Maximal lactate steady state in swimming tethered

This study investigated whether aerobic capacity (AC) in tethered swimming corresponds to maximal lactate steady state (MLSS) and its correlation with 30 min (V30) and 400m (V400) free swimming velocity. Twenty-five swimmers were submitted to an incremental tethered swimming test (ITS) with each stage lasting 3 minutes, initial load 20N, with 10N increments and a 30s interval to collect blood samples and lactatemia ([La-]). The abrupt increase in [La-] against force (F) corresponded to AC (ACBI). The points obtained for [La-] against force (N) were adjusted with an exponential curve model to determine AC corresponding to 3.5mmol.l-1 (AC3.5) and 4.0mmol.l-1 (AC4.0). Later swimmers performed maximum exercise for 30 minutes (V30) and 400m (V400) in free swimming. After one week, nine swimmers performed three random 30 minute tethered swimming exercises with 90%, 100%, and 110% intensity ACBI MLSS. Comparisons between ACs (AC3.5, AC4.0, and ACBI) were made by the one-way Anova test. Pearson correlation was used for possible correlations between ACs and between ACs and V30 and V400 (p0.91) and V400 (r\u3e0.63). We can conclude that ACBI corresponds to MLSS and both individually determined. AC and from the fixed lactate concentrations (3.5 and 4mM) can be used to predict mean 30 minute and 400m free swimming velocity

