Sensitivities of two tropical epibenthic amphipodsto physical chemical variables and reference toxicants

This study sought to evaluate the sensitivity of two epibenthic amphipods (Hyalenigraand Hyaleyoungi) to reference substances inorder toevaluate their potential as test-organisms in ecotoxicological studies. First, theoptimal ranges of salinity, temperature, and pH were estimated for both species. Then, toxicity tests with different reference toxicants were conducted. The selected contaminants were cadmium chloride (CdCl2), sodium dodecyl sulfate detergent (C12H25NaO4S), ammonium chloride (NH4Cl2), potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7), and zinc sulfate (ZnSO4).The mortalities were recorded and the effectiveconcentrations to 50% organisms (LC5096h)were estimated. Sensitivities of both species were similar to those reported in studies on other amphipods, which is evidence of the potential of these species to serve as test organisms in ecotoxicological studies

Análise do segmento exportador da avicultura brasileira no período de 1996 a 2004

This paper has the main goal of analyzing and evaluating the structure and dynamics of the market from the exporting section of Brazilian chicken raising, from 1996 to 2004. Concentration rates were calculated in order to measure the market share which are dominated by the main companies. The dynamics of the sector position (turnover) was also checked. The reached results point that the sector concentration is higt, and great investments are necessary to the performance in the international market; the placement of the companies was changed mainly due to the ones which had lost positions compared to the first year. However, the concentration has decreased, and there is evidence that the market power hasn’t been used by the companies in a sense of reducing the consumers’ well being.Aviculture, Exports, Market concentration, Sector dynamics, International Relations/Trade,

Lightweight specification and analysis of dynamic systems with rich configurations

Model-checking is increasingly popular in the early phases of the software development process. To establish the correctness of a software design one must usually verify both structural and behavioral(or temporal) properties. Unfortunately, most specification languages, and accompanying model-checkers, excel only in analyzing either one or the other kind. This limits their ability to verify dynamic systems with rich configurations: systems whose state space is characterized by rich structural properties, but whose evolution is also expected to satisfy certain temporal properties.To address this problem, we first propose Electrum, an extension of the Alloy specification language with temporal logic operators, where both rich configurations and expressive temporal properties can easily be de fined. Two alternative model-checking techniques are then proposed, one bounded and the other unbounded, to verify systems expressed in this language, namely to verify that every desirable temporal property holds for every possible configuration.ERDF - European Regional Development Fund()info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Migração de Software em Engenharia Química e suas vantagens

Numa sociedade cada vez mais tecnológica em que cada dia novas tecnologias são desenvolvidas, muitas empresas deparam-se com um problema de como atualizar os seus sistemas informáticos para englobar estas novas alterações sem perder as funcionalidades que tinham implementado ou, o elevado custo que teriam para voltar a projetar e instalar um sistema de raiz. Como resposta a este problema surgiu a possibilidade de migração de tecnologia que tem como garantia manter as funcionalidades iniciais e alargar o sistema para estar de acordo com a nova tecnologia, seja ela Java, Python, C#, entre outras. É importante salientar que as indústrias ligadas à engenharia química estão cada vez mais recetivas a novas tecnologias, e esforçam-se por encontrar formas de modernizar os seus softwares mediante o aperfeiçoamento ou delineando novos meios para atingir os objetivos. O objetivo desta dissertação foi exemplificar um processo de migração de software a partir de um ficheiro de Excel de uma reação de titulação para um software elaborado em Java e abordar as vantagens do mesmo em relação ao original. Conclui-se que uma das grandes vantagens de novas tecnologias são a acessibilidade, dado que permite acesso em qualquer dispositivo com uma ligação à internet e permitir que vários utilizadores em simultâneo consultem, alterem e insiram os dados sem ocorrerem conflitos entre os vários utilizadores

Transmissão de preços no mercado internacional de café robusta

The robusta coffee market has experienced changes which are characterized by a growth in the demand and the confirmation of Vietnam as the world’s greater producer and exporter leaving behind traditional producers as Indonesia. These changes motivated the analysis of international price integration and the main markets of this commodity: Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia and India. It was tested the hypothesis that Vietnam transmits prices shocks to the other markets. The framework used the analysis of co-integration and the Vector Error Correction (VEC) model. It was shown that, in the period from 1988 to 2005, the foreign price and the ones from Vietnam, Brazil and Indonesia were integrated and the India’s price was affected by factors that are not common to the other countries. There was no perfect integration and Vietnam, although important, wasn’t the more interdependent market.Robusta coffee, Price transmission, Market integration, VEC, Demand and Price Analysis,

Plasmomechanical Systems: Principles and Applications

AbstractExtreme confinement of electromagnetic waves and mechanical displacement fields to nanometer dimensions through plasmonic nanostructures offers unprecedented opportunities for greatly enhanced interaction strength, increased bandwidth, lower power consumption, chip‐scale fabrication, and efficient actuation of mechanical systems at the nanoscale. Conversely, coupling mechanical oscillators to plasmonic nanostructures introduces mechanical degrees of freedom to otherwise static plasmonic structures thus giving rise to the generation of extremely large resonance shifts even for minor position changes. This nanoscale marriage of plasmonics and mechanics has led to the emergence of a new field of study called plasmomechanics that explores the fundamental principles underneath the coupling between light and plasmomechanical nanoresonators. In this review, both the fundamental concepts and applications of plasmomechanics as an emerging field of study are discussed. After an overview of the basic principles of plasmomechanics, the active tuning mechanisms of plasmonic nano‐mechanical systems are extensively analyzed. Moreover, the recent developments on the practical implications of plasmomechanic systems for such applications as biosensing and infrared detection are highlighted. Finally, an outlook on the implications of the plasmomechanical nanosystems for development of point‐of‐care diagnostic devices that can help early and rapid detection of fatal diseases are forwarded

