Quantifying Social Asymmetric Structures

Many social phenomena involve a set of dyadic relations among agents whose actions may be dependent. Although individualistic approaches have frequently been applied to analyze social processes, these are not generally concerned with dyadic relations nor do they deal with dependency. This paper describes a mathematical procedure for analyzing dyadic interactions in a social system. The proposed method mainly consists of decomposing asymmetric data into their symmetrical and skew-symmetrical parts. A quantification of skew-symmetry for a social system can be obtained by dividing the norm of the skew-symmetrical matrix by the norm of the asymmetric matrix. This calculation makes available to researchers a quantity related to the amount of dyadic reciprocity. Regarding agents, the procedure enables researchers to identify those whose behavior is asymmetric with respect to all agents. It is also possible to derive symmetric measurements among agents and to use multivariate statistical techniques

Directed Binary Hierarchies and Directed Ultrametrics

Directed hierarchical classification, Association rule representation,

Ethanol contamination of cerebrospinal fluid during standardized sampling and its effect on 1H-NMR metabolomics

Standardization of body fluid sampling, processing and storage procedures is pivotal to ensure data quality in metabolomics studies. Yet, despite strict adherence to standard sampling guidelines, we detected variable levels of ethanol in the (1)H-NMR spectra of human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples (range 9.2 × 10(−3)–10.0 mM). The presence of ethanol in all samples and the wide range of concentrations clearly indicated contamination of the samples of some sort, which affected the (1)H-NMR spectra quality and the interpretation. To determine where in the sampling protocol the ethanol contamination occurs, we performed a CSF sampling protocol simulation with 0.9 % NaCl (saline) instead of CSF and detected ethanol in all simulation samples. Ethanol diffusion through air during sampling and preparation stages appeared the only logical explanation. With a bench study, we showed that ethanol easily diffuses into ex vivo CSF samples via air transmission. Ethanol originated from routinely used skin disinfectants containing ethanol and from laboratory procedures. Ethanol affected the CSF sample matrix at concentrations above ~9.4 mM and obscured a significant part of the (1)H-NMR spectrum. CSF sample preparation for (1)H-NMR-based metabolomics analyses should therefore be carried out in a well-ventilated atmosphere with laminar flow, and use of ethanol should be avoided. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00216-015-8663-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Diversidade, taxonomia e distribuição por estados brasileiros das famílias Bartramiaceae, Brachytheciaceae, Bryaceae, Calymperaceae, Fissidentaceae, Hypnaceae e Leucobryaceae (Bryophyta) da Estação Científica Ferreira Penna, Caxiuanã, Pará, Brasil Diversity, taxonomy and distribution for brazilian states of the families Bartramiaceae, Brachytheciaceae, Bryaceae, Calymperaceae, Fissidentaceae, Hypnaceae and Leucobryaceae (Bryophyta) of the Scientific Station Ferreira Penna, Caxiuanã, Pará, Brazil)

Foi realizado o inventário das espécies de musgos (Bryophyta) da Estação Científica Ferreira Penna, município de Melgaço, estado do Pará. Esta estação possui 85% de sua área ocupada por mata de terra firme, bem conservada. Sua vegetação de fanerógamas já está relativamente estudada. Porém o estudo dos musgos está avançando agora com este trabalho. Além de inventariar as espécies de musgos ocorrentes na área, outros objetivos são ampliar a distribuição geográfica das espécies ainda não referidas para a região, registrar o tipo de substrato e ecossistema onde elas ocorrem. Foram identificadas 84 espécies, 37 gêneros e 19 famílias. Esse trabalho é parte dos estudos realizados com os musgos da ECFPn, tratando apenas das 47 espécies pertencentes às famílias Bartramiaceae, Brachytheciaceae, Bryaceae, Calymperaceae, Fissidentaceae, Hypnaceae e Leucobryaceae. Para cada táxon foram citados, herbário, referências de descrições, comentários com as características diagnósticas, habitats, distribuição geográfica brasileira e material examinado. São novas referências para Amazônia Brasileira, Fissidens pauperculus M. Howe e Octoblepharum costatum H. A.Crum e para o estado do Pará, Syrrhopodon incompletus Schwägr. var. berteroanus (Brid.) W. D. Reese e Leucobryum crispum Müll. Hal.<br>The inventory of the species of mosses (Bryophyta) was conducted in the Scientific Station Ferreira Penna, municipality of Melgaço, state of Pará. This station possesses 85% of its area of well conserved, terra-firme vegetation. Although the phanerogams are relatively well studied, the mosses are only now moving forward with this work. Besides inventorying the species of mosses inhabiting the area, other objectives are to expand knowledge regarding the geographical distribution of the species reported for the area, and to register the substratum type and ecosystem where they occur. There were identified 84 species, 37 genera and 19 families. This work is part of a series of studies accomplished with the mosses of ECFPn, just treating the 47 species belonging to the families Bartramiaceae, Brachytheciaceae, Bryaceae, Calymperaceae, Fissidentaceae, Hypnaceae and Leucobryaceae. For each táxon they were mentioned place-type, herbarium, references of descriptions, comments regarding morphological characteristics, Brazilian geographical distribution and examined material. Herein we include new references for Amazonian Brazilian, Fissidens pauperculus M. Howe and Octoblepharum costatum H. A. Crum and for the state of Pará, Syrrhopodon incompletus Schwägr. var. berteroanus (Brid.) W. D. Reese and Leucobryum crispum Müll. Hal

Analysis of asymmetry by a slide-vector

slide-vector model, unfolding, constrained multidimensional scaling, asymmetry,