Avaliação da eficiência de horticultores agroecológicos utilizando análise envoltória de dados.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar as eficiências produtivas, de acordo com modelos de Análise Envoltória de Dados [(Data Envelopment Analysis) DEA], sob critérios agroecológicos, buscando a maior estabilidade e menor variabilidade sazonal, maior variedade/diversidade de itens produzidos e quantidade de itens disponibilizados para venda. O monitoramento e a avaliação das eficiências de lotes de agricultores pode auxiliar na gestão da agricultura familiar agroecológica. A metodologia DEA foi aplicada para medir a eficiência produtiva de dezessete lotes de agricultores familiares agroecológicos, localizados em uma faixa de dutos da Petrobras no Município de Nova Iguaçu-RJ, na baixada fluminense. Foram levantados dados primários listados em itens, quantidades e valor médio, referentes à produção disponibilizada para venda em feiras semanais distribuídas ao longo dos meses de janeiro a dezembro de 2009. Foi registrada uma relação conjunta de critérios agroecológicos, com foco econômico, social e ambiental. Pôde-se observar que sete lotes tiveram eficiência média composta acima do valor médio de 67,6%, variando de 71,3 a 86,6%

Using the Pneumatic method to estimate embolism resistance in species with long vessels: A commentary on the article “A comparison of five methods to assess embolism resistance in trees”

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordComparisons among methods are essential to validate plant traits measured across studies. However, a rigorous analysis is a complex task that needs to take into account not only the principle of the method and its correct use, but also inherent intraspecific trait variability, something we feel is not fully considered by Sergent et al. (2020). They compared the Bench dehydration, MicroCT, and Pneumatic methods using three long-vesseled species and found divergence among these methods. As a key finding, Sergent and colleagues reported unreliable estimates of Ψ50 for Olea europaea when using the Pneumatic method in a such long-vesseled species. Here, we tested this finding by measuring independently vulnerability curves for O. europaea. Our results reinforce the viability of the Pneumatic method to estimate embolism vulnerability in long-vesseled species, as already found by others. Briefly, we also discuss important procedures when using the Pneumatic method and encourage further experiments, as the only way to know better the limitations of available methods and improve our understanding about plant water relations.São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)Royal SocietyNational Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil

Using simulation to interpret a discrete time survival model in a complex biological system: fertility and lameness in dairy cows

The ever-growing volume of data routinely collected and stored in everyday life presents researchers with a number of opportunities to gain insight and make predictions. This study aimed to demonstrate the usefulness in a specific clinical context of a simulation-based technique called probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) in interpreting the results of a discrete time survival model based on a large dataset of routinely collected dairy herd management data. Data from 12,515 dairy cows (from 39 herds) were used to construct a multilevel discrete time survival model in which the outcome was the probability of a cow becoming pregnant during a given two day period of risk, and presence or absence of a recorded lameness event during various time frames relative to the risk period amongst the potential explanatory variables. A separate simulation model was then constructed to evaluate the wider clinical implications of the model results (i.e. the potential for a herd’s incidence rate of lameness to influence its overall reproductive performance) using PSA. Although the discrete time survival analysis revealed some relatively large associations between lameness events and risk of pregnancy (for example, occurrence of a lameness case within 14 days of a risk period was associated with a 25% reduction in the risk of the cow becoming pregnant during that risk period), PSA revealed that, when viewed in the context of a realistic clinical situation, a herd’s lameness incidence rate is highly unlikely to influence its overall reproductive performance to a meaningful extent in the vast majority of situations. Construction of a simulation model within a PSA framework proved to be a very useful additional step to aid contextualisation of the results from a discrete time survival model, especially where the research is designed to guide on-farm management decisions at population (i.e. herd) rather than individual level

Mucosal Leishmaniasis Caused by Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis in the Brazilian Amazon

Background: Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is a parasite recognized as the most important etiologic agent of mucosal leishmaniasis (ML) in the New World. In Amazonia, seven different species of Leishmania, etiologic agents of human Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, have been described. Isolated cases of ML have been described for several different species of Leishmania: L. (V.) panamensis, L. (V.) guyanensis and L. (L.) amazonensis. Methodology: Leishmania species were characterized by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of tissues taken from mucosal biopsies of Amazonian patients who were diagnosed with ML and treated at the Tropical Medicine Foundation of Amazonas (FMTAM) in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil. Samples were obtained retrospectively from the pathology laboratory and prospectively from patients attending the aforementioned tertiary care unit. Results: This study reports 46 cases of ML along with their geographical origin, 30 cases caused by L. (V.) braziliensis and 16 cases by L. (V.) guyanensis. This is the first record of ML cases in 16 different municipalities in the state of Amazonas and of simultaneous detection of both species in 4 municipalities of this state. It is also the first record of ML caused by L. (V.) guyanensis in the states of Para, Acre, and Rondonia and cases of ML caused by L. (V.) braziliensis in the state of Rondonia. Conclusions/Significance: L. (V.) braziliensis is the predominant species that causes ML in the Amazon region. However, contrary to previous studies, L. (V.) guyanensis is also a significant causative agent of ML within the region. The clinical and epidemiological expression of ML in the Manaus region is similar to the rest of the country, although the majority of ML cases are found south of the Amazon River.SUFRAMA[016/2004

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV