A nature-inspired approach to speed up optimum-path forest clustering and its application to intrusion detection in computer networks

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

Tool condition monitoring of aluminum oxide grinding wheel in dressing operation using acoustic emission and neural networks

The grinding operation gives workpieces their final finish, minimizing surface roughness through the interaction between the abrasive grains of a tool (grinding wheel) and the workpiece. However, excessive grinding wheel wear due to friction renders the tool unsuitable for further use, thus requiring the dressing operation to remove and/or sharpen the cutting edges of the worn grains to render them reusable. The purpose of this study was to monitor the dressing operation using the acoustic emission (AE) signal and statistics derived from this signal, classifying the grinding wheel as sharp or dull by means of artificial neural networks. An aluminum oxide wheel installed on a surface grinding machine, a signal acquisition system, and a single-point dresser were used in the experiments. Tests were performed varying overlap ratios and dressing depths. The root mean square values and two additional statistics were calculated based on the raw AE data. A multilayer perceptron neural network was used with the Levenberg-Marquardt learning algorithm, whose inputs were the aforementioned statistics. The results indicate that this method was successful in classifying the conditions of the grinding wheel in the dressing process, identifying the tool as "sharp''(with cutting capacity) or "dull''(with loss of cutting capacity), thus reducing the time and cost of the operation and minimizing excessive removal of abrasive material from the grinding wheel.

Active modal damping control of a smart truss structure using a self-organizing fuzzy controller

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

Classification of intact açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and jucara (Euterpe edulis Mart) fruits based on dry matter content by means of near infrared spectroscopy

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

Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm applied to dengue control

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

Estudo de materiais supercondutores em forma de SQUID com uma constrição usando métodos de paralelização computacional

Pós-graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia de Materiais - FC

Raising of horn fly haematobia irritans (L.) (diptera: muscidae) in laboratory by means of egg and larva inoculation

Several studies have required Haematobia irritans (L.) raising in laboratory. The present study assessed two methods of inoculating immature forms of H. irritans to obtain adults. In 2007, 15 Nellore steers (Bos indicus) (L.) were used for the collection of feces free of anthelmintic treatment and flies to produce for eggs and larva. For method I, 30 eggs were incubated in square filter paper (5 × 5 cm) and deposited on bovine feces (500 g) where they were kept until hatching and spontaneous penetration of larvae (L1) into the fecal mass. After 24 h, eggs were analyzed under a stereoscope microscope (40×) for the number of larvae that instinctively penetrated the feces. In method II, larvae were obtained only by natural egg hatching. At birth, 30 larvae were collected and individually inoculated, directly onto the fecal plate by employing a moistened brush. The tests were carried out at controlled temperature (28˚C ± 2˚C) and saturated humidity (80%) until the emergence of flies with both methods. The number of emerged flies was considered in the result. Using method I, 276 (76.7%) flies emerged from 360 inoculated eggs, while using method II, 283 (78.6%) flies emerged from 360 inoculated larvae. There was no significant difference (P = 0.7821) between methods for the number of flies; however, the proportion between males and females by means of larva inoculation was different from 1:1 (P = 0.0146). Results indicated that both methods led to a satisfactory production of flies and egg inoculation provided an easier establishment.

Sistema baseado em regras fuzzy do tipo Takagi-Sugeno aplicado a ecos de radares meteorológicos

Pós-graduação em Ciências Ambientais - Sorocaba

Detecção molecular do rearranjo Line-1 /c-Myc em tumores venéreos transmissíveis caninos espôntaneos

Transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) is a neoplasia that develops naturally in dogs. It can be easily transplanted, which demonstrates its ability to spread from animal to animal. Since the Linr-1/c-MYC rearrangement in TVT cells had not been studied at the Veterinary Hospital of the Veterinary School, Unesp in Botucatu, SP, this study aimed to detect this genetic alteration specific to this kind of tumor by means of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Twenty dogs with cytological diagnosis of TVT were used. Samples of neoplastic cells were collected to determine the presence of the Line-1/c-MYC marker. The rearrangement characterized by 340bp amplicons did not vary, in agreement with previous studies using the same methodology. This contributed to a more precise identification of persistent tumor cells in cases in which gross or microscopical detection was not possible.

Isotope analysis method (δ¹³C) in clarified apple juice

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

Discrimination of production environments of specialty coffees by means of stable isotopes and discriminant model

The south of Minas Gerais, Brazil stands out among various regions through its capacity for production of specialty coffees. Its potential, manifested through being one of the most award-winning Brazilian regions in recent years, has been recognized by the Cup of Excellence (COE). With the evident relationship between product quality and the environment in mind, the need arises for scientific studies to provide a foundation for discrimination of product origin, creating new methods for combating possible fraud. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in discrimination of production environments of specialty coffees from the Serra da Mantiqueira of Minas Gerais by means of the discriminant model. Coffee samples were composed of ripe yellow and red fruits collected manually at altitudes below 1,000 m, from 1,000 to 1,200 m and above 1,200 m. The yellow and red fruits were subjected to dry processing and wet processing, with five replications. A total of 119 samples were used for discrimination of specialty coffee production environments by means of stable isotopes and statistical modeling. The model generated had an accuracy rate of 89% in discrimination of environments and was composed of the isotope variables of δ15N, δ13C, %C, %N, δD, δ18O (meteoric water) and sensory analysis scores. In addition, for the first time, discrimination of environments on a local geographic scale, within a single municipality, was proposed and successfully concluded. This shows that isotope analysis is an effective method in verifying geographic origin for specialty coffees.

Scraping Behavior in Male White-tailed Deer as a Potential Means of Transmitting Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has become a concern for wildlife managers and hunters across the United States. High prevalence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in older male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) suggests that sex-specific social behavior may contribute to the spread of the disease among males. Scraping is a marking behavior performed by male white-tailed deer during the rut in which a pawed depression and associated over-hanging branch are marked with saliva, glandular secretions, urine, and feces. We placed 71 and 35 motion-activated cameras on scrapes in DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in western Nebraska and eastern Iowa from Oct. – Nov. 2005 and Sept. – Nov. 2006, respectively. We recorded 5009 encounters and 1830 direct interactions. We developed an ethogram of behaviors of interest at scrapes. We found that males interacted with scrapes more frequently than females (P < 0.001). Male interactions were more complex, with 69% consisting of ≥2 observed behaviors versus 25% and 13% for females and fawns. We identified individual male deer ≥2.5 years old and determined the minimum number of different scrapes individuals visited and the number of individuals that visit a single scrape. Individuals that appeared on camera ≥5 times visited a mean of 3.9 scrapes (range = 1-15) and traveled a mean minimum distance of 978 m between consecutive scrapes. A mean of 5.1 individuals visited a single scrape, and up to 43% of individuals returned to a scrape previously visited at least once. We modeled Risk Values based on frequency of occurrence, duration, and Threat Values of each behavior, for contacting and transmitting CWD prions at scrapes. Adult males had the highest total Risk Values for contacting CWD prions (114.1) and shedding prions (59.4). The “grasp-lick branch” behavior had the highest Risk Value for adult males for both contacting and transmitting prions. Our study reveals a sex specific social behavior in male white-tailed deer that has the potential to spread chronic wasting disease between adult males in the population.

Fuzzy linguistic model for bioelectrical impedance vector analysis

Backgrounds Ea aims: The boundaries between the categories of body composition provided by vectorial analysis of bioimpedance are not well defined. In this paper, fuzzy sets theory was used for modeling such uncertainty. Methods: An Italian database with 179 cases 18-70 years was divided randomly into developing (n = 20) and testing samples (n = 159). From the 159 registries of the testing sample, 99 contributed with unequivocal diagnosis. Resistance/height and reactance/height were the input variables in the model. Output variables were the seven categories of body composition of vectorial analysis. For each case the linguistic model estimated the membership degree of each impedance category. To compare such results to the previously established diagnoses Kappa statistics was used. This demanded singling out one among the output set of seven categories of membership degrees. This procedure (defuzzification rule) established that the category with the highest membership degree should be the most likely category for the case. Results: The fuzzy model showed a good fit to the development sample. Excellent agreement was achieved between the defuzzified impedance diagnoses and the clinical diagnoses in the testing sample (Kappa = 0.85, p < 0.001). Conclusions: fuzzy linguistic model was found in good agreement with clinical diagnoses. If the whole model output is considered, information on to which extent each BIVA category is present does better advise clinical practice with an enlarged nosological framework and diverse therapeutic strategies. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

An algorithm for the strip packing problem using collision free region and exact fitting placement

The irregular shape packing problem is approached. The container has a fixed width and an open dimension to be minimized. The proposed algorithm constructively creates the solution using an ordered list of items and a placement heuristic. Simulated annealing is the adopted metaheuristic to solve the optimization problem. A two-level algorithm is used to minimize the open dimension of the container. To ensure feasible layouts, the concept of collision free region is used. A collision free region represents all possible translations for an item to be placed and may be degenerated. For a moving item, the proposed placement heuristic detects the presence of exact fits (when the item is fully constrained by its surroundings) and exact slides (when the item position is constrained in all but one direction). The relevance of these positions is analyzed and a new placement heuristic is proposed. Computational comparisons on benchmark problems show that the proposed algorithm generated highly competitive solutions. Moreover, our algorithm updated some best known results. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plastic pellets as oviposition site and means of dispersal for the ocean-skater insect Halobates

Microplastics are omnipresent in the oceans and generally have negative impacts on the biota. However, flotsam may increase the availability of hard substrates, which are considered a limiting resource for some oceanic species, e.g. as oviposition sites for the ocean insect Halobates. This study describes the use of plastic pellets as an oviposition site for Halobates micans and discusses possible effects on its abundance and dispersion. Inspection of egg masses on stranded particles on beaches revealed that a mean of 24% (from 0% to 62%) of the pellets bore eggs (mean of 5 and max. of 48 eggs per pellet). Most eggs (63%) contained embryos, while 37% were empty egg shells. This shows that even small plastic particles are used as oviposition site by H. micans, and that marine litter may have a positive effect over the abundance and dispersion of this species. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.