Group theory for structural analysis and lattice vibrations in phosphorene systems

Group theory analysis for two-dimensional elemental systems related to phosphorene is presented, including (i) graphene, silicene, germanene and stanene, (ii) dependence on the number of layers and (iii) two stacking arrangements. Departing from the most symmetric $D_{6h}^{1}$ graphene space group, the structures are found to have a group-subgroup relation, and analysis of the irreducible representations of their lattice vibrations makes it possible to distinguish between the different allotropes. The analysis can be used to study the effect of strain, to understand structural phase transitions, to characterize the number of layers, crystallographic orientation and nonlinear phenomena.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Soil management: The key to soil quality and sustainable agriculture

Today, after the International Year of Soils in 2015 and the proclamation by the International Union of Soil Sciences of the International Decade of Soils 2015-2020, much attention is paid to soil quality. Often used interchangeably, both terms, soil quality and soil health, refer to dynamic soil properties such as soil organic matter or pH, while soil quality also includes inherent soil properties such as texture or mineral composition. However, it is the dynamic or manageable properties that adequate soil management can influence and thus contribute to a well-functioning soil environment capable to deliver the soil-mediated provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services and soil functions. This contribution intends to highlight the key principles of sustainable soil management and provide evidence that they are compliant with a productive, resource efficient and ecologically friendly agriculture. Paradoxically, and despite benefitting from good soil quality, agriculture itself when based on conventional, especially intensive tillage-based soil management practices contributes decisively to soil degradation and to several of the soil threats as identified by the Soil Thematic Strategy, being soil erosion and soil organic matter decline the most notorious ones. To mitigate soil degradation, the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy has introduced conservation measures, mainly through cross-compliance measures supposed to guarantee minimum soil cover, to limit soil erosion and to maintain the levels of soil organic matter. However, it remains unclear to what extent EU member states apply these ‘Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition’ (GAEC) measures to their utilized agricultural areas. Effective and cost-efficient soil management systems able to conserve or to restore favourable soil conditions, to minimize soil erosion and to invert soil organic matter and soil biodiversity decline and improve soil structure are those capable to mimic as close as possible natural soil conditions while producing food, feed, fibre and fuel. This means to establish and manage crops while disturbing the soil as least as possible, to maintain the soil permanently covered with plants or their residues and to allow for a diversity of plants either in rotation or in association. These principles also known as Conservation Agriculture have shown to be the most promising approach for a sustainable production intensification and proven to work in a wide range of agro-ecological conditions. Although adopted already on more than 150 Mha worldwide, in Europe it still can be considered a novel soil management practice as it is applied on only around 2% of the annual cropland. A paradigm shift and innovative approaches are needed both to recognise the principles of Conservation Agriculture as the only cost-effective, and thus overall sustainable soil management practices capable to deliver the soil-mediated ecosystem services and to make Conservation Agriculture systems work and accepted as the best compromise to attain better soil quality

The Mass-to-Light Ratio of Binary Galaxies

We report on the mass-to-light ratio determination based on a newly selected binary galaxy sample, which includes a large number of pairs whose separations exceed a few hundred kpc. The probability distributions of the projected separation and the velocity difference have been calculated considering the contamination of optical pairs, and the mass-to-light ratio has been determined based on the maximum likelihood method. The best estimate of $M/L$ in the B band for 57 pairs is found to be 28 $\sim$ 36 depending on the orbital parameters and the distribution of optical pairs (solar unit, $H_0=50$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$). The best estimate of $M/L$ for 30 pure spiral pairs is found to be 12 $\sim$ 16. These results are relatively smaller than those obtained in previous studies, but consistent with each other within the errors. Although the number of pairs with large separation is significantly increased compared to previous samples, $M/L$ does not show any tendency of increase, but found to be almost independent of the separation of pairs beyond 100 kpc. The constancy of $M/L$ beyond 100 kpc may indicate that the typical halo size of spiral galaxies is less than $\sim 100$ kpc.Comment: 18 pages + 8 figures, to appear in ApJ Vol. 516 (May 10

Teor de açúcar da água residuária do processamento do café.

