Óleo de linhaça na terminação de novilhos Nelore: qualidade da carne

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FCAV

Diagnóstico da qualidade ambiental nas áreas verdes públicas em Presidente Prudente (SP)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Applicazioni industriali e di ricerca della spettroscopia NIR per la valutazione di indici qualitativi di prodotti alimentari

In the present work qualitative aspects of products that fall outside the classic Italian of food production view will be investigated, except for the apricot, a fruit, however, less studied by the methods considered here. The development of computer systems and the advanced software systems dedicated for statistical processing of data, has permitted the application of advanced technologies including the analysis of niche products. The near-infrared spectroscopic analysis was applied to the chemical industry for over twenty years and, subsequently, was applied in food industry with great success for non-destructive in line and off-line analysis. The work that will be presented below range from the use of spectroscopy for the determination of some rheological indices of ice cream applications to the characterization of the main quality indices of apricots, fresh dates, determination of the production areas of pistachio. Next to the spectroscopy will be illustrated different methods of multivariate analysis for spectra interpretation or for the construction of qualitative models of estimation. The thesis is divided into four separate studies that consider the same number of products. Each one of it is introduced by its own premise and ended with its own bibliography. This studies are preceded by a general discussion on the state of art and the basics of NIR spectroscopy.

Does the natural "microcosm" created by Tuber aestivum affect soil microarthropods? A new hypothesis based on Collembola in truffle culture

microarthropods play an important role in fungi dispersion, but little is still known about the interaction between truffle and soil microarthropods. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of the truffle Tuber aestivum to modify soil biogeochemistry (i.e. create a zone of scarce vegetation around the host plant, called a burn or brûlé) and to highlight the effects of the brûlé on the soil fauna community. We compared soil microarthropod communities found in the soil inside versus outside the T. aestivum brûlé with the chemistry of soil collected inside versus outside the brûlé. The study was carried out in three Mediterranean areas, two in Italy and one in Spain. The results confirmed the ability of T. aestivum to modify soil biogeochemistry in the brûlé: pH was higher and total organic carbon tended to be lower inside the brûlé compared to outside. Soil fauna communities showed some interesting differences. Some groups, such as Symphyla and Pauropoda, adapted well to the soil; some Collembolan families, and biodiversity and soil quality indices were generally higher outside the brûlé. Folsomia sp. showed higher abundance in the soil of the brûlé compared to outside. The results suggest that some Collembola groups may be attracted by the fungal metabolites produced by T. aestivum, while other Collembola and other microarthropods may find an unfavourable environment in the soil of the brûlé. The next steps will be to confirm this hypothesis and to extend the study to other keys groups such as nematodes and earthworms and to link fluctuations of soil communities with the biological phases of truffle growth.

Acústica de las iglesias jesuíticas como parte del patrimonio integral en Córdoba y San Ignacio Miní

En esta investigación se aborda el tema del comportamiento acústico de las Iglesias Jesuíticas de la ciudad de Córdoba (Argentina) y San Ignacio Mini ubicada en la localidad de San Ignacio, provincia de Misiones (Argentina), construidas hace dos siglos atrás y declaradas Patrimonio de la Humanidad, con el objetivo de evaluar los parámetros que determinan la comprensión de la palabra y la aptitud de cada una de las iglesias para el canto y la música religiosa. En una primera etapa la investigación se orientó a profundizar en las características constructivas interiores de cada templo y a proponer una metodología de análisis para comparar los resultados de las mediciones objetivas, realizadas mediante la implementación de mediciones in situ, con los resultados de las apreciaciones subjetivas resultantes de la elaboración de encuestas, a los fines de caracterizar acústicamente cada espacio sonoro. Se seleccionaron, para la caracterización objetiva de cada templo, aquellos parámetros que permiten sintetizar las propiedades acústicas relacionadas con la música y la palabra, y aquellos que posibilitan medir la proporción efectiva de las primeras reflexiones, consideradas como índices subjetivos de la capacidad de distinción del sonido por parte del oyente. Se comparan los valores alcanzados con las preferencias subjetivas obtenidas en las encuestas de opinión. Se relevaron tiempos de reverberación altos en todas iglesias, fuera de los considerados óptimos para cada recinto. Se analizaron los índices de calidad y se comprobó cómo influyen los diferentes materiales en el comportamiento acústico de cada recinto. Para la evaluación subjetiva se implementó una encuesta ya validada en la que se privilegió la fácil asociación entre parámetros acústicos y psicoacústicos, esto posibilitó encontrar aquellos parámetros objetivos, simulados con público, que estuviesen fuertemente relacionados con el juicio subjetivo, así como aquellos con menor correlación. La búsqueda y relevamiento de material grafico, fotográfico y otros documentos históricos posibilitó la reconstrucción de cada iglesia para su modelización y la evaluación del comportamiento de todos los templos con la presencia de feligreses, no habiéndose podido realizar mediciones bajo esta condición. El interés por obtener datos acústicos más precisos de la Iglesia San Ignacio Mini, que actualmente se encuentra en ruinas, llevó a utilizar herramientas más poderosas de cálculo como el método de las fuentes de imagen “Ray Tracing Impact” por medio del cual se logró la auralización. Para ello se trabajó con un archivo de audio que representó la voz masculina de un sacerdote en el idioma jesuítico-guaraní, recuperando así el patrimonio cultural intangible. ABSTRACT This research addresses the acoustic behavior of the Jesuit Churches in Cordoba City (Argentina) and San Ignacio Mini (located in the town of San Ignacio, Misiones, Argentina), built two centuries ago and declared World Heritage Sites, with the objective to evaluate the parameters that determine the speech comprehension and the ability of each of the churches for singing of religious music. The first step of the work was aimed to further investigate the internal structural characteristics of each temple and to propose an analysis methodology to compare the objective results of in situ measurements with the subjective results of surveys, in order to characterize acoustically each sound-space. For the subjective characterization of each temple, those parameters that allow synthesizing the acoustic properties related to music & speech and measuring the subjective indices for the recognition of sounds, were selected. Also, the values were compared with the ones obtained from the surveys. High reverberation times were found in all churches, which is not considered optimal for the enclosed areas of the temples. The quality indices were analyzed and it was found how the different materials influence in the acoustic behavior of each enclosure. For subjective evaluation, a survey was implemented (that was previously validated) where the association between acoustic and psychoacoustic parameters was privileged; this allowed to find those objective parameters who were strongly related to the subjective ones, as well as those with lower correlation. Photographic and graphic material and other historical documents allowed the reconstruction of each church for its modeling, and also the evaluation of the performance of all the temples in the presence of their congregation. The interest in obtaining more accurate acoustic data of the San Ignacio Mini Church, which is now in ruins, led to the use of most powerful methods, as for example the image-sources "Ray Tracing Impact" method. For this, an audio archive was used, representing a male voice of a priest in the Jesuit-Guaraní language; recovering in this way intangible cultural heritage.

Macroinvertebrate abundance in tropical Andean streams, Ecuador

Deforestation in the tropical Andes is affecting ecological conditions of streams, and determination of how much forest should be retained is a pressing task for conservation, restoration and management strategies. We calculated and analyzed eight benthic metrics (structural, compositional and water quality indices) and a physical-chemical composite index with gradients of vegetation cover to assess the effects of deforestation on macroinvertebrate communities and water quality of 23 streams in southern Ecuadorian Andes. Using a geographical information system (GIS), we quantified vegetation cover at three spatial scales: the entire catchment, the riparian buffer of 30 m width extending the entire stream length, and the local scale defined for a stream reach of 100 m in length and similar buffer width. Macroinvertebrate and water quality metrics had the strongest relationships with vegetation cover at catchment and riparian scales, while vegetation cover did not show any association with the macroinvertebrate metrics at local scale. At catchment scale, the water quality metrics indicate that ecological condition of Andean streams is good when vegetation cover is over 70%. Further, macroinvertebrate community assemblages were more diverse and related in catchments largely covered by native vegetation (>70%). Overall, our results suggest that retaining an important quantity of native vegetation cover within the catchments and a linkage between headwater and riparian forests help to maintain and improve stream biodiversity and water quality in Andean streams affected by deforestation. Also, this research proposes that a strong regulation focused to the management of riparian buffers can be successful when decision making is addressed to conservation/restoration of Andean catchments.

Representing clinical documents to support automatic retrieval of evidence from the Cochrane Library

The overall aim of our research is to develop a clinical information retrieval system that retrieves systematic reviews and underlying clinical studies from the Cochrane Library to support physician decision making. We believe that in order to accomplish this goal we need to develop a mechanism for effectively representing documents that will be retrieved by the application. Therefore, as a first step in developing the retrieval application we have developed a methodology that semi-automatically generates high quality indices and applies them as descriptors to documents from The Cochrane Library. In this paper we present a description and implementation of the automatic indexing methodology and an evaluation that demonstrates that enhanced document representation results in the retrieval of relevant documents for clinical queries. We argue that the evaluation of information retrieval applications should also include an evaluation of the quality of the representation of documents that may be retrieved. ©2010 IEEE.

Iterative reconstruction as a novel method of radiation dose reduction at computed tomography in patients with Crohn's disease

Prior work of our research group, that quantified the alarming levels of radiation dose to patients with Crohn’s disease from medical imaging and the notable shift towards CT imaging making these patients an at risk group, provided context for this work. CT delivers some of the highest doses of ionising radiation in diagnostic radiology. Once a medical imaging examination is deemed justified, there is an onus on the imaging team to endeavour to produce diagnostic quality CT images at the lowest possible radiation dose to that patient. The fundamental limitation with conventional CT raw data reconstruction was the inherent coupling of administered radiation dose with observed image noise – the lower the radiation dose, the noisier the image. The renaissance, rediscovery and refinement of iterative reconstruction removes this limitation allowing either an improvement in image quality without increasing radiation dose or maintenance of image quality at a lower radiation dose compared with traditional image reconstruction. This thesis is fundamentally an exercise in optimisation in clinical CT practice with the objectives of assessment of iterative reconstruction as a method for improvement of image quality in CT, exploration of the associated potential for radiation dose reduction, and development of a new split dose CT protocol with the aim of achieving and validating diagnostic quality submillisiever t CT imaging in patients with Crohn’s disease. In this study, we investigated the interplay of user-selected parameters on radiation dose and image quality in phantoms and cadavers, comparing traditional filtered back projection (FBP) with iterative reconstruction algorithms. This resulted in the development of an optimised, refined and appropriate split dose protocol for CT of the abdomen and pelvis in clinical patients with Crohn’s disease allowing contemporaneous acquisition of both modified and conventional dose CT studies. This novel algorithm was then applied to 50 patients with a suspected acute complication of known Crohn’s disease and the raw data reconstructed with FBP, adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASiR) and model based iterative reconstruction (MBIR). Conventional dose CT images with FBP reconstruction were used as the reference standard with which the modified dose CT images were compared in terms of radiation dose, diagnostic findings and image quality indices. As there are multiple possible user-selected strengths of ASiR available, these were compared in terms of image quality to determine the optimal strength for this modified dose CT protocol. Modified dose CT images with MBIR were also compared with contemporaneous abdominal radiograph, where performed, in terms of diagnostic yield and radiation dose. Finally, attenuation measurements in organs, tissues, etc. with each reconstruction algorithm were compared to assess for preservation of tissue characterisation capabilities. In the phantom and cadaveric models, both forms of iterative reconstruction examined (ASiR and MBIR) were superior to FBP across a wide variety of imaging protocols, with MBIR superior to ASiR in all areas other than reconstruction speed. We established that ASiR appears to work to a target percentage noise reduction whilst MBIR works to a target residual level of absolute noise in the image. Modified dose CT images reconstructed with both ASiR and MBIR were non-inferior to conventional dose CT with FBP in terms of diagnostic findings, despite reduced subjective and objective indices of image quality. Mean dose reductions of 72.9-73.5% were achieved with the modified dose protocol with a mean effective dose of 1.26mSv. MBIR was again demonstrated superior to ASiR in terms of image quality. The overall optimal ASiR strength for the modified dose protocol used in this work is ASiR 80%, as this provides the most favourable balance of peak subjective image quality indices with less objective image noise than the corresponding conventional dose CT images reconstructed with FBP. Despite guidelines to the contrary, abdominal radiographs are still often used in the initial imaging of patients with a suspected complication of Crohn’s disease. We confirmed the superiority of modified dose CT with MBIR over abdominal radiographs at comparable doses in detection of Crohn’s disease and non-Crohn’s disease related findings. Finally, we demonstrated (in phantoms, cadavers and in vivo) that attenuation values do not change significantly across reconstruction algorithms meaning preserved tissue characterisation capabilities with iterative reconstruction. Both adaptive statistical and model based iterative reconstruction algorithms represent feasible methods of facilitating acquisition diagnostic quality CT images of the abdomen and pelvis in patients with Crohn’s disease at markedly reduced radiation doses. Our modified dose CT protocol allows dose savings of up to 73.5% compared with conventional dose CT, meaning submillisievert imaging is possible in many of these patients.

Relación entre el índice de consumo de pescado y carne y la adecuación y calidad de la dieta en mujeres jóvenes universitarias

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Determination of water quality in lakes by biological indices

Some problems of evaluation of water quality by biological indices which can be applied in the practice of ecological monitoring on water bodies are considered in this report. Taking into account, that ecological monitoring is the most urgent for large lakes, situated in civilised (urbanised) and (or) agrarian landscapes the corresponding problems will be considered mainly in conformity with large deep lakes of temperate latitudes. The aim is a general evaluation of some of the methods from the point of view of their possible application for monitoring on large water bodies.

On the use of headline indices to link environmental quality and income at the level of the nation state

This paper deconstructs the relationship between the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) and national income. The ESI attempts to provide a single figure which encapsulates environmental sustainability' for each country included in the analysis, and this allied with a 'league table' format so as to name and shame bad performers, has resulted in widespread reporting within the popular presses of a number of countries. In essence, the higher the value of the ESI then the more 'environmentally sustainable' a country is deemed to be. A logical progression beyond the use of the ESI to publicise environmental sustainability is its use within a more analytical context. Thus an index designed to simplify in order to have an impact on policy is used to try and understand causes of good and bad performance in environmental sustainability. For example the creators of the ESI claim that ESI is related to GDP/capita (adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity) such that the ESI increases linearly with wealth. While this may in a sense be a comforting picture, do the variables within the ESI allow for alternatives to the story, and if they do then what are the repercussions for those producing such indices for broad consumption amongst the policy makers, mangers, the press, etc.? The latter point is especially important given the appetite for such indices amongst non-specialists, and for all their weaknesses the ESI and other such aggregated indices will not go away. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new multilevel converter configuration for high power and high quality applications

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) allows the presentation of theses for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the format of published or submitted papers, where such papers have been published, accepted or submitted during the period of candidature. This thesis is composed of ten published /submitted papers and book chapters of which nine have been published and one is under review. This project is financially supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant with the aim of investigating multilevel topologies for high quality and high power applications, with specific emphasis on renewable energy systems. The rapid evolution of renewable energy within the last several years has resulted in the design of efficient power converters suitable for medium and high-power applications such as wind turbine and photovoltaic (PV) systems. Today, the industrial trend is moving away from heavy and bulky passive components to power converter systems that use more and more semiconductor elements controlled by powerful processor systems. However, it is hard to connect the traditional converters to the high and medium voltage grids, as a single power switch cannot stand at high voltage. For these reasons, a new family of multilevel inverters has appeared as a solution for working with higher voltage levels. Besides this important feature, multilevel converters have the capability to generate stepped waveforms. Consequently, in comparison with conventional two-level inverters, they present lower switching losses, lower voltage stress across loads, lower electromagnetic interference (EMI) and higher quality output waveforms. These properties enable the connection of renewable energy sources directly to the grid without using expensive, bulky, heavy line transformers. Additionally, they minimize the size of the passive filter and increase the durability of electrical devices. However, multilevel converters have only been utilised in very particular applications, mainly due to the structural limitations, high cost and complexity of the multilevel converter system and control. New developments in the fields of power semiconductor switches and processors will favor the multilevel converters for many other fields of application. The main application for the multilevel converter presented in this work is the front-end power converter in renewable energy systems. Diode-clamped and cascade converters are the most common type of multilevel converters widely used in different renewable energy system applications. However, some drawbacks – such as capacitor voltage imbalance, number of components, and complexity of the control system – still exist, and these are investigated in the framework of this thesis. Various simulations using software simulation tools are undertaken and are used to study different cases. The feasibility of the developments is underlined with a series of experimental results. This thesis is divided into two main sections. The first section focuses on solving the capacitor voltage imbalance for a wide range of applications, and on decreasing the complexity of the control strategy on the inverter side. The idea of using sharing switches at the output structure of the DC-DC front-end converters is proposed to balance the series DC link capacitors. A new family of multioutput DC-DC converters is proposed for renewable energy systems connected to the DC link voltage of diode-clamped converters. The main objective of this type of converter is the sharing of the total output voltage into several series voltage levels using sharing switches. This solves the problems associated with capacitor voltage imbalance in diode-clamped multilevel converters. These converters adjust the variable and unregulated DC voltage generated by renewable energy systems (such as PV) to the desirable series multiple voltage levels at the inverter DC side. A multi-output boost (MOB) converter, with one inductor and series output voltage, is presented. This converter is suitable for renewable energy systems based on diode-clamped converters because it boosts the low output voltage and provides the series capacitor at the output side. A simple control strategy using cross voltage control with internal current loop is presented to obtain the desired voltage levels at the output voltage. The proposed topology and control strategy are validated by simulation and hardware results. Using the idea of voltage sharing switches, the circuit structure of different topologies of multi-output DC-DC converters – or multi-output voltage sharing (MOVS) converters – have been proposed. In order to verify the feasibility of this topology and its application, steady state and dynamic analyses have been carried out. Simulation and experiments using the proposed control strategy have verified the mathematical analysis. The second part of this thesis addresses the second problem of multilevel converters: the need to improve their quality with minimum cost and complexity. This is related to utilising asymmetrical multilevel topologies instead of conventional multilevel converters; this can increase the quality of output waveforms with a minimum number of components. It also allows for a reduction in the cost and complexity of systems while maintaining the same output quality, or for an increase in the quality while maintaining the same cost and complexity. Therefore, the asymmetrical configuration for two common types of multilevel converters – diode-clamped and cascade converters – is investigated. Also, as well as addressing the maximisation of the output voltage resolution, some technical issues – such as adjacent switching vectors – should be taken into account in asymmetrical multilevel configurations to keep the total harmonic distortion (THD) and switching losses to a minimum. Thus, the asymmetrical diode-clamped converter is proposed. An appropriate asymmetrical DC link arrangement is presented for four-level diode-clamped converters by keeping adjacent switching vectors. In this way, five-level inverter performance is achieved for the same level of complexity of the four-level inverter. Dealing with the capacitor voltage imbalance problem in asymmetrical diodeclamped converters has inspired the proposal for two different DC-DC topologies with a suitable control strategy. A Triple-Output Boost (TOB) converter and a Boost 3-Output Voltage Sharing (Boost-3OVS) converter connected to the four-level diode-clamped converter are proposed to arrange the proposed asymmetrical DC link for the high modulation indices and unity power factor. Cascade converters have shown their abilities and strengths in medium and high power applications. Using asymmetrical H-bridge inverters, more voltage levels can be generated in output voltage with the same number of components as the symmetrical converters. The concept of cascading multilevel H-bridge cells is used to propose a fifteen-level cascade inverter using a four-level H-bridge symmetrical diode-clamped converter, cascaded with classical two-level Hbridge inverters. A DC voltage ratio of cells is presented to obtain maximum voltage levels on output voltage, with adjacent switching vectors between all possible voltage levels; this can minimize the switching losses. This structure can save five isolated DC sources and twelve switches in comparison to conventional cascade converters with series two-level H bridge inverters. To increase the quality in presented hybrid topology with minimum number of components, a new cascade inverter is verified by cascading an asymmetrical four-level H-bridge diode-clamped inverter. An inverter with nineteen-level performance was achieved. This synthesizes more voltage levels with lower voltage and current THD, rather than using a symmetrical diode-clamped inverter with the same configuration and equivalent number of power components. Two different predictive current control methods for the switching states selection are proposed to minimise either losses or THD of voltage in hybrid converters. High voltage spikes at switching time in experimental results and investigation of a diode-clamped inverter structure raised another problem associated with high-level high voltage multilevel converters. Power switching components with fast switching, combined with hard switched-converters, produce high di/dt during turn off time. Thus, stray inductance of interconnections becomes an important issue and raises overvoltage and EMI issues correlated to the number of components. Planar busbar is a good candidate to reduce interconnection inductance in high power inverters compared with cables. The effect of different transient current loops on busbar physical structure of the high-voltage highlevel diode-clamped converters is highlighted. Design considerations of proper planar busbar are also presented to optimise the overall design of diode-clamped converters.

Evaluation on service quality of railway timetable

From the business viewpoint, the railway timetable is a list of the products presented by the railway transportation operators to the customers, specifying the schedules of all the train services on a railway line or network. In order to evaluate the quality of the train service schedules, a number of indices are proposed in this paper. These indices primarily take the passengers’ needs, such as waiting time, transfer time and transport capacity into consideration. Delay rate is usually used in post-evaluation. In this study, we propose to give an evaluation on the probability that the scheduled train services are likely to be delayed and the recovery ability of the timetable after delay has occurred. The evaluation identifies the possible problems in the services, such as excessive waiting time, non-seamless transfer, and high possibility of delay. This paper also discusses the improvement of these problems through certain adjustments on the timetable. The indices for evaluation and the adjustment method on timetable are then applied to a case study on the Hu-Ning-Hang railway in China, followed by the discussions of the merits of the proposed indices for timetable evaluation and possible improvement.

Liveable city project : Desktop review of liveability indices

The QUT Centre for Subtropical Design reviewed tools and indices that measure ‘liveability’ on behalf of the Brisbane Development Association. This review provides insight into the concept of ‘liveability’ and how various international and local tools measure or value ‘liveability’ of cities. Liveability is subjective, and can mean different things to different individuals depending upon their situation and lifecycle stage, and is therefore difficult to define. Essentially, the term ‘liveability’ constitutes thoughts of quality of life and wellbeing of residents in urban environments.