338 research outputs found

    Effects of leaf removal and shoot trimming on physiological and agronomic characteristics of Syrah grapevine in Northeast Brazil: preliminary results.

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    The São Francisco Valley, Northeast Brazil, is one of the most important wine regions with tropical conditions in the world. lt is located between parallels 8 and 1OoS, with an average annual temperature of 26.5 OC and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. This work shows preliminary results on physiological and agronomic characteristics of Syrah vines.subjected to the practices of leaf removal and shoot trimming. The physiological and agronomical characteristics evaluated were the following: mass of cluster, mass of canes after pruning, mass of fresh and dry leaves, net photosynthesis (An), stomatal conductance (gs), intrinsic water use eficience (WUEi), leaf area (LA) and specific leaf area (SLA). The treatments did not show difJerences related to net photosynthesis (An), stomatal conductance (gs) and intrinsic water use ejJiciency (WUEi). The initial measurements of leaf area showed no difJerence between treatments. The individual leaf area was initially a.ffected by treatments, but during ripening these e.ffects were not revealed in the experimento Reverse e.ffects were observed for specific leaf area, which proved not to be a.ffected by treatments during the immature cluster phenological phase. The studies should be continued for three more seasons .in order to understand how the canopy management of Syrah, growing in a tropical environment, can injluence the agronomical and physiological plant behavior, and the implications for the quality of grapes and wines

    Cascade MIMO P-PID controllers applied in an over-actuated quadrotor Tilt-Rotor

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    To map the Virtual Control Actions (VCAs) into Real Control Actions (RCAs), over-actuated systems typically require nonlinear control allocation methods. On embedded robotic platforms, computational efforts are not always available. With this in mind, this work presents the design of a Quadrotor Tilt-Rotor (QTR) through a new concept of control allocation with uncoupled RCAs, where a nonlinear system is divided into partially dependent and linear subsystems with fast and robust convergence. The RCAs are divided into smaller and linearized sets and solved sequentially. Then, the cascade Multipe-Input-Multipe-Output (MIMO) Proportional (P)- Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID) controllers tuning were presented with saturation constants and successive loop closure technique, where some open-field environment tests were conducted to validate the respective tuning. In the end, it showed to be reliable, robust, efficient, and applicable when VCAs are overlapped between the subsystems.The authors would like to thank CEFET-MG and Leuphana University of L¨uneburg for their financial support.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Primary and secondary scintillation measurements in a xenon Gas Proportional Scintillation Counter

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    NEXT is a new experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a 100 kg radio-pure high-pressure gaseous xenon TPC. The detector requires excellent energy resolution, which can be achieved in a Xe TPC with electroluminescence readout. Hamamatsu R8520-06SEL photomultipliers are good candidates for the scintillation readout. The performance of this photomultiplier, used as VUV photosensor in a gas proportional scintillation counter, was investigated. Initial results for the detection of primary and secondary scintillation produced as a result of the interaction of 5.9 keV X-rays in gaseous xenon, at room temperature and at pressures up to 3 bar, are presented. An energy resolution of 8.0% was obtained for secondary scintillation produced by 5.9 keV X-rays. No significant variation of the primary scintillation was observed for different pressures (1, 2 and 3 bar) and for electric fields up to 0.8 V cm-1 torr-1 in the drift region, demonstrating negligible recombination luminescence. A primary scintillation yield of 81 \pm 7 photons was obtained for 5.9 keV X-rays, corresponding to a mean energy of 72 \pm 6 eV to produce a primary scintillation photon in xenon.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in JINS

    First Microsatellite Markers Developed From Cupuassu Ests: Application In Diversity Analysis And Cross-species Transferability To Cacao

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    The cupuassu tree (Theobroma grandiflorum) (Willd. ex Spreng.) Schum. is a fruitful species from the Amazon with great economical potential, due to the multiple uses of its fruit's pulp and seeds in the food and cosmetic industries, including the production of cupulate, an alternative to chocolate. In order to support the cupuassu breeding program and to select plants presenting both pulp/seed quality and fungal disease resistance, SSRs from Next Generation Sequencing ESTs were obtained and used in diversity analysis. From 8,330 ESTs, 1,517 contained one or more SSRs (1,899 SSRs identified). The most abundant motifs identified in the EST-SSRs were hepta-And trinucleotides, and they were found with a minimum and maximum of 2 and 19 repeats, respectively. From the 1,517 ESTs containing SSRs, 70 ESTs were selected based on their functional annotation, focusing on pulp and seed quality, as well as resistance to pathogens. The 70 ESTs selected contained 77 SSRs, and among which, 11 were polymorphic in cupuassu genotypes. These EST-SSRs were able to discriminate the cupuassu genotype in relation to resistance/susceptibility to witches' broom disease, as well as to pulp quality (SST/ATT values). Finally, we showed that these markers were transferable to cacao genotypes, and that genome availability might be used as a predictive tool for polymorphism detection and primer design useful for both Theobroma species. To our knowledge, this is the first report involving EST-SSRs from cupuassu and is also a pioneer in the analysis of marker transferability from cupuassu to cacao. Moreover, these markers might contribute to develop or saturate the cupuassu and cacao genetic maps, respectively. The cupuassu tree (Theobroma grandiflorum) (Willd. ex Spreng.) Schum. is a fruitful species from the Amazon with great economical potential, due to the multiple uses of its fruit's pulp and seeds in the food and cosmetic industries, including the production of cupulate, an alternative to chocolate. In order to support the cupuassu breeding program and to select plants presenting both pulp/seed quality and fungal disease resistance, SSRs from Next Generation Sequencing ESTs were obtained and used in diversity analysis. From 8,330 ESTs, 1,517 contained one or more SSRs (1,899 SSRs identified). The most abundant motifs identified in the EST-SSRs were hepta-And trinucleotides, and they were found with a minimum and maximum of 2 and 19 repeats, respectively. From the 1,517 ESTs containing SSRs, 70 ESTs were selected based on their functional annotation, focusing on pulp and seed quality, as well as resistance to pathogens. The 70 ESTs selected contained 77 SSRs, and among which, 11 were polymorphic in cupuassu genotypes. These EST-SSRs were able to discriminate the cupuassu genotype in relation to resistance/susceptibility to witches' broom disease, as well as to pulp quality (SST/ATT values). Finally, we showed that these markers were transferable to cacao genotypes, and that genome availability might be used as a predictive tool for polymorphism detection and primer design useful for both Theobroma species. To our knowledge, this is the first report involving EST-SSRs from cupuassu and is also a pioneer in the analysis of marker transferability from cupuassu to cacao. Moreover, these markers might contribute to develop or saturate the cupuassu and cacao genetic maps, respectively. © 2016 Ferraz dos Santos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.11

    Spatiotemporal clustering, social vulnerability and risk of congenital syphilis in northeast Brazil: an ecological study

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    Background To investigate the spatial distribution of congenital syphilis (CS) and its association to social vulnerability indexes in northeast Brazil. Methods This was an ecological study referring to all cases of CS and CS deaths recorded in the northeast region of Brazil from 2008 to 2015. Data were obtained from three Brazilian information systems. We examined statistical correlations between CS indicators by state and municipality and their socioeconomic and social vulnerability characteristics. We used Bayesian empirical local models to identify fluctuations of the indicators. Spatial statistical tests were used to identify spatial clusters and the municipalities at high risk of CS. Results The incidence of CS ranged from 2.1 cases/1000 live births (LB) in 2008 to 6.9/1000 LB in 2015, with an annual increase of 19.9% (p < 0.001). The mortality coefficient of CS ranged from 2.9/1000 LB in 2008 to 6.5/1000 LB in 2015, resulting in an annual increase of 15.1% (p < 0.001). Nine spatial clusters were identified. Cases of congenital syphilis occurred in well-defined spatiotemporal clusters and in areas with high levels of social vulnerability. Conclusions CS incidence is associated with social vulnerability. CS control programmes should target spatial clusters and populations with high levels of social vulnerability

    Nano-Aptamer for Breast Cancer Imaging: Initial Considerations.

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    The application of aptamers especially in the use of drug delivery systems (DDSs) has the potential to develop in vivo nanoparticles for theranosis (therapy+diagnosis). With the advent of medical imaging and radiotherapeutics, this area of research developing the next era of radiopharmaceuticals is both attractive and promising. Overall, nano-radiopharmaceuticals have the potential to solve several problems regarding the in vivo stability of aptamers. This paper discusses a study in the development and proof-of-concept of nano-aptamers and supporting its use as a nano-radiopharmaceutical for the treatment of breast cancer and other potentially related disease states
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