Ciclo reprodutivo do caranguejo violinista Uca rapax (Smith) (Crustacea, Brachyura, Ocypodidae) habitante de um estuário degradado em Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

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

Desempenho de bovinos jovens das raças Aberdeen Angus e Hereford, confinados e alimentados com dois níveis de energia

Estudou-se o desempenho de bovinos machos não-castrados das raças Aberdeen Angus (AA) e Hereford (HE) em confinamento, submetidos a dois níveis de energia, em esquema fatorial 2 x 2, sendo o menor nível com 3,07 e o maior com 3,18 Mcal/kg de energia digestível (12 e 32% de concentrado na dieta, respectivamente). Foram utilizados oito animais da raça AA e oito HE, com idade inicial de nove meses e peso médio inicial de 220,31 kg, que permaneceram confinados até que o peso da carcaça atingiu o mínimo de 190 kg (estimativa). Os animais da raça AA apresentaram maior consumo de MS, em % PV (2,27 vs 2,10%) e em g/kg0,75 (91,4 vs 86,4 g). Os animais que consumiram o maior nível de energia na dieta apresentaram maiores consumos de MS/dia (6,31 vs 5,71 kg), em PV (2,26 vs 2,11%) e em g/kg0,75 (92,28 vs 85,44 g), de energia digestível (ED), em Mcal/dia (20,58 vs 18,13 Mcal), e de PB, em kg/dia (0,845 vs 0,759 kg), além de maior ganho médio diário de peso (1,409 vs 1,250 kg). Os animais que consumiram o menor nível apresentaram maiores consumos de fibra em detergente neutro (FDN), em kg/dia (2,23 vs 2,07 kg), e de fibra em detergente ácido (FDA), em kg/dia (1,13 vs 1,01 kg). Os consumos de MS/dia, de FDN e de FDA, nos animais que consumiram o menor nível de energia, tiveram comportamento linear e, naqueles que receberam o maior nível, comportamento quadrático, frente aos períodos de confinamento. Para as características consumo de MS, em %PV e em g/kg0,75, nos tratamentos com menor nível de energia, o comportamento foi de forma cúbica e naqueles de maior nível, de forma quadrática. O consumo de ED apresentou, nos períodos, comportamento linear para o menor nível energético e cúbico para o maior nível.

Evaporative water loss and oxygen uptake in two casque-headed tree frogs, Aparasphenodon brunoi and Corythomantis greeningi (Anura, Hylidae)

Evaporative water loss (EWL) and oxygen uptake ((V) over dot o(2)) was measured in two species of tree frogs with cranial co-ossification, Aparasphenodon brunoi and Corythomantis greeningi. Both species use their head to seal the entrance of bromeliads, tree holes or rocky crevices used as shelters. EWL was significantly reduced in sheltered individuals of both species as compared with those exposed nude to desiccation. EWL per unit area through the head surface was significantly lower than the body skin for A. brunoi but not for C., greeningi. EWL per unit surface area through C. greeningi body skin was about 50% that of A. brunoi, indicating a less permeable skin in the former species. The relationship between cranial coossification and EWL is discussed. ((V) over dot o(2)) in A. brunoi was comparable with other anurans of similar size, whereas in C. greeningi, it was lower than predicted from body mass. Moreover, ((V) over dot o(2)), in C. greeningi showed less sensitivity to temperature increase than in A. brunoi. C. greeningi occurs in a drier environment than A. brunoi, and this appears to be reflected in their EWL and ((V) over dot o(2)) characteristics. (C) 1997 Elsevier B.V.

Pressure field along the axis of a high-power klystron amplifier

The pressure field in a high-power klystron amplifier is investigated to scale the ionic vacuum pump used to maintain the ultra high-vacuum in the device in order to increase its life-time. The investigation is conducted using an 1.3 GHz, 100 A - 240 keV high-power klystron with five reentrant coaxial cavities, assembled in a cylindrical drift tube 1.2 m long. The diffusion equation is solved to the regime molecular flow to obtain the pressure profile along the axis of the klystron drift tube. The model, solved by both analytical and numerical procedures, is able to determine the pressure values in steady-state case. This work considers the specific conductance and all important gas sources, as in the degassing of the drift tube and cavities walls, cathode, and collector. For the drift tube degassing rate equals to q(deg) = 2x10(-12) (-)mbar.L.s(-1) cm(-2) (degassing rate per unit area), to cavities q(cavity) = 3x10(-13) mbar.L.s(-1)cm(-2), to the cathode q(cathode) = 6x10(-9)_mbar.L.s(-1) and to the collector q(collector) = 6x10(-9) mbar.L.s(-1), it was found that a 10 L.s(-1) ionic vacuum pump connected in the output waveguide wall is suitable. In this case, the pressure obtained in the cathode is p(cathode) = 6.3x10(-9) mbar, in the collector p(collector) = 2.7x10(-9) mbar, and in the output waveguide p = 2.1x10(-9) mbar. Although only the steady-state case is analyzed, some aspects that may be relevant in a transient situation, for instance, when the beam hits the drift tube walls, producing a gas burst, is also commented.

Desempenho Produtivo de Animais de Quatro Raças Zebuínas, Abatidos em Três Estádios de Maturidade. 1. Ganho de Peso e de Carcaça e Eficiência de Ganho

This research was conducted to evaluate the productive performance (live weight gain and carcass weight gain and gain efficiency) of animals from four zebu breed slaughtered in three maturity stages. Thirty-six bulls from Gyr, Guzera, Mocho Tabapua and Nellore with twenty-four months of average age and average initial live weight of 357.6, 362.0, 368.6 and 376.4 kg, respectively, were used. The bulls, from each breed, were randomly assigned to individual pens and were full-fed a diet containing 50% concentrate (DM basis) and distributed to three category (1, 2 and 3) of slaughter weights. The bulls from category 1, 2 and 3 were slaughtered when reached the individual live weight of 405, 450 and 500 kg, respectively. At slaughter the empty body weight was determined. The Nellore breed bulls showed greater average empty body weight gain and carcass gain in relation to the other breeds, which did not differ among themselves. There were no differences among breeds regarding to feed efficiency (empty body weight gain efficiency and carcass gain efficiency per unit of metabolizable energy intake). The slaughter weight did not influence the empty body weight gain and carcass gain, but animals slaughtered at higher slaughter weights showed lower gain efficiency and spent more time in feedlot.

Effect of lesion age, humidity, and fungicide application on sporulation of Alternaria alternata, the cause of brown spot of tangerine

Alternaria brown spot, caused by Alternaria alternata, causes yield losses and fruit blemishes on many tangerines and their hybrids in most citrus areas of the world where susceptible cultivars are grown. Although the conditions affecting infection and disease severity are known, little information is available on inoculum production on infected tissue. We found that sporulation on leaves began about 10 days after symptoms developed, was abundant from 20 to 40 days, and declined thereafter. Conidial production was far greater on leaf than on fruit or twig lesions. Spore production per unit area of leaf lesion was greater on the more susceptible hybrids, Minneola and Orlando tangelos, than on the less susceptible Murcott tangor. At 74% relative humidity, conidial production on leaf lesions was low, but it was abundant at 85, 92.5, 96, and 100%. Application of Q(o)I or copper fungicides, but not ferbam, suppressed sporulation on leaf lesions for about 14 to 21 days after application. Additional applications did not appear to be more effective than a single spray in reducing inoculum production.

Vibrational spectroscopy of the seselin crystal

Seselin, C14H12O3, is a coumarin which crystallizes in a monoclinic structure P2(1)/b(C-2h(5)) with four molecules per unit cell. In a Fourier-transform Raman spectroscopic study performed at room temperature, several normal modes were observed. Vibrational wavenumber and wave vector calculations using density functional theory were compared with experiment, which allowed the assignment of a number of normal modes of the crystal. Temperature-dependent Raman spectra were recorded between 10 and 300 K. No anomalies were observed in the phonon spectra, indicating that the monoclinic structure remains stable. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Tensile strength of radio frequency cold plasma treated PET fibers - Part 1: Influence of environment and treatment time

