Chemical Fractions and Availability of Zinc in Winter Wheat Soil in Response to Nitrogen and Zinc Combinations

Nitrogen (N) is critical for zinc (Zn) accumulation in winter wheat grain via enhancing Zn absorption into plant roots. This paper explored a possible mechanism for enhanced absorption of Zn in winter wheat by N combined with Zn application based on the Zn bio-availability in soil. A pot experiment with three N application rates (0.05, 0.2, and 0.4 g kg-1), two Zn application rates (0 and 10 mg kg-1), without and with plants was conducted. The results showed that high N (N0.2 and N0.4) combined with Zn (Zn10) application significantly increased the yield, yield components and Zn and N concentrations in winter wheat shoots and grain. The available Zn concentration in soil with and without plants was increased by N0.2Zn10 and N0.4Zn10 treatment at each growth stage. N0.2Zn10 and N0.4Zn10 treatment significantly decreased the pH in soil without plants but had different influences on the pH in soil with plants, which depended on the different N application rates and growth stages. Meanwhile, N0.2Zn10 and N0.4Zn10 treatment decreased the exchangeable Zn but increased loose organic-, carbonate- and Fe-Mn oxides-bound Zn concentrations in soil without plants. The exchangeable, loose organic- and carbonate-bound Zn concentrations in soil with plants was increased by N0.2Zn10 and N0.4Zn10 treatment at different growth stages. Different rates of N combined with Zn application influenced the proportion of Zn in different fractions in soil with and without plants at different growth stages. At Zn10, N0.4 treatment showed higher yield, N and Zn concentrations in shoot and grain, and available Zn concentration in soil, but lower pH in soil than N0.2 treatment. In addition, soil without plants had higher available Zn concentrations and lower pH than did the soil with plants. There were significant differences in Zn chemical fractions concentrations and proportions between the soils with and without plants at each growth stage. Therefore, combined influence of roots and the combination of N and Zn (especially N0.4Zn10 treatment) improved the bio-availability of Zn in soil via changing the soil pH and promoting the transformation and distribution of Zn in different fractions

Critical transition of soil microbial diversity and composition triggered by plant rhizosphere effects

Over the years, microbial community composition in the rhizosphere has been extensively studied as the most fascinating topic in microbial ecology. In general, plants affect soil microbiota through rhizodeposits and changes in abiotic conditions. However, a consensus on the response of microbiota traits to the rhizosphere and bulk soils in various ecosystems worldwide regarding community diversity and structure has not been reached yet. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of 101 studies to investigate the microbial community changes between the rhizosphere and bulk soils across various plant species (maize, rice, vegetables, other crops, herbaceous, and woody plants). Our results showed that across all plant species, plant rhizosphere effects tended to reduce the rhizosphere soil pH, especially in neutral or slightly alkaline soils. Beta-diversity of bacterial community was significantly separated between into rhizosphere and bulk soils. Moreover, r-strategists and copiotrophs (e.g. Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes) enriched by 24-27% in the rhizosphere across all plant species, while K-strategists and oligotrophic (e.g. Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadete, Nitrospirae, and Planctomycetes) decreased by 15-42% in the rhizosphere. Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Chloroflexi are also depleted by in the plant rhizosphere compared with the bulk soil by 7-14%. The Actinobacteria exhibited consistently negative effect sizes across all plant species, except for maize and vegetables. In Firmicutes, both herbaceous and woody plants showed negative responses to rhizosphere effects, but those in maize and rice were contrarily enriched in the rhizosphere. With regards to Chloroflexi, apart from herbaceous plants showing a positive effect size, the plant rhizosphere effects were consistently negative across all other plant types. Verrucomicrobia exhibited a significantly positive effect size in maize, whereas herbaceous plants displayed a negative effect size in the rhizosphere. Overall, our meta-analysis exhibited significant changes in microbial community structure and diversity responding to the plant rhizosphere effects depending on plant species, further suggesting the importance of plant rhizosphere to environmental changes influencing plants and subsequently their controls over the rhizosphere microbiota related to nutrient cycling and soil health

Journey to the east: Diverse routes and variable flowering times for wheat and barley en route to prehistoric China.

