Books by "Denis De Lucca"
3 books found
Instant Insights: Genetic modification of crops
by Prof James Dale, Dr W. K. Tushemereirwe, Dr Robert Harding, Adrian Dubock, Wensheng Hou, Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur, Kiran Kumar Sharma, Denis J. Murphy, P. Zhang, Q. Ma, M. Naconsie, X. Wu, W. Zhou, J. Yang
2021 · Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing
This specially curated collection features six reviews of current and key research on genetic modification of crops. The first chapter reviews key challenges facing banana production, primarily the risk of species decimation by diseases such as Fusarium wilt, and considers how genetic modification may be a solution to this. The second chapter discusses the development and establishment of ‘Golden Rice’ - a biofortified variety designed as a health intervention to help alleviate the problem of vitamin A deficiency. The third chapter details recent advances in the genetic modification of important agronomic traits of soybean crops, such as herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. The fourth chapter addresses progress in and prospects for transgenic interventions in the improvement of grain legumes, concentrating on chickpea, pigeonpea, cowpea and more. The fifth chapter reviews recent research efforts in the production of genetically modified (GM) oil palm plants and looks towards establishing stable lines of commercially viable GM varieties. The final chapter describes recent progress relating to transgenic modification of cassava and how future research can strengthen food security and commercialization of the crop.
The humble House Sparrow, common everywhere, was surprisingly poorly researched and Summers-Smith's work soon provided interesting insights into this successful and adaptable little bird. Denis Summers-Smith first took up the study of the House Sparrow in 1947, thinking that the difficulties of travel in post-war Britain would best suit the study of a species always close at hand. As new opportunities to travel opened up, his interest blossomed to take in the genus Passer as a whole. His travels would ultimately lead to his study of all but one group, found only in the deepest Turkestan, and to the publication of his authoritative monograph on sparrows in 1988. While that book presented his knowledge of sparrow biology, this volume tells the other, human, side of the tale. His wry descriptions of the tribulations and unexpected pleasures of a traveller on four continents, from the Himalayas and Thailand, to Africa and the Americas (with a good few islands in between) are interspersed with observations and speculations on the biology of sparrows in a wide variety of habitats. Everywhere local officials and birdwatchers warmed to the eccentric Scot in pursuit of the little birds that nobody notices but which so often make their homes beside us. The author's own photographs and delightful cartoons by Euan Dunn further paint the picture of this lifelong search.
This book sets out to explore the contribution of the Society of Jesus to the dissemination of knowledge about military architecture in the Baroque age. It shows how the Jesuits developed a militant form of religious expression targeted at protestants and infidels and how many Jesuit mathematicians assisted Catholic leaders by using the mathematical faculties attached to many colleges and seminaries for nobles to provide classroom and private teaching, publications and even consultancies concerning fortification theory, then considered to form part of the 'mathematical disciplines'. This book reveals that the involvement of many Jesuits in 'de re militari' was widespread, sometimes leading to criticism, internal controversies and crises of conscience. The interest of Jesuits in fortifications was discontinued after the 1773-1814 suppression period.