Geração de mapas georreferenciados para visualização de dados de campo para auxílio na tomada de decisão em irrigação de precisão.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver um aplicativo computacional capaz de gerar mapas georreferenciados úteis para a tomada de decisão em irrigação de precisão. Para tanto, foram utilizadas as bibliotecas TerraLib e SOMCode, ambas de código aberto e escritas na linguagem C++, desenvolvidas pelo Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) e pela Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros (CPATC), respectivamente. Os dados utilizados para a geração desses mapas foram obtidos por uma grade de sensores de uma unidade piloto da plataforma Irrigap, desenvolvida pela Embrapa Instrumentação Agropecuária (CNPDIA), dados esses referentes a medidas horárias de umidade e temperatura do solo e temperatura do ar. Diferentes métodos de interpolação foram utilizados, com o intuito de verificar qual a melhor maneira de se gerar mapas que possibilitem a visualização de áreas com o mesmo comportamento com relação às variáveis de solo e climatológicas, as chamadas zonas de manejo agrícolas. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que é possível a identificação dessas zonas, desde que sejam utilizados os algoritmos corretos para cada situação. Além disso, aplicativos para a geração de mapas temáticos utilizando dados reais podem se tornar importantes para a tomada de decisão em agricultura de precisão, proporcionando benefícios como a economia de água e energia durante o período de irrigação

Accretion of non-minimally coupled generalized Chaplygin gas into black holes

The mass evolution of Schwarzschild black holes by the absorption of scalar fields is investigated in the scenario of the generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG). The GCG works as a unification picture of dark matter plus dark energy that naturally accelerates the expansion of the Universe. Through elements of the quasi-stationary approach, we consider the mass evolution of Schwarzschild black holes accreted by non-minimally coupled cosmological scalar fields reproducing the dynamics of the GCG. As a scalar field non-minimally coupled to the metrics, such an exotic content has been interconnected with accreting black holes. The black hole increasing masses by the absorption of the gas reflects some consistence of the accretion mechanism with the hypothesis of the primordial origin of supermassive black holes. Our results effectively show that the non-minimal coupling with the GCG dark sector accelerates the increasing of black hole masses. Meanwhile some exotic features can also be depicted for specific ranges of the non-minimal coupling in which the GCG dynamics is substantially modified.Comment: 13 pages, 03 figure

Molecular Evaluation of exons 8 and 22 of the SHANK3 gene in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism spectrum disorders are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders with a complex and heterogeneous etiology. Studies have shown that genetic factors play an important role in the aetiology of these diseases. Recently, de novo mutations, frameshifts and deletions have been described in the SHANK3 gene, also known as ProSAP2 gene, which encodes a synaptic scaffolding protein. All the participants of this study had normal karyotypes and underwent screening for Fragile-X syndrome. Subsequently, they were analyzed by direct sequencing of different points of exons 8 and 22 of the SHANK3 gene. None of the study participants presented with changes in these regions. These findings may be due to the fact that mutations, deletions and duplications of the SHANK3 gene are rare

On Matrix Superpotential and Three-Component Normal Modes

We consider the supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) with three- component normal modes for the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) states. An explicit form of the SUSY QM matrix superpotential is presented and the corresponding three-component bosonic zero-mode eigenfunction is investigated.Comment: 17 pages, no figure. Paper accepted for publication in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretica

Quantum corrections to gravity and their implications for cosmology and astrophysics

The quantum contributions to the gravitational action are relatively easy to calculate in the higher derivative sector of the theory. However, the applications to the post-inflationary cosmology and astrophysics require the corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert action and to the cosmological constant, and those we can not derive yet in a consistent and safe way. At the same time, if we assume that these quantum terms are covariant and that they have relevant magnitude, their functional form can be defined up to a single free parameter, which can be defined on the phenomenological basis. It turns out that the quantum correction may lead, in principle, to surprisingly strong and interesting effects in astrophysics and cosmology.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, WS style, contribution to the Proceedings of the QFEXT-2011 conference in the Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pasqual, Spai

Fast Community Identification by Hierarchical Growth

A new method for community identification is proposed which is founded on the analysis of successive neighborhoods, reached through hierarchical growth from a starting vertex, and on the definition of communities as a subgraph whose number of inner connections is larger than outer connections. In order to determine the precision and speed of the method, it is compared with one of the most popular community identification approaches, namely Girvan and Newman's algorithm. Although the hierarchical growth method is not as precise as Girvan and Newman's method, it is potentially faster than most community finding algorithms.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

q-Deformed Kink Solutions

The q-deformed kink of the $\lambda\phi^4-$model is obtained via the normalisable ground state eigenfunction of a fluctuation operator associated with the q-deformed hyperbolic functions. From such a bosonic zero-mode the q-deformed potential in 1+1 dimensions is found, and we show that the q-deformed kink solution is a kink displaced away from the origin.Comment: REvtex, 11 pages, 2 figures. Preprint CBPF-NF-005/03, site at http://www.cbpf.br. Revised version to appear in International Journal of Modern Physics

The new automated daily mortality surveillance system

The experience reported in an earlier Eurosurveillance issue on a fast method to evaluate the impact of the 2003 heatwave on mortality in Portugal, generated a daily mortality surveillance system (VDM) that has been operating ever since jointly with the Portuguese Heat Health Watch Warning System. This work describes the VDM system and how it evolved to become an automated system operating year-round, and shows briefly its potential using mortality data from January 2006 to June 2009 collected by the system itself. The new system has important advantages such as: rapid information acquisition, completeness (the entire population is included), lightness (very little information is exchanged, date of death, age, sex, place of death registration). It allows rapid detection of impacts (within five days) and allows a quick preliminary quantification of impacts that usually took several years to be done. These characteristics make this system a powerful tool for public health action. The VDM system also represents an example of inter-institutional cooperation, bringing together organisations from two different ministries, Health and Justice, aiming at improving knowledge about the mortality in the population