Stock measurement and regeneration policy approaches to ‘hardcore’ brownfield sites: England and Japan compared

This paper discusses key contextual differences and similarities in a comparative study on brownfield regeneration in England and Japan. Over the last decade, the regeneration of large-scale ‘flagship’ projects has been a primary focus in England, and previous research has discussed policy issues and key barriers at these sites. However, further research is required to explore specific barriers associated with problematic ‘hardcore’ sites suffering from long-term dereliction due to site-specific obstacles such as contamination and fragmented ownership. In comparison with England, brownfield regeneration is a relatively new urban agenda in Japan. Japan has less experience in terms of promoting redevelopment of brownfield sites at national level and the specific issues of ‘hardcore’ sites have been under-researched. The paper reviews and highlights important issues in comparing the definitions, national policy frameworks and the current stock of brownfields.

Concentrations of free amino acids and sugars in nine potato varieties: effects of storage and relationship with acrylamide formation

Acrylamide forms during cooking and processing predominately from the reaction of free asparagine and reducing sugars in the Maillard reaction. The identification of low free asparagine and reducing sugar varieties of crops is therefore an important target. In this study, nine varieties of potato (French fry varieties Maris Piper (from two suppliers), Pentland Dell, King Edward, Daisy, and Markies; and chipping varieties Lady Claire, Lady Rosetta, Saturna, and Hermes) grown in the United Kingdom in 2009 were analyzed at monthly intervals through storage from November 2009 to July 2010. Acrylamide formation was measured in heated flour and chips fried in oil. Analysis of variance revealed significant interactions between varieties nested within type (French fry and chipping) and storage time for most free amino acids, glucose, fructose, and acrylamide formation. Acrylamide formed in chips correlated significantly with acrylamide formed in flour and with chip color. There were significant correlations between glucose or total reducing sugar concentration and acrylamide formation in both variety types, but with fructose the correlation was much stronger for chipping than for French fry varieties. Conversely, there were significant correlations with acrylamide formation for both total free amino acid and free asparagine concentration in the French fry but not chipping varieties. The study showed the potential of variety selection for preventing unacceptable levels of acrylamide formation in potato products and the variety-dependent effect of long-term storage on acrylamide risk. It also highlighted the complex relationship between precursor concentration and acrylamide risk in potatoes.

Calibration of structure in a distributed forecasting model for a semiarid flash flood: dynamic surface storage and channel roughness

Flash floods pose a significant danger for life and property. Unfortunately, in arid and semiarid environment the runoff generation shows a complex non-linear behavior with a strong spatial and temporal non-uniformity. As a result, the predictions made by physically-based simulations in semiarid areas are subject to great uncertainty, and a failure in the predictive behavior of existing models is common. Thus better descriptions of physical processes at the watershed scale need to be incorporated into the hydrological model structures. For example, terrain relief has been systematically considered static in flood modelling at the watershed scale. Here, we show that the integrated effect of small distributed relief variations originated through concurrent hydrological processes within a storm event was significant on the watershed scale hydrograph. We model these observations by introducing dynamic formulations of two relief-related parameters at diverse scales: maximum depression storage, and roughness coefficient in channels. In the final (a posteriori) model structure these parameters are allowed to be both time-constant or time-varying. The case under study is a convective storm in a semiarid Mediterranean watershed with ephemeral channels and high agricultural pressures (the Rambla del Albujón watershed; 556 km 2 ), which showed a complex multi-peak response. First, to obtain quasi-sensible simulations in the (a priori) model with time-constant relief-related parameters, a spatially distributed parameterization was strictly required. Second, a generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) inference applied to the improved model structure, and conditioned to observed nested hydrographs, showed that accounting for dynamic relief-related parameters led to improved simulations. The discussion is finally broadened by considering the use of the calibrated model both to analyze the sensitivity of the watershed to storm motion and to attempt the flood forecasting of a stratiform event with highly different behavior.

