scholarly journals Using Electric Current as a Weed Control Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Hasan Sahin ◽  
Mehmet Yalınkılıc

Weed struggle has an important place in agricultural production. The widespread use of chemicals in this struggle is due to its easy applicability, its short-term results, and its economic efficiency. However, the negative effects of these chemicals on the environment and human health have been recognized, and the interest in non-chemical struggle methods has also increased. One of the non-chemical methods of struggle is using electric energy. In this work, which is carried out by passing the electric current through the plant, it is aimed that ended the vital activity of weed (cress), as a result of electric current flowing through it. The experimental setup prepared for use in operation consists of a voltage regulator with 1-300 V steps and copper conductors which will contact the plants. In the experiments, weed seeds germinated under suitable conditions were placed on the board to complete the electric circuit and the circuit was completed by passing current through the plants that the copper conductor tips contacted. As a result of the experiments, plants were observed to lose their vitality about 70% when 100 volts of electricity was applied over the body for 300, 420 and 540 seconds. On the other hand, when electric energy was applied as 200 volts and 300 volts for 300, 420, and 540 seconds, respectively, the vital activity of the plants close to 100% was ended.

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 16-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan Sahin

Chemical using as a weed control method is the most preferred method in weed control because they are easily accessible, easily applicable and inexpensive. But, with the new environment-friendly regulations, the importance of non-chemical methods has increased all over the world. In addition, organic farm and non-chemical agricultural methods are gaining importance with increasing social environment and health awareness. Non-chemical methods, called, "alternative methods” have been one of the most popular research subjects in recent years. The physical removal or killing of weeds is usually done by hand or by means designed tools for this task, which varies from country to country. The most known modern non-chemical weed control methods are; electric current,  microwave heating, superheated steam, infrared using, pneumatic system, freeze-drying, laser cutting, and fresnel lens systems. The most popular of these methods are; electric current method and microwave heating. In electric current and microwave heating methods, there are no chemical residues in soil and plants after application. It has been shown in the studies that, the microwave weed control method can destroy weeds and seeds when appropriate frequency, sufficient time and required power level are selected. Therefore, in the selection of non-chemical weed control methods, some important parameters of plant and soil should be known. The electrical and dielectric properties of plants and soil such as, electrical resistance (R), impedance (Z), dielectric constant (ε’), loss factor (ε’’), the permittivity (permeability ( and conductivity (σ) should be known especially in microwave and electric current methods. The other parameters like the age, height and density of the plant is an issue to be considered in all control methods. But, the moisture content of soil and plant may not be taken into consideration in hot water and steam applications. For the freeze-drying method, the moisture and water content of the plant and soil must also be taken into account.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
M.V. Arisov ◽  
I.P. Belykh ◽  
V.V. Artemov

The purpose of the research: the study of the efficacy of the preparations for veterinary use "Inspector Quadro C" and "Inspector Quadro K" against ecto- and endoparasitoses of dogs and cats. Materials and methods. Studies were conducted on spontaneously infected dogs and cats of different sexes, age, weight and breed. The diagnosis of infection with ectoparasites was made based on the clinical picture and laboratory methods of investigation (microscopy of scrapings taken from ectoparasitized skin areas, examination of the coat for fleas, lice, worms, ixodids). Infection with helminths was established by detecting eggs of helminths in faeces of animals by the method of Füleleborn and mature segments of cestodes. Preparations were applied to the animals by drip application on dry undamaged skin in places inaccessible to licking in a dose of 0.1-0.4 ml per 1 kg of body weight. The results were statistically processed. Results and discussion. "Inspector Quadro S" and "Inspector Quadro K" showed 100% efficacy at sarcoptosis in dogs, notoedrosis in cats, otodectosis in dogs and cats, ixodidoses and entomoses. "Inspector Quadro C" showed a high efficiency (92.3%) at demodecosis in dogs. However, single mites were found in one dog. 100% efficacy of "Inspector Quadro C" and "Inspector Quadro K" has been established against intestinal nematodes and cestodes in dogs and cats. Negative effects of drugs on the body of animals have not been revealed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 666-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirela Mihon ◽  
Catalin Stelian Tuta ◽  
Alina Catrinel Ion ◽  
Dana Niculae ◽  
Vasile Lavric

The aim of this work was the development and validation of a fast analytical method to determine the residual solvents content in radiopharmaceuticals such as: 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), 18F-Fluoroestradiol (18F-FES), 18F-Fluorothymidine (18F-FLT),18F-Fluoromisonidazole (18F-FMISO). Radiopharmaceuticals are radioactive preparations for medical purposes used in nuclear medicine as tracers in diagnostic imaging and treatment of certain diseases. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique that consists in introducing into the body of a small amount of a biologically active chemical compound labelled with a short lived positron-emitting radioisotope (18F, 11C, 68Ga). Residual solvents are critical impurities in radiopharmaceuticals that can affect labelling, stability and physicochemical properties of drugs. Therefore, the determination of these solvents is essential for quality control of radiopharmaceuticals. Validation of the control method for residual solvents by gas chromatography is referred by the European Pharmacopoeia using a special injection technique (head space). The parameters of the method, which comply with International Conference on Harmonization guidelines, are: accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification and robustness. The proposed method (direct gas chromatography injection) proved to be linear, precise, accurate and robust. Good linearity was achieved for all the solvents and correlation coefficients (R2) for each residual solvent were found more than 0.99.


Author(s):  
Dr. Rangarajan B. ◽  
Dr. Muralidhara .

Gridhrasi (Sciatica) is a disorder in which low back pain is found, that spreads through the hip, to the back of the thigh and down the inside of the leg. Mechanical low back pain (LBP) remains the second most common symptom related reason for seeing a physician. 85% of total population will experience an episode of mechanical LBP at some point during their lifetime. Fortunately, the LBP resolves for the vast majority within 2-4 weeks. There are many causes for low back pain, however true sciatica is a symptom of inflammation or compression of the sciatica nerve. The sciatica nerve carries impulses between nerve roots in the lower back and the muscles and nerve of the buttocks, thighs and lower legs. Compression of a nerve root often occurs as a result of damage to one of the discs between the vertebrae. In some cases, sciatic pain radiate from other nerves in the body. This is called referred pain. Pain associated with sciatica often is severe, sharp and shooting. It may be accompanied by other symptom, such as numbness, tingling, weakness and sensitivity to touch. There is only conservative treatment giving short term relief in pain or surgical intervention with side effect. But these are not successful and therefore those who are suffering from this are always in search of result oriented remedy. Walking distance and SLR test were taken for assessment parameter, VAS score was adopted for pain. Before treatment patient was not able to walk even 4 to 5 steps due to severe pain, was brought on stretcher and his SLR was 30° of right side. After 22 days of treatment he was able to walk up to 500 meters without any difficulty, SLR was changed to 60° and patient had got 80 % relief in pain. This case report showed that Ayurvedic protocol is potent and safe in the treatment of Gridhrasi.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 660
Author(s):  
Zhongshuo Hu ◽  
Jianwei Yang ◽  
Dechen Yao ◽  
Jinhai Wang ◽  
Yongliang Bai

In the signal processing of real subway vehicles, impacts between wheelsets and rail joint gaps have significant negative effects on the spectrum. This introduces great difficulties for the fault diagnosis of gearboxes. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an adaptive time-domain signal segmentation method that envelopes the original signal using a cubic spline interpolation. The peak values of the rail joint gap impacts are extracted to realize the adaptive segmentation of gearbox fault signals when the vehicle was moving at a uniform speed. A long-time and unsteady signal affected by wheel–rail impacts is segmented into multiple short-term, steady-state signals, which can suppress the high amplitude of the shock response signal. Finally, on this basis, multiple short-term sample signals are analyzed by time- and frequency-domain analyses and compared with the nonfaulty results. The results showed that the method can efficiently suppress the high-amplitude components of subway gearbox vibration signals and effectively extract the characteristics of weak faults due to uniform wear of the gearbox in the time and frequency domains. This provides reference value for the gearbox fault diagnosis in engineering practice.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3204
Author(s):  
Michał Sabat ◽  
Dariusz Baczyński

Transmission, distribution, and micro-grid system operators are struggling with the increasing number of renewables and the changing nature of energy demand. This necessitates the use of prognostic methods based on ever shorter time series. This study depicted an attempt to develop an appropriate method by introducing a novel forecasting model based on the idea to use the Pareto fronts as a tool to select data in the forecasting process. The proposed model was implemented to forecast short-term electric energy demand in Poland using historical hourly demand values from Polish TSO. The study rather intended on implementing the range of different approaches—scenarios of Pareto fronts usage than on a complex evaluation of the obtained results. However, performance of proposed models was compared with a few benchmark forecasting models, including naïve approach, SARIMAX, kNN, and regression. For two scenarios, it has outperformed all other models by minimum 7.7%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3649
Author(s):  
Patricia Ramos-Ramírez ◽  
Omar Tliba

Glucocorticoids (GCs) act via the GC receptor (GR), a receptor ubiquitously expressed in the body where it drives a broad spectrum of responses within distinct cell types and tissues, which vary in strength and specificity. The variability of GR-mediated cell responses is further extended by the existence of GR isoforms, such as GRα and GRβ, generated through alternative splicing mechanisms. While GRα is the classic receptor responsible for GC actions, GRβ has been implicated in the impairment of GRα-mediated activities. Interestingly, in contrast to the popular belief that GRβ actions are restricted to its dominant-negative effects on GRα-mediated responses, GRβ has been shown to have intrinsic activities and “directly” regulates a plethora of genes related to inflammatory process, cell communication, migration, and malignancy, each in a GRα-independent manner. Furthermore, GRβ has been associated with increased cell migration, growth, and reduced sensitivity to GC-induced apoptosis. We will summarize the current knowledge of GRβ-mediated responses, with a focus on the GRα-independent/intrinsic effects of GRβ and the associated non-canonical signaling pathways. Where appropriate, potential links to airway inflammatory diseases will be highlighted.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul P. J. Gaffney ◽  
Mark H. Hancock ◽  
Mark A. Taggart ◽  
Roxane Andersen

