Flow modeling and structural characterization in fungal pellets

- Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’’ (PAPIIT-UNAM, IN211422, IV201220) - Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias Tecnologías (CONAHCyT, grant CF-2023-I-1248)Fungal pellets are hierarchical systems that can be found in an ample variety of applications. Modeling transport phenomena in this type of systems is a challenging but necessary task to provide knowledge-based processes that improve the outcome of their biotechnological applications. In this work, an upscaled model for total mass and momentum transport in fungal pellets is implemented and analyzed, using elements of the volume averaging and adjoint homogenization methods departing from the governing equations at the microscale in the intracellular and extracellular phases. The biomass is assumed to be composed of a non-Newtonian fluid and the organelles impervious to momentum transport are modeled as a rigid solid phase. The upscaled equations contain effective-medium coefficients, which are predicted from the solution of adjoint closure problems in a three-dimensional periodic domains representative of the microstructure. The construction of these domains was performed for Laccaria trichodermophora based on observations of actual biological structures. The upscaled model was validated with direct numerical simulations in homogeneous portions of the pellets core. It is shown that no significant differences are observed when the dolipores are open or closed to fluid flow. By comparing the predictions of the average velocity in the extracellular phase resulting from the upscaled model with those from the classical Darcy equation (i.e., assuming that the biomass is a solid phase) the contribution of the intracellular fluid phase was evidenced. This work sets the foundations for further studies dedicated to transport phenomena in this type of systems

Funções de distribuição de probabilidade decendial e mensal para a deficiência hídrica no solo Probability distribution function ten-day and monthly for soil water deficit

A determinação das probabilidades de ocorrência de certos níveis de deficiência hídrica do solo (DHS) é fundamental para o planejamento agropecuário e a gestão ambiental. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar as funções de distribuição de probabilidades (fdp) que melhor caracterizam a distribuição dos valores de deficiência hídrica no solo. As DHSs decendiais e mensais foram determinadas por meio de balanço hídrico diário do solo para as diferentes capacidades de armazenamento de água disponível dos solos da região de abrangência da estação meteorológica de Santa Maria. Verificou-se que os valores mensais e decendiais de DHS se ajustam às funções de distribuição de probabilidades lognormal, gama, exponencial e Weibull. Utilizando-se as fdp selecionadas para cada período do ano, é possível determinar a probabilidade de ocorrência de qualquer valor de DHS para os solos da região de abrangência da estação meteorológica de Santa Maria.<br>The determination of the probability of occurring soil water deficit (DHS) is important for planning agricultural and livestock activities and for environment management. The objective of this study was to determine probability distribution function that fit soil water deficit distribution. Ten-day and monthly DHSs were estimated by calculating daily soil water balance assuming several storage water capacities of soils in the under the scope of the meteorological station of Santa Maria. Monthly and ten-day DHS fit to lognormal, gama, exponential and Weibull probability distribution functions. It is possible to determine the probability of occurring any DHS value at any time throughout the year in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul with the probability distribution functions selected in this study

> 25 MeV Proton Events Observed by the High Energy Telescopes on the STEREO A and B Spacecraft and/or at Earth During the First ~ Seven Years of the STEREO Mission

Using observations from the High Energy Telescopes (HETs) on the STEREO A and B spacecraft and similar observations from near-Earth spacecraft, we summarize the properties of more than 200 individual > 25 MeV solar proton events, some detected by multiple spacecraft, that occurred from the beginning of the STEREO mission in October 2006 to December 2013, and provide a catalog of these events and their solar sources and associations. Longitudinal dependencies of the electron and proton peak intensities and delays to onset and peak intensity relative to the solar event have been examined for 25 three-spacecraft particle events. Expressed as Gaussians, peak intensities fall off with longitude with σ=47±14∘ for 0.7 – 4 MeV electrons, and σ=43±13∘ for 14 – 24 MeV protons. Several particle events are discussed in more detail, including one on 3 November 2011, in which ∼ 25 MeV protons filled the inner heliosphere within 90 minutes of the solar event, and another on 7 March 2012, in which we demonstrate that the first of two coronal mass ejections that erupted from an active region within ∼ 1 hour was associated with particle acceleration. Comparing the current Solar Cycle 24 with the previous cycle, the first > 25 MeV proton event was detected at Earth in the current solar cycle around one year after smoothed sunspot minimum, compared with a delay of only two months in Cycle 23. Otherwise, solar energetic particle event occurrence rates were reasonably similar during the rising phases of Cycles 23 and 24. However, the rate declined in 2013, reflecting the decline in sunspot number since the peak in the northern-hemisphere sunspot number in November 2011. Observations in late 2013 suggest that the rate may be rising again in association with an increase in the southern sunspot number