The eager fight for supremacy in the online service industry: a comparative study of M&A activities: case studies of Apple, Google and Microsoft

A indústria de serviços online é caracterizada por um volume alto de Fusões e Aquisições no período de 2005 a 2015. As líderes de mercado, Apple, Google e Microsoft, incorporaram essa forma de crescimento inorgânico em suas estratégias corporativas. Essa tese examina as atividades de Fusões e Aquisições dessas três empresas. Consequentemente, ela tem foco em dois aspectos principais. Primeiro, existe o objetivo de saciar uma escassez na literatura acadêmica, no que se diz respeito ao estabelecimento de uma conexão entre a estratégia corporativa dessas empresas e as decisões tomadas de Fusões e Aquisições. Segundo, há também o objetivo de estimar possíveis futuros desenvolvimentos no setor. Através de uma análise de conteúdo qualitativa das publicações das empresas, relatórios de análise de mercado, e outros conteúdos de terceiros, estudos de caso foram desenvolvidos. Os resultados mostram o processo de posicionamento estratégico por parte da Apple, Google e Microsoft, dentro do mercado de serviços online, entre os anos de 2005 e 2015. As recorrentes fusões e aquisições são analisadas, no que se diz respeito as estratégias corporativas dessas empresas e a responsividade perante as atividades de seus competidores. Os resultados evidenciam atividades agressivas de Fusões e Aquisições em grupos estratégicos em comum entre as três empresas, especialmente no mercado de aparelhos de comunicação móvel e serviços de comunicação.

Determination of lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants in Solanum Lycopersicum L. tomato from Gordal variety by LL-USAE combined with UHPLC-PDA/FLR

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) is one of the main constituents of the Mediterranean diet. Its consumption has been proposed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer. It is therefore one of the most popular and extensively consumed vegetable crop worldwide. To gain insights on the potential of Lycopersicon esculentum L. as bioactive food, two analytical methodologies were developed to determine the levels of the lipophilic -tocopherol, α-tocopherol, β-carotene, lycopene; and hydrophilic antioxidants ascorbic acid. The quantification of total carotenoids (β-carotene and lycopene) was assessed through a liquid–liquid ultrasound assisted extraction (LL-USAE) in combination with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), according to method of mean, for total carotenoids (λmáx = 450 nm. The ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic using both photodiode array and fluorescence detection (UHPLC-PDA/FLR), allows the identification and quantification of the target lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants. This methodology UHPLC-PDA/FLR is fast, simple and revealed a high sensitivity for the compounds under study. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) obtained were much lower (about 10 times) than the reported in literature. The method LL-USAE/UV-Vis was validated and applied to different tomato foodstuffs. The results reveal a small increase of carotenoids content during maturation, reaching the maximum level when ripe. These results complement those obtained by the ORAC and TBARS assays that show an increase of antioxidant capacity during maturation. The LODs ans LOQs obtained were also about 10 times lower than reported in literature. The carotenoid content was also evaluated by LL-USAE/UV-Vis in different tomatoes varieties. Regional variety present the high carotenoid level, followed by campari and gordal, and at last grape. This methodology was also applied to different processed food samples containing tomatoes derivatives. Highest carotenoids content were obtained in concentrated tomato foodstuffs.

Avaliação do retinol em parturientes com diabetes mellitus gestacional no pós parto imediato

Micronutrient deficiencies affect individuals mainly in developing countries, where vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem worldwide more worrying, especially in groups with increased physiological needs such as children and women of reproductive age. Vitamin A is supplied to the body through diet and has an important role in the visual process, cell differentiation, maintenance of epithelial tissue, reproductive and resistance to infection. The literature has demonstrated the relationship between vitamin A and diabetes, including gestational, leading to a risk to both mother and child. Gestational diabetes is any decrease in glucose tolerance of variable magnitude diagnosed each the first time during pregnancy, and may or may not persist after delivery. Insulin resistance during pregnancy is associated with placental hormones, as well as excess fat. Studies have shown that retinol transport protein produced in adipose tissue in high concentrations, this would be associated with resistance by interfering with insulin signaling. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the concentration of retinol in serum and colostrum from healthy and diabetic mothers in the immediate postpartum period. One hundred and nine parturient women were recruited, representing seventy-three healthy and thirty-six diabetic. Retinol was extracted and subsequently analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Among the results highlights the mothers with gestational diabetes were older than mothers healthy, had more children and a higher prevalence of cases of cesarean section. Fetal macrosomia was present in 1.4% of healthy parturient women and in 22.2% of diabetic mothers. The maternal serum retinol showed an average of 39.7 ± 12.5 mg/dL for healthy parturients 35.12 ± 15 mg/dL for diabetic and showed no statistical difference. It was observed that in the group of diabetic had 17% vitamin A deficiency, whereas in the healthy group, only 4% of the women were deficentes. Colostrum, the concentration of retinol in healthy was 131.3 ± 56.2 mg/dL and 125.3 ± 41.9 mg/dL in diabetic did not differ statistically. This concentration of retinol found in colostrum provides approximately 656.5 mg/day for infants born to healthy mothers and 626.5 mg/day for infants of diabetic mothers, based on a daily consumption of 500 mL of breast milk and need Vitamin A 400 mg/day, thus reaching the requirement of the infant. The diabetic mothers showed significant risk factors and complications related to gestational diabetes. Although no 11 difference was found in serum retinol concentration and colostrum among women with and without gestational diabetes, the individual analysis shows that parturients women with diabetes are 4.9 times more likely to develop vitamin A deficiency than healthy parturients. However, the supply of vitamin A to the newborn was not committed in the presence of gestational diabetes

Estimating mortality in laying hens as the environmental temperature increases

Layer mortality due to heat stress is an important economic loss for the producer. The aim of this study was to determine the mortality pattern of layers reared in the region of Bastos, SP, Brazil, according to external environment and bird age. Data mining technique were used based on monthly mortality records of hens in production, 135 poultry houses, from January 2004 to August 2008. The external environment was characterized according maximum and minimum temperatures, obtained monthly at the meteorological station CATI in the city of Tupa, SP, Brazil. Mortality was classified as normal (<= 1.2%) or high (> 1.2%), considering the mortality limits mentioned in literature. Data mining technique produced a decision tree with nine levels and 23 leaves, with 62.6% of overall accuracy. The hit rate for the High class was 64.1% and 59.9% for Normal class. The decision tree allowed finding a pattern in the mortality data, generating a model for estimating mortality based on the thermal environment and bird age.

Caracterização térmica (TG/DTG, DTA, DSC, DSC-fotovisual) de Hormônios bioidênticos (estriol estradiol)

Bioidentical hormones are defined as compounds that have exactly the same chemical and molecular structure as hormones that are produced in the human body. It is believed that the use of hormones may be safer and more effective than the non-bioidentical hormones, because binding to receptors in the organism would be similar to the endogenous hormone. Bioidentical estrogens have been used in menopausal women, as an alternative to traditional hormone replacement therapy. Thermal data of these hormones are scarce in literature. Thermal analysis comprises a group of techniques that allows evaluating the physical-chemistry properties of a drug, while the drug is subjected to a controlled temperature programming. The thermal techniques are used in pharmaceutical studies for characterization of drugs, purity determination, polymorphism identification, compatibility and evaluation of stability. This study aims to characterize the bioidentical hormones estradiol and estriol through thermal techniques TG/DTG, DTA, DSC, DSC-photovisual. By the TG curves analysis was possible to calculated kinetic parameters for the samples. The kinetic data showed that there is good correlation in the different models used. For both estradiol and estriol, was found zero order reaction, which enabled the construction of the vapor pressure curves. Data from DTA and DSC curves of melting point and purity are the same of literature, showed relation with DSC-photovisual results. The analysis DTA curves showed the fusion event had the best linearity for both hormones. In the evaluation of possible degradation products, the analysis of the infrared shows no degradation products in the solid state

Mãe-esposa e professora: educadoras no final do século XIX

This text is organized through discussions undertaken in the area of the History of Education in Rio Grande do Norte, circumscribed to the History of Women from the first decades of the Brazilian Republic, and to the analysis of what was expected of this education. We examined representations of women in Natal, between 1889 and 1914, with the goal of configuring relations between the sexes with the emphasis on moral, intellectual and pedagogical aspects required of these women. As documental sources we utilized the educational, civil and criminal Legislation, on a National scope, as well as on a State and Municipal scope. We circumscribed our search to the newspaper A República, in which we found literature that circulated in Natal in the form of pamphlets, short stories and poetry, as well as other texts by authors that were part of the corpus of analysis of this study, located in public and private archives in Rio Grande do Norte, such as the Historical and Geographic Institute of Rio Grande do Norte (IHGRN) and the State Public Archive of Rio Grande do Norte (APE-RN). The use of the indexing method and the propositions of Cultural History were the appropriate theoretical-methodological framework to complete studies of this nature. This operational perspective permitted us to elaborate nuances about this time of transition from the 19th to the 20th Century, and to spotlight the fire of the women from this period. The basis of the argument that related women to maternity and domesticity, and within the ideals of abnegation and religious leadership, aligned to a demand coming from the increase in the quantity of schools for women, allocated women as the most appropriate for superior in educational performance in the country, based on its foundations: primary education. Beyond the universe of formal education, the other side of women appeared in republican politics. The mother-spouse and the institutionalization of domestic education associated the female gender with the role of educator at home as well. Be it in the public sphere, as a teacher, or in private, as mother-spouse, female care is perceived in this configuration, as an educational base that the Republic, and in transition, bequeathed to the Brazilian 20th Century

Eram realmente pitagórico(a)s os homens e mulheres catalogado(a)s por Jâmblico em sua obra Vida de Pitágoras?

Pythagoras was one of the most important pre-Socratic thinkers, and the movement he founded, Pythagoreanism, influenced a whole thought later in religion and science. Iamblichus, an important Neoplatonic and Neopythagorean philosopher of the third century AD, produced one of the most important biographies of Pythagoras in his work Life of Pythagoras. In it he portrays the life of Pythagoras and provides information on Pythagoreanism, such as the Pythagorean religious community which resembled the cult of mysteries; the Pythagorean involvement in political affairs and in the government in southern Italy, the use of music by the Pythagoreans (means of purification of healing, use of theoretical study), the Pythagorean ethic (Pythagorean friendship and loyalty, temperance, self-control, inner balance); justice; and the attack on the Pythagoreans. Also in this biography, Iamblichus, almost seven hundred years after the termination of the Pythagorean School, established a catalog list with the names of two hundred and eighteen men and sixteen women, supposedly Pythagoreans of different nationalities. Based on this biography, a question was raised: to what extent and in what ways, can the Pythagoreans quoted by Iamblichus really be classified as Pythagoreans? We will take as guiding elements to search for answers to our central problem the following general objectives: to identify, whenever possible, which of the men and women listed in the Iamblichus catalog may be deemed Pythagorean and specific; (a) to describe the mystery religions; (b) to reflect on the similarities between the cult of mysteries and the Pythagorean School; (c) to develop criteria to define what is being a Pythagorean; (d) to define a Pythagorean; (e) to identify, if possible, through names, places of birth, life, thoughts, work, lifestyle, generation, etc.., each of the men and women listed by Iamblichus; (f) to highlight who, in the catalog, could really be considered Pythagorean, or adjusting to one or more criteria established in c, or also to the provisions of item d. To realize these goals, we conducted a literature review based on ancient sources that discuss the Pythagoreanism, especially Iamblichus (1986), Plato (2000), Aristotle (2009), as well as modern scholars of the Pythagorean movement, Cameron (1938), Burnet (1955), Burkert (1972), Barnes (1997), Gorman (n.d.), Guthrie (1988), Khan (1999), Mattéi (2000), Kirk, Raven and Shofield (2005), Fossa and Gorman (n.d.) (2010). The results of our survey show that, despite little or no availability of information on the names of alleged Pythagoreans listed by Iamblichus, if we apply the criteria and the definition set by us of what comes to be a Pythagorean to some names for which we have evidence, it is possible to assume that Iamblichus produced a list which included some Pythagoreans

A novel A2 allele found in Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi

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

Experienciando a ausência do companheiro nas consultas de pré-natal

This research aimed to understand pregnant general meaning about consort absence in prenatal care. It s an exploratory and descriptive qualitative approach, developed at Centro de Saúde de Jardim Lola, São Gonçalo do Amarante / RN. Participated in investigation 20 pregnant enrolled in prenatal program, their aged over 18 years, guidance of mental faculties and who survive together her partner. Data were collected from March to May 2009, through semi-structured interview. The analysis was processed according to grounded theory and symbolic interactionism as theoretical and methodological references. To support discussions were used literature findings involving political aspects of women humanization in health care and gender relations within family. Following footsteps of points it were adopted derived following sub categories: ¨Realizing involvement of consort during prenatal¨, ¨Expressing feelings during prenatal¨ and ¨Manifesting attitudes during prenatal period¨. These, when they had their properties and dimensions analyzed, resulted in the main category ¨ Experiencing absence of compeer in clinical prenatal¨. The construction of this theory leads to conclusion that women understand absence of her partner, attributing this to even work at the moment prenatal care or does not like to attend health institutions. However, this does not mean that his presence is dismissed, because desire to be with him in prenatal care was mentioned by most interviewees. So, partner absent at time, leads women to experience desires, feelings, attitudes, perceptions and expectations about studied phenomenon. This reality, induce that absence of them partner in prenatal care predisposes women to strengthening of discomforts arising from pregnancy and therefore goes against wellbeing of pregnant, and ensure the possibility of marital discord. This requires professional nursing measures to get in inclusion of partner in daily pre-natal care in humanization perspective.

An efficient neural approach to economic load dispatch in power systems

A neural approach to solve the problem defined by the economic load dispatch in power systems is presented in this paper, Systems based on artificial neural networks have high computational rates due to the use of a massive number of simple processing elements and the high degree of connectivity between these elements the ability of neural networks to realize some complex nonlinear function makes them attractive for system optimization the neural networks applyed in economic load dispatch reported in literature sometimes fail to converge towards feasible equilibrium points the internal parameters of the modified Hopfield network developed here are computed using the valid-subspace technique These parameters guarantee the network convergence to feasible quilibrium points, A solution for the economic load dispatch problem corresponds to an equilibrium point of the network. Simulation results and comparative analysis in relation to other neural approaches are presented to illustrate efficiency of the proposed approach.

Influência do ciclo estral no efeito do diazepam na ansiedade e memória de ratas

Memory and anxiety are related phenomena. Several evidences suggest that anxiety is fundamental for learnining and may facilitate or impair the memory formation process depending of the context. The majority of animal studies of anxiety and fear use only males as experimental subjects, while studies with females are rare in the literature. However, the prevalence in phobic and anxiety disorders is greater in women than in men. Moreover, it is known that gender maybe influence benzodiazepine effects, the classic drugs used for anxiety disorders treatment. In this respect, to further investigate if fear/anxiety aspects related to learning in female subjects would contribute to the study of phobic and anxiety disorders and their relationship with learning/memory processes, the present work investigates (a) the effects of benzodiazepine diazepam on female rats performance in a aversive memory task that assess concomitantly anxiety/emotionality, as the interaction between both; (b) the influence of estrous cycle phases of female rats on diazepam effects at aversive memory and anxiety/emotionality, and the interaction between both and (c) the role of hormonal fluctuations during estrous cycle phases in absence of diazepam effects in proestrus, because female rats in this phase received or not mifepristone, the antagonist of progesterone receptor, previously to the diazepam treatment. For this purpose, the plus maze discriminative avoidance task, previously validated for studies of anxiety concomitantly to learning/memory, was used. The apparatus employed is an adaptation of a conventional plus maze, with two opens arms and two closed arms, one of which presenting aversive stimulation (noise and light). The parameters used were: time in non-aversive arm compared to time in aversive and percentage of time in aversive arm on several temporal divisions, in order to evaluate memory; percentage of time in open arms, risk assessment, head dipping and end exploring to evaluate anxiety ; and distance traveled for locomotion. In experiment I, we found anxiolytic effect of diazepam only for 4 mg/kg dose, however the amnestic effect appear at a dose of 2 mg/kg. In second experiment, rats were divided in groups according estrous cycle phase (metaestrus/diestrus, proestrus e estrus). In this experiment, when we considered estrous cycle phase or diazepam treatment, the results did not demonstrate any differences in anxiety/emotionality parameters. The amnestic effects of diazepam occur in female rats in metestrus/diestrus and estrus and is absent in proestrous rats. Proestrous female rats that received mifepristone exhibited the amnestic effect of diazepam and also anxiolytic effects, that it was not previously observed in this dose. The results have demonstrated dissociation of anxiolytic and amnestic diazepam effects, not previously observed in males; the absence of amnestic effect of diazepam in proestrous phase; and the possible role of progesterone in aversive memory over diazepam effect, because the mifepristone, associated with diazepam, caused amnestic effect in proestrus

Proposta de Intervenção para Auxiliar a Reabilitação Motora e Cognitiva de Pacientes com Acidente Vascular Cerebral

Stroke is the leading cause of combined motor and cognitive disability worldwide. The rehabilitation of stroke patients is mostly directed towards motor recovery through the training of the affected member under supervision of a Physical Therapist. In the present study we introduce a new approach for both cognitive and motor therapy, which relies on motor imagery of the upper limbs and working memory training. This therapy should be utilized as an adjuvant to physical therapy. Ten individuals (5 men and 5 women) were selected for the pilot study, all of them in the acute phase of the first ischemic stroke episode. The control group had 5 individuals who were submitted to physical therapy only, whilst the other 5 patients in the experimental group also performed the cognitive and motor training with a video game specially built for this study. Two patients left the experimental group before the end. Total training lasted for 9 weeks, 2 times a week, for half an hour. Patients reported they enjoyed playing the game, even though it required a lot of mental effort, according to them. Plus, they considered it had a beneficial influence in their activities of daily living. No side effects were reported. Preliminary results suggest there is a difference between groups in cognitive and upper limb motor evaluation following the intervention. It is important to notice that our conclusions are limited due the small sample number. Overall, this work is supported by other studies in literature focused in rehabilitation with motor imagery and working memory and indicate a continuity of the research, increasing total training hours

A DOE based approach for the design of RBF artificial neural networks applied to prediction of surface roughness in AISI 52100 hardened Steel turning

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Do útero à adoção: a experiência de mulheres férteis que adotaram uma criança

Even with all changes and ruptures related to the social roles that woman had performed, the literature had confirmed that the motherhood still configures it like one of the main roles that she hopes to play in some moment of her life. When the woman did not get pregnant or take ahead a pregnancy, some women find in adoption an alternative to play this role. This research aimed to understand the experience of being mother for adoption in the case of fertile women, but whose partner is infertile. Supported by existential-phenomenological theory, used it the narrative, how methodological instrument. Participated five women, whose adoption process followed the legal ways in the Youngness and Infancy Judgeship of Natal/RN. The results showed that in the selfish training, the woman to see herself how whose role principal is to generate children, although, she think that is natural her participation in others activities go out home too. In male infertile case is a tendency that the woman strikes the infertile status too. The adoption is an alternative to fulfill her desire of being a mother and, meanwhile, please her husband and guarantee the continuity of her love relationship. Through motherly care, the woman discover herself as a mother, what brings a new meaning for her live, independent of to generate a child. Though, exit frustration, sometimes, in association with suffering, on account of the pregnancy and childbirth absence. The end of the research suggests reflections that to become fulfilled herself as mother, the woman does not need, necessarily, to generate a child, being the maternity one of the uncountable possibilities that are shown, and that she can choose, or not, accomplish it

Reforma a vapor catalítica do metano: Otimização da produção e seletividade em hidrogênio por absorção in situ do CO2 produzido

Topics of research related to energy and environment have significantly grown in recent years, with the need of its own energy as hydrogen. More particularly, numerous researches have been focused on hydrogen as energy vector. The main portion of hydrogen is presently obtained by reforming of methane or light hydrocarbons (steam, oxy, dry or auto reforming). During the methane steam reforming process the formation of CO2 undesirable (the main contributor to the greenhouse effect) is observed. Thus, an oxide material (sorbent) can be used to capture the CO2 generated during the process and simultaneously shifting the equilibrium of water gas shift towards thermodynamically more favorable production of pure hydrogen. The aim of this study is to develop a material with dual function (catalyst/sorbent) in the reaction of steam reforming of methane. CaO is well known as CO2 sorbent due to its high efficiency in reactions of carbonation and easy regeneration through calcination. However the kinetic of carbonation decreases quickly with time and carbonation/calcination cycles. A calcium aluminate (Ca12Al14O33) should be used to avoid sintering and increase the stability of CaO sorbents for several cycles. Nickel, the industrial catalyst choice for steam reforming has been added to the support from different manners. These bi-functional materials (sorbent/catalyst) in different molar ratios CaO.Ca12Al14O33 (48:52, 65:35, 75:25, 90:10) were prepared by different synthesis methodologies, among them, especially the method of microwave assisted self-combustion. Synthesis, structure and catalytic performances of Ni- CaO.Ca12Al14O33 synthesized by the novel method (microwave assisted selfcombustion) proposed in this work has not being reported yet in literature. The results indicate that CO2 capture time depends both on the CaO excess and on operating conditions (eg., temperature and H2O/CH4 ratio). To be efficient for CO2 sorption, temperature of steam reforming needs to be lower than 700 °C. An optimized percentage corresponding to 75% of CaO and a ratio H2O/CH4 = 1 provides the most promising results since a smaller amount of water avoids competition between water and CO2 to form carbonate and hydroxide. If this competition is most effective (H2O/CH4 = 3) and would have a smaller amount of CaO available for absorption possibly due to the formation of Ca(OH)2. Therefore, the capture time was higher (16h) for the ratio H2O/CH4 = 1 than H2O/CH4 = 3 (7h) using as catalyst one prepared by impregnating the support obtained by microwave assisted self-combustion. Therefore, it was demonstrated that, with these catalysts, the CO2 sorption on CaO modifies the balance of the water gas-shift reaction. Consequently, steam reforming of CH4 is optimized, producing pure H2, complete conversion of methane and negligible concentration of CO2 and CO during the time of capture even at low temperature (650 °C). This validates the concept of the sorption of CO2 together with methane steam reforming