Liming and fertilization on espinheira-santa [Maytenus ilicifolia (Schrad.) Planch.] growth in greenhouse

Devido a pouca informação existente sobre adubação para espinheira-santa, e a crescente procura desta espécie, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da calagem, adubação orgânica, mineral e omissão de nutrientes sobre o crescimento de Maytenus ilicifolia. As mudas foram produzidas por sementes e, em agosto de 2006, foram transferidas para vasos com 8 dm³ contendo Latossolo Vermelho Distrófico. O experimento foi conduzido em casa de vegetação no delineamento inteiramente casualizado em arranjo bifatorial, totalizando 12 tratamentos com 4 repetições, cujos tratamentos foram: sem adubação com calagem (T1), sem adubação e sem calagem (T7), adubação orgânica (T2 e T8), adubação mineral NPK (T3 e T9), mineral -N (T4 e T10), mineral -P (T5 e T11) e mineral -K (T6 e T12). Os tratamentos T1 ao T6 receberam calcário na dose equivalente a 7,06 t ha-1 de carbonato de cálcio e os tratamentos T7 ao T12 foram testados na ausência de calagem. Após 314 dias da instalação do experimento, foram analisadas as variáveis: massa seca foliar (MSF), massa seca do caule (MSC) e da raiz (MSR), massa seca da parte aérea (MSPA), área foliar (AF), volume radicular (VR), altura (H), diâmetro (D), relação raiz parte aérea (R/PA) e relação altura diâmetro (H/D). A partir dos resultados conclui-se que a calagem, quando utilizada como prática isolada, não resulta em benefícios significativos ao crescimento das plantas. Na presença de calagem, tanto a adubação mineral quanto a orgânica podem ser utilizadas. Na ausência de calagem, a adubação orgânica mostrou-se mais favorável em estimular o crescimento das plantas. Em condições de adubação mineral, independente da presença ou não da calagem, o fósforo mostrou-se importante à nutrição de espinheira-santa.Since there is scarce information about fertilization for espinheira-santa and an increasing search for this species, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of liming, organic and mineral fertilization, and nutrient omission on Maytenus ilicifolia growth. Seedlings were produced from seeds, and in August 2006 they were transferred to 8 dm³ pots containing Dystrophic Red Latosol. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse and the design was completely randomized, in bi-factorial arrangement, totaling 12 treatments and four replicates; treatments were: without fertilization and with liming (T1), without fertilization and without liming (T7), organic fertilization (T2 and T8), mineral fertilization NPK (T3 and T9), mineral -N (T4 and T10), mineral -P (T5 and T11) and mineral -K (T6 and T12). T1 to T6 received lime at the dose equivalent to 7.06 t ha-1 calcium carbonate, and T7 to T12 were tested in the absence of liming. After 314 days of the experiment installation, the following variables were analyzed: leaf dry mass (LDM), stem (STDM) and root dry mass (RDM), shoot dry mass (SDM), leaf area (LA), root volume (RV), height (H), diameter (D), root and shoot ratio (R/S), and height and diameter ratio (H/D). Liming alone does not result in significant benefits to plant growth. In the presence of liming, both mineral and organic fertilization can be employed. In the absence of liming, organic fertilization showed to be more favorable in stimulating plant growth. Under mineral fertilization conditions, irrespective of the presence or absence of liming, phosphorus showed to be important for the nutrition of espinheira-santa

Unilateral heat accelerates bone elongation and lengthens extremities of growing mice

Linear growth failure results from a broad spectrum of systemic and local disorders that can generate chronic musculoskeletal disability. Current bone lengthening protocols involve invasive surgeries or drug regimens, which are only partially effective. Exposure to warm ambient temperature during growth increases limb length, suggesting that targeted heat could noninvasively enhance bone elongation. We tested the hypothesis that daily heat exposure on one side of the body unilaterally increases femoral and tibial lengths. Mice (N = 20) were treated with 40 °C unilateral heat for 40 min/day for 14 days post-weaning. Non-treated mice (N = 6) served as controls. Unilateral increases in ear (8.8%), hindfoot (3.5%), femoral (1.3%), and tibial (1.5%) lengths were obtained. Tibial elongation rate was \u3e 12% greater (15 μm/day) on the heat-treated side. Extremity lengthening correlated with temperature during treatment. Body mass and humeral length were unaffected. To test whether differences persisted in adults, mice were examined 7-weeks post-treatment. Ear area, hindfoot, femoral, and tibial lengths were still significantly increased ∼6%, 3.5%, 1%, and 1%, respectively, on the heat-treated side. Left-right differences were absent in non-treated controls, ruling out inherent side asymmetry. This model is important for designing noninvasive heat-based therapies to potentially combat a range of debilitating growth impediments in children

Nonspreading Light Pulses in Photonic Crystals

We investigate propagation of light pulses in photonic crystals in the vicinity of the zero-diffraction point. We show that Gaussian pulses due to nonzero width of their spectrum spread weakly in space and time during the propagation. We also find the family of nonspreading pulses, propagating invariantly in the vicinity of the zero diffraction point of photonic crystals

Variability in prescription drug expenditures explained by adjusted clinical groups (ACG) case-mix: A cross-sectional study of patient electronic records in primary care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In view of rapidly increasing prescription costs, case-mix adjustment should be considered for effective control of costs. We have estimated the variability in pharmacy costs explained by ACG in centers using patient electronic records, profiled centers and physicians and analyzed the correlation between cost and quality of prescription.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed 65,630 patient records attending five primary care centers in Spain during 2005. Variables explored were age, gender, registered diagnosed episodes of care during 2005, total cost of prescriptions, physician and center. One ACG was assigned to each patient with ACG case-mix software version 7.1. In a two-part model, logistic regression was used to explain the incurrence of drug expenditure at the first stage and a linear mixed model that considered the multilevel structure of data modeled the cost, conditional upon incurring any expense. Risk and efficiency indexes in pharmacy cost adjusted for ACG were obtained for centers and physicians. Spearman rank correlation between physician expenditure, adjusted for ACG, and a prescription quality index was also obtained. Pediatric and adult data were analyzed separately.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No prescription was recorded for 13% of adults and 39.6% of children. The proportion of variance of the incurrence of expenditure explained by ACGs was 0.29 in adults and 0.21 in children. For adults with prescriptions, the variance of cost explained by ACGs was 35.4%, by physician-center was 1.8% and age 10.5% (residual 52.3%). For children, ACGs explained 22.4% of cost and physician-center 10.9% (residual 66.7%). Center efficiency index for adults ranged 0.58 to 1.22 and for children 0.32 to 2.36.</p> <p>Spearman correlation between expenditure and prescription quality index was -0.36 in family physicians (p = 0.019, N = 41) and -0.52 in pediatricians (p = 0.08, N = 12).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In our setting, ACG is the variable studied that explains more variability in pharmacy cost in adults compared to physician and center. In children there is greater variability among physicians and centers not related to case-mix. In our sites, ACG is useful to profile physicians and centers using electronic records in real practical conditions. Physicians with lower pharmaceutical expenditure have higher scores for a prescription quality index.</p

Cone beam neutron interferometry: from modeling to applications

Phase-grating moire interferometers (PGMIs) have emerged as promising candidates for the next generation of neutron interferometry, enabling the use of a polychromatic beam and manifesting interference patterns that can be directly imaged by existing neutron cameras. However, the modeling of the various PGMI configurations is limited to cumbersome numerical calculations and backward propagation models which often do not enable one to explore the setup parameters. Here we generalize the Fresnel scaling theorem to introduce a k-space model for PGMI setups illuminated by a cone beam, thus enabling an intuitive forward propagation model for a wide range of parameters. The interference manifested by a PGMI is shown to be a special case of the Talbot effect, and the optimal fringe visibility is shown to occur at the moire location of the Talbot distances. We derive analytical expressions for the contrast and the propagating intensity profiles in various conditions, and analyze the behaviour of the dark-field imaging signal when considering sample characterization. The model's predictions are compared to experimental measurements and good agreement is found between them. Lastly, we propose and experimentally verify a method to recover contrast at typically inaccessible PGMI autocorrelation lengths. The presented work provides a toolbox for analyzing and understanding existing PGMI setups and their future applications, for example extensions to two-dimensional PGMIs and characterization of samples with non-trivial structures

Manageability of Future Internet Virtual Networks from a Practical Viewpoint

International audienceThe Autonomic Internet project approach relies on abstractions and distributed systems of a five plane solution for the provision of Future Internet Services (OSKMV): Orchestration, Service Enablers, Knowledge, Management and Virtualisation Planes. This paper presents a practical viewpoint of the manageability of virtual networks, exercising the components and systems that integrate this approach and that are being validated. This paper positions the distributed systems and networking services that integrate this solution, focusing on the provision of Future Internet services for self-configuration and self- performance management scenes

Combining estimates of interest in prognostic modelling studies after multiple imputation: current practice and guidelines

Background: Multiple imputation (MI) provides an effective approach to handle missing covariate data within prognostic modelling studies, as it can properly account for the missing data uncertainty. The multiply imputed datasets are each analysed using standard prognostic modelling techniques to obtain the estimates of interest. The estimates from each imputed dataset are then combined into one overall estimate and variance, incorporating both the within and between imputation variability. Rubin's rules for combining these multiply imputed estimates are based on asymptotic theory. The resulting combined estimates may be more accurate if the posterior distribution of the population parameter of interest is better approximated by the normal distribution. However, the normality assumption may not be appropriate for all the parameters of interest when analysing prognostic modelling studies, such as predicted survival probabilities and model performance measures. Methods: Guidelines for combining the estimates of interest when analysing prognostic modelling studies are provided. A literature review is performed to identify current practice for combining such estimates in prognostic modelling studies. Results: Methods for combining all reported estimates after MI were not well reported in the current literature. Rubin's rules without applying any transformations were the standard approach used, when any method was stated. Conclusion: The proposed simple guidelines for combining estimates after MI may lead to a wider and more appropriate use of MI in future prognostic modelling studies

Method for determining antiphase dynamics in a multimode laser

We measure the cross spectrum of the intensity fluctuations of pairs of modes for a multilongitudinal mode neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser operating in the steady state regime. From the data we build up a picture of how the longitudinal mode fluctuations interfere and directly show the antiphase dynamics of the intensity fluctuations.T. Hill, L. Stamatescu and M. W. Hamilto

Lexical, morphological and syntactic development in toddlers between 16 and 30 months old: a comparison across European Portuguese and Galician

The main aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between the lexical size and the emergence of morphological and syntactic markers in toddlers between the ages of 16 and 30 months and to compare these results between Galician and European Portuguese. Parents of 3012 Portuguese toddlers and those of 1081 Galician toddlers completed the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences. The results indicated that the number of words, the ability to combine words and the number of different morphemes produced increased with age. The ability to combine words was used as an indicator of syntactic development; this ability was also associated with the toddlers’ lexical size. In both samples, gender morphemes seemed to be the first to have their production generalized, followed by the plural and the past participle. The production of gender morphemes was accompanied by a small lexical size, whereas the imperfect tense and the person mark onset were associated with large lexical sizes. The implications of these results for charting the continuity between lexical, morphological and syntactical development are discussed.CiPsi - Psychology Research Centre, Uminho (UID/PSI/ 01662/2013), Portugal. National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN) - FCOMP- 01-0124-FEDER-029556 and through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the references and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), Portugal. BPD/102549/2014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards a framework for network management applications based on peer-to-peer paradigms

The Madeira project addresses a novel approach for the management of network elements of increasing number, heterogeneity and transience. As next-generation networks exhibit major challenges for today's centralized network management systems, we investigate the fesability of a peer-to-peer (P2P) approach, facilitating self-management and dynamic behaviour of elements within networks. In this short paper we give an overview of the system architecture developed in Madeira and descirbe the key conceptts, like Madeira platform services, Adaptive Management Components and poicies that provide the base for building distributed network management applications. Keywords - P2P technologies, self-managing networks, policy based management, Model Driven Architecture (MDA