O uso do território por agentes torrefadores de cafés especiais do sul de Minas Gerais

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Gene expression profile during coffee fruit development and identification of candidate markers for phenological stages

The objective of this work was to identify genes that could be used as suitable markers for molecular recognition of phenological stages during coffee (Coffea arabica) fruit development. Four cultivars were evaluated as to their differential expression of genes associated to fruit development and maturation processes. Gene expression was characterized by both semi-quantitative and quantitative RT-PCR, in fruit harvested at seven different developmental stages, during three different seasons. No size polymorphisms or differential expression were observed among the cultivars for the evaluated genes; however, distinct expression profiles along fruit development were determined for each gene. Four out of the 28 evaluated genes exhibited a regular expression profile in all cultivars and harvest seasons, and, therefore, they were validated as candidate phenological markers of coffee fruit. The gene a-galactosidase can be used as a marker of green stage, caffeine synthase as a marker of transition to green and yellowish-green stages, and isocitrate lyase and ethylene receptor 3 as markers of late maturation.

The Pst system of Streptococcus mutans is important for phosphate transport and adhesion to abiotic surfaces

The Pst system is a high-affinity inorganic phosphate transporter found in many bacterial species. Streptococcus mutans, the etiological agent of tooth decay, carries a single copy of the pst operon composed of six cistrons (pstS, pstC1, pstC, pstB, smu.1134 and phoU). Here, we show that deletion of pstS, encoding the phosphate-binding protein, reduces phosphate uptake and impairs cell growth, which can be restored upon enrichment of the medium with high concentrations of inorganic phosphate. The relevance of Pst for growth was also demonstrated in the wild-type strain treated with an anti-PstS antibody. Nevertheless, a reduced ability to bind to saliva-coated surfaces was observed, along with the reduction of extracellular polysaccharide production, although no difference on pH acidification was observed between mutant and wild-type strains. Taken together, the present data indicate that the S.similar to mutans Pst system participates in phosphate uptake, cell growth and expression of virulence-associated traits.

Directions for advancing the study of work transitions in the 21st century

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to share the details, outcomes and deliverables from an international workshop on work transitions in London, Ontario, Canada. Participants: Researchers, graduate students, and community group members met to identity ways to advance the knowledge base of strategies to enhance work participation for those in the most disadvantaged groups within society. Methods: A participatory approach was used in this workshop with presentations by researchers and graduate students. This approach included dialogue and discussion with community members. In addition, small group dialogue and debate, world cafe discussions, written summaries of group discussion and reflection boards were used to bring new ideas to the discussion and to build upon what we know. Findings: Two research imperatives and six research recommendations were identified to advance global dialogue on work transitions and to advance the knowledge base. Occupational justice can be used to support future research directions in the study of work transitions. Conclusions: Moving forward requires a commitment of community of researchers, clinicians and stakeholders to address work disparities and implement solutions to promote participation in work.

Determinación de contaminantes emergentes en aguas subterráneas del noreste de Gran Canaria

[ES]La presencia de fármacos en el medio natural constituye una creciente preocupación dados los efectos adversos que pueden presentar. Después de ser consumidos y excretados, llegan a las estaciones depuradoras de aguas residuales, en las que pueden no ser eliminados completamente. La reutilización de aguas depuradas para riego puede ser una fuente de contaminación en el agua subterránea, por lo que se ha llevado a cabo un estudio en el acuífero subyacente a un campo de golf regado con aguas depuradas desde 1973 en el NE de Gran Canaria. Las muestras seleccionadas proceden de agua de riego, agua de lixiviado del suelo y aguas subterráneas. Los compuestos determinados fueron atenolol, metamizol, fluoxetina, cafeína, la paraxantina, nicotina y permetrina

THERMAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A GASOLINE TURBOCHARGED DIRECT INJECTION (GTDI) ENGINE UTILIZING LEAN OPERATION AND EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION (EGR)

