An economic model of gun control

Guns stolen from law-abiding households provide the principal source of guns for criminals. The lethality of crime instruments increases with the availability of guns, so the gun market is subject to externalities that generate excessive ownership and inadequate spending on protective measures to deter gun theft. One motive for gun ownership is self defense, and the gun market is subject to coordination failure: the more guns purchased lawfully, the more will be stolen by criminals, so the greater the incentive for lawful . consumers to purchase guns for self defense. As a result, there may be multiple equilibria in the gun market and more than one equilibrium crime rate. We show that a simple refundable deposit for guns will internalize the externalities in the gun market and may cause large downward jumps in gun ownership, the lethality of crime instruments, and the social costs of crime.

Global stabilizing feedback law for a problem of biological control of mosquito-borne diseases

The control of the spread of dengue fever by introduction of the intracellular parasitic bacterium Wolbachia in populations of the vector Aedes aegypti, is presently one of the most promising tools for eliminating dengue, in the absence of an efficient vaccine. The success of this operation requires locally careful planning to determine the adequate number of mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia parasite that need to be introduced into the natural population. The latter are expected to eventually replace the Wolbachia-free population and guarantee permanent protection against the transmission of dengue to human. In this paper, we propose and analyze a model describing the fundamental aspects of the competition between mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia and mosquitoes free of the parasite. We then introduce a simple feedback control law to synthesize an introduction protocol, and prove that the population is guaranteed to converge to a stable equilibrium where the totality of mosquitoes carry Wolbachia. The techniques are based on the theory of monotone control systems, as developed after Angeli and Sontag. Due to bistability, the considered input-output system has multivalued static characteristics, but the existing results are unable to prove almost-global stabilization, and ad hoc analysis has to be conducted.

New method for determination of (E)resveratrol in wine based on microextraction using packed sorbent and ultra-performance liquid chromatography

An ultra-fast and improved analytical methodology based on microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) combined with ultra-performance LC (UPLC) was developed and validated for determination of (E)-resveratrol in wines. Important factors affecting the performance of MEPS such as the type of sorbent material (C2, C8, C18, SIL, and M1), number of extraction cycles, and sample volume were studied. The optimal conditions of MEPS extraction were obtained using C8 sorbent and small sample volumes (50–250mL) in one extraction cycle (extract–discard) and in a short time period (about 3 min for the entire sample preparation step). (E)-Resveratrol was eluted by 1 250mL of the mixture containing 95% methanol and 5% water, and the separation was carried out on a highstrength silica HSS T3 analytical column (100 mm 2.1 mm, 1.8mm particle size) using a binary mobile phase composed of aqueous 0.1% formic acid (eluent A) and methanol (eluent B) in the gradient elution mode (10 min of total analysis). The method was fully validated in terms of linearity, detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) limits, extraction yield, accuracy, and inter/intra-day precision, using a Madeira wine sample (ET) spiked with (E)-resveratrol at concentration levels ranging from 5 to 60mg/mL. Validation experiments revealed very good recovery rate of 9575.8% RSD, good linearity with r2 values 40.999 within the established concentration range, excellent repeatability (0.52%), and reproducibility (1.67%) values (expressed as RSD), thus demonstrating the robustness and accuracy of the MEPSC8/UPLC-photodiode array (PDA) method. The LOD of the method was 0.21mg/mL, whereas the LOQ was 0.68mg/mL. The validated methodology was applied to 30 commercial wines (24 red wines and six white wines) from different grape varieties, vintages, and regions. On the basis of the analytical validation, the MEPSC8/UPLC-PDA methodology shows to be an improved, sensitive, and ultra-fast approach for determination of (E)-resveratrol in wines with high resolving power within 6 min.

