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.

Estimating and forecasting the volatility of Brazilian finance series using arch models (Preliminary Version)

The goal of this paper is to present a comprehensive emprical analysis of the return and conditional variance of four Brazilian …nancial series using models of the ARCH class. Selected models are then compared regarding forecasting accuracy and goodness-of-…t statistics. To help understanding the empirical results, a self-contained theoretical discussion of ARCH models is also presented in such a way that it is useful for the applied researcher. Empirical results show that although all series share ARCH and are leptokurtic relative to the Normal, the return on the US$ has clearly regime switching and no asymmetry for the variance, the return on COCOA has no asymmetry, while the returns on the CBOND and TELEBRAS have clear signs of asymmetry favoring the leverage e¤ect. Regarding forecasting, the best model overall was the EGARCH(1; 1) in its Gaussian version. Regarding goodness-of-…t statistics, the SWARCH model did well, followed closely by the Student-t GARCH(1; 1)

Factors affecting the technical efficiency of production of the Brazilian banking system : a comparison of four statistical models in the context of data envelopment analysis

This paper uses an output oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) measure of technical efficiency to assess the technical efficiencies of the Brazilian banking system. Four approaches to estimation are compared in order to assess the significance of factors affecting inefficiency. These are nonparametric Analysis of Covariance, maximum likelihood using a family of exponential distributions, maximum likelihood using a family of truncated normal distributions, and the normal Tobit model. The sole focus of the paper is on a combined measure of output and the data analyzed refers to the year 2001. The factors of interest in the analysis and likely to affect efficiency are bank nature (multiple and commercial), bank type (credit, business, bursary and retail), bank size (large, medium, small and micro), bank control (private and public), bank origin (domestic and foreign), and non-performing loans. The latter is a measure of bank risk. All quantitative variables, including non-performing loans, are measured on a per employee basis. The best fits to the data are provided by the exponential family and the nonparametric Analysis of Covariance. The significance of a factor however varies according to the model fit although it can be said that there is some agreements between the best models. A highly significant association in all models fitted is observed only for nonperforming loans. The nonparametric Analysis of Covariance is more consistent with the inefficiency median responses observed for the qualitative factors. The findings of the analysis reinforce the significant association of the level of bank inefficiency, measured by DEA residuals, with the risk of bank failure.

Effect of Environmental Temperature During the First Week of Brooding Period on Broiler Chick Body Weight, Viscera and Bone Development

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo estudar o efeito de diferentes temperaturas-ambiente durante a primeira semana de vida de pintos de corte sob parâmetros zootécnicos, desenvolvimento visceral e crescimento ósseo. Foram utilizados 240 pintos de um dia, alojados em 3 câmaras climáticas, com temperaturas constantes de 20, 25 e 35°C do 1° ao 7° dia de vida. Diariamente, o consumo de água e ração, bem como o peso vivo, o peso relativo do fígado, moela, coração, saco vitelino e bursa de Fabricius foram avaliados. A tíbia e o fêmur também foram pesados e o comprimento e espessura (diâmetro médio) mensurados. As aves criadas a 20°C ganharam menos peso e consumiram menos ração do que aves mantidas a 25°C e menos água do que aves mantidas a 35°C. O peso relativo do fígado, coração e moela foram afetados pela temperatura ambiente, entretanto, não foi observado efeito da temperatura de criação sobre o peso do saco vitelino e bursa de Fabricius. Os dados mostraram que todos os parâmetros ósseos pesquisados aumentaram com a idade das aves. A temperatura ambiente não afetou a espessura da tíbia e do fêmur, mas foi observado um aumento significativo no peso e comprimento dos ossos com o aumento da temperatura ambiente. Os resultados desse experimento mostraram que o estresse por frio (20°C) reduziu o crescimento ósseo bem como o peso vivo das aves, durante os primeiros sete dias após a eclosão.

Spontaneous Interblink Time Distributions in Patients with Graves' Orbitopathy and Normal Subjects

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estudo da função ventricular na técnica de plicatura da parede livre do ventrículo esquerdo em cães

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

Ultrasonographic and echobiometric findings in the eyes of Saanen goats of different ages

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

Estudo granulométrico de grãos de soja normal e transgênico

Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o propósito de estudar o comportamento granulométrico de grãos de soja em função da variação do teor de água. A pesquisa foi realizada com seis variedades, sendo duas transgênicas e quatro comuns, com os teores de água de 10%, 12%, 15%, 20% b.s. A granulometria foi determinada utilizando-se de seis subamostras de 120 grãos para cada teor de água, e as suas dimensões (comprimento, largura e espessura) obtidas por meio de paquímetro digital. Os resultados indicaram que cada variedade de soja comportou-se de maneira diferenciada e que as comuns tiveram comportamento granulométrico diferenciado das transgênicas.

Behavioural and seminal characteristics of Santa Ines rams subjected to successive semen collections in the Amazonian region

The objective of this study was to evaluate the reproductive performance of Santa Ines rams subjected to successive semen collections in an Amazonian climate. Four rams were subjected to successive ejaculations during a maximum period of three hours. This procedure was repeated three times at 15-day intervals. Sexual and behavioural (libido) and andrological (testicular and seminal) assessments were performed. A total of 81 ejaculates were collected. Libido and semen vigour, volume, appearance and concentration decreased as the ejaculation frequency increased (P<0.05) and sperm motility showed a decreasing trend (P=0.06). The seminal pH increased over the sequence of collections (P<0.05). The only significant differences observed between individual rams were the variable scrotal circumference and the percentages of live sperm and sperm abnormalities (P<0.05). All the parameters of the first ejaculation were within the normal range for this species, which suggests that the local climatic conditions (high temperature and humidity) did not affect the behavioural, testicular or seminal parameters of experimental rams. Our findings indicate that the reproductive performance of Santa Ines rams could be affected by the intensification of ejaculation frequency; however, individual male variation needs to be taken into consideration.

O Curso Normal de 1º Ciclo em Assu/RN (1951-1971)

The aim of this research is the analysis of the history of the Normal Course in the 1st period in Assu, Rio Grande do Norte, since its foundation by the state law no. 621, de 06 December 1951 until its demise, with the implementation of the Course of the Magisterium, by Federal Law 5692 from August 11, 1971. The goal is to answer how it was constituted the operation and the educational practices of this institution, teacher trainers, throughout its existence. For this, we analyze the institution's documents in focus interviews, legislation, of the education, newspapers and books of the season, guiding itself by the studies of Chartier (1991), Elias (2001), Certeau (2001), Frago (1995), Magalhães (2005) and Julia (2001). When dealing with an educational institution, the central category of analysis is the school culture, in which supported the cutting of specific categories of study: the entrance into the Normal Course, the conferring of a degree, the "Normalista Week‖ in Assu and formative elements. The Normal Course from 1st cycle formed teachers in a basic level, differing themselves from schools of teacher education of 2nd Cycle. It was founded in Assu as Regional Training Course and called Ginásio Normal in 1961.In the temporal cut studied, 279 women and 07 men were graduated as Regents of Elementary School, demonstrating a school attended virtually by women. In the narrative, it is restored to the inclusion of female students in the Normal Course, focusing on the processes of registration and the admission exams, graduation events, imbued with discourses on the social role of the teacher and the Party Normalista Week, which valued the sense of belonging with of students to the profession. Through theater plays in the school, of practices forming behaviors and stages of female students in elementary school, training elements are reassembled, demonstrating the discourse of modern education intermingled with the Christian Catholic values of the culture for female education. The reconstruction of the historical identity of this institution sometimes close, sometimes unique, when confronted with other schools of teacher training brings a contribution to the setting of the history of schooling in the state of Rio Grande do Norte

Attraction of the cutaneous leishmaniasis vector Nyssomyia neivai (Diptera: Psychodidae) to host odour components in a wind tunnel

Background: Laboratory studies of host-seeking olfactory behaviour in sandflies have largely been restricted to the American visceral leishmaniasis vector Lutzomyia longipalpis. In comparison, almost nothing is known about the chemical ecology of related species, which transmit American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL), due in part to difficulties in raising these insects in the laboratory. Understanding how ACL vectors locate their hosts will be essential to developing new vector control strategies to combat this debilitating disease.Methods: This study examined host-odour seeking behaviour of the ACL vector Nyssomyia neivai (Pinto) (=Lutzomyia neivai) using a wind tunnel olfactometer. The primary aim was to determine whether field-collected female N. neivai would respond to host odours in the laboratory, thereby eliminating the need to maintain colonies of these insects for behavioural experiments. Responses to two key host odour components, 1-octen-3-ol and lactic acid, and a commercially-available mosquito lure (BG-Lure (TM)) were assessed and compared relative to an air control. We also tested whether trials could be conducted outside of the normal evening activity period of N. neivai without impacting on fly behaviour, and whether the same flies could be used to assess baseline responses to air without affecting responses to octenol, thereby reducing the number of flies required for experiments.Results: Octenol was found to both activate host-seeking behaviour and attract female N. neivai in the wind tunnel, while lactic acid elicited weaker responses of activation and attractiveness under identical conditions. The BG-Lure did not activate or attract N. neivai under test conditions. Further experiments showed that sandfly behaviour in the wind tunnel was not affected by time of day, such that experiments need not be restricted to nocturnal hours. Moreover, using the same flies to measure both baseline responses to air and attraction to test compounds did not affect odour-seeking behaviour.Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that N. neivai taken from the field are suitable for use in laboratory olfactometer experiments. It is hoped this work will facilitate further research into chemical ecology of this species, and other ACL vectors.

Direct observation of oxidative stress on the cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with atomic force microscopy

We imaged pores on the surface of the cell wall of three different industrial strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae using atomic force microscopy. The pores could be enlarged using 10 mM diamide, an SH residue oxidant that attacks surface proteins. We found that two strains showed signs of oxidative damage via changes in density and diameter of the surface pores. We found that the German strain was resistant to diamide induced oxidative damage, even when the concentration of the oxidant was increased to 50 mM. The normal pore size found on the cell walls of American strains had diameters of about 200nm. Under conditions of oxidative stress the diameters changed to 400nm.This method may prove to be a useful rapid screening process (45-60 min) to determine which strains are oxidative resistant, as well as being able to screen for groups of yeast that are sensitive to oxidative stress. This rapid screening tool may have direct applications in molecular biology (transference of the genes to inside of living cells) and biotechnology (biotransformations reactions to produce chiral synthons in organic chemistry.

Electromyographic analysis of the masseter and buccinator muscles with the Pro-Fono Facial Exerciser use in bruxers

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the Pro-Fono Facial Exerciser (Pro-Fono Productos Especializaclos para Fonoaudiologia Ltda.., Barueri/SP, Brazil) to decrease bruxism, as well as the correlation between the masseter and the buccinator muscles using electromyography (EMG). In this study, 39 individuals ranging from 23 to 48 years of age were selected from a dental school and then underwent surface EMG at three different periods of time: 0, 10, and 70 days. They were divided into a normal control group, a bruxer control group (without device), and an experimental bruxer group who used the device. The bruxer group showed a greater masseter EMG amplitude when compared to the normal group, while the experimental group had deceased activity with a reduction in symptoms. The buccinator EMG spectral analysis of the experimental bruxist group showed asynchronous contractions of the masseter muscle (during jaw opening) after using the Pr6-Fono Facial Exerciser. The normal group also showed asynchronous contractions. Upon correlation of the data between these muscles, the inference is that there is a reduction in bruxism when activating the buccinator muscle.

Cubic approximation for the transverse displacement in BEM for elastic plates analysis

This work presents an application for the plate analysis formulation by BEM where 3 boundary equations are used, written for the transverse displacement w and the normal and tangential derivatives partial derivativew/partial derivativen and partial derivativew/partial derivatives. In this extension, the transverse displacement w is approximated by a cubic polynomial and, as a consequence, partial derivativew/partial derivatives has a quadratic approximation. This alternative BEM formulation improves the analysis of thin plates, when compared to the formulation using the linear approximation for the displacements, mainly in the obtaining of the bending moments at the boundary of the plate. The implementation of this proposal to the computational codes is simple. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Clinical and pathological assessment of 82 patients with cardiovascular diseases undergoing autopsy at the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu from 1988 to 1993

OBJECTIVE: To evaluated the clinical diagnostic, efficiency for basic death causes in patients dying of circulatory disease and de relative frequency of those diseases. METHODS: Analysis of medical record data of 82 patients, ages from 16 to 84 years old (68 over 40 years old), whose died of circulatory disease and had undergone necropsy in the period from 1988 to 1993 years in the University Hospital of Medicine Faculty of Botucatu-UNESP, Br. RESULTS: The functional class of patients were III or IV, in 78%, and 81.7% needed urgent hospitalization. By the clinical judgment the death were by ischemic heart disease in 32 (21 acute myocardial infarction), Chagas'disease in 12, valvopathy in 11, cardiomyopathy in 7, heart failure with no specification of cardiopathy in 11 and other causes in 9. At the necropsy the death cause was ischemic heart disease in 34 patients, valvopathy in 10, Chagas'disease in 10, cardiomyopathy in 5, and heart failure with no specification of cardiopathy in 2.The concordance taxes were in thhe same order: 94,6%, 90,0%, 83.3%, 71.4% and 28.5%. CONCLUSION: There was a great efficiency of clinical diagnosis for death cause in a general university hospital. The ischemic heart disease were the main causes of death.