The Amazon and climate

The climatologies of cloudiness and precipitation for the Amazon, are reviewed and the physical causes of some of the observed features and those which are not well known are explained. The atmospheric circulation over the Amazon is discussed on the large scale tropical circulations forced by deep diabatic heating sources. Weather deforestation which leads to a reduction in evapotranspiration into the atmosphere, and a reduction in precipitation and its implicated for the gobal climate is discussed. It is indicated that a large scale clearing of tropical rainforests there would be a reduction in rainfall which would have global effects on climate and weather both in the tropical and extratropical regions

Amazonian deforestation: Regional and global issues

How does the deforestation of Amazonia affect global and regional climates? What are the roles of these changes on Amazonian ecosystems? We have concluded that the relation between Regional Climate Changes (RCC) and Global Climate Change (GCC) is directly associated with anthropogenic activities and therefore sensitive to social, economical and political interventions. The RCCs are caused by actions within the realm of the Brazilian sociopolitical scenario, and prone to changes through the implementation of public policies regulating the sustained use of the renewable resources. The GCCs belong to an international arena, and are caused by the high emission rates of green house gases by the developed countries. The effects of the RCCs could be abated if the developed countries would endeavor to reduce the present emission levels as documented in IPCC meetings and collaborate in the implementation of a regulation to curb the carbon emissions, in accordance to the Kyoto protocol

Water and chemical budgets at the catchment scale from intact forests and disturbed landscapes.

Poster 262

Purification of fructo-oligosaccharides

Este resumo faz parte de: Book of abstracts of the Meeting of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2, Braga, Portugal, 2010. A versão completa do livro de atas está disponível em: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/1096

Fructo-oligosaccharides purification from a fermentative broth using an activated charcoal column

In this study, a simple and efficient process to purify fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) from a fermentative broth was proposed using a single activated charcoal column. The FOS adsorption onto the activated charcoal was modeled by a pseudo-second order model. Several volumes and concentrations of water/ ethanol were studied to optimize the selective desorption of sugars from the broth mixture at 25 8C. Mixtures containing 50.6% (w/w) of FOS (FOS content in the fermentative broth) were purified to 92.9% (w/w) with a FOS recovery of 74.5% (w/w). Moreover, with the proposed process, fractions with purity up to 97% (w/w) of FOS were obtained. This purification process was also found to be efficient in the desalting of the fermentative broth.The first author gratefully acknowledges to Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portugal) for the PhD Grant received (reference SFRH/BD/32514/2006)

Effectiveness of school-based nutrition education interventions to prevent and reduce excessive weight gain in children and adolescents: a systematic review

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a efetividade da educação nutricional em escolas na redução ou prevenção de sobrepeso e obesidade em crianças e adolescentes. FONTES DOS DADOS: Busca sistemática em 14 bases de dados e cinco revisões sistemáticas por ensaios controlados randomizados realizados em escolas com o objetivo de reduzir ou prevenir o sobrepeso em crianças e adolescentes. O índice de massa corporal e o consumo de frutas e verduras foram utilizados como desfechos primário e secundário, respectivamente. Não houve restrição de data de publicação ou idioma, exceto para idiomas com logogramas. Excluímos estudos em populações com distúrbios alimentares, dislipidemia, diabetes e deficiência física ou mental, e que utilizassem medicamentos ou suplementos alimentares. A avaliação por título e resumo e a avaliação de qualidade foram realizadas de forma independente por dois pesquisadores. Utilizamos as orientações do Centre for Reviews and Dissemination para a elaboração de artigos de revisão em saúde e o programa EPPI-Reviewer 3. SÍNTESE DOS DADOS: Das 4.809 referências inicialmente encontradas, 24 artigos preencheram os critérios de inclusão. Os dados extraídos apresentam evidências de efeitos antropométricos positivos e de aumento no consumo de frutas e verduras. As intervenções com as seguintes características demonstraram ser efetivas: duração > 1 ano, introdução como atividade regular da escola, envolvimento dos pais, introdução da educação nutricional no currículo regular e fornecimento de frutas e verduras pelos serviços de alimentação da escola. CONCLUSÃO: As intervenções para reduzir o sobrepeso e a obesidade e aumentar o consumo de frutas e verduras foram efetivas nos estudos bem conduzidos.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of school-based nutrition education in reducing or preventing overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. SOURCES: Systematic search in 14 databases and five systematic reviews for randomized controlled trials conducted in schools to reduce or prevent overweight in children and adolescents. Body mass index and fruit and vegetable intake were used as primary and secondary measures of outcome, respectively. There was no restriction by date of publication or language, except for languages with structured logograms. We excluded studies on specific populations presenting eating disorders, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and physical or mental disabilities, as well as studies that used drugs or food supplements as components of the intervention. The assessment by title and abstract and the quality assessment were performed independently by two researchers. We used the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination's guidance for undertaking reviews in health care and the software EPPI-Reviewer 3. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS: From the initially retrieved 4,809 references, 24 articles met the inclusion criteria. The extracted data show that there is evidence of positive effects on anthropometry and of increase in fruit and vegetable consumption. Characteristics of the interventions that demonstrated effectiveness are: duration > 1 year, introduction into the regular activities of the school, parental involvement, introduction of nutrition education into the regular curriculum, and provision of fruits and vegetables by school food services. CONCLUSION: Interventions in schools to reduce overweight and obesity, as well as to increase fruits and vegetable consumption, have demonstrated effectiveness in the best-conducted studies

Nonlinear Relativistic and Quantum Equations with a Common Type of Solution

Generalizations of the three main equations of quantum physics, namely, the Schr\"odinger, Klein-Gordon, and Dirac equations, are proposed. Nonlinear terms, characterized by exponents depending on an index $q$, are considered in such a way that the standard linear equations are recovered in the limit $q \rightarrow 1$. Interestingly, these equations present a common, soliton-like, travelling solution, which is written in terms of the $q$-exponential function that naturally emerges within nonextensive statistical mechanics. In all cases, the well-known Einstein energy-momentum relation is preserved for arbitrary values of $q$

Parameter identification of the fermentative production of fructo-oligosaccharides by Aureobasidium pullulans

In this study, a mathematical model for the production of Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) by Aureobasidium pullulans is developed. This model contains a relatively large set of unknown parameters, and the identification problem is analyzed using simulation data, as well as experimental data. Batch experiments were not sufficiently informative to uniquely estimate all the unknown parameters, thus, additional experiments have to be achieved in fed-batch mode to supplement the missing information. © 2015 IEEE.funded by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office. The authors thank the financial support from the F.R.S.-FNRS, the Belgium National Fund for the Scientific Research (Research Project 24643.08). C. Nobre thanks the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 uni