Attitudes and perceptions of selected educators, administrators and legislators toward agriculture

The purpose of the investigation was to determine the attitudes and perceptions of selected Iowa educators, administrators and legislators. Specific objectives were to determine: (1) their perceptions toward agriculture, (2) their attitudes toward agriculture, (3) the demographic factors associated with their attitudes and perceptions expressed toward agriculture, and (4) differences between their attitudes and perceptions expressed when grouped by associated demographic characteristics;A survey instrument was mailed to teachers, school board presidents, school administrators, and state legislators. Simple random sampling and stratified random sampling were employed for the investigation;Cronbach\u27s alpha was calculated for the scaled items of the survey instrument and for the ten perception factors and six attitude factors identified through factor analysis;Respondents were most knowledgeable about the usage of agricultural chemicals and agricultural mechanization in Iowa. The respondents were observed to be less knowledgeable about agriculture as a way of life, current agricultural economic conditions and new agricultural technology. The only factor that the legislator group appeared more knowledgeable of was agricultural economic conditions;It was observed that the industry of agriculture was more important to the respondents than the other attitude factors and that if the respondent\u27s perception of an issue was higher, the respondent placed less importance on the corresponding issue;The researcher concluded that: (1) several events in the respondents\u27 lifetime influenced their perception and attitude toward agriculture; (2) respondents with past agricultural involvement, being raised or having lived in a region of the state more directly involved with agriculture, were more knowledgeable about agriculture; (3) respondents closest to agriculture were knowledgeable about agriculture and placed more importance on agriculture; and (4) legislators were least knowledgeable and placed less importance on agriculture than any of the other respondent groups

Biodiesel blends for fueling diesel engines

"Commercially produced biodiesel is a safe and reliable alternative fuel that can be used in diesel engines with little or no need for modification to existing engines and fuel systems. Most commercially available biodiesel fuels are actually biodiesel blends that are properly referenced with the letter B followed by a one- or two-digit number that represents the percentage of biodiesel used in the blend with petroleum diesel fuel. Pure biodiesel is sometimes called 'neat' biodiesel and is also referred to as B100. The most common biodiesel blends are B2, B5, B10, B20 and B50. The remaining fraction is petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is often referred to as petrodiesel."--Page 1.William Casady and Leon Schumacher (Agricultural Engineering Extension

Effects of temperature on biodiesel supplemented with pork and beef fat compared to standard fuels [abstract]

Abstract only availableBio based blends were prepared with pork and beef fat, as well as ethanol on a volume per volume basis. These percentages were determined using previous research. Blends were then tested on temperature characteristics set forth by ASTM standard tests. The blends were then submitted to a performance test using a power take-off dynamometer. Here the blends were evaluated on their performance ability. The blends were then compared to the same characteristics in #2 diesel and B99 biodiesel.CAFNR On Campus Research Internshi

Biodiesel blends for fueling diesel engines (2006)

Commercially produced biodiesel is a safe and reliable alternative fuel that can be used in diesel engines with little or no need for modification to existing engines and fuel systems. Most commercially available biodiesel fuels are actually biodiesel blends that are properly referenced with the letter B followed by a one- or two-digit number that represents the percentage of biodiesel used in the blend with petroleum diesel fuel. Pure biodiesel is sometimes called "neat" biodiesel and is also referred to as B100. The most common biodiesel blends are B2, B5, B10, B20 and B50. The remaining fraction is petroleum-based diesel fuel, which is often referred to as petrodiesel.New 11/06/3M

Biodiesel fuel (1993)

"The use of vegetable oil in compression-ignition engines is not new. Rudolph Diesel, who is credited with invention of the engine, first used peanut oil as fuel. However, the petroleum-based based fuel we now call "diesel fuel" soon became the fuel of choice because of economic advantage. Until political unrest made availability questionable and air pollution became a concern, little consideration was given to alternative fuels."--First page.James C. Frisby and Leon G. Schumacher (Department of Agricultural Engineering)Reviewed October 1993

Hybrid normal metal/ferromagnetic nanojunctions for domain wall tracking

Hybrid normal metal/ferromagnetic, gold/permalloy (Au/Py), nanojunctions are used to investigate magnetoresistance effects and track magnetization spatial distribution in L-shaped Py nanostructures. Transversal and longitudinal resistances are measured and compared for both straight and 90° corner sections of the Py nanostructure. Our results demonstrate that the absolute change in resistance is larger in the case of longitudinal measurements. However, due to the small background resistance, the relative change in the transversal resistance along the straight section is several orders of magnitude larger than the analogous longitudinal variation. These results prove that hybrid nanojunctions represent a significant improvement with respect to previously studied all-ferromagnetic crosses, as they also reduce the pinning potential at the junction and allow probing the magnetization locally. In addition, unusual metastable states with longitudinal domain walls along Py straight sections are observed. Micromagnetic simulations in combination with a magnetotransport model allow interpretation of the results and identification of the observed transitions

Elucidating CO₂ Hydrogenation over In₂O₃ Nanoparticles using Operando UV/Vis and Impedance Spectroscopies

In₂O₃ has emerged as a promising catalyst for CO₂ activation, but a fundamental understanding of its mode of operation in CO₂ hydrogenation is still missing, as the application of operando vibrational spectroscopy is challenging due to absorption effects. In this mechanistic study, we systematically address the redox processes related to the reverse water‐gas shift reaction (rWGSR) over In₂O₃ nanoparticles, both at the surface and in the bulk. Based on temperature‐dependent operando UV/Vis spectra and a novel operando impedance approach for thermal powder catalysts, we propose oxidation by CO₂ as the rate‐determining step for the rWGSR. The results are consistent with redox processes, whereby hydrogen‐containing surface species are shown to exhibit a promoting effect. Our findings demonstrate that oxygen/hydrogen dynamics, in addition to surface processes, are important for the activity, which is expected to be of relevance not only for In₂O₃ but also for other reducible oxide catalysts

Aufklärung der CO₂‐Hydrierung über In₂O₃‐Nanopartikeln mittels Operando UV/Vis‐ und Impedanzspektroskopie

Während sich In₂O₃ als vielversprechender Katalysator für die CO₂‐Aktivierung erwiesen hat, fehlt bisher ein grundlegendes Verständnis seiner Funktionsweise bei der CO₂‐Hydrierung, da die Anwendung der operando‐Schwingungsspektroskopie aufgrund von Absorptionseffekten eine Herausforderung darstellt. In dieser mechanistischen Studie untersuchen wir systematisch die Redox‐Prozesse im Zusammenhang mit der reversen Wassergas‐shift‐Reaktion (rWGSR) über In₂O₃‐Nanopartikeln, sowohl an der Oberfläche als auch in der Bulkstruktur. Basierend auf temperaturabhängigen operando‐UV/Vis‐Spektren und einem neuartigen operando‐Impedanz‐Ansatz für thermische Pulverkatalysatoren schlagen wir die Oxidation durch CO₂ als den geschwindigkeitsbestimmenden Schritt für die rWGSR vor. Die Ergebnisse stimmen mit Redox‐Prozessen überein, wobei wasserstoffhaltige Oberflächenspezies nachweislich eine fördernde Wirkung aufweisen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass für die Aktivität neben Oberflächenprozessen die Sauerstoff/Wasserstoff‐Dynamik wichtig ist, was nicht nur für In₂O₃, sondern auch für andere reduzierbare Oxidkatalysatoren von Bedeutung sein dürfte

Higher order forward spin polarizability

As a guideline for future experiments to extract the four (leading) spin polarizabilities of the nucleon, we have constructed the forward amplitude for polarized Compton scattering by dispersion integrals. These integrals have been saturated by recently measured helicity-dependent photoabsorption cross sections as well as predictions for pion photoproduction multipoles from several phenomenological descriptions and chiral perturbation theory. The comparison of these results corroborates the strategy to extract the spin polarizabilities by fitting them to polarized Compton data and fixing all higher order spin effects by dispersion relations based on pion photoproduction multipoles.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 3 Tables; version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Antiviral and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Fluoxetine in a SARS-CoV-2 Infection Mouse Model

Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Since a large portion of the world’s population is currently unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated and has limited access to approved treatments against COVID-19, there is an urgent need to continue research on treatment options, especially those at low cost and which are immediately available to patients, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Prior in vitro and observational studies have shown that fluoxetine, possibly through its inhibitory effect on the acid sphingomyelinase/ceramide system, could be a promising antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatment against COVID-19. Objectives The aim of this sudy was to test the potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities of fluoxetine against SARS-CoV-2 in a K18-hACE2 mouse model of infection, and against several variants of concern in vitro, and test the hypothesis of the implication of ceramides and/or their derivatives hexosylceramides. Methods We evaluated the potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities of fluoxetine in a K18-hACE2 mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and against variants of concern in vitro, i.e., SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain, Alpha B.1.1.7, Gamma P1, Delta B1.617 and Omicron BA.5. Results Fluoxetine, administrated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, significantly reduced lung tissue viral titres (Figure 1) and expression of several inflammatory markers (i.e., IL-6, TNFα, CCL2 and CXCL10) (Figure 2). It also inhibited the replication of all variants of concern in vitro. A modulation of the ceramide system in the lung tissues, as reflected by the increase in the ratio HexCer 16:0/Cer 16:0 in fluoxetine-treated mice, may contribute to explain these effects (Figure 3). Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties of fluoxetine in a K18-hACE2 mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and its in vitro antiviral activity against variants of concern, establishing fluoxetine as a very promising candidate for the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease pathogenesis