An Analysis of Car Ownership in Latin American Cities: a Perspective for Future Research

Car dependence must be avoided to achieve sustainable transportation; the diversity of studies available give a better perspective of the situation and how to tackle it. The reasons behind the increasing car use are still unknown in some regions such as Latin America. The gaps in the current literature are not just for location; some topics and methods are also unnecessarily predominant in the related studies. This research does a review of current literature for mobility in Latin America region with a special focus on car dependence. The aim is to detect gaps on the knowledge to further give recommendations on what should be studied. The results show the lack of numerical approaches to solidly taken case studies, especially in some countries of the region such as Central America and some of the states of South America. Disaggregate car ownership models are highly necessary for clarification of the region’s behavioral aspects of car ownership such as personal and household preferences and lifestyles

Longitudinal correlations of car ownership with socio-economics, urban form, and transport infrastructure in Latin America: Example from Ensenada, Mexico

Car-orientated modal splits represent problems for the city in economic, environmental and social terms. The implementation of policies and other measures can fail if the causes are not well recognized. Mid-sized cities in Mexico are not well-represented in studies where only the capital and other bigger cities are studied. This research aims to recognize those causes focusing on northern mid-sized cities in Mexico. The approach involves numerical work (linear regression) complemented with a descriptive analysis of the city. The analysis takes on such areas of consideration as socio-economic factors, land-use variables and the street network of the city. Of the 16 variables, almost all presented a relationship with car ownership levels, but not all behaved as expected. The final part of the research is a reaction to the previous studies and recommendations to change the city from car-orientated to one with a sustainable modal split

Why you shouldn't start beta-blockers before surgery

A new meta-analysis finds that initiating beta-blockers before surgery increases patiens' risk of death. Practice changer: Do not routinely initiate beta-blockers in patients undergoing intermediate- or high-risk noncardiac surgery. Beta-blockers appear to increase the 30-day risk of all-cause mortality

System for Identifying Pests and Diseases in Soybean Crop through Natural Language Processing

The presence of technologies in the agronomic field has the purpose of proposing the best solutions to the challenges found in agriculture, especially to the problems that affect cultivars. One of the obstacles found is to apply the use of your own language in applications that interact with the user in Brazilian Agribusiness. Therefore, this work uses Natural Language Processing techniques for the development of an automatic and effective computer system to interact with the user and assist in the identification of pests and diseases in soybean crop, stored in a non-relational database repository to provide accurate diagnostics to simplify the work of the farmer and the agricultural stakeholders who deal with a lot of information. In order to build dialogues and provide rich consultations, from agriculture manuals, a data structure with 108 pests and diseases with their information on the soybean cultivar and through the spaCy tool, it was possible to pre-process the texts, recognize the entities and support the requirements for the development of the conversacional system

Death ideation in cancer patients: contributing factors

Advances in cancer research and therapy have improved prognosis and the quality of life of many patients. However, previous epidemiological studies in oncologic patients have shown an increased risk of suicide. Suicidal thoughts, relatively well known in those terminally ill, may be just as important for cancer patients who are survivors or are living with the disease. Nonetheless, there is a relative paucity of data about suicidality in this setting. The authors conducted a prospective observational study to identify death thoughts and to explore the factors associated with suicidal ideation in cancer patients. A sample of 130 patients referred for psychiatric consultation was obtained following informed consent and authorization from the local ethics committee. A semistructured interview assessed sociodemographic data, psychosocial support, and information regarding the cancer process and its treatment. Psychometric instruments were used to evaluate psychopathology, namely the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained through the application of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Death ideation was identified in 34.6% of patients, yet only 10% had active suicidal thoughts. Risk of suicide was associated with female gender, a psychiatric diagnosis (major depressive disorder, panic disorder, or dysthymia), difficult interpersonal relationships, associated pain, high hopelessness, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Although suicidal thoughts are frequent in cancer patients at different stages of disease, most are transitory. Risk factors for suicidal ideation have been identified, such as depression, hopelessness, uncontrolled pain, and difficult interpersonal relationships. Further assessment is necessary to identify those at higher risk of attempting suicide, and underlying psychiatric disorders should be vigorously treated

