Overcome Land Degradation With Soil Ameliorant Application (Study Of Farmer Perceptions In Malang, East Java)

Improving the quality of soils degradation can be achieved using the soil ameloirant (i. e. Zeolite, manure, compost, etc.), conservation farming systems, organic management, system balanced fertilization specific location, and efficiency of water use. This study aimed to determine: (1) the type of soil ameloirant that is still used by farmers, sources of information, and its use of doses, (2) constraints and benefit of use, (3) fertilizer efficiency, and (4) development opportunities. This study conducted by survey method that is structured interview included: farmer characteristics, identification, and soil ameloirant development prospects in the future. Identification of soil ameloirant, such as: type of soil ameloirant used by farmers, sources of information, applications, the impact of the use, benefits and constraints of use. The results showed that: the distribution age of respondent ≤ 55 years (80.7%) and > 55 years (19.3%). Dissemination through counseling, pilot project on farmers land in order to developing the confidence of farmers will benefit and importance of the use soil ameloirant to repair land degradation, increasing productivity, and agricultural production. The soil ameloirant have been used by 24% of respondents farmers is zeolite granules (Agro-88) and dolomite; measurement of soil ameloirant for rice field: 500 kg of zeolit /ha and 577 kg dolomite/ha; garden: 219 kg zeolite/ha and 409 kg dolomite/ ha; mixedgarden: 600 kg of zeolit/ha and 143 kg dolomite/ha. Soil ameloirant benefits is for increasing the production: paddys, corns, and vegetables (cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes) around 10-30%, improving the soil fertility and reducing dosage of urea fertilizer as much as 15-30% and SP-36 as much as 30%

Comparison of biocrude oil production from self-settling and non-settling microalgae biomass produced in the Qatari desert environment

The present study investigated the growth, harvesting, biocrude conversion, and recycling of the HTL aqueous phase for one self-settling (i.e., Chlorocystis sp.) and another non-settling (i.e., Picochlorum sp.) marine microalgae. Both the strains were grown simultaneously in 2 identical 25,000-L raceway ponds in the Qatari desert. The cell size of Picochlorum sp. was small (2–3 µm), and its biomass was harvested using a centrifuge. Cells of Chlorocystis sp. (6–9 µm) formed flocs that settled spontaneously in a sedimentation chamber. Harvested biomass of these two strains was then converted to biocrude oil, using a 500-mL Parr reactor. The biocrude yield of Picochlorum sp. and Chlorocystis sp. was 39.6 ± 1.15% and 34.8 ± 1.65%, respectively. The energy content of the biocrude oil was 32.78 and 33.38 MJ/kg for Chlorocystis sp. and Picochlorum sp., respectively. Both the strains were capable of efficiently utilizing more than 95% nitrogen of the HTL aqueous phase. Although lower biocrude yield was obtained from Chlorocystis sp., compared to Picochlorum sp., harvesting of Chlorocystis sp. would require much lower energy compared to Picochlorum sp. Therefore, a self-settling microalgae (e.g., Chlorocystis sp.) could potentially be a better candidate, over non-settling microalgae, for producing biofuel feedstock.Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF, a member of Qatar Foundation) for providing the funding (under Grant NPRP8-646-2-272) for this study. The authors appreciate the assistance of Ms. Noora (from ESE labs) and Dr. Ahmed (from CLU) for GC?MS and CHN analyses, respectively.Scopu

Potential utilization of waste nitrogen fertilizer from a fertilizer industry using marine microalgae

This study investigated the feasibility of microalgal biomass production using waste nitrogen fertilizers (WNFs) generated by the Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO). From the plant, three types of WNFs (WNF1, WNF2, and WNF3) were collected; WNF1 and WNF2 had high solubility (e.g., 1000 g/L) whereas WNF3 had low solubility (65 g/L). For a lower dosage (i.e., 100 mg N/L) of these WNFs, >98% of nitrogen was soluble in water for WNF1 and WNF2; however, 52 mg N/L was soluble for WNF3. Nitrogen content in these wastes was 44, 43, and 39% for WNF1, WNF2, and WNF3, respectively. As these WNFs were used as the sole nitrogen source to grow Tetraselmis sp., Picochlorum sp., and Synechococcus sp., Tetraselmis sp. could utilize all the three WNFs more efficiently than other two strains. The biomass yield of Tetraselmis sp. in a 100,000 L raceway pond was 0.58 g/L and 0.67 g/L for mixed WNFs (all WNF in equal ratio) and urea, respectively. The metabolite profiles of Tetraselmis sp. biomass grown using mixed WNFs were very similar to the biomass obtained from urea-added culture - suggesting that WNFs produced Tetraselmis sp. biomass could be used as animal feed ingredients. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was conducted for six potential scenarios, using the data from the outdoor cultivation. The production of Tetraselmis sp. biomass in QAFCO premises using its WNFs, flue gas, and waste heat could not only eliminate the consequences of landfilling WNFs but also would improve the energy, cost, and environmental burdens of microalgal biomass production. 2020The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF, a member of Qatar Foundation) for providing the funding (under grant NPRP8-646-2-272) for this study.Scopu

