We developed a zero-dimensional semi-empirical model to describe the gas phase kinetics in an argon plasma jet flowing into humid air. The model includes an extended plasma chemistry set of 84 different species and 1885 reactions. The density profiles of the biomedically active species are presented for a typical plasma jet device, and the effects of O2, N2 or H2O admixtures to the argon feed g...

We estimated the aerial biomass and stored carbon in twelve types of forests in the department of Córdoba with annual rain fall ranging from 3000 mm (super humid climates) to 1300 mm (semihumid climate). Biomass was estimated based on structural aspects of the vegetation (diameter at breast height, total height, and wood specific weight). We tested nine allometric equations for tropical forests...

Spiders are a megadiverse group that can be useful indicators of the overall species richness and health of biotic communities. The spider diversity in subtropical forests of the Neotropical region are not yet well known, especially in Argentinean subtropical forests where systematic fieldwork has not been done until recently. The Great Chaco is very important as the unique dry subtropical fore...

J. Kihara et al. (eds.), Improving Soil Fertility Recommendations in Africa using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2960-5_3, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012 Abstract Africa is the continent with the lowest fertilizer use per hectare notwithstanding the fact it possesses geologically old, infertile and degraded soils. This c...

Welcome, dear readers, to the third issue of the current 22nd volume of our journal. As I write, the heat and humidity of summer are slowly giving way the cooler nights which presage the first welcome days of autumn. The Japanese semi (cicadas) are singing away during their short but frenetic 72 hours of life above the ground, but the droning “meeee-meeee” semi of high summer is giving way to t...

The description of soil moisture dynamics is a challenging problem for the hydrological community, as it is governed by complex interactions between climate, soil and vegetation. Recent research has achieved significant advances in the description of temporal dynamics of soil water balance through the use of a stochastic differential equation proposed by Laio et al. (2001). The assumptions of t...

introduction: toxoplasma gondii is one of the most important foodborne pathogens. toxoplasmosis causes abortion and neonatal loss in livestock and imposes significant losses to farming industry. prevalence of t. gondii in sheep and goats was investigated in three adjacent geographical areas within gilan province in north of iran. methods: serum samples were collected from 247 sheep and 155 goat...