Chloroplast DNA variation and the recent radiation of the giant senecios (Asteraceae) on the tall mountains of eastern Africa.

Chloroplast DNA restriction-site variation was surveyed among 40 accessions representing all 11 species of giant senecios (Dendrosenecio, Asteraceae) at all but one known location, plus three outgroup species. Remarkably little variation (only 9 variable sites out of roughly 1000 sites examined) was found among the 40 giant senecio accessions, yet as a group they differ significantly (at 18 sites) from Cineraria deltoidea, the closest known relative. This pattern indicates that the giant senecios underwent a recent dramatic radiation in eastern Africa and evolved from a relatively isolated lineage within the Senecioneae. Biogeographic interpretation of the molecular phylogeny suggests that the giant senecios originated high on Mt. Kilimanjaro, with subsequent dispersion to the Aberdares, Mt. Kenya, and the Cherangani Hills, followed by dispersion westward to the Ruwenzori Mountains, and then south to the Virunga Mountains, Mt. Kahuzi, and Mt. Muhi, but with dispersion back to Mt. Elgon. Geographic radiation was an important antecedent to the diversification in eastern Africa, which primarily involved repeated altitudinal radiation, both up and down the mountains, leading to morphological parallelism in both directions. In general, the plants on a given mountain are more closely related to each other than they are to plants on other mountains, and plants on nearby mountains are more closely related to each other than they are to plants on more distant mountains. The individual steps of the geographic radiation have occurred at various altitudes, some clearly the result of intermountain dispersal. The molecular evidence suggests that two species are extant ancestors to other species on the same or nearby mountains.

Identification of endothelin 1 and big endothelin 1 in secretory vesicles isolated from bovine aortic endothelial cells.

Vesicles containing endothelin 1 (ET-1) were isolated from bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) by fractionation of homogenates on sucrose density gradients by ultracentrifugation. The vesicles were localized at the 1.0/1.2 M sucrose interface using a specific anti-ET-1-(16-21) RIA. Identification of ET-1 and big ET-1 in this fraction was confirmed by HPLC analysis combined with RIA. Morphological examination of the ET-1-enriched fraction by electron microscopy identified clusters of vesicles approximately 100 nm in diameter. Immunostaining of ultrathin cryosections prepared from the vesicle fraction for ET-1 or big ET-1 showed clusters of 15-nm gold particles attached to or within vesicles. Immunofluorescence staining of whole BAECs using a specific ET-1-(16-21) IgG purified by affinity chromatography revealed punctate granulation of the cell cytoplasm viewed under light microscopy. This distinct pattern of staining was shown by confocal light microscopy to be intracellular. Immunofluorescence staining of whole cells with a polyclonal antiserum for big ET-1-(22-39) showed a defined perinuclear localization of precursor molecule. Hence, several different approaches have demonstrated that ET-1 and big ET-1 are localized within intracellular vesicles in BAECs, suggesting that these subcellular compartments are an important site for processing of big ET-1 by endothelin-converting enzyme.

Uma nova arquitetura para Internet das Coisas com análise e reconhecimento de padrões e processamento com Big Data.

A Internet das Coisas é um novo paradigma de comunicação que estende o mundo virtual (Internet) para o mundo real com a interface e interação entre objetos. Ela possuirá um grande número de dispositivos heteregôneos interconectados, que deverá gerar um grande volume de dados. Um dos importantes desafios para seu desenvolvimento é se guardar e processar esse grande volume de dados em aceitáveis intervalos de tempo. Esta pesquisa endereça esse desafio, com a introdução de serviços de análise e reconhecimento de padrões nas camadas inferiores do modelo de para Internet das Coisas, que procura reduzir o processamento nas camadas superiores. Na pesquisa foram analisados os modelos de referência para Internet das Coisas e plataformas para desenvolvimento de aplicações nesse contexto. A nova arquitetura de implementada estende o LinkSmart Middeware pela introdução de um módulo para reconhecimento de padrões, implementa algoritmos para estimação de valores, detecção de outliers e descoberta de grupos nos dados brutos, oriundos de origens de dados. O novo módulo foi integrado à plataforma para Big Data Hadoop e usa as implementações algorítmicas do framework Mahout. Este trabalho destaca a importância da comunicação cross layer integrada à essa nova arquitetura. Nos experimentos desenvolvidos na pesquisa foram utilizadas bases de dados reais, provenientes do projeto Smart Santander, de modo a validar da nova arquitetura de IoT integrada aos serviços de análise e reconhecimento de padrões e a comunicação cross-layer.

