Infrared thermography in the study of animals’ emotional responses: A critical review

Whether animals have emotions was historically a long-lasting question but, today, nobody disputes that they do. However, how to assess them and how to guarantee animals their welfare have become important research topics in the last 20 years. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a method to record the electromagnetic radiation emitted by bodies. It can indirectly assess sympathetic and parasympathetic activity via the modification of temperature of different body areas, caused by different phenomena such as stress-induced hyperthermia or variation in blood flow. Compared to other emotional activation assessment methods, IRT has the advantage of being noninvasive, allowing use without the risk of influencing animals’ behavior or physiological responses. This review describes general principles of IRT functioning, as well as its applications in studies regarding emotional reactions of domestic animals, with a brief section dedicated to the experiments on wildlife; it analyzes potentialities and possible flaws, confronting the results obtained in different taxa, and discusses further opportunities for IRT in studies about animal emotions

A flexibilização da legislação trabalhista

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso apresentado ao Departamento Acadêmico de Direito da Fundação Universidade Federal de Rondônia, campus Professor Francisco Gonçalves Quiles, para obtenção do título de Bacharel em Direito. Orientadora: Prof.ª M.ª Maria Priscila Soares BerroA tônica da legislação trabalhista brasileira é a tendência de proteger o trabalhador hipossuficiente em relação ao empregador. Com a globalização, vivenciamos profundas transformações tecnológicas e econômicas que atingem o mundo, de hoje, e estas não podem ser interpretadas com o espírito do passado. Estamos em uma nova realidade que gera novas condições de trabalho. O critério da subordinação, mostra-se insuficiente diante do cenário de desemprego e precarização do trabalho. O presente trabalho se propõe a fazer uma reflexão acerca do desafio de substituir antigas formas de regulação das relações de trabalho, porém, em harmonia com metas de produtividade, competitividade e estabilidade econômica, mas acima de tudo, respeitando-se uma política de preservação dos direitos humanos fundamentais. A ênfase a ser dada, neste início de século, a este projeto de renovação do Direito do Trabalho, é preservar e assegurar o Direito Trabalhista, por meio da flexibilização, colocando-se em prática mecanismos de autocomposição. A superação deste cenário de precarização e exclusão da mão-deobra nacional é condição para que também o direito do trabalho adquira realidade. Nesse sentido é que os operadores do Direito devem potencializar a eficácia (jurídica e social) das normas constitucionais, e, especialmente as definidoras de direitos e garantias fundamentais, levando-se em conta que o respeito aos direitos e princípios fundamentais significa ter como objetivo permanente a conservação do princípio da dignidade humana, a mais sublime expressão do ideal de justiça

Programming PC-Based Multi-Function Oscilloscopes: A User-Friendly Approach to Rapid Prototyping of Spectral Analysis Code

Personal computer (PC)-based multi-function oscilloscopes are compact and low-cost programmable instruments that typically combine a multi-channel data acquisition unit, a signal generator and a USB interface to the PC. Although general purpose functions for spectral analysis based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) are usually provided by the manufacturer in the accompanying software, the development of code for particular needs still remains a critical issue. This paper shows how new or more specific algorithms for frequency domain measurements can be easily implemented and tested for this class of instruments without spending time on a long and expensive training with dedicated development environments. The proposed approach is based on a recently introduced software shell, called DSPrototyper, where user interface and basic operations (for signal acquisition, processing and display) are already built-in and new measurement functions can be easily added by users having only a basic knowledge of programming languages. Some application examples are discussed in the paper focussing on the spectral analysis of a periodic signal and the implementation of algorithms that do not adopt the conventional time-domain windowing to reduce the spectral leakage

Conceito de calor : análise da postura de um professor ao atuar na ZDP dos alunos

Em uma escola da rede estadual de ensino da região do Vale do Paraíba - São Paulo - Brasil é desenvolvido um projeto cujo objetivo é o de promover a formação continuada do professor de física para viabilizar a melhoria de suas aulas. Para tanto, são elaboradas sequências didáticas pautadas na teoria sócio histórica de Vigotski. Neste artigo, verificamos se a interação social propiciada por esse professor, ao aplicar uma sequência didática que aborda o conceito de calor, viabilizou a articulação entre os conceitos científicos e espontâneos, de modo a facilitar a internalização e a aprendizagem por parte dos alunos. Os resultados mostraram que houve essa articulação, o que pode ter propiciado o desenvolvimento desse conceito

VIOLÊNCIA SEXUAL: UM AGRAVO AINDA SILENCIADO

A violência sexual é caracterizada desde tentativas de atentado ao pudor até o estupro e deixa profundas marcas na saúde mental e física das vítimas. Atualmente, adquiriu caráter endêmico, com sérias repercussões e relevante problema de saúde pública. Neste estudo teve-se como objetivo avaliar a ocorrência de violência sexual em crianças e adolescentes em um município de médio porte de Santa Catarina, entre os anos 2012 e 2016. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, transversal. Foram avaliados os dados do Sinan-Net, entre 2012 e 2016, os quais foram analisados por frequência (absoluta e relativa) por meio do Programa EPINFO7. Do total geral das notificações (414) dos diferentes tipos de violência, 41% foram sexuais, na faixa de 1 a 19 anos de idade; a média foi de 18 casos novos por ano. Houve predomínio na faixa etária de 10 a 14 anos (52%), seguida pela de 15 a 19 anos (32%). As vítimas foram predominantemente do sexo feminino (88%). Além da violência sexual, 48% das vítimas sofreram violência física. A maior parte dos abusos (69%) ocorreu na residência das vítimas. Dos agressores, 47% eram pessoas conhecidas, amigos, ex-namorados ou cônjuges; pessoas de relações próximas, como pais, irmãos, padrastos ou primos estavam envolvidos em 29% das vezes, e 24% foram considerados desconhecidos. A mesma situação já havia se repetido uma ou mais vezes com 47% das vítimas. É premente que os serviços e os profissionais da saúde desenvolvam ações e programas educativos nas famílias, escolas e creches a fim de ressaltar a necessidade de identificar o risco ao qual estão expostas as vítimas e a importância de realizar a denúncia aos órgãos competentes.Palavras-chaves: Violência sexual. Criança e adolescente. Epidemiologia

Inactivation of the glutathione peroxidase GPx4 by the ferroptosis-inducing molecule RSL3 requires the adaptor protein 14-3-3 epsilon

RSL3, a drug candidate prototype for cancer chemotherapy, triggers ferroptosis by inactivating GPx4. Here we report the purification of the protein indispensable for GPx4 inactivation by RSL3. MS analysis reveals 14-3-3 isoforms as candidates and recombinant human 14-3-3epsilon confirms the identification. The function of 14-3-3\uf065 is redox-regulated. Moreover, overexpression and silencing of the gene coding for 14-3-3\uf065 consistently control the inactivation of GPx4 by RSL3. The interaction of GPx4 with a redox-regulated adaptor protein, operating in cell signalling, further contributes to frame it within redox-regulated pathways of cell survival and death and opens new therapeutic perspectives

Dynamic changes in ear temperature in relation to separation distress in dogs

Highlights • Pet dogs were tested in a brief separation test and filmed remotely using thermography. • Temperature was analyzed from selected patches of both ear pinnae simultaneously. • Social isolation was associated with a significant decrease in ear pinnae temperature. • Temperature of the two ears did not differ significantly from each other. • Long distance thermography is a useful tool in non-invasive stress monitoring. Abstract Infrared thermography can visualize changes in body surface temperature that result from stress-induced physiological changes and alterations of blood flow patterns. Here we explored its use for remote stress monitoring (i.e. removing need for human presence) in a sample of six pet dogs. Dogs were tested in a brief separation test involving contact with their owner, a stranger, and social isolation for two one-minute-periods. Tests were filmed using a thermographic camera set up in a corner of the room, around 7 m from where the subjects spent most of the time. Temperature was measured from selected regions of both ear pinnae simultaneously. Temperatures of both ear pinnae showed a pattern of decrease during separation and increase when a person (either the owner or a stranger) was present, with no lateralized temperature differences between the two ears. Long distance thermographic measurement is a promising technique for non-invasive remote stress assessment, although there are some limitations related to dogs' hair structure over the ears, making it unsuitable for some subjects

Study of the growth process of in situ polyaniline deposited films.

Polyaniline (PAni) thin films were deposited onto BK7 glass substrates using the in situ deposition technique. The control of the time and the aniline concentration in the PAni polymerization reaction on the film deposition allowed us to prepare films with different thickness, down to ?25 nm. The film growth process was monitored by measuring the UV?vis spectra and the AFM height profiles of the film surface. The curves of adsorption kinetics were analyzed with the Avrami?s model, yielding an exponent n = 3, thus indicating nucleation of spheroids at the initial stages of polymerization that grow through a diffusion process. AFM images of the surface height profiles corroborate this hypothesis, with spheroids growing with no preferred orientation during the in situ deposition

Insight into the mechanism of ferroptosis inhibition by ferrostatin-1

Ferroptosis is a form of cell death primed by iron and lipid hydroperoxides and prevented by GPx4. Ferrostatin-1 (fer-1) inhibits ferroptosis much more efficiently than phenolic antioxidants. Previous studies on the antioxidant efficiency of fer-1 adopted kinetic tests where a diazo compound generates the hydroperoxyl radical scavenged by the antioxidant. However, this reaction, accounting for a chain breaking effect, is only minimally useful for the description of the inhibition of ferrous iron and lipid hydroperoxide dependent peroxidation. Scavenging lipid hydroperoxyl radicals, indeed, generates lipid hydroperoxides from which ferrous iron initiates a new peroxidative chain reaction. We show that when fer-1 inhibits peroxidation, initiated by iron and traces of lipid hydroperoxides in liposomes, the pattern of oxidized species produced from traces of pre-existing hydroperoxides is practically identical to that observed following exhaustive peroxidation in the absence of the antioxidant. This supported the notion that the anti-ferroptotic activity of fer-1 is actually due to the scavenging of initiating alkoxyl radicals produced, together with other rearrangement products, by ferrous iron from lipid hydroperoxides. Notably, fer-1 is not consumed while inhibiting iron dependent lipid peroxidation. The emerging concept is that it is ferrous iron itself that reduces fer-1 radical. This was supported by electroanalytical evidence that fer-1 forms a complex with iron and further confirmed in cells by fluorescence of calcein, indicating a decrease of labile iron in the presence of fer-1. The notion of such as pseudo-catalytic cycle of the ferrostatin-iron complex was also investigated by means of quantum mechanics calculations, which confirmed the reduction of an alkoxyl radical model by fer-1 and the reduction of fer-1 radical by ferrous iron. In summary, GPx4 and fer-1 in the presence of ferrous iron, produces, by distinct mechanism, the most relevant anti-ferroptotic effect, i.e the disappearance of initiating lipid hydroperoxides