In the event of a hypothetical nuclear reactor accident, the combination of plant design, operator training, and safety procedures result in low level risks to the general public; however, an additional offsite consequence mitigation system has the poten- tial to substantially decrease the amount of radioactive material that could reach a population zone in a postulated accident scenario. An experimental and numerical investigation of airborne particulate scavenging by water sprays was conducted as part of a consequence mitigation study. Previous researchers have experimentally studied the removal of aerosols by sprays, but only in a confined region. The ex- periment conducted in this research used an expansive region where sprays could significantly affect the flow fields in the spray region. Experimentation showed an expected trend of higher particle collection efficien- cies with increased residency time within the spray region, with the highest average overall collection efficiency found to be 70.6+/-3.2% at an air flow rate of 0.53 m/s and a water flow rate of 0.84 gpm. This general trend is expected because a longer resi- dency time leads to an increased probability of particle-drop interaction. Collection efficiencies were also found to increase with increased particle number density. The numerical investigation was done using a deterministic method and a Monte Carlo method. Each model shows promise based on theoretical limitations of drop size for the experimental conditions. The theory demonstrates that particle-drop relative velocity as well as the sizes significantly affect collection efficiency. An alternative study was conducted to determine the collection efficiency of non-wettable particles since the dust used in the experiment is hydrophobic. Computational Fluid Dynam- ics (CFD) models were also performed to determine the flow fields that developed within the experiment spray region and substantiate differences in the experimental and numerical models.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-102).

Master of Science / Department of Entomology / Robert "Jeff" J. Whitworth / The brown recluse spider (BRS), Loxosceles reclusa (Gertsch & Mulaik), receives unfavorable publicity because of its common association with humans and the medical importance of its toxic bite. BRS range includes much of the south and central United States where they can be found in almost all structures, from homes and sheds to woodpiles and discarded materials. Typical management techniques for the control of BRS involve the use of residual contact insecticides and/or the use of glue traps. Contact insecticides rely on BRS remaining in contact with a treated surface for a length of time to achieve control and may not cause significant BRS mortality. However, if the insecticide kills another household pest that the BRS later scavenges upon, and thus results in the death or decreased reproduction of the BRS, the homeowner rids themselves of pests and potentially reduces BRS populations. This research was initiated with the objective of evaluating how feeding on live vs. dead vs. insecticide-killed prey impacts selected biological aspects of BRS as indicated by, mortality, and weight change over an eight-week period. Follow-on experiments evaluated the effect on fecundity of the adult BRS surviving the eight week trials. In four trials of juvenile and five trials of adult BRS, house crickets, Acheta domesticus (Linnaeus), used as prey, were exposed to one of four treatments: 1) Spinosad insecticide treated surface, 2) synthetic pyrethroid insecticide treated surface, 3) freeze-killed and 4) an untreated (live), and fed to spiders once weekly for eight weeks. BRS exposed to synthetic pyrethroid-killed crickets had significantly greater mortality than all other treatments.

Predation accounts for the majority of ruffed grouse mortality beyond the brooding period throughout grouse range. Most studies of ruffed grouse ecology have taken place in the central portion of the species range including the Great Lakes states and southern Canada where aspen (Populus tremuloides) is dominant. Populations in the central range of grouse distribution exhibit 10-year cyclic patterns of decline that have been associated with the invasions of boreal predators such as great horned owls and northern goshawks during crashes in small mammal populations. I completed an accuracy assessment of field sign to determine the role of scavenging as it related to diagnosing causes of proximate mortality. Potentially large numbers of grouse are scavenged after death, which can alter or completely falsify the reported cause of death.. My results indicated that stand-level and micro-site habitat variables did not influence scavenger detection of ruffed grouse carcasses (P > 0.05). Scavenging was limited to 24 of 64 carcasses and was entirely attributed to mammalian species. Scavenging behavior was related to the condition of the carcass following death (P = 0.003) and the ambient temperature (P = 0.01). As the temperature increased and as a carcasses entrails and muscle became more exposed, the probability of being scavenged increased. Nineteen percent of whole carcasses placed in the field were scavenged and would have been attributed to mammal predation based on the field sign; 56% of 32 mock avian kills were scavenged would have been attributed to mammal predation. I related indices of predators and weather patterns to trends in ruffed grouse predation. Using data collected at 10 study sites between February, 1997 and December, 2000, I compared predation rates, and animal and weather indices to predation rates, across sites, years, regions, seasons and month combinations pooled across years. Avian predators were the primary predators of ruffed grouse in the Appalachian region (50% of all predation). Predation rates on ruffed grouse were highest in fall (8.3%), due to high predation on juveniles, and spring (7.4%) in association with raptor migration and pre-breeding activity of grouse. Predation patterns and predator abundance did not indicate the occurrence of predator invasions during the years of this study. Predation rates on ruffed grouse were positively related to the presence of rain and negatively related to the average low temperature and number of rabbits and squirrels observed per hour. Observations of owls and Cooper's hawks per hour were correlated with predation rates on grouse while those of red-tailed, red-shouldered and broad-winged hawks were not. / Master of Science

Tesis por compendio / [ES] La presente tesis doctoral tuvo como objetivo desarrollar nuevos materiales biodegradables hechos a base de fibras obtenidas mediante la técnica de electroestirado, denominadas "biopapers" o biopapeles, con barrera a agua y a gases y propiedades de secuestro de oxígeno para su posible aplicación en recubrimientos de papel o como capas intermedias en envases alimentarios basados en papel y cartón. En un primer estudio, se desarrollaron biopapeles de PHB mediante electroestirado, usando dos tipos de colectores, colectores de placa plana y rotativo, para evaluar la influencia del alineamiento de las fibras. Con posterioridad se aplicó un tratamento de recocido por debajo del punto de fusión del polímero a diferentes temperaturas, tiempos y procesos de enfriamiento para obtener películas continuas por coalescencia de las fibras, lo que a su vez condujo a la adhesión entre capas, y a una mejora en las propriedades barrera y ópticas. En un segundo estudio, se depositaron biopapeles monocapa y multicapa hechos de PHB, PVOH y PLA sobre un sustrato de papel no estucado, utilizando los dos colectores citados; y el tiempo de procesamiento por electrospinning se varió para producir espesores diferentes. Para mejorar la adhesión al sustrato de papel, y las propiedades ópticas y de barrera de las multicapas, los biopapeles se sometieron a un proceso de recocido como se describe y optimiza en el primer estudio. Con respecto a la barrera al agua, el sistema de papel/ PVOH/PHB presentó las mejores propriedades. En un tercer estudio, se obtuvieron dos nanopapeles de alta barrera hechos a base de nanofibras de celulosa de dos tipos, nanofibras de celulosa (CNF) y nanofibras de lignocelulosa (LCNF) y se recubrieron con biopapeles de PHA electroestirados con barrera a agua. Como resultado, el carácter hidrófobo de los nanopapeles se mejoró significativamente. Por otra parte, estos también exhibieron un rendimiento mecánico más equilibrado. En un cuarto estudio, se desarrollaron biopapeles de PHA con capacidad activa de secuestro de oxígeno, para lo cual se usaron nanopartículas de paladio (PdNP) como catalizadores de la respuesta activa. La principal dificultad asociada con las nanopartículas es mantenerlas dispersas, por lo que