Gravitationally lensed QSOs in the ISSIS/WSO-UV era

Gravitationally lensed QSOs (GLQs) at redshift z = 1-2 play a key role in understanding the cosmic evolution of the innermost parts of active galaxies (black holes, accretion disks, coronas and internal jets), as well as the structure of galaxies at intermediate redshifts. With respect to studies of normal QSOs, GLQ programmes have several advantages. For example, a monitoring of GLQs may lead to unambiguous detections of intrinsic and extrinsic variations. Both kinds of variations can be used to discuss central engines in distant QSOs, and mass distributions and compositions of lensing galaxies. In this context, UV data are of particular interest, since they correspond to emissions from the immediate surroundings of the supermassive black hole. We describe some observation strategies to analyse optically bright GLQs at z of about 1.5, using ISSIS (CfS) on board World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Effects of α-tocopherol and ternatin antioxidants on morphology and activation of goat preantral follicles in vitro cultured

Os efeitos do α-tocoferol e da ternatina sobre morfologia, ativação e crescimento de folículos pré-antrais caprinos cultivados in vitro, por um ou cinco dias, foram avaliados. Os fragmentos ovarianos foram imediatamente fixados (controle não-cultivado) ou cultivados in vitro, por um ou cinco dias, em Meio Essencial Mínimo (MEM) com ou sem suplementação com α-tocoferol ou ternatina nas concentrações de 5, 10 ou 15M, formando os tratamentos MEM, TOC5, TOC10, TOC 15, TER5, TER10, TER15. O percentual de folículos pré-antrais normais no controle não-cultivado foi de 73,2%, depois de cinco dias de cultivo, houve redução desse percentual em todos os tratamentos, quando comparados com o controle não-cultivado (P<0,05). O cultivo por cinco dias aumentou a ativação folicular em todos os tratamentos (P<0,05). A análise ultra-estrutural não mostrou folículos pré-antrais íntegros após cinco dias de cultivo em meio contendo antioxidantes. Concluiu-se que o α -tocoferol e a ternatina podem promover a ativação folicular, no entanto a adição desses antioxidantes nas concentrações testadas reduziu a viabilidade folicular após o cultivo in vitro. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe effects of α-tocopherol and ternatin on the morphology, activation, and growth of goat preantral follicles in vitro cultured, for one or five days, were evaluated. Ovarian fragments were immediately fixed (non-cultured control) or in vitro cultured for one or five days in Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) with or without α-tocopherol or ternatin supplementation, both at concentrations of 5, 10, or 15M, corresponding to the following treatments: MEM, TOC5, TOC10, TOC 15, TER5, TER10, and TER15. The percentages of morphologically normal preantral follicles in non-cultured ovarian tissue (control) was 73.2% and after five days of culture, there was a decrease on these percentages in all treatments (P<0.05) when compared with non-cultured control. Culture of ovarian cortex for five days increased the percentages of follicular activation in all treatments (P<0.05). Ultrastructural analysis did not confirm the integrity of caprine preantral follicles cultured for five days in medium containing antioxidants. This study demonstrated that α-tocopherol and ternatin can promote follicular activation; however, addition of these antioxidants in the tested concentrations reduced the follicular viability after in vitro culture

Stability of the monoclinic phase in the ferroelectric perovskite PbZr(1-x)TixO3

Recent structural studies of ferroelectric PbZr(1-x)TixO3 (PZT) with x= 0.48, have revealed a new monoclinic phase in the vicinity of the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), previously regarded as the the boundary separating the rhombohedral and tetragonal regions of the PZT phase diagram. In the present paper, the stability region of all three phases has been established from high resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction measurements on a series of highly homogeneous samples with 0.42 <=x<= 0.52. At 20K the monoclinic phase is stable in the range 0.46 <=x<= 0.51, and this range narrows as the temperature is increased. A first-order phase transition from tetragonal to rhombohedral symmetry is observed only for x= 0.45. The MPB, therefore, corresponds not to the tetragonal-rhombohedral phase boundary, but instead to the boundary between the tetragonal and monoclinic phases for 0.46 <=x<= 0.51. This result provides important insight into the close relationship between the monoclinic phase and the striking piezoelectric properties of PZT; in particular, investigations of poled samples have shown that the monoclinic distortion is the origin of the unusually high piezoelectric response of PZT.Comment: REVTeX file, 7 figures embedde

Influence of the sulphurization time on the morphological, chemical, structural and electrical properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 polycrystalline thin films

The effects of the sulphurization annealing time on the morphological, chemical, structural and electrical properties of CZTS thin films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, Hall effect and electrical conductivity measurements in samples annealed during different time intervals. The increase of the annealing time was found to improve the chemical composition of the samples and to, slightly, increase the crystallite size. Small amounts of Na were measured in the samples. However, the concentration of Na does not increase significantly with the annealing time and should not modify the characteristics of the CZTS thin films. It was also found that at high temperature the electrical conductivity is dominated by thermal emission of carriers over the inter-grain potential barriers. As the temperature decreases different hopping conduction mechanisms start to dominate. At first with nearest-neighbour hopping and successively changing to variable range hopping conduction with a crossover from Mott and Efros–Shklovskii behavior. The electrical conductivity, the concentration of free holes, acceptors and donors, traps0 density at the grain boundaries and the grain potential barriers height were found to increase with the annealing time. However, a significant drop in the compensation ratio from 0.8 to 0.5 was also detected.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Qualidade tecnológica da cana-de-açúcar em função da aplicação de maturadores em meio de safra

O fornecimento de matéria-prima de qualidade tecnológica é fundamental para garantir o rendimento industrial. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a qualidade tecnológica da cana-de-açúcar em função da aplicação de maturadores da classe dos inibidores do crescimento (Glifosato, Sulfometuron metil e Compostos de radicais carboxílicos orgânicos + Glifosato) em meio de safra. O experimento foi desenvolvido em cana-soca por duas safras consecutivas (2004/2005) na Fazenda Bosque, Igaraçu do Tietê (SP), sendo os tratamentos aplicados em 10/5/2004 e 4/8/2005. Os tratamentos foram constituídos da aplicação de três reguladores vegetais da classe dos inibidores do crescimento (Sulfometuron metil, Glifosato e Compostos de radicais carboxílicos orgânicos + Glifosato) e uma testemunha (maturação natural). A eficiência agronômica dos maturadores foi influenciada pela condição climática de cada safra. A aplicação dos maturadores em meia estação (maio) permitiu explorar de forma significativa o potencial genético da variedade quanto ao acúmulo de sacarose nos colmos, implicando em melhoria na qualidade tecnológica da matéria-prima, porém sem efeito significativo na produtividade de colmos por hectare. Os maturadores influenciaram de forma significativa a produtividade de açúcar, aumentando o retorno econômico por hectare.The supply of raw material with high technological quality is the most important issue to guarantee industrial productivity. The objective of this work was to evaluate the technological quality sugarcane uppon application of ripeners from the class of growth inhibitors (Sulfomethuron methyl, Glyphosate and Compounds of organic carboxylic radicals + Glyphosate) in the middle of the cropping season. The experiment was carried out in ratoon cane during two subsequent crops (2004/2005) at Bosque Farm, Igaracu do Tietê (SP), and treatments application in May 10, 2004 and August 04, 2005. The treatments consisted of three plant regulators application and a control (natural ripening). Agronomic efficiency was influenced by weather conditions in each crop season. The ripeners application in May 10, 2004 increased the sucrose content in stems, resulting in improvement of technological quality of raw material, but not affecting the productivity of stems. The ripeners influenced significantly the sugar production of witch increase the overall economic revenue

Qualidade tecnológica em diferentes porções do colmo e produtividade da cana-de-açúcar sob efeito de maturadores

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a qualidade tecnológica da cana-de-açúcar, variedade RB855453, nas diversas porções do colmo, decorrente da aplicação de maturadores com diferentes mecanismos de ação e a influência na produtividade e na margem de contribuição agrícola. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados, com seis repetições. Os tratamentos constituíram-se da aplicação de três maturadores, sendo dois da classe dos inibidores do crescimento - glifosato, sulfometuron metil, e um da classe dos retardantes do crescimento - KNO3, com a adição de 1% de óleo vegetal, e a maturação natural como testemunha. Os tratamentos com KNO3 e sulfometuron metil, assim como a testemunha, não promoveram prejuízos ao desenvolvimento dos colmos. Os tratamentos com glifosato e sulfometuron metil propiciaram melhoria na qualidade tecnológica da matéria-prima, determinada até os 35 dias após aplicação, contribuindo para o processo de maturação e possibilitando antecipar o corte em relação à maturação natural (testemunha) e ao tratamento com KNO3, propiciando maior retorno econômico. O tratamento com glifosato reduziu a produtividade de colmos, mas elevou a pol da cana na porção superior dos colmos, possibilitando maior altura de desponte

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities and soil aggregation as affected by cultivation of various crops during the sugarcane fallow period

Management systems involving crop rotation, ground cover species and reduced soil tillage can improve the soil physical and biological properties and reduce degradation. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effect of various crops grown during the sugarcane fallow period on the production of glomalin and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in two Latosols, as well as their influence on soil aggregation. The experiment was conducted on an eutroferric Red Latosol with high-clay texture (680 g clay kg-1) and an acric Red Latosol with clayey texture (440 g kg-1 clay) in Jaboticabal (São Paulo State, Brazil). A randomized block design involving five blocks and four crops [soybean (S), soybean/fallow/soybean (SFS), soybean/millet/soybean (SMS) and soybean/sunn hemp/soybean (SHS)] was used to this end. Soil samples for analysis were collected in June 2011. No significant differences in total glomalin production were detected between the soils after the different crops. However, total external mycelium length was greater in the soils under SMS and SHS. Also, there were differences in easily extractable glomalin, total glomalin and aggregate stability, which were all greater in the eutroferric Red Latosol than in the acric Red Latosol. None of the cover crops planted in the fallow period of sugarcane improved aggregate stability in either Latosol.Os sistemas de manejo que adotam menor revolvimento do solo, rotação de culturas e utilização de plantas de cobertura podem levar a melhorias dos seus atributos biológicos e físicos, com redução da degradação do solo. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o cultivo de diferentes culturas, durante o período de reforma do canavial, na produção de glomalina e na de propágulos de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares, em dois Latossolos, e a influência desses nos processos de agregação do solo. O experimento foi conduzido no município de Jaboticabal, SP, em um Latossolo Vermelho eutroférrico (LVef) textura muito argilosa (680 g kg-1 de argila) e um Latossolo Vermelho ácrico (LVw) textura argilosa (440 g kg-1 de argila), durante o período de reforma do canavial. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados com quatro cultivos e cinco blocos. Os cultivos foram: soja; soja/pousio/soja; soja/milheto/soja; e soja/crotalária/soja. A amostragem de solo foi realizada em junho de 2011. Não foram verificadas diferenças significativas na quantidade de glomalina total, após a utilização das diferentes culturas. Maior comprimento de micélio externo total foi observado no solo onde houve os cultivos de soja/milheto/soja e soja/crotalária/soja. Foram observadas diferenças entre os solos avaliados para os atributos glomalina facilmente extraível, glomalina total e índice de estabilidade de agregados do solo, tendo o LVef apresentado características mais favoráveis que o LVw. Nenhuma das culturas utilizadas no período de reforma do canavial teve efeitos benéficos no índice de estabilidade de agregados nos dois Latossolos estudados.UNESP FCAV Department of Soil ScienceUNESP Department of Soil ScienceUNESP FCAV Department of Soil ScienceUNESP Department of Soil Scienc