Effects of plant population and nitrogen fertilizer on yield and efficiency of maize-bean intercropping.

Nitrogen supply and plant population are basic parameters for cereal-legume intercropping. In order to study plant population and nitrogen fertilizer effects on yield and yield efficiency of maizebean intercropping, a field experiment was established. Three bean plant populations and three nitrogen levels were used. Maize dry matter accumulation decreased with increases in bean plant population. Competitive effect of intercrop beans on maize yields was high at higher plant populations, being decreased by nitrogen fertilizer; application of 50 kg ha-1 N was very efficient in increasing maize cob yield. Intercropping significantly decreased harvest index of beans in all plant population and nitrogen fertilizer situations. The efficiency of intercropping, compared to sole cropping, was evidenced by the values obtained for Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) for biomass, cob and pod yields that increased with increases in bean plant populations and nitrogen fertilizer levels

Optimum plant population for maize-bean intercropping system in the Brazilian semi-arid region.

The main objective of the study was to investigatethe effect of different plant populations of maize and beans, at two nitrogen levels, on the performanceof the component crops

Monte Carlo Simulation Calculation of Critical Coupling Constant for Continuum \phi^4_2

We perform a Monte Carlo simulation calculation of the critical coupling constant for the continuum {\lambda \over 4} \phi^4_2 theory. The critical coupling constant we obtain is [{\lambda \over \mu^2}]_crit=10.24(3).Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, LaTe

An SPR based sensor for allergens detection

A simple, sensitive and label-free optical sensor method was developed for allergens analysis using α-casein as the biomarker for cow's milk detection, to be used directly in final rinse samples of cleaning in place systems (CIP) of food manufacturers. A Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensor chip consisting of four sensing arrays enabling the measurement of samples and control binding events simultaneously on the sensor surface was employed in this work. SPR offers several advantages in terms of label free detection, real time measurements and superior sensitivity when compared to ELISA based techniques. The gold sensor chip was used to immobilise α-casein-polyclonal antibody using EDC/NHS coupling procedure. The performance of the assay and the sensor was first optimised and characterised in pure buffer conditions giving a detection limit of 58 ng mL−1 as a direct binding assay. The assay sensitivity can be further improved by using sandwich assay format and amplified with nanoparticles. However, at this stage this is not required as the detection limit achieved exceeded the required allergens detection levels of 2 µg mL−1 for α-S1-casein. The sensor demonstrated good selectivity towards the α-casein as the target analyte and adequate recoveries from CIP final rinse wash samples. The sensor would be useful tool for monitoring allergen levels after cleaning procedures, providing additional data that may better inform upon wider food allergen risk management decision(s) that are made by food manufacturer. In particular, this sensor could potentially help validate or optimise cleaning practices for a given food manufacturing process

Moving from crime and punishment to success and reward: Transitioning from technical to educational research

Copyright © 2019: Sarah Dart, Kim Blackmore, Keith Willey, Anne Gardner, Smitha Jose, Raj Sharma, Sloan Trad, Lesley Jolly:. Many engineering academics interested in quality teaching and learning dabble with educational research. Some go further leaving their technical research field behind to embark head-long into what for many is an initially bewildering and conceptually challenging domain. Often peers perceive this transition as a crime (giving up on real engineering) liable to be punished with reduced access to funding and institutional recognition for one's research. The Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) has been sponsoring a Winter School in Engineering Education Research Methods since 2011, to help engineering academics change their transition story from one of crime and punishment to success and reward. While helpful, this transition is not a simple matter of learning new techniques but of altering one's perspective and habits of thinking and behaviour. Many participants find this both challenging and at least initially, a lonely pursuit. In this paper, participants in the 2018 school ask the question "what enables and hinders the transition to educational research"

Anomalies in Ward Identities for Three-Point Functions Revisited

A general calculational method is applied to investigate symmetry relations among divergent amplitudes in a free fermion model. A very traditional work on this subject is revisited. A systematic study of one, two and three point functions associated to scalar, pseudoscalar, vector and axial-vector densities is performed. The divergent content of the amplitudes are left in terms of five basic objects (external momentum independent). No specific assumptions about a regulator is adopted in the calculations. All ambiguities and symmetry violating terms are shown to be associated with only three combinations of the basic divergent objects. Our final results can be mapped in the corresponding Dimensional Regularization calculations (in cases where this technique could be applied) or in those of Gertsein and Jackiw which we will show in detail. The results emerging from our general approach allow us to extract, in a natural way, a set of reasonable conditions (e.g. crucial for QED consistency) that could lead us to obtain all Ward Identities satisfied. Consequently, we conclude that the traditional approach used to justify the famous triangular anomalies in perturbative calculations could be questionable. An alternative point of view, dismissed of ambiguities, which lead to a correct description of the associated phenomenology, is pointed out.Comment: 26 pages, Revtex, revised version, Refs. adde

Studies on the effects of cropping system on fusarium wilt of pigeonpea

Studies on the effects of crop rotation and intercropping on the soil borne wilt [Fusarium udum (Butler)] of pigeonpea were conducted in a wilt-sick plot at ICRISAT Center, India, from 1979 to 1983. The wilt incidence in a continuous sole pigeonpea treatment was 64% in the year 1981 and 80–90% or more in the remaining three years. One-year breaks of sorghum and fallow produced substantial reductions in wilt incidence in the following pigeonpea crop. After two cycles of break crop followed by pigeonpea, wilt incidence was only 16% in the sorghum rotation and 31% in the fallow rotation. Averaged over these two cycles, pigeonpea seed yields were increased from only 93 kg/ha to 340 and 495 kg/ha after the sorghum and fallow breaks, respectively. A break with tobacco caused less reduction in wilt incidence than with other break crops, but pigeonpea yield was increased to 398 kg/ha. A one-year break of cotton or one year of a wilt-resistant line of pigeonpea delayed wilt development, but did not reduce final wilt incidence or significantly afftect yield. Wilt incidence increased again in the second successive pigeonpea crop ater a one-year sorghum break, although it was still significantly less than that in the continuous pigeonpea. After a two-year sorghum break, the effects lasted longer, the wilt incidence being only 24% in the second successive pigeonpea crop. Intercropping with sorghum produced a large reduction in wilt incidence in pigeonpea in the first year (down to 55%) and thereafter it stabilised at about 20–30%. Although intercropped pigeonpea yields were greater than the partial yields normally expected in intercropping, they were no higher than the sole crop yields. The reduced wilt incidence due to a sorghum intercrop was found to be consistent across 14 susceptible pigeonpea genotypes grown in another experiment, but did not occur with maize as the intercop

Three-dimensional coherent X-ray diffraction imaging of a ceramic nanofoam: determination of structural deformation mechanisms

Ultra-low density polymers, metals, and ceramic nanofoams are valued for their high strength-to-weight ratio, high surface area and insulating properties ascribed to their structural geometry. We obtain the labrynthine internal structure of a tantalum oxide nanofoam by X-ray diffractive imaging. Finite element analysis from the structure reveals mechanical properties consistent with bulk samples and with a diffusion limited cluster aggregation model, while excess mass on the nodes discounts the dangling fragments hypothesis of percolation theory.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 30 reference