Current bioremediation techniques for petroleum-contaminated soils are designed to remove contaminants as quickly and efficiently as possible, but not necessarily with postremediation soil biological quality as a primary objective. To test a simple postbioremediation technique, we added earthworms (Eisenia fetida) or wheat (Triticum aestivum) straw to petroleum land-farm soil and measured biolo...

The generation of harmonics through a nonlinear mechanism driven by bunching at the fundamental has sparked interest in using this process as a path toward an X-ray free-electron laser (FEL). An important issue in this regard is the sensitivity of the nonlinear harmonic generation to wiggler imperfections. Typically, linear instabilities in FELs are characterized by increasing sensitivity to bo...

Acid rain is still an issue of environmental concerns. This study investigated the impacts of simulated acid rain (SAR) upon earthworm activity from the Latosol (acidic red soil). Laboratory experiment was performed by leaching the soil columns grown with earthworms (Eisenia fetida) at the SAR pH levels ranged from 2.0 to 6.5 over a 34-day period. Results showed that earthworms tended to escape...

Five new 9,19-cycloartane triterpene diglycosides, which have been named cimiaceroside C (1), and cimifosides A-D (2-5) together with the known compounds cimiracemoside D (6), cimidahurine (7) and alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-l-beta-D-fructofuranoside (8) were isolated from the rhizome of Cimicifuga foetida. The new triterpene diglycosides 1-5 were identified as cimiacerol-3-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl-(1...