The geologically complex Kyzylzharma groundwater field is located in the south-central part of Kazakhstan in the lower Syr Darya Basin. It supplies the 243,000 population of Kyzylorda City by drinking and agricultural water needs. Numerical modeling was used to predict the consequences of increased groundwater withdrawal for future water supply needs. The results displayed a mean squared error for

Kazakhstan is facing increasing water scarcity due to climate change and transboundary international water diversions. For this reason, low-quality water with high mineral content needs to be increasingly used in the future. A way to improve water quality for consumptive use is membrane treatment technology. In view of this, we investigated a new type of synthetic spatial-globular structure (SGS)

All natural populations fluctuate in abundance and age structure through time; understanding why they do so is a critical step towards their effective management and conservation. However, the long-term data sets needed for such an understanding are rarely available, especially for tropical organisms. A 17-year capture-mark–recapture study yielded detailed information on the demography of water py

This article has the aim to provide a methodological framework for the calculation of ecological footprints related to leisure tourism. Based on the example of the Seychelles, it reveals the statistical obstacles that have to be overcome in the calculation process and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach. As many tropical island-states depend heavily on foreign exchange earni

Hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy (HCCAA) is a dominantly inherited disease characterized by amyloidosis, dementia and fatal cerebral hemorrhage of young adults. A method for rapid and simple diagnosis of HCCAA is described. It is based upon oligonucleotide-directed enzymatic amplification of a 275-bp genomic DNA segment containing exon 2 of the cystatin C gene from a blood sample, followed

The synthesis of a nanocomposite material composed of anionic poly(phenylene ethynylene) (aPPE) polymer particles and ZnS/Mn2+ nanoparticles is described, and its luminescence properties are investigated. aPPE particles have two emissions, one in the blue (460 nm) and the other in the green (490 nm), that are assigned to the 0-0 transition and an excimer, respectively. ZnS/Mn2+ nanoparticles have

CONTEXT: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a cause of pain, numbness, and tingling in the hands and is an important cause of work disability. Although high prevalence rates of CTS in certain occupations have been reported, little is known about its prevalence in the general population. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of CTS in a general population. DESIGN: General health mail survey sent in Fe

In this article I develop a framework for thinking about the research interview, and I critique dominating neopositivist and romantic views on the interview. I suggest eight metaphors that offer reconceptualizations of the interview, drawing upon recent theoretical trends on language, the subject, and discourse, and develop a reflexive theoretical framework. The article provides new ways of dealin

Scenarios of changes in biodiversity for the year 2100 can now be developed based on scenarios of changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, climate, vegetation, and Land use and the known sensitivity of biodiversity to these changes. This study identified a ranking of the importance of drivers of change, a ranking of the biomes with respect to expected changes, and the major sources of uncertainties.

The objectives of this study are to review the long-term consequences of injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament and menisci, the pathogenic mechanisms, and the causes. of the considerable variability in outcome. Injuries of the anterior cruciate ligament and menisci are common in both athletes and the general population. At 10 to 20 years after the diagnosis, on average, 50% of those with a di

This chapter presents the Development Policy Evaluation Model (DEVPEM), a new simulation model which captures four critical aspects of rural economies in developing countries: 1) the role of the household as both a producer and a consumer of food crops; 2) high transaction costs of participating in markets; 3) market linkages among heterogeneous rural producers and consumers; 4) the imperfect conv

Supervised learning methods are used when one wants to construct a classifier. To use such a method, one has to know the correct classification of at least some samples, which are used to train the classifier. Once a classifier has been trained it can be used to predict the class of unknown samples. Supervised learning methods have been used numerous times in genomic applications and we will only

Accident prediction models are often used to predict the number of accidents on segments and at intersections in the road network. Most often the models are developed for a total number of crashes for the facility, or crashes by severity. However, the frequency and severity of crashes of different types can be expected to vary with regards to the underlying phenomena that cause them to occur. To b

Examining communities in all their meanings, the paper locates User- Centred Design (UCD) in the amplified scope of approaches to Information Systems Design (ISD). Culture in communities is explained in structurational terms, in which human action and social structure (including ICT) interact to produce and reproduce the social patterning that both supports and constrains action. The widening of t

In recent years, a number of planetary systems have been proposed to orbit-evolved binary star systems. The presence of planets is invoked to explain observed variations in the timing of mutual eclipses between the primary and secondary components of the binary star system. The planets recently proposed orbiting the cataclysmic variable system QS Virginis are the latest in this ongoing series of `