Influence of creatine supplementation on bone quality in the ovariectomized rat model: an FT-Raman spectroscopy study

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Quantum chemical modeling of perovskite: An investigation of piezoelectricity in ferrite of yttrium

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Quality traits and lipid composition of meat from Nellore young bulls fed with different oils either protected or unprotected from rumen degradation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Development of chemical vapor deposition diamond burrs using hot filament

The fabrication of boring tools (burrs) for dentistry with the use of a hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system, to form the diamond abrading structure, is reported here. The diamond was synthesized from a methane/freon gas mixture diluted in hydrogen. Comparative drilling tests with conventional diamond burrs and the CVD diamond burrs in borosilicate glasses demonstrated a lifetime more than 20 times larger for the CVD diamond burrs. Also, heat flow experiments in dentine showed that the CVD diamond burrs induce temperature gradients of the same order as the conventional ones. These characteristics of the CVD diamond burrs are highly desirable for odontological applications where the burrs' lifetime and the low temperature processing are essential to the quality and comfort of the treatment. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Physical-chemical characterization of processing tomato fruit

Fruit of 28 tomato cultivars for industrial processing were characterized to identify cultivars with potential for in natura consumption. The experiment was carried out in Jaboticabal-SP, Brazil (21o15'22'' South, 48o18'58'' West, altitude 595 m), on a Haplorthox soil during June-December. The cultivars used in this study were: H 7155, Hypeel 108, Andino, U 573, H 9036, Ipa 6, H 9494, AG 33, Yuba, RPT 1294, AG 72, Peelmech, Curicó, Hypeel 45, RPT 1478, H 9492, H 9498, H 2710, Hitech 45, Halley, Botu 13, H 9553, U 646, NK 1570, AG 45, RPT 1095, RPT 1570 and PSX 37511. The experimental design was randomized blocks, replicated four times. Ten fruits per plot were analyzed, evaluating the following characteristics: shape (oblong or round); length and diameter (mm); external and internal coloration; presence of fissures; number of loci; pulp thickness (mm); soluble solids content (Brix) and total acidity. Only cultivars Hypeel 108, AG 72, NK 1570, RPT 1570 had oblong fruit. Cultivars which had pulp thicker than 5.5 mm, a characteristic which is directly related to fruit yield for industrial purposes were: Ipa 6, Andino, U 646, H 9553, RPT 1294 and Hypeel 108. Cultivars Ipa 6 and Andino also presented elevated values for length, diameter and pulp thickness, indicating them as quality material for industry or, alternatively, for in natura market. Among the cultivars which presented better values for acidity (higher or equal to 0.3 g citric acid 100 g-1) were RPT 1095, AG 45, H 9553 and Hypeel 45.

Physical and chemical characterization of dovyalis fruits

The objective of this work was to establish physical and chemical characterizations of dovyalis hybrid fruits (Dovyalis abyssinica and D. hebecarpa). Samples of 25 fruits were characterized by evaluation of length and width, weight, percentage and number of seeds per fruit, peel percentage, pulp percentage, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), vitamin C and TSS/TA ratio. Dovyalis fruit has good physical quality for market with an average of 75% pulp. Vitamin C content averaged 120.3 mg/100 g of fresh fruit, characterizing dovyalis as a good source of vitamin C. © 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Some reflections on the future of the water quality of the corumbataí River basin, São Paulo state, Brazil

The waters of Corumbataí River in the middle and eastern part of São Paulo State, Brazil, are extensively used for human consumption; their water quality has been modified mainly due to increasing pressure caused by population growth, accompanied by a more accentuated industrial development for the whole São Paulo State in the early 1970s. The Corumbataí River basin has, over time, received significant emissions of municipal waste products and discharges of wastewater, sludge, sewage, sanitary and industrial effluents, but the first effluent treatment plant at Rio Claro city was only inaugurated at the end of the 1990s. Data on river water quality from two widely spaced locations in the Corumbataí River basin are reported in this paper; they indicate the need for continuous initiatives and efforts by decision makers in order to improve and preserve the water quality in the basin for the 21st century. Copyright © 2007 IAHS Press.

Dietary α-tocopheryl acetate on fillet quality of tilapia

This work compared the effects of dietary α-tocopheryl acetate on storage life of tilapia fillets. Three experimental diets containing increasing a-tocopherol levels (zero, 100, and 200 mg kg-1) were used. The fish, with a mean initial weight of 184.23 ± 1.68 g, were fed diets for 63 days. After that period, they were slaughtered, filleted, and the fillets were grounded to accelerate lipid oxidation. Fish growth, survival, fillet yield, chemical composition and lipid oxidation of tilapia ground fillets were evaluated 0, 30 and 60 days after frozen storage. The results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between treatments for performance, and also, tocopherol did not influence the chemical composition values of fillets. Increased tocopherol levels in the feeds promoted a reduction in ground fillets lipid oxidation values.

Remote Sensing Detection of atmospheric pollutants using Lidar, Sodar and correlation with air quality data in an industrial area

Optical remote sensing techniques have obvious advantages for monitoring gas and aerosol emissions, since they enable the operation over large distances, far from hostile environments, and fast processing of the measured signal. In this study two remote sensing devices, namely a Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) for monitoring the vertical profile of backscattered light intensity, and a Sodar (Acoustic Radar, Sound Detection and Ranging) for monitoring the vertical profile of the wind vector were operated during specific periods. The acquired data were processed and compared with data of air quality obtained from ground level monitoring stations, in order to verify the possibility of using the remote sensing techniques to monitor industrial emissions. The campaigns were carried out in the area of the Environmental Research Center (Cepema) of the University of São Paulo, in the city of Cubatão, Brazil, a large industrial site, where numerous different industries are located, including an oil refinery, a steel plant, as well as fertilizer, cement and chemical/petrochemical plants. The local environmental problems caused by the industrial activities are aggravated by the climate and topography of the site, unfavorable to pollutant dispersion. Results of a campaign are presented for a 24- hour period, showing data of a Lidar, an air quality monitoring station and a Sodar. © 2011 SPIE.

