New hybrid tomato cultivars: an NMR-based chemical characterization

Bamano, King Creole, Sugarland, and DulceMiel hybrid tomato cultivars have been recently introduced in the Lazio area (Central Italy) to expand and valorize the regional/national market. Tomatoes from these cultivars, together with tomatoes from the native Fiaschetta cultivar, were sampled at the proper ripening time for the fresh market and characterized to obtain and compare their metabolite profiles. The Bligh-Dyer extraction protocol was carried out, and the resulting organic and hydroalcoholic fractions were analyzed by high-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. NMR data relative to quantified metabolites (sugars, amino acids, organic acids, sterols, and fatty acids) allowed to point out similarities and differences among cultivars. DulceMiel hybrid and Fiaschetta native cultivars showed some common aspects having the highest levels of the most abundant amino acids as well as comparable amounts of organic acids, amino acids, stigmasterol, and linoleic and linolenic acids. However, DulceMiel turned out to have higher levels of glucose, fructose, and galactose with respect to Fiaschetta, reflecting the particular taste of the DulceMiel product. King Creole, Bamano, and Sugarland hybrid cultivars were generally characterized by the lowest content of amino acids and organic acids. King Creole showed the highest content of malic acid, whereas Bamano was characterized by the highest levels of glucose and fructose

Cannabis sativa L. inflorescences from monoecious cultivars grown in central Italy: an untargeted chemical characterization from early flowering to ripening

The chemical composition of the inflorescences from four Cannabis sativa L. monoecious cultivars (Ferimon, Uso-31, Felina 32 and Fedora 17), recently introduced in the Lazio Region, was monitored over the season from June to September giving indications on their sensorial, pharmaceutical/nutraceutical proprieties. Both untargeted (NMR) and targeted (GC/MS, UHPLC, HPLC-PDA/FD and spectrophotometry) analyses were carried out to identify and quantify compounds of different classes (sugars, organic acids, amino acids, cannabinoids, terpenoids, phenols, tannins, flavonoids and biogenic amines). All cultivars in each harvesting period showed a THC content below the Italian legal limit, although in general THC content increased over the season. Citric acid, malic acid and glucose showed the highest content in the late flowering period, whereas the content of proline drastically decreased after June in all cultivars. Neophytadiene, nerolidol and chlorogenic acid were quantified only in Felina 32 cultivar, characterized also by a very high content of flavonoids, whereas alloaromadendrene and trans-cinnamic acid were detected only in Uso-31 cultivar. Naringenin and naringin were present only in Fedora 17 and Ferimon cultivars, respectively. Moreover, Ferimon had the highest concentration of biogenic amines, especially in July and August. Cadaverine was present in all cultivars but only in September. These results suggest that the chemical composition of Cannabis sativa L. inflorescences depends on the cultivar and on the harvesting period. Producers can use this information as a guide to obtain inflorescences with peculiar chemical characteristics according to the specific use

Speed accuracy tradeoff? Not so fast: Marginal changes in speed have inconsistent relationships with accuracy in real-world settings

The speed-accuracy tradeoff suggests that responses generated under time constraints will be less accurate. While it has undergone extensive experimental verification, it is less clear whether it applies in settings where time pressures are not being experimentally manipulated (but where respondents still vary in their utilization of time). Using a large corpus of 29 response time datasets containing data from cognitive tasks without experimental manipulation of time pressure, we probe whether the speed-accuracy tradeoff holds across a variety of tasks using idiosyncratic within-person variation in speed. We find inconsistent relationships between marginal increases in time spent responding and accuracy; in many cases, marginal increases in time do not predict increases in accuracy. However, we do observe time pressures (in the form of time limits) to consistently reduce accuracy and for rapid responses to typically show the anticipated relationship (i.e., they are more accurate if they are slower). We also consider analysis of items and individuals. We find substantial variation in the item-level associations between speed and accuracy. On the person side, respondents who exhibit more within-person variation in response speed are typically of lower ability. Finally, we consider the predictive power of a person's response time in predicting out-of-sample responses; it is generally a weak predictor. Collectively, our findings suggest the speed-accuracy tradeoff may be limited as a conceptual model in its application in non-experimental settings and, more generally, offer empirical results and an analytic approach that will be useful as more response time data is collected

