Contribution to runoff erosion of earthen channels

The purpose of the experimental study is to investigate the effect of earthen channel geometry on erosion by runoff. After the construction of an experimental setup, four geometric shapes were tested; the circle, the triangle, the sinus and the trapeze. These four forms were dug in agricultural sandy-loam soil. For all experiments, and for each geometric shape, discharge, slope inclination, time, and slope length were varied. Experimental results have shown that the geometry of earthen channels plays an important role in sedimentary dynamics. In addition, it was noted that for slopes less than 20%, the sinusoidal geometric shape allowed to have the minimum of sediment exported. For upper slopes, the minimum amount of soil exported, was obtained with the triangle. The analysis of the experimental results allowed us to see that the variation of the mass of soil exported as a function of the discharge, the slope inclination, the time and the slope length, followed power functions with respective exponents of 2.49, 0.88, -1.27, and -1.53

Critical care management of severe traumatic brain injury in adults

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major medical and socio-economic problem, and is the leading cause of death in children and young adults. The critical care management of severe TBI is largely derived from the "Guidelines for the Management of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury" that have been published by the Brain Trauma Foundation. The main objectives are prevention and treatment of intracranial hypertension and secondary brain insults, preservation of cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), and optimization of cerebral oxygenation. In this review, the critical care management of severe TBI will be discussed with focus on monitoring, avoidance and minimization of secondary brain insults, and optimization of cerebral oxygenation and CPP

Automatic semantic header generator

As the amount of information and the number of Internet users grow, the problem of indexing and retrieval of electronic information resources becomes more critical. The existing search systems tend to generate misses and false hits due to the fact that they attempt to match the specified search terms without context in the target information resource. The COncordia INdexing and DIscovery system is an indexing system. It is a powerful means of helping users locate documents, software, and other types of data among large repositories. In environments that contain many different types of data, content indexing requires type-specific processing to extract information effectively. The Semantic Header, which is proposed by Desai (11), contains the semantic contents of information resources. It provides a useful tool in searching for a document based on a number of commonly used criteria. The information from the semantic header could be used by the search system to help locate appropriate documents with minimum effort. This thesis introduces an automatic tool for the extraction and storage of some of the meta-information in a Semantic Header and an automatic text classification scheme

Percepção da cidadania digital: a importância dos telecentros como programas de inclusão digital para classes sociais desfavorecidas, em Belo Horizonte, Brasil

Ser cidadão é ter direitos e deveres, é poder manifestar opinião, intervir e atuar, em nível civil, social e político, das mais diversas formas, e na elaboração de normas e padrões de convivência em sociedade. Para mitigar as desigualdades da participação cidadã, ampliadas pela sociedade em rede que privilegia quem domina as tecnologias e nela sabe se mover, algumas políticas públicas de inclusão digital têm sido implementadas em diversos países, mas pouco tem sido feito para avaliar as suas finalidades. Perceber a importância das políticas de inclusão digital e, em particular, do Programa Telecentros.br de Belo Horizonte (em Minas Gerais, Brasil), como promotor do exercício da cidadania digital para as classes sociais de baixa renda, é a questão central desta pesquisa científica, a que procuramos responder na sequência de três estudos, interligados. O primeiro, bibliográfico e documental, explora, em profundidade, os temas ou conceitos de Cidadania, Telecentros e Sociedade em Rede, e permitenos verificar as principais dimensões associadas a estas temáticas, confirmar a escassez de estudos relacionados com o tema central e, ainda, propor um primeiro framework para possível avaliação do Programa Telecentros.br. O segundo, igualmente de índole qualitativa, é um extenso estudo exploratório que se fundamenta na realização de grupo focal, em cinco Telecentros. Os dados obtidos são tratados por análise de conteúdo temática. O terceiro é inferencial e de índole quantitativa, com base num questionário por nós desenvolvido e disponibilizado online nos Telecentros de Belo Horizonte. Esse estudo envolveu 515 participantes e os dados obtidos foram tratados por meio de diferentes técnicas de análise estatística, de acordo com os objetivos propostos. Os resultados desses três estudos complementam-se e confirmam a importância dos Telecentros na promoção do exercício da cidadania, com base nas percepções dos participantes sobre as TIC, a Cidadania e o Telecentro que encontramos. Essas revelam-nos as dimensões centrais de cada um desses três temas estudados (e os indicadores que as integram), o que nos permite não só sistematizar algumas propostas de melhoria para o funcionamento dos Telecentros, como, igualmente, propor um conceito alargado de cidadania digital e, também, um modelo conceitual para a cidadania. Esperamos assim contribuir para as políticas de inclusão de digital e os programas que se lhe associam.To be a citizen is to have rights and obligations, to be able to express opinions, intervene and act, at civil, social and political levels, in the most different ways, and to participate in the elaboration of norms and standards of coexistence in society. In order to mitigate the inequalities of citizen participation, amplified by the network society that favors those who master the technologies and know how to move within it, some public policies of digital inclusion have been implemented in several countries, but little has been done to evaluate their purposes. The importance of digital inclusion policies, and particularly of the Belo Horizonte Telecentre Program (in Minas Gerais, Brazil), as a promoter of the exercise of digital citizenship for low income social classes, is the central issue of this scientific research, to which we seek to respond the following three interrelated studies. The first, bibliographical and documentary, explores in depth the themes or concepts of Citizenship, Telecenters and Network Society, and allows us to verify the main dimensions associated with these subjects, to confirm the scarce studies related to the central theme and, also, to propose a first framework for possible evaluation of the Telecentre Program. The second, also qualitative in nature, is an extensive exploratory study that is based on a focus group that took place in five Telecenters. The data obtained are processed using thematic content analysis. The third is inferential and quantitative, based on an specific questionnaire developed for this research and made available online at the Belo Horizonte Telecenters. This study involved 515 participants and the data obtained were treated using different statistics analysis techniques, according to the proposed objectives. The results of these three studies are complementary and confirm the importance of Telecentres for promoting the exercise of citizenship, based on the participants' perceptions about ICT, Citizenship and Telecentre that were found. They reveal the central dimensions of each of the three studied themes (and the indicators that integrate them), which allow us not only to systematize proposals for improving the operation of Telecenters, but also to propose a broad concept of digital citizenship and a conceptual model for citizenship. Therefore, we hope to contribute to the digital inclusion policies and to the programs which are associated to them

INFLUENCE OF THE GEOMETRICAL SHAPE OF AGRICULTURAL FURROW (GROOVES) ON THE SEDIMENT TRANSPORT

SUMMARY In this experimental work, it is shown that the geometric shape of the farming grooves could play an important role in sediment dynamics. From these results, it appears that, for slopes less than 40%, the grooves with a sinus shape export the least sediment mass. For steeper slopes, agricultural furrows in a circle lead to the minimum of sediment transport. The rheological behaviour of the solid discharge depends also strongly on the geometry of the grooves

The Meaning and Importance of (e-digital) Citizenship for Poor Populations: A Case Study in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

In Brazil, even after 21 years of implementing digital inclusion policies, there is still a shortage of dimensions and indicators for the construction of statistical models to assess the effectiveness of these policies in terms of the exercise of citizenship, as a way of contributing to the reduction of infoexclusion in a global context of rising poverty levels in recent decades. The present study explores the meaning and the importance of citizenship for the poor through a questionnaire answered by 515 users from 84 telecenters in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), three dimensions with 31 indicators were obtained for citizenship and three dimensions with 33 indicators for digital citizenship. Assessed in the context of today\u27s society, these dimensions proved to be complementary and inseparable for the effective exercise of citizenship. Thus, the results of this study contribute to the improvement of public policies for digital inclusion and fighting poverty

Efeitos do etanol para além da economia: um estudo de caso em Piracicaba (SP)

O Brasil se consolida como um grande produtor de etanol derivado da cana-de-açúcar. O incentivo à produção ganha notoriedade em comparação a outros tipos de culturas e com isso se propaga a existência de monoculturas que interferem diretamente nas populações rurais, suas práticas e conhecimentos, além das implicações ambientais. O atual debate discute a viabilidade desse processo frente aos impactos socioambientais num contexto em que a modernização no campo, iniciada pela Revolução Verde, colocou o setor rural junto à lógica do desenvolvimento econômico, reorganizando o papel dos agentes que o administram. Diante desse contexto propôs-se a realização de um estudo de caso no município de Piracicaba, SP, direcionado ao reducionismo na agricultura provocado pela intensificação da cultura de cana-de-açúcar

Análisis de la perspectiva del usuario con respecto a los edificios con fardos de paja: Un estudio de encuesta

The present investigation aims to evaluate straw bales buildings users’ satisfaction in terms of product performance. The proposed objective was achieved through a survey applied to a sample of 75 owners around the world. The results indicate that the straw bale technique was chosen by most participants due to the sustainability provided by the system. More than half of respondents said construction was more expensive than expected, but 84% of respondents consider maintenance costs low. External plaster was the constructive element that needed more maintenance over the years. Plumbing was the most outsourced specialized service during construction. All participants reported that they are satisfied with their buildings and 96% said they would use this method again.La presente investigación tiene como objetivo evaluar la satisfacción de los usuarios de los edificios de fardos de paja en términos de rendimiento del producto. El objetivo propuesto se logró a través de una encuesta aplicada a una muestra de 75 propietarios en todo el mundo. Los resultados indican que la mayoría de los participantes eligieron la técnica del fardo de paja debido a la sostenibilidad que brinda el sistema. Más de la mitad de los entrevistados dijeron que la construcción fue más cara de lo esperado, pero 84% consideran que los costes de mantenimiento son bajos. El yeso exterior fue el elemento constructivo que más mantenimiento necesitó a lo largo de los años. La fontanería fue el servicio especializado más subcontratado durante la construcción. Todos los participantes informaron que están satisfechos con sus edificios y el 96% dijo que volverían a utilizar este método