The lessons learned from the unique characteristics of small technology-based firms.

The aim of this study is to identify how characteristics of small technology-based firms (STBFs), their unique combination of internal capabilities, structure, and processes, influence strategy formulation. Based on qualitative research using multiple case studies supported by semi-structured interviews, the study’s main results indicate the founder’s technical expertise shapes the business, mission, and vision. Lack of resources allows limited activities in strategy formulation with few matching capabilities analyses or benchmarking studies. STBFs favor competitive analysis almost exclusively in developing a market positioning strategy without regard for other methods

Abrupt field-induced transition triggered by magnetocaloric effect in phase-separated manganites

The occurrence at low temperatures of an ultrasharp field-induced transition in phase separated manganites is analyzed. Experimental results show that magnetization and specific heat step-like transitions below 5 K are correlated with an abrupt change of the sample temperature, which happens at a certain critical field. This temperature rise, a magnetocaloric effect, is interpreted as produced by the released energy at the transition point, and is the key to understand the existence of the abrupt field-induced transition. A qualitative analysis of the results suggests the existence of a critical growing rate of the ferromagnetic phase, beyond which an avalanche effect is triggered.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures included. Acepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

EP20.01: Twin pregnancy birth in a new non-tertiary hospital

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Base de dados geográficos do "Corredor de Nacala", Moçambique.

The demand for agricultural products has been increasing in all countries in the last decades. Together with the decrease in natural resources and the possible impacts to agriculture caused by climatic changes, this aspect has aroused concerns in terms of the development of new global agricultural frontiers. In this context, some regions in Africa have been drawing attention from the world due to their edaphoclimatic conditions, which are favorable for agricultural development. The vision of a modern and dynamic agriculture must be based on the capacity of applying appropriate knowledge and technologies to the environment, as well as to the country´s economic and social situation. Such condition demands the installment of an efficient agricultural innovation system composed by a technical and operational structure which is able to support the agricultural industry along all its stages. Thus, this article aims at presenting some contributions to the formatting of a geographic database of natural resources for the Nacala Corridor, Mozambique. Geotechnology instruments were used for planning, generating and maintaining the accomplished database's data and information. This database will subsidize the integrated management of the region's geographic space from spatial information about landscape, soil, climate, land use, and land cover, thus subsidizing the management of the natural resources and of Mozambique's agricultural sustainability as well

Intra and inter-rater reliability study of pelvic floor muscle dynamometric measurements

The aim of this study was to evaluate the intra and inter-rater reliability of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) dynamometric measurements for maximum and average strengths, as well as endurance. A convenience sample of 18 nulliparous women, without any urogynecological complaints, aged between 19 and 31 (mean age of 25.4±3.9) participated in this study. They were evaluated using a pelvic floor dynamometer based on load cell technology. The dynamometric evaluations were repeated in three successive sessions: two on the same day with a rest period of 30 minutes between them, and the third on the following day. All participants were evaluated twice in each session; first by examiner 1 followed by examiner 2. The vaginal dynamometry data were analyzed using three parameters: maximum strength, average strength, and endurance. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was applied to estimate the PFM dynamometric measurement reliability, considering a good level as being above 0.75. The intra and inter-raters' analyses showed good reliability for maximum strength (ICCintra-rater1=0.96, ICCintra-rater2=0.95, and ICCinter-rater=0.96), average strength (ICCintra-rater1=0.96, ICCintra-rater2=0.94, and ICCinter-rater=0.97), and endurance (ICCintra-rater1=0.88, ICCintra-rater2=0.86, and ICCinter-rater=0.92) dynamometric measurements. The PFM dynamometric measurements showed good intra- and inter-rater reliability for maximum strength, average strength and endurance, which demonstrates that this is a reliable device that can be used in clinical practice.1929710

Uso da banda termal do satélite LANDSAT-5 e técnicas de geoestatística na estimativa da degradação da Atrazina no solo da Área de Proteção Ambiental de Tejupá.

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a empregabilidade da banda termal do Landsat-5 e técnicas de geoestatística, para obtenção das estimativas da taxa de degradação da Atrazina na superfície do solo

Number, maps and facts: Agriculture leads environmental preservation.

This paper presents the role of Brazilian agriculture in the preservation of native vegetation and palustrine and lacustrine ecosystems. After the approval of the New Brazilian Forest Code, farmers are required to register their rural property in the Rural Environmental Registry. By April 30, 2017, more than four million farmers were included, an area of approximately 408 million hectares. The collected data add up to hundreds of millions of polygons, requiring a computational effort and geoprocessing techniques to treat the data and turn it into information. The results indicate that the area reserved to vegetation preservation by farmers represents 20.5% of Brazilian territory, thus demonstrating the importance of the agriculture in environmental preservation

Molecular profiling, including TERT promoter mutations, of acral lentiginous melanomas

Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is the less common subtype with singular characterization. TERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) promoter mutations have being described as recurrent in melanomas and infrequent in ALM, but their real incidence and clinical relevance is unclear. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of TERT promoter mutations in ALM, and correlate with the molecular profile of other drive genes and clinical features. Sixty-one samples from 48 patients with ALM were analyzed. After DNA isolation, the mutation profiles of the hotspot region of BRAF, NRAS, KIT, PDGFRA, and TERT genes were determined by PCR amplification followed by direct Sanger sequencing. KIT, PDGFRA, and VEGFR2 gene amplification was performed by quantitative PCR. Clinical information such as survival, clinical stage, and Breslow tumor classification were obtained from medical records. TERT promoter mutations were found in 9.3% of the cases, BRAF in 10.3%, NRAS in 7.5%, KIT in 20.7%, and PDGFRA in 14.8% of ALM. None of the cases showed KIT, PDGFRA, or VEGFR2 gene amplification. We found an association between KIT mutations and advanced Clark level (IV and V, P=0.043) and TERT promoter mutations with low mitotic index. No other significant associations were observed between mutation profile and patients' clinical features nor survival rates. Oncogenic TERT promoter mutations are present in a fraction of ALMs. No relevant associations were found between TERT mutation status and clinical/molecular features nor survival. Mutations of KIT and PDGFRA are the most common genetic alterations, and they can be therapeutic targets for these patients.This project was supported by FAPESP - Brazil (2012/4194-1) to Vinicius de Lima Vazquez.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gathering spatial data on social vulnerability in Brazil.

The Brazilian Ministry of Agricultural and Social Development coordinates several public policies aimed at minimizing social vulnerabilities by means of several programs. These programs' databases are broadcasted to dedicated teams that manage their data using spreadsheets. The need for an integrated view on the territorial coverage of these data motivated a partnership with Embrapa. This paper aims to present the main results of the quantitative, qualitative and cartographic analyses on this data. The resulting geographic data are available in a web platform that may be used in the decision-making process for the expansion or reorganization of governmental social programs