A Geant4 based engineering tool for Fresnel lenses

Geant4 is a Monte Carlo radiation transport toolkit that is becoming a tool of generalized application in areas such as high-energy physics, nuclear physics, astroparticle physics, or medical physics. Geant4 provides an optical physics process category, allowing the simulation of the production and propagation of light. Its capabilities are well tailored for the simulation of optics systems namely in cosmic-rays experiments based in the detection of Cherenkov and fluorescence light. The use of Geant4 as an engineering tool for the optics design and simulation of Fresnel lens systems is discussed through a specific example.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the 30th ICRC, International Cosmic Ray Conference 2007, M\'erida, M\'exico, 3-11 July 200

Disney: a never-ending empire

Disney is an American Media & Entertainment conglomerate founded in 1923. This report focuses on the Media Networks and Direct to Consumer & International portions of the company. The analysis of both of these segments is marked by the presence of trends such as cord cutting and segment cannibalization. The report also discusses key risks, the model’s discount rates and the sensitivity analysis performed

Mãos de Mecânico e Toxidermia à Hidroxicloroquina: Ferramentas Diagnósticas Preciosas

O diagnóstico clínico de dermatomiosite é muitas vezes difícil e desafiante. A presença de uma história clínica clássica, aliada a um exame físico completo e ao uso dos anticorpos específicos para miosite recentemente descritos, pode levar ao diagnóstico mais precoce desta entidade. Desta forma e com o início atempado da terapêutica, minimiza-se o risco de progressão da doença. Apresentamos o caso de uma doente com mãos-de-mecânico e uma história prévia de toxidermia à hidroxicloroquina. Embora estes achados não sejam patognomónicos de dermatomiosite, quando associados a uma história clínica e exame físico típicos, são ferramentas diagnósticas úteis.The clinical diagnosis of dermatomyositis can be difficult and challenging. In the right clinical setting and with the use of the recently described myositis specific antibodies, an earlier diagnosis can be made and therapeutic approaches promptly started, minimizing the risk of disease progression. We herein present a case of a patient with mechanic’s hands and a previously documented drug eruption to hydroxychloroquine. Although these clinical findings are not pathognomonic of dermatomyositis, in the right clinical scenario, they are precious diagnostic tools

