Contractual mechanisms linking university and society in Brazil: the case of State University of Campinas

Desde os anos 1990 há aproximação entre universidades e sociedade. Nesse contexto, buscou-se entender como essa aproximação se manifesta em convênios. Realizou-se levantamento de dados primários dos convênios da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), entre 2000 e 2012, celebrados com entes externos. Os resultados indicam sua frequência e intensidade, os tipos de organização envolvidos, sua duração, seus valores e sua natureza, de acordo com as unidades da Unicamp. De um lado, os convênios duram, em média, 30 meses, o que permite, em princípio, o reforço dos laços de cooperação entre a Unicamp e seus conveniados. De outro, verifica-se uma concentração em recursos financeiros e entes a partir do setor público, reforçando a relevância dessa fonte de recursos para a universidade.40COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESSem informaçãoSince the 1990s there has been closer ties between universities and society. This article seeks to understand this phenomenon in terms of contracts. We conducted primary data collection based on contracts between Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) and external entities (2000-2012). The results indicate their frequency, intensity, organizations involved, their duration, the values involved and their nature, according to Unicamp units. This data indicates that, on average, the agreements lasted 30 months, strengthening ties of cooperation between Unicamp and external entities. We also observed a concentration of financial resources from public sector agencies, reinforcing the importance of this source to the university

Movimentação Vertical Do íon Potássio Em Neossolos Quartzarênicos Sob Cultivo Com Cana-de-açúcar

The objective of this work was to determine the vertical movement of the potassium ion in the profile of Quartzipsamment Entisols cultivated with sugarcane. Two experiments were conducted in field conditions. The first one consisted of an assessment of ion movement in the soil profile, down to 1.80-m depth, for two years, in an area cultivated with sugarcane and in another one under cerrado. The second one consisted of the evaluation of ion movement to a depth of 1.00 m, under two water regimes: Natural and controlled. In the experiment under controlled conditions, evaluations were done with 0.5-m2 plots, delimited by galvanized sheets, receiving 80 kg ha-1 K2O followed by the addition of 1,200 mm of water. The area cropped with sugarcane showed greater soil organic matter content, greater pH, and, consequently, greater retention capacity of K+ in the superficial layers of the soil profile than the cerrado area. Moreover, in the area with sugarcane crop, the evaluation of K+ availability in the profile of the Quartzipsamment Entisol profile was affected by the adopted water regime (natural or controlled rainfall). Regardless of soil use, K+ moves rapidly through the soil profile.5191548155

The impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy on the burden of bacterial lower respiratory tract infections in children

BACKGROUND. Respiratory diseases are common and associated with significant morbidity and mortality in children. OBJECTIVE. To evaluate the prevalence and outcome of bacterial lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in HIV-infected and uninfected children at a primary level hospital. METHODS. A cross-sectional descriptive study of children aged 6 months - 18 years was conducted. Recruitment included HIV-positive children who had been on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for at least 6 months. A comparator group of HIV-negative children admitted with bacterial pneumonia was included. Laboratory data collected included CD4+ T-cell counts, HIV viral load and C-reactive protein (CRP). Data collected in both groups included demographic data, immunisation status, zinc supplementation, previous LRTIs, environmental exposures and treatment. RESULTS. Fifty-nine HIV-infected and 20 uninfected children were enrolled. The HIV-positive children were older, with a mean age of 107.2 (standard deviation 50.0) months v. 12.0 (5.8) months (p<0.005). The HIV-infected group had a mean CD4 percentage of 31.5%, and had had an average of 3.9 visits for bacterial LRTIs. All were treated with amoxicillin with no complications. In the HIV-uninfected group, cough and rapid breathing were the most common presenting symptoms, and the mean CRP level was 463.0 mg/L. The mean hospital stay was 4 days. CONCLUSION. HAART is effective in reducing the burden of LRTIs in HIV-positive children, even when the diagnosis is delayed. Cough and fast breathing are still the most reliable presenting symptoms of pneumonia. The majority of children still respond to amoxicillin as first-line therapy, with low complication rates.http://www.samj.org.zaam201

Structure and Mechanism of Dimer-Monomer Transition of a Plant Poly(A)-Binding Protein upon RNA Interaction: Insights into Its Poly(A) Tail Assembly

