Acoustic evaluation and adjustment of an open-plan office through architectural design and noise control

Arranging office space into a single open room offers advantages in terms of easy exchange of information and interaction among coworkers, but reduces privacy and acoustic comfort. Thus, the purpose of this work was to evaluate the acoustic quality of a real open-plan office and to propose changes in the room to improve the acoustic conditioning of this office. The computational model of the office under study was calibrated based on RT and STI measurements. Predictions were made of the RT and STI, which generated the radius of distraction r(D), and the rate of spatial decay of sound pressure levels per distance doubling DL(2) in the real conditions of the office and after modifications of the room. The insertion of dividers between work stations and an increase in the ceiling's sound absorption improved the acoustic conditions in the office under study.     

Effects of the Treatment with Flavonoids on Metabolic Syndrome Components in Humans: A Systematic Review Focusing on Mechanisms of Action

Diets high in bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, have been used to mitigate metabolic syndrome (MetS). Polyphenols are a large group of naturally occurring bioactive compounds, classified into two main classes: non-flavonoids and flavonoids. Flavonoids are distributed in foods, such as fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine, and cocoa. Studies have already demonstrated the benefits of flavonoids on the cardiovascular and nervous systems, as well as cancer cells. The present review summarizes the results of clinical studies that evaluated the effects of flavonoids on the components of the MetS and associated complications when offered as supplements over the long term. The results show that flavonoids can significantly modulate several metabolic parameters, such as lipid profile, blood pressure, and blood glucose. Only theaflavin and catechin were unable to affect metabolic parameters. Moreover, only body weight and body mass index were unaltered. Thus, the evidence presented in this systematic review offers bases in support of a flavonoid supplementation, held for at least 3 weeks, as a strategy to improve several metabolic parameters and, consequently, reduce the risk of diseases associated with MetS. This fact becomes stronger due to the rare side effects reported with flavonoids.     

Metallization and Ar‐O plasma effects on dental enamel roughness evaluated with SEM and MeX™ for 3D reconstruction

The MeX? software is a useful tool for tridimensional data collection for surface evaluation and could be relevant to evaluate the same specimen in different phases of the study, assuming repeated measures of dental enamel roughness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of sample metallization for dental enamel roughness analysis with 3D images reconstructed using MeX? software from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. The influence of 74.98% (%mol/mol) argon?oxygen plasma for carbon layer removal on surface roughness of the metallized specimen was also evaluated. Dental enamel specimens were prepared for SEM analysis with and without carbon metallization using conventional or environmental modes. Argon?oxygen plasma for carbon layer removal was used and surface roughness was re‐evaluated. Roughness obtained by SEM and MeX? reconstructed images, with or without metallization, did not differ. No significant alteration on surface roughness after carbon layer removal using plasma was found. SEM baseline evaluation using conventional mode without sample preparation and in environmental mode were not comparable. Roughness of enamel 3D images reconstructed with MeX? software from SEM images, with or without metallization was similar. The 74.98% (%mol/mol) argon?oxygen plasma removed the carbon layer with no effect on enamel roughness.     

Construction of baselines for VoIP traffic management on open MANs

In the last century, owing to the constant evolution of technologies telecommunication networks have become increasingly robust, being able to support multiple services. These services are part of the heterogeneous network traffic that can be carried through the Internet. Many of these services, including VoIP, are latency sensitive. In other words, this means that their quality depends directly on the network quality of service. Since users tend to become more sensitive with the instability and unavailability of the network, it is important to improve traffic management. A particular type of data that could be used to improve VoIP traffic management is the Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR). IPDRs are tickets created by all VoIP call attempts which contain a group of information related to the call history. Because of its full range of information, IPDRs can be used to create VoIP traffic baselines. This paper presents the development of baselines based on IPDRs to support VoIP traffic management in open‐access Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low-cost deployment proposal to urban mobility in smart cities

Rational use of cars in smart cities can represent an economical and cheaper way to decrease the quantity of cars on the roads to better the life quality of the populations. This paper presents a low-cost deployment proposal called “URCa project” to reach these goals and proposes a paradigm change by sharing the cars considering some logistic aspects including car ride mechanism. Technical feasibility to deploy this solution was checked by means of a proof of concept. The concept was proven by passenger counting and license plate that are essential information in this solution were obtained taking photographs, applying two types of recognition algorithms and sending the results to be stored and evaluated by analytic data processes of a transit regulatory agency showing that this project is technically viable. The low-cost solution was justified by a financial analysis based on both costs (URCa solution and a bridge) that has shown a ratio of 1:10,000.

     

Dam Hydrological Risk and the Design Flood Under Non-stationary Conditions

Water Resources Management - Increasing global trends in time series of annual maximum daily streamflow (AMX) raise the concern that the safety of dams and other sensitive structures is...