83 research outputs found
Foliar calcium effects on quality and primary and secondary metabolites of white-fleshed ‘Lemonato’ peaches
‘Lemonato’ is a Greek peach melting-flesh white-flesh cultivar with high nutritional value highly appreciated by the consumers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of pre-harvest foliar calcium application on fruit quality, primary metabolite profile, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and phenolic profile of the ‘Lemonato’ peach, clone ‘Stamatis’. The experiment was conducted for two years, 2019 and 2020, in two commercial orchards at Kato Lehonia and Agios Vlasios regions, central Greece, where the ‘Lemonato’ clone ‘Stamatis’ is traditionally cultivated. The treatments were organic calcium (Ca), calcium–silicate in nanoparticles (Ca–Si), and calcium chloride (CaCl2). Foliar application of the different Ca formulations, commonly used as a horticultural practice, were not effective at improving the fruit quality characteristics in this clone, which is characterized by fruit softening during ripening. The study revealed the sugars and organic acid composition and phenolic profile of the ‘Lemonato’ peach, clone ‘Stamatis’. Peach fruit quality, primary metabolites, and phenolic compounds of the two orchards showed a different response to organic Ca and Ca–Si, indicating that genetic or environmental factors may also be involved. A higher concentration of organic Ca and CaCl2 increased the peach fruit phenolic compounds content and the total antioxidant activity, improving the fruit nutritional qualit
Polarization of the Microwave Background in Reionized Models
I discuss the physics of polarization in models with early reionization. For
sufficiently high optical depth to recombination the polarization is boosted on
large scales while it is suppressed on smaller scales. New peaks appear in the
polarization power spectrum, their position is proportional to the square root
of the redshift at which the reionization occurs while their amplitude is
proportional to the optical depth. For standard scenarios the rms degree of
linear polarization as measured with a 7 degree FWHM antenna (like the one of
the Brown University experiment) is , , for an optical depth of 1, 0.5 or 0 respectively. For a 1 degree FWHM
antenna this same models give , and .
Detailed measurement of polarization on large angular scales could provide an
accurate determination of the epoch of reionization, which cannot be obtained
from temperature measurements alone.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, Revised to match PRD accepeted version.
Improved COBE normaliztion so some numerical results change slightl
Breakdown of the adiabatic limit in low dimensional gapless systems
It is generally believed that a generic system can be reversibly transformed
from one state into another by sufficiently slow change of parameters. A
standard argument favoring this assertion is based on a possibility to expand
the energy or the entropy of the system into the Taylor series in the ramp
speed. Here we show that this argumentation is only valid in high enough
dimensions and can break down in low-dimensional gapless systems. We identify
three generic regimes of a system response to a slow ramp: (A) mean-field, (B)
non-analytic, and (C) non-adiabatic. In the last regime the limits of the ramp
speed going to zero and the system size going to infinity do not commute and
the adiabatic process does not exist in the thermodynamic limit. We support our
results by numerical simulations. Our findings can be relevant to
condensed-matter, atomic physics, quantum computing, quantum optics, cosmology
and others.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Nature Physics (originally
submitted version
Depolarization of the cosmic microwave background by a primordial magnetic field and its effect upon temperature anisotropy
We estimate the depolarizing effect of a primordial magnetic field upon the
cosmic microwave background radiation due to differential Faraday rotation
across the last scattering surface. The degree of linear polarization of the
CMB is significantly reduced at frequencies around and below 30 GHz , where is the value of the primordial field
at recombination. The depolarizing mechanism reduces the damping of
anisotropies due to photon diffusion on small angular scales. The multipoles of the CMB temperature anisotropy correlation function in a
standard cold dark matter cosmology increase by up to 7.5\% at frequencies
where depolarization is significant.Comment: Latex, 23 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
CMB Telescopes and Optical Systems
The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) is now firmly established as
a fundamental and essential probe of the geometry, constituents, and birth of
the Universe. The CMB is a potent observable because it can be measured with
precision and accuracy. Just as importantly, theoretical models of the Universe
can predict the characteristics of the CMB to high accuracy, and those
predictions can be directly compared to observations. There are multiple
aspects associated with making a precise measurement. In this review, we focus
on optical components for the instrumentation used to measure the CMB
polarization and temperature anisotropy. We begin with an overview of general
considerations for CMB observations and discuss common concepts used in the
community. We next consider a variety of alternatives available for a designer
of a CMB telescope. Our discussion is guided by the ground and balloon-based
instruments that have been implemented over the years. In the same vein, we
compare the arc-minute resolution Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the
South Pole Telescope (SPT). CMB interferometers are presented briefly. We
conclude with a comparison of the four CMB satellites, Relikt, COBE, WMAP, and
Planck, to demonstrate a remarkable evolution in design, sensitivity,
resolution, and complexity over the past thirty years.Comment: To appear in: Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems (PSSS), Volume 1:
Telescopes and Instrumentatio
Detection of Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background using DASI
We report the detection of polarized anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave
Background radiation with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI),
located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station. Observations in all
four Stokes parameters were obtained within two 3.4 FWHM fields separated by
one hour in Right Ascension. The fields were selected from the subset of fields
observed with DASI in 2000 in which no point sources were detected and are
located in regions of low Galactic synchrotron and dust emission. The
temperature angular power spectrum is consistent with previous measurements and
its measured frequency spectral index is -0.01 (-0.16 -- 0.14 at 68%
confidence), where 0 corresponds to a 2.73 K Planck spectrum. The power
spectrum of the detected polarization is consistent with theoretical
predictions based on the interpretation of CMB anisotropy as arising from
primordial scalar adiabatic fluctuations. Specifically, E-mode polarization is
detected at high confidence (4.9 sigma). Assuming a shape for the power
spectrum consistent with previous temperature measurements, the level found for
the E-mode polarization is 0.80 (0.56 -- 1.10), where the predicted level given
previous temperature data is 0.9 -- 1.1. At 95% confidence, an upper limit of
0.59 is set to the level of B-mode polarization with the same shape and
normalization as the E-mode spectrum. The TE correlation of the temperature and
E-mode polarization is detected at 95% confidence, and also found to be
consistent with predictions. These results provide strong validation of the
underlying theoretical framework for the origin of CMB anisotropy and lend
confidence to the values of the cosmological parameters that have been derived
from CMB measurements.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure
Instrument, Method, Brightness and Polarization Maps from the 2003 flight of BOOMERanG
We present the BOOMERanG-03 experiment and maps of the Stokes parameters I,
Q, U of the microwave sky obtained during a 14 day balloon flight in 2003.
Three regions of the southern sky were surveyed: a deep survey (~ 90 square
degrees) and a shallow survey (~ 750 square degrees) at high Galactic latitudes
(both centered at RA ~ 5.5 h, dec ~ -45 deg) and a survey of ~ 300 square
degrees across the Galactic plane at RA ~ 9.1 h, dec ~ -47 deg. All three
surveys were carried out in three wide frequency bands centered at 145, 245 and
345 GHz, with an angular resolution of ~ 10'. The 145 GHz maps of Stokes I are
dominated by Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy, which is
mapped with high signal to noise ratio. The measured anisotropy pattern is
consistent with the pattern measured in the same region by BOOMERanG-98 and by
WMAP. The 145 GHz maps of Stokes Q and U provide a robust statistical detection
of polarization of the CMB when subjected to a power spectrum analysis. This
amplitude of the polarization is consistent with that of the CMB in the
CDM cosmological scenario. At 145 GHz, in the CMB surveys, the
intensity and polarization of the astrophysical foregrounds are found to be
negligible with respect to the cosmological signal. At 245 and 345 GHz we
detect ISD emission correlated to the 3000 GHz IRAS/DIRBE maps, and give upper
limits for any other non-CMB component. We also present intensity maps of the
surveyed section of the Galactic plane. These are compared to monitors of
different interstellar components, showing that a variety of emission
mechanisms is present in that region.Comment: see http://oberon.roma1.infn.it/boomerang/b2k and
http://cmb.phys.cwru.edu/boomerang/ for a high resolution versio
Influence of Ambient Ozone Pollution on Olive Leaf Gas Exchange Irrigated with Saline Water
Saline water is often available for irrigation and ambient ozone pollution is significant in the Mediterranean region. These two factors may negatively affect cultivated plant productivity. We studied the effects of a combination of these stress factors on leaf gas exchange of young olive trees, a major crop in the above region. Two-years-old 'Konservolea' and 'Kalamata' olive plants grafted on seedling rootstock were grown in sand: perlite mixture irrigated with half strength Hoagland's solution containing or not 100 mM NaCl. In open top chambers, the plants received outside air with ambient ozone or charcoal-filtered air from April to September. Leaf gas exchange parameters and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured periodically. High ozone concentrations from May to September able to damage plants (daylight mean ozone concentration >60 nL L(-1)) did not affect the olive leaf functions studied, showing that young olive trees are relatively resistant to ozone levels found around the Mediterranean region. Irrigation with 100 mM NaCl solution decreased stomatal conductance by around 45%, photosynthetic rate by more than 35% and Fv/Fm values below 0.75. Both studied olive cultivars showed similar behavior to salinity stress possibly due to the seedling rootstock on which both cultivars were grafted. The combination of salinity and ambient ozone stress did not result in any further effects to leaf gas exchange besides the ones from the salinity stress alone. (C) 2011 Friends Science Publisher
Preharvest AVG and kaolin and Postharvest 1-MCP application effects on advanced maturity peach quality and storage
Treatments to conserve quality for long-distance transportation were studied with advanced maturity 'Royal Glory' peaches and 'Caldesi 2000' nectarines. Kaolin (Surround) was applied at commercial rates 3 times every 10 days until harvest; AVG (ReTain) was also applied 10 days before anticipated harvest at 0.1% active ingredient + 0.01% surfactant; and 1250 μl L -1 1-MCP (SmartFresh) was applied immediately after harvest. Fruit quality was evaluated at harvest and after 1, 2 and 4 weeks storage in perforated PE bags at 2°C, 90-95% RH plus 1 day shelf life. Kaolin application had no effect on flesh firmness and overall fruit eating quality in both cultivars at harvest and during storage. Fruit from AVG treated trees were harder and had higher acidity than and similar soluble solids content (SSC) and flesh color to fruit from control trees at harvest. These effects disappeared after the 1st week of cold storage resulting in quality similar to control fruit from the 2nd week of storage. Postharvest 1-MCP application resulted in fruit harder than the control fruit at harvest and throughout the storage period with firmness able to withstand long distance transportation. 1-MCP treatment had no other effects on the organoleptic quality of these advanced maturity fruit throughout the 4 weeks cold storage. No chilling injury symptoms were observed at any time or treatment to an extent of degrading fruit quality
Deficit irrigation and reflective mulch effects on peach and nectarine fruit quality and storage ability
The effects of deficit irrigation and reflective mulch were studied as possible means to reduce irrigation water use and improve peach fruit quality and storage ability. 'Royal Glory' peach and 'Caldesi 2000' nectarine trees were drip irrigated close to ETc (control) or with 50% of ETc (deficit) during the last three weeks before anticipated harvest of tree-ripe fruit. Reflective Extenday® mulch was also applied on the tree row for almost a month before anticipated harvest at control or deficit irrigated trees. Fruit quality from the upper and lower parts of the tree was evaluated at harvest and after 2, 4 and 6 weeks at 2°C plus 1 day shelf life. Fruit quality included skin color, flesh firmness, specific conductivity and dry matter (DM), juice soluble solids content (SSC), acidity and total phenols (TP) and subjective evaluation of chilling injury (CI) symptoms (flesh leatheriness and browning). With storage time and in both cultivars, fruit skin only slightly changed, fruit flesh softened, specific conductivity, SSC, acidity and DM decreased and TP content and CI (mainly leatheriness) increased. With deficit irrigation or reflective mulch, the two cultivars behaved differently. Nectarines from deficit irrigated trees had improved quality but lower storage ability than fruit from control trees. Peaches from deficit irrigated trees had similar quality to control fruit except of higher SSC (mainly the fruit from the lower part of the canopy) and slightly higher CI. Nectarines from reflective mulched trees had better skin color, harder flesh, higher acidity and DM, similar SSC and TP and higher leatheriness incidence than fruit from control trees. Peaches from reflective mulched trees had the most advanced maturity fruit at harvest compared to the other treatments, and higher quality fruit but also lower storage ability than control fruit. In short, fruit quality of both cultivars studied was improved due to deficit irrigation or reflective mulching but their storage ability was reduced from these treatments
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