Microbes survive for an extended period of time on fomites. With new strains of pathogens constantly emerging, it is important to understand their survival and spread and to evaluate the efficiency of new disinfection methods. The purpose of this study was to determine the occurrence of pathogens on fomites, and evaluate different disinfection methods (household bleach and steam vapor). Fomites were sampled in a variety of environments for the presence of pathogens including methicillin intermediate- and resistant- Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile, Penecillium brevi-compactum, Alternaria alternata and novel H1N1 influenza A. Samples were assayed using both cultural and genetic techniques to determine the microbial occurrence. In disinfection studies, samples were collected before and after disinfectant application. Steam vapor was effective at reducing microbial occurrence by>90% with a minimal contact time of 10-20 seconds on hospital fomites. The material and shape of the surface had an effect on the reduction rate, due to access of the disinfecting agent. In addition, low levels of initial contamination limited the reduction rate. Many surfaces had a starting contamination level of less than 3 log10 and after disinfection the contamination levels, in 69% of the samples, were at or near the limit of detection. This suggests a higher reduction is feasible. Household bleach reduced the presence of mold spores and mycelium by >99% on gypsum-wall board. Reduction rates were influenced by the growth stage of mold, with the mycelium requiring additional disinfectant application to achieve the 99% reduction rate. Novel H1N1 influenza A was not recovered on any surfaces in day care facilities and elementary schools. This is consistent with previous studies looking at H1N1 influenza occurrence in similar environments, though it is different from H3N2 influenza A studies. Survival differences among varying influenza strains are expected to have an impact on pathogen spread and human health risks. Differences can be quantitatively evaluated and used to develop more advanced risk assessment models. Steam vapor and household bleach are effective at reducing risks of pathogens in the environment and are critical interventions in an overall strategy to minimize exposure and prevent disease.

In past studies, several techniques have been employed to create microscopic features on relatively simple surfaces. Of these, lithography-based techniques have proven effective at manufacturing large fields of deterministic microasperities and microcavities on planar and cylindrical substrates. The present study focuses on adapting UV-lithography to a more complex substrate. Machined from stainless steel, a conical mold insert introduces an interesting geometry designed for the injection molding of radial lip seal elastomer. The distinct shape of this mold insert poises unique challenges to a conventional lithography procedure. Spray application is investigated as a feasible means to deposit layers of photoresist on the surface. An appropriate masking element is designed and created to facilitate transfer of a particular pattern via UV exposure. A clamping technique is implemented to align and secure the photomask. These techniques are incorporated into a three-day process, and results are obtained through optical microscopy and light interferometry. By applying Design of Experiments (DOE) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), significant process variables are indentified. Based on these findings, refinements to the process are enabled and future considerations are made evident.

