Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in cosmic-ray events

The performance of muon reconstruction in CMS is evaluated using a large data sample of cosmic-ray muons recorded in 2008. Efficiencies of various high-level trigger, identification, and reconstruction algorithms have been measured for a broad range of muon momenta, and were found to be in good agreement with expectations from Monte Carlo simulation. The relative momentum resolution for muons crossing the barrel part of the detector is better than 1% at 10 GeV/c and is about 8% at 500 GeV/c, the latter being only a factor of two worse than expected with ideal alignment conditions. Muon charge misassignment ranges from less than 0.01% at 10GeV/c to about 1% at 500 GeV/c. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.

Study of polypropylene surface modification by air dielectric barrier discharge operated at two different frequencies

In this work, air dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operating at the line frequency (60 Hz) or at frequency of 17 kHz was used to improve the wetting properties of polypropylene (PP). The changes in the surface hydrophilicity were investigated by contact angle measurements. The plasma-induced chemical modifications of PP surface were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The polymer surface morphology and roughness before and after the DBD treatment were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). To compare the plasma treatment effect at different frequencies the variation of the contact angle is presented as a function of the deposited energy density. The results show that both DBD treatments leaded to formation of water-soluble low molecular weight oxidized material (LMWOM), which agglomerated into small mounts on the surface producing a complex globular structure. However, the 60 Hz DBD process produced higher amount of LMWOM on the PP surface comparing to the 17 kHz plasma treatment with the same energy dose. The hydrophilic LMWOM is weakly bounded to the surface and can be easily removed by polar solvents. After washing the DBD-treated samples in de-ionized water their surface roughness and oxygen content were reduced and the PP partially recovered its original wetting characteristics. This suggested that oxidation also occurred at deeper and more permanent levels of the PP samples. Comparing both DBD processes the 17 kHz treatment was found to be more efficient in introducing oxygen moieties on the surface and also in improving the PP wetting properties. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

El apoyo familiar de las personas de edad, en Europa: contrastes e implicaciones

Incluye Bibliografía

A survey of DNA methylation across social insect species, life stages, and castes reveals abundant and caste-associated methylation in a primitively social wasp

DNA methylation plays an important role in the epigenetic control of developmental and behavioral plasticity, with connections to the generation of striking phenotypic differences between castes (larger, reproductive queens and smaller, non-reproductive workers) in honeybees and ants. Here, we provide the first comparative investigation of caste- and life stage-associated DNA methylation in several species of bees and vespid wasps displaying different levels of social organization. Our results reveal moderate levels of DNA methylation in most bees and wasps, with no clear relationship to the level of sociality. Strikingly, primitively social Polistes dominula paper wasps show unusually high overall DNA methylation and caste-related differences in site-specific methylation. These results suggest DNA methylation may play a role in the regulation of behavioral and physiological differences in primitively social species with more flexible caste differences. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Fecundidad fuera de la unión en el Paraguay

Desde 1998 hasta 2008, la tasa global de fecundidad (TGF) en el Paraguay cayó de 4,3 a 2,5 nacimientos por mujer. A su vez, una significativa parte de la TGF corresponde a hijos nacidos fuera de la unión o el matrimonio. En este trabajo se consideran los datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Demografía y Salud Sexual y Reproductiva 2008 (ENDSSR 2008) para estimar la TGF usando el modelo de Bongaarts, y se analiza la capacidad del modelo para predecir sobre la base de la revisión de Stover, que incluye la actividad sexual fuera de la unión o el matrimonio. Finalmente, se utiliza una regresión logística para explorar factores que promueven los nacimientos previos a la primera unión en el Paraguay. Los resultados muestran que la edad, la región de residencia, la religión y el poder adquisitivo se asocian a la probabilidad de que se produzcan nacimientos previos a la unión. Asimismo, se necesitan análisis más detallados para determinar exactamente qué supuestos y qué ecuaciones del modelo de Bongaarts no se ajustan al caso del Paraguay, y también para entender cuáles son los mecanismos subyacentes al comportamiento individual.

Mário Faustino e seus ciclos tradutórios: do arte-literatura ao poesia-experiência

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo geral analisar como ocorre a intertextualidade dos escritores T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Robert Stock, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman e Ezra Pound, na obra de Mário Faustino. De acordo com autores como Bosi (1994) e Benedito Nunes (1985), a poesia de Faustino resulta da soma de poetas que ele leu, em diferentes momentos, tais como: Mallarmé, Yeats, Rilke, cummings, Joyce e Pound, deste último se utilizou do lema “repetir para aprender, criar para renovar”. O lema de Pound remete direta ou indiretamente à presença de outros autores em alguns poemas de Faustino. Mas este fato sempre foi tratado com poucas comprovações práticas. Assim, estabelecemos alguns parâmetros para escolher quais autores seriam analisados: utilizaremos somente autores anglófonos e, dentre eles, apenas autores que Faustino traduziu em suplementos literários e em uma revista. Partindo desse princípio, os autores foram distribuídos em dois momentos que definimos como ciclos: o ciclo-norte, o qual abrangeu o suplemento Arte-Literatura e a revista Norte; e o ciclo-sudeste, o qual abrangeu o suplemento Poesia-Experiência. Em ambos os ciclos, procuramos meios que nos permitissem mostrar que determinados autores estão presentes na obra de Faustino, seja por meio da criação de novos poemas com base em um poema de um autor anglófono ou por meio da incorporação de elementos característicos de determinado escritor também anglófono. Para esta pesquisa utilizamos alguns autores como: Chaves (1986) Kristeva (1974) e Bakhtin (2003; 2006), Santiago (1978), Nunes (1985; 1986; 1997; 2009) e Campos (1977; 1992). Percebemos, de acordo com Compagnon (2007), como ocorre o trabalho de reconstrução da escrita, neste caso na análise entre as traduções realizadas por Mário Faustino e os poemas dele, no qual cada etapa é um liame de uma imensa trama que liga este texto a outros lidos e “recortados”, que é manipulado por um indivíduo, ao mesmo tempo, autor e leitor (Faustino). Assim, o autor/leitor, possuiu como prática a tarefa de citar, ou seja, redizer o que já havia sido dito por outros.

