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

Calagem e extratores químicos de manganês e zinco em Latossolo Vermelho e Neossolo Quartzarênico cultivados com soja.

Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar extratores que melhor representem a disponibilidade de Mn e Zn para a cultura da soja, cultivada em solos sob vegetação de cerrado e submetidos à calagem com várias relações de Ca e Mg

Dificuldades para o posicionamento estratégico da atividade do design em empresas brasileiras de grande porte

In order to reposition the design activity in a strategic level, an applied research was carried out with five Brazilian companies. However, throughout this activity, different challenges that hindered the strategic positioning of the design activity were found. In this sense, this article focuses on describing such difficulties, which was grouped in six categories: Communication, Knowledge, Processes, Projects, Human Resources, and Strategy. These data were extracted from case studies and an action research that was developed between September 2012 and October 2014. At the end, it became clear that, before repositioning the activity of design within the companies, it is necessary to know their context in order to understand the challenges they face and how they impact the design activity within the companies.Keywords: design, repositioning, companies, challenges.Com o objetivo de reposicionar a atividade do design em um âmbito mais estratégico, realizou-se uma pesquisa aplicada com cinco empresas brasileiras de grande porte, atuantes nos segmentos de pintura; produtos de limpeza doméstica; potes plásticos; calçados femininos; e brinquedos. No entanto, ao longo dessa atividade, foram encontrados diferentes desafios, que dificultaram o posicionamento estratégico da atividade do design. Nesse sentido, o presente artigo tem como foco descrever tais dificuldades, que foram agrupadas em seis pilares: Comunicação, Conhecimento, Processos, Projetos, Recursos Humanos e Estratégia. Esses dados foram extraídos através da realização de Estudos de Casos e da Pesquisa Ação, ocorridos entre setembro de 2012 e outubro de 2014. A pesquisa permitiu concluir que, antes de reposicionar a atividade do design dentro das empresas, faz-se necessário conhecer o contexto das mesmas, para se compreender os desafios intrínsecos a cada uma delas e como eles impactam a atividade do design dentro das companhias.Palavras-chave: design, reposicionamento, empresas, desafios

Dificuldades para o posicionamento estratégico da atividade do design em empresas brasileiras de grande porte

In order to reposition the design activity in a strategic level, an applied research was carried out with five Brazilian companies. However, throughout this activity, different challenges that hindered the strategic positioning of the design activity were found. In this sense, this article focuses on describing such difficulties, which was grouped in six categories: Communication, Knowledge, Processes, Projects, Human Resources, and Strategy. These data were extracted from case studies and an action research that was developed between September 2012 and October 2014. At the end, it became clear that, before repositioning the activity of design within the companies, it is necessary to know their context in order to understand the challenges they face and how they impact the design activity within the companies.Keywords: design, repositioning, companies, challenges.Com o objetivo de reposicionar a atividade do design em um âmbito mais estratégico, realizou-se uma pesquisa aplicada com cinco empresas brasileiras de grande porte, atuantes nos segmentos de pintura; produtos de limpeza doméstica; potes plásticos; calçados femininos; e brinquedos. No entanto, ao longo dessa atividade, foram encontrados diferentes desafios, que dificultaram o posicionamento estratégico da atividade do design. Nesse sentido, o presente artigo tem como foco descrever tais dificuldades, que foram agrupadas em seis pilares: Comunicação, Conhecimento, Processos, Projetos, Recursos Humanos e Estratégia. Esses dados foram extraídos através da realização de Estudos de Casos e da Pesquisa Ação, ocorridos entre setembro de 2012 e outubro de 2014. A pesquisa permitiu concluir que, antes de reposicionar a atividade do design dentro das empresas, faz-se necessário conhecer o contexto das mesmas, para se compreender os desafios intrínsecos a cada uma delas e como eles impactam a atividade do design dentro das companhias.Palavras-chave: design, reposicionamento, empresas, desafios

The stellar spectral features of nearby galaxies in the near infrared: tracers of thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch stars?

et al.We analyse the stellar absorption features in high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) near-infrared (NIR) spectra of the nuclear region of 12 nearby galaxies, mostly spirals. The features detected in some or all of the galaxies in this sample are the TiO (0.843 and 0.886 μm), VO (1.048 μm), CN (1.1 and 1.4 μm), H2O (1.4 and 1.9 μm) and CO (1.6 and 2.3 μm) bands. The C2 (1.17 and 1.76 μm) bands are generally weak or absent, although C2 (1.76 μm) may be weakly present in the mean galaxy spectrum. A deep feature near 0.93 μm, likely caused by CN, TiO and/or ZrO, is also detected in all objects. Fitting a combination of stellar spectra to the mean spectrum shows that the absorption features are produced by evolved stars: cool giants and supergiant stars in the early- or thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (E-AGB or TP-AGB) phases. The high luminosity of TP-AGB stars, and the appearance of VO and ZrO features in the data, suggest that TP-AGB stars dominate these spectral features. However, a contribution from other evolved stars is also likely. Comparison with evolutionary population synthesis models shows that models based on empirical libraries that predict relatively strong NIR features provide a more accurate description of the data. However, none of the models tested accurately reproduces all of the features observed in the spectra. To do so, the models will need to not only improve the treatment of TP-AGB stars, but also include good quality spectra of red giant and E-AGB stars. The uninterrupted wavelength coverage, high S/N and quantity of features we present here will provide a benchmark for the next generation of models aiming to explain and predict the NIR properties of galaxies.The Brazilian authors thank CNPq and FAPERGS support. LCH acknowledges support by the Chinese Academy of Science through grant no. XDB09030102 (Emergence of Cosmological Structures) from the Strategic Priority Research Program and by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through grant No. 11473002. CRA is supported by a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (PIEF-GA-2012-327934).Peer Reviewe