Desenvolvimento de uma desfribadeira para obtenção da fibra da folha do abacaxi

In 1998 the first decorticator was developed in the Textile Engineering Laboratory and patented for the purpose of extracting fibres from pineapple leaves, with the financial help from CNPq and BNB. The objective of the present work was to develop an automatic decorticator different from the first one with a semiautomatic system of decortication with automatic feeding of the leaves and collection of the extracted fibres. The system is started through a command system that passes information to two engines, one for starting the beater cylinder and the other for the feeding of the leaves as well as the extraction of the decorticated fibres automatically. This in turn introduces the leaves between a knife and a beater cylinder with twenty blades (the previous one had only 8 blades). These blades are supported by equidistant flanges with a central transmission axis that would help in increasing the number of beatings of the leaves. In the present system the operator has to place the leaves on the rotating endless feeding belt and collect the extracted leaves that are being carried out through another endless belt. The pulp resulted form the extraction is collected in a tray through a collector. The feeding of the leaves as well as the extraction of the fibres is controlled automatically by varying the velocity of the cylinders. The semi-automatic decorticator basically composed of a chassis made out of iron bars (profile L) with 200cm length, 91 cm of height 68 cm of width. The decorticator weighs around 300Kg. It was observed that the increase in the number of blades from 8 to twenty in the beater cylinder reduced the turbulence inside the decorticator, which helped to improve the removal of the fibres without any problems as well as the quality of the fibres. From the studies carried out, from each leaf 2,8 to 4,5% of fibres can be extracted. This gives around 4 to 5 tons of fibres per hectare, which is more than that of cotton production per hectare. This quantity with no doubt could generate jobs to the people not only on the production of the fibres but also on their application in different areas

Avaliação da resposta comportamental, morfofisiológica e produção de leite de cabras puras e mestiças da raça Saanen no semi-árido do Rio Grande do Norte

Goat breeding in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil has promising economic possibilities, with the proper handling of the natural resources. The introduction of specialized animals has been one of the ways used to improve herd genetics and increase productivity. However, climate has been one of the regional factors that most interferes with the adaptation of the new genetic prevalence resulting from the introduction of exotic breeds, because in their country of origin, the air temperature during most of the year is lower than the animals body temperature. With this in mind, the aim of this study was to characterize behavioral, physiological and morphological profiles and milk production of female Saanen goats belonging to different genetic groups raised in the semi-arid region of Rio Grande do Norte in Northeast Brazil. The study was conducted in the city of Lages (5° 42 00 S and 36° 14 41 W). We used 25 lactating female Saanen goats, distributed into 3 genetic groups: 5 purebred animals, 11 three-quarter bred and 9 half-bred. Behavioral observations were made over three consecutive days in the months of August and September, between 09:00 and 11:30h, when the animals were grazing. Physiological and meteorological data were recorded in the last three days of June, July, August and September at 05:00h and at 16:00h. In the semi-intensive breeding system, the animals from different genetic groups were similar in both field behavior and physiological response patterns. Although the purebred goats had longer hair, they did not show symptoms of thermal discomfort. Their white hair helped to reflect the short wavelength rays and thus eliminate those at the longer wave lengths. We concluded that the animals raised in the semi-intensive milk production system in this study seem to have adapted to the climatic conditions of the semi-arid region of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Identificando interesses transversais em modelos de requisitos PL-AOVgraph

The occurrence of problems related to the scattering and tangling phenomenon, such as the difficulty to do system maintenance, increasingly frequent. One way to solve this problem is related to the crosscutting concerns identification. To maximize its benefits, the identification must be performed from early stages of development process, but some works have reported that this has not been done in most of cases, making the system development susceptible to the errors incidence and prone to the refactoring later. This situation affects directly to the quality and cost of the system. PL-AOVgraph is a goal-oriented requirements modeling language which offers support to the relationships representation among requirements and provides separation of crosscutting concerns by crosscutting relationships representation. Therefore, this work presents a semi-automatic method to crosscutting concern identification in requirements specifications written in PL-AOVgraph. An adjacency matrix is used to identify the contributions relationships among the elements. The crosscutting concern identification is based in fan-out analysis of contribution relationships from the informations of adjacency matrix. When identified, the crosscutting relationships are created. And also, this method is implemented as a new module of ReqSys-MDD tool

Eficiência, gestão e meio ambiente na carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte

SILVA, J. L. M. da; SAMPAIO, L. M. . Eficiência, Gestão e Meio Ambiente na Carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte. In: Congresso da Sociendade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural - SOBER, 40., 2007, Londrina. Conhecimentos para a Agricultura do Futuro, 2007.

