PCJ River Basins’ Water Availability Caused by Water Diversion Scenarios to Supply Metropolitan Areas of São Paulo

A dynamic systems simulation model of water resources was developed as a tool to help analyze alternatives to water resources management for the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí River Water Basins (RB-PCJ), and used to run six 50-year simulations from 2004 to 2054. The model estimates water supply and demand, as well as contamination load by several consumers. Six runs were performed using a constant mean precipitation value, changing water supply and demand and different volumes diverted from RB-PCJ to RB-Alto Tietê. For the Business as Usual scenario, the Sustainability Index went from 0.44 in 2004 to 0.20 by 2054. The Water Sustainability Index changed from 74% in 2004 to 131% by 2054. The Falkenmark Index changed from 1,403 m³ person^− 1 year^− 1 in 2004 to 734 m³ person^− 1 year^− 1 by 2054. We concluded that sanitation is one of the major problems for the PCJ River Basins.     

Robust integral control of port-Hamiltonian systems: The case of non-passive outputs with unmatched disturbances

Regulation of passive outputs of nonlinear systems can be easily achieved with an integral control (IC). In many applications, however, the signal of interest is not a passive output and ensuring its regulation remains an open problem. Also, IC of passive systems rejects constant input disturbances, but no similar property can be ensured if the disturbance is not matched. In this paper we address the aforementioned problems and propose a procedure to design robust ICs for port-Hamiltonian models, that characterize the behavior of a large class of physical systems. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the solvability of the problem, in terms of some rank and controllability properties of the linearized system, are provided. For a class of fully actuated mechanical systems, a globally asymptotically stabilizing solution is given. Simulations of the classical pendulum system illustrate the good performance of the scheme.     

New prioritized value iteration for Markov decision processes

The problem of solving large Markov decision processes accurately and quickly is challenging. Since the computational effort incurred is considerable, current research focuses on finding superior acceleration techniques. For instance, the convergence properties of current solution methods depend, to a great extent, on the order of backup operations. On one hand, algorithms such as topological sorting are able to find good orderings but their overhead is usually high. On the other hand, shortest path methods, such as Dijkstra’s algorithm which is based on priority queues, have been applied successfully to the solution of deterministic shortest-path Markov decision processes. Here, we propose an improved value iteration algorithm based on Dijkstra’s algorithm for solving shortest path Markov decision processes. The experimental results on a stochastic shortest-path problem show the feasibility of our approach.     

Physical and mechanical properties of unsaturated polyester resin matrix from recycled PET (based PG) with corn straw fiber

In this study, composites of unsaturated polyester resin (UPR), synthesized from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with 10 to 40% in volume of corn straw fiber (CSF), were elaborated and studied the effect of fiber content on their physical and mechanical properties. The content of cellulose (48.97%), hemicellulose (24.06%), and lignin (6.59%) were determined by chemical characterization of CSF. The characteristic bonds of the UPR were identified as a cross-linking network between the styrene monomer (ST) and the unsaturated polyester (UP) through FTIR. Two decomposition stages were observed by TGA–DTG. The results of physical and mechanical properties showed that as the fiber content increased in the UPR, the water absorption increased (0.6% to 2.56%), on the other hand, the density (1218.23 to 1150.28 kg/m³), flexural strength (50.58 to 26.98 MPa), flexural modulus (2.66 to 2.29 GPa), tensile strength (8.62 to 3.65 MPa), tensile modulus (1.18 to 0.43 GPa), and hardness (81.67 to 65.67 Shore D), they decreased. SEM analysis showed some defects in the fiber distribution in the UPR, which affected the mechanical properties of the composites. This research contributes to the development of new material from use of two waste materials for the benefit of the environment.     

Isolation and Partial Characterization of Mexican Oxalis tuberosa Starch

The chemical, physicochemical and rheological characteristics of Oxalis tuberosa starch were investigated. Oxalis starch presented an apparent amylose content of 33%, similar to maize starch used as control, with a granule size between 25–50 μm with oval and elliptical shapes and A‐type X‐ray diffraction pattern. The gelatinization temperature of oxalis starch was 64.0°C, that was lower than the one determined in maize starch (73.0°C), with an enthalpy value of 12.2 J/g, which was similar to that of maize starch. Both oxalis and maize starch pastes behaved as weak viscoelastic systems with the elastic character (G′) predominating over the viscous character (G′′). An increase in the level of solids in the pastes increased the values of the moduli. The results suggest that heating the systems (gelatinization), causes a more pronounced enhancement in the structure of the maize starch pastes than in that of oxalis starch pastes. Overall, it was concluded that due to its physicochemical, functional and rheological properties, Oxalis starch could be suitable for testing its use in the cosmetic and in the food industry.     

Isolation and Partial Characterization of Okenia (Okenia hypogaea) Starch

Okenia hypogaea (Schlech. & Cham.) belongs to the family of the Nyctaginacea, which produces a seed that is composed mainly of starch, the probable origin of Okenia hypogaea is Mexico. The aim of this work was to isolate the starch from Okenia hypogaea and to evaluate its chemical composition, along with some physicochemical and functional properties. Okenia gave a starch yield of 36 %; this starch had an amylose content of 26.1 %, with a fat content similar to corn starch, but with a higher ash fraction. Okenia starch possessed a small granule size (1—3 μm), the same as amaranth starch, with similar characteristics of stability and clarity of pastes as corn starch. At 60 °C the water retention capacity of okenia starch was higher than that of corn starch, but at higher temperatures an inverse pattern was found. When the temperature in the experiments increased, solubility and swelling values increased; okenia starch had higher swelling values than corn starch over the range of temperatures assayed. Okenia starch also presented a lower freeze‐thaw stability than corn starch on the first two cycles. Overall, it was concluded that due to its physicochemical and functional properties, it is worthwhile to test the use of okenia starch in the cosmetic and food industry.