Adubação nitrogenada e idade de corte na produção de matéria seca do capim-elefante no Cerrado

Propôs-se, com este trabalho, avaliar o efeito da aplicação de N e da idade de corte na produção de biomassa e acúmulo de nitrogênio pelo capim-elefante. O experimento foi realizado com o capim-elefante cv. Paraíso, cultivado em um Latossolo Vermelho-Amarelo distrófico, município de Gurupi, TO, safra 2008/2009. Foram testadas quatro doses de N-uréia (0, 50, 100 e 150 kg ha-1) e três idades de corte do capim (120, 150 e 180 dias após o brotamento). Avaliou-se, em cada idade de corte, a produção de matéria seca da parte aérea (folhas e colmos) e o acúmulo de N na planta. A produção de matéria seca do capim-elefante aumentou com a adição de N porém o efeito foi maior para as plantas cortadas com 180 dias de idade. Encontrou-se um incremento linear na acumulação de matéria seca (R² = 0,75**) e na acumulação de N (R² = 0,96**), permitindo uma produtividade de 34 t ha-1 de matéria seca, que implicou em uma extração de N de 471 kg ha-1. A eficiência de utilização do N pela cultura variou com o aumento da idade da planta, o que significou maior quantidade de biomassa por unidade de N absorvido. O índice de eficiência mostra que o corte tardio pode favorecer a qualidade da biomassa para fins energéticos, por se tratar de um material mais fibroso.The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the application of N fertilizer and the cutting age on the dry biomass production of elephant grass. The experiment was performed with the variety Paraíso and planted in a Ferralsol in 2008 in the district of Gurupi (State of Tocantins). Four different rates of urea application were tested (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha-1) and harvests were made at 120, 150 or 180 days after germination (DAG) of the setts. The dry matter and total N accumulation were evaluated. Dry matter production increased with dose of N, the greatest effect being observed at 180 DAG. There was a linear increase in dry matter (R² = 0.75**) and N accumulation (R² = 0.96**) permitting a productivity of 34 t ha-1 of dry matter and an accumulation of 471 kg N ha-1. The N utilization efficiency (biomass production per unit of applied N) increased with plant age. The higher efficiency of N use favored the quality of biomass production for energy production owing to the higher fibre content

Technetium Incorporation into C14 and C15 Laves Intermetallic Phases

ABSTRACTLaves-type intermetallic phases have been observed to be the dominant phases in a series of alloy compositions being designed for the immobilization of technetium in a metallic waste form. The dominant metals in the alloy compositions were Fe-Mo and Fe-Mo-Zr. The alloy composition, Fe-Mo-Zr, also contained Pd, Zr, Cr, and Ni. Both non-radioactive rhenium-containing and radioactive technetium-bearing alloy compositions were investigated. In the Fe-Mo series, the phases observed were Fe2Mo (C14 Laves phase) and ferrite in agreement with predictions. Both Tc and Re resided predominantly in the Laves phases. In the Fe-Mo-Zr system, the phases included hexagonal C14 with the composition (Fe,Cr)2Mo, cubic C15 phase with a (Fe,Ni)2Zr composition, and the hcp phase Pd2Zr. The observation of these phases was in agreement with predictions. Re was found in the C14 intermetallic, (Fe,Cr)2Mo. Technetium was also observed to be partitioned preferentially into the (Fe,Cr)2Mo phase; however, this phase exhibited a cubic structure consistent with the C15 structural type. The composition of Laves phases is influenced by both the atomic size and electro-negativity of the constituent elements. The long-term release behavior of technetium under nuclear waste disposal conditions may be more dependent on the corrosion characteristics of these individual Laves phases containing Tc than the other metallic phases.</jats:p

Serum insulin-like growth factor I reference values for an automated chemiluminescence immunoassay system: results from a multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Analysis of insulin-like growth factor I in serum (S-IGF-I) is an integral component in the diagnosis of GH-related disorders and is going to be of interest in the diagnosis and follow-up of many disorders. The objective of the present study was to develop cross-sectional reference values for S-IGF-I measured by an automated chemiluminescence immunoassay (Nichols Advantage). METHODS: The study included samples from 3,961 healthy subjects (2,201 males, 1,760 females) aged 1 month to 88 years. Six laboratories were involved in this study and the samples were analyzed by one of seven automated immunoassay systems run in these laboratories. For data analysis, polynomial age and sex-specific models were fitted after transformation of S-IGF-I values. RESULTS: The results show the well-known age dependency of S-IGF-I levels. At ages <20, higher S-IGF-I levels were seen in girls with an estimated mean peak of 410 microg/l at age 14 and an estimated mean peak of 382 microg/l at age 16 in boys. Thereafter, a rapid decrease was seen to approximately 25 years of age, followed by a slow age-dependent decrease. In adulthood, S-IGF-I in males were slightly, but significantly higher than in females. It could be shown that the mean values of some reference sample subgroups differed significantly from the total mean. However, the multicenter approach used in this study reduces the impact of systematic population, sample handling and laboratory differences on the calculated reference mean. CONCLUSION: The present study establishes age- and sex-specific reference values for a fully automated immunoassay system based on a large population of healthy subjects. The established reference values may be used for this immunoassay system in different laboratories provided that the systematic difference between systems is low