The assessment of the quality of sugar using electronic tongue and machine learning algorithms

The correct classification of sugar according to its physico-chemical characteristics directly influences the value of the product and its acceptance by the market. This study shows that using an electronic tongue system along with established techniques of supervised learning leads to the correct classification of sugar samples according to their qualities. In this paper, we offer two new real, public and non-encoded sugar datasets whose attributes were automatically collected using an electronic tongue, with and without pH controlling. Moreover, we compare the performance achieved by several established machine learning methods. Our experiments were diligently designed to ensure statistically sound results and they indicate that k-nearest neighbors method outperforms other evaluated classifiers and, hence, it can be used as a good baseline for further comparison. © 2012 IEEE.

CO2-C losses and carbon quality of selected Maritime Antarctic soils

Polar Regions are the most important soil carbon reservoirs on Earth. Monitoring soil carbon storage in a changing global climate context may indicate possible effects of climate change on terrestrial environments. In this regard, we need to understand the dynamics of soil organic matter in relation to its chemical characteristics. We evaluated the influence of chemical characteristics of humic substances on the process of soil organic matter mineralization in selected Maritime Antarctic soils. A laboratory assay was carried out with soils from five locations from King George Island. We determined the contents of total organic carbon, oxidizable carbon fractions of soil organic matter, and humic substances. Two in situ field experiments were carried out during two summers, in order to evaluate the CO2-C emissions in relation to soil temperature variations. The overall low amounts of soil organic matter in Maritime Antarctic soils have a low humification degree and reduced microbial activity. CO2-C emissions showed significant exponential relationship with temperature, suggesting a sharp increase in CO2-C emissions with a warming scenario, and Q10 values (the percentage increase in emission for a 10°C increase in soil temperature) were higher than values reported from elsewhere. The sensitivity of the CO2-C emission in relation to temperature was significantly correlated with the humification degree of soil organic matter and microbial activity for Antarctic soils. © 2012 Antarctic Science Ltd.

Influence of the network modifier on the characteristics of MSnO 3 (M=Sr and Ca) thin films synthesized by chemical solution deposition

CaSnO3 and SrSnO3 alkaline earth stannate thin films were prepared by chemical solution deposition using the polymeric precursor method on various single crystal substrates (R- and C-sapphire and 100-SrTiO3) at different temperatures. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (θ-2θ, ω- and φ-scans), field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence. Epitaxial SrSnO3 and CaSnO 3 thin films were obtained on SrTiO3 with a high crystalline quality. The long-range symmetry promoted a short-range disorder which led to photoluminescence in the epitaxial films. In contrast, the films deposited on sapphire exhibited a random polycrystalline growth with no meaningful emission regardless of the substrate orientation. The network modifier (Ca or Sr) and the substrate (sapphire or SrTiO3) influenced the crystallization process and/or the microstructure. Higher is the tilts of the SnO6 octahedra, as in CaSnO3, higher is the crystallization temperature, which changed also the nucleation/grain growth process. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Meat quality of young Nellore bulls with low and high residual feed intake

Fifty-nine Nellore bulls from low and high residual feed intake (RFI) levels were studied with the objective of evaluating meat quality traits. Animals were slaughtered when ultrasound-measured backfat thickness reached 4. mm, and samples of Longissimus were collected. A mixed model including RFI as fixed effect and herd and diet as random effects was used, and least square means were compared by t-test. More efficient animals consumed 0.730. kg dry matter/day less than less efficient animals, with similar performance. No significant differences in carcass weight, prime meat cuts proportion, chemical composition, pH, sarcomere length, or color were observed between RFI groups. Shear force, myofibrillar fragmentation index and soluble collagen content were influenced by RFI, with a higher shear force and soluble collagen content and a lower fragmentation index in low RFI animals. Feedlot-finished low RFI young Nellore bulls more efficiently convert feed into meat, presenting carcasses within quality standards. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Effects of intensification of the amazon river prawn, macrobrachium amazonicum, grow-out on effluent quality

Studies to determine suitable levels of intensification are essential for developing sustainable aquaculture. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of effluents discharged from ponds stocked with 10 (D10), 20 (D20), 40 (D40), and 80 (D80) postlarvae of Macrobrachium amazonicum/m2. Intake and effluent water samples were taken throughout a 5.5-mo grow-out cycle. In that study, twelve 0.01-ha earthen ponds were stocked postlarvae with 0.01g. Average water exchange rate was 15%/d; water was discharged from the bottom of the ponds. Prawns were fed a commercial feed with 38% crude protein according to their biomass (3-10%) and the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO). In our research, temperature, turbidity, total suspended solids, conductivity, DO, pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), N-ammonia, N-nitrite, N-nitrate, N-Kjeldahl nitrogen, total phosphorus, and soluble orthophosphate were measured every 15d throughout the experiment in the early morning (0630 to 0730h). Turbidity was lower in D10 than in D20 and D40 and total phosphorus was higher in D80 than in D10 and D20. An analysis of principal components comparing treatments and intake water showed three groups: intake, D10 and a cluster of D20, D40, and D80. On the basis of the water characteristics found in our study it appears that the farming of M. amazonicum is likely to have a low environmental impact, at least up to a stocking density of 80prawns/m2. © by the World Aquaculture Society 2013.