DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND EVALUATION OF A THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY METER BASED ON ASTM E1225 STANDARD

The focus of this work is the design, construction and evaluation of a thermal conductivity meter apparatus based on ASTM E- 1225 standard. The thermal conductivity is a heat-transport propriety and with the development of new materials the determination of thermophysical properties for its correct use becomes necessary. The apparatus was projected in CAD software and the material selection was done following the standard recommendations. For the meter bars were used 304 stainless steel, since its thermal conductivity is known. The heater was made with an aluminum cylinder block and a cartridge electric resistance. The cooling system was assembled using a Peltier thermoelectric plate and a fin heat sink equipped with a fan. Lastly, a steel pipe was used for building the guard cylinder. In order to evaluate the apparatus, the first specimen tested was the 304 stainless steel, the same material as the meter bars. The result of thermal conductivity showed an error of 6% relative to the value found in literature. However, in this test the temperature of isothermal guard cylinder was lower than the temperature required by the standard. Thus, the future goals will be the development of a temperature control for the guard cylinder and realization of more tests with different materials

Nycthemeral and Monthly Occupation of the Fish Assemblage on a Sheltered Beach of Baía Norte, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil

Interpreting fish community records is challenging for several reasons, including the lack of past ichthyofauna data, the cyclical temporal variations in the community, and the methodology employed, which usually underestimates fish assemblages. The objective of this study was to describe short-scale and meso-scale (nycthemeral period and months, respectively) temporal variations in the ichthyofauna composition and structure of a sheltered beach of Baía Norte (Florianópolis, Santa Catarina state, Brazil), using a capéchade net. Samples were collected monthly for a period of 48 hours. During the period from December 2010 to November 2011, a total of 19,302 individuals belonging to 89 species and 39 families were captured. The number of individuals that were sampled during the day and/or night was dependent on the sampling month. On average, the daytime assemblage was more abundant and different in structure and composition than the nighttime assemblage. Of the eight species that had the highest Index of Relative Importance (%IRI), five had higher variations (ANOVA F) between the day and night than between the months. This finding reinforced the need for sampling during both the day and night. The capéchade net effectively captured demersal and pelagic individuals in a broad range of sizes

Benthic estuarine communities in Brazil: moving forward to long term studies to assess climate change impacts

Abstract Estuaries are unique coastal ecosystems that sustain and provide essential ecological services for mankind. Estuarine ecosystems include a variety of habitats with their own sediment-fauna dynamics, all of them globally undergoing alteration or threatened by human activities. Mangrove forests, saltmarshes, tidal flats and other confined estuarine systems are under increasing stress due to human activities leading to habitat and species loss. Combined changes in estuarine hydromorphology and in climate pose severe threats to estuarine ecosystems on a global scale. The ReBentos network is the first integrated attempt in Brazil to monitor estuarine changes in the long term to detect and assess the effects of global warming. This paper is an initial effort of ReBentos to review current knowledge on benthic estuarine ecology in Brazil. We herein present and synthesize all published work on Brazilian estuaries that has focused on the description of benthic communities and related ecological processes. We then use current data on Brazilian estuaries and present recommendations for future studies to address climate change effects, suggesting trends for possible future research and stressing the need for long-term datasets and international partnerships