Análise por ultra-sons no controlo de condição

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Diagnóstico e avaliação da segurança de estruturas de madeira existentes

A utilização da madeira enquanto material estrutural é um aspeto abordado com algum receio ou até desconhecimento por parte dos elementos intervenientes no processo de construção civil, sendo ainda uma área pouco lecionada e muitas vezes excluída dos planos curriculares em Engenharia Civil. Assim sendo é importante o surgimento de trabalhos relacionados com esta matéria, relembrando ao sector da construção civil e ao ramo de estudo relacionado, que a madeira já teve e possivelmente voltará a ter um papel importante a desempenhar na área da construção. Um dos aspetos evidenciados nos estudos realizados consiste na importância da reabilitação de edifícios e do seu papel cada vez mais determinante na sociedade. Esta metodologia de intervenção apresenta-se muitas vezes como uma vantagem económica assim como contribui para a preservação do património arquitetónico e cultural, cujo valor histórico é incalculável. A importância da reabilitação de edifícios habitacionais nas zonas históricas, bem como de monumentos de grande importância cultural apresenta-se cada vez mais como um desafio devido à falta de conservação dos mesmos ao longo da sua vida útil, e da necessidade de preservar a identidade do local, beneficiando assim a qualidade do tecido urbano. Assim sendo, este trabalho apresenta um levantamento dos danos possíveis de ocorrer em elementos de madeira, dando especial destaque aos agentes patológicos e às consequências da sua atividade na madeira assim como às metodologias de inspeção e diagnóstico que poderão ser aplicadas em estruturas de madeira existentes, favorecendo assim a vertente da reabilitação ao invés da demolição. Estas metodologias recorrem a ensaios não destrutivos, como é exemplo o Pilodyn, o Resistógrafo, o Ultra-sons, etc., referindo também o recurso a ensaios destrutivos, cuja utilização terá de ser uma questão muito bem ponderada devido às consequências que implica. Por fim, apresenta-se um caso real de estudo em que se analisa um pavimento em madeira através da aplicação de metodologias de ensaio não destrutivas e destrutivas a amostras recolhidas. O objetivo será determinar o estado de conservação da madeira e algumas características físicas tais como a sua densidade e os módulos de elasticidade, sendo posteriormente efetuada uma análise estrutural. Os resultados obtidos permitem efetuar uma avaliação qualitativa do estado geral do pavimento sendo as principais conclusões que o pavimento se encontra atacado por parte de insetos xilófagos e apresenta problemas a nível de verificação a estados limite de utilização, deformação e vibração, fator que condiciona a possível utilização do pavimento.

Potencial de plantas estuarinas na remediação de produtos farmacêuticos e de cuidado pessoal

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, Perfil de Engenharia de Sistemas Ambientais

Étude comparative de l'anatomie des plaies de greffe de cornée par tomographie de cohérence optique (OCT)

Cette thèse porte sur l’étude de l’anatomie de la cornée après 3 techniques de greffe soient, la greffe totale traditionnelle (GTT) et des techniques de greffe lamellaire postérieur (GLP) telles que la greffe lamellaire endothéliale profonde (DLEK) et la greffe endothélium/membrane de Descemet (EDMG) pour le traitement des maladies de l’endothélium, telles que la dystrophie de Fuchs et de la kératopathie de l’aphaque et du pseudophaque. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse contribue également à démontrer l’utilité de la tomographie de cohérence optique (OCT) pour l’étude de l’anatomie des plaies chirurgicales la cornée post transplantation. Au cours de ce travail nous avons étudié l'anatomie de la DLEK, avant et 1, 6, 12 et 24 mois après la chirurgie. Nous avons utilisé le Stratus OCT (Version 3, Carl Zeiss, Meditec Inc.) pour documenter l’anatomie de la plaie. L'acquisition et la manipulation des images du Stratus OCT, instrument qui à été conçu originalement pour l’étude de la rétine et du nerf optique, ont été adaptées pour l'analyse du segment antérieur de l’oeil. Des images cornéennes centrales verticales et horizontales, ainsi que 4 mesures radiaires perpendiculaires à la plaie à 12, 3, 6 et 9 heures ont été obtenues. Les paramètres suivants ont été étudiés: (1) Les espaces (gap) entre les rebords du disque donneur et ceux du receveur, (2) les dénivelés de surface postérieure (step) entre le les rebords du disque donneur et ceux du receveur, (3) la compression tissulaire, (4) le décollement du greffon, 6) les élévations de la surface antérieure de la cornée et 7) la pachymétrie centrale de la cornée. Les mesures d’épaisseur totale de la cornée ont été comparées et corrélées avec celles obtenues avec un pachymètre à ultra-sons. Des mesures d’acuité visuelle, de réfraction manifeste et de topographie ont aussi été acquises afin d’évaluer les résultats fonctionnels. Enfin, nous avons comparé les données de DLEK à celles obtenues de l’EDMG et de la GTT, afin de caractériser les plaies et de cerner les avantages et inconvénients relatifs à chaque technique chirurgicale. Nos résultats anatomiques ont montré des différences importantes entre les trois techniques chirurgicales. Certains des paramètres étudiés, comme le sep et le gap, ont été plus prononcés dans la GTT que dans la DLEK et complètement absents dans l’EDMG. D’autres, comme la compression tissulaire et le décollement du greffon n’ont été observés que dans la DLEK. Ceci laisse entrevoir que la distorsion de la plaie varie proportionnellement à la profondeur de la découpe stromale du receveur, à partir de la face postérieure de la cornée. Moins la découpe s’avance vers la face antérieure (comme dans l’EDMG), moins elle affecte l’intégrité anatomique de la cornée, le pire cas étant la découpe totale comme dans la GTT. Cependant, tous les paramètres d’apposition postérieure sous-optimale et d’élévation de la surface antérieure (ce dernier observé uniquement dans la GTT) finissent par diminuer avec le temps, évoluant à des degrés variables vers un profil topographique plus semblable à celui d’une cornée normale. Ce processus paraît plus long et plus incomplet dans les cas de GTT à cause du type de plaie, de la présence de sutures et de la durée de la cicatrisation. Les valeurs moyennes d’épaisseur centrale se sont normalisées après la chirurgie. De plus, ces valeurs moyennes obtenues par OCT étaient fortement corrélées à celles obtenues par la pachymétrie à ultra-sons et nous n’avons remarqué aucune différence significative entre les valeurs moyennes des deux techniques de mesure. L’OCT s’est avéré un outil utile pour l’étude de l’anatomie microscopique des plaies chirurgicales. Les résultats d’acuité visuelle, de réfraction et de topographie des techniques de GLP ont montré qu’il existe une récupération visuelle rapide et sans changements significatifs de l’astigmatisme, contrairement à la GTT avec et sans suture. La GLP a permis une meilleure conservation de la morphologie de la cornée, et par conséquence des meilleurs résultats fonctionnels que la greffe de pleine épaisseur. Ceci nous permet d’avancer que la GLP pourrait être la technique chirurgicale à adopter comme traitement pour les maladies de l’endothélium cornéen.

