Thermal and Rheological Properties of a Family of Botryosphaerans Produced by Botryosphaeria rhodina MAMB-05

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

Effects of nitrate and phosphate availabilities on growth, photosynthesis and pigment and protein contents in colour strains of Hypnea musciformis (Wulfen in Jacqu.) J.V. Lamour. (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Phenomenology as a method to investigate the experience lived: a perspective from Husserl and Merleau Ponty's thought

Aim. By taking nursing as a human relationships activity, in spite of its strong technical-scientific features, this article reflects on the phenomenological method as one of the ways to develop ail investigation and acquire knowledge of the topic.Rationale. Based on Husserl's phenomenology, which is opposed to the way of doing science based on the laws that regulate the physics and mathematics, the article introduces Merleau Ponty's existential phenomenology as the theoretical foundation for the method it proposes. My existential conceptions-people as historic beings inserted in a world over which they act but which, in its turn, determines them; the human perception as reference for our way of being in the world; the space-time structure of perception-these are the key concepts that have led to the elaboration of ail approach to phenomenological research.Proposal of a methodology. Steps are proposed for such ail approach, namely phenomenological description, reduction and analysis. These lead to the building up of ideographic and nomothetic analyses, thus unveiling and describing general truths about the phenomenon studied. Finally, the possibilities for applying the methodology to nursing research are discussed, illustrated by my research into student nurses' perspectives on working oil an isolation ward.

Reducing the gap between mobile and intelligent software agents

This paper presents an approach to integrate an artificial intelligence (AI) technique, concretely rule-based processing, into mobile agents. In particular, it focuses on the aspects of designing and implementing an appropriate inference engine of small size to reduce migration costs. The main goal is combine two lines of agent research, First, the engineering oriented approach on mobile agent architectures, and, second, the AI related approach on inference engines driven by rules expressed in a restricted subset of first-order predicate logic (FOPL). In addition to size reduction, the main functions of this type of engine were isolated, generalized and implemented as dynamic components, making possible not only their migration with the agent, but also their dynamic migration and loading on demand. A set of classes for representing and exchanging knowledge between rule-based systems was also proposed.

Net and metabolizable protein requirements for body weight gain in hair and wool lambs

Protein is one of the limiting factors in animal production, and the knowledge of protein requirements by livestock is crucial for the success of a commercial animal raising enterprise. Thirty-four castrated lambs, 17 of them F1 Ideal x lie de France wool lambs and the remaining ones were Santa Ines hair lambs, with homogeneous initial BW, were used in the experiment. Five animals from each genotype were slaughtered in the beginning of the experimental period and used as reference. Diets (D) were composed of concentrate mix (C) and Cynodon sp. c.v. Tifton 85 hay (R), combined in three different ratios: D1 =60CAOR; D2=40C:60R and D3=20C:80R. Animals of each group of three lambs, that showed simultaneously an initial BW of 20 +/- 0.14 kg at the beginning of the dietary regimen, were slaughtered when one of them reached 35 kg, what always happened to be the one fed with D1. Net requirements for BW gain in wool lamb, fleece-free, ranged from 101 to 110 g of protein/kg BW, and for hair lamb ranged from 1 10 to 118 g of protein/kg BW. Net protein requirements for wool production ranged from 634 to 642 g/kg of produced wool. Hair lambs presented a 7.8-9.5% higher estimated net protein requirements than wool lambs, according to BW and daily weight gain (DG). Total net protein requirements for Santa Ines and wool lambs, with 30 kg of initial B W and an approximate 200 g mean DG, were 48.5 and 45.4 g/day, respectively. Metabolizable protein requirements for Santa Ines and wool lambs, with 20 kg of initial BW and an approximate 200 g mean DG were 59.4 g and 76.5 -/day, respectively. Net protein requirements for wool production was 64g/100g of produced wool. Thus, under the conditions of this experiment, it is concluded that hair lambs showed a higher concentration of protein in the body, more efficient use of the ingested protein and a consequent additional BW gain when fed isoproteic diets as compared to F1 Ideal x Ile de France wool lambs. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Modeling thermal conductivity, specific heat, and density of milk: A neural network approach

The accurate determination of thermophysical properties of milk is very important for design, simulation, optimization, and control of food processing such as evaporation, heat exchanging, spray drying, and so forth. Generally, polynomial methods are used for prediction of these properties based on empirical correlation to experimental data. Artificial neural networks are better Suited for processing noisy and extensive knowledge indexing. This article proposed the application of neural networks for prediction of specific heat, thermal conductivity, and density of milk with temperature ranged from 2.0 to 71.0degreesC, 72.0 to 92.0% of water content (w/w), and 1.350 to 7.822% of fat content (w/w). Artificial neural networks presented a better prediction capability of specific heat, thermal conductivity, and density of milk than polynomial modeling. It showed a reasonable alternative to empirical modeling for thermophysical properties of foods.

VOICES FROM THE SOUTH: DIALOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS AND COLLABORATION IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

This chapter presents a collaborative experience between two neighbouring countries from South America: Argentina and Brazil. Our purpose is to share a model of international collaboration that we consider to be an alternative to the classical movement of early mathematical and scientific knowledge between East and West and between North and South. We start our chapter with a general discussion about the phenomenon of globalization considering some local examples. We characterize our collaboration exploring the tensions and difficulties we faced along our own professional development at the local as well as the international level. We describe the development of our prior collaborative work that established the foundation for our international collaboration portraying the local mathematics education communities. We refer to some balances that were created among our relationships, the expansion of our collaborative network, and how this particular collaboration allows us to contribute to the regional field and inform the international one. We discuss the way that the search for balance and symmetry, or at least a complementary asymmetry in our collaborative relationships, has led us to generate a genuine and equitable collaboration.

Development of intelligent systems for well drilling and petroleum production

Domains where knowledge representation is too complex to be described analytically and in a deterministic way is very common in the petroleum industry, particularly in the field of exploration and production. In these domains, applications of artificial intelligence techniques are very suitable, especially in cases where the preservation of corporate and technical knowledge is important. The Laboratory for Research on Artificial Intelligence Applied to Petroleum Engineering (LIAP) at Unicamp, has, during the last 10 years, dedicated research efforts to build intelligent systems in well drilling and petroleum production fields. In the following sections, recent advances in intelligent systems, under development in the research laboratory, are described. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier B.V. B.V.

Flammability limits: A review with emphasis on ethanol for aeronautical applications and description of the experimental procedure

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

Histology and morphometry of the testes of adult domestic cats (Felis catus)

Testicles of 30 mongrel cats were analyzed histologically and morphometrically, divided into three groups: G1 (1-2 years old), G2 (over 2 and up to 4 years old) and G3 (over 4 and up to 6 years old). After orchiectomy and histopathology, the morphometric parameters studied were: thickness of the tunica albuginea (72 mu m) and seminiferous epithelium (77.19 mu m), perimeter (53.81; 90.57 mu m), (54.80; 101.07 mu m); area (174.23; 494.55 mu m(2)), (176.68; 629.70 mu m(2)); maximum diameter (14.94; 28.02 mu m), (14.76; 31.66 mu m); minimum diameter (13.25; 21.92 mu m), (13.30; 24.52 mu m); and shape factor (index for regularity of the format) (1.36; 1.36), (1.39; 1.35) of the nucleus and cytoplasm of spermatogonia and Leydig cells, respectively. The results can be used for comparative studies and contribute knowledge concerning the height of the seminiferous epithelium, thickness of the tunica albuginea and size of spermatogonia and Leydig cells.

Pattern of silver nitrate-staining during meiosis and spermiogenesis in testicular lobes of Antiteuchus tripterus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

The pattern of silver nitrate (Ag)-staining differed among testicular lobes of Antiteuchus tripterus. In general, these differences are in regard to the number, size, shape, coloring intensity, and location of the stained bodies or masses, observed during meiosis and spermiogenesis. These characteristics were similar in lobes 1-3. Lobes 4-6, however, differed from each other and from lobes 1-3 as well. Because the Ag-staining method is specific for nucleolar organizing regions and nucleolar material, the observations in meiosis of lobes 1-3 suggested the presence of a single pair of nucleolar organizing region-bearing chromosomes in A. tripterus, as previously found in other Pentatomidae species. In general, the amount of Ag-stained material seen in meiosis of the testicular lobes 1-3 of A. tripterus is smaller than in the other lobes. The differences among lobes observed during spermiogenesis included a striking variation in morphology of the Ag-stained material found in the head and tail of the spermatids. Given that the key role of the nucleolar material is to participate in protein synthesis, interlobular variations seem to be related to the different functions attributed to each lobe (reproduction to lobes 1-3 and basically nutrition to lobes 4-6). To our knowledge, this is the first time that the nucleolar material was studied in each testicular lobe during spermatogenesis. The present observations encourage further studies since, in addition to being of basic biological interest, several Pentatomidae species are agricultural pests and added knowledge of their biology, mainly in reproduction, may be important for the development of control strategies. ©FUNPEC-RP.

The Latin American Pacific Basin initiative and the Asia-Pacific region

Includes bibliography

Opportunities for trade and investment between Latin America and Asia-Pacific: the link with APEC

Includes bibliography

Intellectual property rights and sustainable development: a survey of major issues

Includes bibliography

Strategies for measuring the knowledge economy in the Caribbean

Includes bibliography