Shelf life of minimally processed cassava roots submitted to different conservation methods.

The useful life of minimally processed cassava roots submitted to different conservation methods was evalu­ated. Cassava roots in natura were physically characterized, minimally processed and stored after submission to treatments in different packaging types. During storage period, the product was submitted to physicochemi­cal, sensorial and microbiological analyzes. Storage time and treatment influenced on minimally processed cassava roots quality. When only the sensorial analysis is considered, the useful life of minimally processed cassava roots was of 28 days for all treatments, except for the roots submitted to the CONTROL and CA treat­ments, which had a 24-day shelf life. However, at 14 days of storage, CONTROL, VAC, CA, and H2O treat­ments showed high psychotrophic count. Mold and yeast counts were also high for CONTROL and VAC treat­ments at 14 days of storage. At 28 days of storage, psychrotrophs, molds and yeasts count was high for all treatments. In general, the most recommended treatments, due to having a longer shelf life, were CA and H2O reaching a maximum period of 14 days of storage. Considering the cooking time and the other physicochemical analyzes, the 2.5% H2O+CA treatment is not recommended for the commercialization of minimally processed cassava roots

IFRS and Stock Returns: an Empirical Analysis in Brazil

In recent years, the convergence of accounting standards has been an issue that motivated new studies in the accounting field. It is expected that the convergence provides users, especially external users of accounting information, with comparable reports among different economies. Considering this scenario, this article was developed in order to compare the effect of accounting numbers on the stock market before and after the accounting convergence in Brazil. The sample of the study involved Brazilian listed companies at BM&FBOVESPA that had American Depository Receipts (levels II and III) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). For data analysis, descriptive statistics and graphic analysis were employed in order to analyze the behavior of stock returns around the publication dates. The main results indicate that the stock market reacts to the accounting reports. Therefore, the accounting numbers contain relevant information for the decision making of investors in the stock market. Moreover, it is observed that after the accounting convergence, the stock returns of the companies seem to present lower volatility

The impact of water on firefighter protective clothing thermal performance and steam burn occurrence in firefighters

Exposure to oscillating heat fluxes while having variable water contents in the thermal protective clothing (T.P. C) is possible in a real firefighting scenario. The occurrence of steam burns becomes inevitable in certain conditions which are still unidentified in the literature. In light of such, in this study, the effect of water distribution on thermal protective clothing (T.P.C) performance is studied for various environmental conditions (i.e., fixed and transient values of heat flux). A numerical approach is used to simulate heat and mass transport in the T.P.C.. Parametric studies are performed, where the exposure heat flux (0-80 kW/m(2)) and initial quantities of water in the T.P.C. are varied and correlated with second-degree burn times. The presence of water in the outer shell increases second-degree burn times, while water in the inner layer has the opposite effect for high heat fluxes. For the tested heat fluxes, burns obtained are majorly of a scald nature. The results generated allow for identifying environmental and protective clothing conditions where steam burns may become a potential hazard. This study can directly impact the proceedings for firefighters to take in certain environmental conditions and aid in the design of more effective firefighting protective suits

Effect of anode flow field design in direct methanol fuel cells: preliminary studies

The direct methanol fuel cells are promising candidates for portable power sources due to their high energy density, however studies continue in order to give solutions for a number of drawbacks that affect cell performance and efficiency. Achieving good fuel cell performance requires that the flowing streams of fuel and oxidizer are evenly distributed over the entire surface of the catalyst layer and also an efficient removal of reaction products. This is achieved through the optimal design of the flow field, which primarily depend upon channel pattern as well as channel (and rib) shape and size. In this work the effect of anode flow field design on the performance of an own built DMFC is studied. Preliminary results are herein presented

Assessment of the potential of tin sulphide thin films prepared by sulphurization of metallic precursors as cell absorbers

In this work, SnxSy thin films have been grown on soda-lime glass substrates by sulphurization of metallic precursors in a nitrogen plus sulphur vapour atmosphere. Different sulphurization temperatures were tested, ranging from 300 °C to 520 °C. The resulting phases were structurally investigated by X-Ray Diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Composition was studied using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy being then correlated with the sulphurization temperature. Optical measurements were performed to obtain transmittance and reflectance spectra, from which the energy band gaps, were estimated. The values obtained were 1.17 eV for the indirect transition and for the direct transition the values varied from 1.26 eV to 1.57 eV. Electrical characterization using Hot Point Probe showed that all samples were p-type semiconductors. Solar cells were built using the structure: SLG/Mo/SnxSy/CdS/ZnO:Ga and the best result for solar cell efficiency was 0.17%

Mo bilayer for thin film photovoltaics revisited

Thin film solar cells based on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 as an absorber layer use Mo as the back contact. This metal is widely used in research and in industry but despite this, there are only a few published studies on the properties of Mo. Properties such as low resistivity and good adhesion to soda lime glass are hard to obtain at the same time. These properties are dependent on the deposition conditions and are associated with the overall stress state of the film. In this report, a study of the deposition of a Mo bilayer is carried out by analysing first single and then bilayers. The best properties of the bilayer were achieved when the bottom layer was deposited at 10 × 10−3 mbar with a thickness of 500 nm and the top layer deposited at 1 × 10−3 mbar with a thickness of 300 nm. The films deposited under these conditions showed good adhesion and a sheet resistivity lower than 0.8

Brain MRI in the Decision for Liver Transplantation in Pediatric Neurological Wilson's Disease

Background Neurological Wilson's disease (WD) presentation in the pediatric population is rare, and liver transplantation (LT) in these patients remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to assess the role of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting reversion of brain lesions and neurological outcomes in pediatric WD patients after LT. Methods Patients with confirmed WD (Leipzig score ≥4), disease onset in pediatric age (<18 years), neurological involvement, and submitted to LT were selected. Clinical records and pre- and post-LT brain MRI were evaluated. Results Six patients met the pre-defined inclusion criteria, one of whom died shortly after LT and was excluded. The indication for LT was end-stage liver disease in two patients and neurological worsening despite optimized treatment in three patients. After LT, the neurological picture progressively improved in all patients. Pre-LT brain MRI showed T1-weighted hyperintensities in four patients, which quickly resolved afterward. T2-weighted hyperintensities were observed in four patients before LT, completely resolving in one patient, stabilizing in two, and improving in one after LT. A direct correlation could not be found between clinical and neuroradiological improvement. Progressive clinical improvement was observed even in patients with irreversible brain MRI changes. Conversely, some patients with normal MRI had only slight neurological improvement. Conclusions The pattern of T2-weighted hyperintensities after LT was unpredictable and did not correlate with neurological outcomes, suggesting that these changes may not entail irreversible clinical damage. Therefore, brain MRI does not seem to have prognostic value for assessing clinical response to LT

Agro-ecological transition in rural settlement in Chapada dos Veadeiros.

The sustainability of organic production and the agroecological transition of farmers in the Chapada dos Veadeiros region was evaluated using the Environmental Impact Assessment System of Agricultural Technological Innovations (AMBITEC-AGRO). The evaluation process consisted of three stages: 1st survey and data collection, 2nd application of questionnaires and 3rd individual interviews. Data were entered into electronic spreadsheets, generating quantitative results of the impacts of activities carried out on rural properties. The indicators of the data obtained are organized in weighting matrices and automatically transformed into impact indices expressed graphically. These indexes resulted in the Percentage of Impact of Technologies - PIT, which characterizes the percentage gain of technology for each of the criteria of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the productive units. For the environmental dimension, the PIT showed a reduction of -3.73%, where the general index of impact of the activity was 0.95 and after the transition to organic and/or agroecological production it went to 1.29, with a difference of 0.34. In the economic dimension, the PIT was 7.70%, the employment variable with 0.73 and income with 3.89 were the ones that most contributed to this percentage. In the social dimension, the PIT was 7.19%, the most prominent criteria being the consumer with an average of 3.74 and health with an average of 2.99. In this sense, the transition to organic and/or agroecological management, mainly due to the reduction of environmental impacts, provided greater sustainability for agricultural activities in the region

Assessment of mitochondrial genomes for heterobranch gastropod phylogenetics

Background Heterobranchia is a diverse clade of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial gastropod molluscs. It includes such disparate taxa as nudibranchs, sea hares, bubble snails, pulmonate land snails and slugs, and a number of (mostly small-bodied) poorly known snails and slugs collectively referred to as the “lower heterobranchs”. Evolutionary relationships within Heterobranchia have been challenging to resolve and the group has been subject to frequent and significant taxonomic revision. Mitochondrial (mt) genomes can be a useful molecular marker for phylogenetics but, to date, sequences have been available for only a relatively small subset of Heterobranchia. Results To assess the utility of mitochondrial genomes for resolving evolutionary relationships within this clade, eleven new mt genomes were sequenced including representatives of several groups of “lower heterobranchs”. Maximum likelihood analyses of concatenated matrices of the thirteen protein coding genes found weak support for most higher-level relationships even after several taxa with extremely high rates of evolution were excluded. Bayesian inference with the CAT + GTR model resulted in a reconstruction that is much more consistent with the current understanding of heterobranch phylogeny. Notably, this analysis recovered Valvatoidea and Orbitestelloidea in a polytomy with a clade including all other heterobranchs, highlighting these taxa as important to understanding early heterobranch evolution. Also, dramatic gene rearrangements were detected within and between multiple clades. However, a single gene order is conserved across the majority of heterobranch clades. Conclusions Analysis of mitochondrial genomes in a Bayesian framework with the site heterogeneous CAT + GTR model resulted in a topology largely consistent with the current understanding of heterobranch phylogeny. However, mitochondrial genomes appear to be too variable to serve as good phylogenetic markers for robustly resolving a number of deeper splits within this clade.publishedVersio