Dois testes de imageamento com GPR em problemas de controle ambiental em regiões tropicais: migração de dunas e localização de dutos de óleo enterrados

Because the penetration depth of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) signals is very limited in high conductive soils, the usefullness of this method in tropical regions is not yet completly known. The main objective of this researh is to test the usefullness of the method in Brazil. Two typical problems where GPR has been used in Europe and North American were choosed for this test: the first one is to characterize the internal structures of a sand body and the second problem is the localization of old buried pipes lines. The first test was done near the city of São Bento do Norte, in the northern coast of Rio Grande do Norte state, NE Brazil. In this region, there is a sand dune that is migrating very fast in the direction of adjacent settling areas. To characterize the internal structure of the dune and its relationship to the prevailing wind direction, as a preliminary step to understand the dune migration, GPR profiles using the 400 MHz frequency were performed in E-W, N-S, NE-SW, and SE-NW directions over the sand dune intersecting at the top of the dune. The practical resolution of the GPR data is around 30 cm; this was sufficient to distinguish individual foresets inside the dune. After applying the elevation correction to the data, we identified that dips of bedding structures are smallest for the N-S profile, which is perpendicular to the dominant wind direction, largest for the E-W profile, and intermediate for the SW-NE and SE-NW profiles. Foresets in the E-W profile dip with angles varying from 2 to 6 degrees. In the E-W profile, the water table and a horizontal truncation interface separating two generations of dunes were identified, as well as an abrupt directional change in the foreset patterns associated to a lateral contact between two dune generations, the older one extending to the west. The used high frequency of 400 Mhz does not allow a penetration deep enough to map completely these internal contacts. The second test was done near Estreito, a small town near Carnaúbais city, also in Rio Grande do Norte state. In this locality, there are several old pipe lines buried in area covered by plantations where digging should be minimized. Several GPR profiles using the 400 and 200 MHz frequency were performed trying to intercept perpendicularly the possible pipe lines. Because of the high conductivity of the soil, the raw original data can hardly be use to identify the pipe lines. However, after an adequate processing over the 200 MHz profiles, six pipe lines were identified. As a global result of the tests, GPR can be very usefull if the conductivity of the ground is low or, in the case of medium conductivities of the soils, if adequate processing is performed

Trissoralen um medicamento de baixa dosagem: estudos termoanalíticos da compatibilidade do fármaco-excipientes e determinação de parâmetros de qualidade para cápsulas magistrais

The trioxsalen (Tri) is a low-dose drug used in the treatment of psoriasis and other skin diseases. The aim of the study was applying the thermal analysis and complementary techniques for characterization, evaluation of the trioxsalen stability and components of manipulated pharmaceutical formulations. The thermal behavior of the Tri by TG/DTG-DTA in dynamic atmosphere of synthetic air and nitrogen showed the same profile with a melting peak followed by a volatilization-related event. From the curves TG / DTG is observed a single stage of mass loss. By heating the drug in the stove at temperatures of 80, 240 and 260 °C, it had no change in chemical structure through the techniques of XRD, HPLC, MIR, OM and SEM. From the non-isothermal and isothermal TG kinetic studies was possible to calculate the activation energy and reaction order for the Tri. The drug showed good thermal stability. Studies on drug-excipient compatibility showed interaction of trissoralen with sodium lauryl sulfate 1:1. There was no interaction with aerosol, pregelatinized starch, sodium starch glycolate, cellulose, croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, lactose and mannitol.The characterization of three trioxsalen formulations at concentrations of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 mg was performed by DSC, TG / DTG, XRD, NIR and MIR. The PCA classification method based on spectral data from the NIR and MIR of trissoralen formulations allows successful differentiation into three groups. The formulation 3 was the one that best showed analytical profile with the following composition of aerosil excipients, pre-gelatinized starch and cellulose. The activation energy of the volatilization process of the drug was determined in binary mixtures and formulation 3 through fitting and isoconversional methods. The binary mixture with sodium starch glycolate and lactose showed differences in kinetic parameters compared to the drug isolated. The thermoanalytical techniques (DSC and TG / DTG) were shown to be promising methodologies for quantifying trioxsalen obtained by the linearity, selectivity, no use solvents, without sample preparation, speed and practicality.

Efeito da suplementação com retinol palmitato em codornas (Coturnix coturnx japonica) nos níveis de retinol na gema dos ovos

Vitamin A deficiency is a serious public health problem in developing countries, and it causes death and blindness among children in the developing countries. The fortification of food could be an important source of vitamins to control deficiency. 60 Coturnix coturnix japonica quails were used in a randomized design with duration of seven weeks. The birds were assigned into five treatments with four repetitions. The objective was to evaluate the influence of the supplementation with different levels of retinyl palmitate (2,000 IU, 4,000 IU, 8,000IU and 16,000 IU) in quails under the levels of retinyl in egg yolks. The method used to dose retinyl in yolks of quail eggs was High Performance Liquid Chromatography and the enzymatic method to quantify the cholesterol concentration. The weight and production of eggs was significantly modified by the supplementation with retinyl in the birds. The results showed a gradual increase in the incorporation of retinyl in the egg yolk as a response to the supplementation, reaching values 384% higher than the control values. By the end of the supplementations a significant reduction in the concentrations of retinyl in the eggs yolk was observed. The most lasting supplementations were with 8,000 IU and 16,000 IU which lasted for three weeks. The cholesterol content in eggs was not significantly modified. The consumption of one egg enriched with 16000UI of retinol palmitate in the present study, by day, would probably reach 10 and 7,3% of the daily recommendations of this micronutrient for children of 1 to 3 years of age, and for 4 to 8 years, respectively. The nutritional value of eggs, related to the vitamin A, can be improved by supplementation of quails

Simulação do escoamento monofásico em um estágio de uma bomba centrífuga utilizando técnicas de fluidodinâmica computacional

Oil production and exploration techniques have evolved in the last decades in order to increase fluid flows and optimize how the required equipment are used. The base functioning of Electric Submersible Pumping (ESP) lift method is the use of an electric downhole motor to move a centrifugal pump and transport the fluids to the surface. The Electric Submersible Pumping is an option that has been gaining ground among the methods of Artificial Lift due to the ability to handle a large flow of liquid in onshore and offshore environments. The performance of a well equipped with ESP systems is intrinsically related to the centrifugal pump operation. It is the pump that has the function to turn the motor power into Head. In this present work, a computer model to analyze the three-dimensional flow in a centrifugal pump used in Electric Submersible Pumping has been developed. Through the commercial program, ANSYS® CFX®, initially using water as fluid flow, the geometry and simulation parameters have been defined in order to obtain an approximation of what occurs inside the channels of the impeller and diffuser pump in terms of flow. Three different geometry conditions were initially tested to determine which is most suitable to solving the problem. After choosing the most appropriate geometry, three mesh conditions were analyzed and the obtained values were compared to the experimental characteristic curve of Head provided by the manufacturer. The results have approached the experimental curve, the simulation time and the model convergence were satisfactory if it is considered that the studied problem involves numerical analysis. After the tests with water, oil was used in the simulations. The results were compared to a methodology used in the petroleum industry to correct viscosity. In general, for models with water and oil, the results with single-phase fluids were coherent with the experimental curves and, through three-dimensional computer models, they are a preliminary evaluation for the analysis of the two-phase flow inside the channels of centrifugal pump used in ESP systems

Taxonomia e filogenia das serpentes do gênero Typhlops Oppel, 1811 (Squamata: Typhlopidae) ocorrentes na Mata Atlântica brasileira

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Redes sociais e a lógica do desvio comportamental em relação às normas de trabalho

This paper aim to check a hypothesis that assumes several behaviors related to social work norm´s obeying as a phenomenon that can be explained by actor´s social network structure and the rational choice processes related to the social norm inside that network, principally the payoff´s analysis received by the closest actors, or neighbors, at a social situation. Taking the sociological paradigm of rational action theory as a basis, the focus is on a debate about the logic of social norms, from Émile Durkheim´s method to Jon Elster´s theory, but also including social network analysis´s variables according to Robert Hanneman; and also Vilfredo Pareto´s constants related to human sociability, at the aim to detect elements that can help the scholars to develop an agent based model which could explain the sociological problem of deviance by a better way than the common sense´s view about morality and ethics at a social work environment

O processo de construção do problema da pobreza no Brasil

This text aims to undertake an analysis of the process of building the "problem of poverty" in Brazil. From a sociological approach on discourses and interpretations of poverty present in literary intellectuals representatives of some of the classics of Brazilian social thought, as well as in scientific works produced from mid-twentieth century and in the reports of various international organizations and national, such as the IMF, World Bank, MDS, IPEA, among others

Tenho um problema: não gosto de ler! A formação do leitor literário construção compartilhada do prazer de ler

Esta tesis de maestría es el resultado de una investigación de carácter cualitativo y etnometodológico, realizada entre agosto de 2003 y junio de 2004, en una escuela primaria estatal, ubicada en Natal RN (Brasil). Su objetivo fue investigar la recepción de la lectura de literatura por parte de una maestra a la que, según reveló, no le gustaba leer y no se consideraba lectora de literatura. Se buscó investigar la mediación que le posibilitara llegar a ser lectora, comprender cuáles son los aspectos que influyen en la relación entre el lector en formación y la lectura de literatura, y verificar cómo repercute ese proceso de formación en la práctica docente de la maestra estudiada. Los procedimientos de investigación fueron aplicados con flexibilidad, tomando en cuenta el proceso de formación lectora de la docente. Los principales instrumentos utilizados fueron dos entrevistas semi-estructuradas, realizadas con la maestra, y notas de campo, que adquirieron el formato de un diario de investigación. En la primera etapa, fueron realizadas treinta sesiones de lectura, para posibilitar el acercamiento de la maestra a diferentes textos literarios. En la segunda etapa, fueron realizados tres encuentros de planificación con la maestra y cinco clases de lectura con sus alumnos. El análisis focaliza la recepción de la lectura literaria por parte de la maestra, abordando diferentes aspectos: su historia en relación con la lectura; la identificación, el contrato ficcional y la relación texto-vida; las previsiones y sus verificaciones; la mediación y el andamiaje brindados para introducir a la maestra en la cultura de la lectura. Se focaliza también la relación entre sus roles de lectora y de mediadora de lectores. Los fundamentos teóricos se basan, principalmente, en Coulon (1995a, 1995b), Vigotsky (1989, 1991, 2003), Graves y Graves (1995), Smith (1991), Jauss (2002), Iser (1996, 1999) y Amarilha (1996, 2001). Como resultados de este trabajo, se destacan el interés de la maestra, la manera en que ella se involucró con las historias leídas mediante procesos de identificación con algunos personajes y la relación que estableció entre los textos y su historia; esos procesos indican avances significativos en su vínculo con la lectura de literatura. La mediación ocupó un papel central en la consecución de aquellos avances. Vale destacar que la relación texto-vida fue establecida por la maestra con cierta ingenuidad, lo que le impidió vivenciar lo ficcional como una actividad lúdica. Se considera necesario un contacto más intenso y regular con textos de ficción, para que la docente pueda distanciarse de su vida cotidiana y adquirir la autonomía y la conciencia transformadora que le permitirán ir y volver de la realidad a la ficción, enriqueciéndose, sin confundirlas. Ese contacto no depende sólo de una actitud individual y personal de la maestra, sino del contexto institucional y social en el cual está inmersa. En ese sentido, la segunda etapa del trabajo de campo demostró que el pasaje de la formación lectora inicial a una acción pedagógica adecuada es complejo; los procesos no son lineales y, todavía, queda un largo camino por recorrer

Violência ocupacional contra profissionais de saúde em um hospital de urgência. natal/rn, 2009

