Pasting and Thermal Properties of Flours from Oat Lines with High and Typical Amounts of β‐Glucan

Experimental oat lines high in β‐glucan (6–7.8%) and traditional lines (3.9–5.7% β‐glucan) were used to evaluate the effect of β‐glucan on pasting (by rapid viscoanalysis) and thermal properties (by differential scanning calorimetry) of oat flours. Significant correlations established between β‐glucan concentration and the pasting parameters after amylolysis demonstrated the role of β‐glucans in oat pasting. The relative decrease of peak viscosity (PV) observed after enzymatic removal of β‐glucans was correlated with β‐glucan concentration (r = 0.880, P < 0.010) and reconfirmed their contribution to pasting. A significant increase of PV with β‐glucan concentration obtained under conditions of either autolysis (deionized water used for dispersion) (r = 0.89, P < 0.010) or inhibition (silver nitrate solution used for dispersion) (r = 0.91, P < 0.001) might be explained by an increase in water retention capacity caused by the β‐glucans. Predictive models of β‐glucan concentration based on the whole pasting profile or selected profile regions were developed using partial least squares (PLS) regression.Prediction of β‐glucan based on the whole profile obtained in the silver nitrate solution was the most effective (r = 0.93, correlation coefficient of predicted vs. analyzed β‐glucans, P < 0.050). No correlations were observed between the thermal properties of oat flours and the β‐glucan concentration.     

Optimum irrigation and pond operation to move away from exclusively rainfed agriculture: the Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme, Ethiopia

Under rainfed agriculture without supplementary supply, crop failure due to erratic rainfall has become a common phenomenon in many regions of Ethiopia. Spate irrigation development with storage provision at the 5,000 ha Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme is one of the initiatives to move away from exclusively rain-dependent agriculture. This initiative has faced several challenges. Lack of design experience and failure to fully grasp the unpredictable nature of the spate flow caused the Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme to be implemented without considering the necessity of storage ponds. In addition, absence of a systematic approach to assist planners has resulted in non-optimal design of ponds’ capacity and operation. The study, on which this article is based, aimed at optimum storage operation to irrigate the maximum possible area with the existing ponds’ capacity and available water resource. During the study, the surface storage and irrigation scheme planning model was developed and used to analyze several pond operation scenarios in Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme. The main findings were as follows: (1) Supplementing the rainfall with the operation of the existing 19 ponds that enable weekly irrigation frequency results in irrigating at least 6,600 ha. (2) An increase in the number of ponds does not always guarantee an increase in the size of irrigated land because the water resources, the operation, and management are defining factors. (3) It is not economical to only rely on spate flow for irrigation as even with 200 ponds, a maximum of 1,250 ha could be irrigated.     

Detection of water in the LCROSS ejecta plume

Several remote observations have indicated that water ice may be presented in permanently shadowed craters of the Moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission was designed to provide direct evidence. On 9 October 2009, a spent Centaur rocket struck the persistently shadowed region within the lunar south pole crater Cabeus, ejecting debris, dust, and vapor. This material was observed by a second "shepherding" spacecraft, which carried nine instruments, including cameras, spectrometers, and a radiometer. Near-infrared absorbance attributed to water vapor and ice and ultraviolet emissions attributable to hydroxyl radicals support the presence of water in the debris. The maximum total water vapor and water ice within the instrument field of view was 155 ± 12 kilograms. Given the estimated total excavated mass of regolith that reached sunlight, and hence was observable, the concentration of water ice in the regolith at the LCROSS impact site is estimated to be 5.6 ± 2.9% by mass. In addition to water, spectral bands of a number of other volatile compounds were observed, including light hydrocarbons, sulfur-bearing species, and carbon dioxide.     

Selective chemical catalysis by an antibody

The immunoglobulin MOPC167, which binds the transition state analog p-nitrophenylphosphorylcholine with high affinity, catalyzed the hydrolysis of the corresponding carbonate 1. MOPC167 catalysis displayed saturation kinetics with catalytic constant (kcat) = 0.4 min-1 and Michaelis constant (Km) = 208 microM, showed substrate specificity, and was inhibited by p-nitrophenylphosphorylcholine. The rate of the reaction was first order in hydroxide ion concentration between pH 6.0 and 8.0. The lower limit for the rate of acceleration of hydrolysis by the antibody above the uncatalyzed reaction was 770. This study begins to define the rules for the generation of catalytic antibodies.     

Elucidation of the small RNA component of the transcriptome

Small RNAs play important regulatory roles in most eukaryotes, but only a small proportion of these molecules have been identified. We sequenced more than two million small RNAs from seedlings and the inflorescence of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Known and new microRNAs (miRNAs) were among the most abundant of the nonredundant set of more than 75,000 sequences, whereas more than half represented lower abundance small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that match repetitive sequences, intergenic regions, and genes. Individual or clusters of highly regulated small RNAs were readily observed. Targets of antisense RNA or miRNA did not appear to be preferentially associated with siRNAs. Many genomic regions previously considered featureless were found to be sites of numerous small RNAs.