In sorghum, a single recessive gene Wx conditions waxy endosperm type. While parental inbred lines and hybrids with waxy endosperm have been developed, there has been little to no adoption of these hybrids by producers, primarily because waxy hybrids consistently yield 5-10% less than non-waxy hybrids and end-use buyers will not pay for the utilization benefits. While current waxy germplasm does not yield competitively at this time, there is a question as to whether the yield reduction is due to a negative relationship between waxy per se or due to the lack of effort to develop high yielding waxy germplasm. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the waxy endosperm phenotype and grain yield in sorghum. From each of two F2 breeding populations segregating for waxy endosperm, 50 inbred lines were derived, selected only for homozygosity of endosperm type. No selection for yield was practiced during the development of these lines. Approximately 25 waxy and 25 non-waxy lines were selected for further evaluation from each population. These lines and a set of testcross hybrids were evaluated in four environments. When combined across environments and populations, waxy inbred lines and hybrids yielded 17% less than non-waxy inbred lines and hybrids. However, analysis of the individual inbred lines and hybrids indicated that several waxy inbred lines were competitive in yield with the best non-waxy genotypes. The results indicate that it should be possible to develop waxy hybrids that are competitive in yield, but that this will require additional breeding efforts to identify the correct inbred lines and hybrids.

Eine der drei Säulen der Krebsbehandlung ist die Strahlentherapie. Einer der neuesten Ansätze hierbei ist die Bestrahlung mit Ionen, zurzeit insbesondere Protonen und Kohlenstoffionen. Diese Hochpräzisionstherapie erfordert ein hohes Maß an Kontrolle, da die applizierte Dosisverteilung sehr empfindlich von Dichteveränderungen im durchstrahlten Gewebe abhängt. Das bisher einzige klinisch eingesetzte Verfahren zur in vivo Überwachung der Dosisapplikation bei Ionenbestrahlungen ist die Positronen-Emissions-Tomographie (PET). Sie ermöglicht eine Verifikation der Teilchenreichweite sowie der Lage des Bestrahlungsfeldes. Die mit der PET-Methode gemessene Aktivitätsverteilung lässt sich jedoch nicht direkt mit der geplanten Dosisverteilung vergleichen. Daher ist eine Vorherberechnung der erwarteten Aktivitätsverteilung auf der Grundlage des Bestrahlungsplanes notwendig, welche dann mit der Messung verglichen wird und eine qualitative Beurteilung der Bestrahlung ermöglicht. Die Vorherberechnung der erwarteten Aktivitätsverteilung erfordert bislang die Kenntnis einer Vielzahl von Wirkungsquerschnitten. Nur für wenige dieser Wirkungsquerschnitte liegen jedoch Messdaten im benötigten Energiebereich und mit ausreichender Genauigkeit vor. Daher verwenden viele Monte-Carlo-Simulationen intrinsische Kernmodelle oder semi-empirische Modellierungen, die häufig eine unzureichende Genauigkeit aufweisen. In Fachkreisen ist bisher noch nicht geklärt, welches die optimale Ionensorte für die Tumortherapie ist. Insbesondere Lithiumionen weisen aufgrund ihrer physikalischen und radiobiologischen Eigenschaften ein großes Potenzial auf. Auch für Bestrahlungen mit diesen Ionen ist ein PET-Monitoring der Therapie erstrebenswert. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird zunächst die Anwendbarkeit der Reichweite-Verifikation mittels PET bei Bestrahlung mit Lithiumionen gezeigt. Des Weiteren wird ein Konzept zur Modellierung der Positronenemitter-Verteilung ohne Kenntnis der Wirkungsquerschnitte entwickelt. Diese Vorhersage beruht auf in Referenzmaterialien (Wasser, Graphit und Polyethylen) gemessenen tiefenabhängigen Positronenemitter-Yields, mit welchen durch geeignete Linearkombination die Verteilung der Positronenemitter in beliebigen Materialien bekannter Stöchiometrie vorausberechnet werden kann. Die Anwendbarkeit des Yield-Konzeptes wird gezeigt für Lithium- und Kohlenstoffbestrahlungen homogener Polymethylmethacrylat (PMMA) Targets sowie verschiedener inhomogener Targets.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the main crops grown in the United States. Genetic improvement over the last century has seen a shift from using open-pollinated varieties to single cross hybrids. This has resulted in major grain yield gains and improved management methodologies. However, there is still concern about reduced genetic diversity in elite corn germplasm and the potential effects this could have on future maize productivity in the presence of numerous abiotic and biotic pressures. One solution to this issue is the incorporation of exotic germplasm into existing maize improvement programs. This exotic material must be evaluated and characterized because too much or poorly matched exotic material can lead to reduced productivity. The use of multiple environments representative to the target improvement area is the best way to determine the true potential of certain material. The objectives of this research were to: i) estimate the responses of hybrids to aflatoxin and their agronomic performance across a range of environments under inoculation with Aspergillus flavus; ii) identify the hybrids within each group that exhibit the lowest levels of contamination; iii) analyze the relationship between agronomic performance and aflatoxin accumulation; and iv) determine how Genotype x Environment interactions affect these traits. Agronomic data was collected in ten Texas environments in 2005 for hybrids created from yellow, white, and Quality Protein Maize material that was crossed with one of two elite temperate inbred testers, LH195 or LH210. Response to aflatoxin was measured in eight of these environments. U.S. commercial hybrids were used as checks. Significant differences between hybrids were observed at different environments for different traits. Overall the experimental hybrids had lower aflatoxin accumulation than the commercial checks. They also yielded lower and had lower test weights and 1000 kernel weights. However, there were some hybrids that were competitive with the commercial checks for these agronomic traits. The incorporation of this material into established U.S. lines could be beneficial with regards to aflatoxin accumulation and kernel quality, which could ultimately translate to higher yields and crop quality.

No description available.

Due to the increasing of substitution and competition of products, the life cycle of products is shorter than previous time and the perishable has becoming visible for service industry and other related manufacturing industries. Wrong strategy and management of pricing make many companies lose the right opportunity to invest and even trapped in the bad financial structure with the apparent character. More and more private club managers use the concept of yield management to deal with their problems and maximize their benefits because of the property of perishable in recent years. However most researchers study about ways to improve the performance and to understand the distribution of consumers¡¦ recognition instead of realizing the factors impacting the products¡¦ pricing. I will develop an initial pricing model and find out how the relationship among the factors which influence the products¡¦ pricing interacts by this model

The quality control of products during manufacturing before World War II was independent of the manufacturing process to assure the unique and best quality of goods. Of which characteristics is to control the quality of products after finishing. Due to the total quality management has initiated recently, the feedback of consumer¡¦s preference, raw materials¡¦ supply, design of products, manufacturing, check-up, selling strategy and after-sales service arose from the manufacturers. The crucial competition in enterprise management has become the essential debate i.e., innovative and high-grade products are needed concurrently. Innovation is the threshold of the sustained yield of an enterprise, but to meet and give rise to the requirements of clients through the market survey. Additionally, we should incorporate a new management system with innovation ¡V reduce the capital, develop up-to-date techniques, to attain the target of sustained yield. By using the new methods of enterprise management system and proposing novel recipes that can achieve an admirable target in business management in the twentieth-one century. Because of the specific needs in high-precision and great capital investment in semi-conductor industry, any rejects may lead to earnings loss. Thereafter, the increase in accepts is the main target to pursue for semi-conductor industry. Enhancing the accept percentage is synonymous with profit-based market. Reducing the reject percentage will lead to increasing the profit of business. ¡§Quality Control is the main trend in twentieth-one century¡¨ said Mr. J.M.Juran ¡V an American expert of quality control ¡V in American Society of Quality Control (ASQC). For instances, the reject rate of electronics has been reduced from 0.001 to ppm (parts per million), even to ppb (parts per billion). In view of the previous 3 £mdefect, the reject rate is 2.7 ¡Ñ10 -3 under the state in statistical control, but it has been dropped to 2 ppb (2 ¡Ñ10 -9 ) in a new 6 £mdefect. In other words, the new level of reject rate has been reduced to 1.35 million times that of the previous standards. We call this standard likewise ¡§Ultra severe quality requirements¡¨. Face the severe challenge of quality control and the strong competition, a novel quality control is beneficial to the sustained yield of semiconductor industry. The purpose of this study tries to investigate the feasibility of the application of ultra severe quality requirements to a semiconductor company. And describing the methodology of 6£mthat focuses on process improvement and variation reduction.

With the expanding population of Texas and the resulting increase in demand for water, the scarcity of water is becoming an increasingly urgent issue and research is being conducted to find ways to improve water yield, the amount of water that is used for aquifer recharge and riparian areas (lakes, streams, etc). Rangelands provide a major catchment for both surface reservoirs and aquifers. The Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone and the Twin Buttes Drainage Area were selected to determine the tradeoffs between brush management for increased water yield and wildlife habitat improvement. In April 2002, a mail survey of 300 randomly selected landowners was conducted in each of the two watersheds to gain information regarding their demographics, land cover, and willingness to enter into a cost-share brush removal program. A total of 131 usable questionnaires (43.7%) were returned by Edwards Aquifer area participants, and 141 usable questionnaires (47.0%) were returned by Twin Buttes area participants. Respondents were asked questions including attitudes towards brush amounts and management strategies, and certain constraints that may be included in a cost-share brush removal program. Most respondents indicated interest in enrolling at least part of their land in such a program. Reasoning behind interest varied in each study area. However, interest in various contractual agreements was neutral at best. Policy implications entail considering wildlife habitat mitigation, landowners' preferences, and potential for increasing water yield and determining if all can be managed, or if trade-offs must be considered.

In sorghum, a single recessive gene Wx conditions waxy endosperm type. While parental inbred lines and hybrids with waxy endosperm have been developed, there has been little to no adoption of these hybrids by producers, primarily because waxy hybrids consistently yield 5-10% less than non-waxy hybrids and end-use buyers will not pay for the utilization benefits. While current waxy germplasm does not yield competitively at this time, there is a question as to whether the yield reduction is due to a negative relationship between waxy per se or due to the lack of effort to develop high yielding waxy germplasm. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the waxy endosperm phenotype and grain yield in sorghum. From each of two F2 breeding populations segregating for waxy endosperm, 50 inbred lines were derived, selected only for homozygosity of endosperm type. No selection for yield was practiced during the development of these lines. Approximately 25 waxy and 25 non-waxy lines were selected for further evaluation from each population. These lines and a set of testcross hybrids were evaluated in four environments. When combined across environments and populations, waxy inbred lines and hybrids yielded 17% less than non-waxy inbred lines and hybrids. However, analysis of the individual inbred lines and hybrids indicated that several waxy inbred lines were competitive in yield with the best non-waxy genotypes. The results indicate that it should be possible to develop waxy hybrids that are competitive in yield, but that this will require additional breeding efforts to identify the correct inbred lines and hybrids.

A set of three benzophenoxazine dyes, two completely soluble and one partially soluble in aqueous media, has been prepared and their spectroscopic properties examined. These dyes can be used as either donor or acceptor in synthesis of through-bond energy transfer cassettes. Structural modifications prevented aggregation in water and improved their fluorescence properties in water. Their absorption and emission were studied in both organic and aqueous media. Two of the three dyes have superior quantum yields in aqueous media as compared to other reported dyes. Improved quantum yield makes these dyes attractive candidates for biological studies in aqueous media. We have also prepared alkynes and iodo derivatives of benzophenoxazines, which can be used for synthesis of water-soluble, through-bond, energy transfer cassettes. Alkynes were prepared via Sonogashira coupling.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 95 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-94).