QUALIDADE DE VIDA NO AMBIENTE DE TRABALHO POR MEIO DA CULTURA ORGANIZACIONAL ESPIRITUALIZADA

Objective: This study aims to investigate the attributes of organizational people management in order to demonstrate the impact of spiritualized organizational culture on quality of life in the work environment.   Theoretical Framework: This section presents the main concepts that underlie organizational culture, quality of life, and spirituality, with authors such as Schein, Ashmos, and Duchon, among others, who present the dimensions of analysis for these factors.   Method: The methodology adopted for this exploratory research involves the analysis of data from the PROGEP/FIA survey on the best companies to work for regarding the factors, characteristics, and dimensions attributed to spirituality and considered relevant to quality of life at work. The literature review aimed to identify the instruments being used and the results found in articles published in the last decade.   Results and Discussion: The main grouped results demonstrate that the terms evaluated are in line with the precepts of spirituality. Studies show that this type of analysis has been gradually used and increasingly valued, regardless of the segment or size of the company. However, it is known that there is no single standard of behavior or specific attributes of spirituality to be applied in any company. The review allowed us to identify that different methodologies present similar trends and can be used as guidelines for the creation and consolidation of a spiritualized organizational culture. All these elements can also be identified as important for classifying quality of life at work.   Research Implications: The practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed, providing insights into how the results can be applied or influence practices in the field of people management. The literature review of publications on the best companies to work for (PROGEP - FIA, 2014), assessment tools for well-being at work associated with spirituality in organizations (Siqueira, 2014), reports of practices to enhance quality of life, as in Pinheiro, Froehlich & Konrath, K. (2019); Formiga et al. (2019) and Ferreira et al. (2022),]. These implications may include different segments and sizes of companies. This preliminary study, however, involved 383 companies in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and hygiene sectors, both national and multinational, located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.   Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by presenting clear attributes that indicate how to improve people's quality of life and the working environment, regardless of the profile of the employees or the size of the company. The relevance and value of this research is evidenced by metrics that consolidate how to create a spiritualized organizational culture, based on values such as ethics and justice and applied through support for cultural and social diversity.Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio es investigar los atributos de la gestión organizacional de personas con el fin de demostrar el impacto de la cultura organizacional espiritualizada en la calidad de vida en el ambiente laboral. Referencial Teórico: En este apartado se presentan los principales conceptos que fundamentan la cultura organizacional, la calidad de vida y la espiritualidad, con autores de referencia como Schein, Ashmos y Duchon, entre otros, que presentan las dimensiones de análisis para estos factores. Método: La metodología adoptada para esta investigación exploratoria implica el análisis de datos de la encuesta del PROGEP/FIA sobre las mejores empresas para trabajar en relación con los factores, características y dimensiones atribuidas a la espiritualidad y consideradas relevantes para la calidad de vida en el trabajo. La revisión de la literatura tuvo como objetivo identificar los instrumentos que se están utilizando y los resultados encontrados en artículos publicados en la última década. Resultados y Discusión: Los principales resultados agrupados demuestran que los términos evaluados están en consonancia con los preceptos de la espiritualidad. Los estudios muestran que este tipo de análisis ha sido utilizado gradualmente y cada vez más valorado, independientemente del sector o tamaño de la empresa. Sin embargo, se sabe que no existe un patrón único de comportamiento los atributos específicos de espiritualidad que se aplique en cualquier empresa. La revisión permitió identificar que diferentes metodologías presentan tendencias similares y que pueden ser utilizadas como directrices para la creación y consolidación de una cultura organizacional espiritualizada. Todos estos elementos también pueden identificarse como importantes para la clasificación de la calidad de vida en el trabajo. Implicaciones de la Investigación: Se discuten las implicaciones prácticas y teóricas de esta investigación, proporcionando ideas sobre cómo los resultados pueden aplicarse o influir en las prácticas en el campo de [inserte el campo de estudio]. La revisión de la literatura de publicaciones sobre las mejores empresas para trabajar (PROGEP - FIA, 2014), los instrumentos de evaluación del bienestar en el trabajo asociado con la espiritualidad en las organizaciones (Siqueira, 2014), los informes de prácticas para mejorar la calidad de vida, como en Pinheiro et al. (2019); Formiga et al. (2019) y Ferreira et al. (2022),]. Estas implicaciones pueden incluir diferentes segmentos y tamaños de empresas. Este estudio preliminar, sin embargo,  involucró a 383 empresas pertenecientes al sector farmacéutico, cosmético y de higiene, nacionales y multinacionales, ubicadas en el Estado de São Paulo en Brasil. Originalidad/Valor: Este estudio contribuye a la literatura al presentar atributos claros que indican cómo mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas y el ambiente de trabajo, independientemente del perfil de los empleados o del tamaño de la empresa. La relevancia y el valor de esta investigación se evidencian en métricas que consolidan cómo crear una cultura organizacional espiritualizada, fundada en valores como la ética y la justicia y aplicada a través del apoyo a la diversidad cultural y social.  Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo é investigar os atributos da gestão organizacional de pessoas com o intuito de demonstrar o impacto da cultura organizacional espiritualizada na qualidade de vida no ambiente de trabalho. Referencial Teórico: Neste tópico, são apresentados os principais conceitos que fundamentam a cultura organizacional, a qualidade de vida e a espiritualidade, tendo como autores de base Schein, Ashmos e Duchon, entre outros que apresentam as dimensões de análise para esses fatores. Método: A metodologia adotada para esta pesquisa exploratória envolve a análise de dados da pesquisada do PROGEP/FIA sobre as melhores empresas para trabalhar em relação aos fatores, características e dimensões atribuída à espiritualidade e consideradas como relevantes para a qualidade de vida no trabalho. A revisão da literatura visou identificar ainda os instrumentos que estão sendo utilizados e resultados encontrados em artigos publicados na última década. Resultados e Discussão: Os principais resultados agrupados demonstram que os termos avaliados estão em consonância com os preceitos da espiritualidade. Os estudos demonstram que esse tipo de análise tem sido gradualmente utilizado e cada vez mais valorizado, independentemente do segmento ou do tamanho da empresa. No entanto, sabe-se que não existe um padrão único de comportamento ou atributos específicos de espiritualidade a ser aplicado em qualquer empresa. A revisão permitiu identificar que metodologias diferentes apresentam tendências semelhantes e que podem ser utilizadas como diretrizes para a criação e consolidação de uma cultura organizacional espiritualizada. Todos esses elementos podem também ser identificados como importantes para a classificação da qualidade de vida no trabalho. Implicações da Pesquisa: As implicações práticas e teóricas desta pesquisa são discutidas, fornecendo insights sobre como os resultados podem ser aplicados ou influenciar práticas no campo da gestão de pessoas,  revisão da literatura de publicações sobre as melhores empresas para se trabalhar (PROGEP – FIA, 2014), instrumentos de avaliação do bem-estar no trabalho associado à espiritualidade nas organizações (Siqueira, 2014), relatos de práticas de valorização da qualidade de vida, como em Pinheiro, Froehlich & Konrath, K. (2019); Formiga et al. (2019) e Ferreira et al. (2022), Essas implicações podem abranger diferentes segmentos e portes de empresas. Esse estudo prévio, no entanto, envolveu 383 empresas pertencentes ao segmento farmacêutico, cosmético e de higiene, nacionais e multinacionais, localizadas no Estado de São Paulo no Brasil. Originalidade/Valor:  Este estudo contribui para a literatura ao apresentar atributos claros que indiquem como melhorar a qualidade de vida das pessoas e o ambiente de trabalho, independentemente do perfil dos colaboradores ou do tamanho da empresa. A relevância e o valor desta pesquisa são evidenciados por métrica que consolidam como criar uma cultura organizacional espiritualizada, fundamentada em valores como ética e justiça e aplicada por meio do apoio à diversidade cultural e social

Overcoming inertia : drivers of the outsourcing process

Almost all managers have directly or indirectly been involved in the practice of outsourcing in recent years. But as they know, outsourcing is not straightforward. Outsourcing inertia, when companies are slow to adapt to changing circumstances that accommodate higher outsourcing levels, may undermine a firm’s performance. This article investigates the presence of outsourcing inertia and the factors that help managers overcome it. Using statistical evidence, we show that positive performance effects related to outsourcing can accumulate when circumstances change. This is then followed by rapid increases in outsourcing levels (i.e. outsourcing processes). We investigate what gives rise to these outsourcing processes through follow-up interviews with sourcing executives, which suggest five drivers behind outsourcing processes: managerial initiative (using outside experience); hierarchy (foreign headquarters); imitation (of competitors and of similar firms); outsider advice (from external institutions); knowledge sources (using external information). These five drivers all offer scope for managerial action. We tie them to academic literatures and suggest ways of investigating their presence and impact on the outsourcing process. Overall, we conclude that while economizing factors play a key role in explaining how much firms outsource, it is socializing factors that tend to drive outsourcing processes

Leafing patterns and drivers across seasonally dry tropical communities

Investigating the timing of key phenological events across environments with variable seasonality is crucial to understand the drivers of ecosystem dynamics. Leaf production in the tropics is mainly constrained by water and light availability. Identifying the factors regulating leaf phenology patterns allows efficiently forecasting of climate change impacts. We conducted a novel phenological monitoring study across four Neotropical vegetation sites using leaf phenology time series obtained from digital repeated photographs (phenocameras). Seasonality differed among sites, from very seasonally dry climate in the caatinga dry scrubland with an eight-month long dry season to the less restrictive Cerrado vegetation with a six-month dry season. To unravel the main drivers of leaf phenology and understand how they influence seasonal dynamics (represented by the green color channel (Gcc) vegetation index), we applied Generalized Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) to estimate the growing seasons, using water deficit and day length as covariates. Our results indicated that plant-water relationships are more important in the caatinga, while light (measured as day-length) was more relevant in explaining leafing patterns in Cerrado communities. Leafing behaviors and predictor-response relationships (distinct smooth functions) were more variable at the less seasonal Cerrado sites, suggesting that different life-forms (grasses, herbs, shrubs, and trees) are capable of overcoming drought through specific phenological strategies and associated functional traits, such as deep root systems in trees

