Ontologies and Unified Modeling Language: an approach to representation of domains of knowledge

This article emphasizes the use of Unified Modeling Language, UML in the specification of models based on ontologies in the representation of domains of knowledge, emphasizing the importance of semantic and of treatment of standardized language so the knowledge of the domain can be organized and shared. Finally, this article aims to establish a connection between the themes: the object oriented modeling and ontologies.Este artigo destaca o uso da Unified Modeling Language, UML na especificação de modelos baseados em ontologias na representação de domínios de conhecimento, enfatizando a importância da semântica e do tratamento da linguagem padronizada para que o conhecimento do domínio possa ser organizado e compartilhado. Finalmente, este artigo tem como objetivo estabelecer uma conexão entre as temáticas: modelagem orientada a objetos e ontologias

Identification by MALDI-TOF MS of Sporothrix brasiliensis isolated from a subconjunctival infiltrative lesion in an immunocompetent patient

Sporotrichosis is a globally distributed subcutaneous fungal infection caused by dimorphic fungi belonging to the Sporothrix species complex that affects the skin of limbs predominantly, but not exclusively. A rare case of ocular sporotrichosis in an immunocompetent Brazilian patient from the countryside of Rio de Janeiro State is reported. A 68-year-old woman presented with a subconjunctival infiltrative lesion in the right eye with pre-auricular lymphadenopathy of onset 4 months ago that evolved to suppurative nodular lesions on the eyelids. Conjunctival secretion was evaluated by histopathological examination and inoculated on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA). Histopathology showed oval bodies within giant cells and other mononucleated histiocytes. Fungus grown on SDA was identified as Sporothrix sp. by morphological observations. The isolated strain was finally identified by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) associated with an in-house database enriched with reference Sporothrix complex spectra. The strain presented a MALDI spectrum with the ion peaks of the molecular mass profile of S. brasiliensis. The patient was adequately treated with amphotericin B subsequently replaced by itraconazole. Due to scars left by the suppurative process, the patient presented poor final visual acuity. The present work presents an overview of ocular sporotrichosis and discusses the diagnostic difficulty that can lead to visual sequelae in these cases.Financial support for this work by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Rio de Janeiro [FAPERJ] (Grants: INST E-26/010.001784/2016; JCNE E-26/203.301/2017), by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [CNPq] (Grant Proc. 409227/2016-1). This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES). MALDI-TOF MS analyses were partially developed using equipment funded by CONICYT/Chile through the project Fondequip EQM160054 2016. The Universidad de La Frontera (Temuco, Chile) partially funded this work through the Project DIUFRO PIA19-0001. Furthermore, this study was also supported by FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploring Lip Segmentation Techniques in Computer Vision: A Comparative Analysis

Lip segmentation is crucial in computer vision, especially for lip reading. Despite extensive face segmentation research, lip segmentation has received limited attention. The aim of this study is to compare state-of-the-art lip segmentation models using a standardized setting and a publicly available dataset. Five techniques, namely EHANet, Mask2Former, BiSeNet V2, PIDNet, and STDC1, are qualitatively selected based on their reported performance, inference time, code availability, recency, and popularity. The CelebAMask-HQ dataset, comprising manually annotated face images, is used to fairly assess the lip segmentation performance of the selected models. Inference experiments are conducted on a Raspberry Pi4 to emulate limited computational resources. The results show that Mask2Former and EHANet have the best performances in terms of mIoU score. BiSeNet V2 demonstrate competitive performance, while PIDNet excels in recall but has lower precision. Most models present inference time ranging from 1000 to around 3000 milliseconds on a Raspberry Pi4, with PIDNet having the lowest mean inference time. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of lip segmentation models, highlighting their performance and inference times. The findings contribute to the development of lightweight techniques and establish benchmarks for future advances in lip segmentation, especially in IoT and edge computing scenarios

Reação a Meloidogyne graminicola de genótipos de soja cultivados em terras baixas.

Objetivo desse estudo, avaliar a reação de diferentes genótipos de soja cultivadas em ambiente de terras baixas a referida espécie do nematoide das galhas.CIC UFPEL

Production of an enzymatic cocktail by Aspergillus awamori grown on corn straw with stirred tank bioreactor

Increased agroindustrial activity has led to the accumulation of large amounts of lignocellulosic material (LCM). LCM is nature's most abundant source of renewable carbon, representing a valuable industrial substrate with potential for many applications. Thus, the objective of this work was to screen for different holocellulases and to analyze the production of an Aspergillus awamori enzyme cocktail grown in corn straw (CS) using a stirred tank bioreactor. Screening was performed with A. clavatus, A. flavus, A. terreus, A. niveus, A. awamori and A. brasiliensis cultivated in minimal medium (MM), with 1% CS at 30 ºC or 37 ºC (for A. niveus), 120 rpm, for 5 days. Xylanase (XYN) and endoglucanase (EG) activities were evaluated by formation of reducing sugars using dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS). Cellobiohydrolase (CBH), -glucosidase (BGL) and -xylosidase (BXL) were determined by cleavage of PNP--D-cellobioside, PNP--D-glucopyranoside and PNP--D- xylopyranoside, respectively. After screening, a pre-inoculum was prepared with the best enzyme producer using a 500 mL MM flask and incubated at 30 °C, 120 rpm for 48 hours. The increase of enzyme production was performed in a Benchtop BioFlo 310 bioreactor, with 4.5 L of MM and 1% of CS, and was then inoculated the best enzyme producer. Cultivation was performed at 30 °C, pH 6.5, 275 rpm, air flow 2 v.v.m., for 5 days. During the screening, all fungi presented EG, CBH, BGL, XYN and BXL activities. However, A. awamori was chosen to continue the experiments because of its BXL activity which was 12.6 times higher than that produced by A. niveus. At the scale-up stage, XYN production (47.80 U/ mL) increased 4.1-fold compared to flask activity (11.52 U/mL). BXL also showed 1.6-times higher activity, as well as EG, CBH and BGL, which improved 2.3, 3.3 and 1.2 times their activities, respectively. It was concluded that the staggering of cocktail production improved the enzymatic activities and that corn straw is an excellent source of induction. Furthermore, this cocktail has the potential to be applied in the hydrolysis of different LCM due to the range of holocellulases present.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Institutos Nacionais de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Brewers' spent grain as substrates for production of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes by different Aspergillus species

Brewers' spent grain (BSG) is the major by-product of the brewing industry, representing around 85% of the total by-products generated. It is a lignocellulosic material containing about 38% cellulose, 29% hemicellulose, chiefly arabinoxylans, and 13% lignin. The production of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes using this material as substrate represent an eco-friendly strategy for the lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysis, generating fermentable sugars that can be converted into high- added value products, such as bioethanol, lactic acid, xylitol and others. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the potential of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes production by some Aspergillus species cultivated in BSG. Fungi were grown in minimum media, pH 6.5, with 1% BSG and inoculum was done with 107spores/mL, cultivated at 30°C, 120 rpm, for 5 days. Every 24 hours 2 mL of the samples were collected. The enzymatic activity was performed after the incubation of the crude extract with 1% Linear arabinan, Xylan from beechwood, Xyloglucan, Locust bean gum and CMC, at 50°C for 60 minutes and the reducing sugars were determined using dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS). Synthetic substrates (2 mM of PNP--L-arabinofuranoside, PNP--D-xylopyranoside, PNP--Dglucopyranoside and PNP--D-cellobioside) were also used at the same conditions. The extract from A. niveus showed the best arabinanase (0.284 U/mL) and -glucosidase (0.126 U/mL) activities after 48 and 96 hours of cultivation, respectively. On the other hand, the extract from A. brasiliensis presented the best activities of -L-arabinofuranosidase (0.129 U/mL), -xylosidase (0.265 U/mL) and xylanase (2.15 U/mL) when cultivated for 48 hours. After 72 hours, this fungus also showed the best activities for xyloglucanase (1.06 U/mL), mannanase (0.617 U/mL) and endoglucanase (0.254 U/mL). The extract produced by A. flavus presented the best cellobiohydrolase activity with 0.113 U/mL after 120 hours of cultivation. It is important to mention that A. awamori, A. clavatus and A. terreus also showed good levels of different enzymes produced but they were not the best producers. These data suggest the great potential of different cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzymes production using BSG as substrate, which represents an eco-friendly destination for the residues and can generate high-added value products with great biotechnological application.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Institutos Nacionais de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Finanças comportamentais: uma introdução

A subject often debated in Finance is the validity of assumptions regarding traditional theories, especially in relation to the rationality of economic agents. Studies endeavoring to improve theoretical models have incorporated behavioral aspects previously disregarded thereby creating the new and promising field of behavioral finance. The remarkable growth of this unorthodox approach has been spurred by attempts to explain phenomena in the financial markets which are incompatible with traditional model forecasts. A brief introduction to the concepts of behavioral finance was presented with comments on pioneer applications that incorporated two frequent examples of cognitive biases, namely optimism and excessive confidence, for the purpose of building a new theoretical paradigm.Dentre as principais questões que vêm sendo debatidas em Finanças está a validade das premissas assumidas por suas teorias mais tradicionais, em particular a da racionalidade dos agentes econômicos. Nesse contexto, surgiram diversos trabalhos com o objetivo de aprimorar os modelos teóricos dominantes, incorporando aspectos comportamentais antes desconsiderados. Essas linhas de pesquisa deram origem a um novo e promissor campo de estudo denominado Finanças Comportamentais. O notável crescimento dessa abordagem não ortodoxa tem sido motivado, em especial, pela tentativa de explicação satisfatória de uma gama de fenômenos regularmente observados nos mercados financeiros e incompatíveis com as predições dos modelos tradicionais. Este ensaio apresenta uma introdução sucinta aos conceitos fundamentais da área de Finanças Comportamentais e comenta duas aplicações pioneiras que incorporam dois dos vieses cognitivos mais bem documentados - otimismo e confiança excessiva

New 99mTc-Labeled Digitoxigenin Derivative for Cancer Cell Identification

In recent years, cardiac glycosides (CGs) have been investigated as potential antiviral and anticancer drugs. Digitoxigenin (DIG) and other CGs have been shown to bind and inhibit Na+/K+-adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase). Tumor cells show a higher expression rate of the Na+/K+-ATPase protein or a stronger affinity towards the binding of CGs and are therefore more prone to CGs than non-tumor cells. Cancer imaging techniques using radiotracers targeted at specific receptors have yielded successful results. Technetium-99m (99mTc) is one of the radionuclides of choice to radiolabel pharmaceuticals because of its favorable physical and chemical properties along with reasonable costs. Herein, we describe a new Na+/K+-ATPase targeting radiotracer consisting of digitoxigenin and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), a bifunctional chelating ligand used to prepare 99mTc-labeled complexes, and its evaluation as an imaging probe. We report the synthesis and characterization of the radiolabeled compound including stability tests, blood clearance, and biodistribution in healthy mice. Additionally, we investigated the binding of the compound to A549 human non-small-cell lung cancer cells and the inhibition of the Na+/K+-ATPase by the labeled compound in vitro. The 99mTc-labeled DTPA–digitoxigenin (99mTc-DTPA–DIG) compound displayed high stability in vitro and in vivo, a fast renal excretion, and a specific binding towards A549 cancer cells in comparison to non-tumor cells. Therefore, 99mTc-DTPA–DIG could potentially be used for non-invasive visualization of tumor lesions by means of scintigraphic imaging