Pesquisa das actividades antioxidante e antimicrobiana em extractos de plantas do género Plectranthus

O uso de plantas medicinais é uma tendência generalizada na medicina popular. O género Plectranthus pertence à família das Lamiaceae tal como a salva (Salvia), o manjericão (Ocimum) e a hortelã (Mentha), que apresentam uma grande diversidade de usos etnobotânicos. No presente trabalho, foram avaliadas as atividades antimicrobiana e antioxidante de extractos de cinco espécies do género Plectranthus: P. hadiensis (vd), P. madagascarensis, P. neochilus, P. verticillatus e P. barbatus. Os extractos foram obtidos por diversos métodos: infusão, decocção, ultra-sons, micro-ondas e maceração (10% m/v de planta seca) com dois solventes diferentes (água e acetona). O método de infusão permitiu obter a maior quantidade de extrato seco a partir da planta Plectranthus barbatus (22 ± 1,0 – 33 ± 3,0 mg/mL). A actividade antimicrobiana dos extratos obtidos foi determinada usando o método da difusão em poço e foi testada contra três bactérias Gram-positivas e duas bactérias Gram-negativas. Só os extratos acetónicos de P. madagascarensis, P. verticillatus e P. hadiensis (vd) demonstraram ser ativos e exclusivamente em bactérias Gram-positivas. O extrato de P. madagascarensis demonstrou a maior actividade antibacteriana com halos de inibição entre 23 e 36 mm. A atividade antioxidante dos extratos foi determinada qualitativamente usando o método do radical 2,2-difenil-1-picril-hidrazina (DPPH) em ccd obtiveram-se resultados positivos na maioria dos extractos estudados.

Compréhension des différences de distribution spatiale des anchois et de leurs œufs

La campagne PELGAS participe à la gestion du stock d’anchois du Golfe de Gascogne, en réalisant une évaluation directe à la mer de la biomasse d’anchois. Pour déterminer la biomasse totale, des appareils acoustiques envoyant des ultra-sons dans l’eau pour détecter les bancs de poisson sont utilisés. Ensuite des pêches sont effectuées sur les zones détectées pour déterminer la composition des bancs (espèces, poids, longueurs…). En parallèle, les oeufs d’anchois sont comptés. A partir des données récoltées de 2000 à 2015, j’ai pu réaliser des cartes de distribution spatiale des anchois et de leurs oeufs, ainsi que des analyses statistiques afin de comprendre les différences de distribution entre les deux. Il s’avère que les oeufs sont plus au large que les anchois, ce qui est dû à une question de poids moyen et de fécondité. Les anchois les plus gros seraient plus féconds et se localisent plus au large, d’où la répartition des oeufs plus éloignées des côtes que la biomasse totale d’anchois. La fécondité et le poids des anchois font parties des paramètres qui ont une influence sur la distribution des oeufs.

