Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.) seed production : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science at Massey University

Seed yield reduction due to variation in genotype, management, and incidence of diseases is common and well documented in grass seed crops. Two New Zealand cultivars (Grasslands Wana, Grasslands Kara) and two Japanese (Akimidori Makibamidori) cocksfoot cultivars from a three year old stand (sown in September 1991) at Grassland Aorangi Research Farm in the Manawatu were evaluated for their seed yielding capacity. In addition these cultivars were evaluated to determine the effectiveness of bactericide (Streptomycin), nematicide (Vydate/Oxamyl) or a combinations of bactericide and nematicide to determine their effect on seed yield with traditional Fungicide (Folicur) application being used as a control. The unit plot size was 1.2 X 3.0 m2, with each plot containing 4 rows. randomized block design with two factors (cultivar and pesticide) was utilized with 4 replications. In each cultivar pesticide were sprayed in four replicates from each block. The New Zealand cultivar Wana outyielded the other three cultivar and produced about 23%, 32%, and 70% higher pure seed/unit area than that cvs Kara, Makibamidori and Akimidori respectively. The ability of cv Wana to outyield other cultivar was largely due to its ability to produce a greater numbers of fertile tillers and higher number of florets/head. Seed yields in the New Zealand cultivar Kara and the Japanese cultivar Makibamidori were similar but significantly higher than cv Akimidori. The significantly higher seed yield of cv Kara was due largely to its significantly higher seed weight than the other cultivars. Similarly the higher seed yield in cv Makibamidori compared to Akimidori was mainly due to higher seed weight. The lower pure seed yield in cv Akimidori was apparently due to lack of proper photoperiodic effect or cold temperature during anthesis and its earlier seed developing resulted in more empty florets than the New Zealand cultivar and cv Makibamidori. Fertile tiller numbers spikelets/ head and florets/ head were significantly higher in cv Wana compared to the other 3 cultivars. However, the TSW was low. The TSW was highest in cv Kara. Highest recovery of pure seed was obtained from cv Wana in screen and blown fraction. Highest pure seed was obtained from cv Makibamidori in clean seed fractions. Foliar disease intensity in all the four cultivars was found to be similar at all 3 stages of plant growth although disease levels were generally low. Percentage purity in clean seed as well as in different cleaning fractions varied depending on cultivar but cv Akimidori was always ranked lowest. Seed germination percentage in single and in multiple florets was higher in cv Akimidori compared to the other 3 cultivars. Different cultivars reacted differently to the application of pesticide. Cultivar Wana produced the highest yield 103 g pure seed/m2 in the Fungicide (Folicur) treatment compared to 55, 38 and 22 g/m2 in cv. Kara, Makibamidori and Akimidori respectively. However all cultivars produced lower yields following the application of Streptomycin. Seed yield in cv Akimidori was not affected by any pesticide application. The lower yield in Streptomycin treatments was mainly due its phytotoxic effect on leaf tissue. Seed yield in Fungicide, Vydate and in V+S treated plots was similar but significantly better than in Streptomycin treated plots. Fertile tiller numbers were also similar in these treatments but spikelet and total floret numbers were higher in the V+S treatment than in the Fungicide treatment. TSW and florets/ spikelets was not affected by pesticide application. The recovery of pure seed was always lowest in the Streptomycin treatment in all fractions of machine cleaning of seed but was higher in V+S than Fungicide treatment, particularly in the machine clean fraction. However, the recovery of pure seed from the screen fraction did not vary significantly. Over all the foliar disease severity was low in Fungicide and V+S treatment and highest in Vydate treatment at maturity but no difference during vegetative growth or at peak flowering. The percent purity varied only in the air screen fraction but was high in the Vydate treatment. Seed germination was high in all pesticide treatments and being above 90% in term of single florets and 85% in multiple florets with minor improvement in V+S treatment both in single and multiple florets and in Fungicide treatment with multiple florets only. The second trial involved only one cultivar (cv Tekapo) and involved 4 plots from each block with 3 different types of fungicide Alto (cyproconazole), Bavistin (carbendazim), and Bravo (chlorothalonil) applied from flower initiation to harvest maturity at intervals of 14 to 21 day. No effect of fungicide occurred in seed yield or in yield components. Disease severity varied significantly only at harvest maturity and was lowest in Alto treated plots (2.75) compared to the control (4.25). However, no difference occurred in assessment at the vegetative stages or at peak flowering. No significant effect of fungicide was observed in terms of seed cleaning. The percentage purity was found higher in Alto and Bravo treated plots. Germination results were well above accepted levels (90%) in all fungicide treatments with Bavistin treatments being particularly useful

