An Approach to Evaluate Soils Influence on Floristic Composition of Natural Grasslands

This trial aims to evaluate floristic composition of most abundant species in three soil typical of Pampa biome on Brazil. The survey was held at Maronna Fundation located on southern Alegrete municipality, on Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s state. Regional climate belongs to Koeppen’s Cfa class. Soil types were shallow basalt (Psamments e Orthents), deep basalt (Vertisols) and sandy soil (Acrisols or Ultisols). Floristic composition were evaluated by visual ranking of aerial biomass of the major species (transformed to kg of dry matter per hectare), calibrated by cuts at ground level, according to field procedures of BOTANAL method. Grasses were clustered according to functional groups based on its leaf traits as proposed by Cruz et al. (2010). This approach proposed a ranking of grasses that ranges from its increasing leaf dry matter, and decreasing specific leaf area, from A to C groups. Total forage mass varied according to soil type. Contribution of A, B and C groups on total forage mass range from 40 to 60 %. Paspalum notatum, from B group, were found on the three soils, being more abundant on sandy and shallow basalt soils. Andropogon lateralis, from C group, was dominant on deep basalt soils, while Axonopus affinis, from A group, has higher biomass contribution on the same soil. We concluded that soil type affected floristic composition, even with this simplified diagnosis criteria

Buoyancy Energy Storage Technology: An energy storage solution for islands, coastal regions, offshore wind power and hydrogen compression

The world is undergoing a substantial energy transition with an increasing share of intermittent sources of energy on the grid such as wind and solar. These variable renewable energy sources require an energy storage solution to allow a smooth integration of these sources. Batteries can provide short-term storage solutions. However, there is still a need for technologies that can provide weekly energy storage at locations without potential for pumped hydro storage. This paper presents innovative solutions for energy storage based on “buoyancy energy storage” in the deep ocean. The ocean has large depths where potential energy can be stored in gravitational based energy storage systems. The deeper the system, the greater the amount of stored energy. The cost of Buoyancy Energy Storage Technology (BEST) is estimated to vary from 50 to 100 USD/kWh of stored electric energy and 4,000 to 8,000 USD/kW of installed capacity. BES could be a feasible option to complement batteries, providing weekly storage cycles. As well as from storing energy, the system can also be used to compress hydrogen efficiently

Mechanism of Insulin Emission in Matrix Assisted Laser Ionization

In the present paper the emission of intact insulin quasi-molecular ion [M+H] + during laser ablation (MALDI) is studied. It was observed in particular that the insulin TOF molecular peak increases as the laser power increases. The DE-Vestal method for the initial velocity measurements was improved theoretically including the distance (d0) until the free expansion regime can be considered. According to the present analysis, the v0 parameter given by the DE-Vestal method is interpreted as the initial velocity that the desorbed ion would have if no collision occurs in the plasma. The improved method interprets v 0 as the "final" initial velocity, i.e., as the velocity that the desorbed ions have when the plasma free expansion starts and, effectively, collisions no longer occur. The new method allows also the determination of d 0 , the distance to the solid when the free expansion starts. The data fitting shows that the distance (d0) has a linear dependence on the laser's intensity. Extrapolation of these values gives I = 0.69 G W cm −2 as the minimum energy density necessary to produce high density plasma during the insulin ions desorption when using αCHCA matrix

Measurement of isotopic separation of argon with the prototype of the cryogenic distillation plant Aria for dark matter searches

The Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to detector-grade quality. In this paper, we report the first measurement of argon isotopic separation by distillation with the 26 m tall Aria prototype. We discuss the measurement of the operating parameters of the column and the observation of the simultaneous separation of the three stable argon isotopes: 36Ar , 38Ar , and 40Ar . We also provide a detailed comparison of the experimental results with commercial process simulation software. This measurement of isotopic separation of argon is a significant achievement for the project, building on the success of the initial demonstration of isotopic separation of nitrogen using the same equipment in 2019