Inter- and intra-annual variability of wave energy in Northern mainland Portugal: Application to the HiWave-5 project

Ocean wave energy capacity has been pointed out as one of the unexplored renewable energy sources to help reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, contributing to meeting the European Green Deal targets. However, despite the broad range of wave energy converter technologies already developed in a sustainable and economic model, there is still a lack of structured projects with high performance beyond the prototype stage. This paper investigates the potential for large-scale electricity production by the innovative HiWave-5 project in Aguçadoura (on the Northern coast of mainland Portugal). Wind–wave data (1950–2020) from the ERA5 reanalysis model are used to estimate inter- and intra-annual wave energy variability in Aguçadoura. ERA5 data is compared with field wind–wave data recorded between 2012–2019 near the study area. A mean wave power resource of 25.84 kW/m is obtained, for a possible device capture equal to 119.45 kW, despite a considerable intra-annual variability (ranging between 8.03 and 47.57 kW/m) and inter-annual variability (between 18.29 and 35.47 kW/m). Results show that local wave conditions do not substantially compromise the absolute performance of the device, given its survival limitations to adverse conditions. Considering a Levelized Cost of Energy of around €60/MWh, an annual investment of €62 885 is estimated, tending to meet targets for large sustainable electricity generation with the exponential growth expected until 2030, aided by the increase of devices in an energy farm concept. Wave power resources estimated using ERA5 data can underestimate about 7.20% values obtained with the wave buoy data.The second and third authors thank FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM, Portugal (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/ 2020+ LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds. The authors also want to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Organic and conventional tomato cropping systems.

Among several alternative agricultural systems have been developed, organic agriculture has deserved increasing interest from. The objective of this paper was comparing both organic (OS) and conventional (CS) tomato cropping systems for varieties Débora and Santa Clara, through an interdisciplinary study. The experiment was set up in a randomized blocks design with six replicates, in a dystrophic Ultisol plots measuring 25 ´ 17 m. Cropping procedures followed by either local conventional or organic growers practices recommendations. Fertilization in the OS was done with organic compost, single superphosphate, dolomitic limes (5L, 60 g, and 60 g per pit), and sprayed twice a week with biofertilizer. Fertilization in the CS was done with 200 g 4-14-8 (NPK) per pit and, after planting, 30 g N, 33 g K and 10.5 g P per pit; from 52 days after planting forth, plants were sprayed once a week with foliar fertilizer. In the CS, a blend of insecticides, fungicides and miticides was sprayed twice a week, after planting. In the OS, extracts of black pepper, garlic, and Eucalyptus; Bordeaux mixture, and biofertilizer, were applied twice a week to control diseases and pests. Tomato spotted wilt was the most important disease in the OS, resulting in smaller plant development, number of flower clusters and yield. In the CS, the disease was kept under control, and the population of thrips, the virus vector, occurred at lower levels than in the OS. Variety Santa Clara presented greater incidence of the viral disease, and for this reason had a poorer performance than 'Débora', especially in the OS. Occurrence of Liriomyza spp. was significantly smaller in the OS, possibly because of the greater frequency of Chrysoperla. The CS had smaller incidence of leaf spots caused by Septoria lycopersici and Xanthomonas vesicatoria. However, early blight and fruit rot caused by Alternaria solani occurred in larger numbers. No differences were observed with regard to the communities of fungi and bacteria in the phylloplane, and to the occurrence of weeds

The seesaw mechanism at TeV scale in the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos

We implement the seesaw mechanism in the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos. This is accomplished by the introduction of a scalar sextet into the model and the spontaneous violation of the lepton number. We identify the Majoron as a singlet under $SU_L(2)\otimes U_Y(1)$ symmetry, which makes it safe under the current bounds imposed by electroweak data. The main result of this work is that the seesaw mechanism works already at TeV scale with the outcome that the right-handed neutrino masses lie in the electroweak scale, in the range from MeV to tens of GeV. This window provides a great opportunity to test their appearance at current detectors, though when we contrast our results with some previous analysis concerning detection sensitivity at LHC, we conclude that further work is needed in order to validate this search.Comment: about 13 pages, no figure

Top-Down Approach to Unified Supergravity Models

We introduce a new approach for studying unified supergravity models. In this approach all the parameters of the grand unified theory (GUT) are fixed by imposing the corresponding number of low energy observables. This determines the remaining particle spectrum whose dependence on the low energy observables can now be investigated. We also include some SUSY threshold corrections that have previously been neglected. In particular the SUSY threshold corrections to the fermion masses can have a significant impact on the Yukawa coupling unification.Comment: 19 pages, uuencoded compressed ps file, DESY 94-057 (paper format corrected

Performance of soybean seedlings upon nutrient application by seed coating

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different seed coatings consisting of various combinations of three nutrients (calcium, magnesium and silicon) on two soybean cultivars (BRS 243 RR and CD 233 RR). Dolomitic limestone and aluminum silicate were chosen as the nutrient sources. Leaf area, plant height, shoots dry matter, crop growth rate, relative growth rate and net assimilation rate were the studied variables, evincing that the seed coating that comprised calcium, magnesium and silicon led to better performance in terms of growth rates 30 days after emergence. Significant differences in the response to the seed coatings were also observed between the two studied soybean genotypes

The Ink4a/Arf locus operates as a regulator of the circadian clock modulating RAS activity

The mammalian circadian clock and the cell cycle are two major biological oscillators whose coupling influences cell fate decisions. In the present study, we use a model-driven experimental approach to investigate the interplay between clock and cell cycle components and the dysregulatory effects of RAS on this coupled system. In particular, we focus on the Ink4a/Arf locus as one of the bridging clock-cell cycle elements. Upon perturbations by the rat sarcoma viral oncogene (RAS), differential effects on the circadian phenotype were observed in wild-type and Ink4a/Arf knock-out mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), which could be reproduced by our modelling simulations and correlated with opposing cell cycle fate decisions. Interestingly, the observed changes can be attributed to in silico phase shifts in the expression of core-clock elements. A genome-wide analysis revealed a set of differentially expressed genes that form an intricate network with the circadian system with enriched pathways involved in opposing cell cycle phenotypes. In addition, a machine learning approach complemented by cell cycle analysis classified the observed cell cycle fate decisions as dependent on Ink4a/Arf and the oncogene RAS and highlighted a putative fine-tuning role of Bmal1 as an elicitor of such processes, ultimately resulting in increased cell proliferation in the Ink4a/Arf knock-out scenario. This indicates that the dysregulation of the core-clock might work as an enhancer of RAS-mediated regulation of the cell cycle. Our combined in silico and in vitro approach highlights the important role of the circadian clock as an Ink4a/Arf-dependent modulator of oncogene-induced cell fate decisions, reinforcing its function as a tumour-suppressor and the close interplay between the clock and the cell cycle network

x_F-dependence of J/Psi suppression in pA collisions

Coherence effects are important in the description of collisions with extended objects as nuclei. At fixed target energies and small x_F, the coherence length of the fluctuation containing the $c\bar c$ is small and the usual nuclear absorption model is valid. However, at higher energies and/or x_F the nucleus is seen as a whole by the fluctuation. In this case, the total, not the absorptive, $c\bar c-N$ cross section controls the suppression and also shadowing of gluons appears. We propose that the growth of the coherence length can explain the x_F-dependence of present experimental data. For this, we need a ratio of absorptive over total $c\bar c-N$ cross section of 0.2.Comment: 15 pages, 3 postscript figure