Contribution To The Study Of Measures For The Reduction Of Apparent Water Loss In Urban Areas

In Brazil, the average revenue losses of water utilities is around 36%. This value, resulting from high water losses, warns of the need for improvement in the efficiency of service providers, especially as regards the share of apparent losses which can represent more than 50% of total water losses. Focusing on this point, in this study was evaluated the influence of metrological class and the usage time of meters on under-registration, through study on pilot scale and tests in a laboratory scale. Thus, was proven significant reduction of apparent water losses due to the replacement of class B meters by the class C meters, and the economic viability of this investment. Furthermore, discoursed out about the interference of the use of water tanks and about the influence of tariff policy on the financial performance of the utilities and consumption of users.19324926

Natural phytochemicals and probiotics as bioactive ingredients for functional foods: Extraction, biochemistry and protected-delivery technologies

he well-known correlation between diet and physiology demonstrates the great possibilities of food to maintain or improve our health, increasing the interest in finding new products with positive physiological effects. Nowadays, one of the top research areas in Food Science and Technology is the extraction and characterization of new natural ingredients with biological activity that can be further incorporated into a functional food, contributing to consumer's well-being. Furthermore, there is a high demand for effective encapsulation methodologies to preserve all the characteristics of bioactive compounds until the physiological action site is reached. Scope and approach: In this review, the relevance of developing standard approaches for the extraction of the highly diverse bioactive compounds was described, as it defines the suitability of the following steps of separation, identification and characterization. Special attention was also dedicated to the encapsulation techniques used on hydrophilic and/or lipophilic compounds (e.g., emulsification, coacervation, supercritical fluid, inclusion complexation, emulsification-solvent evaporation and nanoprecipitation). Key findings and conclusions: Some useful conclusions regarding the selection of the best extraction methodology (Soxhlet extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, accelerated solvent extraction, or shake extraction) were achieved, considering important aspects such as cost, required technical skills, extract integrity, green chemistry principles, solvent type, sample size, pH, temperature and pressure. In addition, this comprehensive review allowed defining the best protective approach to solve the limitations related to the extremely low absorption and bioavailability of bioactive phytochemicals, overcoming problems related to their low solubility, poor stability, low permeability and metabolic processes in the GI tract.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tourism And Urbanization: Environmental Problem Of The Araruai Lagoon, State Of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

The Araruama Lagoon (Rio de Janeiro) is known for its scenic beauty and natural resources, factors that have led to the economic expansion of the region. In recent decades, tourism and property speculation have been key to the urban development of the municipalities surrounding this Lagoon. Using secondary data and a theoretical framework based on Political Ecology and Critical Environmental Education, this article seeks to analyze the correlations between the development processes of the towns surrounding the Lagoon and the impact of these processes on the environmental quality of its ecosystem. In recent years, the evolution of parameters studied revealed that the imbalance in terms of the sustainable development of the region has damaged the health of this body of water. Large quantities of fresh water, as well as domestic and industrial effluents discharged without appropriate treatment in the Lagoon, have overloaded the ecological system, with negative effects for the entire economy in the surrounding area.194598

CRESCIMENTO INICIAL DE MUDAS DE Clitoria fairchildiana Howard E Peltophorum dubium (Sprenge) Taub EM DIFERENTES CONDIÇÕES DE SOMBREAMENTO

Este experimento teve como objetivo avaliar a influência do sombreamento no crescimento de mudas de Peltophorum dubium (Canafístula) e Clitoria fairchildiana (Sombreiro), espécies utilizadas no reflorestamento de encostas do município do Rio de Janeiro. As sementes foram colhidas em diversas matrizes e semeadas em sacos plásticos. As porcentagens de sombreamento testadas foram: 0% (sol pleno), 30%, 50% e 75%. A instalação do experimento iniciou-se um mês após a semeadura. O parâmetro altura foi analisado aos 30, 60, 90, 120 e 150 dias após a semeadura. O peso da matéria seca da raiz foi analisado aos 150 dias. Os resultados demostraram que as espécies estudadas apresentam diferentes respostas para os parâmetros analisados. Para o plantio imediato recomenda-se a produção de mudas de Sombreiro sob o sombreamento de 30% e de Canafístula, sob sol pleno, 30% ou 75% de sombra. Na produção de mudas para estocagem, seria indicado para o Sombreiro, a produção a sol pleno e para Canafístula, as mudas poderiam ser mantidas sob 50% de sombreamento. Ambas as espécies podem ser plantadas sob pleno sol, 30%, 50% e 75% de sombreamento, sendo indicadas para a implantação de reflorestamentos ou para enriquecimento de área degradadas

Analysis of pancreas histological images for glucose intolerance identificationusing ImageJ-preliminary results

The observation in microscopy of histological sections allows us to evaluate structural differences, in pancreatic cells, between rats with normal glucose tolerance and with glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic) situation. Nevertheless, this pre-diabetic condition implies subtle changes in islets of Langerhans structure. This and the normal variability among sampled cells makes difficult the task of identifying glucose intolerance (pre-diabetic situation) with a low level of error. This paper presents preliminary results in the processing of histological pancreas images with the goal of identifying pre-diabetic situation in Wistar rats. The immediate goal of this work is to evaluate the performance of a classifier based in a morphometric measurement of the histological images and to assess the potential for image based automatic processing and classification. A set of 90 images, were used (58 from rats with normal glucose tolerance, and 32 from pre-diabetic ones). These images were segmented manually using ImageJ. This segmentation and area measurements have been speedup by the application of ImageJ macros which were defined for this purpose. The ratio, between the area of -cells and the islets of Langerhans , was used has the indicator of the prediabetic situation. Considering this feature, a receiver operating characteristic analysis has been performed. True positive rate, vs. false positive rate shows the predicted performance of a binary classifier as its discrimination threshold is varied

Automatic structures for semigroup constructions

We survey results concerning automatic structures for semigroup constructions, providing references and describing the corresponding automatic structures. The constructions we consider are: free products, direct products, Rees matrix semigroups, Bruck-Reilly extensions and wreath products.Comment: 22 page

(Un)targeted analysis to unravel critical interactions between sugars and phenolics in Strecker aldehydes formation in beverages

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characteristics of austenitic stainless steel nitrided in a hybrid glow discharge plasma

A nitriding process based on two distinct nitrogen glow discharge modes, with sample temperatures ranging from 380 °Cto480°C, was employed to treat the surface of austenitic stainless steel (SS 304). The temperature is controlled exclusively by switching the operation conditions of the discharges. First mode of operation is the conventional one, named cathodic, which runs at higher pressure values (1 mbar) in comparison to the second mode, named anodic, which runs at the pressure range of 10-3 -10-2 mbar. Cathodic mode is used to quickly heat the sample holder, by the high ion flux. On the other hand, in the anodic mode, due to the lower operation pressure, higher effective ion acceleration takes place, which allows deeper ion implantation into the sample surface. This hybrid process was thoroughly explored regarding the duty cycle and conditions of operation, to achieve optimal performance of the treatments, which led to the attainment of surface hardness for samples of AISI SS 304 as high as 20 GPa and improvements including higher elastic modulus and resistance against corrosion. Detailed comparison among samples treated by this process with others treated by conventional method was done using nanoindentation, Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and corrosion resistance testing

Controlling Factors Determining The Selective Hscn Addition To Double Bonds And Their Application To The Synthesis Of 7-isothiocyano-7,8-α-dihydro-bisabolene

The reactivity of terminal and trisubstituted double bonds of monoterpenes with HSCN has been examined by GC giving evidence that kinetics is responsible for the chemoselective addition to terminal double bonds in terpenes. The results show that the addition to the terminal double bond is about 17 times faster than for trisubstituted double bonds and that the presence of the first SCN group in the molecule prevents a second addition. The presence of a hydroxyl or methoxy group in the molecule, decreases the reaction kinetics. Based on these kinetic experiments a two steps synthesis of the natural product 7-isothiocyano-7,8-dihydro-α-bisabolene using bisabolol as starting material, was planned and successfully accomplished.125661666Drobnica, L., Kristían, P., Augustín, J., The Chemistry of the Cyanates and Their Thio Derivatives, , Saul Patai Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New YorkEdenborough, M.S., Herbert, R.B., (1988) Nat. Prod., p. 229Faulkner, D.J., (1994) Nat. Prod., p. 355(1993) Nat. Prod., p. 497(1992) Nat. Prod., p. 323(1991) Nat. Prod., p. 97(1990) Nat. Prod., p. 269(1988) Nat. Prod., p. 613Fraga, B.M., (1994) Nat. Prod. Rep., p. 533Piers, E., Young, B.W.A., Rettig, S.J., (1987) Tetrahedron, 43 (23), p. 5521Piers, E., Yeung, B.W., (1986) Can. J. Chem., 64, p. 2475Chenera, B., Chuang, C.P., Hart, D.J., Lai, C.S., (1992) J. Org. Chem., 57, p. 2018Da Silva, C.C., Almagro, V., Zukerman-Schpector, J., Castellano, E.E., Marsaioli, A.J., (1994) J. Org. Chem., 59, p. 2880Da Silva, C.C., Almagro, V., Marsaioli, A.J., (1993) Tetrahedron Lett., 34, p. 6717Martin, V.S., Woodward, S.S., Katsuki, T., Yamada, Y., Ikeda, M., Sharpless, K.B., (1981) J. Am. Chem. Soc., 103, p. 6237Rakels, J.L., Straathof, A.J.J., Heijnin, J.J., (1993) Enzyme Microb. Technol, 15, p. 1051Diveley, W.R., Buntin, G.A., (1969) J. Org. Chem., 34, p. 616Queiroga, C.L., Ferracini, V.L., Marsaioli, A.J., (1996) Phytochemistry, 42, p. 1097(-)Bisabolol (8) [(αS, 1S)-1-methanol-α,4-dimethyl-α-4-methyl-3-pentenyl-3-cyclohexene] was obtained from commercial candeia oil (CITRÓLEO - S.Paulo, SP, Brazil)Sullivan, B.W., Faulkner, D.J., Okamoto, K.T., Chen, M.H.M., Clardy, J., (1986) J. Org. Chem., 51, p. 5134Dubois, J.E., Lomas, J.S., (1971) Tetrahedron Lett., 7, p. 599Delay, F., Ohloff, F., (1979) Helv. Chem. Acta, 62, p. 326A sample of dihydrolimonene was kindly provided by Prof. Marcio C. S. de Mattos from IQ/UFRJ, RJ, Brazi