Características sociodemográfi cas, desempeño escolar, patrón de consumo y salud emocional como factores de riesgo para el consumo de alcohol entre adolescentes

Objective: It is known that alcohol use has increased both nationally and internationally. The present study was designed to evaluate the extent to wich sociodemographic characteristics, school performance, pattern of consumption and emotional health can predict the variable of interest, recent alcohol use, defi ned as the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the past 30 days, among adolescents from public schools in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre/Rio Grande do Sul-Brazil. Methods: This was an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study of 124 students, 70 girls and 54 boys, aged 11 to 18 years. Participants were assessed in the classroom and completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Youth Self Report, and a questionnaire on drug use. Results: The variable with the greatest impact on recent alcohol use was total internalizing problems, anxiety/depression, and female sex. First alcohol use at 15 years or younger as well as school failure were also able to predict alcohol use. Conclusion: the data confi rm the multidimensionality of the phenomenon that should be considered in prevention campaigns.Objetivo: sabe-se que o consumo de álcool entre adolescentes tem se intensifi cado no contexto nacional e internacional e em função disso o presente estudo foi concebido para avaliar em que medida variáveis como características sociodemográfi cas, desempenho escolar, padrão de consumo e saúde emocional podem predizer a variável de interesse, consumo recente de álcool, defi nido como consumo de bebidas alcoólicas nos últimos 30 dias, entre adolescentes de escolas públicas da região metropolitana de Porto Alegre/Rio Grande do Sul-Brasil. Método: trata-se de um estudo transversal, com delineamento observacional-analítico, do qual participaram 124 escolares, 69 meninas e 55 meninos, com idades entre 11 e 18 anos. Todos foram acessados em sala de aula para responderem ao Questionário de Dados Sociodemográfi cos, Youth Self Report e Questionário sobre o uso de drogas. Resultados: as variáveis com maior impacto no consumo recente de álcool foram o total dos problemas de internalização, ansiedade/ depressão e sexo feminino. Ter feito uso de álcool com 15 anos ou menos e reprovação escolar também foram capazes de predizer o uso de álcool. Conclusão: os dados confi rmam a multidimensionalidade do fenômeno que deve ser considerada em campanhas de prevenção.Objetivo: se sabe que el consumo de alcohol entre adolescentes se ha intensifi cado en el contexto nacional e internacional. En función de ello el presente estudio fue concebido para evaluar en qué medida variables como las características socio-demográfi cas, el rendimiento escolar, patrón de consumo y la salud emocional pueden predecir la variable de interés, el consumo reciente de alcohol, defi nido como el consumo de bebidas alcohólicas en los últimos 30 días, entre adolescentes de escuelas públicas de la región metropolitana de Porto Alegre / Rio Grande do Sul-Brasil. Método: se trata de un estudio transversal, con delineamiento observacional-analítico, del cual participaron 124 escolares, 69 niñas y 55 niños, con edades entre 11 y 18 años. Todos fueron accedidos en el aula para responder al Cuestionario de Datos Sociodemográfi cos, Youth Self Report y Cuestionario sobre el uso de drogas. Resultados: las variables con mayor impacto en lo consumo reciente de alcohol fueron el total de los problemas de internalización, ansiedad/depresión y sexo femenino. Haber hecho uso de alcohol con 15 años o menos y reprobación escolar también fue capaces de predecir el uso de alcohol. Conclusión: los datos confi rman lo fenómeno multidimensional que debe ser considerado en campañas de prevención

Learning Agile Skills via Adversarial Imitation of Rough Partial Demonstrations

Learning agile skills is one of the main challenges in robotics. To this end, reinforcement learning approaches have achieved impressive results. These methods require explicit task information in terms of a reward function or an expert that can be queried in simulation to provide a target control output, which limits their applicability. In this work, we propose a generative adversarial method for inferring reward functions from partial and potentially physically incompatible demonstrations for successful skill acquirement where reference or expert demonstrations are not easily accessible. Moreover, we show that by using a Wasserstein GAN formulation and transitions from demonstrations with rough and partial information as input, we are able to extract policies that are robust and capable of imitating demonstrated behaviors. Finally, the obtained skills such as a backflip are tested on an agile quadruped robot called Solo 8 and present faithful replication of hand-held human demonstrations

Evaluación de materiales con aplicaciones electronicas, bajo ensayos acelerados de corrosión

