Probing Interchain Interactions In Emissive Blends Of Poly[2-methoxy-5- (2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] With Polystyrene And Poly(styrene-co-2-ethylhexyl Acrylate) By Fluorescence Spectroscopy

We present dynamic and static photoluminescence studies on polymer blends of conjugated poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) with polystyrene-co-1-pyrenyl methyl methacrylate and its copolymer poly(styrene-co-2-ethylhexyl acrylate-co-1-pyrenylmethyl methacrylate) (with 9 mol% and 19 mol% of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate units and 0.06 mol% of 1-pyrenyl). Pyrenyl-labeled polystyrene and its copolymers were synthesized by emulsion polymerization and characterized by 13C and 1H-NMR, FTIR, GPC, DSC, and UV-Vis. Spin-coating films of the blends were prepared from chloroform solutions with 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and 5.0 wt% of MEH-PPV. The miscibility of these systems was studied by non-radiative energy transfer processes between the 1-pyrenyl moieties (the energy donor) and MEH-PPV (the energy acceptor). 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Clustering Of Complex Shaped Data Sets Via Kohonen Maps And Mathematical Morphology

Clustering is the process of discovering groups within the data, based on similarities, with a minimal, if any, knowledge of their structure. The self-organizing (or Kohonen) map (SOM) is one of the best known neural network algorithms. It has been widely studied as a software tool for visualization of high-dimensional data. Important features include information compression while preserving topological and metric relationship of the primary data items. Although Kohonen maps had been applied for clustering data, usually the researcher sets the number of neurons equal to the expected number of clusters, or manually segments a two-dimensional map using some a priori knowledge of the data. This paper proposes techniques for automatic partitioning and labeling SOM networks in clusters of neurons that may be used to represent the data clusters. Mathematical morphology operations, such as watershed, are performed on the U-matrix, which is a neuron-distance image. The direct application of watershed leads to an oversegmented image. It is used markers to identify significant clusters and homotopy modification to suppress the others. Markers are automatically found by performing a multi-level scan of connected regions of the U-matrix. Each cluster of neurons is a sub-graph that defines, in the input space, complex and nonparametric geometries which approximately describes the shape of the clusters. The process of map partitioning is extended recursively. Each cluster of neurons gives rise to a new map, which are trained with the subset of data that were classified to it. The algorithm produces dynamically a hierarchical tree of maps, which explains the cluster's structure in levels of granularity. The distributed and multiple prototypes cluster representation enables the discoveries of clusters even in the case when we have two or more non-separable pattern classes.43841627Vinod, V.V., Chaudhury, S., Mukherjee, J., Ghose, S., A connectionist approach for clustering with applications in image analysis (1994) IEEE Trans. Systems, Man & Cybernetics, 24 (3), pp. 356-384Costa, J.A.F., (1999) Automatic classification and data analysis by self-organizing neural networks, , Ph.D. Thesis. State University of Campinas, SP, BrazilEveritt, B.S., (1993) Cluster Analysis, , Wiley: New YorkKaufman, L., Rousseeuw, P., (1990) Finding Groups in Data: An Introduction to Cluster Analysis, , Wiley: New YorkSu, M.-C., Declaris, N., Liu, T.-K., Application of neural networks in cluster analysis (1997) Proc. of the 1997 IEEE Intl. Conf. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, pp. 1-6Kothari, R., Pitts, D., On finding the number of clusters (1999) Pattern Recognition Letters, 20, pp. 405-416Hardy, A., (1996) On the number of clusters. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 23, pp. 83-96Jain, A.K., Murty, M.N., Flynn, P.J., Data clustering: A review (1999) ACM Computing Surveys, 31 (3), pp. 264-323Ball, G., Hall, D., A clustering technique for summarizing multivariate data (1967) Behavioral Science, 12, pp. 153-155Bezdek, J.C., Pal, N.R., Some new indexes of cluster validity (1998) IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (Part B), 28, pp. 301-315Haykin, S., (1999) Neural Networks: A Comprehensive Foundation, , 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall: New YorkKamgar-Parsi, B., Gualtieri, J.A., Devaney, J.E., Kamgar-Parsi, B., Clustering with neural networks (1990) Biological Cybernetics, 63, pp. 201-208Frank, T., Kraiss, K.-F., Kuhlen, T., Comparative analysis of fuzzy ART and ART-2A network clustering performance (1998) IEEE Trans. on Neural Networks, 9, pp. 544-559Kohonen, T., (1997) Self-Organizing Maps, , 2nd Ed., Springer-Verlag: BerlinUltsch, A., Self-Organizing Neural Networks for Visualization and Classification (1993) Information and Classification, pp. 301-306. , O. Opitz et al. (Eds)., Springer: BerlinGirardin, L., (1995) Cyberspace geography visualization, , heiwww.unige.ch/girardin/cgvGonzales, R.C., Woods, R.E., (1992) Digital Image Processing. Reading, , MA: Addison-WesleyBarrera, J., Banon, J., Lotufo, R., Mathematical Morphology Toolbox for the Khoros System (1994) Image Algebra and Morphological Image Processing V, 2300, pp. 241-252. , E. Dougherty et al. Eds. Proc. SPIESerra, J., (1982) Image Analysis and Mathematical Morphology, , Academic Press: LondonNajman, L., Schmitt, M., Geodesic Saliency of Watershed Contours and Hierarchical Segmentation (1996) IEEE Trans. on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 18, pp. 1163-1173Bleau, A., Leon, L.J., Watershed-based segmentation and region merging Comp. Vis. Image Underst., 77, pp. 317-370Costa, J.A.F., Mascarenhas, N., Netto, M.L.A., Cell nuclei segmentation in noisy images using morphological watersheds (1997) Applications of Digital Image Processing XX., 3164, pp. 314-324. , A. Tescher Ed. Proc. of the SPIECosta, J.A.F., Netto, M.L.A., Estimating the Number of Clusters in Multivariate Data by Self-Organizing Maps (1999) International Journal of Neural Systems, 9 (3), pp. 195-202Costa, J.A.F., Netto, M.L.A., Cluster analysis using self-organizing maps and image processing techniques Proc. of the 1999 IEEE Intl. Conf. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, , Tokyo, JapanNakamura, E., Kehtarnavaz, N., Determining the number of clusters and prototype locations via multi-scale clustering (1998) Pattern Recognition Letters, 19, pp. 1265-1283Li, T., Tang, Y., Suen, S., Fang, L., Hierarchical classification and vector quantisation with neural trees (1993) Neurocomputing, 5, pp. 119-139Racz, J., Klotz, T., Knowledge representation by dynamic competitive learning techniques Proc. SPIE, 1469, pp. 778-783Adams, R., Butchart, K., Davey, N., Hierarchical classification with a competitive evolutionary neural tree (1999) Neural Networks, 12, pp. 541-551Costa, J.A.F., Netto, M.L.A., Automatic Data Classification by a Hierarchy of Self-Organizing Maps Proc. 1999 IEEE Intl. Conf. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, , Tokyo, JapanKoikkalainen, P., Progress with the Tree-Structured Self-Organizing Map (1994) Proc. of the 11 th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, pp. 211-215Miikkulainen, R., Script Recognition with Hierarchical Feature Maps (1990) Connection Science, pp. 83-10

Caracterização da condição física e fatores de risco cardiovascular de policiais militares rodoviários

ResumoObjetivoO objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar os níveis de condição, composição corporal e pressão arterial de policiais rodoviários do estado do Paraná - Brasil.MétodoFizeram parte da amostra 52 oficiais do sexo masculino (idade: 38,3±6,3 anos, massa corporal: 89,6±18,4kg) de diferentes patentes. Foram realizadas diversas mensurações para obtenção do índice de massa corporal (IMC), circunferência de cintura (CC), relação cintura/quadril (RCQ), composição corporal por meio da espessura de dobras cutâneas, potência aeróbia estimada indiretamente em teste de esforço ergométrico, resistência muscular localizada (RML) de membros superiores e abdominal e os níveis pressóricos foram aferidos por método auscultatório.ResultadosConsiderando as variáveis analisadas, os policiais rodoviários apresentaram IMC de 28,6±4,8kg/m2, risco cardiovascular elevado (95,4±10,8cm) para CC e alto (0,92±0,05) para RCQ. O percentual de gordura corporal apresentou-se acima dos valores recomendáveis (23,6±4,3 %) para saúde, a potência aeróbia estimada foi considerada boa (34,8±1,1ml/kg/min), a RML de membros superiores (21±8 repetições) e foi obtida por realização dos testes de abdominal e flexão de braço, respectivamente (28±8 repetições) foram classificadas como média e uma parcela importante dos oficiais (23 %) mostraram-se com níveis pressóricos elevados.ConclusãoOs policiais militares rodoviários mostraram-se com níveis inadequados de condição física, apresentando excesso de peso e adiposidade corporais, e, uma parcela importante, exibiu níveis pressóricos elevados, sugerindo elevado risco cardiovascular.AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the physical fitness, body composition and blood pressure of highway police officers in the state of Paraná, Brazil.MethodThe sample consisted of 52 male (38.3±6.3 years old, 89.6±18.4kg) where the following determinations were performed: body mass index (BMI); waist circumference (WC); waist/hip ratio (WHR); body composition (skinfold thickness); aerobic power (indirectly estimated in a treadmill test); muscle strength of the upper limbs was measured by the number of push-ups and abdominal strength by the number of crunches (ES) and blood pressure (measured by auscultatory method).ResultsThe highway police officers had a BMI classified as mild obesity (28.6±4.8kg/m2), and a higher cardiovascular risk as determined by WC (95.4±10.8cm) and WHR (0.92±0.05). The percentage of body fat was above the recommended values (23.6±4.3 %) but the aerobic power was considered good (34.8±1.1ml/kg/min). Mean ES upper body (21±8 repetitions) and abdomen (28±8 repetitions) were qualified as fair but mean blood pressure was considered high in 23 % of the police officers.ConclusionBased on our results it was possible to conclude that although the police officers presented good levels of aerobic power and muscle strength, they are overweight and showed a higher cardiovascular risk

Tannic acid is not mutagenic in germ cells but weakly genotoxic in somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster

Tannic acid (TA) was tested for genotoxic activity in three different assays (1-3) in Drosophila melanogaster by feeding of larvae or adult flies. TA did not induce sex-linked recessive lethals (1) nor sex-chromosome loss, mosaicism or non-disjunction (2) in male germ cells. In the wing somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) (3) TA was found to be toxic for larvae of the high bioactivation cross and produced a weak positive response. These results suggest that this compound, when administered orally to larvae or adults of D.melanogaster, is not mutagenic and clastogenic in male germ cells, but weakly genotoxic in somatic cells of the wing imaginal dis

Cell Nuclei Segmentation In Noisy Images Using Morphological Watersheds

A major problem in image processing and analysis is the segmentation of its components. Many computer vision tasks process image regions after segmentation, and the minimization of errors is then crucial for a good automatic inspection system. This paper presents an applied work on automatic segmentation of cell nuclei in digital noisy images. One of the major problems when using morphological watersheds is oversegmentation. By using an efficient homotopy image modification module, we prevent oversegmentation. This module utilizes diverse operations, such as sequential filters, distance transforms, opening by reconstruction, top hat, etc., some in parallel, some in cascade form, leading to a new set of internal and external cell nuclei markers. Very good results have been obtained and the proposed technique should facilitate better analysis of visual perception of cell nuclei for human and computer vision. All steps are presented, as well as the associated images. Implementations were done in the Khoros system using the MMach toolbox.3164314324Costa, J.A.F., Andrade Netto, M.L., Parts classification in assembly lines using multilayer feedforward neural networks Proc. of the 1997 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man., and Cybernetics, , Orlando, Florida, October 12-15Gonzaga, A., Costa, J.A.F., Moment invariants applied to the recognition of objects using neural networks (1996) Proceedings of SPIE, 2847, pp. 223-233. , Applications of Digital Image Processing XIX, Andrew G. Tescher, EditorMascarenhas, N.D.A., Velasco, F.R.D., (1989) Processamento digital de imagens. 2a. Ed., , I Escola Brasileiro-Argentina de Informática. Buenos Aires: Ed. KapeluszSilver, D., Object-oriented visualization (1995) IEEE Camputer Graphics and Applications, 15 (3), pp. 54-62. , MayBallard, D., Brown, C., (1982) Computer Vision, , Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.JKass, M., Witkin, A., Terzopoulos, D., Snakes: Active contour models (1988) Int'l. J. Computer Vision, 1 (4), pp. 321-331Choi, C., Jennings, A., Learning to segment using fuzzy boundary cell features (1996) Proc. of Complex Systems ConferenceHasegawa, A., Cullen, K.J., Man, S.K., Segmentation and analysis of breast cancer pathological images by na adaptive-sized hybrid neural network (1996) Proc. SPIE, 2710, pp. 752-762. , Medical Imaging: Image Processing, Murray H. LoewKenneth M. HansonEdsBarrera, J., Banon, G.J.F., Lotufo, R.A., Mathematical morphology toolbox for the KHOROS system (1994) Conf. on Image Algebra and Morphological Image Processing V, Intl. Symposium on Optics, Imaging and Instrumentation, , SPIE's Annual Meeting, 24-29 July. San Diego, USAMatheron, G., (1975) Random Sets and Integral Geometry, , John Wiley and Sons, New YorkSerra, J., (1982) Image Analysis and Mathematical Morphology, , Academic Press, LondonGiardina, C.R., Dougherty, E.R., (1988) Morphological Methods in Image and Signal Processing, , Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJHaralick, R.M., Sternberg, S.R., Zhuang, X., Image analysis using mathematical morphology (1987) IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 9, pp. 532-550Dougherty, E.R., An introduction to morphological image processing (1992) SPIE Tutorial Text, TT09Heijmans, H.J.A.M., (1994) Morphological Image Operators, , Academic Press, BostonBeucher, S., Lantuéjoul, C., Use of watersheds in contour detection (1979) Proc. Int'l Workshop Image Processing, Real-Time Edge and Motion Detection/Estimation, , Rennes, France, Sept. 17-21Najman, L., Schmitt, M., Geodesic saliency of watershed contours and hierarchical segmentation (1996) IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell., 18 (12), pp. 1163-1173Vincent, L., Sollie, P., Watersheds in digital space: An efficient algorithm based on immersion simulations (1991) IEEE Trans. on Pattern Anal and Machine Intell., 13 (6), pp. 583-598Michael, W.H., William, E.H., Watershed-driven relaxation labeling for image segmentation (1994) Proceedings ICIP-94, 3, pp. 460-463. , IEEE International Conference on Image ProcessingPerry, S., (1996) Fast Interactive Segmentation for Content Based Retrieval and Navigation, , mini-thesis submited for transfer of registration from MPhil to PhD., University of Southampton, UK, OctoberMeyer, F., Color image segmentation (1992) 4th International Conference on Image Processing and its Applications, pp. 303-306. , IEE, Conference Publication No. 354Beucher, S., Segmentation tools in mathematical morphology (1990) Proceedings SPIE, 1350, pp. 70-84. , Image Algebra and Morphological Image Processing(P.D. Gader, ed.)Haris, K., Efstratiadis, S.N., Maglaveras, N., Pappas, C., Hybrid image segmentation using watersheds (1996) Proc. SPIE Vol. 2727, Visual Communications and Image Processing '96, 2727, pp. 1140-1151. , Rashid AnsariMark J. SmithEdsMeyer, F., Beucher, S., Morphological segmentation (1990) J. Visual Comm. & Img. Repr., 1, pp. 21-46Lotufo, R., Trettel, E., Image segmentation by mathematical morphology - Laboratory notes (1996) Brazilian Workshop'96 on Mathematical Morphology, , São Paulo, Feb 27 - March 1Barrera, J., Banon, G.J.F., Lotufo, R.A., Hirata R., Jr., (1997) MMach: A Mathematical Morphology Toolbox for the KHOROS System, , Tech. Report RT-MAC-9704. IME/University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. MayRasure, J., Jordán, R., Lotufo, R., Teaching image processing with khoros (1994) 1994 IEEE Conf. on Image Processing, , ftp://ftp.dca.fee.unicamp.brRasure, J., Williams, C., An integrated data flow visual language and software development environment (1991) Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, pp. 217-246Konstatinides, K., Rasure, J., The khoros software development environment for image and signal processing (1994) IEEE Trans. on Image Processing, 3 (3), pp. 243-252. , MayJordan, R., Lotufo, R., (1994) Digital Image Processing with Khoros 2.0, , World Wide Web (WWW) CoursewareRasure, J., Kubica, S., Tutorial: The Khoros application development environment (1993) VI Simpósio Brasileiro de Computação Gráfica e Processamento de Imagens, , Recife, P

Evidences of the Cerium Oxide-Catalysed DPF Regeneration in a Real Diesel Engine Exhaust

The active phase Ce0.5Pr0.5O2 has been loaded on commercial substrates (SiC DPF and cordierite honeycomb monolith) to perform DPF regeneration experiments in the exhaust of a diesel engine. Also, a powder sample has been prepared to carry out soot combustion experiments at laboratory. Experiments performed in the real diesel exhaust demonstrated the catalytic activity of the Ce–Pr mixed oxide for the combustion of soot, lowering the DPF regeneration temperature with regard to a counterpart catalyst-free DPF. The temperature for active regeneration of the Ce0.5Pr0.5O2-containing DPF when the soot content is low is in the range of 500–550 °C. When the Ce0.5Pr0.5O2-containing DPF is saturated with a high amount of soot, pressure drop and soot load at the filter reach equilibrium at around 360 °C under steady state engine operation due to passive regeneration. The uncoated DPF reached this equilibrium at around 440 °C. Comparing results at real exhaust with those at laboratory allow concluding that the Ce0.5Pr0.5O2-catalysed soot combustion in the real exhaust is not based on the NO2-assisted mechanism but is most likely occurring by the active oxygen-based mechanism.The authors thank the financial support of Generalitat Valenciana (Project Prometeo 2009/047), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project CIT-420000-2009-48) and EU (FEDER funding)

Diabetes e exercícios : análise da glicemia em pacientes tipo I e tipo II

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Non-alcoholic fatty liver in hereditary fructose intolerance

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by fat accumulation affecting >5% of the liver volume that is not explained by alcohol abuse. It is known that fructose gives rise to NAFLD and it has been recently described that the ingestion of fructose in low amounts in aldolase B deficient mice is associated with the development of fatty liver. Therefore, it is reasonable that patients with HFI (Hereditary Fructose Intolerance) present fatty liver at diagnosis, but its prevalence in patients treated and with adequate follow-up is not well documented in the literature. The aim of this study is to analyze the association between HFI and NAFLD in treated patients. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted. The population comprised 16 genetically diagnosed HFI patients aged from 3 years to 48 and in dietary treatment of fructose, sorbitol and sacarose exclusion at least for two years. Blood samples were obtained for analytical studies and anthropometric measurements of each patient were performed. Results: Patients presented a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 17.9 ± 2.9 kg/m 2 . The HOMA index and Quick index were in normal range for our population. The S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM)/S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH) ratio was increased in the patients in whom this analysis was performed. By imaging techniques it was observed that 9 of the 16 patients presented fatty liver (7 by hepatic MRI). Of these 9 patients, only 3 presented hepatomegaly. 7 of 9 patients affected by the c.448G > C mutation had fatty infiltration, of which three of them presented in addition hepatomegaly. Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of fatty liver in HFI patients and it is not related to obesity and insulin resistance. The diagnosis of fatty liver in HFI patients and, above all, the identification of new therapeutic approaches, can positively impact the quality of life of these patients

Proof of concept of the SCR of NOx in a real diesel engine exhaust using commercial diesel fuel and a full size Pt/beta zeolite/honeycomb monolith

The Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) of NOx has been performed in a real diesel exhaust stream with commercial diesel fuel by using a full size home-made Pt/beta zeolite/honeycomb prototype catalyst. Fuel was injected upstream the catalyst to achieve total hydrocarbons concentrations between 1000 and 5000 ppm, and the SCR behaviour observed was similar to that typically reported in laboratory experiments performed with model hydrocarbons. Typical NOx removal volcano-shape profiles, with maxima at 250 °C for all THC inlet concentrations, were obtained, with an optimum THC concentration of 3000 ppm.The authors thank the financial support of Generalitat Valenciana (Project Prometeo 2009/047), the Spanish ministries of Economy and Competitiveness (Project CTQ2012-30703) and Science and Innovation (Project CIT-420000-2009-48), and EU for the FEDER resources

Green manure in coffee systems in the region of Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais: characteristics and kinetics of carbon and nitrogen mineralization.

The use of green manure may contribute to reduce soil erosion and increase the soil organic matter content and N availability in coffee plantations in the Zona da Mata, State of Minas Gerais, in Southeastern Brazil. The potential of four legumes (A. pintoi, C. mucunoides, S. aterrimum and S. guianensis)to produce above-ground biomass, accumulate nutrients and mineralize N was studied in two coffee plantations of subsistence farmers under different climate conditions. The biomass production of C. mucunoides was influenced by the shade of the coffee plantation.C. mucunoides tended to mineralize more N than the other legumes due to the low polyphenol content and polyphenol/N ratio. In the first year, the crop establishment of A. pintoi in the area took longer than of the other legumes, resulting in lower biomass production and N2 fixation. In the long term, cellulose was the main factor controlling N mineralization. The biochemical characteristics, nutrient accumulation and biomass production of the legumes were greatly influenced by the altitude and position of the area relative to the sun