Development of an open case-based decision-support system for diagnosis in oral pathology

Making diagnoses in oral pathology are often difficult and confusing in dental practice, especially for the lessexperienced dental student. One of the most promising areas in bioinformatics is computer-aided diagnosis, where a computer system is capable of imitating human reasoning ability and provides diagnoses with an accuracy approaching that of expert professionals. This type of system could be an alternative tool for assisting dental students to overcome the difficulties of the oral pathology learning process. This could allow students to define variables and information, important to improving the decision-making performance. However, no current open data management system has been integrated with an artificial intelligence system in a user-friendly environment. Such a system could also be used as an education tool to help students perform diagnoses. The aim of the present study was to develop and test an open case-based decisionsupport system.Methods: An open decision-support system based on Bayes' theorem connected to a relational database was developed using the C++ programming language. The software was tested in the computerisation of a surgical pathology service and in simulating the diagnosis of 43 known cases of oral bone disease. The simulation was performed after the system was initially filled with data from 401 cases of oral bone disease.Results: the system allowed the authors to construct and to manage a pathology database, and to simulate diagnoses using the variables from the database.Conclusion: Combining a relational database and an open decision-support system in the same user-friendly environment proved effective in simulating diagnoses based on information from an updated database.

Hybrid visual-driven decision support system in video monitor manufacturing

An intelligent system that emulates human decision behaviour based on visual data acquisition is proposed. The approach is useful in applications where images are used to supply information to specialists who will choose suitable actions. An artificial neural classifier aids a fuzzy decision support system to deal with uncertainty and imprecision present in available information. Advantages of both techniques are exploited complementarily. As an example, this method was applied in automatic focus checking and adjustment in video monitor manufacturing. Copyright © 2005 IFAC.

A clinical decision support system for cancer diseases

The second main cause of death in Brazil is cancer, and according to statistics disclosed by National Cancer Institute from Brazil (INCA) 466,730 new cases of cancer are forecast for 2008. The analysis of tumour tissues of various types and patients' clinical data, genetic profiles, characteristics of diseases and epidemiological data may lead to more precise diagnoses, providing more effective treatments. In this work we present a clinical decision support system for cancer diseases, which manages a relational database containing information relating to the tumour tissue and their location in freezers, patients and medical forms. Furthermore, it is also discussed some problems encountered, as database integration and the adoption of a standard to describe topography and morphology. It is also discussed the dynamic report generation functionality, that shows data in table and graph format, according to the user's configuration. © ACM 2008.

A support system that delineates location-choice sets for firms seeking office space

Factors influencing the location decisions of offices include traffic, accessibility, employment conditions, economic prospects and land-use policies. Hence tools for supporting real-estate managers and urban planners in such multidimensional decisions may be useful. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to develop a GIS-based tool to support firms who seek office accommodation within a given regional or national study area. The tool relies on a matching approach, in which a firm's characteristics (demand) on the one hand, and environmental conditions and available office spaces (supply) on the other, are analyzed separately in a first step, after which a match is sought. That is, a suitability score is obtained for every firm and for every available office space by applying some value judgments (satisfaction, utility etc.). The latter are powered by a focus on location aspects and expert knowledge about the location decisions of firms/organizations with respect to office accommodation as acquired from a group of real-estate advisers; it is stored in decision tables, and they constitute the core of the model. Apart from the delineation of choice sets for any firm seeking a location, the tool supports two additional types of queries. Firstly, it supports the more generic problem of optimally allocating firms to a set of vacant locations. Secondly, the tool allows users to find firms which meet the characteristics of any given location. Moreover, as a GIS-based tool, its results can be visualized using GIS features which, in turn, facilitate several types of analyses.

Application of passive control to energy harvester efficiency using a nonideal portal frame structural support system

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

The application of preprocessing and cutting plane techniques for a class of production planning problems

This paper investigates properties of integer programming models for a class of production planning problems. The models are developed within a decision support system to advise a sales team of the products on which to focus their efforts in gaining new orders in the short term. The products generally require processing on several manufacturing cells and involve precedence relationships. The cells are already (partially) committed with products for stock and to satisfy existing orders and therefore only the residual capacities of each cell in each time period of the planning horizon are considered. The determination of production recommendations to the sales team that make use of residual capacities is a nontrivial optimization problem. Solving such models is computationally demanding and techniques for speeding up solution times are highly desirable. An integer programming model is developed and various preprocessing techniques are investigated and evaluated. In addition, a number of cutting plane approaches have been applied. The performance of these approaches which are both general and application specific is examined.

A cost optimization-based design of precast concrete floors using genetic algorithms

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Um sistema de apoio a decisão utilizado no planejamento e controle de produção de uma empresa aeronaútica: Reinaldo de Almeida. -

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Sistema fuzzy de suporte a decisão para aplicação de programa de eficiência energética em serrarias

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Simulação da produtividade de cana-de-açúcar nas regiões nordeste e sudeste do Brasil, utilizando o modelo DSSAT

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Simulações de onda de cheia na sub-bacia do Ribeirão Claro - SP

Watersheds are considered important study units when it comes to environmental planning, with regard to the optimal use of water resources. Water scarcity is predicted and feared by many societies, and proves to be an increasingly tangible problem nowadays. Still from the perspective of extreme events, this dissertation considers the study of flood waves in the sub-basin of the stream Claro, which belongs to the Corumbataí watershed. - SP, since thay can also have devastating effects for the population, A Decision Support System for Flood Routing Analysis in Complex Basins, ABC 6 software was applied in order to obtain hydrographs and peak flows in the sub-basin of the stream Claro, for return periods of 10 and 100 years, aiming to comprise events of different magnitudes. The model Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and the triangular SCS hydrograph were adopted for the simulations. Simultaneously, the Kokei Uehara method was applied for the obtainment of peak flow values under the same conditions, seeking to compare results. Data collection was performed using geoprocessing tools. For data entry in ABC 6, the fragmentation of sub-basin of the stream Claro was necessary, which generated 7 small watersheds, in order to fulfill a software demand, as the maximum drainage area it accepts is 50km² for each watershed analyzed. For RT = 10 and 100 years, respectively, the results of peak flow with use of ABC 6 were 46.10 and 95.45 m³/s, while for Kokei Uehara method, the results were 47.17 and 65.26 m³/s. The adoption of a single value of discretization time for all watersheds was indicated as limitation of ABC 6, which interfered in the final results. Kokei method Uehara considered the sub-basin of the stream Claro as a whole, which reduced the error accumulation probability

Simulação da produtividade de cana-de-açúcar (Saccharum officinarum L.) na região nordeste do Brasil, utilizando o modelo DSSAT

The objective of this study was to simulate the potential stem and sugar yield of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) in the Northeastern Brazil (Petrolina-PE and Teresina-PI) and analyze 4 varieties in different planting seasons in two environments: irrigated and rainfed cultivars. The model of simulation was DSSAT/CANEGRO (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer) and the four sugar cane varieties were as follows: RB86 7515, CTC 4, CTC 7 and CTC 20 (all in 1.5 year cycle). Analysis of variance was performed on the results and means were compared using the Tukey test with probability level at 5%. March is the recommended month for planting in Teresina, PI. In Petrolina, PE, rainfed planting is not advisable because of the extended water deficit all year long. In an irrigated environment, no difference was found concerning stem yield as a function of planting season, for all varieties in the study regions. The stem and sugar yields were always higher in irrigated environment as compared with those in rainfed environment in all municipalities and study varieties. The simulation model provided good estimate of stem and sugar yields as compared with experimental data in Teresina, PI.

ARISupport - Interaction support for augmented reality systems

The communication between user and software is a basic stage in any Interaction System project. In interactive systems, this communication is established by the means of a graphical interface, whose objective is to supply a visual representation of the main entities and functions present in the Virtual Environment. New ways of interacting in computational systems have been minimizing the gap in the relationship between man and computer, and therefore enhancing its usability. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to present a proposal for a non-conventional user interface library called ARISupport, which supplies ARToolKit applications developers with an opportunity to create simple GUI interfaces, and provides some of the functionality used in Augmented Reality systems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.

Sistema fuzzy para estimativa do bem-estar de matrizes pesadas

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Social support and infant malnutrition: a case-control study in an urban area of Southeastern Brazil

The relationship between malnutrition and social support was first suggested in the mid-1990s. Despite its plausibility, no empirical studies aimed at obtaining evidence of this association could be located. The goal of the present study was to investigate such evidence. A case-control study was carried out including 101 malnourished children (weight-for-age National Center for Health Statistics/WHO 5th percentile) aged 12-23 months, who were compared with 200 well-nourished children with regard to exposure to a series of factors related to their social support system. Univariate and multiple logistic regressions were carried out, odds ratios being adjusted for per capita family income, mother's schooling, and number of children. The presence of an interaction between income and social support variables was also tested. Absence of a partner living with the mother increased risk of malnutrition (odds ratio 2.4 (95 % CI 1.19, 4.89)), even after adjustment for per capita family income, mother's schooling, and number of children. The lack of economic support during adverse situations accounted for a very high risk of malnutrition (odds ratio 10.1 (95 % CI 3.48, 29.13)) among low-income children, but had no effect on children of higher-income families. Results indicate that receiving economic support is an efficient risk modulator for malnutrition among low-income children. In addition, it was shown that the absence of a partner living with the mother is an important risk factor for malnutrition, with an effect independent from per capita family income, mother's schooling, and number of children.