The push for improved fuel economy and reduced emissions has led to great achievements in engine performance and control. These achievements have increased the efficiency and power density of gasoline engines dramatically in the last two decades. With the added power density, thermal management of the engine has become increasingly important. Therefore it is critical to have accurate temperature and heat transfer models as well as data to validate them. With the recent adoption of the 2025 Corporate Average Fuel Economy(CAFE) standard, there has been a push to improve the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines even further. Lean and dilute combustion regimes along with waste heat recovery systems are being explored as options for improving efficiency. In order to understand how these technologies will impact engine performance and each other, this research sought to analyze the engine from both a 1st law energy balance perspective, as well as from a 2nd law exergy analysis. This research also provided insights into the effects of various parameters on in-cylinder temperatures and heat transfer as well as provides data for validation of other models. It was found that the engine load was the dominant factor for the energy distribution, with higher loads resulting in lower coolant heat transfer and higher brake work and exhaust energy. From an exergy perspective, the exhaust system provided the best waste heat recovery potential due to its significantly higher temperatures compared to the cooling circuit. EGR and lean combustion both resulted in lower combustion chamber and exhaust temperatures; however, in most cases the increased flow rates resulted in a net increase in the energy in the exhaust. The exhaust exergy, on the other hand, was either increased or decreased depending on the location in the exhaust system and the other operating conditions. The effects of dilution from lean operation and EGR were compared using a dilution ratio, and the results showed that lean operation resulted in a larger increase in efficiency than the same amount of dilution with EGR. Finally, a method for identifying fuel spray impingement from piston surface temperature measurements was found. Note: The material contained in this section is planned for submission as part of a journal article and/or conference paper in the future.

The Acropolitan - v. 1, no. 5

In this issue...Big Butte, M Days, Thornton Hotel, Butte, Montana, Hennessy's, Anaconda Copper Mining Geological Department, Gamer's Cafe

The Acropolitan - v. 6, no. 1

In this issue...Francis A. Thomson, registration, Chequamegon Cafe, Butte, Montana, M club, Mines Tennis Club, Sigma RHO, Chester H. Steele, Diamond Mine

The Acropolitan - v. 8, no. 5

In this issue...Dr. A. E. Koenig, Magma Yearbook, Montana School of Mines Museum, M whitewash, Commencement, Anderson-Carlisle Technical Society, Gamer's Cafe

A Geological Report on South Boulder Canyon and The Mayflower Mine-Renova Areas

The purpose of this report is to serve as a written explanation of the accompanying geologic maps and columnar sec­tion. Each year the senior students in mining and geological engineering at the Montana School of Mines spend two weeks in the field where they learn the fundamentals of geologic mapping and related field studies. An additional week is spent at the school where maps are assembled, prints made, end other work is done in preparation for the writing of the report.

The Amplifier - v. 5, no. 1

In this issue...Glee Club, Naranche Stadium, Circle K club, Coffee Shop, Fulbright Scholarship, U.S. Civil Service, Phil Judd, Frank H. Kelly, Butte High School

The Amplifier - v. 7, no. 4

In this issue...Maimstrom Air Force Base, Newman Club, Coach Ed Simonich, Harvest Ball, glaciers, New York Stock Exchange, Montana Power, Christmas, Bill Tiddy

Emissions Control and the Regulation of Product Markets: The Case of Automobiles

The paper investigates alternative policies to regulate emissions from polluting product markets, specifically considering the case of the automobiles market. The two policies we consider are: a quota that limits the quantity produced of the polluting model and a more flexible average efficiency standard that requires a minimum energy efficiency across all models produced by a firm, similar to the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. We use a duopoly model of vertical differentiation where firms produce both an economy (i.e., low polluting) version and a luxury (i.e., high polluting) version of a given product. We show that while a quota can raise firm profit over a certain range, CAFE always reduces firm profit relative to the pre-regulation. We also show that while the quota reduces emissions, it is possible that emissions increase under CAFE. The optimal policy choice will depend on the magnitude of unit damages. We show that when unit damages are sufficiently high, the quota policy is more efficient than the average efficiency standard. This suggests that instead of tightening CAFE to limit damages from emissions, policy makers can shift to a quota policy which is both welfare enhancing and more profitable for firms.

Especificación del comportamiento de un avatar en un mundo virtual mediante una ontología

El presente trabajo describe la construcción de una aplicación que controla a un Non Player Character (NPC), en un mundo virtual. La aplicación desarrollada, que tiene como nombre BotManager, realiza dos tareas fundamentales: 1) conectarse al repositorio de conocimiento, que en esta implementación es una ontología expresada en OWL, para obtener las acciones que debe realizar el NPC dentro del mundo virtual; y 2) ordenar al NPC que realice estas acciones en un mundo virtual creado con la plataforma OpenSimulator. BotManager puede tener variadas aplicaciones, por lo tanto puede ser usada como complemento en mundos virtuales aplicados a la educación, simulación, ocio, etc. Ahora bien, la principal razón que motivó el desarrollo del BotManager fue la de crear un sistema de demostración automática de tareas en un mundo virtual destinado a la educación/ entrenamiento. De esta forma, un Sistema Inteligente de Tutoría integrado con un mundo virtual podría demostrar paso a paso a un estudiante cómo realizar una tarea en el mundo virtual. La ontología que lee el BotManager extiende la ontología propuesta en la tesis “Una propuesta de modelado del estudiante basada en ontologías y diagnóstico pedagógico-cognitivo no monótono” de Julia Parraga en el 2011 (Ontología de Julia). La construcción y las pruebas del BotManager se llevaron a cabo en tres etapas: 1) creación de la Ontología de Acciones del NPC que extiende la Ontología de Julia; 2) diseño e implementación de la aplicación en C# que lee la ontología que contiene el plan de acción del NPC, y ordena al NPC realizar las acciones en el mundo virtual; y 3) pruebas de la aplicación con la práctica “preparación de una taza de cafe”, que es parte de un Laboratorio Virtual de Biotecnología. El BotManager se ha diseñado como una aplicación cliente que se conecta a un servidor de Open- Simulator. Por lo tanto, puede ejecutarse en una máquina distinta a la del servidor. Asimismo, en la implementación del BotManager se ha utilizado una librería gratuita denominada LibOpenMetaverse que permite controlar un NPC de forma remota.---ABSTRACT---This paper describes the construction of an application that controls a Non Player Character (NPC), in a virtual world. The application developed, called BotManager, performs two main tasks: 1) the connection to the repository of knowledge, which in this implementation is an ontology expressed in OWL, and retrieving the actions to be performed by the NPC within the virtual world; and 2) commanding the NPC to perform these actions in a virtual world created with the OpenSimulator platform. BotManager can have diverse applications, therefore it can be used as a complement in virtual worlds applied to education, simulation, entertainment, etc. However, the main reason behind the development of BotManager was to create an automatic demonstration of tasks in a virtual world for education / training. Thus, a virtual world integrated with an Intelligent Tutoring Systems could demonstrate step by step to a student how to perform a task in the virtual world. The ontology used by the BotManager extends ontology proposed in the thesis “A proposal for modeling ontologies based student and not monotonous teaching-cognitive diagnosis” by Julia Parraga in 2011 (Julia’s Ontology). Construction and testing of BotManager were conducted in three stages: 1) creation of the NPC Actions Ontology by extending the Julia’s Ontology; 2) design and implementation of the application in C# that reads the ontology containing the plan of action of the NPC, and commands the NPC to perform the read plan in the virtual world; and 3) testing of the application with the practice “preparing a cup of coffee”, which is part of a Virtual Laboratory of Biotechnology. The BotManager has been designed as a client application that connects to an OpenSimulator server. Therefore, it can run on a different machine to the server. To implement the BotManager we have used a free library called libopenmetaverse that allows us to control a NPC remotely.

O BOCA A BOCA ON-LINE: AS IMPLICAÇÕES DA VOZ DO CONSUMIDOR NA COMUNICAÇÃO DE MERCADO

O consumidor contemporâneo, inserido em um novo ambiente de comunicação, potencializa suas expressões, capaz de avaliar uma marca ou produto e transmitir sua opinião pelas redes sociais, ou seja, o consumidor expressa suas opiniões e desejos dialogando com seus pares de forma espontânea nas redes sociais on-line. É neste ambiente de participação e interação (ciberespaço) que está nosso objeto de estudo, o boca a boca on-line – a voz do consumidor contemporâneo, também conhecido como uma manifestação informativa pessoal ou uma conversa, a opinion sharing. Proporcionado pelos consumidores nas redes sociais on-line, o boca a boca se fortalece em função das possibilidades de interação, característica da sociedade em rede. Nesse cenário, oobjetivo desta pesquisa é caracterizar o boca a boca on-line como um novo fluxo comunicacional entre consumidores, hoje potencializado pelas novas tecnologias da comunicação, capazes de alterar a percepção da marca e demonstrar o uso, pelas marcas, das redes sociais on-line ainda como um ambiente de comunicação unidirecional. Mediante três casos selecionados por conveniência (dois casos nacionais e um internacional), o corpus de análise de nossa pesquisa se limitou aos 5.084 comentários disponibilizados após publicação de matérias jornalísticas no Portal G1 e nas fanpages (Facebook), ambos relativos aos casos selecionados. Com a Análise de Conteúdo dos posts, identificamos e categorizamos a fala do consumidor contemporâneo, sendo assim possível comprovar que as organizações/marcas se valem da cultura do massivo, não dialogando com seus consumidores, pois utilizam as redes sociais on-line ainda de forma unidirecional, além de não darem a devida atenção ao atual fluxo onde se evidencia a opinião compartilhada dos consumidores da sociedade em rede.