Alterações histológicas no intestino de fêmeas de carrapatos Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae) expostas a diferentes concentrações de selamectina

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Análise comparativa de três métodos de inversão aplicados a dados gravimétricos e magnéticos em perfil

Tradicionalmente, o método dos mínimos quadrados tem sido empregado na inversão não linear de dados de campo potencial. No caso em que as observações dos campos gravimétrico ou magnético contém apenas ruído Gaussiano. O método dos mínimos quadrados não apresenta problemas. Entretanto, quando as observações são perturbadas por ruído não Gaussiano, ou mesmo por ruído não aleatório, como é o caso de muitos ruídos geológicos, o método dos mínimos quadrados torna-se bastante ineficiente, e métodos alternativos devem ser empregados a fim de produzir interpretações realísticas. Neste trabalho, uma comparação é feita entre os métodos dos mínimos quadrados, dos mínimos absolutos e do ajuste-M, aplicados à inversão não linear de dados de campo potencial. A comparação é efetuada usando-se dados teóricos, onde diversas situações geológicas são simuladas. Os resultados mostram que na presença de ruído geológico, caracterizado por pequeno corpo raso acima do corpo principal, ou por corpo grande, adjacente ao corpo principal, o ajuste-M apresenta desempenho muito superior ao dos mínimos quadrados e dos mínimos absolutos. Na presença de ruído Gaussiano, entretanto, o ajuste-M tem um desempenho inferior aos outros dois métodos. Como o ruído Gaussiano é um ruído branco, parte dele pode ser removido por um filtro passa baixa adequado, sem muita perda do sinal, o que não ocorre com o ruído geológico que contém componentes importantes de baixo número de onda. Desse modo o ajuste-M se torna uma ferramenta importante na interpretação de áreas geologicamente complexas, onde é comum a contaminação das anomalias por ruído geológico. Os três métodos em estudo são aplicados a uma anomalia magnética real causada por uma intrusão de diabásio em forma de dique, em sedimentos arenosos da formação Piauí na Bacia do Parnaíba. Os três métodos apresentaram resultados semelhantes indicando que tanto o nível de ruído Gaussiano como geológico são baixos nesta anomalia.

Idosos institucionalizados e depressão: atividades expressivas e seu potencial terapêutico

The influence of emotional condition on quality of life during the aging process is a theme that stands out in the context of research, since the psychosocial skills of the elderly are vulnerable to changes in structure, function body and the environment. Given this, aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a programming expressive activities in controlling depressive symptoms manifested by institutionalized elderly. Participants were 7 people in a geriatric institution with symptoms suggestive of depression and it was used to evaluate the GSD-15, which was applied at the beginning and end of treatment planning. The intervention was applied for four months, making up two weekly sessions of 75 minutes. Of the total of 5 seniors with probability of depression in the pretest, 3 reached the normal range for depression at post-test, recommending the continuation of the study to a larger sample and greater consistency of results about the effects of activities expressive about depressive symptoms manifested by older people.

AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF A VORTEX-DRIVEN AIR LIFT PUMP

A prototype vortex-driven air lift pump was developed and experimentally evaluated. It was designed to be easily manufactured and scalable for arbitrary riser diameters. The model tested fit in a 2 inch diameter riser with six air injection nozzles through which airwas injected helically around the perimeter of the riser at an angle of 70º from pure tangential injection. The pump was intended to transport both water and sediment over a large range of submergence ratios. A test apparatus was designed to be able to simulate deep water or oceanic environments. The resulting test setup had a finite reservoir; over the course of a test, the submergence ratio varied from 0.48 to 0.39. For air injection pressures ranging from 10 to 60 psig and for air flow rates of 6 to 15 scfm, the induced water discharge flow rates varied only slightly, due to the limited range of available submergence ratios. The anticipated simulation of deep water environment, with a corresponding equivalent increase in thesubmergence ratio, proved unattainable. The pump prototype successfully transported both water and sediment (sand). Thepercent volume yield of the sediment was in an acceptable range. The pump design has been subsequently used successfully in a 4 inch configuration in a follow-on project. A computer program was written in Matlab to simulate the pump characteristics. The program output water pressures at the location of air injection which were physicallycompatible with the experimental data.

