Length Effect at Testing Splitting Tensile Strength of Concrete

Tensile strength of concrete is the basic property when estimating the cracking resistance of the structure and when analysing fracture processes in concrete. The most common way of testing tensile strength is the Brazilian method. It has been noticed that the shape and size of specimens influence the tensile splitting strength. The experiments were performed to investigate the impact of cylinder’s length on tensile concrete strength received in the Brazilian method. During the experiment the tensile concrete strength was tested on two different sizes cylindrical specimens: 150 mm × 150 mm and 150 mm × 300 mm. Experiments were performed in two stages, with two types of maximum aggregate size: 16 mm and 22 mm. The software “Statistica” was used to perform the broad scale statistical analysis. When comparing test results for shorter and longer specimens, the increase of tensile splitting strength tested on shorter cylinders was observed (approximately 5%). However, when performing deeper statistical analysis, it has been found that the length effect was not sensitive to the strength of the cement matrix and the type of aggregate but was influenced by the aggregate size. Further experiments are needed in order to perform a multi-parameter statistical analysis of scale effect when testing the splitting tensile strength of concrete.

Civilizing the Other: Beauty, Intimate Labor, and Affective Encounters in Berlin’s Brazilian Waxing Studios

Over the past 15 years, waxing (hair removal) studios have emerged in central Berlin and grown rapidly in number. Specializing in the “Brazilian method,” this beauty salon sector has increasingly been occupied by Brazilian migrants. In addition to being a simple hair removal service, I argue that the intimate work carried out in these salons encompasses an educational and even civilizing effort from the point of view of Brazilian depiladoras: The intimacy of their work allows for affective encounters in which Brazilian women are not seen merely as service providers. They embody the specialist in a form of beauty and femininity that is desired by German clients. Appropriating these rare moments of intimacy, Brazilian depiladoras act as educators not only for a more hygienic and more feminine corporeality but also for a more humanized sociality with the “other.” Based on long-term ethnographic research in Berlin, I discuss both the agency of beauty work and its limits within the coloniality of feminized and ethnicized labor.

Nursing diagnoses, results, and interventions in the care for Covid-19 patients in critical condition

ABSTRACT Objective: To develop and validate a terminological subset of the International Classification for Nursing Practice for COVID-19 patients in critical care. Method: This is a methodological study, which followed the guidelines of the Brazilian method, using the Basic Human Needs as a theoretical model. Content validation was performed by 25 specialist nurses using the Delphi technique. Results: A total of 73 diagnoses and their respective nursing results were prepared. Of these, 62 statements had a Content Validity Index ≥ 0.80, with the need for oxygenation having the highest number of statements. Of the 210 nursing interventions developed, and after suggestions from experts, 150 interventions reached an index ≥ 0.80 and comprised the terminological subset. Conclusion: The terminological subset developed showed statements that were validated by specialist nurses and, therefore, are relevant to the nurse's clinic in the critical care scenario associated with Covid-19.

Report on laboratory tests of sandstone and porphyry for rock fracture analysis

The paper presents the results of mechanical tests of three types of rocks from stone mines in Poland. Compression tests of cubic samples, three-point bending tests of beams, bending of beams with notch and testing of tensile strength using the quasi-Brazilian method were performed. Based on the tests, the compressive strength, tensile strength, Young's modulus, and Poisson's ratios were determined. The stress intensity factor and critical strain energy release rate in mode I were determined from the bending test of the notched beams. The determined values were used as parameters of computer models which are used to verify the authors’ method of predicting the crack propagation in the Abaqus FEA system.

Application of microwaves in the convective drying of ceramic

The paper demonstrates microwave and convective drying processes in different combinations of kaolin cylindrical samples in laboratory scale. Analysis of the kinetics and sample temperature evolution show that the moment of application and electromagnetic field duration have the biggest influence on characteristics of the drying curve and quality of dried material. Dried samples were subjected to strength tests using the Brazilian method in order to determine the relation between its quality and different drying programs. Keywords: ceramic, convective drying, microwave drying, strength test.

Samba Power:Brazil's Modern Foreign Policy Directives towards the African Continent

The following research paper has as the objective of analysing the development, implementation and results of Brazilian foreign policy towards the African continent. A brief, yet important historical background with relevant demographic and national attributes is included, with the focus on the history of foreign policy between the two from its recognition of the newly independent African states since the late 1950s and into the administrations of the last two Brazilian heads of state and government, Luis Inacio “Lula” Da Silva (2003-2010) and Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016). It is precisely during these last two periods where Africa became one of the top priorities for reaching and maintaining Brazilian national interests through international relations. The path chosen to pursue these goals is one related to what liberal and constructivist theories of international relations call soft power, a doctrine, in the Brazilian method, that emphasizes cultural, historical and ethnic links to Africa. Nevertheless, a delicate balance must be preserved with the domestic realities and constraints felt back in the home front, Brazil itself still being a country on the way to becoming truly “developed”, with many social problems remaining.

Procedure for decreasing the required time for fire resistance of the multistory buildings

The Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 15200: 2012 details a procedure for decreasing the required time of fire resistance in buildings with good fire safety characteristics. It called equivalent time method. This name can confuse the less habituated to the fire safety area, because the Brazilian procedure is not equal to the original equivalent time method, European. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the equivalent time method, to detail the origins of the Brazilian method and present their limitations no explicit in the Brazilian standard. Some unknown aspects of most researchers or technical means are presented. It should be highlighted the abundant bibliography presented to aid the understanding of a seemingly simple issue, but it incorporates many concepts of fire safety, not always understood by the users.

Brazilian method for the development terminological subsets of ICNP®: limits and potentialities

ABSTRACT Reflection on the limits and potentialities of a Brazilian method for the development of terminological subsets of ICNP®,(International Classification for Nursing Practice) based on the correlation between this method and international methods. This issue has been debated by the International Council of Nurses (ICN). Although the council propose a guideline for elaboration, they encourage and reinforce the use of various perspectives and processes in the development of subsets. Brazilian Nursing needs to propose a method and deepen reflections on the use of terminological subsets of ICNP® in the reality of the country. The development of subsets in Brazil is considered incipient and the proposed method needs to be used and deepened in order to spread the use of terminology through the application of subsets.

Occupational exposure to hydrogen cyanide during large-scale cassava processing, in Alagoas State, Brazil

The cassava roots used for flour production contain high amounts of cyanogenic glycosides and are, therefore, potential hydrogen cyanide (HCN) releasers. This fact is the cause of an increasing health concern in the sector of cassava processing. Brazilian workers engaged in the flour production may be chronically exposed to HCN in levels above the safety limits. This hypothesis is based on the drastic reduction in cyanide content of cassava roots during a traditional Brazilian method of processing and in the physical properties of the compound, which makes it very susceptible to volatilization and air contamination. As an attempt to explore this issue, HCN exposure in Brazilian “flour houses” was evaluated in this study through environmental and biological monitoring. Four flour houses placed in Alagoas State, Brazil, were investigated. The results indicated that the cassava processors are chronically exposed to HCN at average levels between 0.464 and 3.328mg/m3 (TWA), in the work environment. This range is below the TLV-C of 5mg/m3 but not below the Action Level of 2.5mg/m3. These data may be interpreted as a possible risk to susceptible individuals. Additionally, the biological monitoring indicated a high cyanide exposure in the population study, considering urinary thiocyanate (SCN-) levels.

Dancer–Researcher–Performer: A Brazilian Method

Brazil, a country of miscegenation, saw its culture being built considerably rich from the shock of the differences that were presented here throughout the history: indigenous people (first inhabitants), Europeans (coming from our colonizers), and Africans (through slave labor arising from Africa). The Brazilian method dancer–researcher–performer (BPI, or Bailarino–Pesquisador–Intérprete, in Portuguese) proposes the development of the dancer framed in popular manifestations in Brazil, where the subject first contacts its own origin and then performs field research in some popular manifestation. The experience is unfolded in directed practical labs, where the emotional records of this encounter, between the interpreter and the individuals in the field, are elaborated and developed reaching a very unique and expressive movement quality, coming from the subject in process.In the artistic product created in the BPI, the dancer does not interpret a character: the character is embodied; it lives what emerged from the body; it is a real interlacing and elaboration of the relationship of its country culture with artistic creation.The BPI leads the interpreter in an integrative way, going against the current trend in dance, in which the dancer must leave his or her body at the disposal of idealizations. We will describe a process of a BPI whose fieldwork took place with the Terecô agrarian religious manifestation, rural women who work as breakers of the babaçu coconut. The product of this process, which occurred with the author, was presented in the communities within the Amazon forest in Brazil.