Pathogenicity of isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorokin towards the cattle tick Boophilus microplus (Can.) (Acari : Ixodidae) under laboratory conditions

The pathogenic activity of Metarhizium anisopliae on Boophilus microplus females was assessed using five fungal isolates. Groups of 8 engorged ticks collected from cattle on free pasture were inoculated by immersion for 5 seconds in a spore suspension containing 2.5 x 10(8) conidia/ml. The groups were transferred to moist chambers in which they were maintained at 27 +/- 1 degreesC for about 15 days, their mortality being determined every 2, or occasionally 3, days. The isolate that produced the best results in this assay was used to inoculate female ticks with spore suspensions containing 0, 7.5 x 105, 7.5 x 10(6), 7.5 x 10(7) and 7.5 x 10(8) conidia/ml, under the same conditions as described above. The pathogenic action of M. anisopliae on engorged females was clearly demonstrated. Isolates E9 and AM were more effective, causing high tick mortality as well as reduced oviposition. The concentration of 7.5 x 10(8) conidia/ml was the most effective, with the fungus sporulating on 91.1% of the ticks. Mean percent oviposition was highest in the control treatment and lowest in the treatment with 7.5 x 10(8) conidia/ml.

Methodological contributions towards the study of health care production: lessons from a research study on barriers and access in mental health

This article presents methodological contributions and a conceptual innovation for thinking about the production of health care, stemming from a study on access and barriers in mental health carried out in the municipality of Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil). The study used a cartographic approach and, after an initial identification of the most complex cases (on the part of the teams of workers), adopted the users as guides to explore the different levels of production of their lives and to evaluate the possibility of forming a network of existential connections that produce life as a fundamental analyzer of access or barriers to care.

Thermally activated dynamics of the tilts of the CuO6 octahedra, hopping of interstitial O, and possible instability towards the LTT phase in La2CuO4+δ

The anelastic spectrum (dynamic Young's modulus and elastic energy absorption) of La2CuO4+δ has been measured between 1 and 700 K with 0<δ<0.02. The spectrum of stoichiometric La2CuO4 in the low-temperature orthorhombic (LTO) phase is dominated by two intense relaxation processes which cause softenings of 16% around 150 K and 9% below 30 K at f∼1 kHz. The relaxation at 150 K is attributed to the presence of a fraction of the CuO6 octahedra which are able to change their tilted configuration by thermal activation between orientations which are nearly energetically equivalent, possibly within the twin boundaries. The relaxation below 30 K is governed by tunneling, and involves a considerable fraction of the lattice atoms. It is proposed that the double-well potentials for the low-temperature relaxation are created by the tendency of the LTO phase to form low-temperature tetragonal (LTT) domains, which however are not stabilized like when La is partially substituted with Ba. On doping with excess O, the relaxation rates of these processes are initially enhanced by hole doping, while their intensities are depressed by lattice disorder; an explanation of this behavior is provided. Excess O also causes two additional relaxation processes. The one appearing at lower values of δ is attributed to the hopping of single interstitial O2- ions, with a hopping rate equal to τ-1=2×10-14exp(-5600/T) s. The second process is slower and can be due to O pairs or other complexes containing excess O.

A territorial perspective: towards the consolidation of human settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Trends in United States trade with Latin America and the Caribbean and trade policy towards the region

Includes Bibliography

Computer techniques towards the automatic characterization of graphite particles in metallographic images of industrial materials

The automatic characterization of particles in metallographic images has been paramount, mainly because of the importance of quantifying such microstructures in order to assess the mechanical properties of materials common used in industry. This automated characterization may avoid problems related with fatigue and possible measurement errors. In this paper, computer techniques are used and assessed towards the accomplishment of this crucial industrial goal in an efficient and robust manner. Hence, the use of the most actively pursued machine learning classification techniques. In particularity, Support Vector Machine, Bayesian and Optimum-Path Forest based classifiers, and also the Otsu's method, which is commonly used in computer imaging to binarize automatically simply images and used here to demonstrated the need for more complex methods, are evaluated in the characterization of graphite particles in metallographic images. The statistical based analysis performed confirmed that these computer techniques are efficient solutions to accomplish the aimed characterization. Additionally, the Optimum-Path Forest based classifier demonstrated an overall superior performance, both in terms of accuracy and speed. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Report on the activities of the working group on the monitoring of progress towards the millennium development goals

Includes bibliography

Programme of work of the working group on the monitoring of progress towards the millennium development goals

Includes bibliography

Report on the activities of the Working Group on the monitoring of progress towards the millennium development goals

Incluye Bibliografía

Desarrollo sostenible, pobreza y género en América Latina y el Caribe: medidas hacia el año 2000 = Sustainable development, poverty and gender in Latin America and the Caribbean: working towards the year 2000

Incluye Bibliografía

Sustancias y desechos peligrosos: impacto del movimiento transfronterizo hacia la región de América Latina y el Caribe y posibles acciones preventivas y de control. Parte I: la realidad del tráfico ilícito y los mecanismos institucionales para su prevención = Hazardous products and wastes: impact of transboundary movement towards the Latin American and Caribbean region and possibilities for preventing and controlling it. Part one: illegal traffic and institutional machinery for preventing it

Incluye Bibliografía

Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: report of the Secretary-General

Includes bibliography

Sustancias y desechos peligrosos: impacto del movimiento transfronterizo hacia la región de América Latina y el Caribe y posibles acciones preventivas y de control. Parte II: el papel de la CEPAL = Hazardous products and wastes: impact of transboundary movement towards the Latin American and Caribbean region and possibilities for preventing and controlling it. Part two: the role of ECLAC

Incluye Bibliografía