Use of artificial neural networks to predict concrete compression strength / Uso de redes neurais artificiais na predição da resistência à compressão do concreto

Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials, being composed of different components with different properties, which makes the task of dosing and strength determination complex. Artificial Neural Networks is a tool that has the ability to generalize and learn from previous experiences that are provided by a previously built database. This work aims the implementation of RNA in determining the compressive strength of concrete of various ages. The input data is the material quantities and the output is the compressive strength. The results obtained are satisfactory and promising from the point of view of civil engineering. 

FRAGILITIES AND POTENTIALITIES IN THE ASSISTANCE NETWORK FOR PATIENTS WITH ORAL CANCER IN PALMAS, TOCANTINS, BRAZIL

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo verificar o conhecimento dos cirurgiões dentistas da rede de atenção primária, secundária e terciária do município de Palmas, Tocantins, acerca do fluxo de assistência aos pacientes com diagnóstico de câncer bucal no Sistema Único de Saúde, desde o início do tratamento até a sua conclusão. Para isso, foi aplicado um questionário semiestruturado aos grupos de profissionais envolvidos diretamente com a rede de atenção, avaliando o nível de entendimento dos cirurgiões dentistas sobre o fluxo de atendimento. Foram feitas as análises qualitativa e quantitativa. Os resultados da análise quantitativa mostraram que houve diferenças no entendimento dos profissionais dos grupos envolvidos na pesquisa em relação ao conteúdo abordado no questionário. Conclui-se que, no município de Palmas, existe a necessidade de uma maior integração entre os cirurgiões dentistas envolvidos na rede de atenção ao paciente com câncer de boca, e que a introdução de um programa de cooperação interinstitucional voltado a esses pacientes poderia contribuir com o fluxo de acompanhamento e com a qualidade de vida do doente durante e após o tratamento oncológico.   Palavras-chave: Neoplasias Bucais; Sistema Único de Saúde; Atenção à Saúde. ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to verify the knowledge of dental surgeons in the primary, secondary and tertiary care network of the city of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, about the care of patients with oral cancer diagnosis in the Unified Health System, from the beginning of the treatment to completion. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to the groups of professionals directly involved in the care network, evaluating the level of understanding of the dentists about the care. Qualitative and quantitative analyzes were performed. The results of the quantitative analysis showed that there were differences in the understanding of the professionals of the groups involved in the research, in relation to the content addressed in the questionnaire. It is concluded that, in the city of Palmas, there is a need for greater integration among dental surgeons involved in the care network for patients with oral cancer, and that the introduction of an inter- institutional cooperation program for  these patients could contribute to the follow-up flow and the quality of life during and after cancer treatment. Keywords: Mouth Neoplasms; Unified Health System; Health Care.The objective of this study was to verify the knowledge of dental surgeons in the primary, secondary and tertiary care network of the city of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, about the care of patients with oral cancer diagnosis in the Unified Health System, from the beginning of the treatment to completion. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to the groups of professionals directly involved in the care network, evaluating the level of understanding of the dentists about the care. Qualitative and quantitative analyzes were performed. The results of the quantitative analysis showed that there were differences in the understanding of the professionals of the groups involved in the research, in relation to the content addressed in the questionnaire. It is concluded that, in the city of Palmas, there is a need for greater integration among dental surgeons involved in the care network for patients with oral cancer, and that the introduction of an inter- institutional cooperation program for  these patients could contribute to the follow-up flow and the quality of life during and after cancer treatment

Antimicrobial activity of bleached cattail fibers (Typha domingensis) impregnated with silver nanoparticles and benzalkonium chloride

Typha domingensis (Cattail) fiber is a significant natural resource, abundant in cellulose. The study reports the useful utilization of T. domingensis fiber for physicochemical impregnation of silver nanoparticles and benzalkonium chloride, in the development of a material with antimicrobial activity. The fibers were pre-treated with alkaline hydrogen peroxide (bleaching) for partial removal of lignin, pectin and waxes. Subsequently treated in a solution of different concentrations of benzalkonium chloride and Tollens' reagent. The new materials obtained were carefully investigated for their structure and thermal stability, morphology and susceptibility to antimicrobials (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimuruim, and Salmonella enteritidis). Fourier transform infrared spectra showed the presence of benzalkonium chloride. The morphology analysis showed the silver nanoparticles on the surface of the bleached fibers. The susceptibility profile to antimicrobials was confirmed by the formation of inhibition halos (¿11.26¿mm). Based on the properties of the materials obtained, it can be concluded that the modified cattail fibers have the potential to be used as a functional filler, or coating, in the development of antimicrobial compositesPostprint (published version

Citrus Industry in Brazil with Emphasis on Tropical Areas

This chapter is a review on citrus-producing areas in Brazil with emphasis on the tropical zone. Considering the degrees of latitude, the citrus industry can be classified into four major regions: (1) South, represented by the State of Rio Grande de Sul with temperate climate; (2) São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Paraná States in the central part of the country, where the major citrus-processing industries are established under subtropical conditions; (3) Amazon basin, the northern part of Brazil around the Equator; and (4) Northeast, the typical tropical region. For each region, data are presented as to the geographical position, climate and soils, area harvested production volume and yield. A strong climatic influence on fruit quality can be observed. There is a tendency for fruits to be smaller in size, but with a longer maturation and life periods on the trees, as they are produced at increasing distances from the equator

Deep Learning Brasil at ABSAPT 2022: Portuguese Transformer Ensemble Approaches

Aspect-based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) is a task whose objective is to classify the individual sentiment polarity of all entities, called aspects, in a sentence. The task is composed of two subtasks: Aspect Term Extraction (ATE), identify all aspect terms in a sentence; and Sentiment Orientation Extraction (SOE), given a sentence and its aspect terms, the task is to determine the sentiment polarity of each aspect term (positive, negative or neutral). This article presents we present our participation in Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis in Portuguese (ABSAPT) 2022 at IberLEF 2022. We submitted the best performing systems, achieving new state-of-the-art results on both subtasks.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, In Proceedings of the Iberian Languages Evaluation Forum (IberLEF 2022), Online. CEUR. or

A RELAÇÃO ENTRE VITAMINA D E DOENÇAS AUTOIMUNES: QUAL O PAPEL DESSE PRÉ-HORMÔNIO NO ORGANISMO

Vitamin D, though commonly referred to as a vitamin, is actually a crucial pre-hormone for bone and immune health. This study investigates the relationship between vitamin D levels and the prevalence, severity, and progression of autoimmune diseases. The aim is to understand how vitamin D modulates the immune response and to evaluate the impact of vitamin D supplementation as an adjunct therapeutic strategy in the management of autoimmune diseases. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, covering the period from 2017 to 2024, using databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Ten articles directly addressing the relationship between vitamin D and autoimmune diseases were selected. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with various autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes. Vitamin D supplementation can reduce disease activity and improve patients' quality of life. However, there are controversies regarding adequate vitamin D levels and effective supplementation protocols, highlighting the need for further research. Vitamin D plays a fundamental role in modulating the immune system and in the prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Correcting vitamin D deficiency can help reduce disease activity and improve patients' quality of life, though further research is necessary to confirm causality and understand the underlying mechanisms.A vitamina D, embora comumente referida como vitamina, é na verdade um pré-hormônio crucial para a saúde óssea e imunológica. Este estudo investiga a relação entre níveis de vitamina D e a prevalência, gravidade e progressão das doenças autoimunes. Entender como a vitamina D modula a resposta imunológica e avaliar o impacto da suplementação de vitamina D como estratégia terapêutica adjuvante no manejo de doenças autoimunes. Foi realizada uma revisão literária abrangendo o período de 2017 a 2024, utilizando bases de dados como PubMed, Scopus e Google Scholar. Foram selecionados 10 artigos que abordam diretamente a relação entre vitamina D e doenças autoimunes. A deficiência de vitamina D está associada a várias doenças autoimunes, como artrite reumatoide, lúpus eritematoso sistêmico, esclerose múltipla e diabetes tipo 1. A suplementação de vitamina D pode reduzir a atividade da doença e melhorar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes. No entanto, há controvérsias sobre os níveis adequados de vitamina D e os protocolos de suplementação eficazes, destacando a necessidade de mais pesquisas. A vitamina D desempenha um papel fundamental na modulação do sistema imunológico e na prevenção e tratamento de doenças autoimunes. A correção da deficiência de vitamina D pode ajudar a reduzir a atividade da doença e melhorar a qualidade de vida dos pacientes, embora sejam necessárias mais pesquisas para confirmar a causalidade e entender os mecanismos subjacentes

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file