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Revista Arco — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 21:18:24 +0000

Scientific and Cultural Journalism of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria

Co-Edition: UFSM International Affairs Office

President: Paulo Afonso Burmann

Vice President: Luciano Schuch

Editorial Council: Aline Dalmolin, Carla Isa Costa, Erico Flores, Eugenia Barichello, Fábio Duarte, Jaqueline Kegler, Paola Mello e Sendi Spiazzi

Editors: João Ricardo Gazzaneo Schmitt (MTb/RS/BR 17.804), Luciane Treulieb (MTb/RS 13.260) and Maurício Dias (MTb/RS 9681)

Translation: Amy Lee, Daniela do Canto and Verônica Vieira

Art Editor: Lidiane Castagna

Photography: Joelison Freitas, Nathalia Pitol, Pedro Porto and Rafael Happke

Reporters: Andressa Foggiato, Andressa Motter, Bernardo Zamperetti, Bibiana Pinheiro, Cibele Zardo, Cristina Haas, Diossana da Costa, Gabriele Wagner de Souza, Gustavo Martinez, Joelison de Freitas, Luciane Rodrigues, Natascha Carvalho and Taísa Medeiros

Graphic Designers and Illustrators: Douglas Mastella, Evandro Bertol, João Vitor Bittencourt, Kennior Dias, Lidiane Castagna, Pollyana Santoro, Tayane Senna, Yasmin Costa Faccin and Projetar Junior Industrial Design Company

Support: UFSM Press, Provost Office for Postgraduate Studies and Reseash, Povost Officce for Planning and Integrated Communication Unit

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Revista Arco — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 20:17:14 +0000

Technology, Science, Innovation, Arts and Humanities in Southern Brazil

EDITORIAL TEAM

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Scientific and Cultural Journalism

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 20:08:57 +0000

TauraBots, the UFSM humanoid robot soccer team, has a new teammate: the robot Dimitri. The new android is the first to be funded through international cooperation between UFSM and a laboratory at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea. Dimitri is aiding researchers in the field of cognitive robotics by enabling them to test computational models of cognitive development in a physical robot.

The partnership was initiated after a meeting between UFSM professor and project supervisor, Rodrigo Guerra, and the director of the South Korean laboratory, Jun Tani. Built in late December of 2015 and exported to Korea, the robot is composed of a torso, head and compliant robotic arms that give it sensitivity for dynamic manipulation, enabling it to understand when it is squeezing an object, for example.

A second Dimitri was built and is kept at UFSM to help exchange code in cooperation with the Korean lab. The android in Brazil also has two legs and is about 1.24 meters tall, one of the largest humanoid robots ever designed in Brazil.

The idea for its name came from a project member, who said that the robot was “tough like a Russian actor”, so the invention should be given a Russian name. According to the developers, you could throw a concrete block at Dimitri without damaging it.

Connection

The aim of the project is that when the Santa Maria team improves the functionality of the machine, this information can be used in South Korea – and vice versa – since both robots are based on the same system, which facilitates the replication of results.

The most distinguishing feature of the Dimitris is that they have special series elastic actuators (SEAs) in their arms and legs. SEAs are a kind of actuator where springs are placed in series between the motor and the joints and they can be placed in any joint of the body. Traditional robots without this technology have stiffer and more fragile joints that don’t handle unpredicted external forces well, such as when someone pushes the robot’s arm, for example.

With this innovation developed at UFSM, the robots maintain compliance with the environment when they are under strain, which increases the safety of the interaction, both for the robot and, more importantly, for people working with it.

Investment

Developing this kind of technology requires a large financial investment: each robot costs at least US$16,500, according to Professor Guerra. The electric motors alone, used in the Brazilian Dimitri – which were reutilized from another project – cost around US$1,000 each, totaling approximately US$13,200.

Professor Guerra, who resorted to using his own financial resources in the project, points out that Dimitri’s importance for the future justifies its high cost of development. “Dimitri is a robot that, for now, has no pretension to handle household problems, wash dishes or help people with special needs, for example, but it explores this type of technology, which is a step in that direction,” he says.

Dimitri’s developers chose to make the files used to build the robot available to anyone who wants to contribute or even copy the invention. The software and more information about the project can be obtained by contacting the team at facebook.com/taurabots
Image caption: Development of the elastic series actuator required almost two years of research. It is compact, low-cost and is made of a low-density polyurethane elastomer material.

Reporter: Gabriele Wagner de Souza;

Photographer: Rafael Happke;

Graphic Design: Kennior Dias and Taynane Senna.

Published 2017

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 20:07:39 +0000

Human beings are migrant by nature. Homo Erectus, the predecessor of Homo Sapiens, is believed to have migrated in groups through territories that today make up part of the African continent. During millennia, the human desire to set off in search of improved living conditions has persisted. In order to explore the complex processes of human migration, UFSM has joined forces with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to establish a UNESCO Chair on Humanities and Borders and Migrations. The chair was officially inaugurated at the UFSM Graduate Program in History (PPGH) in March 2019.

WHAT IS A CHAIR?

Unesco is one of several organizations that work with initiatives to create chairs in higher education. UNESCO defines their chairs as projects involving a team at a university or a higher education or research institution who partner with UNESCO in order to advance knowledge and practice in an area that is a priority for both the institution and UNESCO. According to UNESCO, the chair program aims to provide “training through the exchange of knowledge and the spirit of solidarity established between developing countries.” Created 27 years ago, today it engages more than 700 institutions around the world. In Brazil alone, there are already 29 chairs. Chair activities, such as seminars, disciplines, courses and research groups, are developed around a central thematic axis. The chair brings together researchers with common themes, which may be from different areas or working through different courses of action. In the case of the Chair on Borders and Migrations, professors from a number of areas besides History are part of the team, including International Relations, Linguistics, Geography, Philosophy, Anthropology and Law

The theme of borders and migrations offers a wide array of research directions. “It’s an issue that goes back to prehistoric times and spans the whole of South America. But it also relates to current affairs and understanding how the world reacts to it,” says Dr. André Luis Ramos Soares, coordinator of the Chair and professor at the PPGH. In addition, talking about the subject in Santa Maria means recovering the history of settlement of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, constituted partially from migrations from the neighboring Platina Basin. In this sense, UFSM is located in a strategic region. However, it goes far beyond being a geographical question alone, so much so that the group’s research on the subject has drawn the attention of scholars from around the world.

The Chair’s proposed activities synched with research already underway at the PPGH. “Besides being one of our research lines, the theme Borders and Migrations is also the basis of our network in the Associación de Universidades Grupo Montevideo (AUGM).” UFSM has been a part of AUGM’s History, Regions and Borders Committee since 2003, which “has become a reference in research on the subject,” says Dr. Maria Medianeira Padoin, vice-coordinator of the UNESCO Chair and the UFSM representative on the committee. About 18 universities are part of the AUGM group, which develops a number of initiatives, including exchange programs for professors and students, PhD supervision, joint publications and mini-courses. “The connections and experiences provided by integration with AUGM served as a basis for the PPGH to present the proposal for the Unesco Chair,” says Dr. Medianeira Padoin.

In 2016, UFSM held the I International Congress on History, also sponsored by the PPGH, which was a leap towards the internationalization of its research. Several speakers from European and Latin American countries were present, including Luiz Oosterbeek, professor at the Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT), in Portugal, and secretary of the UNESCO International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences. The professors of the PPGH already knew Luiz from other international meetings, but it was during the Congress at UFSM that articulation to create a Chair in Humanities began. “We were encouraged even more at this moment in which the area is going through a process of discredit,” says Dr. Soares.

PARTNERSHIPS

To expand the Chair’s production of knowledge, UFSM has established partnerships with several universities abroad: Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, in Portugal; Universidad de Extremadura, in Spain; Universidad de La República, in Uruguay; Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Universidad Nacional de la Plata and Universidad Nacional del Litoral, in Argentina; Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, in Bolivia; and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Brazil.

What changes with the creation of the chair?

When the proposal for the UNESCO Chair was submitted, the professors elaborated a two-year plan. Much of it expanded on actions already being developed by the PPGH. “The difference is that now we have a wider reach and this will allow us to raise funds from other sources, including through international calls for proposals. But the goal remains the same: to hold academic discussions in an attempt to solve specific problems,” reiterates Dr. Soares. The expansion also opens up opportunities for joint publications with international partners. While there is a focus on researching migration processes, the coordinators emphasize that this does not rule out more practical actions, such as extension projects. One example is an initiative to create the UFSM Geopark in the Quarta Colônia region near Santa Maria.

In March 2019, professors linked to the Chair, together with the President of UFSM, Dr. Paulo Afonso Burmann, were present at the IV Apheleia International Seminar, in Mação, Portugal. At the event, future actions were presented and UFSM and IPT signed a contract to formalize cooperation between the Borders and Migration Chair and the Unesco Chair on Humanities and Territorial Management in the 21st Century, a new Chair inaugurated at IPT in 2018. The Unesco Chair on Borders and Migrations officially began its work at UFSM in November 2019.

Reporter: Taisa Medeiros;

Graphic Design and Illustration: Yasmin Faccin.

Published 2019

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 20:06:41 +0000

In prehistoric times, anthropophagy was a ritual of different indigenous peoples who believed that by eating the flesh of another human, one received all the strength, power and characteristics of the conquered one. The essence of that idea, of absorbing from the other that which is positive, has served as a trope of otherness and inspiration for counter-colonial artistic and cultural movements in several Latin American countries, including Brazil – the cradle of Cultural Anthropophagy.

Twelve years ago at UFSM, this concept was applied to the area of education by Dr. Valdo Hermes de Lima Barcelos, Professor at the Department of School Administration, in the Education Center. Dr. Barcelos has a PhD in Brazilian Cultural Anthropophagy and is a member of the ALPAS 21 International Academy of Arts, Literature and Sciences, the Santa Maria Literary Academy, the Brazilian branch of Amnesty International, as well as a consultant for several organs, including The Brazilian Ministry of Education, UNESCO, The Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (CYTED), the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology. He is the author of dozens of scientific articles, book chapters and complete books, such as An education in the tropics – contributions from Brazilian cultural anthropophagy, published by Vozes Publishing House in 2012. In addition to cultural anthropophagy, Barcelos explores themes including interculturality and environmental sustainability.

His research has led to partnerships with international institutions such as the University of Coimbra and the Piaget Institute, both in Portugal, where Barcelos had his doctoral dissertation on literary texts and ecology published by the Piaget Publishing House in 2009. His work has also involved cooperation with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, based in Costa Rica, and the National Institute for Amazonian Research. “The common thread guiding all these activities is the desire to help build education as a process of human development grounded in an ecological and solidary worldview” said the professor, who spoke with the magazine Arco.

Your research applies the idea of cultural anthropophagy to the area of education. How does this work?

Basically, it seeks to end the practice of imitating ideas and educational models that are foreign to our culture and the Brazilian social reality, without the necessary recontextualization. In this sense, it is not about developing something that is completely Brazilian, but rather that takes into account the different Brazilian cultural matrices, namely: Indigenous, Portuguese and African. This process aims to bring our education closer to the realities of the people of Brazil. One example is Paulo Freire.

In a networked society, can we still have something genuinely local?

This is a practical impossibility because of contemporary processes involved in network relations, characterized by interchange between the local and the global. What anthropophagy proposes is to make this relationship one of devouring, rather than one of submission. Anthropophagy offers foreigners the possibility of being devoured and also of devouring.

How do you relate anthropophagy to teaching? Does it mean choosing different authors?

Yes, this is an alternative. It is interesting to explore authors whose ideas and propositions seek a relationship that is not guided by intellectual submission and subalternity. To exemplify, I use an expression from the Anthropophagic Manifest (1928) by Oswald de Andrade: it is necessary to “see with free eyes”.

Can cultural anthropophagy change daily classroom practices?

Certainly. This can happen by creating environments where learners’ creation and imagination can flow without controls, as well as by opening up spaces for valuing ways of knowing and ways of doing that students bring with them to school. In summary, practices change by valuing intercultural exchanges, particularly in our current times with so many migratory diasporas.

What would be an intercultural and sustainable civilization?

A proposal to live together based in a perspective of living well, seeking cooperation, mutual acceptance and respect for particularities. This would create a solidary civilization stemming from the tropics.

Could you comment on the relationship between Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed?

Among the various relationships, we can mention that both use, as a starting point, the ways of knowing and ways of doing of the group involved. Both are about putting theater and education into practice within the most varied spaces and not only inside the theater and the classroom. Both are marked by reflection about ways of living and practicing education and theater. Both aim to expand the concept and practices of citizenship. And, finally, both aim to transform our reality into a more inclusive reality.

Could you describe your conception of human development resulting from an education based in cultural anthropophagy?

Human development guided by these basic principles: Freirean amorousness and dialogism; cooperation and partnership, as proposed by Humberto Maturana in opposition to competition and domination; solidarity, tolerance, respect and defense of differences; ecology and the construction of an education for peace such as that espoused by the educator Maria Montessori; an education and a pedagogy whose aspiration and purpose is to encourage the emergence of spaces for creation and invention at schools, fostering spontaneity rather than copying, imitation or symbolic and physical violence which, unfortunately, are still very present in our educational spaces.

Towards recovering our national identity

Brazilian cultural anthropophagy originated during the Week of Modern Art, held in São Paulo in 1922. The initiative aimed to break artistic, cultural, political and aesthetic standards imported from Europe without any recontextualization. The name anthropophagy, given to the movement, arose from a work by Tarsila do Amaral: the Aba-Poru. The figure with large hands and feet in contrast to a small head was baptized by Oswald de Andrade, who united two words of Tupi origin: Aba, man, and Poru, one who eats human flesh. In addition, Macunaíma – the hero with no character (1928), by Mario de Andrade, is another notable work from the movement.

In music, Brazilian cultural anthropophagy inspired the Tropicalist Movement, in the 1960s, whose greatest representatives were Torquato Neto, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil. It also influenced Glauber Rocha’s Cinema Novo and Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed. The movement was taken up in other countries in Latin America, such as Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Colombia.

Reporter: Andressa Motter;

Graphic Design and Illustration: Yasmin Faccin.

Published 2019

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 20:05:39 +0000

The outcome of a long battle—this is how Chief Kaingang Nathanael Claudino, from the village of Santa Maria, defines the Augusto Ópẽ da Silva Indigenous Student House, inaugurated at UFSM on December 14, 2018. With 96 student places available and 66 already occupied by students since March 2019, the residence hall is the result of affirmative public policies designed to ensure access and persistence of indigenous students, which have been in place at the University since 2008.

Besides being a civil right, the House is a space for preservation of the native culture within the University. “Here we can show a little of the culture of our people, the Guaraní, the Kaingang, and feel free to speak our language,” says pharmacy student William Gama, from the Xakriabá community in Minas Gerais. “Leaving the village and putting yourself in a totally different context and culture is a bit difficult, but I’m adapting,” says the student who has lived in the Indigenous Student House since 2018.

Bruno Júnior Ferreira, a Kaingang student from the Guarita Indigenous Reservation, located in northwest Rio Grande do Sul, has been studying medicine at UFSM since 2016 and also lives in the House. “It’s good to live here because there are people with the same culture as mine, with the same points of view, it’s easier to live together”, he says.

The Indigenous Student House was named after the Kaingang leader who envisioned its creation. Augusto Ópẽ da Silva was born in the community of Iraí, in the North of Rio Grande do Sul and died in 2014. He led the fight for indigenous causes throughout the state and the country, especially in Santa Maria – where the local indigenous community school is also named after him. “We have to honor our warriors while they are among us. When they leave, they leave happy. They leave with their duty fulfilled,” says Chief Nathanael.

Also present at the inauguration of the House was 98-year-old Jorge Canã Garcia, who passes down knowledge of the indigenous culture learned from his elders to the teachers at the Nonoai Reservation school, where he has lived since birth. He believes that the children of the village should learn to speak and write in both Kaingang and Portuguese. “If they don’t learn to speak ‘Indian’, the culture is lost”, says the leader. For those who are already studying at the University, Jorge highlights that support is needed to make sure they are able to continue and graduate. “Maybe in the future one of them will write a book in Kaingang, so that the culture is not lost,” says Jorge.

Chief Nathanael points out that UFSM students living in the Indigenous Student House spend free time between classes and school work at the House, using the opportunity to preserve the language, traditional medicines, typical foods, songs and rituals. “They have this freedom because the space is ours,” says Nathanael. Another advantage is that the House accommodates students with children.

Maria Inês de Freitas, a Kaingang woman and the representative of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), sees the inauguration of the house as an important moment of territorial demarcation and visibility for the cause of indigenous students. “The house is the result of a struggle, it is an important achievement,” says Maria Inês, adding that “faced with a political context that is unfavorable for the indigenous agenda, we need to unite more and more with the university, with civil society and with indigenous leaders to establish a dialogue and build alternatives”.

“The Kaingang are brave people. We will continue to fight for our space, not only at UFSM, but also at other universities,” says Chief Nathanael.

Reporter: Andressa Motter;

Graphic Design: Lidiane Castagna;

Photographer: Rafael Happke.

Published 2019

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 19:59:51 +0000

LAPEMI, the UFSM Laboratory for Mycological Research (Laboratório de Pesquisas Micológicas), is dedicated to developing research on fungal disease control in animals and humans. The Laboratory, coordinated by professors Sydney Hartz Alves and Jânio Morais Santurio, unites UFSM professors and undergraduate and graduate students from the courses of Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine and Biology.

According to Dr. Alves, LAPEMI stands out internationally for its considerable number of scientific publications on the treatment of fungal diseases in animals. Since its establishment in 2001, the laboratory has published around 15 to 20 papers per year, on average, in leading journals of the area, such as the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

One of Dr. Alves’ research focuses is to detect combinations of chemical substances with pharmacological properties, for example, antifungal with antibacterial. This sort of combination results in increased effectiveness when compared to the isolated use of the substances, which is known as a synergistic effect. “When a synergistic effect occurs, you can decrease the dose of the drug, which reduces toxicity and spares the patient’s liver or kidney,” explains Dr. Alves.

"When a synergistic effect occurs, you can decrease the dose of the drug, which reduces toxicity and spares the patient's livers or kidney"

The studies carried out at Lapemi have allowed researchers to understand which types of combination can generate faster and more beneficial treatment effects and which combinations should be avoided. “We work with fungi of medical importance, which are difficult to treat and resistant to conventional antifungal agents. If we detect synergy in the in vitro tests, the second step is to perform tests in vivo, using animals, such as mice and rabbits” explains doctoral student in Mycology, Laura Denardi.

Synergistic effect: An interaction between two or more drugs that causes the total effect of the drugs to be greater than the sum of the individual effects of each drug.

Pitium-Vac

Another important outcome from Lapemi research is the invention of the vaccine denominated Pitium-Vac, developed by Dr. Santurio. The vaccine is used to control pythiosis in horses, a disease caused by the fungus Pythium insidiosum, which develops in marshy areas. “Since there is no drug treatment for this disease, such as antifungals, we ended up developing the vaccine, an immunotherapy of a curative nature, which means, it is given when the animal is already sick,” explains Dr. Santurio.

Since 1998, studies have been conducted in order to develop the vaccine. In 2003, the effectiveness of Pitium-Vac was proven and a paper on the subject was published in the English magazine Vaccine. In 2012, Pitium-Vac was licensed by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, allowing its production and marketing. “We applied for a patent for this product and with the proceeds collected, Lapemi is able to pay for student grants and laboratory expenses, such as materials, equipment and repairs,” says Dr. Santurio.

Currently, about one thousand doses of the vaccine are sold monthly throughout Brazil. And studies on Pitium-Vac continue: the goal of the laboratory is to amplify its beneficial effect, making it preventive rather than just curative, as is the current formula.

Pitium-Vac can be purchased by telephone, at (+55 55) 3220 8906, or online, at the site www.pitiose.com.br

Reporters: Cibele Zardo and Joelison Freitas;

Graphic Design: Taynane Senna and Projetar Industrial Design Company;

Photographer: Joelison Freitas.

Published 2016

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 19:57:16 +0000

Competing against more than two thousand projects, two UFSM students won the Empreenda Santander 2017 award in the Entrepreneurial University category. Fernando Ferreira and Jader Stefanello are students from the Automation and Control Engineering course who created the Startup Lunix, which aims to reduce energy consumption through a system that identifies the ideal lighting in an environment, based on the amount of natural light and pedestrian and vehicular circulation.

Their proposal competed with projects in the areas of health, management, energy and parking control. Jader believes that winning first place was related to a number of factors, saying that “Intelligent consumption was the difference. Energy prices are increasingly high and this is likely to worsen in coming years. We will have to consume less and less. Plus, the potential of our team and the size of the market were also important”.

Glossary of Entrepreneurship

Startups: new companies that seek to explore market innovation. They aim to develop a business model that is scalable and repeatable, i.e., use a single economic model to reach a large number of customers and generate profits in a short time without a significant increase in costs.

Incubation: a process in which entrepreneurs seeking to develop projects, products and services based on innovative technology are temporarily provided with a physical space and guidance to establish and structure themselves.

Acceleration: accelerators follow each startup with a focus on goals and metrics in a collaborative model.

