Understanding source-sink interactions: Progress in model plants and translational research to crops

Agriculture is facing a massive increase in demand per hectare as a result of an ever-expanding population and environmental deterioration.While we have learned much about how environmental conditions and diseases impact crop yield,until recently considerably less was known concerning endogenous factors,including within-plant nutrient allocation.In this review,we discuss studies of source-sink interactions covering both fundamental research in model systems under controlled growth conditions and how the findings are being translated to crop plants in the field.In this respect we detail efforts aimed at improving and/or combining C3,C4,and CAM modes of photosynthesis,altering the chloroplastic electron transport chain,modulating photorespiration,adopting bacterial/algal carbon-concentrating mechanisms,and enhancing nitrogen-and water-use efficiencies.Moreover,we discuss how modulating TCA cycle activities and primary metabolism can result in increased rates of photosynthesis and outline the opportunities that evaluating natural variation in photosynthesis may afford.Although source,transport,and sink functions are all covered in this review,we focus on discussing source functions because the majority of research has been conducted in this field.Nevertheless,considerable recent evidence,alongside the evidence from classical studies,demonstrates that both transport and sink functions are also incredibly important determinants of yield.We thus describe recent evidence supporting this notion and suggest that future strategies for yield improvement should focus on combining improvements in each of these steps to approach yield optimization.

Analysis of molten metal spreading and solidification behaviors utilizing moving particle full-implicit method

To retrieve the fuel debris in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants(1F),it is essential to infer the fuel debris distribution.In particular,the molten metal spreading behavior is one of the vital phenomena in nuclear severe accidents because it determines the initial condition for further accident scenarios such as molten core concrete interaction(MCCI).In this study,the fundamental molten metal spreading experiments were performed with different outlet diameters and sample amounts to investigate the effect of the outlet for spreading-solidification behavior.In the numerical analysis,the moving particle full-implicit method(MPFI),which is one of the particle methods,was applied to simulate the spreading experiments.In the MPFI framework,the melting-solidification model including heat transfer,radiation heat loss,phase change,and solid fraction-dependent viscosity was developed and implemented.In addition,the difference in the spreading and solidification behavior due to the outlet diameters was reproduced in the calculation.The simulation results reveal the detailed solidification procedure during the molten metal spreading.It is found that the viscosity change and the solid fraction change during the spreading are key factors for the free surface condition and solidified materials.Overall,it is suggested that the MPFI method has the potential to simulate the actual nuclear melt-down phenomena in the future.