The interaction of gibberellic acid and 2-(chloroethyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride on fruit cluster development in Vitis vinifera L.

The effects of applications of GA and CCC in factorial combinations and at different stages of development were measured on reproductive development of five cultivars of Vitis vinifera: Doradillo and Muscat (seeded), Sultana (stenospermocarpic), and Cape Currant and Zante Currant (parthenocarpic). The effect of GA on fruit set varied with concentration, stage of development when applied, and the cultivar, that is whether seeded, stenospermocarpic, or parthenocarpic. Set was decreased in the parthenocarpic cultivars by GA applied before anthesis; other timings were without effect. On Sultana, set was decreased by GA applied at anthesis but was increased by earlier or later applications. With the seeded cultivars, GA reduced the number of seeded berries but increased the number of seedless berries, the net effect being usually an increase. The application of CCC two weeks. before anthesis generally increased set. The amount of seed development also influenced the effect of GA on berry fresh weight; seeded berries were unaffected but seedless berries were usually enlarged. The enlargement was greatest in parthenocarpic berries especially when treated at anthesis. On stenospermocarpic berries, treatment two weeks after anthesis had the greatest effect. CCC reduced berry size whether applied before or after anthesis; the reductions ranged from 2 to 20 per cent.GA increased the length/width ratio of berries, particularly when applied at anthesis, but the amount of change depended on the cultivar. CCC reduced the length/width ratio of Sultana berries. The effects of GA and CCC on rachis elongation were also opposite: GA increased the length of the rachis and pedicel, particularly if applied before anthesis; CCC reduced their length.There were few instances where GA and CCC interacted significantly; their effects within the concentration ranges chosen were generally additive.Der Einfluß von Gibberellinsäure und CCC auf die Traubenentwicklung bei Vitis vinifera L.Der Einfluß von Gibberellinsäure (GS)- und CCC-Gaben in faktorieller Kombination und in verschiedenen Entwicklungsphasen auf die generative Entwicklung der fünf Vitis vinifera-Sorten Doradillo und Muskat (samenhaltig), Sultana (stenospermokarp), Cape Currant und Zante Currant (parthenokarp) wurde gemessen. Der Einfluß der GS auf den Fruchtansatz hing von der Konzentration, dem Entwicklungsstadium zur Zeit der Applikation und von der Sorte ab, d. h. ob samenhaltig, stenospermokarp oder parthenokarp. Vor der Anthesis angewendet, verminderte GS den Fruchtansatz; spätere Anwendungen waren ohne Wirkung. Bei Sultana verminderte GS den Fruchtansatz, wenn sie zur Blütezeit, und erhöhte ihn, wenn sie vorher oder nachher appliziert wurde. Bei den samenhaltigen Sorten verminderte GS die Zahl der samenhaltigen und erhöhte die der samenlosen Beeren; die Gesamtzahl der Beeren war gewöhnlich vergrößert. Die Anwendung von CCC zwei Wochen vor dem Blühen erhöhte allgemein den Fruchtansatz.Über die Samenentwicklung beeinflußte GS auch das Frischgewicht der Beeren; samenhaltige Beeren ließen keine Wirkung erkennen, während samenlose meistens vergrößert waren, und zwar am stärksten bei parthenokarpen Beeren, besonders nach Behandlung während der Anthesis. Bei stenospermokarpen Beeren hatte die zwei Wochen nach der Blütezeit applizierte GS die größte Wirkung. CCC, vor oder nach dem Aufblühen angewendet, verminderte die Beerengröße; der Rückgang betrug 2-20%. Durch GS wurde - sortenabhängig - das Verhältnis Länge/Breite der Beeren vergrößert, besonders bei Anwendung während der Anthesis. CCC verminderte dieses Verhältnis bei Sultana-Beeren. Auch das Wachstum des Traubenstieles wurde durch GS und CCC gegensätzlich beeinflußt; GS förderte das Längenwachstum von Traubenund Beerenstielen, besonders bei Anwendung vor der Blüte; CCC verminderte es. In einigen Fällen beeinflußten sich GS und CCC gegenseitig signifikant; im allgemeinen wurden hierdurch bei den verwendeten Konzentrationen ihre Wirkungen gesteigert

Hazardous cosleeping environments and risk factors amenable to change: case-control study of SIDS in south west England

Objectives: To investigate the factors associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) from birth to age 2 years, whether recent advice has been followed, whether any new risk factors have emerged, and the specific circumstances in which SIDS occurs while cosleeping (infant sharing the same bed or sofa with an adult or child). Design: Four year population based case-control study. Parents were interviewed shortly after the death or after the reference sleep (within 24 hours) of the two control groups. Setting: South west region of England (population 4.9 million, 184 800 births). Participants: 80 SIDS infants and two control groups weighted for age and time of reference sleep: 87 randomly selected controls and 82 controls at high risk of SIDS (young, socially deprived, multiparous mothers who smoked). Results: The median age at death (66 days) was more than three weeks less than in a study in the same region a decade earlier. Of the SIDS infants, 54% died while cosleeping compared with 20% among both control groups. Much of this excess may be explained by a significant multivariable interaction between cosleeping and recent parental use of alcohol or drugs (31% v 3% random controls) and the increased proportion of SIDS infants who had coslept on a sofa (17% v 1%). One fifth of SIDS infants used a pillow for the last sleep (21% v 3%) and one quarter were swaddled (24% v 6%). More mothers of SIDS infants than random control infants smoked during pregnancy (60% v 14%), whereas one quarter of the SIDS infants were preterm (26% v 5%) or were in fair or poor health for the last sleep (28% v 6%). All of these differences were significant in the multivariable analysis regardless of which control group was used for comparison. The significance of covering the infant’s head, postnatal exposure to tobacco smoke, dummy use, and sleeping in the side position has diminished although a significant proportion of SIDS infants were still found prone (29% v 10%). Conclusions: Many of the SIDS infants had coslept in a hazardous environment. The major influences on risk, regardless of markers for socioeconomic deprivation, are amenable to change and specific advice needs to be given, particularly on use of alcohol or drugs before cosleeping and cosleeping on a sofa

Responding to unexpected infant deaths : experience in one English region

New national procedures for responding to the unexpected death of a child in England require a joint agency approach to investigate each death and support the bereaved family. As part of a wider population-based study of sudden unexpected deaths in infancy (SUDI) we evaluated the implementation of this approach. Methods: A process evaluation using a population-based study of all unexpected deaths from birth to 2 years in the South West of England between January 2003 and December 2006. Local police and health professionals followed a standardised approach to the investigation of each death, supported by the research team set up to facilitate this joint approach as well as collect data for a wider research project. Results: We were notified of 155/157 SUDI, with a median time to notification of 2 hours. Initial multi-agency discussions took place in 93.5% of cases. A joint home visit by police officers with health professionals was carried out in 117 cases, 75% within 24 hours of the death. Time to notification and interview reduced during the 4 years of the study. Autopsies were conducted on all cases, the median time to autopsy being 3 days. At the conclusion of the investigation, a local multi-agency case discussion was held in 88% of cases. The median time for the whole process (including family support) was 5 months. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that with appropriate protocols and support, the joint agency approach to the investigation of unexpected infant deaths can be successfully implemented

Differential effects of canopy manipulation and shading of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon. Leaf gas exchange, photosynthetic electron transport rate and sugar accumulation in berries

Partial cluster and leaf removals were performed on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon at veraison during two years to give 4 treatments: control (C), cluster thinning (CT), leaf removal (LR) and cluster thinning + leaf removal (CT+LR). A half of each plot was shaded by a 50 % shading net at veraison (40 % berries coloured). Shading significantly reduced stomatal conductance but not CO2 assimilation rate (Pn) and carboxylation efficiency. Pn was decreased by cluster thinning and enhanced by leaf removal. Leaves of CT vines showed a photosynthetic decay 2 days after the treatment while LR leaves presented an afternoon photosynthetic enhancement 3 days after the treatment probably due to a higher photoassimilate requirement of the bunches (sink). Stomatal conductance did not totally contribute to the P-n depression or enhancement. Electron transport rate and maximum Rubisco activity were strongly affected by CT and LR suggesting that photochemical and biochemical processes were affected to a greater extent than physical processes. Juice sugar concentration was reduced by shading, an effect explained straightforwardly by the lessening of stomatal conductance. CT and LR had large effects on biochemical and photochemical processes but these were in the opposite direction to the expected effects on juice sugar concentration. It is suggested that CT increased sugar concentration because of the low fruit sink load per vine, and that LR decreased sugar concentration because of the low leaf area per vine. If cluster thinning is to be used by growers to gain increased sugar concentration it is recommended to do it at veraison; the sugar accumulation rate is then high and the adaptation of photosynthetic processes to thinning takes several days

The Impact of a SIG on Assessment Literacy

A major aim of professional associations is to provide opportunities for professionals to interact with others, share ideas and develop in their chosen profession. Professional associations exist to provide specialized networking and development opportunities to a specific profession, group of individuals or field of study. To promote and support specialized research and communication, smaller subgroups within an association are often chartered or developed. These subgroups are typically known as Special Interest Groups. According to Jacob et al. (2013), association members join SIGs because they want to go deeper into a specialized content area and they enjoy networking with others who ‘speak the same language.’ The TESOL Arabia Testing, Assessment and Evaluation SIG (TAE SIG) has focused their professional development activities on an important trend in the field, that of language assessment literacy (LAL). Language assessment literacy has been a critical topic in English language teaching since the late 1990s. Unfortunately, this is mainly due to the fact that so many English language teachers are not assessment literate. In other words, many English language teachers lack the knowledge and skills to write effective language tests, evaluate the effectiveness of their tests, and use their test results in meaningful ways. The purpose of this chapter is to critically examine the status of LAL in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and report on activities that the TAE SIG has implemented to increase LAL

A systematic evidence map of intervention evaluations to reduce gang-related violence

Objective: To identify and map evaluations of interventions on gang violence using innovative systematic review methods to inform future research needs. Methods: A previous iteration of this map (Hodgkinson et al., (2009). “Reducing gang-related crime: A systematic review of ‘comprehensive’ interventions.”) was updated in 2021/22 with inclusion of evaluations since the original searches in 2006. Innovative automatic searching and screening was used concurrently with a ‘conventional’ strategy that utilised 58 databases and other online resources. Data were presented in an online interactive evidence gap map. Results: Two hundred and forty-eight evaluations were described, including 114 controlled studies, characterised as comprehensive interventions, encompassing more than one distinct type of intervention. Conclusion: This suggests a substantial body of previously unidentified robust evidence on interventions that could be synthesised to inform policy and practice decision-making. Further research is needed to investigate the extent to which using automated methodologies can improve the efficiency and quality of systematic reviews

Developmental changes associated with cross-language similarity in bilingual children

Online publication 30/9/2015The main goal of the present study was to investigate how the degree of orthographic overlap between translation equivalents influences bilingual word recognition processes at different stages of reading development. Spanish–Basque bilingual children with ages ranging from 8 to 15 years were tested in an explicit translation recognition task with a large set of items. Critically, the degree of cross-language similarity (i.e. the cognate status) between the references and the correct targets was manipulated along a continuum in order to investigate how the reliance on crosslanguage orthographic overlap varies as a function of reading experience. Results showed that younger children were significantly more sensitive to the cognate status of words than older children while recognising translation equivalents, and that this difference did not depend on the speed of response of the participants. These results demonstrate that the influence of cross-language similarity progressively diminishes as a function of increased exposure to print together with the maturation of the mechanisms responsible for language interference suppression, as suggested by developmental models of bilingual lexical access.This research has been partially funded by the Spanish Government [grant number PSI2012-32123], the European Research Council [grant number ERC-AdG-295362], and by the AThEME project funded by the European Union [grant number 613465]