Consider a weighted n-vertex, m-edge graph G with designated source s and destination t. The topology of G is known, while the edge weights are hidden. Our goal is to discover either the edge weights in the graph or a shortest (s, t)-path. This is done by means of agents that traverse different (s, t)-paths in multiple rounds and report back the total cost they incurred. Various cost models are...

Drought is one of the most threatened natural vulnerabilities that are initiated by reason of scarcity of rain in a specific region. By comparing with all other natural hazards, it is very tough to discover since it develops slowly and have massive effect on the society and environment. Hence, in many countries satellite based drought indications have been recommended for early identification. ...

Drought management depends on indicators to detect drought conditions, and triggers to activate drought responses. But determining those indicators and triggers presents challenges. Indicators often lack spatial and temporal transferability, comparability among scales, and relevance to critical drought impacts. Triggers often lack statistical integrity, consistency among drought categories, and...

Cassava is an important root crop to resource-poor farmers in marginal areas, where its production faces drought stress constraints. Given the difficulties associated with cassava breeding, a molecular understanding of drought tolerance in cassava will help in the identification of markers for use in marker-assisted selection and genes for transgenic improvement of drought tolerance. This study...

Drought is one of the most serious natural disasters in China. Drought disasters occur frequently and caused huge economic loss in recently. In this paper, a drought prediction model based on weighted Markov Chain is put forward. An application is demonstrated by Anhui province of Huaihe River in China. Based on the precipitation data during 1958-2006 at monthly scale, the different time scales...

It is well-known that drought has considerable effects on plant traits from leaf to ecosystem scales; however, little is known about the relative contributions of various traits within or between tree species in determining the plant's sensitivity or the tolerance to drought under field conditions. We conducted a field throughfall exclusion experiment to simulate short-term drought (∼67% throug...

Within their natural habitat, plants are subjected to a combination of abiotic conditions that include stresses such as drought and heat. Drought and heat stress have been extensively studied; however, little is known about how their combination impacts plants. The response of Arabidopsis plants to a combination of drought and heat stress was found to be distinct from that of plants subjected t...