CITY STRUCTURE AND CITY CHANGE: A SYSTEM ANALYSIS APPROACH

The structure of the city and the transformation processes which generate changes in its structure have fascinated intellectuals from many disciplines. Sociologists are mainly concerned with the social structure and the demographic characteristics of the inhabitants of the city as a base for understanding its structure. Economists are concerned with economic forces in terms of locational competition as the main reasons for the changing structure of the city. Engineers are concerned with the architecture of the city

Invited review: Camel milk and gut health-Understanding digestibility and the effect on gut microbiota.

Camel milk (CM), known for its immune-regulatory, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, and antidiabetic properties, is a natural healthy food. It is easily digestible due to the high levels of β-casein and diverse secreted antibodies, exhibiting superior antibacterial and antiviral activities compared with bovine milk. β-casein is less allergic and more digestible because it is more susceptible to digestive hydrolysis in the gut; therefore, higher levels of β-casein make CM advantageous for human health. Furthermore, antibodies help the digestive system by destroying the antigens, which are then overwhelmed and digested by macrophages. The connection between the gut microbiota and human health has gained substantial research attention, as it offers potential benefits and supports disease treatment. The gut microbiota has a vital role in regulating the host's health because it helps in several biological functions, such as protection against pathogens, immune function regulation, energy harvesting from digested foods, and reinforcement of digestive tract biochemical barriers. These functions could be affected by the changes in the gut microbiota profile, and gut microbiota differences are associated with several diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, irritable bowel disorder, mental illness, allergy, and obesity. This review focuses on the digestibility of CM components, particularly protein and fat, and their influence on gut microbiota modulation. Notably, the hypoallergenic properties and small fat globules of CM contribute to its enhanced digestibility. Considering the rapid digestion of its proteins under conditions simulating infant gastrointestinal digestion, CM exhibits promise as a potential alternative for infant formula preparation due to the high β-/αs-casein ratio and protective proteins, in addition to the absence of β-lactoglobulin.fals

Battle of Water Demand Forecasting

As part of the Battle of Water Networks competition series, the Battle of Water Demand Forecasting (BWDF) was organized in the context of the 3rd Water Distribution Systems Analysis and Computing and Control in the Water Industry (WDSA-CCWI) joint conference held in Ferrara (Italy) in 2024. In line with the previous editions of the Battle of Water Networks—the main objective of which was to address a specific problem related to the design and operation of water distribution networks—the BWDF aims to compare the effectiveness of methods for the short-term forecast of urban water demand in a set of real district metered areas. During the conference, 31 teams across the world participated in the BWDF and presented their approaches. The results obtained demonstrate the importance of (1) considering integrated approaches for short-term water demand forecasting; and (2) evaluating their performance in relation to more than one metric, case study, and period

Cross-Layer Design for Cognitive Radio Networks

Nowadays, due to the tremendous growth of wireless communications technologies and multimedia applications, the radio spectrum is starting to be crowded and scarce to meet the continuous growth of frequency requirements. Additionally, interference management is one of the key issues in wireless networks. Therefore, network solutions and evolutions have crucial challenges to overcome the inefficiency in configuring and managing network resources. To optimize wireless network operations and spectrum scarcity, a new networking paradigm, known as cognitive radio networks (CRNs), has been introduced. Due to the limited capabilities of the conventional layered protocol, CRNs adjust layer parameters adaptively according to the spectrum environment and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. Hence, cross-layer design (CLD) solutions were necessary to allow for improving and optimizing CRNs performance. This chapter provides an extensive and exclusive overview of cognitive networks, CLD methodologies and properties, and cross-layer optimization (CLO) schemes among different layers. Moreover, it presents possible research solutions for cognitive networking. Finally, indispensable highlights of future work research directions are provided.</jats:p

Halotolerant marine Rhizosphere-Competent actinobacteria promote salicornia bigelovii growth and seed production using seawater irrigation

Salicornia bigelovii is a promising halophytic cash crop that grows in seawater of the intertidal zone of the west-north coast of the UAE. This study assess plant growth promoting (PGP) capabilities of halotolerant actinobacteria isolated from rhizosphere of S. bigelovii to be used as biological inoculants on seawater-irrigated S. bigelovii plants. Under laboratory conditions, a total of 39 actinobacterial strains were isolated, of which 22 were tolerant to high salinity (up to 8% w/v NaCl). These strains were further screened for their abilities to colonize S. bigelovii roots in vitro; the most promising ones that produced indole-3-acetic acid, polyamines (PA) or 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase (ACCD) were selected for rhizosphere-competency under naturally competitive environment. Three outstanding rhizosphere-competent isolates, Streptomyces chartreusis (Sc), S. tritolerans (St), and S. rochei (Sr) producing auxins, PA and ACCD, respectively, were investigated individually and as consortium (Sc/St/Sr) to determine their effects on the performance of S. bigelovii in the greenhouse. Individual applications of strains on seawater-irrigated plants significantly enhanced shoot and root dry biomass by 32.3–56.5% and 42.3–71.9%, respectively, in comparison to non-inoculated plants (control). In addition, plants individually treated with Sc, St and Sr resulted in 46.1, 60.0, and 69.1% increase in seed yield, respectively, when compared to control plants. Thus, the synergetic combination of strains had greater effects on S. bigelovii biomass (62.2 and 77.9% increase in shoot and root dry biomass, respectively) and seed yield (79.7% increase), compared to the control treatment. Our results also showed significant (P < 0.05) increases in the levels of photosynthetic pigments, endogenous auxins and PA, but a reduction in the levels of ACC in tissues of plants inoculated with Sc/St/Sr. We conclude that the consortium of isolates was the most effective treatment on S. bigelovii growth; thus confirmed by principal component and correlation analyses. To this best of our knowledge, this is the first report about halotolerant rhizosphere-competent PGP actinobacteria thriving in saline soils that can potentially contribute to promoting growth and increasing yield of S. bigelovii. These halotolerant actinobacterial strains could potentially be exploited as biofertilizers to sustain crop production in arid coastal areas