Energy efficiency: what has research delivered in the last 40 years?

This article presents a critical assessment of 40 years of research that may be brought under the umbrella of energy efficiency, spanning different aggregations and domains-from individual producing and consuming agents to economy-wide effects to the role of innovation to the influence of policy. After 40 years of research, energy efficiency initiatives are generally perceived as highly effective. Innovation has contributed to lowering energy technology costs and increasing energy productivity. Energy efficiency programs in many cases have reduced energy use per unit of economic output and have been associated with net improvements in welfare, emission reductions, or both. Rebound effects at the macro level still warrant careful policy attention, as they may be nontrivial. Complexity of energy efficiency dynamics calls for further methodological and empirical advances, multidisciplinary approaches, and granular data at the service level for research in this field to be of greatest societal benefit

Cystic echinococcosis in southern Brazil Equinococose cística no sul do Brasil

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is very common in the southern part of Rio Grande do Sul State where sheep and cattle raising is the most important economical activity. Prevalence in intermediate hosts is well known due to reports in slaughterhouses while human reports are of discussed value. This is due to underreporting of cases and few epidemiological studies make it difficult to assess the situation of echinococcosis in the population. Whereas cattle infection rate is more or less stable around 12% of the slaughter animals, in sheep there has been an increasing number in the last five years. Some efforts have been done to control the zoonosis but no effective results were obtained so far. Probably educational efforts to change human practices (feeding dogs with raw viscera), periodic treatment of dogs with praziquantel and joined actions with slaughterhouses could bring more attention to improve some control measures.<br>A equinococose cística (CE) é muito comum na região sul do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, onde a criação de bovinos e ovinos representa a maior atividade econômica. A prevalência nos hospedeiros intermediários é bem conhecida devido aos registros em frigoríficos enquanto que os casos humanos apresentam dados discutíveis e de difícil interpretação. Isto é devido a subnotificação e os poucos estudos epidemiológicos tornam difícil a avaliação da equinococose na população. Enquanto que a prevalência em bovinos estabilizou ao redor de 12% de animais abatidos na última década, em ovelhas está ocorrendo um aumento nos últimos cinco anos. Algumas tentativas estão sendo feitas para controlar esta zoonose mas não tem sido obtidos resultados práticos até agora. Provavelmente ações educativas que alterem comportamentos humanos (alimentação de cães com vísceras cruas), tratamento periódico dos cães com praziquantel e ações junto a frigoríficos poderiam resultar em incremento nas medidas de controle devido às perdas econômicas mensuráveis

New data on Echinococcus spp. in Southern Brazil Novos dados sobre Echinococcus spp. no sul do Brasil

40 Echinococcus isolates from sheep and cattle in Southern Brazil were genetically analysed in order to obtain further data on the presence of different taxa of the Echinococcus granulosus complex. Differentiation was done using a PCR technique and sequencing of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1). Most samples (38) could be allocated to the sheep strain (G1) of E. granulosus, while two samples belonged to E. ortleppi, previously known as cattle strain (G5) of E. granulosus. Due to the shorter prepatent period in dogs of the latter taxon, this records have important implications for the design of control measures in this endemic region.<br>Quarenta isolados de Echinococcus provenientes de ovinos e bovinos do sul do Brasil foram analisados geneticamente com o objetivo de obter dados a respeito das diferentes cepas dentro do gênero Echinococcus granulosus. A diferenciação foi feita empregando-se a técnica de PCR a o seqüenciamento da subunidade 1 da citocromo c oxidase (CO1). A maior parte das amostras (38) pôde ser alocada na cepa ovina (G1) enquanto duas amostras pertenceram ao gênero E. ortleppi, anteriormente conhecido como cepa bovina (G5) do E. granulosus. Devido ao menor período pré-patente em cães deste último gênero ressalta-se a importância do presente registro devido às implicações no delineamento de medidas de controle nesta região endêmica

Spatial model fitting for large datasets with applications to climate and microarray problems

Many problems in the environmental and biological sciences involve the analysis of large quantities of data. Further, the data in these problems are often subject to various types of structure and, in particular, spatial dependence. Traditional model fitting often fails due to the size of the datasets since it is difficult to not only specify but also to compute with the full covariance matrix describing the spatial dependence. We propose a very general type of mixed model that has a random spatial component. Recognizing that spatial covariance matrices often exhibit a large number of zero or near-zero entries, covariance tapering is used to force near-zero entries to zero. Then, taking advantage of the sparse nature of such tapered covariance matrices, backfitting is used to estimate the fixed and random model parameters. The novelty of the paper is the combination of the two techniques, tapering and backfitting, to model and analyze spatial datasets several orders of magnitude larger than those datasets typically analyzed with conventional approaches. Results will be demonstrated with two datasets. The first consists of regional climate model output that is based on an experiment with two regional and two driver models arranged in a two-by-two layout. The second is microarray data used to build a profile of differentially expressed genes relating to cerebral vascular malformations, an important cause of hemorrhagic stroke and seizures

Infecção natural por Trypanosoma evansi em cavalos na região Central do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul Natural infection by Trypanosoma evansi in horses in the central area of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a causa de mortalidade em cavalos de uma propriedade na região central do Rio Grande do Sul. Amostras de sangue de nove animais foram analisadas utilizando-se a técnica do micro-hematócrito e colorações da capa flogística sendo detectada a presença de Trypanosoma evansi em três amostras. Os sinais clínicos apresentados pelos animais foram anemia, edema das partes ventrais do corpo e incoordenação dos membros posteriores. As técnicas empregadas são de fundamental importância na triagem parasitológica a fim de aumentar as chances de observação dos protozoários.<br>The objective of the research was to evaluate the mortality cause in horses on a farm in the central area of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Blood samples of nine animals were analysed using the microhematocrit technique and stain of buffy coast where in three samples the presence of Trypanosoma evansi was detected. The clinical signs presented by the animals were anemia, edema of the ventral parts of the body and incoordenation of the subsequent members. The techniques used are of fundamental importance in parasitologics selection samples to increase the chances of finding the protozoan