Influence of an inert electrolyte on the morphology of quasi-two-dimensional electrodeposits

The influence of an inert electrolyte (sodium sulfate) on quasi-two-dimensional copper electrodeposition from a nondeaerated aqueous copper sulfate solution has been analyzed. The different morphologies for a fixed concentration of CuSO4 have been classified in a diagram in terms of the applied potential and the inert electrolyte concentration. The main conclusion is the extension of the well-known Ohmic model for the homogeneous growth regime for copper sulfate solutions with small amounts of sodium sulfate. Moreover, we have observed the formation of fingerlike deposits at large applied potential and inert electrolyte concentration values, before hydrogen evolution becomes the main electrode reaction.

Balance del siglo XIX: la medicina

Amb motiu del Quart Congrés d'Història de la Medicina Catalana, es publica aquest recull d'articles del Doctor Robert, aparescuts a La Vanguardia a partir del 1901 i que aporten un testimoni directe d'un moment àlgid de la medicina catalana. Els recopil·ladors, en Josep M. Calbet i en Jacint Corbella, pretenen també destacar la implicació política d'aquest personatge tan rellevant.

Energy balance, physical activity, and thermogenic effect of feeding in premature infants.

In order to assess the contribution of the thermogenic effect of feeding and muscular activity to total energy expenditure, nine premature infants were studied for 2 consecutive days during which time repeated measurements of energy expenditure by indirect calorimetry were performed throughout the day, combined with a visual activity score based on body movement. The infants were growing at 16.6 +/- 4.0 g/kg/day (mean +/- SD) and received 110 +/- 8 kcal/kg/day metabolizable energy (milk formula) and 522 +/- 40 mgN/kg/day. Their total energy expenditure was 68 +/- 4 kcal/kg/day indicating that 41 +/- 7 kcal/kg/day was retained for growth. Based on the combination of energy + N balances it was estimated that 80% of the weight gain was fat-free tissue and 20% was fat tissue. The rate of energy expenditure measured minute-by-minute was significantly and linearly correlated with the activity score in both the premeal (r = 0.75;p less than 0.001) and the postmeal periods (r = 0.74; p less than 0.001) with no difference in the regression slope, but with a significant difference in intercept. In preset feeding schedules the latter allowed an estimation of the thermogenic effect without the confounding effect of activity. This was found to be 3.1 +/- 1.8% when expressed as a percentage of metabolizable energy intake. However when the "classical" approach was used as a comparison (integration of extra energy expenditure induced by the meal), the thermogenic effect was found to be greater, i.e. 9.5 +/- 3.8% of the meal's metabolizable energy, due to the superimposed effect of physical activity in the postprandial state.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

El Graduado Superior en Arqueología. Balance de una experiencia docente en la Universidad de Barcelona (2000-2005)

La universidad de Barcelona inició la docencia de la Prehistoria y la Arqueología en 1916 con P. Bosch Gimpera. Desde entonces la arqueología en la universidad de Barcelona ha tenido una brillante trayectoria y ha conocido diversos planes de estudio cuyas vicisitudes se presentan brevemente. La experiencia acumulada a lo largo de casi un siglo de enseñanza e investigación ha servido para organizar un título propio de Arqueología: el Graduado Superior en Arqueología, que lleva cuatro cursos funcionando. De esta experiencia piloto se presenta la estructura del título, la viabilidad del mismo por la demanda social existente y, finalmente, se apoya la idea de petición de un Grado de Arqueología como mejor fórmula para el futuro de la Arqueología en la universidad

Un balance muy positivo para el nuevo sistema comercio electronico/TIPS

El nuevo sistema de Comercio Electrónico/TIPS há mostrado un crecimiento constante alcanzando un promedio mensual del 565%. El acceso a WEB se realiza a través de nódulos internacionales de TIPS en Internet, en América Latina (tips.org.uy), en Europa (www.tips.org) y en los Estados Unidos (www.redtips.org), así como en diferentes nódulos nacionales. La red en América Latina está desarrollando una estrategia de alianza con los principales provedores de Internet, para ofrecer una mejor calidad de acceso y una cobertura más amplia, impulsando acuerdos en todos los países y en diversas regiones, lo que permitirá incrementar sustancialmente la promoción electrónica del uso de este servicio. El departamento de "TIPS image" está haciendo las pruebas finales para lanzamiento en breve, en toda la región, del CD-ROM, "Internet para Empresarios - Comercio Electrónico para Pymes", en dos versiones, en idioma español y portugués.

Aspects of leaf anatomy of kudzu (Pueraria lobata, Leguminosae-Faboideae) related to water and energy balance

Kudzu is a cover crop that has escaped cultivation in some subtropical and warm temperate regions. Kudzu has previously demonstrated broad intraspecific physiological plasticity while colonizing new environments. The objective of this paper was to investigate characteristics of kudzu leaflet anatomy that might contribute to its successful growth in climatically distinct environments, and to escape cultivation as well. Fresh and fixed leaflet strips of field-grown plants were analyzed. The lower epidermis of kudzu showed a higher frequency of stomata (147 ± 19 stomata mm-2) than the upper epidermis (26 ± 17 stomata mm-2). The average number of trichomes per square milimeter was 8 for both the upper and the lower epidermis. The average trichome length was 410 ± 200 mum for the upper epidermis and 460 ± 190 mum for the lower epidermis. Cuticle thickness was not considerably different between lower and upper epidermis. The leaflet blade consisted basically of two layers (upper and lower) of unicellular epidermis, two layers of palisade parenchyma and one layer of spongy parenchyma. One layer of paraveinal mesophyll was found between palisade and spongy parenchyma. In conclusion, leaflets of kudzu present anatomical characteristics that might contribute to the broad physiological plasticity shown by kudzu.

Radiation and energy balance of lettuce culture inside a polyethylene greenhouse

The objective of this paper was to describe the radiation and energy balance, during the lettuce (Lactuca sativa, L. cv. Verônica) crop cycle inside a polyethylene greenhouse. The radiation and energy balance was made inside a tunnel greenhouse with polyethylene cover (100 mum) and in an external area, both areas with 35 m². Global, reflected and net radiation, soil heat flux and air temperature (dry and humid) were measured during the crop cycle. A Datalogger, which operated at 1 Hz frequency, storing 5 minutes averages was utilized. The global (K¯) and reflected (K­) radiations showed that the average transmission of global radiation (K¯in / K¯ex) was almost constant, near to 79.59%, while the average ratio of reflected radiation (K­in / K­ex) was 69.21% with 8.47% standard-deviation. The normalized curves of short-wave net radiation, in relation to the global radiation (K*/ K¯), found for both environments, were almost constant at the beginning of cycle; this relation decreased in the final stage of culture. The normalized relation (Rn/ K¯) was bigger in the external area, about 12%, when the green culture covered the soil surface. The long-wave radiation balance average (L*) was bigger outside, about 50%. The energy balance, estimated in terms of vertical fluxes, showed that, for the external area, in average, 83.07% of total net radiation was converted in latent heat evaporation (LE), and 18% in soil heat flux (G), and 9.96% in sensible heat (H), while inside of the greenhouse, 58.71% of total net radiation was converted in LE, 42.68% in H, and 28.79% in G.

Adaptacion al medio y transformacion artesanal: balance actual de las investigaciones acerca del alfar medieval de Cabrera d'Anoia

Las investigaciones sobre Cabrera d"Anoia (Barcelona) han avanzado de forma considerable en los últimos años. La caracterización de los materiales y el estudio de la documentación arqueológica han logrado definir un particular sistema de producción de cerámica que se desarrolla en un marco rupestre de dimensiones limitadas. Una situación que obliga a la modificación continua del área de trabajo en beneficio de las actividades productivas. Este artículo analiza ese proceso de adaptación y transformación permanente del espacio artesanal a partir de los datos proporcionados por el yacimiento. Se trata, en consecuencia, de esbozar un primer balance de los resultados más recientes tras 20 años de investigación sobre este alfar.

Smart instrumentation for determination of ligament stiffness and ligament balance in total knee arthroplasty.

Ligament balance is an important and subjective task performed during total knee arthroplasty (TKA) procedure. For this reason, it is desirable to develop instruments to quantitatively assess the soft-tissue balance since excessive imbalance can accelerate prosthesis wear and lead to early surgical revision. The instrumented distractor proposed in this study can assist surgeons on performing ligament balance by measuring the distraction gap and applied load. Also the device allows the determination of the ligament stiffness which can contribute a better understanding of the intrinsic mechanical behavior of the knee joint. Instrumentation of the device involved the use of hall-sensors for measuring the distractor displacement and strain gauges to transduce the force. The sensors were calibrated and tested to demonstrate their suitability for surgical use. Results show the distraction gap can be measured reliably with 0.1mm accuracy and the distractive loads could be assessed with an accuracy in the range of 4N. These characteristics are consistent with those have been proposed, in this work, for a device that could assist on performing ligament balance while permitting surgeons evaluation based on his experience. Preliminary results from in vitro tests were in accordance with expected stiffness values for medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL).

Adaptacion al medio y transformacion artesanal: balance actual de las investigaciones acerca del alfar medieval de Cabrera d'Anoia

Las investigaciones sobre Cabrera d"Anoia (Barcelona) han avanzado de forma considerable en los últimos años. La caracterización de los materiales y el estudio de la documentación arqueológica han logrado definir un particular sistema de producción de cerámica que se desarrolla en un marco rupestre de dimensiones limitadas. Una situación que obliga a la modificación continua del área de trabajo en beneficio de las actividades productivas. Este artículo analiza ese proceso de adaptación y transformación permanente del espacio artesanal a partir de los datos proporcionados por el yacimiento. Se trata, en consecuencia, de esbozar un primer balance de los resultados más recientes tras 20 años de investigación sobre este alfar.

Balance nutricional y número de hojas como variables de predicción del rendimiento del plátano Hartón

El objetivo de este trabajo fue desarrollar una ecuación de regresión que permitiese estimar el rendimiento (Y) del plátano Hartón (Musa AAB subgrupo plátano cv. Hartón), con la relación entre el Índice de Balance de Nutrientes DRIS (IBN-DRIS) (X1) y el número de hojas de la planta madre (X2). Usando un muestreo completamente al azar, se colectaron 398 muestras de tejido foliar. Se obtuvo la ecuación: Y = 30,351** - 8,644** log X1 + 0,27502*X2, con R² de 0,6206***, con distribución normal de los residuos. Pudo demostrarse que con la misma se puede predecir el rendimiento potencial de cualquier plantación del plátano Hartón en el área de estudio.

Urea and sugarcane straw nitrogen balance in a soil-sugarcane crop system

The objectives of this study were to evaluate nitrogen utilization by sugarcane ratoon from two sources, applied urea and sugarcane straw covering soil surface (trash blanket), besides the recovery of N from both sources in the soil-plant system. The following treatments were established in a randomized block design with four replicates: T1, vinasse-urea (100 kg ha-1 of urea-N) mixture applied on the total area of the soil covered with cane trash labeled with 15N; T2, vinasse-urea mixture (urea labeled with 15N; 100 kg ha-1 of urea-N) applied on the total area of the soil covered with non-labeled sugarcane trash; and T3, urea-15N (100 kg ha-1 of urea-N) applied in furrows at both sides of cane rows, with previous surface application of vinasse, onto soil without trash covering. The vinasse was applied at a rate of 100 m³ ha-1 in all treatments. The experiment was carried out on a Yellow Red Podzolic soil (Paleudalf), from October 1997 to August 1998, in Piracicaba, SP, Brazil. The nitrogen use efficiency of urea by the sugarcane ratoon was 21%, while that of the sugarcane straw was 9%. The main contributions of N from sugarcane trash, during one cycle, are the preservation and increase of the organic N in soil. The tendency for a lower accumulation of urea-N in the sugarcane plant, in the soil surface covered with sugarcane residue, was compensated by the assimilation of N from trash mineralization. Nitrogen derived from cane trash was more available to plants in the second half of the ratoon cycle

Increased alpha activity and modulations of fronto-parietal balance during motor transitions in the elderly

A hallmark of aging is the sensorimotor deficit, characterized by an increased reaction time and a reduction of motor abilities. Some mechanisms such as motor inhibition deteriorate with aging because of neuronal density alterations and modifications of connections between brain regions. These deficits may be compensated throughout a recruitment of additional areas. Studies have shown that old adults have increased difficulty in performing bimanual coordination tasks compared with young adults. In contrast, motor switching is poorly documented and is expected to engage increasing resources in the elderly. The present study examines performances and electro-cortical correlates of motor switching in young and elderly adults.