SOLAR ENERGY AND ITS GLOBAL INVESTMENTS

Este trabalho teve por objetivo analisar as pesquisas de energia solar em escala global nos últimos cinco anos a fim de identificar as formas de aplicação dessa fonte de energia e quais países estão participando das pesquisas na área solar. Neste contexto Foram analisadas as publicações sobre energia solar dos últimos cinco anos (2010 – 2015) de revistas científicas voltadas a temática de energias renováveis, sendo adotado o Fator de Impacto (FI) como critério de seleção. Os artigos foram analisados a nível de resumo para um universo amostral de mais de 350 publicações, das quais o índice do FI variou de 3 a 15. Os resultados mostram que os países com maior número de publicações na área de energia solar no mundo foram Índia, China, Espanha, Malásia e Estados Unidos, totalizando mais da metade das pesquisas mundiais. A energia solar térmica teve maior participação nas pesquisas e o ano de 2014 o maior número de publicações em relação a energia solar no mundo

A method for the extraction of phonetically-rich triphone sentences

A method is proposed for compiling a corpus of phonetically-rich triphone sentences; i.e., sentences with a high variety of triphones, distributed in a uniform fashion. Such a corpus is of interest for a wide range of contexts, from automatic speech recognition to speech therapy. We evaluated this method by building phonetically-rich corpora for Brazilian Portuguese. The data employed comes from Wikipedia’s dumps, which were converted into plain text, segmented and phonetically transcribed. The method consists of comparing the distance between the triphone distribution of the available sentences to na ideal uniform distribution, with equiprobable triphones. A greedy algorithm was implemented to recognize and evaluate the distance among sentences. A heuristic metric is proposed for pre-selecting sentences for the algorithm, in order to quicken its execution. The results show that, by applying the proposed metric, one can build corpora with more uniform triphone distributions

UTILIZAÇÃO DE ÁGUA SUBTERRÂNEA EM FREDERICO WESTPHALEN-RS: CONDIÇÕES SÓCIOAMBIENTAIS DOS USUÁRIOS

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/2236130810937With the increasing levels of soil contamination, alternative sources of water supply are becoming a threat to the health of the population that uses this feature. Thus, this study aims to determine and evaluate the social and environmental conditions of the users of alternative sources of water supply Frederico Westphalen - RS. The evaluation was done through visits to homes and by applying a questionnaire with several questions on the topic of alternative sources of supply, during the year 2011 and 2012. The number of wells, types, locations in UTM coordinates, static levels and situations they were in were raised in these visits. Therefore, it is concluded that even having access to the public network, many users still use alternative sources to supply their homes, this being a major concern, since many users are unaware of the quality of the water used for consumption.http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/2236130810937Com o crescente aumento dos níveis de contaminação do solo, as fontes alternativas de abastecimento de água estão se tornando uma ameaça a saúde da população que utiliza esse recurso. Sendo assim, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo determinar e avaliar as condições socioambientais dos usuários de fontes alternativas de abastecimento de água de Frederico Westphalen - RS. A avaliação foi feita através de visitas as residências e sendo aplicados questionários com varias perguntas referentes ao tema das fontes alternativas de abastecimento, no decorrer do ano de 2011 e 2012. O número de poços, os tipos, as localizações em coordenadas UTM, níveis estáticos e situações em que se encontravam foram levantados nessas visitas, além das condições sócio-ambientais dos usuários. Sendo assim, conclui-se que mesmo tendo acesso a rede pública de abastecimento, muitos usuários ainda utilizam as fontes alternativas para abastecimento de suas residências, sendo isso uma grande preocupação, pois muitos usuários não tem conhecimento da qualidade dessa água usada para o consumo

Evaluator effect on the ultrasound measurement of subcutaneous fat deposition and loin eye area from weaning to slaughter lambs

Background and Aim: Ultrasound is a non-invasive technique that enables animal evaluation and body condition classification of animals. Although it is not difficult to obtain an image, the analysis of this image can influence results quality. This study aimed to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of the technician trained in image interpretation obtained using different ultrasound frequencies. Materials and Methods: Ninety-six lambs were used, ranging in weight from 15 to 40 kg. The images were captured using a linear probe of 13 cm, with a 3.5 megahertz (MHz) frequency and an acoustic couplant aid "standoff" or using a multifrequency transducer (6 and 8 MHz), on B mode, with a linear probe and 8.0 MHz frequency. All measurements were performed by the same technician, on the left side, between the 12th and 13th rib. Five different evaluators, at two different times, with aid of Image J software measured the loin eye area (LEA; only for images obtained with 3.5 MHz), Longissimus thoracis et lumborum depth (DLM), subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), subcutaneous fat thickness plus skin (SFST), and skin thickness (ST). Results: For LEA, DLM, SFT, SFST, and ST, variation was observed (p0.05) between the 2 times of evaluation. Images measurements obtained with a frequency of 8.0 MHz had better repeatability indices and reproducibility indices. Accordingly, the identity test demonstrated that measurements performed on images obtained using 3.5 or 8.0 MHz were not equivalent. Conclusion: Ultrasound image measurements obtained using an 8.0 MHz frequency were more accurate and precise. It is important to use only one evaluator or providing the simultaneous training for all evaluators