Extração semi-automática de rodovias no espaço-objeto: uso integrado de um estéreo par de imagens aéreas e um MDT

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Extração semi-automática do eixo de rodovia em imagens de média e alta resolução usando programação dinâmica

Pós-graduação em Ciências Cartográficas - FCT

Um estudo global de campos de vetores planares

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

A cultura ribeirinha entre o saber local e o saber global numa visão etnomatemática

Esta dissertação é o resultado de uma pesquisa que teve como objetivo analisar como um grupo de ribeirinhos, moradores da ilha João Pilatos (Ananindeua - PA), relaciona os conhecimentos ministrados no curso de formação para empreendedores rurais com os conhecimentos que possui da tradição ribeirinha e, em especial, os conhecimentos matemáticos. A parte empírica dessa pesquisa aconteceu em dois lugares e em momentos diferentes: o primeiro deles ocorreu na ilha João Pilatos, onde foram coletadas informações sobre o histórico das comunidades existentes na ilha, sobre os afazeres do cotidiano e sobre as práticas de pesca, de plantio, de coleta na floresta, de preparação do carvão e sobre a comercialização desses produtos. Nesse momento, os únicos recursos utilizados foram caderno e caneta para anotações e a técnica da escuta e do diálogo. O segundo momento ocorreu no curso de formação para empreendedores rurais ministrado pelo SENAR (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Rural). Nesse local, minha participação no grupo estava restrita a escutar e olhar os gestos e expressões faciais de todos os presentes. Em função disso, a observação seguida de anotações foram as técnicas utilizadas durante esse período. Após o curso, foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os sujeitos dessa pesquisa com o objetivo de complementar as anotações feitas durante o curso. A Sociologia e a Etnomatemática foram as bases teóricas utilizadas na organização e análise das informações de campo. No campo da sociologia, busquei Antony Giddens, Renato Ortiz e Georges Balandier para analisar o fenômeno da globalização econômica e social sobre a cultura ribeirinha e Berger & Luckmann com a sua teoria "A construção social da realidade" para analisar o cotidiano e a produção de conhecimento na vida cotidiana. No campo da Etnomatemática, utilizei a Etnomatemática numa abordagem D'Ambrosiana e as pesquisas da área. Ao final das análises, no que diz respeito à matemática, percebi que ter domínio sobre os cálculos e fórmulas dessa área do conhecimento não era condição suficiente para que os sujeitos da pesquisa alcançassem o objetivo do curso, uma vez que tanto para os empreendedores quanto para os ribeirinhos a matemática era uma forma de ver e explicar o mundo que tinha significados específicos de cada contexto. A partir desse conflito cultural, é possível indicar que os sujeitos da pesquisa atingiriam o objetivo do curso e estabeleceriam o maior número de relações entre a matemática escolar e os saberes da tradição se a matemática estudada, no curso, fosse ressignificada no contexto ribeirinho. Como consequência da primeira análise, também é possível concluir que, mediante a concepção atualmente existente no ambiente escolar que separa e não apenas distingue os valores culturais, que considera a produção de conhecimentos proveniente apenas de ambientes acadêmicos científicos e que esses tipos de conhecimentos devem ser socializados de forma disciplinar, as possibilidades de um maior número de relações entre os saberes da tradição cultural e da tradição científica têm mais chances de ocorrer em ambientes não escolares.

Orientação semi-automática de uma sequência de pares de imagens frontais por fototriangulação a partir de fotocoordenadas extraídas pelo SIFT

Pós-graduação em Ciências Cartográficas - FCT

WIMP and SIMP dark matter from the spontaneous breaking of a global group

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

Contribution to assessing the stiffness reduction of structural elements in the global stability analysis of precast concrete multi-storey buildings

This study deals with the reduction of the stiffness in precast concrete structural elements of multi-storey buildings to analyze global stability. Having reviewed the technical literature, this paper present indications of stiffness reduction in different codes, standards, and recommendations and compare these to the values found in the present study. The structural model analyzed in this study was constructed with finite elements using ANSYS® software. Physical Non-Linearity (PNL) was considered in relation to the diagrams M x N x 1/r, and Geometric Non-Linearity (GNL) was calculated following the Newton-Raphson method. Using a typical precast concrete structure with multiple floors and a semi-rigid beam-to-column connection, expressions for a stiffness reduction coefficient are presented. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: the reduction coefficients obtained from the diagram M x N x 1/r differ from standards that use a simplified consideration of PNL; the stiffness reduction coefficient for columns in the arrangements analyzed were approximately 0.5 to 0.6; and the variation of values found for stiffness reduction coefficient in concrete beams, which were subjected to the effects of creep with linear coefficients from 0 to 3, ranged from 0.45 to 0.2 for positive bending moments and 0.3 to 0.2 for negative bending moments.

Soil biogenic emissions of nitric oxide from arid and semi-arid ecosystems

The biogenic production of NO in the soil accounts for between 10% and 40% of the global total. A large degree of the uncertainty in the estimation of the biogenic emissions stems from a shortage of measurements in arid regions, which comprise 40% of the earth’s land surface area. This study examined the emission of NO from three ecosystems in southern Africa which cover an aridity gradient from semi-arid savannas in South Africa to the hyper-arid Namib Desert in Namibia. A laboratory method was used to determine the release of NO as a function of the soil moisture and the soil temperature. Various methods were used to up-scale the net potential NO emissions determined in the laboratory to the vegetation patch, landscape or regional level. The importance of landscape, vegetation and climatic characteristics is emphasized. The first study occurred in a semi-arid savanna region in South Africa, where soils were sampled from 4 landscape positions in the Kruger National Park. The maximum NO emission occurred at soil moisture contents of 10%-20% water filled pore space (WFPS). The highest net potential NO emissions came from the low lying landscape positions, which have the largest nitrogen (N) stocks and the largest input of N. Net potential NO fluxes obtained in the laboratory were converted in field fluxes for the period 2003-2005, for the four landscape positions, using soil moisture and temperature data obtained in situ at the Kruger National Park Flux Tower Site. The NO emissions ranged from 1.5-8.5 kg ha-1 a-1. The field fluxes were up-scaled to a regional basis using geographic information system (GIS) based techniques, this indicated that the highest NO emissions occurred from the Midslope positions due to their large geographical extent in the research area. Total emissions ranged from 20x103 kg in 2004 to 34x103 kg in 2003 for the 56000 ha Skukuza land type. The second study occurred in an arid savanna ecosystem in the Kalahari, Botswana. In this study I collected soils from four differing vegetation patch types including: Pan, Annual Grassland, Perennial Grassland and Bush Encroached patches. The maximum net potential NO fluxes ranged from 0.27 ng m-2 s-1 in the Pan patches to 2.95 ng m-2 s-1 in the Perennial Grassland patches. The net potential NO emissions were up-scaled for the year December 2005-November 2006. This was done using 1) the net potential NO emissions determined in the laboratory, 2) the vegetation patch distribution obtained from LANDSAT NDVI measurements 3) estimated soil moisture contents obtained from ENVISAT ASAR measurements and 4) soil surface temperature measurements using MODIS 8 day land surface temperature measurements. This up-scaling procedure gave NO fluxes which ranged from 1.8 g ha-1 month-1 in the winter months (June and July) to 323 g ha-1 month-1 in the summer months (January-March). Differences occurred between the vegetation patches where the highest NO fluxes occurred in the Perennial Grassland patches and the lowest in the Pan patches. Over the course of the year the mean up-scaled NO emission for the studied region was 0.54 kg ha-1 a-1 and accounts for a loss of approximately 7.4% of the estimated N input to the region. The third study occurred in the hyper-arid Namib Desert in Namibia. Soils were sampled from three ecosystems; Dunes, Gravel Plains and the Riparian zone of the Kuiseb River. The net potential NO flux measured in the laboratory was used to estimate the NO flux for the Namib Desert for 2006 using modelled soil moisture and temperature data from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational model on a 36km x 35km spatial resolution. The maximum net potential NO production occurred at low soil moisture contents (<10%WFPS) and the optimal temperature was 25°C in the Dune and Riparian ecosystems and 35°C in the Gravel Plain Ecosystems. The maximum net potential NO fluxes ranged from 3.0 ng m-2 s-1 in the Riparian ecosystem to 6.2 ng m-2 s-1 in the Gravel Plains ecosystem. Up-scaling the net potential NO flux gave NO fluxes of up to 0.062 kg ha-1 a-1 in the Dune ecosystem and 0.544 kg h-1 a-1 in the Gravel Plain ecosystem. From these studies it is shown that NO is emitted ubiquitously from terrestrial ecosystems, as such the NO emission potential from deserts and scrublands should be taken into account in the global NO models. The emission of NO is influenced by various factors such as landscape, vegetation and climate. This study looks at the potential emissions from certain arid and semi-arid environments in southern Africa and other parts of the world and discusses some of the important factors controlling the emission of NO from the soil.

Global and regional sea level variations in the recent past and future: insight from observations and modeling

This work is focused on the analysis of sea–level change (last century), based mainly on instrumental observations. During this period, individual components of sea–level change are investigated, both at global and regional scales. Some of the geophysical processes responsible for current sea-level change such as glacial isostatic adjustments and current melting terrestrial ice sources, have been modeled and compared with observations. A new value of global mean sea level change based of tide gauges observations has been independently assessed in 1.5 mm/year, using corrections for glacial isostatic adjustment obtained with different models as a criterion for the tide gauge selection. The long wavelength spatial variability of the main components of sea–level change has been investigated by means of traditional and new spectral methods. Complex non–linear trends and abrupt sea–level variations shown by tide gauges records have been addressed applying different approaches to regional case studies. The Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition technique has been used to analyse tide gauges records from the Adriatic Sea to ascertain the existence of cyclic sea-level variations. An Early Warning approach have been adopted to detect tipping points in sea–level records of North East Pacific and their relationship with oceanic modes. Global sea–level projections to year 2100 have been obtained by a semi-empirical approach based on the artificial neural network method. In addition, a model-based approach has been applied to the case of the Mediterranean Sea, obtaining sea-level projection to year 2050.

Toward a Global Organic Culture: Ethnographic Perspectives on Wwoofing Practices in Peru and New Zealand

In this thesis, I explore the meaning behind sustainable living among organic farmers and their families in two countries. It is based on original, ethnographic research that I conducted in New Zealand in fall 2012 and Peru in summer 2012 with support from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Meerwarth Undergraduate Research Fund. In carrying out my research I relied on participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and writing ethnographic fieldnotes. Drawing on contemporary scholarship in the anthropology of food and the environment, my thesis contributes to cross-culturally understandings of sustainability and local and global foodways. Specifically, I will interpret the meaning and significance of my informants’ decision to live sustainably through their participation in wwoofing. The global network of wwoofing aims to connect volunteers interested in learning about organic farming techniques with farmers looking for labor assistance. Volunteers exchange work for food, accommodation, knowledge, and experience. As a method of farming and a subjective ideological orientation, this global movement allows travelers from all over the world to experience organic lifestyles worldwide. In my thesis, I connect my experiences of organic living in Peru and New Zealand. In comparing wwoofing practices in these two field sites, I argue that despite observable differences in organic practices, a global organic culture is emerging. Here I highlight some shared features of this global organic culture, such as food authenticity, sustainability of the earth, and a personal connection of individuals to the land. The global organic culture emphasizes a conscious awareness of what is going into one’s body and why. Using food as an expression of values and beliefs, organic farmers reconnect to the land and their food in attempts to construct an alternative identity. By focusing on food authenticity, my informants develop vast relationships with the land, which shapes their identity and creates new forms of self-enhancement.

Droughts and famines: The underlying factors and the causal links among agro-pastoral households in semi-arid Makueni district, Kenya

Famines are often linked to drought in semi-arid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa where not only pastoralists, but also increasingly agro-pastoralists are affected. This study addresses the interplay between drought and famine in the rural semi-arid areas of Makueni district, Kenya, by examining whether, and how crop production conditions and agro-pastoral strategies predispose smallholder households to drought-triggered food insecurity. If this hypothesis holds, then approaches to deal with drought and famine have to target factors causing household food insecurity during non-drought periods. Data from a longitudinal survey of 127 households, interviews, workshops, and daily rainfall records (1961–2003) were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. This integrated approach confirms the above hypothesis and reveals that factors other than rainfall, like asset and labour constraints, inadequate policy enforcement, as well as the poverty-driven inability to adopt risk-averse production systems play a key role. When linking these factors to the high rainfall variability, farmer-relevant definitions and forecasts of drought have to be applied.

The Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida exoproteome: global analysis, moonlighting proteins and putative antigens for vaccination against furunculosis

BACKGROUND Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida, the etiologic agent of furunculosis, is a major pathogen of fisheries worldwide. Despite the identification of several virulence factors the pathogenesis is still poorly understood. We have used high-throughput proteomics to display the differences between in vitro secretome of A. salmonicida wild-type (wt, hypervirulent, JF5054) and T3SS-deficient (isogenic ΔascV, extremely low-virulent, JF2747) strains in exponential (GP) and stationary (SP) phases of growth. RESULTS Among the different experimental conditions we obtained semi-quantitative values for a total of 2136 A. salmonicida proteins. Proteins of specific A. salmonicida species were proportionally less detected than proteins common to the Aeromonas genus or those shared with other Aeromonas species, suggesting that in vitro growth did not induce the expression of these genes. Four detected proteins which are unidentified in the genome of reference strains of A. salmonicida were homologous to components of the conjugative T4SS of A. hydrophila pRA1 plasmid. Polypeptides of three proteins which are specific to the 01-B526 strain were also discovered. In supernatants (SNs), the number of detected proteins was higher in SP (326 for wt vs 329 for mutant) than in GP (275 for wt vs 263 for mutant). In pellets, the number of identified proteins (a total of 1536) was approximately the same between GP and SP. Numerous highly conserved cytoplasmic proteins were present in A. salmonicida SNs (mainly EF-Tu, EF-G, EF-P, EF-Ts, TypA, AlaS, ribosomal proteins, HtpG, DnaK, peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases, GAPDH, Enolase, FbaA, TpiA, Pgk, TktA, AckA, AcnB, Mdh, AhpC, Tpx, SodB and PNPase), and several evidences support the theory that their extracellular localization was not the result of cell lysis. According to the Cluster of Orthologous Groups classification, 29% of excreted proteins in A. salmonicida SNs were currently poorly characterized. CONCLUSIONS In this part of our work we elucidated the whole in vitro exoproteome of hypervirulent A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida and showed the secretion of several highly conserved cytoplasmic proteins with putative moonlighting functions and roles in virulence. All together, our results offer new information about the pathogenesis of furunculosis and point out potential candidates for vaccine development.

Impact of Earth radiation pressure on LAGEOS orbits and on the global scale

The indirect solar radiation pressure caused by reflected or re-emitted radiation by the Earth’s surface is an important non-gravitational force perturbing the orbits of geodetic satellites (Rubincam and Weiss, 1986; Martin and Rubincam, 1996). In the case of LAGEOS this acceleration is of the order of 15% of the direct solar radiation pressure. Therefore, Earth radiation pressure has a non-negligible impact not only on LAGEOS orbits, but also on the SLR-derived terrestrial reference frame. We investigate the impact of the Earth radiation pressure on LAGEOS orbits and on the SLR-derived parameters. Earth radiation pressure has a remarkable impact on the semi-major axes of the LAGEOS satellites, causing a systematic reduction of 1.5 mm. The infrared Earth radiation causes a reduction of about 1.0 mm and the Earth’s reflectivity of 0.5 mm of the LAGEOS’ semi-major axes. The global scale defined by the SLR network is changed by 0.07 ppb, when applying Earth radiation pressure. The resulting station heights differ by 0.5-0.6 mm in the solution with and without Earth radiation pressure. However, when range biases are estimated, the height differences are absorbed by the range biases, and thus, the station heights are not shifted.

Plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality peak at intermediate levels of woody cover in global drylands

Aim The global spread of woody plants into grasslands is predicted to increase over the coming century. While there is general agreement regarding the anthropogenic causes of this phenomenon, its ecological consequences are less certain. We analysed how woody vegetation of differing cover affects plant diversity (richness and evenness) and the surrogates of multiple ecosystem processes (multifunctionality) in global drylands, and how these change with aridity. Location Two hundred and twenty-four dryland sites from all continents except Antarctica, widely differing in their environmental conditions (from arid to dry-subhumid sites) and relative woody cover (from 0 to 100). Methods Using a standardized field survey, we measured the cover, richness and evenness of perennial vegetation. At each site, we measured 14 soil variables related to fertility and the build-up of nutrient pools. These variables are critical for maintaining ecosystem functioning in drylands. Results Species richness and ecosystem multifunctionality were strongly related to woody vegetation, with both variables peaking at a relative woody cover (RWC) of 41–60. This relationship shifted with aridity. We observed linear positive effects of RWC in dry-subhumid sites. These positive trends shifted to hump-shaped RWC–diversity and multifunctionality relationships under semi-arid environments. Finally, hump-shaped (richness, evenness) or linear negative (multifunctionality) effects of RWC were found under the most arid conditions. Main conclusions Plant diversity and multifunctionality peaked at intermediate levels of woody cover, although this relationship became increasingly positive in wetter environments. This comprehensive study accounts for multiple ecosystem attributes across a range of levels of woody cover and environmental conditions. Our results help us to reconcile contrasting views of woody encroachment found in the current literature and can be used to improve predictions of the likely effects of encroachment on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Dimensions of Global Change in African Mountains: The Example of Mount Kenya

This paper discusses the effects of global change in African mountains, with the example of Mount Kenya. The geographical focus is the northwestern, semi-arid foot zone of the mountain (Laikipia District). Over the past 50 years, this area has experienced rapid and profound transformation, the respective processes of which are all linked to global change. The main driving forces behind these processes have been political and economic in nature. To these an environmental change factor has been added in recent years – climate change. After introducing the area of research, the paper presents three dimensions of global change that are manifested in the region and largely shape its development: Socio-political change, economic change, environmental change. For the regions northwest of Mount Kenya, climate models predict important changes in rainfall distribution that will have a profound impact on freshwater availability and management. The results presented here are based on research undertaken northwest of Mount Kenya within the framework of a series of long-term Kenyan-Swiss research programmes that began in the early 1980s.