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Accurate evaluation of forest biomass distribution and its long-term change over wide areas is required for effective forest carbon management and prediction of landscape-scale forest dynamics. We evaluated a landscape-scale (225 km ^2 ) decadal forest carbon budget at a 1 ha spatial resolution in a cool-temperate forest, by repeating airborne laser observations 10 years apart and partitioning net forest biomass change (FBC) into growth and mortality. Using >10 000 samples, we revealed that naturally regenerated forests have large spatial heterogeneity in net biomass change, and 3/4 of the photosynthetically acquired carbon stock moved to necromass even without anthropogenic disturbances. Actual carbon residence time as living tree biomass was estimated by dividing biomass by growth or mortality rates. The residence time was 107 and 106 years, respectively with large spatial variation among stands (48 and 42 years, respectively, as the difference between 25 and 75 percentile), although studied forest stands have small variation in the forest functional type in a landscape-scale. The best predictors of subsequent decadal biomass changes were two forest structural factors, mean canopy height and canopy height variation in addition to one environmental factor, elevation. Considering the long lifetime of trees, these structural factors may be an indicator of forest soundness rather than a cause of forest growth or mortality. However, in any cases, these structural factors can be powerful predictors of subsequent FBC.

Abstract In the present study, we propose a variable-sensitivity force sensor using a shape-memory polymer (SMP), the stiffness of which varies according to the temperature. Since the measurement range and sensitivity can be changed, it is not necessary to replace the force sensor to match the measurement target. Shape-memory polymers are often described as two-phase structures comprising a lower-temperature “glassy” hard phase and a higher-temperature “rubbery” soft phase. The relationship between the applied force and the deformation of the SMP changes depending on the temperature. The proposed sensor consists of strain gauges bonded to an SMP bending beam and senses the applied force by measuring the strain. Therefore, the force measurement range and the sensitivity can be changed according to the temperature. In our previous study, we found that a sensor with one strain gauge and a steel plate had a small error and a large sensitivity range. Therefore, in the present study, we miniaturize this type of sensor. Moreover, in order to describe the viscoelastic behavior more accurately, we propose a transfer function using a generalized Maxwell model. We verify the proposed model experimentally and estimated the parameters by system identification. In addition, we realize miniaturization of the sensor and achieve the same performance as in our previous study. It is shown that the proposed transfer function can capture the viscoelastic behavior of the proposed SMP sensor quite well.

Abstract Background Tibial internal rotation following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is important in achieving favorable postoperative clinical outcomes. Studies have reported the effect of intraoperative soft tissue balance on tibial internal rotation in conventional TKA, no studies have evaluated the effects of soft tissue balance at medial or lateral compartments separately on tibial internal rotation in bi-cruciate stabilized (BCS) TKA. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between medial or lateral component gaps and rotational knee kinematics in BCS TKA. Methods One hundred fifty-eight knees that underwent BCS TKA were included in this study. The intraoperative medial and lateral joint laxities which was defined as the value of component gap minus the thickness of the tibial component were firstly divided into two groups, respectively: Group M-stable (medial joint laxity, ≤ 2 mm) or Group M-loose (medial joint laxity, ≥ 3 mm) and Group L-stable (lateral joint laxity, ≤ 3 mm) or Group L-loose (lateral joint laxity, ≥ 4 mm). And finally, the knees enrolled in this study were divided into four groups based on the combination of Group M and Group L: Group A (M-stable and L-stable), Group B (M-stable and L-loose), Group C (M-loose and L-stable), and Group D (M-loose and L-loose). The intraoperative rotational knee kinematics were compared between the four Groups at 0°, 30°, 60°, and 90° flexion, respectively. Results The rotational angular difference between 0° flexion and maximum flexion in Group B at 30° flexion was significantly larger than that in Group A at 30° flexion (*p

Abstract The occurrence of extreme warm events and early snowmelt is predicted to increase in high‐latitude ecosystems, even during periods of time when there is no coincident reduction in total precipitation. However, because extreme events like these occur unpredictably, little is known about how advancing snowmelt by a single extreme warm event, without a reduction in precipitation amount, influences overstory trees and understory vegetation simultaneously in an ecosystem. We conducted a warming experiment (four 20 × 20 m plots) in temperate forests of Japan to determine the effects of earlier snowmelt on both understory dwarf bamboo plants and overstory birch trees. Our experimental treatment advanced snowmelt by about 10 days and increased soil temperatures that were associated with increased rates of soil nitrogen (N) mineralization and nitrification. Furthermore, these changes led to lower C:N ratios of leaves together with the greater growth of understory bamboo vegetation, with no changes in leaf C:N or growth rates of overstory birch trees. Together, our results demonstrate that advancing snowmelt by an extreme warm event in temperate forests is likely to affect N cycling and will benefit understory vegetation without a commensurate change in overstory vegetation, likely due to the increase in available soil N. These results also demonstrate that with the projected increase in the frequency of extreme warm events and advanced snowmelt, understory vegetation is likely to benefit more than overstory trees in Japanese temperate forests with heavy snow.

