Perspectives of PV Microgeneration in Brazil: A Proposition of Regulation Enhancement Methodology

The solar photovoltaic (PV) generation is disseminating on multiple kinds of sites due to the energy market liberalization, the renewable energy sources subsidies policy, the decreasing of acquisition costs and the adaptability to different installation conditions. These factors allowed the growth of PV generation, especially in the distributed generation (DG) segment. Meanwhile, the development of a legal and regulatory apparatus became mandatory to assure benefits to DG-adopters, without causing damages to the utility grid, preventing technical failures and eventual excessive pricing to non-adopters. As the technology innovations impose new possibilities and the number of adopters grows exponentially, the challenges become more visible and a regulation update, urgent. In this context, this paper aims to review the current pricing model for DG in Brazil, focusing on PV microgeneration, and to propose a methodology based on the Delphi Method to enhance the most critical topics of the on-going regulation

Selective nonoperative management of high grade splenic trauma

The Evidence-based Telemedicine - Trauma & Acute Care Surgery (EBT-TACS) Journal Club performed a critical review of the literature and selected three up-to-date articles on the management of splenic trauma. Our focus was on high-grade splenic injuries, defined as AAST injury grade III-V. The first paper was an update of the 2003 Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) practice management guidelines for nonoperative management of injury to the spleen. The second paper was an American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) 2012 plenary paper evaluating the predictive role of contrast blush on CT scan in AAST grade IV and V splenic injuries. Our last article was from Europe and investigates the effects of angioembolization of splenic artery on splenic function after high-grade splenic trauma (AAST grade III-V). The EBT-TACS Journal Club elaborated conclusions and recommendations for the management of high-grade splenic trauma.A reunião de revista Telemedicina baseada em evidências - Cirurgia do Trauma e Emergência (TBE-CiTE) realizou uma revisão crítica da literatura e selecionou três artigos atuais sobre o tratamento do trauma de baço. O foco foi em lesão de baço grave, definida pela American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) como graus III a V. O primeiro artigo foi uma atualização do protocolo de 2003 da Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) para o tratamento não operatório de trauma do baço. O segundo artigo foi apresentado na plenária de 2012 da AAST avaliando o papel do extravasamento de contraste na tomografia computadorizada em pacientes com lesão grave de baço (AAST IV-V). O último artigo é europeu e investigou o efeito da angioembolização da artéria esplênica na função do baço após lesão esplênica grave (AAST III-V). A reunião de revista TBE-CiTE elaborou conclusões e recomendações para o tratamento de lesão grave do baço.24625

Embedded System for Real Color Composition in Experimental Physics

Software can be considered educational when properly contextualized in a relationship of teaching and learning. This paper describes an embedded system and an educational software developed and applied in experimental physics to real and virtual colors composition. The educational system developed allows student interaction by voice commands, which makes the assimilation process of red/green/blue (RGB) color formation concepts more didactic and playful. The application of educational software in experiments also allows to verify, in real time, the influence of programs change on the physical phenomena and stimulates the logical reasoning development and consequently the autonomy of the students, to the measure that can raise hypothesis, make modifications in the programming and take off conclusions from the practical results obtained

Novel insights into Parkin-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease

Mutations in PRKN cause the second most common genetic form of Parkinson's disease (PD)—a debilitating movement disorder that is on the rise due to population aging in the industrial world. PRKN codes for an E3 ubiquitin ligase that has been well established as a key regulator of mitophagy. Together with PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1), Parkin controls the lysosomal degradation of depolarized mitochondria. But Parkin's functions go well beyond mitochondrial clearance: the versatile protein is involved in mitochondria-derived vesicle formation, cellular metabolism, calcium homeostasis, mitochondrial DNA maintenance, mitochondrial biogenesis, and apoptosis induction. Moreover, Parkin can act as a modulator of different inflammatory pathways. In the current review, we summarize the latest literature concerning the diverse roles of Parkin in maintaining a healthy mitochondrial pool. Moreover, we discuss how these recent discoveries may translate into personalized therapeutic approaches not only for PRKN-PD patients but also for a subset of idiopathic cases

Bioorthogonal labeling reveals different expression of glycans in mouse hippocampal neuron cultures during their development

The following are available online. Scheme S1: Synthesis of peracetylated azidomannose (Ac4ManNAz); Scheme S2: Alternative synthesis of GlcNAz using chloroacetic anhydride and NaOH as a base; Scheme S3: Synthesis of peracetylated azidofucose (Ac4FucAz); Figure S1: 1H-NMR spectra of ManNAz (D2O, 300 MHz); Figure S2: 1H-NMR spectra of Ac4ManNAz (CDCl3 , 300 MHz), mixture of anomers; Figure S3: HPLC chromatogram of purified Ac4ManNAz showing the two anomers; Figure S4: 1H-NMR spectra of GlcNAz (D2O, 300MHz); Figure S5: 1H-NMR spectra of Ac4GlcNAz (CDCl3 , 300 MHz), mixture of anomers; Figure S6: HPLC chromatogram of purified Ac4GlcNAz showing the two anomers; Figure S7: 1H-NMR spectra of 6-azido-1,2,3,4-tetra-O-acetyl-6-deoxy-α,β-L-galactopyranose Ac4FucAz (CDCl3 , 300 MHz): mixture of anomers; Table S1: Primer sequences used in qRT-PCR.The expression of different glycans at the cell surface dictates cell interactions with their environment and other cells, being crucial for the cell fate. The development of the central nervous system is associated with tremendous changes in the cell glycome that is tightly regulated. Herein, we have employed biorthogonal Cu-free click chemistry to image temporal distribution of different glycans in live mouse hippocampal neurons during their maturation in vitro. We show development-dependent glycan patterns with increased fucose and decreased mannose expression at the end of the maturation process. We also demonstrate that this approach is biocompatible and does not affect glycan transport although it relies on an administration of modified glycans. The applicability of this strategy to tissue sections unlocks new opportunities to study the glycan dynamics under more complex physiological conditions.This research was funded by the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under grant agreement n.º 668983—FoReCaST, by European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, under the Grant Agreement number 739572–The Discoveries CTR, and the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER)

Periodic-orbit analysis and scaling laws of intermingled basins of attraction in an ecological dynamical system

Chaotic dynamical systems with two or more attractors lying on invariant subspaces may, provided certain mathematical conditions are fulfilled, exhibit intermingled basins of attraction: Each basin is riddled with holes belonging to basins of the other attractors. In order to investigate the occurrence of such phenomenon in dynamical systems of ecological interest (two-species competition with extinction) we have characterized quantitatively the intermingled basins using periodic-orbit theory and scaling laws. The latter results agree with a theoretical prediction from a stochastic model, and also with an exact result for the scaling exponent we derived for the specific class of models investigated. We discuss the consequences of the scaling laws in terms of the predictability of a final state (extinction of either species) in an ecological experiment.Comment: 24 pages (preprint format), 6 figure

Building a needs-based curriculum in data science and artificial intelligence: case studies in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand

Indonesia and Thailand are middle-income countries within the South-East Asia region. They have well-established and growing higher education systems, increasingly focused on quality improvement. However, they fall behind regional leaders in educating people who design, develop, deploy and train data science and artificial intelligence (DS&AI) based technology, as evident from the technological market, regionally dominated by Singapore and Malaysia, while the region as a whole is far behind China. A similar situation holds also for Sri Lanka, in the South Asia region technologically dominated by India. In this paper, we describe the design of a master's level curriculum in data science and artificial intelligence using European experience on building such curricula. The design of such a curriculum is a nontrivial exercise because there is a constant trade-off between having a sufficiently broad academic curriculum and adequately meeting regional needs, including those of industrial stakeholders. In fact, findings from a gap analysis and assessment of needs from three case studies in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand comprise the most significant component of our curriculum development process.The authors would like to thank the European Union Erasmus+ programme which provided funding through the Capacity Building Higher Education project on Curriculum Development in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, registered under the reference number 599600-EPP-1-2018-1-TH-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP