Preparation of Fe-Cr-P-Co amorphous alloys by electrodeposition

The effects of bath composition and electroplating conditions on structure, morphology, and composition of amorphous Fe-Cr-P-Co deposits on AISI 1020 steel substrate, priorly plated with a thin Cu deposit, were investigated. The increase of charge density activates the inclusion of Cr in the deposit. However, above specific values of the charge density, which depend on the deposition current density, the Cr content in the deposit decreases. This Cr content decreasing is probably due to the significant hydrogen evolution with the increasing of deposition cur-rent and charge density. The effect of charge density on the content of Fe and Co is not clear. However, there is a tendency of increasing of Fe content and decreasing of Co content with the raising of current density. The Co is more easily deposited than the P, and its presence results in a more intense inhibition effect on the Cr deposition than the inhibition effect caused by P presence. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that Co increasing in the Fe-Cr-P-Co alloys analyzed does not promote the susceptibility to microcracks, which led to a good quality deposit. The passive film of the Fe-Cr-P-Co alloy shows a high ability formation and high protective capacity, and the results obtained by current density of corrosion, j(cor), show that the deposit with addition of Co, Fe31Cr11P28Co30, presents a higher corrosion resistance than the deposit with addition of Ni, Fe54Cr21P20Ni5. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Variabilidade espacial do fósforo e das frações granulométricas de um Latossolo Vermelho Amarelo

This study was conducted to study the spatial variability of phosphorus, estimating it through cokriging taking as covariables the size fractions of soil. The study was conducted at the experimental farm INCAPER-ES. The soil was sampled in the canopy projection of culture and depth of 0-0.20 meters in an irregular mesh with 109 points. The data were initially submitted to a descriptive analysis and correlation. Through geostatistics was made the adjustment of the variograms. The P showed significant correlation with the sand and clay fractions indicating that areas with higher concentrations of clay have lower availability of this nutrient. Both fractions have equal performance as co-variable in the estimate of the levels of P in the soil.

Lagrangian heuristic for a class of the generalized assignment problems

A Lagrangian based heuristic is proposed for many-to-many assignment problems taking into account capacity limits for task and agents. A modified Lagrangian bound studied earlier by the authors is presented and a greedy heuristic is then applied to get a feasible Lagrangian-based solution. The latter is also used to speed up the subgradient scheme to solve the modified Lagrangian dual problem. A numerical study is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Amino Acids on Mango Yield and Fruit Quality at Submedio Sao Francisco Region, Brazil

Farmers of the Submedio Sao Francisco Region (Brazil) have been spraying amino acids on mango trees with the objective of increasing panicle length and improving fruit retention and quality. This study, done in two experiments, tested the effect of amino acids sprayings at concentrations of 0.0%; 0.02%; 0.04% and 0.06%, on mango plants, 'Tommy Atkins', on the budding phase (panicles with 5 cm), fruit set and fruit growth (5 cm diameter). They were carried out from June to October in 2003, that is the natural period for harvest in the region, and from January to May, in 2004. There were no statistical differences in the first experiment among treatments regarding panicle length and fruit production, probably due to an appropriate management of nutrition, water and plant growth regulators, besides climatic conditions, mainly temperature and solar radiation. In the second experiment, significant increments in the panicle length of 13.37%, 11.70% and 21.4% were observed with amino acids concentrations, compared to the control. Increasing amino acids doses also enhanced the number of fruits per plant, thirty days before the harvest, in 16.17%, 45.32% and 37.38%, respectively, compared to the control, but there were no significant statistical differences. Characteristics of fruit quality during storage, as weight loss, total soluble solids, total titratable acidity and pulp firmness were not significantly affected by amino acids spraying. Changes on those variables were registered as a consequence of fruit ripening. Amino acids sprays lightly delayed the evolution of skin luminosity and Hue of pulp, but the differences could not be visually identified. The concentrations of amino acids were not efficient for improving the natural concentrations of these substances in the leaves, which could be the reason for the non significant effects on the variables analyzed.

Chemiluminescence induced in the laser-promoted reaction of ethanol with oxygen

The vibrational multiphoton excitation of ethanol in the presence of oxygen results in chemiluminescent reactions yielding CH* and C*2. The rise times of the chemiluminescence become progressively slower and the intensity increases with ad-O2 pressure. At 15 Torr of O2 the emission duration is longer than 10 μs. © 1983.

Nonlinear (2+1)-dimensional systems solvable through asymptotic modules

Some nonlinear differential systems in (2+1) dimensions are characterized by means of asymptotic modules involving two poles and a ring of linear differential operators with scalar coefficients.Rational and soliton-like are exhibited. If these coefficients are rational functions, the formalism leads to nonlinear evolution equations with constraints. © 1989.

Distribución geográfica etaria y racial de la hemoglobina S en Brasil.

OBJECTIVES: This paper was meant to analyse distribution of HbS carriers in Brazil, comprising its regional prevalence and the relationship with racial settlement and age groups. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 67,667 blood samples from 48 Brazilian towns were analysed from 1976 to 1988. Such samples were classified as Caucasoid and Negroid. The diagnosis was defined by means of qualitative electrophoresis in alkaline and acid pH, quantification of haemoglobin fractions, cytological studies and some cases were confirmed after examination of the parents. RESULTS: The study of those 67,667 samples allowed us to detect 1,492 HbS carriers (2.2%). That frequency is higher among Negroids (5.16%) than among Caucasoids (1.22%): Z = 22.1397 (Zcritical; 0.05 = 1.9600). Taking the HbS carrier distribution into consideration, we noticed that it is relatively homogeneous among Negroids and higher than 5% in 9 out of the 16 areas involved in the study. By classifying the age group of the areas in the general sample and by comparing the proportions, we found out that there are significant differences (chi 2 = 50.88; chi 2 critical; 0.05; 5 gl = 11.070). CONCLUSIONS: Sickle-cell anaemia diseases play an important role among the pathologies found in several countries, including Brazil. This paper shows that the carriers prevalence varies in the several areas under study and is higher among Negroids in almost all of them. The decreasing frequency occurring from North to South in the general samples and among Caucasoids may be assigned to the contribution of the Negroes in the interracial crossing, particularly in the Northeast.

Characteristics of the histamine release from hamster cheek pouch mast cells stimulated by lectins from Brazilian beans and concanavalin A

We have characterized the histamine releasing effects of lectins extracted from Brazilian beans, in comparison to concanavalin A, in hamster cheek pouch cell suspensions containing mast cells. The lectins from Dioclea virgata, Canavalia brasiliensis, and Dioclea rostrata induce histamine release in a similar manner to concanavalin A, but appear to differ in potency and efficacy. The effects depended on the temperature, pH, and metabolic energy, demonstrating the non-cytotoxic nature of the histamine release. It is suggested that the lectins studied act by the same mechanism as concanavalin A (interacting with sugars in the antibodies bound to the mast cells), since high concentrations of glucose inhibit the histamine release. The lectins at high concentrations quench the histamine release. This suppression is reversed by increasing calcium concentration, suggesting that the lectins bind to the calcium that is essential for the secretion, thereby confirming and extending our previous data using the lectin from Dioclea virgata in rat peritoneal mast cells.

Tumores da glandula tireoide. Estudo retrospectivo de 130 casos com enfase especial em biopsia aspirativa, biopsia de congelacao e exame histopatologico

The authors studied retrospectively 130 patients with thyroid tumors comparing the histopathologic diagnoses with fine needle aspirate (FNA) and frozen section results. FNA was performed in 118 patients with the following results: 75 (63.6%) benign, 21 (17.8%) malignant and 22 (18.6%) not conclusives. In seven cases false-negative result was obtained and there were six false-positive. These data reveals some drawbacks of this procedure. These results indicated that frozen as well as FNA are useful diagnostic procedure in helping to choose the most appropriate therapy in patients with thyroid tumors. On the other hand, traditional methods seems to be also important methods, such as scintilography, in the evaluation of thyroid diseases.

Synthesis, characterization and molecular structures of the pyridinium trans-bis(pyridine)tetrachlororuthenate(III) and pyridinium trans-(carbonyl)(pyridine)tetrachlororuthenate(III)

The pyH[trans-RuCl4(py)2](1) and pyH[trans-RuCl4(CO)(py)](2) complexes were synthesized and found to crystallize in space group P21/n, Z = 4 with a = 8.080(7), b = 22.503(7), c = 10.125(6) Å, β = 93.19(6)° for (1) and a = 7.821(1), b = 10.337(3), c = 19.763(3) Å, β = 93.07(1)° for (2). The structures were solved by Patterson and difference Fourier techniques and refined to R = 0.062 for (1) and R = 0.038 for (2). In both cases the Ru(III) ion is octahedrally coordinated to four co-planar chlorine atoms, the nitrogen of the pyridine rings or carbon from the carbon monoxide. Another protonated pyridine group, which forms the counter-cation completes the crystal structures. The UV-Vis absorption spectra show three bands: (1) 360 (ε = 1180 M-1 cm-1), 441 (ε = 3200 M-1 cm-1) and 532 nm (ε = 400 M-1 cm-1); (2) 315(ε = 1150 M-1 cm-1), 442 (ε = 3170 M-1 cm-1) and 530 nm (ε = 390 M-1 cm-1). The two higher energy bands were associated with ligand-to-metal charge transfer transitions and a third band at lower energy was assigned to a d-d transition. Low temperature EPR data confirmed the presence of the paramagnetically active Ru(III) and it is consistent with axial symmetry of the complexes. The position of the stretching CO band in complex (2) is discussed in terms of metal-CO backbonding.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease: A case report

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a viral infection related to coxsackieviruses A5, A6, A9, and A10, coxsackieviruses B2 and B5, and echovirus 11. It generally affects children, but this article presents a clinical case of a young woman with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Patients with this disease have oral and skin lesions that may be confused with other diseases. The differential diagnosis is very important because both dental and medical professionals may misdiagnose the disease and sometimes prescribe an inappropriate medication.

Chiral parameters in a QCD-motivated model with confined and massive gluons

A one parameter model of a confined-gluon propagator has been formulated by Frank and Roberts recently, which has a great success explaining π - and p - meson observables. We show, computing few chiral parameters, that a small variation of this model considering an infrared finite gluon propagator with a dynamically generated gluon mass, can also fit data related to the chiral symmetry breaking. This allows a direct interpretation for the unique parameter involved in the model as the gluon mass scale. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of different routes of flush perfusion on the distribution of lung preservation solutions in parenchyma and airways

Objective: The present study was performed to investigate the influence of different routes of perfusion on the distribution of the preservation solutions in the lung parenchyma and upper airways. Methods: Pigs were divided into four groups: control (n = 6), pulmonary artery (PA) (n = 6), simultaneous PA + bronchial artery (BA) (n = 8), and retrograde delivery (n = 6). After preparation and cannulation, cardioplegia solution and Euro- Collins solution (ECS) for lung preservation were given simultaneously. After removal of the heart, the double lung bloc was harvested. Following parameters were assessed: total and regional perfusion (dye-labeled microspheres), tissue water content, PA, aorta, left atrial and left ventricular pressures, cardiac output and lung temperature. Results: Our data show that flow of the ECS in lung parenchyma did not reach control values (9.4 ± 1.0 ml/min per g lung wet weight) regardless of the route of delivery (PA 6.3 ± 1.5, PA + BA 4.8 ± 0.9, retrograde 2.7 ± 0.9 ml/min per g lung wet weight). However, flow in the proximal and distal trachea were significantly increased by PA + BA delivery (0.970 ± 0.4, respectively, 0.380 ± 0.2 ml/min per g) in comparison with PA (0.023 ± 0.007, respectively, 0.024 ± 0.070 ml/min per g), retrograde (0.009 ± 0.003, respectively, 0.021 ± 0.006 ml/min per g) and control experiments (0.125 ± 0.0018, respectively, 0.105 ± 0.012 ml/g per min). Similarly the highest flow rates in the right main bronchus were achieved by PA + BA delivery (1.04 ± 0.4 ml/min per g) in comparison with 0.11 ± 0.03 in control, 0.033 ± 0.008 in PA, and 0.019 ± 0.005 ml/min per g in retrograde group. Flows in the left main bronchus were 0.09 ± 0.02 ml/min per g in control, 0.045 ± 0.012 ml/min per g in PA, and 0.027 ± 0.006 ml/min per g in retrograde group. The flow rates were significantly (P = 0.001) increased by PA + BA delivery of the storage solution (0.97 ± 0.3 ml/min per g). Conclusions: Our data show that the distribution of ECS for lung preservation is significantly improved in airway tissues (trachea and bronchi) if a simultaneous PA + BA delivery is used.