Influence of variables on centrifuge-flotation technique for recovery of Toxocara canis eggs from soil

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of variables in a flotation technique for the recovery of Toxocara canis eggs from soil. The trials were done under standardized conditions on one gram of previously sterilized soil samples contaminated with 200 eggs of T. canis. The following variables were evaluated in serial steps: sieving; type of wash; time of stirring; resuspension of sediment; solution flotation. Centrifuge-flotation in sodium nitrate (d = 1.20 g/cm³) was adopted as an initial technique, using Tween 80 (0.2%) and decinormal sodium hydroxide as solutions for washing the samples. Ten tests were done to compare the variables, using counting in triplicate. The sieving of the material reduced significantly the recovery of eggs (p < 0.001) and the number of eggs recovered was higher when the sediment was resuspended (p < 0.05). After standardization, flotation solutions sodium chloride, zinc sulfate, sodium dichromate, magnesium sulfate, and sodium nitrate (d = 1.20g/cm³) were compared. The best results were obtained by using zinc sulfate solution. In conclusion, the chances of recovering T. canis eggs from samples using flotation solutions can be increased by washing of soil twice using distilled water, and resuspension of sediment. On the other hand, the sieving procedure can drastically reduce the number of eggs.

Hopelessness and Related Variables among Cancer Patients in the Southern European Psycho-Oncology Study (SEPOS).

BACKGROUND: Although hopelessness has been studied in cancer, no data are available in non-English-speaking countries. OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to amass data from Southern European countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland) in order to fill this void. METHOD: A group of 312 cancer patients completed the Mini-MAC Hopelessness subscale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Cancer Worry Inventory (CWI), and a six-item Visual Analog scale (VAS) to measure intensity of physical symptoms, general well-being, difficulty in coping with cancer, intensity of social support from close relationships, leisure activity, and support from religious beliefs. RESULTS: Regression analysis indicated that HADS-Depression, VAS Maladaptive Coping and Well-Being, and the CWI explained 42% of the variance. CONCLUSION: Hopelessness in cancer patients seems not exclusively to correspond to depression, but is related to various other psychosocial factors, such as maladaptive coping, as well.

Evaluation of Spatial interpolation techniques for mapping climate variables with low sample density: a case study using a new gridded dataset of Bangladesh

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Valorização da Borra de Café: Otimização da Produção de Biodiesel por Catálise Enzimática

O decréscimo das reservas de petróleo e as consequências ambientais resultantes do recurso a combustíveis fósseis nos motores a diesel têm levado à procura de combustíveis alternativos. Esta pesquisa alicerçada nas fontes de energia renovável tornou-se essencial, face à crescente procura de energia e ao limitado fornecimento de combustíveis fósseis . Resíduos de óleo de cozinha, gordura animal, entre outros resíduos de origem biológica, tais como a borra de café, são exemplos de matérias-primas para a produção de biodiesel. A sua valorização tem interesse quer pela perspetiva ambiental, quer pela económica, pois aumenta não só a flexibilidade e diversificação das matérias-primas, mas também contribui para uma estabilidade de custos e alteração nas políticas agrícolas e de uso do solo. É neste contexto que se enquadra o biodiesel e a borra de café, pretendendo-se aqui efetuar o estudo da produção, à escala laboratorial, de biodiesel a partir da borra de café, por transesterificação enzimática, visando a procura das melhores condições reacionais. Iniciando-se com a caracterização da borra de café, foram avaliados antes e após a extração do óleo da borra de café, diversos parâmetros, de entre os quais se destacam: o teor de humidade (16,97% e 6,79%), teor de cinzas (1,91 e 1,57%), teor de azoto (1,71 e 2,30%), teor de proteínas (10,7 e 14,4%), teor de carbono (70,2 e 71,7%), teor de celulose bruta (14,77 e 18,48%), teor de lenhina (31,03% e 30,97%) e poder calorifico superior (19,5 MJ/kg e 19,9 MJ/kg). Sumariamente, constatou-se que os valores da maioria dos parâmetros não difere substancialmente dos valores encontrados na literatura, tendo sido evidenciado o potencial da utilização desta biomassa, como fonte calorifica para queima e geração de energia. Sendo a caracterização do óleo extraído da borra de café um dos objetivos antecedentes à produção do biodiesel, pretendeu-se avaliar os diferentes parâmetros mais significativos. No que diz respeito à caracterização do óleo extraído, distingue-se a sua viscosidade cinemática (38,04 mm2/s), densidade 0,9032 g/cm3, poder calorífico de 37,9 kcal/kg, índice de iodo igual a 63,0 gI2/ 100 g óleo, o teor de água do óleo foi de 0,15 %, o índice de acidez igual a 44,8 mg KOH/g óleo, ponto de inflamação superior a 120 ºC e teor em ácidos gordos de 82,8%. Inicialmente foram efetuados ensaios preliminares, a fim de selecionar a lipase (Lipase RMIM, TL 100L e CALB L) e álcool (metanol ou etanol puros) mais adequados à produção de biodiesel, pelo que o rendimento de 83,5% foi obtido através da transesterificação mediada pela lipase RMIM, utilizando como álcool o etanol. Sendo outro dos objetivos a otimização do processo de transesterificação enzimática, através de um desenho composto central a três variáveis (razão molar etanol: óleo, concentração de enzima e temperatura), recorrendo ao software JMP 8.0, determinou-se como melhores condições, uma razão molar etanol: óleo 5:1, adição de 4,5% (m/m) de enzima e uma temperatura de 45 ºC, que conduziram a um rendimento experimental equivalente a 96,7 % e teor de ésteres 87,6%. Nestas condições, o rendimento teórico foi de 99,98%. Procurou-se ainda estudar o efeito da adição de água ao etanol, isto é, o efeito da variação da concentração do etanol pela adição de água, para teores de etanol de 92%, 85% e 75%. Verificou-se que até 92% decorreu um aumento da transesterificação (97,2%) para um teor de ésteres de (92,2%), pelo que para teores superiores de água adicionada (75% e 85%) ocorreu um decréscimo no teor final em ésteres (77,2% e 89,9%) e no rendimento da reação (84,3% e 91,9%). Isto indica a ocorrência da reação de hidrólise em maior extensão, que leva ao desvio do equilíbrio no sentido contrário à reação de formação dos produtos, isto é, dos ésteres. Finalmente, relativamente aos custos associados ao processo de produção de biodiesel, foram estimados para o conjunto de 27 ensaios realizados neste trabalho, e que corresponderam a 767,4 g de biodiesel produzido, sendo o custo dos reagentes superior ao custo energético, de 156,16 € e 126,02 €, respetivamente. Naturalmente que não esperamos que, a nível industrial os custos sejam desta ordem de grandeza, tanto mais que há economia de escala e que as enzimas utilizadas no processo deveriam ser reutilizadas diversas vezes.

HAND-FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STATUS AND RELATIONSHIP WITH METEOROLOGICAL VARIABLES IN GUANGZHOU, SOUTHERN CHINA, 2008-2012

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) is becoming one of the extremely common airborne and contact transmission diseases in Guangzhou, southern China, leading public health authorities to be concerned about its increased incidence. In this study, it was used an ecological study plus the negative binomial regression to identify the epidemic status of HFMD and its relationship with meteorological variables. During 2008-2012, a total of 173,524 HFMD confirmed cases were reported, 12 cases of death, yielding a fatality rate of 0.69 per 10,000. The annual incidence rates from 2008 to 2012 were 60.56, 132.44, 311.40, 402.76, and 468.59 (per 100,000), respectively, showing a rapid increasing trend. Each 1 °C rise in temperature corresponded to an increase of 9.47% (95% CI 9.36% to 9.58%) in the weekly number of HFMD cases, while a one hPa rise in atmospheric pressure corresponded to a decrease in the number of cases by 7.53% (95% CI -7.60% to -7.45%). Similarly, each one percent rise in relative humidity corresponded to an increase of 1.48% or 3.3%, and a one meter per hour rise in wind speed corresponded to an increase of 2.18% or 4.57%, in the weekly number of HFMD cases, depending on the variables considered in the model. These findings revealed that epidemic status of HFMD in Guangzhou is characterized by high morbidity but low fatality. Weather factors had a significant influence on the incidence of HFMD.

The fitting of the German yield curve: A dynamic approach using latent, macroeconomic and stock market variables

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

CSR practices and labor retention: How can these variables be related?

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Uncertainty, generalization, and neural representation of relevant variables for decision making

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Biology, Computational Biology.

Analysis of sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Barra do Garças, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, and the influence of environmental variables on the vector density of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912)

INTRODUCTION: Leishmaniasis is an infectious and parasitic zoonotic, non-contagious, vector-borne disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. In Brazil, the major vector of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi (Cunha & Chagas, 1934) is Lutzomyia longipalpis. Barra do Garças, State of Mato Grosso, was designated as a priority area by the Brazilian Ministry of Health for american visceral leishmaniasis, and it is important to identify the vector species present in this municipality. Our objective was to raise sandflies and study the influence of environmental variables on the vector density of Lutzomyia longipalpis. METHODS: We performed entomological monitoring in 3 districts using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) light traps and recorded human cases of american visceral leishmaniasis in the city. We calculated the relative frequency and richness of sandflies and applied a transfer function model to the vector density correlate with relative humidity. RESULTS: The sandfly population was composed of 2 genera and 27 species, totaling 8,097 individuals. Monitoring identified Lutzomyia longipalpis (44%), followed by Lutzomyia lenti (18.9%), Lutzomyia whitmani (13.9%), Lutzomyia carmelinoi (9.1%), Lutzomyia evandroi (5.1%), Lutzomyia termitophila (3.3%), Lutzomyia sordellii (1.9%), and 20 other species (<4%). The male:female ratio was 3.5:1. We observed high species diversity (Dα = 6.65). Lutzomyia longipalpis showed occurrence peaks during the rainy season; there was a temporal correlation with humidity, but not with frequency or temperature. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of Lutzomyia longipalpis in the urban area of Barra do Garças underscores the changing disease profile, which was previously restricted to the wild environment.

Clinical variables associated with leprosy reactions and persistence of physical impairment

Introduction Leprosy is a chronic disease that affects skin and peripheral nerves. Disease complications include reactional episodes and physical impairment. One World Health Organization (WHO) goal of leprosy programs is to decrease the number of grade 2 impairment diagnoses by 2015. This study aims to evaluate clinical factors associated with the occurrence of leprosy reactions and physical impairment in leprosy patients. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of data from medical records of patients followed in two important centers for the treatment of leprosy in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil, from 2005 to 2011. We used the chi-square test to analyze associations between the following categorical variables: gender, age, operational classification, clinical forms, leprosy reactions, corticosteroid treatment, and physical impairment at the diagnosis and after cure. Clinical variables associated with multibacillary leprosy and/or reactional episodes and the presence of any grade of physical impairment after cure were evaluated using the logistic regression model. Results We found that men were more affected by multibacillary forms, reactional episodes, and grade 2 physical impairment at diagnosis. Leprosy reactions were detected in a total of 40% of patients and all were treated with corticosteroids. However, physical impairment was observed in 29.8% of the patients analyzed at the end of the treatment and our multivariate analysis associated a low dose and short period of corticosteroid treatment with persistence of physical impairments. Conclusions Physical impairment should receive an increased attention before and after treatment, and adequate treatment should be emphasized.

Analysis of world economic variables using multidimensional scaling

Waves of globalization reflect the historical technical progress and modern economic growth. The dynamics of this process are here approached using the multidimensional scaling (MDS) methodology to analyze the evolution of GDP per capita, international trade openness, life expectancy, and education tertiary enrollment in 14 countries. MDS provides the appropriate theoretical concepts and the exact mathematical tools to describe the joint evolution of these indicators of economic growth, globalization, welfare and human development of the world economy from 1977 up to 2012. The polarization dance of countries enlightens the convergence paths, potential warfare and present-day rivalries in the global geopolitical scene.

Effect of variables on the thickness of an edible coating applied on frozen fish establishment of the concept of safe dipping time

Glazing is a technique used to retard fish deterioration during storage. This work focuses on the study of distinct variables (fish temperature, coating temperature, dipping time) that affect the thickness of edible coatings (water glazing and 1.5% chitosan) applied on frozen fish. Samples of frozen Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) at -15, -20, and -25 °C were either glazed with water at 0.5, 1.5 or 2.5 °C or coated with 1.5% chitosan solution at 2.5, 5 or 8 °C, by dipping during 10 to 60 s. For both water and chitosan coatings, lowering the salmon and coating solution temperatures resulted in an increase of coating thickness. At the same conditions, higher thickness values were obtained when using chitosan (max. thickness of 1.41±0.05 mm) compared to water (max. thickness of 0.84±0.03 mm). Freezing temperature and crystallization heat were found to be lower for 1.5% chitosan solution than for water, thus favoring phase change. Salmon temperature profiles allowed determining, for different dipping conditions, whether the salmon temperature was within food safety standards to prevent the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. The concept of safe dipping time is proposed to define how long a frozen product can be dipped into a solution without the temperature raising to a point where it can constitute a hazard.

Clustering barotrauma patients in ICU–A data mining based approach using ventilator variables

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 9273

A case study of product usability of a pelvic device used by children with neuromotor impairments

On assistive technology targeted for people with activity limitations and participation, usability issues becomes an essential tool to ensure that the product has the appropriate ergonomics characteristics, in other words, ensure that it fits the specific user´s needs. The aim of this study was to analyze the usability of an adaptive seating device for children with neuromotor impairments, by using kinematic indicators of the reaching movement. The study sample consisted of 13 children with associated neurologic conditions. The tests were developed by using a wooden bench height adjustable, integrated with the adaptive seating device under study, and a system to capture three-dimensional image, called Qualisys Track Manager. The following reaching kinematics variables were measured: maximum reaching velocity, movement duration, index of curvature, and unit movements. It was found that the use of the adaptive seating device had a positive impact on upper limb function in children with neuromotor impairments. It was also noticed an improvement in the reaching movement kinematics, which was statistical significant for the index of curvature and unit movements. As main conclusions, it is possible to point out some positive effects that the product under study seems to have on users' movements, such as the improved movement quality of the upper limb, which could mean a better postural adjustments and higher trunk postural control. By identifying new measures of usability in terms of effectiveness and efficiency for the analyzeddevice, the results obtained may serve also as performance indicators, providing new data that may help to improve the product and eventually modifying it, in order to turn it more compatible with the needs of the considered target population.

Measurement of the top pair production cross-section in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions using kinematic information in the lepton+jets final state with ATLAS

A measurement is presented of the tt¯ inclusive production cross section in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of s√=8  TeV using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement was performed in the lepton+jets final state using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3  fb−1. The cross section was obtained using a likelihood discriminant fit and b-jet identification was used to improve the signal-to-background ratio. The inclusive tt¯ production cross section was measured to be 260±1(stat)+22−23(stat)±8(lumi)±4(beam)  pb assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV, in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of 253+13−15  pb. The tt¯→(e,μ)+jets production cross section in the fiducial region determined by the detector acceptance is also reported.