High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minne

There are many aims of this book: The first aim is to develop a model equation that describes the spread of contamination through soils which can be used to determine the rate of environmental contamination by estimate the concentration of heavy metals (HMs) in soil. The developed model equation can be considered as a good representation for a problem of environmental contamination. The second aim of this work is to design two feed forward neural networks (FFNN) as an alternative accurate technique to determine the rate of environmental contamination which can be used to solve the model equation. The first network is to simulate the soil parameters which can be used as input data in the second suggested network, while the second network sim

This review focuses on conservation agriculture (CA) and its effects on increasing the soil’s resistance to erosion. CA involves minimum soil disturbance (minimum tillage/ no-till), diversified crop rotation, and maintenance of the soil cover to increase soil fertility and reduce erosion. CA reduces soil loss by up to 90% and water erosion by approximately 50 to 70% from runoff as it increases the health of the soil, yield of crops, and water-retention capacity of the soil by incorporating soil organic matter and promoting biodiversity. Crop rotation prevents the replenishment and depletion of soil nutrients by atmospheric fixation of nitrogen/biological nitrogen fixation. Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is a new strategy in which travel

In the case where a shallow foundation does not satisfy with design requirements alone, the addition of a pile may be suitable to improve the performance of the foundation design. The lack of in-situ data and the complexity of the issues caused by lagging in the research area of pile foundations are notable. In this study, different types of piles were used under the same geometric conditions to determine the load-settlement relationships with various sandy soil relative densities. The ultimate pile capacity for each selected pile is obtained from a modified California Bearing Ratio (CBR) machine to be suitable for axial pile loading. Based on the results, the values of Qu for close-ended square pile were increased by 15

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic photosynthetic communities which are used in biofertilization of many plants especially rice plant. Cyanobacteria play a vital role to increase the plant's ability for salinity tolerance. Salinity is a worldwide problem which affects the growth and productivity of crops. In this work three cyanobacteria strains (Nostoc calcicola, Anabaena variabilis, and Nostoc linkia) were isolated from saline soil at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate; North Egypt. The propagated cyanobacteria strains were used to withstand salinity of the soil and increase rice plant growth (Giza 178). The length of roots and shoot seedlings was measured for seven and forty days of cultivation, respectively. The results of this investigation showed

Transient three-dimensional natural convection heat transfer due to the influences of heating from one side of an enclosure filled with a saturated porous media, whereas the opposite side is maintained at a constant cold temperature, and the other four sides are adiabatic, were investigated in the present work experimentally. Silica sand was used as a porous media saturated with distilled water filled in a cubic enclosure heated from the side,using six electrical controlled heaters, at constant temperatures of (60, 70, 80, 90, and 100oC). The inverse side cooled at a constant temperature of (24oC) using an aluminum heat exchanger, consisted of 15 channels feeded with constant temperature water. Eighty thermocouples were used to control t

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
          Because it has a prominent role in the life of the Muslim person in particular, and in the stability, security, and safety of society in general, I found it appropriate to participate even a little in solving some of the problems that arise in the nation, and that Adello Badawi in this important issue that concerns everyone without exception And that I show that there are constants in the Koran, from which the scholars of the Ummah derived their evidence on this subject, and that there have been variables have occurred in some Islamic societies, in the issue of blood money that deserves the victim and his family, has allocated talk

Western Scholars have criticized al the material on the point of reliability . Some have taken the unduly Sceptical view that nothing is to be trusted except Quran . The present study is based on opposing view that at least the material in the early biographers is to be accepted as true , except where there are particular reasons for thinking that an anecdote has been distorted ( or invented ) through legal or political motives. It is also assumed that most of the background material culled from a large number of vaired works , is sound . This standpoint .I would claim , leads to a coherent view of Muhammad's life and achievement.