Are Working Memory Measures Free of Socioeconomic Influence?

Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of socioeconomic factors on children's performance on tests of working memory and vocabulary.Method: Twenty Brazilian children, aged 6 and 7 years, from low-income families, completed tests of working memory ( verbal short-term memory and verbal complex span) and vocabulary ( expressive and receptive). A further group of Brazilian children from families of higher socioeconomic status matched for age, gender, and nonverbal ability also participated in the study.Results: Children from the low socioeconomic group obtained significantly lower scores on measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary than their higher income peers but no significant group differences were found on the working memory measures.Conclusion: Measures of working memory provide assessments of cognitive abilities that appear to be impervious to substantial differences in socioeconomic background. As these measures are highly sensitive to language ability and learning in general, they appear to provide useful methods for diagnosing specific learning difficulties that are independent of environmental opportunity.

Zeros of orthogonal polynomials generated by canonical perturbations of measures

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Selection of alfalfa cultivars adapted for tropical environments with repeated measures using PROC MIXED of SAS (R) System

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

Efficiency of safety measures applied to a manual knapsack sprayer for paraquat application to Maize (Zea mays L.)

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the safety of mixer/loaders and applicators of paraquat to maize crop by knapsack sprayers and to determine the efficacy of safety measures applied to the sprayers. Potential dermal exposure (PDE) was evaluated in 22 worker body parts. The Cu2+ cation of a copper-based fungicide was used as tracer in the spray solution. Sanitary pads and cotton gloves were used to collect the pesticide solution on the sampled body parts. It was observed that paraquat application in front of the applicator's body (0.5 and 1.0 m lance) is unsafe because PDE was 1,979.8 ml/day (for 0.5 m lance) and 1,290.4 ml/day (for 1.0 m lance) and needs 50-80% and 37-69% control of PDE respectively. Control can be achieved by the use of protective garment on the legs and feet only, which received 92-93% of the PDE. Switching the spray nozzle to the back of the operator reduced the PDE by 98% and was sufficient to make working conditions safe, while maintaining the efficiency of application and making the work lighter and more comfortable. Mixer/loaders received 86% of the PDE to the hands and the work condition was safe (MOS > 1), however impermeable gloves could be used as a further safety measure.

Effect of electrolytic lesion of the median raphe nucleus on behavioral and physiological measures of stress.

The effect of electrolytic lesion of the median raphe nucleus was measured on behavioral and physiological parameters related to stress 24 h after the lesion. In of the elevated plus-maze the lesion decreased the percentage of open arm entries and tended to shorten the time spent on the open arms indicating an increase in anxiety. In contrast, the lesion markedly increased the time spent in the bright (aversive) compartment of the light-dark box and decrease in attempts to cross from the dark toward the bright compartment, an anxiolyic effect. With the exception of plasma prolactin level, which was lowered by the lesion, the physiological measures used in the present study indicate that the lesioned animals are under stress. Thus, death rate and weight loss after the surgery were higher in lesioned than in control animals. In addition, lesioned animals showed higher plasma corticosterone levels, a high incidence of gastric ulcers in the fundus and a depressed immune response to the mitogen concavaline A. These results highlight the importance of the median raphe nucleus in the regulation of stress and anxiety. They also show that behavioral and physiological measures of stress may be dissociated.

Orthogonal polynomials associated with related measures and Sobolev orthogonal polynomials

Connection between two sequences of orthogonal polynomials, where the associated measures are related to each other by a first degree polynomial multiplication (or division), are looked at. The results are applied to obtain information regarding Sobolev orthogonal polynomials associated with certain pairs of measures.

Preliminary core sets of measures for disease activity and damage assessment in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus and juvenile dermatomyositis

Objective. To identify preliminary core sets of outcome variables for disease activity and damage assessment in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). Methods. Two questionnaire surveys were mailed to 267 physicians from 46 different countries asking each member to select and rank the response variables used when assessing clinical response in patients with JSLE or JDM. Next, 40 paediatric rheumatologists from 34 countries met and, using the nominal group technique, selected the domains to be included in the disease activity and damage core sets for JSLE and JDM. Results. A total of 41 response variables for JSLE and 37 response variables for JDM were selected and ranked through the questionnaire surveys. In the consensus conference, domains selected for both JSLE and JDM activity or damage core sets included the physician and parent/patient subjective assessments and a global score tool. Domains specific for JSLE activity were the immunological tests and the kidney function parameters. Concerning JDM, functional ability and muscle strength assessments were indicated for both activity and damage core sets, whereas serum muscle enzymes were included only in the activity core set. A specific paediatric domain called 'growth and development' was introduced in the disease damage core set for both diseases and the evaluation of health-related quality of life was advised in order to capture the influence of the disease on the patient lifestyle. Conclusions. We developed preliminary core sets of measures for disease activity and damage assessment in JSLE and JDM. The prospective validation of the core sets is in progress.

Profitability measures of dairy cows

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Capacidade de carga real (ccr) da caverna de santana, parque estadual turístico do alto ribeira (Petar) - sp, e indicações para o seu manejo turístico

The tourist use of Santana cave provides a row of environmental damages, compromising partially the pristine conditions. Among the measures adopted to avoid this situation, this issue presents a contribution for the physical limits to tourist visitation and the indications for speleotouristic management. It was used the Cifuentes Carrying Capacity method and some basic principles of Visitors Impact Management Framework - VIM. The results show a Real Carrying Capacity (CCR) about 120 visits daily on the cave. The discussions raise a few hypotheses about the alteration in the method used and the temporal frequency between visitors groups, suggesting a provisional CCR of 117 and 135 visitors daily, respectively, during the week and in the weekends and holidays. The conclusions appoint the necessity of a conceptual revision in the Carrying Capacity methods, mainly about its adaptation for tourist management in caves. In the case studied, it is suggested the immediate beginning of environmental monitoring of the cave, to verify the plausibility from proposed visitation limits and the possible contributions for to mitigate the environmental impacts from speleotourism.

Environmental protection measures, their evaluation (cost-benefit analysis) and their incorporation in development planning

Includes bibliography

Network reconfiguration of distribution systems using metaheuristics and reliability measures

In an evermore competitive environment, power distribution companies need to continuously monitor and improve the reliability indices of their systems. The network reconfiguration (NR) of a distribution system is a technique that well adapts to this new deregulated environment for it allows improvement of system reliability indices without the onus involved in procuring new equipment. This paper presents a reliability-based NR methodology that uses metaheuristic techniques to search for the optimal network configuration. Three metaheuristics, i.e. Tabu Search, Evolution Strategy, and Differential Evolution, are tested using a Brazilian distribution network and the results are discussed. © 2009 IEEE.

The reactions of the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean to the international crisis: an overview of policy measures up to 31 May 2009

Includes bibliography

The reactions of the governments of the Americas to the international crisis: an overview of policy measures up to 31 December 2009

Includes bibliography