Artificial intelligence techniques for modeling financial analysis

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnologico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Florianópolis, 1996Although monitoring financial health of small firms is decisive to their success, these firms commonly present difficulty when analysing their operational financial condition. In order to overcome this fact, the present thesis proposes a financial knowledge representation that is capable of proposing alternative actions whenever a deviation is detected. The knowledge representation developed recognizes the existence of different phases of analysis: one that looks for some clues about possible financial problems and another one that focuses on with more detail the potential problems detected by the prior phase.The vagueness present in many semantic rules was implemented by using the Theory of Fuzzy Sets. The uncertainty about the future behavior of some key financial variables is incorporated by means of managers perceptions about trends and events. A practical formulation of this proposal is done considering the retail bus sector

The electrodissolution of base palladium in relation to the oxygen electroadsorption and electrodesorption in sulphuric acid solution

The electrodissolution of palladium electrode immersed in 1 M H2SO4 under both repetitive triangular potential sweeps and combined potential perturbation functions has been investigated by using the rotating ring—disc electrode technique. The contribution of palladium electrodissolution in the voltammogram changes in going from the first potential scan to the following ones. This contribution also depends on the characteristics of the potential perturbation programme applied to the electrode. Different potential ranges associated with the formation of soluble palladium(II) are distinguished, which correlate with those corresponding to electrochemical reactions already established. The results are explained through a competitive reaction pathway involving the formation of Pd(OH) and Pd(OH)+ intermediate species. The influence of ageing effects and anion adsorption on the formation of soluble palladium(II) is also discussed.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y AplicadasFacultad de Ciencias Exacta

Formação de Comunidades Virtuais em Ambientes de E-learning uma Aplicação Utilizando Agentes Inteligentes

… visÌvel que o e-learning desponta como a principal opÁ„o de ensino-aprendizagem para as pessoas que necessi-tam manter-se atualizadas, mas n„o podem utilizar-se dos mo-delos tradicionais de ensino, seja por problemas financeiros, de tempo e espaÁo, ou qualquer outro motivo. Mas os ambientes de e-learning n„o simplesmente transportam o ambiente fÌsico de uma sala de aula para um ambiente virtual. V·rios conceitos pre-cisam ser redefinidos, como a interaÁ„o entre os alunos de um curso virtual. Em um modelo tradicional, a experiÍncia nos mos-trou que o aprendizado informal, na troca de informaÁies entre os ìatoresî de uma sala de aula, gera um conhecimento valioso. Em um modelo virtual, para a interaÁ„o entre os alunos È neces-s· ria a criaÁ„o de comunidades virtuais entre os usu·rios do ambiente. Este estudo descreve os conceitos relativos ‡s comu-nidades virtuais, a tecnologia de agentes inteligentes e apresen-ta um modelo de utilizaÁ„o destes para a formaÁ„o autom·tica de comunidades virtuais, a partir das caracterÌsticas dos usu·ri-os do sistema

ACCase cross-resistance in Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) sub-populations from Oregon, US

ACCase-resistant Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) is one of the most troublesome weeds in US wheat production systems. This study had the objective of determining the resistance pattern of three subpopulations selected from a winter wheat field with history of ACCase-inhibitor herbicides applications in Oregon. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to test four ACCase-inhibitor herbicides for the control of the three sub-populations: Pinoxaden, clethodim, sethoxydim and clodinafop. All three sub-populations were cross-resistant to the commercial dose of at least two herbicides. One sub-population was cross-resistant to all herbicides tested. This resistance pattern highlights the need of studying different ACCase herbicides for crossresistance, as well as herbicides with different modes of action for multiple-resistance to control these subpopulations.Keywords: Acetyl-coA carboxylase, aryloxyphenoxypropionate, cyclohexanodione, herbicide resistanceACCase-Kreuzresistenz bei Subpopulationen des Italienischen Weidelgrases (Lolium multiflorum) in Oregon, USAACCase-resistentes Italienisches Weidelgras (Lolium multiflorum) ist eines der problematischsten Ungräser in nordamerikanischen Weizenanbausystemen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Bestimmung des Resistenzmusters dreier Subpopulationen, die aus einem Winterweizenfeld mit einer ausgeprägten Historie von Herbizidapplikationen mit ACCase-Inhibitoren stammten. Ein Gewächshausversuch wurde durchgeführt um die Bekämpfung der drei Subpopulationen mit vier ACCase-Inhibitoren zu untersuchen: Pinoxaden, Clethodim, Sethoxydim und Clodinafop. Alle drei Subpopulationen zeigten bei einer Applikation mit der empfohlenen Aufwandmenge Kreuzresistenzen gegen mindestens zwei der getesteten Wirkstoffe. Eine Subpopulation erwies sich als kreuzresistent gegen alle vier getesteten Wirkstoffe. Die beobachteten Resistenzmuster unterstreichen die dringende Notwendigkeit der Erforschung verschiedener ACCase-Inhibitoren bezüglich ihrer Kreuzungsresistenzmuster, sowie die Untersuchung von Herbiziden mit unterschiedlichen Wirkungsweisen auf vorhandene multiple Resistenzen mit dem Ziel der Bekämpfung dieser Subpopulationen. Stichwörter: Acetyl-coA-carboxylase, Aryloxyphenoxypropionate, Cyclohexanodione, Herbizidresisten

evaluation of Zn-Cr(III)-organic coating by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

O controle da corrosão de aço eletrogalvanizado empregando soluções à base de sais de Cr VI é amplamente conhecido e estudado. No entanto, pesquisadores vêm buscando alternativas para substituir estes sais já que diretrizes ambientais e industriais exigem que sejam banidos. Os revestimentos de conversão à base de Cr III têm mostrado um desempenho compatível aos baseados em Cr VI. Neste trabalho são utilizadas medidas de espectroscopia de impedância eletroquímica (EIE) em NaCl 0,05 mol/L e em Na2 SO4 0,1 mol/L, durante o tempo de imersão, para avaliar a resistência à corrosão de aço eletrogalvanizado revestido com tratamento à base de Cr III e pintado com três diferentes revestimentos orgânicos. Os revestimentos orgânicos sãocaracterizados por sua adesão. Os resultados mostram um comportamento semelhante para os três revestimentos e, apesar de uma segunda constante de tempo ter sido observada nos ajustes de EIE, os valores de R2 indicam uma baixa velocidade de corrosão. O sistema Zn – Cr III – revestimento orgânico é compatível ao sistema Zn – Cr VI – revestimento orgânico, para o período de imersão considerado.Corrosion control of electrogalvanized steel employing Cr VI based treatments is widely known and studied. However, researchers have been trying to find out alternatives to replace these salts once they must be banned in accord to environmental and industrial guidelines. Cr III – based conversion coatings have shown performance compatible to Cr VI – based treatments. In this work, EIS measurements are performed in NaCl 0,05 mol/L and Na2 SO4 0,1 mol/L, during the immersion time, to evaluate the corrosion resistance of electrogalvanized steel passivated with Cr III – based conversion treatment and painted with three different organic coatings. The organic coatings are characterized by their adherence. The results show a similar behavior for the three coatings and, despite a second constant time has been pointed by the EIS fitting, the R2 values indicate a low corrosion rate. The system Zn – Cr III – organic coating is compatible to the system Zn – Cr VI – organic coating, for the immersion period considered.Fil: Queiroz, Fernanda Martins. Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia de Materiais; BrasilFil: Elsner, Cecilia Ines. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo En Tecnología de Pinturas (i); Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Tomachuk, Celia Regina. Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia de Materiais; BrasilFil: Di Sarli, Alejandro Ramón. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Costa, Isolda. Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia de Materiais; Brasi

Risk assessment of wildlife-watching tourism in an important endangered loggerhead turtle rookery

T: Wildlife-watching tourism is a non-exploitative activity that can contribute to sustainable economic development of coastal communities. However, it is important to assess the potential impact and implement best practices to mitigate any negative effects of such tourism. We studied this issue on Boa Vista (Cabo Verde), which supports around 60% of nesting activity of one of the most endangered loggerhead turtle rookeries globally. Between 2013 and 2016, authorized turtle watching involved 4942 tourists, generating a mean annual direct income of >USD 289 000 and the direct creation of >250 jobs. On João Barrosa beach, which supports around 20% of nests and 48% of turtle-watching activity on the island, we tested the influence of turtle watching on nesting behavior, reproduction and nest-site fidelity. Nesting females observed by tourists spent significantly less time on nest-camouflaging behavior, although all other phases of nesting were unaffected. There were no statistically significant differences between the re-nesting frequency of females watched (n = 187) and non-watched (n = 972) by tourists. We found no evidence that the current turtle-watching intensity has an effect on turtle reproduction. Turtle poaching remains a severe threat on beaches with no turtle watching, although it has strongly decreased on beaches with tourist visits. We suggest tour guides follow best practice guidelines to minimize disturbance, specifically retreating from the immediate vicinity of a female during nest camouflaging to mitigate the observed impact.Peer reviewe

A Real-Time Energy-Saving Mechanism in Internet of Vehicles Systems

[EN] Emerging technologies, such as self-driving cars and 5G communications, are raising new mobility and transportation possibilities in smart and sustainable cities, bringing to a new echo-system often referred to as Internet of Vehicles (IoV). In order to efficiently operate, an IoV system should take into account more stringent requirements with respect to traditional IoT systems, e.g., ultra-broadband connections, high-speed mobility, high-energy efficiency and requires efficient real-time algorithms. This paper proposes an energy and communication driven model for IoV scenarios, where roadside units (RSUs) need to be frequently assigned and re-assigned to the operating vehicles. The problem has been formulated as an Uncapacitated Facility Location Problem (UFLP) for jointly solving the RSU-to-vehicle allocation problem while managing the RSUs switch-on and -off processes. Differently from traditional UFLP approaches, based on static solutions, we propose here a fast-heuristic approach, based on a dynamic multi-period time scale mapping: the proposed algorithm is able to efficiently manage in real-time the RSUs, selecting at each period those to be activated and those to be switched off. The resulting methodology is tested against a set of benchmark instances, which allows us to illustrate its potential. Results, in terms of overall cost-mapping both energy consumption and transmission delays-, number of active RSUs, and convergence speed, are compared with static approaches, showing the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic solution. It is noticeable a gain of up to 11% in terms of overall cost with respect to the static approaches, with a moderate additional delay for finding the solution, around 0.8 s, while the overall number of RSUs to be switched on is sensibly reduced up to a fraction of 15% of the overall number of deployed RSUs, in the most convenient scenario.The work of Luca Cesarano and Andrea Croce has been done during an abroad study period at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain, supported by Erasmus+ Study Programme of the European Union.Cesarano, L.; Croce, A.; Martins, LDC.; Tarchi, D.; Juan-Pérez, ÁA. (2021). A Real-Time Energy-Saving Mechanism in Internet of Vehicles Systems. IEEE Access. 9:157842-157858. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3130125157842157858

Enhancement of current peak multiplicity related to cuprous oxide electroreduction and transient copper activation in alkaline solution

Anodic films formed on Cu electrodes immersed in 0.1 M NaOH in the Cu/Cu(I) potential range were subjected to combined triangular potential sweeps and then immediately electroreduced to confirm the multiplicity of the species anodically formed and to investigate the roughening and sintering processes at the metal surface. These two processes are tentatively related to the increaee in the cathodic current in the hydrogen evolution potential range, a fact which is apparently due to the electrode surface morphology attained after the potential perturbation programme was applied to the electrode, as deduced from SEM patterns.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Electric vehicle routing, arc routing, and team orienteering problems in sustainable transportation

[EN] The increasing use of electric vehicles in road and air transportation, especially in last-mile delivery and city mobility, raises new operational challenges due to the limited capacity of electric batteries. These limitations impose additional driving range constraints when optimizing the distribution and mobility plans. During the last years, several researchers from the Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research communities have been developing optimization, simulation, and machine learning approaches that aim at generating efficient and sustainable routing plans for hybrid fleets, including both electric and internal combustion engine vehicles. After contextualizing the relevance of electric vehicles in promoting sustainable transportation practices, this paper reviews the existing work in the field of electric vehicle routing problems. In particular, we focus on articles related to the well-known vehicle routing, arc routing, and team orienteering problems. The review is followed by numerical examples that illustrate the gains that can be obtained by employing optimization methods in the aforementioned field. Finally, several research opportunities are highlighted.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (PID2019-111100RB-C21-C22/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, RED2018-102642-T), the SEPIE Erasmus+Program (2019-I-ES01-KA103-062602), and the IoF2020-H2020 (731884) project.Do C. Martins, L.; Tordecilla, RD.; Castaneda, J.; Juan-Pérez, ÁA.; Faulin, J. (2021). Electric vehicle routing, arc routing, and team orienteering problems in sustainable transportation. Energies. 14(16):1-30. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14165131130141

Microbial communities on plastic particles in surface waters differ from subsurface waters of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

The long-term fate of plastics in the ocean and their interactions with marine microorganisms remain poorly understood. In particular, the role of sinking plastic particles as a transport vector for surface microbes towards the deep sea has not been investigated. Here, we present the first data on the composition of microbial communities on floating and suspended plastic particles recovered from the surface to the bathypelagic water column (0-2000 m water depth) of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Microbial community composition of suspended plastic particles differed from that of plastic particles afloat at the sea surface. However, in both compartments, a diversity of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria was identified. These findings indicate that microbial community members initially present on floating plastics are quickly replaced by microorganisms acquired from deeper water layers, thus suggesting a limited efficiency of sinking plastic particles to vertically transport microorganisms in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.HN, AV were financed through the European Research Council (ERC-CoG Grant Nr 772923, project VORTEX). PDM was supported by NWO (VI.Veni.212.040)