The effect of water inorganic matrix in ibuprofen adsorption onto activated carbon for water and wastewater treatment

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e BioquímicaIn this thesis the ibuprofen adsorption onto activated carbon F400 was studied. Some of the chemical and physical properties of the carbon were studied, with two different particle sizes and one functionalized carbon. Through model solutions of natural and wastewaters, the influence of the pH and ionic strength was studied, varying also the ratio of monovalent and divalent ions. The integrated analyses of the chemical and the textural characterization of the carbons as well as the kinetic and isotherm studies performed, using non-linear models for the parameters calculation and respective fittings of the experimental data allowed the following conclusions: i) the carbon particle size has a significant influence on the adsorption, being the limiting step the external mass transfer for the smaller granulometry, while for the larger granulometry the process was governed by the internal diffusion; ii) increasing the basicity of the carbon surface (functionalized carbon) it was possible to obtain better removal ratios, so the chemical surface is relevant in this process; iii) adsorption at acid pH is primarily governed by hydrophobic forces and the compound removal is favored; iv) when electrostatic forces govern the reaction (pH 6-8) the adsorption greatly depends on the ionic strength, being favored when the adsorbent/adsorbate interactions are repulsive and disfavored when the interactions are attactive; v) for saline waters with high pH it proved disadvantageous the use of carbon with higher basicity, possibly because the two effects cancel each other out the functionalization has only proven effective when the pH and the ionic strength varied inversely; vi) the ibuprofen adsorption did not varied when the only parameter changed was the type of ion, the ions used were the calcium (which confers hardness) and the potassium (conferring salinity). Therefore, only the ionic strength seems to influence the compound adsorption and not the nature of the ions

Design Grammar - a pedagogical approach for observing teacher and student interaction.

Teacher and student interaction in a design-studio setting, also referred to as tutorial-learning or learning-by-doing, has been the blueprint of design education for decades. A crucial difficulty of design education is that the content of these meetings remains remarkably implicit. In this study we propose to explore the concept of Design Grammar as an observation framework for teacher-student interactions. Design grammar can be defined as the visual language used to design, i.e., the elements, and relationships between them, that are synthesized in the Form (understood as a unified structure of parts) of an artifact. In order to make this concept operational we developed a Design Grammar Model (DGM) which explicits the different elements involved in form-giving in design. We used the DGM to analyze the content of the interactions of junior Industrial Design students. We compared the results in terms of the student and teacher’s fluency in Design Grammar (DG), the criteria to evaluate fluency was: the frequency of references to DG, variety of references and articulation of DG elements. The main insight of our study was the observation that interactions with students with lower fluency in DG resulted in poorer performances from the teacher and therefore lower quality interactions

Soft skills in design education, identification, classification, and relations: Proposal of a conceptual map

Soft skills are interpersonal, social, and emotional competencies, transversal to various fields of knowledge and life. In the Knowledge Age, soft skills play an essential role in the differentiation of human work. Nevertheless, in design education, there are still few studies on soft skills. This study brings a conceptual map of soft skills in design education. It refers to a mixed-methods research conducted through a survey involving 93 teachers of high education design courses in 26 countries. We combined the survey results with a literature review analysis aimed at defining constructs and identifying their relationship. Finally, we propose a classification for soft skills as being Collective/Individual and Cognitive-Metacognitive/Interpersonal-Social. Our research recognises the connections and interdependence among skills, allowing us to settle different groups and establish relations among other skills. Furthermore, based on literature, we identified a hierarchy of gateways skills and high order skills and pointed out their connections. Additionally, a conceptual map was created, including the 20 primary soft skills in design education, their proposed classification, and the links between the skills. The result can help teachers and students know the primary soft skills in design education and develop teaching-learning approaches to acquire soft skills during their university training

Enveloping a day - persona visual mapping

The following article describes a Persona Method through Visual Clues (PMVC) in a learning setting performed in the course of Interface Design I, degree of Design, School of Arts, University of Evora, Portugal, in the academic year of 2021/22. The study follows a descriptive case methodology. The purposed PMVC concerns the project’s early stage and reveals how a mosaic assemblage of visual clues allows an itinerary on cohesive information acquisition in guiding the design project. The proposed PMVC allowed students to valorize life contexts when projecting a persona, enabling a strong focus on consumers and work contexts. Although working in fictionalized settings, the PMVC triggers the reasoning on the complexity of the contexts, deploying information that will deliver more reality into Personas

Relação entre Indução do Humor através da Música e Evocação de Memórias Autobiográficas

A relação que a música exerce na memória tem suscitado várias abordagens e interpretações. O interesse pelo tema tem vindo a evidenciar-se nos últimos anos entre a comunidade científica sobre diversos contextos, populações clínicas ou com características particulares, sendo em Portugal uma área de investigação recente. Este estudo realizado em laboratório possui um carácter experimental. Como metodologia utilizada, procedeu-se à aplicação do Inventário de Sintomas Psicopatológicos, o Inventário de Depressão de Beck, o Inventário de Ansiedade Estado e Traço, a Escala de Avaliação Emocional e a Escala Aceitando o Passado/ Relembrando o Passado e dois estímulos musicais distintos, que procuram induzir estados emocionais específicos no sujeito – tristeza e alegria. O objectivo, compreender de que forma influenciam a valência emocional das memórias autobiográficas evocadas perante a tarefa de Memória Autobiográfica. Os resultados demonstram que, em ambas as amostras os participantes invocaram mais memórias autobiográficas de valência emocional positiva, o que não permite a linearidade entre o procedimento de indução do humor e relação entre a valência das memórias. Concluímos que o processo de indução de humor e memória é um tema complexo que exige uma abordagem aprofundada no seu entendimento e concepção, particularmente na indução de estados de tristeza nos sujeitos. Contudo, encontramos evidências que suportam a noção de congruência entre indução de estados de humor positivos e evocação de memórias autobiográficas de valência positiva.The relationship between music and memory has aroused several approaches and interpretations. Interest in this subject has been evident in the last years among the scientific community on diverse contexts, clinical populations or with particular characteristics, being in Portugal a recent area of research. This laboratory study has an experimental character. As a methodology were applied, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Emotional Assessment Scale and the Accepting the Past/ Recalling the Past Scale, and two different musical stimuli, who seek to induce specific emotional states in the subject - sadness and joy. The purpose is, to understand how they influence the emotional valence of the autobiographical memories evoked towards of Autobiographical Memory task. The results reflect that, in both samples the participants invoked more autobiographical memories of positive valence, which does not allow the linearity between the mood induction procedure and the relation between the memory valences. We conclude that the process of mood induction and memory is a complex subject that requires a thorough approach in its understanding and conception, particularly in the induction of states such as sadness in the subjects. However, we find evidence supporting the notion of congruence between induction of positive mood states and recall of autobiographical memories of positive valence

Postpartum subcapsular liver hematoma: a rare complication successfully managed with conservative treatment

Subcapsular liver hematoma is a spontaneous bleeding between the Glisson's capsule and the liver parenchyma. It is a rare but serious complication of severe preeclampsia and/or HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzyme and low platelets) syndrome that can have devastating consequences, the worst being hepatic rupture with maternal death. A young nulliparous woman, at 34 weeks ‘gestation, was admitted for evaluation of new onset hypertension. The pregnancy was uneventful, yet at 32 weeks’ gestation a severe fetal growth restriction was diagnosed. She presented a high urine protein to creatinine ratio, then a pre-eclampsia without severity criteria was diagnosed. At day 3 of hospitalization, she presented with intense epigastric pain and vaginal blood loss, so an emergency c-section was performed with the suspicion of placental abruption. Eighteen hours postpartum she complained of intense diffuse abdominal pain radiating to the right shoulder blade. Arterial hypotension and obtundation was observed. A computerized tomography was performed and revealed the presence of a bulky perihepatic hematoma measuring 12×9×21 cm. The patient went into hemorrhagic shock and so massive hemorrhage protocol was activated. After a multidisciplinary discussion a conservative management was decided. Clinical and analytical improvement was observed, and she was discharged home on postpartum day-27. The diagnosis of subcapsular liver hematoma is challenging, but it is essential to be done in a timely manner. Thus, a high index of suspicion, a prompt diagnosis and a multidisciplinary approach are the key factors for a successful outcome

