Maximizer Hybrid Corn: Performance Update

Results of 1996 field tests with Maximizer™ hybrid com confirm the results from the previous two years, indicating that these products offer an innovative solution to growers, enabling them to maximize grain yield, test weight, standability, and performance consistency in spite of damage otherwise caused by the European com borer (ECB). Responses from the approximately 9,000 growers who had the opportunity to plant the 135,000 units available in 1996 are overwhelmingly positive. In addition, feedback supporting rapid market growth of this technology is being received from 800-plus on-farm company-sponsored tests, and those from university and USDA researchers. Rapid market growth is expected in 1997

Soybean seed yield, viability and vigor, and chemical composition resulting from drought and high temperature stress during seed fill

Control, moderate, and severe drought stresses were imposed on pot-grown soybean plants in the greenhouse at air temperatures (AT) of 20, 26, 27, 29, 33, and 35 C. Stress intensity was quantified by summing stress degree days (SDD), the daily difference between AT and leaf temperature (LT), during seed fill;As SDD increased from 46 to 141 at 26 C, leaf resistance increased 220%, the transpiration rate decreased 45%, and the photosynthetic rate decreased linearly 69%. Yield was reduced linearly 49% by drought and 29% by the stressfully-high AT. Seed mass was reduced 20% by severe drought at 28 C, and 47% at 34 C;The germination percentage was reduced 10% by severe drought, 3% by high AT, and 29% by a SDD x AT interaction. Seedling axis dry weight (SADW) decreased, and conductivity increased proportionately because of stress, indicating reduced vigor. Viability and vigor exhibited a correlation of 0.89 with seed mass. The production of fewer seeds because of moderate stress quenched the reductions in viability and vigor. Severe stress reduced seed number, mass, viability, and vigor;Protein and oil content exhibited an inverse curvilinear relationship with AT. Maximum oil and minimum protein content were 24.6 and 38.0, respectively, at a critical AT of 29 C. Severe drought reduced the oil content linearly by 3%, and increased the protein content by 5%. Linolenic and linoleic acid content were reduced 19 and 5%, and oleic acid increased 13%, by high AT. Fatty acid composition was little affected by drought;Phospholipid class composition, and the fatty acid composition of each class, are altered by the AT during development optimizing membrane fluidity. A cool germination environment may confer nonfluid and leaky membranes of seeds that developed in warm environments;The effect of pod position on seed mass, viability, and vigor was dependent upon growth habit, whereas seed chemical composition was dependent upon pod temperature. Pods from top nodes were 1.4 C warmer than those from bottom nodes between 900 and 1700 hours

The Effects of Wet-Pressing upon the Strength Properties of Recycled Corrugated Shipping Containers

Tests verified the increases of strength characteristics with increasing solids content of the sheet. The rate of water removal from the sheet into the felt, involving hydraulic pressure, directly influences the compressibility of the felts and the sheet and appears to greatly determine the extent of crushing effects, which have the potential of occurring at any particular solids content region irregardless of loading. Mention of water content interacting with the press load is suggested as an important parameter of efficient wet-pressing. Hence interest in profiles incorporating multiple wet-pressings utilizing one or two felts to increase the percent solids has an obvious financial potential

U.S. Army Installation Climate Resilience Initiatives

Energy Academic Group (EAG) New

Precambrian Animal Life: Probable Developmental and Adult Cnidarian Forms from Southwest China

The evolutionary divergence of cnidarian and bilaterian lineages from their remote metazoan ancestor occurred at an unknown depth in time before the Cambrian, since crown group representatives of each are found in Lower Cambrian fossil assemblages. We report here a variety of putative embryonic, larval, and adult microfossils deriving from Precambrian phosphorite deposits of Southwest China, which may predate the Cambrian radiation by 25–45 million years. These are most probably of cnidarian affinity. Large numbers of fossilized early planula-like larvae were observed under the microscope in sections. Though several forms are represented, the majority display remarkable conformity, which is inconsistent with the alternative that they are artifactual mineral inclusions. Some of these fossils are preserved in such high resolution that individual cells can be discerned. We confirm in detail an earlier report of the presence in the same deposits of tabulates, an extinct crown group anthozoan form. Other sections reveal structures that most closely resemble sections of basal modern corals. A large number of fossils similar to modern hydrozoan gastrulae were also observed. These again displayed great morphological consistency. Though only a single example is available, a microscopic animal remarkably similar to a modern adult hydrozoan is also presented. Taken together, the new observations reported in this paper indicate the existence of a diverse and already differentiated cnidarian fauna, long before the Cambrian evolutionary event. It follows that at least stem group bilaterians must also have been present at this time

Remarkable preservation of microbial mats in Neoproterozoic siliciclastic settings : Implications for Ediacaran taphonomic models

The authors thank Duncan McIlroy and Alex Liu for their discussions, help, comments and field support, the National Trust for access to Longmyndian localities, and the staff of the British Geological Survey Palaeontology unit and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History for their assistance with access to materials. The comments and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers and Nora Noffke significantly improved the manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Rare coding variants in 35 genes associate with circulating lipid levels-A multi-ancestry analysis of 170,000 exomes

Large-scale gene sequencing studies for complex traits have the potential to identify causal genes with therapeutic implications. We performed gene-based association testing of blood lipid levels with rare (minor allele frequency 1%) predicted damaging coding variation by using sequence data from 170,000 individuals from multiple ancestries: 97,493 European, 30,025 South Asian, 16,507 African, 16,440 Hispanic/Latino, 10,420 East Asian, and 1,182 Samoan. We identified 35 genes associated with circulating lipid levels; some of these genes have not been previously associated with lipid levels when using rare coding variation from population-based samples. We prioritize 32 genes in array-based genome-wide association study (GWAS) loci based on aggregations of rare coding variants; three (EVI5, SH2B3, and PLIN1) had no prior association of rare coding variants with lipid levels. Most of our associated genes showed evidence of association among multiple ancestries. Finally, we observed an enrichment of gene-based associations for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol drug target genes and for genes closest to GWAS index single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Our results demonstrate that gene-based associations can be beneficial for drug target development and provide evidence that the gene closest to the array-based GWAS index SNP is often the functional gene for blood lipid levels.Peer reviewe

A soft-bodied mollusc with radula from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale

Author Posting. © Nature Publishing Group, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature 442 (2006): 159-163, doi:10.1038/nature04894.Odontogriphus omalus was originally described as a problematic non-biomineralized lophophorate organism. Here we reinterpret Odontogriphus based on 189 new specimens including numerous exceptionally well-preserved individuals from the Burgess Shale collections of the Royal Ontario Museum. This additional material provides compelling evidence that the feeding apparatus in Odontogriphus is a radula of molluscan architecture comprising two primary bipartite tooth rows attached to a radular membrane and showing replacement by posterior addition. Further characters supporting molluscan affinity include a broad foot bordered by numerous ctenidia located in a mantle groove and a stiffened cuticular dorsum. Odontogriphus has a radula similar to Wiwaxia corrugata but lacks a scleritome. We interpret these animals to be members of an early stem-group mollusc lineage that likely originated in the Neoproterozoic Ediacaran Period, providing support for the retention of a biomat-based grazing community from the late Precambrian until at least the Middle Cambrian.Our research was in part supported by a Post-Doctoral Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant (to JBC-2005) and by a Swedish Research Council grant (to CS)