Pb-210-derived chronology in sediment cores evidencing the anthropogenic occupation history at Corumbata River basin, Brazil

Activity profiles of excess Pb-210 combined with chemical data determined in two sediment cores from Corumbatai River basin, São Paulo State, Brazil, provided new insights into the reconstruction of historical inputs of anthropogenic constituents, contributing to improving management strategies of the hydrological resources in the basin since most of the municipalities extensively utilize the waters of Corumbatai River and tributaries for drinking purposes, among other uses. Excellent significant relationships between loss on ignition (LOI) and organic matter were found for sediments of both analyzed profiles. Silica was found to be inversely related to organic matter at both analyzed profiles: its decrease accompanied an increase in the specific surface of the sediments. This relationship was confirmed by a great number of inverse significant correlations among silica and oxides Na2O, K2O, CaO, MgO, Al2O3, P2O5, Fe2O3, MnO, and TiO2. It was possible to identify the role of organic matter on adsorption of several oxides/elements in the core sediments profiles. Apparent sediment mass accumulation rates corresponding to 224 and 802 mg cm(-2) year(-1) were obtained, and are compatible with field evidence, indicating a higher value associated with sand mining activities interfering with the natural/normal sedimentation process, due to modifications of the channel drainage.

Barriers to environmental management in clusters of small businesses in Brazil and Japan: from a lack of knowledge to a decline in traditional knowledge

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

Using traditional heuristic algorithms on an initial genetic algorithm population applied to the transmission expansion planning problem

This paper analyses the impact of choosing good initial populations for genetic algorithms regarding convergence speed and final solution quality. Test problems were taken from complex electricity distribution network expansion planning. Constructive heuristic algorithms were used to generate good initial populations, particularly those used in resolving transmission network expansion planning. The results were compared to those found by a genetic algorithm with random initial populations. The results showed that an efficiently generated initial population led to better solutions being found in less time when applied to low complexity electricity distribution networks and better quality solutions for highly complex networks when compared to a genetic algorithm using random initial populations.

Classificação de áreas de favelas a partir de imagens IKONOS: Viabilidade de uso de uma abordagem orientada a objeto

The growth of large cities is usually accelerated and disorganized, which causes social, economical and infrastructural conflicts and frequently, occupation in illegal areas. For a better administration of these areas, the public manager needs information about their location. This information can be obtained through land utilization and land cover maps, where orbital images of remote sensing are used as one of the most traditional sources of data. In this context, the present work tested the applicability of the object-based classification to categorize two slum areas, taking into account the structure of the streets, size of the huts, distance between the houses, among other parameters. These area combinations of physical aspects were analyzed using the image IKONOS II and the software eCognition. Slum areas tend to be, to the contrary of the planned areas, disarranged, with narrow streets, small houses built with a variety of materials and without definition of blocks. The results of land cover classification for slum areas are encouraging because they are accurate and little ambiguous in the classification process. Thus, it would allow its utilization by urban managers.

Comparative study of algorithms for mining association rules: Traditional approach versus multi-relational approach

The multi-relational Data Mining approach has emerged as alternative to the analysis of structured data, such as relational databases. Unlike traditional algorithms, the multi-relational proposals allow mining directly multiple tables, avoiding the costly join operations. In this paper, is presented a comparative study involving the traditional Patricia Mine algorithm and its corresponding multi-relational proposed, MR-Radix in order to evaluate the performance of two approaches for mining association rules are used for relational databases. This study presents two original contributions: the proposition of an algorithm multi-relational MR-Radix, which is efficient for use in relational databases, both in terms of execution time and in relation to memory usage and the presentation of the empirical approach multirelational advantage in performance over several tables, which avoids the costly join operations from multiple tables. © 2011 IEEE.

Environmental diagnosis in areas with different use and occupation using the perception of diverse biological activity

In Brazil, the degradation of soil and landscape by urban and agricultural frontiers expansion leads to the need for comprehensive studies and consider the diverse biological activities generated from different interventions in the landscape, becoming an instrument for assessing the impacts and the decision for its environmental management. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different forms of occupation of the landscape, considering ecological elements and their interactions. The work was carried out on the Instituto Agronômico in the county of Jundiai, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The area under study has been subjected to different use and occupancy for a period of about 40 years. During this period the landscape has been transformed, with the current scenario can be classified as a degraded area mining; grassy area; Araucaria forest and pasture. These areas were evaluated by means of a transect, from which ten sampling sites were selected for the description of diverse biological activities, which included: evaluation and description of ground cover, identifying the presence of fungus and insect species. Furthermore, we evaluated in these points the pH, fertility and porosity of the topsoil (0-0.10 m). The results showed a variation of the elements analyzed and a relationship between the use and occupation of land in the different scenarios of the current landscape. The biological activity was more diverse in the Araucaria forest, reflected by the abundance of litter, higher content of organic matter and soil nutrients, demonstrating the effectiveness of the technique for assessing the level of degradation of the landscape used, which is expeditious and inexpensive.

Traditional and novel methods for occlusal caries detection: Performance on primary teeth

This study aimed to assess the performance of International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS), radiographic examination, and fluorescence-based methods for detecting occlusal caries in primary teeth. One occlusal site on each of 79 primary molars was assessed twice by two examiners using ICDAS, bitewing radiography (BW), DIAGNOdent 2095 (LF), DIAGNOdent 2190 (LFpen), and VistaProof fluorescence camera (FC). The teeth were histologically prepared and assessed for caries extent. Optimal cutoff limits were calculated for LF, LFpen, and FC. At the D 1 threshold (enamel and dentin lesions), ICDAS and FC presented higher sensitivity values (0.75 and 0.73, respectively), while BW showed higher specificity (1.00). At the D 2 threshold (inner enamel and dentin lesions), ICDAS presented higher sensitivity (0.83) and statistically significantly lower specificity (0.70). At the D 3 threshold (dentin lesions), LFpen and FC showed higher sensitivity (1.00 and 0.91, respectively), while higher specificity was presented by FC (0.95), ICDAS (0.94), BW (0.94), and LF (0.92). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (Az) varied from 0.780 (BW) to 0.941 (LF). Spearman correlation coefficients with histology were 0.72 (ICDAS), 0.64 (BW), 0.71 (LF), 0.65 (LFpen), and 0.74 (FC). Inter- and intraexaminer intraclass correlation values varied from 0.772 to 0.963 and unweighted kappa values ranged from 0.462 to 0.750. In conclusion, ICDAS and FC exhibited better accuracy in detecting enamel and dentin caries lesions, whereas ICDAS, LF, LFpen, and FC were more appropriate for detecting dentin lesions on occlusal surfaces in primary teeth, with no statistically significant difference among them. All methods presented good to excellent reproducibility. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London Ltd.

How non-traditional are non-traditional exports? The experience of seven countries of the Caribbean Basin

Includes bibliography

Influence of Agroforestry and Traditional Management of Maize (Zea mays L.) on Soil Fertility

The aim of the work was to evaluate soil nutrient concentration at 0-5, 5-10, and 10-20 cm in maize (Zea mays L.) grown in sequence with black oats (Avena strigosa Schreb.) under Leucaena diversifolia alley cropping agroforestry system (AFS) and traditional management system/sole crop (without trees-TS), following a randomized block design. The experiment was carried out at the Brazilian Association of Biodynamic Agriculture, in Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. The treatments were: control (C), chemical fertilizer (F), biomass of L. diversifolia alley cropping (B), and biomass of L. diversifolia alley cropping + chemical fertilizer (B+F). After 2 yr, it was observed that pH, organic matter, and nutrient content had a tendency to show higher values in the treatments biomass+fertilizer, biomass, and fertilizer application, in both systems. Higher values in pH, organic matter, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sum of bases, cation exchange capacity, percentage base saturation, boron, copper, and manganese tended to occur in the agroforestry system. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Differential occupation of habitat as a reproductive strategy of the blue crab Callinectes ornatus Ordway, 1968 (Crustacea: Decapoda)

The reproductive biology of a species includes factors beyond its sexual maturity, fecundity and reproductive period, and may extend to the differential distribution of individuals. The reproductive dynamics of the blue crab Callinectes ornatus was investigated through monthly collections over the course of 2 years in three bays on the southeastern coast of Brazil. For each bay, six transects were established, four of them parallel to the beach line (at depths of 5, 10, 15, and 20 m), one transect exposed to wave action, and another sheltered from waves. Females and males were classified according to the gonadal maturation stage, and were grouped as individuals with reproductive potential (mature gonads or breeding females) or not (rudimentary gonads or in development). Analyses using ordination techniques (PCA) and gradient analysis (CCA) showed that 82.13 % of environmental variations were explained by the transect arrangement, and these characteristics explained 86.70 % of the differential distribution of female crabs and 96.57 % of the distribution of males. These results indicate that females with reproductive potential were more abundant in deeper regions, while females with rudimentary or developed gonads were abundant in shallower habitats and areas sheltered from wave action. Thus, the distribution of C. ornatus in these bays was linked to their reproductive state, as part of the reproductive strategy of the population. © 2013 Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Informe del Seminario-Taller Recuperación de Andenes y otras Tecnologías Tradicionales: Problemas y Soluciones" = Report on the Seminar-Workshop "Rehabilitation of Terraces and other Traditional Technologies: Problems and Solutions""

Contiene asistencia y organizacion de los trabajos, conclusiones y recomendaciones del Seminario que tuvo por objeto analizar el estado de avance en cuanto a inventarios y evaluacion de recuperacion de andenes; identificar dificultades encontradas y estrechar vinculos institucionales y de cooperacion entre organismos gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, la universidad peruana y los organismos internacionales de cooperacion para el desarrollo.

Informe del Segundo Seminario-Taller Recuperación de Andenes y otras Tecnologías Tradicionales: Problemas y Soluciones = Report of the Second Seminar-Workshop "Rehabilitation of Terraces and other Traditional Technologies: Problems and Solutions""

Contiene asistencia y organización de los trabajos, conclusiones y recomendaciones del Seminario que tuvo por objeto analizar el estado de avance en cuanto a inventarios y evaluación de recuperación de andenes; identificar dificultades encontradas y estrechar vínculos institucionales y de cooperación entre organismos gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, la universidad peruana y los organismos internacionales de cooperación para el desarrollo.

Population, social equity and changing production patterns

Includes bibliography

A extração e a indústria da madeira no município de Rio Branco - AC

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estrategia de exportaciones no tradicionales: una primera evaluación = Strategy for non-traditional exports: a first appraisal

Incluye Bibliografía