Um modelo de unidade de medida inercial utilizando três acelerômetros triaxiais

No espaço tridimensional, um corpo rígido qualquer pode efetuar translações e ou rotações em relação a cada um de seus eixos. Identificar com precisão o deslocamento realizado por um corpo é fundamental para alguns tipos de sistemas em engenharia. Em sistemas de navegação inercial tradicionais, utilizam-se acelerômetros para reconhecer a aceleração linear e giroscópios para reconhecer a velocidade angular registrada durante o deslocamento. O giroscópio, entretanto, é um dispositivo de custo mais elevado e com alto consumo de energia quando comparado a um acelerômetro. Essa desvantagem deu origem a pesquisas a respeito de sistemas e unidades de medidas inerciais que não utilizam giroscópios. A ideia de utilizar apenas acelerômetros para calcular o movimento linear e angular surgiu no início da década de 60 e vem se desenvolvendo através de modelos que variam no número de sensores, na maneira como estes são organizados e no modelo matemático que é utilizado para derivar o movimento do corpo. Esse trabalho propõe um esquema de configuração para construção de uma unidade de medida inercial que utiliza três acelerômetros triaxiais. Para identificar o deslocamento de um corpo rígido a partir deste esquema, foi utilizado um modelo matemático que utiliza apenas os nove sinais de aceleração extraídos dos três sensores. A proposta sugere que os sensores sejam montados e distribuídos em formato de L . Essa disposição permite a utilização de um único plano do sistema de coordenadas, facilitando assim a instalação e configuração destes dispositivos e possibilitando a implantação dos sensores em uma única placa de circuito integrado. Os resultados encontrados a partir das simulações iniciais demonstram a viabilidade da utilização do esquema de configuração proposto

Gravitomagnetismo e o teste da sonda gravidade B

The so-called gravitomagnetic field arised as an old conjecture that currents of matter (no charges) would produce gravitational effects similar to those produced by electric currents in electromagnetism. Hans Thirring in 1918, using the weak field approximation to the Einsteins field equations, deduced that a slowly rotating massive shell drags the inertial frames in the direction of its rotation. In the same year, Joseph Lense applied to astronomy the calculations of Thirring. Later, that effect came to be known as the Lense- Thirring effect. Along with the de Sitter effect, those phenomena were recently tested by a gyroscope in orbit around the Earth, as proposed by George E. Pugh in 1959 and Leonard I. Schiff in 1960. In this dissertation, we study the gravitational effects associated with the rotation of massive bodies in the light of the Einsteins General Theory of Relativity. With that finality, we develop the weak field approximation to General Relativity and obtain the various associated gravitational effects: gravitomagnetic time-delay, de Sitter effect (geodesic precession) and the Lense-Thirring effect (drag of inertial frames). We discus the measures of the Lense-Thirring effect done by LAGEOS Satellite (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) and the Gravity Probe B - GPB - mission. The GPB satellite was launched into orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 642 km by NASA in 2004. Results presented in May 2011 clearly show the existence of the Lense-Thirring effect- a drag of inertial frames of 37:2 7:2 mas/year (mas = milliarcsec)- and de Sitter effect - a geodesic precession of 6; 601:8 18:3 mas/year- measured with an accuracy of 19 % and of 0.28 % respectively (1 mas = 4:84810��9 radian). These results are in a good agreement with the General Relativity predictions of 41 mas/year for the Lense-Thirring effect and 6,606.1 mas/year for the de Sitter effect.

A cafeína como agente modulador do ciclo atividade-repouso e memória em saguis (Callithrix jacchus)

Caffeine is the most consumed psychostimulant, with effects on attention, memory, and arousal. But when this substance is ingested near to bedtime there is a decrease on sleep, interfering on mnemonic processes. So, our ain was to investigate how the caffeine ingested near to sleep onset acts on sleep and memory in marmosets. We used 16 adult marmosets, single housed, in a 12:12h light-dark cycle. For registering locomotor activity were used two kinds of sensors. The gyroscope sensor registers activity each 30 sec and detects motion with good accuracy. Because of this we used this sensor for detecting nocturnal activity. The second sensor was based on infrared and accumulates activity each 5 min and it’s not able to detect nocturnal activity, just diurnal activity. We also used camera for registering Rest phase of one marmoset. For the cognitive task, the animals needed to learn a rewarded context (CR) when compared to a non-rewarded context CNR). This experiment comprises 5 phases: 1) Two days of habituation to apparatus; 2)Training for 8 days; 3) oral administration of caffeine (10 mg/kg) or placebo administration ±1h before sleep onset, for 8 days, with marmosets receiving placebo or caffeine; 4) retraining to apparatus and after that, placebo administration (placebo group-GP), or caffeine administration (with continuous group-GC and acute groupGA); 5) Test, for evaluating learning to CR. The sessions were filmed and each one had 8 min of duration. At 7 am started the habituation, training and test sessions, and at 3:15 pm started retraining. The results for gyroscope sensor showed that there was coincidence of 68,57% with nocturnal register of the cameras. Then, the gyroscope sensors detected nocturnal activity for all experimental groups Moreover, when compared sensor gyroscope with sensor based on infrared, was observed that both sensor presented similarity on patterns of activity curve. When we observed the effects of caffeine on Activity-Rest Cycle in GP, GA and GC, is possible to see that that gyroscope sensors and based on infrared presented only intra group differences. As behavioral results, the marmosets learned to discriminate CR when compared to CNR. Moreover, GP presented deficits on memory recall during the test, and GA increased the memory recall, when both were compared to GP. We concluded that the marmosets were able to learning the cognitive task and that the caffeine ingested near to sleep onset acts modulating memory in these animals. Moreover the gyroscope sensor can be used as alternative tool for investigating nocturnal activity. Then, the utilization of this non-invasive device allows marmosets exhibit their behavior within the laboratory conditions as natural as possible.