Determining flooded areas using crowd sensing data and weather radar precipitation : a case study in Brazil

Crowd sensing data (also known as crowdsourcing) are of great significance to support flood risk management. With the growing volume of available data in the past few years, researchers have used in situ sensor data to filter and prioritize volunteers’ information. Nevertheless, stationary, in situ sensors are only capable of monitoring a limited region, and this could hamper proper decision-making. This study investigates the use of weather radar precipitation to support the processing of crowd sensing data with the goal of improving situation awareness in a disaster and early warnings (e.g., floods). Results from a case study carried out in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, demonstrate that weather radar data are able to validate flooded areas identified from clusters of crowd sensing data. In this manner, crowd sensing and weather radar data together can not only help engage citizens, but also generate high-quality data at finer spatial and temporal resolutions to improve the decision-making related to weather-related disaster events

Selection of sugarcane families and parents by Reml/Blup.

Were evaluated 113 full-sib families obtained by unbalanced diallel matings in three experiments in an augmented block design (ABD) planted side by side in the same area. The individual and joint analyses of the experiments were performed by the Reml/Blup method. The use of the ABD without replication did not prove adequate in experiments of family selection owing to the low heritability estimate at the level of family means in comparison to the joint analysis of the three experiments. The results presented predominance of the additive effects for all evaluated traits: number of stalks, tons of stalks per hectare and mean stalk weight. The components of estimated means via Blup allowed the selection of families and superior parents

Desenvolvimento de parâmetros de vegetação para as grandes e pequenas culturas usando os modelos SWAT e APEX em estudos nos Biomas brasileiros (CAPES PVE A103/2013).

O objetivo desta proposta é aproveitar o conhecimento técnico existente no Brasil para expandir a capacidade cientifica ao uso de novas ferramentas para modelagem ambiental, tais como o SWAT e APEX, com isso ampliar e refinar os conhecimentos dos biomas brasileiros e suas principais culturas agrícolas, buscando assim o entendimento da ligação entre o uso da terra e a uso dos recursos hídricos na região

Hydrologic and hydraulic simulations for use in macrodrainage designs for gully management and recovery.

Runoff on susceptible terrains that is not associated with adequate drainage causes soil erosion, as gullies. Gullies and drainage continue to be major issues in reclamation projetcs since soil erosion can be reactivated after the application of recovery measures. This paper describes a low-cost project framework for macrodrainage for a gully in Nazareno (MG, Brazil) to provide support to gully management and recovery. We used a simple methodology with the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and cocentrated hydrologic and hydraulic models (freely available softwares). Tha basin has steep slopes (8 to 20%) and the water flows mainly to the northwest, wich contribute to exarcerbate erosion problems. We studied the effect to environmental conditions odf different simulations to elaborate a drainage system project using the free software tools. Therefore, the findings of this paper can aid gully management and recovery for this and other areas with similar issues.Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-20T00:18:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 26379.pdf: 2194251 bytes, checksum: e6f25c1eb4c8883d5d1177ebb8113ae0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-1

Selection of sugarcane families and parents by Reml/Blup.

Were evaluated 113 full-sib families obtained by unbalanced diallel matings in three experiments in an augmented block design (ABD) planted side by side in the same area. The individual and joint analyses of the experiments were performed by the Reml/Blup method. The use of the ABD without replication did not prove adequate in experiments of family selection owing to the low heritability estimate at the level of family means in comparison to the joint analysis of the three experiments. The results presented predominance of the additive effects for all evaluated traits: number of stalks, tons of stalks per hectare and mean stalk weight. The components of estimated means via Blup allowed the selection of families and superior parents.Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-27T04:14:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1799SelectionofsugarcanefamiliesandparentsbyRemlBlup.pdf: 316369 bytes, checksum: d2575c4c6f69cec0abd8c832600b57a8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-25200

Estudo da estabilidade química da magnetita utilizada como adsorvedor na remoção de compostos orgânicos de soluções Study of the chemical stability of the magnetite used as adsorber to remove organic compounds from solutions

Um resíduo siderúrgico composto predominantemente por magnetita (Fe3O4) finamente dividida foi empregado como material adsorvedor não convencional na adsorção e fixação de compostos corantes orgânicos tóxicos. Estudos preliminares indicaram que a magnetita quando utilizada em meio ácido (pH<3) sob agitação contínua pode apresentar diversos graus de desagregação e de solubilização. Este efeito é indesejável em sistemas adsortivos porque representa redução na porcentagem de remoção de composto tóxico orgânico e possível aumento de contaminação por produtos de dissolução e de desagregação da magnetita. Soluções de metasilicato de sódio, sulfato de ferro e hidróxido de sódio foram empregadas nos processos de estabilização de quatro frações granulométricas da magnetita usadas como adsorvedor não convencional em meio ácido. Os resultados obtidos permitiram concluir que o tratamento com metasilicato de sódio das frações de magnetita resulta em redução de 1% nos valores de remoção de composto tóxico corante da solução (de 98% para a fração sem tratamento para 97% para a fração com tratamento com metasilicato) e redução nos valores de constante de velocidade de adsorção (k ab) de 30.10-3 mg.g-1.min-1 para 10.10-3 mg.g-1.min-1. Embora tenha sido observada redução na capacidade adsortiva das frações tratadas e na velocidade de adsorção, este efeito foi considerado aceitável comparando-se o aumento da estabilidade química e redução nos valores de perda de massa em 46%. Analisando-se as isotermas obtidas para as frações #30 com e sem tratamento, pode-se confirmar que o tratamento com metasilicato promoveu um processo de adsorção mais favorável, com menor interferência dos processos de dissolução, de desagregação e maior correspondência com o modelo de Freundlich.<br>Metallurgical waste, mainly composed of magnetite (Fe3O4) with low particle size, was used as non-conventional adsorber to fix and remove toxic organic compounds from aqueous solutions. Previous studies indicated that magnetite used in acidic solutions under continuous stirring could have some desagregation and dissolution processes. This effect was considered undesirable on adsorption processes because it represents the reduction of the adsorption capacity and another source of iron for environmental contamination. Solutions of sodium metasilicate, iron sulfate and sodium hydroxide were used, trying to improve the chemical stability of the magnetite granulometric fractions to be applied as adsorbers in acid solutions. The experimental results allow to conclude that the treatment with sodium metasilicate results on better adsorption properties, in spite of the reduction of the removal percentage of the organic compound in 1% (from 98% without treatment to 97% with sodium metasilicate) and the reduction on the adsorption velocity (from 30.10-3 mg.g-1.min-1 to 10.10-3 mg.g-1.min-1). The magnetite fraction treated with metasilicate shows enhancement on chemical stability with the reduction of weight loss, desegregation and dissolution processes (46%); in the analysis of the isotherm curves obtained for #30 treated fraction and #30 fraction without treatment, the treated fraction shows lower interference of the dissolution and desagregation processes and better correspondence with the Freundlich adsorption model