Cosmology with intensity mapping techniques using atomic and molecular lines

We present a systematic study of the intensity mapping technique using updated models for the different emission lines from galaxies and identify which ones are more promising for cosmological studies of the post reionization epoch. We consider the emission of ${\rm Ly\alpha}$, ${\rm H\alpha}$, H$\beta$, optical and infrared oxygen lines, nitrogen lines, CII and the CO rotational lines. We then identify that ${\rm Ly\alpha}$, ${\rm H\alpha}$, OII, CII and the lowest rotational CO lines are the best candidates to be used as IM probes. These lines form a complementary set of probes of the galaxies emission spectra. We then use reasonable experimental setups from current, planned or proposed experiments to access the detectability of the power spectrum of each emission line. Intensity mapping of ${\rm Ly\alpha}$ emission from $z=2$ to 3 will be possible in the near future with HETDEX, while far-infrared lines require new dedicated experiments. We also show that the proposed SPHEREx satellite can use OII and ${\rm H\alpha}$ IM to study the large-scale distribution of matter in intermediate redshifts of 1 to 4. We found that submilimeter experiments with bolometers can have similar performances at intermediate redshifts using CII and CO(3-2).Comment: 18 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables, published in MNRAS, typos correcte

Mitigation of emergent bacterial pathogens using pseudomonas syringae pv. Actinidiae as a case study — from orchard to gene and everything in between

Globalization propelled human migration and commercial exchanges at the global level, but woefully led to the introduction of non-indigenous organisms into several agroecological systems. These include pathogenic bacteria with devastating consequences for numerous crops of agronomical importance for food production worldwide. In the last decade, research efforts have focused on these noxious organisms, aiming to understand their evolutionary processes, degree of pathogenicity, and mitigation strategies, which have allowed stakeholders and policymakers to develop evidence-based regulatory norms to improve management practices and minimize production losses. One of these cases is the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), the causal agent of the kiwifruit bacterial canker, which has been causing drastic production losses and added costs related to orchard management in the kiwifruit industry. Although Psa is presently considered a pandemic pathogen and far from being eradicated, the implementation of strict regulatory norms and the efforts employed by the scientific community allowed the mitigation, to some extent, of its negative impacts through an integrated pest management approach. This included implementing directive guidelines, modifying cultural practices, and searching for sources of plant resistance. However, bacterial pathogens often have high spatial and temporal variability, with new strains constantly arising through mutation, recombination, and gene flow, posing constant pressure to agroecosystems. This review aims to critically appraise the efforts developed to mitigate bacterial pathogens of agronomical impact, from orchard management to genome analysis, using Psa as a case study, which could allow a prompter response against emerging pathogens in agroecosystems worldwide.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Scientific and technological advances in the development of sustainable disease management tools: a case study on kiwifruit bacterial canker

Plant disease outbreaks are increasing in a world facing climate change and globalized markets, representing a serious threat to food security. Kiwifruit Bacterial Canker (KBC), caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), was selected as a case study for being an example of a pandemic disease that severely impacted crop production, leading to huge economic losses, and for the effort that has been made to control this disease. This review provides an in-depth and critical analysis on the scientific progress made for developing alternative tools for sustainable KBC management. Their status in terms of technological maturity is discussed and a set of opportunities and threats are also presented. The gradual replacement of susceptible kiwifruit cultivars, with more tolerant ones, significantly reduced KBC incidence and was a major milestone for Psa containment – which highlights the importance of plant breeding. Nonetheless, this is a very laborious process. Moreover, the potential threat of Psa evolving to more virulent biovars, or resistant lineages to existing control methods, strengthens the need of keep on exploring effective and more environmentally friendly tools for KBC management. Currently, plant elicitors and beneficial fungi and bacteria are already being used in the field with some degree of success. Precision agriculture technologies, for improving early disease detection and preventing pathogen dispersal, are also being developed and optimized. These include hyperspectral technologies and forecast models for Psa risk assessment, with the latter being slightly more advanced in terms of technological maturity. Additionally, plant protection products based on innovative formulations with molecules with antibacterial activity against Psa (e.g., essential oils, phages and antimicrobial peptides) have been validated primarily in laboratory trials and with few compounds already reaching field application. The lessons learned with this pandemic disease, and the acquired scientific and technological knowledge, can be of importance for sustainably managing other plant diseases and handling future pandemic outbreaks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prospects for detecting CII emission during the Epoch of Reionization

We produce simulations of emission of the atomic CII line in large sky fields in order to determine the current prospects for mapping this line during the high redshift Epoch of Reionization. We estimate the CII line intensity, redshift evolution and spatial fluctuations using observational relations between CII emission and the SFR in a galaxy for the frequency range of 200 GHz to 300 GHz. We obtained a frequency averaged intensity of CII emission of ${\rm I_{\rm CII}=(4 \pm 2)\times10^{2}\, Jy\, \rm sr^{-1}}$ in the redshift range $z\, \sim\, 5.3\, -\, 8.5$. Observations of CII emission in this frequency range will suffer contamination from emission lines at lower redshifts, in particular from the CO rotation lines. For the relevant frequency range we estimated the CO contamination (originated in emission from galaxies at $z\, <\, 2.5$), using simulations, to be ${\rm I_{\rm CO} \approx 10^{3}\, Jy \, sr^{-1}}$ and independently confirmed the result based in observational relations. We generated maps as a function of angle and frequency using detailed simulations of the CII and CO emission across several redshifts in order to properly take into account the observational pipeline and light cone effects. In order to reduce the foreground contamination we found that we should mask galaxies below redshifts $\sim 2.5$ with a CO flux in one of the CO(J:2-1) to CO(J:6-5) lines higher than ${\rm 5\times 10^{-22}\, W\ m^{-2}}$ or a AB magnitude lower than ${\rm m_{\rm K}\, =\, 22}$. We estimate that the additional continuum contamination is of the order of ${\rm 10^{5}\, Jy\, sr^{-1}}$. It is also considered the possibility of cross correlating foreground lines with galaxies in order to probe the intensity of the foregrounds.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figure

Implementation Measures of EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism

All over Europe it became clear that tourism is a cross-cutting economic activity with a wide-ranging impact on the environment and climate and on the EU´s economy as a whole. The tourism industry directly or indirectly employs 27 million people which accounts for 11.2% of total EU employment and helps to promote a positive regional development and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, social welfare and economic security of local communities. As tourism and transport industries were among those most affected by Covid-19, as a result to restriction on travel, as a way to control the spreading of virus, it was clear that measures will be stronger as a part of a coordinated EU strategy. In this study we will approach the EU legislation that has been approved to create a common frame work for essential and non-essential travel, enabling the industry to adapt and apply compliant hygiene measures and the implementation in EU member states. Only by providing the EU and its Member States with a factual overview and data for policymakers, they will feel enable to devise informed strategies, based on collected and analysed tourism data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Implementation Measures of EU Strategy for Sustainable Tourism

All over Europe it became clear that tourism is a cross-cuting economic activity with a wide-ranging impact on the environment and climate and on the EU´s economy as a whole. The tourism industry directly or indirectly employs 27 million people which accounts for 11.2% of total EU employment and helps to promote a positive regional development and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, social welfare and economic security of local communities. As tourism and transport industries were among those most affected by Covid-19, as a result to restriction on travel, as a way to control the spreading of virus, it was clear that measures will be stronger as a part of a coordinated EU strategy. In this study we will approach the EU legislation that has been approved to create a common frame work for essential and non-essential travel, enabling the industry to adapt and apply compliant hygiene measures and the implementation in EU member states. Only by providing the EU and its Member States with a factual overview and data for policymakers, they will feel enable to devise informed strategies, based on collected and analysed tourism data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of Portuguese legislative changes in local accommodation

This study seeks to fill the epistemological gap regarding the impact of legislative and regulatory means of managing local accommodation, has been changed, as it relates to the cultural identity of cities and parts of cities in Portugal. We presume such a cultural identity to be a complex entity which is built in part in negotiation with the tourist, but one that is currently being done on an imbalanced relationship. This study is conducted from a law studies point of view, seeking to draw conclusions from recent touristic trends especially in the cities of Porto and Lisbon. The Governmental Decree nº128/2014, August 29th, with the news brought by Decree nº63/2015 created severe dangers to municipal institutions: the risk of ‘desertification’ of the center by local citizens, rent pressure, social polarization, amongst other risks, which led to the “gentrification phenomenon” that has occurred in other centers such as Barcelona, Venice and Berlin. This growth has been leveraged by the use of digital platforms that promote accommodation, like Airbnb, Homeway and Booking. While these digital platforms relate to a shared economy and the democracy of tourism phenomenon as it allows tourists to find accommodation adjusted to their budgets, the lack of policing also led to some scams and taxes evasion. In order to control the unbridled growth of local accommodation in some areas, the national legislator has imposed in Law nº62/2018, 22 of august, the possibility to municipalities to establish, by regulation, some containment areas, to contain registration of more places as local accommodation. On the course of this study we propose to approach the impact of this solution and evaluate the economic impact of these legal efforts to contain that growth.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the effectiveness of different Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae pre-inoculation procedures to promoting disease visual symptoms in adult kiwifruit plants

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Probing Reionization with Intensity Mapping of Molecular and Fine Structure Lines

We propose observations of the molecular gas distribution during the era of reionization. At z~ 6-8, the ^(12)CO(J = 1-0) line intensity results in a mean brightness temperature of about 0.5 μK with an rms fluctuation of 0.1 μK at 1-10 Mpc spatial scales, corresponding to 30 arcminute angular scales. This intensity fluctuations can be mapped with an interferometer, similar to existing and planned 21 cm background experiments, but operating at ~12-17 GHz. We discuss the feasibility of detecting the cross-correlation between H I and CO molecular gas since such a cross-correlation has the advantage that it will be independent of systematics and most foregrounds in each of the 21 cm and CO(1-0) line experiments. Additional instruments tuned to higher-order transitions of the CO molecule or an instrument operating with high spectral resolution at millimeter wavelengths targeting 158 μm C II could further improve the reionization studies with molecular gas. The combined 21 cm and CO line observations has the potential to establish the relative distribution of gas in the intergalactic medium and molecular gas that are clumped in individual first-light galaxies that are closely connected to the formation of massive stars in these galaxies