Shared Escovopsis parasites between leaf-cutting and non-leaf-cutting ants in the higher attine fungus-growing ant symbiosis

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

Comparative morpho-physiology of the metapleural glands of two Atta leaf-cutting ant queens nesting in clayish and organic soils

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

Respiratory regulation in workers of the leaf cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, 1908

1. Respiratory rates of workers of the leaf cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa were measured at different oxygen pressures, at 25°C. 2. In experiments where different ants were used at each of the oxygen pressures, respiration was regulated down to 70.8 mmHg. 3. When the same ants were submitted in sequence to declining pO2, the 'oxygen dependence indexes' (Tang P.S. (1933) Quart. Rev. Biol. 8, 260-274) also suggested a good regulatory capacity. 4. The results are discussed in terms of the variation of the partial pressures of O2 and CO2 that the ants probably encounter when wandering to and from the nest to forage, and when performing their heavy tasks (leaf transport, offspring and fungus care). 5. CO2 rise and O2 fall, from ants' respiration inside the ant hill, may act as the factors that, in a reflex way, keep the spiracles open and increase ventilation and the frequency of CO2 emission to keep the oxygen supply adequate to face the energetic demand of the routine level of activity of the workers, when passing from normoxia (air) to hypoxia (in nest galleries).

Growth Control of Microbial in Miscible Cutting Fluids Using Ultraviolet Radiation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Grinding of AISI 4340 steel with interrupted cutting by aluminum oxide grinding wheel

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

Produtividade de biomassa de cana-de-açúcar em função dos índices de vegetação utilizando técnicas de sensoriamento remoto

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Ciência do Solo) - FCAV

Cutting Cursive: Is Handwriting Still Important to Today’s Preservice Teacher?

Handwriting is a tool for communication often untaught that has effects on learning and long-term development for students of the future. Handwriting used to be needed in order to function in society, however, today that skill is no longer needed. New technology, current teaching methods and societal needs have caused handwriting to be overlooked in many school districts. Classrooms are overwhelmed with information and many schools are simply running out of time to teach cursive, therefore no longer making it a priority. Handwriting is a perceptual motor skill requiring higher cognitive thinking, something that most primary school children find difficult, yet it is still needed in the school curriculum and provides a stable foundation for students of the future. The questions to be addressed by my research are to examine the factors that have led to the demise of cursive writing in elementary schools. I will research the complex issues that have contributed to the decline of cursive handwriting. This will include my investigation into the factors that technology has played, along with societal needs. I will interview preservice teachers, those students in college preparing to become teachers, and try to understand where the importance for teaching handwriting started and ended. By the end of my research I want to have constructed a timeline of events to explain the demise of this needed skill. My methodology for this research will be to gather information from various primary and secondary literature review sources. I want to understand when cursive started to disappear from the curriculum and why.

Ribbon Cutting at Kimmel Education and Research Center

It is marvelously fitting that we gather here in Nebraska City on this lovely fall afternoon to officially celebrate this wonderful new center. Fall is a traditional-time of harvest in Nebraska, and for many of us there is a deep and abiding satisfaction in bringing a good crop to fruition. Apple harvests at Nebraska City orchards long have brought visitors here each year for fresh fruit and cider.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MICRO-SITE CONDITIONS FROM RESTORED AREAS WITH DIFFERENT AGES

Regeneration microsites are characterized by diverse combinations of attributes which assure the best conditions for seed germination and seedling establishment. By understanding these attributes, we can contribute to determining better management methodologies for reestablishing ecological process in sites under restoration. Thus, we sought to characterize and differentiate the micro-site conditions of restoration plantings to indentify likely physical-chemical limitations for the establishment of native tree species in the forest understory. This study was carried out in reforestation plantings with different ages (10, 22 and 55 years). The physical-chemical characterization of the micro-site of regeneration of the study areas was carried out by evaluating the soil compression level, porosity, humidity, organic matter and nutrients content and granulometry, as well as litter dry mass and canopy cover. An increase on the canopy cover and soil porosity, humidity, clay and organic matter content were observed in the oldest restored areas, as well as a decrease in soil compression. Thus, these findings demonstrated that the evaluated microsite properties are in process of restoration. Therefore, microsite conditions for seedling establishment become even more similar to reference ecosystems as restoration planting evolve.

Geochemistry and Pb-207/Pb-206 zircon ages of granitoids from the southern portion of the Tamboril-Santa Quiteria granitic-migmatitic complex, Ceara Central Domain, Borborema Province (NE Brazil)

The Tamboril-Santa Quiteria Complex is an important Neoproterozoic granitic-migmatitic unit from the Ceara Central Domain that developed from ca. 650 to 610 Ma. In general the granitoids range in composition from diorite to granite with predominance (up to 85%) of granitic to monzogranitic composition with biotite as the main mafic AFM phase. Geochemical and Pb-207/Pb-206 evaporation zircon geochronology studies were applied in a group of these abundant monzogranitic rocks from the region of Novo Oriente in the southern portion of the Ceara Central Domain. In this area the granitoids are weakly peraluminous biotite granitoids and deformed biotite granitoids of high-K calc-alkaline and ferroan composition, which we interpreted as primary magmas (segregated diatexites) derived from the partial melting of crustal material. The close temporal relation of this magmatism with local eclogitic and regional high temperature metamorphism in Ceara Central Domain point out to an orogenic setting, arguably emplaced during the collisional stage. Subordinate coeval juvenile mantle incursions are also present. This crustally derived magmatism is the primary product of the continental thickening that resulted from the collision between the rocks represented by the Amazonian-West African craton (Sao Luiz cratonic fragment) to the northwest and the Paleoproterozoic-Archean basement of the Borborema Province to the southeast along the Transbrasiliano tectonic corridor. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental investigations of heat transfer coefficients of cutting fluids in metal cutting processes: analysis of workpiece phenomena in a given case study

This paper reports an experimental method to estimate the convective heat transfer of cutting fluids in a laminar flow regime applied on a thin steel plate. The heat source provided by the metal cutting was simulated by electrical heating of the plate. Three different cooling conditions were evaluated: a dry cooling system, a flooded cooling system and a minimum quantity of lubrication cooling system, as well as two different cutting fluids for the last two systems. The results showed considerable enhancement of convective heat transfer using the flooded system. For the dry and minimum quantity of lubrication systems, the heat conduction inside the body was much faster than the heat convection away from its surface. In addition, using the Biot number, the possible models were analyzed for conduction heat problems for each experimental condition tested.

Generating unconstrained two-dimensional non-guillotine cutting patterns by a Recursive Partitioning Algorithm

In this study, a dynamic programming approach to deal with the unconstrained two-dimensional non-guillotine cutting problem is presented. The method extends the recently introduced recursive partitioning approach for the manufacturer's pallet loading problem. The approach involves two phases and uses bounds based on unconstrained two-staged and non-staged guillotine cutting. The method is able to find the optimal cutting pattern of a large number of pro blem instances of moderate sizes known in the literature and a counterexample for which the approach fails to find known optimal solutions was not found. For the instances that the required computer runtime is excessive, the approach is combined with simple heuristics to reduce its running time. Detailed numerical experiments show the reliability of the method. Journal of the Operational Research Society (2012) 63, 183-200. doi: 10.1057/jors.2011.6 Published online 17 August 2011

G'day Gondwana - the final accretion of a supercontinent: U-Pb ages from the post-orogenic Sao Vicente Granite, northern Paraguay Belt, Brazil

The Paraguay Belt in central South America is part of a larger chain of orogenic belts, including the Araguaia Belt to the northeast and potentially the Pampean Belt to the south, which are believed to mark the suture zone of the Clymene Ocean - interpreted amongst the youngest of the Gondwana amalgamation orogens. The post-orogenic Sao Vicente Granite crops out in the northern Paraguay Belt and cuts the basal unit of the deformed and metamorphosed Cuiaba Group. The age of this granite therefore provides a long sort after minimum age for orogenesis within the belt. Dating crystallisation of this important intrusion is challenging due to the presence of considerable common-Pb. However, based on LA-ICPMS dating of more than 100 zircons from three separate samples we interpret a robust crystallisation age for the Sao Vicente batholith at 518 +/- 4 Ma. This age constrains the termination of deformation within the Paraguay Belt and the final accretion of the supercontinent Gondwana. (C) 2011 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cutting Edge: Brazilian Pemphigus Foliaceus Anti-Desmoglein 1 Autoantibodies Cross-React with Sand Fly Salivary LJM11 Antigen

The environmental factors that contribute to the development of autoimmune diseases are largely unknown. Endemic pemphigus foliaceus in humans, known as Fogo Selvagem (FS) in Brazil, is mediated by pathogenic IgG4 autoantibodies against desmoglein 1 (Dsg1). Clusters of FS overlap with those of leishmaniasis, a disease transmitted by sand fly (Lutzomyia longipalpis) bites. In this study, we show that salivary Ags from the sand fly, and specifically the LJM11 salivary protein, are recognized by FS Abs. Anti-Dsg1 monoclonal autoantibodies derived from FS patients also cross-react with LJM11. Mice immunized with LJM11 generate anti-Dsg1 Abs. Thus, insect bites may deliver salivary Ags that initiate a cross-reactive IgG4 Ab response in genetically susceptible individuals and lead to subsequent FS. Our findings establish a clear relationship between an environmental, noninfectious Ag and the development of potentially pathogenic autoantibodies in an autoimmune disease. The Journal of Immunology, 2012, 189: 1535-1539.

Considerations for Assessing Maximum Critical Temperatures in Small Ectothermic Animals: Insights from Leaf-Cutting Ants

The thermal limits of individual animals were originally proposed as a link between animal physiology and thermal ecology. Although this link is valid in theory, the evaluation of physiological tolerances involves some problems that are the focus of this study. One rationale was that heating rates shall influence upper critical limits, so that ecological thermal limits need to consider experimental heating rates. In addition, if thermal limits are not surpassed in experiments, subsequent tests of the same individual should yield similar results or produce evidence of hardening. Finally, several non-controlled variables such as time under experimental conditions and procedures may affect results. To analyze these issues we conducted an integrative study of upper critical temperatures in a single species, the ant Atta sexdens rubropiosa, an animal model providing large numbers of individuals of diverse sizes but similar genetic makeup. Our specific aims were to test the 1) influence of heating rates in the experimental evaluation of upper critical temperature, 2) assumptions of absence of physical damage and reproducibility, and 3) sources of variance often overlooked in the thermal-limits literature; and 4) to introduce some experimental approaches that may help researchers to separate physiological and methodological issues. The upper thermal limits were influenced by both heating rates and body mass. In the latter case, the effect was physiological rather than methodological. The critical temperature decreased during subsequent tests performed on the same individual ants, even one week after the initial test. Accordingly, upper thermal limits may have been overestimated by our (and typical) protocols. Heating rates, body mass, procedures independent of temperature and other variables may affect the estimation of upper critical temperatures. Therefore, based on our data, we offer suggestions to enhance the quality of measurements, and offer recommendations to authors aiming to compile and analyze databases from the literature.