abstract earthworms are an important component of soil fauna, and play a crucial role in the improvement of soil properties. however, very little is known of the interactive influence of earthworms and organic materials on soil enzyme activities, particularly in arid and semi-arid soils. the low organic matter content and the significant role of earthworms in stimulating microbiological and bio...

Our goal in this review is three-fold. First, we provide an overview of a number of quantum-chemical methods that can abstract charge-transfer (CT) information on the excited-state species of organic conjugated materials, which can then be exploited for the understanding and design of organic photodiodes and solar cells at the molecular level. We stress that the Composite-Molecule (CM) model is...

Biodrying, as the name implies, is a drying technique that relies on biological activities of microorganisms, bacteria and fungi to reduce the mois­ ture content of wet biomaterial waste. The drying effect is achieved because of the microbial activity as well as forced aeration. As the microorgan­ isms feed on the nutrients, carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and other elements a vailable in the waste, ...

This tutorial review details the emergence of template-directed synthesis of metal-organic materials (MOMs) with emphasis upon reports of MOMs in which the template is retained, template@MOMs, and structurally characterized. Such MOMs enable analysis of the nature of the intermolecular interactions that occur between the template and the resulting host framework. The utilization of such underst...

5.3.2. Traps and Grating Dark Decay 3288 5.3.3. Other Concerns 3288 6. New Photorefractive Materials 3289 6.1. Polymer Composites 3289 6.2. Organic Amorphous Glasses 3292 6.3. Fully Functionalized Polymers 3294 6.4. Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystals 3295 6.5. Other Liquid Crystal-Containing Materials 3296 6.6. Near-Infrared-Sensitive Materials 3297 6.7. Other Materials Directions 3298 6.7.1. Hy...

The recycling of rural and urban organic waste materials onto agricultural land provides a challenge to the producers and end-users who both have a 'duty-of-care' to ensure the method of disposal is managed in a sustainable way. Careful management means that soil and water resources are not contaminated, the agricultural production system remains stable, and land use alternatives remain availab...

1. INTRODUCTION Among the classes of highly porous materials, metalÀorganic frameworks (MOFs) are unparalleled in their degree of tunability and structural diversity as well as their range of chemical and physical properties. MOFs are extended crystalline structures wherein metal cations or clusters of cations (" nodes ") are connected by multitopic organic " strut " or " linker " ions or molec...

Organic photovoltaic cell (OPV) has emerged as a new competitor to inorganic material-based solar cells, due to its potential application in large area, printable, and flexible solar panels. In particular, OPV cells with bulk heterojunction architecture (BHJ), in which the photoactive layer consists of a bicontinuous blend of an electron donor and an electron acceptor, has allowed power convers...