The effect of the Coriolis force on Kelvin-Helmholtz-driven mixing in protoplanetary disks

We study the stability of proto-planetary disks with vertical velocity gradients in their equilibrium rotation rates; such gradients are expected to develop when dust settles into the midplane. Using a linear stability analysis of a simple three-layer model, we show that the onset of instability occurs at a larger value of the Richardson number, and therefore for a thicker layer, when the effects of Coriolis forces are included. This analysis also shows that even-symmetry (midplane-crossing) modes develop faster than odd-symmetry ones. These conclusions are corroborated by a large number of nonlinear numerical simulations with two different parameterized prescriptions for the initial (continuous) dust distributions. Based on these numerical experiments, the Richardson number required for marginal stability is more than an order of magnitude larger than the traditional 1/4 value. The dominant modes that grow have horizontal wavelengths of several initial dust scale heights, and in nonlinear stages mix solids fairly homogeneously over a comparable vertical range. We conclude that gravitational instability may be more difficult to achieve than previously thought, and that the vertical distribution of matter within the dust layer is likely globally, rather than locally, determined.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Metabolic determinants of body weight after cats were fed a low-carbohydrate high-protein diet or a high-carbohydrate low-protein diet ad libitum for 8wk

Overweight and obese conditions are common in cats and are associated with the development of a number of diseases. Knowledge of metabolic determinants and predictors of weight gain may enable better preventative strategies for obesity in cats. Lean, healthy cats were fed either a low-carbohydrate high-protein diet (n 16) or a high-carbohydrate low-protein (n 16) diet ad libitum for 8wk. Potential determinants and predictors of final body weight assessed were body fat and lean masses, energy required for maintenance, energy requirements above maintenance for each kilogram of weight gain, insulin sensitivity index, fasting, mean 24-h and peak plasma glucose, insulin, and leptin concentrations, and fasting and mean 24-h serum adiponectin concentrations. In cats fed the low-carbohydrate high-protein diet, after adjusting for initial body weight, those with higher energy requirements for weight gain and higher fasting glucose concentration had higher final body weights (P ≤ 0.01). Predicted final body weights using initial body weight, fasting glucose and mean 24-h insulin concentrations (partial R2 37.3%) were imprecise. An equation using just initial body weight and fasting glucose concentration would be of more practical value, but was marginally less precise. In cats fed the high-carbohydrate low-protein diet, those with lower fasting leptin concentration initially had higher final body weights (P = 0.01). Predicted final body weights using initial body weight, energy requirements for maintenance, total body fat percentage and fasting leptin concentration (partial R2 39.2%) were reasonably precise. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings and to improve the precision of predicted final body weights

Marco Polo: near Earth object sample return mission

Marco Polo is a joint European-Japanese mission of sample return from a Near Earth Object. The Marco Polo proposal was submitted to ESA on July 2007 in the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 context, and on October 2007 passed the first evaluation process. The primary objectives of this mission is to visit a primitive NEO, belonging to a class that cannot be related to known meteorite types, to characterize it at multiple scales, and to bring samples back to Earth. Marco Polo will give us the first opportunity for detailed laboratory study of the most primitive materials that formed the planets. This will allow us to improve our knowledge on the processes which governed the origin and early evolution of the Solar System, and possibly of the life on Earth

Marco Polo: A near Earth object sample return mission

From Introduction: MARCO POLO is a joint European-Japanese sample return mission to a Near-Earth Object. In late 2007 this mission was selected by ESA, in the framework of COSMIC VISION 2015-2025, for an assessment scheduled to last until mid 2009. This Euro-Asian mission will go to a primitive Near-Earth Object (NEO), such as a C or D type asteroid. The spacecraft will rendezvous with the object, and over an extended period scientifically characterize it at multiple scales and bring samples back to Earth for detailed scientific investigation

Influência de estresse por déficit hídrico em acessos do gênero Paspalum.

Editado por Ana Rita de araújo Nogueira, Simone Cristina Méo Niciur

Weed flora in rice areas under distinct cropping systems, herbicide and irrigation managements

We aimed to evaluate the incidence of weeds in the pre-planting of the summer crop as a function of planting system, herbicide use and irrigation management. The experiment was installed in field conditions, in RBD and 3 x 2 factorial scheme with eight replications. Treatments consisted in submitting rice to three management factors: water management – continuously flooded or intermittend irrigation (Factor A), coupled to the application (traditional control) or not (semi-ecological system) of herbicides (Factor B), and planting system – conventional soil tillage, minimum tillage and no till systems (Factor C). One year after rice cultivation, preceding the planting of the next cropping season, phytosociological evaluations of the weed communities were carried out. We assessed the overall infestation and weed species composition, which were classified by their respective density, frequency and dominance. We also estimated the diversity coefficients of Simpson and Shannon Weiner, and the sustainability coefficient of Shannon; treatments were also grouped by similarity in weed composition. In flood-irrigated rice, no till provides the lowest levels of weed infestation and, together with the conventional cropping system, results in values closer to the ecological sustainability; The application of herbicides in flooded rice crops reduces weed infestation, increases diversity and equalizes the ecological sustainability, compared to areas without the application of weed management methods. However, chemical control leads to the selection of resistant or tolerant species to herbicides, such as Polypogon sp.; Both continuous and intermittent water management systems did not cause changes in the level of infestation, composition or diversity coefficients

Rosetta-Alice Observations of Exospheric Hydrogen and Oxygen on Mars

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, en route to a 2014 encounter with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, made a gravity assist swing-by of Mars on 25 February 2007, closest approach being at 01:54UT. The Alice instrument on board Rosetta, a lightweight far-ultraviolet imaging spectrograph optimized for in situ cometary spectroscopy in the 750-2000 A spectral band, was used to study the daytime Mars upper atmosphere including emissions from exospheric hydrogen and oxygen. Offset pointing, obtained five hours before closest approach, enabled us to detect and map the HI Lyman-alpha and Lyman-beta emissions from exospheric hydrogen out beyond 30,000 km from the planet's center. These data are fit with a Chamberlain exospheric model from which we derive the hydrogen density at the 200 km exobase and the H escape flux. The results are comparable to those found from the the Ultraviolet Spectrometer experiment on the Mariner 6 and 7 fly-bys of Mars in 1969. Atomic oxygen emission at 1304 A is detected at altitudes of 400 to 1000 km above the limb during limb scans shortly after closest approach. However, the derived oxygen scale height is not consistent with recent models of oxygen escape based on the production of suprathermal oxygen atoms by the dissociative recombination of O2+.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Icaru

Avaliação da tolerância de acesso do gênero Paspalum ao sombreamento.

Editado por Ana Rita de Araújo Nogueira, Simone Cristina Meo Niciura

The role of planetary formation and evolution in shaping the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres

Over the last twenty years, the search for extrasolar planets revealed us the rich diversity of the outcomes of the formation and evolution of planetary systems. In order to fully understand how these extrasolar planets came to be, however, the orbital and physical data we possess are not enough, and they need to be complemented with information on the composition of the exoplanets. Ground-based and space-based observations provided the first data on the atmospheric composition of a few extrasolar planets, but a larger and more detailed sample is required before we can fully take advantage of it. The primary goal of the Exoplanet Characterization Observatory (EChO) is to fill this gap, expanding the limited data we possess by performing a systematic survey of hundreds of extrasolar planets. The full exploitation of the data that EChO and other space-based and ground-based facilities will provide in the near future, however, requires the knowledge of what are the sources and sinks of the chemical species and molecules that will be observed. Luckily, the study of the past history of the Solar System provides several indications on the effects of processes like migration, late accretion and secular impacts, and on the time they occur in the life of planetary systems. In this work we will review what is already known about the factors influencing the composition of planetary atmospheres, focusing on the case of gaseous giant planets, and what instead still need to be investigated.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication on Experimental Astronomy, special issue on the M3 EChO mission candidat