Tratamento aeróbico de esgotos domésticos utilizando bucha vegetal (luffa cylindrica) como suporte para biomassa imobilizada

Investigou-se o desempenho de um filtro biológico aerado submerso, utilizando bucha vegetal (Luffa cylindrica) como suporte para biomassa imobilizada, na remoção de nitrogênio e material carbonáceo. As cargas volumétricas médias aplicadas foram de 1,7kg DQO. m-3 dia-1 e 0,18kg NTK m-3 dia-1, respectivamente orgânica e nitrogenada, com tempo de detenção hidráulica de 8 horas. As eficiências médias obtidas na remoção de matéria orgânica, expressa em DQO, sólidos suspensos voláteis e nitrogênio kjeldahl total, foram respectivamente, 90, 94 e 91%, produzindo efluente com 70 mgDQO. L-1, 10 SSV. L-1 e 5 mg NTK. L-1. A área específica da bucha vegetal proporciona ótimas condições para aderência de microrganismos na formação de biofilmes, no entanto, sua propriedade de biodegradabilidade demonstrou vulnerabilidade do material fibroso, carecendo de mais investigação.Palavras-chave: Luffa Cylindrica. Nitrificação. Biofiltro Aerado.ABSTRACTThe object of this study was to investigate the efficiency of an aerated submersed biological filter, utilizing Luffa cylindrica as the support media for the attached biomass, for organic carbon and nitrogen removal. The organic and nitrogen loading rates on the filter were 1.7kg COD m-3 d-1 and 0.18kg TKN m-3 d-1 respectively with a hydraulic retention time of 8h. Mean removal efficiencies in terms of COD, volatile suspended solids and TKN were 90, 94 and 91% respectively, producing a final effluent of 70mg COD L-1, 10mg VSS L-1 and 5mg L-1 TKN. The fibrous nature of the Luffa provided excellent conditions for the adherence of the microbial biofilm however the long term ability of this natural and inexpensive support material to withstand biodegradation is still under investigation.Keywords: Luffa Cylindrica. Nitrification. Aerated Niofilter

An Agent-Based Simulation to Explore Communication in a System to Control Urban Traffic with Smart Traffic Lights

Populational growth increases the number of cars and makes the transport infrastructure increasingly saturated. The control of traffic lights by intelligent software is a promising way to solve the problem caused by this situation. This article addresses this problem that occurs in urban traffic. An agent-based simulation of an urban traffic control system is proposed. The solution is offered as intelligent traffic lights as agents to alleviate traffic congestion at a given location. Each agent controls a crossing and maintains communication with agents from other corners. Thus, they can have greater control of a larger area and identify patterns that can help them to solve congestion problems. The results of our simulated experiments point to the improvement of the urban traffic when using the proposed Multiagent System, in comparison with an approach that uses crossing agents without communication and other that implements static traffic lights

A entrada da Valve no mercado das consolas: caso de estudo pedagógico

Ao longo da última década, a indústria das consolas de jogos tem assistido a um aumento constante no volume e no valor das vendas, bem como no número de jogadores. Em conjunto com diversas inovações tecnológicas, estes fatores contribuíram para a credibilização da indústria, despertando o interesse de investidores à procura de chegar a um grande público de forma rápida e eficaz. Em 2012, teve início a oitava e mais recente geração de consolas de jogos, numa indústria dominada por três grandes protagonistas, em constante competição: a Microsoft, a Nintendo e a Sony. Apesar de ser uma indústria muito pouco atrativa, a Valve, uma empresa líder no mercado dos jogos para computador, anunciou nesse mesmo ano a sua intenção de entrar na indústria das consolas, aproveitando os seus conhecimentos e competências para inovar neste novo mercado. Assim, no final de 2015, a Valve lançou a sua consola, a Steam Machine, aproveitando a sua bem-sucedida loja online de distribuição de conteúdos, a Steam, e inovações únicas a nível de software e hardware, para oferecer aos jogadores uma alternativa credível. Este projeto apresenta a elaboração de um caso de estudo pedagógico sobre a Valve, o qual permite analisar a entrada e a inovação desta empresa num mercado tipicamente considerado pouco atrativo. Deste modo, este projeto pretende promover a aplicação de conceitos e ferramentas da gestão estratégica junto do seu público-alvo, de modo a estudarem a situação competitiva da indústria e os fatores críticos de sucesso da empresa.Over the last decade, the video-game consoles industry has witnessed a steady increase in the volume and value of sales, as well as in the number of players. Together with several technological innovations, these factors contributed to increase credibility of the industry, arousing the interest of investors looking to reach a large audience quickly and effectively. In 2012, the eighth and latest generation of gaming consoles was launched, in an industry dominated by three major players, in constant competition: Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. Despite being a very unattractive industry, Valve, the leading company in the computer games’ market, announced in the same year its intention to enter the console industry, taking advantage of its knowledge and skills to innovate in this new market. At the end of 2015, Valve launched its new gaming console, the Steam Machine, taking advantage of its successful online content distribution store, Steam, and its unique innovations in software and hardware, to offer players a credible alternative. This project presents a pedagogical case study on Valve, which allows a comprehensive analysis of the benefits of the company’s entering and innovation in an industry typically considered unattractive. Thus, this project aims to promote the application of strategic management concepts and frameworks, in order to study the competitive situation in the industry and the critical success factors of the company

RELAÇÕES PRAXEOLÓGICAS DO PROFESSOR E DO SEU LIVRO DIDÁTICO: IMPLICAÇÕES NA TRANSPOSIÇÃO DOS MÚLTIPLOS CONCEITOS DAS FRAÇÕES

Abstract: This article is a part of a master's research whose objective was to investigate the teacher's relationship to knowledge from the analysis of his praxeologies and those available in the textbook to teach fractions. The records of teaching work were carried out through video recording and semi-structured interviews. We based this study on the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (TAD). According to the elements researched, the methodology constitutes a qualitative approach, typified in exploratory and descriptive for the context of the teacher and bibliographic in relation to the textbook. The results reveal that the teacher changed the proposed curriculum. In the praxeological set, the teacher routinely organized the Types and subtypes of tasks with his techniques of increasing complexity. It was found that the teacher prioritized algorithmization to the detriment of conceptualization, which led to the non-teaching of some important meanings. The T2 task type with 27% of the textbook tasks and 33% of the tasks proposed by the teacher was the dominant model for both. The teacher used almost entirely the techniques proposed in the textbook. Keywords: Teaching fractions. Teacher praxeologies. Textbook.Este artigo é um recorte de pesquisa de mestrado cujo objetivo foi investigar a relação do professor ao saber a partir da análise das suas praxeologias e daquelas disponibilizadas no livro didático para ensinar frações. Os registros do trabalho docente foram realizados por meio de vídeogravação e entrevista semiestruturada. Fundamentamos esse estudo na Teoria Antropológica do Didático (TAD). Conforme os elementos pesquisados, a metodologia se constitui numa abordagem qualitativa, tipificada em exploratória e descritiva para o contexto do professor e bibliográfica em relação ao livro didático. Os resultados revelam que o professor alterou o currículo proposto. No conjunto praxeológico, o professor organizou rotineiramente os Tipos e subtipos de tarefas com suas técnicas de crescente complexidade. Verificou-se que o professor priorizou a algoritmização em detrimento da conceituação, o que acarretou o não ensino de alguns significados importantes. O Tipo de tarefa T2 com 27% das tarefas do livro didático e 33% das tarefas propostas pelo professor foi o modelo dominante para ambos. O professor utilizou quase que totalmente as técnicas propostas no livro didático. Palavras-chave: Ensino de frações. Praxeologias do professor. Livro didático

Domestic wastewater treated for agricultural reuse

Four post-treatment systems of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor were evaluated regarding chemical and sanitary qualities. At an experimental station for biological treatment of sewage (EXTRABES) located in Campina Grande - PB, Brazil, the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the effluents from a UASB reactor and its post-treatment systems were monitored for two years. A baffled anaerobic filter (AF), a horizontal gravel bed (GB); a constructed wetland (CW) and a series of five polishing ponds were the systems used to treat the UASB reactor effluent. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) data in the post-treatment effluents ranged from 60 to 80 mg.L-1, which means a good efficiency in organic matter removal, exception made for polishing ponds (PP) (155 mg.L-1) due to the algal growth. The greater nutrient removal was observed in the CW, which can be explained by the presence of the macrophytes. Concerning pathogens occurrence there is not a significant difference between the AF and the CW effluents, both with appropriate concentrations for restricted reuse. Only the PP had concentrations less than 103 CFU.100 ml-1, the maximum value determined by the World Health Organization for unrestricted reuse. The helminthes eggs were efficiently removed into all analyzed treatments. The UASB was efficient in terms of organic matter and solids removal, favoring all post-treatment systems.Key words: Domestic wastewater treatments, sanitary quality, reuse

Histopathology of Zebrafish (<em>Danio rerio</em>) in Nonclinical Toxicological Studies of New Drugs

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a small-sized teleost fish natural of tropical regions, with a short life cycle and high homology toward humans. These features make zebrafish an attractive and promising model organism for nonclinical tests due to the ease of handling and cost–benefit compared to other models. The digestive, cardiovascular, urinary, nervous, and reproductive systems of zebrafish display feature similar to those of superior mammals, and due to its susceptible organs, the adult zebrafish has been used to test the toxicity of environmental compounds and potential drug candidates through histopathology analysis complementarily with other parameters. In such cases, the choice of the organ assessed relies on the type of compound tested, administration route, and biological activity. This chapter brings together histopathological nonclinical toxicity studies performed exclusively with zebrafish, highlighting significant histological changes found in its gills, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Based on the information presented here, it is expected that the researcher recognizes differences between healthy and changed tissue, without having to compare its result with other species

Evaluating certification protocols in the partial database state machine

Partial replication is an alluring technique to ensure the reliability of very large and geographically distributed databases while, at the same time, offering good performance. By correctly exploiting access locality most transactions become confined to a small subset of the database replicas thus reducing processing, storage access and communication overhead associated with replication. The advantages of partial replication have however to be weighted against the added complexity that is required to manage it. In fact, if the chosen replica configuration prevents the local execution of transactions or if the overhead of consistency protocols offsets the savings of locality, potential gains cannot be realized. These issues are heavily dependent on the application used for evaluation and render simplistic benchmarks useless. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of Partial Database State Machine (PDBSM) replication by comparing alternative partial replication protocols with full replication. This is done using a realistic scenario based on a detailed network simulator and access patterns from an industry standard database benchmark. The results obtained allow us to identify the best configuration for typical on-line transaction processing applications.União Europeia - GORDA Project (FP6-IST/004758)

Lógistica reversa de veículos no fim de vida: a realidade com vistas à sustentabilidade ambiental

O descarte dos veículos em fim de vida impacta direta ou indiretamente, o meio ambiente em função dos resíduos de fabricação. Uma alternativa para diminuir esse problema é a logística reversa de veículos, por ser considerada uma técnica inovadora de reuso, remanufatura e reciclagem destes bens na indústria e mercado automobilísticos. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar as experiências internacionais e seus resultados como propostas de solução para o descarte dos veículos em fim de vida, e os desafios do Brasil para aprovar leis que regulamentam essa atividade no país.

Analysis of the crack growth behavior in a double cantilever beam adhesive fracture test using digital image processing techniques

Digital image processing (DIP) techniques offer interesting possibilities in various fields of science.Automated analyses may significantly reduce the necessary manpower for certain cumbersometasks. The analysis of large series of images may be done in less time, since automatedimage processing techniques are able to work efficiently and with constant quality 24h per day.In this work, a series of images obtained by a high-speed camera is analyzed in order to determinethe crack growth behavior during a double cantilever beam (DCB) test [1]. The presentwork represents a contribution to the effort of automatizing the crack growth measurement,comparing various different techniques which may later be optimized for a specific task.Detecting cracks automatically from test images obtained by a digital camera is a difficult task,since the quality of crack images depends on the test conditions. The roughness of the specimensurface, luminance condition, and the camera itself may influence the detection quality.The specimens tested in this work where painted with white colour since this was found to leadto the best contrast for crack detection. High accuracy may only be expected if a sufficientlyhigh resolution is acquired by the camera and if the available lens setup is optimized for thespecific task.The DCB test is performed in order to obtain the experimental compliance-crack length curveof a polymeric adhesive. Accurate and reliable crack length measurement is indispensable forthe generation of the previously mentioned compliance-crack length curves. It should be notedthat due to the lenses used, unlike shown by Ryu [2], the distance to the specimen is higher than800 mm. This distance has to be reduced by the use of a different lens setup in order to get abetter accuracy of the results. Nevertheless a comparison between different DIP methods is possible.Four different algorithms were developed using The MathWorks MatLab, Massachusetts[3] in order to automatically measure the crack length and a comparison of the obtained resultsis made.Algorithm A is based on thresholding [4] each image of the sequence in order to detect thewhite painted region around the crack. In algorithm B, the image sequence is processed by afilter which reinforces horizontal lines such as the crack, and then isolated pixels are removedfrom the images using morphological cleaning [4]. In algorithm C, the first of two consecutiveimages is subtracted from the second one in order to detect the crack as a difference betweenboth images. Algorithm D is based on the optical flow concept developed by Horn [5]. Thebasic idea is to determine the velocity of each pixel in the image when this changes its positionfrom one image to the next in the analyzed sequence, and relate this information to the growing crack