1,575 research outputs found
Use of pulp mill inorganic wastes as alternative liming materials
A laboratory aerobic incubation study was performed during 18 weeks under controlled conditions to
assess the effects of applying different doses of pulp mill inorganic wastes on the physical–chemical
properties of an acid Dystric Cambissol. Three different inorganic wastes were tested – wood ash, dregs
and grits, and an agriculture limestone was used as reference. Results showed that increasing the dose
applied of the different inorganic wastes tested always led to significant raises of soil pH at different
incubation times demonstrating that its use as alternative-liming materials could be a valid and less
expensive option to the use of commercial agricultural limestone. Moreover, no immediate concerns
seem to be expected related to soil exchangeable sodium (Na) content, at least for the doses needed
to increase soil pH until the targeted value 6.5. Particularly for wood ash a pronounced increase on
soil extractable potassium and phosphorous was observed, indicating that besides the liming effect this
waste can contribute to improve soil fertility by supplying significant available amounts of these nutrients.
Finally, metals do not seem to be a limiting factor for the application to land of these byproduct
Variação da densidade de fluxo de seiva e do potencial hÃdrico foliar nas faces leste e oeste da copa de laranjeira 'Valência'.
O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência da variação diurna e sazonal dos fatores ambientais sobre a densidade de fluxo de seiva (DFS) e o potencial hÃdrico foliar (?f) nas faces leste e oeste da copa de laranjeiras ?Valência? em condições de sequeiro. Foram utilizadas três plantas para as avaliações, cujas linhas de plantio estavam orientadas no sentido norte-sul. As avaliações foram realizadas durante um dia, em cada época do ano: verão, outono, inverno e primavera. Os valores de potencial hÃdrico medidos antes do amanhecer variaram de -0,31 MPa, no dia 10-12-05, a -1,1 MPa, no dia 30-08-05, porém não houve diferença signifi cativa entre as faces leste e oeste da copa. Já para o potencial hÃdrico medido à s 14h 30, em todas as épocas avaliadas, a face oeste apresentou menores (p<0,05) valores que os da face leste, sendo que os mesmos variaram entre -0,95 e -1,89 MPa, verifi cados nos dias 10-12-05 e 30-08-05, respectivamente. A maior demanda evaporativa que se verifi ca no perÃodo da tarde, induz a maior déficit hÃdrico na face oeste da copa, independentemente da época do ano e, por consequência, maior DFS em plantas bem hidratadas sob condições de dias completamente ensolarados. Em plantas em condições de defi ciência hÃdrica (indicada por baixos valores de ?f), a face oeste é mais sensÃvel a essa situação, apresentando redução de DFS. Essa redução ocorre no inverno, na região de Cordeirópolis (SP)
Robotics as a tool to increase the motivation levels in problematic students
The study described in this work was done by
students of the Training and Education Courses (CEFs) in Informatics Operators of EB 2,3 Gonçalo Sampaio in Póvoa de Lanhoso during the academic year 2008/09. The study was conducted with two classes, with a total of 23 students. These students are aged between 15 and 18 years and the majority are males with only 4 girls. These students were not very motivated to attend school successfully, since they were students that had difficulties and failed one ornmore years. The CEFs were created to allow these students to finish their academic studies, in a less constrained pedagogical environment, that provided access to professional studies
An MCDM approach to the selection of novel technologies for innovative in-vehicle information systems
Driving a car is a complex skill that includes interacting with multiple systems inside the vehicle.
Today’s challenge in the automotive industry is to produce innovative In-Vehicle Information Systems
(IVIS) that are pleasant to use and satisfy the costumers’ needs while, simultaneously, maintaining
the delicate balance of primary task vs. secondary tasks while driving. The authors report a MCDM
approach for rank ordering a large heterogeneous set of human-machine interaction technologies; the
final set consisted of hundred and one candidates. They measured candidate technologies on eight
qualitative criteria that were defined by domain experts, using a group decision-making approach.
The main objective was ordering alternatives by their decision score, not the selection of one or a
small set of them. The authors’ approach assisted decision makers in exploring the characteristics of
the most promising technologies and they focused on analyzing the technologies in the top quartile,
as measured by their MCDM model. Further, a clustering analysis of the top quartile revealed the
presence of important criteria trade-offs.Operational Competitiveness Program – COMPETE, QREN (Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional), European Regional Development Funds (European Union), R&D project in joint-promotion (HMIEXCEL-2013-2015 36265/2013) HMIEXCEL - I&D crÃtica em torno do ciclo de desenvolvimento e produção de soluções multimédia avançadas para automóvelStrategic program FCT-UID/EEA/00066/2013Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (IF/00217/2013)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PD/BD/105966/2014
Omni-directional catadioptric vision for soccer robots
This paper describes the design of a multi-part mirror catadioptric vision system and its use for self-localization and
detection of relevant objects in soccer robots. The mirror and associated algorithms have been used in robots participating in
the middle-size league of RoboCup — The World Cup of Soccer Robots.This work was supported by grant PRAXIS XXI BM/21091/99 of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technolog
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