Caracterização da actividade apícola no município de Vila Velha de Ródão

O conhecimento dos recursos existentes numa determinada região permite definir objectivos e implementar estratégias com vista à melhoria da qualidade de vida das respectivas populações. A valorização desses recursos possibilitará a dinamização da economia e o desenvolvimento sustentável dos mesmos. Este é um tema que tem merecido, nos últimos anos, a atenção das comunidades locais e regionais de algumas regiões do país. Reveste-se pois de extrema importância a definição e a operacionalização de políticas de desenvolvimento rural que contribuam, de forma eficaz, para uma inversão da tendência de diminuição demográfica que se tem vindo a observar nessas regiões. Contudo, existe um conjunto de aspectos espaciais e sociais que caracterizam o meio rural e lhe conferem uma identidade própria, específica e diferenciada, distinta da realidade urbana. É urgente valorizar os recursos locais, promovendo o desenvolvimento e a comunidade rural (Thirion e Cavaco, 2003). Desde os tempos mais remotos que se tem assistido a uma forte relação do homem com as abelhas. A agricultura desempenhou, através dos tempos, uma importância crucial para o nosso país. Contudo, actualmente, é uma actividade em contínuo declínio, resultado em grande parte das políticas agrícolas implementadas e do êxodo das populações rurais para meios urbanos. Actualmente, ao contrário do que se assistiu noutros tempos, a terra e a agricultura assumem, muitas vezes, uma função de complementaridade de outras actividades numa perspectiva de pluriactividade. Esta situação, além de contribuir directa e/ou indirectamente para a economia familiar, reveste-se também de uma função de previdência, pois constitui um recurso “seguro” contra a aleatoriedade dos ciclos/vínculos profissionais, cada vez mais precários e incertos. A prática apícola constitui uma das múltiplas actividades que podem originar outras fontes de rendimento complementar ou alternativo. O Município de Vila Velha de Ródão, região sobre a qual o estudo incidiu, apresenta boas condições edafo-climáticas para a prática apícola, apresentando uma floração sucessiva e diversificada, promovendo uma riqueza da flora melífera na região. Por outro lado, a actividade apícola apresenta inúmeros benefícios indirectos associados à produção agrícola. Será impensável equacionar a competitividade da nossa agricultura sem a presença de uma actividade apícola que a suporte (GPP, 2007). Todavia, o maior valor que as abelhas acrescentam no ambiente consiste no inquestionável auxílio à polinização, na manutenção dos ecossistemas terrestres, no equilíbrio ecológico da flora e na preservação da biodiversidade (GPP, 2007; Murilhas, 2008). O ordenamento do espaço físico constitui um instrumento necessário para que várias entidades, particularmente as municipais, o utilizem correctamente contribuindo com orientações compatíveis e congruentes ao nível da gestão territorial, para um aproveitamento integrado e economicamente sustentável do espaço rural (Carvalho et al., 2006; GPP, 2007). No decurso deste trabalho foi efectuado um levantamento da flora apícola mais importante no concelho de Vila Velha de Ródão e elaboradas fichas técnicas para servir de ferramenta de apoio aos apicultores e à comunidade em geral. Procedeu-se, ainda, à identificação e referenciação geográfica dos apiários existentes no concelho de Vila Velha de Ródão, geograficamente inserido na zona controlada e sob gestão da Associação de Apicultores do Parque Natural do Tejo Internacional. Com este trabalho é promovida a possibilidade de cruzamento de informações e a melhoria na cartografia, utilizando os dados recolhidos através das análises de mel produzido e/ou de possíveis patologias que possam ocorrer nos apiários. Em síntese, pretende-se identificar as potencialidades deste território nacional ao nível da prática apícola, a fim de dinamizar o sector e fomentar um aproveitamento integrado do espaço rural

Does d-cycloserine facilitate the effects of homework compliance on social anxiety symptom reduction?

BACKGROUND: Prior studies examining the effect of d-cycloserine (DCS) on homework compliance and outcome in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) have yielded mixed results. The aim of this study was to investigate whether DCS facilitates the effects of homework compliance on symptom reduction in a large-scale study for social anxiety disorder (SAD). METHODS: 169 participants with generalized SAD received DCS or pill placebo during 12-session exposure-based group CBT. Improvements in social anxiety were assessed by independent raters at each session using the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS). RESULTS: Controlling for LSAS at the previous session, and irrespective of treatment condition, greater homework compliance in the week prior related to lower LSAS at the next session. However, DCS did not moderate the effect of homework compliance and LSAS, LSAS on homework compliance, or the overall augmenting effect of DCS on homework compliance. Furthermore, LSAS levels were not predictive of homework compliance in the following week. CONCLUSION: The findings support the general benefits of homework compliance on outcome, but not a DCS-augmenting effect. The comparably small number of DCS-enhanced sessions in this study could be one reason for the failure to find a facilitating effect of DCS

Methodology for hand-tool vibration analysis using bond graph

This paper presents an efficient and easy methodology for modeling the vibrational behavior of common portable tools using as example a hand-driller. The work described in this paper uses a Hand-Tool model previously developed by the authors and couples it with different Hand-Arm-System (HAS) in order to evaluate which one reproduces the most realistic vibrational behavior. Although proposed for hand-tools, it can be extended for any kind of tool that produces vibration during its operation. This methodology summarizes different techniques in order to analyze the vibrational system. The different components of the hand-driller are represented as lumped masses and the connections between them with a spring and a damper. The elastic constant for the structural elements are determined by FEA using SolidWorks simulations, while the damping constant values used are the recommended by the software 20-sim for structural damping. Once the model is developed, it will be shown how the corresponding Bond-Graph diagram can be obtained and how it helps in obtaining the equations that describe the model. The software 20-sim is used to simulate the developed Bond-Graph model and to determine the Hand-Arm system vibrational response for a specific excitation force