No-tillage improves earthworm species richness in southern Brazil.

ISEE 10

An Unusual Location of Deep Venous Thrombosis Associated with Ischemic Stroke and Persistent Foramen Ovale

Up to 40% of ischemic strokes have no known cause (cryptogenic). The prevalence of persistent foramen ovale (PFO) amongst patients with cryptogenic stroke (CS) is twice as high as that of the normal population, therefore suggesting a causal relationship between the two entities. However, PFO by itself is not sufficient to cause stroke, as an embolic source is needed. This source is often unknown, making the causal relationship between CS and PFO hard to demonstrate. The most frequent, although still seldom, identifiable cause of embolism in an otherwise cryptogenic stroke associated with PFO is a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremities. Here, we present a unique case of brachiocephalic venous DVT associated with PFO and ischemic stroke in a young patient. As the search for DVT in patients with PFO and stroke is often limited to the lower extremities, this case may suggest that an unspecified number of DVTs are overlooked. Our report lends support to paradoxical embolism as a mechanism of stroke in patients with PFO and does, at least in selected cases, suggest a more detailed search for DVT beyond the lower extremities

Earthworms in land-use systems in Santa Catarina State, Brazil.

ISEE 10

No-tillage improves earthworm species richness in Southern Brazil.

ISEE 10

Using landscape topology to compare continuous metaheuristics: a framework and case study on EDAs and ridge structure

In this paper we extend a previously proposed randomized landscape generator in combination with a comparative experimental methodology to study the behavior of continuous metaheuristic optimization algorithms. In particular, we generate twodimensional landscapes with parameterized, linear ridge structure, and perform pairwise comparisons of algorithms to gain insight into what kind of problems are easy and difficult for one algorithm instance relative to another.We apply thismethodology to investigate the specific issue of explicit dependency modeling in simple continuous estimation of distribution algorithms. Experimental results reveal specific examples of landscapes (with certain identifiable features) where dependency modeling is useful, harmful, or has little impact on mean algorithm performance. Heat maps are used to compare algorithm performance over a large number of landscape instances and algorithm trials. Finally, we perform ameta-search in the landscape parameter space to find landscapes which maximize the performance between algorithms. The results are related to some previous intuition about the behavior of these algorithms, but at the same time lead to new insights into the relationship between dependency modeling in EDAs and the structure of the problem landscape. The landscape generator and overall methodology are quite general and extendable and can be used to examine specific features of other algorithms

Gamow Shell Model Description of Neutron-Rich Nuclei

This work presents the first continuum shell-model study of weakly bound neutron-rich nuclei involving multiconfiguration mixing. For the single-particle basis, the complex-energy Berggren ensemble representing the bound single-particle states, narrow resonances, and the non-resonant continuum background is taken. Our shell-model Hamiltonian consists of a one-body finite potential and a zero-range residual two-body interaction. The systems with two valence neutrons are considered. The Gamow shell model, which is a straightforward extension of the traditional shell model, is shown to be an excellent tool for the microscopic description of weakly bound systems. It is demonstrated that the residual interaction coupling to the particle continuum is important; in some cases, it can give rise to the binding of a nucleus.Comment: 4 pages, More realistic s.p. energies used than in the precedent versio