Investigating algal CO2 capture through screening of Qatari desert microalgae & cyanobacteria strains

CO2 fixation by phototrophic microalgae has been addressed as a possible global carbon emissions reducer, whilst simultaneously producing useful products. Especially in Qatar, the prospect of using microalgae for CO2 abatement is promising: high solar irradiance, large areas of non-arable land, and large amounts of CO2 emissions make it seemingly the ideal place for algae cultivation. In order to promote high biomass productivities, and subsequent CO2 uptake rates, effective CO2 supply to the cultivation system is of high importance. However, the low solubility of CO2 in water, as well as the limiting tolerance of microalgae to increased CO2 concentrations, results in low efficiency of CO2 capture by microalgal production systems. In order to overcome these hurdles, this research focused on selecting local desert microalgae strains with high tolerance to increased CO2 levels, and developing growth media in order to increase the solubility of CO2. Forty-five locally isolated marine microalgae strains were screened for growth under increased CO2 concentrations, ranging from 0.04% to 30% (v/v). A number of different trends in CO2 tolerance could be identified from the results; a number of strains showed a clear inhibition of growth with CO2 concentrations of 5% and higher, whilst others showed increasing growth rates for increasing CO2 concentrations up to 30%. The trend in growth rate suggests that even higher CO2 concentration could be applied without growth-limiting effects, and could even stimulate higher growth-rates. In order to further increase the productivity of high CO2-tolerant strains, as well as to investigate the effects of pH on the CO2 tolerance of low-tolerant strains, various strains were cultivated in alkaline media and high CO2 concentrations. Besides leading to an increased solubility of CO2 in the culture media, increasing the pH is thought to balance the acidification effect of CO2 - possibly leading to higher CO2 tolerances. Overall, applying these strains and media adaptations for large-scale applications is expected to increase the CO2 transfer efficiency to the culture, resulting in decreased operational costs and higher overall productivities.qscienc

Techno-economics of algae production in the Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula's advantageous climate, availability of non-arable land, access to seawater and CO2-rich flue gas, make it an attractive location for microalgae biomass production. Despite these promising aspects, the region has seen very few studies into the commercial feasibility of algae-based value chains. This work aims to address this gap through a techno-economic feasibility study of algae biomass production costs, comparing different photobioreactor types, locations, and production scales. Flat panel and raceway pond cultivation systems were found to be the most economically attractive cultivation systems, with biomass production costs as low as 2.9 €·kg−1. Potential cost reductions of up to 42.5% and 25% could be accomplished with improvements in photosynthetic efficiencies and increased culture temperatures, respectively. As of such, efforts to source local thermo- and photo- tolerant strains could be the key to unlock the potential of the region for algae commercialization, linking into food, feed and nutraceutical industries.The authors would like to thank Tommaso de Santis, Probir Das, Mahmoud Taher, and the QDVC team for their support. This work was sponsored by QDVC and Qatar University [Project: QUEX-CAS-QDVC-14/15-7]. Open Access funding was provided by the Qatar National Library

Physician Acceptance of Pharmacist Recommendations about Medication Prescribing Errors in Iraqi Hospitals

The objectives of this study were to measure the incidence and types of medication prescribing errors (MPEs) in Iraqi hospitals, to calculate for the first time the percentage of physician agreement with pharmacist medication regimen review (MRR) recommendations regarding MPEs, and to identify the factors influencing the physician agreement rate with these recommendations. Methods: Fourteen pharmacists (10 females and 4 males) reviewed each hand-written physician order for 1506 patients who were admitted to two public hospitals in Al-Najaf, Iraq during August 2015. The pharmacists identified medication prescribing errors using the Medscape WebMD, LCC phone application as a reference. The pharmacists contacted the physicians (2 females and 34 males) in-person to address MPEs that were identified. Results: The pharmacists identified 78 physician orders containing 99 MPEs with an incidence of 6.57 percent of all the physician orders reviewed. The patients with MPEs were taking 4.8 medications on average. The MPEs included drug-drug interactions (65.7%), incorrect doses (16.2%), unnecessary medications (8.1%), contra-indications (7.1%), incorrect drug duration (2%), and untreated conditions (1%). The physicians implemented 37 (37.4%) pharmacist recommendations. Three factors were significantly related to physician acceptance of pharmacist recommendations. These were physician specialty, pharmacist gender, and patient gender. Pediatricians were less likely (OR= 0.1) to accept pharmacist recommendations compared to internal medicine physicians. Male pharmacists received more positive responses from physicians (OR=7.11) than female pharmacists. Lastly, the recommendations were significantly more likely to be accepted (OR= 3.72) when the patients were females. Conclusions: The incidence of MPEs is higher in Iraqi hospitalized patients than in the U.S. and U.K, but lower than in Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Croatia. Drug-drug interactions were the most common type of MPEs in hospitals. Physician specialty and pharmacist gender and patient gender significantly influenced physician agreement with the pharmacist comments. Only one-third of the pharmacist recommendations were implemented. Phone drug applications would be helpful for daily hospital pharmacy practice. More pharmacist-physician collaboration is needed to address MPEs. Pharmacist-led MRR can identify and address MPEs to improve patient safety.   Type: Original Researc