The US actuarial balance model for the pay-as-you-go system and its application to Spain

The aim of this paper is to formulate an approximation of the US actuarial balance model and apply it to the Spanish public retirement pension system under various scenarios in order to determine a consistent indicator of the system's financial state comparable to those used by the most advanced social security systems. This will enable us to answer the question as to whether there is any justification for reforming the pension system in Spain. This type of actuarial balance uses projections to show future challenges to the financial side of the pension system deriving basically from ageing, the projected increase in longevity and fluctuations in economic activity. If one is compiled periodically it can provide various indicators to help depoliticize the management of the pay-as-you-go system by bringing the planning horizons of politicians and the system itself closer together.

Projecto de um regulador linear de tens��o: LDO

Os reguladores de tens��o LDO s��o utilizados intensivamente na actual ind��stria de electr��nica, s��o uma parte essencial de um bloco de gest��o de pot��ncia para um SoC. O aumento de produtos port��teis alimentados por baterias levou ao crescimento de solu����es totalmente integradas, o que degrada o rendimento dos blocos anal��gicos que o constituem face ��s perturba����es introduzidas na alimenta����o. Desta forma, surge a necessidade de procurar solu����es cada vez mais optimizadas, impondo assim novas solu����es, e/ou melhoramentos dos circuitos de gest��o de pot��ncia, tendo como objectivo final o aumento do desempenho e da autonomia dos dispositivos electr��nicos. Normalmente este tipo de reguladores tem a corrente de sa��da limitada, devido a problemas de estabilidade associados. Numa tentativa de evitar a instabilidade para as correntes de carga definidas e aumentar o PSRR do mesmo, �� apresentado um m��todo de implementa����o que tem como objectivo melhorar estas caracter��sticas, em que se pretende aumentar o rendimento e melhorar a resposta �� varia����o da carga. No entanto, a t��cnica apresentada utiliza polariza����o adaptativa do est��gio de pot��ncia, o que implica um aumento da corrente de consumo. O regulador LDO foi implementado na tecnologia CMOS UMC 0.18��m e ocupa uma ��rea inferior a 0,2mm2. Os resultados da simula����o mostram que o mesmo suporta uma transi����o de corrente 10��A para 100mA, com uma queda de tens��o entre a tens��o de alimenta����o e a tens��o de sa��da inferior a 200mV. A estabilidade �� assegurada para todas as correntes de carga. O tempo de estabelecimento �� inferior a 6��s e as varia����es da tens��o de sa��da relativamente a seu valor nominal s��o inferiores a 5mV. A corrente de consumo varia entre os 140��A at�� 200��A, o que permite atingir as especifica����es proposta para um PSRR de 40dB@10kHz.

Placas de OSB: investiga����o e estudo laboratorial das suas caracter��sticas de desempenho

A utiliza����o de placas de OSB ��� Oriented Strand Board est�� em franca expans��o no territ��rio nacional e parece ser uma alternativa ecol��gica e econ��mica aos pain��is de derivados de madeira normalmente usados. O OSB �� obtido num processo de fabrico resultante da interac����o de diversas vari��veis, que conferem aos pain��is uma vasta gama de aplica����es estruturais ou n��o estruturais (paredes exteriores e interiores, pavimentos, coberturas, componentes de vigas, cofragens, embalagens, m��veis, elementos de decora����o, etc.). Neste trabalho pretendeu-se investigar, atrav��s de pesquisa bibliogr��fica as caracter��sticas das placas OSB assim como seu processo de fabrico e condicionantes existentes no seu decurso. Em seguida estas foram comparadas com os seus principais concorrentes, o contraplacado e o aglomerado de madeira e cimento. O trabalho experimental realizado teve como objectivo analisar as propriedades de OSB, proveniente do mercado nacional, de acordo com a EN 300:2006 e com os dados recolhidos na pesquisa bibliogr��fica. Foram executados ensaios de flex��o (EN 310:2002), inchamento em espessura (EN 317:2002) e ensaios de flex��o ap��s envelhecimento (EN 321:2010). Concluiu-se que o OSB �� um material com algumas caracter��sticas de destaque, no entanto a substitui����o de outros derivados de madeira por este deve ser acompanhada por estudos, principalmente em ambientes h��midos. �� importante real��ar que este possui modelos com caracter��sticas espec��ficas para determinadas utiliza����es e ambientes que possibilitam uma optimiza����o do seu comportamento, no entanto, nos ensaios realizados apenas foi utilizado um modelo base de OSB.

O natural e o farmacol��gico: padr��es de consumo terap��utico na popula����o portuguesa

Neste artigo identificam-se os padr��es de consumo terap��utico na popula����o portuguesa, visando dar conta de um novo padr��o emergente nas sociedades modernas, aqui designado de Pluralismo Terap��utico, no����o com a qual se categoriza o uso conjugado ou alternado de recursos farmacol��gicos e naturais nas trajet��rias terap��uticas dos indiv��duos. O respetivo suporte emp��rico decorre de uma investiga����o, j�� conclu��da, que teve por base uma amostra nacional representativa. Os resultados mostram uma dualiza����o dos consumos terap��uticos que �� constitu��da por um padr��o dominante de Farmacologismo ��� i.e., uso exclusivo de f��rmacos ��� coexistente com uma tend��ncia crescente de pluralismo terap��utico. O efeito das fontes de informa����o terap��utica e dos seus usos leigos, bem como das perce����es sociais de risco sobre o natural e o farmacol��gico, constitui neste estudo uma refer��ncia anal��tica central para a interpreta����o dos padr��es encontrados. - ABSTRACT: In this article we identify patterns of therapeutic consumption, with the purpose of assessing an emerging pattern in modern societies, here designated as Therapeutic Pluralism, referring to the conjugated or alternated use of pharmacological and natural resources in the therapeutic trajectories of individuals. The empirical basis for this analysis stems from a concluded research on the topic, and is focused on a questionnaire administered to a representative sample of the Portuguese population. The results show a duality in therapeutic consumptions, expressed in the coexistence of a dominant pattern of Pharmacologism ��� that is, the exclusive therapeutic consumption of pharmaceuticals ��� and a growing trend towards therapeutic pluralism. The effects of information sources on health and its lay uses, as well as of the social perceptions of risk concerning the natural and the pharmacological, constitute key analytical references for this study���s interpretation of the identified patterns.

A Step-up mu-Power Converter for Solar Energy Harvesting Applications, using Hill Climbing Maximum Power Point Tracking

This paper presents a step-up micro-power converter for solar energy harvesting applications. The circuit uses a SC voltage tripler architecture, controlled by an MPPT circuit based on the Hill Climbing algorithm. This circuit was designed in a 0.13 mu m CMOS technology in order to work with an a-Si PV cell. The circuit has a local power supply voltage, created using a scaled down SC voltage tripler, controlled by the same MPPT circuit, to make the circuit robust to load and illumination variations. The SC circuits use a combination of PMOS and NMOS transistors to reduce the occupied area. A charge re-use scheme is used to compensate the large parasitic capacitors associated to the MOS transistors. The simulation results show that the circuit can deliver a power of 1266 mu W to the load using 1712 mu W of power from the PV cell, corresponding to an efficiency as high as 73.91%. The simulations also show that the circuit is capable of starting up with only 19% of the maximum illumination level.

Direct multisearch for multiobjective optimization

In practical applications of optimization it is common to have several conflicting objective functions to optimize. Frequently, these functions are subject to noise or can be of black-box type, preventing the use of derivative-based techniques. We propose a novel multiobjective derivative-free methodology, calling it direct multisearch (DMS), which does not aggregate any of the objective functions. Our framework is inspired by the search/poll paradigm of direct-search methods of directional type and uses the concept of Pareto dominance to maintain a list of nondominated points (from which the new iterates or poll centers are chosen). The aim of our method is to generate as many points in the Pareto front as possible from the polling procedure itself, while keeping the whole framework general enough to accommodate other disseminating strategies, in particular, when using the (here also) optional search step. DMS generalizes to multiobjective optimization (MOO) all direct-search methods of directional type. We prove under the common assumptions used in direct search for single objective optimization that at least one limit point of the sequence of iterates generated by DMS lies in (a stationary form of) the Pareto front. However, extensive computational experience has shown that our methodology has an impressive capability of generating the whole Pareto front, even without using a search step. Two by-products of this paper are (i) the development of a collection of test problems for MOO and (ii) the extension of performance and data profiles to MOO, allowing a comparison of several solvers on a large set of test problems, in terms of their efficiency and robustness to determine Pareto fronts.

Integrated vehicle classification system

This paper presents an integrated system for vehicle classification. This system aims to classify vehicles using different approaches: 1) based on the height of the first axle and_the number of axles; 2) based on volumetric measurements and; 3) based on features extracted from the captured image of the vehicle. The system uses a laser sensor for measurements and a set of image analysis algorithms to compute some visual features. By combining different classification methods, it is shown that the system improves its accuracy and robustness, enabling its usage in more difficult environments satisfying the proposed requirements established by the Portuguese motorway contractor BRISA.

