Epilithic community development on artificial reefs deployed along a cross-shelf environmental gradient off Paraná state, southern Brazil

Concrete modules were deployed on the bottom of the 11, 18 and 30 meters isobaths along a cross-shelf hydrographic gradient off Paraná State, Southern Brazil, with the purpose of studying the colonization of sessile epilithic macroinvertebrates on artificial surfaces. After one year of submersion a total of 63 species of epilithic organisms were identified, dominated by Ostrea puelchana, Chthamalus bisinuatus, Balanus cf spongicola, Astrangia cf rathbuni, Didemnum spp, poryphers and bryozoans. Diversity index and percent cover at reef stations placed at 11, 18 and 30 meters isobaths were respectively 2.28 and 66.7%, 2.79 and 96.6% and 1.66 and 77.4%. Differences of general community structure among the three assemblages were not clearly related to the general environmental conditions at the bottom layers near the reef stations. Turbidity and larval abundance are discussed as important factors affecting colonization processes. Results indicate that depths between 15-20 meters are more suitable for the implementation of large scale artificial reef systems in the inner shelf off Paraná and, possibly, throughout the inner shelves off southern Brazil with similar hydrographic conditions.

A new species of Euprognatha Stimpson, 1871 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Inachoididae) from off coast of northeastern Brazil

A new species of Euprognatha Stimpson, 1871 from off coast of Brazil (Canopus Bank, 02º15.3'00"S - 38º16.0'00"W) is described and illustrated, namely Euprognatha limatula n. sp. The new species is compared to its congeners. Lectotypes are designated for E. acuta A. Milne-Edwards, 1880 and E. granulata Faxon, 1893. A key to the species of Euprognatha is provided.

Work and excessive sleepiness among Brazilian evening high school students: effects on days off

Previous studies have revealed that students who work and study build up sleep deficits during the wrkweek, which can trigger a sleep rebound during days off. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of working on sleepiness during days off working / non-working on sleepiness days off among high school students. The study population, aged 14-21 years, attended evening classes in São Paulo, Brazil. For the study, the students completed questionaires on living conditions, health, and work; wore actigraphs; and completed the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). To predict sleepiness, a logistic regression analysis was performed. Excessive sleepiness was observed on the first day off among working students. Results suggest that working is a significant predictor for sleepiness and that two shifts of daily systematic activities, study and work, might lead to excessive daytime sleepiness on the first day off. Further, this observed excessive sleepiness may reflect the sleep debt accumulated during the workweek

The Last Missionary to Leave the Temple Should Turn Off the Light Sociological Remarks on the Decline of Japanese ""Immigrant"" Buddhism in Brazil

Empirical data indicate that the so-called ""Buddhism of yellow color"" that is predominantly associated with Japanese ""immigrant"" Buddhism, is constantly in decline in terms of ""explicit"" adherents. After some methodological observations, this article gives an overview of the relevant statistical data. The last part discusses possible reasons for these negative dynamics, referring to causes within Buddhist institutions, the ethnic community, and at the level of the individual.

INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN TROPICAL ESTUARINE COPEPOD ASSEMBLAGES OFF NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

We studied copepod assemblage variability among years, seasons, and tidal states in the Mucuri River estuary (Bahia State, Brazil). Zooplankton samples were collected seasonally through five years (2002-2006) at three sampling stations, one of which was sampled over a complete tidal cycle (two ebb and two flood tides). Temperature, salinity, river flux, and rainfall data were collected. Winter and summer represented dry and wet seasons, respectively. Copepod abundances ranged from 40 to 63% of the total zooplankton assemblage and comprised 46 taxa, among which, common estuarine species such as Temora turbinata (first record for the studied area), Parvocalanus crassirostris, Acartia lilljeborgi, Oithona hebes were the most abundant (euryhaline species). Interannual and seasonal variations were most marked in stenohaline species, e.g.. Notodiaptomus sp. and Thermocyclops minutus; density variations of euryhaline species, which made up the majority of the abundant taxa, were most closely related to tides. Diversity and richness also followed an intertidal pattern of variation.

A new genus for seven Brazilian land planarian species, split off from Notogynaphallia (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida)

Special attention is given to cephalic structures of a species complex within the Notogynaphallia ( Platyhelminthes, Tricladida). Notogynaphallia muelleri is redescribed. The species possesses a cephalic musculo-glandular organ. Its glandular and muscular organization are similar to that previously observed in N. caissara and N. fita and to that herein described for N. abundans, N. ceciliae, N. ernesti, and N. graffi. Based on these unique cephalic specializations, a new genus is proposed for these seven species. Functionally, the musculo-glandular organ may be an adaptation for capturing and holding prey.

