452 research outputs found
Adaptação fenotípica de raízes de várias plantas com frutos de Dictyosperma rubra Wendl. & Drude encontrados no solo
It was verified phenotypic adaptation of roots of several plants (Paspalum notatum, Phyllanthus minuri, Solanum nigrum, Amaranthus sp, Cyperus rotundusand others) with fruits found in the soil of the palm-tree Dictyosperma rubra Wendl. & Drude cultivated as ornamental plant in the ESALQ park. This adaptation characterized by the penetration of roots through the round orifices found in the fruit pericarp promoted by an insect of the Bostriquide family and Coleoptera category. An experiment was realized in a plastic box with layers of soil alternated with layers of palm fruits without perforations. It was used the same weeds found near of the palm-tree in the park. It was verified after three months that the roots did not perforate the fruits, showed that the insects was not present in the soil.Resumimos, neste trabalho, os resultados das observações sobre a adaptação fenotípica de raízes de várias plantas, tais como grama-batatais - Paspalum notatum, quebra-pedra ou erva-pombinha Phyllathus ninuri, maria-preta - Solanum nigrum, carurú - Amaranthus sp., tiririca - Cyperus rotundus e outras, com os frutos encontrados no solo da palmeira Dictyosperma rubra Wendl. & Drude, cultivada como ornamental no Parque da Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz". Essa adaptação caracteriza-se pela penetração das raízes através de orifícios circulares, existentes no pericarpo dos frutos, e produzidos por uma broca da família Bostriquide, da ordem Coleoptera. As raízes assim assemelham-se a um colar. Diante desse fato, decidimos montar um experimento que nos permitisse elucidar o mecanismo dessa curiosa adaptação fenotípica
Detection of Borrelia lusitaniae, Rickettsia sp. IRS3, Rickettsia monacensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Ixodes ricinus collected in Madeira Island, Portugal
A total of 300 Ixodes ricinus ticks were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of Borrelia spp., Rickettsia spp., and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Sequence analysis demonstrated 8 (2.7%) ticks infected with B. lusitaniae, 60 (20%) with Rickettsia spp., and 1 (0.3%) with A. phagocytophilum. Seven (2.3%) ticks were coinfected with B. lusitaniae and Rickettsia spp., 2 (0.6%) with R. monacensis, and 5 (1.7%) with Rickettsia sp. IRS3. The results of this study suggest simultaneous transmission of multiple tick-borne agents on Madeira Island, Portugal
Nutrients, antinutrients, phenolic composition, and antioxidant activity of common bean cultivars and their potential for food applications
Phaseolus vulgaris L. is the most commonly consumed legume in the world, given its high vegetable protein content, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant properties. It also represents one of the most sustainable, low-carbon and sources of food available at present to man. This study aims to identify the nutrients, antinutrients, phenolic composition, and antioxidant profile of 10 common bean cultivars (Arikara yellow, butter, cranberry, red kidney, navy, pinto, black, brown eyed, pink eyed, and tarrestre) from two harvest years, thereby assessing the potential of each cultivar for specific applications in the food industry. Navy and pink eyed beans showed higher potential for enrichment of foodstuffs and gluten-free products due to their higher protein and amino acid contents. Additionally, red kidney, cranberry and Arikara yellow beans had the highest content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties, which can act as functional ingredients in food products, thus bringing health benefits. Our study highlights the potential of using specific bean cultivars in the development of nutrient-enriched food and as functional ingredients in diets designed for disease prevention and treatment.publishersversionpublishe
Ambivalence and transnational intergenerational solidarity: the perspective of highly educated Portuguese women emigrant daughters
peer reviewedExisting literature has highlighted solidarity across generations as a crucial mechanism for transfers and maintaining cohesion within families. However, researching solidarity across generations among transnational families is still an underexplored area, especially from the viewpoint of highly skilled female migrants. This study explored the way highly educated Portuguese adult daughters, living transnationally, perceive the existing solidarity ties with their parents, in times of transition, such as during the process of migration. By using a cluster analysis approach to explore the statistical associations between ambivalence and intergenerational solidarity dimensions, this study provides insight into the migrant solidarity types incorporating the role of ambivalence in forging a typology of transnational intergenerational relationships. The sample comprised 248 daughters who volunteered to provide information in an online survey. Participants gave their full consent to partake in this study, and this study was approved by the ethical committee of the authors’ institution. Measures of intergenerational solidarity dimensions, perceived ambivalence, sociocultural adaptation, acculturation, and social well-being in the destination country were included in the survey. Model-based cluster analysis resulted in three clusters: low ambivalence with strong cohesion, autonomous with affection and low ambivalence, and ambivalent functional ties with low affection. These clusters differed significantly in terms of intergenerational solidarity dimensions, perceived ambivalence, and in several other measures addressed. Perceived high parent-daughter ambivalent ties were associated with high levels of functional contacts and financial exchange. That pattern was also associated with lower levels of affection and consensus, being most frequently found in older daughters, mostly when single, economically inactive, or unemployed. Low perceived ambivalent parent-daughter ties were the most frequently found (around 80%), with two different types of intergenerational relationships being revealed, namely the low ambivalence with strong cohesion type and the autonomous with affection and low ambivalence type. Half (50%) of the daughters that perceived low parent-daughter ambivalent ties have associated the highest intergenerational solidarity, being, in general, better adapted to the migration context and slightly younger on average. The other half, less well acculturated, living abroad for longer, in countries with stronger welfare state systems and less reliance on families as providers of care, are more associated with an autonomous relationship type with low solidarity, but high affection. These results suggest that there might be a spillover effect: those who fare well in the country of migration, have better relations with their families at home—either being very interdependent or very independent, but always with good affective quality and low ambivalence.3. Good health and well-bein
Modified Brans-Dicke theory of gravity from five-dimensional vacuum
We investigate, in the context of five-dimensional (5D) Brans-Dicke theory of
gravity, the idea that macroscopic matter configurations can be generated from
pure vacuum in five dimensions, an approach first proposed in the framework of
general relativity. We show that the 5D Brans-Dicke vacuum equations when
reduced to four dimensions lead to a modified version of Brans-Dicke theory in
four dimensions (4D). As an application of the formalism, we obtain two
five-dimensional extensions of four-dimensional O'Hanlon and Tupper vacuum
solution and show that they lead two different cosmological scenarios in 4D.Comment: 9 page
Multidisciplinary Experience In The Selection Of Patients For Tubal Sterilization.
Results of the use of a special protocol for evaluation of patients requiring tubal ligation is presented after applied by a multidisciplinary group. The authors conclude that the use of defined parameters of age, parity, marital union duration, number of children alive and the presence of maternal clinical pathology are useful to identify patients with smaller chances of regret after surgery.27% of reproductive-age women in Brazil have chosen surgical sterilization as their contraceptive method. Most of these women who have undergone tubal sterilization opted for cesarean surgery. However, given the young ages of many of these women, many regret having been sterilized. This paper summarizes the experience of a multidisciplinary group in evaluating women who apply for surgical sterilization at the Department of Tocogynecology, Faculdade de Ciencas Medicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Sao Paulo. Detailed descriptions are presented of the medical and social characteristics of cases seen between June 1988 and July 1989. The authors conclude that the use of the defined parameters of age, parity, marital union duration, number of living children, and the presence of maternal clinical pathology are useful in identifying the patients who are least likely to regret undergoing surgical sterilization.113171572
Developing tools for the e-learning platform mathE
MathE (mathe.pixel-online.org) is an e-learning platform for higher education developed and implemented by a consortium of seven institutional partners from five European countries. The aim of the project is to enhance the quality of teaching and improve pedagogies and assessment methods by facilitating the identification of students’ gaps in Math, providing appropriate digital tools and promoting self-evaluation with immediate feedback. The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), in Portugal, is one of the consortium members: sixteen of its teachers collaborate in the development of this platform, being responsible for thirteen of the topics/subtopics in which the platform is structured. Such topics cover a wide range of contents, from linear transformations to integration, from graph theory to probabilities. The articulation of the topics of the MathE collection corresponds to the canonic mathematics content of engineering, business and education degrees. The MathE platform is organized into three main sections: Student´s Assessment, MathE Library and Community of Practice. So far, IPB has already developed a collection of around 800 questions for the student´s assessment section and is currently developing the MathE Library. More than 350 students from IPB are using the MathE platform; some offered as volunteers, whose role is testing the behavior of the platform as well as looking for bugs and other details that require improvement, while others are already using the platform in their study. The feedback received up until now is quite encouraging.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Behavior problems and prevalence of asthma symptoms among Brazilian children.
OBJECTIVE: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood and has been designated a public health problem due to the increase in its prevalence in recent decades, the amount of health service expenditure it absorbs and an absence of consensus about its etiology. The relationships among psychosocial factors and the occurrence, symptomatology, and severity of asthma have recently been considered. There is still controversy about the association between asthma and a child's mental health, since the pathways through which this relationship is established are complex and not well researched. This study aims to investigate whether behavior problems are associated with the prevalence of asthma symptoms in a large urban center in Latin America. METHODS: It is a cross-section study of 869 children between 6 and 12 years old, residents of Salvador, Brazil. The International Study of Allergy and Asthma in Childhood (ISAAC) instrument was used to evaluate prevalence of asthma symptoms. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was employed to evaluate behavioral problems. RESULTS: 19.26% (n=212) of the children presented symptoms of asthma. 35% were classified as having clinical behavioral problems. Poisson's robust regression model demonstrated a statistically significant association between the presence of behavioral problems and asthma symptoms occurrence (PR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.10-1.85). CONCLUSION: These results suggest an association between behavioral problems and pediatric asthma, and support the inclusion of mental health care in the provision of services for asthma morbidity
AI at the disco: Low sample frequency human activity recognition for night club experiences
Human activity recognition (HAR) has grown in popularity as sensors have become more ubiquitous. Beyond standard health applications, there exists a need for embedded low cost, low power, accurate activity sensing for entertainment experiences. We present a system and method of using a deep neural net for HAR using low-cost accelerometer-only sensor running at 0.8Hz to preserve battery power. Despite these limitations, we demonstrate an accuracy at 94.79% over 6 activity classes with an order of magnitude less data. This sensing system conserves power further by using a connectionless reading - -embedding accelerometer data in the Bluetooth Low Energy broadcast packet - -which can deliver over a year of human-activity recognition data on a single coin cell battery. Finally, we discuss the integration of our HAR system in a smart-fashion wearable for a live two night deployment in an instrumented night club
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