Orientadores: Ricardo Ribeiro Gudwin, Mauro Sérgio Miskulin / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T11:27:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Toro_PatriciaRochade_M.pdf: 1770305 bytes, checksum: 02d6f251e74543e47b5eba113be09f32 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: O uso de emoções como metáfora computacional para o desenvolvimento de sistemas de controle para agentes autônomos tem recebido diversas contribuições na literatura recente. Nesta dissertação apresentamos uma arquitetura para um Agente Emocional Hedonista, inspirada parcialmente em diversas destas contribuições. Para tanto, desenvolvemos um controlador que confere comportamento autônomo a uma criatura artificial. Duas implementações foram realizadas: uma baseada em um algoritmo heurístico e a outra, em um algoritmo genético. Ambas as implementações consideram dois níveis de controle hierárquico: um nível de controle direto e um nível de decisão de metas. Desenvolveu-se um simulador para a criatura artificial onde diferentes controladores podem ser acoplados à criatura, por meio da rede, rodando como processos separados. Utilizou-se em ambos os casos "Medo", "Fome" e "Curiosidade" como metáforas emocionais. O trabalho sinaliza, entre outros resultados, a adequação dessas metáforas como design patterns para a construção do comportamento do agente, sugerindo um novo paradigma de programação no desenvolvimento de agentes, que substitui uma programação orientada a casos de uso por uma programação orientada a propósitos / Abstract: The use of emotions as a computational metaphor for the development of autonomous agents control systems has received many contributions in the recent literature. In this work, we present an architecture for an Hedonistic Emotional Agent, partially inspired in many of such contributions. For that, we developed a controller which confers autonomous behavior to an artificial creature. Two implementations were performed: the first based on the generation of an heuristic algorithm, and the second one using a genetic algorithm. Both of them considers two layers of control: a low level of direct control and a higher level of goal decision. We developed a simulator for the artificial creature where different controllers can be attached to the creature through the network, running as different processes. We used in both cases "Fear", "Hunger" and "Curiosity" as emotional metaphors. The work signalizes, among others results, the adequacy of these metaphors as "design patterns" for the construction of agent behavior, suggesting a new programming paradigm in the development of agents, which exchanges a use-case oriented programming for a purpose-oriented new way of programming / Mestrado / Engenharia de Computação / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Orientador: Claudio Airoldi / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T06:59:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MeloJunior_MauricioAlvesde_D.pdf: 5727295 bytes, checksum: f6680a1dc4c1e8e3bcc70187b640db77 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Dois novos agentes sililantes foram sintetizados através das reações individuais das moléculas etanolamina e dietanolamina com o precursor 3- glicidoxidopropiltrimetoxissilano. Estas interações foram possíveis pela abertura do anel epóxido, presente na extremidade da cadeia do precursor, com os centros básicos das aminas. As sínteses destes novos agentes foram confirmadas por espectroscopia na região do infravermelho, mostrando a ausência das bandas referentes às deformações simétrica e assimétrica do anel epóxido. Os agentes sililantes foram, então, utilizados na modificação da superfície da sílica gel e também nas sínteses de filossilicatos de níquel e cobalto. A modificação da sílica foi realizada através das rotas homogênea e heterogênea, originando materiais com estruturas semelhantes, quando foram empregados os mesmos sililantes, porém, houve uma superioridade significante no grau de funcionalização através da rota homogênea, como comprovado pela análise elementar. As sínteses dos filossilicatos organofuncionalizados foram realizadas através do processo sol-gel, cujas estruturas são similares à do talco natural, ou seja, filossilicatos de estrutura 2:1 trioctaédricos, sendo que os metais níquel e cobalto ocupando os sítios octaédricos. Todos os materiais sintetizados foram caracterizados por análise elementar, espectroscopia na região do infravermelho, ressonância magnética nuclear dos núcleos de 13C e 29Si e termogravimetria. Informações estruturais dos filossilicatos ainda foram fornecidas por difratometria de raios X e microscopia eletrônica de varredura. Os materiais foram usados em adsorção de íons bário e cobre, sendo que as sílicas modificadas apresentaram maior capacidade de adsorção de bário que os filossilicatos. O comportamento contrário foi observado para os íons cobre, que