Production Condition Research Articles

EFECTOS DEL ESTADO ENERGÉTICO Y PROTEICO SOBRE PARÁMETROS REPRODUCTIVOS Y PRESENCIA DE CETOSIS SUBCLÍNICA EN VACAS BROWN SWISS POSPARTO

This study aimed to determine protein and energy metabolites in postpartum Brown Swiss cows and their effect on the presence of subclinical ketosis and reproductive parameters. One hundred cows from four farms in the Mantaro Valley (Junín, Perú) were grouped according to parity (1, 2, 3 and 4). The variables of the metabolic profile (total proteins, blood urea nitrogen [BUN], glucose, βhydroxybutyrate [B-HB]), milk production and body condition were estimated between 7 to 60 days postpartum in 7-day intervals. Likewise, the calving-first heat interval and the pregnancy rate at first service were recorded. The determination of subclinical ketosis was based on a semi-quantitative analysis by levels of B-HB in milk (µmol/l) using a commercial kit. BUN levels ranged between 11.74 and 15.92 mg/dl, being higher in fourth parity cows (p<0.05). The averages of total protein (6.54-7.90 g/dl) were homogeneous between calvings. The glucose values presented an inverse response, being lower in cows of third and fourth parity compared to cows of first and second parity (p<0.05). Similarly, the highest levels of milk production were observed in third parity cows (14.41 ± 5.42 l/d) and fourth parity (15.43 ± 4.36 l/d) with respect to first and second calvers (p<0.05). Body condition was lower in cows with subclinical ketosis. The calving - first heat interval and the pregnancy rate at first service were lower in cows with subclinical ketosis (p<0.05).

Challenge of Using Groundwater for Buildings Air Conditioning in Subtropical Areas

Using circulating groundwater to cool air-conditioning is not new in high latitude regions but difficult in subtropical areas. Different from only using fans to remove the heat from indoor air for drier air in the high latitude region, the latent heat inside the humid air in subtropical areas makes the operation more difficult. Latent heat inside the humid air must remove away by air-conditioning including compressor and fan for cooling indoor air, which means more electrical power is required for the operation. To save total electrical power for the air-conditioning system is the main goal of this study. To use the advantage of groundwater with lower temperature to lower down the work of compressor, this research compared two ways, close/open types of water/groundwater circulation, both using groundwater to remove the heat generated by a 15RT (45 kW) air-conditioning. Full-scale tests and simulations were performed in this study to evaluate the efficiency of transferring the heat produced by air-conditioning systems to stably flowing groundwater in a grave stratum under Taipei Basin. With a closed circulating cooling water system, this study found that a 15RT air conditioner could only operate continuously for 4 h before it had to be shut down due to overheating. Additionally, groundwater must carry the heat away within the following 20 h. In changing the closed circulating water system to an open one, a system that uses a circulatory method to extract groundwater upwards and conduct heat exchange with an air conditioning system can enable the continuous operation of such a system with the same heat production condition. Numerical simulations for the heat dissipation behavior of two circulatory systems were performed herein. The results verified the aforementioned phenomena observed from both tests. The result showed both systems can provide air-conditioning working well. The total electrical power for a 15RT air-conditioning in sub-tropical areas can be reduced by 22% using circulating groundwater. Considering the system optimization, the total power consumption can be reduced by about 28%.

The expansion of innovative activity on rise of oil production enterprises in Azerbaijan

The article analysis the oil and gas production condition in the Republic on basis of statistical data of many years as well as the level of investment provision. The article estimates the structure of expenses on innovative techniques, the condition of exploitation of oil and gas boreholes, the implementation of geological and technological actions, the ways of exploitation methods as well as the methods of ledge effects and influence on extra oil production. It also shows up the reserves and ways of their rational usage. Keywords: innovative activity; geological and technological actions; oil and gas; well.

Antimicrobials use and their indications in dairy farm and individual farmer production conditions in southern India.

Antimicrobials use (AMU) is the key driver for development of antimicrobials resistant (AMR) pathogen in human and veterinary medicines. Therefore, understanding AMU pattern is prerequisite for focused intervention on AMR. The aim of this study was to understand the AMU pattern and their indications in dairy farm and individual farmer production conditions in southern India. Treatment registers of 6years (2012 to 2017) containing 3178 cases from dairy farm and 12,057 cases during 2017-2019 under individual farmer production conditions were collected and analyzed by log-linear model. Seasons were classified as rainy (Jul-Oct), winter (Nov-Feb), and summer (Mar-June) as per climatic conditions in the study area. It is observed that mastitis, lameness, and reproductive problems were major health disorders among treated animals in farm and individual farmer production conditions. Season had significant influence on proportional rates of various health disorders in crossbred cows under both the production conditions. AMU pattern was different between the breeds and production conditions. Antibiotics were the most commonly used group of drugs (23-28%) than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (20%), antihistamine (17%), and nutrient supplements (14-16%). Antibiotics were mostly used for mastitis (47-67%) than other conditions like fever (18%), reproductive problems (15%), and lameness (16%). For treating mastitis, cephalosporins and gentamicin were most commonly used under individual farmer production condition, while penicillin group was frequently used in farm. It is concluded that mastitis is the most common indication for AMU in dairy animals and thus developing appropriate guidelines for mastitis treatment and control is necessary to reduce overall AMU.

Production and characterization of biosurfactant produced by Lactobacillus lactis grown in media containing Crude Palm Oil (CPO)

Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds produced by a wide variety of diverse microorganisms. The structural diversity of biosurfactants depends on microorganisms and growth conditions (such as substrate and pH). The unique structure of biosurfactants provides unique properties for specific applications. Biosurfactant production still needs to be explored using a variety of microorganisms and growth conditions for producing the diversity of biosurfactant structures. Production and characterization of biosurfactant by Lactobacillus lactis using Crude Palm Oil (CPO) as an additional carbon source has been conducted. The optimization condition of biosurfactant production by L. lactis using media containing various concentrations of CPO was evaluated. Optical density, surface tension, and emulsification index were observed daily for 12 days. Optimal biosurfactant production condition was achieved when L. lactis was grown on media Nutrient Broth containing 10% (v/v) of CPO and incubated for 8 days. Biosurfactants were obtained for 80 mg/L media. Based on Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) analysis and Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FT-IR) Spectroscopy, produced biosurfactant was identified as a glycolipid biosurfactant containing functional groups of hydroxyl, ester, carboxylic, methyl, and methylene. Produced biosurfactants exhibited the Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) value of 1 g/L with a surface tension value of 49.46 mN/m. The emulsion system of produced biosurfactant was water in oil (w/o). The produced biosurfactant showed an emulsification index of 41-71% with soybean oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, and lubricant oil. The stable emulsion was reached up to 30 days when soybean oil, olive oil, and lubricant oil were used as the water-immiscible compound.

Production effect evaluation of shale gas fractured horizontal well under variable production and variable pressure

Most shale gas production prediction models are established on the ideal production conditions (the constant pressure and constant production condition), deviating from the production performance characteristics of shale gas wells with variable production and pressure and leading to large error in unknown model parameter inversion of the actual shale gas wells, and obviously showing great limitations in characterizing the dynamic production performance and predicting EUR of shale gas wells for variable production-pressure. Furthermore, the material balance equation is more common in solving the variable production and pressure of shale gas wells issues, but it is only suitable for characterizing boundary flow. In this paper, a semi-analytical productivity prediction model of shale gas well for constant pressure was established and validated by the practical production data. Then the material balance pseudo time and linear superposition pseudo time were introduced respectively to modify the true pseudo time in the proposed productivity prediction model to demonstrate that the linear superposition pseudo time was proper to obtain the unknown fracture inversion parameters compared to material balance pseudo time during the variable pressure-production of actual shale gas wells. Finally, the Monte Carlo method in the IHS numerical software was adopted to analyze the impact of the fracture half-length uncertainty on the probability distribution of EUR, which showed that the P50 value is closer to the deterministic EUR value predicted by the analytical production prediction model. Research indicates that it is of certain theoretical reference to reduce the risk of production prediction during the production of shale gas wells and guide the optimization of development plans.

