Production of metallic nanoparticles, from industrial residues, by the use of different types of reduction gases

The need to enhance and reuse existing materials on secondary sources of metals has had quite an impact in recent times. Several processes and technologies had being studied for recovery of raw materials from industrial waste generated. This study focuses on the possibility of waste reducing, from the galvanic floor covering industry, with the aim of obtaining micro or nano-particles of nickel or a nickel based alloy. Sludges from one galvanic treatment plant were used as base material in two conditions: as produced and after a hydrometallurgical treatment for metal concentration. Several reducing agents were used in this study: a synthesis gas from a polymer pyrolysis and solid polymer agents (PVC, HDPE and PP residues). Obtained products were characterised in terms of metallic particles production during the reduction treatment and by SEM/EDS analysis on the final products. A simultaneous differential thermal and thermogravimetric equipment (DSC/TGA) was used for the study of the reduction process with a reduction gas obtained from the pyrolysis of chlorine free PVC derived char. The obtained results show that it is possible to obtain small metallic particles, in the range of 60 to 240 nm, at 800 ºC. Reduction tests, by the use of a solid residue, were made in a laboratorial furnace with two independent heating zones. Best results were obtained with de-chlorinated PVC as a reduction agent with the production of metallic particles, in the range of 150 to 600 nm, at 800 ºC. For all the tested conditions the metallic particles were constituted by Ni and Cu with variable chemical composition

Trajectories in a space with a spherically symmetric dislocation

We consider a new type of defect in the scope of linear elasticity theory, using geometrical methods. This defect is produced by a spherically symmetric dislocation, or ball dislocation. We derive the induced metric as well as the affine connections and curvature tensors. Since the induced metric is discontinuous, one can expect ambiguity coming from these quantities, due to products between delta functions or its derivatives, plaguing a description of ball dislocations based on the Geometric Theory of Defects. However, exactly as in the previous case of cylindric defect, one can obtain some well-defined physical predictions of the induced geometry. In particular, we explore some properties of test particle trajectories around the defect and show that these trajectories are curved but can not be circular orbits.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

The Network of Epicenters of the Olami-Feder-Christensen Model of Earthquakes

We study the dynamics of the Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) model of earthquakes, focusing on the behavior of sequences of epicenters regarded as a growing complex network. Besides making a detailed and quantitative study of the effects of the borders (the occurrence of epicenters is dominated by a strong border effect which does not scale with system size), we examine the degree distribution and the degree correlation of the graph. We detect sharp differences between the conservative and nonconservative regimes of the model. Removing border effects, the conservative regime exhibits a Poisson-like degree statistics and is uncorrelated, while the nonconservative has a broad power-law-like distribution of degrees (if the smallest events are ignored), which reproduces the observed behavior of real earthquakes. In this regime the graph has also a unusually strong degree correlation among the vertices with higher degree, which is the result of the existence of temporary attractors for the dynamics: as the system evolves, the epicenters concentrate increasingly on fewer sites, exhibiting strong synchronization, but eventually spread again over the lattice after a series of sufficiently large earthquakes. We propose an analytical description of the dynamics of this growing network, considering a Markov process network with hidden variables, which is able to account for the mentioned properties.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures. Smaller number of figures, and minor text corrections and modifications. For version with full resolution images see http://fig.if.usp.br/~tpeixoto/cond-mat-0602244.pd

A new approach to implement a customized anatomic insole in orthopaedic footwear of lower limb orthosis

This paper concerns the development of a new approach for orthopaedic footwear to apply in KAFO orthosis (acronym for Knee Ankle Foot Orthosis). This procedure starts with full characterization of the problem with the purpose to characterize a plantar of a patient’s foot with polio. A 3D Scanner was used to collect their feet's data to produce an anatomic insole. After this step, the patient performs a study of his gait using a static and dynamic study with the aim of characterizing the parameters to improve quality in the footwear. The insole was produced using a 3D printing technology. It was essential to optimize manufacturing processes and it was developed a footwear prototype with innovative characteristics, which is 25% lighter, allowing the user to consume less energy in daily routines.This work is supported by FEDER funding on the COMPETE program and by national funds through FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 007136 and UID/CTM/00264.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tutorial TaxTools.

A ferramenta TaxTools foi desenvolvida pelo Laboratório de Inteligência Computacional (Labic) do Instituto de Ciência Matemática e de Computação (ICMC) da Universidade de São Paulo (USP), campus de São Carlos, SP, com o objetivo de auxiliar no processo de mineração de textos. Atualmente, ela tem sido mantida e evoluída pelo Laboratório de Inteligência Computacional (LabIC) da Embrapa Informática Agropecuária. Esse tutorial abrange apenas as opções disponíveis na TaxTools, que completam o processo de obtenção de uma taxonomia de tópicos (MOURA et al., 2008); como clusterização, cálculos de medidas intercluster e de joinability, métodos de podas, métodos de visualização de resultados e algumas opções auxiliares.bitstream/item/30572/1/doc104.pd

Caracterização de abóboras quanto aos teores carotenóides totais, alfa e beta-caroteno.

Esse trabalho teve como objetivo caracterizar variedades locais de abóboras de diferentes origens para os teores de carotenóides totais, alfa e beta caroteno.bitstream/item/57215/1/BPD-78.pd

Equação de intensidade, duração e freqüência da precipitação para a Região de Dourados, MS.

bitstream/item/38739/1/BP200744.pdfDocumento on-lin