This work presents a new technique as a potential methodology to analyse seeds. The technology is known as dynamic speckle, or biospeckle, an optical phenomenon produced when active materials, such as biological tissue, are illuminated by laser light. In the present work, the biological activity of seed tissues has been inferred from quantitative and qualitative measurements of their speckle activity. The aim is to show that the biospeckle technique has a potential as a methodology to assess seed viability. One aspect that needs to be investigated is how the water content in the seeds affects bio speckle activity. An experiment has been performed to determine the effect of humidity in the results. Seed activity for different levels of humidity was determined using quantitative and qualitative methods. Also, in others experiments, viable and non viable seeds with different specific humidity levels could be classified using the same technique. £)

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This work presents a study of a new technology applied in quality tests of oranges. Evaluations were performed using a nondestructive and noninvasive method based on the interpretation of an optical phenomenon that occurs when the fruit is illuminated with coherent light, referred as biospeckle. The speckle patterns of laser light scattered in orange fruits have been measured through their quantification. For the quantification of the variation by biospeckle, the autocorrelation function and the modified occurrence matrix were used. From these functions, two parameters were obtained: the statistical cummulant and the moment of inertia, calculated from the modified occurrence matrix. These values were used as quality and senescence indicators for the specimens and were compared with other parameters, as total soluble solids, total acidity, the penetration force and the storage period. It was observed that the moment of inertia and statistical cummulant decrease during the storage period. Since senescence is dependent on the storage period, it was possible to observe that the measure of the dynamic speckle varies for fruits as their quality decrease, and also the values change with the position where the images are taken.

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Analysis of transverse vibrations has been identifi ed as a simple, inexpensive, fast and effective method of characterizing the elastic properties of several materials, including wood. The objective of this study is to evaluate the dynamic elastic properties of wood from Copaifera langsdorffi i through resonance analysis. A linear correlation was observed, with a coeffi cient of determination of 0.88, between the dynamic modulus of elasticity (E d ), as determined by BING (resonance analysis), and the static modulus of elasticity (E), as determined by a universal testing machine, for wood samples of Copaifera langsdorffi i. A moderate correlation was observed (0.69) between the E d and the apparent density (D) of the samples. The shear modulus (G) was negatively correlated with D, E, and E d , yet not signifi cantly. The specifi c modulus, which is the stiffness to density ratio, was linearly correlated with the internal damping. This viscoelastic correlation is rarely reported in literature and indicates, for instance, wood quality for the manufacture of musical instruments. The BING system provided fast, reliable results for estimation of elastic properties, particularly stiffness, in wood of Copaifera langsdorffi i.Key words: Acoustic, transverse vibration, elasticity, shear, stiffness. ESTIMATIVA DAS PROPRIEDADES ELASTICO-DINÂMICAS

Biospeckle is a technique whose purpose is to observe and study the underlying activity of some material. It has its roots in optical physics, and its first step is an image acquisition process that produces a video sequence of the reflection of a laser. The video content can be analyzed to have an interpretation of the activity of the observed material. The literature on this subject presents several different measures for analyzing the video sequence. Three of the most popular measures are the generalized difference (GD), the weighted generalized difference (WGD), and Fujii's method. These measures have drawbacks such as high computation time or limited visual quality of the results. In this paper, we propose (i) an alternative O(n) algorithm for the computation of the GD, (ii) an alternative measure based on the GD, (iii) an alternative measure based on the WGD, and (iv) a generalized definition of the Fujii's method with better visual quality. We discuss the similarities between the new measures and the existent ones, showing when they are applicable. We prove the gain in time computation. The proposed measures will help researchers to gain time during their research and to be able to develop faster tools based on biospeckle application.

RESUMOObjetivou-se neste trabalho realizar um diagnóstico da automação na produção leiteira na região sul de Minas Gerais, enfatizando os tipos de automação existentes, melhoria do processo produtivo nas propriedades leiteiras com adoção da automação e as dificuldades enfrentadas para a sua implantação. A metodologia utilizada baseou-se na pesquisa qualitativa, por meio do estudo exploratório. Os resultados indicaram que existem várias opções de equipamentos que automatizam processos na produção leiteira. O estudo permitiu verificar também que a grande dificuldade enfrentada pelos produtores para automatizar as propriedades leiteiras é o alto custo dos equipamentos e a realidade da automação existe apenas para os grandes produtores de leite.Termos para indexação: Adoção de tecnologia, agropecuária, bovinocultura leiteira. ABSTRACTThe purpase of this work was to carry out the diagnosis of automation in the dairy farming in Southern Minas Gerais, emphasizing the existing automation types, improvement of the productive process in milk properties with automation implementation, and the difficulties faced for its implantation. The methodology used was based on quality research by means of exploratory study The results indicated that several options of equipment exists that automate processes in milk production. The study also allowed the verification that the great difficulty faced by the producers to automate the milk properties is the high cost of the equipment, and that the automation reality is only for the greatest milk producers.