EDITORIAL

The search for energy sources that alleviate the dependency on fossil fuels is one the greatest challenges of humankind. The environmental damages that result of many decades of gas emissions from burning oil, natural gas, and mineral coal are evident, revealed by the high levels of atmospheric CO2 and by the ocean acidification, for instance. Two fundamental routes will help to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels: the development of machines and engines with more efficient consumption of fuel and the production of renewable sources of energy, such as biofuels.Brazil is probably the country with the highest potential to produce biofuels. The Brazilian success in the production of ethanol since the 1970’s is a world landmark. The recent growth of biodiesel production in Brazil from different sources (e.g., soybeans, bovine fat) is encouraging. New matrixes to produce biodiesel have been tested all over the world. Microalgae represent a world hope to generate advanced biofuels, allying a (potential) huge scale and very high productivity.In theory, microalgae can triplicate their biomass in 24 hours, depending on the species. This high growth rate combined to high accumulation of triglycerides allow the estimates that some microalgae could generate dozens of thousands of liters of biodiesel / ha per year. Microalgae do not follow seasonal crop harvest regimes (they can be harvested on daily basis), they make biofixation of CO2, occupy small physical areas, and can be cultivated in salty or brackish waters, avoiding the competition with scarce water resources for human consumption of irrigation. Fertile lands are unnecessary, since the cultivation includes ponds or photobioreactors, which are independent of the soil characteristics. There is no conflict with land use for agriculture, deforestation of pristine biomes is avoided, and there is the possibility to generate valuable co-products in parallel to biofuel production.Despite these stimulating arguments, no company produces biofuel from microalgae at commercial scale. Several hurdles still have to be overcome, such as the cost and the efficiency of the separation of the cells from the liquid medium, the accumulation of more triglycerides by the microalgae, the reduction of costs of the systems for mixing the cultivation and dissolution of CO2, and the scarce availability of water in key regions, among others. All technical problems put together and the high intensity of manpower result in high costs of production of biofuels from microalgae. Probably it is not possible yet to produce 1 liter of microalgae biodiesel for less than US$ 9.00, a value that makes the incorporation of microalgae to the world matrix of biofuel to be economically impossible, using the current technology.Due to the Brazilian tradition on biofuels, there is a tremendous international expectation on the participation of Brazil in the production of biofuels from microalgae. Several Brazilian groups have been working on the challenge of creating solutions to make feasible the cultivation of microalgae to generate biofuels. In the previous issue of Engenharia Térmica, two good examples of the Brazilian effort to develop microalgae production can be evaluated by the readers. Ribeiro et al. offered a mathematical analysis of the growth of Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a fast-growing marine microalga, in a closed system for cultivation - a photobioreactor. Torrens et al. evaluated the properties of different kinds of biodiesel generated from microalgae and their theoretical gas emissions in engines, based on the characteristics of their fatty acid composition. These initiatives are important and very welcome. Hopefully, these promising results will stimulate the development of the field in the country, attract more researchers to the subject, and inspire the cooperation amongmultidisciplinary Brazilian teams

Diagnóstico participativo em comunidades ribeirinhas na Amazônia: peixes e sua ecologia.

Este trabalho teve o objetivo de levantar o conhecimento do ribeirinho sobre a ecologia dos peixes em relação ao hábito alimentar, e quais as principais plantas utilizadas como alimento para estas populações locais por meio de oficinas participativas

Determinants of complicance with mandatory disclosure: research evidence

This study analyses research evidence on the determinants of compliance with mandatory disclosure requirements, classified in four main areas: business characteristics, country characteristics, enforcement and corporate governance. The literature concerning the compliance with mandatory disclosure requirements is a relatively recent field of research, when compared to the literature on voluntary disclosure. Given the well-known economic benefits of disclosure, it is of great interest to academics and practitioners to understand the incentives that explain the behaviour of firms in terms of compliance with disclosure requirements. This review provides several insights. First, although the business characteristics found in different studies as explanatory factors for the level of compliance are not always the same, there are four business characteristics that predominate as explanatory factors of the level of compliance with disclosure requirements: the firm’s size, the firm’s profitability, the type of auditor, and the level of internationalization. Second, the country characteristics and the enforcement have always proved to be relevant when analysing the level of compliance with mandatory disclosure requirements, independently of the approach used. Third, some corporate governance characteristics (including the nature of the board members and the type of ownership/control) begin to emerge as determinants of the level of compliance with mandatory disclosure. Overall, whereas research on the determinants of compliance with mandatory disclosure requirements provides relevant insights, it does not yet provide a sufficient accumulation of empirical evidence. Based on this, we develop suggestions for future research, highlighting the importance of analysing the role of corporate governance on the level of compliance with mandatory disclosure requirementsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Masonry behaviour and modelling

In this Chapter we present the basic experimental facts on masonry materials and introduce simple and refined models for masonry. The simple models are essentially macroscopic and based on the assumption that the material is incapable of sustaining tensile loads (No-Tension assumption). The refined models account for the microscopic structure of masonry, modeling the interaction between the blocks and the interfaces.(undefined

Task interference effects in prospective memory

Prospective memory (PM), or remembering to remember, is biq it s i p pl ’s liv s a d PM misses might represent around half of daily memory failures according to recent research. In this thesis, several intention-related factors were investigated in order to clarify and elaborate our understanding of the effects of working memory (WM) and cognitive aging on prospective remembering, increase theoretical clarity regarding the dynamics of the monitoring processes in PM tasks, and investigate the interplay between two qualitatively different PM retrieval processes (i.e., spontaneous retrieval and monitoring). The overall approach was to examine how holding a particular intention affected ongoing task performance in a series of specifically devised laboratory studies of PM. The main findings of this thesis can be summarized as follows: First, encountering intention-related information boosted nonfocal PM performance for low, but not high, WM young adults, and did so without any additional cost to ongoing task performance (Experiment 1). Second, presenting intention-related information as distractor items improved PM performance for older, but not young adults (Experiments 2 and 3). The benefit was most likely due to distractor lures enhancing the salience of the target events and triggering spontaneous retrieval of the intention, or alternatively (or additionally), triggering (functional) monitoring in close proximity to the target events (Experiment 2). Third, practicing the ongoing activity prior to encoding the PM task enhanced nonfocal target detection for high WM young adults, but not for low WM young adults and older adults; practice probably allowed individuals to encode a more elaborate and detailed representation of the PM task (Experiment 4). Fourth, explicit information about target-defining features led to trial-by-trial modulations in task interference as a function of stimulus relevance for the nonfocal PM task. The effect was observed when relevant and irrelevant stimuli varied at random with no cuing (Experiments 5 and 6) and when presentation was blocked (Experiment 5), and was most likely associated with the action of top-down attentional control. Fifth, implicit information about the PM task demands also aff ct d pa ticipa ts’ ff t a d s cc ss i the PM task. Moreover, experience with the PM targets triggered local changes in attention allocation when actual demands were higher than expected (Experiment 7). And sixth, target repetition within a set boosted PM performance by stimulating retrieval through spontaneous retrieval processes, and optimized performance relative to when retrieval relied mostly on monitoring processes alone (Experiment 8). In summary, the present work uncovered several factors that have the potential to boost prospective remembering, as well as influence the extent to which monitoring processes are engaged and/or the type of processing required to support PM retrieval

Relativistic Mean-Field Hadronic Models under Nuclear Matter Constraints

Relativistic mean-field (RMF) models have been widely used in the study of many hadronic frameworks because of several important aspects not always present in nonrelativistic models, such as intrinsic Lorentz covariance, automatic inclusion of spin, appropriate saturation mechanism for nuclear matter, causality and, therefore, no problems related to superluminal speed of sound. With the aim of identifying the models which best satisfy well known properties of nuclear matter, we have analyzed $263$ parameterizations of seven different types of RMF models under three different sets of constraints related to symmetric nuclear matter, pure neutron matter, symmetry energy, and its derivatives. One of these (SET1) is formed of the same constraints used in a recent work [M. Dutra et al., Phys. Rev. C 85, 035201 (2012)] in which we analyzed $240$ Skyrme parameterizations. The results pointed to $2$ models consistent with all constraints. By using another set of constraints, namely, SET2a, formed by the updated versions of the previous one, we found $4$ models approved simultaneously. Finally, in the third set, named SET2b, in which the values of the constraints are more restrictive, we found $3$ consistent models. Another interesting feature of our analysis is that the results change dramatically if we do not consider the constraint regarding the volume part of the isospin incompressibility ($K_{\tau,\rm v}$). In this case, we have $35$ approved models in SET2a and $30$ in SET2b.Comment: 63 pages, 3 figures and 9 tables. Version accepted for publication in PR

Final state interaction in D+→K−π+π+D^+\to K^-\pi^+\pi^+ with KπK\pi I=1/2 and 3/2 channels

The final state interaction contribution to $D^+$ decays is computed for the $K^-\pi^+\pi^+$ channel within a light-front relativistic three-body model for the final state interaction. The rescattering process between the kaon and two pions in the decay channel is considered. The off-shell decay amplitude is a solution of a four-dimensional Bethe-Salpeter equation, which is decomposed in a Faddeev form. The projection onto the light-front of the coupled set of integral equations is performed via a quasi-potential approach. The S-wave $K\pi$ interaction is introduced in the resonant isospin $1/2$ and the non-resonant isospin $3/2$ channels. The numerical solution of the light-front tridimensional inhomogeneous integral equations for the Faddeev components of the decay amplitude is performed perturbatively. The loop-expansion converges fast, and the three-loop contribution can be neglected in respect to the two-loop results for the practical application. The dependence on the model parameters in respect to the input amplitude at the partonic level is exploited and the phase found in the experimental analysis, is fitted with an appropriate choice of the real weights of the isospin components of the partonic amplitude. The data suggests a small mixture of total isospin $5/2$ to the dominant $3/2$ one. The modulus of the unsymmetrized decay amplitude, which presents a deep valley and a following increase for $K\pi$ masses above $1.5$ GeV, is fairly reproduced. This suggests the assignment of the quantum numbers $0^+$ to the isospin 1/2 $K^*(1630)$ resonance

Diagnóstico rural participativo da comunidade de São Raimundo no Município de Maués.

A necessidade de realizar diagnósticos participativos está diretamente relacionada à necessidade de ter um espelho da comunidade de uma forma ágil, mostrando a organização e o funcionamento da mesma. Esse diagnóstico permitiu uma efetiva participação da equipe do projeto junto à comunidade como catalisador de um processo de pesquisa participativa, e seguiu as bases teóricas do diagnóstico participativo

Estratégias metodológicas para o diálogo participativo junto às comunidades ribeirinhas na Amazônia.

Seleção prévia das comunidades. Apresentação do projeto. Levantamentos. Abordagem junto às comunidades ribeirinhas. Análise dos dados