EXAMINING EFFICIENCY UNDER MULTI-CROPPING SYSTEMS

This paper computes overall efficiency for 64 farmers practicing multi-cropping system in Ekiti State of Nigeria. These are decomposed into pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Results show that 34 and 40 farmers are technically and scale inefficient, respectively. Overall, 40 farmers are found to be inefficient.Farm Management,

Characterizations of Soil Collapsibility: Effect of Salts Dilution

Collapsibility of soils is the large change in volume of soil upon saturation or wetting.  This change may or may not be the result of the application of additional load.  Soil at a construction site may not always be suitable for supporting structures such as buildings, bridges, highways, and dams.  For example, if soil is placed in a certain none desire density, a large settlement will occur either due to loading or wetting of soil deposits.  Hence, a collapse will occur which will create a large subsidence or a sinkhole.In this study, soil samples of CL-ML soil were modified by adding different amounts of brine.  The main goal of which was to examine the effect of brine presence on the collapse potential of the soil.  Soil index properties, compaction characteristics, and a collapse potential were evaluated according to ASTM standards.  The test includes Atterberg's limit, Harvard miniature compaction, and double oedometer tests.It has been shown that brine additive has pronounced effect on the Atterberg’s limits; it is clearly shown that as the amount of brine increases both liquid limit and plastic limit decrease.  Compaction curve characteristics of soil were altered by the presence of brine, the maximum dry density, obtained using Harvard miniature device, increased as brine percentage increased, however, the optimum moisture content showed substantial decrease with increasing the amount of brine.

Coupling of a high-energy excitation to superconducting quasiparticles in a cuprate from Coherent Charge Fluctuation Spectroscopy

Dynamical information on spin degrees of freedom of proteins or solids can be obtained by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR). A technique with similar versatility for charge degrees of freedom and their ultrafast correlations could move forward the understanding of systems like unconventional superconductors. By perturbing the superconducting state in a high-Tc cuprate using a femtosecond laser pulse, we generate coherent oscillations of the Cooper pair condensate which can be described by an NMR/ESR formalism. The oscillations are detected by transient broad-band reflectivity and found to resonate at the typical scale of Mott physics (2.6 eV), suggesting the existence of a non-retarded contribution to the pairing interaction, as in unconventional (non Migdal-Eliashberg) theories.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. (PNAS

Jordan Conservation of Cultural Heritage in ERA

The Jordan Conservation of Cultural Heritage in ERA - JOCHERA project is aiming at overall reinforcement of University of Jordan (UJ), Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research (HMCSR) in Jordan cooperation capacities for cultural heritage protection research in the context of the European Research Area and development to the Conservation centre of excellence to respond to Jordan's socio-economic needs. The JOCHERA impact will be increased capacities of the UJ in terms of (i) better research and innovation management, (ii) improved international Science & Technology cooperation and participation in FP7, (iii) enhanced cultural heritage protection research capacities, and (v) defined strategic development framework in order to increase UJ visibility and scope. Likewise, JOCHERA will increase research and innovation linkages within Jordan in particular with SMEs, enable better opportunities to young researchers and enhance EU-JO RTD cooperation landscape. The project duration is 24 months, started in 1st December 2011 and will end in 31 November 2013.Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan, Chemistry Department, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan, Institute of Archaeology, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

Serum Lipid Profile And Random Blood Glucose of Male And Female Wistar Rats Following Administration of Leptin Hormone After A Dietary Regime

The Leptin hormone is a product of the obesity gene, a key regulator of feeding and energy expenditure.The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts 11.1 million deaths globally and 71% deaths in developing countries due to Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) by 2020 A.D. CAD has been associated with alterations in lipid metabolism, which include hyper-triglyceridemia and significantly reduced HDL-c. The increase in the concentration of cholesterol is attributable to LDL cholesterol because the high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is typically reduced. The study is aimed at determining the effect of leptin hormone on fasting serum lipid profile, atherogenic index (AI) and Random Blood glucose (RBG) inWistar rats following a diet regime and leptin injection.Fourty (40) Wistar rats (male n=20, female=20), age 9weeks and weighing between 77.2g-123.0g were randomly divided into two (2) groups of 5 rats per sub-group. All groups were maintained ad-libitum on experimental diets and water for a period of 10weeks. Group 1 (A1 and B1) the control received standard rat feed, group 2 (A2 and B2) received high fat diet (margarine, 90%) mixed with some standard rat feed (10%), group 3 (A3 and B3) received protein diet (soya beans, 100%) and group 4 (A4 and B4) received carbohydrate diet (cereal, 100%). The leptin hormone was given intra-peritoneal for a period of two (2) weeks.The resultshowed a significant difference (Plt0.05) in the Tot-c, TG, VLDL-c, LDL-c and RBG in the pre-test and post-test periods, but there was no significant difference (Pgt0.05) for the calculated atherogenic index (AI). There was a significant difference (Plt0.05) and sexual dimorphism for HDL-c and AI respectively and no significant difference (Pgt0.60) for Tot-c, TG, VLDL-c, LDL-c and RBG. It also showed a low LDL-c, low TG, low VLDL-c, low Tot-c and high HDL-c which resulted in a low AI in the male gender. The RBG was increased after the injection of the leptin hormone in all the groups. There was no sexual dimorphism in RBG. The result implies that the male gender is at a lower risk developing coronary artery disease (CAD)

