A decision support methodology for increasing public investment efficiency in Brazilian agrarian reform

The Brazilian Agrarian Reform Program has subsidized the settlement of over 425,000 destitute families on previously unproductive land in what has become a very effective vehicle for social inclusion and productivity growth for those settlers who reach the final stage of the process and receive definitive title to the land. Unfortunately, there is a large difference in efficiency and productivity between more and less successful settlements – fewer than 10% of relocated families have received title and over 25% of them have abandoned the property to which they were assigned. This paper presents a decision support methodology for increasing the efficiency of public investments in agrarian reform that includes a data envelopment analysis model and a mechanism for building consensus among the various constituencies of the agrarian reform process, who not infrequently have conflicting objectives. The OR model described herein uses principal component analysis and data envelopment analysis to identify the most important success factors for relocated families leading to an increase in the chance of both autonomous integration with the market economy and definitive entitlement by these displaced families as well as an increase in the predictability of future settlement success. The model was implemented successfully in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, and was partially used in a pilot project for the countrywide agrarian reform accelerated consolidation program.     

Fermentation of enzymatic hydrolysates from olive stones by Pachysolen tannophilus

BACKGROUND: Olive stones were pretreated with liquid hot water (LHW or autohydrolysis) at maximum temperatures between 175 and 225 °C (severity factors, logR₀, between 2.73 and 4.39) to be subjected (both liquid and solid components) afterwards to enzymatic hydrolysis with cellulases from Trichoderma viride. Ethanol fermentation of hydrolysates was performed with the non‐traditional yeast Pachysolen tannophilus ATCC 32691. RESULTS: After the enzymatic step, yields of hemicellulose solubilization reached 100%, while the cellulose was only partially hydrolysed (23%, logR₀ = 4.39). The maximum yields in total reducing sugars and acetic acid, at the upper end of the severity range, was close to 0.25 and 0.04 g g^?1 dry stone, respectively. During the fermentation stage, the increase in R₀ reduced the maximum specific growth rate, biomass productivity, and overall biomass yield. The overall yields of ethanol and xylitol ranged, respectively, from 0.18 to 0.25 g g^?1 and from 0.01 to 0.13 g g^?1. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate the possibility of producing ethanol from olive stones, making use of the cellulose and hemicellulose fraction of the waste. It was confirmed that the overall yield in xylitol strongly depended on severity factor, while the overall yield in ethanol remained practically constant for all the pretreatment conditions tested. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Biological nutrient removal in a sequencing batch reactor using ethanol as carbon source

BACKGROUND: When organic matter is limiting for biological nutrient removal (BNR) from wastewater, external organic carbon can be added to a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). This increases the overall treatment cost, so the choice of substrate is critical. The effect of using ethanol as the carbon source for BNR is investigated. RESULTS: The results clearly showed that using ethanol as a carbon source is a promising strategy for removing nutrients from wastewater. Effluent concentrations of 3.0 mg total nitrogen (TN) L^?1 (96% N removal efficiency) and 0.05 mg phosphate (P‐PO₄) L^?1 (99.9% P removal efficiency) were obtained. Furthermore, tests performed in order to identify the carbon source used by polyphosphate‐accumulating organisms (PAOs) showed that the phosphorus release/carbon uptake ratio using ethanol (0.41 mmol P mmol^?1 C) was slightly lower than that with acetate (0.50 mmol P mmol^?1 C) but close to that with propionate (0.42 mmol P mmol^?1 C). CONCLUSION: Therefore, taking into account the results presented for ethanol‐acclimatised biomass and the fact that the cost of ethanol is lower than that of acetate or propionate, ethanol can be considered as an alternative carbon source if one is needed in a WWTP. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Occurrence of Salmonella spp. in persimmon fruit (Diospyrus kaki) and growth of Salmonella enteritidis on the peel and in the pulp of this fruit

The occurrence of Salmonella spp. on persimmon (Diospyrus kaki) surface of ‘Fuyu’ and ‘Rama Forte’ was evaluated during a 5-month-period (from April to August) of two season periods (years 2005 and 2006). The fruits were collected in wholesale (CEAGESP) and street markets in Sao Paulo and Campinas City, Brazil. A total of 582 fruits were analyzed using the BAX^® system, which is based on the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The ability of this pathogen to grow on the peel and pulp of the two persimmon varieties was also verified at different incubation periods at temperatures of 10, 20 and 30 °C. The growth parameters were obtained by modeling the experimental data using the Gompertz function. The presence of Salmonella spp. was evidenced in 5 of the 582 analyzed fruits (0.9% incidence). The growth studies showed that Salmonella enteritidis can grow on the peel as well as in the pulp of the two persimmon varieties studied incubated at 10, 20 and 30 °C and that low temperatures can reduce the generation rate but do not inhibit its growth.     

Analysis of calibration results from cup and propeller anemometers. Influence on wind turbine Annual Energy Production (AEP) calculations

The calibration coefficients of several models of cup and propeller anemometers were analysed. The analysis was based on a series of laboratory calibrations between January 2003 and August 2007. Mean and standard deviation values of calibration coefficients from the anemometers studied were included. Two calibration procedures were used and compared. In the first, recommended by the Measuring Network of Wind Energy Institutes (MEASNET), 13 measurement points were taken over a wind speed range of 4 to 16 m s^?1. In the second procedure, 9 measurement points were taken over a wider speed range of 4 to 23 m s^?1. Results indicated no significant differences between the two calibration procedures applied to the same anemometer in terms of measured wind speed and wind turbines' Annual Energy Production (AEP). The influence of the cup anemometers' design on the calibration coefficients was also analysed. The results revealed that the slope of the calibration curve, if based on the rotation frequency and not the anemometer's output frequency, seemed to depend on the cup center rotation radius. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of an efficient parallel implementation of active-set Newton algorithm

The Journal of Supercomputing - This paper presents an analysis of an efficient parallel implementation of the active-set Newton algorithm (ASNA), which is used to estimate the nonnegative weights...     

Compartments for Synthetic Cells: Osmotically Assisted Separation of Oil from Double Emulsions in a Microfluidic Chip

Liposomes are used in synthetic biology as cell-like compartments and their microfluidic production through double emulsions allows for efficient encapsulation of various components. However, residual oil in the membrane remains a critical bottleneck for creating pristine phospholipid bilayers. It has been discovered that osmotically driven shrinking leads to detachment of the oil drop. Separation inside a microfluidic chip has been realized to automate the procedure, which allows for controlled continuous production of monodisperse liposomes.     

Study of molecular structure and vibrational spectra of poly (β,-l-malic acid) [PMLA] using DFT approach

Poly (β-L-malic acid) (PMLA) is a biodegradable polymer and it has various important applications in the biomedical field. In the present work the structural and spectral characteristics of PMLA have been studied by methods of infrared, Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. Electrostatic potential surface, optimized geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities and activities of Raman scattering were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) using oligomeric approach employing B3LYP with complete relaxation in the potential energy surface using 6-311++G (d, p) basis set. Based on results, we have discussed the correlation between the vibrational modes and the structure of the PMLA. A complete analysis of the experimental infrared and Raman spectra has been reported on the basis of wavenumber of the vibrational bands and potential energy distribution. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies shows that charge transfer occur within the molecule. The calculated infrared and the Raman spectra of the polymer based on DFT calculations show reasonable agreement with the experimental results.     

New cost–tolerance model for mechanical part design

At first sight, the establishment of cost–tolerance relations for manufacturing processes may seem to be a fully developed topic. Nevertheless, many real cases in industry have made it clear that a solution that satisfies the practical requirements in this field has not yet been reached. The applicability of the developments of this topic depends greatly on the validity of the cost–tolerance relation values of each specification in a mechanical part, which is subject to tolerances. Nevertheless, none of the studies carried out thus far that consider suppositions of former developments to be valid have made a careful study of this relation. The current study puts forth a new method for establishing the cost–tolerance relation of a manufacturing process based on the variability of the equipment involved in the process. In other words, the proposed method is based on the ability of a specific process to achieve performance within the assigned tolerances at the materialised magnitude. It makes it possible to obtain practical results directly linked to the production process at every time. Furthermore, this method is a key for future developments related to tolerance synthesis or analysis.     

The development of competencies in manufacturing engineering by means of a deep-drawing tool

This paper presents a Computer-aided System known as the deep-drawing tool applied to the resolution of a combined deep-drawing and ironing process. The system allows the user for selecting input data for getting the formability of material to deep-drawing, selecting the process that provides the best solution from a technological perspective, optimizing the process for material waste, knowing the influence of the punch in the results and considering the process cost. In this manner, the tool allows developing competencies to students that apply scientific, technological, mathematical, economical and sustainable knowledge, with a global vision of the manufacturing processes and conciliating research and teaching. An industrial case has been considered and the proposed Computer-aided System has been tested with a brass alloy to demonstrate the system’s capability. The results obtained show significant improvements in the two variables analyzed, namely, total process time and total manufacturing cost. These aspects provide competencies to students in the manufacturing environment.