en este trabajo evaluamos el uso de surfactantes CTAB y TEOS como sustancias permitidas en contacto con alimentos para ayudar a la dispersión y distribución de PdNP dentro de las fibras de PHA. Como resultado, se prepararon nanocompuestos electroestirados con capacidad de secuestro de oxígeno hechos de PHB y PdNP, seguidos de un tratamiento de recocido para obtener capas continuas y autoadhesivas. La capacidad de secuestro de oxígeno de los biopapeles, medida a un 100% de humedad relativa (HR), mostró un mejor rendimento para el material en forma de fibra que en forma de film. En cualquier caso, los resultados indicaron una cinética de absorcion relativamente baja. Con el fin de mejorar aún más la cinética de secuestro de oxígeno, incluso a una humedad intermedia y en forma de película, un quinto estudio, desarrolló biopapeles multicapa hechos de PCL y PHA aplicados sobre papel no estucado. Los nanocompuestos de PCL/PdNP mostraron uma cinética de secuestro de oxígeno mucho mayor que la del sistema PHA / PdNP anterior. Este resultado se atribuye a la mayor fración de volumen libre del PCL que permite que la humedad, el hidrógeno y la permeación de oxígeno desencadenen la reacción de eliminación catalítica de forma más eficiente. Finalmente, un sexto estudio, desarrolló un nuevo concepto de capa con capacidad de secuestro de oxígeno y con alta barrera passiva a gases y vapores orgánicos basado en PdNP, CNC y EVOH. Así, CNC y CNC oxidado com TEMPO (TEMPO oxidized CNC), se utilizaron para producir PdNP in situ sobre el nanorefuerzo, que se incorporaron en la matriz del polímero EVOH. El TEMPO oxidized CNC demostró poseer una mayor absorción de oxígeno debido a los grupos car / [CA] La present tesi doctoral va tindre com a objectiu desenvolupar noves capes biodegradables actives obtingudes mitjançant electrospinning, denominades "biopapers" o biopapeles, amb barrera a aigua i a gasos i propietats de segrest d'oxigen per a la seua possible aplicació en recobriments de paper o com a capes intermèdies en envasos alimentaris basats en paper i cartó. En un primer estudi, es van desenvolupar bio-papers de PHB mitjançant electrospinning, utilitzant dos tipus de col·lectors, col·lectors de placa plana i rotatiu, per a avaluar la influència de l'alineament de les fibres. Amb posterioritat es va aplicar un tractament de recuita per davall del punt de fusió del polímer a diferents temperatures, temps i processos de refredament per a obtenir pel·lícules contínues per coalescència de les fibres, la qual cosa al seu torn va conduir a l'adhesió entre capes, i a una millora en les propietats barrera i òptiques. En un segon estudi, es van depositar bio-papers monocapa i multicapa fets de PHB, PVOH i PLA sobre un substrat de paper no estucat, utilitzant els dos col·lectors citats; i el temps de processament per electrospinning es va variar per a produir grossàries diferents. Per a millorar l'adhesió al substrat de paper, i les propietats òptiques i de barrera de les multicapes, els biopapers es van sotmetre a un procés de recuita com es descriu i optimitza en el primer estudi. Respecte a la barrera a l'aigua, el sistema de paper/PVOH/PHB va presentar les millors propietats. En un tercer estudi, es van obtenir dos nano-papers d'alta barrera fets a base de nanofibres de cel·lulosa de dos tipus, nanofibres de cel·lulosa (CNF) i nanofibres de lignocel·lulosa (LCNF) i es van recobrir amb bio-papers de PHA electro-estirats amb barrera a aigua. Com a resultat, el caràcter hidròfob dels nano-papers es va millorar significativament. D'altra banda, aquests també van exhibir un rendiment mecànic més equilibrat. En un quart estudi, es van desenvolupar bio-papers de PHA amb capacitat activa de segrest d'oxigen, per a això es van usar nanopartícules de pal·ladi (PdNP) com a catalitzadors de la resposta activa. La principal dificultat associada amb les nanopartícules és mantenir-les disperses, per la qual cosa en aquest treball avaluem l'ús de surfactants CTAB i TEOS com a substàncies permeses en contacte amb aliments per a ajudar la dispersió i distribució de PdNP dins de les fibres de PHA. Com a resultat, es van preparar nano-compostos electro-estirats amb capacitat de segrest d'oxigen fets de PHB i PdNP, seguits d'un tractament de recuita per a obtenir capes contínues i autoadhesives. La capacitat de segrest d'oxigen dels bio-papers, mesurada a un 100% d'humitat relativa (HR), va mostrar un millor rendiment per al material en forma de fibra que en forma de film. En qualsevol cas, els resultats van indicar una cinètica de absorció relativament baixa. Amb la finalitat de millorar encara més la cinètica de segrest d'oxigen, fins i tot a una humitat intermèdia i en forma de pel·lícula, un cinquè estudi, va desenvolupar bio-papers multicapa fets de PCL i PHA aplicats sobre paper no estucat. Els nano-compostos de PCL/PdNP van mostrar una cinètica de segrest d'oxigen molt major que la del sistema PHA/PdNP anterior. Aquest resultat s'atribueix a la major fracció de volum lliure del PCL que permet que la humitat, l'hidrogen i la permeància d'oxigen desencadenen la reacció d'eliminació catalítica de forma més eficient. Finalment, un sisè estudi, va desenvolupar un nou concepte de capa amb capacitat de segrest d'oxigen i amb alta barrera passiva a gasos i vapors orgànics basat en PdNP, CNC i EVOH. Així, CNC i CNC oxidat com TEMPO (TEMPO oxidat CNC), es van utilitzar per a produir PdNP in situ sobre el nano-reforç, que es van incorporar en la matriu del polímer EVOH. El TEMPO oxidat CNC va demostrar posseir una major absorció d'oxigen degut als grups carboxílics generats. / [EN] The present PhD thesis aimed to develop novel active fiber based biodegradable layers obtained by electrospinning, so-called biopapers, with water and gas barrier and oxygen scavenging properties for their potential use as paper coatings or packaging interlayers in fiber based packaging. In a first study, PHB biopapers were obtained by electrospinning, by means of two types of collectors namely, flat plate and rotation drum collectors, to evaluate the influence of the alignment of fibers. Annealing post-processing below the polymer melting point was carried at different temperatures, isothermal times and cooling processes to obtain transparent and pore free continuous films by fibers coalescence which in turn led to interlayer adhesion, enhanced barrier and optical properties. In a second study, mono and multilayer biopapers comprising PHB, PVOH and PLA were deposited onto a conventional uncoated paper substrate, using the cited two collectors; and the electrospinning processing time was varied to produce different thickneses. To enhance adhesion to the paper substrate, optical and barrier performance of the multilayer, the biopapers were subjected to an annealed process as described and optimized in the first study. Regarding water barrier, the system paper/PVOH/PHB presented the highest barrier performance. In a third study, environmentally friendly materials such as cellulose based nanopapers, i.e. gas barrier layers made of cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNFs), were obtained and coated with the water barrier electrospun PHA biopapers. As a result, the hydrophobic character of the nanopapers was significantly improved by the electrospun biopapers. Moreover, these also exhibited a more balanced mechanical performance. In a fourth study, active oxygen scavenging PHA biopapers were developed, in which palladium nanoparticles (PdNP) were used as catalysts to scavenge oxygen from the headspace. The main difficulty associated with nanoparticles is to keep them dispersed, so in this work we assessed the use of CTAB and TEOS surfactants as food contact permitted substances to help dispersion and distribution of the PdNP within the PHA fibers. As a result, oxygen scavenging nanocomposite biopapers made of electrospun PHB and PdNP were prepared, followed by annealing treatment to obtain homogeneous and continuous active layers. The oxygen scavenging capacity at 100% relative humidity (RH) of the biopapers in fiber form showed better performance than their annealed specimens as expected, but in general this was not considered optimal. In order to improve further the oxygen scavenging capacity, even at a low relative humidity and in film form, a fifth study, developed multilayered biopapers made of PCL and PHA coated on conventional cellulose paper. The PCL/PdNP nanocomposites showed much more enhanced oxygen scavenging performance in comparison with the above PHA/PdNP system. This result is attributed to the higher fractional free volume of the PCL polymer that allows moisture, hydrogen and oxygen permeation to trigger the catalytic scavenging reaction. Finally, a sixth study, developed a solvent casting high gas barrier and active oxygen scavenging layer concept based on PdNP, CNC and EVOH. Thus, CNC and TEMPO oxidized CNC, were used to produce in situ PdNP, which were incorporated into the EVOH polymer matrix. The TEMPO oxidized CNC exhibited higher oxygen absorption due to the generated carboxylic groups. / Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) project AGL2015-63855-C2-1-R for financial support. A. Cherpinski also would like to thank the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) of Brasilian Government for her predoctoral grant (205955/2014-2). A. Cherpinski also acknowledges the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action FP1405 for funding through a Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) / Cherpinski Correa, A. (2019). NOVEL ELECTROSPUN POLYHYDROXYALKANOATE BASED HIGH BARRIER AND ACTIVE BIOPAPERS OF INTEREST IN FOOD PACKAGING [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/123064 / Compendio

Due to their ability to simultaneously reduce fuel consumption and NOx emissions, Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI) and HCCI combustion processes have been extensively researched over the last decade and adopted on prototype gasoline engines. These combustion processes were initially achieved on conventional two-stroke ported gasoline engines, but there have been significantly fewer studies carried out on the CAI combustion in two-stroke engines. This is primarily due to the inherent problems associated with conventional two-stroke engine intake and exhaust ports. Meanwhile, engine downsizing has been actively researched and developed as an effective means to improve the vehicle’s fuel economy. This is achieved by operating the engine at higher load regions of lower fuel consumption and by reducing the number of cylinders. However, aggressive downsizing of the current 4-stroke gasoline engine is limited by the knocking combustion and high peak cylinder pressure. As an alternative approach to engine downsizing, boosted two-stroke operation is being researched. In this thesis, it has been shown that the CAI combustion in the two-stroke cycle could be readily achieved at part-load conditions with significant reductions in CO and uHC emissions when compared to typical SI combustion in a single cylinder gasoline direct injection camless engine. In addition, extensive engine experiments have been performed to determine the optimum boosting for minimum fuel consumption during the two-stroke operation. In order to minimise the air short-circuiting rate, the intake and exhaust valve timings were varied and optimised. It is shown that the lean operation under boosted condition can extend the range of CAI combustion and increase combustion and thermal efficiencies as well as producing much lower CO and HC emissions. By means of the cycle-resolved in-cylinder measurements and heat release analysis, the improvement in combustion and thermal efficiencies were attributed to the improved in-cylinder mixture, optimised autoignition, and combustion phases. Finally, in view of the increased use of ethanol in gasoline engines, E15 and E85 were used and their effect on engine performance, fuel economy and exhaust emissions were investigated.

No description available.

With ample radio transmitters scattered throughout urban landscape, RF energy scavenging emerges as a promising approach to extract energy from propagating radio waves in the ambient environment to continuously charge low power electronics. With the ability of generating power from RF energy, the need for batteries could be eliminated. The effective distance of a RF energy scavenging system is highly dependent on its conversion efficiency. This results in significant limitations on the mobility and space requirement of conventional RF energy scavenging systems as they operate only in presence of physically large antennas and conversion circuits to achieve acceptable efficiency. This thesis presents a number of novel design strategies in the antenna and rectifier designs for miniaturized RF energy scavenging system. In the first stage, different energy scavenging systems including solar energy scavenging system, thermoelectric energy scavenging system, wind energy scavenging system, kinetic energy scavenging system, radio frequency energy scavenging system and hybrid energy scavenging system are investigated with regard to their principle and performance. Compared with the other systems, RF energy scavenging system has its advantages on system size and power density with relatively stable energy source. For a typical RF energy scavenging system, antenna and rectifier (AC-DC convertor) are the two essential components to extract RF energy and convert to usable electricity. As the antenna occupies most of the area in the RF energy scavenging system, reduction in antenna size is necessary in order to design a miniaturized system. Several antennas with different characteristics are proposed in the second stage. Firstly, ultra-wideband microstrip antennas printed on a thin substrate with a thickness of 0.2 mm are designed for both half-wave and full-wave wideband RF energy scavenging. Ambient RF power is distributed over a wide range of frequency bands. A wideband RF energy scavenging system can extract power from different frequencies to maximize the input power, hence, generating sufficient output power for charging devices. Wideband operation with 4 GHz bandwidth is obtained by the proposed microstrip antenna. Secondly, multi-band planar inverted-F antennas with low profile are proposed for frequency bands of GSM 900, DCS 1800 and Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, which are the three most promising frequency bands for RF energy scavenging. Compared with previous designs, the triple band antenna has smaller dimensions with higher antenna gain. Thirdly, a novel miniature inverted-F antenna without empty space covering Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz frequency band is presented dedicated for indoor RF energy scavenging. The antenna has dimensions of only 10 × 5 × 3.5 mm3 with appreciable efficiency across the operating frequency range. In the final stage, a passive CMOS charge pump rectifier in 0.35 μm CMOS technology is proposed for AC to DC conversion. Bootstrapping capacitors are employed to reduce the effective threshold voltage drop of the selected MOS transistors. Transistor sizes are optimized to be 200/0.5 μm. The proposed rectifier achieves improvements in both power conversion efficiency and voltage conversion efficiency compared with conventional designs. The design strategies proposed in this thesis contribute towards the realization of miniaturized RF energy scavenging systems.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Recently, a great deal of interest has developed towards the isolation of bioactive compounds from marine sources due to their numerous health benefits. Furthermore, marine algae are valuable sources of structurally diverse metabolites with scientifically proven therapeutic claims. The cell walls are rich in sulfated polysaccharides such as fucoidans in brown algae, carrageenans in red algae and ulvans in green algae. These sulfated polysaccharides exhibit many beneficial biological activities such as anticoagulant, antiviral, antioxidative, anticancer and immunomodulating activities. They have great potential for further development as products in cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical areas. Although the mechanism of action is still not clear, their biological activities could be mainly attributed to their major secondary metabolites namely; phlorotannins, terpenoids and fucoidans. There was use of comprehensive chromatographic separations and a full analysis of isolates using one or other of the spectroscopic techniques. Antioxidant and cytotoxicity tests were perfomed in details for Ecklonia maxima. Furthermore, structural and electronic features of the phlorotannins were compared in an attempt to provide an explanation for the differences in their radical scavenging properties. In this regard, two main radical scavenging mechanisms, hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and electron transfer (ET), were assessed in order to determine the preferred mode of radical scavenging. Fully relaxed geometry optimizations of the neutral and the radical species were performed utilizing DFT/B3LYP and DFT/UB3LYP methods respectively. In further studies, the structural and functional properties of sulfated polysaccharides from the three brown and one red seaweeds were investigated. This was through detailed analysis of chemical composition of crude and purified polysaccharides using PMP - derivatization of hydrolysed sugars, anion exchange, molecular weight determination, ion chromatography , FT-IR, NMR to methylation analysis. The work reports isolation and characterization of compounds from four algae: Ecklonia maxima, phlorotannin derivatives, namely phloroglucinol (22), eckol (23), 7-phloroeckol (24), 2-phloroeckol (25) and a sterol, 24-ethylidine cholesterol (26); Splachinidium rugosum, 24-ethylidine cholesterol ( 26), 1, 3-Dicapryloyl-2-oleoylglycerol (27), E-3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexa dec-2-en-1-ol (phytol) (2 8); Macrocystis angustifolia, 24-ethylidine cholesterol (26); a red seaweed Aeodes orbitosa, and E -3, 7, 11, 15-tetramethylhexad ec-2-en-1-ol (28) and 17-(5-Ethyl-6-methylheptan-2-yl)-10,13-dimethyl-2,3,4,7, 8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydro-1 H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-ol (β-sitosterol) (29). Experimental findings and theoretical predictions of phlorotannins indicated that the radical scavenging activities followed the order 22< 23 < 25 < 24. Theoretical studies further indicated the ET mechanism is more significant than the HAT mechanism due to the high BDE values. Their polysaccharide structures were tentatively shown to have a backbone of (1-3) and (1-4) linkages with sulfate groups at O-2 and O-2, 3 positions. The only red algae studied contained, 2-O-methyl-D-galactose with (1-3) and (1-4)-glycosidic linkages possessing sulfate groups at positions 2 and 6.

In order to reduce nutrient losses and soil erosion in the United States Upper Midwest following soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], cover crops can be intersown into standing soybean. The objective of this study was to determine the establishment of intersown cover crops and their impacts on a soybean-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation. Four cover crops, winter camelina [Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz], winter pea [Pisum sativum ssp. arvense (L.) Poir], winter rye (Secale cereale L.), and radish (Raphanus sativus L.), were directly sown into the ground at the R4 and R6 stages of soybean at two locations, Prosper and Fargo, ND in 2016-2018. Results indicated intersowing cover crops have no impact on soybean yield, can produce above ground biomass which ranged from 0.44 to 3.04 Mg ha-1, and show potential to mitigate soil nitrate losses in areas that grow soybean as a cash crop.