Implementation of two-stage Hopfield model and its application in nonlinear systems

This paper presents an efficient neural network for solving constrained nonlinear optimization problems. More specifically, a two-stage neural network architecture is developed and its internal parameters are computed using the valid-subspace technique. The main advantage of the developed network is that it treats optimization and constraint terms in different stages with no interference with each other. Moreover, the proposed approach does not require specification of penalty or weighting parameters for its initialization.

High sensitivity fiber optic angular displacement sensor and its application for detection of ultrasound

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Voltammetric Studies of Cobalt Hexacyanoferrate Formed on the Titanium (IV) Phosphate Surface and its Application to the Determination of Sulfite

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

Dental students' knowledge of ergonomic postural requirements and their application during clinical care

Aim:To examine how much final-year undergraduate dental students know about postural dental ergonomic requirements, and how well they apply these requirements clinically.Background:Dentists are vulnerable to diverse mechanical (e.g. postural) and non-mechanical occupational risks.Materials and Methods:Eight postural requirements found in normalising documents were identified, reproduced, photographed, and analysed to develop a test of visual perception (TVP). Photographs of the 69 participating students were taken during their clinical care to ascertain ergonomics compliance, after which the students were administered the TVP. Pearson's test was used to correlate the level of knowledge (TVP) and its clinical application (photographic analysis) among the 552 observations made for each test (total of 1104 observations).Results:65.7% of the TVP questions were answered correctly and 35% of the photographic cases were in compliance with ergonomic requirements (+ 0.67, P < 0.0001).Conclusion:The knowledge of ergonomics postural requirements and their clinical application among the dental students surveyed were not satisfactory. The reasons for the learning difficulties encountered by the students should be identified to improve the learning process. The didactic use of digital images in this study may help in this endeavour.

Effect of Nd:YAG Irradiation and Fluoride Application on Dentine Resistance to Erosion in Vitro

Objective: In this paper we evaluated the effect of two fluoridated agents and Nd:YAG irradiation separately and in combination on dentine resistance to erosion. Background Data: The morphological changes in dentin induced by laser treatment may reduce the progression of erosive lesions. Due to the possibility of a synergistic effect of laser with fluoride, this study was conducted. Materials and Methods: Eighty bovine dentine samples (4 x 4 mm) were randomly divided into eight groups, according to the following treatments: G1: untreated (control); G2: acidic phosphate fluoride gel (APF 1.23%) for 4 min; G3: fluoride varnish (NaF 2.26%) for 6 h; G4: 0.5 W Nd: YAG laser (250 mu sec pulse, 10 Hz, 35 J/cm(2), 30 sec); G5: 0.75 W Nd: YAG laser (52.5 J/cm(2)); G6: 1.0 W Nd: YAG laser (70 J/cm(2)); G7: APF + 0.75 W Nd: YAG laser; and G8: NaF + 0.75 W Nd: YAG laser. After the treatments, half of each dentine surface was protected with nail varnish. The samples were stored in artificial saliva (30 mL/sample) for 24 h and submitted to four erosive 1-min cycles. Between the erosive attacks, the blocks were maintained in artificial saliva for 59 min. The erosive wear was evaluated by profilometry. Results: The mean wear (+/- SD, mu m) was: G1: 1.20 +/- 0.20; G2: 0.47 +/- 0.06; G3: 0.81 +/- 0.11; G4: 1.47 +/- 0.32; G5: 1.52 +/- 0.24; G6: 1.49 +/- 0.30; G7: 0.49 +/- 0.11; and G8: 1.06 +/- 0.31 (Tukey's test, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Laser irradiation was not able to reduce dentine erosion. However, fluoride application was able to increase the dentine's resistance to erosion, and APF showed better results than fluoride varnish.

The cross-entropy method and its application to minimize the ripple of magnetic levitation forces of a maglev system

This paper explores firstly the potential of a new evolutionary method - the Cross-Entropy (CE) method in solving continuous inverse electromagnetic problems. For this purpose, an adaptive updating formula for the smoothing parameter, some mutation operation, and a new termination criterion are proposed. The proposed CE based metaheuristics is applied to reduce the ripple of the magnetic levitation forces of a prototype Maglev system. The numerical results have shown that the ripple of the magnetic levitation forces of the prototype system is reduced significantly after the design optimization using the proposed algorithm.

