Search results for: Jose Cristina M. Pariña

Authors: ȘercăIanu Mihai, Aldea Mihaela, Iacoboaea Cristina, Luca Oana, Nenciu Ioana

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The emergence and neutralization of illegal waste dumps represent a global concern for waste management ecosystems with a particularly pronounced impact on disadvantaged communities. All over the world, and in this particular case in Romania, a relevant number of people resided in houses lacking any legal forms such as land ownership documents or building permits. These areas are referred to as “informal settlements”. An increasing number of regions and cities in Romania are struggling to manage their waste dumps, especially in the context of increasing poverty and lack of regulation related to informal settlements. An example of such informal settlement can be found at the terminus of Bistra Street in Câlnic, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Reșița in Caras Severin County. The article presents a case study that focuses on employing remote sensing techniques and spatial data to monitor and map illegal waste practices, with subsequent integration into a geographic information system tailored for the Reșița community. In addition, the paper outlines the steps involved in devising strategies aimed at enhancing waste management practices in disadvantaged areas, aligning with the shift toward a circular economy. Results presented in the paper contain a spatial mapping and visualization methodology calibrated with in situ data collection applicable for identifying illegal landfills. The emergence and neutralization of illegal dumps pose a challenge in the field of waste management. These approaches, which prove effective where conventional solutions have failed, need to be replicated and adopted more wisely.

Keywords: waste dumps, waste management, monitoring, GIS, informal settlements

Procedia PDF Downloads 77

Authors: Ana Campina, Maria Manuela Magalhaes, Eusebio André Machado, Cristina Costa-Lobo

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Inclusive school advocates respect for differences, for equal opportunities and for a quality education for all, including for students with special educational needs. In the pursuit of educational equity, guaranteeing equality in access and results, it becomes the responsibility of the school to recognize students' needs, adapting to the various styles and rhythms of learning, ensuring the adequacy of curricula, strategies and resources, materials and humans. This paper presents a set of theoretical reflections in the disciplinary interface between legal and education sciences, school administration and management, with the aim of understand the real inclusion characteristics in a balance with the inclusion policies and the need(s) of an education for Human Rights, especially for diversity. Considering the actual social complexity but the important education instruments and strategies, mostly patented in the policies, this paper aims expose the existing contexts opposed to the laws, policies and inclusion educational needs. More than a single study, this research aims to develop a map of the reality and the guidelines to implement the action. The results point to the usefulness and pertinence of a school in which educational managers, teachers, parents, and students, are involved in the creation, implementation and monitoring of flexible curricula and adapted to the educational needs of students, promoting a collaborative work among teachers. We are then faced with a scenario that points to the need to reflect on the legislation and curricular management of inclusive classes and to operationalize the processes of elaboration of curricular adaptations and differentiation in the classroom. The transdisciplinary is a pedagogic and social education perfect approach using the Human Rights binomio – teaching and learning – supported by the inclusion laws according to the realistic needs for an effective successful society construction.

Keywords: rights, transdisciplinary, inclusion policies, education for diversity

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Authors: U. L. Fulco, E. L. Albuquerque, José X. Lima Neto, L. R. Da Silva

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The binding of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen (IBU) to human serum albumin (HSA) is investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations within a fragmentation strategy. Crystallographic data for the IBU–HSA supramolecular complex shows that the ligand is confined to a large cavity at the subdomain IIIA and at the interface between the subdomains IIA and IIB, whose binding sites are FA3/FA4 and FA6, respectively. The interaction energy between the IBU molecule and each amino acid residue of these HSA binding pockets was calculated using the Molecular Fractionation with Conjugate Caps (MFCC) approach employing a dispersion corrected exchange–correlation functional. Our investigation shows that the total interaction energy of IBU bound to HSA at binding sites of the fatty acids FA3/FA4 (FA6) converges only for a pocket radius of at least 8.5 °A, mainly due to the action of residues Arg410, Lys414 and Ser489 (Lys351, Ser480 and Leu481) and residues in nonhydrophobic domains, namely Ile388, Phe395, Phe403, Leu407, Leu430, Val433, and Leu453 (Phe206, Ala210, Ala213, and Leu327), which is unusual. Our simulations are valuable for a better understanding of the binding mechanism of IBU to albumin and can lead to the rational design and the development of novel IBU-derived drugs with improved potency.

Keywords: ibuprofen, human serum albumin, density functional theory, binding energies

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Izabel Cristina Zattar, Gilberto Passos Lima, Guilherme Schünemann de Oliveira

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In Brazil, there are several institutions committed to the development of new businesses based on product innovation. Among them are business incubators, universities and science institutes. Business incubators can be defined as nurseries for new companies, which may be in the technology segment, discussed in this article. Business incubators provide services related to infrastructure, such as physical space and meeting rooms. Besides these services, incubators also offer assistance in the form of information and communication, access to finance, relationship networks and business monitoring and mentoring processes. Business incubators support not all technology companies. One of the business incubators tasks is to assess the nature and feasibility of new business proposals. To assist this goal, this paper proposes a methodology for evaluating new business using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper presents the concepts used in the assessing methodology application for new business, concepts that have been tested with positive results in practice. This study counts on three main steps: first, a hierarchy was built, based on new business manuals used by the business incubators. These books and manuals relate business selection requirements, such as the innovation status and other technological aspects. Then, a questionnaire was generated, in order to guide incubator experts in the parity comparisons at all hierarchy levels. The weights of each requirement are calculated from information obtained from the questionnaire responses. Finally, the proposed method was applied to evaluate five new business proposals, which were applying to be part of a company incubator. The main result is the classification of these new businesses, which helped the incubator experts to decide what companies were more eligible to work with. This classification may also be helpful to the decision-making process of business incubators in future selection processes.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Brazilian companies incubators, technology companies, incubator

Procedia PDF Downloads 370

Authors: Strahinja Kovačević, Sanja Podunavac-Kuzmanović, Lidija Jevrić, Cristina Prandi, Piermichele Kobauri

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The present study is based on molecular modeling of a series of twelve 5-(4-substituent-phenoxy)-3-methylfuran-2(5H)-one derivatives which have potential of strigolactones mimics toward Striga hermonthica. The first step of the analysis included the calculation of molecular descriptors which numerically describe the structures of the analyzed compounds. The descriptors ALOGP (lipophilicity), AClogS (water solubility) and BBB (blood-brain barrier penetration), served as the input variables in multiple linear regression (MLR) modeling of germination activity toward S. hermonthica. Two MLR models were obtained. The first MLR model contains ALOGP and AClogS descriptors, while the second one is based on these two descriptors plus BBB descriptor. Despite the braking Topliss-Costello rule in the second MLR model, it has much better statistical and cross-validation characteristics than the first one. The ALOGP and AClogS descriptors are often very suitable predictors of the biological activity of many compounds. They are very important descriptors of the biological behavior and availability of a compound in any biological system (i.e. the ability to pass through the cell membranes). BBB descriptor defines the ability of a molecule to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Besides the lipophilicity of a compound, this descriptor carries the information of the molecular bulkiness (its value strongly depends on molecular bulkiness). According to the obtained results of MLR modeling, these three descriptors are considered as very good predictors of germination activity of the analyzed compounds toward S. hermonthica seeds. This article is based upon work from COST Action (FA1206), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Keywords: chemometrics, germination activity, molecular modeling, QSAR analysis, strigolactones

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Sonia Mbarki Marian Brestic, Artemio Cerda Naceur Jedidi, Jose Antonnio Pascual Chedly Abdelly

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Monitoring the effect addition bio-amendment as compost to an agricultural soil for growing plant lolium perenne irrigated with a CdCl2 solution at 50 µM on physicochemical soils characteristics and plant production in laboratory condition. Even microbial activity indexes (acid phosphatase, β-glucosidase, urease, and dehydrogenase) was determined. Basal respiration was the most affected index, while enzymatic activities and microbial biomass showed a decrease due to the cadmium treatments. We noticed that this clay soil with higher pH showed inhibition of basal respiration. Our results provide evidence for the importance of ameliorating effect compost on plant growth even when soil was added with cadmium solution at 50 µmoml.l-1. Soil heavy metal concentrations depended on heavy metals types, increased substantially with cadmium increase and with compost addition, but the recorded values were below the toxicity limits in soils and plants except for cadmium.

Keywords: compost, enzymatic activity, lolium perenne, bioremediation

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: Aldin Justin Sundararaj, Austin Lord Tennyson, Divya Jose, A. N. Subash

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Blast waves are generated due to the explosions of high energy materials. An explosion yielding a blast wave has the potential to cause severe damage to buildings and its personnel. In order to understand the physics of effects of blast pressure on buildings, studies in the shock tube on generic configurations are carried out at various pressures on discrete models. The strength of shock wave is systematically varied by using different driver gases and diaphragm thickness. The basic material of the diaphragm is Aluminum. To simulate the effect of shock waves on discrete models a shock tube was used. Generic models selected for this study are suitably scaled cylinder, cone and cubical blocks. The experiments were carried out with 2mm diaphragm with burst pressure ranging from 28 to 31 bar. Numerical analysis was carried out over these discrete models. A 3D model of shock-tube with different discrete models inside the tube was used for CFD computation. It was found that cone has dissipated most of the shock pressure compared to cylinder and cubical block. The robustness and the accuracy of the numerical model were validation with the analytical and experimental data.

Keywords: shock wave, blast wave, discrete models, shock tube

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Authors: Jose Carlos Montemayor, Kendrick Thomas Angelo Santos

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Filipinos have been divided on President Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership ever since his election in 2016. This study aimed to gain a thorough, in-depth understanding of the opinions of Filipinos from different age and income brackets on these issues in order to address the lack of studies analysing the current Philippine political landscape. An interview tackling relevant national issues were conducted with twelve respondents from the intersections of four age groups and three income brackets. The government’s handling of some issues received mixed opinions, some had neutral viewpoints, while others had more unfavorable ones. The responses differed on three levels: (1) the general stance on an issue; (2) the strength of a stance; and (3) the factoring in of an issue in forming an overall perception on the administration’s performance. Contrary to previous studies on political thought, opinions varied greatly such that no unique set of viewpoints could be attributed to any of the defined age or income groups. These results will be most useful to political science researchers, political analysts, and candidates shaping their platforms for the upcoming elections. Future studies are recommended to tackle more national issues and to consider other factors that may affect political opinions and behavior.

Keywords: age groups, opinion formation, socioeconomic brackets, Philippine politics, Rodrigo Duterte

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Ángel O. Aldape, José M. Bustos, José G. Guízar

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Building companies providing public housing in Mexico, such as INFONAVIT, Casas GEO, Casas ARA, among others, provide low-interest home loans for thousands of Mexican families and individuals to buy a home. However, once this goal is achieved, these companies are not responsible for the care and maintenance of green areas and waste collection services because, technically, it is the local municipalities’ responsibility to provide these services to the community. However, this does not always occur with local municipalities. To study this problem, the San Buenaventura public housing complex was selected. This housing complex is located in the municipality of Ixtapaluca, State of Mexico (Estado de Mexico), Mexico. To our best knowledge, there are currently no formal studies about San Buenaventura that can offer effective options and/or better ways of sorting and disposing households’ wastes, as well as improving local green areas (community gardens and parks). Only a few web-blogs and periodical reports have addressed these serious problems that directly affect the social and psychological well-being of residents. The main goal of this research project aims to improve our understanding towards the existing ontological elements that emerge from residents’ discourses (in the form of informal talks and gossip) and discover the socio-physical elements that they use to assign moral positions onto others or onto themselves. The theoretical framework used in this study is based on two constructionist theories: positioning theory and site ontology. The first theory offered the opportunity to explore the rights, duties, and obligations assigned to a social role (or moral position) of the participants. The second theory provided a constructionist philosophical base that includes various socio-physical elements that are considered to assign personal or community meanings to particular contexts. Both theories contributed to defining personal dispositions and/or attitudes to carry out concrete social action or practice. The theoretical framework was guided by a relativistic ontology that allowed the researcher to better interpret the reality of the participants of this study. A descriptive-interpretative methodology was used, and two qualitative methods were arranged based on the theoretical framework proposed as follows: a semi-structured focus group interview, and direct observations. The semi-structured focus group was carried out with four residents of San Buenaventura and covert observations of public spaces and houses were carried out. These were analysed and interpreted by the researcher and assisted by NVivo software. The results suggest that the participants assigned moral traits of responsibility to other residents regarding the problem of the neglect of the green areas and waste pollution. The results suggest that all participants agreed to assign moral traits to other residents making them liable for the environmental degradation and the decay of green areas. They neither assigned any moral duty nor responsible moral traits onto themselves towards environmental protection or destruction. Overall, the participants in this study pointed out that external ontological elements such as the local government, infrastructure or cleaning services were not main cause of these environmental problems but rather the general lack of moral duty and disposition of other residents.

Keywords: conversation, environment, housing, moral, ontology, position, public, site, talks

Procedia PDF Downloads 202

Authors: Izabel Cristina Zattar, Gilberto Passos Lima, Guilherme Schünemann de Oliveira

Abstract:

In Brazil, there are several institutions committed to the development of new businesses based on product innovation. Among them are business incubators, universities and science institutes. Business incubators can be defined as nurseries for new companies, which may be in the technology segment, discussed in this article. Business incubators provide services related to infrastructure, such as physical space and meeting rooms. Besides these services, incubators also offer assistance in the form of information and communication, access to finance, relationship networks and business monitoring and mentoring processes. Business incubators support not all technology companies. One of the business incubators tasks is to assess the nature and feasibility of new business proposals. To assist in this goal, this paper proposes a methodology for evaluating new business using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper presents the concepts used in the assessing methodology application for new business, concepts that have been tested with positive results in practice. This study counts on three main steps: first, a hierarchy was built, based on new business manuals used by the business incubators. These books and manuals relate business selection requirements, such as the innovation status and other technological aspects. Then, a questionnaire was generated, in order to guide incubator experts in the parity comparisons at all hierarchy levels. The weights of each requirement are calculated from information obtained from the questionnaire responses. Finally, the proposed method was applied to evaluate five new business proposals, which were applying to be part of a company incubator. The main result is the classification of these new businesses, which helped the incubator experts to decide what companies were more eligible to work with. This classification may also be helpful to the decision-making process of business incubators in future selection processes.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Brazilian companies incubators, technology companies, incubator

Procedia PDF Downloads 395

Authors: Adriana Stefan, Cristina-Elisabeta Pelin, George Pelin, Maria Daniela Stelescu, Elena Manaila

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Elastomeric composites have been known for a long time, but, to our knowledge, space and the aeronautic community has been directing a special attention to them only in the last decade. The required properties of advanced elastomeric materials used in space applications (such as O-rings) are sealing, abrasion, low-temperature flexibility, the long-term compression set properties, impact resistance and low-temperature thermal stability in different environments, such as ionized radiations. Basically, the elastomeric nanocomposites are composed of a rubber matrix and a wide and varied range of nanofillers, added with the aim of improving the physico-mechanical and elasticity modulus properties of the materials as well as their stability in different environments. The paper presents a partial synthesis of the research regarding the use of silicon carbide in nanometric form and/or organophylized montmorillonite as fillers in butyl rubber matrix. The need of composite materials arose from the fact that stand-alone polymers are ineffective in providing all the superior properties required by different applications. These drawbacks can be diminished or even eliminated by incorporating a new range of additives into the organic matrix, fillers that have important roles in modifying properties of various polymers. A composite material can provide superior and unique mechanical and physical properties because it combines the most desirable properties of its constituents while suppressing their least desirable properties. The commercial importance of polymers and the continuous increase of their use results in the continuous demand for improvement in their properties to meet the necessary conditions. To study the performance of the elastomeric nanocomposites were mechanically tested, it will be tested the qualities of tensile at low temperatures and RT and the behavior at the compression at cryogenic to room temperatures and under different environments. The morphology of specimens will be investigated by optical and scanning electronic microscopy.

Keywords: elastomeric nanocomposites, O-rings, space applications, mechanical properties

Procedia PDF Downloads 285

Authors: Fidel Lòpez Saca, Carlos Avilés-Cruz, Miguel Magos-Rivera, José Antonio Lara-Chávez

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Automated object recognition and identification systems are widely used throughout the world, particularly in assembly lines, where they perform quality control and automatic part selection tasks. This article presents the design and implementation of an object recognition system in an assembly line. The proposed shapes-color recognition system is based on deep learning theory in a specially designed convolutional network architecture. The used methodology involve stages such as: image capturing, color filtering, location of object mass centers, horizontal and vertical object boundaries, and object clipping. Once the objects are cut out, they are sent to a convolutional neural network, which automatically identifies the type of figure. The identification system works in real-time. The implementation was done on a Raspberry Pi 3 system and on a Jetson-Nano device. The proposal is used in an assembly course of bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. The results presented include studying the efficiency of the recognition and processing time.

Keywords: deep-learning, image classification, image identification, industrial engineering.

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Odete Paiva, Cláudia Seabra, José Luís Abrantes, Fernanda Cravidão

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There is a clear ‘cult of authenticity’, at least in modern Western society. So, there is a need to analyze the tourist perception of authenticity, bearing in mind the destination, its attractions, motivations, cultural distance, and contact with other tourists. Our study seeks to investigate the relationship among cultural values, image, sense of place, perception of authenticity and behavior intentions at World Heritage Historic Centers. From a theoretical perspective, few researches focus on the impact of cultural values, image and sense of place on authenticity and intentions behavior in tourists. The intention of this study is to help close this gap. A survey was applied to collect data from tourists visiting two World Heritage Historic Centers – Guimarães in Portugal and Cordoba in Spain. Data was analyzed in order to establish a structural equation model (SEM). Discussion centers on the implications of model to theory and managerial development of tourism strategies. Recommendations for destinations managers and promoters and tourist organizations administrators are addressed.

Keywords: authenticity perception, behavior intentions, cultural tourism, cultural values, world heritage historic centers

Procedia PDF Downloads 312

Authors: Camilo Andres Agudelo-Velez, Lina María Martinez-Sanchez, Natalia Perilla-Hernandez, Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez-Gazquez, Felipe Hernandez-Restrepo, Dayana Andrea Quintero-Moreno, Camilo Ruiz-Mejia, Isabel Cristina Ortiz-Trujillo, Monica Maria Zuluaga-Quintero

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is common condition, characterized by a persistent blockage of airflow, partially reversible and progressive, that represents 5% of total deaths around the world, and it is expected to become the third leading cause of death by 2030. Objective: To establish the clinical and epidemiological profile of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a medical institution from the city of Medellin, Colombia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed, with a sample of 50 patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a private institution in Medellin, during 2015. The software SPSS vr. 20 was used for the statistical analysis. For the quantitative variables, averages, standard deviations, and maximun and minimun values were calculated, while for ordinal and nominal qualitative variables, proportions were estimated. Results: The average age was 73.5±9.3 years, 52% of the patients were women, 50% of them had retired, 46% ere married and 80% lived in the city of Medellín. The mean time of diagnosis was 7.8±1.3 years and 100% of the patients were treated at the internal medicine service. The most common clinical features were: 36% were classified as class D for the disease, 34% had a FEV1 <30%, 88% had a history of smoking and 52% had oxygen therapy at home. Conclusion: It was found that class D was the most common, and the majority of the patients had a history of smoking, indicating the need to strengthen promotion and prevention strategies in this regard.

Keywords: pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive, pulmonary medicine, oxygen inhalation therapy

Procedia PDF Downloads 439

Authors: Paulo José Sigaúque, Paulo Rosman

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The Itajurú channel, located in the Eastern side of the Araruama lagoon, Rio de Janeiro state, is the one who makes the connection between Araruama lagoon and the sea. It is important to understand the hydrodynamic circulation of the location and effects of the sedimentological processes, and also estimate of the hydrodynamic and sedimentological processes in the future after the sea level change due to effects of climate change. This work presents results of a study about sediments dynamics in the Araruama lagoon focusing on the Itajurú channel region considering the present mean sea level and a foreseen sea level rise of 0.5 meters due to climate changes. The study was conducted with the aid of computer modeling for hydrodynamic and morphodynamic in SisBaHiA®. The results indicate that Araruama lagoon is composed by two hydrodynamics compartments; one is dominated by the action of the tide between the entrance of the channel and the strait of Perynas, and another one by the action of wind in narrow region between strait of Perynas and western extreme of the lagoon. With sea level rise, the magnitude of current velocities and flow rates is increased and consequently flow of sediment transport from upstream to downstream of Itajurú channel is increased and has more effect in the bridge Feliciano Sodré.

Keywords: hydrodinamic, superelevation, sea level, climate change

Procedia PDF Downloads 303

Authors: Ana Paula Lisboa Sohn, Filipa Dionísio Vieria, Nelson Casarotto, Idaulo José Cunha

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This paper aims at identifying and analyzing the knowledge transmission channels in textile and clothing clusters located in Brazil and in Europe. Primary data was obtained through interviews with key individuals. The collection of primary data was carried out based on a questionnaire with ten categories of indicators of knowledge transmission. Secondary data was also collected through a literature review and through international organizations sites. Similarities related to the use of the main transmission channels of knowledge are observed in all cases. The main similarities are: influence of suppliers of machinery, equipment and raw materials; imitation of products and best practices; training promoted by technical institutions and businesses; and cluster companies being open to acquire new knowledge. The main differences lie in the relationship between companies, where in Europe the intensity of this relationship is bigger when compared to Brazil. The differences also occur in importance and frequency of the relationship with the government, with the cultural environment, and with the activities of research and development. It is also found factors that reduce the importance of geographical proximity in transmission of knowledge, and in generating trust and the establishment of collaborative behavior.

Keywords: industrial clusters, interorganizational learning, knowledge transmission channels, textile and clothing industry

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Authors: Andrés Calvillo Téllez, Marianne Martínez Zanzarric, José Cruz Núñez Pérez

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A modular system that performs basic monitoring of both water and air quality is presented. Monitoring is essential for environmental, aquaculture, and agricultural disciplines, where this type of instrumentation is necessary for data collection. The system uses low-cost components, which allows readings close to those with high-cost probes. The probe collects readings such as the coordinates of the geographical position, as well as the time it records the target parameters of the monitored. The modules or subsystems that make up the probe are the global positioning (GPS), which shows the altitude, latitude, and longitude data of the point where the reading will be recorded, a real-time clock stage, the date marking the time, the module SD memory continuously stores data, data acquisition system, central processing unit, and energy. The system acquires parameters to measure water quality, conductivity, pressure, and temperature, and for air, three types of ammonia, dioxide, and carbon monoxide gases were censored. The information obtained allowed us to identify the schedule of modification of the parameters and the identification of the ideal conditions for the growth of microorganisms in the water.

Keywords: calibration, conductivity, datalogger, monitoring, real time clock, water quality

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Authors: María José Núñez-Ruiz, Luis Álvarez-González, Cristian Olivares-Rodriguez, Benjamin Lazo-Letelier

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This paper begins with some concept of formative assessment and the relationship with learning objective: contents objectives, processes objectives, and metacognitive objectives. Two methodologies are describes Evidence-Based teaching and Question Drive Instruction. To do formative assessments in larges classes a Classroom Response System (CRS) is needed. But most of CRS use only Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ), True/False question, or text entry; however, this is insufficient to formative assessment. To do that a new CRS, call FAMA was developed. FAMA support six types of questions: Choice, Order, Inline choice, Text entry, Associated, and Slider. An experiment participated in 149 students from four engineering careers. For results, Kendall's Range Correlation Analysis and descriptive analysis was done. In conclusion, there is a strong relation between contents question, process questions (ask in formative assessment without a score) and metacognitive questions, asked in summative assessment. As future work, the lecturer can do personalized teaching, because knows the behavior of all students in each formative assessment

Keywords: Python language, formative assessment, classroom response systems, evidence-Based teaching, question drive instruction

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Authors: José Dinis-Carvalho, Levi Guimarães, Celina Leão, Rui Sousa, Rosa Eliza Vieira, Larissa Thomaz, Kelliane Guerreiro

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This research paper investigates the efficacy of waste identification diagrams (WIDs) as a tool for waste reduction and management within the Manaus Industrial Pole. The study focuses on assessing the practical application and effectiveness of WIDs in identifying, categorizing, and mitigating various forms of waste generated across industrial processes. Employing a mixed-methods approach, including a qualitative questionnaire applied to 5 companies and quantitative data analysis with SPSS statistical software, the research evaluates the implementation and impact of WIDs on waste reduction practices in select industries within the Manaus Industrial Pole. The findings contribute to understanding the utility of WIDs as a proactive strategy for waste management, offering insights into their potential for fostering sustainable practices and promoting environmental stewardship in industrial settings. The study also discusses challenges, best practices, and recommendations for optimizing the utilization of WIDs in industrial waste management, thereby addressing the broader implications for sustainable industrial development.

Keywords: waste identification diagram, value stream mapping, overall equipment effectiveness, lean manufacturing

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Authors: Judith Correa-Gomez, Cristina Garcia-De la Pena, Veronica Avila-Rodriguez, David R. Aguillon-Gutierrez

