Auxílio à mobilidade de deficientes visuais por meio de sensores humanos.

Indivíduos deficientes visuais, apesar de possuírem grande capacidade de adaptação por meio de outros sentidos, ainda apresentam algumas limitações, como, por exemplo, a locomoção segura. A navegação humana é um comportamento muito complexo, que depende principalmente da visão. Portanto, para uma pessoa com deficiência visual, a locomoção se torna uma tarefa muito difícil, especialmente em algumas situações, como em ambientes desconhecidos ou próximo ao tráfego urbano. Aplicativos de navegação, baseados em mapas, proporcionam uma ajuda significativa em questões de orientação, mobilidade e apoio à localização, bem como a estimativa das direções e distâncias. Porém, estes usuários ainda encontram grandes dificuldades no acesso à informação espacial, já que a interação com este tipo de aplicação é realizada, principalmente, por meio da visão. Assim, na presente pesquisa, foi realizado um estudo com deficientes visuais, visando desenvolver uma solução acessível colaborativa de mobilidade para entender as principais necessidades, em termos de locomoção, desses usuários. A solução proposta inclui uma aplicação móvel com mapas acessíveis e com efeitos sonoros, capaz de ajudar na mobilidade deste tipo de usuário, levando em consideração possíveis obstáculos em seus trajetos e descrevendo o ambiente, em termos de Pontos de Interesse (POI), ao seu redor e em torno de uma direção específica indicada pelo usuário. Para alcançar este objetivo, foi utilizada a técnica de Informação Geográfica Voluntária (Volunteered Geographic Information - VGI), que tem se mostrado eficaz e de baixo custo para obtenção de informação geográfica. Foi conduzida uma avaliação experimental para avaliar a qualidade dos dados obtidos de forma colaborativa, bem como experimentos envolvendo participantes voluntários, a fim de avaliar se a solução proposta é satisfatória para mitigar os problemas relacionados à navegação da população deficiente visual. Por fim, os resultados obtidos nos experimentos se mostraram encorajadores, demonstrando que a solução proposta pode ser satisfatória para usuários deficientes visuais.Although visually impaired individuals have great ability to adapt to a variety of situations through other senses, they still face some limitations, such as safe locomotion. Human navigation is a complex behavior, which depends mainly on vision. Therefore, for a visually impaired person, locomotion is a difficult task, especially in some situations, such as in unfamiliar surroundings or close to urban traffic. Map-based navigation applications provide significant help with guidance, mobility and location support, as well as with estimation of directions and distances. However, this kind of users still find great difficulties in accessing spatial information, since the interaction with this type of application is performed, mainly, through the vision. Thus, a study was carried out with the visually impaired to understand their main mobility needs, aiming at developing an accessible and collaborative mobility solution. The proposed solution includes a mobile application with accessible maps and sound effects, able to help the mobility of this type of users, taking into account possible obstacles in their paths and describing the environment in terms of Points of Interest (POI) around them and around a specific direction indicated by the user. In order to reach this goal, the Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) technique was used, since it has been shown to be efficient and low cost in obtaining geographic information. An experimental evaluation was conducted to evaluate the quality of the data obtained collaboratively, as well as experiments involving volunteer participants, in order to evaluate whether the proposed solution is satisfactory to mitigate the problems related to navigation of the visually impaired population. Finally, the results obtained in the experiments were encouraging, demonstrating that the proposed solution may be satisfactory for visually impaired users

Hélios: Solar Tracker para Sistemas Fotovoltaicos Off-Grid baseado na plataforma Arduino / Hélios: Solar Tracker for Off-Grid Photovoltaic Systems based on the Arduino platform

Dentre as formas de energias renováveis disponíveis, a solar se apresenta para o Brasil como uma das escolhas mais adequadas. Fato este que se dá principalmente pela alta incidência de radiação solar e pelas poucas variações climáticas sazonais, o que resulta em importantes vantagens técnicas e econômicas dos sistemas solares instalados nesta região, principalmente: os sistemas não geram poluição sonora nem resíduos; possibilidade de uso de sistemas off-grid em locais remotos e de difícil acesso, gerando economia em linhas de transmissão; longa vida útil dos sistemas; possibilidade de uso durante todo o ano sem grandes variações no rendimento dos sistemas e a manutenção necessária deste tipo de sistema é muito menor que em outros sistemas de conversão de energia em energia elétrica. A região Nordeste destaca-se, entre as regiões do Brasil, em número médio de horas de insolação. O índice de insolação diária, na média anual, da região alcança o valor de 8 horas diárias. Esses fatores, tornam o aproveitamento da energia solar viável em praticamente qualquer época do ano e abrem uma oportunidade para que o estudo de Física se aproxime da realidade dos alunos, ao se apropriar de situações cotidianas. A presente pesquisa pretende projetar e construir um seguidor solar (solar tracker), ou seja, um dispositivo utilizado para manter os painéis fotovoltaicos posicionados de modo a obterem a máxima conversão de energia solar em energia elétrica. A prototipagem é baseada na plataforma Arduino. A utilização deste recurso resulta em um aumento de até 40% no rendimento dos painéis solares. O projeto está sendo desenvolvido com alunos do curso Técnico em Informática, vislumbrando a promoção do desenvolvimento da Ciência e Tecnologia

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

Neotropical freshwater fisheries : A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Radiation damage and nuclear heating studies in selected functional materials during the JET DT campaign

A new Deuterium-Tritium campaign (DTE2) is planned at JET in the next years, with a proposed 14MeV neutron budget of 1.7×1021, which is nearly an order of magnitude higher than any previous DT campaigns. The neutron and gamma ray fields inside the JET device during DT plasma operations at specific locations have previously been evaluated. It is estimated that a total neutron fluence on the first wall of JET of up to 1020 n/m2 could be achieved, which is comparable to the fluence occurring in ITER at the end of life in the rear part of the port plug, where several diagnostic components will be located.The purpose of the present work is to evaluate the radiation damage and nuclear heating in selected functional materials to be irradiated at JET during DT plasma operation. These quantities are calculated with the use of the MCNP6 code and the FISPACT II code. In particular the neutron and gamma ray fields at specific locations inside the JET device, dedicated to material damage studies, were characterized. The emphasis is on a potential long term irradiation station located close to the first wall at outboard midplane, offering the opportunity to irradiate samples of functional materials used in ITER diagnostics, to assess the degradation of the physical properties. The radiation damage and the nuclear heating were calculated for selected materials irradiated in these positions and for the neutron flux and fluence expected in DTE2. The studied candidate functional materials include, among others, Sapphire, YAG, ZnS, Spinel, Diamond. In addition the activation of the internal irradiation holder itself was calculated with FISPACT. Damage levels in the range of 10-5 dpa were found

Activation material selection for multiple foil activation detectors in JET TT campaign

In the preparation for the Deuterium-Tritium campaign, JET will operate with a tritium plasma. The T + T reaction consists of two notable channels: (1) T + T -> He-4 + 2n, (2) T + T -> He-5 + n -> He-4 + 2n. The reaction channel (1) is the reaction with the highest branching ratio and a continuum of neutron energies being produced. Reaction channel (2) produces a spectrum with a peak at 8.8 MeV. A particular problem is the ratio between the individual TT reaction channels, which is highly dependent on the energy of the reacting tritium ions. There are very few measurements on the TT spectrum and the study at JET would be interesting. The work is focused on the determination of the spectral characteristics in the TT plasma discharges, especially on the presence of the 8.8 MeV peak, a consequence of channel (2) of the TT reaction. The possibility to use an optimized set of activation materials in order to target the measurement of the 8.8 MeV peak is studied. The lower limit of detection for the channel (2) ratio within the TT reaction is estimated and the influence of DT source neutrons, which are a consequence of deuterium traces in the plasma, is investigated

Calculations to support JET neutron yield calibration: Modelling of neutron emission from a compact DT neutron generator

At the Joint European Torus (JET) the ex-vessel fission chambers and in-vessel activation detectors are used as the neutron production rate and neutron yield monitors respectively. In order to ensure that these detectors produce accurate measurements they need to be experimentally calibrated. A new calibration of neutron detectors to 14 MeV neutrons, resulting from deuterium–tritium (DT) plasmas, is planned at JET using a compact accelerator based neutron generator (NG) in which a D/T beam impinges on a solid target containing T/D, producing neutrons by DT fusion reactions. This paper presents the analysis that was performed to model the neutron source characteristics in terms of energy spectrum, angle–energy distribution and the effect of the neutron generator geometry. Different codes capable of simulating the accelerator based DT neutron sources are compared and sensitivities to uncertainties in the generator's internal structure analysed. The analysis was performed to support preparation to the experimental measurements performed to characterize the NG as a calibration source. Further extensive neutronics analyses, performed with this model of the NG, will be needed to support the neutron calibration experiments and take into account various differences between the calibration experiment and experiments using the plasma as a source of neutrons

Modelling of the neutron production in a mixed beam DT neutron generator

Compact DT neutron generators based on accelerators are often built on the principle of a mixed beam operation, meaning that deuterium (D) and tritium (T) are both present in the ion beam and in the target. Moreover, the beam consists of a mixture of ions and ionized molecules (D, T ions, and ionized D-D, T-T and D-T molecules) so the relevant source components come from T(d, n), D(t, n), D(d, n) and T(t, 2n) reactions at different ion energies. The method for assessing the relative amplitudes of different source components (DD, DT, TT) is presented. The assessment relies on the measurement of the neutron spectrum of different DT components (T(d, n) and D(t, n) at different energies) using a high resolution neutron spectrometer, e.g. a diamond detector, fusion reaction cross-sections, and simulations of neutron generation in the target. Through this process a complete description of the neutron source properties of the mixed beam neutron generator can be made and a neutron source description card, in a format suitable for Monte Carlo code MCNP, produced