Alterações histológicas de glândulas submandibulares e testículos induzidas por dietas à base de soja e dieta zinco deficiente em ratos.

The purpose of this study was to examine in rats the histologic alterations of the submandibular glands and testicles induced by soy diets and zinc deficient diet. The zinc deficiency produced testicles alterations including seminiferous tubulus atrophy, germinative epithelium degeneration, spermatogenesis alterations and a significant atrophy of the submandibular glands which presented no much delimitated acines. The soy diet without complementations also compromised the spermatogenesis by showing seminiferous tubulus atrophied and a reduction of the germinative epithelium. The soy diet complemented by saline and vitaminic mixtures didn't produced testicles alterations but its induced in the submandibular glands a hypertrophy of the ductal component mainly in relation to the granular component.

AI automates substation control

An overview is given on the possibility of controlling the status of circuit breakers (CB) in a substations with the use of a knowledge base that relates some of the operation magnitudes, mixing status variables with time variables and fuzzy sets. It is shown that even when all the magnitudes to be controlled cannot be included in the analysis, it is possible to control the desired status while supervising some important magnitudes as the voltage, power factor, and harmonic distortion, as well as the present status.

Simulation of active control using fuzzy logic applied to a pulse combustor

This work analyzes an active fuzzy logic control system in a Rijke type pulse combustor. During the system development, a study of the existing types of control for pulse combustion was carried out and a simulation model was implemented to be used with the package Matlab and Simulink. Blocks which were not available in the simulator library were developed. A fuzzy controller was developed and its membership functions and inference rules were established. The obtained simulation showed that fuzzy logic is viable in the control of combustion instabilities. The obtained results indicated that the control system responded to pulses in an efficient and desirable way. It was verified that the system needed approximately 0.2 s to increase the tube internal pressure from 30 to 90 mbar, with an assumed total delay of 2 ms. The effects of delay variation were studied. Convergence was always obtained and general performance was not affected by the delay. The controller sends a pressure signal in phase with the Rijke tube internal pressure signal, through the speakers, when an increase the oscillations pressure amplitude is desired. On the other hand, when a decrease of the tube internal pressure amplitude is desired, the controller sends a signal 180° out of phase.

Tuning of fuzzy inference systems through unconstrained optimization techniques

This paper presents a new methodology for the adjustment of fuzzy inference systems. A novel approach, which uses unconstrained optimization techniques, is developed in order to adjust the free parameters of the fuzzy inference system, such as its intrinsic parameters of the membership function and the weights of the inference rules. This methodology is interesting, not only for the results presented and obtained through computer simulations, but also for its generality concerning to the kind of fuzzy inference system used. Therefore, this methodology is expandable either to the Mandani architecture or also to that suggested by Takagi-Sugeno. The validation of the presented methodology is accomplished through an estimation of time series. More specifically, the Mackey-Glass chaotic time series estimation is used for the validation of the proposed methodology.

Effect of microwave treatments on dimensional accuracy of maxillary acrylic resin denture base

Microwave energy has been used as an alternative method for disinfection and sterilization of dental prostheses. This study evaluated the influence of microwave treatment on dimensional accuracy along the posterior palatal border of maxillary acrylic resin denture bases processed by water-bath curing. Thirty maxillary acrylic bases (3-mm-thick) were made on cast models with Clássico acrylic resin using routine technique. After polymerization and cooling, the sets were deflasked and the bases were stored in water for 30 days. Thereafter, the specimens were assigned to 3 groups (n=10), as follows: group I (control) was not submitted to any disinfection cycle; group II was submitted to microwave disinfection for 3 min at 500 W; and in group III microwaving was done for 10 min at 604 W. The acrylic bases were fixed on their respective casts with instant adhesive (Super Bonder®) and the base/cast sets were sectioned transversally in the posterior palatal zone. The existence of gaps between the casts and acrylic bases was assessed using a profile projector at 5 points. No statistically significant differences were observed between the control group and group II. However, group III differed statistically from the others (p<0.05). Treatment in microwave oven at 604 W for 10 min produced the greatest discrepancies in the adaptation of maxillary acrylic resin denture bases to the stone casts.

A comparative study between two relaxed LMI-based fuzzy control designs

A comparative study, with theoretical analysis and digital simulations, of two conditions based on LMI for the quadratic stability of nonlinear continuous-time dynamic systems, described by Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models, are presented. This paper shows that the methods proposed by Teixeira et. al. in 2003 provide better or at least the same results of a recent method presented in the literature. © 2005 IEEE.

Simultaneous effects of total solids content, milk base, heat treatment temperature and sample temperature on the rheological properties of plain stirred yogurt

Response surface methodology was used to establish a relationship between total solids content, milk base, heat treatment temperature, and sample temperature, and consistency index, flow behaviour index, and apparent viscosity of plain stirred yogurts. Statistical treatments resulted in developments of mathematical models. All samples presented shear thinning fluid behaviour. The increase of the content of total solids (9.3-22.7 %) and milk base heat treatment temperature (81.6-98.4°C) resulted in a significant increase in consistency index and a decrease in flow behaviour index. Increase in the sample temperature (1.6-18.4°C) caused a decrease in consistency index and increase in flow behaviour index. Apparent viscosity was directly related to the content of total solids. Rheological properties of yogurt were highly dependent on the content of total solids in milk.

Componente lento do V̇O2 em crianças durante exercício pesado de corrida: Análise com base em diferentes modelos matemáticos

The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify the magnitude of the slow component of VO2 (SC) in children during running exercise, performed at heavy intensity domain (75%Δ), using two different mathematical models: a) three-exponential model and; b) ΔVO2 6-3 min. Eight healthy male children (11.92 ± 0.63 years; 44.06 ± 13.01 kg; 146.63 ± 7.25 cm; and sexual maturity levels 1 and 2), not trained, performed in different days the following tests: 1) incremental running treadmill test to determine the peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and the lactate threshold (LT); and 2) two transitions from baseline to 75%Δ [75%Δ = LT + 0.75 x (VO2 peak - LT)] for six minutes on treadmill. The SC was determined by two models: a) three-exponential model (Exp3); and b) the VO2 difference between the sixth and the third exercise minute (ΔVO2 6-3min). The SC was expressed as the absolute (ml/min) and percent contribution (%) to the total change in VO 2. The SC values determined by model Exp3 (129.69 ± 75.71 ml/min and 8.4 ± 2.92%) and ΔVO2 6-3 min (68.69 ± 102.54 ml/min and 3.6 ± 7.34%) were significantly different. So, the SC values in children during running exercise performed at heavy intensity domain (75%Δ) are dependent of the analysis model (Exp3 x ΔVO2 6-3 min).

Influence of storage period and effect of different brands of acrylic resin on the dimensional accuracy of the maxillary denture base

The aim of this study was to evaluate the dimensional changes of denture bases made from different resins after different storage periods. For this purpose, 25 sets of plaster models/resin bases were prepared using 4 acrylic resins submitted to two types of polymerization: 1- QC-20 submitted to polymerization by microwave energy; 2- QC-20 submitted to polymerization by water hot bath; 3- Vipi Cril submitted to polymerization by water hot bath; 4- Vipi Wave submitted to polymerization by microwave energy; and 5- Onda Cryl submitted to polymerization by microwave energy. After polymerization, the specimens were sectioned for accuracy readings using a comparison microscope. Readings were taken at 3 points: the crests of the right (A) and left (B) ridges, and the median region of the palate, in 4 different periods. The data obtained were submitted to two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test at 5% significance level. The greatest distortions were found in the posterior palatal region of the base (M), with statistically significant difference (p<0.05) for the studied resins. All acrylic resins presented dimensional changes and the storage period influenced these alterations.

Statistical quark models for the nucleon structure functions

We consider some existing relativistic models for the nucleon structure functions, relying on statistical approaches instead of perturbative ones. These models are based on the Fermi-Dirac distribution for the confined quarks, where a density of energy levels is obtained from an effective confining potential. In this context, it is presented some results obtained with a recent statistical quark model for the sea-quark asymmetry in the nucleon. It is shown, within this model, that experimental available observables, such as the ratio and difference between proton and neutron structure functions, are quite well reproduced with just three parameters: two chemical potentials used to reproduce the valence up and down quark numbers in the nucleon, and a temperature that is being used to reproduce the Gottfried sum rule violation. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

Realimentação derivativa e modelo fuzzy Takagi-Sugeno paracontrole da articulação do joelho de pacientes paraplégicos com o uso de acelerômetros

Feedback control systems have been used to move the muscles and joints of the limbs of paraplegic patients. The feedback signal, related to the knee joint angle, can be obtained by using an electrogoniometer. However, the use of accelerometers can help the measurements due the facility of adhering these devices to the skin. Accelerometers are also very suitable for these applications due their small dimensions and weight. In this paper a new method for designing a control system that can vary the knee joint angle using Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is presented, as well as a simulation with parameters values available in the literature. The nonlinear control system was represented by a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model and the feedback signals were obtained by using accelerometers. The design method considered all plant nonlinearities and was efficient and reliable to control the leg position of a paraplegic patient with the angle of the knee ranging from 0° to 30°, considering electric stimulation at the quadriceps muscle. The proposed method is viable and offers a new alternative for designing control systems of the knee joint angle using more comfortable sensors for the patients.

Traffic flow breakdown prediction using feature reduction through Rough-Neuro fuzzy Networks

The prediction of the traffic behavior could help to make decision about the routing process, as well as enables gains on effectiveness and productivity on the physical distribution. This need motivated the search for technological improvements in the Routing performance in metropolitan areas. The purpose of this paper is to present computational evidences that Artificial Neural Network ANN could be use to predict the traffic behavior in a metropolitan area such So Paulo (around 16 million inhabitants). The proposed methodology involves the application of Rough-Fuzzy Sets to define inference morphology for insertion of the behavior of Dynamic Routing into a structured rule basis, without human expert aid. The dynamics of the traffic parameters are described through membership functions. Rough Sets Theory identifies the attributes that are important, and suggest Fuzzy relations to be inserted on a Rough Neuro Fuzzy Network (RNFN) type Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and type Radial Basis Function (RBF), in order to get an optimal surface response. To measure the performance of the proposed RNFN, the responses of the unreduced rule basis are compared with the reduced rule one. The results show that by making use of the Feature Reduction through RNFN, it is possible to reduce the need for human expert in the construction of the Fuzzy inference mechanism in such flow process like traffic breakdown. © 2011 IEEE.

Fuzzy control embedded in microcontroller and applied to an experimental apparatus using magnetorheological fluid damper

This work focuses on applying fuzzy control embedded in microcontrollers in an experimental apparatus using magnetorheological fluid damper. The non-linear behavior of the magnetorheological dampers associated with the parametric variations on vehicle suspension models corroborate the use of the fuzzy controllers. The fundamental formulation of this controller is discussed and its performance is shown through numeric simulations. An experimental apparatus representing a two degree of freedom system containing a magnetorheological damper is used to identify the main parameters and to evaluate the performance of the closed-loop system with the embedded low-cost microcontroller-based fuzzy controller. © 2013 Brazilian Society for Automatics - SBA.

Estimativas da radiação global incidente em superfícies inclinadas com base na razáo de insolação

Estimating equations of global radiation based on the sunshine duration were proposed for horizontal surface and with inclination of 12.85, 22.85 and 32.85° facing the North in Botucatu, SP, Brazil, in monthly, seasonal and annual groupings of data. Simple linear correlations were applied (for definition of the linear and angular coefficients of Angstrom-Prescott model), in a database measured in all three inclinations in different periods (22.85°: 04/1998 to 07/2001; 12.85°: 08/2011 to 02/2003; and 32.85°: 03/2003 to 12/2007) concomitant with horizontal measures and sunshine duration. The statistical performance of the model was analysed by the means absolute error (MBE), the square root of the mean square error (RMSE) and the index adjustment (d). The minimum global radiation transmissivity varied from 14.35% in August (12.85°) to 27.86% in December (32.85°) and the maximum transmissivity ranged between 62.10% and 78.90%, for June (32.85°) and December (12.85°). Increasing the angle of inclination surface increased the scattering and decreased the index of adjustment and performance. The worst results were found for application of the seasonal and annual models in the months of autumn and winter for 32.85° (RMSE below 42.93% and adjustment superior to 0.4693).

Classificação da curvatura de vertentes em perfil via Thin Plate Spline e Inferência Fuzzy

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)