Uma métrica gráfica para avaliação holística da verdura de reacções laboratoriais - "Estrela Verde"

A new semi-quantitative metrics, Green Star (GS), for evaluation of the global greenishness of chemical reactions used in teaching laboratories has been developed. Its aim is to help choosing the more acceptable reactions for implementing Green Chemistry (GC) and to identify suitable modifications of reaction protocols to improve the greenishness of chemistry. GS considers globally all the Twelve Principles of GC. To illustrate its construction, the tetraamminecopper(II) sulfate monohydrate laboratory synthesis, performed under several sets of conditions to pursue greenishness, is presented. A comparative study with other GC metrics showed the advantages of GS and that it accomplishes its purpose.

Simultaneous determination of moxifloxacin and H2 receptor antagonist in pharmaceutical dosage formulations by RP-HPLC: application to in vitro drug interactions

Simultaneous determination of moxifloxacin (MOX) and H2-antagonists was first time developed in bulk and formulations. Purospher STAR C18 (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column was used. The mobile phase (methanol: water: ACN, 60:45:5 v/v/v, pH 2.7) was delivered at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min-1, eluent was monitored at 236, 270 and 310 nm for cimetidine, famotidine and ranitidine, respectively. The proposed method is specific, accurate (98-103%), precise (intra-day and inter-day variation 0.098-1.970%) and linear (r>0.998). The LOD and LOQ were 0.006-0.018 and 0.019-0.005 μg mL-1, respectively. The statistical parameters were applied to verify the results. The method is applicable to routine analysis of formulations and interaction of MOX with H2-antagonist.

Romp as a versatile method for the obtention of differentiated polymeric materials

Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP) of cyclic olefins is a powerful transition metal-catalyzed reaction for syntheses of polymers and copolymers. The key feature of this reaction is the [2+2]-cycloaddition mechanism, with retention of the olefinic unsaturation in the polymer chain and occurrence of living polymerization. With the development of metal-carbene type catalysts for this process, many addressed polymeric materials have been successfully prepared to be employed in several fields of the science and technology. This review summarizes recent examples of syntheses of polymers with amphiphilic features such as block, graft, brush or star copolymers; as well syntheses of biomaterials, dendronized architectures, photoactive polymers, cross-linked or self-healing materials, and polymers from renewed supplies.

Novas métricas holísticas para avaliação da verdura de reações de síntese em laboratório

New semi-quantitative metrics for simple evaluation of global greenness of chemical reactions used in teaching laboratories, namely, the Green Circle (GC) and Green Matrix (GM), were developed. These metrics globally consider all Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry. To illustrate their construction, the greenness of several syntheses performed in the laboratory under different sets of conditions was assessed. The tools were validated by comparing the results with another metric, the Green Star (GS), developed in our previous study. Results showed these new metrics were useful for the intended purpose, having the advantage of being simpler than the GS.

Avaliação da "microverdura" de sínteses com a estrela verde

This article reports a study to increase the overall greenness of chemical syntheses for first-year university laboratories. The separate evaluation of the micro-greenness of the three stages of synthesis (reaction, isolation and purification) using the Green Star (GS) was implemented and their respective contribution to overall greenness was investigated for two examples: syntheses of cobalt (III) tris(acetylacetonate) and potassium nitrilosulfonate. Results showed that the post-reaction (work-up) steps are the most problematic for overall greenness. Greenness optimization can be achieved by combining the greenest procedures for each step obtained from different protocols available in the literature.

Applications of graph transformation in tools for domain-specific modeling languages

The use of domain-specific languages (DSLs) has been proposed as an approach to cost-e ectively develop families of software systems in a restricted application domain. Domain-specific languages in combination with the accumulated knowledge and experience of previous implementations, can in turn be used to generate new applications with unique sets of requirements. For this reason, DSLs are considered to be an important approach for software reuse. However, the toolset supporting a particular domain-specific language is also domain-specific and is per definition not reusable. Therefore, creating and maintaining a DSL requires additional resources that could be even larger than the savings associated with using them. As a solution, di erent tool frameworks have been proposed to simplify and reduce the cost of developments of DSLs. Developers of tool support for DSLs need to instantiate, customize or configure the framework for a particular DSL. There are di erent approaches for this. An approach is to use an application programming interface (API) and to extend the basic framework using an imperative programming language. An example of a tools which is based on this approach is Eclipse GEF. Another approach is to configure the framework using declarative languages that are independent of the underlying framework implementation. We believe this second approach can bring important benefits as this brings focus to specifying what should the tool be like instead of writing a program specifying how the tool achieves this functionality. In this thesis we explore this second approach. We use graph transformation as the basic approach to customize a domain-specific modeling (DSM) tool framework. The contributions of this thesis includes a comparison of di erent approaches for defining, representing and interchanging software modeling languages and models and a tool architecture for an open domain-specific modeling framework that e ciently integrates several model transformation components and visual editors. We also present several specific algorithms and tool components for DSM framework. These include an approach for graph query based on region operators and the star operator and an approach for reconciling models and diagrams after executing model transformation programs. We exemplify our approach with two case studies MICAS and EFCO. In these studies we show how our experimental modeling tool framework has been used to define tool environments for domain-specific languages.

