Efeitos do tipo de rizoma de multiplicação e da cobertura morta no desenvolvimento e produtividade de cúrcuma (Curcuma longa L.)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different types of rhizomes utilized as seed and the effects of mulch in the culture of Turmeric. This work was conducted in the experimental cultivation area of the Universidade de Ribeirão Preto - UNAERP, in Ribeirao Preto, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil from September/1997 to July/1998. The experiments were arranged in a randomized complete block with a factorial arrangement 2x3, design with 4 replications (32 plants each). The treatments consisted of the use of types of rhizomes utilized to proliferation (head and finger) and types of mulch (absent, grass and leaves/branches). This study investigated proliferation (61, 88 and 124 days after installation), length, shooting and number of leaves of the mother plant besides the number of leaves of the shoot (112, 146 and 233 days after installation), number of finger rhizomes and head rhizomes, fresh and dry biomass of rhizomes and the yield of essential oil (after harvest - July 1998). Obtained results showed a great influence of the type of rhizome used to proliferation. Head rhizomes produced, in weight, about 30% more, when compared to plants from finger rhizomes. Mulching almost duplicated rhizome productivity from 2338 kg.ha -1 of dry rhizomes to 4499 kg.ha -1, when rhizome used to proliferation was finger and from 3046 kg.ha -1 to 5943 kg.ha -1, when using head rhizomes. The yield of essential oil did not show any alteration, independently of the treatments realized.

Physical-chemical and thermodynamic analyses of steam reforming of ethanol to hydrogen production

The steam reforming is one of most utilized process of hydrogen production because of its high production efficiencies and its technological maturity. The use of ethanol for this purpose is a interesting option because this is a renewable and less environmentally offensive fuel. The objective of this study is evaluate the physical-chemical, thermodynamic and environmental analyses of steam reforming of ethanol. whose objective is to produce 0.7 Nm3/h of hydrogen to be used by a PEMFC of l kW. In this physical-chemical analysis, a global reaction of ethanol was considered. That is, the superheated ethanol and steam, at high temperatures, react to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Beyond it's the simplest form to study the steam reforming of ethanol to hydrogen production, it's the case where occurs the highest production of hydrogen (the product to be used by fuel cells) and carbon dioxide, to be eliminated. But this reaction isn't real and depends greatly on the thermodynamic conditions of reforming, technical features of reformer system and catalysts. Other products generally formed (but not investigated in this study) are methane, carbon monoxide, among others. It was observed that the products is commonly produced in the moment when the reaction attains temperatures about 206°C (below this temperature, the reaction trend to the reaetants, that is, from hydrogen and carbon dioxide to steam and ethanol) and the advance degree of this reaction increases when the temperature of reaction also increases and when its pressure decreases. It's suggested reactions at about 600°C or higher. However, when the temperature attains 700°C, the stability of this reaction is occurred, that is, the production of reaction productions attains to the limit, that is the highest possible production. In temperatures above 700°C, the use of energy is very high for produce more products, having higher costs of production that the suggested temperature. The indicated pressure is 1 atm., a value that allows a desirable economy of energy that would also be used for pressurization or depressurization of steam reformer. In exergetic analysis, it's seem that the lower irreversibililies occur when the pressure of reactions are lower. However, the temperature changes don't affect significantly the irreversibilites. Utilizing the obtained results from this analysis, it was concluded that the best thermodynamic conditions for steam reforming of ethanol is the same conditions suggested in the physical-chemical analysis. The exergetic and first law efficiencies are high on the thermodynamie conditions studied.

Distribuição da energia no interior de uma estufa plástica no período inverno

This work aimed to study the energy distribution in protected environment during the winter of 2005. A plastic tunnel (27.5 m long, 7.5 m wide, 3.2 m high in the center and 2.00 m high in both lateral sides) was covered with polyethylene 100 micra and black shadow screen (sombrite) in lateral sides at the FCA/UNESP, Botucatu - SP. 142 minievaporimeters (500 ml volume and 147 cm2 area) were evenly distributed and set up at three heights: 0.40 m; 0.80 m and 1.20 m from soil surface in order to analyze energy distribution along the studied area. The greenhouse longitudinal axis was northwest/southeast, based on true north. Geosatistics principles and the GS+ Program were adopted to compare variables. From obtained results, it was concluded that there were significant evaporation variations at different points anf heights; the highest values were the ones closest to the soil surface (0.40m) in July and at highest heights (0.80 and 1.20m). Highest evaporations occurred in the southeastern side of the greenhouse.

Conseqüências de uma tempestade geomagnética no posicionamento relativo com receptores GPS de simples freqüência

The error associated with the ionosphere depends on Total Electron Content (TEC) of the ionosphere. The geomagnetic field exerts strong influence in the TEC variation, because it controls the movement of the electrons. After solar events the magnetic lines of force can be compressed, characterizing the geomagnetic storm. The aim of this paper is to present to geodesic community the effects of a geomagnetic storm in the relative positioning. The processing of the data was accomplished with an interval of two hours, with a 430 km baseline. The analyze of the obtained results have been carried out from the discrepancies between the true coordinates and corresponding ones obtained in the processing of the baseline. The used data in this paper include the period of 30/03/2001 up to 02/04/2001. In March 31 a strong geomagnetic storm happened. One day after, that it corresponds to main phase of the storm, the values of the discrepancies decreased significantly. For instance, in 01:00-03:00 UT period, the value of the planimetric discrepancy reached 20 m in the storm day. However, in the main phase of the storm, the planimetric discrepancy decreased to 0.1 m.

Um modelo para orientação de imagens orbitais baseado em feições retas

The aim of this paper is to present a model for orientation of pushbroom sensors that allows estimating the polynomial coefficients describing the trajectory of the platform, using linear features as ground control. Considering that pushbroom image acquisition is not instantaneous, six EOP (Exterior Orientation Parameters) for each scanned line must be estimated. The sensor position and attitude parameters are modeled with a time dependent polynomial. The relationship between object and image space is established through a mathematical model based on the equivalence between the vector normal to the projection plane in the image space and to the vector normal to the rotated projection plane in the object space. The equivalence property between planes was adapted to consider the pushbroom geometry. Some experiments with simulated data corresponding to CBERS scene (China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite) were accomplished in order to test the developed model using straight lines. Moreover, experiments with points ground with the model based on collinearity equations adapted to the pushbroom geometry were also accomplished. The obtained results showed that the proposed model can be used to estimate the EOP of pushbroom images with suitable accuracy.

Mechanochemical synthesis of Bi4Ti3O12

Our efforts were directed to the preparation of bismuth titanate - Bi 4e;Ti3O12 (BIT) by mechanically assisted synthesis. The mechanical activation was applied to prepare bismuth titanate, Bi4e;Ti3O12, from bismuth oxide, Bi 2O3, and titanium oxide, TiO2 (in an anatase crystal form). Mechanochemical synthesis was performed in a planetary ball mill in air atmosphere. Bismuth titanate ceramics was obtained by sintering at 1000° C The formation of Bi4e;Ti3O12 in the sintered samples was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Scanning electron microscopy, SEM, was used to study the particle size and powder morphology. The obtained results indicate that Bi4e;Ti3O12 from the powder synthesized by high-energy ball milling exhibits good sinterability, showing advantage of the mechanochemical process over conventional solid-state reaction.

Produção de frutos de pimentão em diferentes concentrações salinas

An experiment with an Elisa hybrid sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L) crop using fertirrigation system was carried out in greenhouse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quantitative effects of an increasing soil saline concentration on the production. The saline concentration was changed by the variation of the KC1 and Ca 2NO 3 concentration in order to obtain high soil electrical conductivity (EC) values. Standard fertigation system (1.5 dS m -1) values were used as control parameters. Besides that, the possibility of saline stress attenuation by applying organic material into the soil was studied. It was observed that the EC levels used in the crop were inversely correlated to the fructification index and the fruit mean weight. Under the most severe treatment (6.0 dS m -1) the fruit mean weight was reduced up to 58% and the mean produced fiuit number per plant was also reduced up to 55%, when compared to the obtained results under controlled conditions. These results demonstrated that the EC variation in the soil solution had strong interference on th production parameters selected for the studies.

