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Found 6273 publications
Effect of Different Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria on Biological Soil Properties, Growth, Yield and Quality of Oregano (Origanum onites L.)
Publication Name: Agronomy
Publication Date: 2023-10-01
Volume: 13
Issue: 10
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Intensive agriculture uses continuous chemical fertilizers to increase crop yields, but excessive use of fertilizers leads to environmental pollution, permanent changes in physicochemical conditions in soil ecology, deterioration of soil biological health, leaching of nutrients, surface and groundwater pollution and eutrophication. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are becoming increasingly important for ensuring crop safety, increasing nutrient uptake and output, lowering fertilizer costs, preventing environmental contamination and promoting sustainable agriculture and agricultural resources. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate the effects of fifteen bacteria strains that were isolated from various acidic rhizospheric soils as biofertilizers on soil biological properties. Growth, yield and quality traits were analyzed, and various PGPR were identified using 16S ribosomal RNA of Turkish oregano. Fifteen bacterial inoculations with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase, N2 -fixing, P-solubilizing and/or IAA-producing genes were used in the experiment, which was carried out in a randomized block design with five replicates (each with three pots) and a control without inoculation. Increased biological activity in soil inoculated with bacteria with multiple traits was confirmed by high C and N content in microbial biomass, urease, dehydrogenase and acid and alkaline phosphatase activities. Essential oil content, oil yield, thymol and carvacrol contents increased by 0.5–40.1%, 5.9–71.9%, 0.07–16.7% and 0.3–9.2%, respectively, as a result of bacterial inoculation. Oil content ranged from 2.02% to 2.83%; carvacrol (66.1–72.2%) was the main constituent, followed by thymol (14.5–16.9%) and linalool (1.38–3.68%). Two large PGPR groups were formed based on genetic distance analysis. Responses were variable and depended on the inoculant strain and the parameters being evaluated. The results indicate PGPR has clear potential for improving the yield of cultivated aromatic and essential oil plants, such as oregano.
Open Access: Yes
The Value of Transvaginal Ultrasonography in Management of Preterm Birth in Singletons
Publication Name: Donald School Journal of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Publication Date: 2023-10-01
Volume: 17
Issue: 4
Page Range: 332-340
Description:
Prematurity, which occurs in about 12% of pregnancies worldwide, continues to be one of the leading causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Preterm birth (PTB) can still be considered a syndrome with a variety of causes and underlying factors, which results in mostly unnoticed contraction of the uterus and changes in the cervix. Despite considerable effort aimed at decreasing the incidence of spontaneous PTB, PTB remains the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. In light of the available data, screening strategies for PTB are deficient. Approaches used to identify women considered by historical factors to be low risk for preterm delivery, as well as those at high risk for PTB, continue to evolve. Ultrasound evaluation of the cervix during pregnancy has been the focus of much research during the past decades. Cervical measurement by transvaginal sonography (TVS) has been shown to be a good predictive test for spontaneous PTB in high-and low-risk singleton pregnancy. Cervical shortening, which is often detected on ultrasound examination before it can be appreciated on physical examination, is one of the first steps in the processes leading to labor and can precede labor by several weeks. This is likewise true for funneling and loss of cervical gland area, which cannot be assessed with the physical examination. Therefore, all of these markers, especially if they are used together, can be useful to predict PTB and start adequate therapy as soon as possible to prevent spontaneous preterm delivery.
Open Access: Yes
Laboratory tests on properties of innovative natural thermal insulation material
Publication Name: Pollack Periodica
Publication Date: 2023-07-11
Volume: 18
Issue: 2
Page Range: 125-130
Description:
Nowadays, there is an increasing demand on environmentally friendly materials, so the environmentally conscious architecture and the use of environmentally friendly materials have also become preferred. It is becoming increasingly important to turn from artificial materials to products made from renewable raw materials. The straw quilt, which is considered to be a new, innovative product on the Hungarian construction market, can provide an alternative for this need. The aim of this research was to investigate the material properties and possible uses of straw quilt thermal insulation. Laboratory tests were performed before the product was placed on the market. The results have shown that it has several advantageous properties that can make it competitive in the market of thermal insulation materials.
Open Access: Yes
Resources curse and sustainable development perspective: Fresh evidence from oil rich countries
Publication Name: Resources Policy
Publication Date: 2023-08-01
Volume: 85
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
In recent years, many regions that are rich in natural resources have fallen behind other countries that have fewer natural resources in terms of economic growth. This study examines the role of resource rents on national income of Arab world over the period of 1989–2021. We use mineral and oil rents to capture the resource rents. In order to determine the long-term effects of resource rents on the national income of the Arab world, this study employs the econometric methods of DOLS and FMOLS. In addition to that, the FMOLS approach, which is an asymptotically unbiased and effective estimator, is utilized throughout this study. These approaches can help to address some of the issues that arise in the analysis of time series data, is used in this study to control for endogeneity as well as serial correlation. We find that oil rents are harmful for economic growth, which approves the resource curse phenomena in case of Arab world. The abundance of natural resources in the Arab world could persuade its officials to spend more money on consumption and less on investments in physical capital, which would be detrimental to economic progress. Moreover, reliance on natural resources can lead to a scenario known as the Dutch Disease.
Open Access: Yes
Towards closed-loop concrete recycling: Life cycle assessment and multi-criteria analysis
Publication Name: Journal of Cleaner Production
Publication Date: 2023-07-15
Volume: 410
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
In this study, a wide-ranging life cycle assessment and multi-criteria analysis for close-loop cycling of concrete are conducted. Considering six performance keys in the technical (compressive strength at short and long ages), environmental (human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, resources), and economic (costs), a solid framework is created and analyzed by three multi-criteria decision-making techniques, namely, TOPSIS, VIKOR, and EDAS. The weight that must be taken into account for each of the applied criteria depends on the specific application and the demands of the user. Nevertheless, two different weighted methods, namely, the equal performance method and the entropy method, have been employed in this work to optimize for various construction-related applications, specifically sustainable residential buildings and residential housing. The findings demonstrate that the concrete mixtures produced with 20% FA+12% SF and MRCA incorporation are the best in terms of the criteria used for all applied techniques and the two weighted methods. This study demonstrates that multi-criteria decision-making techniques are simple to apply, requiring minimal time and effort and focusing on the finished result, allowing users to choose the best concrete mixtures. The proposed framework recommends the closed-loop recycling of concrete by introducing supplementary cementitious materials for sustainable, economical, and performance-based design applications.
Open Access: Yes
Stability focused evaluation and tuning of special ground vehicle tracking algorithms
Publication Name: IFAC Papersonline
Publication Date: 2023-07-01
Volume: 56
Issue: 2
Page Range: 9282-9287
Description:
This paper deals with a special tracking problem when a ground vehicle should be tracked by a multicopter flying ahead of the vehicle. Pre-designed vehicle route is assumed and the UAV stops or slows down at every intersection to react to route changes. After introducing the problem, the methods applied in a real flight demonstration in the Smart City module of ZalaZONE proving ground are presented. Then new methods are introduced to possibly improve performance. The main focus of the article is the evaluation of the stability of the methods and the provision of tuning guidelines. All of the introduced methods is tuned based-on the guidelines considering real ground vehicle test data and the high fidelity simulation of the applied multicopter. The two best methods are compared in detail and guidelines of their applicability are provided.
Open Access: Yes
The Concept of Financial Stability in Theory and Law
Publication Name: Financial and Economic Review
Publication Date: 2023-06-28
Volume: 22
Issue: 2
Page Range: 54-76
Description:
State intervention in the functioning of the economy is necessarily based on some public interests, which may serve as a reason for restrictive state action against the individual, or their freedoms and rights. In legislation, financial stability can be identified as a form of public interest, whereby the need to define the substance of the concept is expressed as an expectation towards the legislator, all the more so because it forms the basis of significant administrative intervention of the public authority type. The study analyses how the concept of financial stability appears in the literature, in legislation and in legal enforcement. Although the concept of financial stability is strongly reflected in the theoretical literature and even in legislation and legal enforcement, its substance is difficult to capture and has evolved constantly. In view of the above, the author offers a definition for the general legal concept of financial stability.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.33893/FER.22.2.54
Performance Optimization of Lignocellulosic Fiber-Reinforced Brake Friction Composite Materials Using an Integrated CRITIC-CODAS-Based Decision-Making Approach
Publication Name: Sustainability Switzerland
Publication Date: 2023-06-01
Volume: 15
Issue: 11
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
A hybrid multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) framework, namely “criteria importance through inter-criteria correlation-combinative distance-based assessment” (CRITIC-CODAS) is introduced to rank automotive brake friction composite materials based on their physical and tribological properties. The ranking analysis was performed on ten brake friction composite material alternatives that contained varying proportions (5% and 10% by weight) of hemp, ramie, pineapple, banana, and Kevlar fibers. The properties of alternatives such as density, porosity, compressibility, friction coefficient, fade-recovery performance, friction fluctuation, cost, and carbon footprint were used as selection criteria. An increase in natural fiber content resulted in a decrease in density, along with an increase in porosity and compressibility. The composite with 5 wt.% Kevlar fiber showed the highest coefficient of friction, while the 5 wt.% ramie fiber-based composites exhibited the lowest levels of fade and friction fluctuations. The wear performance was highest in the composite containing 10 wt.% Kevlar fiber, while the composite with 10 wt.% ramie fiber exhibited the highest recovery. The results indicate that including different fibers in varying amounts can affect the evaluated performance criteria. A hybrid CRITIC-CODAS decision-making technique was used to select the optimal brake friction composite. The findings of this approach revealed that adding 10 wt.% banana fiber to the brake friction composite can give the optimal combination of evaluated properties. A sensitivity analysis was performed on several weight exchange scenarios to see the stability of the ranking results. Using Spearman’s correlation with the ranking outcomes from other MCDM techniques, the suggested decision-making framework was further verified, demonstrating its effectiveness and stability.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3390/su15118880
Mental and physical health of yoga practitioners women in relation to exercise parameters
Publication Name: Mentalhigiene Es Pszichoszomatika
Publication Date: 2023-05-19
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
Page Range: 58-74
Description:
Introduction: Numerous international studies have shown that yoga practice has a positive effect on the physical and mental condition of healthy people and can play a role in the complementary treatment of certain diseases with appropriate guidance. Research on yoga practitioners has found positive correlations between several health indicators and the frequency of yoga practice and, in part, the yoga practice time. In terms of women s health, yoga has been shown to have a positive effect in relieving depression, anxiety and stress and several somatic symptoms. Objective: The aim of our study is to assess the subjective mental and physical symptoms of the health of Hungarian women practicing yoga, and to examine the associations between these variables between groups separated by yoga time and frequency. Methods: The study sample consisted of 457 healthy women with a mean age of 42.28 years (SD = 11.72), yoga practitioners 72%, and yoga instructors 27.7%. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Self-rated Health, and the Patient Health Questionnaire Somatic Symptom Severity Scale (PHQ-15) were used to measure the variables. Differences between the formed groups were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: We found a statistically significant difference between the three yoga time groups (beginner 1-6 months, intermediate 7-35 months, advanced ≥3 years) in depression (x2(2, n = 457) = 23.205, p < 0.001), anxiety (x2( 2, n = 457) = 9.489, p = 0.009), stress (x2(2, n = 457) = 27.224, p < 0.001), positive affect (x2(2, n = 456) = 7.689, p = 0.021), negative affect (x2( 2, n = 456) = 46.177, p < 0.001), self-rated health (x2(2, n = 457) = 28.862, p < 0.001) and somatic symptoms (x2(2, n = 455) = 26.022, p < 0.001) score. We also found a significant differences between the two yoga frequency groups (1-2 times per week and 3-7 times per week) in depression (U(1) = 19148.50, n1 = 161, n2 = 295, Z =-3.508, p < 0.001), stress (U(1) = 19588.50, n1 = 161, n2 = 295, Z =-3.107, p = 0.002), positive affect (U(1) = 18189.00, n1 = 161, n2 = 294, Z =-4.090, p < 0.001), negative affect (U(1) = 18456.50, n1 = 161, n2 = 294, Z =-3.894, p < 0.001), self-rated health (U(1) = 18244.00, n1 = 161, n2 = 295, Z =-4.873, p < 0.001) and somatic symptoms (U(1) = 19777.50, n1 = 160, n2 = 294, Z =-2.817, p = 0.005). A medium effect size difference was observed for negative affectivity and small effect size differences were observed for the other measured variables. Conclusions: Yoga could be recommended for relieving depression, anxiety, stress, and somatic symptoms, as well as a possible coping strategy for dealing with stress for healthy women. The results suggest that prolonged yoga practice (in years) or repeated physical exercises of yoga (asana) several times a week (3 or more times) may provide the greatest health benefits.
Open Access: Yes
