Leaf water potential, leaf relative water content, and relative transpiration of barley were determined daily under greenhouse conditions at 3 growth stages: tillering to boot, boot to heading, and heading to maturity. The leaf moisture characteristic curve (relative water content versus leaf water potential) was the same for leaves of the same age growing in the same environment for the first ...

Upon an increase of moisture, unsaturated soil may collapse or swell, depending on the loading state and history. This important characteristic must be realistically reproduced by a constitutive model aimed for practical applications. In addition to collapse/swelling, other essential features, such as deformation and failure following arbitrary shearing paths, must also be realistically reprodu...

Different compositions of wheat thermoplastic starch (TPS) and polycaprolactone (PCL) are melt blended by extrusion and injected. Different properties are determined: mechanical properties (tensile and impact tests), thermal and thermomechanical properties (DSC and DMTA) and hydrophobicity (contact angle measurement). A large range of blends is analysed with different glycerol (plasticizer):sta...

[1] Simulating land surface hydrological states and fluxes requires a comprehensive set of atmospheric forcing data at consistent temporal and spatial scales. At the continental-toglobal scale, such data are not available except in weather reanalysis products. Unfortunately, reanalysis products are often biased due to errors in the host weather forecast model. This paper explores whether the er...

Friction and shear forces, as well as moisture between the human skin and textiles are critical factors in the formation of skin injuries such as blisters, abrasions and decubitus. This study investigated how epidermal hydration affects the friction between skin and textiles.The friction between the inner forearm and a hospital fabric was measured in the natural skin condition and in different ...

Intact soil cores from three adjacent sites (Site A: grazed, Site B: fenced for 4 years, and Site C: fenced for 24 years) were incubated in the laboratory to examine effects of temperature, soil moisture, and their interactions on net nitrification and N mineralization rates in the Inner Mongolia grassland of Northern China. Incubation temperature significantly influenced net nitrification and ...