High Frequency Of Occurrence Research Articles

Motor intervention and autism: one way, several domains of effectiveness

In the literature, a delay in the development and acquisition of motor skills is generally described in children with autism spectrum disorder, affecting between 50% and 80% of this population. In spite of this high frequency of occurrence, motor difficulties are not yet considered in the same way as the core deficits of this disorder (difficulties in social interaction, communication and behavior); addictionaly, there is not yet enough research about the efficacy of a specific intervention that can support the development of motor functions compromised in autism. Recent findings, which support the correlation between motor domain and other areas of development (social and cognitive), together with other evidence that underline the benefits of practicing motor activities on the individual's well-being, lead us to re-evaluate the effects of motor intervention for autism. To define the salient points of this kind of intervention, with particular attention to rehabilitation practice, a literature search was carried out on four different databases, which sifted through 602 bibliographic citations and found 10 studies that were able to meet the set research purposes. This review showed that physical activity in autistic children not only improves motor performance, but also plays an important role in the social, cognitive and behavioural development, as well as helping to reduce some secondary or associated symptoms, such as stereotypies or sleep disorders.

Assessment of mold infestation of conditioning devices and indoor air

Introduction. Indoor air quality is an essential component of a healthy human environment. Air conditioning units can affect indoor air quality, including mycogenic contamination of the air if the condition is not adequately monitored. Material and method. The paper presents the results of a mycological study of air samples and flushes from the surface of filters and gratings of air conditioning devices taken from 40 residential and office premises. Results. The presence of micromycetes fungi was noted in 100% of the samples taken from the surface of filters and air conditioning grids and 81.6% of air samples. A greater species diversity of fungi (26 species) was revealed in air samples compared to air conditioning devices (15 species). A higher frequency of occurrence of dark-coloured species of fungi, incl. Aspergillus spp. and Alternaria spp., and fungal species belonging to the third group of pathogenicity, were noticed on the surface of air conditioners, compared with air samples, in which Penicillium spp., Fusarium spp., Trichoderma spp. were more often detected. It was found that the surface of air conditioners functioned sporadically. For a short time (28 rooms), there is a large species diversity of mycobiota at a low or moderate level of seeding (no more than 103 CFU). In rooms with long-term continuous air conditioners (12 rooms), a high level of seeding (more than 104 CFU) by 1-2 species of fungi was more often noted. The existence of a close relationship, confirmed by the values of the Pearson contingency coefficient, between the species composition of the mycobiota of air conditioning devices and air, and a higher level of mycogenic contamination in rooms with long-term continuous operation of air conditioners, were shown. Conclusion. Thus, air conditioning devices can be a source of mycogenic air contamination, especially during long-term continuous operation, which must be taken into account to ensure indoor air quality.

Diet Diversity and Dietary Overlap of Two Sympatric Vulture Species in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Kashmir

Bird species that use similar resources are expected to use variant foraging approaches and segregate in order to minimize a possible competition among them. However, if they fail to attain this exclusion, competition results. We studied the diet composition and dietary overlap between two sympatric vulture species: Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis) and Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), the two important avian scavengers of Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary of Kashmir Himalaya. Analysis of pellets collected from feeding and roosting sites of these vulture species revealed a significant variation in their food consumption with Himalayan species consuming mostly larger dead mammalian species with higher frequency occurrence of 66.66% of Bubalus bubalus and bearded species the smaller dead mammalian ones with highest frequency occurrence of Ovis aries (83.82%). Diet spectrum of Himalayan vulture was more diverse (H’=1.97) than that of Bearded vulture (H’=1.64). The values of Berger-Parker index (Pimax) follows the reverse order of diversity with Pimax=36.2% for Himalayan vulture and Pimax =48.7% for Bearded vulture. There was very low dietary overlap between the two species (Ojk=0.466; C=0.457) which may favor their co-existence. The management of carrions of livestock and setting up of vulture restaurants is the need of the hour for the conservation of these scavenging birds which are facing high risk of extinction in Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary.

Empirical evidence for deep convection being a major source of stratospheric ice clouds over North America

Abstract. Ice clouds in the lowermost stratosphere affect stratospheric water vapour and the Earth's radiation budget. The knowledge of its occurrence and driving forces is limited. To assess the distribution and possible formation mechanisms of stratospheric ice clouds (SICs) over North America, we analysed SIC occurrence frequencies observed by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) instrument during the years 2006 to 2018. Possible driving forces such as deep convection are assessed based on Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) observations during the same time. Results show that at nighttime, SICs are most frequently observed during the thunderstorm season over the Great Plains from May to August (MJJA) with a maximum occurrence frequency of 6.2 %. During the months from November to February (NDJF), the highest SICs occurrence frequencies are 5.5 % over the north-eastern Pacific and western Canada and 4.4 % over the western North Atlantic. Occurrence frequencies of deep convection from AIRS, which includes storm systems, fronts, mesoscale convective systems, and mesoscale convective complexes at midlatitude and high latitude, show similar hotspots like the SICs, with highest occurrence frequencies being observed over the Great Plains in MJJA (4.4 %) and over the north-eastern Pacific, western Canada, and the western North Atlantic in NDJF (∼ 2.5 %). Both, seasonal patterns and daily time series of SICs and deep convection show a high degree of spatial and temporal relation. Further analysis indicates that the maximum fraction of SICs related to deep convection is 74 % over the Great Plains in MJJA and about 50 % over the western North Atlantic, the north-eastern Pacific, and western Canada in NDJF. We conclude that, locally and regionally, deep convection is the leading factor related to the occurrence of SICs over North America. In this study, we also analysed the impact of gravity waves as another important factor related to the occurrence of SICs, as the Great Plains is a well-known hotspot for stratospheric gravity waves. In the cases where SICs are not directly linked to deep convection, we found that stratospheric gravity wave observations correlate with SICs with as much as 30 % of the cases over the Great Plains in MJJA, about 50 % over the north-eastern Pacific and western Canada, and up to 90 % over eastern Canada and the north-west Atlantic in NDJF. Our results provide a better understanding of the physical processes and climate variability related to SICs and will be of interest for modellers as SIC sources such as deep convection and gravity waves are small-scale processes that are difficult to represent in global general circulation models.

Prevalence of risk factors for arterial hypertension among draft age youth

Background. The currently observed diseases of the circulatory system getting younger, the increase in the incidence of arterial hypertension (AH) and the high mortality rate of men of working age in Russia are elements of one of the main medical and social problems. The identification of risk factors (RF) for the development of hypertension in young patients and the identification of the groups with the highest risk of cardiovascular events in their future adult life is aimed at preventing hypertension, early treatment initiation, increasing life expectancy and reducing mortality.
 Aim. To study the prevalence of the main modifiable RF associated with arterial hypertension among draft age youth.
 Materials and methods. The identification of RF, their qualitative, quantitative description, assessment and comparative analysis among men with normal and high blood pressure (BP) of varying degrees.
 Results. In the control group without hypertension, 37.1% of the subjects did not have any RF; 48.6% of the surveyed each had one RF; 14.3% were persons with two RFs. There were no people identified with three or more RFs. In the study group with AH, 27.0% of patients did not have any RF; 37.4% of patients had one RF; 22.6% of patients with two RFs; 9.5% of patients with three RFs and 2.6% of patients had four RFs. The occurrence of each RF in the control group without hypertension and in the study group with hypertension as a whole is presented as follows respectively: overweight/obesity 37.1 and 59.1%; smoking 34.3 and 38.3%; alcohol abuse 0 and 2.6%; physical inactivity 8.4 and 12.2%; hypercholesterolemia 2.9 and 20.9%; hypertriglyceridemia 5.7 and 16.5%; hyperglycemia 5.7 and 5.2%.
 Conclusion. RF is widespread in young men, regardless of BP level. More than 60% of draft age youth without hypertension have at least one RF. Among all modifiable RFs, the highest frequency of occurrence is associated with increased weight and smoking. Overweight or obesity is always found in individuals with two or more RFs. Among men with hypertension, people with obesity, low physical activity and impaired lipid metabolism are more common than among men without hypertension. Risk assessment in draft age youth presents certain difficulties. Identification and assessment of risk factors will make it possible to develop an individual program for their modification, prevention of the development of hypertension and detection of the disease in the early stages.

