Resettling,disconnecting or displacing? Attending to local sociality,culture and history in disaster settings

In many disaster settings, top‐down responses emphasise ‘expert‐led’ solutions that often involve relocating disaster‐affected communities. While the intention might be to move people from harm's way and facilitate recovery, failure to attend to local pre‐disaster circumstances as well as the interplay between power, resilience and vulnerability within and around affected communities often sees resettlement reconfigure as displacement or disconnection. This oversight may even usher in a new phase of dispossession and disadvantage for marginalised groups (particularly in colonial settings). This paper explores experiences in Australia, Japan and Taiwan to reflect on what issues of local sociality, local culture and local resilience need to be attended to in framing ‘better’ disaster responses.     

Modeling risk analysis for rice production due to agro-climate change and uncertainty in irrigation water

Paddy and Water Environment - This study proposes a risk analysis model for quantifying the insufficient risk of rice production due to the climate change and variation in irrigation water and...     

On mechanical behavior of traditional timber shear wall in Taiwan I: background and theory derivation

The objectives of this study were to explore the mechanical behavior of traditional timber shear walls in Taiwan and to propose a theoretical model to predict their lateral force resistance. An extensive field investigation was conducted, and the dimensions, tectonic detail, and materials used were recorded. The data collected were used as the reference for theoretical derivation and experimental design. In the theoretical model, the moment resistance of entire shear walls was derived from the contributions of the moment-resisting capacity supplied not only by embedment and friction action between board units and beams but also the dowel action of bamboo nails. Timber shear walls with various geometric conditions and material properties are considered. The theoretical model demonstrated in this study can be used to predict the mechanical behavior of timber shear walls and will be verified by experiments in our next article.     

Shrinkage stresses in wood logs considered as layered,cylindrically orthotropic materials

Summary The deformation and stresses in a circular wood log resulting from an arbitrary radial moisture distribution are examined. In this paper the log is modeled as a layered cylinder, with each layer assumed to be linearly elastic, cylindrically orthotropic, and homogeneous. The general solution to the equations of elasticity for a representative layer is given; constants of integration in the solution are determined through application of appropriate continuity conditions at the layer interfaces. Numerical examples are presented for logs of Scots pine which illustrate the effect of nonuniform moisture content upon the displacement and stress distributions.     

提高关中旱地棉田单位面积产量的研究和实践

根据关中地区水文气象条件和棉花需水规律的研究资料分析,说明关中的气候和土壤资源完全能满足旱地棉花丰产所要求的条件。丰产示范结果进一步证明关中旱地棉田是能够获得高产和稳产的,其关键在于掌握自然特点,运用旱地丰产栽培技术,保证全苗和促进早期发育。     

The inheritance of morphological and agronomic characters in spring wheat

Summary Inheritance of yield and its component (number of ears per plant, number of spikelets per ear, number of kernels per ear, 1000-kernel weight), together with the inheritance of morphological characters (flag leaf length, flag leaf breadth, peduncle length, extrusion length and leaf sheath length) and anthesis date was studied in a 5-parent diallel cross of spring wheat varieties. The diallel analysis of gene actions indicated that a large part of the total genetic variation observed for all the characters studied was in the form of additive genetic effects. The degree of dominance was also determined for each character. Number of ears per plant showed most overdominance, followed by leaf sheath length. Full or nearly full dominance was found for anthesis date, flag leaf length and yield per plant. Other characters showed partial dominance. Correlation coefficients showed that yield per plant, as well as being correlated with the yield components, was also assiciated with flag leaf breadth and leaf sheath length. There was no evidence of genetic barriers to the combining of ideal characters among the varieties of different origin.     

玉米田的群体结构与光能分布

玉米田的群体结构和光能分布随密度而异,与播方式的关系不大。就结构与光分布而论,以每亩3,000株的最为理想亦最有利于高产。玉米叶片的伸展方向,可以通过叶片的向光性来自动调节。     

Chain-breaking antioxidant activity and cyclic voltammetry characterization of polyphenols in a range of green,oolong, and black teas

A series of eight green, eight oolong, and 17 black teas have been analyzed for polyphenol content by absorbance at 272 nm and cyclic voltammetry response at an inert carbon electrode, a new method developed to provide a rapid measure of easily oxidizable polyphenols in beverages. The chain-breaking antioxidant activity of the teas has also been determined during the chain oxidation of methyl linoleate in a pH 7.4 micellar solution, for which realistic kinetic parameters have been derived. While higher mean values were obtained for green teas than for oolong and black teas, the differences were not large, and the spread of values within each type was considerable. The absorbance at 272 nm correlated well with the cyclic voltammetry response only for green teas and black teas taken on their own. The cyclic voltammetry measure and the antioxidant activity correlated well only for the green teas, where the polyphenol content is dominated by epigallocatechin gallate.     

Antiproliferative lactams and spiroenone from adlay bran in human breast cancer cell lines

Two new lactams, coixspirolactam D (1) and coixspirolactam E (2), and a new spiroenone, coixspiroenone (3), together with seven known compounds, coixspirolactam A (4), coixspirolactam B (5), coixspirolactam C (6), coixlactam (7), coixol (8), ethyl dioxindole-3-acetate (9), and isoindol-1-one (10), and two neolignans, zhepiresionol (11) and ficusal (12), were isolated from the bioactive subfraction of adlay bran ethanolic extract (ABE). Compounds 9 and 10 are the first isolates from natural resources. The structures of new compounds were identified by spectroscopic methods, including infrared (IR) spectrum, 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrum (MS). All of the isolated compounds were tested for antiproliferative effects on MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and T-47D cells. Results showed that compounds 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7 at 50 μM significantly inhibited MCF-7 cell proliferation by 30.2, 19.2, 21.0, 13.5, and 32.4%, respectively; compounds 2, 4, and 7 significantly inhibited T-47D cells at 50 μM by 20.7, 24.8, and 28.9%; and compounds 1, 2, and 12 significantly inhibited MDA-MB-231 cells at 50 μM by 47.4, 25.3, and 69.3%, respectively. In conclusion, ABE has antiproliferative activities, and this effect is partially related to the presence of lactams and spiroenone.     

Lucidenic acid B induces apoptosis in human leukemia cells via a mitochondria-mediated pathway

Ganoderma lucidum is known as a medicinal mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine. In the present study, the effect of lucidenic acids (A, B, C, and N) isolated from a new G. lucidum (YK-02) on induction of cell apoptosis and the apoptotic pathway in HL-60 cells were investigated. The results demonstrated that lucidenic acids decreased cell population growth of HL-60 cells, assessed with the MTT assay. The cell cycle assay indicated that treatment of HL-60 cells with lucidenic acid A, C, and N caused cell cycle arrest in the G 1 phase. Lucidenic acid B (LAB) did not affect the cell cycle profile; however, it increased the number of early and late apoptotic cells but not necrotic cells. Treatment of HL-60 cells with LAB caused loss of mitochondria membrane potential. Moreover, the ratio of expression levels of pro- and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family members was changed by LAB treatment. LAB-induced apoptosis involved release of mitochondria cytochrome c and subsequently induced the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, which were followed by cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Pretreatment with a general caspase-9 inhibitor (Z-LEHD-FMK) and caspase-3 inhibitor (Z-DEVD-FMK) prevented LAB from inhibiting cell viability in HL-60 cells. Our finding may be critical to the chemopreventive potential of lucidenic acid B.