Correlating the interstellar magnetic field with protostellar jets and its sources

This article combines new CCD polarimetric data with previous information about protostellar objects in a search for correlations involving the interstellar magnetic field. Specifically, we carried out an optical polarimetric study of a sample of 28 fields of 10 X 10 arcmin^2 located in the neighborhood of protostellar jets and randomly spread over the Galaxy. The polarimetry of a large number of field stars is used to estimate both the average and dispersion of the interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) direction in each region. The results of the applied statistical tests are as follows. Concerning the alignment between the jet direction and the interstellar magnetic field, the whole sample does not show alignment. There is, however, a statistically significant alignment for objects of Classes 0 and I. Regarding the interstellar magnetic field dispersion, our sample presents values slightly larger for regions containing T Tauri objects than for those harboring younger protostars. Moreover the ISMF dispersion in regions containing high-mass objects tends to be larger than in those including only low-mass protostars. In our sample, the mean interstellar polarization as a function of the average interstellar extinction in a region reaches a maximum value around 3% for A(V) = 5, after which it decreases. Our data also show a clear correlation of the mean value of the interstellar polarization with the dispersion of the interstellar magnetic field: the larger the dispersion, the smaller the polarization. Based on a comparison of our and previous results, we suggest that the dispersion in regions forming stars is larger than in quiescent regions.Comment: ApJ accepte

Pesquisa-ação: fundamentos do planejamento e do diagnóstico em comunidades rurais.

O presente trabalho nasceu da necessidade de divulgar um aspecto operacional da metodologia da pesquisa-ação chamada de diagnóstico. O estudo tem sido realizado por uma equipe de pesquisadores, extensionistas e agricultores nos Estados da Bahia, Pernambuco e Paraíba através da Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura, EMATER-PB, EBDA, EMATER-PE. No Brasil, as comunidades, municípios e regiões apresentam-se de forma diferenciada, com menor ou maior complexidade. Logo, para se intervir em determinada área para promover um processo de mudanças e necessário compreender primeiro sua realidade.bitstream/item/81305/1/Pesquisa-Acao-Jose-Cerqueira-Documentos-93-2000.pd

Influence of surfactant and processing conditions in the stability of oil-in-water nanoemulsions

This work evaluates the influence of the type of surfactant (Tween 20, SDS and DTAB) and processing conditions on the stability of oil-in-water nanoemulsions, measured in terms of hydrodynamic diameter (Hd), polydispersity index (PdI) and zeta potential (Zp). Nanoemulsions were prepared using high-pressure homogenization based on a 24 level factorial design. Results show that processing parameters such as homogenization pressure, surfactant concentrations and oil:water ratio significantly affected the values of Hd and PdI of nanoemulsions. The value of Hd of anionic nanoemulsions decreased (from 177 to 128 nm) with the increase of the homogenization pressure. The increase in the surfactant concentration and the decrease of the oil:water ratio lead to a decrease of Hd for the cationic nanoemulsions (from 198 to 135 nm). The increase of the oil:water ratio lead to a decrease of Hd for the non-ionic nanoemulsions (from 341 to 171 nm); this is contrary to the usual assumption that higher content in oil results in higher values of Hd. Those nanoemulsions showed a good kinetic stability (evaluated after centrifugation, heatingcooling cycles and thermal stress) upon measuring the Hd during 28 and 35 days of storage, without visual evidence of creaming and phase separation. After one year of storage the nanoemulsions produced with the anionic surfactant remained kinetically stable, without visual evidence of creaming and/or phase separation.Helder D. Silva, and Miguel A. Cerqueira (SFRH/BD/81288/2011, and SFRH/BPD/72753/2010, respectively) are the recipients of a fellowship from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). The authors would like to acknowledge to Francesco Donsi and Giovanna Ferrari from Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno for helping in the viscosity and density measurements and to Rui Fernandes from IBMC, University of Porto for assistance in taking the TEM pictures. The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and the project "BioInd-Biotechnology and Bioengineering for improved Industrial and Agro-Food processes", REF.NORTE-07-0124- FEDER-000028, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 - 0 Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. We also thank to the European Commission: BIOCAPS (316265, FP7/REGPOT-2012-2013.1). The support of EU Cost Action FA1001 is gratefully acknowledged. Also the authors acknowledge Stepan for providing the Neobee 1053 oil

