Spectra of ultrabroadband squeezed pulses and the finite-time Unruh-Davies effect

We study spectral properties of quantum radiation of ultimately short duration. In particular, we introduce a continuous multimode squeezing operator for the description of subcycle pulses of entangled photons generated by a coherent-field driving in a thin nonlinear crystal with second order susceptibility. We find the ultrabroadband spectra of the emitted quantum radiation perturbatively in the strength of the driving field. These spectra can be related to the spectra expected in an Unruh-Davies experiment with a finite time of acceleration. In the time domain, we describe the corresponding behavior of the normally ordered electric field variance.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Population structure of Pentaclethra macroloba (Willd.) Kuntze in high and low floodplains of the Amazonian estuary.

The flood cycle of floodplain forests and topographic variations are important factors of diversification and morphological and ecophysiological adaptations of the plant community. Pentaclethra macroloba is a hyperdominant species adapted to flood variations. The objective of this study was to characterize the P. macroloba population structure between environments with high topography, flooded only during the rainy season and peak flood of the river, (high várzea-HV) and low topography with daily flood (low várzea-LV). The study was carried in the Mazagão Experimental Field, Brazil. Four plots of 1 ha were installed in each environment. All individuals with DBH ≥ 5 cm were measured and georeferenced. ANOVA test, 0.05% probability, was applied to verify the structural differences between two environments. The HV had higher population density (51.2 individuals.ha-1) compared to the LV (36.7 individuals.ha-1), although without significance. Basal area was higher in the HV (10.42 m²) in comparison with LV (5.90 m²), with significant difference (F = 7.13, p = 0.00795). The maximum DAP of HV was 67 cm with mean of 24 cm. The LV presented maximum DBH of 42 cm with mean of 21 cm, showing structural difference between the two environments (F = 6.22, p = 0.0131). The aggregation index showed high aggregation in the LV (R = 0.89) than in the HV (R = 0.79), differing significantly between the two environments (F = 11.31, p = 0.0008). Frequency and time of flooding are ecological drives that structure the population of pracaxizeiro causing morphological and ecophysiological adaptations to the individual

Environmental comfort indicators for school buildings in sustainability assessment tools

Decades ago, the only requirement to construct a building was to give men the right conditions for the execution of their work or leisure activities. With the development of knowledge about the internal and external environments of buildings, other requirements have been added such as the issue of user comfort. New construction techniques have been incorporated and new products have been created to improve internal environment comfort. This research addressed the importance of using indicators related to environmental comfort in sustainability assessment tools applied to school buildings. It also considered the importance of environmental issues for the good performance of human beings, and the harmonious coexistence of the comfort indicators indoor air quality, thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort and ergonomic comfort based on data gathered in research carried out with users of high schools (only students). This research was carried out in two different cities of different countries, Guimarães (Portugal) and Juiz de Fora (Brazil), that have similar characteristics of teaching standards and climate conditions (temperature and air humidity). In this study, interviews were made through questionnaires and, later, the information collected was analyzed. This study demonstrates the need to include an ergonomic indicator for school buildings in sustainability assessment tools.The corresponding author wants to thank: the teacher and Administrative Director of Francisco de Holanda High School, Abílio Ferreira, for showing me the school and giving all the necessary information, always with great attention; Parque Escolar Company (EPE) for supplying the necessary material for the execution of the work; and Mrs. Catarina Araujo for helping me in the conception of this article. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Automatic detection of Acacia longifolia invasive species based on UAV-acquired aerial imagery

The Acacia longifolia species is known for its rapid growth and dissemination, causing loss of biodiversity in the affected areas. In order to avoid the uncontrolled spread of this species, it is important to effectively monitor its distribution on the agroforestry regions. For this purpose, this paper proposes the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) for the detection of Acacia longifolia, from images acquired by an unmanned aerial vehicle. Two models based on the same CNN architecture were elaborated. One classifies image patches into one of nine possible classes, which are later converted into a binary model; this model presented an accuracy of and in the validation and training sets, respectively. The second model was trained directly for binary classification and showed an accuracy of and for the validation and test sets, respectively. The results show that the use of multiple classes, useful to provide the aerial vehicle with richer semantic information regarding the environment, does not hamper the accuracy of Acacia longifolia detection in the classifier’s primary task. The presented system also includes a method for increasing classification’s accuracy by consulting an expert to review the model’s predictions on an automatically selected sub-set of the samples.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The inclusion of sustainability awareness indicator in assessment tools for high school buildings

The growing debate about global environmental problems is evident in several spheres of society. The concern for the future of the planet is used as a political slogan, inspiring the creation of new laws and encouraging academic research that serves this purpose, as well as increasing the number of government agencies concerned with this matter. The 21st century is considered the ?century of sustainable development?. Sustainability education in high schools has the potential to make the benefits of civil construction more visible to society and media by showing students, parents, and communities in general how sustainability in the built environment can improve their lives in economic, social, and environmental aspects. This study was applied in three high schools of Juiz de Fora (Brazil) and Guimarães (Portugal). These high schools have similar characteristics regarding teaching patterns and commitment to strengthening sustainability in their respective regions and reflect their socio-economic conditions, governmental strategies, everyday habits, and cultural attributes. The information was collected through questionnaires applied to high school students in 2017. This paper shows the need for including an indicator of sustainability awareness in sustainability assessment tools for high school buildings.Federal University of Juiz de Fora. (UFJF, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Recovering actives in multi-antitarget and target design of analogs of the myosin II inhibitor blebbistatin

In multitarget drug design, it is critical to identify active and inactive compounds against a variety of targets and antitargets. Multitarget strategies thus test the limits of available technology, be that in screening large databases of compounds vs a large number of targets, or in using in silica methods for understanding and reliably predicting these pharmacological outcomes In this paper, we have evaluated the potential of several in silica approaches to predict the target, antitarget and physicochemical profile of (S)-blebbistatin, the best-known myosin II ATPase inhibitor, and a series of analogs thereof Standard and augmented structure-based design techniques could not recover the observed activity profiles A ligand-based method using molecular fingerprints was, however, able to select actives for myosin II inhibition Using further ligand- and structure-based methods, we also evaluated toxicity through androgen receptor binding, affinity for an array of antitargets and the ADME profile (including assay-interfering compounds) of the series In conclusion, in the search for (S)-blebbistatin analogs, the dissimilarity distance of molecular fingerprints to known actives and the computed antitarget and physicochemical profile of the molecules can be used for compound design for molecules with potential as tools for modulating myosin II and motility-related diseases

Octreotide for conservative management of postoperative chylothorax in the neonate

Chylothorax is a possible complication after thoracotomy. Treatment is initially conservative and includes drainage and correction of nutritional losses. Surgical treatment is reserved for cases not responsive to medical measures. The authors report on the clinical case of a premature neonate with a traumatic chylothorax secondary to esophageal atresia surgical correction. The use of octreotide allowed the resolution of the effusion without adverse effects and avoided the surgical treatment