Colored polyethylene soil covers and grafting effects on cucumber flowering and yield

O pepino (Cucumis sativus L.) é, dentre os produtos hortícolas, um dos mais visados para o cultivo em estufas no Brasil devido ao ciclo vegetativo curto e ao elevado valor econômico no período da entressafra. Estudou-se, em condições de ambiente protegido, a influência de diferentes cores de cobertura plástica de solo no florescimento e na produção de pepino híbrido 'Yoshinari' enxertado ou não sobre abóbora híbrida 'Ikky'. Os tratamentos de cobertura foram: preto, preto pintado de branco, verde, e sem cobertura. Os tratamentos cobertos com plástico e sem enxertia apresentaram florescimento com distribuição mais uniforme na planta. O número de flores foi superior no tratamento preto/branco enxertado. Para as plantas não enxertadas, todas as coberturas favoreceram o florescimento. A enxertia favoreceu o florescimento somente para os tratamentos com plástico preto ou verde. A fixação dos frutos aumentou pelo uso de cobertura plástica, mas a enxertia não teve influência. A distribuição uniforme do florescimento manteve-se na frutificação apenas para os tratamentos com plantas enxertadas e cobertura do solo com plástico preto ou verde. Tanto o uso de cobertura plástica quanto a enxertia favoreceram a colheita precoce. Os frutos de melhor qualidade e as maiores produções, em número de frutos, foram obtidos nos tratamentos preto e preto/branco, não enxertados. A enxertia 'Yoshinari'/'Ikky' provocou o aparecimento de frutos mais grossos e menores, fora do padrão de comercialização.

Comparison of the properties of compacted and porous lamellar chitosan-xanthan membranes as dressings and scaffolds for the treatment of skin lesions

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

Analysis of the accumulated energy by thermal stratification of liquid inside storage tanks with porous layers

A mathematical model was developed in order to study the behavior of thermal stratification of liquid in a typical storage tank with porous medium. The model employs a transient stream function-vorticity formulation to predict the development of stream function and temperature fields in a charging process. Parameters analyzed include Biot, Darcy, Reynolds and Richardson numbers, position, and the thickness of the porous medium. The results show the influence of these physical parameters that should be considered for a good design of storage tanks with thermal stratification.

Extended class of exact twistons and crystalline polyethylene

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Modification of polyethylene terephthalate by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in view of improving the polymer wetting properties

Surface treatment of polymers by discharge plasmas has increasingly found industrial applications due to its capability of modifying uniformly the surface without changing the material bulk properties. This work deals with surface modification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) at atmospheric pressure. The treatments were conducted in air, nitrogen or argon plasma. The polymer surface was characterized by contact angle measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that the plasma treatment introduces oxygen-and nitrogen-related polar groups on the polymer surface and promotes the surface roughening. Both plasma-induced surface modifications contribute to the enhancement of the polymer wettability.

Alumina porous ceramics: mathematical behavior at different commercial starch concentration

Several researches have been developed in order to verify the porosity effect over the ceramic material properties. The starch consolidation casting (SCC) allows to obtain porous ceramics by using starch as a binder and pore forming element. This work is intended to describe the porous mathematical behavior and the mechanical resistance at different commercial starch concentration. Ceramic samples were made with alumina and potato and corn starches. The slips were prepared with 10 to 50 wt% of starch. The specimens were characterized by apparent density measurements and three-point flexural test associated to Weibull statistics. Results indicated that the porosity showed a first-order exponential equation e(-x/c) increasing in both kinds of starches, so it was confirmed that the alumina ceramic porosity is related to the kind of starch used. The mechanical resistance is represented by a logarithmic expression R = A + B/1+10((Log(x0)-P)C).

On the characterisation of electrically stressed polyethylene before and after chemical treatment

Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was characterised for its dielectric and electrical properties before and after chemical treatment. A reduction in the permittivity and dielectric loss was observed in the polymer after treatment with hexane. The intensity in the Raman Spectrum in the disordered longitudinal acoustic mode region (DLAM) also was reduced due to a hexane treatment. Using thermally stimulated discharge current (TSDC) and laser-intensity-modulated method (LIMM) techniques it was observed that charge injection can be enhanced in the polymer matrix in the empty sites, created by the removal of the low molecular weight impurities with chemical treatment. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Ferrocene adsorbed into the porous octakis(hydridodimethylsiloxy) silsesquioxane after thermolysis in tetrahydrofuran media: An applied surface for ascorbic acid determination

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

POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL ADDITION DOES NOT IMPROVE EXOGENOUS SURFACTANT FUNCTION IN AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL of MECONIUM ASPIRATION SYNDROME

Meconium (MEC) is a potent inactivator of pulmonary surfactant. The authors studied the effects of polyethylene glycol addition to the exogenous surfactant over the lung mechanics and volumes. Human meconium was administrated to newborn rabbits. Animals were ventilated for 20 minutes and dynamic compliance, ventilatory pressure, and tidal volume were recorded. Animals were randomized into 3 study groups: MEC group (without surfactant therapy); S100 group (100 mg/kg surfactant); and PEG group (100 mg/kg porcine surfactant plus 5% PEG). After ventilation, a pulmonary pressure-volume curve was built. Histological analysis was carried out to calculate the mean alveolar size (Lm) and the distortion index (DI). Both groups treated with surfactant showed higher values of dynamic pulmonary compliance and lower ventilatory pressure, compared with the MEC group (P .05). S100 group had a larger maximum lung volume, V30, compared with the MEC group (P .05). Lm and DI values were smaller in the groups treated with surfactant than in the MEC group (P .05). No differences were observed between the S100 and PEG groups. Animals treated with surfactant showed significant improvement in pulmonary function as compared to nontreated animals. PEG added to exogenous surfactant did not improve lung mechanics or volumes.

Effect of surfactants and polyethylene glycol on the activity and stability of a lipase from oilseeds of Pachira aquatica

Lipases from oilseeds have a great potential for commercial exploration as industrial enzymes. Lipases are used mixed with surfactants in cleaning and other formulated products, and accordingly, both components must be compatible with each other. This work presents the results of the effects of anionic, cationic and nonionic surfactants, polyethylene glycol and urea on the activity and stability of a lipase extracted of oilseeds from Pachira aquatica. The enzyme was purified and the spectrophotometric assays were done using p-nitrophenyl acetate (p-NPA) as substrate pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C. The activity was significantly enhanced by the cationic surfactant CTAB. Bile salts increased the lipase activity in the tested concentration range, whereas anionic and nonionic surfactants showed an inhibitory effect. Aqueous solutions of PEG activated the lipase and maximum activation (161%) occurred in PEG 12,000. This effect on lipase that can be due to exposition of some hydrophobic residues located in the vicinity of the active site or aggregation.

Novel production method of porous surface Ti samples for biomedical application

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

Porous titanium for biomedical applications: An experimental study on rabbits

Objective: The aim of this study was to carry out an in vivo assessment of bone ingrowth in two different types of porous titanium -the first being completely porous, and the second with a porous surface and dense nucleus, manufactured by powder metallurgy- and to evaluate their mechanical properties. Study design: Ten scaffolds from each group were submitted to metallographic analysis and compression tests. Next, two scaffolds of each type were inserted into 14 rabbits, which were sacrificed 8 weeks after surgery. The samples were submitted for histological examination. Results: Metallographic analysis revealed interconnected pores, and the average interconnected pore diameter was about 360 mm, with 36% total porosity. The totally porous titanium samples and the titanium samples with porous surface and dense nucleus showed an average compressive strength of 16.19 MPa and 69.27 MPa, respectively. After 8 weeks, the animals showed bone ingrowth, even into the most internal pores. Conclusions: The pore morphology was effective in permitting bone ingrowth in both groups. Titanium scaffolds with a porous surface and dense nucleus showed the best mechanical properties and most adequate interface.

An exact equation for the free surface of a fluid in a porous medium

We study the problem of the evolution of the free surface of a fluid in a saturated porous medium, bounded from below by a. at impermeable bottom, and described by the Laplace equation with moving-boundary conditions. By making use of a convenient conformal transformation, we show that the solution to this problem is equivalent to the solution of the Laplace equation on a fixed domain, with new variable coefficients, the boundary conditions. We use a kernel of the Laplace equation which allows us to write the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator, and in this way we are able to find an exact differential-integral equation for the evolution of the free surface in one space dimension. Although not amenable to direct analytical solutions, this equation turns out to allow an easy numerical implementation. We give an explicit illustrative case at the end of the article.

Nonzero Gap Two-Dimensional Carbon Allotrope from Porous Graphene

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Preparation of hierarchically structured porous aluminas by a dual soft template method

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)