Heavy Metal Contamination in Phrynops geoffroanus (Schweigger, 1812) (Testudines: Chelidae) in a River Basin, So Paulo, Brazil

The Piracicaba River basin is considered the most disturbed river basin in the state of So Paulo. Considerable amounts of agricultural residues are seasonally drained into the river, and the region is also highly urbanized and industrialized with an incipient sewage treatment system. The presence of heavy metals has been previously reported for the water and riverbed in Piracicaba river basin. In this study we evaluated 13 heavy metals in the blood of 37 Geoffroy`s side-necked turtles, Phrynops geoffroanus, from Piracicaba River and Piracicamirim Creek, one of its tributaries. Blood levels of As, Co, Cr, Se and Pb varied among sites, whereas Sn varied between males and females. However, no obvious pathology was detected. Serum level of Cu (2,194 ng g(-1)) and Pb (1,150 ng g(-1)) found in this study are the highest ever described for any reptile; however, no clinical symptoms have been detected in the present study. There is no information about the time scale of such contamination, which could be currently subclinical and yet lead to a breakdown in the population reproductive success in a few years. Based on the present study, legal enforcement is urged in order to locate and extirpate heavy metal sources in the Piracicaba River basin. In addition, monitoring should include humans and commercial fish consumed in local markets.

Ergonomic Planned Supply in an Automotive Assembly Line

The objective of this research is to identify the benefits of ergonomic improvements in workstations and in planned parts supply in an automotive assembly line. Another aim is to verify to what extent it is possible to create competitive advantages in the manufacturing area with reduction in vehicle assembly time by using technological investments in ergonomics with benefits to the worker and to the company. The Methods Time Measurement (MTM) methodology is chosen to measure the process time differences. To ensure a reliable comparison, a company in Brazil that has two different types of assembly line installations in the same plant was observed, and both assembly lines were under the same influences in terms of human resources, wages, food, and educational level of the staff. In this article, the first assembly line is called ""new"" and was built 6 years ago, with high investments in ergonomic solutions, in the supply system, and in the process. The other is called ""traditional"" and was built 23 years ago with few investments in the area. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Coupling of a Jahn-Teller pseudorotation with a hindered internal rotation in an isolated molecule: 9-hydroxytriptycene

The irregular vibronic structure in the S-1<--S-0 resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectrum of supersonically cooled triptycene is a result of a classic Exe Jahn-Teller effect [A. Furlan et al., J. Chem. Phys. 96, 7306 (1992)]. This is well characterized and can be used as an effective probe of intramolecular perturbations. Here we examine the S-1<--S-0 R2PI spectrum of 9-hydroxytriptycene and the fluorescence from various excited state vibronic levels. In this system the pseudorotation of the Jahn-Teller vibration is strongly coupled to the torsional motion of the bridgehead hydroxy group. This torsional motion results in a tunneling splitting in both the ground and excited states. The population of the upper level in the ground electronic state results in additional vibronic transitions becoming symmetry allowed in the R2PI spectrum that are forbidden in the bare triptycene molecule. The assignment of the R2PI and fluorescence spectra allows the potential energy surfaces of these vibrational modes to be accurately quantified. The full C-3v vibronic point group must be used to interpret the spectra. The time scale of the internal rotation of the-OH group and the butterfly flapping of the Jahn-Teller pseudorotation are of similar magnitude. The tunneling between the nine minima on the three dimensional potential energy surface is such that the Jahn-Teller pseudorotation occurs in concert with the-OH internal rotation. The Berry phase that is acquired during this motion is discussed. The simple physical picture emerges of the angle between two of the three benzene moieties opening in three equivalent ways in the S-1 electronic state. This geometry follows the position of the hydroxy group, which preferentially orients itself to point between these two rings. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(98)02348-4].

The last glacial cycle from the humid tropics of northeastern Australia: comparison of a terrestrial and a marine record

A detailed pollen record from the Ocean Drilling Program Site 820 core, located on the upper part of the continental slope off the coast of northeast Queensland, was constructed to compare with the existing pollen record from Lynch's Crater on the adjacent Atherton Tableland and allow the production of a regional picture of vegetation and environmental change through the last glacial cycle. Some broad similarities in patterns of vegetation change are revealed, despite the differences between sites and their pollen catchments, which can be related largely to global climate and sea-level changes. The original estimated time scale of the Lynch's Crater record is largely confirmed from comparison with the more thoroughly dated ODP record. Conversely, the Lynch's Crater pollen record has assisted in dating problematic parts of the ODP record. In contrast to Lynch's Crater, which reveals a sharp and sustained reduction in drier araucarian forest around 38,000 yrs BP, considered to have been the result of burning by Aboriginal people, the ODP record indicates, most likely, a stepwise reduction, dating from 140,000 yrs BP or beyond. The earliest reduction shows lack of a clear connection between Araucaria decline and increased burning and suggests that people may not have been involved at this stage. However, a further decline in araucarian forest, possibly around 45,000 yrs BP, which has a more substantial environmental impact and is not related to a time of major climate change, is likely, at least partially, the result of human burning. The suggestion, from the ODP core oxygen isotope record, of a regional sea-surface temperature increase of around 4 degrees C between about 400,000 and 250,000 yrs BP, may have had some influence on the overall decline in Araucaria and its replacement by sclerophyll vegetation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Spectroelectrochemistry and investigation of charge transport mechanisms of iron poly(pyridyl) redox polymers

In this work, we describe the characterization of the complex [Fe(tpy-NH2)(2)](PF6)(2) (tpy-NH2 = bis[4`-(3-aminophenyl)-2, 2`:6`,2 ``-terpyridine]. The complex was oxidatively electropolymerized on glassy.-carbon electrodes in CH3CN/0.1 M tetraethylammonium perchlorate (TEAP) to generate polymer films that exhibit reversible oxidative electrochemical behavior in a wide potential range (0.0-1.6 V), as well as high conductivity and stability/durability. In situ spectrocyclic voltammetry of this modified electrode was carried out on a photodiode array spectrophotometer attached to a potentiostat, which provided UV-Vis absorption spectra of the redox species during the potential sweep. We determined charge transport parameters as a function of time and thickness of the modified electrode, and the results showed that poly-[[Fe(tpy-NH2)(2)](2+)](n) can be made to exhibit three regimes of charge transport behavior by manipulation of the film thickness and the experimental time-scale. Morphological characterization of the film was provided by atomic force microscopy. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chronostratigraphy of the CRP-3 drillhole, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica

An 823 m thick glaciomarine Cenozoic section sitting unconformably on the Lower Devonian Beacon Supergroup was recovered in CRP –3. This paper reviews the chronostratigraphical constraints for the Cenozoic section. Between 3 and 480.27 mbsf 23 unconformity bounded cycles of sediment were recorded. Each unconformity is thought to represent a hiatus of uncertain duration. Four magnetozones have been recognised from the Cenozoic section. The record is complex with several “tiny wiggles” recorded throughout. Biostratigraphical or Sr ages, which could be used to link these magnetozones to the magnetic polarity time scale are restricted to the upper 190 m of sediment. Two diatom datums (Cavitatus jouseanus at 48.9 mbsf and Rhizosolenica antarctica at 68.60 mbsf), together with five Sr-isotope dates derived from molluscan fragments taken from between 10.88 and 190.29 mbsf indicate an early Oligocene (c. 31 Ma) age for this interval. The appearance of a new species of the bivalve ?Adamussium at about 325 mbsf, suggests that the Oligocene age can be extended down to this level. This confirms that the dominantly reversed magnetozone (R1), recorded down to about 340 mbsf, is Chron C12r. The ages imply high sedimentation rates and only minimal time gaps at the sequence boundaries. Below 340 mbsf there are no independent datums to guide the correlation of the magnetozones to the magnetic polarity time scale. However, the absence of in situ dinocysts attributable to Transantarctic Flora, if not a result of environmental control, limits the age of the base of the hole to between c. 33.5 and 35 Ma.

Quantum measurement of coherent tunnelling between quantum dots

We describe the conditional and unconditional dynamics of two coupled quantum dots when one dot is subjected to a measurement of its occupation number by coupling it to a third readout dot via the Coulomb interaction. The readout dot is coupled to source and drain leads under weak bias, and a tunnel current flows through a single bound state when energetically allowed. The occupation of the quantum dot near the readout dot shifts the bound state of the readout dot from a low conducting state to a high conducting state. The measurement is made by continuously monitoring the tunnel current through the readout dot. We show that there is a difference between the time scale for the measurement-induced decoherence between the localized states of the dots, and the time scale on which the system becomes localized due to the measurement.

