Xylan from corn cobs, a promising polymer for drug delivery: Production and characterization

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Influence of the Lipophilic External Phase Composition on the Preparation and Characterization of Xylan Microcapsules-A Technical Note

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Dermatophyte-host relationship of a murine model of experimental invasive dermatophytosis

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

Considerations on corrosion and weld repair effects on the fatigue strength of a steel structure critical to the flight-safety

The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of corrosion and successive tungsten inert gas (TIC) welding repairs on the reverse bending fatigue strength of AISI 4130 steel used in components critical to the flight-safety. The tests were performed on hot-rolled steel plate specimens, 1.10 mm and 1.60 mm thick, by means of a SCHENK PWS equipment, with load ratio R = -1, constant amplitude, 30 Hz frequency and room temperature. It was observed that the reverse bending fatigue strength of AISI 4130 steel decreases due to the corrosion and the TIC welding and re-welding processes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Considerations about the welding repair effects on the structural integrity of an airframe critical to the flight-safety

Structures critical to the flight-safety are commonly submitted to several maintenance repairs at the welded joints in order to prolong the in-service life of aircrafts. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding repair on the structural integrity of the AISI 4130 aeronautical steel by means of experimental fatigue crack growth tests in base-material, heat-affected zone (HAZ) and weld metal. The tests were performed on hot-rolled steel plate specimens, 0.89 mm thick, with load ratio R = 0.1, constant amplitude, at 10 Hz frequency and room temperature. Increase of the fracture resistance was observed in the weld metal but decreasing in the HAZ after repair. The results were associated to microhardness and microstructural changes with the welding sequence. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Fatigue strength of tungsten inert gas-repaired weld joints in airplane critical structures

In this work the effect of Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) repairs on the axial fatigue strength of an AISI 4130 steel welded joint used in airframe critical to the flight-safety was investigated. Fatigue tests were performed at room temperature on 0.89 mm thick hot-rolled plates with constant amplitude and load ratio of R = 0.1, at 20 Hz frequency. Monotonic tensile tests, optical metallography and microhardness, residual stress and weld geometric factors measurements were also performed. The fatigue strength decreased with the number of GTAW repairs, and was related to microstructural and microhardness changes, as well as residual stress field and weld profile geometry factors, which gave origin to high stress concentration at the weld toe. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Compreendendo a experiência de pessoas portadoras de transtorno mental: histórias de vidas severinas repletas de possibilidades

This study aims to understand the experience of people suffering from mental disorder. The patients are enrolled in a mental health ambulatory clinic in the city of Natal (RN). Mental disorders are growing rapidly in the contemporary world and are a source of intense mental suffering. Besides patients being strongly marked by a history of isolation and prejudice, they have been the target of real atrocities committed in the name of preservation of a supposed normality. The understanding and treatment of this disorder is influenced by cultural and historical inferences, depending on the period in which it is experienced. Semi-directed Interviews were conducted with a group of users, with the emphasis on giving voice to their uniqueness and individuality, highlighting how each one perceives his or her own experience. These were recorded and later transcribed by identifying the core of meanings. The results were analyzed under the gaze of the Humanist Phenomenology Existential perspective, which aims to unravel the phenomenon, without truths from volatility, highlighting the existence of the mental disorder as a way of living, being permeated by suffering mental and influenced by social problems, assuming contours very particular to each individual. Some progress has been perceived, even by users, with respect to the change of paradigm in the way of care, but still there is a consistent emphasis on medical and drug use. The changes point to the need for offering services to replace the asylum hospital model, and in addition to accept the bearer of mental disorder as a citizen, a bearer of rights who should be accepted and respected by society. Despite the pain expressed and its close liaison with suicide, their reports are full of perspectives and attitudes of confrontation facing life, pointing to new possibilities to be, recreating itself

Geração de processos WS-BPEL com base em um algoritmo de reescrita de regras

Web services are computational solutions designed according to the principles of Service Oriented Computing. Web services can be built upon pre-existing services available on the Internet by using composition languages. We propose a method to generate WS-BPEL processes from abstract specifications provided with high-level control-flow information. The proposed method allows the composition designer to concentrate on high-level specifi- cations, in order to increase productivity and generate specifications that are independent of specific web services. We consider service orchestrations, that is compositions where a central process coordinates all the operations of the application. The process of generating compositions is based on a rule rewriting algorithm, which has been extended to support basic control-flow information.We created a prototype of the extended refinement method and performed experiments over simple case studies

Características de população de profissionais do sexo e sua associação com presença de doença sexualmente transmissível

Este estudo teve como objetivo descrever a população de profissionais do sexo, considerando características sociodemográficas, antecedentes gineco-obstétricos e comportamentais, e verificar a associação com a presença de doença sexualmente transmissível. Trata-se de estudo epidemiológico e transversal, realizado com 102 mulheres profissionais do sexo. Os dados foram obtidos por meio de entrevista e exames padrão-ouro para diagnóstico das doenças de interesse. A média de idade das mulheres foi de 26,1 anos, sendo que a maioria tinha nove ou mais anos de aprovação escolar, era solteira e teve coitarca antes dos 15 anos. A prática de sexo oral nos parceiros foi citada por 90,2% das mulheres, 99% delas relataram fazer uso de preservativo no trabalho, apenas 26,3% com parceiros fixos e 42,2% usavam drogas ilícitas. Não houve associação entre fatores sociodemográficos, antecedentes gineco-obstétricos e fatores comportamentais com presença de doença sexualmente transmissível e isso pode ser decorrente da escolaridade e do fato da população estudada possuir características muito semelhantes, dificultando o aparecimento de tais associações.

Contribution to the embryology of Leiothrix fluitans (Eriocaulaceae : Poales)

This paper presents a contribution to the understanding of the embryology, especially microsporogenesis, the antipodal cell behavior, and the early stages of the micropylar seed operculum, in Leiothrix fluitans, to elucidate these aspects both within the subgenus Rheocaulon and within the genus in Eriocaulaceae. Contrarily to previous descriptions of this same species, our results show the following: microsporogenesis is of the successive type and results in isobilateral microspore tetrads; the antipodal cells gradually fuse together to form a conspicuous cyst; and the inner integument, which does not develop into an endothelium, shows evidence of the initiation of the seed operculum in its micropylar end. Such features are common to the family as a whole. Evidenced for the first time in the family, the chalazal end of the ovule differentiates into a hypostase closely associated to the antipodal cyst. These overall features of L. fluitalls point out previous misinterpretations on some of its embryological aspects, especially those concerning the only report of simultaneous microsporogenesis and proliferation of the antipodal cells. Furthermore, the results presented here allow us to reinforce the uniformity of the embryological aspects within the Eriocaulaceae, strengthening the cystic arrangement of the antipodal cells as a potential autapomorphy of the family within the other Poales (commelinids). (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using network connectance and autonomy analyses to uncover patterns of photosynthetic responses in tropical woody species

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

Geographic Distribution and Morphological Variation of Striped and Nonstriped Populations of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Treefrog Hypsiboas bischoffi (Anura: Hylidae)

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

Cellular and extracellular behavior in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) ventral prostate following different types of castration and the consequences of testosterone replacement

Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) were grouped into two experimental groups: GEx.01 suffered orchiectomy and after 30 days received doses of testosterone cipionate (T), while GEx.02 received weekly and alternated doses of the anti-androgens cyproterone acetate and flutamide for 30 days, and the animals were then euthanized. Structural evaluation reveals a more intense reduction in epithelial height in GEx.02. Smooth muscle cells (SMC) presented a star-shaped aspect after 30 days of hormonal ablation and basal membrane was shown to be more intensely grooved in GEx.01. In both groups, after hormonal replacement, recovery in epithelial height could be noted and the SMC presented its phenotypes, but an increase in RER was seen, characterizing a modulation from its contractile to secreting phenotype. In conclusion, the prostate presented involution capacity after androgen ablation and the ability to reorganize after hormonal replacement, but events resulting from orchiectomy and subsequent T replacement were shown to be more aggressive to the prostate. (c) 2006 International Federation for Cell Biology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CMS physics technical design report, volume II: Physics performance

CMS is a general purpose experiment, designed to study the physics of pp collisions at 14 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider ( LHC). It currently involves more than 2000 physicists from more than 150 institutes and 37 countries. The LHC will provide extraordinary opportunities for particle physics based on its unprecedented collision energy and luminosity when it begins operation in 2007. The principal aim of this report is to present the strategy of CMS to explore the rich physics programme offered by the LHC. This volume demonstrates the physics capability of the CMS experiment. The prime goals of CMS are to explore physics at the TeV scale and to study the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking - through the discovery of the Higgs particle or otherwise. To carry out this task, CMS must be prepared to search for new particles, such as the Higgs boson or supersymmetric partners of the Standard Model particles, from the start- up of the LHC since new physics at the TeV scale may manifest itself with modest data samples of the order of a few fb(-1) or less. The analysis tools that have been developed are applied to study in great detail and with all the methodology of performing an analysis on CMS data specific benchmark processes upon which to gauge the performance of CMS. These processes cover several Higgs boson decay channels, the production and decay of new particles such as Z' and supersymmetric particles, B-s production and processes in heavy ion collisions. The simulation of these benchmark processes includes subtle effects such as possible detector miscalibration and misalignment. Besides these benchmark processes, the physics reach of CMS is studied for a large number of signatures arising in the Standard Model and also in theories beyond the Standard Model for integrated luminosities ranging from 1 fb(-1) to 30 fb(-1). The Standard Model processes include QCD, B-physics, diffraction, detailed studies of the top quark properties, and electroweak physics topics such as the W and Z(0) boson properties. The production and decay of the Higgs particle is studied for many observable decays, and the precision with which the Higgs boson properties can be derived is determined. About ten different supersymmetry benchmark points are analysed using full simulation. The CMS discovery reach is evaluated in the SUSY parameter space covering a large variety of decay signatures. Furthermore, the discovery reach for a plethora of alternative models for new physics is explored, notably extra dimensions, new vector boson high mass states, little Higgs models, technicolour and others. Methods to discriminate between models have been investigated. This report is organized as follows. Chapter 1, the Introduction, describes the context of this document. Chapters 2-6 describe examples of full analyses, with photons, electrons, muons, jets, missing E-T, B-mesons and tau's, and for quarkonia in heavy ion collisions. Chapters 7-15 describe the physics reach for Standard Model processes, Higgs discovery and searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Search for narrow resonances in dilepton mass spectra in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV CMS Collaboration

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)