Utilização de técnica de detecção de mudança aplicada ao sensoriamento espectral para rádios cognitivos

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, 2015.

Padrões temporais e espaciais na detecção de resíduos e contaminantes na produção de aves e suínos no Brasil

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, 2016.

Object detection and recognition in complex scenes

Dissertação de Mestrado, Engenharia Informática, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014

Cosmic Explosions: Observations Of Infant Hydrogen-Free Supernovae Towards An Understanding Of Their Parent Systems

Radiation in the first days of supernova explosions contains rich information about physical properties of the exploding stars. In the past three years, I used the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory to conduct one-day cadence surveys, in order to systematically search for infant supernovae. I show that the one-day cadences in these surveys were strictly controlled, that the realtime image subtraction pipeline managed to deliver transient candidates within ten minutes of images being taken, and that we were able to undertake follow-up observations with a variety of telescopes within hours of transients being discovered. So far iPTF has discovered over a hundred supernovae within a few days of explosions, forty-nine of which were spectroscopically classified within twenty-four hours of discovery.

Our observations of infant Type Ia supernovae provide evidence for both the single-degenerate and double-degenerate progenitor channels. On the one hand, a low-velocity Type Ia supernova iPTF14atg revealed a strong ultraviolet pulse within four days of its explosion. I show that the pulse is consistent with the expected emission produced by collision between the supernova ejecta and a companion star, providing direct evidence for the single degenerate channel. By comparing the distinct early-phase light curves of iPTF14atg to an otherwise similar event iPTF14dpk, I show that the viewing angle dependence of the supernova-companion collision signature is probably responsible to the difference of the early light curves. I also show evidence for a dark period between the supernova explosion and the first light of the radioactively-powered light curve. On the other hand, a peculiar Type Ia supernova iPTF13asv revealed strong near-UV emission and absence of iron in the spectra within the first two weeks of explosion, suggesting a stratified ejecta structure with iron group elements confined to the slow-moving part of the ejecta. With its total ejecta mass estimated to exceed the Chandrasekhar limit, I show that the stratification and large mass of the ejecta favor the double-degenerate channel.

In a separate approach, iPTF found the first progenitor system of a Type Ib supernova iPTF13bvn in the pre-explosion HST archival mages. Independently, I used the early-phase optical observations of this supernova to constrain its progenitor radius to be no larger than several solar radii. I also used its early radio detections to derive a mass loss rate of 3e-5 solar mass per year for the progenitor right before the supernova explosion. These constraints on the physical properties of the iPTF13bvn progenitor provide a comprehensive data set to test Type Ib supernova theories. A recent HST revisit to the iPTF13bvn site two years after the supernova explosion has confirmed the progenitor system.

Moving forward, the next frontier in this area is to extend these single-object analyses to a large sample of infant supernovae. The upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility with its fast survey speed, which is expected to find one infant supernova every night, is well positioned to carry out this task.

Markov models and network analysis reveal sex-specific differences in the space-use of a coastal apex predator

Understanding the links between external variables such as habitat and interactions with conspecifics and animal space-use is fundamental to developing effective management measures. In the marine realm, automated acoustic tracking has become a widely used method for monitoring the movement of free-ranging animals, yet researchers generally lack robust methods for analysing the resulting spatial-usage data. In this study, acoustic tracking data from male and female broadnose sevengill sharks Notorynchus cepedianus, collected in a system of coastal embayments in southeast Tasmania were analyzed to examine sex-specific differences in the sharks' coastal space-use and test novel methods for the analysis of acoustic telemetry data. Sex-specific space-use of the broadnose sevengill shark from acoustic telemetry data was analysed in two ways: The recently proposed spatial network analysis of between-receiver movements was employed to identify sex-specific space-use patterns. To include the full breadth of temporal information held in the data, movements between receivers were furthermore considered as transitions between states of a Markov chain, with the resulting transition probability matrix allowing the ranking of the relative importance of different parts of the study area. Both spatial network and Markov chain analysis revealed sex-specific preferences of different sites within the study area. The identification of priority areas differed for the methods, due to the fact that in contrast to network analysis, our Markov chain approach preserves the chronological sequence of detections and accounts for both residency periods and movements. In addition to adding to our knowledge of the ecology of a globally distributed apex predator, this study presents a promising new step towards condensing the vast amounts of information collected with acoustic tracking technology into straightforward results which are directly applicable to the management and conservation of any species that meet the assumptions of our model.

Wage Matters & Globalization: South Florida’s Low-Wage Immigrant Plant Nursery Workers and Business Protectionism in the Age of Neoliberalism

Ornamental plant production in the State of Florida is an anomaly with respect to current theories of globalization and particularly their explanation of the employment of low-wage, immigrant labor. Those theories dictate that unskilled jobs that do not need to be performed within highly developed countries are outsourced to where labor is cheaper and more flexible. However, the State of Florida remains an important site of ornamental plant production in the US amidst a global economic environment of outsourcing and transnational corporate expansion. This dissertation relies on 50 semi-structured interviews with insiders of the Florida plant nursery industry, focus groups, and participant observation to explain how US trade, labor, and migration policy-making at local levels are not removed from larger global processes taking place in the world since the 1970s. In Florida, elite market players of the plant nursery industry have been able to resist global trends in free trade, operating instead in a protected market. They have done this by appealing to scientific justifications and through arbitrary implementations of neoliberal ideology that keeps small and middle range business alive, while maintaining a seemingly endless supply of marginalized and exploited low-wage, immigrant workers.

Trends in Water Quality within the Broward County Portion of the Biscayne Aquifer

Continuous and reliable monitoring of contaminants in drinking water, which adversely affect human health, is the main goal of the Broward County Well Field Protection Program. In this study the individual monitoring station locations were used in a yearly and quarterly spatiotemporal Ordinary Kriging interpolation to create a raster network of contaminant detections. In the final analysis, the raster spatiotemporal nitrate concentration trends were overlaid with a pollution vulnerability index to determine if the concentrations are influenced by a set of independent variables. The pollution vulnerability factors are depth to water, recharge, aquifer media, soil, impact to vadose zone, and conductivity. The creation of the nitrate raster dataset had an average RMS Standardized error close to 1 at 0.98. The greatest frequency of detections and the highest concentrations are found in the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September. An average of 76.4% of the nitrate intersected with cells of the pollution vulnerability index over 100.

Exoneration or observation? Examining a novel difference between liars and truth tellers

Individual cues to deception are subtle and often missed by lay people and law enforcement alike. Linguistic statement analysis remains a potentially useful way of overcoming individual diagnostic limitations (e.g. Criteria based Content Analysis; Steller & Köhnken, 1989; Reality monitoring; Johnson & Raye, 1981; Scientific Content Analysis; Sapir, 1996). Unfortunately many of these procedures are time-consuming, require in-depth training, as well as lack empirical support and/or external validity. The current dissertation develops a novel approach to statement veracity analysis that is simple to learn, easy to administer, theoretically sound, and empirically validated. ^ Two strategies were proposed for detecting differences between liars' and truth-tellers' statements. Liars were hypothesized to strategically write statements with the goal of self-exoneration. Liars' statements were predicted to contain more first person pronouns and fewer third person pronouns. Truth-tellers were hypothesized to be motivated toward being informative and thus produce statements with fewer first person pronouns and more third person pronouns. Three studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. The first study explored the verbal patterns of exoneration and informativeness focused statements. The second study used a traditional theft paradigm to examine these verbal patterns in guilty liars and innocent truth tellers. In the third study to better match the context of a criminal investigation a cheating paradigm was used in which spontaneous lying was induced and written statements were taken. Support for the first person pronoun hypothesis was found. Limited support was found for the third person pronoun hypothesis. Results, implications, and future directions for the current research are discussed.^

Estilos de vida dos adolescentes e seus comportamentos desviantes e/ou delinquentes

A delinquência juvenil representa um problema social em crescimento e é influenciada por um conjunto de fatores de risco muitas vezes presentes no estilo de vida dos jovens. Desta forma, a pertinência deste estudo foca-se na compreensão dos estilos de vida dos jovens e os comportamentos desviantes ou delinquentes para melhor compreender e intervir no combate à delinquência. A amostra foi constituída por 80 participantes de ambos os sexos pertencentes à localidade de Ponte de Lima. Para tal recorreu-se à administração de um questionário, construído para o efeito, e o qual contempla itens para a caracterização sociodemográfica dos participantes, o seu funcionamento escolar/ocupacional e familiar, o estilo de vida e a ocupação de tempos livres e, por último, procura-se caracterizar a frequência da prática de certos comportamentos e desvios por parte dos adolescentes, nos últimos 12 meses. Os resultados deste estudo demonstraram que apesar da maior parte dos jovens se revelarem satisfeitos com o seu ambiente familiar, uma percentagem não negligenciável caraterizou esse ambiente como razoável, apelando à necessidade de haver mais tempo para a família e mais diálogo. Os relatos dos participantes apontam para a ausência de supervisão parental nas saídas à noite, falta de imposição de regras e tarefas diárias. A maior parte dos participantes classificou o ambiente escolar como razoável, admitindo a existência de alguns conflitos com colegas, professores e funcionários, falta de hábitos de estudo e atividades extracurriculares; a maior parte dos jovens admitiu realizar essencialmente atividades em grupos de pares, desde as saídas à noite como atividades de lazer; os comportamentos desviantes e delinquentes que mais se destacaram nos últimos 12 meses foram o envolvimento em agressões com colegas, professores e funcionários, o dano intencional de objetos de outra pessoa, e o download de filmes, músicas e documentos e o envolvimento em grupos de pares desviantes; os comportamentos delinquentes descritos foram a invasão em propriedades privadas, os furtos, e o tráfico de droga. O sexo masculino destacou-se na prática de crimes. Os dados deste estudo apontam, assim para a necessidade de se apostar mais na prevenção precoce de comportamentos de risco, de forma a diminuir comportamentos desviantes ou delinquentes futuros.

Espaços Recreativos Noturnos como Palco da Relação Droga/Crime

Os ambientes Recreativos Noturnos cada vez mais conquistam a população mais jovem e principalmente a estudantil, aumentando assim a proximidade com determinadas drogas ilegais e certos delitos. Assim sendo, e visto que o tema de droga e crime cada vez é mais abordado por diversos autores que demonstram uma preocupação pelas suas consequências nesta população e nestes estabelecimentos, esta investigação tem como objetivo conseguir perceber quais as drogas ilegais que a amostra trabalhada tem conhecimento nestes espaços e a ligação com atos delituosos. Este questionário foi feito a 214 indivíduos de ambos os sexos com idade média de 24,55 anos e que frequentam Espaços Recreativos Noturnos na Zona do Grande Porto. No que toca ao consumo de drogas ilegais, verificou-se que 73,8% destes indivíduos consome, consumiu ou conhece alguém que consuma nestes Espaços Recreativos Noturnos, ficando assim nesta ordem os Cannabinóides e Haxixe como drogas mais utilizadas. Na parte do delito 42,1% afirma que já assistiu, cometeu ou foi vítima de delito em que a Agressão é a mais frequente seguindo-se do Furto. Por fim, percebe-se ainda que existe uma ligação entre o crime e o consumo de drogas nestes espaços.

En jämförelse av upplevd produktivitet samt arbetstillfredsställelse mellan aktivitetsaserade och traditionella kontor.

Purpose: The aim with this study is to compare perceived productivity and job satisfaction between activity based offices and traditional offices. The goal is to investigate, through a quantitative comparison, productivity and job satisfaction between the office types, and if generations perceive this differently. Method: The method used in this study is a quantitative method, in form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire used was taken from a study made by Sahlström and Severin (2015) at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The same questionnaire was taken because it had already been quality assured and had good content for the survey. Four IT companies were included in the study. Two of them had activity based offices and two of them had traditional office type. Literature review has also been a method in order to get a deeper understanding of the subject. Findings: The results of the study show that there are differences between the two office types in perceived productivity and job satisfaction. The traditional office type showed the best results. However, this result can be discussed since the two traditional offices differed widely in their responses. The results also show that there are differences between the generations experiencing productivity and job satisfaction of the various offices. The elder generation, Baby boomers, shows better results on the traditional office type and the younger generation, Generation Y, shows better results on the activity based offices. Implications: One conclusion to be drawn from this is that employees at traditional offices are more satisfied with their working place and experience increased productivity than employees on activity based offices. However, these results may be due to other factors than how the office environment affects the employees. Therefore, these results will not be recommended. Another conclusion is that the Baby boomers are experiencing higher productivity and job satisfaction of traditional office and Generation Y experiences higher productivity and job satisfaction on activity based office. These results can be recommended. Limitations: The limitations of this study are to examine only IT companies in Sweden with a maximal amount of employees of 150 persons. The results are, apart from the scattered results in the first issue, generally valid and can be applied to other IT companies. To succeed fully applicable results, a survey with more companies involved had been better. Then, detections of anomaly would easier have been discovered and possible disregards of certain results could have been done. Keywords: Perceived productivity - Self-rated assessment of employees on their own productivity. Traditional offices - In this work traditional offices includes cell offices and shared rooms. Activity based offices - Office where employees have no fixed work place and there are often zones to support different types of working.

2013 survey of Iowa groundwater and evaluation of public well vulnerability classifications for contaminants of emerging concern (2015)

Studies in Iowa have long documented the vulnerability of wells with less than 50 feet (15 meters) of confining materials above the source aquifer to contamination from nitrate and various pesticides. Recent studies in Wisconsin have documented the occurrence of viruses in untreated groundwater, even in wells considered to have little vulnerability to contamination from near-surface activities. In addition, sensitive methods have become available for analyses of pharmaceuticals and pesticides. This study represents the first comprehensive examination of contaminants of emerging concern in Iowa’s groundwater conducted to date, and one of the first conducted in the United States. Raw groundwater samples were collected from 66 public supply wells during the spring of 2013, when the state was recovering from drought conditions. Samples were analyzed for 206 chemical and biological parameters; including 20 general water-quality parameters and major ions, 19 metals, 5 nutrients, 10 virus groups, 3 species of pathogenic bacteria, 5 microbial indicators, 108 pharmaceuticals, 35 pesticides and pesticide degradates, and tritium. The wells chosen for this study represent a diverse range of ages, depths, confining material thicknesses, pumping rates, and land use settings. The most commonly detected contaminant group was pesticide compounds, which were present in 41% of the samples. As many as 6 pesticide compounds were found together in a sample, most of which were chloroacetanilide degradates. While none of the measured concentrations of pesticide compounds exceeded current benchmark levels, several of these compounds are listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Contaminant Candidate List and could be subject to drinking water standards in the future. Despite heavy use in the past decade, glyphosate was not detected, and its metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid, was only detected in two of 60 wells tested (3%) at the detection limit of 0.02 μg/L. Pharmaceutical compounds were detected in 35% of 63 samples. Of the 14 pharmaceuticals detected, six had reported concentrations above the method reporting limit, with the maximum reported concentration of 826 ng/L for acetaminophen. Diphenhydramine was the only pharmaceutical to have two detections above the reporting limit, at 24.5 and 145 ng/L. Eight pharmaceuticals had confirmed detections at concentrations below the method reporting limit. Caffeine was the most frequently detected pharmaceutical compound (25%), followed by the caffeine metabolite, 1,7-dimethylxanthine (16%). Microorganisms were detected in 21% of the wells using quantitative polymerase chain reaction methodologies. The most frequently detected microorganism was the pepper mild mottle virus (PMMV), a plant pathogen found in human waste. PMMV was detected in 17% of samples at concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 6.38 gene copies per liter. GII norovirus, human polyomavirus, bovine polyomavirus, and Campylobacter were also detected, while adenovirus, enterovirus, GI norovirus, swine hepatitis E, Salmonella, and enterohemmorhagic E. coli were not detected. No correlations were found between viruses or pathogenic bacteria and microbial indicators. Wells with less than 50 feet (15 meters) of confining material were shown to have greater incidence of surface-related contaminants; however, significant relationships (p<0.05) between confining layer thickness and contaminants were only found for nitrate and herbicides.

Can small MPAs protect local populations of a coastal flatfish, Solea senegalensis?

The benefits of protection of a small (4.3 km(2)) marine protected area (MPA) for Senegalese sole, Solea senegalensis, were investigated through experimental fishing trials and long-term (up to 293days) passive acoustic telemetry. A total of 106 trammel net sets were carried out between 2007 and 2011. Significant differences in abundance and biomass of sole between bottom types/depths (sandy bottoms between 12 and 20m deep vs muddy bottoms between 35 and 45m deep) were found, but no significant differences were attributable to the implementation of the no-take area. Passive acoustic telemetry revealed that most Senegalese sole spent a large part of their time between first and last detections (average residency index=69%) inside a relatively small area (average 95%=1.2km(2)), during which they preferred sandy bottoms, the most common habitat inside the MPA. Results also demonstrated that Senegalese sole do regular excursions beyond reserve boundaries, eventually emigrating from the MPA. The results suggest that small coastal MPAs providing adequate habitat may protect individuals of this species while allowing for moderate levels of adult spillover to neighbouring areas.

Home range, residency and movements of Diplodus sargus and Diplodus vulgaris in a coastal lagoon: Connectivity between nursery and adult habitats

Acoustic telemetry and standard tag-recapture were used to determine the home range and residency of juveniles and sub-adults of Diplodus sargus and Diplodus vulgaris in the Ria Formosa (Portugal) coastal lagoon. Maximum time between recaptures for the standard tag-recapture method was 128 days for D. sargus and 30 days for D. vulgaris. The majority of the fish were recaptured in the vicinity of the tagging location. Fish tagged with acoustic transmitters had a maximum period of time between first and last detections of 62 days for D. sargus and 260 days for D. vulgaris. Minimum convex polygons areas ranged between 148 024 m(2) and 525 930 m(2) for D. sargus and between 23 786 m(2) and 42134 m(2) for D. vulgaris. Both species presented a high residency index between first and last detections. Two D. sargus tagged with acoustic tags were recaptured by fishermen outside the coastal lagoon at distances of 12 km and 90 km from the tagging position, providing evidence that this species leaves the Ria Formosa during the winter time for the adjacent coastal waters. The results of this study reinforce the importance of Ria Formosa as a nursery for D. sargus and D. vulgaris in the south coast of Portugal. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Levantamento de Danos dos Azulejos da Capela de Nossa Senhora do Rosário do Mosteiro de São Bento de Cástris

The Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Rosário is located in the cloister of the São Bento de Cástris monastery and shows off a blue and white tile panel with 6 tiles of height, representing the scenes of the Life of the Virgin in five panels: Adoration of the Shepherds, Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, Annunciation, Visitation and The Marriage of the Virgin. The authorship of this work is unknown and its date has not yet found consensus. The tiles are in poor condition and have been the target of repeated vandalism or attempted theft over time. During the Residência Cisterciense (Cistercian Residence), held in São Bento de Cástris in September 2013, it has been made a survey of the tile panel’s observable damages including graphic and photographic record of its condition.