• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.354-361
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• 2019

Renewable energy from biomass and biodegradable wastes can significantly supplement the global energy demand if properly harnessed. Pyrolysis is the most profound modern technique that has proved effective and efficient in the energy conversion of biomass to yield various products like bio-oil, biochar, and syngas. This study focuses on optimization of slow pyrolysis of banana peels waste to yield banana peels vinegar, tar and biochar as bio-infrastructure products. Response surface methodology using central composite design was used to determine the optimum conditions for the banana wastes using a batch reactor pyrolysis system. Three factors namely heating temperature ($350-550^{\circ}C$), sample mass (200-800 g) and residence time (45-90 min) were varied with a total of 20 individual experiments. The optimal conditions for wood vinegar yield (48.01%) were $362.6^{\circ}C$, 989.9 g and 104.2 min for peels and biochar yield (30.10%) were $585.9^{\circ}C$, 989.9 g and 104.2 min. The slow pyrolysis showed significant energy conversion efficiencies of about 90% at p-value ${\leq}0.05$. These research findings are of primary importance to Uganda considering the abundant banana wastes amounting to 17.5 million tonnes generated annually, thus using them as pyrolysis feedstock can boost the country's energy status.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1098-1104
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• 2005

The trial was carried out on twenty-one Friesian cows at the end of eight months gestation, nine multiparous and twelve primiparous; allocated into three groups (1 control, 2 and 3 experimental). The same diet was administred to all three groups before partum (12.8 kg DM/head/day) and after partum (18.8 kg DM/head/day). The cows in groups 2 and 3 received two different daily quantities of amino-acid chelated chromium (0.6 and 1.2 mg Cr/kg DM) from 4 weeks prior to presumed parturition to 6 weeks after. The milk yield control was carried out at 15, 30, 42 and 60 days. All animals were immunised two weeks prior to the presumed parturition and two weeks after with the following antigens: ovalbumin and brucellergene. Blood samples were collected weekly to monitor humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. When analysing the results of antibody immunity (ovalbumin) in the sixth blood collection both treated groups significantly increased compared to group 1 (0.5230 and 0.4536 vs. 0.1812 OD; p<0.05). The results of the cell-mediated immune response (brucellergene) had significant differences (p<0.10) in correspondence to the third (between group 2 and control) and the fifth (between groups 3 and 2) blood collection. Significant differences in fat corrected milk were observed at 42 days between group 3 and the other two groups (31.01 vs. 26.99 and 28.66 kg/d, p<0.05) and at 60 days between group 3 and control (30.88 vs. 26.69 kg/d, p<0.05). Before partum and at partum a positive immune response was obtained with a lower dose of chromium. After partum a positive immune response, anti-OVA indicator, was obtained with the higher dose of chromium while, $\gamma$-IFN indicator, with the lower dose. A significant increase of the milk yield resulted at both 42 and 60 days with the highest level of chromium.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.571-583
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• 2006

To secure high yield and good quality of rice, plant growth and nitrogen (N) nutrition status should be taken into account for managing panicle N topdressing (PN). This research aimed at investigating the rice yield response to PN under different plant growth and N nutrition status that was conditioned by different rates of basal and tillering N fertilizer (BTN). Stepwise multiple regression (SMR) was used for the analysis of yield response to (i) BTN and PN, and (ii) shoot N content at PIS (BTNup) and shoot N uptake from PIS to harvest (PNup). Rice yield increased significantly as BTN and PN Increased, but there was no significant interaction between BTN and PN. Yield increased almost linearly with the increasing BTN and PN up to $10{\sim}12$ and $6{\sim}7\;kgN/10a$, and with the increasing BTNup and PNup up to $6{\sim}7$ and $5{\sim}6\;kgN/10a$, respectively. But yield increment tended to decrease above those levels. These declines resulted from the decreased ripened grain ratio and 1000 grain weight even though spikelet number per unit area increased more at above those N levels. Spikelet number per unit area had the linear relationships with the shoot N uptake until heading, and with yield. Like most yield response curves, yield response in this experiment followed the diminishing return function with BTNup, PNup, and plant N uptake from seeding to harvest. Regardless of the degree of BTNup and PNup, yield had a quadratic relationship ($R^{2}$>0.88) with whole shoot N accumulation until harvest, suggesting that the yield determination was closely related with the whole shoot N uptake until harvest regardless of the differences in seasonal shoot N uptake.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2017