This article reports on a series of experiments with polyethylene terepthalate (PET) treated in a radio frequency plasma reactor using argon and oxygen as a gas fuel, for treatment times equal to 5 s, 20 s, 30 s, and 100 s. The mechanical strength modification of PET fibers, evaluated by tensile tests on monofilaments, showed that oxygen and argon plasma treatment resulted in a decrease in the average tensile strength compared with the untreated fibers. This reduction in tensile strength is more significant for argon plasma and is very sensitive to the treatment time for oxygen plasma. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) used to analyze the effects of cold plasma treatment on fiber surfaces indicates differences in roughness profiles depending on the type of treatments, which were associated with variations in mechanical strength. Differences in the roughness profile, surveyed through an image analysis method, provided the distance of roughness interval, D-ri. This parameter represents the number of peaks contained in a unit length and was introduced to correlate fiber surface condition, before and after cold plasma treatments, and average tensile strength. Statistical analysis of experimental data, using Weibull cumulative distribution and linear representation, was performed to explain influences of treatment time and environmental effects on mechanical properties. The shape parameter, alpha, and density parameter, beta, from the Weibull distribution function were used to indicate the experimental data range and to confirm the mechanical performance obtained experimentally.

Adubação nitrogenada e idade de corte na produção de matéria seca do capim-elefante no Cerrado

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the application of N fertilizer and the cutting age on the dry biomass production of elephant grass. The experiment was performed with the variety Paraiso and planted in a Ferralsol in 2008 in the district of Gurupi (State of Tocantins). Four different rates of urea application were tested (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha(-1)) and harvests were made at 120, 150 or 180 days after germination (DAG) of the setts. The dry matter and total N accumulation were evaluated. Dry matter production increased with dose of N, the greatest effect being observed at 180 DAG. There was a linear increase in dry matter (R-2 = 0.75**) and N accumulation (R-2 = 0.96**) permitting a productivity of 34 t ha(-1) of dry matter and an accumulation of 471 kg N ha(-1). The N utilization efficiency (biomass production per unit of applied N) increased with plant age. The higher efficiency of N use favored the quality of biomass production for energy production owing to the higher fibre content.

Applicability of the equations of Freundlich and Langmuir to the adsorption of the azo dye procion scarlet on paramorphic colonies of Neurospora crassa.

Experiments on the adsorption of Procion Scarlet MX-G by normal hyphae and by paramorphic colonies of Neurospora crassa were performed at pH 2.5, 4.5 and 6.5 at 30 degrees C. The measured adsorption isotherms were evaluated by the Freundlich and Langmuir equations. The removal of dye was most effective at pH 2.5 and more dye was adsorbed per unit mass of cells in the paramorphic cultures than in the normal hyphae. The statistical tests showed Langmuir's equation to give a better fit to the adsorption data.

Structure of tick anticoagulant peptide at 1.6 Å resolution complexed with bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor

The structure of tick anticoagulant peptide (TAP) has been determined by X-ray crystallography at t.6 Å resolution complexed with bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). The TAP-BPTI crystals are tetragonal, a = b = 46.87, c = 50.35 Å, space group P41, four complexes per unit cell. The TAP molecules are highly dipolar and form an intermolecular helical array along the c-axis with a diameter of about 45 Å. Individual TAP units interact in a head-to-tail fashion, the positive end of one molecule associating with the distal negative end of another, and vice versa. The BPTI molecules have a uniformly distributed positively charged surface that interacts extensively through 14 hydrogen bonds and two hydrogen bonded salt bridges with the helical groove around the helical TAP chains. Comparing the structure of TAP in TAP-BPTI with TAP bound to factor Xa(Xa) suggests a massive reorganization in the N-terminal tetrapeptide and the first disulfide loop of TAP (CyS5(T)- Cys 15(T)) upon binding to Xa. The Tyr1(T)OH atom of TAP moves 14.2 Å to interact with Asp189 of the S1 specificity site, Arg3(T)CZ moves 5.0 Å with the guanidinium group forming a cation-π-electron complex in the S4 subsite of Xa, while Lys7(T)NZ differs in position by 10.6 Å in TAP-BPTI and TAP-Xa, all of which indicates a different pre-Xa-bound conformation for the N- terminal of TAP in its native state. In contrast to TAP, the BPTI structure of TAP-BPTI is practically the same as all those of previously determined structures of BPTI, only arginine and lysine side-chain conformations showing significant differences.