The influence of the cooperation between the military-Industrial complex and agro-industrial on the environment in the Russian Federation

The relevance of the research topic is due to the strategic importance of the transition of Russian agro-industrial complex to innovative development path, which involves the formation of cooperative ties with the military-industrial complex as a driver of new technological solutions. Statement of the problem. The agro-industrial complex has a significant technological lag in terms of technological competitiveness. Statement of the problem. There is a significant technological gap in the agro-industrial complex in terms of smart growth of agribusiness based on digital technologies and solutions, which negatively affects its production, export potential and financial condition. The aim of the research is to study the development of inter-firm cooperation of military-industrial and agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation which makes its influence on the environment. The study considers domestic and foreign experience in the implementation of inter-firm cooperation of industries, an analytical review of the main indicators of development and results of cooperation between the military-industrial complex and agro-industrial complex is given. The conclusion of the scientific research identifies the main problems and prospects for the development of cooperative links of industries, taking into account the external challenges and threats to the global economy.

Technological landscape of the Russian agroindustry: how to make right digital infrastructure?

The relevance of the topic of the study is due to the strategic importance of increasing the productivity of the agro-industrial complex of Russia to ensure national food security and implementation of the policy of food import substitution, as well as overcoming the technological gap in comparison with the world leaders of agrobusiness and the soonest way to sustainable intensive growth. There is a significant technological gap in the agro-industrial complex in terms of ensuring smart growth of agribusinesses based on digital technologies and solutions, which negatively affects its production, export potential and financial condition. The purpose of the research is to study the problems and prospects of the development of digital infrastructure in the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation. The study considers the conceptual apparatus, conducted a statistical study of activity in the digitalization of agriculture by agribusiness, priority business models of agriculture in the digital economy; the assessment of investment activity with regard to the formation of digital infrastructure, the priorities for the development of digital services and solutions. The conclusion of the scientific research identifies the main problems in the formation of digital infrastructure in the agro-industrial complex.

The effect of water content and carbon source addition on lipase production from Aspergillus aculeatus Ms.11 using spent coffee ground

Lipase is one of the industrially important enzymes, however, the production needs costly substrate. To overcome the problem, we developed an effective medium formulation to produce lipase from indigenous lipolytic mould Aspergillus aculeatus Ms.11 using spent coffee ground. We observed the effect of additional glucose and olive oil, and the influence of water content on lipase production. The experiments were done using the Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) method for 7 days. The results show that optimum lipase production on substrates with additional glucose and olive oil observed on day 4 with lipase activity of 16.296 U/mL and lipase productivity of 150.32 U/g/day. The optimum water content from the results is 50%. The highest lipase activity obtained using the water content is 291.80 U/mL, while the highest lipase productivity is 106.32 U/g/day. The results showed that water content as well as the addition of glucose and olive oil, affects lipase productivity of Aspergillus aculeatus Ms.11 on spent coffee ground. Further studies to optimise the production condition are suggested.

Combining datasets in a dynamic residual feed intake model and comparison with linear model results in lactating Holstein cattle

A new method to estimate residual feed intake (RFI) was recently developed based on a multi-trait random regression model. This approach deals with the dynamic nature of the lactation, which is in contrast with classical linear approaches. However, an issue remains: pooling data across sites and years, which implies dealing with different (and sometimes unknown) diet energy contents. This will be needed for genomic evaluation. In this study, we tested whether merging two individual datasets into a larger one can lead to valuable results in comparison to analysing them on their own with the multi-trait random regression model. Three datasets were defined: the first one with 1 063 lactations, the second one with 205 lactations from a second farm and the third one combining the data of the two first datasets (1 268 lactations). The model was applied to the three datasets to estimate individual RFI as well as variance components and correlations between the four traits included in the model (fat and protein corrected milk production, BW, feed intake and body condition score), and a fixed month-year-farm effect was used to define the contemporary group. The variance components and correlations between animal effects of the four traits were very similar irrespective of the dataset used with correlations higher than 0.94 between the different datasets. The RFI estimates for animals from their single farm only were also very similar (r > 0.95) to the ones computed from the merged dataset (Dataset 3). This highlights that the contemporary group correction in the model adequately accounts for differences between the two feeding environments. The dynamic model can thus be used to produce RFI estimates from merged datasets, at least when animals are raised in similar systems. In addition, the 205 lactations from the second farm were also used to estimate the RFI with a linear approach. The RFI estimated by the two approaches were similar when the considered period was rather short (r = 0.85 for RFI for the first 84 days of lactation) but this correlation weakened as the period length grew (r = 0.77 for RFI for the first 168 days of lactation). This weakening in correlations between the two approaches when increasing the used time-period reflects that only the dynamic model permits the regression coefficients to evolve in line with the physiological changes through the lactation. The results of this study enlarge the possibilities of use for the dynamic RFI model.

Spatial Analysis of Cultivated Land Productivity and Health Condition: A Case Study of Gaoping City, China

Cultivated land production capacity (PC) is the basis for national food security. Health condition (HC) is an important parameter to indicate the ecological safety of arable land. The policy of “the trinity protection of quantity, quality, and ecology of cultivated land” is one of the important protection directions currently being implemented in China. However, the existing evaluation systems are diverse and overlapping, which mainly focus on the quality and production potential of cultivated land, with less attention paid to the health status and the relationship between them in China. In this study, a comprehensive PC evaluation system including factors such as climate, landform, soil, and utilization was constructed, and an HC evaluation system including internal and external factors was established to support the requirements of the trinity pattern protection policy. These new evaluation systems were applied in Gaoping city, China. The results showed that the average PC index was 1617.35 and ranged between 98.40 and 4321.53, with the largest area of the higher-grade accounting for 36.37% of the total cultivated land. The spatial distribution of PC showed a gradual decrease from the southwest to northeast regions. The average score of the HC of arable land in Gaoping was 79.86 and showed an increasing trend of low in the middle areas and high in the edge regions, which revealed the opposed spatial characteristics between human activity and health status. Approximately 2637.86 ha of the cultivated land was at the imbalance stage, indicating that this is where managers needed to focus. In general, the study offered a reference and a scientific basis for evaluating PC and HC and provided support information for sustainable cultivated land management.

Health Monitoring and Diagnosis System for a Small H-Type Darrieus Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine

As the wind power market grows rapidly, the importance of technology for real-time monitoring and diagnosis of wind turbines is increasing. However, most of the developed technologies and research mainly focus on large horizontal-axis wind turbines, and research conducted on small- and medium-sized wind turbines is rare. In this study, a novel low-cost and real-time health monitoring and diagnosis system for the small H-type Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine is proposed. Turbine operating conditions were classified into parked/idle and power production. In the case of the power production condition, abnormality diagnosis was performed using key monitoring parameters, including vibration, fundamental frequency, the bending stress of the tower and generator vibration. The turbine abnormalities were diagnosed in two stages by applying the alert and alarm limits, determined by referring to international standards and material properties and the long-term measurement data together.

A study of an industrial counter pressure casting process for automotive parts

Counter pressure casting (CPC) is emerging in the automotive manufacturing industry as an alternative to low-pressure die casting (LPDC) due to its reported superior capabilities in aluminum parts production. This study presents the first comprehensive investigation of how CPC's characteristic feature (applied chamber pressure) influences the fluid flow and heat transport occurring in the process and its effect on casting quality. A large amount of high-quality data was acquired from a commercial CPC process for the production of automotive suspension control arms with two process conditions (standard production and low back-pressure condition). Analysis of the data shows that there are no significant differences between the two process pressure conditions with respect to heat transfer during solidification, as-cast microstructure nor mechanical properties. Generally, in-die measured temperatures exhibited a difference within 10 °C for the two process conditions examined and the ultimate tensile strengths (UTSs) of the samples obtained from castings were within 7% for the two process conditions. Furthermore, there was no measurable difference observed in the Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacings (SDASs) obtained under the two process conditions. However, the implementation of chamber back pressure noticeably reduces the venting rate during the filling stage, leading to 12 s delay in the filling time relative to the low back-pressure condition. A computational modelling methodology, originally developed for LPDC, was applied to simulate the CPC process. The model required only an adjustment to pressure curve to account for the delay of filling owing to the reduced venting rate observed for the higher back-pressure condition. The predicted results were found to correlate well with the measured data, demonstrating that the modelling methodology is broadly applicable to permanent die casting processes.

