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Foxtail (Alopecurus aequalis) and milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus) are typical winter weeds grown in single-cropping rice fields during the fallow season in central Japan. These winter weeds are generally incorporated into the soil as green manure during plowing, and before rice transplanting, to improve soil fertility and rice yield. To understand the carbon (C) decomposition and nitrogen (N) mineralization behavior of fallow weeds in organic rice farming, we carried out two experiments. Firstly, we examined the effect of adding 1% foxtail to soils that were sampled from fields that were farmed conventionally or organically for different durations (4–12 years). The results showed that net N mineralization of incorporated foxtail was not affected by the duration of organic farming, although the N mineralization of indigenous soil increased with organic farming duration. Secondly, 1% pulverized young and old foxtail (YF and OF; C/N ratios of 47.0 and 54.9, respectively), and milk vetch (YM and OM; C/N ratios of 13.0 and 14.6, respectively), were mixed with soil samples from fields that had been farmed organically for 15 years to determine the role of each plant. More than half of weed C was decomposed during 4 weeks of anaerobic incubation at 30°C. In addition, the net weed C decomposition potentials were significantly higher in YF and YM than those in OF and OM. The lower C/N ratio of milk vetch was contributed to a net N mineralization rate that was 8.4 times higher than that of foxtail. The percentage of N mineralized from milk vetch was significantly higher (about 2.3 times) than that from foxtail. Even though foxtail incorporation can contribute to the growth of organic rice as an N nutrient source, it should be noted that net N immobilization occurred for 2 weeks of incubation at 30°C, and sometimes extended to 4 weeks before net N mineralization became tangible. Considering this early net N immobilization following incorporation of foxtail, it is recommended to wait at least 4 weeks between the start of flooding after weed incorporation and transplanting rice to facilitate initial growth and avoid N exhaustion.

Paddy fields are generally submerged during the growing season and drained in the fallow season, and occasionally stimulating the air-drying effect and drying-rewetting effect on soil nitrogen (N) mineralization and soil carbon (C) decomposition. It is important to understand how these two effects take place in Andosol field under organic farming. To elucidate these effects, we incubated fresh, air-dried, and dried-rewetted paddy soil anaerobically under flooded condition. Soils were from the fields subjected to organic rice farming (ORF) for 4���5 years (4ORF), 8���9 years (8ORF), and 12 years (12ORF) with only rice residues and fallow weeds as organic matter applied, and cnventional rice farming (CRF). Soil samples were collected from plow layer of 0���15 cm depth after the rice harvest. The results showed that air-dried and dried-rewetted treatments could significantly increase N mineralization potential in 8ORF and 12ORF. The air-drying effects were not significantly changed in 4ORF, but significantly increased in 8ORF and 12ORF as compared to CRF. The drying-rewetting effects of C decomposition potentials were highest in 12ORF significantly. The N mineralization potential of air-drying effect showed no significant difference compared to drying-rewetting effect on conventional and organic rice farming. The ratio of C decomposition to N mineralization after 8 weeks incubation was higher in fresh soil (at 7.26���8.61) than those in air-dried (at 4.09���4.35) and dried-rewetted (at 3.94���4.26) soils. These indicated that the easily decomposable soil organic matter under the anaerobic flooded condition from fresh soil was changed by air-drying and drying-rewetting treatments. The slow increase of N mineralization and C decomposition with years of organic farming suggest the slow increase of fallow weed, the biomass of which gradually increase with years. The specific behavior of 12ORF soil suggest the transition of soil condition from a transitional state to an established state.

This study investigated the effect of land-use and management change (LUMC) on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics after 15–40 years. LUMC constituted change from rice paddies to chestnut orchard, wetland, and buckwheat upland fields in Shonai region, Yamagata Prefecture, Northeast Japan. Soil samples were collected from the top – (0–15 cm) and sub-layers (15–30 cm) for analysis of soil organic C (SOC) and its δ13C value, total N (TN), and their stocks. C decomposition (Dec-C) and net N mineralization (Net Min-N) were determined according to the production of CO2 and NH4+ + NO3– by aerobic incubation and CO2 + CH4 and NH4+ by anaerobic incubation, respectively. The results reveal that 40 years after change from rice paddy to orchard and wetland, the SOC and TN contents in the top-layer were not significantly altered. However, in buckwheat upland fields and in the parking area where vegetation was absent, the SOC content decreased significantly. Conversion of rice paddies to amur silver grass wetland altered the soil δ13C the most, leading to an increase of 5.1‰ and 2.9‰ for the top – and sub-layers, respectively. In general, the incubation experiment results revealed that a change to orchard and wetland did not significantly decrease the Dec-C and Net Min-N. Whereas, the change from rice paddies to parking area significantly decreased the Dec-C and Net Min-N in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. We conclude that LUMC over decades had various effects on the SOC and TN contents and stocks as well as their mineralization potentials.

To investigate the influence of Azolla (A. filiculoides Lam.) incorporated as a green manure and its subsequent growth as a dual crop with rice on simultaneous methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)...

Hot-water- and water-extractable organic matter were obtained from soil samples collected from a rice paddy 31 years after the start of a long-term rice experiment in Yamagata, Japan. Speci...

This study aimed at understanding whether and how long-term organic rice farming affects soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and their mineralization potentials in submerged rice paddies in Toc...

Organic farming was developed to reduce agriculture’s negative impacts on the environment and enhance biodiversity for sustainable productivity in agricultural ecosystems, but the long-term effectiveness of its application in Japanese rice paddies is unclear. We sought to understand how long-term organic farming affects the abundance of animals in both the rice growth and fallow seasons, and how soil properties change. We investigated the abundance of fishes, frogs, beetles, and shellfish in the floodwater in summer, and the abundance of earthworms (mainly Enchytraeidae), arthropods (spiders and springtails), and soil properties in aerobic soils in autumn. We examined fields which had been farmed organically for 10 and 18 years in Tochigi, Japan. Fields farmed with conventional management, located close to the selected organic fields, were used as a control. All selected fields were located in a valley, which is the typical landscape of a traditional Japanese farming village, called a yatsuda in Japanese. The results showed an increase in soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available phosphorus in plowed soils that had been converted from conventional to organic farming both 10 and 18 years earlier. However, the abundance of various animals were not affected significantly by long-term organic rice farming, other than arthropods in the aerobic soils that had been farmed organically for 18 years. The quantity of most animals in floodwater and fallow season soil was unaffected by long-term organic rice farming in the yatsuda paddy fields, probably due to the circumstances and similar irrigation systems for both conventional and organic rice farming, as well as lighter doses of agrochemical application for conventional rice cultivation.

Global meta-analyses showed that biochar application can reduce N

We investigated the influence of slash and burn (SBA) practice on selected soil properties and its influence on the dynamics of mineral nutrients in a typical humid temperate climate region of northeast Japan. Soils were sampled from an SBA site and compared to an adjacent original forest site (control) located in Shonai area, Yamagata Prefecture, from August 2018 to August 2019 with monthly intervals for SBA and bi-monthly intervals for control, except the snow cover period. The results showed that SBA could not evidently affect soil pH, electric conductivity, available phosphorus, exchangeable cations (Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+), and effective cation exchange capacity. This was likely due to the low severity of fire in the SBA site. On the other hand, cultivation of turnip affected seasonal changes of soil NH4+ and NO3− mainly attributed to crop absorption. Soil MBC and MBN were significantly increased after one month of burning due to available soil nutrients from plant biomass burning which stimulated microbial growth. There were no significant changes in SOC and TN between the clear-cut stage (before SBA), and after one year at the end of the study period. This was largely due to the short turnip cultivation period and the quick covering by succession plants. In conclusion, our results showed the SBA practice affected soil properties in this study was not relatively significant.

Enhanced phosphorus (P) uptake from the soil and increased plant growth related to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in pot culture, using sterilized soil, are well-known phenomena. However, these ...

In this study, the density and viscosity of the binary mixture of 1,3-propanediamine (PDA) and polyethylene glycol 200(PEG) under atmospheric pressure (88.91 kPa) at six different temperatures (T = 293.15 K to 318.15 K) were measured. Based on the density and viscosity, excess molar volume (VmE) viscosity deviation (Δη) and excess Gibbs energy of activation of viscous flow (ΔG*E) were calculated. The apparent molar volume (Vφ,1 and Vφ,2) and isostatic thermal expansion coefficient (αp) were then obtained and fitted with the Redlich-Kister(R-K) equation. Additionally, the spectral analyses on the binary mixture (FTIR, UV–Vis and FLS spectra) suggested that there was hydrogen bonding interaction between the amino nitrogen atom of PDA and the hydroxyl group of PEG, which was further verified through Gaussian calculations.

