Evaluation of therapeutic ultrasound equipments performance

The therapeutic ultrasound (US) is one of the resources mostly used by physiotherapists; however the use of uncalibrated equipments results in inefficient or even harmful therapies to the patient. In this direction, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and the procedures of utilization and maintenance of US in use in clinics and Physical-therapy offices. A questionnaire with questions related to the procedures applied in service during the use of therapeutic ultrasound was applied to physiotherapists. The performance of 31 equipments of 6 different brands and 13 different models was evaluated according to the IEC 61689 norm. The parameters measured were: acoustic power; effective radiating area (AER); non-uniformity ratio of the beam (RBN); maximum effective intensity; acoustic frequency of operation, modulation factor and wave form on pulsate mode. As for the questionnaires, it was evident that the professionals are not concerned about the calibration of the equipment. The results demonstrated that only 32.3% of the equipments were in accordance with the norms for the variables power and effective radiation area. The frequency analysis indicated that 20% of the 3 MHz transducers and 12.5% of the 1 MHz contemplated the norms. In the pulsate mode, 12.7% presented relation rest/duration inside allowed limits. A great variation of the ultrasonic field was observed on the obtained images, which presented beams not centered, sometimes with bifurcation of its apex. The results allow concluding that, although used in therapeutic sessions with the population, none of the equipments presents all the analyzed variables inside technical norms. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

Avaliação do nível de ruído em colhedoras combinadas

O presente trabalho teve o objetivo de determinar os níveis de pressão sonora nas cabines de colhedoras combinadas, por meio do uso de um medidor de nível de pressão sonora. Foram avaliadas as colhedoras New Holland TC-57, SLC 6200 e Massey Ferguson 3640, sendo determinado o nível de ruído na cabine do operador. O delineamento adotado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com 12 tratamentos e três repetições. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que todas as colhedoras estudadas apresentaram ruído acima do nível máximo estabelecido pelas normas técnicas.

Métricas de desempenho para sistema de alarmes de processos industriais

The evolution of automation in recent years made possible the continuous monitoring of the processes of industrial plants. With this advance, the amount of information that automation systems are subjected to increased significantly. The alarms generated by the monitoring equipment are a major contributor to this increase, and the equipments are usually deployed in industrial plants without a formal methodology, which entails an increase in the number of alarms generated, thus overloading the alarm system and therefore the operators of such plants. In this context, the works of alarm management comes up with the objective of defining a formal methodology for installation of new equipment and detect problems in existing settings. This thesis aims to propose a set of metrics for the evaluation of alarm systems already deployed, so that you can identify the health of this system by analyzing the proposed indices and comparing them with parameters defined in the technical norms of alarm management. In addition, the metrics will track the work of alarm management, verifying if it is improving the quality of the alarm system. To validate the proposed metrics, data from actual process plants of the petrochemical industry were used

Analytical Methods Employed at Quality Control of Fuel Ethanol

The existence of organic and inorganic contaminants present in both fossil and biomass fuels and the fact that they can provide undesirable effects (environmental problems, corrosion processes, lead to storage instability, and others) implies a rigorous quality control of these fuels, although these contaminants make up a small part of the final fuel composition. Considering the rising importance of fuel ethanol in the worldwide panorama, this review aims at reporting the use of successful alternative analytical methods in the monitoring of organic and inorganic contaminants at trace levels, used to determine and to quantify these substances in fuel ethanol and also presenting all official norms for quality control of fuel ethanol employed by ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Norms), ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), and ECS (European Committee for Standardization).

Properties advanced of the silicon nitride based ceramics and recent performance on automotive parts manufacture by machining process: Advanced Ceramics, demand Forecast

Automotive parts manufacture by machining process using silicon nitride-based ceramic tool development in Brazil already is a reality. Si 3N4-based ceramic cutting tools offer a high productivity due to their excellent hot hardness, which allows high cutting speeds. Under such conditions the cutting tool must be resistant to a combination of mechanical, thermal and chemical attacks. Silicon nitride based ceramic materials constitute a mature technology with a very broad base of current and potential applications. The best opportunities for Si3N 4-based ceramics include ballistic armor, composite automotive brakes, diesel particulate filters, joint replacement products and others. The goal of this work was to show latter advance in silicon nitride manufacture and its recent evolution on machining process of gray cast iron, compacted graphite iron and Ti-6Al-4V. Materials characterization and machining tests were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Vickers hardness and toughness fracture and technical norm. In recent works the authors has been proved to advance in microstructural, mechanical and physic properties control. These facts prove that silicon nitride-based ceramic has enough resistance to withstand the impacts inherent to the machining of gray cast iron (CI), compacted graphite iron (CGI) and Ti-6Al-4V (6-4). Copyright © 2008 SAE International.

Planejamento e projeto de circuitos secundários de distribuição de energia elétrica por meio de algoritmo busca tabu

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Análise da acessibilidade e usabilidade de equipamentos médico-hospitalares para pacientes obesos da cidade de Bauru (SP)

Pós-graduação em Design - FAAC

Estudo dos problemas ergonômicos da posição sentada em bancários

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Trade Facilitation in Mercosur - the Most Important Regulatory Advances

As mentioned in FAL Bulletin No 167, "trade facilitation" is still a relatively imprecise concept covering a wide variety of topics, such as: customs issues; technical norms relating to quality standars and control of plant and normal diseases; transport; commercial information interchange and a variety of trade-related services.This broad scope means that an analysis of trade facilitation at the level of an individual country or trade agreement, entails obtaining data froma variety of public bodies, since they are not centralized. Studying trade facilitation in Mercosur is quite complex, given its considerable organizational decentralization and the geographic dispersal of the operations of its different bodies.This edition of our Bulletin covers progress achieved on customs issues and on technical standards and quality control.

Sistema hipermídia ajudando a construir a pesquisa escolar

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

Evaluación de la biblioteca universitaria brasileña : Situación actual y perspectivas

Trata de la evaluación de la biblioteca universitaria brasileña en el marco de la legislación y de la normativa del gobierno. Considera, desde un punto de vista teórico, las cuatro generaciones que establecieron las pautas de la evaluación en los últimos cien años, siendo que la última se refiere a los parámetros de modo negociado e interactivo con los partícipes del proceso. Presenta el Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Educación Superior (SINAES) creado en 2004, sus características y funciones, además de las modalidades e instrumentos evaluativos. En él, se pone de relieve la Evaluación de los Cursos de Grado (carreras), teniendo en cuenta que es donde se ve la posición de la biblioteca universitaria y las condiciones en que se la evalúa. Asimismo, se incluyen las actuales iniciativas que ocurren en el país, unas divergentes otras convergentes, siendoque las últimas son las que anuncian alguna posibilidad de establecerse (a) oficialmenteindicadores de rendimiento para las bibliotecas universitarias, por la labor de laAsociación Brasileña de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), y (b) la lucha por la creación de una red nacional de bibliotecas universitarias, a partir de un Forum de Dirigentes de Bibliotecas Universitarias en el ámbito de la Asociación Nacional de Dirigentes de las Instituciones Federales de Enseñanza Superior (ANDIFES), como una instancia de interlocución con el gobierno y de coordinación de las políticas y prácticas de planificación y gestión.

Evaluación de la biblioteca universitaria brasileña : Situación actual y perspectivas

Trata de la evaluación de la biblioteca universitaria brasileña en el marco de la legislación y de la normativa del gobierno. Considera, desde un punto de vista teórico, las cuatro generaciones que establecieron las pautas de la evaluación en los últimos cien años, siendo que la última se refiere a los parámetros de modo negociado e interactivo con los partícipes del proceso. Presenta el Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Educación Superior (SINAES) creado en 2004, sus características y funciones, además de las modalidades e instrumentos evaluativos. En él, se pone de relieve la Evaluación de los Cursos de Grado (carreras), teniendo en cuenta que es donde se ve la posición de la biblioteca universitaria y las condiciones en que se la evalúa. Asimismo, se incluyen las actuales iniciativas que ocurren en el país, unas divergentes otras convergentes, siendoque las últimas son las que anuncian alguna posibilidad de establecerse (a) oficialmenteindicadores de rendimiento para las bibliotecas universitarias, por la labor de laAsociación Brasileña de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), y (b) la lucha por la creación de una red nacional de bibliotecas universitarias, a partir de un Forum de Dirigentes de Bibliotecas Universitarias en el ámbito de la Asociación Nacional de Dirigentes de las Instituciones Federales de Enseñanza Superior (ANDIFES), como una instancia de interlocución con el gobierno y de coordinación de las políticas y prácticas de planificación y gestión.

