Typology of logging companies in the Brazilian Amazon

After 20 years of labeling with a strong increase of certified surfaces all around the world, real advantages and inconveniences of a company certified with regard to a normal company are not well known. To make a correct assessment of the ecological, social and economic impacts of tropical forest certification, it is first essential to compare companies with similar profiles. This study focused in the Brazilian Amazonia, aimed to identify the different profiles of harvesting companies by the construction of a typology. We used the data collected by Imazon during a extensive assessment of the Brazilian amazon forest sector which main results were publishaed in 2010. From the analysis of this data base, we compared the main characteristics of the uncertified forest companies with the 13 certified companies

A reflective characterisation of occasional user

This work revisits established user classifications and aims to characterise a historically unspecified user category, the Occasional User (OU). Three user categories, novice, intermediate and expert, have dominated the work of user interface (UI) designers, researchers and educators for decades. These categories were created to conceptualise user's needs, strategies and goals around the 80s. Since then, UI paradigm shifts, such as direct manipulation and touch, along with other advances in technology, gave new access to people with little computer knowledge. This fact produced a diversification of the existing user categories not observed in the literature review of traditional classification of users. The findings of this work include a new characterisation of the occasional user, distinguished by user's uncertainty of repetitive use of an interface and little knowledge about its functioning. In addition, the specification of the OU, together with principles and recommendations will help UI community to informatively design for users without requiring a prospective use and previous knowledge of the UI. The OU is an essential type of user to apply user-centred design approach to understand the interaction with technology as universal, accessible and transparent for the user, independently of accumulated experience and technological era that users live in

Animated virtual agents to cue user attention: comparison of static and dynamic deictic cues on gaze and touch responses

This paper describes an experiment developed to study the performance of virtual agent animated cues within digital interfaces. Increasingly, agents are used in virtual environments as part of the branding process and to guide user interaction. However, the level of agent detail required to establish and enhance efficient allocation of attention remains unclear. Although complex agent motion is now possible, it is costly to implement and so should only be routinely implemented if a clear benefit can be shown. Pevious methods of assessing the effect of gaze-cueing as a solution to scene complexity have relied principally on two-dimensional static scenes and manual peripheral inputs. Two experiments were run to address the question of agent cues on human-computer interfaces. Both experiments measured the efficiency of agent cues analyzing participant responses either by gaze or by touch respectively. In the first experiment, an eye-movement recorder was used to directly assess the immediate overt allocation of attention by capturing the participant’s eyefixations following presentation of a cueing stimulus. We found that a fully animated agent could speed up user interaction with the interface. When user attention was directed using a fully animated agent cue, users responded 35% faster when compared with stepped 2-image agent cues, and 42% faster when compared with a static 1-image cue. The second experiment recorded participant responses on a touch screen using same agent cues. Analysis of touch inputs confirmed the results of gaze-experiment, where fully animated agent made shortest time response with a slight decrease on the time difference comparisons. Responses to fully animated agent were 17% and 20% faster when compared with 2-image and 1-image cue severally. These results inform techniques aimed at engaging users’ attention in complex scenes such as computer games and digital transactions within public or social interaction contexts by demonstrating the benefits of dynamic gaze and head cueing directly on the users’ eye movements and touch responses

Is it appropriate protective figure "Plant Micro-Reserves" to protect tree species? The example of Betula pendula subsp. fontqueri in "La Garganta de los Caballeros" (Ávila)

The figure of protection "micro-reserves" was created in the Region of Valencia (ANONYMOUS, 1994) with the aim of protecting endangered plant species. This is one of the areas of greatest floristic richness and uniqueness of the western Mediterranean. In this area rare, endemic or threatened vascular flora has a peculiar distribution: they appear to form small fragments spread over the entire region (LAGUNA, 1994; LAGUNA, 2001) The protection of every these small populations of great scientific value has significant challenges. It doesn´t try to protect every species that set out in Annex IV of the by then existing Law 4 / 1989 (repealed in 2007), or to protect to the most ecological level with the creation of Natural Protected Area but an intermediate level: the plant community of small size. According to the decree: “as Micro-Reserve will be declared the natural parcels of land under 20 hectares that contain a high concentration of rare plants, endemic, threatened or of high scientific interest” (ANONYMOUS, 1994) . Of course, the statement of an area as micro-reserve carries certain prohibitions that are harmful to the vegetal communit

Navigating MazeMap: indoor human mobility, spatio-logical ties and future potential

Global navigation systems and location-based services have found their way into our daily lives. Recently, indoor positioning techniques have also been proposed, and there are several live or trial systems already operating. In this paper, we present insights from MazeMap, the first live indoor/outdoor positioning and navigation system deployed at a large university campus in Norway. Our main contribution is a measurement case study; we show the spatial and temporal distribution of MazeMap geo-location and wayfinding requests, construct the aggregated human mobility map of the campus and find strong logical ties between different locations. On one hand, our findings are specific to the venue; on the other hand, the nature of available data and insights coupled with our discussion on potential usage scenarios for indoor positioning and location-based services predict a successful future for these systems and applications.Comment: 6 pages, accepted at PerMoby Workshop at IEEE PerCom 201

Circadian rhythms of proliferation events in two mouse carcinomas

We studied the index of DNA synthesis (DNAs) of two cellular carcinomas: the hepatocellular ES12a and the mammary TN60 of mice, throughout one circadian cycle. In the results, we observed that both tumors have circadian rhythms (CRs), but the peaks of DNAs vary. Besides, the mean of DNAs along 24 h shows significative differences, the TN60 has higher values than the ES12a. These observed CR in the DNAs index in both carcinomas mean that, at least in partly, the proliferation of cancer cells can be regulated by endocrine factor as it normally occurs in ordinary cells. The big problem we can find for the chronopharmacology is that it is impossible to know in advance the rate of proliferation of each tumor.Fil: Garcia, Marcela. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Andrini, Laura Beatríz. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Marina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; ArgentinaFil: Inda, Ana. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Palma, Maria Belen. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Miriuka, Santiago Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Errecalde, Ana Lia. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentin

Using the principles of animation to predict allocation of attention

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a range of animation principles that the authors believe may be used to predict audience eye movements and responses, and to propose how a combination of practice-based and empirical research could lead to an enhanced understanding of how to create animated cues to allocate viewer attention. These insights inform the prediction of attention in deictic gaze cuing contexts where the convergence of motion stimulus, agent presence, and facial and gestural cuing has the potential to create an engaging interactive experience and long term affiliation. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down

Relationship between Polymer Dielectric Constant and Percolation Threshold in Conductive Poly(styrene)-Type Polymer and Carbon Black Composites

Se presenta un criterio fenomenológico para determinar el umbral de percolación en compuestos poliméricos polímero - negro de carbono, en términos de la constante dieléctrica del polímeroSIE