Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul

About: Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul is a education organization based out in Campo Grande, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 6903 authors who have published 9030 publications receiving 78977 citations. The organization is also known as: UFMS & Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Host–parasite interaction between branchiurans (Crustacea: Argulidae) and piranhas (Osteichthyes: Serrasalminae) in the Pantanal wetland of Brazil

Abstract: Ecological studies of host–parasite interactions in the tropics are generally restricted to descriptive taxonomic aspects. The present study had as its objective identification of the metazoan ectoparasites of piranhas Pygocentrus nattereri, Serrasalmus spilopleura and S. marginatus in lentic and lotic environments in the Pantanal region, Brazil. We collected the samples in the Miranda River basin and in three ponds. We caught fishes using hook and line. We found that branchiuran crustaceans infested about 30% of the piranhas. We found four branchiuran species: Dolops carvalhoi, Argulus elongatus, Argulus aff. juparanaensis and Dipterolpetis hirundo, which represent new findings in host–parasite relationships in the Neotropics. When comparing lotic and lentic environments, we observed higher infestation rates in rivers than in ponds for all the hosts. P. nattereri had the highest prevalence and the intensity rates in both the environments. The body parts of hosts with the highest frequencies of parasitism were the ventral area in P. nattereri, the gullet area in S. spilopleura and ventral areas and external gills in S. marginatus. In relation to the prevalence of the parasites we observed significant differences between the hydrological seasons and the piranha species, nevertheless hosts were more parasitized in the dry season. The species with highest rates of infestation, P. nattereri and S. spilopleura, live in schools, which indicates that the high parasite load may be a direct consequence of the proximity between individuals. We believe that the higher rates of infestation in the dry season result from the increase in host density in drying ponds imitating the conditions found in fish farming. Seasonal changes in water level and temperature can also influence the rates of parasitism.

Fuzzy inference system to study the behavior of the green consumer facing the perception of greenwashing

Abstract: With increased consumption of green products, organizations have promoted their products and services as green to attract an environmentally growing segment. However, 98% of the products advertised as green have some element characterized as greenwashing, affecting consumer satisfaction. Given the need to classify subjective, ambiguous and imprecise indicators as consumer satisfaction degree of green products, a computational model of measurement is proposed that incorporates fuzzy logic techniques to reduce the incidence of uncertainty in decision analysis processes, facilitating decision-making. The fuzzy rule-based system created allows the efficient handling of uncertainties and vagueness of input data, measuring the relationships between various input variables to analyze consumer behavior and perception of greenwashing. The Mamdani's Inference Method was used to make different combinations of linguistic variables and to evaluate the relationship of these variables to consumer behavior, implementing a quantitative method of decision-making regarding the behavior of the variables. As a result, it is observed that greenwashing confuses and influences the consumer in green product confidence in retail. After the application of the system, it is concluded that the results are feasible and with the use of fuzzy logic, the system can help in the analysis and determination of the consumer satisfaction degree, and can helps companies to make future forecasts about consumer behavior of green products. The proposed approach enriches the information on the attitudes of green consumers when they perceive greenwashing. Besides, the system facilitates the decision-making and actions of both consumers and companies that apply the greenwashing as a marketing strategy.

Is occupational stress associated with work engagement

Abstract: The occupational stress is associated with dissatisfaction, excessive demand at work and personal factors. Those factors can reduce work performance and can predispose workers to various diseases. Workers' health may be protected if there is encouragement to face challenges, which may lessen the impact on psychological and somatic stress and thus have greater personal and professional satisfaction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between occupational stress and work engagement. Participated in this study 457 male and female workers of a metallurgical industry. Subjects answered personal data, and the Job Stress Scale and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were applied. Results showed an association between occupational stress and work engagement (P=0,001). The way the individual deals with his frustrations, or rather the work engagement, is associated with the occupational stress.

Synthesis, Characterization, and Photocatalytic Activity of Pure and N-, B-, or Ag- Doped TiO2

Abstract: This article reports the synthesis and characterization of pure and N-, B-, and Ag-doped TiO2 and the ability of these oxides to photodegrade methylene blue (MB) under sunlight or UV-ABC radiation. The compounds were synthesized using the sol-gel method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Photocatalytic efficiency was significantly increased by N-doping, resulting in 98% MB decomposition under UV-ABC irradiation for 180 min. Ag- and B-doped TiO2 lowered MB degradation rates to 52 and 73%, respectively, compared with pure TiO2. The same behavior was observed with exposure to UV-Vis, with 88, 65, 60, and 42% MB removal with N-doped, pure, B-doped, and Ag-doped TiO2, respectively. Under visible light alone, N-doped TiO2 exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiency than commercial P25-type TiO2. Photocatalysis with N-doped TiO2 proved to be a promising alternative for MB degradation, given the potential of employing solar energy, thus minimizing operating costs.

When should internal interfaces be promoted to public

Abstract: Commonly, software systems have public (and stable) interfaces, and internal (and possibly unstable) interfaces. Despite being discouraged, client developers often use internal interfaces, which may cause their systems to fail when they evolve. To overcome this problem, API producers may promote internal interfaces to public. In practice, however, API producers have no assistance to identify public interface candidates. In this paper, we study the transition from internal to public interfaces. We aim to help API producers to deliver a better product and API clients to benefit sooner from public interfaces. Our empirical investigation on five widely adopted Java systems present the following observations. First, we identified 195 promotions from 2,722 internal interfaces. Second, we found that promoted internal interfaces have more clients. Third, we predicted internal interface promotion with precision between 50%-80%, recall 26%-82%, and AUC 74%-85%. Finally, by applying our predictor on the last version of the analyzed systems, we automatically detected 382 public interface candidates.