[Q]: John is a world traveler. Recently, he visited two countries, France and Germany. He noticed that in France they use atmosphere and Pascal as pressure units. In Germany they use torr as a pressure unit. Back in the United States, he noticed psi is used as a pressure unit. He needs to figure out how they correlate with each other. Which county is not using an SI unit, France or Germany? Hint: Pressures are given in a multitude of units. We've already discussed Pascals, and we know that another unit for pressure is the atmosphere (1 atm = 101.3 x 10 5 Pa). The third commonly used pressure unit is the torr (symbol Torr). 760 torr is 1 atm, but 1 torr is also the increase in pressure necessary to cause liquid mercury to rise by 1 mm. For that reason, torr is also commonly referred to as "millimeters mercury." Another pressure unit commonly used in our everyday world is psi, or pounds per square inch, though neither psi nor torr are SI units.
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[A]: Germany

[Q]: Two teams of runners took part in a study about exercise. Red team ran 10 km in the heat, while Green team ran the same distance in the morning in cool weather. The Red team experienced more runners with health problems. Which team had more runners with excessive sweating? Hint: Millions of people in the world jog for exercise. For the most part, jogging can be a healthy way to stay fit. However, problems can also develop for those who jog in the heat. Excessive sweating can lead to electrolyte loss that could be life-threatening. Early symptoms of electrolyte deficiency can include nausea, fatugue, and dizziness. If not treated, individuals can experience muscle weakness and increased heart rate (which could lead to a heart attack). Many sports drinks can be consumed to restore electrolytes quickly in the body.
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[A]: Red

[Q]: Bubba and Dean are two farmers which realized the benefits of having AM fungi in their soil. Dean, however, took active steps in helping the growth of AM fungi so he grew cover crops on his lands. Which farmer didn't extend AM fungi growth into the autumn? Hint: Since AM fungi are biotrophic, they are dependent on plants for the growth of their hyphal networks. Growing a cover crop extends the time for AM growth into the autumn, winter, and spring. Promotion of hyphal growth creates a more extensive hyphal network. The mycorrhizal colonization increase found in cover crops systems may be largely attributed to an increase in the extraradical hyphal network that can colonize the roots of the new crop (Boswell et al. 1998). The extraradical mycelia are able to survive the winter, providing rapid spring colonization and early season symbiosis (McGonigle and Miller 1999). This early symbiosis allows plants to tap into the well-established hyphal network and be supplied with adequate phosphorus nutrition during early growth, which greatly improves the crop yield.
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[A]: Bubba

[Q]: In a greenhouse, a botanist has just finished planting two of the same kind of plant. Plant A was placed in a pot of standard soil, and plant B was planted in some serpentine soil. The botanist is planning on taking care of both plants equally so he can see which type of soil is better for growing a plant. Will plant B be more or less healthy than plant A in the future? Hint: Serpentine soils (media with low concentrations of nutrients and high concentrations of heavy metals) can be a source of abiotic stress. Initially, the absorption of toxic metal ions is limited by cell membrane exclusion. Ions that are absorbed into tissues are sequestered in cell vacuoles. This sequestration mechanism is facilitated by proteins on the vacuole membrane.Chemical priming has been proposed to increase tolerance to abiotic stresses in crop plants. In this method, which is analogous to vaccination, stress-inducing chemical agents are introduced to the plant in brief doses so that the plant begins preparing defense mechanisms. Thus, when the abiotic stress occurs, the plant has already prepared defense mechanisms that can be activated faster and increase tolerance.
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[A]:
less