Faceted anomalous scaling in the epitaxial growth of semiconductor films

We apply the generic dynamical scaling theory (GDST) to the surfaces of CdTe polycrystalline films grown in glass substrates. The analysed data were obtained with a stylus profiler with an estimated resolution lateral resolution of $l_c=0.3 \mu$m. Both real two-point correlation function and power spectrum analyses were done. We found that the GDST applied to the surface power spectra foresees faceted morphology in contrast with the self-affine surface indicated by the local roughness exponent found via the height-height correlation function. This inconsistency is explained in terms of convolution effects resulting from the finite size of the probe tip used to scan the surfaces. High resolution AFM images corroborates the predictions of GDST.Comment: to appear in Europhysics Letter

Uso do método de EBERHART e RUSSELL como informação a priori para aplicação de redes neurais artificiais e análise discriminante visando a classificação de genótipos de alfafa quanto à adaptabilidade e estabilidade fenotípica.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar os resultados obtidos pela metodologia de Eberhart e Russell (1966) com a Análise Discriminante e o treinamento de uma rede neural artificial para análise da adaptabilidade e estabilidade fenotípica de genótipos de alfafa (Medicago sativa). Foram utilizados dados provenientes de um experimento sobre produção de matéria seca de 92 genótipos de alfafa realizado no delineamento em blocos casualizados, com duas repetições. Os genótipos foram submetidos a 20 cortes, no período de novembro de 2004 a junho de 2006. Cada corte foi considerado um ambiente. Diante dos resultados apresentados, verifica-se que a rede neural artificial apresentou índices de concordância mais elevados do que a Análise Discriminante com relação aos resultados obtidos pela metodologia de Eberhart e Russell (1966)

Does Big Data Require Complex Systems? A Performance Comparison Between Spark and Unicage Shell Scripts

The paradigm of big data is characterized by the need to collect and process data sets of great volume, arriving at the systems with great velocity, in a variety of formats. Spark is a widely used big data processing system that can be integrated with Hadoop to provide powerful abstractions to developers, such as distributed storage through HDFS and resource management through YARN. When all the required configurations are made, Spark can also provide quality attributes, such as scalability, fault tolerance, and security. However, all of these benefits come at the cost of complexity, with high memory requirements, and additional latency in processing. An alternative approach is to use a lean software stack, like Unicage, that delegates most control back to the developer. In this work we evaluated the performance of big data processing with Spark versus Unicage, in a cluster environment hosted in the IBM Cloud. Two sets of experiments were performed: batch processing of unstructured data sets, and query processing of structured data sets. The input data sets were of significant size, ranging from 64 GB to 8192 GB in volume. The results show that the performance of Unicage scripts is superior to Spark for search workloads like grep and select, but that the abstractions of distributed storage and resource management from the Hadoop stack enable Spark to execute workloads with inter-record dependencies, such as sort and join, with correct outputs.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure

The impact of social risk in a paediatric department

Introdução: Os maus tratos a crianças correspondem a qualquer acção ou omissão não acidental, que ameace a sua segurança, dignidade e correcto desenvolvimento biopsicossocial. Pretendeu-se avaliar o seu impacto no internamento de Pediatria. Metodologia: Estudo retrospectivo dos doentes internados no Serviço de Pediatria de um hospital terciário entre 1/10/10 e 30/09/11, sinalizados ao Núcleo Hospitalar de Apoio a Crianças e Jovens em Risco (NHACJR). Foi considerada alta clínica o momento em que o doente já não apresentava critérios clínicos para o internamento. Na avaliação do impacto económico foi considerado o valor do custo diário de assistência hospitalar (85,00€) referido no DR 1ªsérie, de Janeiro de 2009. Resultados: Num total de 1052 internamentos, foi solicitada avaliação ao NHACJR em 4,1% (43) dos episódios. Os lactentes representaram 53,5% das sinalizações. O desemprego verificou-se em 66% dos pais e 37,2% destes tinham completadoo 3º ciclo de ensino básico. O modelo de família nuclear foi identificado em 37,2% dos casos. A presença de indicadores de risco social sem evidência aparente de maus tratos ocorreu em 48,8%. A negligência foi identificada em 39,5% das crianças, seguida dos maus tratos físicos com 6,9%. Quatro internamentos foram por motivos exclusivamente sociais, com um tempo médio de internamento de 10,5 dias. Dez crianças com critérios clínicos de internamento vieram a ter adiamento da alta hospitalar por motivos sociais, com um prolongamento médio do tempo de internamento de 33,2 dias. Neste grupo de catorze casos ocorreram seis infecções nosocomiais, um traumatismo crânio-encefálico e o custo adicional estimado de assistência hospitalar foi de 31.790,00€. Comentários: O impacto das razões sociais no internamento em Pediatria não é negligenciável quer do ponto de vista clínico quer económico. Uma reflexão multidisciplinar sobre a necessidade de maior apoio social na comunidade revela-se necessária, tendo por base os direitos da criança hospitalizada e o contexto socioeconómico actual

Viral, host and environmental factors that favor anthropozoonotic spillover of coronaviruses: An opinionated review, focusing on SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2

Environmental factors play a key role in the zoonotic transmission of emerging pathogenic viruses as mankind is constantly disturbing wildlife's ecosystems usually by cutting down forests to build human settlements or by catching wild animals for food, which deprives the viruses of their natural hosts and gives them opportunity to infect humans. In December 2019, a new coronavirus emerged from bats and was named SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses, and the disease it causes named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization. Disease outbreaks such as SARS in 2002–2003, MERS in 2012 and the current COVID-19 pandemic are the result of higher mutation rates of coronaviruses and their unique capacity for genetic recombination, resulting in adaptations that make them more suitable to cross the species barriers and infect other species. This ability for host switching and interspecies infection is often attributed to the great diversity of these viruses, which is a result of viral and host factors such as the low fidelity of their RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, the high frequency of their homologous RNA recombination, and the adaptation of the S protein to bind host receptors like the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in the case of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DDP4) in MERS-CoV. This review presents an overview of the zoonotic transmission of SARS, MERS and COVID-19, focusing on the viral, host and environmental factors that favor the spillover of these viruses into humans, as well as the biological and ecological factors that make bats the perfect animal reservoir of infection for these viruses.This work was financially supported by the RESEARCH4COVID program under the projects SARSBLOODsafe (ref 021), Cdots Biosensing COVID19 (ref 041) and fta4COVID19 (ref 598) funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT); Priscilla Gomes da Silva thanks FCT for the financial support of her PhD work contract through the DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19 program

Superação de dormência em sementes de tucumã.

Resumos do 16º Congresso Brasileiro de Sementes

Selection index as a priori information for using artificial neural networks to classify alfalfa genotypes.

The efficiency of a selection index generally depends on the quality of the variance matrixes, which demands controlled experiments. Using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) trained from a selection index is advantageous for selecting genotypes since an ANN has the capacity to classify genotypes in an automated way. We propose the use of ANNs for the selection of alfalfa genotypes, based on a selection index. Data were collected from 77 alfalfa genotypes evaluated based on nine traits from four cuttings. The traits were divided into forage yield and nutritive value groups. In order for the ANNs to learn the classification pattern, the Tai index was used, which allows secondary traits to be included in the index to improve the gains of the main traits. An index was established for each group of traits, and based on the index scores the genotypes were subdivided into four classes (optimal, good, medium, and bad). After testing different topologies, ANNs were established for each index, according to the apparent error rates. The chosen ANNs were efficient in classifying the genotypes since the highest apparent error rate reached 15%, meaning that the ANNs efficiently captured the data pattern. Considering the ANN classification for both groups of traits, there was a high degree of agreement with the classification obtained from the Tai index, as expected. Even in the cuttings where the ANNs presented the worst performance, their potential to classify alfalfa genotypes was clear, because the wrong classifications were placed in groups close to the correct ones. This ensured that the best genotypes did not run the risk of being discarded, since they would not classified in the group of bad genotypes. The ANNs that were developed have good potential for use in alfalfa breeding programs.On-line First

Doação e transplantes de órgãos: Contribuições dos profissionais sobre o trabalho interprofissional nos programas

Objective: This study aimed to identify the contributions for improvement in the interprofessional working relationship pointed out by professionals involved in organ and tissue procurement and transplantation programs. Method: exploratory study with a quantiqualitative approach conducted over a period of 21 months, with the participation of health professionals invited to complete an online questionnaire on the Google form platform. After collection, the quantitative data were organized and analyzed descriptively, and the qualitative data were categorized and submitted to content analysis. Results: 130 health professionals participated in the study, 84% were female, of which 64% said they were white, between 41-59 years old, and 31% had worked for more than 15 years in the programs. The categories identified were: working conditions; appreciation of non-medical professionals; psychological support to professionals and funding for training of professionals pointed out as improvements in the work relationship in the programs. Conclusion: the study identified that working conditions and greater valorization of the interprofessional team allied to offering psychological support to professionals are necessary and important strategies, and may bring impacts on the satisfaction of professionals, on mental health, in addition to improvements in work processes, impacting transplantation rates.Objetivo: Com este estudo, objetivou-se identificar as contribuições de melhoria na relação de trabalho interprofissional apontadas por profissionais envolvidos nos programas de procura e de transplantação de órgãos e tecidos. Método: estudo exploratório com abordagem quanti-qualitativo realizado no período de 21 meses, com a participação de profissionais da área da saúde convidados a preencher um questionário online da plataforma de formulários do Google. Após a coleta, organizaram-se os dados quantitativos, analisando-os de maneira descritiva e, em categorias, os dados qualitativos, submetendo-os à análise de conteúdo. Resultados:participaram do estudo 130 profissionais de saúde, sendo 84% do gênero feminino, dos quais 64% se declararam de cor de pele branca; de faixa etária entre 41–59 anos, sendo que (31%) trabalhavam há mais de quinze anos nos programas. As categorias identificadas foram: condições de trabalho; valorização dos profissionais não médicos; suporte psicológico e financiamento para capacitação dos profissionais apontadas como melhorias na relação de trabalho nos programas. Conclusão: o estudo possibilitou identificar que na relação de trabalho as condições laborais e maior valorização da equipe interprofissional aliadas ao oferecimento de suporte psicológico aos profissionais são estratégias necessárias, podendo trazer impactos na satisfação dos profissionais, na saúde mental, além de melhorias nos processos de trabalho, impactando as taxas de transplantes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio