High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minnesota) over three years. We measured vetch cover crop effects on a suite of soil health indicators, including potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN), permanganate oxidizable carbon, and microbial biomass. Preliminary results suggest that vetch effects on PMN were highly variable. Soil mineral N, meanwhile, was often lower in the vetch treatment than in a fertilized control, both in spring and in fall. While further work on vetch effects on crop yields is needed, our results suggest that even legume cover crops such as vetch have the potential to reduce nitrate leaching.
Benthic invertebrates' diversity and some physical a:1d
chemical characteristics in Lower Zab tributary and Tigris River were studied. Month l y samples were col l ected from November 2001 to October 2002.
The rt:sLllts of the present study showed the turbidity iu Tigris river
before the confluence to be higher (34.4 NTU) compared to the other stations. Mean salinity was greater in Lower Zab tributary (0.33 %) compared to that in the river. Lower Zab tJibutary and Tigris River were good in Oxygen content, and a high dissolved oxygen value was recorded (7.9 mg/L) in Lower Zab tributary.
... Show MoreA solar updraft tower power plant (solar tower) is a solar thermal power plant that utilizes a combination of solar
air collector and central updraft tube to generate an induced convective flow which drives pressure staged turbines to generate electricity.
This paper presents practical results of a prototype of a solar chimney with thermal mass, where the glass surface is replaced by transparence plastic cover. The study focused on chimney's basements kind effect on collected air temperatures. Three basements were used: concrete, black concrete and black pebbles basements. The study was conducted in Baghdad from August to November 2009.
The results show that the best chimney efficiency attaine
... Show MoreDrip irrigation is one of the conservative irrigation techniques since it implies supplying water directly on the soil through the emitter; it can supply water and fertilizer directly into the root zone. An equation to estimate the wetted area in unsaturated soil is taking into calculating the water absorption by roots is simulated numerically using HYDRUS (2D/3D) software. In this paper, HYDRUS comprises analytical types of the estimate of different soil hydraulic properties. Used one soil type, sandy loam, with three types of crops; (corn, tomato, and sweet sorghum), different drip discharge, different initial soil moisture content was assumed, and different time durations. The relative error for the different hydrauli
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Gypseous soil covers approximately 30% of Iraqi lands and is widely used in geotechnical and construction engineering as it is. The demand for residential complexes has increased, so one of the significant challenges in studying gypsum soil due to its unique behavior is understanding its interaction with foundations, such as strip and square footing. This is because there is a lack of experiments that provide total displacement diagrams or failure envelopes, which are well-considered for non-problematic soil. The aim is to address a comprehensive understanding of the micromechanical properties of dry, saturated, and treated gypseous sandy soils and to analyze the interaction of strip base with this type of soil using particle image
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In this work, corrosion parameters were evaluated using potentiodynamic polarization curves. In order to determine corrosion parameters of potential and current density of the interesting metal, carbon steel, environmental conditions of external corrosion of buried carbon steel pipeline in Iraqi soil were prepared in the laboratory using simulated prepared conditions. Solutions of sodium chloride at different concentrations (300, 1100, 1900, 2700, and 3500 ppm) were used. pH of solution were acidic at pH =5, and alkaline at pH = 9. Laboratory conditions were similar to those of Iraqi soil where the pipelines were buried. Temperature was constant at 20 °C. Potentiodynamic polarization curves, of potential vs. log current density, were ob
... Show MoreObjective(s): To evaluate primary health care services at primary health care centers in Baghdad City and to compare between these primary health care centers relative to such quality. Methodology: A descriptive design, using the evaluation approach, is study to Evaluation of quality of primary care services at primary health care centers in Baghdad City. A multistage probability sample of (36) health care centers was selected. The sample consists of (12) model centers, (12) urban centers, and (12) rural centers.A constructedquestionnaire is composed of (23) items. It consisted of (5) parts that include inta
Dry gas is considered one of the most environmentally friendly sources of energy. As a result, developing an efficient strategy for storing this gas has become essential. In this work, MOF-199 was synthesized and characterized in order to investigate the MOF-199 in dry gas adsorption using a built-in volumetric system (methane, ethane, and propane from Basrah gas company). The MOF-199 (metal organic framework) was synthesized using the solvothermal method at 373K for 24h, and then it was characterized. The dry gas adsorption on MOF-199 was studied under various conditions (adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature, and pressure). The isothermal adsorption of the dry gas had been studied on MOF-199 using two types of mo
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The x-ray fluorescence (XRF) of Znpc molecule with (flow of Ar) and Znpc molecule with (grow in N2) showed two peaks at (8.5and 9.5 Kv) referring to orbital transition ) K?-shell & K?-shell) respectively. The study of x-ray diffraction (XRD) where it was observed good growth of the crystal structure as a needle by the sublimation technique with a ?-phase of (monoclinic structure ) . Using Bragg equation the value of the interdistance of the crystalline plane (d-value) were calculated. We noticed good similarity with like once in the American Standards for Testing Material (ASTM) .Powder Diffraction File (PDF) Program was used to ensure the information obtained from (ASTM) . The output of (PDF) was compared with celn program, where the val
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