Distributed Theory of Mind in Multi-Agent Systems

Theory of Mind is a concept from developmental psychology which elucidates how humans mentalise. More specifically, it describes how humans ascribe mental attitudes to others and how they reason about these mental attitudes. In the area of Artificial Intelligence, Theory of Mind serves as a fundamental pillar in the design of intelligent artificial agents that are supposed to coexist with humans within a hybrid society. Having the ability to mentalise, these artificial agents could potentially exhibit a range of advanced capabilities that underlie meaningful communication, including empathy and the capacity to better understanding the meaning behind the utterances others make. In this paper, we propose a distributed theory of mind approach in multi-agent systems, in which agents and human users share evidence to reach more supported conclusions about each other’s mental attitudes. We demonstrate our approach in a scenario of stress detection, in which personal agents infer whether their users are stressed or not according to the distributed theory of mind approach

Bioinformatics of the sugarcane EST project

The Sugarcane EST project (SUCEST) produced 291,904 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) in a consortium that involved 74 sequencing and data mining laboratories. We created a web site for this project that served as a ?meeting point? for receiving, processing, analyzing, and providing services to help explore the sequence data. In this paper we describe the information pathway that we implemented to support this project and a brief explanation of the clustering procedure, which resulted in 43,141 clusters.O projeto SUCEST (Sugarcane EST Project) produziu 291.904 ESTs de cana-de-açúcar. Nesse projeto, o Laboratório de Bioinformática criou o web site que foi o ponto de encontro dos 74 laboratórios de sequenciamento e data mining que fizeram parte do consórcio para o projeto. O Laboratório de Bioinformática (LBI) recebeu, processou, analisou e disponibilizou ferramentas para a exploração dos dados. Neste artigo os dados, serviços e programas implementados pelo LBI para o projeto são descritos, incluindo o procedimento de clustering que gerou 43.141 clusters.915Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Are all Brazil nuts selenium-rich?

Editores: Gary S. Banuelos, Zhi-Qing Lin, Milton Ferreira Moraes, Luiz Roberto Guimarães Guilherme, Andre Rodrigues dos Reis

Drug release mechanisms of chemically cross-linked albumin microparticles: effect of the matrix erosion

Albumin (BSA) microparticles were developed as a biotechnological alternative for drug delivery. Vitamin B12 (Vit-B12) was used as a model drug. The microparticles were obtained from maleic anhydride-functionalized BSA and N′,N′-dimethylacrylamide (DMAAm) in a W/O emulsion without and with PVA. The microparticles produced at 15 min of stirring without PVA showed the best results in terms of size, homogeneity, and sphericity. In such a case, BSA played a role as a surface active agent, replacing PVA. For longer stirring times, BSA was unable to act as an emulsifier. These microparticles showed an uncommon release profile, consisting of a two-step release mechanism, at the pH range studied. Considering that a two-step release mechanism is occurring, the experimental data were adjusted by applying modified power law and Weibull equations in order to describe release mechanism n and release rate constant k, respectively. Each one of the release stages was related to a specific value of n and k. The second stage was driven by a super case II transport mechanism, as a result of diffusion, macromolecular relaxation, and erosion. A third model, described by Hixson–Crowell, confirmed the erosion mechanism. Vit-B12 diffusion kinetics in aqueous solutions (i.e., without the microparticles) follows a one-step process, being k dependent on the pH, confirming that the two-step release mechanism is a characteristic profile of the developed microparticles. The microparticles released only 2.70% of their initial drug load at pH 2, and 58.53% at pH 10

ACESSIBILIDADE CURRICULAR: PRÁTICAS PEDAGÓGICAS INCLUSIVAS DE ALUNOS DO PROGRAMA TUTORIA.

A presente pesquisa apresenta a experiência pedagógica de dois tutores do programa de Tutoria Pedagógica e ex-bolsistas apoiadores do Núcleo de Acessibilidade e Inclusão Acadêmica - NAIA. Tem como objetivo compreender como a prática pedagógica tem impactado na melhoria da acessibilidade curricular de um aluno com baixa visão e outro com Transtorno do Espectro Autismo – TEA, ambos discentes matriculados em cursos de graduação da Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará - Unifesspa, município de Marabá/PA. O presente trabalho de abordagem qualitativa, teve como instrumentos a pesquisa bibliográfica sobre inclusão e acessibilidade para alunos com deficiência, entrevistas com alunos tutorados e observação participante, na busca de compreender as contribuições do programa tutoria através da prática pedagógica dos alunos tutores que tiveram acompanhamento e formação por meio do departamento de Atendimento Educacional Especializado - AEE e da coordenadora do programa Tutoria Pedagógica do NAIA. Compartilhar o resultado dessa experiência, referente as práticas pedagógicas dos alunos tutores contribuem para novos conhecimentos como também suscitar outras temáticas de pesquisa na área de inclusão

Etrace Express: software for risk analysis of trace elements in inorganic fertilizers - user's manual and reference guide.

bitstream/item/77800/1/doc-300.pd

Efficiency of Phytoseiulus longipes Evans as a control agent of Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard (Acari: Phytoseiidae: Tetranychidae) on screenhouse tomatoes

The spider mite Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard can cause severe damage to tomato crops. The predatory mite Phytoseiulus longipes Evans was recently reported in association with T. evansi in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of P. longipes on the population of T. evansi on tomatoes under screenhouse condition. The study consisted on four experiments, in each of which 80 potted plantlets were distributed in two plots of 40 plantlets each. Two weeks later, each plantlet of both plots was infested with eight adult females of T. evansi; one week after, four adult females of P. longipes were released onto each plant of one plot. The population levels of T. evansi and the damage caused by these mites were significantly lower (P < 0.05; linear mixed-effect model) in the plots where P. longipes had been released. The results indicate the potential of this predator as a candidate for classical biological control of T. evansi by inoculative releases on tomato plants.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Developmen

A genome-wide association study for morphometric traits in quarter horse

A genome-wide association study for morphometric traits was conducted in 184 Quarter Horses, 120 from a racing population, and 64 from a cutting population, which were genotyped using the Illumina EquineSNP50 chip. Association analysis was performed with 42,058 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (after quality control) using Qxpak5 software. The following traits were measured: weight (W), rump length (RL), and body length (BL). These morphometric traits are important for the best performance in race and cutting events. For weight, three SNPs associated (P < .0001) were found on chromosomes (Equus caballus autosomes [ECA]) 2 and 3. For rump length, eight SNPs associated (P < .0001) were found on ECA 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 21, and 26. On ECA 3 and ECA 8, two SNPs were associated (P < .0001) with body length. So, a total of 13 important chromosomal regions were identified with Q values of 0.53 (SNPs for W), 0.40 (SNPs for RL), and 0.99 (SNPs for BL). Positional and functional candidate genes emerging from this study were WWOX and AAVPR1A. Further studies are required to confirm these associations in other populations. (c) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved