Épocas de poda e uso da irrigação em figueira 'roxo de valinhos' na região de Botucatu, SP

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

Teores nutricionais em folhas e frutos de figueira, submetida a épocas de poda e irrigação

The present study aimed to evaluating the nutritional content in leaves and fruits of the fig tree 'Roxo de Valinhos', pruned at different periods corresponding to the months of July, August, September and October in the years of 2004 and 2005, with and without the use of irrigation, in the county of Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil. To achieve this objective, the adopted experimental design was in blocks with subdivided plots and 5 replications, in which plots corresponded to treatments with and without irrigation and subplots included prunings done in the above-mentioned four months. The levels of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Mn and Zn in leaves and fruits were evaluated in the two crop cycles. The results indicated no significant differences among macro and micronutrient levels in the leaves subjected to treatments with and without irrigation in the cycle 2004/05, except for cupper which showed higher level with the treatment including irrigation (6 mg kg(-1)). In the fruits, there was no difference, except for Zn, which also showed the highest levels (28 mg kg(-1)) with irrigation. In the crop cycle 2005/06, there were differences for N (40 g kg(-1)) and K (20 g kg(-1)) in the leaves, where the highest levels were observed with the treatment including irrigation. In the fruits, N had significant difference and its highest level was observed without irrigation (21 g kg(-1)). In relation to the pruning periods, significant differences were observed for Ca, Fe and Zn content in the leaves and Ca, K, Mg, S and Zn content in the fruits in the crop cycle 2004/05. In the cycle 2005/06, there were not differences among the levels of the evaluated nutrients in the leaves, and in the fruits there was difference for N, Ca and Cu.

Aplicação superficial de calcário e diferentes resíduos em soja cultivada no sistema plantio direto

A prática da correção da acidez do solo pela aplicação superficial de corretivos sobre a palha no sistema plantio direto se restringe ao calcário, não havendo maiores estudos em relação à escória de aciaria, lama cal e lodo de esgoto centrifugado. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar os índices de acidez do solo e a produtividade da soja em função da aplicação superficial de lodo de esgoto centrifugado, lama cal, escória de aciaria e calcário dolomítico. O trabalho foi desenvolvido em Latossolo Vermelho distrófico, durante os anos agrícolas de 2002 a 2005, sob sistema plantio direto. Os tratamentos constituíram da aplicação superficial de escória de aciaria (E), lama cal (Lcal), lodo de esgoto centrifugado (LC), calcário dolomítico e sem aplicação de corretivo, em delineamento em blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições. A aplicação superficial de escória de aciaria, lama cal e lodo de esgoto centrifugado permite a correção da acidez do solo, o deslocamento do Ca2+, o aumento da saturação por bases e redução do Al3+ até 40 cm, e para o calcário, até 20 cm, fatores que condicionaram o aumento da produtividade da soja para os tratamentos LC, E e Lcal em 2003/2004 e 2004/2005 e para LC e E em 2002/2003 no sistema plantio direto.

Estudo da secagem do feijão verde (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) - análise experimental do processo combinado leito fixo/leito de jorro

Green bean is considered as one of most traditional Brazilian Northeast dishes. Green beans drying preliminary experiments show that combine processes, fixed-bed/spouted bed, resulted in dehydrated beans with uniform humidity and the recovery of the beans properties after their rehydration. From this assays was defined an initial humidity suited for the spouted bed process. A fixed-bed pre-drying process until a level of 40% humidity gave the best results. The spouted bed characteristic hydrodynamic curves were presented for different beans loads, where changes in the respective beans physical properties were evidenced during the fluidynamic assay, due simultaneous drying process. One 22 factorial experimental design was carried out with three repetition in the central point, considering as entry variables: drying air velocity and temperature. The response variables were the beans brakeage, water fraction evaporated during 20 and 50 minutes of drying and the humidity ratio. They are presented still the modeling of the drying of the green beans in fine layer in the drier of tray and the modeling of the shrinking of the beans of the drying processes fixed-bed and spouted bed

Investigation of microwave dielectric relaxation solid state process in the antiferroelectric phase of NaNbO3 ceramics

This letter reports microwave dielectric measurements performed in the antiferroelectric phase of NaNbO3 ceramics from 100 to 450 K. Remarkable dielectric relaxation was found within the antiferroelectric phase and in the vicinity of the ferroelectric-antiferroelectric phase transition. Such dielectric relaxation process was associated with relaxations of polar nanoregions with strong relaxor-like characteristic. In addition, the microwave dielectric measurements also revealed an unexpected and unusual anomaly in the relaxation strength, which was related to a disruption of the antiferroelectric order induced by a possible AFE-AFE phase transition. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Piezoelectric biosensors for real-time monitoring of hybridization and detection of hepatitis C virus

