No cenário mundial atual, em que é observado o aumento da população, da demanda por alimentos e da utilização de energia, também é observada a busca por fontes de energia alternativas às fósseis, diminuindo a dependência e risco econômico e ambiental oriundo de seu uso exclusivo. A análise de fluxos de energia possibilita uma avaliação da sustentabilidade de sistemas de produção agrícola, que visa o uso eficiente de insumos em termos energéticos. Essas análises também permitem identificar culturas como fonte de bioenergia, além de poderem ser utilizadas como complemento às análises econômicas, na busca por sistemas de produção mais eficientes. Esse estudo teve como objetivo apresentar uma análise do uso de insumos e energia, bem como a sua eficiência, em sistemas de produção de plantas forrageiras, tradicionalmente utilizadas para alimentação animal, na região dos Campos Gerais, Paraná. Foram determinados o fluxo de materiais (FM), demanda (EE) e disponibilização de energia (ES), balanço energético (BE), lucratividade energética (EROI) e energia incorporada (EI) da biomassa foram aplicados nesses sistemas. O FM determinou o consumo de insumos por área, e serviu de base para o cálculo da EE dos sistemas. Com características das culturas, calculou-se a ES, e com base nesses parâmetros, calculou-se os indicadores BE, EROI e EI. Com base nos resultados, concluiu-se que as culturas que se apresentaram mais eficientes do ponto de vista energético foram as gramíneas perenes, cultivares de P. maximum e Tifton 85, e as gramíneas anuais, milho e sorgo, pois apresentaram os melhores valores de indicadores da eficiência energética (ES, BE, EROI e EI), o que justificaria uma posterior investigação detalhada no uso energético dessas culturas. As culturas da aveia, azevém, cevada e milheto apresentaram os valores menos favoráveis no enfoque energético, portanto não adequadas à finalidade energética em relação às demais culturas estudadas. A operação que apresentou maior demanda de energia foi a distribuição de fertilizantes, devido aos insumos aplicados (mais que 47% da demanda total de todas as operações realizadas nas culturas). Os insumos que apresentaram maiores demandas de energia (mais de 57% do total) nos sistemas foram os fertilizantes, seguidos do diesel. Destacou-se o uso do fertilizante nitrogenado que representou mais de 50% da demanda total de energia em todos os sistemas de produção. O EROI para as cultivares de P. maximum, Tifton 85, milho, sorgo, milheto, azevém, cevada e aveia, foram: 14,2; 13,7; 10,1; 8,9; 7,2; 5,0; 4,6 e 3,8, respectivamente. / In the current world scenario, in which is observed the increase in population, demand for food and energy use, it is also observed the search for alternative energy sources to fossil fuels, decreasing dependence and environmental and economic risk arising from your use. Energy flows analysis enables an assessment of the sustainability of agricultural production systems, aiming the efficient use of inputs in energy terms. These analysis can also identify crops as a bioenergy source, and can be used as a complement to economic analysis, in the search for more efficient production systems. This study aimed to present an analysis of the use of inputs and energy, as well as its efficiency, in forage production systems, traditionally used for food, in the region of Campos Gerais, Paraná. Material flow (MF), demand (ED) and energy availability (EA), energy balance (EB), energy profitability (EROI) and embodied energy (EE) of biomass were calculated for all the systems. MF determined the inputs use per area, and was basis for the ED determination. With crop characteristics, EA was obtained, and based on these parameters, the indicators EB, EROI and EE were determined. Based on the results, it was concluded that the crops that were more efficient in energy terms were the perennial grasses, P. maximum cultivars and Tifton 85, and the annual grasses, maize and sorghum, since they presented the best values in the used energy indicators (EA, EB, EE and EROI), which would justify a further detailed investigation concerning the energy use of these crops. Oats, rye, barley and millet showed less favorable values, therefore not suitable for energy purposes in relation to other studied crops. The mechanized operation with the highest energy demand was the fertilizer distribution due to applied inputs (more than 47% of the total energy demand of all operations performed in cultures). The inputs that presented higher energy demand (more than 57% of the total) were fertilizers, followed by diesel, in all production systems. The use of nitrogen fertilizer is emphasized, since it represented over 50% of total energy demand in all production systems. The EROI for the cultivars of P. maximum, Tifton 85, maize, sorghum, millet, rye, barley and oats, were 14.2, 13.7, 10.1, 8.9, 7.2, 5.0, 4.6 and 3.8 , respectively.

Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) are intelligent software entities with an embodiment used to communicate with users, using natural language. Their purpose is to exhibit the same properties as humans in face-to-face conversation, including the ability to produce and respond to verbal and nonverbal communication. Researchers in the field of ECAs try to create agents that can be more natural, believable and easy to use. Designing an ECA requires understanding that manner, personality, emotion, and appearance are very important issues to be considered. In this thesis, we are interested in increasing believability of ECAs by placing personality at the heart of the human-agent verbal interaction. We propose a model relating personality facets and hidden communication goals that can influence ECA behaviors. Moreover, we apply our model in agents that interact in a puzzle game application. We develop five distinct personality oriented agents using an expressive communication language and a plan-based BDI approach for modeling and managing dialogue according to our proposed model. In summary, we present and test an innovative approach to model mental aspects of ECAs trying to increase their believability and to enhance human-agent affective communication. With this research, we hope to improve the understanding on how ECAs with expressive and affective characteristics can establish and maintain long-term human-agent relationships.

O presente trabalho propõe um novo modelo de rede neural artificial voltado a aplicações robóticas, em especial a tarefas de natureza espaço-temporal e de horizonte infinito. Este modelo apresenta três características que o tornam único e que foram tomadas como guia para a sua concepção: auto-organização, representação temporal e aprendizado construtivo. O algoritmo de aprendizagem auto-organizada incorpora todos os mecanismos que são básicos para a auto-organização: competição global, cooperação local e auto-amplificação seletiva. A rede neural é suprida com propriedades dinâmicas através de uma memória de curto prazo. A memória de curto prazo é inserida na estrutura da rede por meio de integradores e diferenciadores, os quais são implementados na camada de entrada da rede. Nesta abordagem existe uma evidente separação de papéis: a rede é responsável pela não-linearidade e a memória é responsável pelo tempo. A construção automática da arquitetura da rede neural é realizada de acordo com uma unidade de habituação. A unidade de habituação regula o crescimento e a poda de neurônios. O procedimento de inclusão, adaptação e remoção de conexões sinápticas é realizado conforme o método de aprendizado hebbiano competitivo. Em muitos problemas práticos, como os existentes na área da robótica, a auto-organização, a representação temporal e o aprendizado construtivo são fatores imprescindíveis para o sucesso da tarefa. A grande dificuldade e, ao mesmo tempo, a principal contribuição deste trabalho consiste em integrar tais tecnologias em uma arquitetura de rede neural artificial de maneira eficiente. Estudos de caso foram elaborados para validar e, principalmente, determinar as potencialidades e as limitações do modelo neural proposto. Os cenários abrangeram tarefas simples de classificação de padrões e segmentação temporal. Os resultados preliminares obtidos demonstraram a eficiência do modelo neural proposto frente às arquiteturas conexionistas existentes e foram considerados bastante satisfatórios com relação aos parâmetros avaliados. No texto são apresentados, também, alguns aspectos teóricos das ciências cognitivas, os fundamentos de redes neurais artificiais, o detalhamento de uma ferramenta de simulação robótica, conclusões, limitações e possíveis trabalhos futuros. / The present work proposes a new artificial neural network model suitable for robotic applications, in special to spatiotemporal tasks and infinite horizon tasks. This model has three characteristics which make it unique and are taken as means to guide its conception: self-organization, temporal representation and constructive learning. The algorithm of self-organizing learning incorporates all the mechanisms that are basic to the self-organization: global competition, local cooperation and selective self-amplification. The neural network is supplied with dynamic properties through a short-term memory. The short-term memory is added in the network structure by means of integrators and differentiators, which are implemented in the input layer of the network. In this approach exists an evident separation of roles: the network is responsible for the non-linearity and the memory is responsible for the time. The automatic construction of the neural network architecture is carried out taking into account habituation units. The habituation unit regulates the growing and the pruning of neurons. The procedure of inclusion, adaptation and removal of synaptic connections is carried out in accordance with competitive hebbian learning technique. In many practical problems, as the ones in the robotic area, self-organization, temporal representation and constructive learning are essential factors to the success of the task. The great difficulty and, at the same time, the main contribution of this work consists in the integration of these technologies in a neural network architecture in an efficient way. Some case studies have been elaborated to validate and, mainly, to determine the potentialities and the limitations of the proposed neural model. The experiments comprised simple tasks of pattern classification and temporal segmentation. Preliminary results have shown the good efficiency of the neural model compared to existing connectionist architectures and they have been considered sufficiently satisfactory with regard to the evaluated parameters. This text also presents some theoretical aspects of the cognitive science area, the fundamentals of artificial neural networks, the details of a robotic simulation tool, the conclusions, limitations and possible future works.

No presente trabalho se analisou o consumo energético de uma moradia social, para isto se calculou a energia incorporada nos materiais construtivos utilizados no projeto da moradia analisada e o consumo energético provocado pelo comportamento térmico da envolvente térmica da edificação estudando como a mudança dos materiais construtivos como: telhados e paredes modificam o valor da energia incorporada e o consumo de energia elétrica pelo comportamento térmico, uma vez que se considera possível que o consumo energético por motivos térmico seja maior que a energia incorporada. Para o calculo da energia incorporadados materiais construtivos que compõem a envolvente, foram utilizados coeficientes de energia incorporada propostos por Tavares, (2006), Graf; Tavares, (2010), Lobo, (2010). A pesquisa foi enfocada ao setor habitacional por ser um dos setores que apresentam maior consumo de energia, enfocando-se especificamente à moradia social. A metodologia para avaliar o consumo energético da edificação no período de análise, se divide em quatros etapas: 1) Quantificação de materiais da envolvente 2) Cálculo de energia incorporada 3) Cálculo de gasto energético nos períodos de 1 e 40 anos realizado por meio de simulações no software Energy Plus 4) Cálculo dos coeficientes de correlação das variáveis.Tomaram-se as cidades de São Carlos, SP e Belém, PA, como exemplos de análise. A primeira cidade participa com 11% no rubro de condicionamento ambiental no setor residencial e segunda participa com 40%. Os resultados foram trabalhados e analisados com gráficos de Excel, para a posterior análise e conclusão. Identificou-se um coeficiente de correlação que indica uma forte correlação entres as variáveis analisadas no presente. O que indica que existe uma relação entre a quantidade de energia incorporada nos materiais e no consumo energético operacional pelo comportamento térmico destes. / In this study were analyzed the energy consumption of a housing, for it is calculated the embodied energy of construction materials, and energy consumption caused by the thermal behavior of the building envelope. It was change the building materials in the building, modifying the value of embodied energy and electricity consumption, since it is possible that the energy consumption of thermal behavior can be higher than the energy embodied. To calculate the embodied energy, were used a embodied energy coefficients proposed by Tavares, (2006), Graf; Tavares, (2010)Lobo, (2010).(TAVARES, SERGIO FERNANDO, 2006). This research is focus to residential sector as one of the sectors with higher energy consumption, focusing specifically on social housing. The methodology to evaluate energy consumption in the building during the period of analysis is divided into three steps: 1) Quantification of the materials 2) Calculate the embodied energy 3) Calculate the consumption of energy in the period of 40 years, made by simulations in Energy Plus software 4) Calculate the correlation ship between the variables analyzed. It follows the cities of São Carlos, SP and Belem, PA as examples of analysis; the first city participates with 11% in the energy consumption used in environmental conditioning in the residential sector and the second city participates with 40%. Changes were made in the materials of walls and roofs, trying to identify the differences of embodied energy and electricity consumption. The data obtained were worked in Excel spread sheets for further analysis and conclusion of the data. It was identified a strongly correlation coefficient between the analyzed variables.

As pessoas costumam fazer rotineiramente associações entre o afeto com as posições verticais, nas quais os objetos que estão no alto, muitas vezes, são considerados bons e o que estão em baixo são considerados ruins. O uso da metáfora, geralmente inconsciente, pode afetar a motivação do indivíduo para fazer avaliações dos preços dos produtos. O foco regulatório motivacional do indivíduo pode apresentar características que contribuam para restaurar a motivação, porque está dividido em um foco em promoção, que visa aproveitar oportunidades e se aproximar de ganhos e em um foco em prevenção que busca manter a vigilância para evitar resultados negativos e se afastar de perdas. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar os efeitos da metáfora da verticalidade sobre a forma que os indivíduos efetuam as avaliações de preços, tendo o foco regulatório como moderador dessa relação. Foram elaboradas sete hipóteses, testadas com o uso de experimentos. A amostra total dos experimentos, contendo um estudo piloto e três estudos que avaliaram o modelo teórico proposto, foi de 522 participantes. Os dados foram analisados por meio da ANOVA twoway e da macro PROCESS de Hayes (Modelo 8, 2013). Os resultados mostram que o grupo de tratamento com os indivíduos que se consideram fisicamente alto e com foco em prevenção fizeram avaliações dentro do proposto para este estudo, quando comparados aos indivíduos que se consideram fisicamente baixo e foco em promoção. O primeiro grupo de tratamento mencionado atribuiu os menores preços aos produtos, exigiu descontos maiores para se deslocarem para outra loja em busca de um produto, consideraram o preço praticado por uma empresa mais injusto e, por fim, tiveram o melhor desempenho na avaliação de preço para conseguir um bom negócio. A principal contribuição desta tese é de que os indivíduos estão expostos diariamente a mudanças na autoestima por causa de simulações mentais da verticalidade, em que o corpo influencia os pensamentos desses indivíduos para tomada de decisão em relação a preços, e que o foco regulatório é capaz de atenuar tais efeitos. / People routinely make associations between affection and vertical positions, in which objects that is in up positiion are often considered good and those that is in down position are considered bad. The use of the metaphor, usually unconscious, can affect the individual\'s motivation to make product price assessments. The motivational regulatory focus of the individual can present characteristics that contribute to restore motivation, because it is divided into a focus on promotion, which seeks to seize opportunities and approach gains and a focus on prevention that seeks to maintain vigilance to avoid negative results and to avoid losses. The main goal of this research was to analyze the effects of the metaphor of verticality on the form that the individuals make the price evaluations, having the regulatory focus as moderator of this relation. Seven hypotheses were elaborated, tested with the use of experiments. The total sample of the experiments, containing a pilot study and three studies that evaluated the proposed theoretical model, was 522 participants. The data were analyzed through two way ANOVA and Hayes macro PROCESS (Model 8, 2013). The results show that the treatment group with those individuals who consider themselves to be physically high and focused on prevention made evaluations within the proposed for this study when compared to individuals who consider themselves physically low and focused on promotion. The first treatment group mentioned attributed the lowest prices to the products, demanded larger discounts to move to another store in search of a product, considered the most unfair price practiced by the company and, lastly, had the best performance in price evaluation to get a good deal. The main contribution of this thesis is that individuals are exposed daily to changes in self-esteem because of mental simulations of verticality, in which the body influences the thoughts of these individuals for decision-making in relation to prices, and that the regulatory focus is capable to mitigate such effects.

This paper serves as an introduction to this special issue on the use of multiregional input- output modeling in assessments of natural resource use and resource use efficiency. Due to globalization, growth in trade has outpaced growth in global gross domestic product (GDP). As a consequence, impacts of consumption of a country increasingly take place abroad. Various methods have been developed to perform so-called footprint analyses. We argue that global multiregional input-output (GMRIO) analysis has the largest potential to provide a consistent accounting framework to calculate a variety of different footprint indicators. The state of the art in GMRIO has, however, various shortcomings, such as limited sector and regional detail and incomplete extensions. The work presented in this special issue addresses a number of such problems and how to possibly overcome them, focusing on the construction of a new GMRIO database (EXIOBASE V3). This database includes long time series in both current and constant prices, a high level of product and sector detail, a physical representation of the world economy, and allows analyzing which footprints out of the many possible indicators provide most information for policy making. Various options for empirical analyses are presented in this special issue. Finally, we analyze how GMRIOs can be further standardized and gradually moved from the scientific to the official statistical domain.

The influence of facial mimicry and emotional congruence on emotional information processing has previously only been studied in isolation. In the current study their influence on the ability to detect deception will be investigated. In order to recognize the emotional states of others one mimics their emotional facial expression, and being in a congruent emotional state as a person or an emotional message enables faster processing of emotional information. Can emotional congruence between the receiver’s emotional state and a message told affect participants’ ability to detect deception when judging whether a person at a video recording is telling the truth or not? How does emotional congruence affect participants’ speed and confidence when making these judgments? The results showed that participants reported higher confidence but slower response times when making an accurate judgment in the congruent scenario, when compared to the incongruent scenario, but did not perform better than what could be expected by chance in detecting deception. Consequently, emotional congruence had an impact, not on participants’ performance in detecting deception, but only on their meta-cognitive evaluations of their judgments, but confidence rating did not seem to be an indicator of accuracy. In future research the design can be used in order to investigate other potential aspects, such as emotional empathy and other types of emotional congruence, and their influence on the ability to detect deception.

In the recent years a growing interest in Cognitive Science has been directed to the cognitive role of the agent's ability to predict the consequences of their actions, without actual engagement with their environment. The creation of an experimental model for Hesslow's simulation hypothesis, based on the use of a simulated adaptive agent and the methods of evolutionary robotics within the general perspective of radical connectionism, is reported in this dissertation. A hierarchical architecture consisting of a mixture of (recurrent) experts is investigated in order to test its ability to produce an 'inner world', functional stand-in for the agent's interactions with its environment. Such a mock world is expected to be rich enough to sustain 'blind navigation', which means navigation based solely on the agent's own internal predictions. The results exhibit the system's vivid internal dynamics, its critical sensitivity to a high number of parameters and, finally, a discrepancy with the declared goal of blind navigation. However, given the dynamical complexity of the system, further analysis and testing appear necessary.

CO2 is one of the main gases accountable for the increment of the greenhouse effect, of climate changes, and of environmental degradation arising from this ecological unbalance. Civil construction is one of the main sources of CO2 emissions, using construction techniques that are more sustainable can contribute to the reduction of those emissions. Furthermore, the energy content of materials must be taken into account as well due to the fact that the consumption of petroleum by-products increases the CO2 indexes in the atmosphere. It becomes then clear that the less energy is consumed, even those renewable, the less environmental impact there is. Thus, it is indispensable to analyse not only the emissions of CO2 but also the energy content of materials used in three roofing technologies under scrutiny in this research: green roofs, fibre cement, and ceramic tiles. Green roofs are a sustainable alternative to be implemented in covering the top of buildings. This research, therefore, aims to compare the CO2 emission to the energy content of two green roof solutions and of two traditional coverage solutions in the pre-operational phase in the cities of Porto Alegre and Santa Maria, both in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The method used to identify left from the layers and constituents in each green cover, and the raw materials used in traditional roofs, measuring how much material was used for each cover, analyzing all the material traversed by the means of transport, quantifying emissions CO2 and energy consumption of materials by processes fabrication them and finally to compare all results. Common belief is that green roofs have the potential to mitigate environmental damages, especially those caused by the civil construction sector concerning CO2 emissions and energy consumption in the pre-operational phase, just as advantages in the operational phase are described. Such hypothesis was confirmed for the tested cover. However, among the possibilities discussed below for closing the top of buildings, green roofs are the only technology capable of mitigating environmental damage, in particular, the emission of carbon dioxide, and provide an environmental service to the community carbon sequestration to throughout his life . Nonetheless, amongst the building coverage possibilities herein analysed, green roofs are the only technology capable of integrally mitigating environmental damages in a few years, especially the emission of carbon dioxide, and also the only technology capable of providing an environmental service to the collectivity of carbon sequestration to throughout his life. / O CO2 é um dos principais gases responsáveis pelo incremento do efeito estufa, das mudanças climáticas e da degradação ambiental decorrente deste desequilíbrio ecológico. Sendo a construção civil uma das principais responsáveis pela emissão de CO2, o uso de técnicas construtivas mais sustentáveis pode contribuir para a redução dessas emissões. Além disso, o conteúdo energético dos materiais também é importante ser considerado, pois além de incrementar, através de consumo de derivados de petróleo, os índices de CO2 na atmosfera, o menor consumo de energia possível, mesmo as renováveis, representa menores impactos ambientais. Assim sendo, imprescindível analisar não só a emissão de CO2, como também o conteúdo energético dos materiais empregados nas três tecnologias de cobertura objetos de estudo desta pesquisa: coberturas verdes, de fibrocimento e de telhas cerâmicas. As coberturas verdes são uma possibilidade sustentável a ser implementada no fechamento de topo de edificações. A presente pesquisa visa a comparar as emissões de CO2 e o conteúdo energético de duas soluções de cobertura verdes e duas soluções de coberturas tradicionais, na fase pré-operacional, localizadas em Porto Alegre e outra em Santa Maria RS. O método utilizado partiu desde identificar as camadas e elementos constituintes em cada cobertura verde, bem como os insumos utilizados nas coberturas tradicionais, mensurar quanto material foi utilizado para cada cobertura, analisar o percorrido de todos os materiais pelos meios de transportes, quantificar as emissões de CO2 e o consumo energético dos materiais pelos processos de fabricações dos mesmos e finalmente comparar todos os resultados. O senso comum considera que as coberturas verdes têm o potencial de mitigar danos ambientais, especialmente os causados pelo setor da construção civil de emissão de CO2 e de consumo energético na fase pré-operacional, da mesma forma como são descritas as vantagens na fase operacional. Tal hipótese se confirmou para as coberturas avaliadas. Dentre as possibilidades aqui analisadas para fechamento de topo de edificações, as coberturas verdes são a única tecnologia capaz de mitigar os danos ambientais, em especial, a emissão de dióxido de carbono, e fornecer um serviço ambiental à coletividade de sequestro de carbono ao longo de sua vida útil.

The combination or integration of locomotion modes, is analyzed through the design, development, and verification of a miniature integrated jumping and gliding robot, the MultiMo-Bat, which is inspired by the locomotion strategies of vampire bats, locusts, and pelicans. This robot has a mass of between 100 and 162 grams and exhibits high jumping and gliding performance, reaching heights of over 4.5 meters, to overcome obstacles in the environment. Integration results in a smaller, lighter robot with high cooperation between the modes. This thesis presents a previously unstudied robot design concept and highlights the understudied evolutionary concept within organism mobility of integration of locomotion modes. High performance locomotion modes also require high energy density actuators. To this end, a design methodology is developed for tailoring magnetic springs to the characteristics of shape memory alloy-actuated mechanisms, which allow the MultiMo-Bat to reach jumping heights of 3.5 m with active wing deployment and full controller. Through a combinations of permanent magnets, a magnetic spring can be customized to desired characteristics; theoretically any welldefined function of force vs. displacement can be created. The methodology is not limited to SMA but can be adapted to any smart actuator, joint, or situation which requires a fixed complex force-displacement relationship with extension other interactions and magnetic field design. Robotic locomotion is also much more idealized than that of their biological counter parts. This thesis serves to highlight just how non-ideal, yet robust, biological locomotion can inspire concepts for enhancing the robustness of robot locomotion. We studied the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), which is adapted for jumping at the extreme limits of its surface friction, as evident by its morphological adaptations for not only jumping, but slipping. Analysis of both foot morphology and jumping behavior are used to understand how the feet interact with different surfaces, including hydrophobic glass, hydrophilic glass, wood, sandstone, and mesh. The results demonstrate a complex interplay of embodied mechanical intelligence, allowing the foot to interact and adapt passively to different surfaces without burdening the organism with additional tasks. The key morphological and dynamical features are extracted to create a concept for developing multi-Surface Locust Inspired Passively-adaptable (SLIP) feet. A simple interpretation of the concepts are then used to construct a SLIP foot for the MultiMo-Bat. These feet allow the MultiMo-Bat to reach jumping heights of well over 4 m, greater than any other electrically powered robot, and this is achieved on a 45 degree angled surface while slipping. The SLIP foot concept can be directly applied to a wide range of robot size scales, thus enhancing their dynamic terrestrial locomotion on variable surfaces.