Influence of gibberellin treatment on flowering and fruiting patterns in mango

The potential for using gibberellins (GAS) to modify time of flowering and fruit maturity in mango was investigated. Winter spraying of mango trees grown in the coastal subtropics of Queensland (latitude 27OS) with gibberellin A3 (GA3) or GA4 solutions caused a delay in flowering time of up to 4 weeks, depending on cultivar (Kensington Pride, Glenn, Early Gold) and concentration (50-200 mg/L). There was also a general reduction in number of panicles, particularly at higher GA concentrations. Similar experiments with GA3 on cvv. Kensington Pride and Keitt in tropical North Queensland (latitude 17¦S) did not show any effect either on time or extent of flowering. Fruit yield was highly correlated with the proportion of terminal buds that flowered. Consequently, GA treatments caused significant yield reductions in cv. Kensington Pride, especially at 200 mg/L where only 23% of terminal buds flowered. Fruit size was inversely related to yield, and yield was influenced by tree size. Delayed flowering also resulted in later fruit maturation, by up to 2 weeks. With Early Gold, late-flowering panicles retained 3 times more fruit than those which flowered early, which was possibly related to differences in night temperatures before or at anthesis. Delays in flowering time, which lead to somewhat lesser delays in fruit maturation, can be achieved with suitable GA treatments, but concentration and timing of application are critical if flowering and, hence, yields are not to be reduced. The potential use of this treatment in commercial mango orchards is discussed in relation to extending the fruit production season

Description of a presumptive hepatopancreatic reovirus, and a putative gill parvovirus, in the freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus

The redclaw freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus has a reputation for being hardy and resistant to handling stress. However, in recent years, possibly since 1996, C. quadricarinatus farmers in northern Queensland have noted a decrease in stress resistance in their stock. A presumptive reovirus in the hepatopancreas, and a putative parvovirus in the gills, were associated with chronic mortalities in C. quadricarinatus at one northern Queensland farm. Hypertrophic nuclei with marginated chromatin were observed in gill epithelium in moribund crayfish which had recently been relocated to a laboratory from the holding tank facility on the farm. Affected nuclei appeared to be vacant or contained a faint granular basophilia in H&E stained sections. However, toluidine blue staining revealed a homogeneously granular appearance of the nuclei. Transmission electron microscopy revealed approximately 20 nm diameter virus-like particles within the nucleus. Eosinophilic, Feulgen-negative, cytoplasmic inclusions were observed in distal hepatopancreatocytes in 1 moribund C. quadricarinatus collected from the same on-farm holding tank approximately 6 mo later. This crayfish did not display the gill lesions. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the inclusions contained icosahedral virus particles 35 to 40 nm in diameter. The histopathology and preliminary virus morphology of the presumptive hepatopancreatic reovirus, and the histopathology, ultrastructural pathology and preliminary virus morphology of the putative gill parvovirus, are reported herein

Pacific Southwest United States Holocene Droughts and Pluvials Inferred From Sediment δ18O (calcite) and Grain Size Data (Lake Elsinore, California)

Records of past climate can inform us on the natural range and mechanisms of climate change. In the arid Pacific southwestern United States (PSW), which includes southern California, there exist a variety of Holocene records that can be used to infer past winter conditions (moisture and/or temperature). Holocene records of summer climate, however, are rare from the PSW. In the future, climate changes due to anthropogenic forcing are expected to increase the severity of drought in the already water stressed PSW. Hot droughts are of considerable concern as summer temperatures rise. As a result, understanding how summer conditions changed in the past is critical to understanding future predictions under varied climate forcings. Here, we present a c. 10.9 kcal BP δ18O(calcite) record from Lake Elsinore, California, interpreted to reflect δ18O(lake water) values as controlled by over-water evaporation from summer-to-early fall. Our results reveal three millennial scale intervals: (1) the highly evaporative Early Holocene (10.55–6.65 kcal BP), (2) the less evaporative Mid-Holocene (6.65–2.65 kcal BP); and (3) the evaporative Late Holocene (2.65–0.55 kcal BP). These results are coupled with an inferred winter precipitation runoff (sand content) record from Kirby et al. (2010). Using these data together, we estimate the duration and severity of centennial-scale Holocene droughts and pluvials (e.g., high δ18O(calcite) values plus low sand content = drought and vice versa). Furthermore, the coupled δ18O(calcite) and sand data provide a generalized Holocene lake level history. The most severe, long-lasting droughts (i.e., maximum summer-to-early fall evaporation and minimum winter precipitation runoff) occur in the Early Holocene. Fewer, less severe, and shorter duration droughts occurred during the Mid-Holocene as pluvials became more common. Droughts return with less severity and duration in the Late Holocene. Notably, the Little Ice Age is characterized as the wettest period during the Late Holocene

Bogoliubov Coefficients of 2D Charged Black Holes

We exactly calculate the thermal distribution and temperature of Hawking radiation for a two-dimensional charged dilatonic black hole after it has settled down to an "equilibrium" state. The calculation is carried out using the Bogoliubov coefficients. The background of the process is furnished by a preexisting black hole and not by collapsing matter as considered by Giddings and Nelson for the case of a Schwarzschild black hole. Furthermore, the vanishing of the temperature and/or the Hawking radiation in the extremal case is obtained as a regular limit of the general case.Comment: 9 pages, 1 eps figur

The specific activity of tritium in the organic components of the skin and fat of man following eight months` chronic exposure to HTO in body fluids

A healthy 39-year-old male weighing 65 kg was exposed for a period of 8 months to varying levels of HTO. The average tritium activity in body fluids over the entire period was 23 {mu}c/liter. A few weeks after exposure, when the HTO activity in body fluids had declined to about 0.2 {mu}c/liter, a biopsy was pe formed on skin and fat taken from the region of the lower abdomen, and the material was analyzed for tritium activity. The skin showed an average activity equivalent to 0.4 {mu}c/kg of dry tissue and the fat about 0.3 {mu}c/kg of dry tissue. The radiation dose per unit time from these activities was only 1 to 2 percent of the radiation dose per unit time during the 8-month exposure period. It was concluded that the radiation hazard due to retention of tritium in the organic components of these tissues of man after chronic exposure was negligible compared to the radiation hazard from HTO activity in the body fluids which was necessary to induce the activity into the organic components. Comparable experiments on mice previously reported indicate that this conclusion may hold for all tissues in the body. The water content of the skin and fat of man was found to be 71 percent and 20 percent, respectively, on the basis of the wet weight. The hydrogen content of skin was 7.6 per cent, and of fat 11.4 percent, of the dry weight of the tissue

High TcT_c Superconductivity, Skyrmions and the Berry Phase

It is here pointed out that the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuation may be associated with a gauge field which gives rise to the antiferromagnetic ground state chirality. This is associated with the chiral anomaly and Berry phase when we consider the two dimensional spin system on the surface of a 3D sphere with a monopole at the centre. This realizes the RVB state where spinons and holons can be understood as chargeless spins and spinless holes attached with magnetic flux. The attachment of the magnetic flux of the charge carrier suggest, that this may be viewed as a skyrmion. The interaction of a massless fermion representing a neutral spin with a gauge field along with the interaction of a spinless hole with the gauge field enhances the antiferromagnetic correlation along with the pseudogap at the underdoped region. As the doping increases the antiferromagnetic long range order disappears for the critical doping parameter $\delta_{sc}$. In this framework, the superconducting pairing may be viewed as caused by skyrmion-skyrmion bound states.Comment: 10 pages, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Energy-resolved spatial inhomogeneity of disordered Mott systems

We investigate the effects of weak to moderate disorder on the T=0 Mott metal-insulator transition in two dimensions. Our model calculations demonstrate that the electronic states close to the Fermi energy become more spatially homogeneous in the critical region. Remarkably, the higher energy states show the opposite behavior: they display enhanced spatial inhomogeneity precisely in the close vicinity to the Mott transition. We suggest that such energy-resolved disorder screening is a generic property of disordered Mott systems.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to the Proceedings of the SCES 200

Arithmetical properties of Multiple Ramanujan sums

In the present paper, we introduce a multiple Ramanujan sum for arithmetic functions, which gives a multivariable extension of the generalized Ramanujan sum studied by D. R. Anderson and T. M. Apostol. We then find fundamental arithmetic properties of the multiple Ramanujan sum and study several types of Dirichlet series involving the multiple Ramanujan sum. As an application, we evaluate higher-dimensional determinants of higher-dimensional matrices, the entries of which are given by values of the multiple Ramanujan sum.Comment: 19 page

Spatial, environmental and anthropogenic effects on the taxon composition of hybridizing Daphnia

The competitive ability of hybrids, compared with their parental taxa, can cover a wide fitness range from poor to superior. For example communities of the Daphnia galeata–hyalina–cucullata species complex often show hybrid dominance. We tested whether taxa composition of 43 European lakes inhabited by this species complex can be explained by habitat characteristics (e.g. size descriptors, trophy level) or geography. We found that D. galeata occurs more frequently south of the Alps, whereas D. hyalina and D. cucullata are found more in the north. Lakes with D. galeata dominance had higher temperatures whereas D. hyalina dominance could be attributed to low phosphorus loads. The dominance of F1-hybrids, however, was not explainable with current environmental variables. In a subset of 28 lakes, we studied the impact of eutrophication history on F1-hybrid success. Lakes with the highest trophic state in the past tended to be dominated by F1-hybrids. Our data demonstrate that human-mediated habitat disturbance (eutrophication) has facilitated hybrid success and altered the Daphnia taxon composition across lakes. At the same time, specific habitat conditions might provide a refuge from hybridization for native genotypes