Mass spectrometry improvement on an high current ion implanter

The development of accurate mass spectrometry, enabling the identification of all the ions extracted from the ion source in a high current implanter is described. The spectrometry system uses two signals (x-y graphic), one proportional to the magnetic field (x-axes), taken from the high-voltage potential with an optic fiber system, and the other proportional to the beam current intensity (y-axes), taken from a beam-stop. The ion beam mass register in a mass spectrum of all the elements magnetically analyzed with the same radius and defined by a pair of analyzing slits as a function of their beam intensity is presented. The developed system uses a PC to control the displaying of the extracted beam mass spectrum, and also recording of all data acquired for posterior analysis. The operator uses a LabView code that enables the interfacing between an I/O board and the ion implanter. The experimental results from an ion implantation experiment are shown. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Smart Electric Vehicle Charging System

In this work is proposed the design of a system to create and handle Electric Vehicles (EV) charging procedures, based on intelligent process. Due to the electrical power distribution network limitation and absence of smart meter devices, Electric Vehicles charging should be performed in a balanced way, taking into account past experience, weather information based on data mining, and simulation approaches. In order to allow information exchange and to help user mobility, it was also created a mobile application to assist the EV driver on these processes. This proposed Smart ElectricVehicle Charging System uses Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, in order to connect Electric Vehicles and also renewable energy sources to Smart Grids (SG). This system also explores the new paradigm of Electrical Markets (EM), with deregulation of electricity production and use, in order to obtain the best conditions for commercializing electrical energy.

A inclus��o de elementos her��ldicos no vestu��rio n��o ocidental

RESUMO: �� ensaiado um levantamento, ainda que sum��rio, de usos her��ldicos na indument��ria n��o ocidental, nomeadamente em ��frica e no Jap��o.

O teatro. espa��o de encontro de uma comunidade

Disserta����o apresentada �� Escola Superior de Educa����o de Lisboa para obten����o de grau de mestre em Educa����o Art��stica - Especializa����o em Teatro na Educa����o

Study on influence of the new CoDeSys V3.0 on the existing CoDeSys discipline of the Mind8 Engineering Center

CoDeSys "Controller Development Systems" is a development environment for programming in the area of automation controllers. It is an open source solution completely in line with the international industrial standard IEC 61131-3. All five programming languages for application programming as defined in IEC 61131-3 are available in the development environment. These features give professionals greater flexibility with regard to programming and allow control engineers have the ability to program for many different applications in the languages in which they feel most comfortable. Over 200 manufacturers of devices from different industrial sectors offer intelligent automation devices with a CoDeSys programming interface. In 2006, version 3 was released with new updates and tools. One of the great innovations of the new version of CoDeSys is object oriented programming. Object oriented programming (OOP) offers great advantages to the user for example when wanting to reuse existing parts of the application or when working on one application with several developers. For this reuse can be prepared a source code with several well known parts and this is automatically generated where necessary in a project, users can improve then the time/cost/quality management. Until now in version 2 it was necessary to have hardware interface called ���Eni-Server��� to have access to the generated XML code. Another of the novelties of the new version is a tool called Export PLCopenXML. This tool makes it possible to export the open XML code without the need of specific hardware. This type of code has own requisites to be able to comply with the standard described above. With XML code and with the knowledge how it works it is possible to do component-oriented development of machines with modular programming in an easy way. Eplan Engineering Center (EEC) is a software tool developed by Mind8 GmbH & Co. KG that allows configuring and generating automation projects. Therefore it uses modules of PLC code. The EEC already has a library to generate code for CoDeSys version 2. For version 3 and the constant innovation of drivers by manufacturers, it is necessary to implement a new library in this software. Therefore it is important to study the XML export to be then able to design any type of machine. The purpose of this master thesis is to study the new version of the CoDeSys XML taking into account all aspects and impact on the existing CoDeSys V2 models and libraries in the company Harro H��fliger Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH. For achieve this goal a small sample named ���Traffic light��� in CoDeSys version 2 will be done and then, using the tools of the new version it there will be a project with version 3 and also the EEC implementation for the automatically generated code.

Din��micas e rela����es intra-organizacionais nos cuidados ��s crian��as / adolescentes com diabetes mellitus tipo 1

Mestrado em Interven����o S��cio-Organizacional na Sa��de. ��rea de especializa����o: Pol��ticas de Administra����o e Gest��o dos Servi��os de Sa��de.

Da forma����o inicial �� inser����o na profiss��o

Disserta����o apresentada �� Escola Superior de Educa����o de Lisboa Para a obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Ci��ncias da Educa����o - Especialidade Supervis��o em Educa����o

Os swaps de taxas de juro como instrumentos de cobertura de risco nas demonstra����es financeiras

Mestrado em Contabilidade