Conditional Transition Systems with Upgrades

We introduce a variant of transition systems, where activation of transitions depends on conditions of the environment and upgrades during runtime potentially create additional transitions. Using a cornerstone result in lattice theory, we show that such transition systems can be modelled in two ways: as conditional transition systems (CTS) with a partial order on conditions, or as lattice transition systems (LaTS), where transitions are labelled with the elements from a distributive lattice. We define equivalent notions of bisimilarity for both variants and characterise them via a bisimulation game. We explain how conditional transition systems are related to featured transition systems for the modelling of software product lines. Furthermore, we show how to compute bisimilarity symbolically via BDDs by defining an operation on BDDs that approximates an element of a Boolean algebra into a lattice. We have implemented our procedure and provide runtime results

Simulation of microalgal growth in a continuous photobioreactor with sedimentation and partial biomass recycling

Microalgae are considered as promising feedstocks for the third generation of biofuels. They are autotrophic organisms with high growth rate and can stock an enormous quantity of lipids (about 20 \u2013 40% of their dried cellular weight). This work was aimed at studying the cultivation of Scenedesmus obliquus in a two-stage system composed of a photobioreactor and a settler to concentrate and partially recycle the biomass as a way to enhance the microalgae cellular productivity. It was attempted to specify by simulation and experimental data a relationship between the recycling rate, kinetic parameters of microalgal growth and photobioreactor operating conditions. Scenedesmus obliquus cells were cultivated in a lab-scale flat-plate reactor, homogenized by aeration, and running in continuous flow with a residence time of 1.66 day. Experimental data for the microalgal growth were used in a semi-empirical simulation model. The best results were obtained for Fw = 0.2FI , when R = 1 and kd = 0 and 0.05 day-1, with the biomass production in the reactor varying between 8 g L -1 and 14 g L-1, respectively. The mathematical model fitted to the microalgal growth experimental data was appropriate for predicting the efficiency of the reactor in producing Scenedesmus obliquus cells, establishing a relation between cellular productivity and the minimum recycling rate that must be used in the system

Glioblastoma cell behaviour: a study of chemically-induced cellular connectivity and 3D modelling of cellular migration

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and deadliest brain cancer in adults. Despite considerable efforts at both bench and bedside, the average survival for GBM patients is only 14-15 months. This dismal prognosis stems from challenges in treatment and a malignant tumour biology. A key need in addressing GBM is to better understand and therapeutically target GBM cell invasion into the surrounding healthy brain tissue. Cytoskeletal remodelling and dynamics, mediated by ROCK effector proteins, play an important role in the ability of GBM cells to migrate. ROCK inhibition is being considered as potential cancer therapy; however, there is insufficient data examining a chemical pan-ROCK inhibition effect in the cellular context of GBM. I address this gap in the context of undifferentiated patient-derived brain tumour stem cell (BTSC) models. My results show that chemical ROCK pathway inhibition with several different compounds led to a reversible neurite-like outgrowth phenotype across three different patient-derived cell models. This phenotype was accompanied by a decrease in BTSCs motility, which enabled the cells to form an interactive multicellular network. Interestingly, ROCK inhibition did not alter the self-renewal ability or proliferation capacity of BTSCs. To further investigate this diffusive nature of GBM cells, I developed an in vitro 3D model that allows the study of GBM infiltration in real-time. My work demonstrates the ability of GBM spheres to spontaneously fuse with, and infiltrate, neural-like early-stage cerebral organoids (eCOs) with the use of stem cell culture-based organoid methodology. In addition, this ‘hybrid’ GBM tumour organoid possessed an invasive tumour compartment, which was specific to GBM cells. Thus, this self-assembly GBM tumour organoid may be used to identify anti-GBM invasion treatment approaches

Fotoeducação em Saúde

Skin cancer is the most frequent and predictable carcinoma of all, with a representative prevalence in Brazil, mainly due to the predominance of the tropical climate and the high incidence of solar radiation. In addition to excessive exposure to solar radiation, other factors can increase the risk of developing skin cancer, such as: light skin, eyes and hair; family history of skin cancer; immune system weakened by disease or use of photosensitizing drugs, which increase the absorption of ultraviolet light through the skin.O câncer de pele é o carcinoma mais frequente e previsível de todos, apresentando prevalência representativa no Brasil, principalmente devido ao predomínio do clima tropical e da alta incidência de radiação solar. Além da exposição excessiva à radiação solar, outros fatores podem aumentar o risco de desenvolvimento de câncer de pele, tais como: pele, olhos e cabelos claros; histórico familiar de câncer de pele; sistema imune debilitado por doenças ou uso de medicamentos fotossensibilizantes, que aumentam a absorção da luz ultravioleta através da pele.&nbsp

