CO2 assimilation, photosynthetic light response curves, and water relations of 'Pêra' sweet orange plants infected with Xylella fastidiosa

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

水稻对大气二氧化碳浓度及温度升高的光合适应的研究

基于长期观测资料，众多大气环流模型预测在二十一世纪末大气中二氧化碳浓度将达到700μmolmol'I，地球表面年平均温度也将升高1.5-4.OoC。水稻是亚洲的主要粮食作物，为世界近三分之一的人口提供食物能源。这项工作的目的，是利用人工模拟环境，预测在未来全球气候变化，二氧化碳及温度升高的条件下，水稻的光合生理反应及随之而来的对其产量的影响。本研究是美国环境署( EPA)与国际水稻研究所(IRRI)合作研究项目“Effects of UV-B and Global Climate Change on Rice”的一部分． 在这项研究中，采用了特殊设计并直接建立在水稻田间的开顶式气室（open-top chambers）。在此之前还没有这样大规模的在水稻主产区的此类模拟研究，水稻在气室中渡过了从萌发到收获的整个生长过程。模拟环境条件有三个浓度的二氧化碳（包括现有大气浓度，在此基础上升高200及300 μmolmol-l）和两个温度（即：现有大气温度及升高4度）共六个处理。供试水稻品种四个：IR72，IR65598-112-2，IR65600-42-5-2-BSI-313和N22。在实验中我们发现，水稻品种（如：1R72）单叶光合速率（以二氧化碳气体交换速率计）受二氧化碳浓度促进，在水稻营养生长期，二氧化碳及温度对其光合有协同促进作用．然而，随着花期的到来，在高温条件下，叶片光合能力（photosynthetic capacity）下降，出现光合适应现象（Photosynthetic acclirnation）.水稻群体光合作用同样受到二氧化碳浓度促进，但在后期(Grain fill stage)这种促进作用消失;在高浓度二氧化碳下生长的大多数水稻品种的叶片中有较多的碳水化和物（可溶性糖和淀粉）积累．耐高温品种N22叶片中淀粉积累较少：叶片中氮素含量降低，同时发现Rubisco总活性相应降低，这与NCi曲线所示光合效率降低相吻合;通过叶片叶绿素荧光动力学测定，没有发现光系统光能转化效率的变化;水稻籽粒产量随二氧化碳浓度升高而增加，但温度升高使产量降低12.8-36.8%;不同品种对二氧化碳浓度的反应没有显著差别;在高温条件下，耐高温品生长在高二氧化碳浓度下表现良好。 本文系统地研究了水稻光合作用在二氧化碳及温度条件影响下，对二氧化碳浓度及光强变化的反应曲线，初次对水稻单叶与群体光合对二氧化碳浓度变化的反应做了实验性对比;讨论了温度升高对水稻在高浓度二氧化碳下发生光合适应的影响，对光合适应现象的可能机制做了探讨，并提出对未来大气二氧化碳浓度及温度升高条件下水稻适应品种筛选的可能方向。

Photosynthetic and anatomical responses of Eucalyptus grandis leaves to potassium and sodium supply in a field experiment

Although vast areas in tropical regions have weathered soils with low potassium (K) levels, little is known about the effects of K supply on the photosynthetic physiology of trees. This study assessed the effects of K and sodium (Na) supply on the diffusional and biochemical limitations to photosynthesis in Eucalyptus grandis leaves. A field experiment comparing treatments receiving K (+K) or Na (+Na) with a control treatment (C) was set up in a K-deficient soil. The net CO2 assimilation rates were twice as high in +K and 1.6 times higher in +Na than in the C as a result of lower stomatal and mesophyll resistance to CO2 diffusion and higher photosynthetic capacity. The starch content was higher and soluble sugar was lower in +K than in C and +Na, suggesting that K starvation disturbed carbon storage and transport. The specific leaf area, leaf thickness, parenchyma thickness, stomatal size and intercellular air spaces increased in +K and +Na compared to C. Nitrogen and chlorophyll concentrations were also higher in +K and +Na than in C. These results suggest a strong relationship between the K and Na supply to E. grandis trees and the functional and structural limitations to CO2 assimilation rates. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Twisted Edwards curves revisited

This paper introduces fast algorithms for performing group operations on twisted Edwards curves, pushing the recent speed limits of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) forward in a wide range of applications. Notably, the new addition algorithm uses for suitably selected curve constants. In comparison, the fastest point addition algorithms for (twisted) Edwards curves stated in the literature use . It is also shown that the new addition algorithm can be implemented with four processors dropping the effective cost to . This implies an effective speed increase by the full factor of 4 over the sequential case. Our results allow faster implementation of elliptic curve scalar multiplication. In addition, the new point addition algorithm can be used to provide a natural protection from side channel attacks based on simple power analysis (SPA).

