This work deals with the problem of minimize the waste of space that occurs on a placement of a s... more This work deals with the problem of minimize the waste of space that occurs on a placement of a set of bi-dimensional items inside a bi-dimensional container with fixed dimensions. This problem is approached with an heuristic based on Simulated Annealing (SA), which is inspired on the physic-chemical process that takes place during the recrystallization of a metal. Traditional "external penalization" techniques are avoided through the application of no-fit polygons, that represents collision-free areas for each items before its placement. That gives to the proposed process a more universal character, as external penalization is based on empiric parameters of great influence on the optimization performance. The SA controls: the rotation and the placement. For each non-placed items a limited depth binary search is performed to find a scale factor that when applied to the items, would allow it to be fitted on the container. The proposed process is suited for non-convex items and containers, and can be easily adapted for related problems, such as container size minimization. Some results are shown with irregular items, non-convex items and containers.
Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathog... more Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity.
Myocardial autonomic denervation occurs after acute MI. This process is followed by a reduction o... more Myocardial autonomic denervation occurs after acute MI. This process is followed by a reduction of heart rate variability (HRV) and an increase of malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. This study investigated whether there are any significant differences in HRV among the population of MI who did and did not have malignant ventricular arrhythmias (MVAs), normal subjects and heart transplant recipients, the paradigm of the denervated heart. We studied 25 subjects aged 42 ± 17 years, with normal clinical and cardiac noninvasive evaluation (group A); 70 patients aged 57 ± 14 years, who had MI hut no arrhythmic event in 36 months of follow-up (group B); 13 patients with MI aged 65 ± 9 years, who had had sustained VT, VF, or sudden death (group C); and 16 cardiac transplant recipients aged 35 ± 14 years (group D). The ECG was sampled for 256 seconds. We calculated, in time and frequency domain, the standard deviation of the RR cycle length and the spectral component's very low frequency (< 0.05 Hz), low frequency (0.05–0.15 Hz), and high frequency (0.15–0.35 Hz). The values of HRV in group A were significantly greater than in groups B, C, and D (P < 0.001) and greater in group B than in groups C and D (P < 0.001). Groups C and D did not differ (P = 0.610). These data indicate that HRV of patients who have had an MI and MVAs is very similar to that of heart transplant recipients. This is an indirect evidence that myocardial autonomic denervation may play an important role in the genesis of malignant arrhythmic events.
This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational pla... more This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational placement of a set of irregular bi-dimensional items inside a bi-dimensional container. This problem is approached with a heuristic based on Simulated Annealing (SA) with adaptive neighborhood. The objective function is evaluated in a constructive approach, where the items are placed sequentially. The placement is governed by three different types of parameters: sequence of placement, the rotation angle and the translation. The rotation applied and the translation of the polygon are cyclic continuous parameters, and the sequence of placement defines a combinatorial problem. This way, it is necessary to control cyclic continuous and discrete parameters. The approaches described in the literature deal with only type of parameter (sequence of placement or translation). In the proposed SA algorithm, the sensibility of each continuous parameter is evaluated at each iteration increasing the number of accepted solutions. The sensibility of each parameter is associated to its probability distribution in the definition of the next candidate.
The irregular shape packing problem is a combinatorial optimization problem that consists of arra... more The irregular shape packing problem is a combinatorial optimization problem that consists of arranging items on a container in such way that no item overlaps. In this paper we adopt a solution that places the items sequentially, touching the already placed items or the container. To place a new item without overlaps, the collision free region for the new item is robustly computed using non manifold Boolean operations. A simulated annealing algorithm controls the items sequence of placement, the item's placement and orientation. In this work, the placement occurs at collision free region's vertices. Several results with benchmark datasets obtained from the literature are reported. Some of them are the best already reported in the literature. To improve the computational cost performance of the algorithm, a parallelization method to determine the collision free region is proposed. We demonstrated two possible algorithms to compute the collision free region, and only one of them can be parallelized. The results showed that the parallelized version is better than the sequential approach only for datasets with very large number of items. The computational cost of the non manifold Boolean operation algorithm is strongly dependent on the number of vertices of the original polygons.
Keywords: Leishporin Cytolysin Pore-forming protein Lipid-binding protein Cholesterol Liposome Le... more Keywords: Leishporin Cytolysin Pore-forming protein Lipid-binding protein Cholesterol Liposome Leishmania a b s t r a c t To lyse cells, some pore-forming proteins need to bind to receptors on their targets. Studying the binding requirements of Leishmania amazonensis leishporin, we have shown that protease-treated erythrocytes are as sensitive to leishporin-mediated lysis as untreated cells, indicating that protein receptors are dispensable. Similarly, carbohydrate receptors do not seem to be needed, since several sugars do not inhibit leishporin-mediated hemolysis. Conversely, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), but not cholesterol, completely inhibits leishporin-mediated lysis. DPPC liposomes, with or without cholesterol, are lysed by leishporin and remove its lytic activity. Our results demonstrate that leishporin is a cholesterol-independent cytolysin that binds directly to phospholipids.
Journal of The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 2007
The purpose of this work is to define a new algorithm for converting a CSG representation into a ... more The purpose of this work is to define a new algorithm for converting a CSG representation into a B-Rep representation. Usually this conversion is done determining the union, intersection or difference from two B-Rep represented solids. Due to the lack of explicit representation of surface boundaries, CSG models must be converted into B-Rep solid models when a description based on polygonal mesh is required. A potential solution is to convert a CSG model into a voxel based volume representation and then construct a B-Rep solid model. This method is called CSG voxelization, conceptually it is a set membership classification problem with respect to the CSG object for all sampling points in a volume space. Marching cubes algorithms create a simple mesh that is enough for visualization purposes. However, when engineering processes are involved, a solid model is necessary. A solid ensures that all triangles in the mesh are consistently oriented and define a closed surface. It is proposed in this work an algorithm for converting CSG models into triangulated solid models through propagation based marching cubes algorithm. Three main new concepts are used in the algorithm: open boundary, B-Rep/CSG Voxelization mapping and constructive triangulation of active cells. The triangles supplied by the marching cubes algorithm need not be coherently oriented; the algorithm itself finds the correct orientation for the supplied triangles. The proposed algorithm restricts the exploration to the space occupied by the solid's boundary. Differently from normal marching cubes algorithms that explore the complete sampled space.
Journal of The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 2008
This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational pla... more This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational placement of a set of irregular bi-dimensional small items inside a bi-dimensional large object. This problem is approached with an heuristic based on simulated annealing. Traditional " external penalization" techniques are avoided through the application of the no-fit polygon, that determinates the collision-free region for each small item before its placement. The simulated annealing controls: the rotation applied and the placement of the small item. For each non-placed small item, a limited depth binary search is performed to find a scale factor that when applied to the small item, would allow it to be fitted in the large object. Three possibilities to define the sequence on which the small items are placed are studied: larger-first, random permutation and weight sorted. The proposed algorithm is suited for non-convex small items and large objects.
In the literature it has been extensively mentioned that crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae) prey ... more In the literature it has been extensively mentioned that crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae) prey on floral visitors of several plant species. Here we present observations of Croton selowii Baill. (Euphorbiaceae), a monoecious species harboring individuals of crab spiders in an area of coastal vegetation of Pernambuco state, Brazil. The species is visited by several invertebrate orders, and some of them were preyed upon by the spiders, mainly Diptera species. The spiders rubbed the forelimbs within the flowers, which may constitute a strategy to camouflage these structures. Croton selowii seems to represent a suitable foraging site for the spiders, because it has a generalist pollination system (thus being visited by a wide range of invertebrate species) and blooms in a period of low flower resource availability in the area.
Simulated annealing (SA) is an optimization technique that can process cost functions with degree... more Simulated annealing (SA) is an optimization technique that can process cost functions with degrees of nonlinearities, discontinuities and stochasticity. It can process arbitrary boundary conditions and constraints imposed on these cost functions. The SA technique is applied to the problem of robot path planning. Three situations are considered here: the path is represented as a polyline; as a Bézier curve;
Objetivo: O presente estudo pretendeu analisar os aspectos epidemiológicos envolvidos nas complic... more Objetivo: O presente estudo pretendeu analisar os aspectos epidemiológicos envolvidos nas complicações tardias das queimaduras, bem como seu manejo. Método: Os autores revisaram, retrospectivamente, os prontuários dos pacientes atendidos no Serviço de Queimaduras da Divisão de Cirurgia Plástica do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP, interessando aqueles submetidos à intervenção cirúrgica por sequelas pós-queimadura. A análise abrangeu um período de 12 anos. Resultados: Os pacientes apresentaram um ou mais sítios anatômicos queimados exibindo sequelas com necessidade de tratamento cirúrgico. O número de cirurgias por paciente variou de 1 a 32, chegando a 10 anos fazendo uma ou mais cirurgias anualmente. Dentre as 2286 cirurgias realizadas em 977 pacientes, 60,6% dos procedimentos foram realizados em pacientes do sexo feminino. A contratura foi o diagnóstico de 52,8% dos pacientes operados, sendo os dois locais mais acometidos o pescoço (26%) e a axila (22%). Metade (50,5%) dos pacientes necessitou de duas ou mais operações, sendo realizadas, em média, de 2,34 cirurgias por doente. As ressecções foram o segundo procedimento mais realizado, representando 584 (25,5%) procedimentos. Conclusões: O conhecimento dos fatores epidemiológicos inerentes às sequelas de queimaduras faz-se importante para o reconhecimento do impacto das queimaduras e suas sequelas em nosso meio. Há, indubitavelmente, necessidade de atendimento multidisciplinar ao paciente queimado, desde a fase aguda até a fase tardia, incluindo o tratamento das sequelas e complicações.
Complexation between the Schiff base N 4 -tetradentate N,N 0 -bis(7-methyl-2-pyridylmethylene)-1,... more Complexation between the Schiff base N 4 -tetradentate N,N 0 -bis(7-methyl-2-pyridylmethylene)-1,3-diiminopropane (bpydip) and ion Ru(II) occurs only in trans geometry. However, it is known that the most complex of these ligands with ruthenium present predominantly cis geometry. In order to clarify the effects that drive the formation of the complex [Ru(bpydip)Cl 2 ], we performed a new experimental study of the reaction and a complete theoretical investigation of their transition states. The results showed that nonformation of the cis isomer could be explained by the difference in relative stability of the reaction products and the transition states proposed.
Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) calculates the internal conductivity distribution within a ... more Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) calculates the internal conductivity distribution within a body from current simulation and voltage measurements on the body surface. Two main technical difficulties of EIT are its low spatial resolution and sensitivity to measurement errors. Image reconstruction using ℓ1 norms allows addressing both difficulties, in comparison to traditional reconstruction using ℓ2 norms. A ℓ1 norm on the data residue term reduces the sensitivity to measurement errors, while the ℓ1 norm on the image prior reduces edge blurring. This paper proposes and tests a general lagged diffusivity type iterative method for EIT reconstructions. ℓ1 and ℓ2 minimizations can be flexibly chosen on the data residue and/or image prior parts. Results show the flexibility of the algorithm and the merits of the ℓ1 solution.
Short-term exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) leads to acute lung inflammation (ALI) by disturbing ... more Short-term exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) leads to acute lung inflammation (ALI) by disturbing oxidant/ antioxidant balance. Both CS exposure and lung inflammation are important risk factors in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nitric oxide (NO) is an oxidant both present in CS and produced in the inflammatory response, but its role in the effects of CS exposure is unclear. Our aim was to study involvement of NO in a model of CS exposure. Groups of mice (male C57BL/6) exposed to CS (six cigarettes per day over five days) were simultaneously subjected to treatment with vehicle (CS), 60 mg/kg/day x-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (CS + L-NAME), 20 mg/kg/day nitroglycerine (CS + NTG), or 120 mg/kg/day L-arginine (CS + L-arg). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was then aspirated to perform cell counts, and malondialdehyde (MDA), nitrite, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels were measured in lung homogenates. Macrophage and neutrophil counts were increased in the CS (p < 0.001) and CS + L-NAME groups (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively); the CS + NTG and CS + L-arg groups showed no differences from the control group. MDA was increased in the CS (p < 0.05) and CS + L-NAME (p < 0.01) groups when compared to the control group. Nitrite levels were decreased in the CS and CS + L-NAME groups (p < 0.001) and increased in the CS + NTG (p < 0.001) and CS + L-arg (p < 0.01) groups when compared to the control. CAT, SOD and GPx activities in the CS and CS + L-NAME groups were all significantly increased compared to the control group. Our results suggest that administration of NO donors or substrates may be a useful therapy in the treatment of ALI caused by CS.
A search for narrow resonances with a mass of at least 1 TeV in the dijet mass spectrum is perfor... more A search for narrow resonances with a mass of at least 1 TeV in the dijet mass spectrum is performed using pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb −1 , collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. No resonances are observed. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are presented on the product of the resonance cross section, branching fraction into dijets, and acceptance, separately for decays into quark-quark, quark-gluon, and gluon-gluon pairs. The data exclude new particles predicted in the following models at the 95% confidence level: string resonances with mass less than 4.00 TeV, E 6 diquarks with mass less than 3.52 TeV, excited quarks with mass less than 2.49 TeV, axigluons and colorons with mass less than 2.47 TeV, and W bosons with mass less than 1.51 TeV.
Insecticides derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and plants genetically modifi... more Insecticides derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and plants genetically modified (GM) to express B. thuringiensis toxins are important alternatives for insect pest control worldwide. Risk assessment of B. thuringiensis toxins to non-target organisms has been extensively studied but few toxicological tests have considered soil invertebrates. Oribatid mites are one of the most diverse and abundant arthropod groups in the upper layers of soil and litter in natural and agricultural systems. These mites are exposed to the toxic compounds of GM crops or pesticides mainly when they feed on vegetal products incorporated in the soil. Although some effects of B. thuringiensis products on Acari have been reported, effects on oribatid mites are still unknown. This study investigated the effects of the ingestion of Bt cotton Bollgard® and of the B. thuringiensis commercial product Dipel® WP on the pantropical species Scheloribates praeincisus (Scheloribatidae). Ingestion of Bollgard and Dipel did not affect adult and immature survivorship and food consumption (estimated by number of fecal pellets produced daily) or developmental time of immature stages of S. praeincisus. These results indicate the safety of Bollgard and Dipel to S. praeincisus under field conditions where exposition is lower and other food sources besides leaves of Bt plants are available. The method for toxicological tests described here can be adapted to other species of Oribatida, consisting on a new option to risk assessment studies.
This work is a study of intelligent tools for forecasting losses in the transformer core, compari... more This work is a study of intelligent tools for forecasting losses in the transformer core, comparing with the traditionally accepted model. The uses of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) search a best estimator of losses in the transformer core. Two models of ANN were proposed: Multi-Layer Percepton (MLP) and Neo-Fuzzy Neuron (NFN). After an analysis of the model they were evaluated and it was concluded that the MLP model for this application had the best performance.
This work deals with the problem of minimize the waste of space that occurs on a placement of a s... more This work deals with the problem of minimize the waste of space that occurs on a placement of a set of bi-dimensional items inside a bi-dimensional container with fixed dimensions. This problem is approached with an heuristic based on Simulated Annealing (SA), which is inspired on the physic-chemical process that takes place during the recrystallization of a metal. Traditional "external penalization" techniques are avoided through the application of no-fit polygons, that represents collision-free areas for each items before its placement. That gives to the proposed process a more universal character, as external penalization is based on empiric parameters of great influence on the optimization performance. The SA controls: the rotation and the placement. For each non-placed items a limited depth binary search is performed to find a scale factor that when applied to the items, would allow it to be fitted on the container. The proposed process is suited for non-convex items and containers, and can be easily adapted for related problems, such as container size minimization. Some results are shown with irregular items, non-convex items and containers.
Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathog... more Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, a Gram-positive, facultative intracellular pathogen, is the etiologic agent of the disease known as caseous lymphadenitis (CL). CL mainly affects small ruminants, such as goats and sheep; it also causes infections in humans, though rarely. This species is distributed worldwide, but it has the most serious economic impact in Oceania, Africa and South America. Although C. pseudotuberculosis causes major health and productivity problems for livestock, little is known about the molecular basis of its pathogenicity.
Myocardial autonomic denervation occurs after acute MI. This process is followed by a reduction o... more Myocardial autonomic denervation occurs after acute MI. This process is followed by a reduction of heart rate variability (HRV) and an increase of malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. This study investigated whether there are any significant differences in HRV among the population of MI who did and did not have malignant ventricular arrhythmias (MVAs), normal subjects and heart transplant recipients, the paradigm of the denervated heart. We studied 25 subjects aged 42 ± 17 years, with normal clinical and cardiac noninvasive evaluation (group A); 70 patients aged 57 ± 14 years, who had MI hut no arrhythmic event in 36 months of follow-up (group B); 13 patients with MI aged 65 ± 9 years, who had had sustained VT, VF, or sudden death (group C); and 16 cardiac transplant recipients aged 35 ± 14 years (group D). The ECG was sampled for 256 seconds. We calculated, in time and frequency domain, the standard deviation of the RR cycle length and the spectral component's very low frequency (< 0.05 Hz), low frequency (0.05–0.15 Hz), and high frequency (0.15–0.35 Hz). The values of HRV in group A were significantly greater than in groups B, C, and D (P < 0.001) and greater in group B than in groups C and D (P < 0.001). Groups C and D did not differ (P = 0.610). These data indicate that HRV of patients who have had an MI and MVAs is very similar to that of heart transplant recipients. This is an indirect evidence that myocardial autonomic denervation may play an important role in the genesis of malignant arrhythmic events.
This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational pla... more This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational placement of a set of irregular bi-dimensional items inside a bi-dimensional container. This problem is approached with a heuristic based on Simulated Annealing (SA) with adaptive neighborhood. The objective function is evaluated in a constructive approach, where the items are placed sequentially. The placement is governed by three different types of parameters: sequence of placement, the rotation angle and the translation. The rotation applied and the translation of the polygon are cyclic continuous parameters, and the sequence of placement defines a combinatorial problem. This way, it is necessary to control cyclic continuous and discrete parameters. The approaches described in the literature deal with only type of parameter (sequence of placement or translation). In the proposed SA algorithm, the sensibility of each continuous parameter is evaluated at each iteration increasing the number of accepted solutions. The sensibility of each parameter is associated to its probability distribution in the definition of the next candidate.
The irregular shape packing problem is a combinatorial optimization problem that consists of arra... more The irregular shape packing problem is a combinatorial optimization problem that consists of arranging items on a container in such way that no item overlaps. In this paper we adopt a solution that places the items sequentially, touching the already placed items or the container. To place a new item without overlaps, the collision free region for the new item is robustly computed using non manifold Boolean operations. A simulated annealing algorithm controls the items sequence of placement, the item's placement and orientation. In this work, the placement occurs at collision free region's vertices. Several results with benchmark datasets obtained from the literature are reported. Some of them are the best already reported in the literature. To improve the computational cost performance of the algorithm, a parallelization method to determine the collision free region is proposed. We demonstrated two possible algorithms to compute the collision free region, and only one of them can be parallelized. The results showed that the parallelized version is better than the sequential approach only for datasets with very large number of items. The computational cost of the non manifold Boolean operation algorithm is strongly dependent on the number of vertices of the original polygons.
Keywords: Leishporin Cytolysin Pore-forming protein Lipid-binding protein Cholesterol Liposome Le... more Keywords: Leishporin Cytolysin Pore-forming protein Lipid-binding protein Cholesterol Liposome Leishmania a b s t r a c t To lyse cells, some pore-forming proteins need to bind to receptors on their targets. Studying the binding requirements of Leishmania amazonensis leishporin, we have shown that protease-treated erythrocytes are as sensitive to leishporin-mediated lysis as untreated cells, indicating that protein receptors are dispensable. Similarly, carbohydrate receptors do not seem to be needed, since several sugars do not inhibit leishporin-mediated hemolysis. Conversely, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), but not cholesterol, completely inhibits leishporin-mediated lysis. DPPC liposomes, with or without cholesterol, are lysed by leishporin and remove its lytic activity. Our results demonstrate that leishporin is a cholesterol-independent cytolysin that binds directly to phospholipids.
Journal of The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 2007
The purpose of this work is to define a new algorithm for converting a CSG representation into a ... more The purpose of this work is to define a new algorithm for converting a CSG representation into a B-Rep representation. Usually this conversion is done determining the union, intersection or difference from two B-Rep represented solids. Due to the lack of explicit representation of surface boundaries, CSG models must be converted into B-Rep solid models when a description based on polygonal mesh is required. A potential solution is to convert a CSG model into a voxel based volume representation and then construct a B-Rep solid model. This method is called CSG voxelization, conceptually it is a set membership classification problem with respect to the CSG object for all sampling points in a volume space. Marching cubes algorithms create a simple mesh that is enough for visualization purposes. However, when engineering processes are involved, a solid model is necessary. A solid ensures that all triangles in the mesh are consistently oriented and define a closed surface. It is proposed in this work an algorithm for converting CSG models into triangulated solid models through propagation based marching cubes algorithm. Three main new concepts are used in the algorithm: open boundary, B-Rep/CSG Voxelization mapping and constructive triangulation of active cells. The triangles supplied by the marching cubes algorithm need not be coherently oriented; the algorithm itself finds the correct orientation for the supplied triangles. The proposed algorithm restricts the exploration to the space occupied by the solid's boundary. Differently from normal marching cubes algorithms that explore the complete sampled space.
Journal of The Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, 2008
This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational pla... more This work deals with the problem of minimizing the waste of space that occurs on a rotational placement of a set of irregular bi-dimensional small items inside a bi-dimensional large object. This problem is approached with an heuristic based on simulated annealing. Traditional " external penalization" techniques are avoided through the application of the no-fit polygon, that determinates the collision-free region for each small item before its placement. The simulated annealing controls: the rotation applied and the placement of the small item. For each non-placed small item, a limited depth binary search is performed to find a scale factor that when applied to the small item, would allow it to be fitted in the large object. Three possibilities to define the sequence on which the small items are placed are studied: larger-first, random permutation and weight sorted. The proposed algorithm is suited for non-convex small items and large objects.
In the literature it has been extensively mentioned that crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae) prey ... more In the literature it has been extensively mentioned that crab spiders (Araneae: Thomisidae) prey on floral visitors of several plant species. Here we present observations of Croton selowii Baill. (Euphorbiaceae), a monoecious species harboring individuals of crab spiders in an area of coastal vegetation of Pernambuco state, Brazil. The species is visited by several invertebrate orders, and some of them were preyed upon by the spiders, mainly Diptera species. The spiders rubbed the forelimbs within the flowers, which may constitute a strategy to camouflage these structures. Croton selowii seems to represent a suitable foraging site for the spiders, because it has a generalist pollination system (thus being visited by a wide range of invertebrate species) and blooms in a period of low flower resource availability in the area.
Simulated annealing (SA) is an optimization technique that can process cost functions with degree... more Simulated annealing (SA) is an optimization technique that can process cost functions with degrees of nonlinearities, discontinuities and stochasticity. It can process arbitrary boundary conditions and constraints imposed on these cost functions. The SA technique is applied to the problem of robot path planning. Three situations are considered here: the path is represented as a polyline; as a Bézier curve;
Objetivo: O presente estudo pretendeu analisar os aspectos epidemiológicos envolvidos nas complic... more Objetivo: O presente estudo pretendeu analisar os aspectos epidemiológicos envolvidos nas complicações tardias das queimaduras, bem como seu manejo. Método: Os autores revisaram, retrospectivamente, os prontuários dos pacientes atendidos no Serviço de Queimaduras da Divisão de Cirurgia Plástica do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP, interessando aqueles submetidos à intervenção cirúrgica por sequelas pós-queimadura. A análise abrangeu um período de 12 anos. Resultados: Os pacientes apresentaram um ou mais sítios anatômicos queimados exibindo sequelas com necessidade de tratamento cirúrgico. O número de cirurgias por paciente variou de 1 a 32, chegando a 10 anos fazendo uma ou mais cirurgias anualmente. Dentre as 2286 cirurgias realizadas em 977 pacientes, 60,6% dos procedimentos foram realizados em pacientes do sexo feminino. A contratura foi o diagnóstico de 52,8% dos pacientes operados, sendo os dois locais mais acometidos o pescoço (26%) e a axila (22%). Metade (50,5%) dos pacientes necessitou de duas ou mais operações, sendo realizadas, em média, de 2,34 cirurgias por doente. As ressecções foram o segundo procedimento mais realizado, representando 584 (25,5%) procedimentos. Conclusões: O conhecimento dos fatores epidemiológicos inerentes às sequelas de queimaduras faz-se importante para o reconhecimento do impacto das queimaduras e suas sequelas em nosso meio. Há, indubitavelmente, necessidade de atendimento multidisciplinar ao paciente queimado, desde a fase aguda até a fase tardia, incluindo o tratamento das sequelas e complicações.
Complexation between the Schiff base N 4 -tetradentate N,N 0 -bis(7-methyl-2-pyridylmethylene)-1,... more Complexation between the Schiff base N 4 -tetradentate N,N 0 -bis(7-methyl-2-pyridylmethylene)-1,3-diiminopropane (bpydip) and ion Ru(II) occurs only in trans geometry. However, it is known that the most complex of these ligands with ruthenium present predominantly cis geometry. In order to clarify the effects that drive the formation of the complex [Ru(bpydip)Cl 2 ], we performed a new experimental study of the reaction and a complete theoretical investigation of their transition states. The results showed that nonformation of the cis isomer could be explained by the difference in relative stability of the reaction products and the transition states proposed.
Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) calculates the internal conductivity distribution within a ... more Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) calculates the internal conductivity distribution within a body from current simulation and voltage measurements on the body surface. Two main technical difficulties of EIT are its low spatial resolution and sensitivity to measurement errors. Image reconstruction using ℓ1 norms allows addressing both difficulties, in comparison to traditional reconstruction using ℓ2 norms. A ℓ1 norm on the data residue term reduces the sensitivity to measurement errors, while the ℓ1 norm on the image prior reduces edge blurring. This paper proposes and tests a general lagged diffusivity type iterative method for EIT reconstructions. ℓ1 and ℓ2 minimizations can be flexibly chosen on the data residue and/or image prior parts. Results show the flexibility of the algorithm and the merits of the ℓ1 solution.
