Assessing the Environmental Impact of Extensive Beef Production in Grazing Lands of Argentina

Because of environmental constraints,beef cattle was for more than a century the only viable farming option in the extensive semiarid and subhumid lands of Argentina and the main source of nutrients for humans as well.However,a growing concern and criticism have risen today about its possible negative impact on the climate and the environment.These worries tend to affect current public opinions,national policies,and international trade.Based on 40 beef cattle farms scattered across different semiarid and subhumid regions of Argentina,here we evaluated the impact of extensive cattle production on carbon,water,and nutrient pollution.Life-Cycle Assessment(LCA)and Land-Based Assessment(LBA)were the two approaches we used here to compare the environmental impact of beef production.While the environmental footprint(EF)resulting from LCA expresses the impact per unit of food,the environmental balance(EB),derived from LBA,aims at quantifying the impact per unit of land.As such,the EB considers both negative and positive impacts on the farm as an integrated system.Following standardized procedures,we evaluated EF and EB up to the farm gate,leaving aside delocalized post-farm impacts such as those of processing,packaging,and transportation that occur beyond the farm gate.In agreement with previous evidence,our results show that the EF tends to decrease as per-head production increases.Correlation coefficients and statistical significance were the following for carbon(R=−0.574;p<0.01),water(R=−0.561;p<0.01),and N(R=−0.704;p<0.01)and Phosphorus(P)pollution(R=−0.802;p<0.01)footprints.On the contrary,the EB seems to be highly sensitive,and as per-hectare beef production increases.Correlations were the following for carbon emissions(CE:R=0.955;p<0.01),water consumption(WC:R=0.822;p<0.01),nitrogen excretion(NE:R=0.948;p<0.01)and phosphorus excretion(PE:R=0.945;p<0.01).What our results suggest is that the notion of EF is useful to evaluate the environmental impact in intensive beef production systems,and the EB is suitable to assess the impact of the extensive ones.In practice,both approaches provide different perspectives on the environmental-impact problem and they should be complementary used.We concluded that the methodological rigidity of EF does not allow proper discrimination among farms in the extensive systems.On the contrary,the EB approach tended to be highly sensitive to detecting differences between individual farms and farmers,thus allowing the identification of successful options for extensive beef production in terms of public image,policy-making,and commercial opportunities.

Generation of input spectrum for electrolysis stack degradation test applied to wind power PEM hydrogen production

Hydrogen production by proton exchange membrane electrolysis has good fluctuation adaptability,making it suitable for hydrogen production by electrolysis in fluctuating power sources such as wind power.However,current research on the durability of proton exchange membrane electrolyzers is insufficient.Studying the typical operating conditions of wind power electrolysis for hydrogen production can provide boundary conditions for performance and degradation tests of electrolysis stacks.In this study,the operating condition spectrum of an electrolysis stack degradation test cycle was proposed.Based on the rate of change of the wind farm output power and the time-averaged peak-valley difference,a fluctuation output power sample set was formed.The characteristic quantities that played an important role in the degradation of the electrolysis stack were selected.Dimensionality reduction of the operating data was performed using principal component analysis.Clustering analysis of the data segments was completed using an improved Gaussian mixture clustering algorithm.Taking the annual output power data of wind farms in Northwest China with a sampling rate of 1 min as an example,the cyclic operating condition spectrum of the proton-exchange membrane electrolysis stack degradation test was constructed.After preliminary simulation analysis,the typical operating condition proposed in this paper effectively reflects the impact of the original curve on the performance degradation of the electrolysis stack.This study provides a method for evaluating the degradation characteristics and system efficiency of an electrolysis stack due to fluctuations in renewable energy.

Air-condition process for scalable fabrication of CdS/ZnS 1D/2D heterojunctions toward efficient and stable photocatalytic hydrogen production

We report the scalable fabrication of CdS/ZnS 1D/2D heterojunctions under ambient air conditions(i.e.,room temperature and atmospheric pressure)in which ZnS nanoparticles are anchored on the surface of CdS nanosheets.The as-formed heterojunctions exhibit a significantly enhanced photocatalytic H_(2) evolution rate of 14.02 mmol h^(-1) g^(-1) when irradiated with visible light,which is~10 and 85 times higher than those of pristine CdS nanosheets and CdS nanoparticles,respectively,and superior to most of the CdS-based photocatalysts reported to date.Furthermore,they provide robust photocatalytic performance with demonstratable stability over 58 h,indicating their potential for practical applications.The formation of 1D/2D heterojunctions not only provides improved exposed active sites that respond to illumination but also provides a rapid pathway to generate photogenerated carriers for efficient separation and transfer through the matrix of single-crystalline CdS nanosheets.In addition,first-principles simulations demonstrate that the existence of rich Zn vacancies increases the energy level of the ZnS valence band maximum to construct type-II and Z-scheme mixed heterojunctions,which plays a critical role in suppressing the recombination of carriers with limited photocorrosion of CdS to enhance photocatalytic behavior.

Effects of Culture Conditions on Growth and Docosahexaenoic Acid Production from Schizochytrium limacinum

The effects of temperature, initial pH, salinity of culture medium, and carbon and nitrogen sources on growth and doco- sahexaenoic acid (C22 : 6 n-3, DHA) production from Schizochytrium limacinum OUC88 were investigated in the present study. The results revealed that the optimal temperature, initial pH and salinity level of the medium for DHA production were 23℃, 7.0 and 18, respectively. Glucose was proved the best carbon source for the growth and DHA production from S. limacinum. Among the nitrogen sources tested, soybean cake hydrolysate, a cheap by-product, was found to be effective for the accumulation of DHA in S. lima- cinum cells. In addition, increasing the concentration of carbon sources in the medium caused a significant increase in cell biomass; however, accumulation of DHA in cells was mainly stimulated by the ratio of C/N in the medium. Under the optimal culture condi- tions, the maximum DHA yield achieved in flasks was 4.08 g L-1 after 5 d of cultivation.

Biological characteristics of marine bacterium S-9801 strain and its culture conditions of pigment production

Strain of Flavobacterium sp.(S-9801),was screened from 207 strains of marine bacteria isolated from the Bohai Sea continental shelf and the Zhujiang Estuary,for its red pigment production.The biological characteristics of strain S-9801 and culture conditions of pigment production have been checked out in this study. The color of the bacterial colony on 2216E medium was from coccineus to rose bengal. Optimum culture conditions were sodium chloride concentration(g/dm3),10～30;pH,3～8;temperature,25～28℃;tryptone and yeast extract as nitrogen sources and glucose as carbon source. Under optimum conditions,pigment accumulation started after 12 h,reaching a maximum rate of synthesis at 36 h.

Optimization of Culture Conditions for Production of Cellulase by a Thermophilic Bacillus Strain

The production of cellulase in Bacillus amyloliquefaciens UNPDV-22 was optimized using response surface methodology （RSM）. Central composite design （CCD） was used to study the interactive effect of culture conditions （temperature, pH, and inoculum） on cellulase activity. Results suggested that temperature and pH all have significant impact on cellulase production. The use of RSM resulted in a 96% increase in the cellulase activity over the control of non-optimized basal medium. Optimum cellulase production of 13 U/mL was obtained at a temperature of 42.24 ℃, pH of 5.25, and inoculum size of 4.95% （v/v） in a fermentation medium containing wheat bran, soybean meal and malt dextrin as major nutritional factors.

Agricultural production structure,market conditions and farmers’nutritional intake in rural China

Nutrition poverty alleviation is an effective measure to improve the nutritional status of economically disadvantaged individuals,fundamentally improving their health and reducing poverty.Based on the Entitlement Theory and using the China Health and Nutrition Survey(CHNS)data,this paper examines the relationship between farmers’nutritional intake,production structure and regional market conditions.Results show that farmers with diversified production have better nutritional intake than those who specialize.Furthermore,the correlation between regional market conditions and nutritional intake varies between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged households.Market conditions significantly influence the carbohydrate and fat intake of economically disadvantaged households and are positively associated with the dietary structure and nutritional intake of non-economically disadvantaged ones.Moreover,income is positively correlated with the nutritional intake of non-economically disadvantaged households but not with economically disadvantaged ones.

Optimization of Cellulase Production Conditions in Bacteria Isolated from Soils in Brazzaville

Objective: The objective of the present study is to optimize cellulase production in five strains: (Pantoea dispersa MLTBY6 (MT646430.1);Pseudomonas aeruginosa MLTBM2 (MT646431.1);Pseudomonas monteilii MLTBC10 (MT674682.1);Bacillus subtilis MLTBC5 (MT674681.1) and Lysinibacillus fusiformis MLTBB7 selected cellulase producers isolated from soils in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. Materials and Methods: The cellulolytic activity of the selected cellulase-producing strains was determined by transferring the strains to a petri dish containing CMC culture medium with the following composition: cellulose 1%, K2HPO4 0.2%, MgSO4 0.03%, peptone 1%, (NH4)2SO4 0.2% adjusted to a pH value of 7, previously poured and then frozen. The dishes were incubated in an oven at 37°C for 48 hours. The petri dishes were then flooded with 1% lugol for 15 minutes. A positive reading is indicated by the formation of a hydrolysis zone, the diameters of the hydrolysis zone were measured with a ruler. Strains with a broad lysis spectrum were selected. Optimisation of cellulase production by five bacterial strains isolated from the soil was done using the following factors: temperature and pH. Results: The production of cellulase showed that these strains showed a high production of cellulase at pH values between 5.6 and 9 with an optimum of pH = 8 and temperature values between 35°C and 40°C with an optimum at temperature t = 40°C. Of the carbon sources used, two sources, namely glucose and galactose, showed a high production of cellulase compared to the other carbon sources. However, the two nitrogen sources, ammonium sulphate and urea, were favourable for cellulase production by all five strains. Fe2+, CO2+, Zn2+ ions are favourable for cellulase production by these strains, with a referendum for Fe2+. Conclusion: From these results, we conclude that the sources of carbon (glucose and galactose), nitrogen (ammonium sulphate and urea) and ions (Fe2+, CO2+, Zn2+) added to these five strains were the elements favouring the good production of cellulase.

Biogenic Amines Profile of Serbian Traditional Sausage in Relation to Raw Material and Production Conditions

Petrovska klobasa is a traditional dry fermented sausage produced in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Formation of nine hiogenic amines was determined in three sausage groups produced from hot deboned （A1） and cold meat （B1, B3） during drying and ripening in traditional room （A1, B1） and in industrial ripening chamber （B3）. Dansyl chloride derived amines were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detector （HPLC-DAD） on Eclipse XDB-C18 column. Histamine, the most important amine from food safety point of view, was not found in any of the analyzed samples. Serotonin and spermidine were also not detected in any samples, while spermin was determined in all analyzed samples. At the end of drying, phenylethylamine was the predominant amine in A1 sausage group （51.6 mg/kg）, and tryptamine in B1 （38.1 mg/kg） and B3 （28.7 mg/kg） sausage groups. At the end of ripening, tryptamine was the predominant biogenic amine in all sausage groups （133, 121 and 39.8 mg/kg in A1, B1 and B3 groups, respectively）. Total level of biogenic amines in all investigated sausages did not exceed 174 mg/kg at the end of drying and 238 mg/kg at the end of ripening period. Tryptamine and cadaverine may be used as indicators of total biogenic amines for sausages produced in traditional and indusrial conditions from hot deboned and cold meat.

Study on the relationship between Toona sinensis Roem stand productivity and site conditions in Sichuan Basin

According to the relationship between Toona sinensis Roem stand volume,productivity and forest age,site conditions,stand density and other factors,through selecting 8 representative cities or counties,using standard investigation and stem analysis method,this paper makes relatively systematic research about the Toona sinensis Roem plantation accumulation,productivity,and the relationship between them and site conditions.Through comparative analysis indicators of multiple site conditions,this paper expects to give a more comprehensive picture about the source of accumulation and productivity difference.

Cycloheximide prevents production of arresting,a fraction of 30-50 kDa obtained from seminiferous tubule conditioned medium

Aim: To evaluate the effect of a protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide on arresting activity in spermato-genesis and sperm count in male rats. Methods: The study used seminiferous tubule (ST) segments from adult rats cultured in vitro with or without cycloheximide to condition culture media, which have been concentrated, size fractioned (30-50 kDa) and administered 7 days to adult rats by intraperitoneal injections. The effects on testicular and epididymal weights, spermatogenesis and epididymal sperm count were determined. Results: The fraction (30-50 kDa), named arresting, obtained from the culture without cycloheximide decreased testicular and epididymal weights (P<0.01) and reduced the epididymal sperm count significantly. Study of the spermatogenic cycle by transillumination showed spermatogenic arrest at stage VII in rats treated with arresting compared to that observed in controls. The length of stage VII in the group receiving the seminiferous tubules culture media with cycloheximide (30-50 KDa CHX-STCM fraction) was similar to control. Conclusion: The difference in the effect may be the result of the presence or absence of arresting, a protein secreted by the tubules.

