doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00644.x Previous studies indicate that conifers are vulnerable to cavitation induced by drought but in many cases, not by freezing. Rarely have vulnerability to drought and freezing stress been studied together, even though both influence plant physiology and the abundance and distribution of plants in many regions of the world. We studied vulnerability to droughta...

Expansive soil is widely distributed in seasonally frozen areas worldwide. Due to the special expansion and shrinkage characteristics of expansive related water content, there are potential engineering disasters subgrade slope engineering. To investigate physical mechanical changes within slope, four freeze-thaw cycles tests were performed on models an environmental chamber with ratios 1:1.5, 1...

The deterioration of rock mechanical properties under chemical-freezing-thawing-loading will seriously threaten the stability and safety engineering mass, so study its constitutive model has very important theoretical application significance. In view deficiency that existing statistical damage cannot describe nonlinear characteristics compaction stage post-peak shape, index is introduced to me...

Possibilities to account for the mechanism of freeze-thaw injury to isolated protoplasts of Spinacia oleracea L. cv. Winter Bloomsdale were investigated. A freeze-thaw cycle to -3.9 C resulted in 80% lysis of the protoplasts. At -3.9 C, protoplasts are exposed to the equivalent of a 2.1 osmolal solution. Isolated protoplasts behave as ideal osmometers in the range of concentrations tested (0.35...

OBJECTIVE The effects of aging and freezing/thawing sequence on color, physicochemical, and enzymatic characteristics of two beef muscles (Mm. gluteus medius, GM and biceps femoris, BF) were evaluated. METHODS Beef muscles at 3 d postmortem were assigned to four different combinations of aging and freezing/thawing sequence as follows; aging at 2°C for 3 wk (A3, never-frozen control), freezing...

BACKGROUND Variability among stallions in terms of semen cryopreservation quality renders it difficult to arrive at a standardized cryopreservation method. Different extenders and processing techniques (such us colloidal centrifugation) are used in order to optimize post-thaw sperm quality. Sperm chromatin integrity analysis is an effective tool for assessing such quality. The aim of the presen...

Cold-hardy insects overwinter by one of two main strategies: freeze tolerance and freeze avoidance by supercooling. As a general model, many freeze-tolerant species overwinter in extreme climates, freeze above -10 degrees C via induction by ice-nucleating agents, and once frozen, can survive at temperatures of up to 40 degrees C or more below the initial freezing temperature or supercooling poi...

The effects of freeze-thaw events on the inactivation of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in soil were examined. Oocysts were inoculated into distilled water in microcentrifuge tubes or into chambers containing soil the water content of which was maintained at 3%, 43%, or 78% of the container capacity. The chambers and tubes were then embedded in 3 soil samples from different aspects of a hillsid...

Vaccines containing aluminum salt adjuvants are prone to inactivation following exposure to freeze-thaw stress. Many are also prone to inactivation by heat. Thus, for maximum potency, these vaccines must be maintained at temperatures between 2 degrees C and 8 degrees C which requires the use of the cold chain. Nevertheless, the cold chain is not infallible. Vaccines are subject to freezing duri...