Reconhecimento de voz através de unidades menores do que a palavra, utilizando Wavelet Packet e SVM, em uma nova estrutura hierárquica de decisão

The automatic speech recognition by machine has been the target of researchers in the past five decades. In this period have been numerous advances, such as in the field of recognition of isolated words (commands), which has very high rates of recognition, currently. However, we are still far from developing a system that could have a performance similar to the human being (automatic continuous speech recognition). One of the great challenges of searches for continuous speech recognition is the large amount of pattern. The modern languages such as English, French, Spanish and Portuguese have approximately 500,000 words or patterns to be identified. The purpose of this study is to use smaller units than the word such as phonemes, syllables and difones units as the basis for the speech recognition, aiming to recognize any words without necessarily using them. The main goal is to reduce the restriction imposed by the excessive amount of patterns. In order to validate this proposal, the system was tested in the isolated word recognition in dependent-case. The phonemes characteristics of the Brazil s Portuguese language were used to developed the hierarchy decision system. These decisions are made through the use of neural networks SVM (Support Vector Machines). The main speech features used were obtained from the Wavelet Packet Transform. The descriptors MFCC (Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient) are also used in this work. It was concluded that the method proposed in this work, showed good results in the steps of recognition of vowels, consonants (syllables) and words when compared with other existing methods in literature

Método Fuzzy para auxílio ao diagnóstico de câncer de mama em ambiente inteligente de telediagnóstico colaborativo para apoio à tomada de decisão

Breast cancer, despite being one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide is a disease that can be cured if diagnosed early. One of the main techniques used in the detection of breast cancer is the Fine Needle Aspirate FNA (aspiration puncture by thin needle) which, depending on the clinical case, requires the analysis of several medical specialists for the diagnosis development. However, such diagnosis and second opinions have been hampered by geographical dispersion of physicians and/or the difficulty in reconciling time to undertake work together. Within this reality, this PhD thesis uses computational intelligence in medical decision-making support for remote diagnosis. For that purpose, it presents a fuzzy method to assist the diagnosis of breast cancer, able to process and sort data extracted from breast tissue obtained by FNA. This method is integrated into a virtual environment for collaborative remote diagnosis, whose model was developed providing for the incorporation of prerequisite Modules for Pre Diagnosis to support medical decision. On the fuzzy Method Development, the process of knowledge acquisition was carried out by extraction and analysis of numerical data in gold standard data base and by interviews and discussions with medical experts. The method has been tested and validated with real cases and, according to the sensitivity and specificity achieved (correct diagnosis of tumors, malignant and benign respectively), the results obtained were satisfactory, considering the opinions of doctors and the quality standards for diagnosis of breast cancer and comparing them with other studies involving breast cancer diagnosis by FNA.

Oscilações Teta no hipocampo do rato durante tarefa de tomada de decisão espacial

The processing of spatial and episodic information during memory tasks depends on hippocampal theta oscillations. In the present study, I investigated the relationship between theta power and choice selection during spatial decision-making. I recorded local field potentials from the CA1 region of rats retrieving reward locations in a 4-arm maze. In trained but not in naïve animals, I observed a significant increase in theta power during decision-making, which could not be explained by changes in locomotion speed. Furthermore, a Bayesian decoder based on theta power predicted choice outcomes in speed-matched trials. The decoding time course revealed that performance increased above chance before the decision moment exclusively for theta power, remaining flat for other frequency bands. These results occurred for trained animals, but no significant prediction could be made for naïve animals. Altogether, the data support a mnemonic function of theta rhythm during spatial decision-making, indicating that these oscillations correlate with the retrieval of memories required for successful decisions

Estilos de aprendizagem sob a ótica da Psicologia Evolucionista

Among a variety of learning conceptions, David Kolb´s Experiential Learning Theory proposes four different learning styles: diverging, characterized by orientation towards people and multi-perspective vision; assimilating, concerned with ideas and abstract concepts as well as theory formulation; converging, expert in dealing with technical tasks and problem solving; and accommodating, risk taker and good at getting things done. Interesting correlations have been pointed out between Kolb s learning styles, professional careers and genders. With respect to behaviors, specific cognitive skills and interests, sex differences are widely known, and explained by Evolutionary Psychology as the result of distinct selective pressures acting on each gender. The aim of this research was to assess adolescents learning styles and their relation with interests on school and career choices, analyzing possible gender differences. We distributed questionnaires to 221 senior high school students to research their preferences for school disciplines, professional activities and career choices. The Learning Style Inventory specified the learning style of each individual. Our results showed a high frequency of reflective styles, with predominance of females as diverging and males as assimilating. Concerning school and professional interests, there were correlations between styles oriented towards the abstract and technical interests. Moreover, females preferred disciplines related to languages and interpersonal activities while males preferred disciplines related to science and technical activities. There were more males in exact science and engineering careers, and more females in social science and applied social science. Correlations found between learning styles, school and professional interests corroborate Kolb´s propositions, and the findings about gender differences are supported by Evolutionary Psychology theories

Validade e confiabilidade da versão informatizada do inventário Million de estilos de personalidade

Currently, several psychological and non-psychological tests can be found in publishes without standardization on procedures set in different psychological areas, like intelligence, emotional states, attitudes, social skills, vocation, preferences and others. The computerized psychological testing is a extension of traditional testing psychological practices. However, it has own psychometrics qualities, either by its matching in a computerized environment or by the extension that can be developed in it. The current research, developed from a necessity to study process of validity and reliability on a computerized test, drew a methodological structure to provide parallel applications in numerous kinds of operational groups, evaluating the influences of the time and approach in the computerization process. This validity refers to normative values groups, reproducibility in computerized applications process and data processing. Not every psychological test can be computerized. Therefore, our need to find a good test, with quality and plausible properties to transform in computerized application, leaded us to use The Millon Personality Inventory, created by Theodore Millon. This Inventory assesses personality according to 12 bipolarities distributed in 24 factors, distributed in categories motivational styles, cognitive targets and interpersonal relations. This instrument doesn t diagnose pathological features, but test normal and non adaptive aspects in human personality, comparing with Theodore Millon theory of personality. In oder to support this research in a Brazilian context in psychological testing, we discuss the theme, evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of such practices. Also we discuss the current forms in computerization of psychological testing and the main specific criteria in this psychometric specialized area of knowledge. The test was on-line, hosted in the site http://www.planetapsi.com, during the years of 2007 and 2008, which was available a questionnaire to describe social characteristics before test. A report was generated from the data entry of each user. An application of this test was conducted in a linear way through a national coverage in all Brazil regions, getting 1508 applications. Were organized nine groups, reaching 180 applications in test and retest subject, where three periods of time and three forms of retests for studies of on-line tests were separated. Parallel to this, we organized multi-application session offline group, 20 subjects who received tests by email. The subjects of this study were generally distributed by the five Brazilian regions, and were noticed about the test via the Internet. The performance application in traditional and on-line tested groups subsidies us to conclude that on-line application provides significantly consistency in all criteria for validity studied and justifies its use. The on-line test results were related not only among themselves but were similar to those data of tests done on pencil and paper (0,82). The retests results demonstrated correlation, between 0,92 and, 1 while multisessions had a good correlation in these comparisons. Moreover, were assessed the adequacy of operational criteria used, such as security, the performance of users, the environmental characteristics, the organization of the database, operational costs and limitations in this on-line inventory. In all these five items, there were excellent performances, concluding, also, that it s possible a self-applied psychometric test. The results of this work are a guide to question and establish of methodologies studies for computerization psychological testing software in the country

Estudo das propriedades psicométricas do inventário de estilos parentais de young no Brasil