Solicitors disciplinary hearings in Queensland 1930-2000: a statistical analysis

This article reports on the results of a study undertaken by the author together with her research assistant, Heather Green. The study collected and analysed data from all disciplinary tribunal decisions heard in Queensland since 1930 in an attempt to provide empirical information which has previously been lacking. This article will outline the main features of the disciplinary system in Queensland, describe the research methodology used in the present study and then report on some findings from the study. Reported findings include a profile of solicitors who have appeared before a disciplinary hearing, the types of matters which have attracted formal discipline and the types of orders made by the tribunal. Much of the data is then presented on a time scale so as to reveal any changes over time.

Can long-distance dispersal be inferred from the New Zealand plant fossil record?

New Zealand is generally thought to have been physically isolated from the rest of the world for over 60 million years. But physical isolation may not mean biotic isolation, at least on the time scale of millions of years. Are New Zealand's present complement of plants the direct descendants of what originally rafted from Gondwana? Or has there been total extinction of this initial flora with replacement through long-distance dispersal (a complete biotic turnover)? These are two possible extremes which have come under recent discussion. Can the fossil record be used to decide the relative importance of the two endpoints, or is it simply too incomplete and too dependent on factors of chance? This paper suggests two approaches to the problem-the use of statistics to apply levels of confidence to first appearances in the fossil record and the analysis of trends based on the entire palynorecord. Statistics can suggest that the first appearance of a taxon was after New Zealand broke away from Gondwana-as long as the first appearance in the record was not due to an increase in biomass from an initially rare state. Two observations can be drawn from the overall palynorecord that are independent of changes in biomass: (1) The first appearance of palynotaxa common to both Australia and New Zealand is decidedly non-random. Most taxa occur first in Australia. This suggests a bias in air or water transport from west to east. (2) The percentage of endemic palynospecies in New Zealand shows no simple correlation with the time New Zealand drifted into isolation. The conifer macrorecord also hints at complete turnover since the Cretaceous.

Extreme Value Theory versus traditional GARCH approaches applied to financial data: a comparative evaluation

Although stock prices fluctuate, the variations are relatively small and are frequently assumed to be normal distributed on a large time scale. But sometimes these fluctuations can become determinant, especially when unforeseen large drops in asset prices are observed that could result in huge losses or even in market crashes. The evidence shows that these events happen far more often than would be expected under the generalized assumption of normal distributed financial returns. Thus it is crucial to properly model the distribution tails so as to be able to predict the frequency and magnitude of extreme stock price returns. In this paper we follow the approach suggested by McNeil and Frey (2000) and combine the GARCH-type models with the Extreme Value Theory (EVT) to estimate the tails of three financial index returns DJI,FTSE 100 and NIKKEI 225 representing three important financial areas in the world. Our results indicate that EVT-based conditional quantile estimates are much more accurate than those from conventional AR-GARCH models assuming normal or Student’s t-distribution innovations when doing out-of-sample estimation (within the insample estimation, this is so for the right tail of the distribution of returns).

Validação do questionário de desenvolvimento emocional em adultos – QDE_A

O tema da inteligência emocional tem vindo a ganhar protagonismo no plano pessoal, organizacional e societário. A emocionalidade e a racionalidade devem ser ambas consideradas e valorizadas de forma equilibrada. Este estudo teve como amostra 507 enfermeiros a trabalhar em organizações do ramo da saúde. Estes profissionais têm uma tarefa complexa, uma vez que lidam diariamente com pessoas, que devido à sua situação de saúde fragilizada, estão mais vulneráveis e com o seu estado emocional mais alterado, o que remete para a necessidade de avaliar o desenvolvimento emocional dos mesmos. Definimos como objetivo geral contribuir para um maior conhecimento empírico sobre o desenvolvimento emocional em adultos. Os objetivos específicos são: a tradução e validação do questionário de desenvolvimento emocional em adultos (QDE_A) de Pérez-Escoda, Bisquerra, Filella e Soldevila (2010), adaptado à situação portuguesa, em enfermeiros; e a avaliação do desenvolvimento emocional dos mesmos. No que respeita à metodologia, o estudo é de carácter quantitativo, descritivo, exploratório e inferencial. Numa amostra de 507 enfermeiros, de duas regiões com caraterísticas socioeconómicas distintas, foi aplicado o QDE_A.A validação do mesmo foi concretizada através de uma análise fatorial exploratória e de uma análise fatorial confirmatória (CFA). Como objetivado foi conseguida a validação do QDE_A, tendo sido obtido um modelo constituído por cinco dimensões do desenvolvimento emocional, muito aproximado ao modelo proposto por Goleman (1995), sendo, assim, possível a sua utilização em investigações futuras e em intervenções na área da gestão dos recursos humanos e coaching. Relativamente ao objetivo de estudo, sobre o desenvolvimento emocional dos enfermeiros, verificámos que estes possuem níveis médios a elevados de desenvolvimento emocional global e que, dentro das dimensões, a auto motivação e a gestão das emoções são as mais evidenciadas, tendo em vista o incremento do desenvolvimento da inteligência emocional destes profissionais.

La biochronologie des Mammifères néogènes d'Europe. L'échelle MN, son application à la succession des faunes du Portugal

Similarly to other organisms, Vertebrates changed during the Cenozoic Era. Mammals are the only ones to change quickly; their well mineralised bones and teeth are often fossilised. They are highly diverse and even isolated teeth can be identified. They are thus a good tool for establishing a biochronological framewoork. Among Mammals, Rodents with a short lifetime evolve more quickly than the large Mammals. In Europe, the first elaborated zonation was investigated by the Regional Committee on Neogene Stratigraphy and issued as the MN Zonation (Mammals Neogene) by Mein, 1976. During the following years, progress in knowledge lead to new charts. The latest one resulted from collective work (de Bruijn et al., 1992). Bîochronology gives relative data; if we desire to have numerical age estimates, we must correlate these results with radiometrie data, marine biostratigraphîcal units or the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale. For Europe, these results are summarised by Steininger et al. (1989-1996) and Steininger (1999). After some recents developments on MN Zonation, here is discussed the succession of Neogene small mammals Portuguese localities. Fortunately these localities are in majority inbedded in marine context. Their assigment to MN Zones is proposed and correlations with the spanish Aragonian Scale (Daams el al., 1999) are also suggested. In fact, some differences appear between Portugal and Aragonian assemblages, probably for ecological reasons. Therefore, the MN zonation is always useful for short and long distance biochronological correlations.

Aplicação da metodologia de “lean management” no processo de desenvolvimento de produto

O presente trabalho de dissertação teve como objetivo a implementação de metodologias de Lean Management e avaliação do seu impacto no processo de Desenvolvimento de Produto. A abordagem utilizada consistiu em efetuar uma revisão da literatura e levantamento do Estado da Arte para obter a fundamentação teórica necessária à implementação de metodologias Lean. Prosseguiu com o levantamento da situação inicial da organização em estudo ao nível das atividades de desenvolvimento de produto, práticas de gestão documental e operacional e ainda de atividades de suporte através da realização de inquéritos e medições experimentais. Este conhecimento permitiu criar um modelo de referência para a implementação de Lean Management nesta área específica do desenvolvimento de produto. Após implementado, este modelo foi validado pela sua experimentação prática e recolha de indicadores. A implementação deste modelo de referência permitiu introduzir na Unidade de Desenvolvimento de Produto e Sistemas (DPS) da organização INEGI, as bases do pensamento Lean, contribuindo para a criação de um ambiente de Respeito pela Humanidade e de Melhoria Contínua. Neste ambiente foi possível obter ganhos qualitativos e quantitativos nas várias áreas em estudo, contribuindo de forma global para um aumento da eficiência e eficácia da DPS. Prevê-se que este aumento de eficiência represente um aumento da capacidade instalada na Organização, pela redução anual de 2290 horas de desperdício (6.5% da capacidade total da unidade) e pela redução significativa em custos operacionais. Algumas das implementações de melhoria propostas no decorrer deste trabalho, após verificado o seu sucesso, extravasaram a unidade em estudo e foram aplicadas transversalmente à da organização. Foram também obtidos ganhos qualitativos, tais como a normalização de práticas de gestão documental e a centralização e agilização de fluxos de informação. Isso permitiu um aumento de qualidade dos serviços prestados pela redução de correções e retrabalho. Adicionalmente, com o desenvolvimento de uma nova ferramenta que permite a monitorização do estado atual dos projetos a nível da sua percentagem de execução (cumprimento de objetivos), prazos e custos, bem como a estimação das datas de conclusão dos projetos possibilitando o replaneamento do projeto bem como a detecção atempada de desvios. A ferramenta permite também a criação de um histórico que identifica o esforço horário associado à realização das atividades/tarefas das várias áreas de Desenvolvimento de Produto e desta forma pode ser usada como suporte à orçamentação futura de atividades similares. No decorrer do projeto, foram também criados os mecanismos que permitem o cálculo de indicadores das competências técnicas e motivações intrínsecas individuais da equipa DPS. Estes indicadores podem ser usados na definição por parte dos gestores dos projetos da composição das equipas de trabalho, dos executantes de tarefas individuais do projeto e dos destinatários de ações de formação. Com esta informação é expectável que se consiga um maior aproveitamento do potencial humano e como consequência um aumento do desempenho e da satisfação pessoal dos recursos humanos da organização. Este caso de estudo veio demonstrar que o potencial de melhoria dos processos associados ao desenvolvimento de produto através de metodologias de Lean Management é muito significativo, e que estes resultam em ganhos visíveis para a organização bem como para os seus elementos individualmente.

Projeto e desenvolvimento de células robotizadas para soldadura e cladding

A utilização de equipamentos robóticos para o processo de soldadura por arco elétrico teve um forte crescimento nas décadas de 80 e 90, altura em que o custo e fiabilidade da tecnologia passou a permitir a integração de robôs em linhas de produção ou em células de fabrico. Depressa cresceram as exigências de uma produção com qualidade repetitiva e facilmente ajustável, e as restrições ao uso de processos manuais ou de tecnologias com pouca flexibilidade. Desde o início do século XXI que a renovação de uma estação de fabrico de peças soldadas para produção em série, especialmente no setor automóvel, parece forçada à integração de robôs industriais, que assim se tornaram símbolos de produtividade. A KAMAZ encontra-se atualmente a renovar alguns dos seus processos de fabrico, incluindo as áreas de soldadura por arco ou cladding. Esta Dissertação aborda o trabalho elaborado, depois de contratualizada com a ABB Rússia a instalação de novas células de fabrico robotizado nesta empresa. Este projeto tem início com o levantamento das necessidades, a verificação do processo existente, e a procura da solução tecnológica que se adapte a essas condições e cumpra os requisitos acordados. São realizadas modelações e simulações off-line em 3D, usando o software RobotStudio da ABB, que permitiram testar cada solução e analisar a sua adequação e viabilidade. Para maior garantia de se obter a qualidade esperada na fusão e deposição do material por processo com arco elétrico revestido a gás, foram realizados testes reais utilizando equipamento robótico em condições baseadas nos testes feitos no ambiente virtual. Por último, são ajustadas as localizações dos postos de trabalho ao layout existente e é feito o balanceamento do tempo de operação manual com o tempo do processo robotizado. Este projeto de Tese termina com a aceitação do cliente para a solução encontrada e para os resultados dos testes reais de ambos os processos.

Characterization of an OPCPA laser amplifier based on the nonlinear crystal YCOB

The work described in this thesis was performed at the Laboratory for Intense Lasers (L2I) of Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon (IST-UL). Its main contribution consists in the feasibility study of the broadband dispersive stages for an optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier based on the nonlinear crystal yttrium calcium oxi-borate (YCOB). In particular, the main goal of this work consisted in the characterization and implementation of the several optical devices involved in pulse expansion and compression of the amplified pulses to durations of the order of a few optical cycles (20 fs). This type of laser systems find application in fields such as medicine, telecommunications and machining, which require high energy, ultrashort (sub-100 fs) pulses. The main challenges consisted in the preliminary study of the performance of the broadband amplifier, which is essential for successfully handling pulses with bandwidths exceeding 100 nm when amplified from the μJ to 20 mJ per pulse. In general, the control, manipulation and characterization of optical phenomena on the scale of a few tens of fs and powers that can reach the PW level are extremely difficult and challenging due to the complexity of the phenomena of radiation-matter interaction and their nonlinearities, observed at this time scale and power level. For this purpose the main dispersive components were characterized in detail, specifically addressing the demonstration of pulse expansion and compression. The tested bandwidths are narrower than the final ones, in order to confirm the parameters of these elements and predict the performance for the broadband pulses. The work performed led to additional tasks such as a detailed characterization of laser oscillator seeding the laser chain and the detection and cancelling of additional sources of dispersion.