Approaching Mechanization of Plant Micropropagation

Investigations of materials and methods for growing plant tissue in a continual-flow, liquid nutrient medium as an alternative to semisolid agar medium have been made. Enhanced growth of plant tissue on microporouspolypropylene membranes floating on a liquid nutrient has been demonstrated. Moreover, in vitro plantlets on the microporous membrane are free from entanglement with the support matrix and readily available to mechanizedhandling. Trained growth of plantlets through polypropylene netting shows potential for mechanization by mass handling (separation, singulation, and transfer) of plant tissue cultures

Support for graphicacy: a review of textbooks available to accounting students

This Teaching Note reports on the support available in textbooks for graphicacy that will help students understand the complexities of graphical displays. Graphical displays play a significant role in financial reporting, and studies have found evidence of measurement distortion and selection bias. To understand the complexities of graphical displays, students need a sound understanding of graphicacy and support from the textbooks available to them to develop that understanding. The Teaching Note reports on a survey that examined the textbooks available to students attending two Scottish universities. The support of critical graphicacy skills was examined in conjunction with textbook characteristics. The survey, which was not restricted to textbooks designated as required reading, examined the textbooks for content on data measurement and graphical displays. The findings highlight a lack of support for graphicacy in the textbooks selected. The study concludes that accounting educators need to scrutinize more closely the selection of textbooks and calls for more extensive research into textbooks as a pedagogic tool