Jacobi quartic curves revisited

This paper provides new results about efficient arithmetic on Jacobi quartic form elliptic curves, y 2 = d x 4 + 2 a x 2 + 1. With recent bandwidth-efficient proposals, the arithmetic on Jacobi quartic curves became solidly faster than that of Weierstrass curves. These proposals use up to 7 coordinates to represent a single point. However, fast scalar multiplication algorithms based on windowing techniques, precompute and store several points which require more space than what it takes with 3 coordinates. Also note that some of these proposals require d = 1 for full speed. Unfortunately, elliptic curves having 2-times-a-prime number of points, cannot be written in Jacobi quartic form if d = 1. Even worse the contemporary formulae may fail to output correct coordinates for some inputs. This paper provides improved speeds using fewer coordinates without causing the above mentioned problems. For instance, our proposed point doubling algorithm takes only 2 multiplications, 5 squarings, and no multiplication with curve constants when d is arbitrary and a = ±1/2.

Faster group operations on elliptic curves

This paper improves implementation techniques of Elliptic Curve Cryptography. We introduce new formulae and algorithms for the group law on Jacobi quartic, Jacobi intersection, Edwards, and Hessian curves. The proposed formulae and algorithms can save time in suitable point representations. To support our claims, a cost comparison is made with classic scalar multiplication algorithms using previous and current operation counts. Most notably, the best speeds are obtained from Jacobi quartic curves which provide the fastest timings for most scalar multiplication strategies benefiting from the proposed 12M + 5S + 1D point doubling and 7M + 3S + 1D point addition algorithms. Furthermore, the new addition algorithm provides an efficient way to protect against side channel attacks which are based on simple power analysis (SPA). Keywords: Efficient elliptic curve arithmetic,unified addition, side channel attack.

Faster pairings on special Weierstrass curves

This paper presents efficient formulas for computing cryptographic pairings on the curve y 2 = c x 3 + 1 over fields of large characteristic. We provide examples of pairing-friendly elliptic curves of this form which are of interest for efficient pairing implementations.

Contemporary New Zealand coefficients for the Trauma Injury Severity Score: TRISS(NZ)

Aims – To develop local contemporary coefficients for the Trauma Injury Severity Score in New Zealand, TRISS(NZ), and to evaluate their performance at predicting survival against the original TRISS coefficients. Methods – Retrospective cohort study of adults who sustained a serious traumatic injury, and who survived until presentation at Auckland City, Middlemore, Waikato, or North Shore Hospitals between 2002 and 2006. Coefficients were estimated using ordinary and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models. Results – 1735 eligible patients were identified, 1672 (96%) injured from a blunt mechanism and 63 (4%) from a penetrating mechanism. For blunt mechanism trauma, 1250 (75%) were male and average age was 38 years (range: 15-94 years). TRISS information was available for 1565 patients of whom 204 (13%) died. Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves was 0.901 (95%CI: 0.879-0.923) for the TRISS(NZ) model and 0.890 (95% CI: 0.866-0.913) for TRISS (P<0.001). Insufficient data were available to determine coefficients for penetrating mechanism TRISS(NZ) models. Conclusions – Both TRISS models accurately predicted survival for blunt mechanism trauma. However, TRISS(NZ) coefficients were statistically superior to TRISS coefficients. A strong case exists for replacing TRISS coefficients in the New Zealand benchmarking software with these updated TRISS(NZ) estimates.

Applying data mining to assess crash risk on curves

The wide range of contributing factors and circumstances surrounding crashes on road curves suggest that no single intervention can prevent these crashes. This paper presents a novel methodology, based on data mining techniques, to identify contributing factors and the relationship between them. It identifies contributing factors that influence the risk of a crash. Incident records, described using free text, from a large insurance company were analysed with rough set theory. Rough set theory was used to discover dependencies among data, and reasons using the vague, uncertain and imprecise information that characterised the insurance dataset. The results show that male drivers, who are between 50 and 59 years old, driving during evening peak hours are involved with a collision, had a lowest crash risk. Drivers between 25 and 29 years old, driving from around midnight to 6 am and in a new car has the highest risk. The analysis of the most significant contributing factors on curves suggests that drivers with driving experience of 25 to 42 years, who are driving a new vehicle have the highest crash cost risk, characterised by the vehicle running off the road and hitting a tree. This research complements existing statistically based tools approach to analyse road crashes. Our data mining approach is supported with proven theory and will allow road safety practitioners to effectively understand the dependencies between contributing factors and the crash type with the view to designing tailored countermeasures.