Sistema de controle granulom?trico de pelotas de min?rio de ferro.

Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Instrumenta??o, Controle e Automa??o de Processos de Minera??o. Departamento de Engenharia de Controle e Automa??o, Escola de Minas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto.Esta disserta??o tem seu foco no estudo de um sistema de controle para um processo de pelotamento de min?rio de ferro, manipulando vari?veis do processo, tais como velocidade de rota??o dos tambores de pelotamento, inje??o de ?gua e alimenta??o. O objetivo ? propor um controle granulom?trico das pelotas e, assim, tornar o processo mais uniforme, evitar retrabalhos, e o consequente aumento de custos operacionais. Para alcan?ar esse objetivo ? analisado o comportamento atual do processo para identificar e quantificar diversas vari?veis por meio do Sistema Gerenciador de Informa??es da Planta e aplica??o de testes, tal como resposta ao degrau para obten??o do modelo do processo e, posteriormente, identificar estrat?gias aplic?veis ao controle e, em seguida, aplicar as melhorias necess?rias. Para implanta??o do sistema proposto s?o utilizadas ferramentas j? existentes na planta, como controladores l?gicos, sistema de supervis?o e sistema de historiamento. O estudo prop?e um controle PID em cascata para maximiza??o de determinada faixa granulom?trica. Com a aplica??o do controle ? alcan?ado o atendimento a determinado cen?rio.This thesis is focused on a study related to a control system for iron ore pelletizing process, handling process variables, such as drums rotation speed, water addition and feeding. The goal is to propose pellet granulometry control and make the process more uniform, avoiding both reworks and the incremental of operational costs. To achieve this goal is analyzed the actual process behavior to identify and quantify the number of variables using a Plant Information Management System and applying tests, such as step response to get the process model. After that, the strategy applicable for the control are identified and the needed improvements are applied. In order to implement the proposed system, existing tools are used in the plant, such as logic controllers, supervision system and historian system. The study proposes a cascade PID control to maximize a certain granulometric range. With the application of the control, the attendance to a certain scenario is met

Amblyopia and quality of life: a systematic review

Background/Aims Amblyopia is a common condition which can affect up to 5% of the general population. The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) implications of amblyopia and/or its treatment have been explored in the literature. Methods A systematic literature search was undertaken (16th-30th January 2007) to identify the HRQoL implications of amblyopia and/or its treatment. Results A total of 25 papers were included in the literature review. The HRQoL implications of amblyopia related specifically to amblyopia treatment, rather than the condition itself. These included the impact upon family life; social interactions; difficulties undertaking daily activities; and feelings and behaviour. The identified studies adopted a number of methodologies. The study populations included; children with the condition; parents of children with amblyopia; and adults who had undertaken amblyopia treatment as a child. Some studies developed their own measures of HRQoL, and others determined HRQoL through proxy measures. Conclusions The reported findings of the HRQoL implications are of importance when considering the management of cases of amblyopia. Further research is required to assess the immediate and long-term effects of amblyopia and/or its treatment upon HRQoL using a more standardised approach

Trypanosoma cruzi Immune Response Modulation Decreases Microbiota in Rhodnius prolixus Gut and Is Crucial for Parasite Survival and Development

Trypanosoma cruzi in order to complete its development in the digestive tract of Rhodnius prolixus needs to overcome the immune reactions and microbiota trypanolytic activity of the gut. We demonstrate that in R. prolixus following infection with epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi clone Dm28c and, in comparison with uninfected control insects, the midgut contained (i) fewer bacteria, (ii) higher parasite numbers, and (iii) reduced nitrite and nitrate production and increased phenoloxidase and antibacterial activities. In addition, in insects pre-treated with antibiotic and then infected with Dm28c, there were also reduced bacteria numbers and a higher parasite load compared with insects solely infected with parasites. Furthermore, and in contrast to insects infected with Dm28c, infection with T. cruzi Y strain resulted in a slight decreased numbers of gut bacteria but not sufficient to mediate a successful parasite infection. We conclude that infection of R. prolixus with the T. cruzi Dm28c clone modifies the host gut immune responses to decrease the microbiota population and these changes are crucial for the parasite development in the insect gut

A PageRank-based heuristic for the minimization of open stacks problem.

The minimization of open stacks problem (MOSP) aims to determine the ideal production sequence to optimize the occupation of physical space in manufacturing settings. Most of current methods for solving the MOSP were not designed to work with large instances, precluding their use in specific cases of similar modeling problems. We therefore propose a PageRank-based heuristic to solve large instances modeled in graphs. In computational experiments, both data from the literature and new datasets up to 25 times fold larger in input size than current datasets, totaling 1330 instances, were analyzed to compare the proposed heuristic with state-of-the-art methods. The results showed the competitiveness of the proposed heuristic in terms of quality, as it found optimal solutions in several cases, and in terms of shorter run times compared with the fastest available method. Furthermore, based on specific graph densities, we found that the difference in the value of solutions between methods was small, thus justifying the use of the fastest method. The proposed heuristic is scalable and is more affected by graph density than by size

A simplified model of homemade microscope.

Neste trabalho ? apresentada uma nova alternativa para a constru??o de microsc?pios caseiros, e uma nova forma de se obter lentes esf?ricas, utilizando-se de materiais mais baratos, o que facilita a constru??o e o uso do equipamento. A simplicidade da montagem e a facilidade do manuseio favorecem a aplica??o do microsc?pio em locais com poucos recursos, al?m de torn?-lo port?til. Al?m disso, s?o apresentadas sugest?es de amostras a serem estudadas, pelos estudantes de diferentes disciplinas, o que pode fomentar a elabora??o e a participa??o de alunos e professores em projetos interdisciplinares. O microsc?pio caseiro permite a visualiza??o de pequenas estruturas, suas formas e cores, o que pode despertar o interesse do aluno pela an?lise de materiais e objetos, de uma forma muito mais instigante, que a mera observa??o a olho nu.This work presents a project for a homemade microscope with a new and alternative way to get spherical lenses, using cheap materials, which can facilitates its construction and use. The simplicity in its assembling and handling encourages its use in poor resourced places and additionally makes it a very portable instrument. Furthermore, suggestions of samples to be examined by students of different disciplines are also presented. This may encourage students and teachers to be more involved in elaboration of and/or participation in interdisciplinary projects. This homemade microscope enables visualization of small structures, their shapes and colors. The use of this simple instrument can grow in the students the desire and interest in the study and analysis of materials and objects in a much more instigating way, then by simple unaided eye observation

Early growth response gene-2 (Egr-2) regulates the development of B and T cells

The study was supported by Arthritis Research UK. Copyright @ 2011 Li et al.BACKGROUND: Understanding of how transcription factors are involved in lymphocyte development still remains a challenge. It has been shown that Egr-2 deficiency results in impaired NKT cell development and defective positive selection of T cells. Here we investigated the development of T, B and NKT cells in Egr-2 transgenic mice and the roles in the regulation of distinct stages of B and T cell development. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The expression of Egr1, 2 and 3 were analysed at different stages of T and B cell development by RT-PCT and results showed that the expression was strictly regulated at different stages. Forced expression of Egr-2 in CD2+ lymphocytes resulted in a severe reduction of CD4+CD8+ (DP) cells in thymus and pro-B cells in bone marrow, which was associated with reduced expression of Notch1 in ISP thymocytes and Pax5 in pro-B cells, suggesting that retraction of Egr-2 at the ISP and pro-B cell stages is important for the activation of lineage differentiation programs. In contrast to reduction of DP and pro-B cells, Egr-2 enhanced the maturation of DP cells into single positive (SP) T and NKT cells in thymus, and immature B cells into mature B cells in bone marrow. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that Egr-2 expressed in restricted stages of lymphocyte development plays a dynamic, but similar role for the development of T, NKT and B cells.This article is provided by the Brunel Open Access publishing fund

Spectroscopic analysis of finite size effects around a Kondo quantum dot

We consider a simple setup in which a small quantum dot is strongly connected to a finite size box. This box can be either a metallic box or a finite size quantum wire.The formation of the Kondo screening cloud in the box strongly depends on the ratio between the Kondo temperature and the box level spacing. By weakly connecting two metallic reservoirs to the quantum dot, a detailed spectroscopic analysis can be performed. Since the transport channels and the screening channels are almost decoupled, such a setup allows an easier access to the measure of finite-size effects associated with the finite extension of the Kondo cloud.Comment: contribution to Les Houches proceeding, ``Quantum magnetism'' 200

Anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of Campomanesia adamantium.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Campomanesia species are used in folk medicine as anti-in?ammatory, anti-rheumatic, anti-diarrheal and hypocholesterolemic. Aim of the study: The present study investigated the in vivo anti-in?ammatory and antinociceptive properties of ethyl acetate (AE) and aqueous (Aq) extracts from leaves of Campomanesia adamantium and in vitro anti-in?ammatory activity of AE and its isolated ?avonols, myricitrin and myricetin. Materials and methods: The antinociceptive activity of AE and Aq was evaluated using acetic acid- induced writhing and formalin methods. The in vivo anti-in?ammatory effect of AE and Aq was evaluated using carrageenan-induced paw oedema in mice. AE, myricitrin and myricetin were evaluated for their abilities to modulate the production of NO, TNF-a and IL-10 in LPS/IFN-g stimulated J774.A1 macrophages. Results: It was found that orally administrated AE and Aq (125 and 250 mg/kg) inhibited carrageenan- induced paw oedema in mice. AE (125 and 250 mg/kg) and Aq (125 mg/kg) reduced the time to licking at the second phase of the formalin method in vivo in mice. AE (250 mg/kg) and Aq (125 mg/kg) also reduced the number of writhes. AE, myricitrin and myricetin inhibited NO (320 mg/mL and 6.25?100 mM, respectively) and TNF-a production by macrophages (320 mg/mL for AE, 100 mM for myricitrin and 25?100 mM for myricetin). AE (160 and 320 mg/mL), myricitrin (50 and 100 mM) and myricetin (25?100 mM) increased IL-10 production by macrophages. Conclusions: The ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts from Campomanesia adamantium showed anti- nociceptive and anti-in?ammatory effects supporting the use of the plant in folk medicine. The results suggest that anti-oedematogenic effect promoted by aqueous extract involves several anti- in?ammatory mechanisms of action. The antinociceptive effect shown by aqueous extract can be due to the modulation of release of in?ammatory mediators involved in nociception. The anti-in?ammatory effects of AE and of its isolated ?avonols may be attributed to inhibition of pro-in?ammatory cytokines production, TNF-a and NO and to the increased of IL-10 production

Contribution of microscopy for understanding the mechanism of action against trypanosomatids

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has proved to be a useful tool to study the ultrastructural alterations and the target organelles of new antitrypanosomatid drugs. Thus, it has been observed that sesquiterpene lactones induce diverse ultrastructural alterations in both T. cruzi and Leishmania spp., such as cytoplasmic vacuolization, appearance of multilamellar structures, condensation of nuclear DNA, and, in some cases, an important accumulation of lipid vacuoles. This accumulation could be related to apoptotic events. Some of the sesquiterpene lactones (e.g., psilostachyin) have also been demonstrated to cause an intense mitochondrial swelling accompanied by a visible kinetoplast deformation as well as the appearance of multivesicular bodies. This mitochondrial swelling could be related to the generation of oxidative stress and associated to alterations in the ergosterol metabolism. The appearance of multilamellar structures and multiple kinetoplasts and flagella induced by the sesquiterpene lactone psilostachyin C indicates that this compound would act at the parasite cell cycle level, in an intermediate stage between kinetoplast segregation and nuclear division. In turn, the diterpene lactone icetexane has proved to induce the external membrane budding on T. cruzi together with an apparent disorganization of the pericellar cytoskeleton. Thus, ultrastructural TEM studies allow elucidating the possible mechanisms and the subsequent identification of molecular targets for the action of natural compounds on trypanosomatids.Fil: Lozano, Esteban Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Spina Zapata, Renata María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Barrera, Patricia Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Tonn, Carlos Eugenio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Sosa Escudero, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; Argentin