Above- and below-ground competition in high and low irradiance: tree seedling responses to a competing liana Byttneria grandifolia

Abstract: In tropical forests, trees compete not only with other trees, but also with lianas, which may limit tree growth and regeneration. Liana effects may depend on the availability of above- and below-ground resources and differ between tree species. We conducted a shade house experiment to test the effect of light (4% and 35% full sun, using neutral-density screen) on the competitive interactions between seedlings of one liana (Byttneria grandifolia) and three tree species (two shade-tolerant trees, Litsea dilleniifolia and Pometia tomentosa, and one light-demanding tree, Bauhinia variegata) and to evaluate the contribution of both above- and below-ground competition. Trees were grown in four competition treatments with the liana: no competition, root competition, shoot competition and root and shoot competition. Light strongly affected leaf photosynthetic capacity (light-saturated photosynthetic rate, Pn), growth and most morphological traits of the tree species. Liana-induced competition resulted in reduced Pn, total leaf areas and relative growth rates (RGR) of the three tree species. The relative importance of above- and below-ground competition differed between the two light levels. In low light, RGR of the three tree species was reduced more strongly by shoot competition (23.1¿28.7% reduction) than by root competition (5.3¿26.4%). In high light, in contrast, root competition rather than shoot competition greatly reduced RGR. Liana competition affected most morphological traits (except for specific leaf area and leaf area ratio of Litsea and Pometia), and differentially altered patterns of biomass allocation in the tree seedlings. These findings suggest that competition from liana seedlings can greatly suppress growth in tree seedlings of both light-demanding and shade-tolerant species and those effects differ with competition type (below- and above-ground) and with irradianc

A novel modular stator hybrid-excited doubly salient synchronous machine with stator slot permanent magnets

This paper presents a novel modular stator hybrid-excited synchronous machine with stator slot permanent magnets (PMs). By regulating the field current, the magnetic field, and consequently the back electromotive force, as well as the average torque can be controlled. The existence of stator slot PMs alleviates the magnetic saturation and improves the flux regulation ratio. The frozen permeability method is employed to investigate the torque contributions by different magnetic sources. Possible stator and rotor pole combinations are illustrated, and the corresponding electromagnetic performances are evaluated with the finite-element method. It is revealed that 12-stator pole machines with 11- and 13-rotor poles exhibit superior average torque and lower torque ripple due to even-order harmonics elimination. Finally, a prototype with modular stator segments is manufactured to validate the analyses and simulations

Influence of stator and rotor pole number combinations on the electromagnetic performance of stator slot-opening PM hybrid-excited machine

A new type of three-phase stator hybrid excited machine with permanent magnets (PMs) located at the slot openings of field winding slots is presented in this paper. It has the advantage of good flux regulation capability due to the field excitation. The machines with different stator/rotor pole combinations, i.e., 6-stator pole and 7-/8-/10-/11-/13-/14-rotor poles, have been comparatively investigated in terms of the open-circuit and on-load characteristics, as well as the influence of dc current and the unbalanced magnetic forces. The 2-D finite element analysis (FEA) has been employed for analysis and optimization of the machines together with experimental validation

Responses of two field-grown coffee species to drought and re-hydration

The gas exchange, parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence, contents of pigments, and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), as well as lipid peroxidation were investigated in two field-grown coffee species, Coffea arabica and C. liberica, exposed to drought and re-hydration. Drought caused a more pronounced inhibition of net photosynthetic rate in C. liberica compared to C. arabica. The de-epoxidation of xanthophyll cycle pigments at midday estimated by leaf reflectance was much higher in C. arabica than in C. liberica, but no significant change was found in response to drought. Under moderate drought, the activities of SOD and APX increased significantly only in C. arabica. The maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem 2, PS2 (Fv/Fm) at predawn did not change and there was no lipid peroxidation during this time. Under severe drought Fv/Fm decreased and initial fluorescence (F0) increased for both species, and SOD activity increased, APX activity remained relatively high, and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulated in C. arabica, while APX decreased in C. liberica. The photosynthetic apparatus of C. arabica was completely recovered after 5 d of re-irrigation as indicated by the restoration of Fv/Fm to the control values. A lack of recovery upon rewatering of C. liberica indicated irreversible damage to PS2. Hence compared to C. liberica, C. arabica possesses a higher desiccation-induced antioxidative protection and higher portion of the total pigment pool used in photoprotection, which might aid alleviating photoinhibitory damage during desiccation and photosynthesis recovery when favourable conditions are restore

Influence of magnetic saturation and rotor eccentricity on back EMF of novel hybrid-excited stator slot opening permanent magnet machine

This paper introduces a novel hybrid-excited stator slot opening permanent magnet (PM) machine (HSSPMM). The operation principle of the machine is described and the effects of rotor eccentricity and magnetic saturation due to PMs on electromagnetic performance, with particular emphasis on back electromotive force (EMF), are analyzed by finite element method (FEM). It shows that different from the conventional PM machines, the open-circuit back EMF in this novel HSSPMM should be zero but may become non-zero if significant magnetic saturation exists, and furthermore, the rotor eccentricity has a detrimental effect on the waveforms, amplitudes, and symmetries of three-phase back EMFs, as confirmed by FEM and tests

Revisiting the B {\to} {\pi} {\rho}, {\pi} {\omega} Decays in the Perturbative QCD Approach Beyond the Leading Order

We calculate the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of the $B \to \pi \rho$, $\pi\omega$ decays in the perturbative QCD factorization approach up to the next-to-leading-order contributions. We find that the next-to-leading-order contributions can interfere with the leading-order part constructively or destructively for different decay modes. Our numerical results have a much better agreement with current available data than previous leading-order calculations, e.g., the next-to-leading-order corrections enhance the $B^0\rightarrow \pi^0\rho^0$ branching ratios by a factor 2.5, which is helpful to narrow the gaps between theoretic predictions and experimental data. We also update the direct CP-violation parameters, the mixing-induced CP-violation parameters of these modes, which show a better agreement with experimental data than many of the other approaches.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 4 table

Study of J/psi decays to Lambda Lambdabar and Sigma0 Sigma0bar

The branching ratios and Angular distributions for J/psi decays to Lambda Lambdabar and Sigma0 Sigma0bar are measured using BESII 58 million J/psi.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Critical behavior of the two-dimensional N-component Landau-Ginzburg Hamiltonian with cubic anisotropy

We study the two-dimensional N-component Landau-Ginzburg Hamiltonian with cubic anisotropy. We compute and analyze the fixed-dimension perturbative expansion of the renormalization-group functions to four loops. The relations of these models with N-color Ashkin-Teller models, discrete cubic models, planar model with fourth order anisotropy, and structural phase transition in adsorbed monolayers are discussed. Our results for N=2 (XY model with cubic anisotropy) are compatible with the existence of a line of fixed points joining the Ising and the O(2) fixed points. Along this line the exponent $\eta$ has the constant value 1/4, while the exponent $\nu$ runs in a continuous and monotonic way from 1 to $\infty$ (from Ising to O(2)). For N\geq 3 we find a cubic fixed point in the region $u, v \geq 0$, which is marginally stable or unstable according to the sign of the perturbation. For the physical relevant case of N=3 we find the exponents $\eta=0.17(8)$ and $\nu=1.3(3)$ at the cubic transition.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Search for the Rare Decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e, J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e, and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e-

We report on a search for the decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c., J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c., and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e- + c.c. in a sample of 5.8 * 10^7 J/Psi events collected with the BESII detector at the BEPC. No excess of signal above background is observed, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are set: B(J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c.)<4.8*10^-5, B(J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c.) D0bar e+ e- + c.c.)<1.1*10^-5Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure