596 research outputs found

    Why do people subtitle movies? A survey research of the subtitler motivations and practices

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    In this paper we investigate the reasons why enthusiasts dedicate time and effort to create subtitles for third-party videos shared on-line. Based on results obtained from a survey research with a community of Brazilian subtitlers, we highlight basic features of these enthusiasts as well as their motivations and main objectives. Our observations suggest that this is a volunteering and collaborative activity after all.CNPq (#312148/2014-3); FAPES (#67927378/2015

    Investigating the collaborative process of subtitles creation and sharing for videos on the Web

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    In this paper we concentrate on the study of the collaborative practices of enthusiasts that create and share subtitles for third party videos. Based on preliminary results from interviews with some volunteers, we formalize the subtitles creation and sharing process using a business process management model and compare it with other collaborative and crowdsourcing models. We expect that our initial observations can bring a new understanding of the process and, thus, help in the design of next generation video enriching tools

    Enterotoxin- and Antibiotic-Resistance-Encoding Genes Are Present in Both Coagulase-Positive and Coagulase-Negative Foodborne Staphylococcus Strains

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    Food poisoning by staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE) is a major cause of foodborne illness, often associated with coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS). The increase in the number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains is another major problem associated with CPS. However, reports of the association of SE and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus with coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) are beginning to re-emerge. In this context, the aim of this study is to investigate the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin genes and to characterize the phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial resistance in 66 isolates of Staphylococcus spp. (47 CNS and 19 CPS) recovered from ready-to-eat (RTE) street food sold in Maputo, Mozambique. Seven virulence genes encoding SE (sea, seb, sec, sed and see) and two toxins (hlb and sak) were screened by multiplex PCR (MPCR). Antimicrobial resistance against 12 antibiotics was evaluated by the disk diffusion method. The presence of genes encoding resistance to penicillin, methicillin, vancomycin and erythromycin (blaZ, mecA, vancA, vancB, ermA, ermB and ermC) were also screened by PCR. At least one of the seven virulence genes assessed in this study was detected in 57.9% and 51% of CPS and CNS isolates, respectively. In CPS isolates, the most frequent gene was hlb (47.4%), followed by sec (15.8%) and sea, seb and sed genes with 5.3% each. In CNS isolates, the most frequent gene was sec (36.2%) followed by sak (17%), hlb (14.9%), sed (12.8%) and seb (6.4%). Five of the twelve CPS in which virulence genes were detected were also antibiotic-resistant. All the CNS isolates harboring virulence genes (n = 27, 57.4%) were antimicrobial-resistant. The prevalence of multidrug resistance was higher (59.6%) in CNS than in CPS (26.3%) isolates. Regarding the presence of antibiotic-resistance genes, blaZ (penicillin-resistant) was the most frequent in both CPS (42.1%) and CNS (87.2%), followed by the mecA (encoding methicillin resistance) and vancA genes (vancomycin-resistant), which represented 36.8% and 31.6% in CPS isolates and 46.8% in CNS isolates, respectively. The prevalence of vancomycin-resistant staphylococci has been increasing worldwide and, to our knowledge, this is the first study to report the occurrence of vancomycin-resistant staphylococci in Mozambique. These results emphasize the need to investigate CNS isolates in parallel with CPS, as both constitute public health hazards, given their potential to produce SE and spread antimicrobial resistance genes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Range Expansion of the Cleptoparasitic Orchid Bee Aglae caerulea in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil

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    In the present study, a new occurrence of Aglae caerulea Lepeletier & Audinet-Serville is reported within a few km of the seasonal flooded plain limits of the Pantanal in the Paraguay basin, reinforcing the idea that this species coexists with its hostess Eulaema nigrita, one of the most common species catalogued in several habitats surveyed in the biome. After 18 months of sampling and no A. caerulea male attracted to the baits, methyl cinnamate was added to the set of fragrances available in the field. During four weeks in May and one week in June 2018, a total of 11 males of A. caerulea were attracted to the new bait in the gallery forest of São Vicente Range. With this most recent record, we expand the ranges of occurrence to the north-eastern border of the Pantanal of Barão de Melgaço, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Future expeditions in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul should record this cleptoparasitic species from southern to western Paraguay river basin, to reduce the biogeographical gaps in this peculiar tribe of corbiculate bees. The cleptoparasitic species A. caerulea may be recorded when adequate field studies and collections are made from the seasonal floodplain habitats to karstic habitats (dry forests) along the Pantanal border

    Omega-3 fatty acids: possible neuroprotective mechanisms in the model of global ischemia in rats

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    Background. Omega-3 (omega 3) administration was shown to protect against hypoxic-ischemic injury. The objectives were to study the neuroprotective effects of omega 3, in a model of global ischemia. Methods. Male Wistar rats were subjected to carotid occlusion (30 min), followed by reperfusion. The groups were SO, untreated ischemic and ischemic treated rats with omega 3 (5 and 10 mg/kg, 7 days). The SO and untreated ischemic animals were orally treated with 1% cremophor and, 1 h after the last administration, they were behaviorally tested and euthanized for neurochemical (DA, DOPAC, and NE determinations), histological (Fluoro jade staining), and immunohistochemical (TNF-alpha, COX-2 and iNOS) evaluations. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and Newman-Keuls as the post hoc test. Results. Ischemia increased the locomotor activity and rearing behavior that were partly reversed by omega 3. Ischemia decreased striatal DA and DOPAC contents and increased NE contents, effects reversed by omega 3. This drug protected hippocampal neuron degeneration, as observed by Fluoro-Jade staining, and the increased immunostainings for TNF-alpha, COX-2, and iNOS were partly or totally blocked by omega 3. Conclusion. This study showed a neuroprotective effect of omega 3, in great part due to its anti-inflammatory properties, stimulating translational studies focusing on its use in clinic for stroke managing.Faculty of Medicine, Estácio of Juazeiro do Norte (FMJ), Rua Tenente Raimundo Rocha 515, 63040-360 Juazeiro do Norte, CE, BrazilFederal University of Ceará (UFC), Rua Coronel Nunes de Melo 1127, 60430-270 Fortaleza, CE, BrazilFederal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Rua Pedro de Toledo 669, 04039-032 São Paulo, SP, BrazilFederal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Rua Pedro de Toledo 669, 04039-032 São Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

    AUMENTO DA TEMPERATURA, TURISMO, POLUIÇÃO E PESCA: OS RISCOS AOS CORAIS BRASILEIROS

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    Os recifes de corais estão entre os mais diversos, complexos e produtivos, ecossistemas do planeta, eles são extremamente sensíveis à alguns fatores como mudanças vertiginosas de temperatura e ações antrópicas que levam ao estresse deste biossistema. Desse modo, este estudo faz um levantamento bibliográfico sobre os recifes de corais do Brasil que estão sendo atingidos pelos impactos das mudanças climáticas, poluição, pelas atividades turísticas e pesqueiras, geradas por urbanização acelerada, pela exploração petrolífera e pesca consideradas ameaças antropogênicas potencialmente destrutivas para o ambiente natural marinho onde se formam os corais. O aquecimento das águas oceânicas pode levar ao branqueamento desses organismos e consequentemente danos à sua estrutura. O litoral brasileiro especialmente o nordestino, já revela efeitos de branqueamento recente que pode estar sendo intensificado por atividade humana próximo à costa, indicando 15 espécies de corais, em 14 locais distintos sensíveis aos efeitos de altas temperaturas. Tais estudos detectaram que a ocorrência desses efeitos tem sido intensificada há pouco mais de 20 anos, atingindo muitas espécies endêmicas. Na região amazônica, a variedade de espécies de corais está sendo ameaçada em decorrência de interesses comerciais. Foram analisados neste artigo que a pesca, o turismo e a poluição são as atividades mais nocivas aos corais, sendo que esta última já atinge a nível mundial os corais, produzindo efeitos tóxicos no ambiente marinho

    PHYSICAL INACTIVITY AND HIGH SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR ARE ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERTRIGLYCERIDEMIC WAIST IN ELDERLY

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    During aging, an increase in sedentary behaviour and a decrease in physical activity levels are observed. These factors may increase abdominal adiposity and triglyceride levels, which characterizes the hypertriglyceridemic waist (HW) phenotype, providing a high risk for cardiometabolic diseases. This study aimed to analyze the association between hypertriglyceridemic waist, physical activity level and sedentary behaviour in community-dwelling elderly. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out, involving 316 elderlies (≥ 60 years) of both genders. The hypertriglyceridemic waist was diagnosed using high triglycerides (≥ 150 mg/dl) and increased waist circumference ≥ 88 and ≥ 102 cm values for women and men, respectively. The physical activity level and sedentary behaviour were evaluated using the IPAQ. The study included 173 women (54.7%) and 143 men (45.3%), with a mean age of 74.2 ± 9.8 years. The prevalence of HW was 27.1%, 47.7% insufficiently active and 24.1% high sedentary behaviour. The insufficiently active elderly (OR= 2.48; 95% CI: 1.31 - 4.71; p= 0.005) and with high sedentary behaviour (OR= 2.21; 95% CI: 1.04 - 4.32; p= 0.038) were associated positively with HW, indicating that elderly with insufficient physical activity levels and high sedentary behaviour showed themselves to approximately 2.5 and 2.2 times more likely to develop HW, respectively. Low physical activity level and high sedentary behaviour are associated with hypertriglyceridemic waist in community-dwelling elderly.

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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    Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

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