Estudo das atividades biológicas da alga Undaria pinnatifida

Tese de mestrado em Bioquímica (Bioquímica Médica) Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2019Na atualidade, tem havido cada vez mais a procura por um estilo de vida saudável e grande parte dele advém da alimentação. Como tal, nesta área tem-se investigado os compostos que vários alimentos têm e os seus benefícios para a saúde, nomeadamente as algas. Estas têm sido estudadas devido às suas capacidades antioxidantes e anti-obesidade e é neste âmbito que se iniciou este trabalho experimental, centrado no estudo de Undaria pinnatifida. Começou-se então por liofilizar a alga para obtermos o material inicial para desenvolver o trabalho. De seguida, efetuaram-se duas decocções, que permitiram a extração dos compostos de U. pinnatifida e a obtenção de extratos aquosos. A primeira durante 24 horas sob agitação à temperatura ambiente (W24) e a segunda durante 30 minutos a 100 º C (W100). A ambas foi feita a precipitação de mucilagens, com o objetivo de obter um sobrenadante constituído maioritariamente por compostos fenólicos, obtendo-se assim um total de quatro extratos: cozida durante 30 minutos, com e sem mucilagens, e 24 horas sob agitação, a temperatura ambiente, com e sem mucilagens. De seguida, determinaram-se as atividades biológicas destes quatro extratos tendo-se quantificado os fenóis totais, avaliado a capacidade de redução do radical DPPH e de inibição dos enzimas acetilcolinesterase e HMGR. Destes ensaios chegou-se à conclusão de que o melhor extrato é o da alga cozida durante 30 minutos, uma vez que apresenta uma maior capacidade de inibir ambos os enzimas em estudo e de reduzir o radical DPPH, mesmo apresentando uma menor quantidade de fenóis. Por último, observou-se o perfil de cada um dos extratos obtido através da análise por HPLC-DAD, de forma a tentar entender as diferenças de atividades, sendo que não foram encontradas diferenças significativas que justificassem os resultados obtidos. Deste modo, pode concluir-se que a qualidade dos compostos extraídos da alga cozida seriam superiores, explicando as melhores atividades. O próximo passo consistiu em estudar que modificações ocorreriam nas algas quando sujeitas à digestão no nosso organismo. Para tal realizou-se uma digestão in vitro com suco gástrico e suco pancreático da alga liofilizada, retirando-se alíquotas às 0 e 4 horas, sendo também feita uma digestão de 24 horas para saber se era possível a extração de novos compostos (de um ponto de vista biotecnológico) e todas estas amostras foram para analisar no HPLC-DAD. Os cromatogramas foram esclarecedores mostrando que após a digestão de 4 horas não há muita alteração aos extratos. No entanto, no caso das 24 horas com suco pancreático (WDig), não só foram extraídos novos compostos como também em maior quantidade aqueles que já se encontravam presentes no extrato antes da digestão. Foram então determinadas as atividades biológicas deste extrato revelando que existe uma maior quantidade de fenóis totais, porém não se traduziu num aumento de bioatividade. Por último, com os extratos que obtiveram melhores resultados, nomeadamente o da alga cozida durante 30 minutos e o da digestão de 24 horas com suco pancreático, realizou-se o LC-MS/MS com a finalidade de tentar identificar quais os compostos responsáveis pelas diferenças de atividades. Adicionalmente, para se tentar ver algumas diferenças morfológicas dos diferentes extratos, fez-se a microscopia eletrónica de varrimento. Fechando o capítulo das bioatividades, passou-se ao estudo de U. pinnatifida com células cancerígenas do cólon (Caco-2) e com células cancerígenas do fígado (Hep-G2). Primeiramente, nas células Caco-2 foi medida a citotoxicidade dos extratos W100 e W24, com e sem mucilagens, nas concentrações de 0,1 e 0,5 mg/mL. Não foi revelada nenhuma atividade citotóxica nestas concentrações. Efetuou-se também a eletroforese bidimensional para observar as mudanças do perfil proteico, tendo-se estudado o extrato da alga liofilizada, W100 e WDig. Por último, mediu-se novamente a citotoxicidade nas células Hep-G2 dos extratos W100 e WDig, nas concentrações de 0,1; 0,2 e 0,5 mg/mL. O extrato WDig foi mais citotóxico que W100, com os respetivos valores de IC50 de 0,93 e 1,96 mg/mL. Por fim, efetuou-se uma eletroforese unidimensional para se entender também se existem modificações nos perfis proteicos das células quando em contacto com as amostras em estudo.In recent years there´s been a growing search for a healthy lifestyle and a big part of it comes from diet. As such, in this area several foods are being looked into for their compounds and related health benefits, namely algae. These have been studied because of their antioxidant and anti-obesity activities and it is with that goal in mind that this experimental work took place, focusing on the study of Undaria pinnatifida. This work started with lyophilizing the algae in order to obtain the initial material. With this lyophilized algae decoctions were made, obtaining aqueous extracts. Two initial decoctions were done. One during 24 hours under agitation at room temperature (W24) and one cooked for 30 minutes (W100). To both mucilage precipitation was made with the objective of obtaining a supernatant comprised with a majority of phenolic compounds getting a total of four extracts: cooked algae for 30 minutes, with and without mucilage, and algae 24 hours under agitation at room temperature, also with and without mucilage. Initially, the biological activities of all four extracts were determined, namely total phenol quantification, DPPH radical reduction capacity, acetylcholinesterase inhibition and HMGR inhibition. With this trials we came to the conclusion that the best extract was the cooked algae for 30 minutes since it had the highest inhibition of both acetylcholinesterase and HMGR, as well as highest DPPH reduction capacity with a lower total phenol quantity. Lastly, through HPLC-DAD analysis we observed the obtained profile of each extracts to try to comprehend the difference in activities. However no significant differences were found that justified the results. Consequently, the conclusion to take was that the quality of the compounds extracted from the cooked algae was superior, explaining the better bioactivities. The next step was to study what happened to the algae when it was subjected to digestion in our organism. To such extent, digestion with gastric juice and with pancreatic juice of the lyophilized algae was done, taking aliquots at time 0, 4 hours and also 24 hours digestion was made to see if we could extract new compounds (from a biotechnological standpoint) and all were analysed by HPLC-DAD. The chromatograms were enlightening showing that after 4 hours digestion not much alterations occurred. However in the case of the 24 hours digestion with pancreatic juice (WDig), not only new compounds were extracted but also at larger quantity. The biological activities of this extract were then determined which pointed out an existing larger quantity of total phenols, yet it didn´t manifest in an increase of bioactivity. Finally, with the extracts that had the better results, namely the cooked algae and the digested 24 hours with pancreatic juice, LC-MS/MS was done with the intent of identifying which compounds were responsible for the differences in bioactivities. Additionally scanning electron microscopy was made of the different extracts to see if we could spot some morphological changes. Closing the chapter of the biological activities we moved on to the study of U. pinnatifida with Caco-2 cells, which are colon carcinogenic cells that simulate the intestinal barrier, and with Hep-G2 cells, which are liver carcinogenic cells since this organ has a strong impact in the body´s bioactivities. Firstly, the cytotoxicity of the W100 and W24 extracts, with and without mucilage, was measured in the Caco-2 cells with the concentrations of 0,1 and 0,5 mg/mL. No cytotoxic activity was revealed at either concentration. We also did bidimensional electrophoresis to observe the change of the protein profile, having studied the lyophilized algae, W100 and WDig. Moreover, we again measured the cytotoxicity in Hep-G2 cells of the W100 and WDig extracts at 0,1; 0,2 and 0,5 mg/mL concentrations. WDig was more cytotoxic than W100, with respective IC50 values of 0,93 and 1,96 mg/mL. Lastly, another electrophoresis was done, this time one dimensional, to also better understand the differences in the protein profiles

Automatic Design of Artificial Neural Networks for Gamma-Ray Detection

The goal of this work is to investigate the possibility of improving current gamma/hadron discrimination based on their shower patterns recorded on the ground. To this end we propose the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for their ability to distinguish patterns based on automatically designed features. In order to promote the creation of CNNs that properly uncover the hidden patterns in the data, and at same time avoid the burden of hand-crafting the topology and learning hyper-parameters we resort to NeuroEvolution; in particular we use Fast-DENSER++, a variant of Deep Evolutionary Network Structured Representation. The results show that the best CNN generated by Fast-DENSER++ improves by a factor of 2 when compared with the results reported by classic statistical approaches. Additionally, we experiment ensembling the 10 best generated CNNs, one from each of the evolutionary runs; the ensemble leads to an improvement by a factor of 2.3. These results show that it is possible to improve the gamma/hadron discrimination based on CNNs that are automatically generated and are trained with instances of the ground impact patterns.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Morphometrics of teropodomorph isolated teeth material from Bauru Basin (Upper Cretaceous, Southeast Brazil)

The theropod material of the Bauru Basin consists mainly of isolated teeth, bone elements being rare, generally isolated and fragmented. The best known theropod of the unity is Pycnonemosaurus nevesi, an abelisaurid described based on some fragmented elements. An ungeal phalanx, which possesses features found in derived maniraptorans, and a scapula associated with non-avialan mariraptorans have also been recovered from this basin. The rest of the bone material collected does not show diagnostic features. Regarding the isolated teeth, many studies have been conducted to increase the taxonomic knowledge of the Bauru theropods. These works, however, have fundamentally considered qualitative (or non-measurable) characters, like general shape or presence/absence of structures. Under these circumstances the material showed affinities to Abelisauroidea, Carcharodontosauridae and Maniraptora. Nevertheless, the evaluation of dental characters from theropod dinosaurs in terms of taxonomic identification remains controversial. Although the methodology is considered relatively efficient concerning small theropods, its effectiveness on other theropod groups is questionable. The dental morphology can vary by position in the mouth and some characters considered as diagnostic, could be, in fact, shared among taxa. The present work aimed, based on a combination of measures of the teeth (crown length, base length and width, density of denticles and derived variables like, squatness and apex location with respect to base), to obtain taxonomic sorting of the isolated material, according to a quantitative methodology. By means of multivariate analysis it was possible to recognize statistically distinct groups. We used measures of teeth associated with cranial material already been published of a variety of theropod groups, to compare with our data. In some cases, similarities could be found, while other morphotypes were completely different. We believe that this methodology offer a more reliable tool to ascertain taxonomic relationships of Bauru Basin isolated teeth material. It's an attempt to make its fossil record more informative; its interpretation better founded, and perhaps standardized.Sesiones libresFacultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Malocclusion in primary dentition: a cross-sectional study in a Lisbon population

Objectives: To study the prevalence of malocclusion in deciduous dentition and its associated factors. Methods: The target population consisted of children between 3 and 5 years old who attended four kindergartens in Alvalade, Lisbon. Data was collected through a questionnaire to parents and an intraoral examination of children. The questionnaire collected sociodemographic and non-nutritive sucking habits information. The intraoral examination collected data about the child’s occlusion and dental caries. Results: The sample included 89 children. The prevalence of malocclusion was 83.9%, and the most prevalent types were crowding (44.8%) and distocclusion (41.4%). Most of the children (68.2%) had non-nutritive sucking habits, of which using a pacifier was the most frequent (81.6%). The habit of using a pacifier after three years of age was reported by 67.8% of the participants. The variables statistically associated with malocclusion (p<0.05) were age, mother’s education level, non-nutritive sucking habits, use of pacifiers and thumb sucking, and caries in primary teeth. Conclusions: The prevalence of malocclusion and non-nutritive sucking habits was high. Early diagnosis and intervention are important to avoid serious malocclusion problems and structural and functional changes

Industrial revitalization proposal in Blumenau – SC / Brazil

Many Brazilian traditional industrial buildings are, at present, abandoned, because of the industrial crises and the generalized procedures of sub hiring new smaller companies, with the aim to transfer the work responsibilities. In the sense of trying not to lose this heritage, the revitalization of the industrial complex of the Hering Company (Brazilian company textile that exports towards many countries) is considered. Since the reform of buildings of different periods and great architectonic value for the promotion of visitation of industrials sectors that remains in activity, the Complex of the Textile Memory of Blumenau works the urban set, reaffirming its insertion in the natural atmosphere that means the traditional way of space appropriation so characteristic of Germanics immigrants.Muchas edificaciones industriales tradicionales en Brasil se encuentran, en la actualidad, abandonadas por culpa de la crisis industrial y de los generalizados procedimientos de subcontratación de nuevas pequeñas empresas, con el sistema de transferencia de compromisos laborales. Para que este patrimonio no se pierda, se propone aquí la revitalización del complejo industrial de la Cia. Hering (empresa textil brasileña que exporta hacia muchos países). Desde la preservación de las edificaciones de distintos periodos y de gran valor arquitectónico hasta la promoción de la visita al sector de la industria aún en actividad, el Complejo de la Memoria Textil de Blumenau trabaja el conjunto urbano como un todo, reafirmando su inserción en el ambiente natural, forma de apropiación espacial tan característica de los inmigrantes germánicos

Autonomous RPCs for a Cosmic Ray ground array

We report on the behaviour of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) developed for muon detection in ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) experiments. The RPCs were developed for the MARTA project and were tested on field conditions. These RPCs cover an area of $1.5 \times 1.2\,{m^2}$ and are instrumented with 64 pickup electrodes providing a segmentation better than $20\,$cm. By shielding the detector units with enough slant mass to absorb the electromagnetic component in the air showers, a clean measurement of the muon content is allowed, a concept to be implemented in a next generation of UHECR experiments. The operation of a ground array detector poses challenging demands, as the RPC must operate remotely under extreme environmental conditions, with limited budgets for power and minimal maintenance. The RPC, DAQ, High Voltage and monitoring systems are enclosed in an aluminium-sealed case, providing a compact and robust unit suited for outdoor environments, which can be easily deployed and connected. The RPCs developed at LIP-Coimbra are able to operate using a very low gas flux, which allows running them for few years with a small gas reservoir. Several prototypes have already been built and tested both in the laboratory and outdoors. We report on the most recent tests done in the field that show that the developed RPCs have operated in a stable way for more than 2 years in field conditions.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2017), Busan, South Korea. Presented by R. Concei\c{c}\~{a}o. 8 page