No abstract

A triple cropping system, combining spring maize, pearl millet, and twice-cut blast disease resistant Italian ryegrass, was examined for the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 growing seasons to achieve quality herbage production in Miyazaki, southern Kyushu, Japan. The growth of the three crops reached to harvest, even though typhoon and heavy rainfall occurred. Annual dry matter (DM) yield of the triple crops was 4098 g m−2 and 4349 g m−2 in the first and second cropping seasons, respectively. The observed total digestible nutrients (TDN) were higher in spring maize (up to 68.2% and 76.8%), pearl millet (up to 60.0% and 67.9%), and Italian ryegrass (up to 71.6% and 68.6%), during the first and second season, respectively, leading to an annual TDN yield of 2357 g m−2 and 2938 g m−2. The results suggest that the present established triple cropping system is feasible for obtaining high yields with more digestible nutrients in the forages.

As a representative class of sustainable polymer materials, biodegradable polymers have attracted increasing interest in recent years. Despite significant advance of related polymerization techniques, realizing high sequence‐control and easy‐handling in ring‐opening (co)polymerizations still remains a central challenge. To this end, a promising solution is the development of valence‐variable metal‐based catalysts for redox‐induced switchable polymerization of cyclic esters, cyclic ethers, epoxides, and CO2. Through a valence‐determined electron effect, the switch between different catalytically active states as well as dormant state contributes to convenient formation of polymer products with desired microstructures and various practical performances. This redox‐controlled switchable strategy for controlled synthesis of polymers is overviewed in this Review with a focus on potential applications and challenges for further studies.

In this work, we designed a series of energetic materials with a windmill-like structure based on guanidine and nitroazole, and optimized them at the B3LYP/6-311G** level using density functional theory (DFT). According to the optimization results, 6 molecules with planar structures were screened out from 28 molecules and their regularities were summarized. We calculated their geometry, natural bond orbital (NBO) charge, frontier molecular orbital, molecular surface electrostatic potential, and thermochemical parameters. In addition, their properties such as density, enthalpy of formation, detonation velocity, detonation pressure and impact sensitivity are also predicted. The result shows that this series of compounds is a promising new type of energetic material, especially compound 1 has superior detonation velocity and detonation pressure (D=9720m/s, P=41.9GPa).