Ethylene plays a key role in square and boll abscission in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). When subjected to stress, cotton plants synthesize higher rates of ethylene which can result in the loss of immature fruit. The ethylene action inhibitor 1- methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is used in many fruit, vegetable, and floriculture crops to counter the effects of ethylene. Protecting a cotton crop from ethylene through its early reproductive stages may boost yields by increasing fruit retention. A two-year field study was conducted in 2005 and 2006 at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Burleson County, Texas to evaluate the effects of 1-MCP concentration and timing on cotton growth and yield components. The study was designed as a randomized complete block with 4 replications. Three rates of 1-MCP (250, 500, and 1250 g ha-1 of actual product) were applied as a foliar spray at a delivery rate of 93.50 L -1 ha. Each rate was applied at pinhead-square and fourteen days after pinhead-square; pinhead-square, fourteen days after pinheadsquare, and early bloom; early bloom and fourteen days after early bloom; early bloom, fourteen days after early bloom, and twenty-eight days after early bloom. Plant heights, total number of nodes per plant, percent square abscission, nodes above white flower (NAWF), relative chlorophyll content, fruit number, fruit size, and fruit distribution were not affected by 1-MCP. In 2006, electrolytic leakage was significantly increased by two, 250 g ha-1, 1-MCP treatments. In 2005, yield was significantly increased by six of the 1- MCP treatments and suggests an increase in boll retention, boll size, seed number, or seed size. The analysis of yield components conducted through box-mapping, however, failed to explain the observed yield response. In 2006, 1-MCP did not significantly influence yield.

No description available.

Many environmental stress factors have been identified that increase square and boll abscission and thus result in reduced cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) yield. Under stress conditions, ethylene, an endogenous hormone, is elicited. Ethylene peaks before abscission to promote the formation of the abscission layer and plays a major role in early season square and boll abortion. In addition, ethylene stimulates the leaf senescence process. Thus, it is desirable to protect a crop from ethylene-induced fruit loss and premature leaf senescence under stress conditions. The overall objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the ethylene inhibiting compound 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment can have a beneficial effect on the physiology, biochemistry and yield traits of cotton plants under abiotic stress conditions under field and controlled environment studies. The growth chamber studies were conducted in 2011 using a randomized complete design with six replications. Cotton plants were exposed to stress conditions (heat and drought) and 1-MCP treatment at the seven-true-leaf stage. The heat stress study consisted of two 1-MCP rates (0 and 10 g a.i. ha-1) and two temperature regimes (optimum temperature: 30/20 ºC (day/night temperature) and high temperature: 40/25 ºC). The drought study consisted of two water regimes (well-watered and water-stressed) was exposed to two rates of 1-MCP (0 and 10 g a.i. ha-1). Both of the field studies were conducted with a randomized complete block design with four replications in 2010 and 2011 at the Texas A&M AgriLIFE Research Farm in Burleson County, TX. The objective of the first field study was to evaluate the ability of 1-MCP to protect cotton plants against abiotic stress imposed by a foliar treatment of ethephon. Eight treatments consisted of two 1-MCP rates (0 and 10 g a.i. ha-1) in combination of four ethephon rates (0, 146, 292, and 438 mL ha-1) were imposed at the first flower (FF) stage of crop development. The second field study investigated the effect of 1-MCP on boll development and the corresponding subtending leaves, and consisted of two 1-MCP rates (0 and 10 g a.i. ha-1) applied at 20 days after flowering. In the growth chamber study examining heat and drought, application of 1-MCP resulted in reductions of lipid peroxidation, membrane leakage, and soluble sugar content as well as increased chlorophyll content, compared to the untreated plants under stress conditions. In the field study to evaluate the effect of 1-MCP under ethephon stress, 1-MCP increased plant height and number of main stem nodes in both years. In addition, 1-MCP treated plants exhibited greater membrane integrity and increased photosystem II quantum efficiency, and thus delayed senescence in both years. This potential for yield increase was realized in 2011 with 1-MCP treatment exhibiting a higher lint yield. In 2012, although 1-MCP treatment increased number of open fruit and open fruit weight per plant, no significant yield increase was detected. In the field study to test the effect of 1-MCP on boll development and subtending leaf conditions, 1-MCP treatment increased cotton boll weight at 20 days after flowering. One probable explanation for the enhanced boll size was the healthier subtending leaves: 1-MCP-treated subtending leaves exhibited decreased membrane damage and lipid peroxidation, and higher chlorophyll content and photosynthetic efficiency.

Phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLED) have attracted a lot of attention in these years.Blue PhOLED is especially important because of short lifetime and low optoelectronic performance as comparing to red and green PhOLEDs.Researches have shown that performance of OLED devices is highly rely on the deposition rate of organic materials ,which attest the morphology of organic layers. To study how the deposition rate of host material on the performance of blue PhOLED,mCP is chosen a host material for a blue dopant - FIrpic and deposition rate of mCP on the performance of blue PhOLED performance is studied. It was found that UV-Vis spectrum of mCP varied with different deposition rate.Additionally,an PL emission peak (400nm~500nm) appeared on the thermal evaporated mCP,which was possibly originated from the aggregation of mCP.Surface roughness of the evaporated mCP film became smaller as the deposition rate increased.A high performance (8.52 lm/W@1.2mA/cm2) is fabricated at a deposition rate at 3 A/s.

Abstract Taiwan marine fish suffers the epidemic infection of iridovirus. In this research, infected fish of Epinephelus. lanceolatus was diagnozed by polymerase chain reaction. Transmission electron microscopy showed the morphology of viral particles from tissue lysate. The nucleotide sequence of major capsid protein (MCP) was compared to OSGIV, thereafter the novel virus from Epinephelus lanceolatus is named OSGIV-like iridovirus. By cloning expression of the MCP of TGIV and OSGIV-like, the MCP of 51 kDa was insoluable although minor virus-like substance was observed in TEM. Triton X-100 of 2.5% improved the solubility of protein to 30.95 £gg/£gl. Chloroform treatment enhanced the antibody-detection for the MCP of virus in the tissue. We inference that iridovirus MCP is associated with the envelope because of its hydrophobicity.

EU har beslutat om ett nytt direktiv som innebär hårdare krav för mellanstora förbränningsanläggningar. Detta direktiv innebär hårdare utsläppskrav och när dessa nya gränser skall efterföljas 2025 eller 2030 är Mälarenergi ett företag som kommer att drabbas. Detta arbete har gått ut på att ta reda på vad detta direktiv kommer att få för konsekvenser för Mälarenergis 24 stycken spetslastpannor. Arbetet har gått ut på att sammanställa befintliga underlag för att kunna besvara frågan om vad direktivet kommer att få för inverkan. Direktivet behandlar stoft, NOx och SOx och där mätningar tidigare har genomförts har de granskats. Utredningen har kunnat visa på att av dessa 24 pannor är det 2 pannor som ej kommer klara gränsvärdena för stoft. På dessa två pannor har ytterligare mätningar genomförts och resultatet har verifierats. Dessutom genomfördes en gasanalys av ett Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy av en panna samt en energibalansberäkning. Det finns olika metoder för att minska stoften på dessa pannor men de varierar i pris. Exempel på detta är att installera elektrofilter eller slangfilter, men kostnaden uppgår till över 800 000kr i investeringskostnader. Ett alternativ är ett additiv som heter Kaolin, där undersökningar har visat att till en kostnad av ca 45000 kr per år torde stofthalten kunna minskas till under gränsvärdena. En energibalansberäkningen har genomförts och visar på att pelletspannan i Kungsör har en verkningsgrad på 91% vilket stämmer överrens med vad leverantören anger. / This thesis work was initiated because of the EUs new MCP-directive that puts pressure on plants for heat and power production with an maximum input effect from 1 to 50 MW. Mälarenergi is one of the companies that are going to feel the pressure of this new directive. When the directive becomes Swedish law and the new limits are set to be followed, in 2025 or 2030, the allowed emissions for NOx, SOx and dust will be a lot stricter than they are today. This thesis has studied all the 24 different peak-load-boilers that the company has and tried to figure out which of these boiler will be having problem with the new directive. Information about the different plants has been gathered and summarized, previous measurements checked and where more information was needed, own measurements have been conducted. The conclusion is that two boiler will not fulfill the demands in regards of dust emissions. These results has been checked using own measurements of dust and also analyzing the gas using an Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The costs for improving the dust cleaning has been summarized and it starts at 800 000 SEK for a textile filter or even more for an electrofilter. There is a possibility to add Kaolin to the fuel at an expense of 45 000kr per year. However this method has never been tried in large scale.

No description available.

<p>Reumatoid Artrit är en kronisk systemsjukdom som bland annat drabbar leder, skelett och muskler. Kännetecknande symptom innefattar svullnad och värk i mindre leder på grund av en nedbrytning av ledernas brosk och omgivande vävnader. Händerna är bland de första drabbade kroppsdelarna, med nedsatt funktion och försämrad livskvalitet hos patienten som följd. Väldigt få alternativ är tillgängliga idag för att bedöma resultatet av en behandling. Dessutom, trots att sjukdomens påverkan på lederna är väldokumenterad finns det begränsade vetenskapliga data angående musklernas tillstånd. Till detta ändamål utvecklades en apparat på Högskolan i Halmstad år 2005 för att mäta extensionskraften i fingrarna kring knoglederna. Denna rapport beskriver ett projekt utförd med syfte att förbättra den nuvarande prototypen, både funktionellt och designmässigt. Ett nytt koncept togs fram genom tillämpningen av Stig Ottossons Dynamisk Produktutveckling. Kvalitativ information från intervjuer med arbetsterapeuter och patienter blev den huvudsakliga informationskällan. Konceptets grundprincip blev en fjäder som tillåter mätningar i såväl extension som flexion. Utformningen av konstruktionens olika komponenter strävade efter att lösa olika besvär med den nuvarande prototypen. Med hjälp av ett antal designverktyg utvecklades två förslag på basenheter med en tilltalande form. Varje förslag erbjuder olika grader av bärbarhet men bygger kring samma grundprinciper: utökad användarvänlighet och anpassat dataformat. Arbetets resultat breddar användningsområdena för apparaten samtidigt som det erbjuder användaren en enklare hantering av instrumentet.</p>

Abiotic stresses impact cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) affecting physiological, molecular, morphological, and agronomic parameters. One of the main yield components in cotton production is the number of bolls per unit area. However, boll abortion is increased when cotton experiences various stresses during its reproductive development that can consequently reduce lint yield. Prior to abscission, a burst in ethylene is observed which may be assumed to be the signal necessary to initiate abscission of that particular structure. It is desirable to prevent fruit loss that may be induced by the peak in ethylene prior to abscission. One potential option to cope with the loss of cotton reproductive structures is the use of ethylene inhibitors. The overall objective of this research was to establish if 1-MCP would synergize, ameliorate, or overcome the effects of abiotic stresses on physiological, molecular, morphological, and agronomic parameters of cotton plants under abiotic stress conditions in field and greenhouse studies. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted from 2007 to 2009 as a randomized complete block design with four replications in the field, and as a 2x2 factorial design in a split-block arrangement with five replications in the greenhouse. Field treatments consisted of three rates of 1-MCP (0, 25 and 50 g a.i. ha-1) in combination with a surfactant applied at mid-bloom. One day later, ethephon (synthetic ethylene) was applied as a source of abiotic stress. Greenhouse treatments were two 1-MCP rates (0 and 2.4 g a.i. L-1) during a14-h overnight incubation that were then subjected to two water regimes (control and stressed) as the source of stress. Greenhouse assessments with gas exchange analysis revealed that water deficit stress started to impact plants at a moderate water stress, 5 days after 1-MCP treatment (DAT) and a water potential (ψw) of -1.4 MPa. The 1-MCP increased water use efficiency in well-watered plants at 1 DAT. Many of the yield components, plant mapping, and biomass parameters investigated were detrimentally affected by drought. However, drought increased specific leaf weight, chlorophyll content, and harvest index. The 1- MCP improved reproductive node numbers mainly during drought, but did not lead to a better harvest index, since 1-MCP caused high abscission. Ethylene synthesis and molecular investigations in greenhouse conditions showed that at 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 DAT, ethylene production of stressed plants never exceeded those of control plants. As the ψw became more negative ethylene production rate was reduced among stressed plants independent of 1-MCP treatments. However, at 1 DAT 1-MCP caused a transient climacteric stage (ethylene synthesis increase) in leaves. The two primary genes associated with ethylene synthesis, ACS6 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase) and ACO2 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase) expression generally showed an identical trend that supported the ethylene synthesis data. The 1-MCP did not ameliorate any of the detrimental effects of water stress on gas exchange at the point where it started to impact cotton plants. 1-MCP had little or no positive effect on plant mapping, dry matter partitioning and chlorophyll content. Field investigations revealed that at harvest, fruit set in the upper portion of the canopy was influenced by 1- MCP. This portion of the canopy had a greater number of full size, yet immature bolls, which potentially could have had a positive influence on the lint yield. However, ethephon caused the highest lint yield since ethephon treated plants had more open bolls and total bolls in the lower canopy at harvest.

Reumatoid Artrit är en kronisk systemsjukdom som bland annat drabbar leder, skelett och muskler. Kännetecknande symptom innefattar svullnad och värk i mindre leder på grund av en nedbrytning av ledernas brosk och omgivande vävnader. Händerna är bland de första drabbade kroppsdelarna, med nedsatt funktion och försämrad livskvalitet hos patienten som följd. Väldigt få alternativ är tillgängliga idag för att bedöma resultatet av en behandling. Dessutom, trots att sjukdomens påverkan på lederna är väldokumenterad finns det begränsade vetenskapliga data angående musklernas tillstånd. Till detta ändamål utvecklades en apparat på Högskolan i Halmstad år 2005 för att mäta extensionskraften i fingrarna kring knoglederna. Denna rapport beskriver ett projekt utförd med syfte att förbättra den nuvarande prototypen, både funktionellt och designmässigt. Ett nytt koncept togs fram genom tillämpningen av Stig Ottossons Dynamisk Produktutveckling. Kvalitativ information från intervjuer med arbetsterapeuter och patienter blev den huvudsakliga informationskällan. Konceptets grundprincip blev en fjäder som tillåter mätningar i såväl extension som flexion. Utformningen av konstruktionens olika komponenter strävade efter att lösa olika besvär med den nuvarande prototypen. Med hjälp av ett antal designverktyg utvecklades två förslag på basenheter med en tilltalande form. Varje förslag erbjuder olika grader av bärbarhet men bygger kring samma grundprinciper: utökad användarvänlighet och anpassat dataformat. Arbetets resultat breddar användningsområdena för apparaten samtidigt som det erbjuder användaren en enklare hantering av instrumentet.