MUDANÇAS DE PARADIGMA NA TRIBUTAÇÃO CONTEMPORÂNEA

RESUMO As discussões acerca da capacidade de transformação da tecnologia tem sido cada vais mais numerosas. Apesar de se reconhecer as mudanças trazidas pela Quarta Revolução Industrial, há muitas temáticas acompanhadas por incertezas quanto ao que a tecnologia empregada nesta Revolução poderá impactar. A Tributação é um assunto cada vez mais discutido na seara das mudanças empregadas pela Quarta Revolução. Há ferramentas utilizadas para a aplicação da Tributação que já não estão mais trazendo a mesma eficácia e compatibilidade com as novas atividades desempenhadas, se comparadas a tempos anteriores. É como ocorre na Economia Digital. [...

Tourism teaching through cinema

O presente artigo é resultado do Projeto de Extensão Cinema e Educação, desenvolvido na Universidade Estadual do Paraná - UNESPAR – Campus Apucarana (FECEA), com parceria do Centro de Estudos Aplicados ao Turismo da UNESPAR campus Apucarana (CEETUR). Na região atendida pelo projeto em específico não se teve conhecimento de atividades semelhantes, fato este que fez com que houvesse muitos interessados em participar. No projeto se buscou atuar na prática analisando os benefícios do uso do cinema para a prática educativa. O presente artigo objetivou analisar esta relação especificamente para o curso de Turismo, verificando como esta ferramenta estava sendo utilizada pelos professores, visando assim melhor aproveitamento desta arte na área. Quanto a metodologia do estudo em questão trabalhou-se com encontros quinzenais durante os meses de maio e junho do ano de 2016. Os filmes foram selecionados considerando suas temáticas unindo conteúdos a serem trabalhados e discutidos, relacionando-os com as áreas envolvidas no curso. Os filmes apresentados foram: Diários de Motocicleta (2004); Falando Grego (2009); Iracema - uma transa Amazônica (1975) e Comer, Rezar e Amar (2010). Após cada exibição foram feitas discussões com um mediador e os participantes e aplicado um questionário avaliativo. Concluiu-se que muitas vezes o filme ainda estava sendo usado como motivação para introduzir determinados conteúdos, porém constatando-se haver alguns professores que relataram as experiências associando educação e cinema argumentando ser um instrumento interessante tornando as aulas muito mais produtivas e dinâmicas, ampliando a capacidade de reflexão dos alunos, despertando o senso crítico da realidade.The present paper is a result of an Education and Cinema Extension Project, developed at UNESPAR (Paraná State University) – Apucarana Campus (FECEA), in partnership with Tourism Applied Studies Center (CEETUR) of the same university. In the attended region there aren’t any records of similar activities, and because of that the project had plenty of enrolled interested people. In this project it has been aimed to analyze the benefits of cinema to the educative practice. Then this paper goal was to analyze this relation specifically for Tourism Course purposes and verify how this tool was being used by professors, in order to have a better exploitation of such art in this area. The methodology used was biweekly meetings during May and June of 2016. The movies were organized by theme and subjects to be discussed, relating them to topics and areas relevant to the course. The exhibited movies were: Diários de Che Guevara (2004), My Life in Ruins (2009), Iracema (1975) and Eat Pray Love (2010). After each exhibition a mediator proposed some discussions about the movie and it was applied an assessment form to each participant. It could be concluded that many times a movie was still being used as a motivation to introduce certain topics, but it was verified that some professors reported experiences connecting education and cinema, by claiming it is an interesting tool that makes the classes more productive and dynamic, expanding students’ reflection capacity and increasing their argumentative sense on reality

Assessing Driver Acceptability of the PROSPECT Systems

Final Event of the European Projects on the Traffic Safety of Vulnerable Road Users, TARRAGONA, ESPAGNE, 12-/10/2018 - 12/10/2018Acceptance testing provides knowledge on users' perception of the systems developed within the PROSPECT project, and an indication of their likelihood to purchase such a system. Results show a high likelihood of acceptance of PROSPECT systems. Participants were most positive towards the warning function, but also indicated a high likelihood of using the braking and steering functions

