Effects of acidic cottage cheese whey on chemical and physical properties of a sodic soil

Sodic soil reclamation requires replacing exchangeable Na+ with Ca2+ and leaching the excess Na+ from the soil. Cottage cheese whey has an electrical conductivity (EC) of 6-10 dS m-1, pH values of 4.2 or less, low sodium adsorption ratios (SAR), and contains 40-50 g kg-1 of readily decomposable organic matter. These whey characteristics should all be beneficial in reclaiming sodic soils. This study was conducted to determine the effects of cottage cheese whey on the chemical and physical properties of a sodic soil (SAR = 16.3, EC = 3.8, and pH 8.3). Cottage cheese whey was applied to 300-mm-deep sodic soil columns at 0-, 20-, 40-, and 80-mm rates followed by 80, 60, 40, and 0 mm of distilled water, respectively. The columns were then incubated at 10°C for 21 days, and then leached until 96 mm (0.60 pore volumes) of leachate was collected. All whey applications lowered the soil pH, SAR, and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) in both the upper and lower 150-mm-depth increments. Aggregate stability in the surface 150-mm-depth increment increased from 11 % in the water-leached soil to 22% in the 80-mm whey-treated soil. The results of this study suggest that cottage cheese whey can be used as an effective sodic soil amendment

Cheese whey effects on surface soil hydraulic properties

Whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese production, can improve the physical condition of sodic soils or those susceptible to erosion by increasing their aggregate stability. The effects of whey on soil hydraulic properties, however, are not known. In this experiment, we used tension infiltrometers to determine whey effects on infiltration rates of water (at suctions s 30 mm of water) and unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of Ap horizons of a Portneuf silt loam (coarse-silts mixed, mesic Durixerollic Calciorthid) after a winter wheat crop. In the summer of 1993 near Kimberly, ID, USA, liquid whey was flood-applied at either 0, 200, 400, or 800 t/ha to plots planted to wheat the previous September. At suctions of 60 and 150 mm, infiltration rates decreased linearly by about 0.7 µtm/s with each additional 100 t/ha of whey applied. As whey applications increased, hydraulic conductivities at 60 mm suction increased slightly but as applications exceeded 400 t/ha decreased significantly. We concluded that summer whey applications up to 400 t/ha would not adversely affect surface hydraulic properties

Cottage cheese (acid) whey effects on sodic soil aggregate stability

Whey applications reduce a sodic soil's exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and increase its infiltration rate. Whey's effects on aggregate stability (AS), however, have been less well documented. A greenhouse study was conducted to determine: ( 1 ) AS response to whey additions, (2) the profile depth to which surface-applied whey affected AS, and (3) the relationship between AS and SAR for an illitic soil. Greenhouse lysimeters packed with a Freedom silt loam (Xerollic Calciorthid) received either 0, 25, 50, or 100 mm of whey (equivalent to 0, 253, 505, and 1010 Mg ha-1 of liquid whey). After drying, the surface 150 mm was removed, mixed, and replaced. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. `Ludd') was then planted and grown to maturity by irrigating weekly. After harvest, AS was measured by wet sieving. A companion field study was conducted to determine the effects of whey applications and flood irrigations on AS. In Declo silt loam (Xerollic Calciorthid), 2 x 2 m basins received 0, 25, 50, or 100 mm of whey, followed by 100, 75, 50, or 0 mm of water, respectively. One week later, each basin was cultivated (to z = 100 mm) and smoothed. After four 150-mm irrigations, AS was measured on the 0- to 10-, 10- to 50-, and 50- to 150-mm depth increments. Greenhouse results indicated that AS increased significantly with whey additions, though only in the tilled 0- to 150-mm depth increment. Over two ranges, AS increased linearly with SAR decreases resulting from whey applications. In the upper 50 mm of soil in the field basins, AS also increased linearly from 33 to 75% with whey additions up to 50 mm. Cottage cheese whey improved the AS of sodic soil horizons into which it was incorporated

Whey utilization in furrow irrigation: Effects on aggregate stability and erosion

Improving soil structure often reduces furrow erosion and maintains adequate infiltration. Cottage cheese whey, the liquid byproduct from cottage cheese manufacture, was utilized to stabilize soil aggregates and reduce sediment losses from furrow irrigation. We applied either 2.4 or 1.9 L of whey per meter of furrow (3.15 or 2.49 L m?-2, respectively) by gravity flow without incorporation to two fields of Portneuf silt loam (Durinodic Xeric Haplocalcid) near Kimberly, ID. Furrows were irrigated with water beginning four days later. We measured sediment losses with furrow flumes during each irrigation and measured aggregate stability by wet sieving about 10 days after the last irrigation. Overall, whey significantly increased aggregate stability 25% at the 0–15 mm depth and 14% at 15–30 mm, compared to controls. On average, whey reduced sediment losses by 75% from furrows sloped at 2.4%. Whey increased the aggregate stability of structurally degraded calcareous soil in irrigation furrows

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Materials and Devices of the Public: An Introduction

This introduction provides an overview of material- or device-centered approaches to the study of public participation, and articulates the theoretical contributions of the four articles that make up this special section. Set against the background of post-Foucaldian perspectives on the material dimensions of citizenship and engagement - perspectives that treat matter as a tacit, constituting force in the organization of collectives and are predominantly concerned with the fabrication of political subjects - we outline an approach that considers material engagement as a distinct mode of performing the public. The question, then, is how objects, devices, settings and materials acquire explicit political capacities, and how they serve to enact material participation as a specific public form. We discuss the connections between social studies of material participation and political theory, and define the contours of an empiricist approach to material publics, one that takes as its central cue that the values and criteria particular to these publics emerge as part of the process of their organization. Finally, we discuss four themes that connect the articles in this special section, namely their focus on 1) mundane technologies, 2) experimental devices and settings for material participation; 3) the dynamic of effort and comfort, and 4) the modes of containment and proliferation that characterize material publics

Effects of acidic cottage cheese whey on chemical and physical properties of a sodic soil

Sodic soil reclamation requires replacing exchangeable Na+ with Ca2+ and leaching the excess Na+ from the soil. Cottage cheese whey has an electrical conductivity (EC) of 6-10 dS m-1, pH values of 4.2 or less, low sodium adsorption ratios (SAR), and contains 40-50 g kg-1 of readily decomposable organic matter. These whey characteristics should all be beneficial in reclaiming sodic soils. This study was conducted to determine the effects of cottage cheese whey on the chemical and physical properties of a sodic soil (SAR = 16.3, EC = 3.8, and pH 8.3). Cottage cheese whey was applied to 300-mm-deep sodic soil columns at 0-, 20-, 40-, and 80-mm rates followed by 80, 60, 40, and 0 mm of distilled water, respectively. The columns were then incubated at 10°C for 21 days, and then leached until 96 mm (0.60 pore volumes) of leachate was collected. All whey applications lowered the soil pH, SAR, and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) in both the upper and lower 150-mm-depth increments. Aggregate stability in the surface 150-mm-depth increment increased from 11 % in the water-leached soil to 22% in the 80-mm whey-treated soil. The results of this study suggest that cottage cheese whey can be used as an effective sodic soil amendment