Study of up- and downstream processes in Microcystis aeruginosa cultivation - One approach, two distinct objectives

BioTech 2017 and 7th Czech-Swiss Symposium with Exhibition[Excerpt] The cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and the accumulation of its cyanotoxin microcystin (MC) have been responsible for several human/animal deaths and intoxication incidents. Therefore, the World Health Organization established recommendation values for MC in water, givingrisetoanincreasingdemandforMC’s analytical standards to be used as laboratory standards both in human and environmental risk assessment studies. These Cyanotoxinsarealsoconsideredpromising anticancer/antitumor drugs as well as antifungal, antialgal and insecticide agents. Despite the interest, commercial MC availability is still limited due to constraints found in production, which inflate the final price to values as high as 28000 e/mg. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Incommensurability-Induced Enhancement of Superconductivity in One Dimensional Critical Systems

We show that incommensurability can enhance superconductivity in one dimensional quasiperiodic systems with s-wave pairing. As a parent model, we use a generalized Aubry-Andr\'e model that includes quasiperiodic modulations both in the potential and in the hoppings. In the absence of interactions, the model contains extended, critical and localized phases for incommensurate modulations. Our results reveal that in a substantial region inside the parent critical phase, there is a significant increase of the superconducting critical temperature compared to the extended phase and the uniform limit without quasiperiodic modulations. We also analyse the results for commensurate modulations with period close to the selected incommensurate one. We find that while in the commensurate case, the scaling of the critical temperature with interaction strength follows the exponentially small weak-coupling BCS prediction for a large enough system size, it scales algebraically in the incommensurate case within the critical and localized parent phases. These qualitatively distinct behaviors lead to a significant incommensurability-induced enhancement of the critical temperature in the weak and intermediate coupling regimes, accompanied by an increase in the superconducting order parameter at zero temperature.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Galaxy cluster mergers as triggers for the formation of jellyfish galaxies: case study of the A901/2 system

The A901/2 system is a rare case of galaxy cluster interaction, in which two galaxy clusters and two smaller groups are seen in route of collision with each other simultaneously. Within each of the four substructures, several galaxies with features indicative of jellyfish morphologies have been observed. In this paper, we propose a hydrodynamic model for the merger as a whole, compatible with its diffuse X-ray emission, and correlate the gas properties in this model with the locations of the jellyfish galaxy candidates in the real system. We find that jellyfish galaxies seem to be preferentially located near a boundary inside each subcluster where diffuse gas moving along with the subcluster and diffuse gas from the remainder of the system meet. The velocity change in those boundaries is such that a factor of up to $\sim$1000 increase in the ram pressure takes place within a few hundred kpc, which could trigger the high rate of gas loss necessary for a jellyfish morphology to emerge. A theoretical treatment of ram pressure stripping in the environment of galaxy cluster mergers has not been presented in the literature so far; we propose that this could be a common scenario for the formation of jellyfish morphologies in such systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 10 pages, 9 figure

Exact Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation for gravitational waves and magnetic field background

We consider an exact Foldy-Wouthuysen transformation for the Dirac spinor field on the combined background of a gravitational wave and constant uniform magnetic field. By taking the classical limit of the spinor field Hamiltonian we arrive at the equations of motion for the non-relativistic spinning particle. Two different kinds of the gravitational fields are considered and in both cases the effect of the gravitational wave on the spinor field and on the corresponding spinning particle may be enforced by the sufficiently strong magnetic field. This result can be relevant for the astrophysical applications and, in principle, useful for creating the gravitational wave detectors based on atomic physics and precise interferometry

Towards e-cities. An Atlas to enhance the public realm through interactive urban cyber-physical devices

Cyber-physical devices are the backbone of a postdigital society in which the virtual and real spaces are seamlessly integrated by ubiquitous computing and networking. The incorporation of such devices in public space is a central subject of a strategic Research Project that gathers a multidisciplinary team from architecture, product design, polymer science and ICT R&D units. This paper frames the key roles of public space and ICTs for UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable smart cities. It also reports the architecture R&D unit review on the relations between public space, community, environment and digital interfaces. This review was materialized in an Atlas that collects, classifies and relates a corpus of heterogeneous urban cyber-physical projects case studies. We expand on three main framing concepts (Digital Twin, Interface, Awareness) and identify trends on the devices’ design and deployment strategies to counteract digitally hostile environments and early obsolescence. We also suggest the rising of new types of urban devices aiming at expanding the liveliness of urban places, the knowledge of urban life and the users’ environmental consciousness. The lessons learned from the Atlas fed the design guidelines for a developing demonstrator of a new breed of environmentally sensible interactive urban devices

Complex Network Tools to Understand the Behavior of Criminality in Urban Areas

Complex networks are nowadays employed in several applications. Modeling urban street networks is one of them, and in particular to analyze criminal aspects of a city. Several research groups have focused on such application, but until now, there is a lack of a well-defined methodology for employing complex networks in a whole crime analysis process, i.e. from data preparation to a deep analysis of criminal communities. Furthermore, the "toolset" available for those works is not complete enough, also lacking techniques to maintain up-to-date, complete crime datasets and proper assessment measures. In this sense, we propose a threefold methodology for employing complex networks in the detection of highly criminal areas within a city. Our methodology comprises three tasks: (i) Mapping of Urban Crimes; (ii) Criminal Community Identification; and (iii) Crime Analysis. Moreover, it provides a proper set of assessment measures for analyzing intrinsic criminality of communities, especially when considering different crime types. We show our methodology by applying it to a real crime dataset from the city of San Francisco - CA, USA. The results confirm its effectiveness to identify and analyze high criminality areas within a city. Hence, our contributions provide a basis for further developments on complex networks applied to crime analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 14th International Conference on Information Technology : New Generation

Pathway for cyanotoxin valorization: microscystin as case study

Book of Abstracts of CEB Annual Meeting 2017info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhancing the interface behavior on polycarbonate/elastomeric blends: morphological, structural, and thermal characterization

A systematic study was performed to provide better understanding of the effect of elas tomeric materials on the behavior of polycarbonate blends (PC). Thus, blends of PC with different amounts of elastomers, such as copolyether ester elastomer (COPE), acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS), maleic anhydride-grafted ABS (ABS-g-MA), and styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene (SEBS g-MA) were prepared in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. The materials were characterized by an electronic microscopy (SEM), an infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermal (DSC) and thermo mechanical (DMA) techniques. The incorporation of elastomeric phases was observed by changes in the FTIR band’s intensity, whereas a new shoulder of the ester band of COPE at 1728 cm−1 indicates the occurrence of a transesterification reaction. Unmodified and modified ABS (5% and 10%) did not affect the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PC, while 1% SEBS-g-MA slightly increased this value. PC/10% COPE showed that a decrease in Tg of 25 ◦C has a result of better compatibilization between both phases, which is visible via SEM. SEM analysis identified three main toughening mechanisms, depending on the type of elastomer. Unlike any other study, this work deepens the knowledge, in a comparative way, to understand the elastomeric effect at the interface and consequently, on the mechanical behavior of PC systems.This work was founded by Portugal 2020, and Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) through Programa Operacional Regional do NORTE (NORTE-08-5369–FSE-000034), developed under the pro gram “IMPULSE—Polímeros e Compósitos: Drivers da inovação tecnológica e da competitividade industrial”. The authors also acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (TSSiPRO—TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE AND SMART INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS— NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000015) and UID/CTM/50025/2013 for the financial support

Evaluation of an educational programme for socially deprived asthma patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an asthma education programme in moderate and severe asthma patients in a longitudinal, prospective and randomized study with a control group. Fifty-three asthmatic patients were studied, 26 of whom were assigned to the educational group and 27 to the control group.The educational group attended the programme regularly for a period of 6 months. the programme included information about asthma, instruction on the appropriate use of medication and training in the metered dose inhaler (MDI) technique, and information about the identification and control of asthma attacks and the recognition of early signs of exacerbation. the control group was submitted to the routine tare provided at the Asthma Clinic, with no formal instruction regarding asthma control. the groups were identical with regard to severity parameters, skills, lung function and quality of Life at the beginning of the trial.At the end of the study, the education group showed significant differences when compared with the control group education/control (mean values) with respect to: visits to the asthma emergency room over the previous 6 months, 0.7/2 (p=0.03); nocturnal symptoms, 0.3/0.7 (p=0.04); score of symptoms, 1.3/2 (p=0.04). Improvements were also observed in skills and quality of life, knowledge of how to deal with attacks and how to control the environmental triggering factors, 73/35 (<0.05); correct use of the MDI, 8/4 (0.001); understanding of the difference between relief and antiinflammatory medication, 86/20 (<0.05); and in the global limitation quality of life score, 28/50 (0.02).It is concluded that the educational programme led to a significant improvement in asthma morbidity and that the implantation of educational programmes is possible for special populations when these programmes are adapted to the socioeconomic profile of the patients, with a significant gain in terms of the reduction of symptoms and improved pulmonary function and quality of life of asthmatics.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Lund Div, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Lund Div, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc