Contribuição ao estudo das relações dos conectores maiores de próteses parciais removíveis com tecidos gengivais

The effect in the gingival tissue of four distinctive types of relationships between the major conector and the gingival margin was investigated in eight subjects in association with the experimental gingivitis model. The subjects wore appliances constructed in acrylic resin (retained by means of embrasure hooks) throughout the day an night, except during meals. After the appliances had been placed, the subjects were abstained from any oral hygiene for twenty-one days. Records of the Plaque Index, Gingival Index and probing deplh were taken at baseline and at each week. Data showed that there was a small increase in the Plaque Index and Gingival Index for the four areas and that the degree of inflammation of the covered areas was higher in the area without relief

Detecção e diagnostico de agarramento em válvulas posicionadoras

Valve stiction, or static friction, in control loops is a common problem in modern industrial processes. Recently, many studies have been developed to understand, reproduce and detect such problem, but quantification still remains a challenge. Since the valve position (mv) is normally unknown in an industrial process, the main challenge is to diagnose stiction knowing only the output signals of the process (pv) and the control signal (op). This paper presents an Artificial Neural Network approach in order to detect and quantify the amount of static friction using only the pv and op information. Different methods for preprocessing the training set of the neural network are presented. Those methods are based on the calculation of centroid and Fourier Transform. The proposal is validated using a simulated process and the results show a satisfactory measurement of stiction.

Competição espacial no mercado de revenda da gasolina: uma análise nas principais cidades do Rio Grande do Norte

This study aims to analyze the relationship between average price with the concentration in the markets (municipalities) in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, is using a little tool applied to the Brazilian market is the spatial econometric model. A data base contains all the stations of the major cities in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and includes 142 observations on stations was used. Theoretical models predict the relationship between the number of competitors in a market and the average price; these theoretical models include: the monopolistic competition of Perloff and Salop (1985), and the search-theoretic, of Carlson and McAfee (1983) and Varian (1980). The empirical results showed that a higher density within a geographic area is associated with a lower average price, thus converging with the monopolistic competition model and with the search-theoretic of Carlson and McAfee (1983). The parameters varied little with the inclusion / exclusion of control variables, showing the robustness of them.

Influência da pressão e da vazão de concentrado sobre o desempenho de ultrafiltração no pós-tratamento de esgotos

Despite the numerous advantages resulting from the use of membrane filters technology, intrinsic limitations fouling process become relevant to its applicability. The control of operating conditions is an important tool to mitigate fouling and achieve good levels of efficiency. In this sense, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of transmembrane pressure and concentrate flow in the performance of ultrafiltration, applied to the post-treatment of domestic sewage. The process was evaluated and optimized by varying the pressure (0.5 and 1.5 bar) and the concentrate flow (300 and 600 L/h), using a 22 factorial design, in order to investigate the effects on the permeate flow and quality of effluents generated at each operating condition. We evaluated the following quality indicators for permeate: pH, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, turbidity, calcium and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). In all tests, we observed marked reduction in the permeate flux at the early stages, followed by a slow decline that lasted until it reaches a relatively constant level, around 120 minutes of filtration. The increased pressure resulted in a higher initial permeate flux, but the decrease of the flow with time is greater for tests at higher pressure, indicating a more pronounced fouling process. On the other hand, increasing the concentrate flow resulted in a slower decline in permeate flux with the filtration time. Regarding the quality of permeate, the transmembrane pressure of 0,5 bar was the one that allowed better results, and was statistically confirmed through the two-way ANOVA test with repeated measures, significant effect of pressure on the turbidity of the permeate. The concentrate flow, in turn, showed no significant influence on any of the quality parameters. Thus, we conclude that, from an economic and environmental point of view, it is more interesting to operate ultrafiltration membrane system with a lower concentrate flow associated with a low transmembrane pressure, since under these conditions will produce less waste, and the permeate will present lower concentrations of the analyzed constituent, especially lower turbidity.