Pilot Experiments with Electrodialysis and Ozonation for the Production of a Fertilizer from Urine

Pilot tests were performed with a process combination of electrodialysis and ozonation for the removal of micropollutants and the concentration of nutrients in urine. In continuous and batch experiments, maximum concentration factors up to 3.5 and 4.1 were obtained, respectively. The desalination capacity did not decrease significantly during continuous operation periods of several weeks. Membrane cleaning after 195 days resulted in approximately 35% increase in desalination rate. The Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES), a bioassay that selectively detects oestrogenic compounds, confirmed that about 90% of the oestrogenic activity was removed by electrodialysis. HPLC analysis showed that ibuprofen was removed to a high extent, while other micropollutants were below the detection limit. In view of the fact that ibuprofen is among the most rapidly transported micropollutants in electrodialysis processes, this result indicates that electrodialysis provides an effective barrier for micropollutants. Standardised plant growth tests were performed in the field with the salt solution resulting from the treatment by electrodialysis and subsequent ozonation. The results show that the plant height is comparable to synthetic fertilisers, but the crop yield is slightly lower. The latter is probably caused by volatilisation losses during field application, which can be prevented by improved application technologies

Construction of an integrated consensus map of the Apple genome based on four mapping populations

An integrated consensus genetic map for apple was constructed on the basis of segregation data from four genetically connected crosses (C1¿=¿Discovery × TN10-8, C2¿=¿Fiesta × Discovery, C3¿=¿Discovery × Prima, C4¿=¿Durello di Forli × Fiesta) with a total of 676 individuals using CarthaGene® software. First, integrated female¿male maps were built for each population using common female¿male simple sequence repeat markers (SSRs). Then, common SSRs over populations were used for the consensus map integration. The integrated consensus map consists of 1,046 markers, of which 159 are SSR markers, distributed over 17 linkage groups reflecting the basic chromosome number of apple. The total length of the integrated consensus map was 1,032 cM with a mean distance between adjacent loci of 1.1 cM. Markers were proportionally distributed over the 17 linkage groups (¿ 2¿=¿16.53, df¿=¿16, p¿=¿0.41). A non-uniform marker distribution was observed within all of the linkage groups (LGs). Clustering of markers at the same position (within a 1-cM window) was observed throughout LGs and consisted predominantly of only two to three linked markers. The four integrated female¿male maps showed a very good colinearity in marker order for their common markers, except for only two (CH01h01, CH05g03) and three (CH05a02z, NZ02b01, Lap-1) markers on LG17 and LG15, respectively. This integrated consensus map provides a framework for performing quantitative trait locus (QTL) detection in a multi-population design and evaluating the genetic background effect on QTL expression

Magic wavelengths for the 5s−18s5s-18s transition in rubidium

Magic wavelengths, for which there is no differential ac Stark shift for the ground and excited state of the atom, allow trapping of excited Rydberg atoms without broadening the optical transition. This is an important tool for implementing quantum gates and other quantum information protocols with Rydberg atoms, and reliable theoretical methods to find such magic wavelengths are thus extremely useful. We use a high-precision all-order method to calculate magic wavelengths for the $5s-18s$ transition of rubidium, and compare the calculation to experiment by measuring the light shift for atoms held in an optical dipole trap at a range of wavelengths near a calculated magic value

Observation of shock waves in a large Bose-Einstein condensate

We observe the formation of shock waves in a Bose-Einstein condensate containing a large number of sodium atoms. The shock wave is initiated with a repulsive, blue-detuned light barrier, intersecting the BEC, after which two shock fronts appear. We observe breaking of these waves when the size of these waves approaches the healing length of the condensate. At this time, the wave front splits into two parts and clear fringes appear. The experiment is modeled using an effective 1D Gross-Pitaevskii-like equation and gives excellent quantitative agreement with the experiment, even though matter waves with wavelengths two orders of magnitude smaller than the healing length are present. In these experiments, no significant heating or particle loss is observed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Pomelos: informações básicas sobre o cultivo e cultivares apirênicas recomendadas para o Rio Grande do Sul.

bitstream/CTAA-2009-09/9514/1/documento_198.pd

Pomelos: informações básicas sobre o cultivo e cultivares apirênicas recomendadas para o Rio Grande do Sul.

bitstream/item/33842/1/documento-198.pd

Cancro cítrico: epidemiologia e controle.

bitstream/CPACT-2009-09/11812/1/documento_234.pd

Genetic and childhood trauma interaction effect on age of onset in bipolar disorder: An exploratory analysis

Introduction This study investigated whether early life trauma mediates genetic effects on the age at onset (AAO) of bipolar disorder. Method Data from the BiGS Consortium case samples (N = 1119) were used. Childhood traumatic events were documented using the Childhood Life Events Scale (CLES). Interaction between occurrence of childhood trauma and common genetic variants throughout the genome was tested to identify single nucleotide polymorphic gene variants (SNPs) whose effects on bipolar AAO differ between individuals clearly exposed (CLES ≥ 2) and not exposed (CLES = 0) to childhood trauma. Results The modal response to the CLES was 0 (N = 480), but an additional 276 subjects had CLES = 1, and 363 subjects reported 2 or more traumatic lifetime events. The distribution of age at onset showed a broad peak between ages 12 and 18, with the majority of subjects having onset during that period, and a significant decrease in age of onset with the number of traumatic events. No single SNP showed a statistically significant interaction with the presence of traumatic events to impact bipolar age at onset. However, SNPs in or near genes coding for calcium channel activity-related proteins (Gene Ontology: 0005262) were found to be more likely than other SNPs to show evidence of interaction using the INRICH method (p < 0.001). Limitations Retrospective ascertainment of trauma and AAO. Conclusion Interaction effects of early life trauma with genotype may have a significant effect on the development and manifestation of bipolar disorder. These effects may be mediated in part by genes involved in calcium signaling