A review on seawater as concrete composites and its effects on the strength and durability

The world is facing a big challenge of balancing a growing population and demand with a natural environment that is increasingly under stress. The rapidly changing environmental conditions especially intensity and frequency of extreme weather it has now become very important to explore in green technology. Effective use of natural resources is pressing concern. Particularly, water resources for drinking are predicted to be in serious shortage in 2050 due to increase in population and rapid urbanization throughout the world. The beginning of the 21st century is straddled with enormous environmental problems of which water shortage is one of the most serious. It is a well-known fact that fresh water resources are continuously declining throughout the world and according to a report by the United Nations, water will be very short in future. It is expected that 5bn people will be short of drinking water in 2050 [1]. In another report published by OECD, it is stated that a number of people living in river basins will be under severe water stress which is expected to be double in 2050 .

Prospectus Disclosure and the Role of the Securities Commissions in Ontario and Bangladesh: A Comparative Study

The fundamental difference between Ontario law and Bangladesh law is that the former is based on the combination of the disclosure theory and the blue sky (merit review) theory while the latter is based on the disclosure theory alone. Accordingly, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) exercises twofold powers: it reviews the disclosures contained in a prospectus and also determines the merit of the offering. In other words, it ensures that full, true and plain disclosures are made in a prospectus, and at the same time it examines the offering to see whether any element jeopardizing the public interest is present in the offering. If it determines that any factor exists which suggests that it should be precluded in the public interest, it will refuse to receipt a prospectus. This thesis argues that the characteristic feature of a security transaction is that it involves risks a range of risks for investors including fraud risks which result from misstatement or understatement of material facts. Prospectus disclosures eliminate many of the risks arising from lack of information, and offer various investment opportunities to people who, depending on their differing risk bearing capabilities, make investment decisions in light of such disclosures

Study Of A Backup Ve_Tilatio_ System For Lecturers’ Office Space

The primary functions of ventilation systems include the delivery of outdoor air to the occupants, the removal of indoor contaminants and the maintenance of thermal comfort conditions in the occupied zones. The objective of this project is to study a backup ventilation system for individual lecturers’ office space mainly during power failure and when ventilation is not available such as during night. During blackout, the period to repair the power failure takes at least one day. Therefore, the backup ventilation design is important to make sure the lecturers feel comfortable when they are working in their office. The project undertaken looked at the amount of air requirement to the office space in level 3 of Block 17. First, the flow rate of the main blower is determined. Then, the total flow rate at each VAV is compared with the main blower. The total flow rate at each VAV is much lower than the flow rate of the blower. It means that there is a lot of energy wasted during the ventilation process. After comparing these flow rates, the minimum requirement of the ventilation rate is individual lecturer’s office rooms are calculated. The minimum requirement for the ventilation is much lesser than the flow rate supplied by the main blower to each room. Therefore, it will be a lot of energy wasted if we do the backup power supply for the main blower. Based on the results obtained from theoretical and experimental works in this project, the backup ventilation system is feasible to install

FATE AND TRANSPORT OF SECONDARY NANOSCALE PLASTICS IN THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT

Plastics products are becoming more popular because of their cheap production cost, highflexibility, and convenience to use. These products end up in the environment as wastes whenthey are not recycled or managed properly. As a result, natural energy sources, such as sunlight,can degrade them and generate secondary micro and nanoscale plastics. While there are researchfindings of the fate and transport of nanoplastics using model nanospheres, research on fate ofheterogeneous secondary nanoscale plastics that closely resemble the nanoplastics in nature islimited. Moreover, polypropylene (PP) is one of the most widely used plastic types with a lowspecific gravity. However, fate and transport of polypropylene secondary nanoscale plastics arestill unexplored. The first objective of this research is to characterize the polypropylenesecondary nanoscale plastics by measuring their hydrodynamic diameter and surface charge byvarying different parameters such as pH, ionic strengths, salt types, and natural organic matter(NOM) concentrations. The results show that the surface charge of polypropylene secondarynanoscale plastics increases with pH. The critical coagulation concentration (CCC) was alsodetermined in the presence and absence of NOM. Results show that the CCC values of PPsecondary nanoscale plastics for NaCl, MgCl2, and CaCl2 are 500 mM, 35 mM, and 20 mM,respectively, higher than the CCC values of polyethylene (80 mM NaCl, 3 mM MgCl2, 0.1 mMCaCl2) and polystyrene (800 mM NaCl, 25 mM MgCl2, 10 mM CaCl2) nanoplastics. WhenNOM is present in water, the adsorbed NOM causes steric repulsion and makes the particlesmore stable. The second objective of the research is to investigate the interactions of PPsecondary nanoscale plastics with bare silica and NOM coated surfaces and observe theirdeposition and remobilization. Results suggest that PP secondary nanoscale plastics are moremobile on silica surfaces than NOM coated surfaces. Their deposition and remobilization aregoverned by the presence of NOM coated surfaces and divalent cations since they are ubiquitousin nature. This study indicates that significant transport of PP secondary nanoplastics will bepossible in natural waters, and destabilization of these nanoplastics will be difficult

Modification and Optimization of Conducting Polymer-Modified, Redox-Magnetohydrodynamics (R-MHD) Pumping for Enhanced and Sustained Microfluidics Applications

In this work, a novel microfluidic pumping approach, redox-magnetohydrodynamics (R-MHD) has improved by materials and device optimization to use in lab-on-a-chip applications. In R-MHD, magnetic flux (B) and ionic current density (j) interacts to generate body force (FB) in between active electrodes, according to the equation FB = j×B. This unique fluid pumping approach is scalable, tunable, generates flat flow profile, and does not require any channels or valves. Pumping performance, such as speed scales with the ionic current density (j) and duration depends on the total charge (Q). The ionic current density (j) results from the conversion of electronic current through redox reactions of a conducting polymer like PEDOT (poly-EDOT). The enhancement of j can be obtained by the modification of polymer morphology. Therefore, electropolymerization parameters such as solvent, monomer, electrolyte, and deposition method have been optimized to improve the electrochemical performance of PEDOT. Electrodeposited PEDOT film from propylene carbonate solvent and TBAPF6 electrolyte generated a maximum of 820 µm/s flow velocity and 210 s flow duration. This enhanced system used as an imaging cytometer by coupling with a light sheet confocal microscope. This microfluidic imaging platform was able to differentiate various leukocytes cells with ~ 5000 cell/s theoretical throughput and 0.6 µm image resolution. As, our existing microscope could not analyze the R-MHD velocity profile in height direction, astigmatism particle tracking velocimetry (APTV) was employed to analyze flow profiles in three dimensions. In a microfluidic setup, flow profile is dominated by stream wise component but with no significant contributions in y and z direction. Though we achieved significant improvement in fluidic speed, flow duration was still dependent upon the total charge. Therefore, an automated magnet switching device was built which synchronized the current and magnetic field to push fluid in single direction, for unlimited time

Emerging Next Generation Solar Cells Route to High Efficiency and Low Cost

Generation of clean energy is one of the main challenges of the 21st century. Solar energy is the most abundantly available renewable energy source which would be supplying more than 50 of the global electricity demand in 2100. Solar cells are used to convert light energy into electrical energy directly with an appeal that it does not generate any harmful bi products, like greenhouse gasses. The manufacturing of solar cells is actually based on the types of semiconducting or non semiconducting materials used and commercial maturity. From the very beginning of the terrestrial use of Solar Cells, efficiency and costs are the main focusing areas of research. The definition of so called emerging technologies sometimes described as including any technology capable of overcoming the Shockley-Queisser limit of power conversion efficiency 33.7 percent for a single junction device. In this paper, few promising materials for solar cells are discussed including their structural morphology, electrical and optical properties. The excellent state of the art technology, advantages and potential research issues yet to be explored are also pointed out. Md. Samiul Islam Sadek | Dr. M Junaebur Rashid | Dr. Zahid Hasan Mahmood "Emerging Next Generation Solar Cells: Route to High Efficiency and Low Cost" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-1 | Issue-4 , June 201