Impact of weather variables and season on sporulation of Phytophthora pluvialis and Phytophthora kernoviae

Phytophthora pluvialis and Phytophthora kernoviae are the causal agents of important needle diseases on Pinus radiata in New Zealand. Little is known about the epidemiology of the diseases, making the development of control strategies challenging. To investigate the seasonality and climatic drivers of sporulation, inoculum traps, consisting of pine fascicles floating on water in plastic containers, were exchanged fortnightly at five sites in P. radiata plantations between February 2012 and December 2014. Sections of needle baits were plated onto selective media and growth of Phytophthora pluvialis and P. kernoviae recorded. To explore the generalizability of these data, they were compared to detection data for both pathogens from the New Zealand Forest Health Database (NZFHDB). Further, equivalent analyses on infection of Rhododendron ponticum by P. kernoviae in Cornwall, UK allowed the comparison of the epidemiology of P. kernoviae across different host systems and environments. In New Zealand, inoculum of P. pluvialis and P. kernoviae was detected between January–December and March–November, respectively. Inoculum of both species peaked in abundance in late winter. The probability of detecting P. pluvialis and P. kernoviae was greater at lower temperatures, while the probability of detecting P. pluvialis also increased during periods of wet weather. Similar patterns were observed in NZFHDB data. However, the seasonal pattern of infection by P. kernoviae in the UK was the opposite of that seen for sporulation in New Zealand. Phytophthora kernoviae was likely limited by warmer and drier summers in New Zealand, but by colder winter weather in the UK. These results emphasize the importance of considering both environmental drivers and thresholds in improving our understanding of pathogen epidemiology.     

Innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3): Past,present and future research

The recent change in the regional development strategy of the European Union (EU) results in an important need to study the terms of change and their respective implications. This study seeks, through a bibliometric analysis, to ascertain the developments taking place in studies on research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) to identify shortcomings and opportunities for future research. This bibliometric review drew upon the Scopus database with the sample selected containing all the articles containing the keywords “Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation” or “RIS3.” This correspondingly reports how some authors maintain that the path the EU should take involves imitative innovation. Meanwhile, others propose that each region should specialise in those industries that are already established there and thus avoid targeting any areas they do not already know/specialise in. Our findings detail six clusters in RIS3 research, which help in contextualising the literature review: (a) business discovery; (b) smart specialisation; (c) innovation; (d) specialisation; (e) regional policies; and (f) regional development. This study furthermore sets out perspectives for future lines of research and correspondingly seeks to convey a vast theoretical basis that may serve as the point of departure for future studies.     

Innovating in less developed regions: What drives patenting in the lagging regions of Europe and North America

Not all economically disadvantaged—“less developed” or “lagging”—regions are the same. They are, however, often bundled together for the purposes of innovation policy design and implementation. This paper attempts to determine whether such bundling is warranted by conducting a regional level investigation for Canada, the United States, on the one hand, and Europe, on the other, to (a) identify the structural and socioeconomic factors that drive patenting in the less developed regions of North America and Europe, respectively; and (b) explore how these factors differ between the two contexts. The empirical analysis, estimated using a mixed‐model approach, reveals that, while there are similarities between the drivers of innovation in North America's and Europe's lagging regions, a number of important differences between the two continents prevail. The analysis also indicates that the territorial processes of innovation in North America's and Europe's less developed regions are more similar to those of their more developed counterparts than to one another.     

The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.

This paper examines the relationship between external knowledge sourcing and a diverse set of innovation outcomes in rural and urban establishments in the U.S. Existing studies in the broader knowledge management literature principally examine firms in a single industry, overwhelmingly rely on patent data to proxy for innovation, and cannot account for the innovations of businesses in rural American markets. By addressing these limitations using data from the 2014 Rural Establishment Innovation Survey of the USDA's Economic Research Service, this research provides novel insights into how externally acquired knowledge by American establishments may support innovation. Results of the analysis suggest that external knowledge sourcing may specifically promote product, process, and green innovation in U.S. firms. While collective results when external sources of information are divided by industry orientation fail to show that sources outside of a firm's industry play a dominant role in the innovation processes of American establishments in general, findings provide evidence for an outsized impact of these relationships within rural establishments specifically and suggest that external knowledge sourcing from extra‐industry organizations is most critical for promoting successful innovation in rural firms. Results additionally indicate that knowledge sourcing from non‐local organizations may be more important for supporting innovation in rural compared to urban markets.     

Backshoring and nearshoring: An overview

Increasingly, economies that have traditionally benefited from offshoring are losing some of their strategical advantages, with a consequent increase in backshoring by developed economies. This paper describes the phenomenon and tries to shed light on the current challenges, trends, and debates in the area, and on the main determinants of backshoring. A new phenomenon known as nearshoring is also analysed—this consists of relocating some previously offshored manufacturing activities so that they are now close to previous core locations, but not so close as to suffer from disagglomeration effects. This combines the advantages of offshoring and backshoring.     

