Assessing land availability to produce biomass for energy: The case of Brazilian charcoal for steel making

The paper discusses the availability of biomass in Brazil to supply charcoal to the steel industry on the bases of an initial global assessment of land potentially available for plantations and of Brazilian data that allows refining the assessment and specifying the issue of practical availability. Technical potentials are first assessed through a series of simple rules against direct competition with agriculture, forests and protected areas, and of quantitative criteria, whether geo-climatic (rainfall), demographic (population density) or legal (reserves). Institutional, social and economic factors are then identified and discussed so as to account for the practical availability of Brazilian biomass through six criteria. The ranking of nine Brazilian States according to these criteria brings out the necessary trade-offs in the selection of land for plantations that would efficiently supply charcoal to the steel industry. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Semi-Tethered Test for Power Assessment in Running

We analyzed the usefulness of a semi-tethered field running test (STR) and the relationships between indices of anaerobic power, anaerobic capacity and running performance in 9 trained male sprinters (22.2 +/- 2.9 yrs, 176 +/- 1 cm, 68.0 +/- 9.4 kg). STR involved an all out 120 m run attached to an apparatus that enabled power calculation from force and velocity measures. Subjects also carried out a cycloergometer Win-gate Anaerobic Test (WT), an all out 300 m run and had accessed their maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) on a treadmill. Peak and mean powers attained in STR (1 720 +/- 221 and 1 391 +/- 201 W) were greater but significantly related (r=0.82; P<0.01) to those in the WT (808 +/- 130 and 603 +/- 87 W). In addition, power measures derived from the STR were stronger related to running performance compared to those from the WT (r=0.81-0.94 vs. 0.68-0.84; P<0.05). Relationships between MAOD and most power indices were only weak to moderate. These results support the usefulness of STR for specific power assessment in field running and suggest that anaerobic power and capacity are not related entities, irrespective of having been evaluated using similar or dissimilar exercise modes.

Selection of new glass-forming compositions in Al-La system using a combination of topological instability and thermodynamic criteria

A combination of an extension of the topological instability ""lambda criterion"" and a thermodynamic criterion were applied to the Al-La system, indicating the best range of compositions for glass formation. Alloy compositions in this range were prepared by melt-spinning and casting in an arc-melting furnace with a wedge-section copper mold. The GFA of these samples was evaluated by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the gamma* parameter of compositions with high GFA is higher, corresponding to a range in which the lambda parameter is greater than 0.1, which are compositions far from Al solid solution. A new alloy was identified with the best GFA reported so far for this system, showing a maximum thickness of 286 mu m in a wedge-section copper mold. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The cultural adaptation and validation of the ""Burn Specific Health Scale-Revised"" (BSHS-R): Version for Brazilian burn victims

Background: The Burns Specific Health Scale-Revised (BSHS-R) is of easy application, can be self-administered, and it is considered a good scale to evaluate various important life aspects of burn victims. Objectives: To translate and culturally adapt the BSHS-R into the Brazilian-Portuguese language and to evaluate the internal consistency and convergent validity of the translated BSHS-R. Methods: The cultural adaptation of the BSHS-R included translation and back-translation, discussions with professionals and patients to ensure conceptual equivalence, semantic evaluation, and pre-test of the instrument. The Final Brazilian-Portuguese Version (FBPV) of the BSHS-R was tested on a group of 115 burn patients for internal consistency and validity of construct (using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)). Results: All values of Cronbach`s alpha were greater than. 8, demonstrating that the internal consistency of the FBPV was very high. Self-esteem was highly correlated with affect and body image (r = .59, p < .001), and with interpersonal relationships (T = .51, p < .001). Correlations between the domains of the FBPV and the BDI were all negative but larger in magnitude than the correlations with RSES. Depression was highly correlated with affect and body image (r = -77, p < .001), and with interpersonal relationships (r = -67, p < .001). Conclusions: The results showed that the adapted version of the BSHS-R into Brazilian-Portuguese fulfills the validity and reliability criteria required from an instrument of health status assessment for burn patients. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Impairment in Elders From Rural Areas of the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul

The main objective of this study was to examine the relationships among demographic characteristics, depressive symptoms, and cognitive impairment in oldest-old elders from rural areas of the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul. A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design was used to conduct the study. 137 Brazilian elders age 80 years or over. A target population data form, a county data form, a demographic questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Depressive Cognition Scale were used to collect the data. A significant difference was found between males and females in regard to cognitive impairment. In addition, educational level and depressive symptoms were correlated with cognitive impairment. Depressive symptoms were a weak but significant predictor of cognitive impairment after controlling for the effect of age, gender, and educational level of the oldest-old elders. The findings need to be interpreted cautiously since the sample scored above the cutoff points for cognitive impairment, and had low scores on depressive symptoms. Despite several limitations, findings from this study can be a foundation for further studies, and well-designed correlational or experimental approaches, are warranted.

Roles assessment in families of children with chronic renal failure on peritoneal dialysis

Families with a child on chronic peritoneal dialysis have to assume a significant burden of care, intensifying the demands and the reorganization of roles in the families of children. The purpose of this study is to describe the implications of role changes in families of children with chronic renal disease on peritoneal dialysis. This is a case study of four families of children with chronic renal disease on peritoneal dialysis. Fourteen family members participate in the study. After the child`s chronic kidney failure and the start of treatment, each relative`s ways, acts and functions are changed, maintained or adapted to the new family dynamics, imposed by the child`s treatment conditions. Appropriate role assessment provides the nurse and the families of children with chronic renal failure on peritoneal dialysis with insight regarding current and potential health problems and aids in identifying the needs of the families.

Identifying an active case of tuberculosis

The best practice standards set out in chapter 2 of the Best Practice guide focus on the various aspects of identifying an active case of TB and aim to address some of the challenges associated with case detection. The importance of developing a good relationship with the patient from the start, when he or she is often most vulnerable, is emphasised. The first standard focuses on the assessment of someone who might have TB and the second gives detailed guidance about the collection of sputum for diagnosis. The standards are aimed at the health care worker, who assesses the patient when he or she presents at a health care facility and therefore needs to be familiar with the signs, symptoms and risk factors associated with TB. Having suspected TB, the health care worker then needs to ensure that the correct tests are ordered and procedures are followed so that the best quality samples possible are sent to the laboratory and all documentation is filled out clearly and correctly. The successful implementation of these standards can be measured by the accurate and prompt reporting of results, the registration of every case detected and the continued attendance of every patient who needs treatment.

Developing and implementing an open and non-proprietary device description for FOUNDATION fieldbus based on software standards

Support for interoperability and interchangeability of software components which are part of a fieldbus automation system relies on the definition of open architectures, most of them involving proprietary technologies. Concurrently, standard, open and non-proprietary technologies, such as XML, SOAP, Web Services and the like, have greatly evolved and been diffused in the computing area. This article presents a FOUNDATION fieldbus (TM) device description technology named Open-EDD, based on XML and other related technologies (XLST, DOM using Xerces implementation, OO, XMIL Schema), proposing an open and nonproprietary alternative to the EDD (Electronic Device Description). This initial proposal includes defining Open-EDDML as the programming language of the technology in the FOUNDATION fieldbus (TM) protocol, implementing a compiler and a parser, and finally, integrating and testing the new technology using field devices and a commercial fieldbus configurator. This study attests that this new technology is feasible and can be applied to other configurators or HMI applications used in fieldbus automation systems. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Upper limb assessment in tetraplegia: clinical, functional and kinematic correlations

The aim of this study was to correlate clinical and functional evaluations with kinematic variables of upper limp reach-to-grasp movement in patients with tetraplegia. Twenty chronic patients were selected to perform reach-to-grasp kinematic assessment using a target placed at a distance equal to the arm`s length. Kinematic variables (hand peak velocity, movement time, percent time-to-maximal velocity, index of curvature, number of peaks, and joint range of motion) were correlated to clinical (Standard Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury-American Spinal Injury Association) and functional [Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and Spinal Cord Independence Measure II (SCIM II)) evaluation scores. Twenty control participants were also selected to obtain normal reference parameters. There was a positive correlation between total motor index and FIM (r=0.6089; P=0.0044) and SCIM II (r=0.5229; P=0.018). Both functional scores showed positive correlation with each other (r=0.8283; P<0.0001). A correlation was also observed between the right and left motor indices, the motor AM, and the SCIM II in most of the reach-to-grasp kinematic variables studied (hand peak velocity, movement time, index of curvature, and number of peaks). In contrast, for the joint range of motion (shoulder, elbow, and wrist), only the wrist in the horizontal plane showed correlation with clinical variables. This study shows that muscle strength assessed by the American Spinal Injury Association motor index influences the reach-to-grasp kinematic variables of patients with tetraplegia. However, the functional assessments did not present the same influence.