Rock crabs, Cancer irroratus, were collected from lobster traps, trawls, and by divers in the Bay ofFundy and southwestern Nova Scotia, 1980-81. Estimates of maturity were similar using gonad examination, measurements of chela height, and abdominal width/carapace width ratios. The carapace width (CW) at which 50% of male and female rock crabs were mature was estimated to be 62 and 49 mm, wherea...

A nondestructive ultrasonic measurement system was developed for the assessment of some transmission parameters which might have quantitative relations with the maturity, firmness and other quality-related properties of avocado and mango fruits. The system utilizes a set of low-frequency probes arranged to measure the ultrasonic signal transmitted and received over a short distance across the p...

Seed dormancy is an adaptive mechanism and an important agronomic trait. Temperature during seed development strongly affects seed dormancy in wheat (Triticum aestivum) with lower temperatures producing higher levels of seed dormancy. To identify genes important for seed dormancy, we used a wheat microarray to analyze gene expression in embryos from mature seeds grown at lower and higher temper...

The influence of a supplementary bradyrhizobial inoculation after an initial seed slurry inoculation with the same strain on nodulation and N(2) fixation in soybeans was examined in the greenhouse. The plants were grown in a Typic Eutrocrepts soil: sand mixture containing 25, 65, or 83 mg of N per kg (i.e., native soil N plus N-labeled ammonium sulfate). Harvests were made at early flowering an...

The physiological trigger for meiotic resumption in the human oocyte is the surge of luteinizing hormone, but it can also occur spontaneously if oocytes are released from antral follicles and cultured in vitro. The development of novel techniques for the culture of murine oocytes has raised the possibility of growing human oocytes to maturity in vitro. Such a system could open the door to a num...

Monitoring thunderstorms activity is an essential part of operational weather surveillance given their potential hazards, including lightning, hail, heavy rainfall, strong winds or even tornadoes. This study has two main objectives: firstly, the description of a methodology, based on radar and total lightning data to characterise thunderstorms in real-time; secondly, the application of this met...

In the United States, corn (Zea mays L.) stover has been targeted for second generation fuel production and other bio-products. Our objective was to characterize sugar and structural composition as a function of vertical distribution of corn stover (leaves and stalk) that was sampled at physiological maturity and about three weeks later from multiple USA locations. A small subset of samples was...

Information about the extent of variation in quality traits among plants sampled at the same developmental stage but on different dates would be useful to forage researchers. The primary purpose of this study was to obtain such information for five forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] cultivars. Percent dry matter, crude protein, and in vitro dry matter disappearance of leaf, stem, and ...