Per capita versus adult-equivalent estimates of calorie availability in household budget surveys

This study aims to estimate an adult-equivalent scale for calorie requirements and to determine the differences between adult-equivalent and per capita measurements of calorie availability in the Brazilian population. The study used data from the 2002-2003 Brazilian Household Budget Survey. The calorie requirement for a reference adult individual was based on the mean requirements for adult males and females (2,550kcal/day). The conversion factors were defined as the ratios between the calorie requirements for each age group and gender and that of the reference adult. The adult-equivalent calorie availability levels were higher than the per capita levels, with the largest differences in rural and low-income households. Differences in household calorie availability varied from 22kcal/day (households with adults and an adolescent) to 428kcal/day (households with elderly individuals), thus showing that per capital measurements can underestimate the real calorie availability, since they overlook differences in household composition.

Stability of biomass-derived black carbon in soils

Black carbon (BC) may play ail important role in the global C budget, due to its potential to act as a significant sink of atmospheric CO(2). In order to fully evaluate the influence of BC oil the global C cycle, in understanding of the stability of BC is required. The biochemical stability of BC was assessed in a chronosequence of high-BC-containing Anthrosols from the central Amazon, Brazil, using a range of spectroscopic and biological methods. Results revealed that the Anthrosols had 61-80% lower (P < 0.05) CO(2) evolution per unit C over 532 days compared to their respective adjacent soils with low BC contents. No significant (P > 0.05) difference in CO(2) respiration per unit C was observed between Anthrosols with contrasting ages of BC (600-8700 years BP) Lind soil textures (0.3-36% clay). Similarly, the molecular composition of the core regions of micrometer-sized BC particles quantified by synchrotron-based Near-Edge X-ray Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy coupled to Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM) remained similar regardless of their ages and closely resembled the spectral characteristics or fresh BC. BC decomposed extremely slowly to ail extent that it was not possible to detect chemical changes between Youngest and oldest samples, as also confirmed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Deconvolution of NEXAFS spectra revealed greater oxidation oil the surfaces of BC particles with little penetration into the core of the particles. The similar C mineralization between different BC-rich soils regardless of soil texture underpins the importance of chemical recalcitrance for the stability of BC, in contrast to adjacent soils which showed the highest mineralization in the sandiest soil. However, the BC-rich Anthrosols had higher proportions (72-90%) of C in the more stable organo-mineral fraction than BC-poor adjacent soils (2-70%), Suggesting some degree of physical stabilization. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving sample representativeness in environmental studies: a major component for the uncertainty budget

For environmental quality assessment, INAA has been applied for determining chemical elements in small (200 mg) and large (200 g) samples of leaves from 200 trees. By applying the Ingamells` constant, the expected percent standard deviation was estimated in 0.9-2.2% for 200 mg samples. Otherwise, for composite samples (200 g), expected standard deviation varied from 0.5 to 10% in spite of analytical uncertainties ranging from 2 to 30%. Results thereby suggested the expression of the degree of representativeness as a source of uncertainty, contributing for increasing of the reliability of environmental studies mainly in the case of composite samples.

Do Terrestrial Tank Bromeliads in Brazil Create Safe Sites for Palm Establishment or Act as Natural Traps for Its Dispersed Seeds ?

This study shows for the first time that terrestrial tank bromeliads from Brazilian restinga can act as natural traps for dispersed palm Euterpe edulis seeds. Such bromeliads, which are shade intolerant, gain benefits by limiting palm recruitment since they hinder canopy formation and, consequently, increase luminosity over its aggregates.

Modeling study of the aspect ratio influence on urban canopy energy fluxes with a modified wall-canyon energy budget scheme

The influence of the aspect ratio (building height/street canyon width) and the mean building height of cities on local energy fluxes and temperatures is studied by means of an Urban Canopy Model (UCM) coupled with a one-dimensional second-order turbulence closure model. The UCM presented is similar to the Town Energy Balance (TEB) model in most of its features but differs in a few important aspects. In particular, the street canyon walls are treated separately which leads to a different budget of radiation within the street canyon walls. The UCM has been calibrated using observations of incoming global and diffuse solar radiation, incoming long-wave radiation and air temperature at a site in So Paulo, Brazil. Sensitivity studies with various aspect ratios have been performed to assess their impact on urban temperatures and energy fluxes at the top of the canopy layer. In these simulations, it is assumed that the anthropogenic heat flux and latent heat fluxes are negligible. Results show that the simulated net radiation and sensible heat fluxes at the top of the canopy decrease and the stored heat increases as the aspect ratio increases. The simulated air temperature follows the behavior of the sensible heat flux. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Formulation of a tropical town energy budget (t-TEB) scheme

