Explorando produtos naturais microbianos nas fronteiras da Química e da Biologia

The chemistry of natural products has been remarkably growing in the past few decades in Brazil. Aspects related to the isolation and identification of new natural products, as well as their biological activities, have been achieved in different laboratories working on this subject in the country. More recently, the introduction of new molecular biology tools has strongly influenced the research on natural products, mainly those produced by microorganisms, creating new possibilities to assess the chemical diversity of secondary metabolites. This paper describes some ideas on how the research on natural products can have a considerable input from molecular biology in the generation of chemical diversity. We also explore the role of microbial natural products in mediating interspecific interactions and their relevance to ecological studies. Examples of the generation of chemical diversity are highlighted by using genome mining, mutasynthesis, combinatorial biosynthesis, metagenomics, and synthetic biology, while some aspects of microbial ecology are also discussed. The idea to bring up this topic is linked to the remarkable development of molecular biology techniques to generate useful chemicals from different organisms. Here, we focus mainly on microorganisms, even though similar approaches have also been applied to the study of plants and other organisms. Investigations in the frontier of chemistry and biology require interactions between different areas, characterizing the interdisciplinarity of this research field. The necessity of a real integration of chemistry and biology is pivotal to finding correct answers to a number of biological phenomena. The use of molecular biology tools to generate chemical diversity and control biosynthetic pathways is largely explored in the production of important biologically active compounds. Finally, we briefly comment on the Brazilian organization of research in this area, the necessity of new strategies for the graduation programs, and the establishment of networks as a way of organization to overcome some of the problems faced in the area of natural products.

TRIAGEM METABÓLICA POR PKS E NRPS EM ACTINOBACTÉRIAS ENDOFÍTICAS DE Citrus reticulata

Polyketides and non-ribosomal peptides are natural products widely found in bacteria, fungi and plants. The biological activities associated with these metabolites have attracted special attention in biopharmaceutical studies. Polyketide synthases act similarly to fatty acids synthetases and the whole multi-enzymatic set coordinating precursor and extending unit selection and reduction levels during chain growth. Acting in a similarly orchestrated model, non-ribosomal peptide synthetases biosynthesize NRPs. PKSs-I and NRPSs enzymatic modules and domains are collinearly organized with the parent gene sequence. This arrangement allows the use of degenerated PCR primers to amplify targeted regions in the genes corresponding to specific enzymatic domains such as ketosynthases and acyltransferases in PKSs and adenilation domains in NRPSs. Careful analysis of these short regions allows the classifying of a set of organisms according to their potential to biosynthesize PKs and NRPs. In this work, the biosynthetic potential of a set of 13 endophytic actinobacteria from Citrus reticulata for producing PKs and NRP metabolites was evaluated. The biosynthetic profile was compared to antimicrobial activity. Based on the inhibition promoted, 4 strains were considered for cluster analysis. A PKS/NRPS phylogeny was generated in order to classify some of the representative sequences throughout comparison with homologous genes. Using this approach, a molecular fingerprint was generated to help guide future studies on the most promising strains.

Skandinaviens fiskar. Förra delen, Text / målade af Wilh. von Wright ; med text af B. Fries, C. U. Ekström och C. Sundevall.

Von Wrightin taitelijaveljeksistä Wilhelm v. Wright (1810-1887) muutti Ruotsiin 18-vuotiaana avustaakseen vanhempaa veljeään Magnusta SKANDINAVIENS FÅGLAR -teoksen (ks. kohde 258) valmistamisessa. Wilhelm jäi pysyvästi Ruotsiin ja ryhtyi työskentelemään Kuninkaallisen tiedeakatemian piirtäjänä. Vuonna 1836 alkoi ilmestyä laaja kalakuvasto SKANDINAVIENS FISKAR, johon hän oli laatinut kuvat ja eläintieteilijät C. U. Ekström, B. F. Fries ja C. J. Sundevall kirjoittaneet tekstit. Tästä teoksesta tuli v. Wrightin kuvitustöistä merkittävin ja korkeatasoisin. Myöhemmin v. Wright toimi Bohuslänin kalastuksentarkastajan virassa, mutta halvaantui loppuelämäkseen yli kolmenkymmenen vuoden ajaksi.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Mining Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility is company’s interest and actions towards its environment and the society that the company takes from its free will, to give back to the community and environment. Corporate Social Responsibility is current topic as companies are challenged to take responsibility for their action, due to the constant tightening environmental legislations and raising pressure for transparency from the public. The objective of this Master’s Thesis research is to study if Corporate Social Responsibility affects suppliers’ brand image and mining companies’ buying decisions within global mining industry. The research method is qualitative and the research is conducted with secondary and primary research methods. The research aims to find out what are the implications of the research for the case company Larox. The objective is to answer to the question; how should case company Larox start to develop Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program of its own, and how the case company could benefit from CSR as a competitive advantage and what actions could be taken in the company marketing. Conclusions are drawn based on both the secondary and primary research results. Both of the researches imply that CSR is well present in the global mining industry, and that suppliers’ CSR policy has positive effect on company image, which positively affects company’s brand, and furthermore brand has a positive effect on mining companies buying decision. It can be concluded that indirectly CSR has an effect on buying decisions, and case company should consider developing a CSR program of its own.

Mining in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Sustainability Challenges

Mining has severe impacts on its surrounding. Particularly in the developing countries it has degraded the environment and signigicantly altered the socio-economical dynamics of the hosts. Especially relocation disrupts people from their homes, livelihoods, cultures and social activities. Mining industry has failed to develop the local host and streghten its governance structures; instead it has further degraded the development of mineral rich third world countries, which are among the world poorest ones. Cash flows derived from mining companies have not benefitted the crass-root level that however, bears most of the detrimental impacts. Especially if the governance structure of the host is weak, the sudden wealth is likely to accelerate disparities, corruption and even fuel wars. Environmental degradation, miscommunication, mistrust and disputes over land use have created conflicts between the communities and a mining company in Obuasi, Ghana; a case study of this thesis. The disputes are deeply rooted and further fuelled by unrealistic expectations and broken promises. The relations with artisanal and illegal miners have been especially troublesome. Illegal activities, mainly encroachment of the land and assets of the mine, such as vandalising tailings pipes have resulted in profits losses, environmental degradation and security hazards. All challenges mentioned above have to be addressed locally with site-specific solutions. It is vital to increase two-way communication, initiate collaboration and build capacity of the stakeholders such as local communities, NGOs and governance authorities. The locals must be engaged to create livelihood opportunities that are designed with and for them. Capacity can also be strengthened through education and skills training, such as women’s literacy programs. In order to diminish the overdependence of locals to the mine, the activities have to be self -sufficient and able to survive without external financial and managerial inputs. Additionally adequate and fair compensation practises and dispute resolution methods that are understood and accepted by all parties have to be agreed on as early as possible.

Source and Target Text-Orientation in Drama Translation. An Analysis of Four Translations of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa käsittelen lähde- ja kohdetekstikeskeisyyttä näytelmäkääntämisessä. Tutkimuskohteina olivat käännösten sanasto, syntaksi, näyttämötekniikka, kielikuvat, sanaleikit, runomitta ja tyyli. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, näkyykö teoreettinen painopisteen siirtyminen lähdetekstikeskeisyydestä kohdetekstikeskeisyyteen suomenkielisessä näytelmäkääntämisessä. Oletuksena oli, että siirtyminen näkyy käytetyissä käännösstrategioissa. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuudessa käsitellään ensin lähde- ja kohdetekstikeskeisiä käännösteorioita. Ensin esitellään kaksi lähdetekstikeskeistä teoriaa, jotka ovat Catfordin (1965) muodollinen vastaavuus ja Nidan (1964) dynaaminen ekvivalenssi. Kohdetekstikeskeisistä teorioista käsitellään Touryn (1980) ja Newmarkin (1981) teoreettisia näkemyksiä sekä Reiss ja Vermeerin (1986) esittelemää skopos-teoriaa. Vieraannuttamisen ja kotouttamisen periaatteet esitellään lyhyesti. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään myös näytelmäkääntämistä, William Shakespearen kieltä ja siihen liittyviä käännösongelmia. Lisäksi esittelen lyhyesti Shakespearen kääntämistä Suomessa ja Julius Caesarin neljä kääntäjää. Tutkimuksen materiaalina oli neljä Shakespearen Julius Caesar –näytelmän suomennosta, joista Paavo Cajanderin käännös on julkaistu vuonna 1883, Eeva-Liisa Mannerin vuonna 1983, Lauri Siparin vuonna 2006 ja Jarkko Laineen vuonna 2007. Analyysissa käännöksiä verrattiin lähdetekstiin ja toisiinsa ja vertailtiin kääntäjien tekemiä käännösratkaisuja. Tulokset olivat oletuksen mukaisia. Lähdetekstikeskeisiä käännösstrategioita oli käytetty uusissa käännöksissä vähemmän kuin vanhemmissa. Kohdetekstikeskeiset strategiat erosivat huomattavasti toisistaan ja uusinta käännöstä voi sanoa adaptaatioksi. Jatkotutkimuksissa tulisi materiaali laajentaa koskemaan muitakin Shakespearen näytelmien suomennoksia. Eri aikakausien käännöksiä tulisi verrata keskenään ja toisiinsa, jotta voitaisiin luotettavasti kuvata muutosta lähde- ja kohdetekstikeskeisten käännösstrategioiden käytössä ja eri aikakausien tyypillisten strategioiden kartoittamiseksi.

Lärande som text : en dramapedagogiskt förankrad läsning av det kroppsliga, rumsliga och retoriska i kunskapsbildande processer

My presupposition, that learning at some level deals with life praxis, is expressed in four metaphors: space, time, fable and figure. Relations between learning,knowledge building and meaning making are linked to the concept of personal knowledge. I present a two part study of learning as text in a drama pedagogical rooted reading where learning is framed as the ongoing event, and knowledge, as the product of previous processes, is framed as culturally formed utterances. A frame analysis model is constructed as a topological guide for relations between the two concepts learning and knowledge. It visualises an aesthetic understanding, rooted in drama pedagogical comprehension. Insight and perception are linked in an inner relationship that is neither external nor identical. This understanding expresses the movement "in between" connecting asymmetrical and nonlinear features of human endeavour and societal issues. The performability of bodily and oral participation in the learning event in a socio-cultural setting is analysed as a dialogised text. In an ethnographical case study I have gathered material with an interest for the particular. The empirical material is based on three problem based learning situations in a Polytechnic setting. The act of transformation in the polyphony of the event is considered as a turning point in the narrative employment. Negotiation and figuration in the situation form patterns of the space for improvisation (flow) and tensions at the boundaries (thresholds) which imply the logical structure of transformation. Learning as a dialogised text of "yes" and "no", of structure and play for the improvised, interrelate in that movement. It is related to both the syntagmic and the paradigmatic forms of thinking. In the philosophical study, forms of understanding are linked to the logical structure of transformation as a cultural issue. The classical rhetorical concepts of Logos, Pathos, Ethos and Mythos are connected to the multidimensional rationality of the human being. In the Aristotelian form of knowledge, phronesis,a logic structure of inquiry is recognised. The shifting of perspectives between approaches, the construction of knowledge as context and the human project of meaning making as a subtext, illuminates multiple layers of the learning text. In an argumentation that post-modern apprehension of knowledge, emphasising contextual and situational values, has an empowering impact on learning, I find pedagogical benefits. The dialogical perspective has opened lenses that manage to hold in aesthetic doubling the individual action of inquiry and the stage with its cultural tools in a three dimensional reading.

En resa i Finland. : Första serien. ... : Text af Z. Topelius.

Engraved illustrations are based on the original oil paintings of several Finnish artists: A. v. Becker, A. Edelfelt, R. W. Ekman, W. Holmberg, K. E. Jansson, O. Kleineh, J. Knutson, B. Lindholm, H. Munsterhjelm och B. Reinhold.

Finland i bilder = : Suomi kuvissa = La Finlande pittoresque : fotografier och text = kuvat ja teksti = photographies et texte I. K. Inha.

Text in Swedish, Finnish, French, German, Russian and English 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.

