Is there a ��gender gap�� in authorship of the main Brazilian psychiatric journals at the beginning of the 21st century?

The aim of this study was to investigate the existence of a ??gender gap?? in the authorship of the four most important peer-reviewed psychiatric journals in Brazil and to quantify its magnitude. In addition, we examined the patterns of change in this gap during the period extending from 2001 to 2008 and variations according to the total number of authors, the type of article (original vs. non-original studies), and the journals themselves. A total of 1,036 articles were analyzed. We found that the proportion of female overall participation has increased from 2001 to 2008. Nevertheless, the incremental rate was accounted mostly by the growth of the participation in non-original articles. While the average annual increment for original articles was virtually null (.01%), for the non-original articles the corresponding figure was 3.7%. We also found that the chance of a woman being first author was about three times greater in original papers as compared to non-original ones at the beginning of the study period; this differential declined by 11% per year during this period. A different pattern emerged from the analysis of female last authorship. Year of publication and type of study were still associated with the chance of a woman being the last author but without interaction. Further, the journals themselves were found to be related with female last authorship: the chance of a woman being the last author in an article published in the Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria was significantly smaller than in the other three journals. Our findings indicate clearly that some progress in being achieved in eliminating the gender gap also in field of Psychiatry and highlight the need for further research in this area.     

Under canopy light detection and ranging‐based autonomous navigation

This paper describes a light detection and ranging (LiDAR)‐based autonomous navigation system for an ultralightweight ground robot in agricultural fields. The system is designed for reliable navigation under cluttered canopies using only a 2D Hokuyo UTM‐30LX LiDAR sensor as the single source for perception. Its purpose is to ensure that the robot can navigate through rows of crops without damaging the plants in narrow row‐based and high‐leaf‐cover semistructured crop plantations, such as corn (Zea mays) and sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor). The key contribution of our work is a LiDAR‐based navigation algorithm capable of rejecting outlying measurements in the point cloud due to plants in adjacent rows, low‐hanging leaf cover or weeds. The algorithm addresses this challenge using a set of heuristics that are designed to filter out outlying measurements in a computationally efficient manner, and linear least squares are applied to estimate within‐row distance using the filtered data. Moreover, a crucial step is the estimate validation, which is achieved through a heuristic that grades and validates the fitted row‐lines based on current and previous information. The proposed LiDAR‐based perception subsystem has been extensively tested in production/breeding corn and sorghum fields. In such variety of highly cluttered real field environments, the robot logged more than 6 km of autonomous run in straight rows. These results demonstrate highly promising advances to LiDAR‐based navigation in realistic field environments for small under‐canopy robots.     

Fracture resistance testing of dissimilar nickel–chromium girth welds for clad line pipes

This work presents an experimental investigation of the ductile tearing properties for the girth weld of a typical C–Mn pipe internally clad with ASTM UNS N06625 Alloy 625 using measured crack growth resistance curves (\(J{-}\Delta a\) and \(\mathrm {CTOD}{-}\Delta a\) curves). Here, the material of the external pipe is a typical API 5L Grade X65 pipeline steel whereas the inner clad layer is made of a nickel–chromium corrosion resistant alloy steel. Testing of the girth weld employed side-grooved, clamped SE(T) specimens with a weld centerline notch to determine the crack growth resistance curves based upon the unloading compliance method using a single specimen technique. This experimental characterization provides additional toughness data which serve to evaluate the effectiveness of current procedures in determining accurate experimentally measured R-curves for this class of material, including the effects of weld strength mismatch.     

Evaluation of oral carvedilol microparticles prepared by simple emulsion technique using poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) and polycaprolactone as polymers

Polymeric microparticles containing carvedilol (CRV) were obtained successfully using a simple emulsion/organic evaporating method. Three different formulations were developed using poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and polycaprolactone (PCL) as polymers; the resulting samples were submitted to physical–chemical characterization and in vivo evaluation. The physical–chemical analysis indicated that the PHBV promoted a porous aspect in the microparticle's surface, while PCL a smooth aspect. The PCL-CRV microparticles showed a higher loading efficiency and a longer drug release time, being selected for in vivo evaluation. The in vivo assays indicated that PCL-CRV polymeric microparticles has a pharmacological antihypertensive effect for a longer period of time, representing a good alternative to improved the life quality of the patient that uses this drug.     

Video transcoding from H.264/AVC to MPEG-2 with reduced computational complexity

This paper addresses video transcoding from H.264/AVC into MPEG-2 with reduced complexity and high rate-distortion efficiency. While the overall concept is based on a cascaded decoder–encoder, the novel adaptation methods developed in this work have the advantage of providing very good performance in H.264/AVC to MPEG-2 transcoding. The proposed approach exploits the similarities between the coding tools used in both standards, with the objective of obtaining a computationally efficient transcoder without penalising the signal quality. Fast and efficient methods are devised for conversion of macroblock coding modes and translation of motion information in order to compute the MPEG-2 coding format with a reduced number of operations, by reusing the corresponding data embedded in the incoming H.264/AVC coded stream. In comparison with a cascaded decoder–encoder, the fast transcoder achieves computational complexity savings up to 60% with slightly better peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) at the same bitrate.     

Properties of new cork–polymer composites: Advantages and drawbacks as compared with commercially available fibreboard materials

Cork powder (50 wt.%) was mixed with polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) by pultrusion aiming to prepare cork-based composites. In a further step, samples were produced by compression moulding using the compounded composites. Bending strength, impact resistance, hardness, dimensional stability, thermal and acoustic properties of the developed cork–polymer composites (CPC) were determined and compared with commercially available products namely medium density fibreboard (MDF) and high density fibreboard (HDF). It was found that the CPC have good dimensional stability, lower water uptake, a better acoustic insulation performance and similar behaviour in terms of hardness and fire resistance when compared with both MDF and HDF. However, the mechanical strength is inferior comparing with both commercial materials based on fibres. It was also observed that addition of cork improved the flexural modulus, impact resistance and hardness on the developed CPC. Thus, the herein described CPC materials showed important characteristics to be considered as good candidates to be applied in the design of flooring and construction systems.     

Chronic exposure to volcanic environments and cancer incidence in the Azores, Portugal

Whether volcanic environments pose a risk in cancer incidence is unknown. We investigated this question in two populations, one from an area with active manifestations of volcanism (Furnas) and another from an area without volcanic activity since 3 million years ago (Santa Maria), both in Azores. Incidence data on cancer among the populations of Furnas and Santa Maria during 1991-2001 were obtained from medical records of local health centers. Age-standardized rates and relative risks were estimated. Overall incidence rates were higher in the volcanically active area when observing all cancers and both sexes combined. However, the non-volcanically active area presented higher rates of cancer of digestive, respiratory and intrathoracic organs, mainly in males, while the area with volcanic manifestations showed higher rates of cancer of lip, oral cavity and pharynx, in both sexes, and female breast. Relative risk estimates between both populations suggest a higher risk for cancer in some groups of organs in Furnas, especially of lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer, and breast, that may be partially explained by the chronic exposure to environmental factors resulting from volcanic activity, such as hazardous gases and aerosols, much of them associated to trace metals.     

Pharmacogenomics of Methotrexate Membrane Transport Pathway: Can Clinical Response to Methotrexate in Rheumatoid Arthritis Be Predicted?

Background: Methotrexate (MTX) is widely used for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) could be used as predictors of patients’ therapeutic outcome variability. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the influence of SNPs in genes encoding for MTX membrane transport proteins in order to predict clinical response to MTX. Methods: Clinicopathological data from 233 RA patients treated with MTX were collected, clinical response defined, and patients genotyped for 23 SNPs. Genotype and haplotype analyses were performed using multivariate methods and a genetic risk index (GRI) for non-response was created. Results: Increased risk for non-response was associated to SLC22A11 rs11231809 T carriers; ABCC1 rs246240 G carriers; ABCC1 rs3784864 G carriers; CGG haplotype for ABCC1 rs35592, rs2074087 and rs3784864; and CGG haplotype for ABCC1 rs35592, rs246240 and rs3784864. GRI demonstrated that patients with Index 3 were 16-fold more likely to be non-responders than those with Index 1. Conclusions: This study revealed that SLC22A11 and ABCC1 may be important to identify those patients who will not benefit from MTX treatment, highlighting the relevance in translating these results to clinical practice. However, further validation by independent studies is needed to develop the field of personalized medicine to predict clinical response to MTX treatment.     

Characterization of extruded films based on poly (butylene succinate) blends to utilize a partially degraded poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate)

Polymer blends can improve material processability and can be used to extrude partially degraded materials, such as expired poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), which cannot be normally extruded. Therefore, in this study, the extrudability of PBAT that has passed its expiration date was restored by blending it with poly (butylene succinate) (PBS). Various polymer blends were extruded and characterized to achieve high-efficiency extrusion. The carbonyl indices in partially degraded PBAT and the corresponding control sample detailed the effects of 98 months of aging on molecular properties. The semicrystalline structure consisted of a mixed ordered arrangement of PBS and PBAT chains dispersed in an amorphous matrix. The microscopic images of the surfaces of the polymer films revealed defects and roughness, followed by an increase in the PBAT concentration in blends. Changes in mechanical properties and water vapor permeability correlated with the PBAT concentration in the blends. To avoid polymer loss, we reported a simple method for using PBAT that has passed its expiration date and cannot be extruded. The results revealed that the polymer films could be used in the packaging industry, especially in food and agricultural sectors.     

An efficient heuristic for total flowtime minimisation in no-wait flowshops

In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling jobs in a no-wait flowshop with the objective of minimising the total completion time. This problem is well-known for being nondeterministic polynomial-time hard, and therefore, most contributions to the topic focus on developing algorithms able to obtain good approximate solutions for the problem in a short CPU time. More specifically, there are various constructive heuristics available for the problem [such as the ones by Rajendran and Chaudhuri (Nav Res Logist 37:695–705, 1990); Bertolissi (J Mater Process Technol 107:459–465, 2000), Aldowaisan and Allahverdi (Omega 32:345–352, 2004) and the Chins heuristic by Fink and Voβ (Eur J Operat Res 151:400–414, 2003)], as well as a successful local search procedure (Pilot-1-Chins). We propose a new constructive heuristic based on an analogy with the two-machine problem in order to select the candidate to be appended in the partial schedule. The myopic behaviour of the heuristic is tempered by exploring the neighbourhood of the so-obtained partial schedules. The computational results indicate that the proposed heuristic outperforms existing ones in terms of quality of the solution obtained and equals the performance of the time-consuming Pilot-1-Chins.