Estimation of the post-mortem interval (PMI, the time interval between death and recovery of a body) can be crucial in solving criminal cases. Today minimum PMI calculations rely mainly on medical and entomological evidence. However, beyond 4-6 weeks even entomological methods become less accurate. Thus additional tools are needed. Cadaveric fluids released by decomposing cadavers modify the so...

Many soil functions depend on the distribution of macro(≥ 0.25 mm) and micro(< 0.25 mm) aggregates and open space between aggregates (i.e. soil structure). Despite the importance of macroaggregates in soil, little is understood about how they form and become stable. We hypothesize that biological activities, chemical reactions, and physical forces which help to form macroaggregates differ from ...

Synthetic pesticides are fairly well recognized as a cost-effective method of controlling pests, but these chemicals are toxic to other non-targeted and beneficial species. Pesticides are either directly applied to soil to control soil borne pests or deposited on soil as runoff from their foliar applications and these concentrations are highly enough to effect soil micro-organisms (Bezchlebova ...

This work deals with the fabrication, prototyping, and experimental validation of a fiber optic thermo-hygrometer-based soil moisture sensor, useful for rainfall-induced landslide prevention applications. In particular, we recently proposed a new generation of fiber Bragg grating (FBGs)-based soil moisture sensors for irrigation purposes. This device was realized by integrating, inside a custom...

Theoretical models predict weakening of negative biotic interactions and strengthening of positive interactions with increasing abiotic stress. However, most empirical tests have been restricted to plant-plant interactions. No empirical study has examined theoretical predictions of interactions between plants and below-ground micro-organisms, although soil biota strongly regulates plant communi...

The use of fluorescence full spectral micro-X-ray absorption near-edge structure (µXANES) mapping is becoming more widespread in the hard energy regime. This experimental method using the Ca K-edge combined with micro-X-ray diffraction (µXRD) mapping of the same sample has been enabled on beamline I18 at Diamond Light Source. This combined approach has been used to probe both long- and short-ra...

In order to investigate the effects of the grain size distribution and the micro-structure of soils on the mechanical characteristics, some static triaxial compression tests were carried out, and then the relationship of stress-strain and the strength behavior of silty sand were compared among undisturbed samples with different grain size distribution, undisturbed and remolded samples with the ...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are key components of soil micro-flora and obviously interact with other microorganisms in the rhizosphere which is the zone of influence of plant roots on microbial populations and other soil constituents. Keeping in view the importance of AM fungi, the present study was undertaken for assessing the AM fungal spore population dynamics in the rhizosphere soil and it...