Interactions of a femtosecond intense laser with rare gas clusters in a dense jet\

A study on the interactions of high intensity (similar to 10(16) W/cm(2)) femtosecond laser pulses with rare gas clusters in a dense jet is performed. Energy absorption by Ar and Xe clusters is measured and it can be as high as 90%. Very energetic ions produced in the laser interaction with a dense cluster jet are detected by time-of-flight spectrometry and the maximum ion energy of Xe is up to 1.3 MeV. The average ion energies are found to increase with increasing cluster size and get saturated gradually. The average ion energies also show a strong directionality and the average ion energy in the direction parallel to the laser polarization vector is 40% higher than that perpendicular to it. The findings are discussed in terms of a model of charge-dependent ion acceleration.

Proton magnetic resonance studies of ribonucleic acid complexes. I. Complexes of biological bases and oligonucleotides with RNA. II. Template recognition and the degeneracy of the genetic code

Part I. Complexes of Biological Bases and Oligonucleotides with RNA

The physical nature of complexes of several biological bases and oligonucleotides with single-stranded ribonucleic acids have been studied by high resolution proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The importance of various forces in the stabilization of these complexes is also discussed.

Previous work has shown that purine forms an intercalated complex with single-stranded nucleic acids. This complex formation led to severe and stereospecific broadening of the purine resonances. From the field dependence of the linewidths, T₁ measurements of the purine protons and nuclear Overhauser enhancement experiments, the mechanism for the line broadening was ascertained to be dipole-dipole interactions between the purine protons and the ribose protons of the nucleic acid.

The interactions of ethidium bromide (EB) with several RNA residues have been studied. EB forms vertically stacked aggregates with itself as well as with uridine, 3'-uridine monophosphate and 5'-uridine monophosphate and forms an intercalated complex with uridylyl (3' → 5') uridine and polyuridylic acid (poly U). The geometry of EB in the intercalated complex has also been determined.

The effect of chain length of oligo-A-nucleotides on their mode of interaction with poly U in D₂0 at neutral pD have also been studied. Below room temperatures, ApA and ApApA form a rigid triple-stranded complex involving a stoichiometry of one adenine to two uracil bases, presumably via specific adenine-uracil base pairing and cooperative base stacking of the adenine bases. While no evidence was obtained for the interaction of ApA with poly U above room temperature, ApApA exhibited complex formation of a 1:1 nature with poly U by forming Watson-Crick base pairs. The thermodynamics of these systems are discussed.

Part II. Template Recognition and the Degeneracy of the Genetic Code

The interaction of ApApG and poly U was studied as a model system for the codon-anticodon interaction of tRNA and mRNA in vivo. ApApG was shown to interact with poly U below ~20°C. The interaction was of a 1:1 nature which exhibited the Hoogsteen bonding scheme. The three bases of ApApG are in an anti conformation and the guanosine base appears to be in the lactim tautomeric form in the complex.

Due to the inadequacies of previous models for the degeneracy of the genetic code in explaining the observed interactions of ApApG with poly U, the "tautomeric doublet" model is proposed as a possible explanation of the degenerate interactions of tRNA with mRNA during protein synthesis in vivo.

Tutoria e formação humana no ensino superior a distância

O presente estudo trata da relação que se estabelece entre o atual modelo de sociedade e os objetivos para a formação dos alunos no ensino superior, com foco nos processo educacional na modalidade a distância. Os impactos das transformações causadas pela sociedade do Informacionismo foram estudados em áreas como a cultura, a economia e a sociedade, mas ainda estão carecendo de estudos mais profundos sobre seus reflexos sobre a educação e a formação humana. Um novo tempo exige uma nova forma de compreender como esses processos se dão e como podemos viabilizá-los, para além da técnica, com o olhar voltado para a educação, mas também para a formação humana, com objetivos que nos permitam conceber uma Universidade para o século XXI. Os cursos superiores na modalidade a distância oferecem a possibilidade de um processo educacional com o uso das novas tecnologias digitais, em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem, como novas forma de comunicação e interação que reconfiguram as relações entre: espaço e tempo; professor e aluno e, principalmente, ensino e formação. Por esse motivo, a tese central centra-se na necessidade dos tutores, docentes responsáveis diretamente pela interação com os alunos na EAD, exercerem a sua autonomia para a escolha das estratégias de mediação que façam seus alunos aprenderem efetivamente e com liberdade para a tomada de decisões sobre as suas práticas em sala de aula, para uma EAD formadora.

Desenvolvimento de material instrucional com enfoque construtivista para cursos de bioestatística aplicada à análise epidemiológica usando R

Os recentes avanços tecnológicos fizeram aumentar o nível de qualificação do pesquisador em epidemiologia. A importância do papel estratégico da educação não pode ser ignorada. Todavia, a Associação Brasileira de Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva (ABRASCO), no seu último plano diretor (2005-2009), aponta uma pequena valorização na produção de material didático-pedagógico e, ainda, a falta de uma política de desenvolvimento e utilização de software livre no ensino da epidemiologia. É oportuno, portanto, investir em uma perspectiva relacional, na linha do que a corrente construtivista propõe, uma vez que esta teoria tem sido reconhecida como a mais adequada no desenvolvimento de materiais didáticos informatizados. Neste sentido, promover cursos interativos e, no bojo destes, desenvolver material didático conexo é oportuno e profícuo. No âmbito da questão política de desenvolvimento e utilização de software livre no ensino da epidemiologia, particularmente em estatística aplicada, o R tem se mostrado um software de interesse emergente. Ademais, não só porque evita possíveis penalizações por utilização de software comercial sem licença, mas também porque o franco acesso aos códigos e programação o torna uma ferramenta excelente para a elaboração de material didático em forma de hiperdocumentos, importantes alicerces para uma tão desejada interação docentediscente em sala de aula. O principal objetivo é desenvolver material didático em R para os cursos de bioestatística aplicada à análise epidemiológica. Devido a não implementação de certas funções estatísticas no R, também foi incluída a programação de funções adicionais. Os cursos empregados no desenvolvimento desse material fundamentaram-se nas disciplinas Uma introdução à Plataforma R para Modelagem Estatística de Dados e Instrumento de Aferição em Epidemiologia I: Teoria Clássica de Medidas (Análise) vinculadas ao departamento de Epidemiologia, Instituto de Medicina Social (IMS) da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). A base teórico-pedagógica foi definida a partir dos princípios construtivistas, na qual o indivíduo é agente ativo e crítico de seu próprio conhecimento, construindo significados a partir de experiências próprias. E, à ótica construtivista, seguiu-se a metodologia de ensino da problematização, abrangendo problemas oriundos de situações reais e sistematizados por escrito. Já os métodos computacionais foram baseados nas Novas Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (NTIC). As NTICs exploram a busca pela consolidação de currículos mais flexíveis, adaptados às características diferenciadas de aprendizagem dos alunos. A implementação das NTICs foi feita através de hipertexto, que é uma estrutura de textos interligados por nós ou vínculos (links), formando uma rede de informações relacionadas. Durante a concepção do material didático, foram realizadas mudanças na interface básica do sistema de ajuda do R para garantir a interatividade aluno-material. O próprio instrutivo é composto por blocos, que incentivam a discussão e a troca de informações entre professor e alunos.

A sala de aula no contexto da cibercultura: formação docente e discente em atos de currículo

Este trabalho de tese tem como temática a formação docente situada no contexto da cibercultura. Parte do pressuposto de que professores formadores e em formação precisam dialogar com saberes/fazeres que potencializem suas aprendizagens em um novo espaço/tempo da sala de aula e que a pesquisa no ensino superior se tece no exercício da reflexão sobre/na prática em um processo plural de auto-hetero-ecoformação. Tem como objetivo construir atos de currículo, utilizando as potencialidades dos ambientes virtuais, das redes sociais e da internet para ressignificar o aprender/ensinar situado nas vivências dos praticantes culturais dentro/fora da universidade. Como problemáticas central e secundária da pesquisa-formação na cibercultura, temos, respectivamente: como a criação de atos de currículo com o uso das tecnologias digitais em espaços multirreferencias de aprendizagem podem potencializar as práticas formativas docente e discente no Curso de Pedagogia da UERN no contexto da cibercultura? Quais dispositivos engendram práticas formativas autorais, no presencial e no online, com o uso das tecnologias digitais em rede? Como construir uma relação pedagógica de interação colaborativa, docente e discente, mediada pelo uso das tecnologias digitais? A criação de atos de currículo utilizando as tecnologias digitais contribui com novos letramentos digitais dos praticantes na cibercultura? Tomamos como inspirações teórico-metodológicas a pesquisa-formação (SANTOS; MACEDO; NÓVOA) multirreferencial (ARDOINO, BARBOSA, MACEDO) com os cotidianos (CERTEAU, ALVES, FERRAÇO, OLIVEIRA), situada no contexto da cibercultura (SANTOS, SILVA, LEMOS, SANTAELLA, LEVY), entrelaçadas aos sentidos dos autores da pesquisa deste trabalho de tese. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida no cenário formativo do Curso de Pedagogia da Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte UERN nas disciplinas de Didática e Estágio Supervisionado I. Como resultado, apresentamos que as ambiências formativas criadas nos atos de currículo no ensino presencial e online, apontam perspectivas que vão ao encontro de uma formação docente e discente do ciberautorcidadão, uma postura em processo, em devir, que se constrói na relação cidade/ciberespaço, em espaços/tempos de aprendizagens plurais, referenciadas nas experiências tecidas nesses contextos.

Reinforcement learning with reference tracking control in continuous state spaces

The contribution described in this paper is an algorithm for learning nonlinear, reference tracking, control policies given no prior knowledge of the dynamical system and limited interaction with the system through the learning process. Concepts from the field of reinforcement learning, Bayesian statistics and classical control have been brought together in the formulation of this algorithm which can be viewed as a form of indirect self tuning regulator. On the task of reference tracking using a simulated inverted pendulum it was shown to yield generally improved performance on the best controller derived from the standard linear quadratic method using only 30 s of total interaction with the system. Finally, the algorithm was shown to work on the simulated double pendulum proving its ability to solve nontrivial control tasks. © 2011 IEEE.

Tensile response of passivated films with climb-assisted dislocation glide

The tensile response of single crystal films passivated on two sides is analysed using climb enabled discrete dislocation plasticity. Plastic deformation is modelled through the motion of edge dislocations in an elastic solid with a lattice resistance to dislocation motion, dislocation nucleation, dislocation interaction with obstacles and dislocation annihilation incorporated through a set of constitutive rules. The dislocation motion in the films is by glide-only or by climb-assisted glide whereas in the surface passivation layers dislocation motion occurs by glide-only and penalized by a friction stress. For realistic values of the friction stress, the size dependence of the flow strength of the oxidised films was mainly a geometrical effect resulting from the fact that the ratio of the oxide layer thickness to film thickness increases with decreasing film thickness. However, if the passivation layer was modelled as impenetrable, i.e. an infinite friction stress, the plastic hardening rate of the films increases with decreasing film thickness even for geometrically self-similar specimens. This size dependence is an intrinsic material size effect that occurs because the dislocation pile-up lengths become on the order of the film thickness. Counter-intuitively, the films have a higher flow strength when dislocation motion is driven by climb-assisted glide compared to the case when dislocation motion is glide-only. This occurs because dislocation climb breaks up the dislocation pile-ups that aid dislocations to penetrate the passivation layers. The results also show that the Bauschinger effect in passivated thin films is stronger when dislocation motion is climb-assisted compared to films wherein dislocation motion is by glide-only. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

On-line policy optimisation of Bayesian spoken dialogue systems via human interaction

A partially observable Markov decision process has been proposed as a dialogue model that enables robustness to speech recognition errors and automatic policy optimisation using reinforcement learning (RL). However, conventional RL algorithms require a very large number of dialogues, necessitating a user simulator. Recently, Gaussian processes have been shown to substantially speed up the optimisation, making it possible to learn directly from interaction with human users. However, early studies have been limited to very low dimensional spaces and the learning has exhibited convergence problems. Here we investigate learning from human interaction using the Bayesian Update of Dialogue State system. This dynamic Bayesian network based system has an optimisation space covering more than one hundred features, allowing a wide range of behaviours to be learned. Using an improved policy model and a more robust reward function, we show that stable learning can be achieved that significantly outperforms a simulator trained policy. © 2013 IEEE.

RKKY interaction between quantum dot spins tuned by the quantum dot level

We have investigated the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction between two quantum dot (QD) spins mediated by a two-dimensional electron gas in the simplest case. The oscillation of the RKKY interaction versus the distance between the two QDs consists of two ingredients with different periods. The RKKY interaction undulates with the variation of the singly occupied QD level, which provides us a way to tune the magnitude and the sign of the RKKY interaction by pushing the QD level up and down. These conclusions are quite different from the usual result obtained by replacing the s-d exchange interaction with its value at the Fermi level. The influence on the RKKY interaction brought about under more realistic conditions is also discussed.

High-field cyclotron resonance and electron-phonon interaction in modulation-doped multiple quantum well structures

A systematic study of electron cyclotron resonance (CR) in two sets of GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As modulation-doped quantum-well samples (well widths between 12 and 24 nm) has been carried out in magnetic fields up to 30 T. Polaron CR is the dominant transition in the region of GaAs optical phonons for the set of lightly doped samples, and the results are in good agreement with calculations that include the interaction with interface optical phonons. The results from the heavily doped set are markedly different. At low magnetic fields (below the GaAs reststrahlen region), all three samples exhibit almost identical CR which shows little effect of the polaron interaction due to screening and Pauli-principle effects. Above the GaAs LO-phonon region (B > similar to 23 T), the three samples behave very differently. For the most lightly doped sample (3 x 10(11) cm(-2)) only one transition minimum is observed, which can be explained as screened polaron CR. A sample of intermediate density (6 x 10(11) cm(-2)) shows two lines above 23 T; the higher frequency branch is indistinguishable from the positions of the single line of the low density sample. For the most heavily, doped sample (1.2 x 10(12) cm(-2)) there is no evidence of high frequency resonance, and the strong, single line observed is indistinguishable from the lower branch observed from sample with intermediate doping density. We suggest that the low frequency branch in our experiment is a magnetoplasmon resonance red-shifted by disorder, and the upper branch is single-particle-like screened polaron CR. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

High-field cyclotron resonance and electron-phonon interaction in modulation-doped multiple quantum well structures

A systematic study of electron cyclotron resonance (CR) in two sets of GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As modulation-doped quantum-well samples (well widths between 12 and 24 nm) has been carried out in magnetic fields up to 30 T. Polaron CR is the dominant transition in the region of GaAs optical phonons for the set of lightly doped samples, and the results are in good agreement with calculations that include the interaction with interface optical phonons. The results from the heavily doped set are markedly different. At low magnetic fields (below the GaAs reststrahlen region), all three samples exhibit almost identical CR which shows little effect of the polaron interaction due to screening and Pauli-principle effects. Above the GaAs LO-phonon region (B > similar to 23 T), the three samples behave very differently. For the most lightly doped sample (3 x 10(11) cm(-2)) only one transition minimum is observed, which can be explained as screened polaron CR. A sample of intermediate density (6 x 10(11) cm(-2)) shows two lines above 23 T; the higher frequency branch is indistinguishable from the positions of the single line of the low density sample. For the most heavily, doped sample (1.2 x 10(12) cm(-2)) there is no evidence of high frequency resonance, and the strong, single line observed is indistinguishable from the lower branch observed from sample with intermediate doping density. We suggest that the low frequency branch in our experiment is a magnetoplasmon resonance red-shifted by disorder, and the upper branch is single-particle-like screened polaron CR. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Capillary electrochromatography for separation of peptides driven with electrophoretic mobility on monolithic column

A mode of capillary electrochromatography for separation of ionic compounds driven by electrophoretic mobility on a neutrally hydrophobic monolithic column was developed. The monolithic column was prepared from the in situ copolymerization of lauryl methacrylate and ethylene dimethacrylate to form a C-12 hydrophobic stationary phase. It was found that EOF in this hydrophobic monolithic column was very poor, even the pH value of mobile phase at 8.0. The peptides at acidic buffer were separated on the basis of their differences in electrophoretic mobility and hydrophobic interaction with the stationary phase; therefore, different separation selectivity can be obtained in CEC from that in capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Separation of peptides has been realized with high column efficiency (up to 150 000 plates/meter) and good reproducibility (migration time with RSD < 0.5%), and all of the peptides, including some basic peptides, showed good peak symmetry. Effects of the mobile phase compositions on the retention of peptides at low pH have been investigated in a hydrophobic capillary monolithic column. The significant difference in selectivity of peptides in CZE and CEC has been observed. Some peptide isomers that cannot be separated by CZE have been successfully separated on the capillary monolithic column in this mode with the same buffer used.

A study of the non-covalent interaction between flavonoids and DNA triplexes by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

The binding interactions of 22 flavonoids (9 aglycones and 13 glycosides) with DNA triplexes were investigated using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The results revealed that the hydroxyl positions of aglycones. the locations and numbers of saccharide, as well as the aglycone skeletons play roles in the triplex-binding properties of flavonoids. The presence of 3-OH, or 3'-OH, or replacement of 4'-OH with methoxy group in aglycones decreased the fraction of bound DNA sharply. Flavonoid glycosides exhibit higher binding affinities towards the DNA triplexes than their aglycone counterparts. Glycosylations of flavones at the 8-C position and isoflavones at the 7-O position show higher binding affinities than those on the other positions of ring A of aglycones. Glycosylation with a disaccharide on 0 position of flavonol results in higher binding affinity than that with monosaccharide. Flexibility of the ring B is favorable for its interaction with DNA triplex. According to sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation (SORI-CID) experiments, glycosylation and non-planarity of flavonoid aglycones lead to different dissociation pathways of the flavonoid/triplex complexes.

Tris(2,2 '-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) electrochemiluminescent detection of coreactants containing aromatic diol group by the interaction between diol and borate anion

Previous studies show that aromatic diols inhibited Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) electrochemiluminescence (ECL), and all reported Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) ECL methods for the determination of aromatic diols-containing coreactants are based on inhibition of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)/tripropylamine ECL. In this study, the interaction between diol and borate anion was exploited for Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) ECL detection of coreactants containing aromatic diol group using epinephrine as a model analyte. The interaction prevented from the inhibition of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) ECL by aromatic diol group of epinephrine. As a result, epinephrine was successfully detected in the absence of tripropylamine simply by using borate buffer solution as the supporting electrolyte. Under the optimum conditions, the log of the ECL intensity increases linearly with the log of epinephrine concentrations over the concentration range of 1.0x10(-9)-1.0x10(-4) M. The detection limit is 5.0x10(-10) M at a signal-to-noise ratio of three. The proposed method exhibit wider dynamic range and better detection limit than that by inhibited Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) ECL method. The relative standard deviation for 14 consecutive determinations of 5 mu M epinephrine was 3.5%. The strategy by interaction with borate anion or boronate derivatives is promising for the determination of coreactants containing aromatic diol group or aromatic hydroxyl acid group. Such interaction can also be used to avoid interference from aromatic diols or aromatic hydroxyl acids.

Magnetic behavior of polyaniline doped with oxidized ferrocenesulfonic acid

Ferrocenesulfonic acid (FSA) was oxidized by iodine (I-2) and then used as dopant for polyaniline emeraldine base. The resulted polyaniline showed an electrical conductivity of 4.50 x 10(-2) S/cm and a ferromagnetic interaction with a positive Weiss constant of 15 K, the magnetic behavior is attributed to the ferromagnetic coupling between ferrocenium cations in the counter-ions along the polyaniline chain.