Reforesting degraded agricultural landscapes with Eucalypts: effects on carbon storage and soil fertility after 26years

In the Western Australian wheatbelt, the restoration of native eucalypt forests for managing degraded agricultural landscapes is a critical part of managing dryland salinity and rebuilding biodiversity. Such reforestation will also sequester carbon. Whereas most investigative emphasis has been on carbon stored in biomass, the effects of reforestation on soil organic carbon (SOC) stores and fertility are not known. Two 26 year old reforestation experiments with four Eucalyptus species (E. cladocalyx var nana, E. occidentalis, E. sargentii and E. wandoo) were compared with agricultural sites (Field). SOC stores (to 0.3 m depth) ranged between 33 and 55 Mg ha−1, with no statistically significant differences between tree species and adjacent farmland. Farming comprised crop and pasture rotations. In contrast, the reforested plots contained additional carbon in the tree biomass (23–60 Mg ha−1) and litter (19–34 Mg ha−1), with the greatest litter accumulation associated with E. sargentii. Litter represented between 29 and 56% of the biomass carbon and the protection or utilization of this litter in fire-prone, semi-arid farmland will be an important component of carbon management. Exch-Na and Exch-Mg accumulated under E. sargentii and E. occidentalis at one site. The results raise questions about the conclusions of SOC sequestration studies following reforestation based on limited sampling and reiterate the importance of considering litter in reforestation carbon accounts.

Adhesion to Er : YAG laser-prepared dentin after long-term water storage and thermocycling

This in vitro study evaluated the microtensile bond strength of a resin composite to Er:YAG-prepared dentin after long-term storage and thermocycling. Eighty bovine incisors were selected and their roots removed. The crowns were ground to expose superficial dentin. The samples were randomly divided according to cavity preparation method (I-Er:YAG laser and II-carbide bur). Subsequently, an etch & rinse adhesive system was applied and the samples were restored with a resin composite. The samples were subdivided according to time of water storage (WS)/number of thermocycles (TC) performed: A) 24 hours WS/no TC; B) 7 days WS/500 TC; C) 1 month WS/2,000 TC; D) 6 months WS/12,000 TC. The teeth were sectioned in sticks with a cross-sectional area of 1.0-mm(2), which were loaded in tension in a universal testing machine. The data were subjected to two-way ANOVA, Scheffe and Fisher`s tests at a 5% level. In general, the bur-prepared group displayed higher microtensile bond strength values than the laser-treated group. Based on one-month water storage and 2,000 thermocycles, the performance of the tested adhesive system to Er:YAG-laser irradiated dentin was negatively affected (Group IC), while adhesion of the bur-prepared group decreased only within six months of water storage combined with 12,000 thermocycles (Group IID). It may be concluded that adhesion to the Er:YAG laser cavity preparation was more affected by the methods used for simulating degradation of the adhesive interface.

Population biology and regeneration of forbs and shrubs after fire in Brazilian Campos grasslands

Fire is an important factor in several ecosystems, affecting plant population biology. Campos grasslands are under constant influence of disturbance, mostly grazing and fire. However, few studies evaluated the effect of fire on plant population biology of grassland species. Therefore, we aim to analyze the effect of fire on the population biology of four species, from different functional groups and regeneration strategies: Chaptalia runcinata (forb, resprouter, absence of belowground organ), Vernonia flexuosa (forb, resprouter, presence of rhizophore), Eupatorium ligulaefolium (shrub, resprouter, presence of xylopodium) and Heterothalamus psiadioides (shrub, obligate seeder). Seven plots were established in different sites in southern Brazil: frequently burned (FB) and excluded from fire since 6 years (E). All plots were subjected to controlled burns during summer. Before experiments, populations were sampled. Further observations were carried out after 90 and after 360 days of fire experiments. In addition, we counted the number of seedlings and resprouters recruited after fire. Heat shock experiments were conducted with two species (H. psiadioides and V. flexuosa), as well as the study of the bud bank of the following species: E. ligulaefolium and V. flexuosa. The obligate seeder species had all individuals killed by fire and established only after 1 year. Resprouters, however, showed new stems immediately after fire. E. ligulaefolium and V. flexuosa showed only vegetative regeneration from belowground organs and more individuals in excluded sites 1 year after the fire. The bud bank of E. ligulaefolium tended to be larger in excluded sites, whilst V. flexuosa showed an opposite result. High temperatures did not enhance nor kill seeds from both studied species. Vegetative regeneration was the most important strategy for all studied species, except for H. psiadioides, the obligate seeder species. Fire thus, plays an important role on population structure and demography, being also important for plant recruitment.

