A security architecture for a semantic Grid registry

Existing registry technologies such as UDDI can be enhanced to support capabilities for semantic reasoning and inquiry, which subsequently increases its usability range. The Grimoires registry was developed to provide such support through the use of metadata attachments to registry entities. The use of such attachments provides a way for allowing service operators to specify security assertions pertaining to registry entities owned by them. These assertions may however have to be reconciled with existing registry policies. A security architecture based on the XACML standard and deployed in the OMII framework is outlined to demonstrate how this goal is achieved in the registry.

Cytotoxicity of Diepoxybutane and Epichlorohydrin in Relation to Stages of the Cell Cycle

Work conducted in the Millard Biochemistry Research Laboratory examines the dual nature of molecules as carcinogens and anti-tumor agents through the molecular mechanisms of duplex DNA damage by bifunctional alkylating agents. Diepoxybutane (DEB) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) are polar molecules that form covalent DNA interstrand lesions by cross-linking the N7 position of deoxyguanosine residues. A recent experiment indicated that ECH preferentially targets nuclear DNA over mitochondrial DNA, whereas DEB shows similar rates of lesion formation for both loci. It was concluded that preferential targeting of nuclear DNA results from relatively poor uptake of ECH across the mitochondrial membrane. The objective of my honors research was to determine if the cytotoxicities of DEB and ECH vary according to the presence of the nuclear envelope in 6C2 chicken erythro-progenitor cells. The cytotoxicity of DEB and ECH was compared between cells randomly distributed throughout the cell cycle (Go/G, and S » G2/M) and cells enriched in G2/M stages. Results indicated that ECH is more cytotoxic than DEB in both unsynchronized control 6C2 cells and synchronized 6C2 cells enriched in G2/M stages of the cell cycle. Treatment with either bifunctional alkylating agent induced greater cytotoxicity in 6C2 cells enriched in G2/M stages than in unsynchronized control 6C2 cells, suggesting that the presence of the nuclear envelope-or any plasma membrane-may inhibit the reactivity of DEB and ECH.

A importância do suporte emocional aos pais de bebês internados num CTI pediátrico: aspectos teóricos e práticos de um trabalho com grupos

Este trabalho, realizado num hospital, apresenta a prática de Grupo com pais de bebês internados em Centro de Tratamento Intensivo. Tal prática visa basicamente o atendimento aos pais no sentida de lhes oferecer as condições necesárias para a manutenção e preservação do vínculo afetivo bebê-pais, e consequentemente aceitação deste bebê doente, tanto durante o período de internação como também após sua alta. Visa, portanto, revelar a importância de um suporte emocional aos pais de tais bebês, sem o que, acredita-se, dificilmente ais pais teriam condições de superar a situação de crise emocional por que passam diante ao nascimento de um filho doente ou que adoece logo ao nascer. o trabalho com os Grupos realiza-se uma vez por s~ mana. tendo a duração de 1DJla hora. A coordenação destes grupos é feita em co~terap:ta por UltlJllédico peaiatra e um psicõl~ go. Baseia-se na livre expressão dos participantes. e tanto o médico quanto o psicólogo. oferecem informações sobre o estado de saúde do bebê ao mesmo tempo em que buscam compreen -der na fala dos pais os aspectos emocionais nela subentendi -dos. .' Essencialmente, tornaram-se temas centrais deste trabalho os que dizem respeito a ligação afetiva dos pais com o bebê, aos sentimentos de culpa pela doença do mesmo e os relativos i preocupação dos pais com o desenvolvimento futuro de seu filho. Os referidos temas foram denominados com os seguintes títulos: Vínculos e Separações, Sentimentos de Culpa e O Espaço da Criança, e neles foram abordados os aspectos teóricos de cada questão, visando uma melhor compreensão das ansiedades dos pais e na esperança de fornecer suporte emocional aos mesmos, a fim de que possam melhor amparar seus filhos.

Practice location of physicians: a discrete choice model approach

Economists and policymakers have long been concerned with increasing the supply of health professionals in rural and remote areas. This work seeks to understand which factors influence physicians’ choice of practice location right after completing residency. Differently from previous papers, we analyse the Brazilian missalocation and assess the particularities of developing countries. We use a discrete choice model approach with a multinomial logit specification. Two rich databases are employed containing the location and wage of formally employed physicians as well as details from their post-graduation. Our main findings are that amenities matter, physicians have a strong tendency to remain in the region they completed residency and salaries are significant in the choice of urban, but not rural, communities. We conjecture this is due to attachments built during training and infrastructure concerns.

Um ambiente integrado para manipulação de tráfego multicast

In the two last decades of the past century, following the consolidation of the Internet as the world-wide computer network, applications generating more robust data flows started to appear. The increasing use of videoconferencing stimulated the creation of a new form of point-to-multipoint transmission called IP Multicast. All companies working in the area of software and the hardware development for network videoconferencing have adjusted their products as well as developed new solutionsfor the use of multicast. However the configuration of such different solutions is not easy done, moreover when changes in the operational system are also requirede. Besides, the existing free tools have limited functions, and the current comercial solutions are heavily dependent on specific platforms. Along with the maturity of IP Multicast technology and with its inclusion in all the current operational systems, the object-oriented programming languages had developed classes able to handle multicast traflic. So, with the help of Java APIs for network, data bases and hipertext, it became possible to the develop an Integrated Environment able to handle multicast traffic, which is the major objective of this work. This document describes the implementation of the above mentioned environment, which provides many functions to use and manage multicast traffic, functions which existed only in a limited way and just in few tools, normally the comercial ones. This environment is useful to different kinds of users, so that it can be used by common users, who want to join multimedia Internet sessions, as well as more advenced users such engineers and network administrators who may need to monitor and handle multicast traffic

Predicao de campo em comunicacao sem fio

Even living in the XXI century are still some difficulties in access to broadband Internet in several Brazilian cities, due to the purchasing power of people and lack of government investment. But even with these difficulties, we seek to encourage the use of wireless technology, which is based on the IEEE 802.11b protocol - also known as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) Wireless Fidelity Communications, having wide range of commercial applications in the world market, nationally and internationally. In Brazil, this technology is in full operation in major cities and has proved attractive in relation to the access point to multipoint and point-to-point. This paper is a comparative analysis of prediction field, using models based on the prediction of propagation loss. To validate the techniques used here, the Okumura-Hata models, modified Okumura-Hata, Walfisch-Ikegami model, were applied to a wireless computer network, located in the neighborhood of Cajupiranga in the city of Melbourn, in Rio Grande do Norte . They are used for networking wireless 802.11b, using the Mobile Radio to measure signal levels, beyond the heights of the antennas and distances from the transmitter. The performance data versus distance are added to the graphs generated and compared with results obtained through calculations of propagation models

Investigation of the interaction between Tc85-11 protein and antibody anti-T cruzi by AFM and amperometric measurements

This present work reports on development of an amperometric immunosensor for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease using a specific glycoprotein of the trypomastigote surface, which belongs to the Tc85-11 protein family of Trypanosoma cruzi (T cruzi). An atomically flat gold surface on a silicon substrate and gold screen-printed electrodes were functionalized with cystatrine and later activated with glutaraldehyde (GA), which was used to form covalent bonds with the purified recombinant antigen (Tc85-11). The antigen reacts with the antibody from the serum, and the affinity reaction was monitored directly using atomic force microscopy or amperometry through a secondary antibody tagged to peroxidase (HRP). Surface imaging allowed to us to differentiate the modification steps and antigen-antibody interaction allowed to distinguish the affinity reactions. In the amperometric immunosensor, peroxidase catalyses the L-2 formation in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide, and the reduction current intensity was measured at a given potential with screen-printed electrodes. The immunosensor was applied to sera of chagasic patients and patients having different systemic diseases. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physical properties of pectin-high amylose starch mixtures cross-linked with sodium trimetaphosphate

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A tellurium-based cathepsin B inhibitor: Molecular structure, modelling, molecular docking and biological evaluation

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Synthesis, characterization and thermal behaviour of solid-state compounds of benzoates with some bivalent transition metal ions

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

Effect of a nanostructured dendrimer-naloxonazine complex on endogenous opioid peptides mu(1) receptor-mediated post-ictal antinociception

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

Caracterização do processo de gelificação de soluções quitosana utilizando reometria e espalhamento dinâmico da luz

Gels consist of soft materials with vast use in several activities, such as in pharmaceutical industry, food science, and coatings/textile applications. In order to obtain these materials, the process of gelification, that can be physical (based on physical interactions) and/or chemical (based on covalent crosslinking), has to be carried out. In this work we used dynamic light scattering (DLS) and rheometry to monitor the covalent gelification of chitosan solutions by glutaraldehyde. Intensity correlation function (ICF) data was obtained from DLS and the exponential stretched Kohrausch-William-Watts function (KWW) was fitted to them. The parameters of the KWW equation, β, Γ and C were evaluated. These methods were effective in clarifying the process of sol-gel transition, with the emergence of non-ergodicity, and determining the range of gelation observed in about 10-20 minutes. The dependence between apparent viscosity on reaction time was used to support the discussion proposed.

Estudo teórico QTAIM e DFT dos compostos de coordenação: efeito quelato, titanocenos e ligação química

This work is a study of coordination compounds by quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), based on the topological analysis of the electron density of molecular systems, both theoretically and experimentally obtained. The coordination chemistry topics which were studied are the chelate effect, bent titanocene and chemical bond in coordination complexes. The chelate effect was investigated according to topological and thermodynamic parameters. The exchange of monodentate ligands on polydentate ligands from same transition metal increases the stability of the complex both from entropy and enthalpy contributions. In some cases, the latter had a higher contribution to the stability of the complex in comparison with entropy. This enthalpic contribution is explained according to topological analysis of the M-ligand bonds where polidentate complex had higher values of electron density of bond critical point, Laplacian of electron density of bond critical point and delocalization index (number of shared electrons between two atoms). In the second chapter, was studied bent titanocenes with bulky cyclopentadienyl derivative π-ligand. The topological study showed the presence of secondary interactions between the atoms of π-ligands or between atoms of π-ligand and -ligand. It was found that, in the case of titanocenes with small difference in point group symmetry and with bulky ligands, there was an nearly linear relationship between stability and delocalization index involving the ring carbon atoms (Cp) and the titanium. However, the titanocene stability is not only related to the interaction between Ti and C atoms of Cp ring, but secondary interactions also play important role on the stability of voluminous titanocenes. The third chapter deals with the chemical bond in coordination compounds by means of QTAIM. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules so far classifies bonds and chemical interactions in two categories: closed shell interaction (ionic bond, hydrogen bond, van der Waals interaction, etc) and shared interaction (covalent bond). Based on topological parameters such as electron density, Laplacian of electron density, delocalization index, among others, was classified the chemical bond in coordination compounds as an intermediate between closed shell and shared interactions

Estudo da imobilização de proteases para a síntese de oligolisinas

Enzymatic synthesis of peptides using proteases has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. One key challenge in peptide synthesis is to find supports for protease immobilization capable of working in aqueous medium at high performance, producing watersoluble oligopeptides. At present, few reports have been described using this strategy. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to immobilize proteases applying different methods (Immobilization by covalent bound, entrapment onto polymeric gels of PVA and immobilization on glycidil metacrylate magnetic nanoparticles) in order to produce water-soluble oligopeptides derived from lysine. Three different proteases were used: trypsin, α-chymotrypsin and bromelain. According to immobilization strategies associated to the type of protease employed, trypsin-resin systems showed the best performance in terms of hydrolytic activity and oligopeptides synthesis. Hydrolytic activities of the free and immobilized enzymes were determined spectrophotometrically based on the absorbance change at 660 nm at 25 °C (Casein method). Calculations of oligolysine yield and average degree of polymerization (DPavg) were monitored by 1H-NMR analysis. Trypsin was covalently immobilized onto four different resins (Amberzyme, Eupergit C, Eupergit CM and Grace 192). Maximum yield of bound protein was 92 mg/g, 82 mg/g and 60 mg/g support for each resin respectively. The effectiveness of these systems (Trypsin-resins) was evaluated by hydrolysis of casein and synthesis of water-soluble oligolysine. Most systems were capable of catalyzing oligopeptide synthesis in aqueous medium, albeit at different efficiencies, namely: 40, 37 and 35% for Amberzyme, Eupergit C and Eupergit CM, respectively, in comparison with free enzyme. These systems produced oligomers in only 1 hour with DPavg higher than free enzyme. Among these systems, the Eupergit C-Trypsin system showed greater efficiency than others in terms of hydrolytic activity and thermal stability. However, this did not occur for oligolysine synthesis. Trypsin-Amberzyme proved to be more successful in oligopeptide synthesis, and exhibited excellent reusability, since it retained 90% of its initial hydrolytic and synthetic activity after 7 reuses. Trypsin hydrophobic interactions with Amberzyme support are responsible for protecting against strong enzyme conformational changes in the medium. In addition, the high concentration of oxirane groups on the surface promoted multi-covalent linking and, consequently, prevented the immobilized enzyme from leaching. The aforementioned results suggest that immobilized Trypsin on the supports evaluated can be efficiently used for oligopeptides synthesis in aqueous media

Efeito do colírio de 5-fluorouracil sobre o epitélio corneano íntegro de coelhos

OBJETIVO: Observar os efeitos da aplicação tópica de 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) sobre o epitélio corneano íntegro. MÉTODOS: Foram utilizados 10 coelhos albinos (14 olhos), divididos em: grupo controle (GC), 4 olhos nos quais não se administraram drogas, grupo 1 (G1), 5 olhos que receberam 5-fluorouracil na concentração 1,25% e grupo 2 (G2), 5 olhos que receberam 5-fluorouracil na concentração de 2,5%. A droga foi instilada 4 vezes por dia, durante 7 dias, quando os animais foram sacrificados, os olhos removidos, separando-se a córnea que foi preparada de modo convencional para estudo em microscópico eletrônico de varredura. RESULTADOS: GC: observaram-se células de formato hexagonal, claras, escuras e intermediárias, compondo o epitélio corneano de coelhos. Presença de numerosas microplicas, principalmente nas células claras. Cada célula possui cerca de 1 a 3 criptas. Nos animais do G1, observou-se maior número de células escuras, regiões com diminuição no número de criptas; alterações da superfície celular, protusão na região do núcleo e descamação de células epiteliais. Os do G2 tiveram aumento de microprojeções na superfície celular, modificações nas junções intercelulares até separação de células adjacentes; diminuição do número e variabilidade no tamanho das criptas. As alterações mais freqüentes ocorreram nas células da periferia da córnea. CONCLUSÃO: O 5-fluorouracil teve efeitos deletérios no epitélio íntegro corneano de coelhos. As alterações observadas foram mais importantes nos animais que receberam a droga mais concentrada (G2) e mais freqüentes na periferia da córnea.