Processes and forcing mechanisms of the carbon cycle perturbation during Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2

<p indent="0mm">Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2, ~94 Ma) was one of two global oceanic anoxic events in the Cretaceous and has been one of the most studied paleoceanographic events of the Mesozoic. Owing to the hyperthermal climate state during OAE2, it serves as a key event in the study of Earth system evolution during extreme greenhouse warmth. Recently, high temporal and spatial resolution studies and the application of globally representative paleoenvironmental proxies have permitted major advances in our understanding of the triggering mechanisms and feedbacks of the Earth system during OAE2. By reviewing these findings, this paper analyzes the detailed processes involved in the OAE2 carbon cycle perturbation and associated environmental changes to elucidate the mechanisms that forced the evolution of carbon isotopes (<italic>δ</italic>¹³C) in seawater through the event. The most remarkable feature of OAE2 is a sharp positive <italic>δ</italic>¹³C excursion recorded globally, indicating a major perturbation of carbon cycle during the event. Outgassing from massive magmatism associated with large igneous province (LIP) emplacement was the major trigger of this carbon cycle perturbation. Increased primary productivity and extensive anoxia were responsible for the long-term positive <italic>δ</italic>¹³C excursion during OAE2. Interactions between paleoenvironmental parameters, such as weathering intensity, paleotemperature, CO₂ concentration, primary productivity and seawater redox condition controlled the short-term <italic>δ</italic>¹³C changes, which are superimposed on the long-term positive excursion of the entire OAE2 event. In this paper, we present a comprehensive model for the interactions between paleoenvironment changes and <italic>δ</italic>¹³C fluctuations through OAE2. The <italic>δ</italic>¹³C curve across the OAE2 has been previously divided into six segments by Li et al. (2017), labeled as C1 to C6, among which the major carbon cycle perturbation interval spans segments C2 to C5. During segment C2, a minor negative excursion in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C with a magnitude of ~1‰ is observed in open marine settings and relates to outgassing from LIP magmatic activity. However, enhanced productivity and deoxygenation of seawater during C2, especially in restricted marine settings, promoted the preservation of organic matter and this in turn led to an increase of <italic>δ</italic>¹³C. Based on simple mass balance calculation, we suggest that a 25% increase in the burial rate of organic carbon could diminish the effects of LIP outgassing on <italic>δ</italic>¹³C values in seawater and lead to relatively stable <italic>δ</italic>¹³C values during C2 in restricted seas. Segment C3 is characterized by a rapid increase in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C values that lasted for <sc>~280 ka.</sc> Significantly enhanced biological fixation of carbon is suggested to be responsible for the positive excursion in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C. A globally recorded negative excursion in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C has been found in the middle of this segment, which is consistent with an interval of maximum weathering intensity and global cooling. We suggest that reoxygenation of bottom water owing to cooling and consequent respiration of organic carbon from enhanced continental input and organic rich sediments could be the major cause of this decrease in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C in the middle of segment C3. Within the lower part of segment C4, LIP magmatism remained active and weathering intensity decreased, which led to a return to anoxic conditions and a highly fertilized state within the oceans. Consequent high burial rate of organic matter resulted in the positive trend in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C. Meanwhile, the sediment retention potential for nutrients (e.g., P) decreased under anoxic conditions, which led to sustained high primary productivity and high <italic>δ</italic>¹³C (<italic>δ</italic>¹³C plateau) that lasted for <sc>~370 ka.</sc> After this peak in <italic>δ</italic>¹³C, nutrient supply from weathering and LIP magmatism reached a minimum threshold to maintain a productivity-anoxia feedback, which in turn led to the inevitable recovery of <italic>δ</italic>¹³C (segment C5) to pre-OAE values and the termination of OAE2.

Plant Tolerance to Drought Stress in the Presence of Supporting Bacteria and Fungi: An Efficient Strategy in Horticulture

Increasing temperature leads to intensive water evaporation, contributing to global warming and consequently leading to drought stress. These events are likely to trigger modifications in plant physiology and microbial functioning due to the altered availability of nutrients. Plants exposed to drought have developed different strategies to cope with stress by morphological, physiological, anatomical, and biochemical responses. First, visible changes influence plant biomass and consequently limit the yield of crops. The presented review was undertaken to discuss the impact of climate change with respect to drought stress and its impact on the performance of plants inoculated with plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM). The main challenge for optimal performance of horticultural plants is the application of selected, beneficial microorganisms which actively support plants during drought stress. The most frequently described biochemical mechanisms for plant protection against drought by microorganisms are the production of phytohormones, antioxidants and xeroprotectants, and the induction of plant resistance. Rhizospheric or plant surface-colonizing (rhizoplane) and interior (endophytic) bacteria and fungi appear to be a suitable alternative for drought-stress management. Application of various biopreparations containing PGPM seems to provide hope for a relatively cheap, easy to apply and efficient way of alleviating drought stress in plants, with implications in productivity and food condition.

