Briefing: Factored material properties and limit state loads-unlikely extreme or impossible pretense

In the limit state design (LSD) method each design criterion is formally stated and assessed using a performance function. The performance function defines the relationship between the design parameters and the design criterion. In practice, LSD involves factoring up loads and factoring down calculated strengths and material parameters. This provides a convenient way to carry out routine probabilistic-based design. The factors are statistically calculated to produce a design with an acceptably low probability of failure. Hence the ultimate load and the design material properties are mathematical concepts that have no physical interpretation. They may be physically impossible. Similarly, the appropriate analysis model is also defined by the performance function and may not describe the real behaviour at the perceived physical equivalent limit condition. These points must be understood to avoid confusion in the discussion and application of partial factor LSD methods.

A segmentation-based and partial-volume-compensated method for an accurate measurement of lateral ventricular volumes on T-1-weighted magnetic resonance images

Lateral ventricular volumes based on segmented brain MR images can be significantly underestimated if partial volume effects are not considered. This is because a group of voxels in the neighborhood of lateral ventricles is often mis-classified as gray matter voxels due to partial volume effects. This group of voxels is actually a mixture of ventricular cerebro-spinal fluid and the white matter and therefore, a portion of it should be included as part of the lateral ventricular structure. In this note, we describe an automated method for the measurement of lateral ventricular volumes on segmented brain MR images. Image segmentation was carried in combination of intensity correction and thresholding. The method is featured with a procedure for addressing mis-classified voxels in the surrounding of lateral ventricles. A detailed analysis showed that lateral ventricular volumes could be underestimated by 10 to 30% depending upon the size of the lateral ventricular structure, if mis-classified voxels were not included. Validation of the method was done through comparison with the averaged manually traced volumes. Finally, the merit of the method is demonstrated in the evaluation of the rate of lateral ventricular enlargement. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Universal simulation of Hamiltonian dynamics for quantum systems with finite-dimensional state spaces

What interactions are sufficient to simulate arbitrary quantum dynamics in a composite quantum system? Dodd [Phys. Rev. A 65, 040301(R) (2002)] provided a partial solution to this problem in the form of an efficient algorithm to simulate any desired two-body Hamiltonian evolution using any fixed two-body entangling N-qubit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries. We extend this result to the case where the component systems are qudits, that is, have D dimensions. As a consequence we explain how universal quantum computation can be performed with any fixed two-body entangling N-qudit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries.

(-)-CGP 12177 increases contractile force and hastens relaxation of human myocardial preparations through a propranolol-resistant state of the beta1-adrenoceptor

Two forms of the activated beta(1)-adrenoceptor exist, one that is stabilized by (-)-noradrenaline and is sensitive to blockade by (-)-propranolol and another which is stabilized by partial agonists such as (-)-pindolol and (-)-CGP 12177 but is relatively insensitive to (-)-propranolol. We investigated the effects of stimulation of the propranolol-resistant PI-adrenoceptor in the human heart. Myocardium from non-failing and failing human hearts were set up to contract at 1 Hz. In right atrium from non-ailing hearts in the presence of 200 nM (-)-propranolol, (-)-CGP 12177 caused concentration-dependent increases in contractile force (-logEC(50)[M] 7.3+/-0.1, E-max 23+/-1% relative to maximal (-)-isoprenaline stimulation of beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenoceptors, n=86 patients), shortening of the time to reach peak force (-logEC(50)[M] 7.4+/-0.1, E-max 37+/-5%, n=61 patients) and shortening of the time to reach 50% relaxation (t(50%), -logEC(50)[M] 7.3+/-0.1, E-max 33+/-2%, n=61 patients). The potency and maxima of the positive inotropic effects were independent of Ser49Gly- and Gly389Arg-beta(1)-adrenoceptor polymorphisms but were potentiated by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (-logEC(50)[M] 7.7+/-0.1, E-max 68+/-6%, n=6 patients, P

Dengue and the risk of urban yellow fever reintroduction in São Paulo State, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To propose a mathematical method for the estimation of the Basic Reproduction Number, R0, of urban yellow fever in a dengue-infested area. METHODS: The method is based on the assumption that, as the same vector (Aedes aegypti) causes both infections, all the quantities related to the mosquito, estimated from the initial phase of dengue epidemic, could be applied to yellow fever dynamics. It is demonstrated that R0 for yellow fever is, on average, 43% lower than that for dengue. This difference is due to the longer dengue viremia and its shorter extrinsic incubation period. RESULTS: In this study the analysis was expanded to the epidemiological situation of dengue in São Paulo in the year 2001. The total number of dengue cases increased from 3,582 in 2000 to 51,348 in 2001. It was then calculated R0 for yellow fever for every city which have shown R0 of dengue greater than 1. It was also estimated the total number of unprotected people living in highly risky areas for urban yellow fever. CONCLUSIONS: Currently there is a great number of non-vaccinated people living in Aedes aegypti infested area in the state of São Paulo.

Difficulties in access and estimates of public beds in intensive care units in the state of Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To estimate the required number of public beds for adults in intensive care units in the state of Rio de Janeiro to meet the existing demand and compare results with recommendations by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. METHODS The study uses a hybrid model combining time series and queuing theory to predict the demand and estimate the number of required beds. Four patient flow scenarios were considered according to bed requests, percentage of abandonments and average length of stay in intensive care unit beds. The results were plotted against Ministry of Health parameters. Data were obtained from the State Regulation Center from 2010 to 2011. RESULTS There were 33,101 medical requests for 268 regulated intensive care unit beds in Rio de Janeiro. With an average length of stay in regulated ICUs of 11.3 days, there would be a need for 595 active beds to ensure system stability and 628 beds to ensure a maximum waiting time of six hours. Deducting current abandonment rates due to clinical improvement (25.8%), these figures fall to 441 and 417. With an average length of stay of 6.5 days, the number of required beds would be 342 and 366, respectively; deducting abandonment rates, 254 and 275. The Brazilian Ministry of Health establishes a parameter of 118 to 353 beds. Although the number of regulated beds is within the recommended range, an increase in beds of 122.0% is required to guarantee system stability and of 134.0% for a maximum waiting time of six hours. CONCLUSIONS Adequate bed estimation must consider reasons for limited timely access and patient flow management in a scenario that associates prioritization of requests with the lowest average length of stay.

Estimation of vegetation carbon stock in Portugal using land use/ land cover data

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Numerical solution of a PDE system with non-linear steady state conditions that translates the air stripping pollutants removal

This work deals with the numerical simulation of air stripping process for the pre-treatment of groundwater used in human consumption. The model established in steady state presents an exponential solution that is used, together with the Tau Method, to get a spectral approach of the solution of the system of partial differential equations associated to the model in transient state.

Spectral solution for the air stripping pollutants removal dynamic model with non linear steady state conditions

This work deals with the numerical simulation of air stripping process for the pre-treatment of groundwater used in human consumption. The model established in steady state presents an exponential solution that is used, together with the Tau Method, to get a spectral approach of the solution of the system of partial differential equations associated to the model in transient state.

6D Visual Odometry with Dense Probabilistic Egomotion Estimation

Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Vision Theory and Applications, 361-365, 2013, Barcelona, Spain

A Clinical Support System Based on Quality of Life Estimation

Quality of life is a concept influenced by social, economic, psychological, spiritual or medical state factors. More specifically, the perceived quality of an individual's daily life is an assessment of their well-being or lack of it. In this context, information technologies may help on the management of services for healthcare of chronic patients such as estimating the patient quality of life and helping the medical staff to take appropriate measures to increase each patient quality of life. This paper describes a Quality of Life estimation system developed using information technologies and the application of data mining algorithms to access the information of clinical data of patients with cancer from Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck services of an oncology institution. The system was evaluated with a sample composed of 3013 patients. The results achieved show that there are variables that may be significant predictors for the Quality of Life of the patient: years of smoking (p value 0.049) and size of the tumor (p value < 0.001). In order to assign the variables to the classification of the quality of life the best accuracy was obtained by applying the John Platt's sequential minimal optimization algorithm for training a support vector classifier. In conclusion data mining techniques allow having access to patients additional information helping the physicians to be able to know the quality of life and produce a well-informed clinical decision.

Molecular characterization of two rocio flavivirus strains isolated during the encephalitis epidemic in são paulo state, brazil and the development of a one-step rt-pcr assay for diagnosis

Rocio virus (ROCV) was responsible for an explosive encephalitis epidemic in the 1970s affecting about 1,000 residents of 20 coastland counties in São Paulo State, Brazil. ROCV was first isolated in 1975 from the cerebellum of a fatal human case of encephalitis. Clinical manifestations of the illness are similar to those described for St. Louis encephalitis. ROCV shows intense antigenic cross-reactivity with Japanese encephalitis complex (JEC) viruses, particularly with Ilheus (ILHV), St. Louis encephalitis, Murray Valley and West Nile viruses. In this study, we report a specific RT-PCR assay for ROCV diagnosis and the molecular characterization of the SPAn37630 and SPH37623 strains. Partial nucleotide sequences of NS5 and E genes determined from both strains were used in phylogenetic analysis. The results indicated that these strains are closely related to JEC viruses, but forming a distinct subclade together with ILHV, in accordance with results recently reported by Medeiros et al. (2007).

Adaptive modeling and high quality spectral estimation for speech enhancement

In this work an adaptive modeling and spectral estimation scheme based on a dual Discrete Kalman Filtering (DKF) is proposed for speech enhancement. Both speech and noise signals are modeled by an autoregressive structure which provides an underlying time frame dependency and improves time-frequency resolution. The model parameters are arranged to obtain a combined state-space model and are also used to calculate instantaneous power spectral density estimates. The speech enhancement is performed by a dual discrete Kalman filter that simultaneously gives estimates for the models and the signals. This approach is particularly useful as a pre-processing module for parametric based speech recognition systems that rely on spectral time dependent models. The system performance has been evaluated by a set of human listeners and by spectral distances. In both cases the use of this pre-processing module has led to improved results.

Spatial distribution of dengue in the city of Cruzeiro, São Paulo State, Brazil: use of geoprocessing tools

The aim of this article is to identify patterns in spatial distribution of cases of dengue fever that occurred in the municipality of Cruzeiro, State of São Paulo, in 2006. This is an ecological and exploratory study using the tools of spatial analysis in the preparation of thematic maps with data from Sinan-Net. An analysis was made by area, taking as unit the IBGE census, the analysis included four months in 2006 which show the occurrence of the disease in the city. The thematic maps were constructed by TerraView 3.3.1 software, the same software provided the values of the indicators of Global Moran (I M) every month and the Kernel estimation. In the year 2006, 691 cases of dengue were georeferenced (with a rate of 864.2 cases/100,000 inhabitants); the indicators of Moran and p-values obtained were I M = 0.080 (March) p = 0.11; I M = 0.285 (April) p = 0.01; I M = 0.201 (May) p = 0.01 and I M = 0.002 (June) p = 0.57. The first cases were identified in the Northeast and Central areas of Cruzeiro and the recent cases, in the North, Northeast and Central. It was possible to identify census tracts where the epidemic began and how it occurred temporally and spatially in the city.