Application of a blind person strategy for obstacle avoidance with the use of potential fields

This paper proposes a new obstacle avoidance algorithm for the CONTROLAB AGV which uses a similar strategy adopted by a blind person to avoid obstacles while walking. The AGV moves within an office environment with a known floorplan and uses an "electronic stick" consisting of infraredsensors to detect unknown obstacles. Initially a global potential field function is defined for each floorplan room. While the AGV is moving, the original potential function is modified each time an obstacle is detected by the infrared sensors. This modification is simply performed by the addition of previously calculated potentlal field values on a grid which represents the room working area. The interestlng aspects of the proposed approach are that the potential function adaptation involves very low computational burden, the algorithm is free from local minima, the obstacles can have any shape and low cost sensors can be used to detect obstacles

Avaliação do desempenho de um procedimento de extração de atributos texturais baseado em análise de Fourier

This paper presents a performance analysis of a Fourier-based textural feature extraction procedure. The textural classifications are based in the Euclidian distance method and are accomplished in two experiments. This analysis was done using a software called " Ambiente de Processamento de Sinais e Imagens - APSI" developed for this purpose

CONTROLAB MUFA: a multi-level fusion architecture for intelligent navigation of a telerobot

This paper proposes a MUlti-level Fusion Architecture (MUFA) for controlling the navigation of a tele-commanded Autonomous Guided Vehicle (AGV). The architecture combines ideas derived from the fundamental concepts of sensor fusion and distributed intelligence. The focus of the work is the development of an intelligent navigation system for a tricycle drive AGV with the ability to move autonomously within any office enviromnent, following instructions issued by client stations connected to the office network and reacting accordingly to different situations found in the real world. The modules which integrate the MUFA architecture are discussed and results of some simulation experiments are presented

A participação das ME's E EPP's nas licitações no Estado de Roraima: dificuldades e benefícios percebidos com a promulgação da lei complementar nº 123/06.

This article aims to review the main difficulties of micro and small enterprises to participate in government auctions. Whereas the government needs to procure products and services for their full operation and who spend significant amounts per year, one sees a business opportunity for this business segment. Moreover, like it that all contests are won by local companies, so there is no leakage of resources to other states, however it is known that the competition is open to all who are qualified and who are able to engage with the publicentity. Thus, the benefits were seen in this business segment, with the promulgation of the General Law, which encouraged their participation in fairs government, giving better conditions for participation. As results, the survey found that, under federal rose by bidding won by ME and PPE, from 2 billion to 9.5 billion in 2007. In the state of Roraima, there was (a) that there is a society characterized by descredibilidade the public entity to pay the materials, (b) bureaucracy characterized the procedure for purchases, and (c) difficulty in meeting the deadline, due to location of the state and the fact that most materials are produced in other states, allowing potential in fines for the company.O presente artigo visa verificar as principais dificuldades de Micro Empresas (ME’s) e Empresas de Pequeno Porte (EPP’s) em participar de licitações governamentais. Considerando que o governo necessita adquirir produtos e serviços para seu pleno funcionamento e que dispendem valores significativos por ano, percebe-se uma oportunidade de negócios para esse segmento empresarial. Ademais, queira-se que todos os certames sejam vencidos por empresas locais, e que não haja vazamentos de recursos para outros Estados. Contudo, sabe-se que a competição é aberta a todos que estejam habilitados e que tenham condições de contratar com o ente público. Assim, foram verificados os benefícios concedidos a esse segmento empresarial, com a promulgação da Lei Geral, que estimulou a participação dessas empresas em certames governamentais, dando melhores condições de participação. Como resultados, o presente artigo constatou que no âmbito federal houve um aumento de licitações vencidas por ME’s e EPP’s, de 2 bilhões para 9,5 bilhões, em 2007. No Estado de Roraima, verificou-se que há uma descredibilidade caracterizada pela sociedade ao ente público no pagamento dos materiais; burocracia no procedimento de compras; e dificuldade no cumprimento do prazo de entrega, devido à localização do Estado e pelo fato de a maioria dos materiais serem produzidos em outros Estados, podendo ensejar em multa para a empresa

Structurally Related Monoterpenes p-Cymene, Carvacrol and Thymol Isolated from Essential Oil from Leaves of Lippia sidoides Cham. (Verbenaceae) Protect Mice against Elastase-Induced Emphysema

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by irreversible airflow obstruction and inflammation. Natural products, such as monoterpenes, displayed anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activities and can be used as a source of new compounds to COPD treatment. Our aim was to evaluate, in an elastase-induced pulmonary emphysema in mice, the effects of and underlying mechanisms of three related natural monoterpenes (p-cymene, carvacrol and thymol) isolated from essential oil from leaves Lippia sidoides Cham. (Verbenaceae). Methods: Mices received porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) and were treated with p-cymene, carvacrol, thymol or vehicle 30 min later and again on 7th, 14th and 28th days. Lung inflammatory profile and histological sections were evaluated. Results: In the elastase-instilled animals, the tested monoterpenes reduced alveolar enlargement, macrophages and the levels of IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-17 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and collagen fibers, MMP-9 and p-65-NF-kappa B-positive cells in lung parenchyma (p < 0.05). All treatments attenuated levels of 8-iso-PGF2 alpha but only thymol was able to reduced exhaled nitric oxide (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Monoterpenes p-cymene, carvacrol and thymol reduced lung emphysema and inflammation in mice. No significant differences among the three monoterpenes treatments were found, suggesting that the presence of hydroxyl group in the molecular structure of thymol and carvacrol do not play a central role in the anti-inflammatory effects.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Laboratorio de Investigacao Medica, Hospital das Clinicas, Faculdade de Medicina, University of Sao Paulo (LIM)Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Biol Sci, BR-09913030 Diadema, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Dept Med, BR-01246903 Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Exact Sci & Earth, BR-09913030 Diadema, BrazilFed Univ ABC, Ctr Nat Sci & Humanities, BR-09606045 Santo Andre, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Biosci, Campus Baixada Santista, BR-11015020 Santos, SP, BrazilDepartment of Biological Science, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema 09913-030, BrazilDepartment of Exact Science and Earth, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Diadema 09913-030, BrazilDepartment of Bioscience, Federal University of São Paulo, Campus Baixada Santista, Santos 11015-020, SP, BrazilCNPq: 300546/2012-2CNPq: 304465/2012-7CNPq: 476877/2012-1CNPq: 306278/2015-4FAPESP: 2011/51739-0FAPESP: 2013/02881-4FAPESP: 2008/55359-5FAPESP: 2015/11936-2FAPESP: 2014/25689-4LIM: LIM20Web of Scienc

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism

Philosophy of action

The philosophical study of human action begins with Plato and Aristotle. Their influence in late antiquity and the Middle Ages yielded sophisticated theories of action and motivation, notably in the works of Augustine and Aquinas.1 But the ideas that were dominant in 1945 have their roots in the early modern period, when advances in physics and mathematics reshaped philosophy

A ética do silêncio racial no contexto urbano: políticas públicas e desigualdade social no Recife, 1900-1940

Mais de meio século após o preconceito racial ter se tornado o principal alvo dos movimentos urbanos pelos direitos civis nos Estados Unidos e na África do Sul, e décadas depois do surgimento dos movimentos negros contemporâneos no Brasil, o conjunto de ferramentas legislativas criado no Brasil para promover o direito à cidade ainda adere à longa tradição brasileira de silêncio acerca da questão racial. Este artigo propõe iniciar uma exploração das raízes históricas desse fenômeno, remontando ao surgimento do silêncio sobre a questão racial na política urbana do Recife, Brasil, durante a primeira metade do século XX. O Recife foi eé um exemplo paradigmático do processo pelo qual uma cidade amplamente marcada por traços negros e africanos chegou a ser definida política e legalmente como um espaço pobre, subdesenvolvido e racialmente neutro, onde as desigualdades sociais originaram na exclusão capitalista, e não na escravidão e nas ideologias do racismo científico. Neste sentido, Recife lança luzes sobre a política urbana que se gerou sob a sombra do silêncio racial.More than half a century after racial prejudice became central to urban civil rights movements in the United States and South Africa, and decades after the emergence of Brazil’s contemporary Black movements, Brazil's internationally recognized body of rights-to-the-city legislation still adheres to the country's long historical tradition of racial silence. This article explores the historical roots of this phenomenon by focusing on the emergence of racial silence in Recife, Brazil during the first half of the 20th Century. Recife was and remains a paradigmatic example of the process through which a city marked by its Black and African roots came to be legally and politically defined as a poor, underdeveloped and racially neutral space, where social inequalities derived from capitalist exclusion rather than from slavery and scientific racism. As such, Recife'sexperience sheds light on the urban policies that were generated in the shadow of racial silence

A participação das ME's E EPP's nas licitações no Estado de Roraima: dificuldades e benefícios percebidos com a promulgação da lei complementar nº 123/06.

This article aims to review the main difficulties of micro and small enterprises to participate in government auctions. Whereas the government needs to procure products and services for their full operation and who spend significant amounts per year, one sees a business opportunity for this business segment. Moreover, like it that all contests are won by local companies, so there is no leakage of resources to other states, however it is known that the competition is open to all who are qualified and who are able to engage with the publicentity. Thus, the benefits were seen in this business segment, with the promulgation of the General Law, which encouraged their participation in fairs government, giving better conditions for participation. As results, the survey found that, under federal rose by bidding won by ME and PPE, from 2 billion to 9.5 billion in 2007. In the state of Roraima, there was (a) that there is a society characterized by descredibilidade the public entity to pay the materials, (b) bureaucracy characterized the procedure for purchases, and (c) difficulty in meeting the deadline, due to location of the state and the fact that most materials are produced in other states, allowing potential in fines for the company.O presente artigo visa verificar as principais dificuldades de Micro Empresas (ME’s) e Empresas de Pequeno Porte (EPP’s) em participar de licitações governamentais. Considerando que o governo necessita adquirir produtos e serviços para seu pleno funcionamento e que dispendem valores significativos por ano, percebe-se uma oportunidade de negócios para esse segmento empresarial. Ademais, queira-se que todos os certames sejam vencidos por empresas locais, e que não haja vazamentos de recursos para outros Estados. Contudo, sabe-se que a competição é aberta a todos que estejam habilitados e que tenham condições de contratar com o ente público. Assim, foram verificados os benefícios concedidos a esse segmento empresarial, com a promulgação da Lei Geral, que estimulou a participação dessas empresas em certames governamentais, dando melhores condições de participação. Como resultados, o presente artigo constatou que no âmbito federal houve um aumento de licitações vencidas por ME’s e EPP’s, de 2 bilhões para 9,5 bilhões, em 2007. No Estado de Roraima, verificou-se que há uma descredibilidade caracterizada pela sociedade ao ente público no pagamento dos materiais; burocracia no procedimento de compras; e dificuldade no cumprimento do prazo de entrega, devido à localização do Estado e pelo fato de a maioria dos materiais serem produzidos em outros Estados, podendo ensejar em multa para a empresa