Options for a Euro-area fiscal capacity. Bruegel Policy Brief 2013/01, January 2013

Europe has responded to the crisis with strengthened budgetary and macroeconomic surveillance, the creation of the European Stability Mechanism, liquidity provisioning by resilient economies and the European Central Bank and a process towards a banking union. However, a monetary union requires some form of budget for fiscal stabilisation in case of shocks, and as a backstop to the banking union. This paper compares four quantitatively different schemes of fiscal stabilisation and proposes a new scheme based on GDP-indexed bonds. The options considered are: (i) A federal budget with unemployment and corporate taxes shifted to euro-area level; (ii) a support scheme based on deviations from potential output;(iii) an insurance scheme via which governments would issue bonds indexed to GDP, and (iv) a scheme in which access to jointly guaranteed borrowing is combined with gradual withdrawal of fiscal sovereignty. Our comparison is based on strong assumptions. We carry out a preliminary, limited simulation of how the debt-to-GDP ratio would have developed between 2008-14 under the four schemes for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and an ‘average’ country.The schemes have varying implications in each case for debt sustainability

Leishmanicidal Activity and Immobilization of dermaseptin 01 antimicrobial peptides in ultrathin films for nanomedicine applications

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are essential for the innate immune system of eukaryotes, imparting protection against pathogens and their proliferation in host organisms. The recent interest in AMPs as active materials in bionanostructures is due to the properties shown by these biological molecules, such as the presence of an alpha-helix structure and distribution of positive charges along the chain. In this study the antimicrobial peptide dermaseptin 01 (DS 01), from the skin secretion of Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis frogs was immobilized in nanostructured layered films in conjunction with nickel tetrasulfonated phthalocyanines. The leishmanicidal activity of DS 01 was confirmed using kinetic essays, in which DS 01 promoted death of all metacyclic promastigote cells in 45 minutes. Surprisingly, the immobilized DS 01 molecules displayed electroactivity, as revealed by electrochemical experiments, in which an oxidation peak at about 0.61 V was observed for a DS 01 monolayer deposited on top of a conductive electrode. Such electroactivity was used to investigate the sensing abilities of the nanostructured films toward Leishmania. We observed an increase in the oxidation current as a function of number of Leishmania cells in the electrolytic solution at concentrations down to 10(3) cells/mL. The latter is indicative that the use of AMPs immobilized in electroactive nanostructured films may be of interest for applications in the pharmaceutical industry and diagnosis.

Perspective: LaGuardia Community College Newsletter (01 June 1972)

Perspective is a periodic publication of the College produced by the Office of Communications.

Estudo experimental e teórico das propriedades magnéticas e supercondutoras dos compostos borocarbetos da série Y(Ni 1-x Mn x) 2 B2 C com x = 0,0, 0,01, 0,025, 0,05, 0,10 e 0,15

Apresentamos neste trabalho os resultados de um estudo experimental e teórico dos compostos borocarbetos supercondutores da série Y(Ni1-xMnx)2B2C com x = 0; 0,01; 0,025; 0,05; 0,10; 0,15. A principal motivação para este trabalho foi investigar a estrutura eletrônica e a possível formação do momento magnético sobre os átomos de impureza de Mn nos compostos Y(Ni1- xMnx)2B2C. O aparecimento do momento magnético localizado no sítio da impureza possibilitou estudar a influência do Mn sobre o mecanismo de quebra de pares supercondutores e sobre as propriedades magnéticas do composto. Os borocarbetos são compostos de estrutura cristalina tetragonal de corpo centrado e altamente anisotrópicos (c/a~3). São intermetálicos de alta temperatura crítica supercondutora Tc, com forte acoplamento elétron-fonon. Em alguns casos podem apresentar ordem magnética, supercondutividade e também coexistência ou competição energética entre ambos. As medidas de transporte eletrônico, em função da temperatura, foram feitas utilizando-se um detector síncroton baseado na técnica de quatro pontos operando na faixa de 4,2K até 300K. Essas medidas possibilitaram o estudo das propriedades relacionadas ao transporte eletrônico na fase supercondutora. Na fase normal, extraiu-se a dependência em energia da função espectral de fonons α² F (ω) para alguns compostos da série estudada. As medidas magnéticas em função da temperatura e do campo magnético foram feitas utilizando-se um SQUID (Superconducting Quantun Interference Device – Quantun Design Model MPMS XL). Tais medidas permitiram a caracterização das propriedades magnéticas de nossas amostras. Em particular determinou-se o valor, em regime de saturação, do momento magnético associado ao sítio cristalino do Mn. Foram determinadas também as correntes críticas supercondutoras usando o Modelo de estado crítico de Bean e a variação da temperatura crítica supercondutora (Tc) com a mudança do campo externo aplicado. As medidas magnéticas permitiram a obtenção do diagrama que relaciona o campo crítico inferior (HC1) e a temperatura, variando-se a concentração do átomo dopante de manganês. Foi feito um esforço teórico no sentido de interpretar os resultados experimentais. Para isso foram usados três modelos: O modelo de estado crítico de Bean já citado acima e um modelo baseado na fórmula de Ziman usando uma aproximação para a função espectral de fonons para descrever a resistividade no regime de alta temperatura. Além disto, usou-se o modelo de duas sub-redes para a descrição do momento magnético das impurezas de Mn, em função da concentração, na série Y(Ni ) ( 2 ω α F 1-xMnx)2B2C.

Informação contida no diferencial de preços de classes de ações: antes e após 10.303/01

Vários trabalhos sugerem que os benefícios privados podem explicar o diferencial de preços entre espécies de ações com direitos diferenciados de voto. Entretanto, no Brasil o diferencial de preço entre a ação ordinária e a ação preferencial é negativo para várias empresas no período de julho de 1994 a setembro de 2002. Este trabalho investiga os determinantes que implicam este desconto da ação ordinária em relação à ação preferencial. Em particular, o trabalho analisa os impactos da liquidez, dos dividendos diferenciados, e das recentes mudanças na legislação sobre o prêmio pelo voto. Este artigo documenta que liquidez é extremamente relevante na determinação dos preços relativos. Constatações empíricas confirmam o impacto negativo da Lei n° 9.457 revogando os direitos dos ordinaristas minoritários de venda conjunta com controlador e o impacto positivo da introdução da Lei n° 10.303, restabelecendo estes direitos aos ordinaristas. Finalmente, a estrutura de propriedade se mostrou ter uma relação positiva com o prêmio pelo voto, mas a participação do maior acionista em ações ordinárias não apresentou uma relação significativa.

Grupo de trabalho do ISOP entre os anos de 01/01/1958 a 05/03/1964

Zélia Moreira Rebello de Mendonça (3ª pessoa da esquerda para direita)

Screening Botryosphaeria species for lipases: Production of lipase by Botryosphaeria ribis EC-01 grown on soybean oil and other carbon sources

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Incidence of non-01 Vibrio cholerae and Aeromonas spp. in fresh water in Araraquara, Brazil

The occurrence of Aeromonas spp., Vibrio cholerae, and Plesiomonas shigelloides in fresh water from various sources in Araraquara, State of São Paulo, Brazil was determined. Samples from ten distinct irrigation systems used in vegetable cultivation, from five distinct streams, from two reservoirs, from one artificial lake, and from three distinct springs were analyzed. All isolates were serotyped and tested for hemolysin, cytotoxin, heat-stable (ST) and heat-labile (LT) enterotoxins production; presence of plasmid; autoagglutination and drug resistance. V. cholerae isolates were also tested for cholera enterotoxin (CT) production, and Aeromonas isolates for suicide phenomenon. No P. shigelloides was found. V. cholerae non 01 was found in five irrigation water samples and in three stream samples. Aeromonas sp. were isolated in two samples of irrigation water, in three streams, and in one reservoir. All the V. cholerae and Aeromonas isolates were positive for P-hemolysin production, and all Aeromonas isolates were positive for suicide phenomenon; cytotoxic activities were observed in two Aeromonas strains. Cholera enterotoxin was not found in eight V. cholerae non-01 isolates tested by the Y-1 mouse adrenal cell. All isolates were also negative for the other virulence markers. Ii cholelerae isolates were found to be sensitive to the majority of drugs tested, while Aeromonas strains presented multiple drug resistance..

Evaluation of 316L Stainless Steel Corrosion Resistance in Solution Simulating the Acid Hydrolysis of Biomass

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Lipase production by Botryosphaeria ribis EC-01 on soybean and castorbean meals: Optimization, immobilization, and application for biodiesel production

The effects of soybean and castorbean meals were evaluated separately, and in combinations at different ratios, as substrates for lipase production by Botryosphaeria ribis EC-01 in submerged fermentation using only distilled water. The addition of glycerol analytical grade (AG) and glycerol crude (CG) to soybean and castorbean meals separately and in combination, were also examined for lipase production. Glycerol-AG increased enzyme production, whereas glycerol-CG decreased it. A 24 factorial design was developed to determine the best concentrations of soybean meal, castorbean meal, glycerol-AG, and KH2PO4 to optimize lipase production by B. ribis EC-01. Soybean meal and glycerol-AG had a significant effect on lipase production, whereas castorbean meal did not. A second treatment (22 factorial design central composite) was developed, and optimal lipase production (4,820 U/g of dry solids content (ds)) was obtained when B. ribis EC-01 was grown on 0.5 % (w/v) soybean meal and 5.2 % (v/v) glycerol in distilled water, which was in agreement with the predicted value (4,892 U/g ds) calculated by the model. The unitary cost of lipase production determined under the optimized conditions developed ranged from US$0.42 to 0.44 based on nutrient costs. The fungal lipase was immobilized onto Celite and showed high thermal stability and was used for transesterification of soybean oil in methanol (1:3) resulting in 36 % of fatty acyl alkyl ester content. The apparent K m and V max were determined and were 1.86 mM and 14.29 μmol min -1 mg-1, respectively. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.