Does management accounting play role in planning process?

This study examines the relationship between management accounting and planning profiles in Brazilian companies. The main goal is to understand the consequences of not including a fully structured management accounting scheme in the planning process. The authors conducted a field research among medium and large-sized companies, using a probabilistic sample from a population of 2281 companies. Using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and statistical cluster analysis, the authors grouped the entities` strategic budget planning processes into five profiles, after which the authors applied statistical tests to assess the five clusters. The study concludes that poor or fully implemented strategic and budget-planning processes relate to the management accounting profiles of the Brazilian organizations studied. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Asymptotically almost periodic solutions for abstract neutral integro-differential equations

We study the existence of asymptotically almost periodic classical solutions for a class of abstract neutral integro-differential equation with unbounded delay. A concrete application to partial neutral integro-differential equations which arise in the study of heat conduction in fading memory material is considered. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Existence of solutions for a class of abstract differential equations with nonlocal conditions

We discuss the existence of mild, classical and strict solutions for a class of abstract differential equations with nonlocal conditions. Our technical approach allows the study of partial differential equations with nonlocal conditions involving partial derivatives or nonlinear expressions of the solution. Some concrete applications to partial differential equations are considered. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

C(alpha)-HOLDER CLASSICAL SOLUTIONS FOR NON-AUTONOMOUS NEUTRAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

In this paper we discuss the existence of alpha-Holder classical solutions for non-autonomous abstract partial neutral functional differential equations. An application is considered.

Agonistic behavior and environmental enrichment of cats communally housed in a shelter

Objective-To evaluate the presence of a dominance rank in a group of cats and the relation between agonistic behavior and the use of resources, including environmental enrichment, in these cats. Design-Observational analytic study. Animals-27 neutered cats in a shelter in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Procedures-The cats were video recorded for 4 consecutive days to obtain baseline data. Subsequently, a puzzle feeder was added as an enrichment device every other day over 8 days, for a total of 4 days with enrichment. Cats were also video recorded on these days. All pretreatment and posttreatment agonistic behaviors and interactions with the puzzle feeder were recorded by reviewing the videotapes. Results-143 agonistic encounters were recorded, of which 44 were related to resources and 99 were not. There were insufficient agonistic interactions to determine a dominance rank. Presence or absence of the puzzle feeder did not affect the rate of aggression. There was no significant effect of weight, sex, or coat color on the rate of aggression, and aggressive behavior did not correlate with time spent with the puzzle feeder. Twenty-three of the 27 cats interacted with the puzzle feeder. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-In a stable group of communally housed cats, environmental enrichment did not cause increased aggression as a result of competition for the source of enrichment. Because environmental enrichment increases the opportunity to perform exploratory behaviors, it may improve the welfare of groups of cats maintained long-term in shelters, sanctuaries, or multicat households. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2011239:796-802)

Contextual politics of service delivery reforms: Lessons from Delhi, Mexico city and Sao Paulo comparison

Little attention has been given to the contextual politics of service delivery reforms. By focusing on cases of reform in the healthcare sector and, to a lesser extent, in the main policies in the social service sector in India, Mexico and Brazil, this article explores two dimensions of analysis which have enormous relevance in understanding the reach and effectiveness of service delivery reforms: (1) the historical timing of reforms and sectorial baselines, and (2) the degree and institutional locus of local discretion in policy. Findings show that depending on both dimensions, there is an extraordinary variation as to the degree, interests involved and meaning of changes which, in theory, correspond to these countries` commitment to the service delivery reforms, However, consideration of the contextual politics is relevant not for the sake of diversity but for the similarities that this diversity reveals, pointing to underlying analytic dimensions that receive attention in this article.

Book illustration, as (intersemiotic) translation: Pictures translating words

This article examines book illustrations through the prism of Translation Studies. It mainly suggests that the pictures in illustrated books are (intersemiotic) translations of the text and that, as such, they can be analyzed making use of the same tools applied to verbal interlingual translation. The first section deals with the theoretical bases upon which illustrations can be regarded as translations, concentrating on theories of re-creation, as illustration is viewed essentially as the re-creation of the text in visual form. One of the claims in this section is that, because illustration is carried out in very similar ways as interlingual translation itself, the term ""intersemiotic"" relates more to the (obvious) difference of medium. For this reason the word is most often referred to in parentheses. The second section discusses three particular ways through which illustrations can translate the text, namely, by reproducing the textual elements literally in the picture, by emphasizing a specific narrative element, and by adapting the pictures to a certain ideology or artistic trend. The example illustrations are extracted from different. kinds of publication and media, ranging from Virgil`s Aeneid, Lewis Carroll`s Alice in Wonderland and Mark Twain`s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to an online comic version of Shakespeare`s Hamlet.

Sensory phenomena in obsessive-compulsive disorder and tic disorders: A review of the literature

Introduction: A variety of subjective experiences have been reported to be associated with the symptom expression of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome (TS). First described in TS patients, these subjective experiences have been defined in different ways. There is no consensus in the literature on how to best define subjective experiences. This lack of consensus may hinder the understanding of study results and prevents the possibility of including them in the search for etiological factors associated with OCD and TS. Methods: The objective of this article was to review the descriptions of subjective experiences in the English-language literature from 1980-2007. This meta-analytic review was carried out using the English-language literature from 1980-2007 available on MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library databases using the following search terms: premonitory urges, sensory tics, ""just-right"" perceptions, sensory phenomena, sensory experiences, incompleteness, ""not just-right"" phenomena, obsessive-compulsive disorder and TS, including OCD and/or TS, in all combination searches. We also searched for the references cited in each article previously found that referred to the aforementioned terms. Thirty-one articles were included in the study. Results: Subjective experiences, in particular, the sensory phenomena, were important phenotypic variables in the characterization of the tic-related OCD subtype and were more frequent in the early-onset OCD subtype. There is a paucity of studies using structured interviews to assess sensory phenomena, their epidemiology and the etiological mechanisms associated with sensory phenomena. Conclusion: The current review provides some evidence that sensory phenomena can be useful to identify more homogenous subgroups of OCD and TS patients and should be included as important phenotypic variables in future clinical, genetic, neuroimaging, and treatment-response studies.

Using a combination of MLPA kits to detect chromosomal imbalances in patients with multiple congenital anomalies and mental retardation is a valuable choice for developing countries

Conventional karyotyping detects anomalies in 3-15% of patients with multiple congenital anomalies and mental retardation (MCA/MR). Whole-genome array screening (WGAS) has been consistently suggested as the first choice diagnostic test for this group of patients, but it is very costly for large-scale use in developing countries. We evaluated the use of a combination of Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) kits to increase the detection rate of chromosomal abnormalities in MCA/MR patients. We screened 261 MCA/MR patients with two subtelomeric and one microdeletion kits. This would theoretically detect up to 70% of all submicroscopic abnormalities. Additionally we scored the de Vries score for 209 patients in an effort to find a suitable cut-off for MLPA screening. Our results reveal that chromosomal abnormalities were present in 87 (33.3%) patients, but only 57 (21.8%) were considered causative. Karyotyping detected 15 abnormalities (6.9%), while MLPA identified 54 (20.7%). Our combined MLPA screening raised the total detection number of pathogenic imbalances more than three times when compared to conventional karyotyping. We also show that using the de Vries score as a cutoff for this screening would only be suitable under financial restrictions. A decision analytic model was constructed with three possible strategies: karyotype, karyotype + MLPA and karyotype + WGAS. Karyotype + MLPA strategy detected anomalies in 19.8% of cases which account for 76.45% of the expected yield for karyotype + WGAS. Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) of MLPA is three times lower than that of WGAS, which means that, for the same costs, we have three additional diagnoses with MLPA but only one with WGAS. We list all causative alterations found, including rare findings, such as reciprocal duplications of regions deleted in Sotos and Williams-Beuren syndromes. We also describe imbalances that were considered polymorphisms or rare variants, such as the new SNP that confounded the analysis of the 22q13.3 deletion syndrome. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Fundus-Based and Electroretinographic Strategies for Stratification of Late-Stage Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Disease Patients

PURPOSE: To propose an analytic framework for ocular fundus alterations in late-stage Vogt,Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease, to describe the characteristics of overall retinal function as measured with full field electroretinography (ERG), and to correlate the intensity of the fundus changes with full-field ERG alterations and to stratify patients accordingly. DESIGN: Cross-sectional case series. METHODS: Forty-seven eyes of 26 patients with late, stage VKH disease (> 6 months past disease onset) followed-up at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine underwent fundus photography within 2 months of a full,field ERG examination, both according to pre-defined protocols. Fundus pictures were evaluated by two observers regarding diffuse fundus depigmentation, nummular lesions, pigment clumps, and subretinal fibrosis, and an overall analysis classified the fundus changes as mild, moderate, or severe. Full field ERG results were analyzed according to fundus-based stratification and also were stratified into 3 groups solely on the basis of decreasing amplitudes (ERG based or cluster stratification). The concordance between fundus-based and full-field ERG-based stratification strategies was estimated. RESULTS: Overall fundus grading showed substantial interobserver concordance (kappa = 0.78). Comparison of full field ERG parameters of the three fundus based stratified groups showed diffusely diminished amplitudes with preservation of implicit times (P < .05). Fundus-based and full-field ERG-based stratification strategies also showed substantial concordance (kappa = 0.68). CONCLUSIONS: The analytic framework for fundus findings proposed in this study seems reproducible and useful, because the severity categories do correlate with retinal function as measured by full-field ERG. This system may allow more precise exchange of information between practitioners as well as researchers with regard to identifying patients with greater retinal compromise rapidly as well as in comparison of outcomes of different treatment regimens. (Am J Ophthalmol 2009;148: 939-945. (C) 2009 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Stretch Injuries of Skeletal Muscles: Experimental Study in Rats` Soleus Muscle

The study aimed to verify the physiological injury behavior by stretching the soleus muscle of rats, using a noninvasive experimental model. Twenty-four rats were used and divided into three groups of eight animals: control group (A), group that performed tetanus followed by electrical stimulation and a sudden dorsiflexion of the left paw performed by a device equipped with a mechanism of muscle soleus rapid stretching (B); and a group that only received the tetanus (C). Three days later, the animals were killed, and the soleus muscle was resected and divided into three segments. Morphological changes indicative of muscle damage appeared in all three segments of group B. In a lesser degree, similar changes were also detected in muscles subjected to only tetanus. This model was effective; reproducing an injury similar to what occurs in human sports injuries.

Endocrine signatures underlying plasticity in postembryonic development of a lower termite, Cryptotermes secundus (Kalotermitidae)

Wood-dwelling termites are characterized by an extremely high and unique developmental flexibility that allows workers, which are immatures, to explore all caste options. The endocrine signatures underlying this flexibility are only vaguely understood. We determined juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysteroid hemolymph titers during postembryonic development and in terminal instars of the drywood termite Cryptotermes secundus using field and laboratory colonies. Postembryonic development is characterized by a drop in JH titers at the transition from larval (individuals without wing buds) to nymphal (individuals with wing buds) instars. JH titers were low in winged sexuals and reproducing primary reproductives (< 200 pg/mu l) but were by an order of magnitude higher in neotenic replacement reproductives. The unique regressive molts of termites seem to be characterized by elevated JH titers, compared with progressive or stationary molts. Ecdysteroid titers were generally low in nymphal instars and in primary reproductives (< 50 pg/mu l). It was only during the third and fourth nymphal instars and in winged sexuals where some individuals showed elevated ecdysteroid titers. These results are the most comprehensive endocrinological data set available for any lower termite, with the potential to serve as baseline for understanding the extreme developmental flexibility underlying the evolution of social life in termites.

Vitamin A deficiency among Brazilian school-aged children in a healthy child service

Background/Objectives: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a world public health problem contributing to the increase in childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries and severe deficiency of vitamin A may lead to xerophthalmia and blindness. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of VAD among Brazilian school-aged children attended at a primary health unit and to verify if some considered risk factor was associated with VAD in this group. Subjects/Methods: A descriptive prospective transverse study was conducted on 103 randomly selected children. A total of 54 boys and 49 girls aged 5.5-11 years had the relative dose-response (RDR) test performed on. Possible ocular alterations related to vitamin A and the status of anemia, serum zinc, some acute-phase proteins, and anthropometric situation were determinate by an analytic design. Results: No child presented xerophthalmia. Serum retinol values lower than 1.05 and 0.7 mu moll(-1), respectively were found in 26.2 and 5.8% of the children. The prevalence of hypovitaminosis detected by RDR test was 20.4%. The following variables and their relationship with VAD were evaluated: sex (P = 0.33; 95% confidence interval 0.61-4.34), weight and height (P >= 0.5), hemoglobin (P = 0.15), C-reactive protein (P = 0.56; 95% confidence interval 0.75-18.26), alpha-1-acid-glycoprotein (P = 0.56; 95% confidence interval 0.15-15.42) and serum zinc (P = 0.31). None of these variables was related to VAD. Conclusions: In this population, the prevalence of VAD detected could be considered a public health problem. School-aged children can be considered at risk for VAD mainly of a subclinical level, even without some associated risk factors.

A Comparison of the Home Range Sizes of Mainland and Island Populations of Black-Faced Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus caissara) Using Different Spatial Analysis

The critically endangered black-faced lion tamarin, Leontopithecus caissara, has a restricted geographical distribution consisting of small mainland and island populations, each with distinct habitats in coastal southeastern Brazil. Necessary conservation management actions require an assessment of whether differences in habitats are reflected in use of space by the species. We studied two tamarin groups on the mainland at Sao Paulo state between August 2005 and March 2007, and compared the results with data from Superagui Island. Three home range estimators were used: minimum convex polygon (MCP), Kernel, and the new technique presented dissolved monthly polygons (DMP). These resulted, respectively, in home ranges of 345, 297, and 282 ha for the 12-month duration of the study. Spatial overlap of mainland groups was extensive, whereas temporal overlap was not, a pattern that indicates resource partitioning is an important strategy to avoid intraspecific competition. L. caissara large home ranges seem to be dynamic, with constant incorporation of new areas and abandonment of others through time. The main difference between mainland and island groups is the amount and variety of sleeping sites. A better understanding of the home range sizes, day range lengths, and territorial behavior of this species will aid in developing better management strategies for its protection. Additionally, the presented DMP protocol is a useful improvement over the MCP method as it results in more realistic home range sizes for wildlife species. Am. J. Primatol. 73: 1114-1126, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

HOME RANGE AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION OF MANED WOLVES IN THE BRAZILIAN GRASSLANDS

The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid in South America, weighing up to 30 kg, and exhibits an omnivorous diet based on fruits and small vertebrates. Maned wolves are considered to live in monogamous pairs defending a common territory, with mates living a largely solitary life, but these conclusions come from few studies with small samples. We captured maned wolves in Emas National Park, central Brazil, and monitored their use of space using radiotelemetry. Home-range size and overlap of 45 adults, and interactions between members of 5 pairs, were investigated. Home-range sizes of resident adults averaged 80.18 km(2) using the fixed kernel with 95% of the locations, and averaged 13.78 km(2) with 50% of the locations. Overlap of 95% ranges between male-male, female-female, or mixed dyads was similar, approximately 0.20, whereas 50% ranges of maned wolves showed less overlap overall but more tolerance for overlap with the opposite sex. Members of a pair were located alone more often than together, and even when located simultaneously maintained a mean distance of >0.5 km apart, independent of time of day. Results are in agreement with a spatial organization based on monogamous mating pairs with little intrapair sociality, but the latter needs to be investigated in more detail.