Book Reviews

Book Reviews of: Birchall, J. Rediscovering the Cooperative Advantage: Poverty Reduction through Self-help Geneva: International Labour Office, 2003; Steinnert, H. and Pilgram, A. (eds.) Welfare Policy From Below: Struggles Against Social Exclusion in Europe Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2003Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

O USO DA ARGILA ESMECTITA NA CLARIFICAÇÃO DO ÓLEO DE BABAÇU

Dentro das aplicações tecnológicas das argilas destaca-se o seu uso como adsorvente na clarificação dos óleos vegetais. Devido, principalmente, a sua elevada área superficial a esmectita é a variedade mais utilizada. A clarificação ou branqueamento é uma das etapas mais importante para a indústria de refino de óleos comestíveis. Através do processo de ativação, utilizando-se um ácido inorgânico forte o H2SO4, conseguiu-se a melhoria da capacidade sorpotivas do material argiloso. Os parâmetros que medem a qualidade do óleo foram determinados, antes e após o seu contato com a argila no seu estado natural, bem como, após o tratamento com o ácido, e os resultados evidenciaram que houve uma eficiente purificação, além da diminuição da tonalidade escura

Influência nas propriedades funcionais da película da farinha da amêndoa do coco Babaçu (Orbignya sp) / Influence on the functional properties of Babassu Coconut Almond Flour (Orbignya sp) film

A amêndoa do babaçu é um fruto que possui potencial tecnológico, desta é extraído um leite de grande valor nutritivo, aplicado no tempero de caças, peixes, e até na substituição do leite de vaca, a massa que sobra após a extração do leite é rica em nutrientes e vem sendo utilizada na alimentação de porcos e galinhas. Considerando as potencialidades da farinha, realizou-se a caracterização funcional e comparou-se os resultados das farinhas da amêndoa com e sem película objetivando-se possibilitar a sua aplicação à alimentação humana. As propriedades de solubilidade, estabilidade da emulsão, sinérese e capacidade de geleificação da farinha com película apresentaram diferença significativa a um nível de 5% de significância pelo teste de Tukey, tais alterações ocorreram pela natureza da casca da amêndoa

Neuroevolutionary reinforcement learning for generalized control of simulated helicopters

This article presents an extended case study in the application of neuroevolution to generalized simulated helicopter hovering, an important challenge problem for reinforcement learning. While neuroevolution is well suited to coping with the domain’s complex transition dynamics and high-dimensional state and action spaces, the need to explore efficiently and learn on-line poses unusual challenges. We propose and evaluate several methods for three increasingly challenging variations of the task, including the method that won first place in the 2008 Reinforcement Learning Competition. The results demonstrate that (1) neuroevolution can be effective for complex on-line reinforcement learning tasks such as generalized helicopter hovering, (2) neuroevolution excels at finding effective helicopter hovering policies but not at learning helicopter models, (3) due to the difficulty of learning reliable models, model-based approaches to helicopter hovering are feasible only when domain expertise is available to aid the design of a suitable model representation and (4) recent advances in efficient resampling can enable neuroevolution to tackle more aggressively generalized reinforcement learning tasks

Mechanisms of Autoantibody-Induced Pathology

Autoantibodies are frequently observed in healthy individuals. In a minority of these individuals, they lead to manifestation of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Graves' disease. Overall, more than 2.5% of the population is affected by autoantibody-driven autoimmune disease. Pathways leading to autoantibody-induced pathology greatly differ among different diseases, and autoantibodies directed against the same antigen, depending on the targeted epitope, can have diverse effects. To foster knowledge in autoantibody-induced pathology and to encourage development of urgently needed novel therapeutic strategies, we here categorized autoantibodies according to their effects. According to our algorithm, autoantibodies can be classified into the following categories: (1) mimic receptor stimulation, (2) blocking of neural transmission, (3) induction of altered signaling, triggering uncontrolled (4) microthrombosis, (5) cell lysis, (6) neutrophil activation, and (7) induction of inflammation. These mechanisms in relation to disease, as well as principles of autoantibody generation and detection, are reviewed herein

Competitive or Consensual Economics?

A dramatic change has taken place in the dominant paradigm of economic discussion. Cold War rhetoric has been replaced by a renewed debate between two old antagonists: competition between conflicting private interests and a consensual approach that emphasizes shared interests. Competitive capitalism stresses individual initiative and private rights, concentrates on the growth of wealth, and tends to ignore social conditions. Consensual economics uses a communal or holistic approach, gives priority to the public interest, and regards the quality of life as more important than wealth. Guilds and kibbutzim are prominent examples of that consensual approach, and there is much to be learned from their experience