The theory of storage and the volatility in commadity markets

Esse estudo estende a metodologia de Fama e French (1988) para testar a hipótese derivada da Teoria dos Estoques de que o convenience yield dos estoques diminui a uma taxa decrescente com o aumento de estoque. Como descrito por Samuelson (1965), a Teoria implica que as variações nos preços à vista (spot) e dos futuros (ou dos contratos a termo) serão similares quando os estoques estão altos, mas os preços futuros variarão menos que os preços à vista quando os estoques estão baixos. Isso ocorre porque os choques de oferta e demanda podem ser absorvidos por ajustes no estoque quando este está alto, afetando de maneira similar os preços à vista e futuros. Por outro lado, quando os estoques estão baixos, toda a absorção dos choques de demanda ou oferta recai sobre o preço à vista, uma vez que os agentes econômicos têm pouca condição de reagir à quantidade demandada ou ofertada no curto prazo.

Using Neo4J geospatial data storage and integration

Online geographic-databases have been growing increasingly as they have become a crucial source of information for both social networks and safety-critical systems. Since the quality of such applications is largely related to the richness and completeness of their data, it becomes imperative to develop adaptable and persistent storage systems, able to make use of several sources of information as well as enabling the fastest possible response from them. This work will create a shared and extensible geographic model, able to retrieve and store information from the major spatial sources available. A geographic-based system also has very high requirements in terms of scalability, computational power and domain complexity, causing several difficulties for a traditional relational database as the number of results increases. NoSQL systems provide valuable advantages for this scenario, in particular graph databases which are capable of modeling vast amounts of inter-connected data while providing a very substantial increase of performance for several spatial requests, such as finding shortestpath routes and performing relationship lookups with high concurrency. In this work, we will analyze the current state of geographic information systems and develop a unified geographic model, named GeoPlace Explorer (GE). GE is able to import and store spatial data from several online sources at a symbolic level in both a relational and a graph databases, where several stress tests were performed in order to find the advantages and disadvantages of each database paradigm.

Temperature during soybean seed storage and the amount of electrolytes of soaked seeds solution

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

Egg quality during storage and deposition of minerals in eggs from quails fed diets supplemented with organic selenium, zinc and manganese

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

Influence of semen storage and cryoprotectant on post-thaw viability and fertility of stallion spermatozoa

The aim of the current study was to verify that stallion, spermatoza could be cooled for 24 hours and then frozen. In experiment I, one ejaculate from each of 13 stallions was used. Semen was collected and split into two parts; one part immediately frozen using standard cryo-preservation techniques and the other diluted, stored in an Equitainer for 24 hours, and then frozen. In experiment II, one ejaculate from each of 12 stallions was collected, diluted with Botu-Semen, and split into two parts: one cooled in an Equitainer and the other in Max-Semen Express without prior centrifugation. After 24 hours of cooling, the samples were centrifuged to remove seminal plasma and concentrate the sperm, and resuspended in Botu-Crio (R) extender containing on e of three cryoprotectant treatments (1% glycerol + 4% dimethylformamide, 1% glycerol + 4% dimethylacetamide and 1% glycerol + 4% methylformamide), maintained at 5 degrees C for 20 minutes, then frozen in nitrogen vapour. No difference was observed between the two cooling systems. The association of 1% glycerol and 4% methylformamide provided the best post-thaw progressive motility. For experiment III, two stallions were used for a fertility trial. Forty three inseminations were performed using 22 mares. No differences were seen in semen parameters and pregnancy rates when comparing the two freezing protocols (conventional and cooled/frozen). Pregnancy rates for conventional and cooled/frozen semen were, respectively, 72.7% and 82.3% (stallion A), and 40.0% and 50.0% (stallion B). We concluded that cooling equine-semen for 24 hours before freezing while maintaining sperm viability and fertility is possible.

Effect of relining, water storage and cyclic loading on the flexural strength of a denture base acrylic resin

Objectives: This study investigated the effect of relining, water storage and cyclic loading on the ultimate flexural strength (FSU) and on the flexural strength at the proportional limit (FSPl) of a denture base acrylic resin (Lucitone 550-L).Methods: Rectangular bars of L were made (64 mm x 10 mm x 2 mm) and relined (1.3 mm) with four relining resins (Kooliner-K, Ufi Gel Hard-UGH, Tokuso Rebase Fast-TR and New Truliner-NT). In addition, specimens relined with L and intact L specimens were made (64 mm x 10 mm x 3.3 mm). A three-point flexural test was applied on the specimens (n = 10) after (1) polymerization; (2) water storage (30 days); (3) cyclic loading (10,000 cycles at 5 Hz) and (4) water storage (30 days) + cyclic loading. Data (MPa) were analyzed with three-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD tests (alpha = 0.05). To test for a possible correlation between FSU and FSPl, a linear regression coefficient 'r' was calculated.Results: After water storage, L-UGH and L-TR demonstrated an increased FSU (41.4950.64 MPa and 49.95-57.36 MPa, respectively) (P < 0.05). Only L-TR demonstrated an increased FSPl (20.58-24.21 MPa) after water storage (P < 0.05). L-L had the highest FSU (between 78.57 and 85.09 MPa) and FSPl (between 31.30 and 34.17 MPa) (P < 0.05). The cyclic loading decreased the FSU and FSPl of all materials (P < 0.05). Regression analysis showed a strong linear correlation between the two variables (r = 0.941).Conclusions: Water storage improved the FSU of L-UGH and L-TR and the FSPl of L-TR. L-L produced the highest FSU and FSPl. The FSU and FSPl of all materials were detrimentally influenced by cyclic loading.

Effect of water storage and heat treatment on the cytotoxicity of soft liners

Objective: To evaluate the effect of water storage time on the cytotoxicity of soft liners.Methods: Sample discs of soft liners Dentusoft, Dentuflex, Trusoft, Ufi-Gel-P and denture base acrylic resin Lucitone-550 were prepared and divided into four groups: GN: No treatment, G24: Stored in water at 37 degrees C for 24 h; G48: Stored in water at 37 degrees C for 48 h, GHW: Immersed in water at 55 degrees C for 10 min. To analyse the cytotoxic effect, three samples of each group were placed in tubes with Dubelcco's Modified Eagle Mediums and incubated at 37 degrees C for 24 h. During this period, the toxic substances were leached to the culture medium. The cytotoxicity was analysed quantitatively by the incorporation of radioactivity H-3-thymidine checking the number of viable cells (synthesis of DNA). The data were statistically analysed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey's honestly significant difference tests (alpha = 0.05).Results: Treatments did not reduce the cytotoxicity effect of the soft liners (p > 0.05). It was found that Ufi-Gel-P had a non-cytotoxic effect, Trusoft had a slightly cytotoxic effect, Dentuflex had a moderated cytotoxic effect, Dentusoft alternated between slightly and non-cytotoxic effect, and Lucitone-550 had non-cytotoxic effect when stored in water for 48 h.Conclusion: The effect of water storage and the heat treatment did not reduce the cytotoxicity of the soft liners.