The XDSPRES CL-based package for reducing OSIRIS cross-dispersed spectra

We present a description of the CL-based package XDSPRES, which aims at being a complete reducing facility for cross-dispersed spectra taken with the Ohio State Infrared Imager/Spectrometer, as installed at the SOAR telescope. This instrument provides spectra in the range between 1.2um and 2.35um in a single exposure, with resolving power of R ~ 1200. XDSPRES consists of two tasks, namely xdflat and doosiris. The former is a completely automated code for preparing normalized flat field images from raw flat field exposures. Doosiris was designed to be a complete reduction pipeline, requiring a minimum of user interaction. General steps towards a fully reduced spectrum are explained, as well as the approach adopted by our code. The software is available to the community through the web site http://www.if.ufrgs.br/~ruschel/software.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Marcos legais e políticos da educação de surdos no Brasil

This text is based on Pietzak's Master dissertation (2023), developed in the Postgraduate Program in Education - Academic Master in Education - of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Santa Catarina - IFC Campus Camboriú, in the line of Educational Processes and Inclusion, which aimed to analyze in official documents and academic literature the education of deaf children in the early years of elementary education in a bilingual context and in school inclusion. To this end, it was necessary to describe the legal and political landmarks of deaf education in Brazil. In this paper, we emphasize chapter three of the dissertation which describes the legal and political landmarks of deaf education in Brazil, as we understand that these milestones are basic aspects in ensuring equality and equity in the educational process as a right for all, thus meeting the real needs of deaf students in their educational process.Este texto é embasado na dissertação de Mestrado de Pietzak (2023), desenvolvida no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação - Mestrado Acadêmico em Educação – do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Catarinense - IFC Campus Camboriú, na linha de Processos Educativos e Inclusão que objetivou analisar nos documentos oficiais e na literatura acadêmica a educação de crianças surdas nos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental em contexto bilíngue e na inclusão escolar. Para tanto se fez necessário descrever os marcos legais e políticos da educação de surdos no Brasil. Neste artigo, damos ênfase ao capítulo três da referida dissertação que descreve os marcos legais e políticos da educação de surdos no Brasil, pois entendemos que estes marcos são aspectos basilares no asseguramento da igualdade e equidade do processo educativo enquanto direito de todos, atendendo assim as reais necessidades do estudante surdo em seu processo educacional

BASS XXXI : outflow scaling relations in low redshift X-ray AGN host galaxies with MUSE

Ionized gas kinematics provide crucial evidence of the impact that active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have in regulating star formation in their host galaxies. Although the presence of outflows in AGN host galaxies has been firmly established, the calculation of outflow properties such as mass outflow rates and kinetic energy remains challenging. We present the [O III]λ5007 ionized gas outflow properties of 22 z<0.1 X-ray AGN, derived from the BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey using MUSE/VLT. With an average spatial resolution of 1 arcsec (0.1–1.2 kpc), the observations resolve the ionized gas clouds down to sub-kiloparsec scales. Resolved maps show that the [O III] velocity dispersion is, on average, higher in regions ionized by the AGN, compared to star formation. We calculate the instantaneous outflow rates in individual MUSE spaxels by constructing resolved mass outflow rate maps, incorporating variable outflow density and velocity. We compare the instantaneous values with time-averaged outflow rates by placing mock fibres and slits on the MUSE field-of-view, a method often used in the literature. The instantaneous outflow rates (0.2–275 M yr−1) tend to be two orders of magnitude higher than the time-averaged outflow rates (0.001–40 M yr−1). The outflow rates correlate with the AGN bolometric luminosity (Lbol ∼ 1042.71–1045.62 erg s−1) but we find no correlations with black hole mass (106.1–108.9 M ), Eddington ratio (0.002–1.1), and radio luminosity (1021–1026 W Hz−1). We find the median coupling between the kinetic energy and Lbol to be 1 per cent, consistent with the theoretical predictions for an AGN-driven outflow

Glazing-related problems due to high temperatures in double skin façades

The thermal behaviour of a double skin façade building is modelled using the DOE-2 building energy simulation program. Maximum temperatures of glazed components of the double skin façade are determined to assess the occurrence of glazing-related problems, such as reduced thermal and aesthetic performance, increased maintenance costs and even injury hazards. The importance of detailed thermal modelling of double skin façades and of its glazed componentes is concluded

Expanding the Distribution of the Remarkable Ant Gnamptogenys vriesi Brandão & Lattke (Formicidae, Ectatomminae): First Record From Brazil

Gnamptogenys vriesi Brandão &amp; Lattke is a rare ant originally described based on a worker and on a gyne collected in Morona Santiago province, in Ecuador. After the original description, few specimens of this species were collected in Ecuadorian territory. In this paper we reported the first record for Brazil, which resulted in a significant extension on the knowledge of the distribution of this species, which was currently considered to be restricted to Ecuador. In addition, we also provided images and a distribution map for this species

Neuron dynamics in the presence of 1/f noise

Interest in understanding the interplay between noise and the response of a non-linear device cuts across disciplinary boundaries. It is as relevant for unmasking the dynamics of neurons in noisy environments as it is for designing reliable nanoscale logic circuit elements and sensors. Most studies of noise in non-linear devices are limited to either time-correlated noise with a Lorentzian spectrum (of which the white noise is a limiting case) or just white noise. We use analytical theory and numerical simulations to study the impact of the more ubiquitous "natural" noise with a 1/f frequency spectrum. Specifically, we study the impact of the 1/f noise on a leaky integrate and fire model of a neuron. The impact of noise is considered on two quantities of interest to neuron function: The spike count Fano factor and the speed of neuron response to a small step-like stimulus. For the perfect (non-leaky) integrate and fire model, we show that the Fano factor can be expressed as an integral over noise spectrum weighted by a (low pass) filter function. This result elucidates the connection between low frequency noise and disorder in neuron dynamics. We compare our results to experimental data of single neurons in vivo, and show how the 1/f noise model provides much better agreement than the usual approximations based on Lorentzian noise. The low frequency noise, however, complicates the case for information coding scheme based on interspike intervals by introducing variability in the neuron response time. On a positive note, the neuron response time to a step stimulus is, remarkably, nearly optimal in the presence of 1/f noise. An explanation of this effect elucidates how the brain can take advantage of noise to prime a subset of the neurons to respond almost instantly to sudden stimuli.Comment: Phys. Rev. E in pres

All-optical XOR based on integrated MZI-SOA with Co and counter-propagation scheme

“Copyright © [2009] IEEE. Reprinted from ICTON-MW 3rd. ISBN:978-1-4244-5745-8. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”In this work we present a review of all-optical XOR gates based on Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (MZI-SOA), using NRZ modulated signals driven at 10 Gbit/s. The performance of two alternative schemes for logical XOR gates implementation is demonstrated through numerical simulations and experimentally. The extinction ratio shows high operation performance with low degradation

Construindo sistemas distribuídos tolerantes a falhas e eficientes em redes SDN com NFV

Orientador : Elias P. Duarte Jr.Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa: Curitiba, 15/08/2017Inclui referências : f. 111-117Resumo: Os sistemas de virtualização estão mudando a maneira de projetar e operar as redes de computadores. A Virtualização de Funções de Rede (NFV - Network Function Virtualization) é uma tecnologia emergente que implementa, utilizando técnicas de virtualização, funções de rede tradicionalmente fornecidas em dispositivos de hardware específicos. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo tirar proveito destas novas tecnologias para implementar, dentro da própria rede, componentes clássicos para a construção de sistemas tolerantes a falhas. A primeira parte do trabalho descreve implementações de serviços de detecção de falhas. A função virtualizada de rede NFV-FD (FD - Failure Detector) é executada em uma rede SDN (Software Defined Network), utilizando informações disponibilizadas por um controlador e por switches para monitorar o estado de processos e enlaces de comunicação. A NFV-FD foi implementada e seus benefícios são apresentados através de experimentos reportados no trabalho. Foi também implementado um serviço para detecção de falhas para a Internet (IFDS - Internet Failure Detection Service), que pode ser configurado de acordo com as necessidades de QoS (Quality of Service) das aplicações. Em particular, são propostas estratégias que permitem a configuração do IFDS tendo em vista os requisitos de múltiplas aplicações. O IFDS é composto por uma MIB (Management Information Base) SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) denominada f dMIB. Um protótipo do serviço foi implementado e resultados experimentais são apresentados, obtidos tanto em redes locais como na Internet. Outra contribuição desta tese relacionada aos detectores de falhas trata da questão do cômputo do timeout, sendo proposta uma estratégia denominada tuning_ que reajusta o valor do timeout de acordo com os tempos de comunicação observados. Nos experimentos, tuning_ apresentou um excelente desempenho, reduzindo de forma expressiva o número de falsas suspeitas. Em outra contribuição tratamos do problema da sincronização consistente entre múltiplos controladores SDN. Uma função virtualizada de rede denominada de VNF-Consensus, é proposta para garantir a sincronização consistente entre os controladores envolvidos. VNF-Consensus implementa o algoritmo de consenso Paxos e com sua utilização os controladores ficam desacoplados da sincronização. Os experimentos mostraram que utilizando a VNF-Consensus, o plano de controle é sincronizado sem aumentar a carga de trabalho nos controladores. Por último, propomos AnyBone, uma NFV que oferece as primitivas de difusão confiável para garantir a entrega ordenada das mensagens transmitidas na rede. O AnyBone é baseado em um sequenciador que gerencia as transmissões e entrega as mensagens ordenadas aos processos, além de oferecer uma API para as aplicações trocarem mensagens utilizando as primitivas de difusão atômica e confiável. Os resultados experimentais demonstram a eficiência da estratégia proposta, bem como seu custo, em termos da latência da difusão em diferentes cenários, ou seja, variando o número de participantes e o tamanho das mensagens transmitidas. O conjunto de contribuições desta tese permite concluir que é viável utilizar a própria rede para implementar com eficiência componentes clássicos de tolerância a falhas que podem ser disponibilizados como serviços para aplicações distribuídas diversas. Palavras-chave: Função Virtualizada de Rede, Tolerância a Falhas, Sistemas Distribuídos, Redes Definidas por Software.Abstract: Virtualization systems are changing the way networks are designed and deployed. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an emerging technology that employs virtualization to transform network devices into virtual entities. In this thesis, we take advantage of this technology to implement classical distributed systems abstractions within the network. As a result, we aim to be able to build efficient fault-tolerant distributed applications. Initially, we describe implementations of failure detectors. A virtual network function called NFV-FD (FD stands for - Failure Detector) is implemented in a Software Defined Network (SDN) and uses information obtained from a SDN controller to monitor processes and determine their state. In addition, NFV-FD also provides information about the state of communication links. NFV-FD was implemented and experimental results are reported. We also implemented an Internet Failure Detection Service (IFDS), which can be used to provide the Quality of Service (QoS) level required by the applications. In particular, we proposed two strategies to configure IFDS when multiple processes are monitored with diferent QoS requirements. IFDS was implemented with SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). We have implemented a prototype of the service and experimental results are presented running both on a single LAN and on the Internet. Another contribution of this thesis also related to failure detectors addresses the question of how to compute a precise timeout interval. We propose the tuning strategy that dynamically adjusts the timeout interval in a way that better reflects a varying behavior of the communication channel. Experimental results obtained from running tuning show that the strategy reduces significantly the number of false detections. The next contribution of the thesis refers to achieving consistent synchronization across multiple SDN controllers. In order to ensure consistent synchronization among controllers of a SDN distributed control plane, we propose the virtual network function VNF-Consensus. VNF-Consensus implements the Paxos consensus algorithm so that controllers are decoupled from synchronization tasks. Experimental results show that our solution is able to guarantee a consistent control plane without increasing the number of tasks a controller has to execute. Finally, we propose AnyBone, a VNF that others reliable and atomic broadcast primitives, which ensures that messages are delivered by all the processes and in the same total order. AnyBone relies on a sequencer to manage the transmissions and enforce the order. Furthermore, AnyBone provides an API for applications to be able to employ atomic and reliable broadcast primitives. Experimental results show that AnyBone provides an efficient strategy to ensure the ordered message delivery to all processes. We measured the broadcast latency in diferent scenarios, i. e., increasing the number of processes involved in the communication and also the size of the transmitted messages. By taking into account the results of the contributions of this thesis, we can conclude that it is not only feasible, but also efficient to use the network itself in order to deploy classic fault tolerance abstractions which can be used to build fault-tolerant distributed applications. Keywords: Network Function Virtualization, Fault Tolerance, Distributed Systems, Software Defined Networking