90 research outputs found
Indústria 4.0: tecnologias implantadas no processo produtivo de uma indústria de máquinas agrícolas
No full textThe fourth industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0, emerged in mid-2010 in Germany with the aim of developing smart factories, through the adoption of digital technologies in an integrated way in companies to provide advanced solutions and increase competitiveness. Emerging countries have greater challenges in adopting enabling technologies, due to a greater technological gap in their manufacturing parks and less investment power. The deindustrialization process in Brazil, in recent decades, has had a strong impact on the Brazilian economy and reduced investments in R&D. On the other hand, the growth of Brazilian agribusiness has stimulated the development of new technologies in its processes, products and services to reduce costs, increase productivity and be globally competitive. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify and understand the technologies that enable industry 4.0 implemented in the production process of a national industry that manufactures agricultural machinery. The research has a qualitative, descriptive approach, using a single case study as a method. The main results obtained were: (i) identification of enabling technologies implemented in the industrial production process; (ii) identification of technological initiatives with potential application in the industry, bringing a competitive advantage to the company. From a theoretical point of view, this research contributes to the understanding of the concepts of enabling technologies and their benefits. From a practical perspective, the results help to understand this relevant business topic, and can contribute to decision makers in the industrial area with perspectives for a strategic direction of technology in the company.A quarta revolução industrial, conhecida como Industria 4.0, surgiu em meados de 2010 na Alemanha com objetivo de desenvolver fábricas inteligentes, por meio de adoção de tecnologias digitais de forma integrada nas empresas para o fornecimento de soluções avançadas e aumentar a competitividade. Os países emergentes possuem maiores desafios para a adoção das tecnologias habilitadoras, devido maior defasagem tecnológica dos seus parques fabris e menor poder de investimentos. O processo de desindustrialização no Brasil, nas últimas décadas, tem impactado fortemente na economia brasileira e na redução dos investimentos em P&D. Em contrapartida, o crescimento do agronegócio brasileiro tem estimulado o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias nos seus processos, produtos e serviços para redução de custos, aumento de produtividade e ser competitivo globalmente. Logo, o objetivo dessa pesquisa é identificar e compreender as tecnologias habilitadoras da indústria 4.0 implantadas no processo produtivo de uma indústria nacional fabricante de máquinas agrícolas. A pesquisa tem uma abordagem qualitativa de caráter descritivo, como método um estudo de caso único. Os principais resultados obtidos foram: (i) identificação das tecnologias habilitadoras implantadas no processo produtivo industrial; (ii) identificação de iniciativas tecnológicas com potencial aplicação na indústria trazendo vantagem competitiva para a empresa. Do ponto de vista teórico, essa pesquisa contribui para o entendimento dos conceitos das tecnologias habilitadoras e seus benefícios. Sob a perspectiva prática, os resultados auxiliam na compreensão desse relevante tema empresarial, podendo contribuir para os tomadores de decisão da área industrial perspectivas para um direcionamento estratégico de tecnologia na empresa
Structural characterization of G-Quadruplexes within duplex DNA
No full textThe G-Quadruplex (GQ) is a repetitive, guanine rich DNA sequence that occurs throughout the genome. This specific DNA motif is capable of forming an alternative DNA secondary structure similar to a rectangular prism. The most common GQ motif consists of four sets of three guanine bases separated by varying intervening loops, typically comprised of 1 to 9 bases in length. The four sets of guanine triplets stabilize the GQ structure through Hoogsteen base pairing with the assistance of monovalent cations. Two predominant folding motifs of these structures have been identified within a single-stranded (ss) DNA context: parallel and antiparallel. Further work is needed to establish if these structural folding trends are consistent in the double-stranded (ds) DNA context. Limited studies in this area have occurred due to the lack of available methodologies for characterizing these GQ structures within a duplex DNA context (i.e. a GQ structure with its complementary sequence embedded within a dsDNA context).
The biological importance of these structures can be traced to GQ involvement in regulation of replication and transcription, genome rearrangements, translation and telomere processing. In support of experimental findings, computational studies have revealed a 230-fold enrichment of GQ sequences in upstream of promoters over the genomic average, amounting to nearly half of all human promoters containing putative GQ sequences. Moreover, GQ sequences are highly likely to be found in oncogenes and regulatory genes. Auxiliary to these observations are findings that GQ sequences are less likely to be located within the template strand, coding regions, tumor suppressor genes, and housekeeping genes. The highly selective positions of GQ imply that GQs may regulate particular set of biological processes and suggest that the stabilization of the structure may serve as a novel pharmaceutical target.
Despite the plethora of reports on telomeric DNA, relatively few studies have looked into GQs located within genomic regions. Furthermore, most studies focused on several well-characterized sequences such as c-Myc, TERT and BCL2 formed in the context of ssDNA. Although ssDNA may be relevant for studying the telomeric overhang (naturally single-stranded), it cannot be an appropriate platform for investigating ~800,000 putative GQ-forming sequences in dsDNA found throughout the human genome. Previously accepted methodologies in GQ structural investigations have proven to be cumbersome, at best, when utilized within the dsDNA context. Additionally, current, widely-available GQ investigational tools provide only qualitative insight into GQ formation and structure. Circular dichroism, the standard methodology for identifying folding properties of putative GQ sequences, fails to provide characteristic signals for GQs when probing dsDNA. The limitations of current techniques provide an opportunity for the development of more quantitative, biologically applicable analysis tools.
We have developed a bulk-phase induced fluorescence-based assay that can distinguish between folded and unfolded GQs, as well as identify predominant folding motifs (parallel or antiparallel). Our central objective is to elucidate the rules governing GQ folding within dsDNA and identify potential GQs that can affect crucial biological processes such as replication, transcription and translation. This thesis describes four key findings. First, GQ formation is much less robust within the duplex setting as compared to single-stranded contexts. Second, stable GQ folding within a dsDNA context is driven by both sequence composition and loop length. Third, strong GQ folding within genomic DNA is underrepresented near genetic regulatory elements. Fourth, GQ folding imposes barrier effects in gene expression in e. coli. Based on these findings, a comprehensive GQ folding atlas was developed which highlights potentially important GQ structures and their function in gene expression.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2018-05-01The student, Alex Kreig, accepted the attached license on 2016-04-18 at 15:09.The student, Alex Kreig, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2016-04-18 at 15:15.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2016-04-21 at 16:43.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #9310 on 2016-07-07 at 14:17:13Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-07T21:17:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3
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Previous issue date: 2016-04-21Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 93279
Lift date: 2018-07-07T21:18:16Z
Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemLimited Restriction Lifted for Item 93279 on 2018-07-08T09:15:30Z
Mechanisms of adsorption of aromatic nitrogen compounds and aromatic hydrocarbons on metal-organic frameworks (Mofs)
No full textMetal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) constitute a class of novel porous materials that have attracted significant interest due to their applications in separation, storage, catalysis and chemical sensing. Their large surface area and highly porous structure make these materials excellent absorbents with a huge uptake capacity for many adsorbates of interest. Using complementary spectroscopic methods, we studied the mechanisms of adsorption of representative fused-ring aromatic compounds, namely indole and naphthalene, on the following MOFs: Basolite F300, MIL-100(Fe) and Basolite A100. Fluorescence spectroscopy and near-UV/Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (near-UV-Vis DRS) studies demonstrate that naphthalene is confined within the mesocavity of F300 MOF. Moreover, we detected coordination bonds between adsorbed indole and F300 when indole was weakly electronically bound to Fe (III) CUS in F300 and MIL-100(Fe). Direct spectroscopic proof of the formation of an adsorption complex of indole with F300 and MIL-100(Fe) MOFs was obtained by near-UV-Vis DRS, wavelength-dependent fluorescence spectroscopy, and complementary time-dependent fluorescence spectroscopy. We have also determined the origin of the UV-Vis fluorescence in A100 MOF. We show that this fluorescence comes from the 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC) linker. The A100 MOF forms stoichiometric adsorption complexes with both indole and naphthalene. In these adsorption complexes, quenching of the ligand-based fluorescence from the BDC linker by the indole adsorbate was found. Based on wavelength-dependent fluorescence spectroscopy, we propose the adsorption of indole and naphthalene onto A100 MOF occurs via π-π interactions with the BDC linker.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Jun Da
Governance-based management of open distributed systems
No full textSoftware technology is undergoing transition from monolithic systems constructed according to a single overall design, into open systems, i.e., loosely coupled distributed and heterogeneous systems, whose component parts may be written in different languages, run on different platforms, and be designed, constructed, or even maintained under different administrative domains. For an open system to be dependable it must be managed dynamically. The common approaches of managing open systems are based on industrial standards like WSDM (Web Services DistributedManagement), and they rely on the components of the managed system to cooperate in the management process, by providing the managers with the means to monitor their state and activities, and to control their behavior. We argue these standard-based approaches have some serious deficiencies, when applied to open systems, and it largely fails to meet some critical needs of good management. In particular, we believe (1) it is unreliable and inflexible; and (2) it does not have enough ability to handle what we call reflexive management, i.e., the ability to control and coordination of the managers, and prescriptive management, i.e., the ability to let managers structure the managed system by making rules on their behaviours. Based on observation that much of the information that dynamic system management relies on involves the exchange of messages between the distributed components of the system, we propose to implement management capabilities via an appropriate regulation on the flow of messages in the system, where the regulation is conducted by governing the system components with an appropriate governance mechanism. We call this management approach as governance-basedmanagement (GBM), and we show the limitations of current management approaches can be avoided, to a large extent, by the GBM approach. The implementation of GBM employs a governance mechanism called Law-Governed Interaction (LGI). This mechanism features some of the characteristics required as the basis of GBM, among which are its high expressive power, reliable instrumentation, decentralized enforcement of policies, and the ability of organizing policies into policy hierarchies. We conducted a case study, in the context of enterprise systems, to illustrate the GBM mechanism as well as its implementation by LGI. Based on the case study, we did a series of experiments, to evaluate the performance of GBM. We show the overhead introduced by the mechanism is relatively small, especially in the context of geographically distributed systems based on Wide Area Network (WAN), and the mechanism scales well when the size of the managed system increases. Finally, we present some of our recent advances on LGI, the basis of GBM.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Wenxuan Zhan
Erratum: A database of marine phytoplankton abundance, biomass and species composition in Australian waters
No full textScientific Data 3:160043 doi:10.1038/sdata.2016.43 (2016); Published 21 Jun 2016; Updated 11 April 2017 The authors regret that Sarah A. Pausina was omitted in error from the author list of the original version of this Data Descriptor. This omission has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of this Data Descriptor, as well as the accompanying Corrigendum.</jats:p
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Korean art and the avant-garde dilemma
No full textThe thesis covers Korean avant-garde art history and the dilemma that faced Korean artists at the end of the Japanese Colonial Period (1910-1945). Current literature adequately details avant-garde as progressive fine arts; however, there is limited literature on Korean art in this period. This thesis suggests the term avant-garde dilemma to indicate Korean artists‘ difficulty in style selection to follow a traditional aesthetical trend or progressive socio-political attitude for the foundation of Korean post-modernism. A salient démarche is found when Korean political avant-garde artists meet this dilemma in the midst of the Korean Demonstration Era (1976-1989) that initiates the decline of aesthetical activism and Demonstrative Art. Several styles of avant-garde dilemma after the Korea War are critiqued in the avant-garde evolution; subsequently, there arise hybrid styles between socio-political avant-garde and aesthetical avant-garde styles in Contemporary Korean Art. The examples included are Nam-Jun Baik‘s Video Art (a combination of art and technology), Do-Ho Suh‘s combination of meticulous sculpture with installation to satire Korean neo-capitalist society, Doo-Shik Lee‘s combination of oriental color with western gesture, and Suk-Chang Hong‘s free calligraphy to combine still-life, landscape, calligraphy, and scribbling
Oxidative Stress and Trace Elements in Patients with Non-Diabetic Hemodialysis
No full textSeveral evidences show that oxidative stress is high among patients with hemodialysis. This study was aimed to investigate the oxidative stress and serum level of zinc and copper in patients with non-diabetic hemodialysis. In a case - control study 60 non-diabetic hemodialysis patients referred to hospital hemodialysis 1387 were studied. Lipid profile, glucose, creatinine, urea, total protein, albumin, zinc, copper, malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity and superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase enzymes were measured in both groups. The results using the software T test and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to measure the dependence between variables in the SPSS 16 statistical was used. The amount of blood sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides, total protein, albumin Significantly less than the control group. Superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity of red blood cells serum total antioxidant capacity in hemodialysis patients was significantly higher than healthy individuals. Concentrations of the Copper and malondialdehyde in the two groups did not differ significantly.This study shows that in non-diabetic hemodialysis patients, increased activity of antioxidant enzymes prevent oxidative stress is increased. Zinc deficiency was also observed in these patients
Author Correction: Comprehensive analysis of chromothripsis in 2,658 human cancers using whole-genome sequencing
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