The aster mission: Exploring for the first time a triple system asteroid

2001 SN263 is a triple system asteroid. Although it was discovery in 2001, in 2008 astronomical observation carried out by Arecibo observatory revealed that it is actually a system with three bodies orbiting each other. The main central body is an irregular object with a diameter about 2.8 km, while the other two are small objects with less than 1 km across. This system presents an orbital eccentricity of 0.47, with perihelion of 1.04 and aphelion of 1.99, which means that it can be considered as a Near Earth Object. This interesting system was chosen as the target for the Aster mission - first Brazilian space exploration undertaking. A small spacecraft with 150 kg of total mass, 30 kg of payload with 110 W available for the instruments, is scheduled to be launched in 2015, and in 2018 it will approach and will be put in orbit of the triple system. This spacecraft will use electric propulsion and in its payload it will carry image camera, laser rangefinder, infrared spectrometer, mass spectrometer, and experiments to be performed in its way to the asteroid. This mission represents a great challenge for the Brazilian space program. It is being structured to allow the full engagement of the Brazilian universities and technological companies in all the necessary developments to be carried out. In this paper, we present some aspects of this mission, including the transfer trajectories to be used, and details of buss and payload subsystems that are being developed and will be used. Copyright ©2010 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.

Time dependence and energy-transfer mechanisms in Tm3+Ho3+ and Tm3+-Ho3+ co-doped alkali niobium tellurite glasses sensitized by Yb3+

Glass samples with the composition (mol%) 80TeO(2)-10Nb(2)O(5)-5K(2)O-5Li(2)O, stable against crystallization, were prepared containing Yb3+, Tm3+ and Ho3+. The energy transfer and energy back transfer mechanisms in samples containing 5% Yb3+-5% Tm3+ and 5% Yb3+-5% Tm3+-0.5% Ho3+ were estimated by measuring the absorption and fluorescence spectra together with the time dependence of the Yb3+ F-2(5/2) excited state. A good fit for the luminescence time evolution was obtained with the Yokota-Tanimoto's diffusion-limited model. The up-conversion fluorescence was also studied in 5% Yb-5% Tm. 5% Yb-0.5% Ho and 5% Yb-5% Tm-0.5% Ho tellurite glasses under laser excitation at 975 nm. Strong emission was observed from (1)G(4) and F-3(2) Tm3+ energy levels in all samples. The S-5(2) Ho3+ emission was observed only in Yb3+Ho3+ samples being completely quenched in Yb3+/Tm3+/Tm3+ samples. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Taxonomic studies on Mucor inaequisporus, isolated for the first time in South America

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

Influence of the type of dental trauma on the pulp vitality and the time elapsed until treatment: a study in patients aged 0-3 years

The purpose of the present study was to determine the influence of the type of trauma on the pulp vitality and the time elapsed until seeking dental care in children aged 0-3 years seen at the Baby Clinic of the Aracatuba Dental School, UNESP. A total of 1813 records were analyzed. Two hundred and three patients, corresponding to 302 traumatized teeth, were assessed clinically and radiographically. Hard-tissue injuries were the most frequent (52%), with a predominance of enamel crown fractures (41.4%), followed by concussions (12.6%) and intrusions (11.6%). Clinical and radiographic examination revealed that 72% of the traumatized teeth maintained pulp vitality. In the case of supporting-tissue lesions, 51.1% of the patients sought care within 1-15 days after injury, while in the case of hard-tissue injuries, 52.7% sought care only after 16 days. The results showed that supporting-tissue injuries had a significant influence on the faster seeking of dental care.

Prevalência de Demodex folliculorum e Demodex brevis em uma amostra da população de Botucatu, São Paulo, Brasil.

A survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of D. folliculorum and D. brevis for the first time in Brazil. In this study, association between the presence of mites and host factors (age, sex and race) were analysed. Samples were obtained from 100 individuals submitted to a facial cleaning in an aesthetic clinic in Botucatu city. All the samples were mounted in Berlese's medium and examined by dark-field phase microscopy. From 100 studied individuals, 72 were positive, among the positive cases, 51% showed D. folliculorum, 2% showed D. brevis and 19% both species. The parasite distribution in relation to sex was not taken in account because the sex ratio favoured females (90%). According to age, prevalence was high in all age groups. The factors influencing this distribution could be due. 1. the examination of extensive skin areas, 2. the group examined composed of individuals in treatment in an anaesthetic clinic could be more infested than a normal population, 3. the fact that in tropics, the prevalence is often high in all ages.

Número e tamanho dos recém-nascidos de Hippocampus reidi em ambiente natural

Four births of Hippocampus reidi Ginsburg, 1933 were monitored for the first time under natural conditions. This study provides the fish estimate of fecundity in the wild, which is an important parameter for assessing population dynamics and management strategies.

Avaliação de qualidade de vida de pacientes submetidos à angioplastia coronariana e elaboração de material educativo

Pós-graduação em Enfermagem (mestrado profissional) - FMB

The bias in reversing the Box-Cox transformation in time series forecasting: An empirical study based on neural networks

The Box-Cox transformation is a technique mostly utilized to turn the probabilistic distribution of a time series data into approximately normal. And this helps statistical and neural models to perform more accurate forecastings. However, it introduces a bias when the reversion of the transformation is conducted with the predicted data. The statistical methods to perform a bias-free reversion require, necessarily, the assumption of Gaussianity of the transformed data distribution, which is a rare event in real-world time series. So, the aim of this study was to provide an effective method of removing the bias when the reversion of the Box-Cox transformation is executed. Thus, the developed method is based on a focused time lagged feedforward neural network, which does not require any assumption about the transformed data distribution. Therefore, to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, numerical simulations were conducted and the Mean Absolute Percentage Error, the Theil Inequality Index and the Signal-to-Noise ratio of 20-step-ahead forecasts of 40 time series were compared, and the results obtained indicate that the proposed reversion method is valid and justifies new studies. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inclusão escolar do aluno com deficiência física: contribuições da Terapia Ocupacional

The inclusive school consists of a school that thoroughly attends the diversity and, therefore, students with special educational needs, including the ones with physical dysfunction. The objective of this study was to identify the difficulties of a teacher in the process of school inclusion of the student with physical dysfunction in order to adapt learning resources, having adequate school furniture and to guide the teacher in specific situations. A teacher of early childhood education participated in this study. For data collection two half-structuralized interviews were used. The first obtained information concerning the teacher’s difficulties due to the motor aspects of the student with difficulty to access the curriculum. The second interview gathered information about the teacher’s perception of the partnership between the occupational therapist and the teacher in the perspective of the inclusive education. The data analysis of the first interview and the student case-study allowed elaborating occupational therapy strategies to minimize these difficulties.After elaborating the strategies, a second interview was performed. The data of this interview showed that based on the analysis and adequacy of the interaction between a person’s functional demands, the task and the environment, make it possible for the student to overcome satisfactorily the inherent challenges of the educational context, and detached the importance of the partnership of the teacher and occupational therapist in the whole process. It concludes that the pupil incapacity would not have manifested if there was an adequate environment to receive him.

Chromosome evolution in fishes: a new challenging proposal from Neotropical species

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

Noncommutative fluid dynamics in the Snyder space-time

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Understanding the origin of photoluminescence in disordered Ca0.60Sr0.40WO4: An experimental and first-principles study

Visible photoluminescence (PL) was observed for the first time at room temperature in structurally disordered calcium strontium tungstate powder, Ca0.60Sr0.40WO4 (CSW), obtained by the polymeric precursor method. The PL behavior of CSW powders has been analyzed as a function of the disorder rate, based on experimental and theoretical studies. Quantum mechanical theory based on density functional theory at the B3LYP level has been employed to study the electronic structure of two periodic models representing both crystalline and disordered powders. Their electronic structures have been analyzed in terms of density of states, band dispersion and charge densities. The calculations indicate a break in symmetry when passing from crystalline to disordered models, creating localized electronic levels above the valence band. Moreover, a negative charge transfer process takes place from the [WO3] cluster to the [WO4] cluster. The polarization induced by the break in symmetry and the existence of localized levels favors the creation of trapped holes and electrons, originating the PL phenomenon. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

First record of petrified Permian pecopterids from the Parana Basin, Brazil (Corumbatai Formation, Passa Dois Group, northeastern State of São Paulo): Morphology, anatomy and paleoecological implications

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

The helminth community of Geophagus proximus (Perciformes: Cichlidae) from a tributary of the Paraná River, Ilha Solteira Reservoir, São Paulo State, Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the helminth parasites of Geophagus proximus from the São José dos Dourados River, a tributary of Paraná River, Ilha Solteira Reservoir, São Paulo State, Brazil. From May 2006 to May 2007, 116 G. proximus specimens were examined and seven different taxa of helminth were collected and identified: proteocephalidean plerocercoids (Cestoda); metacercariae of Austrodiplostomum compactum, Clinostomum heluans and Clinostomum sp. (Trematoda); and Raphidascaris (Sprentascaris) hypostomi, and larvae of Raphidascaris sp. and Contracaecum sp. (Nematoda). All parasites presented the typical aggregated pattern of distribution, as well as the presence of a high number of larval stages, an absence of influence of the host sex and seasonality upon community parameters, as well as a correlation between species richness and host body weight. Moreover, with the exception of A. compactum metacercariae, all helminths found in this study are reported for the first time in G. proximus. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012.