Comparison of micrometeorological environments inside and outside a watermelon plastic greenhouse

The use of glass and plastic greenhouses have rapidly increased in recent years. Meteorological and soil moisture environments inside a greenhouse are significantly different from those in the open field. These differences should be understandable to establish accurate predictions of water consumption and evapotranspiraton inside a greenhouse which play impotrant roles in the design of any irrigation system. This study aims to estimate the micrometeorological conditions inside a watermelon plastic greenhouse which can be used for evapotranspiration calculations. Therefore, micrometeorological data were measured inside and outside the greenhouse for the comparison purposes. The results of this study may be summarized as : (1) Solar radiation inside the greenhouse was about 70% of that of outside it. (2) Net radiation during the daytime inside the greenhouse was almost the same as the absorbed total short-wave radiation. (3) The difference of air temperature inside and outside the greenhouse was very large during the daytime whereas not much difference was observed during the nighttime. (4) Both relative humidity and saturation deficit inside the greenhouse were higher than outside in case of highly vegetative land. (5) Wind speed inside the greenhouse was almost zero, while outside the average value was 1.8m/s

Phase diagram evolution at finite coupling in strong coupling lattice QCD

We investigate the chiral phase transition in the strong coupling lattice QCD at finite temperature and density with finite coupling effects. We adopt one species of staggered fermion, and develop an analytic formulation based on strong coupling and cluster expansions. We derive the effective potential as a function of two order parameters, the chiral condensate sigma and the quark number density $\rho_q$, in a self-consistent treatment of the next-to-leading order (NLO) effective action terms. NLO contributions lead to modifications of quark mass, chemical potential and the quark wave function renormalization factor. While the ratio mu_c(T=0)/Tc(mu=0) is too small in the strong coupling limit, it is found to increase as beta=2Nc/g^2 increases. The critical point is found to move in the lower T direction as beta increases. Since the vector interaction induced by $\rho_q$ is shown to grow as beta, the present trend is consistent with the results in Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models. The interplay between two order parameters leads to the existence of partially chiral restored matter, where effective chemical potential is automatically adjusted to the quark excitation energy.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

Polyakov loop effects on the phase diagram in strong-coupling lattice QCD

We investigate the Polyakov loop effects on the QCD phase diagram by using the strong-coupling (1/g^2) expansion of the lattice QCD (SC-LQCD) with one species of unrooted staggered quark, including O}(1/g^4) effects. We take account of the effects of Polyakov loop fluctuations in Weiss mean-field approximation (MFA), and compare the results with those in the Haar-measure MFA (no fluctuation from the mean-field). The Polyakov loops strongly suppress the chiral transition temperature in the second-order/crossover region at small chemical potential, while they give a minor modification of the first-order phase boundary at larger chemical potential. The Polyakov loops also account for a drastic increase of the interaction measure near the chiral phase transition. The chiral and Polyakov loop susceptibilities have their peaks close to each other in the second-order/crossover region. In particular in Weiss MFA, there is no indication of the separated deconfinement transition boundary from the chiral phase boundary at any chemical potential. We discuss the interplay between the chiral and deconfinement dynamics via the bare quark mass dependence of susceptibilities.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Digital image-based modeling applied to the homogenization analysis of composite materials

The systematic methodologies to derive accurate microstructural models are developed for studying the mechanical behaviors of composite materials. Since the geometric information of a microstructure is often given by an image or a set of images, the direct interpretation of the geometry is possibly by digitizing it. By identifying each pixel or voxel with a finite element (FE) and accompanying appropriate image processing, an FE model can be automatically generated. It is also emphasized that the digitized models can be suitable for solving the FE equations by utilizing the uniformity of the FE mesh. The finite element analysis (FEA) with the homogenization method enables the prediction the thermo-mechanical behavior of the periodic microstructure (unit cell) as well as the global mechanical response of a structural component, while we are taking into account the specific effect of the geometric structural configuration of the microstructure through digitization. Several kinds of the digitizing techniques are presented to illustrate the potential of digital image-based (DIB) FE modeling of the unit cell. Keeping the microstructural design in mind, the modification of the plane image is introduced and the virtual realization of the unit cell geometry is presented so that a microstructural analysis utilizing the homogenization method would be realistic .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42293/1/466-20-4-331_70200331.pd

