Avaliação biogeográfica em área de progradação positiva em Ilha Comprida/SP: um estudo de sucessão ecológica

The city of Ilha Comprida, located on the Environmental Protection Area Cananéia-Iguape-Peruíbe (APA CIP) and Lagoon Estuary Complex of Iguape-Cananéia-Paranaguá, is located at the southern end of the coast of the state of São Paulo. Ilha Comprida is a progradational barrier consists predominantly of sandy sediments of the Quaternary Period. Bibliographic and cartographic surveys demonstrate a large amount of sediments in the last centuries, leading to the expansion of the island in hundreds of meters towards SW / NE. The island has been suffering intense morphological change in the northeast corner - NE, growing 35 meters per year. The objective of this study is to measure and analyze the floristic diversity found in its extreme NE, recent accumulation area of sediment, comparing the results with data obtained in equivalent segment, located on the edge SW, agradation preterit area. Given this reality, we chose to assess how the process of ecological succession respond to these dynamics. That is, if we think of ecological succession, NE end (latest) is assumed to possess plant species in the initial stage of succession as well as the SW portion. However, it is assumed certain differentiation between species in both areas, and less diversity in the first case (NE). Using the method of fixed installments adopted for similar quadrants, we attempted to measure and analyze the floristic diversity of the NE end and compare the data obtained in the field with those listed for the SW end. The results confirmed the hypothesis of the research, and prompted several questions that point to the need for further deepening research on this theme

Refinamento geométrico de contornos e cumeeiras de telhados de edifícios extraídos de dados laser com uso de imagem aérea

In this paper, a method is proposed to refine the LASER 3D roofs geometrically by using a high-resolution aerial image and Markov Random Field (MRF) models. In order to do so, a MRF description for grouping straight lines is developed, assuming that each projected side contour and ridge is topologically correct and that it is only necessary to improve its accuracy. Although the combination of laser data with data from image is most justified for refining roof contour, the structure of ridges can give greater robustness in the topological description of the roof structure. The MRF model is formulated based on relationships (length, proximity, and orientation) between the straight lines extracted from the image and projected polygon and also on retangularity and corner injunctions. The energy function associated with MRF is minimized by the genetic algorithm optimization method, resulting in the grouping of straight lines for each roof object. Finally, each grouping of straight lines is topologically reconstructed based on the topology of the corresponding LASER scanning polygon projected onto the image-space. The results obtained were satisfactory. This method was able to provide polygons roof refined buildings in which most of its contour sides and ridges were geometrically improved.

On energy harvesting form time-limited excitations: simulations and case study

Linear resonant harvesters have been the most common type of generators used to scavenge energy from mechanical vibrations. When subject to harmonic excitation, good performance is achieved once the device is tuned so that its natural frequency coincides with the excitation frequency. In such a situation, the average power harvested in a cycle is proportional to the cube of the excitation frequency and inversely proportional to the suspension damping, which is sought to be very low. However, a very low damping involves a relatively long transient in the system response, where the classical formulation adopted for steady-state regimes do not hold. This paper presents an investigation into the design of a linear resonant harvester to scavenge energy from time-limited harmonic excitations involving a transient response, which could be more likely in some practical situations. An application is presented considering train-induced vibrations.

Compact setup for reflection holography with Bi12TiO 20 crystals

A novel optical setup for imaging through reflection holography with Bi12TiO20 (BTO) sillenite photorefractive crystals is proposed. Aiming a compact, robust and simple optical setup the lensless Denisiuk arrangement was chosen, using a He-Ne red laser as light source. In this setup the holographic medium is placed between the light source and the object. The beam impinging the crystal front face is the reference one, while the light scattered by the surface is the object beam in a holographic recording by diffusion. In order to allow the readout of the diffracted wave only and to keep the setup simplicity a polarizing beam splitter cube (PBS) was positioned at the BTO input. The reference beam is s-polarized (polarization direction perpendicular to the table top) and the crystal. 〈001〉-axis is rotated by an angle γ with respect to the input polarization in order to make the transmitted object beam and the diffracted beam to have orthogonal polarizations. While the transmitted wave is reflected by the PBS at a right angle, the diffracted wave carrying the holographic reconstruction of the object passes through the PBS, being collected by a positive lens in order to form the holographic image at a CCD camera. The holographic recording with the grating vector is parallel to the 〈100〉-axis. An expression for the diffracted wave intensity as a function of γ was derived, and this relation was experimentally investigated. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Origami: o uso como instrumento alternativo no ensino da geometria

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Os problemas clássicos da Grécia antiga

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Artemídia influente: ateliê-laboratório nas interfaces Arte, Ciência e Tecnologia

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Refuge Update – March/April 2009, Volume 6, Number 2

