Public land management agencies, conservation organizations, and landowners are interested in expanding the diversity of plant species used in rangeland restoration seedings. While the restoration of native grasses and shrubs in the Great Basin has become increasingly successful, restoration of native forbs continues to be problematic. In the Great Basin, soil water availability and soil fungal pathogens are thought to limit to restoration success. During the course of two years, we conducted two field experiments at three sites in the Great Basin that spanned a latitudinal gradient encompassing different precipitation and temperature patterns. In the first experiment, we evaluated two treatments for enhancing native forb restoration – snow fences and N-sulate fabric. In addition, we tested whether multiple fungicide and hydrophobic seed coatings could reduce seed and seedling mortality from soil fungal pathogens. To quantify the effectiveness of treatments, we tracked the fate of sown seeds over four life stages: germination, seedling emergence, establishment, and second-year survival. We found that snow fences and N-sulate fabric had varying degrees of success for increasing seedling emergence or establishment but ultimately did not increase second-year survival. Seed coatings increased seedling emergence but did not increase establishment or second-year survival. In the second experiment, we replicated the first experiment and also measured soil water availability to better understand how snow fences and N-sulate fabric alter soil water availability, and if differences in soil water availability can explain restoration outcomes. While we found that our treatments can increase soil water availability, increased soil water did not consistently result in better restoration outcomes. Snow fences did not benefit any life stage at any site while N-sulate fabric had positive and negative effects on forb restoration depending on the site. Seed coatings increased seedling emergence and establishment at all sites, warranting further research with other forb species. Results from both experiments provide insights for developing new treatments and techniques that can improve native forb restoration in the Great Basin and similar semiarid systems.

Em função de uma forte e crescente demanda do mercado consumidor de vestuário de proteção por maior conforto, considerando entre outros aspectos o fato que o conforto interfere no uso e proteção, aliado ao fato do Brasil ter clima predominantemente quente e úmido, e a inexistência de trabalhos e estudos referentes ao tema na área, este trabalho objetivou realizar um estudo das características relacionadas ao conforto, dos têxteis, (tecidos), utilizados nas vestimentas destinadas à proteção frente a riscos de origem térmica (calor e fogo) no mercado brasileiro. Após a seleção de onze produtos como objeto de estudo da pesquisa, realizou-se ensaios de transporte de umidade em tecidos, resistência ao vapor de água, ensaios de conforto físico e ergonômico (ensaio de massa laminar e Kawabata Evalution System (KES), e o Termo Labo II para avaliação da condutividade térmica e propriedades de retenção de calor / Consumers, while seeking for more comfort, have a strong and growing demand for protective clothing. Considering that comfort interferes on the use and protection, and also taking into account that Brazilian weather is predominantly hot and humid and there are no papers or studies about this subject, this work aimed to study the features related to the comfort of fabrics that are used to make clothes designed to protect from thermal hazards (heat and fire) in Brazilian market. After selecting eleven products as objects of the research, we performed tests of humidity transportation on fabrics, water vapor resistance, physical and ergonomic comfort (laminar mass test and Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) and Labo II Term for evaluation of thermal conductivity and heat retention properties

Em função de uma forte e crescente demanda do mercado consumidor de vestuário de proteção por maior conforto, considerando entre outros aspectos o fato que o conforto interfere no uso e proteção, aliado ao fato do Brasil ter clima predominantemente quente e úmido, e a inexistência de trabalhos e estudos referentes ao tema na área, este trabalho objetivou realizar um estudo das características relacionadas ao conforto, dos têxteis, (tecidos), utilizados nas vestimentas destinadas à proteção frente a riscos de origem térmica (calor e fogo) no mercado brasileiro. Após a seleção de onze produtos como objeto de estudo da pesquisa, realizou-se ensaios de transporte de umidade em tecidos, resistência ao vapor de água, ensaios de conforto físico e ergonômico (ensaio de massa laminar e Kawabata Evalution System (KES), e o Termo Labo II para avaliação da condutividade térmica e propriedades de retenção de calor / Consumers, while seeking for more comfort, have a strong and growing demand for protective clothing. Considering that comfort interferes on the use and protection, and also taking into account that Brazilian weather is predominantly hot and humid and there are no papers or studies about this subject, this work aimed to study the features related to the comfort of fabrics that are used to make clothes designed to protect from thermal hazards (heat and fire) in Brazilian market. After selecting eleven products as objects of the research, we performed tests of humidity transportation on fabrics, water vapor resistance, physical and ergonomic comfort (laminar mass test and Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) and Labo II Term for evaluation of thermal conductivity and heat retention properties