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The growing world population and global increases in the standard of living both result in an increasing demand for food, feed and other plant‐derived products. In the coming years, plant‐based research will be among the major drivers ensuring food security and the expansion of the bio‐based economy. Crop productivity is determined by several factors, including the available physical and agricultural resources, crop management, and the resource use efficiency, quality and intrinsic yield potential of the chosen crop. This review focuses on intrinsic yield potential, since understanding its determinants and their biological basis will allow to maximize the plant's potential in food and energy production. Yield potential is determined by a variety of complex traits that integrate strictly regulated processes and their underlying gene regulatory networks. Due to this inherent complexity, numerous potential targets have been identified that could be exploited to increase crop yield. These encompass diverse metabolic and physical processes at the cellular, organ and canopy level. We present an overview of some of the distinct biological processes considered to be crucial for yield determination that could further be exploited to improve future crop productivity.

The growing world population and global increases in the standard of living both result in an increasing demand for food, feed and other plant-derived products. In the coming years, plant-based research will be among the major drivers ensuring food security and the expansion of the bio-based economy. Crop productivity is determined by several factors, including the available physical and agricultural resources, crop management, and the resource use efficiency, quality and intrinsic yield potential of the chosen crop. This review focuses on intrinsic yield potential, since understanding its determinants and their biological basis will allow to maximize the plant's potential in food and energy production. Yield potential is determined by a variety of complex traits that integrate strictly regulated processes and their underlying gene regulatory networks. Due to this inherent complexity, numerous potential targets have been identified that could be exploited to increase crop yield. These encompass diverse metabolic and physical processes at the cellular, organ and canopy level. We present an overview of some of the distinct biological processes considered to be crucial for yield determination that could further be exploited to improve future crop productivity.

Wheat provides 20% of calories and protein consumed by humans. Recent genetic gains are <1% per annum (p.a.), insufficient to meet future demand. The Wheat Yield Consortium brings expertise in photosynthesis, crop adaptation and genetics to a common breeding platform. Theory suggest radiation use efficiency (RUE) of wheat could be increased ∼50%; strategies include modifying specificity, catalytic rate and regulation of Rubisco, up-regulating Calvin cycle enzymes, introducing chloroplast CO2 concentrating mechanisms, optimizing light and N distribution of canopies while minimizing photoinhibition, and increasing spike photosynthesis. Maximum yield expression will also require dynamic optimization of source: sink so that dry matter partitioning to reproductive structures is not at the cost of the roots, stems and leaves needed to maintain physiological and structural integrity. Crop development should favour spike fertility to maximize harvest index so phenology must be tailored to different photoperiods, and sensitivity to unpredictable weather must be modulated to reduce conservative responses that reduce harvest index. Strategic crossing of complementary physiological traits will be augmented with wide crossing, while genome-wide selection and high throughput phenotyping and genotyping will increase efficiency of progeny screening. To ensure investment in breeding achieves agronomic impact, sustainable crop management must also be promoted through crop improvement networks.

THE NEXT FOCUS FOR LVC: Shift the Focus from the Infrastructure Solutions to the Realism of the LVC Environment. V&V of the LVC integrations * Terrain correlation between simulations and live crucially affects a "fair fight" * Semi-Automated Forces (SAF) ability to interpret live C4I messages properly * Sensible SAF behavior based on real threats to challenge Live and other simulation players * Information Operations, Cyber-Warfare, and other emerging warfighting capabilities into LVC events * Federated simulations to replicate Joint Mission Threads. THIS YEAR'S MESSAGE: Shift the Focus from the Infrastructure solutions to the realism of the LVC Environment * Future investments in our LVC test infrastructure have to be made in a corporate manner, with the Enterprise in mind., Presented at the International Test and Evaluation (ITEA) Live-Virtual Constructive (LVC) Conference, held in El Paso, TX, on 12-15 Jan 2009. Document consists entirely of briefing charts. The original document contains color images.

In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recognized the potential to streamline acquisition by more extensively using modeling and simulation in system development to get a better understanding of the system design. A number of initiatives were started, placing a greater emphasis on models, simulations, and virtual prototypes of specific systems running in a synthetic representation of the battlefield tailored to that system. The test community, likewise, recognized the potential opportunities to test weapon systems "before metal was bent," gaining early insight to system performance. To explore the feasibility of distributed testing, the Joint Test and Evaluation Joint Advanced Distributed Simulation (JADS) Program was chartered. The core conclusion of the JADS Program was that integrating distributed test capabilities with simulations does provide test utility; however, many infrastructure challenges must be overcome to make distributed testing timely and cost effective while still providing meaningful results to program managers and system evaluators. The fundamental infrastructure issues were twofold. First, installing a network for each test event took a significant amount of time, and second, the technical solutions used at each test center varied drastically, requiring time and money to develop gateways to bridge across different protocols., Published in the International Test and Evaluation Journal v30 n2 p191-192, 2009.

In the mid-1980s, spectrum used by the Department of Defense (DoD) test community began to be reallocated for the rapidly growing consumer electronics market. By the mid-1990s, the DoD had lost access to 30 percent of the spectrum used to carry data during testing of aerospace vehicles. At the same time, advances in computer technology and onboard sensor electronics resulted in an exponentially increasing demand for additional spectrum to provide useful test results in real time during test events. The DoD joined with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the aircraft manufacturers' industry group, the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council (AFTRCC), to address this shared problem. Operating as the ad hoc Range Spectrum Requirements Working Group (RSRWG), the three partners developed a plan that ultimately led them to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an international treaty organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. This challenge required the three partners to use nontraditional approaches to address this issue. This article discusses the working relationships and approaches used to ensure that we successfully addressed the issues of spectrum encroachment., Published in the ITEA Journal, v29 n1 p9-10, Mar 2008.