Analytic Methods for the Logic of Proofs

The logic of proofs (lp) was proposed as Gdels missed link between Intuitionistic and S4-proofs, but so far the tableau-based methods proposed for lp have not explored this closeness with S4 and contain rules whose analycity is not immediately evident. We study possible formulations of analytic tableau proof methods for lp that preserve the subformula property. Two sound and complete tableau decision methods of increasing degree of analycity are proposed, KELP and preKELP. The latter is particularly inspired on S4-proofs. The crucial role of proof constants in the structure of lp-proofs methods is analysed. In particular, a method for the abduction of proof constant specifications in strongly analytic preKELP proofs is presented; abduction heuristics and the complexity of the method are discussed.

English as a Second Language and Children’s literature : An empirical study on Swedish elementary school teachers’ methods and attitudes towards the use of children’s literature in the English classroom

Previous research has shown multiple benefits and challenges with the incorporation of children’s literature in the English as a Second language (ESL) classroom. In addition, the use of children’s literature in the lower elementary English classroom is recommended by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Consequently, the current study explores how teachers in Swedish elementary school teach ESL through children’s literature. This empirical study involves English teachers from seven schools in a small municipality in Sweden. The data has been collected through an Internet survey. The study also connects the results to previous international research, comparing Swedish and international research. The results suggest that even though there are many benefits of using children’s literature in the ESL classroom, the respondents seldom use these authentic texts, due to limited time and a narrow supply of literature, among other factors. However, despite these challenges, all of the teachers claim to use children’s literature by reading aloud in the classroom. Based on the results, further research exploring pupils’ thoughts in contrast to teachers would be beneficial. In addition, the majority of the participants expressed that they wanted more information on how to use children’s literature. Therefore, additional research relating to beneficial methods of teaching English through children’s literature, especially in Sweden, is recommended.

KittyCat: a cognitive model of structure-form discovery

Cognition is a core subject to understand how humans think and behave. In that sense, it is clear that Cognition is a great ally to Management, as the later deals with people and is very interested in how they behave, think, and make decisions. However, even though Cognition shows great promise as a field, there are still many topics to be explored and learned in this fairly new area. Kemp & Tenembaum (2008) tried to a model graph-structure problem in which, given a dataset, the best underlying structure and form would emerge from said dataset by using bayesian probabilistic inferences. This work is very interesting because it addresses a key cognition problem: learning. According to the authors, analogous insights and discoveries, understanding the relationships of elements and how they are organized, play a very important part in cognitive development. That is, this are very basic phenomena that allow learning. Human beings minds do not function as computer that uses bayesian probabilistic inferences. People seem to think differently. Thus, we present a cognitively inspired method, KittyCat, based on FARG computer models (like Copycat and Numbo), to solve the proposed problem of discovery the underlying structural-form of a dataset.

Analytical Methods for the Determination of Chlorhexidine: A Review

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Methacycline: A Review of Analytical Methods

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Review of Fluconazole Properties and Analytical Methods for Its Determination

Fluconazole, alpha-(2.4-diflurofenil)-alpha-(1H-triazol-1-methyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ethanol, is an antifungal of the triazoles class. It shows activity against species of Candida sp. and it is indicated in cases of oropharyngeal candidiasis, esophageal, vaginal, and deep infection. Fluconazole is a selective inhibitor of ergosterol, a steroid exclusive of the cell membrane of fungal cells. Fluconazole is highly absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and spreads easily by body fluids. The main adverse reactions related to the use of fluconazole are nausea, vomiting, headache, rash, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and alopecia in patients undergoing prolonged treatment with a dose of 400 mg/day. In the form of raw material, pharmaceutical formulations, or biological material, fluconazole can be determined by methods such as titration, spectrophotometry, and thin-layer, gas, and liquid chromatography. This article discusses the pharmacological and physicochemical properties of fluconazole and also the methods of analysis applied to the determination of the drug.

Diagnosis of Giardia infections by PCR-based methods in children of an endemic area

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

Statistical methods applied to the analysis of blasting vibrations in a diabase quarry in the city of Campinas, (SP) Brazil

Statistical methods of multiple regression analysis, trend surface analysis and principal components analysis were applied to seismographic data recorded during production blasting at a diabase quarry in the urban area of Campinas (SP), Brazil. The purpose of these analyses was to determine the influence of the following variables: distance (D), charge weight per delay (W), and scaled distance (SD) associated with properties of the rock body (orientation, frequency and angle of geological discontinuities; depth of bedrock and thickness of the soil overburden) in the variation of the peak particle velocity (PPV). This approach yielded variables with larger influences (loads) on the variation of ground vibration, as well as behavior and space tendency of this variation. The results showed a better relationship between PPV and D, with D being the most important factor in the attenuation of the ground vibrations. The geological joints and the depth to bedrock have a larger influence than the explosive charges in the variation of the vibration levels, but frequencies appear to be more influenced by the amount of soil overburden.

Densitometry, radiography, and histological assessment of collagen as methods to evaluate femoral bones in an experimental model of osteoporosis

All methods to detect experimental loss of bone present technique limitations. The sensitivities of image and histological analyses to detect the effects of teriparatide in rats with bone loss after ovariectomy were evaluated. All methods were qualitatively valid.The standardization of methods to assess bone loss after ovariectomy is crucial to establish the degree of experimental osteoporosis. In general, methods per image or histological techniques are used. To validate these two ways to determine the degree of bone loss in ovariectomized rats, we evaluated the sensitivities of bone densitometry, conventional radiography, and histological analysis of the area occupied by collagen, detecting the effects of teriparatide treatment in the femur of ovariectomized rats with bone loss.Wistar rats were divided into three groups: a control group, in which the animals were only subjected to laparotomy; an ovariectomized group, in which bilateral removal of the ovaries was performed; and an ovariectomized + teriparatide group, in which bilateral removal of the ovaries was performed, and the animals were treated with 3 mu g/100 g/day of teriparatide. Three months following the ovariectomy, bone densitometry, radiographic densitometry, and histological analysis of the area occupied by collagen fibers were carried out in the femur diaphysis.The bone densitometry revealed 11.2% reduction in femur density; in the conventional radiography, the loss of bone mass was 14.5%, and with the histological analysis, a 40.9% reduction in the area occupied by collagen was detected in the femur diaphysis.In conclusion, histological analysis could not be quantitatively compared with the methods of bone densitometry and conventional radiography; however, all of these methods were qualitatively valid for assessing the loss of bone stemming from ovariectomy and the therapeutic effect of teriparatide in the prevention of osteoporosis.

Integration Methods Used in Numerical Simulations of Electromagnetic Transients

This paper made an analysis of some numerical integration methods that can be used in electromagnetic transient simulations. Among the existing methods, we analyzed the trapezoidal integration method (or Heun formula), Simpson's Rule and Runge-Kutta. These methods were used in simulations of electromagnetic transients in power systems, resulting from switching operations and maneuvers that occur in transmission lines. Analyzed the characteristics such as accuracy, computation time and robustness of the methods of integration.

Review of Fluconazole Properties and Analytical Methods for Its Determination

Fluconazole, -(2.4-diflurofenil)--(1H-triazol-1-methyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-ethanol, is an antifungal of triazoles class. It shows activity against species of Candida sp., and it is indicated in cases of oropharyngeal candidiasis, esophageal, vaginal, and deep infection. Fluconazole is a selective inhibitor of ergosterol, a steroid exclusive of the cell membrane of fungal cells. Fluconazole is highly absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract, and it spreads easily by body fluids. The main adverse reactions related to the use of fluconazole are nausea, vomiting, headache, rash, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and alopecia in patients undergoing prolonged treatment with a dose of 400 mg/day. In the form of raw material, pharmaceutical formulations, or biological material, fluconazole can be determined by methods such as titration, spectrophotometry, and thin-layer, gas, and liquid chromatography. This article discusses the pharmacological and physical-chemical properties of fluconazole and also the methods of analysis applied to the determination of the drug.

The Development of a Universal In Silico Predictor of Protein-Protein Interactions

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are essential for understanding the function of biological systems and have been characterized using a vast array of experimental techniques. These techniques detect only a small proportion of all PPIs and are labor intensive and time consuming. Therefore, the development of computational methods capable of predicting PPIs accelerates the pace of discovery of new interactions. This paper reports a machine learning-based prediction model, the Universal In Silico Predictor of Protein-Protein Interactions (UNISPPI), which is a decision tree model that can reliably predict PPIs for all species (including proteins from parasite-host associations) using only 20 combinations of amino acids frequencies from interacting and non-interacting proteins as learning features. UNISPPI was able to correctly classify 79.4% and 72.6% of experimentally supported interactions and non-interacting protein pairs, respectively, from an independent test set. Moreover, UNISPPI suggests that the frequencies of the amino acids asparagine, cysteine and isoleucine are important features for distinguishing between interacting and non-interacting protein pairs. We envisage that UNISPPI can be a useful tool for prioritizing interactions for experimental validation. © 2013 Valente et al.

Effect of forced-molting methods and rearing temperatures on the performance and organ biometrics of laying hens

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

Cryopreservation of bovine spermatozoa from the epididymal tail using conventional and automated methods

Cryopreservation of sperm is important to preserve the gerrnplasm from animals of genetic value, which can die unexpectedly. This study compares conventional and automated methods of cryopreservation of spermatozoa obtained from the epididymis of bulls post-mortem. Twenty-two epididymides were obtained from a commercial slaughterhouse. Spermatozoa were collected from the tail of the epididymis using the retrograde flow technique. Thus, the samples, which were diluted in 10 ml of extender without glycerol (Botubov (R) I, Botupharma, Botucatu, SP, Brazil), were evaluated on motility, sperm vigor, structural and functional (swelling hypoosmotic test) membrane integrity, mitochondrial activity, sperm viability and ADN fragmentation. The samples were divided into two aliquots and diluted in extender with glycerol (Botubov (R) II, Botupharma, Botucatu, SP, Brazil) at a concentration of 50x10(6) motile sperm/0.5 French straws. One sample was frozen by the conventional method (4 hours at 5 degrees C, in a refrigerator and 20 min in nitrogen vapor) and the other by the automated method (Cryogen (R) Dualflex, Neovet, Uberaba, MG, Brazil). The parameters were higher in all the tests of fresh sperm samples, with the exception of the swelling hypoosmotic test, which showed no significant difference when the results were compared with sperm frozen by the conventional method. The average motility of fresh spermatozoa was 74%, and conventional and automated averages were 29 and 25%, respectively. Therefore, although cryopreservation techniques reduce sperm quality parameters, the viability of the sperm is maintained, and these methods can be used to preserve sperm.

Chemical composition of corn and sorghum grains cultivated in oxisol with different application methods and doses of zinc

A.P. Puga, R.M. Prado, B. Mattiuz, D.W. Vale, and I.M. Fonseca. 2013. Chemical composition of corn and sorghum grains cultivated in Oxisol according to different application methods and doses of zinc. Cien. Inv. Agr. 40(1):97-108. In general, tropical soils present low concentrations of zinc (Zn), and the deficiency of Zn is recognized as a world nutritional problem for cereal production and human beings. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to assess the effects of different methods of Zn application on the quality of corn and sorghum grains grown in Oxisol. Two experiments were set up in the experimental area of UNESP (campus of Jaboticabal, Brazil). The following nine treatments were applied: three doses of Zn by banded application (seed furrows), three doses of Zn by incorporation into soil (0-20 cm depth), foliar application, seed application, and control (no Zn applied). The treatments were arranged in randomized blocks with four replicates. The contents of Zn, carbohydrates and proteins were determined for corn and sorghum grains. Regardless of the method, Zn application promoted higher contents of this micronutrient in corn and sorghum grains. The banded application method of Zn in soil promoted greater contents of total carbohydrates, starch and protein in both cultures. The incorporation of Zn into the soil method provided higher contents of soluble carbohydrates in both corn and sorghum grains.