Análise da influência da contaminação do lubrificante por biodiesel em um equipamento Pin-on-disk

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEIS

SRDigital: proposta de um modelo baseado na linguagem natural e controlada como instrumentos de apoio ao agente computacional do processo de referência

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

Relações públicas e o consumidor: comunicação organizacional nas mídias sociais

The objective of this study was to find and discuss the possibilities of action of a public relations professional in social media, taking as an example, the most popular, Facebook and Twitter, to work the organizational communication with the public consumer. Social media are gaining more followers, who are seeking information on companies before consuming your products or hire your services, getting attention for any kind of promotion or crisis of this organization. We saw how public relations mediate communication between company and consumer, being responsible for the clear, objective and correct posting of your organization in social media

Eu posto, tu compartilhas, ele curte: relações Públicas para as novas redes de influência nas mídias sociais

The web has emerged as an important media. For the first time, people are highly connected, and users start to have lots of possibilities for expression and collaboration. Internet users contribute more and more to influence the preferences of your contact network. Organizations are beginning to discover that the power of influence networks is becoming more efficient than traditional marketing: people believe in what other people say, peers believe in peers. There is a new actor who builds preferences, who is constantly active in communication: the customer who narrates, on social networks, his experiences with a product, and makes his contacts become loyal customers or the most ardent critics of an organization. Transforming followers into disseminators is one of the biggest challenges of organizations in social media. Because of this, more and more companies have to plan communication strategies based in what customers think, desire, understand and discuss in these new places

Anemia and hemoglobinopathies in pregnant women attended in a public hospital

Objectives: to identify the demographic profile and frequency of anemia and hemoglobinopathies, as a basis for future implementation of actions aimed at pregnant women in the public health domain. Method: this is a cross-sectional study developed with pregnant women attended in a university hospital at Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Blood samples were collected for the erythrogram analysis for detection of anemia and selective and specific tests for abnormal hemoglobin. The patients regarded as indigenous and mentally ill, as well as inmates, were excluded from the research, as they represent a vulnerable population which needs a cohort different from that of the sample. For data collection, a particular questionnaire was used. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), under the Protocol 873/2006. Results: of the 215 pregnant women under study, 20% were adolescents; 36.3% had incomplete primary education; 53.0% were non-Caucasian; 43.3% were from Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil; and 21.1% were of European descent. 17.7% had some type of anemia and, in the evaluation of hemoglobinopathies, 4.7% of patients were detected with some abnormal hemoglobin, with the following frequencies: 3.3% with HbAS; 0.9% with HbAC; and 0.5% with intermediate β-thalassemia. Conclusion: the frequencies of anemia and hemoglobinopathy found in these pregnant women showed the importance of early diagnosis, revealing indicators able to provide a basis for preventive and assistance actions for adequate clinical monitoring, reducing maternal and neonatal morbimortality in the public health services. Descriptors: pregnant women; anemia; hemoglobinopathies; public health; nursing.

Educação e políticas públicas para o idoso

The ‘Estatuto do Idoso’ (senior citizen statute), Brazilian federal law promulgated in 2003, defines senior citizen as the person with 60 years old, or more. Revered as a landmark recognition of the senior´s rights, it guarantees, among others, the right of education. According to the statutory provisions, the education is personal right of the elderly person and must be assured with absolute priority by the State, the family, the society, as well by entities. However, in practice, just few senior citizens enjoy the right of education, since this policy has not been developed with focus in the old age, since educational practices are aimed, in most cases, to the younger age groups. Nevertheless, some initiatives seek to invest in the education for the elderly, like happens with the University of the Third Age (U3A). Although this kind of initiatives have been reason of celebration such projects should be enforced and consolidated as an object of better political investment to enlarge the access to the education right to the senior citizens in general. Due to the visibility achieved by the senior population, a possible way to the establishment of services in the area of education, would be the formation of partnerships between educational institutions that understand old age as a potential expansion of cultural goods and production of knowledge.

A simulation tool for transient stability analysis on vector computers

This paper deals with transient stability analysis based on time domain simulation on vector processing. This approach requires the solution of a set of differential equations in conjunction of another set of algebraic equations. The solution of the algebraic equations has presented a scalar as sequential set of tasks, and the solution of these equations, on vector computers, has required much more investigations to speedup the simulations. Therefore, the main objective of this paper has been to present methods to solve the algebraic equations using vector processing. The results, using a GRAY computer, have shown that on-line transient stability assessment is feasible.

Inovação em design: planejamento e estratégias para um parque tecnológico na região de Bauru - SP

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

Capillary bioreactors based on human purine nucleoside phosphorylase: A new approach for ligands identification and characterization

The enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) is a target for the discovery of new lead compounds employed on the treatment severe T-cell mediated disorders. Within this context, the development of new, direct, and reliable methods for ligands screening is an important task. This paper describes the preparation of fused silica capillaries human PNP (HsPNP) immobilized enzyme reactor (IMER). The activity of the obtained IMER is monitored on line in a multidimensional liquid chromatography system, by the quantification of the product formed throughout the enzymatic reaction. The Km value for the immobilized enzyme was about twofold higher than that measured for the enzyme in solution (255 +/- 29.2 mu M and 133 +/- 114.9 mu M, respectively). A new fourth-generation immucillin derivative (DI4G: IC50 = 40.6 +/- 0.36 nM), previously identified and characterized in HsPNP free enzyme assays, was used to validate the IMER as a screening method for HsPNP ligands. The validated method was also used for mechanistic studies with this inhibitor. This new approach is a valuable tool to PNP ligand screening, since it directly measures the hypoxanthine released by inosine phosphorolysis, thus furnishing more reliable results than those one used in a coupled enzymatic spectrophotometric assay. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Borohydride electrooxidation on Au and Pt electrodes

Direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) are attractive energy generators for powering portable electronic devices, mainly due to their high energy density and number of electrons per borohydride ion. However, the lack of a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the borohydride oxidation reaction limits the performance of these devices. The most commonly studied electrocatalysts for this reaction are composed of gold and platinum. Nevertheless, for these metals, the borohydride electrooxidation reaction mechanism (BOR) is not completely understood, and the total oxidation reaction, involving eight electrons per BH4- species, competes with parallel reactions, with a lower number of exchanged electrons and/or with heterogeneous chemical hydrolysis. Considering the above-mentioned issues, this work presents recent advances in the knowledge of the BOR pathways on polycrystalline (bulk) Au and Pt electrocatalysts. It presents the studies of the BOR reaction on Au and Pt electrodes using in situ Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FUR), and on-line Differential Electrochemical Mass Spectrometry (DEMS). The spectroscopic and spectrometric data provided physical evidence of intermediate species and the formation of H-2 in the course of the BOR as a function of the electrode potential. These results enabled to advance in the knowledge about the BOR pathways on Au and Pt electrocatalysts. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simcluster: clustering enumeration gene expression data on the simplex space

Abstract Background Transcript enumeration methods such as SAGE, MPSS, and sequencing-by-synthesis EST "digital northern", are important high-throughput techniques for digital gene expression measurement. As other counting or voting processes, these measurements constitute compositional data exhibiting properties particular to the simplex space where the summation of the components is constrained. These properties are not present on regular Euclidean spaces, on which hybridization-based microarray data is often modeled. Therefore, pattern recognition methods commonly used for microarray data analysis may be non-informative for the data generated by transcript enumeration techniques since they ignore certain fundamental properties of this space. Results Here we present a software tool, Simcluster, designed to perform clustering analysis for data on the simplex space. We present Simcluster as a stand-alone command-line C package and as a user-friendly on-line tool. Both versions are available at: http://xerad.systemsbiology.net/simcluster. Conclusion Simcluster is designed in accordance with a well-established mathematical framework for compositional data analysis, which provides principled procedures for dealing with the simplex space, and is thus applicable in a number of contexts, including enumeration-based gene expression data.

Highlights of the XXI annual meeting of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology, the XXXII annual meeting on Basic Research in Chagas' disease & an international symposium on vesicle trafficking in parasitic Protozoa – 7 to 9 November 2005, Caxambu, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This report focuses on the 2005 Annual meeting held in Caxambu, Minas Gerais, Brazil that was convened and organized by the Brazilian Society of Protozoology http://www.sbpz.org.br/. This is an annual event and details of these meetings can be found on the Society's website. Within the space available it has been impossible to cover all the important and fascinating contributions and what is presented are our personal views of the meetings scientific highlights and new developments. The contents undoubtedly reflect each author's scientific interests and expertise. Fuller details of the round tables, seminars and posters can be consulted on line at http://www.sbpz.org.br/livroderesumos2005.php.

The construction of TRIGA-TRAP and direct high-precision Penning trap mass measurements on rare-earth elements and americium

Nuclear masses are an important quantity to study nuclear structure since they reflect the sum of all nucleonic interactions. Many experimental possibilities exist to precisely measure masses, out of which the Penning trap is the tool to reach the highest precision. Moreover, absolute mass measurements can be performed using carbon, the atomic-mass standard, as a reference. The new double-Penning trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP has been installed and commissioned within this thesis work, which is the very first experimental setup of this kind located at a nuclear reactor. New technical developments have been carried out such as a reliable non-resonant laser ablation ion source for the production of carbon cluster ions and are still continued, like a non-destructive ion detection technique for single-ion measurements. Neutron-rich fission products will be available by the reactor that are important for nuclear astrophysics, especially the r-process. Prior to the on-line coupling to the reactor, TRIGA-TRAP already performed off-line mass measurements on stable and long-lived isotopes and will continue this program. The main focus within this thesis was on certain rare-earth nuclides in the well-established region of deformation around N~90. Another field of interest are mass measurements on actinoids to test mass models and to provide direct links to the mass standard. Within this thesis, the mass of 241-Am could be measured directly for the first time.

First doubly polarised photoproduction on 3 He at the photon beam of MAMI

Im Juli 2009 wurde am Mainzer Mikrotron (MAMI) erstmal ein Experiment durchgeführt, bei dem ein polarisiertes 3He Target mit Photonen im Energiebereich von 200 bis 800 MeV untersucht wurde. Das Ziel dieses Experiments war die Überprüfung der Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn Summenregel am Neutron. Die Verwendung der Messdaten welche mit dem polarisierten 3He Target gewonnen wurden, geben - im Vergleich mit den bereits existieren Daten vom Deuteron - aufgrund der Spin-Struktur des 3He einen komplementären und direkteren Zugang zum Neutron. Die Messung des totalen helizitätsabhängigen Photoabsorptions-Wirkungsquerschnitts wurde mittels eines energiemarkierten Strahls von zirkular polarisierten Photonen, welcher auf das longitudinal polarisierte 3He Target trifft, durchgeführt. Als Produktdetektoren kamen der Crystal Ball (4π Raumabdeckung), TAPS (als ”Vorwärtswand”) sowie ein Schwellen-Cherenkov-Detektor (online Veto zur Reduktion von elektromagnetischen Ereignissen) zum Einsatz. Planung und Aufbau der verschiedenen komponenten Teile des 3He Experimentaufbaus war ein entscheidender Teil dieser Dissertation und wird detailliert in der vorliegenden Arbeit beschrieben. Das Detektorsystem als auch die Analyse-Methoden wurden durch die Messung des unpolarisierten, totalen und inklusiven Photoabsoprtions-Wirkungsquerschnitts an flüssigem Wasserstoff getestet. Hierbei zeigten die Ergebnisse eine gute Übereinstimmung mit bereits zuvor publizierten Daten. Vorläufige Ergebnisse des unpolarisierten totalen Photoabsorptions-Wirkungsquerschnitts sowie der helizitätsabhängige Unterschied zwischen Photoabsorptions-Wirkungsquerschnitten an 3He im Vergleich zu verschiedenen theoretischen Modellen werden vorgestellt.

An insulin infusion advisory system based on autotuning nonlinear model-predictive control

This paper aims at the development and evaluation of a personalized insulin infusion advisory system (IIAS), able to provide real-time estimations of the appropriate insulin infusion rate for type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients using continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps. The system is based on a nonlinear model-predictive controller (NMPC) that uses a personalized glucose-insulin metabolism model, consisting of two compartmental models and a recurrent neural network. The model takes as input patient's information regarding meal intake, glucose measurements, and insulin infusion rates, and provides glucose predictions. The predictions are fed to the NMPC, in order for the latter to estimate the optimum insulin infusion rates. An algorithm based on fuzzy logic has been developed for the on-line adaptation of the NMPC control parameters. The IIAS has been in silico evaluated using an appropriate simulation environment (UVa T1DM simulator). The IIAS was able to handle various meal profiles, fasting conditions, interpatient variability, intraday variation in physiological parameters, and errors in meal amount estimations.