Biochar-amended potting medium reduces the susceptibility of rice to root-knot nematode infections

Background: Biochar is a solid coproduct of biomass pyrolysis, and soil amended with biochar has been shown to enhance the productivity of various crops and induce systemic plant resistance to fungal pathogens. The aim of this study was to explore the ability of wood biochar to induce resistance to the root-knot nematode (RKN) Meloidogyne graminicola in rice (Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare) and examine its histochemical and molecular impact on plant defense mechanisms. Results: A 1.2 % concentration of biochar added to the potting medium of rice was found to be the most effective at reducing nematode development in rice roots, whereas direct toxic effects of biochar exudates on nematode viability, infectivity or development were not observed. The increased plant resistance was associated with biochar-primed H2O2 accumulation as well as with the transcriptional enhancement of genes involved in the ethylene (ET) signaling pathway. The increased susceptibility of the Ein2b-RNAi line, which is deficient in ET signaling, further confirmed that biochar-induced priming acts at least partly through ET signaling. Conclusion: These results suggest that biochar amendments protect rice plants challenged by nematodes. This priming effect partially depends on the ET signaling pathway and enhanced H2O2 accumulation

Inquiry in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Reflections on Practice

As teacher educators we work to make inquiry methodology explicit to help teacher candidates construct the link between theory and practice. Bringing inquiry learning into the early childhood curriculum method courses raises the potential for inquiry teaching practice for teacher candidates and models a constructivist practice in a higher education setting. Of the numerous curriculum studies available, few focus on methods of inquiry to guide adult learners’ to construct inquiry- teaching practices that they can transfer to their work with children. To improve the quality of our teaching in an Early Childhood Teacher Education program we researched and developed several tools to facilitate the transfer from teacher candidates own learning experiences to their teaching practice. We relied on the literature regarding the Reggio Emilia approach of inquiry learning and teaching based on documentation, as well as Creativity theory to help us develop a method to relate concepts with materials in a cycle of inquiry. Through our Cycle of Inquiry and the introduction of Concept Materials we promote representation which is a critical aspect of constructing knowledge about what it means to teach. We find that this differs from merely modeling hands-on activities in that it promotes higher level reasoning and creativity throughout the early childhood curriculum, as teacher candidates learn to reflect on and question the big ideas—thinking and learning—they observe in play to develop practice that extends learning along a conceptual continuum of inquiry. This data accumulated over the course of two years at East Tennessee State University and the University of Michigan-Dearborn through our process of developing and implementing curriculum for teacher educators that models action research and teacher as researcher

Comparative Trap Catches of Male Bactrocera, Dacus, and Zeugodacus Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) With Four Floral Phenylbutanoid Lures (Anisyl Acetone, Cue-Lure, Raspberry Ketone, and Zingerone) in Queensland, Australia

The male fruit fly attractants, cue-lure (CL) and raspberry ketone (RK), are important in pest management. These volatile phenylbutanoids occur in daciniphilous Bulbophyllum Thouar (Orchidaceae: Asparagales) orchids, along with zingerone (ZN) and anisyl acetone (AA). While these four compounds attract a similar range of species, their relative attractiveness to multiple species is unknown. We field tested these compounds in two fruit fly speciose locations in north Queensland, Australia (Lockhart and Cairns) for 8 wk. Of 16 species trapped in significant numbers, 14 were trapped with CL and RK, all in significantly greater numbers with CL traps than RK traps (at least in higher population locations). This included the pest species Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae) (CL catches ca. 5× > RK), Bactrocera neohumeralis (Hardy) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Bactrocera bryoniae (Tryon) (Diptera: Tephritidae) (CL catches ca. 3× > RK), and Bactrocera frauenfeldi (Schiner) (Diptera: Tephritidae) (in Cairns—CL catches ca. 1.6× > RK). Seven species were trapped with AA, and all were also caught in CL and RK traps in significantly greater numbers, with the exception of B. frauenfeldi. For this species, catches were not statistically different with CL, RK, and AA in Lockhart, and RK and AA in Cairns. Seven species were trapped with ZN, two at this lure only, and the remainder also with CL or RK but in significantly greater numbers. This is the first quantitative comparison of the relative attractiveness of CL, RK, AA, and ZN against multiple species, and supports the long-held but untested assumption that CL is broadly more attractive lure than RK

Reorienting America: Race, Geopolitics, and the Repeal of Asian Exclusion, 1940-1952

