Development and critical evaluation of a generic 2-D agro-hydrological model (SMCR_N) for the responses of crop yield and nitrogen composition to nitrogen fertilizer

Models play an important role in optimizing fertilizer use in agriculture to maintain sustainable crop production and to minimize the risk to the environment. In this study, we present a new Simulation Model for Crop Response to Nitrogen fertilizer (SMCR_N). The SMCR_N model, based on the recently developed model EU-Rotate_N for the N-economies of a wide range of crops and cropping systems, includes new modules for the estimation of N in the roots and an associated treatment of the recovery of soil mineral N by crops, for the reduction of growth rates by excessive fertilizer-N, and for the N mineralization from soil organic matter. The validity of the model was tested against the results from 32 multi-level fertilizer experiments on 16 different crop species. For this exercise none of the coefficients or parameters in the model was adjusted to improve the agreement between measurement and simulation. Over the practical range of fertilizer-N levels model predictions were, with few exceptions, in good agreement with measurements of crop dry weight (excluding fibrous roots) and its %N. The model considered that the entire reduction of soil inorganic N during growth was due to the sum of nitrate leaching, retention of N in fibrous roots and N uptake by the rest of the plant. The good agreement between the measured and simulated uptakes suggests that in this arable soil, losses of N from other soil processes were small. At high levels of fertilizer-N yields were dominated by the negative osmotic effect of fertilizer-N and model predictions for some crops were poor. However, the predictions were significantly improved by using a different value for the coefficient defining the osmotic effect for saline sensitive crops. The developed model SMCR_N uses generally readily available inputs, and is more mechanistic than most agronomic models and thus has the potential to be used as a tool for optimizing fertilizer practice

Crowdsourcing to Smartphones: Incentive Mechanism Design for Mobile Phone Sensing

Mobile phone sensing is a new paradigm which takes advantage of the pervasive smartphones to collect and analyze data beyond the scale of what was previously possible. In a mobile phone sensing system, the platform recruits smartphone users to provide sensing service. Existing mobile phone sensing applications and systems lack good incentive mechanisms that can attract more user participation. To address this issue, we design incentive mechanisms for mobile phone sensing. We consider two system models: the platform-centric model where the platform provides a reward shared by participating users, and the user-centric model where users have more control over the payment they will receive. For the platform-centric model, we design an incentive mechanism using a Stackelberg game, where the platform is the leader while the users are the followers. We show how to compute the unique Stackelberg Equilibrium, at which the utility of the platform is maximized, and none of the users can improve its utility by unilaterally deviating from its current strategy. For the user-centric model, we design an auction-based incentive mechanism, which is computationally efficient, individually rational, profitable, and truthful. Through extensive simulations, we evaluate the performance and validate the theoretical properties of our incentive mechanisms

Ecology of Yuqing County Carbon Sink Calculation and Ecosystem Protection Measures

Based on the remote sensing statistical data of land use of terrestrial ecosystems in Yuqing County, this paper calculates the amount of carbon sinks in the county according to the existing carbon sink carbon density index, compares the amount of different types of carbon sinks, and analyzes their respective carbon sink potential. The results show that the forest carbon sink is the largest, about 2.2 million tons, accounting for 75% of the total carbon sink in the county, showing the great potential of forest vegetation to absorb CO2 through photosynthesis, followed by the carbon sink produced by dry land (cultivated land), about 400,000 tons, accounting for 13% of the total carbon sink in the county; Although the amount of wetland aquatic carbon sink is small, its carbon density is very large, and it has the advantages of short renewal time and fast carbon sink, so it has great potential and can be artificially regulated to increase carbon sink. Based on the above research and analysis, combined with the spirit of the national carbon peak and carbon neutral policy and the natural law of ecosystem development, three measures to protect and increase carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystems were put forward: (1) continuing to carry out forestry planting and do a good job in forestry protection; (2) stabilizing the surface water area and developing aquatic carbon sinks; (3) Establish a long-term monitoring system to ensure the contribution of carbon sinks, provide support for the protection of ecosystem and the development of carbon sink potential in Yuqing County from two aspects of science and management, and compare the amount of different types of carbon sinks, and analyze their carbon sink potential. On this basis, combined with the spirit of the national carbon peak and carbon neutral policy and the natural law of ecosystem development, three kinds of terrestrial ecosystem carbon sink protection and increase wording were put forward accordingly, which provided support for ecosystem protection and carbon sink potential development in Yuqing County from two aspects of science and management

Sense and antisense OsDof12 transcripts in rice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antisense transcription is a widespread phenomenon in plants and mammals. Our previous data on rice gene expression analysis by microarray indicated that the sense and antisense transcripts at the <it>OsDof12 </it>locus were co-expressed in leaves. In current study, we analyzed the expression patterns in detail and looked for the possible mechanism related to their expression patterns.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>OsDof12</it>, being a single copy gene located on rice chromosome 3, encodes a predicted Dof protein of 440 amino acids with one intron of 945 bp. The antisense transcript, <it>OsDofl2os</it>, overlaps with both the exonic and intronic regions of <it>OsDof12 </it>and encodes a functionally unknown protein of 104 amino acids with no intron. The sense-antisense <it>OsDof12 </it>transcripts were co-expressed within the same tissues, and their expressions were not tissue-specific in general. At different developmental stages in rice, the <it>OsDof12 </it>and <it>OsDof12os </it>transcripts exhibited reciprocal expression patterns. Interestingly, the expression of both genes was significantly induced under drought treatment, and inhibited by dark treatment. In the <it>Pro</it>_{<it>OsDof</it>12}<it>-GUS </it>and <it>Pro</it>_{<it>OsDof</it>12<it>os</it>}-<it>GUS </it>transgenic rice plants, the expression profiles of GUS were consistent with those of the <it>OsDof12 </it>and <it>OsDof12os </it>transcripts, respectively. In addition, the analysis of cis-regulatory elements indicated that either of the two promoters contained 74 classes of cis-regulatory elements predicted, of which the two promoter regions shared 53 classes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on the expression profiles of <it>OsDof12 </it>and <it>OsDof12os</it>, the expression patterns of GUS in the <it>Pro</it>_{<it>OsDof</it>12}<it>-GUS </it>and <it>Pro</it>_{<it>OsDof</it>12<it>os</it>}-<it>GUS </it>transgenic rice plants and the predicted common cis-regulatory elements shared by the two promoters, we suggest that the co-expression patterns of <it>OsDof12 </it>and <it>OsDof12os </it>might be attributed to the basically common nature of the two promoters.</p

Influence of Bilayer Thickness on Mechanical and Tribological Properties of (Ti-Al)N/MoN Nanostructured Hard Coatings Deposited by Cathodic Arc Ion Plating

Funding Information: This scientific work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant Nos. 12305328 and 12375285 and by the Shenzhen Municipal Committee on Science and Technology Innovation under grant No. JCYJ20220530140605011. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.Deposition of (Ti-Al)N/MoN multilayered coatings was carried out through a cathodic ion-plating system in an argon and then nitrogen atmosphere. Bilayer thickness (Λ) of all the samples were achieved, from 22 to 104 nm, by organizing substrate holder rotational speed (SRS). To obtain the optimum properties of the (Ti-Al)N/MoN coatings, the Ti and Al ratio was maintained at a level of 1:1. X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy were utilized to analyze the crystal structure and morphology of the coatings. Mechanical and tribological properties were examined by nanohardness and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The preferred orientation of the (Ti-Al)N/MoN nanoscale multilayer films was TiAlN (200) and MoN (200), which had face centered cubic (fcc) and hexagonal structures, respectively. The hardness increased with the decrease in Λ (104 nm to 26 nm), and then it increased. The highest hardness of 37 GPa was revealed at Λ = 26 nm, whereas the least wear rate of 8.09 × 10−7 mm3/N.m was attained at Λ = 22 nm. Wear rate, roughness, and coefficient of friction were decreased with decreasing bilayer period. EDS results showed that Al and Ti contents were almost the same in all samples, as per design of the experiment.publishersversionpublishe

Models for LRRK2-Linked Parkinsonism

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons and the presence of Lewy bodies. The pathogenesis of PD is not fully understood, but it appears to involve both genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. Treatment for PD that prevents neuronal death progression in the dopaminergic system and abnormal protein deposition in the brain is not yet available. Recently, mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene have been identified to cause autosomal-dominant late-onset PD and contribute to sporadic PD. Here, we review the recent models for LRRK2-linked Parkinsonism and their utility in studying LRRK2 neurobiology, pathogenesis, and potential therapeutics