Effect of agro-climatic conditions on near infrared spectra of extra virgin olive oils

Authentication of extra virgin olive oil requires fast and cost-effective analytical procedures, such as near infrared spectroscopy. Multivariate analysis and chemometrics have been successfully applied in several papers to gather qualitative and quantitative information of extra virgin olive oils from near infrared spectra. Moreover, there are many examples in the literature analysing the effect of agro-climatic conditions on food content, in general, and in olive oil components, in particular. But the majority of these studies considered a factor, a non-numerical variable, containing this meteorological information. The present work uses all the agro-climatic data with the aim of highlighting the linear relationships between them and the near infrared spectra. The study begins with a graphical motivation, continues with a bivariate analysis and, finally, applies redundancy analysis to extend and confirm the previous conclusions.Peer Reviewe

Optimal streaks in a Falkner-Skan boundary layer

This paper deals with the optimal streaky perturbations (which maximize the perturbed energy growth) in a wedge flow boundary layer. These three dimensional perturbations are governed by a system of linearized boundary layer equations around the Falkner-Skan base flow. Based on an asymptotic analysis of this system near the free stream and the leading edge singularity, we show that for acute wedge semi-angle, all solutions converge after a streamwise transient to a single streamwise-growing solution of the linearized equations, whose initial condition near the leading edge is given by an eigenvalue problem first formulated in this context by Tumin (2001). Such a solution may be regarded as a streamwise evolving most unstable streaky mode, in analogy with the usual eigenmodes in strictly parallel flows, and shows an approximate self-similarity, which was partially known and is completed in this paper. An important consequence of this result is that the optimization procedure based on the adjoint equations heretofore used to define optimal streaks is not necessary. Instead, a simple low-dimensional optimization process is proposed and used to obtain optimal streaks. Comparison with previous results by Tumin and Ashpis (2003) shows an excellent agreement. The unstable streaky mode exhibits transient growth if the wedge semi-angle is smaller than a critical value that is slightly larger than $\pi/6$, and decays otherwise. Thus the cases of right and obtuse wedge semi-angles exhibit less practical interest, but they show a qualitatively different behavior, which is briefly described to complete the analysis

DC four point resistance of a double barrier quantum pump

We investigate the behavior of the dc voltage drop in a periodically driven double barrier structure (DBS) sensed by voltages probes that are weakly coupled to the system. We find that the four terminal resistance $R_{4t}$ measured with the probes located outside the DBS results identical to the resistance measured in the same structure under a stationary bias voltage difference between left and right reservoirs. This result, valid beyond the adiabatic pumping regime, can be taken as an indication of the universal character of $R_{4t}$ as a measure of the resistive properties of a sample, irrespectively of the mechanism used to induce the transport.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Church and State During the Second Spanish Republic, 1931-1936

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries groups of reformers demanded a decrease in the Church\u27s powers as a prelude to national political, social and economic reform. But, even they were cautious enough not to demand a complete separation of Church and State. Thus, despite economic attacks upon the Church\u27s landed wealth, and despite a semi-official policy of anticlericalism, the church-state union survived intact until 1931. The reformers of 1931 deemed it their task to legislate complete separation of the two jurisdictions. Because they wanted the Church forever excluded from the political, social, and intellectual life of the nation, they found Catholic traditionalism to be one of their greatest obstacles. The politico-religious policy of the reformers was to sorely try the stability of the new government, for it provided a focal point for all opposition to republican policies and it was ultimately to become a major cause of the final collapse of the Second Republic

Electro-optical Simulation of a-Si Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display Pixels

An analysis of an amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) pixel is presented. The electro-optical model combines the electrical properties of the switching element and the optical performance of a twisted nematic (TN) liquid-crystal cell.Publicad