scholarly journals Towards intercrop ideotypes: non-random trait assembly can promote overyielding and stability of species proportion in simulated legume-based mixtures

2020 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaëtan Louarn ◽  
Romain Barillot ◽  
Didier Combes ◽  
Abraham Escobar-Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Temporal Development ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Mineral N ◽  
Physiological Functions ◽  
Trait Divergence ◽  
The Impact ◽  
N Acquisition

Abstract Backgrounds and Aims A major challenge when supporting the development of intercropping systems remains the design of efficient species mixtures. The ecological processes that sustain overyielding of legume-based mixtures compared to pure crops are well known, but their links to plant traits remain to be unravelled. A common assumption is that enhancing trait divergence among species for resource acquisition when assembling plant mixtures should increase species complementarity and improve community performance. Methods The Virtual Grassland model was used to assess how divergence in trait values between species on four physiological functions (namely light and mineral N acquisition, temporal development, and C–N use efficiency) affected overyielding and mixture stability in legume-based binary mixtures. A first step allowed us to identify the model parameters that were most important to interspecies competition. A second step involved testing the impact of convergent and divergent parameter (or trait) values between species on virtual mixture performance. Results Maximal overyielding was achieved in cases where trait values were divergent for the physiological functions controlling N acquisition and temporal development but convergent for light interception. It was also found that trait divergence should not affect competitive abilities of legume and non-legumes at random. Indeed, random trait combinations frequently led to reduced mixture yields when compared to a perfectly convergent neutral model. Combinations with the highest overyielding also tended to be associated with mixture instability and decreasing legume biomass proportion. Achieving both high overyielding and mixture stability was only found to be possible under low or moderate N levels, using combinations of traits adapted to each environment. Conclusions No simple assembly rule based on trait divergence could be confirmed. Plant models able to infer plant–plant interactions can be helpful for the identification of major interaction traits and the definition of ideotypes adapted to a targeted intercropping system.

scholarly journals Functional–Structural Plant Modeling Highlights How Diversity in Leaf Dimensions and Tillering Capability Could Promote the Efficiency of Wheat Cultivar Mixtures

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Blanc ◽  
Pierre Barbillon ◽  
Christian Fournier ◽  
Christophe Lecarpentier ◽  
Christophe Pradal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Traits ◽  
Wheat Cultivar ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Final Height ◽  
Canopy Structure ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Leaf Dimensions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cultivar Mixtures

Increasing the cultivated diversity has been identified as a major leverage for the agroecological transition as it can help improve the resilience of low input cropping systems. For wheat, which is the most cultivated crop worldwide in terms of harvested area, the use of cultivar mixtures is spreading in several countries, but studies have seldom focused on establishing mixing rules based on plant architecture. Yet, the aerial architecture of plants and the overall canopy structure are critical for field performance as they greatly influence light interception, plant interactions and yield. The very high number of trait combinations in wheat mixtures makes it difficult to conduct experimentations on this issue, which is why a modeling approach appears to be an appropriate solution. In this study, we used WALTer, a functional structural plant model (FSPM), to simulate wheat cultivar mixtures and try to better understand how differences between cultivars in key traits of the aerial architecture influence mixture performance. We simulated balanced binary mixtures of cultivars differing for different critical plant traits: final height, leaf dimensions, leaf insertion angle and tillering capability. Our study highlights the impact of the leaf dimensions and the tillering capability on the performance of the simulated mixtures, which suggests that traits impacting the plants' leaf area index (LAI) have more influence on the performance of the stand than traits impacting the arrangement of the leaves. Our results show that the performance of mixtures is very variable depending on the values of the explored architectural traits. In particular, the best performances were achieved by mixing cultivars with different leaf dimensions and different tillering capability, which is in agreement with numerous studies linking the diversity of functional traits in plant communities to their productivity. However, some of the worst performances were also achieved by mixing varieties differing in their aerial architecture, which suggests that diversity is not a sufficient criterion to design efficient mixtures. Overall, these results highlight the importance of simulation-based explorations for establishing assembly rules to design efficient mixtures.

Estimating OLED Display Device Lifetime from pixel and screen brightness and its application

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Gerhardt ◽  
Michael E. Miller ◽  
Hyunjin Yoo ◽  
Tara Akhavan
Keyword(s):  
Image Processing ◽  
Power Consumption ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Display Device ◽  
Image Processing Algorithm ◽  
Pixel Value ◽  
Device Lifetime ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Oled Display

In this paper we discuss a model to estimate the power consumption and lifetime (LT) of an OLED display based on its pixel value and the brightness setting of the screen (scbr). This model is used to illustrate the effect of OLED aging on display color characteristics. Model parameters are based on power consumption measurement of a given display for a number of pixel and scbr combinations. OLED LT is often given for the most stressful display operating situation, i.e. white image at maximum scbr, but having the ability to predict the LT for other configurations can be meaningful to estimate the impact and quality of new image processing algorithms. After explaining our model we present a use case to illustrate how we use it to evaluate the impact of an image processing algorithm for brightness adaptation.

Kalahari Cheetahs

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gus Mills ◽  
Margaret Mills
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Spatial Ecology ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Important Prey ◽  
Hunting Behaviour ◽  
The Impact

This book demonstrates how cheetahs are adapted to arid savannahs like the southern Kalahari, and makes comparisons with other areas, especially the Serengeti. Topics dealt with are: demography and genetic status; feeding ecology, i.e. methods used for studying diet, diets of different demographic groups, individual diet specializations of females, prey selection, the impact of cheetah predation on prey populations, activity regimes and distances travelled per day, hunting behaviour, foraging success and energetics; interspecific competition; spatial ecology; reproductive success and the mating system; and conservation. The major findings show that cheetahs are well adapted to arid ecosystems and are water independent. Cheetah density in the study area was stable at 0.7/100 km2 and the population was genetically diverse. Important prey were steenbok and springbok for females with cubs, gemsbok, and adult ostrich for coalition males, and steenbok, springhares, and hares for single animals. Cheetahs had a density-dependent regulatory effect on steenbok and springbok populations. Females with large cubs had the highest overall food intake. Cheetahs, especially males, were often active at night, and competition with other large carnivores, both by exploitation and interference, was slight. Although predation on small cubs was severe, cub survival to adolescence was six times higher than in the Serengeti. There was no difference in reproductive success between single and coalition males. The conservation priority for cheetahs should be to maintain protected areas over a spectrum of landscapes to allow ecological processes, of which the cheetah is an integral part, to proceed unhindered.

scholarly journals Evolution of disease transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic: patterns and determinants

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zhu ◽  
Blanca Gallego
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Transmission Model ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Forecasting Accuracy ◽  
Time Lagged ◽  
The Impact

AbstractEpidemic models are being used by governments to inform public health strategies to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2. They simulate potential scenarios by manipulating model parameters that control processes of disease transmission and recovery. However, the validity of these parameters is challenged by the uncertainty of the impact of public health interventions on disease transmission, and the forecasting accuracy of these models is rarely investigated during an outbreak. We fitted a stochastic transmission model on reported cases, recoveries and deaths associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection across 101 countries. The dynamics of disease transmission was represented in terms of the daily effective reproduction number ($$R_t$$ R t ). The relationship between public health interventions and $$R_t$$ R t was explored, firstly using a hierarchical clustering algorithm on initial $$R_t$$ R t patterns, and secondly computing the time-lagged cross correlation among the daily number of policies implemented, $$R_t$$ R t , and daily incidence counts in subsequent months. The impact of updating $$R_t$$ R t every time a prediction is made on the forecasting accuracy of the model was investigated. We identified 5 groups of countries with distinct transmission patterns during the first 6 months of the pandemic. Early adoption of social distancing measures and a shorter gap between interventions were associated with a reduction on the duration of outbreaks. The lagged correlation analysis revealed that increased policy volume was associated with lower future $$R_t$$ R t (75 days lag), while a lower $$R_t$$ R t was associated with lower future policy volume (102 days lag). Lastly, the outbreak prediction accuracy of the model using dynamically updated $$R_t$$ R t produced an average AUROC of 0.72 (0.708, 0.723) compared to 0.56 (0.555, 0.568) when $$R_t$$ R t was kept constant. Monitoring the evolution of $$R_t$$ R t during an epidemic is an important complementary piece of information to reported daily counts, recoveries and deaths, since it provides an early signal of the efficacy of containment measures. Using updated $$R_t$$ R t values produces significantly better predictions of future outbreaks. Our results found variation in the effect of early public health interventions on the evolution of $$R_t$$ R t over time and across countries, which could not be explained solely by the timing and number of the adopted interventions.

scholarly journals A Model-Based Tool for Assessing the Impact of Land Use Change Scenarios on Flood Risk in Small-Scale River Systems—Part 1: Pre-Processing of Scenario Based Flood Characteristics for the Current State of Land Use

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Frauke Kachholz ◽  
Jens Tränckner
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Small Rivers ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Ungauged Catchments ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Impact

Land use changes influence the water balance and often increase surface runoff. The resulting impacts on river flow, water level, and flood should be identified beforehand in the phase of spatial planning. In two consecutive papers, we develop a model-based decision support system for quantifying the hydrological and stream hydraulic impacts of land use changes. Part 1 presents the semi-automatic set-up of physically based hydrological and hydraulic models on the basis of geodata analysis for the current state. Appropriate hydrological model parameters for ungauged catchments are derived by a transfer from a calibrated model. In the regarded lowland river basins, parameters of surface and groundwater inflow turned out to be particularly important. While the calibration delivers very good to good model results for flow (Evol =2.4%, R = 0.84, NSE = 0.84), the model performance is good to satisfactory (Evol = −9.6%, R = 0.88, NSE = 0.59) in a different river system parametrized with the transfer procedure. After transferring the concept to a larger area with various small rivers, the current state is analyzed by running simulations based on statistical rainfall scenarios. Results include watercourse section-specific capacities and excess volumes in case of flooding. The developed approach can relatively quickly generate physically reliable and spatially high-resolution results. Part 2 builds on the data generated in part 1 and presents the subsequent approach to assess hydrologic/hydrodynamic impacts of potential land use changes.

scholarly journals Modeling Bacterial Regrowth and Trihalomethane Formation in Water Distribution Systems

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 463
Author(s):  
Gopinathan R. Abhijith ◽  
Leonid Kadinski ◽  
Avi Ostfeld
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Water Distribution Systems ◽  
Sensitivity Study ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Growth Rate Constant ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Bacterial Regrowth ◽  
The Impact

The formation of bacterial regrowth and disinfection by-products is ubiquitous in chlorinated water distribution systems (WDSs) operated with organic loads. A generic, easy-to-use mechanistic model describing the fundamental processes governing the interrelationship between chlorine, total organic carbon (TOC), and bacteria to analyze the spatiotemporal water quality variations in WDSs was developed using EPANET-MSX. The representation of multispecies reactions was simplified to minimize the interdependent model parameters. The physicochemical/biological processes that cannot be experimentally determined were neglected. The effects of source water characteristics and water residence time on controlling bacterial regrowth and Trihalomethane (THM) formation in two well-tested systems under chlorinated and non-chlorinated conditions were analyzed by applying the model. The results established that a 100% increase in the free chlorine concentration and a 50% reduction in the TOC at the source effectuated a 5.87 log scale decrement in the bacteriological activity at the expense of a 60% increase in THM formation. The sensitivity study showed the impact of the operating conditions and the network characteristics in determining parameter sensitivities to model outputs. The maximum specific growth rate constant for bulk phase bacteria was found to be the most sensitive parameter to the predicted bacterial regrowth.

scholarly journals Constrained Parameter Estimation for a Mechanistic Kinetic Model of Cobalt–Hydrogen Electrochemical Competition during a Cobalt Removal Process

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 387
Author(s):  
Yiting Liang ◽  
Yuanhua Zhang ◽  
Yonggang Li
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Estimation ◽  
Kinetic Model ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Hydrogen Ions ◽  
Removal Process ◽  
Cobalt Removal ◽  
Estimation Scheme ◽  
Zinc Hydrometallurgy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Parameter Estimation Scheme

A mechanistic kinetic model of cobalt–hydrogen electrochemical competition for the cobalt removal process in zinc hydrometallurgical was proposed. In addition, to overcome the parameter estimation difficulties arising from the model nonlinearities and the lack of information on the possible value ranges of parameters to be estimated, a constrained guided parameter estimation scheme was derived based on model equations and experimental data. The proposed model and the parameter estimation scheme have two advantages: (i) The model reflected for the first time the mechanism of the electrochemical competition between cobalt and hydrogen ions in the process of cobalt removal in zinc hydrometallurgy; (ii) The proposed constrained parameter estimation scheme did not depend on the information of the possible value ranges of parameters to be estimated; (iii) the constraint conditions provided in that scheme directly linked the experimental phenomenon metrics to the model parameters thereby providing deeper insights into the model parameters for model users. Numerical experiments showed that the proposed constrained parameter estimation algorithm significantly improved the estimation efficiency. Meanwhile, the proposed cobalt–hydrogen electrochemical competition model allowed for accurate simulation of the impact of hydrogen ions on cobalt removal rate as well as simulation of the trend of hydrogen ion concentration, which would be helpful for the actual cobalt removal process in zinc hydrometallurgy.

