Soil organic carbon stocks under pasture atlantic forest in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil.

The objective of this study is to perform a comparative analysis of the soil carbon stock under pasture (Brachiaria spp) and semideciduous broadleaf Atlantic Forest fragments

Carbon stock measurement to evaluate ecosystem service from carbon sequestration.

The aim of this study is to establish parameters to evaluate ecosystem service from carbon sequestration of the actions supported by the Sustainable Rural Development Program in watersheds of the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil – Rio-Rural

Aplicação de métodos geoestatísticos na determinação da variabilidade espacial do teor de argila.

É comum encontrar em solos brasileiros variabilidade na textura e nos macro e micronutrientes. Em experimentos de campo, as amostragens são realizadas dentro de cada parcela aleatoriamente e, dada a variabilidade destes solos, devido às manchas de fertilidade, não são detectadas diferenças estatísticas entre os tratamentos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar A identificação da dependência foi verificada pelo uso do semivariograma. Em geral, variáveis que apresentam grande variabilidade impossibilitam, na maioria das vezes, a detecção de reais diferenças estatísticas entre os efeitos de tratamentos. A consideração de amostras georreferenciadas é uma abordagem importante na análise de dados desta natureza. Foram estudados três modelos de semivariograma sendo que, aquele que melhor se ajustou aos dados de argila foi o exponencial apresentando menor variância espacial e menor quadrado médio do erro

Multidrug-resistant enterobacterales in Oman : molecular epidemiology and therapeutic insights

The spread of antibiotic resistance is a concerning issue causing limited treatment options for bacterial infections, particularly with Gram-negative bacteria. Surveillance and epidemiological studies help to determine the magnitude of the problem as well as to establish early measures to slow down the spread of resistance and consequently increase antibiotic lifespan. Currently, there is a visible paucity of published data about resistance from the Arabian Peninsula. In this thesis, we studied a collection of carbapenem nonsusceptible E. coli (n=35) and K. pneumoniae (n=237) isolated in 2015 from various hospitals in Oman. We aimed at identifying resistance mechanisms, mapping the bacterial population structure, investigating bacterial fitness, and studying potential treatment options available to tackle infections caused by such multidrug-resistant strains. These aims were addressed in five papers as discussed below. NDM and OXA-48 were the only carbapenemases we found in this collection, both among E. coli (Paper I) and K. pneumoniae (Paper II). The pattern of resistance among the isolates from Arabian Peninsula mimics the pattern reported from the Indian subcontinent, most likely due to the close socioeconomic interactions between them. Both regions lack KPC enzymes, which are commonly seen in China and the US from strains belong to ST11 and ST258, respectively. Despite ST11 being predominant in this collection, we did not detect KPC. Yet, we detected a high-risk clone of E. coli, ST131-H30Rx-CTX-M-15. Additionally, we identified newly emerging clones of K. pneumoniae and E. coli such as ST231 and ST1193-H64RxC, respectively. Nearly 10% of the K. pneumoniae isolates in our collection were colistin resistant which prompted us to study the mechanisms of colistin resistance (Paper III). MgrB-inactivation by insertion elements was seen in 8 isolates while other mutations were seen in other chromosomal genes known to be involved in colistin resistance e.g. pmrB, phoPQ and crrB. However, we did not detect mcr genes. Collectively, the genetic alterations are thought to reduce the net negative charge in bacterial cell wall, hence lowering the binding affinity of colistin. Our data underscores that there is no reduction in the surface charge in colistinresistant K. pneumoniae, due to the MgrB-insertion (Paper IV). The genetic alteration might lead to other structural changes in the cell wall such as altering hydrophobicity, which required further investigation. Also, our data shows no difference in the survival rates of colistin resistant and susceptible strains in blood, serum and zebrafish model. Thus, gaining resistance against colistin does not infer a fitness cost in K. pneumoniae with MgrB-insertion (Paper IV). Additionally, colistin and LL-37 share similar binding mechanism which suggest there might be a cross-resistance between them. Our data supported this hypothesis, but only at high concentrations of LL-37 ( ≥ 50 mg/L) (Paper IV). Finally, we studied available options to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant strains. Combining colistin and rifampicin showed good in vitro activity against multidrug-resistant strains of E. coli (Paper V) and K. pneumoniae (Paper III). To summarise, we conducted comprehensive genomic analysis of E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates from Oman to reveal the resistance mechanism, their impact on bacterial cell structural and if there is a fitness cost inferred by the resistance mechanisms. Finally, we studied combination therapy as an available option at hand for tackling infections caused by multidrug-resistant strains

Aplicação de métodos geoestatísticos na análise do teor de silte do solo.

