Uso De água Residuária Da Piscicultura No Cultivo De Alface

Lettuce stands out as the main leafy vegetable consumed in Brazil, with divergence regarding adaptability to different environmental conditions, which include salinity. The objective of the work was to evaluate the response of lettuce cultivars to the use of saline wastewater from fish farming. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replicates, in a factorial 7 × 4, corresponding to seven cultivars (Regiane, Vera, Isabela, Elisa, Amelia, Lavinia and Angelina) and four salt concentrations (1.2, 2.2, 3.2 and 4.2 dS m-1). The evaluated characteristics were: number of leaves, leaf area, crown diameter and shoot fresh and dry matter. Diluted wastewater from fish farming can be used in the preparation of solution for fertigation of lettuce. The cultivars Regiane and Elisa had higher production of leaves and leaf area, while Amélia and Angelina were the most productive in terms of biomass. The cultivars Vera, Isabela, Amélia and Angelina were more tolerant to the salinity of the fertigation solution. © 2016, Departamento de Engenharia Agricola - UFCG/Cnpq. All rights reserved.20872873

A p-Spin Interaction Ashkin-Teller Spin-Glass Model

A p-spin interaction Ashkin-Teller spin glass, with three independent Gaussian probability distributions for the exchange interactions, is studied by means of the replica method. A simple phase diagram is obtained within the replica-symmetric approximation, presenting an instability of the paramagnetic solution at low temperatures. The replica-symmetry-breaking procedure is implemented and a rich phase diagram is obtained; besides the paramagnetic phase, three distinct spin-glass phases appear. Three first-order critical frontiers are found and they all meet at a triple point; among such lines, two of them present discontinuities in the order parameters, but no latent heat, whereas the other one exhibits both discontinuities in the order parameters and a finite latent heat.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physica

The small x gluon and b\bar{b} production at the LHC

We study open b\bar{b} production at large rapidity at the LHC in an attempt to pin down the gluon distribution at very low x. For the LHC energy of 7 TeV, at next-to-leading order (NLO), there is a large factorization scale uncertainty. We show that the uncertainty can be greatly reduced if events are selected in which the transverse momenta of the two B-mesons balance each other to some accuracy, that is |\vec p_{1T}+\vec p_{2T}| < k_0. This will fix the scale \mu_F \simeq k_0, and will allow the LHCb experiment, in particular, to study the x-behaviour of gluon distribution down to x ~ 10^{-5}, at rather low scales, \mu ~ 2 GeV. We evaluate the expected cross sections using, for illustrative purposes, various recent sets of Parton Distribution Functions.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Angiotensin-(1–7)/Mas axis integrity is required for the expression of object recognition memory

AbstractIt has been shown that the brain has its own intrinsic renin–angiotensin system (RAS) and angiotensin-(1–7) (Ang-(1–7)) is particularly interesting, because it appears to counterbalance most of the Ang II effects. Ang-(1–7) exerts its biological function through activation of the G-protein-coupled receptor Mas. Interestingly, hippocampus is one of the regions with higher expression of Mas. However, the role of Ang-(1–7)/Mas axis in hippocampus-dependent memories is still poorly understood. Here we demonstrated that Mas ablation, as well as the blockade of Mas in the CA1-hippocampus, impaired object recognition memory (ORM). We also demonstrated that the blockade of Ang II receptors AT1, but not AT2, recovers ORM impairment of Mas-deficient mice. Considering that high concentrations of Ang-(1–7) may activate AT1 receptors, nonspecifically, we evaluate the levels of Ang-(1–7) and its main precursors Ang I and Ang II in the hippocampus of Mas-deficient mice. The Ang I and Ang II levels are unaltered in the whole hipocampus of MasKo. However, Ang-(1–7) concentration is increased in the whole hippocampus of MasKo mice, as well as in the CA1 area. Taken together, our findings suggest that the functionality of the Ang-(1–7)/Mas axis is essential for normal ORM processing

Independent validation of CT radiomics models in colorectal liver metastases:predicting local tumour progression after ablation

Objectives:Independent internal and external validation of three previously published CT-based radiomics models to predict local tumor progression (LTP) after thermal ablation of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Materials and methods: Patients with CRLM treated with thermal ablation were collected from two institutions to collect a new independent internal and external validation cohort. Ablation zones (AZ) were delineated on portal venous phase CT 2–8 weeks post-ablation. Radiomics features were extracted from the AZ and a 10 mm peri-ablational rim (PAR) of liver parenchyma around the AZ. Three previously published prediction models (clinical, radiomics, combined) were tested without retraining. LTP was defined as new tumor foci appearing next to the AZ up to 24 months post-ablation. Results: The internal cohort included 39 patients with 68 CRLM and the external cohort 52 patients with 78 CRLM. 34/146 CRLM developed LTP after a median follow-up of 24 months (range 5–139). The median time to LTP was 8 months (range 2–22). The combined clinical-radiomics model yielded a c-statistic of 0.47 (95%CI 0.30–0.64) in the internal cohort and 0.50 (95%CI 0.38–0.62) in the external cohort, compared to 0.78 (95%CI 0.65–0.87) in the previously published original cohort. The radiomics model yielded c-statistics of 0.46 (95%CI 0.29–0.63) and 0.39 (95%CI 0.28–0.52), and the clinical model 0.51 (95%CI 0.34–0.68) and 0.51 (95%CI 0.39–0.63) in the internal and external cohort, respectively. Conclusion: The previously published results for prediction of LTP after thermal ablation of CRLM using clinical and radiomics models were not reproducible in independent internal and external validation. Clinical relevance statement: Local tumour progression after thermal ablation of CRLM cannot yet be predicted with the use of CT radiomics of the ablation zone and peri-ablational rim. These results underline the importance of validation of radiomics results to test for reproducibility in independent cohorts. </p

Means-end analysis of consumers’ perceptions of virtual world affordances for e-commerce

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional (3D) persistent multi-user online environments where users interact through avatars. The affordances of virtual worlds can be useful for business-to-consumer e-commerce. Moreover, affordances of virtual worlds can complement affordances of websites to provide consumers with an enhanced e-commerce experience. We investigated which affordances of virtual worlds can enhance consumers‟ experiences on e-commerce websites. We conducted laddering interviews with 30 virtual world consumers to understand their perceptions of virtual world affordances. A means-end analysis was then applied to the interview data. The results suggest co-presence, product discovery, 3D product experience, greater interactivity with products and sociability are some of the key virtual world affordances for consumers. We discuss theoretical implications of the research using dimensions from the Technology Acceptance Model. We also discuss practical implications, such as how virtual world affordances can be incorporated into the design of e-commerce websites

A formal characterization of SI-based ROWA replication protocols

Snapshot isolation (SI) is commonly used in some commercial DBMSs with a multiversion concurrency control mechanism since it never blocks read-only transactions. Recent database replication protocols have been designed using SI replicas where transactions are firstly executed in a delegate replica and their updates (if any) are propagated to the rest of the replicas at commit time; i.e. they follow the Read One Write All (ROWA) approach. This paper provides a formalization that shows the correctness of abstract protocols which cover these replication proposals. These abstract protocols differ in the properties demanded for achieving a global SI level and those needed for its generalized SI (GSI) variant ¿ allowing reads from old snapshots. Additionally, we propose two more relaxed properties that also ensure a global GSI level. Thus, some applications can further optimize their performance in a replicated system while obtaining GSI. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors wish to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments that helped us to greatly improve the quality and readability of this paper. This work has been supported by the Spanish Government under research grant TIN2009-14460-C03. Besides, the authors wish to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments that helped us to greatly improve the quality and readability of this paper.Armendáriz-Iñigo, J.; Juárez-Rodríguez, J.; González De Mendívil, J.; Garitagoitia, J.; Irún Briz, L.; Muñoz Escoí, FD. (2011). A formal characterization of SI-based ROWA replication protocols. Data and Knowledge Engineering. 70(1):21-34. doi:10.1016/j.datak.2010.07.012S213470