Optimal trajectories for solar bow shock mission

This paper deals a Solar Bow Shock mission, a phenomenon of interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium, due to the relative motion of our star with respect to the enormous interstellar matter cloud that contains it. This phenomenon occurs at boundary of the solar system (200 AU), and it is preferable a mission in situ that could examine in detail what actually happens on-the-spot, to understand its effect on the planets of the solar system. Voyager 1 & 2 reached the area where the phenomenon takes place after 30 years. The target is to arrive there optimizing both the transfer time, and the propellant mass consumption. Therefore, the trajectory will be optimized using different propulsion systems and appropriate flyby sequences.. The approach techniques that will be used foresee executions of impulsive or ballistic gravity assists with the utilisation of high thrust engine only, or low thrust engine only, or both engines in two different phases of the mission. By comparing all the solutions obtained imposing different initial conditions the optimal trajectory to arrive at Solar Bow Shock is presented

Moon Sitter mission for observation of the lunar poles

The Moon Sitter Mission provides a continuous observation of one of the Moon poles. Solar sails can produce equilibrium solutions which can be used so as to accomplish the Moon Sitter mission. In order to perform this mission the dynamics of the Earth-Moon system are investigated when a solar sail spacecraft is considered. Equilibrium points of the circular restricted three-body problem with radiation pressure have been chosen as candidate positions for the satellite. Equilibrium positions which are solutions of the restricted three-body problem of an Earth-Moon-sailcraft system can be exploited so as to observe high latitude regions of the Moon. For the Earth-Moon system, the radiation pressure force is not due to one of the primary masses but to the presence of the Sun, therefore in order to include the photonic force in the equation of motion the dynamics of this three-body system are no longer autonomous as the Sun line rotates once per synodic month w.r.t. the Earth-Moon co-rotating reference frame. The relative position between Moon and Sun, prevents the sailcraft from keeping a constant equilibrium location over the poles, thus causing increasing values of the angle-of-sight between the satellite position and the north pole. In this paper we show that a minimisation of the angle-of-sight is possible, with significant improvement in the orbit geometry. The satellite performance is expressed in terms of the angle-of-sight and of the distance of the sailcraft from the Moon pole, while the position of the Sun changes

Polar Sitter mission for continuous observation of the poles

The Polar Sitter mission provides a continuous observation of one of the Earth poles throughout the year. In order to perform this mission, equilibrium points of the circular restricted 3-body problem with radiation pressure have been chosen as candidate positions for the satellite. The tilt of the earth spin axis with respect to the ecliptic plane prevents the sailcraft from keeping a constant equilibrium location over the poles, thus causing increasing values of the angle-of-sight between the satellite position and the North Pole. In this paper we show that, by studying the equilibrium points obtained with the use of solar sail propulsion, a minimization of the angle-of-sight is possible, providing a significant improvement in the geometry.

Solar sail: a comparative study between Kapton HN and Kapton B membranes

Solar sailing is considered one of the most promising propulsion systems for interplanetary missions, and an efficient way to conduct orbital manoeuvre. The solar pressure acts on a large membrane that produces the propellant-less thrust. The solar sail is made of lightweight-reactive materials generally fabricated by polyimides with a one-side aluminium coating. The sail dimensions are conventionally huge in order to provide the proper thrust. In this work, we propose to eliminate the aluminium coating and to realize the membrane only by using polyimides. In particular, we analyse the propulsion performances of inexpensive polyimide membranes, such as Kapton HN and Kapton B. The selected polyimides films present different optical behaviour due to their different sunlight reactance: Kapton HN is semi-transparent, whereas Kapton B is black pigmented. We perform experimental measurements to determine the optical parameters of both films. These parameters are then used to determine the thrust of the two membranes. The solar sail that we investigate has a square geometry with dimensions of 6 m X 6 m and in thickness. The characteristic acceleration is the same for both membranes and equal to 0.01 mm/s2. Kapton HN produces a greater thrust than Kapton B, even if Kapton B exhibits a highest emissivity. These results can be explained highlighting the be-reactive nature of the selected thin films. In order to take advantage from the high emissivity of Kapton B and enhancing the thrust modulus, we consider modifying the surface roughness of one side of the membrane. In this way, the propulsion performance can be improved by exploiting the difference of roughness between the membrane sides. Orbital simulation shows that the sail is able to maintain efficiently the station keeping in Halo orbit around the Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system