Investigation of alpha-nuclear potential families from elastic scattering experiments

In this work we present the continuation of the reported analysis [1] of the experimentally measured angular distributions of the reaction Cd-106(alpha, alpha)Cd-106 at several different energies around the Coulomb barrier. The difficulties that arise in the study of Cd-106-alpha-nuclear potential and the so called Family Problem are addressed

Patient Safety Culture in Portuguese Primary

Introduction: According to the European Commission more than 37 million Primary Healthcare (PHC) users suffer Adverse Events (AE). When we talk about these unintentional and undesirable events, most of the time we are dealing with acts committed by competent and dedicated professionals, who often work in disorganized systems, and who are not very oriented towards patient safety and health care professional safety. The adoption of a safety culture is a proven useful tool to make AE less likely to occur and to minimize its consequences when these inevitably take place. Methods: The authors describe some pertinent issues that have made the evaluation of AE and Patient Safety Culture (PSC) in Portuguese PHC particularly challenging and describe the preliminary results of a project for the assessment of PSC using the Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (MOSOPSC). This instrument has been translated, adapted and validated by the authors for the study population. Results: Studies about AE in PHC are scarce, but admittedly necessary. Despite the socio-economic instability experienced in Portugal, the preliminary results obtained by the authors promise a proactive PSC with dedicated health professionals, working as a team and recognizing the problem of adverse events in PHC of the Madeira Island. Discussion: The concepts and methodologies used in other studies cannot simply be applied to specific populations. On the Madeira Island (one autonomous region of Portugal), the issue of patient safety (PS) is difficult to approach but, nevertheless, with information and discussion it was possible to measure the PSC in PHC. Conclusion: After some adjustments, the MOSOPSC questionnaire, in addition to assessing safety culture, has helped to initiate the dialogue and discussion on the issue of PS among the various professionals. This approach has allowed these professionals to anticipate and prevent the occurrence of AE and, whenever such is not possible, notify, discuss, share and learn from those same events.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Supporting GUI exploration through USS tool

Advances in usability and design techniques (e.g. user-centered design) try to facilitate the use of interactive systems. However, users still have to adapt to interactive systems, i.e. they have to learn the steps required to accomplish a task either by trial and error or by obtaining help. While advanced users are usually able to adapt without much effort this is far from being the case with beginners. Some interactive systems offer different interaction styles in an attempt to meet the needs of all types of user but this is not the case with all interactive systems. In this sense, we present an approach to support the use of any interactive system making use of enriched models and picture-driven computing to achieve tasks automation. The USS tool (User Support System) is the basis to the adaptation of interactive systems accordingly to the users' needs. The approach provides the foundation for the addition of help (based on demonstration) to any graphical user interfaces (GUI) facilitating learning and use. The work is illustrated by a case study and completed with a preliminary user evaluation which provides insights about the validity of the approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How important is the Family? : Alpha nuclear potentials and p-process nucleosynthesis

Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike LicenceIn this work we present the results from the analysis of the experimentally measured angular distributions of the reaction 106Cd(α , α )106 Cd at several different energies around the Coulomb barrier. The difficulties that arise in the study of 106Cd-α -nuclear potential and the so called Family Problem are addressed in this work

The EXPLORE Project I: A Deep Search for Transiting Extrasolar Planets

(Abridged) We discuss the design considerations of the EXPLORE (EXtra-solar PLanet Occultation REsearch) project, a series of transiting planet searches using 4-m-class telescopes to continuously monitor a single field of stars in the Galactic Plane in each ~2 week observing campaign. We discuss the general factors which determine the efficiency and the number of planets found by a transit search, including time sampling strategy and field selection. The primary goal is to select the most promising planet candidates for radial velocity follow-up observations. We show that with very high photometric precision light curves that have frequent time sampling and at least two detected transits, it is possible to uniquely solve for the main parameters of the eclipsing system (including planet radius) based on several important assumptions about the central star. Together with a measured spectral type for the star, this unique solution for orbital parameters provides a powerful method for ruling out most contaminants to transiting planet candidates. For the EXPLORE project, radial velocity follow-up observations for companion mass determination of the best candidates are done on 8-m-class telescopes within two or three months of the photometric campaigns. This same-season follow-up is made possible by the use of efficient pipelines to produce high quality light curves within weeks of the observations. We conclude by presenting early results from our first search, EXPLORE I, in which we reached <1% rms photometric precision (measured over a full night) on ~37,000 stars to I <= 18.2.Comment: accepted by ApJ. Main points unchanged but more thorough discussion of some issues. 36 pages, including 14 figure

Effect of Phytosanitary Irradiation on the Quality of Two Varieties of Pummelos (\u3cem\u3eCitrus maxima\u3c/em\u3e (Burm.) Merr.)

Phytosanitary treatments prevent the introduction of pests such as fruit flies into pest free zones, and are often required for international trade. Irradiation is increasingly being considered as an alternative to cold and chemical phytosanitary treatments, such as methyl bromide. In this study, the effect of low dose gamma irradiation on the post-harvest quality of two varieties of pummelos (Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr.), an emerging crop of interest in the US was evaluated. Two varieties of pummelos grown in California were irradiated at the phytosanitary target dose of 150 Gy and a higher dose of 1000 Gy to exaggerate and hence confirm the effects of treatment. The fruit was stored at 12 °C for 3 weeks and at 20 °C for the 4th week to reflect three weeks of sea shipment at the ideal temperature for storage of pummelos and an additional week of retail under ambient conditions. Neither irradiation nor storage affected juice content, organic acids, sugars, peel or pulp color and consumer sensory preference, although numerous volatiles increased in concentration as a result of irradiation treatment. Irradiation caused an immediate reduction in whole fruit and pulp firmness in ‘Chandler’ but not ‘Sarawak’ pummelos at both 150 Gy and 1000 Gy. The quality of irradiated pummelos stored at refrigerated temperature for 3 weeks was similar to untreated pummelos, however, physical handling and exposure to higher temperature resulted in increased peel pitting of irradiated fruit compared to non-treated fruit. The results suggest that irradiation could serve as a potential phytosanitary treatment for Chandler and Sarawak pummelos, provided that the fruit is subjected to minimal handling and not temperature abused

O CIRCO HOJE: DO HIBRIDISMO À EMERGÊNCIA DE UMA DRAMATURGIA CONTEMPORÂNEA

Este artigo apresenta uma reflexão sobre a emergência de uma dramaturgia no circo contemporâneo com base nas discussões e estudos desenvolvidos por alguns especialistas franceses, como: Martine Maleval, Jean-Marc Lachaud e Jean Michel Guy. A partir dessas proposições, busca-se observar os fatores históricos e sociais que acarretaram rupturas com padrões estéticos vigentes tanto no teatro quanto no circo, implicando o surgimento de novas estéticas e a emergência de uma dramaturgia no circo contemporâneo. Para tanto, o artigo transita entre as noções de novo circo e circo contemporâneo, observando os processos híbridos entre o circo e demais artes (teatro, dança, música...) nas novas formas do fazer circense. Sendo assim, o estudo pressupõe uma dramaturgia circense que se estabelece em concepções inovadoras de espetáculos e que se constitui, de maneira concomitante, na integração das artes circenses com os materiais textuais e os elementos cênicos. Por fim, o artigo se propõe a apresentar, sobretudo, bases conceituais para o estudo da ocorrência de uma dramaturgia sui generis de circo, decorrente dessas criações híbridas que se estabelecem a partir da democratização dos saberes circenses, com a criação das escolas de circo nos anos 70 e 80