Design of controlled piezoelectric actuators by using topology optimization

Controlled flextensional actuators essentially involve a compliant mechanism assembled in association with piezoceramics featuring sensing and actuation of the struc- ture by the ceramics energy conversion property. For applications that require vibration response attenuation, these devices account with an active feedback control to regulate disturbances that might be introduced to the system. In the field of intelligent struc- tures, the self-monitoring and control assemblage can be largely used in systems such as micro-grippers for sample handling, hard disk reading [1] and atomic force microscopy. One distinct advantage of this kind of structure is their higher accuracy when compared to conventional actively controlled structures because their sensing is distributed instead of being discrete about the response measurement phenomenon. The control law effec- tiveness in such a controlled system can be enhanced by designing their elastic structure by means of the Topology Optimization Method (TOM), since an optimized material distribution within a fixed domain affects the structure stiffness, vibration modes and re- sponse characteristics. Previous works that apply the TOM in controlled piezo-actuators aiming vibration suppression focus on the distribution of piezoceramic material over a host structure either in frequency domain or in time domain [2]. However, the low cou- pling constants of piezoelectric ceramics may reduce the capability of energy conversion for input displacements or for input voltages in actuating systems. Therefore, in order to avoid an unfeasible or less effective active control targeting vibration suppression, this work focuses on the distribution of the host structure and eliminates the dependence on the magnitude of electro-elastic coupling constants for a satisfactory energy conversion. As stated, the optimized smart devices proposed in this work involve a host structure ma- terial distribution which is sensed and actuated by two predefined piezoceramic locations connected through a feedback architecture, while the system is subjected to a transient input load. Approximations to the damping matrix coefficients are considered for both the metallic material and the piezoelectric material, even though the ceramic layers are significantly thinner than the middle layer. The objective function chosen minimizes the vibration energy of the system subjected to a volume constraint. The dynamic equilibrium equation accounts with an extra damping matrix derived from the current amplification chosen as the feedback control law, or for short, the Active Velocity Feedback (AVF). The material model implemented is the Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) for the 4-node solid finite element with two mechanical degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) per node, and one electrical DOF per node. A density-based filter eliminates the checkerboard pattern, the sensitivity analysis is calculated by the adjoint method, and the Sequential Linear Programming (SLP) algorithm is employed as the optimization procedure. Two- Dimensions (2D) results are presented and the influence of the gain velocity value over the final layouts is analyzed

Genes of different catabolic pathways are coordinately regulated by Dal81 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast can use a wide variety of nitrogen compounds. However, the ability to synthesize enzymes and permeases for catabolism of poor nitrogen sources is limited in the presence of a rich one. This general mechanism of transcriptional control is called nitrogen catabolite repression. Poor nitrogen sources, such as leucine, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and allantoin, enable growth after the synthesis of pathway-specific catabolic enzymes and permeases. This synthesis occurs only under conditions of nitrogen limitation and in the presence of a pathway-specific signal. In this work we studied the temporal order in the induction of AGP1, BAP2, UGA4, and DAL7, genes that are involved in the catabolism and use of leucine, GABA, and allantoin, three poor nitrogen sources. We found that when these amino acids are available, cells will express AGP1 and BAP2 in the first place, then DAL7, and at last UGA4. Dal81, a general positive regulator of genes involved in nitrogen utilization related to the metabolisms of GABA, leucine, and allantoin, plays a central role in this coordinated regulation.Fil: Palavecino Ruiz, Marcos Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Correa Garcia, Susana Raquel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Bermudez Moretti, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

