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.
Abstract
This study investigated the optimization of wear behavior of AISI 4340 steel based on the Taguchi method under various testing conditions. In this paper, a neural network and the Taguchi design method have been implemented for minimizing the wear rate in 4340 steel. A back-propagation neural network (BPNN) was developed to predict the wear rate. In the development of a predictive model, wear parameters like sliding speed, applying load and sliding distance were considered as the input model variables of the AISI 4340 steel. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant parameter affecting the wear rate. Finally, the Taguchi approach was applied to determine
... Show MoreGroupwise non-rigid image alignment is a difficult non-linear optimization problem involving many parameters and often large datasets. Previous methods have explored various metrics and optimization strategies. Good results have been previously achieved with simple metrics, requiring complex optimization, often with many unintuitive parameters that require careful tuning for each dataset. In this chapter, the problem is restructured to use a simpler, iterative optimization algorithm, with very few free parameters. The warps are refined using an iterative Levenberg-Marquardt minimization to the mean, based on updating the locations of a small number of points and incorporating a stiffness constraint. This optimization approach is eff
... Show MoreAn infant incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a medical instrument of care that provides oxygen, warmth and moisture to a newborn baby. Due to environmental conditions affecting the infants foster babies may experience discomfort and pain at some point. Thus, this study aimed to assess ambient air quality in neonatal incubators to improve the environmental quality of neonatal intensive care units and safety. Air pollutants concentrations consisting of particulate matter (pm2.5, pm10), hydrocarbons (HOCH), volatile organic compounds (VOC), air quality index (AQI), humidity and temperature, were measured at four selected Baghdad hospitals (Al-Karkh and Rusafa) . The results showed that the increase in rela
... Show MoreAbstract:
Most of the studies on this subject, small industrial projects, by researchers and scholars in the economic field show the great and increasing importance of doing this kind of projects, the extent of which can be determined by the contribution of these projects to indicators and macroeconomic and sectorial variables. So this research aims to show the extent of the economic contribution of projects in selected international experiences and in the Iraqi economy. As international experiences have provided the opportunity for the progress and growth of small projects in their economies, which led to an increase in the contribution of these projects in the recruitment of economically active manpower, in added
... Show MoreAbsract
The letters of the Al-Safa Brothers contain many tales, in which each story is a literary text that is independent from the other texts, but it constitutes a unified entity in its entirety, because these stories contain recurring structural elements that go into building each one of them. The stories - the subject of the analysis - were not keen on something that was keen on adhering to the Sufi vision and its apparent effect on the tales of the messages, starting with the announcement of the narration to the narrator and his attempt to persuade the recipient of the truth of what is being told and its realism, and made him believe it. The stories correspond to the formal construction of the ideal style defined by th
... Show MoreThis study used a continuous photo-Fenton-like method to remediate textile effluent containing azo dyes especially direct blue 15 dye (DB15). A Eucalyptus leaf extract was used to create iron/copper nanoparticles supported on bentonite for use as catalysts (E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs). Two fixed-bed configurations were studied and compared. The first one involved mixing granular bentonite with E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs (GB- E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs), and the other examined the mixing of E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs with glass beads (glass beads-E@B-Fe/Cu-NPs) and filled to the fixed-bed column. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), zeta potential, and atomic forces spectroscopy (AFM) techniques were used to characterize the obtained particles (NPs). The effect of flow rate and DB15 concent
... Show MoreBackground: Endodontically treated teeth have low resistance to fracture against occlusal forces. The strengthening effect of bonded esthetic onlay restoration on weakened tooth has been reported. This study aimed to assess the fracture resistance of endodontically treated premolars restored with composite with and without cuspal coverage by using direct and indirect techniques. Indirect technique done by CAD/CAM system (computer aided design –computer aided manufacturer) and laboratory processing. Material and methods: Forty human extracted maxillary premolars of approximately comparable sizes were divided into four groups: Group (A): Ten endodontically treated teeth directly filled with Filtek Z250xt without cuspal coverage. Group
... Show MoreThe ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized at various precursor concentrations i.e. 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 M by biosynthesis method based on Pometia pinnata Leaf Extracts. Initial nanoparticle concentration influenced the optical bandgap, shape, and structure of nanoparticles. The photodegradation process was carried out under UV illumination. The efficiency of MB degradation was determined by measuring the decrease in MB concentration and by analyzing the optical absorption at 663 nm recorded by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Results showed that the biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles exhibited efficient photodegradation of MB, with a maximum degradation rate of 80% after 90 minutes of exposure to UV-C light. The study highlights the potential of Pometia pi
... Show MoreThe performance of job effectively requires narrowing the meaningful routine activities and attempting employing the job procedures in favor of public welfare through adding the green impact as well as removing them from the red tapes which reflect the firmness of procedures, to enable the job parties to make their job independently, and pushing them to gain priority in the competition layer. This is not attaining easily amidst the regulatory problems expressed by the complication of procedures, the thing which make identifying the problem of the study through the following question:
Should we make the complex of procedures and their firmness a way to adopt the idea of the green regulatory tapes supportin
... Show More