scholarly journals Dynamics of the rumor-spreading model with hesitation mechanism in heterogenous networks and bilingual environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Yang ◽  
Haijun Jiang ◽  
Cheng Hu ◽  
Juan Yu ◽  
Jiarong Li
Keyword(s):  
Lyapunov Method ◽  
Reproduction Number ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Rumor Spreading ◽  
Spreading Model ◽  
Reductio Ad Absurdum ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Theoretical Results ◽  
The Basic Reproduction Number

Abstract In this paper, a novel rumor-spreading model is proposed under bilingual environment and heterogenous networks, which considers that exposures may be converted to spreaders or stiflers at a set rate. Firstly, the nonnegativity and boundedness of the solution for rumor-spreading model are proved by reductio ad absurdum. Secondly, both the basic reproduction number and the stability of the rumor-free equilibrium are systematically discussed. Whereafter, the global stability of rumor-prevailing equilibrium is explored by utilizing Lyapunov method and LaSalle’s invariance principle. Finally, the sensitivity analysis and the numerical simulation are respectively presented to analyze the impact of model parameters and illustrate the validity of theoretical results.

scholarly journals An Enhanced Intrinsic Time-Scale Decomposition Method Based on Adaptive Lévy Noise and Its Application in Bearing Fault Diagnosis

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
Jianpeng Ma ◽  
Shi Zhuo ◽  
Chengwei Li ◽  
Liwei Zhan ◽  
Guangzhu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Fault Diagnosis ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Lévy Noise ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Rolling Bearings ◽  
Intrinsic Time ◽  
Time Scale Decomposition ◽  
Weak Fault ◽  
Levy Noise ◽  
The Impact

When early failures in rolling bearings occur, we need to be able to extract weak fault characteristic frequencies under the influence of strong noise and then perform fault diagnosis. Therefore, a new method is proposed: complete ensemble intrinsic time-scale decomposition with adaptive Lévy noise (CEITDALN). This method solves the problem of the traditional complete ensemble intrinsic time-scale decomposition with adaptive noise (CEITDAN) method not being able to filter nonwhite noise in measured vibration signal noise. Therefore, in the method proposed in this paper, a noise model in the form of parameter-adjusted noise is used to replace traditional white noise. We used an optimization algorithm to adaptively adjust the model parameters, reducing the impact of nonwhite noise on the feature frequency extraction. The experimental results for the simulation and vibration signals of rolling bearings showed that the CEITDALN method could extract weak fault features more effectively than traditional methods.

scholarly journals In-Situ Measurement of Power Loss for Crystalline Silicon Modules Undergoing Thermal Cycling and Mechanical Loading Stress Testing

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Sergiu Spataru ◽  
Peter Hacke ◽  
Dezso Sera
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Cycling ◽  
Power Loss ◽  
Stress Testing ◽  
Series Resistance ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
In Situ Measurement ◽  
Mechanical Degradation ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
The Impact

An in-situ method is proposed for monitoring and estimating the power degradation of mc-Si photovoltaic (PV) modules undergoing thermo-mechanical degradation tests that primarily manifest through cell cracking, such as mechanical load tests, thermal cycling and humidity freeze tests. The method is based on in-situ measurement of the module’s dark current-voltage (I-V) characteristic curve during the stress test, as well as initial and final module flash testing on a Sun simulator. The method uses superposition of the dark I-V curve with final flash test module short-circuit current to account for shunt and junction recombination losses, as well as series resistance estimation from the in-situ measured dark I-Vs and final flash test measurements. The method is developed based on mc-Si standard modules undergoing several stages of thermo-mechanical stress testing and degradation, for which we investigate the impact of the degradation on the modules light I-V curve parameters, and equivalent solar cell model parameters. Experimental validation of the method on the modules tested shows good agreement between the in-situ estimated power degradation and the flash test measured power loss of the modules, of up to 4.31 % error (RMSE), as the modules experience primarily junction defect recombination and increased series resistance losses. However, the application of the method will be limited for modules experiencing extensive photo-current degradation or delamination, which are not well reflected in the dark I-V characteristic of the PV module.

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