Among the various discriminant analysis (DA) methods, researchers have investigated several directions in this area: statistics, econometrics, computer data mining technologies and mathematical programming. Recently, as a nonparametric mathematical programming approach, Data envelopment analysis has been applied in DA area and received great attention. In this paper, we propose a new discrimina...

A panel of eight, second generation triazine dendrimers differing in the number of amines, guanidines, hydroxyls and aliphatic groups on the periphery was synthesized and assayed for gene transfer in an attempt to correlate the effects of surface functionality on transfection efficiency. The physicochemical and biological properties of the dendrimers and dendriplexes, such as condensation of DN...

The adequate selection of indicator groups of biodiversity is an important aspect of the systematic conservation planning. However, these assessments differ in the spatial scales, in the methods used and in the groups considered to accomplish this task, which generally produces contradictory results. The quantification of the spatial congruence between species richness and complementarity among...

BACKGROUND Bearing in mind the increasing health expenses and their weight in the Portuguese gross domestic product, it is of the utmost importance to evaluate the performance of Primary Health Care providers taking into account both efficiency, quality and equity. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the performance of Primary Health Care by measuring it in a Portuguese r...

We have modified the current phosphoramidite-based, solid-phase synthesis of antisense oligonucleotides to accommodate principles of green chemistry. In this article, we summarize key accomplishments that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of toxic materials, solvents, and reagents. Also discussed are methodologies that allow reuse of valuable materials such as amidites, solid-support, a...

Surface-induced biomineralization represents an effective way of immobilizing DNA molecules on biomaterial surfaces to introduce DNA into cells in contact with or at an approximate distance from the biomaterial surfaces. Previous studies have investigated how the composition of mineralizing solutions affects the composition and pH responsiveness of nanocomposites and thus gene transfer efficien...

A group is called capable if it is a central factor group. We characterize the capable 2-generator 2-groups of class 2 in terms of a standard presentation.

This experiment examined contextual interference in producing a bimanual coordination pattern of 90 degree angle relative phase. Acquisition, retention, and transfer performance were compared in a single-task control group and groups that performed 2 tasks in either a blocked or random presentation. Surprisingly, acquisition data revealed that both the random and control groups outperformed the...

In the two sections of this article, I examine aspects of the analysis and reporting of interaction in focus groups. In both sections, I argue that the essential importance of interaction for producing the data in focus groups does not correspond to any requirement that the analysis or the reporting of that data should emphasize interaction. With regard to analyzing interaction, the goals of th...