Search results for: Jorge Silva

Authors: Tess Howard, Lily Owens, Maneesha De Silva, Russell Hodgson

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Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (CBDE) compared to endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and cholecystectomy for the emergency management of common bile duct (CBD) stones. Methodology: A retrospective case note review was conducted on consecutive patients undergoing emergency management of CBD stones using either CBDE, or ERCP and cholecystectomy at a single centre between January 2014-October 2014. Data on admission and procedural costs, length of hospital stay, postoperative complications and further stone related interventions were analysed. Results: A total of 350 patients were analysed. Among them, 299 patients underwent CBDE at the time of cholecystectomy, while the remaining 51 underwent ERCP either pre-, intra- or post cholecystectomy. CBDE was associated with lower overall costs compared to ERCP with an average hospital stay cost of $13,093 vs $22,930 respectively. This was largely attributed to shorter hospital stays (6.5 vs 10.3 days), decreased need for intensive care unit admission and fewer postoperative interventions within the CBDE group. Notably, single procedure laparoscopic cholecystectomy with CBDE demonstrated decreased operative costs compared to laparoscopic cholecystectomy combined with ERCP pre-/intra- or post-operatively ($3,747 vs. $4,641). Conclusion: Emergent CBDE is a cost-effective alternative to ERCP for managing CBD stones when combined with cholecystectomy. The upfront investment in equipment for CBDE and increased cholecystectomy procedural time is counterbalanced by reduced hospital stay, fewer procedures and subsequent cost savings. Economic considerations, in conjunction with clinical outcomes, should inform the selection of the optimal approach for CBD stone management in emergency settings.

Keywords: choledocolithiasis, management, cost-effectiveness, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, ERCP, CBDE, common bile duct exploration

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Authors: Antonio M. Oliveira, Patricia Oliveira-Silva, Jose Matias Alves, Gary McPherson

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The music teaching is oriented towards offering formal music training. Due to its specificities, this vocational program starts at a very young age. Although provided by the State, the offer is limited to 6 schools throughout the country, which means that the vacancies for prospective students are very limited every year. It is therefore crucial that these vacancies be taken by especially motivated children grown within households that offer the ideal setting for success. Some of the instruments used to evaluate musical performance are highly sensitive to specific previous training, what represents a severe validity problem for testing children who have had restricted opportunities for formal training. Moreover, these practices may be unfair because, for instance, they may not reflect the candidates’ music aptitudes. Based on what constitutes a prerequisite for making an excellent music student, researchers in this field have long argued that motivation, task commitment, and parents’ support are as important as ability. Thus, the aim of this study is: (1) to prepare an inventory of admission requirements in Australia, Portugal and Ireland; (2) to examine whether the candidates to music conservatories and parents’ level of motivation, assessed at three evaluation points (i.e., admission, at the end of the first year, and at the end of the second year), correlates positively with the candidates’ progress in learning a musical instrument (i.e., whether motivation at the admission may predict student musicianship); (3) an adaptation of an existing instrument to assess the motivation (i.e., to adapt the items to the music setting, focusing on the motivation for playing a musical instrument). The inclusion criteria are: only children registered in the administrative services to be evaluated for entrance to the conservatory will be accepted for this study. The expected number of participants is fifty (5-6 years old) in all the three frequency schemes: integrated, articulated and supplementary. Revisiting musical admission procedures is of particular importance and relevance to musical education because this debate may bring guidance and assistance about the needed improvement to make the process of admission fairer and more transparent.

Keywords: music learning, music admission requirements, student’s motivation, parent’s motivation

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Mário Silva, Filipa Gomes, Filipa Oliveira, Simone Morais, Cristina Delerue-Matos

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Brown seaweeds are abundant in Portuguese coastline and represent an almost unexploited marine economic resource. One of the most common species, easily available for harvesting in the northwest coast, is Saccorhiza polyschides grows in the lowest shore and costal rocky reefs. It is almost exclusively used by local farmers as natural fertilizer, but contains a substantial amount of valuable compounds, particularly alginates, natural biopolymers of high interest for many industrial applications. Alginates are natural polysaccharides present in cell walls of brown seaweed, highly biocompatible, with particular properties that make them of high interest for the food, biotechnology, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional extraction processes are based on thermal treatment. They are lengthy and consume high amounts of energy and solvents. In recent years, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) has shown enormous potential to overcome major drawbacks that outcome from conventional plant material extraction (thermal and/or solvent based) techniques, being also successfully applied to the extraction of agar, fucoidans and alginates. In the present study, acid pretreatment of brown seaweed Saccorhiza polyschides for subsequent microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of alginate was optimized. Seaweeds were collected in Northwest Portuguese coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean between May and August, 2014. Experimental design was used to assess the effect of temperature and acid pretreatment time in alginate extraction. Response surface methodology allowed the determination of the optimum MAE conditions: 40 mL of HCl 0.1 M per g of dried seaweed with constant stirring at 20ºC during 14h. Optimal acid pretreatment conditions have enhanced significantly MAE of alginates from Saccorhiza polyschides, thus contributing for the development of a viable, more environmental friendly alternative to conventional processes.

Keywords: acid pretreatment, alginate, brown seaweed, microwave-assisted extraction, response surface methodology

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: N. A. P. Camaforte, P. M. P. Vareda, L. L. Saldanha, A. L. Dokkedal, J. M. Rezende-Neto, M. R. Senger, F. P. Silva-Jr, J. R. Bosqueiro

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Diabetes mellitus is a disease characterized by deficiency of insulin secretion and/or action which results in hyperglycemia. Nowadays, acarbose is a medicine used by diabetic people to inhibit alpha-glucosidases leading to the decreasing of post-feeding glycaemia, but with low effectiveness and many side effects. Medicinal plants have been used for the treatment of many diseases including diabetes and their action occurs through the modulation of insulin-depending processes, pancreas regeneration or inhibiting glucose absorption by the intestine. Previous studies in our laboratory showed that the treatment using two crude extracts of plants from Brazilian cerrado was able to decrease fasting blood glucose and improve glucose tolerance in streptozotocin-diabetic mice. Because of this and the importance of the search for new alternatives to decrease the hyperglycemia, we decided to evaluate the inhibitory action of two plants from Brazilian cerrado - B.H. and Myrcia bella. The enzymatic assay was performed in 50 µL of final volume using pancreatic α-amylase and maltase together with theirs commercial substrates. The inhibition potency (IC50) was determined by the incubation of eight different concentrations of both extracts and the enzymes for 5 minutes at 37ºC. After, the substrate was added to start the reaction. Glucosidases assay was evaluated measuring the quantity of p-nitrophenol in 405 nmin 384 wells automatic reader. The in vitro assay with the extracts of B.H. and M. bella showed an IC50 of 28,04µg/mL and 16,93 µg/mL for α-amilase, and 43,01µg/mL and 17 µg/mL for maltase, respectively. M. bella extract showed a higher inhibitory activity for those enzymes than B.H. extract. The crude extracts tested showed a higher inhibition rate to α-amylase, but were less effective against maltase in comparison to acarbose (IC50 36µg/mL and 9 µg/mL, respectively). In conclusion, the crude extract of B.H. and M. bella showed a potent inhibitory effect against α-amylase and showed promising results to the possible development of new medicines to treat diabetes with less or even without side effects.

Keywords: alfa-glucosidases, diabetes mellitus, glycaemia, medicinal plants

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: D. P. N. De Silva, N. P. P. Liyanage

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Zebrafish (Danio rerio) in the family Cyprinidae, is a tropical freshwater fish widely used as a model organism in scientific research. Use of effective and economical anaesthetic is very important when handling fish. Clove oil (active ingredient: eugenol) was identified as a natural product which is safer and economical compared to synthetic chemicals like methanesulfonate (MS-222). Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the most effective dosage of clove oil solution as an anaesthetic on mature Zebrafish. Clove oil solution was prepared by mixing pure clove oil with 94% ethanol at a ratio of 1:9 respectively. From that solution, different volumes were selected as (0.4 ml, 0.6 ml and 0.8 ml) and dissolved in one liter of conditioned water (dosages : 0.4 ml/L, 0.6 ml/L and 0.8 ml/L). Water quality parameters (pH, temperature and conductivity) were measured before and after adding clove oil solution. Mature Zebrafish with similar standard length (2.76 ± 0.1 cm) and weight (0.524 ± 0.1 g) were selected for this experiment. Time taken for loss of equilibrium (initiation phase) and complete loss of movements including opercular movement (anaesthetic phase) were measured. To detect the efficacy on anaesthetic recovery, time taken to begin opercular movements (initiation of recovery phase) until swimming (post anaesthetic phase) were observed. The results obtained were analyzed according to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukeys’ method using SPSS version 17.0 at 95% confidence interval (p<0.5). According to the results, there was no significant difference at the initiation phase of anaesthesia in all three doses though the time taken was varied from 0.14 to 0.41 minutes. Mean value of the time taken to complete the anaesthetic phase at 0.4 ml/L dosage was significantly different with 0.6 ml/L and 0.8 ml/L dosages independently (p=0.01). There was no significant difference among recovery times at all dosages but 0.8 ml/L dosage took longer time compared to 0.6 ml/L dosage. The water quality parameters (pH and temperature) were stable throughout the experiment except conductivity, which increased with the higher dosage. In conclusion, the best dosage need to anaesthetize Zebrafish using clove oil solution was 0.6 ml/L due to its fast initiation of anaesthesia and quick recovery compared to the other two dosages. Therefore clove oil can be used as a good substitute for synthetic anaesthetics because of its efficacy at a lower dosage with higher safety at a low cost.

Keywords: anaesthetics, clove oil, zebrafish, Cyprinidae

Procedia PDF Downloads 716

Authors: L. C. Sánchez, L. C. Corrales, A. G. Lancheros, E. Castañeda, Y. Ariza, L. S. Fuentes, L. Sierra, J. L. Cuervo

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The importance of environment friendly alternatives in agricultural processes is the reason why the research group Ceparium, the Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca University, Colombia, investigated the genus Bacillus and its applicability for improving crops of economic importance in Colombia. In this investigation, we presented a study in which the genus Bacillus plays a leading role as beneficial microorganism. The objective was to identify the biochemical potential of three indigenous species of Bacillus, which were able to carry out actions for biological control against pathogens and pests or promoted growth to improve productivity of crops in Colombia. The procedures were performed in three phases: first, the production of biomass of an indigenous strain and a reference strain starting from culture media for production of spores and toxins were made. Spore count was done in a Neubauer chamber, concentrations of spores of Bacillus sphaericus were prepared and a bioassay was done at the Laboratory of Entomology at the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano of Plutella xylostella larvae, insect pest of crucifers in several Colombian regions. The second phase included the extraction in the liquid state fermentation, a secondary metabolite that has antibiosis action against fungi, call iturin B, and was obtained from strains of Bacillus subtilis. The molecule was identified using High Resolution Chromatography (HPLC) and its biocontrol effect on Fusarium sp fungus causes vascular wilt in economically important plant varieties, was confirmed using testing of antagonism in Petri dish. In the third phase, an initial procedure in that let recover and identify microorganisms of the genus Bacillus from the rhizosphere in two aromatic herbs, Rosmarinus officinalis and Thymus vulgaris L. was used. Subsequently, testing of antagonism against Fusarium sp were made and an assay was done under greenhouse conditions to observe biocontrol and growth promoting action by comparing growth in length and dry weight. In the first experiment, native Bacillus sphaericus was lethal to 92% Plutella xylostella larvae in 10 DDA. In the second experiment, iturin B was identified and biological control of Fusarium sp was demonstrated. In the third study, all strains demonstrated biological control and the B14 strain identified as Bacillus megaterium increased root length and productivity of the two plants in terms of weight. It was concluded that the native microorganisms of the genus Bacillus has a great biochemical potential that provides a beneficial interactions with plants, improve their growth and development and therefore a greater impact on production.

Keywords: genus bacillus, biological control, PGPRs, biochemical potential

Procedia PDF Downloads 435

Authors: C. E. Laburu, M. A. Barros, A. F. Zompero, O. H. M. Silva

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The work presents a teaching strategy that employs syntagmatic and paradigmatic linguistic relations in order to monitor the understanding of physics students’ concepts. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations are theoretical elements of semiotics studies and our research circumstances and justified them within the research program of multi-modal representations. Among the multi-modal representations to learning scientific knowledge, the scope of action of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations belongs to the discursive writing form. The use of such relations has the purpose to seek innovate didactic work with discourse representation in the write form before translate to another different representational form. The research was conducted with a sample of first year high school students. The students were asked to produce syntagmatic and paradigmatic of Newton’ first law statement. This statement was delivered in paper for each student that should individually write the relations. The student’s records were collected for analysis. It was possible observed in one student used here as example that their monemes replaced and rearrangements produced by, respectively, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, kept the original meaning of the law. In paradigmatic production he specified relevant significant units of the linguistic signs, the monemas, which constitute the first articulation and each word substituted kept equivalence to the original meaning of original monema. Also, it was noted a number of diverse and many monemas were chosen, with balanced combination of grammatical (grammatical monema is what changes the meaning of a word, in certain positions of the syntagma, along with a relatively small number of other monemes. It is the smallest linguistic unit that has grammatical meaning) and lexical (lexical monema is what belongs to unlimited inventories; is the monema endowed with lexical meaning) monemas. In syntagmatic production, monemas ordinations were syntactically coherent, being linked with semantic conservation and preserved number. In general, the results showed that the written representation mode based on linguistic relations paradigmatic and syntagmatic qualifies itself to be used in the classroom as a potential identifier and accompanist of meanings acquired from students in the process of scientific inquiry.

Keywords: semiotics, language, high school, physics teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Vera Lucia Teixeira da Silva, Sandra Regina Buttros Gattolin de Paula

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The present study focuses on academic literacy and addresses the impact of semantic-discursive resources on the constitution of genres that are produced in such context. The research considers the development of writing in the academic context in Portuguese. Researches that address academic literacy and the characteristics of the texts produced in this context are rare, mainly with focus on the development of writing, considering three variables: the constitution of the writer, the perception of the reader/interlocutor and the organization of the informational text flow. The research aims to map the semantic-discursive resources of the written register in texts of several genres and produced by students in the first semester of the undergraduate course in Letters. The hypothesis raised is that writing in the academic environment is not a recurrent literacy practice for these learners and can be explained by the ontogenetic and phylogenetic nature of language development. Qualitative in nature, the present research has as empirical data texts produced in a half-yearly course of Reading and Textual Production; these data result from the proposition of four different writing proposals, in a total of 600 texts. The corpus is analyzed based on semantic-discursive resources, seeking to contemplate relevant aspects of language (grammar, discourse and social context) that reveal the choices made in the reader/writer interrelationship and the organizational flow of the Text. Among the semantic-discursive resources, the analysis includes three resources, including (a) appraisal and negotiation to understand the attitudes negotiated (roles of the participants of the discourse and their relationship with the other); (b) ideation to explain the construction of the experience (activities performed and participants); and (c) periodicity to outline the flow of information in the organization of the text according to the genre it instantiates. The results indicate the organizational difficulties of the flow of the text information. Cartography contributes to the understanding of the way writers use language in an effort to present themselves, evaluate someone else’s work, and communicate with readers.

Keywords: academic writing, Portuguese mother tongue, semantic-discursive resources, academic context

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Débora C. Mendes, Matthias Eckert, Cláudia S. Moço, Hélio Martins, Jean-Pierre P. Gonçalves, Miguel Oliveira, José P. Da Silva

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Uncontrolled disposal of construction and demolition waste (C & DW) in embankments in the periphery of cities causes both environmental and social problems, namely erosion, deforestation, water contamination and human conflicts. One of the milestones of EU Horizon 2020 Programme is the management of waste as a resource. To achieve this purpose for C & DW, a detailed analysis of the properties of these materials should be done. In this work we report the physical, chemical and environmental properties of C & DW aggregates from 25 different origins. The results are compared with those of common natural aggregates used in construction. Assays were performed according to European Standards. Additional analysis of heavy metals and organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were performed to evaluate their environmental impact. Finally, properties of concrete prepared with C & DW aggregates are also reported. Physical analyses of C & DW aggregates indicated lower quality properties than natural aggregates, particularly for concrete preparation and unbound layers of road pavements. Chemical properties showed that most samples (80%) meet the values required by European regulations for concrete and unbound layers of road pavements. Analyses of heavy metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Mo and Zn in the C&DW leachates showed levels below the limits established by the Council Decision of 19 December 2002. Identification and quantification of PCBs and PAHs indicated that few samples shows the presence of these compounds. The measured levels of PCBs and PAHs are also below the limits. Other compounds identified in the C&DW leachates include phthalates and diphenylmethanol. In conclusion, the characterized C&DW aggregates show lower quality properties than natural aggregates but most samples showed to be environmentally safe. A continuous monitoring of the presence of heavy metals and organic compounds should be made to trial safe C&DW aggregates. C&DW aggregates provide a good economic and environmental alternative to natural aggregates.

Keywords: concrete preparation, construction and demolition waste, heavy metals, organic pollutants

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Luís F. da Silva, Ariadne C. Catto, Osmando F. Lopes, Khalifa Aguir, Valmor R. Mastelaro, Caue Ribeiro, Elson Longo

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Gas detection is important for controlling industrial, and vehicle emissions, agricultural residues, and environmental control. In last decades, several semiconducting oxides have been used to detect dangerous or toxic gases. The excellent gas-sensing performance of these devices have been observed at high temperatures (~250 °C), which forbids the use for the detection of flammable and explosive gases. In this way, ultraviolet light activated gas sensors have been a simple and promising alternative to achieve room temperature sensitivity. Among the semiconductor oxides which exhibit a good performance as gas sensor, the zinc oxide (ZnO) and tin oxide (SnO2) have been highlighted. Nevertheless, their poor selectivity is the main disadvantage for application as gas sensor devices. Recently, heterostructures combining these two semiconductors (ZnO-SnO2) have been studied as an alternative way to enhance the gas sensor performance (sensitivity, selectivity, and stability). In this work, we investigated the influence of mass ratio Zn:Sn on the properties of ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites prepared by hydrothermal treatment for 4 hours at 200 °C. The crystalline phase, surface, and morphological features were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron (HR-TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The gas sensor measurements were carried out at room-temperature under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation using different ozone levels (0.06 to 0.61 ppm). The XRD measurements indicate the presence of ZnO and SnO2 crystalline phases, without the evidence of solid solution formation. HR-TEM analysis revealed that a good contact between the SnO2 nanoparticles and the ZnO nanorods, which are very important since interface characteristics between nanostructures are considered as challenge to development new and efficient heterostructures. Electrical measurements proved that the best ozone gas-sensing performance is obtained for ZnO:SnO2 (50:50) nanocomposite under UV light irradiation. Its sensitivity was around 6 times higher when compared to SnO2 pure, a traditional ozone gas sensor. These results demonstrate the potential of ZnO-SnO2 heterojunctions for the detection of ozone gas at room-temperature when irradiated with UV light irradiation.

Keywords: hydrothermal, zno-sno2, ozone sensor, uv-activation, room-temperature

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Authors: Diana F. Lopes, Jorge Simoes, José Martins, Eduardo Castro

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Health professionals are the keystone of any health system, by delivering health services to the population. Given the time and cost involved in training new health professionals, the planning process of the health workforce is particularly important as it ensures a proper balance between the supply and demand of these professionals and it plays a central role on the Health 2020 policy. In the past 40 years, the planning of the health workforce in Portugal has been conducted in a reactive way lacking a prospective vision based on an integrated, comprehensive and valid analysis. This situation may compromise not only the productivity and the overall socio-economic development but the quality of the healthcare services delivered to patients. This is even more critical given the expected shortage of the health workforce in the future. Furthermore, Portugal is facing an aging context of some professional classes (physicians and nurses). In 2015, 54% of physicians in Portugal were over 50 years old, and 30% of all members were over 60 years old. This phenomenon associated to an increasing emigration of young health professionals and a change in the citizens’ illness profiles and expectations must be considered when planning resources in healthcare. The perspective of sudden retirement of large groups of professionals in a short time is also a major problem to address. Another challenge to embrace is the health workforce imbalances, in which Portugal has one of the lowest nurse to physician ratio, 1.5, below the European Region and the OECD averages (2.2 and 2.8, respectively). Within the scope of the HEALTH 2040 project – which aims to estimate the ‘Future needs of human health resources in Portugal till 2040’ – the present study intends to get a comprehensive dynamic approach of the problem, by (i) estimating the needs of physicians and nurses in Portugal, by specialties and by quinquenium till 2040; (ii) identifying the training needs of physicians and nurses, in medium and long term, till 2040, and (iii) estimating the number of students that must be admitted into medicine and nursing training systems, each year, considering the different categories of specialties. The development of such approach is significantly more critical in the context of limited budget resources and changing health care needs. In this context, this study presents the drivers of the healthcare needs’ evolution (such as the demographic and technological evolution, the future expectations of the users of the health systems) and it proposes a Bayesian methodology, combining the best available data with experts opinion, to model such evolution. Preliminary results considering different plausible scenarios are presented. The proposed methodology will be integrated in a user-friendly decision support system so it can be used by politicians, with the potential to measure the impact of health policies, both at the regional and the national level.

Keywords: bayesian estimation, health economics, health workforce planning, human health resources planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Gracie Tredget, Raymond McGrath, Karen Ang, Julie Williams, Nick Sevdalis, Fiona Gaughran, Jorge Aria de la Torre, Ioannis Bakolis, Andy Healey, Zarnie Khadjesari, Euan Sadler, Natalia Stepan

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Background: Preventable physical health problems have been found to increase morbidity rates amongst adults living with serious mental illness (SMI). Community mental health clinicians have a role in identifying, and preventing physical health problems worsening, and supporting primary care services to administer routine physical health checks for their patients. However, little is known about how mental health staff perceive and approach their role when providing physical healthcare amongst patients with SMI, or the impact these attitudes have on routine practice. Methods: The present study involves a prospective service evaluation specific to Adult Community Mental Health Services at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). A qualitative methodology will use semi-structured interviews, focus groups and observations to explore attitudes, perceptions and experiences of staff, patients, and carers (n=64) towards physical healthcare, and barriers or facilitators that impact upon it. 1South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, SE5 8AZ, UK 2 Centre for Implementation Science, King’s College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK 3 Psychosis Studies, King's College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK 4 Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King’s College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK 5 Kings Health Economics, King's College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK 6 Behavioural and Implementation Science (BIS) research group, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK 7 Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK 8 Mind and Body Programme, King’s Health Partners, Guy’s Hospital, London, SE1 9RT *[email protected] Analysis: Data from across qualitative tasks will be synthesised using Framework Analysis methodologies. Staff, patients, and carers will be invited to participate in co-development of recommendations that can improve routine physical healthcare within Adult Community Mental Health Teams at SLaM. Results: Data collection is underway at present. At the time of the conference, early findings will be available to discuss. Conclusions: An integrated approach to mind and body care is needed to reduce preventable deaths amongst people with SMI. This evaluation will seek to provide a framework that better equips staff to approach physical healthcare within a mental health setting.

Keywords: severe mental illness, physical healthcare, adult community mental health, nursing

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Julia V. F. Cortes, Maria E. V. Amarante, Carolina L. Cerdeira, Roberta B. V. Silva

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Nonmelanoma skin cancer is more commonly diagnosed than all other malignancies combined. In that group, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma stands out for having the highest probability of metastasis and recurrence after treatment, in addition to being the second most prevalent form of skin cancer. Its main risk factors include exposure to carcinogens, such as ultraviolet radiation related to sunlight exposure, smoking, alcohol consumption, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Considering the increased risk of skin cancer in the Brazilian population, caused by the high incidence of solar radiation, and the importance of identifying risk phenotypes for the accomplishment of public health actions, an epidemiological study was conducted in a city with a tropical climate located in southeastern Brazil, aiming to identify the target population and assist in primary and secondary prevention. This study describes the profile of patients with cutaneous squamous cell cancer, correlating the variables, sex, age, and differentiation. The study used as primary data source the results of anatomopathological exams delivered from January 2015 to December 2019 for patients registered at one pathology service, which analyzes the results of biopsies, Thus, 66 patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma were analyzed. The most affected age group was 60 years or older (78.79%), emphasizing that moderately differentiated (79.49%) and well-differentiated forms (66.67%) are prevalent in this age group, resulting in a difference of 12.82 percentage points between them. In addition, the predominant sex was male (58%), and it was found that half of the women and 65.79% of men had a moderately differentiated type, whereas the well-differentiated type was slightly more frequent in women. It is worth noting that the moderately differentiated subtype has a 59.20% prevalence among all cases. Thus, it was concluded that the most affected age group was 60 years or older and that men were more affected. As for the subtype, the moderately differentiated one, which is recognized for presenting the second-highest risk for metastasis, was prevalent in this study, affecting 6.6% more men and predominating in the elderly.

Keywords: cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, epidemiology, skin cancer, spinal cell cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Isomar Lima da Silva, Alcilene Batalha Pontes, Aristeu Jonatas Leite de Oliveira, Roberto Maia Augusto

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Context: Mechanical ventilators are medical devices that help provide oxygen and ventilation to patients with respiratory difficulties. This equipment consists of a manual breathing unit that can be operated by a doctor or nurse and a mechanical ventilator that controls the airflow and pressure in the patient's respiratory system. This type of ventilator is commonly used in emergencies and intensive care units where it is necessary to provide breathing support to critically ill or injured patients. Objective: In this context, this work aims to develop a reliable and low-cost mechanical ventilator to meet the demand of hospitals in treating people affected by Covid-19 and other severe respiratory diseases, offering a chance of treatment as an alternative to mechanical ventilators currently available in the market. Method: The project presents the development of a low-cost auxiliary ventilator with a controlled ventilatory system assisted by integrated hardware and firmware for respiratory cycle control in non-invasive mechanical ventilation treatments using a manual artificial respiration unit. The hardware includes pressure sensors capable of identifying positive expiratory pressure, peak inspiratory flow, and injected air volume. The embedded system controls the data sent by the sensors. It ensures efficient patient breathing through the operation of the sensors, microcontroller, and actuator, providing patient data information to the healthcare professional (system operator) through the graphical interface and enabling clinical parameter adjustments as needed. Results: The test data of the developed mechanical ventilator presented satisfactory results in terms of performance and reliability, showing that the equipment developed can be a viable alternative to commercial mechanical ventilators currently available, offering a low-cost solution to meet the increasing demand for respiratory support equipment.

Keywords: mechanical fans, breathing, medical equipment, COVID-19, intensive care units

Procedia PDF Downloads 70

Authors: Tânia F. C. V. Silva, Eloísa S. S. Vieira, João Pinto da Costa, Rui A. R. Boaventura, Vitor J. P. Vilar

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Sanitary landfill leachates are characterized as a complex mixture of diverse organic and inorganic contaminants, which are usually removed by combining different treatment processes. Due to its simplicity, reliability, high cost-effectiveness and high nitrogen content (mostly under the ammonium form) inherent in this type of effluent, the activated sludge biological process is almost always applied in leachate treatment plants (LTPs). The purpose of this work is to assess the effect of the main nitrification and denitrification variables on the nitrogen's biological removal, from mature leachates. The leachate samples were collected after an aerated lagoon, at a LTP nearby Porto, presenting a high amount of dissolved organic carbon (1.0-1.3 g DOC/L) and ammonium nitrogen (1.1-1.7 g NH4+-N/L). The experiments were carried out in a 1-L lab-scale batch reactor, equipped with a pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) control system, in order to determine the reaction kinetic constants at unchanging conditions. The nitrification reaction rate was evaluated while varying the (i) operating temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30ºC), (ii) DO concentration interval (0.5-1.0, 1.0-2.0 and 2.0-4.0 mg/L) and (iii) solution pH (not controlled, 7.5-8.5 and 6.5-7.5). At the beginning of most assays, it was verified that the ammonium stripping occurred simultaneously to the nitrification, reaching up to 37% removal of total dissolved nitrogen. The denitrification kinetic constants and the methanol consumptions were calculated for different values of (i) volatile suspended solids (VSS) content (25, 50 and 100 mL of centrifuged sludge in 1 L solution), (ii) pH interval (6.5-7.0, 7.5-8.0 and 8.5-9.0) and (iii) temperature (15, 20, 25 and 30ºC), using effluent previously nitrified. The maximum nitrification rate obtained was 38±2 mg NH4+-N/h/g VSS (25ºC, 0.5-1.0 mg O2/L, pH not controlled), consuming 4.4±0.3 mg CaCO3/mg NH4+-N. The highest denitrification rate achieved was 19±1 mg (NO2--N+NO3--N)/h/g VSS (30ºC, 50 mL of sludge and pH between 7.5 and 8.0), with a C/N consumption ratio of 1.1±0.1 mg CH3OH/mg (NO2--N+NO3--N) and an overall alkalinity production of 3.7±0.3 mg CaCO3/mg (NO2--N+NO3--N). The denitrification process showed to be sensitive to all studied parameters, while the nitrification reaction did not suffered significant change when DO content was changed.

Keywords: mature sanitary landfill leachate, nitrogen removal, nitrification and denitrification parameters, lab-scale activated sludge biological reactor

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Authors: Alessandra Turini Bolsoni-Silva, Sonia Regina Loureiro

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It is important to evaluate such variables simultaneously and differentiating types of behavior problems: internalizing, externalizing and with comorbidity of internalizing and externalizing. The objective was to compare, correlate and predict teacher educational practices (educational social skills and negative practices) and children's behaviors (social skills and behavior problems) of children with internalizing, externalizing and combined internalizing and externalizing problems, controlling variables of child (gender and education). A total of 262 children were eligible to compose the participants, considering preschool age from 3 to 5 years old (n = 109) and school age from 6 to 11 (n = 153) years old, and their teachers who were distributed, in designs case-control, non-clinical, with internalizing, externalizing problems and internalizing and externalizing comorbidity, using the Teacher's Report Form (TRF) as a criterion. The instruments were applied with the teachers, after consent from the parents/guardians: a) Teacher’s Report Form (TRF); b) Educational Social Skills Interview Guide for Teachers (RE-HSE-Pr); (c) Socially Skilled Response Questionnaire – Teachers (QRSH-Pr). The data were treated by univariate and multivariate analyses, proceeding with comparisons, correlations and predictions regarding the outcomes of children with and without behavioral problems, considering the types of problems. As main results stand out: (a) group comparison studies: in the Inter group there is emphasis on behavior problems in affection interactions, which does not happen in the other groups; as for positive practices, they discriminate against groups with externalizing and combined problems and not in internalizing ones, positive educational practices – hse are more frequent in the G-Exter and G-Inter+Exter groups; negative practices differed only in the G-Exter and G-Inter+Exter groups; b) correlation studies: it can be seen that the Inter+Exter group presents a greater number of correlations in the relationship between behavioral problems/complaints and negative practices and between children's social skills and positive practices/contexts; c) prediction studies: children's social skills predict internalizing, externalizing and combined problems; it is also verified that the negative practices are in the multivariate model for the externalizing and combined ones. This investigation collaborates in the identification of risk and protective factors for specific problems, helping in interventions for different problems.

Keywords: development, educational practices, social skills, behavior problems, teacher

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Authors: Santiago Silva de Andrade

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In recent decades, Marx's ecological theory of the value-form and the theory of metabolic rift have represented fundamental methodological innovations for social scientists interested in environmental transformations and their relationships with the development of the capital system. However, among Latin American environmental historians, such theoretical and methodological instruments have been used infrequently and very cautiously. This investigation aims to demonstrate how the concepts of metabolic rift and ecological value-form are important for understanding the environmental, economic and social transformations in the Amazon region between the second half of the 19th century and the end of the 20th century. Such transformations manifested themselves mainly in two dimensions: the first concerns the link between the manufacture of tropical substances for export and scientific developments in the fields of botany, chemistry and agriculture. This link was constituted as a set of social, intellectual and economic relations that condition each other, configuring an asymmetrical field of exchanges and connections between the demands of the industrialized world - personified in scientists, naturalists, businesspeople and bureaucrats - and the agencies of local social actors, such as indigenous people, riverside dwellers and quilombolas; the second dimension concerns the imperative link between the historical development of the capitalist world-system and the restructuring of the natural world, its landscapes, biomes and social relations, notably in peripheral colonial areas. The environmental effects of capitalist globalization were not only seen in the degradation of exploited environments, although this has been, until today, its most immediate and noticeable aspect. There was also, in territories subject to the logic of market accumulation, the reformulation of patterns of authority and institutional architectures, such as property systems, political jurisdictions, rights and social contracts, as a result of the expansion of commodity frontiers between the 16th and 21st centuries. . This entire set of transformations produced impacts on the ecological landscape of the Amazon. This demonstrates the need to investigate the histories of local configurations of power, spatial and ecological - with their institutions and social actors - and their role in structuring the capitalist world-system , under the lens of the ecological theory of value-form and metabolic rift.

Keywords: amazon, ecology, form-value, metabolic rift

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Authors: Helida Thays Gomes Soares, Conceicao De Maria Pinheiro Correia, Fabiano Maciel Soares, Kleymer Silva

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There is great discussion around populational increase in urban areas of the global south, and, consequently, the growth of inappropriate housing and the different ways humans have found to solve housing problems around the world. Sao Luís, the capital of the state of Maranhao is a good example. The 1.6 million inhabitant metropole is a colonial tropical city that shelters 22% of the population of Maranhão, brazilian state that still carries the scars of slavery in past centuries. In 2016, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic found that 20% of Maranhão’s inhabitants were living in houses with external walls made of non-durable materials, like recycled wood, cardboard or soil. Out of this problematic, this study aims to propose interventions not only in the physical structure of irregular housing, but also to serve as a guide to intervene in the way eco-friendly, communitarian housing is seen by extreme poor zones inside metropolitan regions around big cities in the global south. The adaptation and reuse of industrial containers from the Harbor of Itaqui for housing is also an aim of the project. The great volume of discarded industrial containers may be an opportunity to solve housing deficit in the city. That way, through field research in São Luís’ neighborhoods mostly occupied by inappropriate housing, the study intends to raise ethnographical and physical values that help to shape new uses of industrial containers and recycled building materials, bringing the community into the process of shaping new-housing for local housing programs, changing the mindset of a concrete/brick model of building. The study used a general feasibility analysis of local engineers regarding strength of the locally used container for construction purposes, and also researched in-loco the current impressions of risky areas inhabitants of housing, traditional housing and the role they played as city shapers, evaluating their perceptions of what means to live and how their houses represent their personality.

Keywords: container housing, civil construction, housing deficit, participatory design, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Ricardo Hugo Gonzalez, Amanda Figueiredo Vasconcelos, Francisco Loureiro Neto Monteiro, Yara Luiza Freitas Silva, Ana Cristina Lindsay, Márcia Maria Tavares Machado

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The use of sport as an integration mean is a very important tool regarding the social involvement of children and teenagers in a vulnerability situation. This study aims to report the experiences of a multidisciplinary program that intends to improve the quality of life of children and teenagers in Fortaleza, in the Northeast of Brazil. More than 400 children and teenagers aging 11 and 16 years participated in this study. Poor communities experience many particular difficulties in the urban centers such as violence, poor housing conditions, unemployment, lack in health care and deficient physical education in school. Physical education, physiotherapy, odontology, medicine and pharmacy students are responsible for the activities in the project supervised by a general coordinator and a counselor teacher of each academic unit. There are classes about team sports like basketball and soccer. Lectures about sexual behavior and sexually transmitted diseases are ministered beside the ones about oral health education, basic life support education, first aids, use and care with pharmaceuticals and orientations about healthy nutrition. In order to get the children’s family closer, monthly informative lectures are ministered. There is also the concern about reflecting the actions and producing academic paperwork such as graduation final projects and books. The number of participants has oscillated lately, and one of the causes is the lack of practicing physical activities and sports regularly. However, 250 teenagers have participated regularly for at least two years. These teenagers have shown a healthier lifestyle and a better physical fitness profile. The resources for maintaining the project come from the Pro-Reitoria of Extension, Federal University of Ceara, as well as from the PROEXT/MEC, Federal Government. Actions of this nature need to be done thinking for long periods so the effects results can become effective. Public and private investments are needed due to low socioeconomic families who are most vulnerable and have fewer opportunities to enhance to health prevention services.

