10,889 research outputs found
Phosphorus Immobilization in Poultry Litter and Litter-amended soils with Aluminum, Calcium and Iron amendments
Arkansas produces approximately one billion broilers each year. Phosphorous (P) runoff from fields receiving poultry litter is believed to be one of the primary factors affecting water quality in Northwest Arkansas. Poultry litter contains approximately 20 g P kg-1, of which about 2 g P kg-1 is water soluble. Soils that have received repeated heavy applications of litter may have water soluble P contents of as high as 10 mg P Kg-1 soil. The objective of this study was to determine if soluble P levels could be reduced in poultry litter and litter-amended soils with Al,Ca, and/or Fe amendments. Poultry litter was amended with alum, sodium aluminate, quick lime, slaked lime, calcitic limestone, dolomitic limestone, gypsum, ferrous chloride, ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate and ferric sulfate, and incubated in the dark at 25°C for one week. Three soils which had been excessively fertilized with poultry litter were amended with alum, ferrous sulfate, calcitic limestone, gypsum and slaked lime and incubated for 4 weeks at 25 °C. In the litter studies, the Ca treatments were tested with and without CaF2 additions in an attempt to precipitate fluorapatite. At the end of the incubation period, the litter and soils were extracted with deionized water and soluble reactive P (SRP) was determined. SRP levels in the poultry litter were reduced from over 2,000 mg P kg-1 litter to less than 1 mg P kg-1 litter with the addition of alum, quick lime, slaked lime, ferrous chloride, ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate and ferric sulfate under favorable pH conditions. S.RP levels in the soils were reduced from approximately 5 mg P Kg-1 soil to less than 0.05 mg P Kg-1 soil with the addition of alum and ferrous sulfate under favorable pH conditions. Gypsum and sodium aluminate reduced SRP levels in litter by 50 to 60 percent while calcitic and dolomitic limestone were even less effective. In soils, the Ca amendments were less effective than the Al and Fe amendments, although slaked lime was effective at high pH. The results of these studies suggest that treating litter and excessively fertilized soils with some of these compounds, particularly alum, could significantly reduce the amount of SRP in runoff from littered pastures. Therefore, chemical additions to reduce SRP in litter and soil may be a best management practice in situations where eutrophication of adjacent water bodies due to P runoff has been identified. Preliminary calculations indicate that this .p ractice may be economically feasible. However, more research is needed to determine any beneficial and/or detrimental aspects of this practice
Health-related quality of life and depression among participants in the Sjögren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance registry.
ObjectiveTo examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and depression among participants in an international Sjögren's syndrome (SS) registry, comparing those with and without SS.MethodsCross-sectional study of participants in the Sjögren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) registry. The 2016 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism SS classification criteria were used to determine disease status. HRQoL was assessed using the Short Form 12, version 2 Health Survey to derive scores for physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS). Depression was assessed using the 9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of HRQoL and depression while controlling for potential confounders.ResultsAmong 2401 SICCA participants who had symptoms of dry eyes and dry mouth, 1051 had SS (44%) and 1350 did not (56%). After controlling for confounders, when compared with non-SS participants, those with SS had better PCS (p<0.001, β=2.43, 95% CI 1.57 to 3.29), MCS (p=0.002, β=1.37, 95% CI 0.50 to 2.23) and lower adjusted odds of depression (p<0.001, OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81). Other significant predictors of HRQoL and depression included employment, country of residence and use of medication with anticholinergic effect or for management of SS-related signs and symptoms.ConclusionOur results suggest that among symptomatic patients, having a diagnosis of SS may be associated with better emotional and psychological well-being compared with patients without a diagnosis. Having a definitive diagnosis of SS may encourage patients to obtain a better understanding of their disease and have coping mechanisms in place to better manage their symptoms
Study of the glass transition in the amorphous interlamellar phase of highly crystallized poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a semi--crystalline polymer that can be
crystallized to different degrees heating from the amorphous state. Even when
primary crystallization has been completed, secondary crystallization can take
place with further annealing and modify the characteristics of the amorphous
interlamellar phase. In this work we study the glass transition of highly
crystallized PET and in which way it is modified by secondary crystallization.
Amorphous PET samples were annealed for 4 hours at temperatures between 140C
and 180C. The secondary crystallization process was monitored by differential
scanning calorimetry and the glass transition of the remaining interllamelar
amorphous phase was studied by Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents
measurements. Non--isothermal window polarization is employed to resolve the
relaxation in modes with a well--defined relaxation time that are subsequently
adjusted to several standard models. Analysis of experimental results, show
that cooperativity is reduced to a great extend in the interlamellar amorphous
regions. The evolution of the modes on crystallization temperature reveals that
large scale movements are progressively replaced by more localized ones, with
higher frequency, as crystallization takes place at higher temperatures. As a
consequence, the glass transition temperature of the amorphous interlamellar
phase tends to lower values for higher annealing temperatures. Evolution of
calorimetric scans of the glass transition are simulated from the obtained
results and show the same behaviour. The interpretation of these results in
terms of current views about secondary crystallization is discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 5 tables, 12 figures; figure 5 modifie
Shear-driven size segregation of granular materials: modeling and experiment
Granular materials segregate by size under shear, and the ability to
quantitatively predict the time required to achieve complete segregation is a
key test of our understanding of the segregation process. In this paper, we
apply the Gray-Thornton model of segregation (developed for linear shear
profiles) to a granular flow with an exponential profile, and evaluate its
ability to describe the observed segregation dynamics. Our experiment is
conducted in an annular Couette cell with a moving lower boundary. The granular
material is initially prepared in an unstable configuration with a layer of
small particles above a layer of large particles. Under shear, the sample mixes
and then re-segregates so that the large particles are located in the top half
of the system in the final state. During this segregation process, we measure
the velocity profile and use the resulting exponential fit as input parameters
to the model. To make a direct comparison between the continuum model and the
observed segregation dynamics, we locally map the measured height of the
experimental sample (which indicates the degree of segregation) to the local
packing density. We observe that the model successfully captures the presence
of a fast mixing process and relatively slower re-segregation process, but the
model predicts a finite re-segregation time, while in the experiment
re-segregation occurs only exponentially in time
Crossover Behavior in Burst Avalanches of Fiber Bundles: Signature of Imminent Failure
Bundles of many fibers, with statistically distributed thresholds for
breakdown of individual fibers and where the load carried by a bursting fiber
is equally distributed among the surviving members, are considered. During the
breakdown process, avalanches consisting of simultaneous rupture of several
fibers occur, with a distribution D(Delta) of the magnitude Delta of such
avalanches. We show that there is, for certain threshold distributions, a
crossover behavior of D(Delta) between two power laws D(Delta) proportional to
Delta^(-xi), with xi=3/2 or xi=5/2. The latter is known to be the generic
behavior, and we give the condition for which the D(Delta) proportional to
Delta^(-3/2) behavior is seen. This crossover is a signal of imminent
catastrophic failure in the fiber bundle. We find the same crossover behavior
in the fuse model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Loss of CD8 and TCR binding to Class I MHC ligands following T cell activation
The capacity of T cells to bind peptide/MHC ligands changes with T cell development and differentiation. Here we study changes in peptide/MHC multimer binding following T cell activation. Surprisingly, T cell activation caused a marked reduction in specific peptide/MHC Class I multimer binding, which was distinct from transient TCR down-regulation, and was especially dramatic for engagement with low-affinity peptide/MHC ligands. Direct CD8-Class I interactions were also profoundly and rapidly impaired following T cell stimulation, even though surface CD8α and CD8β levels were unchanged after activation, suggesting that decreased CD8 co-receptor binding contributes to this effect. Finally, we show that enzymatic desialylation restores much of the multimer binding on activated T cells, suggesting that altered glycosylation may inhibit TCR/CD8 binding to peptide/MHC ligands. These radical changes in activated T cells' ability to perceive peptide/MHC ligands may contribute to selective outgrowth of clones with high affinity for the stimulatory ligan
Cloaked Facebook pages: Exploring fake Islamist propaganda in social media
This research analyses cloaked Facebook pages that are created to spread political propaganda by cloaking a user profile and imitating the identity of a political opponent in order to spark hateful and aggressive reactions. This inquiry is pursued through a multi-sited online ethnographic case study of Danish Facebook pages disguised as radical Islamist pages, which provoked racist and anti-Muslim reactions as well as negative sentiments towards refugees and immigrants in Denmark in general. Drawing on Jessie Daniels’ critical insights into cloaked websites, this research furthermore analyses the epistemological, methodological and conceptual challenges of online propaganda. It enhances our understanding of disinformation and propaganda in an increasingly interactive social media environment and contributes to a critical inquiry into social media and subversive politics
Spin-Correlation Coefficients and Phase-Shift Analysis for p+He Elastic Scattering
Angular Distributions for the target spin-dependent observables A,
A, and A have been measured using polarized proton beams at
several energies between 2 and 6 MeV and a spin-exchange optical pumping
polarized He target. These measurements have been included in a global
phase-shift analysis following that of George and Knutson, who reported two
best-fit phase-shift solutions to the previous global p+He elastic
scattering database below 12 MeV. These new measurements, along with
measurements of cross-section and beam-analyzing power made over a similar
energy range by Fisher \textit{et al.}, allowed a single, unique solution to be
obtained. The new measurements and phase-shifts are compared with theoretical
calculations using realistic nucleon-nucleon potential models.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Plataforma de telhas de fibrocimento: estrutura hidropônica para a produção de batata-semente pré-básica.
bitstream/item/31541/1/comunicado58.pd
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