Desenvolvimento e validação de uma técnica quantitativa de análise de imagem para avaliação do teste do cometa corado pela prata

The comet assay is a method of DNA damage analysis widely used to quantify oxidative damage, crosslinks of DNA, apoptosis and genotoxicity of chemicals substances as chemical, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals products, among others. This technique is suitable to detect DNA strand breaks, alkali-labile sites and incomplete excision repair sites and is based on the migration of DNA fragments by microeletroforesis, DNA migrates for the anode forming a “tail”, and the formed image has the appearance of a comet. The slides can be stained with fluorescence or silver, having differences in the microscopy type used for the analysis and the possibility of storage of the slides, moreover, the first one is a stained-method with more difficulties of accomplishment. The image analysis can be performed by a visual way, however, there is a disadvantage as the subjectivity on the results, that can be minimized by an automated method of digital analysis. This process was studied in this report with the aim to perceive the validation of the digital analysis turning it a quantitative method with larger reproductibility, minimizing the variability and imprecision due to the subjective analysis. For this validation we selected 50 comets photographed in a standardized way and printed, afterwards, pictures were submitted to three experienced appraisers, who quantified them manually. Later, the images were processed by free software ImageJ 1.38x, printed and quantified manually by the same appraisers. The intraclass correlation was higher to comet measures after image processing. Following, an algorithm of automated digital analysis from the measures of the comet was developed; the values obtained were compared with those 12 estimated manually after the processing resulting high correlation among the measures. The use of image analysis systems increases ...(Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Reconhecimento de contorno de edifício em imagens de alta resolução usando os momentos complexos de Zernike

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Análise do processo de fresamento de MDF em centro de usinagem CNC

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Fractal descriptors for discrimination of microscopy images of plant leaves

This study proposes the application of fractal descriptors method to the discrimination of microscopy images of plant leaves. Fractal descriptors have demonstrated to be a powerful discriminative method in image analysis, mainly for the discrimination of natural objects. In fact, these descriptors express the spatial arrangement of pixels inside the texture under different scales and such arrangements are directly related to physical properties inherent to the material depicted in the image. Here, we employ the Bouligand-Minkowski descriptors. These are obtained by the dilation of a surface mapping the gray-level texture. The classification of the microscopy images is performed by the well-known Support Vector Machine (SVM) method and we compare the success rate with other literature texture analysis methods. The proposed method achieved a correctness rate of 89%, while the second best solution, the Co-occurrence descriptors, yielded only 78%. This clear advantage of fractal descriptors demonstrates the potential of such approach in the analysis of the plant microscopy images.

Cinética de crescimento do fungo termófilo Myceliophthora thermophila M. 7.7 em cultivo no estado sólido

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Imagem organizacional e contação de histórias: um estudo sobre o uso do storytelling como recurso estratégico de comunicação

With the actual context of globalization and with advance of information and communication technologies, especially on the internet, the ways in which individuals relate and communicate have changed. Then, it comes a new dynamic of creation, production and distribution of messages, accompanied to a reality of information overloaded as a result of the diversity of emission sources which makes it difficult to attract the attention of individuals. Thus, the communication process in organizations has to go through a reconfiguration in order to adapt to these changes, seeking a strong position and new strategies to reach your audience. In this sense, many organizations are using storytelling to transmit their messages. Then, the objective is to understand how this narrative format can be a strategic resource of communication and also understand how the stories of common people help to produce identification, relationship and to strengthen the organizational image. Therefore, it analyzes, through the content analysis method and categorization technique, three videos that are constituted as storytelling, especially those based on people experience. It is expected that this research may contribute to the theoretical and methodological study of the adoption of new communication strategies, such as this narrative format

Correlative light-electron fractography of interlaminar fracture in a carbon-epoxy composite

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

O que os homens têm a dizer sobre as mulheres? Os novos posicionamentos de jovens do gênero masculino frente às transformações femininas nas relações afetivas: uma leitura sob a ótica da Psicologia Analítica

Pós-graduação em Educação Sexual - FCLAR

Swarm-based descriptor combination and its application for image classification

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Using landscape metrics to analyze micro-scale soil erosion processes

Methods of recording soil erosion using photographs exist but they are not commonly considered in scientific studies. Digital images may hold an expressive amount of information that can be extracted quickly in different manners. The investigation of several metrics that were initially developed for landscape ecology analysis constitutes one method. In this study we applied a method of landscape metrics to quantify the spatial configuration of surface micro-topography and erosion-related features, in order to generate a possible complementary tool for environmental management. In a 3.7 m wide and 9.7 m long soil box used during a rainfall simulation study, digital images were systematically acquired in four instances: (a) when the soil was dry; (b) after a short duration rain for initial wetting; (c) after the first erosive rain; and (d) after the 2nd erosive rain. Thirteen locations were established in the box and digital photos were taken at these locations with the camera positioned at the same orthogonal distance from the soil surface under the same ambient light intensity. Digital photos were converted into bimodal images and seven landscape metrics were analyzed: percentage of land, number of patches, density of patches, largest patch index, edge density, shape index, and fractal dimension. Digital images were an appropriate tool because they can generate data very quickly. The landscape metrics were sensitive to changes in soil surface micro-morphology especially after the 1st erosive rain event, indicating significant erosional feature development between the initial wetting and first erosive rainfall. The method is considered suitable for spatial patterns of soil micro-topography evolution from rainfall events that bear similarity to landscape scale pattern evolution from eco-hydrological processes. Although much more study is needed for calibrating the landscape metrics at the micro-scale, this study is a step forward in demonstrating the advantages of the method.