Fisher matrix forecasts for astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant

We use Fisher Matrix analysis techniques to forecast the cosmological impact of astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant to be carried out by the forthcoming ESPRESSO spectrograph at the VLT (due for commissioning in late 2017), as well by the planned high-resolution spectrograph (currently in Phase A) for the European Extremely Large Telescope. Assuming a fiducial model without $\alpha$ variations, we show that ESPRESSO can improve current bounds on the E\"{o}tv\"{o}s parameter---which quantifies Weak Equivalence Principle violations---by up to two orders of magnitude, leading to stronger bounds than those expected from the ongoing tests with the MICROSCOPE satellite, while constraints from the E-ELT should be competitive with those of the proposed STEP satellite. Should an $\alpha$ variation be detected, these measurements will further constrain cosmological parameters, being particularly sensitive to the dynamics of dark energy.Comment: Phys. Lett. B (in press

The Role of Emotional Intelligence Factors in Workers’ Occupational Health and Safety Performance — A Case Study of the Petroleum Industry

Introduction: Despite improvements in occupational health and safety due to technological advancements and the adoption of management systems, accidents continue to occur in the oil and gas (O&G) industry. These accidents are often linked to human factors. The emotional intelligence (EI) of workers, however, has the potential to influence some of the human factors that predispose to accidents. Methods: In this study, we investigated how the EI factors of workers influence their health and safety performance in the work place. A total of 124 O&G industry workers completed a web-based questionnaire. Five and 14 key success factors of EI and effective occupational health and safety management systems were respectively identified through a systematic evaluation of the literature. Results: EI success factors of ‘being able to rule one’s own emotions to facilitate thinking’, ‘being able to deal with the emotions of others’ and ‘being able to discuss one’s own emotions accurately’ were found to have a relationship with health and safety performance of workers. Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that certain success factors of EI are vital for improving the health and safety performance of workers and that the development of these competencies should be part of the workers’ professional development. View Full-Tex

Important role of alkali atoms in A4C60

We show that hopping via the alkali atoms plays an important role for the t1u band of A4C60 (A=K, Rb), in strong contrast to A3C60. Thus the t1u band is broadened by more than 40 % by the presence of the alkali atoms. The difference between A4C60 and A3C60 is in particular due to the less symmetric location of the alkali atoms in A4C60.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B more information at http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/dokumente/andersen/fullerene

Dinâmica comparada da substituição das pastagens cultivadas e de sua densidade econômica no arco norte da pecuarização do Brasil.

Avalia comparativamente indicadores de substituição das pastagens cultivadas na Região Amazônica mais sujeitas à reconversão de áreas para pastos (Estados do Acre, Rondônia, Pará e Mato Grosso) com a evolução dos indicadores de sua respectiva densidade econômica, por tamanho de estabelecimento rural. A metodologia utilizada implica a utilização combinada de duas fronteiras, analisadas graficamente: a) uma fronteira da substituição de áreas (de pastagens cultivadas por outros usos do solo) e; b) uma segunda fronteira, que é a variação de relativos da densidade-valor da pecuária, em relação à Área Total Recenseada (ATR). Os resultados não se mostraram uniformes, havendo um ponto em comum para os Estados de Rondônia e Mato Grosso (curva da densidade-valor acima da curva de substituição para os estabelecimentos pequenos a médios), bem como para os Estados do Acre e do Pará, que revelaram uma tendência de a fronteira da densidade-valor se localizar sistematicamente abaixo da fronteira de substituição de áreas. Em termos gerais, pode-se afirmar que, para o espectro relevante da estrutura da produção da pecuária (grandes estabelecimentos), a fronteira da densidade-valor mostrou-se abaixo da fronteira da substituição de áreas. Levando-se em conta os resultados de levantamentos econômicos recentes levados a efeito por alguns autores, que mostram uma rentabilidade bastante favorável das atividades pecuárias na Região Amazônica, os resultados do presente trabalho parecem indicar que os movimentos alocativos mais que proporcionais da área das pastagens cultivadas em relação à densidade-valor, verificados até meados da década de 90 apresentam objetivos múltiplos, que vão além da produção pecuária em si mesma (abertura de áreas para consolidação da própria atividade pecuária, conversão para lavouras, consolidação de ativos patrimoniais, envolvendo a expulsão de populações nativas, etc

A Bright Spatially-Coherent Compact X-ray Synchrotron Source

Each successive generation of x-ray machines has opened up new frontiers in science, such as the first radiographs and the determination of the structure of DNA. State-of-the-art x-ray sources can now produce coherent high brightness keV x-rays and promise a new revolution in imaging complex systems on nanometre and femtosecond scales. Despite the demand, only a few dedicated synchrotron facilities exist worldwide, partially due the size and cost of conventional (accelerator) technology. Here we demonstrate the use of a recently developed compact laser-plasma accelerator to produce a well-collimated, spatially-coherent, intrinsically ultrafast source of hard x-rays. This method reduces the size of the synchrotron source from the tens of metres to centimetre scale, accelerating and wiggling a high electron charge simultaneously. This leads to a narrow-energy spread electron beam and x-ray source that is >1000 times brighter than previously reported plasma wiggler and thus has the potential to facilitate a myriad of uses across the whole spectrum of light-source applications.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Avaliação de minerais em plantas medicinais amazônicas.

Amazônia brasileira oferece um apreciável potencial de plantas com propriedades terapêuticas, embora a maioria seja pouco conhecida. Dessa forma, com o objetivo de verificar a potencialidade nutricional de ervas medicinais, determinou-se a concentração de Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu e Zn nas folhas e nos chás das espécies: Piper callosum Ruiz & Pav., Piperaceae, Mikania lindleyana DC., Asteraceae e Arrabidaea chica (Humb. & Bonpl.) B. Verl., Bignoniaceae. As amostras de plantas depois de terem sido processadas, foram submetidas a digestão e em seguida realizada as leituras dos metais em um espectrofotômetro de absorção atômica. Para o chá de Arrabidaea chica foram detectados teores de Ca (6955 a 20058 mg/L), Mg (2390 a 3094 mg/L) e Fe (40 a 61 mg/L). Para o chá de Mikania lindleyana além da presença de altos valores de Ca (17722 a 22336 mg/L), Mg (4531 a 9370 mg/L) e Fe (20 a 87 mg/L) foram encontrados de 7 a 16 mg/L de Cu e 9 a 41 mg/L de Zn. O chá do Piper callosum apresentou em média 2036 a 4344 mg/L de Ca, 618 a 4023 mg/L de Mg e 39 a 60 mg/L de Fe. Comparando-se os resultados dos minerais com os valores recomendados pela Organização Mundial da Saúde, conclui-se que os metais presentes nos chás das plantas poderiam contribuir na complementação das dietas alimentares das pessoas que as utilizam

On the design of co-extrusion dies for polymeric multilayer products

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the projects UIDB/05256/2020/UIDP/05256/2020 and TSSiPRO - Technologies for Sustainable and Smart Innovative Products (NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000015). The authors also acknowledge the support of the computational clusters Search-ON2 (NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000086) and Minho Advanced Computing Center (MACC). M.M. Martins would like to thank also the support of the University Centre - Catholic of Santa Catarina (Brazil)

The effect of macroeconomic instability on earnings management in developed versus emerging countries

This study analyzes the effect of macroeconomic instability on both accrual-based and real earnings management, explicitly examining how this relationship compares between developed and emerging countries. The empirical study relies on a worldwide sample of 92,501 firm-year observations from 38 countries. Based on several variables related to economic environment conditions, we construct a macroeconomic instability index for each analyzed country, which change over the years. Econometric models are estimated using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) approach, controlled for industry and year fixed effects. Our findings suggest that high levels of macroeconomic instability mitigate accrual-based earnings management in developed economies, whereas it encourages earnings manipulation by accruals in emerging ones. Findings also indicate a trade-off between accrual-based and real earnings management, but only in emerging countries. Overall, this study adds to the literature on the effect of economic environment on accounting quality and fills a gap in the previous literature focused on financial crises, by addressing macroeconomic instability for each year and country and broadening the discussion in different institutional contexts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio