Desenvolvimento de um sistema de nitretação por plasma em fonte pulsada e sua influencia sobre a nitretação do titânio

The pulsed plasma nitriding is a solution currently used in the metallurgical industry to resolve problems earlier in the processing of parts by using plasma DC voltage. These problems consisted mainly of edge effect and opening arches caused due to non-uniformity of electric fields on uneven surfaces. By varying the pulse width can reduce these effects. However, variations in pulse width can drastically affect the population of the plasma species and hence the final microstructure of the nitrided layer. In literature, little is known about the effect of process parameters on the properties of the plasma species and, consequently, the surface properties. We have developed a system of nitriding with pulsed source with fixed period of 800  pulse width is variable. Examined the variation of these parameters on the properties of nitrided surface when keeping constant temperature, gas composition, flow, pressure and power. It was found that the values of width and pulse repetition time of considerable influence in the intensities of the species present in plasma. Moreover, we observed the existence of the edge effect for some values of pulse widths, as well as changes in surface roughness and hardness

Otimização de vazão de poços injetores em projeto de injeção de água utilizando simulação por linhas de fluxo

Until the early 90s, the simulation of fluid flow in oil reservoir basically used the numerical technique of finite differences. Since then, there was a big development in simulation technology based on streamlines, so that nowadays it is being used in several cases and it can represent the physical mechanisms that influence the fluid flow, such as compressibility, capillarity and gravitational segregation. Streamline-based flow simulation is a tool that can help enough in waterflood project management, because it provides important information not available through traditional simulation of finite differences and shows, in a direct way, the influence between injector well and producer well. This work presents the application of a methodology published in literature for optimizing water injection projects in modeling of a Brazilian Potiguar Basin reservoir that has a large number of wells. This methodology considers changes of injection well rates over time, based on information available through streamline simulation. This methodology reduces injection rates in wells of lower efficiency and increases injection rates in more efficient wells. In the proposed model, the methodology was effective. The optimized alternatives presented higher oil recovery associated with a lower water injection volume. This shows better efficiency and, consequently, reduction in costs. Considering the wide use of the water injection in oil fields, the positive outcome of the modeling is important, because it shows a case study of increasing of oil recovery achieved simply through better distribution of water injection rates

Controle aplicado a poços com método de elevação e bombeio centrífugo submerso

The Electrical Submersible Pumping is an artificial lift method for oil wells employed in onshore and offshore areas. The economic revenue of the petroleum production in a well depends on the oil flow and the availability of lifting equipment. The fewer the failures, the lower the revenue shortfall and costs to repair it. The frequency with which failures occur depends on the operating conditions to which the pumps are submitted. In high-productivity offshore wells monitoring is done by operators with engineering support 24h/day, which is not economically viable for the land areas. In this context, the automation of onshore wells has clear economic advantages. This work proposes a system capable of automatically control the operation of electrical submersible pumps, installed in oil wells, by an adjustment at the electric motor rotation based on signals provided by sensors installed on the surface and subsurface, keeping the pump operating within the recommended range, closest to the well s potential. Techniques are developed to estimate unmeasured variables, enabling the automation of wells that do not have all the required sensors. The automatic adjustment, according to an algorithm that runs on a programmable logic controller maintains the flow and submergence within acceptable parameters avoiding undesirable operating conditions, as the gas interference and high engine temperature, without need to resort to stopping the engine, which would reduce the its useful life. The control strategy described, based on modeling of physical phenomena and operational experience reported in literature, is materialized in terms of a fuzzy controller based on rules, and all generated information can be accompanied by a supervisory system

Avaliação da eficácia de um programa de "Escola de Coluna" para lombalgia crônica inespecífica

The Back School has been used to prevent and to treat back pain since 1969, however its effectiveness still is controversy in literature. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a program of "Back School" in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain, directed by rheumatologists and orthopedic doctors to Physiotherapy School Clinic of Universidade Potiguar (UnP) Natal/RN- Brazil, in period of May/2002 to December/2003. Seventy patients, with age varying from 18 to 60 years, were randomized in two groups: Experimental group (group A) with 34 patients, which was subdivided in groups with 6 to 8 components. This group participated of a theoretician and practical program of Back School with 4 lessons, one day per week, with 60 minutes of duration; to the Control group (group B), with 36 patients, was explained that the group should stay four months in a waiting list . Both groups, had been carried through three evaluations, by a blind, to patient group, independent observer: initial evaluation, after four and sixteen weeks. The following variables were analyzed: pain intensity, measured by analog visual scale (AVS), functional disability, measured by disability questionnaire of Roland and Morris and the spinal mobility measured by Schöber s method. In statistical analysis it was used variance analysis ANOVA, the test of Newman-Keuls multiple comparations, and the Pearson correlation coefficient, with significance level p<0.05. Thirteen patients (18,6%) didn t complete the evaluations, (5 from experimental group and 8 from control group). At last, 57 patients were studied, (29 from Experimental group and 28 from Control group), it was observed a significant statistical improve just for Experimental group in variables pain intensity (p=0,0001), functional disability

Synonymy of the yeast genera Moniliella and Trichosporonoides and proposal of Moniliella fonsecae sp nov and five new species combinations

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Identificação e fatores de virulência de Candida spp isoladas da cavidade bucal de transplantados renais do hospital universitário Onofre Lopes em Natal-RN

Despite Candida species are often human commensals isolated from various oral sites such as: tongue, cheek and palatal mucosa plus subgingival region, there are some properties linked to the organism commonly known as virulence factors which confer them the ability to produce disease. Oral candidiasis is one of the main oral manifestations reported in literature related to kidney transplant patients. The objectives of the present study were to identify and investigate virulence factors of yeasts isolated from the oral cavity of kidney transplant recipients admitted at the Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes, in Natal RN. Seventy Candida species isolated from 111 kidney transplant recipients were investigated in this study. Identification of the isolates was performed by using the evidence of germ tube formation, hypertonic broth, tolerance to grow at 42°C, micromorphology and biochemical profiles. We observed a high rate of isolation of yeasts from the oral cavity of kidney transplant recipients (63.1%) being C. albicans was the most prevalent species. Oral candidiasis was diagnosed in 14.4% of transplant recipients. We evaluated virulence properties of the isolates regarding to: biofilm formation on polystyrene microplates as well as XTT reduction, adherence to acrylic resin and human buccal epithelial cells and proteinase activity. Most isolates were able to form biofilm by the method of adhesion to polystyrene. All isolates of Candida spp. remained viable during biofilm formation when analyzed by the method of XTT reduction. The number of CFU attached to the acrylic resin suggested high adherence for C. parapsilosis. C. albicans isolates showed higher median adherence to human buccal epithelial cells than non-C. albicans Candida isolates. Nevertheless, this difference was not statistically significant. C. dubliniensis showed low ability to adhere to plastic and epithelial cells and biofilm formation. Proteolytic activity was observed for all the isolates investigated, including the unique isolate of C. dubliniensis. There was a statistically significant association between proteinase production and the presence of oral candidiasis. Studies related to oral candidiasis in renal transplant recipients are limited to clinical and epidemiological data, but investigations concerning Candida spp. virulence factor for this group of individuals are still scarce. We emphasize the importance of studies related to virulence factors of yeasts isolated from this population to contribute to the knowledge of microbiological aspects of oral candidiasis

Investigação das alterações citogenéticas em pacientes pediátricos com leucemia linfóide aguda do Rio Grande do Norte

Leukemia is a heterogeneous group of hematologic malignancies that result from partial or total transformation of the blast cells. The Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in childhood, especially in male, Caucasian children younger than 14 years. Several criteria are adopted to classify ALL, including the cell morphology, cytochemistry, immunophenotyping and cytogenetic analysis. Cytogenetic studies allow a more detailed analysis to detect chromosomal abnormalities of leukemic cells. These modifications will determine the diagnosis, classification, stage characterization, remission assessment and prognosis. In this study were evaluated 30 patients, aged from four months to seventeen years, of both sexes and various ethnicities. The age distribution showed that 67% of patients had between one and ten years (with mean age of XX years old), the most prevalent ethnic was Caucasian (50%) and 57% were males. According to immunophenotype, 93% of patients had B-cells progenitor ALL and 7% early lineage T. Considering the total studied population, the most frequent medical findings were lymphadenopathy (37%), hepatomegaly (77%) and splenomegaly (70%), where one patient could present more than one of these medical findings. Regarding the CBC, the majority of patients had hemoglobin below 10 g / dl (73%), leukocyte count less than 10.000/μL (60%) and platelet count below 150.000/μL (83%). Chromosomal abnormalities were observed in 64% of all patients, where hyperdiploidy was the most common numerical change (67%), followed by hypodiploid (33%). All these data are in agreement with the literature. Moreover, complexes structural and/or number changes not yet described in literature were observed, which indicated poor prognosis. Finally, we concluded that this study demonstrated the importance of cytogenetic study in the diagnosis and identification of prognostic factors in pediatric patients with ALL in Rio Grande do Norte. The results obtained in this study are extremely useful and emphasizes that surveys of this nature must be conducted more frequently in our state

Caracterização térmica (TG/DTG, DTA, DSC, DSC-fotovisual) de Hormônios bioidênticos (estriol estradiol)

Bioidentical hormones are defined as compounds that have exactly the same chemical and molecular structure as hormones that are produced in the human body. It is believed that the use of hormones may be safer and more effective than the non-bioidentical hormones, because binding to receptors in the organism would be similar to the endogenous hormone. Bioidentical estrogens have been used in menopausal women, as an alternative to traditional hormone replacement therapy. Thermal data of these hormones are scarce in literature. Thermal analysis comprises a group of techniques that allows evaluating the physical-chemistry properties of a drug, while the drug is subjected to a controlled temperature programming. The thermal techniques are used in pharmaceutical studies for characterization of drugs, purity determination, polymorphism identification, compatibility and evaluation of stability. This study aims to characterize the bioidentical hormones estradiol and estriol through thermal techniques TG/DTG, DTA, DSC, DSC-photovisual. By the TG curves analysis was possible to calculated kinetic parameters for the samples. The kinetic data showed that there is good correlation in the different models used. For both estradiol and estriol, was found zero order reaction, which enabled the construction of the vapor pressure curves. Data from DTA and DSC curves of melting point and purity are the same of literature, showed relation with DSC-photovisual results. The analysis DTA curves showed the fusion event had the best linearity for both hormones. In the evaluation of possible degradation products, the analysis of the infrared shows no degradation products in the solid state

Avaliação da expressão das moléculas HLA de classe I não clássicas HLA-G E HLA-E em espécimes gástricas de pacientes acometidos com a bactéria Helicobacter Pylori

The expression of human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) and human leukocyte antigen E (HLA-E) in physiological and pathological processes remains unknown, it is believed that these molecules play a fundamental role in the establishment and maintenance of immune tolerance by inhibiting the functions of immunocompetent cells. In literature we found no published study involving the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) with expression of HLA-G and HLA-E. The objective this study is investigated the expression of this protein in gastric biopsies of patients with the bacterium H. pylori. Sixty-four biopsies of the patients with diagnosis of infection by H. pylori were evaluated to expression of HLA-G and HLA-E. The samples were stratified according to the presence of carcinoma or peptic ulcers. Patients without H. pylori were used to control. To investigate the expression of this protein were used immunohistochemistry technique with monoclonal antibody anti-HLA-G and anti-HLA-E. Other criteria such as analysis of the inflammatory infiltrate (hematoxylin-eosin) and identification of H. pylori (Giemsa) were analyzed. We detected HLA-G and HLA-E molecules in the most samples containing ulcer and gastric carcinoma. In negative control group was not detected the presence of HLA-G and HLA-E. The presence of H. pylori seems modulate the expression of HLA-G and HLA-E, favoring the evolution of infection, giving different degrees of gastric lesion in epithelium of these patients

Florescimento e frutificação do maracujazeiro-amarelo submetido à iluminação artificial, irrigação e sombreamento

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

Caracterização ultrassonográfica das estruturas flexoras musculotendíneas e ligamentares da porção distal dos membros de novilhas cruzadas

Caracterizaram-se, por meio da ultrassonografia, as estruturas flexoras da porção distal dos membros de bovinos utilizando-se peças anatômicas da porção distal dos membros torácicos e pélvicos, provenientes de 20 novilhas mestiças da raça Nelore, com idades entre 24 e 36 meses. Para análise ultrassonográfica, foram estabelecidas cinco zonas de avaliação no plano transversal, denominadas, respectivamente, de zonas A, B, C, D e E, e duas em plano sagital, F-III e F-IV. Na face flexora, foram avaliados os tendões flexores digitais superficial e profundo, o músculo interósseo, o ligamento acessório do tendão flexor digital profundo e a manica flexoria, quanto à forma, limites, posição, ecogenicidade e mensurações das áreas transversais em cm². Sendo os resultados apresentados na forma descritiva e em tabelas, foi possível a caracterização das estruturas flexoras, identificando e determinando planos ultrassonográficos apropriados para a observação de imagens adequadas destes tecidos, além da obtenção de valores e parâmetros que possam ser utilizados como referência para esta espécie.

Efeito do vigor de sementes de soja sobre o seu desempenho em campo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Protocolo de avaliação do cuidado de enfermagem e da segurança do paciente em unidades de terapia intensiva

The reports of adverse events date from 1990 up to the present day. Conceptually, these adverse events are unintentional injuries unrelated to the underlying disease, causing measurable lesions in patients, extending the period of hospitalization, or leading to death. These issues require discussions with regard to patient safety, improved quality of service, and preventing medical errors. In the Intensive Care Units, this concern is greater because these are sectors of intensive care to individuals with hemodynamic changes and imminent risk of death. Therefore, it is essential to conduct evaluation processes to investigate aspects of quality of nursing care and patient safety in these spaces. For that reason, we aimed to propose the Evaluation protocol of nursing care and patient safety in Intensive Care Units. For its achievement, we needed to: 1) analyze the evolution of the patient safety concept used in scientific productions, under Rodgers evolutionary concept; 2) identify the necessary items to build the evaluation protocol of nursing care and patient safety in the Intensive Care Unit, from the available evidence in literature; 3) construct an instrument for content validation of the evaluation protocol of nursing care and patient safety in the Intensive Care Unit; and 4) describe and evaluate the appropriateness of the content for an evaluation protocol of nursing care and patient safety in the Intensive Care Unit. This is a methodological study for the content validation of the abovementioned protocol. To meet the first three specific objectives, we used the integrative literature review in Theses Database of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel and the portal of the Collaborating Centre for Quality of Care and Patient Safety. The fourth specific objective happened through the participation of judges, located from the Lattes curricula, in the content validation process developed in two stages: Delphi 1 and Delphi 2. As instrument, we used the electronic form of Google docs. We present in tables the answers from the evaluation instruments by Delphi consensus and Content Validity Index (CVI) of the entire protocol. We summarized the results in articles entitled Analysis of the patient safety concept: Rodgers evolutionary concept ; Scientific evidence regarding patient safety in the Intensive Care Unit ; Technological device for the content validation process: experience report ; and Evaluation protocol of nursing care and patient safety in Intensive Care Units. The Embodied Opinion of the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, No. 461,246, under CAAE 19586813.2.0000.5537, approved the study. Thus, we conclude the protocol valid in its content, constituting an important tool for evaluating the quality of nursing care and patient safety in Intensive Care Units

Caracterização da curva de maturação de pêssegos 'Aurora-1', na região de Jaboticabal-SP

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

Análise não-linear de treliças pelo método dos elementos finitos posicional

This work presents the positional nonlinear geometric formulation for trusses using different strain measures. The positional formulation presents an alternative approach for nonlinear problems. This formulation considers nodal positions as variables of the nonlinear system instead of displacements (widely found in literature). The work also describes the arc-length method used for tracing equilibrium paths with snap-through and snap-back. Numerical applications for trusses already established in the literature and comparisons with other studies are provided to prove the accuracy of the proposed formulation