Some factors affecting magnesium uptake by citrus leaves : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Horticultural Science at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Pineapple sweet orange seedlings and rooted leaf bud cuttings of Meyer lemons were used to investigate the effects of some of the factors affecting magnesium uptake by leaves. Magnesium was determined by thiazole yellow method of Drosdoff and Nearpass (1948) and uptake was usually measured 24 hours after spray treatment. It was shown that the addition of wetting agents to magnesium nitrate sprays significantly increased the uptake of magnesium by leaves. The nonionic wetter (Terric GN9) at the very low (0.01% a.i.) and high (0.08 - 0.1% a.i.) concentrations did. not affect magnesium uptake, whereas at intermediate concentrations, magnesium uptake was increased. Use of the humectant glycerine at 1 or 2 percent significantly increased the uptake of magnesium by leaves, compared with sprays to which no glycerine was added, but had no beneficial effect over sprays which contained a nonionic wetter (Terric GN9). Magnesium uptake by leaves grown in 100% relative humidity for two weeks was greater than the uptake by leaves grown in average relative humidity of 71% Both morning and the evening sprays resulted in greater uptake of magnesium by leaves, compared with afternoon sprays. A significant increase in leaf magnesium concentration occurred after 2 hours of a magnesium nitrate spray application. Leaf magnesium concentration rose steeply for 24 hours after spraying, thereafter remaining constant. (Because it was not possible to measure the degree of magnesium transport out of the leaf, it is not clear whether magnesium uptake, in fact, stopped after 24 hours). Of the three magnesium salts used, magnesium nitrate and magnesium chloride sprays resulted in greater magnesium uptake by leaves, compared with magnesium sulphate sprays. Uptake varied with the concentration of magnesium in. the leaves. The lower the concentration of magnesium in the leaves, the loss the uptake of magnesium by leaves, and the higher the concentration of magnesium, the higher the uptake of magnesium. Leaf nitrogen also affected uptake of magnesium by leaves. High leaf nitrogen (2.92% of dry weight) resulted in greater uptake of magnesium than the low leaf nitrogen (2.08% of dry weight). The average increase in the concentration of magnesium in the leaves of low nitrogen plants was 0.09% of dry weight, while in leaves of high nitrogen plants the increase was 0.19%. Thus the increase in the % leaf concentration of magnesium in the high nitrogen plants was double that of the low nitrogen plants. This may be a direct effect of the low leaf nitrogen or an indirect one due to the induced low leaf magnesium in those plants

EFFECTS OF D-DELTA TOCOTRIENOL ON HIGH-FAT DIET-INDUCED PERIPHERAL INFLAMMATION

Little is known about the ability of d-δ-tocotrienol to protect against obesity-induced inflammation. These studies were conducted to determine whether d-δ-tocotrienol inhibits highfat diet (HFD)-induced peripheral inflammation, and to explore potential mechanisms by which d-δ-tocotrienol affects inflammation. In two animal experiments, mice were fed a low-fat control diet, a high-fat control diet, or a HFD supplemented with d-δ-tocotrienol: 400 mg/kg diet (experiment #1) or 60 mg/kg body weight (experiment #2) for 14 weeks. Expression of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory markers was measured in liver and white adipose tissue, and phosphorylation of STAT3 was measured using western blot. d-δ-tocotrienol mitigate HFDinduced hepatic inflammation, despite having no effect on body weight, suggesting direct antiinflammatory effects of d-δ-tocotrienol independent of body weight loss. Mechanistic studies in 3T3-L1 adipocytes indicated that d-δ-tocotrienol suppresses LPS-induced inflammation through down-regulating STAT3 signaling. The potential for d-δ-tocotrienol as a treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases requires further investigation

Development of a pulsed eddy current instrument for corrosion detection

The pulsed eddy current technique has been under development at Iowa State University since 199:3 under the supervision of Mr. John Moulder. It has shown much promise for detecting corrosion and cracks in multi-layered aircraft structures, and has elicited strong interest from the aviation community. The Pulsed Eddy Current Group at the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation, ISU, has built an instrument which utilizes the theory behind pulsed eddy currents and transforms it into a practical field instrument

A microsimulation study to assess re-design options and bus priority measures for a multi-junction area

Dissertação de mestrado em Industrial EngineeringTraffic congestion in medium-sized cities such as Braga is increasing and have led to worsened travel conditions for the commuters and a rise in pollution levels that lead to life-threatening conditions. Performance indicators, such as travel time, pollutant emissions, vehicle speed, stop times, etc., have worsened over time. This study aims at reducing congestion by simulating alternative designs (infrastructure additions) suggested by the Municipality of Braga and some traffic management strategies. The study area includes the region around Infias roundabout, the two schools Dom Diogo de Sousa and Escola Secundária de Sá de Miranda and the multi-junction that lies connects the highways N101 with highway A11 and the suburbs of Braga. There are two main issues: first is the heavy input to the Infias roundabout and second is that all the traffic flow towards the multi-junction from all directions thus not being able to serve its purpose. To evaluate the conditions, traffic simulation software Aimsun is used. We use microsimulation process that requires accurate study area definition and simulates different types of vehicle behavior that varies during runtime. Data collection involves demand data prediction (estimation of OD matrices) by collecting vehicle flow data by site visits and counts. System model validation is done by verifying the simulation of real-world model with the data collected from site visits. Simulation results suggest that the re-design options led to a significant improvement of most of the performance indicators as compared to the values obtained for the real-world model. Results suggest addition of bridges to facilitate traffic flow from the connected areas towards the open end of the study area. It is recommended that the re-design route must be taken to solve the issue and the implementation of public transport priority plans.O congestionamento do trânsito em cidades de média dimensão, como Braga, está aumentando e levou já, em muitos casos, à deterioração das condições das viagens, ao aumento dos níveis de poluição e dos riscos de acidentes. Os indicadores de desempenho, como tempo de viagem, emissões de poluentes, velocidade do veículo, tempos de paragem em filas, etc., pioraram com o tempo. Este estudo visa reduzir o congestionamento, simulando projetos alternativos (adições de infraestruturas) sugeridos pelo Município de Braga e algumas estratégias alternativas de gestão do tráfego. A área de estudo inclui a região em torno da rotunda de Infias e de duas escolas, Dom Diogo de Sousa e Escola Secundária de Sá de Miranda, e o cruzamento que liga a rodovia N101 à rodovia A11 e os subúrbios de Braga. Existem duas questões principais: a primeira é grande afluxo de veículos na rotunda de Infias, e a segunda é que todo o tráfego flui para uma zona da rede viária composta por múltiplas interseções de fluxos conflituantes. Como resultado, esta rede não consegue servir o seu propósito de servir adequadamente a procura nas horas de pico da manhã e da tarde. Para melhor avaliar as condições atuais, é usado a componente de microssimulação do software de simulação de tráfego Aimsun. O software requer a definição precisa da área de estudo e simula diferentes tipos de comportamento do veículo que variam durante o tempo de execução. A coleta de dados envolve a previsão de dados de procura (estimativa de matrizes OD), recolhendo dados de fluxo de veículos e contagens no local. A validação do modelo de microssimulação é realizada mediante a simulação do modelo representativo da situação atual (com os dados recolhidos in loco). Os resultados da simulação sugerem que as opções de alterar infrastruturalmente a zona de estudo permitirão uma melhoria significativa da maioria dos indicadores de desempenho, em comparação com os valores relativos à situação atual. Em particular, os resultados sugerem que a construção de novas pontes para facilitar significativamente o fluxo de tráfego entre a rotunda de Infias e a extremidade oposta da área de estudo. Recomenda-se que esta estratégia infrastutural seja implementada para resolver, ou, pelo menos, minorar o problema de congestionamento atual and the implementation of public transport priority plans

