Quantitative phase analysis from X-ray diffraction in Y-TZP dental ceramics: A critical evaluation

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

Predicting breeding values for milk yield of Guzera (Bos indicus) cows using random regression models

Given the importance of Guzera breeding programs for milk production in the tropics, the objective of this study was to compare alternative random regression models for estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of breeding values. Test-day milk yields records (TDR) were collected monthly, in a maximum of 10 measurements. The database included 20,524 records of first lactation from 2816 Guzera cows. TDR data were analyzed by random regression models (RRM) considering additive genetic, permanent environmental and residual effects as random and the effects of contemporary group (CG), calving age as a covariate (linear and quadratic effects) and mean lactation curve as fixed. The genetic additive and permanent environmental effects were modeled by RRM using Wilmink, All and Schaeffer and cubic B-spline functions as well as Legendre polynomials. Residual variances were considered as heterogeneous classes, grouped differently according to the model used. Multi-trait analysis using finite-dimensional models (FDM) for testday milk records (TDR) and a single-trait model for 305-days milk yields (default) using the restricted maximum likelihood method were also carried out as further comparisons. Through the statistical criteria adopted, the best RRM was the one that used the cubic B-spline function with five random regression coefficients for the genetic additive and permanent environmental effects. However, the models using the Ali and Schaeffer function or Legendre polynomials with second and fifth order for, respectively, the additive genetic and permanent environmental effects can be adopted, as little variation was observed in the genetic parameter estimates compared to those estimated by models using the B-spline function. Therefore, due to the lower complexity in the (co)variance estimations, the model using Legendre polynomials represented the best option for the genetic evaluation of the Guzera lactation records. An increase of 3.6% in the accuracy of the estimated breeding values was verified when using RRM. The ranks of animals were very close whatever the RRM for the data set used to predict breeding values. Considering P305, results indicated only small to medium difference in the animals' ranking based on breeding values predicted by the conventional model or by RRM. Therefore, the sum of all the RRM-predicted breeding values along the lactation period (RRM305) can be used as a selection criterion for 305-day milk production. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Zinc blende versus wurtzite ZnS nanoparticles: control of the phase and optical properties by tetrabutylammonium hydroxide

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

Effects of different doses of sodium monensin on rumen papillae and tissue histology of feedlot Nellore cattle

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

A DFT Study of Structural and Electronic Properties of ZnS Polymorphs and its Pressure-Induced Phase Transitions

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Design and Characterization of Silicone and Surfactant Based Systems for Topical Drug Delivery

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

Desenvolvimento de metodologia para a obtenção da cubicagem de madeira em toras empilhadas através de imagens digitais

Obtaining accurate estimates of the volume of stacked wood is important in view of the increasing value of wood as raw material. Therefore, the forest companies have become increasingly concerned about the methods currently used to convert cubic meters for stereo. In this context, emerged the need of optimizing the measurement process and accuracy of the volume of stacked wood. For this, companies have been testing methods with greater efficiency, speed and low operating cost. Existing methods made through approximate equations, and also by determining the conversion factor, called the stacking factor (Fe), are questioned, due to errors and inaccuracies. The use of digital photographs is an alternative method that would minimize operator intervention, allowing greater control and speed the process, thus eliminating part of the imprecision of the traditional method. The use of the method is viable, due to present an error of about 10% while traditional methods showed an error of 17%

Precificação do biogás produzido por autoprodutores, considerando seu transporte por meio de gasodutos existentes

The expansion of the energy matrix is a matter of great importance since the recent problems facing the country in this sector, such as rationing mobilized in 2001. Moreover, there is also concern with global sustainable development. Brazil is producing about 64 million cubic meters of biogas per day, but only a small percentage of this total is harnessed as an energy resource. Compounders are considered potential, for example, landfill energy (LE) and sewage treatment plants (STP), which can be adapted to produce biogas and market them. The work focuses its studies on biogas produced by these small and medium compounders. Are proposed and studied the following alternatives for the utilization of biogas energy: generation and sale of electricity through the installation of a small power station within the landfill, and purification and marketing of gas, whose price will be a consideration on the price of natural gas, taking into account the percentage of methane present in the biogas. Trade ensures that gas plus a destination ecologically appropriate to it, taking advantage of its energy

Preparação e caracterização de vidros contendo nanopartículas de Ag

This work consists of preparation and characterization of glasses containing transition noble metals and the study of optical properties of such materials. The glasses were prepared by quenching of the glass melt followed by heat treatment and polishing of the monoliths. The structural characterization of glasses was made using differential thermal analysis, X-ray, Raman and infrared spectroscopies, while the optical properties were studied by UV-Vis and M-Lines spectroscopies. Preliminary results have shown that the color of the glasses is dependent on both concentration of silver and the melting temperature of the melt. Controlled heat treatments have been used to induce the crystallization of Ag nanoparticles within the glass. The study of crystallization was accompanied by electron microscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Data from electron diffraction, as well as chemical analysis, EDX, were obtained using a transmission electron microscope. EDX data have shown that the atomic percentage of Ag is higher on the nanoparticle. X-ray diffraction was used in order to characterize the composition of the crystals and cubic AgCl was identified as the main crystallized nanophase obtained after annealing

Avaliação das doses de cães submetidos a exames radiográficos de pulmão

This study aims to determine surface skin doses in dogs (with suspected pulmonary metastasis) submitted to chest X-rays using the technique of thermoluminescence dosimetry. Twenty seven exams from different dogs were performed at the Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia da Universidade Estadual Paulista (FMVZ-UNESP/Botucatu). The doses were evaluated using thermoluminescent dosimeters of calcium sulphate doped with dysprosium (CaSO4:Dy) produced by the Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN-CNEN). The pulmonary metastasis exams are carried out in three projections, one dorsal-ventral and two lateral-lateral. During the procedures the projection thicknesses and source-skin surface distances were registered. To simulate the dog phantom the dosimeters were positioned in a cubic simulator (30x30x30 cm) of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) filled with water and irradiated according to the parameters of projections with the X-ray energies ranging from 45 to 70 kV. To estimate the surface skin dose the dose-response curves were obtained for X-ray energies of 50 and 70 kV using the diagnostic X-ray beam machine of the Instruments Calibration Laboratory of IPEN for doses of 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.0 mGy. The main difficulty of this work was the dog immobilization that is reflected in poor-quality diagnostic imaging and, consequently, demands the repetition of the exams, which contributes to the increase of the doses received by the animals being studied and the clinical staff. The doses evaluated in this type of procedure are between 0.43 and 4.22 mGy. This research has shown to be extremely important for the assessment of doses involved in veterinary diagnostic radiology procedures, and as a parameter in the individual monitoring of pet’s owners who assist the animal positioning and occupationally exposed workers of the Department of Veterinary Radiology

Efeitos da dosagem de monensina sódica sobre o desempenho produtivo, comportamento ingestivo, saúde ruminal e características de carcaça em bovinos Nelore confinados

Pós-graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia Animal - FEIS

On symmetries of singular implicit ODEs

We study implicit ODEs, cubic in derivative, with infinitesimal symmetry at singular points. Cartan showed that even at regular points the existence of nontrivial symmetry imposes restrictions on the ODE. Namely, this algebra has the maximal possible dimension 3 iff the web of solutions is flat. For cubic ODEs with flat 3-web of solutions we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of nontrivial symmetries at singular points and show that under natural assumptions such a symmetry is semi-simple, i.e. is a scaling is some coordinates. We use this symmetry to find first integrals of the ODE.

Local classification of singular hexagonal 3-webs with holomorphic Chern connection form and infinitesimal symmetries

Implicit ODE, cubic in derivative, generically has no infinitesimal symmetries even at regular points with distinct roots. Cartan showed that at regular points, ODEs with hexagonal 3-web of solutions have symmetry algebras of the maximal possible dimension 3. At singular points such a web can lose all its symmetries. In this paper we study hexagonal 3-webs having at least one infinitesimal symmetry at singular points. In particular, we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of non-trivial symmetries and show that under natural assumptions such a symmetry is semi-simple, i.e. is a scaling in some coordinates. Using the obtained results, we provide a complete classification of hexagonal singular 3-web germs in the complex plane, satisfying the following two conditions: 1) the Chern connection form is holomorphic at the singular point, 2) the web admits at least one infinitesimal symmetry at this point. As a by-product, a classification of hexagonal weighted homogeneous 3-webs is obtained.

Female paraurethral prostate gland in Bitches

Even though the presence of the female prostate has been reported in many species, including humans, bats and several rodents, it has many anatomical and histological variations. There is still plentiful discussion on the biological function of this organ. Many authors state that paraurethral ducts and glands are functional and homologous to the male prostate. The use of experimental models and a better knowledge of the female prostate gland in other species, can be useful to veterinary medicine as well as human medicine. Therefore the aim of this study is to check for the presence of this gland in female dogs of various breeds and age. For that purpose 25 urethras, from the bladder to the vulva, were collected, fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin, routinely processed and sectioned into 4 slides of 4 µm, each with 40 µm gap between each set of 4 slides, using an automatic microtome and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosine (HE). The HE sections were evaluated for the presence of prostatic gland in the sample. Unstained tissue sections cut from paraffin blocks were marked with a polyclonal anti-PSA primary antibody. The prevalence of the gland was 32% (8/25). The structure of the paraurethral PSA-positive gland was acinar, organized in buds, with secretory epithelium varying from cubic to columnar; eccentric nuclei, with lose chromatin and a layer of basal cells, very similar to the male prostate were observed. In view of these characteristics, for the first time in the literature, was demonstrate that those glands. may be considered as female prostate in dogs, as they are in other vertebrates

Frequências de alimentação sobre o comportamento ingestivo, digestibilidade do amido e flutuação de consumo em bovinos Nelore confinados

Pós-graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia Animal - FEIS