The main target of the present study is to investigate the foundation layers and the subsurface structures in an Egyptian solar plant site using geophysical techniques including the seismic refraction and Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW). The studied solar park is situated at about 40 km to the north of Aswan city on the Aswan-Cairo highway road and is classified as the largest solar plant in Africa and worldwide. Due to its location in the vicinity of the most prone earthquake area in Egypt (Aswan seismic zone); it is imperative to mitigate the earthquake hazard in this region. The geophysical results show that the subsurface foundation in this site is primarily composed of two layers. The upper one is loose and incompetent soil sediments that extend down to about 10 m depth with P-wave velocity ranging from 400 to 1000 m/s and shear-wave velocity ranging from 260 to 550 m/s. The deeper section is considered the main foundation layer with velocities ranging between 650 and 1900 m/s and from 350 to 950 m/s for P-wave and shear-wave, respectively. The average shear-wave velocities calculated for the topmost 30 m (Vs30) vary almost between 319 and 834 m/s; thereby the studied site is primarily ranked into classes C&D (180-360 m/s & 360-760 m/s, respectively) according to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) soil classification. Additionally, the southwestern and southeastern zones of the site area are characterized by maximum velocity values, relative high values of rock densities, rigidity or shear modulus “μ”, Standard Penetration Test (N-Value), ultimate bearing capacity and allowable bearing capacity, while the low values are observed through the northern and middle sectors across the area. This study an integral part of many works being carried out delineating the subsurface foundation structures around the solar plant and allows the most appropriate sites for constructing the renewable energy plants to be sited away from the highly hazards prone areas.
The population and genetic profiles of a remnant Vimba vimba population in the upper course of the River Dyje (N=48°53 ́18 ́ ́/ E=15°39 ́29 ́ ́) was carried out to provide a basis for conservation measures. This population is an isolated fragment of a more widespread population in this river system and is now declining. It came into being 60 years ago as a consequence of the construction of the Vranov dam in the middle section of the River Dyje. Over those 60 years V. vimba disappeared from the other localities of the River Dyje basin. In the population under study, vimba is a single-batch spawner involving two age groups of fishes (4 to 5 years of the age). Individuals over six years of age are rare and sporadically occurring fishes of 8 to 10 years are exclusively females. The size of the adult part of population is less than one thousand individuals. The length growth rate is relatively high as compared with other studied populations in the Czech Republic, fishes of five years attain 200 mm of Sl. A very low genetic variability was evidenced in the population (mean number of alleles per locus = 1.30 ± 0.1; percentage of polymorphic loci = 16.7 %; mean observed heterozygosity = 0.022 ± 0.011).
The parameters determine waves energy in shallow water zone that pronounces the crucial influence on abrasion of both natural and artificially paved banks. The effort to re-development of the relations was found as absolutely necessary for waves energy calculations. Substantial benefit of the work is found not only in enabling the use of computers while avoiding time-consuming and difficult application of diagrams, but namely in recent recognition that the calculation results showed a risk of underestimate the real impact of wind-induced waves. In some cases, the calculations respecting the above standard produce lower values of waves height and time-period and thus also lower values of wave energy., Tamara Spanilá and Karel Jahoda., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
This paper reports the possibilities of using FTIR spectroscopy and simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis for examination of the structural order of four Czech kaolinite samples (Jimlikov, Sedlec, Olomucany and Unanov deposits) and one kaolinite standard KGa-1b from Georgia deposit obtained from the Source Clays Repository of The Clay Minerals Society (USA). FTIR spectroscopy was used for the classification of the degree of structural order of kaolinite samples by empirical (IR-E) and numerical (IR-N) classification. Differential thermal analysis was used for the determination of the kaolinite disorder degree according to decomposition peak temperature obtained from DTA curves. The resulting trend of decrease in orderliness is: KGA-1b (with the best orderliness) > Jimlikov > Sedlec > Olomucany > Unanov (with the worst orderliness)., Lenka Vaculíková, Eva Plevová, Silvie Vallová and Ivan Koutník., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is a key economic insect pest reducing fruit yield and generating constraints in the international market. The application of the sterile insect technique (SIT) continues to reveal areas where new technologies can improve the effectiveness of fruit fly control. One such advancement concerns insect strains. In the present study, a mass-reared strain of the fly with a translocation-based genetic sexing character (Salaya1) based on a brown-white pupal colour dimorphism was genetically characterized using 11 microsatellite DNA markers. Subsequently, these markers were used to evaluate the maintenance of genetic variability in the strain under mass-rearing conditions. Mating competitiveness of this strain was also tested in field cages. Two of the newly characterized Y-pseudo-linked microsatellite markers were used for strain identification in field monitoring traps. The strain was also validated in a pilot integrated pest management (IPM) programme using male-only SIT in a fruit orchard. The programme resulted in the suppression of the fruit fly population., Siriwan Isasawin, Nidchaya Aketarawong, Sujinda Thanaphum., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The characterization of ultra-soft soil behavior is one of the most difficult challenges since the water content in such soils is very high. Hence, nondestructive or special measurement is required. Therefore, the behavior of untreated and treated ultra-soft soil was characterized using both miniature penetrometer and electrical methods. The ultra-soft soil was prepared with 2% to 10% bentonite. The soil with 10% bentonite was treated with 2% to 10% lime and with 1% to 10% polymer separately. The pH, CIGMAT miniature penetrometer, and electrical resistivity combined with the measured shear strength from the modified vane shear device were used to characterize the ultra-soft soils. The CIGMAT miniature penetrometer penetration varied linearly with the shear strength of the untreated and treated soft soils with 10% bentonite. Relative electrical resistivity decreased by 246% when the bentonite content was increased from 2% to 10% in the ultra-soft soil. The addition of 10% of the lime to the ultra-soft soil with 10% of bentonite content decreased the relative electrical resistivity by 171%. The addition of 10% of the polymer to the ultra-soft soil with 10% of bentonite content reduced the relative electrical resistivity by 545%. Power law, linear and hyperbolic models were used to predict the shear strength- electrical resistivity relationship for the untreated, lime-treated and polymer-treated ultra-soft soils respectively. The CIGMAT miniature penetrometer was modeled using 3-D axisymmetric finite element method, which predicted the penetration of CIGMAT penetrometer that agreed well with the experimental results of the ultra-soft soils.
Microsporidia are eukaryotic, obligate intracellular organisms defined by their small spores containing a single polar tube that coils around the interior of the spore. After appropriate stimuli the germination of spores occurs. Conditions that promote germination vary widely among species, presumably reflecting the organism’s adaptation to their host and external environment as well as preventing accidental discharge in the environment. It appears that calcium may be a key ion in this process. Regardless of the stimuli required for activation, all microsporidia exhibit the same response to the stimuli, that is, increasing the intrasporal osmotic pressure. This results in an influx of water into the spore accompanied by swelling of the polaroplasts and posterior vacuole. The polar tube then discharges from the anterior pole of the spore in an explosive reaction and is thought to form a hollow tube by a process of eversion. If the polar tube is discharged next to a cell, it can pierce the cell and transfer the sporoplasm into this cell. Polar tubes resist dissociation in detergents and acids but dissociate in dithiothreitol. We have developed a method for the purification of polar tube proteins (PTPs) using differential extraction followed by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This method was used to purify for subsequent characterization PTPs from Glugea americanus, Encephalitozoon cuniculit E. hellem and E. intestinalis. These proteins appear to be members of a protein family that demonstrate conserved characteristics in solubility, hydrophobicity, mass, proline content and immunologic epitopes. These characteristics are probably important in the function of this protein in its self assembly during the eversion of the polar tube and in providing elasticity and resiliency for sporoplasm passage.
Serpin is a broadly distributed superfamily of proteins that have a crucial role in regulating various immune reactions. Herein we identified a serpin-10 gene from Antheraea pernyi that encodes a 1557 amino acid residue protein with a predicted molecular weight of 58.76 kDa. Recombinant Apserpin-10 protein was expressed in a prokaryotic expression system (Escherichia coli) and the purified protein was used to prepare rabbit anti-Apserpin-10 polyclonal antibodies. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis indicate that Apserpin-10 was transcribed in all the tissues examined, including haemolymph, malpighian tubules, fat body, silk gland, integument and mid gut; the greatest expression level of Apserpin-10 was recorded in the fat body and haemocytes. The comparison of different developmental stages showed that Apserpin-10 transcript level was highest in 5th instar larvae, while the lowest expression was recorded at the egg stage. We also investigated the expression patterns of Apserpin-10 in fat body and haemocyte samples, following administration of heat-inactivated gram-positive bacteria (Micrococcus luteus), gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli), a fungus (Beauveria bassiana) and virus (nuclear polyhedrosis virus, NPV). A substantial up-regulation of Apserpin-10 expression was recorded following pathogen challenge in both the tissues tested. Further the knock down of Apserpin-10 led to down regulation of antimicrobial peptide genes. Altogether, our results indicate that Apserpin-10 is involved in the innate immunity of A. pernyi., Saima Kausar, Cen Qian, Muhammad Nadeem Abbas, Bao-Jian Zhu, Ya Liu, Lei Wang, Guo-Qing Wei, Yu Sun, Chao-Liang Liu., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Satellite DNAs are the major repetitive DNA components in eukaryotic genomes. Although satellite DNA has long been called "parasite DNA" there is substantial evidence that it could be associated with some functions of chromosome biology. Ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae) are one of the largest and most important groups of beetles. Many ladybirds are of economic interest as biological control agents because they eat some agricultural pests such as aphids and scale insects. However, other species are phytophagous and can damage crops. Despite the ecological importance of the latter group there are no studies on their satellite DNA. A satellite DNA family was isolated and characterized in the ladybird Henosepilachna argus. This satellite DNA is organized in tandem repeats of 658 bp and is A + T rich (67.3%). The recorded high sequence conservation of the monomers together with the detection of putative gene conversion processes indicate concerted evolution. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed that this satellite DNA is transcribed and in situ hybridization its location in the subtelomeric regions of all chromosomes except the long arm of the X chromosome. The presence of this satellite DNA in other species of the genus Henosepilachna and Epilachna was also tested using PCR. The results indicate that this satellite DNA sequence is so far specific to H. argus., Pablo Mora, Jesús Vela, Areli Ruiz-Mena, Teresa Palomeque, Pedro Lorite., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A novel panel of 16 microsatellite markers, obtained by pyrosequencing of enriched genomic libraries, is reported for the flightless European bushcricket Ephippiger diurnus (Dufour) (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Five multiplex and one simplex PCR protocols were optimized, and the polymorphism at the 16 loci was assessed in two natural populations from southern France. The mean allele number and (expected mean heterozygosity) were 8.94 (0.71) and 6.57 (0.70), respectively, in each population. Several loci were at Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (HWD), possibly due to the incidence of null alleles. The occurrence of null alleles has been previously reported for this species, and it is a common feature of microsatellite loci in Orthoptera. Cross-amplification tests demonstrated the transferability of some of these loci to other ephippigerine species. The microsatellite loci reported here substantially increase the number of available loci for this species and will afford an accurate picture of E. diurnus phylogeography, the genetic structure of its populations, and an improved understanding of the evolution of male song and other sexually-selected traits in this highly variable species., Yareli Esquer-Garrigos, Michael D. Greenfield, Virginie Party, Réjane Streiff., and Obsahuje bibliografii