Morphological and phytochemical characterization of Piper hispidinervum DC. and Piper aduncum L. populations in the state of Acre

Because of the increasing demand of the industry for the production of essential oils, studies highlight the genetic variability of Piper hispidinervum and P. aduncum species according to their patterns of spatial distribution, showing the Amazon region as the source of superior genetic material in the production of safrole and dillapiole. Thus, the objective this study was to characterize the morphology and the phytochemistry of Piper hispidinervum and P. aduncum populations in the Active Germplasm Bank of Embrapa Acre to generate subsidies for the genetic improvement of these species. The results showed that the average values for leaf width and length were 141.67 and 48.04 mm, and petioles length and diameter measurements were 2.83 and 1.78 mm for P. hispidinervum and 189.22; 67.74; 6.03 and 2.22 mm for P. aduncum respectively. The average height and canopy volume measurements were 2.39 m and 6.30 m3 and 2.70 m and 7.78 m3 respectively for each species. For P. hispidinervum, the population with higher performance indried yield and content of safrole was population 02, with 3.9%, and the population 04 showed 94.3% safrole content, both with genetic material from the region of Acrelândia and Plácido de Castro. To P. aduncum, the populations with better performance were 207, 208 and 209, forming a homogeneous group with dried yield average of 3.8% and dillapiol content of 84-85%. Such populations are indicated for selection in breeding program of these species due to better performance.

Evidências epidemiológicas da ocorrência de escabiose, em humanos, causada pelo Sarcoptes scabiei (DeGeer, 1778) var. canis (Bourguignon, 1853)

A partir de 27 cães com sarna sarcóptica, envolvendo 143 pessoas expostas à infestação, observaram-se 58 (40,56%) com lesões cutâneas sugestivas de escabiose. Tais lesões mostraram-se mais incidentes nas mulheres do que nos homens e indivíduos de todas as faixas etárias foram acometidos, indistintamente. Foi demonstrada a presença do agente em 3 dos 12 casos humanos observados que mantiveram contato com animais escabiosos.

Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti larvae to temephos and Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis in integrated control

The susceptibility of field collected Aedes aegypti larvae was evaluated in terms of median lethal time (LT50) and final mortality, when treated with temephos, Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis as well as mixtures of these two agents. Third instar larvae were shown to be more susceptible than early and late fourth instar ones to the entomopathogen. Survival of some individuals when exposed to temephos suggest possible resistance. Temporal synergism in early fourth instar larvae was detected when they were exposed to mixtures of Bti-temephos. The possibility of this integrated treatment is commented on.

Susceptibilidade de populações de Simulium (Chirostilbia) pertinax Kollar, 1832 (Culicomorpha, Simuliidae) ao temephos e a um formulado à base de Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis

O uso de pequenas calhas de madeira no leito de riachos, manualmente colonizadas com borrachudos, é proposto para avaliações da eficiência de larvicidas 3 ou 4 horas após as aplicações. A susceptibilidade larval também foi avaliada pelo critério de TL50. Em três ensaios no litoral do Estado de São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro, populações de Simulium (C.) pertinax Kollar, 1832 mostraram-se resistentes ao temephos, mesmo em altas concentrações. Vectobac 12 AS, à base de Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis mostrou-se mais potente contra larvas dos últimos estádios e eficiente para controle em concentrações a partir de 7.200 UIP/1 (10 min.). O TL50para 3.744 UIP/1 (10 min.) foi de 70,9 minutos.

Esterilização por óxido de etileno: I. Influência do meio de esporulação na resistência dos esporos de Bacillus subtilis var. niger

Tendo por meta a padronização das variáveis influenciando a resistência de esporos empregados no controle do processo esterilizante por óxido de etileno, foram obtidos esporos de Bacillus subtilis var. niger, em meio sólido e líquido sintético de esporulação. Tais esporos, após padronização quantitativa dos 12 lotes obtidos, foram submetidos a exposições subletais como bioindicadores, tendo o papel como suporte. Construiu-se, então, a curva de letalidade característica de cada lote. A análise estatística empregada não evidenciou diferenças entre resistência dos 10 lotes obtidos em meio sólido e os 2 em meio líquido sintético, ressaltando-se a vantagem quanto ao rendimento que caracterizou a primeira metodologia.

Valor em risco (VAR - value at risk): metodologias não paramétricas

O VAR (Value at Risk) ,valor em risco, é a perda máxima provável de uma carteira para um nível de confiança determinado, num horizonte temporal especificado.

A influência dos parâmetros nas estimativas VAR: caso prático

Dissertação de Mestrado em Finanças Empresariais

Solubility of Ethene in Water and in a Medium for the Cultivation of a Bacterial Strain

The solubility of ethene in water and in the fermentation medium of Xanthobacter Py(2) was determined with a Ben-Naim-Baer type apparatus. The solubility measurements were carried out in the temperature range of (293.15 to 323.15) K and at atmospheric pressure with a precision of about +/- 0.3 %. The Ostwald coefficients, the mole fractions of the dissolved ethene, at the gas partial pressure of 101.325 kPa, and the Henry coefficients, at the water vapor pressure, were calculated using accurate thermodynamic relations. A comparison between the solubility of ethene in water and in the cultivation medium has shown that this gas is about 2.4 % more soluble in pure water. On the other hand, from the solubility temperature dependence, the Gibbs energy, enthalpy, and entropy changes for the process of transferring the solute from the gaseous phase to the liquid solutions were also determined. Moreover, the perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory equation of state (PC-SAFT EOS) model was used for the prediction of the solubility of ethene in water. New parameters, k(ij), are proposed for this system, and it was found that using a ky temperature-dependent PC-SAFT EOS describes more accurately the behavior solubilities of ethene in water at 101.325 kPa, improving the deviations to 1 %.

Knowledge extraction from medium voltage load diagrams to support the definition of electrical tariffs

With the electricity market liberalization, distribution and retail companies are looking for better market strategies based on adequate information upon the consumption patterns of its electricity customers. In this environment all consumers are free to choose their electricity supplier. A fair insight on the customer´s behaviour will permit the definition of specific contract aspects based on the different consumption patterns. In this paper Data Mining (DM) techniques are applied to electricity consumption data from a utility client’s database. To form the different customer´s classes, and find a set of representative consumption patterns, we have used the Two-Step algorithm which is a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Each consumer class will be represented by its load profile resulting from the clustering operation. Next, to characterize each consumer class a classification model will be constructed with the C5.0 classification algorithm.

Optimization model for medium term natural gas commitment

In this paper we study the optimal natural gas commitment for a known demand scenario. This study implies the best location of GSUs to supply all demands and the optimal allocation from sources to gas loads, through an appropriate transportation mode, in order to minimize total system costs. Our emphasis is on the formulation and use of a suitable optimization model, reflecting real-world operations and the constraints of natural gas systems. The mathematical model is based on a Lagrangean heuristic, using the Lagrangean relaxation, an efficient approach to solve the problem. Computational results are presented for Iberian and American natural gas systems, geographically organized in 65 and 88 load nodes, respectively. The location model results, supported by the computational application GasView, show the optimal location and allocation solution, system total costs and suggest a suitable gas transportation mode, presented in both numerical and graphic supports.

Efficient implementation of a dominance protocol for wireless medium access

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Gestão do risco em mercados de energia eléctrica recorrendo ao VaR por simulação de Monte Carlo

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica – Sistemas Eléctricos de Energia.

Short- and medium-term effects of manual therapy on cervical active range of motion and pressure pain sensitivity in latent myofascial pain of the upper trapezius muscle: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of different manual techniques on cervical ranges of 17 motion and pressure pain sensitivity in subjects with latent trigger point of the upper trapezius muscle. 18 Methods: One hundred seventeen volunteers, with a unilateral latent trigger point on upper trapezius due to computer 19 work, were randomly divided into 5 groups: ischemic compression (IC) group (n = 24); passive stretching group (n = 20 23); muscle energy technique group (n = 23); and 2 control groups, wait-and-see group (n = 25) and placebo group 21 (n = 22). Cervical spine range of movement was measured using a cervical range of motion instrument as well as 22 pressure pain sensitivity by means of an algometer and a visual analog scale. Outcomes were assessed pretreatment, 23 immediately, and 24 hours after the intervention and 1 week later by a blind researcher. A 4 × 5 mixed repeated- 24 measures analysis of variance was used to examine the effects of the intervention and Cohen d coefficient was used. 25 Results: A group-by-time interaction was detected in all variables (P b .01), except contralateral rotation. The 26 immediate effect sizes of the contralateral flexion, ipsilateral rotation, and pressure pain threshold were large for 3 27 experimental groups. Nevertheless, after 24 hours and 1 week, only IC group maintained the effect size. 28 Conclusions: Manual techniques on upper trapezius with latent trigger point seemed to improve the cervical range of 29 motion and the pressure pain sensitivity. These effects persist after 1 week in the IC group. (J Manipulative Physiol 301 Ther 2013;xx:1-10)

Using a prioritized medium access control protocol for incrementally obtaining an interpolation of sensor readings

This paper addresses sensor network applications which need to obtain an accurate image of physical phenomena and do so with a high sampling rate in both time and space. We present a fast and scalable approach for obtaining an approximate representation of all sensor readings at high sampling rate for quickly reacting to critical events in a physical environment. This approach is an improvement on previous work in that after the new approach has undergone a startup phase then the new approach can use a very small sampling period.

A pseudo-medium-wide 8-competitive interface for two-level compositional real-time scheduling of constrained- deadline sporadic tasks on a uniprocessor

Compositional real-time scheduling clearly requires that ”normal” real-time scheduling challenges are addressed but challenges intrinsic to compositionality must be addressed as well, in particular: (i) how should interfaces be described? and (ii) how should numerical values be assigned to parameters constituting the interfaces? The real-time systems community has traditionally used narrow interfaces for describing a component (for example, a utilization/bandwidthlike metric and the distribution of this bandwidth in time). In this paper, we introduce the concept of competitive ratio of an interface and show that typical narrow interfaces cause poor performance for scheduling constrained-deadline sporadic tasks (competitive ratio is infinite). Therefore, we explore more expressive interfaces; in particular a class called medium-wide interfaces. For this class, we propose an interface type and show how the parameters of the interface should be selected. We also prove that this interface is 8-competitive.