Biosinteza, fermentacija, purifikacija i primjena surfaktina

Surfactin, a bacterial cyclic lipopeptide, is produced by various strains of Bacillus subtilis and is primarily recognized as one of the most effective biosurfactants. It has the ability to reduce surface tension of water from 72 to 27 mN/m at a concentration as low as 0.005 %. The structure of surfactin consists of seven amino acids bonded to the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups of a 14-carbon fatty acid. Surfactin possesses a number of biological activities such as the ability to lyse erythrocytes, inhibit clot formation, lyse bacterial spheroplasts and protoplasts, and inhibit cyclic 3\u27,5-monophosphate diesterase. The high cost of production and low yields have limited its use in various commercial applications. Both submerged and solid-state fermentation have been investigated with the mutational approach to improve the productivity. In this review, current state of knowledge on biosynthesis of surfactin, its fermentative production, purification, analytical methods and biomedical applications is presented.Surfaktin, ciklički lipopeptid izoliran iz različitih sojeva bakterije Bacillus subtilis, jedan je od najučinkovitijih biosurfaktanata, koji čak i u koncentraciji od 0,005 % smanjuje površinsku napetost vode sa 72 na 27 mN/m. Sastoji se od 7 aminokiselina vezanih karboksilnim i hidroksilnim skupinama na masnu kiselinu sa 14 ugljikovih atoma. Biološka je aktivnost surfaktina raznovrsna: razgrađuje eritrocite, sprečava zgrušavanje, razgrađuje bakterijske sferoplaste i protoplaste te inhibira 3\u27,5-fosfodiesterazu. Veliki troškovi proizvodnje i mali prinosi ograničavaju njegovu komercijalnu uporabu, pa je ispitana mogućnost povećanja proizvodnje surfaktina uzgojem mutanata Bacillus subtilis u tekućoj i na čvrstoj podlozi. U ovom su revijalnom prikazu opisana najnovija dostignuća u biosintezi, fermentaciji, purifikaciji, analizi i biomedicinskoj primjeni surfaktina

Comparative Study of Networking Protocols in WSN Implementation for Greenhouse Monitoring

Wireless sensor networks consist of number of small devices called sensor nodes formed by combining a sensing unit, processor unit, wireless communication unit and power source unit. WSN has gained a lot of importance in recent years because of its use in various fields where monitoring and controlling are important aspects. This paper discusses implementation of wireless sensor network in greenhouse for the growth of crop yields. Wireless sensor networkcan use various types of networking protocols for implementing WSN in greenhouse monitoring.Main focus of this paper is on comparative study of various networking protocols available for implementing WSN

Computational Analysis Of Ejector With Oscillating Nozzle

The demand for cooling increases at faster rate than the energy availability. So, refrigeration systems that use renewable energy sources need to be developed to reduce energy demand thus addressing the energy crisis and environmental pollution related to this. An ejector based refrigerator is one kind of a system which uses thermal energy sources such as solar energy, waste heat from industry, automotive exhaust, etc. to operate the system. Ejector consists of a primary driving nozzle, mixing section, and diffuser. Ejector is used to pump the refrigerant from evaporator to condenser using high pressure stream. Thus replacing compressor present in the conventional refrigeration system. Present study numerically investigates the effect of oscillation of convergent-divergent nozzle in an ejector using ANSYS Fluent.15.5. The nozzle domain will oscillate between two points in the ejector at particular frequency and amplitude. The motion of nozzle and movement of the mesh according to the nozzle oscillation is made possible by user-defined functions available in ANSYS Fluent 15.5. Variation of entrainment ratio with time has been studied at different amplitudes and frequency combination and the same is compared with the stationary nozzle. Even though the oscillating nozzle underperforms the conventional one at lower amplitude and frequency, the former one shows a trend of increasing with increasing frequency. References Selvaraju, A. Mani, Analysis of an ejector with environment-friendly refrigerants, Appl. Therm. Eng., Vol. 24, (2004). Y. Bartosiewicz, Z. Aidoun, P. Desevaux and Y. Mercadier, Numerical and experimental investigations on supersonic ejectors, Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow, Vol. 26, (2005). Arun K.M., S Tiwari and A. Mani, Three-dimensional numerical investigations on rectangular cross-section ejector. International J. Thermal Sciences, Vol. 122 (2017)

Optimal Key Size of the AVK for Symmetric Key Encryption

The security of AVK based cryptosystem can be enhanced merely by exchanging the key using parameters. Today, the major challenge we face in design of AVK model of symmetric key encryption is fixing key length for AVK. On deeper scrutiny, it was revealed that a key of shorter length increases vulnerability of the system. On the other hand, key length beyond optimum length involves unnecessary overheads (suboptimum utilization of bandwidth). Thus, this paper resolves the conundrum of research questions, and answers estimation of optimum key size for AVK model. The paper provides useful insights towards decision making for optimal key length