Factors related with CH4 and N2O emissions from a paddy field : clues for management implications

Paddy fields are major sources of global atmospheric greenhouse gases, including methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). The different phases previous to emission (production, transport, diffusion, dissolution in pore water and ebullition) despite well-established have rarely been measured in field conditions. We examined them and their relationships with temperature, soil traits and plant biomass in a paddy field in Fujian, southeastern China. CH₄ emission was positively correlated with CH₄ production, plant-mediated transport, ebullition, diffusion, and concentration of dissolved CH₄ in porewater and negatively correlated with sulfate concentration, suggesting the potential use of sulfate fertilizers to mitigate CH₄ release. Air temperature and humidity, plant stem biomass, and concentrations of soil sulfate, available N, and DOC together accounted for 92% of the variance in CH₄ emission, and Eh, pH, and the concentrations of available N and Fe³⁺, leaf biomass, and air temperature 95% of the N₂O emission. Given the positive correlations between CH4 emission and DOC content and plant biomass, reduce the addition of a carbon substrate such as straw and the development of smaller but higher yielding rice genotypes could be viable options for reducing the release of greenhouse gases from paddy fields to the atmosphere

Unified theory for Goos-H\"{a}nchen and Imbert-Fedorov effects

A unified theory is advanced to describe both the lateral Goos-H\"{a}nchen (GH) effect and the transverse Imbert-Fedorov (IF) effect, through representing the vector angular spectrum of a 3-dimensional light beam in terms of a 2-form angular spectrum consisting of its 2 orthogonal polarized components. From this theory, the quantization characteristics of the GH and IF displacements are obtained, and the Artmann formula for the GH displacement is derived. It is found that the eigenstates of the GH displacement are the 2 orthogonal linear polarizations in this 2-form representation, and the eigenstates of the IF displacement are the 2 orthogonal circular polarizations. The theoretical predictions are found to be in agreement with recent experimental results.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Compact Floor-Planning via Orderly Spanning Trees

Floor-planning is a fundamental step in VLSI chip design. Based upon the concept of orderly spanning trees, we present a simple O(n)-time algorithm to construct a floor-plan for any n-node plane triangulation. In comparison with previous floor-planning algorithms in the literature, our solution is not only simpler in the algorithm itself, but also produces floor-plans which require fewer module types. An equally important aspect of our new algorithm lies in its ability to fit the floor-plan area in a rectangle of size (n-1)x(2n+1)/3. Lower bounds on the worst-case area for floor-planning any plane triangulation are also provided in the paper.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, An early version of this work was presented at 9th International Symposium on Graph Drawing (GD 2001), Vienna, Austria, September 2001. Accepted to Journal of Algorithms, 200

Effects of steel slag application on greenhouse gas emissions and crop yield over multiple growing seasons in a subtropical paddy field in China

Asia is responsible for over 90% of the world's rice production and hence plays a key role in safeguarding food security. With China being one of the major global producers and consumers of rice, achieving a sustainable balance in maximizing crop productivity and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from paddy fields in this country becomes increasingly important. This study examined the effects of applying steel slag, a residual product derived from the steel industry, on crop yield and CH4 and N2O emissions over multiple growing seasons in a Chinese subtropical paddy field. Average CH4 emission was considerably higher during the periods of rice crop growth compared to that during the periods of fallowing and vegetable crop growth, regardless of the amount of steel slag applied. When compared to the controls, significantly lower mean emissions of CH4 (1.03 vs. 2.34 mg m−2 h−1) and N2O (0.41 vs. 32.43 μg m−2 h−1) were obtained in plots with slag addition at a rate of 8 Mg ha−1 over the study period. The application of slag at 8 Mg ha−1 increased crop yields by 4.2 and 9.1% for early and late rice crops, respectively, probably due to the higher availability of inorganic nutrients such as silicates and calcium from the slag. Slag addition had no significant effect on the concentrations of heavy metals in either the soil or the rice grains, although a slight increase in the levels of manganese and cobalt in the soil and a decrease in the levels of manganese and zinc in the rice grains were observed. Our results demonstrate the potential of steel slag as a soil amendment in enhancing crop yield and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in subtropical paddy fields in China, while posing no adverse short-term impacts on the concentrations of heavy metals in the soil or the rice grains. However, long-term implications of this management practice and the cost/benefit remain unknown, so further studies to assess the suitability at large scale are warranted

Effects of steel slag and biochar amendments on CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O flux, and rice productivity in a subtropical Chinese paddy field

Steel slag, a by-product of the steel industry, contains high amounts of active iron oxide and silica which can act as an oxidizing agent in agricultural soils. Biochar is a rich source of carbon, and the combined application of biochar and steel slag is assumed to have positive impacts on soil properties as well as plant growth, which are yet to be validated scientifically. We conducted a field experiment for two rice paddies (early and late paddy) to determine the individual and combined effects of steel slag and biochar amendments on CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O emission, and rice productivity in a subtropical paddy field of China. The amendments did not significantly affect rice yield. It was observed that CO₂ was the main greenhouse gas emitted from all treatments of both paddies. Steel slag decreased the cumulative CO₂ flux in the late paddy. Biochar as well as steel slag + biochar treatment decreased the cumulative CO₂ flux in the late paddy and for the complete year (early and late paddy), while steel slag + biochar treatment also decreased the cumulative CH4 flux in the early paddy. The biochar, and steel slag + biochar amendments decreased the global warming potential (GWP). Interestingly, the cumulative annual GWP was lower for the biochar (55,422 kg CO₂-eq ha⁻¹), and steel slag + biochar (53,965 kg CO₂-eq ha⁻¹) treatments than the control (68,962 kg CO₂-eq ha⁻¹). Total GWP per unit yield was lower for the combined application of steel slag + biochar (8951 kg CO₂-eq Mg⁻¹ yield) compared to the control (12,805 kg CO₂-eq Mg⁻¹ yield). This study suggested that the combined application of steel slag and biochar could be an effective long-term strategy to reduce greenhouse gases emission from paddies without any detrimental effect on the yield