Rigid body modeling has historically been used to study various features of the elbow joint including both physical and computational models. Computational modeling provides an inexpensive, easily customizable, and effective method by which to predict and investigate the response of a physiological system to in vivo stresses and applied perturbations. Utilizing computer topography scans of a cadaveric elbow, a virtual representation of the joint was created using the commercially available MIMICS(TM) and SolidWorks(TM) software packages. Accurate 3D articular surfaces, ligamentous constraints, and joint contact parameters dictated motion. The model was validated against two cadaveric studies performed by Chanlalit et al. (2011, 2012) considering monopolar and bipolar circular radial head replacements in their effects on radiocapitellar stability and respective reliance upon lateral soft tissues, as well as a comparison of these with a novel anatomic radial head replacement system in an elbow afflicted with the “terrible triad” injury. Rigid body simulations indicated that the computational model was able to accurately recreate the translation of forces in the joint and demonstrate results similar to those presented in the cadaveric data in both the intact elbow and in unstable injury states. Trends in the resulting data were reflective of the average behavior of the cadaveric specimens while percent changes between states correlated closely with the experimental data. Information on the transposition of forces within the joint and ligament tensions gleaned from the computational model provided further insight into the stability of the elbow with a compromised radial head.

The use of computational modeling is an effective and inexpensive way to predict the response of complex systems to various perturbations. However, not until the early 1990s had this technology been used to predict the behavior of physiological systems, specifically the human skeletal system. To that end, a computational model of the human elbow joint was developed using computed topography (CT) scans of cadaveric donor tissue, as well as the commercially available software package SolidWorks™. The kinematic function of the joint model was then defined through 3D reconstructions of the osteoarticular surfaces and various soft-tissue constraints. The model was validated against cadaveric experiments performed by Hull et al and Fern et al that measured the significance of coronoid process fractures, lateral ulnar collateral ligament ruptures, and radial head resection in elbow joint resistance to varus displacement of the forearm. Kinematic simulations showed that the computational model was able to mimic the physiological movements of the joint throughout various ranges of motion including flexion/extension and pronation/supination. Quantitatively, the model was able to accurately reproduce the trends, as well as the magnitudes, of varus resistance observed in the cadaveric specimens. Additionally, magnitudes of ligament tension and joint contact force predicted by the model were able to further elucidate the complex soft-tissue and osseous contributions to varus elbow stability.

L'Interaction Fluide-Structure (IFS) décrit une classe très générale de problème physique, ce qui explique la nécessité de développer une méthode numérique capable de simuler le problème FSI. Pour cette raison, un solveur IFS est développé qui peut traiter un écoulement de fluide incompressible en interaction avec des structures différente: élastique ou rigide. Dans cet aspect, le solveur peut couvrir une large gamme d'applications.La méthode proposée est développée dans le cadre d'une formulation monolithique dans un contexte Eulérien. Cette méthode consiste à considérer un seul maillage et résoudre un seul système d'équations avec des propriétés matérielles différentes. La fonction distance permet de définir la position et l'interface de tous les objets à l'intérieur du domaine et de fournir les propriétés physiques pour chaque sous-domaine. L'adaptation de maillage anisotrope basé sur la variation de la fonction distance est ensuite appliquée pour assurer une capture précise des discontinuités à l'interface fluide-solide.La formulation monolithique est assurée par l'ajout d'un tenseur supplémentaire dans les équations de Navier-Stokes. Ce tenseur provient de la présence de la structure dans le fluide. Le système est résolu en utilisant une méthode élément fini et stabilisé suivant la formulation variationnelle multiéchelle. Cette formulation consiste à décomposer les champs de vitesse et pression en grande et petite échelles. La particularité de l'approche proposée réside dans l'enrichissement du tenseur de l'extra contraint.La première application est la simulation IFS avec un corps rigide. Le corps rigide est décrit en imposant une valeur nul du tenseur des déformations, et le mouvement est obtenu par la résolution du mouvement de corps rigide. Nous évaluons le comportement et la précision de la formulation proposée dans la simulation des exemples 2D et 3D. Les résultats sont comparés avec la littérature et montrent que la méthode développée est stable et précise.La seconde application est la simulation IFS avec un corps élastique. Dans ce cas, une équation supplémentaire est ajoutée au système précédent qui permet de résoudre le champ de déplacement. Et la contrainte de rigidité est remplacée par la loi de comportement du corps élastique. La déformation et le mouvement du corps élastique sont réalisés en résolvant l'équation de convection de la Level-Set. Nous illustrons la flexibilité de la formulation proposée par des exemples 2D. / Numerical simulations of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) are of first interest in numerous industrial problems: aeronautics, heat treatments, aerodynamic, bioengineering... Because of the high complexity of such problems, analytical study is in general not sufficient to understand and solve them. FSI simulations are then nowadays the focus of numerous investigations, and various approaches are proposed to treat them. We propose in this thesis a novel monolithic approach to deal with the interaction between an incompressible fluid flow and rigid/ elastic material. This method consists in considering a single grid and solving one set of equations with different material properties. A distance function enables to define the position and the interface of any objects with complex shapes inside the volume and to provide heterogeneous physical properties for each subdomain. Different anisotropic mesh adaptation algorithms based on the variations of the distance function or on using error estimators are used to ensure an accurate capture of the discontinuities at the fluid-solid interface. The monolithic formulation is insured by adding an extra-stress tensor in the Navier-Stokes equations coming from the presence of the structure in the fluid. The system is then solved using a finite element Variational MultiScale (VMS) method, which consists of decomposition, for both the velocity and the pressure fields, into coarse/resolved scales and fine/unresolved scales. The distinctive feature of the proposed approach resides in the efficient enrichment of the extra constraint. In the first part of the thesis, we use the proposed approach to assess its accuracy and ability to deal with fluid-rigid interaction. The rigid body is prescribed under the constraint of imposing the nullity of the strain tensor, and its movement is achieved by solving the rigid body motion. Several test case, in 2D and 3D with simple and complex geometries are presented. Results are compared with existing ones in the literature showing good stability and accuracy on unstructured and adapted meshes. In the second, we present different routes and an extension of the approach to deal with elastic body. In this case, an additional equation is added to the previous system to solve the displacement field. And the rigidity constraint is replaced with a corresponding behaviour law of the material. The elastic deformation and motion are captured using a convected level-set method. We present several 2D numerical tests, which is considered as classical benchmarks in the literature, and discuss their results.

La réalité augmentée consiste en l'insertion d'éléments virtuels dans une scène réelle, observée à travers un écran. Les systèmes de réalité augmentée peuvent prendre des formes différentes pour obtenir l'équilibre désiré entre trois critères : précision, latence et robustesse. On identifie trois composants principaux : localisation, reconstruction et affichage. Nous nous concentrons sur l'affichage et la reconstruction. Pour certaines applications, l'utilisateur ne peut être isolé de la réalité. Nous proposons un système sous forme de "tablette augmentée" avec un écran semi transparent, au prix d'un étalonnage adapté. Pour assurer l'alignement entre augmentations et réalité, il faut connaître les poses relatives de l'utilisateur et de la scène observée par rapport à l'écran. Deux dispositifs de localisation sont nécessaires et l'étalonnage consiste à calculer la pose de ces dispositifs par rapport à l'écran. Le protocole d'étalonnage est le suivant : l'utilisateur renseigne les projections apparentes dans l'écran de points de référence d'un objet 3D connu ; les poses recherchées minimisent la distance 2D entre ces projections et celles calculées par le système. Ce problème est non convexe et difficile à optimiser. Pour obtenir une estimation initiale, nous développons une méthode directe par l'étalonnage intrinsèque et extrinsèque de caméras virtuelles. Ces dernières sont définies par leurs centres optiques, confondus avec les positions de l'utilisateur, ainsi que leur plan focal, constitué par l'écran. Les projections saisies par l'utilisateur constituent alors les observations 2D des points de référence dans ces caméras virtuelles. Un raisonnement symétrique permet de considérer des caméras virtuelles centrées sur les points de référence de l'objet, "observant" les positions de l'utilisateur. Ces estimations initiales sont ensuite raffinées par ajustement de faisceaux. La reconstruction 3D est basée sur la triangulation de correspondances entre images. Ces correspondances peuvent être éparses lorsqu'elles sont établies par détection, description et association de primitives géométriques ou denses lorsqu'elles sont établies par minimisation d'une fonction de coût sur toute l'image. Un champ dense de correspondance est préférable car il permet une reconstruction de surface, utile notamment pour une gestion réaliste des occultations en réalité augmentée. Les méthodes d'estimation d'un tel champ sont basées sur une optimisation variationnelle, précise mais sensible aux minimums locaux et limitée à des images peu différentes. A l'opposé, l'emploi de descripteurs discriminants peut rendre les correspondances éparses très robustes. Nous proposons de combiner les avantages des deux approches par l'intégration d'un coût basé sur des correspondances éparses de primitives à une méthode d'estimation variationnelle dense. Cela permet d'empêcher l'optimisation de tomber dans un minimum local sans dégrader la précision. Notre terme basé correspondances éparses est adapté aux primitives à coordonnées non entières, et peut exploiter des correspondances de points ou de segments tout en filtrant implicitement les correspondances erronées. Nous proposons aussi une détection et gestion complète des occultations pour pouvoir mettre en correspondance des images éloignées. Nous avons adapté et généralisé une méthode locale de détection des auto-occultations. Notre méthode produit des résultats compétitifs avec l'état de l'art, tout en étant plus simple et plus rapide, pour les applications de flot optique 2D et de stéréo à large parallaxe. Nos contributions permettent d'appliquer les méthodes variationnelles à de nouvelles applications sans dégrader leur performance. Le faible couplage des modules permet une grande flexibilité et généricité. Cela nous permet de transposer notre méthode pour le recalage de surfaces déformables avec des résultats surpassant l'état de l'art, ouvrant de nouvelles perspectives. / Augmented reality is the process of inserting virtual elements into a real scene, observed through a screen. Augmented Reality systems can take different forms to get the desired balance between three criteria: accuracy, latency and robustness. Three main components can be identified: localization, reconstruction and display. The contributions of this thesis are focused on display and reconstruction. Most augmented reality systems use non-transparent screens as they are widely available. However, for critical applications such as surgery or driving assistance, the user cannot be ever isolated from reality. We answer this problem by proposing a new “augmented tablet” system with a semi-transparent screen. Such a system needs a suitable calibration scheme:to correctly align the displayed augmentations and reality, one need to know at every moment the poses of the user and the observed scene with regard to the screen. Two tracking devices (user and scene) are thus necessary, and the system calibration aims to compute the pose of those devices with regard to the screen. The calibration process set up in this thesis is as follows: the user indicates the apparent projections in the screen of reference points from a known 3D object ; then the poses to estimate should minimize the 2D on-screen distance between those projections and the ones computed by the system. This is a non-convex problem difficult to solve without a sane initialization. We develop a direct estimation method by computing the extrinsic parameters of virtual cameras. Those are defined by their optical centers which coincide with user positions, and their common focal plane consisting of the screen plane. The user-entered projections are then the 2D observations of the reference points in those virtual cameras. A symmetrical thinking allows one to define virtual cameras centered on the reference points, and “looking at” the user positions. Those initial estimations can then be refined with a bundle adjustment. Meanwhile, 3D reconstruction is based on the triangulation of matches between images. Those matches can be sparse when computed by detection and description of image features or dense when computed through the minimization of a cost function of the whole image. A dense correspondence field is better because it makes it possible to reconstruct a 3D surface, useful especially for realistic handling of occlusions for augmented reality. However, such a field is usually estimated thanks to variational methods, minimizing a convex cost function using local information. Those methods are accurate but subject to local minima, thus limited to small deformations. In contrast, sparse matches can be made very robust by using adequately discriminative descriptors. We propose to combine the advantages of those two approaches by adding a feature-based term into a dense variational method. It helps prevent the optimization from falling into local minima without degrading the end accuracy. Our feature-based term is suited to feature with non-integer coordinates and can handle point or line segment matches while implicitly filtering false matches. We also introduce comprehensive handling of occlusions so as to support large deformations. In particular, we have adapted and generalized a local method for detecting selfocclusions. Results on 2D optical flow and wide-baseline stereo disparity estimation are competitive with the state of the art, with a simpler and most of the time faster method. This proves that our contributions enables new applications of variational methods without degrading their accuracy. Moreover, the weak coupling between the components allows great flexibility and genericness. This is the reason we were able to also transpose the proposed method to the problem of non-rigid surface registration and outperforms the state of the art methods.

Desde os anos 1940, o pavimento de concreto continuamente armado (PCCA) é uma tecnologia empregada para o tráfego rodoviário nos Estados Unidos da América (EUA). A partir de 1972, na Alemanha, as premissas de construção do PCCA foram aplicadas em linhas ferroviárias. A utilização do PCCA como plataforma ferroviária é relativamente recente e ainda não existem normas específicas para o seu dimensionamento e análises. Diante disso, o comportamento estrutural do PCCA rodoviário é adotado para as vias férreas rígidas. O objetivo central deste trabalho é compreender o comportamento estrutural de um PCCA convencional utilizado como plataforma ferroviária. Para tanto, foram realizadas simulações numéricas computacionais com o software Abaqus/CAE, primeiramente para elaborar um modelo computacional de um PCCA convencional calibrando-o com resultados de ensaios de campo. Posteriores simulações com fixações, trilhos e a solicitações de três diferentes veículos foram conduzidas, no modelo inicialmente proposto, dentro do próprio Abaqus/CAE. As simulações no PCCA como plataforma ferroviária consistiram em avaliar se a posição da carga ferroviária em relação às fissuras do PCCA influenciava no comportamento estrutural do pavimento. Realizou-se também um estudo paramétrico com os elementos da via permanente e um estudo à fadiga no concreto utilizado. O PCCA comportou-se estruturalmente muito bem quando utilizado para veículos de passageiros. O período de vida observado para os veículos de passageiros está dentro do esperado para plataformas ferroviárias rígidas. Entretanto, para o caso do veículo de carga, os modelos de fadiga mostraram uma vida de projeto bem inferior à esperada para plataformas ferroviárias rígidas, portanto, o pavimento não suportaria o carregamento de veículos de carga. O estudo paramétrico demonstrou que a rigidez das fixações é o elemento que mais influencia na deflexão da via, na tensão de tração no fundo das placas e na tensão de tração em flexão nos trilhos. O melhoramento da capacidade estrutural da fundação diminui a tensão de tração no pavimento, sem alterar a deflexão na via permanente. / Since the 1940s, continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) is a technology used in the United States of America (USA) for road traffic. Starting in 1972, the CRCP construction premises were applied to railway lines in Germany. Use of PCCA as a railway platform is relatively recent and there are no specific standards for its scaling and analysis, there are no specific standards for its design and analysis. Given this, the structural behavior of the PCCA road is adopted for the rigid railways. The central objective of this work is to understand the structural behavior of a conventional CRCP used as a railway platform. For this, numerical simulations were performed with Abaqus/CAE software to develop a conventional CRCP model calibrated with field test results. Later, simulations with fixations, rails and three different vehicles loads were conducted in the model initially proposed. The CRCP simulations as railway platform consisted of evaluating whether the positioning of the rail load in relation to the CRCP transverse cracks influenced the structural behavior of the pavement. A parametric study was also performed on the permanent track elements and on the concrete fatigue life. As a result, the pavement lifespan observed under these vehicles loads is within that expected for rigid railway platforms, for the three fatigue models used. However, in the case of the cargo vehicle, the fatigue models showed a design life inferior that expected for rigid railway platforms; therefore, the pavement would not be appropriate for the loading of cargo vehicles. The parametric study showed that the stiffness of the fixings is the element that most influences track deflection, tensile stress at the bottom of the slabs and tensile stress in the rails. The improvement of the foundation decreases the tensile stress in the pavement without changing the deflection in the permanent way.

Les techniques d'insertion d'aiguille font partie des interventions chirurgicales les plus courantes. L'efficacité de ces interventions dépend fortement de la précision du positionnement des aiguilles dans un emplacement cible à l'intérieur du corps du patient. L'objectif principal dans cette thèse est de développer un système robotique autonome, capable d'insérer une aiguille flexible dans une structure déformable le long d'une trajectoire prédéfinie. L’originalité de ce travail se trouve dans l’utilisation de simulations inverses par éléments finis (EF) dans la boucle de contrôle du robot pour prédire la déformation des structures. La particularité de ce travail est que pendant l’insertion, les modèles EF sont continuellement recalés (étape corrective) grâce à l’information extraite d’un système d’imagerie peropératoire. Cette étape permet de contrôler l’erreur des modèles par rapport aux structures réelles et ainsi éviter qu'ils divergent. Une seconde étape (étape de prédiction) permet, à partir de la position corrigée, d’anticiper le comportement de structures déformables, en se reposant uniquement sur les prédictions des modèles biomécaniques. Ceci permet ainsi d’anticiper la commande du robot pour compenser les déplacements des tissus avant même le déplacement de l’aiguille. Expérimentalement, nous avions utilisé notre approche pour contrôler un robot réel afin d'insérer une aiguille flexible dans une mousse déformable le long d'une trajectoire (virtuelle) prédéfinie. Nous avons proposé une formulation basée sur des contraintes permettant le calcul d'étapes prédictives dans l'espace de contraintes offrant ainsi un temps d'insertion total compatible avec les applications cliniques. Nous avons également proposé un système de réalité augmentée pour la chirurgie du foie ouverte. La méthode est basée sur un recalage initial semi-automatique et un algorithme de suivi peropératoire basé sur des marqueurs (3D) optiques. Nous avons démontré l'applicabilité de cette approche en salle d'opération lors d'une chirurgie de résection hépatique. Les résultats obtenus au cours de ce travail de thèse ont conduit à trois publications (deux IROS et un ICRA) dans les conférences internationales puis à un journal (Transactions on Robotics) en cours de révision. / Needle-based interventions are among the least invasive surgical approaches to access deep internal structures into organs' volumes without damaging surrounding tissues. Unlike traditional open surgery, needle-based approaches only affect a localized area around the needle, reducing this way the occurrence of traumas and risks of complications \cite{Cowan2011}. Many surgical procedures rely on needles in nowadays clinical routines (biopsies, local anesthesia, blood sampling, prostate brachytherapy, vertebroplasty ...). Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an example of percutaneous procedure that uses heat at the tip of a needle to destroy cancer cells. Such alternative treatments may open new solutions for unrespectable tumors or metastasis (concerns about the age of the patient, the extent or localization of the disease). However, contrary to what one may think, needle-based approaches can be an exceedingly complex intervention. Indeed, the effectiveness of the treatment is highly dependent on the accuracy of the needle positioning (about a few millimeters) which can be particularly challenging when needles are manipulated from outside the patient with intra-operative images (X-ray, fluoroscopy or ultrasound ...) offering poor visibility of internal structures. Human factors, organs' deformations, needle deflection and intraoperative imaging modalities limitations can be causes of needle misplacement and rise significantly the technical level necessary to master these surgical acts. The use of surgical robots has revolutionized the way surgeons approach minimally invasive surgery. Robots have the potential to overcome several limitations coming from the human factor: for instance by filtering operator tremors, scaling the motion of the user or adding new degrees of freedom at the tip of instruments. A rapidly growing number of surgical robots has been developed and applied to a large panel of surgical applications \cite{Troccaz2012}. Yet, an important difficulty for needle-based procedures lies in the fact that both soft tissues and needles tend to deform as the insertion proceeds in a way that cannot be described with geometrical approaches. Standard solutions address the problem of the deformation extracting a set of features from per-operative images (also called \textit{visual servoing)} and locally adjust the pose/motion of the robot to compensate for deformations \cite{Hutchinson1996}. [...]To overcome these limitations, we introduce a numerical method allowing performing inverse Finite Element simulations in real-time. We show that it can be used to control an articulated robot while considering deformations of structures during needle insertion. Our approach relies on a forward FE simulation of a needle insertion (involving complex non-linear phenomena such as friction, puncture and needle constraints).[...]

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo numérico e experimental do comportamento estrutural das ligações viga mista-pilar com cantoneiras de assento e alma. No estudo teórico foi desenvolvido, com base nos EUROCODES 3 e 4, um procedimento para avaliação do comportamento das ligações mistas com cantoneiras de alma e assento e com chapa de topo. O trabalho de investigação experimental, abrangendo modelos submetidos a carregamentos monotônico e cíclico, foi realizado no Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Portugal, em que o objetivo principal foi avaliar a influência da força axial de compressão no pilar para o comportamento do painel da alma do pilar, e conseqüentemente no comportamento global da ligação mista localizada em nó de extremidade. Nos ensaios experimentais foram analisadas as rotações e deformações no painel da alma do pilar sem e com enrijecedor na alma do pilar. Adicionalmente, a eficiência da ancoragem das barras de armadura longitudinal foi verificada. Paralelamente à investigação experimental, um estudo numérico de ligações mistas foi realizado por meio do modelo em elementos finitos, o qual mostrou-se representativo, tornando-se uma ferramenta para análises paramétricas. / This work presents a numerical and experimental study of the structural behavior of beam-to-column composite joints with bottom and web angle connections. In the theoretical study, basing in EUROCODES 3 and 4, an analytic procedure for evaluation the static behavior of beam-to-column composite joints with bottom and web angle connections was developed. The experimental test program, enclosing monotonic tests and a cyclic test, was carried out at the Instituto Superior Técnico of Lisbon (IST), where the main objective was to evaluate the effect of column axial load on column web panel and consequently in the global behavior of single-sided composite joint. In the tests, the panel zone rotations and deformations were analyzed for stiffened and unstiffened column web. In addition, the efficiency of the main rebar was verified. Finally, a thorough of finite element model, a numerical study of composite joints was developed. This model was found to be representative and reliable as a tool to futures parametric analyses.

INTRODUÇÃO: A limpeza prévia de endoscópios rígidos (ER) seguida de desinfecção de nível intermediário com álcool etílico a 70% p/v após o exame de endoscopia nasal é uma prática adotada em muitos serviços de otorrinolaringologia. A literatura atual, no entanto, recomenda a esterilização ou desinfecção de alto nível como o método de descontaminação mais aceito para produtos para saúde classificados como semicríticos. No entanto, há que se fazer distinção entre equipamentos de alta complexidade e sua invasividade como os endoscópios flexíveis com lumens longos e estreitos utilizados na endoscopia digestiva, daqueles de conformação simples sem lumens de baixa invasividade como os endoscópios rígidos utilizados em otorrinolaringologia. OBJETIVO: Avaliar a segurança da desinfecção de nível intermediário com álcool etílico 70% p/v, após limpeza prévia dos endoscópios rígidos utilizados em procedimentos clínicos de endoscopia nasal considerando a carga microbiológica recuperada após o uso. MÉTODO: Imediatamente após a realização do exame, uma gaze úmida foi utilizada para o arraste da carga biológica do endoscópio rígido, gerando as amostras do Controle Positivo e, após a aplicação do POP, um novo arraste para constituir as amostras do Grupo Experimental. Estas gazes foram inicialmente submetidas à sonicação e agitação imersas em soro fisiológico e em seguida a solução foi submetida a uma técnica de extração de carga microbiológica por filtragem por meio de uma Membrana de Celulose de 0,22um de poro que foi, em seguida, semeada nos meios de ágar Sangue, Chocolate, Sabouraud, Löwenstein-Jensen e Tioglicolato. Estes meios ficaram incubados em estufa a 37ºC ± 2ºC e avaliados, no máximo, até por 60 dias conforme o perfil de crescimento dos diferentes microrganismos de interesse; foram analisados de maneira quantitativa e qualitativa para identificação e classificação dos micro-organismos recuperados após as semeaduras. RESULTADO: Os resultados da análise estatística evidenciaram diferença significativa entre Controle Positivo e Grupo Experimental quando comparados em relação à presença de Streptococcus coagulase negativa (p < 0,001), Bacillus spp (p < 0,001) e Staphylococcus aureus (p=0,001). No Controle Positivo, foram encontradas presença desses micro-organismos respectivamente na seguinte frequência: 63,2%, 28,9% e 28,9%, enquanto que, no Grupo Experimental, não foi houve recuperação microbiana alguma. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados desta pesquisa demonstram a eficiência, na prática diária, da desinfecção de nível intermediário dos endoscópios utilizados na otorrinolaringologia por meio da fricção com álcool etílico 70% p/v por 90 segundos, com protocolo de limpeza prévia / INTRODUCTION: Prior cleaning of rigid endoscopes (REs) followed by intermediate-level disinfection with 70% ethyl alcohol (w/v) after nasal endoscopy is a common practice in many otolaryngology services. Current literature, in turn, recommends high-level sterilization or disinfection as the most accepted decontamination method for health products classified as semi-critical. However, it is necessary to distinguish highly complex equipment according to their invasiveness, e.g., flexible endoscopes with long and narrow lumens used in digestive endoscopy and those with a simple conformation without lumens of low invasiveness, such as rigid endoscopes used in otorhinolaryngology. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety of intermediate-level disinfection with 70% ethyl alcohol (w/v) after cleaning of REs used in clinical procedures of nasal endoscopy considering the microbiological load recovered after use. METHOD: Immediately after the test, a wet gauze was used to drag the biological load from the RE, generating positive control samples; after applying POP, dragging was carried out again to generate samples of the experimental group. These gasses were initially subjected to sonication and shaking while immersed in physiological saline; the solution was then subjected to the microbiological loading technique by filtration through a 0.22-um pore cellulose membrane and then cultivated on blood, chocolate, Sabouraud, Löwenstein-Jensen, and thioglycolate agar media. These media were incubated at 37ºC ± 2ºC and evaluated for up to 60 days, according to the growth profile of the different microorganisms of interest. A quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed for the identification and classification of microorganisms recovered after cultivation. RESULTS: The results of statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the positive control and experimental groups for the presence of coagulase-negative Streptococcus (p < 0.001), Bacillus spp (p < 0.001), and Staphylococcus aureus (p=0.001). In the positive control group, these microorganisms were found in the following proportions: 63.2%, 28.9%, and 28.9%, respectively, whereas in the experimental group, no microorganisms were recovered. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrate the efficiency of the daily practice of intermediate-level disinfection of endoscopes used in otorhinolaryngology by means of treatment with 70% ethyl alcohol (w/v) for 90 seconds, using a previous cleaning protocol

Neste trabalho estudou-se o comportamento de uma ligação viga-pilar de estrutura pré-moldada parcialmente resistente a momento fletor quando submetida a momentos negativos e positivos. A ligação estudada é composta por dois chumbadores inclinados presos à viga através de chapa metálica, porcas e arruelas e uma capa de concreto com armadura longitudinal passando por dentro do pilar. No programa experimental foram elaborados dois modelos submetidos a carregamentos alternados, em ciclos e de curta duração. Em seguida foi desenvolvido um modelo analítico para cálculo dos momentos resistentes e feita uma simulação numérica para avaliar a influência da semi-rigidez da ligação em estruturas típicas de concreto pré-moldado. Os resultados experimentais indicaram que a ligação apresenta uma boa capacidade de transmissão a momento fletor negativo e a momento fletor positivo com um comportamento bastante dúctil. Sem a necessidade de grandes alterações de custos e de execução, a ligação proposta promoveu uma redução significativa dos momentos na base dos pilares (aproximadamente 50%) quando comparada à ligação articulada. Quando comparada à ligação similar, porém com os chumbadores retilíneos, há um aumento superior a 2,5 vezes no momento de plastificação e de 3 vezes na rigidez no sentido do momento fletor positivo / In this research the behavior of a partial moment resistant beam-to-column connection in precast concrete subjected to negative and positive moments was studied. This connection has two inclined dowels fixed to the beam with steel plate, washer and nut and a concrete cap with longitudinal reinforced bars passing trough the column. In the experimental program two prototypes was made and subjected to an alternative cyclic e short duration load. Afterwards it was develop an analytical model and a numerical simulation to analyze the influence of the semi-rigid connection in a typical precast structure. The experimental results shown that the connection has a good capacity of transmitte the bending moments and has a ductile behave. Without any significative difference of cost and manufacture, the connection studied promoted a reduction on the column base bending moment (approximately 50%) when compared to pinned connection. When compared to similar structures but with a vertical dowel, the connection presents strength over 2.5 times and over 3 times the stiffens for positive bending moments

Estruturas em concreto pré-moldado vêm sendo utilizadas com freqüência em sistemas reticulados do tipo multi-piso, destinados às mais variadas atividades como: estabelecimentos comerciais, estacionamentos, escolas, hospitais e etc. A utilização de ligações viga-pilar do tipo semi-rígida constitui uma alternativa interessante para o enrijecimento e para a garantia da estabilidade global deste tipo de estrutura. Atualmente, a rigidez e a resistência destas ligações têm sido determinadas por ensaios de modelos em escala real. Estes ensaios, além de apresentarem um custo elevado, têm aplicação restrita à ligação examinada o que torna esta metodologia limitada e não adequada à prática de elaboração de projeto. Apresenta-se, neste trabalho, um modelo mecânico para determinação numérica da relação força-deslocamento de uma ligação viga-pilar semi-rígida a partir da contribuição da rigidez individual de cada componente de transferência de força utilizado na vinculação. A formulação do equilíbrio do modelo é implementada em planilha eletrônica constituindo-se numa ferramenta de cálculo para o projetista, permitindo o estudo, de forma rápida e amigável, da influência do posicionamento e da rigidez individual de cada componente de transferência de força na rigidez e na resistência da ligação. Este modelo mecânico foi utilizado para o cálculo da rigidez à rotação para momento fletor positivo de uma ligação viga-pilar ensaiada em laboratório. Os valores para a rigidez da ligação obtidos em ensaio e pelo modelo mecânico ficaram muito próximos. Da formulação do equilíbrio do modelo mecânico pode-se extrair ainda uma matriz de rigidez que é utilizada na representação da ligação semi-rígida no modelo de barra da estrutura. Um programa computacional foi desenvolvido para a análise de pórticos planos com ligação viga-pilar semi-rígida considerando ainda as não linearidades físicas e geométricas do modelo de cálculo. O programa foi validado pela comparação de resultados de exemplos também processados no programa ANSYS. A não-linearidade geométrica é considerada pelo método modal, não incremental-iterativo, e que obtém a parcela não-linear da resposta estrutural pela combinação dos seus modos de flambagem. A não-linearidade física do concreto é considerada pelo método da rigidez secante no qual a rigidez de cada barra da estrutura é reduzida na análise conforme suas armaduras e o nível de sua solicitação. Para o cálculo da rigidez secante dos pilares desenvolveu-se um programa que permite a consideração de armaduras ativas e passivas na seção. A análise de alguns exemplos revelou que a protensão dos pilares é também uma alternativa interessante para o enrijecimento da estrutura. Além de exemplos práticos, outros temas pertinentes ao projeto deste tipo de estrutura como: estabilidade na fase construtiva, esforços finais após a montagem, efeitos dependentes do tempo, assimetria de rigidez e plastificação das ligações, são também abordados no trabalho. / Precast concrete multi-storey structures have been more frequently used to construct commercial buildings, parking, schools and hospitals. The use of semi-rigid beam-tocolumn connections is a good strategy to guarantee the global stability of this type of structure. Actually the rigidity and the strength of this type of connection are obtained in an experimental program using full scale prototypes. This procedure is not only expensive but limited and not adequate for design since the results are only valid for the examined connection. This research presents a mechanical model used to determine numerically the force-displacement relationship of a beam-to-column semirigid connection. The procedure uses the contribution of any individual force transfer component active in the connection. The equilibrium equation of the model is implemented in an electronic-worksheet where the designer can rapidly and friendly study the influence of the position and the individual rigidity of each force transfer component in the global rigidity and strength of the connection. For validation, this procedure was used to calculate the flexural rigidity for positive bending moment of a beam-to-column semi-rigid connection that was tested in laboratory. The numerical values of the connection rigidity obtained by test and by the mechanical model are very close. The matrix used in the formulation of the mechanical model equilibrium can also be used to represent the semi-rigid connection in the finite element model of the structure. A computational program was developed for plane frame analysis including semi-rigid beam-to-column connections and both physical and geometric nonlinearities. The program was tested by comparing the results of some examples that are also analysed in the ANSYS program. The geometric nonlinearity is considered by a modal method where the nonlinear response of the structure is obtained by a combination of its buckling modes. The physical nonlinearity of the concrete is considered by the secant rigidity method. In this method the rigidities of all concrete bars in the structure are reduced by coefficients that depend of the reinforcement in the cross section and the level of the efforts. A special computational program was developed to calculate the secant rigidity for a concrete cross section with reinforcing bar and prestressing steel. The analysis of some examples shows that the use of prestressing steel in collums is also an interesting alternative to sttifen the structure. Beyond of some practical examples, others themes related to the design of this type of structure like: stability in the erection process, efforts in the end of the erection process, time-dependent effects, non symmetrical and plastic behavior of the connections, are also treated in this work.