In the last few years, the automotive industry has adopted the Six Sigma program aiming the performance increasing in the competition market. This tool is used as basis of quality control and strategic planning for production, providing significant improvements in direct and indirect costs of production. This paper provides a successful result obtained in an automotive industry in which the quality had been improved through the strategy proposed by Six Sigma. This company, after applying the Six Sigma methodology, had successfully reduces the amount of defects in the automotive seats in the assembly line. After the implementation, the company achieved higher quality process and its costs decreased, reducing to less than 50 % the number of seats with defects. The study contributes to the management practices, by identifying new applications with Six Sigma and further analysis of manufacturing with financial performance as well as to discuss the implications of these findings for practice and for future research.

mudanças no comportamento alimentar, que estão associados com o desejo de comer alimentos altamente palatáveis. Embora não haja uma relação causal clara, existe uma associação entre o desejo excessivo de chocolate e as mudanças hormonais do ciclo menstrual. Examinamos o efeito dos consumos de chocolate de leite e chocolate com maior teor de cacau (50%) adicionado de fibras no desejo por doces e sintomas de sí­ndrome de tensão pré-menstrual em 19 participantes. Este estudo experimental aberto durou 2 ciclos menstruais, incluindo fase de controle (fase I) com ingestão de chocolate de leite (50 g/dia) e fase de intervenção (fase II) com o consumo de chocolate 50% cacau com fibras adicionadas (50 g/dia) durante a fase lútea de cada ciclo. Os sintomas de sí­ndrome de tensão pré-menstrual foram classificados por escala validada. A intervenção com de chocolate 50% cacau com fibras adicionadas, comparada com o baseline e controle com chocolate ao leite, mostrou uma redução nos sintomas fí­sicos (p = 0,0206), e tanto os perí­odos de intervenção como os de controle mostraram mudanças nos padrões alimentares (p = 0,0012), como redução do desejo por doces, chocolates entre outros.Palavras-chave: sí­ndrome de tensão pré-menstrual, sí­ndrome pré-menstrual, cacau, chocolate, compulsão alimentar, serotonina.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do uso de larvas predadoras da ordem Odonata (família Libellulidae) associado ao BTI na redução larval de mosquitos. Foi testada a hipótese de que na presença de larvas de predadores haveria aumento na mortalidade de larvas de A. aegypti causada pelo efeito sinergético do BTI juntamente com o predador. Larvas de A. aegypti e libélulas (Odonata: Libellulidae) foram oriundas de colônia laboratorial e coletas em campo, respectivamente. Os microcosmos contituiam-se de recipientes com capacidade para 300mL contendo 100mL de água com densidades de 100, 200, e 300 larvas de A. aegypti e uma larva do predador. Os tratamentos, BTI e BTI + Predador receberam 0,01ppm de BTI. O controle recebeu apenas as larvas de A. aegypti. Os resultados mostraram um efeito significativo do tratamento BTI + Predador apenas na menor densidade, elucidando o aparecimento de um efeito sinergético. Para as densidades de 200 e 300 larvas este efeito não foi observado. O aumento da densidade larval aumentou a taxa de predação, enquanto o efeito do BTI sobre a mortalidade diminuiu. Nossos resultados mostram que o efeito sinergético existe, mas que fatores dependentes da densidade podem ocultar tal efeito.

Servomotor-controlled valves are widely used in industry for pressure control of pneumatic systems. However, as a first stage, they can cause significant hysteresis that can result in loss of pressure or flow control accuracy at the second stage level. To reduce this effect and improve accuracy, a possible solution relies on the use of on-off switching valves controlled by Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). This approach is studied, firstly by analytically determining how the PWM parameters have to be tuned according to the on-off valve characteristics, secondly by ensuring that these characteristics provide the desired behavior of the system, and finally by experimentally verifying whether the PWM control can successfully reduce hysteresis, without decreasing the application range.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the circadian feeding rhythm of the green-belly stink bug (Dichelops melacanthus) on corn (Zea mays), and to correlate it with meteorological parameters. The experiments were conducted in corn fields in the first (summer) and second (fall) crop seasons, in the municipality of Chapecó, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Plants in the V3 and V5 stages were covered with cages and infested with adults of D. melacanthus. After 24 hours of acclimation, the number of insects feeding on the plant stem was counted every three hours (at 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, 21:00, and 0:00 h). At night, a red led flashlight was used to visualize the insects without interfering with their behavior. Meteorological parameters were monitored and correlated to the number of insects feeding on the plants. In the first and second crop seasons, the number of insects feeding on the corn stem differed among evaluation times, with peak in the afternoon, in the evening, and at night. Few insects were found feeding at 6:00 and 9:00 h. There was a positive correlation between air temperature and feeding in both seasons. In milder temperature regions, the preferred feeding time of D. melacanthus on corn is during the afternoon, evening, and night hours, which should be taken into account for a precise management of this insect.

The herbicide glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide worldwide. Glyphosate and its major metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), have been frequently found in water samples. The widely used methods for determining these compounds are expensive and environmentally unfriendly due to reagent consumption for derivatization. Another possibility is the use of classic ion chromatography, albeit with low sensitivity and subject to interferences. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a method to directly and simultaneously determine glyphosate, AMPA, and common inorganic anions in water samples using gradient capillary ion chromatography without sample pre-treatment and derivatization. The proposed method was validated, presenting adequate linearity for glyphosate and AMPA with a determination coefficient (r2 ) > 0.998. Recoveries ranged from 94 to 105% and 79 to 113% for glyphosate and AMPA, respectively, with a relative standard deviation < 10%. The practical method limits of detection and quantification for both glyphosate and AMPA were 7.5 and 25 µg L-1, respectively. The method presented satisfactory results for the anions fluoride, chloride, bromide, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate, with limits of detection ranging from 7.5 to 200 µg L-1. Application of the method in water samples proved simple, efficient, and cost-effective, enabling the monitoring of these analytes in different water matrices.

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