The Wood Properties of an Intergeneric Hybrid － Taxodiomeria peizhongii (Taxodium mucronatum × Cryptomeria fortunei)

Taxodiomeria peizhongii is an intergeneric hybrid between Taxodium mucronatum and Cryptomeria fortunei. By more than 30 years investigation, it is found that the hybrid is well suited for the site and climate of Shanghai area, and it will be one of the main landscape trees in near few years. So it is necessary to know its basic wood properties. In this research, we harvested 6 sample trees of Taxodiomeria peizhongii and studied the elementary wood properties. The results showed that its mean annual ring width was 7.0mm, mean basic density 0.32g/cm3, and the mean percentage of latewood 24.3%. The mean treacheid length of latewood was 3.1mm, and mean treacheid width 35.1μm. Compared with other usual coniferous trees, the values of these indices were at a medium level. The period of juvenile wood was about 15 years, and the fast growing period appeared in first 10 years. The basic density, altering less in radial growth, showed a significant minus relation with annual ring width. The percentage of latewood did not related to wood density.OtherShinshu University International Symposium 2010 : Sustainable Agriculture and Environment : Asian Networks II 　信州大学国際シンポジウム2010 : 持続的農業と環境 : アジアネットワークII ― アジアネットワークの発展をめざして―. 信州大学農学部, 2010, 65-70conference pape

Effects of different chemical materials and cultural methods on growth and yield of winter wheat

To determine the effects of different chemical and cultural methods on the growth of winter wheat, six treatments were carried out: Conservational irrigation, non-irrigation, water absorbent polymers (WAP), liquid mulching film (LMF), water-saving irrigation (WSI) and subsoiling tillage (SST). The results show that winter wheat could use more water from soil profile though WAP, LMF and SST treatments; only LMF could use extra water for yield while both WAP and SST could not increase yield. SST could not increase yield of winter wheat. Both LMF and WAP treatments could help in maintaining leaf chlorophyll content and leaf water content which may help in maintaining photosynthetic ability in late growing periods. Furthermore, more dry matter partitioning to reproductive organs is observed in LMF and WAP treatments. LMF might be favorable for yield when grown under lower soil moisture conditions, while the application of WAP might not help in yield producing in field both in high or low soil moisture conditions. A reasonable irrigation quantity may be needed when applying WAP, while LMF could be used in any meteorological and/or soil water conditions.Keywords: Winter wheat, water absorbent polymers, liquid mulching film, subsoiling tillageAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(36), pp. 5522-552

EDTA-based adsorption layer for mitigating FO membrane fouling via in situ removing calcium binding with organic foulants

Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging technology for wastewater treatment and reclamation. However, membrane fouling remains a strong hindrance to FO application. We proposed a novel approach for alleviating FO membrane fouling via in situ removing Ca 2+ binding with organic foulants using the EDTA-based adsorption layer. Results suggested that the EDTA-based adsorption layer can effectively remove the Ca 2+ binding with sodium alginate, and its adsorption capacity correspondingly increased as a function of Ca 2+ concentration in the feed solution. Owing to the effective extraction of Ca 2+ from the fouling layer by the EDTA-based adsorption layer, water flux of FO membrane was significantly enhanced, and fouling layer became easily removed by physical flushing, suggesting a remarkable alleviation of FO membrane fouling. Mitigation of FO membrane fouling by the EDTA-based adsorption layer was attributed to the fact that the fouling layer structure became more porous and looser after in situ removing Ca 2+ from the alginate-Ca 2+ gel networks. This study demonstrated a novel fouling control strategy via in situ removing Ca 2+ binding with the organic foulants, providing a new avenue for FO membrane fouling management. </p

DNA modification by sulfur: analysis of the sequence recognition specificity surrounding the modification sites

The Dnd (DNA degradation) phenotype, reflecting a novel DNA modification by sulfur in Streptomyces lividans 1326, was strongly aggravated when one (dndB) of the five genes (dndABCDE) controlling it was mutated. Electrophoretic banding patterns of a plasmid (pHZ209), reflecting DNA degradation, displayed a clear change from a preferential modification site in strain 1326 to more random modifications in the mutant. Fourteen randomly modifiable sites on pHZ209 were localized, and each seemed to be able to be modified only once. Residues in a region (5′-c–cGGCCgccg-3′) including a highly conserved 4-bp central core (5′-GGCC-3′) in a well-documented preferential modification site were assessed for their necessity by site-directed mutagenesis. While the central core (GGCC) was found to be stringently required in 1326 and in the mutant, ‘gccg’ flanking its right could either abolish or reduce the modification frequency only in the mutant, and two separate nucleotides to the left had no dramatic effect. The lack of essentiality of DndB for S-modification suggests that it might only be required for enhancing or stabilizing the activity of a protein complex at the required preferential modification site, or resolving secondary structures flanking the modifiable site(s), known to constitute an obstacle for efficient modification

