2,500 research outputs found
About a Coincidente Index for the State of the Economy
The construction of coincident indexes for the economic activity of a country is a common practice since the fifties. The methodologies vary from heuristic methods to probabilistic or statistical ones. In this paper, we present a new procedure for estimating a coincient index of the state of the economy which is optimum in a statiscal sense. This procedure is based on state space models that do possess the steady-state property.We apply our methodology for computing a coincident index for the Colombian economy.State of the economy, Coincidente Index, State Space Models.
Impact of Policy Actions on the Deployment of the Circular Value-Chain for Composites
The effect of legislation on composites recycling can be both a driving force, such as in the case of End-of-Life Vehicle legislation, that is making it mandatory to reuse the materials used in vehicle manufacturing, or a boundary, increasing the burden to manufacturers reusing composite materials. As a consequence, a deep study on the impact of policies on the reuse of composites is fundamental to promote those actions boosting the deployment of circular value-chains. In this Chapter, a model based on System Dynamics theory, representing the entire industrial environment of composite materials, has been developed, leading to a prioritization of most impacting legislations, providing conclusions and recommendations derived from data
Yield and fruit quality of Santa Cruz and Italian tomatoes depending on fruit thinning
O manejo do tomateiro cultivado em ambiente protegido, com ĂȘnfase no raleio de frutos, pode contribuir de forma significativa para a produção de frutos de qualidade superior, expressando assim o potencial de cada cultivar. Foi avaliado o efeito do raleio de frutos na produtividade e seus componentes e em alguns atributos de qualidade de frutos de genĂłtipos de tomateiro dos segmentos Santa Cruz e Italiano de crescimento indeterminado, visando ao consumo in natura. Avaliaram-se 12 genĂłtipos de tomate de mesa (seis hĂbridos experimentais e seis cultivares) e dois modos de condução (plantas conduzidas com e sem raleio de frutos). O experimento foi com parcelas subdivididas, distribuĂdas em blocos completos ao acaso com trĂȘs repetiçÔes. As parcelas foram representadas pelos genĂłtipos e as subparcelas pelos modos de condução. Avaliaram-se o nĂșmero de frutos por planta, produtividade comercial de frutos, produtividade de frutos nĂŁo-comercializĂĄveis, massa mĂ©dia do fruto, comprimento e largura do fruto, pH, teor de sĂłlidos solĂșveis totais (SS), acidez titulĂĄvel (AT), relação entre SS e AT, teor de ĂĄcido ascĂłrbico e teor de licopeno. O raleio dos frutos proporcionou incremento da produtividade comercial, massa mĂ©dia, comprimento e largura do fruto para os hĂbridos THX-02 e THX-03, do segmento Santa Cruz, e THX-04, THX-05 e Netuno, do segmento Italiano e nĂŁo mostrou vantagens para a produção e seus componentes para os demais genĂłtipos e caracterĂsticas avaliadas. Considerando o raleio de frutos, os genĂłtipos Giuliana e Sahel obtiveram maior produtividade comercial e massa mĂ©dia do fruto. Sem o raleio de frutos, 'Netuno' alcançou maior nĂșmero de frutos por planta, porĂ©m, o hĂbrido Sahel foi quem se destacou por apresentar maior produtividade comercial e massa mĂ©dia do fruto. O raleio nĂŁo influenciou a qualidade organolĂ©ptica dos genĂłtipos avaliados. 'Avalon' apresentou maior teor de ĂĄcido ascĂłrbico que 'Netuno' e 'Sahel'. 'DĂ©bora Max', THX-01, THX-02 e THX-04 foram semelhantes entre si quanto ao teor de licopeno e superaram 'Giuliana', 'Sahel', THX-03 e THX-06.The management of the tomato plant under greenhouse, with emphasis on fruit thinning, contributes significantly to the production of fruits of superior quality, expressing the potential of each cultivar. We determined the effect of fruit thinning on yield and its components in tomato hybrids of the Santa Cruz and Italian types of indeterminate growth, and we performed the qualitative characterization of the fruits, aiming in natura market. Twelve fresh-market tomato genotypes (six experimental hybrids and six commercial cultivars) and two training methods (with and without manual fruit thinning) were evaluated. A randomized complete block design was used in this trial, with split-plots and three replications. The plots were represented by genotypes and the subplots were constitued by training methods. Number of fruits per plant, yield of marketable and not marketable fruits, average fruit weight, fruit length and fruit width were measured. For quantitative characterization, pH, soluble solids concentration (SS), tritratable acidity (AT), ascorbic acid content, SS and AT ratio and lycopene content were measured. The fruit thinning increased marketable yield, average weight, length and width for the Santa Cruz hybrids THX-02 and THX-03 and for THX-04, THX-05 and Netuno, classified as Italian type. The fruit thinning did not provide benefits for yield and its components for the other evaluated characteristics and genotypes. Giuliana and Sahel genotypes presented higher marketable yield and average fruit weight. Without fruit thinning, 'Netuno' reached the highest number of fruits per plant, but the hybrid Sahel showed higher marketable yield and average fruit weight. Thinning did not affect the organoleptic quality of the genotypes. 'Avalon' showed higher ascorbic acid content than 'Netuno' and 'Sahel', and 'DĂ©bora Max', 'THX-01', 'THX-02' and 'THX-04', which were similar to each other in the content of lycopene, overcame 'Giuliana', 'Sahel', 'THX-03', and 'THX-06'.FAPESPCoordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES
Two Populations of Molecular Clouds in the Antennae Galaxies
Super star clusters --- extremely massive clusters found predominately in
starburst environments --- are essential building blocks in the formation of
galaxies and thought to dominate star formation in the high-redshift universe.
However, the transformation from molecular gas into these ultra-compact star
clusters is not well understood. To study this process, we used the
Submillimeter Array and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer to obtain high
angular resolution (~1.5" or 160 pc) images of the Antennae overlap region in
CO(2--1) to search for the molecular progenitors of the super star clusters. We
resolve the molecular gas distribution into a large number of clouds, extending
the differential cloud mass function down to a 5\sigma completeness limit of
3.8x10^5 M_sun. We identify a distinct break in the mass function around log
M_mol/M_sun ~ 6.5, which separates the molecular clouds into two distinct
populations. The smaller, less massive clouds reside in more quiescent areas in
the region, while the larger, more massive clouds cluster around regions of
intense star formation. A broken power-law fit to the mass function yields
slopes of \alpha = -1.39+/-0.10 and \alpha = -1.44+/-0.14 for the low- and
high-mass cloud population, well-matched to the mass function found for super
star clusters in the Antennae galaxies. We find large velocity gradients and
velocity dispersions at the locations of intense star formation, suggestive of
compressive shocks. It is likely that these environmental factors contribute to
the formation of the observed massive molecular clouds and super star clusters
in the Antennae galaxies.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, accepted by Ap
Isolation and characterization of mercury resistant trichoderma strains from soil with high levels of mercury and its effects on Arabidopsis thaliana mercury uptake
"Traditional mining activities are usually correlated with high levels of soil pollution, which is a major environmental concern. Extensive mining activities have taken place in the San Joaquin region in the State of Querétaro, México resulting in high levels of mercury soil pollution (up to 1532 ± 300 mg/kg). We isolated mercury-resistant fungal strains from the San Joaquin region soils and identified them through morphologic characteristics and ITS rDNA region sequence analysis. We determined that fungi isolated belong to the genus Trichoderma. All the isolates selected showed the ability to catalyze the volatilization of Hg. For air sampling, an active sampling device was constructed and using acid KMnO4 as an absorbent, the concentration of mercury in solution was determined through the cold vapor atomic absorption method. The results show mercury volatilization from the fungal species assay, with a maximum of 213.04 ± 32.6 ”g/m3 while mycelium accumulation ranged from less than 17.5 ± 2.9 to 20.0 ± 3.4 ”g/g. The fungal isolates were also evaluated for their ability to reduce mercury uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana. These observations suggest the utility of Trichoderma for the mobilization of mercury in those contaminated soils.
The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations
Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre
Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference,
Beijing, China, August 201
Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory.
Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km str and provides us with an
unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors
and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of
major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the
searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X
data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also
describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100%
duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens
new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the
properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray
Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201
Anisotropy and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the
distribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies
eV. These show a correlation with the distribution
of nearby extragalactic objects, including an apparent excess around the
direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at
are heavy nuclei with charge , the proton component of the
sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies . We here
report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above
(for illustrative values of ). If the anisotropies
above are due to nuclei with charge , and under reasonable
assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent
constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies
- âŠ