Numerical Taxonomy of Old World Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidae): 2. Restatement of Classification upon Subgeneric Morphological Characters

Numerical analyses (correspondence analysis, ascending hierarchical classification, and cladistics) were done with morphological characters of adult phlebotomine sand flies. The resulting classification largely confirms that of classical taxonomy for supra-specific groups from the Old World, though the positions of some groups are adjusted. The taxa Spelaeophlebotomus Theodor 1948, Idiophlebotomus Quate & Fairchild 1961, Australophlebotomus Theodor 1948 and Chinius Leng 1987 are notably distinct from other Old World groups, particularly from the genus Phlebotomus Rondani & Berté 1840. Spelaeomyia Theodor 1948 and, in particular, Parvidens Theodor & Mesghali 1964 are clearly separate from Sergentomyia França & Parrot 1920.

Pain intensity among institutionalized elderly: a comparison between numerical scales and verbal descriptors

AbstractOBJECTIVECorrelating two unidimensional scales for measurement of self-reported pain intensity for elderly and identifying a preference for one of the scales.METHODA study conducted with 101 elderly people living in Nursing Home who reported any pain and reached ( 13 the scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination. A Numeric Rating Scale - (NRS) of 11 points and a Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) of five points were compared in three evaluations: overall, at rest and during movement.RESULTSWomen were more representative (61.4%) and the average age was 77.0±9.1 years. NRS was completed by 94.8% of the elderly while VDS by 100%. The association between the mean scores of NRS with the categories of VDS was significant, indicating convergent validity and a similar metric between the scales.CONCLUSIONPain measurements among institutionalized elderly can be made by NRS and VDS; however, the preferred scale for the elderly was the VDS, regardless of gender.

Numerical analysis of the impact of charcoal production on soil hydrological behavior, runoff response and erosion susceptibility

The impact of charcoal production on soil hydraulic properties, runoff response and erosion susceptibility were studied in both field and simulation experiments. Core and composite samples, from 12 randomly selected sites within the catchment of Kotokosu were taken from the 0-10 cm layer of a charcoal site soil (CSS) and adjacent field soils (AFS). These samples were used to determine saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), bulk density, total porosity, soil texture and color. Infiltration, surface albedo and soil surface temperature were also measured in both CSS and AFS. Measured properties were used as entries in a rainfall runoff simulation experiment on a smooth (5 % slope) plot of 25 x 25 m grids with 10 cm resolutions. Typical rainfall intensities of the study watershed (high, moderate and low) were applied to five different combinations of Ks distributions that could be expected in this landscape. The results showed significantly (p < 0.01) higher flow characteristics of the soil under charcoal kilns (increase of 88 %). Infiltration was enhanced and runoff volume reduced significantly. The results showed runoff reduction of about 37 and 18 %, and runoff coefficient ranging from 0.47-0.75 and 0.04-0.39 or simulation based on high (200 mm h-1) and moderate (100 mm h-1) rainfall events over the CSS and AFS areas, respectively. Other potential impacts of charcoal production on watershed hydrology were described. The results presented, together with watershed measurements, when available, are expected to enhance understanding of the hydrological responses of ecosystems to indiscriminate charcoal production and related activities in this region.

Numerical modeling of the effect of variation of boundary conditions on vadose zone hydraulic properties

An accurate estimation of hydraulic fluxes in the vadose zone is essential for the prediction of water, nutrient and contaminant transport in natural systems. The objective of this study was to simulate the effect of variation of boundary conditions on the estimation of hydraulic properties (i.e. water content, effective unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic flux) in a one-dimensional unsaturated flow model domain. Unsaturated one-dimensional vertical water flow was simulated in a pure phase clay loam profile and in clay loam interlayered with silt loam distributed according to the third iteration of the Cantor Bar fractal object Simulations were performed using the numerical model Hydrus 1D. The upper and lower pressure heads were varied around average values of -55 cm for the near-saturation range. This resulted in combinations for the upper and lower constant head boundary conditions, respectively, of -50 and -60 cm, -40 and -70 cm, -30 and -80 cm, -20 and -90 cm, and -10 and -100 cm. For the drier range the average head between the upper and lower boundary conditions was set to -550 cm, resulting in the combinations -500 and -600 cm, -400 and -700 cm, -300 and -800 cm, -200 and -900 cm, and -100 and -1,000 cm, for upper and lower boundary conditions, respectively. There was an increase in water contents, fluxes and hydraulic conductivities with the increase in head difference between boundary conditions. Variation in boundary conditions in the pure phase and interlayered one-dimensional profiles caused significant deviations in fluxes, water contents and hydraulic conductivities compared to the simplest case (a head difference between the upper and lower constant head boundaries of 10 cm in the wetter range and 100 cm in the drier range).

Using numerical classification of profiles based on Vis-NIR spectra to distinguish soils from the Piracicaba Region, Brazil

Considering that information from soil reflectance spectra is underutilized in soil classification, this paper aimed to evaluate the relationship of soil physical, chemical properties and their spectra, to identify spectral patterns for soil classes, evaluate the use of numerical classification of profiles combined with spectral data for soil classification. We studied 20 soil profiles from the municipality of Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, which were morphologically described and classified up to the 3rd category level of the Brazilian Soil Classification System (SiBCS). Subsequently, soil samples were collected from pedogenetic horizons and subjected to soil particle size and chemical analyses. Their Vis-NIR spectra were measured, followed by principal component analysis. Pearson's linear correlation coefficients were determined among the four principal components and the following soil properties: pH, organic matter, P, K, Ca, Mg, Al, CEC, base saturation, and Al saturation. We also carried out interpretation of the first three principal components and their relationships with soil classes defined by SiBCS. In addition, numerical classification of the profiles based on the OSACA algorithm was performed using spectral data as a basis. We determined the Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) and Uncertainty Coefficient (U). These coefficients represent the similarity between the numerical classification and the soil classes from SiBCS. Pearson's correlation coefficients were significant for the principal components when compared to sand, clay, Al content and soil color. Visual analysis of the principal component scores showed differences in the spectral behavior of the soil classes, mainly among Argissolos and the others soils. The NMI and U similarity coefficients showed values of 0.74 and 0.64, respectively, suggesting good similarity between the numerical and SiBCS classes. For example, numerical classification correctly distinguished Argissolos from Latossolos and Nitossolos. However, this mathematical technique was not able to distinguish Latossolos from Nitossolos Vermelho férricos, but the Cambissolos were well differentiated from other soil classes. The numerical technique proved to be effective and applicable to the soil classification process.

Numerical procedure for estimating temperature in solarized soils

The objective of this work was to develop a simplified numerical procedure for the estimation of accumulated monthly hours of solarized soil temperatures. The proposed model requires monthly means of daily solar radiation and maximum air temperature as input data, and a daily pattern of temperature variation assumed to be sine-shaped. The procedure was verified using observations made during the years 1992 and 1993 in Jaguariúna, SP. The proposed procedure can predict monthly temperature hours at 10 cm depth in the solarized soil, with acceptable accuracy, in the region for which it was developed.

Marinade with alkaline solutions for the improvement of pork quality

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of alkaline solution marinades on the characteristics of pork subjected to post-mortem pH decrease in pig muscle. The pH of carcasses was measured in a commercial slaughterhouse (n = 526), 45 min after slaughtering (pH45) and, then, the carcasses were divided into the groups with pH45<5.7 or pH45>5.7. Ten samples of the longissimus dorsi muscles of each group were collected and distributed in an entirely randomized design, in a 2x4 factorial arrangement, with two conditions (pH45<5.7 or pH45>5.7), and four marinade solutions: TC, no marinade; TM1, sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride; TM2, sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium chloride; TM3, sodium bicarbonate, sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium chloride. There was no interaction between pH45 of the meat and the marinade treatments. Meat with pH45<5.7 showed higher values for lightness, and for purge loss (PL), exudate loss (EL), cooking loss (CL) and shear force (SF). Marinating increased the pH, reduced the lightness, EL, CL and SF, and improved tenderness, juiciness and flavor of meat. Marinades with solutions containing chloride, bicarbonate, and sodium tripolyphosphate are effective in the improvement of pork quality, making physical characteristics of marinated meat similar to those of fresh pork, as a consequence of accelerated postmortem glycolysis.

Viability of dourado embryos cooled in different cryoprotectant solutions

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of different cryoprotectants on the viability of dourado (Salminus brasiliensis) embryos. Ten cryoprotectant solutions were tested. For each solution, 300 embryos were selected at the closing of the blastopore stage, and 300 more embryos were used as a negative control. After cooling (-8ºC for 6 hours), the embryos were rehydrated directly in the incubator until hatching. The best result is obtained with the cryoprotectant solution containing 9% methanol associated with 17% sucrose, resulting in a larvae hatching rate of 67.06%.