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.
This experiment was performed to investigate the influence of different oils in the diets of laying quail on their egg quality characteristics. One hundred and twenty 7-wk old Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were allocated to four groups with three replicates containing 10 quail each (30 quail per each treatment group). They were fed for 13 weeks (including one week of adaptation period) on diets containing 3% oil from different sources, viz. either sunflower (T1), linseed (T2), maize (T3), or fish oil (T4). Inclusion the diet of laying quail with fish oil (T4) and maize oil (T2) resulted in significant increase with respect to egg weight, yolk weight, albumen weight, yolk diameter, yolk height, albumen diameter, albumen height
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study was to determine the influence of environmental pH on production of biofilms and virulence genes expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Among 303 clinical and environmental samples 109 (61 + 48) isolates were identified as clinical and environmental P. aeruginosa isolates, respectively. Clinical samples were obtained from patients in the Al-Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad city, Iraq. Waste water from Al-Yarmouk hospital was used from site before treatment unit to collect environmental samples. The ability of prod
The water supply network inside the building is of high importance due to direct contact with the user that must be optimally designed to meet the water needs of users. This work aims to review previous research and scientific theories that deal with the design of water networks inside buildings, from calculating the amount of consumption and the optimal distribution of the network, as well as ways to rationalize the use of water by the consumer. The process of pumping domestic water starts from water treatment plants to be fed to the public distribution networks, then reaching a distribution network inside the building till it is provided to the user. The design of the water supply network inside the building is
... Show MoreThis research presents an experimental investigation on the influence of metakaolin replacement percentage upon some properties of different concrete types. Three types of concrete were adopted (self- compacted concrete, high performance concrete and reactive powder concrete) all of high sulphate (SO3) percentage from the fine aggregate weight, 0.75%. Three percentages of metakaolin replacement were selected to be studied (5, 7 and 10) %. Three types of concrete properties (compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strength) were adopted to achieve better understanding for the influence of adding metakaolin.. The output results indicated that the percentage of metakaolin had a different level of positive effect on the compressive strength
... Show MoreThis experiment was performed to investigate the influence of different oils in the diets of laying quail on their egg quality characteristics. One hundred and twenty 7-week-old Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were allocated to four groups with three replicates containing 10 quail each (30 quail per treatment group). They were fed for 13 weeks (including one week of adaptation period) on diets containing 3% oil from different sources, viz., sunflower (T1), linseed (T2), maize (T3), or fish oil (T4). Inclusion of the diet of laying quail with fish oil (T4) and maize oil (T2) resulted in a significant increase with respect to egg weight, yolk weight, albumen weight, yolk diameter, yolk height, albumen diameter, albumen height, sh
... Show MoreHydrophobic silica aerogels were successfully preparation by an ambient pressure drying method from sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with different pH values (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). In this study, acidic HCl (1M), a basic NH4OH (1M) were selected as a catalyst to perform the surface modification in a TMCS (trimethylchlorosilane) solution. The surface chemical modification of the aerogels was assured by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies. Other physical properties, such as pore volume and pore size and specific surface area were determined by Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) method. The effect of pH values on the bulk density of aerogel. The sol–gel parameter pH value in the sol, have marked effects on the physical proper
... Show MoreThe influence of sensing element length of no-core fiber strain sensor has been studied and experimentally demonstrated, four different lengths of 125 μm diameter no-core fiber is fused between two standard single-mode fibers and bi-directionally strained, the highest obtained sensitivity was around 16.37 pm με -1 which was exhibited in the shortest no-core fiber segment, to the best of our knowledge this is the first study of the influence of no-core fiber strain sensors length on sensor sensitivity. The proposed sensor can be used in many opto-mechanical applications such as, structural health monitoring, aerospace vehicles and airplane components monitoring.
Objective: The present study investigates whether the exposure to low-power diode laser induces denaturation in red blood cell (RBC) membrane protein composition, and determines the irradiation time for when denaturation of membrane protein process begins. Background: A low-energy laser has been used extensively in medical applications. Several studies indicated significant positive effects of laser therapy on biological systems. In contrast, other studies reported that laser induced unwanted changes in cell structure and biological systems. The present work studied the effect of irradiation time of low-power diode laser on the structure of membrane proteins of human RBCs. Materials and methods: The RBC suspension was divided into five equa
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