Solution of the Matrix Second Semi-Tensor Product Equation A ∘ l X ∘ l B=C

In this paper, the solution of the matrix second semi-tensor product equation A∘lX∘lB=Cis studied. Firstly, the solvability of the matrix-vector second semi-tensor product equation is investigated. At the same time, the compatibility conditions, the sufficient and necessary conditions and the specific solution methods for the matrix solution are given. Secondly, we further consider the solvability of the second semi-tensor product equation of the matrix. For each part, several examples are given to illustrate the validity of the results.

Development of Maintenance Management Strategy Based on Reliability Centered Maintenance for Marginal Oilfield Production Facilities

The present work adopted Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) methodology to evaluate marginal oilfield Early Production Facility (EPF) system to properly understand its functional failures and to develop an efficient maintenance strategy for the system. The outcome of the RCM conducted for a typical EPF within the Niger Delta zone of Nigeria provides an indication of equipment whose failure can significantly affect operations at the production facility. These include the steam generation unit and the wellhead choke assembly, using a risk-based failure Criticality Analysis. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) was conducted for the identified critical equipment on a component basis. Each component of the equipment was analyzed to identify the failure modes, causes and the effect of the failure. The outcome of the FMEA analysis aided the development of a robust maintenance management strategy, which is based on an optimized mix of corrective, preventive and condition-based monitoring maintenance for the marginal oilfield EPF.

Investigating the Impact of Familiarity and Product Conditions on The Ease of Use of a Product

Ease of use is one of the main criteria that customers consider when making a purchase decision.To provide a pleasant experience to the customers,offering products or services consisting of advanced features and functions is no longer enough,due to the existing competition in the global market.In reality,the ease of use of any product is influenced by the conditions of the product and the familiarity of the user.This study examines the influence of the familiarity and the product conditions on the ease of use of a product.This only explains how the conditions of the product and the familiarity of the user,influence on the ease of use of a product when the usage hours of a product increases.A case study would be conducted to validate the results.The results of this study indicate that in the case where both the product conditions and the familiarity has been varied,the ease of use of the product has been increased from 0.229 to 0.380 gradually within the 10 weeks period.Through these results valuable guidance could be obtained by the manufacturers to identify how the ease of use level of a product deviates from the standard level when the usage hours of the product would increase.

Research on typical operating conditions of hydrogen production system with off-grid wind power considering the characteristics of proton exchange membrane electrolysis cell

Hydrogen energy,with its abundant reserves,green and low-carbon characteristic,high energy density,diverse sources,and wide applications,is gradually becoming an important carrier in the global energy transformation and development.In this paper,the off-grid wind power hydrogen production system is considered as the research object,and the operating characteristics of a proton exchange membrane(PEM)electrolysis cell,including underload,overload,variable load,and start-stop are analyzed.On this basis,the characteristic extraction of wind power output data after noise reduction is carried out,and then the self-organizing mapping neural network algorithm is used for clustering to extract typical wind power output scenarios and perform weight distribution based on the statistical probability.The trend and fluctuation components are superimposed to generate the typical operating conditions of an off-grid PEM electrolytic hydrogen production system.The historical output data of an actual wind farm are used for the case study,and the results confirm the feasibility of the method proposed in this study for obtaining the typical conditions of off-grid wind power hydrogen production.The results provide a basis for studying the dynamic operation characteristics of PEM electrolytic hydrogen production systems,and the performance degradation mechanism of PEM electrolysis cells under fluctuating inputs.

Energy efficiency evaluation based on DEA integrated factor analysis in ethylene production

Energy efficiency evaluation plays an important role in energy efficiency improvement of the ethylene production. It is observed from the actual production data that the ethylene production energy efficiency often varies with the complex production working conditions. In the favored methods for energy efficiency evaluation,DEA models may show poor resolution when directly used to evaluate the efficiency values. Therefore, a new energy efficiency evaluation method for ethylene production is proposed based on DEA integrated factor analysis with respect to operation classification. Three key factors, including raw material composition, cracking depth and load rate, are taken into account in determining the production working conditions by means of k-means algorithm. Based on the multi-working conditions mode the energy efficiency evaluation of the ethylene production is made by using DEA model, where the most related energy data are screened by factor analysis.Furthermore, the supporting decision of energy efficiency improvement is provided to the operators. The accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed method are illustrated by applying in a practical ethylene production,which gives more effective energy efficiency evaluation in the complicated working conditions of ethylene production with declined dimension of input indicators.

