Sustainability, Vol. 8, Pages 574: Agroforestry—The Next Step in Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture

Agriculture faces the unprecedented task of feeding a world population of 9 billion people by 2050 while simultaneously avoiding harmful environmental and social effects. One effort to meet this challenge has been organic farming, with outcomes that are generally positive. However, a number of challenges remain. Organic yields lag behind those in conventional agriculture, and greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient leaching remain somewhat problematic. In this paper, we examine current organic and conventional agriculture systems and suggest that agroforestry, which is the intentional combination of trees and shrubs with crops or livestock, could be the next step in sustainable agriculture. By implementing systems that mimic nature's functions, agroforestry has the potential to remain productive while supporting a range of ecosystem services. In this paper, we outline the common practices and products of agroforestry as well as beneficial environmental and social effects. We address barriers to agroforestry and explore potential options to alter policies and increase adoption by farmers. We conclude that agroforestry is one of the best land use strategies to contribute to food security while simultaneously limiting environmental degradation.

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Sensors, Vol. 16, Pages 911: Bioimpedance Vector Analysis in Diagnosing Severe and Non-Severe Dengue Patients

Real-time monitoring and precise diagnosis of the severity of Dengue infection is needed for better decisions in disease management. The aim of this study is to use the Bioimpedance Vector Analysis (BIVA) method to differentiate between healthy subjects and severe and non-severe Dengue-infected patients. Bioimpedance was measured using a 50 KHz single-frequency bioimpedance analyzer. Data from 299 healthy subjects (124 males and 175 females) and 205 serologically confirmed Dengue patients (123 males and 82 females) were analyzed in this study. The obtained results show that the BIVA method was able to assess and classify the body fluid and cell mass condition between the healthy subjects and the Dengue-infected patients. The bioimpedance mean vectors (95% confidence ellipse) for healthy subjects, severe and non-severe Dengue-infected patients were illustrated. The vector is significantly shortened from healthy subjects to Dengue patients; for both genders the p-value is less than 0.0001. The mean vector of severe Dengue patients is significantly shortened compare to non-severe patients with a p-value of 0.0037 and 0.0023 for males and females, respectively. This study confirms that the BIVA method is a valid method in differentiating the healthy, severe and non-severe Dengue-infected subjects. All tests performed had a significance level with a p-value less than 0.05.

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Bioengineering, Vol. 3, Pages 15: Thermophilic versus Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge: A Comparative Review

During advanced biological wastewater treatment, a huge amount of sludge is produced as a by-product of the treatment process. Hence, reuse and recovery of resources and energy from the sludge is a big technological challenge. The processing of sludge produced by Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is massive, which takes up a big part of the overall operational costs. In this regard, anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge continues to be an attractive option to produce biogas that could contribute to the wastewater management cost reduction and foster the sustainability of those WWTPs. At the same time, AD reduces sludge amounts and that again contributes to the reduction of the sludge disposal costs. However, sludge volume minimization remains, a challenge thus improvement of dewatering efficiency is an inevitable part of WWTP operation. As a result, AD parameters could have significant impact on sludge properties. One of the most important operational parameters influencing the AD process is temperature. Consequently, the thermophilic and the mesophilic modes of sludge AD are compared for their pros and cons by many researchers. However, most comparisons are more focused on biogas yield, process speed and stability. Regarding the biogas yield, thermophilic sludge AD is preferred over the mesophilic one because of its faster biochemical reaction rate. Equally important but not studied sufficiently until now was the influence of temperature on the digestate quality, which is expressed mainly by the sludge dewateringability, and the reject water quality (chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, and pH). In the field of comparison of thermophilic and mesophilic digestion process, few and often inconclusive research, unfortunately, has been published so far. Hence, recommendations for optimized technologies have not yet been done. The review presented provides a comparison of existing sludge AD technologies and the gaps that need to be filled so as to optimize the connection between the two systems. In addition, many other relevant AD process parameters, including sludge rheology, which need to be addressed, are also reviewed and presented.

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Water, Vol. 8, Pages 260: Prioritization of Watersheds across Mali Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS Techniques for Agricultural Development Planning

Implementing agricultural water management programs over appropriate spatial extents can have positive effects on water access and erosion management. Lack of access to water for domestic and agricultural uses represents a major constraint on agricultural productivity and perpetuates poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This lack of access is the result of erratic precipitation, poor water management, limited knowledge of hydrological systems, and inadequate investment in water infrastructure. Water management programs should be made by multi-disciplinary teams that consider the interrelationship between hydraulic and anthropogenic factors. This paper proposes a method to prioritize watersheds for water management and agricultural development across Mali (Western Africa) using remote sensing data and GIS tools. The method involves deriving a set of relevant thematic layers from satellite imagery. Satellite images from Landsat ETM+ were used to generate thematic layers such as land use/land cover. Slope and drainage density maps were derived from Shuttle RADAR Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at 90 m spatial resolution. Population grids were available from the Global rural-urban mapping project (GRUMP) database for the year 2000 and mean rainfall maps were extracted from Tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) grids for each year between 1988 and 2014. Each thematic layer was divided into classes that were assigned a rank for agriculture and livelihoods development provided by experts in the relevant field (e.g., Soil scientist ranking the soil classes) and published literature on those themes. Zones of priority were delineated based on the combination of high scoring ranks from each thematic layer. Five categories of priority zones ranging from "very high" to "very low" were determined based on total score percentages. Field verification was then undertaken in selected categories to check the priority assigned to each class using a random sampling method. Watershed boundaries were prepared at 1000 ha scale and overlaid on the priority map to identify watersheds that were in a very high priority zone. The importance and efficiency of using remote sensing to prioritize watershed interventions across countries is critical due to the limited technical and financial resources available in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

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Materials, Vol. 9, Pages 488: Retraction: Sun L. et al. Porosity Defect Remodeling and Tensile Analysis of Cast Steel. Materials 2016, 9, 119, doi:10.3390/ma9020119

We have been made aware that the figures and experimental data of this article [1] are duplicated from another publication by Hardin et al. [...]

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Predicting Intracranial Pressure and Brain Tissue Oxygen Crises in Patients With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objectives: To develop computer algorithms that can recognize physiologic patterns in traumatic brain injury patients that occur in advance of intracranial pressure and partial brain tissue oxygenation crises. The automated early detection of crisis precursors can provide clinicians with time to intervene in order to prevent or mitigate secondary brain injury. Design: A retrospective study was conducted from prospectively collected physiologic data. intracranial pressure, and partial brain tissue oxygenation crisis events were defined as intracranial pressure of greater than or equal to 20 mm Hg lasting at least 15 minutes and partial brain tissue oxygenation value of less than 10 mm Hg for at least 10 minutes, respectively. The physiologic data preceding each crisis event were used to identify precursors associated with crisis onset. Multivariate classification models were applied to recorded data in 30-minute epochs of time to predict crises between 15 and 360 minutes in the future. Setting: The neurosurgical unit of Ben Taub Hospital (Houston, TX). Subjects: Our cohort consisted of 817 subjects with severe traumatic brain injury. Measurements and Main Results: Our algorithm can predict the onset of intracranial pressure crises with 30-minute advance warning with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.86 using only intracranial pressure measurements and time since last crisis. An analogous algorithm can predict the start of partial brain tissue oxygenation crises with 30-minute advanced warning with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.91. Conclusions: Our algorithms provide accurate and timely predictions of intracranial hypertension and tissue hypoxia crises in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Almost all of the information needed to predict the onset of these events is contained within the signal of interest and the time since last crisis. Copyright (C) by 2016 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Liberal Glycemic Control in Critically Ill Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: An Exploratory Study.

Objectives: The optimal blood glucose target in critically ill patients with preexisting diabetes and chronic hyperglycemia is unknown. In such patients, we aimed to determine whether a "liberal" approach to glycemic control would reduce hypoglycemia and glycemic variability and appear safe. Design: Prospective, open-label, sequential-period exploratory study. Setting: Medical-surgical ICU. Patients: During sequential 6-month periods, we studied 83 patients with preexisting type 2 diabetes and chronic hyperglycemia (glycated hemoglobin, >= 7.0% at ICU admission). Intervention: During the "standard care" period, 52 patients received insulin to treat blood glucose concentrations greater than 10 mmol/L whereas during the "liberal" period, 31 patients received insulin to treat blood glucose concentrations greater than 14 mmol/L. Measurements and Main Results: Time-weighted mean glucose concentrations and the number and duration of moderate (

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