Keywords: children and teenagers, health, multidisciplinary program, quality of life

Procedia PDF Downloads 242

Authors: Amanda J. Burridge, Keith J. Edwards, Paul A. Wilkinson, Tom Batstone, Erik H. Murchie, Lorna McAusland, Ana Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Ivan Jauregui, Tracy Lawson, Silvere R. M. Vialet-Chabrand

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The rate of genetic progress in wheat production must be improved to meet global food security targets. However, past selection for domestication traits has reduced the genetic variation in modern wheat cultivars, a fact that could severely limit the future rate of genetic gain. The genetic variation in agronomically important traits for the wild relatives and progenitors of wheat is far greater than that of the current domesticated cultivars, but transferring these traits into modern cultivars is not straightforward. Between the elite cultivars of wheat, photosynthetic capacity is a key trait for which there is limited variation. Early screening of wheat wild relative and progenitors has shown differences in photosynthetic capacity and efficiency not only between wild relative species but marked differences between the accessions of each species. By identifying wild relative accessions with improved photosynthetic traits and characterising the genetic variation responsible, it is possible to incorporate these traits into advanced breeding programmes by wide crossing and introgression programmes. To identify the potential variety of photosynthetic capacity and efficiency available in the secondary and tertiary genepool, a wide scale survey was carried out for over 600 accessions from 80 species including those from the genus Aegilops, Triticum, Thinopyrum, Elymus, and Secale. Genotype data were generated for each accession using a ‘Wheat Wild Relative’ Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping array composed of 35,000 SNP markers polymorphic between wild relatives and elite hexaploid wheat. This genotype data was combined with phenotypic measurements such as gas exchange (CO₂, H₂O), chlorophyll fluorescence, growth, morphology, and RuBisCO activity to identify potential breeding material with enhanced photosynthetic capacity and efficiency. The data and associated analysis tools presented here will prove useful to anyone interested in increasing the genetic diversity in hexaploid wheat or the application of complex genotyping data to plant breeding.

Keywords: wheat, wild relatives, pre-breeding, genomics, photosynthesis

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Authors: Drago Diaz Aleman, Jose Luis Saorin Perez, Cecile Meier, Itahisa Perez Conesa, Jorge De La Torre Cantero

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Traditional manufacturing techniques used in artistic contexts compete with highly productive and efficient industrial procedures. The craft techniques and associated business models tend to disappear under the pressure of the appearance of mass-produced products that compete in all niche markets, including those traditionally reserved for the work of art. The surplus value derived from the prestige of the author, the exclusivity of the product or the mastery of the artist, do not seem to be sufficient reasons to preserve this productive model. In the last years, the adoption of open source digital manufacturing technologies in small art workshops can favor their permanence by assuming great advantages such as easy accessibility, low cost, and free modification, adapting to specific needs of each workshop. It is possible to use pieces modeled by computer and made with FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) 3D printers that use PLA (polylactic acid) in the procedures of artistic casting. Models printed by PLA are limited to approximate minimum sizes of 3 cm, and optimal layer height resolution is 0.1 mm. Due to these limitations, it is not the most suitable technology for artistic casting processes of smaller pieces. An alternative to solve size limitation, are printers from the type (SLS) "selective sintering by laser". And other possibility is a laser hardens, by layers, metal powder and called DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering). However, due to its high cost, it is a technology that is difficult to introduce in small artistic foundries. The low-cost DLP (Digital Light Processing) type printers can offer high resolutions for a reasonable cost (around 0.02 mm on the Z axis and 0.04 mm on the X and Y axes), and can print models with castable resins that allow the subsequent direct artistic casting in precious metals or their adaptation to processes such as electroforming. In this work, the design of a DLP 3D printer is detailed, using backlit LCD screens with ultraviolet light. Its development is totally "open source" and is proposed as a kit made up of electronic components, based on Arduino and easy to access mechanical components in the market. The CAD files of its components can be manufactured in low-cost FDM 3D printers. The result is less than 500 Euros, high resolution and open-design with free access that allows not only its manufacture but also its improvement. In future works, we intend to carry out different comparative analyzes, which allow us to accurately estimate the print quality, as well as the real cost of the artistic works made with it.

Keywords: traditional artistic techniques, DLP 3D printer, artistic casting, electroforming

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Authors: Aruma Baduge Kithma De Silva

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Haskap (Lonicera caerulea L.), also known as blue honeysuckle, is a newly commercialized berry crop in Canada. Haskap berries are rich in polyphenols, including, anthocyanins, which are known for potential health-promoting properties. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G) is the most abundant anthocyanin of haskap berries. The compound C3G has the ability to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), which has become an increasingly common health issue around the world. The T2D is characterized as a metabolic disorder of hyperglycemia and insulin resistance. It has been demonstrated that C3G has anti-diabetic effects through several ways, including inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), reduction of gluconeogenesis, improvement in insulin sensitivity, and inhibition of activities of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes, including α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of variety and harvests maturity of haskap on C3G, other fruit quality characteristics and anti-diabetic activities of haskap berries using in vitro studies. The polyphenols present in four commercially grown haskap cultivars, Aurora, Rebecca, Larissa, and Evie harvested at five harvesting dates (H1-H5) apart from 2-3 days, were extracted separately. High-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) analyzes of polyphenols revealed that haskap berries contain predominantly anthocyanins, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, and phenolic acids. The compound C3G was the most prominent anthocyanin, which is available in approximately 79% of total anthocyanin in four cultivars. The Larissa at H5 contained the highest C3G content. The antioxidant capacity of Evie at H5 was greater than other cultivars. Furthermore, Larissa H5 showed the greatest inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes including alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase. In conclusion, the haskap variety and harvesting date influenced the polyphenol composition and biological properties. The variety Larissa, at H5 harvesting date, contained the highest polyphenol content and the ability of inhibition of the carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzyme as well as DPP4 enzyme in order to reduce type 2 diabetes.

Keywords: anthocyanin, Haskap, type 2 diabetes, polyphenol

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Zineb Jibraili, Said Ouhadi, Jorge Arana

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Introduction: Organizational performance is recognized by some theorists as one-dimensional concept, and by others as multidimensional. This concept, which is already difficult to apply in traditional companies, is even harder to identify, to measure and to manage when voluntary organizations are concerned, essentially because of the complexity of that form of organizations such as sport clubs who are characterized by the multiple goals and multiple constituencies. Indeed, the new culture of professionalization and modernization around organizational performance emerges new pressures from the state, sponsors, members and other stakeholders which have required these sport organizations to become more performance oriented, or to build their capacity in order to better manage their organizational performance. The evaluation of performance can be made by evaluating the input (e.g. available resources), throughput (e.g. processing of the input) and output (e.g. goals achieved) of the organization. In non-profit organizations (NPOs), questions of performance have become increasingly important in the world of practice. To our knowledge, most of studies used the same methods to evaluate the performance in NPSOs, but no recent study has proposed a club-specific model. Based on a review of the studies that specifically addressed the organizational performance (and effectiveness) of NPSOs at operational level, the present paper aims to provide a multidimensional framework in order to understand, analyse and measure organizational performance of sport clubs. This paper combines all dimensions founded in literature and chooses the most suited of them to our model that we will develop in Moroccan sport clubs case. Method: We propose to implicate our unified model of evaluating organizational performance that takes into account all the limitations found in the literature. On a sample of Moroccan sport clubs ‘Football, Basketball, Handball and Volleyball’, for this purpose we use a qualitative study. The sample of our study comprises data from sport clubs (football, basketball, handball, volleyball) participating on the first division of the professional football league over the period from 2011 to 2016. Each football club had to meet some specific criteria in order to be included in the sample: 1. Each club must have full financial data published in their annual financial statements, audited by an independent chartered accountant. 2. Each club must have sufficient data. Regarding their sport and financial performance. 3. Each club must have participated at least once in the 1st division of the professional football league. Result: The study showed that the dimensions that constitute the model exist in the field with some small modifications. The correlations between the different dimensions are positive. Discussion: The aim of this study is to test the unified model emerged from earlier and narrower approaches for Moroccan case. Using the input-throughput-output model for the sketch of efficiency, it was possible to identify and define five dimensions of organizational effectiveness applied to this field of study.

