Crecimiento de renovales de Drimys winteri después de 16 años de aplicados distintos tratamientos de raleo en las cordilleras de los andes y de la costa en Chile

Secondary Drimys winteri forests are among the most common and productive forests in south-central Chile. However, their management has been scarce or many times inadequate due to lack of silvicultural knowledge. In 1986 and 1990 three field experiments were installed; one in the Coastal range of the province of Ranco (40° 09' S) and two in the Andean range of the province of Llanquihue (41° 30' S), to evaluate the effects of different intensities of thinning on the growth and mortality of 28-year-old Drimys winteri secondary forests. After 16 and 10 years of evaluation, great differences were observed among treatments within and between the three experiments. In Hueicoya (Coastal Range) plots thinned at a distance of 3 m had the highest productivity. In Lenca A (Andean Range) the high mortality rates due to windfalls in the plots with trees spaced at 3 and 4 m caused the control plots to have the highest productivity rates. In Lenca B (Andean Range) plots thinned at 2.5 m distance between trees had no significant differences with control plots. At an equal thinning intensity the responses were very different among experiments. We discuss that site quality, residual composition, exposure to winds and rooting characteristics may have influenced these results. In general, it is recommended to thin at 25-45% residual densities (2-3 m distance between trees at the age of thinning of 9-12 cm quadratic stand diameter), but always depending on the risk of windfall

Employment generation in Brazilian coffee regions

Due to the specific characteristics of coffee production on each of the main Brazilian states producers of arabica (Coffea arabica) and robusta coffee (Coffea canephora), a better understanding of the structural links between production and industrialization of coffee on those states and the national economy can provide subsides for implementation of public policies, essential to plan the coffee production and increase the sector competitiveness. Therefore, this study analyzed the employment generation in production and coffee industrialization in the major Brazilian production regions, based on an inter-regional input-output model, with seven regions, which represent the main coffee-producing states - Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, São Paulo, Paraná, Bahia and Other States - with 44 sectors each, in a system of 308 sectors. The results indicated that the production of robusta coffee is the sector that generates more employments (total) per currency unit, and that arabica production sector is the fourth largest generator of employments, among the 44 sectors considered for the country. The results for each state emphasized the importance of farming and coffee industry for national and state economies.Coffee; Coffee Production; Input-Output

Preface - Personal perspectives in nonlinear science : Looking back, looking forward

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Resiliently evolving supply-demand networks

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Prediction of geomechanical parameters using a KBS system. Application to two case studies of underground structures

In this paper the knowledge based system called GEOPAT is presented. The system calculates geomechanical parameters for modelling underground structures in rock, soil and heterogeneous formations. Specialists knowledge in this field was congregated and organized in causal nets. GEOPAT is still under developmentand aims to be an important tool for decision support. Nevertheless GEOPAT was already applied to some underground structures with success. In this work two of these applications are presented. The first is a largeunderground station of Metro of Porto and the last is the powerhouse complex composed by two caverns ofthe Venda Nova II hydroelectric scheme. Both structures were built in a granite rock mass. The geomechani-cal parameters were obtained using GEOPAT based on some information gathered in the field. Numerical models were developed and the results were compared with the monitored values. They showed in general a good agreement however it is still necessary to improve and increase the knowledge inside the system

Incentivador respiratório em cirurgias de grande porte: uma revisão sistemática

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review to evaluate the evidence of the use of incentive spirometry (IS) for the prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications and for the recovery of pulmonary function in patients undergoing abdominal, cardiac and thoracic surgeries. METHODS: Searches were performed in the following databases: Medline, Embase, Web of Science, PEDro and Scopus to select randomized controlled trials which the IS was used in pre- and/or post-operative in order to prevent postoperative pulmonary complications and/or recover lung function after abdominal, cardiac and thoracic surgery. Two reviewers independently assessed all studies. In addition, the studies quality was assessed using the PEDro scale. RESULTS: Thirty studies were included (14 abdominal, 13 cardiac and 3 thoracic surgery; n=3,370 patients). In the analysis of the methodological quality, studies achieved a PEDro average score of 5.6, 4.7 and 4.8 points in abdominal, cardiac and thoracic surgeries, respectively. Five studies (3 abdominal, 1 cardiac and 1 thoracic surgery) compared the effect of the IS with control group (no intervention) and no difference was detected in the evaluated outcomes. CONCLUSION: There was no evidence to support the use of incentive spirometry in the management of surgical patients. Despite this, the use of incentive spirometry remains widely used without standardization in clinical practice.OBJETIVO: Realizar um levantamento da literatura para avaliar as evidências do uso do incentivador respiratório (IR) na prevenção de complicações pulmonares pós-operatórias (CPPs) e recuperação da função pulmonar em pacientes submetidos a cirurgias abdominal, cardíaca e torácica. MÉTODOS: Esta revisão sistemática utilizou as bases de dados Medline, Embase, Web of Science, PEDro e Scopus para selecionar ensaios clínicos randomizados, nos quais o IR foi utilizado nos período pré e/ou pós-operatório, visando prevenir CPP e/ou recuperar função pulmonar após cirurgias abdominal, cardíaca ou torácica. Dois revisores analisaram independentemente os estudos. Além disso, a qualidade dos estudos foi avaliada segundo a escala PEDro. RESULTADOS: Trinta estudos foram incluídos (14 de cirurgia abdominal, 13 de cardíaca e três de torácica; n=3370 pacientes). Na análise de qualidade, os estudos obtiveram média de 5,6, 4,7 e 4,8 pontos nas cirurgias abdominais, cardíacas e torácicas, respectivamente. Cinco estudos (três de cirurgia abdominal, um de cardíaca e um de torácica) compararam o efeito do IR com grupo controle (sem intervenção) e não se verificou diferença nos desfechos estudados. CONCLUSÃO: Não se encontraram evidências que subsidiem o uso do IR no manejo de pacientes cirúrgicos. Apesar disso, o uso do IR continua não-padronizado e amplamente difundido na prática clínica.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Reactive dynamics of inertial particles in nonhyperbolic chaotic flows

Anomalous kinetics of infective (e.g., autocatalytic) reactions in open, nonhyperbolic chaotic flows are important for many applications in biological, chemical, and environmental sciences. We present a scaling theory for the singular enhancement of the production caused by the universal, underlying fractal patterns. The key dynamical invariant quantities are the effective fractal dimension and effective escape rate, which are primarily determined by the hyperbolic components of the underlying dynamical invariant sets. The theory is general as it includes all previously studied hyperbolic reactive dynamics as a special case. We introduce a class of dissipative embedding maps for numerical verification.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, 2 gif figure

Mechanisms underlying the exquisite sensitivity of Candida albicans to combinatorial cationic and oxidative stress that enhances the potent fungicidal activity of phagocytes

Copyright © 2014 Kaloriti et al.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Fingerprinting white marbles of archaeometric interest by means of combined SANS and USANS

We have performed a series of USANS and SANS measurements on a selected group of marble samples characterized by similar chemical composition but wide range of known metamorphic conditions. With these samples we start the building up of a data base in an attempt to correlate metamorphism and mesoscopic structure of white marbles. Experimental data have been analysed in terms of a hierarchical model. The present data highlight the importance of the structure at meso scale in identifying the provenance of the marble samples. A remarkable simple relation between the model parameters and the metamorphic degree has been found. This curve might represent a master curve to allow fingerprinting of white marbles. Also, two coloured marbles from Villa Adriana (Tivoli, Italy) have been investigated by means of the same techniques. Results obtained follow the general trend found for the white marbles