Sabe-se que variáveis regionalizadas são funçõess que variam de um lugar a outro no espaço com certa similaridade de continuidade, cujos valores estão relacionados de algum modo com a posição espacial. Em função disso, este trabalho se propõe a estudar a aplicação de métodos geoestatísticos, para tratamento de variáveis georreferenciadas , em dados de que compõe a fração do solo como o silte fornecidos pela Embrapa Solos

Aplicação da geoestatística em dados de capacidade de troca de cátions.

A Capacidade de Troca de Cátions (CTC) é um importante atributo dos solos, pois a disponibilidade de nutrientes para as plantas é permitida através da propriedade de troca de cátions. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo identificar a dependência espacial da CTC e fazer uso das técnicas de Geoestatística para esta variável. O levantamento amostral foi realizado no município de Campos dos Goytacazes, no estado do Rio de Janeiro, foram coletadas amostras de forma regionalizadas, com trado holandês, em uma malha regular, distando 900 metros para cada coordenada geográfica: norte e leste, esta malha foi idealizada com espaçamento de 50 metros, totalizando 273 amostras que após as análises iniciais foram reduzidas a 240 amostras, sem a presença de dados discrepantes. Os dados foram submetidos às análises descritivas exploratórias, com o uso do box-plot, testes de normalidade e gráficos de controle. Posteriormente, foram realizadas as análises geoestatísticas retirandose as tendências linear e quadrática, determinação do semivariograma que melhor representa os dados, krigagem ordinária e construção de mapas da área amostral. Observou-se que a CTC possui dependência espacial e que o semivariograma que melhor representa os dados é o modelo exponencial. Através do mapa amostral pôde-se analisar a interpolação realizada por krigagem, representando satisfatoriamente a área amostral

Combustion and emission studies of a common-rail direct injection diesel engine with various injector nozzles

Fuel injection has a critical role in an internal combustion engine and a significant effect on the quality of the fuel spray. In turn, fuel spray directly affects an engine´s combustion, efficiency, power and emissions. This study evaluated three different injector nozzles in a highspeed, non-road diesel engine. It was run on diesel fuel oil (DFO) and testing was conducted at three different engine loads (100%, 75% and 50%) and at two engine speeds (2,200 rpm and 1,500 rpm). The nozzles had 6, 8 and 10 holes and a relatively high mass flow rate (HF). The study investigated and compared injection and combustion characteristics, together with gaseous emissions. The combustion parameters seemed to be very similar with all studied injector nozzles. The emission measurements indicated general reductions in hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) at most load/speed points when using the 6- and 10-hole nozzles instead of the reference 8-hole nozzles. However, smoke number increased when the alternative nozzles were used

Combustion property analyses with variable liquid marine fuels in combustion research unit

The quality of ignition and co mbustion of four marine and power plant fuels were studied in a Combustion Research Unit, CRU. The fuels were low - sulphur Light Fuel Oil (LFO, baseline), Marine Gas Oil (MGO), kerosene and renewable wood - based naphtha. To meet climate change requirements a nd sustainability goals, combustion systems needs to be able to operate with a variety of renewable and ‘net - zero - carbon’ fuels. Due to the variations in the chemical and physical properties of the fuels, they generally cannot simply be dropped into existi ng systems. The aim of this research project was to understand how changes in fuel composition affect engine operation. The focus was on how various properties of the fuels impact on the combustion process – especially ignition delay and in - cylinder combus tion. The goal of the research project was to allow broad fuel flexibility without any or only minor changes to engine hardware. Before the engine tests, the CRU forms an easy and cost - effective device to find out the engine suitability of the fuel . The re sults showed that the ignition delay decreased expectedly with all fuels when the in - cylinder pressure and temperature increased. The differences in the maximum heat release rates between fuels decreased in high - pressure conditions. MGO had the shortest ig nition delay under both pressure and temperature conditions. Based on the CRU results MGO and kerosene are suitable to use in compression - ignited engines like the reference fuel LFO. In contrast renewable naphtha had a long ignition delay. If naphtha is us ed in a CI engine, the engine must be started and stopped with, e.g. LFO or MGO.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Utveckling av temperaturreguleringskapacitet hos renkalvar

Utveckling av temperaturregleringskapacitet hos nyfodda renkalvar undersöktes vid Paliskuntain Yhdistys (Foreningen for Renbeteslagen) försoksstation i Kaamanen under maj-juli 1981-82