Pro-angiogenic approach for skeletal muscle regeneration

The angiogenesis process is a phenomenon in which numerous molecules participate in the stimulation of the new vessels' formation from pre-existing vessels. Angiogenesis is a crucial step in tissue regeneration and recovery of organ and tissue function. Muscle diseases affect millions of people worldwide overcome the ability of skeletal muscle to self-repair. Pro-angiogenic therapies are key in skeletal muscle regeneration where both myogenesis and angiogenesis occur. These therapies have been based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), exo-somes, microRNAs (miRs) and delivery of biological factors. The use of different calls of biomaterials is another approach, including ceramics, composites, and polymers. Natural polymers are use due its bioactivity and biocompatibility in addition to its use as scaffolds and in drug delivery systems. One of these polymers is the natural rubber latex (NRL) which is biocompatible, bioactive, versatile, low-costing, and capable of promoting tissue regeneration and angiogenesis. In this review, the advances in the field of pro-angiogenic therapies are discussed

Cell therapy with allogeneic or xenogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells in an experimental model of pulmonary emphysema induced by elastase instillation or cigarette smoke exposure.

A Doença Pulmonar Obstrutiva Crônica (DPOC) é caracterizada por uma limitação às trocas gasosas, associada a uma resposta inflamatória anormal dos pulmões a partículas e gases nocivos e representa um importante problema de saúde pública mundial. O enfisema, dentro do espectro da DPOC, apresenta como principal característica, o aumento dos espaços aéreos distais ao bronquíolo terminal, resultantes da destruição das paredes alveolares, sem fibrose pulmonar significativa. A fumaça de cigarro representa o principal agente etiológico relacionado à DPOC, sendo que cerca de 85% dos casos da doença obstrutiva pulmonar estão associados ao hábito tabágico. Apesar da incorporação de novas estratégias terapêuticas e de reabilitação, não se obteve até o presente uma forma de tratamento clínico eficaz. Neste contexto, as células estromais mesenquimais representam uma nova alternativa terapêutica interessante e promissora. O objetivo deste projeto foi avaliar a eficácia terapêutica resultante do emprego da terapia celular alogênica e xenogência com células estromais mesenquimais de tecido adiposo (ASC) em modelo experimental de indução de enfisema pulmonar por instilação de protease ou por exposição à fumaça de cigarro. Ao final dos protocolos de indução do enfisema pulmonar os animais foram tratados com células estromais mesenquimais oriundas do tecido adiposo de humanos, ratos, camundongos ou porcos. Foram realizadas análises de mecânica ventilatória, análises morfológicas e histológicas com material biológico dos diferentes grupos experimentais, como também a caracterização quanto aos marcadores de superfície e diferenciação celular in vitro ASC. A partir dos resultados obtidos nos testes respiratórios, não foi possível observar diferença entre os grupos controle e tratados, seja por instilação de elastase ou por exposição à fumaça de cigarro. Entretanto, para os animais do grupo pASC, expostos à fumaça de cigarro, foi observado melhora na morfologia pulmonar após tratamento com ASC de porcos. A análise diferencial das células inflamatórias presentes no lavado broncoalveolar (LBA) revelou a ausência de um quadro inflamatório característico de um enfisema pulmonar. As células isoladas das diferentes fontes apresentaram característica morfológica típica de ASC, capacidade de diferenciação nas linhagens adipogênica, osteogênica e condrogênica, como também apresentaram baixa contaminação por outros tipos celulares no teste de citometria de fluxo. O transplante alogênico e xenogênico de ASC representa uma proposição inédita em termos de terapia celular com células estromais mesenquimais em modelo experimental de enfisema pulmonar. Os protocolos para indução do enfisema pulmonar adotados não permitiram a detecção morfológica e funcional da doença. Da mesma forma, não foi possível verificar eficácia terapêutica das ASC no parênquima pulmonar dos animais, após a infusão de células alogências e xenogênicas. Em função destes resultados, deve-se considerar a necessidade de revisão dos protocolos, bem como a padronização dos parâmetros metodológicos para indução do enfisema pulmonar em modelos experimentais.Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterized by a limitation of gas exchange associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to harmful particles and gases and represents a major public health problem worldwide. Emphysema, within the spectrum of COPD, presents as the main characteristic, the increase of the air spaces distal to the terminal bronchiole, resulting from the destruction of the alveolar walls, without significant pulmonary fibrosis. Cigarette smoke represents the main etiological agent related to COPD, and about 85% of the cases of obstructive pulmonary disease are associated with smoking. Despite the incorporation of new therapeutic and rehabilitation strategies, a form of effective clinical treatment has not yet been obtained. In this context, mesenchymal stromal cells represent a new interesting and promising therapeutic alternative. The objective of this project was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy resulting from the use of allogeneic and xenogeneic cell therapy with adipose-derived stem cells (ASC) in an experimental model of pulmonary emphysema inducted by protease instillation or cigarette smoke exposure. At the end of the protocols for induction of pulmonary emphysema, the animals were treated with adipose-derived stem cells from humans, rats, mice or pigs. Ventilatory mechanics analyzes, morphological and histological analyzes with biological material of the different experimental groups were performed, as well as the characterization of surface markers and in vitro cellular differentiation ASC. From the results obtained in the respiratory tests, it was not possible to observe difference between the control and treated groups, either by instillation of elastase or exposure to cigarette smoke. However, for animals of the pASC group exposed to cigarette smoke, an improvement in lung morphology was observed after treatment with ASC of pigs. Differential analysis of the inflammatory cells present in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) revealed the absence of an inflammatory condition characteristic of pulmonary emphysema. Cells isolated from the different sources presented a typical morphological characteristic of ASC, differentiation capacity in the adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic lines, and presented low contamination by other cell types in the flow cytometry test. The allogeneic and xenogeneic ASC transplantation represents an unprecedented proposition in terms of cell therapy with mesenchymal stromal cells in an experimental model of pulmonary emphysema. The protocols for induction of pulmonary emphysema adopted did not allow the morphological and functional detection of the disease. Likewise, it was not possible to verify the therapeutic efficacy of ASCs in the pulmonary parenchyma of the animals after the infusion of allogeneic and xenogenic cells. Due to these results, consideration should be given to the need to review the protocols, as well as standardization of methodological parameters for induction of pulmonary emphysema in experimental models

