Developmental features of cotton fibre middle lamellae in relation to cell adhesion and cell detachment in cultivars with distinct fibre qualities.

Background: Cotton fibre quality traits such as fibre length, strength, and degree of maturation are determined by genotype and environment during the sequential phases of cotton fibre development (cell elongation, transition to secondary cell wall construction and cellulose deposition). The cotton fibre middle lamella (CFML) is crucial for both cell adhesion and detachment processes occurring during fibre development. To explore the relationship between fibre quality and the pace at which cotton fibres develop, a structural and compositional analysis of the CFML was carried out in several cultivars with different fibre properties belonging to four commercial species: Gossypium hirsutum, G. barbadense, G. herbaceum and G. arboreum. Results: Cotton fibre cell adhesion, through the cotton fibre middle lamella (CFML), is a developmentally regulated process determined by genotype. The CFML is composed of de-esterified homogalacturonan, xyloglucan and arabinan in all four fibre-producing cotton species: G. hirsutum, G. barbadense, G. herbaceum and G. arboreum. Conspicuous paired cell wall bulges are a feature of the CFML of two G. hirsutum cultivars from the onset of fibre cell wall detachment to the start of secondary cell wall deposition. Xyloglucan is abundant in the cell wall bulges and in later stages pectic arabinan is absent from these regions. Conclusions: The CFML of cotton fibres is re-structured during the transition phase. Paired cell wall bulges, rich in xyloglucan, are significantly more evident in the G. hirsutum cultivars than in other cotton species

HARMONIC ANALYSIS AND MODELLING OF ANNUAL SOIL TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS

Harmoni c analysi s using se ries is applied to th e annual variation s of so il tem pe rature From th esurface down to I III depth. TIle fir st harmo nic alon e expla ins about 99% of the variation .II is also shO\\TI th at heat conduction is nor valid in a soil med iuIIIunder exothermic conditions. especially in th euppermost layer of abom 20 em. as neither the thermal properties. exp ressed by the damping depth (D), nor th e meansoil temperature (nremai n constant with depth . and th e am plitude ofoscilla tio n (.4:) does nOI vary strictly expcnen rially.Thi s is as sumed to be con sider ably reduced soil moisture of thi s in compari son with deeper layers,Finally. cons truction of a mod el to predict mon thly or ten-d ay period mean soil temper atures is based' onwr-at h e r vari ab les (difference between precipitation and pan evaporation), providing an ind ex for the soil moisturede ficit and an est imate of D. and overcomes the difficulties of ch angi ng T and A: with depth.&#x0D;  </jats:p

Maize growth and development thermally Affected by plastic mulches

. The mulch effect on maize development and growth is examined and the relevance of temperature to vegetative and reproductive stages is examined. Warming mulches accelerate and cooling mulches slow seedling emergence and leaf appearance and growth. Seedling establishment is more successful, leaf area is greater and yield is generally earlier and higher over warm mulched soil.</jats:p

Meteorological analysis of a severe drought in Greece

The severe drought in Greece during the winter and spring 1977 is described. The behavior of drought-characteristic meteorological parameters IS then studied along with the large-scale air mass in the upper atmosphere.&#x0D; Using wind, temperature humidity data, it is shown that the prevailed cloud-destructive downward&#x0D; movements prevented precipitation. The probability for precipitation was further reduced once the drought had been established, due to changes In energy and water balances,&#x0D; Finally an explanation of the drought-inducing meteorological anomalies is attempted.&#x0D;  </jats:p

Study of minimum temperatures employing Markov chainsStudy of minimum temperatures employing Markov chains

Statistical analysis and prognosis is of minimum temperatures with reference to states-determining threshold values   employing also. Markov chains is   attempted for a citrus- growing area of Greece, In-state persistence and between-states transition probabilities of minimum temperatures are associated with common weather patterns.&#x0D;  &#x0D; Markov chains theory is shown to be a vigorous statistical tool allowing considerable (longer than week) predictability of minimum temperatures.&#x0D;  </jats:p

Operational atmospheric and wave modelling in the California’s coastline and offshore area with applications to wave energy monitoring and assessment

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1080/1755876X.2017.1349640A new high-resolution operational atmospheric/wave forecasting system for the west coastline of the US, focusing especially to the California near and offshore area, is presented in this work. The new system is the result of the collaboration between two US and one European Universities. It consists of two state-of-the-art numerical prediction models (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and WAve Model) supported by a new optimisation statistical module for the bias reduction and local adaptation of the results based on non-linear Kalman filtering and Bayesian statistics. The presented system has been evaluated against a wide number of National Data Buoy Center buoys records with very promising results. Moreover, applications to wave energy site assessment are presented revealing areas of the California coastline with increased power potential appropriate for wave power plants installation