Uso de produtos naturais para proteção de mudas na arborização de pastagens.

Os sistemas de produção convencional têm esgotado os recursos ambientais, o que torna o agroecossistema frágil e insustentável. Sistemas silvipastoris podem ser alternativas viáveis na recuperação de pastagens degradadas. Este estudo foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de avaliar produtos naturais na implantação de espécies arbóreas em pastagens com presença constante de bovinos, sem proteção física das mudas. O experimento foi conduzido na Embrapa Gado de Corte, Campo Grande, MS, no período de 02/02/2005 a 28/03/2005. O delineamento utilizado foi de parcelas subdivididas inteiramente ao acaso, com dez repetições. As parcelas foram: 1) fezes bovinas ao redor da muda, 2) sangue bovino seco, 3) ovo sem casca e 4) testemunha sem proteção. As subparcelas foram cinco especies arbóreas: Myroxylon peruiferum (Bálsamo), Dipteryx alata (Cumbaru), Schizolobium parahyba (Guapuruvu), Genipa americana (Jenipapo) e Mimosa caesalpineaefolia (Sansão do campo). A herbivoria foi intensa em todos os tratamentos. A S. parahyba apresentou taxa de sobrevivência de 72,5%, enquanto 100% das plantas da M. caesalpineafolia morreram. Há indícios de que a maior proteção, embora parcial, foi dada pela aplicação de fezes ao redor da muda. As aspersões de sangue ou de ovo não ofereceram proteção às árvores jovens. A concentração e a freqüência de aplicação das fezes é uma alternativa que merece maiores estudos

Composição bromatológica, digestibilidade in vitro e produção de biomassa de leguminosas forrageiras lenhosas cutivadas em solo arenoso

Com o objetivo de avaliar o valor nutritivo e a produtividade das leguminosas forrageiras lenhosas: Albizia lebbeck (Albízia), Cajanus cajan (Feijão-Guandu), Cratylia argentea (Cratília), Gliricidia sepium (Gliricídia) e Leucaena leucocephala (Leucena), a serem utilizadas na suplementação de bovinos como banco de proteína, conduziu-se um experimento em Neossolo Quartzarênico. O experimento foi realizado entre março de 2006 e outubro de 2007. As avaliações foram realizadas em dois períodos (chuvoso e seco), com dois cortes para cada período. Não houve diferença no acúmulo de matéria seca nos cortes do período chuvoso para as espécies estudadas. Já no período seco de avaliação, a A. lebbeck e a C. argentea foram superiores às demais leguminosas. O C. cajan não se recuperou após os corte do período chuvoso, o que resultou em um baixo acúmulo de matéria seca nos cortes do período seco. As folhas da A. lebbeck apresentaram os maiores conteúdos de proteína bruta nos dois cortes dos períodos de avaliação (210 a 212 g/kg). A digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca nas folhas da A. lebbeck foi superior, com valores médios de 568 g/kg. A. lebbeck, Cratylia argentea e Gliricidia sepium apresentaram os maiores conteúdos para digestibilidade das hastes finas. A. lebbeck e C. argentea apresentaram acúmulo de massa seca superior às demais espécies testadas (19,3 e 24,3 t/ha, respectivamente) e ainda, os melhores valores para as características qualitativas. Essas duas últimas são as espécies mais promissoras e adaptadas para a formação de bancos de proteínas nesses tipos de solos

Competição de cultivares de brócolos tipo cabeça única em Campo Grande.