The Impact of Plane Heterogeneity on Steam Flooding Development in Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Abstract Steam flooding is proven to be an effective method to improve the development effect of heavy oil reservoirs. And steam flooding is the most common oil recovery technology for heavy oil reservoirs in China. However, because of the various reservoir physical properties, bring great challenges to successful steam flooding development. According to the previous research and development practice, we know that reservoir heterogeneity has a great influence on the development effect of water flooding. Due to the heterogeneity of reservoirs, the development of different injection-production well patterns will be affected. However, it is uncertain whether reservoir heterogeneity has an impact on steam flooding development effect. In order to clarify the above scientific issues, we take Xinjiang steam flooding oilfield as the research object to carry out relevant research. According to the reservoir distribution characteristics of Xinjiang Oilfield, three conceptual heterogeneity models representing permeability, thickness, and geometric plane heterogeneity are firstly proposed. Then, mathematic models with different plane heterogeneity of reservoir sand were built. Based on the mathematic model, initial conditions, boundary condition, and geological parameters of conceptual models, different steam flooding patterns were studied by applying numerical calculation. It is found that heterogeneity is an important geological factor affecting the development of steam flooding of heavy oil reservoir. And the results showed that cumulative oil production was different of different flood pattern at the same production condition. It can be concluded that the development effect of steam flooding of heavy reservoirs is strongly influenced by flood pattern. In order to improve development effectiveness of steam flooding of heavy oil reservoirs, flood pattern should be optimized. For each type of plane heterogeneity reservoir, a reasonable flood pattern was proposed. For plane heterogeneity of permeability, thickness, and geometry form, under the conditions of that as the producer was deployed in high permeability, thick, wide sand body and injector was deployed in low permeability, thin, narrow sand body, the recovery of steam flooding in heavy oil reservoir was better. Finally, how the three types of plane heterogeneity influence steam flooding of heavy reservoirs was discussed by adopting a sensitivity analysis method. The results show that the influence of permeability heterogeneity is the largest, thickness heterogeneity is the second, and geometric heterogeneity is the least. This conclusion can help us improve the development of this reservoir. And also, the findings of this study can help for better understanding of properly deployed well pattern and how to effective develop the heavy oil reservoirs of strong plane heterogeneity for other heavy oil reservoirs.

Heterologous expression of CYP81A6 from rice (Oryza sativa) in Escherichia coli and structural analyses of bensulfuron‐methyl metabolites

AbstractHerbicides are often selective and kill only weeds without affecting crops. In rice, CYP81A6 is responsible for tolerance toward acetolactate synthase herbicides such as bensulfuron‐methyl (BSM). CYP81A6 is thought to metabolize BSM into a nontoxic metabolite, that is, O‐demethylated BSM. However, direct evidences for this reaction have not been reported, likely due to difficulties in the heterologous expression of plant P450s in bacterial expression systems. In this study, we established CYP81A6 expression in Escherichia coli via modification of its N‐terminal basic region coding sequence, optimization of cultivation temperature, and selection of E. coli strains. Heterologous production of CYP81A6 was evaluated by the conversion of BSM in autoinduction medium after the culture, compared to that with an empty vector control. The optimized heterologous production condition of rice CYP81A6 in E. coli using 48‐well plates involved replacement of the N‐terminal basic region with that of CYP2C3, the use of E. coli BL21(DE3) as an expression host, and culture at 34°C. Further, co‐expression of gene encoding glucose dehydrogenase enhanced the conversion of 0.5 mM BSM from 58.7 to 73.1% in the optimized condition. In the optimization process, we detected two metabolites, M1 and M2. Mass spectrometry and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance analyses indicated that M1 was O‐demethylated BSM. Although we could not isolate M2 because of its low abundance in the medium, mass spectrometry analysis suggested that it was the monooxygenated (+O) form of BSM. Overall, these results confirm that CYP81A6 catalyzes the formation of O‐demethylated BSM from BSM.

