An Evaluation of Herbicides for Control of Wild Oats in Barley: Efficacy, Phytotoxicity, and Barley Variety Susceptibility Studies

The control of wild oats (Avena Jatua L.) in Alaskan spring-planted barley was investigated in a series of experiments conducted from 1981-1984. Rates and times of applications of triallate (a preemergence, soil-incorporated herbicide), diclofop, barban, and difenzoquat (postemergence herbicides) were investigated in relation to control of wild oats and barley yield in 1981-1982. Because of very high wild oats populations. none of the herbicides controlled wild oats to the point of· allowing a barley harvest. Generally, wild oats were best controlled when herbicides were applied at an early growth stage and at the highest application rates. Control of wild oats with triallate was the same whether incorporated using parallel or perpendicular passes of a spike-tooth harrow. In 1983-84 both single herbicide treatments and combinations of herbicides were studied. Barban, diclofop, and difenzoquat were applied alone or with triallate applied in the fall or spring in emulsifiable concentrate or granular formulation. Wild oats population levels were lower in these 2 years, and applications of even single herbicides provided good wild oats control. Of the individual herbicides, diclofop provided the best control of wild oats. In general, when triallate was applied in conjunction with diclofop, barban, or difenzoquat, control of wild oats was better and higher barley yields were obtained than when a single wild oats herbicide was applied. When triallate was applied in the fall, the granular formulation provided better control of wild oats than the emulsifiable formulation. In a study of the response of eight barley varieties ('Eero', 'Paavo', 'Galt', 'Otra', 'Otal', 'Datal', 'Udal', 'Weal') to high rates and late times of application of the four herbicides, none of the varieties were differentially susceptible. Diclofop decreased heights of all varieties and decreased test weights

Of Moice and Men: The Evolution of Male-led Sound Change

Some of the most prominent findings regarding the documentation of linguistic change and how social and linguistic factors affect change as it moves through a community have come from the project on Linguistic Change and Variation in Philadelphia (LCV) conducted in the 1970’s, and the analysis of these data (Labov 1994, 2001). This dissertation is a re-study of the Philadelphia speech community, focusing on the effects of sex on language change. The male-led change of the centralization of the nucleus of /ay/ before voiceless consonants (ay0) was selected as the focus of this dissertation. In addition to this variable, this dissertation investigates (aw) and (eyC) through a real time study using the methodology adopted by the LCV. A representative set of vowel tokens were measured and normalized for each subject, and these data were used in multiple regression analyses to identify changes in progress and possible social factors affecting the changes. In order to explore gender further, a 3-part Gender Index was created using sex, sexual orientation and childhood/adolescent socialization experiences. All three variables are still involved in change in apparent time, which is supported by real time analyses. The raising of (ay0) no longer shows a significant sex difference or social stratification. (aw) shows a reversal of the direction of the change in F2 as posited by the LCV, and the real time data confirm this analysis. (eyC) shows change in vowel height, rather than change in F2 as identified in the LCV data. Like (ay0), (eyC) does not show sex differentiation. While the Gender Index does not show significant effects predicting vowel production for any of these variables, sexual orientation does: lesbian women are leading the changes of (aw) and (eyC), while gay men show some resistance to these changes. A matched guise test shows that Philadelphians evaluate the linguistic behavior of women and men on different scales with respect to (ay0). This dissertation shows that language change can exist without sex differentiation, and that sexual orientation is a significant social factor in language change

Magnetized black holes and black rings in the higher dimensional dilaton gravity

In this paper we consider magnetized black holes and black rings in the higher dimensional dilaton gravity. Our study is based on exact solutions generated by applying a Harrison transformation to known asymptotically flat black hole and black ring solutions in higher dimensional spacetimes. The explicit solutions include the magnetized version of the higher dimensional Schwarzschild-Tangherlini black holes, Myers-Perry black holes and five dimensional (dipole) black rings. The basic physical quantities of the magnetized objects are calculated. We also discuss some properties of the solutions and their thermodynamics. The ultrarelativistic limits of the magnetized solutions are briefly discussed and an explicit example is given for the $D$-dimensional magnetized Schwarzschild-Tangherlini black holes.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages; v2 references and comments added, some typos corrected;v3 minor change

A Systematic Approach To Teaching Critical Thinking Skills To Electrical And Computer Engineering Undergraduates

Coursework that instills patterns of rigorous logical thought has long been a hallmark of the engineering curriculum.  However, today’s engineering students are expected to exhibit a wider range of thinking capabilities both to satisfy ABET requirements and to prepare the students to become successful practitioners.  This paper presents the initial results from a systematic effort to incorporate broader critical thinking instruction and assessment into electrical and computer engineering education as part of a university-wide quality enhancement program.  All incoming freshmen are given explicit and implicit instruction in critical thinking in ENGR 100: Introduction to Engineering and other engineering fundamentals courses, using the Paul-Elder framework of critical thinking to define and operationalize critical thinking.  This critical thinking foundation is reinforced later in the disciplinary courses so that students integrate critical thinking with the basic principles and practices of engineering.  In the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program, at the sophomore level, students use critical thinking skills which were developed during their engineering fundamentals courses, to analyze requirements and constraints which would apply in real-world design projects.  At the junior level, similar use of critical thinking is applied in an introductory computing methods course; and at the senior level, critical thinking skills are again strengthened and assessed in the capstone design course and in the professional issues and current topics seminar.  The latter course emphasizes understanding of professional ethics and current topics in electrical and computer engineering.  Initial data from this pilot implementation indicates statistically significant improvement in critical thinking skills in ECE students who have progressed through this sequence, and as a side benefit, it appears that writing skills also improve

MGluR5 Mediates the Interaction between Late-LTP, Network Activity, and Learning

Hippocampal synaptic plasticity and learning are strongly regulated by metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) and particularly by mGluR5. Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying mGluR5-modulation of these phenomena. Prolonged pharmacological blockade of mGluR5 with MPEP produced a profound impairment of spatial memory. Effects were associated with 1) a reduction of mGluR1a-expression in the dentate gyrus; 2) impaired dentate gyrus LTP; 3) enhanced CA1-LTP and 4) suppressed theta (5–10 Hz) and gamma (30–100 Hz) oscillations in the dentate gyrus. Allosteric potentiation of mGluR1 after mGluR5 blockade significantly ameliorated dentate gyrus LTP, as well as suppression of gamma oscillatory activity. CA3-lesioning prevented MPEP effects on CA1-LTP, suggesting that plasticity levels in CA1 are driven by mGluR5-dependent synaptic and network activity in the dentate gyrus. These data support the hypothesis that prolonged mGluR5-inactivation causes altered hippocampal LTP levels and network activity, which is mediated in part by impaired mGluR1-expression in the dentate gyrus. The consequence is impairment of long-term learning

Extracellular Calcium Modulates Actions of Orthosteric and Allosteric Ligands on Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 1alpha

SUMMARY: Metabotropic glutamate receptor 1α (mGluR1α), a member of the family C G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), is emerging as a potential drug target for various disorders including chronic neuronal degenerative diseases. In addition to being activated by glutamate, mGluR1α is also modulated by extracellular Ca2+. However, the underlying mechanism is unknown. Moreover, it has long been challenging to develop receptor-specific agonists due to homologies within the mGluR family, and the Ca2+-binding site(s) on mGluR1α may provide an opportunity for receptor-selective targeting by therapeutics. In the present study, we show that our previously predicted Ca2+-binding site in the hinge region of mGluR1α is adjacent to the site where orthosteric agonists and antagonists bind on the extracellular domain of the receptor. Moreover, we have found that extracellular Ca2+ enhances mGluR1α-mediated intracellular Ca2+ responses evoked by the orthosteric agonist, L-quisqualate. Conversely, extracellular Ca2+ diminishes the inhibitory effect of the mGluR1α orthosteric antagonist, (s)-MCPG. In addition, selective positive (Ro 67-4853) and negative (CPCCOEt) allosteric modulators of mGluR1α potentiate and inhibit responses to extracellular Ca2+, respectively, in a manner similar to their effects on the response of mGluR1α to glutamate. Mutations at residues predicted to be involved in Ca2+-binding, including E325I, have significant effects on the modulation of responses to the orthosteric agonist, L-quisqualate, and the allosteric modulator Ro 67-4853 by extracellular Ca2+. These studies reveal that binding of extracellular Ca2+ to the predicted Ca2+-binding site in the ECD of mGluR1α modulates not only glutamate-evoked signaling but also the actions of both orthosteric ligands and allosteric modulators on mGluR1α

Activation of group III metabotropic glutamate receptors inhibits the production of RANTES in glial cell cultures

The chemokine RANTES is critically involved in neuroinflammation and has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis. We examined the possibility that activation of G-protein-coupled metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors regulates the formation of RANTES in glial cells. A 15 hr exposure of cultured astrocytes to tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interferon-gamma induced a substantial increase in both RANTES mRNA and extracellular RANTES levels. These increases were markedly reduced when astrocytes were coincubated with l-2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoate (l-AP-4), 4-phosphonophenylglycine, or l-serine-O-phosphate, which selectively activate group III mGlu receptor subtypes (i.e., mGlu4, -6, -7, and -8 receptors). Agonists of mGlu1/5 or mGlu2/3 receptors were virtually inactive. Inhibition of RANTES release produced by l-AP-4 was attenuated by the selective group III mGlu receptor antagonist (R,S)-alpha-methylserine-O-phosphate or by pretreatment of the cultures with pertussis toxin. Cultured astrocytes expressed mGlu4 receptors, and the ability of l-AP-4 to inhibit RANTES release was markedly reduced in cultures prepared from mGlu4 knock-out mice. This suggests that activation of mGlu4 receptors negatively modulates the production of RANTES in glial cells. We also examined the effect of l-AP-4 on the development of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) in Lewis rats. l-AP-4 was subcutaneously infused for 28 d by an osmotic minipump that released 250 nl/hr of a solution of 250 mm of the drug. Detectable levels of l-AP-4 ( approximately 100 nm) were found in the brain dialysate of EAE rats. Infusion of l-AP-4 did not affect the time at onset and the severity of neurological symptoms but significantly increased the rate of recovery from EAE. In addition, lower levels of RANTES mRNA were found in the cerebellum and spinal cord of EAE rats infused with l-AP-4. These results suggest that pharmacological activation of group III mGlu receptors may be useful in the experimental treatment of neuroinflammatory CNS disorders