Today, farmers in many regions of eastern Asia sow their barley grains in the spring and harvest them in the autumn of the same year (spring barley). However, when it was first domesticated in southwest Asia, barley was grown between the autumn and subsequent spring (winter barley), to complete their life cycles before the summer drought. The question of when the eastern barley shifted from the original winter habit to flexible growing schedules is of significance in terms of understanding its spread. This article investigates when barley cultivation dispersed from southwest Asia to regions of eastern Asia and how the eastern spring barley evolved in this context. We report 70 new radiocarbon measurements obtained directly from barley grains recovered from archaeological sites in eastern Eurasia. Our results indicate that the eastern dispersals of wheat and barley were distinct in both space and time. We infer that barley had been cultivated in a range of markedly contrasting environments by the second millennium BC. In this context, we consider the distribution of known haplotypes of a flowering-time gene in barley, Ppd-H1, and infer that the distributions of those haplotypes may reflect the early dispersal of barley. These patterns of dispersal resonate with the second and first millennia BC textual records documenting sowing and harvesting times for barley in central/eastern China

Meeting the cultural and service needs of Arabic international students by using QFD

Quality has become an important factor in global competition for many reasons. Intensive global competition and the demand for better quality by customers has led organizations to realize the benefits of providing quality products and services in order to successfully compete and survive. Higher education institutions are one example of these organisations. Higher education institutions work in an intensive competitive environment worldwide driven by increasing demands for learning by local and international students. As a result, the managers of these sectors have realized that improving the quality of services is important for achieving customer satisfaction which can help survival in an internationally competitive market. To do this, it is necessary for organizations to know their customers and identify their requirements. To this end, many higher education institutions have adopted principles of total quality management (TQM) to improve their education quality which leads to better performance through involvement of every department to achieve excellence in business. This chapter considers the importance of measuring quality in order to assist universities to proactively manage the design and improvement of the social and academic experiences of postgraduate international students, and plan management decision-making processes to deliver high-quality services in a globalized business of provision of higher education. Higher education institutions must operate effectively and efficiently and be able to deliver quality programs, by seeking to better understand the needs of their customers to be competitive in this market space

Correction: Journey to the east: Diverse routes and variable flowering times for wheat and barley en route to prehistoric China.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187405.]

Roadmap on 3D integral imaging: Sensing, processing, and display

This Roadmap article on three-dimensional integral imaging provides an overview of some of the research activities in the field of integral imaging. The article discusses various aspects of the field including sensing of 3D scenes, processing of captured information, and 3D display and visualization of information. The paper consists of a series of 15 sections from the experts presenting various aspects of the field on sensing, processing, displays, augmented reality, microscopy, object recognition, and other applications. Each section represents the vision of its author to describe the progress, potential, vision, and challenging issues in this field

Ultrasound Navigation for Transcatheter Aortic Stent Deployment Using Global and Local Information

An ultrasound (US) navigation system using global and local information is presented for transcatheter aortic stent deployment. The system avoids the use of contrast agents and radiation required in traditional fluoroscopically-guided procedures and helps surgeons precisely visualize the surgical site. To obtain a global 3D (three-dimensional) navigation map, we use magnetic resonance (MR) to provide a 3D context to enhance 2D (two-dimensional) US images through image registration. The US images are further processed to obtain the trajectory of interventional catheter. A high-resolution aortic model is constructed by using trajectory and segmented intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) images. The constructed model reflects morphological characteristics of the aorta to provide local navigation information. Our navigation system was validated using in vitro phantom of heart and aorta. The mean target registration error is 2.70 mm and the average tracking error of the multi-feature particle filter is 0.87 mm. These results confirm that key parts of our navigation system are effective. In the catheter intervention experiment, the vessel reconstruction error of local navigation is reduced by 80% compared to global navigation. Moreover, the targeting error of the navigation combining global and local information is reduced compared to global navigation alone (1.72 mm versus 2.87 mm). Thus, the US navigation system which integrates the large view of global navigation and high accuracy of local navigation can facilitate transcatheter stent deployment

Study on model of aroma quality evaluation for flue-cured tobacco based on principal component analysis

To establish a new method for quality evaluation of flue-cured tobacco, aroma components in thirteen flue-cured tobacco samples were identified and determined by the simultaneous distillation extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SDE-GC-MS), and an evaluation model of aroma quality was established based on principal component analysis. Results indicated that the highest integrated score occurred in the sample T10, followed by T13, T1, T8, T12, T5, T3, T4, T9, T7, T11, T2 and T6, which were grossly consistent with the results of the traditional sensory smoking evaluation. Therefore, this model established in our study was feasible. Compared with the appearance, sensory, and traditional chemical components quality evaluation methods, our evaluation model based on aroma quality and principal component analysis can reflect the aroma quality of flue-cured tobacco more objectively, directly and accurately, and clear the position of flue-cured tobacco leaves in the cigarette blend