Analyzing the determinant characteristics for a good performance at enade brazilian exam stratified by teaching modality: face-to-face versus online

The National Student Performance Exam (ENADE) annually evaluates different Brazilian higher education courses. This exam considers both face-to-face and distance learning courses. Distance learning is growing increasingly, especially during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This study applies different techniques for selecting ENADE 2018 database characteristics, like information gain, gain rate, symmetric uncertainty, Pearson correlation, and relief F. The objective of the work is to discover which personal and socioeconomic characteristics are decisive for the student's performance at ENADE, whether the student is in the context of Distance Education or face-to-face. It can be concluded, among other results, that: the father's level of education directly influences performance; the higher the income, the better the performance; and white students have better performance than black and brown-skinned ones. Thus, the results obtained in this study may initiate analyzes of public policies towards improving performance at ENADE.This study was supported by CNPq (305805/2021-5) and PNPD/CAPES (464880/2019-00)

Influence of stoichiometry and structure on the optical properties of AlNxOy films

The AlNxOy system offers the possibility to obtain a wide range of responses, by tailoring the properties between Al, AlN and Al2O3, opening a significant number of possible applications. The aim of this work is to correlate the optical properties of AlNxOy thin films with their composition and structural features, taking as reference the binary systems AlNx and AlOy. In the AlNx system, the increase of the nitrogen content induced a wide variation in the optical properties, ranging from the typical profile of a polycrystalline Al-type film towards nearly constant reflectance values as low as 5%, as well as a smooth increase in samples transparency as the ratio N/Al approached unit. In the case of the AlOy system, the reflectance also decreased as the oxygen content increased, however the transition to transparent films (Al2O3-like) was more abrupt. The ternary system AlNxOy, revealed optical responses that ranged from a typical profile of a polycrystalline Al-type film, towards low and constant reflectance values in a wide range of x and y coefficients, ending up as semi-transparent when Al2O3-like films were formed. The unusual low optical reflectance of some films reveals some potential applications in solar power systems and sensors.This research is sponsored by FEDER funds through the program COMPETE-Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade, by national funds through FCT,, under the projects PTDC/CTMNAN/ 112574/2009 and PEST-C-FIS/UI607/2011–2012, and Programa Pessoa 2010/2011—Cooperação Portugal/França, Proc. no 441.00, Project ‘COLOURCLUSTER’. J Borges also acknowledges FCT financial support under PhD grant no SFRH/BD/47118/200

Applying d-XChoquet integrals in classification problems

Several generalizations of the Choquet integral have been applied in the Fuzzy Reasoning Method (FRM) of Fuzzy Rule-Based Classification Systems (FRBCS's) to improve its performance. Additionally, to achieve that goal, researchers have searched for new ways to provide more flexibility to those generalizations, by restricting the requirements of the functions being used in their constructions and relaxing the monotonicity of the integral. This is the case of CT-integrals, CC-integrals, CF-integrals, CF1F2-integrals and dCF-integrals, which obtained good performance in classification algorithms, more specifically, in the fuzzy association rule-based classification method for high-dimensional problems (FARC-HD). Thereafter, with the introduction of Choquet integrals based on restricted dissimilarity functions (RDFs) in place of the standard difference, a new generalization was made possible: the d-XChoquet (d-XC) integrals, which are ordered directional increasing functions and, depending on the adopted RDF, may also be a pre-aggregation function. Those integrals were applied in multi-criteria decision making problems and also in a motor-imagery brain computer interface framework. In the present paper, we introduce a new FRM based on the d-XC integral family, analyzing its performance by applying it to 33 different datasets from the literature.Supported by Navarra de Servicios y Tecnologías, S.A. (NASERTIC), CNPq (301618/2019-4, 305805/2021-5), FAPERGS (19/2551-0001660-3), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (TIN2016-77356-P, PID2019- 108392GB I00 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)

Detection of virulence genes in Salmonella Heidelberg isolated from chicken carcasses

During the last years, Brazilian government control programs have detected an increase of Salmonella Heidelberg in poultry slaughterhouses a condition that poses a threat to human health However, the reasons remain unclear. Differences in genetic virulence profiles may be a possible justification. In addition, effective control of Salmonella is related to an efficient epidemiological surveillance system through genotyping techniques. In this context, the aim of this study was the detection of 24 virulence-associated genes in 126 S. Heidelberg isolates. We classified the isolates into 56 different genetic profiles. None of the isolates presented all the virulence genes. The prevalence of these genes was high in all tested samples as the lowest number of genes detected in one isolate was 10/24. The lpfA and csgA (fimbriae), invA and sivH (TTSS), and msgA and tolC (intracellular survival) genes were present in 100% of the isolates analyzed. Genes encoding effector proteins were detected in the majority of SH isolates. No single isolate had the sefA gene. The pefA gene was found in only four isolates. We have also performed a screening of genes associated with iron metabolism: 88.9% of isolates had the iroN gene and 79.4% the sitC gene. Although all the isolates belong to the same serotype, several genotypic profiles were observed. These findings suggest that there is a diversity of S. Heidelberg isolates in poultry products. The fact that a single predominant profile was not found in this study indicates the presence of variable sources of contamination caused by SH. The detection of genetic profiles of Salmonella strains can be used to determine the virulence patterns of SH isolates