OS ODS DA ONU NA FORMAÇÃO POR COMPETÊNCIAS: MÁQUINA COLETORA DE RESÍDUOS PARA O LAGO PARANOÁ

A real situation, such as the cleaning of the Paranoá lake shoreline in Brasilia, Brazil, conceived a teaching-learning environment, supported by the project-based learning method (PjBL), in order to introduce solution proposals in the scope of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the background of engineering students. A team of Mechanical, Mechatronics, and Production Engineering students was constituted to study the problem and develop a floating waste collection system. The study involved applied research and resulted in the control design of a machine for collecting materials on water surfaces. A prototype was built and tested to validate the control design.Uma situação real, como a limpeza da orla do lago Paranoá em Brasília, Brasil, concebeu um ambiente de ensino-aprendizagem, sustentado pelo método de aprendizagem baseada em projetos (PjBL), de modo a introduzir propostas de solução no âmbito dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) na formação de estudantes de engenharia. Uma equipe de estudantes de Engenharia Mecânica, Mecatrônica e de Produção foi constituída para estudar o problema e desenvolver um sistema de coleta de resíduos flutuantes. O estudo envolveu uma pesquisa aplicada e resultou no projeto de controle de uma máquina para coleta de materiais em superfícies hídricas. Para validar o projeto de controle foi construído e testado um protótipo

OS ODS DA ONU NA FORMAÇÃO POR COMPETÊNCIAS: MÁQUINA COLETORA DE RESÍDUOS PARA O LAGO PARANOÁ

A real situation, such as the cleaning of the Paranoá lake shoreline in Brasilia, Brazil, conceived a teaching-learning environment, supported by the project-based learning method (PjBL), in order to introduce solution proposals in the scope of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the background of engineering students. A team of Mechanical, Mechatronics, and Production Engineering students was constituted to study the problem and develop a floating waste collection system. The study involved applied research and resulted in the control design of a machine for collecting materials on water surfaces. A prototype was built and tested to validate the control design.Uma situação real, como a limpeza da orla do lago Paranoá em Brasília, Brasil, concebeu um ambiente de ensino-aprendizagem, sustentado pelo método de aprendizagem baseada em projetos (PjBL), de modo a introduzir propostas de solução no âmbito dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) na formação de estudantes de engenharia. Uma equipe de estudantes de Engenharia Mecânica, Mecatrônica e de Produção foi constituída para estudar o problema e desenvolver um sistema de coleta de resíduos flutuantes. O estudo envolveu uma pesquisa aplicada e resultou no projeto de controle de uma máquina para coleta de materiais em superfícies hídricas. Para validar o projeto de controle foi construído e testado um protótipo

Whole-chromosome hitchhiking driven by a male-killing endosymbiont.

Neo-sex chromosomes are found in many taxa, but the forces driving their emergence and spread are poorly understood. The female-specific neo-W chromosome of the African monarch (or queen) butterfly Danaus chrysippus presents an intriguing case study because it is restricted to a single 'contact zone' population, involves a putative colour patterning supergene, and co-occurs with infection by the male-killing endosymbiont Spiroplasma. We investigated the origin and evolution of this system using whole genome sequencing. We first identify the 'BC supergene', a broad region of suppressed recombination across nearly half a chromosome, which links two colour patterning loci. Association analysis suggests that the genes yellow and arrow in this region control the forewing colour pattern differences between D. chrysippus subspecies. We then show that the same chromosome has recently formed a neo-W that has spread through the contact zone within approximately 2,200 years. We also assembled the genome of the male-killing Spiroplasma, and find that it shows perfect genealogical congruence with the neo-W, suggesting that the neo-W has hitchhiked to high frequency as the male-killer has spread through the population. The complete absence of female crossing-over in the Lepidoptera causes whole-chromosome hitchhiking of a single neo-W haplotype, carrying a single allele of the BC supergene and dragging multiple non-synonymous mutations to high frequency. This has created a population of infected females that all carry the same recessive colour patterning allele, making the phenotypes of each successive generation highly dependent on uninfected male immigrants. Our findings show how hitchhiking can occur between the physically unlinked genomes of host and endosymbiont, with dramatic consequences

Comparative genomics reveals genes significantly associated with woody hosts in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae

The diversification of lineages within Pseudomonas syringae has involved a number of adaptive shifts from herbaceous hosts onto various species of tree, resulting in the emergence of highly destructive diseases such as bacterial canker of kiwi and bleeding canker of horse chestnut. This diversification has involved a high level of gene gain and loss, and these processes are likely to play major roles in the adaptation of individual lineages onto their host plants. In order to better understand the evolution of P. syringae onto woody plants, we have generated de novo genome sequences for 26 strains from the P. syringae species complex that are pathogenic on a range of woody species, and have looked for statistically significant associations between gene presence and host type (i.e. woody or herbaceous) across a phylogeny of 64 strains. We have found evidence for a common set of genes associated with strains that are able to colonize woody plants, suggesting that divergent lineages have acquired similarities in genome composition that may form the genetic basis of their adaptation to woody hosts. We also describe in detail the gain, loss and rearrangement of specific loci that may be functionally important in facilitating this adaptive shift. Overall, our analyses allow for a greater understanding of how gene gain and loss may contribute to adaptation in P. syringae

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Project proposal for aquatic waste collecting machine project for the Paranoá lake

Grande parte da poluição de plásticos observada na superfície de rios e lagos é carreada pelos sistemas de drenagem, que não contém dispositivos efetivos que impeçam esses resíduos de chegar aos corpos hídricos. Ações podem ser feitas no sentido de evitar que os resíduos cheguem nos rios e lagos e ao mesmo tempo remover os resíduos já existentes. Assim, partindo de uma situação real, a limpeza da orla do lago Paranoá em Brasília, DF, uma equipe interdisciplinar formada por cinco estudantes de engenharia mecânica, mecatrônica e de produção foi constituída para estudar o problema e desenvolver um sistema de coleta de resíduos plásticos. O estudo envolveu uma pesquisa bibliográfica e resultou em uma proposta de projeto conceitual mecânico e o projeto de controle da máquina, para o qual foi construído e testado um protótipo.Much of the plastic pollution observed on the surface of rivers and lakes is carried by the drainage systems, which do not contain effective devices to prevent this waste from reaching the water bodies. Actions can be taken to prevent the waste from reaching the rivers and lakes and at the same time to remove the waste that already exists. Thus, starting from a real situation, that is, the cleaning of Paranoá lake shores’ in Brasília, DF, an interdisciplinary team consisting of five students of mechanical engineering, mechatronics and production engineering was formed to study the problem and develop a system for collecting plastic waste. The study involved bibliographic research and resulted in a proposal for a conceptual mechanical project and the machine control project, for which a prototype was built and tested

APPROXIMATE DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING FOR OPTIMIZING OIL PRODUCTION

In this chapter, a new ADP algorithm integrating (1) systematic basis function construction, (2) a linear programming (LP) approach in DP, (3) adaptive basis function selection and (4) bootstrapping, is developed and applied to oil production problems. The procedure requires the solution of a large-scale dynamic system, which is accomplished using a subsurface flow simulator, for function evaluations. Optimization results are presented for cases involving single-phase primary oil production and water injection. In the first case the global optimum can be computed, and the ADP results are shown to essentially achieve this optimum. Clear improvement, relative to various baseline strategies, is similarly observed in the second case. Component