An objective reconstruction of the chain of contagion

North's clustering method, which is based on a much used ecological model, the nearest neighbor distance, was applied to the objective reconstruction of the chain of household-to-household transmission of variola minor (the mild form of smallpox). The discrete within-household outbreaks were considered as points which were ordered in a time sequence using a 10-40 day interval between introduction of the disease into a source household and a receptor household. The closer points in the plane were assumed to have a larger probability of being links of a chain of household-to-household spread of the disease. The five defining distances (Manhattan or city-block distance between presumptive source and receptor dwellings) were 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 m. The subchain sets obtained with the five defining distances were compared with the subchains empirically reconstructed during the field study of the epidemic through direct investigation of personal contacts of the introductory cases with either introductory or subsequent cases from previously affected households. The criteria of fit of theoretical to empirical clusters were: (a) the number of clustered dwellings and subchains, (b) number of dwellings in a subchain and (c) position of dwellings in a subchain. The defining distance closet to the empirical findings was 200 m, which fully agrees with the travelling habits of the study population. Less close but acceptable approximations were obtained with 100, 300, 400 and 500 m. The latter two distances gave identical results, as if a clustering ceiling had been reached. It seems that North's clustering model may be used for an objective reconstruction of the chain of contagious whose links are discrete within-household outbreaks. © 1984.

O mapa conceitual na avaliação do processo ensino-aprendizagem na Odontologia

Pós-graduação em Odontologia Preventiva e Social - FOA

Experiências voltadas à reconstrução social da deficiência intelectual: memoriando fatos, atos e emoções

Pós-graduação em Psicologia - FCLAS

Simulating Population Genetics of Pathogen Vectors in Changing Landscapes: Guidelines and Application with Triatoma brasiliensis

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

Ações regressivas acidentárias sob a perspectiva da previdênca social e da responsabilidade civil

Pós-graduação em Direito - FCHS

Ecologia, educação ambiental, ambiente e meio ambiente: modelos conceituais e representações mentais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Física no ensino fundamental: formação continuada de professores de Ciências em uma perspectiva sócio-histórica

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

Diagnóstico da qualidade ambiental nas áreas verdes públicas em Presidente Prudente (SP)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Um olhar epistemológico sobre o vocábulo ambiente: algumas contribuições para pensarmos a ecologia e a educação ambiental

After the presentation of semantic and etymological considerations given to the word environment, this paper discusses how this term was appropriated and re-signified in different historical moments. Based on previous studies, it is noted that there were two appropriations of the word environment: one whose origin was in the Natural Sciences and one that would be related to the Human Sciences. At the end is argued that such appropriations can be found today, respectively, in Ecology and Environmental Education

O uso de MC em uma abordagem Socio-interacionista no ensino de Física

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Environmental factors influencing foraging activity in the social wasp Polybia paulista (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Epiponini)

Foraging behavior in social wasps is important in the development of the colony and reflects an important ecological interaction between the colony and the environment. Although the social traits of the colony play a role in the foraging activities, the conditions that establish the space and time limits are mainly physical. Here, we evaluate colonies of Polybia paulista throughout one year in order to verify the foraging activities and the items collected, as well as the importance of temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation on motivating foraging. Collection of liquids was always higher than that of solids; preys were collected all year long, and nests showed two annual episodic expansions. The linear mixed effects (LME) model used to analyze which weather factors influence the foraging showed temperature as the most influencing factor on the collection of materials. © 2011 Naila Cristina de Souza Canevazzi and Fernando Barbosa Noll.

The dimensionality of ecological networks

How many dimensions (trait-axes) are required to predict whether two species interact? This unanswered question originated with the idea of ecological niches, and yet bears relevance today for understanding what determines network structure. Here, we analyse a set of 200 ecological networks, including food webs, antagonistic and mutualistic networks, and find that the number of dimensions needed to completely explain all interactions is small (< 10), with model selection favouring less than five. Using 18 high-quality webs including several species traits, we identify which traits contribute the most to explaining network structure. We show that accounting for a few traits dramatically improves our understanding of the structure of ecological networks. Matching traits for resources and consumers, for example, fruit size and bill gape, are the most successful combinations. These results link ecologically important species attributes to large-scale community structure. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.