Managing the mining cycle using GeoVisionary

Managing the mining cycle from exploration through to evaluation, planning, construction, operation and finally mine closure can involve many datasets in different formats. To be able to visualise all of these different datasets in one environment is important to locate mineral/ore deposits, moderate risks, increase mining efficiency, monitor the impact on the surrounding environment and communicate these factors to stakeholders. Typically, GIS – Geographical Information Systems have been used to manage the life cycle of a mine, however the three dimensional (3D) complexity is lost in these two dimensional (2D) systems. Virtalis alongside the British Geological Survey, have developed the GeoVisionary software which provides the means to aid the management of many aspects of the life cycle of a mine using a combination 2D, 3D and 4D data in the same virtual environment

Tau Be or not Tau Be? - A Perspective on Service Compatibility and Substitutability

One of the main open research issues in Service Oriented Computing is to propose automated techniques to analyse service interfaces. A first problem, called compatibility, aims at determining whether a set of services (two in this paper) can be composed together and interact with each other as expected. Another related problem is to check the substitutability of one service with another. These problems are especially difficult when behavioural descriptions (i.e., message calls and their ordering) are taken into account in service interfaces. Interfaces should capture as faithfully as possible the service behaviour to make their automated analysis possible while not exhibiting implementation details. In this position paper, we choose Labelled Transition Systems to specify the behavioural part of service interfaces. In particular, we show that internal behaviours (tau transitions) are necessary in these transition systems in order to detect subtle errors that may occur when composing a set of services together. We also show that tau transitions should be handled differently in the compatibility and substitutability problem: the former problem requires to check if the compatibility is preserved every time a tau transition is traversed in one interface, whereas the latter requires a precise analysis of tau branchings in order to make the substitution preserve the properties (e.g., a compatibility notion) which were ensured before replacement.Comment: In Proceedings WCSI 2010, arXiv:1010.233

Effect of microneedle type on transdermal permeation of rizatriptan

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of salient microneedle (MN) geometry parameters like length, density, shape and type on transdermal permeation of rizatriptan (RIZ). Studies were carried out using two types of MN devices viz. AdminPatch® arrays (ADM) (0.6, 0.9, 1.2 and 1.5 mm lengths) and laboratory-fabricated polymeric MNs (PMs) of 0.6 mm length. In the case of the PMs, arrays were applied three times at different places within a 1.77-cm2 skin area (PM-3) to maintain the MN density closer to 0.6 mm ADM. Histological studies revealed that PM, owing to their geometry/design, formed wider and deeper microconduits when compared to ADM of similar length. Approximately 4.9- and 4.2-fold increases in the RIZ steady-state flux values were observed with 1.5 mm ADM and PM-3 applications when compared to the passive studies. A good correlation between different dimensionless parameters like the amount of RIZ permeated (Ct/Cs), thickness (h/L) and surface area (Sa/L2) of the skin was observed with scaling analyses. Numerical simulations provided further information regarding the distribution of RIZ in MN-treated skin after application of different MNs. Overall, the study suggests that MN application enhances the RIZ transdermal permeation and the geometrical parameters of MNs play an important role in the degree enhancement

Enantioselective Synthesis of Antiepileptic Drug: (-)-Levetiracetam-Synthetic Applications of the Versatile New Chiral N-Sul�nimine

We report an asymmetric synthesis of (-)-Levetiracetam (1) in six steps starting from versatile new chiral N-sul�nimine (3). e key step, stereoselective 1,2-addition of ethylmagnesium bromide (EtMgBr) to chiral N-sul�nimine derived from (R)-glyceraldehyde acetonide and (S)-t-BSA, gave the corresponding sulfonamide (2) in high diastereoselectivity. Simultaneous deprotection and deacetylation followed by NaIO 4 cleavage and reduction gave -amino alcohol (6). Subsequent reactions yielded the targeted compound levetiracetam (1)

Pore-scale modeling of fluid flow through gas diffusion and catalyst layers for high temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells

This work represents a step towards reliable algorithms for reconstructing the micromorphology of electrode materials of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells and for performing pore-scale simulations of fluid flow (including rarefaction effects). In particular, we developed a deterministic model for a woven gas diffusion layer (GDL) and a stochastic model for the catalyst layer (CL) based on clusterization of carbon particles. We verified that both of the models developed accurately recover the experimental values of the permeability, without any special ad hoc tuning. Moreover, we investigated the effect of catalyst particle distributions inside the CL on the degree of clusterization and on the microscopic fluid flow, which is relevant for the modeling of degradation (e.g. loss of phosphoric acid). The three-dimensional pore-scale simulations of the fluid flow for the direct numerical calculation of the permeability were performed by the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM

Indução da atividade fagocitária e produção de óxido nítrico numa população natural de Trypanosoma cruzi I e II do Estado do Paraná, Brasil

Twelve strains of Trypanosoma cruzi isolated from wild reservoirs, triatomines, and chronic chagasic patients in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, and classified as T. cruzi I and II, were used to test the correlation between genetic and biological diversity. The Phagocytic Index (PI) and nitric-oxide (NO) production in vitro were used as biological parameters. The PI of the T. cruzi I and II strains did not differ significantly, nor did the PI of the T. cruzi strains isolated from humans, triatomines, or wild reservoirs. There was a statistical difference in the inhibition of NO production between T. cruzi I and II and between parasites isolated from humans and the strains isolated from triatomines and wild reservoirs, but there was no correlation between genetics and biology when the strains were analyzed independently of the lineages or hosts from which the strains were isolated. There were significant correlations for Randomly Amplified Polymorphic Deoxyribonucleic acid (RAPD) and biological parameters for T. cruzi I and II, and for humans or wild reservoirs when the lineages or hosts were considered individually.Doze cepas de Trypanosoma cruzi isoladas de reservatórios silvestres, triatomíneos e de pacientes chagásicos crônicos do Estado do Paraná, Brasil, classificadas como Tc I e II foram usadas para avaliar a correlação entre genética e diversidade biológica. Índice fagocítico (IF) e produção de óxido nítrico (ON) in vitro foram os parâmetros biológicos utilizados. O IF de cepas T. cruzi I e II não diferiram significativamente assim como o IF de cepas isoladas de humanos, triatomíneos ou de reservatórios silvestres. Há diferença estatística na inibição da produção de ON entre T. cruzi I e II e entre parasitos isolados de humanos e de cepas isoladas de triatomíneos e reservatórios silvestres, mas não foi observada correlação entre genética e biologia quando as cepas foram analisadas independentemente da linhagem ou hospedeiros das quais elas foram isoladas. Observou-se correlação significativa para amplificação aleatória do DNA polimórfico e parâmetros biológicos de Tc I ou II e para os seres humanos ou reservatório silvestre quando linhagens ou hospedeiros são consideradas separadamente

Developments on drug discovery and on new therapeutics: highly diluted tinctures act as biological response modifiers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the search for new therapies novel drugs and medications are being discovered, developed and tested in laboratories. Highly diluted substances are intended to enhance immune system responses resulting in reduced frequency of various diseases, and often present no risk of serious side-effects due to its low toxicity. Over the past years our research group has been investigating the action of highly diluted substances and tinctures on cells from the immune system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We have developed and tested several highly diluted tinctures and here we describe the biological activity of M1, M2, and M8 both <it>in vitro </it>in immune cells from mice and human, and <it>in vivo </it>in mice. Cytotoxicity, cytokines released and NF-κB activation were determined after <it>in vitro </it>treatment. Cell viability, oxidative response, lipid peroxidation, bone marrow and lymph node cells immunophenotyping were accessed after mice <it>in vivo </it>treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>None of the highly diluted tinctures tested were cytotoxic to macrophages or K562. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages treated with all highly diluted tinctures decreased tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) release and M1, and M8 decreased IFN-<it>γ </it>production. M1 has decreased NF-κB activity on TNF-α stimulated reporter cell line. <it>In vivo </it>treatment lead to a decrease in reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO) production was increased by M1, and M8, and lipid peroxidation was induced by M1, and M2. All compounds enhanced the innate immunity, but M1 also augmented acquired immunity and M2 diminished B lymphocytes, responsible to acquired immunity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the results presented here, these highly diluted tinctures were shown to modulate immune responses. Even though further investigation is needed there is an indication that these highly diluted tinctures could be used as therapeutic interventions in disorders where the immune system is compromised.</p