Gender asymmetries in Portuguese trade unions: the case of the CGTP-IN

Gender imbalances persist throughout the world, particularly at leadership level, and equally also visible in the case of trade unions. This article focuses on CGTP-IN, the largest Portuguese trade union confederation, and sets out analysis incorporating both figures from this organisation and accounts by female members of CGTP-IN unions. Results confirm the existence of gender asymmetries, especially at the highest leadership levels. Analysis of the discourses of these women leaders reveals some awareness of the influence of gender on professional relations, placing women at a disadvantage, especially where leadership is concerned. Furthermore, four reasons driving the persistence of these gender asymmetries in trade union leadership/decision-making roles were identified: family responsibilities, gendered professional segregation, masculine trade union cultures and traditional gender stereotypes. Nevertheless, the interviewees resist to means of affirmative action such as gender quotas, and instead prefer to prioritise education and raising awareness around gender equality.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Maternal Diabetes Mellitus as a Risk Factor for High Blood Pressure in Late Childhood

Intrauterine fetal conditions can have lifelong cardiovascular effects. The impact of maternal diabetes mellitus on children’s cardiovascular profile is not well established. The goal of this study was to explore the association between maternal diabetes mellitus and offspring’s blood pressure (BP) ≤10 years of age. Generation XXI is a prospective birth cohort, which enrolled 8301 mother-offspring pairs, including 586 (7.1%) children of diabetic mothers. The associations between maternal diabetes mellitus and BP at 4, 7, and 10 years of age was modeled using linear regression. A mixed-effects model was built to assess differences in BP variation over time. Path analysis was used to quantify effects of potential mediators. Maternal diabetes mellitus was associated with higher BP in offspring at the age of 10 (systolic: β, 1.48; 95% CI, 0.36–2.59; and diastolic: β, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.05–1.71). This association was independent of maternal perinatal characteristics, and it was mediated by child’s body mass index and, to a lesser extent, by gestational age, type of birth, and birth weight (indirect effect proportion, 73%). No significant differences in BP were found at 4 and 7 years of age. Longitudinal analysis showed an accelerated systolic BP increase on maternal diabetes mellitus group (β, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.03–2.28). These finding were especially relevant in males, suggesting sex differences in the mechanisms of BP prenatal programing. Our results provide further evidence that maternal diabetes mellitus is associated with high BP late in childhood, demonstrating a significant role of child’s body mass in the pathway of this association.This work was supported by Programa Operacional de Saúde–Saúde XXI, Quadro Comunitário de Apoio III, and Administração Regional de Saúde Norte (Regional Department of Ministry of Health); FEDER (European Regional Development Fund) through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology–FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) through Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia–Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPI Unit; POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref UID/DTP/04750/2013); Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund-DOCnet (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000003); and from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

On the Influence of Magnetic Fields on the Structure of Protostellar Jets

We here present the first results of fully three-dimensional (3-D) MHD simulations of radiative cooling pulsed (time-variable) jets for a set of parameters which are suitable for protostellar outflows. Considering different initial magnetic field topologies in approximate $equipartition$ with the thermal gas, i.e., (i) a longitudinal, and (ii) a helical field, both of which permeating the jet and the ambient medium; and (iii) a purely toroidal field permeating only the jet, we find that the overall morphology of the pulsed jet is not very much affected by the presence of the different magnetic field geometries in comparison to a nonmagnetic calculation. Instead, the magnetic fields tend to affect essentially the detailed structure and emission properties behind the shocks at the head and at the pulse-induced internal knots, particularly for the helical and toroidal geometries. In these cases, we find, for example, that the $H_\alpha$ emissivity behind the internal knots can be about three to four times larger than that of the purely hydrodynamical jet. We also find that some features, like the nose cones that often develop at the jet head in 2-D calculations involving toroidal magnetic fields, are smoothed out or absent in the 3-D calculations.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by ApJ Letters after minor corrections (for high resolution figures, see http://www.iagusp.usp.br/~adriano/h.tar