974 resultados para problem instance behavior
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Population ageing is a problem that countries will have to cope with within a few years. How would changes in the social security system affect individual behaviour? We develop a multi-sectoral life-cycle model with both retirement and occupational choices to evaluate what are the macroeconomic impacts of social security reforms. We calibrate the model to match 2011 Brazilian economy and perform a counterfactual exercise of the long-run impacts of a recently adopted reform. In 2013, the Brazilian government approximated the two segregated social security schemes, imposing a ceiling on public pensions. In the benchmark equilibrium, our modelling economy is able to reproduce the early retirement claiming, the agents' stationary distribution among sectors, as well as the social security deficit and the public job application decision. In the counterfactual exercise, we find a significant reduction of 55\% in the social security deficit, an increase of 1.94\% in capital-to-output ratio, with both output and capital growing, a delay in retirement claims of public workers and a modification in the structure of agents applying to the public sector job.
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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
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Multi-objective combinatorial optimization problems have peculiar characteristics that require optimization methods to adapt for this context. Since many of these problems are NP-Hard, the use of metaheuristics has grown over the last years. Particularly, many different approaches using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) have been proposed. In this work, an ACO is proposed for the Multi-objective Shortest Path Problem, and is compared to two other optimizers found in the literature. A set of 18 instances from two distinct types of graphs are used, as well as a specific multiobjective performance assessment methodology. Initial experiments showed that the proposed algorithm is able to generate better approximation sets than the other optimizers for all instances. In the second part of this work, an experimental analysis is conducted, using several different multiobjective ACO proposals recently published and the same instances used in the first part. Results show each type of instance benefits a particular type of instance benefits a particular algorithmic approach. A new metaphor for the development of multiobjective ACOs is, then, proposed. Usually, ants share the same characteristics and only few works address multi-species approaches. This works proposes an approach where multi-species ants compete for food resources. Each specie has its own search strategy and different species do not access pheromone information of each other. As in nature, the successful ant populations are allowed to grow, whereas unsuccessful ones shrink. The approach introduced here shows to be able to inherit the behavior of strategies that are successful for different types of problems. Results of computational experiments are reported and show that the proposed approach is able to produce significantly better approximation sets than other methods
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Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
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Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
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Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
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The aim of this paper is to study finite temperature effects in effective quantum electrodynamics using Weisskopf's zero-point energy method in the context of thermo, field dynamics. After a general calculation for a weak magnetic field at fixed T, the asymptotic behavior of the Euler-Kockel-Heisenberg Lagrangian density is investigated focusing on the regularization requirements in the high temperature limit. In scalar QED the same problem is also discussed.
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This paper concerns a type of rotating machine (centrifugal vibrator), which is supported on a nonlinear spring. This is a nonideal kind of mechanical system. The goal of the present work is to show the striking differences between the cases where we take into account soft and hard spring types. For soft spring, we prove the existence of homoclinic chaos. By using the Melnikov's Method, we show the existence of an interval with the following property: if a certain parameter belongs to this interval, then we have chaotic behavior; otherwise, this does not happen. Furthermore, if we use an appropriate damping coefficient, the chaotic behavior can be avoided. For hard spring, we prove the existence of Hopf's Bifurcation, by using reduction to Center Manifolds and the Bezout Theorem (a classical result about algebraic plane curves).
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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
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The number of the cities with canalized water and sewage treatment stations has increased lately and consequently having in mind the great concern on environment preservation and the quality of the water used by society. However, these stations are nowadays causing another kind of problem: a huge quantity of sludge as residue. Due to the implication of the residue on the environment and, consequently, to human life quality, performing of an accurate investigation about the components of such sludge, as well as the thermal stability of this residue in the environment become necessary. This paper presents a study on sludge from water and sewage treatment station, as well as the thermal characterization of residue. Such study was performed through FTIR, atomic absorption, thermoanalytical (TG/DTG, DTA) techniques, that made it possible to observe that the main components of the sludge are clay, carbonates and organic substance, presenting a low rate of metals and a unique thermal behavior since the sludge from the treatment station has a higher thermal stability.
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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
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Chagas' disease is a serious health problem for Latin America. The situation is worsened by the lack of efficient chemotherapy. The two available commercial drugs, benznidazole and nifurtimox, are more effective in the acute phase of the disease. Nitrofurazone is active against Trypanosoma cruzi, however its high toxicity precludes its current use in parasitosis. Hydroxymethylnitrofurazone is a prodrug of nitrofurazone. It is more active against Trypanosoma cruzi than nitrofurazone, besides being less toxic. This work shows the voltammetric behavior of nitrofurazone and a comparison with those of metronidazole and chloramphenicol using cyclic, linear sweep and differential pulse voltammetries. For these drugs also the prediction of the diffusion coefficients using Wilke-Chang equation was performed. The reduction of nitrofurazone is pH-dependent and in acidic medium the hydroxylamine derivative, involving four electrons, is the principal product formed. In aqueous-alkaline medium and with a glassy carbon electrode pre-treatment the reduction of nitrofurazone occurs in two steps, the first involving one electron to form the nitro-radical anion and the second corresponding to the hydroxylamine derivative formation. Hydroxymethylnitrofurazone presented the same voltammetric behavior and electroactivity, indicating that the molecular modification performed in nitrofurazone did not change its capacity to be reduced. A brief discussion regarding the differences in biological activity between the two compounds is also presented. ©2005 Sociedade Brasileira de Química.
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The present paper evaluates meta-heuristic approaches to solve a soft drink industry problem. This problem is motivated by a real situation found in soft drink companies, where the lot sizing and scheduling of raw materials in tanks and products in lines must be simultaneously determined. Tabu search, threshold accepting and genetic algorithms are used as procedures to solve the problem at hand. The methods are evaluated with a set of instance already available for this problem. This paper also proposes a new set of complex instances. The computational results comparing these approaches are reported. © 2008 IEEE.
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Thermal transformations on microalloyed steels can produce multiphase microstructures with different amounts of ferrite, martensite, bainite and retained austenite. These different phases, with distinct morphologies, are determinant of the mechanical behavior of the steel and can, for instance, affect the crack path or promote crack shielding, thus resulting in changes on its propagation rate under cyclic loading. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the effects of microstructure on the tensile strength and fatigue crack growth (FCG) behaviour of a 0.08%C-1,5%Mn (wt. pct.) microalloyed steel, recently developed by a Brazilian steel maker under the designation of RD480. This steel is being considered as a promising alternative to replace low carbon steel in wheel components for the automotive industry. Various microstructural conditions were obtained by means of heat treatments followed by water quench, in which the material samples were kept at the temperatures of 800, 950 and 1200 °C. In order to describe the FCG behavior, two models were tested: the conventional Paris equation and a new exponential equation developed for materials showing non-linear FCG behavior. The results allowed correlating the tensile properties and crack growth resistance to the microstructural features. It is also shown that the Region II FCG curves of the dual and multiphase microstructural conditions present crack growth transitions that are better modeled by dividing them in two parts. The fracture surfaces of the fatigued samples were observed via scanning electron microscopy in order to reveal the fracture mechanisms presented by the various material conditions. © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.