Generation of electric energy through wind turbines is one of the practically inexhaustible alternatives of generation. It is considered a source of clean energy, but still needs a lot of research for the development of science and technologies that ensures uniformity in generation, providing a greater participation of this source in the energy matrix, since the wind presents abrupt variations in speed, density and other important variables. In wind-based electrical systems, it is essential to predict at least one day in advance the future values of wind behavior, in order to evaluate the availability of energy for the next period, which is relevant information in the dispatch of the generating units and in the control of the electrical system. This paper develops ultra-short, short, medium and long-term prediction models of wind speed, based on computational intelligence techniques, using artificial neural network models, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and hybrid models including forecasting using wavelets. For the application of the methodology, the meteorological variables of the database of the national organization system of environmental data (SONDA), Petrolina station, from 1 January 2004 to 31 March 2017, were used. A comparison among results by different used approaches is also done and it is also predicted the possibility of power and energy generation using a certain kind of wind generator.

Background: The detection of T-wave end points on electrocardiogram (ECG) is a basic procedure for ECG processing and analysis. Several methods have been proposed and tested, featuring high accuracy and percentages of correct detection. Nevertheless, their performance in noisy conditions remains an open problem. Methods: A new approach and algorithm for T-wave end location based on the computation of Trapezium's areas is proposed and validated (in terms of accuracy and repeatability), using signals from the Physionet QT Database. The performance of the proposed algorithm in noisy conditions has been tested and compared with one of the most used approaches for estimating the T-wave end point: the method based on the threshold on the first derivative. Results: The results indicated that the proposed approach based on Trapezium's areas outperformed the baseline method with respect to accuracy and repeatability. Also, the proposed method is more robust to wideband noise. Conclusions: The trapezium-based approach has a good performance in noisy conditions and does not rely on any empirical threshold. It is very adequate for use in scenarios where the levels of broadband noise are significant.

This paper proposes a process for human resource performance evaluation using computational intelligence techniques. The human resource (or employee’s) performance evaluation is essentially a regular assessment and review of an employee’s performance on the job. This evaluation can be performed in different ways, depending on the kind of job of the employee and on the company’s politics or business area. The process proposed on this research combines Fuzzy logic, text sentiment analysis and supervised learning classification techniques, such as a multi layer perceptron artificial neural network, decision tree algorithms and naove bayes into ensemble classifiers, in an attempt to provide a fair evaluation process, minimizing or even eliminating common problems caused by simple objective or subjective approaches. The data provided for this research was originated from several evaluations applied in two Brazilians institutions. Simulation results shows consistence on the data generated by this proposed process, indicating a good perspective for applications on companies of most business areas.

Primary aluminum production is an uninterrupted and complex process that must operate in a closed loop, hindering possibilities for experiments to improve production. In this sense, it is important to have ways to simulate this process computationally without acting directly on the plant, since such direct intervention could be dangerous, expensive, and time-consuming. This problem is addressed in this paper by combining real data, the artificial neural network technique, and clustering methods to create soft sensors to estimate the temperature, the aluminum fluoride percentage in the electrolytic bath, and the level of metal of aluminum reduction cells (pots). An innovative strategy is used to split the entire dataset by section and lifespan of pots with automatic clustering for soft sensors. The soft sensors created by this methodology have small estimation mean squared error with high generalization power. Results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach to soft sensors in the aluminum industry that may improve process control and save resources.