MÉTODOS DE INDEXAÇÃO DE INDICADORES NA AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE DO SOLO EM RELAÇÃO À EROSÃO HÍDRICA

A avaliação da qualidade dos solos agrícolas é importante para definição e adoção de práticas de manejo que garantam a sustentabilidade socioeconômica e ambiental. Os métodos de indexação dos indicadores de qualidade denominados Índice de Qualidade Integrado (IQI) e Índice de Qualidade Nemoro (IQN) foram utilizados neste estudo para avaliar a qualidade de solo em áreas experimentais de plantio de eucalipto. A seleção dos indicadores foi feita a partir de nove indicadores de qualidade do solo: diâmetro médio geométrico, permeabilidade à água, matéria orgânica, macro e microporosidade, volume total de poros, densidade do solo, resistência à penetração e índice de floculação, que estão relacionados à erosão hídrica. Os tratamentos constituíram de eucalipto plantado em nível, com e sem a manutenção dos resíduos, em desnível e solo descoberto, em dois biomas distintos, cujas vegetações nativas são Cerrado e Floresta. Os índices de qualidade do solo (IQS) apresentaram alta correlação com a erosão hídrica. Entre os sistemas manejados, o Eucalipto com manutenção do resíduo evidenciou valores mais elevados em ambos os índices, ressaltando-se a importância da cobertura vegetal e manutenção da matéria orgânica para conservação do solo e da água em sistemas florestais. Os IQS demonstraram alto coeficiente de correlação inversa com as perdas de solo e água. Em locais com as maiores taxas de erosão hídrica manifestaram também os menores valores de IQI e IQN. Assim, os índices testados permitiram avaliar com eficácia os efeitos dos manejos adotados sobre a qualidade do solo em relação à erosão hídrica

Assessment of soil quality indices in agricultural lands of Qazvin Province, Iran

Soil quality evaluation is a tool to improve soil management and land use system. A large number of different physical, chemical and biological properties of soil, known as soil quality indicators, are used to soil quality assessment. These properties, that are sensitive to stress or disturbance, are synthesized using numerical quality indices obtained by several different types of methods. The aim of this study was to compare two different methods for soil quality index calculation in agricultural lands of Qazvin Province, Iran. In particular, the Integrated Quality Index (IQI) and Nemoro Quality Index (NQI) models were applied using the indicator selection methods: Total Data Set (TDS) and Minimum Data Set (MDS). Ten soil quality indicators were included in TDS: pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Organic Matter (OM), Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), percentage of equivalent CaCO3 (TNV), heavy metal content of cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and soil erodibility factor (K), while Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to select the indicators to include in MDS. The tested soil quality indices were appropriate to evaluate the effects of land management practices on soil quality. The results of the linear relationship as well as of the match analysis, among the approaches studied, identified better estimation of soil quality applying IQI index when compared to NQI index and higher values of agreement of TSD than MSD. However, also IQIMSD approach resulted in suitable evaluation of the effects of land management practices on soil quality. This latter result was particularly relevant in the area studied because the use of a limited number of indicators could allow to reduce the cost of the analysis and to increase the sampling density in order to obtain a more detailed evaluation of soil quality through a geostatistical approach. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Functional separators for the batteries of the future

Lithium/sulfur batteries are one of the most promising technologies for the next-generation batteries. However, this technology suffers from several problems mainly related to the instability of metallic lithium and to the polysulfides (PS) shuttle. An approach to address such issues is the design of new separators or the modification of existing commercial ones. The use of hybrid membranes is here proposed to improve the performance of Li metal anode and sulfur cathode. Composite separators are obtained by electrospinning or drop-casting a polymer solution of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVdF) containing graphene oxide (GO) on a polyolefin commercial Celgard 2300 separator. This is the first time that a thin layer of electrospun PVdF/GO composite is applied to a polyolefin separator for the use in Li metal-based batteries. We demonstrate that electrospinning is an effective method to obtain a thin polymer layer of PVdF/GO. The electrospun layer improves the wettability of the separator; it is beneficial to the growth of \u201csoft\u201d dendrite on Li anode and has a positive effect on the PS shuttle process. The casted layer featuring a higher GO content is also effective in increasing the separator wettability, although with a minor effect on Li interphase

Synthesis, receptor affinity and effect on pentylenetetrazole-induced seizure threshold of novel benzodiazepine analogues: 3-Substituted 5-(2-phenoxybenzyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazoles and 2-amino-5-(phenoxybenzyl)-1,3,4- oxadiazoles

The new series of 5-(2-phenoxybenzyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazoles, possessing C-3 thio, alkylthio and ethoxy substituents, and 2-amino-5-(2-phenoxybenzyl)-1,3,4- oxadiazoles were designed and synthesized as novel benzodiazepine analogues. Most of them revealed similar to superior binding affinity to the GABA A/benzodiazepine receptor complex, relative to diazepam as the reference drug. Among them, 5-(4-chloro-2-(2-fluorophenoxy)benzyl)-3-benzylthio- 4H-1,2,4-triazole (8l) showed the highest affinity (IC50 = 0.892 nM) relative to diazepam (IC50 = 2.857 nM) and also showed the most increase in pentylenetetrazole-induced seizure threshold relative to diazepam as the reference drug. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved