Information and Communication Technology (ICT) affects how organizations deliver services to their customers. ICT is now used not only to improve back office routine activities but also to act as strategic partner for achieving organizational goals. Although ICT has many benefits for organizations, its assimilation is the most challenging process as there are high failure rates as reported by m...

The relationship between assimilation and the well-being of immigrant children has been the focus of debate in the recent sociological literature. Much of this work has questioned whether classical theories of immigrant adaptation, which assumed assimilation to be an integral part of the process of upward mobility for immigrants, are still applicable to today's immigrant children. This study re...

This paper presents an approach for employing an artificial neural network (NN) to emulate an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) as a method of data assimilation. The assimilation methods are tested in the Simplified Parameterizations PrimitivE-Equation Dynamics (SPEEDY) model, an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM), using synthetic observational data simulating localization of balloon soun...

C4 photosynthesis characteristically features a cell-specific localization of enzymes involved in CO2 assimilation in bundle sheath cells (BSC) or mesophyll cells. Interestingly, enzymes of sulfur assimilation are also specifically present in BSC of maize and many other C4 species. This localization, however, could not be confirmed in C4 species of the genus Flaveria. It was, therefore, conclud...

An experimental ENSO prediction system is presented, based on an ocean general circulation model (GCM) coupled to a statistical atmosphere and the adjoint method of 4D variational data assimilation. The adjoint method is used to initialize the coupled model, and predictions are performed for the period 1980–99. The coupled model is also initialized using two simpler assimilation techniques: for...

Accurate simulations of terrestrial carbon assimilation and canopy transpiration are needed for both climate modeling and vegetation dynamics. Coupled stomatal conductance and carbon assimilation (A gs) models have been widely used as part of land surface parameterizations in climate models to describe the biogeophysical and biogeochemical roles of terrestrial vegetation. Differences in various...

In this study the sensitivity of peach tree (Prunus persica L.) to three water stress levels from mid-pit hardening until harvest was assessed. Seasonal patterns of shoot and fruit growth, gas exchange (leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and transpiration) as well as carbon (C) storage/mobilization were evaluated in relation to plant water status. A simple C balance model was also develo...

The stems and roots of the semiarid shrub guayule, Parthenium argentatum, contain a significant amount of natural rubber. Rubber accumulates in guayule when plants are vegetatively and reproductively dormant, complicating the relationship between growth/reproduction and product synthesis. To evaluate the factors regulating the partitioning of carbon to rubber, carbon assimilation and partitioni...

Rhizomes of the perennial herb Paris polyphylla have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years. Agricultural production of the rhizomes requires 7-10 years, which is too long to meet the demand of the medicinal industry. Therefore, studies on improving the yield of the herb and shortening the culturing period are imperative. The present work aimed to investigate the effect...

The Thermal Emission Spectrometer aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has produced an extensive atmospheric data set, beginning during aerobraking and continuing throughout the extended scientific mapping phase. Temperature profiles for the atmosphere below about 40 km, surface temperatures and total dust and water ice opacities, can be retrieved from infrared spectra in nadir viewing mo...