Carlos Morales

Tropical convective systems are important because they account for most of the total rainfall. Moreover they are responsible for the main vertical exchanges of energy in the tropical troposphere. An automatic method, based in GOES high resolution channel 4 images, has been used for tracking cloud clusters during their life cycle. The method allows for the tracking of every mesoscale convective cloud cluster, defined as adjacent pixels colder than a brightness temperature threshold (< 235 K). The tracking algorithm is based on the cluster overlap between two successive images. The methodology allows for an objective determination of parameters such as: size, mean temperature, temperature variance, duration, coordinates of the center of gravity, speed, trajectory, eccentricity and many others radiative and morphological properties of cloud clusters. Using full space and time resolution satellite data, the study is here limited to the Amazonian region during the wet season Atmospher...

This study analyzes the cloud cover, the precipitation and the thermodynamics features observed in the Southwestern Amazonia during the pre-wet season. The dataset gathered for this study was collected during the Radiation, Cloud, and Climate Interactions in the Amazonia during the dry-to-wet transition season/LBA (RACCI/LBA) campaign that occurred in September-November of 2002 in Rondonia State. Radiosonde, rainfall data, GOES satellite images and radar reflectivity CAPPIs from the TECTELCOM ground weather radar were examined to describe the main characteristics observed during the beginning of the wet season. Thermodynamic parameters like, CAPE, moist static energy, CINE, boundary layer humidity divergence were used to describe the cloud cover and precipitation evolution from the dry to wet raining season. Larger CAPE values were found during the pre-wet season than during the beginning of the regular wet season, however, those events were less often than during the end of October...

To illustrate the challenges and potential of advanced wafer bonding, this paper deals with the boding of silicon wafers, which are patterned and partially oxidized. Two kinds of bonded structures are reported. The buried oxide is patterned in thick and thin regions. The bonded interface can be formed by either Si or SiO2 onto either SiO2 or mixed Si-SiO2 bonding

The aim of this study was to detect differences in maximal response and position of the concentration-response curves to methacholine between asthmatics and subjects with allergic rhinitis. A total of 228 adults (107 mild asthmatics, 96 allergic rhinitics and 25 healthy control subjects) were challenged with methacholine. The test was interrupted when FEV1 dropped by more than 40% or when the highest concentration of methacholine (200 mg ml-1) had been administered. Concentration-response curves were characterized by their PC20 (concentration of methacholine that produced 20% fall in FEV1 = airway sensitivity), and if possible, by their EC50 (concentration of methacholine that produced 50% of the maximal response = position) and level of plateau. The proportion of subjects with plateau was significantly lower in asthmatics (18.7%) than in either allergic rhinitics (57.3%) or healthy subjects (92%). It was also significantly lower in allergic rhinitics than in healthy subjects. The l...

Taxoids are effective agents against a wide variety of tumors, but their effectiveness on neuroectodermal tumors is not well-known. For this reason we have carried out an experimental study on the effect of intratumoral administration of docetaxel (DC) and paclitaxel (PC) on tumor growth, using a murine model of malignant neuroectodermal tumor. The results showed a delay in tumor growth in animals treated with PC compared with controls (dose of 5 mg/kg, three times per week every other day, forming a cycle; three cycles were completed with a break of a week between each cycle). The total dose administered to each animal was 45 mg/kg. When DC was administered, the results showed distinct tumor growth inhibition and tumor regression in 80% of animals (intratumoral administration at a dose of 5 mg/kg, three times per week every other day forming a cycle; three cycles were completed with a break of a week between each cycle). The total dose administered to each animal was 20 mg/kg. Thes...

The hypothesis that tumor growth depends on neovascularization has been broadly used in oncology research. TNP-470 is a fumagillin synthetic analog that is isolated from Aspergillus fumigatus, and experimental studies suggested that it shows antitumor effect mediated by its strong antiangiogenic effect. Because limited experience exists about the antitumoral effect of TNP-470 in cerebral tumors, we have carried out a study in order to evaluate the effect of TNP-470 on tumor growth and the vascular area in an experimental malignant neuroectodermic tumor growing in the subcutaneous space of immunocompetent Wistar rats. Our results showed a significant tumor growth inhibition in animals treated with TNP-470 when compared to those in the control group (intratumoral injections were administered in 30 mg/kg dose, three times a week on alternate days during four consecutive weeks). Since the quantitative analysis of tumor vascular parameters--number of microvessels and total intratumor vas...

Irinotecan (CPT-11) is a topoisomerase I inhibitor with antitumor activity on a wide variety of neoplasms in several preclinical studies, but it showed poor efficacy in patients with nervous system tumors. We have carried out an experimental study in order to evaluate the effect of CPT-11 on the growth of a subcutaneously implanted malignant neuroectodermal tumor, after administration by different routes. The results showed that CPT-11 administration by intraperitoneal injections (at dose 10 mg/kg, 5 days per week, for 2 weeks, followed by 7-days rest period--one course--to a total of two courses) had no significant antitumor effect. Nevertheless, continuous infusion by intraperitoneal osmotic minipump over 28 days (at an infusion rate of 4.4 microg/h) showed a significant delay in tumor growth in 4 weeks of the implantation. The best antitumor effects were observed after CPT-11 intratumoral administration (at dose of 5 mg/kg, 5 days per week, for 2 weeks, followed by 7-days rest pe...

Rovella proved the existence of measure-persistent attractors for o ws exhibiting a unique singularity with three real eigenvalues sat- isfying 2 < 3 < 0 < 1 < 3 ((Ro)). In this paper we prove that most of there attractors are in fact homoclinic classes.

A {\em singular hyperbolic set} is a partially hyperbolic set with singularities (all hyperbolic) and volume expanding central direction \cite{MPP1}. We study connected, singular-hyperbolic, attracting sets with dense closed orbits {\em and only one singularity}. These sets are shown to be transitive for most $C^r$ flows in the Baire's second category sence. In general these sets are shown to be

ABSTRACT A polarimetric X-band radar has been deployed during one month (April 2011) for a field campaign in Fortaleza, Brazil, together with three additional laser disdrometers. The disdrometers are capable of measuring the raindrop size distributions (DSDs), hence making it possible to forward-model theoretical polarimetric X-band radar observables at the point where the instruments are located. This set-up allows to thoroughly test the accuracy of the X-band radar measurements as well as the algorithms that are used to correct the radar data for radome and rain attenuation. For the campaign in Fortaleza it was found that radome attenuation dominantly affects the measurements. With an algorithm that is based on the self-consistency of the polarimetric observables, the radome induced reflectivity offset was estimated. Offset corrected measurements were then further corrected for rain attenuation with two different schemes. The performance of the post-processing steps was analyzed by comparing the data with disdrometer-inferred polarimetric variables that were measured at a distance of 20 km from the radar. Radome attenuation reached values up to 14 dB which was found to be consistent with an empirical radome attenuation vs. rain intensity relation that was previously developed for the same radar type. In contrast to previous work, our results suggest that radome attenuation should be estimated individually for every view direction of the radar in order to obtain homogenous reflectivity fields.

... Immersive Chemistry Video Game Carlos Morales Gabriela Weaver Kellen Maicher Doug Danforth Kermin Martínez-Hernández Ryan Pedela Eugene Elkin Naveen Nattam ... 28(6) 505-522. CAMAIONI, L., ERCOLANI, AP, PERRUCCHINI, P., AND GREENFEILD, PM, (1990). ...

This assignment presents the efforts which are being made in order to integrate a radar network of six weather radars over Brazil. The integration started in 2004 when was defined a common scanning strategy to run every fifteen minutes in each of the six S band 2 degree beam width radar. The data were originally transmitted to regional centres and

ABSTRACT Trauma is a leading causes of death and disability in young people. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a principal cause of death. Trauma patients are at high risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The incidence varies according to the method used to measure the DVT and the location of the thrombosis. Due to prolonged rest and coagulation abnormalities, trauma patients are at increased risk of thrombus formation. Thromboprohylaxis, either mechanical or pharmacological, may decrease mortality and morbidity in trauma patients who survive beyond the first day in hospital, by decreasing the risk of VTE in this population.A previous systematic review did not find evidence of effectiveness for either pharmacological or mechanical interventions. However, this systematic review was conducted 10 years ago and most of the included studies were of poor quality. Since then new trials have been conducted. Although current guidelines recommend the use of thromboprophylaxis in trauma patients, there has not been a comprehensive and updated systematic review since the one published. To assess the effects of thromboprophylaxis in trauma patients on mortality and incidence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. To compare the effects of different thromboprophylaxis interventions and their effects according to the type of trauma. We searched The Cochrane Injuries Group Specialised Register (searched April 30 2009), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials 2009, issue 2 (The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE (Ovid) 1950 to April (week 3) 2009, EMBASE (Ovid) 1980 to (week 17) April 2009, PubMed (searched 29 April 2009), ISI Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) (1970 to April 2009), ISI Web of Science: Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (CPCI-S) (1990 to April 2009). Randomized controlled clinical trials involving people of any age with major trauma defined by one or more of the following criteria: physiological: penetrating or blunt trauma with more than two organs and unstable vital signs, anatomical: people with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) higher than 9, mechanism: people who are involved in a 'high energy' event with a risk for severe injury despite stable or normal vital signs. We excluded trials that only recruited outpatients, trials that recruited people with hip fractures only, or people with acute spinal injuries. Four authors, in pairs (LB and CM, EF and RC), independently examined the titles and the abstracts, extracted data, assessed the risk of bias of the trials and analysed the data. PP resolved any disagreement between the authors. Sixteen studies were included (n=3005). Four trials compared the effect of any type (mechanical and/or pharmacological) of prophylaxis versus no prophylaxis. Prophylaxis reduced the risk of DVT in people with trauma (RR 0.52; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.84). Mechanical prophylaxis reduced the risk of DVT (RR = 0.43; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.73). Pharmacological prophylaxis was more effective than mechanical methods at reducing the risk of DVT (RR 0.48; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.95). LMWH appeared to reduce the risk of DVT compared to UH (RR 0.68; 95% CI 0.50 to 0.94). People who received both mechanical and pharmacological prophylaxis had a lower risk of DVT (RR 0.34; 95% CI 0.19 to 0.60) We did not find evidence that thromboprophylaxis reduces mortality or PE in any of the comparisons assessed. However, we found some evidence that thromboprophylaxis prevents DVT. Although the strength of the evidence was not high, taking into account existing information from other related conditions such as surgery, we recommend the use of any DVT prophylactic method for people with severe trauma.

NKT cells are an innate-like lineage of lymphocytes that use a semi-invariant family of αβ TCRs to recognize conserved endogenous and exogenous glycolipids presented by CD1d molecules. Of particular interest is the recent identification of iGb3 as a self lysosomal ligand of NKT cells and microbial alpha-glycuronosylceramides as foreign ligands. Our studies have suggested new aspects of the biochemical and cell biological regulation of the uptake, processing and presentation of these ligands by dendritic cells for recognition by NKT cells. These properties underlie the in vivo functions of NKT cells in host defense where NKT cells are part of a cellular network of interactions with DC and NK cells leading to potent innate and adaptive effector pathways.

We study the omega-limit sets $\omega_X(x)$ in an isolating block $U$ of a singular-hyperbolic attractor for three-dimensional vector fields $X$. We prove that for every vector field $Y$ close to $X$ the set $ \{x\in U:\omega_Y(x)$ contains a singularity$\}$ is {\em residual} in $U$. This is used to prove the persistence of singular-hyperbolic attractors with only one singularity as chain-transitive Lyapunov stable sets. These results generalize well known properties of the geometric Lorenz attractor [GW] and the example in [MPu].

An {\em attractor} is a transitive set of a flow to which all positive orbit close to it converges. An attractor is {\em singular-hyperbolic} if it has singularities (all hyperbolic) and is partially hyperbolic with volume expanding central direction \cite{MPP}. The geometric Lorenz attractor \cite{GW} is an example of a singular-hyperbolic attractor with topological dimension $\geq 2$. We shall prove that {\em all} singular-hyperbolic attractors on compact 3-manifolds have topological dimension $\geq 2$. The proof uses the methods in \cite{MP}.

This article presents the current status of the VLF long-range lightning monitoring system - Sferics Timing and Ranging Network (STARNET) that has been operational in Brazil since June of 2006. Until August of 2007, STARNET has been operating 5 VLF radio receivers that were installed in South Africa, Guadeloupe and Brazil (Fortaleza, São Paulo, Campo Grande). On September of 2008 another antenna was installed in São Martinho da Serra (Rio Grande do Sul) and until the end of 2008 two more will be installed in Curitiba (Paraná) e Manaus (Amazonas). Based on the current configuration, STARNET has been able to observe sferics with good detection efficiency for the regions north of 20 o S. Due to the limited number of receivers available the detection efficiency decreases to south of 20 o S and near the receiver's position. With the new antennas, this problem will be solved, and most of South America will present better detection efficiency. The analyses of location accuracy and pol...