404 research outputs found
Genotypic diversity effects on biomass production in native perennial bioenergy cropping systems
Citation: Morris, G. P., Hu, Z., Grabowski, P. P., Borevitz, J. O., de Graaff, M. A., Miller, R. M., & Jastrow, J. D. (2016). Genotypic diversity effects on biomass production in native perennial bioenergy cropping systems. GCB Bioenergy. doi:10.1111/gcbb.12309Article: Version of RecordThe perennial grass species that are being developed as biomass feedstock crops harbor extensive genotypic diversity, but the effects of this diversity on biomass production are not well understood. We investigated the effects of genotypic diversity in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) on perennial biomass cropping systems in two experiments conducted over 2008-2014 at a 5.4-ha fertile field site in northeastern Illinois, USA. We varied levels of switchgrass and big bluestem genotypic diversity using various local and nonlocal cultivars - under low or high species diversity, with or without nitrogen inputs - and quantified establishment, biomass yield, and biomass composition. In one experiment ('agronomic trial'), we compared three switchgrass cultivars in monoculture to a switchgrass cultivar mixture and three different species mixtures, with or without N fertilization. In another experiment ('diversity gradient'), we varied diversity levels in switchgrass and big bluestem (1, 2, 4, or 6 cultivars per plot), with one or two species per plot. In both experiments, cultivar mixtures produced yields equivalent to or greater than the best cultivars. In the agronomic trial, the three switchgrass mixture showed the highest production overall, though not significantly different than best cultivar monoculture. In the diversity gradient, genotypic mixtures had one-third higher biomass production than the average monoculture, and none of the monocultures were significantly higher yielding than the average mixture. Year-to-year variation in yields was lowest in the three-cultivar switchgrass mixtures and Cave-In-Rock (the southern Illinois cultivar) and also reduced in the mixture of switchgrass and big bluestem relative to the species monocultures. The effects of genotypic diversity on biomass composition were modest relative to the differences among species and genotypes. Our findings suggest that local genotypes can be included in biomass cropping systems without compromising yields and that genotypic mixtures could help provide high, stable yields of high-quality biomass feedstocks. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Root Traits of Perennial C\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3e Grasses Contribute to Cultivar Variations in Soil Chemistry and Species Patterns in Particulate and Mineral-Associated Carbon Pool Formation
Recent studies have indicated that the C4 perennial bioenergy crops switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) accumulate significant amounts of soil carbon (C) owing to their extensive root systems. Soil C accumulation is likely driven by inter- and intraspecific variability in plant traits, but the mechanisms that underpin this variability remain unresolved. In this study we evaluated how inter- and intraspecific variation in root traits of cultivars from switchgrass (Cave-in-Rock, Kanlow, Southlow) and big bluestem (Bonanza, Southlow, Suther) affected the associations of soil C accumulation across soil fractions using stable isotope techniques. Our experimental field site was established in June 2008 at Fermilab in Batavia, IL. In 2018, soil cores were collected (30 cm depth) from all cultivars. We measured root biomass, root diameter, specific root length, bulk soil C, C associated with coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) and fine particulate organic matter plus silt- and clay-sized fractions, and characterized organic matter chemical class composition in soil using high-resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. C4 species were established on soils that supported C3 grassland for 36 years before planting, which allowed us to use differences in the natural abundance of stable C isotopes to quantify C4 plant-derived C. We found that big bluestem had 36.9% higher C4 plant-derived C compared to switchgrass in the CPOM fraction in the 0–10 cm depth, while switchgrass had 60.7% higher C4 plant-derived C compared to big bluestem in the clay fraction in the 10–20 cm depth. Our findings suggest that the large root system in big bluestem helps increase POM-C formation quickly, while switchgrass root structure and chemistry build a mineral-bound clay C pool through time. Thus, both species and cultivar selection can help improve bioenergy management to maximize soil carbon gains and lower CO2 emissions
Optimization of Gutzwiller Wavefunctions in Quantum Monte Carlo
Gutzwiller functions are popular variational wavefunctions for correlated
electrons in Hubbard models. Following the variational principle, we are
interested in the Gutzwiller parameters that minimize e.g. the expectation
value of the energy. Rewriting the expectation value as a rational function in
the Gutzwiller parameters, we find a very efficient way for performing that
minimization. The method can be used to optimize general Gutzwiller-type
wavefunctions both, in variational and in fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo.Comment: 9 pages RevTeX with 10 eps figure
A Perturbative/Variational Approach to Quantum Lattice Hamiltonians
We propose a method to construct the ground state of local
lattice hamiltonians with the generic form , where
is a coupling constant and is a hamiltonian with a non degenerate ground
state . The method is based on the choice of an exponential ansatz
, which is a sort of generalized
lattice version of a Jastrow wave function. We combine perturbative and
variational techniques to get succesive approximations of the operator
. Perturbation theory is used to set up a variational method which
in turn produces non perturbative results. The computation with this kind of
ansatzs leads to associate to the original quantum mechanical problem a
statistical mechanical system defined in the same spatial dimension. In some
cases these statistical mechanical systems turn out to be integrable, which
allow us to obtain exact upper bounds to the energy. The general ideas of our
method are illustrated in the example of the Ising model in a transverse field.Comment: 27 pages, three .ps figures appended, DFTUZ 94-2
Two-proton overlap functions in the Jastrow correlation method and cross section of the OC reaction
Using the relationship between the two-particle overlap functions (TOF's) and
the two-body density matrix (TDM), the TOF's for the
OC reaction are calculated on the
basis of a TDM obtained within the Jastrow correlation method. The main
contributions of the removal of and pairs from O
are considered in the calculation of the cross section of the
OC reaction using the Jastrow TOF's
which include short-range correlations (SRC). The results are compared with the
cross sections calculated with different theoretical treatments of the TOF's.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, ReVTeX
Cold Bose gases with large scattering lengths
We calculate the energy and condensate fraction for a dense system of bosons
interacting through an attractive short range interaction with positive s-wave
scattering length . At high densities, , the energy per particle,
chemical potential, and square of the sound speed are independent of the
scattering length and proportional to , as in Fermi systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Self-Consistent Relativistic Calculation of Nucleon Mean Free Path
We present a fully self-consistent and relativistic calculation of the
nucleon mean free path in nuclear matter and finite nuclei. Starting from the
Bonn potential, the Dirac-Brueckner-Hartree-Fock results for nuclear matter are
parametrized in terms of an effective - Lagrangian suitable for
the relativistic density-dependent Hartree-Fock (RDHF) approximation. The
nucleon mean free path in nuclear matter is derived from this effective
Lagrangian taking diagrams up to fourth-order into account. For the nucleon
mean free path in finite nuclei, we make use of the density determined by the
RDHF calculation in the local density approximation. Our microscopic results
are in good agreement with the empirical data and predictions by Dirac
phenomenology.Comment: 16 pages RevTex and 6 figures (paper, available upon request from
[email protected]) UI-NTH-931
Posterior lung herniation after a coughing spell: a case report
Lung hernias are rare, occurring most commonly after trauma or surgery. Spontaneous lung hernias are even rarer and have only been reported as occurring anteriorly. We present a 72-year-old male who developed a spontaneous posterior lung hernia after a severe coughing episode. We describe the evaluation and surgical management of this unusual condition and provide a brief review of the literature
Fermionization of a bosonic gas under highly-elongated confinement: A diffusion quantum Monte Carlo study
The diffusion quantum Monte Carlo technique is used to solve the many-body
Schroedinger equation fully quantum mechanically and nonperturbatively for
bosonic atomic gases in cigar-shaped confining potentials. By varying the
aspect ratio of the confining potential from 1 (spherical trap) to 10000
(highly elongated trap), we characterize the transition from the
three-dimensional regime to the (quasi-)one-dimensional regime. Our results
confirm that the bosonic gas undergoes ``fermionization'' for large aspect
ratios. Importantly, many-body correlations are included explicitly in our
approach.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
NN Core Interactions and Differential Cross Sections from One Gluon Exchange
We derive nonstrange baryon-baryon scattering amplitudes in the
nonrelativistic quark model using the ``quark Born diagram" formalism. This
approach describes the scattering as a single interaction, here the
one-gluon-exchange (OGE) spin-spin term followed by constituent interchange,
with external nonrelativistic baryon wavefunctions attached to the scattering
diagrams to incorporate higher-twist wavefunction effects. The short-range
repulsive core in the NN interaction has previously been attributed to this
spin-spin interaction in the literature; we find that these perturbative
constituent-interchange diagrams do indeed predict repulsive interactions in
all I,S channels of the nucleon-nucleon system, and we compare our results for
the equivalent short-range potentials to the core potentials found by other
authors using nonperturbative methods. We also apply our perturbative
techniques to the N and systems: Some
channels are found to have attractive core potentials and may accommodate
``molecular" bound states near threshold. Finally we use our Born formalism to
calculate the NN differential cross section, which we compare with experimental
results for unpolarised proton-proton elastic scattering. We find that several
familiar features of the experimental differential cross section are reproduced
by our Born-order result.Comment: 27 pages, figures available from the authors, revtex, CEBAF-TH-93-04,
MIT-CTP-2187, ORNL-CCIP-93-0
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