CALIBRATING CAPACITANCE SENSORS TO ESTIMATE WATER CONTENT, MATRIC POTENTIAL, AND ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY IN SOILLESS SUBSTRATES

The nursery and greenhouse industry requires precise methods to schedule irrigations, since current practices are subjective and contribute to water and nutrient runoff. Capacitance sensors were calibrated to precisely estimate substrate water content, matric potential, and pore water electrical conductivity (EC) in five soilless substrates. Regression coefficients (R2) ranged from 0.29 - 0.88 and 0.16 - 0.79 for water content in 5-cm and 20-cm column heights; matric potential R2 ranged from 0.10 - 0.98 and 0.79 - 0.98, respectively. Pore water EC calibrations were investigated, contrasting two sensor types and two prediction models. Results were applied to an empirical greenhouse dataset. Better precision and accuracy were achieved with ECH2O-TE sensor and Rhoades model. Capacitance sensors provide precise estimates of plant-available water in most soilless substrates, while pore water EC accuracy and precision depends on the sensor-model combination. These results will enable growers to precisely schedule irrigations based on water content and pore water EC

IS A TAX CUT ON CULTURAL GOODS CONSUMPTION ACTUALLY DESIRABLE?:A MICROSIMULATION ANALYSIS

Proposals for tax cuts on cultural goods represent an ongoing debate in cultural policy. The main aim of this paper is to shed some light on this debate using microsimulation tools. First, we have estimated an Almost Ideal Demand System for nineteen different groups of goods, including cultural goods. Expenditure and price elasticities have been obtained from this model. Using this information, three alternatives cuts in the V.A.T. rate on cultural goods have been microsimulated and evaluated in terms of revenue and welfare. These types of fiscal reforms will lead to welfare and efficiency gains that can be described as regressive.Microsimulation, tax reforms, cultural consumption, welfare

Analysis of Renewable Energy Policies Related to Repowering the Wind Energy Sector: the Spanish Case

In countries that started early with wind energy, the old wind turbines were located in places where the wind is often very good. Since the best places in which the wind is concerned are occupied by old wind turbines (with lower capacity than the more recent ones) the trend is to start replacing old turbines with new ones. With repowering, the first generation of wind turbines can be replaced by modern multi-megawatt wind turbines. The aim of this article is to analyze energy policies in the Spanish energy sector in the repowering of wind farms from the viewpoint of the current situation of the wind energy sector. The approach presented in this article is meant to explain what have been the policies related to the repowering sector making a brief analysis of the spectrum of different stimulii that are demanded by the market analyzing also the future perspectives of the repowering sector by establishing the new opportunities based on the new published regulations

Extracting partial decay rates of helium from complex rotation: autoionizing resonances of the one-dimensional configurations

Partial autoionization rates of doubly excited one-dimensional helium in the collinear Zee and eZe configuration are obtained by means of the complex rotation method. The approach presented here relies on a projection of back-rotated resonance wave functions onto singly ionized $\textrm{He}^{+}$ channel wave functions and the computation of the corresponding particle fluxes. In spite of the long-range nature of the Coulomb potential between the electrons and the nucleus, an asymptotic region where the fluxes are stationary is clearly observed. Low-lying doubly excited states are found to decay predomintantly into the nearest single-ionization continuum. This approach paves the way for a systematic analysis of the decay rates observed in higher-dimensional models, and of the role of electronic correlations and atomic structure in recent photoionization experiments

Combining Nearest Neighbor Predictions and Model-Based Predictions of Realized Variance: Does it Pay?

