Changing the characteristics of the nitrided layer using three different plasma configurations

Direct current (DC) plasma nitriding offers some disadvantages, especially in parts with complex geometries,where the presence of edges is significant, such as gears, molds, and needle punched parts are stronglyaffected by this effect, leading to irregular formation of nitrided layers and high variation in surface hardness.To solve these problems two techniques were developed as alternatives, namely: pulsed plasma nitriding andcathodic cage nitriding. In this work, these three nitriding techniques were compared using AISI 1045 steel assubstrate. Steel discs were nitrided with the purpose of evaluating the influence of these different plasmaconfigurations on the characteristics of the nitrided layer. The treatments in the three techniques were carriedout at the same pressure, temperature, time and gas atmosphere. The samples were characterized for themicrostructure, microhardness and crystalline phases present. X-ray diffraction with grazing incidence wasused to verify the order of the nitrites formed and to estimate the thickness of the single-phase layers.Differences between the configurations with respect to the occurrence of restriction rings, total thickness (xε+ xγ') and relative (xε/xγ') compound layers were observed.Keywords: Plasma DC; cathodic cage; pulsed plasma; nitriding; GIXRD

Inspeção ambiental baseada na nr-12: desenvolvimento de ferramenta e aplicação na área industrial

Knowledge of elements that involve the work environment are identified as one of the preventive ways to eliminate risks of environmental problems and exposure to agents unnecessarily to employees of the industrial environment. Given this situation, many practices to support the management of occupational health and safety are developed and verified by scientific means. The present work is the development of a checklist for assessment of compliance of the industrial environment as the elements recommended by the regulatory norm of number 12 of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The work was developed through research in the literature and the measurement model developed in a company providing services in the industrial area of the town of Mossoró, RN, especially for the Oil and Gas industry The results attest to the good practical employment of the suggested methodology and the possibility of better monitoring practices necessary legal compliance and the adoption of environmental control mechanisms efficientlyO conhecimento dos elementos que envolvem o ambiente de trabalho é apontado como uma das formas preventivas de se eliminar riscos de problemas ambientais e exposição de agentes de forma desnecessária aos colaboradores do meio industrial. Diante desse quadro, inúmeras práticas para suporte a gestão da saúde e segurança ocupacional são desenvolvidas e aferidas pelo meio cientifico. O presente trabalho consiste no desenvolvimento de uma lista de verificação para avaliação das conformidades do ambiente industrial quanto aos elementos preconizados pela norma regulamentadora de número 12 do Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego. O trabalho foi desenvolvido por meio de pesquisas na literatura especializada e com a aferição do modelo desenvolvido em uma empresa prestadora de serviços na área industrial da cidade de Mossoró-RN, em especial para a indústria do Petróleo e Gás. Os resultados obtidos atestam à boa prática do emprego da metodologia sugerida e a possibilidade de um melhor acompanhamento das práticas necessárias a conformidade legal e a adoção de mecanismos de controle ambiental eficiente

Perfil nutricional de pacientes oncológicos em duas Instituições hospitalares: Série de casos / Evaluation of the nutritional profile of oncological patients in two hospital institutions: case series

Mundialmente, o câncer é uma das Doenças Crônicas Não Transmissíveis (DCNT) com maiores índices de mortalidade. É caracterizado pela multiplicação celular desordenada, com capacidade de invadir tecidos e órgãos, provocando mais de 100 doenças. Essa patologia afeta diretamente a vida social, física e psicológica dos indivíduos acometidos, principalmente o estado nutricional e a qualidade de vida dos mesmos. Diante disso, o objetivo do presente estudo foi relatar o caso de quatro pacientes portadores de neoplasia, (mama, estômago e cabeça), de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 43 a 68 anos, através da análise de prontuários e laudos laboratoriais, antropometria e aplicação de questionários subjetivos. Com base na avaliação nutricional realizada, foi possível identificar pacientes com risco nutricional, sendo a maioria com perda de peso (moderada ou grave), dois pacientes com quadro de desnutrição, uma com uma possível anemia e três com redução nos níveis de linfócitos, além de vários sintomas nutricionais e redução da ingestão alimentar. Dessa forma, ao longo do tratamento oncológico, a avaliação nutricional é uma ferramenta importante para identificar os déficits nutricionais, possibilitando a escolha da terapêutica adequada e aumento da qualidade de vida do paciente

Processos de obtenção do extrato do trevo-vermelho enriquecido com isoflavonas e seu uso via oral como anti-inflamatório

Hospital de Clínicas de Porto AlegreUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulFarmáciaAgronomiaMedicinaDepositad

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high in-hospital mortality. Alveolar recruitment followed by ventilation at optimal titrated PEEP may reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and improve oxygenation in patients with ARDS, but the effects on mortality and other clinical outcomes remain unknown. This article reports the rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART). Methods/Design: ART is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized (concealed), controlled trial, which aims to determine if maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with ARDS compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). We will enroll adult patients with ARDS of less than 72 h duration. The intervention group will receive an alveolar recruitment maneuver, with stepwise increases of PEEP achieving 45 cmH(2)O and peak pressure of 60 cmH2O, followed by ventilation with optimal PEEP titrated according to the static compliance of the respiratory system. In the control group, mechanical ventilation will follow a conventional protocol (ARDSNet). In both groups, we will use controlled volume mode with low tidal volumes (4 to 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight) and targeting plateau pressure <= 30 cmH2O. The primary outcome is 28-day survival, and the secondary outcomes are: length of ICU stay; length of hospital stay; pneumothorax requiring chest tube during first 7 days; barotrauma during first 7 days; mechanical ventilation-free days from days 1 to 28; ICU, in-hospital, and 6-month survival. ART is an event-guided trial planned to last until 520 events (deaths within 28 days) are observed. These events allow detection of a hazard ratio of 0.75, with 90% power and two-tailed type I error of 5%. All analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: If the ART strategy with maximum recruitment and PEEP titration improves 28-day survival, this will represent a notable advance to the care of ARDS patients. Conversely, if the ART strategy is similar or inferior to the current evidence-based strategy (ARDSNet), this should also change current practice as many institutions routinely employ recruitment maneuvers and set PEEP levels according to some titration method.Hospital do Coracao (HCor) as part of the Program 'Hospitais de Excelencia a Servico do SUS (PROADI-SUS)'Brazilian Ministry of Healt

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Avaliação de acessibilidade digital: Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD)

A acessibilidade informacional digital é um tema fundamental na agenda do Instituto Brasileiro de Informação Ciência e Tecnologia (Ibict) para guiar os avanços tecnológicos do Brasil. Neste trabalho se avalia a acessibilidade do Portal da Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD), responsável por integrar os sistemas de informação de teses e dissertações existentes nas instituições de ensino e pesquisa do Brasil. Nesse contexto, a instituição promove a democratização dos serviços disponibilizados por meio de boas práticas nos seus ambientes web, de modo que permita a inclusão de pessoas com necessidades especiais no uso da plataforma virtual. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva e experimental com abordagem quantitativa, cujo objetivo é analisar a acessibilidade da BDTD, na qual se recorre à validação automática dos códigos HTML e CSS e aos avaliadores automáticos Access Monitor, ASES e WAVE. Como resultados se identificaram problemas de acessibilidade presentes em cinco páginas da BDTD: Página inicial, Pesquisa avançada, Sobre (Tede), Rede (como participar) e FAQ. Ressalta-se que, embora a análise automatizada de acessibilidade contribua para visualizar as barreiras existentes, para se adotar os procedimentos de correção e aplicação da acessibilidade é necessário o acompanhamento e análise dos gestores e desenvolvedores do portal.Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortiu