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Project: GCOS Earth Heat Inventory - A study under the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to update the Earth heat inventory (EHI), and presents an updated international assessment of ocean warming estimates, and new and updated estimates of heat gain in the atmosphere, cryosphere and land over the period 1960-2018. Summary: ‘Heat stored in the Earth system: Where does the energy go?’ contains a consistent long-term Earth system heat inventory over the period 1960-2018. Human-induced atmospheric composition changes cause a radiative imbalance at the top-of-atmosphere which is driving global warming. This Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI) is the most critical number defining the prospects for continued global warming and climate change. Understanding the heat gain of the Earth system from this accumulated heat – and particularly how much and where the heat is distributed in the Earth system - is fundamental to understanding how this affects warming oceans, atmosphere and land, rising temperatures and sea level, and loss of grounded and floating ice, which are fundamental concerns for society. This dataset is based on a study under the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to update the Earth heat inventory, and presents an updated international assessment of ocean warming estimates, and new and updated estimates of heat gain in the atmosphere, cryosphere and land over the period 1960-2018. Changes in version 2: a) uncertainties have been added and updated in the netcdf file b) Ocean heat content > 2000m depth: update of one time series, and thus revised ensemble mean c) Atmospheric heat content: update of the time series as received by experts on the 29/05/2020 d) Available heat cyropshere: update of the time series as received by experts on the 27/05/2020. e) some attributes have been added for more details.

GDI injection systems have become dominant in passenger cars due to their flexibility in managing and advantages in the fuel economy. With the increasingly stringent emissions regulations and concurrent requirements for enhanced engine thermal efficiency, a comprehensive characterization of the fuel spray behavior has become essential. Different engine loads produce in a variety of fuel supplying conditions that affect the air/fuel mixture preparation and influence the efficiency and pollutant production. The flash boiling is a particular state that occurs for peculiar thermodynamic conditions of the engine. It could strongly influence the mixture in subatmospheric environments with detrimental effects on emissions. In order to obtain an in-depth understanding of the flash boiling phenomena, it is necessary to study the parameters influencing the mixture formation and their appearance in diverse engine conditions. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the ambient pressure and temperature on the morphology of a multi-jet spray operating in flash boiling status using a Gasoline Direct Injection setup. An eight-hole, GDI injector from the Engine Combustion Network (ECN), was investigated under flashing and non-flashing conditions. The experiments were performed in an opticallyaccessible, constant-volume vessel at engine-like conditions. A hybrid optical setup, Z-type schlieren and Mie scattering, using a high-speed C-Mos camera allowed the quasi-simultaneous acquisition of both the vapor and the liquid phases. A customized image-processing procedure, developed in Matlab environment, was used to outline the contours of both the fuel phases. Different morphologies of the fuel spray were studied as function of the injection pressure, the fuel temperature, and the backpressure in the vessel, through the measurement of the axial penetration and cone angle

Solving very-large-scale optimization problems frequently require to decompose them in smaller subproblems, which are iteratively solved to produce useful information. One such approach is the Lagrangian relaxation (LR), a general technique that leads to many different decomposition schemes. The LR produces a lower bound of the objective function and useful information for heuristics aimed at constructing feasible primal solutions. In this paper, we compare the main LR strategies used so far for stochastic hydrothermal unit commitment problems, where uncertainty mainly concerns water availability in reservoirs and demand (weather conditions). The problem is customarily modeled as a two-stage mixed-integer optimization problem. We compare different decomposition strategies (unit and scenario schemes) in terms of quality of produced lower bound and running time. The schemes are assessed with various hydrothermal systems, considering different configuration of power plants, in terms of capacity and number of units.

Background: Phenolic compounds are food-derived bioactive compounds well-known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They are in the spotlight for the management of diabetes due to their positive effects on glucose homeostasis. Materials and methods: We have performed a literature review on the main topics related to the application of phenolic compounds as functional food ingredients. This includes extraction and purification from vegetable sources and agro-industrial by-products, encapsulation to improve their solubility and bioavailability, and preclinical and clinical evidence linking these compounds with anti-diabetic activity. Objectives: (1) provide an understanding of the role of phenolic compounds on diabetes; (2) identify green technologies for phenolic compounds extraction from agri-food by-products following a biorefinery scheme; (3) underline the relevance of encapsulation techniques using nanotechnology to improve their bioavailability; (4) discuss the therapeutic efficacy of polyphenols. Results: This review compiles recent relevant research on phenolic compounds extraction from renewable resources, their purification from agri-food by-products, and encapsulation strategies using eco-friendly processes. It also highlights the preclinical and clinical evidence on phenolic compounds’ antidiabetic activity, giving insight into their mechanisms of action. Conclusions: This review explores the latest advances in polyphenols and how their benefits in glucose homeostasis can be applied toward improving the health of patients with diabetes and related conditions.

Dataset abstract This dataset contains a mask for the identification of cold and warm temperature advection along the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) track based on a simple method using the difference between the sea surface and air temperature. This mask is a combination of measured air temperature during ACE and sea surface temperature fields from ECMWF operational analysis data. Dataset contents - coldwarm_mask_1h.csv, data file, comma-separated values - data_file_header.txt, metadata, text - README.txt, metadata, text Dataset license This cold and warm temperature advection mask dataset from ACE is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) whose full text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 The Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition was made possible by funding from the Swiss Polar Institute and Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

The main objective of this work was to model ground collectors with different parameters and geometries in ANSYS R19.2 and to simulate their operation during the heating season in Slovakia in order to determine their impact on the soil. At the same time, four new geometries in the shape of vertical spirals with diameters of 6, 8 and 10 m were designed and simulated to occupy a smaller area while maintaining performance similar to classical geometries. Due to climate change, heat pumps are becoming an important proxy in the heating of buildings and are an important part of decarbonisation plans; thus, it is essential to adapt them to urban and metropolitan conditions. Ground source heat pumps possess high efficiency but require a lot of space for their collectors. The collector geometries proposed in this work are a combination of horizontal and vertical technologies and are feasible. Only one geometry achieved performance similar to classical geometries: spiral with 10 m diameter. Factors significantly influencing collector operation were confirmed, namely season, soil type, soil water content, geometry and collector placement.

Giant reed (Arundo Donax L.) is a perennial, non-food and low-input energy crop representing a promising solution to produce renewable energy at low cost, especially in marginal areas - i.e. low profitable areas which are prone to land abandonment. This research investigates the effect of two levels of irrigation (100% ETm and rainfed) on a 20-year old plantation of 40 genotypes of giant reed (Arundo donax L.) collected around Southern Italy. The experimental methanogenic potential of the biomass was defined trough the BMP test (Biochemical Methane Potential). The trial shows that several genotypes maintain high biomass yield and thus high biomethane potential yield even from old plantations. The variability of biomass yield and biomethane potential yield among genotypes is high. Giant reed genotypes show a positive response to the irrigation, which represent the main limiting factor in Mediterranean environments. Proceedings of the 28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 July 2020, Virtual, pp. 234-237

Coconut coir dust is finding broad application in the ornamental sector as peat substitute. However, deeper investigations are needed since its performances are variable and not always optimal for different plant species and growing conditions. The use of non-thermal plasma (NTP) in re-circulating nutrient solution appears a promising and sustainable strategy to enhance crop protection, decrease the use of sanitizers and pesticides, and increase yield and quality of ornamental productions. Nevertheless, only a few examples of NTP application on containerized crops under operational growing conditions are available, particularly in combination with different substrates and fertigation regimes. In this work the application of NTP was tested on the nutrient solution used for the production of Ranunculus asiaticus potted plants. The effect was assessed in growing plants using two substrates (both 50:50 v v-1): 1) peat:perlite, and 2) coconut coir dust:perlite, and with two levels of fertilization. Plants grown on coconut coir dust had lower total biomass and flower number. On the other hand, in terms of biomass and tissue nutrient content, R. asiaticus plants developeded better at lower nutrient concentration than at the standard nutrient solution. NTP treatment increased the green biomass while did not improve the flower production. NTP-based sanitizing effects on the root zone, where the number of colony-forming units of fungi was significantly reduced, were observed only in presence of the standard nutrient solution.