The growing production of high-tech devices is strongly associated to a great waste of natural resources and to environmental contamination caused either by the production process of such devices as ...the quick disposal of them. Cell phones have stood out from the most commercialized electronic devices, which have increased the demand for rechargeable batteries which are afterward discarded before the end of its useful life. The main objective of this paper is to improve a methodology for classify the amount of NiMH and Li-Ion batteries discarded still in operating condition through concepts given to the cells. Tests with 3 NiMH and 3 Li-Ion different battery models were done. This paper also aimed to promote the efficient use of batteries cells through their reuse in academic activities related to the manufacturing of prototypes. It presents the construction of an illuminator and of a portable power supply. The results obtained showed that approximately 40% of NiMH cells and 45% of Li-Ion cells assessed were in operational condition, with charge capacity between 62% and 90%, when compared to a new cell. Such results warn about the waste of natural resources and the proposal to test the same before the final disposal.
Many biomedical, orthopaedic, and industrial applications are emerging that will benefit from personalized neuromusculoskeletal models. Applications include refined diagnostics, prediction of ...treatment trajectories for neuromusculoskeletal diseases, in silico design, development, and testing of medical implants, and human–machine interfaces to support assistive technologies. This review proposes how physics-based simulation, combined with machine learning approaches from big data, can be used to develop high-fidelity personalized representations of the human neuromusculoskeletal system. The core neuromusculoskeletal model features requiring personalization are identified, and big data/machine learning approaches for implementation are presented together with recommendations for further research.
Abstract
We investigate the magnetic nanoparticles hyperthermia in a non-adiabatic and radiating process through the calorimetric method. Specifically, we propose a theoretical approach to magnetic ...hyperthermia from a thermodynamic point of view. To test the robustness of the approach, we perform hyperthermia experiments and analyse the thermal behavior of magnetite and magnesium ferrite magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in water submitted to an alternating magnetic field. From our findings, besides estimating the specific loss power value from a non-adiabatic and radiating process, thus enhancing the accuracy in the determination of this quantity, we provide physical meaning to a parameter found in literature that still remained not fully understood, the effective thermal conductance, and bring to light how it can be obtained from experiment. In addition, we show our approach brings a correction to the estimated experimental results for specific loss power and effective thermal conductance, thus demonstrating the importance of the heat loss rate due to the thermal radiation in magnetic hyperthermia.
To understand why and when areas of endemism (provinces) of the tropical Atlantic Ocean were formed, how they relate to each other, and what processes have contributed to faunal enrichment. Atlantic ...Ocean. The distributions of 2605 species of reef fishes were compiled for 25 areas of the Atlantic and southern Africa. Maximum-parsimony and distance analyses were employed to investigate biogeographical relationships among those areas. A collection of 26 phylogenies of various Atlantic reef fish taxa was used to assess patterns of origin and diversification relative to evolutionary scenarios based on spatio-temporal sequences of species splitting produced by geological and palaeoceanographic events. We present data on faunal (species and genera) richness, endemism patterns, diversity buildup (i.e. speciation processes), and evaluate the operation of the main biogeographical barriers and/or filters. Phylogenetic (proportion of sister species) and distributional (number of shared species) patterns are generally concordant with recognized biogeographical provinces in the Atlantic. The highly uneven distribution of species in certain genera appears to be related to their origin, with highest species richness in areas with the greatest phylogenetic depth. Diversity buildup in Atlantic reef fishes involved (1) diversification within each province, (2) isolation as a result of biogeographical barriers, and (3) stochastic accretion by means of dispersal between provinces. The timing of divergence events is not concordant among taxonomic groups. The three soft (non-terrestrial) inter-regional barriers (mid-Atlantic, Amazon, and Benguela) clearly act as 'filters' by restricting dispersal but at the same time allowing occasional crossings that apparently lead to the establishment of new populations and species. Fluctuations in the effectiveness of the filters, combined with ecological differences among provinces, apparently provide a mechanism for much of the recent diversification of reef fishes in the Atlantic. Our data set indicates that both historical events (e.g. Tethys closure) and relatively recent dispersal (with or without further speciation) have had a strong influence on Atlantic tropical marine biodiversity and have contributed to the biogeographical patterns we observe today; however, examples of the latter process outnumber those of the former.
Clostridium difficile causes intestinal inflammation, which increases adenosine. We compared the expression of adenosine receptors (AR) subtypes A1, A2A, A2B, and A3 in HCT-8, IEC-6 cells, and ...isolated intestinal epithelial cells, challenged or not with Clostridium difficile toxin A and B (TcdA and TcdB) or infection (CDI). In HCT-8, TcdB induced an early A2BR expression at 6 h and a late A2AR expression at 6 and 24 h. In addition, both TcdA and TcdB increased IL-6 expression at all time-points (peak at 6 h) and PSB603, an A2BR antagonist, decreased IL-6 expression and production. In isolated cecum epithelial cells, TcdA induced an early expression of A2BR at 2s and 6 h, followed by a late expression of A2AR at 6 and 24 h and of A1R at 24 h. In CDI, A2AR and A2BR expressions were increased at day 3, but not at day 7. ARs play a role in regulating inflammation during CDI by inducing an early pro-inflammatory and a late anti-inflammatory response. The timing of interventions with AR antagonist or agonists may be of relevance in treatment of CDI.
The ground-state structural transition in small lithium clusters Li
n
(
n
= 4 − 6) is analyzed based on the many-body expansion of the interaction energy using the total energy calculated by the ...fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo (FN-DMC) simulations. The results show that the transition from 2D to 3D structure occurs through an intricate competition of attractive and repulsive interaction energies. As the structure dimensionality increases from 2D to 3D, the electron-correlation contribution to the interaction energy in the isomer of the ground-state structure is always the largest.
Pseudobrickellia brasiliensis (Asteraceae) is a plant commonly known as arnica-do-campo and belongs to the native flora of the Brazilian Cerrado. The alcoholic extract of the plant has been used as ...an anti-inflammatory agent in folk medicine, but the biological mechanism of action has not been elucidated. The present study evaluated the composition of P. brasiliensis aqueous extract and its effects on pro-inflammatory cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation. The extracts were prepared by sequential maceration of P. brasiliensis leaves in ethanol, ethyl acetate, and water. Extract cytotoxicity was evaluated by trypan blue exclusion assay, and apoptosis and necrosis were measured by staining with annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide. The ethanolic (ETA) and acetate (ACE) extracts showed cytotoxic effects. The aqueous extract (AQU) was not cytotoxic. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate and ionomycin and treated with AQU (100 μg/mL) showed reduced interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression. AQU also inhibited lymphocyte proliferative response after nonspecific stimulation with phytohemagglutinin. The aqueous extract was analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection and mass spectrometry. Quinic acid and its derivatives 5-caffeoylquinic acid and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, as well as the flavonoids luteolin and luteolin dihexoside, were detected. All these compounds are known to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that P. brasiliensis aqueous extract can inhibit the pro-inflammatory cytokine production and proliferative response of lymphocytes. These effects may be related to the presence of chemical substances with anti-inflammatory actions previously reported in scientific literature.
This article presents an adaptive resonance theory predictive mapping (ARTMAP) model, which uses incremental cluster validity indices (iCVIs) to perform unsupervised learning, namely, iCVI-ARTMAP. ...Incorporating iCVIs to the decision-making and many-to-one mapping capabilities of this adaptive resonance theory (ART)-based model can improve the choices of clusters to which samples are incrementally assigned. These improvements are accomplished by intelligently performing the operations of swapping sample assignments between clusters, splitting and merging clusters, and caching the values of variables when iCVI values need to be recomputed. Using recursive formulations enables iCVI-ARTMAP to considerably reduce the computational burden associated with cluster validity index (CVI)-based offline clustering. In this work, six iCVI-ARTMAP variants were realized via the integration of one information-theoretic and five sum-of-squares-based iCVIs into fuzzy ARTMAP. With proper choice of iCVI, iCVI-ARTMAP either outperformed or performed comparably to three ART-based and four non-ART-based clustering algorithms in experiments using benchmark datasets of different natures. Naturally, the performance of iCVI-ARTMAP is subject to the selected iCVI and its suitability to the data at hand; fortunately, it is a general model in which other iCVIs can be easily embedded.
•CoFe2-CoFe2O4 were synthesized using NaBH4 reduction process in a chitosan solution.•Chemical crosslinking favored the formation of CoFe2O4 in the synthesis process.•The average size of the ...nanoparticles obtained varied within a range of 4–13nm.•Ferromagnetism, spin glass and exchange-spring were observed in the nanocomposites.
Magnetic nanocomposites of CoFe2-CoFe2O4 were synthesized using the borohydride reduction process in a chitosan solution of FeCl2·4H2O and CoCl2·6H2O. The chemical crosslinking favored the formation of cobalt ferrite in the nanoparticle synthesis process. The phase structure, particle size, morphology and magnetization of the nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS), scanning electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetoscopy, respectively. The XRD results showed that the samples are mostly made up of amorphous phases and MS shows that the phases are Fe-B. The average size of the nanoparticles obtained varied within a range of 4–13nm. Different magnetic behavior such as ferromagnetism, spin glass and exchange-spring were observed in the nanocomposites depending on the quantify of CoFe2O4.
Aim
To evaluate streaking artifacts produced by several root canal sealers on CBCT images with variations in voxel resolution.
Methodology
Single‐rooted premolars were selected and root filled using ...gutta‐percha cones and one of the following sealers: Endofill, Sealer 26, Fillapex or AH Plus. Root canals filled only with gutta‐percha were used as control. Scans of teeth using a small‐volume CBCT were performed, and the images acquired were evaluated by two calibrated observers (k > 0.75). Artifacts were identified as streaks and dark bands on root dentine in axial slices with 2 voxel sizes (0.076 and 0.2 mm). Fisher's exact test (P < 0.05) was used to compare the presence/absence ratio of artifacts considering the factors ‘sealer’ and ‘voxel size’.
Results
For the 0.20 mm voxel size, Sealer 26 had significantly more artifacts than Fillapex (P = 0.006) or AH Plus (P = 0.017). No differences existed between the sealers when the 0.07 mm voxel size was used. Sealer 26 (P = 0.042) and Endofill (P = 0.035) had significantly more artifacts in the 0.20 mm voxel size than with the 0.076 mm voxel size, whilst no difference was noted for other filling conditions.
Conclusions
The material used for root filling and the voxel resolution can influence the presence of streaking artifacts observed in CBCT images.
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