Reduction capability of soil humic substances from the Rio Negro basin, Brazil, towards Hg(II) studied by a multimethod approach and principal component analysis (PCA)

This paper characterizes humic substances (HS) extracted from soil samples collected in the Rio Negro basin in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, particularly investigating their reduction capabilities towards Hg(II) in order to elucidate potential mercury cycling/volatilization in this environment. For this reason, a multimethod approach was used, consisting of both instrumental methods (elemental analysis, EPR, solid-state NMR, FIA combined with cold-vapor AAS of Hg(0)) and statistical methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) and a central composite factorial planning method. The HS under study were divided into groups, complexing and reducing ones, owing to different distribution of their functionalities. The main functionalities (cor)related with reduction of Hg(II) were phenolic, carboxylic and amide groups, while the groups related with complexation of Hg(II) were ethers, hydroxyls, aldehydes and ketones. The HS extracted from floodable regions of the Rio Negro basin presented a greater capacity to retain (to complex, to adsorb physically and/or chemically) Hg(II), while nonfloodable regions showed a greater capacity to reduce Hg(II), indicating that HS extracted from different types of regions contribute in different ways to the biogeochemical mercury cycle in the basin of the mid-Rio Negro, AM, Brazil. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Le progrès technique chez Joan Robinson : un essai de systématisation et de formalisation

This paper deals with Joan Robinson's contributions to the issue of technical progress and her attempts of treating this subject in accordance to the Keynesian theory of employment and income distribution, mainly in the long run. This paper aims to review this aspect of her work and to establish a systematisation and a formalisation of her approach. At the same time the paper exposes the problems she faced - and did not always solve. Looking through her main contributions, the paper concludes that she used different criteria for the classification of innovations and that they depended on the specific situations described by the models in which she used the classification.

Considerações sobre analgesia controlada pelo paciente (PCA) em hospital universitário

Pós-graduação em Anestesiologia - FMB

The role of TMPRSS2:ERG in molecular stratification of PCa and its association with tumor aggressiveness: a study in Brazilian patients

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

Reconhecimento de faces sob diferentes condições de iluminação utilizando PCA e a transformada census

Os seres humanos identificam naturalmente outros seres humanos utilizando suas características físicas, fisiológicas ou comportamentais. Dentre essas características, destacam-se os traços faciais. O avanço tecnológico na área de Biometria tem promovido o desenvolvimento de inúmeras técnicas para o reconhecimento automático de faces por meio de computadores, entretanto, existem ainda vários fatores que dificultam esta aplicação, como por exemplo, a variação das condições de iluminação. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar os efeitos da aplicação de um filtro de processamento de imagens, denominado Transformada Census, em uma base de dados com imagens da face em diferentes condições de iluminação. Assim, experimentos foram realizados utilizando a técnica PCA com imagens da base de dados AR antes e depois da aplicação da Transformada Census. Os resultados desses experimentos mostraram que a aplicação da Transformada Census melhorou o resultado do reconhecimento das faces, reduzindo a taxa de erro.