This dissertation examines the movement to repeal the Asian exclusion laws in the United States during World War II and the early Cold War years. It situates campaigns for repeal in the context of two interrelated developments: African American civil rights activism in the United States and shifting U.S. geopolitical interests in post-1940 Asia. As U.S. foreign policy priorities pivoted toward Asia beginning in World War II, Americans' view of the world changed in ways that, at times, allowed geopolitics to supersede restrictions based on race. Drawing from U.S., Indian, and Korean sources, the project charts how a transnational cast of American missionaries, U.S. and Asian state officials, and Asian and Asian American activists used the newly expedient language and logic of geopolitics to end the racial exclusion of Asians from immigration and naturalization eligibility. The study highlights a paradox at the heart of the repeal campaigns: beginning in World War II, the perceived foreignness that underwrote the historical exclusion of Asians as “aliens ineligible to citizenship” legitimized them as spokespersons for repeal. During a time when few Americans had knowledge of Asia, Asian American activists parlayed their presumptive expertise as Asian “insiders” to secure a foothold as lobbyists on Capitol Hill. The strategy undermined Asian Americans’ claims to inclusion in the long-term, however, by reinforcing their image as racial foreigners in America. The dissertation builds on a growing body of literature interrogating the relationship between international developments and U.S. racial reform. Comparatively little scholarship about this period has looked beyond a white-black racial binary, in spite of Japanese internment, U.S. military occupations in postwar Japan and Korea, and unprecedented American intervention across Cold War Asia. My study demonstrates how developments particular to Asia – the Pacific front of World War II, Asian decolonization, and the Korean War – both facilitated and constrained the scope of legislative reform activists achieved.Histor

Sexual consumption within sexual labour: producing and consuming erotic texts and sexual commodities

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Porn Studies on 7-9-2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2015.1051308This paper explores the various connections between two particularly feminized fields of sexual culture – erotic fiction and sex toys – through an examination of the accounts of five UK women who are both readers and writers (or producers) of erotic fiction. The qualitative data evidence, first, a network of production and consumption across the fields of erotica and sex toys, and, second, the formulation of erotica writing/producing as a form of implicit sex work in which sexual commodities are mobilized. Analysis is divided into three themes: ‘informing sexual knowledge’, in which the educative function of erotica is examined, particularly around sex-toy use; ‘mobilizing sexual experiences’, in which I argue that writing erotica involves mobilizing one's body and sexual experience to add value to the product; and ‘managing emotional risks’, in which the emotion, identity and boundary management strategies particular to this form of implicit sexual labour are examined

Urbanization and health in China, thinking at the national, local and individual levels

BACKGROUND: China has the biggest population in the world, and has been experiencing the largest migration in history, and its rapid urbanization has profound and lasting impacts on local and national public health. Under these conditions, a systems understanding on the correlation among urbanization, environmental change and public health and to devise solutions at national, local and individual levels are in urgent need. METHODS: In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of recent studies which have examined the relationship between urbanization, urban environmental changes and human health in China. Based on the review, coupled with a systems understanding, we summarize the challenges and opportunities for promoting the health and wellbeing of the whole nation at national, local, and individual levels. RESULTS: Urbanization and urban expansion result in urban environmental changes, as well as residents’ lifestyle change, which can lead independently and synergistically to human health problems. China has undergone an epidemiological transition, shifting from infectious to chronic diseases in a much shorter time frame than many other countries. Environmental risk factors, particularly air and water pollution, are a major contributing source of morbidity and mortality in China. Furthermore, aging population, food support system, and disparity of public service between the migrant worker and local residents are important contributions to China’s urban health. CONCLUSIONS: At the national level, the central government could improve current environmental policies, food safety laws, and make adjustments to the health care system and to demographic policy. At the local level, local government could incorporate healthy life considerations in urban planning procedures, make improvements to the local food supply, and enforce environmental monitoring and management. At the individual level, urban residents can be exposed to education regarding health behaviour choices while being encouraged to take responsibility for their health and to participate in environmental monitoring and management.This work was supported by National Science Foundation of China (No. 41371540, No. 41201598, No. 41201155, No. 41101551), Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.KFJ-EW-STS-088), and Major Special Project-The China High-Resolution Earth Observation System

Tackling unemployment in China: state capacity and governance issues

This paper considers China's state capacity and changing governance as revealed through its policies to tackle unemployment. Despite high levels of growth, economic restructuring has resulted in rising unemployment over the last decade. The Chinese state has been able to manage job losses from state enterprises, demonstrating some state capacity in relation to this sector and some persistent command economy governance mechanisms. However both design and implementation of policies to compensate and assist particular groups among the unemployed have been shaped by weak state capacity in several other areas. First, capacity to gather accurate employment data is limited, meaning local and central governments do not have a good understanding of the extent and nature of unemployment. Second, the sustainability of supposedly mandatory unemployment insurance schemes is threatened by poor capacity to enforce participation. Third, poor central state capacity to ensure local governments implement policies effectively leads to poor unemployment insurance fund capacity, resulting in provision for only a narrow segment of the unemployed and low quality employment services. Although the adoption of unemployment insurance (and its extension to employers and employees in the private sector), the introduction of a Labour Contract Law in 2007, and the delivery of employment services by private businesses indicate a shift towards the use of new governance mechanisms based on entitlement, contract and private sector delivery of public-sector goods, that shift is undermined by poor state capacity in relation to some of these new mechanisms