Assessing the potential of a Trichoderma-based compost activator to hasten the decomposition of incorporated rice straw.

The potential for a Trichoderma-based compost activator was tested for in-situ rice straw decomposition, under both laboratory and field conditions. Inoculation of Trichoderma caused a 50% reduction in the indigenous fungal population after 2 weeks of incubation for both laboratory and field experiments. However, the Trichoderma population declined during the latter part of the incubation.

An assessment of irrigated rice production energy efficiency and environmental footprint with in-field and off-field rice straw management practices.

The research provided scientific evidences for improved rice straw management. Rice cultivation with in-field burning of rice straw is the worst option with the lowest energy efficiency and highest air pollution emission. This article comprises a comparative assessment of energy efficiency and the environmental footprint of rice production using four different rice straw management scenarios, namely, straw retained, straw burned, partial straw removal, and complete straw removal.

Tuberculosis and comorbidities in urban areas in Argentina. A gender and age perspective.

Introduction: Tuberculosis continues to be a major health problem in the world with an incidence of more than 10 million cases in 2015. There are factors that change the risk of developing the disease after infection, as well as the presentation of the disease.

Objective: To determine the main comorbidities and demographic, clinical and microbiological characteristics of tuberculosis adult patients in Argentina from a gender and age perspective.

SPECT/CT for Lymphatic Mapping of Sentinel Nodes in Early Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity and Oropharynx.

Adequate staging and treatment of the neck in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx (OSCC) is of paramount importance. Elective neck dissection (END) of the clinical N0-neck is widely advocated as neck treatment. With regard to the prevalence of 20-40% of occult neck metastases found in the ND specimens, the majority of patients undergo surgery of the lymphatic drainage basin without therapeutic benefit.

Experimental evidence of differences in the absorption spectra of clustered and isolated ions in erbium-doped fibers.

The absorption spectra of clustered and isolated ions in erbium-doped germanosilicate fibers have been experimentally studied. The ground-state absorption spectra broaden as the degree of erbium-ion clustering increases, indicating that the absorption spectrum of clustered ions is significantly different from that of the homogeneous ions. This fact is confirmed by comparison of the broadened absorption spectra with the fiber's unbleachable loss spectrum, a direct measurement of the clustered ions.

Greater than 20%-efficient frequency doubling of 1532-nm nanosecond pulses in quasi-phase-matched germanosilicate optical fibers.

We fabricated second-order nonlinear gratings in D-shaped germanosilicate fibers, using thermal poling and periodic electrodes defined by standard photolithography. These gratings, which are up to 75 mm long, were used for efficient quasi-phase-matched frequency doubling of 1.532-mum nanosecond pulses from a high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifier.

Suppression of self-pulsing behavior in erbium-doped fiber lasers with resonant pumping: experimental results.

Experimental results are presented showing that resonant pumping can significantly improve the stability of erbium-doped fiber lasers. In particular, it is observed that an erbium fiber laser that exhibits sustained spiking behavior when pumped at 980 nm will revert to stable cw operation when pumped at 1510 nm.

Channel waveguide laser at 1 microm in Yb-indiffused LiNbO(3).

We report laser action in a Ti-diffused LiNbO(3) waveguide doped with trivalent Yb ions by thermal indiffusion. Lasing was observed at 1008, 1030, and 1060 nm with thresholds as low as 15-mW launched pump power. We reduced photorefractivity, which initially permitted only intermittent lasing, by annealing the sample in wet O(2).