Youth purpose and life goals of students engaged in community and social activities

Purpose provides a moral compass for young people to apply their strengths and virtues in their lives. Deepen the studies about youth purpose may contribute to the design of new and more efficient moral education strategies, aiming the development of greater citizenship awareness, social justice and youth engagement in the construction of a society based on democracy, justice and social solidarity. This research paper explores the identification of life goals, the beyond the self or self-oriented purpose in life, a meaningful engagement in purposeful activities and the well-being and satisfaction with life in Brazilian youth engaged and not engaged in social and community issues.

Ecological strategies of Al-accumulating and non-accumulating functional groups from the cerrado sensu stricto

Coordenação de Aperfei çoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Genetic erosion risk by environmental and antropic factor applied on strategies for Lychnophora ericoides conservation

This study evaluated the genetic erosion risk factors and the strategic points for the conservation of Lychnophora ericoides population in “Paraíso Perdido” farm, Serra da Canastra (20° 37’ 54” S; 46° 19’ 37” W; 833 m height) in São João Batista do Glória City, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The number of young and adult plants, the soil and the phenology were evaluated in two sample areas of 125 m2. Information about the species utilization was obtained with local informants. Data on the region were obtained through literature review, in loco evaluation, GPS and geo-referenced map. In addition, local use of the plant for mixtures of drug was evaluated. According to the results obtained, the soil of the population is lithic with a weathered portion of frank-sandy texture, very acidic and dystrophic. The population density is 0.16 individuals/m2, 0.078 young/adult plant. The predominant phenophase was fruiting (100% plants) followed by flowering (21.62% plants). The local community uses the leaves of the plant in the form of hydroalcoholic extracts, as anti-inflammatory. Based on the evaluated parameters, the population is at 73% risk of genetic erosion. The detected key points were the development of activities including the participation of the local community for habitat protection as well as germplasm collection, seedlings production and reintroduction, together with environmental education, supervision, and reduction in the propensity for fire.

Behavioral risk factors and effects of lifestyle modification on adults with diabetes: a Brazilian community-based study

Lifestyle is directly related to the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2), a risk dramatically elevated by obesity and inactivity. Several studies have verified that educational interventions can delay the onset of DM-2. Some of the interventions strategies utilized medication and diet, diet and/or physical exercise or the combination of diet and exercise, generally referred to a change in lifestyle. Despite the evidence that DM-2 can be preventive, there is still limited availability of effective prevention programs. DM-2 is considered an emerging public health problem as it is estimated that by the year of 2030 there will be about 366 million people with diabetes worldwide. DM2 remains a leading cause of cardiovascular disorders and many other complications. Our intent with this paper is to present researches and strategies (diet and physical activity interventions) that successfully improved plasma glucose control as a result of an effective lifestyle intervention program.

Community structure and dynamics of Monogenea and Trematoda in three North American cyprinid species in the Salt Valley Watershed, Nebraska.

An investigation was made of the communities of gill monogene genus Dactylogyrus (Platyhelminthes, Monogenea) and the populations of blackspot parasite (Platyhelminthes, Trematoda) of Pimephales promelas, Notropis stramineus, and Semotilus atromaculatus in 3 distinct sites along the 3 converging tributaries in southeastern Nebraska from 2004 to 2006. This work constitutes the first multi-site, multi-year study of a complex community of Dactylogyrus spp. and their reproductive activities on native North American cyprinid species. The biological hypothesis that closely related species with direct lifecycles respond differently to shared environmental conditions was tested. It was revealed that in this system that, Cyprinid species do not share Dactylogyrus species, host size and sex are not predictive of infection, and Dactylogyrus community structure is stable, despite variation in seasonal occurrence and populations among sites. The biological hypothesis that closely related species have innate differences in reproductive activities that provide structure to their populations and influence their roles in the parasite community was tested. It was revealed that in this system, host size, sex, and collection site are not predictive of reproductive activities, that egg production is not always continuous and varies in duration among congeners, and that recruitment of larval Dactylogyrus is not continuous across parasites’ reproductive periods. Hatch timing and host availability, not reproductive timing, are the critical factors determining population dynamics of the gill monogenes in time and space. Lastly, the biological hypothesis that innate blackspot biology is responsible for parasite host-specificity, host recruitment strategies and parasite population structure was tested. Field collections revealed that for blackspot, host size, sex, and collection month and year are not predictive of infection, that parasite cysts survive winter, and that host movement is restricted among the 3 collection sites. Finally, experimental infections of hosts with cercaria isolated from 1st intermediate snail hosts reveal that cercarial biology, not environmental circumstances, are responsible for differences in infection among hosts.

Winning On for the Gipper: Diversity Strategies and Initiative at Notre Dame

One of the enduring images linked to the University of Notre Dame is that of injured football player George Gipp imploring Coach Knute Rockne to "Win One for the Gipper. " Similarly, people of color and conscience at Notre Dame struggle with formidable challenges in implementing diversity into areas of faculty retention, university initiatives and community outreach, all while remaining sane. The panelists will discuss innovative successes and continuing efforts that can be adapted by others seeking a game plan for diversity.

BURROW-BUILDING STRATEGIES AND HABITAT USE OF VOLES IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST ORCHARDS

Seidel and Booth (1960) wrote that the "life histories of the genus Microtus are not numerous in the literature." In support of his observation he cited 6 publications, all dated between 1891 and 1953. Since then the literature has exploded with a proliferation of publications. An international literature review recently revealed over 3,500 citations for the genus. When Pitymys and Clethrionomys are included another 350 and 1,880, respectively, were found. Over the last 10 years approximately 3 new publications on voles appeared every 4 days; a significant output for what some would consider such an insignificant species. Most of the publications were the result of graduate research projects on population dynamics and species ecology. As such, many do not explore more than the rudimentary ecological relationships between the animal and their environments. Unfortunate, as well, is that all but one confined their observations to only a small part of their total environment. For many of these animals, their life underground may be more important for their survival than that above ground. Trapping studies conducted by Godfrey and Askham (1988) with permanently placed pitfall live traps in orchards revealed a significant inverse population fluctuation during the year. During the winter, when populations are expected to decrease, as many as 6 to 8 mature Microtus montanus were collected at any 1 time in the traps after several centimeters of snow accumulation. During the summer, when populations are expected to increase, virtually no animals were collected in the traps. According to current population dynamics theory, greater numbers of animals, including increasingly larger numbers of immature members of the community, should appear in any sample between the onset of the breeding period, generally in the spring, taper off during the latter part of the production season, usually late summer, and then decline as the limiting factors begin to take effect. For us, we trapped more animals in the fall and early winter than we did during the spring and summer. A review of the above literature did little to answer our question. Where are the animals going during the summer and why?

In vitro evaluation, in vivo quantification, and microbial diversity studies of nutritional strategies for reducing enteric methane production

The main objective of the present work was to study nutritive strategies for lessening the CH4 formation associated to ruminant tropical diets. In vitro gas production technique was used for evaluating the effect of tannin-rich plants, essential oils, and biodiesel co-products on CH4 formation in three individual studies and a small chamber system to measure CH4 released by sheep for in vivo studies was developed. Microbial rumen population diversity from in vitro assays was studied using qPCR. In vitro studies with tanniniferous plants, herbal plant essential oils derived from thyme, fennel, ginger, black seed, and Eucalyptus oil (EuO) added to the basal diet and cakes of oleaginous plants (cotton, palm, castor plant, turnip, and lupine), which were included in the basal diet to replace soybean meal, presented significant differences regarding fermentation gas production and CH4 formation. In vivo assays were performed according to the results of the in vitro assays. , when supplemented to a basal diet (Tifton-85 hay sp, corn grain, soybean meal, cotton seed meal, and mineral mixture) fed to adult Santa Ines sheep reduced enteric CH4 emission but the supplementation of the basal diet with EuO did not affect ( > 0.05) methane released. Regarding the microbial studies of rumen population diversity using qPCR with DNA samples collected from the in vitro trials, the results showed shifts in microbial communities of the tannin-rich plants in relation to control plant. This research demonstrated that tannin-rich , essential oil from eucalyptus, and biodiesel co-products either in vitro or in vivo assays showed potential to mitigate CH4 emission in ruminants. The microbial community study suggested that the reduction in CH4 production may be attributed to a decrease in fermentable substrate rather than to a direct effect on methanogenesis.

Amazonian malaria: Asymptomatic human reservoirs, diagnostic challenges, environmentally driven changes in mosquito vector populations, and the mandate for sustainable control strategies

Across the Americas and the Caribbean, nearly 561,000 slide-confirmed malaria infections were reported officially in 2008. The nine Amazonian countries accounted for 89% of these infections; Brazil and Peru alone contributed 56% and 7% of them, respectively. Local populations of the relatively neglected parasite Plasmodium vivax, which currently accounts for 77% of the regional malaria burden, are extremely diverse genetically and geographically structured. At a time when malaria elimination is placed on the public health agenda of several endemic countries, it remains unclear why malaria proved so difficult to control in areas of relatively low levels of transmission such as the Amazon Basin. We hypothesize that asymptomatic parasite carriage and massive environmental changes that affect vector abundance and behavior are major contributors to malaria transmission in epidemiologically diverse areas across the Amazon Basin. Here we review available data supporting this hypothesis and discuss their implications for current and future malaria intervention policies in the region. Given that locally generated scientific evidence is urgently required to support malaria control interventions in Amazonia, we briefly describe the aims of our current field-oriented malaria research in rural villages and gold-mining enclaves in Peru and a recently opened agricultural settlement in Brazil. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Equity in health: tuberculosis in the Bolivian immigrant community of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Objectives To analyse the profile of tuberculosis (TB) among Bolivian immigrants, investigate the impact that this population has on the trends of TB and assess equity in access to TB treatment, in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Methods Descriptive study of the epidemiological profile of TB in four city districts with large Bolivian populations, comparing cases among Brazilians and Bolivians, during the 19982008 period was carried out. We used logistic regression to adjust the treatment outcome for potential confounders. Results We identified 2056 new TB cases: 65.7% in Brazilians, 32.1% in Bolivians and 2.2% among other nationalities. Although TB incidence remained stable (high) over the study period, the annual proportion of cases among Bolivians increased from 15.0% to 53.0%. In comparison with the Brazilians, the Bolivians were younger (median age, 24 vs. 40 years; P < 0.0001) and presented a lower unemployment rate (3.1%vs. 11.6%; P < 0.0001), a lower rate of HIV co-infection (1.5%vs. 28.5%; P < 0.001), a higher proportion of individuals receiving supervised treatment (81.5%vs. 62.0%; P < 0.0001) and a higher proportion of cures (71.6%vs. 63.2%; P < 0.0001). After having been adjusted for potential confounder, cure after treatment was not associated with nationality. Conclusions Bolivian immigrants influenced the incidence but not the trends of TB among Brazilians in the study area. We found no significant differences between Bolivians and Brazilians regarding healthcare access or treatment outcome. Guaranteed universal health care access for all, including undocumented individuals, contributes to health equity. Specific intervention strategies are warranted for immigrants with tuberculosis.

DengueTools: innovative tools and strategies for the surveillance and control of dengue

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease estimated to cause about 230 million infections worldwide every year, of which 25,000 are fatal. Global incidence has risen rapidly in recent decades with some 3.6 billion people, over half of the world's population, now at risk, mainly in urban centres of the tropics and subtropics. Demographic and societal changes, in particular urbanization, globalization, and increased international travel, are major contributors to the rise in incidence and geographic expansion of dengue infections. Major research gaps continue to hamper the control of dengue. The European Commission launched a call under the 7th Framework Programme with the title of 'Comprehensive control of Dengue fever under changing climatic conditions'. Fourteen partners from several countries in Europe, Asia, and South America formed a consortium named 'DengueTools' to respond to the call to achieve better diagnosis, surveillance, prevention, and predictive models and improve our understanding of the spread of dengue to previously uninfected regions (including Europe) in the context of globalization and climate change. The consortium comprises 12 work packages to address a set of research questions in three areas: Research area 1: Develop a comprehensive early warning and surveillance system that has predictive capability for epidemic dengue and benefits from novel tools for laboratory diagnosis and vector monitoring. Research area 2: Develop novel strategies to prevent dengue in children. Research area 3: Understand and predict the risk of global spread of dengue, in particular the risk of introduction and establishment in Europe, within the context of parameters of vectorial capacity, global mobility, and climate change. In this paper, we report on the rationale and specific study objectives of 'DengueTools'. DengueTools is funded under the Health theme of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community, Grant Agreement Number: 282589 Dengue Tools.

Effectiveness of a multifactorial falls prevention program in community-dwelling older people when compared to usual care: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (Prevquedas Brazil)

Background Falling in older age is a major public health concern due to its costly and disabling consequences. However very few randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted in developing countries, in which population ageing is expected to be particularly substantial in coming years. This article describes the design of an RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifactorial falls prevention program in reducing the rate of falls in community-dwelling older people. Methods/design Multicentre parallel-group RCT involving 612 community-dwelling men and women aged 60 years and over, who have fallen at least once in the previous year. Participants will be recruited in multiple settings in Sao Paulo, Brazil and will be randomly allocated to a control group or an intervention group. The usual care control group will undergo a fall risk factor assessment and be referred to their clinicians with the risk assessment report so that individual modifiable risk factors can be managed without any specific guidance. The intervention group will receive a 12-week Multifactorial Falls Prevention Program consisting of: an individualised medical management of modifiable risk factors, a group-based, supervised balance training exercise program plus an unsupervised home-based exercise program, an educational/behavioral intervention. Both groups will receive a leaflet containing general information about fall prevention strategies. Primary outcome measures will be the rate of falls and the proportion of fallers recorded by monthly falls diaries and telephone calls over a 12 month period. Secondary outcomes measures will include risk of falling, fall-related self-efficacy score, measures of balance, mobility and strength, fall-related health services use and independence with daily tasks. Data will be analysed using the intention-to-treat principle.The incidence of falls in the intervention and control groups will be calculated and compared using negative binomial regression analysis. Discussion This study is the first trial to be conducted in Brazil to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to prevent falls. If proven to reduce falls this study has the potential to benefit older adults and assist health care practitioners and policy makers to implement and promote effective falls prevention interventions. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01698580)

Hunting practices among the Awá-Guajá: towards a long-term analysis of sustainability in an Amazonian indigenous community

Indigenous Reserves have played an indispensable role in maintaining forest areas in the Neotropics. In the Amazon there is a clear correlation between these reserves and the presence of forest cover; however, the simple presence of uninterrupted vegetation is no guarantee for the conservation of biodiversity, especially where hunting is practiced. This study describes hunting practices among the Awá-Guajá people from 1993 through 1994, also identifying sociocultural, technological, and demographic changes that have influenced their resource acquisition strategies over the last two decades. The data was obtained through ethnographic fieldwork, recording 78 days of foraging returns, with follow-up visits through 2010. This work provides useful information for an effective diachronic analysis of hunting in this community, by revealing foraging patterns of the early to mid-1990s, and describing community transformations over the last two decades in this locale.

Modulation Techniques for Multi-Phase Converters and Control Strategies for Multi-Phase Electric Drives

The ever-increasing spread of automation in industry puts the electrical engineer in a central role as a promoter of technological development in a sector such as the use of electricity, which is the basis of all the machinery and productive processes. Moreover the spread of drives for motor control and static converters with structures ever more complex, places the electrical engineer to face new challenges whose solution has as critical elements in the implementation of digital control techniques with the requirements of inexpensiveness and efficiency of the final product. The successfully application of solutions using non-conventional static converters awake an increasing interest in science and industry due to the promising opportunities. However, in the same time, new problems emerge whose solution is still under study and debate in the scientific community During the Ph.D. course several themes have been developed that, while obtaining the recent and growing interest of scientific community, have much space for the development of research activity and for industrial applications. The first area of research is related to the control of three phase induction motors with high dynamic performance and the sensorless control in the high speed range. The management of the operation of induction machine without position or speed sensors awakes interest in the industrial world due to the increased reliability and robustness of this solution combined with a lower cost of production and purchase of this technology compared to the others available in the market. During this dissertation control techniques will be proposed which are able to exploit the total dc link voltage and at the same time capable to exploit the maximum torque capability in whole speed range with good dynamic performance. The proposed solution preserves the simplicity of tuning of the regulators. Furthermore, in order to validate the effectiveness of presented solution, it is assessed in terms of performance and complexity and compared to two other algorithm presented in literature. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is also tested on induction motor drive fed by a matrix converter. Another important research area is connected to the development of technology for vehicular applications. In this field the dynamic performances and the low power consumption is one of most important goals for an effective algorithm. Towards this direction, a control scheme for induction motor that integrates within a coherent solution some of the features that are commonly required to an electric vehicle drive is presented. The main features of the proposed control scheme are the capability to exploit the maximum torque in the whole speed range, a weak dependence on the motor parameters, a good robustness against the variations of the dc-link voltage and, whenever possible, the maximum efficiency. The second part of this dissertation is dedicated to the multi-phase systems. This technology, in fact, is characterized by a number of issues worthy of investigation that make it competitive with other technologies already on the market. Multiphase systems, allow to redistribute power at a higher number of phases, thus making possible the construction of electronic converters which otherwise would be very difficult to achieve due to the limits of present power electronics. Multiphase drives have an intrinsic reliability given by the possibility that a fault of a phase, caused by the possible failure of a component of the converter, can be solved without inefficiency of the machine or application of a pulsating torque. The control of the magnetic field spatial harmonics in the air-gap with order higher than one allows to reduce torque noise and to obtain high torque density motor and multi-motor applications. In one of the next chapters a control scheme able to increase the motor torque by adding a third harmonic component to the air-gap magnetic field will be presented. Above the base speed the control system reduces the motor flux in such a way to ensure the maximum torque capability. The presented analysis considers the drive constrains and shows how these limits modify the motor performance. The multi-motor applications are described by a well-defined number of multiphase machines, having series connected stator windings, with an opportune permutation of the phases these machines can be independently controlled with a single multi-phase inverter. In this dissertation this solution will be presented and an electric drive consisting of two five-phase PM tubular actuators fed by a single five-phase inverter will be presented. Finally the modulation strategies for a multi-phase inverter will be illustrated. The problem of the space vector modulation of multiphase inverters with an odd number of phases is solved in different way. An algorithmic approach and a look-up table solution will be proposed. The inverter output voltage capability will be investigated, showing that the proposed modulation strategy is able to fully exploit the dc input voltage either in sinusoidal or non-sinusoidal operating conditions. All this aspects are considered in the next chapters. In particular, Chapter 1 summarizes the mathematical model of induction motor. The Chapter 2 is a brief state of art on three-phase inverter. Chapter 3 proposes a stator flux vector control for a three- phase induction machine and compares this solution with two other algorithms presented in literature. Furthermore, in the same chapter, a complete electric drive based on matrix converter is presented. In Chapter 4 a control strategy suitable for electric vehicles is illustrated. Chapter 5 describes the mathematical model of multi-phase induction machines whereas chapter 6 analyzes the multi-phase inverter and its modulation strategies. Chapter 7 discusses the minimization of the power losses in IGBT multi-phase inverters with carrier-based pulse width modulation. In Chapter 8 an extended stator flux vector control for a seven-phase induction motor is presented. Chapter 9 concerns the high torque density applications and in Chapter 10 different fault tolerant control strategies are analyzed. Finally, the last chapter presents a positioning multi-motor drive consisting of two PM tubular five-phase actuators fed by a single five-phase inverter.

A parallel community detection algorithm

Complex networks analysis is a very popular topic in computer science. Unfortunately this networks, extracted from different contexts, are usually very large and the analysis may be very complicated: computation of metrics on these structures could be very complex. Among all metrics we analyse the extraction of subnetworks called communities: they are groups of nodes that probably play the same role within the whole structure. Communities extraction is an interesting operation in many different fields (biology, economics,...). In this work we present a parallel community detection algorithm that can operate on networks with huge number of nodes and edges. After an introduction to graph theory and high performance computing, we will explain our design strategies and our implementation. Then, we will show some performance evaluation made on a distributed memory architectures i.e. the supercomputer IBM-BlueGene/Q "Fermi" at the CINECA supercomputing center, Italy, and we will comment our results.