A new urban planning code's impact on walking: The residential environments project

Objectives. We examined whether people moving into a housing development designed according to a state government livable neighborhoods subdivision code engage in more walking than do people who move to other types of developments.

Methods. In a natural experiment of 1813 people building homes in 73 new housing developments in Perth, Western Australia, we surveyed participants before and then 12 and 36 months after moving. We measured self-reported walking using the Neighborhood Physical Activity Questionnaire and collected perceptions of the environment and self-selection factors. We calculated objective measures of the built environment using a Geographic Information System.

Results. After relocation, participants in livable versus conventional developments had greater street connectivity, residential density, land use mix, and access to destinations and more positive perceptions of their neighborhood (all P < .05). However, there were no significant differences in walking over time by type of development (P > .05).

Conclusions. Implementation of the Livable Neighborhoods Guidelines produced more supportive environments; however, the level of intervention was insufficient to encourage more walking. Evaluations of new urban planning policies need to incorporate longer term follow-up to allow time for new neighborhoods to develop.

The constructional geometry of early Javanese temples

The early development of Hindu Javanese architecture can be traced through interpretation of epigraphs, archaeological excavations, and comparison of extant temples with other traditions. However, while many scholars have speculated on connections between Javanese Hindu temples and presumed antecedents in India, these have been made on the basis of visual comparison and epigraphic interpretations. No Indian temple has been conclusively shown to be a model for the earliest Javanese temples. Archaeologist and temple historian Michael Meister has shown in his analysis of the geometric composition of early Hindu temples in South Asia how a ritual sixty-four square mandala was the geometric basis of temple construction during the formative period (fifth to eighth century) of the Indian architectural tradition. Working from an understanding of temple construction sequence as well as their ritual underpinnings, Meister found that the sixtyfour square mandala's dimensions correlate closely to the constructed dimensions at the level of the vedibandha (which corresponds with the plan level of the sanctuary threshold). Furthermore, he shows how the horizontal profile of the cella depends on the number of offsets and the proportional relationships between ech offset based on the subdivision of the sixty-four square grid. The authors have investigated whether a similar compositional basis can be found for the earliest Javanese temples on the Dieng Plateau in the highlands of central Java, despite differences in architectonic and symbolic expression. The analysis of relationships between ritual geometry and actual temple layouts for these buildings has the potential to furthering our understanding of the connections between Hindu temples in Java and those in India.

Foveal contrast processing of increment and decrement targets is equivalently reduced in glaucoma

Background: 

Numerical Simulation Of Sediment Transport And Bedmorphology Around A Hydraulic Structure On A River

Scour around hydraulic structures is a critical problem in hydraulic engineering. Under prediction of scour depth may lead to costly failures of the structure, while over prediction might result in unnecessary costs. Unfortunately, up-to-date empirical scour prediction formulas are based on laboratory experiments that are not always able to reproduce field conditions due to complicated geometry of rivers and temporal and spatial scales of a physical model. However, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools can perform using real field dimensions and operating conditions to predict sediment scour around hydraulic structures. In Korea, after completing the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, several new weirs have been built across Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan Rivers. Consequently, sediment deposition and bed erosion around such structures have became a major issue in these four rivers. In this study, an application of an open source CFD software package, the TELEMAC-MASCARET, to simulate sediment transport and bed morphology around Gangjeong weir, which is the largest multipurpose weir built on Nakdong River. A real bathymetry of the river and a geometry of the weir have been implemented into the numerical model. The numerical simulation is carried out with a real hydrograph at the upstream boundary. The bedmorphology obtained from the numerical results has been validated against field observation data, and a maximum of simulated scour depth is compared with the results obtained by empirical formulas of Hoffmans. Agreement between numerical computations, observed data and empirical formulas is judged to be satisfactory on all major comparisons. The outcome of this study does not only point out the locations where deposition and erosion might take place depending on the weir gate operation, but also analyzes the mechanism of formation and evolution of scour holes after the weir gates.

Combined Vertical And Lateral Channel Evolution Numerical Modeling

Vertical stream bed erosion has been studied routinely and its modeling is getting widespread acceptance. The same cannot be said with lateral stream bank erosion since its measurement or numerical modeling is very challenging. Bank erosion, however, can be important to channel morphology. It may contribute significantly to the overall sediment budget of a stream, is a leading cause of channel migration, and is the cause of major channel maintenance. However, combined vertical and lateral channel evolution is seldom addressed. In this study, a new geofluival numerical model is developed to simulate combined vertical and lateral channel evolution. Vertical erosion is predicted with a 2D depth-averaged model SRH-2D, while lateral erosion is simulated with a linear retreat bank erosion model developed in this study. SRH-2D and the bank erosion model are coupled together both spatially and temporally through a common mesh and the same time advancement. The new geofluvial model is first tested and verified using laboratory meander channels; good agreement are obtained between predicted bank retreat and measured data. The model is then applied to a 16-kilometer reach of Chosui River, Taiwan. Vertical and lateral channel evolution during a three-year period (2004 to 2007) is simulated and results are compared with the field data. It is shown that the geofluvial model correctly captures all major erosion and deposition patterns. The new model is shown to be useful for identifying potential erosion sites and providing information for river maintenance planning.

A autonomia do servidor público no Brasil

A autonomia pessoal do servidor público, em seu agir na Administração Pública, é um dos pressupostos para a eficaz implementação de ações de gestão do conhecimento. Ela também é um anseio do trabalhador, sempre defendido em manifestações das mais diversas associações de classe. Contudo, ela esbarra em restrições políticas, legais, administrativas e culturais. Este trabalho, debruçado sobre fontes secundárias e teóricas, identificou a natureza da autonomia pessoal, suas modalidades, suas fontes, suas restrições, bem como sua possibilidade de desenvolvimento. O trabalho, de natureza teórica, foi desenvolvido por meio de interpretação transdisciplinar das fontes, em sua maior parte oriundas da literatura sociológica, administrativa, do direito e da filosofia. O conceito de autonomia é trabalhado inicialmente, seguido por sua primeira subdivisão em duas dimensões. Em seguida, a disciplina que a doutrina de Direito Administrativo brasileiro impõe à autonomia do servidor público é explorada e problematizada. Em seguida, é abordada a questão sob a visão sociológica, a partir do modelo burocrático ideal de Max Weber e das constatações de Michel Crozier. A relação entre a autonomia e as burocracias profissionais também é passada em revista. Por fim, a personalidade humana é apresentada como a fonte da autonomia, bem como sua justificação diante de doutrinas que a negam e atacam. Foram identificadas três dimensões da autonomia: substantiva, técnica e objetiva; bem como propostos caminhos para que, nas organizações públicas, essas dimensões possam florescer, dentro dos legítimos limitantes políticos, legais e administrativos identificados.

Caracterização batimétrica e fisicooceanográfica do canal de acesso ao porto de Cabedelo/PB: uma análise ambiental ao derrame de óleo

The State of Paraíba is one of the most dynamic states of Brazil, strategically located in the northeast, is notable for the excellent potential for integration of different transportation modes forming the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Alagoas. The dynamic that occurs with port activity causes changes in the space where it is installed. And the elements of this space are always more than suffering direct or indirect influences as the flow in the port is expanded. Therefore, this region became subject to the accidental spillage of oil, because it presents a heavy traffic of ships of various sizes that can run aground or collide with oil causing accidental events. The study of geomorphological and sedimentological compositions of seafloor becomes important as more is known about the relationships between these parameters and associated fauna, and can identify their preferred habitats. The database background, acoustically collected along the proposed study area, is a wealth of information, which were duly examined, cataloged and made available. Such information can serve as an important tool, providing a geomorphological survey of the sedimentary area studied, and come to subsidize, in a flexible, future decision making. With the study area Port of Cabedelo, Paraíba - Brazil, this research aimed to evaluate the influence of the tidal surface and background in modeling the seabed, including the acquisition of information about the location of submerged rocky bodies and the depth of these bodies may turn out to be natural traps for the trapping of oil in case of leaks, and obtain the relationship between types of bed and the hydrodynamic conditions present in the region. In this context, for this study were collected bathymetric data (depth) and physical oceanographic (height of water column, water temperature, intensity and direction of currents, waves and turbidity), meteorological (rainfall, air temperature, humidity, winds and barometric pressure) of the access channel to the Port of Cabedelo / PB and its basin evolution (where the cruise ships dock), and includes tools of remote sensing (Landsat 7 ETM +, 2001), so that images and the results are integrated into Geographic Information Systems and used in the elaboration of measures aimed at environmental protection areas under the influence of this scale facilities, serving as a grant to prepare a contingency plan in case of oil spills in the region. The main findings highlight the techniques of using hydroacoustic data acquisition together bathymetric surveys of high and low frequency. From there, five were prepared in bathymetric pattern of Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation - DHN, with the depth in meters, on a scale of 1:2500 (Channel and Basin Evolution of Access to Port of Cabedelo), where there is a large extent possible beachrocks that hinder the movement of vessels in the port area, which can cause collisions, running aground and leaking oil. From the scatter diagram of the vectors of currents, it can be seen as the tidal stream and undergoes a channeling effect caused by the bidirectional effect of the tide (ebb and flood) in the basin of the Port of Cabedelo evolution in NW-direction SE and the highest speed of the currents occurs at low tide. The characterization weather for the period from 28/02 to 04/07/2010 values was within the expected average for the region of study. The multidisciplinary integration of products (digital maps and remote sensing images), proved to be efficient for the characterization of underwater geomorphological study area, reaching the aim to discriminate and enhance submerged structures, previously not visible in the images

Monitoramento da morfologia costeira em setores da bacia potiguar sob influência da indústria petrolífera utilizando geodésia de alta precisão e laser escâner terrestre

The objective of this Doctoral Thesis was monitoring, in trimestral scale, the coastal morphology of the Northeastern coast sections of Rio Grande do Norte State, in Brazil, which is an area of Potiguar Basin influenced by the oil industry activities. The studied sections compose coastal areas with intense sedimentary erosion and high environmental sensitivity to the oil spill. In order to achieve the general objective of this study, the work has been systematized in four steps. The first one refers to the evaluation of the geomorphological data acquisition methodologies used on Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of sandy beaches. The data has been obtained from Soledade beach, located on the Northeastern coast of Rio Grande Norte. The second step has been centered on the increasing of the reference geodetic infrastructure to accomplish the geodetic survey of the studied area by implanting a station in Corta Cachorro Barrier Island and by conducting monitoring geodetic surveys to understand the beach system based on the Coastline (CL) and on DEM multitemporal analysis. The third phase has been related to the usage of the methodology developed by Santos; Amaro (2011) and Santos et al. (2012) for the surveying, processing, representation, integration and analysis of Coastlines from sandy coast, which have been obtained through geodetic techniques of positioning, morphological change analysis and sediment transport. The fourth stage represents the innovation of surveys in coastal environment by using the Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), based on Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), to evaluate a highly eroded section on Soledade beach where the oil industry structures are located. The evaluation has been achieved through high-precision DEM and accuracy during the modeling of the coast morphology changes. The result analysis of the integrated study about the spatial and temporal interrelations of the intense coastal processes in areas of building cycles and destruction of beaches has allowed identifying the causes and consequences of the intense coastal erosion in exposed beach sections and in barrier islands

Integração de modelos espaciais e temporais para predições de níveis freáticos extremos

