Discards of the beach seine fishery in the central coast of Portugal.

The beach seine fishery is performed regularly along the Portuguese coast in shallow water sandy areas. The catches and discards of this fishery were studied from March until November 1999, on the coast south of Lisbon. Fishing operations were monitored weekly and estimates of the weight of catches and discards per species were determined for each haul. A total of 60 fish species was identified in the catches but Scomber japonicus, Trachurus trachurus and Diplodus bellottii represented approximately 90% of the catches. For most of the species the percentage of discarded fishwas extremely high (ca. 100%). The species for which the estimates of discards were lower than 25% of the catches were Sardina pilchardus, Merluccius merluccius,\ud Dicentrarchus labrax, Dicentrarchus punctatus, T. trachurus, several Sparidae species, Spicara maena, S. japonicus, Solea senegalensis, and Solea solea.Most of the species exhibited a marked seasonal abundance pattern that varied according to the species. Discards also varied considerably within and between seasons. The relationships between discards and total catch, species catch, mean length of fish and percentage of fish above minimum legal size were different according to species. For S. japonicus and S. pilchardus discards were negatively correlated with their catch, mean length of fish and percentage of fish\ud above minimum legal size, while for T. trachurus significant correlations were obtained only for the last two variables

Optimization of fMRI Processing Parameters for Simutaneous Acquisition of EEG/fMRI in Focal Epilepsy

In the context of focal epilepsy, the simultaneous combination of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) holds a great promise as a technique by which the hemodynamic correlates of interictal spikes detected on scalp EEG can be identified. The fact that traditional EEG recordings have not been able to overcome the difficulty in correlating the ictal clinical symptoms to the onset in particular areas of the lobes, brings the need of mapping with more precision the epileptogenic cortical regions. On the other hand, fMRI suggested localizations more consistent with the ictal clinical manifestations detected. This study was developed in order to improve the knowledge about the way parameters involved in the physical and mathematical data, produced by the EEG/fMRI technique processing, would influence the final results. The evaluation of the accuracy was made by comparing the BOLD results with: the high resolution EEG maps; the malformative lesions detected in the T1 weighted MR images; and the anatomical localizations of the diagnosed symptomatology of each studied patient. The optimization of the set of parameters used, will provide an important contribution to the diagnosis of epileptogenic focuses, in patients included on an epilepsy surgery evaluation program. The results obtained allowed us to conclude that: by associating the BOLD effect with interictal spikes, the epileptogenic areas are mapped to localizations different from those obtained by the EEG maps representing the electrical potential distribution across the scalp (EEG); there is an important and solid bond between the variation of particular parameters (manipulated during the fMRI data processing) and the optimization of the final results, from which smoothing, deleted volumes, HRF (used to convolve with the activation design), and the shape of the Gamma function can be certainly emphasized

Comparison of Methods and Co-Registration Maps of EEG and fMRI in Occipital Lobe Epilepsy

Clinically childhood occipital lobe epilepsy (OLE) manifests itself with distinct syndromes. The traditional EEG recordings have not been able to overcome the difficulty in correlating the ictal clinical symptoms to the onset in particular areas of the occipital lobes. To understand these syndromes it is important to map with more precision the epileptogenic cortical regions in OLE. Experimentally, we studied three idiopathic childhood OLE patients with EEG source analysis and with the simultaneous acquisition of EEG and fMRI, to map the BOLD effect associated with EEG spikes. The spatial overlap between the EEG and BOLD results was not very good, but the fMRI suggested localizations more consistent with the ictal clinical manifestations of each type of epileptic syndrome. Since our first results show that by associating the BOLD effect with interictal spikes the epileptogenic areas are mapped to localizations different from those calculated from EEG sources and that by using different EEG/fMRI processing methods our results differ to some extent, it is very important to compare the different methods of processing the localization of activation and develop a good methodology for obtaining co-registration maps of high resolution EEG with BOLD localizations

Identificação de carotenoides em polpa de goiaba microencapsulada utilizando cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência.

Título: goaiba [i.e. goiaba]

Padrões micrometeorológicos da plantação de cana-de-açúcar.

A indústria do etanol e açúcar cresceu como uma atividade agrícola muito relevante no Brasil, especialmente no estado de São Paulo. Entender a variabilidade temporal de troca de água e calor sobre plantações de cana-de-açúcar tornou-se um assunto bastante importante no contexto de mudanças climáticas regionais e globais. Este trabalho pretende discutir a variabilidade dos fluxos de radiação e fluxos turbulentos de energia sobre 3 tipos de manejo de plantação de cana-de-açúcar, no estado de São Paulo, entre 1997 e 2007. Os agroecossistemas foram manejados com diferentes sistemas de colheita e com diferenças de solo entre dois deles. A variabilidade dos fluxos dependeu em primeiro lugar da variabilidade climática sazonal, e finalmente notou-se a caracterização de padrões que refletiram o tipo de manejo e por conseguinte os diferentes estágios fenológicos das plantas em cada um deles

On the growth of perturbations in interacting dark energy and dark matter fluids

The covariant generalizations of the background dark sector coupling suggested in G. Mangano, G. Miele and V. Pettorino, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 18, 831 (2003) are considered. The evolution of perturbations is studied with detailed attention to interaction rate that is proportional to the product of dark matter and dark energy densities. It is shown that some classes of models with coupling of this type do not suffer from early time instabilities in strong coupling regime.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. v3: minor changes, typos fixe

Validação de método para estudo de deposição de inseticidas biológicos em florestas.

Tem sido dada muito pouca atenção aos estudos da deposição de inseticidas biológicos, os quais tem sido aplicados com equipamento desenvolvido para uso com químicos. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar um método para a analise da deposição de agrotóxicos em florestas de eucaliptos, caracterizado pelo uso de uma calda de pulverização marcada com traçador e uma técnica especial de amostragem. Empregou-se o cobre como traçador, na forma de fungicida, cuja analise espectrofotométrica e de baixo custo, fácil de execução, alem de possibilitar um excelente nível de recuperação das plantas. Utilizaram-se cartões de papel mata-borrão como alvo artificial para amostrar as gotas. Cartões grampeados em barbantes, em distancias preestabelecidas, foram colocados sobre as plantas, possibilitando uma amostragem estratificada por alturas. Para o solo, os cartões foram colocados em discos de Petri e distribuídos sob a copa das arvores, entre plantas e entre as linhas de plantio. Os resultados indicam que 61% do produto aplicado ficaram retidos nas plantas, 31% atingiram o solo e 8% podem ter sido perdidos através da "exo-deriva".bitstream/item/143340/1/CNPMA-BOLET.-PESQ.-4-99.pd

Association of Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration with Pulmonary Function in Young Adults

The role of vitamin D on pulmonary function is unclear and is mostly studied in patients, smokers and elderly people. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration and pulmonary function in young adults. Cross-sectional analysis of 499 individuals that were evaluated at 21 years of age as part of the population-based cohort Epidemiological Health Investigation of Teenagers in Porto (EPITeen). Serum 25(OH)D was categorized according to the Institute of Medicine. Pulmonary function was evaluated using spirometry. Linear regression models were used to estimate the regression coefficients (beta) and its 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), and were adjusted for confounders. Education, smoking, body mass index, and season of evaluation were determinants of serum 25(OH)D concentration. Prevalence of serum 25(OH)D concentration = 50 nmol/L, PEF was significantly lower for those with a concentration of 30 to < 50 nmol/L (beta = -0.576; 95% CI: -0.943, -0.210), and for those with a concentration of <30 nmol/L (beta = - 0.650; 95% CI: -1.155, -0.146). Although only PEF attained statistical significance, the consistent results with the other parameters support the role of serum 25(OH)D to promote better pulmonary function in young adults.This study was funded by FEDER 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) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016829), under the project Uma abordagem longitudinal a obesidade metabolicamente saudavel: da inflamacao ao perfil de risco cardiovascular (Ref. FCT PTDC/DTP-EPI/6506/2014) and the Unidade de Investigacao em Epidemiologia -Instituto de Saude Publica da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/2013); and the PhD Grant PD/BD/105824/2014 (Maria Cabral), co-funded by the FCT and the POPH/FSE Program

Relationship between dietary vitamin D and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in Portuguese adolescents

Objective: To understand the relationship between vitamin D intake and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels in a sample of Portuguese adolescents. Design: Cross-sectional evaluation carried out in the 2003/2004 school year. Vitamin D intake was assessed by an FFQ and 25(OH)D was measured in a fasting blood sample. Setting: Public and private schools in Porto, Portugal. Subjects: Adolescents aged 13 years (n 521) enrolled at school (EPITeen cohort). Results: Both mean (sd) intake and serum 25(OH)D level were far below the recommended, 4·47 (2·49) µg/d and 16·5 (5·7) ng/ml, respectively. A significant difference in serum level was found according to season, with lower values in winter than summer (14·8 (4·6) v. 17·3 (5·9) ng/ml, P<0·001). Vitamin D intake was weakly correlated with serum 25(OH)D (r=0·056, P=0·203). Conclusions: Dietary vitamin D and serum 25(OH)D levels were positively but weakly correlated and the error was higher among those with higher serum 25(OH)D concentration. Our results support the need for strategies that promote increase of the most important food sources of vitamin D to reduce the high prevalence of low vitamin D status

Increasing Dominance - the Role of Advertising, Pricing and Product Design

Despite the empirical relevance of advertising strategies in concentrated markets, the economics literature is largely silent on the effect of persuasive advertising strategies on pricing, market structure and increasing (or decreasing) dominance. In a simple model of persuasive advertising and pricing with differentiated goods, we analyze the interdependencies between ex-ante asymmetries in consumer appeal, advertising and prices. Products with larger initial appeal to consumers will be advertised more heavily but priced at a higher level - that is, advertising and price discounts are strategic substitutes for products with asymmetric initial appeal. We find that the escalating effect of advertising dominates the moderating effect of pricing so that post-competition market shares are more asymmetric than pre-competition differences in consumer appeal. We further find that collusive advertising (but competitive pricing) generates the same market outcomes, and that network effects lead to even more extreme market outcomes, both directly and via the effect on advertising