RANGE ADAPTIVE PROTON THERAPY FOR PROSTATE CANCER

Purpose: The rapid distal falloff of a proton beam allows for sparing of normal tissues distal to the target. However proton beams that aim directly towards critical structures are avoided due to concerns of range uncertainties, such as CT number conversion and anatomy variations. We propose to eliminate range uncertainty and enable prostate treatment with a single anterior beam by detecting the proton’s range at the prostate-rectal interface and adaptively adjusting the range in vivo and in real-time. Materials and Methods: A prototype device, consisting of an endorectal liquid scintillation detector and dual-inverted Lucite wedges for range compensation, was designed to test the feasibility and accuracy of the technique. Liquid scintillation filled volume was fitted with optical fiber and placed inside the rectum of an anthropomorphic pelvic phantom. Photodiode-generated current signal was generated as a function of proton beam distal depth, and the spatial resolution of this technique was calculated by relating the variance in detecting proton spills to its maximum penetration depth. The relative water-equivalent thickness of the wedges was measured in a water phantom and prospectively tested to determine the accuracy of range corrections. Treatment simulation studies were performed to test the potential dosimetric benefit in sparing the rectum. Results: The spatial resolution of the detector in phantom measurement was 0.5 mm. The precision of the range correction was 0.04 mm. The residual margin to ensure CTV coverage was 1.1 mm. The composite distal margin for 95% treatment confidence was 2.4 mm. Planning studies based on a previously estimated 2mm margin (90% treatment confidence) for 27 patients showed a rectal sparing up to 51% at 70 Gy and 57% at 40 Gy relative to IMRT and bilateral proton treatment. Conclusion: We demonstrated the feasibility of our design. Use of this technique allows for proton treatment using a single anterior beam, significantly reducing the rectal dose.

End-tidal CO2 pressure: an important parameter for a correct interpretation of changes in cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation measured with functional near infrared spectrophotometry (fNIRS)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of different speech tasks (recitation of prose (PR), alliteration (AR) and hexameter (HR) verses) and a control task (mental arithmetic (MA) with voicing of the result) on endtidal CO2 (ET-CO2), cerebral hemodynamics; i.e. total hemoglobin (tHb) and tissue oxygen saturation (StO2). tHb and StO2 were measured with a frequency domain near infrared spectrophotometer (ISS Inc., USA) and ET-CO2 with a gas analyzer (Nellcor N1000). Measurements were performed in 24 adult volunteers (11 female, 13 male; age range 22 to 64 years) during task performance in a randomized order on 4 different days to avoid potential carry over effects. Statistical analysis was applied to test differences between baseline, 2 recitation and 5 recovery periods. The two brain hemispheres and 4 tasks were tested separately. Data analysis revealed that during the recitation tasks (PR, AR and HR) StO2 decreased statistically significant (p < 0.05) during PR and AR in the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and during AR and HR in the left PFC. tHb showed a significant decrease during HR in the right PFC and during PR, AR and HR in the left PFC. During the MA task, StO2 increased significantly. A significant decrease in ET-CO2 was found during all 4 tasks with the smallest decrease during the MA task. In conclusion, we hypothesize that the observed changes in tHb and StO2 are mainly caused by an altered breathing during the tasks that led a lowering of the CO2 content in the blood provoked a cerebral CO2 reaction, i.e. a vasoconstriction of blood vessels due to decreased CO2 pressure and thereby decrease in cerebral blood volume. Therefore, breathing changes should be monitored during brain studies involving speech when using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to ensure a correct interpretation of changes in hemodynamics and oxygenation.

Assemblages and isotopic signals of modern ostracodes and host waters from Patagonia, Argentine

Ostracode species assemblages and stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios of living and recent ostracodes, together with delta18O and delta13C_DIC values of host water samples, provide a first data set that characterizes a wide range of modern aquatic environments in the Laguna Cari-Laufquen (41°S, 68 - 69°W) and the Lago Cardiel area (48 - 49°S, 70 - 71°W) in Patagonia, Argentina. This data set will ultimately be used to interpret and calibrate data acquired from lake sediment cores with the goal of reconstructing past climate. Species assemblages and isotope values can be assigned to three groups; (1) springs, seeps and streams, (2) permanent ponds and lakes, and (3) ephemeral ponds and lakes. Springs, seeps and streams are characterized by Darwinula sp., Heterocypris incongruens, Eucypris fontana, Amphicypris nobilis and Ilyocypris ramirezi. Ostracode and water isotope values range between -13 and -5 per mil for oxygen, and between -15 and -3 per mil for carbon. They are the most negative of the entire sample set, reflecting ground water input with little or no evaporative enrichment. Limnocythere patagonica, Eucypris labyrinthica, Limnocythere sp. and Eucypris aff. fontana are typical species of permanent ponds and lakes. Isotope values indicate high degree of evaporation of lake waters relative to feeder springs and streams and range between -7 and +5 per mil for oxygen, and -5 and +4 per mil for carbon. Limnocythere rionegroensis is the dominant species in ephemeral ponds and lakes. These systems display the most enriched isotope values in both ostracodes and host waters, extending from -5 to +7 per mil for oxygen, and from -5 to +6 per mil for carbon. Living ostracodes show a positive offset from equilibrium values of up to 2 per mil for oxygen. Carbon-isotope values are up to 6? more negative than equilibrium values in highly productive pools. Comparison of ostracode and host water isotope signals permits assessment of the life span of the aquatic environments. Valves from dead ostracodes collected from ephemeral ponds and lakes show a wide scatter with each sample providing a snapshot of the seasonal history of the host water. The presence of the stream species Ilyocypris ramirezi and a wide range of ostracode isotope values suggest that ephemeral ponds and lakes are fed by streams during spring run-off and seasonally dry. A temporary character is also indicated by Heterocypris incongruens, a drought-resistant species that occupies most springs and seeps. In addition, Limnocythere rionegroensis has adjusted its reproduction strategies to its environment. Whereas only females were collected in fresh host waters, males were found in ephemeral ponds and lakes with higher solute content. Sexual reproduction seems to be the more successful reproduction strategy in high and variable salinities and seasonal droughts. The temporary character of the aquatic environments shows that the availability of meteoric water controls the life span of host waters and underlines the sensitivity of the area to changes in precipitation.

Noise-induced attractor annihilation in the delayed feedback logistic map

We study dynamics of the bistable logistic map with delayed feedback, under the influence of white Gaussian noise and periodic modulation applied to the variable. This system may serve as a model to describe population dynamics under finite resources in noisy environment with seasonal fluctuations. While a very small amount of noise has no effect on the global structure of the coexisting attractors in phase space, an intermediate noise totally eliminates one of the attractors. Slow periodic modulation enhances the attractor annihilation.

Edaphic controls on ecosystem-level carbon allocation in two contrasting Amazon forests

Three components of carbon allocation, biomass, flux, and partitioning, were measured in two contrasting Amazon forests growing under similar climatic conditions. Allocation to aboveground compartments was highest in a high-stature forest growing on clay soils, while allocation to fine roots was higher in a short-stature forest growing on white sands. Differences in carbon allocation components where not proportional between the two forests, with soils controlling a trade-off between allocation to fine roots versus aboveground parts.

Comparison of Multivariate and Univariate Models for Genetic Evaluation of Milk Yield based on Test Day Data

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 62H12, 62P99

Sites of Excavation and Construction

For his first solo show in Belgium, British artist Neal White presents a range of recent and new work – some of them in collaboration with artist Tina O’Connell – that reflect his ongoing preoccupations with deep time and the spaces of art. OBJECTIF EXHIBITIONS is a not-for-profit institution devoted to the presentation of contemporary art, supported by the Flemish Community. Curated by Antony Hudek

Messkonzept und Methodik zur Konfiguration und zum Nachweis

Radio Frequenzidentifikation (RFID) auf Basis pas-siver Transponder im Ultra-High-Frequenzbereich (UHF) findet in der Logistik immer häufiger Anwen-dung. Zur Ausschöpfung der Potenziale dieser AutoID-Technologie wird vorausgesetzt, dass die Identifikation der Waren und Güter zuverlässig erfolgt. Dies gestaltet sich aufgrund von Umgebungseinflüssen auf das elek-tromagnetische Lesefeld, das die passiven Transponder zur Identifikation mit Energie versorgt, oftmals sehr schwierig. Die Kenntnis der elektromagnetischen Feld-stärkeverteilung im Raum kann somit als Grundlage für die Bewertung der zuverlässigen Erfassung durch RFID-Installationen herangezogen werden. Das im Bei-trag vorgestellte Messkonzept mit Methodik zeigt eine Möglichkeit zur schnellen Erfassung der Lese-feldausprägung auf, um anhand der Ergebnisse die Kon-figuration dieser Systeme zu erleichtern.

Une éthique de responsabilité en quête de fondement - Réflexion à partir d'un contexte africain de crise

Sur quoi fonder une éthique de responsabilité et quelle place accorder aux cultures et aux traditions dans un contexte nouveau caractérisé par la mondialisation? Pour répondre à cette question, posée à partir de l’Afrique, nous avons pris un long chemin de réflexion. À partir de l’évaluation faite par Fabien Eboussi de la crise multiforme actuelle qui frappe l’Afrique, où l’auteur cherche et désigne les coupables et les responsables que sont, selon lui, les cultures africaines, la colonisation européenne et le christianisme, nous nous sommes concentré sur le sujet humain comme tel. La responsabilité est d’abord, à nos yeux, une question de conscience morale. Les approches anthropologiques utilisées dans leurs théories éthiques par Xavier Thévenot, Paul Ricoeur et Emmanuel Levinas nous ont permis de bâtir une définition du sujet comme une « liberté précédée ». L’antécédence est à la fois un principe anthropologique et éthique dans la relation et dans l’existence. Nous avons appliqué ce principe de précédence à la notion africaine d’ancestralité conçue comme le temps éthique hiérarchisé et orienté. Pour échapper à l’étroitesse tribale ou ethnique dans laquelle se vit cette ancestralité africaine, nous l’avons étendue aux dimensions de l’humanité, comme le fondement d’une éthique de responsabilité universelle. On est ancêtre de l’humanité. Sous le néologisme d’ancestrogenèse, nous avons proposé une éthique fondée sur le recrutement de ces ancêtres ou bienfaiteurs de l’humanité. L’ancestrogenèse est donc la construction d’une communauté humaine où chaque membre soit responsable de ses actes devant sa communauté locale – naturelle ou historique – en lien avec toute la communauté humaine dont la facilité de la communication accélère la convergence. À la suite de Bénezet Bujo, et pour fonder cette communauté sur le roc et la faire survivre aux fluctuations de l’esprit humain, nous avons placé le Christ à la tête des ancêtres, comme proto-ancêtre. En lui, nous avons le Verbe créateur unique, le sauveur unique et le rassembleur unique de l’humanité de tous lieux et de tous temps. Voilà qui suscite une multitude de questions d’ordre pédagogique, biblique, christologique, ecclésiologique, éthique, anthropologique, politique et sociologique, questions relatives à la formation morale du sujet-ancêtre telle qu’ébauchée dans le cadre limité de cette recherche.

An ontology for risk management of digital collections

Maintaining accessibility to and understanding of digital information over time is a complex challenge that often requires contributions and interventions from a variety of individuals and organizations. The processes of preservation planning and evaluation are fundamentally implicit and share similar complexity. Both demand comprehensive knowledge and understanding of every aspect of to-be-preserved content and the contexts within which preservation is undertaken. Consequently, means are required for the identification, documentation and association of those properties of data, representation and management mechanisms that in combination lend value, facilitate interaction and influence the preservation process. These properties may be almost limitless in terms of diversity, but are integral to the establishment of classes of risk exposure, and the planning and deployment of appropriate preservation strategies. We explore several research objectives within the course of this thesis. Our main objective is the conception of an ontology for risk management of digital collections. Incorporated within this are our aims to survey the contexts within which preservation has been undertaken successfully, the development of an appropriate methodology for risk management, the evaluation of existing preservation evaluation approaches and metrics, the structuring of best practice knowledge and lastly the demonstration of a range of tools that utilise our findings. We describe a mixed methodology that uses interview and survey, extensive content analysis, practical case study and iterative software and ontology development. We build on a robust foundation, the development of the Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment. We summarise the extent of the challenge facing the digital preservation community (and by extension users and creators of digital materials from many disciplines and operational contexts) and present the case for a comprehensive and extensible knowledge base of best practice. These challenges are manifested in the scale of data growth, the increasing complexity and the increasing onus on communities with no formal training to offer assurances of data management and sustainability. These collectively imply a challenge that demands an intuitive and adaptable means of evaluating digital preservation efforts. The need for individuals and organisations to validate the legitimacy of their own efforts is particularly prioritised. We introduce our approach, based on risk management. Risk is an expression of the likelihood of a negative outcome, and an expression of the impact of such an occurrence. We describe how risk management may be considered synonymous with preservation activity, a persistent effort to negate the dangers posed to information availability, usability and sustainability. Risk can be characterised according to associated goals, activities, responsibilities and policies in terms of both their manifestation and mitigation. They have the capacity to be deconstructed into their atomic units and responsibility for their resolution delegated appropriately. We continue to describe how the manifestation of risks typically spans an entire organisational environment, and as the focus of our analysis risk safeguards against omissions that may occur when pursuing functional, departmental or role-based assessment. We discuss the importance of relating risk-factors, through the risks themselves or associated system elements. To do so will yield the preservation best-practice knowledge base that is conspicuously lacking within the international digital preservation community. We present as research outcomes an encapsulation of preservation practice (and explicitly defined best practice) as a series of case studies, in turn distilled into atomic, related information elements. We conduct our analyses in the formal evaluation of memory institutions in the UK, US and continental Europe. Furthermore we showcase a series of applications that use the fruits of this research as their intellectual foundation. Finally we document our results in a range of technical reports and conference and journal articles. We present evidence of preservation approaches and infrastructures from a series of case studies conducted in a range of international preservation environments. We then aggregate this into a linked data structure entitled PORRO, an ontology relating preservation repository, object and risk characteristics, intended to support preservation decision making and evaluation. The methodology leading to this ontology is outlined, and lessons are exposed by revisiting legacy studies and exposing the resource and associated applications to evaluation by the digital preservation community.

Nutritional risk in community dwelling older adults.

This research investigated nutritional risk in older adults living in the community. A key finding was that a different healthy weight range should be applied to older adults, which has important implications for nutritional assessment. Recommending a higher BMI for older adults has now been incorporated into some National nutritional guidelines.