Gauge-Invariant Temperature Anisotropies and Primordial Non-Gaussianity

We provide the gauge-invariant expression for large-scale cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations at second-order in perturbation theory. It enables to unambiguously define the nonlinearity parameter f_NL which is used by experimental collaborations to pin down the level of Non-Gaussianity in the temperature fluctuations. Furthermore, it contains a primordial term encoding all the information about the Non-Gaussianity generated at primordial epochs and about the mechanism which gave rise to cosmological perturbations, thus neatly disentangling the primordial contribution to Non-Gaussianity from the one caused by the post-inflationary evolution.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX file. Revised to match the version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Possible respiratory infection due to Aspergillus in workers from swineries and poultries

Introduction: Aspergillus is among a growing list of allergens that can aggravate asthmatic responses. Significant pulmonary pathology is associated with Aspergillus-induced allergic and asthmatic lung disease. Environments with high levels of exposure to fungi are found in animal production facilities like swineries and poultry which farmers are at increased risk of occupational respiratory diseases. Purpose: Seven Portuguese poultries and seven swineries were analyzed in order to estimate the prevalence, amount and distribution of Aspergillus species, as well as to evaluate the existence of clinical symptoms associated with asthma and other allergy diseases in these highly contaminated settings. Methods: A total of 83 air samples (through impaction method), 66 surface samples (swab sampling) and 28 samples of different material covering their floor were analyzed. Results: The collected fungal isolates (699) were distributed by 40 different genus, Aspergillus presented a prevalence of 17.6% (average) and regarding poultries only, its prevalence showed a higher value (22.7%). The most frequently isolated Aspergillus species were A. versicolor, A. flavus and A. fumigatus. In poultries, A. flavus presented the highest level of airborne spores (>2000 ufc/m3) whereas in swineries was A. versicolor, with a prevalence four times higher than the other referred species. Eighty workers of these settings were analyzed, with ages ranging from 17 to 93 years old. Seven of these workers were medical diagnosed with asthma and four of them reported the first attack after the age of 40 years old, which possibly could be related with their occupational exposure. A high prevalence of respiratory symptoms in professionals without asthma was observed, namely wheezing associated with dyspnea (23.8%) and dyspnea after strenuous activities (12.3%), suggesting an under diagnosed respiratory problem. Moreover, 32.5% of all the inquired workers refer an improvement of their respiratory ability during the resting days and holiday. Conclusions: Considering the strong association between fungal sensitization and severity of asthma and that Aspergillus species are one of the most important fungal agents causing sensitization of the individual, this study contributes to the knowledge of Aspergillus prevalence and distribution in Portuguese poultries and swineries. These data, together with data regarding determinations of specific IgE levels and monitorization of mycotoxin exposure using biomarkers will also help to understand how and which Aspergillus species can affect workers of these settings

Banco de estacas para multiplicação de Gliricidia sepium: uma espécie de múltiplo uso.

Avaliação do desempenho de banco de estacas de gliricidia implantado em áreas degradadas e determinação da relação entre diâmetro e comprimento das estacas com a qualidade das hastes que elas produzem visando acelerar a produção de material multiplicativo dessa espécie

Comparison of Aspergillus species-complexes detected in different environmental settings

Purpose: Samples from different environmental sources were screened for the presence of Aspergillus, and the distribution of the different species-complexes was determined in order to understand differences among that distribution in the several environmental sources and which of these species complexes are present in specific environmental settings. Methods: Four distinct environments (beaches, poultries, swineries and hospital) were studied and analyzed for which Aspergillus complexes were present in each setting. After plate incubation and colony isolation, morphological identification was done using macro- and microscopic characteristics. The universal fungal primers ITS1 and ITS4 were used to amplify DNA from all Aspergillus isolates, which was sequenced for identification to species complex level. SPSS v15.0 for Windows was used to perform the statistical analysis. Results: Thirty-nine isolates of Aspergillus were recovered from both the sand beach and poultries, 31 isolates from swineries, and 80 isolates from hospital environments, for a total 189 isolates. Eleven species complexes were found total. Isolates belonging to the Aspergillus Versicolores species-complex were the most frequently found (23.8%), followed by Flavi (18.0%), Fumigati (15.3%) and Nigri (13.2%) complexes. A significant association was found between the different environmental sources and the distribution of the several species-complexes (p<0.001); the hospital environment had a greater variability of species-complexes than other environmental locations (10 in hospital environment, against nine in swine, eight in poultries and seven in sand beach). Isolates belonging to Nidulantes complex were detected only in the hospital environment, whereas the other complexes were identified in more than one setting. Conclusion: Because different Aspergillus complexes have different susceptibilities to antifungal drugs, and different abilities in producing mycotoxins, knowledge of the species-complex epidemiology for each setting may allow preventive or corrective measures to be taken toward decreasing professional workers or patient exposure to those agents

