Seasonal dynamics of soil macro- and micronutrients and phenolics under kudzu (Pueraria lobala) stands in fLoodplain of a modirledriver

Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) is a rapidly spreading liana inthe noodplain of Tama River, Japan. This species is veryrich in secondary metabolites and adds substantial amount of litter into the soil due to its huge biomass tumover in every growing Cycle. This study aims to investigate the seasonal dynamics of major macro- and micronutrients and phenolics in soil associated with the litter productionand growth ofkudzu plants in the downstream of Tama River. Soils were collected &om three kudzu-infested spots alongthe banks of the river and analyzed for total carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphoms, potassium, copper, zinc, sodium and phenolic contents･ The pattems of seasonal changes of those soil elements in all three spots were more or less similar. The levels of the nutrients were related with the growth stages or kudzu plants･ Concentrations of all nutrients except nitrogen went down when the kudzu was at active vegetative stage･ The nutrients were agalnmineralized into the soil after the decomposition ofkudzu litter at winter season･ Soil phenolic contentumder kudzu stand also varied seasonally and the highest quantity was recorded in winter as an outcome ofkudzu litter decomposition･ Soil phenolics was not found to interfere the chemical properties of soil except K, of which concentration in soil was negatively correlated with that of soil phenolics･Article信州大学山地水環境教育研究センター研究報告 6: 43-54(2010)departmental bulletin pape

The illusion of untranslatability: a theoretical perspective with reference to the translation of culture-bound euphemistic expressions in the Qur'an

The present study investigates the notion of untranslatability where the concept of equivalence is reconsidered since the misconceptions, related to the said concept, inevitably lead to the emergence of untranslatability. Identifying equivalence as relative, approximate and necessary identity makes the notion of untranslatability a mere theorization. The objectives of the present study are (1) to investigate the notion of untranslatability in terms of the misconceptions associated with the concept of equivalence (2) to examine the possibility of translatability from Arabic into English focusing on culture-bound euphemistic expressions in the Quran as an area of challenge in translation. Data on the translation of culture-bound euphemistic expressions were purposively selected from the Quran and its four identified English translations. Ten examples were randomly selected and the criterion for their selection is that they are culture-bound and therefore translation-resistant. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine the source data by referring to traditional exegetical books to determine the source text intentionality. Additionally, the translated data were analyzed according to the functional equivalence proposed by Nida (1993; 2001).Findings of this study revealed that translatability is always possible and, accordingly, untranslatability is no more valid

What Are the Factors Influence on Construction Safety? A Review

Because of resource constraints, construction safety management is more difficult in underdeveloped nations. The aim of this paper is to explore and identify the key factors affecting construction site safety performance.  The first step in this study was a systematic assessment of 98 papers using a content qualitative approach. From this review, 12 influential factors for safety performance in construction projects were identified. Second, a framework was developed to illustrate the interactions between the identified factors at various project management levels. Furthermore, expert interviews were used to validate the framework. The findings of this study will help project managers better understand how different important safety issues at different construction project hierarchies affect the safety performance of the sites

Source and Sink Strength of Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Distribution of Sulfate in Salt-marsh Soils at the Wadden Sea Coast of Northern Germany

A field study was conducted at Schleswig-Holstein of Kiel in Germany to evaluate the factors controlling carbon and sulfate dynamics along a toposequence of coastal salt marsh soils. The soil at the top end of the salt marsh was salic silty to clayic Typic Sulfaquent (Salzrohmarsh) and the bottom end was sandy to silty Haplic Sulfaquent  Ubergangsmischwatt). The mean (depth: 0-100 cm) values of pH andrH were 6.8-6.9; 6.8-7.0 and 17.3-8.1; 15-8.6 for the Typic Sulfaquent (TS) and Haplic Sulfaquent (HS) throughout the year, respectively. The net-emission of CO2 was negative (-14.0 g m-2 yr-1) for the HS but highly positive (857 g m-2 yr-1) for the TS throughout the year. The annual emissions of CH4 were almost 10fold higher in HS (0.3 g m-2 yr-1) than that of the TS (0.03 g m-2 yr-1). The concentrations of CH4 at different seasons showed almost inverse relationships with the concentrations of CO2, varied significantly (p.0.05) with the seasons and depth function, and showed no dependence to temperature. The SO4 contents were observed maximum in the TS than that of HS during all the seasons. There was no noticeable correlation (r=-0.09) between SO4 and CH4 concentrations. Moreover, even CH4 was determined at depths where the SO4concentration was about 1200 mg SO4 L-

Temperature effect analysis on magneto-rheological damper’s performance

Magnetorheological (MR) damper is one of the most advanced applications of semi active damper in controlling vibration. Its use is increasing day by day in the vehicle suspension system due to its continuous controllability in both on and off state. MR damper’s damping force can be controlled by changing the viscosity of its internal magnetorheological fluids (MRF). Applying an external magnetic field viscosity of MRF can be controlled. Electromagnet such as solenoid coil is normally used as external magnetic field source. These coils are attached inside the damper’s piston head. When the damper operates these coils create heat. That’s why the conventional MR dampers normally face wide variations in temperature. This change of temperature results decay in MRF viscosity as well as post-yield damping of the damper. In this paper temperature effect on MR fluids viscosity and on MR dampers performance represented analytically and experimentally. Due to this temperature effect the deviation of MR dampers performance has shown here experimentally. Also a novel technique for solving the problem explained clearly

Production of biodiesel from mixed waste vegetable oils using Ferric hydrogen sulphate as an effective reusable heterogeneous solid acid catalyst

Biodiesel production by simultaneous esterification and transesterification of waste oil with methanol has been studied in a heterogeneous system using solid ferric hydrogen sulphate [Fe (HSO4)3] acid catalyst. The catalyst was prepared by displacement reaction followed by calcination at 400 °C for 3 h. The prepared catalyst was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), Brunner-Emmett-Teller surface area measurement (BET), thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) and temperature-programmed desorption of NH3 (TPD - NH3). Furthermore, the dependence of the conversion of mixed waste oil on the reactions variables such as the molar ratio of methanol/oil, the amount of catalysts used, reaction temperatures, reusability were also investigated. The catalyst was reused many times with slight loss in activity and the maximum yield of 94.5% was achieved at the optimized conditions of reaction temperature of 205 °C; stirring speed of 350 rpm, 1:15 molar ratio of oil to alcohol and 1% w/w catalyst loading

Yield loss assessment of chickpea caused by botrytis gray mold through fungicide (Bavistin) spray

An experiment was conducted to assess the yield loss of chickpea caused by Botrytis gray mold (BGM) through fungicide spray at Pulses Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna, Bangladesh. Sixteen entries were evaluated following RCB design with three replications. Out of 16 tested germplasms, eight germplasms (92040*52, FLIP97-530 CLIMS, 94-012*98V4006, FLIP98-106C, Gully, FLIP94-509C, 97020-1489 and S95425) showed resistant reaction, while eight and one entries showed susceptible and highly susceptible, respectably, in fungicide sprayed plot. The highest yield increase over BGM inoculated plot were observed in BARWON*98CIH4007 (180.49%) and 97020-1489 (157.96%). The lowest yield increase over BGM inoculated plot were recorded in HEERA*98CZH4010 (6.39%) and 94-012*98V4006 (8.93%) genotypes

Supercritical fluid extraction and quantification of chlorpyrifos insecticides in fresh vegetables by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD)

Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) remains an attractive technique with great potentials for the selective determination of pesticides in complex matrices. A rapid and high percetage of recoveries extarction protocol of chlorpyrifos insecticides from fresh tomato, cucumber and potato vegetables matrixs using SC-CO2 was developed in this study. Chlorpyrifos recovered from tomato and cucumber with critical pressure, PC at 30 Ibs and critical temperature, TC 50°C. On the other hand, the recovery rate of similar insecticides from potato was 101% with PC at 30 Ibs and 55°C in TC. The recovery rate in tomato matrices was 90%; a cucumber matrix was 110% and 101% recovery from potato. The avg. retention time (tR) was 11.976 min of chlorpyrifos standard and similar tR was found in formulated of tomato and cucumber matrices. The lowest detectable limit (LDL) of chlorpyrifos insecticides was 0.02μg/mL with GC-ECD. Gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD) temperature was of injection port and detector 280°C and 300°C, respectively and pressure was 18.5 psi with split less. However, the method is useful to recover non-polar insecticides from the fresh vegetable; thus, further research could be continued with cosolvents to recover the polar residues from different types of fresh vegetables

Zeta potential in intact carbonates at reservoir conditions and its impact on oil recovery during controlled salinity waterflooding

It is well known that oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs can be increased by modifying the injected brine composition in a process ‘controlled salinity water-flooding’ (CSW). However, the mineral- to pore- scale processes responsible for improved oil recovery (IOR) during CSW remain ambiguous and there is no method to predict the optimum CSW composition for a given crude-oil-brine rock system. Here we report the first integrated experimental measurements of zeta potential and IOR during CSW obtained at reservoir conditions. The zeta potential is a measure of the electrical potential at mineral-brine and oil-brine interfaces and controls the electrostatic forces acting between these interfaces. We find that the measured zeta potential in clean samples saturated with formation brine is typically positive and becomes more negative with brine dilution irrespective of temperature. After aging and wettability alteration, the zeta potential changes and we suggest a more positive zeta potential indicates a positive zeta potential at the oil-brine interface and vice-versa. Injecting low salinity brine yields IOR when the oil-brine zeta potential is identified to be negative, but no response when it is identified to be positive, consistent with the hypothesis that IOR during CSW is caused by an increase in the repulsive electrostatic force acting between mineral-brine and oil-brine interfaces. We suggest that the optimum brine composition for IOR during CSW should be chosen to yield the largest change in zeta potential at the mineral-brine interface with opposing polarity to the oil-brine interface and can be determined using the experimental method reported here