There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

Nature And Properties Of Soils

What makes a leader

A 21st century technique for food control: Electronic noses

Production, prospects and potential application of pyroligneous acid in agriculture

Botrytis cinerea is one of the most destructive pathogens of ve⁠getables and fruits both in the field and storage. There have been several research activities focused on developing biocontrol strat...

Biofungicides as alternative to synthetic fungicide control of grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) – prospects and challenges

Effects of genotype, sulphur nutrition (0.0, 2.9, 5.8 kg S ha(-1)) and soil type (clay, sandy loam) on spring onion growth were investigated in glasshouse experiments. Leaf greenness, number of green leaves, leaf length, bulb diameter, total plant fresh weight, percentage dry matter (%DM) and total soluble solids content (TSS) varied significantly (P<0.05) among eight spring onion genotypes grown on sandy loam. Overall, A. cepa cultivars had more green leaves, taller plants and greater bulb diameter both with (5.8 kg S ha(-1)) and without S application than A. fistulosum cultivars. Deficiency symptoms of chlorosis, retarded growth and tip-burn were observed for plants not fertilized with S. S application differentially influenced TSS among genotypes. For example, S fertilization did not affect TSS of 'Paris Silverskin', but TSS was reduced by 30% in 'Sydney Bunching'. Increased TSS was correlated with increasing %DM (r = 0.77). On average, A. cepa cultivars were more responsive to applied S than A.fistulosum cultivars. More efficient S utilization resulted in greater increases in plant growth, bulb diameter and DM yield. For 'White Lisbon', increased S application from 0 to 2.9 kg ha(-1) increased growth. There was no further increase when S was applied at 5.8 kg ha(-1). TSS was reduced in response to added S. Growth of 'White Lisbon' was greater on clay than on sandy loam. However, TSS was not affected by soil type.

Genotype, sulphur nutrition and soil type effects on growth and dry-matter production of spring onion

Little is known about the ecology of microbial plastic degradation. In this study, we employed next generation amplicon sequencing to assess the effect of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films on the structure of bacterial and fungal communities in four mature compost piles with age ranging between 2 and 10 years. While, bacterial Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and fungi Ascomycota were most abundant across all facilities, our data indicated significant differences in compost microbiomes between compost facilities, which might be related to compost chemical parameters, age of piles and characteristics of the feedstock. In addition, a substantial shift in the interaction pattern within microbial communities from bulk and plastic-associated (PA) compost was detected. For example, cooperation between Firmicutes Bacillaceae and Thermoactinomycetaceae was detected only in PA compost. However, based on the analysis of the diversity indices and the relative abundances of microbial taxa we can conclude that the presence of plastics in compost had no significant effect on the structure of microbial community.

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Lord Abbey

Papers

Production, prospects and potential application of pyroligneous acid in agriculture

Biofungicides as alternative to synthetic fungicide control of grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) – prospects and challenges

Genotype, sulphur nutrition and soil type effects on growth and dry-matter production of spring onion

Exploring the long-term effect of plastic on compost microbiome

Effect of exogenous amino acids application on growth and nutritional value of cabbage under drought stress