Temporal Decoupling Research Articles

Complete deformed charged anisotropic spherical solution satisfying Karmarkar condition

The study of solution for the compact stellar objects such as neutron stars, white dwarfs, and black holes have attracted much consideration in recent days. To discuss this, we extended the charged perfect fluid solution into an anisotropic domain by using the extended gravitational decoupling approach. The charged perfect fluid solution is obtained through the Karmarkar condition by specifying a Finch–Skea spacetime geometry that helps us to determine the decoupling functions. The decoupling function for radial components is determined by using mimic constraint to the seed density while a particular well-behaved function is chosen for the temporal decoupling function. The interior solution is smoothly matched with exterior Reissner–Nordström solution. We found that the obtained charged anisotropic solution is well behaved. In particular, we also studied the impact of gravitational decoupling on pressure, density, mass function, and compactness factor. The detailed physical analysis has been performed via graphical analysis by taking one particular object SMC X-1. Moreover, we have also predicted the radii and compactness factor for 12 compact objects for different values of α. The predicted radii fall between 8 - 15 km.

Privacy-Preserving Algorithm for Decoupling of Multi-Agent Plans with Uncertainty

The execution of multi-agent plans often requires communication between agents in order to synchronize their tasks. In cases where communication is unreliable or undesirable, temporal decoupling algorithms allow agents to find a distributed execution strategy beforehand without requiring perfect communication on the fly. The state-of-the-art Multi-Agent Simple Temporal Network with Uncertainty (MaSTNU) framework extends the decoupling problem for Multi-Agent Simple Temporal Network (MaSTN) to allow the modeling of uncertain durations and allow agents to communicate when certain events occur and communication is available. However, the existing approach assumes centralized knowledge of the MaSTNU, whereas in the multi-agent context, privacy is an important concern. In this paper, we propose a distributed, privacy-preserving algorithm for finding distributed execution strategies for MaSTNU. Experiments also showed significant speed-up of the proposed algorithm when the multi-agent plan is loosely coupled and mostly private.

Pegmatite magmatic evolution and rare metal mineralization of the Dahongliutan pegmatite field, Western Kunlun Orogen: Constraints from the B isotopic composition and mineral-chemistry

ABSTRACT The Dahongliutan rare-metal pegmatite deposit, associated with the pegmatite dikes hosted by Dahongliutan pluton and metasedimentary rocks, is a new discovered Li–Be deposit in the the West Kunlun orogen, Northwest China. The Dahongliutan pegmatite is a classic and typical example of a highly fractionated Li-Ce-Ta (LCT) type pegmatite, with distinct regional zonation composed of well-developed garnet-tourmaline-microcline (GTM), beryl-tourmaline-muscovite (BTM) and spodumene-albite (SA) pegmatites from the barren core inward to outer zone. Detailed field studies, together with B-isotope studies of tourmaline and the chemistry of feldspar, muscovite and tourmaline, were undertaken to investigate the differentiation processes in a pegmatite magma and the different mineralizing episodes of the Dahongliutan rare-metal pegmatite deposit. Alkali metal fractionation trends (Rb, Cs and K/Rb) in the pegmatitic K-feldspar and muscovite define a primitive to evolved magmatic evolution. From low to high degrees of evolution, the mineralization stages of Dahongliutan pegmatite field are metal barren in centre, Be-rich in the intermediate and Li-rich in the outer zone. Furthermore, besides the magmatic tourmaline in the GTM pegmatite dikes, the fine-grained euhedral magmatic BTM-I type and subhedral to anhedral coarse-grained magmatic-hydrothermal BTM-II type in the BTM pegmatite dikes have been identified. The average δ11B values of the magmatic tourmalines in the GTM-type is −8.82, BTM-I type is −8.53‰, and BTM-II type is −7.85‰. Combined with petrography and chemical data, we suggest that the Dahongliutan pegmatite dikes were derived from metasedimentary source within the continental crust and the BTM-II type tourmaline is correlated with separation of an immiscible B-rich fluid during the magmatic-hydrothermal evolution. Consequently, highly fractional crystallization, albite alteration and liquid immiscibility were the main factors controlling the spatial and temporal decoupling of rare element mineralization in the Dahongliutan pegmatite deposit.

Decoupling economic growth from water consumption in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Decoupling economic growth (EG) from water consumption (WC) is crucial to regional sustainable development. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the spatial and temporal decoupling of WC and EG, and then to identify the feasible paths for achieving the desired level of decoupling. Firstly, this paper measures the WC of the provincial areas in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from 2004 to 2017 by using the water footprint (WF) method; Secondly, the decoupling analysis of WF and EG is carried out based on the Tapio decoupling model, furthermore, the spatial autocorrelations of decoupling results are examined by the Moran’s I index with three different spatial weight matrices; Finally, the paths of achieving strong decoupling (SD) of WC and EG are explored by using the static fixed effect regression model. Three main conclusions can be drawn: (1) The WFs of most provincial areas in the YREB show an overall increasing trend and there are huge disparities among the provinces in terms of their WFs; (2) The WF and EG in the YREB are decoupled either strongly or weakly. More SD has been achieved since 2015 in general. No spatial autocorrelations are observed; (3) Reducing the WF as the economy grows is a necessary condition for achieving SD. Moreover, developing water-saving technologies is a key path of achieving SD since it has huge positive impact on WF reduction. In a nutshell, this study provides a novel framework and results that can be used as an evaluation index and policy insights for decoupling EG from WC.

The complexity of eye-hand coordination: a perspective on cortico-cerebellar cooperation

BackgroundEye–hand coordination (EHC) is a sophisticated act that requires interconnected processes governing synchronization of ocular and manual motor systems. Precise, timely and skillful movements such as reaching for and grasping small objects depend on the acquisition of high-quality visual information about the environment and simultaneous eye and hand control. Multiple areas in the brainstem and cerebellum, as well as some frontal and parietal structures, have critical roles in the control of eye movements and their coordination with the head. Although both cortex and cerebellum contribute critical elements to normal eye-hand function, differences in these contributions suggest that there may be separable deficits following injury.MethodAs a preliminary assessment for this perspective, we compared eye and hand-movement control in a patient with cortical stroke relative to a patient with cerebellar stroke.ResultWe found the onset of eye and hand movements to be temporally decoupled, with significant decoupling variance in the patient with cerebellar stroke. In contrast, the patient with cortical stroke displayed increased hand spatial errors and less significant temporal decoupling variance. Increased decoupling variance in the patient with cerebellar stroke was primarily due to unstable timing of rapid eye movements, saccades.ConclusionThese findings highlight a perspective in which facets of eye-hand dyscoordination are dependent on lesion location and may or may not cooperate to varying degrees. Broadly speaking, the results corroborate the general notion that the cerebellum is instrumental to the process of temporal prediction for eye and hand movements, while the cortex is instrumental to the process of spatial prediction, both of which are critical aspects of functional movement control.

Increased efficiency of combined heat and power plants by utilizing waste heat for resorption chillers and their combination with hydrocarbon chillers

The use of waste heat has long been a topic to increase the efficiency of large-scale industrial processes, but it is becoming as well important in the commercial sector and in small and medium-sized industrial plants. For a sustainable and decentralized energy supply it is necessary to utilize all exergy flows much more than before. Particularly in decentralized combined heat and power (CHP) plants, the annual coefficient of performance is low due to seasonal temperature fluctuations, as the generated heat cannot be used or can only be used partly during the summer and transitional months. Interface technologies such as sorption technology can be used to further increase the utilization rate of such CHP plants and provide cooling capacity at the same time. This concept allows the utilization of previously unused waste heat to generate cooling in the temperature range from -6°C to 15°C, without the necessity of significant amounts of electric energy for the operation of additional compression refrigeration systems. In a pilot project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, a thermally driven refrigeration plant with a small cooling capacity of maximum 25 kW using the resorption principle was evolved under these aspects and installed in a supermarket. Special focus is given to the flexibility of the plant technology as well as to the potentials of combinations of thermally and electrically driven chillers with natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons and ammonia and the integration of thermal storage for temporal decoupling or discontinuous availability of heat and cooling load.

Constructing Demand-Side Bidding Curves Based on a Decoupled Full-Cycle Process

Due to heavy computational burdens, existing demand-side bidding models have to sacrifice the accuracy of uncertainty estimates in exchange for tractability, and therefore fail to derive a high bidding revenue as expected. To overcome this challenge, we analyze the entire bidding process, from scenario reduction to bidding curve construction, to find out the weak link that needs improvement. We further develop a novel process to save some computational resources by decomposing the complex bidding model, then reallocates these resources to consider more scenarios and more precise bidding curves. This process is fully decoupled, and is able to achieve both a bidding revenue growth and a significant calculation speedup. In order to reduce computational complexity, the scenario reduction and bidding steps are separated, reorganized and decoupled. The price response zone and single-period scenario reduction are specially designed for temporal decoupling, while a fine-grained bidding model is developed to meet the high-precision requirement. The proposed process and models are demonstrated through a time-shiftable-load owner who constructs piecewise linear bidding curves in a day-ahead market. Extensive case studies verify the fast computing speed and bidding revenue growth, and provide strong evidences that the proposed methodology is superior in bidding tasks.

Long-Time Coherent Integration for Maneuvering Target Detection Based on ITRT-MRFT

Long-time coherent integration can effectively improve the radar detection ability of a maneuvering target. However, with the increasing of integration time, radial velocity and radial acceleration of the moving target result in linear range migration (LRM), range curvature (RC), and Doppler frequency migration (DFM) of the received signal. These may degrade detection performance seriously. To solve these problems, an efficient coherent accumulation method based on improved time reversal transform (ITRT) and modified radon Fourier transform (MRFT) is proposed in this paper. Different from conventional methods, this approach firstly eliminates the acceleration effects by ITRT. It can remove RC and DFM simultaneously via multiplying its slow-time reversed conjugate data in range-frequency and azimuth-time domains. Then by employing a new Doppler filter bank (DFB), MRFT realizes the echoes spatial temporal decoupling as well as the coherent integration in searching-velocity and Doppler-frequency domains. The major advantages of the proposed method are that RC and DFM can be rectified without parameter estimation, and computational complexity can be optimized by the new FFT-based filter bank. In addition, due to the nonlinearity of ITRT operation, the influence of cross terms of multiple targets on detection performance is also discussed. Several simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

Genetic developmental timing revealed by inter-species transplantations in fish.

The path from a fertilised egg to an embryo involves the coordinated formation of cell types, tissues and organs. Developmental modules comprise discrete units specified by self-sufficient genetic programs that can interact with each other during embryogenesis. Here, we have taken advantage of the different span of embryonic development between two distantly related teleosts, zebrafish (Danio rerio) and medaka (Oryzias latipes) (3 and 9 days, respectively), to explore modularity principles. We report that inter-species blastula transplantations result in the ectopic formation of a retina formed by donor cells - a module. We show that the time taken for the retina to develop follows a genetic program: an ectopic zebrafish retina in medaka develops with zebrafish dynamics. Heterologous transplantation results in a temporal decoupling between the donor retina and host organism, illustrated by two paradigms that require retina-host interactions: lens recruitment and retino-tectal projections. Our results uncover a new experimental system for addressing temporal decoupling along embryonic development, and highlight the presence of largely autonomous but interconnected developmental modules that orchestrate organogenesis.

Estimating particle export flux from satellite observations: Challenges associated with spatial and temporal decoupling of production and export

Recent studies have suggested that accurate predictions of particle export flux can be derived from satellite-based estimates of phytoplankton biomass and net primary production (NPP), combined with models of the food web. We evaluate the performance of this approach using the output of a highresolution, basin-scale coupled physical-biogeochemical model. There is tight correlation between the annual mean export flux simulated by the biogeochemical model and that predicted by the satellitebased algorithm driven by NPP from the model. Although the satellite-based approach performs well on the annual average, there are significant departures during the course of the year, particularly in spring. NPP and export flux can also become decoupled at the mesoscale, when the dynamics of fronts and eddies cause export to be displaced in space and/or time from the productivity event generating the particulate material. These findings have significant implications for the design of field studies aimed at reducing uncertainties in estimates of export flux.

Neighborhood effects explain increasing asynchronous seedling survival in a subtropical forest

Biotic interactions play a critical role in mediating community responses to temporal environmental variation, but the importance of these effects relative to the direct effects of environmental change remains poorly understood, particularly in diverse forest communities. Here we combine a neighborhood modeling approach with insights from coexistence theory to assess the effects of temporal variation in species interactions and environmental conditions (e.g., precipitation, temperature, and understory light availability) on seedling survival over nine census years in a subtropical forest. We find significant temporal shifts in the magnitude of neighborhood effects on both community-wide and species-level seedling survival (statistically significant random effects of neighborhood × year and neighborhood × species × year interactions). These results are consistent with the idea that environmental change will play a fundamental role on forest regeneration dynamics by altering biotic interactions at the neighborhood scale. Moreover, differences among species in response to neighbors over time contribute to a pattern of temporal decoupling of seedling survival between species, which can help to promote diversity in certain contexts. In separate analyses of multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM), altered interactions with neighbors are much stronger predictors of asynchronousseedling survival among species than the pure effects of climate and plant functional traits, explaining twice as much variation (43.9% vs. 22.2%). In sum, these results reveal that divergent species responses to interannual environmental variability detected are driven primarily by indirect effects mediated by changing biotic environments. This highlights the importance of including indirect effects from local biotic (neighborhood) interactions in forecasts of forest community responses to global change.

Geographic variation in the intensity of warming and phenological mismatch between Arctic shorebirds and invertebrates

AbstractResponses to climate change can vary across functional groups and trophic levels, leading to a temporal decoupling of trophic interactions or “phenological mismatches.” Despite a growing number of single‐species studies that identified phenological mismatches as a nearly universal consequence of climate change, we have a limited understanding of the spatial variation in the intensity of this phenomenon and what influences this variation. In this study, we tested for geographic patterns in phenological mismatches between six species of shorebirds and their invertebrate prey at 10 sites spread across ~13° latitude and ~84° longitude in the Arctic over three years. At each site, we quantified the phenological mismatch between shorebirds and their invertebrate prey at (1) an individual‐nest level, as the difference in days between the seasonal peak in food and the peak demand by chicks, and (2) a population level, as the overlapped area under fitted curves for total daily biomass of invertebrates and dates of the peak demand by chicks. We tested whether the intensity of past climatic change observed at each site corresponded with the extent of phenological mismatch and used structural equation modeling to test for causal relationships among (1) environmental factors, including geographic location and current climatic conditions, (2) the timing of invertebrate emergence and the breeding phenology of shorebirds, and (3) the phenological mismatch between the two trophic levels. The extent of phenological mismatch varied more among different sites than among different species within each site. A greater extent of phenological mismatch at both the individual‐nest and population levels coincided with changes in the timing of snowmelt as well as the potential dissociation of long‐term snow phenology from changes in temperature. The timing of snowmelt also affected the shape of the food and demand curves, which determined the extent of phenological mismatch at the population level. Finally, we found larger mismatches at more easterly longitudes, which may be affecting the population dynamics of shorebirds, as two of our study species show regional population declines in only the eastern part of their range. This suggests that phenological mismatches may be resulting in demographic consequences for Arctic‐nesting birds.

Fabrication of Maghemite Nanoparticles with High Surface Area.

Maghemite nanoparticles with high surface area were obtained from the dehydroxylation of lepidocrocite prismatic nanoparticles. The synthesis pathway from the precursor to the porous maghemite nanoparticles is inexpensive, simple and gives high surface area values for both lepidocrocite and maghemite. The obtained maghemite nanoparticles contained intraparticle and interparticle pores with a surface area ca. 30 × 103 m2/mol, with pore volumes in the order of 70 cm3/mol. Both the surface area and pore volume depended on the heating rate and annealing temperature, with the highest value near the transformation temperature (180–250 °C). Following the transformation, in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) allowed us to observe the temporal decoupling of the decomposition of lepidocrocite and the growth of maghemite. The combination of high-angle annular dark-field imaging using scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) and surface adsorption isotherms is a powerful approach for the characterization of nanomaterials with high surface area and porosity.

Resolving the paradox: Continuous cell-free alkaline phosphatase activity despite high phosphate concentrations

It is generally recognised that enzymatic activities are controlled by their end-product concentration, so that when the end-product concentration is high the enzyme activity is low and vice versa. In the marine environment, however, high alkaline phosphatase (APase) activities at high inorganic phosphorus (Pi) concentrations are commonly observed. This represents a paradox that has been unresolved for decades. This study builds on recent advances in the understanding of the role of cell-free versus cell-associated extracellular enzymatic activities (EEAs) to find an explanation for this long-time enigma. Data was collected from coastal (biweekly for 1 y), epi- and mesopelagic waters open-ocean (bimonthly for 9 months) and lab experiments to investigate the relation between APase (cell-free and cell-associated) and Pi. The proportion of cell-free APase was consistently high across all these marine environments (ranging from 65 to 100% of the total activity), irrespective of the Pi concentration. A residence times experiment performed with APase enzymes from the same marine environment confirmed that cell-free APase maintained most of its activity (ca. 75% of the initial in situ activity) over a 16-day incubation. This demonstrates the long lifetime of APase in the marine environment, and the potential for spatial and temporal decoupling between the Pi concentrations and the total APase activity. Collectively, these results together with previous evidence, suggest that the persistent presence of cell-free APase activity provides a reasonable explanation for the paradox of high potential APase activities at high end-product (Pi) concentration in the marine environment. Ultimately, this finding also serves as an example of the potential critical role that cell-free enzymes play in the ecology and biogeochemistry of the ocean.

Nature of the floppy-to-rigid transition in chalcogenide glass-forming liquids.

The viscoelastic properties of supercooled AsxSe100-x and GexSe100-x (0 ≤ x ≤ 30) liquids are studied using oscillatory parallel plate rheometry. The liquids with average selenium chain segment length L longer than ∼3 to 5 atoms or average coordination number ⟨r⟩ less than ∼2.2 are characterized by the coexistence of a low-frequency bond scission/renewal based relaxation process as well as high-frequency segmental chain dynamics. The latter process disappears for liquids with higher connectivity, thus implying a dynamical rigidity transition. The temporal decoupling of the high-frequency chain mode from that of the bond scission/renewal process and the shear modulus Gs associated with the low-frequency mode are shown to be unique functions of L or ⟨r⟩ and display strong similarity with the corresponding variation in the fragility m and the conformational entropy of the chain segments. When taken together, these results provide direct experimental support to the entropic rigidity argument originally proposed by Phillips but suggest a floppy-to-rigid transition of the structural network at ⟨r⟩ ∼ 2.2, instead of the conventional rigidity percolation threshold value of 2.4.

Abnormal coupling among spontaneous brain activity metrics and cognitive deficits in major depressive disorder

BackgroundA variety of functional metrics derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) have been employed to explore spontaneous brain activity changes in major depressive disorder (MDD) and have enjoyed significant success in unraveling the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this disorder. However, it is unclear whether spatial and temporal coupling relationships among these rs-fMRI metrics are altered in MDD. Methods50 patients with MDD and 36 well-matched healthy controls underwent rs-fMRI scans. A dynamic analysis was applied to compute multiple frequently used metrics including fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations, regional homogeneity, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity, degree centrality and global signal connectivity. Kendall's W was used to calculate volume-wise (across voxels) and voxel-wise (across time windows) concordance among these metrics. Inter-group differences in the concordance and their associations with clinical and cognitive variables were tested. ResultsCompared to healthy controls, patients with MDD showed decreased whole gray matter volume-wise concordance. Despite similar spatial distributions, quantitative comparison analysis revealed that MDD patients exhibited reduced voxel-wise concordance in multiple cortical and subcortical regions. Moreover, the lower concordance was associated with worse performances in prospective memory and sustained attention in the MDD group. LimitationsThe study design of fairly modest sample size did not allow us to perform a full analysis of the potential effects of medication and illness duration. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that spatial and temporal decoupling of multiple resting-state brain activity metrics may help elucidate the neural mechanisms of cognitive deficits in depression.

Decoupling H2(g) and O2(g) Production in Water Splitting by a Solar-Driven V3+/2+(aq,H2SO4)|KOH(aq) Cell

A solar-driven V3+/2+(aq,H2SO4)|KOH(aq) cell, consisting of a carbon-cloth cathode in 2.0 M H2SO4(aq) with 0.36 M V2(SO4)3 (pH −0.16), a Ni mesh anode in 2.5 M KOH(aq) (pH 14.21) for the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER), and a bipolar membrane that sustained the pH differentials between the catholyte and anolyte, enabled water splitting with spatial and temporal decoupling of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from the OER and produced H2(g) locally under pressure upon demand. Over a range of potentials and charging depths, V3+ was selectively reduced with >99.8% faradic efficiency. The V2+ species produced in the catholyte was then passed subsequently on demand over a MoCx-based HER catalyst to produce H2(g) and regenerate V3+ for subsequent reduction. Under a base hydrogen pressure of 1, 10, and 100 atm, the discharge efficiency of the V3+ to hydrogen was 83%, 65.2%, and 59.8%, respectively. In conjunction with a solar tracker and a photovoltaic device, the V3+/2+(aq,H2SO4)|KOH(aq) cell was charged ou...

After the Trolls: Patent Litigation As Ex-Post Market Making

Recent patent policy emphasizes the superiority of ex ante licensing over ex post patent assertion. Ex ante means before costs are sunk by a patent defendant, so licensing at this stage avoids the leveraging of a defendant’s investments in product design which is a presumptive aspect of litigation in the ex post period. Contrary to the dominant narrative (ex ante good, ex post bad) this Article defends patent litigation as a reasonable way to award compensation in the ex post (i.e., after product development) period. The literature on strategic delay, together with the sometimes heavy costs of negotiating patent licenses during an intensive product development project (including opportunity costs), point to a productive role for patent litigation: ex post market-making. Patent litigation determines which patented inventions contributed to product success during the all-out scramble for successful product development and market entry. But it does so after development is complete and the product market is established. This temporal decoupling – separating intensive development competition from a careful assessment of the contributions of individual patented technologies – is a rational way to appropriately compensate the various contributors to a new product in fast-moving, technology-intensive markets. The last part of the Article reviews the many ways that litigation has been reformed in recent years in response to the problem of rent-seeking litigation, i.e., patent trolls. Many patent doctrines have been adjusted to better police the “troll line”: the line separating socially worthless troll patents from value-adding patents that are worth enforcing. Because of these reforms, we can be confident that patent litigation primarily serves the positive function of rewarding (ex post) the actual contributors to a new product.

Photocatalytic cofactor regeneration involving triethanolamine revisited: The critical role of glycolaldehyde

Triethanolamine is a widely used model electron donor that enables a fast screening of the photocatalyst parameters in both, homogeneous and heterogeneous scenarios. We report a new role of triethanolamine in heterogeneous photoregeneration of cofactor molecules – nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) – using state-of-the-art heterogeneous photocatalysts. In contrast to the common model involving the light-induced electrons and holes generation to reduce the substrate and oxidize triethanolamine simultaneously, we identified glycolaldehyde as a stable product of triethanolamine degradation capable of reducing NAD+. Triethanolamine, apart from playing a role of a precursor for reducing agent, maintains the alkalinity of the solution to drive the reduction. Our findings offer a fresh insight into the triethanolamine-assisted photocatalysis because glycolaldehyde as such have generally been neglected in mechanistic considerations. Moreover, a spatial and temporal decoupling of the photocatalyst from the substrate reduction reaction minimizes the product re-oxidation, thus implying a relevant feature for the real-world applications using a continuous flow setting.

Root competition resulting from spatial variation in nutrient distribution elicits decreasing maize yield at high planting density

Nutrient spatial heterogeneity occurs ubiquitously in soil, but its impact on plant growth and competition throughout the whole growth cycle remains unclear. We assessed the effects of different nutrient supply patterns and planting density on maize (Zea mays L.) growth rate, root competitive intensity and grain yield. Maize was grown with homogeneous or heterogeneous nutrient (ammonium and phosphorus) supplies under low and high planting densities in field conditions. Nutrient patches promoted root proliferation and plant growth rate in the short term; however, with nutrient depletion and roots still proliferating in the patch zone, the plant growth rate was surpassed by that of plants in the homogeneous ammonium and phosphorus treatments with time. Consequently, final shoot biomass showed no difference between nutrient supply patterns at a given planting density. Furthermore, the temporal decoupling between root growth and soil nutrient availability induced greater competitive intensity in the heterogeneous than homogeneous treatments between the vegetative stage and anthesis. Under these conditions, heterogeneous ammonium and phosphorus supply markedly decreased grain yield at high planting density. Our results demonstrate that heterogeneous nutrient supply-induced root competition at high planting density modulates the dynamics of plant development and decreases final productivity.