A kinematic-wave model is developed for simulating the movement of soil moisture in unsaturated soils with plants. The model involves three free boundaries. Analytical solutions are derived when the plant roots are assumed to extract moisture at a constant rate and the upstream boundary condition is independent of time. Numerical solutions are the only resort when the moisture extraction and the upstream boundary condition both depend on time.

This research seeks to determine the effect of storage periods and packaging materials on the proximate and chemical properties of frozen blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) at different exposure time – 0 hour, 2 hours and 4 hours, on arrival at the laboratory. Frozen M. poutassou were bought and stored in a commercial cold room for 12 weeks at -10oC and packed in different packaging materials (Ziploc bag, foil paper and carton) with un-wrapped samples for analysis which lasted 90 days and was conducted every 14 days to measure the moisture, protein, fat, ash, fibre and nitrogen free extract (NFA) content of the fish sample as well as iodine value, peroxide value, saponification value, acid value, free fatty acid and hydroxyl value of fish oil. The result clearly reveals that during storage, the different packaging materials showed significantly (p<0.05) decreasing trend in protein, lipid, ash, fibre and NFA content with increasing storage period and time of analysis except for the moisture content that showed opposite trend. For the chemical properties, the saponification value, peroxide value, free fatty acid, acid value and hydroxyl value showed significantly (p<0.05) increasing trend in the different packaging materials with increasing storage period and time of analysis. While the iodine value decreased with increasing period of storage and time of analysis; the iodine, saponification, peroxide and hydroxyl values were not within the acceptable limits.

Après un rappel des travaux antérieurs effectués sur les eaux-de-vie de provenances diverses, nous nous sommes attachés à étudier les substances naturellement présentes dans le bois, dissoutes dans le cognac pendant le séjour en barriques, ainsi que les substances formées par interaction entre les composants du cognac et ceux du bois.Nous précisons ensuite les méthodes analytiques utilisées pour la détection et l'identification de ces substances : chromatographie sur couche mince, spectres d'absorption en ultra-violet. Mous cherchons enfin à identifier les composants du cognac provenant du bois et nous étudions leurs modifications au cours du vieillissement.

L'auteur passe en revue les risques présentés par l'importation de plantes Bonsai en provenance d'Asie, ainsi que les mesures phytosanitaires déjà appliquées par les pays importateurs. II préconise un ensemble de mesures, proches de celles adoptées par le Royaume‐Uni, afin d'empêcher l'introduction plus particulièrement de Popillia japonica, de divers nématodes et de Gymnosporangium asiaticum.