A teoria das restrições em um processo de fabricação da indústria na construção civil: um estudo de caso

Este artigo descreve a elaboração de uma proposta de mudança para melhoria do processo produtivo, realizada com base nos pressupostos da Teoria das Restrições. Segundo esta teoria, uma restrição é qualquer elemento que afete negativamente um sistema, dificultando a obtenção de um melhor desempenho em relação a sua meta, mas que também pode ser explorado de forma que se obtenha uma melhoria de seus resultados. O trabalho foi realizado em uma indústria de lajes pré-fabricadas localizada na cidade de Manaus (AM), e se restringiu à fabricação de vigotas treliçadas, quando se constatou gargalo significativo na linha de produção observada e gasto indesejável com horas extras. Para o aprimoramento do processo produtivo, foram coletados e analisados dados e aplicados os fundamentos da Teoria das Restrições, com a quantificação dos efeitos positivos a serem obtidos com a efetivação das medidas propostas. O texto discorre ainda sobre a Teoria das Restrições em si e aponta de que forma a sua aplicação pode resultar em ganhos mensuráveis nos processos da construção civil e em outros campos

Produtos alternativos para o manejo de doenças em frutos de mamoeiro pós-colheita / Alternative products for the management of post-harvest diseases in papaya fruits

Doenças de pós-colheita podem trazer importantes prejuízos, pois causam deterioração do produto e inviabilizam a comercialização do mesmo, devido à redução da qualidade dos frutos. No mamão, essas perdas podem ocorrer principalmente durante o armazenamento. Dentre essas doenças, podemos citar podridões causadas por fungos do gênero Colletotrichum, Lasiodiplodia, Fusarium, Phoma, Rhizopus, entre outros. Desse modo, para o manejo dessas doenças em pós-colheita, muitos agrotóxicos são utilizados de maneira indiscriminada e podem causar problemas de toxicidade aos consumidores e ao meio ambiente, além da pouca quantidade de produtos registrados disponíveis no mercado. Nesse contexto, o objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar o efeito direto de produtos alternativos sobre o crescimento micelial de C. gloeosporioides e verificar o potencial desses produtos como ferramentas para o manejo das doenças de pós-colheita em frutos de mamoeiro. Para o experimento in vitro, foram adicionados produtos comerciais à base de extrato de alga Ascophyllum nodosum nas concentrações de 0; 20; 40; 60 e 80 mL.L-1, fosfito de potássio nas concentrações de 0; 0,5; 1,0; 2,0 e 5,0 mL.L-1 e fertilizante organomineral nas concentrações de 0; 1,5; 3,0; 6,0 e 12,0 mL.L-1, separadamente, em meio de cultura (batata-dextrose-ágar) e avaliou-se o crescimento micelial de Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, causador da antracnose. No experimento in vivo os frutos foram imersos em solução contendo produtos alternativos à base de extrato de alga a 80 mL.L-1, fosfito de potássio a 50 mL.L-1 e fertilizante organomineral a 3 mL.L-1. Posteriormente, os frutos foram submetidos à câmara úmida por 48 horas e as avaliações se sucederam a cada 24 horas por oito dias. Além disso, realizou-se análises físico-químicas dos frutos após os tratamentos com os produtos alternativos, em relação aos seguintes parâmetros: coloração da casca, firmeza da polpa, pH, acidez titulável e sólidos solúveis. Os produtos comerciais à base de fosfito de potássio e fertilizante organomineral inibiram o crescimento micelial do C. gloeosporioides, enquanto que o produto à base de extrato de alga não foi capaz de reduzir o crescimento do patógeno nas dosagens testadas. A incidência das doenças em pós-colheita foi reduzida nos frutos tratados com os produtos alternativos no terceiro e quarto dia de avaliação e nos demais não houve diferença significativa. Os tratamentos utilizados foram eficientes para a redução da severidade das doenças de pós-colheita ao longo dos dias de avaliação. Quanto aos atributos físico-químicos, não houve diferença significativa entre os tratamentos indicando o potencial desses produtos para o manejo de doenças em pós-colheita de frutos de mamoeiro

Panoramic snapshot of serum soluble mediator interplay in pregnant women with convalescent COVID-19: an exploratory study

IntroductionSARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy can induce changes in the maternal immune response, with effects on pregnancy outcome and offspring. This is a cross-sectional observational study designed to characterize the immunological status of pregnant women with convalescent COVID-19 at distinct pregnancy trimesters. The study focused on providing a clear snapshot of the interplay among serum soluble mediators.MethodsA sample of 141 pregnant women from all prenatal periods (1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters) comprised patients with convalescent SARS-CoV-2 infection at 3-20 weeks after symptoms onset (COVID, n=89) and a control group of pre-pandemic non-infected pregnant women (HC, n=52). Chemokine, pro-inflammatory/regulatory cytokine and growth factor levels were quantified by a high-throughput microbeads array.ResultsIn the HC group, most serum soluble mediators progressively decreased towards the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy, while higher chemokine, cytokine and growth factor levels were observed in the COVID patient group. Serum soluble mediator signatures and heatmap analysis pointed out that the major increase observed in the COVID group related to pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-12, IFN-γ and IL-17). A larger set of biomarkers displayed an increased COVID/HC ratio towards the 2nd (3x increase) and the 3rd (3x to 15x increase) trimesters. Integrative network analysis demonstrated that HC pregnancy evolves with decreasing connectivity between pairs of serum soluble mediators towards the 3rd trimester. Although the COVID group exhibited a similar profile, the number of connections was remarkably lower throughout the pregnancy. Meanwhile, IL-1Ra, IL-10 and GM-CSF presented a preserved number of correlations (≥5 strong correlations in HC and COVID), IL-17, FGF-basic and VEGF lost connectivity throughout the pregnancy. IL-6 and CXCL8 were included in a set of acquired attributes, named COVID-selective (≥5 strong correlations in COVID and <5 in HC) observed at the 3rd pregnancy trimester.Discussion and conclusionFrom an overall perspective, a pronounced increase in serum levels of soluble mediators with decreased network interplay between them demonstrated an imbalanced immune response in convalescent COVID-19 infection during pregnancy that may contribute to the management of, or indeed recovery from, late complications in the post-symptomatic phase of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women

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

ATLANTIC-PRIMATES: a dataset of communities and occurrences of primates in the Atlantic Forests of South America

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co-occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data. © 2018 by the The Authors. Ecology © 2018 The Ecological Society of Americ

Statement of Second Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Ventilarion : part I

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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