Process of ontology construction for the development of an intelligent system for the organization and retrieval of knowledge in biodiversity – SISBIO

This work describes the ontology construction process for the development of an Intelligent System for the Organization and Retrieval of Knowledge in Biodiversity – SISBIO. The system aims at the production of strategic information for the biofuel chain Two main methodologies are used for the construction of the ontologies: knowledge engineering and ontology engineering. The first one consists of extracting and organizing the biofuel specialists´ knowledge, and ontology engineering is used to represent the knowledge through indicative expressions and its relations, developing a semantic network of relationships.Applications in Artificial Intelligence - Ontologies and Intelligent WebRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

MCMC Exploration of Supermassive Black Hole Binary Inspirals

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna will be able to detect the inspiral and merger of Super Massive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) anywhere in the Universe. Standard matched filtering techniques can be used to detect and characterize these systems. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are ideally suited to this and other LISA data analysis problems as they are able to efficiently handle models with large dimensions. Here we compare the posterior parameter distributions derived by an MCMC algorithm with the distributions predicted by the Fisher information matrix. We find excellent agreement for the extrinsic parameters, while the Fisher matrix slightly overestimates errors in the intrinsic parameters.Comment: Submitted to CQG as a GWDAW-10 Conference Proceedings, 9 pages, 5 figures, Published Versio

Needle-free pharmacological sedation techniques in paediatric patients for imaging procedures:a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Sedation techniques and drugs are increasingly used in children undergoing imaging procedures. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we present an overview of literature concerning sedation of children aged 0–8 yr for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures using needle-free pharmacological techniques. Methods: Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases were systematically searched for studies on the use of needle-free pharmacological sedation techniques for MRI procedures in children aged 0–8 yr. Studies using i.v. or i.m. medication or advanced airway devices were excluded. We performed a meta-analysis on sedation success rate. Secondary outcomes were onset time, duration, recovery, and adverse events. Results: Sixty-seven studies were included, with 22 380 participants. The pooled success rate for oral chloral hydrate was 94% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.91–0.96); for oral chloral hydrate and intranasal dexmedetomidine 95% (95% CI: 0.92–0.97); for rectal, oral, or intranasal midazolam 36% (95% CI: 0.14–0.65); for oral pentobarbital 99% (95% CI: 0.90–1.00); for rectal thiopental 92% (95% CI: 0.85–0.96); for oral melatonin 75% (95% CI: 0.54–0.89); for intranasal dexmedetomidine 62% (95% CI: 0.38–0.82); for intranasal dexmedetomidine and midazolam 94% (95% CI: 0.78–0.99); and for inhaled sevoflurane 98% (95% CI: 0.97–0.99). Conclusions: We found a large variation in medication, dosage, and route of administration for needle-free sedation. Success rates for sedation techniques varied between 36% and 98%.</p

Um olhar sobre a ação re-territorializadora do manejo de castanhais nativos no Acre.

O sistema de produção da castanha-da-amazônia (Bertholletia excelsa) apresenta importante valor para a manutenção dos meios de vida de comunidades extrativistas no Acre. Este sistema produtivo tem sua herança nos povos originários, mas sua exploração econômica está associada às mudanças de uso do espaço-floresta amazônica a partir de um novo ciclo de extrativismo o qual ocorreu após a decadência do ciclo da borracha. Sob a perspectiva de análise de ?territórios construídos? o presente artigo buscou analisar o processo de territorialização a partir de fatores e componentes associados ao setor produtivo da castanha-da-amazônia no contexto acreano. O trabalho fornece informações sobre conceitos de território e territorialidade e aborda um histórico da dinâmica da atividade produtiva vinculada a castanha-da-amazônia, incluindo o papel dos agentes sociais no processo estudado. Por seu grande valor de uso, este setor produtivo passou por muitas mudanças na última década, motivadas por uma sequência de políticas públicas empreendidas pelo estado e pela estruturação de uma cooperativa central de produtores. O estudo demonstra a existência de uma ação territorializadora resultante do sistema produtivo da castanha-da-amazônia no Acre, principalmente pelas características particulares encontradas em: i) espaço-lugar considerado aqui como a base natural ou florestas com ocorrência de castanhais nativos especificamente em uma determinada parte do estado e ii) pelo espaço-território construído a partir das relações socias estabelecidas ao longo do tempo para que a atividade extrativista se consolidasse em um setor econômico-produtivo. The production system of Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) presents important value for the maintenance of the livelihoods of extractive communities in Acre. This productive system has its inheritance in the original peoples, but its economic exploitation is associated with the changes of use of the Amazonian forest space in a new cycle of extractivism which occurred after the decay of the rubber cycle. From the perspective of "constructed territories", the present article sought to analyze the territorialization process based on factors and components associated with the productive sector of the Brazil nuts in the Acrean context. The paper provides information on the concepts of territory and territoriality and discusses the history of the productive activity dynamics linked to Brazil nuts, including the role of social agents in the process studied. Due to its great value in use, this productive sector underwent many changes in the last decade, motivated by a sequence of public policies undertaken by the state and by the structuring of a central cooperative of producers. The study demonstrates the existence of a territorializing action resulting from the Brazil nut production system in Acre, mainly due to the particular characteristics found in: i) space-place considered here as the natural base or forests with native Brazil nut tree that occur specifically in a certain part of the state and ii) by the space-territory constructed from the social relations established over time so that the extractive activity was consolidated in an economic-productive sector

Hydrocarbon Liquid Production via Catalytic Hydroprocessing of Phenolic Oils Fractionated from Fast Pyrolysis of Red Oak and Corn Stover

Phenolic oils were produced from fast pyrolysis of two different biomass feedstocks, red oak and corn stover, and evaluated in hydroprocessing tests for production of liquid hydrocarbon products. The phenolic oils were produced with a bio-oil fractionating process in combination with a simple water wash of the heavy ends from the fractionating process. Phenolic oils derived from the pyrolysis of red oak and corn stover were recovered with yields (wet biomass basis) of 28.7 and 14.9 wt %, respectively, and 54.3% and 60.0% on a carbon basis. Both precious metal catalysts and sulfided base metal catalyst were evaluated for hydrotreating the phenolic oils, as an extrapolation from whole bio-oil hydrotreatment. They were effective in removing heteroatoms with carbon yields as high as 81% (unadjusted for the 90% carbon balance). There was substantial heteroatom removal with residual O of only 0.4% to 5%, while N and S were reduced to less than 0.05%. Use of the precious metal catalysts resulted in more saturated products less completely hydrotreated compared to the sulfided base metal catalyst, which was operated at higher temperature. The liquid product was 42–52% gasoline range molecules and about 43% diesel range molecules. Particulate matter in the phenolic oils complicated operation of the reactors, causing plugging in the fixed-beds especially for the corn stover phenolic oil. This difficulty contrasts with the catalyst bed fouling and plugging, which is typically seen with hydrotreatment of whole bio-oil. This problem was substantially alleviated by filtering the phenolic oils before hydrotreating. More thorough washing of the phenolic oils during their preparation from the heavy ends of bio-oil or online filtration of pyrolysis vapors to remove particulate matter before condensation of the bio-oil fractions is recommended.Reprinted with permission from ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2015, 3 (5), pp 892–902. Copyright 2015 American Chemical Society.</p