Toward a resolution of Campanulid phylogeny, with special reference to the placement of Dipsacales

Broad-scale phylogenetic analyses of the angiosperms and of the Asteridae have failed to confidently resolve relationships among the major lineages of the campanulid Asteridae (i.e., the euasterid II of APG II, 2003). To address this problem we assembled presently available sequences for a core set of 50 taxa, representing the diversity of the four largest lineages (Apiales, Aquifoliales, Asterales, Dipsacales) as well as the smaller ""unplaced"" groups (e.g., Bruniaceae, Paracryphiaceae, Columelliaceae). We constructed four data matrices for phylogenetic analysis: a chloroplast coding matrix (atpB, matK, ndhF, rbcL), a chloroplast non-coding matrix (rps16 intron, trnT-F region, trnV-atpE IGS), a combined chloroplast dataset (all seven chloroplast regions), and a combined genome matrix (seven chloroplast regions plus 18S and 26S rDNA). Bayesian analyses of these datasets using mixed substitution models produced often well-resolved and supported trees. Consistent with more weakly supported results from previous studies, our analyses support the monophyly of the four major clades and the relationships among them. Most importantly, Asterales are inferred to be sister to a clade containing Apiales and Dipsacales. Paracryphiaceae is consistently placed sister to the Dipsacales. However, the exact relationships of Bruniaceae, Columelliaceae, and an Escallonia clade depended upon the dataset. Areas of poor resolution in combined analyses may be partly explained by conflict between the coding and non-coding data partitions. We discuss the implications of these results for our understanding of campanulid phylogeny and evolution, paying special attention to how our findings bear on character evolution and biogeography in Dipsacales.

An aspect-oriented reference architecture for Software Engineering Environments

Reusable and evolvable Software Engineering Environments (SEES) are essential to software production and have increasingly become a need. In another perspective, software architectures and reference architectures have played a significant role in determining the success of software systems. In this paper we present a reference architecture for SEEs, named RefASSET, which is based on concepts coming from the aspect-oriented approach. This architecture is specialized to the software testing domain and the development of tools for that domain is discussed. This and other case studies have pointed out that the use of aspects in RefASSET provides a better Separation of Concerns, resulting in reusable and evolvable SEEs. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic reference levels for the most frequent radiological examinations carried out in Brazil

Objectives. A large-scale survey of doses to patients undergoing the most frequent radiological examinations was carried out in health services in Sao Paulo (347 radiological examinations per 1 000 inhabitants), the most populous Brazilian state. Methods. A postal dosimetric kit with thermoluminescence dosimeters was used to evaluate the entrance surface dose (ESD) to patients. A stratified sampling technique applied to the national health database furnished important data on the distribution of equipment and the annual number of examinations. Chest, head (skull and sinus), and spine (cervical, thoracic, and lumbar) examinations were included in the trial. A total of 83 rooms and 868 patients were included, and 1 415 values of ESD were measured. Results. The data show large coefficients of variation in tube charge, giving rise to large variations in ESD values. Also, a series of high ESD values associated with unnecessary localizing fluoroscopy were detected. Diagnostic reference levels were determined, based on the 75th percentile (third quartile) of the ESD distributions. For adult patients, the diagnostic reference levels achieved are very similar to those obtained in international surveys. However, the situation is different for pediatric patients: the ESD values found in this survey are twice as large as the international recommendations for chest radiographs of children. Conclusions. Despite the reduced number of ESD values and rooms for the pediatric patient group, it is recommended that practices in chest examinations be revised and that specific national reference doses and image quality be established after a broader survey is carried out.

Experimental micromorphology in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina): building a reference collection for the study of shell middens in cold climates

Commonly used in archaeological contexts, micromorphology did not see a parallel advance in the field of experimental archaeology. Drawing from early work conducted in the 1990`s on ethnohistoric sites in the Beagle Channel, we analyze a set of 25 thin sections taken from control features and experimental tests. The control features include animal pathways and environmental contexts (beach samples, forest litter, soils from the proximities of archaeological sites), while the experimental samples comprise anthropic structures, such as hearths, and valves of Mytilus edulis (the most important component of shell middens in the region) heated from 200 degrees C to 800 degrees C. Their micromorphological study constitutes a modern analogue to assist archaeologists studying site formation and ethnographical settings in cold climates, with particular emphasis on shell midden contexts. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feasibility study for the preparation of a tuna fish candidate reference material for total As determination

This work describes the evaluation of several parameters for the preparation of a tuna fish candidate as a reference material (RM) in order to measure the total As mass fraction by slurry sampling graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (SLS-GF AAS) and slurry sampling hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (SLS-HG AAS). The main parameters investigated were the homogeneity, analyte segregation and composition during material production. For candidate RM preparation, tuna fish was collected at a local market, cleaned, freeze-dried and treated using different procedures as follows: (1) ground in a cutting mill and separated in different particle sizes (2) ground in cryogenic mill. The mass fraction of As in the cryogenically ground sample was (4.77 +/- A 0.19) mu g g(-1) for SLS-GF AAS and (4.61 +/- A 0.34) mu g g(-1) for SLS-HG AAS. The accuracy of the procedures was checked with tuna fish certified reference material (BCR 627) with recoveries of 102 and 94% for SLS-GF AAS and SLS-HG AAS, respectively. The homogeneity factor was calculated for different pretreatment procedures and for particle sizes in the range of 500-150 mu g, indicating good homogeneity, except for raw fish. There was no observed analyte segregation and no losses, no contamination and no changes in the microdistribution of material during preparation.

Differences in muscle activity during hand dexterity tasks between women with arthritis and a healthy reference group

Background. Impaired hand function is common in patients with arthritis and it affects performance of daily activities; thus, hand exercises are recommended. There is little information on the extent to which the disease affects activation of the flexor and extensor muscles during these hand-dexterity tasks. The purpose of this study was to compare muscle activation during such tasks in subjects with arthritis and in a healthy reference group. Methods. Muscle activation was measured in m. extensor digitorium communis (EDC) and in m. flexor carpi radialis (FCR) with surface electromyography (EMG) in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n = 20), hand osteoarthritis (HOA, n = 16) and in a healthy reference group (n = 20) during the performance of four daily activity tasks and four hand exercises. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) was measured to enable intermuscular comparisons, and muscle activation is presented as %MVIC. Results. The arthritis group used a higher %MVIC than the reference group in both FCR and EDC when cutting with a pair of scissors, pulling up a zipper and—for the EDC—also when writing with a pen and using a key (p < 0.02). The exercise “rolling dough with flat hands” required the lowest %MVIC and may be less effective in improving muscle strength. Conclusions. Women with arthritis tend to use higher levels of muscle activation in daily tasks than healthy women, and wrist extensors and flexors appear to be equally affected. It is important that hand training programs reflect real-life situations and focus also on extensor strength.

Prototype Generation from Ontology Charts

Semantic Analysis is a business analysis method designed to capture system requirements. While these requirements may be represented as text, the method also advocates the use of Ontology Charts to formally denote the system's required roles, relationships and forms of communication. Following model driven engineering techniques, Ontology Charts can be transformed to temporal Database schemas, class diagrams and component diagrams, which can then be used to produce software systems. A nice property of these transformations is that resulting system design models lend themselves to complicated extensions that do not require changes to the design models. For example, resulting databases can be extended with new types of data without the need to modify the database schema of the legacy system. Semantic Analysis is not widely used in software engineering, so there is a lack of experts in the field and no design patterns are available. This make it difficult for the analysts to pass organizational knowledge to the engineers. This study describes an implementation that is readily usable by engineers, which includes an automated technique that can produce a prototype from an Ontology Chart. The use of such tools should enable developers to make use of Semantic Analysis with minimal expertise of ontologies and MDA.

A consumption CAPM with a reference level

We study an intertemporal asset pricing model in which a representative consumer maximizes expected utility derived from both the ratio of his consumption to some reference level and this level itself. If the reference consumption level is assumed to be determined by past consumption levels, the model generalizes the usual habit formation specifications. When the reference level growth rate is made dependent on the market portfolio return and on past consumption growth, the model mixes a consumption CAPM with habit formation together with the CAPM. It therefore provides, in an expected utility framework, a generalization of the non-expected recursive utility model of Epstein and Zin (1989). When we estimate this specification with aggregate per capita consumption, we obtain economically plausible values of the preference parameters, in contrast with the habit formation or the Epstein-Zin cases taken separately. All tests performed with various preference specifications confirm that the reference level enters significantly in the pricing kernel.

Reference evapotranspiration estimation inside greenhouses

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Haematological and biochemical reference intervals for farmed channel catfish

The reference intervals for biochemical variables and red blood cell indices of healthy intensively bred channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus were determined. The blood variables were determined using standardized clinical methods. The reference intervals (25th and 75th percentiles) were established using a non-parametric method. Reference intervals for plasma glucose, serum total protein, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride concentration, primary and secondary red blood cell indices were established. The haematological and biochemical reference intervals established may allow important clinical decisions about channel catfish. (c) 2007 the Authors Journal compilation (C) 2007 the Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Avaliação da qualidade da assistência aos portadores de úlceras venosas atendidos no ambulatório de um hospital universitário em Natal/RN

Study descriptive that was designed to assess the quality of care for people with venous ulcers (VUs) tended at the ambulatory of a university hospital in Natal / RN. The target population of the study was composed by 40 users bearers of venous ulcers served in the ambulatory of angiology of a university hospital in the level of tertiary education. The study received assent of the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Protocol No. 169/06). The collect of data was performed using a form of interview and tour with collection of measures biophysiologic, for a team comprised by the researchers and an academic of nursing, in the period of three months. The data were analyzed in SPSS 14.0, using descriptive statistics and presented in the form of charts, tables and graphs. Identified a clientele of holders of VUs predominantly female, married, aged up to 59 years, low level of education and household income, from Natal, retirees or those exercising professions and occupations that require long periods standing or sitting. In relation to the characteristics of health, those surveyed had risk factors for venous disease and had UVs chronic, located in Zone 2, lost tissue in grade II and serous exudates on average quantity. The assistance to holders of UVs has been characterized by a lack of professional nurses and unavailability of products for the realization of the right curative in ambulatory and outside it; by the inadequacy of products used in VUs, for long periods of treatment without resolution, where the compressive therapy is not priority, by the lack of completeness in the levels of assistance; by monitoring the bearer of UVs only by doctors and the nurses, even with the other team of professionals in the health service; by the completion of guidelines by health professionals and the lack the standardization of conducting laboratory and specifics tests. The assistance was assessed as inadequate in aspects: reference and counter-reference (75.0%), number of consultations with angiologists last year (87.5%), documentation of the clinical findings (85.0%), use of compressive therapy in the past 30 days (77.5%), part of the team interdisciplinary (97.5%), completion of laboratory and specifics tests in the last year (100%), availability of products used in achieving the curative in ambulatory (80, 0%), and indication of products used in the conduct of dressing outside the clinic (70.0%) and appropriate in the guidelines made on the use of socks, lifting of the members and prescription of exercises regular (82.5%) and indication products used in achieving the curative in ambulatory (97.5%). We conclude that the assistance provided to holders of UV was inadequate in 80% of cases interviewed, becoming non-resolutive and assistematic