Um Estudo dos efeitos organizacionais e sociais da utilização da tecnologia Groupware Lotus Notes na administração pública do Estado do Paraná

Em 1995, o Estado do Paraná escolheu o software Lotus Notes como solução de correio eletrônico distribuído e automação de escritórios para suas estruturas organizacionais. Após 5 anos do início do processo de sua implantação, a previsão inicial de 3.600 licenças de uso dessa tecnologia groupware já foi amplamente superada. Existem atualmente mais de 9.000 usuários do Lotus Notes, distribuídos em praticamente todos os níveis da administração pública. Essa dissertação é o primeiro estudo formal realizado para avaliar os impactos organizacionais e sociais produzidos pela utilização de tecnologias de informação colaborativas na administração pública do Paraná. Os capítulos que fazem parte dessa dissertação focalizam em tecnologias de informação colaborativas, com ênfase no Lotus Notes e a sua utilização na administração pública. Inicialmente são introduzidos conceitos básicos sobre Groupware e CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work), em seguida é apresentado o Lotus Notes, com um breve histórico de sua criação e uma visão resumida de pesquisas acadêmicas sobre implementações dessa tecnologia. Na seqüência, o ambiente de informática da administração pública do Estado do Paraná e a questão da seleção de uma plataforma tecnológica para resolver o problema de comunicação nesse ambiente são descritos, assim como o processo de implantação do Lotus Notes no Estado. A parte principal desse trabalho é apresentada em seguida: uma ampla pesquisa realizada nos órgãos da administração pública sobre a utilização do Lotus Notes, operacionalizada através de questionários virtuais e entrevistas. O modelo referencial utilizado na pesquisa é mostrado, assim como seu embasamento conceitual e as variáveis consideradas nas questões. Na conclusão são comentados os principais resultados do trabalho realizado, as contribuições e benefícios de sua realização, assim como sugestões de continuidade para futuras pesquisas sobre o assunto.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of an anti-H(O) lectin from Lotus tetragonolobus seeds

The seed lectin from Lotus tetragonolobus (LTA) has been crystallized. The best crystals grew over several days and were obtained using the vapour-diffusion method at a constant temperature of 293 K. A complete structural data set was collected at 2.00 angstrom resolution using a synchrotron-radiation source. LTA crystals were found to be monoclinic, belonging to space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 68.89, b = 65.83, c = 102.53 angstrom, alpha = gamma = 90, beta = 92 degrees. Molecular replacement yielded a solution with a correlation coefficient and R factor of 34.4 and 51.6%, respectively. Preliminary analysis of the molecular-replacement solution indicates a new quaternary association in the LTA structure. Crystallographic refinement is under way.

Postharvest characteristics and treatments to overcome latex exuded from cut flowers of lotus

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) is a perennial herbaceous aquatic ornamental plant with potential to be used as a new cut flower for the Brazilian ornamental market. It shows exotic and attractive flowers and has a strong market appeal, once it is known as a symbol of purity, holiness and immortality. However, flowers have a short-vase life. Lotus flower stem exudes a large quantity of sticky milky sap from the cut surface, which is produced in laticifers, spatially associated with both xylem and phloem. It has been reported that latex coagulates on the cut surface preventing or reducing water absorption and reducing flowers' vaselife, requiring treatments to stop the flow of latex. The objective of this study was to report observations of lotus postharvest characteristics and evaluate treatments to overcome latex flow. The experiment was conducted as a complete randomized design with three replications of four stems in each vase and eight treatments; a control (distilled water), pretreatment of cut stem-ends with hot water (40° C/1 minute), boiling water (3 seconds), isopropyl alcohol 90% (10 minutes) or citric acid (pH = 2.8/1h) and, maintenance of stems in a holding solution of Tween® 20 (0.01%), citric acid (200 mg L-1) or Tween® 20 (0.01%) plus citric acid (200 mg L-1). Treatments had no significant effect on flowers vaselife which was only about three days, although isopropyl alcohol, hot and boiling water completely stopped latex flow. Cut stem-ends pretreated with citric acid (pH = 2.8/1 h) showed a significantly higher relative water content of petals compared to others treatments. The senescence symptom of lotus cut flowers was mainly characterized by abscission of turgid petals and dehiscence of stamens without any visual change of petal color and brightness.

Estudos estruturais de uma lectina presente em sementes de Lotus tetragonolobus

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Evaluation des effets de l’extrait aqueux des fleurs de Nymphaea lotus Linn. (Nymphéacées) sur la fonction de reproduction des rats normoglycémique et diabétique de type 1

In traditional medicine of Cameroon, Nymphaea lotus Linn. (Nympheaceae) is used for treatment of male sexual disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the N. lotus flowers aqueous extracts on general mating behavior, fertility and some androgenic parameters of normoglycemic and diabetic adult male rats. Mating behavior assessment was carried out with primiparous and with oestrus female rats. Male rats were divided into 5 groups and subjected once in a day to the following treatment: distilled water (10 mL/kg), Sildenafil citrate (5mg/kg), Testosterone enanthate (5mg/kg) and plant extract (75 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg). Treatment lasted for 8 and 55 days before sacrifice. Organ weight, epididymal sperm counts, motility, viability, histomorphometric analysis, muscular strength, seminal fructose, cholesterol level, epididymal and serum proteins testicular were determined. Results showed a dose- dependant influence of the treatment in sperm count and motility which significantly increases compared to the distilled water-administered control. An increase in some sexual performance parameters (mount and intromission frequencies) was observed in both diabetic and normal rats compared to respective controls. The latencies of mount and intromission were significantly reduced. Computed frequencies of penile licking, index of libido and sexual motivation were higher in normal and diabetic extract-treated animals; which suggest an enhancement of motivational parameters. The treatment also caused significant increases in the weight of the testis, prostate, epididymis, in serum cholesterol and epididymal protein level in normal rats compared to the distilled water-administered control. These results indicate an androgenic pro-sexual potential of N. lotus in male rats and justify the empirical use of N. lotus in the management of erectile dysfunction and fertility disorders in males. Key-words: Nymphaea lotus, prosexual, androgenic, fertility, diabetic, male rat. //Selon les tradipraticiens de l’Ouest-Cameroun, Nymphaea lotus Linn. (N. lotus), de la famille des Nymphéacées, est utilisé pour le traitement des dysfonctionnements sexuels chez les hommes. Dans cette étude, l’effet de l’extrait aqueux des fleurs de N. lotus sur la fonction de reproduction des rats mâles adultes normaux et diabétiques a été évalué. Dans le but d’évaluer les effets de l’extrait aqueux des fleurs de N. lotus sur les paramètres généraux de copulation, d’androgénicité et de fertilité, les rats normoglycémiques et diabétiques ont été divisé en 3 groupes contrôle [Groupe I- recevant de l’eau distillée, Groupe II et III recevant respectivement du citrate de sildénafil (5 mg/kg) et l’énanthate de testostérone (5 mg/kg)] et deux groupes expérimentaux traités à l’extrait aux doses 75 mg/kg (Groupe IV) et 150 mg/kg (Groupe V). L’eau distillée, l’extrait et la substance de référence était administré per os une fois par jour. Pour analyser le comportement sexuel et la fertilité, des femelles primipares et en oestrus étaient utilisées. Le traitement a duré 8 et 55 jours avant le sacrifice. Le poids relatif des organes, le nombre de spermatozoïde, la motilité, les analyses morphométriques, la force musculaire, le taux de cholestérol, le taux de protéines sériques et épididymaires étaient déterminé. Le temps de latence de monte et d’intromission a diminué significativement alors que la fréquence d’éjaculation a augmenté. L’index de libido, la fréquence de monte, d’intromission, d’éjaculation, d’orientation des mâles vis-à-vis d’eux même et l’index de motivation sexuelle a augmenté chez les animaux traités l’extrait comparés à ceux ayant reçu de l’eau distillée aussi bien chez les normaux que chez le diabétiques qui n’enregistrent d’ailleurs aucune éjaculation. Le traitement a augmenté significativement (P < 0,01) le poids des testicules, de la prostate et de l’épididyme. Il est observé une augmentation dose-dépendante du nombre et de la motilité des spermatozoïdes (P < 0,05), ainsi qu’une augmentation significative (P < 0,001) temps-dépendant du taux de cholestérol sérique et de protéines épididymaires. Ces résultats indiquent un potentiel androgénique pro-érectile de N. lotus chez les rats mâles et justifient l’utilisation empirique des fleurs de N. lotus dans le traitement des dysfonctions érectiles et des problèmes de fertilité chez les hommes. Mots-clés: Nymphaea lotus, pro-érectile, androgénique, fertilité, diabétiques, rat male

The Lily and the Lotus: Notes on Translation

This critical/creative project considers Stéphane Mallarmé’s critical poems in his 1897 Divagations as an invitation to explore the notion of criticism and the relationship between the conceptual and the nonconceptual aspects of writing and thinking. Informed by Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the face, Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Task of theTranslator” and the myth of Orpheus, I consider ways to approach that which may not be said or thought by following Mallarmé’s method of combining poetry and criticism to create a wandering, unclassifiable text where we may imagine the nonconceptual as a remoteness, as the presence of an absence.

Pollen record and lithology of a profile from Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Four samples, G5, G7, G8, and G10, collected by Dr W. W. Bishop from an exposed section in the bank of the River Annan, at Roberthill Farm, Dumfriesshire (S35, 110794) were submitted for pollen analysis (Table I.). The samples, with the exception of the uppermost, were from thin peat layers that lie in the middle of a series of water- laid sands, silts and clays several feet in thickness and now rather strongly arched. The lowermost sample, G5, was taken from an organic layer about | in. thick overlying fine sand and underlying some 2.5 in. of grey, silty fine sand. A narrow layer of sandy peat immediately above the silty, fine sand yielded sample G7, and G8 was collected from a similar peaty layer separated from G7 by more sandy- silty peat. The uppermost sample, G10, was taken from light grey clay 13 in. above sample G8.