Direct catalysis of vapors from vacuum pyrolysis of biomass was performed on MCM-41 to investigate the effects of operating parameters including catalyzing temperature, catalyzing bed height and system pressure on the organic yields. Optimization of organic phase yield was further conducted by employing response surface methodology. The statistical analysis showed that operating parameters have significant effects on the organic phase yield. The organic phase yield first increases and then decreases as catalyzing temperature and catalyzing bed height increase, and decreases as system pressure increases. The optimal conditions for the maximum organic phase yield were obtained at catalyzing temperature of $502.7^{\circ}C$, catalyzing bed height of 2.74 cm and system pressure of 6.83 kPa, the organic phase yield amounts to 15.84% which is quite close to the predicted value 16.19%. The H/C, O/C molar ratios (dry basis), density, pH value, kinematic viscosity and high heat value of the organic phase obtained at optimal conditions were 1.287, 0.174, $0.98g/cm^3$, 5.12, $5.87mm^2/s$ and 33.08 MJ/kg, respectively. Organic product compositions were examined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the analysis showed that the content of oxygenated aromatics in organic phase had decreased and hydrocarbons had increased, and the hydrocarbons in organic phase were mainly aliphatic hydrocarbons. Besides, thermo-gravimetric analysis of the MCM-41 zeolite was conducted within air atmosphere and the results showed that when the catalyst continuously works over 100 min, the index of physicochemical properties of bio-oil decreases gradually from 1.15 to 0.45, suggesting that the refined bio-oil significantly deteriorates. Meanwhile, the coke deposition of catalyst increases from 4.97% to 14.81%, which suggests that the catalytic activity significantly decreases till the catalyst completely looses its activity.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

This paper introduces a novel method to quantify the morphological evolution of the strain response envelope. The strain response envelope is defined as an image in strain increment space corresponding to the unit stress input in stress space. Based on the shape of strain response envelopes, the deformation characteristics of soils can be described using the framework of elastic-plastic theory. Fourier descriptor analysis was used to investigate the morphological characteristics of strain response envelopes. The numerical results show that when the stress input remains in the initial yield surface the Fourier descriptors remain constant. Once the stress input crosses the initial yield surface, every descriptors deals in this study change. Numerical and experimental results of this study show that clear yielding response is only found in natural block samples. Among the Fourier descriptors, the descriptor called as asymmetry is the best for detecting the yield and is minimally sensitive to the number of input stress paths.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.341-345
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• 2021

1D sand compression response to ko-loading experiences volume contraction from low to high effective stress regimes. Previous study suggested compressibility model with physically correct asymptotic void ratios at low and high stress levels and examined only for both remolded clays and natural clays. This study extends the validity of Enhanced Terzaghi model for different sand types complied from 1D compression data. The model involved with four parameters can adequately fit 1D sand compression data for a wide stress range. The low stress obtained from fitting parameters helps to identify the initial fabric conditions. In addition, strong correlation between compressibility and the void ratio at low stress facilitates determination of self-consistent fitting parameters. The computed tangent constrained modulus can capture monotonic stiffening effect induced by an increase in effective stress. The magnitude of tangent stiffness during large strain test should not be associated with small strain stiffness values. The use of a single continuous function to capture 1D stress-strain sand response to ko-loading can improve numerical efficiency and systematically quantify the yield stress instead of ad hoc methods.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 1995

The adaptive response and cross-adaptive response to sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and DNA single-strand breaks (SSBs) in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K$_1$ cells treated with ultraviolet radiation (UV), ethyl methanesuffonate (EMS), or bleomycin (BLM) were investigated. Two assays were used in this study; SCEs and alkaline elution. The pretreatment with low conditioning dose of 2 mM EMS or 1 J/m$^2$ UV decreased the yield of SCEs induced by subsequent treatment with 8 mM EMS, 5 J/m$^2$ UV or 5 $\mu$g/ml BLM. And the pretreatment with low conditioning dose of 1 $\mu$g/ml BLM decreased the yield of SCEs induced by subsequent treatment with 5 $\mu$g/ml BLM or 5 J/m$^2$ UV. The rejoining of DNA SSBs in cells subsequently treated with 2 J/m$^2$ UV, 50 mM EMS or 400 $\mu$g/ml BLM is higher than that only treated with 2 J/m$^2$ UV, 50 mM EMS or 400 $\mu$g/ml BLM. These results suggest that there are the adaptive response and cross-adaptive response to SCEs, and is the adaptive response to the rejoining of DNA SSBs in CHO cells.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.527-533
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• 2006

The response of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) to dual inoculation with Rhizobium (R) and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) was studied on spore abundance and colonization of AM, nodulation, growth, yield attributes and yield. In all the parameters of the crop the performance of Rhizobium inoculant alone was superior to control. Dual inoculation with Rhizobium and AM in presence of P performed the best in recording number of spore $100g^{-1}$ rhizosphere soil and root colonization, number and dry weight of nodule, dry weights of shoot and root, number of pod $plant^{-1}$, number of seed $pod^{-1}$, seed and stover yields of chickpea. The maximum seed yield of 3.33 g $plant^{-1}$ was obtained by inoculating chickpea plants with Rhizobium and AM in association with P. From the view point of nodulation, growth, yield attributes and yield of chickpea, dual inoculation with Rhizobium and AM along with P was considered to be the balanced combination of nutrients for achieving the highest output from cultivation of chickpea in Shallow Red Brown Terrace Soil of Bangladesh.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2023

Golden apple snails (Pomacea canaliculat) (GAS) are widely used for weed control in rice cultivation. However, concerns on the ecological risk of invasive GAS species are increasing. This study aimed to evaluate the overall impacts of GAS on weed control, abundance of aquatic animals and insects, and rice yield, in comparison with that from other biocontrol agents such as loach (Misgurnus mizolepis) and catfish (Silurus asotus), which are alternatives for biological weed control in rice paddy cultivation. Field experiments included five treatments; control, herbicide, GAS, loach, and catfish. During the rice growth, weed appearance and biological abundance were monitored, and at harvest, the rice yield was determined. Weed control efficiency was the highest for GAS treatment (100%), followed by that for herbicide (95.8%), loach (57.5%), and catfish treatments (31.7%). Insect abundance was considerably decreased in GAS treatment due to heavy weed removal, which affects the habitat of aquatic animals and insects. The amount of rice yield (unit: kg 10 a^-1) was in the order of GAS (798.9) > loach (708.1) = herbicide (700.7) > catfish (629.4) > control (496.0). Therefore, considering the weed control efficiency, biological abudance, and rice yield, loach could be a potential alternative for biological weed control in organic rice farming. However, the activity of the biocontrol agents are susceptible to environmental conditions; therefore, further studies under different conditions are essential to confirm these findings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.657-678
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• 2013

For economical earthquake resistant design of cable-stayed bridge tower, the use of energy dissipation systems for the earthquake protection of steel structures represents an alternative seismic design method where the tower structure could be constructed to dissipate a large amount of earthquake input energy through inelastic deformations in certain positions, which could be easily retrofitted after damage. The design of energy dissipation systems for bridges could be achieved as the result of two conflicting requirements: no damage under serviceability limit state load condition and maximum dissipation under ultimate limit state load condition. A new concept for cable-stayed bridge tower seismic design that incorporates sacrificial link scheme of low yield point steel horizontal beam is introduced to enable the tower frame structure to remain elastic under large seismic excitation. A nonlinear dynamic analysis for the tower model with the proposed energy dissipation systems is carried out and compared to the response obtained for the tower with its original configuration. The improvement in seismic performance of the tower with supplemental passive energy dissipation system has been measured in terms of the reduction achieved in different response quantities. Obtained results show that the proposed energy dissipation system of low yield point steel seismic link could strongly enhance the seismic performance of the tower structure where the tower and the overall bridge demands are significantly reduced. Low yield point steel seismic link effectively reduces the damage of main structural members under earthquake loading as seismic link yield level decreases due their exceptional behavior as well as its ability to undergo early plastic deformations achieving the concentration of inelastic deformation at tower horizontal beam.