Phosphorus status and cycling in native savanna and improved pastures on an acid low-P Colombian Oxisol

On acid low-phosphorus (P) Colombian Oxisols, improved pastures with acid-soil-tolerant grass and legume varieties have increased beef production by a factor of 10 to 15 with only modest P fertilizer inputs. This indicates that the efficiency of P fertilization could be greater than is commonly expected on such strongly P-sorbing soils. To understand the effect of improved pastures on P cycling and availability, we estimated P budgets, and characterized soil P by sequential fractionation, isotopic exchange and biological activity measurements on soil samples from unfertilized native savanna, and fertilized improved grass-only (Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk) and grass-legume (B. decumbens + Pueraria phaseoloides, Kudzu) pastures established in 1978 on a medium-textured isohyperthermic, tropeptic haplustox. Comparison of calculated P budgets, based on inputs and exports, with total soil P contents showed that fertilization, as part of the improved pasture management, had resulted in a measurable increase of total P in the surface 0-20 cm soil layer of nearly 30 mg kg-1 or about 20% over the savanna level. Sequential soil P fractionation of different seasonal samplings indicated that grass-legume maintained higher organic and available inorganic P levels with less temporal variation than the two other types. The linkage of organic P and available P was also reflected in soil biological activity. Estimates of P in microbial biomass and phosphatase activity were significantly higher in grass-legume than grass-only and savanna. The improvement in soil P availability, as measured by solution P concentration, P sorption and exchangeable P, was much greater in grass-legume than in grass-only. With comparable fertilizer inputs and greater product exports, improved P availability in grass-legume cannot be due to differences in budgets but can be attributed to changes in the overall biological activity in the soil-plant system caused by the presence of legumes in the vegetation cover. Total C, organic P content and macrofaunal activity were all significantly higher in grass-legume soils. Greater turnover of organic litter in grass-legume may provide for steadier organic P inputs and, therefore, higher P cycling and availabilit

Decoherence of electron spin qubits in Si-based quantum computers

Direct phonon spin-lattice relaxation of an electron qubit bound by a donor impurity or quantum dot in SiGe heterostructures is investigated. The aim is to evaluate the importance of decoherence from this mechanism in several important solid-state quantum computer designs operating at low temperatures. We calculate the relaxation rate $1/T_1$ as a function of [100] uniaxial strain, temperature, magnetic field, and silicon/germanium content for Si:P bound electrons. The quantum dot potential is much smoother, leading to smaller splittings of the valley degeneracies. We have estimated these splittings in order to obtain upper bounds for the relaxation rate. In general, we find that the relaxation rate is strongly decreased by uniaxial compressive strain in a SiGe-Si-SiGe quantum well, making this strain an important positive design feature. Ge in high concentrations (particularly over 85%) increases the rate, making Si-rich materials preferable. We conclude that SiGe bound electron qubits must meet certain conditions to minimize decoherence but that spin-phonon relaxation does not rule out the solid-state implementation of error-tolerant quantum computing.Comment: 8 figures. To appear in PRB-July 2002. Revisions include: some references added/corrected, several typos fixed, a few things clarified. Nothing dramati

Vector Bin Packing with Multiple-Choice

We consider a variant of bin packing called multiple-choice vector bin packing. In this problem we are given a set of items, where each item can be selected in one of several $D$-dimensional incarnations. We are also given $T$ bin types, each with its own cost and $D$-dimensional size. Our goal is to pack the items in a set of bins of minimum overall cost. The problem is motivated by scheduling in networks with guaranteed quality of service (QoS), but due to its general formulation it has many other applications as well. We present an approximation algorithm that is guaranteed to produce a solution whose cost is about $\ln D$ times the optimum. For the running time to be polynomial we require $D=O(1)$ and $T=O(\log n)$. This extends previous results for vector bin packing, in which each item has a single incarnation and there is only one bin type. To obtain our result we also present a PTAS for the multiple-choice version of multidimensional knapsack, where we are given only one bin and the goal is to pack a maximum weight set of (incarnations of) items in that bin

Customer emotions in service failure and recovery encounters

Emotions play a significant role in the workplace, and considerable attention has been given to the study of employee emotions. Customers also play a central function in organizations, but much less is known about customer emotions. This chapter reviews the growing literature on customer emotions in employee–customer interfaces with a focus on service failure and recovery encounters, where emotions are heightened. It highlights emerging themes and key findings, addresses the measurement, modeling, and management of customer emotions, and identifies future research streams. Attention is given to emotional contagion, relationships between affective and cognitive processes, customer anger, customer rage, and individual differences

Lime phosphorus zinc interactions and nutrient balance in two Nigerian ultisols

ThesisThesis, University of Guelph, 197

Parallel algorithm for segment visibility reporting

Parallel Computing199973-978PACO