Descriptive exploratory study, with quantitative approach, with data collected from April to May 2009, aiming to identify the types of occupational violence affecting professionals on the nursing and medical staff in an emergency hospital service in Natal/RN, over the last 12 months; to identify emergency sectors where occupational violence episodes took place; to characterize aggressors on each type of occupational violence; to know the procedures adopted after each violent act targeting nursing and medical staff professionals; and to know the consequences of violence suffered by the nursing and medical staff professionals. The sample consisted of 26 nurses, 95 nursing assistants/technicians and 124 physicians, for a total of 245 professionals. The results showed that 50.61% of the professionals were women, aged 41 to 45 (22.45%), with post-graduate studies (51.43%), married (60.82%); 21.22% had 16 to 20 years of experience in the profession and in emergency practice; working 40 weekly hours (86.12%); and working both the day shift and the night shift (70.21%); 27.35% consider violence to be a part of their profession and the patient s companions as an important risk factor (86.53%); couldn t inform whether there was a specific established procedure for reporting occupational violence (45.71%); 73.06% suffered occupational violence in the 12 months; 70.20% verbal assault, 24.08% moral harassment, 6.12% physical assault, and 3.67% sexual harassment; 66.67% of the patients took part in the physical assault; the companions, in verbal assault (58.14%); and the health staff in moral harassment (69.49%); facing episodes violence, 37.65% of the professionals reported the fact to their co-workers; 57.25% uffered from stress as a consequence; on 4.71% of the episodes the professionals had to be bsent from work, resulting in 75 days of occupational violence-related absence. We conclude here was a high rate of occupational violence in the researched population, with verbal ssault and moral harassment as the most frequent violence types. Because factors related to ccupational violence were very diverse, actions seeking to confront this problem shouldn t be limited to the work environment itself. Education ought to be one of the most effective ctions for avoiding or minimizing these events occurrence

Enfermagem na atenção primária em saúde no screening de adolescentes com excesso de peso

One of the Primary Health Care strategies for adolescent health is the growth and development follow-up and the early detection of overweight adolescents. Even though the School Health Program in Brazil proposes to evaluate the nutritional state of the school population in the corresponding community health units, not all cities have adhered to the Program and many nurses do not recognize overweight as a problem in their territory. The objective of the study was to identify the nurse´s participation in the screening of overweight adolescent students in their work territory. Cross sectional study conducted in eight state supported schools of the municipality of Natal/RN and in four Primary Health Units. The total student population was 27.277. A stratified sample was statistically calculated based on the student population of the four city geographical zones: 112 North , 74 West; 108 East; and 78 South, totalizing 372 adolescents. The students were selected by a probability process where eight schools were first selected, two per district, until the number per subsample in each district was reached. Four primary health nurses, responsible for the health units were included. Two instruments were used for data collection, a screening questionnaire and a semi-structured interview form for questioning of the nurses. The content of both instruments was validated. Anthropometric and health data were collected from the students and analyzed with descriptive and analytical statistics. Interview data were transcribed and submitted to content analysis. The nursing diagnosis of overweight was identified in 50 (13,5%) of the adolescents and its association with consumption of foods that have cardiovascular risk (canned foods, pasta and fried food). An association of the nursing diagnosis was identified with family history (diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and kidney disease). The nurses judged that care of overweight adolescents was important but noted difficulties because of the absence of this population in the health units, because of their work overload, and the lack of school articulation. The nurses do not have impacting actions with this population and delegate the responsibility to other professionals. It is concluded that overweight is a nutritional problem relevant to the adolescent school population in Natal/RN, with a 13,5% prevalence and that it is related to food consumption with cardiovascular risk and family health history. The nurses consider overweight as an important public health problem but do not envision ways to maintain linkage with adolescents and with the school to promote the needed care

Busca heurística através de algoritmo genético e memético com construção de vocábulos para o problema de atribuição de localidades a anéis Sonet

Telecommunications play a key role in contemporary society. However, as new technologies are put into the market, it also grows the demanding for new products and services that depend on the offered infrastructure, making the problems of planning telecommunications networks, despite the advances in technology, increasingly larger and complex. However, many of these problems can be formulated as models of combinatorial optimization, and the use of heuristic algorithms can help solving these issues in the planning phase. In this project it was developed two pure metaheuristic implementations Genetic algorithm (GA) and Memetic Algorithm (MA) plus a third hybrid implementation Memetic Algorithm with Vocabulary Building (MA+VB) for a problem in telecommunications that is known in the literature as Problem SONET Ring Assignment Problem or SRAP. The SRAP arises during the planning stage of the physical network and it consists in the selection of connections between a number of locations (customers) in order to meet a series of restrictions on the lowest possible cost. This problem is NP-hard, so efficient exact algorithms (in polynomial complexity ) are not known and may, indeed, even exist

Heurísticas usando construção de vocabuilário aplicadas ao problema da atribuição de localidades a anéis em redes SONET/SDH

The SONET/SDH Ring Assignment Problem (PALAS) treats to group localities in form of some rings, being respected the traffic's limitations of the equipment. Each ring uses a DXC (Digital Cross Connect) to make the communication with the others, being the DXC the equipment most expensive of the net, minimizing the number total of rings, will minimize the total net cost, problem's objective . This topology in rings provides a bigger capacity of regeneration. The PALAS is a problem in Combinatorial Optimization of NP-hard Class. It can be solved through Heuristics and Metaheuristics. In this text, we use Taboo Search while we keep a set of elite solutions to be used in the formation of a part of the collection of vocabulary's parts that in turn will be used in the Vocabulary Building. The Vocabulary Building will be started case Taboo Search does not reach the best solution for the instance. Three approaches had been implemented: one that only uses vocabulary's parts deriving of Taboo Search, one that it only uses vocabulary's parts randomly generated and a last one that it uses half come of the elite and half randomly generated

Estratégias de aplicações sequenciais e paralelas da metaheurística otimização por enxame de partículas ao problema do caixeiro viajante

Particle Swarm Optimization is a metaheuristic that arose in order to simulate the behavior of a number of birds in flight, with its random movement locally, but globally determined. This technique has been widely used to address non-liner continuous problems and yet little explored in discrete problems. This paper presents the operation of this metaheuristic, and propose strategies for implementation of optimization discret problems as form of execution parallel as sequential. The computational experiments were performed to instances of the TSP, selected in the library TSPLIB contenct to 3038 nodes, showing the improvement of performance of parallel methods for their sequential versions, in executation time and results

Algoritmo evolutivo paralelo para o problema de atribuição de localidades a anéis em redes sonet/sdh

The telecommunications play a fundamental role in the contemporary society, having as one of its main roles to give people the possibility to connect them and integrate them into society in which they operate and, therewith, accelerate development through knowledge. But as new technologies are introduced on the market, increases the demand for new products and services that depend on the infrastructure offered, making the problems of planning of telecommunication networks become increasingly large and complex. Many of these problems, however, can be formulated as combinatorial optimization models, and the use of heuristic algorithms can help solve these issues in the planning phase. This paper proposes the development of a Parallel Evolutionary Algorithm to be applied to telecommunications problem known in the literature as SONET Ring Assignment Problem SRAP. This problem is the class NP-hard and arises during the physical planning of a telecommunication network and consists of determining the connections between locations (customers), satisfying a series of constrains of the lowest possible cost. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the Evolutionary Algorithm parallel, over other methods, to obtain solutions that are either optimal or very close to it

Gestão ambiental: um estudo sobre a percepção do problema da desertificação no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte

The objective of this study was to investigate the environmental perception of: People with common-sense knowledge on the desertification process in RN. People with scientific knowledge on the desertification process in RN. Focal points in the combat at desertification of the RN and public ministery representant with actions in interinstitutional articulations promoter (and/or relative actions) at the desertification process in the RN. The research was carried in the city of Natal-RN and in two small cities of the Seridó region (RN): Caicó and Currais Novos. The research carried, is classified as exploratory and 22 people were interviewed. The research includes: The propension/intensity of the desertification in the RN and in the Seridó region; Evaluation of the knowledge of those interviewed, concerning the subject desertification ; Problems in order to combat desertification; Causes of desertification; The profile of the interviewed. The results of this present study indicate that the a desertification process is more agressive in the Seridó region than in the state of RN, being the two following: the absence of preocupation of the affected population with the process and the escarcity of governamental recurses, indicates how problems greather in the combat to the phenomen. Decreasing of produtivity in the agriculture and increasing of the migration to the urbans centers have been the main consequences of the process, that have at water scarcity, deforestation and extraction of argil (being this, regional factor), relevant variables in the influence to the surgiment of the desertification process of the RN