Acala cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, var. Maxxa) was planted into a split-plot factorial design field trial on the Shafter Research and Extension Center, Shafter, CA. The two main treatments were optimum irrigation (Io) and stressed irrigation (Is) containing five levels of soil nitrogen availability (-100, -50, optimum, +50, and +100 lbs N/ac). The objective of this field trial was to determine i...

Reduced levels of leaf chlorophyll content per unit leaf area in crops may be of advantage in the search for higher yields. Possible reasons include better light distribution in the crop canopy and less photochemical damage to leaves absorbing more light energy than required for maximum photosynthesis. Reduced chlorophyll may also reduce the heat load at the top of canopy, reducing water requir...

The Soil Plant Analysis Development (SPAD) chlorophyll meter is one of the most commonly used diagnostic tools to measure crop nitrogen status. However, the measurement method of the meter could significantly affect the accuracy of the final estimation. Thus, this research was undertaken to develop a new methodology to optimize SPAD meter measurements in rice (Oryza sativa L.). A flatbed color ...

The estimation of nitrogen status, non-destructively, in oilseed rape was performed using spectral reflectance with visible and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS), and SPAD values of the oilseed rape leaves of 30 plots were measured by a SPAD 502 chlorophyll meter, and the research was carried out at experiment field in the Zhejiang University during growing season from 2007 to 2...

We report on the characterization of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) fabricated in standard 140-nm silicon on insulator (SOI) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. As a methodology for SPAD optimization, a test structure array, called SPAD farm, was realized with several junctions, guard-ring structures, dimensions, etc. In this paper, characterization results of the...

The error in protein tertiary structure prediction is unavoidable, but it is not explicitly shown in most of the current prediction algorithms. Estimated error of a predicted structure is crucial information for experimental biologists to use the prediction model for design and interpretation of experiments. Here, we propose a method to estimate errors in predicted structures based on the stabi...

Chlorophyll meters are widely used to guide nitrogen (N) management by monitoring leaf N status in agricultural systems, but the effects of environmental factors and leaf characteristics on leaf N estimations are still unclear. In the present study, we estimated the relationships among SPAD readings, chlorophyll content and leaf N content per leaf area for seven species grown in multiple enviro...

We report on the first implementation of a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) in 130nm CMOS technology. The SPAD is fabricated as p+/nwell junction with octagonal shape. A guard ring of p-well around the p+ anode is used to prevent premature discharge. To investigate the dynamics of the new device, both active and passive quenching methods have been used. Single photon detection is achieved b...

The techniques utilized to extract chlorophyll from plant materials are destructive and based on methods that use organic solvents. This study proposes the non-destructive quantification of chlorophyll and nitrogen concentration using a portable chlorophyll meter (SPAD-502). Further, was possible to establish relationships between chlorophyll fluorescence and SPAD-502 values. This methodology c...

In this work we investigate operation in the Geiger mode of the new single photon avalanche photo diode (SPAD) SAP500 manufactured by Laser Components. This SPAD is sensitive in the range 400-1000 nm and has a conventional reach-through structure which ensures good quantum efficiency at the long end of the spectrum. By use of passive and active quenching schemes we investigate detection efficie...