243 research outputs found
Scarce fire activity in north and north-western Amazonian forests during the last 10,000 years
Composição E Diversidade De Anuros Na Restinga Do Município De Conde, Litoral Norte Do Estado Da Bahia, Nordeste Do Brasil
The Conde municipality is located in the northern coast of the state of Bahia (NC), northeastern Brazil, and is part of the Atlantic Tropical domain. The anuran fauna of the northern portion of the NC is still poorly known if compared to the southern portion. The Restinga is one of the predominant environments of the coastal plains of the NC and it is characterized essentially by presenting sandy soil covered by herbaceous and shrubby vegetation. The objective of this study was to determine the anuran species composition and diversity for the Restinga of the Conde municipality. Sampling was carried out at night by active search over four periods of five consecutive days each, two over the ‘main rainy season’ and two in a ‘lesser rainy season’, using 14 sample units (SUs) and five extra sample plots (EPs). We calculated dominance and species diversity using the Berger-Parker and Shannon-Wiener H’ indices, respectively. We used accumulation curves and the Jackknife 1 estimator to estimate anuran species richness, considering only the data obtained from the SUs. We recorded 713 anuran specimens distributed within 33 species, 13 genera and five families (Bufonidae, Craugastoridae, Hylidae, Leptodactylidae and Microhylidae). The Hylidae and Leptodactylidae families had the highest species richness. Considering only the SUs (Jackknife 1 estimator in brackets), we recorded 28 species in the study area (33.9 ± 2.3), 13 in Shrubby Vegetation Zones-SVZ (20.8 ± 2.9) and 25 in Freshwater Wetland Zones-FWZ (28.9 ± 1.9). The abundance and species diversity of the FWZ (n = 638 specimens; H’= 2.4) were higher than those recorded for the SVZ (n = 52 specimens; H’ = 1.9). The SVZ and FWZ showed distinct dominant species, wherein Pristimantis paulodutrai was the dominant species in SVZ and Scinax fuscomarginatus in FWZ. The Restinga of the Conde municipality stands out as the one with the highest anuran species richness already recorded considering only SVZ and FWZ. Moreover, its anuran species composition represented 55% of the anuran species known for the NC and included taxa common to three different morphoclimatic domains (Tropical Atlantic, Cerrado and Caatinga). © 2016, Universidade Estadual de Campinas UNICAMP. All rights reserved.16
Hidrogenionic potential (pH) of the attractant, trap density and control threshold for Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: tephritidae) on Hamlin oranges in São Paulo central region, Brazil
This study evaluated the effect of initial pH values of 4.5, 6.5 and 8.5 of the attractant
(protein bait) Milhocina® and borax (sodium borate) in the feld, on the capture of fruit flies in McPhail
traps, using 1, 2, 4 and 8 traps per hectare, in order to estimate control thresholds in a Hamlin orange grove
in the central region of the state of São Paulo. The most abundant fruit fly species was Ceratitis capitata,
comprising almost 99% of the fruit flies captured, of which 80% were females. The largest captures of C.
capitata were found in traps baited with Milhocina® and borax at pH 8.5. Captures per trap for the four
densities were similar, indicating that the population can be estimated with one trap per hectare in areas
with high populations. It was found positive relationships between captures of C. capitata and the number
of Hamlin oranges damaged, 2 and 3 weeks after capture. It was obtained equations that correlate captures
and damage levels which can be used to estimate control thresholds. The average loss caused in Hamlin
orange fruits by C. capitata was 2.5 tons per hectare or 7.5% of production.Esta pesquisa teve como objetivos: avaliar o efeito do pH inicial, 4.5; 6.5 e 8.5, do atrativo
proteico Milhocina® e bórax (tetraborato de sódio) na captura de moscas-das-frutas em armadilhas McPhail;
estudar densidades de armadilhas, 1; 2; 4 e 8 por hectare, para estimar níveis de controle em laranja cv.
Hamlin, na região central de São Paulo. A espécie predominante, com 99% das moscas-das-frutas capturadas,
foi Ceratitis capitata, sendo 80% de fêmeas. As maiores capturas de C. capitata ocorreram nas armadilhas
com Milhocina® e bórax em pH 8.5. As capturas, nas 4 densidades, foram semelhantes, indicando que a
população pode ser estimada com uma armadilha por hectare em áreas de altas populações. Houve relações
positivas entre capturas de C. capitata e o número de frutos danificados, 2 e 3 semanas após a captura. Assim,
foram obtidas equações que relacionam a captura e o dano, possibilitando estimar níveis de controle desse
inseto. As perdas médias causadas por C. capitata em laranja cv. Hamlin chegaram a 2,5 toneladas de frutos
por hectare ou 7,5% da produção.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Salt or fish (or salted fish)? The Bronze Age specialised sites along the Tyrrhenian coast of Central Italy: New insights from Caprolace settlement
A Lexical Database of Portuguese Multiword Expressions
This presentation focuses on an ongoing project which aims at the creation of a large lexical database of Portuguese multiword (MW) units, automatically extracted through the analysis of a balanced 50 million word corpus, statistically interpreted with lexical association measures and validated by hand. This database covers different types of MW units, like named entities, and lexical associations ranging from sets of favoured co-occurring forms with high corpus frequency and low cohesion to strongly lexicalized expressions with no, or minimum, variation. This new resource has a two-fold objective: to be an important research tool which supports the development of collocation typologies and their integration in a larger theory of MW units; to be of major help in developing and evaluating language processing tools able of dealing with MW expressions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Drought response of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) landraces at leaf physiological and metabolite profile levels
Drought threatens the world’s food production, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa low external input and rain
fed agricultural systems, where cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is an important food crop. In the context of
growing concerns regarding climate changes implications on water availability, this study aimed at 1) to
evaluate the drought responses in cowpea landraces with contrasting drought tolerance levels (A55 – high
sensitivity; A80 - mild sensitivity; A116 - tolerant), 2) using an integrated physiological (leaf gas exchanges;
chlorophyll a fluorescence) and biochemical (photoprotective pigments; RuBisCO activity; primary metabolite
profiling) analysis to identify drought tolerance probes, in plants submitted to three water availability levels
(well-watered, WW; mild drought, MD; severe drought, SD). A116 plants maintained a better water status under
drought, what could justify the higher Pn and Pnmax values in MD, as well as higher photochemical use of energy
(reflected in the photochemical quenching (qL) and in the quantum yield of non-cyclic electron transport (Y(II))),
and the lower need of photoprotective thermal dissipation mechanisms (given by the non-photochemical
quenching (qN), and the quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation at photosystem PSII (Y(NPQ))), in MD and
SD plants. Greater declines of net (Pn) and potential (Pnmax) photosynthesis were observed in A55 plants, which
frequently showed significant impacts already under MD conditions in most parameters, whereas A80 usually
displayed and intermediate behaviour. Still, even A55 showed some acclimation response, regarding photoprotective
mechanisms associated with high contents of zeaxanthin, lutein, and carotenes, and high Y(NPQ), and
qN values, supporting the absence of an increase in the non-regulated energy dissipation at PSII (Y(NO) did not
increased) even in SD plants. Additionally, A55 was not significantly affected in RuBisCO activity, which showed
to be quite resilient in cowpea. A primary metabolite profiling, complemented with a partial least square discrimination
analysis (PLS-DA), allowed a better separation of A116 and A55 plants according to their degree of
drought tolerance. In response to drought, A116 showed the greatest accumulation of most responsive metabolites,
14 in total, with sucrose, fucose, urea, alanine and putrescine being exclusively increased in this genotype,
suggesting that they can be candidates as drought tolerance proxies. Other compounds, as proline, valine,
isoleucine (among amino acids), and rhamnose and raffinose (among sugars) showed close increase patternsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The influence of Castanea sativa Mill. flower extract on hormonally and chemically induced prostate cancer in a rat model
Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in men, with a huge impact on their health. The use of Castanea sativa Mill. flowers (CFs) in beverages has been reported, through ancestral claims, as having health benefits. In vitro research has evidenced the properties of CFs, such as antitumor and antioxidant activities. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of CF extract in an animal model of PCa. Forty male Wistar Unilever rats were randomly assigned to four groups: control, induced, control + CF, and induced + CF groups. Animals from the induced groups were exposed to a multistep protocol for PCa induction. The CF extract, rich in trigalloyl-HHDP-glucoside and obtained via decoction, was administered to the CF groups in drinking water (3 mg per animal per day) for 49 weeks. Animals were sacrificed at 61 weeks of age. Regarding the effects of CFs on dorsolateral prostate tumorigenesis, no significant differences were observed between the induced and induced + CF groups. However, animals exposed to the CF extract showed fewer inflammation areas on the dorsolateral prostate lobe than those not exposed to CF. Moreover, the CF extract alleviated the hepatic oxidative stress associated with the multistep protocol, resulting in lower levels of lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that CF extract has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This journal is.This work was supported by European Investment Funds by
FEDER/COMPETE/POCI - Operational Competitiveness and
Internationalization and National Funds by FCT - Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology, under the projects
UIDB/04033/2020 (CITAB), UIDB/00690/2020 (CIMO), UIDB/50006/2020 (LAQV), UIDB/CVT/00772/2020 (CECAV), and UIDP/00616/2020 (CQ-VR), the project RUNawayPCa (POCI-01-0145-
FEDER-016728 and PTDC/DTP-DES/6077/2014), and PhD fellowship
SFRH/BD/136747/2018. L. Barros also acknowledges
national funding by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific
employment program-contract for her contract. The
Interreg Program received financial support from the Project
IBERPHENOL, Project Number 0377_IBERPHENOL_6_E, cofinanced
by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
through POCTEP 2014-2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Challenges and opportunities for a South America Waterway System
South America has been developed from its coast to its hinterlands since the beginning of its Western colonization. However, to this point, no significant effort has been made to integrate its interior. Waterways transportation can be considered the most sustainable inland mode of transportation due to its low CO2 emissions per ton of cargo transport. With this in mind, this paper investigates the history, challenges and opportunities of the past proposals for the construction of the South America Waterway System (SAWS) connecting the La Plata, Amazon, and Orinoco river basins. It focuses on particular challenges of the proposed waterway. (i) a comparison between the deforestation surrounding existing road and waterway infrastructure in the Amazon, (ii) the large water level variation in the Amazon basin, (iii) and the alternatives for storing water to reduce the impacts of floods and droughts in the proposed waterway. We conclude that deforestation surrounding existing waterways is practically zero and that groundwater storage has an important role in storing water for the basin and reservoirs, a limited one. The SAWS can significantly foster South American integration, encourage sustainable extraction of natural resources in the region and help the conservation of the Amazon forest
Laser printing of silver-based micro-wires in ZrO2 substrate for smart implant applications
Smart implants are endowed with functions of sensing, actuating and control to solve problems that may arise
during their use. The assembly of these functions along the implant surface is still a challenge. However, with the
advent of 3D printing, it is possible to print on implants’ surface, communication channels or micro-antennas or
even sensoric/actuating areas. Hence, a positive impact on the long-term performance of the implants (including
hip, dental and knee) may be expected with the proposed approach. Despite titanium and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy
are the standard choice for implants fabrication, 3Y-TZP (tetragonal 3% mol yttria-stabilized zirconia) has
emerged as a ceramic material suitable to overcome titanium alloy problems, due to its numerous advantages. In
this sense, this work is concerned with the ability of printing silver-based communication system in zirconia
substrates by using laser technology. For this purpose, micro-cavities were created on ZrO2 substrate, where the
silver powder was placed and sintered into them. Through the laser approach, silver-based wires with great
quality and low resistivity values were achieved. The flexural strength results showed that the mechanical resistance of zirconia disks was affected by laser micro-wire printing, which decreased as the laser passage was
performed. Based on the results, it is believed that the proposed approach seems to be effective for the manufacturing of implants with intrinsic capacities, useful for smart implant applications.This work has been supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e
Tecnologia - Portugal) in the scope of the projects UID/EEA/04436/
2019 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000018-HAMaBICo and
Add.Additive_Manufacturing to Portuguese Industry_POCI-01-0247-
FEDER-024533. Thank the CNPq (205791/2014-0) and CAPES for the
financial support
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