Evaluación de la biblioteca universitaria brasileña : Situación actual y perspectivas

Trata de la evaluación de la biblioteca universitaria brasileña en el marco de la legislación y de la normativa del gobierno. Considera, desde un punto de vista teórico, las cuatro generaciones que establecieron las pautas de la evaluación en los últimos cien años, siendo que la última se refiere a los parámetros de modo negociado e interactivo con los partícipes del proceso. Presenta el Sistema Nacional de Evaluación de la Educación Superior (SINAES) creado en 2004, sus características y funciones, además de las modalidades e instrumentos evaluativos. En él, se pone de relieve la Evaluación de los Cursos de Grado (carreras), teniendo en cuenta que es donde se ve la posición de la biblioteca universitaria y las condiciones en que se la evalúa. Asimismo, se incluyen las actuales iniciativas que ocurren en el país, unas divergentes otras convergentes, siendoque las últimas son las que anuncian alguna posibilidad de establecerse (a) oficialmenteindicadores de rendimiento para las bibliotecas universitarias, por la labor de laAsociación Brasileña de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), y (b) la lucha por la creación de una red nacional de bibliotecas universitarias, a partir de un Forum de Dirigentes de Bibliotecas Universitarias en el ámbito de la Asociación Nacional de Dirigentes de las Instituciones Federales de Enseñanza Superior (ANDIFES), como una instancia de interlocución con el gobierno y de coordinación de las políticas y prácticas de planificación y gestión.

Estudo da adição de resíduos de quartzitos para obtenção de grés porcelanato

In States of Paraíba (PB) and Rio Grande do Norte (RN), northeast of Brazil, the most significant deposits of non-metallic industrial minerals are pegmatites, quartzites and granites, which are located in Seridó region. Extraction of clay, quartz, micas and feldspars occurs mainly in the cities of Várzea (PB), OuroBranco (RN) and Parelhas (RN). Mining companies working in the extraction and processing of quartzite generate large volumes of waste containing about 90% SiO2 in their chemical composition coming from quartz that is one of the basic constituents of ceramic mass for the production of ceramic coating. Therefore, this work evaluates the utilization of these wastes on fabrication of high-quality ceramic products, such as porcelain stoneware, in industrial scale. Characterization of raw materials was based on XRF, XRD, GA, TGA and DSC analysis, on samples composed by 57% of feldspar, 37% of argil and 6% of quartzite residues, with 5 different colors (white, gold, pink, green and black). Samples were synthesized in three temperatures, 1150°C, 1200°C and 1250°C, with one hour isotherm and warming-up tax of 10°C/min. After synthesizing, the specimens were submit to physical characterization tests of water absorption, linear shrinkage, apparently porosity, density, flexural strain at three points. The addition of 6% of quartzite residue to ceramic mass provided a final product with technological properties attending technical norms for the production of porcelain stoneware; best results were observed at a temperature of 1200°C. According to the results there was a high iron oxide on black quartzite, being their use in porcelain stoneware discarded by ethic and structural question, because the material fused at 1250°C. All quartzite formulations had low water absorption when synthesized at 1200°C, getting 0.1% to 0.36% without having gone through the atomization process. Besides, flexural strain tests overcame 27 MPa reaching the acceptance limits of the European Directive EN 100, at 1200°C synthesizing. Thus, the use of quartzite residues in ceramic masses poses as great potential for the production of porcelain stoneware.

Setting the Rules of the Game: Mega-Regionals and the Role of the WTO

Faced with a WTO in a state of paralysis, large developed trading nations have shifted their attentions to other fora to pursue their trade policy objectives. In particular, preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are now being used to promote the regulatory disciplines that were previously rejected by developing countries at the multilateral level. These so-called ‘deep’ or ‘21st century’ PTAs address a variety of issues, from technical norms, procurement, investment protection and intellectual property rights to social and environmental protection. Moreover, recently, developed countries have sought to negotiate PTAs which are large in scale, both in terms of economic size and geographical reach, including the so-called ‘mega-regional’ PTAs, such as the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the EU-Japan PTA, the Transpacific Partnership, and the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. These mega-regional PTAs are distinctive not just in terms of their sheer size and the breadth and depth of issues addressed, but also because some of their proponents readily admit that one of the central aims pursued by such agreements is to design global rules on new trade issues. In other words, these agreements are being conceived as alternatives to multilateral rule making at the WTO level. The proliferation of 21st century trade deals raises important questions concerning the continued relevance of the WTO as a global rule-making venue, and the impact that the regulatory disciplines promoted in such agreements will have on both developing and developed countries. This paper discusses the emerging features of an international trading system that is increasingly populated by large-scale PTAs and discusses some of the points of tension that arise from such practice. Firstly, it examines instances of horizontal tension resulting from the proliferation of PTAs, particularly the extent to which such PTAs represent a threat or multilateral trade governance. Secondly, it looks at an example of vertical tension by examining the manner in which the imposition of regulatory disciplines through trade agreements can undermine the ability of countries, especially developing countries, to pursue legitimate public interest objectives. Finally, the paper considers a number of steps that could be considered to address some of the adverse effects associated with the fragmentation of the international trading system, including the option of embracing variable geometry within the WTO framework and the need to develop mechanisms that provide flexibility for developing countries in the implementation of regulatory disciplines.