The biosynthetic pathway of lutein, the most abundant carotenoid in leaves, has been extensively studied, while its degradation pathway during senescence is poorly understood. We found that a novel carotenoid derivative, lutein 3-acetate, accumulates in senescent leaves of rice (Oryza sativa L.). The change in contents of lutein and lutein 3-acetate suggests that lutein is converted to lutein 3...

Protection against strong-light-induced photodamage of the photosynthetic apparatus and entire organisms is a vital activity in plants and is also realized at the molecular level of the antenna complexes. Reported recently, the regulatory mechanisms which operate in the largest plant antenna complex, LHCII (light-harvesting complex II), based on light-driven processes, are briefly reviewed and ...

Electrostatic couplings between chromophores in photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes, and interactions of pigments with the surrounding protein environment, produce a complicated energy landscape of delocalized excited states. The resultant electronic structure absorbs light and gives rise to energy transfer steps that direct the excitation toward a site of charge separation with near unity...

We describe the system control architecture of a large, orange harvesting robot. This robot has two independent electrically driven telescopic arms mounted on a common platform which is itself held by a large hydraulic arm. This arm, in turn, is mounted on a tracked vehicle. The telescopic arms have cameras within the end-eeectors, that are used to detect and to measure the position and distanc...

We obtain solutions of M coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations that describe multisoliton complexes (MCs) on a background. We present explicit multiparameter families of solutions and numerical simulations, demonstrating specific features of MCs and their collisions. It is shown, in particular, that a MC on a background can have a complicated intensity profile due to a nonlinear superposition...

In Central Europe, full-tree (FT) harvesting is an increasingly common harvesting method in steep terrain harvesting due to the increased use of highly economical processor tower yarders. In conventional FT harvesting, nutrient removal from harvest sites is substantially higher than in cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting due to the extraction of nutrient-rich branches and foliage. One strategy to re...

We consider the harvesting of a population in a stochastic environment whose dynamics in the absence of harvesting are described by the logistic Verhulst-Pearl model. Using ergodic optimal control, we find the optimal harvesting strategy which maximizes the asymptotic yield of harvested individuals. To our knowledge, ergodic optimal control has not been used before to study harvesting strategie...

Combine harvesters have a very important task in grain crop harvesting. Combine harvesters must fulfil lot of technological requirements regarding the field conditions, crop type, as well as the quality performance and optimal costs. The problem is that it is the main harvesting technology of cereals in the world and it has seasonal character of work, which has to be done in a relatively short ...