Decision support system for surface irrigation design

The SADREG decision support system was developed to help decision makers in the process of design and selection of farm surface irrigation systems to respond to requirements of modernization of surface irrigation—furrow, basin, and border irrigation. It includes a database, simulation models, user-friendly interfaces, and multicriteria analysis models. SADREG is comprised of two components: design and selection. The first component applies database information, and through several simulation and computational tools, produces a set of design alternatives in agreement with the user options. These alternatives are characterized by several hydraulic, economic, and environmental indicators that allow appropriate selection and ranking. The selection component bases upon multicriteria analysis using composite programming and ELECTRE II ranking models, which support the decision maker to select the best alternative. The decision maker participates in all decision processes through a user-friendly interface that allows expressing design options and priorities. SADREG was tested with data collected from field experiments. In addition to describing the modeling approach, an application to a sector of the Lower Mondego Irrigation Project, Portugal, is presente

Análise em tempo-real da variação intra-cíclica da velocidade de atletas: uma abordagem baseada em labview®

Este artigo descreve o desenvolvimento de um software baseado em LabVIEW® para a leitura de velocidade de atletas em meio aquático (p.e, natação) e em meio terrestre (marcha). Os dados em tensão adquiridos por uma placa de aquisição de dados USB de baixo custo, fornecidos pelo equipamento comercial swim speedo-meter da empresa swimsportec. O software desenvolvido permite a visualização em tempo-real dos dados de velocidade e também permite a sua análise à posterior sendo guardados num ficheiro. Os valores de tensão para as diferentes velocidades foram obtidos executando deslocamentos lineares com recurso a um robô industrial ABB IRB 1400 existente no Laboratório de Automação Controlo e Robótica da Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão do Instituto Politécnico de Bragança

Erratum: Martins, M.S., et al. Wideband and wIde beam polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) acoustic transducer for broadband underwater. Sensors 2019, 19, 3991

The authors wish to make the following erratum to this paper [...].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cephalopod identification keys to Histioteuthidae, Cranchiidae and Octopodiformes of the Azores, with an updated check-list

This work is a combination of unpublished cephalopod identification keys compiled by Malcolm R. Clarke for the Azores region (Central North Atlantic) and a review of the Octopoda of the Azores by João Gonçalves (MSc Thesis 1993, originally written in Portuguese), updated with recent literature. A regional list of cephalopod species of the Azores is provided totaling 83 species, with identification keys for: i) Histioteuthidae, including five species; ii) Cranchiidae, including eleven species; and iii) Octopodiformes, including Vampyroteuthis infernalis Chun, 1903 (Order Vampyromorpha), three cirrate and fourteen incirrate octopuses. Separate keys are given for Octopodiformes species. The revisions are discussed and a more detailed description of Octopoda species is included.Oma – Observatório do Mar dos Açores ; MARE – Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente ; IMAR – Instituto do Mar ; DOP – Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas ; Universidade dos Açoresinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN URBAN AREAS: EFFECTS OF INTRODUCING HYBRID CARS IN MADRID AND BARCELONA METROPOLITAN AREAS (SPAIN)

On-road traffic represents the largest source of pollutants’ emissions in urban areas. In southern Mediterranean countries exceedances of the NO2 and PM10 European air quality targets are observed in urban environments. Moreover the budget of urban emissions contributes to the emissions of O3 precursors (mainly NOx) in a region where the concentration of photochemical pollutants still remains a problem especially during summertime. Air quality modeling, used as a management tool, permits to test abatement emissions strategies in advance. Nowadays, the substitution of vehicles by introducing new technologies (e.g. cleaner fuels, hybrid vehicles, fuel cells) or alternative fuels (e.g. biofuels, natural gas or hydrogen) is a common practice in conurbations around Europe. This work focuses on the assessment of the impacts on air quality due to the introduction of hybrid cars in the largest urban areas of Spain: Madrid (within a more continental environment), and the urban coastal city of Barcelona. The WRFARW/ HERMES/CMAQ modeling system has been implemented and validated with a high resolution (1 km2 and 1 hr) thanks to the calculation power of the MareNostrum supercomputer (94.21 TFlops peak). Due to the complex topography and climatic particularities of the study areas it becomes necessary to use high spatial and temporal resolution and to have a highly-disaggregated emission inventory of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (HERMES model developed specifically for Spain). The model was applied during a representative summertime polluted episode. The introduction of a 10% or a 30% of hybrid cars in substitution of the oldest petrol and diesel cars of both cities proved to be effective to reduce NO2, SO2 and PM10 concentrations in the conurbations (i.e. a 37% reduction in NO2 24-hr average concentration occurs in Madrid and a 18% in Barcelona when introducing a 30% of hybrid vehicles; moreover 24-hr average PM10 decreases up to 12% and 14% in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively). Nevertheless the O3 concentrations slightly arise (being the 8-hr average concentration a 3% higher in Madrid and a 24% in Barcelona respect to the base case). The selected domains present a similar behavior with respect to their impacts, with a noticeable reduction of ground-level NOx in downtown areas and an increase in the tropospheric ozone concentration in the VOC-limited areas. In downwind locations the precursors’ emissions control causes a reduction of O3 levels. The air quality modeling system proves to be a suitable and useful tool to manage urban air quality, especially when applied with this high resolution

Assessment of Precise Land Levelling on Surface Irrigation Development. Impacts on MaizeWater Productivity and Economics

The new technologies of surface irrigation require the adoption of effective Laser-controlled precision land levelling (PLL) to reach the high irrigation performance standards, with significant benefits on water saving, salinity control, crop productivity, and farmer’s income. This study aimed to assess the performance and the impacts of PLL on surface irrigation systems, focusing the maize crop on the irrigation districts Hetao (China) and Lower-Mondego (Portugal). The experimental study at field scale assessed the PLL and evaluated the on-farm irrigation under precise levelled fields and well management practices. PLL operators have been inquired to improve the knowledge about hiring services. The design of surface irrigation scenarios allowed to explain the effects of field size and slope on irrigation and land levelling performance. The best practice to manage the PLL maintenance is an important issue to guarantee a high effectiveness of irrigation performance. The optimization of PLL appeals the application of best soil tillage practices and the monitoring of soil surface elevations with newest information technologies. Efficient operational guidelines to support the PLL planning, schedule, and operation, well trained operators and carefully adjusted equipment, are key factors to the improvementinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A genetic algorithm approach for the single machine scheduling problem with linear earliness and quadratic tardiness penalties

In this paper, we consider the single machine scheduling problem with linear earliness and quadratic tardiness costs, and no machine idle time. We propose a genetic approach based on a random key alphabet. Several genetic algorithms based on this approach are presented. These versions differ on the generation of the initial population, as well as on the use of local search. The proposed procedures are compared with the best existing heuristic, as well as with optimal solutions for the smaller instance sizes. The computational results show that the performance of the proposed genetic approach is improved by the addition of a local search procedure, as well as by the insertion of simple heuristic solutions in the initial population. Indeed, the genetic versions that include either or both of these features not only provide significantly better results, but are also much faster. The genetic versions that use local search are clearly superior to the best existing heuristic, and the improvement in performance increases with both the size and difficulty of the instances. These procedures are also quite close to the optimum, and provided an optimal solution for most of the test instances.scheduling, single machine, linear earliness, quadratic tardiness, genetic algorithms