Methane Production Characteristics of an Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Pig Manure and Fermented Liquid Feed.

Methane production characteristics of anaerobic co-digestion of pig manure (PM) and fermented liquid feed (FLF) were investigated in a continuous digester under mesophilic conditions. The experiment followed three phases. PM alone was digested in phase I. In phases II and III, PM and FLF were mixed in a ratio of 95:5 and 90:10 (% v/v), respectively. The specific methane yields (SMYs) during phases I, II, and III were 238, 278, and 326.8 mLCH4·gVS-1-added, respectively. It was due to the effect of balancing the feedstock carbon-to-nitrogen ratio by adding FLF. This improvement can also be attributed to the readily biodegradable compounds in the FLF. The higher SMY obtained in this study showed a positive synergistic effect in the anaerobic co-digestion of PM and FLF. The results also indicate that adding the FLF positively affected and maintained a constant pH level, avoiding volatile fatty acid accumulation and ammonia inhibition in the anaerobic digestion (AD). Thus, this study provides valuable information regarding the usage of unused or wasted FLF as a co-substrate for the practical AD of PM. The production of fermented liquid additives such as FLF to improve the methane production from the AD of PM is a potential novel alternative to food waste recycling in Japan, besides compost and animal feeding.

Optimal Pest Control Strategies with Cost-effectiveness Analysis.

Pest and plant diseases cause damages and economic losses, threatening food security and ecosystem services. Thus, proper pest management is indispensable to mitigate the risk of losses. The risk of environmental hazards induced by toxic chemicals alongside the rapid development of chemical resistance by insects entails more resilient, sustainable, and ecologically sound approaches to chemical methods of control. This study evaluates the application of three dynamical measures of controls, namely, green insecticide, mating disruption, and the removal of infected plants, in controlling pest insects. A model was built to describe the interaction between plants and insects as well as the circulation of the pathogen. Optimal control measures are sought in such a way they maximize the healthy plant density jointly with the pests' density under the lowest possible control efforts. Our simulation study shows that all strategies succeed in controlling the insects. However, a cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that a strategy with two measures of green insecticide and plant removal is the most cost-effective, followed by one which applies all control measures. The best strategy projects the decrease of potential loss from 65.36% to 6.12%.

Data relating to factors affecting teachers' burnout: A sem analysis in an Asian context.

The dataset presents the relationship between Teacher Self-Concept (TSC) and Teacher Efficacy (TE) as the predictors predicting burnout. Three components of burnout involved are Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and Reduced Personal Accomplishment (RPA). Various statistical approaches such as Content Validity Index (CVI), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) were addressed. Eight hundred seventy six Indonesian teachers form 3 provinces were willing to get involved by filling in the instrument. The data can be used for the educational institutions and centers to issue policies overcoming burnout among teachers, teachers to understand factors affecting their burnout, and future researchers extend the model offered by this dataset. This dataset is co-submitted from Heliyon entitled "Teachers' burnout: A SEM analysis in an Asian context" [1].

Teachers' burnout: A SEM analysis in an Asian context.

Researchers in educational psychology have researched Teacher Self-Concept (TSC) and Teacher Efficacy (TE) as two main predictors predicting burnout. Guided by a model developed by Zhu, Liu, Fu, Yang, Zhang & Shi (2018), the researchers aimed at building a model involving TSC, TE, and three components of burnout; Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalization (DP), and Reduced Personal Accomplishment (RPA) through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The researchers investigated predicting factors of burnout by reporting TSC and TE that might directly affect the components and examine the probability of TE to become a mediator of the correlation between TSC and burnout. This research also examined whether the difference emerges constantly among demographic information (gender and teaching experience) regarding all involved variables. A sample of 876 teachers across three Indonesian provinces completed a printed form of questionnaires. Some statistical procedures namely Content Validity Index (CVI), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM), and t-test were conducted. Findings informed that the model is valid and reliable. TSC could directly affect EE, DE, and RPA, as well as indirectly influence them mediated by TE. Besides, TE is also reported to have significant relationships with EE, DE, and RPA. No significant differences in terms of age and teaching experiences emerge, except for EE.

Estimating the risk of type-2 diabetes using obese-years in a contemporary population of the Framingham Study.

BACKGROUND: We have recently demonstrated that an obese-years construct is a better predictor of the risk of diabetes than the severity of body weight alone. However, these risk estimates were derived from a population cohort study initiated in 1948 that might not apply to the current population. OBJECTIVE: To validate an obese-years construct in estimating the risk of type-2 diabetes in a more contemporary cohort study. DESIGN: A total of 5,132 participants of the Framingham Offspring Study, initiated in 1972, were followed up for 45 years. Body mass index (BMI) above 29 kg/m(2) was multiplied by the number of years lived with obesity at that BMI to define the number of obese-years. Time-dependent Cox regression was used to explore the association. RESULTS: The risk of type-2 diabetes increased significantly with increase in obese-years. Adjusted hazard ratios increased by 6% (95% CI: 5-7%) per additional 10 points of obese-years. This ratio was observed to be similar in both men and women, but was 4% higher in current smokers than in never/ex-smokers. The Akaike Information Criterion confirmed that the Cox regression model with the obese-years construct was a stronger predictor of the risk of diabetes than a model including either BMI or the duration of obesity alone. CONCLUSIONS: In a contemporary cohort population, it was confirmed that the obese-years construct is strongly associated with an increased risk of type-2 diabetes. This suggests that both severity and the duration of obesity should be considered in future estimations of the burden of disease associated with obesity.