Effect of rice based six multiple cropping sequences under two cycles of crop rotations on yield and fertility status of soil

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of various crop rotations, of high yielding varieties of cereals, pulses, fodders, tubers and oilseeds, on the performance of the crops and the fertility status of the soil over two crop-rotation cycles. The yields of rice (Oryza saliva L.), potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and onion (Allium cepa) crops were found to be decreasing. The yields of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and mustard (Brassica juncea coss), were not affected, while the yield of moong (Phaseolus aureus Roxb.) showed a tendency to increase. Rotations which included berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) increased the organic carbon content of the soil and there was a slight lowering of the pH with the highest application of phosphatic fertilizer. The accumulation of available potassium was greater in the treatments where the highest amount of fertilizer was applied. The available nitrogen content of the soil increased with application of nitrogen and the balance sheet of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium showed a positive trend. The continuous cropping of high yielding varieties showed a reduction in the available zinc and iron status of the soil, whereas available manganese and copper increased. The available micronutrients, except manganese, did not correlate significantly with soil pH.     

Heterogeneous mechanics of the mouse pulmonary arterial network

Individualized modeling and simulation of blood flow mechanics find applications in both animal research and patient care. Individual animal or patient models for blood vessel mechanics are based on combining measured vascular geometry with a fluid structure model coupling formulations describing dynamics of the fluid and mechanics of the wall. For example, one-dimensional fluid flow modeling requires a constitutive law relating vessel cross-sectional deformation to pressure in the lumen. To investigate means of identifying appropriate constitutive relationships, an automated segmentation algorithm was applied to micro-computerized tomography images from a mouse lung obtained at four different static pressures to identify the static pressure–radius relationship for four generations of vessels in the pulmonary arterial network. A shape-fitting function was parameterized for each vessel in the network to characterize the nonlinear and heterogeneous nature of vessel distensibility in the pulmonary arteries. These data on morphometric and mechanical properties were used to simulate pressure and flow velocity propagation in the network using one-dimensional representations of fluid and vessel wall mechanics. Moreover, wave intensity analysis was used to study effects of wall mechanics on generation and propagation of pressure wave reflections. Simulations were conducted to investigate the role of linear versus nonlinear formulations of wall elasticity and homogeneous versus heterogeneous treatments of vessel wall properties. Accounting for heterogeneity, by parameterizing the pressure/distention equation of state individually for each vessel segment, was found to have little effect on the predicted pressure profiles and wave propagation compared to a homogeneous parameterization based on average behavior. However, substantially different results were obtained using a linear elastic thin-shell model than were obtained using a nonlinear model that has a more physiologically realistic pressure versus radius relationship.