Chemical and Sensorial Characterization of Tropical Syrah Wines Produced at Different Altitudes in Northeast of Brazil

Over the years, viticulture has expanded to new regions outside the temperate zones, such as Northeast Brazil, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Venezuela, characterized by the production of tropical wines. It is important for the productive sector to comprehend the effects of grapevine interaction with the characteristics of each new region on wines composition. In this study, the composition of wines of Syrah from two regions with different altitudes in Northeast Brazil were analyzed by different methodologies to characterize chemical compounds as sugar, acids, minerals, phenolics (anthocyanins, flavonols, stilbenes and condensed tannins) and the sensory profile. The wines of the Bahia region (1100 m of altitude) obtained high concentrations for chemical parameters related to color, monomeric anthocyanins, stilbenes and monomeric and oligomeric tannins. Wines of the low altitude region, Pernambuco (350 m of altitude) were characterized by higher concentrations of flavonols (kaempferol, isorhamnetin, quercetin and rutin) and polymerized tannins. The chemical composition of wines from the two studied regions was influenced by altitude. A trend towards higher concentrations in most for phenolic compounds analyzed was observed in wines from the higher altitude region during the two years of study. Regarding the sensory profile, fruity, floral, herbaceous and empyreumatic attributes aromatic obtained highest scores in wines of the 350 m altitude region, the other attributes were dependent on the year of harvest

Effect of solvent-dependent viscoelastic properties of chitosan membranes on the permeation of 2-phenylethanol

The viscoelastic behaviour of chitosan was followed by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) while the sample was immersed in gradient compositions of water/ethanol mixtures. The swelling equilibrium of chitosan membranes, both crosslinked with genipin or not, increased linearly with the water content. Increasing the water content, it was simultaneously observed a peak in the loss factor (around 25 vol.%) and a reduction of the storage modulus, which was attributed to the a-relaxation of chitosan. This was the first time that the glass transition dynamics in a polymer was monitored in immersion conditions where the composition of the plasticizer in the bath is changed in a controlled way. The water content at which tan d presented a maximum increased with both increasing frequency and increasing crosslinking density. The permeability decreased steadily with the ethanol content, reaching very low values around the glass transition. Therefore we hypothesize that conformational mobility of the polymeric chains may play an important role in the diffusion properties of molecules trough polymeric matrices.This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through funds from the POCTI and/or FEDER programmes and through the scholarship SFRH/BPD/34545/2007 granted to Ricardo M.P. da Silva. This work was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283) and also partially supported by the EU funded projects HIPPOCRATES (STREP - NMP3-CT-2003-505758) and PROTEUS (INTERREG III A - SP1.P151/03). The technical assistance of Ana Pinheiro in the execution of the DMA experiments is also acknowledged

A relevância da industria 4.0 para desenvolvimento do polo industrial brasileiro frente aos desafios: The relevance of industry 4.0 for the development of the brazilian industrial hub facing the challenges

A indústria 4.0 é o termo que convencionou a chamar a quarta revolução industrial e o conjunto de tecnologias disponíveis que permite a integração do mundo físico com o digital e traz uma série de desafios e transformações à economia, modificando a configuração das profissões atualmente no mercado. O objetivo geral do trabalho é analisar a Indústria 4.0 e os principais impactos no Polo Industrial Brasileiro. Essa pesquisa corresponderá a uma revisão de literatura, serão utilizadas as seguintes bases de dados: Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online), Portal de Periódicos CAPES, Repositório de Universidades Públicas e Google scholar. O total de artigos científicos consultados para a realização dos objetivos propostos na presente pesquisa, à revisão foram realizados com 202 artigos, descartados 162 artigos, e utilizados 40 artigos publicados a partir do ano 2012 ao ano de 2022. No que diz respeito à indústria 4.0 no Brasil, ela pode abrir novos mercados, aproveitar a inovação e aumentar a produtividade, especialmente nas economias em desenvolvimento. Nesse sentido, os governos apoiam a inovação e os ganhos adotando programas de incentivo, melhorando a infraestrutura e políticas que desafiam a difícil distribuição dos benefícios digitais. Assim, diante do exposto, as empresas que conseguirem se beneficiar dessa situação certamente alcançarão um novo patamar de produtividade e competitividade. É importante destacar que o setor enfrentará desafios científicos, tecnológicos, econômicos, sociais e políticos ao adotar o novo modelo. Ao final conclui-se que todo o conceito de Indústria 4.0 é inovador e através da implementação de estratégias e aplicação de princípios, embora árdua, é possível adaptar esta nova concepção e com isso melhorar todas as indústrias

Plasma-induced polymerization as a tool for surface functionalization of polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering: an in vitro study

A commonly applied strategy in the field of tissue engineering (TE) is the use of temporary three-dimensional scaffolds for supporting and guiding tissue formation in various in vitro strategies and in vivo regeneration approaches. The interactions of these scaffolds with highly sensitive bioentities such as living cells and tissues primarily occur through the material surface. Hence, surface chemistry and topological features have principal roles in coordinating biological events at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels on timescales ranging from seconds to weeks. However, tailoring the surface properties of scaffolds with a complex shape and architecture remains a challenge in materials science. Commonly applied wet chemical treatments often involve the use of toxic solvents whose oddments in the construct could be fatal in the subsequent application. Aiming to shorten the culture time in vitro (i.e. prior the implantation of the construct), in this work we propose a modification of previously described bone TE scaffolds made from a blend of starch with polycaprolactone (SPCL). The modification method involves surface grafting of sulfonic or phosphonic groups via plasma-induced polymerization of vinyl sulfonic and vinyl phosphonic acid, respectively. We demonstrate herein that the presence of these anionic functional groups can modulate cell adhesion mediated through the adsorbed proteins (from the culture medium). Under the conditions studied, both vitronectin adsorption and osteoblast proliferation and viability increased in the order SPCL!sulfonic-grafted SPCL < phosphonic-grafted SPCL. The results revealed that plasmainduced polymerization is an excellent alternative route, when compared to the commonly used wet chemical treatments, for the surface functionalization of biodevices with complex shape and porosity.The authors acknowledge funding from EU Marie Curie Actions, Alea Jacta Est (MEST-CT-2004-008104) and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (SFRH/BPD/34545/2007). This work was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283). The authors also acknowledge Dr. M.I. Santos and C. Serra for their assistance on the CLSM and XPS experiments

Mathematical model of brain tumour with glia-neuron interactions and chemotherapy treatment

Acknowledgements This study was possible by partial financial support from the following Brazilian government agencies: Fundação Araucária, EPSRC-EP/I032606/1 and CNPq, CAPES and Science Without Borders Program Process nos. 17656125, 99999.010583/2013-00 and 245377/2012-3.Peer reviewedPreprin

Surface phosphorylation of chitosan significantly improves osteoblast cell viability, attachment and proliferation

Chitosan biocompatibility is often associated with the structural similarities with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Although all of the GAGs are built from repeating disaccharide units and some of them contain N-glucosamine (the main hexosamine in the chitosan backbone), all of them also contain negatively charged functional groups. These charged units are believed to have a crucial role for the formation of proteoglycans and hence for key biochemical processes/signaling related to cell functionality and survival. Lack of these groups in chitosan structure could be the reason for the previously observed poor cell adhesion to this material. Herein, we report that plasma induced grafting of negatively charged phosphonic groups can induce remarkably distinguishable cell response and significantly improve the adhesion, proliferation and viability of osteoblast cells. The proposed plasma induced polymerization is a very simple and versatile method and can be easily adapted to other materials and different negatively charged units.The authors acknowledge funding from EU Marie Curie Actions, Alea Jacta Est (MEST-CT-2004-008104) and Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)(SFRH/BPD/34545/2007). This work was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283)