Azolla (Azolla filiculoides) is a common aquatic fern that has been used successfully as a dual crop with lowland rice. It grows rapidly and has the ability to fix N2 for rice paddy. However, its e...

To determine methane (CH4) emission differences between edible and forage rice cultivars, we conducted a pot experiment in Yamagata, Japan to grow edible rice Haenuki, and forage rice Fukuhibiki (for feed rice) and Tachisuzuka (for whole-crop silage (WCS) rice) under similar soil and meteorological conditions. The total amounts of N, P, and K fertilizers applied for Fukuhibiki and Tachisuzuka were 1.7, 1.3, and 1.3 times, respectively, higher than those of Haenuki. CH4 fluxes, and rice plant night respirations were measured once weekly or fortnightly. As per the results, for the whole growth period, shoot height, maximum and productive tiller numbers, and plant biomass were significantly different among the three rice varieties. The rice growth period for Haenuki and Fukuhibiki was 107 days after transplanting (DAT), while that for Tachisuzuka was 135 DAT. The highest peak of CH4 flux occurred around the heading stage for the three varieties. Consistently significant (P

The surrogate-based simulation-optimization techniques are frequently used for optimal groundwater remediation design. When this technique is used, surrogate errors caused by surrogate-modeling uncertainty may lead to generation of infeasible designs. In this paper, a conservative strategy that pushes the optimal design into the feasible region was used to address surrogate-modeling uncertainty. In addition, chance-constrained programming (CCP) was adopted to compare with the conservative strategy in addressing this uncertainty. Three methods, multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP), Kriging (KRG) and support vector regression (SVR), were used to construct surrogate models for a time-consuming multi-phase flow model. To improve the performance of the surrogate model, ensemble surrogates were constructed based on combinations of different stand-alone surrogate models. The results show that: (1) the surrogate-modeling uncertainty was successfully addressed by the conservative strategy, which means that this method is promising for addressing surrogate-modeling uncertainty. (2) The ensemble surrogate model that combines MGGP with KRG showed the most favorable performance, which indicates that this ensemble surrogate can utilize both stand-alone surrogate models to improve the performance of the surrogate model.

There are large amounts of dissolved organic matter (DOM) released into the soil during spring thaw, but its bioavailability and components are still unknown. The quantity, composition and stability of DOM in water extracts of forest soils during thaw were studied after two-month freezing with 9 levels of soil moisture ranging from 10% to 90% water-filled pore space (WFPS), by measuring soil carbon dioxide (CO2) flux, biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) and nitrogen (BDON), ultraviolet absorbance and parallel factor analysis of fluorescence excitation-emission matrices. Concentrations of BDOC, BDON, DOC and DON were lowest around 30% WFPS and relatively higher and lower soil moisture both increased DOM and BDOM concentrations in thawing soil. With increasing WFPS, the dominant component of soil DOM changed from humic acid-like substances to fulvic acid-like substances and the biological origin of DOM increased gradually. The protein-like component accounted for 8–20% of soil DOM and was affected by vegetation type and WFPS singly and interactively. The results implied that forest soils with more than 50% WFPS before winter freezing could release large amounts of fulvic acid-like DOM, which would be easily biodegraded and emitted as CO2 or run off with ground water during spring snow thaw.

A series of quaternary aMmonium ionic liquids(ILs) were synthesized and employed as catalysts for the production of poly(isosorbide carbonate) (PIC) from diphenyl carbonate and isosorbide via a melt polycondensation process. The relationship between the anions of the ILs and the catalytic activities was investigated, and the readily-prepared IL tetraethylammonium imidazolate (TEA!) was found to exhibit the highest catalytic activity. After optimizing the reaction conditions, a PIC with a weight-average molecular weight (M-w) of 25600 g/mol was obtained, in conjunction with an isosorbide conversion of 92%. As a means of modifying the molecular flexibility and thermal properties of the PIC, poly(aliphatic diol-co-isosorbide carbonate)s (PAIC)s were successfully synthesized, again using TEAI, and polymers with Mw values ranging from 29000 to 112000 g/mol were obtained. C-13 NMR analyses determined that the PAIC specimens had random microstructures, while differential scanning calorimetry demonstrated that each of the PAICs were amorphous and had glass transition temperatures ranging from 50 to 115 degrees C. Thermogravimetric analyses found Td-s% values ranging from 316 to 332 degrees C for these polymers. Based on these data, it is evident that the incorporation of linear or cyclohexane-based diol repeating units changed the thermal properties of the PIC. (C) 2017, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

To investigate the influence of Azolla (A. filiculoides Lam.) incorporated as a green manure and its subsequent growth as a dual crop with rice on simultaneous methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a flooded alluvial soil planted with rice, a pot experiment with three treatments, chemical fertilizers (NPK) as the control, incorporation of Azolla as green manure (AGM), and AGM plus basal chemical fertilizers (NPK+AGM) was conducted in Tsuruoka, Yamagata, Japan in 2017. AGM and NPK+AGM treatments significantly increased CH4 emissions at early rice growth stages before 63 days after transplanting (DAT) by 123.0% and 176.7% compared to NPK, respectively. At late rice growth stages (after 63 DAT), only the NPK+AGM treatment significantly increased CH4 emission by 22.1% compared to NPK. However, percentage of CH4 emitted after 63 DAT relative to the seasonal CH4 emission followed the order of NPK (86.2%) > AGM (76.5%) > NPK+AGM (73.3%). Higher CH4 emissions from AGM and NPK+AGM before 63 DAT were attributed to the incorporated Azolla, while the higher emissions after 63 DAT in all treatment groups were ascribed to rice photosynthesis. AGM and NPK+AGM treatments significantly decreased N2O emissions by 71.6% and 81.1% compared to NPK, respectively, at early rice growth stages. Azolla incorporation may have restricted N2O emission from initial soil nitrate before 63 DAT and not have contributed to N2O emissions after 63 DAT. Significantly higher grain yields were observed under the AGM (32.5%) and NPK+AGM (36.3%) compared to NPK. Together, AGM and NPK+AGM treatments significantly increased seasonal CH4 emissions by 31.5% and 43.5%, and decreased seasonal N2O emissions 3.4- and 4.6- fold compared to NPK, respectively. There were no significant differences in the CH4 emissions per grain yield among the treatments; however compared to NPK, AGM and NPK+AGM treatments significantly reduced N2O emissions per grain yield by 78.7% and 84.1%, respectively.

To understand the effects of soil temperature and moisture on rice straw decomposition during the off-rice season and subsequent CH4 production in rice growth season, we firstly incubated a paddy soil with 13C-labeled straw addition under four temperature (±5, 5, 15, and 25 °C) and two moisture levels (60 and 100 % water-filled pore space (WFPS)) under aerobic conditions for 24 weeks and subsequently incubated those samples anaerobically at 30 °C and under submerged conditions for 4 weeks. Temperature change at ±5 °C was used to simulate the diurnal variation of soil temperature between night (−5 °C, 12 h) and day (5 °C, 12 h) during the corresponding freeze-thaw cycles. Our results showed that both increased soil temperature and moisture significantly promoted straw aerobic decomposition as observed by carbon dioxide (CO2) production, soil organic carbon (SOC) content, and its δ13C value in this incubation experiment. During the anaerobic incubation, straw-amended soil samples remarkably promoted CH4 production and CH4/total decomposed C. Both CH4 and CO2 productions in straw-amended soil samples were lowest at 25 °C and 100 % WFPS and highest at ±5 °C and 100 % WFPS, which could be attributed to a depletion of labile organic C derived from straw during the 24-week aerobic incubation. Total rates of straw C decomposition calculated from decomposed C production, SOC content, and δ13C value in the whole incubation (aerobic + anaerobic) ranged from 29.8 to 48.1, 45.0 to 64.2, and 25.7 to 35.7 %, respectively. These results imply that increasing soil temperature during the off-rice season promotes the rice straw decomposition and leads to a decrease in CH4 production during the subsequent rice growth season under conditions of northeastern Japan.