In vitro antimicrobial activity of different gutta-percha points and calcium hydroxide pastes

The aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of different trademarks and compositions of gutta-percha points and calcium hydroxide pastes used in endodontic therapy. The evaluated material consisted of gutta-percha points containing calcium hydroxide (Roeko™), gutta-percha points containing chlorhexidine (Roeko™), two convencional gutta-percha points (Endo Points™ and Roeko™) and two calcium hydroxide pastes (Calen™ and Calen/PMCC™). Antimicrobial tests included five species of microorganisms: Escherichia coli (ATCC10538), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC12228), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC6538), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853), and Micrococcus luteus (ATCC9341). The Agar difusion method was employed. The plates were kept at room temperature for 2 h for prediffusion and then incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The triphenyltetrazolium chloride gel was added for optimization and the zones of inhibition were measured. Statistical evaluation was carried out using analysis of variance and Tukey Test. The obtained results showed that all microbial species used in the study were inhibited by the gutta-percha points containing chlorhexidine and by the calcium hydroxide pastes (Calen™ and Calen/ PMCC™), with similar results (p > 0.05). No antimicrobial activity was observed for the other groups. It was concluded that the gutta-percha points containing chlorhexidine presented antimicrobial activity, whereas the gutta-percha points containing calcium hydroxide did not.

Qualidade da água utilizada para irrigação de hortaliças na região de Botucatu-SP

This work had as objective verifies the water quality used for irrigation by the vegetables producers of Botucatu-SP area. They were interviewed 27 producers that sell vegetables in the street markets of Botucatu. Among these producers, ten were selected, being one of each place. Three samples of water of each source were collected. The main standard to evaluate the obtained results were the CONAMA Resolution (National Environment Council) N° 357, March 17, 2005, that it establishes the standard for water classification. The Electric Conductivity was evaluated of agreement value suggested by CETESB and the color was verified according to OMS (Health World Organization), for potable water due to CONAMA Resolution not to stipulate a value for classification. For the public health, just the coliformes and nitrate are the preoccupying variables for they be related with the incidence of diseases, so, the analyzed waters, 40% of them (A, F, H and J producers) offer some risk for the health of Botucatu population, second established standard for CONAMA. We can to conclude that in a general way, those waters, are in conditions no alarming, because they don't present values very different from those established by the legislation.

Implantação do pilar ruju Botucatu na UNESP para integração ao Sistema Geodésico Brasileiro

The objective of this work was to implant a geodesic pillar in the campus of Botucatu (Rubião Júnior) of the São Paulo State University (UNESP), using active stations of the Brazilian Net of Continuous Monitoring (RBMC) as reference, aiming at inclusion in the Brazilian Geodesic System (BGS). In the planning of the trace, some aspects of the pillar optimization were considered: the field evaluation, the equipment Receiver GPS Topcon Hiper GGD and the net RBMC were used to trace the height, and the Topcon Tools 6.04 version software was use for the data processing, the ambiguity solution, as well as the treatment of injunctions during the column adjustment. The obtained results allowed the implantation of a more accurate pillar then 1ppm compatible to the RBMC net, meeting the specification of IBGE.

Geoprocessamento aplicado na distribuição espacial da capacidade de uso de uma microbacia

The present study aimed to show the spatial distribution of the Rochas watershed (Avaré-SP, Brazil) soil use capacity using the Idrisi geographical information system in order to contribute to a better territorial organization and the planning of the appropriate soil occupation. The obtained results using this methodology showed that most of the Rocha watershed areas are from the following groups: dystrophic yellow-red latosol (36.64%), eutroferric and distroferric red latosol (30.30%) with sandy texture. There was a predominance of areas with slope classes of 0-12%, plain to wavy relief (61.37% of the watershed area) showing that these areas are appropriate for annual culture plantations with wide use of machinery. Most of these areas were classified as class IV (73.79%) as to use capacity. In the studied area the following subclasses of land use capacity were found: IIe, s; IIIe; IVe; IVs; IVe,s; VIe and VIIe. Capacity subclasses IVe; IVe,s; IVs and Vie were the most significant because they are areas that can be used for agriculture but subject to severe soil impoverishment if there are no special care mainly for annual cultures. The Idrisi geographical information system was efficient to determine soil use capacity of the Rocha's watershed showing that the use of geoprocessing tools makes data analysis easier and faster, allowing digital data storage for future analysis uses mainly for territorial planning and environmental studies.

Weight vector estimation of circular arrays of antennas using Artificial Neural Networks

This paper presents a model for the control of the radiation pattern of a circular array of antennas, shaping it to address the radiation beam in the direction of the user, in order to reduce the transmitted power and to attenuate interference. The control of the array is based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) of the type RBF (Radial Basis Functions), trained from samples generated by the Wiener equation. The obtained results suggest that the objective was reached.

Fatigue apparatus for geometrically complex non-standardized specimens

Standard Test Methods (e.g. ASTM, DIN) for materials characterization in general, and for fatigue in particular, do not contemplate specimens with complex geometries, as well as the combination of axial and in-plane bending loads in their methodologies. The present study refers to some patents and the new configuration or configurations of specimens (non-standardized by the status quo of test methods) and a device developed to induce axial and bending combined forces resultants from axial loads applied by any one test equipment (dynamic or monotonic) which possesses such limitation, towards obtaining more realistic results on the fatigue behavior, or even basic mechanical properties, from geometrically complex structures. Motivated by a specific and geometrically complex aeronautic structure (motor-cradle), non-standardized welded tubular specimens made from AISI 4130 steel were fatigue-tested at room temperature, by using a constant amplitude sinusoidal load of 20 Hz frequency, load ratio R = 0.1 with and without the above referred auxiliary fatigue apparatus. The results showed the fatigue apparatus was efficient for introducing higher stress concentration factor at the welded specimen joints, consequently reducing the fatigue strength when compared to other conditions. From the obtained results it is possible to infer that with small modifications the proposed apparatus will be capable to test a great variety of specimen configurations such as: squared tubes and plates with welded or melted junctions, as well as other materials such as aluminum, titanium, composites, polymeric, plastics, etc. © 2009 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.

Construction and validation of the brazilian questionário de respostas socialmente habilidosas segundo relato de professores (QRSH-PR)

Behavioral problems in preschool children are one of the most frequent motives for seeking psychological care by parents and caregivers. Instruments are considered necessary, created from a Social Skills Training theoretical-practical perspective, which may systematically assist the identification of social skills and behavioral deficits, helping professionals in the prevention and/or reduction of behavioral problems. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric validity and reliability of an instrument for evaluation of Socially Skilled Responses, from a teacher's perspective (QRSH-PR For this purpose, 260 preschool children were evaluated, differentiated in subgroups without and without behavioral difficulties, based on the Child Behavior Scale (Escala de Comportamento Infantil/ECI-Professor Studies were conducted for construct, discrimination, concurrent and predictive validity. The Cronbach Alpha was calculated to evaluate internal consistency. The obtained results pointed to positive indicators in reference to construct, discrimination, and predictive validity, and even for good internal consistency, indicating that the items consistently measure the construct of social skills, and differentiated children with and without behavioral problems. The questionnaire is considered to be gauged for evaluation of socially skilled responses from preschool children, and applicable in educational and clinical environments. Copyright 2009 by The Spanish Journal of Psychology.

Utilização de nitrato de amônio e de uréia como fontes de nitrogênio na micropropagação de amoreira-preta

The high cost allied to the difficulty in the acquisition of the ammonium nitrate has been taking the accomplishment of works looking for an alternative for the substitution of this source of nitrogen. It was aimed at to study the technical viability of the substitution of the ammonium nitrate for urea, as source of nitrogen in the culture media for the blackberry in vitro cv. Tupy (Rubus sp). Nodal segments were used, already established in vitro, were inoculated in culture media MS and 50% MS, added of 1.0 mg. dm-3 of BAP, solidified with 6 g.dm-3 of agar, pH was adjusted for 5,8 and sterilized to 121 °C and 0,1 MPa for 20 min. The treatments consisted of the substitution of 0; 20; 40; 60; 80 and 100% of NH4NO3 for urea, and the swinging of nitrogen supplied by the culture media MS it was not altered. The explants were maintained by 60 days in growth room with temperature of 27±1 °C, photoperiod of 16 h and luminous intensity of 32 mmol m'2 s'1. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design, in factorial (6 x 2) using four repetitions with 16 plants each one. From the obtained results it can be concluded that the urea doesn't substitute NH 4NO3 in the culture media MS as nitrogen source in the culture vitro of blackberry.