ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to develop a software based on image processing and computer vision techniques for monitoring the feeding/collective behavior of broilers (Cobb) and validate it based on the results obtained from the visual analysis of an expert. The visual analysis was performed based on the observation and quantification of behaviors in the interval of 10 min at each hour of the day, in the period of 24 hours, totaling 1728 frames/day, for males and females. The software was developed using the Hoshen-Kopelman algorithm, for labeling clusters, which would basically be the grouping of similar pixels. This software is written in the 1999 standard of the C language. After this stage of programming, the Hoshen-Kopelman algorithm identified the birds in the region of interest (feeder and drinker), with removal of the background color to obtain the descriptors, using the same range of visual analysis. Then, the software was validated through linear regression analysis, using the R platform. Based on the correlation analyses, it was found that the coefficient of determination (R2) ranged from 0.74 to 0.97 for all software validation events. The number of broilers in the regions of interest showed R2 above 0.70 for females and above 0.89 for males, which allowed the characterization of the ingestive behavior of broilers by computer vision. Some factors that caused interference in the accuracy of the software were decisive for the result, especially the arrangement of the cameras, uneven lighting, obstruction caused by the lighting system, pendular movement of the feeders and drinker, and shade generated by them. Despite the highlighted interferences, the results allowed us to infer that the software identified and quantified the feeding behavior of broilers in an appropriate manner.

ABSTRACT. In this work, lacunarity analysis is performed on soil pores segmented by the pure voxel extraction method from soil tomography images. The conversion of forest to sugarcane plantation was found to result in higher sugarcane soil pore lacunarity than that of native forest soil, while the porosity was found to be lower. More precisely, this study shows that native forest has more porous soil with a more uniform spatial distribution of pores, while sugarcane soil has lower porosity and a more heterogeneous pore distribution. Moreover, validation through multivariate statistics demonstrates that lacunarity can be considered a relevant index of clustering and can explain the variability among soils under different land use systems. While porosity by itself represents a fundamental concept for quantification of the impact of land use change, the current findings demonstrate that the spatial distribution of pores also plays an important role and that pore lacunarity can be adopted as a complementary tool in studies directed at quantifying the effect of human intervention on soils.

O regime de chuvas sobre o Nordeste do Brasil é bastante complexo, sendo considerado sazonal, além de sofrer fortes influências dos fenômenos El Niño, La Niña e outros sistemas meteorológicos, como o dipolo, atuantes sobre as bacias do oceano Atlântico Tropical. Neste trabalho foi aplicada a técnica matemática-computacional de interpolação do Kernel Smoothing nos dados de precipitação pluvial sobre o Nordeste, coletados no período de 1904 a 1998, provenientes de 2.283 estações meteorológicas. Os cálculos foram desenvolvidos por meio do software "Kernel", escrito em linguagem C e Cuda o que possibilitou fazer a interpolação de mais de 26 milhões de medidas de precipitação pluvial, permitindo gerar mapas de intensidade de chuva sobre toda a região e calcular estatísticas para a precipitação do Nordeste em escalas mensais e anuais. De acordo com as interpolações realizadas foi possível detectar, dentre o período estudado, os anos mais secos e mais chuvosos, a distribuição espacial das chuvas em cada mês, bem como a característica da precipitação pluviométrica em épocas de El Niño e La Niña.

The rainfall over Northeast Brazil is quite complex and is considered seasonal, besides suffering strong influences of El Niño, La Niña and other weather systems such as dipole, acting on the ocean basins Tropical Atlantic. In this study the mathematical-computational interpolation technique Kernel Smoothing was applied to rainfall data collected over the Northeast in the period from 1904 to 1998, from 2,283 weather stations. The calculations were developed using the software "Kernel", written in C language and Cuda, enabling interpolation of over 26 million rainfall measurements, allowing to generate maps of rainfall intensity over the whole region, and to calculate statistics for precipitation in the Northeast on monthly and annual scales. The resulting interpolations were used to identify the years with the most and least precipitation along the studied period, the spatial distribution of rainfall in each month, as well as the characteristics of rainfall in times of El Niño and La Niña.

Objetivou-se, neste trabalho, propor uma sistemática para o estudo e interpretação da estabilidade dos métodos de análise de agrupamento, através de vários algoritmos de agrupamento em dados de vegetação. Utilizaram-se dados provenientes de levantamento na Mata da Silvicultura, da Universidade Federal de Viçosa ,em Viçosa, MG. Para a análise de agrupamento, foram estimadas as matrizes de distância de Mahalanobis com base nos dados originais e via reamostragem "bootstrap", bem como aplicados os métodos da ligação simples, ligação completa e médias das distâncias, do centróide, da mediana e do Ward. Para a detecção de associação entre os métodos, foi aplicado o teste Qui-Quadrado (chi2) a 1 e 5% de probabilidade. Para os diversos métodos de agrupamento foi obtida a correlação cofenética. Os resultados de associação dos métodos foram semelhantes, indicando, em princípio, que qualquer algoritmo de agrupamento estudado está estabilizado e existem, de fato, grupos entre os indivíduos observados. No entanto, verificou-se que os métodos são coincidentes, exceto os métodos do centróide e Ward e os métodos do centróide e mediana, em comparação com o de Ward, respectivamente, com base nas matrizes de Mahalanobis a partir dos dados originais e "bootstrap". A sistemática proposta é promissora para o estudo e interpretação da estabilidade dos métodos de análise de agrupamento em dados de vegetação.

The main objective of this research was to propose a system to the study and interpretation of stability in cluster analysis through several cluster algorithms in vegetation data. The data set used derived from a survey in the Silviculture Forest at Federal University of Viçosa - MG. To perform the cluster analysis, the Mahalanobis distance matrices were estimated on basis of original data and bootstrap resampling. Also, the single linkage, complete linkage, average distances, centroid, median and Ward methods were used. Chi-square test was applied to detect the association among the methods. A co-phenetic correlation was obtained for the cluster methods. The results for the method associations were very similar, indicating that any algorithm of the studied clusters is stabilized, and in fact, that groups exist among the analyzed individuals. However, it was verified that the methods are coincident, except for the centroid and Ward, and also the centroid and median methods, when compared to Ward, respectively, based on the Mahalanobis matrices derived from the original data set and bootstrap. The methodology proposed is promising to the study and interpretation of the stability of cluster analysis methods in vegetation data.

A distinção morfológica externa entre jovens de Selene vomer e Selene brownii (Carangidae) foi estudada por meio de análise multivariada. O propósito deste estudo foi verificar a existência de características morfológicas externas adequadas para separação entre essas duas espécies, que não a presença de espinhos na segunda nadadeira dorsal e nadadeiras pélvicas. Essas nadadeiras podem estar ausentes em peixes jovens de pequeno porte ou serem quebradas durante as atividades de manuseio e operações de pesca. Uma amostra de 389 espécimes foi coletada da praia de Caiçara do Norte (RN), litoral nordeste do Brasil, em 2001. Cada indivíduo foi digitalizado e cada imagem transformada em uma matriz numérica utilizando Scion Image e o programa FANTOMAS. Um programa em linguagem C foi criado para calcular 16 distâncias Euclideanas posicionadas em 9 marcos anatômicos homólogos e plotadas as imagens. Os resultados da análise discriminante revelaram que as duas espécies de Selene podem ser claramente separadas executando-se morfometrias e efetuando-se medições diagonalmente orientadas em relação aos eixos antero-posteriores do corpo dos peixes.

External morphological distinction between young Selene vomer and S. brownii (Carangidae) was studied using multivariate analysis with the purpose to evaluate if other characters than the second dorsal and pelvic fin spines could be used as distinguishing attributes for juveniles fishes. These spines are important distinctive morphological characters, but they can be absent in juvenile fishes or be broken during manipulation. A sample of 389 specimens was collected from beach netting at Caiçara do Norte (RN), northeastern Brazil, in 2001. Each specimen was digitalized and their images provided numerical matrices using Scion Image and FANTOMAS software. A C-language program was developed and used to calculate 16 Euclidean distances and nine homologous landmarks plotted on images. Discriminant analysis results revealed that the two Selene species was clearly distinguished employing morphometric procedures of diagonally oriented measurements of the antero-posterior body axis.