Gastrointestinal nematode infections in sheep raised in Botucatu, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

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

The population structure of two sympatric hermit-crab species on a subtidal rocky shore of an island in southeastern Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Concepção da sexualidade de estudantes surdos usuários de Libras em uma escola polo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

EC24-721 Dairy Barns for Nebraska

The increasing interest shown among the farmers thruout this state in the betterment of dairy stock, and the tendency to give more attention to dairying on the farms, is bringing to the Agricultural College a great many requests for plans and suggestions for dairy barn construction. It is impossible to give every one of these inquiries individual attention to the extent of drawing a detailed plan to suit the conditions in each case. It is hoped therefore, that the material contained in this bulletin will offer helpful suggestions and answer many questions in the minds of prospective dairy men and dairy barn builders relative to the arrangement and construction of barns.

Awareness of Daylighting on Student Learning in an Educational Facility

This study examines how awareness of the interior architecture of a building, specifically daylighing, affects students academic performance. Extensive research has proven that the use of daylighting in a classroom can significantly enhance students’ academic success. The problem statement and purpose of this study is to determine if student awareness of daylighting in their learning environment affects academic performance compared to students with no knowledge of daylighting. Research and surveys in existing and newly constructed high schools were conducted to verify the results of this study. These design ideas and concepts could influence the architecture and design industry to advocate construction and building requirements that incorporate more sustainable design teaching techniques.

The Change from Red to White Meat: The Role of Technology

Since 1950, the composition of the U.S. meat diet has shifted markedly from red meats to poultry. For example, from 1970 to 1984, on a percapita basis, beef consumption has declined by 6.4 percent, while chicken and turkey consumptions have increased by 37.9, and 42.5 percent respectively (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1985). The numerous studies of this phenomenon from the demand side (Chavas, 1983; Braschler, 1983; Nyankori and Miller, 1982; Moschini and Meilke, 1984; Wohlgenant, 1985, Thurman, 1987; Chalfant and Alston, 1988) have failed to achieve a consensus as to whether a change in taste contributed to this shift. One reason for the lack of consensus is that the very large price and quantity changes make it difficult to establish whether consumers are on a new indifference map. But there have been no comparable studies of the nature and causes of the technological change that has made these large consumption and price changes possible. A decrease in the relative price of poultry with respect to red meat is in any case a major explanation of recent shifts in meat consumption patterns. The main reason for such a decrease appears to be a higher rate of technical progress in the poultry industry than in the red meat industry. Substantial productivity gains in both the production and marketing of poultry over the last two decades appears to have been translated into lower retail prices for poultry. Although some productivity gains have taken place in the red meat industry, they have not matched the cost reductions in the poultry industry (Chavas, 1987). Thus, a consumption shift from beef to poultry could possibly be interpreted as a response to changing relative prices, the structural change having occurred in the meat industry. This would imply that, if the beef industry desires to maintain or expand its market, it should seek a decrease in the production and marketing costs of beef.

Behavior problems and prevalence of asthma symptoms among Brazilian children

Objective: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in childhood and has been designated a public health problem due to the increase in its prevalence in recent decades, the amount of health service expenditure it absorbs and an absence of consensus about its etiology. The relationships among psychosocial factors and the occurrence, symptomatology, and severity of asthma have recently been considered. There is still controversy about the association between asthma and a child`s mental health, since the pathways through which this relationship is established are complex and not well researched. This study aims to investigate whether behavior problems are associated with the prevalence of asthma symptoms in a large urban center in Latin America. Methods: It is a cross-section study of 869 children between 6 and 12 years old, residents of Salvador, Brazil. The International Study of Allergy and Asthma in Childhood (ISAAC) instrument was used to evaluate prevalence of asthma symptoms. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was employed to evaluate behavioral problems. Results: 19.26% (n = 212) of the children presented symptoms of asthma. 35% were classified as having clinical behavioral problems. Poisson`s robust regression model demonstrated a statistically significant association between the presence of behavioral problems and asthma symptoms occurrence (PR: 1.43; 95% Cl: 1.10-1.85). Conclusion: These results suggest an association between behavioral problems and pediatric asthma, and support the inclusion of mental health care in the provision of services for asthma morbidity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modeling of active holonic control systems for intelligent buildings

Building facilities have become important infrastructures for modern productive plants dedicated to services. In this context, the control systems of intelligent buildings have evolved while their reliability has evidently improved. However, the occurrence of faults is inevitable in systems conceived, constructed and operated by humans. Thus, a practical alternative approach is found to be very useful to reduce the consequences of faults. Yet, only few publications address intelligent building modeling processes that take into consideration the occurrence of faults and how to manage their consequences. In the light of the foregoing, a procedure is proposed for the modeling of intelligent building control systems, considersing their functional specifications in normal operation and in the of the event of faults. The proposed procedure adopts the concepts of discrete event systems and holons, and explores Petri nets and their extensions so as to represent the structure and operation of control systems for intelligent buildings under normal and abnormal situations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Therapeutic Project at Extra-Hospital Mental Health Services: a critical reflection on the elaboration and management of services' therapeutic projects

Based on a study conducted in Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil in extra-hospital mental health services that addressed the organization of these services, therapeutic projects and the inclusion of psychosocial rehabilitation in health actions available, a theoretical-critical reflection concerning the development process of the therapeutic projects by the services' teams is presented. The qualitative study was conducted in an outpatient clinic and a Psychosocial Care Center. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focal groups. Data analysis was based on the hermeneutic dialectic philosophy of Jurgen Habermas according to the techniques of reconstruction and interpretation. Data analysis revealed that professionals have difficulty developing and managing therapeutic projects. Health actions are made available without being concretely supported by a proposal guiding the service's practical activities. The therapeutic projects are referred by professionals as the result of guidelines provided by management levels or technical orientations inherent to each profession but not as an activity that represents a philosophy of work of the health team. When the therapeutic project is focused on as a type of consensus that results from a communicative action directed to a mutual and intersubjective understanding among the members of the mental health extra-hospital team, the difficulties of the services' team dialogically organizing themselves to collectively construct the therapeutic project is evidenced.

An illustrated key to the genera and subgenera of the Recent azooxanthellate Scleractinia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa), with an attached glossary

The 120 presently recognized genera and seven subgenera of the azooxanthellate Scleractinia are keyed using gross morphological characters of the corallum. All genera are illustrated with calicular and side views of coralla. All termes used in the key are defined in an illustrated glossary. A table of all species-level keys, both comprehensive and faunistic, is provided covering the last 40 years.

Phylodynamics and Dispersal of HRSV Entails Its Permanence in the General Population in between Yearly Outbreaks in Children

Background: Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is one of the major etiologic agents of respiratory tract infections among children worldwide. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here through a comprehensive analysis of the two major HRSV groups A and B (n = 1983) which comprise of several genotypes, we present a complex pattern of population dynamics of HRSV over a time period of 50 years (1956-2006). Circulation pattern of HRSV revealed a series of expansions and fluctuations of co-circulating lineages with a predominance of HRSVA. Positively selected amino acid substitutions of the G glycoprotein occurred upon population growth of GB3 with a 60-nucleotide insertion (GB3 Insert), while other genotypes acquired substitutions upon both population growth and decrease, thus possibly reflecting a role for immune selected epitopes in linkage to the traced substitution sites that may have important relevance for vaccine design. Analysis evidenced the co-circulation and predominance of distinct HRSV genotypes in Brazil and suggested a year-round presence of the virus. In Brazil, GA2 and GA5 were the main culprits of HRSV outbreaks until recently, when the GB3 Insert became highly prevalent. Using Bayesian methods, we determined the dispersal patterns of genotypes through several inferred migratory routes. Conclusions/Significance: Genotypes spread across continents and between neighboring areas. Crucially, genotypes also remained at any given region for extended periods, independent of seasonal outbreaks possibly maintained by re-infecting the general population.

Novel organization of the mitochondrial genome in the deep-sea coral, Madrepora oculata (Hexacorallia, Scleractinia, Oculinidae) and its taxonomic implications

Madrepora is one of the most ecologically important genera of reef-building scleractinians in the deep sea, occurring from tropical to high-latitude regions. Despite this, the taxonomic affinities and relationships within the genus Madrepora remain unclear. To clarify these issues, we sequenced the mitochondrial (mt) genome of the most widespread Madrepora species, M. oculata, and compared this with data for other scleractinians. The architecture of the M. oculara mt genome was very similar to that of other scleractinians, except for a novel gene rearrangement affecting only cox2 and cox3. This pattern of gene organization was common to four geographically distinct M. oculata individuals as well as the congeneric species M. minutiseptum, but was not shared by other genera that are closely related on the basis of cox1 sequence analysis nor other oculinids, suggesting that it might be unique to Madrepora. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of thermal bridging on the performance of buildings using Light Steel Framing in Brazil

The Light Steel Framing building technology was introduced in Brazil in the late 1990s for the construction of residential houses. Because the design system was imported from the United States and is optimised to work well in that temperate climate, some modi fi cations must be made to adapt it for the Brazilian climate. The objective of this paper was to assess the impact of thermal bridging across enclosure elements on the thermal performance of buildings designed with Light Steel Framing in Brazil. The numerical simulation program EnergyPlus and a speci fi c method that considered the effects of metallic structures in the hourly simulations were used for the analysis. Two air-conditioned commercial buildings were used as case studies. The peak thermal load increased approximately 10% when an interior metal frame was included in the numerical simulations compared to non-metallic structures. Even when a metal frame panel was used only for vertical elements in the facade of a building with a conventional concrete structure, the simulations showed a 5% increase in annual energy use.

The assessment of change in rural landscape and the analysis of the driving forces. Proposal of a spatial model for the rural built environment

The presented study carried out an analysis on rural landscape changes. In particular the study focuses on the understanding of driving forces acting on the rural built environment using a statistical spatial model implemented through GIS techniques. It is well known that the study of landscape changes is essential for a conscious decision making in land planning. From a bibliography review results a general lack of studies dealing with the modeling of rural built environment and hence a theoretical modelling approach for such purpose is needed. The advancement in technology and modernity in building construction and agriculture have gradually changed the rural built environment. In addition, the phenomenon of urbanization of a determined the construction of new volumes that occurred beside abandoned or derelict rural buildings. Consequently there are two types of transformation dynamics affecting mainly the rural built environment that can be observed: the conversion of rural buildings and the increasing of building numbers. It is the specific aim of the presented study to propose a methodology for the development of a spatial model that allows the identification of driving forces that acted on the behaviours of the building allocation. In fact one of the most concerning dynamic nowadays is related to an irrational expansion of buildings sprawl across landscape. The proposed methodology is composed by some conceptual steps that cover different aspects related to the development of a spatial model: the selection of a response variable that better describe the phenomenon under study, the identification of possible driving forces, the sampling methodology concerning the collection of data, the most suitable algorithm to be adopted in relation to statistical theory and method used, the calibration process and evaluation of the model. A different combination of factors in various parts of the territory generated favourable or less favourable conditions for the building allocation and the existence of buildings represents the evidence of such optimum. Conversely the absence of buildings expresses a combination of agents which is not suitable for building allocation. Presence or absence of buildings can be adopted as indicators of such driving conditions, since they represent the expression of the action of driving forces in the land suitability sorting process. The existence of correlation between site selection and hypothetical driving forces, evaluated by means of modeling techniques, provides an evidence of which driving forces are involved in the allocation dynamic and an insight on their level of influence into the process. GIS software by means of spatial analysis tools allows to associate the concept of presence and absence with point futures generating a point process. Presence or absence of buildings at some site locations represent the expression of these driving factors interaction. In case of presences, points represent locations of real existing buildings, conversely absences represent locations were buildings are not existent and so they are generated by a stochastic mechanism. Possible driving forces are selected and the existence of a causal relationship with building allocations is assessed through a spatial model. The adoption of empirical statistical models provides a mechanism for the explanatory variable analysis and for the identification of key driving variables behind the site selection process for new building allocation. The model developed by following the methodology is applied to a case study to test the validity of the methodology. In particular the study area for the testing of the methodology is represented by the New District of Imola characterized by a prevailing agricultural production vocation and were transformation dynamic intensively occurred. The development of the model involved the identification of predictive variables (related to geomorphologic, socio-economic, structural and infrastructural systems of landscape) capable of representing the driving forces responsible for landscape changes.. The calibration of the model is carried out referring to spatial data regarding the periurban and rural area of the study area within the 1975-2005 time period by means of Generalised linear model. The resulting output from the model fit is continuous grid surface where cells assume values ranged from 0 to 1 of probability of building occurrences along the rural and periurban area of the study area. Hence the response variable assesses the changes in the rural built environment occurred in such time interval and is correlated to the selected explanatory variables by means of a generalized linear model using logistic regression. Comparing the probability map obtained from the model to the actual rural building distribution in 2005, the interpretation capability of the model can be evaluated. The proposed model can be also applied to the interpretation of trends which occurred in other study areas, and also referring to different time intervals, depending on the availability of data. The use of suitable data in terms of time, information, and spatial resolution and the costs related to data acquisition, pre-processing, and survey are among the most critical aspects of model implementation. Future in-depth studies can focus on using the proposed model to predict short/medium-range future scenarios for the rural built environment distribution in the study area. In order to predict future scenarios it is necessary to assume that the driving forces do not change and that their levels of influence within the model are not far from those assessed for the time interval used for the calibration.

Durability of crystalline monumental stones in terms of their petrophysical characteristics

The durability of stone building materials is an issue of utmost importance in the field of monument conservation. In order to be able to preserve our built cultural heritage, the thorough knowledge of its constituent materials and the understanding of the processes that affect them are indispensable. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the durability of a special stone type, the crystalline stones, in correlation with their intrinsic characteristics, the petrophysical properties. The crystalline stones are differentiated from the cemented stones on the basis of textural features. Their most important specific property is the usually low, fissure-like porosity. Stone types of significant monumental importance, like the marble or granite belong to this group. The selected materials for this investigation, indeed, are a marble (Macael marble, Spain) and a granite (Silvestre Vilachán granite, Spain). In addition, an andesite (Szob andesite, Hungary) also of significant monumental importance was selected. This way a wide range of crystalline rocks is covered in terms of petrogenesis: stones of metamorphic, magmatic and volcanic origin, which can be of importance in terms of mineralogical, petrological or physical characteristics. After the detailed characterization of the petrophysical properties of the selected stones, their durability was assessed by means of artificial ageing. The applied ageing tests were: the salt crystallization, the frost resistance in pure water and in the presence of soluble salts, the salt mist and the action of SO2 in the presence of humidity. The research aimed at the understanding of the mechanisms of each weathering process and at finding the petrophysical properties most decisive in the degradation of these materials. Among the several weathering mechanisms, the most important ones were found to be the physical stress due to crystallization pressure of both salt and ice, the thermal fatigue due to cyclic temperature changes and the chemical reactions (mostly the acidic attack) between the mineral phases and the external fluids. The properties that fundamentally control the degradation processes, and thus the durability of stones were found to be: the mineralogical and chemical composition; the hydraulic properties especially the water uptake, the permeability and the drying; the void space structure, especially the void size and aperture size distribution and the connectivity of the porous space; and the thermal and mechanical properties. Because of the complexity of the processes and the high number of determining properties, no mechanisms or characteristics could be identified as typical for crystalline stones. The durability or alterability of each stone type must be assessed according to its properties and not according to the textural or petrophysical classification they belong to. Finally, a critical review of standardized methods is presented, based on which an attempt was made for recommendations of the most adequate methodology for the characterization and durability assessment of crystalline stones.