Cover crops (CC) improve soil quality, including soil microbial enzymatic activities and soil chemical parameters. Scientific studies conducted in research centers have shown positive effects of CC on soil enzymatic activities; however, studies conducted in farmer fields are lacking in the literature. The objective of this study was to quantify CC effects on soil microbial enzymatic activities (β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, and dehydrogenase) under a corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation. The study was conducted in 2016 and 2018 in Chariton County, Missouri, where CC were first established in 2012. All tested soil enzyme levels were significantly different between 2016 and 2018, irrespective of CC and no cover crop (NCC) treatments. In CC treatment, β-glucosaminidase activity was significantly greater at 0–10 cm depth in 2016 and at 10–20 and 20–30 cm in 2018. In contrast, dehydrogenase activity was significantly greater in NCC in 2018. Soil pH and organic matter (OM) content were found to be significantly greater in CC. Overall, CC have mixed effects on soil enzyme activities and positive effects on soil OM compared to NCC. This study highlights the short-term influence of CC and illustrates the high spatial and temporal variability of soil enzymes under farmer-managed fields.
Finding communities of connected individuals in complex networks is challenging, yet crucial for understanding different real-world societies and their interactions. Recently attention has turned to discover the dynamics of such communities. However, detecting accurate community structures that evolve over time adds additional challenges. Almost all the state-of-the-art algorithms are designed based on seemingly the same principle while treating the problem as a coupled optimization model to simultaneously identify community structures and their evolution over time. Unlike all these studies, the current work aims to individually consider this three measures, i.e. intra-community score, inter-community score, and evolution of community over
... Show MoreThis study looks into the many methods that are used in the risk assessment procedure that is used in the construction industry nowadays. As a result of the slow adoption of novel assessment methods, professionals frequently resort to strategies that have previously been validated as being successful. When it comes to risk assessment, having a precise analytical tool that uses the cost of risk as a measurement and draws on the knowledge of professionals could potentially assist bridge the gap between theory and practice. This step will examine relevant literature, sort articles according to their published year, and identify domains and qualities. Consequently, the most significant findings have been presented in a manne
... Show MoreIn recent years, the demand for air travel has increased and many people have traveled by plane. Most passengers, however, feel stressed due to the limited cabin space. In order to make these passengers more comfortable, a personal air-conditioning system for the entire chair is needed. This is because the human body experiences discomfort from localized heating or cooling, and thus, it is necessary to provide appropriate airflow to each part of the body. In this paper, a personal air-conditioning system, which consists of six vertically installed air-conditioning vents, will be proposed. To clarify the setting temperature of each vent, the airflow around the passenger and the operative temperature of each part of the body is investigate
... Show MoreThe study aims to build a proposed training program for school leaders in the Sultanate of Oman on the planning practices of the Kaufman model in light of the needs and challenges of reality. It also aims to identify the challenges facing school leaders in practicing the stages of strategic planning. To achieve these objectives, the study adopted the descriptive approach due to its suitability to the nature of the study. A questionnaire was used to collect the needed data. The study sample included (225) individuals from school principals, their assistants and senior teachers in post-basic education in the Sultanate of Oman. After processing the data statistically, the study concluded that the reality of planning practices for school lea
... Show MoreIn the image processing’s field and computer vision it’s important to represent the image by its information. Image information comes from the image’s features that extracted from it using feature detection/extraction techniques and features description. Features in computer vision define informative data. For human eye its perfect to extract information from raw image, but computer cannot recognize image information. This is why various feature extraction techniques have been presented and progressed rapidly. This paper presents a general overview of the feature extraction categories for image.