Características do pelame de vacas Holandesas em ambiente tropical: um estudo genético e adaptativo

As características do pelame (espessura da capa, comprimento médio dos pêlos, número de pêlos por unidade de área, densidade de massa dos pêlos, ângulo de inclinação dos pêlos com respeito a superfície da epiderme e diâmetro médio do pêlos) foram avaliadas em 973 vacas da raça Holandesa, entre novembro de 2000 e abril de 2001, numa área localizada 20cm abaixo da coluna vertebral, no centro do tronco, tanto nas malhas brancas como nas negras. As amostras de pêlos foram obtidas com um alicate comum adaptado. O método da Máxima Verossimilhança Restrita (REML) foi usado para estimar os componentes de variância e covariância sob modelo animal, sendo empregado o sistema MTDFREML. Os resultados mostraram que as características do pelame preto são diferentes das do branco, quando os animais são criados em ambiente tropical. O pelame preto apresentou-se menos denso, com pêlos mais curtos e grossos devido à maior necessidade de perder calor, enquanto que, o pelame branco é mais denso e com pêlos mais compridos, oferecendo uma melhor proteção contra à radiação solar direta. A seleção de vacas predominantemente negras pode ser uma boa escolha para aumentar a resistência do gado Holandês às condições do ambiente tropical, principalmente à radiação solar, quando esses animais são criados a campo, devido a que a epiderme sob esse tipo de malhas é altamente pigmentada. Tal seleção pode ser facilmente realizada, considerando a alta herdabilidade (h²=0,75) para a proporção de malhas negras. Esta seleção deve ser realizada no sentido de um pelame menos denso, com pêlos curtos e grossos favorecendo as perdas de calor sensível e calor latente.

Does low-protein diet improve broiler performance under heat stress conditions?

Nutrition for broilers under high temperatures is extremely important for brazilian broiler chicken industry because the amounts of consumed nutrients and environmental temperature have great effects on bird performance and carcass quality. Among diet nutrients, protein has the highest heat increment; thus, during many years, diets with low protein level were recommended in order to reduce heat production in broiler chickens under heat stress. However, reports have shown that low-protein diets have negative effects on broiler performance when environmental temperature is high, because during heat stress, low food intake associated to a low diet protein induce amino acid deficiencies. Other studies have shown that broilers fed low-protein diets increase their energy requirement for maintenance with higher heat production. Thus, with the growth of broiler industry in tropical areas more challenges need to be faced by the farmers. So, both the ambient and nutritional conditions ought to be well managed to avoid negative effects on poultry production once they can affect the metabolism (body heat production under low temperature and body heat dissipation under high temperature) with consequence on poultry performance (meat and eggs).

Fisiologia do estresse calórico e a utilização de eletrólitos em frangos de corte

Várias alterações metabólicas e fisiológicas são desencadeadas em frangos de corte submetidos a altas temperaturas ambientais, o que pode acarretar em grandes perdas no desempenho e na imunocompetência destas aves. Além das técnicas de controle ambiental estarem sendo freqüentemente empregadas para a redução do impacto negativo do estresse calórico sobre o desempenho das aves, outras medidas estão constantemente sendo estudadas. Nos últimos anos, o manejo nutricional adequado também tem demonstrado ser efetivo como medida preventiva para o estresse calórico, pois o funcionamento do sistema termorregulador do frango (produção de calor, rotas evaporativas e não evaporativas de dissipação de calor) pode ser influenciado pela dieta, em especial, o estabelecimento de adequados balanços eletrolíticos, devido a sua importância fisiológica no mecanismo do estresse calórico. Assim, os mecanismos nutricionais devem ser reavaliados como uma ferramenta no controle desta disfunção metabólica das aves.

Anelastic spectroscopy in SmBa2Cu3O7

The possibility of variable stoichiometry and the high mobility of oxygen in the CuOx planes of SmBa2Cu3O7 give rise to a rich phase diagram. Measurements of the elastic energy loss and modulus (anelastic spectroscopy) as a function of temperature can distinguish among the different atomic jumps, which occur in the various phases or at different local ordering. In this paper, it is reported anelastic relaxation measurements in SmBa2Cu3O7, above room temperature, using a torsion pendulum operating in frequencies around 40 Hz. The mobility of oxygen atoms in the CuOx planes in the various phases has been discussed and the thermally activated peak of elastic energy dissipation observed around 500 K was interpreted in that framework. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the thermal damages in inlet engine valves varying the grinding wheels and the cutting fluids

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Novel zero-current-switching PWM converters

This paper presents a new family of pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) converters, featuring soft commutation of the semiconductors at zero current (ZC) in the transistors and zero voltage (ZV) in the rectifiers, Besides operating at constant frequency and with reduced commutation losses, these new converters have output characteristics similar to the hard-switching-PWM counterpart, which means that there is no circulating reactive energy that would cause large conduction losses, the new family of zero-current-switching (ZCS)-PWM converters is suitable for high-power applications using insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT's). The advantages of the new ZCS-PWM boast converter employing IGBT's, rated at 1.6 kW and operating at 20 kHz, are presented, This new ZCS operation can reduce the average total power dissipation in the semiconductors practically by half, when compared with the hard-switching method, This new ZCS-PWM boost converter is suitable for high-power applications using Ie;BT's in power-factor correction, the principle of operation, theoretical analysis, and experimental results of the new ZCS-PWM boost converter are provided in this paper to verify the performance of this new family of converters.

Influence of Excitation Signal on Impedance-based Structural Health Monitoring

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

NUMERICAL SIMULATION of CONVECTION-DIFFUSION PROBLEMS BY THE CONTROL-VOLUME-BASED FINITE-ELEMENT METHOD

This work presents a numerical study of the tri-dimensional convection-diffusion equation by the control-volume-based on finite-element method using quadratic hexahedral elements. Considering that the equation governing this problem in its main variable may represent several properties, including temperature, turbulent kinetic energy, viscous dissipation rate of the turbulent kinetic energy, specific dissipation rate of the turbulent kinetic energy, or even the concentration of a contaminant in a given medium, among others, the wide applicability of this problem is thus evidenced. Three cases of temperature distributions will be studied specifically in this work, in addition to one case of pollutant dispersion upon analysis of the concentration of a contaminant in a fixed flow point. Some comparisons will be carried out against works found in the open literature, while others will be done according to each phenomenon characteristics.

Effects of crystallization conditions on dielectric and ferroelectric properties of PZT thin films

This paper reports studies on dielectric and ferroelectric properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films crystallized by conventional thermal annealing (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in air, oxygen and nitrogen atmospheres to better understand, control and optimize these properties. The dielectric constant (epsilon) and dissipation factor (tan delta) values, at a frequency of 100 kHz; for film crystallized in air by CTA process, were 358 and 0.039, respectively. Considering the same frequency for film crystallized in air by RTA, these values were 611 and 0.026, respectively. The different dielectric values were justified by a space-charge or interfacial polarization in films, often characterized as Maxwell-Wagner type. This effect was also responsible to dispersion at frequencies above 1 MHz in film crystallized in air by CTA process and film crystallized by RTA in oxygen atmosphere. The film crystallized by RTA under nitrogen atmosphere presented an evident dispersion at frequencies around 100 Hz, characterized by an increase in both epsilon and tan delta. This dispersion was attributed to conductivity effects. The remanent polarization (P-r) and coercive field (E-c) were also obtained for all films. Films obtained from RTA in air presented higher P-r (17.8 muC cm(-2)) than film crystallized from CTA (7.8 muC cm(-2)). As a function of the crystallization atmospheres, films crystallized by RTA in air and nitrogen presented essentially the same P-r values (around 18 muC cm(-2)) but the P-r (3.9 muC cm(-2)) obtained from film crystallized under oxygen atmosphere was profoundly influenced.

A simplified Fermi Accelerator Model under quadratic frictional force

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A transmission problem for the Timoshenko system

In this work we study a transmission problem for the model of beams developed by S.P. Timoshenko [10]. We consider the case of mixed material, that is, a part of the beam has friction and the other is purely elastic. We show that for this type of material, the dissipation produced by the frictional part is strong enough to produce exponential decay of the solution, no matter how small is its size. We use the method of energy to prove exponential decay for the solution.

Daily dynamics of photosynthesis of the freshwater red alga Sirodotia delicatula (Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Stability of the trapped nonconservative Gross-Pitaevskii equation with attractive two-body interaction

The dynamics of a nonconservative Gross-Pitaevskii equation for trapped atomic systems with attractive two-body interaction is numerically investigated, considering wide variations of the nonconservative parameters, related to atomic feeding and dissipation. We study the possible limitations of the mean-field description for an atomic condensate with attractive two-body interaction, by defining the parameter regions, where stable or unstable formation can be found. The present study is useful and timely considering the possibility of large variations of attractive two-body scattering lengths, which may be feasible in recent experiments.

Dynamical mean-field study of strongly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate

The experimental results of Rb-85 Bose-Einstein condensates are analyzed within the mean-field approximation with time-dependent two-body interaction and dissipation due to three-body recombination. We found that the magnitude of the dissipation is consistent with the three-body theory for longer rise times. However, for shorter rise times, it occurs an enhancement of this parameter, consistent with a coherent dimer formation. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Solitary waves on a free surface of a heated Maxwell fluid

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)