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.
Periodontitis is one of the most prevalent bacterial diseases affecting man with up to 90% of the global population affected. Its severe form can lead to the tooth loss in 10-15% of the population worldwide. The disease is caused by a dysbiosis of the local microbiota and one organism that contributes to this alteration in the bacterial population is Prophyromonas gingivalis. This organism possesses a range of virulence factors that appear to contribute to its growth and survival at a periodontal site amongst which is its ability to invade oral epithelial cells. Such an invasion strategy provides a means of evasion of host defence mechanisms, persistence at a site and the opportunity for dissemination to other sites in the mouth. However, p
... Show MoreIn the framework of this study, the phenomenon of transfer is probed pragma-linguistically and socio-linguistically concerning marriage situations among Iraqi EFL learners. The study also strives to look at the refusal strategies most commonly employed by Iraqi female English as a foreign Language (EFL) learners compared to their counterparts, American native speakers of English. The study involved 70 female participants who answered a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), which contained ten marriage proposals to be refused. Each situation entailed refusal of a person from a higher, an equal, and lower status. The researchers adapted Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss Weltz’s (1990) taxonomy of refusal for analyzing the data comprehensively. The
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. Arylesterase, the activity of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), is mainly contributed in the biotransformation of clopidogrel to its active thiol form. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the arylesterase activities in CAD patients. The effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the antioxidant activity of arylesterase was also monitored by determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after reciving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in our study
... Show Moreمستخلص البحث كان الهدف من البحث هو معرفة نسب نجاح وفشل بعض المهارات الهجومية المركبة من ثلاث مهارات بكرة السلة للشباب.، إذ لوحظ بأنه لا تكتمل عملية التقدم من خلال إتقان المهارات الأساسية الهجومية المفردة فقط وإنما في القدرة على الدقة والثبات في أداء الربط فيما بينها (التركيب)، وعكس ما تقدم يعد واحد من الأسباب التي تسبب ضعفاً في المستوى ومما يزيد من الأخطاء في الأداء تبعاً لذلك. وفي ضوء ما تقدم تم تصوير ست مباري
... Show MoreText Clustering consists of grouping objects of similar categories. The initial centroids influence operation of the system with the potential to become trapped in local optima. The second issue pertains to the impact of a huge number of features on the determination of optimal initial centroids. The problem of dimensionality may be reduced by feature selection. Therefore, Wind Driven Optimization (WDO) was employed as Feature Selection to reduce the unimportant words from the text. In addition, the current study has integrated a novel clustering optimization technique called the WDO (Wasp Swarm Optimization) to effectively determine the most suitable initial centroids. The result showed the new meta-heuristic which is WDO was employed as t
... Show MoreTo approach the problem of individual oppression with an international perspective drawing on Foucauldian concepts, this paper compares George Orwell’s 1984 (1949) and the Iraqi Sinan Antoon’s I’jaam (2004), which was translated into English in 2007. Even though Orwell and Antoon come from dissimilar cultural backgrounds, religions and epochs, they have tackled the issue of individuals’ oppression through their oppressed characters in a strikingly similar way. Hence, by applying the theories of both the American School of Comparative Literature and Foucauldian concepts, the current study attempts to establish a relationship between the Western and Eastern ways of dealing with the issue of oppression as an international problem in au
... Show MoreRotaviruses, a major cause of gastroenteritis in children worldwide accounts for around half a million deaths annually. Vaccine against the virus has been recommended by the WHO to be involved in the national immunization program.To evaluate the genetic characterization of rotavirus among children with acute gastroenteritis in Babylon province is warranted. Children complained of diarrhea with rotavirus infection detected in their stool were involved in the study. The age range was 10 months to 60 months and with retrogradechecking of rotavirus vaccine history. Rotavirus genotypes were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).A total number of 40 children with rotavirus gastroenteritis were used to examine the
... Show MoreAbstract
The catalytic cracking conversion of Iraqi vacuum gas oil was studied on large and medium pore size (HY, HX, ZSM-22 and ZSM-11) of zeolite catalysts. These catalysts were prepared locally and used in the present work. The catalytic conversion performed on a continuous fixed-bed laboratory reaction unit. Experiments were performed in the temperature range of 673 to 823K, pressure range of 3 to 15bar, and LHSV range of 0.5-3h-1. The results show that the catalytic conversion of vacuum gas oil increases with increase in reaction temperature and decreases with increase in LHSV. The catalytic activity for the proposed catalysts arranged in the following order:
HY>H
... Show MoreResearchers used different methods such as image processing and machine learning techniques in addition to medical instruments such as Placido disc, Keratoscopy, Pentacam;to help diagnosing variety of diseases that affect the eye. Our paper aims to detect one of these diseases that affect the cornea, which is Keratoconus. This is done by using image processing techniques and pattern classification methods. Pentacam is the device that is used to detect the cornea’s health; it provides four maps that can distinguish the changes on the surface of the cornea which can be used for Keratoconus detection. In this study, sixteen features were extracted from the four refractive maps along with five readings from the Pentacam software. The
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