Servei de rutes basat en Open Source Routing Machine

Aquesta memòria descriu la preparació, l'execució i els resultats obtinguts d'implementar un sistema calculador de rutes. El projecte Open Source Routing Machine és un motor calculador de rutes d'alt rendiment que utilitza les dades de OpenStreetMaps per calcular el camí més curt entre dos punts. En aquest projecte final no únicament es volen utilitzar les dades OpenStreetMap sinó que també es pretenen utilitzar dades pròpies en format shapefile i poder visualitzar-los en un visor web. Aquest visor permet a l'usuari, de forma senzilla, sol•licitar rutes al servidor OSRM creat, obtenint la ruta desitjada en molt pocs milisegons

Au bord d'une source

Soitinnus: Piano.

Comparative effects of macro-sized aluminum oxide and aluminum oxide nanoparticles on erythrocyte hemolysis: influence of cell source, temperature and size

Al2O3 is the most abundantly produced nanomaterial and has been used in diverse fields, including the medical, military and industrial sectors. As there are concerns about the health effects of nanoparticles, it is important to understand how they interact with cells, and specifically with red blood cells. The hemolysis induced by three commercial nano-sized aluminum oxide particles (nanopowder 13 nm, nanopowder <50 nm and nanowire 2-6 nm × 200-400 nm) was compared to aluminum oxide and has been studied on erythrocytes from humans, rats and rabbits, in order to elucidate the mechanism of action and the influence of size and shape on hemolytic behavior. The concentrations inducing 50% hemolysis (HC50) were calculated for each compound studied. The most hemolytic aluminum oxide particles were of nanopowder 13, followed by nanowire and nanopowder 50. The addition of albumin to PBS induced a protective effect on hemolysis in all the nano-forms of Al2O3, but not on Al2O3. The drop in HC50 correlated to a decrease in nanomaterial size, which was induced by a reduction of aggregation Aluminum oxide nanoparticles are less hemolytic than other oxide nanoparticles, and behave differently depending on the size and shape of the nanoparticles. The hemolytic behavior of aluminum oxide nanoparticles differs from that of aluminum oxide.

Comparative effects of macro-sized aluminum oxide and aluminum oxide nanoparticles on erythrocyte hemolysis: influence of cell source, temperature and size

Al2O3 is the most abundantly produced nanomaterial and has been used in diverse fields, including the medical, military and industrial sectors. As there are concerns about the health effects of nanoparticles, it is important to understand how they interact with cells, and specifically with red blood cells. The hemolysis induced by three commercial nano-sized aluminum oxide particles (nanopowder 13 nm, nanopowder <50 nm and nanowire 2-6 nm × 200-400 nm) was compared to aluminum oxide and has been studied on erythrocytes from humans, rats and rabbits, in order to elucidate the mechanism of action and the influence of size and shape on hemolytic behavior. The concentrations inducing 50% hemolysis (HC50) were calculated for each compound studied. The most hemolytic aluminum oxide particles were of nanopowder 13, followed by nanowire and nanopowder 50. The addition of albumin to PBS induced a protective effect on hemolysis in all the nano-forms of Al2O3, but not on Al2O3. The drop in HC50 correlated to a decrease in nanomaterial size, which was induced by a reduction of aggregation Aluminum oxide nanoparticles are less hemolytic than other oxide nanoparticles, and behave differently depending on the size and shape of the nanoparticles. The hemolytic behavior of aluminum oxide nanoparticles differs from that of aluminum oxide.

Adaptação de forno de microondas doméstico para realização de reações de transesterificação sob refluxo e catálise por argilas

The microwave oven became an important source of heating for many laboratory procedures including accelerating organic reactions. Reactions that require long reflux times can sometimes be carried out in a few hours or minutes in a conventional microwave oven. However, longer reflux times can be troublesome since domestic microwave ovens are not prepared for these harsh conditions. This technical note presents our finding on heterogeneous catalysis transesterification reactions between b-keto-esters and carbohydrate derivatives under heating or microwave irradiation using an adapted domestic microwave oven.

Synthesis and antitubercular activity of isoniazid condensed with carbohydrate derivatives

A series of 13 compounds analogous of isoniazid condensed with carbohydrate was synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using Alamar Blue susceptibility test and the activity expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) in μg/mL. Several compounds exhibited antitubercular activity (0.31-3.12 μg/mL) when compared with first line drugs such as isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RIP) and could be a good starting point to develop new compounds against tuberculosis.

Carotenoids production: microorganisms as source of natural dyes

Carotenoids are natural dyes synthesized by plants, algae and microorganisms. Application in many sectors can be found, as food dyeing and supplementation, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and animal feed. Recent investigations have shown their ability to reduce the risks for many degenerative diseases like cancer, heart diseases, cataract and macular degeneration. An advantage of microbial carotenoids is the fact that the cultivation in controlled conditions is not dependent of climate, season or soil composition. In this review the advances in bio-production of carotenoids are presented, discussing the main factors that influence the microbial production of these dyes in different systems.

Chemical composition, circadian rhythm and antibacterial activity of essential oils of piper divaricatum: a new source of safrole

The essential oils from leaves, stems and fruits of Piper divaricatum were analyzed by GC-MS. The tissues showed high safrole content: leaves (98%), fruits (87%) and stems (83%), with yields of 2.0, 4.8 and 1.7%, respectively. This is a new alternative source of safrole, a compound widely used as a flavoring agent and insecticide. The leaf's oil showed antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria while safrole was active against Salmonella Typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, the study of circadian rhythm of the safrole concentration in the essential oils of leaves showed a negligible variation of 92 to 98%.

Tropical biodiversity: has it been a potential source of secondary metabolites useful for medicinal chemistry?

The use of natural products has definitely been the most successful strategy in the discovery of novel medicines. Secondary metabolites from terrestrial and marine organisms have found considerable use in the treatment of numerous diseases and have been considered lead molecules both in their natural form and as templates for medicinal chemistry. This paper seeks to show the great value of secondary metabolites and emphasize the rich chemical diversity of Brazilian biodiversity. This natural chemical library remains understudied, but can be a useful source of new secondary metabolites with potential application as templates for drug discovery.

QSAR modeling: um novo pacote computacional open source para gerar e validar modelos QSAR

QSAR modeling is a novel computer program developed to generate and validate QSAR or QSPR (quantitative structure- activity or property relationships) models. With QSAR modeling, users can build partial least squares (PLS) regression models, perform variable selection with the ordered predictors selection (OPS) algorithm, and validate models by using y-randomization and leave-N-out cross validation. An additional new feature is outlier detection carried out by simultaneous comparison of sample leverage with the respective Studentized residuals. The program was developed using Java version 6, and runs on any operating system that supports Java Runtime Environment version 6. The use of the program is illustrated. This program is available for download at lqta.iqm.unicamp.br.

Carboidratos como fonte de compostos para a indústria de química fina

Coal, oil, natural gas, and shale gas are biomass that is formed millions of years ago. These are non-renewable and depleting, even considering the recent discovery of new sources of oil in the presalt and new technologies for the exploitation of shale deposits. Currently, these raw materials are used as a source of energy production and are also important for the production of fine chemicals. Since these materials are finite and their (oil) price is increasing, it is clear that there will be a progressive increase in the chemical industry to use renewable raw materials as a source of energy, an inevitable necessity for humanity. The major challenge for the society in the twenty first century is to unite governments, universities, research centers, and corporations to jointly act in all areas of science with one goal of finding a solution to global problems, such as conversion of biomass into compounds for the fine chemical industry.Non-renewable raw materials are used in the preparation of fuels, chemical intermediates, and derivatives for the fine chemical industry. However, their stock in nature has a finite duration, and their price is high and will likely increase with their depletion. In this scenario, the alternative is to use renewable biomass as a replacement for petrochemicals in the production of fine chemicals. As the production of biomass-based carbohydrates is the most abundant in nature, it is judicious to develop technologies for the generation of chain products (fuels, chemical intermediates, and derivatives for the fine chemicals industry) using this raw material. This paper presents some aspects and opportunities in the area of carbohydrate chemistry toward the generation of compounds for the fine chemical industry.

Volatile constituents of Aristolochia trilobata L. (Aristolochiaceae): a rich source of sulcatyl acetate

Analysis of the volatile fraction of Aristolochia trilobata stem led to the identification of 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-yl acetate (23.31 ± 0.28%), limonene (15.43 ± 0.030%), linalool (8.70 ± 0.29%), p-cymene (7.81 ± 0.12%), bicyclogermacrene (4.21 ± 0.11%), and spathulenol (4.17 ± 0.14%) as the major constituents of the essential oil. Linalool (29.51 ± 0.49%), 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-ol (19.54 ± 0.82%), 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-yl acetate (8.92 ± 0.16%), and a-terpineol (4.62 ± 0.05%) were identified as major constituents of the hydrolate. The compound 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-yl acetate was isolated for the first time from this plant and was identified as the major component of the volatile fraction.

PYROLIGNEOUS LIQUOR PRODUCED FROM ACACIA MEARNSII DE WILD WOOD UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS AS A RENEWABLE SOURCE OF CHEMICALS

Acacia mearnsii de Wild (black wattle) is one of the most important trees planted in Southern Brazil for tannin extraction and charcoal production. The pyrolysis of the black wattle wood used for obtaining charcoal is performed in brick ovens, with the gas fraction being sent directly into the environment. The present study examines the condensable compounds present in the liquor produced from black wattle wood at different thermal degradation conditions, using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Branches of black wattle were thermally degraded at controlled ambient and temperature conditions. Overall, a higher variety of compounds were obtained under atmospheric air pressure than under synthetic air pressure. Most of the tentatively identified compounds, such as carboxylic acids, phenols, aldehydes, and low molecular mass lignin fragments, such as guayacol, syringol, and eugenol, were products of lignin thermoconversion. Substituted aromatic compounds, such as vanillin, ethyl vanillin, and 2-methoxy-4-propeny-phenol, were also identified. At temperatures above 200 ºC, furan, 2-acetylfuran, methyl-2-furoate, and furfural, amongst others, were identified as polysaccharide derivatives from cellulose and hemicellulose depolymerization. This study evidences the need for adequate management of the condensable by-products of charcoal production, both for economic reasons and for controlling their potential environmental impact.

LOW COST ANALYZER FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PHOSPHORUS BASED ON OPEN-SOURCE HARDWARE AND PULSED FLOWS

The need for automated analyzers for industrial and environmental samples has triggered the research for new and cost-effective strategies of automation and control of analytical systems. The widespread availability of open-source hardware together with novel analytical methods based on pulsed flows have opened the possibility of implementing standalone automated analytical systems at low cost. Among the areas that can benefit from this approach are the analysis of industrial products and effluents and environmental analysis. In this work, a multi-pumping flow system is proposed for the determination of phosphorus in effluents and polluted water samples. The system employs photometric detection based on the formation of molybdovanadophosphoric acid, and the fluidic circuit is built using three solenoid micropumps. The detection is implemented with a low cost LED-photodiode photometric detection system and the whole system is controlled by an open-source Arduino Uno microcontroller board. The optimization of the timing to ensure the color development and the pumping cycle is discussed for the proposed implementation. Experimental results to evaluate the system behavior are presented verifying a linear relationship between the relative absorbance and the phosphorus concentrations for levels as high as 50 mg L-1.

Sugarcane yellow leaf virus infection leads to alterations in photosynthetic efficiency and carbohydrate accumulation in sugarcane leaves

Infection by Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (ScYLV) causes severe leaf symptoms in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) hybrids, which indicate alterations in its photosynthetic apparatus. To gain an overview of the physiological status of infected plants, we evaluated chlorophyll a fluorescence and gas exchange assays, correlating the results with leaf metabolic surveys, i.e., photosynthetic pigments and carbohydrate contents. When compared to healthy plants, infected plants showed a reduction in potential quantum efficiency for photochemistry of photosystem (PSII) and alterations in the filling up of the plastoquinone (PQ) pool. They also showed reduction in the CO2 net exchange rates, probably as a consequence of impaired quantum yield. In addition, reductions were found in the contents of photosynthetic leaf pigments and in the ratio chlorophyll a/chlorophyll b (chla/chlb). Carbohydrate content in the leaves was increased as a secondary effect of the ScYLV infection. This article discusses the relation of virus replication and host defense responses with general alterations in the photosynthetic apparatus and in the metabolism of infected plants.