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.
ZnO organic hybrid junction (electroluminescence EL device) was fabricated using phase segregation method. ZnO-nanoparticle (NPs) was prepared as a colloidal by self–assembly method of Zinc acetate solution with KOH solution. Nanoparticle is employed to form organic-inorganic hybrid film and generate white light emission, while N,N’–diphenyl-N,N’ –bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1’-biphenyl 4,4’-diamine (TPD) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are adopted as the organic matrices. ZnO NPs was used to fabricate TPD: PMMA: ZnO NPs hybrid junction device. The photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the TPD: PMMA: ZnO NPs hybrid device provided a broad emission band covering entirely the visible spectrum (∼350-∼700
... Show MoreThe present work aimed to study the efficiency of thermal osmosis process for recovery of water from organic wastewater solution and study the factors affecting the performance of the osmosis cell. The driving force in the thermo osmosis cell is provided by a difference in temperature across the membrane sides between the draw and feed solution. In this research used a cellulose triacetate (CTA), as flat sheet membranes for treatment of organic wastewater under orientation membrane of active layer facing feed solution (FS) and draw solution (DS) is placed against the support layer. The organic materials were phenol, toluene, xylene and BTX (benzene, toluene, and xylene) used as feed solution. The osmotic agent in draw solution was
... Show MoreIn the present study NiPcTs, CdS thin films, and Blends of NiPcTs:CdS were prepared with 1:2 content mixing ratio of NiPcTs to CdS solutions. Cadmium chloride and thiourea were used as the essential materials for deposition CdS thin films while using organic powder of NiPcTs to deposit NiPcTs nanostructure films. The spin-coating technique was employed to fabricate the NiPcTs , CdS films and NiPcTs-CdS blend. Structural properties of films have been investigated via X-Ray diffraction(XRD),and show that thin films of NiPcTs, and CdS have monoclinic and polycrystalline hexagonal structure respectively while the blend has two polycrystalline structure with cubic and hexagonal phases. Atomic force microscope (AFM) confirmed that the surf
... Show MoreThis article reviews the construction of organic solar cell (OSC) and characterized their optical and electrical properties, where indium tin oxide (ITO) used as a transparent electrode, “Poly (3-hexylthiophene- 2,5-diyl) P3HT / Poly (9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) F8BT” as an active layer and “Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly (styrene sulfonate)” PEDOT: PSS which is referred to the hole transport layer. Spin coating technique was used to prepared polymers thin film layers under ambient atmosphere to make OSC. The prepared samples were characterized after annealing process at (80 ͦ C) for (30 min) under non-isolated circumference. The results show a value of filling factor (FF) of (2.888), (0.233) and (0.28
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Solvents are important components in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and they are increasingly being used in catalytic reactions. Solvents have a significant influence on the kinetics and thermodynamics of reactions, and they can significantly change product selectivity. Solvents can influence product selectivity, conversion rates, and reaction rates. However, solvents have received a lot of attention in the field of green chemistry. This is due to the large amount of solvent that is frequently used in a process or formulation, particularly during the purification steps. However, neither the solvent nor the active ingredient in a formulation is directly responsible for the reaction product's composition. Because these ch
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Thin films of CuPc of various thicknesses (150,300 and 450) nm have been deposited using pulsed laser deposition technique at room temperature. The study showed that the spectra of the optical absorption of the thin films of the CuPc are two bands of absorption one in the visible region at about 635 nm, referred to as Q-band, and the second in ultra-violet region where B-band is located at 330 nm. CuPc thin films were found to have direct band gap with values around (1.81 and 3.14 (eV respectively. The vibrational studies were carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Finally, From open and closed aperture Z-scan data non-linear absorption coefficient and non-linear refractive index have been calculated res
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The development of low-cost, efficient, and environmentally friendly adsorbents capable of simultaneously removing both heavy metals and synthetic dyes from wastewater remains a critical challenge in environmental remediation. In this study, a novel chitosan/pumice (CS/PM) composite was synthesized and evaluated for its multifunctional adsorption performance toward four common and toxic pollutants: lead (Pb(II)), cadmium (Cd(II)), methylene blue (MB), and Congo red (CR). Characterization confirmed the successful integration of chitosan with pumice, resulting in reduced crystallinity, enhanced thermal stability, and active functional groups involved in adsorption. Adsorption experiments demonstrated optimal pollutant removal at a pH value of
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This study was aimed to determine a phytotoxicity experiment with kerosene as a model of a total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPHs) as Kerosene pollutant at different concentrations (1% and 6%) with aeration rate (0 and 1 L/min) and retention time (7, 14, 21, 28 and 42 days), was carried out in a subsurface flow system (SSF) on the Barley wetland. It was noted that greatest elimination 95.7% recorded at 1% kerosene levels and aeration rate 1L / min after a period of 42 days of exposure; whereas it was 47% in the control test without plants. Furthermore, the percent of elimination efficiencies of hydrocarbons from the soil was ranged between 34.155%-95.7% for all TPHs (Kerosene) concentrations at aeration rate (0 and 1 L/min). The Barley c
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A simple technique is proposed in this paper for estimating the coefficient of permeability of an unsaturated soil based on physical properties of soils that include grain size analysis, degree of saturation or water content, and porosity of the soil. The proposed method requires the soil-water characteristic curve for the prediction of the coefficient of permeability as most of the conventional methods. A procedure is proposed to define the hydraulic conductivity function from the soil water characteristic curve which is measured by the filter paper method. Fitting methods are applied through the program (SoilVision), after indentifying the basic properties of the soil such as Attereberg limits, specific gravity, void ratio, porosity, d
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