apresentou maior adsorção com os filossilicatos, que contêm maiores quantidades de grupos orgânicos pendentes. Este fato pode ser explicado devido ao maior raio iônico do bário, o que possivelmente dificulta a interação com os centros básicos pendentes no espaço interlamelar. Os resultados de calorimetria com o cobre indicaram que os processos de adsorção apresentaram valores exotérmicos de entalpia, com valores negativos de energia livre de Gibbs e valores positivos de entropia. Esses dados termodinâmicos indicam que a interação cátion/centro básico na interface sólido/líquido é favorável / Abstract: Two new silylating agents were synthesized through individual reactions of ethanolamine and diethanolamine molecules with 3- glicidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane. Through these interactions the epoxide ring in the extremity of the precursor chain was opened by the action of the basic centers of the amines. These syntheses were confirmed by infrared spectroscopy, which spectra showed the absence of symmetrical and asymmetrical bands of the epoxide group. The silylating agents were applied on silica gel surface organofunctionalization and also to synthesize nickel and cobalt phyllosilicates. Chemical modification of silica was performed through homogeneous and heterogeneous routes, originating materials with similar structures when the same silylating agent was employed, nevertheless there was an increase of the degree of functionalization on the silicas prepared through homogeneous route, as confirmed by elemental analysis. The syntheses of organofunctionalized phyllosilicates was achieved through sol-gel process, whose structures are similar to natural talc, that is, phyllosilicates with 2:1 trioctahedral structures, with nickel and cobalt metals located in the octahedral sites. All synthesized materials were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance of 13C and 29Si and thermogravimetry. Additional structural information was obtained by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The materials were used on barium and copper adsorption, in which the modified silicas presented higher capacity on barium adsorption than phyllosilicates. On the other hand, it was observed that copper acted more effectively on organofunctionalized phyllosilicates, in agreement with their higher amount of pendant organic groups. This fact can be explained due to the higher barium ionic radius, which can difficult its interaction with pendant basic centers into the interlamellar space. The calorimetry results with copper showed that the adsorption processes of the metallic cations onto pendant basic centers gave exothermic enthalpies, negative Gibbs free energies and positive entropy values. This set of thermodynamic data indicates that cation/basic center interaction at the solid/liquid interface is favorable / Doutorado / Quimica Inorganica / Doutor em Quimica

Nanomateriais têm sido amplamente estudados, como resultado de suas propriedades físicas e químicas diferenciadas, que oferecem um grande número de possibilidades para aplicações em biomedicina, principalmente na terapia de câncer e no desenvolvimento de estratégias de diagnóstico não invasivo. O óxido de ferro superparamagnético (SPION) é o principal material estudado como agente de contraste para imagem por ressonância magnética, devido à sua capacidade de reduzir o tempo de relaxação transversal (T2) em diferentes tecidos e sua menor toxicidade que os complexos de Gd3+ e Mn2+ usados atualmente. Entretanto, o acumulo de SPIONs pode ser facilmente confundido com sinais referentes à calcificação, depósito de metais pesados e sangramentos, e a alta susceptibilidade magnética do material promove distorções na imagem. Assim, alguns aspectos são desejáveis em material para que este tenha potencial para substituir o SPION, tais como forma nanoparticulada, para fácil modificação de superfície e possibilidade de funcionalização com agentes biosseletivos, e contraste positivo em T1. As nanopartículas (NPs) antiferromagnéticas de MnO atendem a todos os requisitos necessários para substituir o óxido de ferro. As NPs de MnO foram sintetizadas a partir da decomposição térmica do acetilacetonato de manganês(II) em uma variação do método poliol modificado, resultando na formação de NPs com tamanho médio de 21 ± 3,9 nm. Foi realizada a substituição de ligantes de superfície para que se substituísse o ácido oleico adsorvido sobre o material por 3-aminopropiltrimetoxisilano (APTMS) e foi determinada a concentração de grupamentos amino sobre a superfície das NPs. Posteriormente, obteve-se uma estrutura do tipo \"core/shell\" dispersível em meio aquoso e biocompatível pela reação dos grupos amino livres com o carboxilato da carboximetil dextrana (CMDex). O potencial de superfície e a estabilidade coloidal das NPs funcionalizadas foram caracterizados por mobilidade eletroforética e por espalhamento de luz