Effect of an Adjacent Flat Plate on a Highly-Heated Rectangular Supersonic Jet

Solid surfaces located in the vicinity of a supersonic jet may affect its flow dynamics and greatly change its aeroacoustic characteristics. Large-eddy simulations (LES) are performed to investigate the effects of a plate on a highly-heated rectangular supersonic jet. The rectangular nozzle has an aspect ratio of 2.0 and is operated at overexpanded conditions with a nozzle pressure ratio of 3.0 and a nozzle temperature ratio of 7.0. Four cases with a plate-to-nozzle distance ranging from 0 to 3 times of the jet equivalent nozzle diameter are investigated. The large-scale implicit LES computations are performed by a well-validated in-house finite-volume based CFD code, which uses an artificial dissipation mechanism to represent the effects of small-scale turbulence structures and to damp the numerical oscillations near shocks. The temperature-dependent thermal properties of air in the highly-heated jets are considered by the chemical equilibrium assumption. Numerical results show that among the four jets, the case with the plate directly attached at the nozzle lip shows significant different flow and acoustic fields from the others. It exhibits a longer jet potential core length but without forming a series of well-structured shock diamonds. The other cases show similar shock/expansion wave structures as observed in the free jet but their jet plumes bend towards the plate. This bending leads to one jet to scrub over the plate in the downstream. The scrubbing effect, together with the unaffected shock-shear layer interactions and high plate pressure loading, leads to a stronger acoustic power in the near acoustic fields for this jet as compared to the others. The spectrum analysis in the nozzle upstream direction shows that the plate removes or mitigates the screech tone observed in the free jet and slightly amplifies the acoustic amplitudes in the low-frequency range

Modulation of plant root growth by nitrogen source-defined regulation of polar auxin transport

Availability of the essential macronutrient nitrogen in soil plays a critical role in plant growth, development, and impacts agricultural productivity. Plants have evolved different strategies for sensing and responding to heterogeneous nitrogen distribution. Modulation of root system architecture, including primary root growth and branching, is among the most essential plant adaptions to ensure adequate nitrogen acquisition. However, the immediate molecular pathways coordinating the adjustment of root growth in response to distinct nitrogen sources, such as nitrate or ammonium, are poorly understood. Here, we show that growth as manifested by cell division and elongation is synchronized by coordinated auxin flux between two adjacent outer tissue layers of the root. This coordination is achieved by nitrate‐dependent dephosphorylation of the PIN2 auxin efflux carrier at a previously uncharacterized phosphorylation site, leading to subsequent PIN2 lateralization and thereby regulating auxin flow between adjacent tissues. A dynamic computer model based on our experimental data successfully recapitulates experimental observations. Our study provides mechanistic insights broadening our understanding of root growth mechanisms in dynamic environments

Approaches and determinants to sustainably improve crop production

Abstract: Plant scientists and farmers are facing major challenges in providing food and nutritional security for a growing population, while preserving natural resources and biodiversity. Moreover, this should be done while adapting agriculture to climate change and by reducing its carbon footprint. To address these challenges, there is an urgent need to breed crops that are more resilient to suboptimal environments. Huge progress has recently been made in understanding the physiological, genetic and molecular bases of plant nutrition and environmental responses, paving the way towards a more sustainable agriculture. In this review, we present an overview of these progresses and strategies that could be developed to increase plant nutrient use efficiency and tolerance to abiotic stresses. As illustrated by many examples, they already led to promising achievements and crop improvements. Here, we focus on nitrogen and phosphate uptake and use efficiency and on adaptation to drought, salinity and heat stress. These examples first show the necessity of deepening our physiological and molecular understanding of plant environmental responses. In particular, more attention should be paid to investigate stress combinations and stress recovery and acclimation that have been largely neglected to date. It will be necessary to extend these approaches from model plants to crops, to unravel the relevant molecular targets of biotechnological or genetic strategies directly in these species. Similarly, sustained efforts should be done for further exploring the genetic resources available in these species, as well as in wild species adapted to unfavourable environments. Finally, technological developments will be required to breed crops that are more resilient and efficient. This especially relates to the development of multiscale phenotyping under field conditions and a wide range of environments, and use of modelling and big data management to handle the huge amount of information provided by the new molecular, genetic and phenotyping techniques

A unified nomenclature of NITRATE TRANSPORTER 1/PEPTIDE TRANSPORTER family members in plants

Members of the plant NITRATE TRANSPORTER 1/PEPTIDE TRANSPORTER (NRT1/PTR) family display protein sequence homology with the SLC15/PepT/PTR/POT family of peptide transporters in animals. In comparison to their animal and bacterial counterparts, these plant proteins transport a wide variety of substrates: nitrate, peptides, amino acids, dicarboxylates, glucosinolates, IAA, and ABA. The phylogenetic relationship of the members of the NRT1/PTR family in 31 fully sequenced plant genomes allowed the identification of unambiguous clades, defining eight subfamilies. The phylogenetic tree was used to determine a unified nomenclature of this family named NPF, for NRT1/PTR FAMILY. We propose that the members should be named accordingly: NPFX.Y, where X denotes the subfamily and Y the individual member within the species

Fast, automated analysis of nitrogen-15 nitrate from plant and soil extracts

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