Articles publicats (Química, Física i Ciències Ambientals i del Sòl)
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- ItemOpen AccessAssessing the energy trap of industrial agriculture in North America and Europe: 82 balances from 1830 to 2012(Springer-Verlag Italia s.r.l., 2023) Tello, Enric; Sacristán, Vera; Olarieta, José R.; Cattaneo, Claudio; Marull, Joan; Pons, Manel; Gingrich, Simone; Krausmann, Fridolin; Galán, ElenaEarly energy analyses of agriculture revealed that behind higher labor and land productivity of industrial farming, there was a decrease in energy returns on energy (EROI) invested, in comparison to more traditional organic agricultural systems. Studies on recent trends show that efficiency gains in production and use of inputs have again somewhat improved energy returns. However, most of these agricultural energy studies have focused only on external inputs at the crop level, concealing the important role of internal biomass flows that livestock and forestry recirculate within agroecosystems. Here, we synthesize the results of 82 farm systems in North America and Europe from 1830 to 2012 that for the first time show the changing energy profiles of agroecosystems, including livestock and forestry, with a multi-EROI approach that accounts for the energy returns on external inputs, on internal biomass reuses, and on all inputs invested. With this historical circular bioeconomic approach, we found a general trend towards much lower external returns, little or no increases in internal returns, and almost no improvement in total returns. This “energy trap” was driven by shifts towards a growing dependence of crop production on fossil-fueled external inputs, much more intensive livestock production based on feed grains, less forestry, and a structural disintegration of agroecosystem components by increasingly linear industrial farm managements. We conclude that overcoming the energy trap requires nature-based solutions to reduce current dependence on fossil-fueled external industrial inputs and increase the circularity and complexity of agroecosystems to provide healthier diets with less animal products.
- ItemOpen AccessSlow-roll inflation and growth of perturbations in Kaniadakis modification of Friedmann cosmology(Springer Nature, 2023-10-17) Lambiase, G.; Luciano, Giuseppe Gaetano; Sheykhi, A.Kaniadakis entropy is a one-parameter deformation of the classical Boltzmann–Gibbs–Shannon entropy, arising from a self-consistent relativistic statistical theory. Assuming a Kaniadakis-type generalization of the entropy associated with the apparent horizon of Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) Universe and using the gravity-thermodynamics conjecture, a new cosmological scenario is obtained based on the modified Friedmann equations. By employing such modified equations, we analyze the slowroll inflation, driven by a scalar field with power-law potential, at the early stages of the Universe. We explore the phenomenological consistency of this model by computation of the scalar spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio. Comparison with the latest BICEP and Planck data allows us to constrain Kaniadakis parameter to κ O(10−12 ÷ 10−11), which is discussed in relation to other observational bounds in the literature. We also disclose the effects of Kaniadakis correction term on the growth of perturbations at the early stages of the Universe by employing the spherically symmetric collapse formalism in the linear regime of density perturbations. We find out that the profile of density contrast is non-trivially affected in this scenario. Interestingly enough, we observe that increasing Kaniadakis parameter κ corresponds to a faster growth of perturbations in a Universe governed by the corrected Friedmann equations. Finally, we comment on the consistency of the primordial power spectrum for scalar perturbations with the best data-fit provided by Planck.
- ItemOpen AccessNeutrino decoherence and violation of the strong equivalence principle(Elsevier, 2023-10-18) Buoninfante, Luca; Luciano, Giuseppe Gaetano; Petruzziello, L.; Smaldone, LucaWe analyze the dynamics of neutrino Gaussian wave-packets, the damping of flavor oscillations and decoherence effects within the framework of extended theories of gravity. We show that, when the underlying description of the gravitational interaction admits a violation of the strong equivalence principle, the parameter quantifying such a violation modulates the wave-packet spreading, giving rise to potentially measurable effects in future neutrino experiments.
- ItemOpen AccessKaniadakis entropy-based characterization of IceCube PeV neutrino signals(Elsevier, 2023-10-05) Blasone, M.; Lambiase, G.; Luciano, Giuseppe GaetanoKaniadakis 𝜅-thermostatistics is by now recognized as an effective paradigm to describe relativistic complex systems obeying power-law tailed distributions, as opposed to the classical (exponential-type) decay. It is founded on a non-extensive one-parameter generalization of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, which, in the cosmological framework, gives rise to modified Friedmann equations on the basis of the gravity-thermodynamic conjecture. Assuming the entropy associated with the apparent horizon of the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) Universe follows Kaniadakis prescription, in this work we analyze the observed discrepancy between the present bound on the Dark Matter relic abundance and the IceCube high-energy (∼ 1 PeV) neutrinos. We show that this tension can be alleviated in the minimal model of Dark Matter decay with Kaniadakisgoverned Universe evolution, while still considering the 4-dimensional Yukawa coupling between Standard Model and Dark Matter particles. This argument phenomenologically supports the need for a Kaniadakislike generalization of the Boltzmann–Gibbs–Shannon entropy in the relativistic realm, opening new potential scenarios in high-energy astroparticle physics.
- ItemOpen AccessResistance induction with silicon in Hass avocado plants inoculated with Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands(Taylor and Francis, 2023) Álvarez, Andree; Oliveros Gómez, Diego Fernando; Ávila, Yalile C.; Sabogal Palma, Angie Carolina; Murillo, Walter; Eras i Joli, Jordi; Bermúdez-Cardona, María Bianney; Guarnizo Puentes, Angélica NathalieRoot rot caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands, is one of the main factors that limits avocado production worldwide; silicon as a defense inducer seems to be a viable strategy to integrate into the management of this disease. Hereby, the present study evaluated the induction of resistance with silicon in Hass avocado plants inoculated with P. cinnamomi, as a possible alternative to conventional agrochemical management. A potassium silicate solution (10 mL, 0.2 M expressed as SiO2) was applied by irrigation, for ten days before inoculation with P. cinnamomi in Hass avocado plants. Leaf samples were taken at 3, 24, 144, and 312 h after inoculation with the pathogen. Peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes had their highest activity 3 h after pathogen inoculation (p < .05). There was a decrease in the activity of the enzyme phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), in the content of total phenols, and the inhibition capacity of the DPPH● radical, between 3 h and 24 h in the plants with the inducer and inoculated with P. cinnamomi (p < .05). The results suggest a beneficial effect of silicon as a defense inducer in Hass avocado plants, manifested in the activation of enzymatic pathways related to the regulation of oxidative stress and the synthesis of structural components. Therefore, the application of silicon as a defense inducer emerges as a strategy to include in the integrated management of the disease caused by P. cinnamomi in Hass avocado.