The piezoelectric quartz crystal resonators modified with oligonucleotide probes were used for detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in serum. The gold electrodes on either rough or smooth surface crystals were modified with a self-assembled monolayer of cystamine. After activation with glutaraldehyde, either avidin or streptavidin were immobilized and used for attachment of biotinylated DNA probes (four different sequences). Piezoelectric biosensors were used in a flow-through setup for direct monitoring of DNA resulting from the reverse transcriptase-linked polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of the original viral RNA. The samples of patients with hepatitis C were analyzed and the results were compared with the standard RT-PCR procedure (Amplicor test kit of Roche, microwell format with spectrophotometric evaluation). The piezoelectric hybridization assay was completed in 10 min and the same sensing surface was suitable for repeated use. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Invasion of epithelial mammalian cells by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis leads to cytoskeletal rearrangement and apoptosis of the host cell

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Pb) yeast cells can enter mammalian cells and probably manipulate the host cell environment to favor their own growth and survival. We studied the uptake of strain Pb 18 into A549 lung and Vero epithelial cells, with an emphasis on the repercussions in the cytoskeleton and the apoptosis of host cells. Cytoskeleton components of the host cells, such as actin and tubulin, were involved in the P. brasiliensis invasion process. Cytochalasin D and colchicine treatment substantially reduced invasion, indicating the functional participation of microfilaments (MFs) and microtubules (MTs) in this mechanism. Cytokeratin could also play a role in the P. brasiliensis interaction with the host. Gp43 was recognized by anti-actin and anti-cytokeratin antibodies, but not by anti-tubulin. The apoptosis induced by this fungus in infected epithelial cells was demonstrated by various techniques: TUNEL, DNA fragmentation and Bak and Bcl-2 immunocytochemical expression. DNA fragmentation was observed in infected cells but not in uninfected ones, by both TUNEL and gel electrophoresis methods. Moreover, Bcl-2 and Bak did not show any differences until 24 h after infection of cells, suggesting a competitive mechanism that allows persistence of infection. Overexpression of Bak was observed after 48 h, indicating the loss of competition between death and survival signals. In conclusion, the mechanisms of invasion of host cells, persistence within them, and the subsequent induction of apoptosis of such cells may explain the efficient dissemination of P. brasiliensis. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier SAS.

Study of the diclofenac/phospholipid interactions with liposomes and monolayers

The interaction of diclofenae sodium (SD) with soya phosphatidylcholine (SPC) has been studied with floating Langmuir monolayers and liposomes. SD was either introduced into the subphase of SPC monolayers or co-spread with SPC on an aqueous subphase. In both cases, SD caused the surface pressure isotherm to become more expanded, thus demonstrating the affinity between SD and SPC. The incorporation of SD caused SPC liposomes to have a decreased diameter according to light scattering experiments. When SPC liposomes were injected into an aqueous subphase, their destruction yielding surface-active monomers could be monitored by changes in surface pressure. SD-loaded liposomes displayed a much faster kinetics when the surface density of surface-active monomers was plotted against time, with rate constants increasing significantly with the SD concentration. The kinetic profile can be quantitatively analyzed by plotting In[1 - (Gamma/Gamma(infinity))] versus t(1/2) (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of nitrogen supply on growth and photosynthesis of sunflower plants grown in the greenhouse

The effects of nitrogen availability on growth and photosynthesis were followed in plants of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., var. CATISSOL-01) grown in the greenhouse under natural photoperiod. The sunflower plants were grown in vermiculite under two contrasting nitrogen supply, with nitrogen supplied as ammonium nitrate. Higher nitrogen concentration resulted in higher shoot dry matter production per plant and the effect was apparent from 29 days after sowing (DAS). The difference in dry matter production was mainly attributed to the effect of nitrogen on leaf production and on individual leaf dry matter. The specific leaf weight (SLW) was not affected by the nitrogen supply. The photosynthetic CO2 assimilation (A) of the target leaves was remarkably improved by high nitrogen nutrition. However, irrespective of nitrogen supply, the decline in photosynthetic CO2 assimilation occurred before the end of leaf growth. Although nitrogen did not change significantly stomatal conductance (gs), high-N grown plants had lower intercellular CO2 concentration (C-i) when compared with low-N grown plants. Transpiration rate (E) was increased in high-N grown plants only at the beginning of leaf growth. However, this not resulted in lower intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE). (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Experimental study of the conventional equation to determine a plate's moment of inertia

In this work, we describe an experimental setup in which an electric current is used to determine the angular velocity attained by a plate rotating around a shaft in response to a torque applied for a given period. Based on this information, we show how the moment of inertia of a plate can be determined using a procedure that differs considerably from the ones most commonly used, which generally involve time measurements. Some experimental results are also presented which allow one to determine parameters such as the exponents and constant of the conventional equation of a plate's moment of inertia.

An efficient Hopfield network to solve economic dispatch problems with transmission system representation

Economic dispatch (ED) problems have recently been solved by artificial neural network approaches. Systems based on artificial neural networks have high computational rates due to the use of a massive number of simple processing elements and the high degree of connectivity between these elements. The ability of neural networks to realize some complex non-linear function makes them attractive for system optimization. All ED models solved by neural approaches described in the literature fail to represent the transmission system. Therefore, such procedures may calculate dispatch policies, which do not take into account important active power constraints. Another drawback pointed out in the literature is that some of the neural approaches fail to converge efficiently toward feasible equilibrium points. A modified Hopfield approach designed to solve ED problems with transmission system representation is presented in this paper. The transmission system is represented through linear load flow equations and constraints on active power flows. The internal parameters of such modified Hopfield networks are computed using the valid-subspace technique. These parameters guarantee the network convergence to feasible equilibrium points, which represent the solution for the ED problem. Simulation results and a sensitivity analysis involving IEEE 14-bus test system are presented to illustrate efficiency of the proposed approach. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seleção de progênies de meios-irmãos do composto Isanão VF-1 de milho na safra e safrinha

O aumento significativo da produção de milho na segunda safra no Brasil, principalmente no centro-sul do país, têm estimulado os programas de melhoramento da cultura a selecionar genótipos que sejam adaptáveis às condições climáticas das diferentes épocas de semeadura. Nesse sentido, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi quantificar a interação progênies x épocas de semeadura e verificar seus reflexos no progresso genético com o uso de índice de seleção multivariado para seleção de progênies do Composto Isanão VF-1 de milho. As semeaduras foram realizadas na segunda safra em 2004 e na primeira safra do ano agrícola 2004/05. Foram utilizadas 71 progênies de meios irmãos avaliadas em blocos ao acaso, com três repetições. Os caracteres avaliados foram: altura de plantas, altura de espigas, tombamento, prolificidade e rendimento de grãos. Realizaram-se a decomposição da interação progênies x épocas e foram estimados os ganhos pelo índice de seleção descrito por Mulamba e Mock. Houve predomínio da interação do tipo simples para maioria dos caracteres, exceto para prolificidade, que revelou 86% de interação do tipo complexa. Pelo índice de Mulamba e Mock, os ganhos proporcionais mais adequados para o conjunto de caracteres avaliados foi obtido pelos pesos econômicos atribuídos por tentativas. Os ganhos preditos foram de 1,41, 0,86, -13,03, 9,54 e 16,12% para altura de planta, altura de espiga, tombamento, prolificidade e rendimento de grãos, respectivamente.

A psicologia e o programa de saúde da família :novas possibilidades, velhos dogmas?

The model of attention to health has been suffering alterations due to the difficulty faced to put into practice its universal, democratic and institutional layout. Since the movement of Sanitary Reform, which focused in the demands of a new health context and the process of work in the area of health, one seeks uninterruptedly, to find a way which leads to the execution of the principles of SUS. Despite having tried, the model of Sanitary Vigilance centered within the work of a multi-professional team has shown fragmentation and little adequacy to the necessity of health in the population. Whilst inserting himself in the field of health, the psychology professional has taken with him his clinic way of attending to individuals being one more in the team to act in a de-contextualised and little critical way. In virtue of this framework, the Ministry of Health invests in the Family Health Program as a new guide in the health system, restructuring the basic attention at a new logic of action. In this way, the municipality of Natal-RN implants, in the year 2002, the PSF in the Northern Sanitary District, a context in which professional teams are created where there is not an inclusion of a psychologist. Consequently, this professional is excluded of his work space in the previous Basic Unities of Health. This piece of work constitutes in the investigation of the implementation and instrumentalization of the Northern Sanitary District PSF of Natal-RN, having as its objective to analyze the implications of this execution for the structuring of the health network services and more specifically the alterations that this implementation could be making to the practice of the Psychology Professionals, emphasizing its advances, obstacles and limitations. To make this work feasible it was necessary to search for data and information from the implementation and execution of the PSF in the DSN, carrying interviews from a semi-structured guide, with 21 institutional actors (members of the team, coordinators and directors of the unities and psychologists)

Multistage and coordinated planning of the expansion of transmission systems

In this paper, an efficient genetic algorithm (GA) is presented to solve the problem of multistage and coordinated transmission expansion planning. This is a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem, difficult for systems of medium and large size and high complexity. The GA presented has a set of specialized genetic operators and an efficient form of generation of the initial population that finds high quality suboptimal topologies for large size and high complexity systems. In these systems, multistage and coordinated planning present a lower investment than static planning. Tests results are shown in one medium complexity system and one large size high complexity system.