Measurement and modelling of water flows and pesticide leaching under low input cropping systems.

One current challenge in sustainable agriculture is to redesign cropping systems to reduce the use and impacts of pesticides, and by doing so protect the environment, in particular groundwater, and human health. As a large range of systems could be explored and a wide number of pesticides used, field experiments cannot be carried out to study the sustainability of each of them. Thus, the objectives of this work were (1) to measure water flows and pesticide leaching in six contrasted low input cropping systems based on sunflower-wheat rotation, oilseed rape-wheat-barley rotation, and maize monoculture, experimented for three years in three different soil and climatic conditions, and (2) to assess and to compare the ability of three pesticide fate models (MACRO, PEARL, PRZM) to simulate the observed water flows and pesticide concentrations.

Direct Epitaxial Growth of Polar HfZrO Films on Corundum.

Single-phase epitaxial HfZrO films with non-centrosymmetric orthorhombic structure have been grown directly on electrode-free corundum (α-AlO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A combination of high-resolution X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirms the epitaxial growth of high-quality films belonging to the 2 space group, with [111] out-of-plane orientation. The surface of a 7-nm-thick sample exhibits an atomic step-terrace structure with a corrugation of the order of one atomic layer, as proved by atomic force microscopy.

Predicting unconsciousness after propofol administration: qCON, BIS, and ALPHA band frequency power.

During anesthesia induction with propofol the level of arousal progressively decreases until reaching loss of consciousness (LOC). In addition, there is a shift of alpha activity from parieto-occipital to frontal zones, defined as anteriorization. Whilst monitoring LOC and anteriorization would be useful to improve propofol dosage and patient safety, the current devices for anesthetic depth monitoring are unable to detect these events.

X-ray microtomographic characterization of highly rough titanium cold gas sprayed coating for identification of effective surfaces for osseointegration.

A highly rough titanium coating obtained by Cold Gas Spray (CGS) has been characterized by means of high-resolution 3D microtomography (micro-CT) with the aim to evaluate its open and close porosity for possible use in orthopaedic implants to promote osseointegration. Micro-CT allowed a qualitative and quantitative description of the main features, morphology of the pores and surface roughness of the coating. Several numerical values were obtained to describe size, form and distribution of the closed/inner and open/outer pores.

Micro-computed tomography assessment of different obturation techniques for filling lateral canals.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate obturation depth and volume by means of micro-CT when filling lateral canals.

Material And Methods: Thirty single-rooted teeth were used. After instrumentation, three artificial lateral canals were created on each mesial and distal surface (one on each third).