An experimental enquiry into the medical properties of the Aralia spinosa, or prickly ash. [Dissertation].

Mode of access: Internet.

化感物质香豆素对苜蓿种子萌发及幼苗初级氮同化的影响

香豆素类物质是苯丙酸内酯（环酯）类化合物，绝大部分高等植物通过次生代谢途径都能合成。研究表明，香豆素类物质是花椒体内最重要的化感物质，系统研究香豆素类物质的作用机理有助于理解和最终解决花椒连作障碍。本文通过研究香豆素对几种植物种子特别是苜蓿种子萌发、苜蓿幼苗初级氮同化的影响，从生理生化角度揭示香豆素的作用方式，为花椒连作障碍的解决和化感作用机制的深入理解提供依据。主要研究结果如下：1. 研究了香豆素对6 种常见作物种子萌发的影响，并对一组数据采用4个不同的指标进行评价，对生物测定化感作用中存在的问题进行了讨论。结果发现1.0mM的香豆素对采用的6 种作物的种子萌发均表现出一定的化感作用，4 个指标的敏感程度依次为S (发芽速度)＞AS(累积发芽速度)＞CRG(发芽指数)＞GT(最终发芽率)。种子萌发实验是化感作用研究中最重要、应用最广泛的生物测定方法之一，应根据不同的研究目的合理采用指标和实验方法。2. 采用培养皿试纸法进行种子萌发试验，研究了香豆素水溶液在苜蓿种子萌发过程中对其吸水、电导率及抗氧化保护酶活性的影响。结果表明，影响苜蓿种子发芽的香豆素浓度阀值为0.3mM。香豆素在1.0mM 的浓度下降低了苜蓿种子吸水阶段Ⅱ的吸水速度，使其外渗物质增多，电导率增大，并显著抑制了超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化物酶(POD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)的活性，同时种子体内丙二醛（MDA）的含量显著增大。高浓度香豆素破坏了膜的结构、影响了抗氧化保护酶的活性是香豆素降低苜蓿发芽率的原因之一，也可能是影响花椒-苜蓿间作的关键因素之一。3. 不同浓度（0、25 μM、50 μM、0.1 mM、1.0 mM）化感活性物质香豆素对10 日龄苜蓿幼苗初级氮同化的影响的结果表明25 µM～50 µM 的香豆素加快了苜蓿幼苗对硝态氮的吸收。高浓度的香豆素导致苜蓿根系和叶片内可溶性蛋白含量降低、鲜重减小、地下鲜重/地上鲜重（R/S）的比值升高，根系中初级氮同化的关键酶硝酸还原酶（NR）、谷氨酸胺合成酶（GS）、谷氨酸脱氢酶（GDH）的活性降低，叶片中NR、GS 的活性减低、叶绿素含量减少，而GDH 的活性升高。香豆素影响苜蓿幼苗氮代谢和氨同化的关键酶，导致体内养分的缺失是香豆素抑制苜蓿幼苗生长的机理之一。Coumarins are lactones of o-hydroxycinnamic acid, and are allelopathiccompounds that originate in the phenylpropanoid pathway. They are synthesized byalmost all higher plants. According to previous studies, coumarins were mostimportant allelochemicals in Chinese prickly ash. Systematically research of theeffect of coumarin could help to comprehend the continuous cropping impediment.The effects of coumarin on seed germination and primary nitrogen assimilation ofalfalfa were studied. The main results showed that:1. We compared four common germination indices (S, AS, CRG, GT)preciously calculated with the same date. The results showed that, at theconcentration of 1.0 mM, coumarin inhibited seeds germination. Among all indices,the S index was most sensitive, followed by the AS and CRG indices. Andsuggestions on the expression of bioassay results were also provided.2. At concentrations above 0.3 mM, coumarin inhibited seed germination in aconcentration-dependent manner. During seed imbibitionⅡ, coumarin at 1.0 mMsignificantly reduced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT),peroxidase (POD), while the content of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) in alfalfa seedssignificantly increased. The higher concentration coumarin destroyed structure ofmembrane and influenced activities of antioxidant enzymes, which might be one ofthe reasons that coumarin decreased germination rate of alfalfa, and one of the keyfactors influencing Chinese prickly ash-alfalfa intercropping.3. Alfalfa plants were exposed to different concentration of coumarin (0、25μM、50 μM、0.1 mM、1.0 mM) grown for 10 days on control medium. Coumarin, in the range of 25 μM～50 μM, significantly stimulated the net nitrate uptake.Increasing coumarin concentration led to a decrease of protein contents in theleaves and roots. The root to shoot (R/S) FW ratio was increased by increasingcoumarin concentration. Under high coumarin concentration, the activities of nitratereductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) were repressed in the roots andleaves. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) was inhibited in the roots, while enhancedin the leaves. Chlorophyll contents in the leaves were also decreased under highcoumain concentration. Coumarin decreased alfalfa growth by (i) nutritionaldeficiencies shown by the decrease of nitrate, (ii) lowered N compound synthesisvia inhibition of nitrate reduction and ammonium assimilation.

Mixing and drying mud and ash at Tully Mill

Disposal of mud and ash, particularly in wet weather conditions, is a significant expense for mills. This paper reports on part of a process to pelletise mud and ash, aimed at making mud and ash more attractive to growers across entire mill districts. The full process and the re-constituting and centrifuging rotary vacuum filter mud part of the process were described in two papers to the 2011 conference. The component described in this paper involves aspects of mixing mud and ash with subsequent drying using boiler exit gas. The mud material needs to mix easily with boiler ash and the mixture has to feed easily into and be pneumatically conveyed by a flue gas dryer. The performance of a pilot flue gas dryer for drying mud and ash was evaluated. The mud and ash mixture was found to dry much faster than final bagasse, provided the mud and ash material was broken up into individual particles. A previously developed computer model of bagasse drying was updated to take into account the smaller particle size of the mud and ash mixture. This upgraded model predicted the performance of the pilot flue gas dryer well.

Containing Queensland prickly pear : buffer zones, closer settlement, whiteness

By 1925, the introduced prickly pear (Opuntia and Nopalea spp.) covered up to 60 million acres of Queensland and New South Wales in what was perceived as prime agricultural land. After 40 years of experimentation, all Queensland Government strategies had failed. Faced with this failure and a diminishing expectation that the land would ever be conquered, buffer zones were proposed by the newly formed Queensland Prickly Pear Land Commission. A close reading of government documents, newspaper reports and local histories about these buffer zones shows how settler anxieties over who could or should occupy the land shaped the kinds of strategies recommended and adopted in relation to this alien species. Physical and cultural techniques were used to manage the uneasy coexistence between prickly pear, on the one hand, and farmers and graziers on the other. Furthermore, this environmental history challenges the notion of racially homogenous closer settlement under the White Australia Policy, showing the many different kinds of livelihood and labour in prickly pear land in the 1920s.

Prickly pear land : transnational networks in settler Australia

The story of prickly pear in Australia is usually told as a tale of triumphant scientific intervention into an environmental disaster. Instead, this unarticle considers it as a transnational network in order to better understand the myriad of elements that made this event so important. Through this methodology emerges the complex nature of prickly pear land that included people, places, ideas, rhetoric and objects that traveled from all over the world into settler Australia.

The Ash Burner

Growing up with his father in a small coastal town, all Ted knows about his mother is that she died when he was a boy. His father has brought them halfway across the world to start anew, but her absence defines and haunts their lives. When Ted meets Anthony and Claire, an intense friendship begins, carrying them to Sydney and university. They introduce him to poetry and art, and he feels a sense of belonging at last. But as the trio’s friendship deepens over the years, Ted must learn to negotiate the boundaries of love, and come to terms with a legacy of secrets and silence. Written with extraordinary grace and sensitivity, The Ash Burner explores beauty and desire, grief and loss, and the search for one’s true self.

A lucky break : contingency in the storied worlds of prickly pear

In July 1926, the science behind biological control transitioned from an experimental method to a trusted policy tool in invasive species management. In local storytelling, historical writing and scientific analysis, the ‘lucky’ discovery of the South American Cactoblastis cactorum moth was a watershed moment for scientists concerned with prickly pear, Opuntia and Nopalea spp. Within 10 years, Queensland declared itself pest free. Overnight success is the climax in this tale's narrative arc. Articulating this introduction as a ‘lucky break’ worked to stabilize the narrative of human control in the agricultural environments of post-colonial Queensland, and, in doing so, consolidated biological control as critical management technique. I argue that ‘luck’ elides the assemblage of elements and actors necessary to enable this change, allowing settlers to distance themselves from the responsibility for disruptions associated with nineteenth-century plant transfers. To challenge the rhetorical function of luck, three episodes of contingency are discussed: (1) transnational mobility of things and knowledge, (2) the unpredictable adaptation of insect diet, and; (3) human vectors in industrialized insect–plant complexes. There are important distinguishing differences between luck and contingency, which I frame as a critical analytical tool for understanding the political role of non-humans, in the storied worlds of science in prickly pear land.

Miniature cone tip resistance of sand with fly ash using triaxial setup

In a continuation of the authors' recent work, the ultimate tip resistance of a miniature cone using triaxial equipment was determined for samples of dry sand mixed with dry fly ash. The effect of (i) the proportion of fly ash, (ii) the relative density of samples, and (iii) the vertical overburden pressure was examined. It was noted that an addition of fly ash in sand for the same range of relative density leads to a significant reduction in the ultimate tip resistance of the cone (q(cu)). This occurs due to a decrease in the friction angle (phi) of the sample with an increase in the fly ash content for a given relative density. For phi greater than about 30 degrees, two widely used correlation curves from published literature, providing the relationships between q(cu) and phi for cohesionless soils, were found to provide satisfactory predictions, even for sand - fly ash mixtures. As was expected, the values of qcu increase continuously with an increase in the relative density of the soil mass and the vertical effective ( overburden) stress on the sample.

Prediction of compressive strength of SCC and HPC with high volume fly ash using ANN

An artificial neural network (ANN) is presented to predict a 28-day compressive strength of a normal and high strength self compacting concrete (SCC) and high performance concrete (HPC) with high volume fly ash. The ANN is trained by the data available in literature on normal volume fly ash because data on SCC with high volume fly ash is not available in sufficient quantity. Further, while predicting the strength of HPC the same data meant for SCC has been used to train in order to economise on computational effort. The compressive strengths of SCC and HPC as well as slump flow of SCC estimated by the proposed neural network are validated by experimental results.