Synthetic biology: a novel approach for the construction of industrial microorganisms

The recent achievement of synthesising a functioning bacterial chromosome marks a coming of age for engineering living organisms. In the future this should allow the construction of novel organisms to help solve the problems facing the human race, including health care, food, energy and environmental protection. In this minireview, the current state of the field is described and the role of synthetic biology in biotechnology in the short and medium term is discussed. It is particularly aimed at the needs of food technologists, nutritionists and other biotechnologists, who might not be aware of the potential significance of synthetic biology to the research and development in their fields. The potential of synthetic biology to produce interesting new polyketide compounds is discussed in detail.

Using occupancy models to investigate space partitioning between two sympatric large predators, the jaguar and puma in central Brazil

Coexistence of sympatric species is mediated by resource partitioning. Pumas occur sympatrically with jaguars throughout most of the jaguar's range but few studies have investigated space partitioning between both species. Here, camera trapping and occupancy models accounting for imperfect detection were employed in a Bayesian framework to investigate space partitioning between the jaguar and puma in Emas National Park (ENP), central Brazil. Jaguars were estimated to occupy 54.1% and pumas 39.3% of the sample sites. Jaguar occupancy was negatively correlated with distance to water and positively correlated with the amount of dense habitat surrounding the camera trap. Puma occupancy only showed a weak negative correlation with distance to water and with jaguar presence. Both species were less often present at the same site than expected under independent distributions. Jaguars had a significantly higher detection probability at cameras on roads than at off-road locations. For pumas, detection was similar on and off-road. Results indicate that both differences in habitat use and active avoidance shape space partitioning between jaguars and pumas in ENP. Considering its size, the jaguar is likely the competitively dominant of the two species. Owing to its habitat preferences, suitable jaguar habitat outside the park is probably sparse. Consequently, the jaguar population is likely largely confined to the park, while the puma population is known to extend into ENP's surroundings. (C) 2011 Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Saugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Stable water isotopes of precipitation and firn cores from the northern Antarctic Peninsula region as a proxy for climate reconstruction

In order to investigate the climate variability in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region, this paper focuses on the relationship between stable isotope content of precipitation and firn, and main meteorological variables (air temperature, relative humidity, sea surface temperature, and sea ice extent). Between 2008 and 2010, we collected precipitation samples and retrieved firn cores from several key sites in this region. We conclude that the deuterium excess oscillation represents a robust indicator of the meteorological variability on a seasonal to sub-seasonal scale. Low absolute deuterium excess values and the synchronous variation of both deuterium excess and air temperature imply that the evaporation of moisture occurs in the adjacent Southern Ocean. The delta O-18-air temperature relationship is complicated and significant only at a (multi)seasonal scale. Backward trajectory calculations show that air-parcels arriving at the region during precipitation events predominantly originate at the South Pacific Ocean and Bellingshausen Sea. These investigations will be used as a calibration for ongoing and future research in the area, suggesting that appropriate locations for future ice core research are located above 600 m a.s.l. We selected the Plateau Laclavere, Antarctic Peninsula as the most promising site for a deeper drilling campaign.

Modelling Mathematical Reasoning in Physics Education

Many findings from research as well as reports from teachers describe students' problem solving strategies as manipulation of formulas by rote. The resulting dissatisfaction with quantitative physical textbook problems seems to influence the attitude towards the role of mathematics in physics education in general. Mathematics is often seen as a tool for calculation which hinders a conceptual understanding of physical principles. However, the role of mathematics cannot be reduced to this technical aspect. Hence, instead of putting mathematics away we delve into the nature of physical science to reveal the strong conceptual relationship between mathematics and physics. Moreover, we suggest that, for both prospective teaching and further research, a focus on deeply exploring such interdependency can significantly improve the understanding of physics. To provide a suitable basis, we develop a new model which can be used for analysing different levels of mathematical reasoning within physics. It is also a guideline for shifting the attention from technical to structural mathematical skills while teaching physics. We demonstrate its applicability for analysing physical-mathematical reasoning processes with an example.

The antioxidative effect of de novo generated vitamin B-6 in Plasmodium falciparum validated by protein interference

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is able to synthesize de novo PLP (pyridoxal 5'-phosphate), the active form of vitamin B-6. In the present study, we have shown that the de novo synthesized PLP is used by the parasite to detoxify O-1(2) (singlet molecular oxygen), a highly destructive reactive oxygen species arising from haemoglobin digestion. The formation of O-1(2) and the response of the parasite were monitored by live-cell fluorescence microscopy, by transcription analysis and by determination of PLP levels in the parasite. Pull-down experiments of transgenic parasites overexpressing the vitamin B-6-biosynthetic enzymes PfPdx1 and PfPdx2 clearly demonstrated an interaction of the two proteins in vivo which results in an elevated PLP level from 12.5 mu M in wild-type parasites to 36.6 mu M in the PfPdx1/PfPdx2-overexpressing cells and thus to a higher tolerance towards O-1(2). In contrast, by applying the dominant-negative effect on the cellular level using inactive mutants of PfPdx1 and PfPdx2, P. falciparum becomes susceptible to O-1(2). Our results demonstrate clearly the crucial role of vitamin B-6 biosynthesis in the detoxification of O-1(2) in P falciparum. Besides the known role of PLP as a cofactor of many essential enzymes, this second important task of the vitamin B-6 de novo synthesis as antioxidant emphasizes the high potential of this pathway as a target of new anti-malarial drugs.

Differences in throughfall and net precipitation between soybean and transitional tropical forest in the southern Amazon, Brazil

The expansion of soybean cultivation into the Amazon in Brazil has potential hydrological effects at local to regional scales. To determine the impacts of soybean agriculture on hydrology, a comparison of net precipitation (throughfall, stemflow) in undisturbed tropical forest and soybean fields on the southern edge of the Amazon Basin in the state of Mato Grosso is needed. This study measured throughfall with troughs and stemflow with collar collectors during two rainy seasons. The results showed that in forest 91.6% of rainfall was collected as throughfall and 0.3% as stemflow, while in soybean fields with two-month old plants, 46.2% of rainfall was collected as throughfall and 9.0% as stemflow. Hence, interception of precipitation in soybean fields was far greater than in intact forests. Differences in throughfall, stemflow and net precipitation were found to be mainly associated with differences in plant structure and stem density in transitional forest and soybean cropland. Because rainfall interception in soybean fields is higher than previously believed and because both the area of cropland and the frequency of crop cycles (double cropping) are increasing rapidly, interception needs to be reconsidered in regional water balance models when consequences of land cover changes are analyzed in the Amazon soybean frontier region. Based on the continued expansion of soybean fields across the landscape and the finding that net precipitation is lower in soy agriculture, a reduction in water availability in the long term can be assumed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

STAT3 and SOCS3 expression patterns during murine placenta development

Signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) has been identified as an important signal transducer in the invasive phenotype of the trophoblasts cells in in vitro studies. However, the in situ distribution and patterns of expression of this molecule in trophoblast cells during the development of the placenta are still under-elucidated. Mice uteri of gestational ages between 7 and 14 days of pregnancy (dop) were fixed in methacarn and processed with immunoperoxidase techniques for detection of STAT3 and its phosphorylation at serine (p-ser727) residues, as well as the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) expression. STAT3 was observed at 7 through 9 dop in both the antimesometrial and mesometrial deciduas, while continued immunoreactivity between 10 and 13 dop was seen only in the mesometrial decidua. In the placenta, STAT3 was detected in the cytotrophoblast cells of labyrinth and giant trophoblast cells between 10 and 14 dop. Immunoreactivity for STAT3 was also seen in trophoblast cells surrounding the maternal blood vessels. On days 10 and 11 of pregnancy, p-ser727 was detectable in the mesometrial decidua and in giant trophoblasts, while during 12-14 dop in the spongiotrophoblast region. In addition, SOCS3 was immunodetected in maternal and placental tissues, principally in the giant trophoblast cells during the whole period of the study. The present in situ study shows the distribution of STAT3, its serine activation and SOCS3 in different maternal and fetal compartments during murine placental development, thus further supporting the idea that they play a role during physiological placentation in mice.

Influence of Particle Size, Applied Compression, and Substratum Material on Particle-Surface Adhesion Force Using the Centrifuge Technique

The centrifuge technique was used to investigate the influence of particle size, applied compression, and substrate material (stainless steel, glass, Teflon, and poly(vinyl chloride)) on particle-surface adhesion force. For this purpose, phosphatic rock (rho(p) = 3090 kg/m(3)) and manioc starch particles (rho(p) = 1480 kg/m(3)) were used as test particles. A microcentrifuge that reached a maximum rotation speed of 14 000 rpm and which contained specially designed centrifuge tubes was used in the adhesion force measurements. The curves showed that the adhesion force profile followed a normal log distribution. The adhesion force increased linearly with particle size and with the increase of each increment of compression force. The manioc starch particles presented greater adhesion forces than the phosphatic rock particles for all particle sizes studied. The glass substrate showed a higher adherence than the other materials, probably due to its smoother topographic surface roughness in relation to the other substrata.

Concentration of floating biogenic material in convergence zones

Some organisms that live just below the sea surface (the neuston) are known more as a matter of curiosity than as critical players in biogeochemical cycles. The hypothesis of this work is that their existence implies that they receive some food from an upward flux of organic matter. The behaviour of these organisms and of the associated organic matter, hereafter mentioned as floating biogenic material (FBM) is explored using a global physical-biogeochemical coupled model, in which its generation is fixed to 1% of primary production, and decay rate is of the order of I month. The model shows that the distribution of FBM should depart rapidly from that of primary production.. and be more sensitive to circulation patterns than to the distribution of primary production. It is trapped in convergence areas, where it reaches concentrations larger by a factor 10 than in divergences, thus enhancing and inverting the contrast between high and low primary productivity areas. Attention is called on the need to better understand the biogeochemical processes in the first meter of the ocean, as they may impact the distribution of food for fishes, as well as the conditions for air-sea exchange and for the interpretation of sea color.

Characterization of Immobilized Biomass by Amplified rDNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) in an Anaerobic Sequencing-Batch Biofilm Reactor (ASBBR) for the Treatment of Industrial Wastewater

The performance of an anaerobic sequencing-batch biofilm reactor (ASBBR-laboratory scale- 14L) containing biomass immobilized on coal was evaluated for the removal of elevated concentrations of sulfate (between 200 and 3,000 mg SO4-2.L-1) from industrial wastewater effluents. The ASBBR was shown to be efficient for removal of organic material (between 90% and 45%) and sulfate (between 95% and 85%). The microbiota adhering to the support medium was analyzed by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA). The ARDRA profiles for the Bacteria and Archaea domains proved to be sensitive for the determination of microbial diversity and were consistent with the physical-chemical monitoring analysis of the reactor. At 3,000 mg SO4-2.L-1, there was a reduction in the microbial diversity of both domains and also in the removal efficiencies of organic material and sulfate.

HOLISTIC WOMEN: "GREEN BLOUSE" NURSES TO THE SERVICE OF THE NATION

This study aims to investigate the role assigned to the holistic nurse and the education she receives to perform her role with maximum efficiency within the Brazilian Holistic Action (Acao Integralista Brasileira), a right-wing political party that emerged in Brazil in the 1930s. It uses holistic newspapers, the "Holistic Encyclopedia" collection, and records about the Holistic School of Nursing which compose the criminal collection by the Political Police, organized by the Special Police of Political and Social Safety as source material. As a result, the study presents a significant investment of holistic thinking in formally educating nurses, women who took the opportunity of the moment to expand their social arenas. It concludes that, although holistic thinking strengthened social roles described as female, the women's relationship with the movement was innovative because it enabled new practices and representations that they also started to develop in the public sphere, for example, working as nurses.

Characterization of immobilized biomass by amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) in an anaerobic sequencing-batch biofilm reactor (ASBBR) for the treatment of industrial wastewater

The performance of an anaerobic sequencing-batch biofilm reactor (ASBBR- laboratory scale- 14L )containing biomass immobilized on coal was evaluated for the removal of elevated concentrations of sulfate (between 200 and 3,000 mg SO4-2·L-1) from industrial wastewater effluents. The ASBBR was shown to be efficient for removal of organic material (between 90% and 45%) and sulfate (between 95% and 85%). The microbiota adhering to the support medium was analyzed by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA). The ARDRA profiles for the Bacteria and Archaea domains proved to be sensitive for the determination of microbial diversity and were consistent with the physical-chemical monitoring analysis of the reactor. At 3,000 mg SO4-2·L-1, there was a reduction in the microbial diversity of both domains and also in the removal efficiencies of organic material and sulfate.

Reliability of buildings in service limit state for maximum horizontal displacements

Brazilian design code ABNT NBR6118:2003 - Design of Concrete Structures - Procedures - [1] proposes the use of simplified models for the consideration of non-linear material behavior in the evaluation of horizontal displacements in buildings. These models penalize stiffness of columns and beams, representing the effects of concrete cracking and avoiding costly physical non-linear analyses. The objectives of the present paper are to investigate the accuracy and uncertainty of these simplified models, as well as to evaluate the reliabilities of structures designed following ABNT NBR6118:2003[1&] in the service limit state for horizontal displacements. Model error statistics are obtained from 42 representative plane frames. The reliabilities of three typical (4, 8 and 12 floor) buildings are evaluated, using the simplified models and a rigorous, physical and geometrical non-linear analysis. Results show that the 70/70 (column/beam stiffness reduction) model is more accurate and less conservative than the 80/40 model. Results also show that ABNT NBR6118:2003 [1] design criteria for horizontal displacement limit states (masonry damage according to ACI 435.3R-68(1984) [10]) are conservative, and result in reliability indexes which are larger than those recommended in EUROCODE [2] for irreversible service limit states.

O Recuo Brutalista

Em conformidade com a dúvida de seu título, o difundido livro The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic? de Reyner Banham não é possível explicar o Brutalismo como manifestação artística coesa, dotada de consistência e reprodutibilidade formal. A citação de arquitetos famosos, porém divergentes, parece associar e comparar obras ásperas com a pretensão de reerguer uma arquitetura moderna considerada ascética, monótona e insuficiente e gera um teoricismo da aparência crua e do moralismo dos objetos. Discurso que oculta, ou desvia a atenção do retorno artístico à sublimidade e construção artesanal. O Brutalismo é aceito como evolução natural dos estágios modernos anteriores e sanciona artefatos toscos, pesados e inacabados como se fossem filiados ao processo moderno desinfestado. Esconde contradições e disfarça seu rompimento com o moderno para prolongar a expressão Movimento moderno. Mas o objeto claro, econômico e preciso é repudiado pelo consumidor e, por ser pouco representativo, o artista faz sua maquiagem com episódios contrastantes e monumentais na informalidade das cidades espontâneas. No entanto, parece possível suspender a noção positiva e corretiva do Brutalismo para entendê-lo como um recuo artístico vulgarizador que despreza aperfeiçoamento e afronta a atitude moderna com banalização conceptiva, exagero, figuralidade, musculação estrutural, grandeza tectônica, rudimento e rudeza. Assim, moralismo, retorno rústico e originalidade desqualificam a expressão International Style entendida como a culminação da arquitetura moderna do pós-guerra, ao depreciá-la como decadente, como produto imobiliário, comercial e corporativo a serviço do capital. Essa interpretação desvela uma crítica anti-industrial, portanto antimodernista e diversa da pós-modernidade, porém contestadora e realista para fornecer imagens à cultura e aos insensíveis à estrutura da forma moderna. Diverso da pós-modernidade pela dependência ao moderno e ausência de apelo popular. Tornada insignificante a configuração oportuna do artefato, o arquiteto tenta reter sua notabilidade artística, ou o prestígio que parece enfraquecer na aparência símile da especificação de catálogo, no rigor modular. Indispõe-se e repudia componentes, Standards e acabamentos impessoais da indústria da construção para insistir em autoria e inspiração, mas repete cacoetes estilísticos de época e o inexplicável uso intensivo de concreto bruto e aparente para sentir-se engajado e atualizado. Porém, é necessário distinguir obras de aparência severa concebidas pela atitude moderna mais autêntica das de concreto aparente em tipos ou configurações aberrantes. Para avançar na discussão do Brutalismo propõe-se entender este fenômeno com a substituição do juízo estético moderno de sentido visual postulado por Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) por um sentimento estético fácil e relacionado com a sensação da empatia, com a Einfühlung de Robert Vischer (1847-1933). Na época da cultura de massas, admite-se o rebaixamento das exigências no artefato e a adaptação brutalista com a transfiguração dos processos de arquitetura moderna. Assim, a forma é substituída pela figura ou pelo resumo material; a estrutura formal subjacente pelo ritmo e exposição da estrutura física; o reconhecimento visual pelo entusiasmo psicológico ou pelo impulso dionisíaco; a concepção substituída pelo partido, ou, ainda, pelo conceito; a sistematização e a ordem pela moldagem e a organização; a abstração e síntese pela originalidade e essencialidade, o sentido construtivo pela honestidade material; a identidade das partes pela fundição ou pela unicidade objetal e a residência pela cabana primitiva.

Development of a supplier and purchase order management product/service under the 4PL logistics concept: a case study

Supply chain starts with a demand arisen and ends with material transport and delivery at its final destination. With this in mind, most of manufacturing, processors or distribution companies of consumer goods, spare parts and components for production, processing and finished goods, within national or international markets, may not have information and control over its supply chain performance. This article presents concept and logistics models evolution, purchase order and international supplier management, control tower and its logistics information systems. This also presents a real process implementation for a global high tech manufacturer company.