Nitrous oxide emission measurement with acetylene inhibition method in paddy fields under flood conditions

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission from flooded rice paddy fields was continuously measured by the closed chamber method at an experimental plot in Thailand for a whole cultivation period. To characterize the N₂O emission with regard to the denitrification N loss, the C₂H₂ inhibition method was applied. Flood water on the soil greatly suppressed the N₂O emission. The N₂O emission was mitigated considerably by even a thin film of the flood water. The overall average N₂O emissions under flood conditions for one crop season (83 days) at the control site and the C₂H₂ treated site were 10.3 and 11.8 μg N m⁻² h⁻¹, respectively. The N₂O emission from the C₂H₂ treated site was consistently higher than that from the control site and the N₂O emission from both sites followed the same diurnal and seasonal variation pattern, indicating the effect of denitrification inhibition by the supplied C₂H₂. The N₂O emission enhanced along with temperature increase when NO₃–N concentration in the soil water was above 0.4 mg N l⁻¹ and soil temperature was above 24°C, suggesting specific temperature influence over the emission. The increase in NO₃–N concentration and temperature in the soil affected only the N₂O emission while the difference in the emission at the C₂H₂ treated site and the control site was not so much affected. It was suggested that most of the actively produced N₂O under higher NO₃–N concentration and temperature would likely to quickly emit to the atmosphere rather than to undergo further reduction to N₂.     

Regulation of root-to-leaf Na and Cl transport and its association with photosynthetic activity in salt-tolerant soybean genotypes

ABSTRACT

Soil salinity is a major constraint to sustainable crop production. Genetic improvements are needed for growing soybean in salinity-prone environments. Salt-tolerant soybean genotypes alleviate a reduction in photosynthesis and growth under saline conditions; however, the detailed mechanisms involved remain unclear. Here, we aimed to clarify how Na and Cl root-to-leaf transport is quantitatively regulated, and to identify whether photosynthetic tolerance depends on traits associated with either stomata or with mesophyll tissues. Two pairs of pot-grown soybean near-isogenic lines (NILs) consisting of tolerant and susceptible counterparts, derived from a cross between salt-tolerant FT-Abyara and salt-sensitive C01, were subjected to salinity treatment in a rainout greenhouse. Comparison of photosynthetic responses between genotypes indicated that genotypic differences in salinity tolerance depended on the ability for sustained CO₂ assimilation in mesophyll tissues, rather than stomatal conductance. The ratio of photosynthetic rate to intercellular CO₂ concentration (A/Ci) declined exponentially with increasing Na and Cl concentration regardless of genotype, but tolerant genotypes effectively kept both elements at significantly low levels. Under saline conditions, tolerant genotypes reduced Na and Cl content at the two transport pathways: from root to stem, and from stem to leaf, but the reduction of Cl at each pathway was only minor. These results suggest that integrating genetic capacity for Cl transport regulation and osmotic adjustment should be an important target in salinity-tolerance soybean breeding.     

Age-related changes in bone mineral density, cross-sectional area and strength at different skeletal sites in male rats

Age-related changes in bone mineral density (BMD), cross-sectional area and strength strain index (SSI) of the long bones in the limbs and first lumbar vertebra of male Wistar rats were measured by a peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) method. One hundred and ten rats aged 2-30 months were used. The results indicate that the total (cortical + trabecular), cortical and trabecular BMD values of the metaphysis and cortical BMD values of the diaphysis in the long bones varied for each bone and differed from those of the first lumbar vertebra. The total BMD of long bones showed high values at 6-21 months and then decreased, but these did not always coincide with cortical and trabecular BMD. The values of SSI in the long bones varied. The values of total and cortical BMD and SSI of lumbar vertebra increased for 6-12 months and then decreased, but the trabecular BMD increased after 12 months. The total area in both the long bones and the first lumbar vertebra increased with the decrease in cortical area and the increase in the trabecular area with increasing age. It was concluded that age-related changes in bones, similar to those observed in humans, could be observed in some bones and parameters, although the age in rats when the so-called peak bone mass appears in the whole skeleton could not be clearly determined.     

Discrete sandwich compounds of monolayer palladium sheets

Despite the abundance of "sandwich" complexes, in which two cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon ligands flank a metal center, this motif has not been extended to sheets of multiple metal atoms. We prepared and isolated two such compounds. In the first, three palladium centers form a planar triangular array, capped by chlorides, between two cycloheptatrienyl ligands. In the second, a pentapalladium sheet adopts an edge-sharing triangle-trapezoid skeleton between two naphthacene rings. The compounds were characterized by x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The nature of bonding in the clusters was analyzed by quantum calculations.     

Transverse swelling behavior of hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) revealed by the replica method

Transverse swelling and its anisotropy in hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) in several kinds of organic liquids and in water were investigated by means the replica method. There was more cross-sectional swelling of cell walls and cell wall thickness in earlywood than in latewood. Marked swelling toward cell lumens was observed in wood swollen in liquids that had higher swelling potentials than water. This suggests that the swelling of cell walls in these liquids is much greater than the external swelling. Feret's diameters of the cell lumens were reduced by swelling in all the observed cases except in the tangential direction of earlywood, suggesting that cell walls swell to a much less extent in width than in thickness. Deformation of cell shapes caused by the tensile force from the latewood were observed in the earlywood and in the transitional region from earlywood to latewood. When swollen in water, transverse swelling anisotropy caused only by the swelling in cell wall thickness were calculated to be 1.2 for the whole region over an annual ring and 1.4 for the earlywood. These values could not account for the external swelling anisotropy of 2.1. Considering obvious deformations of cell shapes in the earlywood and in the transitional region, we conclude that the interaction between earlywood and latewood is one of the prime factors contributing to the transverse swelling anisotropy of coniferous wood.Part of this report was presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Nagoya, April 1998     

Fluorous nanodroplets structurally confined in an organopalladium sphere

The distinct properties of fluorous phases are practically useful for separation, purification, and reaction control in organic synthesis. Here, we report the formation of a liquid-like fluorous droplet, composed of 24 perfluoroalkyl chains confined in the interior of a 5-nanometer-sized, roughly spherical shell that spontaneously assembled in solution from 12 palladium ions and 24 bridging ligands. Crystallographic analysis confirmed the rigid shell framework and amorphous interior. Perfluoroalkanes can dissolve in this well-defined fluorous phase, whereas they can hardly dissolve in a surrounding polar organic solution, and their solubility (up to approximately eight perfluoroalkane molecules per spherical complex) can be finely controlled by tuning the length of perfluoroalkyl chains tethered to the shell.     

Application of modal analysis by transfer function to nondestructive testing of wood II: modulus of elasticity evaluation of sections of differing quality in a wooden beam by the curvature of the flexural vibration wave

 The shape of the flexural vibration wave of wooden beams at the first mode was detected using the transfer function. The dynamic modulus of elasticity (MOE) of beam sections of differing quality was estimated from the ratio of the curvature of the wave shape in this section to that of a clear beam. The results were as follows: (1) If a section with a lower dynamic MOE was introduced into a clear wooden beam, the curvature of the wave shape in that section became higher. (2) The ratio of the MOE and the reciprocal of the curvature ratio were highly correlated. (3) The MOE of a defect could be estimated, and the position of the defect could be determined accurately by examining the curvature of the flexural vibration wave shapes. Received: March 22, 2002 / Accepted: May 15, 2002 Part of this report was presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Kyoto, April 2000. This article is translated from the Japanese version, which was published in Mokuzai Gakkaishi 47(5), 2001 Correspondence to:Y. Ishimaru