The light of the idea

The business plan for Lunix was hatched in the UFSM class “Entrepreneurial Attitude,” taught by Dr. Hélio Leães Hey, director of UFSM’s Agency for Innovation and Technology Transfer (AGITTEC). The Agency helped to polish the original idea and has followed up on its progress since leaving the classroom. As a result of the partnership, Lunix was incubated at UFSM’s PULSAR incubator –which means the Startup was provided with temporary facilities and technical support to take its first steps as a company.

Lunix’s proposal drew on the team’s different experiences. Jader had worked in a junior company for a year and a half and was focused on business administration and management, while Fernando was in charge of the automation technology side. Both saw the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired throughout their academic careers. Felipe Wilke Neu and Jeann Carlo Raguzzoni are team members with academic and research experience in the area that are responsible for providing technical support. “Seeking diversity of perspectives and people who complement each other in a project is a good tip for entrepreneurship,” says Jader.

Lunix won one hundred thousand reais and a scholarship to enroll in an immersion course in the area of entrepreneurship and management at Babson College, in the state of Massachusetts, United States. Babson College is ranked number one in the area of entrepreneurship by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review (2018). The entrepreneurs spent 15 days at Babson in July 2019 and were awarded a six-month startup acceleration program at the ACE accelerator, which helped them to develop the project.

The controlled energy consumtion system in public lighting works with a presence sensor so that the lights come on so they detect people and vehicles nearby. The signal is transmitted to the lights via a wi-fi network connected to the server. Data showing system performance are made available to the customer.

Change of plans

After winning the award, the Startup changed directions to serve a different market segment. Lunix now offers people flow analyses for shopping malls, supermarkets, pharmacies and retail stores, which ultimately leads to reduced costs and improved sales results. The change of direction was prompted by discussions with potential clients when the team was in the phase of implementing a pilot of the earlier project. Jader explains that they spoke with many people, both from the public and private sectors, and in these conversations, they became aware of this emergent demand.

The technology works by detecting the cell phone signal of people passing by or going into the store and then transmitting the data, such as peak times and recurrence, to a cloud platform. With this information, the Startup performs analyses that compare people flows and sales figures, which can provide insight into ways to improve sales strategies. “When you tell the business owner that they can make more money, they are ready to listen,” says Jader.

Lunix began providing the service in April 2019 and by the end of the year they already had 13 points of operation, as well as some surprising results. In one case, they detected a connection between low sales in the winter due to the cold weather. They suggested scheduling a clearance sale during this period and this worked to boost sales. In another case, they detected a drop in sales after a certain time in the early evening and the solution was to reduce the number of employees on the sales floor after that time. The employees were happy, because they got to go home earlier and the owner was happy because it reduced costs, increasing profits.

Reporter: Bibiana Pinheiro;

Illustration and infographic: Pollyana Santoro;

Graphic Design: Taynane Senna.

Published 2018

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 19:56:02 +0000

With about 220 million head of cattle, Brazil has the second largest cattle herd in the world. Cattle ranching accounts for about 15% of the national Gross Domestic Product and about 18% of agribusiness exports. In order to contribute to this extensive sector, the UFSM Laboratory of Biotechnology and Animal Reproduction (BioRep) has developed research on Reproductive Biology for over 20 years.

One of their specific lines of research investigates Interferon-Tau, a protein produced and released by embryonic cells and delivered to the uterus and the blood system of cows to assure that levels of progesterone remain elevated during early pregnancy. A number of factors, including food poisoning, malnutrition, medication use, climate and genetic factors may cause females to produce the protein in small quantities or to stop producing it altogether. When this happens, progesterone is reduced and the reproductive cycle is restarted, leaving the uterine environment unsuitable for the embryo.

BioRep, coordinated by Dr. Alfredo Antoniazzi from the Large Animal Clinic Department at the UFSM Center for Rural Sciences, studies ways to control and even avoid impairment of Interferon-Tau production, establishing favorable conditions for conception and pregnancy, which is vital to herd productivity.

One of the most recent studies conducted in the Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Antoniazzi was Carolina Amaral’s master thesis for the Veterinary Medicine Postgraduate Program, which investigated the influence of heat stress on Interferon-Tau production and oxidative stress in bovine embryos produced in vitro. It was concluded that factors such as hyperthermia – an increase in body temperatures capable of affecting metabolism – can reduce the conception rate by 20 to 30%.

Other studies carried out at BioRep also take into consideration the regional characteristics of Southern Brazil, where UFSM is located. The region has a subtropical climate, with well-defined seasons that include cold winters and hot summers. It is also a leading region in agricultural production, with crop rotations adapted to each period of the year.

For beef cattle breeders, the ideal scenario is for cows to be fertilized between November and February, so the calves are born between August and October, when there is plenty of food due to the harvest and climate. After giving birth, the cow will be healthy, strong, well-nourished and prepared for a subsequent pregnancy. For dairy cattle breeders, this is even more important, since milk production is dependent on having calves. In other words: without pregnancy, there is no milk production and, consequently, a decrease in profits.

“Successful production depends on knowledge generated in laboratories for improving reproduction”, says Dr. Antoniazzi. Besides the study on Interferon-tau, BioRep works with additional research lines on ovarian physiology. The Laboratory, which has a staff of four professors, one laboratory technician and undergraduate and graduate students, collaborates with research centers in the United States and Canada.

Reporter: Cristina Haas;

Photographer: Rafael Happke;

Edition: Andressa Motter;

Graphic Design and Illustration: Taynane Senna.

Published 2019

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Revista Arco — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 19:54:07 +0000

Did you know that the concentration of nutrients in crop soils can be corrected? Improved computer technologies, sensors and GPS applied to agricultural practices help farmers increase the probability of guaranteeing a productive harvest. Precision farming techniques work by attaching devices to farm machines, such as seeders and harvesters, so they are able to withdraw a sample of soil, verify the variability of nutrients present and make any necessary corrections using fertilizers.

What stands out in precision farming is not only its benefits for the rural producer, but for the environment as well. By enabling the control of all interventions on an agricultural property, fertilizer and pesticide dosages can be accurately calculated and applied, reducing environmental contamination and increasing productivity. In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, about 30% of agribusinesses use precision agriculture. In some regions of the state, such as the North, this number is even more expressive, reaching around 50%. This is the case in the city Não-Me-Toque, known as the National Capital of precision agriculture, and also in Carazinho.

The renaissance

At the turn of the millennium, new perspectives emerged for Brazilian agriculture and agribusiness. The Aquarius Project, an initiative taken by the Massey Ferguson and Stara companies, marked the beginning of the development of precision agriculture in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and in Brazil. The project got under way in the city of Não-Me-Toque, in two locations: the Schmidt area, with 124 hectares, and the Lagoa area, with 132 hectares. Today, it occupies 16 areas, distributed along the Alto Jacuí region, with a total of 729 hectares. UFSM got in on the project in 2003, when the Agronomy course became a participant. Renowned throughout Brazil, the Aquarius Project has received international recognition in countries such as Paraguay, Argentina and Colombia.

Utilized by the farm machinery, fertilizer and seed industries, as well as by agricultural cooperatives, precision farming requires technology and innovation. The Project currently articulates activities among diverse partners, including the private companies Fazenda Anna and Cotrijal, UFSM and several agricultural producers in the state. “Today, we define the project as a technological showcase, because we work together with companies and they often develop a product, which the University and the producers test, and the suggest modifications and adaptations. In other words, we test all the innovations. The project counts on financing from private companies at the University”, affirms professor of Agronomy at UFSM, Telmo Amado Neto, the coordinator of the Aquarius Project. Currently, participants in the Project include agribusinesses Stara (agricultural machinery), Pioneer (seed manufacturer), Yara (world leader in fertilizers) and Cotrijal (agricultural cooperative in the northern region of Rio Grande do Sul).

On-farm research

The Aquarius Project uses a research strategy called On-Farm Research, in which farmers provide one hectare of their land for UFSM Agronomy students to test equipment and develop new technologies. “Normally, a work plan is first made for the project to be carried out by the students. They come up with ideas and let me check the feasibility of setting it up in the area. What is feasibility? Accuracy, time and space, and machinery”, explains the agricultural producer Rogério Pacheco, landowner in Carazinho, who contributes to Aquarius Project tests on his property. “As soon as we determine that we have the physical conditions necessary for the studies, we carry it out. They bring the theory, and we come in with the practice, the staff, the equipment and the inputs”, says the producer.

"We try to put the right amount of nutrients in the right place, at the right place, at the right time and from the most efficient source. This involves the concept of space-time"

Thus, instead of the research being carried out on an experimental field on the campus, it is carried out on actual agricultural crops provided by farmers. After analyzing the results, farmers decide whether to adopt the tested equipment or not and the tools developed through a project carried out by students and farmers end up getting adopted by other producers as word gets out. “In this process, the farmer often proposes solutions and adaptations. And, while we are conducting the project, the farmer is already making observations about whether it is something that will be valuable for the farm or not”, says Dr. Amado.

Rogério Pacheco adopted a precision agriculture system over five years ago, motivated by the principle of productivity and the rationalization of inputs. The N-sensor was one of the devices acquired by Rogério, after it was tested by the Aquarius Project, and, according to him, it has been one of the most used devices recently. “We experimented with precision planters, comparing the latest models on the market with traditional mechanical planters. Nitrogen variation in areas of high and average fertility was also analyzed using the N-Sensor” recalls the farmer.

Academic workforce

The experiments carried out on the agricultural property and the laboratory analyses are tasks performed by undergraduate and graduate students from the course in Agronomy. After students conclude the work carried out on the farm, in contact with the earth, grains and leaves, it is time to return to the academic environment. There, at UFSM laboratories, the materials collected are observed by the students in order to generate data for master’s theses and doctoral dissertations.

No pre-requisites

The new technologies developed by computer and information researchers and applied to farming are used on a large scale within the agro-industry, due, on the one hand, to the demand of its consumer market and, on the other, to the fact that the sector is financially able to acquire the technologies.

Precision agriculture can be adopted by both small and large producers. The agricultural engineer, Giordano Schiochet, who owns a small farm in the north of the state and uses machinery lent by the Cotrijal Cooperative, believes that precision farming is feasible for properties of all sizes, as long as it is adjusted to the investment capacity of each property. “I see precision farming as a tool that can contribute to the sustainability of small farms, making them competitive and strong” says Schiochet.

According to Dr. Amado, the size of the property is not restrictive, as in the case of family farming. To demonstrate, he points out that precision farming is widely used on small farms in Europe. “The whole issue comes down to whether you’re open to adopting new technologies or not,” he says.

Partnerships for services that generate inclusion

One of the ways to make precision farming reach family farmers is through cooperatives. Within Aquarius, there is a secondary project called Apecop (Precision Agriculture in Cooperatives), which involves 16 agricultural cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul and adopts precision agriculture for its members. “In this case, the farmer doesn’t buy any machines, it is the cooperative that provides services and, in some cases, he pays for services provided only at the time of the harvest. Today, 50% of Cotrijal Cooperative members, for example, benefit from precision agriculture” says Dr. Amado.

Giordano Schiochet notes that the equipment used in precision agriculture is expensive, and therefore, partnerships with cooperatives make it feasible for members to have access to the tools. “I see being able to outsource the application of inputs as an advantage, because it would not be viable for small properties to acquire the machines needed to perform the service. In the case of our cooperative, the technical department, together with the precision agriculture sector, provides guidance on the best way to carry out the investment and work” says the agricultural engineer.

A way to manage their own

Many management principles are employed to establish a precision farming strategy on a property. One of its key features is its focus on management. The first step is to sort all the production processes on the farm. The next step is planning and organizing crop rotation, and, last of all, thinking about buying new machines, and considering the need to purchase new seeders, or a more powerful harvester. “Precision agriculture should not only be associated with the acquisition of new machines, it is much more than that,” says Dr. Amado. In other words, there are cases where precision agriculture consists of managing the resources that are already available on the property.

Embrapa defines precision agriculture as a new way of managing agricultural activities. In the opinion of Dr. Amado, precision agriculture is the management of agricultural properties, respecting the existing soil and plant variability and seeking to increase the efficiency of all processes.

"Precision agriculture should not only be associated with the acquisition of new machines, it is much more than that"

Evolution with benefits

Farm machines now come equipped with GPS signals that direct them in the crops when correcting variability of soil nutrients. The technological evolution of these mechanisms has minimized positioning errors in the application of fertilizers. As Dr. Amado reports: “When we started, we had a 6-meter positioning error and with the technology today, the error is only 2 centimeters.”

The gains achieved for producers and the environment by using precision in agricultural practices are clear to the Aquarius project coordinator: “When you have such a small positioning error, you can reduce the volume of agrochemicals applied to the crop by up to 10%, simply by avoiding excess applications”. Thus, reducing the positioning error and having electronic control of the machines also reduces the environmental impact.

Reporter: Cibele Zardo;

Illustration: Evandro Bertol;

Graphic Design: João Vitor Bittencourt and Projetar Industrial Design Company;

Photography: Aquarius Project Collection.

Published 2015