dinâmico em água deionizada e em condições que mimetizavam o sangue. As NPs apresentaram toxicidade em células cancerosas de carcinoma cervical humano (HeLa). Entretanto, não foi observada toxicidade significativa na linhagem de células não cancerosas NCTC clone L929. Tanto as NPs como sintetizadas quanto as recobertas com CMDex apresentaram controle de tamanho e forma, apresentando distribuição de tamanho compatível com o esperado para as aplicações em biomedicina. / Nanomaterials have been widely studied as a result of their interesting physical and chemical properties, which offer a large number of possibilities for applications in biomedicine mainly in cancer therapy and the development of strategies for non-invasive diagnosis. The superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) is the main studied material as contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to its ability to reduce the transverse relaxation time (T2) in different tissues and lower toxicity than Gd3+ and Mn2+ complexes currently used. However, this SPIONs accumulation can be confused with signals from calcification, bleeding or metal deposits, and the high magnetic susceptibility distorts the background image because its ferromagnetic behavior. Some aspects are desirable to replace SPIONs, such as nanoparticulate form for simple surface modification and labeling with targeting agents, and positive longitudinal T1 relaxation time contrast ability. The antiferromagnetic MnO NPs attend all these requirements and overcome the drawback of using SPION. In our study, MnO NPs were synthesized by the thermal decomposition of Mn(II) acetylacetonate by a variation of the modified polyol process resulting in spherical nanoparticles with average size of 21 ± 3,9 nm. The ligand-exchange step was used to replace the oleic acid adsorbed on the as-synthesized NPs surface by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTMS) and the total free amine groups on the NPs surface was determined. After that, a biocompatible and water-dispersible core/shell structure was obtained by coating with carboxymethyl dextran (CMDex) using the free amine-terminal group from APTMS and the carboxylate groups present in the CMDex molecules conjungation. Surface potential and colloidal stability of these functionalized NPs were evaluated by electrophoretic mobility and dynamic light scattering techniques in both water and artificial blood by using the Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) medium. While the water-dispersible NPs have shown toxicity in the human cell line derived from cervical cancer (HeLa), they have not shown significantly cytotoxicity in the healthy fibroblast cells (cell line L929). Both the as-synthesized and coated NPs present controlled size and shape and the final NPs size distribution and magnetic properties are compatible with the expected for biomedical applications.

Orientador : Arnaldo Yoshiteru Kuaye / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-03T09:56:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Okazaki_MargareteMidori_M.pdf: 3301882 bytes, checksum: 0aec297ce29595ad1319a5f12e0100ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003 / Resumo: Desinfetantes com ação bactericida podem ser avaliados através de vários métodos. No Brasil, são considerados como oficiais para a determinação da eficácia bactericida desses produtos, o método de diluição de uso e o método de suspensão da Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). Embora o método de suspensão (AOAC 960.09) apresente algumas vantagens sobre o método de diluição de uso (Use Dilution Method AOAC 955.14 e 955.15), quanto ao custo e simplicidade, sua aplicação ainda é limitada a testes com compostos de amônio quaternário em concentrações de até 200 mg/L. No Brasil, as concentrações recomendadas pelos fabricantes de desinfetantes a base de compostos de amônio quaternário variam de 200 a 10.000 mg/L, o que inviabiliza a utilização do método de suspensão para a avaliação da eficácia bactericida desses produtos. Para tanto, é necessária uma padronização para concentrações acima de 200 mg/L, permitindo sua adoção pelos laboratórios de controle de qualidade de desinfetantes, no monitoramento da qualidade dos produtos colocados no mercado ou durante o processo de fabricação. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram a) adequar o método de suspensão da AOAC para análise da eficácia bactericida de desinfetantes a base de cloreto de benzalcônio, em concentrações acima de 200 mg/L e b) realizar uma avaliação comparativa entre o método de suspensão modificado e o método de diluição de uso da AOAC, na suspensão foi modificado pela substituição da etapa de neutralização química pela introdução de uma etapa de neutralização física, ou seja, filtração com membrana (0.45 mm) seguida de lavagem das células com tampão fosfato. Os resultados dos testes confirmaram a eficiência do procedimento de filtração e lavagem das células, não sendo detectado resíduo de desinfetante nas membranas ou efeito bactericida da membrana sobre os microrganismos, validando assim a adaptação proposta neste trabalho. A comparação entre o método de suspensão modificado e o método de diluição de uso mostrou que, de 108 testes realizados em concentrações ³200 mg/L, os dois métodos concordaram em 77,8% dos casos, ambos aprovando ou reprovando o desinfetante, na condição testada. Esse resultado pode ser considerado bom, uma vez que o método modificado apresentou taxa de discordância de apenas 17,3% entre as repetições, valor este bem menor que no método de diluição de uso, com taxa de discordância de 43,1% / Abstract: Bactericidal disinfectants can be evaluated through several methods. In Brazil, the AOAC dilution method and the AOAC suspension method are considered as the official methods to determine bactericidal efficacy of disinfectants. Although the AOAC 960.09 suspension method has some advantages over the AOAC dilution method (Use dilution method AOAC 955.14 and 955.15), such as lower cost and simplicity, its usage is still restricted to ammonium quaternary compounds tests, in concentration lower than 200 mg/L. In Brazil, the recommended concentration of ammonium quaternary disinfectant by the manufacturers varies from 200 to 10,000 mg/L, thus making suspension method impractical to the bactericidal efficacy evaluation of those products. So, it is essential to standardize the suspension method above 200 mg/L concentration, allowing its adoption by disinfectant quality control laboratories, in the quality monitoring of those products in the market or during manufacturing process. The purposes of this research were: a) to adequate AOAC suspension method for the evaluation of benzalkonium chloride bactericidal activity in concentration above 200 mg/L, and b) to make a comparative evaluation between modified suspension method and AOAC use dilution method, determining bactericidal efficacy of several benzalkonium chloride disinfectants against Staphylococcus aureus A TCC 6538, Salmonella choleraesuis A TCC 10708 and Escherichia colí A TCC 11229. The suspension method was modified through the substitution of chemical neutralization by using the filtration process in membrane (0,45 mm) followed by washing the cells with phosphate buffer solution. Results of the tests confirmed the filtration and washing efficacy, since no residual disinfectant on the membranes or bactericidal effect of the membrane over the of them approving or rejecting the disinfectant, in tested condition. This result can be considered good, since the modified method presented only 17,3% discordance rate among repetitions, this value was smaller than the use dilution method which, in this case, was 43,1% / Mestrado / Mestre em Tecnologia de Alimentos

Detection of enzyme activity has gained popularity in molecular imaging because increased activity of enzymes such as urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) can serve as biomarkers and assist in cancer diagnosis. Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive technique that can be utilized to detect enzyme activity; however, CEST MRI is not the only technique that can assess enzyme activity. Chapter 1 provides an overview of various imaging modalities that have been used to detect enzyme activity in vivo. Advances made in probe-design are discussed, in addition to advantages and disadvantages of each technique. Chapter 2 focuses on detection of uPA activity in a pancreatic cancer tumor model using a catalyCEST MRI contrast agent. Chapter 2 also discusses the importance of uPA in tumor biology, addresses the synthesis of the contrast agent, and evaluates the results of in vivo detection and ex vivo validation of uPA activity in response to therapy of pancreatic tumor models of Capan-2. The in vivo and ex vivo results showed no significant difference in uPA activity between chemotherapy-treated and non-treated mice. Additionally, no significant difference was observed between before and after chemotherapy-treated groups. Chapter 3 addresses some of the limitations of the study detailed in Chapter 2 and proposes improvements.

While there is a broad theoretic foundation for creating artificial intelligence based solutions for two-player games, such as Chess, the multi-player domain is not as well explored and artificial intelligence solutions for multi-player games is often flawed. This report is an attempt to apply a multi-agent approach to a multi-player game, and use distributed problem solving to create viable plans in an environment of huge search spaces and multiple adversaries. An automated player (bot) for the game Diplomacy was created using distributed methodologies, and tested against other existing bots. The tests show that the bot developed can outperform opposition in score while being competetive in speed.

The purpose of this project is the exploration of how autonomous robots could develop a language to communicate visual patterns. The idea is that each robot should be able to change their visual appearance depending on what its neighbors are trying to communicate. Thus, the robots should `talk' about their patterns, trying to influence each other. For this project we used the e-Puck robot, a small mobile robot developed by EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique F\'{e}d\'{e}rale de Lausanne) in conjunction with the see-Puck display. The display, developed by FAL (Future Applications Lab), consists of a matrix of 148 LEDs in a circular shape. During this project we looked into several methods of achieving communication though the sensors and actuators of the e-Puck robot. An additional area which was explored was the process of user interaction with the robots.

The game of chess has many times been discussed and used for test purpose by science departments of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Although the technique of agent and as well multi-agent systems is quite old, the use of these offspring of AI within chess is limited. This report describes the project performed applying the use of agents to a chess program. To measure the performance of the logic has tests between the developed program main parts been performed. Further tests against a traditional chess program as well to position test suites have been done. The results and the impact of the different logic parts is presented and discussed. The aim of the project is to take the use of agents in chess a step forward.

Sedan 2016 gäller lagstiftningen om obligatorisk byrårotation. Syftet var att stärka revisorns oberoende. Kritiker menar dock att regleringen förstärker oberoendet på bekostnad av kvalitén. Detta innebär att det finns både möjligheter och svårigheter med obligatorisk byrårotation. Utifrån Agent-principalteorin och legitimitetsteorin har studien skapat förståelse för hur revisorns oberoende påverkas av hot, samt hur byrårotation påverkar oberoendet hos revisorn. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in med hjälp av semistrukturerade telefonintervjuer med revisorer. Resultatet tyder på att revisorerna har en väl inarbetad professionell integritet i sin yrkesroll. Revisorerna är överens om att obligatorisk byrårotation förstärker oberoende genom att främst förhindra vänskapshot som riskerar att uppstå med en lång relation med en klient.

In Multi-agent System (MAS), all agents communicate with each other by sending messages to each other in an expressive agent communication language. Agent communication language (ACL) [12], defines type of messages and their meaning that agents can exchange. Messages that agents communicate have semantic meanings which can be proposition, rules or actions [27]. In other words, multi-agent system is an association of synchronized, autonomous agents, which interact with each other in achieving common goals (objectives). On the other hand, Web services are the services in the shape of software components accessible on the internet, which provide useful information to users, businesses and organizations. The Web service model uses WSDL, an XML format responsible for the service interfaces description along with the binding details to specific protocols. UDDI, a protocol responsible for publishing and finding services, services details and descriptions etc. SOAP, an XML message based envelop format which has the bindings to specific protocols (e.g. HTTP, SMTP etc). These services are invoked over the www (World Wide Web) using the SOAP/XMLP protocol. A Workflow can be defined as “The automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules” [21]. It has many advantages like improved efficiency, better process control, improved customer service, flexibility and business process improvement [7]. Due to rapid advancements in technology and growing needs of business environment, there is a need of adaptive workflow, which could accommodate itself with the changes that occur in the business processes. Traditionally, workflow management systems have not been designed for dynamic environments requiring adaptive response. Currently, the need for adaptive workflow is being driven by the demands of e-commerce in both B2B and B2C space. Adaptive workflows respond to changing conditions through adaptive change. The aim of this thesis is to suggest an adaptive work flow model that can help in eliminating problems in e-commerce domain by using agent based approach. In e-commerce there is always a problem of searching the right item (e.g.construction material) in less time without involving the contractors etc who search for the items with the specifications told by the customers, as the current system does not support the good search. The customers search each time for the required items (e.g. construction material) and stop their search when they have found the desired item according to their budget, cost and quality attributes with up to date market cost about the required items to purchase (construction material). In e-commerce workflow system, in purchasing the required items (construction material), there are processes involved (Order Capture, Order Process, Order Fulfillment) which do not address the adaptability attribute in case of exception [38] or when there is a change in business environment which make changes in the business processes, consequences of which can be in the shape of failure of business objective (unsuccessful business transaction). The proposed approach somehow can eliminate the problem described above and suggests an adaptive workflow system by introducing agents with each of the processes (Order Capture, Order, Process, and Order Fulfillment). A proposed way to design adaptive work flow is explained with the help of agents. Some work is done to relate this framework with web services to provide refined search and purchasing in order to take care of user needs. But still there is need of more research to explore this area of e-commerce workflow system.