Development of a rapid and validated method for investigating the metabolism of scoparone in rat using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Scoparone (6,7-dimethoxycoumarin) is known to have a wide range of pharmacological properties. In this study, a rapid and validated ultra-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization quadruple time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-QTof-MS) method was developed to investigate the metabolism of scoparone in rat for the first time. The new method reduced the sample handling and analytical time by three- to six-fold, and the detection limit by five- to 1000-fold, compared to published methods. Far more metabolites were detected and identified compared to published data, which were preliminarily identified as scopoletin, isoscopoletin, isofraxidin, and fraxidin, respectively, when subjected to tandem mass spectrometry analyses. It is found that the metabolic trajectory of scoparone in rat focused on phase I metabolism which is obviously different from published results, and revealed a wide range of pharmacological properties of scoparone partly attributed to the bioactivities of its metabolites.

Improved ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight high-definition mass spectrometry method for the rapid analysis of the chemical constituents of a typical medical formula: Liuwei Dihuang Wan

Liuwei Dihuang Wan (LWD), a classic Chinese medicinal formulae, has been used to improve or restore declined functions related to aging and geriatric diseases, such as impaired mobility, vision, hearing, cognition and memory. It has attracted increasingly much attention as one of the most popular and valuable herbal medicines. However, the systematic analysis of the chemical constituents of LDW is difficult and thus has not been well established. In this paper, a rapid, sensitive and reliable ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight high-definition mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS) method with automated MetaboLynx analysis in positive and negative ion mode was established to characterize the chemical constituents of LDW. The analysis was performed on a Waters UPLCTM HSS T3 using a gradient elution system. MS/MS fragmentation behavior was proposed for aiding the structural identification of the components. Under the optimized conditions, a total of 50 peaks were tentatively characterized by comparing the retention time and MS data. It is concluded that a rapid and robust platform based on UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS has been successfully developed for globally identifying multiple-constituents of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. This is the first report on systematic analysis of the chemical constituents of LDW. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

LTCC ultra wide band filter

This article presents the analysis of ultra wide band (UWB) filler designed using a symmetrical three parallel coupled line resonator in low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) medium: The ground plane with an aperture incorporated in it improves the coupling. Based on circuit models, the designed UWB filter has been analyzed, and the results have been confirmed by experiments. The filter has been realized with Dupont LTCC tape DuPont 951 (that has dielectric constant of 7.8). Maximum insertion loss of the experimental filter is 1.5 dB. The group variation over the pass band of the filter is within 0.2 us. Dimensions of the experimental LTCC filter are 20 x 10 x 0.72 mm. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:2580-2583,2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26311

XRD and XPS studies on the ultra-uniform Raney-Ni catalyst prepared from the melt-quenching alloy

We present a novel method for preparing an ultra-uniform Raney-Ni catalyst, which includes melt-quenching, hydrogen treatment and leaching in an alkali solution. The resultant catalyst shows superior activity in the reaction of cyclohexanone hydrogenation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and XPS have been employed to characterize the catalysts. As demonstrated, the pretreatment with hydrogen caused a distinct phase transfer of the Ni-Al alloys, forming more of the Ni2Al3 component. In the subsequent leaching process, the Ni2Al3 component shows high activity and the resultant catalyst exhibits high surface areas and small pores. Moreover, metallic Al in the hydrogen-pretreated alloy appeared to be leached more easily and thus the aluminium species remaining on the catalyst surface is aluminium oxide predominantly, which serves as a matrix to stabilize active Ni species on the surface. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ultra-High-Resolution Observations of MHD Waves in Photospheric Magnetic Structures

This chapter reviews the recent observations of waves and oscillations manifesting in fine-scale magnetic structures in the solar photosphere, which are often interpreted as the "building blocks' of the magnetic Sun. The authors found, through phase relationships between the various waveforms, that small-scale magnetic bright points (MBPs) in the photosphere demonstrated signatures of specific magnetoacoustic waves, in particular the sausage and kink modes. Modern magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the lower solar atmosphere clearly show how torsional motions can easily be induced in magnetic elements in the photosphere through the processes of vortical motions and/or buffeting by neighboring granules. The authors detected significant power associated with high-frequency horizontal motions, and suggested that these cases may be especially important in the creation of a turbulent environment that efficiently promotes Alfvén wave dissipation.

Comparison of multiple-input single-output single-user ultra-wideband systems with pre-distortion

This paper presents a performance analysis of a baseband multiple-input single-output ultra-wideband system over scenarios CM1 and CM3 of the IEEE 802.15.3a channel model, incorporating four different schemes of pre-distortion: time reversal, zero-forcing pre-equaliser, constrained least squares pre-equaliser, and minimum mean square error pre-equaliser. For the third case, a simple solution based on the steepest-descent (gradient) algorithm is adopted and compared with theoretical results. The channel estimations at the transmitter are assumed to be truncated and noisy. Results show that the constrained least squares algorithm has a good trade-off between intersymbol interference reduction and signal-to-noise ratio preservation, providing a performance comparable to the minimum mean square error method but with lower computational complexity. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.