A novel sulfur mustard (HD) vapor inhalation exposure model of pulmonary toxicity for the efficacy evaluation of candidate medical countermeasures

Objective To develop a novel inhalation exposure system capable of delivering a controlled inhaled HD dose through an endotracheal tube to anesthetized rats to investigate the lung pathophysiology and evaluate potential medical countermeasures. Materials and methods Target HD vapor exposures were generated by a temperature-controlled vapor generator, while concentration was monitored near real-time by gas chromatography. Animal breathing parameters were monitored real-time by in-line EMKA/SciReq pulmonary analysis system. Individual exposures were halted when the target inhaled doses were achieved. Animals were observed daily for clinical observations and lethality with scheduled termination at 28 days post-exposure. Upon scheduled or unscheduled death, animals underwent a gross necropsy and lung and trachea were collected for histopathology. Results Controlled HD concentrations ranged from 60 to 320 mg/m3. Delivered inhaled doses range from 0.3 to 3.20 mg/kg with administered doses within 3% of the target. The 28-day inhaled LD50 is 0.80 mg/kg (95% CI = 0.42–1.18 mg/kg). Post exposure respiratory abnormalities were observed across all dose levels though the higher dose levels had earlier onset and higher frequency of occurrence. Histopathologic alterations were not qualitatively altered in accordance with dose but instead showed a relationship to an animals’ time of death, with early deaths demonstrating acute damage and later deaths displaying signs of repair. Discussion/Conclusion This novel exposure system administers targeted HD inhaled doses to generate a small animal model that can be used to evaluate physiological toxicities of inhaled HD on the lungs and for evaluation of potential medical countermeasure treatments.

Analysis on Evolution Characteristics of Hydrometeors in South China Based on Lagrange Tracking Method

To reveal the microphysical process of clouds inside a rain cluster and identify the causes of changes in water resources in the air in South China, rain cluster areas with the radar reflectivity factor higher than 40dBZ in a heavy precipitation process in South China were defined as convective cloud cores, and areas with the factor greater than 20dBZ and less than 40dBZ as stratiform clouds around cores with Lagrange tracking method based on S-band dual-polarization radar data. An analysis was conducted on the evolution law of the types of hydrometeor particles and variation characteristics of the raindrop size spectrum in the two areas as well as their differences. The results showed that convective cloud cores and surrounding stratiform clouds were composed of large and sparse raindrops at the early stage of development; the particle crushing process mainly occurred inside stratiform clouds at the mature stage, and the collision-coalescence process mainly occurred at the attenuation stage. Stratiform clouds showed a process of increase in the density of graupel particles at the stage of precipitation enhancement, but the density of graupel particles in convective cores did not change significantly; high- and low-density graupel particles in convective cores had a higher frequency of occurrence than those in stratiform clouds.

‘문화요소추출시스템’을 활용한 한일 어휘와 이문화 교육 방안 연구

Vocabulary learning is an important part of language education. This study postulates that effective vocabulary learning requires vocabulary education based on cultural training instead of mere memorization of words.<BR> This study suggests effective methods for Korean-Japanese vocabulary education and cross-cultural education through text mining using the Cultural Element Mining System (CEMS).<BR> Firstly, after extracting Korean-Japanese words with a high frequency of occurrence, a Korean-Japanese vocabulary learning method is suggested on the basis of parts of speech that show a high frequency. Secondly, after extracting words with a high frequency of co-occurrence with the previously extracted Korean-Japanese words in a sentence, a vocabulary learning method is also introduced for the former. Additionally, a cross-cultural education method is proposed through relevant vocabulary learning. Thirdly, a learning method that constructs short sentences using vocabulary with high relevance to the extracted Korean-Japanese words is suggested. Furthermore, it is proposed that these sentences be converted into animated characters for utilization in Korean-Japanese cross-cultural education.