Injection molding is widely used to manufacture plastic parts with good surface finish, dimensional stability and low cost. The common examples of parts manufactured by injection molding include toys, utensils, and casings of various electronic products. The process of mold design to generate these complex shapes is iterative and time consuming, and requires great expertise in the field. As a result, a significant amount of the final product cost can be attributed to the expenses incurred during the product’s design. After designing the mold segments, it is necessary to machine these segments with minimum cost using an efficient tool-path. The tool-path planning process also adds to the overall mold cost. The process of injection molding can be simplified and made to be more cost effective if the processes of mold design and tool-path generation can be automated. This work focuses on the automation of mold design from a given part design and the automation of tool-path generation for manufacturing mold segments. The hypothesis examined in this thesis is that the automatic identification of mold features can reduce the human efforts required to design molds. It is further hypothesised that the human effort required in many downstream processes such as mold component machining can also be reduced with algorithmic automation of otherwise time consuming decisions. Automatic design of dies and molds begins with the part design being provided as a solid model. The solid model of a part is a database of its geometry and topology. The automatic mold design process uses this database to identify an undercut-free parting direction, for recognition of mold features and identification of parting lines for a given parting direction, and for generation of entities such as parting surfaces, core, cavity and side-cores. The methods presented in this work are analytical in nature and work with the extended set of part topologies and geometries unlike those found in the literature. Moreover, the methods do not require discretizing the part geometry to design its mold segments, unlike those found in the literature that result in losing the part definition. Once the mold features are recognized and parting lines are defined, core, cavity and side-cores are generated. This work presents algorithms that recognize the entities in the part solid model that contribute to the design of the core, cavity and side-cores, extract the entities, and use them in the design of these elements. The developed algorithms are demonstrated on a variety of parts that cover a wide range of features. The work also presents a method for automatic tool-path generation that takes the designed core/cavity and produces a multi-stage tool-path to machine it from raw stock. The tool-path generation process begins by determining tool-path profiles and tool positions for the rough machining of the part in layers. Typically roughing is done with large aggressive tools to reduce the machining time; and roughing leaves uncut material. After generating a roughing tool-path for each layer, the machining is simulated and the areas left uncut are identified to generate a clean-up tool-path for smaller sized tools. The tool-path planning is demonstrated using a part having obstacles within the machining region. The simulated machining is presented in this work. This work extends the accessibility analysis by retaining the topology information and using it to recognize a larger domain of features including intersecting features, filling a void in the literature regarding a method that could recognize complex intersecting features during an automated mold design process. Using this information, a larger variety of new mold intersecting features are classified and recognized in this approach. The second major contribution of the work was to demonstrate that the downstream operations can also benefit from algorithmic decision making. This is shown by automatically generating roughing and clean-up tool-paths, while reducing the machining time by machining only those areas that have uncut material. The algorithm can handle cavities with obstacles in them. The methodology has been tested on a number of parts.

Strawberries are an extremely perishable fruit mainly due to their soft texture and sensitivity to fungal infection. The fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea is responsible for grey mould on strawberries and is the main causal agent of postharvest decay and subsequent economic loss. As an alternative to fungicides, manipulation of plant nutrition, such as calcium and boron, has been suggested as a means of disease management. This project investigated the effects of calcium and boron application on fruit quality and grey mould development in strawberry. The effect of calcium on fruit quality, grey mould development and leaf blight in strawberry cultivars ‘Aromas’ and ‘Selva’ was investigated through preharvest and postharvest applications. To determine the effect of preharvest application, calcium sulphate in 0.25X strength Hoagland’s solution was applied at 0, 100, 300 and 500 ppm Ca through fertigation. Fully-ripened fruit were harvested and evaluated for postharvest quality at harvest and then after storage at 10⁰C, 90±5% RH for 2 to 10 days. Although fruit firmness of both cultivars declined slightly during storage, this was not affected by preharvest calcium application. Similarly, preharvest calcium treatment had no effect on the external appearance, pH, soluble solids content (SSC) or titratable acidity (TA). No grey mould development was observed on fruit at harvest when flowers were inoculated with a conidia suspension of B. cinerea (10⁴ conidia per mL). However, fruit harvested from plants that received calcium at any concentration had less incidence of grey mould during storage at 10⁰C, 90±5% RH for 14 days than fruit harvested from plants that received no calcium for both cultivars. For ‘Aromas’, 79% and 51% of fruit, and for ‘Selva’, 69% and 43% of fruit, showed rot when treated with 0 and 500 ppm Ca, respectively. The shelf life of ‘Aromas’ and ‘Selva’ increased by about 8% when plants received 500 ppm Ca in comparison with plants that received 0 ppm Ca. After 7 days of incubation at 22 to 24⁰C, there was no difference between blight lesions on wound-inoculated detached leaves from different calcium treatments for either cultivar. However, the lesions on ‘Selva’ were smaller than on ‘Aromas’. The calcium levels in leaves from plants that received calcium at any concentration were adequate for strawberry growing and significantly higher (P < 0.05) than in leaves from plants that received 0 ppm Ca. However, calcium treatment did not ensure transfer of calcium to fruit tissues. Calcium lactate and calcium chloride were used as postharvest calcium treatments at 1500, 3000 and 4500 ppm Ca. Fruit of ‘Selva’ were dipped in calcium solution for 5 min and wound-inoculated with B. cinerea (10⁶ conidia per mL). Calcium lactate and calcium chloride at 3000 and 4500 ppm Ca, respectively, were most effective in delaying Botrytis rot development on ‘Selva’ after 7 days of storage at 10⁰C, 90±5% RH. Storage for least 24 h after calcium dips prior to inoculation was required to delay the development of fruit rot. Fruit harvested early in the season seemed to be less susceptible to grey mould than those harvested later. However, calcium treatment tended to be more effective when applied to late-season fruit. Preharvest boron treatment, applied as for calcium but at 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 ppm B, had no effect on fruit firmness of either cultivar. However, firmness of ‘Aromas’ fruit was slightly greater than ‘Selva’ fruit for all treatments. The amount of boron applied had no effect on the external appearance, pH, SSC or TA for either cultivar after storage of fruit for up to 10 days. Application of boron had no effect on fruit grey mould development in either cultivar. Furthermore, boron had minimal effect on the incidence of blight on woundinoculated detached leaves of ‘Aromas’ 7 days after inoculation. However, blight lesion diameters on ‘Selva’ leaves in the 1.0 ppm B treatment (8.0 mm) were significantly smaller (P < 0.001) than in the 0 ppm B treatment (13.0 mm). Phytotoxicity was observed in boron treatments even at the level considered optimum for strawberry growing. Severity increased with increasing boron concentration but no consistent effect on flower death or flower abortion was observed. In conclusion, strawberry is sensitive to boron toxicity. Calcium may enhance fruit firmness and, consequently, delay grey mould development if calcium penetrates the fruit. Postharvest calcium treatment tended to be more effective in delaying development of grey mould when applied to late-season fruit. Calcium lactate is a potential alternative to calcium chloride for reducing decay caused by B. cinerea in strawberry without providing undesirable bitterness. This finding may provide a basis for application in industry. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1331382 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Agriculture, Food and Wine 2008

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-12-10Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:25:21Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 mattos_lpv_dr_botfca.pdf: 1675965 bytes, checksum: 3faf029e6aef13589d4485a2b0a651ee (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Penicillium digitatum, agente causador do bolor verde, e Guignardia citricarpa, agente causador da mancha preta, depreciam os frutos citricos. O controle desses patógenos em frutos é realizado com fungicidas sintéticos. Devido a preocupação da sociedade com os riscos de contaminação ambiental, intoxicação humana principalmente infantil e animal e ao surgimento de isolados fúngicos resistentes aos fungicidas sintéticos, estão em desenvolvimento técnicas alternativas aos fungicidas para uma agricultura mais sustentável. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos de óleos essenciais e fixos e dos agentes de biocontrole no controle de P. digitatum e G. citricarpa em frutos laranja Pêra em pós- colheita. Assim, foram testados os óleos fixos de Allium sativum, Copaifera langsdorffii, Azadirachta indica; e os óleos essenciais de Pogostemon cablin, Mentha arvensis, Eucalyptus spp., Cymbopogon citratus, Ocimum basilicum var. Maria bonita, Romarinus officinalis, Lippia sidoides, Zingiber officinale, Citrus aurantifolia, Piper aduncum e Ocimum basilicum. Além dos óleos, também foram estudados os seguintes agentes de biocontrole: Bacillus subtilis (Serenade®), Bacillus subtilis e Bacillus lichiniformes (Nemix®), Pichia guilliermondii (L29), Sporobolomyces roseus (L41), Rhodotorula mucilagenosa (L17), Sporodiobolus pararoseus, Pichia sp. (L4-1), Debaryomyces hansenii (L62), Pichia membranifaciens (L21) e uma bactéria isolada da laranja. Tanto os agentes de biocontrole, quanto os óleos foram testados in vivo e in vitro contra os dois patógenos. Para a avaliação da atividade dos óleos essenciais e dos antagonistas in vivo, no controle de P. digitatum, foram utilizadas laranjas Pêra. Cada fruto foi ferido em dois pontos opostos, na região equatorial, atingindo a região do albedo. Após o ferimento, os frutos foram inoculados com 20 μL da suspensão de conídios... / Penicillium digitatum, causal agent of green mold, and Guignardia citricarpa causal agent of black spot. Detracts the citrus fruit, the control of these pathogens is made with synthetic fungicides. Due to concern about the risks of environmental contamination, human, mainly children and animal toxicity and the emergence of fungal isolates resistant to fungicides, various researches has been development to obtain alternative techniques for a fungicides. The objectives of this work was to evaluate the effetives fix and essencial oils and biocontrol agents for the control of P. digitatum and G. citricarpa on Pera orange fruits in postharvest. Thus, were tested the fixed oils from Allium sativum, Copaifera langsdorffii, Eucalyptus spp. Azadirachta indica,and the essential oils of Pogostemon cablin, Mentha arvensis, Cymbopogon citratus, Ocimum basilicum var. Maria bonita, Romarinus officinalis, Lippia sidoides, Zingiber officinale, Citrus aurantifolia, Piper aduncum and Ocimum basilicum. In addition were also studied the following biocontrol agents: Bacillus subtilis (Serenade ®), Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus lichiniformes (Nemix ®), Pichia guilliermondii (L29), Sporobolomyces roseus (L41), Rhodotorula mucilagenosa (L17), Sporodiobolus pararoseus, Pichia spp. (L4-1), Derbaryomyces hansenii (L62), Pichia membranifaciens (L21) and a bacterium isolate of the orange. Both biocontrol agents as the oils, were tested in vivo and in vitro against both pathogens. For the assessment of activity of essential oils and antagonists in vivo in controlling P. digitatum were used Pera orange. Each fruit was wounded in two opposite points in the equatorial region, reaching the albedo. After the injury, the fruits were inoculated with 20 mL of conidial suspension of P. digitatum (105 conidia / mL), followed by immersion in a suspension of cells of each biocontrol agent in the concentration: ...(Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Resumo: Várias características são avaliadas por meio de escores visuais nos programas de avaliação genética no Brasil. Os sistemas de atribuição dos escores variam quanto ao número de classes de notas, ao referencial adotado para atribuição das notas e à frequência das notas nas diferentes classes e ao modelo empregado na análise dos dados. O objetivo neste estudo foi avaliar o impacto de diferentes escalas de atribuição dos escores, modelos de análise dos dados e sua interação na identificação dos genótipos superiores para essas características, por meio de dados simulados. Foram simulados dados de uma característica contínua na escala subjacente, transformados em valores (1 a 6) na escala discreta observada, com diferentes escalas (relativa uniforme, relativa normal, relativa assimétrica e fixa), dois valores de herdabilidade (0,25 e 0,49) e duas variâncias de grupos de contemporâneos (0,25 e 1,00). Estimaram-se os valores genéticos utilizando modelos de limiar, linear e linear após transformação dos dados. Análises com modelo de limiar e notas com escala relativa normal apresentaram melhores acurácias para a predição dos valores genéticos. A utilização do modelo de limiar incrementa a acurácia das estimativas, mas em razão da demanda computacional e de problemas de implementação, o modelo linear pode ser empregado na análise de dados categóricos avaliados sob escala relativa normal com seis classes. A transformação de dados proposta foi eficiente em algumas situações, podendo ser considerada como alternativa ao modelo linear, dependendo da estrutura dos dados / Abstract: Genetic improvement programs in Brazil involve the monitoring of many traits that are evaluated by means of visual scores. The systems used to evaluate animals vary in terms of the number of classes, the referential from which the scores are given, the distribution of observations in score classes and the model used to analyze the data. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of different scales of score evaluation, models of analysis and their interactions on the identification of superior genotypes for visual scores, by means of a simulation study. Data of a continuous trait were simulated in a subjacent scale and then transformed into a discrete trait (1 to 6) in the observable scale, with different scale distributions (uniform relative, normal relative, asymmetric relative and fixed), two heritabilities (0.25 and 0.49) and two contemporary group variances (0.25 and 1.00). Breeding values were estimated using threshold model, linear model and linear model after data transformation. The threshold model and the relative normal scale showed better accuracy for the prediction of breeding values. The use of a threshold model can lead to an increase in the estimates' accuracy, but despite the computational demand and implementation issues, the linear model can be used to analyze discrete data assigned under a normal relative scale with six score classes. The proposed data transformation was effective for some situations and depending on the data structure it should be considered as an alternative option instead of linear model / Orientador: Maurício Mello de Alencar / Coorientador: Roberto Augusto de Almeida Torres Junior / Banca: Gerson Barreto Mourão / Banca: Elias Nunes Martins / Banca: Danísio Prado Munari / Banca: Henrique Nunes de Oliveira / Doutor

Pós fluxantes são escórias sintéticas utilizadas no processamento do aço via lingotamento contínuo com o objetivo de promover maior qualidade superficial ao produto lingotado. Para tanto, os pós fluxantes desempenham as seguintes funções: (i) promoção do isolamento térmico e químico do aço, (ii) absorção das inclusões nãometálicas provenientes do aço, (iii) promoção da lubrificação do molde e (iv) controle da transferência de calor entre o aço e o molde. O bom desempenho de cada função está diretamente relacionado às propriedades físicas e químicas que os pós apresentam, as quais são funções de sua composição química. Durante o processo de lingotamento, os pós fluxantes sofrem alterações em sua composição original proporcionadas por diferentes mecanismos que afetam as propriedades dos pós fluxantes. Um dos principais mecanismos responsáveis pelas alterações da composição das escórias é a interação química que ocorre entre o aço líquido e o pó fluxante fundido. Nesse trabalho foram realizadas simulações via aplicativo termodinâmico FactSage com o intuito de avaliar as interações entre metal líquido e escória. Três sistemas simples para a escória – um ternário (CaO-Al2O3-SiO2), um quaternário (CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-MgO) e um quinário (CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-MgO-Na2O) – e uma liga de Fe saturada em alumínio e oxigênio – 0,1%, 0,01% e 0,001% de Al – foram escolhidos para a realização das simulações, visando avaliar o incremento de Al2O3 da escória através da interação entre o alumínio dissolvido no ferro e a sílica presente na escória. O aumento do teor de alumina na escória foi quantificado para cada um dos três sistemas estudados em função do teor de Al e da razão S/M (kg de pó fluxante/t de metal líquido). Foram realizadas curvas de resfriamento para as escórias – que sofreram alterações em sua composição – para avaliar a influência da variação da composição sobre o comportamento de solidificação destas, baseadas em diagramas pseudobinários. Por fim, foram realizados cálculos de viscosidade para estas escórias através do modelo IRSID, para analisar a influência da composição sobre a viscosidade. Mostrou-se, para as condições escolhidas, que as alterações da composição química das escórias devido às interações entre metal líquido e escória são significativas, afetando as propriedades dos pós fluxantes, tais como seu comportamento de solidificação e sua viscosidade. / Mold powders are synthetic slags used in steel processing via continuous casting in order to promote greater surface quality to casting product. Thus, the mold powders perform the following functions: (i) promotion of the thermal and chemical insulate of steel, (ii) absorption of non-metallic inclusions from the steel, (iii) promotion of the lubrication of the mold and (iv) control of the heat transfer between steel and mold. The good performance of each function is directly related to physical and chemical properties presented by the powders, which are functions of their chemical compositions. During casting process, the mold powders undergo changes in their original composition provided by different mechanisms that affect the properties of mold powders. One of the main mechanisms responsible for changes in the composition of the slag is the chemical interaction that occurs between liquid steel and molten mold powders. In this work, simulations were carried out via thermodynamics software FactSage with the purpose of evaluating the interactions between the liquid metal and slag. Three simple systems – a ternary (CaO-Al2O3-SiO2), a quaternary (CaO-Al2O3- SiO2-MgO) and a quinary (CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-MgO-Na2O) – and a Fe alloy saturated with aluminum and oxygen – 0,1%, 0,01% and 0,001% Al – were chosen to perform the simulations in order to evaluate the increase of Al2O3 in slag through the interaction between the dissolved aluminum in iron and silica present in the slag. The increase of alumina content in the slag was quantified for each of the three systems studied as a function of Al content and the ratio S/M (mold powder kg/t liquid metal). Cooling curves were performed for slags – that suffered changes in their composition – to assess the influence of the composition variation on the behavior of slags, based on the pseudo-binary diagrams. Calculations of viscosity for these slags through the IRSID model to analyze the influence of chemical composition on the viscosity were performed. For the conditions chosen, it was shown that changes in chemical composition of the slag due to interactions between liquid metal and slag are significant, affecting the properties of fluxing powders, such as the solidification behavior and viscosity.

Este trabalho tem como foco central a investigação de possibilidades de obtenção de peças metálicas, na forma de esculturas, por fundição, com vazamento por gravidade e que tenham como característica formal uma geometria complexa. Na interface interdisciplinar entre Arte e Engenharia, o estudo aborda a técnica de fundição por cera perdida e suas características, os materiais envolvidos nos processos de construção do modelo e do molde, e a realização prática de peças fundidas. Através do fazer, da aplicação das técnicas de fundição, da construção de um relato de experiências e das reflexões geradas a partir da análise dos resultados, o texto procura estabelecer a viabilidade da aplicação das técnicas de fundição por cera perdida, em atelier de escultura, com propósitos artísticos. / The following work has as its central focus the investigation of possibilities in the attainment of metallic pieces, in the form of sculptures, through foundry with filling by gravity and a complex geometry as their formal characteristic. In the interdisciplinary interface between Art and Engineering, the study approaches the lost wax foundry technique and its characteristics, as well as the materials involved in the processes of construction of the model and the mold and the practical accomplishment of the foundry pieces. The text attempts to establish the viability of the employment of the foundry techniques of lost wax through the execution, the application of the foundry techniques, the elaboration of a report of experiences and the thoughts generated from the analysis of the results in a sculpture studio with artistic purposes.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Norberto Anibal Maidana / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Matemática , 2017. / A cada ano agrícola, a população de mosca-branca (Bemisia tabaci biótipo B) vem aumentando consideravelmente. O manejo de B. tabaci biótipo B tem se tornado um grande desafio, pois a sua dispersão entre as culturas, seu alto potencial reprodutivo, o hábito polífago, a resistência aos inseticidas, viver na superfície abaxial das folhas e o seu comportamento de se alimentar constantemente contribuem para a complexidade e a dificuldade de seu controle. Este trabalho propõe um modelo matemático não linear para descrever a dinâmica da Bemisia tabaci na evolução de seus estádios, junto a incidência da propagação dos danos indiretos que o mesmo causa em uma plantação. Para tanto, determinamos os pontos de equilíbrio do modelo, viabilidade biológica e suas respectivas estabilidades locais. Os parâmetros para o modelo foram estabelecidos de acordo com dados experimentais encontrados na literatura. Em seguida, analisamos numericamente a sensibilidade dos parâmetros, a fim de avaliar estratégias de combate efetivo contra a praga. Por fim, estudou-se a dispersão da mosca branca, considerando os movimentos de difusão e advecção para a dispersão. A análise matemática nos dá condições de existência de soluções do tipo ondas viajantes, assim como sua velocidade de propagação da praga. / In every agricultural year, the whitefly population (Bemisia tabaci biotype B) has increased considerably. The management of B. tabaci biotype B has become a major challenge because its dispersion among crops, its high reproductive potential, polyphagous habit, resistance to insecticides, to live on the abaxial surface of leaves and their eating behavior constantly contribute to the complexity and difficulty of their control. This work proposes a nonlinear mathematical model to describe the dynamics of Bemisia tabaci in the evolution of its stages, together with the incidence of the propagation of the indirect damages that cause the same in a plantation. For this, we determine the equilibrium points of the model, their biological viability and their respective local stabilities. The parameters for the model were established according to experimental data found in the literature. Then, we analyze numerically the sensitivity of the parameters, in order to evaluate strategies of effective combat against the pest. Finally, we study on the dispersion of the whitefly, considering the diffusion and advection movements for the dispersion. The mathematical analysis of the conditions of existence of solutions of waves type of vacations, as well as their speed of pest propagation.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-18Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:23:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barichello_f_dr_jabo.pdf: 1033799 bytes, checksum: 08bf62db5d519c571db9c5f4ce82c5b8 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Várias características são avaliadas por meio de escores visuais nos programas de avaliação genética no Brasil. Os sistemas de atribuição dos escores variam quanto ao número de classes de notas, ao referencial adotado para atribuição das notas e à frequência das notas nas diferentes classes e ao modelo empregado na análise dos dados. O objetivo neste estudo foi avaliar o impacto de diferentes escalas de atribuição dos escores, modelos de análise dos dados e sua interação na identificação dos genótipos superiores para essas características, por meio de dados simulados. Foram simulados dados de uma característica contínua na escala subjacente, transformados em valores (1 a 6) na escala discreta observada, com diferentes escalas (relativa uniforme, relativa normal, relativa assimétrica e fixa), dois valores de herdabilidade (0,25 e 0,49) e duas variâncias de grupos de contemporâneos (0,25 e 1,00). Estimaram-se os valores genéticos utilizando modelos de limiar, linear e linear após transformação dos dados. Análises com modelo de limiar e notas com escala relativa normal apresentaram melhores acurácias para a predição dos valores genéticos. A utilização do modelo de limiar incrementa a acurácia das estimativas, mas em razão da demanda computacional e de problemas de implementação, o modelo linear pode ser empregado na análise de dados categóricos avaliados sob escala relativa normal com seis classes. A transformação de dados proposta foi eficiente em algumas situações, podendo ser considerada como alternativa ao modelo linear, dependendo da estrutura dos dados / Genetic improvement programs in Brazil involve the monitoring of many traits that are evaluated by means of visual scores. The systems used to evaluate animals vary in terms of the number of classes, the referential from which the scores are given, the distribution of observations in score classes and the model used to analyze the data. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of different scales of score evaluation, models of analysis and their interactions on the identification of superior genotypes for visual scores, by means of a simulation study. Data of a continuous trait were simulated in a subjacent scale and then transformed into a discrete trait (1 to 6) in the observable scale, with different scale distributions (uniform relative, normal relative, asymmetric relative and fixed), two heritabilities (0.25 and 0.49) and two contemporary group variances (0.25 and 1.00). Breeding values were estimated using threshold model, linear model and linear model after data transformation. The threshold model and the relative normal scale showed better accuracy for the prediction of breeding values. The use of a threshold model can lead to an increase in the estimates’ accuracy, but despite the computational demand and implementation issues, the linear model can be used to analyze discrete data assigned under a normal relative scale with six score classes. The proposed data transformation was effective for some situations and depending on the data structure it should be considered as an alternative option instead of linear model