Flowers are evoked to bring us delicious coffee.

Coffee is highly appreciated as stimulant. Brazil is the first producer and second consumer in the world. Flower evocation triggered by environmental signals is essential for adaptability and productivity, and despite that it is neglected and barely considered as a part of the reproductive cycle. Aiming to review molecular mechanisms producing phenological responses observed in the fields, orthologs to A. thaliana CO, FLC/FLM, FLT, SOC and VRN genes were identified in silico for C. arabica and its ancestors C. canephora and C. eugenioides. Protein structures and conserved domains, regulatory elements in promoters, and the related literature in both genera were accessed and compared. Hypotheses regarding Coffea spp. orthologs responsiveness to light and temperature signals at the tropics are proposed. Preliminary analysis of phenological data taken from early, intermediary and late C. arabica plants are included to illustrate the diversity regarding flower bud emission, which quite certainly is defined during flower evocation

Study on the anatomy of young coffee plants coming from micro-cuttings and induced to sprout.

Micro-cuttings coming from Catucaí coffee plants were established in the greenhouse and treated to sprout by decapitation and application of 600 mg/l triiodobenzoic acid. The morphology and the anatomy of treated and control plants were compared. Treated plants produced only orthotropic sprouts, useful for micro-cutting, while control plants produced only plagiotropic sprouts. Direct connections between the orthotropic sprouts and the petiole accessory veins were observed only in treated plants. All together, these results were interpreted as consequences of disturbances in the auxin transport systems, which shape apical dominance and bud dormancy

Phase behavior of repulsive polymer-tethered colloids

We report molecular dynamics simulations of a system of repulsive, polymer-tethered colloidal particles. We use an explicit polymer model to explore how the length and the behavior of the polymer (ideal or self-avoiding) affect the ability of the particles to organize into ordered structures when the system is compressed to moderate volume fractions. We find a variety of different phases whose origin can be explained in terms of the configurational entropy of polymers and colloids. Finally, we discuss and compare our results to those obtained for similar systems using simplified coarse-grained polymer models, and set the limits of their applicability.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Published in the Journal of Chemical Physic

automatic features recognition for anthropometry

Abstract For the purpose of reducing uncertainties in the measurements of morphologically complex biological objects, the authors present a new automatic method, which takes advantage from the representation of the object in the form of the 3D geometric model obtained from CT-scans or 3D scanning. In this paper, the method is verified in real cases and compared with the traditional approaches

Macroscopic equations for the adiabatic piston

A simplified version of a classical problem in thermodynamics -- the adiabatic piston -- is discussed in the framework of kinetic theory. We consider the limit of gases whose relaxation time is extremely fast so that the gases contained on the left and right chambers of the piston are always in equilibrium (that is the molecules are uniformly distributed and their velocities obey the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution) after any collision with the piston. Then by using kinetic theory we derive the collision statistics from which we obtain a set of ordinary differential equations for the evolution of the macroscopic observables (namely the piston average velocity and position, the velocity variance and the temperatures of the two compartments). The dynamics of these equations is compared with simulations of an ideal gas and a microscopic model of gas settled to verify the assumptions used in the derivation. We show that the equations predict an evolution for the macroscopic variables which catches the basic features of the problem. The results here presented recover those derived, using a different approach, by Gruber, Pache and Lesne in J. Stat. Phys. 108, 669 (2002) and 112, 1177 (2003).Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures (revTeX4) The paper has been completely rewritten with new derivation and results, supplementary information can be found at http://denali.phys.uniroma1.it/~cencini/Papers/cppv07_supplements.pd

Avaliação do desenvolvimento de mudas de Prunus sellowii Koehne e Mimosa scabrella Benth. em viveiro através do uso de diferentes substratos e adubações.

Resumo

Scanning Electron Probe Microanalysis

Scanning electron probe microanalysis has grown over the pastthree decades into a powerful technique for the microchemicalcharacterisation of materials. This paper describes the principles andvarious features of a typical microanalyser, and illustrates its uniquecapabilities in the study of materials by means of selected case histories

A design methodology for an innovative racing mini motorcycle frame

Sports equipment design is a young and evolving engineering discipline focused on the best simultaneous optimization of user and product as a system. In motorsports, in particular, the final performance during a race depends on many parameters related to the vehicle, circuit, weather, and tyres and the personal feelings of every single driver. Top teams in high-tech categories can invest huge amounts of money in developing simulators, but such economic commitment is not sustainable for all those teams that operate in minor but very popular categories, such as karts or mini-motorcycles. In these fields, the most common design approach is trial and error on physical prototypes. Such an approach leads to high costs, long optimization times, poor innovation, and inefficient management of the design knowledge. The present paper proposes a driver centred methodology for the design of an innovative mini racing motorcycle frame. It consists of two main phases: the drivers’ feelings translation into engineering requirements and constraints, and the exploration of the design solution space. Expected effects of the application of the proposed methodology are an overall increase in the degree of innovation, time compression, and cost reduction during the development process, with a significant impact on the competitiveness of small racing teams in minor categories

Unintended Environmental Consequences of a Global Biofuels Program

Abstract and PDF report are also available on the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://globalchange.mit.edu/).Biofuels are being promoted as an important part of the global energy mix to meet the climate change challenge. The environmental costs of biofuels produced with current technologies at small scales have been studied, but little research has been done on the consequences of an aggressive global biofuels program with advanced technologies using cellulosic feedstocks. Here, with simulation modeling, we explore two scenarios for cellulosic biofuels production and find that both could contribute substantially to future global-scale energy needs, but with significant unintended environmental consequences. As the land supply is squeezed to make way for vast areas of biofuels crops, the global landscape is defined by either the clearing of large swathes of natural forest, or the intensification of agricultural operations worldwide. The greenhouse gas implications of land-use conversion differ substantially between the two scenarios, but in both, numerous biodiversity hotspots suffer from serious habitat loss. Cellulosic biofuels may yet serve as a crucial wedge in the solution to the climate change problem, but must be deployed with caution so as not to jeopardize biodiversity, compromise ecosystems services, or undermine climate policy.This study received funding from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is supported by a onsortium of government, industry and foundation sponsors

Assessment of U.S. Cap-and-Trade Proposals

The MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis model is applied to synthetic policies that match key attributes of a set of cap-and-trade proposals being considered by the U.S. Congress in spring 2007. The bills fall into two groups: one specifies emissions reductions of 50% to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050; the other establishes a tightening target for emissions intensity and stipulates a time-path for a "safety valve" limit on the emission price that approximately stabilizes U.S. emissions at the 2008 level. Initial period prices are estimated between $7 and$50 per ton CO2-e with these prices rising by a factor of four by 2050. Welfare costs vary from near zero to less than 0.5% at the start, rising in the most stringent case to near 2% in 2050. If allowances were auctioned these proposals could produce revenue between $100 billion and$500 billion per year depending on the case. Outcomes from U.S. policies depend on mitigation effort abroads, and simulations are provided to illuminate terms-of-trade effects that influence the emissions prices and welfare effects, and even the environmental effectiveness, of U.S. actions. Sensitivity tests also are provided of several of key design features. Finally, the U.S. proposals, and the assumptions about effort elsewhere, are extended to 2100 to allow exploration of the potential role of these bills in the longer-term challenge of reducing climate change risk. Simulations show that the 50% to 80% targets are consistent with global goals of atmospheric stabilization at 450 to 550 ppmv CO2 but only if other nations, including the developing countries, follow suit.