A Beam Search Method to Solve the Problem of Assignment Cells to Switches in a Cellular Mobile Network

Assigning cells to switches in a cellular mobile network is known as an NP-hard optimization problem. This means that the alternative for the solution of this type of problem is the use of heuristic methods, because they allow the discovery of a good solution in a very satisfactory computational time. This paper proposes a Beam Search method to solve the problem of assignment cell in cellular mobile networks. Some modifications in this algorithm are also presented, which allows its parallel application. Computational results obtained from several tests confirm the effectiveness of this approach and provide good solutions for large scale problems.

Beam Search Algorithms for Minimizing Tool Switches on a Flexible Manufacturing System

In the minimization of tool switches problem we seek a sequence to process a set of jobs so that the number of tool switches required is minimized. In this work different variations of a heuristic based on partial ordered job sequences are implemented and evaluated. All variations adopt a depth first strategy of the enumeration tree. The computational test results indicate that good results can be obtained by a variation which keeps the best three branches at each node of the enumeration tree, and randomly choose, among all active nodes, the next node to branch when backtracking.

Optimised placement of control and protective devices in electric distribution systems through reactive tabu search algorithm

Optimised placement of control and protective devices in distribution networks allows for a better operation and improvement of the reliability indices of the system. Control devices (used to reconfigure the feeders) are placed in distribution networks to obtain an optimal operation strategy to facilitate power supply restoration in the case of a contingency. Protective devices (used to isolate faults) are placed in distribution systems to improve the reliability and continuity of the power supply, significantly reducing the impacts that a fault can have in terms of customer outages, and the time needed for fault location and system restoration. This paper presents a novel technique to optimally place both control and protective devices in the same optimisation process on radial distribution feeders. The problem is modelled through mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) with real and binary variables. The reactive tabu search algorithm (RTS) is proposed to solve this problem. Results and optimised strategies for placing control and protective devices considering a practical feeder are presented. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Síntese e caracterização de materiais nanoporosos para pirólise catalítica de óleos pesados

The present work reports the study of nanoporous structures, aiming at their use in research directed to the current demand of the petroleum industry to value heavy oil. Initially, two ways were chosen for the synthesis of porous structures from the molecular sieves of type Si-MCM-41. In the first way, the structure MCM-41 is precursory for heteroatom substitutes of silicon, generating catalyst of the type Al-MCM-41 from two different methods of incorporation of the metal. This variation of the incorporation method of Aluminum in the structure of Si-MCM-41 was carried out through the conventional procedure, where the aluminum source was incorporated to the gel of synthesis, and the procedure post-synthesis, where the Aluminum source was incorporated in catalyst after the synthesis of Si-MCM-41. In the second way, the MCM-41 acts as a support for growth of nanocrystals of zeolite embedded in their mesoporous, resulting in hybrid MCM-41/ZSM-5 catalyst. A comparative analysis was carried through characterizations by XRD, FTIR, measures of acidity through n-butylamine adsorption for TGA, SEM-XRF and N2 adsorption. Also crystalline aluminosilicate with zeolitic structure MFI of type ZSM-5 was synthesized without using organic templates. Methodologies to the preparation of these materials are related by literature using conventionally reactants that supply oxides of necessary silicon and aluminum, as well as a template agent, and in some cases co-template. The search for new routes of preparation for the ZSM-5 aimed at, above all, the optimization of the same as for the time and the temperature of synthesis, and mainly the elimination of the use of organic templates, that are material of high cost and generally very toxic. The current study is based on the use of the H2O and Na+ cations playing the role of structural template and charge compensation in the structure. Characterizations by XRD, FTIR, SEM-XRF and N2 adsorption were also conducted for this material in order to compare the samples of ZSM-5 synthesized in the absence of template and those used industrially and synthesized using structuring

Evolução da terminoliga princípio contábil baseada na Escola Norte-Americana

This research has as objective of study the evolution of the accountancy princliple terminology which is present in the accounting conceptual framework. The scene of this research will have as target the North American School of Accounting. The choice of the searched terminology is its relevance in the study of the Accounting Theory. To understand the evolution of the accountancy thought, will be boarded: the influence of the Feudal System and the Mercantilism in the European economic conception; the importance of the Industrial Revolution in the beginning of the accounting standards and the influence of England in the formation of the North American School of Accounting. With relation to U.S.A., the development of the economic-financial scene of the American society will be evaluated, focusing the contribution in the search of the construction of an applied theoretical framework to the Accounting. The economic-financial development of U.S.A. provided the sprouting of new users with specific necessities. The necessity of the user for useful information for the decision taking, unchained the process of research directed toward the establishment of an applied Accountancy terminology. In this process, the paper exerted for the responsible accountancy organisms for the accounting standards will be boarded, as well as the professionals associations which had invested in researches, aiming at to elaborate a body of accountancy principles and to adjust the accountancy procedures to the necessities of the users. To reach the research objective, a bibliographical revision in specialized literature will be effected, adopting the historical method, in the period that understands the development of the North American School of Accounting. As result of the research, it can conclude that the evolution process of the terminology which is studied presents a structural logical problem, because the impossibility of the construction of a theoretical framework, having as bases the principle terminology. The impossibility occurred in function of the reach attributed to the term, which made a difficult in its application in the elaboration of the accountancy procedures

Universaidade em sistemas da mecâniaestatística de não equilíbrio com estados absorventes e percolação geográfica

Complex systems have stimulated much interest in the scientific community in the last twenty years. Examples this area are the Domany-Kinzel cellular automaton and Contact Process that are studied in the first chapter this tesis. We determine the critical behavior of these systems using the spontaneous-search method and short-time dynamics (STD). Ours results confirm that the DKCA e CP belong to universality class of Directed Percolation. In the second chapter, we study the particle difusion in two models of stochastic sandpiles. We characterize the difusion through diffusion constant D, definite through in the relation h(x)2i = 2Dt. The results of our simulations, using finite size scalling and STD, show that the diffusion constant can be used to study critical properties. Both models belong to universality class of Conserved Directed Percolation. We also study that the mean-square particle displacement in time, and characterize its dependence on the initial configuration and particle density. In the third chapter, we introduce a computacional model, called Geographic Percolation, to study watersheds, fractals with aplications in various areas of science. In this model, sites of a network are assigned values between 0 and 1 following a given probability distribution, we order this values, keeping always its localization, and search pk site that percolate network. Once we find this site, we remove it from the network, and search for the next that has the network to percole newly. We repeat these steps until the complete occupation of the network. We study the model in 2 and 3 dimension, and compare the bidimensional case with networks form at start real data (Alps e Himalayas)

Feature selection through gravitational search algorithm

In this paper we deal with the problem of feature selection by introducing a new approach based on Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA). The proposed algorithm combines the optimization behavior of GSA together with the speed of Optimum-Path Forest (OPF) classifier in order to provide a fast and accurate framework for feature selection. Experiments on datasets obtained from a wide range of applications, such as vowel recognition, image classification and fraud detection in power distribution systems are conducted in order to asses the robustness of the proposed technique against Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)-based algorithm for feature selection.

Equine neosporosis: search for antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and sera from animals with history of ataxia

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Intracanal dressing and root canal filling materials in tooth replantation: a literature review

The prognosis of tooth replantation is usually related to the need of endodontic treatment, which has a direct relationship with the occurrence of root resorptions. Several studies have been undertaken in an attempt to prevent, delay, or treat these complications, which are the main causes of loss of replanted teeth. This literature review examines research evidence on intracanal dressings and root canal filling materials used in cases of tooth replantation. A comprehensive search was performed in the Medline/Pubmed, Bireme and Scielo full-text electronic journal databases to retrieve English-language articles referring to these topics that had been published between 1964 and 2010. Calcium hydroxide (CH) remains the usually recommended choice as an intracanal medicament in replanted teeth; however, there is evidence to support the initial use of a corticosteroid-antibiotic combination such as Ledermix paste to control potential early resorption, prior to the introduction of CH where the beneficial effect in the treatment of progressive root resorption has been well proven. Regarding root filling materials, CH-containing sealers are a good option because of their biological properties. Accurate diagnosis and adequate treatment plan may constitute very complex tasks, particularly in tooth avulsion because several variables are involved. In addition to the technical knowledge and clinical experience directed toward the quality of treatment, patient education may favorably influence the survival of replanted teeth.

Crystallization, preliminary X-ray analysis and Patterson search of a new aspartic protease isolated from human urine

Aspartic protease (EC 3.4.23) make up a widely distributed class of enzymes in animals, plants, microbes and, viruses. In animals these enzymes perform diverse functions, which range from digestion of food proteins to very specific regulatory roles. In contrast the information about the well-characterized aspartic proteases, very little is known about the corresponding enzyme in urine. A new aspartic protease isolated from human urine has been crystallized and X-ray diffraction data collected to 2.45 Angstrom resolution using a synchrotron radiation source. Crystals belong to the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) the cell parameters obtained were a=50.99, b=75.56 and c=89.90 Angstrom. Preliminary analysis revealed the presence of one molecule in the asymmetric unit. The structure was determined using the molecular replacement technique and is currently being refined using simulated annealing and conjugate gradient protocols.

Search for Genomic Alterations in Monozygotic Twins Discordant for Cleft Lip and/or Palate

Phenotypically discordant monozygotic twins offer the possibility of gene discovery through delineation of molecular abnormalities in one member of the twin pair. One proposed mechanism of discordance is postzygotically occurring genomic alterations resulting from mitotic recombination and other somatic changes. Detection of altered genomic fragments can reveal candidate gene loci that can be verified through additional analyses. We investigated this hypothesis using array comparative genomic hybridization; the 50K and 250K Affymetrix GeneChip (R) SNP arrays and an Illumina custom array consisting of 1,536 SNPs, to scan for genomic alterations in a sample of monozygotic twin pairs with discordant cleft lip and/or palate phenotypes. Paired analysis for deletions, amplifications and loss of heterozygosity, along with sequence verification of SNPs with discordant genotype calls did not reveal any genomic discordance between twin pairs in lymphocyte DNA samples. Our results demonstrate that postzygotic genomic alterations are not a common cause of monozygotic twin discordance for isolated cleft lip and/or palate. However, rare or balanced genomic alterations, tissue-specific events and small aberrations beyond the detection level of our experimental approach cannot be ruled out. The stability of genomes we observed in our study samples also suggests that detection of discordant events in other monozygotic twin pairs would be remarkable and of potential disease significance.

Search for Mycobacterium leprae in wild mammals

Leprosy is still a worldwide public health problem. Brazil and India show the highest prevalence rates of the disease. Natural infection of armadillos Dasypus novemcinctus with Mycobacterium leprae has been reported in some regions of the United States. Identification of bacilli is difficult, particularly due to its inability to grow in vitro. The use of molecular tools represents a fast and sensitive alternative method for diagnosis of mycobacteriosis. In the present study, the diagnostic methods used were bacilloscopy, histopathology, microbiology, and PCR using specific primers for M. leprae repetitive sequences. PCR were performed using genomic DNA extracted from 138 samples of liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and skin of 44 D. novemcinctus, Euphractus sexcinctus, Cabassous unicinctus, and C. tatouay armadillos from the Middle Western region of the state of São Paulo and from the experimental station of Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) Pantanal, located in Pantanal da Nhecolândia of Mato Grosso do Sul state. Also, the molecular analysis of 19 samples from internal organs of other road killed species of wild animals, such as Nasua nasua (ring-tailed coati), Procyon cancrivoros (hand-skinned), Cerdocyon thous (dog-pity-bush), Cavia aperea (restless cavy), Didelphis albiventris (skunk), Sphigurrus spinosus (hedgehog), and Gallictis vittata (ferret) showed PCR negative data. None of the 157 analyzed samples had shown natural mycobacterial infection. Only the armadillo inoculated with material collected from untreated multibacillary leprosy patient presented PCR positive and its genomic sequencing revealed 100% identity with M. leprae. According to these preliminary studies, based on the used methodology, it is possible to conclude that wild mammals seem not to play an important role in the epidemiology of leprosy in the Middle Western region of the São Paulo state and in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul state.

A common Tabu search algorithm for the global optimization of engineering problems

A novel common Tabu algorithm for global optimizations of engineering problems is presented. The robustness and efficiency of the presented method are evaluated by using standard mathematical functions and hy solving a practical engineering problem. The numerical results show that the proposed method is (i) superior to the conventional Tabu search algorithm in robustness, and (ii) superior to the simulated annealing algorithm in efficiency. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient robust optimization based on polynomial chaos and tabu search algorithm

The study of robust design methodologies and techniques has become a new topical area in design optimizations in nearly all engineering and applied science disciplines in the last 10 years due to inevitable and unavoidable imprecision or uncertainty which is existed in real word design problems. To develop a fast optimizer for robust designs, a methodology based on polynomial chaos and tabu search algorithm is proposed. In the methodology, the polynomial chaos is employed as a stochastic response surface model of the objective function to efficiently evaluate the robust performance parameter while a mechanism to assign expected fitness only to promising solutions is introduced in tabu search algorithm to minimize the requirement for determining robust metrics of intermediate solutions. The proposed methodology is applied to the robust design of a practical inverse problem with satisfactory results.

On the search for potential anti-Trypanosoma cruzi drugs: Synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-hydroxy-3-methylamino and 1,2,3-triazolic naphthoquinoidal compounds obtained by click chemistry reactions

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)