Sustainable vegetative management plays a significant role in improving soil quality in degraded agricultural landscapes by enhancing soil microbial biomass. This study investigated the effects of grass buffers (GBs), biomass crops (BCs), grass waterways (GWWs), and agroforestry buffers (ABs) on soil microbial biomass and soil organic C (SOC) compared with continuous corn (Zea mays L.)–soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation (row crop [RC]) on claypan soils. The RC, AB, GB, GWW, and BC treatments were established in 1991, 1997, 1997, 1997, and 2012, respectively, and are located at Greenley Memorial Research Center in Missouri. Soil samples were collected in May 2018 from the 0‐ to

This thesis was aimed to study gas hydrates in terms of their equilibrium conditions in bulk and their effects on sedimentary rocks. The hydrate equilibrium measurements for different gas mixtures containing CH4, CO2 and N2 were determined experimentally using the PVT sapphire cell equipment. We imaged CO2 hydrate distribution in sandstone, and investigated the hydrate morphology and cluster characteristics via μCT. Moreover, the effect of hydrate formation on the P-wave velocities of sandstone was investigated experimentally.

The linear segment with parabolic blend (LSPB) trajectory deviates from the specified waypoints. It is restricted to that the acceleration must be sufficiently high. In this work, it is proposed to engage modified LSPB trajectory with particle swarm optimization (PSO) so as to create through points on the trajectory. The assumption of normal LSPB method that parabolic part is centered in time around waypoints is replaced by proposed coefficients for calculating the time duration of the linear part. These coefficients are functions of velocities between through points. The velocities are obtained by PSO so as to force the LSPB trajectory passing exactly through the specified path points. Also, relations for velocity correction and exact v

Previous experimental studies have suggested that hot mixed asphalt (HMA) concrete using hydrated lime (HL) to partially replace the conventional limestone dust filler at 2.5% by the total weight of all aggregates showed an optimum improvement on several key mechanical properties, fatigue life span and moisture susceptibility. However, so far, the knowledge of the thermal response of the modified asphalt concrete and thermal influence on the durability of the pavement constructed are still relatively limited but important to inform pavement design. This paper, at first, reports an experimental study of the tensile fatigue life of HMA concrete mixes designed for wearing layer application. Tests were conducted under three different temperatur

In this paper, A.C conductivity of micro and nano grain size- TiO2 filled epoxy composites is measured. The dielectric material used is epoxy resin, while micro and nano-sized titanium dioxide (TiO2) of grain size (1.5μm, and 50nm) was used as filler at low filler concentrations by weight (3%, and 5%). Additionally the effect of annealing temperature range (293-373)º K and at a frequency range of 102-106 Hz on the A.C conductivity of the various specimens was studied.
The result of real permittivity for micro and nanocomposite show that the real permittivity increases with decreasing frequency at range of 102-106Hz. The micron-filled material has a higher real relative permittivity than the nano-filled this is true at all the temper

In this paper the effect of thermal annealing on the structural and optical properties of Antimony Selenide (Sb2Se3) is investigated. Sb2Se3 powder is evaporated on clean amorphous glass substrates at room temperature under high vacuum pressure (4.5×10-6 mbar) to form thin films. The structural investigation was done with the aid of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The amorphous to polycrystalline transformation of these thin films was shown by X-ray diffraction analysis after thermal annealing. These films' morphology is explained. (UV-Vis ) spectra in ranges from 300 to 1100 nm was used to examine the optical properties of the films .The absorption coefficient and optical energy gap of the investigated films are

The aim of this study is to investigate the antibacterial capabilities of different coating durations of three nanoparticle (NP) coatings: molybdenum (Mo), tantalum (Ta), and zinc oxide (ZnO), and their effects on the surface characteristics of 316L stainless steel (SS). The coated substrates underwent characterization utilizing field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) techniques. The antibacterial efficacy of NPs was evaluated using the agar diffusion method. The FE-SEM and EDX images confirmed the presence of nano-sized particles of Mo, Ta, and ZnO on the surface of the substrates with perfectly symmetrical spheres and a uniform distribution of