), for energetic purposes. However, these systems suffer from several drawbacks that limit their exploitation. Aiming to meet the even more stringent environmental requirement, through a remarkable improvement of HDT performance in the presence of refractory feedstock (i.e., in terms of activity, selectivity, and stability), a deeper knowledge of the structure–activity relationship of catalysts must be achieved. Therefore, in this study, CoMo/γ-Al2O3 and NiMo/γ-Al2O3 catalysts were characterized and tested in the o-xylene hydrogenation model reaction, assessing the influence of both support acidity and catalyst acid strength on reaction pathway by employing γ-Al2O3 and Y-Type zeolite as acid reference materials. A clear relationship between concentration and strength of acid sites and the performance of the catalytic materials was established. Cobalt based catalyst (CoMoSx) proves a higher acidic character with respect to Nickel (NiMoSx), prompting isomerization reactions preferentially, also reflecting a greater o-xylene conversion. The different chemical properties of metals also affect the catalytic pathway, leading on the CoMoSx system to the preferential formation of p-xylene isomer with respect to m-xylene.