Seed morphoanatomy of the genus Passiflora L. (Passifloraceae) by scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy

Morphoanatomical analysis of seeds contributes to knowledge of the development of seedlings and identification of species, as well as supporting conservation studies. The conservation of the species belonging to the Passiflora genus is crucial due to of the threats to the genetic resources of these species. Thus, the objective of this study was to morphoanatomically characterize Passiflora seeds, verify possible injuries to the tissues after cryopreservation and thus contribute to the conservation strategies of the species of this genus. Initially, seeds of Passiflora coccinea, P. edulis, P. gibertii, P. maliformis, P. morifolia, P. setacea, P. suberosa, and P. tenuifila collected from the Passion Fruit Active Germplasm Bank of the Embrapa Cassava and Fruits research unit (Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura) were analyzed. Then, their length, width and thickness, shape of the base and tip, and ornamentations present on the body and edge of the seeds were evaluated. The seeds of the species were placed in cryotubes and immersed in liquid nitrogen to assess possible cryoinjuries. The tegument and tissues of the seeds were examined by scanning electron microscopy. The seeds had varied biometric data, with average values of 4.63 mm for length, 3.28 mm for width, and 1.51 mm for thickness. Six ornamentation types were observed: reticulate for the species P. coccinea; finely reticulate for P. edulis; foveolate reticulate for P. gibertii and P. setacea; alveolate reticulate for P. maliformis and P. tenuifila; coarsely reticulate for P. morifolia; and falsifoveolate reticulate for P. suberosa. Some seeds suffered tegument cracks due to the freezing in liquid nitrogen, but without physiological damages to the embryo and endosperm. The cryopreservation of the seeds in the presence of the tegument significantly reduced the cryoinjuries caused to the embryo. Cryopreservation can be promising for long-term conservation of passion fruit seeds.     

Analysis of network function sharing in Content Delivery Network-as-a-service slicing scenarios

Video content consumption is currently dominating the mix of traffic observed in Internet service provider (ISP) networks. The distribution of that content is usually performed by means of content delivery network (CDN) caches storing and delivering multimedia. The advent of virtualization is calling attention to the CDN providers as a use case for virtualizing the cache function. In parallel, there is a trend for sharing network infrastructures as a way of reducing deployment costs by ISPs. Then, an interesting scenario emerges when considering the possibility of sharing virtualized cache functions among ISPs which are sharing a common physical infrastructure, mostly considering that those ISPs offer similar video content catalogs to end users. Furthermore, when deciding to share the caches among ISPs, it is interesting to understand the impacts due to limiting the storage capacity at the edge sites. This paper investigates through simulations the potential efficiencies that can be achieved when sharing a virtual cache function if compared with the classical approach of independent virtual caches operated per ISP, as well as the implications of limiting the storage capacity of the caches at the edge.     

OCPP in the spotlight: threats and countermeasures for electric vehicle charging infrastructures 4.0

Undoubtedly, Industry 4.0 in the energy sector improves the conditions for automation, generation and distribution of energy, increasing the rate of electric vehicle manufacturing in recent years. As a result, more grid-connected charging infrastructures are being installed, whose charging stations (CSs) can follow standardized architectures, such as the one proposed by the open charge point protocol (OCPP). The most recent version of this protocol is v.2.0.1, which includes new security measures at device and communication level to cover those security issues identified in previous versions. Therefore, this paper analyzes OCPP-v2.0.1 to determine whether the new functions may still be susceptible to specific cyber and physical threats, and especially when CSs may be connected to microgrids. To formalize the study, we first adapted the well-known threat analysis methodology, STRIDE, to identify and classify threats in terms of control and energy, and subsequently we combine it with DREAD for risk assessment. The analyses indicate that, although OCPP-v2.0.1 has evolved, potential security risks still remain, requiring greater protection in the future.

     

Influence of the glycerin content in the preparation of calcium diglyceroxide from eggshell applied in the residual oil transesterification

Currently, biodiesel is pointed out worldwide as the main alternative in the complementation and substitution of petrochemical diesel. However, the current industrial route of synthesis of this biofuel depends on the cost of raw materials (which are also destined for food purposes) and the expense of the production process. Aiming to remedy this obstacle, the use of solid, sustainable, low-cost, efficient, and reusable catalysts in residual raw materials, such as waste cooking oils, has been highlighted as a promising alternative. This work focused on studying the influence of the glycerin content used in the preparation by wet impregnation of catalyst calcium diglyceroxide in the efficiency of transesterification of waste cooking oil. The catalyst was synthesized from CaO from chicken eggshell, raw glycerin co-product from biodiesel, and methanol. The transesterification reactions were performed using 120 g of frying residual oil, methanol: oil molar rate of 6:1, constant shaking, and reaction temperature of 63 ± 1°C for 180 min. The catalyst material synthesized with residual glycerin was active for four reactions (without reactivation of its sites) with high percentages of efficiency of 96.13, 96.85, 95.93, and 91.65, respectively. It was noted that the glycerol purity correlated with changes in the structural morphology of the final compound, as well as changes in the leaching rate, acidity index, water content, and ester content of the blends. It was found that adding 15% water to the lipid material correlated with an increase in ester content (99%) in the synthesized biodiesel.     

A decentralized robust control approach for virtually coupled train sets

In this paper, a novel approach to train control systems based on virtual coupling is presented. Virtual coupling is a concept that has evolved from platooning of vehicles and allows to reduce the distance and headway between trains without constructing new lines while ensuring safe operation. With this objective in mind, we propose a decentralized robust model predictive control (MPC) framework for a virtually coupled train set based on a min–max approach. Unlike the nominal MPC, robust MPC is designed to consider external undetermined disturbances and errors to improve robustness in real-world applications. Therefore, in this study, we present the formulation of a robust MPC based on solving a finite-horizon optimization problem with bounded uncertainties. The bounds consider resistive modeling errors, positioning errors, communication delays, and a possible adhesion loss of up to 10%. We then performed four simulations to compare the behavior of the robust MPC with the equivalent nominal MPC. In these simulations, we simulated a metro line, main line, and high-speed line. The simulations also analyzed the behavior of the robust MPC under the considered perturbations and different communication delays. The results show that the robust MPC ensures safer operation than nominal MPC in subways, conventional lines, and high-speed lines. Future research can focus on centralized MPC and artificial intelligence.     

A high‐productivity task‐based programming model for clusters

Programming for large‐scale, multicore‐based architectures requires adequate tools that offer ease of programming and do not hinder application performance. StarSs is a family of parallel programming models based on automatic function‐level parallelism that targets productivity. StarSs deploys a data‐flow model: it analyzes dependencies between tasks and manages their execution, exploiting their concurrency as much as possible. This paper introduces Cluster Superscalar (ClusterSs), a new StarSs member designed to execute on clusters of SMPs (Symmetric Multiprocessors). ClusterSs tasks are asynchronously created and assigned to the available resources with the support of the IBM APGAS runtime, which provides an efficient and portable communication layer based on one‐sided communication. We present the design of ClusterSs on top of APGAS, as well as the programming model and execution runtime for Java applications. Finally, we evaluate the productivity of ClusterSs, both in terms of programmability and performance and compare it to that of the IBM X10 language. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.