The runaway black hole GRO J1655-40

We have used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the motion in the sky and compute the galactocentric orbit of the black hole X-ray binary GRO J1655-40. The system moves with a runaway space velocity of $112\pm 18$ km s$^{-1}$ in a highly eccentric ($e = 0.34\pm 0.05$) orbit. The black hole was formed in the disk at a distance greater than 3 kpc from the Galactic centre and must have been shot to such an eccentric orbit by the explosion of the progenitor star. The runaway linear momentum and kinetic energy of this black hole binary are comparable to those of solitary neutron stars and millisecond pulsars. GRO J1655-40 is the first black hole for which there is evidence for a runaway motion imparted by a natal kick in a supernova explosion.Comment: Published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 5 pages, 2 color figures. Color figure and animation can be found at http://www.iafe.uba.ar/astronomia/mirabel/mirabel.html or ftp://ftp.cea.fr/incoming/y2k01/mirabe

The Quantum Algebraic Structure of the Twisted XXZ Chain

We consider the Quantum Inverse Scattering Method with a new R-matrix depending on two parameters $q$ and $t$. We find that the underlying algebraic structure is the two-parameter deformed algebra $SU_{q,t}(2)$ enlarged by introducing an element belonging to the centre. The corresponding Hamiltonian describes the spin-1/2 XXZ model with twisted periodic boundary conditions.Comment: LateX file, 9 pages, Minor changes (including authors` names in the hep-th heading

La transición en el trasplante hepático - un estudio de caso

Contexto: as transições de saúde/doença são uma dimensão importante da prática de enfermagem. É com a ajuda à pessoa na vivência de transições saudáveis que os enfermeiros podem ser verdadeiramente significativos. O doente transplantado hepático vive, durante o período pós-transplante, uma enorme necessidade de adaptação à nova condição. Objetivos: operacionalizar a teoria de Médio alcance de Meleis à vivência de uma transição saúde/doença de um doente numa situação de transplante hepático, em contexto de hepatite fulminante. Metodologia: estudo de caso operacionalizando a teoria de Médio alcance de Meleis a uma situação concreta. Neste sentido, foi efetuada uma análise aos registos eletrónicos de enfermagem, assim como uma entrevista semiestruturada ao doente selecionado por conveniência para o estudo de caso. Discussão: a teoria de médio alcance de Meleis é uma teoria exequível na área da transplantação hepática. Com base nesta teoria é possível implementar um processo de Enfermagem individualizado, uma vez que é possível precaver o sentido da transição do doente. Conclusão: é fundamental que os enfermeiros alicercem a sua prática na evidência, para que tenham práticas mais sustentadas

Quantum corrections to gravity and their implications for cosmology and astrophysics

The quantum contributions to the gravitational action are relatively easy to calculate in the higher derivative sector of the theory. However, the applications to the post-inflationary cosmology and astrophysics require the corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert action and to the cosmological constant, and those we can not derive yet in a consistent and safe way. At the same time, if we assume that these quantum terms are covariant and that they have relevant magnitude, their functional form can be defined up to a single free parameter, which can be defined on the phenomenological basis. It turns out that the quantum correction may lead, in principle, to surprisingly strong and interesting effects in astrophysics and cosmology.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, WS style, contribution to the Proceedings of the QFEXT-2011 conference in the Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pasqual, Spai

Alimentos funcionais : uma área estratégica para a BIOTEMPO

A BIOTEMPO – Consultoria em Biotecnologia, Lda. é uma empresa de base tecnológica que surgiu como resultado de um spin-off da Universidade do Minho. A sua actividade centra-se na prestação de serviços de consultoria e promoção de actividades de investigação e desenvolvimento. Actualmente, a BIOTEMPO participa em vários projectos de I&D, alguns dos quais são executados em parceria com empresas e universidades nacionais. No âmbito da sua Unidade de Biotecnologia Alimentar e Farmacêutica a BIOTEMPO tem-se dedicado ao desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias para a produção de ingredientes para alimentos funcionais, tendo elegido esta área como estratégica para o desenvolvimento da empresa

Vida de bicho: a fauna e o meio ambiente no Brasil.

As cartilhas dos jogos ambientais da Ema constituem um material que visa atender a Educação Ambiental de crianças e adultos.bitstream/item/128277/1/EMA-7-FAUNA.pdfProjeto Minibibliotecas

Development of low-cost culture media for effective biosurfactant production

In this work, biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtillis strains was optimized using low-cost substrates. The highest biosurfactant production (3.2 g/L) by the P. aeruginosa strain was obtained using a culture medium containing corn steep liquor (CSL) (10% (v/v)) and molasses (10% (w/v)), whereas the best biosurfactant production by the B. subtillis isolate (1.3 g/L) was obtained using a culture medium consisting of 10% (v/v) of CSL. Subsequently, for the B. subtillis strain, the effect of different metals (iron, manganese and magnesium) on biosurfactant production was evaluated. When the culture medium CSL 10% was supplemented with the optimum concentration of those metals simultaneously, the biosurfactant production was increased up to 4.8 g/L. The biosurfactant produced by the P. aeruginosa strain was characterized as a mixture of eight different rhamnolipid congeners, being the most abundant the mono-rhamnolipid Rha-C10-C10, and the biosurfactant produced by the B. subtillis isolate consisted of a mixture of C13-, C14- and C15-surfactin. Both biosurfactants exhibited a good performance in oil recovery assays when compared with chemical surfactants, suggesting their potential use as an alternative to traditional chemical surfactants in enhanced oil recovery or bioremediation

Improved biosurfactant production by a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain using agro-industrial wastes

Microbial surfactants are amphipathic molecules produced by a variety of microorganisms that exhibit pronounced surface and emulsifying activities. Biosurfactants can replace synthetic surfactants in environmental and industrial applications, such as bioremediation and microbial enhanced oil recovery. Furthermore, some biosurfactants have been reported as suitable alternatives to synthetic medicines and antimicrobial agents and may be used as effective therapeutic agents, due to their antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and anti-adhesive activities. The main advantages of biosurfactants when compared with synthetic surfactants include their diversity, specificity, environmentally friendly nature, non-toxicity and high biodegradability, effectiveness at extreme temperatures or pH values, as well as their suitability for scale-up production. Many of the potential applications that have been considered for biosurfactants depend on whether they can be produced economically at large-scale. Several efforts have been conducted to reduce production costs, including the use of agro-industrial wastes as substrates, optimization of medium and culture conditions and efficient recovery processes. In this work, biosurfactant production by a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain isolated from a crude oil sample was optimized using agro-industrial wastes. A culture medium containing corn step liquor (10% v/v) and molasses (10% w/v) led to the production of 5 g biosurfactant/l, which is about ten times the amount of biosurfactant produced when using LB medium. The crude biosurfactant reduced the surface tension of water to 31 mN/m and exhibited high emulsifying activity (60%), with a critical micelle concentration of 200 mg/l. Moreover, it showed antimicrobial activity against a broad range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as a high efficiency in removing oil from contaminated sand, when compared with chemical surfactants. The results obtained suggest the possibility of using this biosurfactant as an alternative to traditional chemical surfactants

New microbial surface-active compounds: the ultimate alternative to chemical surfactants?

Surface active compounds (SACs) produced by microorganisms are attracting a pronounced interest due to their potential advantages over synthetic counterparts, and to the fact that they could replace some of the synthetics in many environmental and industrial applications. Bioemulsifier production by a Paenibacillus strain isolated from crude oil was studied. The bioemulsifier was produced using sucrose with and without adding hydrocarbons (paraffin or crude oil) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions at 40ºC. It formed stable emulsions with several hydrocarbons, exhibiting similar or better emulsifying activity when compared with chemical SACs, and its emulsifying ability was not affected by exposure to high salinities (up to 300 g/l), high temperatures (100-121ºC) or a wide range of pH values (2-13). In addition, it presented low toxicity and high biodegradability when compared with chemical surfactants, implying a greater environmental compatibility. A preliminary chemical characterization by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR and 13C CP-MAS NMR) and size exclusion chromatography indicated that the bioemulsifier is a low molecular weight oligosaccharide-lipid complex. To the best of our knowledge, bioemulsifier production by a Paenibacillus strain has not been previously reported. This is also the first description of a low molecular weight bioemulsifier. The features of this novel bioemulsifier make it an interesting biotechnological product for many environmental and industrial applications.Financial support from the projects BIOCLEAN-Desenvolvimento de produtos contendo surfactantes microbianos para limpeza e desinfeção de superfícies industriais e domésticas. QREN-n.º 2013/030215, and NCMICROBIOS -Desenvolvimento de bioprocessos usando microrganismos não convencionais para a produção de biosurfactantes - Convénio FCT-CNPq Nº 17/2013 – Ref.: Projecto nº 6818