Alteração da qualidade do solo em zona ripária sob diferentes usos: potencial de poluição para um manancial tropical

The demographic growth press environments that are more susceptible to perturbations, like riparian areas, without knowing about the effects of replacing these natural environments by different land uses on soil quality and, consequently, on watershed. The study of soil quality has evolved as an important tool for soil sustainable management of this component of the biosphere that affects aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems functions. Thus, physical and chemical soil proprieties were measured to assess soil quality under different land uses (agricultural, pasture, urban, industrial and natural vegetation,) in the riparian zone of Extremoz Lake, an important human water source, evaluating whether the soil offers potential risk to water pollution. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results showed negative changes in soil quality such as alkalinization and increase in P, Pb, Mn and Zn contents in most anthropized areas. The sandy texture and low organic matter content in all soils showed the fragility of the soil to erosion and leaching of elements in excess to water bodies, evidencing that this soils has potential to diffuse contaminants. Conservative management of soil is necessary to provide an adequate ecological state in riparian zones of the Extremoz Lake, thus allowing controlling and buffering diffuse sources of pollution to this important water supply source

Qualidade da água de um reservatório e do solo da zona ripária sob diferentes usos na região semiárida do Rio Grande do Norte

Reservoirs are artificial ecosystems intermediate between rivers and lakes widely used in the Brazilian semiarid region as a way to provide water supply due to the said region’s water scarcity. The use of water from these supply sources for multiple uses, along with occupation and utilization of its riparian zone without proper management, directly influences the increased nutrient flow into aquatic environments, there with contributing to the acceleration of eutrophication. The semi-arid region is characterized by peculiar weather conditions, such as severe evaporation, high temperatures with little variation throughout the year and long water residence time, making it susceptible to prolonged drought occurrence, which tends to concentrate the nutrients in reservoirs, which favors the development of eutrophic conditions. Moreover, it is common soil use and occupation by carrying out activities with potential environmental impact on natural resources such as agriculture, livestock farming and lack of sanitation. The aim of this study is both to evaluate the water quality of the Cruzeta Reservoir, located in the semiarid region of Rio Grande do Norte, during a prolonged drought period, and assess the quality of its riparian zone soil under different uses, by monitoring physical-chemical variables. Along the prolonged drought, high levels of turbidity, suspended solids, nutrients and chlorophyll a were verified as present, therefore featuring low water quality. In the riparian zone of Cruzeta Reservoir, the areas under use of agriculture and livestock farming appeared as one of the main diffuse sources of nutrients to the said reservoir, featuring the highest levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in the soil, originated from decomposition of animal excreta and from the use of fertilizers, creating a tendency to increased eutrophication of such water supply source. The indicators of water and soil quality are useful for monitoring and evaluating the conservation status of natural resources, allowing the control and mitigation of the reservoir eutrophication process. This study confirmed the hypothesis that the reduction of water level, resulting from prolonged drought event, aggravates the symptoms of eutrophication; and also that using the soil under severalways modifies the physic chemical properties of the soil, having livestock farming and agriculture as the usages with greatest potential towards yielding P and N to the aquatic environment.

JCML: A specification language for the runtime verification of Java Card programs

COSTA, Umberto Souza; MOREIRA, Anamaria Martins; MUSICANTE, Matin A.; SOUZA NETO, Plácido A. JCML: A specification language for the runtime verification of Java Card programs. Science of Computer Programming. [S.l]: [s.n], 2010.

Specification and Runtime Verification of Java Card Programs

COSTA, Umberto Souza da; MOREIRA, Anamaria Martins; MUSICANTE, Martin A. Specification and Runtime Verification of Java Card Programs. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. [S.l:s.n], 2009.

Análise de qualidade da atenção à criança na estratégia saúde da família: o óbito infantil evitável como referência

Alma-Ata declaration bring the Primary Attention to the Health (PAH) as first level of health attention for individuals, family and community, which considers infant group as priority. Several initiatives that gave bases to integral attention to the children health formalized in the principles of Unique Health System. Family Health Strategy (FHS) comes to strengthen this attention, instituting new ways of work organization and professional practices that gave impact in their quality indicators. One of them is children mortality, showing decline in their values. Though, studies indicates persistence of avoidable infant deaths. In Natal RN, this reality is also perceptible leading to inquietudes, mainly at the space of services production, it means, which motivated the accomplishment of the present study intending to analyse the way that the organizational and structural processes as long as the professional practices in FHS interfered in the quality of children s health attention who died by avoidable death in the year of 2007 in municipal district of Natal-RN. It treats, therefore, to an exploratory and descriptive survey of cases study type, thar had as primary sources the oficial documents of MH, the family prontuary, pregnant card, child card and testimony obt ined from instrument of research elaborated based in investigation form of infant death by MH, applied to 10 mothers of children who had avoidable death. In analysis it was appealed silmultaneous triangulation of methods and sources, allowing a bigger aproximation from obtained informations. To elucidate the cases, the aspects studied were analyzed to the light of explicative model of Social Determinants of Health. Among individual and family aspects were highlighted the related to age, schooling, family habits and customs and mother s economic condition, besides of pregnancy age, newborn weight and associated diseases, which don t differ from literature about the theme. Reffering to the factors organizational and structural processes and professionals practice, highlihgted, the treatment given by the professionals, the territorialization and adscription of areas, the difficulty of having access to the services or sleepers and the reference and counterreference. But also, the ausence or few greet, the lack of communication, few assiduity and ponctuality by professionals in service, among others. In a general way mothers considers the attendance received in the hospital good and very good , opnions that in the Basic Attention weren t so favorable, in spite of many of predictible actions in this level have been performed in the studied cases. It is observed, therefore, that the social determinants of health has a strong influence in ocurrence of infant deaths, what implicates in a large actuation by Infant Mortality Committee from municipal district. This way, it becomes fundamental the reflection and evaluation about the effectiveness and execution by the processes of vigilance to health in FHUs; the rethink about the social determinants of health in a wide and articulate way to the services quality, to permanent education, to management in service, to the given attention and to the way how it is installed the popular participation and social control. To the professionals it is presented the great challenge to review their daily practice, their values, behaviors and commitment, which ones must be guided by logical of sharing, work in team, humanescence and alterity, not only by the accomplishment of a professional duty

Avaliação do impacto do plano de expansão da rede federal na qualidade dos institutos federais de educação segundo indicadores de desempenho

The Expansion Plan of the Federal Network of Vocational Education foresees the construction of 860 new units of instruction until 2020, representing a strong growth against the 140 existing units prior to its disclosure by Federal Government of Brazil, in 2005. The Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology have been performing the expansion while experiencing the shortcomings and challenges of units still in development, created in previous phases of the Plan. The quality of the services of these institutions has been evaluated by the control bodies, which require the submission of performance indicators in annual management reports of institutions under their jurisdiction. In this context of expansion process, particularly, is desirable to identify possible changes in quality standards. Thus, this research was motivated by the following problem: there was difference in the performance of the Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology after the inauguration of the first units of phase II of the Expansion Plan of the Federal Network of Vocational Education? This is an exploratory-descriptive, ex-post-facto, quantitative approach research, which aims to contribute to the knowledge of the impact of the expansion of the Federal Network. The data were collected from 12 indicators presented in management reports of 38 Federal Institutes through years 2007 to 2011 to evaluate the performances using descriptive statistical techniques. The indicators were analyzed in both consolidated and open manners by the following perspectives: country region, growth of instruction units and institutions origin. Was also performed a multivariate analysis of clusters in order to identify excellence groups of Institutes. The results showed differences in the expansion plan s development among Brazilian regions, both in terms of infrastructure and academic indicators, with better results in the Midwest and South, and that there are differentiated profiles of institutes as its origin, where the best quality indicators occur in those originated by integration of different educational institutions. Still, were identified two excellence groups, with emphasis on academic management, human resources and expansion

O problema biobjetivo da árvore geradora quadrática em adjacência de arestas

The Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree Problem (QMST) is a version of the Minimum Spanning Tree Problem in which, besides the traditional linear costs, there is a quadratic structure of costs. This quadratic structure models interaction effects between pairs of edges. Linear and quadratic costs are added up to constitute the total cost of the spanning tree, which must be minimized. When these interactions are restricted to adjacent edges, the problem is named Adjacent Only Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree (AQMST). AQMST and QMST are NP-hard problems that model several problems of transport and distribution networks design. In general, AQMST arises as a more suitable model for real problems. Although, in literature, linear and quadratic costs are added, in real applications, they may be conflicting. In this case, it may be interesting to consider these costs separately. In this sense, Multiobjective Optimization provides a more realistic model for QMST and AQMST. A review of the state-of-the-art, so far, was not able to find papers regarding these problems under a biobjective point of view. Thus, the objective of this Thesis is the development of exact and heuristic algorithms for the Biobjective Adjacent Only Quadratic Spanning Tree Problem (bi-AQST). In order to do so, as theoretical foundation, other NP-hard problems directly related to bi-AQST are discussed: the QMST and AQMST problems. Bracktracking and branch-and-bound exact algorithms are proposed to the target problem of this investigation. The heuristic algorithms developed are: Pareto Local Search, Tabu Search with ejection chain, Transgenetic Algorithm, NSGA-II and a hybridization of the two last-mentioned proposals called NSTA. The proposed algorithms are compared to each other through performance analysis regarding computational experiments with instances adapted from the QMST literature. With regard to exact algorithms, the analysis considers, in particular, the execution time. In case of the heuristic algorithms, besides execution time, the quality of the generated approximation sets is evaluated. Quality indicators are used to assess such information. Appropriate statistical tools are used to measure the performance of exact and heuristic algorithms. Considering the set of instances adopted as well as the criteria of execution time and quality of the generated approximation set, the experiments showed that the Tabu Search with ejection chain approach obtained the best results and the transgenetic algorithm ranked second. The PLS algorithm obtained good quality solutions, but at a very high computational time compared to the other (meta)heuristics, getting the third place. NSTA and NSGA-II algorithms got the last positions

Algoritomos transgenéticos aplicados ao problema da árvore geradora biobjetivo

The Multiobjective Spanning Tree is a NP-hard Combinatorial Optimization problem whose application arises in several areas, especially networks design. In this work, we propose a solution to the biobjective version of the problem through a Transgenetic Algorithm named ATIS-NP. The Computational Transgenetic is a metaheuristic technique from Evolutionary Computation whose inspiration relies in the conception of cooperation (and not competition) as the factor of main influence to evolution. The algorithm outlined is the evolution of a work that has already yielded two other transgenetic algorithms. In this sense, the algorithms previously developed are also presented. This research also comprises an experimental analysis with the aim of obtaining information related to the performance of ATIS-NP when compared to other approaches. Thus, ATIS-NP is compared to the algorithms previously implemented and to other transgenetic already presented for the problem under consideration. The computational experiments also address the comparison to two recent approaches from literature that present good results, a GRASP and a genetic algorithms. The efficiency of the method described is evaluated with basis in metrics of solution quality and computational time spent. Considering the problem is within the context of Multiobjective Optimization, quality indicators are adopted to infer the criteria of solution quality. Statistical tests evaluate the significance of results obtained from computational experiments

Multicast packing problem: abordagem multiobjetivo

This work presents a algorithmic study of Multicast Packing Problem considering a multiobjective approach. The first step realized was an extensive review about the problem. This review serverd as a reference point for the definition of the multiobjective mathematical model. Then, the instances used in the experimentation process were defined, this instances were created based on the main caracteristics from literature. Since both mathematical model and the instances were definined, then several algoritms were created. The algorithms were based on the classical approaches to multiobjective optimization: NSGA2 (3 versions), SPEA2 (3 versions). In addition, the GRASP procedures were adapted to work with multiples objectives, two vesions were created. These algorithms were composed by three recombination operators(C1, C2 e C3), two operator for build solution, a mutation operator and a local search procedure. Finally, a long experimentation process was performed. This process has three stages: the first consisted of adjusting the parameters; the second was perfomed to indentify the best version for each algorithm. After, the best versions for each algorithm were compared in order to identify the best algorithm among all. The algorithms were evaluated based on quality indicators and Hypervolume Multiplicative Epsilon

Colêmbolos (arthropoda: hexapoda: collembola) numa área de caatinga do nordeste brasileiro

Edaphic ecosystems are the basis for the production of terrestrial biological resources and their dynamics affect not only the natural environment but also society and their economic activities. In Caatinga biome, the semi-arid climate associated with an inadequate soil management has increased the degradation and loss of productive potential of the soil. In this context, the study of soil fauna, including springtails, becomes an important indicator of soil quality. This study aimed to evaluate the fauna of Collembola in an area of Caatinga of Rio Grande do Norte State and the influence of biotic and abiotic factors, such as soil, vegetation and climate characteristics, on the structure of the taxocenosis. The environmental variables which were used were the following ones: granulometry (represented by the proportion of sand), quantity of organic matter and soil pH, richness, density and aerial biomass of the vegetal structure, and necromass. We used pitfall traps intending to collect specimens of the epiedaphic fauna of Collembola in 30 points located on Cauaçu Farm, João Câmara, RN, in July (rainy season) and November (dry season) 2011. We collected 5513 individuals of 15 species distributed in 13 genera and 9 families of Collembola. Five of the recorded species are new to science, confirming the expected high degree of endemism for Caatinga biome, and the highest abundance was recorded in the rainy season, which suggests Collembola sensitivity to low humidity. Four species were more abundant in the dry season, all of them belonged to the Order Entomobryomorpha. Results of statistical analyzes suggest that plant species richness, aerial biomass of vegetal structure, proportion of sand in the soil, pH and humidity are the main influences to the abundance of Collembola in the region studied

Qualidade do solo da camada de cobertura final em área de disposição de resíduos no semiárido tropical

The final disposal of municipal solid waste in unsuitable areas without an infrastructure that meets the health measures and environmental protection, coupled with the lack of technical criteria in phase and decommissioning of the dump can promote environmental degradation. Alternatively to minimize the impacts of this activity for the stabilization of the area by isolating the massive waste with implementation of an adequate and finished by a layer of soil for plant growth final cover system. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the quality of the final cover in the area of a disabled dump the tropical semi-arid region in order to assist the process of recovery of these areas. The study area is located in the tropical semi-arid region in São João do Sabugi /RN. Soil samples were collected in the dump area and bushland as a benchmark of quality. To which they were subjected to analysis of physical attributes (particle density, bulk density, grain size and porosity), chemical properties (pH, K + , Na+ , Ca2 + , Mg2 + and Al3 + exchangeable, potential acidity, available phosphorus, sum of bases, CEC, base saturation, aluminum saturation, saturation Na + and adsorption ratio sodium, total organic carbon and total nitrogen) and total and soluble concentrations of heavy metals (Mn, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cu, Mo, Co, Cr, Ba and Ni). The differences between physical and chemical soil under native forest and final cover showing reduction of soil quality in the area off to the dump, which hinders the development of native vegetation and the recovery of the area. The absence of superior waterproofing to allow vertical transfer between the solid waste and the final cover promoted enrichment by chemical elements and heavy metals in excess can impair revegetation. Deficiencies found in the construction process of the final cover point to the need for intervention to accelerate the process of stabilization and recovery of the area of the local ecosystem

Mortalidade em idosos longevos e "mais jovens" no Brasil

The aim of the present study was to trace the mortality profile of the elderly in Brazil using two neighboring age groups: 60 to 69 years (young-old) and 80 years or more (oldest-old). To do this, we sought to characterize the trend and distinctions of different mortality profiles, as well as the quality of the data and associations with socioeconomic and sanitary conditions in the micro-regions of Brazil. Data was collected from the Mortality Information System (SIM) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Based on these data, the coefficients of mortality were calculated for the chapters of the International Disease Classification (ICD-10). A polynomial regression model was used to ascertain the trend of the main chapters. Non-hierarchical cluster analysis (K-Means) was used to obtain the profiles for different Brazilian micro-regions. Factorial analysis of the contextual variables was used to obtain the socio-economic and sanitary deprivation indices (IPSS). The trend of the CMId and of the ratio of its values in the two age groups confirmed a decrease in most of the indicators, particularly for badly-defined causes among the oldest-old. Among the young-old, the following profiles emerged: the Development Profile; the Modernity Profile; the Epidemiological Paradox Profile and the Ignorance Profile. Among the oldest-old, the latter three profiles were confirmed, in addition to the Low Mortality Rates Profile. When comparing the mean IPSS values in global terms, all of the groups were different in both of the age groups. The Ignorance Profile was compared with the other profiles using orthogonal contrasts. This profile differed from all of the others in isolation and in clusters. However, the mean IPSS was similar for the Low Mortality Rates Profile among the oldest-old. Furthermore, associations were found between the data quality indicators, the CMId for badly-defined causes, the general coefficient of mortality for each age group (CGMId) and the IPSS of the micro-regions. The worst rates were recorded in areas with the greatest socioeconomic and sanitary deprivation. The findings of the present study show that, despite the decrease in the mortality coefficients, there are notable differences in the profiles related to contextual conditions, including regional differences in data quality. These differences increase the vulnerability of the age groups studied and the health iniquities that are already present.

Distribuição de derivados de petróleo por redes de polidutos: uma abordagem através de algoritmos evolucionários híbridos para um problema triobjetivo

An important problem faced by the oil industry is to distribute multiple oil products through pipelines. Distribution is done in a network composed of refineries (source nodes), storage parks (intermediate nodes), and terminals (demand nodes) interconnected by a set of pipelines transporting oil and derivatives between adjacent areas. Constraints related to storage limits, delivery time, sources availability, sending and receiving limits, among others, must be satisfied. Some researchers deal with this problem under a discrete viewpoint in which the flow in the network is seen as batches sending. Usually, there is no separation device between batches of different products and the losses due to interfaces may be significant. Minimizing delivery time is a typical objective adopted by engineers when scheduling products sending in pipeline networks. However, costs incurred due to losses in interfaces cannot be disregarded. The cost also depends on pumping expenses, which are mostly due to the electricity cost. Since industrial electricity tariff varies over the day, pumping at different time periods have different cost. This work presents an experimental investigation of computational methods designed to deal with the problem of distributing oil derivatives in networks considering three minimization objectives simultaneously: delivery time, losses due to interfaces and electricity cost. The problem is NP-hard and is addressed with hybrid evolutionary algorithms. Hybridizations are mainly focused on Transgenetic Algorithms and classical multi-objective evolutionary algorithm architectures such as MOEA/D, NSGA2 and SPEA2. Three architectures named MOTA/D, NSTA and SPETA are applied to the problem. An experimental study compares the algorithms on thirty test cases. To analyse the results obtained with the algorithms Pareto-compliant quality indicators are used and the significance of the results evaluated with non-parametric statistical tests.

Os impactos na qualidade da água e do solo de um manancial tropical do semiárido devido ao uso e ocupação e evento de seca extrema

Human activities alter soil features, causing the deterioration of its quality. Land use and occupation in drainage basins of water supply reservoirs can change the environmental soil quality and, thus, lead to the expansion of the soil potential of being a diffuse pollution source. In the Brazilian semiarid region, the soils are generally shallow with high susceptibility to erosion, favoring the sediment and nutrients input into the superficial waterbodies, contributing to the eutrophication process. Moreover, this region has high temperatures and high evapotranspiration rates, that are generally higher than the precipitation rates, causing a negative hydric balance and big volume losses by evaporation. The water volume reduction increases the nutrients’ concentration and, therefore, exacerbates the eutrophication process, deteriorating the water quality. Thereby, we hypothesized that the eutrophication process of semiarid reservoirs is intensified both by the extreme climatic events of prolonged drought, and by the diffuse pollution due to the basin land use and occupation. The study aimed to test whether the land use and occupation activities of the basin and the severe drought events intensify the eutrophication process of a semiarid tropical reservoir. To verify the influence of human activities carried out in the water supply of drainage basin on the soil quality and the eutrophication process, we conducted the mapping of the kind of use and occupation, as well the calculation of erosion for each activity and the soil quality evaluation of the riparian zone and water quality of the water supply. For the water analyses, the samplings were carried out monthly in the deeper point, near dam. For the soil, deformed composite samples were taken for the physical and chemical attributes analysis, according to the identified land use and occupation classes. The results showed that extreme droughts drastically reduces the water volume and elevates the nutrients concentration, contributing, thus, to a bigger degradation of water quality. Furthermore, we verified that human activities in the drainage basin promote the diffuse pollution, by increasing the soil susceptibility to erosion and nutrients contents. Summarizing, our results support the investigated hypothesis that activities of land use and occupation and extreme drought generate a combined effect that provide the intensification of eutrophication process of semiarid reservoirs.

Influência da pressão e da vazão de concentrado sobre o desempenho de ultrafiltração no pós-tratamento de esgotos

Despite the numerous advantages resulting from the use of membrane filters technology, intrinsic limitations fouling process become relevant to its applicability. The control of operating conditions is an important tool to mitigate fouling and achieve good levels of efficiency. In this sense, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of transmembrane pressure and concentrate flow in the performance of ultrafiltration, applied to the post-treatment of domestic sewage. The process was evaluated and optimized by varying the pressure (0.5 and 1.5 bar) and the concentrate flow (300 and 600 L/h), using a 22 factorial design, in order to investigate the effects on the permeate flow and quality of effluents generated at each operating condition. We evaluated the following quality indicators for permeate: pH, electrical conductivity, total suspended solids, turbidity, calcium and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). In all tests, we observed marked reduction in the permeate flux at the early stages, followed by a slow decline that lasted until it reaches a relatively constant level, around 120 minutes of filtration. The increased pressure resulted in a higher initial permeate flux, but the decrease of the flow with time is greater for tests at higher pressure, indicating a more pronounced fouling process. On the other hand, increasing the concentrate flow resulted in a slower decline in permeate flux with the filtration time. Regarding the quality of permeate, the transmembrane pressure of 0,5 bar was the one that allowed better results, and was statistically confirmed through the two-way ANOVA test with repeated measures, significant effect of pressure on the turbidity of the permeate. The concentrate flow, in turn, showed no significant influence on any of the quality parameters. Thus, we conclude that, from an economic and environmental point of view, it is more interesting to operate ultrafiltration membrane system with a lower concentrate flow associated with a low transmembrane pressure, since under these conditions will produce less waste, and the permeate will present lower concentrations of the analyzed constituent, especially lower turbidity.