Chromosome Location of the Male-sterility and Yellow Seedling Gene in Line 1066A of Foxtail Millet

Using foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.) male-sterile line 1066A as female parent and Yugu 1 primary trisomic series (1 - 7) and tetrasomics 8, 9 as male parents, chromosome location of gene for male-sterility and yellow seedling in line 1066A was studied by primary trisomic analysis. The plants of F-1 generation of trisomics 2 - 9 were obtained by crossing with a great many plants of 1066A. F-1 generation of trisomics was similar to their male parent in morphologic characters, the color of their seedling was green, and pollen was partially fertile. The segregation ratio of fertility to sterility is 3:1 in F-2 generation of trisomics 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9; and 14:1 only in F-2 generation of trisomic 6 (chi(0.05)(2) = 0.012). The segregation ratio of green seedling to yellow seedling is 12:1 only in F-2 generation of trisomic 7 (chi(0.05)(2) = 0.31), but in other cases, this ratio is 3:1. The results indicated that the male-sterility gene was located on chromosome 6, and the gene for yellow seedling was monogenic recessive and located on chromosome 7. The rate of trisomics transmission by pollen was tested, trisomics 8 and 9 were the highest in rates of trisomics transmission and followed by trisomics 6 and 4.

Effects of Water-permeability Plastic Film Mulching plus Bunch Planting on Root and Yield of Foxtail Millet

Effects of water-permeability plastic film plus bunch planting on root growth and development and yield of foxtail millet were studied by randomized block design. The results showed that water-permeability plastic film mulching plus bunch planting had a significant promoting effect on root growth and development and yield of foxtail millet. Compared with the CK, the total root length, total surface area, total root volume and number of. root tips increased by 51.30%, 47.89%, 48.39% and 41.63%, respectively. The yield increased by 48.57%, and there was significant positive correlation between root length, total surface area, total volume, number of root tips and dry matter weight of roots with yield. Developed roots are the main reason for the yield increasing effect of water-permeability plastic film mulching plus bunch planting.

港臺勁刮東洋風

最近香港猛刮东洋风,走在街头到处可以见到挂着大大日本字招牌的寿司、拉面店、十元店、日本零售店,街上多的是头戴渔夫帽,穿着A Bathing Ape、Neighborhood、甚至印着鲜明日本字T恤的年轻人,信和中心、先达广场翻版日剧VCD及日本游戏光碟软体充斥,百利商场、Up Date Mall最畅销的部是来自日本的衣物饰品与水货化妆品;翻开书报摊贩卖的香港杂志,“水着”、“激安”、“人气”全成了香港新新语言;电器行里陈列着几乎与日本同步上市的Hi-Fi、AV、MD,报纸旅游版多的是招揽日本旅行团的广告……既然生活中无时不刻都被日本气息笼罩着,当然流行音乐圈也不免被这股风潮扫到。

Genetic and Correlation Analysis of Grain Characters in Three-line Hybrid Rice

Abst[Objective] This study was to understand the genetic dynamics of three-line hybrid rice, and explore the respective effect of sterile line and restoring line on grain characters of hybrid rica. [Method] Four three-line stedle lines and 27 restoring lines（cultivars） commonly culti- vated in Central China region were regarded as expadmental materials to conduct 4 x27NCII cross design, and the grain characters of three-line hybrid rico were analyzed at genetic and correlation levels. [ Result] Four characters of grain length, grain width, 1 000-grain weight and length- width ratio play the leading role in additive gene effect; these four characters were simultaneously influenced by male parent and female parent, but the effect from male parent was relatively larger. The grain length, grain width, 1 000-grain weight and length-width ratio all have high brood hedtabUities（ respectively 99.65%, 98.31%, 95.27% and 98.81% ）. Correlation analysis showed that grain length was positively correlated with 1 000-grain weight and length-width ratio at extremely significant level; 1 000-grain weight was positively correlated with grain length and length- width ratio at extremely significant level, and was insignificantly correlated with grain width; grain width was negatively correlated with grain length and length-width ratio at extremely significant level. Path analysis showed that the direct path coefficients of grain length, grain width and 1 0（30- grain weight to length-width ratio were 0.624 6, -0.555 9 and -0.015 8, respectively. [ Conclusion] This study systematically analyzed the effects of stedle line and restoring line on grain characters of hybrid rice, which provided theoretical basis for breeding high quality and yield hy- brid dce.

Food-Security Indexes Related to Combined Pollution of Chromium and Phenol in Soil-Rice Systems

The pot-culture method combined with chemical and statistical analyses was used to get basic data for determination of the food-security indexes related to combined pollution of Cr and phenol in soil-rice systems.Regression analyses according to the experimental result indicated that the critical concentrations of Cr andphenol in brown rice were 0.37 and 0.33 mg kg-1, respectively, under the condition of Cr-phenol combined pollution.

Molecular physiology of vesicular glutamate transporters in the digestive system

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Packaging and storage of glutamate into glutamatergic neuronal vesicles require ATP-dependent vesicular glutamate uptake systems, which utilize the electrochemical proton gradient as a driving force. Three vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUT1-3) have been recently identified from neuronal tissue where they play a key role to maintain the vesicular glutamate level. Recently, it has been demonstrated that glutamate signaling is also functional in peripheral neuronal and non-neuronal tissues, and occurs in sites of pituitary, adrenal, pineal glands, bone, GI tract, pancreas,skin, and testis. The glutamate receptors and VGLUTs in digestivesystem have been found in both neuronal and endocrinal cells. The glutamate signaling in the digestive system may have significant relevance to diabetes and GI tract motility disorders. This review will focus on the most recent update of molecular physiology of digestive VGLUTs.

Effective stress law for rock masses and its application in impoundment analysis based on deformation reinforcement theory

Reservoir impoundment is related to several hydraulic engineering concerns,including irreversible valley contractions,landslides and reservoir-induced earthquakes.However,these phenomena,such as valley contractions,are hardly to be explained by the conventional method.The scientific understanding of water effects during impoundment and their hazards to hydraulic structure are needed.The effective stress law for fissured rock masses is introduced in the elasto-plastic model employing the Drucker-Prager criterion and implemented in the three dimension(3D)nonlinear finite element method(FEM)program Three-dimensional FINite Element(TFINE).The slope deforms towards river-way during impoundment since the increasing pore pressure in fissures changes stress state and leads to additional plastic deformation in the rock materials.The value of Biot coefficient and the influence of water on rock materials are discussed in detail.Thus,the mechanism of slope deformation during the impoundment of Jinping-I arch dam is revealed,and the deformation is accurately measured.The application of the effective stress law provides a method to consider stress assessment,deformation evaluation and stability estimate of hydraulic structures during the impoundment process.This is a beneficial exploration and an improvement of hydraulic engineering design.

Preliminary Study on Biological Characteristics of Degraded Soil Ecosystems in Dry Hot Valley of the Jinsha River

Distribution characteristics of soil animals, microorganisms and enzymatic activity were studied in the dry red soil and Vertisol ecosystems with different degradation degrees in the Yuanmou dry hot valley of the Jinsha River, China. Results showed that Hymenoptera, Araneae and Collembola were the dominant groups of soil animals in the plots studied. The numbers of groups and individuals and density of soil animals in the dry red soil series were higher than those in the Vertisol series, and the numbers of individuals and density of soil animals decreased with the degree of soil degradation. Bacteria dominated microbiocoenosis not only in the dry red soils but also in the Vertisols. Microbial numbers of the dry red soil series were higher than those of Vertisol series, and decreased with the degree of soil degradation. The activities of catalase, invertase, urease and alkaline phosphatase declined with the degradation degree and showed a significant decline with depth in the profiles of both the dry red soils and the Vertisols, but activities of polyphenol oxidase and acid and neutral phosphatase showed the same tendencies only in the Vertisols. It was concluded that the characteristics of soil animals, microorganisms and enzymatic activity could be used as the bio-indicators to show the degradation degree of the dry red soils and Vertisols. Correlation among these soil bio-indicators was highly significant.

Detection of Acid Rain Stress Effect on Plant Using Hyperspectral Data in Three Gorges Region,China

This paper aims to use hyperspectral data to detect the spectral change caused by acid stress to a native forest type in the Three Gorges region of China. For this purpose, a ground-based hyperspectral experiment was conducted at the Three Gorges region to detect acid deposition that caused Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) forest degra-dation. Continuum removal method was used to isolate wavebands more responsive to stress in wavelengths 450-750nm. The differences in chlorophyll concentrations and needle thickness caused by acidic stress are found to be explicable to the different spectral reflectance patterns in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Two new chlorotic indices were utilized to explain the stress-caused leaf chlorosis. The comparison of simulated vegetation indices and principal component analysis (PCA) results suggests that it would be possible to monitor acid rain stress effect on forest ecosystem from some wider spectral regions.

Morphology and controlling factors of the longitudinal profile of gullies in the Yuanmou dry-hot valley

The morphology of the gully longitudinal profile （GLP） is an important topographic index of the gully bottom associated with the evolution of the gullies. This index can be used to predict the development trend and evaluate the eroded volumes and soil losses by gullying. To depict the morphology of GLP and understand its controlling factors, the Global Positioning System Real-time Kinematic （GPS RTK） and the total station were used to measure the detail points along the gully bottom of 122 gullies at six sites of the Yuanmou dry-hot Valley. Then, nine parameters including length （Lt）, horizontal distance （Dh）, height （H）, vertical erosional area （A）, vertical curvature （Co）, concavity （Ca）, average gradient （Ga）, gully length-gradient index （GL）, normalized gully length-gradient index （Ngl）, were calculated and mapped using CASS, Excel and SPSS. The results showed that this study area is dominated by slightly concave and medium gradient GLPs, and the lithology of most gullies is sandstone and siltstone. Although different types of GLPs appear at different sites, all parameters present a positively skewed distribution. There are relatively strong correlations between several parameters： namely Lt and H, Dh and H, Lt and A, Dh and A, H and GL. Most GLPs, except three, have a best fit of exponential functions with quasi- straight shapes. Soil properties, vegetation coverage, piping erosion and topography are important factors to affect the GLP morphology. This study provides useful insight into the knowledge of GLP morphology and its influential factors that are of critical importance to prevent and control gully erosion.

Integrated Evaluation of Ecological Security at Different Scales Using Remote Sensing: A Case Study of Zhongxian County, the Three Gorges Area, China

Based on related literature and this research, an ecological security evaluation from the pixel scale to the small watershed or county scale was presented using remote sensing data and related models. With the driver-pressure, state and exposure to pollution-response （DPSER） model as a basis, a conceptual framework of regional ecological evaluation and an index system were established. The extraction and standardization of evaluation indices were carried out with GIS techniques, an information extraction model and a data standardization model. The conversion of regional ecological security results from the pixel scale to a small watershed or county scale was obtained with an evaluation model and a scaling model. Two conceptual scale conversion models of regional ecological security from the pixel scale to the county scale were proposed： 1） scale conversion of ecological security regime results from plxel to small watershed; and 2） scale conversion from pixel to county. These research results could provide useful ideas for regional ecological security evaluation as well as ecological and environmental management.

Impacts of Drought and Human Activity on Vegetation Growth in the Grain for Green Program Region,China

The Chinese government adopted six ecological restoration programs to improve its natural environments. Although these programs have proven successful in improving local environments, some studies have questioned their performance when regions suffer from drought. Whether we should consider the effects of drought on vegetation change in assessments of the benefits of ecological restoration programs is unclear. Therefore, taking the Grain for Green Program(GGP) region as a study area, we estimated vegetation growth in the region from 2000–2010 to clarify the trends in vegetation and their driving forces. Results showed that: 1) vegetation growth increased in the GGP region during 2000–2010, with 59.4% of the area showing an increase in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI). This confirmed the benefits of the ecological restoration program. 2) Drought can affect the vegetation change trend, but human activity plays a significant role in altering vegetation growth, and the slight downward trend in the NDVI was not consistent with the severity of the drought. Positive human activity led to increased NDVI in 89.13% of areas. Of these, 22.52% suffered drought, but positive human activity offset the damage in part. 3) Results of this research suggest that appropriate human activity can maximize the benefits of ecological restoration programs and minimize the effects of extreme weather. We therefore recommend incorporating eco-risk assessment and scientific management mechanisms in the design and management of ecosystem restoration programs.

Runoff and Sediment Load from the Right Bank Valleys of Mosul Dam Reservoir

Mosul Dam is a Multipurpose Project on the River Tigris in Iraq with 11.11 billion m3 storage capacity. It is used to store the water for irrigation, hydropower generation, and flood control. As in other dams in the world, this dam also have sedimentation problem. Sediment accumulation in its reservoir can effect the dam operation （pumping station, hydropower plants, and bottom outlets） and it will definitely shorten the life span of the dam. In this study, the SWAT （soil and water assessment tool） under （]IS （Geographical Information System） was applied to simulate the yearly surface rtmoff and sediment load for the main three valleys on the right bank of Mosul Dam Reservoir. The simulation considered for the twenty one years begin from the dam operation in 1988 to 2008. The resultant values of the average annual sediment load are 35.6~ 103, 4.9 ~ 103, and 2.2~ 103 ton, while the average values of sediment concentration are 1.73, 1.65, and 2.73 kg/m3 for the considered valleys one, two and three respectively. This implies that significant sediment load enters the reservoir from these valleys. To minimize the sediment load entering the reservoir, a check dam is to be constructed in suitable sites especially for valley one. The check dam can store the runoff water and trap the sediment load, and then the flow can be released to the reservoir.

