National-scale implementation of mandatory freshwater farm plans: a mechanism to deliver water quality improvement in productive catchments in New Zealand?

Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems - Reducing agriculturally derived diffuse contaminant losses (via non-point sources) from land to water has proven difficult for decades. Owing to the diversity...     

As the number falls,alternatives to the Hagberg–Perten falling number method: A review

This review examines the application, limitations, and potential alternatives to the Hagberg–Perten falling number (FN) method used in the global wheat industry for detecting the risk of poor end-product quality mainly due to starch degradation by the enzyme α-amylase. By viscometry, the FN test indirectly detects the presence of α-amylase, the primary enzyme that digests starch. Elevated α-amylase results in low FN and damages wheat product quality resulting in cakes that fall, and sticky bread and noodles. Low FN can occur from preharvest sprouting (PHS) and late maturity α-amylase (LMA). Moist or rainy conditions before harvest cause PHS on the mother plant. Continuously cool or fluctuating temperatures during the grain filling stage cause LMA. Due to the expression of additional hydrolytic enzymes, PHS has a stronger negative impact than LMA. Wheat grain with low FN/high α-amylase results in serious losses for farmers, traders, millers, and bakers worldwide. Although blending of low FN grain with sound wheat may be used as a means of moving affected grain through the marketplace, care must be taken to avoid grain lots from falling below contract-specified FN. A large amount of sound wheat can be ruined if mixed with a small amount of sprouted wheat. The FN method is widely employed to detect α-amylase after harvest. However, it has several limitations, including sampling variability, high cost, labor intensiveness, the destructive nature of the test, and an inability to differentiate between LMA and PHS. Faster, cheaper, and more accurate alternatives could improve breeding for resistance to PHS and LMA and could preserve the value of wheat grain by avoiding inadvertent mixing of high- and low-FN grain by enabling testing at more stages of the value stream including at harvest, delivery, transport, storage, and milling. Alternatives to the FN method explored here include the Rapid Visco Analyzer, enzyme assays, immunoassays, near-infrared spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging.     

Eco-driving: the role of feedback in reducing emissions from everyday driving behaviours

Eco-driving has been proposed as an approach to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions arising from personal automobile use. Eco-driving is the adoption of a measured driving style, minimising unnecessary breaking and aggressive acceleration. Eco-driving can be seen as a low cost and immediate approach to emission reduction as it involves the modification of drivers’ behaviours as opposed to the development and implementation of newer, more efficient technology. Despite the proposed benefits of eco-driving, numerous challenges are faced in order to encourage the adoption of these behaviours and maintain them long term. This narrative review presents the concept of eco-driving, with a focus on the long-term maintenance of these behaviours, including training programmes and feedback devices. It is clear within current literature that, despite the economic and environmental benefits of adopting eco-driving, drivers require feedback on their actions in order to promote long-term, behavioural, change.     

Trans-differentiation of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells on decellularized bovine myocardial extracellular matrix-based films

In this study, we aimed at fabricating decellularized bovine myocardial extracellular matrix-based films (dMEbF) for cardiac tissue engineering (CTE). The decellularization process was carried out utilizing four consecutive stages including hypotonic treatment, detergent treatment, enzymatic digestion and decontamination, respectively. In order to fabricate the dMEbF, dBM were digested with pepsin and gelation process was conducted. dMEbF were then crosslinked with N-hydroxysuccinimide/1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (NHS/EDC) to increase their durability. Nuclear contents of native BM and decellularized BM (dBM) tissues were determined with DNA content analysis and agarose-gel electrophoresis. Cell viability on dMEbF for 3rd, 7th, and 14th days was assessed by MTT assay. Cell attachment on dMEbF was also studied by scanning electron microscopy. Trans-differentiation capacity of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) into cardiomyocyte-like cells on dMEbF were also evaluated by histochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. DNA contents for native and dBM were, respectively, found as 886.11?±?164.85 and 47.66?±?0.09?ng/mg dry weight, indicating a successful decellularization process. The results of glycosaminoglycan and hydroxyproline assay, and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), performed in order to characterize the extracellular matrix (ECM) composition of native and dBM tissue, showed that the BM matrix was not damaged during the proposed method. Lastly, regarding the histological study, dMEbF not only mimics native ECM, but also induces the stem cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells phenotype which brings it the potential of use in CTE.     

Thermodynamic performance analysis of three solid oxide fuel cell and gas microturbine hybrid systems for application in auxiliary power units

In this study, three different configurations of a solid oxide fuel cell and gas microturbine hybrid system are evaluated for application in auxiliary power units. The first configuration is a common hybrid system in auxiliary power units, utilizing a fuel cell stack in the structure of the gas turbine cycle. The other configurations use two series and parallel fuel cell stacks in the structure of the gas turbine cycle. The main purpose of this research is thermodynamic analysis, evaluation of the performance of the proposed hybrid systems in similar conditions, and selection of an appropriate system in terms of efficiency, power generation, and entropy generation rate. In this study, the utilized fuel cells were subjected to electrochemical, thermodynamic, and thermal analyses and their working temperatures were calculated under various working conditions. Results indicate that the hybrid system with two series stacks had maximum power generation and efficiency compared with the other two cases. Moreover, the simple hybrid system and the system with two parallel stacks had relatively equal pure power generation and efficiency. According to the investigations, hybrid system with two series fuel cell stacks, which had 3424 and 1712 cells, respectively, can achieve the electrical efficiency of over 48%. A hybrid system with two parallel fuel cell stacks, in which each stack had 2568 cells, had the electrical efficiency of 46.3%. Findings suggested that maximum electrical efficiency occurred between the pressure ratios of 5–6 in the proposed hybrid systems.     

Effect of sand and clay fouling on the shear strength of railway ballast for different ballast gradations

Ballast contamination by fine materials such as sand and clay in railway track at arid regions is an important issue that causes track instability problems and settlement due to reduction of shear strength of ballast. In this paper, the results of direct shear box test conducted on clean ballast, sand-fouled ballast and clay-fouled ballast for different ballast gradations are reported and discussed. For this purpose, three different fouling amounts according to fouling index are added to clean ballast. Test results show that by increasing the fouling percentage, the ballast shear strength always decreases both for sand and clay fouled ballast. However, the amount of shear strength reduction is low at high normal stresses. Clay contamination has more adverse effect on the shear strength of ballast compared with sand contamination. Also, the results of tests for evaluation of gradation effect on shear strength of fouled ballast which are conducted on various gradations according to American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association, show that the maximum particle size as well as uniformity coefficient affect the shear strength of ballast. Also, an empirical equation is presented to observe the effect of ballast gradation on reduction of shear strength with regard to amount of fouling material and normal stress.     

Pressure Management in Water Distribution Systems Using a Self-Tuning Controller to Distribute the Available Potable Water with Equality

The rapid population growth of cities in developing countries (DC) make difficult to distribute the available potable water (PW) with equality. The distribution problem arises from an insufficient amount of PW and because cities water distribution systems (WDS) are not efficient. The novelty of this paper is a self-tuning controller (STC) proposed to manage, along the day, the pressure of water through the nodes of a WDS. It means, pressure management (PM) is proposed to control water levels (WLs) in householders tanks (HTs). The objective is to satisfy with equality the PW demand at different zones of a city forcing the flow of water by managing the pressure. The proposed STC performance is tested on the digital simulator developed to characterize the hydraulic operation of a WDS. The dynamic behaviour of the WDS is determined by the variation of the WL in the tanks of the WDS when water is supplied or extracted from them. The WDS of Mexico City is analysed and the proposed STC is applied to a simplified WDS. The results allow to conclude that the proposed STC could become a supporting tool for the decision making of WDS operators.     

Imaging of two-dimensional unsaturated moisture flows in uncracked and cracked cement-based materials using electrical capacitance tomography

The development of visualizing tools to monitor unsaturated moisture flow in cement-based materials is of great importance, as most degradation processes in cement-based materials are connected to and take place in the presence moisture. This paper investigates the ability of electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) to image two-dimensional (2D) unsaturated moisture flow in cement-based materials. In ECT, the electrical permittivity distribution within an object is reconstructed based on measured capacitances between electrodes attached on the object’s surface. In a series of experiments, mortar specimens with and without discrete cracks were imaged with ECT during a 2D moisture ingress. The results show that ECT is able to monitor the evolution of the moisture flow, and to approximate the shape and position of the moisture front. These findings indicate that ECT is a viable method for monitoring and visualizing 2D unsaturated moisture flow in cement-based materials in the presence and absence of discrete cracks.     

Residents’ evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of golf community living in Alicante,Spain

The growing numbers of golf communities are attracting a diverse group of homebuyers who experience varying levels of neighborhood satisfaction. A multinomial logistic regression analysis with follow-up ANOVA reveals that homeowners in one region of Spain who believe there are more advantages than disadvantages to living in a golf community are more likely to be older, Spanish, and evaluate the natural environment, sports facilities, and water supply of their community as better. Meanwhile, those who perceive more disadvantages cite the limitations on using the golf course for non-golf activities, high housing costs, automobile dependence, and lack of services and shops. Thus, satisfaction with the golf community varies depending on the residents’ personal characteristics as well as their evaluation of the neighborhood’s characteristics, but is not directly attributable to whether they play golf or whether the course was a decisive factor in choosing the house.