Dinuclear Azide-Bridged Copper(II) Complex as Building Block for the Assembly of a 2D-Supramolecular Array

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

Hierarchical Assembly of CaMoO4 Nano-Octahedrons and Their Photoluminescence Properties

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Simple heuristics for the assembly line worker assignment and balancing problem

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Inorganic-Organic Nanocomposite Assembly Using Collagen as a Template and Sodium Tripolyphosphate as a Biomimetic Analog of Matrix Phosphoprotein

Nanocomposites created with polycarboxylic acid alone as a stabilization agent for prenucleation clusters-derived amorphous calcium phosphate exhibit nonperiodic apatite deposition. In the present study, we report the use of inorganic polyphosphate as a biomimetic analog of matrix phosphoprotein for directing poly(acrylic acid)-stabilized amorphous nano-precursor phases to assemble into periodic apatite-collagen nanocomposites. The sorption and desorption characteristics of sodium tripolyphosphate to type I collagen were examined. Periodic nanocomposite assembly with collagen as a template was demonstrated with TEM and SEM using a Portland cement-based resin composite and a phosphate-containing simulated body fluid. Apatite was detected within the collagen at 24 h and became more distinct at 48 h, with prenucleation clusters attaching to the collagen fibril surface during the initial infiltration stage. Apatite-collagen nanocomposites at 72 h were heavily mineralized with periodically arranged intrafibrillar apatite platelets. Defect-containing nanocomposites caused by desorption of TPP from collagen fibrils were observed in regions lacking the inorganic phase.

Neoproterozoic tectonic and magmatic episodes in the NW sector of Borborema Province, NE Brazil, during assembly of Western Gondwana

The Medio Coreau domain of NE Brazil is located along the northwest margin of Borborema Province, the western branch of a Brasiliano/Pan-African collisional belt that formed during the assembly of Western Gondwana. The early Paleoproterozoic basement of the Medio Coreau domain is composed of migmatitic gneisses and juvenile granulites, overlain by late Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic rocks intruded by syn- to post-tectonic Brasiliano granitoids. According to integrated structural and geochronological data (U-Pb zircon and monazite ages), the Neoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Medio Coreau is characterized by low-angle thrusting and transcurrent deformation. U-Pb geochronological data from plutons intruded during this compressional regime indicate the collisional evolution began at approximately 622 Ma and continued until about 591 Ma. The continuation of convergence until approximately 560 Ma resulted in the formation of NE-SW and E-W shear zones within the Borborema Province and adjoining West African provinces. The final stage of the ductile tectonism was characterized by uplift and high-angle fault generation between approximately 560 and 545 Ma. The last tectonic event was an extensional phase, resulting in the formation of the Jaibaras graben and intrusion of post-orogenic granites at around 532 Ma. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence for Neoproterozoic continental arc magmatism in the Santa Quitéria Batholith of Ceará State, NW Borborema Province, NE Brazil: Implications for the assembly of West Gondwana

Recent field investigations and geochronological studies of Neoproterozoic rocks in the northwestern part of the Borborema Province, Ceará State, NE Brazil provide important clues pertaining to the nature of convergence between the Borborema Province and the West African-São Luis craton during the assembly of West Gondwana. U-Pb zircon data indicate that the earliest evidence of convergent magmatism along the northwest margin of the Borborema Province occurred around 777 Ma, and was followed by the development of a large continental arc batholith (Santa Quitéria batholith) between ca. 665 and 591 Ma within the central part of Ceará State. These findings, along with supporting geophysical data, suggest that convergence between the Borborema Province and the West African-São Luis craton involved closure of an oceanic realm with subduction polarity to the southeast beneath the northwestern part of the province. Consequently, it seems likely that the Pharusian Ocean was continuous from the Hoggar Province in West Africa into South America during the late Neoproterozoic and additional data suggests that it may have even been connected with the Goianides Ocean of the Brasília Belt farther to the southwest.

U-Pb geochronology of the southern Brasília belt (SE-Brazil): Sedimentary provenance, Neoproterozoic orogeny and assembly of West Gondwana

The Brasília belt borders the western margin of the São Francisco Craton and records the history of ocean opening and closing related to the formation of West Gondwana. This study reports new U-Pb data from the southern sector of the belt in order to provide temporal limits for the deposition and ages of provenance of sediments accumulated in passive margin successions around the south and southwestern margins of the São Francisco Craton, and date the orogenic events leading to the amalgamation of West Gondwana. Ages of detrital zircons (by ID-TIMS and LA-MC-ICPMS) were obtained from metasedimentary units of the passive margin of the São Francisco Craton from the main tectonic domains of the belt: the internal allochthons (Araxá Group in the Áraxá and Passos Nappes), the external allochthons (Canastra Group, Serra da Boa Esperança Metasedimentary Sequence and Andrelândia Group) and the autochthonous or Cratonic Domain (Andrelândia Group). The patterns of provenance ages for these units are uniform and are characterised as follows: Archean- Paleoproterozoic ages (3.4-3.3, 3.1-2.7, and 2.5-2.4Ga); Paleoproterozoic ages attributed to the Transamazonian event (2.3-1.9Ga, with a peak at ca. 2.15Ga) and to the ca. 1.75Ga Espinhaço rifting of the São Francisco Craton; ages between 1.6 and 1.2Ga, with a peak at 1.3Ga, revealing an unexpected variety of Mesoproterozoic sources, still undetected in the São Francisco Craton; and ages between 0.9 and 1.0Ga related to the rifting event that led to the individualisation of the São Francisco paleo-continent and formation of its passive margins. An amphibolite intercalation in the Araxá Group yields a rutile age of ca. 0.9Ga and documents the occurrence of mafic magmatism coeval with sedimentation in the marginal basin. Detrital zircons from the autochthonous and parautochthonous Andrelândia Group, deposited on the southern margin of the São Francisco Craton, yielded a provenance pattern similar to that of the allochthonous units. This result implies that 1.6-1.2Ga source rocks must be present in the São Francisco Craton. They could be located either in the cratonic area, which is mostly covered by the Neoproterozoic epicontinental deposits of the Bambuí Group, or in the outer paleo-continental margin, buried under the allochthonous units of the Brasília belt. Crustal melting and generation of syntectonic crustal granites and migmatisation at ca. 630Ma mark the orogenic event that started with westward subduction of the São Francisco plate and ended with continental collision against the Paraná block (and Goiás terrane). Continuing collision led to the exhumation and cooling of the Araxá and Passos metamorphic nappes, as indicated by monazite ages of ca. 605Ma and mark the final stages of tectonometamorphic activity in the southern Brasília belt. Whilst continent-continent collision was proceeding on the western margin of the São Francisco Craton along the southern Brasília belt, eastward subduction in the East was generating the 634-599Ma Rio Negro magmatic arc which collided with the eastern São Francisco margin at 595-560Ma, much later than in the Brasília belt. Thus, the tectonic effects of the Ribeira belt reached the southernmost sector of the Brasília belt creating a zone of superposition. The thermal front of this event affected the proximal Andrelândia Group at ca. 588Ma, as indicated by monazite age. The participation of the Amazonian craton in the assembly of western Gondwana occurred at 545-500Ma in the Paraguay belt and ca. 500Ma in the Araguaia belt. This, together with the results presented in this work lead to the conclusion that the collision between the Paraná block and Goiás terrane with the São Francisco Craton along the Brasília belt preceded the accretion of the Amazonian craton by 50-100 million years. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Macromolecular array patterns of silk gland secretion in social Hymenoptera larvae