Drought tolerance of two field-grown clones of Coffea canephora

We compared tolerance to soil drought of two field-grown clones of Coffea canephora (clone 46, drought-sensitive; and clone 120, drought-tolerant). Under irrigation, there were no marked differences between the clones in water relation parameters, gas exchange and total leaf area. Under rainfed conditions, clone 46 showed osmotic adjustment and increased tissue rigidity. These adjustments, however, were incapable of preventing substantial decreases in xylem pressure potential. By contrast, clone 120 did not exhibit osmotic adjustment, but was able to increase tissue elasticity and to maintain xylem pressure potentials to a greater extent than clone 46 (despite having twice the total leaf area of this clone). Stomatal conductance was lowered by drought in clone 120 but not in clone 46. Carbon assimilation per unit leaf area in both clones remained unaffected under stress. Long-term water use efficiency (WUE), as estimated through carbon isotope discrimination, was consistently greater in clone 120 than in clone 46. Because of these traits, clone 120 was better able to postpone dehydration and to maintain whole-tree photosynthesis. It is proposed that these features should decisively contribute to buffer its productivity in drought-prone areas. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of the population structure of the fiddler crab Uca vocator (Herbst, 1804) from three subtropical mangrove forests

The population structure of U. vocator was investigated during a one-year period in three mangrove forests in southeast Brazil. The study specifically addressed comparisons on individual size juvenile recruitment and sex-ratio. The structure of the mangrove forests, i.e. density, basal area, and diameter, and the physical properties of sediments. i.e. texture and organic matter contents, were also examined. A catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) technique was used to sample the crab populations using 15-min sampling periods by two people. Males always outnumbered females, probably due to ecological and behavioural attributes of these crabs. The median size of fiddler crabs differed among the sampled populations. The mangroves at Indaiá and Itamambuca showed higher productivity than those at Itapanhaú, where oil spills impacting the shore were reported. Marked differences were found regarding individual size, either their size at the onset of sexual maturity or their asymptotic size, suggesting that food availability may be favouring growth in the studied populations.

Relación entre el recuento de células somáticas y la producción de leche de búfalas en el estado de São Paulo, Brasil

Mastitis is an inflammatory process in the udder that can affect the quality and quantity of milk produced causing economic losses and risks for health. Considering the somatic cell count (SCCs) as indicator of udder health and the milk yield (MY) of buffaloes from São Paulo State, this study aimed to quantify the related losses in milk due to somatic cells count (SCC). 9404 sources of information from 2198 lactations that occurred between 1997 and 2004 were analysed. There was no relation between MY and the SCCs in the buffaloes at first parity. For the second parity in the months 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 of lactation, there was a negative and significant relationship between SCCs and MY. For parities of three or more there was a significant and negative regression coefficient during every month of lactation betrween MY and SCC. The average losses varied from 0,18 to 2,2 milk liters per unit of SCCs. The results indicated large losses observed in the miltiparous buffaloes and that this category needs received special attention in terms of udder health. The effect of farm, parity and year, must be considered comparison between animals.

Análise de fraturamentos para determinação de áreas instáveis na faixa de dutos Osvat/Osplan - São Sebastião, em São Paulo

The present work aimed at characterizing geological features that identify areas with high ruptibility (fracturing) in the Osvat/Osplan pipeline in São Sebastião, São Paulo. The analysis of ruptile geological structures (lines of strikes and structural lineaments) through the use of orbital remote sensing was used as systematic mapping. The analysis of these features enables the inference of factors, such as permeability, infiltration and degree of shear in the region, factors which influence the processes of erosion and landslides in the area. On the map of structural lineaments, points of lineaments intersection from different directions were analyzed, followed by the counting of the frequency of these items per unit area, allowing the statistical modeling of spatial distribution, generating the map of density of structural lineament intersections, which allows determining areas with the highest percolation of fluid in the rock structure. However, on the map of lines of strikes, a space analysis was conducted to identify the two directions with higher frequency of lines of strikes in order to establish the maximums 1 and 2 and to identify the areas of abrupt changes of direction of these strike lines. In such areas where abrupt changes of directions of maximum lines of strikes occur, consequently there will be intense percolation of fluids, responsible for higher alterability of the rock/soil complex, facilitating the installation of erosion processes and landslides, increasing the area instability and consequently the vulnerability of the pipeline.