Supply chain management must adopt different and more innovative strategies that support a better response to customer needs in an uncertain environment. Supply chains must be more agile and be more capable of coping with disturbances, meaning that supply chains must be more resilient. The simultaneous deployment of agile and resilient approaches will enhance supply chain performance and competitiveness. Accordingly, the main objective of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for the analysis of relationships between agile and resilient approaches, supply chain competitiveness and performance. Operational and economic performance measures are proposed to facilitate the monitoring of the influence of these practices on supply chain performance. The influence of the proposed agile and resilient practices on supply chain competitiveness is also examined in terms of time to market, product quality and customer service.

This work reports the production of ceramic targets based on nanostructured Al-doped ZnO (AZO) powders for sputtering applications. The nanostructured powder is obtained by a new patented process based on the detonation of an emulsion containing both Zn and Al metal precursors in the final proportion of 98:2wt% (ZnO:Al 2O 3), through which the Al contains is highly uniform distributed over ZnO. Due to the nanostructured powder characteristics, the targets can be sintered at substantially lower temperatures (1150-1250°C) by conventional sintering, contributing to production costs reduction of ceramic targets and consequently the costs of photovoltaic and displays industries. Electrical resistivity values around 3.0-7.0×10 -3Ωcm have been obtained depending on final microstructure of the targets. The electro-optical properties of the films produced at room temperature with thicknesses around 360nm, besides being highly uniform exhibit a resistivity of about 1×10 -3Ωcm and a transmittance in the visible range above 90%. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

A 32/128 linear array of 1-D amorphous silicon position sensitive detectors (PSD) was integrated into a self constructed suitable and portable data acquisition prototype system. The system is comprised by a commercially available existing electronics module suitable for photodiode data acquisition operations and by another adapter module, which allows for removal and replacement of the 32/128 PSD based sensor. This system is applied for imaging 3-D objects using the triangulation principle with a sheet-of-light laser. The sensor array response obtained from the reflected light of the object was fed into an electronic readout system and the corresponding signals were analyzed using the relevant data algorithm. The obtained results show a sensor nonlinearity of about 4%-7%, a wide sensor/system dynamic range and a 3-D profile spatial resolution supplied by each sensor strip of 339 μm, which can easily be reduced to 8.5 μm and even further with appropriate software modifications. © 2011 IEEE.

Cancer is one of the main causes of death in the world and its incidence increases every day. Current treatments are insufficient and present many breaches. Hyperthermia is an old concept and since early it was established as a cancer treatment option, mainly in superficial cancers. More recently the concept of intracellular hyperthermia emerged wherein magnetic particles are concentrated at the tumor site and remotely heated using an applied magnetic field to achieve hyperthermic temperatures (42-45 degrees C). Many patents have been registered in this area since the year 2000. This review presents the most relevant information, organizing them according to the hyperthermic method used: 1) external RadioFrequency devices; 2) hyperthermic perfusion; 3) frequency enhancers; 4) apply heating to the target site using a catheter; 5) injection of magnetic and ferroelectric particles; 6) injection of magnetic nanoparticles that may carry a pharmacological active drug. The use of magnetic nanoparticles is a very promising treatment approach since it may be used for diagnostic and treatment. An ideal magnetic nanoparticle would be able to detect and diagnose the tumor, carry a pharmacological active drug to be delivered in the tumor site, apply hyperthermia through an external magnetic field and allow treatment monitoring by magnetic resonance imaging.

Analysis of sequenced bacterial genomes revealed that the genomes encode more than 30% hypothetical and conserved hypothetical proteins of unknown function. Among proteins of unknown function that are conserved in anaerobes, some might be determinants of the anaerobic way of life. This study focuses on two divergent clusters specifically found in anaerobic microorganisms and mainly composed of genes encoding conserved hypothetical proteins. We show that the two gene clusters DVU2103-DVU2104-DVU2105 (orp2) and DVU2107-DVU2108-DVU2109 (orp1) form two divergent operons transcribed by the sigma(54)-RNA polymerase. We further demonstrate that the sigma(54)-dependent transcriptional regulator DVU2106, located between orp1 and orp2, collaborates with sigma(54)-RNA polymerase to orchestrate the simultaneous expression of the divergent orp operons. DVU2106, whose structural gene is transcribed by the sigma(70)-RNA polymerase, negatively retrocontrols its own expression. By using an endogenous pulldown strategy, we identify a physiological complex composed of DVU2103, DVU2104, DVU2105, DVU2108, and DVU2109. Interestingly, inactivation of DVU2106, which is required for orp operon transcription, induces morphological defects that are likely linked to the absence of the ORP complex. A putative role of the ORP proteins in positioning the septum during cell division is discussed.

A forelimb of a new sauropod dinosaur (Angolatitan adamastor n. gen. et sp.) from the Late Turonian of Iembe (Bengo Province) represents the first dinosaur discovery in Angola, and is one of the few occurrences of sauropod dinosaurs in sub-Saharan Africa collected with good chronological controls. The marginal marine sediments yielding the specimen are reported to be late Turonian in age and, thus it represents a non-titanosaurian sauropod in sub-Saharan Africa at a time taken to be dominated by titanosaurian forms. Moreover, Angolatitan adamastor is the only basal Somphospondyli known in the Late Cretaceous which implies in the existence of relict forms in Africa.

In this work it is demonstrated that the characterization of c-type haem containing proteins by electrochemical techniques needs to be cautiously performed when using pyrolytic graphite electrodes. An altered form of the cytochromes, which has a redox potential 300 mV lower than that of the native state and displays peroxidatic activity, can be induced by interaction with the pyrolytic graphite electrode. Proper control experiments need to be performed, as altered conformations of the enzymes containing c-type haems can show activity towards the enzyme substrate. The work was focused on the study of the activation mechanism and catalytic activity of cytochrome c peroxidase from Paracoccus pantotrophus. The results could only be interpreted with the assignment of the observed non-turnover and catalytic signals to a non-native conformation state of the electron-transferring haem. The same phenomenon was detected for Met-His monohaem cytochromes (mitochondrial cytochrome c and Desulfovibrio vulgaris cytochrome c-553), as well as for the bis-His multihaem cytochrome c(3) from Desulfovibrio gigas, showing that this effect is independent of the axial coordination of the c-type haem protein. Thus, the interpretation of electrochemical signals of c-type (multi)haem proteins at pyrolytic graphite electrodes must be carefully performed, to avoid misassignment of the signals and incorrect interpretation of catalytic intermediates.

The activation mechanism of Pseudomonas stutzeri cytochrome c peroxidase (CCP) was probed through the mediated electrochemical catalysis by its physiological electron donor, P. stutzeri cytochrome c-551. A comparative study was carried out, by performing assays with the enzyme in the resting oxidized state as well as in the mixed-valence activated form, using cyclic voltammetry and a pyrolytic graphite membrane electrode. In the presence of both the enzyme and hydrogen peroxide, the peak-like signal of cytochrome c-551 is converted into a sigmoidal wave form characteristic of an E(r)C'(i) catalytic mechanism. An intermolecular electron transfer rate constant of (4 +/- 1) x 10(5) M(-1) s(-1) was estimated for both forms of the enzyme, as well as a similar Michaelis-Menten constant. These results show that neither the intermolecular electron transfer nor the catalytic activity is kinetically controlled by the activation mechanism of CCP in the case of the P. stutzeri enzyme. Direct enzyme catalysis using protein film voltammetry was unsuccessful for the analysis of the activation mechanism, since P. stutzeri CCP undergoes an undesirable interaction with the pyrolytic graphite surface. This interaction, previously reported for the Paracoccus pantotrophus CCP, induces the formation of a non-native conformation state of the electron-transferring haem, which has a redox potential 200 mV lower than that of the native state and maintains peroxidatic activity.

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Actualmente o mercado residencial de computadores inclui não só multiprocessadores com diversos núcleos (CPUs) como também placas gráficas (GPUs) cuja capacidade de processamento tem evoluído a um ritmo exponencial. Este poder computacional pode ser utilizado para outros fins para além do processamento gráfico, tal como o processamento de algoritmos comuns em computação científica. Neste artigo é apresentada, discutida e avaliada a framework Cheetah, uma framework que distribui programas computacionalmente exigentes sobre uma rede de CPUs e GPUs. Um programador que utilize a Cheetah apenas necessita de especificar o seu programa como um conjunto de kernels OpenCL, relegando para a framework a distribuição destes pelas unidades de processamento disponíveis. O programa pode assim escalar à medida que são adicionados novos recursos computacionais, sem quaisquer esforços adicionais de adaptação ou recompilação. Os testes realizados demonstraram a capacidade de a framework providenciar aceleracçõs até duas ordens de grandeza com um esforço de desenvolvimento reduzido, mesmo quando na presença de recursos computacionais limitados.

The supply chains (SCs) have to appeal to new management paradigms to improve their ability to respond rapidly and cost effectively to unpredictable changes in markets and increasing levels of environmental turbulence, both in terms of volume and variety. In this highly demanded context, the Agile paradigm provides the capabilities to SC quickly adapt to changes in the market requirements. The purpose of this paper is to suggest an Agile Index to assess the agility of the automotive companies and corresponding SCs.The proposed integrated assessment model incorporates Agile practices weighted according to their importance to the automotive SC competitiveness and obtained from the Delphi technique.