Properties of the open cluster Tombaugh 1 from high resolution spectroscopy and uvbyCaHβ\beta photometry

Open clusters can be the key to deepen our knowledge on various issues involving the structure and evolution of the Galactic disk and details of stellar evolution because a cluster's properties are applicable to all its members. However the number of open clusters with detailed analysis from high resolution spectroscopy and/or precision photometry imposes severe limitation on studies of these objects. To expand the number of open clusters with well-defined chemical abundances and fundamental parameters, we investigate the poorly studied, anticenter open cluster Tombaugh 1. Using precision uvbyCaH$\beta$ photometry and high resolution spectroscopy, we derive the cluster's properties and, for the first time, present detailed abundance analysis of 10 potential cluster stars. Using radial position from the cluster center and multiple color indices, we have isolated a sample of unevolved probable, single-star members of Tombaugh 1. The weighted photometric metallicity from $m_1$ and $hk$ is [Fe/H] = -0.10 $\pm$ 0.02, while a match to the Victoria-Regina Str\"{o}mgren isochrones leads to an age of 0.95 $\pm$ 0.10 Gyr and an apparent modulus of $(m-M)$ = 13.10 $\pm$ 0.10. Radial velocities identify 6 giants as probable cluster members and the elemental abundances of Fe, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Y,Ba, Ce, and Nd have been derived for both the cluster and the field stars. Tombaugh 1 appears to be a typical inner thin disk, intermediate-age open cluster of slightly subsolar metallicity, located just beyond the solar circle, with solar elemental abundance ratios except for the heavy s-process elements, which are a factor of two above solar. Its metallicity is consistent with a steep metallicity gradient in the galactocentric region between 9.5 and 12 kpc. Our study also shows that Cepheid XZ CMa is not a member of Tombaugh 1, and reveals that this Cepheid presents signs of barium enrichment.Comment: 74 pages, 15 figures, 13 tables; Accepted for publication in A

Resident perceptions of the relative importance of socio-cultural, biodiversity, and commercial values in Australia\u27s Tropical Rivers - Report for the North Australia Water Futures Assessment<br />

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYBackground and overview of project (chapter 1):This report describes research that was commissioned by the Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment (NAWFA) Cultural and Social program. The NAWFA Cultural and Social program has funded a number of research projects to help fill some of the critical information gaps about Social and Cultural values associated with Australia&rsquo;s Northern Rivers.The TRaCK NAWFA Social and Cultural project was comprised of three research activities that were carried out by CSIRO, Charles Darwin University (CDU), James Cook University (JCU) and Griffith University (GU) as part of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) program. The three activities ran in parallel from March 2011 for a period of 12 months, and were:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &bull; Sub-project 1 &ndash; Social and cultural values in the planning cycle (CSIRO and CDU);&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &bull; Sub-project 2 &ndash; Relative values of water for trade-offs (JCU); and&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &bull; Sub-project 3 &ndash; Developing management models for Indigenous water strategies (GU). This report relates to Sub-project 2 &ndash; Relative values of water for trade-offs.The overarching aim of this project was to improve our understanding of the Social and Cultural values associated with Australia&rsquo;s Tropical Rivers. Its specific objectives were to improve our understanding of:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1. the relative values of water for different stakeholder groups;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2. the rate at which different stakeholder groups are willing to trade-off &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; economic development for those values;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3. the extent to which stream flow and/or water quality could change before there was a &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &lsquo;significant&rsquo; impact on Social and Cultural values; and hence&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 4. the likely response of stakeholders to the consequences of upstream development scenarios and &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; to potential changes in the downstream uses of water.The project was undertaken within a limited timeframe. Although data collection processes ensured that a reasonable cross section of views were obtained, these views are not considered to be&nbsp;&nbsp; representative of the views of all residents of Northern Australia. Furthermore, although researchers have been able to conduct a relatively detailed analysis of much of the data and&nbsp; produce useful results, there is scope for further, more sophisticated analysis that may generate further insights. As such, this work should be viewed as generating &lsquo;preliminary&rsquo; findings.Generic methods (chapter 2):A hammer is not capable of fixing all building problems. Likewise, no single valuation method can be used in all situations. One needs to consider a variety of different issues, including data availability, ethical and information requirements.Social and Cultural values are only loosely associated with the market (if at all). As such, many valuation techniques (particularly those which rely on observable market prices) could not be used to asses ALL values of interest. Instead, stated preference techniques were chosen since they alone are able to assess a full range of values (irrespective of whether or not they are associated with the market).However, researchers were aware of the fact that if they used stated preference techniques to measure preferences at an individual level by asking about Willingness to Pay (WTP), and if they then added those &lsquo;preferences&rsquo; across multiple individuals (each with a different income), they would create what is &ndash; in essence &ndash; a weighted index of value (where the weights are a function of income). Researchers therefore decided to use both dollar and non-dollar denominated stated preference techniques.Sampling (chapter 3):Researchers were cognizant of the fact that the work was commissioned by NAWFA, with the overarching goal of providing information (about Social and Cultural values) to assist water planners. These planners work, almost exclusively, with local residents. So, researchers decided to assess only the &lsquo;values&rsquo; of residents in the tropical river&rsquo;s region &ndash; although great care was taken to ensure that information was collected from a broad cross-section of those residents.A questionnaire was mailed out to more than 1500 residents across Northern Australia. Researchers received 252 usable responses, which were supplemented by interviews that were conducted with 39 residents of the Upper Mitchell River, QLD. The upper part of this catchment was chosen for an intensive case study for three reasons: (1) it is in the formative stages of water policy and planning, so a study such as this was well-timed to provide information that might assist those involved in the planning process; (2) Researchers needed to ensure that data were collected from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents, and they had already worked with several Indigenous people in and around the upper reaches of the Mitchell, making it relatively easy to engage with various groups in a short study period of time; and (3) development issues confronting those in the Mitchell Catchment are likely to precede those in other TR catchments (with the exception of regions in and around Darwin), meaning that lessons learned from this case-study could be useful in other regions in later years.The entire sample included a smaller percentage of Indigenous people, large families, young people and people who did not go to university, than the population from which the sample was drawn. The&nbsp; sample did, however, contain observations from a broad cross-section of most of our targeted&nbsp; &lsquo;stakeholder&rsquo; groups, namely residents who depend upon the agricultural, mining, government and &lsquo;other&rsquo; sectors for income and employment, allowing many important observations to be drawn.Readers are cautioned not to simply look at aggregate measures (e.g. means), and assume that those measures can be used to draw inferences about the population at large. Instead readers should first check to see if the variable of interest is &lsquo;consistent&rsquo; across stakeholder groups. Where differences exist, readers should look at the information most pertinent to the group(s) of interest, rather than at aggregate measures. If used in this way, the information generated in this report is likely to be very useful.Readers are, however, urged to exercise extreme caution when seeking to use insights from this study to draw inferences about Indigenous values in other parts of the TR region. This is because of the relatively low number of Indigenous responses received, and the fact that most Indigenous respondents came from one small area of the TR region. But readers should even be cautious about trying to draw inferences about the values of other Indigenous people within the study area; our Indigenous sample did not include people from ALL traditional owner groups in the Upper Mitchell.Objective 1 &ndash; (chapter 4):Researchers sought to assess the relative importance which a wide variety of residents of Northern Australia place upon nine different goods/services associated with Australia&rsquo;s Tropical Rivers, including the values associated with the &lsquo;use&rsquo; (consumptive or otherwise) of rivers for: supporting human life (referred to as Life); for supporting Biodiversity; for use in Commercial ventures; for future generations (termed Bequest); for simply &lsquo;being there&rsquo; even if never used (termed Existence); for recreational Fishing; for other types of Recreation; for Aesthetics; and for Teaching.Importantly, the list of values comprised six examples of Social and Cultural values, and three examples of other (non-Social/Cultural) values. These other values were included to enable researchers to gauge the importance of Social and Cultural values RELATIVE to other &lsquo;values&rsquo;.Respondents were presented with a list of those values and asked to indicate (i) how important each was to their overall well-being; and (ii) how satisfied they were with it. When not completely satisfied, they were asked to explain why. The data were analysed using several different approaches, clearly highlighting the following:&bull; In terms of importance, the top three values identified by respondents were Biodiversity,&nbsp; Life, and Bequest.&bull; The highest satisfaction ratings were associated with Biodiversity, while Life, Bequest and&nbsp; Aesthetics were equally second highest.&bull; Many of the stated causes of dissatisfaction related to concerns about what might happen in the &nbsp; future (rather than to concerns about what was happening now).&bull; Most stakeholder groups held similar views about the ranking of values (in terms of &lsquo;importance&rsquo;) &nbsp; from highest to lowest, although some socio-demographic, economic, and sense of place factors were &nbsp; found to have a minor influence on importance scores.&bull; One of the highest policy priorities seems to be that of Commercial values. This is not&nbsp; because such values were considered to be important (they were rarely in the &lsquo;top three&rsquo;), but &nbsp; because the satisfaction scores associated with these values were so low. Evidently, the issue here &nbsp; is not one of protecting Commercial values, but of addressing problems, and concerns relating to &nbsp; the commercial use of water. Resident concerns included, but were not limited to issues associated &nbsp; with: pollution (past, present, or potential future), pricing, overuse, lack of certainty in &nbsp; supply, allocation and lack of monitoring. Interestingly, there were no systematic or predictable &nbsp; differences in the responses of different stakeholder groups in either the satisfaction scores or &nbsp; the indices of dissatisfaction associated with Commercial values; evidently respondents were &nbsp; consistently &lsquo;dissatisfied&rsquo; with this value (although for many different reasons).A small subset of respondents (interviewees) were also asked to participate in a cognitive mapping exercise &ndash; the aim being to determine the extent to which the values assessed in the survey could be viewed as complementary or competitive. Biodiversity, Life and Social/Cultural values were viewed as being largely complementary to each other. In contrast, Commercial values were consistently viewed as quite separate from &ndash; and often competitive or detrimental to &ndash; these other values (with the important exception of tourism).Objective 2 (chapter 5):Respondents were also presented with a series of (hypothetical) development &lsquo;scenarios&rsquo;. First, they were asked to indicate how much they would be willing to pay (WTP) to prevent development that would impact upon Social and Cultural values. Then they were asked to indicate how much they would be willing to accept (WTA) as compensation if development caused damage to their Social and Cultural values. Finally they were asked how much they would be willing to pay to reduce current&nbsp; development, thus increasing their opportunity to enjoy Social and Cultural values.Data were analysed using a variety of different methods, highlighting the following:1) A large proportion of respondents were strongly opposed to the development scenarios, &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; evidenced by the fact that&nbsp;- Fewer than 33 per cent of respondents indicated that they approved of the development scenarios &nbsp;&nbsp; presented in the first two scenarios &ndash; even when the impact on Social and Cultural values was &nbsp;&nbsp; relatively small.- A relatively large percentage of respondents refused to consider any trade-off at all (between &nbsp; 30% and 70%, depending upon the format of questionnaire presented).- Some respondents noted that they had already spent thousands of dollars fighting development &nbsp; proposals in and around &lsquo;their&rsquo; rivers.- Of the group that agreed to &lsquo;play&rsquo; the trade-off &lsquo;game&rsquo;, approximately 5 per cent were WTP/A &nbsp; significant sums of money to avoid damage or to &lsquo;repair&rsquo; damage to their Social and Cultural &nbsp; values) with maximum values cited in the survey of $1 million and many values in excess of$10,000. &nbsp; These maximum values generated highly skewed distributions with mean WTP/A ranging between almost &nbsp; $6000 per annum per household, to almost$28,000; median values were much more modest (between 15   and 100).- More than 50 per cent of respondents indicated that they would be willing to accept a DECLINE in income if it was associated&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; with improved opportunities to enjoy their Social and Cultural values.This strong sentiment is not altogether surprising given the fact that the previous chapter clearly showed that Commercial values were, almost always, rated as being less important than some Social and Cultural values &ndash; particularly Bequest. Moreover, it is consistent with previous studies in the region (e.g. Straton and Zander, 2010).This strong sentiment may also at least partially reflect an assumption on the part of respondents that the scenarios would affect more than just Social and Cultural values (i.e. they may be assuming that the development will also impact values such as Biodiversity which are viewed by some as essentially inseparable from Social and Cultural values).2) When outliers (i.e. the very high WTP/A dollar votes) were excluded, researchers found that:- WTP was strongly linked to ability to pay, but that those on low incomes are willing to sacrifice &nbsp; a much higher proportion of their income to protect their rivers than those on high incomes (three &nbsp; to four times higher). This is also consistent with previous findings of Straton and Zander (2010).- The importance which people place on Biodiversity is, almost always, a positive and statistically &nbsp; significant determinant of their WTP to protect Social and Cultural values (reinforcing earlier &nbsp; observations about the complementarity of these values).- People&rsquo;s expressed willingness to accept compensation for &lsquo;damage&rsquo; to Social and Cultural &nbsp; values (which they are unable to prevent from occurring) is significantly higher than their &nbsp; expressed willingness to pay to avoid the damage from occurring in the first place. The potential &nbsp; policy significance of this is discussed in chapter 7 (summarised under issue 3, page vi).Objective 3 (chapter 6):Respondents were asked to consider a range of hypothetical scenarios that involved changes to stream flows and water quality in nearby rivers. Specifically, they were asked to indicate (on a five point Likert scale) how these changes would affect their satisfaction with Social and Cultural values. Analysis of the data highlighted the following issues:&bull; Any change which stops the flow of perennial rivers &ndash; even if only for a month or two &ndash; is likely &nbsp; to have a significant, negative impact on Social and Cultural values. (The term significant &nbsp; indicates that more than 50% of respondents said that such a change would either reduce or greatly &nbsp; reduce their satisfaction.)&bull; Respondents were generally positive or ambivalent about changes in stream flow which reduced dry &nbsp; periods. In other words, those who live near an intermittent river system stated that they would &nbsp; either have increased or consistent levels of satisfaction with their Social and Cultural values if &nbsp; the dry periods were shortened (or if the river becomes perennial). The important exception to this &nbsp; occurred with respect to perennial but UNPREDICTABLE flows. Perennial flows are viewed positively &ndash; &nbsp; as long as the flows are constant, or related to natural, seasonal fluctuations.&bull; Scenarios that reduce water quality (be it due to increased levels of turbidity or algae) are &nbsp; likely to create a significant negative impact on Social and Cultural values; improvements are &nbsp; likely to generate a significant positive impact.&bull; Respondents viewed reductions in water quality more negatively than reductions in stream flow, &nbsp; and were consistently more positive about scenarios that involved improvements in water quality &nbsp; than about scenarios that involved increases in stream flow. This may be at least partially due to &nbsp; the fact that respondents are used to living in regions that have extremely variable climates. &nbsp; Changes to stream flows may thus be considered somewhat &lsquo;normal&rsquo;.Concluding remarks and recommendations (Chapter 7):Objective 4 asked researchers to determine:What is the likely response of stakeholders to consequences of upstream development scenarios and to potential changes in the downstream usages of water?Chapter 4 clearly showed that Commercial values are considered to be less important than&nbsp; Biodiversity, Life and some Social/Cultural values, while chapter 5 clearly showed that at least some people are WTP substantial amounts of money to prevent development that impacts upon their&nbsp; Social/Cultural values. As such, it seems that developments which impact upon downstream usages of water are likely to be met with quite a negative reaction.The opposition is likely to be characterised by significant disquiet amongst a possibly vocal minority (those refusing to consider any trade off at all, or WTP very large sums of money to prevent the development from occurring) and a present, but less significant disquiet amongst a larger group of other residents.Those most willing to accept trade-offs for development include the wealthy and/or people who place highest values on Commercial uses of rivers; those who place a high value on Biodiversity (a significant proportion of respondents) and/or those who are relatively poor seem to be much less willing to trade their Social and Cultural values for greater income flows.Other important comments/insightsISSUE 1: Interviewee data indicates that Biodiversity, Life and Social/Cultural values are somewhat&nbsp; complementary to each other, whereas, Commercial values are almost always viewed as quite separate from &ndash; and often competitive or detrimental to &ndash; these other values (with the important exception of tourism). Moreover the larger (mail out) data set showed a strong correlation between WTP to protect Social/Cultural values and stated importance of Biodiversity values.Evidently, for many Northern Residents, the existence of biodiversity may be a necessary pre-condition for maintenance of many Social and Cultural values. Determining whether or not the existence of biodiversity is also a SUFFICIENT condition for the preservation of Social and Cultural values, stands as a vitally important topic for further, more thorough, research. Why is this so important?&bull; If the existence of high quality biodiversity values is both a necessary and sufficient condition &nbsp; for the existence of high quality socio-cultural values, then preservation of the former &nbsp; guarantees preservation of the latter. However, if the existence of high quality biodiversity &nbsp; values is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for the existence of high quality socio- &nbsp; cultural values, then preservation of the former does not guarantee preservation of the later; &nbsp; other steps may be necessary (e.g. guaranteeing access to areas of high biodiversity value).&bull; Moreover, if the Biodiversity and Social/Cultural values that are derived from one &lsquo;area&rsquo; are &nbsp; non-rivalrous (meaning that society can benefit from both, simultaneously), then their values &nbsp; should be added together1 before being traded off against other competing uses of that &lsquo;area&rsquo;. This &nbsp; is analogous to the situation where a private property owner seeks to determine how much land to &nbsp; devote to cattle and how much to wheat: he/she should firstly estimate the value of &lsquo;cattle&rsquo; by &nbsp; considering potential income from both beef and leather, and then compare that (combined) value to &nbsp; the potential income that can be earned from the alternative (wheat). Failure to do so, would be to &nbsp; under-allocate resources (e.g. land, or in this case, possibly aquatic resources) to activities &nbsp; that generate multiple values (e.g. cattle, or in this case, possibly biodiversity and &nbsp; socio-cultural values).Until we are able to learn more about these important issues2, planners may, therefore, wish to adopt a pre-cautionary approach (as advocated by the NWI). That is, they may wish to proceed as if these values are non-rivalrous, perhaps setting aside MOREthan the &lsquo;bare minimum&rsquo; that is required to maintain biodiversity values, and also ensuring that other steps are taken to facilitate the appreciation of socio-cultural values (e.g. ensuring residents have access to important areas).ISSUE 2: Respondents were particularly concerned about changes which impact upon water quality, although those who live near perennial rivers were also very concerned about any change that would stop their stream/river flowing for even a short period each year. Moreover, comments made during focus groups and in interviews (as well as comments written on returned, mail-out questionaries) indicated that (a) many respondents have a holistic view of their environment (incorporating&nbsp; social, cultural, economic and biophysical values); (b) they did not feel as if all local environmental management issues were being dealt with effectively; and that (c) their oppositio

Gastric leiomyoma and hyperplastic polyposis coli in a patient with multiple cutaneous and uterine leiomyomatosis

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous leiomyomatosis has been associated with multiple uterine myomas and, more recently, with germline heterozygous mutations of the FH gene and certain types of renal cancer. Despite the growing amount of knowledge concerning this genodermatosis, its clinical spectrum remains incompletely characterized. OBJECTIVE: We report the observation of a patient with multiple cutaneous and uterine leiomyomatosis (MCUL) with unusual gastrointestinal manifestations. METHODS AND RESULTS: A gastric leiomyoma was diagnosed on a 38-year-old female MCUL patient on endoscopy performed because of mild dyspepsia. Furthermore, routine colonoscopy disclosed hyperplastic polyposis. Genetic testing revealed a previously not reported mutation of the FH gene. CONCLUSION: Gastrointestinal lesions such as the present ones are frequently asymptomatic and probably underdiagnosed. As the phenotypical spectrum associated with mutations of the FH gene keeps expanding, clinicians should keep in mind that, besides renal cancer, other unexpected tumors could also arise in this setting

O centro de estudos estratégicos da defesa na construção de uma comunidade epistêmica

O I Encontro Internacional de Política Externa Latino-Americana, aconteceu nos dias 14, 15 e 16 de setembro de 2015 em Foz do Iguaçu/PR, a partir de uma iniciativa do Núcleo de Pesquisa de Política Externa Latino-Americana (NUPELA), formado por professores e estudantes da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA).A partir da criação da União das Nações Sul-americanas (UNASUL), é possível constatar diferentes tentativas que têm como finalidade a construção de uma comunidade epistêmica na América do Sul vinculada aos temas de segurança e defesa. Neste sentido, o Centro de Estudos Estratégicos de Defensa do Conselho de Defesa Sul- Americano (CEED-CDS) baseado na cidade de Buenos Aires, Argentina, surge com o intuito de formar parte do desenvolvimento dessa experiência. Tendo em conta os antecedentes, bem como a formação do CEED-CDS, no presente trabalho buscamos compreender em que medida o Centro pode ser considerado ou não uma comunidade epistêmica, nos termos traçados por teóricos das Relações Internacionais como Haas, e quais seriam as potencialidades e limitações de tal ente no atual processo de integração regional.Núcleo de Pesquisa de Política Externa Latino-Americana (NUPELA); Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA