bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Scrisul epistolar românesc: o perspectivă cultural-retorică (I)
Authors: Milică Ioan , Morcov Gabriela-Iuliana
Published: February 2016

Articolul are ca țel prezentarea caracteristicilor de ordin cultural și retoric ale scrisului epistolar, prin urmărirea momentelor esenţiale din evoluţia scrisorii în spaţiul european şi în cel românesc. În epoci succesive, delimitarea cadrelor retorice în care se dezvoltă scrisul epistolar este dirijată de repere distincte, de la canoanele discursive ale antichităţii și încercările de formulare a unor teorii epistolare în epoca postclasică la apariţia manualelor epistolare medievale şi a lucrărilor de retorică epistolară din epoca Renaşterii sau la înflorirea corespondenței private în perioada Barocului și în Secolul Luminilor. Tendința naturală de adaptare a retoricii epistolare la resursele idiomatice ale limbilor vernaculare a favorizat apariția și dezvoltarea unui stil epistolar românesc, ale cărui coordonate culturale și retorice sînt schițate în lucrarea de față.
Anxiolytic and sedative-like effects of flavonoids from Tilia americana var. mexicana: GABAergic and serotonergic participation
Authors: Aguirre-Hernández Eva ,   Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México., González-Trujano Ma Eva , Terrazas Teresa , Herrera Josefina , Guevara-Fefer Patricia ,   Laboratorio de Neurofarmacología de Productos Naturales. Dirección de Investigaciones en Neurociencias del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz.,   Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Published: February 2016

Abstract

Introduction. The inflorescences of Tilia americana var. mexicana are used as an infusion in Mexican traditional medicine due to their tranquilizing effects; however, pharmacological and phytochemical studies of the leaves are lacking.

Objective. In this research, the anxiolytic and sedative-like efficacy of the Tilia americana var. mexicana leaves was compared to that obtained with its inflorescences and flavonoids therein identified, as well as the possible mechanism of action.

Methods. The sorted and dried inflorescences and leaves were macerated subsequently in hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. The methanol extracts were qualitative- and quantitative-analyzed by HPLC, using commercial flavonoids standards selected on the basis of their previously reported presence in Tilia species. The pharmacological activity was evaluated in CD-1 mice in the tests: open-field, elevated plus-maze, hole-board, and the sodium pentobarbital-induced sleep potentiation test. In regard to the mechanism of action, participation of benzodiazepine and 5-HT1A serotonin receptors was tested with the respective antagonists: flumazenil and WAY100635.

Results. The presence of quercetin, rutin and isoquercitrin was confirmed in the extracts of the inflorescences and leaves. The anxiolytic-like effects were the same between the two organs, which were inhibited in the presence of flumazenil and WAY100635.

Discussion and conclusion. Our results provide evidence that the extracts of the leaves of T. americana var. mexicana are as efficacious as the inflorescences to produce anxiolytic and sedative-like effects, where flavonoids like quercetin, rutin and isoquercitrin are partially responsible for these activities by the involvement of GABA/BDZ and 5HT1A serotonergic receptors.
Scratch – um primeiro olhar
Authors: Arantes Flávia Linhalis , Ferreira José Michael Leandro da Silva , Ribeiro Paula Eduarda Justino
Published: February 2016

RESUMO: Neste artigo, relatamos a atividade “Scratch, um primeiro olhar”, realizada com o objetivo de registrar as impressões e as respostas dos alunos ao olhar pela primeira vez para programas em Scratch. Apresentamos uma revisão sobre a caracterização da linguagem e do ambiente do Scratch, procurando identificar o que um aluno que nunca teve contato com programação pode usar para extrair informações dos programas. Diferente de outros trabalhos na literatura, destacamos o fato de os comandos serem escritos na língua materna dos alunos como um elemento grandemente facilitador para o entendimento dos mesmos por parte dos iniciantes. Os resultados dos experimentos mostram que a capacidade de leitura dos programas é uma grande aliada no entendimento daqueles que nunca programaram.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Scratch; iniciantes em programação; linguagem de programação. ABSTRACT:In this paper, we report the “Scratch, a first glance” activity, conducted with the aim of registering the impressions and the responses of students when they looked for the first time to Scratch programs. We present a review on the characterization of Scratch language and environment, trying to identify what a student who never had contact with programming can use to extract information from the programs. Different from other works in literature, we highlight the commands written in the mother tongue of the students as a great facilitator to the understanding of the programs by the beginners. The results of the experiments show that the ability to read the programs is of great importance in the understanding from those who never had previous contact with programming.KEYWORDS: Scratch; beginners in programming; programming language.
Levantamento das omissões ortográficas na escrita infantil
Authors: Cruz Regina Célia Fernandes
Published: February 2016