Keywords: organisational performance, model multidimensional, evaluation organizational performance, sport clubs

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Authors: Gabriela D. Silva, Rodrigo L. O. R. Cunha, Mauricio D. Coutinho-Neto

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In the last four decades the biological activities of selenium compounds has received great attention, particularly for hypervalent derivates from selenium (IV) used as enzyme inhibitors. The unregulated activity of cysteine proteases are related to the development of several pathologies, such as neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and parasitic infections. These enzymes are therefore a valuable target for designing new small molecule inhibitors such as selenuranes. Even tough there has been advances in the synthesis and design of new selenuranes based inhibitors, little is known about their mechanism of action. It is a given that inhibition occurs through the reaction between the thiol group of the enzyme and the chalcogen atom. However, several open questions remain about the nature of the mechanism (associative vs. dissociative) and about the nature of the reactive species in solution under physiological conditions. In this work we performed a theoretical investigation on model systems to study the possible routes of substitution reactions. Nucleophiles may be present in biological systems, our interest is centered in the thiol groups from the cysteine proteases and the hydroxyls from the aqueous environment. We therefore expect this study to clarify the possibility of a route reaction in two stages, the first consisting of the substitution of chloro atoms by hydroxyl groups and then replacing these hydroxyl groups per thiol groups in selenuranes. The structures of selenuranes and nucleophiles were optimized using density function theory along the B3LYP functional and a 6-311+G(d) basis set. Solvent was treated using the IEFPCM method as implemented in the Gaussian 09 code. Our results indicate that hydrolysis from water react preferably with selenuranes, and then, they are replaced by the thiol group. It show the energy values of -106,0730423 kcal/mol for dople substituition by hydroxyl group and 96,63078511 kcal/mol for thiol group. The solvatation and pH reduction promotes this route, increasing the energy value for reaction with hydroxil group to -50,75637672 kcal/mol and decreasing the energy value for thiol to 7,917767189 kcal/mol. Alternative ways were analyzed for monosubstitution (considering the competition between Cl, OH and SH groups) and they suggest the same route. Similar results were obtained for aliphatic and aromatic selenuranes studied.

Keywords: chalcogenes, computational study, cysteine proteases, enzyme inhibitors

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Authors: Luis M. Ribeiro, Jorge Raposo, Ricardo Oliveira, David Caballero, Domingos X. Viegas

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Under the scope of European project WUIWATCH a set of experimental tests on house vulnerability was performed in order to assess the resistance of selected house components during the passage of a forest fire. Among the individual elements most affected by the passage of a wildfire the windows are the ones with greater exposure. In this sense, a set of exploratory experimental tests was designed to assess some particular aspects related to the vulnerability of windows and blinds. At the same time, the importance of leaving them closed (as well as the doors inside a house) during a wild fire was explored in order to give some scientific background to guidelines for homeowners. Three sets of tests were performed: 1. Windows and blinds resistance to heat. Three types of protective blinds were tested (aluminium, PVC and wood) on 2 types of windows (single and double pane). The objective was to assess the structures resistance. 2. The influence of air flow on the transport of burning embers inside a house. A room was built to scale, and placed inside a wind tunnel, with one window and one door on opposite sides. The objective was to assess the importance of leaving an inside door opened on the probability of burning embers entering the room. 3. The influence of the dimension of openings on a window or door related to the probability of ignition inside a house. The objective was to assess the influence of different window openings in relation to the amount of burning particles that can enter a house. The main results were: 1. The purely radiative heat source provides 1.5 KW/m2 of heat impact in the structure, while the real fire generates 10 Kw/m2. When protected by the blind, the single pane window reaches 30ºC on both sides, and the double pane window has a differential of 10º from the side facing the heat (30ºC) and the opposite side (40ºC). Unprotected window constantly increases temperature until the end of the test. Window blinds reach considerably higher temperatures. PVC loses its consistency above 150ºC and melts. 2. Leaving the inside door closed results in a positive pressure differential of +1Pa from the outside to the inside, inhibiting the air flow. Opening the door in half or full reverts the pressure differential to -6 and -8 times respectively, favouring the air flow from the outside to the inside. The number of particles entering the house follows the same tendency. 3. As the bottom opening in a window increases from 0,5 cm to 4 cm the number of particles that enter the house per second also increases greatly. From 5 cm until 80cm there is no substantial increase in the number of entering particles. This set of exploratory tests proved to be an added value in supporting guidelines for home owners, regarding self-protection in WUI areas.

Keywords: forest fire, wildland urban interface, house vulnerability, house protective elements

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Authors: Miriam Borchardt, Agata M. Ritter, Macaliston G. da Silva, Mauricio N. de Carvalho, Giancarlo M. Pereira

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This paper aims to analyze the barriers faced by social enterprises and based on that to propose a social business model framework that helps them to leverage their businesses and the social value delivered. A business model for social enterprises should amplify the value perception including social value for the beneficiaries while generating enough profit to escalate the business. Most of the social value beneficiaries are people from the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) or the ones that have specific needs. Because of this, products and services should be affordable to consumers while solving social needs of the beneficiaries. Developing products and services with social value require tie relationship among the social enterprises and universities, public institutions, accelerators, and investors. Despite being focused on social value and contributing to the beneficiaries’ quality of life as well as contributing to the governments that cannot properly guarantee public services and infrastructure to the BOP, many barriers are faced by the social enterprises to escalate their businesses. This is a work in process and five micro- and small-sized social enterprises in Brazil have been studied: (i) one has developed a kit for cervical uterine cancer detection to allow the BOP women to collect their own material and deliver to a laboratory for U$1,00; (ii) other has developed special products without lactose and it is about 70% cheaper than the traditional brands in the market; (iii) the third has developed prosthesis and orthosis to surplus needs that health public system have not done efficiently; (iv) the fourth has produced and commercialized menstrual panties aiming to reduce the consumption of dischargeable ones while saving money to the consumers; (v) the fifth develops and commercializes clothes from fabric wastes in a partnership with BOP artisans. The preliminary results indicate that the main barriers are related to the public system to recognize these products as public money that could be saved if they bought products from these enterprises instead of the multinational pharmaceutical companies, to the traditional distribution system (e.g. pharmacies) that avoid these products because of the low or non-existing profit, to the difficulty buying raw material in small quantities, to leverage investment by the investors, to cultural barriers and taboos. Interesting strategies to reduce the costs have been observed: some enterprises have focused on simplifying products, others have invested in partnerships with local producers and have developed their machines focusing on process efficiency to leverage investment by the investors.

