An Approach to Evaluate Soils Influence on Floristic Composition of Natural Grasslands

This trial aims to evaluate floristic composition of most abundant species in three soil typical of Pampa biome on Brazil. The survey was held at Maronna Fundation located on southern Alegrete municipality, on Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s state. Regional climate belongs to Koeppen’s Cfa class. Soil types were shallow basalt (Psamments e Orthents), deep basalt (Vertisols) and sandy soil (Acrisols or Ultisols). Floristic composition were evaluated by visual ranking of aerial biomass of the major species (transformed to kg of dry matter per hectare), calibrated by cuts at ground level, according to field procedures of BOTANAL method. Grasses were clustered according to functional groups based on its leaf traits as proposed by Cruz et al. (2010). This approach proposed a ranking of grasses that ranges from its increasing leaf dry matter, and decreasing specific leaf area, from A to C groups. Total forage mass varied according to soil type. Contribution of A, B and C groups on total forage mass range from 40 to 60 %. Paspalum notatum, from B group, were found on the three soils, being more abundant on sandy and shallow basalt soils. Andropogon lateralis, from C group, was dominant on deep basalt soils, while Axonopus affinis, from A group, has higher biomass contribution on the same soil. We concluded that soil type affected floristic composition, even with this simplified diagnosis criteria

Mechanism of Insulin Emission in Matrix Assisted Laser Ionization

In the present paper the emission of intact insulin quasi-molecular ion [M+H] + during laser ablation (MALDI) is studied. It was observed in particular that the insulin TOF molecular peak increases as the laser power increases. The DE-Vestal method for the initial velocity measurements was improved theoretically including the distance (d0) until the free expansion regime can be considered. According to the present analysis, the v0 parameter given by the DE-Vestal method is interpreted as the initial velocity that the desorbed ion would have if no collision occurs in the plasma. The improved method interprets v 0 as the "final" initial velocity, i.e., as the velocity that the desorbed ions have when the plasma free expansion starts and, effectively, collisions no longer occur. The new method allows also the determination of d 0 , the distance to the solid when the free expansion starts. The data fitting shows that the distance (d0) has a linear dependence on the laser's intensity. Extrapolation of these values gives I = 0.69 G W cm −2 as the minimum energy density necessary to produce high density plasma during the insulin ions desorption when using αCHCA matrix

Study of occupational exposure to toluene and noise in the hearing of factory workers from Porto Alegre, Brazil

Um estudo sobre os efeitos da exposição de trabalhadores a agentes físicos (ruído) e químicos (tolueno) foi descrito neste trabalho. Para isto, foram realizados monitoramento ambiental e biológico, avaliação audiométrica e avaliação dos níveis de ruído. Este estudo foi realizado com trabalhadores de uma indústria da grande Porto Alegre, dos quais foram coletadas amostras de urina para avaliar a intensidade da exposição ao tolueno através da determinação do ácido hipúrico. Foram utilizados monitores passivos para vapores orgânicos, para determinação dos níveis de tolueno no ambiente laboral. Foram realizadas medições do ruído ambiental em 1/3 de oitavas e em dB(A), durante 3 minutos, e obtivemos os níveis equivalentes, Leq (NBR 10151). Foi investigado o comprometimento da via auditiva, através da audiometria ocupacional por via aérea. Analisando os resultados obtidos, foi constatada perda auditiva bilateral nos trabalhadores expostos ao tolueno e ao ruído e uma tendência de interação destes agentes na audição.In this work we studied the effects of occupational exposure to solvent and noise in the hearing of factory workers from Porto Alegre, Brazil. The study group analyzed solvents concentration in air, biological marker for toluene in urine (hippuric acid) and levels of environmental noises. The analysis of these results showed hearing loss in the workers of occupational exposure to solvent toluene and noise. These findings suggest the exposure to toluene and noise has a toxic effect on the auditory system. Further researches are needed for better understanding of the interaction of these agents in the auditory systems

Measurement of isotopic separation of argon with the prototype of the cryogenic distillation plant Aria for dark matter searches

The Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to detector-grade quality. In this paper, we report the first measurement of argon isotopic separation by distillation with the 26 m tall Aria prototype. We discuss the measurement of the operating parameters of the column and the observation of the simultaneous separation of the three stable argon isotopes: 36Ar , 38Ar , and 40Ar . We also provide a detailed comparison of the experimental results with commercial process simulation software. This measurement of isotopic separation of argon is a significant achievement for the project, building on the success of the initial demonstration of isotopic separation of nitrogen using the same equipment in 2019

Improving the Efficiency of Hierarchical Structure-and-Motion

We present a completely automated Structure and Mo- tion pipeline capable of working with uncalibrated images with varying internal parameters and no ancillary informa- tion. The system is based on a novel hierarchical scheme which reduces the total complexity by one order of magni- tude. We assess the quality of our approach analytically by comparing the recovered point clouds with laser scans, which serves as ground truth data

Improving the Efficiency of Hierarchical Structure-and-Motion

We present a completely automated Structure and Mo- tion pipeline capable of working with uncalibrated images with varying internal parameters and no ancillary informa- tion. The system is based on a novel hierarchical scheme which reduces the total complexity by one order of magni- tude. We assess the quality of our approach analytically by comparing the recovered point clouds with laser scans, which serves as ground truth data