Antonio Cesar Germano Martins

Porosity measurement of solid pharmaceutical dosage forms by gamma-ray transmission

The aim of the present work is the determination of porosity in tablets by using the gamma-ray transmission technique. Tablet dissolution depends on some inherent characteristics of the manufacturing process, such as compression force, tablet volume, density and porosity, nature of excipients, preparation methods and its physical-chemical properties. Porosity is a measure of empty spaces in a material and can be determined by various techniques. In this paper, we propose the use of a gamma-ray transmission technique to obtain the porosity of experimental formulation of tablets. The results of porosity were compared with those obtained by using conventional methodology (density and mercury intrusion). The experimental setup for gamma-ray transmission consists of a gamma-ray source of (241)Am (photons of 59.6 keV and an activity of 3.7 × 10(9)Bq), an NaI(Tl) scintillation detector, collimators and a standard gamma-ray spectrometry electronics. Our results suggest that the gamma-ray transmission technique is a powerful tool for non-destructive porosity quantification of solid pharmaceutical forms and presents smaller errors than those obtained with conventional methodologies.

Fuzzy environmental quality index

This paper presents the construction of a fuzzy environmental quality index for decision support in municipal environmental management. Five groups of indicators were selected in order to obtain an equation that best represented reality in terms of environmental quality. The calculation was carried out using “fuzzy” mathematical concepts, with the aid of the package Fuzzy Logical Toolbox 2.1 for Matlab ® 6.1, which provides functions and some applications of the theory of fuzzy sets. The work seeks to create a method of inference concerning the nature of urban areas that are unsustainable with respect to the environment, an issue that is often relegated to the background during public policy discussions. The development of this index, together with its implementation and dissemination, could improve public awareness of environmental issues, and promote mobilization towards the use of best practices in local development.

Construction and Test of Low Cost X-Ray Tomography Scanner for Physical-Chemical Analysis and Nondestructive Inspections

X‐ray computed tomography (CT) refers to the cross‐sectional imaging of an object measuring the transmitted radiation at different directions. In this work, we describe the development of a low cost micro‐CT X‐ray scanner that is being developed for nondestructive testing. This tomograph operates using a microfocus X‐ray source and contains a silicon photodiode as detectors. The performance of the system, by its spatial resolution, has been estimated through its Modulation Transfer Function—MTF and the obtained value at 10% of MTF is 661 μm. It was built as a general purpose nondestructive testing device.

A Framework for Learning in Humanoid Simulated Robots

One of the most important characteristics of intelligent activity is the ability to change behaviour according to many forms of feedback. Through learning an agent can interact with its environment to improve its performance over time. However, most of the techniques known that involves learning are time expensive, i.e., once the agent is supposed to learn over time by experimentation, the task has to be executed many times. Hence, high fidelity simulators can save a lot of time. In this context, this paper describes the framework designed to allow a team of real RoboNova-Ihumanoids robots to be simulated under USARSimenvironment. Details about the complete process of modeling and programming the robot are given, as well as the learning methodology proposed to improve robots performance. Due to the use of a high fidelity model, the learning algorithms can be widely explored in simulation before adapted to real robots.

Statistical analysis of texture in trunk images for biometric identification of tree species

The identification of tree species is a key step for sustainable management plans of forest resources, as well as for several other applications that are based on such surveys. However, the present available techniques are dependent on the presence of tree structures, such as flowers, fruits, and leaves, limiting the identification process to certain periods of the year. Therefore, this article introduces a study on the application of statistical parameters for texture classification of tree trunk images. For that, 540 samples from five Brazilian native deciduous species were acquired and measures of entropy, uniformity, smoothness, asymmetry (third moment), mean, and standard deviation were obtained from the presented textures. Using a decision tree, a biometric species identification system was constructed and resulted to a 0.84 average precision rate for species classification with 0.83accuracy and 0.79 agreement. Thus, it can be considered that the use of texture presented in trunk images can represent an important advance in tree identification, since the limitations of the current techniques can be overcome.

Pattern recognition in trunk images based on co-occurrence descriptors: A proposal applied to tree species identification

Tree species identification is required for many applications. However, current techniques are dependent on the presence of morphological structures such as leaves, which restricts its use in certain situations and seasons. In this context, the use of trunk images can be an alternative. Therefore, the present study developed a pattern recognition based on co-occurrence descriptors, aiming evaluate its performance in the identification of 8 tree species from the Brazilian deciduous native forest, achieving promising results, with precision better than 0.8 for most of them, accuracy equivalent to 0.77 and average area under curve by Receiver Operating Characteristic of 0.88, during the tests with cross-validation sets.

Non-Conventional Applications of Computerized Tomography: Analysis of Solid Dosage Forms Produced by Pharmaceutical Industry

X‐ray computed tomography (CT) refers to the cross‐sectional imaging of an object measuring the transmitted radiation at different directions. In this work, we describe a non‐conventional application of computerized tomography: visualization and improvements in the understanding of some internal structural features of solid dosage forms. A micro‐CT X‐ray scanner, with a minimum resolution of 30 μm was used to characterize some pharmaceutical tablets, granules, controlled‐release osmotic tablet and liquid‐filled soft‐gelatin capsules. The analysis presented in this work are essentially qualitative, but quantitative parameters, such as porosity, density distribution, tablets dimensions, etc. could also be obtained using the related CT techniques.

Autonomous mobile robots designing for the medical trash collector task

This paper describes the UNESP robotic team in the medical trash collector task, proposed on the 5th IEEE Latin American Robots Competition in the LEGO category. We present our understanding of the task and discuss the proposed solution, focusing on the mechanical and computational issues of the robots. The mechanics is based on rigid body capability of transforming rotational into curvilinear movement. With respect to the computational control, the system is modeled as a reactive system with sequential transition of behaviors. A state-machine is proposed to allow this transition, and the synchronization of robotic states is guaranteed by the communication system. The proposed approach has shown itself capable of dealing with the high difficulty degree of this cooperative task

Evaluation of Water Amount in Hydrated Ethanol Fuel by Gamma‐ray Attenuation Technique

In this work, is presented an alternative and non conventional technique for evaluate the water amount present in the hydrated ethanol used as automotive fuel. The standard technique used in this kind of measure is the use of densimeter. The proposal of this work is based on the measure of the linear attenuation coefficient of hydrated ethanol, using the gamma‐ray attenuation technique. The water amount, in volume, can be determined knowing the linear attenuation coefficient of hydrated ethanol. Samples of hydrated ethanol, collected at fuel stations, located in Sorocaba, SP, Brazil, were analyzed and the results showed the feasibility of the technique.

The effects of soil pollution and its relation with morbidity in shoreline areas

Soil and subsoil pollution is not only significant in terms of environmental loss, but also a matter of environmental and public health. Solid, liquid and gaseous residues are the major soil contamination agents. They originate from urban conglomerates and industrial areas in which it is impossible to emphasize the chemical, petrochemical and textile industry; thermoelectric, mining, and ironmaster activities. The contamination process can thus be defined as a compound addition to soil, from what qualitative and or quantitative manners can modify soil’s natural characteristics and use, producing baneful and deteriorative effects on human health. Studies have shown that human exposition to high concentration of some heavy metals found on soil can cause serious health problems, such as pulmonary or kidney complications, liver and nervous system harm, allergy, and the chronic exposition that leads to death. The present study searches for the correlation among soil contamination, done through a geochemical baseline survey of an industrial contamination area on the shoreline of Sao Paulo state. The study will be conducted by spatial analysis using Geographical Information Systems for mapping and regression analysis. The used data are 123 soil samples of percentage concentration of heavy metals. They were sampled and spatially distributed by geostatistics methods. To verify if there is a relation between heavy metals soil pollution and morbidity an executed correlation and regression analysis will be done using the pollution registers as the independent variables and morbidity as dependable variables. It is expected, by the end of the study, to identify the areas relation between heavy