Political Systems and the Perspective on Nursing Education during the Spanish Transition (from the Franco Regime to Democracy). A Contribution based on Nursing History

The aim of this study is to describe the changes in nursing education during the process prior to and after the establishment of democracy in Spain. It begins with the hypothesis that differences in social and political organization influenced the way the system of nursing education evolved, keeping it in line with neopositivistic schemes and exclusively technical approaches up until the advent of democracy. The evolution of a specific profile for nursing within the educational system has been shaped by the relationship between the systems of social and political organization in Spain. To examine the insertion of subjects such as the anthropology of healthcare into education programs for Spanish nursing, one must consider the cultural, intercultural and transcultural factors that are key to understanding the changes in nursing education that allowed for the adoption of a holistic approach in the curricula. Until the arrival of democracy in 1977, Spanish nursing education was solely technical in nature and the role of nurses was limited to the tasks and procedures defined by the bureaucratic thinking characteristic of the rational-technological paradigm. Consequently, during the long period prior to democracy, nursing in Spain was under the influence of neopositivistic and technical thinking, which had its effect on educational curricula. The addition of humanities and anthropology to the curricula, which facilitated a holistic approach, occurred once nursing became a field of study at the university level in 1977, a period that coincided with the beginnings of democracy in Spain.

Simulated annealing with adaptive neighborhood: A case study in off-line robot path planning

Simulated annealing (SA) is an optimization technique that can process cost functions with degrees of nonlinearities, discontinuities and stochasticity. It can process arbitrary boundary conditions and constraints imposed on these cost functions. The SA technique is applied to the problem of robot path planning. Three situations are considered here: the path is represented as a polyline; as a Bezier curve; and as a spline interpolated curve. In the proposed SA algorithm, the sensitivity of each continuous parameter is evaluated at each iteration increasing the number of accepted solutions. The sensitivity of each parameter is associated to its probability distribution in the definition of the next candidate. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of El Nino Southern Oscillation phases on off-season maize yield for a subtropical region of Brazil

In recent years, maize has become one of the main alternative crops for the autumn winter growing season in the central-western and southeastern regions of Brazil. However, water deficits, sub-optimal temperatures and low solar radiation levels are common problems that are experienced during this growing season by local farmers. One methodology to assess the impact of variable weather conditions on crop production is the use of crop simulation models. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of climate variability on maize yield for a subtropical region of Brazil. Specific objectives for this study were (1) to analyse the effect of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on precipitation and air temperature for four locations in the state of Sao Paulo and (2) to analyse the impact of ENSO on maize grown off-season for the same four locations using a crop simulation model. For each site, historical weather data were categorised as belonging to one of three phases of ENSO: El Nino (warm sea surface temperature anomalies in the Pacific), La Nina (cool sea surface temperature anomalies) or neutral, based on an index derived from observed sea surface temperature anomalies. During El Nino, there is a tendency for an increase in the rainfall amount during May for the four selected locations, and also during April, mainly in three of the locations, resulting in an increase in simulated maize yield planted between February 15 and March 15. In general, there was a decrease in the simulated yield for maize grown off-season during neutral years. This study showed how a crop model can be used to assess the impact of climate variability on the yield of maize grown off-season in a subtropical region of Brazil. The outcomes of this study can be very useful for both policy makers and local farmers for agricultural planning and decision making. Copyright (C) 2009 Royal Meteorological Society

Evaluation of FAO Penman-Monteith and alternative methods for estimating reference evapotranspiration with missing data in Southern Ontario, Canada

Grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is an important agrometeorological parameter for climatological and hydrological studies, as well as for irrigation planning and management. There are several methods to estimate ETo, but their performance in different environments is diverse, since all of them have some empirical background. The FAO Penman-Monteith (FAD PM) method has been considered as a universal standard to estimate ETo for more than a decade. This method considers many parameters related to the evapotranspiration process: net radiation (Rn), air temperature (7), vapor pressure deficit (Delta e), and wind speed (U); and has presented very good results when compared to data from lysimeters Populated with short grass or alfalfa. In some conditions, the use of the FAO PM method is restricted by the lack of input variables. In these cases, when data are missing, the option is to calculate ETo by the FAD PM method using estimated input variables, as recommended by FAD Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56. Based on that, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the FAO PM method to estimate ETo when Rn, Delta e, and U data are missing, in Southern Ontario, Canada. Other alternative methods were also tested for the region: Priestley-Taylor, Hargreaves, and Thornthwaite. Data from 12 locations across Southern Ontario, Canada, were used to compare ETo estimated by the FAD PM method with a complete data set and with missing data. The alternative ETo equations were also tested and calibrated for each location. When relative humidity (RH) and U data were missing, the FAD PM method was still a very good option for estimating ETo for Southern Ontario, with RMSE smaller than 0.53 mm day(-1). For these cases, U data were replaced by the normal values for the region and Delta e was estimated from temperature data. The Priestley-Taylor method was also a good option for estimating ETo when U and Delta e data were missing, mainly when calibrated locally (RMSE = 0.40 mm day(-1)). When Rn was missing, the FAD PM method was not good enough for estimating ETo, with RMSE increasing to 0.79 mm day(-1). When only T data were available, adjusted Hargreaves and modified Thornthwaite methods were better options to estimate ETo than the FAO) PM method, since RMSEs from these methods, respectively 0.79 and 0.83 mm day(-1), were significantly smaller than that obtained by FAO PM (RMSE = 1.12 mm day(-1). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry of Soil Organic Matter Extracted from a Brazilian Mangrove and Spanish Salt Marshes

The soil organic matter (SOM) extracted under different vegetation types from a Brazilian mangrove (Pai Matos Island, Sao Paulo State) and from three Spanish salt marshes (Betanzos Ria and Corrubedo Natural Parks, Galicia, and the Albufera Natural Park, Valencia) was investigated by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The chemical variation was larger in SOM from the Spanish marshes than in the SOM of the Brazilian mangroves, possibly because the marshes included sites with both tidal and nontidal variation, whereas the mangrove forest underwent just tidal variation. Thus, plant-derived organic matter was better preserved under permanently anoxic environments. Moreover, given the low number of studied profiles and sedimentary-vegetation sequences in both areas, depth trends remain unclear. The chemical data also allow distinction between the contributions of woody and nonwoody vegetation inputs. Soil organic matter decomposition was found to cause: (i) a decrease in lignin contents and a relative increase in aliphatics; (ii) an increase in short-chain aliphatics at the expense of longer ones; (iii) a loss of odd-over-even dominance in alkanes and alkenes; and (iv) an increase in microbial products, including proteins, sterols, short-chain fatty acids, and alkanes. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry is a useful tool to study the behavior and composition of SOM in wetland environments such as mangroves and salt marshes. Additional profiles need to be studied for each vegetation type, however, to improve the interpretability of the chemical data.

Prerequisite Programs at Schools: Diagnosis and Economic Evaluation

In this study, 20 Brazilian public schools have been assessed regarding good manufacturing practices and standard sanitation operating procedures implementation. We used a checklist comprised of 10 parts ( facilities and installations, water supply, equipments and tools, pest control, waste management, personal hygiene, sanitation, storage, documentation, and training), making a total of 69 questions. The implementing modification cost to the found nonconformities was also determined so that it could work with technical data as a based decision-making prioritization. The average nonconformity percentage at schools concerning to prerequisite program was 36%, from which 66% of them own inadequate installations, 65% waste management, 44% regarding documentation, and 35% water supply and sanitation. The initial estimated cost for changing has been U.S.$24,438 and monthly investments of 1.55% on the currently needed invested values. This would result in U.S.$0.015 increase on each served meal cost over the investment replacement within a year. Thus, we have concluded that such modifications are economically feasible and will be considered on technical requirements when prerequisite program implementation priorities are established.

TRADE-OFF BETWEEN IMMUNE STIMULATION AND EXPRESSION OF STORAGE PROTEIN GENES

Proteins stored in insect hemolymph may serve (is a source of amino acids and energy for metabolism, and development. The expression of the main storage proteins was assessed in bacterial-challenged honey bees using real-time (RT)-PCH and Western blot.. After ensuring that. the immune system had, been activated by measuring the ensuing expression (, the innate immune response genes, defensin-1 (def-1) and prophenoloxidase (pro PO), we verified the expression of four genes encoding storage proteins. The levels of vitellogenin (vg) mRNA and of the respective protein. were significantly lowered in bees injected with bacteria or water only (injury). An equivalent response was observed in orally-infected bees. The levels of apolipophorin II/I (apoLP-II/I) and hexamerin (hex 70a) mRNAs did not significantly change, but levels of Hex 70a protein subunit showed a substantial decay after bacterial challenge or injury. Infection also caused a strong reduction in the levels of apoLP-III transcripts. Our findings are consistent with a down-regulation, of the express and accumulation of storage proteins as a consequence of activation of the immune system, suggesting that this phenomenon. represents a strategy to redirect resources to combat injury or infection. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.