Fenofases de amora (Rubus brasiliensis Mart.).

Rubus brasiliensis Mart., popularmente chamada como amora branca ou amora-do-mato é utilizada para o tratamento de diversas patologias. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o período de floração e frutificação da amoreira, visando identificar o melhor período para a coleta de material vegetal. Durante o período de janeiro de 2010 a dezembro de 2012, a amoreira foi avaliada diariamente através de observações da época de floração e frutificação, todos os dados coletados foram anotados em fichas de campo e tabulados em planilhas do Excel. Após as avaliações foram construídos gráficos para as espécies em cada fenofase, demonstrando as médias de dias de floração e frutificação. O acompanhamento fenológico mostrou a presença de flores durante todo o ano, com exceção do mês de agosto. O maior número de dias de floração ocorreu nos meses de janeiro, fevereiro e novembro, respectivamente com 16 e 10 dias e o menor no mês de maio com 2 dias. Quanto a frutificação foi registrada apenas no mês de março com 3 dias, não ocorrendo nos demais meses do ano. O mês de agosto é melhor período para a coleta de folhas

Galactic Archaeology with CoRoT and APOGEE: Creating mock observations from a chemodynamical model

In a companion paper, we have presented the combined asteroseismic-spectroscopic dataset obtained from CoRoT lightcurves and APOGEE infra-red spectra for 678 solar-like oscillating red giants in two fields of the Galactic disc (CoRoGEE). We have measured chemical abundance patterns, distances, and ages of these field stars which are spread over a large radial range of the Milky Way's disc. Here we show how to simulate this dataset using a chemodynamical Galaxy model. We also demonstrate how the observation procedure influences the accuracy of our estimated ages.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures. To appear in Astronomische Nachrichten, special issue "Reconstruction the Milky Way's History: Spectroscopic surveys, Asteroseismology and Chemo-dynamical models", Guest Editors C. Chiappini, J. Montalb\'an, and M. Steffe

Early stages of surface alteration of soda-rich-silicate glasses in the museum environment

This paper studied the alteration of three soda-rich-silicate glass types (Cristallo, façon-de-Venise and soda-lime silicate). Replica samples were exposed to different environments simulating museum-like conditions – room temperature and different relative humidities (RH). Results were analysed by SIMS, μ-FTIR, Optical Microscopy and Optical 3D profilometry. Cristallo appears as the most vulnerable, whilst the soda-lime glass appears as the most resistant to the environmental deterioration. The thickness of the altered layer is proportional to the time of exposure and to the RH of the surrounding atmosphere. From the results obtained, the glass composition and the water available and adsorbed to the surface strongly influence the kinetics of the surface alteration

Beyond onboard sensors in robotic swarms: Local collective sensing through situated communication

The constituent robots in swarm robotics systems are typically equipped with relatively simple, onboard sensors of limited quality and range. When robots have the capacity to communicate with one another, communication has so far been exclusively used for coordination. In this paper, we present a novel approach in which local, situated communication is leveraged to overcome the sensory limitations of the individual robots. In our approach, robots share sensory inputs with neighboring robots, thereby effectively extending each other’s sensory capabilities. We evaluate our approach in a series of experiments in which we evolve controllers for robots to capture mobile preys. We compare the performance of (i) swarms that use our approach, (ii) swarms in which robots use only their limited onboard sensors, and (iii) swarms in which robots are equipped with ideal sensors that provide extended sensory capabilities without the need for communication. Our results show that swarms in which local communication is used to extend the sensory capabilities of the individual robots outperform swarms in which only onboard sensors are used. Our results also show that in certain experimental configurations, the performance of swarms using our approach is close to the performance of swarms with ideal sensors.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Dengue disease, basic reproduction number and control

Dengue is one of the major international public health concerns. Although progress is underway, developing a vaccine against the disease is challenging. Thus, the main approach to fight the disease is vector control. A model for the transmission of Dengue disease is presented. It consists of eight mutually exclusive compartments representing the human and vector dynamics. It also includes a control parameter (insecticide) in order to fight the mosquito. The model presents three possible equilibria: two disease-free equilibria (DFE) and another endemic equilibrium. It has been proved that a DFE is locally asymptotically stable, whenever a certain epidemiological threshold, known as the basic reproduction number, is less than one. We show that if we apply a minimum level of insecticide, it is possible to maintain the basic reproduction number below unity. A case study, using data of the outbreak that occurred in 2009 in Cape Verde, is presented.Comment: This is a preprint of a paper whose final and definitive form has appeared in International Journal of Computer Mathematics (2011), DOI: 10.1080/00207160.2011.55454