Use of the 15N natural abundance technique to quantify biological nitrogen fixation by woody perennials

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) associated with trees and shrubs plays a major role in the functioning of many ecosystems, from natural woodlands to plantations and agroforestry systems, but it is surprisingly difficult to quantify the amounts of N₂ fixed. Some of the problems involved in measuring N₂ fixation by woody perennials include: (a) diversity in occurrence, and large plant-to-plant variation in growth and nodulation status of N₂-fixing species, especially in natural ecosystems; (b) long-term, perennial nature of growth and the seasonal or year-to-year changes in patterns of N assimilation; and (c) logistical limitations of working with mature trees which are generally impossible to harvest in their entirety. The methodology which holds most promise to quantify the contributions of N₂ fixation to trees is the so-called `¹⁵N natural abundance' technique which exploits naturally occurring differences in ¹⁵N composition between plant-available N sources in the soil and that of atmospheric N₂. In this review we discuss probable explanations for the origin of the small differences in ¹⁵N abundance found in different N pools in both natural and man-made ecosystems and utilise previously published information and unpublished data to examine the potential advantages and limitations inherent in the application of the technique to study N₂ fixation by woody perennials. Calculation of the proportion of the plant N derived from atmospheric N₂ (%Ndfa) using the natural abundance procedure requires that both the ¹⁵N natural abundance of the N derived from BNF and that derived from the soil by the target N₂-fixing species be determined. It is then assumed that the ¹⁵N abundance of the N₂-fixing species reflects the relative contributions of the N derived from these two sources. The ¹⁵N abundance of the N derived from BNF (B) can vary with micro-symbiont, plant species/provenance and growth stage, all of which create considerable difficulties for its precise evaluation. If the%Ndfa is large and the ¹⁵N abundance of the N acquired from other sources is not several ¹⁵N units higher or lower than B, then this can be a major source of error. Further difficulties can arise in determining the ¹⁵N abundance of the N derived from soil (and plant litter, etc.) by the target plant as it is usually impossible to predict which, if any, non-N₂-fixing reference species will obtain N from the same N sources in the same proportions with the same temporal and spatial patterns as the N₂-fixing perennial. The compromise solution is to evaluate the ¹⁵N abundance of a diverse range of neighbouring non-N₂-fixing plants and to compare these values with that of the N₂-fixing species and the estimate of B. Only then can it be determined whether the contribution of BNF to the target species can be quantified with any degree of confidence. This review of the literature suggests that while the natural abundance technique appears to provide quantitative measures of BNF in tree plantation and agroforestry systems, particular difficulties may arise which can often limit its application in natural ecosystems.     

面向安全的轮流中继选择方案

针对多中继轮流中继系统被窃听的问题,提出面向安全的轮流中继选择方案。首先提出了遍历的最优中继选择方案,并推导得到了保密速率的理论值;之后为降低复杂度,分别从降低计算复杂度和信道估计开销的角度设计了两种两阶段的次优中继选择方案,先缩小中继选择范围再进行搜索。仿真结果表明K-最大主信道中继选择方案能够以较低的复杂度实现最优保密速率。     

基于连续小波变换参数选择的小麦近红外光谱模型优化方法研究

为了提高模型预测精度,结合连续小波变换（CWT）的最优参数选择,优化小麦蛋白质光谱模型。对原始光谱进行CWT,利用主成分分析（PCA）选出5种小波db1、sym2、sym5、sym7、coif1;在不同尺度参数下利用偏最小二乘法（PLS）建模,确定尺度参数为15;在此基础上,利用CWT结合多元散射校正（MSC）及支持向量机（SVM）建模确定最优小波db1;在最优参数下用CWT结合无信息变量消除算法（UVE）和连续投影算法（SPA）及SVM建立预测模型,预测均方根误差为0.3930,优于CWT-UVEPLS-SVM的0.4558和CWT-SPA-SVM的0.4415,研究结果表明,CWT参数选择可有效优化近红外光谱模型。     

非线性减震器的多脉冲轨道和同宿树研究

针对一类非线性减震器,应用能量相位法研究了减震器系统在1∶0内共振,第一阶主共振情形下系统的多脉冲轨道和同宿树.首先,将系统的无量纲动力学控制方程转化为近可积哈密顿系统的标准形式.其次,研究了该系统的未扰动力学行为和扰动动力学行为,分析了耗散因子及相位漂移角对多脉冲轨道脉冲数和层半径的影响,揭示了这类非线性减震器能量从高频模态向低频模态转移的动力学机理.     

砂被筑坝技术在长江汊道封堵工程中的应用

抛投中小型土工织物充砂体一般用于修筑潜坝或填槽,在长江大型汊道封堵工程中的运用比较少见。大型汊道水流流速快、填筑工程量大,使坝体成型控制难度大、施工效率低,应在工程中不断优化和改进施工设计及工艺。通过加大土工织物袋体尺寸,采用边充砂边沉放的方法连续施工,形成了成熟的砂被筑坝技术。实践证明,该技术的施工机械化程度高、程序简单、施工高效、坝体成型易于控制,且运用该施工技术修筑而成的汊道封堵坝能起到预期的工程效果。     

Efficient digital certificate verification in wireless public key infrastructure using enhanced certificate revocation list

ABSTRACT

Public key cryptography is widely used for secure data transfer in various applications. The Public key infrastructure provides a foundation that supports public key cryptography, and it is required to deliver the public keys to existing systems or users securely. The public key is exchanged digitally in the form of digital certificates having a certain period of validity. Circumstances may arise under which the validity of the certificates should be ceased, and they need to be revoked. The fast growth of e-commerce demands verification and data transfers to be done in minimum time to maintain high efficiency of communication. In this paper, a new method of developing certificate revocation lists is proposed. The formal model of enhanced PKI for mobile commerce security is put forward. The performance of NTRU is compared with the RSA algorithm and the ElGamal algorithm. The paper also sets forth a comparative analysis of the proposed method with other existing techniques. The results show that the proposed technology has the upper hand over the current methods.     

Evaluation of reservoir sedimentation using data driven techniques

The sedimentation is a pervasive complex hydrological process subjected to each and every reservoir in world at different extent. Hydrographic surveys are considered as most accurate method to determine the total volume occupied by sediment and its distribution pattern in a reservoir. But, these surveys are very cumbersome, time consuming and expensive. This complex sedimentation process can also be simulated through the well calibrated numerical models. However, these models generally are data extensive and require large computational time. Generally, the availability of such data is very scarce. Due to large constraints of these methods and models, in the present study, data driven approaches such as artificial neural networks (ANN), model trees (MT) and genetic programming (GP) have been investigated for the estimation of volume of sediment deposition incorporating the parameters influenced it along with conventional multiple linear regression data driven model. The aforementioned data driven models for the estimation of reservoir sediment deposition were initially developed and applied on Gobindsagar Reservoir. In order to generalise the developed methodology, the developed data driven models were also validated for unseen data of Pong Reservoir. The study depicted that the highly nonlinear models ANN and GP captured the trend of sediment deposition better than piecewise linear MT model, even for smaller length datasets.     

ECO布局中的电源线/地线网络局部SOR分析方法

供电电压直接决定芯片性能,在IC设计的各个阶段考虑供电电压约束具有重要的意义.受制于电源线/地线(P/G)网络分析的高复杂性,尽管供电电压已成为布图规划设计中的一个设计约束,但目前在布局设计中还未考虑供电电压约束.有别于ICCG,SOR等经典的全局分析算法,提出了一种局部的连续过松弛方法(SORPECO),并在ECO布局过程中对P/G网电压约束进行高效的分析.基于前一个布局的P/G网电压分布,针对ECO试探布局中某些轻微设计变动,SORPECO只需对这些设计变动的局部变化周边区域进行松弛,以更新P/G网电压分布.受益于P/G网络分析的局部性,SORPECO拥有局部、高效和高精度等优点.实验结果表明,与通常用于布图规划的传统高效的ICCG算法相比,SORPECO不仅精度损耗几乎可以忽略(最大误差0.062%),而且可以加速2个数量级.     

基于多元索引后继树的时间序列数据流挖掘

本文以地电前兆观测数据流为研究对象,提出了一种新颖的基于多元索引后继树的时间序列数据流挖掘模型。该模型的主要特点是使用一种新颖的位置索引方法,通过一遍扫描创建描述一个序列的所有元素的绝对位置的多元索引后继树,使用索引匹配方法以模式增长的方式生成频繁模式。理论分析与实验表明,该方法简单、高效,具有很好的实用价值。同时,通过对大量持续的地电前兆观测数据流进行分析处理,挖掘隐藏在其中的反映地电参数正常变化规律及趋势的频繁模式,为发现地电前兆异常识别提供依据,从而辅助进行地震预报。     

From Constrained to Unconstrained Maximum Agreement Subtree in Linear Time

We propose and study the Maximum Constrained Agreement Subtree (MCAST) problem, which is a variant of the classical Maximum Agreement Subtree (MAST) problem. Our problem allows users to apply their domain knowledge to control the construction of the agreement subtrees in order to get better results. We show that the MCAST problem can be reduced to the MAST problem in linear time and thus we have algorithms for MCAST with running times matching the fastest known algorithms for MAST. A preliminary version of this paper appears in the Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Algorithms in Bioinformatics (WABI 2005). Research of H.F. Ting is supported in part by Hong Kong RGC Grant HKU-7172/06E.