Contribution of nitrification and denitrification to nitrous oxide emissions from soils after application of biogas waste and other fertilizers

The attribution of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission to organic and inorganic N fertilizers requires understanding of how these inputs affect the two biological processes, i.e. denitrification and nitrification. Contradictory findings have been reported when the effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on nitrous oxide emission were compared. Here we aimed to contribute to the understanding of such variation using ¹⁵N‐labelling techniques. We determined the processes producing N₂O, and tested the effects of soil moisture, N rates, and the availability of organic matter. In a pot experiment, we compared soil treated with biogas waste (BGW) and mineral ammonium sulphate (Min‐N) applied at four rates under two soil moisture regimes. We also tested biogas waste, conventional cattle slurry and mineral N fertilizer in a grassland field experiment. During the first 37 days after application we observed N₂O emissions of 5.6 kg N₂O‐N ha^?1 from soils supplied with biogas waste at a rate of 360 kg N ha^?1. Fluxes were ca. 5‐fold higher at 85% than at 65% water holding capacity (WHC). The effects of fertilizer types and N rates on N₂O emission were significant only when the soil moisture was high. Organic fertilizer treated soils showed much higher N₂O emissions than those receiving mineral fertilizer in both, pot and field experiment. Over all the treatments the percentage of the applied N emitted as N₂O was 2.56% in BGW but only 0.68% in Min‐N. In the pot experiment isotope labelling indicated that 65–95% of the N₂O was derived from denitrification for all fertilizer types. However, the ratio of denitrification/nitrification derived N₂O was lower at 65% than at 85% WHC. We speculate that the application of organic matter in conjunction with ammonium nitrogen first leads to a decrease in denitrification‐derived N₂O emission compared with soil receiving mineral fertilizer. However, at later stages when denitrification becomes C‐limited, higher N₂O emissions are induced when the soil moisture is high. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Efficient synthesis of some oxalacetic acid and pyruvic acid derivatives from the reactions of 2,3-furandiones with 2-phenylindole

Oxalacetic acid and pyruvic acid derivatives have been synthesized efficiently in high yields by the treatment of 4-ethoxycarbonyl-5-phenyl-2,3-furandione and 4-benzoyl-5-phenyl-2,3-furandione with 2-phenylindole at room temperature and converted to simple derivatives such as an ester or a hydrazone.     

Supplier diversification under binomial yield

We consider supplier diversification in an EOQ type inventory setting with multiple suppliers and binomial yields. We characterize the optimal policy for the model and show that, in this case, it does not pay to diversify, in contrast to previous results in the random yield literature.     

General properties of Bertrand curves in Riemann–Otsuki space

In this paper we studied the general properties of Bertrand curves and their characterizations in Riemann–Otsuki space.     

Fabrication of SERS active gold nanorods using benzalkonium chloride,and their application to an immunoassay for potato virus X

The authors report on a robust method for the synthesis of gold nanorods (AuNRs) with tunable dimensions and longitudinal surface plasmon resonance. The method relies on seed-mediated particle growth in the presence of benzalkonium chloride (BAC) in place of the widely used surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Uniform AuNRs were obtained by particle growth in solution, and BAC is found to stabilize the AuNRs for >1 year. The SERS activity of the resulting AuNRs is essentially identical to that of CTAB-protected nanorods. The SERS activity of the BAC protected nanorods was applied to the quantitative analysis of potato virus X (PVX). The calibration plot for PVX is linear in the 10 to 750 ng?mL^?1 concentration range, and the detection limit is 2.2 ng?mL^?1.

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Graphical abstract SERS-active gold nanorods (AuNRs) have been prepared by using benzalkonium chloride as stabilization agent. Effects of chemical parameters on AuNRs have been explored and AuNRs were used in quantitative analysis of potato virus X (PVX).

     

Single crystal X-ray structure and optical properties of anthraquinone-based dyes

This study focuses on the preparation, single crystal X-ray diffraction, characterization, and optical properties of some anthraquinone-based dyes. The anthraquinone-based antimicrobial dye N-{2-[(9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-1-yl)amino]-2-oxoethyl}-N,N-dimethylbutan-1-aminium chloride monohydrate (III) was obtained from 1-aminoanthraquinone (I) via 2-chloro-N-(9,10-dioxo-9,10-dihydroanthracen-1-yl)acetamide (II) using known preparation and characterization methods. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of III revealed a monoclinic system, space group P2₁/n, Z = 4. Photoluminescence properties of anthraquinone dyes I–III were also investigated. These dyes gave an intense emission (λ_max = 341 nm) upon the irradiation by UV light and showed photoluminescence quantum yields of 73 %, 66 %, and 61 % with long excited-state lifetimes of 6.87 ns, 6.14 ns, and 5.69 ns, respectively. These anthraquinone dyes are of interest as an organic light emitting material for electroluminescent devices.     

Synthesis,Spectroscopic Studies and Structure of 2-[(Benzo[<Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>]thiazol-2-ylamino)methyl]phenol

Abstract  

Schiff base (E)-2-[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylimino)methyl]phenol (1) has been synthesized from the reaction of 2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde with 2-aminobenzothiazole. The 2-[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylamino)methyl]phenol (2) was prepared reduction of the Schiff base 1 with sodium borohydride. The compounds 1 and 2 have been characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and UV–visible spectroscopic techniques. The structure of the compound 2 has also been examined crystallographically. The compound 2 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2/c. The unit cell parameters were found as a = 10.017(1), b = 11.725(1), c = 10.341(1) ?, V = 1208.1(1) ?³, D _x = 1.409 g cm⁻³ and Z = 4. The crystal structure was solved by direct methods and refined by the full-matrix least squares method and found as R ₁ = 0.0308 and wR ₂ = 0.0818 for 2032 for the observed reflections [I > 2σ(I)].     

Characterization and estimation of refractive index profile of laser-written photopolymer optical waveguides

In this study, channel waveguides fabricated in photopolymer films by direct-writing using a low-power CW laser, are used as phase objects in a simple plane-wave diffraction setup, and the refractive index modulation profiles of the waveguides are characterized using the recorded diffraction patterns. Index profiles are modeled by piece-wisely combining two Gaussian functions representing the central and the tail regions. Measured diffraction patterns are matched with patterns generated using the model. This simple model makes it possible to design various channel waveguides embedded into polymer substrates. The proposed model is tested on three distinctive waveguide profiles written on the same Acrylamide/Polyvinyl Alcohol based photopolymer with different exposures.     

First-principles study of thiophene on β-SiC (0 0 1)-(2×1) surface

In this work, we performed density functional calculations to examine the molecular adsorption states of thiophene on β-SiC(0 0 1)-2×1 surface. A number of possible adsorption geometries are considered into two groups as the polymeric thiophene chain and the individual molecules covalently bonded onto the surface. The results show that the polymeric chain on the surface is the less stable adsorption case and individual arch like adsorption case structure is more stable than others. In all adsorption cases, the adsorbed SiC surfaces are characterized as different semiconductors.     

Scaling characteristics of ocean wave height time series

Fluctuations in the significant wave height can be quantified by using scaling statistics. In this paper, the scaling properties of the significant wave height were explored by using a large data set of hourly series from 25 monitoring stations located off the west coast of the US. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was used to investigate the scaling properties of the series. DFA is a robust technique that can be used to detect long-range correlations in nonstationary time series. The significant wave height data was analyzed by using scales from hourly to monthly. It was found that a common scaling behavior can be observed for all stations. A breakpoint in the scaling region around 4-5 days was apparent. Spectral analysis confirms this result. This breakpoint divided the scaling region into two distinct parts. The first part was for finer scales (up to 4 days) which exhibited Brown noise characteristics, while the second one showed 1/f noise behavior at coarser scales (5 days to 1 month). The first order and the second order DFA (DFA1 and DFA2) were used to check the effect of seasonality. It was found that there were no differences between DFA1 and DFA2 results, indicating that there is no effect of trends in the wave height time series. The resulting scaling coefficients range from 0.696 to 0.890 indicating that the wave height exhibits long-term persistence. There were no coherent spatial variations in the scaling coefficients.