Platform for integrated monitoring data management applied to an instrumented slope in southern Brazil: Plataforma para gerenciamento integrado de dados de monitoramento aplicada a um talude instrumentado no sul do Brasil

The monitoring of slopes and geotechnical structures is fundamental for guaranteeing safety and improving the knowledge of soil behavior. This study evaluated the use of a platform for integrated monitoring data management applied to an instrumented slope. The slope, known as “Morro do Boi”, is located in BR-101 highway, in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The instrumentation was installed in 2012 during the execution of a stabilization system designed to contain an unstable soil mass, and allows the verification of positive and negative pore pressure, deformations of the soil mass and the precipitation. In addition, the structure, composed by passive anchors and flexible metal mesh, is monitored with crackmeters, strain gages and load cells. Until May 2018, the historical data comprising 6 years of monitoring was automatically registered by a datalogger hourly, with manual download. On June 2018, the remote dispatch of the data was implemented and the management of this information is done through a web-based platform. This tool has been extremely useful for the ease of visualization, data management and logistical efficiency, allowing the creation of a rapid alert system in cases of variation of some parameters that could trigger landslide

EMPREGO DA DIMENSÃO FRACTAL PARA SEPARAR CLASSES DE TEXTURA PRESENTES NUMA AEROFOTO DA CIDADE DE PORTO ALEGRE

Neste estudo, é investigada a utilização de uma medida chamada dimensão fractal para fins de classificação de imagens digitais. A dimensão fractal é capaz de quantificar as características espaciais das superfícies geradas a partir das imagens de sensoriamento remoto, especialmente a textura destas superfícies. Os valores de dimensão fractal são calculados pixel a pixel, segundo o método dos Prismas Triangu-lares e posteriormente organizados num formato matricial ou raster, em uma estrutura similar a uma ima-gem digital, podendo ser denominados de bandas fractais. Estas bandas fractais podem ser utilizadas de forma semelhante às tradicionais bandas espectrais em classificadores convencionais. Esta hipótese foi testada com uma aerofoto digitalizada da cidade de Porto Alegre - RS. Observou-se que as imagens fractais, embora apresentem qualidade visual inferior, proporcionam maior separabilidade entre as classes presentes e possibilitam a obtenção de índices de acerto maiores nas classificações, quando comparadas com a imagem espectral. USE OF FRACTAL DIMENSION TO SEPARATE TEXTURAL CLASSES IN AN AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE CITY OF PORTO ALEGRE Abstract Interest is currently growing in the use of spatial attributes for automatic classification of digital images, as is clearly demonstrated by the increasing number of scientific papers on the topic. The reason for this interest is that some classes in natural scenes are not easily distinguished by the spectral features (urban areas, for instance). Urban areas, in particular, are better defined by spatial attributes, such as texture. This research explores the use of fractal dimension to characterize and separate textural classes present in an aerial photograph of Porto Alegre, capital city of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The fractal dimension can be considered as a measure of the spatial complexity of surfaces generated from remotely-sensed images and it is calculated here over moving windows with 7x7 and 9x9 pixels, using the Triangular Prism method. By using a moving window, it was possible to organise the data in a format similar to that used in spectral bands, thus obtaining fractal-dimension bands, which were converted to digital counter values (between 0 and 255). The Bhattacharya distance was used to estimate the separability between pairs of classes, and Gaussian maximum likelihood was used to classify pixels in the images composed of both fractal and spectral bands. The stronger differentiation between classes, together with the high percentage of successes in test samples, shows that the fractal approach can be useful in automatic classification procedures and in situations where the spectral information alone is not sufficient to distinguish the classes successfully

Abstracts

Tradução, para a língua inglesa, dos artigos publicados nesta edição

Tradução, adaptação cultural e validação do questionário Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT): 22 para a Língua Portuguesa (BR)

Quality of life questionnaires have been increasingly used in clinical trials to help establish the impact of medical intervention or to assess the outcome of health care services. Among disease-specific outcome measures, SNOT-22 was considered the most suitable tool for assessing chronic rhinosinusitis and patients with nasal polyps. AIMS: To perform translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the SNOT-22 to Brazilian Portuguese. METHODS: Prospective study involving eighty-nine patients with chronic rhinosinusitis or nasal polyps submitted to functional endoscopic sinus surgery, who answered the questionnaire before and after surgery. Furthermore, 113 volunteers without sinonasal disease also answered the questionnaire. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, measure validity, responsiveness and clinical interpretability were assessed. RESULTS: Mean preoperative, postoperative and no sinonasal disease scores were 62.39, 23.09 and 11.42, respectively (p<0.0001); showing validity and responsiveness. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.9276). Reliability was sufficiently good, considering inter-interviewers (r=0.81) and intra-interviewers within a 10 to 14 day-interval (r=0.72). Surgery effect size was 1.55. Minimally important difference was 14 points; and scores up to 10 points were considered normal. CONCLUSION: The Brazilian Portuguese SNOT-22 version is a valid instrument to assess patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps.Os questionários de qualidade de vida têm sido utilizados para determinar o impacto promovido por uma intervenção ou avaliar os resultados dos serviços de saúde. Dentre os questionários específicos, o SNOT-22 foi considerado o mais adequado para avaliar pacientes com rinossinusite crônica (RSC) e polipose nasossinusal (PNS). OBJETIVO: Realizar a tradução, adaptação cultural e validação do SNOT-22 para o Português Brasileiro (BR). MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Estudo prospectivo com 89 pacientes no pré e pós-operatório de cirurgia endoscópica nasossinusal por RSC ou PNS e 113 voluntários sem doença nasossinusal. RESULTADOS: O escore médio no pré-operatório foi de 62,39 pontos; no pós-operatório, de 23,09 e dos sem doença nasossinusal, de 11,42 (p<0,0001), mostrando a validade e responsividade. A consistência interna foi alta (alfa de Cronbach de 0,9276). A reprodutibilidade foi suficiente na aplicação interentrevistadores (r=0,81) e intraentrevistadores com 10 a 14 dias de intervalo (r=0,72). O tamanho de efeito da cirurgia foi de 1,55. A diferença minimamente importante foi de 14 pontos e escores até 10 pontos foram considerados como normais. CONCLUSÃO: A versão para Português Brasileiro do questionário SNOT-22 é um instrumento válido para avaliar pacientes com RSC e PNS.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM) ENT Residency ProgramPUC-SorocabaUNIFESP-EPM ENT ResidentUNIFESP-EPMUNIFESP-EPM ENTUNIFESP-EPM Rhino-LaryngologyUNIFESP-EPM Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck SurgeryUNIFESP, EPM, ENT Residency ProgramUNIFESP, EPM ENT ResidentUNIFESP-EPMUNIFESP, EPM ENTUNIFESP, EPM Rhino-LaryngologyUNIFESP, EPM Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck SurgerySciEL

NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS E EFICIÊNCIA DA PRESTAÇÃO JURISDICIONAL

Este artigo trata do impacto de novas tecnologias para a prestação de serviços jurisdicionais e oseu reflexo no atendimento ao direito fundamental à razoável duração do processo. Instrumentose ferramentas de tecnologia da informação podem tornar mais eficiente o processo de mediação,contribuindo para a solução abreviada e autocompositiva das controvérsias, desafogando o sistemade Justiça

Proposal of a Conditioning Activity Model on Sprint Swimming Performance

This study aimed to propose a conditioning activity (CA) model to stimulate improvement on neuromuscular responses, mechanical parameters and for the 50-m freestyle swimming. Thirteen male swimmers (19 ± 3 years and performances of 77% in relation to World Championship records) performed four CA protocols followed by a maximum performance in the 50-m freestyle. In the first protocol (P1) swimmers performed a standard warm-up (∼15 min); in the second protocol (P2) lunges (3 × 85% of the one-repetition maximum); in the third (P3) pull-ups (3 maximum repetitions) and box jumps 40 cm high and 60 cm deep (1 × 5 with 10% of the corporal weight); and in the fourth protocol (P4) a combination of exercises from the second and third protocols. CA protocols had no effect on the standard warm-up. However, P2 performance (27.01 ± 1.25 s) was similar to P1 (27.01 ± 1.18 s) and presented higher positive effects in mechanical parameters for the swim start performance in comparison to other protocols, contributing to improvements in the 50-m freestyle. In addition, turnaround time also had a negative effect, mainly in P3 (3.12 ± 0.28 s), signaling the improvement of this variable in all protocols (P1: 3.30 ± 0.38 s; P2: 3.17 ± 0.30 s; P4: 3.17 ± 0.34 s). P2 (after: 80 ± 11%; before: 82.7 ± 9.9%) and P3 (after: 82.7 ± 9.9%; before: 85.1 ± 9.7%) presented a possible positive effect on the percentage of voluntary activation in relation to P1 (after: 79.3 ± 10.7%; before: 76.3 ± 12%). In conclusion, the proposed conditioning activity protocols were not efficient for performance improvement in the 50-m freestyle compared to the standard model and seem to specifically influence each phase of the event

Hydration with sodium bicarbonate does not prevent contrast nephropathy: a multicenter clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Radiographic contrast media exposition can cause acute renal function impairment. There is limited and conflicting evidence that hydration with sodium bicarbonate prevents contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. OBJECTIVE: The present study was aimed at determining whether sodium bicarbonate is superior to hydration with saline to prevent nephropathy in patients at risk undergoing cardiac catheterization. METHODS: Three hundred and one patients undergoing coronary angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention with serum creatinine > 1.2mg/dL or glomerular filtration rate (GFR) 1,2 mg/dL ou Taxa de Filtração Glomerular (TFG) < 50 mL/min, foram randomizados para receber hidratação com bicarbonato de sódio a partir de 1 hora antes do procedimento, e 6 horas após o procedimento, ou hidratação com solução salina a 0,9%. A NIC foi definida como um aumento de 0,5 mg/dL na creatinina em 48h. RESULTADOS: Dezoito pacientes (5,9%) desenvolveram nefropatia induzida por contraste: 9 pacientes no grupo do bicarbonato (6,1%) e 9 pacientes no grupo da solução salina (6,0%), p = 0,97. A variação na creatinina sérica foi semelhante em ambos os grupos, 0,01 ± 0,26 mg/dL no grupo do bicarbonato, e 0,01 ± 0,35 mg/dL no grupo da solução salina, p = 0,9. Não foi observada diferença estatística entre a alteração na taxa de filtração glomerular (0,89 ± 9 mL/ min vs. 2,29 ± 10 mL/min, p = 0,2, grupo do bicarbonato e grupo da solução salina, respectivamente). CONCLUSÃO: A hidratação com bicarbonato de sódio não foi superior ao soro fisiológico na prevenção a nefropatia induzida pelo contraste, em pacientes de risco submetidos a cateterismo cardíaco.PUCRS Hospital São LucasUNIFESP Hospital São PauloHospital São CamiloHospital General de PueblaHospital da UnimedHospital Intercath MeridionalUFRGSUNIFESP, Hospital São PauloSciEL

Poultry offal meal in broiler chicken feed

An outstanding feature of poultry production that provides animal protein yield for human feeding is its short production cycle. This characteristic has a linear relationship with waste production. Increasing the inclusion of this residue in diets in the near future is desirable in step with the growth of poultry production since it offers a better environmental and nutritional alternative to current methods. We evaluated the effects on the performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens produced by the inclusion of poultry offal meal (POM) in their feed. Treatments consisted of a control diet (corn, Zea mays and soybean, Glycine max) and four diets with inclusion of 30, 60, 90 and 120 g kg-1 of POM. The diets were formulated based on the level of digestible amino acid once categorized as isocalcic, isophosphoric, isosodic, isoenergetic and isonutritive for protein, methionine+cystine, lysine and threonine. The feed's electrolytes were corrected so that each diet had the same electrolytic balance. The variables analyzed were feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, body weight, carcass yield, chicken cut yield and abdominal fat. Feed intake was not affected by the quantities of POM added. The weight gain, feed conversion, carcass yield and noble cuts presented quadratic responses to the treatments. Abdominal fat increased linearly. The performance of the poultry, and carcass characteristics were maximized by the inclusion of 53 and 65 g kg-1, respectively, of POM in the diet, and the inclusion of 120 g kg-1 of POM provided greater disposition of abdominal fat

Preliminary results on organization on the court, physical and technical performance of Brazilian professional futsal players: comparison between friendly pre-season and official match

The main aim of this study was to verify possible differences between a friendly pre-season match (FM) and an official in-season match (OM) regarding physical, technical, and organizational performances of a professional Brazilian futsal team. Ten professional futsal athletes participated in this study. The matches were monitored with video cameras (30 Hz) and athlete trajectories obtained with automatic tracking. The values obtained for distance covered per minute, percentage of distance covered at moderate intensity, team coverage area, spread, passes, possessions, ball touches and successful passes per minute were greater for the OM than FM. On the contrary, percentage of distance covered, standing and walking was greater for the FM than OM. We concluded that physical, technical, and tactical performances are different between a FM and an OM in futsal and also these parameters mutually influenced each other distinctly. Future studies should verify whether pre-season tournaments reproduce similar demands to a regular season official match