Análise da estrutura e transporte do zooplâncton no estuário do Rio Caravelas (Bahia-Brasil) através do uso do zooscan

Spatial-temporal dynamics of zooplankton in the Caravelas river estuary (Bahia, Brazil). The survey was conducted in order to describe the zooplankton community of the estuary Caravelas (Bahia, Brazil), to quantify and relate the patterns of horizontal and vertical transport with the type of tide (neap and spring) and tidal phase (flood and ebb). Zooplankton samples were collected with the aid of a suction pump (300L), filtered in plankton nets (300μm) and fixed in saline formalin 4%. Samples were collected at a fixed point (A1), near the mouth of the estuary, with samples taken at neap tides and spring tides during the dry and rainy seasons. Samples were collected for 13 hours, at intervals of 1 hour in 3 depths: surface, middle and bottom. Simultaneous collection of biological, we measured the current velocity, temperature and salinity of the water through CTD. In the laboratory, samples were selected for analysis in estereomicroscope, with 25 groups identified, with Copepoda getting the highest number of species. The 168 samples obtained from temporal samples were subsampled and processed on equipment ZooScan, with the aid of software ZooProcess at the end were generated 458.997 vingnettes. 8 taxa were identified automatically, with 16 classified as a semi-automatic. The group Copepoda, despite the limited taxonomic refinement ZooScan, obtained 2 genera and 1 species identified automatically. Among the seasons dry and wet groups Brachyura (zoea), Chaetognatha, and the Calanoid copepods (others), Temora spp., Oithona spp. and Euterpina acutifrons were those who had higher frequency of occurrence, appearing in more than 70% of the samples. Copepoda group showed the largest percentage of relative abundance in both seasons. There was no seasonal variation of total zooplankton, with an average density of 7826±4219 org.m-3 in the dry season, and 7959±3675 org.m-3 in the rainy season, neither between the types and phases of the tides, but seasonal differences were significant recorded for the main zooplankton groups. Vertical stratification was seen for the major zooplankton groups (Brachyura, Chaetognatha, Calanoida (other), Oithona spp, Temora spp. e Euterpina acutifrons). The scale of this stratification varied with the type (square or tide) and tidal phase (flood or ebb). The instantaneous transport was more influenced by current velocity, with higher values observed in spring tides to the total zooplankton, however, there was a variation of this pattern depending on the zooplankton group. According to the data import and export of total zooplankton, the outflow of organisms of the estuary was higher than the input. The results suggest that the estuary of Caravelas may influence the dynamics of organic matter to the adjacent coast, with possible consequences in National Marine Park of Abrolhos

Caracterização comportamental e avaliação da qualidade de leite em caprinos da raça saanen no semiárido nordestino

Goats are social animals which groups are organized from dominance hierarchies, established by agonistic behaviors. The quality and productivity of the goat s milk can be influenced by the dominance hierarchy. In this context, the objectives of our work were describe the social and food behavior of Saanen goats in a semi-extensive production system; characterize the social organization from the assessment of dominance hierarchies in two seasonal periods and correlate the physicochemical quality of the goats milk according hierarchical position. The experiment was conducted in the EMPARN s experimental station, located in the district of Cruzeta/RN. We utilized 17 multiparous goats of the Saanen race, with different age and weight. The observations were performed in precipitation and drought phases. The scan method recorded the trough permanence and agonistic interactions by method "all occurrences" in the pasture the alimentary behaviors of eat, ruminate on foot, ruminate lying, leisure on foot, leisure lying and walk, by the focal animal sampling method. The goats milk was submitted to analyzes of: density, protein, fat, lactose, CSS and total solids. The animals spend most of the time feeding themselves, and the activities that demand greater energy expenditure are done in the morning. The animals changed the hierarchical structure during the seasonal periods because of the withdrawal of some individuals of the group, having more aggressive behavior in the rainy season. The dominant animal the lowet production, the more CSS and the lesser fat, the goat in the middle of the hierarchy was the one that obtained the best production and quality. We conclude that the Saanen goats adapt to the environment and the conditions of the group to ensure better survival and its production is influenced by the internal dynamics of the group

POPT: uma abordagem de ensino de programação orientada a problema e testes

There is a growing interest of the Computer Science education community for including testing concepts on introductory programming courses. Aiming at contributing to this issue, we introduce POPT, a Problem-Oriented Programming and Testing approach for Introductory Programming Courses. POPT main goal is to improve the traditional method of teaching introductory programming that concentrates mainly on implementation and neglects testing. POPT extends POP (Problem Oriented Programing) methodology proposed on the PhD Thesis of Andrea Mendonça (UFCG). In both methodologies POPT and POP, students skills in dealing with ill-defined problems must be developed since the first programming courses. In POPT however, students are stimulated to clarify ill-defined problem specifications, guided by de definition of test cases (in a table-like manner). This paper presents POPT, and TestBoot a tool developed to support the methodology. In order to evaluate the approach a case study and a controlled experiment (which adopted the Latin Square design) were performed. In an Introductory Programming course of Computer Science and Software Engineering Graduation Programs at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The study results have shown that, when compared to a Blind Testing approach, POPT stimulates the implementation of programs of better external quality the first program version submitted by POPT students passed in twice the number of test cases (professor-defined ones) when compared to non-POPT students. Moreover, POPT students submitted fewer program versions and spent more time to submit the first version to the automatic evaluation system, which lead us to think that POPT students are stimulated to think better about the solution they are implementing. The controlled experiment confirmed the influence of the proposed methodology on the quality of the code developed by POPT students

Eficiência, gestão e meio ambiente na carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte

SILVA, J. L. M. da; SAMPAIO, L. M. . Eficiência, Gestão e Meio Ambiente na Carcinicultura do Rio Grande do Norte. In: Congresso da Sociendade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural - SOBER, 40., 2007, Londrina. Conhecimentos para a Agricultura do Futuro, 2007.

Análise da estrutura e transporte do zooplâncton no estuário do Rio Caravelas (Bahia-Brasil) através do uso do zooscan

Spatial-temporal dynamics of zooplankton in the Caravelas river estuary (Bahia, Brazil). The survey was conducted in order to describe the zooplankton community of the estuary Caravelas (Bahia, Brazil), to quantify and relate the patterns of horizontal and vertical transport with the type of tide (neap and spring) and tidal phase (flood and ebb). Zooplankton samples were collected with the aid of a suction pump (300L), filtered in plankton nets (300μm) and fixed in saline formalin 4%. Samples were collected at a fixed point (A1), near the mouth of the estuary, with samples taken at neap tides and spring tides during the dry and rainy seasons. Samples were collected for 13 hours, at intervals of 1 hour in 3 depths: surface, middle and bottom. Simultaneous collection of biological, we measured the current velocity, temperature and salinity of the water through CTD. In the laboratory, samples were selected for analysis in estereomicroscope, with 25 groups identified, with Copepoda getting the highest number of species. The 168 samples obtained from temporal samples were subsampled and processed on equipment ZooScan, with the aid of software ZooProcess at the end were generated 458.997 vingnettes. 8 taxa were identified automatically, with 16 classified as a semi-automatic. The group Copepoda, despite the limited taxonomic refinement ZooScan, obtained 2 genera and 1 species identified automatically. Among the seasons dry and wet groups Brachyura (zoea), Chaetognatha, and the Calanoid copepods (others), Temora spp., Oithona spp. and Euterpina acutifrons were those who had higher frequency of occurrence, appearing in more than 70% of the samples. Copepoda group showed the largest percentage of relative abundance in both seasons. There was no seasonal variation of total zooplankton, with an average density of 7826±4219 org.m-3 in the dry season, and 7959±3675 org.m-3 in the rainy season, neither between the types and phases of the tides, but seasonal differences were significant recorded for the main zooplankton groups. Vertical stratification was seen for the major zooplankton groups (Brachyura, Chaetognatha, Calanoida (other), Oithona spp, Temora spp. e Euterpina acutifrons). The scale of this stratification varied with the type (square or tide) and tidal phase (flood or ebb). The instantaneous transport was more influenced by current velocity, with higher values observed in spring tides to the total zooplankton, however, there was a variation of this pattern depending on the zooplankton group. According to the data import and export of total zooplankton, the outflow of organisms of the estuary was higher than the input. The results suggest that the estuary of Caravelas may influence the dynamics of organic matter to the adjacent coast, with possible consequences in National Marine Park of Abrolhos

Efeitos do enriquecimento com nutrientes (N e P) em diferentes condições de luz sobre o crescimento do fitoplâncton em um reservatório eutrófico no semi-árido brasileiro

The increasing of pollution in aquatic ecosystems in the last decades has caused an expansion of eutrophication and loss of water quality for human consumption. The increase of frequency and intensity of cyanobacteria blooms have been recognized as a major problem connected to water quality and eutrophication. The knowledge of environmental factors controlling these blooms is a key step towards the management for recovering aquatic ecosystems from eutrophic conditions. Primary productivity in aquatic ecosystems is dependent on light and nutrients availability. In the present work we evaluated the relative importance of the concentration of major nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, and light for phytoplankton growth in the main water reservoir of Rio Grande do Norte State, named Engenheiro Armando Ribeiro Gonçalves (EARG), which is an eutrophic system, dominated by potentially toxic cyanobacteria populations. Limitation of phytoplankton growth was evaluated through bioassays using differential enrichment of nutrients (N and/or P) under two light conditions (low light and high light) and monthly monitoring of chlorophyll-a and nutrients (total nitrogen and phosphorus) concentrations, and water transparency (Secchi depth) at the pelagic region. Our results confirm that EARG reservoir is an eutrophic system with a low water quality. Results of bioassays on the growth of phytoplankton limitation (N or P) were conflicting with the results predicted by the TN:TP ratios, which indicates that these ratios were not a good indicator of algal growth limitation. Nitrogen was the limiting nutrient, considering both frequency and magnitude. Light and hidrology affected phytoplankton response to nutrient enrichment. The extreme eutrophic conditions of this reservoir, dominated by cyanobacteria blooms, demand urgent managing strategies in order to guarantee the multiple uses for this system, including water supply for human population. Although nitrogen is the limiting nutrient, an effective management program must focus on the reduction of both phosphorus and nitrogen input

Um sistema de visão para navegação robusta de uma plataforma robótica semi-autônoma

Large efforts have been maden by the scientific community on tasks involving locomotion of mobile robots. To execute this kind of task, we must develop to the robot the ability of navigation through the environment in a safe way, that is, without collisions with the objects. In order to perform this, it is necessary to implement strategies that makes possible to detect obstacles. In this work, we deal with this problem by proposing a system that is able to collect sensory information and to estimate the possibility for obstacles to occur in the mobile robot path. Stereo cameras positioned in parallel to each other in a structure coupled to the robot are employed as the main sensory device, making possible the generation of a disparity map. Code optimizations and a strategy for data reduction and abstraction are applied to the images, resulting in a substantial gain in the execution time. This makes possible to the high level decision processes to execute obstacle deviation in real time. This system can be employed in situations where the robot is remotely operated, as well as in situations where it depends only on itself to generate trajectories (the autonomous case)

Análise da precipitação no semi-árido potiguar

The semiarid rainfall regime is northeastern Brazil is highly variable. Climate processes associated with rainfall are complex and their effects may represent extreme situations of drought or floods, which can have adverse effects on society and the environment. The regional economy has a significant agricultural component, which is strongly influenced by weather conditions. Maximum precipitation analysis is traditionally performed using the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) probabilistic approach. Results from such analysis are typically used in engineering projects involving hydraulic structures such as drainage network systems and road structures. On the other hand, precipitation data analysis may require the adoption of some kind of event identification criteria. The minimum inter-event duration (IMEE) is one of the most used criteria. This study aims to analyze the effect of the IMEE on the obtained rain event properties. For this purpose, a nine-year precipitation time series (2002- 2011) was used. This data was obtained from an automatic raingauge station, installed in an environmentally protected area, Ecological Seridó Station. The results showed that adopted IMEE values has an important effect on the number of events, duration, event height, mean rainfall rate and mean inter-event duration. Furthermore, a higher occurrence of extreme events was observed for small IMEE values. Most events showed average rainfall intensity higher than 2 mm.h-1 regardless of IMEE. The storm coefficient of advance was, in most cases, within the first quartile of the event, regardless of the IMEE value. Time series analysis using partial time series made it possible to adjust the IDF equations to local characteristics

Caracterização do ritmo de atividade motora durante a puberdade em sagüis (Callithrix jacchus) sob condições semi-naturais

Most of ontogenetic studies on circadian timing system have been developed on infants, adults and elderly. The puberty has not been a stage of life few studied, except for researches in human adolescents, that presents phase delay in sleep-wake cycle. However, few studies have focused on the basis of this circadian change due to methodological difficulties. Thus, an animal model to study the sleep-wake cycle at puberty is essential. In the common marmoset, a social primate, the circadian activity periodicity stabilizes around 4 months (juvenile stage) and the 8h period component has a seasonal variation. Puberty stage of this species begins near the 8th month of age in males and near the 7th month in females with 7 months of duration. With the aim to characterize the circadian motor activity rhythm during puberty in marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) the motor activity was continuous registered by actiwatches in 6 animals between 5-12 months. Since the social factor influence the behavior of this specie, behavioral observations were realized in 30 minutes windows twice/week to a general evaluation of the influence social interactions dynamic across experiment. Determination of puberty onset was done by fecal progesterone and estrogens in females, and androgens in males. From the analysis of the multiple regression test was selected a model that evaluate age and seasonal variables effect on the activity rhythm according to the higher explanation coefficient. The total activity was the only parameter influenced by age. Moreover, the activity onset was the parameter more explained by the model, and the sunrise was the factor that most influenced it. After the puberty onset, 2 dyads advanced the activity onset. The activity total decreased in 1 dyad and increased in 2 dyads. This increase may be related to the birth of infants in these families. The motor activity circadian component stabilized later in 1 dyad, coinciding with the puberty onset of these animals, while bimodality, caused by the 8 h component, was modulated by seasonality. The agonistic behavior was not evaluated due to reduced number of events. There were changes across ages in affiliative behavior of contact in 1 dyad, grooming done in 1 animal and grooming received in 2 animals. Although there is evidence of puberty effect on the activity motor rhythm, the photoperiodic fluctuations influenced the rhythm. Therefore is not possible to affirm if the puberty modulate the activity rhythm in marmosets

Sustentabilidade ambiental do cultivo intensivo de Tilápias (Oreochromis niloticus) em tanques-rede e a capacidade de suporte de quatro reservatórios em uma região semi-árida tropical

Intensive production of tilápias, in cages or net tanks, has been proposed as an alternative to increase fish production, that would generate income and offer animal protein in different tropical and subtropical countries. However, this system of production enriches the aquatic environment with nutrients, principally nitrogen and phosphor derived from the dejections of the metabolism of food and eventual food surpluses consumed by the fishes; the alimentation of the fishes in this production modality is dependent on fish food. The emission of these nutritions in levels above the limit that the system is capable metabolize can provoke a phenomenon called eutrofization, putting in risk the quality of water for public and for fish production activities. In this context the work had as a goal to evaluate the trófico state of the four reservoirs for intensive production of tilapias in net-tanks, in other words, he maximum fish production that the reservoirs are able to hold, keeping the desired quantity of nutrient concentrations in water for public use. The results of the four ecosystems in the Boqueirão de Parelhas reservoir showed that it s possible to have an intensive production of tilapias in net tanks, in this environment the annual average concentration of phosphor, was below the considered critical limits to deflagrate the process of eutrofization in semi-arid regions. The carrying capacity of the Boqueirão de Parelhas reservoir depends on the conversion of the feeding facts and phosphor content in the food but it should vary between 100 and 300 tons per year over a variation in the conversion feeding factor of 1,7 to 2,0:1 and a variation in the P in the food of 0,7 to 0,9%