Application of multivariable control using artificial neural networks in a debutanizer distillation column

LOPES, Jose Soares Batista et al. Application of multivariable control using artificial neural networks in a debutanizer distillation column.In: INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING - COBEM, 19, 5-9 nov. 2007, Brasilia. Anais... Brasilia, 2007

Critical periods of weed control in naturally green colored cotton BRS Verde

Cotton with naturally colored fiber is increasing as a commercial crop due specially to its textile processing with reduced environmental impact, as dying is not necessary. The critical period of weed control and the weed community were studied in a field with the naturally green colored fiber cv. BRS Verde cultivated in Missao Velha, Brazil. Without weed control during all the cycle, a reduction of 82.9% in yield was observed. The critical period of weed control was between 31 and 74 days after emergence for a reduction of 5% in yield. The weed community was composed of 21 species, with higher relative importance and dominance of monocotyledonous species. The beginning of the critical period was found to be more influential on yield than the ending. Thus, defining the right moment to start weed control can be more important to yield than determining the moment to cease it. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Different timing of whitefly control and soybean yield

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

New constraints on ages of glasses proposed as reference materials for fission-track dating

New analyses have been performed in order to enhance the data-set on the independent ages of four glasses that have been proposed as reference materials for fission-track dating. The results are as follows. Moldavite - repeated (40)Ar/(39)Ar age determinations on samples from deposits from Bohemia and Moravia yielded an average of 14.34 +/- 0.08 Ma. This datum agrees with other recent determinations and is significantly younger than the (40)Ar/(39)Ar age of 15.21 +/- 0.15 Ma determined in the early 1980s. Macusanite (Peru) -four K-Ar ages ranging from 5.44 +/- 0.06 to 5.72 +/- 0.12 Ma have been published previously. New (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages gave an average of 5.12 +/- 0.04 Ma. Plateau fission-track ages determined using the IRMM-540 certified glass and U and Th thin films for neutron fluence measurements agree better with these new (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages than the previously published ages. Roccastrada glass (Italy) - a new (40)Ar/(39)Ar age, 2.45 +/- 0.04 Ma, is consistent with previous determinations. The Quiron obsidian (Argentina) is a recently discovered glass that has been proposed as an additional reference material for its high spontaneous track density (around 100 000 cm(-2)). Defects that might produce spurious tracks are virtually absent. An independent (40)Ar/(39)Ar age of 8.77 +/- 0.09 Ma was determined and is recommended for this glass. We believe that these materials, which will be distributed upon request to fission-track groups, will be very useful for testing system calibrations and experimental procedures.

Large-scale transcriptome analyses reveal new genetic marker candidates of head, neck, and thyroid cancer

A detailed genome mapping analysis of 213,636 expressed sequence tags (EST) derived from nontumor and tumor tissues of the oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, and thyroid was done. Transcripts matching known human genes were identified; potential new splice variants were flagged and subjected to manual curation, pointing to 788 putatively new alternative splicing isoforms, the majority (75%) being insertion events. A subset of 34 new splicing isoforms (5% of 788 events) was selected and 23 (68%) were confirmed by reverse transcription-PCR and DNA sequencing. Putative new genes were revealed, including six transcripts mapped to well-studied chromosomes such as 22, as well as transcripts that mapped to 253 intergenic regions. In addition, 2,251 noncoding intronic RNAs, eventually involved in transcriptional regulation, were found. A set of 250 candidate markers for loss of heterozygosis or gene amplification was selected by identifying transcripts that mapped to genomic regions previously known to be frequently amplified or deleted in head, neck, and thyroid tumors. Three of these markers were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR in an independent set of individual samples. Along with detailed clinical data about tumor origin, the information reported here is now publicly available on a dedicated Web site as a resource for further biological investigation. This first in silico reconstruction of the head, neck, and thyroid transcriptomes points to a wealth of new candidate markers that can be used for future studies on the molecular basis of these tumors. Similar analysis is warranted for a number of other tumors for which large EST data sets are available.

Self-Organizing Maps as a New Tool for Classification of Plants at Lower Hierarchical Levels

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

Performance Comparisons of EWMA Control Chart Schemes

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Design of a control system using linear matrix inequalities for the active vibration control of a plate

The study of algorithms for active vibration control in smart structures is an area of interest, mainly due to the demand for better performance of mechanical systems, such as aircraft and aerospace structures. Smart structures, formed using actuators and sensors, can improve the dynamic performance with the application of several kinds of controllers. This article describes the application of a technique based on linear matrix inequalities (LMI) to design an active control system. The positioning of the actuators, the design of a robust state feedback controller and the design of an observer are all achieved using LMI. The following are considered in the controller design: limited actuator input, bounded output (energy) and robustness to parametric uncertainties. Active vibration control of a flat plate is chosen as an application example. The model is identified using experimental data by an eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA) and the placement of the two piezoelectric actuators and single sensor is determined using a finite element model (FEM) and an optimization procedure. A robust controller for active damping is designed using an LMI framework, and a reduced model with observation and control spillover effects is implemented using a computer. The simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the approach, and show that the control system increases the damping in some of the modes.

Paracoccidioidomycosis of external genitalia: report of six new cases and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic mycosis of dermatological interest due to the frequency of cutaneous and mucosal lesions. The involvement of the external genitalia is extremely rare and few cases have been reported.OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of external genitalia lesions in paracoccidioidomycosis patients, identify clinical characteristics and compare with what is observed in the specific literature.METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study, with focus on paracoccidioiodomycosis patients with external genitalia lesions. The demographic and clinical aspects of cases were compared with what has been reported so far on LILACS, SciELO e MEDLINE data bases.RESULTS: Data of 483 cases of paracoccidioidomycosis were studied in a 42-year period. Six (1.2%) patients showed specific lesions on external genitalia. Five patients were male with mean age of 47.2 years and all of them presented with the chronic multifocal clinical form. Only one, a 15-year-old female patient was observed who showed a subacute clinical form, juvenile type.CONCLUSIONS: Compromise of the genitourinary tract among paracoccidioidomycosis patients is rare and even rarer when only the external genitalia are considered. As observed in the classical picture of paracoccidioidomycosis patients, the male gender and the chronic multifocal clinical form prevailed in the present study.

Influence of glycemic control on fetal lung maturity in gestations affected by diabetes or mild hyperglycemia

Objective. To evaluate the influence of glycemic control on fetal lung maturity in pregnancies affected by diabetes or mild hyperglycemia. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Level III maternity center. Population. A total of 187 pregnant women were submitted to routine amniocentesis for the assessment of fetal lung maturity up to 72 hours before delivery. Methods. Fetal lung maturity thresholds were: Clements-positive at a dilution of 0.5; OD(650) nm >= 0.15; and lamellar body count (LBC) >= 32,000/mu l. The relation of test results with adequate (<= 6.7 mmol/l) or poor (> 6.7 mmol/l) glycemic mean (GM) at term and at preterm was evaluated. Main outcome measure. Delay in fetal lung maturity when glycemic control was poor. Results. Glycemic control was adequate in 146 (78.1%) women. Clements maturity rates were higher at term (91.9%) than at preterm (64.7%) when GM <= 6.7 mmol/l (p < 0.001), but not when control was inadequate. LBC median was higher at term (99.0; 62.0-154.0) than at preterm (66.5; 40.5-108.25) (p = 0.009) when GM <= 6.7 mmol/l, while GM > 6.7 mmol/l did not lead to any difference between these rates at term or preterm. When glycemic control was adequate, OD(650) nm medians at term and at preterm were similar. However, when GM > 6.7 mmol/l, OD(650) nm median at term (0.29; 0.22-0.40) was higher than that observed at preterm (0.15; 0.12-0.18) (p < 0.001). Conclusions. Our results suggest that in term pregnancies routine amniocentesis for the assessment of fetal lung maturity should be abandoned. In preterm pregnancies, or when glycemic control is inadequate it is recommended.