Limited efficacy of adjuvant therapy with dexamethasone in preventing hearing loss due to experimental pneumococcal meningitis in the infant rat

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is the most common sequel of bacterial meningitis (BM) and is observed in up to 30% of survivors when the disease is caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. BM is the single most important origin of acquired SNHL in childhood. Anti-inflammatory dexamethasone holds promises as potential adjuvant therapy to prevent SNHL associated with BM. However, in infant rats, pneumococcal meningitis (PM) increased auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds [mean difference = 54 decibels sound pressure level (dB SPL)], measured 3 wk after infection, irrespective to treatment with ceftriaxone plus dexamethasone or ceftriaxone plus saline (p < 0.005 compared with mock-infected controls). Moreover, dexamethasone did not attenuate short- and long-term histomorphologic correlates of SNHL. At 24 h after infection, blood-labyrinth barrier (BLB) permeability was significantly increased in infected animals of both treatment groups compared with controls. Three weeks after the infection, the averaged number of type I neurons per square millimeter of the Rosenthal's canal dropped from 0.3019 +/- 0.0252 in controls to 0.2227 +/- 0.0635 in infected animals receiving saline (p < 0.0005). Dexamethasone was not more effective than saline in preventing neuron loss (0.2462 +/- 0.0399; p > 0.05). These results suggest that more efficient adjuvant therapies are needed to prevent SNHL associated with pediatric PM.

Guaranteed greedy routing in overlay networks

Greedy routing can be used in mobile ad-hoc networks as geographic routing protocol. This paper proposes to use greedy routing also in overlay networks by positioning overlay nodes into a multi-dimensional Euclidean space. Greedy routing can only be applied when a routing decision makes progress towards the final destination. Our proposed overlay network is built such that there will be always progress at each forwarding node. This is achieved by constructing at each node a so-called nearest neighbor convex set (NNCS). NNCSs can be used for various applications such as multicast routing, service discovery and Quality-of-Service routing. NNCS has been compared with Pastry, another topology-aware overlay network. NNCS has superior relative path stretches indicating the optimality of a path.

Towards a treaty instrument on marine genetic resources

Marine genetic resources other than fish and mammals are of increasing commercial interest and importance in genetic engineering, but fail being properly addressed in the law of the sea and in international economic law. The paper analyses the implication of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Convention on Biodiversity, the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and related instruments under the auspices of WIPO. The paper argues that the triangle of these agreements does not adequately address marine genetic resources in particular in the high seas. Neither concerns of protecting biodiversity nor of access and benefit sharing find appropriate answers commensurate to the commercial potential of marine genetic resources. The paper suggests developing an instrument inspired by, and comparable to, the mechanisms developed by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The instrument would grant facilitated access to marine genetic resources and offer a more detailed set of rules with respect to the sharing of benefits resulting from their use, thereby addressing the existing legal gaps in a comprehensive way.

La observancia de la dinina ley de Mosseh

Isaac Orobio de Castro

Os Judeus em Portugal

J. Mendes Dos Remedios

Energy Efficient Multimedia Communications in IEEE 802.11 Networks

During the last decade wireless mobile communications have progressively become part of the people’s daily lives, leading users to expect to be “alwaysbest-connected” to the Internet, regardless of their location or time of day. This is indeed motivated by the fact that wireless access networks are increasingly ubiquitous, through different types of service providers, together with an outburst of thoroughly portable devices, namely laptops, tablets, mobile phones, among others. The “anytime and anywhere” connectivity criterion raises new challenges regarding the devices’ battery lifetime management, as energy becomes the most noteworthy restriction of the end-users’ satisfaction. This wireless access context has also stimulated the development of novel multimedia applications with high network demands, although lacking in energy-aware design. Therefore, the relationship between energy consumption and the quality of the multimedia applications perceived by end-users should be carefully investigated. This dissertation addresses energy-efficient multimedia communications in the IEEE 802.11 standard, which is the most widely used wireless access technology. It advances the literature by proposing a unique empirical assessment methodology and new power-saving algorithms, always bearing in mind the end-users’ feedback and evaluating quality perception. The new EViTEQ framework proposed in this thesis, for measuring video transmission quality and energy consumption simultaneously, in an integrated way, reveals the importance of having an empirical and high-accuracy methodology to assess the trade-off between quality and energy consumption, raised by the new end-users’ requirements. Extensive evaluations conducted with the EViTEQ framework revealed its flexibility and capability to accurately report both video transmission quality and energy consumption, as well as to be employed in rigorous investigations of network interface energy consumption patterns, regardless of the wireless access technology. Following the need to enhance the trade-off between energy consumption and application quality, this thesis proposes the Optimized Power save Algorithm for continuous Media Applications (OPAMA). By using the end-users’ feedback to establish a proper trade-off between energy consumption and application performance, OPAMA aims at enhancing the energy efficiency of end-users’ devices accessing the network through IEEE 802.11. OPAMA performance has been thoroughly analyzed within different scenarios and application types, including a simulation study and a real deployment in an Android testbed. When compared with the most popular standard power-saving mechanisms defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard, the obtained results revealed OPAMA’s capability to enhance energy efficiency, while keeping end-users’ Quality of Experience within the defined bounds. Furthermore, OPAMA was optimized to enable superior energy savings in multiple station environments, resulting in a new proposal called Enhanced Power Saving Mechanism for Multiple station Environments (OPAMA-EPS4ME). The results of this thesis highlight the relevance of having a highly accurate methodology to assess energy consumption and application quality when aiming to optimize the trade-off between energy and quality. Additionally, the obtained results based both on simulation and testbed evaluations, show clear benefits from employing userdriven power-saving techniques, such as OPAMA, instead of IEEE 802.11 standard power-saving approaches.

Planktonic foraminifera record and SST reconstruction for the last 130 ka in the Western South Atlantic

This work reconstructs Late Quaternary paleoceanographic changes in the western South Atlantic Ocean based on sedimentary core GL-77, recovered from the lower continental slope in the Campos basin, offshore SE Brazil. The studied interval comprises the last 130 ka. Changes in sea surface temperature (SST) and paleoproductivity were estimated using the total planktonic foraminiferal fauna and oxygen isotope analyses. The age model was based on the oxygen isotope record, biostratigraphic datums and AMS 14C dating. It was observed that the Pleistocene/Holocene transition occurs within Globorotalia menardii Biozone Y, and is not coeval with the base of Biozone Z. The range between summer and winter SST estimates is larger during the glacial period compared to interglacials. Three peaks of low SST around 70, 50 - 45 and 20 ka coincided with periods of enhanced SE trade winds. Despite faunal differences between the last interglacial (MIS 5e) and the Holocene, our SST estimates suggest that SSTs did not differ significantly between these intervals.

Projeto de Estímulo a Docência : Um estudo sobre a inclusão nas aulas de Educação Física

A inclusao está cada vez mais presente e vigente na sociedade e nao poderia ser diferente no que se refere à educaçao. Através do PIBID-PED, Subprojeto Educaçao Física (EF) da Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP), Brasil, buscamos discutir questoes referentes às implicaçoes de se ter turmas mistas, com a presença de alunos com deficiência, bem como, as implicaçoes e possibilidades dentro da área do conhecimento da EF escolar. Objetiva-se neste trabalho, problematizar e discutir as questoes pedagógicas de inclusao dos alunos com deficiência nas aulas de EF Escolar. Para este estudo foram produzidos Diários de Campos, através da observaçao e intervençao de turmas de 1° ao 5° ano do ensino fundamental. Pode-se observar que EF auxilia o aluno com deficiência no que diz respeito a sua valorizaçao e integraçao no meio escolar. Existiram dificuldades a cerca do planejamento e intervençao e para solucionar tal impasse, passou-se a buscar estratégias e alternativas para dinamizar e qualificar as aulas e a partir daí pode-se observar o quanto a EF auxilia o aluno com deficiência no que diz respeito a sua valorizaçao e integraçao. Contudo, é necessário que se discuta e se crie iniciativas para que os alunos com deficiência possam, de fato, ser incluídos nas aulas e juntos superarem suas diferenças

En defensa de la diversidad : Literaturas en España

La literatura española generalmente está relacionada a la idea de una literatura una. Sin embargo, si la observamos más atentamente, percibimos que su literatura es tan plural como la España misma. Tal pluralidad cultural nos hace pensar en las literaturas no solamente en términos de las distintas lenguas de ese país (el catalán, el euskera, el gallego, por ejemplo), sino también de tradiciones regionales que influyen en esas literaturas. En la presente ponencia, intentaremos reflexionar acerca de la diversidad cultural de España y como tal pluralidad sigue presente también en la poesía y en la narrativa allí producida. A partir del concepto de narrativa de Walter Benjamin y Mijaíl Bajtín y de las consideraciones de Gastón Bachelard acerca de la poesía, pretendemos acercar la idea de diversidad a la poesía y a la narrativa producida en España, especialmente en el periodo que circunda la Guerra Civil Española. Poesía y narrativas plurales: medios para que un pueblo plural marque las huellas de su memoria y mire hacia el futuro

O testemunho da busca das origens na adoçao e os restos da memória

Investigamos la relación entre la adopción, testimonio y memoria basada en investigación documental y bibliográfica. Para tal fin, presentamos la legislación brasilera sobre adopción, en particular en lo que se refiere a la búsqueda de los orígenes, analizamos las nociones de comunidad y testimonio, de acuerdo con la definición de Giorgio Agamben y Nancy Jean-Luc; y describimos la polarización entre el olvido y el recuerdo que manifiesta en la adopción. Concluimos que la memoria revelada en la búsqueda de los orígenes no se disocia del resto que la operación simbólica de constitución de la familia sustituta establece. Ese resto responde por el nombre de familia natural, denominación proveniente del proceso judicial que permitió la adopción

O testemunho da busca das origens na adoçao e os restos da memória

Investigamos la relación entre la adopción, testimonio y memoria basada en investigación documental y bibliográfica. Para tal fin, presentamos la legislación brasilera sobre adopción, en particular en lo que se refiere a la búsqueda de los orígenes, analizamos las nociones de comunidad y testimonio, de acuerdo con la definición de Giorgio Agamben y Nancy Jean-Luc; y describimos la polarización entre el olvido y el recuerdo que manifiesta en la adopción. Concluimos que la memoria revelada en la búsqueda de los orígenes no se disocia del resto que la operación simbólica de constitución de la familia sustituta establece. Ese resto responde por el nombre de familia natural, denominación proveniente del proceso judicial que permitió la adopción