Automation & control remote laboratory: evaluating a cooperative methodology

This paper presents a study carried out in order to evaluate the students' perception in the development and use of remote Control and Automation education kits developed by two Universities. Three projects, based on real world environments, were implemented, being local and remotely operated. Students implemented the kits using the theoretical and practical knowledge, being the teachers a catalyst in the learning process. When kits were operational, end-user students got acquainted to the kits in the course curricula units. It is the author's believe that successful results were achieved not only in the learning progress on the Automation and Control fields (hard skills) but also on the development of the students soft skills, leading to encouraging and rewarding goals, motivating their future decisions and promoting synergies in their work. The design of learning experimental kits by students, under teacher supervision, for future use in course curricula by enduser students is an advantageous and rewarding experience.

Ash deposition during the co-firing of bituminous coal with pine sawdust and olive stones in a laboratory furnace

This article describes an experimental study on ash deposition during the co-firing of bituminous coal with pine sawdust and olive stones in a laboratory furnace. The main objective of this study was to relate the ash deposit rates with the type of biomass burned and its thermal percentage in the blend. The thermal percentage of biomass in the blend was varied between 10% and 50% for both sawdust and olive stones. For comparison purposes, tests have also been performed using only coal or only biomass. During the tests, deposits were collected with the aid of an air-cooled deposition probe placed far from the flame region, where the mean gas temperature was around 640 degrees C. A number of deposit samples were subsequently analyzed on a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray detector. Results indicate that blending sawdust with coal decreases the deposition rate as compared with the firing of unblended coal due to both the sawdust low ash content and its low alkalis content. The co-firing of coal and sawdust yields deposits with high levels of silicon and aluminium which indicates the presence of ashes with high fusion temperature and, thus, with less capacity to adhere to the surfaces. In contrast, in the co-firing of coal with olive stones the deposition rate increases as compared with the firing of unblended coal and the deposits produced present high levels of potassium, which tend to increase their stickiness.

Clinical and laboratory parameters in dapsone acute intoxication

OBJECTIVE: To determine the severity of dapsone (DDS) acute intoxication – an uncommon medical event – using clinical and laboratory parameters. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy four patients with acute DDS intoxication, aged 1 month to 50 years old, were studied and classified into four age groups. Clinical evaluation was assessed through a protocol and correlated with laboratory parameters. Spectrophotometric methods were used to analyze methemoglobinemia (MHbp) and dapsonemia (DDSp). RESULTS: The most prevalent clinical sign of intoxication was cyanosis, seen in 65.7% of the patients and in 100% of children less than 5 years of age. According to laboratory criteria, MHbp-related severe clinical intoxication was seen in 56.2% and DDSp-related occurred in 58% of the patients. Regarding DDSp, intoxication was considered severe when 20 tablets (100 mg each) were ingested, a median of 29 mug/ml. Regarding MHbp, intoxication was severe when 7.5 tablets were ingested, a median of 38% of the total Hb. The correlation between MHbp and DDSp was statistically significant (n=144, r=0.32, p<0.05). Negative correlation was observed between MHbp and the time elapsed since DDS intake (n=124, r=-0.34, p<0.001). There was also a negative correlation between DDSp and the time elapsed since DDS intake (n=63, r=-0.35, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal analysis showed a significant association between methemoglobinemia and the time elapsed after the intake (t), according to the equation: Dapsonemia = 12.9256 - 0.0682t + 0.234 methemoglobinemia

Rash after measles vaccination: laboratory analysis of cases reported in São Paulo, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: The clinical differential diagnosis of rash due to viral infections is often difficult, and misdiagnosis is not rare, especially after the introduction of measles and rubella vaccination. A study to determine the etiological diagnosis of exanthema was carried out in a group of children after measles vaccination. METHODS: Sera collected from children with rash who received measles vaccine were reported in 1999. They were analyzed for IgM antibodies against measles virus, rubella virus, human parvovirus B19 (HPV B19) using ELISA commercial techniques, and human herpes virus 6 (HHV 6) using immunofluorescence commercial technique. Viremia for each of those viruses was tested using a polimerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: A total of 17 cases of children with exanthema after measles immunization were reported in 1999. The children, aged 9 to 12 months (median 10 months), had a blood sample taken for laboratory analysis. The time between vaccination and the first rash signs varied from 1 to 60 days. The serological results of those 17 children suspected of measles or rubella infection showed the following etiological diagnosis: 17.6% (3 in 17) HPV B19 infection; 76.5% (13 in 17) HHV 6 infection; 5.9% (1 in 17) rash due to measles vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: The study data indicate that infection due to HPV B19 or HHV 6 can be misdiagnosed as exanthema due to measles vaccination. Therefore, it is important to better characterize the etiology of rash in order to avoid attributing it incorrectly to measles vaccine.

ß-lactamases in the biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory

β-lactamases are hydrolytic enzymes that inactivate the β-lactam ring of antibiotics such as penicillins and cephalosporins. The major diversity of studies carried out until now have mainly focused on the characterization of β-lactamases recovered among clinical isolates of Gram-positive staphylococci and Gram-negative enterobacteria, amongst others. However, only some studies refer to the detection and development of β-lactamases carriers in healthy humans, sick animals, or even in strains isolated from environmental stocks such as food, water, or soils. Considering this, we proposed a 10-week laboratory programme for the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology laboratory for majors in the health, environmental, and agronomical sciences. During those weeks, students would be dealing with some basic techniques such as DNA extraction, bacterial transformation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gel electrophoresis, and the use of several bioinformatics tools. These laboratory exercises would be conducted as a mini research project in which all the classes would be connected with the previous ones. This curriculum was compared in an experiment involving two groups of students from two different majors. The new curriculum, with classes linked together as a mini research project, was taught to a major in Pharmacy and an old curriculum was taught to students from environmental health. The results showed that students who were enrolled in the new curriculum obtained better results in the final exam than the students who were enrolled in the former curriculum. Likewise, these students were found to be more enthusiastic during the laboratory classes than those from the former curriculum.

Virtual laboratory for educational environments

In this paper a new simulation environment for a virtual laboratory to educational proposes is presented. The Logisim platform was adopted as the base digital simulation tool, since it has a modular implementation in Java. All the hardware devices used in the laboratory course was designed as components accessible by the simulation tool, and integrated as a library. Moreover, this new library allows the user to access an external interface. This work was motivated by the needed to achieve better learning times on co-design projects, based on hardware and software implementations, and to reduce the laboratory time, decreasing the operational costs of engineer teaching. Furthermore, the use of virtual laboratories in educational environments allows the students to perform functional tests, before they went to a real laboratory. Moreover, these functional tests allow to speed-up the learning when a problem based approach methodology is considered. © 2014 IEEE.

An internet remote laboratory to teach industrial automation

This paper presents the new internet remote laboratory (IRL), constructed at Mechanical Engineering Department (MED), Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL), to teach Industrial Automation, namely electropneumatic cycles. The aim of this work was the development and implementation of a remote laboratory that was simple and effective from the user point of view, allowing access to all its functionalities through a web browser without having to install any other program and giving access to all the features that the students can find at the physical laboratory. With this goal in mind, it has been implemented a simple architecture with the new programmable logic controller (PLC) SIEMENS S7-1200, and with the aid of several free programs, programming technologies such as JavaScript, PHP and databases, it was possible to have a remote laboratory, with a simple interface, to teach industrial automation students.

An integrated reusable remote laboratory to complement electronics teaching

The great majority of the courses on science and technology areas where lab work is a fundamental part of the apprenticeship was not until recently available to be taught at distance. This reality is changing with the dissemination of remote laboratories. Supported by resources based on new information and communication technologies, it is now possible to remotely control a wide variety of real laboratories. However, most of them are designed specifically to this purpose, are inflexible and only on its functionality they resemble the real ones. In this paper, an alternative remote lab infrastructure devoted to the study of electronics is presented. Its main characteristics are, from a teacher's perspective, reusability and simplicity of use, and from a students' point of view, an exact replication of the real lab, enabling them to complement or finish at home the work started at class. The remote laboratory is integrated in the Learning Management System in use at the school, and therefore, may be combined with other web experiments and e-learning strategies, while safeguarding security access issues.

Extended immersive learning environment: a hybrid remote/virtual laboratory

This paper presents a collaborative virtual learning environment, which includes technologies such as 3D virtual representations, learning and content management systems, remote experiments, and collaborative learning spaces, among others. It intends to facilitate the construction, management and sharing of knowledge among teachers and students, in a global perspective. The environment proposes the use of 3D social representations for accessing learning materials in a dynamic and interactive form, which is regarded to be closer to the physical reality experienced by teachers and students in a learning context. A first implementation of the proposed extended immersive learning environment, in the area of solid mechanics, is also described, including the access to theoretical contents and a remote experiment to determine the elastic modulus of a given object.These instructions give you basic guidelines for preparing camera-ready papers for conference proceedings. Use this document as a template if you are using Microsoft Word 6.0 or later. Otherwise, use this document as an instruction set. The electronic file of your paper will be formatted further. Define all symbols used in the abstract. Do not cite references in the abstract.

Trypanosoma cruzi: expression of antigenic component 5 among 35 laboratory clones obtained from 18 different isozymic variants

Two monoclonal antibodies anti-component 5 of Trypanosoma cruzi (I-35/115 and II-190/30) were tested in IFA and ELISA respectively against 35 T. cruzi laboratory clones. Among the 35 clones tested, 18 different isozyme patterns were detected. All clones were recognized by both monoclonal antibodies except one clone which did not react with II-190/30. These results support the universal expression of specific component 5 within the taxon T. cruzi.

Growth of phototrophic biofilms from limestone monuments under laboratory conditions

International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation,xxx (2009) 1–8

Reproducing stone monument photosynthetic-based colonization under laboratory conditions

Science of the total environment 405(2008) 278-285

Lethality of triatomines (Hemiptera: Reduviiae), vectors of Chagas' disease, feeding on blood baits containing synthetic insecticides, under laboratory conditions

A laboratory study was conducted to test the toxicity of synthetic insecticides added to defibrinated sheep blood kept at room temperature and offered as food to the following triatomine species: Triatoma infestans, Panstrongylus megistus, Triatoma vitticeps, Triatoma pseudomaculata, Triatoma brasiliensis and Rhodnius prolixus. The insecticides used, at a concentration of 1g/l, were: HCH, DDT, Malathion and Trichlorfon, and the lethalithy observed at the end of a 7-day period varied according to the active principle of each. HCH was the most effective by the oral route, killing 100% of the insects, except P. megistus (95.7%) and T. pseudomaculata (94.1%). Trichlorfon killed the insects at rates ranging from 71.8% (T. vitticeps) to 98% (R. prolixus). Malathion was slightly less efficient, killing the insects at rates from 56.8% (T. vitticeps) to 97% (T.brasiliensis). DDT was the least effective, with a killing rate of 10% (T. vitticeps) to 75% (T.brasiliensis). Since the tests were performed at room temperature, we suggest that baits of this type should be tried for the control of triatomines in the field.