Stable isotope signatures of Zn have shown great promise in elucidating changes in uptake and translocation mechanisms of this metal in plants during environmental changes. Here this potential was tested by investigating the effect of high Zn concentrations on the isotopic fractionation patterns of Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. Plants were grown for 40 d in a nutritive solution co...

ABSTRACT The reversible phase transition of Pb8F14I2 is of continuous type and takes place at about 107 °C as monitored by temperature-dependent single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction measurements, optical microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. The low-temperature ferroelastic phase crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system (23 °C, Bmmb, Z = 2, a = 6.0699(6) Å, b = 6.0165...

Zinc (Zn) is one of the essential mineral elements for both plants and humans. Zn deficiency in human is one of the major causes of hidden hunger, a serious health problem observed in many developing countries. Therefore, increasing Zn concentration in edible part is an important issue for improving human Zn nutrition. Here, we found that an Australian wild rice O. meridionalis showed higher gr...

Root-zone temperatures (RZT) in relation to Cu and Zn uptake and tissue accumulation, and to total biomass, in potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L. var. Spunta) were studied. Using five different plastic mulches (no cover, transparent polyethylene, white polyethylene, coextruded white-black polyethylene, and black polyethylene) resulted in significantly different RZT (16, 20, 23, 27, and 30 degr...

Six Holstein steers (initial BW 335 kg) were used in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin square design to study the distribution of Zn in ruminal contents from a conventional Zn source (ZnO) or Zn sequestered to a polysaccharide (PC-Zn). Treatments consisted of a basal diet (no Zn supplementation) and the basal diet supplemented with Zn from either PC-Zn or ZnO. Steers were provided with 208, 920, or 896 ...

The low thermal conductivity of the thermoelectric material β-Zn 4 Sb 3 has been linked to disorder arising from multiple in-terstitial Zn sites. Here we investigate the energetics and local distortions associated with these interstitial sites via DFT calculations. Our results show the β-Zn 4 Sb 3 structure is able to distort intom any inequivalent geometries of similar energies, suggesting a t...

Biofortification of rice (Oryza sativa L.) with micronutrients is widely recognized as a sustainable strategy to alleviate human iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) deficiencies in developing countries where rice is the staple food. Constitutive overexpression of the rice nicotianamine synthase (OsNAS) genes has been successfully implemented to increase Fe and Zn concentrations in unpolished and polished r...

During auditory stimulation with several frequency components, distortion products (DPs) are generated as byproduct of nonlinear cochlear amplification. After generated, DP energy is reemitted into the ear channel where it can be measured as DP otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and it also induces an excitatory response at cochlear places related to the DP frequencies. We measured responses of 91 i...

The performance of speech recognisers in combat aircraft is degraded seriously by the extreme physical stresses to which the crew are subjected. This paper describes measurements of first and second formant frequencies of nine vowels from one speaker recorded under high levels of acceleration, with and without positive pressure breathing. Under acceleration alone, F2 is reduced for high front v...