Diagnóstico, planejamento ecológico e análise da adubação verde nos agroecossistemas de São Carlos, SP.

bitstream/CNPDIA/9822/1/CiT04_96.pd

Effective action in DSR1 quantum field theory

We present the one-loop effective action of a quantum scalar field with DSR1 space-time symmetry as a sum over field modes. The effective action has real and imaginary parts and manifest charge conjugation asymmetry, which provides an alternative theoretical setting to the study of the particle-antiparticle asymmetry in nature.Comment: 8 page

A novel application method for wearable bend sensors

Bend sensors fundamental characteristic is to furnish an electrical resistance value related to the angle they are bent. This feature can be successfully exploited to realize wearable systems capable to measure human static and dynamic postures. In particular some efforts have been made to determine finger joint movements of human hands and it has been demonstrated the feasibility of using the so called data glove system as a goniometric device. The repeatability of such system is quite good for general purposes but it is still not sufficient for specific applications (for instance in virtual surgery). So here we introduce a novel application method of bend sensors and demonstrate how it can be useful to improve the system repeatabilit

Noncommutative Geometry and Cosmology

We study some consequences of noncommutativity to homogeneous cosmologies by introducing a deformation of the commutation relation between the minisuperspace variables. The investigation is carried out for the Kantowski-Sachs model by means of a comparative study of the universe evolution in four different scenarios: the classical commutative, classical noncommutative, quantum commutative, and quantum noncommutative. The comparison is rendered transparent by the use of the Bohmian formalism of quantum trajectories. As a result of our analysis, we found that noncommutativity can modify significantly the universe evolution, but cannot alter its singular behavior in the classical context. Quantum effects, on the other hand, can originate non-singular periodic universes in both commutative and noncommutative cases. The quantum noncommutative model is shown to present interesting properties, as the capability to give rise to non-trivial dynamics in situations where its commutative counterpart is necessarily static.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, substantial changes in the presentation, results are the same, to appear in Physical Review

Immunity, Inflammation and Heart Failure: Their Role on Cardiac Function and Iron Status

Aims: Heart failure is a clinical syndrome characterized by subclinical systemic inflammation and immune system activation associated with iron deficiency. No data exist on the various activations of immune-mediated mechanisms of inflammation in heart failure patients with reduced/preserved ejection fraction. We aimed to (1) investigate possible differences in inflammatory parameters and oxidative stress, and (2) detect a different iron status between groups. Materials and Methods: We enrolled 50 consecutive Caucasian outpatients with heart failure. All patients underwent echocardiographic measurements, laboratory determinations, evaluation of iron status and Toll-like receptors, and NF-κB expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines. All statistical calculations were made using SPSS for Mac version 21.0. Results: Patients with reduced ejection fraction showed significantly lower hemoglobin levels (12.3 ± 1.4 vs. 13.6 ± 1.4 g/dl), serum iron (61.4 ± 18.3 vs. 93.7 ± 33.7 mcg/dl), transferrin iron binding capacity (20.7 ± 8.4 vs. 31.1 ± 15.6 %), and e-GFR values (78.1 ± 36.1 vs. 118.1 ± 33.9 ml/min/1.73 m2) in comparison to patients with preserved ejection fraction, while unsaturated iron binding capacity (272.6 ± 74.9 vs. 221.7 ± 61.4 mcg/dl), hepcidin (4.61 ± 0.89 vs. 3.28 ± 0.69 ng/ml), and creatinine (1.34 ± 0.55 vs. 1.03 ± 0.25 mg/dl) were significantly higher in the same group. When considering inflammatory parameters, patients with reduced ejection fraction showed significantly higher expression of both Toll-like receptors-2 (1.90 ± 0.97 vs. 1.25 ± 0.76 MFI) and Toll-like receptors-4 (4.54 ± 1.32 vs. 3.38 ± 1.62 MFI), respectively, as well as a significantly higher activity of NF-κB (2.67 ± 0.60 vs. 1.07 ± 0.30). Furthermore, pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-1, and interleukin-6, was significantly higher in patients with reduced ejection fraction, while the protective cytokine interleukin-10 was significantly lower in the same group. Correlational analyses demonstrated a significant and inverse relationship between left ventricular function and inflammatory parameters in patients with reduced ejection fraction, as well as a direct correlation between ferritin and inflammatory parameters. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate a different immune-mediated inflammatory burden in heart failure patients with reduced or preserved ejection fraction, as well as significant differences in iron status. These data contribute to further elucidate pathophysiologic mechanisms leading to cardiac dysfunction

Quantum Cosmology in Scalar-Tensor Theories With Non Minimal Coupling

Quantization in the minisuperspace of non minimal scalar-tensor theories leads to a partial differential equation which is non separable. Through a conformal transformation we can recast the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in an integrable form, which corresponds to the minimal coupling case, whose general solution is known. Performing the inverse conformal transformation in the solution so found, we can construct the corresponding one in the original frame. This procedure can also be employed with the bohmian trajectories. In this way, we can study the classical limit of some solutions of this quantum model. While the classical limit of these solutions occurs for small scale factors in the Einstein's frame, it happens for small values of the scalar field non minimally coupled to gravity in the Jordan's frame, which includes large scale factors.Comment: latex, 18 page

Insights into brand authenticity and customer engagement in a restaurant setting: A text mining approach

The aim of this study is to analyze the dimensions of customer engagement, brand authenticity and other related constructs (need for uniqueness and brand love) in customers’ online reviews through text-mining and sentiment analysis trends. This study focuses on Yelp.com comments and use a random sample of 3,877 reviews of restaurants, in ten cities in the USA. A customer engagement and authenticity dictionaries are created, based on previously validated scales and extended using WordNet 2.1. Findings reveal that cognitive processing is the strongest dimension of consumer engagement. Results further indicate that brand love presents lower polarity value compared to brand authenticity, which means that consumer tend to value more the perception of authenticity than the love relationship with the brand to become more engaged.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Ketogenic diet-induced weight loss is associated with an increase in vitamin d levels in obese adults

Vitamin D is an important micronutrient involved in several processes. Evidence has shown a strong association between hypovitaminosis D and cardio-metabolic diseases, including obesity. A ketogenic diet has proven to be very effective for weight loss, especially in reducing fat mass while preserving fat-free mass. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a ketogenic diet-induced weight loss on vitamin D status in a population of obese adults. We enrolled 56 obese outpatients, prescribed with either traditional standard hypocaloric Mediterranean diet (SHMD) or very low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD). Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured by chemiluminescence. The mean value of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations in the whole population at baseline was 17.8 +/- 5.6 ng/mL, without differences between groups. After 12 months of dietetic treatment, in VLCKD patients serum 25(OH)D concentrations increased from 18.4 +/- 5.9 to 29.3 +/- 6.8 ng/mL (p < 0.0001), vs 17.5 +/- 6.1 to 21.3 +/- 7.6 ng/mL (p = 0.067) in the SHMD group (for each kilogram of weight loss, 25(OH)D concentration increased 0.39 and 0.13 ng/mL in the VLCKD and in the SHMD groups, respectively). In the VLCKD group, the increase in serum 25(OH)D concentrations was strongly associated with body mass index, waist circumference, and fatty mass variation. In a multiple regression analysis, fatty mass was the strongest independent predictor of serum 25(OH)D concentration, explaining 15.6%, 3.3%, and 9.4% of its variation in the whole population, in SHMD, and VLCKD groups, respectively. We also observed a greater reduction of inflammation (evaluated by high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP) values) and a greater improvement in glucose homeostasis, confirmed by a reduction of HOMA values, in the VLCKD versus the SHMD group. Taken together, all these data suggest that a dietetic regimen, which implies a great reduction of fat mass, can improve vitamin D status in the obese

Exact 1/N and Optimized Perturbative Evaluation of mu_c for Homogeneous Interacting Bose Gases

In the framework of the O(N) three-dimensional effective scalar field model for homogeneous dilute weakly interacting Bose gases we use the 1/N expansion to evaluate, within the large N limit, the parameter r_c which is directly related to the critical chemical potential mu_c. This quantity enters the order-a^2 n^{2/3} coefficient contributing to the critical temperature shift Delta T_c where a represents the s-wave scattering length and n represents the density. Compared to the recent precise numerical lattice simulation results, our calculation suggests that the large N approximation performs rather well even for the physical case N=2. We then calculate the same quantity but using different forms of the optimized perturbative (variational) method, showing that these produce excellent results both for the finite N and large-N cases.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. We have performed a refined and extended numerical analysis to take into account the very recent results of Ref. [15