Effects of Temperature and Salinity on Coral Bleaching in Laboratory

Coral bleaching occurs when cell density or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments of the endosymbionts, zooxanthellae are decreased. This incident may possibly be caused by some environmental stresses, especially under conditions of elevated temperature, decrease in water salinity, or a combination of these factors. To determine the role of temperature and salinity on zooxanthellae and coral bleaching this study was conducted in aquariums under laboratory conditions on cauliflower coral Pocillopora damicornis. The samples were collected from three sites around Samaesan Island, Chonburi, Thailand. Three sets of experiments were conducted at three levels of temperature: room temperature 27 (control), 30, and 33 oC respectively. At each temperature level, three levels of salinities; 10, 20 and 30 (control) psu were tested as well. Coral bleaching percentage and zooxanthellae density in the water column were observed every 6 hours during the period of 72 hours. The results showed that when coral exposed to the highest temperature (33 oC) under the lowest salinity (10 psu), 50-90% bleaching was found and higher symbiont densities in the water column were detected. These results suggested that the combination of the high temperature and low salinity had synergistic effects on coral bleaching and zooxanthellae.

Effects of Temperature and Salinity on Seed Germination of Three Common Grass Species

Temperature and salinity significantly affect seed germination, but the joint effects of temperature and salinity on seed germination are still unclear. To explore such effects, a controlled experiment was conducted, where three temperature levels (i.e., 15, 20, and 25°C) and five salinity levels (i.e., 0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mmol/L) were crossed, resulting in 15 treatments (i.e., 3 temperature levels × 5 salinity levels). Three typical grass species (Festuca arundinacea, Bromus inermis, and Elymus breviaristatus) were used, and 25 seeds of each species were sown in petri dishes under these treatments. Germination percentages and germination rates were calculated on the basis of the daily recorded germinated seed numbers of each species. Results showed that temperature and salinity significantly affected seed germination percentage and germination rate, which differed among species. Specifically, F. arundinacea had the highest germination percentage, followed by E. breviaristatus and B. inermis, with a similar pattern also found regarding the accumulated germination rate and daily germination rate. Generally, F. arundinacea was not sensitive to temperature within the range of 15–25°C, while the intermediate temperature level improved the germination percentage of B. inermis, and the highest temperature level benefited the germination percentage of E. breviaristatus. Moreover, F. arundinacea was also not sensitive to salinity within the range of 0–200 mmol/L, whereas high salinity levels significantly decreased the germination percentage of B. inermis and E. breviaristatus. Thus, temperature and salinity can jointly affect seed germination, but these differ among plant species. These results can improve our understanding of seed germination in saline soils in the face of climate change.

Temperature distribution in a subduction zone

A model of the thermal and hydrodynamic structure of the subduction zone is proposed. This model includes free convection flows in the asthenospheric layer and layer C (mantle transition zone). Temperature profiles in the subducting lithospheric plate, as well as in the continental limb of the subduction zone, are presented. The heat flux due to friction at the contact between the subducting plate and the continental limb significantly affects the heat transfer and, consequently, the temperature field formation in the subduction zone. The temperature level in the crustal layer of the submerging plate implies that there is no melting in the crustal layer.

Temperature level optimization for low-grade thermal networks using the exergy method

Low-temperature thermal networks open the field for additional renewable and recovered energy sources to be used. The exploitation of low exergy level resources requires decentralized heat pumps having a significant impact on the network's overall electricity consumption. Thus, a compromise must be found in order to minimize thermal and electrical consumption while integrating a maximum of renewable energy sources. This optimum is governed by the temperature level of the network. This paper aims at determining the optimal network temperature using the exergy criterion. The exergy method is detailed and applied to the multi-source network blueCAD (Fribourg) fed by geothermal energy, and FriCAD, a high temperature district heating network. The optimum temperature decreases as the share of geothermal energy in the production increases. For blueCAD, it ranges from 40 to 55 °C.

TECHNOLOGY OF APPLE COMPOTE PRODUCTION FOR BABY FOOD WITH A HIGH CONTENT OF NATURAL INGREDIENTS

The most promising direction of improving food technologies for baby food is the use of new technical solutions that ensure maximum preservation of natural ingredients contained in the initial plant raw materials in the finished product. To do this, instead of the traditional process of blanching in water, microwave blanching is proposed directly in glass jars in microwave EMF (ultrahigh frequency electromagnetic field) with a frequency of 2400 MHz for 1.5 minutes, after which syrup is poured at a temperature level of 980C, prepared with the addition of infusion extracted from secondary products, followed by sealing of cans and sterilization according to a new gentle sterilization regime with a preliminary increase in the temperature level of the semi-finished product by processing it in microwave EMF before sealing cans, for 1.5 min.

Analysis of the influence of condensation temperature and compressor efficiency on heat pump system efficiency

In heat pump cycles, heat is supplied to the working fluid from a certain group of low-temperature bodies and transferred to a group of high-temperature bodies, i.e. the heat source is at a lower temperature and the heat sink at a higher temperature. Using the method of circular processes, in synergy with the possibility of mutual conversion of thermal and mechanical interactions, the process of heat transfer from a lower temperature level to a higher temperature level is enabled. Mechanical work, which, as compensation, should be given by the environment to the system (working substance), is a difference between heat removed and heat supplied. The efficiency of the heat pump mostly depends on the temperature interval at which the process takes place, however, the efficiency of the heat pump is also affected by the thermodynamic parameters of its parts: compressor, condenser, throttle valve, and evaporator. In this paper, the influence of condensing temperature and compressor efficiency on the efficiency of the system as a whole is examined. The calculation was performed for two working substances, R123 and R134a, using the EES software package (Engineering Equation Solver) which is used for numerical modeling of thermodynamic systems, process optimization, and making process diagrams.

Effect of Some Abiotic Environmental Stresses on Some Physical Characteristics of Wheat Seeds(Triticum Aestivum L.)

The experiment was carried out in the laboratory of the General Company for Grain Trade, Al-Diwaniyah Governorate, variety Ibaa 99 during the season of 2021, to find out the effect of some abiotic environmental stresses (heat and humidity) on some physical characteristics of the wheat seeds(Triticum aestivum L.) The experiment was conducted according to a randomized complete block design (RCBD) for experiments, Factorial with three replications, the first factor included three levels of temperature (-7, 25 and 35°C) and the second factor three levels of humidity (12, 14 and 16%). The temperature level of 35 °C was superior to the specific weight and gave the highest specific weight of 77.02 kg/Hectoliter and the weight of 1000 grains 34.49 g, the moisture level of 16% exceeded the specific weight and gave the highest specific weight of 77.80 kg/Hectoliter, and the weight of 1000 grains 34.48 g.

A Waste Energy Recovery Management for Electricity Generation from Two Temperature Grades of Energy Sources in Subcritical Organic Rankine Systems

Waste energy represents one of the most critical issues for the economic utilization and management of energy in modern industrial fields. This article outlines a scheme to utilize two different source temperature levels within the envelope of higher than 200 °C zones. Two regenerative organic Rankine cycles (RORC) were implemented to construct a compound regenerative organic Rankine cycle (CRORC) to improve the energy management of the sources. These two mini-cycles were integrated throughout an intermediate economizer circuit to extract a certain amount of energy from the high-temperature level mini-cycle. R-123 was circulated in the high-temperature cycle due to its high critical temperature at evaporation and condensation temperatures of 160 °C and 50 °C, respectively. R-123, R-21, and hydrocarbon R-600 were used as working fluids for the low-temperature cycle at evaporation and condensation temperatures of 130 °C and 35 °C, respectively. The R-123 fluid in the high-temperature mini-cycle was superheated to 170-240 °C, whereas the fluid in the low-temperature level was superheated to 180 °C. The results showed that the independent system (IRORC) requires more energy recovery than the compound system by a maximum of 2% to achieve the same net power output. This corresponds to the enhancement of 2% for the system net thermal efficiency of the compound (CRORC) system compared to the independent (IRORC) one. The compound (CRORC) system revealed a net thermal efficiency in the range of 14% and 15.6% for the test conditions. The mini-cycle net thermal efficiency of the low-temperature in the compound system was enhanced by a range of 2.5-5% compared to that of the independent arrangement. R-123/R-123 and R-123/R-21 systems exhibited higher net thermal efficiencies than the R-123/R-600 one by 3% and 2%, respectively. Increasing the superheat degree of the high-temperature mini-cycle from 10 °C to 80 °C for the compound system has improved the thermal efficiency by 7.6-7.9% for the examined fluid pairs and operating conditions. Keywords: compound cycle, regenerative, energy management, energy recovery, organic fluids

MovEcho

Most recent vehicles are equipped with touchscreens, which replace arrays of buttons that control secondary driving functions, such as temperature level, strength of ventilation, GPS, or choice of radio stations. While driving, manipulating such interfaces can be problematic in terms of safety, because they require the drivers’ sight. In this article, we develop an innovative interface, MovEcho, which is piloted with gestures and associated with sounds that are used as informational feedback. We compare this interface to a touchscreen in a perceptual experiment that took place in a driving simulator. The results show that MovEcho allows for a better visual task completion related to traffic and is preferred by the participants. These promising results in a simulator condition have to be confirmed in future studies, in a real vehicle with a comparable expertise for both interfaces.

Temperature Variability and the Macroeconomy: A World Tour

This paper uses historical monthly temperature level data for a panel of 114 countries to identify the effects of within year temperature level variability on productivity growth in five different macro regions, i.e., (1) Africa, (2) Asia, (3) Europe, (4) North America and (5) South America. We find two primary results. First, higher intra-annual temperature variability reduces (increases) productivity in Europe and North America (Asia). Second, higher intra-annual temperature variability has no significant effects on productivity in Africa and South America. Additional empirical tests indicate also the following: (1) rising intra-annual temperature variability reduces productivity (even thought less significantly)in both tropical and non-tropical regions, (2) inter-annual temperature variability reduces (increases) productivity in North America (Europe) and (3) winter and summer inter-annual temperature variability generates a drop in productivity in both Europe and North America. Taken together, these findings indicate that temperature variability shocks tend to have stronger adverse economic effects among richer economies. In a production economy featuring long-run productivity and temperature volatility shocks, we quantify these negative impacts and find welfare losses of 2.9% (1%) in Europe (North America).