EFFICIENT ENERGY STORAGE AND HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE INSIDE THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

Hydrogen transcends its traditional perception as a standalone green energy source, assuming a pivotal role in elevating the efficiency of green energy production. Rather than serving as a primary means of energy generation, hydrogen emerges as a powerful agent for optimizing the energy production process. Its synergistic integration with fuel cell technology presents a compelling avenue for capturing and storing surplus energy, effectively tapping into otherwise unrealized potential energy resources. This paradigm shift from energy generation to energy optimization underscores the transformative impact of hydrogen in advancing the frontiers of sustainable energy research and development. The present article delves into the profound implications of harnessing hydrogen for the dual purpose of energy storage and production, elucidating its transformative potential in mitigating carbon emissions linked to both onshore and offshore operations. By embracing hydrogen as a dynamic element within the energy landscape, novel pathways emerge to revolutionize the reduction of carbon footprints, pushing the boundaries of sustainable practices and redefining the frontiers of energy efficiency in onshore and offshore domains

Agriculture and the Twofold Relationship between Food Security and Climate Change. Evidence from Romania

Nowadays, agriculture is facing a special challenge – to produce more food for a growing population, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by food production. This piece of research is focused on the impact of agriculture on climate change, starting from the assumption that agriculture is affected by climate variability, but also it contributes to it by emitting greenhouse gases, under the restriction of less per capita land. The paper analyses the connection between agricultural emissions and agricultural output, using a simple regression model, which includes variables corresponding to agricultural production and to greenhouse gas emissions. The results of the research highlight the fact that agricultural production has direct effects on greenhouse gas emissions and, thereby, on climate change. The relevance of the research consists in rising awareness of the emergency to integrate climate change in policies and actions related to food security at all levels. Moreover, the paper contributes to the enrichment of scientific literature, because it presents empirical evidence supporting the different effects of agricultural practices on the environment in Romania, with implications for climate change, a scientific direction that has been little studied in other paper

Interface Analysis of the Complex between ERK2 and PTP-SL

The activity of ERK2, an essential component of MAP-kinase pathway, is under the strict control of various effector proteins. Despite numerous efforts, no crystal structure of ERK2 complexed with such partners has been obtained so far. PTP-SL is a major regulator of ERK2 activity. To investigate the ERK2–PTP-SL complex we used a combined method based on cross-linking, MALDI-TOF analysis, isothermal titration calorimetry, molecular modeling and docking. Hence, new insights into the stoichiometry, thermodynamics and interacting regions of the complex are obtained and a structural model of ERK2-PTP-SL complex in a state consistent with PTP-SL phosphatase activity is developed incorporating all the experimental constraints available at hand to date. According to this model, part of the N-terminal region of PTP-SL has propensity for intrinsic disorder and becomes structured within the complex with ERK2. The proposed model accounts for the structural basis of several experimental findings such as the complex-dissociating effect of ATP, or PTP-SL blocking effect on the ERK2 export to the nucleus. A general observation emerging from this model is that regions involved in substrate binding in PTP-SL and ERK2, respectively are interacting within the interface of the complex

Accurate methods for the analysis of strong-drive effects in parametric gates

The ability to perform fast, high-fidelity entangling gates is an important requirement for a viable quantum processor. In practice, achieving fast gates often comes with the penalty of strong-drive effects that are not captured by the rotating-wave approximation. These effects can be analyzed in simulations of the gate protocol, but those are computationally costly and often hide the physics at play. Here, we show how to efficiently extract gate parameters by directly solving a Floquet eigenproblem using exact numerics and a perturbative analytical approach. As an example application of this toolkit, we study the space of parametric gates generated between two fixed-frequency transmon qubits connected by a parametrically driven coupler. Our analytical treatment, based on time-dependent Schrieffer-Wolff perturbation theory, yields closed-form expressions for gate frequencies and spurious interactions, and is valid for strong drives. From these calculations, we identify optimal regimes of operation for different types of gates including $i$SWAP, controlled-Z, and CNOT. These analytical results are supplemented by numerical Floquet computations from which we directly extract drive-dependent gate parameters. This approach has a considerable computational advantage over full simulations of time evolutions. More generally, our combined analytical and numerical strategy allows us to characterize two-qubit gates involving parametrically driven interactions, and can be applied to gate optimization and cross-talk mitigation such as the cancellation of unwanted ZZ interactions in multi-qubit architectures.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 62 reference

Concurrent engineering in designing a system for sensing gas leaks in harsh space environment

Leak monitoring is an essential operation that must be taken into consideration while making the design of a spatial vehicle. In order to make these vehicles function correctly in space and to avoid disasters, one needs to integrate multiple sensors to determine the exact concentrations of fuels such as hydrogen, hydrazine, hydrocarbon or oxygen which are frequently used while launching a space vehicle. These concentrations are important, as hydrogen-oxygen mixtures can ignite with a very small amount of energy. Moreover, it is almost impossible for people to sense the presence of hydrogen, as this gas is odorless and colorless. In the propulsion industry, hydrogen leaks generated several disasters. In 1990 such an error affected the propulsion system while workers were on the launching platform. They were forced to abort all the current processes until the source of leakage could be identified. Another example is the APOLLO 13 mission that took place in 1970 when N.A.S.A aimed to land on the Moon. Two days after the launch there has been a malfunction of the electrical system which caused an explosion leading to the loss of oxygen in both tanks. The crew used a module called lifeboat on their way back to Earth where they completed the landing. The goal of this paper is the describe the concept of an intelligent system that will monitor the presence of oxygen, hydrogen gas in harsh space environments such as vacuum, temperature variations and also beta and gamma radiations. Therefore, some aspects such as the weight of the device or environmental conditions must be taken into consideration when doing concurrent engineering. Micro and nanotechnologies allow the presence of multiple sensors without increasing the size, the weight or the energy consumption. Also, they must resist harsh conditions from space

A Caenorhabditis elegans Wild Type Defies the Temperature–Size Rule Owing to a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in tra-3

Ectotherms rely for their body heat on surrounding temperatures. A key question in biology is why most ectotherms mature at a larger size at lower temperatures, a phenomenon known as the temperature–size rule. Since temperature affects virtually all processes in a living organism, current theories to explain this phenomenon are diverse and complex and assert often from opposing assumptions. Although widely studied, the molecular genetic control of the temperature–size rule is unknown. We found that the Caenorhabditis elegans wild-type N2 complied with the temperature–size rule, whereas wild-type CB4856 defied it. Using a candidate gene approach based on an N2 × CB4856 recombinant inbred panel in combination with mutant analysis, complementation, and transgenic studies, we show that a single nucleotide polymorphism in tra-3 leads to mutation F96L in the encoded calpain-like protease. This mutation attenuates the ability of CB4856 to grow larger at low temperature. Homology modelling predicts that F96L reduces TRA-3 activity by destabilizing the DII-A domain. The data show that size adaptation of ectotherms to temperature changes may be less complex than previously thought because a subtle wild-type polymorphism modulates the temperature responsiveness of body size. These findings provide a novel step toward the molecular understanding of the temperature–size rule, which has puzzled biologists for decades