Influence of Cooling Systems on the Behaviour of Dairy Cows Housed in Cubicle Barn

The aim of this paper is to collect information about dairy cow＇s behaviour connected to different environmental conditions. During summer 2009 and winter 2010 experimental trials were arranged to verify the behaviour of dairy cows in a farm located in Po Plain （Italy）. The barn was provided with an air-water cooling system, based on the use of fans and sprinklers placed only in the feeding alley. Two different trials were carried out. The first experiment was targeted on verifying the use of the cubicles by the cows in relation to the availability of the cooling system only in feeding area. The second trial aimed at testing the effectiveness of zone cooling systems placed in the front of cubicles. For this purpose three cubicles in the barn were provided with cooling systems, based on the input of high velocity conditioned air streams. The results clearly remark that the behaviour of the animals is greatly influenced by the environmental conditions. With high temperatures the use of the cubicles is deeply reduced and the animals prefer to stay in feeding area, thus benefiting from the cooling effect of water sprinkled by the showers and of the air streams created by the fans. With air temperatures increasing from 21℃ to 33 ℃ the cows reduce the staying in the cubicles, which gets down from 540 to 32% （r2 = 0.2608）. As regards the efficacy of zone cooling system in the cubicles, the results are not particularly encouraging. The cows continue to use the cubicles without changing the behaviour in relation to the presence of conditioned air flow.

Ecosystem health evaluation system of the water-fluctuating zone in the Three Gorges Area

This paper discribes the definition of ecosystem health for the water-level flutuation zone of the Three Gorges Region and puts forward an evaluation system involving indicators in three groups: 1) structural indicators comprise slope, biodiversity, environmental capacity, stability, restoration ability and damage situation; 2) functional indicators including probability of geological hazard, erosion rate, habitat rate, land use intension and days of tourist season; 3) environmental indicatiors made up of population quality, potential intension of human, ground water quality, ambient air quality, wastewater treatment rate, pesticide use rate, fertilizer use rate, environmental management and public participation. In the design of the system, the subject zone is regarded as the type similar to wetland and the impacts of human activities on the zone are attached great importance to.

Fuzzy Inference System for Identification of Cereals Weeds Seeds

In agriculture the identification and classification of weed seeds are technically and economically important. This work bears on the study of the morphological characteristics of the widespread weeds seeds in the north east of Algeria （the Setifian high plateau）. Fourteen characteristics were used to identify ninety one species of seeds which belong to nineteen botanical families. The morphological characteristics in which the study was based on are： form, color, size, solidity, brightness, smoothness, seed length, seed width, seed caliber, outgrowths, outgrowths form, outgrowths color, outgrowths length, outgrowths width, weight per 100 seeds. Considerable differences were noticed between the various species of weeds seeds. The study of morphological characteristics of seeds allows identifying the different seeds mixed with cultivated plant, it also allows knowing the various species of weeds in fields. So such studies help to develop different strategies to control weeds.

Gravity and GPS Measurements at South-West Part of Baikal Rift

Measurements of non-tidal variations of gravity （Ag）, which were obtained from 1992 to 2012 at the Talaya seismic station （located in the south-western part of the Baikal region）, are interpreted together with GPS （Global Position System） observation data, which were obtained from 2000 to 2013 at the same station. An absolute gravimeter was used for gravity observation. The strongest precision requirements concern tidal gravity prediction. It is the reason why we investigated tidal effect by LCR （LaCoste ＆ Romberg） gravimeter from 1996 to 1997 at the same station. We use tested tidal model for correction of gravity change. The linear component of gravity variations corresponds to changes in the elevation of the site. The correlation coefficient is close to the normal value of the vertical gradient of gravity. At this site, coseismic gravity variations at the time of the Kultuk earthquake （August 27, 2008, Mw = 6.5） were caused by a combined effect of the change of the site＇s elevation and deformation of the crust. Our estimations of the coseismic effects are consistent with results obtained by modeling based on the available seismic data.

Revisiting Sustainable Development of Dry Valleys in Hengduan Mountains Region

Dry valleys are a striking geographic landscape in Hengduan Mountains Region and are characterized by low rainfall, desert type of vegetation and fragile environment. Past efforts and resources have been concentrated mainly on rehabilitation of degraded ecosystem and fragile environment, particularly reforestation, while socio-economic development has been largely overlooked. Despite successes in pocket areas, the overall trend of unsustainability and environmental deterioration are continuing. It is important to understand that uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is the root cause of development of dry valleys, and development and formation of dry valleys is a natural process. Human intervention has played a secondary role in development of dry valleys and degradation of dry valleys though human intervention in many cases has speeded up environmental degradation of the dry valleys. It is important to understand that dry valleys are climatic enclaves and an integrated approach that combines rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and socio-economic development should be adopted if the overall goal of sustainable development of dry valleys is to be achieved. Promotion of niche-based cash crops, rural energy including hydropower, solar energy, biogas and fuelwood plantation is recommended as the priority activities.