Controlled-Release Fertilizers as a Means to Reduce Nitrogen Leaching and Runoff in Container-Grown Plant Production

Container-grown plants refer to plants produced in confined volume filled with substrates. The substrates endogenously have limited nutrients and low water-holding capacity. Plants grown in the containers must be fertilized and watered frequently varying from daily to weekly. Frequent fertilization and irrigation can result in nutrient leaching and/or runoff. Since nitrogen (N) is a key component of the majority of fertilizers, container plant production has been viewed as a source of N leaching and/or runoff. The leaching and runoff, if in large quantities on a year-round basis, could affect surface and ground water quality. Application of controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs) has been reported to have less N leaching than plants fertilized with water-soluble fertilizers (WSFs). However, there are different types of CRFs with different compositions and longevities on the market. Container plants also differ greatly in their growth and development and in N requirement. Thus, production of high-quality container plants with minimum N leaching using CRFs still remains challenging. This article is intended to discuss characteristics of container plant production and N leaching and runoff during production, and to document that CRF application can reduce N leaching and/or runoff. Certain requirements for future development of CRFs are also discussed

Automatic Objects Removal for Scene Completion

With the explosive growth of web-based cameras and mobile devices, billions of photographs are uploaded to the internet. We can trivially collect a huge number of photo streams for various goals, such as 3D scene reconstruction and other big data applications. However, this is not an easy task due to the fact the retrieved photos are neither aligned nor calibrated. Furthermore, with the occlusion of unexpected foreground objects like people, vehicles, it is even more challenging to find feature correspondences and reconstruct realistic scenes. In this paper, we propose a structure based image completion algorithm for object removal that produces visually plausible content with consistent structure and scene texture. We use an edge matching technique to infer the potential structure of the unknown region. Driven by the estimated structure, texture synthesis is performed automatically along the estimated curves. We evaluate the proposed method on different types of images: from highly structured indoor environment to the natural scenes. Our experimental results demonstrate satisfactory performance that can be potentially used for subsequent big data processing: 3D scene reconstruction and location recognition.Comment: 6 pages, IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM 14), Workshop on Security and Privacy in Big Data, Toronto, Canada, 201

Heterogeneous Electron Transfer of Supramolecular Assemblies

Heterogeneous electron transfer of protein, porphyrins through self-assembled monolayer (SAM) at gold electrodes was studied. The SAM was characterized by electrochemistry, thickness measurement, contact angle, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and others. The electron transfer rate constants of cytochrome c immobilized on a SAM by directly ¡°wiring¡± its heme through a variety of nitrogen ligands (pyridine, imidazole or nitrilE) were measured by cyclic voltammetry. The electron transfer mechanism was explored by changing the distance between the electrode and protein, the composition of the SAM chains, the type of cytochrome c (horse heart cytochrome, rat cytochrome c and its mutants), and the conditions of electrolyte solutions. The results were compared to those of cytochrome c electrostatically adsorbed at carboxylic acid terminated SAMs, distinguishing the electron transfer mechanism and electron transfer pathways. A unified theoretical model, i.e. a gradual transition of the mechanism from a friction controlled reaction at short distance to tunneling controlled reaction at long distance, was applied to these ¡°heme-wired¡± systems. In a study of photo-induced electron transfer of porphyrins through SAMs with chiral structure, an asymmetrical effect on the efficiency of electron transfer through these chiral chain structures was found. Induced circular dichroism of porphyrin aggregates, orbital angular momentum interaction in electronic coupling, are proposed as possible mechanisms for the asymmetry of electronic tunneling

Crystal structure prediction using neural network potential and age-fitness Pareto genetic algorithm

While crystal structure prediction (CSP) remains a longstanding challenge, we introduce ParetoCSP, a novel algorithm for CSP, which combines a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) with a neural network inter-atomic potential (IAP) model to find energetically optimal crystal structures given chemical compositions. We enhance the NSGA-III algorithm by incorporating the genotypic age as an independent optimization criterion and employ the M3GNet universal IAP to guide the GA search. Compared to GN-OA, a state-of-the-art neural potential based CSP algorithm, ParetoCSP demonstrated significantly better predictive capabilities, outperforming by a factor of $2.562$ across $55$ diverse benchmark structures, as evaluated by seven performance metrics. Trajectory analysis of the traversed structures of all algorithms shows that ParetoCSP generated more valid structures than other algorithms, which helped guide the GA to search more effectively for the optimal structure

Gojiberry Breeding: Current Status and Future Prospects

Goji, gojiberry, or wolfberry is the fruit of Lycium barbarum L., L. chinense Mill., or L. ruthenicum Murr. in the family Solanaceae Juss. The fruit is bright orange-red or black and is edible with a sweet and tangy flavor. Gojiberry is rich in polysaccharides, flavonoids, carotenoids, betaine, kukoamine A, sitosterol, and other compounds which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-neoplastic properties and have been used for the treatment of various blood circulation disorders and diabetes. Recently, there is an increased demand for high-quality gojiberry and its products because they are considered a superfruit. China is the main producer and supplier of gojiberry in the world. Thus far, limited information is available about genetic resources, breeding activities, and major cultivars of gojiberry. This chapter is intended to review the current knowledge on gojiberry germplasm resources and their relationships as well as to describe gojiberry breeding activities. Future prospects on gojiberry cultivar development are also discussed

Price competition model in decentralized and centralized supply chains with demand disruption

Purpose: The paper studies the price competition of a supply chain with one supplier and two competing retailers under occasional demand disruption. Design/methodology/approach: The supply chain is either decentralized or centralized. The demand disruption for two retailers occurs with different probability. We analyze the effect of occurrence probability of demand disruption on the optimal prices of the supplier and two retailers. Findings: We find that the profits of supplier, retailers and supply chain are decreasing with the occurrence probability of demand disruption. Originality/value: It is helpful for supply chain members to adjust the original contracts to demand disruption.Peer Reviewe

Bubble Dynamics in a Narrow Rectangular Channel

It is very important to study the bubble dynamics in order to understand the physical process of boiling heat transfer in a narrow channel. Experimental and theoretical studies on bubble dynamics in a narrow rectangular channel are proposed. The cross section of the narrow rectangular channel is 2 mm × 8 mm. A high speed digital camera is applied to capture bubble behaviors from the narrow side and wide side of the narrow rectangular channel. Bubble growth rate, bubble departure diameter, bubble interface parameter and others are obtained according to the observation. A force balance analysis on a growing bubble is proposed to predict the bubble departure diameter and sliding bubble velocity, and the predicted results agree with the experimental data. Thus, the mechanism of bubble departure, slide and lift-off behavior in a narrow rectangular channel can be explained by the analysis of forces

Personalized Product Evaluation Based on GRA-TOPSIS and Kansei Engineering

With the improvement of human living standards, users’ requirements have changed from function to emotion. Helping users pick out the most suitable product based on their subjective requirements is of great importance for enterprises. This paper proposes a Kansei engineering-based grey relational analysis and techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (KE-GAR-TOPSIS) method to make a subjective user personalized ranking of alternative products. The KE-GRA-TOPSIS method integrates five methods, including Kansei Engineering (KE), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), entropy, game theory, and grey relational analysis-TOPSIS (GRA-TOPSIS). First, an evaluation system is established by KE and AHP. Second, we define a matrix variate—Kansei decision matrix (KDM)—to describe the satisfaction of user requirements. Third, the AHP is used to obtain subjective weight. Next, the entropy method is employed to obtain objective weights by taking the KDM as input. Then the two types of weights are optimized using game theory to obtain the comprehensive weights. Finally, the GRA-TOPSIS method takes the comprehensive weights and the KMD as inputs to rank alternatives. A comparison of the KE-GRA-TOPSIS, KE-TOPSIS, KE-GRA, GRA-TOPSIS, and TOPSIS is conducted to illustrate the unique merits of the KE-GRA-TOPSIS method in Kansei evaluation. Finally, taking the electric drill as an example, we describe the process of the proposed method in detail, which achieves a symmetry between the objectivity of products and subjectivity of users

Lytic cycle: A defining process in oncolytic virotherapy

The viral lytic cycle is an important process in oncolytic virotherapy. Most mathematical models for oncolytic virotherapy do not incorporate this process. In this article, we propose a mathematical model with the viral lytic cycle based on the basic mathematical model for oncolytic virotherapy. The viral lytic cycle is characterized by two parameters, the time period of the viral lytic cycle and the viral burst size. The time period of the viral lytic cycle is modeled as a delay parameter. The model is a nonlinear system of delay differential equations. The model reveals a striking feature that the critical value of the period of the viral lytic cycle is determined by the viral burst size. There are two threshold values for the burst size. Below the first threshold, the system has an unstable trivial equilibrium and a globally stable virus free equilibrium for any nonnegative delay, while the system has a third positive equilibrium when the burst size is greater than the first threshold. When the burst size is above the second threshold, there is a functional relation between the bifurcation value of the delay parameter for the period of the viral lytic cycle and the burst size. If the burst size is greater than the second threshold, the positive equilibrium is stable when the period of the viral lytic cycle is smaller than the bifurcation value, while the system has orbitally stable periodic solutions when the period of the lytic cycle is longer than the bifurcation value. However, this bifurcation value becomes smaller when the burst size becomes bigger. The viral lytic cycle may explain the oscillation phenomena observed in many studies. An important clinic implication is that the burst size should be carefully modified according to its effect on the lytic cycle when a type of a virus is modified for virotherapy, so that the period of the viral lytic cycle is in a suitable range which can break away the stability of the positive equilibria or periodic solutions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved