Drought is one of the environmental factors inhibiting plant productivity and growth, leading to oxidative damage. This study aims to identify the role of sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) as a hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor in drought stress tolerance in Brassica napus. Drought-induced stress symptoms appeared eight days after treatment, showing wilted leaves and a significant reduction of leaf water potential. Drought-induced increase of lipid peroxidation was significantly reduced by NaHS application. NaHS-treated plants mitigated stress symptoms under drought conditions by reducing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content, confirmed with H2O2 localization in situ. Furthermore, NaHS promotes photosynthetic activity by maintaining chlorophyll and carotenoid content, thereby supporting plant growth under drought conditions. Pyrroline-5-carboxylate and proline contents were significantly increased by drought but further enhanced by NaHS treatment, indicating the important roles of proline accumulation in drought stress tolerance. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insight into the roles of NaHS in alleviating drought stress by reducing oxidative stress and promoting proline accumulation. Therefore, NaHS may serve as an effective strategy to enhance crop production under drought-stress conditions.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of combining acidification with adsorbents (zeolite and biochar) to mitigate the environmental impacts of pig slurry, focusing on ammonia (NH3) emission and nitrate (NO3 -) leaching. The four treatments were applied: 1) pig slurry (PS) alone as a control, 2) acidified PS (AP), 3) acidified pig slurry with zeolite (APZ), and 4) acidified pig slurry with biochar (APB). The AP mitigates NH3 emission and NO3 - leaching compared to PS alone. Acidification reduced the cumulative NH3 emission and its emission factor by 35.9% and 12.5%, respectively. The APZ and APB increased NH4 +-N concentration, with the highest level in APB, compared to AP. The NH4 + adsorption capacity of APB (0.90 mg g-1) was higher than that of APZ (0.63 mg g-1). The APB and APZ treatments induced less NH3 emission compared to AP. The cumulative NH3 emission was reduced by 12.2% and 27.6% in APZ and APB, respectively, compared to AP treatment. NO3 - leaching began to appear on days 12 and 13, and its peak reached on days 16 and 17, which were later than AP. The cumulative NO3 - leaching decreased by 17.7% and 25.0% in APZ and APB, respectively, compared to AP treatment. These results suggest that combining biochar or zeolite with acidified pig slurry is an effective method to mitigate NH3 emission and NO3 - leaching, with biochar being particularly effective.

Ammonium (NH4 +) serves as a nitrogen source, but its elevated levels can hinder plant growth and production. Excess NH4 + with α-ketoglutarate is assimilated into glutamate, a precursor of proline and glutathione (GSH). This study aimed to investigate the effects of excessive NH4 + on the regulation of proline and GSH synthesis. Detached leaves from oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) were fed with 0, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 mM NH4Cl for 16 h. As the NH4 + concentrations increased, the leaves exhibited progressive wilting and yellowing. Furthermore, total carotenoid and chlorophyll concentrations declined in response to all NH4 + treatments, with the lowest levels observed in 1000 mM NH4 + treatment. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration showed a minor increase at low NH4 + concentration (50 and 100 mM) treatments but a significant increase at high NH4 + (500 and 1000 mM), which was consistent with the localization of H2O2. Amino acid concentrations increased with increasing in NH4 + concentration, while the protein concentration displayed the opposite trend. Proline and cysteine concentrations exhibited a gradual increase in response to increasing NH4 + concentrations. However, GSH concentrations rose only in the 50 mM NH4 + treatment and decreased in the 500 and 1000 mM NH4 + treatments. These results indicate that excessive NH4 + is primarily assimilated into proline, while GSH synthesis is adversely affected.

The germination process is critical for plant growth and development and it is largely affected by environmental stress, especially salinity. Recently, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is well known to act as a signaling molecule in a defense mechanism against stress conditions but poorly understood regulating seed germination. In this study, the effects of NaHS (the H2S donor) pretreatment on various biochemical (hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) content and amylase and protease activity) and physiological properties (germination rate) during seed germination of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L. cv. Mosa) were examined under salt stress. The seed germination and seedling growth of oilseed rape were inhibited by NaCl treatment but it was alleviated by NaHS pretreatment. The NaCl treatment increased H2O2 content leading to oxidative stress, but NaHS pre-treatments maintained much lower levels of H2O2 in germinating seeds under salt stress. Amylase activity, a starch degradation enzyme, significantly increased over 2-fold in control, NaHS pretreatment, and NaHS pretreatment under NaCl during seed germination compared to NaCl treatment. Protease activity was highly induced in NaHS-pretreated seeds compared to NaCl treatment, accompanied by a decrease in protein content. These results indicate that NaHS pretreatment could improve seed germination under salt stress conditions by decreasing H2O2 accumulation and activating the degradation of protein and starch to support seedling growth.

Sulfur is an essential element in plants, including amino acids, vitamin synthesis, and acting as an antioxidant. However, the interaction between endogenous sulfur and proline synthesis has not been yet fully documented. White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is known as a species highly sensitive to sulfate supply. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate the role of sulfur in regulating proline metabolism in relation to ammonia detoxification and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) accumulation in white clover. The detached leaves of white clover were immersed in solution containing different concentration of sulfate (0, 10, 100, and 1000 mM MgSO4). As MgSO4 concentrations were increased, the concentration of H2O2 increased up to 2.5-fold compared to control, accompanied with H2O2 detection in leaves. Amino acid concentrations significantly increased only at higher levels (100 and 1000 mM MgSO4). No significant difference was observed in protein concentration. Proline and Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate (P5C) concentrations slightly decreased at 10 and 100 mM MgSO4 treatments, whereas it rapidly increased over 1.9-fold at 1000 mM MgSO4 treatment. Ammonia concentrations gradually increased up to 8.6-fold. These results indicate that exogenous sulfur levels are closely related to H2O2 and ammonia synthesis but affect proline biosynthesis only at a higher level.

The objective of this study was to determine effects of phosphorus on lignification and carbohydrate metabolism in Kentucky bluegrass under drought stress. Drought stress was induced by reducing of water to plants in pots. Two types of phosphorus were applied as potassium phosphate (PO4 3-; P) or potassium phosphonate (PO3 3-; PA) in drought-stressed plants. Drought had significant negative effects on plant growth, as revealed by reduced biomass of shoot. Drought-induced increase of lignin content was concomitant with the increase of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL). Soluble sugar content was highly increased but fructan content was largely decreased by drought stress. However, the application of phosphorus was efficient to ameliorate the adverse effects of drought. PA application improved reduced shoot growth and relative water content, and inhibited lignification synthesis with a reduction of PAL activity. P or PA application maintained soluble sugar and fructan content at similar levels to controls under drought stress. These results indicate that phosphorus application may mitigate the drought stress by inhibiting the lignification and promoting the fructan assimilation.

The objective of this study was to determine phosphorus effects on drought stress-induced oxidative stress in Kentucky bluegrass. Drought stress was induced by reducing of water to plants in pots. Two types of phosphorus were applied as potassium phosphate (P) or potassium phosphonate (PA). Application of phosphorus was efficient to ameliorate the adverse effects of drought. Osmotic potential, total chlorophyll and carotenoid content were significantly decreased by drought stress, but was relieved by P or PA application. Superoxide (O2 •−) concentration was significantly increased more than 14-fold under drought-stressed plants, was accompanied with increase of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and lipid peroxidation (MDA). However, malondialdehyde (MDA) was much less in P or PA applied plants under drought stress condition. Activities of catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and guaiacol-peroxidase (GPX) were largely increased by drought stress and its increase rate was much higher in P or PA applied plants except APX. These results indicate that drought stress-induced oxidative stress is alleviated by P or PA application due to the increase of activities of antioxidant enzymes.

This study was conducted to assess the effect of acidification of pig slurry on nitrogen (N) mineralization and its environmental impacts during pig slurry fermentation. Different inorganic and organic acids were used to acidify pig slurry. Four treatments including non-acidified pig slurry (control), pig slurry acidified with sulfuric acid, lactic acid, and citric acid were allocated with three replications. The total N content in the acidified pig slurry was higher than non-acidified pig slurry after fermentation. Acidification tended to increase total N content in pig slurry. Ammonium N (NH4 +-N) released from pig slurry was obviously increased at 7 days after incubation, representing 61.4%, 36.8%, and 37.4% increase in the acidified pig slurry with sulfuric acid, lactic acid, and citric acid, respectively. Nitrate N (NO3 --N) in the acidified pig slurry with sulfuric acid was the highest throughout the experiment period, but non-significant effect of organic acid. A large portion of ammonia (NH3) emission occurred within 10 days, corresponding to more than 55% of total NH3 emission. Total cumulative NH3 emission during the experimental period was lower 91% (2.9 mg N kg-1), 78% (7.3 mg N kg-1), and 81% (6.2 mg N kg-1) in the acidified pig slurry with sulfuric acid, lactic acid, and citric acid, respectively, than non-acidified pig slurry (32.7 mg N kg-1). These results suggest that acidification of pig slurry (particularly with sulfuric acid) can be faced as a good strategy to reduce NH3 emission without depressing the mineralization process.

Pig slurry (PS) is the most applicable recycling option as an alternative organic fertilizer. The application of pig slurry has the risk of air pollution via atmospheric ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission. The zeolite has a porous structure that can accommodate a wide variety of cations, thus utilizing for the potential additive of deodorization and gas adsorption. This study aimed to investigate the possible roles of zeolite in mitigating NH3 and N2O emission from the pig slurry applied to the maize cropping. The experiment was composed of three treatments: 1) non-N fertilized control, 2) pig slurry (PS) and 3) pig slurry mixed with natural zeolite (PZ). Both of NH3 and N2O emission from applied pig slurry highly increased by more than 3-fold compared to non-N fertilized control. The NH3 emission from the pig slurry was dominant during early 14 days after application and 20.1% of reduction by zeolite application was estimated in this period. Total NH3 emission through whole period of measurement was 0.31, 1.33, and 1.14 kg ha-1. Nitrous oxide emission in the plot applied with pig slurry was also reduced by zeolite treatment by 16.3%. Significant increases in forage and ear yield, as well as nutrient values were obtained by pig slurry application, while no significant effects of zeolite were observed. These results indicate that the application of zeolite and pig slurry efficiently reduces the emission of ammonia and nitrous oxide without negative effects on maize crop production.

Lately, there have been tremendous shifts in the business technology landscape. Advances in cloud technology and mobile applications have enabled businesses and IT users to interact in entirely new ways. One of the most rapidly growing technologies in this sphere is business intelligence, and associated concepts such as big data and data mining. BI is the collection of systems and products that have been implemented in various business practices, but not the information derived from the systems and products. On the other hand, big data has come to mean various things to different people. When comparing big data vs business intelligence, some people use the term big data when referring to the size of data, while others use the term in reference to specific approaches to analytics. As the volume of data grows, businesses will also ask more questions to better understand the data analytics process. As a result, the analysis team will have to keep up with the rising demands on the infrastructure that supports analytics applications brought by these additional requirements. It’s also a good way to ascertain if we have built a valuable analysis system. Thus, Business Intelligence and Big Data technology can be adapted to the business’ changing requirements, if they prove to be highly valuable to business environment.

Most demand forecasting studies for telecommunication services have focused on estimating market size at the introductory stage of new products or services, or on suggesting improvement methods of forecasting models. Although such studies forecast business growth and market sizes through demand forecasting for new technologies and overall demands in markets, they have not suggested more specific information like relative market share, customers’ preferences on technologies or service, and potential sales power. This study focuses on the telecommunication service industry and explores ways to calculate the relative market shares between competitors, considering competitive situations at the introductory stage of a new mobile telecommunication service provider. To reflect the competitive characteristics of the telecommunication markets, suggested is an extended conjoint analysis using service coverage and service switching rates as modification variables. This study is considered to be able to provide strategic implications to businesses offering existing service and ones planning to launch new services. The result of analysis shows that the new service provider has the greatest market share at the competitive situation where the new service covers the whole country, offers about 50% of existing service price, and allows all cellphones except a few while the existing service carrier maintains its price and service and has no response to the new service introduction. This means that the market share of the new service provider soars when it is highly competitive with fast network speed and low price.

Oilseed rape is known to crop having low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) but requires high levels of N fertilizer. NUE is associated with N remobilization from source to sink organ, consequently affects seed yield. Remobilization of leaf N is also related to transport of C/N metabolites in phloem. However, interaction between seed yield and phloem transport was not fully documented. In response to seed yield, N and C metabolites and their transport into seed from bolting to pod filling stage investigated in two contrasting genotypes (Capitol and Pollen) cultivated under ample (HN) or limiting nitrate (LN) supply. Seed yield was significantly reduced in N limitation and its reduction rate was much lower in Capitol than in Pollen compared to HN treated plants. Amino acid and protein content was higher in Capitol than in Pollen at bolting stage. They gradually decreased during plant development but not significant between two cultivars and/or two treatments. Glucose, fructose and sucrose content were 1.8-,1.6- or 1.25-fold higher in LN condition than in HN condition, respectively. Amino acid and sucrose content in phloem were largely higher in Capitol than in Pollen under LN condition. These results indicate that the higher seed yield might be related to greater transport ability of amino acid and sucrose in phloem under LN condition.

