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Water from the alluvium of ephemeral rivers in Zimbabwe is increasingly being used. These alluvial aquifers are recharged annually from infiltrating floodwater. Nonetheless, the size of this water resource is not without limit and an understanding of the hydrological processes of an alluvial aquifer is required for its sustainable management. This paper presents the development of a water balance model, which estimates the water level in an alluvial aquifer recharged by surface flow and rainfall, while allowing for abstraction, evaporation and other losses. The model is coupled with a watershed model, which generates inflows from upland catchment areas and tributaries. Climate, hydrological, land cover and geomorphological data were collected as inputs to both models as well as observed flow and water levels for model calibration and validation. The sand river model was found to be good at simulating the observed water level and was most sensitive to porosity and seepage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the temporal and spatial changes in the amount and variability of rainfall in Scotland. The sequential Mann-Kendall test reveals that total annual precipitation has increased across Scotland since the 1970s with increasing trends in variability beginning between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s. Whilst temporally consistent increasing trends in precipitation totals prevail in the West, many weather stations in the East have experienced subsequent trend turning points in the following two decades, explaining the larger magnitude of the trends in western Scotland in recent decades. Trend analyses on six measures of rainfall variability indicate an increase in rainfall variability during the period 1961-2000, as measured by the intra-annual variance, the winter to summer precipitation ratio and the annual cumulative sum range, with decreasing trends observed in the number of dry days. Periodicities associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation could explain the observed temporal variability of rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The old paternalistic system, where doctors could decide what to tell patients about the risks involved in a procedure, has gone. In this article, the authors describe how the requirements around informed consent are now clearly defined and need to be heeded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater and surface water pollution from nonpoint sources are problems of increasing concern. Nitrate transport is a crucial part in the whole process of nitrate loss. Previous methods for simulating the nitrate transport process usually involved solving complex advection–dispersion equations and required large amount of parameters and input data, which makes a model application expensive or invalid in terms of computation and data availability. The aim of this research is to develop a simple conceptual method to simulate the nitrate transport. In this paper, a simple conceptual method utilizing the distribution of nitrate loss against cumulative drainage to simulate the nitrate transport process is introduced. The concept and construction of this method are presented, and its applicability at different spatial scales is demonstrated. Results of model application at laboratory, pilot, and catchment scales show that this method has a good capability to simulate the transport of nitrate. Impact of spatial scales on parameters’ values is also discussed. Compared to conventional methods, this method requires fewer parameters, less computing time, and less input data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the overall water balance of two contrasting cities. Glasgow and Beijing have different soil and climate characteristics and also different water resource policies. Glasgow uses remote rural surface water catchments while Beijing relies more on groundwater. Both cities are introducing sustainable water management policies in various forms. In the case of Glasgow the policies are more directed to flood alleviation while in Beijing one of the drivers is groundwater recharge. The overall water balance of the two cities is modelled using an integrated three-stage numerical tank model. This model represents the processes of infiltration, evaporation, runoff and storage for both paved and unpaved surfaces and indicates the overall water balance over a typical year. The results of the modelling highlight the importance of evaporation in the overall urban water balance and the potential for using stormwater runoff to reduce water demand or to recharge groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on the Nephrology chapter in Medical Mistakes – Key Medical Issues in Clinical Negligence Cases published by Claerhout Publishing in 2007. It provides an overview of renal medicine, how renal problems are detected, common diseases of the kidneys and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of water balance is frequently used to describe the main hydrological processes occurring in natural catchments. It can also be applied to urban catchments and in this paper the water balance principle is applied to small-scale samples of various paving materials. In particular, the relative importance of runoff, evaporation and infiltration is studied. This paper discusses these processes and describes some experimental measurements of water balance on various paving materials and the moisture content distribution within the materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the effects of anthropogenic degradation of natural vegetation cover on various climactic patterns in Sudan over several decades. Temperature, rainfall, sunshine duration and global radiation; Evapotranspiration; Effect of climatic modification on drought conditions.

A comparative study of estimating the day-length, S 0, and extraterrestrial radiation, H, is conducted, with special reference to Sudan. Due to the definitions of the formulae of Cooper and Hay, differences in S 0-values are normal; however, the former formula revealed excellent agreement with data on the duration between sunrise and sunset. Hence, the paper recommends adopting Cooper's method for computing S 0 for Sudan. With regard to H 0, the use of the average days for the months, as recommended by Klein, has depicted no substantial errors. This has also been found true for day-length computations. The study further accentuates that the amount of solar energy available in Sudan is significantly large to be used for industrial purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The world of clinical negligence is facing and will continue to face major upheavals in the delivery of justice. The speciality depends on a heady witch's brew of claimants, doctors, experts, lawyers and judiciary, not to mention the political interests of the legislature, the financial interests of the accountants and, finally and most importantly, the moral interests of society. From our jaded perspective of about 40 years joint experience in the medico-legal skin trade we offer the benefits of our wisdom. In the dark moments late at night, answering difficult questions from lawyers, we do understand that 'Medical experts are like sewers - what you get out of them depends on what you put into them' (after Tom Lehrer) but we believe that the ideal instructing lawyer is able to prepare the scene in such a way that we can produce prompt, excellent and clear advice to our legal colleagues. In this article we set out to explore the relationship between medical experts and lawyers by examining the characteristics of the bad lawyer, as it was in the past, is now and might be in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the use of acetate and bicarbonate for hemodialysis. Effects of acetate and bicarbonate on the metabolism of patient undergoing hemodialysis; Blood acetate concentration in the body; Effects of hemodialysis on blood pressure.

Examines the influence of triamterene in the development of renal calculi in Great Britain. Lithogenic properties of triamterene; Occurrence of tubular plugging by crystal laden tubular cells in the renal tissue; Prescription of triamterene in conjunction with thiazide.

Examines the effects of hepatic transplants on primary hyperoxaluria type 1. Association of calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis with idiopathic hypercalciuria; Treatment of hyperoxaluria; Occurrence of renal damage following liver transplant.