Preliminary Water Assessment Reports of The Test Basins of The Watch Project

This report presents the initial plans of the case studies how they link to rest of the Watch project and on which water resources they will focus. This report will function as the basis for further discussions on how to improve the integration of the case studies within the project and to develop a more general protocol for each of the case studies. Currently 5 catchments are used within the Watch project, they differ in climatic and hydro-geological features and expected climate changes: the Glomma River basin (Eastern Norway), the upper Guadiana basin (Central Spanish Plateau), the Nitra River basin (central Slovakia), the Upper-Elbe basin (part of the Elbe River) and the island of Crete. Also the water resources issues vary over these cases. Agricultural (and domestic) water use is under pressure in the Mediterranean catchments probably aggravating with the expected increase in drought frequency under future climate. The Norwegian catchment provides hydropower services under threat of precipitation increase rather than decrease. The central European catchments are threatened mainly by increased variability, i.e. increased frequencies of extremes in a densely populated environment, and river flow may need additional buffers (reservoirs) to reduce floodrisk and store water for dry period

Bio-inspired Systems for Carbon Dioxide Capture, Sequestration and Utilization

This chapter reviews the study and development of biological, enzymatic and bio-molecular systems for carbon dioxide capture and further sequestration or even utilization. Regardless of the interest on the use of the captured CO2 as C1 synthon on the manufacture of added-value compounds, there is a tremendous unbalance between the requirements of the contemporary society (leading to a massive production of carbon dioxide) and the framework of commercialization of the products from CO2 utilization. In this context, viable options are storage as a solid in the form of calcium or magnesium carbonate and conversion into other energetic frameworks. In addition, it is important to highlight that the conventional energy resources are progressively being replaced by renewable resources. While the change in energetic paradigm is not accomplished, systems that capture and convert carbon dioxide are highly sought. To this end, bio-inspired systems will be presented, starting from the use of compounds from the chiral pool, such as amino acids, saccharides and related bio-polymers, involved in the physical and chemical capture, sequestration and/or utilization of CO2. Additionally, enzymatic systems are presented in the context of sequestration of CO2 in the form of solid carbonates or even utilization of this C1 synthon in the preparation of fuels and commodity chemicals. Carbonic anhydrase is by far the most studied enzyme, as it catalyses the inter-conversion between CO2 and hydrogencarbonate in an effective mode. The biological option comprises the utilization of methanogens, acetogens and other organisms leading to the formation of added-value compounds. Most of the described systems are based on microbial electro-synthesis model and microbial carbon-capture cell prototypes

Chemoinformatic Approaches To Predict the Viscosities of Ionic Liquids and Ionic Liquid-Containing Systems

UID/QUI/50006/2019.Modelling, predicting, and understanding the factors influencing the viscosities of ionic liquids and related mixtures are sequentially checked in this work. The molecular maps of atom-level properties (MOLMAP codification system) is adapted for a straightforward inclusion of ionic liquids and mixtures containing ionic liquids. Random Forest models have been tested in this context and an optimal model was selected. The interpretability of the selected Random Forest model is highlighted with selected structural features that might contribute to identify low viscosities. The constructed model is able to recognize the influence of different structural variables, temperature, and pressure for a correct classification of the different systems. The codification and interpretation systems are highlighted in this work.authorsversionpublishe

Marcadores moleculares para el estudio de la variabilidad dentro del complejo Eragrostis curvula

211-220Weeping lovegrass is well adapted for forage production and useful for soil conservation in semiarid regions, constituting a morphologically diverse group. Diploid genotypes are unfrequent and reproduce sexually, whereas the tetraploids and plants of higher ploidy levels reproduce by apomixis. In the present work RAPD, AFLP and EST-SSR were used in order to assess the reproductive mode through progeny tests, to determine intracultivar homogeneity or seed purity, to establish genetic relationships among the cultivars within the complex and to characterize the new materials obtained by our group. Eight commercial cultivars and three new plant materials were analyzed. Uniform and variable patterns were observed in progenies of apomictic and sexual plants, respectively. Seed purity was evaluated in seed bulks, observing a certain degree of contamination with seeds from different sources. AFLP were the markers with the highest potential for cultivar identification. The clustering using SSR and AFLP was consistent with previous studies using isozymes and morphological traits. The new tetraploid materials developed by our own group should be included within the curvula type. We also proposed the creation of a new morphological type for the diploid, because it posses morphological characteristics of robusta and molecular profiles of the conferta type

Composição química da carne de cabritos Saanen arraçoados com diferentes proporções de concentrado e volumoso.

O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a composição química da carne de cabritos da raça Saanen submetidos a quatro relações de concentrado e volumoso (C:V) (80:20; 60:40; 40:60 e 20:80% de C:V) na matéria seca de rações, tendo o capim Elefante in natura picado como volumoso base. Foram utilizados 28 caprinos, machos, distribuídos em quatro grupos, em baias coletivas, sendo que, cada baia continha sete animais. O delineamento experimental adotado foi o inteiramente casualizado com sete repetições por tratamento. As variáveis analisadas foram os teores de matéria seca, proteína bruta, extrato etéreo e cinzas. Foram observados maiores teores de matéria seca (P0,05) pelas doses de concentrado. Assim, o incremento na proporção de concentrado nas rações elevou os teores de matéria seca da carne caprina

Quasar clustering: evidence for an increase with redshift and implications for the nature of AGNs

The evolution of quasar clustering is investigated with a new sample of 388 quasars with 0.3<z<=2.2, B<=20.5 and Mb<-23, selected over an area of 24.6 sq. deg. in the South Galactic Pole. Assuming a two-point correlation function of the form xi(r) = (r/r_o)^-1.8, we detect clustering with r_0=6.2 +/- 1.6 h^-1 comoving Mpc at an average redshift of z=1.3. We find a 2 sigma significant increase of the quasar clustering between z=0.95 and z=1.8, independent of the quasar absolute magnitude and inconsistent with recent evidence on the evolution of galaxy clustering. If other quasar samples are added (resulting in a total data-set of 737 quasars) the increase of the quasar clustering is still favoured although it becomes less significant. We find epsilon=-2.5. Evolutionary parameters epsilon>0.0 are excluded at a 0.3% probability level, to be compared with epsilon=0.8 found for galaxies. The observed clustering properties appear qualitatively consistent with a scenario of Omega=1 CDM in which a) the difference between the quasar and the galaxy clustering can be explained as a difference in the effective bias and redshift distributions, and b) the quasars, with a lifetime of t~10^8 yr, sparsely sample halos of mass greater than M_min~10^12-10^13 h^-1 M_sun. We discuss also the possibility that the observed change in the quasar clustering is due to an increase in the fraction of early-type galaxies as quasar hosts at high z.Comment: 8 pages including 2 eps figures, LaTeX (AAS v4.0), ApJ in pres

Cross-Comparison of Climate Change adaptation Strategies Across Large River Basins in Europe, Africa and Asia

A cross-comparison of climate change adaptation strategies across regions was performed, considering six large river basins as case study areas. Three of the basins, namely the Elbe, Guadiana, and Rhine, are located in Europe, the Nile Equatorial Lakes region and the Orange basin are in Africa, and the Amudarya basin is in Central Asia. The evaluation was based mainly on the opinions of policy makers and water management experts in the river basins. The adaptation strategies were evaluated considering the following issues: expected climate change, expected climate change impacts, drivers for development of adaptation strategy, barriers for adaptation, state of the implementation of a range of water management measures, and status of adaptation strategy implementation. The analysis of responses and cross-comparison were performed with rating the responses where possible. According to the expert opinions, there is an understanding in all six regions that climate change is happening. Different climate change impacts are expected in the basins, whereas decreasing annual water availability, and increasing frequency and intensity of droughts (and to a lesser extent floods) are expected in all of them. According to the responses, the two most important drivers for development of adaptation strategy are: climate-related disasters, and national and international policies. The following most important barriers for adaptation to climate change were identified by responders: spatial and temporal uncertainties in climate projections, lack of adequate financial resources, and lack of horizontal cooperation. The evaluated water resources management measures are on a relatively high level in the Elbe and Rhine basins, followed by the Orange and Guadiana. It is lower in the Amudarya basin, and the lowest in the NEL region, where many measures are only at the planning stage. Regarding the level of adaptation strategy implementation, it can be concluded that the adaptation to climate change has started in all basins, but progresses rather slowl

The Chemical Enrichment History of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Ca II triplet spectroscopy has been used to derive stellar metallicities for individual stars in four LMC fields situated at galactocentric distances of 3\arcdeg, 5\arcdeg, 6\arcdeg\@ and 8\arcdeg\@ to the north of the Bar. Observed metallicity distributions show a well defined peak, with a tail toward low metallicities. The mean metallicity remains constant until 6\arcdeg\@ ([Fe/H]$\sim$-0.5 dex), while for the outermost field, at 8\arcdeg, the mean metallicity is substantially lower than in the rest of the disk ([Fe/H]$\sim$-0.8 dex). The combination of spectroscopy with deep CCD photometry has allowed us to break the RGB age--metallicity degeneracy and compute the ages for the objects observed spectroscopically. The obtained age--metallicity relationships for our four fields are statistically indistinguishable. We conclude that the lower mean metallicity in the outermost field is a consequence of it having a lower fraction of intermediate-age stars, which are more metal-rich than the older stars. The disk age--metallicity relationship is similar to that for clusters. However, the lack of objects with ages between 3 and 10 Gyr is not observed in the field population. Finally, we used data from the literature to derive consistently the age--metallicity relationship of the bar. Simple chemical evolution models have been used to reproduce the observed age--metallicity relationships with the purpose of investigating which mechanism has participated in the evolution of the disk and bar. We find that while the disk age--metallicity relationship is well reproduced by close-box models or models with a small degree of outflow, that of the bar is only reproduced by models with combination of infall and outflow.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa