A new methodology to predict damage tolerance based on compliance via global-local analysis

Over the years several design philosophies to fatigue developed in order to combine structural safety and economy to manufacturing and operating aircraft process. The safe-life approach, which consists of designing and manufacturing a safe aeronautical structure throughout its useful life, results in factors that oversize the structural elements, preventing the possibility of failure and evidently leading to high design costs. On the other hand, the approach based on the damage tolerance concept, in which it is assumed that the structure, even whether damaged, is able to withstand the actions for which it was designed until the detection of a crack due to fatigue or other defects during its operation. Here, we propose a new methodology to the damage tolerance problem in which two-dimensional global-local analysis at different levels of external requests will be made by means of compliance, aimed at finding a relationship between fatigue life and the Paris constant. Moreover, the BemCracker2D program for simulating two-dimensional crack growth is used. This methodology has been proved to be an efficient and applied alternative in the damage tolerance analysis

Analysis of the Topics of Research of Brazilian Researchers Acting in the Areas of Engineering

The production and publication of scientific works have increased significantly in the last years, being the Internet the main factor of access and diffusion of these. In view of this, researchers from several areas of knowledge have carried out several studies on scientific production data in order to analyze phenomena and trends about science. The understanding of how research has evolved can, for example, serve as a basis for building scientific policies for further advances in science and stimulating research groups to become more productive. In this context, the objective of this work is to analyze the main research topics investigated along the trajectory of the Brazilian science of researchers working in the areas of engineering, in order to map scientific knowledge and identify topics in highlights. To this end, studies are carried out on the frequency and relationship of the keywords of the set of scientific articles registered in the existing curricula in the Lattes Platform of each one of the selected researchers, counting with the aid of bibliometric analysis features

Knowledge of family health program practitioners in Brazil about sickle cell disease: a descriptive, cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Although sickle cell disease is an important public health problem in Brazil, there is a gap in the literature on the level of knowledge of primary health care professionals about the treatment and management of sickle cell disease. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge about sickle cell disease of physicians and nurses who work in the Family Health Program in a region of Brazil with a high prevalence of this disease. METHODS: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted at the municipality of Montes Claros, in the north of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Study participants included 96 physicians and nurses who work at the Family Health Program in an urban area of the city. Data was collected using an original, partially tested questionnaire based on health care check points for children with sickle cell disease established in educational protocols from the State Health Secretary of Minas Gerais and the Ministry of Health. The structured questionnaire contained 47 questions addressing three axes: epidemiology (8 questions); clinical manifestations (13 questions); and management of children with sickle cell disease (26 questions). Knowledge was measured through mean correct responses to proposed questions. Ethical principles were respected and this project was approved by the Committee of Ethics in Research. RESULTS: 59.4% (57) of the study participants were nurses and 40.6% (39) were physicians. The median length of training and median length of service in primary health care were 4.3 (2.8-8.0) years and 4.0 (2.0-7.1) years, respectively. The mean performance in knowledge tests was < 75%, with 5.7/8 (SD = 1.4) for the "epidemiology" questions; 8.6/13 (SD = 2.2) for "clinical manifestations"; and 17.0/26 (SD = 2.9) for "management of children with sickle cell disease" questions; resulting in a mean total of 31.4/47 (SD = 5.10) correct responses. A statistically significant association was found between the number of correct responses and family health care qualifications (p = 0.015). CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to improve primary health care professional training in the care of children with sickle cell disease

ANÁLISE DOS TÓPICOS DE PESQUISA DOS PESQUISADORES BRASILEIROS QUE ATUAM NAS ÁREAS DE ENGENHARIAS

A produção e publicação de trabalhos científicos têm aumentado significativamente nos últimos anos, sendo à internet o principal fator de acesso e difusão destes. Diante disto, vários estudos sobre dados de produções científicas têm sido realizados por pesquisadores de diversas áreas do conhecimento a fim de analisar fenômenos e tendências acerca da ciência. Sendo que, o entendimento de como as pesquisas têm evoluído, pode por exemplo, servir de base para construção de políticas científicas visando novos avanços na ciência e ou impulsionar grupos de pesquisas a se tornarem mais produtivos. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho é analisar os principais tópicos de pesquisa investigados ao longo da trajetória da ciência brasileira de pesquisadores que atuam nas áreas de engenharias, com intuito de mapear o conhecimento científico e identificar temas em destaques. Para isso, são realizados estudos sobre a frequência e relacionamento das palavras-chave do conjunto de artigos científicos cadastrados nos currículos existentes na Plataforma Lattes de cada um dos pesquisadores selecionados, contando para tanto com o auxílio de características de análise bibliométrica.Palavras-chave: Tópicos de Pesquisa; Bibliometria; Plataforma Lattes

Sustainability-focused international PBL project:Rethinking digital education for individuals of low socioeconomic status

Providing access to education for individuals of lower socio-economic status is a significant way to reduce poverty, as it empowers them to grow as professionals and as individuals. Although there is an increasing sense of urgency to promote these changes, notably motivated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN 2030 Agenda, there are still few successful ways to solve this problem on a large-scale. As digital technology develops and affordability increases, new ways to share quality educational content are created. In an exploratory case study, with a qualitative approach, this paper presents the development of a digital application focused on providing quality educational content directed to vulnerable groups that lack access to formal learning experiences, specifically focused on waste pickers in Brasilia, Brazil. The main data collection methods used to make the decisions through the development process were observation, surveys, and interviews. Within the framework of Problem Based Learning (PBL) an international cross-disciplinary collaboration among different universities, the project, denominated “Mobile Education”, involved: (i) the design and implementation of a system consisting of both a web and mobile application; (ii) the research of a viable business model to provide long-term sustainability for the project; (iii) and the creation of a pilot course of financial education for the preliminary target group, i.e., waste pickers from Brasilia, Brazil. Conclusively, the project aims to positively impact social transformation for individuals who work at the Waste Sorting facilities and lack financial knowledge. The Mobile Education project resulted in a functional version of the app (Web and Mobile) as well as the delimitation of a viable business model to keep it providing digital equality in Brazilian education

Functional characterization of a putative Glycine max ELF4 in transgenic arabidopsis and its role during flowering control.

Flowering is an important trait in major crops like soybean due to its direct relation to grain production. The circadian clock mediates the perception of seasonal changes in day length and temperature to modulate flowering time. The circadian clock gene EARLY FLOWERING 4 (ELF4) was identified in Arabidopsis thaliana and is believed to play a key role in the integration of photoperiod, circadian regulation, and flowering. The molecular circuitry that comprises the circadian clock and flowering control in soybeans is just beginning to be understood. To date, insufficient information regarding the soybean negative flowering regulators exist, and the biological function of the soybean ELF4 (GmELF4) remains unknown. Here, we investigate the ELF4 family members in soybean and functionally characterize a GmELF4 homologous gene. The constitutive overexpression of GmELF4 delayed flowering in Arabidopsis, showing the ELF4 functional conservation among plants as part of the flowering control machinery. We also show that GmELF4 alters the expression of Arabidopsis key flowering time genes (AtCO and AtFT), and this down-regulation is the likely cause of flowering delay phenotypes. Furthermore, we identified the GmELF4 network genes to infer the participation of GmELF4 in soybeans. The data generated in this study provide original insights for comprehending the role of the soybean circadian clock ELF4 gene as a negative flowering controller