Regional Flood Frequency Analysis in Tunisia: Identification of Regional Distributions

Best-fit distributions of floods in Tunisia are determined based on L-moment diagram and statistical tests. GEV and GLO distributions provided the best fit to seven and three regions of Tunisia respectively. In each homogeneous region, hierarchical approaches and regression models were developed for gauged and ungauged watersheds. The first two parameters of the distributions (GEV and GLO) were estimated from measured data while the third parameter was represented by the regional average value weighted by the record length of all stations in the region. The obtained parameters were correlated to the catchment size. Quantiles obtained by the proposed models were compared with those obtained using local conventional models. Statistical tests showed that the proposed models provided a much better agreement with observed floods than any of the conventional methods generally used in Tunisia.     

Sucrose supplementation during traditional carob syrup processing affected its chemical characteristics and biological activities

The addition of sucrose is optional during carob syrups traditional processing. In this work, the polyphenolic profiles of carob syrups supplemented (CSS) or not with sugar (CS) were analyzed using RP-HPLC–ESI-MS. Quantitative data showed that adding of sucrose significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the polyphenolic amounts of about 58.6%, from 4.5 ± 0.32 to 1.86 ± 0.26 mg/g of CS and CSS, respectively. Gallic acid was the most abundant compound in both syrups representing 60.93% (CS) and 69.26% (CSS) of the total phenolics. Moreover, the adding of sugar decreased (p < 0.05) the antiradical potentials of 28% and 74%, as determined, respectively, by the ABTS and DPPH assays. CS was found to exhibit stronger antibacterial and antifungal activities than CSS. Bacillus cereus was the most sensitive strain to the extracts with CMI ≈500 (CS) and 622 (CSS) μg/ml. Both syrup extracts were cytotoxic to human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) and fibroblast (3T3) cell lines as well as to mouse embryonic stem cells (D3). Tumoral SH-SY5Y cells were the most susceptible to the extracts with IC50 = 311.7 ± 23.65 (CS) and 390.6 ± 34.97 μg/ml (CSS). This study provides, for the first time, new analytical insights into traditionally made carob syrups and highlights the negative effect of sugar supplementation during processing.     

High Mutational Heterogeneity,and New Mutations in the Human Coagulation Factor V Gene. Future Perspectives for Factor V Deficiency Using Recombinant and Advanced Therapies

Factor V is an essential clotting factor that plays a key role in the blood coagulation cascade on account of its procoagulant and anticoagulant activity. Eighty percent of circulating factor V is produced in the liver and the remaining 20% originates in the α-granules of platelets. In humans, the factor V gene is about 80 kb in size; it is located on chromosome 1q24.2, and its cDNA is 6914 bp in length. Furthermore, nearly 190 mutations have been reported in the gene. Factor V deficiency is an autosomal recessive coagulation disorder associated with mutations in the factor V gene. This hereditary coagulation disorder is clinically characterized by a heterogeneous spectrum of hemorrhagic manifestations ranging from mucosal or soft-tissue bleeds to potentially fatal hemorrhages. Current treatment of this condition consists in the administration of fresh frozen plasma and platelet concentrates. This article describes the cases of two patients with severe factor V deficiency, and of their parents. A high level of mutational heterogeneity of factor V gene was identified, nonsense mutations, frameshift mutations, missense changes, synonymous sequence variants and intronic changes. These findings prompted the identification of a new mutation in the human factor V gene, designated as Jaén-1, which is capable of altering the procoagulant function of factor V. In addition, an update is provided on the prospects for the treatment of factor V deficiency on the basis of yet-to-be-developed recombinant products or advanced gene and cell therapies that could potentially correct this hereditary disorder.     

Enhanced Sliding Wear Resistance of Technical Alloys by Hard Particle Reinforcement Using Machine Hammer Peening

Machine hammer peening is a surface treatment technique originally developed for smoothening tools and mold surfaces. Treated surfaces are locally cold-worked, which results in a hardness increase and the induction of compressive residual stresses. In the present work, the feasibility of using this technique as a tool for embedding tungsten carbide hard particles on engineering-relevant substrate materials is systematically investigated. Tungsten carbide particles of three different sizes were embedded onto selected substrates using machine hammer peening. The particle embedment quality of the engineered surfaces was evaluated and correlated to the substrates' mechanical properties. The resulting tribological performance was investigated under reciprocating sliding conditions and the dominant wear mechanisms were correlated with the diameter of the embedded particles. The results show that machine hammer peening is a suitable technique for embedding hard particles in substrates of various materials, which additionally results in an enhancement in wear resistance, thus opening up a wide range of potential applications in tribologically loaded surfaces.     

Concept Formation in WWTP by Means of Classification Techniques: A Compared Study

Although activated sludge process is a very widely used biologicalprocess in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), and there areproperly functioning control loops such as that of dissolved oxygen,in practice, this type of plant requires a major time investment onthe part of the operator, involving many manual operations.Treatment plants work well most of the time, as long as there are not unforeseen occurrences. Normal operatingsituations (generally similar to design conditions) can be treatedmathematically by using efficient control algorithms. However, there aresituations in which the control system cannot properlymanage the plant, and in which the process can only be efficiently managedthanks to the operators experience. This is a case in which aknowledge-based system may be useful. One of the difficulties inherent tothe development of a knowledge-based system is to obtain the knowledge base(i.e., knowledge acquisition), specially whendealing with a wide, complicated and ill-structured)field.Among the aims of this work arethose to show how semi-automatic knowledge acquisition tools could helphuman experts to organize their knowledge about their domain and also, tocompare the power of different approaches of knowledge acquisition) to the same database.In this paper are presented the results obtained fromapplying two different classification techniques to the development of knowledge-bases for the management of an activated sludge process.     

Resource and performance trade-offs in real-time embedded control systems

Embedded control systems are subject to conflicting demands: end-users ask for devices with better capabilities while strong industrial competition impose tight cost constrains that results in devices with limited resources. Current research in the multidisciplinary embedded systems discipline indicates that by combining real-time and control systems it is theoretically feasible to design resource-constrained embedded control systems capable of trading-off control performance and resource usage. This paper focuses on the implementation feasibility of recent state-of-the-art resource/performance-aware (RPA) policies that can be applied to a set of control loops that concurrently execute on a microprocessor. The objective of these policies is to improve control performance and/or to minimize resource utilization. The paper first reviews existing state-of-the-art RPA policies. Then it presents a performance evaluation framework (PEF) that permits to assess whether RPA policies can be implemented in practice. The PEF is designed using a modular approach and following the guidelines obtained by a taxonomic analysis performed on the state-of-the-art RPA policies. Finally, a case study is presented where the PEF is applied to a set of representative RPA policies. The case study reveals that the modularity of the PEF allows tailoring the framework to evaluate any specific RPA policy, which indicates that RPA policies can be implemented in practice. But it also reveals that the problem of assessing diverse RPA policies in fair conditions implies facing and solving conflicting demands by even taking decisions that may not favor equal all policies under evaluation. Nevertheless, the comparative analysis permits identifying potential benefits and drawbacks of each policy, as well as extracting design guidelines for future real-time embedded control systems theory and practice.