Factors affecting nucleolytic efficiency of some ternary metal complexes with DNA binding and recognition domains. Crystal and molecular structure of Zn(phen)(edda)

The binding selectivity of the M(phen)(edda) (M = Cu, Co, Ni, Zn; phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, edda = ethylenediaminediacetic acid) complexes towards ds(CG)(6), ds(AT)(6) and ds(CGCGAATTCGCG) B-form oligonucleotide duplexes were studied by CD spectroscopy and molecular modeling. The binding mode is intercalation and there is selectivity towards AT-sequence and stacking preference for A/A parallel or diagonal adjacent base steps in their intercalation. The nucleolytic properties of these complexes were investigated and the factors affecting the extent of cleavage were determined to be: concentration of complex, the nature of metal(11) ion, type of buffer, pH of buffer, incubation time, incubation temperature, and the presence of hydrogen peroxide or ascorbic acid as exogenous reagents. The fluorescence property of these complexes and its origin were also investigated. The crystal structure of the Zn(phen)(edda) complex is reported in which the zinc atom displays a distorted trans-N4O2 octahedral geometry; the crystal packing features double layers of complex molecules held together by extensive hydrogen bonding that inter-digitate with adjacent double layers via pi...pi interactions between 1,10-phenanthroline residues. The structure is compared with that of the recently described copper(II) analogue and, with the latter, included in molecular modeling. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Representation and analysis of soccer players' actions using principal components

This paper proposes the use of the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) method to represent and to analyse soccer players' actions distribution in the pitch. The seven games of the Brazilian National Team during the 2002 World Cup were analysed. The player's position actions were measured from videotapes in a computer interface. The results were: a) the graphical representation, given by two orthogonal segments in the two directions of maximal variability and centred at the mean of each player's actions position; b) the eccentricity measurement, given by the variability ratio and c) the actions zone area, given by variability product. The results showed that the individual characteristics of acting were well represented by the PCA, allowing comparisons among games and providing insights related to the tactical organisation of the team.

Knowledge Representation and Orthophemism: A Reflection Aiming to a Concept

Characteristics of speech, especially figures of speech, are used by specific communities or domains, and, in this way, reflect their identities through their choice of vocabulary. This topic should be an object of study in the context of knowledge representation once it deals with different contexts of production of documents. This study aims to explore the dimensions of the concepts of euphemism, dysphemism, and orthophemism, focusing on the latter with the goal of extracting a concept which can be included in discussions about subject analysis and indexing. Euphemism is used as an alternative to a non-preferred expression or as an alternative to an offensive attribution-to avoid potential offense taken by the listener or by other persons, for instance, pass away. Dysphemism, on the other hand, is used by speakers to talk about people and things that frustrate and annoy them-their choice of language indicates disapproval and the topic is therefore denigrated, humiliated, or degraded, for instance, kick the bucket. While euphemism tries to make something sound better, dysphemism tries to make something sound worse. Orthophemism (Allan and Burridge 2006) is also used as an alternative to expressions, but it is a preferred, formal, and direct language of expression when representing an object or a situation, for instance, die. This paper suggests that the comprehension and use of such concepts could support the following issues: possible contributions from linguistics and terminology to subject analysis as demonstrated by Talamo et al. (1992); decrease of polysemy and ambiguity of terms used to represent certain topics of documents; and construction and evaluation of indexing languages. The concept of orthophemism can also serves to support associative relationships in the context of subject analysis, indexing, and even information retrieval related to more specific requests.

Squeezed states phase space representation and semiclassical approximations in many-body systems

We derive an alternative semiclassical approach (to the Wigner-Kirkwood method) for many-body systems using a mapping scheme based on the squeezed states phase space representation. The new expansion is applied to the usual harmonic oscillator case and the differences with the Wigner-Kirkwood results are discussed. © 1990.

Tests of one Brazilian facial reconstruction method using three soft tissue depth sets and familiar assessors

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Husserl on Geometry and Spatial Representation

Husserl left many unpublished drafts explaining (or trying to) his views on spatial representation and geometry, such as, particularly, those collected in the second part of Studien zur Arithmetik und Geometrie (Hua XXI), but no completely articulate work on the subject. In this paper, I put forward an interpretation of what those views might have been. Husserl, I claim, distinguished among different conceptions of space, the space of perception (constituted from sensorial data by intentionally motivated psychic functions), that of physical geometry (or idealized perceptual space), the space of the mathematical science of physical nature (in which science, not only raw perception has a word) and the abstract spaces of mathematics (free creations of the mathematical mind), each of them with its peculiar geometrical structure. Perceptual space is proto-Euclidean and the space of physical geometry Euclidean, but mathematical physics, Husserl allowed, may find it convenient to represent physical space with a non-Euclidean structure. Mathematical spaces, on their turn, can be endowed, he thinks, with any geometry mathematicians may find interesting. Many other related questions are addressed here, in particular those concerning the a priori or a posteriori character of the many geometric features of perceptual space (bearing in mind that there are at least two different notions of a priori in Husserl, which we may call the conceptual and the transcendental a priori). I conclude with an overview of Weyl's ideas on the matter, since his philosophical conceptions are often traceable back to his former master, Husserl.

Extended Hierarchical Censored Production Rules (EHCPRs) system: An approach toward generalized knowledge representation

One common problem in all basic techniques of knowledge representation is the handling of the trade-off between precision of inferences and resource constraints, such as time and memory. Michalski and Winston (1986) suggested the Censored Production Rule (CPR) as an underlying representation and computational mechanism to enable logic based systems to exhibit variable precision in which certainty varies while specificity stays constant. As an extension of CPR, the Hierarchical Censored Production Rules (HCPRs) system of knowledge representation, proposed by Bharadwaj & Jain (1992), exhibits both variable certainty as well as variable specificity and offers mechanisms for handling the trade-off between the two. An HCPR has the form: Decision If(preconditions) Unless(censor) Generality(general_information) Specificity(specific_information). As an attempt towards evolving a generalized knowledge representation, an Extended Hierarchical Censored Production Rules (EHCPRs) system is suggested in this paper. With the inclusion of new operators, an Extended Hierarchical Censored Production Rule (EHCPR) takes the general form: Concept If (Preconditions) Unless (Exceptions) Generality (General-Concept) Specificity (Specific Concepts) Has_part (default: structural-parts) Has_property (default:characteristic-properties) Has_instance (instances). How semantic networks and frames are represented in terms of an EHCPRs is shown. Multiple inheritance, inheritance with and without cancellation, recognition with partial match, and a few default logic problems are shown to be tackled efficiently in the proposed system.

Automatic segmentation and classification of human intestinal parasites from microscopy images

Human intestinal parasites constitute a problem in most tropical countries, causing death or physical and mental disorders. Their diagnosis usually relies on the visual analysis of microscopy images, with error rates that may range from moderate to high. The problem has been addressed via computational image analysis, but only for a few species and images free of fecal impurities. In routine, fecal impurities are a real challenge for automatic image analysis. We have circumvented this problem by a method that can segment and classify, from bright field microscopy images with fecal impurities, the 15 most common species of protozoan cysts, helminth eggs, and larvae in Brazil. Our approach exploits ellipse matching and image foresting transform for image segmentation, multiple object descriptors and their optimum combination by genetic programming for object representation, and the optimum-path forest classifier for object recognition. The results indicate that our method is a promising approach toward the fully automation of the enteroparasitosis diagnosis. © 2012 IEEE.

Frontal sinus recognition for human identification

Many methods based on biometrics such as fingerprint, face, iris, and retina have been proposed for person identification. However, for deceased individuals, such biometric measurements are not available. In such cases, parts of the human skeleton can be used for identification, such as dental records, thorax, vertebrae, shoulder, and frontal sinus. It has been established in prior investigations that the radiographic pattern of frontal sinus is highly variable and unique for every individual. This has stimulated the proposition of measurements of the frontal sinus pattern, obtained from x-ray films, for skeletal identification. This paper presents a frontal sinus recognition method for human identification based on Image Foresting Transform and shape context. Experimental results (ERR = 5,82%) have shown the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Effects of physical and chemical immobilization on hematologic and biochemical variables in captive brown brocket deer (Mazama gouazoubira)

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

Evaluation of the Cartographic Communication Performance of a Route Guidance and Navigation System

This study evaluates the influence of different cartographic representations of in-car navigation systems on visual demand, subjective preference, and navigational error. It takes into account the type and complexity of the representation, maneuvering complexity, road layout, and driver gender. A group of 28 drivers (14 male and 14 female) participated in this experiment which was performed in a low-cost driving simulator. The tests were performed on a limited number of instances for each type of representation, and their purpose was to carry out a preliminary assessment and provide future avenues for further studies. Data collected for the visual demand study were analyzed using non-parametric statistical analyses. Results confirmed previous research that showed that different levels of design complexity significantly influence visual demand. Non-grid-like road networks, for example, influence significantly visual demand and navigational error. An analysis of simple maneuvers on a grid-like road network showed that static and blinking arrows did not present significant differences. From the set of representations analyzed to assess visual demand, both arrows were equally efficient. From a gender perspective, women seem to took at the display more than men, but this factor was not significant. With respect to subjective preferences, drivers prefer representations with mimetic landmarks when they perform straight-ahead tasks. For maneuvering tasks, landmarks in a perspective model created higher visual demands.

Proposal of an alternative transmission line model for symmetrical and asymmetrical configurations

This article shows a transmission line model for simulation of fast and slow transients, applied to symmetrical or asymmetrical configurations. A transmission line model is developed based on lumped elements representation and state-space techniques. The proposed methodology represents a practical procedure to model three-phase transmission lines directly in time domain, without the explicit or implicit use of inverse transforms. In three-phase representation, analysis modal techniques are applied to decouple the phases in their respective propagation modes, using a correction procedure to set a real and constant matrix for untransposed lines with or without vertical symmetry plane. The proposed methodology takes into account the frequency-dependent parameters of the line and in order to include this effect in the state matrices, a fitting procedure is applied. To verify the accuracy of the proposed state-space model in frequency domain, a simple methodology is described based on line distributed parameters and transfer function associated with input/output signals of the lumped parameters representation. In addition, this article proposes the use of a fast and robust integration procedure to solve the state equations, enabling transient and steady-state simulations. The results obtained by the proposed methodology are compared with several established transmission line models in EMTP, taking into account an asymmetrical three-phase transmission line. The principal contribution of the proposed methodology is to handle a steady fundamental signal mixed with fast and slow transients, including impulsive and oscillatory behavior, by a practical procedure applied directly in time domain for symmetrical or asymmetrical representations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bovine pericardium retail preserved in glutaraldehyde and used as a vascular patch

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