Climate warming is advancing snowmelt timing in the spring at high latitudes. To predict tree growth in subboreal forests under warmer climates based on mechanistic understanding, it is important to assess how advancing snowmelt influences tree growth in the spring via ecophysiological changes in subboreal forests. In this study, we conducted a field manipulation experiment of snowmelt timing and investigated the response of tree growth, leaf functional traits, and bud-burst phenology in the spring for the seedlings of six dominant tree species in subboreal forests. We found that the spring growth of only one species (Kalopanax septemlobus) out of six species responded positively to advancing snowmelt. Among the leaf functional traits (leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content, leaf δ13C value, leaf dry matter content, and leaf area) and bud-burst phenology, only the increase in leaf area was linked to the enhanced shoot growth of K. septemlobus. The significant change in K. septemlobus might be associated with its ecological characteristics to prefer regeneration in canopy gaps. These results indicate that advancing snowmelt under warmer winters can be beneficial for tree species that can plastically develop leaf area in Japanese subboreal forests.

Given the time scale based on the duration of exposure to global warming, natural climate-gradient studies and experimental manipulations have detected long-term (decades to centuries) and short-term (years to decades) ecological responses to global warming. Combination of these two complementary approaches within a single study may enable prediction of the likely responses of ecological processes to global warming. To understand how global warming affects plant–herbivore interactions within a canopy of Erman’s birch, we combined an elevational gradient study and a warming experiment involving mature birch trees in which the soil and tree branches were warmed separately. In the elevational gradient study, herbivory by chewing insects and plant growth increased as elevation decreased, and the concentrations of condensed tannins and total phenolics in the leaves decreased. In the warming experiment, soil warming alone increased herbivory, and the addition of branch warming amplified the effect on herbivory. Soil warming alone decreased the tannin concentration, and the addition of branch warming led to a further reduction. The variation in herbivory was best explained by the tannin content of leaves. Our experimental results demonstrate that the decreased tannin content of leaves due to a combination of soil and branch warming was an important driver of increased herbivory in the canopy of the mature birch trees. The similar tendencies in the short- and long-term responses imply that global warming is likely to increase background herbivory in mature birch trees by decreasing the tannin content of leaves in the canopy.

The photochemical reflectance index (PRI) and the chlorophyll carotenoid index (CCI) are carotenoid-sensitive vegetation indices, which can monitor vegetation’s photosynthetic activities. One unique satellite named “Global Change Observation Mission-Climate (GCOM-C)” is equipped with a sensor, “Second Generation Global Imager (SGLI)”, which has the potential to frequently and simultaneously observe PRI and CCI over a wide swath. However, the observation accuracy of PRI and CCI derived from GCOM-C/SGLI remains unclear in forests. Thus, we demonstrated their accuracy assessment by comparing them with in situ data. We collected in situ spectral irradiance data at four forest sites in Japan for three years. We statistically compared satellite PRI with in situ PRI, and satellite CCI with in situ CCI. From the obtained results, the satellite PRI showed poor agreement (the best: r=0.294 (p<0.05)) and the satellite CCI showed good agreement (the best: r=0.911 (p<0.001)). The greater agreement of satellite CCI is possibly because satellite CCI contained fewer outliers and satellite CCI was more resistant to small noise, compared to satellite PRI. Our results suggest that the satellite CCI is more suitable for practical use than the satellite PRI with the latest version (version 3) of GCOM-C/SGLI’s products.

This paper discusses a spillover phenomenon on the lower frequency side in the multimode piezoelectric NC (Negative Capacitor)-shunt damping problem. In contrast to standard spillover phenomena, this phenomenon is quite interesting because the instability is caused by neglecting lower frequency vibration modes in controller design. First, an example of spillover phenomenon on the lower frequency side is illustrated. When the NC-shunt damping problem is interpreted as the H∞-control problem, the combination of mechanical and electrical systems is recognized as a stable generalized plant and the admittance of the NC circuit is recognized as an unstable controller. The circuit parameters of NC-circuits are tuned for each vibration mode, and then, it is demonstrated that the closed loop system becomes unstable when the first vibration mode is neglected in parameter tuning. Then, the graphical instability analyses are carried out by investigating the Bode and Nyquist diagrams. According to the Nyquist stability criterion, the closed loop system between the stable generalized plant and the unstable controller becomes stable if and only if the Nyquist diagram encircles −1+ j0 once in the counter-clockwise direction on the complex plane. In the example of unstable closed loop system, it is confirmed that the Nyquist diagram encircles −1+ j0 once in the clockwise direction and that both gain and phase intersections occur at the anti-resonance frequency in the Bode diagram. Finally, the approximate instability analysis is carried out to prove that the instability is caused by simultaneous gain and phase intersections at the anti-resonance frequency indeed. From the instability analysis, it is clarified that spillover phenomenon on the lower frequency side is not a special phenomenon limited to a specific experimental setup but can generally occur in the piezoelectric NC-shunt damping problem.

