Dependencia y desarrollo en América Latina: selección

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International migration from a regional and interregional perspective: Main conclusions, messages and recommendations from the United Nations Development Account project (6th Tranche), "Strengthening national capacities to deal with international migration: maximizing development benefits and minimizing negative impact"

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La migración internacional desde una perspectiva regional e interregional: principales conclusiones, mensajes y recomendaciones del proyecto de la Cuenta para el Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas (sexto tramo) sobre "Fortalecimiento de las capacidades nacionales para la gestión de la migración internacional: maximizando los beneficios para el desarrollo y minimizando los impactos negativos"

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Herpetofauna, municipality of Porto Murtinho, Chaco region, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Among the physiographic regions included in the central South American diagonal of open formations, the Chaco, with some endemic species, represents the southernmost dry area. In Brazil, the Chaco is found in southwestern corner of Mato Grosso do Sul state, mostly in the municipality of Porto Murtinho along the Paraguay and Apa rivers. From February 2008 to December 2009, we carried out an inventory of amphibians and reptiles in Porto Murtinho, using pitfall traps, time-limited searches, and occasional encounters. A total of 34 amphibian and 39 reptile species were registered. Although some typical Chacoan species were found, most of the species are open area dwellers that also occur in other open biomes, such as the Cerrado and Caatinga. © 2010 Check List and Authors.

Improving the accuracy of the optimum-path forest supervised classifier for large datasets

In this work, a new approach for supervised pattern recognition is presented which improves the learning algorithm of the Optimum-Path Forest classifier (OPF), centered on detection and elimination of outliers in the training set. Identification of outliers is based on a penalty computed for each sample in the training set from the corresponding number of imputable false positive and false negative classification of samples. This approach enhances the accuracy of OPF while still gaining in classification time, at the expense of a slight increase in training time. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

Seedling growth of Schizolobium parahyba on different substrates and irrigation levels

The present study aimed to assess the behavior of seedlings of Schizolobium parahyba (Vell.) Blake growing on different substrates and irrigation levels, and to study the use of urban waste compost in substrates. The experiment was carried out in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Department of Agricultural Engineering, Jaboticabal Campus, state of São Paulo, Brazil. The experimental design used was completely randomized, consisting of 30 treatments in a factorial design with 15 substrates and two irrigation levels in four replicates. The substrates were composed of different materials: urban waste, Plantmax®, dry cattle manure, vermiculite and soil. For the study of seedling growth, the following characteristics were evaluated: height (H), root-collar diameter (D), number of leaves, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, total dry weight, H/D ratio, Dickson's quality index, and the ratio between height and shoot dry weight (H/SDW). Assessments of the first three characteristics were carried out 20, 35, 50 and 65 days after sowing. Results showed that urban waste compost increased the growth of Schizolobium parahyba. There were significant differences for the irrigation levels tested; with better results for 150% ET compared to 100% ET irrigation level.

Doses de potássio em cobertura na cultura da abóbora

Although there are recommendations for the fertilization of commercial squash crops, studies which connect the effect of topdressing potassium fertilization and yield are still rare. Thus, this study aimed at evaluating topdressing potassium doses on squash (Mirian hybrid) yield, in an experimental farm of the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, in São Manuel, São Paulo State, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with five treatments (0.0 kg ha-1, 50.0 kg ha-1, 100.0 kg ha-1, 200.0 kg ha-1 and 400.0 kg ha-1 of K2O) and six replications. Plant growth parameters, yield and fruit quality were evaluated. After harvesting, plant (leaves + stem) and soil macronutrients were submitted to chemical analysis and data to variance and regression analysis. It was concluded that the highest yield resulted from the topdressing dose of 199.0 kg ha-1 of K2O. A reduction in calcium and magnesium contents in the plant canopy and a higher K+ content in the soil were observed for increasing K2O levels.

Spirituality: Do teachers and students hold the same opinion?

Background:  Few studies have investigated potential differences between the opinions of educators and undergraduates regarding spirituality in patient care. Understanding these differences, could lead to better strategies for educational proposes. Purpose:  To compare the opinions of medical teachers (MTs) and medical students (MSs) regarding spirituality training in a Brazilian medical school. Methods:  A cross-sectional study was conducted. MTs and MSs filled out a questionnaire containing the Duke Religion Index, and questions regarding spirituality in clinical practice and at medical school. A comparison between early-curriculum MSs, late curriculum MSs and MTs was carried out. Chi-square (categorical) and Mann-Whitney (continuous/ordinal) tests were used. Results:  A total of 475 MSs and 44 MTs were evaluated. Results showed that MSs did not address spirituality as frequently as MTs (p<0.001), and that most participants did not feel prepared to address this issue, and believe that Brazilian medical schools are not giving all the required information in this field. Nevertheless, they believe MSs should be prepared to discuss these issues. Late-curriculum MSs believed that spirituality plays a more positive role in patient health (p=0.027), and were more prone to address this issue than early-curriculum MSs (p=0.023). Conclusion:  These findings revealed some of the challenges faced by spirituality medical training in Brazil, and differences between MTs and MSs regarding this issue. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings in other countries. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013.