Towards understanding the characteristics of new particle formation in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract. To quantify the contribution of new particle formation (NPF) to ultrafine particle number and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) budgets, one has to understand the mechanisms that govern NPF in different environments and its temporal extent. Here, we study NPF in Cyprus, an Eastern Mediterranean country located at the crossroads of three continents and affected by diverse air masses originating from continental, maritime, and desert-dust source areas. We performed 1-year continuous measurements of aerosol particles down to ∼ 1 nm in diameter for the first time in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region. These measurements were complemented with trace gas data, meteorological variables, and retroplume analysis. We show that NPF is a very frequent phenomenon at this site and has higher frequencies of occurrence during spring and autumn. NPF events were both of local and regional origin, and the local events occurred frequently during the month with the lowest NPF frequency. Some NPF events exhibited multiple onsets, while others exhibited apparent particle shrinkage in size. Additionally, NPF events were observed during the nighttime and during episodes of high desert-dust loadings. Particle formation rates and growth rates were comparable to those in urban environments, although our site is a rural one. Meteorological variables and trace gases played a role in explaining the intra-monthly variability of NPF events, but they did not explain why summer months had the least NPF frequency. Similarly, pre-existing aerosol loading did not explain the observed seasonality. The months with the least NPF frequency were associated with higher H2SO4 concentrations but lower NO2 concentrations, which is an indicator of anthropogenic influence. Air masses arriving from the Middle East were not observed during these months, which could suggest that precursor vapors important for nucleation and growth are transported to our site from the Middle East. Further comprehensive measurements of precursor vapors are required to prove this hypothesis.

Prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Pneumonia Patients that Attend Madonna Catholic Hospital Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria

Aim: To determine the prevalence of Streptococcus pnenumoniae in pnenumonia patients attending Madonna Catholic Hospital, Umuahia; Abia State.&#x0D; Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of Streptococcus pnenumoniae among patients in Madonna Catholic Hospital, Umuahia. It lasted for a period of three months (September 2019 to January 2020). Standard microbiological techniques were used to evaluate 60 sputum samples collected from pneumonia patients and the modified Kirby-Buar disk diffusion technique was used to test the sensitive pattern of the isolates to some antibiotics.&#x0D; Results: A total of thirty-three (33) Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were recovered from sixty (60) sputum samples from pneumonia patients. 17(51%) were gotten from male and 16 (49%) of isolates were gotten from female. The highest frequency of occurrence among the age groups was observed with adults (19-59 years) (34.4%) followed by adolescence (13-18 years) (33.3%), while the least frequency was from those of senior adults (&gt;60) (9.1%). However, the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from the sputum samples shows varying degrees of sensitivity and resistance to the antibiotics. From the study, Streptomycin and Cotrimoxazole showed a high percentage of sensitivity against Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates at 78.8% and 72.7% respectively. The highest percentage of resistance was observed with Gentamicin and Tetracycline at 42.4% each.&#x0D; Conclusion: This study highlights that there was no distinct variation in occurrence of Streptococcus pneumoniae in relation to gender and age. As most patients were hospitalized in separated wards, this suggests a role for local dissemination of this bacterium in the respective wards rather than age or gender specific predilection. This study also suggests that streptomycin and Cotrimoxazole could be a drug of choice in the treatment of pneumonia.

Vitamin C, A, E, B2 and β-carotene status of patients with gastrointestinal diseases

Deficiency of vitamins is a risk factor for the development of various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), and, on the contrary, diseases serve as the cause of the deficiency of these micronutrients. Data on the actual vitamin status of gastrointestinal patients are necessary to develop measures for its improvement.Material and methods. The blood serum level of vitamins C, A, E, B2 and β-carotene in 29 patients (10 men and 19 women) 22–80 years old with gastrointestinal diseases has been determined. The first group consisted of 14 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The second group included patients with gastrointestinal diseases of various etiologies.Results. There was no significant difference in vitamins C, A, E, B2 and β-carotene sufficiency in patients with IBS and those with other gastrointestinal diseases. The characteristic features of the vitamin status of patients in both groups were the absence of individuals optimally provided with all vitamins, and a rather high frequency of occurrence (27.6%) of multiple deficiency of 3 vitamins and β-carotene. When the evaluation using 3 indicators at the same time (absolute concentration of vitamins C, E and their molar ratio) was carried out, only two patients in each group were optimally provided with vitamins C and E, and only three of them were optimally provided with β-carotene. Four patients in each group were adequately provided with all the vitamins studied. A combined deficiency of 3 micronutrients (any two vitamins and β-carotene) was found in two patients; combined deficiency of two vitamins or one vitamin and β-carotene was noted in 24.1% of the examined.Conclusion. A purposeful development of vitamin complexes with effective doses for gastrointestinal patients is necessary.

An insight into sars-cov-2 phylogenetics and genomics for sixty isolates occurring in india

Introduction: Analysis of genome sequences to search for encoded proteins and motifs is a most widely used technique for the prediction of new drug and vaccine targets. It can effectively leverage computational techniques to deliver effective and pragmatic advantages in the search of new drug and vaccines. Materials and Methods: The diversity and evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) isolates have been examined from different geographical parts of India using phylogenetic tree analysis. A dataset of 172 Indian SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences were collected from a database and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. Results: From the phylogenetic analysis, six different clusters were identified and from each cluster 10 genome sequences were chosen to find open reading frames (ORFs) and common encoded proteins. Four encoded proteins that are common among the 60 genome sequences and correspond to ORF7a protein, Membrane glycoprotein, Surface glycoprotein and Nucleocapsid phosphoproteins were found. Our results highlight that there are six conserved motifs with high frequency of occurrence suggesting a potential of being useful in further studies. Conclusions: The encoded proteins and their detected sequential motifs might be useful for screening potential drugs and vaccine candidates of the SARS-CoV-2 Indian isolates in the current epidemic situation. © 2021 The Author(s).

Rip current hazard at coastal recreational beaches in China

Rip current has become the primary coastal hazard globally. This work presents the operational investigation of nation-wide rip current hazard and its implications for the beach recreational safety in China. Accumulated domestic surfzone fatalities were reported more than the marine disaster casualties over recent ten years. The surfzone accident has high occurrence frequency in the southern regions and reaches its peak from July to August. The spatial distribution of comprehensive hazard levels at 101 major coastal beaches is evaluated based on the proposed risk index system. The methodology involves multiple approaches of statistical analysis and field survey. Southern provinces feature higher rip current hazard than the north due to larger wave, lower tidal range, and more dynamic littoral morphology. The rip current prominently contributes to the demographic variations of beach drowning statistics. The occurrence probability of rip currents could be high in either hotter or cooler weather while the seasonal shift depends on both wave climate and the local shoreline profile. Enhancing public awareness of the rip current hazard has been proved to be a very effective way decreasing surfzone accidents.

Human-caused mortality of large carnivores in Iran during 1980–2021

Human-caused mortality is the main cause of death for large carnivores worldwide and has had serious adverse effects on their populations. Detailed quantitative information on potential causes and patterns of mortalities are vital for development of effective conservation strategies. We investigated human-caused large carnivore mortalities across Iran using reports provided by Iran’s Department of the Environment (DOE) during January 1980–January 2021, which comprised 399 mortality instances involving 443 carnivore deaths. Brown bears (Ursus arctos) had the highest frequency of occurrence (30%), followed by striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena; 24%), and Persian leopards (Panthera pardus saxicolor; 17%). Overall, mortalities related to agricultural (i.e. livestock, or crops including plants, fruits, beehives) loss occurred more frequently (31%) than mortality related to illegal trade (21%) and risk to humans (7%). Specifically, brown bears were killed more frequently due to potential threats to human life and crops, whereas leopards and wolves were killed more often because of livestock depredations. Additionally, leopards were killed more frequently for illegal trade of their skins. We recommend the DOE improve local communities’ attitudes toward large carnivores by promoting conservation education programs and incentive compensation schemes, as well as implement mitigation measures (e.g. wildlife crossing structures or fencing) at road mortality hotspots to prevent unnecessary deaths of large carnivores in Iran.

Extreme wave value analysis under uncertainty of climate change scenarios off Iberian Peninsula coast

Extreme wave value analysis under uncertainty scenarios was developed to estimate wave climate characteristics at 17 stations in southwestern European coast off the Iberian Peninsula. A comprehensive wave dataset downscaled with the Wave Watch III (WWIII) model by Meteogalicia under MarRisk Project was used considering results of models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5). Descriptive statistics for significant wave height (Hs), peak wave period (Tp), and mean and peak wave direction were performed for historical data (1960–2005), and for projected data in two twenty-year time periods under two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios (2026–2045 and 2081–2100). Hs and Tp extreme values for the study area were obtained using the Gumbel, Fréchet and Weibull probability distributions for the 10-, 50-, and 100-year return period. Obtained results showed that: historical Hs values decrease from North to South and are higher than those calculated in any of the RCP future scenarios; mean Tp values appear to be constant in all stations; and means for peak and mean direction have higher frequency of occurrence in Q4 (270°–360°). Moreover, Hs and Tp values for 100-year return period were computed, which can be used as design criteria for structural analyses in maritime works.

A novel copper (II) binding peptide for a colorimetric biosensor system design

Filamentous bacteriophages are viruses infecting only bacteria. In this study, phage display technique was applied to identify highly selective Cu(II) binding peptides. After five rounds of positive screening against Cu(II) and various rounds of negative screenings against competitive metal ions (Al(III), Co(II), Fe(III), Ni(II) and Zn(II)), bacteriophages were enriched. Selective Cu(II) binding of final phages was confirmed by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. 15 phage plaques were randomly selected and sequenced. Cu-5 peptide (HGFANVA) with the highest frequency of occurrence and the strongest Cu(II) affinity was chosen for further Cu(II) detection and removal tests. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) confirmed the strong Cu(II) binding potential of engineered viruses. Cu-5 peptides were synthetically synthesized with three Cysteine units at C-terminal and a AuNP-peptide biosensor system was developed based on aggregation behavior of AuNPs upon Cu(II) ion treatment. AuNP-based Cu(II) sensor was selective for Cu(II) and the LOD was 91.15 nM (ca. 5.8 × 10−3 mg/L; 3σ/k, n = 5, R2 = 0.992) for the case study which is considerably lower than the WHO's accepted guideline of 1.3 mg/L. This study provides an interdisciplinary approach to apply short peptides as recognition units for biosensor studies which are user friendly, not bulky and cost-effective.

Understanding near-miss count data on construction sites using greedy D-vine copula marginal regression

Near misses are an important type of accident precursor because they provide insights into failure-generating mechanisms, help understand safety risks, and guide necessary interventions before they develop into real accidents. A high occurrence frequency of near-miss incidents typically signals a warning of small safety margins. However, the occurrences of near-miss incidents are stochastic and serially dependent in nature. Ignoring these features will typically lead to a misunderstanding of a project's safety level. This paper presents a D-vine copula marginal regression model for count time series data. Incident counts are expressed as a function of predictors. A time-varying discrete marginal distribution is used to describe the uncertainty of incident occurrences at an arbitrary time point, while the dependence between consecutive observations at different time points is captured with copula functions. To allow for long-range and non-Gaussian dependences between incidents, the D-vine structure is used to build the multivariate copula function where the bivariate copula associated with each edge is not necessarily Gaussian. To avoid evaluating a large number of candidate models that use different marginals and bivariate copulas as building blocks, a greedy algorithm is proposed to estimate relevant parameters and select the best model. An information criterion is used to determine the tree level of the D-vine decomposition, which implies the Markov structure of the incident occurrences. The proposed method is applied to a set of near-miss count data collected from a construction project over 5 years. We show that the hidden dependence has a relatively large time-lag and is strongly non-Gaussian. Comparison with conventional methods shows that the proposed method is efficient and yields better predictive performance.

Climatology and physical mechanisms of the tropospheric warm cores over the Tibetan Plateau and its vicinity

The frequently observed tropospheric warm cores over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are unique climate phenomena and are crucial to the Asian summer monsoon development. However, their climatological structure and formation mechanisms remain elusive and inconsistent among previous studies. In this work, two vertically separated warm cores, the upper-level warm cores (ULWCs) and lower-level warm cores (LLWCs), are identified based on the zonal temperature deviation. The LLWCs are basically confined below 450 hPa, and the ULWCs are mostly observed at 200–400 hPa. The active region of the LLWCs is generally within the TP domain and characterized by regional patches with high frequency occurrences. In contrast, the active region of the ULWCs is featured by a zonally elongated band along the southern TP. The physical mechanisms for the formations of these two distinct types of warm cores are revealed: the LLWCs are mainly generated and maintained by the surface diabatic heating, while the ULWCs are dominated by the large-scale circulation associated with the convection over the Indo-Pacific warm pool. During March–June, the ULWCs within the TP domain occur most frequently and the intensities attain their maxima. In March–April, the ULWCs are mainly determined by the TP adiabatic subsidence induced by the convection over the Indo-Pacific warm pool. In May–June, the warm advection induced by westerlies generates the downstream ULWCs and enhances the ULWCs formed in previous months. Hence it might be inappropriate in traditional view to attribute the tropospheric warm cores around the TP solely to the direct thermal effect of the elevated topography.

Prevalence of lipase producer Aspergillusniger in nuts and anti-biofilm efficacy of its crude lipase against some human pathogenic bacteria

Nuts are the natural source of healthy lipids, proteins, and omega-3. They are susceptible to fungal and mycotoxins contamination because of their high nutritional value. Twenty-five species comprising 12 genera were isolated from 80 samples of dried fruits and nuts using the dilution plate method. Peanut recorded the highest level of contamination followed by coconut; almond and raisin were the lowest. Aspergillus was the most prevalent genus and A.niger, was the most dominant species. The morphological identification of the selected A.niger isolates as they were detected in high frequency of occurrence was confirmed by using 18SrRNA sequence. Ochratoxin biosynthesis gene Aopks was detected in the tested isolates. Lipase production by the selected A.niger isolates was determined with enzyme activity index (EAI) ranging from 2.02 to 3.28. A.niger-26 was the highest lipase producer with enzyme activity of 0.6 ± 0.1 U/ml by the trimetric method. Lip2 gene was also detected in the tested isolates. Finally, the antibacterial and antibiofilm efficiency of crude lipase against some human pathogens was monitored. Results exhibited great antibacterial efficacy with minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 20 to 40 µl/100 µl against Escherichiacoli, Pseudomonasaeruginosa, Proteusmirabilis, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcusaureus (MRSA). Interestingly, significant anti-biofilm efficacy with inhibition percentages of 95.3, 74.9, 77.1 and 93.6% was observed against the tested pathogens, respectively.

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping of Central and Western Greece, Combining NGI and WoE Methods, with Remote Sensing and Ground Truth Data

The exploitation of remote sensing techniques has substantially improved pre- and post- disaster landslide management over the last decade. A variety of landslide susceptibility methods exists, with capabilities and limitations related to scale and spatial accuracy issues, as well as data availability. The Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) capabilities have significantly contributed to the detection, monitoring, and mapping of landslide phenomena. The present study aims to point out the contribution of InSAR data in landslide detection and to evaluate two different scale landslide models by comparing a heuristic to a statistical method for the rainfall-induced landslide hazard assessment. Aiming to include areas with both high and low landslide occurrence frequencies, the study area covers a large part of the Aetolia–Acarnania and Evritania prefectures, Central and Western Greece. The landslide susceptibility product provided from the weights of evidence (WoE) method proved more accurate, benefitting from the expert opinion and the landslide inventory. On the other hand, the Norwegian Geological Institute (NGI) methodology has the edge on its immediate implementation, with minimum data requirements. Finally, it was proved that using sequential SAR image acquisitions gives the benefit of an updated landslide inventory, resulting in the generation of, on request, updated landslide susceptibility maps.