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar cenários de níveis freáticos extremos, em bacia hidrográfica, por meio de métodos de análise espacial de dados geográficos. Avaliou-se a dinâmica espaço‑temporal dos recursos hídricos subterrâneos em área de afloramento do Sistema Aquífero Guarani. As alturas do lençol freático foram estimadas por meio do monitoramento de níveis em 23 piezômetros e da modelagem das séries temporais disponíveis de abril de 2004 a abril de 2011. Para a geração de cenários espaciais, foram utilizadas técnicas geoestatísticas que incorporaram informações auxiliares relativas a padrões geomorfológicos da bacia, por meio de modelo digital de terreno. Esse procedimento melhorou as estimativas, em razão da alta correlação entre altura do lençol e elevação, e agregou sentido físico às predições. Os cenários apresentaram diferenças quanto aos níveis considerados extremos - muito profundos ou muito superficiais - e podem subsidiar o planejamento, o uso eficiente da água e a gestão sustentável dos recursos hídricos na bacia.

Estudo de polimorfismos em genes relacionados ao metabolismo do ácido fólico e sua associação com o desenvolvimento de fendas orais não-sindrômicas

The congenital facial clefts are characterized by incomplete formation of the structures that separate the oral and nasal cavity. It is known that several environmental and genetic factors are involved in its development, among these, polymorphisms associated with folic acid metabolism have been investigated. In this sense, the objective was to observe the frequency of polymorphisms C677T and A1298C methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR), methionine synthase A2756G of (MTR), A66G of methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) A80G and the reduced folate carrier (RFC1) in patients with non-syndromic oral clefts, trying to match them with their development. Methods: We studied 140 patients with non-syndromic oral clefts and their mothers and 175 control subjects with their mothers, who underwent a questionnaire to obtain family information. Were collecting blood for DNA extraction from patients and their mothers to identify the genotypes of both by PCRRFLP, in addition to carrying out the determination of glucose, AST, ALT and serum creatinine, folic acid and vitamin B12 Serum and plasma homocysteine, and the hemogram. Results: Most patients have cleft lip and palate (55.8%), followed by isolated cleft palate (24.2%) and cleft lip (20%). Regarding gender, 62% of patients were male and 48% female and, after subdivision of the type of screwdriver according to sex was found a prevalence of males in the cracks of the type lip and palate (69 %) and lip (69.2%) and in the case of cleft palate was a female predominance (59%). The average concentration of serum folate in the group of mothers of cleft patients was significantly lower (13.8 ± 2.4 ng / mL) compared with the group of mothers of control subjects (18.8 ± 3.4 ng / mL) This was also observed for the group of cleft children as compared to controls, the dosage of folic acid had a significant difference with values of 15.6 ± 0.6 (ng / mL) and 17.9 ± 0.6 (ng / mL), respectively. For the biochemical measurements of glucose, AST, ALT and creatinine were not statistically different, nor was observed for haematological parameters performed. In assessing the frequency of polymorphisms C677T and A1298C MTHFR, A2756G MTR, MTRR A66G and A80G of the RFC1 there was no statistically significant difference in genotype distribution between cases and controls both for mothers and in the cleft. Conclusion: Although not observed association of polymorphisms with the development of cracks, the decrease in serum folate in the group of cleft patients and their mothers may reflect a disturbance in the metabolism of this metabolite, necessitating further studies such as studies methylation and expression to further elucidate the involvement of folate in the development of oral clefts

Palinotaxonomia de Besleria L. e Napeanthus Gardn. (Beslerieae/Napeantheae - Gesneriaceae) com ênfase nas espécies ocorrentes no Estado de São Paulo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estrutura genética populacional de Heliconius erato e Heliconius melpomene (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) em fragmentos de Mata Atlântica do Rio Grande do Norte

Extensive studies using molecular markers on butterflies have shown how a highly fragmented landscape may result in the reduction of gene flow among patches of habitat and, consequently, increase genetic differentiation among populations. However, little is known about Heliconius geographical structure and the effects of fragmentation on the connectivity of populations. Furthermore, findings on the effects of the population structure on the dynamics of mimicry evolution in Heliconius butterflies need to be tested in H. erato and H. melpomene specimens found in other locations other than Central and northern South Americas. For the present study, we had two motivations: (1) compare the population structure of H. erato and H. melpomene given the highly fragmented Brazil s Atlantic Forest habitat; and (2) studying population structure of co-mimics could give us insights into the dynamics of mimicry evolution. For this, we analysed the spatial structure and connectivity of eight populations of Heliconius butterflies, in a total of 137 H. erato specimens and 145 H. melpomene specimens, using nine microsatellites loci, 1144 AFLPs markers and 282 mitochondrial DNA sequences. In general, both species exhibited evidence of population subdivision but no isolation by distance indicating some extent of genetic differentiation among populations. Contrary to Kronforst & Gilbert s (2008) Costa Rican Heliconius, H. melpomene exhibited more genetic differentiation than H. erato based on nuclear markers. However, for mitochondrial DNA, H. erato populations showed more genetic differentiation than H. melpomene. Our results corroborate to other studies on Heliconius butterflies concerning the pronounced population subdivision and local genetic drift found in this genus. Nevertheless, the pattern of this differentiation varies significantly from the pattern found in studies conducted in Central America, where H. erato is generally more differentiated and structured than H. melpomene, based on nuclear markers. This different pattern may reflect different evolutionary histories of Heliconius species in Northeastern Brazil s Atlantic Forest

Revisitando o problema de visibilidade para visualização tridimensional

We revisit the problem of visibility, which is to determine a set of primitives potentially visible in a set of geometry data represented by a data structure, such as a mesh of polygons or triangles, we propose a solution for speeding up the three-dimensional visualization processing in applications. We introduce a lean structure , in the sense of data abstraction and reduction, which can be used for online and interactive applications. The visibility problem is especially important in 3D visualization of scenes represented by large volumes of data, when it is not worthwhile keeping all polygons of the scene in memory. This implies a greater time spent in the rendering, or is even impossible to keep them all in huge volumes of data. In these cases, given a position and a direction of view, the main objective is to determine and load a minimum ammount of primitives (polygons) in the scene, to accelerate the rendering step. For this purpose, our algorithm performs cutting primitives (culling) using a hybrid paradigm based on three known techniques. The scene is divided into a cell grid, for each cell we associate the primitives that belong to them, and finally determined the set of primitives potentially visible. The novelty is the use of triangulation Ja 1 to create the subdivision grid. We chose this structure because of its relevant characteristics of adaptivity and algebrism (ease of calculations). The results show a substantial improvement over traditional methods when applied separately. The method introduced in this work can be used in devices with low or no dedicated processing power CPU, and also can be used to view data via the Internet, such as virtual museums applications

Produção e qualidade de sementes de berinjela em função do horário de polinização manual

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Estudo da circulação hidrodinâmica e da dispersão de óleo na zona costeira entre Macau e Galinhos RN

This paper presents a study on coastal hydrodynamics and the spread of an oil spill in waters off Macau and Galinhos, on the east coast of the state of Rio Grande do Norte in Northeast Brazil. This area has a very marked coastal dynamic owing to the complexity of its geomorphological features, developed in a regime of semidiurnal mesotides involving reefs, spits, estuaries, mangroves, lakes and dunes. The region also plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of the state, given that the production of oil, natural gas, salt and shrimp is concentrated there. The series of oil platforms is interconnected by a pipeline system that carries oil to the local terminal. This pipeline could leak at any moment, causing immense ecological damage. To gauge the risks of an oil leak and resulting contamination of the coastal region, two hydrodynamic scenarios were simulated. The results obtained were used to implement a contaminant transport model with the creation of various oil leak scenarios modeled at different volumes (from small to large) and intensities (sporadic and continuous), at points considered critical for the model (on two platforms and at two pipeline intersections), under different wind (summer and winter) and tidal (high and low at new, full and quarter moon phases) conditions. The use of hydrodynamic circulation computer models as a tool for representing a real project design has been increasingly frequent in recent years, given that they enable the realistic simulation of the hydrodynamic circulation pattern in bodies of water and an analysis of the impacts caused by contaminants released into the water. This study used the computer models contained in SisBAHIA®, in continuous development in the area of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography at COPPE/UFRJ