Growth patterns and scaling laws governing AIDS epidemic in Brazilian cities

Brazil holds approximately 1/3 of population living infected with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in Central and South Americas, and it was also the first developing country to implement a large-scale control and intervention program against AIDS epidemic. In this scenario, we investigate the temporal evolution and current status of the AIDS epidemic in Brazil. Specifically, we analyze records of annual absolute frequency of cases for more than 5000 cities for the first 33 years of the infection in Brazil. We found that (i) the annual absolute frequencies exhibit a logistic-type growth with an exponential regime in the first few years of the AIDS spreading; (ii) the actual reproduction number decaying as a power law; (iii) the distribution of the annual absolute frequencies among cities decays with a power law behavior; (iv) the annual absolute frequencies and the number of inhabitants have an allometric relationship; (v) the temporal evolution of the annual absolute frequencies have different profile depending on the average annual absolute frequencies in the cities. These findings yield a general quantitative description of the AIDS infection dynamics in Brazil since the beginning. They also provide clues about the effectiveness of treatment and control programs against the infection, that has had a different impact depending on the number of inhabitants of cities. In this framework, our results give insights into the overall dynamics of AIDS epidemic, which may contribute to select empirically accurate models.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Linear Theory of Electron-Plasma Waves at Arbitrary Collisionality

The dynamics of electron-plasma waves are described at arbitrary collisionality by considering the full Coulomb collision operator. The description is based on a Hermite-Laguerre decomposition of the velocity dependence of the electron distribution function. The damping rate, frequency, and eigenmode spectrum of electron-plasma waves are found as functions of the collision frequency and wavelength. A comparison is made between the collisionless Landau damping limit, the Lenard-Bernstein and Dougherty collision operators, and the electron-ion collision operator, finding large deviations in the damping rates and eigenmode spectra. A purely damped entropy mode, characteristic of a plasma where pitch-angle scattering effects are dominant with respect to collisionless effects, is shown to emerge numerically, and its dispersion relation is analytically derived. It is shown that such a mode is absent when simplified collision operators are used, and that like-particle collisions strongly influence the damping rate of the entropy mode.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on Journal of Plasma Physic

Optimization and validation of a new cytology stain – CytoPath line®

Cytology plays an important role in the screening and diagnosis of cervical cancer. The correct staining of cervical smear allows the recognition of essential characteristics for the diagnosis of some pathologies. However, given the existence of flaws in the current staining procedures, the development of new staining techniques as well as the optimization of the existing ones is important. Recently, a new staining line - the CytoPath line® is being developed by DiaPath S.p.A. The objective of this work is to evaluate its performance in the staining of gynecological cytology samples.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study on the perception of DIY in domotics in Portugal

The growth of the home automation market depends on technological innovations, rapid evolution of the Internet of Things and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solutions. This project analysed the perception about domotics related to DIY in Portugal, intending to understand if smart home technologies are used and valued, which factors motivate their acquisition, their purpose and the advantages perceived by users. A questionnaire was used to collect data, resulting in an exploratory study based on data from a convenience sample. The model to evaluate this study was based on the constructs based on Technology Acceptance Models - TAM. From the results obtained, it was concluded that the respondents have a positive perception about domotics and its usefulness faced with DIY on the technologies that make a smart home. Regarding the acquisition and installation of technologies associated with home automation on their own, the respondents are divided, as half consider that they can do it autonomously and the other half only with the intervention of specialists in home automation

Controle da produção leiteira e a demanda por sistemas computacionais simples.

A indústria de software agropecuário trabalha para colaborar com a administração de propriedades rurais procurando compatibilizar complexidade do controle de indicadores e produzir uma ferramenta que seja útil para produtores e técnicos. Esta busca é ajustada pela observação do tamanho do mercado usuário ou potencial usuário de software agropecuários. O artigo tem por objetivo apresentar a necessidade de oferta de ferramentas computacionais simples para o controle da produção de leite visando facilitar a gestão do negócio da pecuária leiteira. Para tanto, foi avaliada estratificação de produtores de leite combinados com dados de quem controla dados de suas propriedades e com reunião com especialistas em agroinformática ocorridas em 2008. Como resultado considerou-se que o uso de planilha eletrônica seria o recomendada na fase inicial de controles passando para programas/software mais detalhados à medida que o registro e uso dos dados como informação seja praticado.SBIAgro 2009

Microwave probes Dipole Blockade and van der Waals Forces in a Cold Rydberg Gas

We show that microwave spectroscopy of a dense Rydberg gas trapped on a superconducting atom chip in the dipole blockade regime reveals directly the dipole-dipole many-body interaction energy spectrum. We use this method to investigate the expansion of the Rydberg cloud under the effect of repulsive van der Waals forces and the breakdown of the frozen gas approximation. This study opens a promising route for quantum simulation of many-body systems and quantum information transport in chains of strongly interacting Rydberg atoms.Comment: PACS: 03.67.-a, 32.80.Ee, 32.30.-