Riparian vegetation affected by bank erosion in the Lower São Francisco River, Northeastern Brazil

Changes in the hydrological regime of the Lower São Francisco River, located in Northeastern Brazil have brought negative environmental impacts, jeopardizing the flora and fauna of a global biodiversity hotspot, due to implementation of hydroelectric power dams and surface water withdrawal for irrigation in public and private perimeters. Remnants of the riparian stratum associated to the riverbank destabilization in six fragments were studied by surveying trees, shrubs, herbs, and aquatic species. The calculation of the Factor of Safety (FS) was performed in order to understand the riverbank's stability related to soil texture and vegetation cover. An overall number of 51 botanic families distributed in 71 genera and 79 species were recorded, predominantly from the families Mimosaceae, Myrtaceae, and Fabaceae. The fragmented riparian vegetation is mostly covered by secondary species under a strong anthropogenic impact such as deforestation, mining and irrigation, with an advanced erosion process in the river margins. Strong species that withstand the waves present in the river flow are needed to reduce the constant landslides that are mainly responsible for the river sedimentation and loss of productive lands. A lack of preservation attitude among the local landholders was identified, and constitutes a continuing threat to the riparian ecosystem biodiversity.

Canopy openness and lai estimates in two seasonally deciduous forests on limestone outcrops in central Brazil using hemispherical photographs

Patches of seasonally dry tropical forests occur on limestone outcrops in Central Brazil surrounded by the dominant savanna vegetation. They contain valuable timber species but are threatened by farming and mining activities. The objective of this study was to describe canopy opening and light relations in two seasonally deciduous dry forests on slopes and limestone outcrops, in the Paranã valley at the northeastern region of the Goiás state, Brazil. The studied forests were in the Fazenda Sabonete in Iaciara-Go and Fazenda Forquilha in Guarani-GO. Woody plants were sampled in 25 (20 x 20 m) plots in each forest. In the Sabonete forest 40 species, 705 ind./ha-1 with a basal area of 15.78 m²/ha-1 were found, while in Forquilha there were 55 species, 956 ind./ha-1 with a basal area of 24.76 m²/ha-1. Using hemispherical photographic techniques, 25 black and white photographs were taken at each site, during the dry season, totaling 50 photographs. These were taken at the beginning of each vegetation-sampling plot. The photographs were scanned in grey tones and saved as 'Bitmap'. The canopy opening and leaf area index (LAI) were calculated using the software Winphot. The mean canopy opening was 54.0% (±9.36) for Fazenda Sabonete and 64.6% (±11.8) in Fazenda Forquilha, with both sites presenting significant differences in the opening estimates (P < 0.05). Their floristic richness and structure also differed with the more open canopy forest, Forquilha, being richer and denser, suggesting the need for further studies on species-environment relationships in these forests.

Técnicas de mineração de dados para análise da precipitação pluvial decenal no Rio Grande do Sul

O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar o comportamento espaçotemporal da precipitação pluvial no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, entre os decênios de 1987-1996 e 1997-2006, por meio de técnicas de mineração de dados. As séries históricas foram adquiridas no sistema de informações hidrológicas Hidroweb. A metodologia utilizada teve como base o modelo CRISP-DM (Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining). Foram definidas áreas pluviometricamente homogêneas para os decênios de 1987-1996 e 1997-2006. Em seguida, pela sobreposição dos agrupamentos obtidos para os dois períodos, encontraram-se seis zonas comuns aos dois decênios (A a F). As alterações ocorridas foram avaliadas nas seguintes escalas temporais: anual, sazonal e mensalmente. Os resultados indicaram incrementos significativos (20 a 240 mm) na precipitação anual em todas as zonas, exceto na zona A. Na análise sazonal, as variações foram aleatórias, sendo que, na primavera, todas as zonas apresentaram incremento significativo (44 a 142 mm). Na análise mensal, destaca-se a redução ocorrida no mês de janeiro em todas as zonas, exceto na E. Nos demais meses, as variações foram aleatórias. Os resultados mostram que, entre os decênios, houve uma alteração no volume da precipitação pluvial em todas as escalas temporais analisadas.