Length-weight relationships, condition and population structure of the genus Atlantoraja (Elasmobranchii, Rajidae, Arhynchobatinae) in Southeastern Brazilian waters, SW Atlantic Ocean

During the present study, 107 specimens of Atlantoraja castelnaui, 188 of A. platana, and 770 of A. cyclophora, were obtained by commercial vessels operating in Southeastern Brazil from March 2005 to April 2006. Males of A. castelnaui ranged from 17.9-111.0 cm and females from 17.4-116.0 cm total length. Males of A. platana ranged from 13.1-70.0 cm and females from 12.5-76.0 cm total length. Males of A. cyclophora ranged from 13.3-58.5 cm and females from 11.5-68.0 cm total length. Length-weight curves were sexually dimorphic in the three species. The analysis of the angular coefficient (b) demonstrated that growth (in weight) in relation to length was allometric (b>3) in males of A. castelnaui and A. platana, while isometric (b = 3) in females of these species. Conversely, growth of A. cyclphora was isometric in males, while in females it was allometric (b>3). The condition factor varied significantly throughout the year only in females of A. castelnaui.

Frequency of the HFE C282Y and H63D polymorphisms in Brazilian malaria patients and blood donors from the Amazon region

Malaria is an endemic parasitosis and its causitive agent, Plasmodium, has a metabolism linked to iron supply. HFE is a gene with the polymorphisms C282Y and H63D, which are associated with a progressive iron accumulation in the organism leading to a disease called hereditary hemochromatosis. The aim of the present study was to determine the allelic and genotypic frequencies of the HFE gene polymorphisms in malaria patients and blood donors from the Brazilian Amazon region. We screened 400 blood donors and 400 malaria patients for the HFE C282Y and H63D polymorphisms from four states of the Brazilian Amazon region by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. We did not find any C282Y homozygous individuals, and the only five heterozygous individuals detected were from Pará State. The most frequent genotype in the North region of Brazil was the H63D heterozygote, in both study groups. Our results contribute to the concept that the Brazilian Amazon region should not be regarded as a single entity in South America. These polymorphisms did not influence the symptoms of malaria in the population studied, as neither severe signs nor high parasitemia were observed. Therefore, different hereditary hemochromatosis diagnostic and control measures must be developed and applied within its diverse locations. Investigations are currently being carried out in our laboratory in order to determine the importance of the coexistence of hereditary hemochromatosis in patients affected by parasitic diseases, such as malaria. ©FUNPEC-RP.

Computational linguistic systematization of a lexicon from the ibitinga embroidery industry conceptual domain

This work discusses a proposition for organizing the lexical items from the conceptual domain labeled THE EMBROIDERY INDUSTRY OF IBITINGA in terms of a natural ontology. It also aims to establish the alignment between this ontology and the bases WordNet.Pr and WordNet.Br. © 2009 IEEE.

Assessment of business incubators green performance: A framework and its application to Brazilian cases

The lack of proposals to evaluate the greening of business incubators or even of elementary discussions about the relations between incubators and the environment becomes apparent when researching this topic in the most prestigious scientific sources. To address this gap, this article reviews the literature on green management and smaller enterprises, business incubator performance and the greening of business incubators. This conceptual big-picture was used to identify variables relevant to the construction of a framework for assessing business incubators green performance. This framework was applied to six business incubators in Brazil. The results show the appropriated applicability of this framework. Furthermore, the empirical research led to the formulation of environmental maturity levels in order to classify business incubators performance. This paper seeks to offer a starting point for discussion and a proposal regarding the role of business incubators in a more sustainable society. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The nematode community in the Atlantic rainforest lizard Enyalius perditus Jackson, from south-eastern Brazil

Studies focusing on communities of helminths from Brazilian lizards are increasing, but there are many blanks in the knowledge of parasitic fauna of wild fauna. This lack of knowledge hampers understanding of ecological and parasitological aspects of involved species. Moreover, the majority of research has focused on parasitic fauna of lizards from families Tropiduridae and Scincidae. Only a few studies have looked at lizards from the family Leiosauridae, including some species of Enyalius. This study presents data on the gastrointestinal parasite fauna of Enyalius perditus and their relationships with ecological aspects of hosts in a disturbed Atlantic rainforest area in the state of Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil. Two nematode species, Oswaldocruzia burseyi [(Molineidae) and Strongyluris oscari (Heterakidae) were found. Nematode species showed an aggregated distribution in this host population, with O. burseyi being more aggregated than S. oscari. The present study extends the range of occurrence of O. burseyi to the Brazilian continental area. © 2011 Cambridge University Press.

Risk management in software projects through Knowledge Management techniques: Cases in Brazilian Incubated Technology-Based Firms

In businesses such as the software industry, which uses knowledge as a resource, activities are knowledge intensive, requiring constant adoption of new technologies and practices. Another feature of this environment is that the industry is particularly susceptible to failure; with this in mind, the objective of this research is to analyze the integration of Knowledge Management techniques into the activity of risk management as it applies to software development projects of micro and small Brazilian incubated technology-based firms. Research methods chosen were the Multiple Case Study. The main risk factor for managers and developers is that scope or goals are often unclear or misinterpreted. For risk management, firms have found that Knowledge Management techniques of conversion combination would be the most applicable for use; however, those most commonly used refer to the conversion mode as internalization.. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA.

Knowledge-based risk management: Survey on Brazilian software development enterprises

A risks management, carried on in an effective way, leads the software development to success and may influence on the organization. The knowledge takes part of such a process as a way to help taking decisions. This research aimed to analyze the use of Knowledge Management techniques to the Risk Management in software projects development and the possible influence on the enterprise revenue. It had, as its main studying subject, Brazilian incubated and graduated software developing enterprises. The chosen research method was the Survey type. Multivariate statistical methods were used for the treatment and analysis of the obtained results, this way identifying the most significant factors, that is, enterprise's achievement constraining factors and those outcome achievement ones. Among the latter we highlight the knowledge methodology, the time of existence of the enterprise, the amount of employees and the knowledge externalization. The results encourage contributing actions to the increasing of financial revenue. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.

Comparison of body size, relative growth and size at onset sexual maturity of Uca uruguayensis (Crustacea: Decapoda: Ocypodidae) from different latitudes in the south-western Atlantic

Some crustaceans show variations of their reproductive biology within their geographical distribution, and knowledge about such variations is important for the comprehension of their reproductive adaptations. This study compared two populations of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis from two locations on the south-western Atlantic coast: Ubatuba Bay, São Paulo, Brazil and Samborombón Bay, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The population features analysed were the body size variation (carapace width = CW) and the size at the onset of sexual maturity (SOM) in order to test the hypothesis that the size at SOM, should be the same in relative terms (RSOM), independently of the latitudinal position. In the Brazilian population the CW ranged from 4.18 to 11.60 mm for males and 3.90 to 9.80 mm for females, and in the Argentinean population from 3.60 to 14.10 mm for males and 2.85 to 12.00 mm for females. In the Brazilian population the SOM was 7.1 (RSOM = 0.58) and 5.9 mm CW (RSOM = 0.57) for males and females, respectively, and in the Argentinean population it was 7.0 (RSOM = 0.42) and 6.75 mm CW (RSOM = 0.53) for males and females, respectively. This fact is probably related to a great plasticity in the life history features of Uca uruguayensis under different environmental conditions. © 2012 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

The perception of brazilian researchers concerning the factors that influence the citation of their articles: A study in the field of sustainability

With growing institutional pressure from the Brazilian government to increase the impact of research that it funds, Brazilian researchers are increasingly interested in discovering factors that affect the citation of their articles. The aim of the present article was to assess the perceptions of Brazilian sustainability researchers to identify factors that influence the impacts of their research. A survey was conducted with researchers in the field of sustainability and 89 questionnaires were completed. All of those researchers have articles or research projects in the field of sustainability (mixing environmental, social and/or economical) recorded in the Scielo or Lattes Curriculum Brazilian databases. Results suggest four factors that may explain the impact of article citations: (1) prestige of the author and the research network; (2) prestige of the means of publication and indexing; (3) accessibility and quality characteristics of the article; and (4) international nature of communication and scope of the study. Surprisingly, such factors were not statistically significant in explaining the citations of the participating researchers. These results show the need to consider other factors that can explain the impact of research, discovering the missing links. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Yeast proteins originated from the production of brazilian bioethanol quantification and content

The purpose of this work was to determine the levels of protein and the amino acid distribution in the cell mass of yeast strains (Saccharomyces sensu stricto) originated from Brazilian bioethanol industries. The protein was analyzed with the Kjeldahl method and the amino acids, by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The percentages of the protein found ranged from 39 to 49%. The results show that in spite of some variation in numbers between the different yeast strains, all of them presented an amino acid profile similar to the one in the literature for S. cerevisae. The amino acids that have occurred in the largest amounts were: aspartic, glutamic acids and lysine, and those in the lowest amounts were: cysteine and methionine. Although the characteristics of the feedstock used and the process conditions are determinant of the protein values obtained in dry mass, this work elucidates that the intrinsic properties of the yeast strain influence these values.

Analysing green supply chain management practices in Brazil's electrical/electronics industry using interpretive structural modelling

Industries need to adopt the environmental management concepts in the traditional supply chain management. The green supply chain management (GSCM) is an established concept to ensure environment-friendly activities in industry. This paper identifies the relationship of driving and dependence that exists between GSCM practices with regard to their adoption within Brazilian electrical/electronic industry with the help of interpretive structural modelling (ISM). From the results, we infer that cooperation with customers for eco-design practice is driving other practices, and this practice acts as a vital role among other practices. Commitment to GSCM from senior managers and cooperation with customers for cleaner production occupy the highest level. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Study of Brazilian commercial Oriented Strand Board panels using stress wave

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Yeast diversity isolated from grape musts during spontaneous fermentation from a brazilian winery

Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeast species from a winery located in Brazil were identified by ribosomal gene-sequencing analysis. A total of 130 yeast strains were isolated from grape surfaces and musts during alcoholic fermentation from Isabel, Bordeaux, and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties. Samples were submitted to PCR-RFLP analysis and genomic sequencing. Thirteen species were identified: Candida quercitrusa, Candida stellata, Cryptococcus flavescens, Cryptococcus laurentii, Hanseniaspora uvarum, Issatchenkia occidentalis, Issatchenkia orientalis, Issatchenkia terricola, Pichia kluyveri, Pichia guilliermondii, Pichia sp., Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Sporidiobolus pararoseus. A sequential substitution of species during the different stages of fermentation, with a dominance of non-Saccharomyces yeasts at the beginning, and a successive replacement of species by S. cerevisiae strains at the final steps were observed. This is the first report about the yeast distribution present throughout the alcoholic fermentation in a Brazilian winery, providing supportive information for future studies on their contribution to wine quality. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.