Colour removal and its mechanisms in textile wastewater treatment by UASB reactor system with anaerobic granular sludge

Textile wastewaters generated from different stages of textile processing contain various toxicants orpollutants that are seriously harmful to natural aquatic environment when released without propertreatment. Although there are different methods, which can be adopted for the treatment of textilewastewater. biological approaches are considered as environmentally friendly, low cost and effectivemethods over other physico-chemical methods. In the present study, simulated textile wastewater(STW) prepared by mixing of three popular acid dyes (Acid blue 204, Acid red 131 and Acid yellow79) in synthetic wastewater was studied for the decolourization and removal of degradable organic inthe laboratory scale Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor system with anaerobic granular sludgefor about five months at different organic and dye loading rates. The colour removal mechanismsunder .maerobic treatment were also examined since microbial colour removal occurs basically in twoways namely biological degradation, which is more important in textile wastewater treatment, andadsorption of dye molecules onto microbial biomass. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal ofacid red 131 (AR 131) containing STW was about 80% at 300 mg/l dye concentration and it was over89% in acid yellow 79 (AY79) dye containing STW under studied conditions. Although acid blue 204(AB204) showed a little inhibition over rnethanogenic consortia, about 93% of COD removal wasobserved at 100 mg/l dye concentration. Colour removal of AR 131 dye containing STW was 95% and.it was credited to biodegradation. Treatment of STW prepared using AY79 showed 95% colourremoval owing to biodegradation while AB204 was quite resistant to biodegradation by anaerobicrn icroorgan isms. Observed colour removal was merely due to the adsorption of dyes onto microbialgranules. Even though a little accumulation of volatile fatty acid (YFA) was observed in increaseddye concentrations, the detected values ofYFA, alkalinity and pH showed that those values were inthe range of desirable limits of anaerobic process. It seems that AR 131 and AY79 can be decolourizedalmost completely by UASB reactor system while AB204 cannot be decolourised since all colourremoval attributed to adsorption of dye onto microbial granules. It can be concluded that anaerobictechnology can be used for the treatment of textile wastewater containing different dyes as an alternativemethod over other methods. However, further study ofUASB reactor for the treatment of real textilewastewater is suggested to find out matrix effect of other chemicals present in real textile wastewaterbefore application to the real world situations

Based on Atmospheric Physics and Ecological Principle to Assess the Accuracies of Field CO2 /H2O Measurements From Infrared Gas Analyzers in Closed-Path Eddy-Covariance Systems

Field CO2 /H2O measurements from infrared gas analyzers in closed-path eddy-covariance systems have wide applications in earth sciences. Knowledge about exactness of these measurements is required to assess measurement applicability. Although the analyzers are specified with uncertainty components (zero drift, gain drift, cross-sensitivities, and precision), exactness for individual measurements is unavailable due to an absence of methodology to comprehend the components as an overall uncertainty. Adopting an advanced definition of accuracy as a range of all measurement uncertainty sources, the specified components are composited into a model formulated for studying analyzers’ CO2 /H2O accuracy equations. Based on atmospheric physics and environmental parameters, the analyzers are evaluated using the equations for CO2 accuracy (±0.78 µmolCO2 mol−1, relatively ±0.18%) and H2O accuracy (±0.15 mmolH2 O mol−1). Evaluation shows that precision and cross-sensitivity are minor uncertainties while zero and gain drifts are major uncertainties. Both drifts need adjusting through zero/span procedures during field maintenance. The equations provide rationales to guide and assess the procedures. H2O span needs more attentions under humid conditions. Under freezing conditions while H2O span is impractical, this span is fortunately unnecessary. Under the same conditions, H2O zero drift dominates H2O measurement uncertainty. Therefore, automatic zero becomes a more applicable and necessary tactic. In general cases of atmospheric CO2 background, automatic CO2 zero/ span procedures can narrow CO2 accuracy by 36% (±0.74 to ± 0.47 µmolCO2 mol−1). Automatic/manual H2 O zero/span procedures can narrow H2O accuracy by 27% (±0.15 to ±0.11 mmolH2O mol−1). While ensuring system specifications, the procedures guided by equations improve measurement accuracies