Conditional U1 gene silencing in Toxoplasma gondii

The functional characterisation of essential genes in apicomplexan parasites, such as Toxoplasma gondii or Plasmodium falciparum, relies on conditional mutagenesis systems. Here we present a novel strategy based on U1 snRNP-mediated gene silencing. U1 snRNP is critical in pre-mRNA splicing by defining the exon-intron boundaries. When a U1 recognition site is placed into the 3’-terminal exon or adjacent to the termination codon, pre-mRNA is cleaved at the 3’-end and degraded, leading to an efficient knockdown of the gene of interest (GOI). Here we describe a simple method that combines endogenous tagging with DiCre-mediated positioning of U1 recognition sites adjacent to the termination codon of the GOI which leads to a conditional knockdown of the GOI upon rapamycin-induction. Specific knockdown mutants of the reporter gene GFP and several endogenous genes of T. gondii including the clathrin heavy chain gene 1 (chc1), the vacuolar protein sorting gene 26 (vps26), and the dynamin-related protein C gene (drpC) were silenced using this approach and demonstrate the potential of this technology. We also discuss advantages and disadvantages of this method in comparison to other technologies in more detail

A Map-Reduce Parallel Approach to Automatic Synthesis of Control Software

Many Control Systems are indeed Software Based Control Systems, i.e. control systems whose controller consists of control software running on a microcontroller device. This motivates investigation on Formal Model Based Design approaches for automatic synthesis of control software. Available algorithms and tools (e.g., QKS) may require weeks or even months of computation to synthesize control software for large-size systems. This motivates search for parallel algorithms for control software synthesis. In this paper, we present a Map-Reduce style parallel algorithm for control software synthesis when the controlled system (plant) is modeled as discrete time linear hybrid system. Furthermore we present an MPI-based implementation PQKS of our algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first parallel approach for control software synthesis. We experimentally show effectiveness of PQKS on two classical control synthesis problems: the inverted pendulum and the multi-input buck DC/DC converter. Experiments show that PQKS efficiency is above 65%. As an example, PQKS requires about 16 hours to complete the synthesis of control software for the pendulum on a cluster with 60 processors, instead of the 25 days needed by the sequential algorithm in QKS.Comment: To be submitted to TACAS 2013. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1207.4474, arXiv:1207.409

Implantação de um programa de ações integradas para controle do mosquito da dengue em São Sebastião.

bitstream/CENARGEN/29709/1/doc236.pd

Demand-Aware Price Policy Synthesis and Verification Services for Smart Grids

In management tasks for modern electricity networks the stakeholders face typically two conflicting objectives: maximization of income (increasing demand) and reduction of demand peaks (reducing costs). To improve management of electricity distribution networks, an integrated service-based methodology is presented in this paper. Namely, the proposed approach: i) computes the operational constraints in order to improve utilization of the whole network; ii) enforces those constraints by focusing on each network substation separately; iii) verifies that probability of violating those constraints in nonnominal cases is fairly low. The feasibility of the approach has been tested tested by using a realistic scenario taken from an existing medium voltage Danish distribution network. In such scenario, the proposed method improves the network utilization and offers economic benefits for all the principal participants, i.e. DSOs, retailers and end users

Contato, epidemias e corpo como agentes de transformação: um estudo sobre a AIDS entre os Índios Xokléng de Santa Catarina, Brasil Contact, epidemics, and the body as agents of change: a study of AIDS among the Xokléng indians in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

A partir da análise dos episódios de AIDS que acometeram os Índios Xokléng em 1988, o presente artigo visa referir fenômenos de doença a rupturas e transformações socioculturais ocorridas nesse universo com base na história de contato com a sociedade abrangente. A interpretação e a análise da relação estabelecida são feitas à luz de teorias antropológicas acerca da centralidade que corpo, corporalidade e processos corporais degenerativos ocupam nas sociedades indígenas brasileiras. Propõe-se que corpo, sociedade e agentes macroconjunturais são articulados pela práxis; por isso, devem ser relacionados nos estudos socio-antropológicos concernentes aos fenômenos de doença. O artigo traz a descrição sucinta das epidemias advindas com o contato, tentando vinculá-las aos contextos históricos específicos que o marcaram. Categorias da etnomedicina, cosmologia e corporalidade Xokléng são associadas à organização social e aos casos de AIDS. Estes são apresentados tendo, como enfoque principal, a ligação estabelecida entre seu advento e as transformações no universo Xokléng em função da construção da Barragem Norte junto a sua Terra.<br>Based on an analysis of AIDS cases among the Xokléng Indians in 1988, this article relates the illness phenomenon to socio-cultural disruptions and transformations in this indigenous group's universe, focusing on the history of their contact with Brazilian national society. The analysis and interpretation of this relationship are based on anthropological theories about the centrality of the body, corporeality, and degenerative bodily processes in Brazilian indigenous societies, according to which the body, society, and macro-situational elements are articulated by social praxis, and should thus be related in socio-anthropological studies of health-illness phenomena. The article briefly describes the history of epidemics emerging from contact and attempts to relate them to specific historical contexts. Ethnomedical categories, cosmology, and Xokléng concepts of corporeality are related to their social organization, which are thus connected to the AIDS cases. The latter are presented with a special focus on the relationship between their emergence and the changes occurring in the Xokléng world with the construction of a dam bordering on their land

Indigenous fire management in the cerrado of Brazil: the case of the Kraho of Tocantٍins

Indigenous peoples have been using fire in the cerrado (savannas) of Brazil as a form of management for thousands of years, yet we have little information on why, when and how these fire practices take place. The aim of this paper was to explore the traditional use of fire as a management tool by the Krahô indigenous group living in the north-eastern region of Tocantíns state, Brazil. The results indicate that the Krahô burn for a variety of reasons throughout the dry season, thereby producing a mosaic of burned and unburned patches in the landscape. The paper discusses this burning regime in the context of contemporary issues regarding fire management, and in the face of changing perceptions to fire by the Krahô themselves