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Changes of metal concentration that occur in the rhizosphere may arise from several processes including variation in the concentration of complexing ligands, pH or redox potential that can be influenced by the Fe status of the plant. The aim of this study was to assess for both acidic and calcareous, Cu-contaminated soils how Cu concentration in plants and in the rhizosphere was affected by the Fe status of a strategy I plant species. The change of soil solution pH, total solution Cu concentration and soil redox potential was monitored for 8 days in the rhizosphere of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) in response to contrasting Fe supply. The concentration of Cu in roots was enhanced under Fe deficiency in the acidic soils. Shoot Cu however did not vary with the Fe status of the plant. The plant Fe status had little effect on rhizosphere pH, redox potential or Cu concentration in solution in either acidic or calcareous soils. Marked differences in pH and solution Cu concentration were observed between rhizosphere and uncropped soils. Roots induced an increase in pH of acidic soils and a decrease in solution Cu concentration in all soils. The decrease in solution Cu concentration in acidic soils may be explained by the increase in rhizosphere pH. The proposed device provided new data on the fate of Cu in the rhizosphere and showed a positive correlation for the four soils considered together between the total Cu concentration in soil solution and root Cu concentration.

Our aim is to describe a method for detecting small deformations from a three-dimensional (3D) shape of large lateral dimensions. For this purpose the measurement method is based on the simultaneous utilization of several 3D optical systems and the phase-shifting technique. In this way, the following problems appear: optical distortion due to the large field observed, nonlinear phase-to-height conversion, conversion of image coordinates into object coordinates for each 3D optical system, and coordinate unification of all optical systems. The resolution is 50 microm with a field of view of 320 mm x 150 mm. We used this system to study the 3D human foot arch deformation under low loads in vivo. First results indicate the hysteresis behavior of the human foot under a low load (50 to 450 N).

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