Rumo às histórias do design social no Brasil

The aim of this paper is to provide theoretical and conceptual referring to the examination of the historical paths of social design and the inflows in design education, with emphasis on the Brazilian context. After the elaboration of a synthesis on the historiographic strands of social history and microhistory, a brief overview is outlined around the discussions on the design history studies. Then, through a literature review, the introductory analysis of the social design approach in retrospect gives rise to the problematization around the emerging category of history of social design.  O objetivo deste artigo é ensejar as balizas teórico-conceituais referentes ao exame dos percursos históricos do design social e os influxos no ensino do design, com ênfase no contexto brasileiro. Após a elaboração de uma síntese sobre as vertentes historiográficas da história social e da micro-história, é traçado um breve panorama em torno das discussões sobre os estudos de história do design. Na sequência, por meio de uma revisão de literatura, a análise introdutória da abordagem do design social em retrospectiva oportuniza a problematização em torno da categoria emergente da história do design social

Identidade cromática de um ambiente urbano em Natal-RN, Brasil / Chromatic identity of an urban environment in Natal-RN, Brazil

Este trabalho revela a identidade cromática de um ambiente urbano na cidade de Natal-RN, Brasil, além de apresentar suas relações cromáticas que se estabelecem entre unidades edificadas e seu entorno. Para tanto, foi elaborado um mapa contendo as cores existentes no local, por meio de um levantamento in loco com a utilização de aparelho portátil para leitura de superfície

Boosting innovation and growth through the use of design

The question underpinning this study is: would the incorporation of design throughout every dimension of a company's business pursuing innovation result in higher levels of growth and competitiveness? The paper begins with a brief theoretical approach to the concepts of creativity, design and innovation and identifies some of the traditional company growth strategies. This paper provides, in the context of design management, a first empirical analysis on the relationship between company growth and the investments in design along the value chain, stressing the importance of the phase in which design gets applied for the first time (“momentum”). The empirical analysis was based on data captured from an online questionnaire on the Portuguese manufacturing industry. The multivariate data analysis focused on the analysis of variance and factor analysis. The pa- per has the merit to conclude that the companies growing more sharply apply design from generating ideas to processes and production and extending into the marketing phase

DESIGN MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE: DISCUSSION ABOUT HUMAN AND PROCESSUAL FACTORS

Com o objetivo de identificar os fatores relacionados com a Gestão do Design (GD) na prática, esta investigação realizou uma pesquisa-ação com cinco companhias brasileiras desenvolvedoras de produtos e atuantes em diferentes segmentos de mercado. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidas 22 atividades que envolveram gestores e colaboradores dessas organizações. As ações foram realizadas através de uma prática integrada em que estavam presentes, ao mesmo tempo, os integrantes das cinco empresas. Ao longo das implementações, foram identificados importantes fatores processuais (descritos como fatores críticos de sucesso, inputs e outputs) e humanos (denominados como vetores positivos, negativos e principais atores) compreendidos como influenciadores do processo de implementação da GD em companhias. Além deles, observaram-se distintos papéis dentre os envolvidos nos níveis estratégico, tático e operacional das companhias e os impactos que eles possuem na dimensão global das organizações. Desta forma, este artigo se propõe a discutir tais resultados e, ao final, busca fazer uma inter-relação entre eles.This research aimed to identify factors related to Design Management (DM) in practice, and carried out an action research with five Brazilian companies that make products and are active in different Market segments. We developed 22 activities that involved managers and employees of these organizations, which portrayed an integrated practice that involved all companies at the same time. Along these implementations we identified procedural and behavioral factors that influenced on the implementation of DM. Besides, we observed distinct roles among involved members, and specific impacts that they have on the organization. Thus, this article main propose is to discuss these factors and related all results