2000 postagens

 

Ao atingir duas mil postagens no blog principal, o sid_melo_blogreen, quero esclarecer alguns pontos à respeito do trabalho que venho desenvolvendo desde Fevereiro deste ano. Criei outros blogs, porém 4  são baseados em assuntos diversos, notadamente Ciência e Tecnologia, e no blogreen incluo todos eles.

Como fui um fumante e senti na pele o quanto o cigarro faz mal, (deixei de fumar há 35 anos), criei também o blog “tobaccohol”, que inclui também o alcoolismo. São poucas postagens, inclui algumas imagens terríveis dos efeitos do tabagismo, e se algumas, ou mesmo uma pessoa deixar de fumar ao ler essas postagens, já terei conseguido uma vitória.

Nos últimos tempos, resolvi acrescentar algumas postagens pessoais, ou melhor, redigidas por mim, para amenizar o tom sério das postagens, que são obtidas por feeds para blogs. O meu trabalho consiste em selecionar as mais importantes, formatar todo o artigo, realçar os parágrafos mais importantes.

Comecei então a intercalar entre os artigos científicos alguns assuntos que eu crio e redijo usando minhas próprias palavras, e como não tenho aquele dom de escritor, estes são curtos porém objetivos. Tenho a intenção de desenvolvê-los ao longo do tempo, e isso é muito bom para exercitar a mente.

Neste momento, devido ao clima seco e quente que está fazendo nos últimos dias começa uma ventania bem forte e o céu fica com um tom terroso. E sinto agora, vendo as grandes árvores em frente à minha casa balançarem violentamente, quão terríveis devem ser os tornados e furacões que chegam a levantar no ar, como se fossem algo leve, vários objetos pesados, destruindo casas e tudo que encontram pela frente.  Árvores enormes são derrubadas, e muitas vezes cidades inteiras são devastadas. O que estou observando agora é uma brisa leve comparado com os “hurricanes” nos Estados Unidos.

Como a energia elétrica está prestes a ser interrompida na cidade, tenho que encerrar esta postagem rápidamente.

Conoce “todos” los beneficios del ácido fólico

 

Publicado el 06 de oct de 2014 11:39 am

 

Foto: Salud180

Se tiene la creencia que su consumo es sólo para las mujeres que tienen en mente un embarazo cercano. Recientemente se ha demostrado que los hombres y sociedad en general, también deben consumir esta vitamina. Conoce los beneficios del ácido fólico para la salud.

José Luís Peñuñuri, ginecólogo de la Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar (MEXFAM), explica que consumir ácido fólico aumenta el proceso del apetito y forma mejores ácidos digestivos para tener una buena nutrición.

Agrega que algunos trastornos que se pueden presentar por la falta de esta vitamina en adultos y menores son:

- Falta de apetito
- Etapas de anemia diagnosticadas
- Alteraciones taquicardicas
- Retardo en el crecimiento de los infantes

Una herramienta eficaz en el embarazo

¿Por qué es tan recomendada esta vitamina en el preámbulo del embarazo? El ácido fólico es una coenzima que ayuda en el organismo a mejorar la oxigenación a nivel celular así como en la formación de glóbulos rojos para la producción, reparación y funcionamiento del ADN.

Tomar la dosis recomendada por el médico es transcendental para el rápido crecimiento de las células durante la gestación, explica el especialista.

Además, previene anomalías congénitas en el feto y es fundamental para que los padres adquieran una buena forma para engendrar, claro, de la mano de una buena alimentación y hábitos saludables.

Al llevar a cabo lo anterior, existen muchas posibilidades de evitar defectos en el cierre del tubo neural, la estructura embrionaria que dará origen a la columna vertebral y que termina de formarse el día 28 después de la concepción.

Estas fallas causan graves alteraciones como son la anencefalia, que es la ausencia de masa cerebral.

Otro problema que se puede presentar es la espina bífida, es decir, falta de cierre de la columna y la espalda.

El especialista recomienda el consumo de ácido fólico por parte de ambos integrantes de la pareja, tres meses antes de que se planee tener un bebé.

La población masculina que consume ácido fólico presenta menos anormalidades cromosómicas en su esperma y apoya a desarrollar una placenta fuerte que proteja correctamente al embrión.

Al alcance de todos

Otra de las creencias sobre esta vitamina es que se encuentra en una pastilla que se compra en la farmacia. También está presente en alimentos como la naranja, las espinacas, frijoles, lentejas, maíz, hígado de ternera o pollo, entre otros.

Así como, productos enriquecidos de manera artificial como cereales, harina de trigo y algunas bebidas como la leche o los electrolitos.

No hay por qué preocuparse por una ingesta frecuente, ya que el ácido fólico es hidrosoluble, es decir, que el cuerpo puede desechar el exceso en caso de que consumas una cantidad considerable.

No provoca aumento en el peso, sin embargo, lo recomendable es consultar con el médico la dosis que cada persona requiere.

En México, el ácido fólico se puede obtener de manera gratuita en las tiendas DICONSA y en los centros y clínicas de salud de cada localidad.

 

www.noticias24.com

YouTube as peer support for severe mental illness

 

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People with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder use a popular social media website like YouTube to provide and receive naturally occurring peer support, Dartmouth researchers report in the journal PLOS ONE.

"What we found most surprising about our findings was that people with severe mental illness were so open about their illness experiences on a public social media website like YouTube," said lead author John Naslund, A PhD student in health policy at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice. "We saw that people with severe mental illness did not appear to be concerned about the risks of openly sharing their personal illness experiences because they really wanted to help others with similar mental health problems."

Naslund and colleagues found that people with severe mental illness used YouTube to feel less alone and to find hope, to support and to defend each other, and to share personal stories and strategies for coping with day-to-day challenges. They also sought to learn from the experiences of others about using medications and seeking mental health care.

"It helps them to overcome fears associated with living with mental illness, and it also creates a sense of community among these individuals," the researchers said.

Severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder are among the leading causes of disability worldwide. These serious mental illnesses are also associated with a great deal of stigma and discrimination.

The researchers used a method called online ethnography to analyze n=3,044 comments posted to 19 videos uploaded by individuals who self-identified as having schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder. They then used qualitative methods to analyze the comments and find common themes in the data.

"What is also important is that our findings are consistent with how peer support is viewed in mental health research and practice, which suggests that YouTube or other social media websites might help to extend the reach of informal peer support activities between people with severe mental illness," Naslund said.

The research does have limitations, however, in that the work was exploratory. "Therefore, it was not possible for us to determine whether YouTube can provide the benefits of peer support to a wider community of individuals with severe mental illness," he said.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. John A. Naslund Mail, Stuart W. Grande, Kelly A. Aschbrenner, Glyn Elwyn. Naturally Occurring Peer Support through Social Media: The Experiences of Individuals with Severe Mental Illness Using YouTube. PLOS ONE, October 2014 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110171

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The Photographs Behind Norman Rockwell’s Iconic Paintings

 

 

Here is a selection of the photographs behind Norman Rockwell’s iconic paintings…

Norman Rockwell Museum

Source :

Intriguitantes imagens

 

"O humorismo alivia-nos das vicissitudes da vida, ativando o nosso senso de proporção e revelando-nos que a seriedade exagerada tende ao absurdo." ( Charles Chaplin )

Scale of declines of UK migratory birds wintering in Africa revealed

 

Although these migration patterns are as regular as the seasons, monitoring is revealing that, for some species, fewer birds are making the journey each season as the populations of these birds, including species nesting in the UK, are declining rapidly.

The latest in the annual series of State of the UK's Birds report includes a migratory birds section, including trends for 29 migrant species which nest in the UK in summer and spend the winter around the Mediterranean, or in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. For the first time the recent population trends for these migratory species have been combined into an indicator revealing some marked differences between species that winter in different areas.

Species, such as Whinchat, Common Nightingale, Tree Pipit and Spotted Flycatcher, which winter in the humid zone of Africa -- stretching across the continent from southern Senegal to Nigeria and beyond -- show the most dramatic declines: the indicator for this group of species has dropped by just over 70% since the late 1980s. This contrasts with species, such as Sand martin, Common Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler, wintering in the arid zone (just below the Sahara desert). These species have fluctuated considerably since 1970, but show a less than 20% decline overall.

One of the most dramatic declines is that of the European Turtle-dove with a decline of 88% since 1995. The following species have also declined over the same period: Wood Warbler, 66%; European Pied Flycatcher, 53%; Spotted Flycatcher, 49%; Common Cuckoo, 49%; Common Nightingale, 43%; and Yellow Wagtail, 43%.

Concern about migratory bird species is growing and future editions of the State of the UK's Birds report will contain a regular update to the migratory bird indicator. To understand the changing status of the UK's migratory birds, researchers need to understand more about what's driving these declines. Evidence is currently being gathered from a variety of sources including tracking studies and on-the-ground surveys.

Martin Harper, RSPB Conservation Director, said: 'West Africa is the winter home for many species bird species that breed in the UK. But many of these birds that cross continents are in rapid decline. Their nomadic lifestyle, requiring sites and resources spread over vast distances across the globe makes identifying and understanding the causes of decline extremely complex.

'The problems may be in the UK or in West Africa, or indeed on migration in between the two.'

David Noble, Principal Ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), said: 'We can accurately monitor the patterns of decline in these once-familiar summer breeders thanks to several decades of careful observations by an army of volunteer birdwatchers. More recently, tracking devices have shed light on migratory routes and key wintering areas.

'To take appropriate action, further study is needed to determine the pressures faced in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as breeding here in the UK.'

Colette Hall, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) Species Monitoring Officer, said: 'The length of many bird migrations -- often thousands of miles -- makes it very difficult to pinpoint where and what is causing populations to fall.

'So the more information we can get all along the migration routes -- on land use changes, new infrastructure etc -- the better we can target protection measures. It's important that we help build up the capacity of local bird organisations and volunteers across the world to provide vital information through their own long-term monitoring.'

Alan Law, Director of Biodiversity Delivery at Natural England said: 'It is self-evident that effective conservation of a migratory species requires appropriate measures to be in place at each step of the migratory cycle.

'For some species, there is growing evidence of pressure on breeding success here in England. Our focus therefore is to ensure that well-managed habitats are available in this country so that migratory species can breed here successfully; this work involves close collaboration with land managers both on designated conservation sites and across the wider farmed countryside.'

David Stroud, Senior Ornithologist with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, said: 'Migratory birds depend on conservation actions in all the countries they move through in the course of their annual cycle.

'The UK is working with these countries to help improve the condition of their critical habitats through its participation in multi-lateral environmental agreements such as the Biodiversity Convention and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.'

The State of the UK's Birds report also covers the UK's Overseas Territories. The latest evidence reveals mixed fortunes for two important albatross populations in the UK's Overseas Territories. Seventy per cent of the world's Black-browed Albatrosses nest in the Falkland Islands. A population increase here has allowed researchers to downgrade the extinction threat of this species from Endangered to Near Threatened. Sadly, the fortunes of the Grey-headed Albatross has deteriorated as declines have been reported in nesting colonies on South Georgia, which hosts half the world's population.

The State of the UK's Birds report is available online at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/state-of-the-uks-birds_tcm9-383971.pdf

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by BirdLife International. The original article was written by Martin Fowlie. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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BirdLife International. "Scale of declines of UK migratory birds wintering in Africa revealed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141017205125.htm>.

Sharp Aquos Crystal Smartphone is an Edgeless Beauty

 

By: Nicholas Greene

You’ve probably heard of Sharp before. They’re that company that makes all those awesome monitors and TVs. They kind of know a thing or two about display technology as a result. Now they’ve put that knowledge to use with the Sharp Aquos Crystal Smartphone- which is instantly one of the sexiest smartphones ever released.

Pretty much everything about the phone is made for visual appeal. The screen is designed with a new form of “edgeless display” technology, making it one of the first true borderless Smartphone screens on the market. It’d also only five inches – which, thanks to the aforementioned display,  Not only that, it packs a super-powered 8 MegaPixel camera which will make even the most amateur of photographs look professionally-done. thanks to built-in editing and photography software. Even the audio is a cut above the standard for the market, featuring Harmon/Kardon technology for crystal-clear, beautiful sound.

Alright, enough gushing. I don’t want you guys to think I’m vomiting out some sort of thinly-veiled sales pitch. The phone’s pretty awesome though, isn’t it?

In an era where every smartphone manufacturer is trying to (directly or indirectly) imitate every other manufacturer, it’s actually pretty refreshing to see someone try something different. The AQUOS Crystal looks like it’ll be a breath of fresh air in the mobile world, and a great choice for anyone who’s not keen on the design of any of the current market leaders. The phone is a Sprint exclusive, with a release date that’s soon to be announced. The price isn’t established either; all we know is that it’s designed to be “affordable.”

Stay tuned, folks – this one looks like it’ll be worth the wait.  The AQUOS Crystal will run Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Sprint Spark, and will be available in “limited markets.”  If you want to learn more about the phone, you can visit Sharp’s website.

 

 

Written by: Nicholas Greene on October 13, 2014.
Last revised by: Seamus Payne

 

36 Questions to Bring You Closer Together

 

Get to know someone and create a sense of intimacy, in as little as an hour.

Published on October 15, 2013 by Temma Ehrenfeld 

                                  in Open Gently

 

These questions only take about 45 minutes to discuss—and they almost always make two people feel better about each other and want to see each other again, according to social psychology researcher Arthur Aron of the Interpersonal Relationships Lab at Stony Brook University in New York, who published his results in "The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness" in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (1997).

You can try these questions with a date, but they're not necessarily only applicable to fostering romance. You can also try them with people you already know well—friends, family members, even long-term partners—to deepen your ties.

Each of you should take a turn answering each question.

Here they are, in order:

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

3. Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why?

4. What would constitute a perfect day for you?

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

11. Take four minutes and tell you partner your life story in as much detail as possible.

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

14. Is there something that you've dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

16. What do you value most in a friendship?

17. What is your most treasured memory?

18. What is your most terrible memory?

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

20. What does friendship mean to you?

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people's?

24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?

25. Make three true "we" statements each. For instance, "we are both in this room feeling..."

26. Complete this sentence "I wish I had someone with whom I could share..."

27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know.

28. Tell your partner what you like about them: be honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you've just met.

29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.

30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?

31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already.

32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?

34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?

36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner's advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.

... and a few variations:

• If you could choose the sex and physical appearance of your soon-to-be-born child, would you do it?
• Would you be willing to have horrible nightmares for a year if you would be rewarded with extraordinary wealth?
• While on a trip to another city, your spouse/lover meets and spends a night with an exciting stranger. Given that they will never meet again, and could never otherwise learn of the incident, would you want your partner to tell you about it?

For editing or writing help, write me at expertediting@rocketmail.org or visit expertediting.org.

Copper iodide phosphors could mean less-expensive LEDs

 

The new phosphors can be tuned to emit a variety of colors, including a 'warmer' white than that of current LEDs

Everybody loves LEDs, as they're far more efficient and longer-lasting than traditional incandescent bulbs. They're also more economical to use in the long run, although they're costlier on a per-bulb basis. That price gap could soon be closing, however, as scientists have discovered a cheaper alternative to one of their most expensive ingredients.

White light-emitting LEDs use metals known as rare earth elements (REEs) for their phosphors – these are the materials that convert the light emitted from LED chips into longer wavelengths, allowing the bulbs to put out full-spectrum visible light.

The mining and processing of REEs is hazardous, however, leaving China as just about the only country currently supplying them in substantial quantities. This drives up their price, which could climb even higher as demand for LED-based technologies increases.

Led by Prof. Jing Li, a team of scientists from New Jersey's Rutgers University has now discovered that a family of materials made from relatively cheap and abundant copper iodide can be substituted for REEs. These materials are synthesized via a simple, low-cost process, which is easily scalable. Factors such as color and intensity can be tuned as needed, plus they're said to create a warmer white light than the blue-ish white emitted by LEDs currently available.

A paper on the research was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

REEs may also be facing some competition from silicon phosphors, which are being developed by University of Washington spinoff company LumiSands.

Source: American Chemical Society

 

Temos que agir rápido e com rigor extremo. Indecisões pode ameaçar a vida em nosso planeta !

 

Deflorestamento, emissões crescentes de CO2, aumento do buraco na camada de ozônio, e agora mais isto?  E me esqueci da poluição também nos rios e lagos, que aumenta a cada dia. Garrafas PET, sacolas de plásticos nos supermercados….Ou tudo isto torna-se uma assunto seríssimo à NÍVEL GLOBAL, ou então será tarde demais….

 

 

Superconducting circuits, simplified

 

Superconducting chips also promise greater processing power: Superconducting circuits that use so-called Josephson junctions have been clocked at 770 gigahertz, or 500 times the speed of the chip in the iPhone 6.

But Josephson-junction chips are big and hard to make; most problematic of all, they use such minute currents that the results of their computations are difficult to detect. For the most part, they've been relegated to a few custom-engineered signal-detection applications.

In the latest issue of the journal Nano Letters, MIT researchers present a new circuit design that could make simple superconducting devices much cheaper to manufacture. And while the circuits' speed probably wouldn't top that of today's chips, they could solve the problem of reading out the results of calculations performed with Josephson junctions.

The MIT researchers -- Adam McCaughan, a graduate student in electrical engineering, and his advisor, professor of electrical engineering and computer science Karl Berggren -- call their device the nanocryotron, after the cryotron, an experimental computing circuit developed in the 1950s by MIT professor Dudley Buck. The cryotron was briefly the object of a great deal of interest -- and federal funding -- as the possible basis for a new generation of computers, but it was eclipsed by the integrated circuit.

"The superconducting-electronics community has seen a lot of devices come and go, without any real-world application," McCaughan says. "But in our paper, we have already applied our device to applications that will be highly relevant to future work in superconducting computing and quantum communications."

Superconducting circuits are used in light detectors that can register the arrival of a single light particle, or photon; that's one of the applications in which the researchers tested the nanocryotron. McCaughan also wired together several of the circuits to produce a fundamental digital-arithmetic component called a half-adder.

Resistance is Futile

Superconductors have no electrical resistance, meaning that electrons can travel through them completely unimpeded. Even the best standard conductors -- like the copper wires in phone lines or conventional computer chips -- have some resistance; overcoming it requires operational voltages much higher than those that can induce current in a superconductor. Once electrons start moving through an ordinary conductor, they still collide occasionally with its atoms, releasing energy as heat.

Superconductors are ordinary materials cooled to extremely low temperatures, which damps the vibrations of their atoms, letting electrons zip past without collision. Berggren's lab focuses on superconducting circuits made from niobium nitride, which has the relatively high operating temperature of 16 Kelvin, or minus 257 degrees Celsius. That's achievable with liquid helium, which, in a superconducting chip, would probably circulate through a system of pipes inside an insulated housing, like Freon in a refrigerator.

A liquid-helium cooling system would of course increase the power consumption of a superconducting chip. But given that the starting point is about 1 percent of the energy required by a conventional chip, the savings could still be enormous. Moreover, superconducting computation would let data centers dispense with the cooling systems they currently use to keep their banks of servers from overheating.

Cheap superconducting circuits could also make it much more cost-effective to build single-photon detectors, an essential component of any information system that exploits the computational speedups promised by quantum computing.

Engineered to a T

The nanocryotron -- or nTron -- consists of a single layer of niobium nitride deposited on an insulator in a pattern that looks roughly like a capital "T." But where the base of the T joins the crossbar, it tapers to only about one-tenth its width. Electrons sailing unimpeded through the base of the T are suddenly crushed together, producing heat, which radiates out into the crossbar and destroys the niobium nitride's superconductivity.

A current applied to the base of the T can thus turn off a current flowing through the crossbar. That makes the circuit a switch, the basic component of a digital computer.

After the current in the base is turned off, the current in the crossbar will resume only after the junction cools back down. Since the superconductor is cooled by liquid helium, that doesn't take long. But the circuits are unlikely to top the 1 gigahertz typical of today's chips. Still, they could be useful for some lower-end applications where speed isn't as important as energy efficiency.

Their most promising application, however, could be in making calculations performed by Josephson junctions accessible to the outside world. Josephson junctions use tiny currents that until now have required sensitive lab equipment to detect. They're not strong enough to move data to a local memory chip, let alone to send a visual signal to a computer monitor.

In experiments, McCaughan demonstrated that currents even smaller than those found in Josephson-junction devices were adequate to switch the nTron from a conductive to a nonconductive state. And while the current in the base of the T can be small, the current passing through the crossbar could be much larger -- large enough to carry information to other devices on a computer motherboard.

 

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Larry Hardesty. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Adam N. McCaughan, Karl K. Berggren. A Superconducting-Nanowire Three-Terminal Electrothermal Device. Nano Letters, 2014; 14 (10): 5748 DOI: 10.1021/nl502629x

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Superconducting circuits, simplified." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141017111125.htm>.