Production, breeding and potential of cowpea crop in Brazil.

About 50 years ago cowpea was reported as a relatively minor tropical legume. However, in the last years, it has been emerging as one of the most important food legume of the 21st century (SINGH, 2010). Brazil is not out of this panorama. Brazilian agriculture is undergoing major technological changes and, in addition, globalization in agribusiness has caused impacts on the production chain of several crops, particularly those heavily dependent on the use of a large volume of agricultural inputs, mainly fertilizers and pesticides. Such crops have had a higher production cost each year. On the other hand, this situation has brought new opportunities. Business farmers have sought new alternatives for their production arrangements. In this context cowpea constitutes one of the best options.bitstream/item/85620/1/Doc-216-Production.pd

Search for Associations Containing Young stars (SACY): Chemical tagging IC 2391 & the Argus association

We explore the possible connection between the open cluster IC 2391 and the unbound Argus association identified by the SACY survey. In addition to common kinematics and ages between these two systems, here we explore their chemical abundance patterns to confirm if the two substructures shared a common origin. We carry out a homogenous high-resolution elemental abundance study of eight confirmed members of IC 2391 as well as six members of the Argus association using UVES spectra. We derive spectroscopic stellar parameters and abundances for Fe, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni and Ba. All stars in the open cluster and Argus association were found to share similar abundances with the scatter well within the uncertainties, where [Fe/H] = -0.04 +/-0.03 for cluster stars and [Fe/H] = -0.06 +/-0.05 for Argus stars. Effects of over-ionisation/excitation were seen for stars cooler than roughly 5200K as previously noted in the literature. Also, enhanced Ba abundances of around 0.6 dex were observed in both systems. The common ages, kinematics and chemical abundances strongly support that the Argus association stars originated from the open cluster IC 2391. Simple modeling of this system find this dissolution to be consistent with two-body interactions.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figs, accepted for publication in MNRA

Local mapping of dissipative vortex motion

We explore, with unprecedented single vortex resolution, the dissipation and motion of vortices in a superconducting ribbon under the influence of an external alternating magnetic field. This is achieved by combing the phase sensitive character of ac-susceptibility, allowing to distinguish between the inductive-and dissipative response, with the local power of scanning Hall probe microscopy. Whereas the induced reversible screening currents contribute only inductively, the vortices do leave a fingerprint in the out-of-phase component. The observed large phase-lag demonstrates the dissipation of vortices at timescales comparable to the period of the driving force (i.e. 13 ms). These results indicate the presence of slow microscopic loss mechanisms mediated by thermally activated hopping transport of vortices between metastable states.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Shrinking the plan. A middle-class wishful thinking in the outskirts of Lisbon

In the 1960s and 1970s, large-scale Portuguese architectural production was largely promoted by the State. This took further aspects after the 1974 revolution when housing construction became one of the pillars of the new state policy. It is in this context that Manuel Vicente develops the project for Quinta do Bacalhau in different times: 1– Before 1974 by EPUL as part of UNOR 26 of which M. Vicente was the coordinator, 2– From 1974 as a SAAL operation after the site was taken over by a residents' committee, 3– After 1976, as it was built outside the revolutionary period by a housing cooperative and financed by the state. Unlike most SAAL projects – small, contained and with low-row houses –, and despite the ideologically marked circumstances of this period, it presents somehow ostentatious. Volumes of broad and generous features, incorporation of commerce on the ground floors like a boulevard, contrast with the dominant model, thus raising some questions: – to what extent did a particular class position correspond to a certain typology, style, etc.? – wouldn't this imply an aspiration to the same “rights” as the middle-class, as far as architecture is concerned? M. Vicente remains throughout his life in an ideologically multifaceted position. Close to the Communist Party, he has a cosmopolitan experience still in the 1960s being in touch with the Western capitalism – in the United States and in Macao – and in close contact with the speculation and profit markets. It has thus a double folded stance regarding the state-sponsored housing and low standards one, as if responding to the residents were the same as responding to himself. In this communication we intend to analyse through drawings of the project how the notion of housing for “a middle-class” crossed through the project. This argument is revealed in a plan of a dwelling with dimensions close to middle-class, which is later reduced to smaller areas, but “keeping” architectural qualities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Análise florística e estrutural do estrato arbóreo-arbustivo de um sistema agroflorestal na caatinga, em Sobral, CE.

A Caatinga, que ocupa mais de 10% do território nacional, é o bioma semi-árido mais rico do mundo em biodiversidade. Entretanto, desmatamentos e queimadas praticados pela agropecuária tradicional vem provocando alterações neste ecossistema. Como alternativa, a Embrapa Caprinos desenvolveu um sistema agroflorestal (SAF) voltado para o semi-árido. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a preservação da flora nativa em um SAF implantado em Sobral/CE. O estudo foi conduzido em 2008, em 1,6 ha de área destinada ao plantio agrícola no SAF. Foram calculadas a densidade, a frequência e a dominância relativas, índice de valor de importância, Índice de diversidade de Shannon (H?) e a Equabilidade (J.). Foram encontrados 24 indivíduos, distribuídos em quatro famílias e seis espécies. Boraginaceae foi a família que apresentou o maior número de indivíduos. Fabaceae foi a família com o maior número de espécies. A espécie que apresentou o maior valor de importância foi Auxemma oncocalyx, apresentando também a maior dominância (72,4%) e densidade (62,5%). Para freqüência relativa, as espécies A. oncocalyx e Caesalpinia gardeniariana apresentaram os mesmos valores (30,8%). O índice de diversidade de Shannon foi de 1,20 e a Equabilidade igual 0,44. Os resultados apontam que a diversidade encontrada no sistema agroflorestal permite preservar árvores nativas da Caatinga ao mesmo tempo em que produz a cultura agrícola para o sertanejo, sem a necessidade de desmatamento

Avaliação agronômica de genótipos de feijão-caupi para feijão-verde.

O trabalho objetivou avaliar e selecionar genótipos de feijão-caupi para a produção de feijão-verde. O ensaio foi conduzido no período de julho a outubro de 2011 no campo experimental da Embrapa Meio-Norte, em Teresina, PI. Utilizou-se o delineamento em blocos casualizados, com 14 tratamentos e quatro repetições. Os caracteres avaliados foram: número de dias para o início da floração (NDIF), reação a vírus (RV), comprimento de vagens verdes (COMPVV), número de grãos por vagens verdes (NGVV), peso de cem grãos verdes (P100GV), produtividade de vagens verdes (PVV), produtividade de grãos verdes (PGV) e índice de grãos verdes (IGV). Foram realizadas análises de variância e comparação de médias. Dentre os genótipos avaliados observou-se que o MNC05-835B-16 apresenta-se como possível fonte de resistência a vírus. As linhagens MNC-303-09E, MNC00-595F-2, MNC00-595F-27, MNC05-835B-16, MNC05-847B-126, Sempre-Verde e Paulistinha constituem uma alternativa para o melhoramento visando aumentar o tamanho da vagem e o número de grãos por vagem verde. A seleção para a produtividade de grãos verdes não é indicada para o grupo de linhagens avaliado. A cultivar Sempre-Verde destacou-se das demais por apresentar boas médias para a PVV, PGV e IGV