The diabetic foot is characterized by the loss of foot ulcerations and sensitivity. The use of orthopedic orthosis can prevent pathological changes in the diabetic foot. The objective of this study was to characterize materials used for producing orthopedic orthosis: silicone; pre-vulcanized latex of Hevea brasiliensis; Evapod, and Podadur. The Hevea brasiliensis latex material is widely indicated in the literature for biomedical purposes. Physical–mechanical properties were determined (properties of elastic deformation, resistance, durability, lightness, energy absorption, resistance to high temperatures, and chemical composition—ASTM International). In the tensile test, the latex reached 6.02 ± 0.33 MPa, having the best performance among the other materials. In the elastic module, the Podadur stood out, with 28.2 ± 0.89 MPa, compared to silicone with 0.42 ± 0.05 MPa. The most excellent Shore A hardness material was Podadur with 58%. As for the resilience, the Podadur presented a minimum value of 22%, while latex had 63%. Silicone was the densest material, with a density of 1.48 g/cm3, and Evapod and Podadur were the lightest, respectively, at 0.22 g/cm3 and 0.42 g/cm3. Morphologically, Evapod, Podadur, and latex presented open and interconnected cells, characteristics that gave them a more significant water absorption capacity. Silicone was the only material with no empty cells in its structure. In X-ray diffraction, Evapod, Podadur, and silicone materials presented well-defined crystallographic planes, whereas amorphous behavior characterized latex. Thermogravimetry showed weight loss between 240 and 650 °C in the four materials. In the fluorescence test, the presence of metals was observed in the composition of the four materials. Among the materials studied, the Podadur was the material that stood out, with some good properties for the development of orthopedic orthosis.

Several methods can be used to obtain, from powder diffraction patterns, crystallite size and lattice strain of polycrystalline samples. Some examples are the Scherrer equation, Williamson–Hall plots, Warren/Averbach Fourier decomposition, Whole Powder Pattern Modeling, and Debye function analysis. To apply some of these methods, it is necessary to remove the contribution of the instrument to the widths of the diffraction peaks. Nowadays, one of the main samples used for this purpose is the LaB6 SRM660b commercialized by the National Institute of Standard Technology; the width of the diffraction peak of this sample is caused only by the instrumental apparatus. However, this sample can be expensive for researchers in developing countries. In this work, the authors present a simple route to obtain micron-sized polycrystalline CeO2 that have a full width at half maximum comparable with the SRM660b and therefore it can be used to remove instrumental broadening.

A aprendizagem significativa aproxima os conteúdos estudados em sala com o cotidiano dos alunos, e assim é um modo eficaz de tornar a aprendizagem sólida. Nesse contexto, essa pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar a contribuição de simulações interativas e vídeos para a aprendizagem de conteúdos de propriedade dos gases e potencial eletrostático. A pesquisa de campo foi realizada em duas turmas de ensino médio em escolas da rede estadual dos municípios de Monsenhor Tabosa e Ararendá, Ceará; foram utilizados dois questionários semiestruturados, com questões subjetivas e objetivas, antes e após o uso das metodologias. Em relação as dificuldades na aprendizagem do tema, mais de 90% dos alunos afirmaram ter alguma dificuldade para compreender a temática. Sobre as questões específicas verificou-se que, em alguns casos, houve um aumento de 90% no nível de questões respondidas corretamente após o uso de simulações interativas e de 70% para o uso de vídeos. Em relação aos benefícios dos recursos didáticos todos os estudantes afirmaram que os métodos auxiliaram na aprendizagem. Considera-se que de modo geral, ambas as estratégias ajudaram na assimilação dos conteúdos, e tiveram uma boa aceitação em sala de aula.