Lunar anorthosites: rare-Earth and other elemental abundances

Elemental abundances of major (Ti, Al, Fe, and Ca), minor (Na, Mn, and Cr), and trace elements [14 rare-earth elements (REE), Y, In, Cd, Rb, Cs, Ba, Co, and Sc] in lunar anorthosites separated from Apollo 11 sample 10085 coarse fines have been determined by means of instrumental and radiochemical neutron activation analysis. The REE distribution pattern of lunar anorthosites, relative to ordinary chondrites, has a positive Eu anomaly. On the assumption that (i) the lunar composition is similar to that of ordinary chondritic meteorites low in total Fe ( approximately 13 percent); (ii) lunar anorthosites are derived from highland cratering events and are representative of the highlands; and (iii) the moon differentiated into olivine, hypersthene, and basaltic and anorthositic phases, and plagioclase crysstallization began after approximately 93 percent solidification, then mass balance calculations yield approximately 30-kilometer and approximately 10-kilometer thicknesses for the lunar highlands for the melting and chemical differentiation of the entire moon and of the upper 200 kilometers, respectively. Corresponding thicknesses of the basaltic basement rocks were approximately 5 kilometers and approximately 2 kilometers, respectively. Alternatively, if the anorthosites of this study are representative of the highlands and the onset of plagioclase crystallization occurred after approximately 50 percent solidification of the initially melted moon, calculations with REE and Ba partition coefficients suggest that the REE and Ba abundances in the primeval moon were similar to those observed in basaltic achondrites.     

Zur Frage der Unterflursicherung nichtstationärer Stallmistzwischenlagerung mit Bentonit oder Stroh

On the Problem of Protecting the Base Area beneath intermediate manure Storage Piles on Non-Permanent Sites with Bentonite or Straw The suitability of bentonite and straw as materials for protecting the soil against the infiltration of leached nutrients was testet on an intermediate storage pile of cattle manure established during the winter months of 93/94. During the 185-day storage period, 205 g of N_t (68% in the form of NH₄⁺) and 695 g K⁺/m³ were leached out of the manure. These nutrients seeped away into the soil, but with increasing depth, the concentrations of NH₄⁺-N and K⁺ in the soil water dropped while those of NO₃^? rose not to harmful levels. Under the test piles whose base areas had been protected with bentonite, the concentrations of NH₄⁺-N and K⁺ in the soil water were in all cases significantly lower than under the test piles with straw base or no base protection. Both cations were to a large degree absorbed by the bentonite layer, and thus were readily available for recycling. The N_min content in particular was reduced in the soil beneath the straw layer. One possible explanation for this fact is that nitrogen was reincorporated by microorganisms due to the plentiful supply of carbon.     

Efficient cell reprogramming as a target for functional‐marker strategies? Towards new perspectives in applied plant‐nutrition research

The review aims at visualizing and strengthening approximation of current strategies in plant breeding, plant nutrition, and molecular biology. Innovations in new breeding strategies on quantitative traits are based on the development of functional DNA markers. This requires knowledge on robust physiological key reactions or parameters in view of the desired agronomic trait. To understand the significance of adaptive molecular‐physiological factors for the expression of agronomic traits in quantitative terms, systems analyses have to demonstrate the phenotypic effect of differential gene activities. The logistic to advance in applied systems biology is currently being strongly discussed. In the present contribution, identification of target cells, which are important for agronomic traits, is stressed as a key for future modeling and virtual experimentation. Integration of target cells in systems analysis should allow to link top‐down approaches, that start at the whole‐plant level, with bottom‐up approaches, that come from the molecular level. To illustrate the importance of adaptive cell reprogramming for agronomic traits, reprogramming of rhizodermic cells to trichoblasts is pointed out in its role for nutrient efficiency (NE). The nature of molecular factors, which may serve as functional markers in breeding, is discussed in view of future marker developments.     

Structural variability of vascular bundles and cell wall in rattan stem

Summary Anatomical investigations on six species ofCalamus demonstrate that fibre wall thickness and fibre percentage within the vascular bundles vary more than the vascular bundle size and number per unit area. Both fibre wall thickness and fibre percentage decrease consistently from the basal (order) to the top (younger) internodes of the stem and from the periphery to the centre at a given internode. The increase of wall thickness with age is more pronounced in fibres than in cortical and ground parenchyma. The thickening of the fibre wall with increasing stem density results from the deposition of additional lamellae. This appears to impart stiffness and determines the breaking behaviour of rattan both within the stem and among the species. The fracture mode of the fibres depends on the fibrillar orientation, which differs between broad and narrow lamellae.The first author is grateful to the Director Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) for approving the collaborative research programme with the Institut für Holzbiologie und Holzschutz der Bundesforschungsanstalt für Forst und Holzwirtschaft. He is also indebted to the International Development Research Centre, Canada, for sponsoring the visiting programme under the project: Rattan (India) 3-P-86-0236: KFRI/109/1987. Thanks are due to Mrs. G. Weiner for her cooperation and Mr. P.K. Thulasidas (KFRI) for technical assistance in field collection     

The Elemental Composition of the Corona of Procyon: Evidence for the Absence of the FIP Effect

The chemical composition of the solar corona is not the same as that of the underlying photosphere. In the corona, elements with a first ionization potential (FIP) of /=10 electron volts (for example, oxygen, neon, and sulfur) by factors of 3 to 10 with respect to the photosphere. The origin of this FIP effect is unknown. The launch of the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite (EUVE) opened up the spectroscopic capability required to determine elemental abundances in the coronae of other stars. Spectroscopic observations of the corona of the nearby F5 IV star Procyon obtained with EUVE have yielded estimates of the relative abundances of high- and low-FIP species. The results provide evidence that Procyon, unlike the sun, does not exhibit the FIP effect. Whether the sun or Procyon is more typical of the general late-type stellar population is of fundamental interest to the physics of stellar outer atmospheres and has a bearing on the origin of cosmic rays.     

Science and product

Much of what needs to be changed in U.S. industry involves close ties to manufacturing, design for manufacturability, a rapid design cycle, and up-to-date technical knowledge on the part of the engineers themselves. Being up-to-date requires conscious company effort. Traveling to meetings, reading the technical literature, and being a part of the engineering community are necessities if we are to compete with others who make these efforts and are thus better able to incorporate technical change rapidly into their own products. Outside the product improvement cycle, a research (as opposed to development) organization in industry must have close ties to development and manufacturing in order to succeed. With these close ties, researchers can understand the progress of the cycle and can introduce new steps at the appropriate time and in an acceptable form. A research organization that surmounts the internal barriers and becomes an accepted contributor to the development and manufacturing process can, because of its greater technical depth, its scientific knowledge, and its close ties with the university world, become a forceful initiator of progress. It is more difficult, in our opinion, to make these contributions from a university base and from government laboratories as they are now constituted. Much has been said by industry and government leaders about reforming the educational system and strengthening the national science base-things that help build a strong foundation. A strong science base supplies a vast storehouse of new ideas, and a good educational system provides engineers and manufacturing workers with knowledge; but strength here cannot make up for inadequacies in the functioning of the development and manufacturing cycle. The United States must learn to succeed, not only in the ladder type of innovation in which a wholly new idea from science creates a wholly new product (the science-dominated process at which we have succeeded in the past), but also in the rapid, cyclical, engineer-dominated process of incremental product improvement. Neither process is a substitute for the other; we need both.     

Antimutagenic, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Maytenus krukovii bark

The hydroalcoholic extract of Maytenus krukovii bark was investigated for its in vitro mutageno-protective activities by means of the Ames Salmonella/microsome assay. The extract showed an inhibitory effect in both T98 and T100 strains against the mutagenic activity of promutagen 2-aminoanthracene but was not protective against directly acting mutagens sodium azide and 2-nitrofluorene. When tested as a radical scavenger and antioxidant it produced a dose-dependent inhibition. The extract did not show significant antibacterial properties, and was weakly active against dermatophyte and phytopathogenic fungi, but inhibited the growth of phytopathogen Pithyum ultimum.