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Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) is the smallest species of sea turtle. It nests on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico during summer. To date, there is no information about congenital anomalies in this species, which could be an important factor to be considered as a survival threat. The aim of this study was to determine congenital anomalies in dead embryos and hatchlings of Kemp's ridley sea turtle during 2020 nesting season. Fieldwork was conducted at the 'Campamento Tortugero Barra Norte', on the shores of Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico. A total of 95 nests were evaluated, from which 223 dead embryos and hatchlings were collected. Anomalies were detected by detailed physical examinations. Photographs of each anomaly were taken. From the 223 dead turtles, 213 (95%) showed a congenital anomaly. A total of 53 types of congenital anomalies were found: 22 types on the head region, 21 on the carapace region, 6 on the flipper region, and 4 regarding the entire body. The most prevalent anomaly in the head region was the presence of prefrontal supernumerary scales (42%, 93 occurrences). On the carapace region, the most common anomaly was the presence of supernumerary gular scales (59%, 131 occurrences). The two most common anomalies on the flipper region were amelia in fore flippers and rear bifurcation of flippers (0.9%, 2 occurrences each). The most common anomaly involving the entire body was hypomelanism (35%, 79 occurrences). These results agree with the recent studies on congenital malformations on sea turtles, being the head and the carapace regions the ones with the highest number of congenital anomalies. It is unknown whether the reported anomalies can be related to the death of these individuals. However, it is necessary to develop embryological studies in this species. To our best knowledge, this is the first worldwide report on Kemp’s ridley sea turtle anomalies.

Keywords: Amelia, hypomelanism, morphology, supernumerary scales

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Hernán G. Cortés-Mora, José I. Péna-Reyes, Alfonso Herrera-Jiménez

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This article describes the implementation experience of Project-Based Learning (PBL) in an engineering course of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, with the aim of strengthening student skills necessary for the exercise of their profession under a sustainability framework. Firstly, we present a literature review on the education for sustainability field, emphasizing the skills and knowledge areas required for its development, as well as the commitment of the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and other engineering faculties of the country, regarding education for sustainability. This article covers the general aspects of the course, describes how students team were formed, and how their experience was during the first semester of 2017. During this period two groups of students decided to develop their course project aiming to solve a problem regarding a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that works with head-of-household mothers in a low-income neighborhood in Bogota (Colombia). Subsequently, we show how sustainability is involved in the course, how tools are provided to students, and how activities are developed as to strengthen their abilities, which allows them to incorporate sustainability in their projects while also working on the methodology used to develop said projects. Finally, we introduce the results obtained by the students who sent the prototypes of their projects to the community they were working on and the conclusions reached by them regarding the course experience.

Keywords: sustainability, project-based learning, engineering education, higher education for sustainability

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Authors: Eduardo Rodrigues, Gisela Mendes, José M. Torres, José E. Sousa

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In the sequence of the liberalisation of the electricity sector a progressive engagement of consumers has been considered and targeted by sector regulatory policies. With the objective of promoting market competition while protecting consumers interests, by transferring some of the upstream benefits to the end users while reaching a fair distribution of system costs, different market models to value consumers’ demand flexibility at the energy community level are envisioned. Local Energy and Flexibility Markets (LEFM) involve stakeholders interested in providing or procure local flexibility for community, services and markets’ value. Under the scope of DOMINOES, a European research project supported by Horizon 2020, the local market concept developed is expected to: • Enable consumers/prosumers empowerment, by allowing them to value their demand flexibility and Distributed Energy Resources (DER); • Value local liquid flexibility to support innovative distribution grid management, e.g., local balancing and congestion management, voltage control and grid restoration; • Ease the wholesale market uptake of DER, namely small-scale flexible loads aggregation as Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), facilitating Demand Response (DR) service provision; • Optimise the management and local sharing of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Medium Voltage (MV) and Low Voltage (LV) grids, trough energy transactions within an energy community; • Enhance the development of energy markets through innovative business models, compatible with ongoing policy developments, that promote the easy access of retailers and other service providers to the local markets, allowing them to take advantage of communities’ flexibility to optimise their portfolio and subsequently their participation in external markets. The general concept proposed foresees a flow of market actions, technical validations, subsequent deliveries of energy and/or flexibility and balance settlements. Since the market operation should be dynamic and capable of addressing different requests, either prioritising balancing and prosumer services or system’s operation, direct procurement of flexibility within the local market must also be considered. This paper aims to highlight the research on the definition of suitable DR models to be used by the Distribution System Operator (DSO), in case of technical needs, and by the retailer, mainly for portfolio optimisation and solve unbalances. The models to be proposed and implemented within relevant smart distribution grid and microgrid validation environments, are focused on day-ahead and intraday operation scenarios, for predictive management and near-real-time control respectively under the DSO’s perspective. At local level, the DSO will be able to procure flexibility in advance to tackle different grid constrains (e.g., demand peaks, forecasted voltage and current problems and maintenance works), or during the operating day-to-day, to answer unpredictable constraints (e.g., outages, frequency deviations and voltage problems). Due to the inherent risks of their active market participation retailers may resort to DR models to manage their portfolio, by optimising their market actions and solve unbalances. The interaction among the market actors involved in the DR activation and in flexibility exchange is explained by a set of sequence diagrams for the DR modes of use from the DSO and the energy provider perspectives. • DR for DSO’s predictive management – before the operating day; • DR for DSO’s real-time control – during the operating day; • DR for retailer’s day-ahead operation; • DR for retailer’s intraday operation.

Keywords: demand response, energy communities, flexible demand, local energy and flexibility markets

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Authors: Elucir Gir, Laelson Rochelle Milanês Sousa, Renata Karina Reis, Soraia Assad Nasbine Rabeh, Mayra Gonçalves Menegueti, Ana Cristina de Oliveira e Silva, Sheila Araújo Teles

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Context and significance: Nursing team professionals faced challenges in combating the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. They were subjected to exhausting workloads and prolonged use of Personal Protective Equipment. Using N95 masks for long periods of time can cause skin changes. In this context, health professionals who worked on the front lines of fighting the pandemic were more exposed to possible physical and psychological changes. Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the factors associated with skin lesions resulting from the use of N95 masks among nursing team professionals. Method: The study was carried out in all regions of Brazil from October to December 2020, with professionals from the nursing team who worked in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were recruited via social media, and information was collected electronically and stored on the Survey Monkey platform. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample, association tests (Chi-square), with a statistical significance level of p < 0.05. Factors associated with skin lesions resulting from the use of an N95 mask were determined by Binary Logistic Regression, with a significance level of 5% (α = 0.05). Results: 8,405 nursing professionals participated in the study, 5,492 nurses (65.3%), 2,747 nursing technicians (32.7%), and 7,084 females (84.3%). Female nursing team professionals were 1.4 times more likely to develop skin lesions due to the use of N95 masks when compared to males (OR 1.4 [CI95% 1.22 – 1.59] p < 0.001). The following protective factors were identified: nursing technician (ORA 0.608 [CI95% 0.43 – 0.86] p = 0.005) and not having provided assistance in field hospitals for COVID-19 (0.73 [CI95% 0.65-0.81] p<0.000). Conclusion: It was concluded that female nursing team professionals were more likely to have skin changes related to the use of N95 masks. The need for intervention studies is emphasized in order to explore measures to prevent these types of injuries. Descritores: Nursing professionals; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Brazil.

Keywords: nursing professionals, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Brazil

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Authors: Juan Harold Sosa-Arnao, Daniel José de Oliveira Ferreira, Caice Guarato Santos, Justo Emílio Alvarez, Leonardo Paes Rangel, Song Won Park

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A comprehensive CFD model is developed to represent heterogeneous combustion and two burner designs of supply sugar-cane bagasse into a furnace. The objective of this work is to compare the insertion and burning of a Brazilian south-eastern sugar-cane bagasse using a new swirl burner design against an actual geometry under operation. The new design allows control the particles penetration and scattering inside furnace by adjustment of axial/tangential contributions of air feed without change their mass flow. The model considers turbulence using RNG k-, combustion using EDM, radiation heat transfer using DTM with 16 ray directions and bagasse particle tracking represented by Schiller-Naumann model. The obtained results are favorable to use of new design swirl burner because its axial/tangential control promotes more penetration or more scattering than actual design and allows reproduce the actual design operation without change the overall mass flow supply.

Keywords: comprehensive CFD model, sugar-cane bagasse combustion, swirl burner, contributions

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Authors: Cristina Hotoleanu

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Introduction: The recent Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the development of e-health, including telemedicine, smartphone applications, and medical wearable devices. Providing remote teleconsultations supposes challenges which may require further face-to-face medical interactions. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between the types of teleconsultations and the need of onsite medical services (investigations and medical visits) for the diagnosis and treatment. Methods: a retrospective study including all the teleconsultations using the platform offered by a telehealth provider in Romania (Telios Care SA) between May 1, 2021- April 30, 2022, was performed. Binary data were analysed using the chi-square test with a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: out of 7163 consultations, 3961 were phone calls, 1981 were online messages, and 1221 were video calls. Onsite medical services were indicated in 3327 (46.44%) cases; the onsite investigations or the onsite visits were recommended for 2908 patients as follows: 2326 in case of phone calls, 582 in case of online messages, none in case of video calls. Both onsite investigations and visits were indicated for 419 patients. The need for onsite additional medical services was significantly higher in the case of phone calls than in the other 2 types of teleconsultations (Chi square= 1207.06, p= 0.00001). The indication for onsite services was done mainly after teleconsultations covering medical specialties (87.34%), significantly higher than the other specialties (Chi square=914.59, p=0.00001). Teleconsultations in surgical specialties and other fields (pharmacy, dentistry, psychology, wellbeing- nutrition, fitness) resulted in 12.13%, respective less than 1%, indication for onsite investigations or visits, explained by using of video calls in most of the cases. Conclusion: a further onsite medical service was necessary in less than a half of the teleconsultations. This indication was done mainly after phone calls and teleconsultations in medical specialties. Video calls were used mostly in psychology, nutrition, and fitness teleconsultations and did not require a further onsite medical service. Other studies are necessary to assess better the types of teleconsultations and the specialties bringing the biggest benefit for the patients.

Keywords: onsite medical services, phone calls, teleconsultations, telemedicine

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Authors: Alfredo Reyes-Salazar, Mario D. Llanes-Tizoc, Eden Bojorquez, Federico Valenzuela-Beltran, Juan Bojorquez, Jose R. Gaxiola-Camacho, Achintya Haldar

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Seismic analysis of steel buildings is usually based on the use of the concentrated mass (ML) matrix and the Rayleigh damping matrix (C). Similarly, the initial stiffness matrix (KO) and the first two modes associated with lateral vibrations are commonly used to develop matrix C. The evaluation of the accuracy of these practices for the particular case of steel buildings with moment-resisting steel frames constitutes the main objective of this research. For this, the non-linear seismic responses of three models of steel frames, representing low-, medium- and high-rise steel buildings, are considered. Results indicate that if the ML matrix is used, shears and bending moments in columns are underestimated by up to 30% and 65%, respectively when compared to the corresponding results obtained with the consistent mass matrix (MC). It is also shown that if KO is used in C instead of the tangent stiffness matrix (Kt), axial loads in columns are underestimated by up to 80%. It is concluded that the consistent mass matrix should be used in the structural modelling of moment-resisting steel frames and that the tangent stiffness matrix should be used to develop the Rayleigh damping matrix.

Keywords: moment-resisting steel frames, consistent and concentrated mass matrices, non-linear seismic response, Rayleigh damping

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Authors: Cristina Domínguez, Steven N. Cuadra

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Aims: The aims of this study are: 1) to describe the occurrence and estimate the risk of suffering injuries of any kind, especially work-related injuries, in rural children working in agricultural activities and in urban children working on the street 2) to explore factors that might be associated with the occurrence of work-related injuries among child workers such as gender, school attendance, and performance of household chore. Method: We performed a crossectional study among working children in agricultural activities (120) and on the street (108) and in non-working referents (140) in 2019. We investigated self-reported injuries during the last 12 months, with focus on work-related injuries. Incidence rate, rate ratios, and 95% CI were calculated by Poisson regression. Results: Agricultural workers have a higher incidence of work-related injuries (2.1 per 1000 person-days) than children working on the street (1.8 per 1000 person-days). However, when considering girl’s unpaid work at home, girls had higher occurrence. Girls had a 30% increase on the risk of suffering work related injuries compared to boys. Performing household chore and attending school were the major predictors of injury occurrence. Discussion: Our data suggest If such partial and full-time girl’s housework is taken into account, there would be little or no variation between the sexes with regard to injuries occurrence, and the incidence rate of work related injuries among girls could even exceed that of boys A greater understanding of the interaction of factors related to how child workers spend their time, and its impact on children’s health, is needed in order to identify feasible and appropriate strategies to reduce the negative effect of work on children when elimination of child labor is not reachable in the short term. Clearly, gender aspects on child labor may allow for more effective targeting of prevention efforts.

Keywords: injuries, child labor, agricultural work, gender

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Authors: Carolina Gouveia, José Vieira, Pedro Pinho

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The cardiopulmonary signal monitoring, without the usage of contact electrodes or any type of in-body sensors, has several applications such as sleeping monitoring and continuous monitoring of vital signals in bedridden patients. This system has also applications in the vehicular environment to monitor the driver, in order to avoid any possible accident in case of cardiac failure. Thus, the bio-radar system proposed in this paper, can measure vital signals accurately by using the Doppler effect principle that relates the received signal properties with the distance change between the radar antennas and the person’s chest-wall. Once the bio-radar aim is to monitor subjects in real-time and during long periods of time, it is impossible to guarantee the patient immobilization, hence their random motion will interfere in the acquired signals. In this paper, a mathematical model of the bio-radar is presented, as well as its simulation in MATLAB. The used algorithm for breath rate extraction is explained and a method for DC offsets removal based in a motion detection system is proposed. Furthermore, experimental tests were conducted with a view to prove that the unavoidable random motion can be used to estimate the DC offsets accurately and thus remove them successfully.

Keywords: bio-signals, DC component, Doppler effect, ellipse fitting, radar, SDR

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Authors: Amelyn M. Ambal, Jose Hermis Patricio

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A macro-somatic clonal propagation study was undertaken to determine the effects of method of propagation, rooting hormone, and level of rooting hormone concentration of TBOS (Calophyllum inophyllum Mer. and Pongamia pinnata L.). A factorial experiment in SSSPD with three replications was used in the study and analyzed using ANOVA and LSD. Open mist propagation is effective for rooting Calophyllum inophyllum and Pongamia pinnata cuttings as it gave statistically higher number of adventitious roots, longer length of roots, and higher rooting percentage. C. inophyllum cuttings exhibit statistically higher rooting percentage compared to P. pinnata cuttings when subjected to open mist method and treated with 600 ppm of NAA. NAA is more effective than IBA in terms of number and length of roots, and rooting percentage produced. However, levels of hormone concentration were not generally effective on the rooting performance and shoot production of both species.

Keywords: adventitious roots, Calophyllum, close-mist, macro-somatic clonal propagation, Pongamia, open-mist

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Authors: María José Benitez Jimenez

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This research is based on the hypothesis that, despite being found that the problem of violence against the female partner occurs in all social classes, the criminal intervention falls, above all, on victims and aggressors with sociodemographic characteristics of the most excluded social groups. The methodology used in this study has been a collection of information through Spanish official statistics from 2004 to 2016: population, police, judicial and penitentiary data from Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and statistics National Institute. The data provided show that women victims and aggressors who come into contact with criminal intervention bodies for filing a complaint or having been reported, respectively, show a very high percentage, usually well above 50%, only primary studies or even that. Their employment situation is also precarious, in a percentage that could also be around 70%. The percentage distribution of these two variables is clearly above that which occurs in the whole of the Spanish population, in a particularly marked way as regards the employment situation. Immigrants triple, as victims or as aggressors of gender violence, the percentages of the Spanish population in terms of their contact with the organs of criminal intervention. Also the rate of foreign inmates in prisons for violence against the female couple doubles that of Spanish inmates.

Keywords: inmigrants, intimate partner violence, Spain, sociodemographic characteristics

Procedia PDF Downloads 198