Assessing texture pattern in slum across scales: an unsupervised approach

According to the Global Report on Human Settlements (United Nations, 2003), almost 1 billion people (32% of the world ’s population) live in squatter settlements or slums. Recently, the perception of these settlements has changed, from harmful tumours which would spread around sickly and unhealthy cities, to a new perspective that interpret them as social expressions of more complex urban dynamics. However, considering a report from UNCHS - United Nations Center for Human Settlements, in relation to illegal and disordered urbanisation issue, some of the main challenges faced by cities are related to mapping and registering geographic information and social data spatial analysis. In this context, we present, in this paper, preliminary results from a study that aims to interpret city from the perspective of urban texture, using for this purpose, high resolution remote sensing images. We have developed analytic experiments of "urban tissue" samples, trying to identify texture patterns which could (or could not) represent distinct levels of urban poverty associated to spatial patterns. Such analysis are based on some complex theory concepts and tools, such as fractal dimension and lacunarity. Preliminary results seems to suggest that the urban tissue is fractal by nature, and from the distinct texture patterns it is possible to relate social pattern to spatial configuration, making possible the development of methodologies and computational tools which could generate, via satellite, alternative and complementary mapping and classifications for urban poverty

Cost optimization of singly and doubly reinforced concrete beams with EC2-2001

A model for the optimal design of rectangular reinforced concrete sections is presented considering the stress–strain diagrams described in EC2-2001 and MC90. The following expressions are developed: economic bending moment; optimal area of steel and optimal steel ratio between upper and lower steel. All the expressions are in nondimensional form. The present model is applied to four different classes of concrete described in MC90. It is concluded that in nondimensional form the equations are nearly coincident for both singly and doubly reinforcement. It is also concluded that the ultimate strain for concrete in the compression zone, ecm, lies between the strain for peak stress ec1 and the ultimate strain ecu. This result is relevant once that the maximum moment is obtained for this value, and not the value ecu, as defined in EC2-2001. Cost optimization is implemented in the code and compared with other optimum models based on the ultimate design of ACI

Key Issues in Aquatic Ecotoxicology in Brazil: A Critical Review

Several studies have been questioning and encouraging paradigms shift in ecotoxicology so it can better integrate ecological aspects. In tropical countries, like Brazil, it is still a developing issue. The present study aimed to evaluate the use of Aquatic Ecotoxicology in Brazil based on the following key issues: the criteria for test organism selection; the most used species, routes, types of exposures and endpoints, and; the importance given to multispecies and in situ tests. A total of 227 publications authored by Brazilian researchers were analyzed and it was observed that among the reasons for test organism selection, its origin (native species) was the most used. However, 48% of the reviewed studies did not report the reasons for species selection. Among the most used species are respectively: Daphnia magna, Daphnia similis, and Danio rerio. In situ assays, as well as multispecies test, represented less than 5% of all publications. Acute laboratory toxicity tests, using water as route of exposure evaluating mortality as endpoint were the most frequent tests. The present work identified that (i) the majority of assays used standardized tests with exotic species; (ii) few in situ methods were developed; (iii) few studies used sediment as route of exposure, and (iv) few methods were developed at higher levels of biological organization. Thus, the results of this work suggest that there is a need for more ecologically relevant tests, such as multispecies and in situ tests in Brazil.Key Words: Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Critical Review, Key Issues, Paradigms, Tropical Countries, Brazil

Disorder-induced double resonant Raman process in graphene

An analytical study is presented of the double resonant Raman scattering process in graphene, responsible for the D and D$^{\prime}$ features in the Raman spectra. This work yields analytical expressions for the D and D$^{\prime}$ integrated Raman intensities that explicitly show the dependencies on laser energy, defect concentration, and electronic lifetime. Good agreement is obtained between the analytical results and experimental measurements on samples with increasing defect concentrations and at various laser excitation energies. The use of Raman spectroscopy to identify the nature of defects is discussed. Comparison between the models for the edge-induced and the disorder-induced D band intensity suggests that edges or grain boundaries can be distinguished from disorder by the different dependence of their Raman intensity on laser excitation energy. Similarly, the type of disorder can potentially be identified not only by the intensity ratio $I_{\mathrm{D}}/I_{\mathrm{D}^{\prime}}$, but also by its laser energy dependence. Also discussed is a quantitative analysis of quantum interference effects of the graphene wavefunctions, which determine the most important phonon wavevectors and scattering processes responsible for the D and D$^{\prime}$ bands.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

On the r−r-stability of spacelike hypersurfaces

In this paper we study the strong stability of spacelike hypersurfaces with constant $r$-th mean curvature in Generalized Robertson-Walker spacetimes of constant sectional curvature. In particular, we treat the case in which the ambient spacetime is the de Sitter space

A kinetic model for hydrolysis of whey proteins by cardosin a extracted from Cynara Cardunculus

The enzymatic hydrolysis of the major whey proteins, namely b-lactoglobulin (b-Lg) and a-lactalbumin (a-La), was experimentally studied using whey as substrate; an aspartic protease (cardosin A), previously extracted from the flowers of Cynara cardunculus and purified by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatographies, was used for this purpose. Sweet whey was incubated for 24 h at various enzyme:substrate ratios, at controlled pH (5.2 and 6.0) and temperature (55 C); the hydrolyzates were assayed by gel permeation chromatography and electrophoresis. A mechanistic model was proposed for the kinetics, which basically leads to a double-substrate, single-enzyme Michaelis–Menten rate expression containing four adjustable parameters; these parameters were estimated by applying multiresponse, nonlinear regression analysis to the experimental data, so that the model would yield good fits. The best estimates obtained for Km were markedly lower for a-La than for b-Lg, so cardosin A shows a higher affinity for a-La than for b-Lg. The experimental results also suggest that b-Lg is rather resistant to enzyme-mediated hydrolysis under all experimental conditions tested. The highest activity (measured by kcat) of cardosin A was recorded toward a-La (i.e. 0.013 s 1) at pH 5.2. Furthermore, the specificity ratio (kcat=Km), obtained toward each whey protein, indicated that cardosin A possesses a higher catalytic efficiency for hydrolysis of a-La than of b-Lg; the highest value for this ratio was recorded for a-La at pH 5.2, and was close to that reported elsewhere for cardosin A acting on caseins and casein-like substrates

Desenvolvimento inicial e trocas gasosas do meloeiro sob temperatura elevada.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar o crescimento inicial e as trocas gasosas de meloeiros crescidos sob dois diferentes regimes de temperatura

SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates VI. An additional companion in the KOI-13 system

We report the discovery of a new stellar companion in the KOI-13 system. KOI-13 is composed by two fast-rotating A-type stars of similar magnitude. One of these two stars hosts a transiting planet discovered by Kepler. We obtained new radial velocity measurements using the SOPHIE spectrograph at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence that revealed an additional companion in this system. This companion has a mass between 0.4 and 1 Msun and orbits one of the two main stars with a period of 65.831 \pm 0.029 days and an eccentricity of 0.52 \pm 0.02. The radial velocities of the two stars were derived using a model of two fast-rotating line profiles. From the residuals, we found a hint of the stellar variations seen in the Kepler light curve with an amplitude of about 1.41 km/s and a period close to the rotational period. This signal appears to be about three order of magnitude larger than expected for stellar activity. From the analysis of the residuals, we also put a 3-sigma upper-limit on the mass of the transiting planet KOI-13.01 of 14.8 Mjup and 9.4 Mjup, depending on which star hosts the transit. We found that this new companion has no significant impact on the photometric determination of the mass of KOI-13.01 but is expected to affect precise infrared photometry. Finally, using dynamical simulations, we infer that the new companion is orbiting around KOI-13B while the transiting planet candidate is expected to orbit KOI-13A. Thus, the transiting planet candidate KOI-13.01 is orbiting the main component of a hierarchical triple system.Comment: Accepted in A&A Letters. 4 pages including 4 figures and the RV tabl