Autotrophic Nitrogen Removal from Low Concentrated Effluents: Study of system configurations and operational features for post-treatment of anaerobic effluents

On a global scale, sewage represents the main point-source of water pollution and is also the predominant source of nitrogen contamination in urban regions. The present research is focused on the study of the main challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve a successful inorganic nitrogen post-treatment of anaerobic effluents in the mainstream. The post-treatment is based on autotrophic nitrogen removal. The challenges are classified in terms of operational features and system configuration, namely: (i) the short-term effects of organic carbon source, the COD/N ratio and the temperature on the autotrophic nitrogen removal; the results from this study confirms that the Anammox activity is strongly influenced by temperature, in spite of the COD source and COD/N ratios applied. (ii) The long-term performance of the Anammox process under low nitrogen sludge loading rate (NSLR) and moderate to low temperatures; it demonstrates that NSLR affects nitrogen removal efficiency, granular size and biomass concentration of the bioreactor. (iii) The Anammox cultivation in a closed sponge-bed trickling filter (CSTF) and (iv) the autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite in a sponge-bed trickling filter (STF). Both types of Anammox sponge-bed trickling filters offer a plane technology with good nitrogen removal efficiency.Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Board for Doctorates of Delft University of Technology and of the Academic Board of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.Sanitary Engineerin

DINAMICA EGO e Land Change Modeler para simulação de desmatamento na Amazonia brasileira: análise comparativa

Environmental modeling is an important tool that allows making hypotheses, diagnostics, predictions and simulations, as well as communicating scientific results clearly. Dynamic modeling of landscapes had an intense development in recent decades, along with the growing availability of remote sensing data, the popularization of GIS and the creation of methods for spatial analysis and simulation. This study compares the performance, flexibility and usability of two platforms for dynamic land-use modeling widely used, Dinamica EGO and Land Change Modeler. The comparison is based on a case study of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The softwares were calibrated for the period 1997 to 2000, with the same input data and similar parameters, and were used to simulate deforestation for the year 2003. We performed a compared validation of the results, using Kappa pixel-by-pixel indices, fuzzy reciprocal similarity and landscape metrics. The simulation performed by LCM showed better results for the first two validation methods, while DINAMICA EGO presented spatial metrics closer to the ones of the observed landscapes. It is concluded that both modelers generate coherent results, although with medium performance for the case studied. The softwares may serve to distinct purposes, being LCM best for end users who want a simplified tool for simulation, while DINAMICA EGO demands more knowledge from the user, but allows modification of the model structure, adapting it to specific needs.Pages: 6379-638

Effective input variable selection for function approximation

Input variable selection is a key preprocess step in any I/O modelling problem. Normally, better generalization performance is obtained when unneeded parameters coming from irrelevant or redundant variables are eliminated. Information theory provides a robust theoretical framework for performing input variable selection thanks to the concept of mutual information. Nevertheless, for continuous variables, it is usually a more difficult task to determine the mutual information between the input variables and the output variable than for classification problems. This paper presents a modified approach for variable selection for continuous variables adapted from a previous approach for classification problems, making use of a mutual information estimator based on the k-nearest neighbors