Expressions for Entropy Production Rate of Fuel Cells

On the basis of a general model of fuel cells, the entropy production rates of a fuel cell system under different conditions are derived by using theories of electrochemistry and thermodynamics. In order to analyze the influence of the irreversible losses existing in an actual fuel cell, the equivalent circuit of the fuel cell is introduced, so that the irreversible factor of the fuel cell may be determined directly as a function of the internal, leak and load resistances. Moreover, the maximum power output and efficiency of the fuel cell are calculated, the optimal operation of the fuel cell is discussed, and the matching condition of the load resistance is determined.

Mining Elite Alleles of Growth Duration and Productive Panicle Number per Plant by Association Mapping with Conditional Phenotypic Value in Japonica Rice

To provide genetic information and materials for breeding hybrid japonica rice with wide adaptability and strong competitive advantage of yield, elite alleles and their carrier varieties of growth duration （GD） and productive panicle number per plant （PN） were detected. A natural population composed of 94 japonica varieties was phenotyped for the GD, PN and plant height （PH） in two environments. The conditional phenotypic data were transferred by the linear model method in software QGAStation 1.0, and association mapping based on the unconditional and conditional phenotype values of GD and PN was analyzed by using general linear model in software TASSEL. A total of 34 simple sequence repeat （SSR） marker loci associated with GD and PN were detected in the two environments. Among them, 15 were associated with GD, and 19 were associated with PN. Four elite alleles of RM8095-120bp, RM7102-176bp, RM72-170bp and RM72-178bp were associated with GD, and their carrier varieties were Hongmangshajing, Nipponbare, Hongmangshajing and Nannongjing 62401, respectively. These elite alleles from the carrier varieties can shorten GD by 2.03-9.93 d when they were introduced into improved materials. RM72-182bp associated with PN was an elite allele, and its carrier variety was Xiaoqingzhong. It can increase PN by three when introduced into improved materials. Moreover, these elite alleles can be used to improve target traits without influencing another two traits.

Choice of Site for the Installation of Photovoltaic Solar Power Plants in Senegal: Consequences on Electricity Production

A theoretical analysis of the electricity production of a photovoltaic solar power plant of 22 MW for different sites in Senegal is presented. The study is carried out in two coastal regions (Dakar and Saint-Louis) and two continental regions (Mbacké and Linguère). This study is done using the RET Screen clean energy project management software climate data. The amount of electricity exported to the grid is calculated for each site. The results show that the climatic conditions of the coastal and continental regions are different from November to June. From July to October, which corresponds to the rainy season in Senegal, the climatic conditions of the coastal and continental regions are similar. The results also show that although the efficiency of photovoltaic modules is better on the coast, electricity production varies little from one site to another. Climate conditions in Senegal therefore have no impact on electricity production.

Drainage feature about coalbed methane wells in different hydrogeological conditions in Fanzhuang area

It is an important guarantee to enhance the production of coalbed methane （CBM） and reduce the project invest- ment by finding out the drainage feature about CBM wells in different hydrogeological conditions. Based on the CBM explora- tion and development data on the Fanzhuang block in southeast Qinshui Basin and combined with the seepage principle and lithology on the roof and the bottom coalbed, the mathematical model of integrated permeability was established. By perme- ability experiments of the different lithologies on the roof and the floor within the 20 m range combined with the log curves, the integrated permeability of different lithological combinations were obtained. The starting pressure gradient and permeabi- lity of the roof and the floor for different lithologies was tested by ＂differential pressure-flow method＂. The relationships be- tween the starting pressure gradient and the integrated permeability were obtained. The critical distance of limestone water penetrating into coal reservoirs was calculated. According to the drainage feature of CBM wells combined with the drainage data of some CBM wells, the results show that, when limestone water can penetrate into coal reservoirs, the daily water production is high and the daily gas production is low although there is no gas at the beginning of the drainage process, the CBM wells stop discharging water within 6 months after the gas began to come out, and the gas production is steadily improved. When limestone water can not penetrate into coal reservoirs, the daily water production is low and the daily gas production is high at the beginning of the drainage process, and it almost stops discharging water after some time when the gas come out, the daily gas production increases, and the cumulative water production is much lower.