Direct Synthesis of Liquefied Petroleum Gas from Carbon Dioxide Using a Copper/Zinc Oxide/Zirconia/Alumina and HY Zeolite Hybrid Catalyst

AbstractConversion of CO2 to lower hydrocarbons (HCs) is a high potential process that could reduce and sustainably control this greenhouse gas. In accord with The Sustainable Development Goal from The United Nation Development Program, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is viewed as environmentally friendly and is widely used. Small HCs can be directly synthesized from CO2 hydrogenation over a hybrid catalyst. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the direct synthesis of LPG from CO2 hydrogenation using a copper/zinc oxide/zirconium/alumina (CZZA) mixed metal and HY zeolite as a hybrid catalyst. The study was conducted in a fixed bed reactor using hydrogen/CO2/carbon monoxide as the reactant gas and evaluating four types of production condition, method of catalyst combination, reaction temperature, CZZA/HY zeolite mass ratio, and catalyst weight/volume flow rate. The mixing type between the CZZA and HY zeolite catalysts markedly influenced the HC selectivity with strong suppression of reverse water gas shift reaction. At the optimum condition, a 27.39 % CO2 conversion level and a high HC (98.70 %) and LPG (66.56 %) selectivity were obtained.

Artificial refuges for wildlife conservation: what is the state of the science?

Artificial refuges are human-made structures that aim to create safe places for animals to breed, hibernate, or take shelter in lieu of natural refuges. Artificial refuges are used across the globe to mitigate the impacts of a variety of threats on wildlife, such as habitat loss and degradation. However, there is little understanding of the science underpinning artificial refuges, and what comprises best practice for artificial refuge design and implementation for wildlife conservation. We address this gap by undertaking a systematic review of the current state of artificial refuge research for the conservation of wildlife. We identified 224 studies of artificial refuges being implemented in the field to conserve wildlife species. The current literature on artificial refuges is dominated by studies of arboreal species, primarily birds and bats. Threatening processes addressed by artificial refuges were biological resource use (26%), invasive or problematic species (20%), and agriculture (15%), yet few studies examined artificial refuges specifically for threatened (Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered) species (7%). Studies often reported the characteristics of artificial refuges (i.e. refuge size, construction materials; 87%) and surrounding vegetation (35%), but fewer studies measured the thermal properties of artificial refuges (18%), predator activity (17%), or food availability (3%). Almost all studies measured occupancy of the artificial refuges by target species (98%), and over half measured breeding activity (54%), whereas fewer included more detailed measures of fitness, such as breeding productivity (34%) or animal body condition (4%). Evaluating the benefits and impacts of artificial refuges requires sound experimental design, but only 39% of studies compared artificial refuges to experimental controls, and only 10% of studies used a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design. As a consequence, few studies of artificial refuges can determine their overall effect on individuals or populations. We outline a series of key steps in the design, implementation, and monitoring of artificial refuges that are required to avoid perverse outcomes and maximise the chances of achieving conservation objectives. This review highlights a clear need for increased rigour in studies of artificial refuges if they are to play an important role in wildlife conservation.

Labor processes in rural Bihar: A set of survival strategies

This research is an enquiry into the rural labour process through a village study located in the Madhepura district of Bihar. Production condition and exchange relation intertwined with socio-economic hierarchy in the village creates a specific mix of labour processes as a set of survival strategies. Survival strategies of worker household is a response to unfolding distress due to neoliberal accumulation strategies.Households dependent on agrarian income are largely of three categories Landowner cultivator, Tenant Cultivator and Agriculture worker. With the rising cost of cultivation, landowner cultivator is in the interest of diversifying their sources of income continuing with cultivation or leasing out land since the non-agrarian source of income is yet to assure. The village is largely backyard support for the landed class to search for a sustainable avenue outside the village. Tenant Cultivators household is holding back with subsistence farming using family labour to upgrade their status in the social hierarchy as a cultivator. Agriculture worker households are the largest group of households dependent on insufficient agrarian income surviving on the mix of unsustainable livelihood strategies through frequent circular migration between farm and non-farm activity.