Tillering in grain sorghum over a wide range of population densities: Identification of a common hierarchy for tiller emergence, leaf area development and fertility

Most studies of tiller development have not related the physiological and morphological features of each calm to its subsequent fertility. This introduced problems when trying to account for the effects of tillering on yield in crop models. The objective of this study was to detect the most likely early determinants of tiller fertility in sorghum by identifying hierarchies for emergence, fertility and grain number of tillers over a wide range of assimilate availabilities. Emergence, phenology, leaf area development and dry weight partitioning were quantified weekly for individual tillers and main culms of tillering and uniculm plants grown at one of four densities, from two to 16 plants m(-2). For a given plant in any given density, the same tiller hierarchy applied for emergence of tillers, fertility of the emerged tillers and their subsequent grain number. These results were observed over a range of tiller fertility rates (from 7 to 91%), fertile tiller number per plant at maturity (from 0.2 to 4.7), and tiller contribution to grain yield (from 5 to 78%). Tiller emergence was most probably related to assimilate supply and light quality. Development, fertility and contribution to yield of a specific tiller were highly dependent on growing conditions at the time of tiller emergence, particularly via early leaf area development of the tiller, which affected its subsequent leaf area accumulation. Assimilate availability in the main culm at the time of tiller emergence was the most likely early determinant of subsequent tiller fertility in this study. (C) 2002 Annals of Botany Company.

Integration of management systems: towards a sustained success and development of organizations

Effective environmental management within companies, integrated with other management areas like quality and occupational health and safety, is nowadays assumed to be a strategic way to implement and improve lean and cleaner production. Also, sustainable development (SD) and business sustainability can be achieved through a better coordinated management of processes versus associated resources. This paper presents an in depth discussion regarding the promotion of integrated management systems, their benefits and major contribution towards the sustainable development of cleaner production related features. It addresses issues regarding the contributions resulting from the integration of standardized Management System (MS) from both internal and external perspectives. Complementing the overall review of aspects to the development of integrated management systems a survey was conducted in order to better understand the relevance of the identified success factors. The main findings in this paper are as follows: a contextualization model of sustainable development and integrated management systems considering the Triple Bottom Line: economic, social and environmental; and, a method and associated model to support the development of integrated management systems as well as general guidelines to support integration. It can be concluded that a proactive approach and commitment to cleaner production, supported by an integrated management system, brings relevant savings for organizations as well as providing value to the relevant interested parties.

Institutional Development for Good Governance: the role of intermediary NGOs in Pará state, Amazonia

The paper analyses the roles of intermediary NGOs for linkages between government and rural communities in carrying out socio-environmental development programs as a mean of institutional development for good governance. In particular, the paper focuses on the Proambiente program that was carried out in Pará State, Amazonia, Brazil. This program was the first experience of a socio-environmental development program in Brazilian Amazonia that took into account local communities' demands to link environmental conservation and small-scale family-based rural production. Methodologically, the research was based on qualitative analysis and used semi-structured interviews for data collection. The paper shows that NGOs as intermediaries between government and rural communities is a significant mechanism to promote the strengthening of the power of local communities, to create bridges between federal government and local communities; and to stimulate participatory processes by engaging rural communities' culture and knowledge in socio-environmental development program as Proambiente.

Virtual Communities of Practice: Design and Development of Support Platforms and Participation Fostering

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática - Área de Especialização em Sistemas Gráficos e Multimédia

Development of Schistosoma mansoni in Biomphalaria tenagophila, Biomphalaria straminea and Biomphalaria glabrata

A comparative study of the development of Schistosoma mansoni during the intra-molluscan phase was made by means of histological sections of Biomphalaria tenagophila, B. straminea and B. glabrata from Brazil. Two hundred snails of each species were individually exposed to 50 miracidia of the S. mansoni, AL line. No larvae were observed in the snails fixed 72 h after exposure. In specimens shedding cercariae, 31 days after exposure tissue reactions encapsulating the larvae were seen in B. tenagophila and B. straminea, in the head-foot, mantle collar and renal ducts. No tissue reactions occurred in the digestive glands of these two species. In B. glabrata the presence of numerous sporocysts and cercariae without tissue reactions was observed in the digestive gland, and other organs. The levels of infection of the snails and the average numbers of cercariae shed per day were 32.6% and 79±90 respectively for B. tenagophila, 11.3% and 112±100 for B. straminea and 75.3% and 432±436 for B. glabrata. The lower levels of infection and average numbers of cercariae shed by B. tenagophila and B. straminea are thus related to their more potent internal defense systems.

“Culture Stops Development!”: Bijagó Youth and the Appropriation of Developmentalist Discourse in Guinea-B

African Studies Review, Volume 52, Number 2, pp. 69–

Development of an Unmanned Capsule for large-scale maritime search and rescue

This paper describes the development and testing of a robotic capsule for search and rescue operations at sea. This capsule is able to operate autonomously or remotely controlled, is transported and deployed by a larger USV into a determined disaster area and is used to carry a life raft and inflate it close to survivors in large-scale maritime disasters. The ultimate goal of this development is to endow search and rescue teams with tools that extend their operational capability in scenarios with adverse atmospheric or maritime conditions.

Public private collaboration: Potentials for spatial data infrastructure development in developing countries - A caste study of Nigeria

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Kitchen robot prod. line development. Proj. of Bowden cables cutting and thermal forming machine.

This document presents particular description of work done during student’s internship in PR Metal company realized as ERASMUS PROJECT at ISEP. All information including company’s description and its structure, overview of the problems and analyzed cases, all stages of projects from concept to conclusion can be found here. Description of work done during the internship is divided here into two pieces. First part concerns one activities of the company which is robotic chefs (kitchen robot) production line. Work, that was done for development of this line involved several tasks, among them: creating a single-worker montage station for screwing robots housing’s parts, improve security system for laser welding chamber, what particularly consists in designing automatically closing door system with special surface, that protects against destructive action of laser beam, test station for examination of durability of heating connectors, solving problem with rotors vibrations. Second part tells about main task, realized in second half of internship and stands a complete description of machine development and design. The machine is a part of car handle latch cable production line and its tasks are: cutting cable to required length and hot-forming plastic cover for further assembly needs.

UJI Navigation Network, Development of a pedestrian spatial network within the University Jaume I of Castellón (Spain)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

An approach to teach Calculus/Mathematical Analysis (for engineering students) using computers and active learning – its conception, development of materials and evaluation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ciências da Educação

Development of biocolonization resistant mortars: preliminary results

Restoration of Buildings and Monuments, vol. 13, nº 6 (2007), p.389-400

Local Development Initiatives: the case of São Paulo and ABCD Municipalities

MARQUES, B.P. (2008) “Local Development Initiatives: the case of São Paulo and ABCD Municipalities”, in Actas do 14.º Congresso da APDR, Tomar, pp. 253-279, ISBN 978-972-98803-9-1.

From Strategic Planning to Development Initiatives: a first reflection on the situation of Lisbon and Barcelona

MARQUES, B.P. (2014) From Strategic Planning to Development Initiatives: a first reflection on the situation of Lisbon and Barcelona, in 20th APDR Congress Proceddings, APDR and UÉvora, Évora, pp. 850-857, ISBN 978-989-8780-01-0.

Development of 3D in vitro models for prediction of hepatic metabolism and toxicity

The development of human cell models that recapitulate hepatic functionality allows the study of metabolic pathways involved in toxicity and disease. The increased biological relevance, cost-effectiveness and high-throughput of cell models can contribute to increase the efficiency of drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. Recapitulation of liver functionality in vitro requires the development of advanced culture strategies to mimic in vivo complexity, such as 3D culture, co-cultures or biomaterials. However, complex 3D models are typically associated with poor robustness, limited scalability and compatibility with screening methods. In this work, several strategies were used to develop highly functional and reproducible spheroid-based in vitro models of human hepatocytes and HepaRG cells using stirred culture systems. In chapter 2, the isolation of human hepatocytes from resected liver tissue was implemented and a liver tissue perfusion method was optimized towards the improvement of hepatocyte isolation and aggregation efficiency, resulting in an isolation protocol compatible with 3D culture. In chapter 3, human hepatocytes were co-cultivated with mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and the phenotype of both cell types was characterized, showing that MSC acquire a supportive stromal function and hepatocytes retain differentiated hepatic functions, stability of drug metabolism enzymes and higher viability in co-cultures. In chapter 4, a 3D alginate microencapsulation strategy for the differentiation of HepaRG cells was evaluated and compared with the standard 2D DMSO-dependent differentiation, yielding higher differentiation efficiency, comparable levels of drug metabolism activity and significantly improved biosynthetic activity. The work developed in this thesis provides novel strategies for 3D culture of human hepatic cell models, which are reproducible, scalable and compatible with screening platforms. The phenotypic and functional characterization of the in vitro systems performed contributes to the state of the art of human hepatic cell models and can be applied to the improvement of pre-clinical drug development efficiency of the process, model disease and ultimately, development of cell-based therapeutic strategies for liver failure.