Ligninases production by Basidiomycetes strains on lignocellulosic agricultural residues and their application in the decolorization of synthetic dyes

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

Quantization of the electromagnetic field outside static black holes and its application to low-energy phenomena

We discuss the Gupta-Bleuler quantization of the free electromagnetic field outside static black holes in the Boulware vacuum. We use a gauge which reduces to the Feynman gauge in Minkowski spacetime. We also discuss its relation with gauges used previously. Then we apply the low-energy sector of this held theory to investigate some low-energy phenomena. First, we discuss the response rate of a static charge outside the Schwarzschild black hole in four dimensions. Next, motivated by string physics, we compute the absorption cross sections of low-energy plane waves for the Schwarzschild and extreme Reissner-Nordstrom black holes in arbitrary dimensions higher than three.

Measurement of fats, oil and grease by spectro-photometry and its application on different sites at São Paulo State, Brazil

This investigation was carried out within the Parana sedimentary basin, Brazil, involved the sampling of effluents and groundwater from monitoring stations situated at different sites at São Paulo State, and was realized with the purpose of evaluating the presence of fats, oil and grease (FOG) in different matrices. Several tests were realized with very distinct materials (cooking oil, butter, margarine, pig fat, vacuum pump oil) in order to properly calibrate the spectrophotometric system. Each matrix was dissolved with 1,1,1-trichloroethane and from the stock solutions it was prepared working standards from different dilutions. The data obtained were plotted on absorbance vs. concentration graph that yielded a successful calibration curve when a mineral oil for vacuum pump was utilized in the experiments at a wavelength corresponding to 410 mn. The results obtained for the analyzed samples were compared with the limiting value established by the São Paulo State legislation on the prevention and pollution control of the environment that was established in 8(th) September 1976 by Rule No. 8468.

Approach on the Electrochemical Reactivity of Poly-L-Glutamic Acid Against Doxorubicin and Its Application in the Development of a Voltammetric Sensor

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

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO and ZnO : Ga films and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

Highly crystalline ZnO and Ga-modified zinc oxide (ZnO:Ga) nanoparticles containing 1, 3 and 5 atom% of Ga3+ were prepared by precipitation method at low temperature. The films were characterized by XRD, BET, XPS and SEM. No evidence of zinc gallate formation (ZnGa2O4), even in the samples containing 5 atom% of gallium, was detected by XRD. XPS data revealed that Ga is present into the ZnO matrix as Ga3+, according to the characteristic binding energies. The particle size decreased as the gallium level was increased as observed by SEM, which might be related to a faster hydrolysis reaction rate. The smaller particle size provided films with higher porosity and surface area, enabling a higher dye loading. When these films were applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as photoelectrodes, the device based on ZnO: Ga 5 atom% presented an overall conversion efficiency of 6% (at 10 mW cm(-2)), a three-fold increase compared to the ZnO-based DSSCs under the same conditions. To our knowledge, this is one of the highest efficiencies reported so far for ZnO-based DSSCs. Transient absorption (TAS) study of the photoinduced dynamics of dye-sensitized ZnO:Ga films showed that the higher the gallium content, the higher the amount of dye cation formed, while no significant change on the recombination dynamics was observed. The study indicates that Ga-modification of nanocrystalline ZnO leads to an improvement of photocurrent and overall efficiency in the corresponding device.

Development of a potentiometric flufenamate ISE and its application to pharmaceutical and clinical analyses

The characteristics, performance, and application of an electrode, namely, Pt vertical bar Hg vertical bar Hg-2(FF)(2)vertical bar Graphite, where FF stands for flufenamate ion, are described. This electrode responds to FF with sensitivity of (-58.6 +/- 1.2) mV decade(-1) over the range 1.0 x 10(-6) - 1.0 x 10(-2) mol L-1 at pH 6.0-9.0 and a detection limit of 7.1 x 10(-7) mol L-1. The electrode is easily constructed at a relatively low cost with fast response time (within 10-25 s) and can be used for a period of 5 months without any considerable change in its performance characteristics. The proposed electrode displayed good selectivity for flufenamate in the presence of several substances as well as in the presence of some carboxylate and inorganic anions. The electrode was successfully applied to the determination of flufenamic acid in pharmaceuticals and human serum samples.

A tunable triode-MOSFET transconductor and its application to g(m)-C filters

A linear, tunable CMOS transconductance stage is introduced. Drain voltage of the input transistor operating in triode region is settled by a regulation loop and a first-order linear relationship between g(m) and a de bias voltage is achieved. In addition to easy tuning, this technique offers circuit simplicity, wide dynamic range, high input and output impedances and low consumption. The transconductor is presented on both single-ended and fully-differential versions. A 3rd-order elliptical low-pass g(m)-C filter with a nominal roll-off frequency of 2MHz is used as one example for the many applications of the proposed transconductor. SPICE data describe circuits performances and filter tunabilily Passband is tuned at a rate of 2.36KHz/mV and good linearity is indicated by a 0.89% THD for an 800mV(p-p) balanced-driven input.

GCHF basis sets and their application in the electronic structure study of PrMnO3

The approach called generator coordinate Hartree-Fock (GCHF) method is used in the selection of Gaussian basis set [25s18p for O ((3)p), 31s21p14d for Mn (S-6), and 33s22p16d9f for Pr ((4)J)] for atoms. The role of the weight functions in the assessment of the numerical integration range of the GCHF equations is shown. These basis sets are contracted to (25s18p/9s5p), (31s21p14d/9s6p4d), and (33s22pl6d9f118sl2p5d3f) by segmented contraction scheme of Dunning and they are utilized in calculations of Restricted-Open-HF (ROHF) Total and Orbital energies of the (MnO+1)-Mn-3 and (PrO+1)-Pr-1 fragments, to evaluate their quality in molecular studies. The addition of one d polarization function in the contracted (9s5p) basis set for O(P-3) atom and their application with the contracted (9s6p4d), (18s21p5d3f) basis sets for Mn (S-6) and Pr-Pr ((4)j) atoms lead to the electronic structure study of PrMnO3. The dipole moment, the total energy, and total atomic charges properties were calculated and were carried out at ROHF level with the [PrMnO3](2) fragment. The calculated values show that PrMnO3 does not present piezoelectric properties. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of pre- and postinoculation application of Fungicides to expanding young citrus leaves for control of melanose, scab, and alternarial brown spot

In greenhouse trials, copper hydroxide, pyraclostrobin, and famoxadone were applied to actively crowing young citrus seedlings to determine the duration of protection of young leaves provided by these fungicides against melanose, caused by Diaporthe citri, citrus scab, caused by Elsinoe fawcettii, and Alternaria brown spot, caused by Alternaria alternata. Fungicides were applied to different sets of potted plants of grapefruit for control of melanose, of rough lemon for control of scab, and of Dancy tangerine for control of Afternaria brown spot 1 to 6 days prior to inoculation. as well as on the day of inoculation. Leaf area of treated shoots was estimated on the day of fungicide application and the day of inoculation and disease severity evaluated subsequently. In most cases. copper hydroxide and famoxadone provided at least 50% control of all three diseases for only about 2 days after application. Generally, there was little or no disease control when the products were applied 4 or more days before inoculation. In contrast, pyraclostrobin usually provided a high level of control of all three diseases when applied up to 5 days prior to inoculation. The level of disease control decreased as the interval between a fungicide application and inoculation increased and the relationship between disease control and leaf expansion best fit a quadratic equation. Effective disease control was observed with copper hydroxide and famoxadone until leaf area had increased by 100 to 200%, whereas control with pyraclostrobin was observed up to 400 to 500% increase in leaf area. In postinoculation tests with scab and melanose, pyraclostrobin provided high levels of disease control (>75%) when applied up to 2 days after inoculation. whereas copper hydroxide and famoxadone had minimal postinoculation activity. Applications of pyraclostrobin to the spring flush growth of citrus trees are much more likely to provide control of melanose, scab, and Alternaria brown spot than those of famoxadone or copper hydroxide.