Compared to private firms, government agencies are more likely to violate regulations and less likely to be punished

Recent events such as the Volkswagen emissions scandal have reminded us that the private sector often break government regulations. But what about government agencies? In new research, that examines compliance with the Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, David M. Konisky and Manuel P. Teodoro find that, facing higher compliance costs, government agencies are more likely than private firms to violate such regulations. They also argue that these agencies are less likely to be penalized by government for their infractions compared to private firms

Forward-Backward Differential Equations: Approximation of Small Solutions

Com o apoio RAADRI.In the context of physics, economic dynamics, nance, optimal control, biology and other applied sciences, many mathematical models contain mixed type functional differential equations (MTFDEs), equations with both delayed and advanced arguments. Knowing from the analysis of delay di erential equations (DDEs) that the evaluation of small solutions (that decay faster than any exponential) often leads to computational problems (degeneracy), we investigate this subject in the case of MTFDEs. Some computations have been carried out and are presented here, concerning the linear nonautonomous case. We continue this work and extend the investigation to other problems

Problem-based learning and applied mathematics

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method that appeared in the early 1960s and is widely applied in distinct areas nowadays. In the presented manuscript, we describe a PBL methodology use restricted to applied mathematics for problem solving among a group of engineering students in a Portuguese university. In the pandemic context, it was a huge challenge both for the students and for the teacher. Supported by the available literature, the experiment was defined. As it is well known, teachers are not only knowledge transmitters but also designers of teaching initiatives. Thus, teachers and students both have a large role in PBL methodologies, where collaboration, reflection and concepts discussion are essential. In the presented pedagogical challenge, students were devoted to integrating the previous knowledge acquired and the one acquired during the project. This process improved their new competences—both personal and team work. Despite being a recent pedagogical method, PBL is revealed to be an important teaching tool.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Environmental stratification in the brazilian Cerrado on the yield and fiber quality of cotton genotypes.

Environmental stratification studies are important for the plant breeding, since they allow to adequately plan the experimental network. The objective of this work was to identify similar environments for cotton cultivation in the Brazilian Cerrado regarding yield and fiber quality. Nineteen field studies were carried out in a randomized complete block design with twelve genotypes and four replicates. Agronomic (cotton seed yield and fiber percentage) and technological traits (length, micronaire, fiber strength) were evaluated. These results indicate that there are six environments (PVA3, MON, SHE1, SIN, PPA e TRIN) in which the cotton trials should be installed as a matter of priority owing to the phenotypic response pattern obtained for the evaluated traits. The remaining 13 environments are similar to each other for all traits and can be summarized in strategic locations depending on the ease of installation of the trials.Título em português: Estratificação ambiental no Cerrado brasileiro sobre o rendimento e a qualidade da fibra dos genótipos de algodão

Constraints on decreases in Eta Carinae's mass loss from 3D hydrodynamic simulations of its binary colliding winds

Recent work suggests that the mass-loss rate of the primary star (Eta A) in the massive colliding wind binary Eta Carinae dropped by a factor of 2-3 between 1999 and 2010. We present results from large- (r=1545au) and small- (r=155au) domain, 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) simulations of Eta Car's colliding winds for 3 Eta A mass-loss rates (2.4, 4.8, and 8.5 x 10^-4 M_sun/yr), investigating the effects on the dynamics of the binary wind-wind collision (WWC). These simulations include orbital motion, optically thin radiative cooling, and radiative forces. We find that Eta A's mass-loss rate greatly affects the time-dependent hydrodynamics at all spatial scales investigated. The simulations also show that the post-shock wind of the companion star (Eta B) switches from the adiabatic to the radiative-cooling regime during periastron passage. The SPH simulations together with 1D radiative transfer models of Eta A's spectra reveal that a factor of 2 or more drop in Eta A's mass-loss rate should lead to substantial changes in numerous multiwavelength observables. Recent observations are not fully consistent with the model predictions, indicating that any drop in Eta A's mass-loss rate was likely by a factor < 2 and occurred after 2004. We speculate that most of the recent observed changes in Eta Car are due to a small increase in the WWC opening angle that produces significant effects because our line-of-sight to the system lies close to the dense walls of the WWC zone. A modest decrease in Eta A's mass-loss rate may be responsible, but changes in the wind/stellar parameters of Eta B cannot yet be fully ruled out. We suggest observations during Eta Car's next periastron in 2014 to further test for decreases in Eta A's mass-loss rate. If Eta A's mass-loss rate is declining and continues to do so, the 2014 X-ray minimum should be even shorter than that of 2009.Comment: 38 pages, 25 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Birefringence in nonlinear anisotropic dielectric media

Light propagation is investigated in the context of local anisotropic nonlinear dielectric media at rest with the dielectric coefficients $\epsilon^\mu{}_\nu = \epsilon^\mu{}_\nu (\vec{E},\vec{B})$ and constant $\mu$, in the limit of geometrical optics. Birefringence was examined and the general conditions for its occurrence were presented. A toy model is exhibited, in which uniaxial birefringent media with nonlinear dielectric properties could be driven by external fields in such way that birefringence may be artificially controlled. The effective geometry interpretation is also addressed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Bioprospecção de actinobactérias da rizosfera para produção de metabólitos bioativos.

Actinobactérias rizosféricas, têm mostrado grande potencial na produção de metabólitos bioativos, sendo o gênero das Streptomyces o mais bem estudado e com melhor potencial para produção destes compostos. Assim, o presente trabalho visou realizar a bioprospecção de actinobactérias rizosféricas e avaliar o potencial de seus metabólitos bioativos no controle de bactérias patogênicas. Foram isoladas linhagens de actinobactérias de plantas sadias de milho, cultivado em diferentes regiões edafoclimáticas do Estado de São Paulo. As linhagens foram avaliadas quanto ao potencial de controle de Bacillus megaterium, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonnas aeruginosa e Sthaphylococcus aureus. Os isolados que se mostraram eficientes em testes de antagonismo foram utilizados em ensaios de antibiose para verificação do potencial do composto bioativo no controle destes patógenos. Foram isolados 60 actinobactérias, identificadas morfologicamente como sendo do gênero Streptomyces. Dentre estas, 31 inibiram pelo menos 1 dos 5 patógenos em testes de antagonismos. Nos ensaios de antibiose, foi verificada a eficiência dos metabólitos de 25 actinobactérias no controle dos patógenos testados

Diversity and population dynamic of Tabanidae (Insecta: Diptera) in the Cerrado-Pantanal ecotone.

Tabanid (Diptera) species are associated with the mechanical transmission of several pathogens to both domestic and wild animals around the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diversity, abundance, and seasonal dynamic of tabanids in the Cerrado-Pantanal ecotone in Miranda, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Tabanids were collected once a month, from June 2001 to May 2003, for seven consecutive days per collection, using canopy and nzi type traps baited with a chemical attractant (1-octen-3-ol). A total of 6,492 individuals from 39 species and 18 genera was collected, which increases from 25 to 34 the number of tabanid species reported for the studied region. Tabanus occidentalis Linnaeus, 1758 (62.21%) was the most abundant species throughout the collection period, followed by Lepiselaga crassipes (Fabricius, 1805) (7.19%) and Tabanus sorbillans Wiedemann, 1828 (5.68%). The peak of the tabanid population was reached during the rainy season, which is the period of the highest potential risk of mechanical transmission of pathogens by these insects in the studied region