Among grain legumes, faba bean is becoming increasingly popular in European agriculture due to recent economic and environmental interests. Faba bean can be a highly productive crop, but it is sensitive to drought stress and yields can vary considerably from season to season. Understanding the physiological basis of drought tolerance would indicate traits that can be used as indirect selection criteria for the development of cultivars adapted to drought conditions. To assess genotypic variation in physiological traits associated with drought tolerance in faba bean and to determine relationships among these attributes, two pot experiments were established in a growth chamber using genetic materials that had previously been screened for drought response in the field. Nine inbred lines of diverse genetic backgrounds were tested under adequate water supply and limited water conditions. The genotypes showed substantial variation in shoot dry matter, water use, stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, transpiration efficiency, carbon isotope discrimination (D 13 C), relative water content (RWC) and osmotic potential, determined at pre-flowering vegetative stage. Moisture deficits decreased water usage and consequently shoot dry matter production. RWC, osmotic potential, stomatal conductance and D 13 C were lower, whereas leaf temperature and transpiration efficiency were higher in stressed plants, probably due to restricted transpirational cooling induced by stomatal closure. Furthermore, differences in stomatal conductance, leaf temperature, D 13 C and transpiration efficiency characterized genotypes that were physiologically more adapted to water deficit conditions. Correlation analysis also showed relatively strong relationships among these variables under well watered conditions. The drought tolerant genotypes, ILB-938/2 and Melodie showed lower stomatal conductance associated with warmer leaves, whereas higher stomatal conductance and cooler leaves were observed in sensitive lines (332/2/91/015/1 and Aurora/1). The lower value of D 13 C coupled with higher transpiration efficiency in ILB-938/2, relative to sensitive lines (Aurora/1 and Condor/3), is indeed a desirable characteristic for waterlimited environments. Finally, the results showed that stomatal conductance, leaf temperature and D 13 C are promising physiological indicators for drought tolerance in faba bean. These variables could be measured in pot-grown plants at adequate water supply and may serve as indirect selection criteria to pre-screen genotypes.

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We solve some higher-order boundary value problems by the optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM). The proposed method is capable to handle a wide variety of linear and nonlinear problems effectively. The numerical results given by OHAM are compared with the exact solutions and the solutions obtained by Adomian decomposition (ADM), variational iteration (VIM), homotopy perturbation (HPM), and variational iteration decomposition method (VIDM). The results show that the proposed method is more effective and reliable.

Objective:The objective of this study was to assess the surface properties (microhardness and wear resistance) of various composites and compomer materials. In addition, the methodologies used for assessing wear resistance were compared.Materials and Methods:This study was conducted using restorative material (Filtek Z250, Filtek Z350, QuiXfil, SureFil SDR, and Dyract XP) to assess wear resistance. A custom-made toothbrush simulator was employed for wear testing. Before and after wear resistance, structural, surface, and physical properties were assessed using various techniques.Results:Structural changes and mass loss were observed after treatment, whereas no significant difference in terms of microhardness was observed. The correlation between atomic force microscopy (AFM) and profilometer and between wear resistance and filler volume was highly significant. The correlation between wear resistance and microhardness were insignificant.Conclusions:The AFM presented higher precision compared to optical profilometers at a nanoscale level, but both methods can be used in tandem for a more detailed and precise roughness analysis.