Efficiency of choosing promising walnut forms in the case of Uzbekistan

Walnut (Juglans regia L) is one of the most important tree species in Uzbekistan. Natural walnuts have a valuable gene pool, among which there are many forms with different bioecological properties. In particular, biodiversity in terms of kernel quality is highly variable within the species. This article provides information on the analysis of quality indicators of walnut kernels in natural and local nuts. Among the indicators of kernel quality in the selected forms, the yield of walnut kernels was of high importance as the main indicator, and in the selected forms this indicator was 38.2-63.3. According to international indicators, Parkent-2, Boysun-1 and Humson-5 forms are recommended for wide use, given that the form with a yield rate of more than 50% is promising.

The Physicochemical Characteristic of Activated Carbon Based on Sludge and Preparation Method

To understand the features and best preparation of sludge activated carbon (SAC), and the pore structure, component, adsorption characteristics, and the yield rate of SAC, many tests have been carried out. The study illustrated that the pore structure was mostly mesopore and amorphous pore such as the ink bottle hole. In terms of different preparations to obtain SAC, the yield of SAC in sample No.1 achieved 88.09%. Using the preparation of ZnCl2 as an activator, the iodine adsorption value was significantly higher than other preparations. However, the content of quartz in sample No.1 achieved a maximum of 52.51%. Charcoal was detected in all samples except sample nos 9-12. The adsorption capacity of Cu(II) and Cd(II) reached a maximum of 600.02 mg.kg-1 and 383.2 mg.kg-1. The results showed an optimum preparation condition, which was by using the ZnCl2 as an activator, 2:1 as the impregnated ratio, 40% concentration in activator and at 400ºC reaction temperature could create rich pore structure and charcoal inside.

Does Brexit Have a Bullish or Bearish Effect on the Taiwan Stock Market?

Using the event study method to analyze one year of daily trading data of formal and Over-The-Counter (OTC) stocks in Taiwan, this study investigates whether the Brexit referendum led to abnormal returns, as well as the financial characteristics of the stocks, and the influential financial variables. The Taiwan stock market had negative abnormal returns on the day of the Brexit referendum. The high-abnormal return group was more significantly affected than the low-abnormal return group. The book-to-market ratio, price-to-earnings ratio, yield rate, average foreign shareholding ratio, and stocks overbought and oversold had a more significant impact on the low-abnormal return group. Abnormal returns were generated mostly in the OTC (Over-The-Counter) market. This event affected financial stocks more significantly than electronics and information technology stocks. The effects on formal stocks, OTC (Over-The-Counter) stocks, and the overall market were the most significant for the turnover rate and stocks overbought and oversold, yield rate, and turnover rate and book-to-market ratio, respectively. The results confirm that the model of the impact of a special event on the behavioral response in the Taiwan stock market can be used to predict changes in stock market prices when a special event occurs in the future.

On the design of sovereign bond-backed securities

In this paper, we analyze Sovereign Bond-Backed Securities in the Euro area, concentrating our attention on the return of the different tranches and on their riskiness. We show that as the correlation level among States increases, the yield rate of senior tranches increases while the yield rate of junior tranches decreases. A similar effect is observed when introducing a block dependence structure with high correlation among States belonging to the same block. Introducing a nonzero recovery rate, as opposed to a null recovery rate, decreases the yield rate of senior tranches and increases the yield rate of junior tranches. We compute the loss distribution and the Value at Risk (VaR) associated with the market risk of retaining the different tranches of the bond. We also analyze the possibility of reaching a safe asset through pooling tranches of government bonds of different States. In summary, we show that the issue in reaching a comprehensive and safe offering through the securitization of government bonds is not the safety of senior tranches but the risk of the junior ones.

Application of low temperature soaking liquid in combined freezing-based desalination processes in summer

In our previous study, it was noticed that the combined freezing, soaking and centrifugal desalination (FSCD) process is unsuitable to be applied in summer, because very little pure ice can be produced when the temperature of raw seawater used as soaking liquid reaches 27 °C. Therefore, two main efforts on the process optimization were made in this paper. One is that low-temperature seawater was served as soaking liquid in all the experiments. In real industrial practice, the low-temperature soaking liquid can be obtained through melting pure ice products or recovering cold energy from cold concentrated brine. The effects of centrifugal parameters and soaking time on salt removal efficiency and ice yield rate were investigated. Second, the gravity-induced method was combined to form freezing, soaking, gravity-induced and centrifugal desalination (FSGCD) process for further improvement of the salt removal efficiency. The influence of melting time of gravity-induced process was studied by keeping the samples ambient with an air temperature of 30 °C. Finally, the performance among different processes was compared. Results showed that the salt removal efficiency of FSGCD process can reach up to 97.03%. The study is effectively helpful to improve the process performance of soaking treatment in summer application.

Electrochemical ammonia synthesis via nitrate reduction on Fe single atom catalyst

Electrochemically converting nitrate, a widespread water pollutant, back to valuable ammonia is a green and delocalized route for ammonia synthesis, and can be an appealing and supplementary alternative to the Haber-Bosch process. However, as there are other nitrate reduction pathways present, selectively guiding the reaction pathway towards ammonia is currently challenged by the lack of efficient catalysts. Here we report a selective and active nitrate reduction to ammonia on Fe single atom catalyst, with a maximal ammonia Faradaic efficiency of ~ 75% and a yield rate of up to ~ 20,000 μg h−1 mgcat.−1 (0.46 mmol h−1 cm−2). Our Fe single atom catalyst can effectively prevent the N-N coupling step required for N2 due to the lack of neighboring metal sites, promoting ammonia product selectivity. Density functional theory calculations reveal the reaction mechanisms and the potential limiting steps for nitrate reduction on atomically dispersed Fe sites.

Influence of precipitation and temperature on maize production in the Czech Republic from 2002 to 2019

Maize is one of the important food crops in the Czech Republic, its growth and productivity are influenced by climate change. This study investigated the influence of precipitation under recent climate change on maize yield both for grain and silage in the whole Czech Republic during 2002–2019. Total maize yield and yield rate increased in the Czech Republic from 1961 to 2010, but they became to decrease after 2010. This is in line with the tendency of decreased precipitation and an increase in temperature after 2010, and changes are especially significant during the maize growing period, which indicates the importance of temperature and precipitation. In detail, there is a low to moderate negative correlation (−0.39 to −0.51) between grain maize yield and the average temperature in August for almost all the regions. While there is a low negative correlation between silage maize yield with the average temperature in July and August from some regions. The precipitation in July exhibited moderate to high positive correlation (0.54–0.79) to grain maize yield rate for almost all the regions, and it had low to moderate positive correlation (0.35–0.70) to silage maize yield rate for all the regions. Water deficit exhibited a negative correlation with both maize yield rate and its influence mainly in July for silage but both in July and August for grain. Farmer’s profit from grain maize is influence by yield rate, temperature, precipitation, and water deficit. A positive correlation was found between profit and grain yield rate and precipitation from July and August, while a negative correlation was detected between profit and water deficit and the average temperature in July and August. In conclusion, our results pointed out the factors influencing maize yield rate under changing climate conditions in the Czech Republic, and it warrants further studies on how to maintain maize production in a changing climate.