• Energy Research
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When the weak forces producing parity-violating effects are taken into account, there is a tiny energy difference between the total electronic energies of two enantiomers (ΔEPV), which might be the key to understanding the evolution of the biological homochirality. We focus on the electronic chirality measure (ECM), a powerful descriptor based on the electronic charge density, for quantifying the chirality degree of a molecule, in a representative set of chiral molecules, together with their EPV energies. Our results show a novel, strong, and positive correlation between ΔEPV and ECM, supporting a subtle interplay between the weak forces acting within the nuclei of a given molecule and its chirality. These findings suggest that experimental investigations for molecular parity violation detection should consider molecules with ECM values as large as possible and may support that a chiral signature is imprinted on life by fundamental physics via the parity-violating weak interactions.

In this context, phytochemicals were extracted from Ranunculus constantinopolitanus using ethyl acetate (EA), ethanol, ethanol/water (70%), and water solvent. The analysis encompassed quantification of total phenolic and flavonoid content using spectrophotometric assays, chemical profiling via high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) for the extracts, and assessment of antioxidant activity via 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), Cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), metal chelating (MCA), and phosphomolybdenum (PBD) assays. Moreover, antimicrobial activity was assessed against four different bacterial strains, as well as various yeasts. Enzyme inhibitory activities were evaluated against five types of enzymes. Additionally, the extracts were examined for their anticancer and protective effects on several cancer cell lines and the human normal cell line. All of the extracts exhibited significant levels of ferulic acid, kaempferol, and caffeic acid. All tested extracts demonstrated antimicrobial activity, with Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa being most sensitive to EA and ethanol extracts. Molecular docking studies revealed that kaempferol-3-O-glucoside strong interactions with AChE, BChE and tyrosinase. In addition, network pharmacology showed an association between gastric cancer and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside. Based on the results, R. constantinopolitanus can be a potential reservoir of bioactive compounds for future bioproduct innovation and pharmaceutical industries.

The possibility of obtaining energy or nutritive streams and bioremediation as an add-on opens new perspectives for the massive culturing of microalgal biomass on waste waters generated by the agro-food sector. Ordinary revenue streams are fully preserved, or even boosted, if they are used in microalgal cultivation; however, the suitability of wastewaters depends on multiple nutritional and toxic factors. Here, the effect of modulating the Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW) and cattle digestate (CD) fraction in the formulation of a growth medium on biomass accumulation and productivity of selected biomass fractions and their relevance for biofuel and/or feed production were tested for the microalga Scenedesmus dimorphus and for the cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina). Tests highlighted the strong S. dimorphus adaptability to digestate, as on OMW, compared to A. platensis, with the maximum lipid storage (48 %) when culture medium was composed by 50 % of cattle digestate.

Abstract Reconnection events in high current reversed field pinch plasmas are often associated to the partial or total loss of the helical magnetic topology. The electron temperature collapse during these phenomena is investigated in RFX-mod thanks to high time resolution soft-x-ray diagnostics; these data are used, together with magnetic energy reconstructions, for energy balance analysis. The paper shows that the energy released during reconnection events, similarly to astrophysical plasmas, might be involved in ion heating, the latter being estimated by the energy distribution function of neutral atoms, a rather interesting feature in a reactorial perspective. These issues will be further investigated in RFX-mod2 , an upgrade of the present device starting its operations from 2022, where the modified boundary conditions are expected to increase the helical states duration and reduce the frequency of reconnection events.

Combined floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), wave energy converters (WECs), and floating solar photovoltaics (FPVs) systems have the potential to provide cost-effective solutions for offshore multi -energy complementation and structure protection. In this study, a theoretical model based on the potential flow theory and eigenfunction matching method is utilized to study wave diffraction and radiation by a co -located system, in which the main components of the wind platform and WECs are made of vertical cylindrical floats. Based on the displacement constraint matrix, coupled equations of motion are developed to calculate the kinematic response of the co -located systems. After running the convergence analysis and model validation, the present model is employed to perform a multiparameter impact analysis. Case studies are presented to clarify the effects of the WEC radius, draft, layout, power take -off (PTO) system, and incident wave heading and frequency on the hydrodynamic coefficient, wave energy capture width, and motion response of the wind platform. Our findings highlight that several factors play a crucial role in the performance of the co -located system, more importantly, that the theoretical model developed in this study is capable of effectively predicting the wave -structure interactions in wave fields, making it applicable to future wave farm projects.

AbstractRecreational fisheries contribute substantially to the sociocultural and economic well‐being of coastal and riparian regions worldwide, but climate change threatens their sustainability. Fishery managers require information on how climate change will impact key recreational species; however, the absence of a global assessment hinders both directed and widespread conservation efforts. In this study, we present the first global climate change vulnerability assessment of recreationally targeted fish species from marine and freshwater environments (including diadromous fishes). We use climate change projections and data on species’ physiological and ecological traits to quantify and map global climate vulnerability and analyze these patterns alongside the indices of socioeconomic value and conservation effort to determine where efforts are sufficient and where they might fall short. We found that over 20% of recreationally targeted fishes are vulnerable to climate change under a high emission scenario. Overall, marine fishes had the highest number of vulnerable species, concentrated in regions with sensitive habitat types (e.g., coral reefs). However, freshwater fishes had higher proportions of species at risk from climate change, with concentrations in northern Europe, Australia, and southern Africa. Mismatches in conservation effort and vulnerability were found within all regions and life‐history groups. A key pattern was that current conservation effort focused primarily on marine fishes of high socioeconomic value rather than on the freshwater and diadromous fishes that were predicted to be proportionately more vulnerable. While several marine regions were notably lacking in protection (e.g., Caribbean Sea, Banda Sea), only 19% of vulnerable marine species were without conservation effort. By contrast, 72% of freshwater fishes and 33% of diadromous fishes had no measures in place, despite their high vulnerability and cultural value. The spatial and taxonomic analyses presented here provide guidance for the future conservation and management of recreational fisheries as climate change progresses.