Rice blast, caused by the fungus, Magnaporthe grisea, is a common disease of rice in Arkansas. The disease has reached epidemic levels previously in Arkansas on susceptible cultivars. Also, it has been established that artificially infected seeds placed on the soil surface could initiate disease in small plots. The research reported here was conducted in small plots to determine if naturally in...

Rainfall simulations allow for controlled comparisons of runoff and erosion among ecosystems and land cover conditions. Runoff and erosion can increase greatly following fire, yet there are few rainfall simulation studies for post-fire plots, particularly after severe fire in semiarid forest. We conducted rainfall simulations shortly after a severe fire (Cerro Grande) in ponderosa pine forest n...

Metal matrix composites have been widely used in industries, especially aerospace industries, due to their excellent engineering properties. However, it is difficult to machine them because of the hardness and abrasive nature of reinforcement elements like silicon carbide particles (SiCp).In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the influence of spindle speed (N), feed rate...

Rangeland plant productivity and species composition are affected by moisture availability and grazing intensity. We examined warmand cool-season grass productivity and relative distribution on grazed and ungrazed sites, receiving either natural precipitation or precipitation plus limited supplemental irrigation. The amount of additional water varied depending on rainfall during the previous we...

Beneficial effects of leaving residue at the soil surface are well documented for steep lands, but not for flat lands that are drained with surface inlets and tile lines. This study quantified the effects of tillage and nutrient source on tile line and surface inlet water quality under continuous corn (Zea mays L.) from relatively flat lands (<3%). Tillage treatments were either fall chisel or ...

Microporous carbon blacks can be characterized by the same techniques as activated carbons, using the classical DR equation and comparison plots based on non-porous materials. The CO adsorption isotherm at 273 K, combined with 2 computer modelling, also leads to an assessment of microporosity. The results agree with independent techniques such as immersion calorimetry into liquids of variable m...

Changing the aspect-ratio (scale) of a graphical plot significantly affects the "messages" getting across to a viewer. This is true also for curvature plots and other graphs currently used in Curve & Surface Modeling to evaluate fairness. In particular, the sharp corners appearing in such graphs, employed as local.fairness indicators by current practices, are significantly affected by nonunifor...

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to characterize two bituminous binders (A and B) of different origin. Glass transition temperatures (Tg) were determined by constructing van’t Hoff plots using n-pentane probes in a temperature range between -50 °C and +120 °C. Tg values were specified using the first deviations from linearity observed in the adsorption zone of the plots. A 6 °C differe...

We measured nitrogen transformations and loss following forest clearing in a relatively fertile tropical forest site. Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and amounts of ammonium and nitrate increased substantially in surface soils during the 6 mo following burning, then returned to background levels. The nitrogen content of microbial biomass declined to half its original value 6 mo after cl...