Learnings from Pilot Implementation of Smart City by a Brazilian Energy Utility

This chapter describes the experience acquired during the implementation of a smart grid pilot project in a Brazilian utility. Learnings in the area of smart metering, telecommunication, information systems and project management are presented. A special focus on Brazilian specificities is given as well as on the management of innovative projects

Trypanosoma rangeli Transcriptome Project: Generation and analysis of expressed sequence tags

Trypanosoma rangeli is an important hemoflagellate parasite of several mammalian species in Central and South America, sharing geographical areas, vectors and reservoirs with T. cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. Thus, the occurrence of single and/or mixed infections, including in humans, must be expected and are of great importance for specific diagnosis and epidemiology. In comparison to several Trypanosomatidae species, the T. rangeli biology and genome are little known, reinforcing the needs of a gene discovery initiative. The T. rangeli transcriptome initiative aims to promote gene discovery through the generation of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and Orestes (ORF ESTs) from both epimastigote and trypomastigote forms of the parasite, allowing further studies of the parasite biology, taxonomy and phylogeny

Status of ZEPLIN II and ZEPLIN IV study

Abstract We discribe the construction status of ZEPLIN II detector, a 30-kg two-phase discriminating xenon detector to be installed in Boulby Mine, UK, for the direct detection of WIMP dark matter. Both scintillation and ionization will be measure in order to discriminate the radioactive background. ZEPLIN-II will have very high radioactive-background rejection efficiency. We will also discuss the study of ton scale ZEPLIN IV. The ZEPLIN program is a collaborative work of UCLA, TAMU, UKMDMC, and CNR Torino, Italy

Gene methylation biomarkers in sputum as a classifier for lung cancer risk

CT screening for lung cancer reduces mortality, but will cost Medicare ∼2 billion dollars due in part to high false positive rates. Molecular biomarkers could augment current risk stratification used to select smokers for screening. Gene methylation in sputum reflects lung field cancerization that remains in lung cancer patients post-resection. This population was used in conjunction with cancer-free smokers to evaluate classification accuracy of a validated eight-gene methylation panel in sputum for cancer risk. Sputum from resected lung cancer patients (n=487) and smokers from Lovelace (n=1380) and PLuSS (n=718) cohorts was studied for methylation of an 8-gene panel. Area under a receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated to assess the prediction performance in logistic regressions with different sets of variables. The prevalence for methylation of all genes was significantly increased in the ECOG-ACRIN patients compared to cancer-free smokers as evident by elevated odds ratios that ranged from 1.6 to 8.9. The gene methylation panel showed lung cancer prediction accuracy of 82–86% and with addition of clinical variables improved to 87–90%. With sensitivity at 95%, specificity increased from 25% to 54% comparing clinical variables alone to their inclusion with methylation. The addition of methylation biomarkers to clinical variables would reduce false positive screens by ruling out one-third of smokers eligible for CT screening and could increase cancer detection rates through expanding risk assessment criteria

Implication of a Chromosome 15q15.2 Locus in Regulating UBR1 and Predisposing Smokers to MGMT Methylation in Lung

O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA repair enzyme that protects cells from carcinogenic effects of alkylating agents; however, MGMT is silenced by promoter hypermethylation during carcinogenesis. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in an enhancer in the MGMT promoter was previously identified to be highly significantly associated with risk for MGMT methylation in lung cancer and sputum from smokers. To further genetic investigations, a genome-wide association and replication study was conducted in two smoker cohorts to identify novel loci for MGMT methylation in sputum that were independent of the MGMT enhancer polymorphism. Two novel trans-acting loci (15q15.2 and 17q24.3) that were identified acted together with the enhancer SNP to empower risk prediction for MGMT methylation. We found that the predisposition to MGMT methylation arising from the 15q15.2 locus involved regulation of the ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component UBR1. UBR1 attenuation reduced turnover of MGMT protein and increased repair of O6-methylguanine in nitrosomethylurea-treated human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC), while also reducing MGMT promoter activity and abolishing MGMT induction. Overall, our results substantiate reduced gene transcription as a major mechanism for predisposition to MGMT methylation in the lungs of smokers, and support the importance of UBR1 in regulating MGMT homeostasis and DNA repair of alkylated DNA adducts in cells

Evaluation of the orthogonal decomposition technique for high impedance fault detection

Este trabalho apresenta o estado da arte das técnicas mais aplicadas para localização de faltas e modelagem de faltas de alta impedância e propõe a utilização de uma recente técnica baseada na decomposição dos sinais em componentes ortogonais. Este estudo avalia a aplicabilidade da técnica proposta utilizando dados reais de um sistema de distribuição de energia brasileiro, além de apresentar os conceitos teóricos sobre a decomposição em componentes ortogonais.This work presents the state of the art of the most used techniques for locating and modelling high impedance faults and proposes the use of a recent technique based on the decomposition of the signals in orthogonal components. The objective of this study is to evaluate the application of the proposed technique using real data from a Brazilian distribution network, and presents the theory on orthogonal decomposition

Evaluation of the orthogonal decomposition technique for high impedance fault detection

Este trabalho apresenta o estado da arte das técnicas mais aplicadas para localização de faltas e modelagem de faltas de alta impedância e propõe a utilização de uma recente técnica baseada na decomposição dos sinais em componentes ortogonais. Este estudo avalia a aplicabilidade da técnica proposta utilizando dados reais de um sistema de distribuição de energia brasileiro, além de apresentar os conceitos teóricos sobre a decomposição em componentes ortogonais.This work presents the state of the art of the most used techniques for locating and modelling high impedance faults and proposes the use of a recent technique based on the decomposition of the signals in orthogonal components. The objective of this study is to evaluate the application of the proposed technique using real data from a Brazilian distribution network, and presents the theory on orthogonal decomposition