AbstractThe restoration of drained afforested peatlands, through drain blocking and tree removal, is increasing in response to peatland restoration targets and policy incentives. In the short term, these intensive restoration operations may affect receiving watercourses and the biota that depend upon them. This study assessed the immediate effect of ‘forest-to-bog’ restoration by measuring stream and river water quality for a 15 month period pre- and post-restoration, in the Flow Country peatlands of northern Scotland. We found that the chemistry of streams draining restoration areas differed from that of control streams following restoration, with phosphate concentrations significantly higher (1.7–6.2 fold, mean 4.4) in restoration streams compared to the pre-restoration period. This led to a decrease in the pass rate (from 100 to 75%) for the target “good” quality threshold (based on EU Water Framework Directive guidelines) in rivers in this immediate post-restoration period, when compared to unaffected river baseline sites (which fell from 100 to 90% post-restoration). While overall increases in turbidity, dissolved organic carbon, iron, potassium and manganese were not significant post-restoration, they exhibited an exaggerated seasonal cycle, peaking in summer months in restoration streams. We attribute these relatively limited, minor short-term impacts to the fact that relatively small percentages of the catchment area (3–23%), in our study catchments were felled, and that drain blocking and silt traps, put in place as part of restoration management, were likely effective in mitigating negative effects. Looking ahead, we suggest that future research should investigate longer term water quality effects and compare different ways of potentially controlling nutrient release.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 722
Author(s):  
Jang-Hoon Jo ◽  
Jalil Ghassemi Nejad ◽  
Dong-Qiao Peng ◽  
Hye-Ran Kim ◽  
Sang-Ho Kim ◽  
...  

This study aims to characterize the influence of short-term heat stress (HS; 4 day) in early lactating Holstein dairy cows, in terms of triggering blood metabolomics and parameters, milk yield and composition, and milk microRNA expression. Eight cows (milk yield = 30 ± 1.5 kg/day, parity = 1.09 ± 0.05) were homogeneously housed in environmentally controlled chambers, assigned into two groups with respect to the temperature humidity index (THI) at two distinct levels: approximately ~71 (low-temperature, low-humidity; LTLH) and ~86 (high-temperature, high-humidity; HTHH). Average feed intake (FI) dropped about 10 kg in the HTHH group, compared with the LTLH group (p = 0.001), whereas water intake was only numerically higher (p = 0.183) in the HTHH group than in the LTLH group. Physiological parameters, including rectal temperature (p = 0.001) and heart rate (p = 0.038), were significantly higher in the HTHH group than in the LTLH group. Plasma cortisol and haptoglobin were higher (p < 0.05) in the HTHH group, compared to the LTLH group. Milk yield, milk fat yield, 3.5% fat-corrected milk (FCM), and energy-corrected milk (ECM) were lower (p < 0.05) in the HTHH group than in the LTLH group. Higher relative expression of milk miRNA-216 was observed in the HTHH group (p < 0.05). Valine, isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, lactic acid, 3-phenylpropionic acid, 1,5-anhydro-D-sorbitol, myo-inositol, and urea were decreased (p < 0.05). These results suggest that early lactating cows are more vulnerable to short-term (4 day) high THI levels—that is, HTHH conditions—compared with LTLH, considering the enormous negative effects observed in measured blood metabolomics and parameters, milk yield and compositions, and milk miRNA-216 expression.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Haaike Colemonts-Vroninks ◽  
Jessie Neuckermans ◽  
Lionel Marcelis ◽  
Paul Claes ◽  
Steven Branson ◽  
...  

Hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 (HT1) is an inherited condition in which the body is unable to break down the amino acid tyrosine due to mutations in the fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (FAH) gene, coding for the final enzyme of the tyrosine degradation pathway. As a consequence, HT1 patients accumulate toxic tyrosine derivatives causing severe liver damage. Since its introduction, the drug nitisinone (NTBC) has offered a life-saving treatment that inhibits the upstream enzyme 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPD), thereby preventing production of downstream toxic metabolites. However, HT1 patients under NTBC therapy remain unable to degrade tyrosine. To control the disease and side-effects of the drug, HT1 patients need to take NTBC as an adjunct to a lifelong tyrosine and phenylalanine restricted diet. As a consequence of this strict therapeutic regime, drug compliance issues can arise with significant influence on patient health. In this study, we investigated the molecular impact of short-term NTBC therapy discontinuation on liver tissue of Fah-deficient mice. We found that after seven days of NTBC withdrawal, molecular pathways related to oxidative stress, glutathione metabolism, and liver regeneration were mostly affected. More specifically, NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response and several toxicological gene classes related to reactive oxygen species metabolism were significantly modulated. We observed that the expression of several key glutathione metabolism related genes including Slc7a11 and Ggt1 was highly increased after short-term NTBC therapy deprivation. This stress response was associated with the transcriptional activation of several markers of liver progenitor cells including Atf3, Cyr61, Ddr1, Epcam, Elovl7, and Glis3, indicating a concreted activation of liver regeneration early after NTBC withdrawal.


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