An analysis of a large scale habitat monitoring application

Habitat and environmental monitoring is a driving application for wireless sensor networks. We present an analysis of data from a second generation sensor networks deployed during the summer and autumn of 2003. During a 4 month deployment, these networks, consisting of 150 devices, produced unique datasets for both systems and biological analysis. This paper focuses on nodal and network performance, with an emphasis on lifetime, reliability, and the the static and dynamic aspects of single and multi-hop networks. We compare the results collected to expectations set during the design phase: we were able to accurately predict lifetime of the single-hop network, but we underestimated the impact of multihop traffic overhearing and the nuances of power source selection. While initial packet loss data was commensurate with lab experiments, over the duration of the deployment, reliability of the backend infrastructure and the transit network had a dominant impact on overall network performance. Finally, we evaluate the physical design of the sensor node based on deployment experience and a post mortem analysis. The results shed light on a number of design issues from network deployment, through selection of power sources to optimizations of routing decisions

A Ética Protestante e o Espírito Capitalista: Ética do Trabalho ou Ética da Educação? Estudo de Caso dos Protestantes de Santa Catarina

TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro Sócio-Econômico. Economia.Este trabalho visa entender qual a vinculação de sentidos existente entre o desenvolvimento do capitalismo e o significado da ética protestante. Esta ética, baseada no trabalho, associa trabalhadores e empresários com certas características morais à gênese do capitalismo, via ascetismo intramundano e racionalização econômica. Nos países analisados por Weber, os empresários e os trabalhadores mais qualificados eram de confissão protestante. Tendo em vista a considerável expansão dos protestantes no Brasil, teria validade, para Santa Catarina, a tese da relação entre a ética protestante e o desenvolvimento do capitalismo? Diante dessa interrogante, este trabalho primeiramente caracteriza o perfil dos protestantes em Santa Catarina para depois explorar a possível relação entre desenvolvimento econômico e religião. No Brasil e no estado, o protestantismo tem sido a escolha feita por grande parte de pessoas com baixo grau de instrução e, conseqüentemente, de baixa renda. O trabalho conclui que isso acontece, em parte, pelo papel social que a Igreja Protestante tem assumido frente à ausência do Estado. Ou seja, a Igreja tem sido a voz dos sem voz. Em Santa Catarina, assim como no país, observa-se essa tendência. A religião protestante tem se inserido na sociedade como uma rede de proteção social dos silenciados. Estes podem ser mulheres, negros, índios, deficientes, imigrantes, moradores de favelas e pessoas em geral com pouco estudo e rendas inferiores. Conclui também, que se bem os dados mostram, a impossibilidade de associar, em Santa Catarina, a religião protestante às camadas mais bem sucedidas da população, isso não exclui a possibilidade de que o ingresso nessa religião traga desenvolvimento econômico futuro pela adoção de um estilo de vida mais regrado

O cromossomo Y na raça Chianina no Brasil

There were studied the karyotypes of 95 purebred Chianina bulls, distributed among 19 cattle farms in five Brazilian states. The objective was to investigate the incidence of individuals carring an acrocentric Y chromosome, typical of Bos taurus indicus breeds, in view of speculations that Indian breeds might have contributed to the formation of Chianina. All individual showed the Bos taurus taurus Y chromosome. The centromeric index obtained was 43.91%, which allowed us to classify the centromere of this chromosome as medially located. There were also studied 29 purebred Chianina bulls with the objective of verifying the presence of intraracial polymorphism at the Y chromosome. The centromeric index and relative size of the Y chromosome were determined. The lenght of the X chromosome served as a basis for estimating the relative size of Y. Analysis of variance showed differences among bulls only in the relative size of Y, no differences being detected in the centromeric index. We conclude that this polymorphism indicates the Chianina breed may have received contributions from other breeds in the remote past, or it may also indicate the possibility of more recent crosses.Foram cariotipados 95 touros puros de origem, da raça Chianina, ditribuidos em 19 empresas pastoris, em 5 estados brasileiros. O objetivo foi investigar a incidência de indivíduos portadores de cromossomo Y acrocêntrico, típico das raças de Bos taurus indicus, face às especulações de que as raças indianas poderiam ter contribuido para a formação do Chianina. Todos os indivíduos avaliados mostraram o cromossomo Y de Bos taurrus taurus. O índice centromérico obtido foi de 43,91%, o que permitiu classificar o centrômero deste cromossomo como localizado na região mediana. Foram avaliados também 29 touros com o objetivo de verificar a presença do polimorfismo intraracial do cromossomo Y. O índice centromérico e o tamanho relativo do Y foi determinado. O tamanho do cromossomo X serviu como base para estimar o tamano relativo do Y. A análise de variância mostrou diferenças entre touros apenas no tamanho relativo do Y, sendo que o índice centromérico não difereiu entre os mesmos. Concluimos que este polimorfismo indica que a raça Chianina pode ter recebido contribuição de outras raças em passado remoto ou pode também indicar a possibilidade de cruzamentos mais recentes

Genetic and environmental factors on age at first calving of Gir cows.

O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar os efeitos dos fatores genéticos e de meio sobre a idade à primeira parição de 986 vacas da raça Gir, nascidas entre 1959 e 1975 e pertencentes a seis rebanhos. Os dados foram analisados pelo método dos quadrados mínimos, de acordo com um modelo incluindo as seguintes fontes de variação: rebanho, touro dentro de rebanho, estação e ano de nascimento das novilhas. A idade média observada foi 1.430 ± 266 dias ou 46,94 meses, CV = 18,59%. A análise de variância revelou efeitos significativos (P < 0,01) para as causas de rebanho, touro dentro de rebanho e ano de nascimento, sendo responsáveis, respectivamente, por 11,53; 9,19 e 7,44% da soma de quadrados total corrigida (R2). A diferença entre rebanhos chegou a 413 dias ou 13,54 meses, significativa (P< 0,01) pelo teste de Tukey. A idade à primeira cria variou de 1.234 dias para as vacas nascidas em 1965, a 1.574 dias para as de 1969, sendo a diferença significativa (P< 0,01) pelo teste de Tukey. Houve tendência significativa (P< 0,01), de aumentar a idade média na primeira parição (b = 18 dias) com o passar dos anos, o que leva a propor mudanças no sistema de produção das novilhas, nos rebanhos estudados para a obtenção de uma idade mais precoce à primeira cria e como consequência uma maior eficiência reprodutiva. O coeficiente de herdabilidade foi 0,38 ± 0,11.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the genetic and environmental effects on age at tirst calving of 986 Gir cows that were born from 1959 to 1975, in six herds. Data were analysed by the least square method using the effects of herd, sire within herd, season and year of birth of heifers. The average age of cows was 1,430 ± 266 days or 46.94 months (CV = 18,59%). The analysis of variance showed significant effects (P< .01) for herds, sire within herd and birth year, explaining, 11.53: 9.19 and 7.44% of addition of total square (R2), respectivelly. The difference between herds have reached 413 days or 13.54 months (P< .01) when Tukey's test was applied. The range of age between year was 1,234 days for the cows born in 1965 and 1,574 days for those borns in 1969 (P< .01) when Tukey's test was applied. The age at first calving increased (P< .01) in the period, b = 18 days/year. The herdability coefficient was 0.38 ± 0.11

Effects of levels of phosphorus on castor bean (Ricinis communis L.) cv. 'Guarani'

This work was carried out in field conditions to study the effects of phosphorus increasing levels on the yield, seed oil contents and macronutrient concentration, except S, in the seeds and hulls of castor bean, cv. 'Guarani'. Six rates of phosphorus (0-40-80-120-160-200 kg of P(2)0(5)/ha) were used in randomized blocks, with five replications, on the low fertility of a São Paulo State soil (LVa). The results showed that phosphorus increased numbers of fruit per raceme, decreased hull percent in the fruit and increased seed weight per raceme. In consequence, there was a mean increase of the seed yield of 100,21%. With regard to nutrient contents in the fruits, it was verified an increase of phosphorus contents and a tendency to reduce the nitrogen contents in the harvested seeds from the treatment with phosphorus fertilization. Phosphorus effects on oil contents of the seeds were not well noted. Therefore, this will be better studied later.O presente trabalho teve como objetivo estudar os efeitos de doses crescentes de fósforo na produção, no teor de óleo das sementes e nas concentrações de macronutrientes, exceto o S, das sementes e da casca da mamona, em cultivar 'Guarani'. As doses utilizadas foram 0-40-80-120-160-200 kg/ha de P2O5, num Latossolo Vermelho Escuro - fase arenosa de baixa fertilidade, no Município de São Manuel, Estado de São Paulo. Os resultados mostraram que o fósforo aumentou o número de frutos por cacho, diminuiu a porcentagem de casca no fruto e aumentou o peso de sementes por cacho. Disto resultou um aumento médio na produção de 100,21%, em relação à produção do tratamento sem fósforo. No que tange aos teores dos elementos nos frutos, observou-se um aumento de P e uma tendência de diminuir o N, nas sementes colhidas dos tratamentos adubados com fósforo. Os efeitos do fósforo no teor de óleo das sementes não ficou bem caracterizado, devendo o problema merecer maiores estudos

Reliable routing for low-power smart space communications

Smart Space (SS) communications has rapidly emerged as an exciting new paradigm that includes ubiquitous, grid, and pervasive computing to provide intelligence, insight, and vision for the emerging world of intelligent environments, products, services and human interaction. Dependable networking of a smart space environment can be ensured through reliable routing, efficient selection of error free links, rapid recovery from broken links and the avoidance of congested gateways. Since link failure and packet loss are inevitable in smart space wireless sensor networks, we have developed an efficient scheme to achieve a reliable data collection for smart spaces composed of low capacity wireless sensor nodes. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) must tolerate a certain lack of reliability without a significant effect on packet delivery performance, data aggregation accuracy or energy consumption. In this paper we present an effective hybrid scheme that adaptively reduces control traffic with a metric that measures the reception success ratio of representative data packets. Based on this approach, our proposed routing scheme can achieve reduced energy consumption while ensuring minimal packet loss in environments featuring high link failure rates. The performance of our proposed routing scheme is experimentally investigated using both simulations and a test bed of TelosB motes. It is shown to be more robust and energy efficient than the network layer provided by TinyOS2.x. Our results show that the scheme is able to maintain better than 95% connectivity in an interference-prone medium while achieving a 35% energy saving

Augmenting forearm crutches with wireless sensors for lower limb rehabilitation

Forearm crutches are frequently used in the rehabilitation of an injury to the lower limb. The recovery rate is improved if the patient correctly applies a certain fraction of their body weight (specified by a clinician) through the axis of the crutch, referred to as partial weight bearing (PWB). Incorrect weight bearing has been shown to result in an extended recovery period or even cause further damage to the limb. There is currently no minimally invasive tool for long-term monitoring of a patient's PWB in a home environment. This paper describes the research and development of an instrumented forearm crutch that has been developed to wirelessly and autonomously monitor a patient's weight bearing over the full period of their recovery, including its potential use in a home environment. A pair of standard forearm crutches are augmented with low-cost off-the-shelf wireless sensor nodes and electronic components to provide indicative measurements of the applied weight, crutch tilt and hand position on the grip. Data are wirelessly transmitted between crutches and to a remote computer (where they are processed and visualized in LabVIEW), and the patient receives biofeedback by means of an audible signal when they put too much or too little weight through the crutch. The initial results obtained highlight the capability of the instrumented crutch to support physiotherapists and patients in monitoring usage

Experimental trade-offs between different strategies for multihop communications evaluated over real deployments of wireless sensor network for environmental monitoring

Although much work has been done since wireless sensor networks appeared, there is not a great deal of information available on real deployments that incorporate basic features associated with these networks, in particular multihop routing and long lifetimes features. In this article, an environmental monitoring application (Internet of Things oriented) is described, where temperature and relative humidity samples are taken by each mote at a rate of 2 samples/min and sent to a sink using multihop routing. Our goal is to analyse the different strategies to gather the information from the different motes in this context. The trade-offs between 'sending always' and 'buffering locally' approaches were analysed and validated experimentally, taking into account power consumption, lifetime, efficiency and reliability. When buffering locally, different options were considered such as saving in either local RAM or FLASH memory, as well different alternatives to reduce overhead with different packet sizes. The conclusion is that in terms of energy and durability, the best option is to reduce the overhead. Nevertheless, sending larger packets is not worthy when the probability of retransmission is high. If real-time monitoring is required, then sending always is better than buffering locally