Use of Excel worksheets with user-friendly interface in batch process (PSBP) to minimize the makespan

In the chemical industry, the necessity for scheduling is becoming more pronounced, especially in batch production mode. Nowadays, planning industrial activities is a necessity for survival. Intense competition requires diversified products and delivery in accordance with the requirements of consumers. These activities require quick decision making and the lowest possible cost, through an efficient Production Scheduling. So, this work addresses the Permutation Flow Shop scheduling problem, characterized as Production Scheduling in Batch Process (PSBP), with the objective of minimizing the total time to complete the schedule (Makespan). A method to approach the problem of production scheduling is to turn it into Mixed Integer Linear Programming- MILP, and to solve it using commercial mathematical programming packages. In this study an electronic spreadsheet with user-friendly interface (ESUFI) was developed in Microsoft Excel. The ease of manipulation of the ESUFI is quite evident, as with the use of VBA language a user-friendly interface could be created between the user and the spreadsheet itself. The results showed that it is possible to use the ESUFI for small problems

Nietzsche, ressentimento e a inocência do esquecimento

O presente artigo pretende discutir o conceito de ressentimento na Genealogia da moral de Friedrich Nietzsche e em outros escritos do filósofo. Analisaremos o ressentimento em duas perspectivas. Em primeiro lugar, o ressentimento entendido como o problema individual do homem vingativo, fraco, adoecido pela incapacidade de dar conta das impressões que chegam à sua consciência. Neste primeiro momento, o ressentimento se expressa como memória das marcas, nas quais as forças ativas, aquelas que permitem a renovação da consciência estão interiorizadas no homem reativo. Posteriormente, trataremos o ressentimento como espírito de vingança, como um modo doente de existir, uma vez que o sujeito que interioriza seus instintos criadores assume como meio de vida a vingança contra os saudáveis. Nesta segunda perspectiva, o ressentimento se apresenta como um fenômeno social, cuja sede de vingança se encontra no corpo político e moral cuja organização visa a produção do homem manso, civilizado, animal doméstico, o antípoda do homem de exceção, isto é, do homem nobre nietzschiano

Antibacterial modified diketopiperazines from two ascidians of the genus Didemnum

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The chemical investigation of the crude extract of an ascidian of the genus Didemnumled to the isolation of the modified diketopiperazine rodriguesines A (1) and (2) as a mixture of homologues, which could be identified by analysis of spectroscopic data including MS/MS experiments. The investigation of a second Didemnumsp. led to the isolation of N-acetyl-rodriguesine A (3) and N-acetyl-rodriguesine B (4). The absolute configuration of compounds 1and 2could be established by hydrolysis and Marfey's analysis and comparison with literature data reported for compound 3, previously obtained as a synthetic product. The mixture of 1and 2displayed moderate antibiotic activity against a clinical isolate of Streptococcus mutansand against S. mutansUA159 and Staphylococcus aureusATCC6538.A investigação química do extrato bruto de uma ascidia do gênero Didemnumlevou ao isolamento das dicetopiperazinas modificadas rodriguesinas A (1) e B (2) na forma de uma mistura de homólogos, os quais puderam ser identificados pela análise de seus dados espectroscópicos inclusive experimentos MS/MS. A investigação de uma segunda ascídia do gênero Didemnumforneceu a N-acetil-rodriguesina A (3) e a N-acetil-rodriguesina B (4). A configuração absoluta dos compostos 1e 2pode ser estabelecida por hidrólise e análise de Marfey e por comparação com dados da literatura do composto 3,previamente obtido como produto de síntese. A mistura de 1e 2apresentou atividade antibiótica moderada contra um isolado clínico de Streptococcus mutans, contra S. mutans UA159 e S. aureusATCC6538.204704711American Society of PharmacognosyFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)FulbrightConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)CNPq_BrasilFAPESP_BrasilCAPES_Brasi

Escleroterapia de hemangioma em borda lateral de língua: relato de caso

Os hemangiomas são lesões vasculares benignas que muitas vezes ocorrem na cavidade bucal podendo apresentar crescimento progressivo e sangramentos inesperados de difícil controle, quando expostos a traumas. Diversas formas de tratamento estão descritas na literatura, sendo mais comumente utilizada a cirurgia excisional e a escleroterapia. Objetivo: relatar um caso clínico de hemangioma em língua num paciente adulto portador desta lesão desde o nascimento. Metodologia: paciente do sexo feminino, 53 anos, portador de hemangioma situado na região lateral esquerda da língua, caracterizado pelo crescimento espontâneo e histórico de duas ressecções cirúrgicas com recidivas em um curto intervalo de tempo, foi submetido a procedimentos de escleroterapia através da aplicação intralesional do oleato de monoetanolamina a 5% diluído em glicose a 50% por três ciclos de seis aplicações do quimioterápico, com intervalo de quatro meses entre os ciclos. Resultados: finda as intervenções, o acompanhamento pós-escleroterapia do paciente durante cinco anos revelou êxito do tratamento realizado, uma vez que após este período inexistem sinais clínicos de recidiva. Conclusão: os resultados deste estudo expressam a eficácia da escleroterapia realizada com o uso do oleato de monoetanolamina associado à adoção de um método não invasivo.

Stronger diversity effects with increased environmental stress : a study of multitrophic interactions between oak, powdery mildew and ladybirds

Recent research has suggested that increasing neighbourhood tree species diversity may mitigate the impact of pests or pathogens by supporting the activities of their natural enemies and/or reducing the density of available hosts. In this study, we attempted to assess these mechanisms in a multitrophic study system of young oak (Quercus), oak powdery mildew (PM, caused by Erysiphe spp.) and a mycophagous ladybird (Psyllobora vigintiduo-punctata). We assessed ladybird mycophagy on oak PM in function of different neighbourhood tree species compositions. We also evaluated whether these species interactions were modulated by environmental conditions as suggested by the Stress Gradient Hypothesis. We adopted a complementary approach of a field experiment where we monitored oak saplings subjected to a reduced rainfall gradient in a young planted forest consisting of different tree species mixtures, as well as a lab experiment where we independently evaluated the effect of different watering treatments on PM infections and ladybird mycophagy. In the field experiment, we found effects of neighbourhood tree species richness on ladybird mycophagy becoming more positive as the target trees received less water. This effect was only found as weather conditions grew drier. In the lab experiment, we found a preference of ladybirds to graze on infected leaves from trees that received less water. We discuss potential mechanisms that might explain this preference, such as emissions of volatile leaf chemicals. Our results are in line with the expectations of the Natural Enemies Hypothesis and support the hypothesis that biodiversity effects become stronger with increased environmental stress

Espaço de Reflexão e Construção Tecno-científica: A Pesquisa no Departamento de Geografia do Instituto de Geociências da UFRGS

Este artigo tem como objetivo geral apresentar o resultado das discussões de temas geográficos relativos à pesquisas desenvolvidas pelos docentes do Departamento de Geografia do Instituto de Geociências da UFRGS. Estas discussões ocorreram quando da realização da disciplina GEO 01193 - Seminários Temáticos no semestre 97/2 e que foram coordenadas pelo Professor Roberto Verdum

Milk microbial composition of Brazilian dairy cows entering the dry period and genomic comparison between Staphylococcus aureus strains susceptible to the bacteriophage vB_SauM-UFV_DC4

Brazil has the second-largest dairy cattle herd in the world, and bovine mastitis still can cause significant losses for dairy farmers. Despite this fact, little information is available about milk microbial composition of Brazilian dairy cows, as well as the potential use of bacteriophages in the control of S. aureus. Here, we investigated milk bacterial composition of 28 Holstein Fresian cows (109 teats), selected in the dry-off period, using 16S rRNA analysis. Furthermore, a representative S. aureus strain (UFV2030RH1) was obtained at drying-off for isolation of a bacteriophage (vB_SauM-UFV_DC4, UFV_DC4) and bacterial genomic comparison purposes. Our outcomes revealed that Staphylococcus was the third most prevalent genus and positively correlated with subclinical mastitis events. As a major finding, genomic analyses showed the presence of adhesive matrix molecules that recognize microbial surface components (MSCRAMM) in UFV2030RH1 and might indicate great biofilm formation capability. A minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay showed that resistance to ampicillin was the highest among the antibiotic tested in S. aureus 3059 and UFV2030RH1, displaying values four and sixteen times greater than MIC resistance breakpoint, respectively. Together, our results suggest that Staphylococcus is highly prevalent in dairy cows at drying-off and the use of the phage UFV_DC4 as a biocontrol agent must be investigated in future studies

Is a Genome a Codeword of an Error-Correcting Code?

Since a genome is a discrete sequence, the elements of which belong to a set of four letters, the question as to whether or not there is an error-correcting code underlying DNA sequences is unavoidable. The most common approach to answering this question is to propose a methodology to verify the existence of such a code. However, none of the methodologies proposed so far, although quite clever, has achieved that goal. In a recent work, we showed that DNA sequences can be identified as codewords in a class of cyclic error-correcting codes known as Hamming codes. In this paper, we show that a complete intron-exon gene, and even a plasmid genome, can be identified as a Hamming code codeword as well. Although this does not constitute a definitive proof that there is an error-correcting code underlying DNA sequences, it is the first evidence in this direction