Table of Contents: America’s Birds: In an Alarming State Snakes Alive! Title Sub Title East Coast Wetlands Are Disappearing Chief’s Corner: What We Do Now Extreme Makeover for Bird Sightings by Mike Carlo Taking Care of Our World War II Legacy by Lisa Matlock Whatever Happened to . . . . San Francisco Bay Wetland Restoration Projects Recalling the Battle of Long Island Sound by David Klinger Bold Approaches for Climate Change How Alligator River Refuge Is Planning and Adapting by Mike Bryant Rapid Climate Change Is Transforming the Arctic by David Payer Tracking Change on Wildlife Refuges by Kathy Granillo Where SLAMM Foretells a Wetter Future Reviving the Land – and the Air by Bob Ford and Pete Jerome Connecting the Conservation Landscape a New Priority by Mike Scott and Bob Adamcik Awards for Refuge System Palmyra Atoll Refuge Becomes Ramsar Site Not So Strategic Habitat Conservation: A True Story by David Viker Putting Food on Alaskan Tables by Andy Aderman

Comparison of Video Laryngoscopy Technologies

Indirect laryngoscopy allows practitioners to “see around the corner” of a patient’s airway during intubation. Inadequate airway management is a major contributor to patient injury, morbidity and mortality. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the video quality of commercially available video laryngoscopy systems. A team of four investigators at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Peter Kiewit Institute performed intubation simulations using a number of video laryngoscopy systems. Testing was done with a Laerdal Difficult Airway Manikin (Laerdal Medical Corp., Wappingers Falls, NY) in a setting that simulated difficult airways, adverse lighting conditions and various system configurations (e.g., maximizing screen contrast, minimizing screen brightness, maximizing screen color hue, etc.).

EC44-5-116 Christmas at Wartime

Should we celebrate Christmas during war times? Why not? Does it help the heartache to sit glumly in the corner and moan? Will this help one or will it help the boy or girl in the service of his or her country? In these war times with all their bad influences and horrible happenings we need to keep up at home every type of mellowing influence and to search out all the inspirational ideals available. It's fun to make gifts. Much of the joy of Christmas comes in the anticipation and preparation. The making of gifts adds personal touch for both the giver and the one who receives the remembrance. The suggestions given in this circular have been chosen for their timeliness of materials available and usefulness. This publication was donated in the memory of Patricia Clare Bennett Meyer by her children.

The History of the German-Russian Colony in Lincoln

Standing at the corner of Tenth and O streets in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, any week-day morning between 7:30 and 8 o'clock, you may see pass by you from ten to twenty women with little black woolen shawls on their heads. Ask any citizen who they are, and ninety-nine times in one hundred he will tell you they are "Russians" who live down on the bottoms, that they are going out into the offices and homes to wash and scrub and clean house, and that their husbands are street laborers or work for the railroad. He may then grow confidential and tell you that he "has no use for these people", that "they are only half human", and that he "would just as soon see the Chinese come here as those people". As a matter of fact the greater part of his information is incorrect, partly through race prejudice but chiefly through ignorance of their history. These people, of whom there are about 4,000 in the city (Including "beet fielders"), are Germans, not Russians: they are Teutons, not Slavs; they are Lutheran and Reformed, not Greek Catholics. To be sure they and their ancestors lived in Russia for over one hundred years and they came here directly from the realm of the Czar whoso bona fide citizens they were—but they never spoke the Russian language, never embraced the Greek religion, never intermarried with the Russians, and many of their children never saw a Russian until they left their native village for the new home in America. They despise being called "Russians" just as an Italian resents "Dago"; a Jew, "Sheeny"; and a German, "Dutchman". Ask them where they came from and most of the children and not a few of the grown people will say, "Germany". If you pursue your questioning as to what part of Germany, they will tell you "Saratov" or "Samara" - two governments in the eastern part of Russia on the lower course of the Volga river. The misconceptions concerning the desirability of these German-Russians as citizens arise from their unprogressiveness as compared with those Germans who come to us directly from the mother country. During their century's sojourn in Russia they have been out of the main current of civilization, a mere eddy in the stream of progress. They present a concrete example of arrested development, The characteristics which differentiate them from other Germans are not due to an inherent lack of capacity but to different environment. Notwithstanding this, the German- Russians have some admirable qualities. They bring us large stores of physical energy and an almost unlimited capacity for work. The majority of them are literate although the amount of their education is limited. They are thrifty and independent, almost never applying for public aid. They are law abiding, their chief offenses being those which are traceable to their communal life in Russia. They are extremely religious, all their social as well as spiritual life being bound up in the church which they support right royally. To be sure, the saloon gets their vote (the prohibition vote among them is increasing); but "was not the first miracle that Christ performed the turning of water into wine? If they would shut up the shows (theaters), they wouldn't need to shut up the saloons". The object of this paper is to give the historical setting in which the German-Russians have lived as one means to a better understanding and appreciation of them by our own citizens.

Impacts of interruption of the Agulhas leakage on the tropical Atlantic in coupled ocean-atmosphere simulations

In this paper we use a coupled ocean-atmosphere model to investigate the impact of the interruption of Agulhas leakage of Indian ocean water on the tropical Atlantic, a region where strong coupled ocean-atmosphere interactions occur. The effect of a shut down of leakage of Indian ocean water is isolated from the effect of a collapse of the MOC. In our experiments, the ocean model is forced with boundary conditions in the southeastern corner of the domain that correspond to no interocean exchange of Indian ocean water into the Atlantic. The southern boundary condition is taken from the Levitus data and ensures an MOC in the Atlantic. Within this configuration, instead of warm and salty Indian ocean water temperature (cold) and salinity (fresh) anomalies of southern ocean origin propagate into the South Atlantic and eventually reach the equatorial region, mainly in the thermocline. This set up mimics the closure of the ""warm water path"" in favor of the ""cold water path"". As part of the atmospheric response, there is a northward shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). The changes in trade winds lead to reduced Ekman pumping in the equatorial region. This leads to a freshening and warming of the surface waters along the equator. Especially in the Cold Tongue region, the cold and fresh subsurface anomalies do not reach the surface due to the reduced upwelling. The anomaly signals are transported by the equatorial undercurrent and spread away from the equator within the thermocline. Part of the anomaly eventually reaches the Tropical North Atlantic, where it affects the Guinea Dome. Surprisingly, the main effect at the surface is small on the equator and relatively large at the Guinea Dome. In the atmosphere, the northward shift of the ITCZ is associated with a band of negative precipitation anomalies and higher salinities over the Tropical South Atlantic. An important implication of these results is that the modified water characteristics due to a shut down of the Agulhas leakage remain largely unaffected when crossing the equatorial Atlantic and therefore can affect the deepwater formation in the North Atlantic. This supports the hypothesis that the Agulhas leakage is an important source region for climate change and decadal variability of the Atlantic.

COMPARATIVE ANATOMICAL STUDY OF TWO SPECIES OF SEMELE FROM THAILAND (BIVALVIA: TELLINOIDEA)

An anatomical description of two semelids from Thailand is presented, based on samples from Kungkrabaen Bay, Gulf of Thailand. The species are Semele sinensis A. Adams, 1853, and S. carnicolor (Hanley, 1845), both with Indo-Pacific distributions. Morphology in these two species is typically tellinoidean, each with a long internal ligamental element (resilium), a distance between the inner fold of the mantle edge and the other two folds, long and branched gastric ducts to the digestive diverticula, and a stomach diverticulum located in the posterodorsal corner of the gastric chamber, projecting posteriorly. The main anatomical differentiation between the two species is in the character of the labial palps.

Stock of biomass and carbon in the montane mixes shade forest, Parana

The aim of this study was to estimate the stock of biomass and organic carbon in a montane mixed shade forest located near General Carneiro, PR. 20 plots of 12 m x 12 m were installed, in which all trees with a CBH (Circumference at Breast Height) >= 31.4 cm were felled. From these the following information was obtained: total height, commercial height (agreed as being the morphological inversion point in the natural forest and the height of the first live branch), CBH, identification and collection of herbarium specimens. For the quantification of biomass in the understory and roots, three subunits 1 m x 1 m in each sampling unit were installed (12 m x 12 m) arranged in the lower left corner, center and diagonal upper right corner. To quantify accumulated litter at random, eight samples in each sampling unit were collected (12 m x 12 m), using a metal device measuring 0.25 m x 0.25 m. The montane mixed shade forest has more than 85% of its total biomass and total organic carbon stored in above ground plant structures. The total stock of organic carbon found in this study (104.7 Mg ha(-1)) demonstrates the importance of maintaining and preserving natural ecosystems as a way of maintaining this stock of organic carbon fixed in plant biomass.

In-beam spectroscopy of Rn-215(86)

The yrast level structure of Rn-215 has been studied by means of in-beam spectroscopy alpha-gamma-gamma coincidence techniques through the Pb-207(O-18,2 alpha 2n) reaction at 93 MeV bombarding energy, using the 8 pi GASP-ISIS spectrometer at Legnaro. New spectroscopic information has been obtained. The deduced low-lying level scheme of Rn-215 does not exhibit the alternating parity structure observed in the heavier known isotones Fr-216, Ra-217, Ac-218, and Th-219. From this result, the lightest nucleus showing evidence for octupole collectivity is Fr-216, defining the lowest-mass corner for this kind of phenomenon as N >= 129 and Z >= 87.