Gypsum is hydrated calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 • 2H 2 O), and is often marketed as a soil " conditioner " for improving soil " tilth. " Compared to most other calcium-rich soil amendments, such as limestone, gypsum is relatively soluble in water, dissolving up to 2 g per liter. The solu-bility of gypsum, when either incorporated or surface applied, permits a quick release of calcium (Ca 2+) and sul...

Abstract Introduction Platelet aggregation plays a significant role in the etiology of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, treatments to inhibit platelet aggregation can reduce the risk of coronary thrombosis. Several studies indicated that garlic can inhibit platelet aggregation. This study aimed to determine the effect of garlic in comparison with Plavix on platelet aggregation. Materials ...

protein aggregation and precipitation is associated with many debilitating diseases including alzheimer's, parkinson's, and light-chain amyloidosis. β-casein, a member of the casein family, has been demonstrated to exhibit chaperone-like activity to protect protein form aggregation. hofmeister salts (lyotropice series) are a class of ions which have an effect on the solubility and also the stab...

Soil nematode species diversity is often high, both at ecosystem and single soil-core scales. First, how can so many species coexist? There is evidence of niche partitioning, notably of physical space, but vast interspecific overlaps and trait plasticity seem equally common. It appears that coexistence of species with similar resource needs is made possible by small-scale disturbance and predat...

Water movement and storage within an agricultural watershed can be simulated at different spatial resolutions of land areas or hydrological response units (HRUs). Interactions between HRUs in space and time vary with the HRU sizes, such that natural scaling relationships are confounded with the simulation scales. Scaling concepts can be tested using the AgroEcoSystemWatershed (AgES-W) model wit...

Arid soils in Egypt display large variability in solute transport properties, causing problems in soil management. To characterize this variability, dye infiltration experiments were conducted on four plots representing three main soil types in northeastern Egypt. The plots represented both cultivated and uncultivated land use. The observed dye patterns displayed a large variability and especia...

The importance of niche vs. neutral assembly mechanisms in structuring tropical tree communities remains an important unsettled question in community ecology [Bell G (2005) Ecology 86:1757-1770]. There is ample evidence that species distributions are determined by soils and habitat factors at landscape (<10(4) km(2)) and regional scales. At local scales (<1 km(2)), however, habitat factors and ...

We develop wireless sensor network, control system, and data analysis technologies for dynamic and near-real-time validation of space-borne soil moisture measurements, in particular those from the Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) mission. Soil moisture fields are functions of variables that change over time across the range of scales from a few meters to several kilometers. We develop se...

background: gavkhooni marsh is one of the most important marshes in iran. in the recent years, natural conditions of this marsh have been affected by agricultural and industrial activities in zayandehrood river catchment areas. this research was carried out in 2006 to assess some chemical parameters and the heavy metals concentration in water, soil, and plants in the area and to compare the res...