Diseño y desarrollo de un servicio big data en la nube para búsqueda, compartición de ficheros y data mining

En esta memoria se presenta el diseño y desarrollo de una aplicación en la nube destinada a la compartición de objetos y servicios. El desarrollo de esta aplicación surge dentro del proyecto de I+D+i, SITAC: Social Internet of Things – Apps by and for the Crowd ITEA 2 11020, que trata de crear una arquitectura integradora y un “ecosistema” que incluya plataformas, herramientas y metodologías para facilitar la conexión y cooperación de entidades de distinto tipo conectadas a la red bien sean sistemas, máquinas, dispositivos o personas con dispositivos móviles personales como tabletas o teléfonos móviles. El proyecto innovará mediante la utilización de un modelo inspirado en las redes sociales para facilitar y unificar las interacciones tanto entre personas como entre personas y dispositivos. En este contexto surge la necesidad de desarrollar una aplicación destinada a la compartición de recursos en la nube que pueden ser tanto lógicos como físicos, y que esté orientada al big data. Ésta será la aplicación presentada en este trabajo, el “Resource Sharing Center”, que ofrece un servicio web para el intercambio y compartición de contenido, y un motor de recomendaciones basado en las preferencias de los usuarios. Con este objetivo, se han usado tecnologías de despliegue en la nube, como Elastic Beanstalk (el PaaS de Amazon Web Services), S3 (el sistema de almacenamiento de Amazon Web Services), SimpleDB (base de datos NoSQL) y HTML5 con JavaScript y Twitter Bootstrap para el desarrollo del front-end, siendo Python y Node.js las tecnologías usadas en el back end, y habiendo contribuido a la mejora de herramientas de clustering sobre big data. Por último, y de cara a realizar el estudio sobre las pruebas de carga de la aplicación se ha usado la herramienta ApacheJMeter.

La comunicación de la innovación de las agencias de medios. Big data en las webs propias

Las agencias de medios constituyen uno de los sectores publicitarios en el que la aplicación de big data proporciona soluciones innovadoras que debieran ser comunicadas a través, entre otros canales, de sus webs corporativas. Con el propósito de facilitar tal comunicación, las webs deben estar preparadas para ser consultadas por varios dispositivos. Así, este estudio pretende averiguar su uso para comunicar innovaciones relacionadas con big data, cuidando el responsive design, de las 20 primeras agencias de medios españolas, y reflexiona sobre las debilidades, amenazas, fortalezas y oportunidades de tal innovación.

The Big BIM battle: BIM adoption in the UK for large and small companies

As BIM adoption continues, the goal of a totally collaborative model with multiple contributors is attainable. Many initiatives such as the 2016 UK government level 2 BIM deadline are putting pressure on the construction industry to speed up the changeover. Clients and collaborators have higher expectations of using digital 3D models to communicate design ideas and solve practical problems. Contractors and clients are benefitting from cost saving scheduling and clash detection offered by BIM. Effective collaboration on the project will also give speed and efficiency gains. Despite this, many businesses of varying sizes are still having problems. The cost of the software and the training provides an obvious barrier for micro-enterprises and could explain a delay in adoption. Many studies have looked at these problems faced by SME and micro-enterprises. Larger companies have different problems. The efforts made by government to encourage them are quite comprehensive, but is anything being done to help smaller sectors and keep the industry cohesive? This limited study examines several companies of varying size and varying project type: architectural design businesses, main contractor, structural engineer and building consultancy. The study examines the barriers to a truly collaborative BIM workflow facing different specialities on a larger project and a contrasting small/medium project. The findings will establish that different barriers for each sector are actually pushing further apart, thus potentially creating a BIM-only construction elite, leaving the small companies remaining on 2D based drawing.

Tackling the Big Challenges of the Future: The Role of Chemistry

The end of 2015 was the deadline that 189 countries gave themselves to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a list of eight goals that were agreed upon and approved by the UN after the Millennium Summit in year 2000. Despite some legitimate criticism, the MDGs were revealed as an important tool towards building a more equitable and sustainable world. Yet our planet still faces many challenges. In September 2015, the UN approved a new set of 17 goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to develop and implement strategies to create “The Future We Want”; strategies that 192 countries agreed upon to work together towards a more sustainable planet.

Novas tendências, o big data: deteção de fraudes e transações no comércio local: SAF-T com tecnologia big data

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Tecnologia do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desenvolvimento de Software e Sistemas Interactivos, realizada sob a orientação científica da categoria profissional do orientador Doutor Eurico Ribeiro Lopes, do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco.

A comparative study of the herpetological faunae of the Uluguru and Usambara mountains, Tanganyika territory with descriptions of new species / by T. Barbour and A. Loveridge.

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