Anthropogenic disturbances in forest management practices can affect wild edible plants. Soil scarification is a large-scale disturbance that may cause long-term reduction in productivity of edible dwarf bamboo, Sasa kurilensis, in northern Japan. For their effective and sustainable use, we need to understand the recovery process after such disturbances. At 14 study sites in the Teshio Experimental Forest of Hokkaido University where soil scarification had been conducted between 2 and 44 years prior, the number and stem diameter of old and young (newly emerged, edible) culms was recorded. At sites that were within 11 years of soil scarification, the proportion of old culms (

Evaluation of carbon dioxide (CO2) sinks in forest areas of East and Southeast Asia (especially tropical regions) is important for assessing CO2 budgets at the regional scale. To evaluate the CO2 flux of large forest areas, we collected vertical CO2 profiles over the forest using a CO2 sonde and measured surface CO2 concentrations around the forest using continuous CO2 measurement equipment. These observations were performed over a typical northern forest (Hokkaido) in Japan, a subtropical forest island (Iriomote Island) in Japan, and a tropical forest in Borneo Island. We detected the differences in CO2 vertical profiles between dawn and daytime, and at the upwind and downwind sites of the forests with the observational results from the CO2 sonde. We also clarified that CO2 concentrations during daytime at the downwind sites (affected by the forest) were systematically lower than those at the upwind sites (not affected by the forest). In contrast, CO2 concentrations during dawn at the downwind sites were larger than those at the upwind site. We estimated the CO2 fluxes (μmol m−2 s−1) at dawn and daytime of the forests from these observational results. The CO2 fluxes of Borneo’s forest were very large (16.5 and −37.7 at dawn and daytime, respectively), whereas the CO2 fluxes of the forests in Hokkaido and Iriomote were lower (3.9 to 11.8 at dawn and −11.8 to −15.0 at daytime). These evaluated values were consistent with fluxes measured by the eddy-covariance method in the same region. Thus, use of the CO2 sonde to collect observations of CO2 vertical profiles was considered to be an effective method to verify CO2 absorption and emission in large forest areas. This method can also be used to evaluate dynamic CO2 absorption and emission processes in tropical forests.

Abstract The net ecosystem CO2 exchange is the result of the imbalance between the assimilation process (gross primary production, GPP) and ecosystem respiration (RE). The aim of this study was to investigate temperature sensitivities of these processes and the effect of climate warming on the annual terrestrial net ecosystem CO2 exchange globally in the boreal and temperate regions. A database of 403 site-years of ecosystem flux data at 101 sites in the world was collected and analyzed. Temperature sensitivities of rates of RE and GPP were quantified with Q 10, defined as the increase of RE (or GPP) rates with a temperature rise of 10 °C. Results showed that on the annual time scale, the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of GPP (Q 10sG ) was higher than or equivalent to the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of RE (Q 10sR ). Q 10sG was negatively correlated to the mean annual temperature (MAT), whereas Q 10sR was independent of MAT. The analysis of the current temperature sensitivities and net ecosystem production suggested that temperature rise might enhance the CO2 sink of terrestrial ecosystems both in the boreal and temperate regions. In addition, ecosystems in these regions with different plant functional types should sequester more CO2 with climate warming.

This paper proposes a simple but effective method for characterizing dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), especially for thin stacked DEAs, which are promising for haptic devices but which measure the dynamic elastic modulus with great difficulty. The difficulty of the measurement of such a thin stacked DEA arises from the friction and local deformation of the surface between the DEA and a contact, as shown in this paper. In the proposed method, a DEA is vertically suspended and a weight is attached to it. The proposed method requires no contact with the surface of a DEA and uses only a weighting mass. Experimental results demonstrated the proposed method can estimate almost essential constants, such as the dynamic elastic modulus (Young’s modulus and damping time constant), the electrical constants (permittivity and resistivity), and the coefficient of electromechanical coupling, through the forced vibration induced by voltage actuation.

Rising atmospheric CO _2 concentration ([CO _2 ]) enhances photosynthesis and reduces transpiration at the leaf, ecosystem, and global scale via the CO _2 fertilization effect. The CO _2 fertilization effect is among the most important processes for predicting the terrestrial carbon budget and future climate, yet it has been elusive to quantify. For evaluating the CO _2 fertilization effect on land photosynthesis and transpiration, we developed a technique that isolated this effect from other confounding effects, such as changes in climate, using a noisy time series of observed land-atmosphere CO _2 and water vapor exchange. Here, we evaluate the magnitude of this effect from 2000 to 2014 globally based on constraint optimization of gross primary productivity (GPP) and evapotranspiration in a canopy photosynthesis model over 104 global eddy-covariance stations. We found a consistent increase of GPP (0.138 ± 0.007% ppm ^−1 ; percentile per rising ppm of [CO _2 ]) and a concomitant decrease in transpiration (−0.073% ± 0.006% ppm ^−1 ) due to rising [CO _2 ]. Enhanced GPP from CO _2 fertilization after the baseline year 2000 is, on average, 1.2% of global GPP, 12.4 g C m ^−2 yr ^−1 or 1.8 Pg C yr ^−1 at the years from 2001 to 2014. Our result demonstrates that the current increase in [CO _2 ] could potentially explain the recent land CO _2 sink at the global scale.

This paper proposes a novel controlled charge source circuit for synthetic admittance of piezoelectric shunt damping system. A design method for the proposed charge source circuit is also proposed. By analyzing the stability of the charge source circuit itself in consideration of the dynamics of the operational amplifier, this paper shows the conventional simple charge source circuit can be unstable because its minimum phase margin is extremely small. Moreover, we show that the minimum phase margin of the charge source circuit itself is greatly improved by the proposed method. In the case of the parameters of the experimental apparatus in this paper, the minimum phase margin is improved from less than 5 degrees to more than 75 degrees. Finally, we carry out the characterization of the developed circuit and shunt damping experiment in order to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed charge source circuit used as the synthetic admittance.

In this paper, a model of yarn considering stretching, bending and twisting motions is constructed. The proposed yarn model is based on rigid multibody dynamics and expresses the dynamical behavior of flexible yarn. The yarn model is made of successive computational units. The computational unit consists of a rigid sphere with mass, a massless cylinder and three sets of springs and dampers for stretching, bending and twisting motions. In the numerical simulation of the unwinding motion of a yarn from bobbin, the computational units located at the ends of a yarn are easily generated or extinguished. The proposed yarn model has the following features: it can easily treat the contact force interacting with walls, and it can reduce the computational cost. In this study, validity of the proposed yarn model is confirmed by comparing the numerical simulation results of unwinding motion of the yarn with the experimental ones. Furthermore, the torsional angles of the yarn rolling on the eyelet guide wall, which is difficult to be measured in experiments, is numerically investigated. Particularly, the occurrence of false twist is observed and explained.

This paper proposes a transfer function of rotating shaft system considering both an open crack and anisotropy in bearing support stiffness, which are both fundamental characteristics often observed in the rotating machinery. Due to the interaction of anisotropy in bearing support and rotor crack, vibration component is generated without limitation. In this paper, the order of generated component is evaluated and a transfer function focusing on five vibration components is derived. Each transfer function is analyzed and characteristics of all resonances are explained theoretically. Then, the validity of this derived transfer function is confirmed by comparing with numerical simulation result. Furthermore, the experimental system of the rotating shaft supported by the bearing with anisotropic support stiffness is developed, and the harmonic excitation was added to this system by the active magnetic bearing. Several harmonic excitation experiments were carried out, and the resonances due to anisotropy in bearing support, rotor crack, and the interaction of anisotropy in bearing support and rotor crack were examined. The vibration characteristics of observed resonances showed quantitatively almost agreed results to the expected theoretical results. These theoretical and experimental results clarified the usefulness of the derived transfer function.

In design of rotating machines, analysis of external force is important for stable rotating operation. The various external forces such as unbalance force, seal contact force and rotor dynamic fluid force effect on the rotor system, dynamic characteristics of rotating system is changed by the external forces. The external force can vary depending on a rotor trajectory. In previous studies, a mathematical model of the dynamic characteristics had been formulated for small amplitude orbit around the equilibrium point for the rotor trajectory. However, the formulation hasn't been yet established in the rotor trajectory with large amplitude or eccentricity caused by the external forces. In this study, an experimental system using active magnetic bearing (AMB) is developed to achieve the formulation. The system can generate any arbitrary trajectory assuming various external forces and the rotor system follow the generated trajectory. The system can estimate the external force at the same time. Current flowing through coil of the AMB is controlled by a controller designed based on the frequency response to follow the arbitrary orbit. Then, the external forces are estimated from the control signal by the disturbance observer. Experiments were performed by assuming unbalance forces generated in the elastic rotor. From the results it was confirmed experimentally that high precision tracking control and estimation of external force are possible. The various rotor trajectory under the action of the external forces can be repeated by using the system, and the external force can be analyzed by the experimental data.