Nonlinear Electrical Properties of Thin Films of a Light-Emitting Perovskite-Type Oxide Pr0.002(Ca0.6Sr0.4)0.997TiO3

AbstractDouble-insulating thin film type electroluminescent (EL) devices based on Pr0.002(Ca0.6Sr0.4)0.997TiO3 (PCSTO) and developed by Takashima et al. [Adv. Mater. 2009; 21; 3699-3702] emits pure red light with the wavelength λ = 610nm under application of remarkably small voltage less than 10 Vrms. Since PCSTO is a perovskite-type oxide being chemically and thermally stable, the discovered small-voltage EL phenomenon may open a new application field of inorganic EL devices. Clarification of the EL mechanism will provide guidelines for improving the EL efficiency, which is a key of commercialization. As the first step on this way, PCSTO films sandwiched directly by electrodes have been prepared and their nonlinear electrical properties have been analyzed. In addition, EL from these metal-insulator-metal type devices has been detected and a preliminary discussion about it has been made

Requirement of Gαq/Gα11 Signaling in the Preservation of Mouse Intestinal Epithelial Homeostasis

Background & AimsProliferation, differentiation, and morphogenesis of the intestinal epithelium are tightly regulated by a number of molecular pathways. Coordinated action of intestine is achieved by gastrointestinal hormones, most of which exert these actions through G-protein–coupled receptors. We herein investigated the role of Gαq/11-mediated signaling in intestinal homeostasis.MethodsIntestinal tissues from control (Gnaqflox/floxGna11+/+), Int-Gq knock-out (KO) (VilCre+/-Gnaqflox/floxGna11+/+), G11 KO (Gnaqflox/floxGna11-/-), and Int-Gq/G11 double knock-out (DKO) (VilCre+/-Gnaqflox/floxGna11-/-) mice were examined by microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry. The effect of Gαq/11-mediated signaling was studied in the cell lineage, proliferation, and apoptosis. Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis was induced to study the role of Gαq/11 in colon.ResultsPaneth cells were enlarged, increased in number, and mislocalized in Int-Gq/G11 DKO small intestine. Paneth cells also reacted with PAS and Muc2 antibody, indicating an intermediate character of Paneth and goblet cells. The nuclear β-catenin, T-cell factor 1, and Sox9 expression were reduced severely in the crypt base of Int-Gq/G11 DKO intestine. Proliferation was activated in the crypt base and apoptosis was enhanced along the crypt. Int-Gq/G11 DKO mice were susceptible to DSS colitis. Proliferation was inhibited in the crypt of unaffected and regenerative areas. Cystic crypts, periodic acid–Schiff–positive cells, and Muc2-positive cells were unusually observed in the ulcerative region.ConclusionsThe Gαq/11-mediated pathway plays a pivotal role in the preservation of intestinal homeostasis, especially in Paneth cell maturation and positioning. Wnt/β-catenin signaling was reduced significantly in the crypt base in Gαq/G11-deficient mice, resulting in the defective maturation of Paneth cells, induction of differentiation toward goblet cells, and susceptibility to DSS colitis

QCD Phase Diagram in Strong Coupling Lattice QCD with Polyakov Loops

The chiral and deconfinement dynamics in QCD phase diagram are investigated by using the strong-coupling expansion of the lattice QCD with one species of staggered fermion and the Polyakov loop effective action at finite temperature (T) and quark chemical potential (m). Effective potential Feff involves both the chiral (Uc(1)) and the deconfinement (ZNc) dynamics with finite coupling effects in the mean-field approximation. The Polyakov loop increasing rate (d'p=dT) and the susceptibility are found to have two peaks as a function of T for small quark masses. One of them is the chiral-induced peak associated with the rapid decrease of the chiral condensate. The other peak is almost independent of the quark mass or chemical potential, and it is interpreted as the ZNc -induced peak