DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UM CHASSIS AUTOMOTIVO PARA UM VEÍCULO ELÉTRICO DE PEQUENO PORTE

Este artigo trata do estudo e do desenvolvimento de um chassis automotivo e da determinação de sua rigidez torcionalteórica e experimental. O chassis foi projetado com a ajuda de técnicas de análise numérica, que permitiram a obtenção desua rigidez torcional teórica. Com base nos resultados teóricos, o chassis foi construído e sua rigidez torcional foi medida.Os valores numéricos e experimentais foram comparados. Os valores numéricos resultaram 22% superiores aos valoresexperimetais. Essa diferença foi causada pela tensão residual nas regiões soldadas dos tubos do chassis, e que não foramrepresentadas no modelo numérico

Climate control of terrestrial carbon exchange across biomes and continents

Peer reviewe

Medeiros “ Optical flow using color information preliminary results

ABSTRACT Optical flow cannot be completely determined only from brightness information of images, without introducing some assumptions about the nature of movements in the scene. Color is an additional natural source of information that facilitates the solution of this problem. This work aims to illustrate the improvement in the optical flow estimation by using color information through experimental results

Crossover between macroscopic and mesoscopic regimes of vortex interactions in type-II superconductors

In the present work we report the existence of a crossover between the macroscopic and mesoscopic regimes of vortex interactions in type-II superconductors. Our findings rely on a systematic procedure to determine this crossover, which is based on the influence of the surface on the vortex structure of small superconductors. An adjacent result that we have found is that near this regime transformation, the vortex lattice develops a progressive change of symmetry, from square to hexagonal, which is intimately related to the meso-to-macro crossover. Our numerical simulations have been done for a long superconducting cylinder of square cross section for a wide range of length scales and temperatures.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Influence of Cardiorespiratory Fitness on PPARG mRNA Expression Using Monozygotic Twin Case Control

The influence of cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) on anthropometric variables and PPARG mRNA expression was investigated. Monozygotic twin pairs aged 11-18 years were grouped into discordant (D) and concordant (C) high and low VO2max groups. VO2max was determined by progressive maximal exercise test on treadmill with gas exchange analysis. Body mass (BM), BMI, waist circumference (WC), triceps (TR), and subscapular (SB) skinfold thicknesses were measured. Twins from the discordant group had differences in VO2max values (D-high = 45.9 +/- 10.0 versus D-low = 32.4 +/- 10.6mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P = 0.025), while no differences were found in the concordant group (C-high = 42.4 +/- 9.2 versus C-low = 38.8 +/- 9.8mL.kg(-1).min(-1), P = 0.952). In discordant group, VO2max was negatively correlated with TR + SB (r = -0.540, P = 0.021) and positively correlated with PPARG expression in leukocytes (r = 0.952, P = 0.001). Moreover, PPARG expression was directly correlated with BM (e = -0.714, P = 0.047) and height (r = -0.762, P = 0.028). In concordant twins, VO2max was inversely correlated with BM (r = -0.290, P = 0.027), BMI (r = -0.472,P = 0.001), WC (r = -0.426, P = 0.001), and TR + SB (r = -0.739, P = 0.001). Twins D-high had 1.78-fold greater PPARG expression when compared with twins D-low (P = 0.048). In conclusion, the cardiorespiratory fitness may modulate PPARG expression in childhood and adolescence, independently of the genetic background.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Molecular Epidemiology and Risk Factors for Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus in Infants Attending Day Care Centers in Brazil▿

Investigations regarding Staphylococcus aureus carriage among Brazilian children are scarce. We evaluated the determinants of S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) nasal carriage in infants attending day care centers (DCCs) and the molecular features of the MRSA strains. A total of 1,192 children aged 2 months to 5 years attending 62 DCCs were screened for S. aureus and MRSA nasal carriage. MRSA isolates were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing, spa typing, staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) mec typing and the presence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene. Logistic regression was performed to determine risk factors associated with S. aureus and MRSA colonization. S. aureus and MRSA carriage were detected in 371 (31.1%) and 14 (1.2%) children, respectively. Variables found to be independently associated with an increased risk for S. aureus carriage included being older than 24 months (odds ratio [OR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 2.6) and previous DCC attendance (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0 to 2.2). Having a mother with a high level of education was a protective factor for nasal colonization (OR, 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2 to 0.8). Moreover, we observed that more children carrying MRSA had younger siblings than children not colonized by MRSA. Among the 14 MRSA strains, three SCCmec types (IIIA, IV, and V) were detected, together with a multidrug-resistant dominant MRSA lineage sharing 82.7% genetic similarity with the Brazilian clone (ST239-MRSA-IIIA; ST indicates the sequence type determined by multilocus sequence typing). Although SCCmec type V was recovered from one healthy child who had been exposed to known risk factors for hospital-associated MRSA, its genetic background was compatible with community-related MRSA. Our data suggest that DCC attendees could be contributing to MRSA cross-transmission between health care and community settings