The cocoon, produced by most holometabolous insects, is built with silk that is usually produced by the larval salivary gland. Although this silk has been widely studied in the Lepidoptera, its composition and macromolecular arrangement remains unknown in the Hymenoptera. The macromolecular array patterns of the silk in the larval salivary gland of some meliponids, wasps, and ants were analyzed with polarized-light microscopy, and they were compared with those of Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera). There is a birefringent secretion in the glandular lumen of all larvae, due to filamentous structural proteins that display anisotropy. The silk in the distal, middle and proximal regions of the secretory portion of Formicidae and Vespidae glands presented a lattice optical pattern. We found a different pattern in the middle secretory portion of the Meliponini, with a zigzag rather than a lattice pattern. This indicates that the biopolymer fibers begin their macromolecular reorganization at this glandular region, different from the Formicidae and the Vespidae, in which the zigzag optical pattern was only found at the lateral duct. Probably, the mechanism of silk production in the Hymenoptera is a characteristic inherited from a common ancestor of Vespoidea and Sphecoidea; the alterations in the pattern observed in the Meliponini could be a derived characteristic in the Hymenoptera. We found no similarity in the macromolecular reorganization patterns of the silk between the Hymenoptera species and the silkworm.

Synergy of DNA-bending nucleoid proteins and macromolecular crowding in condensing DNA

Many prokaryotic nucleoid proteins bend DNA and form extended helical protein-DNA fibers rather than condensed structures. On the other hand, it is known that such proteins (such as bacterial HU) strongly promote DNA condensation by macromolecular crowding. Using theoretical arguments, we show that this synergy is a simple consequence of the larger diameter and lower net charge density of the protein-DNA filaments as compared to naked DNA, and hence, should be quite general. To illustrate this generality, we use light-scattering to show that the 7kDa basic archaeal nucleoid protein Sso7d from Sulfolobus solfataricus (known to sharply bend DNA) likewise does not significantly condense DNA by itself. However, the resulting protein-DNA fibers are again highly susceptible to crowding-induced condensation. Clearly, if DNA-bending nucleoid proteins fail to condense DNA in dilute solution, this does not mean that they do not contribute to DNA condensation in the context of the crowded living cell. © 2007 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Illusory competitiveness: the apparel assembly model of the Caribbean Basin

Includes bibliography

Crystal structure of Jararacussin-I: The highly negatively charged catalytic interface contributes to macromolecular selectivity in snake venom thrombin-like enzymes

Snake venom serine proteinases (SVSPs) are hemostatically active toxins that perturb the maintenance and regulation of both the blood coagulation cascade and fibrinolytic feedback system at specific points, and hence, are widely used as tools in pharmacological and clinical diagnosis. The crystal structure of a thrombin-like enzyme (TLE) from Bothrops jararacussu venom (Jararacussin-I) was determined at 2.48 Å resolution. This is the first crystal structure of a TLE and allows structural comparisons with both the Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix Protein C Activator and the Trimeresurus stejnegeri plasminogen activator. Despite the highly conserved overall fold, significant differences in the amino acid compositions and three-dimensional conformations of the loops surrounding the active site significantly alter the molecular topography and charge distribution profile of the catalytic interface. In contrast to other SVSPs, the catalytic interface of Jararacussin-I is highly negatively charged, which contributes to its unique macromolecular selectivity. © 2012 The Protein Society.

The in-bond assembly industry and technical change

Includes bibliography

Trait contributions to fish community assembly emerge from trophic interactions in an individual-based model

Community ecology seeks to understand and predict the characteristics of communities that can develop under different environmental conditions, but most theory has been built on analytical models that are limited in the diversity of species traits that can be considered simultaneously. We address that limitation with an individual-based model to simulate assembly of fish communities characterized by life history and trophic interactions with multiple physiological tradeoffs as constraints on species performance. Simulation experiments were carried out to evaluate the distribution of 6 life history and 4 feeding traits along gradients of resource productivity and prey accessibility. These experiments revealed that traits differ greatly in importance for species sorting along the gradients. Body growth rate emerged as a key factor distinguishing community types and defining patterns of community stability and coexistence, followed by egg size and maximum body size. Dominance by fast-growing, relatively large, and fecund species occurred more frequently in cases where functional responses were saturated (i.e. high productivity and/or prey accessibility). Such dominance was associated with large biomass fluctuations and priority effects, which prevented richness from increasing with productivity and may have limited selection on secondary traits, such as spawning strategies and relative size at maturation. Our results illustrate that the distribution of species traits and the consequences for community dynamics are intimately linked and strictly dependent on how the benefits and costs of these traits are balanced across different conditions. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.