Water separator

An apparatus for separating liquids from gases or gaseous fluids is described. Features of the apparatus include: (1) the collection and removal of the moisture in the fluid is not dependent upon, or affected by gravity; (2) all the collected water is cyclically drained from the apparatus irrespective of the attitude of the separator; and (3) a fluid actuator is utilized to remove the collected water from the separator

Soil Properties under Double Crop Soybean Production in Western Kentucky, Pullen farm

Abstract Double crop soybeans face a challenge throughout the growing season particularly related to nodulation. By using LAL-Fix which is a rhizobium, it can improve the nodulation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of LAL-fix and five other unknown rhizobium treatments on selected soil properties. The process for putting together the treatments was as follows. The first part of the experiment split the field into 7 sections including treatments (TRT) one through six (including LAL-Fix), the control section, and a field of single crop soybeans to compare with our original double crop field. After the fields have been split up, the process of sampling using a core began by taking three samples from the front, back, and middle of each treatment. Each individual core was hammered 3” into the soil and removed from the soil and brought to the lab for bulk density (BD), porosity, macroporosity, soil water holding capacity (SWHC), soil water field capacity (SWFC). To collect the soil samples for organic matter and soil pH analysis, the process of sampling using a shovel had three replications from the front, back, middle of the field with each replication being duplicated twice. In conclusion the difference between the treatments was not extreme. In bulk density, all treatments were close together with TRT 2 being the highest at 1.689 and the lowest being LAL-Fix at 1.504. In total porosity, all samples were similar in percent with the lowest being TRT 2 at 36% and the highest being LAL-Fix at 43.26%. In soil water holding capacity, all samples held around 22% to 26% except for LAL-Fix which measured at 38.5%. In soil water field capacity, samples experienced similar measurements with TRT 2 being the lowest at 16.9% and LAL-Fix being at 22.7%. In Macroposity, samples were similar with TRT 2 being the lowest at 20.7% and LAL-Fix being the highest at 26.77%. The single crop soybean field measures the highest out of the samples in macroporosity (28%) , porosity (44.3%) , and soil water field capacity (23.7%). In soil pH all samples tested very closely together with the lowest being control with a pH of 5.6 and the highest being TRT 4 with a pH of 6.3. The benefits of this research is that farmers can confidently use rhizobium treatments without fear of any negative impacts on the soil and that there is a clear comparison between soil properties in double crop soybeans with rhizobium treatments and single crop soybeans. Key Words: Double crop soybean, Kentucky, Nodulation, Rhizobium, Soil propertie

The Caloric Cost of Self-Paced Exercise in Full Body Tabata, Treadmill Running Tabata, and Continuous Running

Weight management via exercise is critical in both athletic and general populations. It is unclear what modality of exercise elicits the greatest caloric efficiency. PURPOSE: To compare the energy expenditure of three different exercise regimens when performed at a self-selected pace. METHODS: Recreationally active men (n=3) and women (n=4) performed 3 separate exercise bouts at a self-selected pace: total body Tabata (TBT), treadmill running Tabata (TRT), and continuous running (CONT) in a counterbalanced manner with at least 48h between bouts. Trials consisted of a 10-minute rest period, 5-minute warmup, 25-minute exercise bout, and a 25-minute recovery period. TBT consisted of repeated cycles of body calisthenics for 20 seconds with 10-seconds rest in between. TRT consisted of repeated sprints on a treadmill in the same manner as TBT. CONT was a continuous exercise bout on a treadmill. In TRT and CONT trials, participants could manipulate treadmill speed in 5-minute increments. For each bout, participants wore a portable metabolic analyzer (CosMed K-5) during the rest, warmup, exercise, and recovery period to assess energy expenditure (EE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), fat oxidation (FO), and excess post-exercise consumption (EPOC). Heart rate (HR) was recorded during exercise and recovery in 5-minute increments. Significant differences (pRESULTS: There were no significant differences in average HR (bpm) during exercise (TBT = 174.9±6.1; TRT = 182.1±5.9; CONT = 181.4±8.4) or during recovery. EE during exercise was significantly higher in CONT (356.7±82.9 kcals) than TRT (312.8±70.0 kcals; p=0.007, ES=.56) and TBT (266.3±63.9 kcals; p=0.001, ES=1.2). Additionally, EE during exercise was significantly higher in TRT than TBT (p=.005, ES=.59). During minutes 0-25 of recovery, no significant differences were found in EE or fat oxidation. However, in minutes 10-25 of recovery, TBT (31.7±8.7 kcals) was significantly higher in EE than CONT (26.0±7.0 kcals; p=0.009, ES=.69) and had a higher rate of FO (0.19±0.07 g∙min-1) than TRT (0.12±0.06 g∙min-1; p=0.013, ES=1.03) and CONT (0.13±0.05 g∙min-1; p=0.036, ES=.87). During exercise, RER was significantly higher in TBT (1.00±0.04) than TRT (0.94±0.03; p=0.019, ES=1.28), but there were no differences during recovery. EPOC at minutes 0-25 of recovery was significantly higher in TBT (3.7±1.8 L∙min-1) than TRT (2.0±1.2 L∙min-1; p=0.039). CONCLUSION: At a self-selected pace, intensity was similar across trials. When compared to TBT and TRT, CONT burned more calories during exercise, implying that CONT burns more calories when matched for time and intensity. However, TBT elicited higher EE and FO while recovering, possibly due to TBT relying more on carbohydrates as evidenced by the higher exercise RER. The increased use of fat during recovery helps replenish glycogen stores and facilitates the body’s full recovery to pre-exercise levels. Future studies should examine the metabolic responses that take place during the performance of other self-paced exercise modalities to determine the most calorically efficient exercise

Influential Article Review - Are Migrant Assets Essential for Kenya's Financial Progress?

This paper examines finance. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: The paper analyzes the relationship between remittances and financial development using Kenyan quarterly data from 2006 to 2016. Five different indicators of financial development are used: credit to the private sector as a share of GDP, the number of mobile transactions, the value of these mobile transactions, the number of mobile agents, and the number of bank accounts. The results from using an autoregressive distributed lag demonstrate a strong, positive relationship between remittances and financial development in long-run equations. This suggests that higher levels of remittances provide opportunities for recipients to open bank accounts, enhance their savings, and access financial systems, in addition to exposing the previously unbanked to both new and existing financial products. The results also confirm the potential advantage of embracing modern and advanced technology to facilitate international mobile transfers. Using international remittance transfers through mobile technology reduces costs by eliminating the need for physical branches and personnel to attend to walk-in customers. Aside from offering convenience and safety for remittance actors, this method also dominates traditional remittance business models. Therefore, a policy window exists for the government to leverage on remittances as a tool of financial inclusion and depth, and particularly through the continued expansion of regulatory space to accommodate the wider use of international mobile remittance transfer channels. Moreover, given the strong, positive relationship between remittances and credit to the private sector as indicated by its share of GDP and number of bank accounts, commercial banks and other players in the remittance market may also find it useful to develop customized products for migrants to access their remittances. For example, financial intermediaries can consider providing better deposit interest rates for diaspora deposits compared to deposits made in the local currency. Further, these institutions can allow regular remittance flows to act as collateral for the allocation of credit, among other incentives to tap into the significant potential of money remitted by migrants to Kenya. The study also recommends that the government consider expanding exploitation of diaspora bonds and diaspora savings and credit cooperative societies while drawing lessons from other countries’ previous attempts. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Adding Vector Data to Mapbox Studio

Welcome to the Essential ArcGIS Task Sheet Series. This series supplements the Iowa State University Geospatial Technology Training Program short course series. The task sheets are designed to provide quick, easy instructions for performing mapping tasks.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/extension_pubs/1121/thumbnail.jp

Simulation and optimisation of industrial steam reformers. Development of models for both primary and secondary steam reformers and implementation of optimisation to improve both the performance of existing equipment and the design of future equipment.

Traditionally the reactor is recognised as the `heart' of a chemical process system and hence the focus on this part of the system is usually quite detailed. Steam reforming, however, due to the `building block' nature of its reaction products is unusual and generally is perceived as a `utility' to other reaction processes and hence the focus is drawn " towards the 'main' reaction processes of the system. Additionally as a `mature' process, steam reforming is often treated as sufficiently defined for the requirements within the overall chemical process. For both primary and secondary steam reformers several models of varying complexity were developed which allowed assessment of issues raised about previous models and model improvements; drawing on the advancements in modelling that have not only allowed the possibility of increasing the scope of simulations but also increased confidence in the simulation results. Despite the complex nature of the steam reforming systems, a surprisingly simplistic model is demonstrated to perform well, however, to improve on existing designs and maximise the capability of current designs it is shown that more complex models are required. After model development the natural course is to optimisation. This is a powerful tool which must be used carefully as significant issues remain around its employment. Despite the remaining concerns, some simple optimisation cases showed the potential of the models developed in this work and although not exhaustive demonstrated the benefits of optimisation

A Method to Identify and Analyze Biological Programs through Automated Reasoning.

Predictive biology is elusive because rigorous, data-constrained, mechanistic models of complex biological systems are difficult to derive and validate. Current approaches tend to construct and examine static interaction network models, which are descriptively rich but often lack explanatory and predictive power, or dynamic models that can be simulated to reproduce known behavior. However, in such approaches implicit assumptions are introduced as typically only one mechanism is considered, and exhaustively investigating all scenarios is impractical using simulation. To address these limitations, we present a methodology based on automated formal reasoning, which permits the synthesis and analysis of the complete set of logical models consistent with experimental observations. We test hypotheses against all candidate models, and remove the need for simulation by characterizing and simultaneously analyzing all mechanistic explanations of observed behavior. Our methodology transforms knowledge of complex biological processes from sets of possible interactions and experimental observations to precise, predictive biological programs governing cell function

A Model for Internalized Stigma in Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy

Objective Perceptions of stigma in children and adolescents with epilepsy are associated with higher rates of mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to test relationships in a model that identified variables most strongly associated with perceptions of stigma in children and adolescents with epilepsy. Our ultimate goal is to develop a theoretical foundation for future intervention research by identifying variables associated with perceptions of stigma that are potentially amenable to psychosocial interventions. Methods Participants were 173 children and adolescents with epilepsy who were between 9 and 14 years of age. Data were collected in telephone interviews. Stigma was measured using a self-report scale. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results Greater need for information and support, more fear and worry related to having epilepsy, greater seizure severity, and younger age were significantly associated with greater perceptions of stigma. Female gender, greater need for information and support, having at least one seizure in the past year, and lower self-efficacy for seizure management were significantly associated with more fear and worry related to having epilepsy. Conclusions Findings suggest that perceptions of stigma are associated with two variables that are amenable to psychosocial interventions: fear and worry about having epilepsy and need for information and support. Future research should test the efficacy of interventions that reduce fear and worry, provide information about epilepsy, and reduce need for support

Children with new onset seizures: A prospective study of parent variables, child behavior problems, and seizure occurrence

OBJECTIVE: Parent variables (stigma, mood, unmet needs for information and support, and worry) are associated with behavioral difficulties in children with seizures; however, it is not known how this relationship is influenced by additional seizures. This study followed children (ages 4-14 years) and their parents over a 24-month period (with data collected at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months) and investigated the effect of an additional seizure on the relationship between parenting variables and child behavior difficulties. METHODS: The sample was parents of 196 children (104 girls and 92 boys) with a first seizure within the past 6 weeks. Child mean age at baseline was 8 years, 3 months (SD 3 years). Data were analyzed using t-tests, chi-square tests, and repeated measures analyses of covariance. RESULTS: Relationships between parent variables, additional seizures, and child behavior problems were consistent across time. Several associations between parent variables and child behavior problems were stronger in the additional seizure group than in the no additional seizure group. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that interventions that assist families to respond constructively to the reactions of others regarding their child's seizure condition and to address their needs for information and support could help families of children with continuing seizures to have an improved quality of life