Short-term Aerosol Trends: Reality or Myth?

The main questions addressed in this slide presentation involve short-term trends of MODIS aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over 6 years: (1) Why are the trends different in different regions? (2) How are these trends so high? (3) Why are they "coherent" in many areas? (4) Are these changes in aerosol concentrations real, i.e., are they monotonic changes in emissions? Several views of the Spatial Distribution of AOT from Terra are shown. In conclusion there are several trends: (1) There is a broad spatial inhomogenueity in AOT trends over 6 years of MODIS Terra and Aqua (2) Some of the areas demonstrate clear positive trends related to increase of emission (e.g., Eastern China) (3) Strong trends in some other areas are superficial and might be attributed, in part, to: (3a) Least squares linear trend sensitivity to outliers (need to use more robust linear fitting method) (3b) Spatial and temporal shifts or trends in meteorological conditions, especially in wind patterns responsible for aerosol transport (6) Aerosol trends should be studied together with changes in meteorology patterns as they might closely linked togethe

New Interstellar Dust Models Consistent with Extinction, Emission, and Abundance Constraints

We present new interstellar dust models which have been derived by simultaneously fitting the far-ultraviolet to near-infrared extinction, the diffuse infrared (IR) emission and, unlike previous models, the elemental abundance constraints on the dust for different interstellar medium abundances, including solar, F and G star, and B star abundances. The fitting problem is a typical ill-posed inversion problem, in which the grain size distribution is the unknown, which we solve by using the method of regularization. The dust model contains various components: PAHs, bare silicate, graphite, and amorphous carbon particles, as well as composite particles containing silicate, organic refractory material, water ice, and voids. The optical properties of these components were calculated using physical optical constants. As a special case, we reproduce the Li & Draine (2001) results, however their model requires an excessive amount of silicon, magnesium, and iron to be locked up in dust: about 50 ppm (atoms per million of H atoms), significantly more than the upper limit imposed by solar abundances of these elements, about 34, 35, and 28 ppm, respectively. A major conclusion of this paper is that there is no unique interstellar dust model that simultaneously fits the observed extinction, diffuse IR emission, and abundances constraints.Comment: 70 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplemen

Issues in Data Fusion for Satellite Aerosol Measurements for Applications with GIOVANNI System at NASA GES DISC

We look at issues, barriers and approaches for Data Fusion of satellite aerosol data as available from the GES DISC GIOVANNI Web Service. Daily Global Maps of AOT from a single satellite sensor alone contain gaps that arise due to various sources (sun glint regions, clouds, orbital swath gaps at low latitudes, bright underlying surfaces etc.). The goal is to develop a fast, accurate and efficient method to improve the spatial coverage of the Daily AOT data to facilitate comparisons with Global Models. Data Fusion may be supplemented by Optimal Interpolation (OI) as needed

Sustainable production systems of urban agriculture in the future: a case study on the investigation and development countermeasures of the plant factory and vertical farm in China

IntroductionIn recent years, innovative sustainable agricultural production technologies, including vertical farms and plant factories, have been developing rapidly around the world. The development of plant factories and vertical farms is currently receiving a lot of attention from Chinese academia and industry. However, the recognition and satisfaction of the government, producers, sales companies, and consumers are low, and their attitudes are mixed, mainly due to high pre-construction and post-operation costs, low comprehensive utilization of resources, low product diversity, low market share, high prices, and low core competitiveness, which limit its healthy and sustainable development. This paper designed a questionnaire from the perspectives of industrialization, commercialization, and sustainability in order to understand the respondents' level of awareness, doubts and concerns, purchase intentions and consumption expectations, as well as their trust and recognition of branded products in this new agricultural production system.MethodTo determine the diversity of respondents, this paper examines the group structure of participants from management, research and development, manufacturing, sales, consumers, regional development, and other industrial sectors. The survey was conducted using both face-to-face interviews and electronic questionnaires. As an online survey, the questionnaire was distributed to social groups through social media platforms. A total of 729 valid questionnaires were submitted. For the purposes of categorizing, enumerating, compiling statistics, and analyzing the questionnaires used in this study, descriptive statistics, multi-factor cross-analysis, and other statistical methods were employed. The social roles, functions, and interaction styles of various plant factory practitioners are examined from the perspective of social relationships, and pertinent development concepts and suggestions are proposed based on the survey results.Results and conclusionsThe study found that an increasing number of consumers are understanding and accepting this new form of plant production and are willing to purchase plant products from plant factories and vertical farming. Plant factories and vertical farms are widely regarded as one of the most important methods of future urban agricultural production. Awareness, purchase intent, price expectations, brand awareness, and price expectations of plant factories and vertical farms varied significantly by gender, age, education level, occupation, and income. In addition, there are numerous findings that provide governments, producers, marketers, managers, and consumers with great value and assistance.Development recommendationsWe should take the opportunity of developing plant factories to adjust the structure of the plant industry, enrich the “vegetable basket” of urban residents, increase the supply capacity of the market, enhance agricultural modernization and technological innovation, improve the quality of agricultural products from plant factories, strengthen the brand sales of plant products, and develop more functional plant products with high added value. Through the development of plant factories and vertical farms, we can improve the nutrition and healthy diet structure of citizens' diets, increase the modern plant industry's contribution to the national economy, and promote the comprehensive and sustainable development of the urban productive plant industry

Modelowanie przepływu ziaren pszenicy podczas siewu w oparciu o model ziarniaka z przesuniętym środkiem ciężkości

Winter wheat is one of the widespread crops in Ukraine. The search for methods to increase the yield and consumer properties of wheat, without compromising environmental safety, is one of the important scientific problems. The principles of precision agriculture point to the proper positioning of the seeds, recommending the method of "upward germination" (positioning the wheat germ vertically). The main objective of this study was to develop a new geometric model of wheat grain with a displaced centre of mass, as well as to conduct the theoretical research and numerical experiments on the orientation of grains using their multiple impact interaction with inclined surfaces. A new model of germ consisting of two different end semispheres and amid-line truncated cone was proposed, with a displaced centre of mass. Taking into account the physical properties of the objects, the concept of arrangement of gravity orientation of seeds in a stream was applied. This concept was based on various ratios of kinetic parameters of bodies with a displaced centre of gravity following an impact. The results showed that the orientation process can be controlled by changing the inclination angles and the length of the walls of the tray orientator within the working velocity range. This must be done before impact interaction of 0.2-0.3 m s -1 when the inclination angles of the impact interaction planes are 24-32°C.Pszenica ozima jest jedną z najpopularniejszych roślin uprawnych na Ukrainie. Poszukiwanie metod zwiększenia plonów i właściwości konsumpcyjnych pszenicy, bez uszczerbku dla bezpieczeństwa środowiska, stanowi zatem ważny problem naukowy. Zasady rolnictwa precyzyjnego podkreślają właściwe rozmieszczenie nasion, zalecając pionowe ustawienie kiełków pszenicy (metoda „kiełkowania w górę”). Głównym celem badań było opracowanie nowego modelu geometrycznego ziarna pszenicy z przesuniętym środkiem ciężkości oraz przeprowadzenie badań teoretycznych i eksperymentów obliczeniowych dotyczących orientacji ziaren. Bazowały one na wielokrotnym zderzaniu z powierzchniami nachylonymi. Zaproponowano nowy model ziarniaka, składający się z dwóch różnych półkul końcowych i amidoliniowego stożka ściętego, z przesuniętym środkiem ciężkości. Zastosowano koncepcję układu orientacji grawitacyjnej nasion, z uwzględnieniem właściwości fizycznych obiektów. Koncepcja ta opierała się na różnych relacjach między parametrami kinetycznymi ciał z przesuniętym środkiem ciężkości po zderzeniu. Wyniki pokazały, że procesem orientacji można sterować poprzez zmianę kątów nachylenia i długości ścianek tacy podajnika w zakresie prędkości roboczych, pod warunkiem, że robi się to przed zderzeniem o wartości 0,2-0,3 m s-1, gdy kąty nachylenia płaszczyzn oddziaływania zderzeniowego wynoszą 24-32°C