Parenting styles concern overall interaction characteristics between parents and children. To assess them, it is important to build and adapt valid and reliable instruments. The main objectives of this dissertation were to translate, adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Young Parenting Inventory (YPI) for the Brazilian context, as seek associations between the YPI and Familiogram Test (FG). In current study, YPI was adapted to Portuguese by backtranslation method. Content analyses were made by five judges. 920 high school and college students (543 females), whose ages were between 14 and 69 years (M = 21.3, SD = 6.1), filled out the research instruments. Data were collected in Natal, Petrolina and Brasilia cities and Porto Alegre metropolitan region. The results confirmed the existence of five factors. Final version of the YPI was composed by 49 items. Exploratory factorial analysis (principal components) were conducted using oblimin rotation. Five factors extracted explained 45.12% of the maternal scale variance and 47.59% of paternal scale. Each factor explained, at least, 3% of the variance and showed Eigenvalue over than 1.5. All items have factorial loadings values above 0.3. The confirmatory factorial analysis has showed fit statistics reasonably adequate: for maternal scale,  ² [1114] = 4636.38, p < 0.001,  ² / df = 4.16, with GFI = 0.83, AGFI = 0.81 and RMSEA = 0.06; for paternal scale,  ² [1114] = 5133.69 p < 0.001,  ² / df = 4.61, with GFI = 0.81, AGFI = 0.79 and RMSEA = 0,06. Thus, final instrument was composed by the following factors: (I) Disconnection and Rejection ( = 0.89 and 0.90), (II) Affectivity and Emotional Stability ( = 0.85 and 0.88); (III) Overvigilance and Other Directedness ( = 0.83 and 0.85), (IV) Overprotection and Impaired Autonomy ( = 0.78 and 0.79) and (V) Impaired Limits ( = 0.66 and 0.71). Finally, relations between the YPI and FG were assessed. Pearson's correlations between the YPI and FG showed moderated associations, particularly between the factors Affectivity (YPI) and Affection (FG) (r = 0.69 and 0.7 for maternal and paternal scale, respectively); and the factors Disconnection and Rejection (YPI) and Conflict (FG) (r = 0.59 and 0.58). The regression models indicated that over than 40% of variance of factors of FG can be predicted by factors of YPI. Beta coefficients for Affection-Affectivity relation were 0.67 (maternal scale) and 0.53 (paternal scale); for Disconnection-Conflict relation were 0.31 (maternal scale) and 0.44 (paternal scale). We conclude the YPI has adequate psychometric parameters and can be used in future research in this area. However, adjustments in the structure of the YPI were made. Moreover, it is suggested further studies to consider other samples and variables, increasing the knowing of parenting styles and the Young‟s theory in the Brazilian context

Rendimento acadêmico e sua relação com os estilos de personalidade de estudantes universitários

One of the Psychology challenges, especially among the assessment and educational areas, is to understand and predict individual differences. In this context, this research aimed to verify the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance. The study included 236 university students from Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA campus of the UNIVASF (Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco). They were uniformly distributed in four disciplines (medicine, psychology, administration and civil engineering), 10 students from each semester (five highest scores average students and five lowest scores average students) took place of the sample. The Millon Index Personality Styles (MIPS) was applied to analyze the personality/behavioral styles of the students. The MIPS is a 180 dichotomous (true/false) item scale. It was also developed and applied a questionnaire about the students characteristics and their academic information. Descriptive and central tendency statistics analysis (mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage) were done to provide sample information. Then we performed a Mann-Whitney test in the overall sample and in each course and a factorial ANOVA. The results suggest that the university population is heterogeneous and there are significant differences (p <0.05) between the personality styles of students with high and low academic performance, when analyzing the overall sample and in courses of different areas of knowledge. Students of Medicine who have higher performance as personality styles prevalent the conformism and compliance, while students with lower income in this course, the styles are: innovation and discrepancy. Psychology students with higher income are more systematic and lower income students to score significantly on accommodation. The civil engineering students of the two groups differed only in personality style intuition, being such a style more characteristic of higher income students. Students of Management with higher yield stand out more in the style of the doubt and lower yields in these styles: individual, reflection and discrepancy. This study is correlational, but had an exploratory nature because there are no studies about this relationship in Brazil. Therefore, it provided a better understanding of the action characteristics of students with high and low academic performance. Further studies using the Big Five Personality Factors instruments are required because it is the most used model in understanding the influence of personality on students performance. This way, the relation between personality and academic performance will be better discussed. Otherwise, it will be possible to compare with the existing studies in the area

Tomada de decisão de Psicólogos em avaliação Psicologica

Psychological assessment is a procedure that is inserted in all areas of a psychologist s professional field of work. When starting any psychological intervention, it is necessary to carry an analysis of how individual operate in order to identify and define their demands to adequately meet them. It is important to study this practice because the choice of instruments, techniques and procedures to be employed influences the efficiency and effectiveness of the work and the image of the profession towards society in general, also impacting the scientific community. This study aimed to identify, in the subjects, the percentage of professionals in psychology who make use of the Psychological Assessment in the Northeastern region of Brazil; another objectives were to analyze the profile of these professionals in terms of gender, time after graduation, additional training in PA, the state of the country where he/she works; to check how psychologists do their planning when using PA as well as to identify which differences can be observed in terms of time from graduation and additional training in the process of planning the assessment different extents. The instrument used was an online questionnaire and the sample was by adhesion to the application. The attendance was of 159 professionals and most of them were females with a specialist degree. It was found that the majority of the professionals perform the planning of the PA, establishing a method and choosing the most appropriate strategies to be used. It was also verified that most of the subjects fulfill the steps of the whole process, and when planning the techniques of data collection, integrating database from different sources, reporting the results and returning the information, the professional demonstrates his/her goals to understand their demands and accomplish the decision making and/or proposed intervention for individuals assessed. It was found that the undergraduate degree may not have produced a more complete effect in the professional qualification and therefore, of the quality of the actions in PA, and that there is a need for training and continuing education

A utilização da informação contábil na atividade pecuária do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte: um enfoque nos demonstrativos gerados para tomada de decisão

This work deals with the cattle raising activity in Brasil, it´s importance for the stete of Rio Grande do Norte. A conceptual review is done regarding accounting information and considering it as an essencial input for economical and finantial decision making, related to the state cattle rainsing environment. It also aims to expose visions related to the role and the importance of Accounting as system that colects, treats and supplies managerial information. A brief historic of Accounting is done, emphasizing the Accounting Demonstration Structure and its use in the decision making process, as well as the contribution it has node for the cattle raising activity in Brazil. The research´s results show that accounting information is used partially in the finantial decision making process, and it is pointed out that the Inventory was the most relevant tool with 95,% of the cases, followed by the Income and Outlay reports with 85.0%,Production with 82,0% and Cost reports with 80,0%, the Demonstrative of the Cash Flow (DFC) with 82.5%, the Patrimonial Balance (PB) with 22.5%, and the Demonstrative of the Exercise Result (DER) with 20.0% of use. The research concludes that Accounting information is not throughly used in the economic and finantial decision making of the managers of cattle raising in the Rio Grande do Norte State, although, 95% of the sample consider then important. This may imply that there are diffilculties in measurement of the managerial decisions as well as the business whole

Criação de empresas à luz do modelo de decisão effectuation: um estudo com mulheres empreendedoras no município de Currais Novos/RN

This study analysed the creation of businesses by entrepreneur women in the Currais Novos city, looking for verifying if they used making decision processes aligned to the Effectuation logic throughout the creation of their companies. To this, was accomplished a multiple cases and exploratory study, whit a qualitative approach of analyse, using the thematic life history technique that match accounts and semi-structured interview route, being accomplished like a long interview, where the researcher interact with the informer continuously. The semi-structured interview route was created by the adaptation of the interview route used by Tasic (2007). The present study appealed to a intentional selection of individuals in function of their importance in relation to the boarded theme. This means that the individuals were chosen in function of their social and theoretical representatively inside the considered situation. The participant individuals of this research were five entrepreneur women that act in the Currais Novos city, owners of five different companies. To the data treatment and analyse, was chosen the content analyse technique. This study worked with a priori theoretical categories. The categories of analyse in this study was obtained with base in the Effectuation approach (SARASVATHY, 2001a, 2001b, 2008), that is an alternative model of making decision to the classic model based in the causality principle. These categories are Clarity of Initial Aims , Tolerance to the Lost and Initials Investments , Control of Resources ( who I am , what I know and who I know ) and Promoting Over Contingencies . As result, the entrepreneur women researched, in a general way, hadn t clear initial aims at the companies creation moment, hadn t aversion to the risk to lose the time and the money that they were investing in the company in formation, they highlighted the products and services identity that offered with a strong link with Seridó region, they had experience in the field of activity in which they decided to open their companies, had the commitment of partners in the beginning of the business and they knew to transform the initial difficulties in opportunities. By the end, this study conclude that the entrepreneur women studied used, in a big part, making decision processes aligned to the Effectuation logic throughout the creation of their companies

A fazenda pública em juízo: a anulação de decisão administrativa definitiva a favorável ao contribuinte

El tema elegido para este estudio la materia disertación sobre la viabilidad de la Tesorería a buscar refugio a la corte anuló la decisión administrativa firme, dictada en lugar del procedimiento administrativo, fiscal, cuando tal decisión no es favorable a la Administración Pública Fiscal, o favorable para el contribuyente . El cálculo de la cuota a pagar se debe a las actividades administrativas relacionadas jurisdicción de la Administración Pública de la finca conocida como la evaluación de impuestos. En este sentido, la puesta en marcha, analizados desde la perspectiva del derecho administrativo, puede calificarse de acto jurídico administrativo. Para la constitución de la puesta en marcha es posible realizar tres pasos: a) un acto en la preparación para el tema de los impuestos - la revisión y evaluación, b) el acto administrativo de la liquidación del impuesto en sí o la aplicación de sanciones administrativas, el procedimiento c) el impuesto administrativo. Realizó la inspección y la investigación se ha iniciado para formalizar el acto administrativo del propio lanzamiento. Después de la puesta en marcha, con el homenaje que se está abierto a los contribuyentes dentro de la composición del tributo rechazo en libertad, que ofrecerá desafío para lanzar. Este paso es iniciar el "procedimiento administrativo tributario." La etapa procesal se caracteriza por ser un procedimiento de investigación o control de la legalidad de los actos administrativos en los que el contribuyente para mostrar su descontento con el lanzamiento de lo ya realizado. La evolución de los actos que lleva a cuestiones de procedimiento de especial importancia para esta tesis es que la decisión final sobre el procedimiento administrativo de impuestos o el control de la legalidad del acto administrativo de la liberación. Idea que se debe tener es que la decisión final es poner fin a fin o destino del impuesto procedimiento administrativo. Aquí están las preguntas de la tesis doctoral, por ejemplo, usted puede cancelar la corte real hacienda de la decisión administrativa dictada por el Consejo Administrativo de Apelación Reder, cuando decisum que conduzca a la privada? ¿Cuáles son los efectos de la decisión final? Con fuerza de cosa juzgada o impedimento administrativo? Se opone a la revisión por el poder judicial? La decisión administrativa es un acto administrativo? Puede ser cancelada o revocada por el Poder Judicial? Dada la divergencia en la doctrina y la jurisprudencia trata de resolver el problema que lo llevan a la solución definitiva al respecto. El autor llega a la conclusión de la imposibilidad, por regla general, y la oportunidad, como excepción a la Tesorería para solicitar la anulación del impuesto de la decisión administrativa final ante el Poder Judicial

Aspectos constitucionais da anulação de decisão definitiva da administração pública federal no processo tributário

Cet article traite de la possibilité de proposer le Trésor à la justice pour annuler une décision administrative définitive sur les questions fiscales. Il s'agit d'un sujet qui s'oppose au principe de la vérité matérielle - qui doit prévaloir en cas d'impôt - avec une certitude morale représentée par la chose jugée administrative. Commence par le processus administratif d'impôt comme une garantie constitutionnelle du contribuable, insérée dans le panorama d une compétence adoptée dans la législation brésilienne en tant que pilier de l'Etat de droit démocratique. Met l'accent sur la position du Trésor avant l'autorité de la chose jugée administrative, ce qui démontre la fragilité de La décision finale sur les questions fiscales. Décrit les effets de la révision (ou de l'annulation) dês actes administratifs, en particulier la libération de l'impôt et de la décision administrative qui vise à le confirmer. Enfin, nous discuterons de la composition et la légitimité du contentieux administratif, en conclusion, avec le soutien de la prévalence d'un fait important dans le cãs d'impôt, est non seulement possible, mais le Trésor devrait examiner leurs propres actions si nécessaire

Sistemas computacionais espaço-temporais para toma de decisão em questões ambientais relacionadas à indústria de petróleo e gás

The area between São Bento do Norte and Macau cities, located in the northern coast of the Rio Grande do Norte State is submitted to intense and constant processes of littoral and aeolian transport, causing erosion, alterations in the sediments balance and modifications in the shoreline. Beyond these natural factors, the human interference is huge in the surroundings, composed by sensitive places, due to the existence of the Guamaré Petroliferous Pole, RN, the greater terrestrial oil producing in Brazil, besides the activities of the salt companies and shrimp farms. This socioeconomic-environmental context justifies the elaboration of strategies of environmental monitoring of that coastal area. In the environmental monitoring of coastal strips, submitted to human impacts, the use of multi-sources and multitemporal data integrated through a Spatio- Temporal Database that allows the multiuser friendly access. The objective was to use the potential of the computational systems as important tools the managers of environmental monitoring. The stored data in the form of a virtual library aid in making decisions from the related results and presented in different formats. This procedure enlarges the use of the data in the preventive attendance, in the planning of future actions and in the definition of new lines of researches on the area, in a multiscale approach. Another activity of this Thesis consisted on the development of a computational system to automate the process to elaborate Oil-Spill Environmental Sensitivity Maps, based on the temporal variations that some coastal ecosystems present in the sensibility to the oil. The maps generated in this way, based on the methodology proposed by the Ministério do Meio Ambiente, supply more updated information about the behavior of the ecosystem, as a support to the operations in case of oil spill. Some parameters, such as the hydrodynamic data, the declivity of the beach face, types of resources in risk (environmental, economical, human or cultural) and use and occupation of the area are some of the essential basic information in the elaboration of the sensitivity maps, which suffer temporal alterations.In this way, the two computational systems developed are considered support systems to the decision, because they provide operational subsidies to the environmental monitoring of the coastal areas, considering the transformations in the behavior of coastal elements resulting from temporal changes related the human and/or natural interference of the environment

Algoritmos e Arquiteturas VLSI para Detectores MIMO com Decisão Suave

The use of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems has permitted the recent evolution of wireless communication standards. The Spatial Multiplexing MIMO technique, in particular, provides a linear gain at the transmission capacity with the minimum between the numbers of transmit and receive antennas. To obtain a near capacity performance in SM-MIMO systems a soft decision Maximum A Posteriori Probability MIMO detector is necessary. However, such detector is too complex for practical solutions. Hence, the goal of a MIMO detector algorithm aimed for implementation is to get a good approximation of the ideal detector while keeping an acceptable complexity. Moreover, the algorithm needs to be mapped to a VLSI architecture with small area and high data rate. Since Spatial Multiplexing is a recent technique, it is argued that there is still much room for development of related algorithms and architectures. Therefore, this thesis focused on the study of sub optimum algorithms and VLSI architectures for broadband MIMO detector with soft decision. As a result, novel algorithms have been developed starting from proposals of optimizations for already established algorithms. Based on these results, new MIMO detector architectures with configurable modulation and competitive area, performance and data rate parameters are here proposed. The developed algorithms have been extensively simulated and the architectures were synthesized so that the results can serve as a reference for other works in the area

Sistema integrado para tomada de decisão espacial em situações de derramamento de óleo no litoral norte do Estado do RN

The northern coast of Rio Grande do Norte State (RN) shows areas of Potiguar basin with high activity in petroleum industry. With the goal of avoiding and reducing the accident risks with oil it is necessary to understand the natural vulnerability, mapping natural resources and monitoring the oil spill. The use of computational tools for environmental monitoring makes possible better analyses and decisions in political management of environmental preservation. This work shows a methodology for monitoring of environment impacts, with purpose of avoiding and preserving the sensible areas in oil contact. That methodology consists in developing and embedding an integrated computational system. Such system is composed by a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS). The SDSS shows a computational infrastructure composed by Web System of Geo-Environmental and Geographic Information - SWIGG , the System of Environmental Sensibility Maps for Oil Spill AutoMSA , and the Basic System of Environmental Hydrodynamic ( SisBAHIA a System of Modeling and Numerical Simulating SMNS). In a scenario of oil spill occurred coastwise of Rio Grande do Norte State s northern coast, the integration of such systems will give support to decision agents for managing of environmental impacts. Such support is supplied through a system of supporting to spatial decisions