Water as an absorbent for ethylene oxide has been extensively investigated over the past decades, but many issues about this system still remain such as solvent loss, high energy consumption. In this work, a new absorbent ethylene carbonate (EC) was applied and the solubility behaviors of carbon dioxide, ethylene, methane in the ethylene carbonate (EC) were investigated with using static apparatus at temperatures of 313.2, 323.2, and 333.2 K. And the vapor liquid equilibrium(VLE) of ethylene oxide(EO) and EC have been studied with gas chromatography analysis method at temperatures of 333.2, 343.2, and 353.2 K. The NRTL and Wilson models were used to correlate experimental solubility data and VLE data. The conceptual H2O-based and EC-based EO absorption process for EO-containing mixed gas purification was established and optimized with using the regressed NRTL model parameters. The results showed that the purification process of EC used as absorbent could reduce energy consumption 37.6 Gcal/h.

The development of stable and efficient catalysts is an attractive topic for green chemistry reactions under mild reaction conditions. In order to improve solvent-free synthesis of cyclic carbonates from urea and diols, a binary catalyst systems of Zn-based and different ionic liquids (ILs) were developed and examined in this study. The yield of ethylene carbonate (EC) could reach to 92.2% in the presence of C16mimCl/ZnCl2 catalyst. Through exploring the structure-activity relationships of cation and anion, it was confirmed that a synergistic effect of cation and anion of catalyst had important influences on urea alcoholysis. Additionally, the controlling step of EC synthesis reaction involving the elimination of an ammonia molecule from intermediates had been revealed by in situ FT-IR. This could afford a guided insight for synthesizing cyclic carbonates with high yield. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the catalytic process was proposed based on DFT and the experimental results via FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C NMR analysis, which revealed that not only a probable synergistic effects of cation-anion matters, but also C(2)-H of ILs and Zn2+ played a key role in accelerating the reaction of urea alcoholysis. This catalytic mechanism study is to provide a preliminary basis to develop novel catalysts for cyclic carbonates from urea and diols through a green synthetic pathway.

Organic farming was developed to reduce agriculture's negative impacts on the environment and enhance biodiversity for sustainable productivity in agricultural ecosystems, but the long-term effectiveness of its application in Japanese rice paddies is unclear. We sought to understand how long-term organic farming affects the abundance of animals in both the rice growth and fallow seasons, and how soil properties change. We investigated the abundance of fishes, frogs, beetles, and shellfish in the floodwater in summer, and the abundance of earthworms (mainly Enchytraeidae), arthropods (spiders and springtails), and soil properties in aerobic soils in autumn. We examined fields which had been farmed organically for 10 and 18 years in Tochigi, Japan. Fields farmed with conventional management, located close to the selected organic fields, were used as a control. All selected fields were located in a valley, which is the typical landscape of a traditional Japanese farming village, called a yatsuda in Japanese. The results showed an increase in soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available phosphorus in plowed soils that had been converted from conventional to organic farming both 10 and 18 years earlier. However, the abundance of various animals were not affected significantly by long-term organic rice farming, other than arthropods in the aerobic soils that had been farmed organically for 18 years. The quantity of most animals in floodwater and fallow season soil was unaffected by long-term organic rice farming in the yatsuda paddy fields, probably due to the circumstances and similar irrigation systems for both conventional and organic rice farming, as well as lighter doses of agrochemical application for conventional rice cultivation.

Antecedent soil moisture before freezing can affect greenhouse gases (GHG) fluxes from soils during thaw, but their critical threshold values for GHG fluxes and the underlying mechanisms are still not clear. By using packed soil-core incubation experiments, we have studied nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes from a mature broadleaf and Korean pine-mixed forest soil and an adjacent white birch forest soil with nine levels of soil moisture ranging from 10 to 90% water-filled pore space (WFPS) during a 2-month freezing at −8°C and the following 10-day thaw at 10°C. The threshold values of soil moisture ranged from 50 to 70% WFPS for CH4 uptake and from 70 to 90% WFPS for N2O and CO2 emissions from the two soils during the freeze-thaw period. Under the optimum soil moisture condition, fulvic-like compounds with high bioavailability contributed more than 60% of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the soil. Cumulative N2O emissions from forest soils during the freeze-thaw period were greatest when the concentration ratio of nitrate-N to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was 0.04 g N g−1 C. Cumulative soil CO2 emissions and CH4 uptake during the freeze-thaw period were both regulated by the interaction between soil DOC and net N mineralization. The activities of β-1,4-glucosidase and β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, microbial biomass C and N, and the microbial biomass C-to-N ratios, were all significantly correlated to the soil N2O, CO2, and CH4 fluxes. Overall, upon a freeze-thaw period with different soil moistures, GHG fluxes from forest soils were jointly regulated by inorganic N and DOC concentrations, and related to the labile components of DOM released into the soil, which could be strictly controlled by the related microbial properties.

This study aimed at understanding whether and how long-term organic rice farming affects soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and their mineralization potentials in submerged rice paddies in Tochigi, Japan. An incubation experiment was carried out to assess the impacts of internal nutrient cycling after organic farming (OF) for 4–5 years (4OF), 8–9 years (8OF), and 12 years (12OF), compared with a conventional rice field (CF). Soil samples were collected at 0–15 cm and 15–20 cm in flooded rice fields after harvest in October 2013. pH and bulk density at 0–15 cm were significantly lower in 12OF fields than in CF fields (by 0.22 unit pH and 17.5%, respectively). Compared with CF, 12OF fields showed significant differences in soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN), but 4OF and 8OF fields did not. In 8OF fields, the C decomposition (Co) and N mineralization (No) potentials were significantly higher (by 34.0% and 35.6%, respectively, at 0–15 cm, and by 67.1% and 24.5% at 15–20 cm) than in CF fields. Similarly, in 8OF fields at 0–15 cm, the Co:SOC and No:TN ratios were 19.8% and 23.2% higher, respectively, than in CF fields. Co, No, Co:SOC, and No:TN in 12OF fields were higher than those in CF fields, demonstrating the effects of prolonged organic rice farming. Additionally, in 12OF fields, C and N stocks were significantly higher (by 15.5% and 17.2%, respectively, at 0–15 cm, and by 4.8% and 12.1% at 15–20 cm) than in CF fields. Our findings suggest that long-term organic rice farming increases soil C and N stocks as well as C and N mineralization in Japanese Andosols.

Submerged rice paddies are a major source of methane (CH4) which is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). Accelerating rice straw decomposition during the off-rice season could help to reduce CH4 emission from rice paddies during the single rice-growth season in cold temperate regions. For understanding how both temperature and moisture can affect the rate of rice straw decomposition during the off-rice season in the cold temperate region of Tohoku district, Japan, a modeling incubation experiment was carried out in the laboratory. Bulk soil and soil mixed with 2% of δ13C-labeled rice straw with a full factorial combination of four temperature levels (−5 to 5, 5, 15, 25°C) and two moisture levels (60% and 100% WFPS) were incubated for 24 weeks. The daily change from −5 to 5°C was used to model the freezing–thawing cycles occurring during the winter season. The rates of rice straw decomposition were calculated by (i) CO2 production; (ii) change in the soil organic car...

This paper introduces a surrogate model to identify an optimal exploitation scheme, while the western Jilin province was selected as the study area. A numerical simulation model of groundwater flow was established first, and four exploitation wells were set in the Tongyu county and Qian Gorlos county respectively so as to supply water to Daan county. Second, the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) method was used to collect data in the feasible region for input variables. A surrogate model of the numerical simulation model of groundwater flow was developed using the regression kriging method. An optimization model was established to search an optimal groundwater exploitation scheme using the minimum average drawdown of groundwater table and the minimum cost of groundwater exploitation as multi-objective functions. Finally, the surrogate model was invoked by the optimization model in the process of solving the optimization problem. Results show that the relative error and root mean square error of the groundwater table drawdown between the simulation model and the surrogate model for 10 validation samples are both lower than 5%, which is a high approximation accuracy. The contrast between the surrogate-based simulation optimization model and the conventional simulation optimization model for solving the same optimization problem, shows the former only needs 5.5 hours, and the latter needs 25 days. The above results indicate that the surrogate model developed in this study could not only considerably reduce the computational burden of the simulation optimization process, but also maintain high computational accuracy. This can thus provide an effective method for identifying an optimal groundwater exploitation scheme quickly and accurately.

An eco-friendly and efficient binary catalyst system of superbases and amino acids was developed for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and CO2 under metal-free and halide-free conditions. Among the various amino acids and superbases systems tested, the L-histidine/1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]-undec-7-ene (DBU) system achieved the highest conversion of propylene oxide and selectivity of propylene carbonate. The effect of various reaction parameters was evaluated. A possible catalyst mechanism for L-histidine synergized with DBU in the ring opening of epoxide and DBU introduced CO2 activation. The process herein represents a green, simple, and cost-effective route for the chemical fixation of CO2 into cyclic carbonates.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi enhance plant uptake of available phosphorus (P) from soil through their extraradical hyphae. The mechanism underlying this P uptake enhanced by AM fungi is the increase in the surface area for absorption of available P. Little is known about utilization of unavailable P by AM fungi. We investigated whether extraradical hyphae of AM fungi release acid phosphatase (ACP). Sterilized Andosol was packed in pots that were separated into the mycorrhizal and hyphal compartments with a nylon net of 30-μm pore size. Seeds of Allium fistulosum L. were inoculated or uninoculated with the AM fungus Rhizophagus clarus (Nicolson & Schenck) Walker & Schüßler. Mullite ceramic tubes were buried in the soil of each compartment, and soil solution was collected. A. fistulosum L. and Linum usitatissimum L. inoculated with R. clarus were grown in sand culture and in vitro monoxenic culture, respectively. Uninoculated A. fistulosum L was grown in hydroponic culture to collect root exudate. The soil solution, hyphal extracts, root extract and root exudates were subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis. Shoot P concentration, shoot P content and shoot dry weight were higher in the inoculated treatment than in the uninoculated treatment. Activity staining of the gel revealed that ACP activity at 187 kDa was observed in the soil solution in the inoculation treatment, and in the hyphal extract collected from sand culture and in vitro monoxenic culture, but neither in the root exudate of non-mycorrhizal plant grown in the hydroponic culture nor in the root extracts irrespective of mycorrhizal status. Those results provide strong evidence that the corresponding activity in the soil solutions in soil culture is of R. clarus CK001 origin. These findings suggest that the fungus releases ACP from extraradical hyphae into the hyphosphere.

Several novel 2-hydroxymethyl-functionalized ILs act as the catalysts for synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides without the use of any co-catalysts or organic solvent. Moreover, the 2-hydroxymethyl-functionalized ILs were compatible with base, which combined with K2CO3 were used as effective catalytic system for green synthesis of dimethyl carbonate from CO2via ethylene carbonate without catalyst separation. Additionally, the mechanistic details of the fixation of CO2 into cyclic carbonate catalyzed by 2-hydroxymethyl-functionalized ILs were also elucidated by density functional theory. The process reported here represents a simple, ecologically safer, cost-effective and energy-saving route to organic carbonates from CO2.

In this work, the cycloaddition reactions of CO2 with various epoxides to form five-membered cyclic carbonates catalyzed by an efficient amino acid based biocompatible catalyst were investigated. It was found that the activity of amino acid could be obviously enhanced in the presence of alkali metal salts, and the c-tryptophan catalytic system was the most efficient among the catalysts employed. Based on the result, a possible mechanism for the synergetic effect of catalyst was proposed. The process reported here represents a simple, ecologically safer, cost-effective route to cyclic carbonates with high product quality, as well as easy catalyst recycling. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

To determine methane (CH4) emission differences between edible and forage rice cultivars, we conducted a pot experiment in Yamagata, Japan to grow edible rice Haenuki, and forage rice Fukuhibiki (for feed rice) and Tachisuzuka (for whole-crop silage (WCS) rice) under similar soil and meteorological conditions. The total amounts of N, P, and K fertilizers applied for Fukuhibiki and Tachisuzuka were 1.7, 1.3, and 1.3 times, respectively, higher than those of Haenuki. CH4 fluxes, and rice plant night respirations were measured once weekly or fortnightly. As per the results, for the whole growth period, shoot height, maximum and productive tiller numbers, and plant biomass were significantly different among the three rice varieties. The rice growth period for Haenuki and Fukuhibiki was 107 days after transplanting (DAT), while that for Tachisuzuka was 135 DAT. The highest peak of CH4 flux occurred around the heading stage for the three varieties. Consistently significant (P P 4 flux and night respiration among the varieties were observed from 9 weeks after rice transplanting to harvest, indicating that much of the CH4 flux was from newly produced root exudates and plant debris through plant photosynthesis. The cumulated CH4 emissions during the same growth period, 106 DAT, from Haenuki, Fukuhibiki, and Tachisuzuka were 55.36, 77.46, and 78.40 g C m−2, respectively. Additionally, Tachisuzuka emitted 25.11 g C m−2 more CH4 between 106–134 DAT. The final cumulated CH4 emissions from Fukuhibiki and Tachisuzuka were 39.9% and 87.0% higher than that from Haenuki, respectively, throughout their growth period.