Prediction of Soil Properties from the Concepts of Energy Transfer in Dynamic Penetration Tests

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Quantitation of malondialdehyde in gingival crevicular fluid by a high-performance liquid chromatography-based method

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Highly Sensitive Neurotransmitters Analysis at Platinum-Ultramicroelectrodes Arrays

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A mass-transportation approach to a one dimensional fluid mechanics model with nonlocal velocity

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Agarose gel electrophoresis of cerebrospinal fluid proteins of dogs after sample concentration using a membrane microconcentrator technique

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced in the cerebral ventricles through ultrafiltration of plasma and active transport mechanisms. Evaluation of proteins in CSF may provide important information about the production of immunoglobulins within the central nervous system as well as possible disturbances in the blood-brain barrier. Objective: the objective of this study was to measure the concentration and fractions of protein in CSF samples using a membrane microconcentrator technique followed by electrophoresis, and to compare the protein fractions obtained with those in serum. Methods: CSF samples from 3 healthy dogs and 3 dogs with canine distemper virus infection were concentrated using a membrane microconcentrator having a 0.5 to 30,000 d nominal molecular weight limit (Ultrafree, Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA). Protein concentration was determined before and after concentration. Agarose gel electrophoresis was done on concentrated CSF samples, serum, and serial dilutions of one of the CSF samples. Results: Electrophoretic bands were clearly identified in densitometer tracings in CSF samples with protein concentrations as low as 1.3 g/dL. The higher CSF protein concentration in dogs with distemper was mainly the result of increased albumin concentration. Conclusion: the microconcentrating method used in this study enables characterization of the main protein fractions in CSF by routine electrophoresis and may be useful for interpreting the underlying cause of changes in CSF protein concentrations

Rheology and fluid dynamics properties of sugarcane juice

The sugarcane juice is a relatively low-cost agricultural resource, abundant in South Asia, Central America and Brazil, with vast applications in producing ethanol biofuel. In that way, a good knowledge of the rheological properties of this raw material is of crucial importance when designing and optimizing unit operations involved in its processing. In this work, the rheological behavior of untreated (USCJ, 17.9 °Brix), clarified (CSCJ, 18.2 °Brix) and mixed (MSCJ, 18.0 °Brix) sugarcane juices was studied at the temperature range from 277K to 373K, using a cone-and-plate viscometer. These fluids were found to present a Newtonian behavior and their flow curves were well-fitted by the viscosity Newtonian model. Viscosity values lied within the range 5.0×10 -3Pas to 0.04×10 -3Pas in the considered temperature interval. The dependence of the viscosity on the temperature was also successfully modeled through an Arrhenius-type equation. In addition to the dynamic viscosity, experimental values of pressure loss in tube flow were used to calculate friction factors. The good agreement between predicted and measured values confirmed the reliability of the proposed equations for describing the flow behavior of the clarified and untreated sugarcane juices. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

Yield and phytochemical characterization of essential oil from Ocimum selloi B. obtained by hydrodistillation and supercritical fluid extraction

The yield and chemical composition of essential oils from leaves of Ocimum selloi B. submitted to organic and mineral fertilization, obtained by hydrodistillation and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) were compared. Essential oil was extracted in a Clevenger-type apparatus for 2 h 30 min and analyzed by GC-MS (Shimadzu, QP 5050-DB-5 capillary column - 30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 μm). Carrier gas was helium (1.7 ml/min); split ratio: 1:30. Temperature program: 50°C, rising to 180°C at 5°C/min, 180°C, rising to 280°C at 10°C/min. Injector temperature: 240°C and detector temperature: 230°C. Identifications of chemical compounds were made by matching their mass spectra and Kovat's indices (IK) values with known compounds reported in the literature. An Applied Separations-apparatus (Speed SFE, model 7071, Allentown, PA, EUA) was used for SFE extractions. They were conducted at pressure 200 bar and temperature 30°C (20 min in static mode and 40 min in dynamic mode). The supercritical CO2 flow rate was (6.8±0.7)×10-5 kg-CO2/s. The essential oil collected was immersed in ethylene glycol bath (5°C). The yield of essential oils obtained by SFE was larger than hydrodistillation in both fertilization treatments (279 and 333% for organic and mineral fertilizations, respectively). There were no differences between the fertilization treatments. The amount of the volatile components showed by GC-MS chromatogram was highest in the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation than SFE. The main volatile constituents of the essential oils were trans-anethole (Hydrodistillation: organic - 52.4%; mineral - 55.0%/ SFE: Hydrodistillation - 62.8%; mineral - 66.8%) and methyl-chavicol (Hydrodistillation: organic - 37.3%; mineral - 38.3%/ SFE: organic - 8.4%; mineral - 4.3%). A reduction of methyl-chavicol relative proportion of essential oil obtained by SFE was observed. Cys-anethole, α-copaene, trans-cariofilene, germacrene-D, β-selinene, biciclogermacrene and spathulenol were expressed only in hydrodistillation. The extraction of essential oil by SFE presented larger yield of essential oil than hydrodistillation technique, presenting, however, these essential oils, different phytochemical profiles.

Absolute continuity and existence of solutions to dynamic inclusions in time scales

We provide some properties for absolutely continuous functions in time scales. Then we consider a class of dynamical inclusions in time scales and extend to this class a convergence result of a sequence of almost inclusion trajectories to a limit which is actually a trajectory of the inclusion in question. We also introduce the so called Euler solution to dynamical systems in time scales and prove its existence. A combination of the existence of Euler solutions with the compactness type result described above ensures the existence of an actual trajectory for the dynamical inclusion when the setvalued vector field is nonempty, compact, convex and has closed graph. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

A novel straightforward compromising method for dynamic economic and emission dispatch considering valve-point effect

This paper proposes a straightforward compromising method to determine the output power of all committed units during the scheduling time horizon. Unlike the conventional methods that work based on a constant pollution control cost (CPCC), this method works based on the system topology such as demand, minimum cost and minimum output emission of the system. In order to have a meaningful compromise between costs and emission in economic and emission dispatch (EED) problem, a flexible pollution control cost (FPCC) is proposed. Also a dynamic economic emission dispatch (DEED) approach is considered where the ramping constraints couple the scheduling hours; the inclusion of valve-point effect makes the DEED modeling more practical. The validity and effectiveness of the unproblematic FPCC approach is verified through an IEEE 30-bus test system with 6 unit for the 6-hour scheduling horizon. © 2013 IEEE.

Dynamics of the interaction between body fluid and Ti cp: the influence of surface functionalization in the first stages of osseointegration

INTRODUCTION: Regenerative therapies using biomaterials require accurate information on interactions between the implanted material and the human body. To improve the process of bone regeneration it is necessary to obtain a better understanding of the influence of the surfaces on the early stages of osseointegration. This work aims to investigate the dynamic interaction between simulated body fluid (SBF) and titanium surfaces (Ti cp) immediately after their first contact. METHODS: Ti cp samples were passed through physicochemical treatments after immersion in acid solution, alkaline solution and solutions containing TiO2 and Ca2+, to obtain three different surfaces. These were characterized by electron microscopy and free energy estimates. The evaluation of the interaction with SBF was performed by measuring the dynamic contact angles after contacting the surfaces. RESULTS: The effects of SBF wettability were more significant on surfaces according to high energy estimates. A comparative analysis of the three types of surfaces showed that fluid spreading was greater in samples with greater polar components, indicating that the surface nature influences interactions in the early stages of osseointegration. CONCLUSION: The results indicate the influence of polar interactions in the dynamic wettability of the SBF. It is possible that these interactions can also influence cellular viability on surfaces. Based on these results, new experiments are being designed to improve the presented methodology as a tool for the evaluation of biomaterials without the need for in vivo experiments.

Highly Sensitive Neurotransmitters Analysis at Platinum-Ultramicroelectrodes Arrays

An easy way to determine norepinephrine (NE) in biological fluid using a platinum ultramicroelectrode array (Pt-UMEAs) is described. Issues related to UME electrode surface treatment and characterizations are also addressed. At optimized experimental conditions the dynamic concentration range was 1.0 to 10.0 mu mol?L-1 with a detection limit of 40.5 nmol?L-1. The repeatability of current responses for injections of 5 mu mol?L-1 NE was evaluated to be 4.0?% (n=10). This approach obtained excellent sensitivity, a reliable calibration profile and stable electrochemical response for norepinephrine detection. The content of NE in urine samples without any preconcentration, purification, or pretreatment step, was successfully analyzed by the standard addition method using the Pt-UMEAs.

Quantitation of malondialdehyde in gingival crevicular fluid by a high-performance liquid chromatography-based method

Lipid peroxidation (LPO) has been associated with periodontal disease, and the evaluation of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF), an inflammatory exudate from the surrounding tissue of the periodontium, may be useful to clarify the role of LPO in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. We describe the validation of a method to measure MDA in the GCF using high-performance liquid chromatography. MDA calibration curves were prepared with phosphate-buffered solution spiked with increasing known concentrations of MDA. Healthy and diseased GCF samples were collected from the same patient to avoid interindividual variability. MDA response was linear in the range measured, and excellent agreement was observed between added and detected concentrations of MDA. Samples' intra- and interday coefficients of variation were below 6.3% and 12.4%, respectively. The limit of quantitation (signal/noise = 5) was 0.03 mu M. When the validated method was applied to the GCF, excellent agreement was observed in the MDA quantitation from healthy and diseased sites, and diseased sites presented more MDA than healthy sites (P < 0.05). In this study, a validated method for MDA quantitation in GCF was established with satisfactory sensitivity, precision, and accuracy. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Delay nonlinear boundary conditions as limit of reactions concentrating in the boundary

In this work, we are interested in the dynamic behavior of a parabolic problem with nonlinear boundary conditions and delay in the boundary. We construct a reaction-diffusion problem with delay in the interior, where the reaction term is concentrated in a neighborhood of the boundary and this neighborhood shrinks to boundary, as a parameter epsilon goes to zero. We analyze the limit of the solutions of this concentrated problem and prove that these solutions converge in certain continuous function spaces to the unique solution of the parabolic problem with delay in the boundary. This convergence result allows us to approximate the solution of equations with delay acting on the boundary by solutions of equations with delay acting in the interior and it may contribute to analyze the dynamic behavior of delay equations when the delay is at the boundary. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Detection of gait perturbations based on proprioceptive information. Application to Limit Cycle Walkers

Walking on irregular surfaces and in the presence of unexpected events is a challenging problem for bipedal machines. Up to date, their ability to cope with gait disturbances is far less successful than humans': Neither trajectory controlled robots, nor dynamic walking machines (Limit CycleWalkers) are able to handle them satisfactorily. On the contrary, humans reject gait perturbations naturally and efficiently relying on their sensory organs that, if needed, elicit a recovery action. A similar approach may be envisioned for bipedal robots and exoskeletons: An algorithm continuously observes the state of the walker and, if an unexpected event happens, triggers an adequate reaction. This paper presents a monitoring algorithm that provides immediate detection of any type of perturbation based solely on a phase representation of the normal walking of the robot. The proposed method was evaluated in a Limit Cycle Walker prototype that suffered push and trip perturbations at different moments of the gait cycle, providing 100% successful detections for the current experimental apparatus and adequately tuned parameters, with no false positives when the robot is walking unperturbed.

Magnetic hyperthermia investigation of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles: Comparison between experiment, linear response theory, and dynamic hysteresis simulations

Considerable effort has been made in recent years to optimize materials properties for magnetic hyperthermia applications. However, due to the complexity of the problem, several aspects pertaining to the combined influence of the different parameters involved still remain unclear. In this paper, we discuss in detail the role of the magnetic anisotropy on the specific absorption rate of cobalt-ferrite nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 3 to 14 nm. The structural characterization was carried out using x-ray diffraction and Rietveld analysis and all relevant magnetic parameters were extracted from vibrating sample magnetometry. Hyperthermia investigations were performed at 500 kHz with a sinusoidal magnetic field amplitude of up to 68 Oe. The specific absorption rate was investigated as a function of the coercive field, saturation magnetization, particle size, and magnetic anisotropy. The experimental results were also compared with theoretical predictions from the linear response theory and dynamic hysteresis simulations, where exceptional agreement was found in both cases. Our results show that the specific absorption rate has a narrow and pronounced maxima for intermediate anisotropy values. This not only highlights the importance of this parameter but also shows that in order to obtain optimum efficiency in hyperthermia applications, it is necessary to carefully tailor the materials properties during the synthesis process. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729271]