Utilizando comitês de classificadores para predição de rendimento escolar

Educational Data Mining is an application domain in artificial intelligence area that has been extensively explored nowadays. Technological advances and in particular, the increasing use of virtual learning environments have allowed the generation of considerable amounts of data to be investigated. Among the activities to be treated in this context exists the prediction of school performance of the students, which can be accomplished through the use of machine learning techniques. Such techniques may be used for student’s classification in predefined labels. One of the strategies to apply these techniques consists in their combination to design multi-classifier systems, which efficiency can be proven by results achieved in other studies conducted in several areas, such as medicine, commerce and biometrics. The data used in the experiments were obtained from the interactions between students in one of the most used virtual learning environments called Moodle. In this context, this paper presents the results of several experiments that include the use of specific multi-classifier systems systems, called ensembles, aiming to reach better results in school performance prediction that is, searching for highest accuracy percentage in the student’s classification. Therefore, this paper presents a significant exploration of educational data and it shows analyzes of relevant results about these experiments.

Análise paramétrica da simulação composicional do processo de Drenagem Gravitacional Assistida por Gás (GAGD)

In Brazil and around the world, oil companies are looking for, and expected development of new technologies and processes that can increase the oil recovery factor in mature reservoirs, in a simple and inexpensive way. So, the latest research has developed a new process called Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) which was classified as a gas injection IOR. The process, which is undergoing pilot testing in the field, is being extensively studied through physical scale models and core-floods laboratory, due to high oil recoveries in relation to other gas injection IOR. This process consists of injecting gas at the top of a reservoir through horizontal or vertical injector wells and displacing the oil, taking advantage of natural gravity segregation of fluids, to a horizontal producer well placed at the bottom of the reservoir. To study this process it was modeled a homogeneous reservoir and a model of multi-component fluid with characteristics similar to light oil Brazilian fields through a compositional simulator, to optimize the operational parameters. The model of the process was simulated in GEM (CMG, 2009.10). The operational parameters studied were the gas injection rate, the type of gas injection, the location of the injector and production well. We also studied the presence of water drive in the process. The results showed that the maximum vertical spacing between the two wells, caused the maximum recovery of oil in GAGD. Also, it was found that the largest flow injection, it obtained the largest recovery factors. This parameter controls the speed of the front of the gas injected and determined if the gravitational force dominates or not the process in the recovery of oil. Natural gas had better performance than CO2 and that the presence of aquifer in the reservoir was less influential in the process. In economic analysis found that by injecting natural gas is obtained more economically beneficial than CO2

Análise e desenvolvimento de controladores preditivos multivariáveis baseados em multi-modelos bilineares

This work addresses issues related to analysis and development of multivariable predictive controllers based on bilinear multi-models. Linear Generalized Predictive Control (GPC) monovariable and multivariable is shown, and highlighted its properties, key features and applications in industry. Bilinear GPC, the basis for the development of this thesis, is presented by the time-step quasilinearization approach. Some results are presented using this controller in order to show its best performance when compared to linear GPC, since the bilinear models represent better the dynamics of certain processes. Time-step quasilinearization, due to the fact that it is an approximation, causes a prediction error, which limits the performance of this controller when prediction horizon increases. Due to its prediction error, Bilinear GPC with iterative compensation is shown in order to minimize this error, seeking a better performance than the classic Bilinear GPC. Results of iterative compensation algorithm are shown. The use of multi-model is discussed in this thesis, in order to correct the deficiency of controllers based on single model, when they are applied in cases with large operation ranges. Methods of measuring the distance between models, also called metrics, are the main contribution of this thesis. Several application results in simulated distillation columns, which are close enough to actual behaviour of them, are made, and the results have shown satisfactory

Multi-resolução com fóvea móvel para redução e abstração de dados em tempo real

We propose a new approach to reduction and abstraction of visual information for robotics vision applications. Basically, we propose to use a multi-resolution representation in combination with a moving fovea for reducing the amount of information from an image. We introduce the mathematical formalization of the moving fovea approach and mapping functions that help to use this model. Two indexes (resolution and cost) are proposed that can be useful to choose the proposed model variables. With this new theoretical approach, it is possible to apply several filters, to calculate disparity and to obtain motion analysis in real time (less than 33ms to process an image pair at a notebook AMD Turion Dual Core 2GHz). As the main result, most of time, the moving fovea allows the robot not to perform physical motion of its robotics devices to keep a possible region of interest visible in both images. We validate the proposed model with experimental results

Sistemas orbitais e aéreos aplicados à análise multi-escala da tectônica rúptil atuante na borda sudeste da Bacia do Parnaíba

The tectonics activity on the southern border of Parnaíba Basin resulted in a wide range of brittle structures that affect siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. This tectonic activity and related faults, joints, and folds are poorly known. The main aims of this study were (1) to identify lineaments using several remotesensing systems, (2) to check how the interpretation based on these systems at several scales influence the identification of lineaments, and (3) to contribute to the knowledge of brittle tectonics in the southern border of the Parnaíba Basin. The integration of orbital and aerial systems allowed a multi-scale identification, classification, and quantification of lineaments. Maps of lineaments were elaborated in the following scales: 1:200,000 (SRTM Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission), 1:50,000 (Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite), 1:10,000 (aerial photographs) and 1:5,000 (Quickbird satellite). The classification of the features with structural significance allowed the determination of four structural sets: NW, NS, NE, and EW. They were usually identified in all remote-sensing systems. The NE-trending set was not easily identified in aerial photographs but was better visualized on images of medium-resolution systems (SRTM and Landsat 7 ETM+). The same behavior characterizes the NW-trending. The NS-and EW-trending sets were better identified on images from high-resolution systems (aerial photographs and Quickbird). The structural meaning of the lineaments was established after field work. The NEtrending set is associated with normal and strike-slip faults, including deformation bands. These are the oldest structures identified in the region and are related to the reactivation of Precambrian basement structures from the Transbrazilian Lineament. The NW-trending set represents strike-slip and subordinated normal faults. The high dispersion of this set suggests a more recent origin than the previous structures. The NW-trending set may be related to the Picos-Santa Inês Lineament. The NS-and EW-trending sets correspond to large joints (100 m 5 km long). The truncation relationships between these joint sets indicate that the EW-is older than the NS-trending set. The methodology developed by the present work is an excellent tool for the understanding of the regional and local tectonic structures in the Parnaíba basin. It helps the choice of the best remote-sensing system to identify brittle features in a poorly known sedimentary basin