Dysglycemia and arrhythmias

Disorders in glucose metabolism can be divided into three separate but interrelated domains,namely hyperglycemia,hypoglycemia,and glycemic variability.Intensive glycemic control in patients with diabetes might increase the risk of hypoglycemic incidents and glucose fluctuations.These three dysglycemic states occur not only amongst patients with diabetes,but are frequently present in other clinical settings,such as during critically ill.A growing body of evidence has focused on the relationships between these dysglycemic domains with cardiac arrhythmias,including supraventricular arrhythmias(primarily atrial fibrillation),ventricular arrhythmias(malignant ventricular arrhythmias and QT interval prolongation),and bradyarrhythmias(bradycardia and heart block).Different mechanisms by which these dysglycemic states might provoke cardiac arrhythmias have been identified in experimental studies.A customized glycemic control strategy to minimize the risk of hyperglycemia,hypoglycemia and glucose variability is of the utmost importance in order to mitigate the risk of cardiac arrhythmias.

Transpiration and growth responses by Eucalyptus species to progressive soil drying

The regulation of plant transpiration is a key factor affecting transpiration efficiency, growth and adaptation of Eucalyptus species to limited water availability in tropical and subtropical environments. However, few studies have related this trait to the performance of Eucalyptus seedlings and none have investigated the influence of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) on transpiration rates and growth. In this study, the transpiration and growth responses of seedlings of Eucalyptus urophylla (S.T. Blake) and Eucalyptus cloeziana (F. Muell.) to progressive soil water deficits were evaluated under semi-controlled conditions using the fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) method. In addition, the influence of VPD on seedling transpiration, development and growth was also investigated. The FTSW threshold ranged from 0.40 to 0.99 for the transpiration rate and from 0.32 to 0.97 for the development and growth variables. Little or no changes in the FTSW threshold were detected in response to changes in atmospheric VPD. Both Eucalyptus species presented a conservation strategy under drought stress. In addition, water-conserving mechanisms during the seedling phase were related to rapid stomatal closure, reduced leaf area, and number of leaves.

Study of the Superficial Modification of Sisal Fibres with Lignin, and Its Use As a Reinforcement Agent in Cementitious Composites

The objective of this work was to evaluate different superficial treatments of sisal fibres employing lignin,and their use as a reinforcement agent in cementitious composites.The treatments consisted of superficially impregnating sisal fibres(S)with organosolv lignin(LO),organosolv lignin and glutaraldehyde(LOG),Kraft lignin(LK)and Kraft lignin and glutaraldehyde(LKG).The fibre modifications were verified by FTIR-ATR and SEM analyzes,and the presence of lignin on the surface of the fibres was evidenced,confirming the effectiveness of the treatments.The mechanical,thermal(by TGA)and water absorption properties of the fibres before and after the modifications were also investigated.After treatment,the modified fibres presented an expressive reduction of the water absorption and did not show significant changes in the mechanical properties when compared with the natural unmodified sisal fibre(SNAT).It was verified an increase in the thermal stability of the treated fibres which can be attributed to the insertion of lignin on the fibres.To evaluate the performance of the fibres in the cementitious composites,cement plates(CP)were produced with different treated fibres(CP-SLOG,CP-SLO,CP-SLKG,CP-SLK)and fibres without treatment(CP-SNAT).The composites were evaluated concerning to the water absorption,porosity and mechanical properties.The fractured regions were also investigated by SEM.All composites prepared showed similar values of absorption and porosity indexes.From the mechanical properties,the composites prepared with modified fibres showed a significant increase in the modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity compared with CP-SNAT,while toughness was similar to all samples.From the SEM images,it was observed that the modified fibres immersed in the cementitious plates showed no degradation,indicating that the impregnation of lignin acted as a protective agent of the fibres.Therefore,the treatments of the fibres with lignin led to a significant improvement in the properties of the composites generating a treatment with potential for industrial application.

Saccharification of Sugarcane Bagasse Using an Enzymatic Extract Produced by Aspergillus fumigatus

This study investigates the efficiency of a crude enzymatic extract produced by Aspergillus fumigatus SCBM6 by solid state fermentation(SSF)in the hydrolysis of alkali pretreated sugarcane bagasse(PTB).After SSF using in natura sugarcane bagasse(SCB),the enzymatic extract presented 21.33 U.g^-1 of β-glucosidase and 544.46 U.g^-1 of xylanase.The alkaline pretreatment with sodium hydroxide 2%NaOH(w/v)removed 43% of the lignin from PTB and the cellulosic fraction increased to 75%.The hydrolysis was optimized as a function of time,temperature,and concentration of PTB.After hydrolysis,the maximum yield(30.05%)of total released reducing sugars(TRS)was obtained under the following conditions:24 h,55℃,2% of PTB and 3 U.g^-1 of β-glucosidase(CBU).Furthermore,an approximate TRS value(26.4%)was also obtained after saccharification carried out during 6 h,55℃,4% of PTB and 1 CBU.These results indicate that hydrolysis can be performed in a short incubation period and with low enzymatic load for reasonable TRS release.

Special Issue on 15th Brazilian Polymer Conference:Biopolymers,Eco-Friendly and Biodegradable Polymers and Other Topics Related to Polymeric Materials Derived from Renewable Materials

This issue of Journal of Renewable Materials is a special issue dedicated to the 15th Brazilian Polymer Conference(15th CBPol)which was held in Bento Gonçalves,Rio Grande do Sul State,Brazil,from 27 to 31 October,2019[1].CBPol is the main scientific forum in the field of polymer science and technology in Brazil.The conference has been held biannually since 1991 and in this event had almost 900 participants mainly from Brazil,but also from Argentina,Chile,Peru,USA,Canada,Belgium,France,Great Britain,Portugal and Spain,with 60%students and 40%professionals.A total of 1,100 papers from 2725 authors were presented,from which 25%(280 papers)was in the field of Biomaterials showing the importance of these materials which are in general based on renewable resources.These 280 works were developed mainly by researchers from Brazilian institutions(universities and research institutes),mainly from the south and southeast regions of the country.The subject of more than 70%of the works was dedicated on vegetal raw materials,medicinal applications,packaging and composite materials.

Tribological Approach and Surface Quality Analysis of Stainless Steel for Cutlery Applications after Surface Grinding

In precision machining processes such as grinding,for example,analysis of machined surface is important one of most parameters to evaluate process performance.Equally important is to perform tribological analysis to understand chip formation and abrasive wheel wear,thus enabling manufacturing of components free of thermal damages.In grinding,due to high hardness of abrasive grains that remove material from workpiece in chip form and very low values of radial depth of cut,combination of low roughness values and tight dimensional tolerances is attained.Accordingly,the parameters involved in this process are determinant in surface quality that is primarily evaluated in terms of surface roughness and workpiece functionality.In this work,surface roughness(Rt parameter)and scanning electron microscope(SEM)images of ground surfaces of the AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel samples were evaluated.Tests were carried out in surface grinding with a white aluminum oxide wheel and an environmentally-friendly semisynthetic water-soluble coolant.Two values of radial depth of cut(10μm and 25μm)were tested.The results showed that the highest roughness values,deeper grooves on the machined surfaces as well as poorer surface quality were obtained after grinding under the severest cutting conditions.

Photogrammetric Survey of the Historical Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário and São Benedito in Brazil

In the history of cities and society,architecture plays an important role in the materialization of buildings,in the ways of life and in the constitution of an era.Documenting architectural heritage is an essential task for the conservation,management and collection of knowledge,however it is a time consuming and costly task.Presently,the application of digital aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry has made this process simpler,more agile and of relatively low cost.In this context,the objective of this study was to analyze the visual and geometric quality of the 3D model,of architectural heritage,generated by photogrammetric techniques.To this end,topographic mapping(reference)and aerial and terrestrial photogrammetric surveys of the Church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário and São Benedito,in Estrela do Sul/MG,Brazil,which is a historical and cultural heritage of the country,were carried out.Adopted as a reference,the 3D topographic model was generated by the points collected with a total station.To generate the photogrammetric 3D model,aerial photos were obtained using a UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)and terrestrial photos,acquired at strategic points.In both cases the PowerShot SX260HS camera was used.The two georeferenced 3D models were analyzed visually,considering texture and completeness,and compared geometrically through coordinates of homologous points.Comparatively,the photogrammetric 3D model presented results with a wealth of details far superior to the topographic ones and a geometry with centimetric discrepancies,showing that the method is suitable for generating 3D models relating to architectural heritage.

Switching of Capacitors in an Asymmetric Induction Motor with Single-Phase Power,Triggering Several Applied Loads

xThis study has as its objective to collaborate with the expansion in the market of electric energy in rural areas,offering as such an innovative prospect to the solution of associated problems through use of the asymmetric three-phase induction motor,supplied by a single-phase source.In this system,capacitor switching is applied during operation,while theoretical and practical results are presented for the application of this switching in a three-phase asymmetric induction motor of 20 hp.

The Top 100 Twitter Influencers in Infectious Diseases

Healthcare professionals in infectious diseases have been using Twitter to disseminate knowledge and interact with other professionals.This study aimed to identify and characterize the top 100 Twitter influencers in infectious diseases and to analyze the correlation between Twitter and academic influence.The Right Relevance Application Programming Interface was used to search for the term“infectious diseases,”producing a Twitter topic score for the top 100 infectious disease influencers.The influencers'Hirsch index(h-index)was compared with their Twitter topic score for a possible correlation.We identified that 46%of the infectious disease influencers were physicians.A correlation between the Twitter topic score of the infectious disease influencers and their h-index was not identified(r=0.123,P=0.22).The study also provides a list of the infectious disease influencers for those who have an interest in engaging and interacting with them on Twitter.

Filtering cylindrical–conical hydrocyclone

Hydrocyclones have versatile applications in various industrial processes.They functionn on the principle of centrifugal separation to remove a dispersed phase(particles or drops)from a continuous phase(fluid).In unconventional filtering hydrocyclones,the separation efficiency and energy costs have been improved by combining filtration with centrifugal separation.This work investigated experimentally the effect of incorporating a cylinder and a porous cone in a conventional hydrocyclone.It also evaluated the effects of the main geometric dimensions of the separator on the hydrocyclone performance.A differential-evolution algorithm was applied to optimize the hydrocyclone performance,which was represented as the maximum total efficiency and minimum Euler number.The experimental results validated the optimization results and showed that hydrocyclones with optimized geometries exhibited higher total efficiencies(89.59%)and lower Euler numbers(582)than hydrocyclones with other experimental configurations.

Resampling in neural networks with application to spatial analysis

In developing Artificial Neural Networks(ANNs),the available dataset is split into three categories:training,validation and testing.However,an important problem arises:How to trust the predic-tion provided by a particular ANN?Due to the randomness related to the network itself(architecture,initialization and learning procedure),there is usually no best choice.Considering this issue,we provide a framework,which captures the randomness related to the network itself.The idea is to perform several training and test trials based on the Jackknife resampling method.Jackknife consists of iteratively deleting a single observation each time from the sample and recomputing the ANN on the rest of the sample data.Consequently,interval prediction is available instead of point prediction.The proposed method was applied and tested using pH,Ca and P data obtained by analyzing 118 georeferenced soil points.The results,based on the dataset size simulation,showed that 60%reduction in available dataset offers compatible accuracy in relation to full dataset,and therefore a higher cost of sampling in the field would not be necessary.The re-sampling method spatially characterizes the points of greater or lesser accuracy and uncertainty.The re-sampling method increased the success rate by using interval prediction instead of using the mean as the most probable value.Although we restrict it to the regression neural network model,the resampling method proposed can also be extended to other modern statistical tools,such as Kriging,Least Squares Collocation(LSC),Convolutional Neural Network(CNN),and so on.

Quantitative Progress Evaluation of Post-stroke Patients Using a Novel Bimanual Cable-driven Robot

Rehabilitation is the most effective way to reduce motor impairments in post-stroke patients.This process demands several hours with a specialized therapist.Given resources and personnel shortages,the literature reports a high interest in robotic assisted rehabilitation solutions.Recently,cable-driven robotic architectures are attracting significant research interest for post-stroke rehabilitation.However,the existing cable-driven robots are mostly unilateral devices allowing the rehabilitation only of the most affected limb.This leaves unaddressed the rehabilitation of bimanual activities,which are predominant within the common Activities of Daily Living(ADL).Thus,this paper presents a specific novel design to achieve bimanual rehabilitation tasks that has been named as BiCAR robot.Specifically,this paper provides a full insight on the BiCAR system as well as on its dedicated developed software BiEval.In particular,BiEval software has been developed as based on a serious game strategy and a virtual reality environment to track the patient exercising duration,motion ranges,speeds,and forces over time for achieving a quantitative assessment of the rehabilitation progress.Finally,the paper presents the BiCAR/BiEval capabilities by referring to a pilot Randomized Controlled Trial(RCT).The clinical trials have been used to validate the BiCAR/BiEval in terms of engineering feasibility and user acceptance to achieve an innovative cost-oriented integrated hardware/software device for the bimanual assistive rehabilitation of post-stroke patients.