Determination of a Mean Solar Radiation Year and of a Typical Meteorological Year for the region of Funchal in the Madeira Island

This paper presents the determination of a mean solar radiation year and of a typical meteorological year for the region of Funchal in the Madeira Island, Portugal. The data set includes hourly mean and extreme values for air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed and hourly mean values for solar global and diffuse radiation for the period 2004-2014, with maximum data coverage of 99.7%. The determination of the mean solar radiation year consisted, in a first step, in the average of all values for each pair hour/day and, in a second step, in the application of a five days centred moving average of hourly values. The determination of the typical meteorological year was based on Finkelstein-Schafer statistics, which allows to obtain a complete year of real measurements through the selection and combination of typical months, preserving the long term averages while still allowing the analysis of short term events. The typical meteorological year validation was carried out through the comparison of the monthly averages for the typical year with the long term monthly averages. The values obtained were very close, so that the typical meteorological year can accurately represent the long term data series. The typical meteorological year can be used in the simulation of renewable energy systems, namely solar energy systems, and for predicting the energy performance of buildings.

ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION IN THE WEST REGION OF PORTUGAL

Greenhouse production is a very important activity in the West region of Portugal, with an area of approximately 800 ha where the regular production consists in two crops per year, one in winter-spring and the other in summer-autumn. Many growers are now prepared to better exploit market opportunities, since they know that the big export window opportunity is from June to September, when the production is difficult in other regions of south due to high temperatures. Grower’s use new and more productive varieties, either in soil or hydroponic systems, mostly in unheated greenhouses, naturally ventilated, and equipped with modern fertigation systems. Greenhouse production causes some environmental impacts due to the high use of inputs. Several improvements in technologies and crop practices may contribute to increase the use efficiency of resources, decreasing the negative environmental impacts. Greenhouse vegetable production in Northern EU countries is based on the supply of heating and differs significantly from the production system in the Southern EU countries. In the Northern countries, direct energy inputs, mostly for heating, are predominant while in the South the indirect energy input is also important, mainly associated with fertilizers, plastic cover materials and other auxiliary materials. The main objective of this work was to characterise the greenhouse production systems in the West region of Portugal, in order to evaluate the energetic consumptions (direct and indirect), the GHH emissions, the production costs and the farmer’s income. With this work the mostly important inputs were identified, allowing proposing alternative measures to improve efficiency and sustainability. All the data was obtained by surveys performed directly with growers, previously selected to be representative of the crop practices and greenhouse type of the region. However, more research should be performed in order to develop and to test technologies capable to improve resources use efficiency in greenhouse production.

The flora and vegetation of rocky outcrops in three municipalities in the northern region of Ceará, Brazil: phytosociological characterization

This study aims to identify the flora and vegetation of rocky outcrops of low altitude and confined in the municipalities of Sobral, Groaíras and Santa Quitéria (Ceará state, Brazil), to propose a phytosociological classification for the xerophilous communities. We selected five stations in areas with high proportion of bare rock (> 80%), and the field work were conducted in March 2014 and 2015 respectively (3º 56’ S and 40º 23’ W, 4º 01’ S and 40º 05’ W, 4º 07’’ S and 40º 08’ W, 4º 09’ S and 40º 09’ W and 4º 03’ S and 40º 00’ W). Floristic relevés were made following the Braun-Blanquet classic sigmatist method. The minimum areas of the floristic relevés vary between 8 e 16 m². All the plant species growing in cracks, crevices and vegetation "spots" that can be found in these habitats were identified. The classification of the relevés was made through the Twinspan. The floristic list is composed of 89 species, distributed in 61 genera and 29 families. Fabaceae was the most representative in species richness, 20 species, followed by Poaceae (10 spp.), Euphorbiaceae (7 spp.) and Convolvulaceae (6 spp.). 22 Brazilian endemisms have been identified. Based in the phytosociological analysis and in the classification results we identified five groups and two communities can be clearly distinguished: community of Pilosocereus gounellei FA.C.Weber) Byles & Rowley and Encholirium spectabile Mart. ex Schult. & Schult.f. and the community of Crateva tapia L. and Combretum leprosum Mart..

The flora and communities Carnaubal Palm Forest in the northern region of Ceará - Brazil

The “dicótilo-palmácea” mixed forest is found in the fluvial plains (floodplains) of watercourses on the Ceará semiarid region (Brazil), distinguishing from the surrounding vegetation (caatinga) by the prevalence of larger tree species. In the river’s margins, presenting high variability in the extension of the riverbanks, arise floodplains in pedologic complexes mainly composed by neossols and argissols, resulting from the deposition of sediments. In these areas of high fertility soils and subjected to flooding during part of the year, it develops a particular type of riparian vegetation dominated by carnauba palm tree (Copernicia prunifera (Mill.) H.E. Moore) forming a particular type of riparian forest, designated by carnaubal palm forest. We aimed to carry out floristic and phytosociological surveys of carnauba palm forests located in the northern region of Ceará. The classical sigmatist method of Braun-Blanquet was applied and classification analysis (Twinspan) was perfomed. The field work occurred in March 2014 and 2016 in eight areas: Fazenda Pedra Branca (03º 37’ 10’’ S e 40º 18’ 30’’ W, 104 m asl), Vale do Rio Bom Jesus (04º 04’ 42’’ S e 39º 57’ 08’’ W, 200 m asl), Lagoa do Peixe (03º 56’ 28’’ S e 40º 23’ 23’’ W, 97 m asl), Fazenda Peixes (04º 06’ 03’’ S e 40º 32’ 43’’ W, 114 m asl), Fazenda Natividade (04º 02’ 50’’ S e 40º 29’ 03’’ W, 109 m asl), Fazenda Morro Alto (02º 53’ 42’’ S e 39º 54’ 51’’ W, 16 m asl), Fazenda Araticum (03º 04’ 58’’ S e 40º 09’ 36’’ W, 19 m asl) and Fazenda Experimental da UVA (03º 37' 04'' S 40º 18' 18'' W, 200 m asl).The floristic list consists of 170 species, distributed between 127 genera and 50 families. Twenty-seven Brazilian endemic species were identified, from which 8 are exclusive of the Caatinga biome. The Fabaceae was the most representative family, with the highest number of species (28), followed by Poaceae (17), Malvaceaea (14), Euphorbiaceae (12), Asteraceaea (9), Convolvulaceae and Rubiaceae (9). The dominant life forms were therophytes (34%), phanerophytes (30%) and chamaephytes (18%). Two communities were identified as a result of the classification analysis using the Twinspan.

Antimicrobial activity of Brazilian propolis extracts for Staphylococcus aureus of sheep and goats mastitis origin

Twenty-four S. aureus isolates were analysed. From those, 22 were isolated from milk of goats and sheep with clinical and subclinical mastitis, from the region of Vale do São Francisco in the Brazilian Sertão and S. aureus ATCC 25923 plus a MRSA strain were added. Alcoholic extracts were produced from several batches of green, red and brown propolis consisting of 300 g of raw propolis in 700 mL of 70 % ethanol. Four genes related to antimicrobial resistance were assessed: blaZ that determines the resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, and genes icaA, icaD and bap that influence the production of biofilm. For the tests of susceptibility to different types of propolis the microdilution method was used, in triplicate, and dilutions between 0.003672 and 15% were tested, 70 % ethanol consisted of a negative control. The gene blaZ was found in 15 isolates; icaA gene was present in 3 isolates, icaD gene in 2 and bap gene was detected in 6 isolates. All the propolis tested exhibited antimicrobial activity, ranging from 44 to 100 % of susceptible isolates depending on different propolis batches. According to the results of this experiment the green and red propolis appear to have better antimicrobial activity than the brown variety.