The presence of black vultures at the calving sites and its effects on cows' and calves' behaviour immediately following parturition

Black vultures (Coragyps atratus) are often present near calving sites, and under this situation they may play a positive role by removing animal carcasses and afterbirth or a negative role by attacking neonate calves or disturbing cow-calf behaviours following parturition. Cow-calf behaviour was recorded over a 4-year study period from a total of 300 births involving 200 Nellore, 54 Guzerat, 20 Gyr and 26 Caracu cows. The calving site in relation to the location of the herd, considering cow-calf pairs within, close or distant to the herd, the presence of vultures and the behaviour of cows and calves were recorded instantaneously, at 5-min interval. On average, vultures were present at 80% of the calving sites. The frequency of vultures present at calving sites was dependent on the years for the Nellore herd, increasing from 1998 to 2003. When vultures were present, the time that the cow was in contact with its calf decreased, and the percentage of time that the cow was standing still increased. Vultures were observed pecking cows and their neonates during 34.1% of all recordings. However, in only two cases pecking injuries were actually observed on calves that were noted to be very weak. The preliminary results suggest that although black vultures cannot be characterized as a predator of neonate calves, they sometimes attack neonate calves and their presence near the calving sites alter the behaviours of cows and calves. © 2012 The Animal Consortium.

Seasonal effects on semen and testosterone in zebu and taurine bulls

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Glycerol: Production, consumption, prices, characterization and new trends in combustion

The demand for petroleum has been rising rapidly due to increasing industrialization and modernization. This economic development has led to a huge demand for energy, most of which is derived from fossil fuel. However, the limited reserve of fossil fuel has led many researchers to look for alternative fuels which can be produced from renewable feedstock. Increasing fossil fuel prices have prompted the global oil industry to look at biodiesel, which is from renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is produced from animal fats and vegetable oils and has become more attractive because it is more environmentally friendly and is obtained from renewable sources. Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production; about 10% of the weight of biodiesel is generated in glycerol. The large amount of glycerol generated may become an environmental problem, since it cannot be disposed of in the environment. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the different approaches and techniques used to produce glycerol (hydrolysis, transesterification, refining crude glycerol). The world biodiesel/glycerol production and consumption market, the current world glycerin and glycerol prices as well as the news trends for the use of glycerol mainly in Brazil market are analyzed. The technological production and physicochemical properties of glycerol are described, as is the characterization of crude glycerol obtained from different seed oil feedstock. Finally, a simple way to use glycerol in large amounts is combustion, which is an advantageous method as it does not require any purification. However, the combustion process of crude glycerol is not easy and there are technological difficulties. The news and mainly research about the combustion of glycerol was also addressed in this review. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Resistance training for explosive and maximal strength: Effects on early and late rate of force development

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

New species of Tenuipalpus (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) from Semidecidual Forest remnants in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

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

Crescimento inicial e consumo hídrico de nim submetido ao estresse salino e biofertilizante bovino

An experiment was carried out during the period of January to July/2010, in municipality of Areia, Paraiba State, Brazil, in order to evaluate effects of the irrigation with saline water, bovine biofertilizer and drainage of the soil on water consumption and growth of neem seedlings. The experimental design was in randomized blocks using factorial 5×2×2, referring to five levels of saline water (0.5; 1.5; 3.0; 4.5; 6.0 dS nr-1) in soil without and with bovine biofertilizer and in pots without and with drainage. In plants the water consumption, growth in height, stem diameter, number of leaves, dry matter of roots, aerial part and total dry mass were evaluated and in soil the electrical conductivity of saturation extract - EC was determined. The bovine biofertilizer, after dilution in non saline water (0.49 dS nr-1) e no chlorinated water in 1:1 ratio was applied once two days before sowing, equivalent to 10% of substrate volume. Irrigation was applied daily with each water type applying volume sufficient to maintain the soil with water content at level of field capacity. From results the increase in salinity of water inhibited the water consumption by plants independently of the soil with or without bovine biofertilizer. The salinity of water in soil with and without bovine biofertilizer also reduced the growth of neem plants but with more pronounced effect in the treatments without application of organic fertilizer to soil in liquid form.