The impact of sarcopenic obesity on inflammation, lean body mass, and muscle strength in elderly women

Objective: The objective of this study was to apply the newly standardized definition for sarcopenia from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and the current definition for obesity to 1) determine the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity (SO) in obese elderly women; 2) compare the muscle strength, lean body mass, and markers of inflammation between obese elderly women with SO and nonsarcopenic obesity (NSO), and 3) elucidate the relationship between appendicular lean mass adjusted for body mass index (aLM/BMI) with muscle strength, lean body mass, and obesity indices. Methods: A total of 64 elderly obese women (age: 68.35±6.04 years) underwent body composition analysis by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Participants were classified into two groups according to the definition of SO and NSO. Blood samples were collected for total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, uric acid, urea, interleukin-6 (IL-6), glucose, and creatine kinase (CK) measurements. Results: The SO group presented a significantly greater BMI, fat (%), glucose, a marginal trend toward significance for uric acid, and IL-6 compared to the NSO group. In addition, the SO group displayed lower values for muscle strength and lean body mass. From a correlation standpoint, a higher aLM/BMI was positively associated with lean body mass and muscle strength and negatively associated with a lower BMI and percentage body fat. Conclusion: The definition criteria from FNIH and obesity permit the ability to illustrate the prevalence and identify SO in elderly women with low muscle mass, low muscle strength, and impaired markers of inflammation

Novas perpectivas para a análise estatística da resposta da pressão arterial ao treinamento resistido em mulheres idosas hipertensas

O objetivo principal do estudo foi apresentar procedimentos estatísticos para uma melhor interpretação dos dados sobre a responsividade, explicar como lidar com o efeito da regressão a média (RM) e descrever como determinar alterações clinicamente importantes na pressão arterial (PA) pelo cálculo da diferença clínica (DC). Vinte e sete mulheres idosas hipertensas foram incluídas e o treinamento resistido (TR) consistiu em um modelo linear periodizado. O TR durou 10 semanas, com duas sessões realizadas por semana. Os responsivos foram classificados com base nas diferenças da pressão arterial sistólica (PAS) entre os momentos T1 (primeiras 3 semanas) e T4 (semanas 9-10). As análises estatísticas no presente estudo foram realizadas utilizando a ANOVA de medidas repetidas, análise de covariância (ANCOVA) e modelo linear misto (MLM). Conclui-se que quando uma ANOVA de medidas repetidas é aplicada, os resultados mostram uma redução não significativa de -2,24 mmHg, mas a classificação dos participantes por responsividade fornece uma interpretação diferente dos resultados. Além disso, a PAS inicial foi o preditor mais potente da resposta pós-exercício da PAS, conforme analisado pela RM. Finalmente, as reduções de -2,24 mmHg não foram estatisticamente significativas e nem clinicamente importantes, mas caíram dentro do erro de medida.The main goal was to present statistical procedures for a better data interpretation of responsiveness, explain how to deal with RTM effect, and describe how to determine clinically important changes in BP from significant real difference (SRD). Twenty-seven hypertensive elderly women were included, and RT consisted of a periodized linear model. The RT lasted 10 weeks, with two sessions performed per week. Responders were classified on the basis of SBP differences between time-points T1 (first 3 weeks) and T4 (weeks 9-10). Statistical analyses were performed using One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), the linear mixed model (LMM) was used in the present study, and SRD was also calculated. In conclusion, when one-way repeated measure ANOVA was conducted to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in SBP levels over the course of 10-week RT, results showed a non-significant reduction of -2.24 mmHg, while classifying subjects by responsiveness provides a different perspective of the results. Furthermore, initial SBP was the more powerful predictor of post-exercise SBP response, as analyzed by the regression to the mean effect. Finally, the reductions of -2.24 mmHg was not statistically significant nor clinically meaningful, but fell within the measurement error of the SBP measurements

Evolução da produção de carne suína no Brasil: uma análise estrutural-diferencial

The objective of this paper is to analyze the production shares of the main Brazilian states (Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso and Goiás) in the national production of inspected and total pork meat in the period from 2000 to 2006. The analysis considered the evolution of the production in terms of the regional effects, and indicators of the technical evolution of the production. The theoretical model used is the induced innovation model, based on agricultural modernization theory. The analysis method was the shift-share model. The results showed that the pork Brazilian production presented important transformations. Although the total production of pork meat has presented significant growth, the inspected production showed superior dynamism. The production is moving to regions closed to raw material supplying areas. The result is a production modernization dynamics in the areas of agricultural border, trend that had already been verified in the bovine livestock.Local factor, Technological factor, Shift-Share model, Pork meat, Livestock Production/Industries,