The increasing availability of intraday financial data has led to improvements in daily volatility forecasting through long-memory models of realized volatility. This paper demonstrates the merit of the non-parametric Nearest Neighbor (NN) approach for S&P 100 realized variance forecasting. A priori the NN approach is appealing because it can reproduce complex dynamic dependencies while largely avoiding misspecification and parameter estimation uncertainty, unlike model-based methods. We evaluate the forecasts through straddle trading profitability metrics and using conventional statistical accuracy criteria. The ranking of individual forecasts confirms that statistical accuracy does not have a one-to-one mapping into profitability. In turbulent markets, the NN forecasts lead to higher risk-adjusted profitability even though the model-based forecasts are statistically superior. In both calm and turbulent market conditions, the directional combination of NN and model-based forecasts is more profitable than any of the individual forecasts

Modeling of the mechano-chemical behavior of the nuclear pore complex: current research and perspectives

Recent evidence suggests that mechanical deformation of the cell nucleus regulates the nuclear import of the transcriptional activators of genes involved in primary physiological cell responses such as stem cell differentiation. In addition, this nuclear mechanosensing response is de-regulated in pathological states, such as cancer and neurodegeneration. One hypothesis that could greatly advance the field is that the deformation of the nuclear envelope activates nuclear pore complexes through a direct mechanical link. The understanding of this possible mechanism for nuclear pore complex stretch-activation entails studying the mechanical connection of this complex to the nuclear envelope at the nanoscale. The nanomechanics of the nuclear pore complex is thus emerging as a novel research field, bridging nanoscience with nanotechnology. This review examines the frontier of research methodologies that are potentially useful for building a computational model of this interaction. This includes, for example, electron tomography to assess the geometrical features of the nuclear pore complex and nanoindentation to estimate its mechanical properties and that of the nuclear envelope. In order to summarize the state-of-the-art and perspectives in the field of NPC nanomechanics, this review covers highly interdisciplinary experimental and theoretical research methodologies pertaining to the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, materials and mechanics

Desarrollo sostenible y educación ambiental en los estudiantes de los institutos superiores de Abancay- 2022

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue determinar si el desarrollo sostenible y educación ambiental influyen en los estudiantes de los institutos superiores de Abancay-2022. Su metodología es de enfoque cuantitativo de tipo básica, de acuerdo a su alcance es de tipo transversal, con un diseño correlacional-causal, no experimental. La población y muestra fue 405 y 198 estudiantes. El muestreo fue aleatorio simple, con respecto al instrumento era uno ya existente. La confiabilidad fue de 0.860, 0.820 y 0.861 es una fuerte confiabilidad En cuanto a los resultados se concluyó que el nivel de conocimiento de los estudiantes sobre desarrollo sostenible un 58.1 % sobre educación ambiental, 83.8 % y estudiantes de institutos superiores un 59.6 % todos ellos lograron el nivel medio. Así mismo se finalizó con un coeficiente de Nagelkerke, involucrando a la variabilidad estudiantes de institutos superiores donde depende el 21.9% del desarrollo sostenible y educación ambiental. Se concluye que el desarrollo sostenible y educación ambiental si influyen en los estudiantes de los institutos superiores de Abancay- 2022

Future dairy farm systems : a bio-economic analysis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of AgriCommerce, School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Figures 2-2 (=Checkland, 1988 Fig 3), 3-1 (=Sørensen et al., 2010 Fig 3) & 3-8 (=Flysjő et al., 2011 Fig 1) were removed for copyright reasons. Other possibly copyrighted Figures remain for the sake of clarity.The dairy industry is an important component of New Zealand economy particularly in terms of foreign exchange earnings, local communities and employment, contributing around 3.5% of NZ’s total GDP annually. The future of the dairy industry can be influenced by consumer trends, the volatility of production, input and output prices, the environmental footprint, stricter trade regulations and animal welfare. In a previous study, a series of likely future scenarios had been developed conceptually through a rigorous analysis that involved farmers, researchers, industry participants and a multitude of stakeholders. However, the likely impact of these scenarios at a farm level has not yet been quantified. In an attempt to quantify the implications of these scenarios, this study developed a bio-economic analytical framework. This framework has been empirically applied on a case study dairy farm using FARMAX® whole-farm system software. Future scenarios simulated are “Consumer is King”, “Governments Dictate”, and “Regulation Rules”. Determining the on-farm adjustments and then modelling the impact of these on the case study farm enabled in-depth analysis to occur. The feasibility of each and the economic implications of the changes differed between scenarios. For two of the scenarios, if they eventuate, further on-farm adjustments will be required