A trade off between separation, detection and sustainability in liquid chromatographic fingerprinting

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Green chromatographic fingerprinting: An environmentally friendly approach for the development of separation methods for fingerprinting complex matrices

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A simple and rapid screening method for sulfonamides in honey using a flow injection system coupled to a liquid waveguide capillary cell

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Alcohol and Quality of Life Among Social Groups for the Elderly in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil

This study aims to investigate alcohol consumption within social groups for the elderly in So Jos, dos Campos-Brazil, and to check for a correlation between alcohol consumption and quality of life. A sample of 500 individuals participating on social groups for the elderly were interviewed by using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to verify alcohol consumption; the Medical Outcomes Study 36 Item Short Form (SF-36), for evaluating quality of life; and the Oral Health Impact Profile short form (OHIP-14), for evaluating oral health-related quality of life. The average alcohol consumption was very low (1.48), being higher in men (2.23) than women (1.09). The SF-36 average score for the domain of physical function was 70.5; for role-physical function 64.9; for bodily pain,68.3; for general health 73.8; for vitality,72.4; for social function 82.8; for role-emotional function 72.3 and for mental health 75.0. The OHIP-14 average score was 3.87. AUDIT did not correlate with SF-36 domains, or with OHIP-14. However, there was a negative correlation between OHIP 14 and all SF-36 domains. This elderly sample has a very low consumption of alcohol, and no correlation was found between alcohol consumption and oral and medical quality of life.

Treatment of Reticulated Vitreous Carbon by Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma for Electrodes Production

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A new surgical technique to treat corneal perforations using amniotic membrane and surgical adhesive

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Surface modification of polymeric materials by cold atmospheric plasma jet

In this work we report the surface modification of different engineering polymers, such as, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) by an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ). It was operated with Ar gas using 10 kV, 37 kHz, sine wave as an excitation source. The aim of this study is to determine the optimal treatment conditions and also to compare the polymer surface modification induced by plasma jet with the one obtained by another atmospheric pressure plasma source the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The samples were exposed to the plasma jet effluent using a scanning procedure, which allowed achieving a uniform surface modification. The wettability assessments of all polymers reveal that the treatment leads to reduction of more than 40 degrees in the water contact angle (WCA). Changes in surface composition and chemical bonding were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-Transformed Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) that both detected incorporation of oxygen-related functional groups. Surface morphology of polymer samples was investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and an increase of polymer roughness after the APPJ treatment was found. The plasma-treated polymers exhibited hydrophobic recovery expressed in reduction of the O-content of the surface upon rinsing with water. This process was caused by the dissolution of low molecular weight oxidized materials (LMWOMs) formed on the surface as a result of the plasma exposure. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A study of the role of the FOXP2 and CNTNAP2 genes in persistent developmental stuttering

A number of speech disorders including stuttering have been shown to have important genetic contributions, as indicated by high heritability estimates from twin and other studies. We studied the potential contribution to stuttering from variants in the FOXP2 gene, which have previously been associated with developmental verbal dyspraxia, and from variants in the CNTNAP2 gene, which have been associated with specific language impairment (SLI). DNA sequence analysis of these two genes in a group of 602 unrelated cases, all with familial persistent developmental stuttering, revealed no excess of potentially deleterious coding sequence variants in the cases compared to a matched group of 487 well characterized neurologically normal controls. This was compared to the distribution of variants in the GNPTAB, GNPTG, and NAGPA genes which have previously been associated with persistent stuttering. Using an expanded subject data set, we again found that NAGPA showed significantly different mutation frequencies in North Americans of European descent (p = 0.0091) and a significant difference existed in the mutation frequency of GNPTAB in Brazilians (p = 0.00050). No significant differences in mutation frequency in the FOXP2 and CNTNAP2 genes were observed between cases and controls. To examine the pattern of expression of these five genes in the human brain, real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR was performed on RNA purified from 27 different human brain regions. The expression patterns of FOXP2 and CNTNAP2 were generally different from those of GNPTAB, GNPTG and NAPGA in terms of relatively lower expression in the cerebellum. This study provides an improved estimate of the contribution of mutations in GNPTAB, GNPTG and NAGPA to persistent stuttering, and suggests that variants in FOXP2 and CNTNAP2 are not involved in the genesis of familial persistent stuttering. This, together with the different brain expression patterns of GNPTAB, GNPTG, and NAGPA compared to that of FOXP2 and CNTNAP2, suggests that the genetic neuropathological origins of stuttering differ from those of verbal dyspraxia and SLI. Published by Elsevier Inc.