Proposal for a radiation shielding study aiming the implantation of neutrons beam shutter in the J-9 radiation channel of the Argonauta reactor of the Nuclear Engineering Institute.

Argonauta, the only nuclear research reactor situated in Rio de Janeiro, located at the Institute of Nuclear Engineering (IEN), regularly serves a network of users focused on research and development, and also provides its infrastructure for experimental classes and completion work course. Due to increasing demand for non-destructive thermal neutron assays and production of radioisotopes, there is a search for new procedures and/or devices that optimize users' exposure to neutrons. The implementation of mechanisms that allow access to the irradiation channels without the reactor being turned off and with a shielding configuration that limits the occupational doses at this location is very useful for the operation of the reactor. In order to achieve this, the present work proposes the establishment of a neutron beam shutter of the J-9 irradiation channel of the IEN’s Argonauta reactor. In a first step, experimental measurements were made in the irradiation channel of the reactor using a BF3 detector, which is coupled to a spectrometer. In this phase, the neutron beam was aligned to the spectrometer, and different materials were used as shields, aiming the attenuation of the beam. To validate and/or change the configuration of the barrier that best meets the material irradiation needs, a second planned phase is involving the neutron flux simulation of the reactor and the various shields with different boundary conditions using the particle transport code, Monte Carlo N-Particle Extended (MCNP- X)

Poaceae in the “Seridó” Ecological Station, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Trata-se do primeiro levantamento florístico das espécies de Poaceae da Estação Ecológica do Seridó. A família apresenta grande valor econômico e ecológico. A região denominada Seridó apresenta uma Caatinga aberta com estrato herbáceo contínuo, onde os representantes da família constituem um dos principais componentes, principalmente na estação chuvosa. Foi registrada a ocorrência de 57 espécies distribuídas em 34 gêneros, das quais 41 são nativas e 16 exóticas. O trabalho consta de chaves analíticas para tribos, gêneros e espécies, descrições, discussão sobre a delimitação de algumas espécies, distribuição dos táxons na Estação e ilustrações botânicas. Eragrostis cilianensis (Bellardi) Vignolo ex Janch., Mesosetum annuum Swallen e Cenchrus ciliaris L. são citadas pela primeira vez para o Rio Grande do Norte. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis is the first floristic survey of grass species undertaken in Rio Grande do Norte. The family has great economic and ecological value. In the Seridó area, where the “caatinga vegetation” is open and shows a continuous herbaceous stratum, representatives of the family constitute the main component of the vegetation in the raining season. We documented the occurrence of 57 species of Poaceae, distributed in 34 genera, in the Seridó Ecological Station. Of those species, 41 are native to the area and 16 are exotic. The paper includes analytical keys for the grass tribes genera and species descriptions, a discussion about the delimitation of some species, the distribution of the species in the Station, and botanical illustrations. Eragrostis cilianensis (Bellardi) Vignolo ex Janch., Mesosetum annuum Swallen and Cenchrus ciliaris L. are recorded for the first time for the Flora of Rio Grande do Norte

Innovations in sustainable agriculture: case study of Lis Valley irrigation district, Portugal

The innovation of agricultural systems management is a determinant factor that guarantees adaptation to a new paradigm of global economy, environmental protection, and social requirements. The conventional concepts of innovation, applicable to new products and processes, do not consider many characteristics of the agricultural sector, such as social innovation and innovation resulting from new or renewed processes. Nevertheless, the overall impact of innovation on yields, competitiveness, and value can be hampered by the limited understanding or misinterpretation of Agriculture Innovation paradigms. For instance, the Rural Development Program (RDP) applies a restrict concept of innovation, being unable to embrace the full range of activities intended to implement new practices within the framework of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS). Stimulating innovation in agriculture demands a change in policy innovation of RDP in order to preserve natural resources and combine agricultural priorities and the rural environment with the concepts of innovation. This paper focuses on the different views of the concept of innovation within the Program of Operational Groups (OGs) of the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI), analyzing the Portuguese case study of the Lis Valley Irrigation District whose main innovation objective was to achieve and implement new processes of water management aiming at the conservation of natural resources as well as sustainable social and economic agricultural development. The Portuguese experience highlights why the application of innovation in agriculture may not reach the desirable outcomesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Neutron radiographic testing of samples of special concrete containing recycled pet granules as aggregate

This study aimed at inspecting microcracks in test specimens of special concrete, through neutron radiography tests. The thermal neutron flux used was extracted from the J-9 irradiation channel, placed in the thermal column of Argonauta/IEN/CNEN/RJ reactor, where a neutron radiographic system is installed. The test specimens inspected were molded in a cylindrical shape, with standard concrete and modified concrete where coarse sand was substituted by granules of recycled PET. They were submitted to compression in a SHIMADSU UH F 1000 press, causing microcraks. Then, slices of 50 μm thickness were obtained using an electrical saw. Gadolinium nitrate was used as contrast liquid in order to enhance the visualization of those microcracks. The Neutron Radiography technique proved to be appropriate for this kind of inspection, allowing to clearly visualizing the microcracks. Recycled PET granules met ABNT standards, and may be used in the construction of low income people houses, as structural concrete (25 % PP) or house floors (25% to 50% PEAD). The mechanical properties of compression and elasticity demonstrated for this special concrete, on Civil Engineering conventional tests, and by the neutron radiographic images obtained, showed that its use is viable even for civil construction in areas subject to seismic events

Cold neutron irradiation facility for the brazilian research reactors

Neutron irradiation in research reactors and accelerators can be realized at appropriated neutron guides or beam holes shared around a cold neutron source (CNS) with neutron of variable intensity and energy. An irradiation facility for multiple applications including an intense CNS was calculated for the three Brazilian research reactors and can be utilized as a first concept for the new research reactor to be designed, the Brazilian multiple purpose research reactor (RMB). A study about coolant and moderators properties, and simulations with neutron physics and thermal codes, may be important for the definition of the type of the CNS to be utilized. Some earlier results of MCNP simulations and a discussion about the different factors involved in the definition of its installation in the Brazilian research reactors are here presented. One suggests an international cooperation for the design development of this system and posterior construction of a prototype in the Argonauta reactor at the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN-CNEN-RJ). It is also being considered the inclusion of other devices as a neutron fiber to guide the neutron beams away of the gamma radiation and fast neutron background. The cold neutron facility increases the intensity of cold neutrons, without the need of additional fuel burn up

Bibliometric Method for Mapping the State-of-the-Art and Identifying Research Gaps and Trends in Literature: An Essential Instrument to Support the Development of Scientific Projects

Bibliometric analysis is an indispensable statistic tool to map the state of the art in a given area of scientific knowledge and identify essential information for various purposes, such as prospecting research opportunities and substantiating scientific researches. Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to present a method of bibliometric analysis for mapping the state of the art and identifying gaps and trends of research. The method encompasses instruments to identify and analyze the scientific performance of articles, authors, institutions, countries, and journals based on the number of citations, to reveal the trends of the field studied through the analysis of keywords, and to identify and cluster scientific gaps from most recent publications. This method enables to expand in a scientific way the boundaries of science by investigating and identifying relevant and avant-garde research topics. It is an essential element that provides researchers means to identify and support paths towards the development of scientific projects

Evaluating certification protocols in the partial database state machine

Partial replication is an alluring technique to ensure the reliability of very large and geographically distributed databases while, at the same time, offering good performance. By correctly exploiting access locality most transactions become confined to a small subset of the database replicas thus reducing processing, storage access and communication overhead associated with replication. The advantages of partial replication have however to be weighted against the added complexity that is required to manage it. In fact, if the chosen replica configuration prevents the local execution of transactions or if the overhead of consistency protocols offsets the savings of locality, potential gains cannot be realized. These issues are heavily dependent on the application used for evaluation and render simplistic benchmarks useless. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of Partial Database State Machine (PDBSM) replication by comparing alternative partial replication protocols with full replication. This is done using a realistic scenario based on a detailed network simulator and access patterns from an industry standard database benchmark. The results obtained allow us to identify the best configuration for typical on-line transaction processing applications.União Europeia - GORDA Project (FP6-IST/004758)

Losses in weight of cowpea seeds infested by weevil

Com esta pesquisa, buscou-se estabelecer um procedimento expedito que permita relacionar os índices de ataque do caruncho Collosobruchus maculatus F. 1775 com as percentagens de perdas de peso em sementes de caupi, (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp). Para tanto, procedeu-se à infestação de sementes das cultivares CE-1, CE-2, CE-25, CE-31 e CE-218, com diferentes níveis de insetos adultos do citado caruncho. Os resultados permitiram constatar que o número de furos típicos feitos pelo caruncho C. maculatus, encontrados em amostras de 100 sementes de caupi, obtidas de lotes praguejados, relaciona-se com as percentagens de perdas de peso, através da equação Y= 0,2222 + 0,5042X, entre os limites de 6,08 a 28,10 furos.This investigation was carried out to find a rapid procedure that permits to relate the indexes of infestation by the weevil Collosobruchus maculatus F. (1775) with the percentage of losses of seed weight of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp). As such, the seeds of the varieties CE-1, CE-2, CE-25, CE-31 and CE-218 were infested with adults of the above mentioned insect pest. The results led to the conclusion that number of tipical holes made by C. maculatus in the samples of 100 seeds of cowpea obtained from the damaged lots could be related to the percentage Posses of seed weight by means of the equation Y = 0.2222 + 0.5042X within the limits of 6.08 to 28.10 holes

Estimativa do índice de competitividade da indústria: o caso de alagoas

O matiz de referência teórica situa desde abordagens da competitividade sob a linha do desempenho e eficiência, as que discutem a estrutura de mercado da indústria, recursos, competências e produtividade. Na segunda metade do século passado surgiram as correntes neo-schumpeterianas e da economia institucional que inserem na agenda questões relacionadas a recursos específicos, capacidade, competências e inovações. Diante disso, uma questão de pesquisa é levantada: como é possível estimar a competitividade e produtividade da indústria alagoana a partir da construção de indicadores de competitividade industrial? Sob essa vertente teórica, a estimativa de um índice de competitividade industrial foi realizada através dos indicadores: eficiência, desempenho e capacitação (Küpfer, 1991). Para delimitar e aprofundar essa reflexão, este artigo pretende estimar o grau de competitividade das empresas em relação aos seus pares na indústria alagoana no período de 2008 a 2010 por meio dos indicadores acima apontados. Especificamente, a pesquisa almeja criar um índice que permita a comparação entre empresas do mesmo setor. O estudo é de natureza descritiva e exploratória e considerou o censo de médias e grandes empresas e uma amostra de pequenas empresas da indústria do Estado de Alagoas com margem de erro de 10% e intervalo de confiança de 90%, compondo 110 empresas investigadas no período de 2008 a 2010. Como resultados gerais, o Indicador de Eficiência (IE) identificou que a estrutura da indústria alagoana é, na maioria dos setores, atomizada e pouco integrada, o Indicador de Desempenho (ID), mostrou que as vantagens competitivas da indústria alagoana concentram-se nos setores de commodities (Químico e Sucroalcooleiro), em razão de vantagens absolutas de custos e escala de produção, e o Indicador de Capacitação (IC) apontou que existem problemas de qualificação da mão de obra, fragilidade do sistema local de inovação e ausência de parcerias institucionais, envolvendo os setores públicos e privados. Como sugestão para os setores com elevado desempenho, há necessidade que consolidem e ampliem posições no mercado externo e transformem vantagens competitivas estáticas em dinâmica para a obtenção de maiores margens de rentabilidade

APROVEITAMENTO DO ÓLEO DE FRITURA NA PRODUÇÃO DE BIODIESEL

Os problemas ambientais atuais são resultantes não só das etapas de produção de um bem, mas também do uso deste bem e de seu descarte final. Assim ocorre com óleos vegetais comercializados par fins culinários, em que o Ministério do Meio Ambiente estima o descarte inadequado de 700 milhões de litros, dos 3 bilhões comercializados anualmente. Cada litro de óleo utilizado em frituras tem capacidade para contaminar 25 mil litros de água, ou mesmo impermeabilizar o solo evitando o acúmulo de água subterrânea. Outra fonte promissora são as sementes descartadas como resíduos de indústrias de polpas de frutas, que possuem grande potencial como fonte de óleo vegetal e que, assim como o óleo de fritura, pode ser empregado como matéria prima na produção de lubrificantes, biodiesel, sabão, tinta e solvente. O curso de Engenharia de Produção da Unicatólica está empenhado em formar profissionais capazes de analisar sob uma perspectiva mais ampla os processos produtivos de bens de consumo com consciência socioambiental, ética e humanística de maneira a propor soluções para os mais diversos problemas. A justificativa desse projeto, nessa perspectiva, baseia-se no desenvolvimento de tecnologia de aproveitamento de óleos descartados de restaurantes do município de Quixadá para conversão em biodiesel e sabão. Bem como se propõe o princípio da consolidação de uma linha de pesquisa na otimização da produção de biodiesel a partir de fontes a serem investigadas (sementes de oleaginosas, gordura animal, óleo de peixe e quaisquer que sejam as fontes compatíveis com o processo produtivo de biodiesel). O presente projeto tem como objetivo principal conscientizar a comunidade sobre o impacto ambiental gerado pelo descarte inadequado de óleo de cozinha utilizado em frituras, empregando-o na produção de biodiesel, vela e sabão. A participação dos alunos da disciplina de Processos da Indústria Química se dá na produção e distribuição das barras de sabão produzidas no desenvolvimento do projeto para a comunidade