Seed and seedling responses to inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi and root nodule bacteria: implications for restoration of degraded Mediterranean-type Tuart woodlands

Inoculation with beneficial soil microorganisms has the potential to enhance success of restoration, particularly in harsh Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs). We investigated the effects of microorganisms (mycorrhizal fungi and root nodule bacteria) and planting material (seed and nursery-raised seedlings) on early establishment and growth of two key postdisturbance colonizing species with different life histories, life forms and functional types (Eucalyptus gomphocephala and Acacia saligna) under field conditions. Establishment and growth were monitored at 13months, following the first MTE drought period. For E. gomphocephala, establishment was higher for seedlings (81%) than for seeding (7.5%). Inoculation with ectomycorrhizal fungal spores was not beneficial. For A. saligna, establishment was also higher for seedlings (84%) than for seeding (42.5%). Mycorrhizal fungal inoculum had no effect on establishment or growth. This study has shown that in harsh MTE conditions, the use of seedlings is more effective than seeding in degraded woodlands even when attempting to reintroduce key colonizing species. The microorganism treatments tested did not result in significant improvement in establishment or growth

Formal Context Generation using Dirichlet Distributions

We suggest an improved way to randomly generate formal contexts based on Dirichlet distributions. For this purpose we investigate the predominant way to generate formal contexts, a coin-tossing model, recapitulate some of its shortcomings and examine its stochastic model. Building up on this we propose our Dirichlet model and develop an algorithm employing this idea. By comparing our generation model to a coin-tossing model we show that our approach is a significant improvement with respect to the variety of contexts generated. Finally, we outline a possible application in null model generation for formal contexts.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Restoring degraded woodlands

In many places on the Swan Coastal Plain Eucalyptus gomphocephala (tuart) woodlands are in decline or are degraded (Bulletin 1). This occurs for many reasons, including grazing by stock, weed invasion, logging and clearing. It is often a combination of these factors that gradually lead to a decline in the tuart populations

Evaluating the psychometric properties of the multigroup ethnic identity measure (MEIM) within the United Kingdom

In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) (Phinney, 1992; Phinney & Alipuria, 1990) among an ethnically diverse sample within the United Kingdom. In initial analyses, we evaluated the goodness-of-fit of a one-factor model (i.e., global ethnic identity) and the goodness-of-fit of a two-factor model (i.e., correlated but distinct Exploration and Commitment components). Results of initial confirmatory factor analyses led us to reject both the one-factor and two-factor models. Results of subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-factor structure (i.e., correlated but distinct Behavioral, Cognitive, and Affective components of ethnic identity) among the sample as a whole (n = 234) and among Asian Indian persons (n = 88) in particular, though resulst were mixed among White U.K./Irish persons (n = 54) in particular. Implications for the study of ethnicity-related concepts in the incerasibgly multi-cultural U.K. are discussed

Gravitational energy from a combination of a tetrad expression and Einstein's pseudotensor

The energy-momentum for a gravitating system can be considered by the tetard teleparalle gauge current in orthonormal frames. Whereas the Einstein pseudotensor used holonomic frames. Tetrad expression itself gives a better result for gravitational energy than Einstein's. Inspired by an idea of Deser, we found a gravitational energy expression which enjoys the positive energy property by combining the tetrad expression and the Einstein pseudotensor, i.e., the connection coefficient has a form appropriate to a suitable intermediate between orthonormal and holonomic frames.Comment: 5 page

Extended Optical Model Analyses of Elastic Scattering and Fusion Cross Section Data for the 12^{12}C+208^{208}Pb System at Near-Coulomb-Barrier Energies by using a Folding Potential

Simultaneous $\chi^{2}$ analyses are performed for elastic scattering and fusion cross section data for the $^{12}$C+$^{208}$Pb system at near-Coulomb-barrier energies by using the extended optical model approach in which the polarization potential is decomposed into direct reaction (DR) and fusion parts. Use is made of the double folding potential as a bare potential. It is found that the experimental elastic scattering and fusion data are well reproduced without introducing any normalization factor for the double folding potential and also that both DR and fusion parts of the polarization potential determined from the $\chi^{2}$ analyses satisfy separately the dispersion relation. Furthermore, it is shown that the imaginary parts of both DR and fusion potentials at the strong absorption radius change very rapidly, which results in a typical threshold anomaly in the total imaginary potential as observed with tightly bound projectiles such as $\alpha$-particle and $^{16}$O.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Applicability valuation for evaluation of surface deflection in automotive outer panels

Upon unloading in a forming process there is elastic recovery, which is the release of the elastic strains and the redistribution of the residual stresses through the thickness direction, thus producing surface deflection. It causes changes in shape and dimensions that can create major problem in the external appearance of outer panels. Thus surface deflection prediction is an important issue in sheet metal forming industry. Many factors could affect surface deflection in the process, such as material variations in mechanical properties, sheet thickness, tool geometry, processing parameters and lubricant condition. The shape and dimension problem in press forming is defined as a trouble mainly caused by the elastic recovery of materials during the forming. The use of high strength steel sheets in the manufacturing of automobile outer panels has increased in the automotive industry over the years because of its lightweight and fuel-efficient improvement. But one of the major concerns of stamping is surface deflection in the formed outer panels. Hence, to be cost effective, accurate prediction must be made of its formability. The automotive industry places rigi

C1-C8 volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere of Hong Kong: Overview of atmospheric processing and source apportionment

We present measurements of C1-C8 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at four sites ranging from urban to rural areas in Hong Kong from September 2002 to August 2003. A total of 248 ambient VOC samples were collected. As expected, the urban and sub-urban sites generally gave relatively high VOC levels. In contrast, the average VOC levels were the lowest in the rural area. In general, higher mixing ratios were observed during winter/spring and lower levels during summer/fall because of seasonal variations of meteorological conditions. A variation of the air mass composition from urban to rural sites was observed. High ratios of ethyne/CO (5.6 pptv/ppbv) and propane/ethane (0.50 pptv/pptv) at the rural site suggested that the air masses over the territory were relatively fresh as compared to other remote regions. The principal component analysis (PCA) with absolute principal component scores (APCS) technique was applied to the VOC data in order to identify and quantify pollution sources at different sites. These results indicated that vehicular emissions made a significant contribution to ambient non-methane VOCs (NMVOCs) levels in urban areas (65±36%) and in sub-urban areas (50±28% and 53±41%). Other sources such as petrol evaporation, industrial emissions and solvent usage also played important roles in the VOC emissions. At the rural site, almost half of the measured total NMVOCs were due to combustion sources (vehicular and/or biomass/biofuel burning). Petrol evaporation, solvent usage, industrial and biogenic emissions also contributed to the atmospheric NMVOCs. The source apportionment results revealed a strong impact of anthropogenic VOCs to the atmosphere of Hong Kong in both urban/sub-urban and rural areas. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved