Analysis of Damage on the Streptococcus mutans Immersed in Ozonated Water: Preliminary Study for Application as Mouth Rinse

Ozonated water has been demonstrated to induce significant results in terms of the elimination of microorganisms. The present study assessed the damage to Streptococcus mutans after exposure to ozonated water; the ozone generator was adjusted to provide an outlet concentration of 60 mg/L, the samples were submitted to different ozonation times 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 mi. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force images were obtained to identify damage to the bacteria, followed by reactive oxygen species (ROS) evaluation and microbial viability. The results showed a significant reduction in viability and the images evidenced the generation of gaps on the microbial wall and surface layer alterations. Ozone can induce significant damage to S. mutans, thus suggesting that the use of ozonated water to prevent carious lesion formation is extremely promising.     

Interactive and collaborative technological ecosystems for improving academic motivation and engagement

Universal Access in the Information Society -     

Urban data and urban design: A data mining approach to architecture education

The configuration of urban projects using Information and Communication Technologies is an essential aspect in the education of future architects. Students must know the technologies that will facilitate their academic and professional development, as well as anticipating the needs of the citizens and the requirements of their designs. In this paper, a data mining approach was used to outline the strategic requirements for an urban design project in an architecture course using a Project-Based Learning strategy. Informal data related to an award-winning public space (Gillett Square in London, UK) was retrieved from two social networks (Flickr and Twitter), and from its official website. The analysis focused on semantic, temporal and spatial patterns, aspects generally overlooked in traditional approaches. Text-mining techniques were used to relate semantic and temporal data, focusing on seasonal and weekly (work-leisure) cycles, and the geographic patterns were extracted both from geotagged pictures and by geocoding user locations. The results showed that it is possible to obtain and extract valuable data and information in order to determine the different uses and architectural requirements of an urban space, but such data and information can be challenging to retrieve, structure, analyze and visualize. The main goal of the paper is to outline a strategy and present a visualization of the results, in a way designed to be attractive and informative for both students and professionals – even without a technical background – so the conducted analysis may be reproducible in other urban data contexts.     

Development of composite membrane PBAT: Zeolite Y for application as rhynchophorol release system

Composite membranes consisting of biodegradable poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate (PBAT) and zeolite Y (0–10 wt %) were produced by extrusion. Zeolite Y is well dispersed in the membrane up to 5 wt %, but tends to agglomerate at higher contents. The presence of zeolite Y in the composite resulted in an improvement of the thermal stability, mechanical properties, and increased the barrier properties. The interaction of the composite membranes with rhynchophorol was investigated by different techniques, showing that the semiochemical progressively lixiviates PBAT monomers, causing thermal and mechanical properties to decrease. However, no interaction seemed to occur between the rhynchophorol and the zeolite. Studies of diffusion of pheromone through membranes have shown that the addition of the zeolite Y has not contributed significantly to a decrease in the release rate of rhynchophorol, but the presence of the zeolite Y helps to increase chemical, mechanical, and thermal stabilities of the membranes. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45757.     

Morphology of laryngeal cartilage of the nine‐banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) Linnaeus, 1758

Armadillos, Xenarthras representatives, known for adaptability to different ecosystems, own specific morphophysiological characteristics that are not known and deserve to be studied. The aim of this study was to describe the morphology of cartilage of the larynx of the nine‐banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus). Five dead armadillos were donated by the Chico Mendes Institute of Biodiversity (ICMBio‐PI) to the Federal University of Piauí. The animals were fixed and dissected for removal of the larynx. The cartilages were identified and described, photodocumented, and schematized. Fragments with about 0.5 cm of each cartilage were collected and submitted to classical histology for Hematoxylin–Eosin coloring. The slides were assembled in enterlan and analyzed under a light microscope. The larynx of the armadillo (D. novemcinctus) is located in the mentonian region, ventral to the esophagus, and due to the total positioning of the tongue in the oral cavity, there is also a cranial cervical position in this species. The larynx has five cartilages, they are: a cricoid, a thyroid, an epiglottis, and two arytenoids. The corniculate process is present; however, the cuneiform process is absent. The epiglottis has a discrete bifurcation at its apex. In all cartilages epithelial variations are observed. The tissues are varied from squamoso stratified to cylindrical pseudostratified, with propria lamina rich in mucoserosas glands. With the exception of epiglottic cartilage, predominantly elastic, the rest are hyaline. The larynx of D. novemcinctus, although the same number of cartilages, differs morphologically and microscopically from the larynx of other species.     

Numerical analysis of piping elbows for in-plane bending and internal pressure

This work presents the development of two different finite piping elbow elements with two nodal tubular sections for mechanical analysis. The formulation is based on thin shell displacement theory, where the displacement is based on high-order polynomial or trigonometric functions for rigid-beam displacement, and uses Fourier series to model warping and ovalization phenomena of cross-tubular section. To model the internal pressure effect an additional formulation is used in the elementary stiffness matrix definition. Elbows attached to nozzle or straight pipes produce a stiffening effect due to the restraint of ovalization provided by the adjacent components. When submitted to any efforts, the excessive oval shape may reduce the structural resistance and can lead to structural collapse. For design tubular systems it is also important to consider the internal-pressure effect, given its effect on the reduction of the pipe flexibility. Some conclusions and examples are compared with results produced by other authors.     

Incoherent transport in NEMO5: realistic and efficient scattering on phonons

In this work, the coherent and incoherent transport simulation capabilities of the multipurpose nanodevice simulation tool NEMO5 are presented and applied on transport in tunneling field-effect transistors. The comparison with experimental resistivity data confirms the validity of NEMO5’s phonon-scattering models. Common pitfalls of numerical implementations and the applicability of common approximations of scattering self-energies are discussed. The impact of phonon-assisted tunneling on the performance of TFETs is exemplified with a concrete Si nanowire device. The communication-efficient implementation of self-energies in NEMO5 is demonstrated with a scaling comparison of self-energies solved with blocking and nonblocking MPI-communication.     

Temporal and steric analysis of ionic permeation and binding in SERCA via molecular dynamic simulations

The availability of the crystal structure of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) has allowed atomic-level molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of this membrane transport protein to be done. The biomedical and nanotechnological implications of this work are discussed as well as the methods of performing the simulations and analysis. We have performed nanosecond timescale simulations of SERCA for several of its known conformations in a lipid/water environment. One simulation contained Ca(2+) ions, while others without ions were analyzed by techniques such as steric pathway determination. We discuss details of the resulting putative cytoplasmic and lumenal pathways, along with experimental evidence from the literature to support our conclusions. Finally, we give a brief overview of future research directions, as they pertain to MD simulations and their analysis. The methodology used in this work shows that significant insight into the structure-function relationship of ion-motive transmembrane pumps can be derived by a combination of simulation tools and analysis techniques including MD trajectories, steric analysis and electrostatic potentials.