Variability

The concentration of people in densely populated urban areas, especially in developing countries, calls for the use of monitoring systems like remote sensing. Such systems along with spatial analysis techniques like digital image processing and geographical information system (GIS) can be used for the monitoring and planning purposes as these enable the reporting of overall sprawl at a detailed level.In the present work, urban sprawl of the Ajmer city (situated in Rajasthan State of India) has been studied at a mid scale level, over a period of 25 years (1977–2002), to extract the information related to sprawl, area of impervious surfaces and their spatial and temporal variability. Statistical classification approaches have been used for the classification of the remotely sensed images obtained from various sensors viz. Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+ and IRS LISS-III. Urban sprawl and its spatial and temporal characteristics have been derived from the classified satellite images. The Shannon's entropy and landscape metrics (patchiness and map density) have been computed in terms of spatial phenomenon, in order to quantify the urban form (impervious area). Further, multivariate statistical techniques have been used to establish the relationship between the urban sprawl and its causative factors. Results reveal that land development (160.8%) in Ajmer is more than three times the population growth (50.1%). Shannon's entropy and landscape metrics has revealed the spatial distribution of the urban sprawl over a period of last 25 years.

Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=43019328016 ... Redalyc Scientific Information System Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and ... A harmony search algorithm for clustering with feature selection ...

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is considered as an important profitable fruit in Bangladesh. The study was conducted in the fruits orchard of Agriculture Research Station (ARS), Pahartali, Chattogram and Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS), Hathazari, Chattogram during 2019-20 to assess the genetic diversity of the in situ guava germplasm. Twenty two guava lines were assessed in this investigation. A total of 21 traits (11 qualitative and 10 quantitative) enabled an assessment of the genetic variability and construction of this guava germplasm. The maximum variation was observed in pulp color and seediness in guava fruits. Plant height ranged from 2.38 to 6.20 m with an average 3.85 m. Based girth ranged from 28.00 to 81.00 cm with an average of 47.79 cm. Fruit weight ranged from 55.0-362.0 g with average 101.92 g and yield per plant ranged from 12.53 to 126.70 kg with average 26.54 kg. The morphological dendrograph generated from agglomeration hierarchical clustering grouped the 22 genotypes into 5 major clusters. Heatmap explaining the overall performance of the genotypes indicated that BARI Peyara 2 and BARI Peyara 4 had higher yield potentiality.

L’obésité est universellement définie à partir de la classification recommandée par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), basée sur l’indice de masse corporelle (IMC). Cependant, l’application d’une norme unique présente des limites, notamment au regard de la grande variabilité interpopulationnelle, tant au niveau biologique que culturel. La relation entre l’IMC et la proportion de masse grasse corporelle, et donc avec les risques sanitaires associés, présente en effet une grande diversité entre groupes humains. La perception sociale du corps corpulent est quant à elle tout autant variable d’une culture à l’autre. The definition of obesity is universally based on WHO recommendations, which use body mass index (BMI). Application of a single norm presents some limits, however, because of large inter-population variability, biologically as well socially. The relationship between BMI and percentage of body fat, with its associated health risks, thus shows significant diversity betw...

Erodium janszii Alarcón, Aldasoro, Aedo & Navarro is described as a new species endemic to Southern Australia. Characters allowing discrimination between it and the following species, E. aureum, E. cygnorum, E. crinitum and E. carolinianum, are reported, with particular emphasis on the latter, which is the closest. A detailed illustrated description, as well as a distribution map, are also provided.

Obese individuals with a binge eating disorder (BED) differ from obese non-binge eaters (NBED) with respect to (a) eating behaviour, (b) psychiatric comorbidity and (c) level of psychosocial distress. The aim of the study was to explore whether these three factors have an influence on cardiac parasympathetic function, that is independent of obesity: as alterations in cardiac parasympathetic function may have a role in the higher cardiovascular mortality that is present in obese individuals. In total, 38 obese women (BMI>30 kg/m(2)), with a BED and 34 age and BMI matched healthy controls (NBED) completed a laboratory stress protocol that incorporated a baseline resting period, Head-up Tilt Testing (HUT) and two challenging mental tasks. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured continuously during the protocol. Parasympathetic cardiac regulation was assessed as the high frequency component of heart rate variability (HRV-HF). Mental challenge led to an augmented reduction of HRV-...

This paper presents a novel analytical formulation of an element removal algorithm based on dynamic equilibrium and the resulting transient change in system kinematics, by applying imposed accelerations instead of external forces at a node where an element was once connected. The algorithm is implemented into an open-source finite element code, numerically tested using a benchmark structural system with simplified element removal criteria, and able to capture the effect of uncertainty in member capacity. Realistic element removal criteria are introduced for mode-dependent gravity load collapse of seismically deficient and retrofitted reinforced concrete (RC) columns and unreinforced masonry (URM) infill walls. Two applications are conducted using structural systems of RC frames with URM infill walls. The first is a probabilistic study of a one-story model subjected to an ensemble of 14 ground motion recordings from similar neighboring sites during an earthquake event. The study produces empirical probability curves for partial and complete collapse conditioned on different hazard levels, and concludes that the intra-event variability is a major source of uncertainty affecting the outcome of progressive collapse simulations. The second application is a deterministic sensitivity study of progressive collapse response in a five-story structural model to uncertainty in live load, stiffness, damping, and seismic hazard level, subjected to one ground motion record. The analysis identifies the time at incipient collapse as an adequate sensitivity measure, and the uncertainty in ground motion intensity as the most important, followed by the stiffness of the URM infill wall. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.