O experimento foi conduzido na horta da UNIDERP, Campo Grande-MS, de junho a setembro de 2005. Objetivou-se avaliar o desempenho de diferentes cultivares de brócolos tipo cabeça única disponíveis no mercado para as condições edafoclimáticas de Campo Grande. Foram avaliadas oito cultivares comerciais: BRO68 (Rogers), Marathon (Sakata), Green Parasol (Takii), Centenário (Takii), Legacy (Asgrow), Magestic Crown (Asgrow), AF649 (Sakata) e Brócolis de Cabeça (Topseed). O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos casualizados completos, com quatro repetições, sendo cada parcela composta por dez plantas. Foram realizadas seis colheitas, a partir de 89 dias após a semeadura, de acordo com formação da inflorescência e o ponto de colheita, independente do tamanho. Foram avaliadas as características massa fresca (g) e diâmetro da inflorescência (cm) e produtividade (t ha-1). Para cultivo em Campo Grande, as cultivares Centenário, AF649, BRO68 e Marathon são as mais indicadas para plantio entre junho a setembro, pela maior produtividade

Realization of the farad from the dc quantum Hall effect with digitally-assisted impedance bridges

A new traceability chain for the derivation of the farad from dc quantum Hall effect has been implemented at INRIM. Main components of the chain are two new coaxial transformer bridges: a resistance ratio bridge, and a quadrature bridge, both operating at 1541 Hz. The bridges are energized and controlled with a polyphase direct-digital-synthesizer, which permits to achieve both main and auxiliary equilibria in an automated way; the bridges and do not include any variable inductive divider or variable impedance box. The relative uncertainty in the realization of the farad, at the level of 1000 pF, is estimated to be 64E-9. A first verification of the realization is given by a comparison with the maintained national capacitance standard, where an agreement between measurements within their relative combined uncertainty of 420E-9 is obtained.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 3 table

The ESPRI project: astrometric exoplanet search with PRIMA I. Instrument description and performance of first light observations

The ESPRI project relies on the astrometric capabilities offered by the PRIMA facility of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer for the discovery and study of planetary systems. Our survey consists of obtaining high-precision astrometry for a large sample of stars over several years and to detect their barycentric motions due to orbiting planets. We present the operation principle, the instrument's implementation, and the results of a first series of test observations. A comprehensive overview of the instrument infrastructure is given and the observation strategy for dual-field relative astrometry is presented. The differential delay lines, a key component of the PRIMA facility which was delivered by the ESPRI consortium, are described and their performance within the facility is discussed. Observations of bright visual binaries are used to test the observation procedures and to establish the instrument's astrometric precision and accuracy. The data reduction strategy for astrometry and the necessary corrections to the raw data are presented. Adaptive optics observations with NACO are used as an independent verification of PRIMA astrometric observations. The PRIMA facility was used to carry out tests of astrometric observations. The astrometric performance in terms of precision is limited by the atmospheric turbulence at a level close to the theoretical expectations and a precision of 30 micro-arcseconds was achieved. In contrast, the astrometric accuracy is insufficient for the goals of the ESPRI project and is currently limited by systematic errors that originate in the part of the interferometer beamtrain which is not monitored by the internal metrology system. Our observations led to the definition of corrective actions required to make the facility ready for carrying out the ESPRI search for extrasolar planets.Comment: 32 pages, 39 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Genetic diversity among cassava genotypes (Manihot esculenta crantz) collected in the south-central mesoregion of the state of Mato Grosso-Brazil.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the genetic divergence between 164 genotypes of Manihot esculenta from the South-Central mesoregion of the State of Mato Grosso. The genotypes are from projects conducted by the Laboratory of Genetic Resources & Biotechnology of the University of the State of Mato Grosso, Cáceres-Mato Grosso (UNEMAT), and the Brazilian Public Agricultural Research Corporation - Agrosilvopastoral (EMBRAPA). The agronomic descriptors evaluated were plant height, height of first branching, branching levels, weight of the aerial part of the plant, total weight of the plant, number of roots per plant, average weight of roots per plant, yield of commercial roots, yield of non-commercial roots, number of rotten roots per plant and harvest index. For the analysis of genetic divergence, multivariate analysis based on the standardized Euclidean mean distance was employed, later performing the Hierarchical UPGMA and Tocher Optimization agglomerative methods. The degree of preservation of the genetic distances in the dendrogram was verified using the Cophenetic Correlation Coefficient. The Singh criterion was used to quantify the relative contribution of characteristics to genetic divergence. The genotypes presented genetic dissimilarity for the evaluated characteristics and based on the results of the dissimilarity matrix and groupings, it is recommended the crossings between the genotypes allocated in group II with the genotype allocated in group V, for the development of segregated populations with high genetic variability

Bright nanoparticles for an even brighter future: efficient production of luminescent carbon nanodots from olive mill wastewater

Este trabalho foi financiado pelo Concurso Anual para Projetos de Investigação, Desenvolvimento, Inovação e Criação Artística (IDI&CA) 2016 do Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa. Código de referência IPL/2016/NANOLIVE/ISELCarbon nanodots (CNDs) are a very recent class of spherical-shaped nanosized carbon materials possessing average typical diameters < 10 nm. Since the very first reports on carbon dots,1,2 a variety of methods (top-down and bottom-up strategies), carbon sources and passivating agents, have dealt with their synthesis.3 The bottom-up approach, encompassing the use of pyrolytic/solvothermal processes, is more amenable for large-scale production and can cope with a large diversity of carbon precursors, either from natural or synthetic sources, typically endowed with acid, alcohol and amine functionalities.4 Some of the interesting CNDs properties include tunable photoluminescence, outstanding photostability and negligible cytotoxicity. These unique properties have prompted their intense and widespread use in several fields, such as fluorescent bioimaging and nanomedicine, chemo/biosensing, photocatalysis and optoelectronics.4info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Regional changes in Brazilian beef cattle production.

Editor: Michael Doherty

Search for anomalies in the neutrino sector with muon spectrometers and large LArTPC imaging detectors at CERN

A new experiment with an intense ~2 GeV neutrino beam at CERN SPS is proposed in order to definitely clarify the possible existence of additional neutrino states, as pointed out by neutrino calibration source experiments, reactor and accelerator experiments and measure the corresponding oscillation parameters. The experiment is based on two identical LAr-TPCs complemented by magnetized spectrometers detecting electron and muon neutrino events at Far and Near positions, 1600 m and 300 m from the proton target, respectively. The ICARUS T600 detector, the largest LAr-TPC ever built with a size of about 600 ton of imaging mass, now running in the LNGS underground laboratory, will be moved at the CERN Far position. An additional 1/4 of the T600 detector (T150) will be constructed and located in the Near position. Two large area spectrometers will be placed downstream of the two LAr-TPC detectors to perform charge identification and muon momentum measurements from sub-GeV to several GeV energy range, greatly complementing the physics capabilities. This experiment will offer remarkable discovery potentialities, collecting a very large number of unbiased events both in the neutrino and antineutrino channels, largely adequate to definitely settle the origin of the observed neutrino-related anomalies.Comment: Contribution to the European Strategy for Particle Physics - Open Symposium Preparatory Group, Kracow 10-12 September 201

Effective connectivity reveals strategy differences in an expert calculator

Mathematical reasoning is a core component of cognition and the study of experts defines the upper limits of human cognitive abilities, which is why we are fascinated by peak performers, such as chess masters and mental calculators. Here, we investigated the neural bases of calendrical skills, i.e. the ability to rapidly identify the weekday of a particular date, in a gifted mental calculator who does not fall in the autistic spectrum, using functional MRI. Graph-based mapping of effective connectivity, but not univariate analysis, revealed distinct anatomical location of “cortical hubs” supporting the processing of well-practiced close dates and less-practiced remote dates: the former engaged predominantly occipital and medial temporal areas, whereas the latter were associated mainly with prefrontal, orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate connectivity. These results point to the effect of extensive practice on the development of expertise and long term working memory, and demonstrate the role of frontal networks in supporting performance on less practiced calculations, which incur additional processing demands. Through the example of calendrical skills, our results demonstrate that the ability to perform complex calculations is initially supported by extensive attentional and strategic resources, which, as expertise develops, are gradually replaced by access to long term working memory for familiar material