Soil is the main nitrogen (N) provider for plants but N in soil is not all available to advanced plants. Mineralization is a critical biological process for transferring organic N to inorganic N that can be used by plants directly. To investigate the effect of different levels of soil temperature and water content to soil mineralization, a field experiment was established on three different sites (A, B and C). We measured soil temperature, moisture and electrical conductivity once daily after swine slurry application. Average soil moisture and temperature in site A is the highest among three sites (40.9% and 9.7°C, respectively). Following is in site C (37.3% and 9.6°C) and the lowest is in site B (28.0% and 9.0°C). Ammonium N (NH4+-N) and nitrate N (NO3--N) were determined on the first and fifth day after treatment. Compared with site B and C, site A always had the highest soil total N content (1.54 g N kg-1 on day one; 1.22 g N kg-1 on day five) and highest NO3-- N content (93.18 mg N kg-1 on day one; 16.22 mg N kg-1 on day five) and a significant decrease on day five. Content of NH4+-N in site B and C reduced while in site A, it increased by 6.7%. Results revealed that net N mineralization positively correlated with soil temperature (P<0.5, r=0.675*) and moisture (P<0.01, r=0.770**), suggesting that to some extent, higher soil moisture and temperature contribute more to inorganic N that can be used by plants.

While the term online shopping refers to all online transactions, cross-border online shopping means shopping activities purchasing products or services over the internet for the customers abroad. As Internet use for the international shopping activity increasing, cross border online shopping has grown substantially for last decade. This study is about the problem regarding the cross border online shopping for two different countries and the variables that influence their shopping behavior. The cross border online shopping has been increased by the growth of Internet access. However, the growth of the Internet use does not guarantee a successful development of cross border e-commerce for every country. To find out the perception for cross-border online shopping for two different cultures, shoppers from two countries with different cultural background were chosen, and the perception for cross-border online shopping from each culture is contrasted. For statistical Analysis, ANOVA is used to find the relationship between a single non-metric independent variable, and multiple metric dependent variables. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model is adopted for this study as a tool to find out the patterns of cross border online shopping. This study showed what the variables would affect the perception in cross border online shopping. The results of this study indicated that cross border online shoppers with different culture were notably different on two variables identified-timeliness and ease of use.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of injection application of pig slurry on ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from timothy (Phleum pretense L.) sward. The three treatments were applied: 1) only water as a control, 2) pig slurry application by broadcasting, 3) pig slurry application by injection. The pig slurry was applied at a rate of 200 kg N ha-1. Total NH3 and N2O emission, expressed as a cumulative amount throughout the measurement time (40 days), was 2.68 kg NH3-N ha-1 and 6.58 g N2O-N ha-1, respectively, in the control. The injection application of pig slurry decreased total NH3 and N2O emission by 39.8% and 33.3%, respectively, compared to broadcasting application of pig slurry. The present study clearly showed that injection application exhibited positive roles in reducing N losses through NH3 and N2O emission.

To investigate the impact of nitrogen (N) mineral on reproductive potential of Brassica napus L, plants were treated with different levels of N treatment (N0; N100; N500). The half of N content for each treatment were applied at the beginning of the early vegetative stage and the rest was applied at the late vegetative stage. Nitrogen content in plant tissues such as root, stem and branch, leaf, pod and seed was analyzed and harvest index (HI) was calculated as percentage of seed yield to total plant weight. Biomass and nitrogen content were significantly affected by different levels of N supply. Biomass was significantly decreased by 59.2% in nitrogen deficiency (N0) but significantly increased by 50.3% in N excess (N500), compared to control (N100). Nitrogen content in all organs was remarkably increased with nitrogen levels. N distribution to stem and branches, and dead leaves was higher in N-deficient (N0) and N excessive plants (N500) than in control (N100). However, nitrogen allocated to seed was higher in control (N100) than in other treatments (N0 or N500), accompanied by higher HI. These results indicate that the optimum level of N supply (N100) improve HI and N distribution to seed and excessive N input is unnecessary.

In order to compare greenhouse gases emission from different animal manures and to explore how different animal manures effect on soil mineralization, three kinds of materials, cattle, goat and chicken manure were amended to soil for 14 days incubation as CtS (cattle manure-amended soil), GS (goat manure-amended soil) and ChS (chicken manure-amended soil). Cumulative NH3 emissions in all treatments were rapidly increased until day 7 and then it was slightly increased in three manure-amended soils but maintained in control until day 14. GS had the highest NH3 emission at 0.14 mg kg-1 during the entire experimental period. Emissions of CO2 were highly increased by 7.8-, 9.0- and 12.4-fold in CtS, GS and ChS, respectively, compared to control at day 14. A significant increase of N2O emission in all treatments occurred within 5 days and then it was slightly increased until day 14. N2O emission was 2-fold higher in all manure-amended soils than that of control. Compared to day 1, inorganic N (NH4 + plus NO3 --N) content was highly increased in all four treatments at day 14. The increase rate was the highest in CtS treatment. Net N mineralization was increased by 4.0-, 2.4- and 2.9-fold in CtS, GS and ChS, respectively, compared to control. These results indicate that increase of NH3, CO2 and N2O gas emissions was positively related to high N mineralization.

Mineralization is an important biological process for conversion of organic nitrogen (N) to inorganic N which can be used by plants directly. To investigate the effect of different manures on soil mineralization, the soil amended with cattle (CtM), goat (GM), chicken manure (ChM) and pig slurry (PS) were incubated under in vitro condition and ammonium N (NH4 +-N), ammonification rate and ammonia emission were determined for eighty-four days. NH4 +-N was the highest in PS-amended soil for the whole experimental period. NH4 +-N in PS-amended soil was gradually decreased until day 84, whereas it was rapidly decreased for the first 14 days and then slightly increased until 84 days in ChM-, CtM- and GM-amended soil. The ammonification rate showed negative value for the first 14 days in all treatments. From day 14, ammonification rate started to increase in CtM- and ChM-amended soil, whereas it was maintained in GM- and PS-amended soil until day 84. The daily ammonia emission was the highest in PS-amended soil (41mg kg-1 d-1), followed by CtM-, ChM-, and GM-amended soil at day 1. It was gradually decreased until day 84 in all treatments. The total NH3 emission was the highest in PS-amended soil with 0.6 mg kg-1 for 84 days, while less than 0.1 mg kg-1 in three other plots. These results indicate that different manures showed different soil ammonification rate and NH3 emission.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) and urease inhibitor hydroquinone (HQ) on ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from pig slurry applied to Timothy (Phleum pretense L.) sward. The daily emission of ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) was monitored for 9 days in three different treatments; 1) control (only pig slurry application), 2) DCD treatment (pig slurry + DCD), and 3) HQ treatment (pig slurry + HQ). Most NH3 emission occurred after 4~5 days in three treatments. Total NH3 emission, expressed as a cumulative amount throughout the measurement time, was 1.33 kg N ha 1 in the control. The DCD and HQ treatment decreased total NH3 emission by 16.3% and 25.1%, respectively, compared to the control. Total N2O emission in the control was 47.1 g N ha 1. The DCD and HQ treatment resulted in a reduction of 67.9% and 41.8% in total N2O emission, respectively, compared to the control. The present study clearly indicated that nitrification and urease inhibitor exhibited positive roles in reducing N losses through NH3 and N2O emission.

The belief that honey bee venom (BV) can be used to treat certain immune-related diseases, such as arthritis and rheumatic conditions, goes back to antiquity. A growing number of reports have demonstrated that BV contains at least 18 pharmacologically active components, including phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Recent research has shown that bee venom PLA2 (bvPLA2) induces protective immune responses against several diseases including asthma, Parkinson’s disease, and drug-induced organ inflammation. However, the antiviral properties of bvPLA2 have not been well investigated. Hence, we examined the potential inhibitory effects of bvPLA2 and its possible mechanism of action against a broad panel of pathogenic viruses in vitro. Pre-treatment with bvPLA2 significantly inhibited the replication of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), coxsackie virus (H3), enterovirus-71 (EV-71), herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Adenovirus (AdV) dramatically. However, bvPLA2 did not show antiviral activity against Influenza A virus (PR8) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Such inhibitory effects were explained by blocking of the attachment of the virus to cells upon bvPLA2 treatment. Additionally, we observed that Heparan sulfate (HS) has an inhibitory effect on the attachment of HSV to the cell surface dose dependently, which was inconsistent with bvPLA2 treatment. These findings suggest that bvPLA2 has an inhibitory effect on the replication of diverse viruses by blocking their attachment to the cell surface and could be a promising source of natural antiviral agents.