Effects of hearing protector devices on speech intelligibility

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of hearing protection devices (HPDs) on the understanding of speech in young adults with normal hearing, both in a silent situation and in the presence of ambient noise. The experimental research was carried out with the following variables: five different conditions of HPD use (without protectors, with two earplugs and with two earmuffs); a type of noise (pink noise); 4 test levels (60, 70, 80 and 90 dB[A]); 6 signal/noise ratios (without noise, + 5, + 10, zero, - 5 and - 10 dB); 5 repetitions for each case, totalling 600 tests with 10 monosyllables in each one. The variable measure was the percentage of correctly heard words (monosyllabic) in the test. The results revealed that, at the lowest levels (60 and 70 dB), the protectors reduced the intelligibility of speech (compared to the tests without protectors) while, in the presence of ambient noise levels of 80 and 90 dB and unfavourable signal/noise ratios (0, -5 and -10 dB), the HPDs improved the intelligibility. A comparison of the effectiveness of earplugs versus earmuffs showed that the former offer greater efficiency in respect to the recognition of speech, providing a 30% improvement over situations in which no protection is used. As might be expected, this study confirmed that the protectors' influence on speech intelligibility is related directly to the spectral curve of the protector's attenuation. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Drying kinetics of tomato by using electric resistance and heat pump dryers

Drying kinetics of tomato was studied by using heat pump dryer (HPD) and electric resistance dryers with parallel and crossed airflow. The performance of both systems was evaluated and compared and the influence of temperature, air velocity, and tomato type on the drying kinetics was analyzed. The use of HPD showed to be adequate in the drying process of tomatoes, mainly in relation to the conversion rate of electric energy into thermal energy. The heat pump effective coefficient of performance (COPHT,EF) was between 2.56 and 2.68, with an energy economy of about 40% when compared to the drying system with electric resistance. The Page model could be used to predict drying time of tomato and statistical analysis showed that the model parameters were mainly affected by drying temperature.

Interventions to promote the wearing of hearing protection

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Genetic parameters for milk yield, lactation length and calving intervals of murrah buffaloes from brazil

The major objective of this study was to estimate heritability and genetic correlations between milk yield (MY) and calving interval (CI) and lactation length (LL) in Murrah buffaloes using Bayesian inference. The database used belongs to the genetic improvement program of four buffalo herds from Brazil. To obtain the estimates of variance and covariance, bivariate analyses were performed with the Gibbs sampler, using the program MTGSAM. The heritability coefficient estimates were 0.28, 0.03 and 0.15 for MY, CI and LL, respectively. The genetic correlations between MY and LL was moderate (0.48). However, the genetic correlation between MY and CI showed large HPD regions (highest posterior density interval). Milk yield was the only trait with clear potential for genetic improvement by direct mass selection. The genetic correlation between MY and LL indicates that indirect selection using milk yield is a potentially beneficialstrategy.Theinterpretation of the estimated genetic correlation between MY and CI is difficult and could be spurious. ©2013 Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia.

Efeitos genéticos e ambientais da habilidade de permanência de búflas leiteiras da raça Murrah no rebanho

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Avalição comparativa das intercorrências dialíticas de pacientes com lesão ranal aguda submetidos a sessões de hemodiálise prolongada de 6 e 10 horas

Pós-graduação em Fisiopatologia em Clínica Médica - FMB

Productive and reproductive traits in Murrah breed from Brazil

Major objective of this study was to estimate heritability and genetic correlations between milk yield (MY) and calving interval (CI) and lactation length (LL) in Murrah buffaloes using Bayesian inference. The database used belongs to the genetic improvement program of four buffalo herds from Brazil. To obtain the estimates of variance and covariance, bivariate analyses were performed with the Gibbs sampler, using the program MTGSAM. The heritability coefficient estimates were 0.28, 0.03 and 0.15 for MY, CI and LL, respectively. The genetic correlations between MY and LL was moderate (0.48). However, the genetic correlation between MY and CI showed large HPD regions (highest posterior density interval). Milk yield was the only trait with clear potential for genetic improvement by direct mass selection. The genetic correlation between MY-LL indicates that indirect selection using milk yield is a potentially beneficial strategy. The interpretation of the estimated genetic correlation between MY-CI is difficult and could be spurious.

Associação genética entre o perfil de ácidos graxos e outras características da carcaça e carne de bovinos da raça Nelore

Pós-graduação em Genética e Melhoramento Animal - FCAV

Neoplecostomus doceensis: a new loricariid species (Teleostei, Siluriformes) from the rio Doce basin and comments about its putative origin

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

Rhinolekos capetinga: a new cascudinho species (Loricariidae, Otothyrinae) from the rio Tocantins basin and comments on its ancestral dispersal route

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

Genetic structure and historical diversification of catfish Brachyplatystoma platynemum (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) in the Amazon basin with implications for its conservation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estudo do efeito modulador do macrolídeo tilosina na reação inflamatória aguda de tilápias do Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus), vacinadas e desafiadas com Streptococcus agalactiae

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FCAV