Assessment of Cerdocyon thous distribution in an agricultural mosaic, southeastern Brazil

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

Fotointerpretacao comparativa de fotografias pancromaticas, imagens de radar e de satelite

Three types of imagery were evaluated for mapping drainage patterns and vegetation in a 100 000 ha area of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The drainage measurements were drainage density, frequency of channels and texture ratio, studied on circular samples of 10 km2 for panchromatic photography and 100 km2 for radar and satellite images. The vegetation types were forest, pasture, sugar cane and rice, studied on circular samples of 100 km2. Radar images were the most convenient method to study drainage patterns and the land forms of large areas, while Landsat imagery was most efficient for the study of vegetative cover, although panchromatic photographs were the most accurate method.-from Field Crop Abstracts

Efeito de auxinas e boro no enraizamento de estacas caulinares de kiwi retiradas em diferentes épocas

This work was carried out to study the effects of some synthetical auxins and boron on the rooting of stem cuttings of kiwi (Actinidia deliciosa Pl. cv. Tomuri). Cuttings of semi-woody stems with two knots and leaves divided in two, with approximately 10 cm of length were utilized. The base of the cuttings received the following treatments: 1) water only; 2) NAA 300 ppm; 3) IBA 300 ppm; 4) NAA 300 ppm + B; 5) IBA 300 ppm + B; 6) NAA 0,5%-talc and 7) IBA 0,5%-talc. After these treatments, the stems were placed in suitable rooting dishes, with pure vermiculite in misty nebulization chamber for 120 days. Evaluations were made based on the following observations: percentage of rooted stem cuttings; reductor sugar and total sugar analyses and tryptophan analyses. The results showed that the autumm season is the best for rooting for kiwi stem cuttings. The exogenous application of 0.5% of IBA talc on the bases of the cuttings showed positive results.

Neural network detection of grinding burn from acoustic emission

An artificial neural network (ANN) approach is proposed for the detection of workpiece `burn', the undesirable change in metallurgical properties of the material produced by overly aggressive or otherwise inappropriate grinding. The grinding acoustic emission (AE) signals for 52100 bearing steel were collected and digested to extract feature vectors that appear to be suitable for ANN processing. Two feature vectors are represented: one concerning band power, kurtosis and skew; and the other autoregressive (AR) coefficients. The result (burn or no-burn) of the signals was identified on the basis of hardness and profile tests after grinding. The trained neural network works remarkably well for burn detection. Other signal-processing approaches are also discussed, and among them the constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) power law and the mean-value deviance (MVD) prove useful.

Assessment of the diet of 0- to 6-year-old children in municipal schools in a Brazilian city

Diet control is one of the important factors in the prevention of dental caries because food functions as substratum for fermentation and, consequently, for the formation of the organic acids that demineralize the tooth surface. This study aims to descriptively assess school diet and the associated caries-preventive methods applied to children in all municipal nursery schools of a Brazilian city (Aragatuba/SP). For this, a questionnaire with open and closed questions was used. The results showed that all schools serve school meal, which is composed mainly of sugar, carbohydrates, and proteins. The students enjoy the meal very much because for most of them, the meal served at school is the only source of food. It was observed that 90% of the schools offer other kinds of food besides the main school meal. The snacks served such as cakes, white hominy, and milk fudge are composed of sweet and highly cariogenic foods. It was also verified that in 13.30% of the schools, the daily supervised dental hygiene, an important procedure that should not be neglected, is not carried out. This procedure introduces the children to healthy habits that are added to those acquired in the family environment. It was concluded that the school diet is potentially cariogenic and, in association with the lack of daily dental hygiene, this potential may become even higher.

An alternative process for butanol production: Continuous flash fermentation

The objective of this work is to introduce and demonstrate the technical feasibility of the continuous flash fermentation for the production of butanol. The evaluation was carried out through mathematical modeling and computer simulation which is a good approach in such a process development stage. The process consists of three interconnected units, as follows: the fermentor, the cell retention system (tangential microfiltration) and the vacuum flash vessel (responsible for the continuous recovery of butanol from the broth). The efficiency of this process was experimentally validated for the ethanol fermentation, whose main results are also shown. With the proposed design the concentration of butanol in the fermentor was lowered from 11.3 to 7.8 g/l, which represented a significant reduction in the inhibitory effect. As a result, the final concentration of butanol was 28.2 g/l for a broth with 140 g/l of glucose. Solvents productivity and yield were, respectively, 11.7 g/l.h and 33.5 % for a sugar conversion of 95.6 %. Positive aspects about the flash fermentation process are the solvents productivity, the use of concentrated sugar solution and the final butanol concentration. The last two features can be responsible for a meaningful reduction in the distillation costs and result in environmental benefits due to lower quantities of wastewater generated by the process. © 2008 Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.

Flower mites decrease nectar availability in the rain-forest bromeliad Neoregelia johannis

Nectarivorous flower mites can reduce the volume of nectar available to pollinators. The effects of the flower mite Proctolaelaps sp. on nectar availability in flowers of a melittophilous bromeliad Neoregelia johannis (Bromeliaceae) was evaluated in a coastal rain forest in south-eastern Brazil. In a randomized block experiment utilizing 18 flower pairs, one per bromeliad ramet, pollinators (Bombus morio) and mites were excluded, and then nectar volume, sugar concentration and sugar mass were quantified over the anthesis period. Mites significantly reduced nectar volume early in the morning (6h00-8h00), but not later (10h00-12h00). Mites decreased total volume of nectar available up to 22%. Sugar concentration in nectar was higher earlier in the morning, and decreased between 10h00-12h00. The pronounced consumption of nectar by mites during the period of higher sugar concentration reduced the total amount of sugar available to pollinators by 31%. This is the first study showing that flower mites decrease nectar rewards in a melittophilous plant. Because nectar volume by itself incompletely describes nectar production rates and the effects of nectar removal by flower mites on the availability of sugar, our study highlights the inclusion of sugar content in future studies assessing the effects of thieves on nectar production rates. Copyright © 2010 Cambridge University Press.

Biofuels potential in Guyana

Includes bibliography

Competitividad centroamericana

Incluye Bibliografía

Geometric modeling from the medical images in the CAD system to support prosthesis design

This paper presents an individual designing prosthesis for surgical use and proposes a methodology for such design through mathematical extrapolation of data from digital images obtained via tomography of individual patient's bones. Individually tailored prosthesis designed to fit particular patient requirements as accurately as possible should result in more successful reconstruction, enable better planning before surgery and consequently fewer complications during surgery. Fast and accurate design and manufacture of personalized prosthesis for surgical use in bone replacement or reconstruction is potentially feasible through the application and integration of several different existing technologies, which are each at different stages of maturity. Initial case study experiments have been undertaken to validate the research concepts by making dimensional comparisons between a bone and a virtual model produced using the proposed methodology and a future research directions are discussed.

Technological evaluation of biotechnology capability in Amazon institutions

Includes bibliography

Geoinformação na gestão dos recursos hídricos em sub-bacia hidrográfica

By remote sensing, geodatabase digital processing, information and expeditions to Capivara's sub-basin, was possible to identify the changes in the landscape mainly the expansion of eucalyptus, sugar-cane, and orange trees, being the last two, mainly on the Periferic Depression of Basaltic Cuesta. A significant portion of the soil on this geological area is formed from sandstones, providing high permeability to them, making them important places to groundwater recharge areas as sensible to contamination by pesticides. Throughout last decade was observed that the native vegetation fragments stabilization, keeping a reason of 26.5% on the land used between 2000 and 2010. The pasture decrease being substituted by eucalyptus, sugar-cane and orange trees call attention for the changes in the agribusiness model demanded by the current economic and social necessity. Pasture decrease followed by erosions decrease on sub-basin is evidence that these two aspects are strongly related.

Diferentes níveis de betaína sobre incidência de diarreia, desempenho, características de carcaça e parâmetros sanguíneos de suínos

Thirty six piglets weaned at 19 days of age were useddistributed in a randomized block design, were used to evaluate the effects of the addition of crescent levels of betaine (0,0%, 0,1%, 0,2% e 0,3%) in the diets on the performance in initial, growing and finishing phases. The indexes of diarrhea incidence were monitored in the first 14 days post-weaning; and the blood parameters at 20, 75, and 150 days of age, as well as the carcass characteristics at the end of the experiment. It was not observed (P > 0,05) effect of the betaine on the diarrhea incidence. Significative differences (P < 0.05) were verified among treatments in the finishing phase for daily weight gain and feed conversion. Differences (P < 0.0001) among the days to the blood parameters analysed were also observed. In regard to the backfat thickness, it was verified significative difference (P < 0.05) among the treatments.

Farelo de algodão em rações para suínos nas fases de crescimento e terminação

Forty-eight pigs with 63 day olds and average weight of 23.40±1.3 kg, were allotted in a randomized block design with three treatments(0%, 10% and 20% of cottonseed meal (FA) in diets) and eight replicates with two pigs (one barrow and one gilt). The blocks were used to control changes in initial body weight. Experimental period was the growth phase (63 to 106 days old) and growing-finishing (63 to 147 days old). In each phase the diets were isonutritives, varying however the levels of crude fiber. The levels of cottonseed meal (FA) did not affect (p>0.05) the performance of animals during the growth phase or during the total period of evaluation (growingfinishing). The qualitative parameters of manure indicated that the FA determined decrease in the nitrogen and phosphorus content, but only in the growth phase. In the finishing phase the increase in the FA inclusion promoted an increase in dry matter content. Although FA can be used in up to 20% in diets for pigs in the growing and finishing phase, it is necessary to include L-lysine and soybean oil which causes an increase in cost per kg produced pig.

Uso do solo e monitoramento dos recursos hídricos no córrego do Ipê, Ilha Solteira, SP

Brazil has great potential of water resources, however, with deficiency in terms of qualitative and quantitative monitoring and knowledge of the influences of land use. So, this study had the purpose of presenting the qualitative and quantitative monitoring of water for irrigation and the influences caused by the use and occupation of land in the watershed of Ipê stream, in the municipality of Ilha Solteira, São Paulo. The qualitative monitoring was conducted from 2006 to 2011 and the quantitative monitoring from 2009 to 2011. In order to evaluate the influences, the Pearson correlation analysis was used. It was found that the watershed is mostly made up by the crop of sugar cane and the use in conflict with areas of permanent preservation are the fallow areas and pasture. The watershed is characterized with high concentrations of iron and coliforms, originating from degraded pastures and irregular use of urban and rural occupation. The small permanent preservation areas, bad soil conservation and expansion of urban areas imply in the deterioration of the quality and availability of water, generating socio-economic and environmental impact in the area.