Uma descrição sonora contemporânea do imagético tradicional armorial como subsídio para abordagens interpretativas do ciclo de canções “Visagem” de Nelson Almeida

This study suggests sonorous ambiences from the propose of images configured according to the description in “A Visagem da Moça Caetana” by Ariano Suassuna in order to create individual sonorous possibilities that may help musicians to play the piece. The cycle, composed in 1996 (for voice, viola, cello, bass clarinet/clarinet), is formed by three untitled songs. Its text is an excerpt from the “Folheto XLIV”, from the Romance d’A Pedra do Reino e o príncipe do sangue do vai-e-volta, and describes a sentence of death illustrated by symbols of the Armorial imagery, with neologisms and the peculiar accent from the Sertão in northeast Brazil. In addition to the analysis of technical difficulties to play, this study informs interpreters of the sonorous timbre and texture used by Nelson Almeida to describe tradition through contemporary musical language. The metaphors and transgressions of reason in Suassuna’s book were explored to create three image compositions so that they may lead interpreters to the sonorous description of the inanimate objects and the affections to which the poetry refers, expanding any technical-interpretative indications limited by musical notation. This research used the Visagem scores, the literature on the theme, discussions with the musicians that played the piece, interviews with Almeida, and composers’ reports. To illustrate the theory, the three images are available, printed as woodcut in cordel literature.

Physical quality of an Oxisol cultivated with maize submited to cover crops in the pre-cropping period

The intensive use of land alters the distribution of the pore size which imparts consequences on the soil physical quality. The Least Limiting Water Range (LLWR) allows for the visualization of the effects of management systems upon either the improvement or the degradation of the soil physical quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physical quality of a Red Latosol (Oxisol) submited to cover crops in the period prior to the maize crop in a no-tillage and conventional tillage system, using porosity, soil bulk density and the LLWR as attributes. The treatments were: conventional tillage (CT) and a no-tillage system with the following cover crops: sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) (NS), pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke) (NP) and lablab (Dolichos lablab L.) (NL). The experimental design was randomized blocks in subdivided plots with six replications, with the plots being constituted by the treatments and the subplots by the layers analyzed. The no-tillage systems showed higher total porosity and soil organic matter at the 0-0.5 m layer for the CT. The CT did not differ from the NL or NS in relation to macroporosity. The NP showed the greater porosity, while CT and NS presented lower soil bulk density. No < 10 % airing porosity was found for the treatments evaluated, and value for water content where soil aeration is critical (θPA) was found above estimated water content at field capacity (θFC) for all densities. Critical soil bulk density was of 1.36 and 1.43 Mg m-3 for NP and CT, respectively. The LLWR in the no-tillage systems was limited in the upper part by the θFC, and in the bottom part, by the water content from which soil resistance to penetration is limiting (θPR). By means of LLWR it was observed that the soil presented good physical quality.

Expanding the horizontal capabilities of CRT monitors using artificial inter-pixel steps for neuroscience experiments

This article describes the development of a visual stimulus generator to be used in neuroscience experiments with invertebrates such as flies. The experiment consists in the visualization of a fixed image that is displaced horizontally according to the stimulus data. The system is capable of displaying 640 x 480 pixels with 256 intensity levels at 200 frames per second (FPS) on conventional raster monitors. To double the possible horizontal positioning possibilities from 640 to 1280, a novel technique is presented introducing artificial inter-pixel steps. The implementation consists in using two video frame buffers containing each a distinct view of the desired image pattern. This implementation generates a visual effect capable of doubling the horizontal positioning capabilities of the visual stimulus generator allowing more precise and movements more contiguous. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dois modelos de controle de risco: o modelo Nelson-Siegel dinâmico e o cálculo de VaR por modelos GARCH

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo apresentar dois importantes modelos usados na análise de risco. Essa análise culmina em uma aplicação empírica para cada um deles. Apresenta-se primeiro o modelo Nelson-Siegel dinâmico, que estima a curva de juros usando um modelo paramétrico exponencial parcimonioso. É citada a referência criadora dessa abordagem, que é Nelson & Siegel (1987), passa-se pela apresentação da mais importante abordagem moderna que é a de Diebold & Li (2006), que é quem cria a abordagem dinâmica do modelo Nelson-Siegel, e que é inspiradora de diversas extensões. Muitas dessas extensões também são apresentadas aqui. Na parte empírica, usando dados da taxa a termo americana de Janeiro de 2004 a Março de 2015, estimam-se os modelos Nelson-Siegel dinâmico e de Svensson e comparam-se os resultados numa janela móvel de 12 meses e comparamos seus desempenhos com aqueles de um passeio aleatório. Em seguida, são apresentados os modelos ARCH e GARCH, citando as obras originais de Engle (1982) e Bolleslev (1986) respectivamente, discutem-se características destes modelos e apresentam-se algumas extensões ao modelo GARCH, incluindo aí alguns modelos GARCH multivariados. Passa-se então por uma rápida apresentação do conceito de VaR (Value at Risk), que será o objetivo da parte empírica. Nesta, usando dados de 02 de Janeiro de 2004 até 25 de Fevereiro de 2015, são feitas uma estimação da variância de um portfólio usando os modelos GARCH, GJR-GARCH e EGARCH e uma previsão do VaR do portfólio a partir da estimação feita anteriormente. Por fim, são apresentados alguns trabalhos que usam os dois modelos conjuntamente, ou seja, que consideram que as taxas ou os fatores que as podem explicam possuem variância variante no tempo.

ATENÇÃO À SAÚDE DO PORTADOR DE HIPERTENSÃO ARTERIAL SISTÊMICA DA UNIDADE DE SAÚDE NELSON VENTURA DE OLIVEIRA

A Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica é uma doença crônica de grande importância para a saúde pública, na qual a Pressão Arterial aumenta até o ponto em que passa a desencadear diversos problemas de saúde e comprometimento de órgãos importantes para o ser humano. Essa elevação dos níveis pressóricos é responsável por elevar a taxa de morbi-mortalidade, sendo vista hoje, como um problema de saúde pública. Sabendo da magnitude deste problema, a ESF Nelson Ventura de Oliveira do Bairro Alto da Vitória, situada no município de Poções/BA, resolveu investir tempo no desenvolvimento de ações de prevenção e promoção à saúde para aumentar a qualidade do atendimento aos hipertensos da área adscrita com o objetivo de melhorar a atenção às pessoas portadoras de HAS da área de abrangência da Unidade de Saúde. O projeto de intervenção contou com a participação dos profissionais da ESF Nelson Ventura de Oliveira (médica, enfermeira, odontóloga, técnicos de enfermagem e agentes comunitários de saúde) em parceria com os profissionais da equipe NASF (nutricionista, fisioterapeuta, psicólogo, assistente social e profissional de educação física) para realizar momentos de prevenção e promoção à saúde com atividades educativas e de práticas de atividades físicas. Com a realização desta intervenção foi possível constatar que houve interesse da comunidade assistida por aderir às orientações de mudança de hábitos alimentares e comportamentais, o que motivou os profissionais envolvidos a promover mais ações coletivas nesse programa e também em outros grupos populacionais com planejamento.

Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Perinatal Mortality: A Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND: Ambient levels of air pollution may affect the health of children, as indicated by studies of infant and perinatal mortality. Scientific evidence has also correlated low birth weight and preterm birth, which are important determinants of perinatal death, with air pollution. However, most of these studies used ambient concentrations measured at monitoring sites, which may not consider differential exposure to pollutants found at elevated concentrations near heavy-traffic roadways. OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to examine the association between traffic-related pollution and perinatal mortality. METHODS: We used the information collected for a case-control study conducted in 14 districts in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil, regarding risk factors for perinatal deaths. We geocoded the residential addresses of cases (fetal and early neonatal deaths) and controls (children who survived the 28th day of life) and calculated a distance-weighted traffic density (DWTD) measure considering all roads contained in a buffer surrounding these homes. RESULTS: Logistic regression revealed a gradient of increasing risk of early neonatal death with higher exposure to traffic-related air pollution. Mothers exposed to the highest quartile of the DWTD compared with those less exposed exhibited approximately 50% increased risk (adjusted odds ratio = 1.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-3.19). Associations for fetal mortality were less consistent. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that motor vehicle exhaust exposures may be a risk factor for perinatal mortality.

A Complete Skull of an Early Cretaceous Sauropod and the Evolution of Advanced Titanosaurians

Advanced titanosaurian sauropods, such as nemegtosaurids and saltasaurids, were diverse and one of the most important groups of herbivores in the terrestrial biotas of the Late Cretaceous. However, little is known about their rise and diversification prior to the Late Cretaceous. Furthermore, the evolution of their highly-modified skull anatomy has been largely hindered by the scarcity of well-preserved cranial remains. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil represents the earliest advanced titanosaurian known to date, demonstrating that the initial diversification of advanced titanosaurians was well under way at least 30 million years before their known radiation in the latest Cretaceous. The new taxon also preserves the most complete skull among titanosaurians, further revealing that their low and elongated diplodocid-like skull morphology appeared much earlier than previously thought.

Wild canids, domestic dogs and their pathogens in Southeast Brazil: disease threats for canid conservation

Wild canids are under many pressures, including habitat loss, fragmentation and disease. The current lack of information on the status of wildlife health may hamper conservation efforts in Brazil. In this paper, we examined the prevalence of canine pathogens in 21 free-ranging wild canids, comprising 12 Cerdocyon thous (crab-eating fox), 7 Chrysocyon brachyurus (maned wolf), 2 Lycalopex vetulus (hoary fox), and 70 non-vaccinated domestic dogs from the Serra do Cip National Park area, Southeast Brazil. For wild canids, seroprevalence of antibodies to canine parvovirus, canine adenovirus, canine coronavirus and Toxoplasma gondii was 100 (21/21), 33 (7/21), 5 (1/19) and 68 (13/19) percent, respectively. Antibodies against canine distemper virus, Neospora caninum or Babesia spp. were not found. We tested domestic dogs for antibodies to canine parvovirus, canine distemper virus and Babesia spp., and seroprevalences were 59 (41/70), 66 (46/70), and 42 (40/70) percent, respectively, with significantly higher prevalence in domestic dogs for CDV (P < 0.001) and Babesia spp. (P = 0.002), and in wild canids for CPV (P < 0.001). We report for the first time evidence of exposure to canine coronavirus in wild hoary foxes, and Platynossomun sp. infection in wild maned wolves. Maned wolves are more exposed to helminths than crab-eating foxes, with a higher prevalence of Trichuridae and Ancylostomidae in the area. The most common ectoparasites were Amblyomma cajennense, A. tigrinum, and Pulex irritans. Such data is useful information on infectious diseases of Brazilian wild canids, revealing pathogens as a threat to wild canids in the area. Control measures are discussed.

Quantificação do indicador de Nelson de Moraes (curva de mortalidade proporcional)

Propõe-se um critério para quantificação do indicador de Nelson de Moraes (curva de mortalidade proporcional) procurando eliminar as desvantagens do indicador não ter tradução numérica. Utilizando dados de Moraes, Ramos e próprios, são quantificadas Curvas de Mortalidade Proporcional de países desenvolvidos, do município de São Paulo e das regiões administrativas do Estado de São Paulo. A quantificação gera um indicador cujas cifras variam de valores negativos até o máximo teórico de + 50. São destacadas as vantagens da quantificação, que permite a hierarquização de diferentes regiões e a comparação simultânea da evolução do nível de saúde de um grande número de localidades.