Pose estimation of a humanoid robot using images from a mobile external camera

NOGUEIRA, Marcelo B. ; MEDEIROS, Adelardo A. D. ; ALSINA, Pablo J. Pose Estimation of a Humanoid Robot Using Images from an Mobile Extern Camera. In: IFAC WORKSHOP ON MULTIVEHICLE SYSTEMS, 2006, Salvador, BA. Anais... Salvador: MVS 2006, 2006.

Análise da influência da qualidade em um ciclo de serviços na satisfação do cliente: estudo de caso em uma instituição de ensino.

With the increasing offer of education services in Brazil, it is necessary to evaluate the quality of service in education, especially in those institutions for vocational education which have a greater interaction with the labor market, in order to form qualified professionals and meet the growing demand that the country has today[A1] . In Brazil, the evaluation of the quality of library services has influenced the assessment of educational institutions and in this context, there needs to be a process to monitor the quality of services provided by libraries. However, the service is not done in a single moment and thus to a more detailed assessment it needs to be measured and evaluated each different time the customer uses it. Therefore, the aim of this work consists in measuring the quality in every moment of truth of a cycle of library services to assess which are the most relevant moments in the client's perspective at the library of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN) Campus João Câmara in building the overall quality of service. In the literature review, internal secondary sources were used, from the database of the institution studied, and also external sources, through literature in books, articles, dissertations, theses and journals on compost quality, service quality, cycle services, measuring quality, satisfaction, teaching activities, and on library services specifically. We applied a questionnaire to students in the library based on models of quality measurement SERVPERF and SERVQUAL and its variations such as SERVQUAL pondered and SERVPERF pondered . Through analysis based on concepts of reliability and validity of measuring instruments, it was found that the SERVPERF model is the instrument that most closely matches the dimensions of quality assessed in the library with customer satisfaction measured by the questionnaire. From there, the search results as measured by statistical techniques of analysis, indicated that the initial and final moments of truth of the cycle of service quality had the greatest influence on overall customer satisfaction with the library service

Simulação da transferência de calor em amostras aquecidas por plasma

The processing of materials through plasma has been growing enough in the last times in several technological applications, more specifically in surfaces treatment. That growth is due, mainly, to the great applicability of plasmas as energy source, where it assumes behavior thermal, chemical and/or physical. On the other hand, the multiplicity of simultaneous physical effects (thermal, chemical and physical interactions) present in plasmas increases the complexity for understanding their interaction with solids. In that sense, as an initial step for the development of that subject, the present work treats of the computational simulation of the heating and cooling processes of steel and copper samples immersed in a plasma atmosphere, by considering two experimental geometric configurations: hollow and plane cathode. In order to reach such goal, three computational models were developed in Fortran 90 language: an one-dimensional transient model (1D, t), a two-dimensional transient model (2D, t) and a two-dimensional transient model (2D, t) which take into account the presence of a sample holder in the experimental assembly. The models were developed based on the finite volume method and, for the two-dimensional configurations, the effect of hollow cathode on the sample was considered as a lateral external heat source. The main results obtained with the three computational models, as temperature distribution and thermal gradients in the samples and in the holder, were compared with those developed by the Laboratory of Plasma, LabPlasma/UFRN, and with experiments available in the literature. The behavior showed indicates the validity of the developed codes and illustrate the need of the use of such computational tool in that process type, due to the great easiness of obtaining thermal information of interest

Efeitos de acoplamentos biquadráticos e campos aleatórios em vidros de spins

In this work we have studied the effects of random biquadratic and random fields in spin-glass models using the replica method. The effect of a random biquadratic coupling was studied in two spin-1 spin-glass models: in one case the interactions occur between pairs of spins, whereas in the second one the interactions occur between p spins and the limit p > oo is considered. Both couplings (spin glass and biquadratic) have zero-mean Gaussian probability distributions. In the first model, the replica-symmetric assumption reveals that the system presents two pha¬ses, namely, paramagnetic and spin-glass, separated by a continuous transition line. The stability analysis of the replica-symmetric solution yields, besides the usual instability associated with the spin-glass ordering, a new phase due to the random biquadratic cou¬plings between the spins. For the case p oo, the replica-symmetric assumption yields again only two phases, namely, paramagnetic and quadrupolar. In both these phases the spin-glass parameter is zero. Besides, it is shown that they are stable under the Almeida-Thouless stability analysis. One of them presents negative entropy at low temperatures. We developed one step of replica simmetry breaking and noticed that a new phase, the biquadratic glass phase, emerge. In this way we have obtained the correct phase diagram, with.three first-order transition lines. These lines merges in a common triple point. The effects of random fields were studied in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model consi¬dered in the presence of an external random magnetic field following a trimodal distribu¬tion {P{hi) = p+S(hi - h0) +Po${hi) +pS(hi + h0))- It is shown that the border of the ferromagnetic phase may present, for conveniently chosen values of p0 and hQ, first-order phase transitions, as well as tricritical points at finite temperatures. It is verified that the first-order phase transitions are directly related to the dilution in the fields: the extensions of these transitions are reduced for increasing values of po- In fact, the threshold value pg, above which all phase transitions are continuous, is calculated analytically. The stability analysis of the replica-symmetric solution is performed and the regions of validity of such a solution are identified

Crítica ao fundacionismo cartesiano com base no argumento contra a linguagem privada

This assignment ains to prove the pertinency of using the wittgenstein´s argument against private language as a criticism to cartesian fundacionism. Therefore, I want to demonstrate in the first chaper the conceptual viability of facing the cartesian argument of cogito not as a simple silogism but as an exemple of a private experience (process of thinking). At the second chaper, the subordination of the argument against private language give us the idea that rules can only be followed by means of corrections givem by a linguistic community that is external to the private subject, in a way to be unviable the assumption that is possible to name an internal experience without searching external rules of the use of terms. At the chaper 3 the pertinency of the hypothesis raised by A. Kenny, about the overtaking of the argument against private language can be extended to the idea of epistemic and ontologic privacy that would lend validity to the fundacion present at the argument at the cartesian cogito. In oder to become evident the pertinency of use of Wittgenstein´s argument agaist Descartes´ fundation, it´s necessary, at the chaper 3, to demonstrate the impertinency of the objection to the A. Kenny´s hypothesis, based on the experiency of the thought of the brain at the recipient, to make clear the incompatibility existing between the cartesian idea of cogito and Wittgenstein´s notion that language is an activitie followed by rules, wich correction criterion may be external and intersubjective