Representation of transmission lines in modal domain using analytical transformation matrices

The phases of a transmission line are tightly coupled due to mutual impedances and admittances of the line. One way to accomplish the calculations of currents and voltages in multi-phase lines consists in representing them in modal domain, where its n coupled phases are represented by their n propagation modes. The separation line in their modes of propagation is through the use of a modal transformation matrix whose columns are eigenvectors associated with the parameters of the line. Usually, this matrix is achieved through numerical methods which does not allow the achievement of an analytical model for line developed directly in the phases domain. This work will show the modal transformation matrix of a hypothetical two-phase obtained with numerical and analytical procedures. It will be shown currents and voltage s at terminals of the line taking into account the use of modal transformation matrices obtained by using numerical and analytical procedures. © 2011 IEEE.

Forage mass production and grazing loss of sorghum hybrid in response to the density of the sowing and the spacing between planting lines

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate dry matter yield and loss of grazing due to animal trampling in response to sowing density and spacing between lines in the planting. Sorghum hybrid 1P400 was submitted to six treatments, composed of three sowing density combinations (12; 16 and 20 kg/ha of seeds) and two spacing between lines (0.40 and 0.80 m). Sorghum hybrid 1P400 was sowed in two seasons, at the end of spring (December 3rd, 2005) and the other at the end of summer (March 20th, 2006). Cultivation strategies influenced plant population in the two experimental seasons. Diameter of the stem in season 1 decreased with density increase, whereas in the second season, interaction between sowing density and spacing was significant. In the first season, 0.40-m spacing promoted greater losses due to grazing stepping, that is, 891 kg/ha of DM, whereas in the second season there was no statistical difference. There was no significant difference in forage dry matter yield in sowing densities among the two studied seasons. Dry mater production of sorghum hybrids 1P400 did not increase with the increase of the sowing density in the two sowing seasons, therefore it is recommended 12 kg/ha of seeds for the sowing. Sorghum IP400 cultivated in 0.80-m spacing resulted in lower forage loss caused by grazing bovine trampling. © 2011 Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia.

Production strategies for short term grow-out of the Amazon River prawn Macrobrachium amazonicum (Heller 1862) in ponds

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of stocking ponds using graded and ungraded juveniles and performing drained and combined harvesting on the production of M. amazonicum. A randomized completed-blocks design with 4 treatments (farming strategies) and 3 replicates was used. Treatments were: Upper size-graded juveniles, Lower size-graded juveniles, Ungraded juveniles, all with total drained harvesting, and Combined Harvesting (ungraded juveniles). Twelve earthen ponds were stocked at 40 juveniles.m -2, according to the treatment. After 3.5 months prawns were completely harvested. Lower size-graded prawns showed smaller average weight (3.37 ± 0.25 g) than upper size-graded (4.03 ± 0.40 g) and ungraded ones (3.80 ± 0.16 g). Survival percentage varied from 68 ± 9 to 76 ± 10, productivity was slightly higher than 1,000 kg.ha -1 and apparent feed conversion rate varied from 3.0 ± 0.7 to 3.7 ± 1.3. These parameters did not differ among the farming strategies. The best strategy for short term grow-out M. amazonicum in earthen ponds is stocking ungraded juveniles and performing total harvesting by draining ponds at the end of rearing cycle. Grading juveniles before stocking and selective-harvesting managements are not advantageous because they increase costs and do not improve any production parameter.

Mutual coupling modeling in transmission lines directly in the phase domain

This paper describes a computational model based on lumped elements for the mutual coupling between phases in three-phase transmission lines without the explicit use of modal transformation matrices. The self and mutual parameters and the coupling between phases are modeled using modal transformation techniques. The modal representation is developed from the intrinsic consideration of the modal transformation matrix and the resulting system of time-domain differential equations is described as state equations. Thus, a detailed profile of the currents and the voltages through the line can be easily calculated using numerical or analytical integration methods. However, the original contribution of the article is the proposal of a time-domain model without the successive phase/mode transformations and a practical implementation based on conventional electrical circuits, without the use of electromagnetic theory to model the coupling between phases. © 2011 IEEE.

Characterization and fatty acids profile of the oils from Amazon nuts and walnuts: Characterization and fatty acids profile of the oilseeds

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to characterize oils extracted from Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythis pisonis, Dipteryx lacunifera, Carya illinoensis and Juglans regia, regarding their characterization and fatty acid profile. Design/methodology/approach: The oils were extracted from oilseeds by cold pressing and physico-chemical characterization was performed by using standard methods for oils and fats. The oxidative stability and fatty acid profile also were determined. Findings: According to the results, the physico-chemical properties of oils from nuts and walnuts were comparable to those of good quality conventional oils. The oil seeds are a good source of unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic and linoleic acids. Research limitations/implications: Implies the identification of fatty acid profile and physico-chemical properties of oils extracted from nuts and walnuts, and to prevent certain types of diseases. Originality/value: The paper identifies a new source of essential fatty acids extracted from oilseeds. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

A semi-automatic method for indirect orientation of aerial images using ground control lines extracted from airborne laser scanner data

This paper presents a method for indirect orientation of aerial images using ground control lines extracted from airborne Laser system (ALS) data. This data integration strategy has shown good potential in the automation of photogrammetric tasks, including the indirect orientation of images. The most important characteristic of the proposed approach is that the exterior orientation parameters (EOP) of a single or multiple images can be automatically computed with a space resection procedure from data derived from different sensors. The suggested method works as follows. Firstly, the straight lines are automatically extracted in the digital aerial image (s) and in the intensity image derived from an ALS data-set (S). Then, correspondence between s and S is automatically determined. A line-based coplanarity model that establishes the relationship between straight lines in the object and in the image space is used to estimate the EOP with the iterated extended Kalman filtering (IEKF). Implementation and testing of the method have employed data from different sensors. Experiments were conducted to assess the proposed method and the results obtained showed that the estimation of the EOP is function of ALS positional accuracy.

Recovery of degraded areas using topsoil in the Amazon rainforest

This study is aimed at evaluating the effect of placing the top soil cover areas, such as tailings degraded by tin mining, in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The evaluations of the planting sites occurred in areas where tin mining was carried out, basically planting native trees over a period of seven years. This work did not come from a pre-decreed methodology of experimental design, and data was collected only seven years after planting. Thus, it was not possible to identify all variables that contributed to a better recovery of the areas. Sampling was done about seven years after placing the top soil and is determined: pH, organic matter content, P, K, Ca, Mg, Al, cation exchange capacity (T), base saturation (V%), B, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn. The native forest species existing at the site were evaluated in relation to height (in meters) and diameter of the base. For all sites where the surface layer of soil was applied, there were significant differences in the growth of native species. A fundamental aspect in the rehabilitation of areas degraded by mining, in general, is the knowledge about the soil where that recovery must be conducted. The specific procedures in the rehabilitation of those areas depend essentially on the physical, chemical, biological and mineralogical properties of the soil, which must present conditions for the adequate development of the plants. The initial idea of implanting a project of recovery of soils degraded by mining in the Amazon Forest emerged from a first visit to the field, carried out in 1998. The conditions of the already mined areas, in comparison to the exuberant forest of the surroundings caught our attention. The mining company that acts in the area had already been trying for some time to implant a plan of recovery of these mining areas, however without reaching any significant positive results. The loss of organic matter is one of the main problems of degraded areas in Brazil. The storage and reuse of a blanket of soil (topsoil) produce excellent results, but most of the miners consider this technique expensive and difficult because of operational costs and the sharp topographical condition of the mine site. Therefore, a research project was elaborated prioritizing the recovery of the soil degraded by the tin mining as a prior step to the recovery activities with native forest species. The formation of a superficial pseudo-horizon that supported the vegetation and the time that it would take for its establishment became the main objective of this research. The objective of this work is to verify the levels of elements and their traces in areas where top soils were applied for the remediation of degraded areas with local re-vegetation. © 2011 WIT Press.

Tjon Lines and Scaling Limit in Four-Body Systems

The fixed-slope correlation between tetramer and trimer binding energies, observed by Tjon in the context of nuclear physics, is mainly a manifestation of the dominance of the two-nucleon force in the nuclear potential, which makes the four-body scale on the order of the three-body one. In a more general four-boson case, the correlation between tetramer and trimer binding energies has a non-fixed slope, which expresses the dependence on the new scale. The associated scaling function generates a family of Tjon lines. This conclusion relies on a recent study with weakly-bound four identical bosons, within a renormalized zero-range Faddeev-Yakubovsky formalism. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Redescription of Astyanax multidens eigenmann, 1908 (Characiformes: Characidae), a small characid of the Brazilian Amazon

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

Babesia bovis infection in cattle in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon

The present study provides the first epidemiological data on infection with Babesia bovis in cattle raised in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Blood clot samples were filtered through nylon cloth before being submitted to DNA extraction. PCR and nested-PCR were applied to assess the frequency of infection with B. bovis in calves with ages from 4 to 12 months bred in 4 microregions each in the states of Rondônia and Acre. After the DNA was extracted from the samples, the infection in cattle was investigated by amplification of the rap1 gene from B. bovis. The DNA amplification results revealed a frequency of infection with B. bovis of 95.1% (272/286) in the samples from Rondônia and 96.1% (195/203) in those from Acre. The high frequency of B. bovis infection in the animals with ages from 4 to 12 months indicates a situation of enzootic stability in the regions studied. The infection rates are comparable to those detected by immunodiagnostic techniques in other endemic regions of Brazil. © 2012 Elsevier GmbH.

Helminths of lizards from the municipality of Aripuanã in the southern Amazon region of Brazil

Ninety-five specimens from 13 species of lizard collected during a herpetofaunal monitoring programme of the Faxinal II power plant, municipality of Aripuanã, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil (southern Amazon region) were examined for helminths. A total of 21 helminth species (16 Nematoda, 1 Cestoda and 4 Trematoda) were recovered, with an overall prevalence of 67.37%. Seventeen new host records and seven new locality records are reported. A low number of specialists and core helminth species were found. Lizard body size was positively correlated with both the total number of helminth species and individuals. Active foragers exhibited higher helminth diversity. However, sit-and-wait foragers, especially Plica plica, had similar diversity values as active foragers and harboured more helminth species. The degree of similarity in helminth fauna was higher among closely related host species. Copyright © 2011 Cambridge University Press.

Morphological and Genomic Differences Between Cutting and Racing Lines of Quarter Horses

To investigate morphological and genomic differences between cutting and racing lines of Quarter Horses, 120 racing and 68 cutting animals of both sexes, registered at the Brazilian Association of Quarter Horse Breeders, were used. Blood samples were collected, and the following physical traits were measured: weight; height at withers; body length; length of the shank, pastern, rump, head, and neck; and chest, shank, and hoof circumference. For analysis of genomic differences, 54,602 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped using the Equine SNP50 BeadChip, and the quality of individual and SNP genotype data were evaluated. The fixation index, FST, was used to identify genome regions that were altered in the lines by selection. The results showed significant differences between the lines in all physical traits. Quality control led to the exclusion of four cutting animals with a call rate of <0.95. After filtering, 12,544, 13,815, and 13,370 SNPs were excluded for the whole population (n = 184), the 120 racing animals, and the 64 cutting animals, respectively. The number of informative polymorphisms detected in each line and in the whole population indicated that the Equine SNP50 BeadChip can be used in genetic studies of Quarter Horses. The fixation index, FST, identified 2,558 genome regions that may have been modified by divergent selection. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Hemiodus iratapuru, a new species of Hemiodontidae from the Rio Jari, Amazon Basin, Brazil (Teleostei, Characiformes)

Hemiodus iratapuru, a new species of the Hemiodontidae from the Rio Iratapuru, a left bank tributary of the Rio Jari, Amazon Basin, Brazil, is described. The new species is diagnosed from other species of Hemiodus by modifications in the ectopterygoid, tooth form, scale counts, dorsal-fin form and colour pattern. The new species is proposed to be related to the Hemiodus quadrimaculatus species group. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology © 2013 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.