Fluid flow in a Porous Scaffold for Microtia by Lattice Boltzmann Method

The birth deformity of ear, known as microtia, varies from a minimal deformed ear to the absence of auricular tissue or anotia. This malformation has been treated by reconstructing the external ear, mainly by autogenous rib cartilage in auricular repair. The fabrication of the ear framework is a prolonged reconstructive procedure and depends of the surgeon’s skill. In order to avoid these inconveniences and reduce surgery time, it was proposed in a previous work to use implants made with biocompatible materials. One of these is a scaffold made by fused deposition modeling using PLA based in the three-dimensional geometry of the ear cartilage. The aim of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of this scaffold to perform cell culture in a perfusion biorreactor by estimating the flow transport characteristics in porous media using a scaffold with the porous geometry of the human auricular cartilage for microtia. Flow and heat transfer through the scaffold were simulated by the lattice Boltzmann method, and permeability and shear stress distribution were obtained at different Reynolds numbers. The permeability values of the scaffold achieved are in the order of magnitude of scaffolds used for cell culture. Linear dependencies between maximum shear stress and Reynolds number, and between maximum shear stress and permeability were obtained. The values of shear stress achieved correspond to high percentage of cell viability. The scaffolds for microtia treatment with the proposed filling pattern select is appropriate for cell culture in a perfusion bioreactor with characteristics similar to those described herein

Interferência do material de construção na temperatura do ar no interior do escamoteador.

O desenvolvimento dos leitões na maternidade constitui-se um fator determinante para o sucesso econômico na granja. Dessa forma, objetivou-se avaliar o conforto térmico de dois escamoteadores diferentes para leitões. Foi utilizada uma sala com quatro celas parideiras individual, sendo dois escamoteadores de madeira e dois de polietileno. No interior de cada escamoteador e no centro geométrico de cada sala foi instalado um datalogger de temperatura e umidade. Os dados foram coletados em quatro lotes durante três semanas a cada 30 minutos. Essas variáveis foram analisadas, por meio do modelo de medidas repetidas. O escamoteador de polietileno foi mais adequado com 27,36 % e 27,19 % dos dados dentro da faixa de conforto, enquanto o de madeira obteve 13,61% e 23,85% nas semanas 1 e 2 respectivamente. Somente na terceira semana o escamoteador de madeira obteve melhores resultados com 42,45% enquanto o de polietileno obteve 16,52% dos dados dentro da faixa de conforto. Ambos os escamoteadores obtiveram bons resultados quanto a umidade, obtendo média de dados dentro da faixa ideal de 58,30% o de polietileno e 69,85%, o de madeira. Piglet development in the farrowing house is a determining factor for the economic success the farm. The objective was to evaluate the thermal comfort of two different creeps for piglets. For this, it was used a farrowing house with four individual cells, twomade of wood, and two ofpolyethylene. Inside each creep and at the geometric center of each room , a datalogger was installed for recording the temperature and humidity. Data were collected in four batches every 30 minutes for three weeks. These variables were analyzed using a repeated measures model. The polyethylene creep was the most suitable with 27.36 % and 27.19% of the data within the comfort range, while the wooden creep achieved 13.61 % and 23.85% , in the weeks 1 and 2, respectively. Only on the third week the wood creep presented better results, with 42.45%, whereas that of polyethylene attained 16.52% of the data within the comfort rang. Both creeps achieved satisfactory results for the humidity, reaching mean values within the appropriate range, 58.30% and 69.85%, for polyethylene and wood creeps, respectively

Frequência de conforto da temperatura e umidade em creches de suínos com programas de iluminação nos períodos de inverno e verão.

Projeto: 11.11.11.111

Avaliação do ambiente de dois modelos de sala de maternidade na suinocultura com o uso do programa surfer.

Projeto: 11.11.11.111

Weak antilocalization in quasi-two-dimensional electronic states of epitaxial LuSb thin films

Observation of large non-saturating magnetoresistance in rare-earth monopnictides has raised enormous interest in understanding the role of its electronic structure. Here, by a combination of molecular-beam epitaxy, low-temperature transport, angle-resolved photoemssion spectroscopy, and hybrid density functional theory we have unveiled the bandstructure of LuSb, where electron-hole compensation is identified as a mechanism responsible for large magnetoresistance in this topologically trivial compound. In contrast to bulk single crystal analogues, quasi-two-dimensional behavior is observed in our thin films for both electron and holelike carriers, indicative of dimensional confinement of the electronic states. Introduction of defects through growth parameter tuning results in the appearance of quantum interference effects at low temperatures, which has allowed us to identify the dominant inelastic scattering processes and elucidate the role of spin-orbit coupling. Our findings open up new possibilities of band structure engineering and control of transport properties in rare-earth monopnictides via epitaxial synthesis.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures; includes supplementary informatio