Poly(A)-binding proteins (PABPs) play crucial roles in mRNA biogenesis, stability, transport and translational control in most eukaryotic cells. Although animal PABPs are well-studied proteins, the biological role, three-dimensional structure and RNA-binding mode of plant PABPs remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we report the structural features and RNA-binding mode of a Citrus sinensis PABP (CsPABPN1). CsPABPN1 has a domain architecture of nuclear PABPs (PABPNs) with a single RNA recognition motif (RRM) flanked by an acidic N-terminus and a GRPF-rich C-terminus. The RRM domain of CsPABPN1 displays virtually the same three-dimensional structure and poly(A)-binding mode of animal PABPNs. However, while the CsPABPN1 RRM domain specifically binds poly(A), the full-length protein also binds poly(U). CsPABPN1 localizes to the nucleus of plant cells and undergoes a dimer–monomer transition upon poly(A) interaction. We show that poly(A) binding by CsPABPN1 begins with the recognition of the RNA-binding sites RNP1 and RNP2, followed by interactions with residues of the β2 strands, which stabilize the dimer, thus leading to dimer dissociation. Like human PABPN1, CsPABPN1 also seems to form filaments in the presence of poly(A). Based on these data, we propose a structural model in which contiguous CsPABPN1 RRM monomers wrap around the RNA molecule creating a superhelical structure that could not only shield the poly(A) tail but also serve as a scaffold for the assembly of additional mRNA processing factors

Probing neutrino properties with charged scalar lepton decays

Supersymmetry with bilinear R-parity violation provides a predictive framework for neutrino masses and mixings in agreement with current neutrino oscillation data. The model leads to striking signals at future colliders through the R-parity violating decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle. Here we study charged scalar lepton decays and demonstrate that if the scalar tau is the LSP (i) it will decay within the detector, despite the smallness of the neutrino masses, (ii) the relative ratio of branching ratios Br({tilde tau}_1 --> e sum nu_i)/ Br({tilde tau}_1 --> mu sum nu_i) is predicted from the measured solar neutrino angle, and (iii) scalar muon and scalar electron decays will allow to test the consistency of the model. Thus, bilinear R-parity breaking SUSY will be testable at future colliders also in the case where the LSP is not the neutralino.Comment: 24 pages, 8 ps figs Report-no.: IFIC/02-33 and ZU-TH 11/0

Neutrino properties and the decay of the lightest supersymmetric particle

Supersymmetry with broken R-parity can explain the neutrino mass squared differences and mixing angles observed in neutrino oscillation experiments. In the minimal model, where R-parity is broken only by bilinear terms, certain decay properties of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) are correlated with neutrino mixing angles. Here we consider charginos, squarks, gluinos and sneutrinos being the LSP and calculate their decay properties in bilinear R-parity breaking supersymmetry. Together with the decays of charged scalars and neutralinos calculated previously this completes the proof that bilinear R-parity breaking as the source of neutrino masses will be testable at future colliders. Moreover, we argue that in case of GMSB, the decays of the NLSP can be used to test the model.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Solar Neutrino Masses and Mixing from Bilinear R-Parity Broken Supersymmetry: Analytical versus Numerical Results

We give an analytical calculation of solar neutrino masses and mixing at one-loop order within bilinear R-parity breaking supersymmetry, and compare our results to the exact numerical calculation. Our method is based on a systematic perturbative expansion of R-parity violating vertices to leading order. We find in general quite good agreement between approximate and full numerical calculation, but the approximate expressions are much simpler to implement. Our formalism works especially well for the case of the large mixing angle MSW solution (LMA-MSW), now strongly favoured by the recent KamLAND reactor neutrino data.Comment: 34 pages, 14 ps figs, some clarifying comments adde

Constraining the primordial spectrum of metric perturbations from gravitino and moduli production

We consider the production of gravitinos and moduli fields from quantum vacuum fluctuations induced by the presence of scalar metric perturbations at the end of inflation. We obtain the corresponding occupation numbers, up to first order in perturbation theory, in terms of the power spectrum of the metric perturbations. We compute the limits imposed by nucleosynthesis on the spectral index $n_s$ for different models with constant $n_s$. The results show that, in certain cases, such limits can be as strong as $n_s<1.12$, which is more stringent than those coming from primordial black hole production.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures. Corrected figures, new references included. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Charged lepton Flavor Violation in Supersymmetry with Bilinear R-Parity Violation

The simplest unified extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with bi-linear R-parity violation naturally predicts a hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum, suitable to explain atmospheric and solar neutrino fluxes. We study whether the individual violation of the lepton numbers L_{e,mu,tau} in the charged sector can lead to measurable rates for BR(mu->e gamma)and $BR(tau-> mu gamma). We find that some of the R-parity violating terms that are compatible with the observed atmospheric neutrino oscillations could lead to rates for mu->e gamma measurable in projected experiments. However, the Delta m^2_{12} obtained for those parameters is too high to be compatible with the solar neutrino data, excluding therefore the possibility of having measurable rates for mu->e gamma in the model.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. Constraint from solar neutrino data included, conclusions changed respect v

Magnetized Particle Capture Cross Section for Braneworld Black Hole

Capture cross section of magnetized particle (with nonzero magnetic moment) by braneworld black hole in uniform magnetic field is considered. The magnetic moment of particle was chosen as it was done by \citet{rs99} and for the simplicity particle with zero electric charge is chosen. It is shown that the spin of particle as well as the brane parameter are to sustain the stability of particles circularly orbiting around the black hole in braneworld i.e. spin of particles and brane parameter try to prevent the capture by black hole.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc