Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S.: 2000 to 2011

[Excerpt] Household net worth, or wealth, is an important indicator of economic well-being in the United States. Median household net worth decreased by $5,046, or 6.8 percent, between 2000 and 2011. The types of assets that households hold may vary across the net worth distribution. Therefore, dividing the overall net worth distribution into equal parts (e.g., by quintile) can provide additional insights into the well-being of each segment of that distribution. Given that business cycle changes over time may have a differential impact on the wealth of different groups, it can also facilitate analysis of how this well-being changes for different types of households over time

Projeto de reabilitação das casas da Quinta da Madredeus do Vale de Flores

Este trabalho de dissertação compreende a memória descritiva e justificativa de um projeto de reabilitação para as casas da Quinta da Madredeus do Vale de Flores, localizada na aldeia da Faia, no concelho de Aldeia Viçosa, no distrito da Guarda. As qualidades cénicas, arquitetónicas e históricas do local levaram o proprietário a adquirir a quinta. A sua manutenção custosa obriga à utilização da quinta como fonte de rendimento para que se torne um investimento autossustentável. Assim, o projeto dedica-se à apropriação dos devolutos transformando-os num espaço que acolha a função de turismo de luxo em espaço rural. Dada a problemática da arquitetura em contexto de ruína opta-se por reunir conceitos teóricos e práticos que esclareçam os possíveis caminhos que o projeto possa tomar para, de forma metódica e responsável, elaborar um desenho que respeite o existente. Desta forma, o conceito passa pela apropriação completa de toda a ruína oferecendo ao novo projeto e ao existente o mesmo destaque. O desenho oferece uma clara perspetiva da importância do existente assim como a importância do novo. Desta forma, resulta um projeto que se presa pelas linhas modernas em sintonia com as linhas do passado, revivendo o edifício e a sua envolvente.This dissertation consists on a descriptive document of a rehabilitation project for the Quinta da Madredeus do Vale de Flores houses, located in the village of Faia, in Guarda district. The scenic, architectural and historical qualities of the place led the owner to acquire the farm. Its economical maintenance requires the use of the farm as a source of income to become a self-sustaining investment. Thus, the project is dedicated to the appropriation of the ruins, transforming them into a building that takes on the role of luxury tourism in a rural scenery. Given the architecture’s problematic in the context of a ruin, one chooses to gather theoretical and practical concepts that clarify the possible paths that the project can take to, in a methodical and responsible way, draw a design that respects the existing. Therefore, the concept passes through the complete appropriation of all the ruin, offering the same prominence to the new project and to the existing one. The drawing offers a clear perspective on the importance of the existing, as well as the importance of the new. Thus, the result is a project that highlights its modern lines in tune with the lines of the past, reviving the building and its surroundings

As expectativas do tutor em relação à profissão docente: um estudo de caso com tutores de diversas regiões do Brasil / The expectations of the tutor in relation to the teaching profession: a case study with tutors from different regions of Brazil

Este estudo tem por objetivo identificar quais são os desafios e as expectativas para o tutor no Ensino Superior, a partir da percepção dos tutores que trabalham em Universidades públicas e privadas das regiões do Brasil. Compreende um estudo qualitativo-quantitativo, exploratório-descritivo de um estudo de caso com 112 tutores, realizado entre os meses de março e abril de 2020, via questionário semiestruturado, compartilhado em um grupo fechado dentro de uma rede social profissional, contendo cinco perguntas fechadas e três perguntas abertas. Temas como a educação a distância no contexto do ensino híbrido, transformações tecnológicas na educação, o papel da tutoria no contexto da EaD e competências para o tutor, constituíram o embasamento teórico desenvolvido. Autores como Moore e Kearsley (2013), Horn e Staker (2015), Mattar (2012), Bacich,e Moran e Bacich (2018), Gonzalez (2005), Imbernón (2006) e Perrenoud (2000) entre outros, com suas contribuições, proporcionaram ao estudo de caso um embasamento importante para o resultado deste. Achados deste estudo reportam como desafios a falta de valorização da profissão, falta de comprometimento do aluno, o tempo destinado ao preparo do material para estar em aula e as competências como proficiência tecnológica, domínio de conteúdo, disponibilidade fora do ambiente escolar para responder as mensagens, rotinas administrativas e acadêmicas compreendem como essenciais para quem deseja seguir esta profissão.

Aleutian Mink Disease Virus and Humans

Reports of a possible relationship between Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (AMDV) and human infection are rare. However, 2 mink farmers with vascular disease and microangiopathy similar to that in mink with Aleutian disease were found to have AMDV-specific antibodies and AMDV DNA. These findings raise the suspicion that AMDV may play a role in human disease

Invading the Occupied Niche: How a Parasitic Copepod of Introduced Oysters Can Expel a Congener From Native Mussels

In species introductions, non-native species are often confronted with new niches occupied by more specialized natives, and for introduced parasites this conflict can be amplified because they also face novel hosts. Despite these obstacles, invasions of introduced parasites occur frequently, but the mechanisms that facilitate parasite invasion success are only rarely explored. Here, we investigated how the parasitic copepod Mytilicola orientalis, that recently spilled over from its principal host - the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, managed to invade the niche of blue mussel Mytilus edulis intestines, which is densely occupied by its specialist congener, Mytilicola intestinalis. From field observations demonstrating invasion dynamics in nature, we designed a series of experiments addressing potential mechanisms facilitating a successful occupation of the new niche. As expected the specialist M. intestinalis can only infect mussel hosts, but displayed higher infection success there than M. orientalis in both principal host species combined. In the absence of direct competitive interactions M. orientalis compensated its lower infection success (1) by recurrent spill-over from its high-fitness reservoir oyster host, and (2) by active aggregation interference enhancing its own mating success while limiting that of M. intestinalis. The introduced parasite could thus avoid direct competition by changing its own epidemiology and indirectly decreasing the reproductive success of its competitor in the new host. Such mechanisms outside of direct competition have seldom been considered, but are crucial to understand invasion success, parasite host range and community assembly in the context of species introductions

Reversible melting and equilibrium phase formation of (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+d

The decomposition and the reformation of the (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+d (?Bi,Pb(2223)?) phase have been investigated in-situ by means of High-Temperature Neutron Diffraction, both in sintered bulk samples and in Ag-sheathed monofilamentary tapes. Several decomposition experiments were performed at various temperatures and under various annealing atmospheres, under flowing gas as well as in sealed tubes, in order to study the appropriate conditions for Bi,Pb(2223) formation from the melt. The Bi,Pb(2223) phase was found to melt incongruently into (Ca,Sr)2CuO3, (Sr,Ca)14Cu24O41 and a Pb,Bi-rich liquid phase. Phase reformation after melting was successfully obtained both in bulk samples and Ag-sheathed tapes. The possibility of crystallising the Bi,Pb(2223) phase from the melt was found to be extremely sensitive to the temperature and strongly dependent on the Pb losses. The study of the mass losses due to Pb evaporation was complemented by thermogravimetric analysis which proved that Pb losses are responsible for moving away from equilibrium and therefore hinder the reformation of the Bi,Pb(2223) phase from the melt. Thanks to the full pattern profile refinement, a quantitative phase analysis was carried out as a function of time and temperature and the role of the secondary phases was investigated. Lattice distortions and/or transitions were found to occur at high temperature in Bi,Pb(2223), Bi,Pb(2212), (Ca,Sr)2CuO3 and (Sr,Ca)14Cu24O41, due to cation diffusion and stoichiometry changes. The results indicate that it is possible to form the Bi,Pb(2223) phase from a liquid close to equilibrium conditions, like Bi(2212) and Bi(2201), and open new unexplored perspectives for high-quality Ag-sheathed Bi,Pb(2223) tape processing.Comment: 45 pages (including references,figures and captions), 13 figures Submitted to Supercond. Sci. Techno