In the present paper, an experimental assessment was performed on the transient thermal performance of a heat sink filled by a phase change material (PCM) and PCM embedded with carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and titania (TiO2) nanoparticles as nanostructured materials. In order to enhance the thermal conductivity of PCM, CNFs and TiO2 nanoparticles at different loadings (0.5wt. % and 2 wt.% of CNFs a...

To date, transgenic approaches to biofortify subsistence crops have been rather limited. This is particularly true for the starchy root crop cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). Cassava has one of the highest rates of CO(2) fixation and sucrose synthesis for any C3 plant, but rarely reaches its yield potentials in the field. It was our hypothesis that starch production in cassava tuberous roots ...

BACKGROUND Modelling plant growth allows us to test hypotheses and carry out virtual experiments concerning plant growth processes that could otherwise take years in field conditions. The visualization of growth simulations allows us to see directly and vividly the outcome of a given model and provides us with an instructive tool useful for agronomists and foresters, as well as for teaching. Fu...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Fruit set in indeterminate plant species largely depends on the balance between source and sink strength. Plants of these species show fluctuations in fruit set during the growing season. It was tested whether differences in fruit sink strength among the cultivars explained the differences in fruit-set patterns. METHODS Capsicum was chosen as a model plant. Six cultivars w...

Regional groundwater flow systems often contain both strong sinks and weak sinks. A strong sink extracts water from the entire aquifer depth, while a weak sink lets some water pass underneath or over the actual sink. The numerical groundwater flow model MODFLOW may allow a sink cell to act as a strong or weak sink, hence extracting all water that enters the cell or allowing some of that water t...

By: Resnik, Jack

Received: 12 November 2002 / Accepted: 22 May 2003 / Published: 31 December 2003 __________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: Based on a model of a two-heat-reservoir heat engine with a finite high-temperature source and bypass heat leak, the optimal configuration of the cycle is found for the fixed cycle period with another linear heat transfer l...

Article history: Received 23 December 2009 Received in revised form 10 June 2010 Accepted 10 June 2010 Available online 16 July 2010