Importância da rega do olival

Nas regiões de clima Mediterrânico no verão as plantas estão sujeitas a elevadas temperaturas e intensidades de radiação solar e baixa humidade relativa, indutoras de crescimento e produtividade mas também de condições de défice e stress hídricos. A oliveira, por ser uma cultura mediterrânica milenária, é uma espécie hipoestomática bem adaptada a essas condições ambientais, em que as folhas toleram baixos potenciais hídricos foliares e os tecidos re-hidratam-se rapidamente após perdas consideráveis de água. Essa adaptação a condições de défice hídrico tem permitido a expansão do olival de sequeiro com produções aceitáveis em zonas de clima mediterrânico com estação seca de cinco a seis meses e precipitações médias anuais de cerca de 500 mm. Nessas situações, caracterizadas por um elevado poder evaporativo da atmosfera (défice de pressão de vapor) o fecho dos estomas é umas das defesas que a oliveira usa para controlar e diminuir as perdas de água por transpiração, mantendo uma certa hidratação interna, o que é normalmente avaliada pelo potencial hídrico foliar de madrugada (máxima hidratação, antes do nascer do sol) e ao meio dia solar (mínima hidratação). O fecho estomático (relacionado com a condutância estomática) controla a taxa de transferência de água e de carbono (CO2) entre a planta e a atmosfera e uma condutância estomática elevada (baixa resistência estomática) tende a favorecer uma elevada taxa de transpiração e de fotossíntese, resultando consequentemente numa diminuição do conteúdo de água no solo, o que por sua vez fará diminuir a condutância estomática com o tempo. Dai ter que se regar. No olival essa rega vez sendo praticada com sistemas de rega gota a gota, que favorecem elevadas eficiências e uniformidades de aplicação de água

Olive Water Use, Crop Coefficient, Yield, and Water Productivity under Two Deficit Irrigation Strategies

Reports on the annual effects of deficit irrigation regimes on olive trees are critical in shedding light on their impacts on water use, yield, and water productivity in distinct olive growing climate regions of the world. From the account of a four-year experiment, the aim of this work is to add insight into such effects on olive growing in southern Portugal. We worked with trees in an intensive ‘Cobrançosa’ orchard (300 trees ha−1) under full irrigation (FI) treatment and two regulated deficit irrigation (DI) treatments designed to replace around 70% and 50% of the FI water supply, respectively. Crop transpiration (T), irrigation water use (IWU), total water use (TWU), irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), yield (Ya), and water productivity (WP) obtained from all treatments were analyzed, as well as their crop coefficients (Kc), simulated with the SIMDualKc software application for root zone and soil water balance based on the FAO dual crop coefficients. As expected, IWUE of the 50DI treatment was the highest among treatments, with 70DI being slightly lower. Ya showed alternate bearing with an “on-off” year sequence and was consistently higher for the 70DI treatment. WP (the ratio of Ya to IWU) values for the 70DI treatment were also consistently the highest among all treatments and years. The mean simulated Kc act values for 70DI and 50DI for the initial, mid-, and end-season compared well to the FAO56 Kc for olive crops. In general, to rank the irrigation treatments, 70DI presented the highest conversion efficiency among all treatments and years, providing a suitable DI alternative for our ‘Cobrançosa’ orchard. The 50DI treatment may be an attractive DI regime to undertake under scarce farm water resources or the expansion of olive hectares under water constraints.ICAAM e National Funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology under the Project UID/AGR/00115/2013

Identifying wave packet fractional revivals by means of information entropy

Wave packet fractional revivals is a relevant feature in the long time scale evolution of a wide range of physical systems, including atoms, molecules and nonlinear systems. We show that the sum of information entropies in both position and momentum conjugate spaces is an indicator of fractional revivals by analyzing three different model systems: $(i)$ the infinite square well, $(ii)$ a particle bouncing vertically against a wall in a gravitational field, and $(iii)$ the vibrational dynamics of hydrogen iodide molecules. This description in terms of information entropies complements the usual one in terms of the autocorrelation function

Entrepreneurial intention, cognitive social capital and culture : empirical anaylisis for Spain and Taiwan

The main purpose of this paper is building a research model to integrate the socioeconomic concept of social capital within intentional models of new firm creation. Nevertheless, some researchers have found cultural differences between countries and regions to have an effect on economic development. Therefore, a second objective of this study is exploring whether those cultural differences affect entrepreneurial cognitions. Research design and methodology: Two samples of last year university students from Spain and Taiwan are studied through an Entrepreneurial Intention Questionnaire (EIQ). Structural equation models (Partial Least Squares) are used to test the hypotheses. The possible existence of differences between both sub-samples is also empirically explored through a multigroup analysis. Main outcomes and results: The proposed model explains 54.5% of the variance in entrepreneurial intention. Besides, there are some significant differences between both subsamples that could be attributed to cultural diversity. Conclusions: This paper has shown the relevance of cognitive social capital in shaping individuals' entrepreneurial intentions across different countries. Furthermore, it suggests that national culture could be shaping entrepreneurial perceptions, but not cognitive social capital. Therefore, both cognitive social capital and culture (made up essentially of values and beliefs), may act together to reinforce the entrepreneurial intention

Lunar impact flashes from Geminids, analysis of luminous efficiencies and the flux of large meteoroids on Earth

We analyze lunar impact flashes recorded by our team during runs in December 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2014. In total, 12 impact flashes with magnitudes ranging between 7.1 and 9.3 in V band were identified. From these, 9 events could be linked to the Geminid stream. Using these observations the ratio of luminous energy emitted in the flashes with respect to the kinetic energy of the impactors for meteoroids of the Geminid stream is estimated. By making use of the known Geminids meteoroid flux on Earth we found this ratio to be 2.1x10$^{-3}$ on average. We compare this luminous efficiency with other estimations derived in the past for other meteoroid streams and also compare it with other estimations that we present here for the first time by making use of crater diameter measurements. We think that the luminous efficiency has to be revised downward, not upward, at least for sporadic impacts. This implies an increase in the influx of kilogram-sized and larger bodies on Earth that has been derived thus far through the lunar impact flash monitoring technique

Origin of peer influence in social networks

Social networks pervade our everyday lives: we interact, influence, and are influenced by our friends and acquaintances. With the advent of the World Wide Web, large amounts of data on social networks have become available, allowing the quantitative analysis of the distribution of information on them, including behavioral traits and fads. Recent studies of correlations among members of a social network, who exhibit the same trait, have shown that individuals influence not only their direct contacts but also friends' friends, up to a network distance extending beyond their closest peers. Here, we show how such patterns of correlations between peers emerge in networked populations. We use standard models (yet reflecting intrinsically different mechanisms) of information spreading to argue that empirically observed patterns of correlation among peers emerge naturally from a wide range of dynamics, being essentially independent of the type of information, on how it spreads, and even on the class of underlying network that interconnects individuals. Finally, we show that the sparser and clustered the network, the more far reaching the influence of each individual will be.Financial support by FEDER through POFC-COMPETE and by FCT-Portugal is gratefully acknowledged through Grants No. SFRH/BD/77389/2011, No. SFRH/BPD/90936/2012, No. PTDC/MAT/122897/2010, No. EXPL/EEI-SII/2556/2013, No. PEst-OE/EEI/LA0021/2013, and No. PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014

Quasivariational solutions for first order quasilinear equations with gradient constraint

We prove the existence of solutions for an evolution quasi-variational inequality with a first order quasilinear operator and a variable convex set, which is characterized by a constraint on the absolute value of the gradient that depends on the solution itself. The only required assumption on the nonlinearity of this constraint is its continuity and positivity. The method relies on an appropriate parabolic regularization and suitable {\em a priori} estimates. We obtain also the existence of stationary solutions, by studying the asymptotic behaviour in time. In the variational case, corresponding to a constraint independent of the solution, we also give uniqueness results

Estimation of water use and crop coefficients for an intensive olive orchard using sap flow measurements and modeled data

Olive tree sap flow measurements were collected in an intensive orchard near Évora, Portugal, during the irrigation seasons of 2013 and 2014, to calculate daily tree transpiration rates (T_SF). Meteorological variables were also collected to calculate reference evapotranspiration (ETo). Both data were used to assess values of basal crop coefficient (Kcb) for the period of the sap flow observations. The soil water balance model SIMDualKc was calibrated with soil, biophysical ground data and sap flow measurements collected in 2013. Validated in 2014 with collected sap flow observations, the model was used to provide estimates of dual e single crop coefficients for 2014 crop growing season. Good agreement between model simulated daily transpiration rates and those obtained with sapflow measurements was observed for 2014 (R2=0.76, RMSE=0.20 mm d-1), the year of validation, with an estimation average absolute error (AAE) of 0.20 mm d-1. Olive modeled daily actual evapotranspiration resulted in atual ETc values of 0.87, 2.05 and 0.77 mm d-1 for 2014 initial, mid- and end-season, respectively. Actual crop coefficient (Kc act) values of 0.51, 0.43 and 0.67 were also obtained for the same periods, respectively. Higher Kc values during spring (initial stage) and autumn (end-stage) were published in FAO56, varying between 0.65 for Kc ini and 0.70 for Kc end. The lower Kc mid value of 0.43 obtained for the summer (mid-season) is also inconsistent with the FAO56 expected Kc mid value of 0.70 for the period. The modeled Kc results are more consistent with the ones published by Allen & Pereira [1] for olive orchards with effective ground cover of 0.25 to 0.5, which vary between 0.40 and 0.80 for Kc ini, 0.40–0.60 for Kc mid with no active ground cover, and 0.35–0.75 for Kc end, depending on ground cover. The SIMDualKc simulation model proved to be appropriate for obtaining evapotranspiration and crop coefficient values for our intensive olive orchard in southern Portugal

Olive water use and crop coefficients from energy balance and radiometric canopy temperatures

Biophysical and meteorological variables as well as radiometric canopy temperatures were collected in an intensive orchard near Évora, Portugal, with 28% ground cover by canopy and combined in a simplified two-source energy balance model (STSEB) to independently calculate the olive tree transpiration (T_STSEB) component of the total evapotranspiration (ETc). Sap flow observations were simultaneously taken in the same orchard allowing also for independent calculations of tree transpiration (T_SF). Model water use results were compared with water use estimates from the sap flow measurements. Good agreement was observed (R2=0.86, RMSE=0.20 mm d-1), with an estimation average absolute error (AAE) of 0.17 mm d-1. From June to August, on average olive water use were 1.92 and 1.89 mm d-1 for sap flow and STSEB model respectively, and 1.38 and 1.58 mm d-1 for the month of September. Results were also used to assess the olive basal crop coefficients (Kcb). Kcb estimates of 0.33 were obtained for sap flow and STSEB model, respectively, for June to August, and of 0.44 and 0.53 for the month of September. Basal crop coefficients were lower than the suggested FAO56 average Kcb values of 0.65 for June to August, the crop mid-season growth stage, and of 0.65 for the month of September, the end-season

Petrography and geochemistry of Sepeda Li-rich aplite-pegmatite dyke swarm (Montalegre, N Portugal)

The Sepeda aplite-pegmatite dyke swarm is situated in the Barroso-Alvão region (Montalegre, Northern Portugal) and is currently a strategic Li ore deposit in Europe. Geologically, it is located in the Parautochthonous Thrust Complex of the Galicia-Trás-os-Montes Zone (Variscan Iberian Belt), more exactly on its southern edge, next to the Central-Iberian Zone. Numerous aplitic and pegmatitic bodies, considered of the LCT type (e.g. Noronha et al., 2013), that cross cut the host metasediments of Silurian age were recently targeted in a diamond drilling campaign. From 4 drill hole logs with suspected Li mineralizations, 120 samples were selected for whole-rock chemical analysis and also 13 samples for thin section preparation. Petrographically, the Sepeda pegmatitic rocks are characterized by distinctive igneous textures that include the following major crystalline phases: K-feldspar, plagioclase, quartz, muscovite, petalite and spodumene. The latter is commonly altered to other Li bearing minerals such as eucryptite and cookeite. The most common accessory minerals are the phosphates montebrasite and apatite and the opaques cassiterite and sphalerite. Aditionally, there are strong evidence of solid state deformation like the dynamic recrystalization of quartz and bent muscovites in addition to plagioclase and K-feldspar flexured twins. In relation to whole-rock geochemistry, these intrusive rocks are mainly felsic with SiO2 contents ranging between 60,97 and 85,78%. The lithologies of intermediate compositions are mostly the aplitic types occuring at shallower depths. With regards to Li2O, the concentration interval varies from 0,01 up to 4,13% where the richer samples (>1% of Li2O) are the pegmatites with aproximately 74% of Si2O in which petalite is the major constituent. Other relevant trace element is Sn reaching 2100 ppm in opposition to Cs (1,68 - 191,50 ppm) and Ta (1,10 - 97,40 ppm). They also show low concentrations in ΣREE (1,37 - 5,61 ppm) with strongly variable Eu anomalies (0,36 ≤ Eu/Eu* ≤ 2,98).publishe