Espectroscopia no infravermelho próximo e métodos de calibração multivariada aplicados à determinação simultânea de parâmetros bioquímicos em plasma sanguíneo

In this work, the quantitative analysis of glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol (total and HDL) in both rat and human blood plasma was performed without any kind of pretreatment of samples, by using near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) combined with multivariate methods. For this purpose, different techniques and algorithms used to pre-process data, to select variables and to build multivariate regression models were compared between each other, such as partial least squares regression (PLS), non linear regression by artificial neural networks, interval partial least squares regression (iPLS), genetic algorithm (GA), successive projections algorithm (SPA), amongst others. Related to the determinations of rat blood plasma samples, the variables selection algorithms showed satisfactory results both for the correlation coefficients (R²) and for the values of root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) for the three analytes, especially for triglycerides and cholesterol-HDL. The RMSEP values for glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol-HDL obtained through the best PLS model were 6.08, 16.07 e 2.03 mg dL-1, respectively. In the other case, for the determinations in human blood plasma, the predictions obtained by the PLS models provided unsatisfactory results with non linear tendency and presence of bias. Then, the ANN regression was applied as an alternative to PLS, considering its ability of modeling data from non linear systems. The root mean square error of monitoring (RMSEM) for glucose, triglycerides and total cholesterol, for the best ANN models, were 13.20, 10.31 e 12.35 mg dL-1, respectively. Statistical tests (F and t) suggest that NIR spectroscopy combined with multivariate regression methods (PLS and ANN) are capable to quantify the analytes (glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol) even when they are present in highly complex biological fluids, such as blood plasma

Secagem de misturas de polpa de frutas tropicais em leito de jorro

Drying of fruit pulps in spouted beds of inert particles has been indicated as a viable technique to produce fruit powders. Most of the processes employed to produce dried fruit pulps and juices, such as Foam Mat, encapsulation by co-crystallization and spray drying utilize adjuvant and additives (such as thickeners, coating materials, emulsifiers, acidulants, flavors and dyes), which is not always desirable. The fruit pulp composition exerts an important effect on the fruit powder production using a spouted bed. In the study by Medeiros (2001) it was concluded that lipids, starch and pectin contents play an important role on the process performance, enhancing the powder production; however, the drying of fruit pulps containing high content of reducing sugars (glucose and fructose) is practically unviable. This work has the objective of expanding the studies on drying of fruit pulps in spouted bed with aid of adjuvant (lipids, starch and pectin) aiming to enhance the dryer performance without jeopardizing the sensorial quality of the product. The optimum composition obtained by Medeiros (2001) was the basis for preparing the mixtures of pulps. The mixture formulations included pulps of mango (Mangifera indica), umbu (Spondias tuberosa) and red mombin (Spondia purpurea) with addition of cornstarch, pectin and lipids. Different products were used as lipids source: olive and Brazil nut oils, coconut milk, heavy milk, powder of palm fat and palm olein. First of all, experiments were conducted to define the best formulation of the fruit pulps mixture. This definition was based on the drying performance obtained for each mixture and on the sensorial characteristics of the dry powder. The mixture formulations were submitted to drying at fixed operating conditions of drying and atomizing air flow rate, load of inert particles, temperature and flow rate of the mixture. The best results were obtained with the compositions having powder of palm fat and palm olein in terms of the drying performance and sensorial analysis. Physical and physicochemical characteristics were determined for the dry powders obtained from the mixtures formulations. Solubility and reconstitution time as well as the properties of the product after reconstitution were also evaluated. According to these analyses, the powder from the mixtures formulations presented similar characteristics and compatible quality to those produced in other types of dryers. Considering that the palm olein is produced in Brazil and that it has been used in the food industry substituting the palm fat powder, further studies on drying performance were conducted with the composition that included the palm olein. A complete factorial design of experiments 23, with three repetitions at the central point was conducted to evaluate the effects of the air temperature, feeding flow rate and intermittence time on the responses related to the process performance (powder collection efficiency, material retained in the bed and angle of repose of the inert particles after the process) and to the product quality (mean moisture content, loss of vitamin C and solubility). Powder production was uniform for the majority of the experiments and the higher efficiency with lower retention in the bed (59.2% and 1.8g, respectively) were obtained for the air temperature of 80°C, mixture feed rate of 5ml/min in intervals of 10 min. The statistical analysis of the results showed that the process variables had individual or combined significant influences on the powder collection efficiency, material retention in the bed, powder moisture content and loss of vitamin C. At the experimental ranges of this work, the angle of repose and solubility were not influenced by the operating variables. From the results of the experimental design, statistical models were obtained for the powder moisture content and loss of vitamin C

Determinação de parâmetros (sólidos solúveis, pH e acidez titulável) em ameixas intactas usando espectroscopia no infravermelho próximo e seleção de comprimento de onda

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) as a rapid and non-destructive method to determine the soluble solid content (SSC), pH and titratable acidity of intact plums. Samples of plum with a total solids content ranging from 5.7 to 15%, pH from 2.72 to 3.84 and titratable acidity from 0.88 a 3.6% were collected from supermarkets in Natal-Brazil, and NIR spectra were acquired in the 714 2500 nm range. A comparison of several multivariate calibration techniques with respect to several pre-processing data and variable selection algorithms, such as interval Partial Least Squares (iPLS), genetic algorithm (GA), successive projections algorithm (SPA) and ordered predictors selection (OPS), was performed. Validation models for SSC, pH and titratable acidity had a coefficient of correlation (R) of 0.95 0.90 and 0.80, as well as a root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.45ºBrix, 0.07 and 0.40%, respectively. From these results, it can be concluded that NIR spectroscopy can be used as a non-destructive alternative for measuring the SSC, pH and titratable acidity in plums

Otimização em comitês de classificadores: uma abordagem baseada em filtro para seleção de subconjuntos de atributos

Traditional applications of feature selection in areas such as data mining, machine learning and pattern recognition aim to improve the accuracy and to reduce the computational cost of the model. It is done through the removal of redundant, irrelevant or noisy data, finding a representative subset of data that reduces its dimensionality without loss of performance. With the development of research in ensemble of classifiers and the verification that this type of model has better performance than the individual models, if the base classifiers are diverse, comes a new field of application to the research of feature selection. In this new field, it is desired to find diverse subsets of features for the construction of base classifiers for the ensemble systems. This work proposes an approach that maximizes the diversity of the ensembles by selecting subsets of features using a model independent of the learning algorithm and with low computational cost. This is done using bio-inspired metaheuristics with evaluation filter-based criteria

MoSAC: um módulo para seleção de configurações arquiteturais baseado em critérios de QoS no contexto de sistema distribuídos autoadaptativos

The process for choosing the best components to build systems has become increasingly complex. It becomes more critical if it was need to consider many combinations of components in the context of an architectural configuration. These circumstances occur, mainly, when we have to deal with systems involving critical requirements, such as the timing constraints in distributed multimedia systems, the network bandwidth in mobile applications or even the reliability in real-time systems. This work proposes a process of dynamic selection of architectural configurations based on non-functional requirements criteria of the system, which can be used during a dynamic adaptation. This proposal uses the MAUT theory (Multi-Attribute Utility Theory) for decision making from a finite set of possibilities, which involve multiple criteria to be analyzed. Additionally, it was proposed a metamodel which can be used to describe the application s requirements in terms of the non-functional requirements criteria and their expected values, to express them in order to make the selection of the desired configuration. As a proof of concept, it was implemented a module that performs the dynamic choice of configurations, the MoSAC. This module was implemented using a component-based development approach (CBD), performing a selection of architectural configurations based on the proposed selection process involving multiple criteria. This work also presents a case study where an application was developed in the context of Digital TV to evaluate the time spent on the module to return a valid configuration to be used in a middleware with autoadaptative features, the middleware AdaptTV

Paralelização em GPU da segmentação vascular com extração de Centerlines por Height Ridges

The vascular segmentation is important in diagnosing vascular diseases like stroke and is hampered by noise in the image and very thin vessels that can pass unnoticed. One way to accomplish the segmentation is extracting the centerline of the vessel with height ridges, which uses the intensity as features for segmentation. This process can take from seconds to minutes, depending on the current technology employed. In order to accelerate the segmentation method proposed by Aylward [Aylward & Bullitt 2002] we have adapted it to run in parallel using CUDA architecture. The performance of the segmentation method running on GPU is compared to both the same method running on CPU and the original Aylward s method running also in CPU. The improvemente of the new method over the original one is twofold: the starting point for the segmentation process is not a single point in the blood vessel but a volume, thereby making it easier for the user to segment a region of interest, and; the overall gain method was 873 times faster running on GPU and 150 times more fast running on the CPU than the original CPU in Aylward

Novos métodos determinísticos para gerar centros iniciais dos grupos no algoritmo fuzzy C-Means e variantes

Data clustering is applied to various fields such as data mining, image processing and pattern recognition technique. Clustering algorithms splits a data set into clusters such that elements within the same cluster have a high degree of similarity, while elements belonging to different clusters have a high degree of dissimilarity. The Fuzzy C-Means Algorithm (FCM) is a fuzzy clustering algorithm most used and discussed in the literature. The performance of the FCM is strongly affected by the selection of the initial centers of the clusters. Therefore, the choice of a good set of initial cluster centers is very important for the performance of the algorithm. However, in FCM, the choice of initial centers is made randomly, making it difficult to find a good set. This paper proposes three new methods to obtain initial cluster centers, deterministically, the FCM algorithm, and can also be used in variants of the FCM. In this work these initialization methods were applied in variant ckMeans.With the proposed methods, we intend to obtain a set of initial centers which are close to the real cluster centers. With these new approaches startup if you want to reduce the number of iterations to converge these algorithms and processing time without affecting the quality of the cluster or even improve the quality in some cases. Accordingly, cluster validation indices were used to measure the quality of the clusters obtained by the modified FCM and ckMeans algorithms with the proposed initialization methods when applied to various data sets

A representação social de educação tecnológica de docentes da Rede Federal de Educação Profissional e Tecnológica: CEFETs do Rio Grande do Norte

The aim of this study was to investigate the social representation of technological education teachers at the Federal Technological Education Network. The survey was conducted from 2007 to 2010, and the respondents were 275 teachers, 135 of the Federal Center for Technological Education (CEFET in portuguese) in the state of Amazonas, in Manaus unit headquarters; 140 of the CEFET in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, a unit based in Natal. We adopt the concept of technological education as the top level of professional education, that is to say, the undergraduate programs of short duration called technological courses. The Federal Technological Education Network gathers hundreds of related institutions, coordinated and supervised by the Office of Vocational and Technological Education of the Ministry of Education. Although many of these institutions offer courses in technology education, no research addressing this subject from the perspective of Social Representations Theory (SRT) was found in the literature. We seek to unravel the social representation of technological education of the teachers by adopting the procedural approach of SRT. This is a qualitative approach, focusing on significant aspects of the representative activity and the formation mechanisms of the representation. Therefore, we search the socio-genesis of the representation in the articulations between discourses, social institutions and practices. We initiated the research through applying critical reading and an analytical perspective on the historical and regulatory documents of technological education in Brazil, from the early twentieth century to the present day. We adopt the Procedure for Multiple Classifications (PMC) from the Free Words Association Technique (FWAT) to access the elements of representational content. For the analysis of the data obtained with FWAT and selection of major words / phrases pertinent to the semantic field of education technology, we used Hamlet II software. For the data analysis of PMC and Free Classification (FC) we used the SPSS ® (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 17.0 and used the method of multidimensional scaling - Multidimensional scaling - (MDS). The output from the central MDS takes the form of a set of scatterplots - "perceptual maps" - of which the points are the elements of the representational content. For the FC data analysis we used the Scalogram Multidimensional Analysis (SMA) - which makes use of the original data in its raw form and allows categorical data to be interpreted in the map as measures of (di)similarity. In order to help with the understanding of the settings of the perceptual maps of FC, we used the Content Analysis of the discourse fragments of the teachers interviewed. The results confirm our initial hypothesis regarding the presence of a single plot among the socio-cognitive study subjects, which is the basis for a social representation of technological education in line with the historic assumption of the dichotomy between mental and manual labor. In spite of the three merging representational elements of the representational content, the perceptual maps compiled from the MSA statistics corroborates the dichotomy, with the exception of the map relating to the subgroup of teachers belonging to the humanities

Reavaliação de critérios estruturais na hidrogeologia de terrenos cristalinos, com ênfase na neotectônica e sensoriamento remoto

Hydrogeological prospecting in Northeast Brazil and in other crystalline terrains has been developed on the basis of structural and regional geology concepts that date back to the 50-60 decades and, as such, demand a natural re-evaluation and update. In this kind of terrain, the percolation and accumulation of ground water are controlled by fractures and other types of discontinuities, such as foliations and geological contacts that, through weathering, impart porosity and permeability to the rocks, allowing water flow and storage. Several factors should be considered in the process of locating water wells, as discussed in the literature. Among these, the kind of structures, fracture geometry (including aperture and connectivity) and their geological and chronological context. It is important to correlate fracture systems with the regional neotectonic framework. Fractures at low angle (sub parallel) with the principal stress axis (s1) are those which tend to open (actually they work as tension joints) and, in principle, would present major hydric potential; in the opposite side, fractures at high angle to s1 would behave as closed by a compressional component. Fractures diagonal to the compression and tension axes correspond to shear fractures and, due to their connectivity with second fractures, are also important in terms of hydric potential. Uplift followed by terrain denudation leads to decompression and a general tendency to open (aided by weathering processes) fractures and other rock discontinuities, at different orientations. Low angle fractures, formed in this context, are equally important to increase connectivity, collection of water and recharge of the aquifer systems. In a general way, an opening component (neotectonic or by terrain decompression) and several models to increase fracture connectivity correlate with a greater hydric potential of these structures. Together with parallel research, this thesis addresses models of ground water occurrence in crystalline terrains, either improving well established concepts like the (Riacho-Fenda model), but also stressing other possibilities, like the role of alluvium and paleo-regoliths (the Calha Elúvio-Aluvionar model) and of strongly altered, permo-porous zones placed at variable depths below the present surface, flanking several types of discontinuities, especially interconnected fracture arrays (the Bolsões de Intemperismo model). Different methodological approaches are also discussed in order to improve success rates in the location of water wells in crystalline terrains. In this methodological review, a number of case studies were selected in the eastern domain of the State of Rio Grande do Norte, involving the localities of Santa Cruz, Santo Antônio, Serrinha, Nova Cruz, Montanhas, Lagoa de Pedras and Lagoa Salgada. Besides the neotectonic analysis of brittle structures, this Thesis addresses the validation of remote sensing as a tool for ground water prospecting. Several techniques were tested in order to detect and select areas with higher potential for ground water accumulation, using Landsat 5-TM and RADARSAT images, besides conventional aerial photos. A number of filters were tested to emphasize lineaments in the images, improving their discrimination, to identify areas with higher overburden humidity, which could reflect subsurface water accumulation, as well as alluvium and other sedimentary covers that might act as recharge zones. The work started with a regional analysis with the orbital images, followed by analysis of aerial photos, up to a detailed structural study of rock exposures in the terrain. This last step involved the analysis of outcrops surrounding wells (in a ray of approximately 10 to 100 m) with distinct productivities, including dry examples. At the level required for detail, it was not possible to accomplish a statistical approach using the available well data catalogs, which lack the desired specific information. The methodology worked out in this Thesis must undergo a testing phase through location of new water wells. An increase in the success rates as desired will led to a further consolidation step with wider divulgation of the methodology to private companies and governmental agencies involved in ground water prospecting in crystalline terrains

Atividade cromosférica induzida por planetas extrasolares gigantes

In the present work, we have analyzed the behavior of the chromospheric activity of stars with planets, as a function of different planetary parameters, searching for possible effects of planets on the chromosphere of the hosting star. For this study we have selected a sample of 73 main sequence stars with planets, of spectral types F, G and K. Our analysis shows that among stars with planets presenting semi-major axis smaller than 0.15 AU, a few ones present enhanced CaII emission flux, paralleling recent results found in the literature for coronal X-ray flux. Nevertheless, in contrast to Kashyap et al. (2008), who claim that enhanced X-ray flux in stars with planets is associated to massive close-in planetary companions, we suggest that such an aspect, at least in the context of CaII emission flux, is rather an effect of stellar sample selection. We have also studied the behavior of the CaII emission as a function of orbital parameters such as orbital period and eccentricity, and no clear trend was found, reinforcing our present suggestion that enhanced chromospheric activity in stars with planets is an intrinsic stellar phenomenon

Mecanismos de alojamento de magmas granitóides :exemplo do plúton de Japi(RN)

This dissertation describes the igneous suites of the Japi granitoid pluton, intrusive in the Paleoproterozoic gneiss-migmatite complex of the eastern domain of the Seridó Belt, northeastern Brazil. Field relations show that the pluton is affected by strong deformation associated to the Brasiliano orogeny (known as the D3 phase) , with a NW-trending extensionalleft-hand senestral shear zone (the Japi Shear Zone, JSZ) bordering the intrusive body to the west. Four plutonic suites are found in the main pluton and as satellyte intrusions, besides Iate pegmatite and pink leucogranites. An alkaline granitoid suite, dominated by syenogranites bearing sodic augite (and subordinate hornblende), define a main elliptical intrusion. In its northern part, this intrusion is made up by concentric sheets, contrasting with a smaller rounded stock to the south. These granites display a pervasive solid-state S>L fabric developed under high T conditions, characterized by plastic deformation of quartz and feldspar. It is especially, developed along the border of the pluton, with inward dips. A regular magmatic layering is present sometimes, parallel to the tectonic foliation. The syntectonic emplacement as regards to the Brasiliano (D3) event is indicated by the common occurrence of dykes and sheets along transtensional or extensional sites of the major structure. Field relations attest to the early emplacement of the alkaline granites as regards to the other suites. A basic-to-intermediate suite occurs as a western satellyte body and occupying the southern tail of the main alkaline pluton. It comprises a wide variety of compositional terms, including primitive gabbros and gabbro-norites, differentiated to monzonitic intermediate facies containing amphibole and biotite as their main mafic phases. These rocks display transitional high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic affinities. Porphyritic monzogranite suítes commonly occur as dykes and minor intrusives, isolated or associated with the basic-tointermediate rocks. In the latter case, magma mingling and mixing features attest that these are contemporaneous igneous suites. These granites show K-feldspar phenocrysts and a hornblende+biotite+titanite assemblage, displaying subalkaline/monzonitic geochemical affinities. Both suites exhibit SL magmatic fabrics overprinting or transitional to solid-state D3 deformation related to the JSI. Chemical data clearly show that they are related to different parental magmas. Finally, a microgranite suite occurs along a few topographic ridges paralell to the JSI. It comprises dominantly granodiorites with a mineralogy similar to the one of the porphyritic granitoids. However, discriminant diagrams show their distinct calc-alkaline affinity. The granodiorites display an essencially magmatic fabric, even though an incipient D3 solid-state structure may be developed along the JSI. Intrusion relationships with the previous suites, as well as regards to the D3 structures, point to their Iate emplacement. All these suites are intrusive in a Paleoproterozoic, high-grade gneiss-migmatite complex affected by two previous deformation phases (D1, D2). The fabrics associated with these earlier events are folded and overprinted by the younger D3 structures along the JSZ. The younger deformation is characterized by NE-dipping foliations and N/NE-plunging stretching lineations. In the JSZ northern termination the foliation acquires an ENE orientation, containing a stretching lineation plunging to the south. Symmetric kinematic cri teria developed at this site confirms the transpressional termination of the JSZ, as also shown by orthorrombic quartz c-axis patterns. E-W-trending d extra I shear zones developed in the central part of the JSZ are interpreted as antithetic structures associated to the transtensional deformation along the JSZ. This is consistent with its extensional-transcurrent kinematics and a flat-and-ramp geometry at depth, as shown by gravimetric data. The lateral displacement of the negative residual Bouguer anomalies, as regards to the main outcropping alkaline pluton, may be modelized by other deeper-seated granite bodies. Based on numerical modelling it was possible to infer two distinct intrusion styles for the alkaline pluton. The calculated model values are consistent with an emplacement by sheeting for the northern body, as already suggested by satellyte imagery and field mapping. On the other hand, the results point to a transition towards a diapir-related style associated to the smaller. southern stock. This difference in intrusion styles may relate to intensity variations and transtensional sites of the shear deformation along the JSZ. Trace element and Sr and Nd isotopes of the alkaline granites are compatible with their derivation trom a more basic crustal source, as compared to the presently outcropping highgrade gneisses, with participation (or alternatively dominated by) of an enriched lithospheric mantle component. Like other igneous suites in the Seridó Belt, the high LlL contents and fractionated REE patterns of the basic rocks also point to an enriched mantle as the source for this kind of magmatism. Geochemical and isotope data are compatible with a lower crustal origin for the porphyritic granites. On the basis of the strong control of the JSZ on the emplacement of lower crustal (porphyritic and alkaline granites) or lithospheric mantle (basic rocks, alkaline granites or a component of them) magmas, one may infer a deep root for this structure, bearing an important role in magma extraction, transport and emplacement in the Japi region, eastern domain of the Seridó Belt

Inferência geográfica para delimitação de corredores ecológicos: um estudo de caso para a Mata Atlântica do município de Tibau do Sul/RN

The Atlantic Forest biome occupies much of the Atlantic coast of Brazil, in addition to portions of Paraguay and Argentina. Due mainly to its biodiversity which falls in the group of global hotspots, i.e., areas that have high priority for conservation. Although currently there are some available devices that assist in their protection in the course of the history of occupation and exploitation of the Brazilian territory, this biome has gone, and is still going through, an intense process of devastation, caused mainly by the pressure from economic activities, culminating in a significant reduction of its area and consequent fragmentation of the landscape, which brings with hosts a series of problems at various scales and aspects. As in most municipalities included in the reach area of the biome, the situation of forest fragmentation in Tibau do Sul / RN is quite critical, reflecting on a truly diverse landscape with broad typology of land uses. Among the alternatives aimed at the conservation of this biome include the creation of protected areas and the creation of ecological corridors, the latter being more efficient by connecting the remaining forests, increasing landscape connectivity, providing significant gains in relation to biodiversity. However, a major problem on implementation of Ecological Corridors projects is related to the selection of areas for this purpose, in this sense Geography can provide important contributions through the integrated study of landscape in the light of the geosystemic approach and the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to permit assessment of reality having as a base the integration of ecological, biological and man-made aspects. Thus, this research aims to indicate potential areas and propose scenarios delimitation of Ecological Corridors in the municipality of Tibau do Sul / RN through Geographic Inference techniques in GIS platform. Therefore, the methodology adopted is based on the Geosystemic approach. From these elements were created 4 models to indicate potential areas for implementation of Ecological Corridors from the environmental perspective (potential erosion), socioeconomic (cover and land prices), legislative (areas protected by environmental legislation) and integrated (combination of environmental factors, socioeconomic and legislative), which in turn served as a basis for proposing scenarios aimed at this purpose. The results showed that all models can be quite useful in indicating potential areas for the establishment of ecological corridors, especially when based on an integrated approach between environmental and anthropogenic. The Corridors delimitation proposes shown may perform duties beyond the establishment of connectivity between fragments, since they also may have usefulness in controlling erosion and protecting fragile environments. Among the models developed, the integrated constituted itself as the best option because it enabled the interconnection of a larger number of fragments from a better use of the potentialities present in the landscape