Short-term exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) leads to acute lung inflammation (ALI) by disturbing ... more Short-term exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) leads to acute lung inflammation (ALI) by disturbing oxidant/ antioxidant balance. Both CS exposure and lung inflammation are important risk factors in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nitric oxide (NO) is an oxidant both present in CS and produced in the inflammatory response, but its role in the effects of CS exposure is unclear. Our aim was to study involvement of NO in a model of CS exposure. Groups of mice (male C57BL/6) exposed to CS (six cigarettes per day over five days) were simultaneously subjected to treatment with vehicle (CS), 60 mg/kg/day x-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (CS + L-NAME), 20 mg/kg/day nitroglycerine (CS + NTG), or 120 mg/kg/day L-arginine (CS + L-arg). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was then aspirated to perform cell counts, and malondialdehyde (MDA), nitrite, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels were measured in lung homogenates. Macrophage and neutrophil counts were increased in the CS (p < 0.001) and CS + L-NAME groups (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively); the CS + NTG and CS + L-arg groups showed no differences from the control group. MDA was increased in the CS (p < 0.05) and CS + L-NAME (p < 0.01) groups when compared to the control group. Nitrite levels were decreased in the CS and CS + L-NAME groups (p < 0.001) and increased in the CS + NTG (p < 0.001) and CS + L-arg (p < 0.01) groups when compared to the control. CAT, SOD and GPx activities in the CS and CS + L-NAME groups were all significantly increased compared to the control group. Our results suggest that administration of NO donors or substrates may be a useful therapy in the treatment of ALI caused by CS.
A search for narrow resonances with a mass of at least 1 TeV in the dijet mass spectrum is perfor... more A search for narrow resonances with a mass of at least 1 TeV in the dijet mass spectrum is performed using pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb −1 , collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. No resonances are observed. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are presented on the product of the resonance cross section, branching fraction into dijets, and acceptance, separately for decays into quark-quark, quark-gluon, and gluon-gluon pairs. The data exclude new particles predicted in the following models at the 95% confidence level: string resonances with mass less than 4.00 TeV, E 6 diquarks with mass less than 3.52 TeV, excited quarks with mass less than 2.49 TeV, axigluons and colorons with mass less than 2.47 TeV, and W bosons with mass less than 1.51 TeV.
Insecticides derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and plants genetically modifi... more Insecticides derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and plants genetically modified (GM) to express B. thuringiensis toxins are important alternatives for insect pest control worldwide. Risk assessment of B. thuringiensis toxins to non-target organisms has been extensively studied but few toxicological tests have considered soil invertebrates. Oribatid mites are one of the most diverse and abundant arthropod groups in the upper layers of soil and litter in natural and agricultural systems. These mites are exposed to the toxic compounds of GM crops or pesticides mainly when they feed on vegetal products incorporated in the soil. Although some effects of B. thuringiensis products on Acari have been reported, effects on oribatid mites are still unknown. This study investigated the effects of the ingestion of Bt cotton Bollgard® and of the B. thuringiensis commercial product Dipel® WP on the pantropical species Scheloribates praeincisus (Scheloribatidae). Ingestion of Bollgard and Dipel did not affect adult and immature survivorship and food consumption (estimated by number of fecal pellets produced daily) or developmental time of immature stages of S. praeincisus. These results indicate the safety of Bollgard and Dipel to S. praeincisus under field conditions where exposition is lower and other food sources besides leaves of Bt plants are available. The method for toxicological tests described here can be adapted to other species of Oribatida, consisting on a new option to risk assessment studies.
This work is a study of intelligent tools for forecasting losses in the transformer core, compari... more This work is a study of intelligent tools for forecasting losses in the transformer core, comparing with the traditionally accepted model. The uses of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) search a best estimator of losses in the transformer core. Two models of ANN were proposed: Multi-Layer Percepton (MLP) and Neo-Fuzzy Neuron (NFN). After an analysis of the model they were evaluated and it was concluded that the MLP model for this application had the best performance.
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Papers by Thiago Castro