ON INTEGRABLE CODIMENSION ONE ANOSOV ACTIONS OF R(k)

In this paper, we consider codimension one Anosov actions of R(k), k >= 1, on closed connected orientable manifolds of dimension n vertical bar k with n >= 3. We show that the fundamental group of the ambient manifold is solvable if and only if the weak foliation of codimension one is transversely affine. We also study the situation where one 1-parameter subgroup of R(k) admits a cross-section, and compare this to the case where the whole action is transverse to a fibration over a manifold of dimension n. As a byproduct, generalizing a Theorem by Ghys in the case k = 1, we show that, under some assumptions about the smoothness of the sub-bundle E(ss) circle plus E(uu), and in the case where the action preserves the volume, it is topologically equivalent to a suspension of a linear Anosov action of Z(k) on T(n).

Transitivity of codimension-one Anosov actions of R(k) on closed manifolds

We consider Anosov actions of R(k), k >= 2, on a closed connected orientable manifold M, of codimension one, i.e. such that the unstable foliation associated to some element of R(k) has dimension one. We prove that if the ambient manifold has dimension greater than k + 2, then the action is topologically transitive. This generalizes a result of Verjovsky for codimension-one Anosov flows.

Machine vision for the automatic classification of images acquired from Non-destructive tests

This project is based on Artificial Intelligence (A.I) and Digital Image processing (I.P) for automatic condition monitoring of sleepers in the railway track. Rail inspection is a very important task in railway maintenance for traffic safety issues and in preventing dangerous situations. Monitoring railway track infrastructure is an important aspect in which the periodical inspection of rail rolling plane is required.Up to the present days the inspection of the railroad is operated manually by trained personnel. A human operator walks along the railway track searching for sleeper anomalies. This monitoring way is not more acceptable for its slowness and subjectivity. Hence, it is desired to automate such intuitive human skills for the development of more robust and reliable testing methods. Images of wooden sleepers have been used as data for my project. The aim of this project is to present a vision based technique for inspecting railway sleepers (wooden planks under the railway track) by automatic interpretation of Non Destructive Test (NDT) data using A.I. techniques in determining the results of inspection.

Nonstationary feature extraction techniques for automatic classification of impact acoustic signals

Condition monitoring of wooden railway sleepers applications are generallycarried out by visual inspection and if necessary some impact acoustic examination iscarried out intuitively by skilled personnel. In this work, a pattern recognition solutionhas been proposed to automate the process for the achievement of robust results. Thestudy presents a comparison of several pattern recognition techniques together withvarious nonstationary feature extraction techniques for classification of impactacoustic emissions. Pattern classifiers such as multilayer perceptron, learning cectorquantization and gaussian mixture models, are combined with nonstationary featureextraction techniques such as Short Time Fourier Transform, Continuous WaveletTransform, Discrete Wavelet Transform and Wigner-Ville Distribution. Due to thepresence of several different feature extraction and classification technqies, datafusion has been investigated. Data fusion in the current case has mainly beeninvestigated on two levels, feature level and classifier level respectively. Fusion at thefeature level demonstrated best results with an overall accuracy of 82% whencompared to the human operator.

Speech Assessment for the Classification of Hypokinetic Dysthria in Parkinson Disease

The aim of this thesis is to investigate computerized voice assessment methods to classify between the normal and Dysarthric speech signals. In this proposed system, computerized assessment methods equipped with signal processing and artificial intelligence techniques have been introduced. The sentences used for the measurement of inter-stress intervals (ISI) were read by each subject. These sentences were computed for comparisons between normal and impaired voice. Band pass filter has been used for the preprocessing of speech samples. Speech segmentation is performed using signal energy and spectral centroid to separate voiced and unvoiced areas in speech signal. Acoustic features are extracted from the LPC model and speech segments from each audio signal to find the anomalies. The speech features which have been assessed for classification are Energy Entropy, Zero crossing rate (ZCR), Spectral-Centroid, Mean Fundamental-Frequency (Meanf0), Jitter (RAP), Jitter (PPQ), and Shimmer (APQ). Naïve Bayes (NB) has been used for speech classification. For speech test-1 and test-2, 72% and 80% accuracies of classification between healthy and impaired speech samples have been achieved respectively using the NB. For speech test-3, 64% correct classification is achieved using the NB. The results direct the possibility of speech impairment classification in PD patients based on the clinical rating scale.

Benchmark Evaluation of HOG Descriptors as Features for Classification of Traffic Signs

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the performance of the Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) as descriptors for traffic signs recognition. The test dataset consists of speed limit traffic signs because of their high inter-class similarities.   HOG features of speed limit signs, which were extracted from different traffic scenes, were computed and a Gentle AdaBoost classifier was invoked to evaluate the different features. The performance of HOG was tested with a dataset consisting of 1727 Swedish speed signs images. Different numbers of HOG features per descriptor, ranging from 36 features up 396 features, were computed for each traffic sign in the benchmark testing. The results show that HOG features perform high classification rate as the Gentle AdaBoost classification rate was 99.42%, and they are suitable to real time traffic sign recognition. However, it is found that changing the number of orientation bins has insignificant effect on the classification rate. In addition to this, HOG descriptors are not robust with respect to sign orientation.

Estudo experimental e teórico das propriedades magnéticas e supercondutoras dos compostos borocarbetos da série Y(Ni 1-x Mn x) 2 B2 C com x = 0,0, 0,01, 0,025, 0,05, 0,10 e 0,15

Apresentamos neste trabalho os resultados de um estudo experimental e teórico dos compostos borocarbetos supercondutores da série Y(Ni1-xMnx)2B2C com x = 0; 0,01; 0,025; 0,05; 0,10; 0,15. A principal motivação para este trabalho foi investigar a estrutura eletrônica e a possível formação do momento magnético sobre os átomos de impureza de Mn nos compostos Y(Ni1- xMnx)2B2C. O aparecimento do momento magnético localizado no sítio da impureza possibilitou estudar a influência do Mn sobre o mecanismo de quebra de pares supercondutores e sobre as propriedades magnéticas do composto. Os borocarbetos são compostos de estrutura cristalina tetragonal de corpo centrado e altamente anisotrópicos (c/a~3). São intermetálicos de alta temperatura crítica supercondutora Tc, com forte acoplamento elétron-fonon. Em alguns casos podem apresentar ordem magnética, supercondutividade e também coexistência ou competição energética entre ambos. As medidas de transporte eletrônico, em função da temperatura, foram feitas utilizando-se um detector síncroton baseado na técnica de quatro pontos operando na faixa de 4,2K até 300K. Essas medidas possibilitaram o estudo das propriedades relacionadas ao transporte eletrônico na fase supercondutora. Na fase normal, extraiu-se a dependência em energia da função espectral de fonons α² F (ω) para alguns compostos da série estudada. As medidas magnéticas em função da temperatura e do campo magnético foram feitas utilizando-se um SQUID (Superconducting Quantun Interference Device – Quantun Design Model MPMS XL). Tais medidas permitiram a caracterização das propriedades magnéticas de nossas amostras. Em particular determinou-se o valor, em regime de saturação, do momento magnético associado ao sítio cristalino do Mn. Foram determinadas também as correntes críticas supercondutoras usando o Modelo de estado crítico de Bean e a variação da temperatura crítica supercondutora (Tc) com a mudança do campo externo aplicado. As medidas magnéticas permitiram a obtenção do diagrama que relaciona o campo crítico inferior (HC1) e a temperatura, variando-se a concentração do átomo dopante de manganês. Foi feito um esforço teórico no sentido de interpretar os resultados experimentais. Para isso foram usados três modelos: O modelo de estado crítico de Bean já citado acima e um modelo baseado na fórmula de Ziman usando uma aproximação para a função espectral de fonons para descrever a resistividade no regime de alta temperatura. Além disto, usou-se o modelo de duas sub-redes para a descrição do momento magnético das impurezas de Mn, em função da concentração, na série Y(Ni ) ( 2 ω α F 1-xMnx)2B2C.

Corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability: classification of the initiatives of the FMCG companies operating in Brazil

Este trabalho tem como objetivo fornecer uma análise detalhada do cenário da sustentabilidade ambiental e iniciativas de responsabilidade social corporativa nas empresas que operam no mercado de bens de consumo brasileiro. Para alcançar este objetivo as dez maiores empresas do mercado-alvo presente no Brasil foram analisadas por meio da classificação das suas iniciativas em três perspectivas amplas. Com esta classificação o cenário do mercado pode ser visto. As perspectivas utilizadas para a elaboração do trabalho são: (1) iniciativa ambiental ou social; (2) o foco interno ou externo e (3) a marca ou o custo como motivador. Depois de classificar todas as iniciativas, foi possível ver que as empresas similares, que operam em mercados semelhantes, têm estratégias que são muito parecidos entre si. Além disso, ficou claro que a estratégia de negócios da empresa influencia as suas políticas ambientais e sociais, em particular os objetivos que estas políticas procuram obter.Embora este trabalho apresente um panorama abrangente do setor de bens de consumo em relação a políticas de comportamento responsável das empresas, ele tem algumas limitações. A limitação mais significativa diz respeito a metodologia. As iniciativas foram avaliadas pela quantidade e a abrangência dos benefícios do impacto positivo não foram avaliados, impossibilitando assim a comparação do tamanho do impacto de cada empresa. Uma vez que pode haver um projeto de uma empresa que tem maior impacto do que vários outros feitos por alguma outra empresa. A metodologia foi baseada em clusters de categorias, no entanto, as iniciativas não são completamente uma coisa ou outra, ou seja, uma iniciativa pode ter diferentes impactos, drivers ou foco, nesses casos, os aspectos mais relevantes foram a escolhidos para classificá-los.

Environmental Fate of Neonicotinoids and Classification of Their Potential Risks to Hypogean, Epygean, and Surface Water Ecosystems in Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Self-Organizing Maps as a New Tool for Classification of Plants at Lower Hierarchical Levels

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

Right atrial stretch alters fore- and hind-brain expression of c-fos and inhibits the rapid onset of salt appetite

The inflation of an intravascular balloon positioned at the superior vena cava and right atrial junction (SVC-RAJ) reduces sodium or water intake induced by various experimental procedures (e.g. sodium depletion; hypovolaemia). In the present study we investigated if the stretch induced by a balloon at this site inhibits a rapid onset salt appetite, and if this procedure modifies the pattern of immunohistochemical labelling for Fos protein (Fos-ir) in the brain. Male Sprague-Dawley rats with SVC-RAJ balloons received a combined treatment of furosemide (Furo; 10 mg (kg bw)(-1)) plus a low dose of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril (Cap; 5 mg (kg bw)(-1)). Balloon inflation greatly decreased the intake of 0.3 M NaCl for as long as the balloon was inflated. Balloon inflation over a 3 h period following Furo-Cap treatment decreased Fos-ir in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis and the subfornical organ and increased Fos-ir in the lateral parabrachial nucleus and caudal ventrolateral medulla. The effect of balloon inflation was specific for sodium intake because it did not affect the drinking of diluted sweetened condensed milk. Balloon inflation and deflation also did not acutely change mean arterial pressure. These results suggest that activity in forebrain circumventricular organs and in hindbrain putative body fluid/cardiovascular regulatory regions is affected by loading low pressure mechanoreceptors at the SVC-RAJ, a manipulation that also attenuates salt appetite.