Development and Validation of a Method for the Determination of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Contents in Tung Biodiesel and Blends

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a method for the analysis of fatty acid methyl ester (FAMEs) content in tung biodiesel and blends with soybean biodiesel. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ), linearity, robustness, accuracy and precision were evaluated by using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection and impact electron ionization. The analytical curves showed correlation coefficients values higher than 0.99. The LOD and LOQ were 0.78 and 2.5 mg L⁻¹ for all FAMEs, respectively. The values of accuracy were between 86 and 117%, with relative standard deviation lower than 8%. The method was applied to tung biodiesel and tung and soybean biodiesel blends in the following proportions: 15:85, 20:80, 25:75 (%v/v). All of them showed good performance. Since the method was also applied to soybean biodiesel, the efficiency of the method for the analysis of both pure tung biodiesel and blends with different raw materials was confirmed and the robustness of the method was evidenced.     

IgG from Adult Atopic Dermatitis (AD) Patients Induces Thymic IL-22 Production and CLA Expression on CD4+ T Cells: Possible Epigenetic Implications Mediated by miRNA

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common relapsing inflammatory skin disorder characterized by immune-mediated inflammation and epidermal barrier dysfunction. The pathogenesis of AD is multifactorial and has not been fully elucidated to date. This study aimed to evaluate whether serum IgG from adult AD patients could modulate the thymic maturation of IL-22-producing T cells and CLA+ T cells of non-atopic infants. Given that miRNAs regulate immune response genes, we evaluated whether miRNA expression is also altered in cultured thymocytes. Thymocytes were cultured with purified IgG from AD patients or control conditions (mock, Intravenous-IgG (IVIg), non-atopic IgG, or atopic non-AD IgG). Using flow cytometry analysis, we assessed the expression of CLA and intracellular levels of IL-4, IFN-γ, and IL-22 on double-positive T cells (DP T), CD4 T cells, or CD8 T cells. We also investigated the frequency of IgG isotypes and their direct interaction with the thymic T cells membrane. The miRNA profiles were evaluated by the Illumina small RNA-seq approach. MiRNA target gene prediction and enrichment analyses were performed using bioinformatics. Increased frequencies of IL-22 and CLA+ producing CD4+ T cells cultured with IgG of AD patients was seen in non-atopic infant thymocytes compared to all control conditions. No alterations were observed in the frequency of IgG isotypes among evaluated IgG pools. Evidence for a direct interaction between IgG and thymic DP T, CD4 T, and CD8 T cells is presented. The small RNA-seq analysis identified ten mature miRNAs that were modulated by AD IgG compared to mock condition (miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-130b-3p, hsa-miR-26a-5p, hsa-miR-4497, has-miR-146a, hsa-let-7i-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, has-miR-148a-3p, has-miR-92a and has-miR-4492). The prediction of the targetome of the seven dysregulated miRNAs between AD and mock control revealed 122 putative targets, and functional and pathway enrichment analyses were performed. Our results enhance our understanding of the mechanism by which IgG can collaborate in thymic T cells in the setting of infant AD.     

Application of titanium machining chips in welding consumables for wear-resistant hardfacing

Equipment of sugar cane plants and mineral extraction are submitted to severe abrasive wear conditions. Welded hardfacings are usually applied to repair this kind of damage, where commercial chromium/carbon-rich welding consumables have usually been employed. In the present work we investigated the microstructure of experimental hardfacings made by addition of residues (chips) collected from the machining of ASTM F67 (unalloyed Ti, grade 4) alloy. Mixtures with different carbide-formers (Cr/Nb ferro-alloys) were also tested. Two layers of ‘pure’ chips (Ti), chips plus Fe–Cr (Ti–Cr), and chips plus Fe–Nb (Ti–Nb) were applied on low-carbon steel specimens by the GTAW/TIG process. The microstructure of hardfacing layers was observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with EDS microanalysis. The microstructural characterization has determined that carbide distributions change significantly with the chemical nature of the hardfacing. SEM observations coupled with EDS microanalysis have confirmed the formation of complex carbides within the metal weld, whose stoichiometry was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Mixed carbides of MC type and some cementite have been found. As a result it was suggested that use of ASTM F67 chips as carbide formers for composition of welding consumables can contribute to improved wear resistance of hardfacings, if compared with traditional chromium-based hardfacings.     

An Analysis of Blockchain and GDPR under the Data Lifecycle Perspective

Mobile Networks and Applications - The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the privacy principles of personal data prescribed in the General Data Protection Regulation and the...     

在巴西皮奥伊州特雷西纳的贫民窟实施的跨部门综合计划：有关住房、基础设施和消除贫穷

背景介绍 特雷西纳是皮奥伊州的首府，位于巴西的东北部。城市所处地区位于一片过渡生态区，主要为热带大草原的植被所覆盖。城市海拔高度为72米，属炎热性热带气候。与巴西1．69亿人口、人均年收入6473美元相比，特雷西纳拥有70万人口，人均年收入为250．69美元。     

Merging a DSP-Oriented Signal Integrity Technique and SW-Based Fault Handling Mechanisms to Ensure Reliable DSP Systems

Hereafter, we present an approach aiming to improve the reliability of digital signal processing (DSP) systems operating in real noisy (electromagnetic interference—EMI) environments. The approach is based on the coupling of two techniques: the DSP-oriented signal integrity improvement technique deals with increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and is essentially a modification of the classic Recovery Blocks Scheme. The second technique, named SW-based fault handling aims to detect in real-time data- and control-flow faults throughout modifications of the processor code. When compared to conventional approaches using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Hamming Code, the primary benefit of such an approach is to improve system reliability by means of a considerably low complexity, reasonably low performance degradation and, when implemented in hardware, with reduced area overhead. Aiming to illustrate the proposed approach, we implemented a HW/SW prototype to operate as a speech recognition system (SRS). This prototype was tested under a home-tailored EMI environment according to the IEC 61000-4-29 International Standard Normative. The obtained results indicate that the proposed approach can effectively improve the reliability of DSP systems operating in real noise (EMI) environments.