Crown and crown-root fractures: an evaluation of the treatment plans for management proposed by 154 specialists in restorative dentistry

Traumatic tooth injuries involve function and aesthetics and cause damage that range from minimal enamel loss to complex fractures involving the pulp tissue and even loss of the tooth crown. Technical knowledge and clinical experience are essential to establish an accurate diagnosis and provide a rational treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of Restorative Dentistry specialists about the management of crown and crown-root fractures based on treatment plans proposed by these professionals for these cases. A descriptive questionnaire was mailed to 245 Restorative Dentistry specialists with questions referring to their professional profile and the treatment plans they would propose for the management of crown and crow-root fractures resulting from dental trauma. One hundred and fifty-four questionnaires were returned properly filled. The data were subjected to descriptive statistics and the chi-square test was used to determine the frequency and the level of the significance among the variables. The analysis of data showed that in spite of having a specialist title, all interviewees had great difficulty in planning the treatments. As much as 42.8% of the participants were unable to treat all types of dental trauma. Complicated and uncomplicated crown-root fractures posed the greatest difficulties for the dentists to establish adequate treatment plans because these fractures require multidisciplinary knowledge and approach for a correct case planning and prognosis.

Perfil espacial e temporal de poluentes nas águas da represa municipal de São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brasil

In this manuscript, seasonal and spatial trends of water collected from two sampling places in the Preto River in the Turvo-Grande watershed were evaluated. Water samples were collected during June/07 to July/08 and parameters sulphate, total organic carbon, ammonia, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, dissolved total solids and nitrate were quantified. Seasonal trend indicated sanitary effluents as a point source of contamination in both sampling points. Vertical trends demonstrated that the Municipal Dam was not stratified and received a diffuse source of pollutants from flooding and agriculture runoffs. It was also verified that there is relatively fast ammonia consumption kinetics having a half-life time of 1.43 h which can explain the low ammonia concentrations found in these aquatic bodies.

Multi-criteria spatial decision analysis for demarcation of greenway: A case study of the city of Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

Concern regarding hydrological resources has been a theme of growing importance in Brazil, associating the development of new management policies and maintenance of natural areas related to rivers. An efficient way to maintain natural areas around rivers has been the development of greenways, and some cites have already adopted specific legislation in this respect. Following this growing evolution in the treatment of hydrological resources, this study was carried out to demarcate a greenway along the Corumbatai River in the state of São Paulo, Using multi-criteria analysis in a GIS environment. First, thematic maps were elaborated based on Landsat 7 satellite, aerial photographs and digital topographic base, Supported by field activities. With the use of multi-criteria analysis, for which ad hoe consultations were conducted to attribute weights to the thematic maps, a suitability map was elaborated for the allocation of the greenway. Sites that should be included in the greenway were also selected, such as areas appropriate for leisure activities, and ecologically important areas. Based on the suitability map, a pathway analysis was done, connecting the relevant points of interest, thus generating a greenway that runs along the Corumbatai River, with the aim of contributing to the conservation of this important hydrological resource. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial evaluation of larvae of Culicidae (Diptera) from different breeding sites: application of a geospatial method and implications for vector control

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Spatial electric load forecasting using an evolutionary heuristic

A method for spatial electric load forecasting using elements from evolutionary algorithms is presented. The method uses concepts from knowledge extraction algorithms and linguistic rules' representation to characterize the preferences for land use into a spatial database. The future land use preferences in undeveloped zones in the electrical utility service area are determined using an evolutionary heuristic, which considers a stochastic behavior by crossing over similar rules. The method considers development of new zones and also redevelopment of existing ones. The results are presented in future preference maps. The tests in a real system from a midsized city show a high rate of success when results are compared with information gathered from the utility planning department. The most important features of this method are the need for few data and the simplicity of the algorithm, allowing for future scalability.

Spatial pattern detection modeling of thrips (Thrips tabaci) on onion fields

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Specialised branch-and-bound algorithm for transmission network expansion planning

An algorithm is presented that finds the optimal plan long-term transmission for till cases studied, including relatively large and complex networks. The knowledge of optimal plans is becoming more important in the emerging competitive environment, to which the correct economic signals have to be sent to all participants. The paper presents a new specialised branch-and-bound algorithm for transmission network expansion planning. Optimality is obtained at a cost, however: that is the use of a transportation model for representing the transmission network, in this model only the Kirchhoff current law is taken into account (the second law being relaxed). The expansion problem then becomes an integer linear program (ILP) which is solved by the proposed branch-and-bound method without any further approximations. To control combinatorial explosion the branch- and bound algorithm is specialised using specific knowledge about the problem for both the selection of candidate problems and the selection of the next variable to be used for branching. Special constraints are also used to reduce the gap between the optimal integer solution (ILP program) and the solution obtained by relaxing the integrality constraints (LP program). Tests have been performed with small, medium and large networks available in the literature.

Transmission network expansion planning considering uncertainty in demand

This paper presents two mathematical models and one methodology to solve a transmission network expansion planning problem considering uncertainty in demand. The first model analyzed the uncertainty in the system as a whole; then, this model considers the uncertainty in the total demand of the power system. The second one analyzed the uncertainty in each load bus individually. The methodology used to solve the problem, finds the optimal transmission network expansion plan that allows the power system to operate adequately in an environment with uncertainty. The models presented are solved using a specialized genetic algorithm. The results obtained for several known systems from literature show that cheaper plans can be found satisfying the uncertainty in demand.

Multi-Agent Framework for Spatial Load Forecasting

A multi-agent framework for spatial electric load forecasting, especially suited to simulate the different dynamics involved on distribution systems, is presented. The service zone is divided into several sub-zones, each subzone is considered as an independent agent identified with a corresponding load level, and their relationships with the neighbor zones are represented as development probabilities. With this setting, different kind of agents can be developed to simulate the growth pattern of the loads in distribution systems. This paper presents two different kinds of agents to simulate different situations, presenting some promissory results.

Transmission network expansion planning in full open market considering security constraints

This paper presents a mathematical model and a methodology to solve the transmission network expansion planning problem with security constraints in full competitive market, assuming that all generation programming plans present in the system operation are known. The methodology let us find an optimal transmission network expansion plan that allows the power system to operate adequately in each one of the generation programming plans specified in the full competitive market case, including a single contingency situation with generation rescheduling using the security (n-1) criterion. In this context, the centralized expansion planning with security constraints and the expansion planning in full competitive market are subsets of the proposal presented in this paper. The model provides a solution using a genetic algorithm designed to efficiently solve the reliable expansion planning in full competitive market. The results obtained for several known systems from the literature show the excellent performance of the proposed methodology.

Transmission network expansion planning considering uncertainty in generation and demand

This paper presents a mathematical model and a methodology to solve a transmission network expansion planning problem considering uncertainty in demand and generation. The methodology used to solve the problem, finds the optimal transmission network expansion plan that allows the power system to operate adequately in an environment with uncertainty. The model presented results in an optimization problem that is solved using a specialized genetic algorithm. The results obtained for known systems from the literature show that cheaper plans can be found satisfying the uncertainty in demand and generation. ©2008 IEEE.

Planning nursing teaching: Educational purposes and clinical competence

Thinking about nursing education implies articulating this issue with the expressions of theoretical frameworks, from the perspective of a pedagogical aspect that includes both constructivism and competencies. The objective was to characterize, from a longitudinal view, the construction of care competencies that exist in the teaching plans of nursing undergraduate programs. This exploratory-descriptive study used a qualitative approach. Documentary analysis was performed on the nine teaching plans of undergraduate care subjects. The ethical-legal aspects were guaranteed, so that data was collected only after the study had been approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The data evidenced a curriculum organization centered on subjects, maintaining internal rationales that seem to resist summative organizations. Signs emerge of hardly substantial links between any previous knowledge and the strengthening of critical judgment and clinical reasoning. As proposed, the study contributed with reconsiderations for the teachinglearning process and showed the influence of constructivism on the proposal of clinical competencies.

A territorial perspective: towards the consolidation of human settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Spatial electric load forecasting using a local movement approach

An agent based model for spatial electric load forecasting using a local movement approach for the spatiotemporal allocation of the new loads in the service zone is presented. The density of electrical load for each of the major consumer classes in each sub-zone is used as the current state of the agents. The spatial growth is simulated with a walking agent who starts his path in one of the activity centers of the city and goes to the limits of the city following a radial path depending on the different load levels. A series of update rules are established to simulate the S growth behavior and the complementarity between classes. The results are presented in future load density maps. The tests in a real system from a mid-size city show a high rate of success when compared with other techniques. The most important features of this methodology are the need for few data and the simplicity of the algorithm, allowing for future scalability. © 2009 IEEE.

Specialized genetic algorithm for transmission network expansion planning considering reliability

This paper presents a methodology to solve the transmission network expansion planning problem (TNEP) considering reliability and uncertainty in the demand. The proposed methodology provides an optimal expansion plan that allows the power system to operate adequately with an acceptable level of reliability and in an enviroment with uncertainness. The reliability criterion limits the expected value of the reliability index (LOLE - Loss Of Load Expectation) of the expanded system. The reliability is evaluated for the transmission system using an analytical technique based in enumeration. The mathematical model is solved, in a efficient way, using a specialized genetic algorithm of Chu-Beasley modified. Detailed results from an illustrative example are presented and discussed. © 2009 IEEE.