Seeder performance for rapeseed

Rapessed is becoming very interesting mainly due to its importance for biofuels production. In Portugal there is not a great experience with this crop. It is important to get and spread information about all the aspects involved, including mechanical seeding. The seed small size and the necessary low density of seeds per hectare – 3 to 5 kg, impose important specifications to select an adequate seeder. Field trials to evaluate crop and seeder performance were implemented in Northeast of Portugal in autumn 2011 with cultivar ES Hidromel. In this paper we will focus on mechanical seeding. Seeder working time was measured by a chronometer, considering elementary operations like effective seeding time and turning time. Seeder performance is evaluated in hectares per hour. Results are discussed

La Serpiente Cascabel Sudamericana Crotalus Durissus: Ecología Alimentar En La Región Central De Brasil

We investigated food patterns in the diet composition of 452 specimens of Crotalus durissus from Central Brazil. Thirty-three items were recorded corresponding to four categories: rodents (75.76%), marsupials (6.06%), unidentified mammals (9.09%) and reptiles (9.09%). Adults of both sexes and some juveniles feed mostly on mammals, specifically rodents, it is the most active and abundant prey throughout the year mainly in areas from Cerrado. In addition, we observed that in C. durissus there is a trend in the diet of females could be more diverse, maybe this can be associated to sexual differences involving different strategies of the feeding biology of this rattlesnake. © 2016, Universidade Estadual de Campinas UNICAMP. All rights reserved.1631

Formation of magnetic minerals at hydrocarbon-generation conditions

In this paper, we report the pyrolysis and formation of magnetic minerals in three source rock samples from the Wessex Basin in Dorset, southern England. The experimental conditions in the laboratory recreated the catagenesis environment of oil source rocks. Magnetic analysis of both the heated and the unheated samples at room temperature and at very low-temperatures (5 K), coupled with transmission electron-microscopy imaging and X-ray analysis, revealed the formation of nanometre-sized (<10 nm), magnetic particles that varied across the rock samples analysed, but more importantly across the pyrolysis temperature range. Magnetic measurements demonstrated the formation of these magnetic minerals peaked at 250 °C for all rock samples and then decreased at 300 °C before rising again at 320 °C. The newly formed magnetic minerals are suggested to be primarily pyrrhotite, though magnetite and greigite are also thought to be present. The sizes of the magnetic minerals formed suggest a propensity to migrate together with oil potentially explaining the magnetic anomalies observed above and within oil fields

Agronomic performance of five rapeseed varieties grown for biodiesel in the northeast of Portugal

Rapeseed is an important crop for several European countries and for many others such as Canada and China. Rapeseed oil may have several industrial uses (Sonntag, 1995) and shows excellent properties for the manufacture of biodiesel (Körbitz, 1995). Rapeseed oil may also present high food quality, namely CANOLA (Canadian Oilseed Low-Acid) and European “double-zero” varieties (erucic acid in the oil and glucosinolates in rapeseed cake). World production of rapeseed has quadrupled in the past three decades (FAO, 2013). In Europe the increase in acreage has also been remarkable. Portugal is one of the few European countries where rapeseed is not yet extensively grown. However, field trials carried out in the country (Ferreira, 2009, Rodrigues et al. 2010, Rodrigues et al., 2011) have given good indications on its ecological potential to produce rapeseed if cultivated in the autumn/winter growing season. In the European market there are rapeseed varieties of high vernalisation requirements, suitable for cultivation of rapeseed as an autumn/winter crop, and varieties of smaller vernalisation requirements for cultivation as a spring/summer crop (Guerrero, 1999). In regions benefitting from a Mediterranean climate, rapeseed should be cultivated as an autumn/winter crop in order to mitigate drought problems during spring. In rainfed cropping systems of the Mediterranean region, rapeseed could be an interesting crop to increase the number of the few species that can be included in the crop rotations. In these rotations, rapeseed could be a good preceding crop for wheat since it left a nitrogen-rich residue in the soil (Marquard and Walter, 1995; Arlesa 2011a). If rapeseed is included in irrigated crop rotations, it may validate a double-cropping system, where rapeseed could be grown in winter previously to a second crop in the summer season. The present work aims to assess the potential of five rapeseed cultivars to be grown in rainfed conditions in Northeast of Portugal. These cultivars are being marketed in Spain by Arlesa-Euralis Company and were already grown with relative success in Spain close to the border with Portugal.PROBIOENER – Acción integrada para la promoción e implantación de eficiência energética y energias renovables como factor de competitividad (2009 - 2010

Hiatal herniation following total gastrectomy

The authors present a case of early hiatal hernia (HH), 30 days after surgery, that recurred a week after. Our purpose in this case report is to discuss briefly the potential cause and to enhance the importance of CT

Cultivo de colza para produção de biodiesel

Cultivo de colza para produção de biodieselO presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal estudar a adaptação da colza às condições de cultivo do Nordeste de Portugal. Procedeu-se ainda à determinação laboratorial do teor de óleo em sementes de colza. A partir de óleos alimentares usados foi produzido biodiesel e determinados os índices de iodo e de acidez, de acordo com as normas EN14111 e EN14104, respetivamente. Aspetos pouco conhecidos sobre a mecanização de operações culturais como a sementeira e colheita foram estudados, tendo-se encontrado algumas respostas para as características que o semeador a eleger deve conter e regulações a efetuar na ceifeira- -debulhadora a usar na colheita. A produção de colza em campo foi bastante penalizada pelas condições de seca severa que se registaram no Inverno e início da Primavera desse mesmo ano, não tendo sido possível observar efeitos significativos entre as diferentes modalidades experimentais. A produção média de colza em cada um dos talhões foi da ordem de 1000 kg semente ha-1. O teor em óleo das sementes de colza variou entre 41.7 e 42.0%. Relativamente ao índice de acidez do biocombustível obteve-se 0.16 g KOH/g amostra e quanto ao índice de iodo registou-se o valor de 130.32 g iodo/100 g de biocombustível

A colza pode dinamizar o setor arvense de sequeiro

Portugal necessita de incorporar 10% de biocombustíveis nos combustíveis convencionais até 2020. Tudo indica que se estas metas forem atingidas, sê-lo-ão à custa da importação das matérias- primas. A colza pode ajudar a mitigar o problema, na medida em que atinge produtividades interessantes em sequeiro. A técnica cultural é muito semelhante à dos cereais de inverno, o que facilita a sua inclusão nos sistemas de cultivo. Os produtores de cereais devem começar a equacionar a inclusão da colza nas suas rotações de sequeiro

Response of rapeseed to nitrogen fertilisation in a mediterranean environment

Portugal needs urgently to increase the production of vegetable oils to be able to meet the mandatory 10% minimum target to be achieved by all member states for the share of biofuels in transport petrol and diesel consumption by 2020 (Directive 2009/28/EC). Rapeseed oils the main raw material used in Europe for the manufacture of biofuels. Portugal, however, does not produce rapeseed oil, in spite of some studies have indicated that there are favourable ecological conditions to do that around the country [I, 2]

Monitoring the Degradation of Tetracycline by Ozone in Aqueous Medium Via Atmospheric Pressure Ionization Mass Spectrometry

The degradation of tetracycline (1) by ozone in aqueous solution was investigated. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and total organic carbon (TOC) analyses revealed that although tetracycline was quickly consumed under this oxidative condition, it did not mineralize at all. Continuous monitoring by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in the positive ion mode, ESI(+)-MS, revealed that tetracycline (1), detected in its protonated form ([1 + H]+) of m/z 445, reacted to yield almost exclusively two unprecedented oxidation products (2 and 3) via a net insertion of one and two oxygen atoms, respectively. Compound 2, suggested to be formed via an initial 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of ozone at the C11a-C12 double-bond of 1, and Compound 3, proposed to be produced via a subsequent ozone attack at the C2-C3 double-bond of 2, were detected in their protonated forms in the ESI(+)-MS, i.e., [2 + H]+ of m/z 461 and [3 + H]+ of m/z 477, and were further characterized by ESI(+)-MSn. LC-APCI(+)-MS (liquid chromatography coupled with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry in the positive ion mode) experiments corroborated the results

On infinite walls in deformation quantization

We examine the deformation quantization of a single particle moving in one dimension (i) in the presence of an infinite potential wall, (ii) confined by an infinite square well, and (iii) bound by a delta function potential energy. In deformation quantization, considered as an autonomous formulation of quantum mechanics, the Wigner function of stationary states must be found by solving the so-called \*-genvalue (``stargenvalue'') equation for the Hamiltonian. For the cases considered here, this pseudo-differential equation is difficult to solve directly, without an ad hoc modification of the potential. Here we treat the infinite wall as the limit of a solvable exponential potential. Before the limit is taken, the corresponding \*-genvalue equation involves the Wigner function at momenta translated by imaginary amounts. We show that it can be converted to a partial differential equation, however, with a well-defined limit. We demonstrate that the Wigner functions calculated from the standard Schr\"odinger wave functions satisfy the resulting new equation. Finally, we show how our results may be adapted to allow for the presence of another, non-singular part in the potential.Comment: 22 pages, to appear in Annals of Physic