ABSTRACT The disorderly soil occupation without the necessary conservationist practices leads to impacts on the local hydrology and induces the pollution of water resources. This pollution may come from more urbanized areas due to the amount of pollutants drained during the rains. Even moderate precipitations constitute one of the main factors that define pollutant runoff on the surface. These rains have recently been called light rains. Light rains have a lower precipitation height and a higher frequency compared to classic rains of drainage projects, being necessary to define them according to patterns of rain frequency for each region. This study aimed to characterize light rain in the municipality of Piracicaba to establish statistical standards for the frequency of certain precipitation heights. A database provided by the ESALQ/USP automatic weather station, which provides precipitation measurements every 15 minutes, was used in the present study. Light rain heights reached 40.3, 41.4, and 42.7 mm for 100, 90, or 80% frequencies, respectively, which implies the use of return periods of 1.00, 1.11, and 1.25 years, respectively.

Neste trabalho são apresentados os resultados de um projeto para o ensino de física moderna e contemporânea para um curso de licenciatura em física. Os objetivos do projeto consistiram no desenho, construção e utilização de uma lâmpada de vapor de Hg para atividades práticas e demonstrações didáticas. Questões relativas à utilização deste equipamento seguindo padrões de segurança serão detalhadas. Será dada ênfase à discussão metodológica para aplicações do instrumento na introdução do efeito fotoelétrico e outros assuntos da física moderna.

The results of an experimental project for contemporary and modern physics education will be exposed. The main goals were the design, building-up, and operation of a Hg vapor lamp for teaching and didactic demonstrations. Questions related to the use of the equipment by following safety standards will be detailed. A particular emphasis will be given to the methodological discussion for applications of the lamp to the introduction of the photo-electric effect and other topics within the scope of modern physics.

Mechanical material removal during ultraprecision machining of semiconductors crystals normally induces surface damage. In this article, Raman micro-spectroscopy has been used to probe structural alteration as well as residual stresses in the machined surface generated by single point diamond turning. The damage found is characterized by an amorphous phase in the outmost surface layer. In addition, it is reported, for the first time, the results of in-situ re-crystallization annealing of micromachined silicon monitored by micro-Raman spectroscopy. It is also shown that the annealing heat treatment influenced surface roughness: results were Rmax equal to 24.2 nm and 47.3 nm for the non treated and for the annealed surfaces, respectively.

In this work, (100) oriented monocrystalline silicon samples were single point diamond turned under conditions that led to a ductile and brittle regime. Raman spectroscopy results showed that the ductile regime diamond turning of silicon surfaces induced amorphization and, on the contrary, in the brittle mode machining condition this amorphous layer does not exist. Ductile machined surface was found to be a mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases probed by (macro)-Raman spectroscopy. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analyses were then carried out in order to characterize the structural alteration in the machined surface and chips. The electron diffraction pattern of the machined surface detected a crystalline phase along with the amorphous silicon confirming the former results. The mechanism of material removal is widely discussed based upon the results presented here.