Keywords: base of the pyramid, business model, social business, social business model, social enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Giovana Longo-Silva, Risia Cristina Egito de Menezes, Renan Serenini, Márcia de Oliveira Lima, Júlia Souza de Melo, Larissa de Lima Soares

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Introduction: Sleep duration and quality have been increasingly recognized as important factors affecting overall health and well-being, including their potential impact on body weight and composition. Previous research has shown inconsistent results regarding the association between sleep patterns and body mass index (BMI), particularly among diverse populations such as Brazilian adults. Understanding these relationships is crucial for developing targeted interventions to address obesity and related health issues. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI among Brazilian adults using data from a large national survey focused on chronic nutrition and sleep habits. Materials and Methods: The study included 2050 participants from a population-based virtual survey. BMI was calculated using self-reported weight and height measurements. Participants also reported usual bedtime and wake time on weekdays and weekends and whether they experienced symptoms of insomnia. The average sleep duration across the entire week was calculated as follows: [(5×sleep duration on weekdays) + (2×sleep duration on weekends)]/7. Linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI, adjusting for potential confounding factors, including age, sex, marital status, physical exercise duration, and diet quality. Results: After adjusting for confounding variables, the study found that BMI decreased by 0.19 kg/m² for each additional hour of sleep duration (95% CI = -0.37, -0.02; P = 0.03). Conversely, individuals with insomnia had a higher BMI, with an increase of 0.75 kg/m² (95% CI = 0.28, 1.22; P = 0.002) compared to those without insomnia. Conclusions: The findings suggest a significant association between sleep duration, insomnia, and BMI among Brazilian adults. Longer sleep duration was associated with lower BMI, while insomnia was associated with higher BMI. These results underscore the importance of considering sleep patterns in strategies aimed at preventing and managing obesity in this population. Further research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms and potential interventions targeting sleep-related factors to promote healthier body weight outcomes.

Keywords: sleep, obesity, chronobiology, nutrition

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Authors: Harvey Sanchez-Restrepo, Jorge Louca

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Equity and education are major focus of government policies around the world due to its relevance for addressing the sustainable development goals launched by Unesco. In this research, we developed a primary analysis of a data set of more than one hundred educational and non-educational factors associated with learning, coming from a census-based large-scale assessment carried on in Ecuador for 1.038.328 students, their families, teachers, and school directors, throughout 2014-2018. Each participating student was assessed by a standardized computer-based test. Learning outcomes were calibrated through item response theory with two-parameters logistic model for getting raw scores that were re-scaled and synthetized by a learning index (LI). Our objective was to develop a network for modelling educational deprivation and analyze the structure of inequality gaps, as well as their relationship with socioeconomic status, school financing, and student's ethnicity. Results from the model show that 348 270 students did not develop the minimum skills (prevalence rate=0.215) and that Afro-Ecuadorian, Montuvios and Indigenous students exhibited the highest prevalence with 0.312, 0.278 and 0.226, respectively. Regarding the socioeconomic status of students (SES), modularity class shows clearly that the system is out of equilibrium: the first decile (the poorest) exhibits a prevalence rate of 0.386 while rate for decile ten (the richest) is 0.080, showing an intense negative relationship between learning and SES given by R= –0.58 (p < 0.001). Another interesting and unexpected result is the average-weighted degree (426.9) for both private and public schools attending Afro-Ecuadorian students, groups that got the highest PageRank (0.426) and pointing out that they suffer the highest educational deprivation due to discrimination, even belonging to the richest decile. The model also found the factors which explain deprivation through the highest PageRank and the greatest degree of connectivity for the first decile, they are: financial bonus for attending school, computer access, internet access, number of children, living with at least one parent, books access, read books, phone access, time for homework, teachers arriving late, paid work, positive expectations about schooling, and mother education. These results provide very accurate and clear knowledge about the variables affecting poorest students and the inequalities that it produces, from which it might be defined needs profiles, as well as actions on the factors in which it is possible to influence. Finally, these results confirm that network analysis is fundamental for educational policy, especially linking reliable microdata with social macro-parameters because it allows us to infer how gaps in educational achievements are driven by students’ context at the time of assigning resources.

Keywords: complex network, educational deprivation, evidence-based policy, large-scale assessments, policy informatics

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Diego Santibañez Oyarce, Fernanda Bravo Cornejo, Camilo Cerda Sarabia, Belén Díaz Díaz, Esteban Gómez Terán, Hugo Osses Prado, Raúl Caulier-Cisterna, Jorge Vergara-Quezada, Ana Moya-Beltrán

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The advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies has revolutionized genomics, generating vast amounts of genetic data that challenge traditional bioinformatics methods. Machine learning addresses these challenges by leveraging computational power to identify patterns and extract information from large datasets. However, biological sequence data, being symbolic and non-numeric, must be converted into numerical formats for machine learning algorithms to process effectively. So far, some encoding methods, such as one-hot encoding or k-mers, have been explored. This work proposes additional approaches for encoding DNA sequences in order to compare them with existing techniques and determine if they can provide improvements or if current methods offer superior results. Data from the 16S rRNA gene, a universal marker, was used to analyze eight bacterial groups that are significant in the pulmonary environment and have clinical implications. The bacterial genes included in this analysis are Prevotella, Abiotrophia, Acidovorax, Streptococcus, Neisseria, Veillonella, Mycobacterium, and Megasphaera. These data were downloaded from the NCBI database in Genbank file format, followed by a syntactic analysis to selectively extract relevant information from each file. For data encoding, a sequence normalization process was carried out as the first step. From approximately 22,000 initial data points, a subset was generated for testing purposes. Specifically, 55 sequences from each bacterial group met the length criteria, resulting in an initial sample of approximately 440 sequences. The sequences were encoded using different methods, including one-hot encoding, k-mers, Fourier transform, and Wavelet transform. Various machine learning algorithms, such as support vector machines, random forests, and neural networks, were trained to evaluate these encoding methods. The performance of these models was assessed using multiple metrics, including the confusion matrix, ROC curve, and F1 Score, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their classification capabilities. The results show that accuracies between encoding methods vary by up to approximately 15%, with the Fourier transform obtaining the best results for the evaluated machine learning algorithms. These findings, supported by the detailed analysis using the confusion matrix, ROC curve, and F1 Score, provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of different encoding methods and machine learning algorithms for genomic data analysis, potentially improving the accuracy and efficiency of bacterial classification and related genomic studies.

Keywords: DNA encoding, machine learning, Fourier transform, Fourier transformation

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Authors: Cláudia Moço, Maria Santos, Carlos Arsénio, Débora Mendes, Miguel Oliveira. José Paulo Da Silva

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Construction industry generates large amounts of waste all over the world. About 450 million tons of construction and demolition wastes (C&DW) are produced annually in the European Union. C&DW are highly heterogeneous materials in size and composition, which imposes strong difficulties on their management. Directive n.º 2008/98/CE, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November establishes that 70 % of the C&DW have to be recycled by 2020. To evaluate possible applications of these materials, a detailed physical, chemical and environmental characterization is necessary. Multi Triagem, Lda. is a company located in Algarve (Portugal) and was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (grant QREN 30307 Multivalor) to quantify and characterize the received C&DW, in order to evaluate their possible applications. This evaluation, performed in collaboration with the University of Algarve, involves a physical, chemical and environmental detailed characterization of the received C&DW. In this work we report on the amounts, trial procedures and properties of the C&DW received over a period of fifteen month. In this period the company received C&DW coming from 393 different origins. The total amount was 32.458 tons, mostly mixtures containing concrete, masonry/mortar and soil/rock. Most of C&DW came from demodulation constructions and diggings. The organic/inert component, namely metal, glass, wood and plastics, were screened first and account for about 3 % of the received materials. The remaining materials were screened and grouped according to their origin and contents, the latter evaluated by visual inspection. Twenty five samples were prepared and submitted to a detailed physical, chemical and environmental analysis. The C&DW aggregates show lower quality properties than natural aggregates for concrete preparation and unbound layers of road pavements. However, chemical analyzes indicated that most samples are environmentally safe. A continuous monitoring of the presence of heavy metals and organic compounds is needed in order to perform a proper screening of the C&DW. C&DW aggregates provide a good alternative to natural aggregates.

Keywords: construction and demolition wastes, waste classification, waste composition, waste screening

Procedia PDF Downloads 350