Extração seletiva e produção de madeira nativa no estado de Mato Grosso

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Florestal, 2018.A extração seletiva de madeiras tropicais é responsável por vários impactos nas florestas, aumentando a degradação e fragmentação florestal, a susceptibilidade da floresta ao fogo e reduzindo a biodiversidade. Esses impactos podem ser ainda maiores quando a extração de madeiras é feita de forma ilegal e sem planejamento técnico adequado. O objetivo do presente estudo foi entender a dinâmica espaço-temporal da degradação causada pela extração seletiva e a produção de madeiras (legal e ilegal) no estado do Mato Grosso entre 1992 e 2016, utilizando dados de satélite e georreferenciados. Para isso, foi conduzida a interpretação visual de imagens de satélite, combinada com a classificação semiautomática utilizando o algoritmo textura, para detectar florestas impactadas por atividades de extração seletiva de madeiras no estado de Mato Grosso. A partir da área de florestas exploradas seletivamente detectadas por satélite, foi estimada a produção de madeira (legal e ilegal) para o estado do Mato Grosso entre 2006 e 2016, assumindo média de intensidade de exploração de 27,14 m3.ha-1 para produção das florestas nativas. Nesse caso, a produção ilegal foi estimada pela diferença entre a produção total e da produção legal. Também foram sobrepostas as áreas de extração seletiva mapeadas nas imagens de satélite com os polígonos das áreas autorizadas para exploração florestal pelo órgão ambiental estadual (SEMA) e verificados os dados oficiais (IBGE e SEMA) de produção de madeiras nativas no Estado. Foi analisada também a tendência de crescimento da produção de madeira nativa utilizando modelos semilogaritmos e taxa de crescimento anual. As áreas de extração seletiva que não apresentaram autorização de exploração válida e estavam localizadas dentro de unidades de conservação e terras indígenas foram consideradas como ilegais. Com base nos resultados deste estudo, estimou-se que foram explorados seletivamente 41.926 km2 de florestas nativas entre 1992 e 2016 no estado do Mato Grosso, uma média de 1.747 km2.ano-1. As florestas exploradas seletivamente estavam localizadas predominantemente na microrregião de Sinop durante a década de 1990. Nos anos 2000, a exploração florestal se expandiu para toda a mesorregião Norte (Sinop, Aripuanã, Alta Floresta, Marcelândia e Juína) e, a partir de 2010, vem se expandindo para a microrregião de Aripuanã e Colíder, no Noroeste do estado de Mato Grosso. As áreas de florestas exploradas seletivamente dentro de Unidades de Conservação aumentaram de 6,4 km2 em 1992 para 234,4 km2 em 2016. De acordo com a série de dados analisado entre 2006 e 2016, a taxa de produção de madeira em tora apresentou tendência significativa (com α= 0.95) de crescimento (total e ilegal) (8,53% a.a e 14,77% a.a). A ilegalidade da produção de madeira em tora estimada foi de 49% da produção total de madeiras no Estado assumindo a produtividade média das florestas de 27,14 m3.ha-1 de madeira em tora, respectivamente. A partir da sobreposição das áreas de extração seletiva autorizadas pelo órgão ambiental estadual (17.329 km2) com as áreas de extração seletiva detectadas por satélite (33.272 km2), estima-se que 15.904 km2 (48%) foram explorados sem autorização e 1.734 km2 foram autorizados e não explorados (área de extração seletiva não detectada por satélite) entre 2006 e 2016 no estado do Mato Grosso. A ilegalidade da exploração e comercialização de madeiras nativas é prejudicial ao meio ambiente e à sociedade, reduzindo investimentos no setor por falta de garantias de sustentabilidade e, com isso, pode levar ao colapso num futuro breve este setor de produção econômica no estado de Mato Grosso.The tropical selective logging is responsible for several forest impacts that increase forest degradation and fragmentation, forest susceptibility to fires, and reduce biodiversity. Those impacts can be even greater when selective logging activities occur illegally and without proper technical planning. This study intended to better understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of forest degradation caused by selective logging activities and timber production (legal and illegal) in the state of Mato Grosso between 1992 and 2016 by using remotely sensed and georeferenced data. Visual interpretation of satellite imagery combined with a semi-automatic technique using a texture algorithm were applied to detect forests impacted by selective logging activities in the state of Mato Grosso. The timber production (legal and illegal) in the state of Mato Grosso between 2006 and 2016 was estimated based on the area of selectively logged forests detected using satellite imagery and by assuming an average exploitation intensity of 27,14 m3.ha-1 of native forest productivity. In this case, illegal production was estimated by estimating the difference between total production and legal production. I also overlapped all selectively logged forests detected using remotely sensed data with polygons of forest management plans properly approved by the State Environmental Agency (SEMA) and compared to the official data (IBGE and SEMA) of native timber production and the destination of processed timber harvested in that State. Also, I analyzed the growth trend of native timber production using semi-logarithmic models and annual growth rate. The selectively logged forests detected that did not have a valid authorization or license to be logged and those that were located within conservation units and indigenous lands were considered illegal logging. Based on this study results, I estimated that 41.926 km2 of native forests had been selectively logged between 1992 and 2016 in the state of Mato Grosso, an average of 1.747 km2.year-1. During the 1990s, most of selectively logged forests were spatially located within the microregion of Sinop. During the 2000s, the selective logging activities expanded to the entire Northern Mato Grosso (Sinop, Aripuanã, Alta Forest, Marcelândia and Juína) and, during the 2010s, selective logging have expanded into the microregion of Aripuanã and Colíder, Northwestern Mato Grosso. Selectively logged forests within protected areas increased from 6.4 km2 to 234.4 km2 in 2016. The timber production data series analyzed between 2006 and 2016 did show a significant growth (at α= 0.95) trend (total and legal) (8,53% p.a to 14,77% p.a.). The illegal logging activities reached 49% of total timber production in that State by assuming the average of logging intensity of 27,14 m3.ha-1of round wood, respectively. By overlapping those legal (licensed) forest areas (17,329 km2) for selective logging activities by the State Environmental Agency with selectively logged forests detected using remotely sensed data (33,272 km2), I estimated that 15,904 km2 (48%) had been illegally logged and 1.734 km2 had been licensed but not selectively logged between 2006 and 2016 in the state of Mato Grosso. The illegal logging and timber business of tropical timber can severely impact the environment and society by reducing investments in the forestry sector and increasing uncertainties of sustainability and, therefore, can lead to a collapse of this economic sector in the state of Mato Grosso shortly

É possível transacionar sobre a paz? Um estudo sobre o processo de paz na Colômbia

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo trazer reflexões acerca dos processos de justiça de transição a partir da análise do atual processo de paz vivido na Colômbia. Nos perguntamos se é possível transacionar a favor da paz em uma sociedade em que o conflito ainda persiste, quais são formas para fazê-lo e, ainda, quais dessas possuem legitimidade democrática. Essa pesquisa fundamentou-se nos estudos de Bonavides (2013), Ferreyra (2016), Ferrajoli (2016), Gargarella (2015 e 2016) e Uprimny (2004 e 2017)

“We Are Under One Law and Equal in its Eyes” : The Pursuit of Social Justice in the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 and the Literacy Movement in “Seven Brothers”

This study aimed to investigate the historical construction of social justice in Finnish education by analysing the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 (FNCC 2014) through qualitative content analysis and using a literature vignette of the novel Seven Brothers to exemplify its historical origins. The investigation was based on Fraser’s concept of social justice and Freire’s critical pedagogy for an emancipatory education, focusing on the elements related to equity and political participation presented in the curriculum and the novel, terms that became codes in the NVivo 12 software to identify and categorize the extracts. The hypothesis that guided the study was the identification of elements that lead the teaching practices towards social justice at a policy level, which could justify, among other reasons, the success of Finnish education and the consolidation of the “Finnish miracle”. The results showed that the FNCC 2014 safeguarded essential aspects to enhance social justice in schools, nonetheless, further research is needed to understand how these principles are being applied in the school context. In addition, extracts from “Seven Brothers” were related to the development of Finnish education and the importance of the literacy movement for the peasantry, aiming at the construction of an egalitarian society

Predominantly Cytoplasmic Localization in Yeast of ASR1, a Non-Receptor Transcription Factor from Plants

The Asr gene family (named after abscisic acid, stress and ripening), currently classified as a novel group of the LEA superfamily, is exclusively present in the genomes of seed plants, except for the Brassicaceae family. It is associated with water-deficit stress and is involved in adaptation to dry climates. Motivated by separate reports depicting ASR proteins as either transcription factors or chaperones, we decided to determine the intracellular localization of ASR proteins. For that purpose, we employed an in vivo eukaryotic expression system, the heterologous model Saccharomyces cerevisiae, including wild type strains as well as mutants in which the variant ASR1 previously proved to be functionally protective against osmotic stress. Our methodology involved immunofluorescence-based confocal microscopy, without artificially altering the native structure of the protein under study. Results show that, in both normal and osmotic stress conditions, recombinant ASR1 turned out to localize mainly to the cytoplasm, irrespective of the genotype used, revealing a scattered distribution in the form of dots or granules. The results are discussed in terms of a plausible dual (cytoplasmic and nuclear) role of ASR proteins

Sociedad de la Información y Transformación Digital

Este informe presenta los adelantos tecnológicos producidos y acelerados por la pandemia Covid 19. También se detalla sobre los avances en camino en cuanto a inteligencia artificial, industria 4.0 y tecnología 5G. Los autores remarcan la necesidad de legislar correctamente ante estas situaciones de la vida moderna.En los anexos del informe pueden encontrarse la nueva Ley de Teletrabajo de Argentina, Nº 27.555, y el Manual de Buenas Prácticas de Teletrabajo.Cátedra Libre Teletrabajo y Socieda

Development in institutionalized infants and temporary shelter families: A bibliographic review

El objetivo del presente trabajo es realizar una revisión bibliográfica sobre el desarrollo de los niños y niñas bajo cuidados alternativos en instituciones y también bajo cuidados alternativos que ingresan en familias de acogida temporal. Se realizó en diversas bases de datos científicas: Sciencie direct, scielo, Redalyc, Pubmad, Dialnet y Google Académico, utilizando las siguientes palabras claves: desarrollo infantil, familias de acogida temporal, institucionalización, child development, temporary family foster care, residential care. Fueron 56 los artículos seleccionados, publicados en revistas científicas de los últimos 17 años (período 2000-2017). Se incluye una síntesis de sus resultados organizando a la misma en dos apartados diferentes: en el primero se hace referencia a las condiciones de vida en el ámbito institucional y al desarrollo infantil en dichas condiciones, mientras que, en un segundo apartado, a los programas de familia de acogida temporal y al desarrollo infantil tras la inclusión en estos programas. Se presentan los países en los que se encontró evidencia de estos programas de familia temporaria y se destacan los aspectos que restan profundizar.Fil: Moretti, María Paula. Universidad Católica Argentina. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Económicas; ArgentinaFil: Torrecilla, Norma Mariana. Universidad Católica Argentina. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Económicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentin