Amazon deforestation restrictions likely to be circumvented

Brazil’s state of Mato Grosso is part of the “Legal Amazon” region where deforestation is limited by a requirement in the country’s Forest Code, which specifies that 80% of each property must be maintained in native vegetation in areas that were originally Amazon Forest and 35% in areas that were originally Cerrado (central Brazilian savanna). A new bill (PL 377/2022) that is rapidly advancing in the National Congress would remove Mato Grosso from the Legal Amazon, reducing this requirement to 20% in both cases

Experimental software engineering in educational context

Empirical studies are important in software engineering to evaluate new tools, techniques, methods and technologies in a structured way before they are introduced in the industrial (real) software process. Within this PhD thesis we will develop a framework of a consistent process for involving students as subjects of empirical studies of software engineering. In concrete, our experiences with software development teams composed of students will analyze how RUP (Rational Unified Process) processes can be compliant with the CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), namely in the context of MLs (maturity levels) 2 and 3. Additionally, we will also analyze the influence of project management tools to improve the process maturity of the teams. Our final goal of carrying out empirical studies with students is to understand its validity when compared with the corresponding studies in real industrial settings

Architectural element points: estimating software development effort by analysis of logical architectures

Empirical studies are important in software engineering to evaluate new tools, techniques, methods and technologies. In object-oriented analysis, use case models describe the functional requirements of a software system, so they can be the basis for software measurement and sizing. The purpose of this study is to develop a new metric called Architectural Element Points (AEPoint) that enables to calculate the effort required to develop a software solution, using the 4-Step Rule Set (4SRS) method. This paper describes a case study with 60 undergraduate students grouped in four teams that developed a software system (Web application) for a real customer. In this study, we used the AEPoint metric to estimate the resources needed to develop a software system. The results of the AEPoint and Use Case Points (UCP) metrics and the real software development effort are compared, conclusions drawn and recommendations are proposed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Temperature-independent torsion sensor based on “figure-of-eight” fiber loop mirror

An interrogation sensor system combining the “figure-of-eight” fiber loop mirror using a single directional 3×3 fiber optic coupler was proposed. One fiber loop mirror was formed by inserting a length of high birefringent optical fiber at the input ports of the 3×3 coupler. Splicing the output ports of the 3×3 coupler between them created the other fiber loop mirror. The introduction of this second loop gave rise to two polarization states of light with the same frequency but different optical phase. The mechanical torsion sensing head was located at the second loop and was exhibited an average modulus torsion sensitivity of 7.9×10−4 degree/dB. The performance of the sensor was not affected by environmental temperature variations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An empirical study on the estimation of size and complexity of software applications with function points analysis

Empirical studies are important in software engineering to evaluate new tools, techniques, methods and technologies in a structured way before they are introduced in the industrial (real) software process. Perform empirical studies in a real context is very difficult due to various obstacles. An interesting alternative is perform empirical studies in an educational context using students as subjects and share the results with the academia and the industry. This paper describes a case study with two teams that developed a software system (Web application) for a real customer. In this study we used a model based on Function Points Analysis (FPA) to estimate the size and complexity of software system

Longevity of risks in software development projects: a comparative analysis with an academic environment

The study presented in this paper was developed in an academic environment. All subjects involved in this research are enrolled in the Information Systems Master’s Degree of the University of Minho. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the need for the continuity of studies about the risks presented in software development projects. For this purpose, we analyzed more than four hundred risks and about one hundred problems faced and documented by the working groups. With the collected data we defined a list of twenty risks and conducted a comparative study of these risks with others already formalized in previous industrial studies. The comparison data was analyzed and interpreted, and important conclusions were made.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Organic farming take off in Portugal

Organic farming is booming in Portugal. CAP subsidies are the main reason beyond this boom. Converted farms are still a small proportion of the country’s total farms. They are mostly extensive (low input) Mediterranean farms located in the mainland interior and less developed regions. Large farms and highly educated farmers are the ones converting. Olive oil is the main organic production. The market for organic products in Portugal is segmented and distribution channels are narrow. In general, people are not aware of organic products and/or lack the money to pay the required price premium. However, a segment of highly educated consumers with above average income do exist. Two private bodies provide certification for organic products under the supervision of the Government. Several national and regional Associations provide technical support, training and education to farmers but they face many barriers. The lack of public environmental education and the lack of research on the sector constitute other important institutional barriers to the Portuguese organic sector development

Should I stay or should I go? Climate change effects on the future of Neotropical savannah bats

AbstractMost extant species are survivors of the last climate change event 20,000 years ago. While past events took place over thousands of years, current climate change is occurring much faster, over a few decades. We modelled the potential distribution area of bat species in the Brazilian Cerrado, a Neotropical savannah, and assessed the potential impacts of climate change up to 2050 in two scenarios. First we evaluated what the impact on the distributions of bat species would be if they were unable to move to areas where climate conditions might be similar to current ones. The novelty of our paper is that, based on least-cost-path analyses, we identified potential corridors that could be managed now to mitigate potential impacts of climate change. Our results indicate that on average, in the future bat species would find similar climate conditions 281 km southeast from current regions. If bat species were not able to move to new suitable areas and were unable to adapt, then 36 species (31.6%) could lose >80% of their current distribution area, and five species will lose more than 98% of their distribution area in the Brazilian Cerrado. In contrast, if bat species are able to reach such areas, then the number of highly impacted species will be reduced to nine, with none of them likely to disappear from the Cerrado. We present measures that could be implemented immediately to mitigate future climate change impacts