This work describes the tropical town energy budget (t-TEB) scheme addressed to simulate the diurnal occurrence of the urban heat island (UHI) as observed in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro (MARJ; -22A degrees S; -44A degrees W) in Brazil. Reasoning about the tropical urban climate have guided the scheme implementation, starting from the original equations from Masson (Bound-Lay Meteorol 94:357-397, 2000). The modifications include (a) local scaling approaches for obtaining flux-gradient relationships in the roughness sub-layer, (b) the Monin-Obukhov similarity framework in the inertial sub-layer, (c) increasing aerodynamic conductance toward more unstable conditions, and (d) a modified urban subsurface drainage system to transfer the intercepted rainwater by roofs to the roads. Simulations along 2007 for the MARJ are obtained and compared with the climatology. The t-TEB simulation is consistent with the observations, suggesting that the timing and dynamics of the UHI in tropical cities could vary significantly from the familiar patterns observed in mid-latitude cities-with the peak heat island intensity occurring in the morning than at night. The simulations are suggesting that the thermal phase shift of this tropical diurnal UHI is a response of the surface energy budget to the large amount of solar radiation, intense evapotranspiration, and thermal response of the vegetated surfaces over a very humid soil layer.

Autolytic Mycobacterium leprae Hsp65 fragments may act as biological markers for autoimmune diseases

Investigating the proteolytic activity of the recombinant Mycobacterium leprae Heat Shock Protein of 65 kDa (rHsp65), chaperonin 2 (cpn2), we observed that it displays high instability. The fragmentation process starts at the C-terminus followed by progressive degradation of the N-terminus, which leads to a stable fragment comprising the middle region of the molecule. Urea was able to prevent autolysis, probably due to its denaturing action, while EDTA increased degradation levels indicating the need for metal ions. Peptides originated from autolysis were purified and analyzed by mass spectrometry, generating a continuous map. Since the bacteria and mammalian Hsp60 are known to be targets of the immune response and have been implicated in autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammation, the in vivo effect of rHsp65 peptides was evaluated in the spontaneous Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) model developed by the (NZB/NZW)F(1) mouse hybrids, and their individual anti-rHsp65 IgG2a/IgG1 antibody titer ratio was determined. The results showed orientation toward a T(H)1 responsiveness, and the treatment with the rHsp65 peptides diminished the environmental variance of the survival time of treated animals. These results outline the fact that environmental factors may also act through the modified stability expression of Heat Shock Proteins intervening during autoimmune processes. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast heuristics for the Steiner tree problem with revenues, budget and hop constraints

This article describes and compares three heuristics for a variant of the Steiner tree problem with revenues, which includes budget and hop constraints. First, a greedy method which obtains good approximations in short computational times is proposed. This initial solution is then improved by means of a destroy-and-repair method or a tabu search algorithm. Computational results compare the three methods in terms of accuracy and speed. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Historical carbon budget of the brazilian ethanol program

This work models the carbon neutralization capacity of Brazil`s ethanol program since 1975. In addition to biofuel, we also assessed the mitigation potential of other energy products, such as, bioelectricity, and CO(2) emissions captured during fermentation of sugar cane`s juice. Finally, we projected the neutralization capacity of sugar cane`s bio-energy system over the next 32 years. The balance between several carbon stocks and flows was considered in the model, including the effects of land-use change. Our results show that the neutralization of the carbon released due to land-use change was attained only in 1992, and the maximum mitigation potential of the sugar cane sector was 128 tonnes Of CO(2) per ha in 2006. An ideal reconstitution of the deployment of the sugar cane sector, including the full exploitation of bio-electricity`s potential, plus the capture Of CO(2) released during fermentation, shows that the neutralization of land-use change emissions would have been achieved in 1988, and its mitigation potential would have been 390 tCO(2)/ha. Finally, forecasts of the sector up to 2039 shows that the mitigation potential in 2039 corresponds to 836 tCO(2)/ha, which corresponds to 5.51 kg Of CO(2) per liter of ethanol produced, or 55% above the negative emission level. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.