Shannon, rényie and tsallis entropy analysis of DNA using phase plane

This paper analyzes DNA information using entropy and phase plane concepts. First, the DNA code is converted into a numerical format by means of histograms that capture DNA sequence length ranging from one up to ten bases. This strategy measures dynamical evolutions from 4 up to 410 signal states. The resulting histograms are analyzed using three distinct entropy formulations namely the Shannon, Rényie and Tsallis definitions. Charts of entropy versus sequence length are applied to a set of twenty four species, characterizing 486 chromosomes. The information is synthesized and visualized by adapting phase plane concepts leading to a categorical representation of chromosomes and species.

Training control centers' operators in incident diagnosis and power restoration using intelligent tutoring systems

The activity of Control Center operators is important to guarantee the effective performance of Power Systems. Operators’ actions are crucial to deal with incidents, especially severe faults like blackouts. In this paper, we present an Intelligent Tutoring approach for training Portuguese Control Center operators in tasks like incident analysis and diagnosis, and service restoration of Power Systems. Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) approach is used in the training of the operators, having into account context awareness and the unobtrusive integration in the working environment. Several Artificial Intelligence techniques were criteriously used and combined together to obtain an effective Intelligent Tutoring environment, namely Multiagent Systems, Neural Networks, Constraint-based Modeling, Intelligent Planning, Knowledge Representation, Expert Systems, User Modeling, and Intelligent User Interfaces.

Analysis and visualization of chromosome information

This paper analyzes the DNA code of several species in the perspective of information content. For that purpose several concepts and mathematical tools are selected towards establishing a quantitative method without a priori distorting the alphabet represented by the sequence of DNA bases. The synergies of associating Gray code, histogram characterization and multidimensional scaling visualization lead to a collection of plots with a categorical representation of species and chromosomes.

Personality, emotion, and mood in agent-based group decision making

Group decision making plays an important role in organizations, especially in the present-day economy that demands high-quality, yet quick decisions. Group decision-support systems (GDSSs) are interactive computer-based environments that support concerted, coordinated team efforts toward the completion of joint tasks. The need for collaborative work in organizations has led to the development of a set of general collaborative computer-supported technologies and specific GDSSs that support distributed groups (in time and space) in various domains. However, each person is unique and has different reactions to various arguments. Many times a disagreement arises because of the way we began arguing, not because of the content itself. Nevertheless, emotion, mood, and personality factors have not yet been addressed in GDSSs, despite how strongly they influence results. Our group’s previous work considered the roles that emotion and mood play in decision making. In this article, we reformulate these factors and include personality as well. Thus, this work incorporates personality, emotion, and mood in the negotiation process of an argumentbased group decision-making process. Our main goal in this work is to improve the negotiation process through argumentation using the affective characteristics of the involved participants. Each participant agent represents a group decision member. This representation lets us simulate people with different personalities. The discussion process between group members (agents) is made through the exchange of persuasive arguments. Although our multiagent architecture model4 includes two types of agents—the facilitator and the participant— this article focuses on the emotional, personality, and argumentation components of the participant agent.

An emotional and context-aware model for adapting RSS news to users and groups

The exhibition of information does not always attend to the preferences and characteristics of the users, nor the context that involves the user. With the aim of overcoming this gap, we propose an emotional context-aware model for adapting information contents to users and groups. The proposed model is based on OCC and Big Five models to handle emotion and personality respectively. The idea is to adapt the representation of the information in order to maximize the positive emotional valences and minimize the negatives. To evaluate the proposed model it was developed a prototype for adapting RSS news to users and group of users.

Group decision making and Quality-of-information in e-Health systems

Knowledge is central to the modern economy and society. Indeed, the knowledge society has transformed the concept of knowledge and is more and more aware of the need to overcome the lack of knowledge when has to make options or address its problems and dilemmas. One’s knowledge is less based on exact facts and more on hypotheses, perceptions or indications. Even when we use new computational artefacts and novel methodologies for problem solving, like the use of Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs), the question of incomplete information is in most of the situations marginalized. On the other hand, common sense tells us that when a decision is made it is impossible to have a perception of all the information involved and the nature of its intrinsic quality. Therefore, something has to be made in terms of the information available and the process of its evaluation. It is under this framework that a Multi-valued Extended Logic Programming language will be used for knowledge representation and reasoning, leading to a model that embodies the Quality-of-Information (QoI) and its quantification, along the several stages of the decision-making process. In this way, it is possible to provide a measure of the value of the QoI that supports the decision itself. This model will be here presented in the context of a GDSS for VirtualECare, a system aimed at sustaining online healthcare services.

Neutrino masses and mixing in A(4) models with three Higgs doublets

We study neutrino masses and mixing in the context of flavor models with A(4) symmetry, three scalar doublets in the triplet representation, and three lepton families. We show that there is no representation assignment that yields a dimension-5 mass operator consistent with experiment. We then consider a type-I seesaw with three heavy right-handed neutrinos, explaining in detail why it fails, and allowing us to show that agreement with the present neutrino oscillation data can be recovered with the inclusion of dimension-3 heavy neutrino mass terms that break softly the A(4) symmetry.

User modeling and recommendation strategies for tourism

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

Beliefs and attitudes about endemic dental fluorosis among adolescents in rural Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To understand beliefs and attitudes about fluorosis among young people living in a rural area. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES: Qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with 23 adolescents with dental fluorosis, 14 teachers and three health authorities in the city of São Francisco, Southeastern Brazil, in 2002. Content analysis and social representation theory were applied. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS: The organoleptic characteristics of carbonates that affect groundwater (salty flavor, whitish coloration, and turbidity) associated with negative aspects of household use of this water are considered a cause of mottled enamel. Even after contact with researchers who investigated this phenomenon and helped find a solution for this condition, the local population is still unwilling to accept fluoride as the cause of the problem and does not fully agree to use water from other sources because they are afraid of the quality of water. CONCLUSIONS: Misperceptions of the causes of dental fluorosis and water treatment costs compromise the implementation of uncontaminated surface water supplies. Health education strategies are required in parallel with solutions for securing water supply in drought-ravaged areas.

Invisible cities: the table of contents and the labyrinths of reality

In Invisible Cities (1972), Italo Calvino contrasts a rigid outline structure with a flexible textual content. The tension comprised by the numerical structure proposed in the table of contents stands out against the set of polissemic texts which make up the subject matter of the book. The opposition between form and content point to a fruitful dichotomy in the conception of the novel linked to the theories of the open and closed work. This essay will investigate the structural construction of Invisible Cities by looking at its table of contents, seeking to discuss some models of formalistic representation proposed by the criticism and the specific contribution they may, or may not, provide. The objective is to analyse the pertinence of such theories in the light of historical and cultural approaches. Aiming to uncover possible meanings which arise from the debate, this essay will question to what extent structural complexities can be considered literary if they are not ultimately related to the culture in which a text is found.

Analysis and visualization of seismic data using mutual information

Seismic data is difficult to analyze and classical mathematical tools reveal strong limitations in exposing hidden relationships between earthquakes. In this paper, we study earthquake phenomena in the perspective of complex systems. Global seismic data, covering the period from 1962 up to 2011 is analyzed. The events, characterized by their magnitude, geographic location and time of occurrence, are divided into groups, either according to the Flinn-Engdahl (F-E) seismic regions of Earth or using a rectangular grid based in latitude and longitude coordinates. Two methods of analysis are considered and compared in this study. In a first method, the distributions of magnitudes are approximated by Gutenberg-Richter (G-R) distributions and the parameters used to reveal the relationships among regions. In the second method, the mutual information is calculated and adopted as a measure of similarity between regions. In both cases, using clustering analysis, visualization maps are generated, providing an intuitive and useful representation of the complex relationships that are present among seismic data. Such relationships might not be perceived on classical geographic maps. Therefore, the generated charts are a valid alternative to other visualization tools, for understanding the global behavior of earthquakes.

Fractional dynamics and MDS visualization of earthquake phenomena

This paper analyses earthquake data in the perspective of dynamical systems and fractional calculus (FC). This new standpoint uses Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) as a powerful clustering and visualization tool. FC extends the concepts of integrals and derivatives to non-integer and complex orders. MDS is a technique that produces spatial or geometric representations of complex objects, such that those objects that are perceived to be similar in some sense are placed on the MDS maps forming clusters. In this study, over three million seismic occurrences, covering the period from January 1, 1904 up to March 14, 2012 are analysed. The events are characterized by their magnitude and spatiotemporal distributions and are divided into fifty groups, according to the Flinn–Engdahl (F–E) seismic regions of Earth. Several correlation indices are proposed to quantify the similarities among regions. MDS maps are proven as an intuitive and useful visual representation of the complex relationships that are present among seismic events, which may not be perceived on traditional geographic maps. Therefore, MDS constitutes a valid alternative to classic visualization tools for understanding the global behaviour of earthquakes.

East of Suez and the imaginary tangles of space and self

Drawing on postcolonial studies and the theorization on imperial gothic, this paper centres on three texts: The Hosts of the Lord (1900) by Flora Annie Steel; East of Suez (1901) by Alice Perrin, and The Way of an Eagle (1912)by Ethel Dell. These three texts highlight in different ways the discursive mediation of the Other and its destabilizing effects on the identity of the European-minded colonizer, thus foregrounding the multifarious nature of the British imaginative engagement with India. In this context, it is particularly relevant to examine the political and ideological implications of representing anywhere East of Suez as a locus of primitivism and chaos vis-à-vis the colonizer’s ambivalent reactions. Thus we seek to demonstrate the power of two distinct practices or modes of representation – namely, the power of a metaphorical discourse versus metonymic discourse- within the proces of constructing the East for a vast Western readership.

The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles: royal mediation and press mediatization

Bearing in mind the relationship between discourse and society at large, this article addresses the way the British monarchy represented Charles’s second marriage and the way the media constructed their accounts in the period from 10 February (announcement) until 9 April 2005 (wedding) in relation to wider issues such as power relations, newspaper economic structures and popular culture. Particular attention is paid to the multifunctional features of discourse (i.e. its ideational, interpersonal and textual functions), which requires a contextualized reading of a dual process of mediation: on the one hand, the staging of the ceremony by St. James’s Palace and its strategy for attaining monologic closure and, on the other hand, discursive representations by the British press open to a polyphony of voices and discursive frames

Differences in Mismatch Negativity (MMN) response to Pure-tone and Speech sounds in normal subjects: an additional explanation

The relation of automatic auditory discrimination, measured with MMN, with the type of stimuli has not been well established in the literature, despite its importance as an electrophysiological measure of central sound representation. In this study, MMN response was elicited by pure-tone and speech binaurally passive auditory oddball paradigm in a group of 8 normal young adult subjects at the same intensity level (75 dB SPL). The frequency difference in pure-tone oddball was 100 Hz (standard = 1 000 Hz; deviant = 1 100 Hz; same duration = 100 ms), in speech oddball (standard /ba/; deviant /pa/; same duration = 175 ms) the Portuguese phonemes are both plosive bi-labial in order to maintain a narrow frequency band. Differences were found across electrode location between speech and pure-tone stimuli. Larger MMN amplitude, duration and higher latency to speech were verified compared to pure-tone in Cz and Fz as well as significance differences in latency and amplitude between mastoids. Results suggest that speech may be processed differently than non-speech; also it may occur in a later stage due to overlapping processes since more neural resources are required to speech processing.