Mass- Radius Relation for Magnetized Strange Quarks Stars

We review the stability of magnetized strange quark matter (MSQM) within the phenomenological MIT bag model, taking into account the variation of the relevant input parameters, namely, the strange quark mass, baryon density, magnetic field and bag parameter. A comparison with magnetized asymmetric quark matter in beta-equilibrium as well as with strange quark matter (SQM) is presented. We obtain that the energy per baryon for MSQM decreases as the magnetic field increases, and its minimum value at vanishing pressure is lower than the value found for SQM, which implies that MSQM is more stable than non-magnetized SQM. The mass-radius relation for magnetized strange quark stars is also obtained in this framework.

Compact Stars and Magnetized CFL Matter

The stability of the color flavor locked phase in the presence of a strong magnetic field is investigated within the phenomenological MIT bag model. It is found that the minimum value of the energy per baryon in a color flavor locked state at vanishing pressure is lower than the corresponding one for unpaired magnetized strange quark matter and, as the magnetic field increases, the energy per baryon decreases. This implies that magnetized color flavor locked matter is more stable and could become the ground state inside neutron stars. The anisotropy of the pressures is discussed. The mass-radius relation for such stars is also studied.

Magnetized color flavor locked state and compact stars

The stability of the color flavor locked phase in the presence of a strong magnetic field is investigated within the phenomenological MIT bag model, taking into account the variation of the strange quark mass, the baryon density, the magnetic field, as well as the bag and gap parameters. It is found that the minimum value of the energy per baryon in a color flavor locked state at vanishing pressure is lower than the corresponding one for unpaired magnetized strange quark matter and, as the magnetic field increases, the energy per baryon decreases. This implies that magnetized colorflavor locked matter is more stable and could become the ground state inside neutron stars. The mass-radius relation for such stars is also studied.

The Ground State Energy per Site of the Quantum and Classical Edwards-Anderson Spin Glass in the Thermodynamic Limit

We derive general rigorous lower bounds for the average ground state energy per site e ((d)) of the quantum and classical Edwards-Anderson spin-glass model in dimensions d=2 and d=3 in the thermodynamic limit. For the classical model they imply that e ((2))a parts per thousand yena'3/2 and e ((3))a parts per thousand yena'2.204a <-.

Protein Intake during Weight Loss Influences the Energy Required for Weight Loss and Maintenance in Cats

The effects of 2 diets with different protein contents on weight loss and subsequent maintenance was assessed in obese cats. The control group [Cc; n = 8; body condition score (BCS) = 8.6 +/- 0.2] received a diet containing 21.4 g crude protein (CP)/MJ of metabolizable energy and the high-protein group (HP; n = 7; BCS = 8.6 +/- 0.2) received a diet containing 28.4 g CP/MJ until the cats achieved a 20% controlled weight loss (0.92 +/- 0.2%/wk). After the weight loss, the cats were all fed a diet containing 28.0 g CP/MJ at an amount sufficient to maintain a constant body weight (MAIN) for 120 d. During weight loss, there was a reduction of lean mass in Cc (P < 0.01) but not in HIP cats and a reduction in leptinemia in both groups (P < 0.01). Energy intake per kilogram of metabolic weight (kg(-0.40)) to maintain the same rate of weight loss was lower (P < 0.04) in the Co (344 +/- 15.9 kJ.kg(-0.40).d(-1)) than in the HP group (377 +/- 12.4 kJ.kg-(0.40).d(-1)). During the first 40 d of MAIN, the energy requirement for weight maintenance was 398.7 +/- 9.7 kJ.kg(-0.40).d(-1) for both groups, corresponding to 73% of the NRC recommendation. The required energy gradually increased in both groups (P < 0.05) but at a faster rate in HP; therefore, the energy consumption during the last 40 d of the MAIN was higher (P < 0.001) for the HP cats (533.8 +/- 7.4 kJ.kg(-0.40).d(-1)) than for the control cats (462.3 +/- 9.6 kJ.kg(-0.40).d(-1)). These findings suggest that HIP diets allow a higher energy intake to weight loss in cats, reducing the intensity of energy restriction. Protein intake also seemed to have long-term effects so that weight maintenance required more energy after weight loss. J. Nutr, 139: 855-860, 2009.

Going beyond energy intensity to understand the energy metabolism of nations: the case of Argentina

The link between energy consumption and economic growth has been widely studied in the economic literature. Understanding this relationship is important from both an environmental and a socio-economic point of view, as energy consumption is crucial to economic activity and human environmental impact. This relevance is even higher for developing countries, since energy consumption per unit of output varies through the phases of development, increasing from an agricultural stage to an industrial one and then decreasing for certain service based economies. In the Argentinean case, the relevance of energy consumption to economic development seems to be particularly important. While energy intensity seems to exhibit a U-Shaped curve from 1990 to 2003 decreasing slightly after that year, total energy consumption increases along the period of analysis. Why does this happen? How can we relate this result with the sustainability debate? All these questions are very important due to Argentinean hydrocarbons dependence and due to the recent reduction in oil and natural gas reserves, which can lead to a lack of security of supply. In this paper we study Argentinean energy consumption pattern for the period 1990-2007, to discuss current and future energy and economic sustainability. To this purpose, we developed a conventional analysis, studying energy intensity, and a non conventional analysis, using the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) accounting methodology. Both methodologies show that the development process followed by Argentina has not been good enough to assure sustainability in the long term. Instead of improving energy use, energy intensity has increased. The current composition of its energy mix, and the recent economic crisis in Argentina, as well as its development path, are some of the possible explanations.

The Energy metabolism of China and India between 1971-2010: studying the bifurcation

This paper presents a comparison of the changes in the energetic metabolic pattern of China and India, the two most populated countries in the world, with two economies undergoing an important economic transition. The comparison of the changes in the energetic metabolic pattern has the scope to characterize and explain a bifurcation in their evolutionary path in the recent years, using the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach. The analysis shows an impressive transformation of China’s energy metabolism determined by the joining of the WTO in 2001. Since then, China became the largest factory of the world with a generalized capitalization of all sectors ―especially the industrial sector― boosting economic labor productivity as well as total energy consumption. India, on the contrary, lags behind when considering these factors. Looking at changes in the household sector (energy metabolism associated with final consumption) in the case of China, the energetic metabolic rate (EMR) soared in the last decade, also thanks to a reduced growth of population, whereas in India it remained stagnant for the last 40 years. This analysis indicates a big challenge for India for the next decade. In the light of the data analyzed both countries will continue to require strong injections of technical capital requiring a continuous increase in their total energy consumption. When considering the size of these economies it is easy to guess that this may induce a dramatic increase in the price of energy, an event that at the moment will penalize much more the chance of a quick economic development of India.

Protein Intake during Weight Loss Influences the Energy Required for Weight Loss and Maintenance in Cats

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

First observation of the doubly charmed baryon Ξcc +

The first experimental evidence for one of the six predicted baryon states which contain two valence charmed quarks-the doubly charmed baryons. As such, there were many predictions of the masses and other properties of these states. The properties of doubly charmed baryons provide a new window into the structure of baryonic matter.

Application of landsat images for quantifying the energy balance under conditions of land use changes in the semi-arid region of Brazil

In the Nilo Coelho irrigation scheme, Brazil, the natural vegetation has been replaced by irrigated agriculture, bringing importance for the quantification of the effects on the energy exchanges between the mixed vegetated surfaces and the lower atmosphere. Landsat satellite images and agro-meteorological stations from 1992 to 2011 were used together, for modelling these exchanges. Surface albedo (α0), NDVI and surface temperature (T0) were the basic remote sensing retrieving parameters necessary to calculate the latent heat flux (λE) and the surface resistance to evapotranspiration (rs) on a large scale. The daily net radiation (Rn) was obtained from α0, air temperature (Ta) and short-wave transmissivity (τsw) throughout the slob equation, allowing the quantification of the daily sensible heat flux (H) by residual in the energy balance equation. With a threshold value for rs, it was possible to separate the energy fluxes from crops and natural vegetation. The averaged fractions of Rn partitioned as H and λE, were in average 39 and 67%, respectively. It was observed an increase of the energy used for the evapotranspiration process inside irrigated areas from 51% in 1992 to 80% in 2011, with the ratio λE/Rn presenting an increase of 3 % per year. The tools and models applied in the current research, can subsidize the monitoring of the coupled climate and land use changes effects in irrigation perimeters, being valuable when aiming the sustainability of the irrigated agriculture in the future, avoiding conflicts among different water users. © 2012 SPIE.

An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the Energy Sector in Trinidad and Tobago

The energy sector is a dominant one in Trinidad and Tobago and it plays an important role in the twin-island republic‟s economy. In 2008, the share of the energy sector in gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to approximately 48% while contributing 57% to total Government revenue. In that same year, the sector‟s share of merchandise exports was 88%, made up mainly of refined oil products including petroleum, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and natural gas liquids (Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, 2009). Trinidad and Tobago is the main exporter of oil in the Caribbean region and the main producer of liquefied natural gas in Latin America and the Caribbean. The role of the country‟s energy sector is, therefore, not limited to serving as the engine of growth for the national economy but also includes providing energy security for the small island developing States of the Caribbean. However, with its hydrocarbon-based economy, Trinidad and Tobago is ranked seventh in the world in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita, producing an estimated 40 million tonnes of CO2 annually. Almost 90% of these CO2 emissions are attributed directly to the energy sector through petrochemical production (56%), power generation (30%) and flaring (3%). Trinidad and Tobago is a ratified signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Although, as a non-Annex 1 country, Trinidad and Tobago is not required to cut its greenhouse gas emissions under the Protocol, it is currently finalizing a climate change policy document as well as a national energy policy with specific strategies to address climate change. The present study complements the climate change policy document by providing an economic analysis of the impact that climate change could have on the energy sector in Trinidad and Tobago under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change alternative climate scenarios (A2 and B2) as compared to a baseline situation of no climate change. Results of analyses indicate that, in the short-run, climate change, represented by change in temperature, is not a significant determinant of domestic consumption of energy, electricity in particular, in Trinidad and Tobago. With energy prices subsidized domestically and fixed for years at a time, energy price does not play a role in determining electricity demand. Economic growth, as indicated by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is the single major determinant of electricity consumption in the short-run. In the long-run, temperature, GDP, and patterns of electricity use, jointly determine electricity consumption. Variations in average annual temperature due to climate change for the A2 scenario are expected to lead to an increase in electricity consumption per capita, equivalent to an annual increase of 1.07% over the 2011 baseline value of electricity consumption per capita. Under the B2 scenario, the average annual increase in electricity consumption per capita over the 2011 baseline value is expected to be 1.01%. The estimated economic impact of climate change on electricity consumption for the period 2011-2050 is valued at US$ 142.88 million under the A2 scenario and US$ 134.83million under the B2 scenario. These economic impact estimates are equivalent to a loss of 0.737% of 2009 GDP under the A2 climate scenario and a loss of 0.695% of 2009 GDP under the B2 scenario. On the energy supply side, sea level rise and storm surges present significant risks to oil installations and infrastructure at the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago (PETROTRIN) Pointe-a-Pierre facilities (Singh and El Fouladi, 2006). However, data limitations do not permit the conduct of an economic analysis of the impact of projected sea level rise on oil and gas production.

Bioenergy from stillage anaerobic digestion to enhance the energy balance ratio of ethanol production

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Sviluppo di un tomografo multi-energy per lo studio pre-clinico di nuove metodiche diagnostiche finalizzate al riconoscimento precoce della patologia tumorale

A new multi-energy CT for small animals is being developed at the Physics Department of the University of Bologna, Italy. The system makes use of a set of quasi-monochromatic X-ray beams, with energy tunable in a range from 26 KeV to 72 KeV. These beams are produced by Bragg diffraction on a Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite crystal. With quasi-monochromatic sources it is possible to perform multi-energy investigation in a more effective way, as compared with conventional X-ray tubes. Multi-energy techniques allow extracting physical information from the materials, such as effective atomic number, mass-thickness, density, that can be used to distinguish and quantitatively characterize the irradiated tissues. The aim of the system is the investigation and the development of new pre-clinic methods for the early detection of the tumors in small animals. An innovative technique, the Triple-Energy Radiography with Contrast Medium (TER), has been successfully implemented on our system. TER consist in combining a set of three quasi-monochromatic images of an object, in order to obtain a corresponding set of three single-tissue images, which are the mass-thickness map of three reference materials. TER can be applied to the quantitative mass-thickness-map reconstruction of a contrast medium, because it is able to remove completely the signal due to other tissues (i.e. the structural background noise). The technique is very sensitive to the contrast medium and is insensitive to the superposition of different materials. The method is a good candidate to the early detection of the tumor angiogenesis in mice. In this work we describe the tomographic system, with a particular focus on the quasi-monochromatic source. Moreover the TER method is presented with some preliminary results about small animal imaging.

Progetto e valutazione di una piattaforma sperimentale di Internet of Energy per veicoli elettrici

This dissertation deals with the development of a project concerning a demonstration in the scope of the Supply Chain 6 of the Internet of Energy (IoE) project: the Remote Monitoring Emulator, which bears my personal contribution in several sections. IoE is a project of international relevance, that means to establish an interoperability standard as regards the electric power production and utilization infrastructure, using Smart Space platforms. The future perspectives of IoE have to do with a platform for electrical power trade-of, the Smart Grid, whose energy is produced by decentralized renewable sources and whose services are exploited primarily according to the Internet of Things philosophy. The main consumers of this kind of smart technology will be Smart Houses (that is to say, buildings controlled by an autonomous system for electrical energy management that is interoperable with the Smart Grid) and Electric Mobility, that is a smart and automated management regarding movement and, overall, recharging of electrical vehicles. It is precisely in the latter case study that the project Remote Monitoring Emulator takes place. It consists in the development of a simulated platform for the management of an electrical vehicle recharging in a city. My personal contribution to this project lies in development and modeling of the simulation platform, of its counterpart in a mobile application and implementation of a city service prototype. This platform shall, ultimately, make up a demonstrator system exploiting the same device which a real user, inside his vehicle, would use. The main requirements that this platform shall satisfy will be interoperability, expandability and relevance to standards, as it needs to communicate with other development groups and to effectively respond to internal changes that can affect IoE.

The energy expenditure of 2 Holstein cow strains in an organic grazing system

Until recently, measurements of energy expenditure (EE; herein defined as heat production) in respiration chambers did not account for the extra energy requirements of grazing dairy cows on pasture. As energy is first limiting in most pasture-based milk production systems, its efficient use is important. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare EE, which can be affected by differences in body weight (BW), body composition, grazing behavior, physical activity, and milk production level, in 2 Holstein cow strains. Twelve Swiss Holstein-Friesian (HCH; 616 kg of BW) and 12 New Zealand Holstein-Friesian (HNZ; 570 kg of BW) cows in the third stage of lactation were paired according to their stage of lactation and kept in a rotational, full-time grazing system without concentrate supplementation. After adaption, the daily milk yield, grass intake using the alkane double-indicator technique, nutrient digestibility, physical activity, and grazing behavior recorded by an automatic jaw movement recorder were investigated over 7d. Using the (13)C bicarbonate dilution technique in combination with an automatic blood sampling system, EE based on measured carbon dioxide production was determined in 1 cow pair per day between 0800 to 1400 h. The HCH were heavier and had a lower body condition score compared with HNZ, but the difference in BW was smaller compared with former studies. Milk production, grass intake, and nutrient digestibility did not differ between the 2 cow strains, but HCH grazed for a longer time during the 6-h measurement period and performed more grazing mastication compared with the HNZ. No difference was found between the 2 cow strains with regard to EE (291 ± 15.6 kJ) per kilogram of metabolic BW, mainly due to a high between-animal variation in EE. As efficiency and energy use are important in sustainable, pasture-based, organic milk production systems, the determining factors for EE, such as methodology, genetics, physical activity, grazing behavior, and pasture quality, should be investigated and quantified in more detail in future studies.