Optical implementation of the Hopfield model

Optical implementation of content addressable associative memory based on the Hopfield model for neural networks and on the addition of nonlinear iterative feedback to a vector-matrix multiplier is described. Numerical and experimental results presented show that the approach is capable of introducing accuracy and robustness to optical processing while maintaining the traditional advantages of optics, namely, parallelism and massive interconnection capability. Moreover a potentially useful link between neural processing and optics that can be of interest in pattern recognition and machine vision is established

EVALUATING SEMANTIC ANALYSIS METHODS FOR SHORT ANSWER GRADING USING LINEAR REGRESSION

The assessment of free-text answers may demand significant human effort, especially in scenarios with many students. This paper focuses on the automatic grading of short answer written in Portuguese language using techniques of natural language processing and semantic analysis. A previous study found that a similarity scoring model might be more suitable to a question type than to another. In this study, we combine latent semantic analysis (LSA) and a WordNet path-based similarity method using linear regression to predict scores for 76 short answers to three questions written by high school students. The predicted scores compared well to human scores and the use of combined similarity scores showed an improvement in overall results in relation to a previous study on the same corpus. The presented approach may be used to support the automatic grading of short answer using supervised machine learning to weight different similarity scoring models. &nbsp

Eficácia do fenbendazole (Hoe 881) em doses múltiplas na ascaridiose, ancilostomose e tricocefalose

Os autores trataram 98 indivíduos, sendo 73 com fenbendazoie e 25 com mebendazoie. O controle de cura foi de quatro exames de fezes em um mês. A tolerância foi ótima para ambas as drogas. O fenbendazoie negativou 17 (100%) com A. lumbricoides, 32 (68%) com ancilostomideos e 50 (79,3%) com T. trichiurus. Comparativamente o mebendazoie negativou 10 (91%), parasitados pelo A. lumbricoides, 13 (92,8%) parasitados pelos ancilostomideos e 20 (100%) parasitados pelo T.trichiurus. O mebendazoie é preferível ao fenbendazoie.The authors treated 98 individuals, 73 with fenbendazoie and 25 with mebendazoie. The control of cure was by four stool examinations in a month. The tolerance of both drugs was excellent. Fenbendazoie cured 17 (100%) with A. lumbricoides, 32 (68%) with hookworm and 50 (79.3%) with T.trichuris. Comparatively mebendazoie cured 10 (91%) patients with A. lumbricoides, 13 (92.8%) with hookworm and 20 (100%) with T.trichuris. Mebendazoie is preferable to fenbendazoie

Características da morte súbita tida como não esperada na doença de Chagas

Trinta e cinco indivíduos falecidos subitamente e de modo inesperado foram necropsiados em Serviços Médico-Legais em Uberaba e Uberlândia. A sorologia do líquido pericárdico e os achados anatomopatológicos estabeleceram o diagnóstico de doença de Chagas. Todos, exceto dois, eram do sexo masculino e tinham idade média de 38 anos. Resolvemos fazer uma investigação retrospectiva procurando obter de familiares e amigos e nos registros médicos informações sobre as circunstâncias do óbito e manifestações que pudessem constituir possíveis indícios de doença cardíaca e de comprometimento de outros órgãos. Em 31,2% não havia quaisquer sintomas ou suspeita de cardiopatia. Contudo, em 57,1% dos casos conseguimos detectar história de tonturas (42,8%), dispnéia de esforço (48%), perda de consciência (34,2%) e palpitações (31,4%). A disfagia e ou a obstipação estavam presentes em 38%. Não houve correlação entre a sintomatologia e a intensidade da miocardite. Em 56% o êxito letal surgiu enquanto desenvolviam esforço físico ou tinham emoção. Pelo modo como ocorreu o óbito pode-se concluir que a iminência deste não foi pressentida pelo paciente ou circunstantes em 43,8% dos casos; no restante, o óbito súbito foi precedido de indícios, tais como gestos, pedidos de ajuda, etc. Somente em 5 dos 35 casos o eletrocardiograma havia sido realizado meses ou anos antes do óbito: todos apresentavam alterações.Thirty five individuals who died suddenly and unexpectedly were autopsied at Medico-Legal Services in Uberaba and Uberlandia (State of Minas Gerais-Brazil). Serology of the pericardial fluid and histopathological findings established a diagnosis of Chagas' disease. All, with two exceptions were males and their mean age was 38 years. We decided to conduct a retrospective investigation regarding the manner of death of chagasic patients who died suddenly from information obtained from family members and friends. The questionaire explored possible cardiac and systemic factors related to the risk of such an event. In 31.2% there were no symptoms norsuspicion of cardiopathy. However, in 57,1% it was possible to detect a history of dizziness (42,8%), dyspnoea on exertion(48%), loss of conciousness (34,2%) andpalpitations (31,4%). Dysphagia and or constipation was present in 38%. There was no correlation between symptomatology and the intensity of myocarditis on histopathological examination. In 56% the death occurred during physical exercise oran emotionalepisode. From the mannerof death we can conclude that there was no indication that such an event would occur in 43.8% of patients. In the rest the death waspreceeded by signs on thepart of the patient that he was in difficulty. Electrocardiograms were available from only fivepatients: all were abnormal

Local Adaptive Receptive Field Self-Organizing Map for Image Segmentation

A new self-organizing map with variable topology is introduced for image segmentation. The proposed network, called Local Adaptive Receptive Field Self-Organizing Map (LARFSOM-RBF), is a two-stage network capable of both color and border segment images. The color segmentation stage is responsibility of LARFSOM which is characterized by adaptive number of nodes, fast convergence and variable topology. For border segmentation RBF nodes are included to determine the border pixels using previously learned information of LARFSOM. LARFSOM-RBF was tested to segment images with different degrees of complexity showing promising results