H-infinity control design for time-delay linear systems: a rational transfer function based approach

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Energy education: breaking up the rational energy use barriers

Human development is associated directly or indirectly with the energy use, and because of this the energetic sources were dealt with in the recent past, as fully available to human necessities. The reality shows that the energy availability, considering the nonrenewable sources, is limited, and beyond that, the exploration, the processing and the use of energy impose considerable impacts on the environment. There is not a system which operates with no losses and without imposing changes to the environment. Therefore, the energy conservation incorporates the concepts and the actions applied to the research of sustainable balance between nature and the energy availability and use. Such actions can be presented both in the short term, in which the energy system is close to a collapse, or in the medium/long term, in which those responsible for the energy policies are concerned with the structure of the socioeconomic development. Such a situation requires more responsibility in the treatment of energy questions, mainly through education, which represents long-term investments. This paper discusses barriers that are present in the projects applied to energy conservation, by making clear that education is one of the best ways to transform the human behavior in for the rational use of energy. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantitative fractography by digital image processing: NIH Image macro tools for stereo pair analysis and 3-D reconstruction

A set of NIH Image macro programs was developed to make qualitative and quantitative analyses from digital stereo pictures produced by scanning electron microscopes. These tools were designed for image alignment, anaglyph representation, animation, reconstruction of true elevation surfaces, reconstruction of elevation profiles, true-scale elevation mapping and, for the quantitative approach, surface area and roughness calculations. Limitations on time processing, scanning techniques and programming concepts are also discussed.

Teaching the Rational Use of Medicines to medical students: a qualitative research

Background: Prescribing is a complex and challenging task that must be part of a logical deductive process based on accurate and objective information and not an automated action, without critical thinking or a response to commercial pressure. The objectives of this study were 1) develop and implement a discipline based on the WHO's Guide to Good Prescribing; 2) evaluate the course acceptance by students; 3) assess the impact that the Rational Use of Medicines (RUM) knowledge had on the students habits of prescribing medication in the University Hospital.Methods: In 2003, the RUM principal, based in the WHO's Guide to Good Prescribing, was included in the official curriculum of the Botucatu School of Medicine, Brazil, to be taught over a total of 24 hours to students in the 4th year. We analyzed the students' feedback forms about content and teaching methodology filled out immediately after the end of the discipline from 2003 to 2010. In 2010, the use of RUM by past students in their medical practice was assessed through a qualitative approach by a questionnaire with closed-ended rank scaling questions distributed at random and a single semistructured interview for content analysis.Results: The discipline teaches future prescribers to use a logical deductive process, based on accurate and objective information, to adopt strict criteria (efficacy, safety, convenience and cost) on selecting drugs and to write a complete prescription. At the end of it, most students considered the discipline very good due to the opportunity to reflect on different actions involved in the prescribing process and liked the teaching methodology. However, former students report that although they are aware of the RUM concepts they cannot regularly use this knowledge in their daily practice because they are not stimulated or even allowed to do so by neither older residents nor senior medical staff.Conclusions: This discipline is useful to teach RUM to medical students who become aware of the importance of this subject, but the assimilation of the RUM principles in the institution seems to be a long-term process which requires the involvement of a greater number of the academic members.

Tipos de fibras no músculo flexor longo do hálux de frangos de corte submetidos ao estresse pelo calor e frio e alimentados em pair-feeding

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito da temperatura ambiente sobre as características morfométricas das fibras musculares do músculo flexor longo do hálux de frangos de corte alimentados com a mesma quantidade de ração (pair-feeding), isolando-se o efeito do consumo voluntário de alimento. Foram utilizados 16 frangos de corte machos, Ross, distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com dois tratamentos (estresse pelo calor e frio), com sete e nove repetições cada, respectivamente. Aos 43 dias de idade, o peso médio das aves estressadas pelo calor (1255 g) foi maior que o das aves estressadas pelo frio em pair-feeding (1086 g). O músculo das aves submetidas ao estresse pelo calor e pelo frio apresentou 22,82 e 27,93% de fibras brancas (FG - Fast Glycolytic), 52,76 e 47,67% de intermediárias (FOG - Fast Oxidative Glycolytic) e 24,42 e 24,40% de vermelhas (SO - Slow Oxidative), respectivamente. O diâmetro das fibras FG foi maior no músculo das aves submetidas ao calor (48,69 mm), quando comparado ao das aves submetidas ao frio (37,74 mm). A freqüência e o número dos tipos de fibras no músculo não diferiram entre as aves estressadas pelo calor e pelo frio. O estresse pelo frio associado à limitação no consumo de alimento determinou redução no crescimento e alterou a composição dos tipos de fibras no músculo flexor longo do hálux de frangos de corte, reduzindo o tamanho das fibras do tipo FG e mantendo o tamanho das fibras SO e FOG, as quais apresentam metabolismo oxidativo, associado à maior produção de calor.

Conservation of the 5S-bearing chromosome pair and co-localization with major rDNA clusters in five species of Astyanax (Pisces, Characidae)

Major and 5S ribosomal genes have been localized in chromosomes from five fish species, genus Aslyanax, using in situ hybridization (FISH) with 28S and 5S rDNA probes. In situ signals for the major rDNA co-localized with the 5S rDNA clusters in the pericentromeric region of one marker chromosome in all five species analyzed. The conserved localization of these two rDNA clusters in the five related Astyanax species was considered as indicative of a close relationship among them. The use of these molecular markers for elucidating evolutionary relationships among closely related taxa is discussed. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Asymptotics of zeros of polynomials arising from rational integrals

We prove that the zeros of the polynomials P.. (a) of degree m, defined by Boros and Moll via[GRAPHICS]approach the lemmiscate {zeta epsilon C: \zeta(2) - 1\ = Hzeta < 0}, as m --> infinity. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rational use of antimicrobials in dentistry during pregnancy

The use of medicines during pregnancy deserves special attention from dentists due to the potential risks to fetal development. The prescription of antimicrobial drugs during this period must be based not only on the etiology of the disease but also on the drug's effect on the embryo, which may be toxic, possibly leading to irreversible lesions. Interest in studies of the teratogenic effects of drugs increased in response to reports of the high incidence of phocomelia in patients treated with thalidomide. Although teratogenicity has long been known, pregnant women today are still exposed to this risk. The effects of drugs depend on the level of susceptibility of the fetus and on the period of exposure during pregnancy. In this context, and considering the paucity of studies on this subject in dentistry, the aim of this review was to offer an up-to-date compilation of data on the antimicrobial drugs most frequently used during pregnancy and the effects of their use.

Search for pair production of second generation scalar leptoquarks in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s-=1.96 TeV

We report on a search for the pair production of second generation scalar leptoquarks (LQ(2)) in p (p) over bar collisions at the center-of-mass energy, root s = 1.96 TeV, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 294 19 pb(-1) recorded with the DO detector. No evidence for a leptoquark signal in the LQ(2)LQ(2) -> mu q mu q channel has been observed, and upper bounds on the product of cross section times branching fraction were set. This yields lower mass limits of m(LQ2) > 247 GeV/c(2) for beta = B(LQ(2) -> mu q) = 1 and m(LQ2) > 182 GeV/c(2) for beta = 1/2. Combining these limits with previous DO results, the lower limits on the mass of a second generation scalar leptoquark are m(LQ2) > 251 GeV/c(2) and m(LQ2) > 204 GeV/c(2) for beta = I and beta = 1/2, respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cooper pair dispersion relation for weak to strong coupling

Cooper pairing in two dimensions is analyzed with a set of renormalized equations to determine its binding energy for any fermion number density and all coupling assuming a,generic pairwise residual interfermion interaction. Also considered are Cooper pairs (CP's) with nonzero center-of-mass momentum (CMM) and their binding energy is expanded analytically in powers of the CMM up to quadratic terms. A Fermi-sea-dependent linear term in the CMM dominates the pair excitation energy in weak coupling (also called the BCS regime) while the more familiar quadratic term prevails in strong coupling (the Bose regime). The crossover, though strictly unrelated to BCS theory per se, is studied numerically as it is expected to play a central role in a model of superconductivity as a Bose-Einstein condensation of CPs where the transition temperature vanishes for all dimensionality d less than or equal to 2 for quadratic dispersion, but is nonzero for all d greater than or equal to 1 for linear dispersion.

Linear to quadratic crossover of Cooper-pair dispersion relation

Cooper pairing is studied in three dimensions to determine its binding energy for all coupling using a general separable interfermion interaction. Also considered are Cooper pairs (CPs) with nonzero center-of-mass momentum (CMM). A coupling-independent linear term in the CMM dominates the pair excitation energy in weak coupling and/or high fermion density, while the more familiar quadratic term prevails only in the extreme low-density (i.e., vacuum) limit for any nonzero coupling. The linear-to-quadratic crossover of the CP dispersion relation is analyzed numerically, and is expected to play a central role in a model of superconductivity (and superfluidity) simultaneously accommodating a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer condensate as well as a Bose-Einstein condensate of CP bosons. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B,V. All rights reserved.

Pair term in the electromagnetic current within the Front-Form dynamics: spin-0 case

The frame and scale dependence of the pair-term contribution to the electromagnetic form factor of a spin-zero composite system of two-fermions is studied within the Light Front. The form factor is evaluated from the plus-component of the current in the Breit frame, using for the first time a nonconstant, symmetric ansatz for the Bethe-Salpeter amplitude. The frame dependence is analyzed by allowing a nonvanishing plus component of the momentum transfer, while the dynamical scale is set by the masses of the constituents and by mass and size of the composite system. A transverse momentum distribution, associated with the Bethe-Salpeter amplitude, is introduced which allows to define strongly and weakly relativistic systems. In particular, for strongly relativistic systems, the pair term vanishes for the Drell-Yan condition, while is dominant for momentum transfer along the light-front direction. For a weakly relativistic system, fitted to the deuteron scale, the pair term is negligible up to momentum transfers of 1 (GeV/c)(2). A comparison with results obtained within the Front-Form Hamiltonian dynamics with a fixed number of constituents is also presented. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Search for pair production of scalar bottom quarks in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV

A search for direct production of scalar bottom quarks ((b) over bar) is performed with 310 pb(-1) of data collected by the D0 experiment in p (p) over bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The topology analyzed consists of two b jets and an imbalance in transverse momentum due to undetected neutralinos (chi(0)(1)), with chi(0)(1) assumed to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. We find the data consistent with standard model expectations, and set a 95% C.L. exclusion domain in the (m(b), m(chi 1)(0)) mass plane, improving significantly upon the results from run I of the Tevatron.

Cooper pair dispersion relation in two dimensions

The Cooper pair binding energy vs. center-of-mass-momentum dispersion relation for Bose-Einstein condensation studies of superconductivity is found in two dimensions for a renormalized attractive delta interaction. It crosses over smoothly from a linear to a quadratic form as coupling varies from weak to strong.

Search for the pair production of scalar top quarks in the acoplanar charm jet final state in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

A search for the pair production of scalar top quarks, (t) over tilde, has been performed in 360 pb(-1) of data from pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, collected by the D phi detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The (t) over tilde decay mode considered is (t) over tilde -> c (chi) over tilde (0)(1), where (chi) over tilde (0)(1) is the lightest supersymmetric particle. The topology analyzed therefore consists of a pair of acoplanar heavy-flavor jets with missing transverse energy. The data and standard model expectation are in agreement, anda 95% C.L. exclusion domain in the (m((t) over tilde), m((chi) over tilde1)(0)) plane has been determined, extending the domain excluded by previous experiments. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.