Spatial–temporal evolution of the port–hinterland relationship: A case study of the Midstream Yangtze River,China

Most scientific attention on port studies centers on deep sea ports, especially container ports. In this paper, in contrast, attention is focused on the spatial–temporal development of inland waterway ports on the Midstream Yangtze River from 2001 to 2013. The aim of this study is to assess two relevant and complementary questions of the hinterland evolution: its geographical extent and the coordination relationship with the inland port. To conduct the study, it was necessary to first identify the boundaries of the ports' hinterlands within the given timeframe. Then, the coupling coordination degree model was introduced to explore the underlying relationship between the port service and hinterland economy. Furthermore, to better depict the intricate economic characteristics of the hinterland, the development stage theory was applied in the models. The results highlight the emergence of a discontinuous hinterland at Wuhan Port and its reinforcement of primacy with respect to fierce hinterland rivalry. It also demonstrates that an interplay between major ports and their corresponding hinterlands evolves from the transitional stage, characterized by lagging port service, to the multi‐stage, wherein the supply of ports partly outstrips hinterland demand.     

The role of ear environment in postharvest susceptibility of maize to toxigenic Aspergillus flavus

A kernel screening assay (KSA) was used to assess the genetic and environmental effects on the vulnerability of maize to aflatoxin accumulation. Kernels of 26 inbred lines that had been grown in seven environments, and 190 lines of the Intermated B73xMo17 (IBM) population grown in one location in the United States, were inoculated with a toxigenic strain of A. flavus and incubated in the dark at 30°C for 6 days. Percent kernel colonization (PKC), sporulation and aflatoxin were influenced by the maize genotypes (G), the location (“ear environment” or E) and the GxE interactions. Overall, low broad‐sense heritabilities were observed for PKC, sporulation and aflatoxin. PKC was significantly correlated with sporulation in all environments. Aflatoxin was positively correlated with colonization for two and with sporulation for all ear environments. Higher grain sulphur or magnesium in IBM was associated with less colonization or aflatoxin. Postharvest susceptibility of maize to aflatoxin is thus influenced by factors that are modulated by the ear environment. In a KSA, sporulation could be a proxy test for aflatoxin accumulation.     

Development of colchicine‐induced tetraploid St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) lines

St. Augustinegrass is well suited for lawns and commercial landscapes. While many genotypes are cross‐fertile, all cultivars are propagated vegetatively in sod production. To ensure varietal purity, development of sterile triploid hybrids by crossing tetraploid and diploid genotypes has been successfully used in other warm‐season turfgrasses. Applying this model in St. Augustinegrass would be beneficial to sod producers and turf managers who require purity for certification and uniformity for performance, respectively. This study was conducted to develop colchicine‐induced tetraploid lines of St. Augustinegrass. Seeds of cultivar ‘Raleigh’ were treated with four colchicine concentrations at four exposure times. A non‐treated control was included among the treatments. Seedlings that germinated were screened for genome size changes using flow cytometry. Line DSA 13005 and two progeny lines derived through selfing, DSA 16001 and DSA 16016, were corroborated as tetraploids (2n = 4x = 36) through chromosome counts. These lines will be used in future breeding efforts to attempt development of sterile triploid cultivars of St. Augustinegrass.     

花生栽野种间杂交异源多倍化早期世代基因表达变化分析

为了进一步认识花生种间杂交异源多倍体进化过程中的基因表达变化规律,采用cDNA-HFO-TAG技术,研究花生种间杂交组合(四倍体栽培种‘仲恺花4号’×二倍体野生种Arachis. diogio)杂种F_1和早期多倍体世代S0~S3的基因表达变化情况。14条HFO-TAG引物共扩增出121条cDNA片段,其中差异片段84个,主要包括三种类型:亲本转录物完全沉默(3个),双亲转录物在后代部分材料中沉默(59个)和新转录物激活(22个),上述变化在F1代即开始发生。筛选其中大小为500~2 000 bp的35个TDFs进行克隆测序,有27个和NCBI数据库中已录入的基因具有较高的相似性,包括抗逆相关基因(10条)、未知功能蛋白基因(8条)、能量与代谢相关基因(7条)和转录因子相关的基因(2条)。这些研究结果进一步表明在花生种间杂交异源多倍化早期发生着快速、剧烈的基因表达变化,从中获得的差异基因片段,有助于了解花生属种间杂交异源多倍化早期分子机制变化,这对有效利用野生花生种质优异基因具有重要意义。cDNA-HFO-TAG技术简单、有效且实用,完全适用于花生属基因表达变化研究,可以作为花生属及其它物种基因表达变化分析技术的有效补充。     

Proteomic profiles during adventitious rooting of Eucalyptus species relevant to the cellulose industry

New Forests - Adventitious rooting (AR) is an obligatory step for vegetative propagation of commercial woody species. Paper industries have interest in Eucalyptus globulus Labill and its hybrids...