En este trabajo se evaluó el comportamiento frente a la corrosión de diferentes materiales utilizados en la industria electrónica. Se depositaron películas delgadas de Al, Cu, Ni y una bicapa Cu/Au sobre sustratos de mica mediante evaporación física en fase vapor. Circuitos simulados y probetas individuales, fueron expuestos a ensayos acelerados de corrosión en cámara climática, bajo una atmósfera mixta de NOx y SO2. Las muestras se caracterizaron mediante microscopía óptica, STM, AFM, XPS, SEM y EDS, y se determinó la rugosidad. El orden de desempeño de los depósitos fue como sigue bicapa Au/Cu > Ni > Al > Cu

Europium Underneath Graphene on Ir(111): Intercalation Mechanism, Magnetism, and Band Structure

The intercalation of Eu underneath Gr on Ir(111) is comprehensively investigated by microscopic, magnetic, and spectroscopic measurements, as well as by density functional theory. Depending on the coverage, the intercalated Eu atoms form either a $(2 \times 2)$ or a $(\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3})$R$30^{\circ}$ superstructure with respect to Gr. We investigate the mechanisms of Eu penetration through a nominally closed Gr sheet and measure the electronic structures and magnetic properties of the two intercalation systems. Their electronic structures are rather similar. Compared to Gr on Ir(111), the Gr bands in both systems are essentially rigidly shifted to larger binding energies resulting in n-doping. The hybridization of the Ir surface state $S_1$ with Gr states is lifted, and the moire superperiodic potential is strongly reduced. In contrast, the magnetic behavior of the two intercalation systems differs substantially as found by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The $(2 \times 2)$ Eu structure displays plain paramagnetic behavior, whereas for the $(\sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3})$R$30^{\circ}$ structure the large zero-field susceptibility indicates ferromagnetic coupling, despite the absence of hysteresis at 10 K. For the latter structure, a considerable easy-plane magnetic anisotropy is observed and interpreted as shape anisotropy.Comment: 18 pages with 14 figures, including Supplemental Materia

Temporal and spatial variations in organic and elemental carbon concentrations in PM10/PM2.5 in the metropolitan area of Costa Rica, Central America

AbstractPM2.5 and PM10 samples were collected at 4 and 14 sampling sites, respectively, located in the Metropolitan area of Costa Rica (MACR), during 2010–2011. These sites were representative of commercial, industrial and residential zones of this region. Concentrations of elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) were analyzed using the IMPROVE thermal-optical reflectance (TOR) method. OC and EC concentrations were higher in commercial and industrial sites and showed clear seasonal variations with higher concentrations observed in the rainy season (May–November) than in the dry season (December–April), due to wind patterns in the study area. Total carbonaceous aerosol accounted for 35% of PM10 and 56% of PM2.5 mass. Good correlation between OC and EC in PM10 (R=0.89–0.75) and PM2.5 (R=0.79– 0.64) indicated that they had common dominant sources of combustion such as industrial activities and traffic emissions. The annual average concentrations of estimated SOC (Secondary Organic Carbon) in the MACR PM10 samples showed values between 0.65–8.49 μg/m3, accounting for 48% and 56% of the OC in PM10 and PM2.5 respectively. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) identified five principal sources for OC and EC in particles: gasoline vehicles, diesel vehicles, on road traffic, wood smoke and industrial combustion. The contribution of each of the source varied between the PM10 and PM2.5 size fractions

Genera of phytopathogenic fungi: GOPHY 3

This paper represents the third contribution in the Genera of Phytopathogenic Fungi (GOPHY) series. The series provides morphological descriptions, information about the pathology, distribution, hosts and disease symptoms for the treated genera, as well as primary and secondary DNA barcodes for the currently accepted species included in these. This third paper in the GOPHY series treats 21 genera of phytopathogenic fungi and their relatives including: Allophoma, Alternaria, Brunneosphaerella, Elsinoe, Exserohilum, Neosetophoma, Neostagonospora, Nothophoma, Parastagonospora, Phaeosphaeriopsis, Pleiocarpon, Pyrenophora, Ramichloridium, Seifertia, Seiridium, Septoriella, Setophoma, Stagonosporopsis, Stemphylium, Tubakia and Zasmidium. This study includes three new genera, 42 new species, 23 new combinations, four new names, and three typifications of older names

Análises físico-químicas e microbiológicas em fontes de dessedentação animal / Physicochemical and microbiological analysis in sources of animal watering

As fontes de dessedentação animal, necessitam de um manejo hídrico correto para a manutenção da oferta de água com qualidade satisfatória ao consumo, de modo a manter os níveis de bem-estar e produção animal elevados, não permitindo que a veiculação da água propague uma contaminação. Para tanto, é necessário que seja estabelecido um cronograma de análises físico-químicas e microbiológicas, avaliando os níveis de oxigênio dissolvido, pH, turbidez, temperatura superficial da água, condutividade, velocidade do vento, temperatura do ambiente e o teste bacteriológico qualitativo com o objetivo de detectar a bactéria Escherichia coli, sendo um importante método de mensuração do risco de veiculação hídrica de patógenos e avaliação do manejo hídrico. Nessa perspectiva, foram eleitas duas propriedades rurais do município de Araçatuba, com bebedouros alocados a campo utilizados por animais de produção, para serem utilizados na coleta de água, os resultados dos parâmetros físico-químicos foram correlacionados com o resultado dos testes microbiológicos, essa correlação permitiu identificar nos resultados que bebedouros com maiores níveis de oxigênio dissolvido e turbidez, apresentaram maior contaminação microbiológica

Melanospora (Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota) and its relatives

The order Melanosporales comprises a large group of ascomycetes, most of them mycoparasites, characterized by the production of usually ostiolate, translucent ascomata, unitunicate asci, and unicellular, pigmented ascospores with germ pores or germ slits. The most studied taxa are Melanospora and Sphaerodes, but the boundaries with other morphologically closely related genera are not well resolved. In this study, the taxonomy of Melanospora and related taxa have been re-evaluated based on the analysis of nuclear rDNA, actin and elongation factor genes sequences of fresh isolates and numerous type and reference strains. The genus Melanospora has been restricted to species with ostiolate ascoma whose neck is composed of intermixed hyphae, and with a phialidic asexual morph. Microthecium has been re-established for species of Melanospora and Sphaerodes without a typical ascomatal neck or, if present, being short and composed of angular cells similar to those of the ascomatal wall, and usually producing bulbils. Three new genera have been proposed: Dactylidispora, possessing ascospores with a raised rim surrounding both terminal germ pores; Echinusitheca, with densely setose, dark ascomata; and Pseudomicrothecium, characterized by ascospores with indistinct germ pores. Dichotomous keys to identify the accepted genera of the Melanosporales, and keys to discriminate among the species of Melanospora and Microthecium, as well as a brief description of the accepted species of both genera, are also provided

Natural co‐infection of divergent hepatitis B and C virus homologues in carnivores

In humans, co-infection of hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) is common and aggravates disease outcome. Infection-mediated disease aggravation is poorly understood, partly due to lack of suitable animal models. Carnivores are understudied for hepatitis virus homologues. We investigated Mexican carnivores (ringtails, Bassariscus astutus) for HBV and HCV homologues. Three out of eight animals were infected with a divergent HBV termed ringtail HBV (RtHBV) at high viral loads of 5 x 10(9) -1.4 x 10(10) copies/ml serum. Two of the RtHBV-infected animals were co-infected with a divergent hepacivirus termed ringtail hepacivirus (RtHV) at 4 x 10(6)-7.5 x 10(7) copies/ml in strain-specific qRT-PCR assays. Immunofluorescence assays relying on HBV core and RtHV NS3/4a proteins indicated that none of the animals had detectable hepadnavirus core-specific antibodies, whereas one RtHV-infected animal had concomitant RtHV-specific antibodies at 1:800 end-point titre. RtHBV and RtHV complete genomes showed typical HBV and HCV structure and length. All RtHBV genomes were identical, whereas RtHV genomes showed four amino acid substitutions located predominantly in the E1/E2-encoding genomic regions. Both RtHBV (>28% genomic nucleotide sequence distance) and RtHV (>30% partial NS3/NS5B amino acid sequence distance) formed new species within their virus families. Evolutionary analyses showed that RtHBV grouped with HBV homologues from different laurasiatherian hosts (carnivores, bats, and ungulates), whereas RtHV grouped predominantly with rodent-borne viruses. Ancestral state reconstructions showed that RtHV, but not RtHBV, likely emerged via a non-recent host switch involving rodent-borne hepacivirus ancestors. Conserved hepatitis virus infection patterns in naturally infected ringtails indicate that carnivores may be promising animal models to understand HBV/HCV co-infection