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This review summarises recent progress in understanding crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) systems and the integration of internal and external stimuli to maximise water-use efficiency. Complex CAM traits have been reduced to their minimum and captured as computational models, which can now be refined using recently available data from transgenic manipulations and large-scale omics studies. We identify three key areas in which an appropriate choice of modelling tool could help capture relevant comparative molecular data to address the evolutionary drivers and plasticity of CAM. One focus is to identify the environmental and internal signals that drive inverse stomatal opening at night. Secondly, it is important to identify the regulatory processes required to orchestrate the diel pattern of carbon fluxes within mesophyll layers. Finally, the limitations imposed by contrasting succulent systems and associated hydraulic conductance components should be compared in the context of water-use and evolutionary strategies. While network analysis of transcriptomic data can provide insights via co-expression modules and hubs, alternative forms of computational modelling should be used iteratively to define the physiological significance of key components and informing targeted functional gene manipulation studies. We conclude that the resultant improvements of bottom-up, mechanistic modelling systems can enhance progress towards capturing the physiological controls for phylogenetically diverse CAM systems in the face of the recent surge of information in this omics era.

Natural gas is considered the transitional fuel for excellence between fossil and renewable sources, considering its low cost, greater efficiency and lesser effects on the environment. This has led to increased demand levels worldwide, requiring the intervention of public and private actors to meet such demand. In this research, we study the natural gas supply chain in Colombia using system dynamics modelling. The results allow to contrast both the behaviour of the production and transport levels and the behaviour of the demand from the consumption sectors, allowing to identify capacity levels to be developed considering implementation times and percentages of coverage in the supply.

Submitted by Vitor Silverio Rodrigues (vitorsrodrigues@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2014-05-27T11:27:07Z No. of bitstreams: 0Bitstream added on 2014-05-27T14:31:51Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 2-s2.0-84867788952.pdf: 441878 bytes, checksum: fd671ff0e665bc75cd7d49b42b180da0 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-27T11:27:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-10-29 Utilizando um modelo de simulação em Dinâmica de Sistemas desenvolvido como ferramenta para auxiliar na análise das alternativas para a gestão dos recursos hídricos, simulou-se o efeito de diferentes políticas de gestão ao longo de 40 anos nas bacias hidrográficas dos rios Piracicaba, Capivari e Jundiaí (BH-PCJ). Através deste modelo foram simulados a disponibilidade e demanda de água, bem como as cargas contaminantes provindas dos diferentes setores usuários. Seis cenários foram simulados utilizando-se o valor da precipitação média anual, mudanças na disponibilidade e demanda de água e a vazão revertidas das BH-PCJ para a Bacia Hidrográfica do Alto Tietê (BH-AT). Para o cenário Business as Usual, em 2010 o Índice de Sustentabilidade que era de 0,41 em 2010 diminuiu até 0,22 em 2050; o Índice de Falkenmark, que era de 1.302 m3 hab-1 ano-1 em 2010, passou a ser de 774 m3 hab-1 ano-1 em 2054; e o Índice de Uso da Água aumentou de 80,7% em 2010, para 125,5% em 2050. Observou-se que as questões relativas ao saneamento se afiguram como sendo as mais importantes para a gestão dos recursos hídricos nas BH-PCJ. A dynamic systems water resources simulation model was developed as a tool to help to analyze water resources management alternatives for the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí River Water Basins (BH-PCJ). Different politics policy were simulated for 40-year. The model estimates water supply and demand, as well as contamination load from several consumers. Six runs were performed using average precipitation value, changing water supply and demand, and different volumes diverted from BH-PCJ to BH-Alto Tietê For the Business as Usual, the Sustainability Index went from 0.41 in 2010 to 0.22 by 2050; the Water Use Index changed from 80.7% in 2010, to 125.5% by 2050; and the Falkenmark Index changed from 1,302 m 3 person -1 year -1 in 2010 to 774 m 3 P -1 year -1 by 2050. It was noticed that sanitation is one of the biggest concerns in the near future at PCJ River Basin. FCA/UNESP, Rua José Barbosa de Barros, 1780, CEP 18610-307, Botucatu, SP EMBRAPA/AGROSSILVIPASTORIL, Av. Dos Jacarandás, 2639, CEP 78550-003, Sinop, MT Ecologia Aplicada LEB/ESALQ/USP, Av. Pádua Dias, 11, CEP 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP FCA/UNESP, Rua José Barbosa de Barros, 1780, CEP 18610-307, Botucatu, SP

The theory of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) is a powerful approach to modeling human knowledge that is based on causal reasoning. Taking advantage of fuzzy logic and cognitive map theories, FCMs enable system designers to model complex frameworks by defining degrees of causality between causal objects. They can be used to model and represent the behavior of simple and complex systems by capturing and emulating the human being to describe and present systems in terms of tolerance, imprecision, and granulation of information. However, FCMs lack the temporal concept that is crucial in many real-world applications, and they do not offer formal mechanisms to verify the behavior of systems being represented, which limit conventional FCMs in knowledge representation. In this paper, we present an extension to FCMs by exploiting a theory from formal languages, namely, the timed automata, which bridges the aforementioned inadequacies. Indeed, the theory of timed automata enables FCMs to effectively deal with a double-layered temporal granularity, extending the standard idea of B-time that characterizes the iterative nature of a cognitive inference engine and offering model checking techniques to test the cognitive and dynamic comportment of the framework being designed. © 2011 IEEE.

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is born as a computer paradigm that deals with a new world where computing devices are spread everywhere in order to make wider the interaction between human beings and information technology and put together a dynamic computational-ecosystem capable of satisfying the users requirements. However, the AmI systems are more than a simple integration among computer technologies, indeed, their design can strongly depend upon psychology and social sciences aspects able to describe and analyze the human being status during the system's decision making. Consequently, from a computational point of view, an AmI system can be considered as a distributed cognitive framework composed by a collection of intelligent entities capable of modifying their behaviours by taking into account the user's cognitive status in a given time. This paper introduces a novel methodology of AmI systems' design that exploits multi-agent paradigm and a novel extension of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps theory benefiting on the theory of Timed Automata in order to create a collection of dynamical intelligent agents that use cognitive computing to define actions' patterns able to maximize environmental parameters as, for instance, user's comfort or energy saving. ©2009 IEEE.