Extension services can promote pasture restoration: Evidence from Brazil's low carbon agriculture plan.

Innovation and improved practices in the livestock sector represent key opportunities tomeet global climate goals. This paper provides evidence that extension services can pro-mote pasture restoration in cattle ranching in Brazil. We use a randomized controlledtrial implemented in the context of the ABC Cerrado (a large-scale program launched in2014 aimed at fostering technology adoption through a combination of training andtechnical assistance) to examine the effects of different types of extension on agriculturalpractices, input use, and productivity.

Real-time data analysis in health monitoring systems: A comprehensive systematic literature review.

Health monitoring systems (HMSs) capture physiological measurements through biosensors (sensing), obtain significant properties and measures from the output signal (perceiving), use algorithms for data analysis (reasoning), and trigger warnings or alarms (acting) when an emergency occurs. These systems have the potential to enhance health care delivery in different application domains, showing promising benefits for health diagnosis, early symptom detection, disease prediction, among others. However, the implementation of HMS presents challenges for sensing, perceiving, reasoning, and acting based on monitored data, mainly when data processing should be performed in real time.

Vaccine effectiveness of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 against COVID-19 in a socially vulnerable community in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: a test-negative design study.

Objectives: To estimate vaccine effectiveness after the first and second dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 against symptomatic COVID-19 and infection in a socially vulnerable community in Brazil when Gamma and Delta were the predominant variants circulating.

Methods: We conducted a test-negative study in the community Complexo da Maré, the largest group of slums (n = 16) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from January 17, 2021 to November 27, 2021. We selected RT-qPCR positive and negative tests from a broad community testing program.

An evolutionary view of self-awareness.

The capacity to be self-aware is regarded as a fundamental difference between humans and other species. However, growing evidence challenges this notion, indicating that many animals show complex signs and behaviors that are consonant with self-awareness. In this review, we suggest that many animals are indeed self-aware, but that the complexity of this process differs among species.

Using data envelopment analysis to perform benchmarking in intensive care units.

Background: Studies using Data Envelopment Analysis to benchmark Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are scarce. Previous studies have focused on comparing efficiency using only performance metrics, without accounting for resources. Hence, we aimed to perform a benchmarking analysis of ICUs using data envelopment analysis.

Understanding UX Better: A New Technique to Go beyond Emotion Assessment.

User experience (UX) is a quality aspect that considers the emotions evoked by the system, extending the usability concept beyond effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Practitioners and researchers are aware of the importance of evaluating UX. Thus, UX evaluation is a growing field with diverse approaches.

Natural Aging of Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Rubber under Actual Operation Conditions of Electrical Submersible Pump Cables.

Ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubbers used in electric submersible pump (ESP) cables were analyzed after being aged in actual operation conditions in oil wellbores. These rubbers constitute the insulation and jacket layers of the ESP cables. EPDM rubbers from four different cables operating during different time intervals (2 and 4.

A data-driven approach for a class of stochastic dynamic optimization problems.

Dynamic stochastic optimization models provide a powerful tool to represent sequential decision-making processes. Typically, these models use statistical predictive methods to capture the structure of the underlying stochastic process without taking into consideration estimation errors and model misspecification. In this context, we propose a data-driven prescriptive analytics framework aiming to integrate the machine learning and dynamic optimization machinery in a consistent and efficient way to build a bridge from data to decisions.

Magnetic Characterization by Scanning Microscopy of Functionalized Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.

This study aimed to systematically understand the magnetic properties of magnetite (FeO) nanoparticles functionalized with different Pluronic F-127 surfactant concentrations (FeO@Pluronic F-127) obtained by using an improved magnetic characterization method based on three-dimensional magnetic maps generated by scanning magnetic microscopy. Additionally, these FeO and FeO@Pluronic F-127 nanoparticles, as promising systems for biomedical applications, were prepared by a wet chemical reaction. The magnetization curve was obtained through these three-dimensional maps, confirming that both FeO and FeO@Pluronic F-127 nanoparticles have a superparamagnetic behavior.

The association of the COVID-19 pandemic and short-term outcomes of non-COVID-19 critically ill patients: an observational cohort study in Brazilian ICUs.

Purpose: To assess whether intensive care unit (ICU) outcomes for patients not affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study including prospectively collected information of patients admitted to 165 ICUs in a hospital network in Brazil between 2011 and 2020. Association between admission in 2020 and worse hospital outcomes was performed using different techniques, including assessment of changes in illness severity of admitted patients, a variable life-adjusted display of mortality during 2020, a multivariate mixed regression model with admission year as both fixed effect and random slope adjusted for SAPS 3 score, an analysis of trends in performance using standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and standardized resource use (SRU), and perturbation analysis.

Clinical Characteristics and In-Hospital Mortality of Cardiac Arrest Survivors in Brazil: A Large Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study.

Objectives: Data on cardiac arrest survivors from developing countries are scarce. This study investigated clinical characteristics associated with in-hospital mortality in resuscitated patients following cardiac arrest in Brazil.

Design: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.

Phase Transition and Coefficients of Thermal Expansion in AlInWO (0.2 ≤ ≤ 1).

Materials from theO family are known for their extensive chemical versatility while preserving the polyhedral-corner-shared orthorhombic crystal system, as well as for their consequent unusual thermal expansion, varying from negative and near-zero to slightly positive. The rarest are near-zero thermal expansion materials, which are of paramount importance in thermal shock resistance applications. Ceramic materials with chemistry AlInWO ( = 0.

A mhealth application for automated detection and diagnosis of strabismus.

Background And Objective: Amblyopia is a public health problem, and strabismus is its primary cause. Our objective is to evaluate the concordance of the diagnosis of strabismus between strabismus expert ophthalmologist and the mhealth application developed for this purpose.

Methods: We evaluated the concordance of the diagnosis of strabismus between the expert ophthalmologist and the mhealth application by screening 224 children and adolescents in the 5-15 years age group, with snapshots of patients' eyes and their analysis thereof.

--Butanesulfinyl imines in the asymmetric synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles.

The synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles, including natural alkaloids and other compounds presenting different types of biological activities have proved to be successful employing chiral sulfinyl imines derived from -butanesulfinamide. These imines are versatile chiral auxiliaries and have been extensively used as eletrophiles in a wide range of reactions. The electron-withdrawing sulfinyl group facilitates the nucleophilic addition of organometallic compounds to the iminic carbon with high diastereoisomeric excess and the free amines obtained after an easy removal of the -butanesulfinyl group can be transformed into enantioenriched nitrogen-containing heterocycles.

Driftage: a multi-agent system framework for concept drift detection.

Background: The amount of data and behavior changes in society happens at a swift pace in this interconnected world. Consequently, machine learning algorithms lose accuracy because they do not know these new patterns. This change in the data pattern is known as concept drift.

On mobulid rays and metals: Metal content for the first Mobula mobular record for the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and a review on metal ecotoxicology assessments for the Manta and Mobula genera.

This study comprises the first record of a juvenile Giant Devil Ray specimen for Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, and its metal and metalloid contents. A scientometric assessment was also performed for the Manta and Mobula genera. Only five records were found, and only As, Cd, Pb, Hg, Pt, Pd and Rh have been assessed.

An overview of the impact of COVID-19 on the cruise industry with considerations for Florida.

This paper provides an overview of the current state of the world's cruise industry, with a focus on the chronology and the main impacts that the COVID-19 has had on the industry. Florida is presented as a micro context of the pandemic's impacts on the local economies of cruise-dependent regions. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the many infected ships in the first quarter of 2020, the entire cruise industry was stopped and a prohibition on resuming this industry was impose worldwide.

Atmospheric Metal Biomonitoring Along a Highway Near Atlantic Rainforest Environmental Protection Areas in Southeastern Brazil.

Vehicles are quite possibly the main sources of particulate matter, and their emissions can cause damage to surrounding ecosystems. Traditional atmospheric monitoring, however, is expensive. Therefore, airborne biomonitoring is an alternative method that allows for air quality assessment.

Evolving changes in mortality of 13,301 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 over 8 months.

Purpose: Clinical characteristics and management of COVID-19 patients have evolved during the pandemic, potentially changing their outcomes. We analyzed the associations of changes in mortality rates with clinical profiles and respiratory support strategies in COVID-19 critically ill patients.

Methods: A multicenter cohort of RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted at 126 Brazilian intensive care units between February 27 and October 28, 2020.

Biomonitoring of Potentially Toxic Elements in Two Polluted Areas from Lurigancho-Chosica Using the genus Tillandsia latifolia and T. purpurea as Biomonitor.

In the present study, an urban and industrial area were evaluated through a biomonitoring study employing the Tillandsia purpurea and T. latifolia species as a biomonitor. Plants were collected from a non-contaminated area and transplanted and exposed for three months into study areas to determine metal accumulation.

Cortical thickness and subcortical volume abnormalities in male crack-cocaine users.

Crack-cocaine offers a higher risk of abuse than intranasal and intravenous use of cocaine. Yet, current treatments remain disappointing and our understanding of the mechanism of crack-cocaine neurotoxicity is still incomplete. Magnetic resonance images studies on brain changes of crack-cocaine addicts show divergent data.

Effect of Convalescent Plasma in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19: An Observational Study.

Convalescent plasma is a potential therapeutic option for critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), yet its efficacy remains to be determined. The aim was to investigate the effects of convalescent plasma (CP) in critically ill patients with COVID-19. This was a single-center prospective observational study conducted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from March 17th to May 30th, with final follow-up on June 30th.

On the physicochemical origin of nanoscale friction: the polarizability and electronegativity relationship tailoring nanotribology.

Friction is a ubiquitous manifestation of nature, and when it is studied at the nanoscale, complex and interesting effects arise from fundamental physical and chemical surface properties. Surprisingly, and probably due to the complexity of nanofriction studies, this aspect has not been completely discussed in prior studies. To fully consider the physicochemical influence in nanoscale friction, amorphous carbon films with different amounts of hydrogen and fluorine were prepared, chemically characterized, and evaluated via lateral force microscopy.

Relationships Between CSA Characteristics, Waiting Time, and Psychotherapy Treatment Response.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) can cause negative outcomes on cognitive, emotional, physical, and social development of the victims. A significant amount of symptoms related to CSA can be minimized or even treated with professional interventions. Thereby, it is important to examine factors related to treatment response.