Prevalence of infraocclusion of primary molars determined using a new 2D image analysis methodology

The reported prevalence of infraocclusion varies widely, reflecting differences in definitions and measurement/scoring approaches.This study aimed to quantify the prevalence and extent of infraocclusion in singletons and twins during the late mixed dentition stage of dental development using a new diagnostic imaging method and objective criteria. The study also aimed to determine any associations between infraocclusion and sex, arch type, arch side and tooth type.Two samples were analysed; 1,454 panoramic radiographs of singletons and 270 dental models of twins. Both samples ranged in age from 8-11 years. Adobe Photoshop CS5 was used to measure the extent of infraocclusion. Repeatability tests showed systematic and random errors were small.The prevalence in the maxilla was low (<1%), whereas the prevalence in the mandible was 22% in the singleton sample and 32% in the twin sample. The primary mandibular first molar was affected more often than the second molar. There was no significant difference in the expression between sexes or sides.A new technique for measuring infraocclusion has been developed with high intra- and inter-operator reproducibility. This method should enhance early diagnosis of tooth developmental abnormalities and treatment planning during late mixed dentition stage of development.Ruba Odeh, Suzanna Mihailidis, Grant Townsend, Raija Lähdesmäki, Toby Hughes, and Alan Broo

Dirac eigenvalues for a softcore Coulomb potential in d dimensions

A single fermion is bound by a softcore central Coulomb potential V(r) = -v/(r^q + b^q)^(1/q), v>0, b>0, q \ge 1, in d>1 spatial dimensions. Envelope theory is used to construct analytic lower bounds for the discrete Dirac energy spectrum. The results are compared to accurate eigenvalues obtained numerically.Comment: 8 pages 1 figur

Bound - states for truncated Coulomb potentials

The pseudoperturbative shifted - $l$ expansion technique PSLET is generalized for states with arbitrary number of nodal zeros. Bound- states energy eigenvalues for two truncated coulombic potentials are calculated using PSLET. In contrast with shifted large-N expansion technique, PSLET results compare excellently with those from direct numerical integration.Comment: TEX file, 22 pages. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. & Ge

Nitrogen mineralization dynamics of different valuable organic amendments commonly used in agriculture

Published online: 27 February 2016This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licenseSustainable agriculture requires the careful optimization of the use of organic amendments to improve soil fertility while minimizing any harmful environmental effects. To understand the events that occur in soil after the addition of different organic amendments, we evaluated the nitrogen (N) mineralization dynamics in soil after adding organic amendments, and evaluated changes in the microbial population. The four organic amendments were fresh dairy cattle manure, fresh white clover, vegetable, fruit, and yard waste compost, and poplar tree compost. The N mineralization potential of each organic amendment was determined by analyzing total mineral nitrogen during a 97-day laboratory incubation experiment. Soils amended with clover released 240 μg N g−1 soil during the 97-day incubation, more than twice as much as that released from soils amended with manure or composts (76–100 μg N g−1 soil). At the end of the incubation, the net N mineralization in clover-amended soils was 54%, more than five times higher than that in soils amended with composts or manure (4%–9%). Nitrogen was mineralized faster in clover-amended soil (1.056 μg N g−1 soil day−1) than in soil amended with composts (0.361–0.417 μg N g−1 soil day−1). The microbial biomass carbon content was higher in clover-amended soil than in the soils amended with manure or composts. We monitored changes in the microbial population in amended soils by a phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. On day 97, there were higher concentrations of total PLFAs in soils with organic amendments (e.g., 14.41 nmol g−1 in clover-amended soil) than in control soil without amendments (9.84 nmol g−1). Bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative), actinomycetes, and fungi were more abundant in clover-amended soils than soils amended with manure or composts. The N mineralization potential varied among the four organic amendments. Therefore, the timing of application and the type of organic amendment should be matched to the nutrient needs of the crop