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CIMMYT maize inbred lines (CMLs) are freely distributed to breeding programs around the world. Better information on phenotypic and genotypic diversity may provide guidance to breeders on how to use more efficiently the CMLs in their breeding programs. In this study a group of 291 CIMMYT maize inbred lines, was phenotyped by nine agro-morphological traits in south Córdoba, Argentina and genotyped using 18,082 SNPs. Based on the geographic information and the environmental adaptation, 291 CMLs were classified into eight subgroups. Anthesis-silking interval (IAE) was the trait with higher phenotypic diversity. A 40% of maize inbred lines, with IAE less than five days, show a good adaptation to growing conditions in south Córdoba, Argentina. The low phenotypic variation explained by environmental adaptation subgroups indicates that population structure is only a minor factor contributing to phenotypic diversity in this panel. Principal component analysis (ACP) allowed us to obtain phenotypic and genotypic orderings. Generalized procrustes analysis (APG) indicated a 60% consensus between both data type from the total panel of maize lines. In each environmental adaptation subgroup, the APG consensus was higher. This result, which might indicate linkage disequilibrium between SNPs markers and the genes controlling these agro-morphological traits, is promising and could be used as an initial tool in the identification of Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL). Information on genetic diversity, population structure and phenotypic diversity in local environments will help maize breeders to better understand how to use the current CIMMYT maize inbred lines group.

A Mach-10 hypersonic boundary layer of air overriding a cold, isothermal, non-catalytic flat wall, and with a stagnation enthalpy of $21.6\ \textrm {MJ}\ \textrm {kg}^{-1}$ , is analysed using direct numerical simulations. The calculations include multicomponent transport, equilibrium vibrational excitation and chemical kinetics for air dissociation. The initially laminar boundary layer undergoes transition to turbulence by the resonance of a two-dimensional mode injected by a suction-and-blowing boundary condition imposed over a narrow spanwise porous strip. The ensuing turbulent boundary layer has a momentum Reynolds number of 3826 near the outflow of the computational domain. The relatively low temperature of the free stream renders the air chemically frozen there. However, the high temperatures generated within the boundary layer by viscous aerodynamic heating, peaking at a wall-normal distance $y^\star \simeq 10\text {--}20$ in semi-local viscous units, lead to air dissociation in under-equilibrium amounts equivalent to 4 %–7 % on a molar basis of atomic oxygen, along with smaller concentrations of nitric oxide, which is mainly produced by the Zel'dovich mechanism, and of atomic nitrogen, the latter being mostly in steady state. A statistical analysis of the results is provided, including the streamwise evolution of (a) the skin friction coefficient and dimensionless wall heat flux; (b) the mean profiles of temperature, velocity, density, molar fractions, chemical production rates and chemical heat-release rate; (c) the Reynolds stresses and root-mean-squares of the fluctuations of temperature, density, pressure, molar fractions and chemical heat-release rate; and (d) the temperature/velocity and mass-fraction/velocity correlations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-induced electricity, including lightning, is often observed in dusty atmospheres. However, the physical mechanisms leading to this phenomenon remain elusive as they are remarkably challenging to determine due to the high complexity of the multi-phase turbulent flows involved. Using a fast multi-pole method in direct numerical simulations of homogeneous turbulence laden with hundreds of millions of inertial particles, here we show that mesoscopic electric fields can be aerodynamically created in bi-disperse suspensions of oppositely charged particles. The generation mechanism is self-regulating and relies on turbulence preferentially concentrating particles of one sign in clouds while dispersing the others more uniformly. The resulting electric field varies over much larger length scales than both the mean inter-particle spacing and the size of the smallest eddies. Scaling analyses suggest that low ambient pressures, such as those prevailing in the atmosphere of Mars, increase the dynamical relevance of this aerodynamic mechanism for electrical breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]