A fermentação dos açúcares contidos na mucilagem da água residuária do café (ARC) possibilita obter álcool. Para se obter bom rendimento de álcool é necessário ajustar o teor de açúcar da ARC para 16° Brix. O trabalho teve como objetivo quantificar os teores de açúcar da ARC, após sucessivas reciclagens no processo de desmucilamento. Colocou-se água de torneira em amostras de café cereja descascado, das variedades Bourbon Vermelho e Bourbon Amarelo, e a mucilagem foi extraída, girando-se um bastão de vidro, por 3 minutos. Foram feitas até seis extrações, em seqüência, reciclando-se a ARC obtida. Os teores de açúcar da ARC aumentaram linearmente com o aumento do número de extrações realizadas. O teor de açúcar da ARC elevou-se de 3,1 para 9,3° Brix, após cinco extrações, e de 2,6 para 10,3° Brix, após seis extrações da mucilagem do cereja descascado, das variedades Bourbon Vermelho e Bourbon Amarelo, respectivamente

Surface roughness and interfacial slip boundary condition for quartz crystal microbalances

The response of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is considered using a wave equation for the substrate and the Navier-Stokes equations for a finite liquid layer under a slip boundary condition. It is shown that when the slip length to shear wave penetration depth is small, the first order effect of slip is only present in the frequency response. Importantly, in this approximation the frequency response satisfies an additivity relation with a net response equal to a Kanazawa liquid term plus an additional Sauerbrey "rigid" liquid mass. For the slip length to result in an enhanced frequency decrease compared to a no-slip boundary condition, it is shown that the slip length must be negative so that the slip plane is located on the liquid side of the interface. It is argued that the physical application of such a negative slip length could be to the liquid phase response of a QCM with a completely wetted rough surface. Effectively, the model recovers the starting assumption of additivity used in the trapped mass model for the liquid phase response of a QCM having a rough surface. When applying the slip boundary condition to the rough surface problem, slip is not at a molecular level, but is a formal hydrodynamic boundary condition which relates the response of the QCM to that expected from a QCM with a smooth surface. Finally, possible interpretations of the results in terms of acoustic reflectivity are developed and the potential limitations of the additivity result should vapour trapping occur are discussed

Avaliação dos impactos ambientais e socioeconômicos do sistema de produção de leite a pasto na Fazenda Escola de Cachoeiras de Macacu.

Resumo: A Fazenda Escola de Cachoeiras de Macacu da Universidade Federal Fluminense está implantando um sistema de produção de leite a pasto. Entretanto, qualquer sistema de produção animal é capaz de trazer impactos ambientais importantes. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os impactos ambientais e socioeconômicos da implantação dessa tecnologia, utilizando-se o Sistema Ambitec-Agro, desenvolvido pela Embrapa Meio Ambiente. O índice geral de impacto da atividade foi de 0,99 (em escala ±15), observando-se impactos socioeconômicos positivos, mas potencial para ocorrência de impactos ambientais negativos. Sugere-se a adoção de técnicas alternativas de manejo para a mitigação desses impactos

Irradiação de polpa de cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum).

bitstream/item/43259/1/CT163.pd

Group Theory analysis of phonons in two-dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have emerged as a new two dimensional materials field since the monolayer and few-layer limits show different properties when compared to each other and to their respective bulk materials. For example, in some cases when the bulk material is exfoliated down to a monolayer, an indirect-to-direct band gap in the visible range is observed. The number of layers $N$ ($N$ even or odd) drives changes in space group symmetry that are reflected in the optical properties. The understanding of the space group symmetry as a function of the number of layers is therefore important for the correct interpretation of the experimental data. Here we present a thorough group theory study of the symmetry aspects relevant to optical and spectroscopic analysis, for the most common polytypes of TMDCs, i.e. $2Ha$, $2Hc$ and $1T$, as a function of the number of layers. Real space symmetries, the group of the wave vectors, the relevance of inversion symmetry, irreducible representations of the vibrational modes, optical selection rules and Raman tensors are discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figure

Efeito da água residuária do café em plantas de milho.

O processamento do café por via úmida gera água residuária (ARC), contendo material orgânico, com potencial de poluir o meio aquático. Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar o efeito da aplicação da ARC sobre o crescimento e teores de minerais em plantas de milho, na fase vegetativa. Foram estudados oito tratamentos: 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300 e 350 mL de ARC por planta, aplicada sobre as folhas, em 3 ocasiões. A aplicação da ARC não provocou injúrias visíveis nas plantas de milho e nem alterou o peso da matéria seca das plantas. O teor de K aumentou e o teor de Mg diminuiu linearmente com o aumento das doses de ARC aplicadas, enquanto os teores de Ca e Na nas folhas de milho não foram afetados