Evaluating multidimensional visualization techniques in data mining tasks

Visual data mining (VDM) tools employ information visualization techniques in order to represent large amounts of high-dimensional data graphically and to involve the user in exploring data at different levels of detail. The users are looking for outliers, patterns and models – in the form of clusters, classes, trends, and relationships – in different categories of data, i.e., financial, business information, etc. The focus of this thesis is the evaluation of multidimensional visualization techniques, especially from the business user’s perspective. We address three research problems. The first problem is the evaluation of projection-based visualizations with respect to their effectiveness in preserving the original distances between data points and the clustering structure of the data. In this respect, we propose the use of existing clustering validity measures. We illustrate their usefulness in evaluating five visualization techniques: Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Sammon’s Mapping, Self-Organizing Map (SOM), Radial Coordinate Visualization and Star Coordinates. The second problem is concerned with evaluating different visualization techniques as to their effectiveness in visual data mining of business data. For this purpose, we propose an inquiry evaluation technique and conduct the evaluation of nine visualization techniques. The visualizations under evaluation are Multiple Line Graphs, Permutation Matrix, Survey Plot, Scatter Plot Matrix, Parallel Coordinates, Treemap, PCA, Sammon’s Mapping and the SOM. The third problem is the evaluation of quality of use of VDM tools. We provide a conceptual framework for evaluating the quality of use of VDM tools and apply it to the evaluation of the SOM. In the evaluation, we use an inquiry technique for which we developed a questionnaire based on the proposed framework. The contributions of the thesis consist of three new evaluation techniques and the results obtained by applying these evaluation techniques. The thesis provides a systematic approach to evaluation of various visualization techniques. In this respect, first, we performed and described the evaluations in a systematic way, highlighting the evaluation activities, and their inputs and outputs. Secondly, we integrated the evaluation studies in the broad framework of usability evaluation. The results of the evaluations are intended to help developers and researchers of visualization systems to select appropriate visualization techniques in specific situations. The results of the evaluations also contribute to the understanding of the strengths and limitations of the visualization techniques evaluated and further to the improvement of these techniques.

Operational characteristics of four metering systems for agricultural fertilizers and amendments

The use of fertilizers and solid amendments in agriculture generates special interest for their effect on crop productivity, as well as for their environmental impact. The efficient use of these products demands knowing their physical and mechanical properties, the storing conditions effect and the operational characteristics of the metering systems used in the fertilizing equipment. In this context, the present study was developed with the purpose of evaluating the operational characteristics of different fertilizing metering systems and to determine the adequate metering system-product operational parameters, using powder lime, powder gypsum, granular 10-30-10 (N-P-K), and granular urea. Operational differences were established among four types of commercial fertilizer metering systems, including wire auger, star-shaped feed wheel, feed screw and ridged traction wheel. The study found that the unloading rate depends directly on the fertilizer metering system's rotating speed and is affected by particle size, repose angle, bulk density and moisture content of the applied product. The wire auger and star-shaped feed wheel metering systems were adequate for the distribution of powder products and the feed screw for granulated fertilizers. Furthermore, theoretical and experimental characteristic equations were established, defining curves for calibration and handling of the products plus the rotating speed range in which a better distributing behavior was achieved.

Education policy and 21st Century skills

This article discusses how educational institutions should prepare their students for 21st Century job market.

Environments of Acitive Galaxies

This dissertation presents studies on the environments of active galaxies. Paper I is a case study of a cluster of galaxies containing BL Lac object RGB 1745+398. We measured the velocity dispersion, mass, and richness of the cluster. This was one of the most thorough studies of the environments of a BL Lac object. Methods used in the paper could be used in the future for studying other clusters as well. In Paper II we studied the environments of nearby quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We found that quasars have less neighboring galaxies than luminous inactive galaxies. In the large-scale structure, quasars are usually located at the edges of superclusters or even in void regions. We concluded that these low-redshift quasars may have become active only recently because the galaxies in low-density environments evolve later to the phase where quasar activity can be triggered. In Paper III we extended the analysis of Paper II to other types of AGN besides quasars. We found that different types of AGN have different large-scale environments. Radio galaxies are more concentrated in superclusters, while quasars and Seyfert galaxies prefer low-density environments. Different environments indicate that AGN have different roles in galaxy evolution. Our results suggest that activity of galaxies may depend on their environment on the large scale. Our results in Paper III raised questions of the cause of the environment-dependency in the evolution of galaxies. Because high-density large-scale environments contain richer groups and clusters than the underdense environments, our results could reflect smaller-scale effects. In Paper IV we addressed this problem by studying the group and supercluster scale environments of galaxies together. We compared the galaxy populations in groups of different richnesses in different large-scale environments. We found that the large-scale environment affects the galaxies independently of the group richness. Galaxies in low-density environments on the large scale are more likely to be star-forming than those in superclusters even if they are in groups with the same richness. Based on these studies, the conclusion of this dissertation is that the large-scale environment affects the evolution of galaxies. This may be caused by different “speed” of galaxy evolution in low and high-density environments: galaxies in dense environments reach certain phases of evolution earlier than galaxies in underdense environments. As a result, the low-density regions at low redshifts are populated by galaxies in earlier phases of evolution than galaxies in high-density regions.

Finlandia-kuoron mukana Suomeen "Queen Mary" laivalla toukok. 10 p:nä

35 x 16 cm

Carl H. Salmisen mielenkiintoinen huvimatka Suomeen

38 x 16 cm

Stabilitet säkerhet skönhet snabbhet äro utmärkande drag för den nya Stutz bilen

kuv., 15 x 23 cm

Variability in the fecal egg count and the parasitic burden of hair sheep after grazing in nematode infected paddocks

This study aimed to evaluate the variability in the fecal egg count (FEC) and the parasitic burden of naive hair sheep after grazing in nematode infected paddocks. The research was carried out in Tabasco, Mexico, during two periods (August and December). In each period 32 lambs were grazed for one month on African star grass (Cynodon plectostachyus) contaminated with gastrointestinal parasitic nematodes. FEC, packed cell volume (PCV) and body weight (BW) were recorded. Gastrointestinal worms were recovered at necropsy. Data were analyzed with the MIXED procedure of SAS using a model of repeated measurements over time. A higher number of Haemonchus contortus worms was found in December (2814±838) than in August (1166±305). The opposite occurred with Cooperia curticei (2167±393 and 3638±441, respectively). The FEC and correlation coefficient in respect to the worm burden were higher in December (6516 ± 1599, r=0.83, respectively) than in August (4364±771, r=0.44, respectively). A high variability in resistance-susceptibility to gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) occurred in Katahdin × Pelibuey lambs after grazing.

Circular Spectropolarimetric Studies of DQ White Dwarfs

This thesis summarizes studies of a class of white dwarfs (WDs) called DQ WDs. White dwarfs are the remnants of ordinary stars like our Sun that have run out of nuclear fuel. WDs are classified according to the composition of their atmosphere and DQ WDs have an atmosphere made of helium and carbon. The carbon comes in either atomic or molecular form and in some cases the strong spectral absorption features cover the entire optical wavelength region. The research presented here utilizes spectropolarimetry, which is an observational technique that combines spectroscopy and polarization. Separately these allow to study the composition of a target and the inhomogeneous distribution of matter in the target. Put together they form a powerful tool to probe the physical properties in the atmosphere of a star. It is espacially good for detecting magnetic fields. The papers in this thesis describe efforts to do a survey of DQ white dwarfs with spectropolarimetry in order to search for magnetic fields in them. Paper I describes the discovery of a new magnetic cool DQ white dwarf, GJ841B. Initial modeling of molecular features on DQ WDs showed inconsistencies with observations. The first possible solution to this problem was stellar spots on these WDs. To investigate the matter, two DQ WDs were monitored for photometric variability that could arise from the presence of such spots. Paper II summarizes this short campaign and reports the negative results. Paper III reports observations of the rest of the objects in our survey. The paper includes the discovery of polarization from another cool DQ white dwarf, bringing the total of known magnetic cool DQs to three. Unfortunately the model used in this thesis cannot, in its present state, be used to model these objects nor are the observations of high enough spectroscopic resolution to do so.