A geração da vida em Leibniz

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Questionnaire and survey methodology. Saint Lucia: Survey of living condition and household budgets 2005/2006

This manual documents some of the material related to the Survey of Living Conditions and Household Budgets (SLC/HBS) conducted in Saint Lucia by the Kairi Consultants Limited and National Assessment Team between 2005 and 2006. The SLC/HBS is a sample survey which generates data on households and individuals in the country. The main objectives of this survey were (i) to collect information from households on their expenditure patterns, income and other characteristics and; (ii) to revise the 'average shopping basket' used in constructing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the country, and the relative weights of the items in the basket. The survey also provided valuable data for an assessment of the impact of socio-economic policies on the living conditions of the resident population in Saint Lucia. Further, data on households gathered in the survey also provide valuable inputs for the compilation of the country's National Accounts statistics relating to the household sector. This manual was developed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) – Subregional Headquarters in the Caribbean as a supplementary document for the Caribbean Household Surveys Database (CHSD). The main components of this manual include survey methodology and the questionnaires used for data collection. The latter are included in the annex at the end of the document. All information contained therein was provided by the Statistics Department in Saint Lucia. The ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean is pleased to acknowledge the Saint Lucia Statistics Department for graciously consenting to the use of their surveys and metadata under the project Improving Caribbean Household Surveys. Due recognition must also be given to the Statistics and Economics Projection Division at ECLAC (Santiago) who provided guidance in the standardization of the datasets and the creation of the Caribbean Household Surveys Databank.

Seasonal changes in the gonadossomatic index, allometric condition factor and sex ratio of an auchenipterid catfish from eastern Amazonia

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar alterações sazonais no índice gonadossomático (IGS%), fator de condição (K) e proporção sexual, a fim de determinar o período de atividade reprodutiva do bagre Auchenipterichthys longimanus (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae), a partir da análise de exemplares coletados em igarapés da Floresta Nacional de Caxiuanã, estado do Pará, Brasil. Através de coletas bimestrais entre julho de 2008 e julho de 2009, foram capturados 589 exemplares de A. longimanus, sendo 251 machos e 338 fêmeas. Dentre os machos, 171 exemplares foram classificados como adultos e 80 foram jovens, e dentre as fêmeas, 249 eram adultas e 89 jovens. Por meio do estabelecimento de uma equação senoidal, a análise do IGS% evidenciou uma assincronia reprodutiva entre os sexos, pois os machos obtiveram maiores valores de IGS% em janeiro e as fêmeas apresentaram seu pico em março. Para os valores de IGS% de machos, a equação senoide mostrou-se significante somente para os valores brutos (P=0,001), sendo não identificada uma tendência com os valores médios do IGS% (P=0,136). Para as fêmeas, os valores de significância da equação senoide para o IGS% foram obtidos tanto para os dados brutos (P=0,012) quanto para os dados médios (P=0,026). Para o Fator de Condição, a equação senoide demonstrou variação nos valores brutos e médios de machos adultos (P=0,02 e P=0,00, respectivamente) e nos valores brutos de fêmeas (P=0,04), refletindo diferenças nos padrões de investimento energético entre os sexos. Em relação à proporção sexual, foi observada uma maior frequência de capturas de fêmeas reprodutivas em relação aos machos nos meses de Janeiro e Março de 2009, sugerindo um padrão de segregação sexual com fins reprodutivos. Esses parâmetros são fundamentais na avaliação, conservação e manejo dos estoques naturais de peixes, assim como para subsidiar estratégias e procedimentos para a preservação e conservação da ictiofauna.

Histopathological Condition of the Remaining Tissues after Endodontic Infection of Rat Immature Teeth

Introduction: Recently, case reports have shown that immature teeth diagnosed with necrotic pulp and periapical periodontitis can be repaired through a regenerative endodontic procedure. True regeneration depends on the presence of stem cells in the remaining vital tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate the histologic condition of the pulp tissue, root apical papilla, and periapical tissues after inducing endodontic infection in immature rat teeth for different periods. Methods: This study evaluated 18 first upper rat molars (36 roots). Periapical lesions were induced and were confirmed radiographically, and the animals were divided into 3 groups according to the days of pulp exposure for endodontic infection induction: 30, 60, and 90 days. Histologic analysis was performed in 5 different areas (ie, cervical, middle, and apical root canal thirds; the apical papilla; and the periapex surrounding the apical papilla). Results: At 30 days, one third of the specimens still showed vital but intensely inflamed pulp tissue in the apical third and vital apical papilla with varying degrees of inflammation. After 60 days, the results were similar with respect to the apical pulp tissue and apical papilla. Completely necrotic pulp tissue in the space canal and vital apical papilla were observed in about 67% of the cases after 90 days. Conclusions: Vital pulp tissue was observed in the apical third until 60 days and in the vital apical papilla until 90 days of infection in a rat model.

Defining a fish bio-assessment tool to monitoring the biological condition of a cascade reservoirs system in tropical area

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

Type 2 Diabetes Elicits Lower Nitric Oxide, Bradykinin Concentration and Kallikrein Activity Together with Higher DesArg(9)-BK and Reduced Post-Exercise Hypotension Compared to Non-Diabetic Condition

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Tool Condition Monitoring of Single-Point Dresser Using Acoustic Emission and Neural Networks Models

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

Feeding, body condition and reproductive investment of Astyanax intermedius (Characiformes, Characidae) in relation to rainfall and temperature in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest stream

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The relationships between parasite intensity, locomotor performance, and body condition in adult toads (Rhinella icterica) from the wild

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

A característica universal de Leibniz: contextos, trajetórias e implicações

Pós-graduação em Educação Matemática - IGCE

The stigma and prejudice of leprosy: influence on the human condition

Introduction: To analyze the knowledge, feelings and perceptions involving patients affected by leprosy, as a better understanding of these factors may be useful to decrease the stigma and prejudice associated with the condition. Methods: The study cohort consisted of 94 patients who underwent treatment for leprosy at the Health Units in the City of Cuiaba, Mato Grosso (MT), Brazil. The study questionnaire included items to collect information on socio-demographic data, knowledge about the disease, stigma, prejudice, self-esteem and quality of life of leprosy patients. Bivariate analyses were used to assess the data based on the chi-square test with a 5% significance threshold. Results: The results revealed that the study population consisted predominantly of males (55.3%) with an income between 1 and 3 times the minimum wage (67%). The survey respondents reported that the most significant difficulties related to the treatment were the side effects (44.7%) and the duration of the treatment (28.7%). A total of 72.3% of the subjects were knowledgeable about the disease, of whom 26.6% had the leprosy reaction. Stigma and prejudice were cited by 93.6% of the participants. Based on the responses, 40.4% of patients reported being depressed and sad, and 69.1% of the subjects encountered problems at work after being diagnosed. A total of 45.7% of the patients rated their quality of life between bad and very bad. Conclusions: Our results suggest that leprosy causes suffering in patients beyond pain and discomfort and greatly influences social participation.

Neural tool condition estimation in the grinding of advanced ceramics

Ceramic parts are increasingly replacing metal parts due to their excellent physical, chemical and mechanical properties, however they also make them difficult to manufacture by traditional machining methods. The developments carried out in this work are used to estimate tool wear during the grinding of advanced ceramics. The learning process was fed with data collected from a surface grinding machine with tangential diamond wheel and alumina ceramic test specimens, in three cutting configurations: with depths of cut of 120 mu m, 70 mu m and 20 mu m. The grinding wheel speed was 35m/s and the table speed 2.3m/s. Four neural models were evaluated, namely: Multilayer Perceptron, Radial Basis Function, Generalized Regression Neural Networks and the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System. The models'performance evaluation routines were executed automatically, testing all the possible combinations of inputs, number of neurons, number of layers, and spreading. The computational results reveal that the neural models were highly successful in estimating tool wear, since the errors were lower than 4%.

Tool condition monitoring of aluminum oxide grinding wheel in dressing operation using acoustic emission and neural networks

The grinding operation gives workpieces their final finish, minimizing surface roughness through the interaction between the abrasive grains of a tool (grinding wheel) and the workpiece. However, excessive grinding wheel wear due to friction renders the tool unsuitable for further use, thus requiring the dressing operation to remove and/or sharpen the cutting edges of the worn grains to render them reusable. The purpose of this study was to monitor the dressing operation using the acoustic emission (AE) signal and statistics derived from this signal, classifying the grinding wheel as sharp or dull by means of artificial neural networks. An aluminum oxide wheel installed on a surface grinding machine, a signal acquisition system, and a single-point dresser were used in the experiments. Tests were performed varying overlap ratios and dressing depths. The root mean square values and two additional statistics were calculated based on the raw AE data. A multilayer perceptron neural network was used with the Levenberg-Marquardt learning algorithm, whose inputs were the aforementioned statistics. The results indicate that this method was successful in classifying the conditions of the grinding wheel in the dressing process, identifying the tool as "sharp''(with cutting capacity) or "dull''(with loss of cutting capacity), thus reducing the time and cost of the operation and minimizing excessive removal of abrasive material from the grinding wheel.