RESUMO: Este trabalho tem como objeto de estudo as omissões ortográficas recorrentes na escrita infantil. Como suporte teórico para esta pesquisa, utilizou-se o trabalho de Chacon (2010) e Amaral et al. (2011), pioneiros na aplicação da metodologia aqui adotada. Os dados analisados – 6.840 – foram coletados em uma escola pública da periferia de Belém (PA). Para a obtenção dos dados, foi solicitado aos 93 sujeitos desta pesquisa, todos alunos dos 3º e 4º ano do Ensino Fundamental, que escrevessem nomes de frutas ou de animais durante um bingo simulado. O corpus obtido compreende a produção escrita de 63 vocábulos, sendo 41 nomes de frutas e 22 de animais. Esses vocábulos-alvo possuem sílabas com os tipos de coda previstos no sistema português, a saber, preenchida por: a) rótico /R/; b) por lateral /l/; c) por nasal /N/; d) por soante /S/; assim como por e) ausência total de fonema na coda (vazia). Constatou-se um percentual de 59% de omissões ortográficas em relação à escrita canônica. Considerando apenas as omissões ortográficas, 87% ocorrem justamente nas sílabas com coda preenchida, das quais se registrou uma grande concentração de omissões nas sílabas com coda preenchida por /N/ (57%), o que demonstra um alto grau de dificuldade das crianças em relação às regras ortográficas. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: aquisição da escrita; escrita infantil; Língua Portuguesa. ABSTRACT: This work deals with omissions on written productions of children who are in elementary school, at the 3rd and 4th school years. We adopted for this work the same methodological procedures of Chacon (2010) and Amaral et al. (2011). Altogether, 93 children participated in this experiment. They wrote 63 names (41 fruits and 22 animals) during a simulated bingo game. The target was the segmental at the syllable coda. Portuguese language has 6 kinds of syllable coda: a) rhotic /R/; b) lateral /l/; c) nasal /N/; d) soante /S/ and e) empty /∅/. The results show a great number of writing omissions (59%) in relation to canonic form. When we considered the omissions happened only at the coda position, this number raised for 87%, whose 57% are at the nasal coda. These results show that children from elementary school have a great difficulty to understand graphic rules.KEYWORDS: writing acquisition; child writing; Portuguese Language.
Agentes e vozes: um panorama da mídia-educação no Brasil, Portugal e Espanha, editado por Ilana Eleá Santiago
Authors: Sebastião Ana Paula Ferreira
Published: February 2016

Resenhado por/by Ana Paula Ferreira Sebastião.
O gramático e a norma culta em títulos de entrevistas: entre citações e fórmulas discursivas
Authors: Jesus Agnaldo Almeida de
Published: February 2016

RESUMO: O trabalho ora proposto tem como objetivo analisar os efeitos de sentidos sobre o gramático e a norma culta produzidos em títulos de entrevistas com Evanildo Bechara. Desse modo, questionamo-nos como a instituição midiática formula seus enunciados a fim de obter a adesão de um público leitor e instituir um determinado sentido (e não outros) ao que é posto em circulação. Para tanto, tomamos como corpus dez títulos de entrevistas com o referido gramático. Teoricamente, respaldamo-nos nos pressupostos teóricos da Análise do discurso de linha francesa, destacando a questão do funcionamento midiático e a noção de fórmula discursiva. Para tal perspectiva teórica, os sujeitos e sentidos são determinados historicamente: são opacos e têm uma materialidade constitutiva. Em nossas análises, pudemos constatar que nos títulos, por meio de citações e fórmulas, há uma materialização de sentidos que retoma formulações cristalizadas no que concerne à significação do sujeito gramático e da norma culta em nossa sociedade.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: fórmula discursiva; norma culta; gramático; mídia. ABSTRACT: The proposed work aims at analyzing the effects of senses on the grammarian and cultured standard produced in titles of interviews with Evanildo Bechara. Thereby, we question ourselves how the media institution formulates their titles in order to obtain the access of a readership and establish a certain sense (and not others) when that is put into circulation. For this, we took as corpus 10 titles of interviews with the aforementioned Grammarian. We endorsed this paper in the theoretical assumptions of discourse analysis of French line, highlighting the issue of media operation and the notion of discursive formula. For such perspective, subjects and directions are determined historically: are opaque and have a constitutive materiality. In our analysis we were able to see that there is a materialization of senses in the titles that incorporates crystallized formulations regarding the meaning of the subject and grammarian of the standard educated in our society. KEYWORDS: discursive formula; cultured standard; grammarian; media.
Livros entre práticas e transformações: efeitos de sentido em discursos sobre a leitura na mídia
Authors: Silva Francisco Veira da , Silveira Ederson Luis
Published: February 2016

RESUMO:O presente trabalho, descritivo de natureza interpretativa, visa analisar uma reportagem de capa veiculada pela revista Veja (“Os superpoderes da Leitura”, ed. 2373, de 20 de maio de 2014), com vistas a apreender, no funcionamento do discurso midiático, efeitos de sentido relativos à leitura e, por conseguinte, representações acerca do leitor contemporâneo. Para tanto, torna-se relevante pensarmos nas circulações de discursos e discursivizações que são produzidas a partir de enunciados veiculados nas mais variadas vitrines midiáticas em que nos inserimos na contemporaneidade. Para isso, o discurso aqui é tomado como algo exterior à língua, mas que precisa da língua para se materializar. Dessa forma, o olhar dos gestos de interpretação, proposto aqui, voltar-se-á para a materialização de enunciados que tomam a leitura como um objeto discursivo.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: leitura; análise de discursos; mídia.  ABSTRACT:The present work, descriptive with interpretative nature, aims at analyzing a cover story published by Veja magazine (“Os superpoderes da Leitura”, ed. 2373, 5/20/2014), with the objective of apprehending, in the functioning of media discourse, sense effects related to reading and, consequently, representations about the contemporary reader. For this purpose, it becomes relevant to think about the circulations of discourses and discursivisations which are produced from statements presented on the most varied media showcases of contemporaneity. To do this, the discourse will be taken here as something outside the language, but that needs language to materialize itself. Thus, the look of the proposed interpretation gestures will turn to the materialization of statements that take reading as a discursive object.KEYWORDS: reading; discourses analysis; media.
Imagens meméticas e a comunic(ação) na web: um experimento analítico, reflexões e aplicabilidades acerca do discurso multimodal do Facebook
Authors: Gomes Claudia dos Santos
Published: February 2016

RESUMO:Ampliando-se nosso foco de estudo sobre a relação entre História e imagens, passa-se, a partir deste trabalho, a observar como as imagens vêm se prestando a externar mensagens de cunho político, desde as eleições presidenciais de 2014 no Brasil, quando se nota o aumento das mensagens de caráter dicotômico entre “direita e esquerda”. Tendo em vista a importância das imagens para a comunicação, busca-se analisar essa manifestação do discurso político imagético nas redes sociais, mais especificamente no Facebook, no âmbito de um evento digital disseminado na Web, a partir de uma proposta de análise de orientação linguística (SOUZA JÚNIOR, 2015a; 2015b; 2015c; 2015d). Nesse sentido, a partir do estudo de duas unidades de propagação (imagens disseminadas), este artigo propõe a análise desse tipo de mensagem dentro dos eventos digitais identificados por nós como “Coxinha” e “Petralha”. Utilizou-se o Modelo Tridimensional de Análise (FAIRCLOUGH, 2003; SOUZA JÚNIOR, 2013; 2015c) como metodologia, associado à Abordagem Integradora (SOUZA JÚNIOR, 2015a; 2015b). Os resultados da análise das imagens evidenciaram disputas político-ideológicas como uma prática propagada por meio de recursos tecnológicos e discursivo-imagéticos.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: discurso; política e propagação digital; imagens meméticas e multimodalidade; ensino de História e imagens meméticas. ABSTRACT:Expanding our focus of study on the relationship between History and images, this article observes how images have been expressed political messages since the 2014 Brazilian presidential elections, when it is possible to observe the increase of dichotomous messages between "right” and “left". Given the importance of images for communication, this article analyzes this pictorial way of manifesting political discourse on social networks, specifically on Facebook, regarding the spread of such manifestations as a digital event disseminated on the Web. This study makes use of a Linguistics-oriented proposal of analysis (SOUZA JUNIOR, 2015a; 2015b; 2015c; 2015d). Accordingly, by examining two units of propagation (disseminated images), the article suggests the study of this type of message within the scope of the digital events identified as "Coxinha” and “Petralha". This investigation uses the Three-dimensional Model of Analysis (FAIRCLOUGH, 2003; SOUZA JUNIOR, 2013; 2015c) as a methodology in association with the Integrative Approach (SOUZA JUNIOR, 2015a; 2015b). Results of analysis revealed political-ideological dispute as a propagated practice through technological and discursive-pictorial resources.KEYWORDS: discourse; politics and digital propagation; memetic images and multimodality; teaching of History and memetic images.
Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação e formação docente em Letras: uma análise qualitativa da legislação brasileira e portuguesa
Authors: Kurtz Fabiana Diniz
Published: February 2016

RESUMO: Estudos (ALMEIDA, 2008; COSTA, 2007; JONASSEN, 2000; KURTZ, 2015) têm colocado o papel das tecnologias educacionais lado a lado a questões históricas e legais na área, questionando a ênfase atribuída ao aparelhamento das instituições educacionais e o uso instrumental das tecnologias, que fazem com que estudantes sejam orientados a aprender unicamente “sobre” e não “com” esses recursos, sem maiores preocupações pedagógicas e sociais. Tendo a abordagem histórico-cultural vigotskiana como eixo teórico (VIGOTSKI, 2007; 2008), o objetivo desta pesquisa é verificar de que forma as tecnologias são concebidas em documentos oficiais que pautam a educação e a formação docente em Letras no Brasil e em Portugal. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa de cunho qualitativo com base na análise textual discursiva (MORAES & GALIAZZI, 2011), da legislação educacional brasileira e portuguesa, em um processo de unitarização e categorização dos textos. Os resultados sugerem indícios de contato e distanciamento entre as legislações, com desdobramentos bastante peculiares nos dois países, evidenciando que esses documentos devam ser profundamente conhecidos e discutidos pelos docentes de modo que as tecnologias sejam parte da formação de professores de línguas, não unicamente pelo fato de ser uma obrigação legal e sim pela necessidade pedagógica e emancipatória do sujeito, coerentemente com a concepção de ensino e aprendizagem adotada.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: TIC; formação de professores; legislação brasileira; legislação portuguesa. ABSTRACT: Studies (ALMEIDA, 2008; COSTA, 2007; JONASSEN, 2000; KURTZ, 2015) have placed the role of educational technologies side by side to historical and legal issues in the field, questioning the emphasis given to the equipping of schools and instrumental use of technologies that lead students to learn only "about" but not "with" these technologies without greater pedagogical and social concerns. Having Vygotskian social-historical approach as theoretical support (VIGOTSKI, 2007; 2008), the main objective of this research is to verify how technologies are designed in official documents that guide education and language teacher education in Brazil and Portugal. For this purpose, a qualitative research based on discourse textual analysis (MORAES & GALIAZZI, 2011) was carried out in a process of textual unitarization and categorization. Results suggest contact and distance elements between the laws, with quite peculiar developments in both countries, showing that these documents should be deeply known and discussed by teachers so that technologies are part of language teacher education not only because it is a legal obligation, but also an educational and emancipatory need, consistent with teaching and learning conception adopted.KEYWORDS: ICT; teacher education; Brazilian legislation; Portuguese legislation.
Medicines development and regulation in Africa
Authors: Rosenkranz Bernd , Reid Michael , Allen Elizabeth
Published: February 2016

Africa is one of the world’s fastest-growing economic regions, with a rise in its pharmaceutical industry value from $4.7 billion in 2003 to $20.8 billion in 2013. Multinational pharmaceutical companies are becoming more active in drug production and clinical trials across Africa, and there is an increase in the number of local companies engaged in medicines development and marketing. Such expansion of the local pharmaceutical industry requires trained pharmaceutical specialists to support it. The current situation and future requirements for local medicines development, regulation, education and training needs are discussed.
An Experimental Analysis to Determine the Effects of Welding Parameters on Tensile Strength of Hot Air Welded Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) Plastic
Authors: Haque Md Shakibul , Hussain Inayat , Hussain Athar
Published: February 2016

The present work has been carried out to study the effect of some input parameters on the desired response in the Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) plastic, welded by hot air technique. The effect of hot air temperature, welding speed and air flow rate has been evaluated on the Tensile Strength, of the weld bead deposited. These responses have been analysed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and experimental modeling. Plots of significant factors and experimental modeling have been used to determine the best fit relationship between the responses and the model parameters using MINITAB 17. This has been used to determine the most influencing parameter.
Thermal Behavior of Chalcogenide glasses Te90Se10 and Se90Te10
Authors: Verma Arvind Kumar , Srivastava Anchal , Shukla R. K , Dubey K. C
Published: February 2016

In the present research work melt quenching method has been adopted to prepare the glassy Te-rich (Te90Se10) and Se-rich (Se90Te10 ) Chalcogenide at a pressure of 10-2 Torr with constant Temperature at 1000°C for 8 hours. Devitrification characteristics of the pure glassy Chalcogenide Te90Se10 and Se90Te90 were investigated by using Differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC) 4000 Perkin Elmer. All the measurements carried out at fixed heating rate 10 0C/min under non-isothermal conditions. The Glass transition temperature (Tg) and other thermal properties were examined by temperature modulated differential scanning Calorimetry at 40 oC to 445 oC. Glass transition temperature (Tg) represents the strength or rigidity of the glass structure. Tg affords valuable information on the thermal stability of the glassy state but Tg alone does not give any information on the glass forming tendency. The difference of the Peak crystallization temperature (Tp) and Glass transition temperature (Tg) is a strong indication of the thermal stability. The higher the value of Tc and Tg the greater is the thermal stability. Glass transition temperature (Tg=2160C) of Tellurium rich (Te90Se10) is more than Glass transition temperature (Tg=730C) of Selenium rich (Se90Te90) due to semi metallic nature of Tellurium. The difference of (Tp-Tg) is a strong indicator of both the thermal stability and Glass forming ability (GFA). Higher the value of (Tp-Tg), higher is the thermal stability and GFA because higher values of this difference indicate more kinetic resistance to the crystallization. Glass forming ability (GFA) and thermal stability of Te90Se10 is greater than Se90Te90. For memory and switching materials, glass thermal stability and GFA parameters are very important. Intensity of Se-rich (Se90Te10) is more than Te-rich (Te90Se10) and both samples are polycrystalline in nature.
Unrecognized Isolated Medial Trochlear Fracture Leading to Malunion
Authors: Elmaraghy Amr , Pennings Amanda , Walton Christine
Published: February 2016

Case:

A twenty-year-old woman presented with an isolated intra-articular fracture of the medial part of the trochlea twelve weeks after a traumatic fall. The fracture had gone undetected during the initial twelve weeks following injury, resulting in an anteriorly and superiorly displaced malunion and severe range-of-motion restrictions of the elbow.

Conclusion:

Vigilant clinical examination is imperative to avoid missing this uncommon fracture pattern and complication. Prompt surgical management is necessary to ensure that adequate healing is achieved and to avoid unnecessary complications. This case report demonstrates that an excellent clinical outcome can be achieved with intra-articular osteotomy and anatomic fixation of the malunited segment.
Posterior Mini-Incision Approach for Total Hip Replacement
Authors: Dorr Lawrence D.
Published: February 2016

We developed a modification of the posterior mini-incision for total hip arthroplasty, which was initially used by Sculco at The Hospital for Special Surgery, in response to the movement in the orthopaedic community to perform total hip arthroplasty with smaller incisions. Our approach preserves the piriformis and quadratus femoris muscles of the external rotators, uses three incisions into the capsule but does not excise the capsule, does not incise the tensor fascia/iliotibial band, and leaves intact the insertion of the gluteus maximus onto the femur. We have used this incision since 2004, and our published results and those of others show that the greatest advantage is cosmetic and patients’ perception of less violation of their body. It is a contributor to the same-day surgery program and rapid recovery protocol on which we have reported.

The steps of the procedure include (1) an incision made along the posterior edge of the greater trochanter from the level of the vastus tubercle to one fingerbreadth from the tip of the greater trochanter; (2) a deep L-shaped incision parallel to the piriformis tendon, and along the posterior edge of the greater trochanter through the small external rotator muscles and hip capsule to the proximal edge of the quadratus to expose the femoral head and neck; (3) measurement of the neck cut from the distal edge of the femoral head and amputation of the femoral head; (4) exposure of the cut neck of the femur with retractors and broaching of the femur; (5) exposure of the acetabulum with retractors and acetabular reaming to prepare it for the cup; (6) implantation of the cup and stem and a femoral head of the correct length to restore lower-limb length and offset; and (7) closure of the wound in layers with the skin with subcutaneous sutures and sealing of the wound with a DERMABOND dressing (Ethicon).

The expected outcome is that the patient will walk with full weight-bearing on the day of the operation and be discharged home that day or the next. Patients with occupations that do not require physical labor can return to work in one week, and according to our data 98% of patients under sixty-five can walk one mile (1.6 km) by three weeks. Recovery is in three phases: for the first month, the patient has soreness and swelling from the surgical trauma to the tissues; at three months, the muscles are well healed; and at six months, bone healing is mature. The hip is “forgotten” (the patient goes days without thinking about it) after six months.
Theory-Based Review of Limitations With Static Gel Strength in Cement/Matrix Characterization
Authors: Li Zichang , Vandenbossche Julie M. , Iannacchione Anthony T. , Brigham John C. , Kutchko Barbara G.
Published: February 2016

Gases can migrate into the cemented annulus of a wellbore during early gelation when hydrostatic pressure within the cement slurry drops. Different means to describe hydrostatic-pressure reduction have been proposed and reported in the literature. Among them, static gel strength (SGS) is the most widely accepted concept in describing the strength development of hydrating cement. The classic shear-stress theory uses SGS to quantify the hydrostatic-pressure reduction in the cement column. Approaches derived from the concept of SGS have contributed to understanding mechanisms of gas migration and methods of minimizing it. Unfortunately, these approaches do not accurately predict gas migration. Although SGS was originally adopted to describe the shear stress at interfaces, it has also been used to estimate the shear resistance required to deform slurry during the hydration period. Before early gelation, the hydrostatic pressure will overcome the formation gas pressure and prevent gas migrations. During gelation, the cement develops enough rigidity to withstand the gas invasion. This critical hydration period is defined as the transition time. API STD 65-2 (API 2010a) provides standards for determining the transition time by use of the concept of SGS. Current industry practice is to reduce the transition time, thereby lowering the potential for invading gas introducing migration pathways in the cemented annulus. This approach, although certainly helpful in reducing the risk for gas migration, does not eliminate its occurrence. Experimental results presented in this study demonstrate that the relationship between SGS and hydrostatic-pressure reduction is not linear. Characteristics of the transition-time endpoints depend on slurry properties and downhole conditions. Moreover, SGS is not able to characterize the gas-tight property of a cement slurry. When slurry gels, the mechanical properties are governed by its growing solid fraction. The gel can deform under shear loading, but gases and other fluids will need to break or fracture the bond between solids and push them aside for pathways to form within the cement/matrix domain at this point. To fully understand this process, the bond strength between solid particles and the compressibility of the cement matrix are needed. The bond strength and compressibility are mechanical properties dependent on the changing rigidity of the gelling cement. However, SGS does not address these important properties and, therefore, SGS is limited in its ability to predict gas-migration potential. A better means to characterize the cement/matrix strength by use of fundamental concepts and variables for replacing SGS is desired.
Groundwater attenuation of summer stream temperatures favors deeper intrusion depths into Lake George, NY
Authors: Swinton Mark W. , Eichler Lawrence W. , Nierzwicki-Bauer Sandra A. , Farrell Jeremy L. , Sutherland James W. , Kelly Michael R. , Boylen Charles W.
Published: February 2016

Groundwater inputs to two major streams along the southern end of Lake George attenuate summer temperatures resulting in deeper lake intrusion depths relative to other major streams. Between late April and early October, East and West Brook baseflow water temperatures generally were cooler than other major streams by ∼4 °C in mid-summer. Historical data for West Brook confirmed that the trend occurred as far back as 1970. As a consequence of cooler spring and summer temperatures coupled with higher salinity, deeper lake intrusion from these streams was hypothesized based on density calculations. Warmer streams entered the lake as overflow through late spring while East and West Brook intruded into the lake at depth. Upon stratification, East and West Brook intrude at or below the metalimnion while other monitored streams generally intrude at or above the metalimnion; by mid-August/early September all streams intruded below the metalimnion. High-resolution profiler data identified the presence of underflow during a fall storm event in 2014. Deeper intrusion depths of East and West Brook would supply organics and oxygen to the Caldwell Sub-basin hypolimnion which can potentially have both negative and positive effects on hypolimnetic oxygen depletion.
Impact of basin-wide dry climate conditions and non-climatic drivers: an isolation approach
Authors: Al-Faraj Furat A. M. , Scholz Miklas
Published: February 2016

The sustainable management of water resources subjected to the joined influence of transboundary basin-wide dry climatic conditions and intensive man-made river regulations in an upper riparian state on the stream flow regime of a downstream country is a serious challenge. This is particularly the case for arid and semi-arid regions where water resources are limited. The Diyala river basin, shared between Iraq and Iran, was used as an example. The study aims to develop a generic approach to isolate the relative effect of upstream man-made interventions from the mutual impacts of basin-wide dry climate environments and upstream human-induced pressures. The proposed method supports water managers in unbiased, timely and spatially relevant decision-making processes. The streamflow drought index and the monthly-based truncation level were utilized to characterize hydrological droughts, while the standardized precipitation index was used for meteorological drought interpretations. Findings revealed that the upstream river regulation schemes noticeably led to a decline in water availability of the downstream country. The relative impact ranged from a minimum value of 5% in February to the highest value of 54% in July. The average proportional impacts between April and October and between November and March were about 46% and 17%, respectively.
Fecal contamination of drinking water in Kericho District, Western Kenya: role of source and household water handling and hygiene practices
Authors: Too Johana Kiplagat , Kipkemboi Sang Willy , Ng'ang'a Zipporah , Ngayo Musa Otieno
Published: February 2016

Inadequate protection of water sources, and poor household hygienic and handling practices have exacerbated fecal water contamination in Kenya. This study evaluated the rate and correlates of thermotolerant coliform (TTC) household water contamination in Kericho District, Western Kenya. Culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques were used to characterize TTCs. The disk diffusion method was used for antibiotic susceptibility profiling of pathogenic Escherichia coli. Out of the 103 households surveyed, 48 (46.6%) had TTC contaminated drinking water (TTC levels of >10 cfu/100 mL). Five of these households were contaminated with pathogenic E. coli, including 40% enteroaggregative E. coli, 40% enterotoxigenic E. coli, and 20% enteropathogenic E. coli. All these pathogenic E. coli strains were multidrug resistant to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, ampicillin, tetracycline and ampicillin/sulbactam. Rural household locality, drinking water hand contact, water storage container cleaning practice, hand washing before water withdrawal, water source total coliforms <10 cfu/100 mL, temperature, and free chlorine levels were associated with TTC contamination of household drinking water. Significant proportions of household drinking water in Kericho District are contaminated with TTCs including with pathogenic multidrug-resistant E. coli. Source and household hygiene and practices contribute significantly to drinking water contamination.
Potential health implications of water resources depletion and sewage discharges in the Republic of Macedonia
Authors: Hristovski Kiril D. , Pacemska-Atanasova Tatjana , Olson Larry W. , Markovski Jasmina , Mitev Trajce
Published: February 2016

Potential health implications of deficient sanitation infrastructure and reduced surface water flows due to climate change are examined in the case study of the Republic of Macedonia. Changes in surface water flows and wastewater discharges over the period 1955–2013 were analyzed to assess potential future surface water contamination trends. Simple model predictions indicated a decline in surface water hydrology over the last half century, which caused the surface waters in Macedonia to be frequently dominated by >50% of untreated sewage discharges. The surface water quality deterioration is further supported by an increasing trend in modeled biochemical oxygen demand trends, which correspond well with the scarce and intermittent water quality data that are available. Facilitated by the climate change trends, the increasing number of severe weather events is already triggering flooding of the sewage-dominated rivers into urban and non-urban areas. If efforts to develop a comprehensive sewage collection and treatment infrastructure are not implemented, such events have the potential to increase public health risks and cause epidemics, as in the 2015 case of a tularemia outbreak.
Early warning of changing drinking water quality by trend analysis
Authors: Tomperi Jani , Juuso Esko , Leiviskä Kauko
Published: February 2016

Monitoring and control of water treatment plants play an essential role in ensuring high quality drinking water and avoiding health-related problems or economic losses. The most common quality variables, which can be used also for assessing the efficiency of the water treatment process, are turbidity and residual levels of coagulation and disinfection chemicals. In the present study, the trend indices are developed from scaled measurements to detect warning signs of changes in the quality variables of drinking water and some operating condition variables that strongly affect water quality. The scaling is based on monotonically increasing nonlinear functions, which are generated with generalized norms and moments. Triangular episodes are classified with the trend index and its derivative. Deviation indices are used to assess the severity of situations. The study shows the potential of the described trend analysis as a predictive monitoring tool, as it provides an advantage over the traditional manual inspection of variables by detecting changes in water quality and giving early warnings.
Impact of pre-treatment technologies on soil aquifer treatment
Authors: Besançon A. , Pidou M. , Jeffrey P. , Jefferson B. , Le Corre K. S.
Published: February 2016

This study investigates the impact of pre-treatment options on the performances of soil columns simulating soil aquifer treatment (SAT). For this purpose a conventional activated sludge (CAS) process, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and vertical flow reed beds were used as single units or in combination before SAT. The influent and effluent from each treatment train were monitored over three successive 6-month periods, corresponding to changes in the operational conditions of the MBR and CAS units from 6 days' sludge retention time (SRT) to 12 and 20 days. All the columns acted as efficient polishing steps for solids and bacteria. The column receiving effluent from the CAS system running at 6 days' SRT also presented high total nitrogen and total phosphorus removals, but this column was also associated with the lowest infiltration rates over that period. While the quality of the effluent from the column following the CAS process increased over 18 months of operation, the effluent quality of the columns receiving MBR effluent degraded. No correlations were found between variations in SRT of the MBR and CAS processes and the columns' performances. Overall, all columns, except the one receiving CAS effluent, underwent a reduction in infiltration rate over 18 months.
Environmental growth of the faecal indicator Enterococcus moraviensis
Authors: Taučer-Kapteijn Maja , Hoogenboezem Wim , Medema Gertjan
Published: February 2016

Soil passage through sand dunes has previously been shown to remove enteric micro-organisms very effectively, and hence is used for the production of drinking water. However, enterococci have occasionally been isolated from abstracted water (after dune passage) in one of the dune infiltration areas in the Netherlands. Enterococcus moraviensis was the most frequently isolated species. Until now, no faecal sources of this species have been reported and the potential for growth under certain environmental conditions was reported for other Enterococcus species. The aim of this study was to determine the ability of E. moraviensis to grow in habitats present in the dune passage process (dune vegetation, sediment from abstraction wells, biofilm developed using abstracted water and soil). Different concentrations of boiled and filtered (0.45 μm) plant extracts obtained from dune vegetation supported growth (up to 6 log), with maximum concentrations after 4 to 6 days at 15 °C. Although E. moraviensis was shown to be able to attach to the biofilm, no growth was observed in biofilm or in sediment and soil. These observations confound the use of E. moraviensis as a faecal indicator.
Simulation study of the sustainable utilization of urban water resources based on system dynamics: a case study of Jiamusi
Authors: Qiang Fu , Tianxiao Li , Dong Liu , He Dong
Published: February 2016

To achieve sustainable utilization of urban water resources and sustainable social and economic development and to relieve the supply–demand pressure related to water resources in Jiamusi, a simulation model based on system dynamics theory is established to identify the feedback mechanism and the causal relationship among the factors affecting the sustainable utilization of water resources. The conditions regarding the utilization of water resources in Jiamusi in 2010 are taken as the benchmark for the model, and the supply–demand structure of urban water resources and the geographical characteristics of the region are used as the basis for its establishment. The model is divided into five subsystems described by 64 variables to simulate the supply–demand structure of the water resources in the region, as well as both the individual supply and demand structures, and thus to obtain the supply–demand conditions and the trends of variation in water resources in the short, medium and long terms. The results show that seriously unbalanced supply–demand conditions for water resources will prevail in Jiamusi in the future. By 2030, the supply–demand ratio will be only 0.5987; the level of development and utilization of surface water resources and transit water resources will be relatively low, and the groundwater resources will still be suffering excessive exploitation; the industrial water demand will be greatly increased, and agricultural development will be restricted. With a focus on the problems that may arise in the utilization of water resources at present and in the future, a proposal regarding the realization of the sustainable utilization of water resources and sustainable social and economic development in Jiamusi is presented. The outcomes of this research have important theoretical and practical significance for providing guidance regarding the scientific and reasonable utilization of water resources in Jiamusi.
Enhanced selectivity and capacity of clinoptilolite for Cd2+ removal from aqueous solutions by incorporation of magnetite nanoparticles and surface modification with cysteine
Authors: Sharifi Masumeh , Baghdadi Majid
Published: February 2016

In this study, magnetic zeolite (MZ) nanocomposite modified with cysteine was developed in order to enhance selectivity and capacity of clinoptilolite for cadmium ion. The prepared MZ nanocomposite is containing clinoptilolite and magnetite nanoparticles with weight ratio of 3:1. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometer. Surface modification was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Experiments were carried out to find the optimum conditions for modification of clinoptilolite and to investigate the effective parameters (pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and temperature) on the adsorption of Cd2+ ion by modified clinoptilolite. The results showed enhanced selectivity of modified MZ in the presence of other naturally occurring cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+) and ammonium. Kinetic and equilibrium data were well fitted by a pseudo second-order and Langmuir model, respectively, with high correlation coefficients. The maximum adsorption capacities of the modified and non-modified clinoptilolite were found to be 20.0 mg/g and 5.2 mg/g, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters revealed that the adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic under studied conditions.
Phosphate Toxicity in CKD: The Killer among Us
Authors: Ritter Cynthia S. , Slatopolsky Eduardo
Published: February 2016

Maintenance of a normal serum phosphate level depends on absorption in the gut, reabsorption and excretion by the kidney, and the flux between the extracellular and skeletal pools. Phosphate homeostasis is a coordinated, complex system of crosstalk between the bone, intestine, kidney, and parathyroid gland. Dysfunction of this system has serious clinical consequences in healthy individuals and those with conditions, such as CKD, in which hyperphosphatemia is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The last half-century of renal research has helped define the contribution of the parathyroid hormone, calcitriol, fibroblast growth factor 23, and Klotho in the regulation of phosphate. However, despite new discoveries and insights gained during this time, what remains unchanged is the recognition that phosphate retention is the initiating factor for the development of many of the complications observed in CKD, namely secondary hyperparathyroidism and bone and cardiovascular diseases. Controlling phosphate load remains the primary goal in the treatment of CKD. This review discusses the clinical effects of dysregulated phosphate metabolism, particularly in CKD, and its association with cardiovascular disease. The importance of early control of phosphate load in the treatment of CKD is emphasized, and the latest research in the treatment of phosphate retention is discussed.
The Role of Allergen Immunotherapy in the Management of Allergic Rhinitis
Authors: Cox Linda
Published: February 2016

Purpose

To evaluate the role of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR).

Method

Individual studies, systematic reviews, and practice guidelines that included information on sublingual AIT (SLIT) and subcutaneous AIT (SOT) in the treatment of AR were considered.

Results

AIT via the SLIT or SCIT route has been shown to be effective in treating AR symptoms with resultant improvements in overall quality of life, comorbid illnesses, and medication requirements. Persistent clinical benefits have been demonstrated years after AIT treatment discontinuation. AIT may prevent the progression of AR to asthma. In addition, studies that evaluated the pharmacoeconomics of AR treatment indicate that AIT may be more cost effective than pharmacotherapy. The AIT cost savings are likely underestimated in that few cost comparison studies considered AIT's long-term benefits or preventive effects.

Conclusion

Multiple individual studies and systematic reviews provide strong evidence for the clinical effectiveness of AIT in the treatment of AR. Cost-effectiveness and disease modification are additional advantages of AIT compared with standard drug treatment in the management of AR.
Microbiome of the Paranasal Sinuses: Update and Literature Review
Authors: Lee Jivianne T. , Frank Daniel N. , Ramakrishnan Vijay
Published: February 2016

Background

Our understanding of the resident microbiome of the paranasal sinuses has changed considerably in recent years. Once presumed to be sterile, healthy sinus cavities are now known to harbor a diverse assemblage of microorganisms, and, it is hypothesized that alterations in the kinds and quantities of these microbes may play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS).

Objectives

To review the current literature regarding the sinus microbiome and collate research findings from relevant studies published to date.

Methods

A systematic literature review was performed on all molecular studies that investigated the microbial communities of the paranasal sinuses. Methods of detection, microbiome composition, and comparative profiling between patients with and without CRS were explored.

Results

A complex consortium of microorganisms has been demonstrated in the sinuses of both patients with and without CRS. However, the latter generally have been characterized by reduced biodiversity compared with controls, with selective enrichment of particular microbes (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus). Such disruptions in the resident microbiome may contribute to disease pathogenesis by enhancing the virulence of potential pathogens and adversely modulating immune responses.

Conclusion

The advent of culture-independent molecular approaches has led to a greater appreciation of the intricate microbial ecology of the paranasal sinuses. Microbiota composition, distribution, and abundance impact mucosal health and influence pathogen growth and function. A deeper understanding of the host-microbiome relationship and its constituents may encourage development of new treatment paradigms for CRS, which target restoration of microbiome homeostasis and cultivation of optimal microbial communities.