Analysis of the efficiency of wind turbine gearboxes using the temperature variable

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how lubricant selection affects gearbox efficiency and overall energy production by analysing real data from wind farms, monitored and controlled by a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA system). The turbines analysed worked with two or more oil types for the same amount of hours, which allowed to establish relations between the active power curves and wind velocity; oil temperature inside gearboxes and wind velocity; and oil temperature inside gearboxes and active power production. The results of this study evidenced a direct relation between oil characteristics and energy efficiency i.e. gearboxes working with mineral oil perform better then gearboxes working with synthetic oils. Those differences can be significant in terms of active power production. Also, it was observed oil degradation as function of temperature increase, with changes on viscosity, which reveals that temperature behaviour along the active power curve is strongly related to oil' characteristics. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Agência financiadora Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) PTDC/AAG-TEC/1710/2014 MONITOR project - Atlantic Area EAPA_333/2016 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the Portuguese Researchers' Programme 2014 IF/00286/2014/CP1234 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the European Union's H2020-MSCA-IF-EF-RI-2016/under REA - 748747info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Anthropogenic features in the Sines (Portugal) and Essaouira (Morocco) coastal aquifers: a comparative study of their hydrochemical evolution by a Principal Component Analysis.

Considering the effects of climatic conditions on groundwater resources salinization and quality, a comparative study was conducted on the coastal aquifers of Sines (Portugal) and Essaouira (Morocco). Under the climatic and environmental conditions these two basins present different vulnerabilities to anthropogenic activities. Both aquifers correspond to sedimentary basins with similar structures and lithologies. From the available physical, chemical and piezometric data, two series of results of each area were selected corresponding to two different years that were analysed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Sines basin is characterised by a temperate climate. In the Sines aquifer the waterrock interaction process is the major mechanism responsible for the groundwater evolution, conferring a calcium-bicarbonate facies. Applying the PCA, punctual anthropogenic contamination was identified and linked to agricultural activities. The water resources of the Essaouira basin are characteristic of a semi-arid climate, and are severely impacted by the climate (quantity and quality). PCA allowed the evaluation of the contribution of the Tidzi diapir in the water recharge that confers to the groundwater a sodium-chloride facies. Although this statistical method did not shown a nitrate contamination input in the Essaouira multi-aquifer, this polluent presents locally high values. Also the very high evaporation and scarce precipitation activate the processes of salinization and contamination.Considerando los efectos de las condiciones climáticas sobre la calidad y la salinidad de las aguas subterráneas, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio comparativo entre los acuíferos costeros de Sines (Portugal) y de Essaouira (Marruecos). Teniendo en cuenta las condiciones climáticas y el medio ambiente de estas dos cuencas, resultan distintas vulnerabilidades a las actividades antrópicas. Ambos acuíferos se localizan en cuencas sedimentarias de estructura y de litología idénticas. Un Análisis de Componentes Principales fue realizado a partir de datos físicos, químicos y piezométricos conseguidos durante dos años en cada área. La cuenca de Sines se caracteriza por un clima templado. En el acuífero de Sines el desarrollo de las interacciones agua-roca es mayoritariamente responsable de la modificación de las aguas subterráneas, confiriendo una facies calcio-bicarbonatada. Mediante un Análisis de Componentes Principales, se identificó una contaminación antropogénica puntual de origen agrícola. Los recursos en agua de la cuenca de Essaouira están dentro de un clima semiárido, dependiendo muchísimo de este (cantidad y calidad). La utilización de la citada metodología permitió evidenciar la contribución del diapiro Tidzi en las aguas de recargas, confiriendo una facies de cloruro sódico en las aguas subterráneas. Aunque este método estadístico no permitió la demostración de la contaminación por los nitratos en los diversos acuíferos de Essaouira, aquel contaminante se encontraba puntualmente en altas concentraciones. Por otra parte, la fuerte evaporación y las bajas precipitaciones amplían el fenómeno de salinidad y de contaminación

Nutritional assessment of fresh, salted and soaked European catfish

The European catfish (Silurus glanis Linnaeus, 1758) is an invasive fish species in Portugal and it is the largest-bodied European freshwater fish.CERNAS-IPCB [UIDB/00681/2020] funding by the Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Intramural Vesical Leiomyoma in a Patient with a Pelvic Fibrous Tumour - Case Report

Introdução: O leiomioma vesical é um tumor benigno raro que representa,aproximadamente, 0,5% do total de neoplasias da bexiga. É frequentemente um achado imagiológico, sendo a sua localização e dimensões determinantes no desenvolvimento de sintomatologia e no tipo de procedimento a efectuar. Caso Clínico: Reporta-se o caso de um doente com queixas urinárias de disúria, polaquiúria e esforço miccional, inicialmente interpretadas como HBP. A investigação diagnóstica culminou com a enucleação de uma volumosa massa intramural da bexiga, com diagnóstico histológico de leiomioma, num doente com antecedentes de doença de Madelung e excisão prévia de um tumor fibroso paravesical. Discussão: O leiomioma vesical, embora apresentando características imagiológicas típicas, deve ser sempre biopsado para confirmação histológica da sua etiologia. O tumor fibroso pélvico apresenta sempre indicação cirúrgica pois, numa minoria de casos, pode apresentar comportamento agressivo com infiltração dos órgãos adjacentes

Polaritonic molecular clock for all-optical ultrafast imaging of wavepacket dynamics without probe pulses

Conventional approaches to probing ultrafast molecular dynamics rely on the use of synchronized laser pulses with a well-defined time delay. Typically, a pump pulse excites a molecular wavepacket. A subsequent probe pulse can then dissociate or ionize the molecule, and measurement of the molecular fragments provides information about where the wavepacket was for each time delay. Here, we propose to exploit the ultrafast nuclear-position-dependent emission obtained due to large light–matter coupling in plasmonic nanocavities to image wavepacket dynamics using only a single pump pulse. We show that the time-resolved emission from the cavity provides information about when the wavepacket passes a given region in nuclear configuration space. This approach can image both cavity-modified dynamics on polaritonic (hybrid light–matter) potentials in the strong light–matter coupling regime and bare-molecule dynamics in the intermediate coupling regime of large Purcell enhancements, and provides a route towards ultrafast molecular spectroscopy with plasmonic nanocavitiesThis work has been funded by the European Research Council grant ERC-2016-STG-714870 and the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation, and Universities—AEI grants RTI2018-099737-B-I00, PCI2018-093145 (through the QuantERA program of the European Commission), and CEX2018-000805-M (through the María de Maeztu program for Units of Excellence in R&D

A synthetic biological quantum optical system

In strong plasmon–exciton coupling, a surface plasmon mode is coupled to an array of localized emitters to yield new hybrid light–matter states (plexcitons), whose properties may in principle be controlled via modification of the arrangement of emitters. We show that plasmon modes are strongly coupled to synthetic light-harvesting maquette proteins, and that the coupling can be controlled via alteration of the protein structure. For maquettes with a single chlorin binding site, the exciton energy (2.06 ± 0.07 eV) is close to the expected energy of the Qy transition. However, for maquettes containing two chlorin binding sites that are collinear in the field direction, an exciton energy of 2.20 ± 0.01 eV is obtained, intermediate between the energies of the Qx and Qy transitions of the chlorin. This observation is attributed to strong coupling of the LSPR to an H-dimer state not observed under weak coupling