Soil water use and water storage vary by vegetative management practices, and these practices affect land productivity and hydrologic processes. This study investigated the effects of agroforestry buffers (AB), grass buffers (GB), and biofuel crops (BC), relative to row crops (RC) on soil water use for a claypan soil in northern Missouri, USA. The experiment located at the Greenley Memorial Research Center included RC, AB, GB, and BC established in 1991, 1997, 1997, and 2012, respectively. Soil water reflectometer sensors installed at 5‐, 10‐, 20‐, and 40‐cm depths monitored soil water from April to November in 2017 and 2018. Results showed significant differences in weekly volumetric water content (VWC) among treatments for all four soil depths in 2017 and 2018. Treatments of AB, GB, and BC had lower VWC (16, 37, and 18% on 9 June), (31, 35, and 20% on 18 August), and (43, 49, and 35% on 29 September) in 2017 and (46, 70, and 19% on 24 August) and (31, 34, and 17% on 5 October) in 2018, respectively, in the pre‐recharge periods for the 5‐cm depth compared with the RC. In the post‐recharge period, equal or occasionally slightly higher soil water occurred in the buffer and biofuel treatments compared to the RC. During recharge, larger increases in soil water due to better infiltration were observed in the perennial vegetative practices relative to RC. The results showed that these practices could significantly influence soil water use and storage compared to RC management, especially for eroded claypan landscapes.
Malaysia will be an ageing population by 2030 as the number of those aged 60 years and above has increased drastically from 6.2 percent in 2000 and is expected to reach 13.6 percent by 2030. There are many challenges that will be faced due to the ageing population, one of which is the increasing cost of pensions in the future. In view of that, it is necessary to investigate the effect of actuarial assumptions on pension liabilities under the perspective of ageing. To estimate the pension liabilities, the Projected Unit Credit method is used in the study and commutation functions are employed in the process. Demographic risk and salary risk have been identified as major risks in analyzing pension liabilities in this study. The sensitivity
... Show MoreSuicidal ideation is one of the severe mental health issues and a serious social problem faced by our society. This problem has been usually dealt with through the psychological point of view, using clinical face to face settings. There are various risk factors associated with suicides, including social isolation, anxiety, depression, etc., that decrease the threshold for suicide. The COVID-19 pandemic further increases social isolation, posing a great threat to the human population. Posting suicidal thoughts on social media is gaining much attention due to the social stigma associated with the mental health. Online Social Networks (OSN) are increasingly used to express the suicidal thoughts. Recently, a top Indian actor industry took th
... Show MoreThe utilization of metal oxide nanoparticles, especially zinc oxide, is of a great importance in the medical field because of its physical and chemical properties as well as its antimicrobial potential effects. In our study, the ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by the precipitation method where pH=14. ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Antifungal activity of the ZnO was tested against candida albicans. The results showed that C. albicans (15 samples) became resistant to the fungal activity after testing its sensitivity to several types of fungal antibiotics. UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD, TEM and A
... Show MoreInterest in belowground plant growth is increasing, especially in relation to arguments that shallow‐rooted cultivars are efficient at exploiting soil phosphorus while deep‐rooted ones will access water at depth. However, methods for assessing roots in large numbers of plants are diverse and direct comparisons of methods are rare. Three methods for measuring root growth traits were evaluated for utility in discriminating rice cultivars: soil‐filled rhizotrons, hydroponics and soil‐filled pots whose bottom was sealed with a non‐woven fabric (a potential method for assessing root penetration ability). A set of 38 rice genotypes including the Oryza
The quaternary alloy of Cu2CdSnS4 (CCSS) is one type of thin film materials that contributes to the field of photovoltaic devices manufacturing, the importance of which has not been commonly enlightened as most of the other materials. For the preparation of CCSS thin films at 350 °C on glass substrates, the chemical spray pyrolysis technique was used. The optical properties of thin films prepared under the influence of the variation of copper solution molarity (0.03, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.09 M) on the quaternary compound were examined using a UV-vis spectrophotometer. The findings of the AFM study showed the atoms on the surface that are acclimatized in the form of nanorods with an increase in the average grain s
... Show MoreKombucha(Khubdat Humza) is composed of yeast and acetic acid bacteria especially, Acetobacter xylinum which forms a cellulose pellicle on tea broth. Kombucha(Khubdat Humza) produces bacterial cellulose pellicles, with unique purity and fine structure. It can be used in many forms, such as an emulsifier, stabilizer, dispersing agent, thickener and gelling agent but these are generally subsidiary to its most important use of holding on to water. Recently, bacterial cellulose is used in many special applications such as a scaffold for tissue engineering of cartilages and blood vessels, also for artificial skin for temporary covering of wounds, as well as its used in the clothing industry. The yield of cellulose produced were investiga
... Show MoreThere is a growing need for up-to-date data for rapid decision making in the modern digital age. Recently, the need for high-resolution topographic maps is highly demanding by most mapping clients. With the maturing automatic structure from mobile and multi-view stereoscopy software, small organizations and individuals now have the ability to make their own surveys based on mobile mapping devices. This study looks at how feasible using low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) as a mobile mapping device for photogrammetric topographical surveys. It is showing the impact of different UAV flight settings and parameters on the accuracy of mapping products. An automatic scenario for photogra
Motives: Baghdad is the capital city and an important political, administrative, social, cultural and economic centre of Iraq. Baghdad’s growth and development has been significantly influenced by efforts to accommodate various needs of its steadily growing population. Uncontrolled population and urban growth have exerted negative effects in numerous dimensions, including environmental sustainability because urban expansion occurred in green spaces within the city and the surrounding areas.Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the planning solutions in Baghdad’s green areas in the past and at present, and to identify the key changes in the city’s green areas, including changes in the ratio of green urban spaces to the tota
... Show MoreThe research aims to measure the accounting conservatism practice of listed companies in the Iraq stock exchange using Basu model to measure the degree of accounting conservatism in a sample of companies of (21) companies for the period from 2007 to 2011, the researcher found that most of the listed companies in the market exercised accounting conservatism when measurement and disclosure of the result of the activity and financial position and there is a variation in the degree of accounting conservatism between economic sectors , which included banking , investment , insurance , industry , agriculture , tourism and hotels.
Because the practice of accounting conservatism properly
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