-hlodeling of crop residue decomposition for nutrient cycling and effectiveness of residues to control soil erosion requires information on crop-specific decomposition coefficients (k). Respiration of decomposing residues reflects the activity of the microbial community and should give an indication of the residue decomposition rate. A method for estimating k using substrate-induced respiration...

Personalization is becoming an important aspect of many predictive applications. We introduce a penalized regression method which inherently implements personalization. Personalized angle (PAN) constructs coefficients that are specific to the covariate vector for one producing prediction, thus personalizing model itself. This achieved by penalizing normalized prediction given vector. The theref...

Crop coefficients are a widely used and universally accepted method for estimating the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) component in irrigation scheduling programs. However, uncertainties of generalized basal crop coefficient (Kcb) curves can contribute to ETc estimates that are substantially different from actual ETc. Limited research with corn has shown improvements to irrigation scheduling due ...

A previously developed reflectance-based crop coeJficient (Kcr) for corn, estimated from the normalized difference vegetation index (ND VI), has been shown to overestimate the basal crop coe~cient (KeQ for corn by 24% or more when used with a dark-colored soil. This overestimation occurs because the NDVI produces larger index values for the same vegetation amount over dark backgrounds. Thus, th...

Crop-raiding is a major source of conflict between people and wildlife globally, impacting local livelihoods and impeding conservation. Conflict mitigation strategies that target problematic wildlife behaviours such as crop-raiding are notoriously difficult to develop for large-bodied, cognitively complex species. Many crop-raiders are generalist feeders. In more ecologically specialised specie...

In order  to study the effect of drought stress on some growth indices of oil sunflower cultivars, a study was conducted in Isfahan. The experiment was conducted as split plots in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications in Isfahan (51° 48' E, 32° 40' N).Main plots were drought stress in four levels (80, 100, 120, and 140 mm evaporation from evaporation pan class A and cultiv...