Desenvolvimento de Uma Órtese Ativa Para os Membros Inferiores Com Sistema Eletrônico Embarcado

This work presents the development of a prototype of an intelligent active orthosis for lower limbs whit an electronic embedded system. The proposed orthosis is an orthopedical device with the main objective of providing walking capacity to people with partial or total loss of lower limbs movements. In order to design the kinematics, dynamics and the mechanical characteristics of the prototype, the biomechanics of the human body was analized. The orthosis was projected to reproduce some of the movements of the human gait as walking in straight forward, sit down, get up, arise and go down steps. The joints of the orthosis are controlled by DC motors equipped with mechanical reductions, whose purpose is to reduce rotational speed and increase the torque, thus generating smooth movements. The electronic embedded system is composed of two motor controller boards with two channels that communicate with a embedded PC, position sensors and limit switches. The gait movements of the orthosis will be controlled by high level commands from a human-machine interface. The embedded electronic system interprets the high level commands, generates the angular references for the joints of the orthosis, controls and drives the actuators in order to execute the desired movements of the user

Otimização do controle eletrônico do diagrama de radiação de arranjos de antenas usando algoritmos genéticos com codificação real

Antenna arrays are able to provide high and controlled directivity, which are suitable for radiobase stations, radar systems, and point-to-point or satellite links. The optimization of an array design is usually a hard task because of the non-linear characteristic of multiobjective, requiring the application of numerical techniques, such as genetic algorithms. Therefore, in order to optimize the electronic control of the antenna array radiation pattem through genetic algorithms in real codification, it was developed a numerical tool which is able to positioning the array major lobe, reducing the side lobe levels, canceling interference signals in specific directions of arrival, and improving the antenna radiation performance. This was accomplished by using antenna theory concepts and optimization methods, mainly genetic algorithms ones, allowing to develop a numerical tool with creative genes codification and crossover rules, which is one of the most important contribution of this work. The efficiency of the developed genetic algorithm tool is tested and validated in several antenna and propagation applications. 11 was observed that the numerical results attend the specific requirements, showing the developed tool ability and capacity to handle the considered problems, as well as a great perspective for application in future works.

Forró eletrônico: uma análise sobre a representação da figura feminina

Understanding music as a social manifestation, able to represent the time and culture along with their uses and mores, we look at the female figure in the electronic forró genre. Through a reading of the two genres musical and feminine we seek to identify the discourses present in the compositions, which refer to the feminine with thematic and/or terms referring to women. The study focuses on the compositions between 2009 to 2010 which became hits, ie.: those which have attained the highest number of listeners to 96 FM in a program named Paradão 96, broadcasted daily in the city of Natal/RN. Grounded in such concepts as cultural industry, mass culture, folkcommunication and gender, we analyze the processes of meaning production as a result of using the female figure and more accurately, about the representation of women through the discourse of this specific genre. We have chose the descriptive research with a qualitative approach and Discourse Analysis as a technique to identify the terms that refer to women, reflecting on what would be the possible meanings found in these speeches. We point out that in our investigation the female figure turned into a sexual object, erotic and submissive, in their turn, attributes usually given to women, was not a predominant result in the speech of electronic forró gender. With a variant thematic some playful and others about the betrayal of women we have identified that, to the surprise of many, including ourselves, romantic love was the one who led the audience requests during our time frame and that the female figure has several facets within the studied genre

O hipertexto eletrônico de meio ambiente : estratégias de leitura e navegação

The incorporation of computing in class instigate the use of the Internet and websites as a content support in the teaching/leaning process. This kind of practice had challenged the students to read through eletronic hypertextual means. In that way, we re trying to undestand which strategies of reading and navigation the students of the second and third grade of highschool levels are using when reading electronic hypertexts from the www.ambientebrasil.com.br website. The research took place in the Escola Estadual Jerônimo Rosado in Mossoró RN. Our theoretical base was estructured on the digital Technology (electronic hypertext estructure and it s navigation modes), in applied linguistics (act of reading) and in cognition (interaction of the reader with the text and the use of reading strategies in the virtual computing enviroment). The applied methodology was the case analysis which was developed with the reunion of collected data through qualitative reseach questionaries, direct observations and video recording sessions. The research demonstrates that reader s ability in the act of navigating on virtual sites activates his/her reading strategies. Also shows how the semantic architecture of the hyperlinks can interfere directly over the strategies of reading and navigation in specific websites. Our research also intend to demonstrate that the student use his strategies of linear text reading when are not accustomed to use the reading through websites in a regular basis. The investigation concludes observing that the amount of hypertexts per pages and the inappropriate use of the multimedia elements were harmful to the reading fluency

Forró eletrônico: uma análise sobre a representação da figura feminina

Entendiendo la música como una manifestación social, capaz de representar el tiempo y la cultura, junto con sus usos y costumbres, dirigimos nuestra mirada en la figura femenina presente en el género forró electrónico. A través de la lectura de los dos géneros musical y femenino buscamos identificar los discursos, presentes en las composiciones, que se refieren a lo femenino con temática y/o términos que se refieren a las mujeres. El estudio se centra en las composiciones en el período 2009 a 2010 y que se convirtieron en éxitos, es decir, aquellos que han alcanzado el mayor número de oyentes de Radio 96 FM a través del programa Paradão 96, transmitido diariamente en la ciudad de Natal/RN. Basado en conceptos tales como industria cultural, cultura de masas, folkcomunicación y género, se analizan los procesos de producción de sentido como resultado del uso de la figura femenina y con mayor precisión, sobre la representación de las mujeres a través de discursos del forró electrónico. Elegimos el enfoque descriptivo cualitativo y análisis del discurso como una técnica para identificarlos términos que se refieren a las mujeres, reflexionando sobre los posibles significados que se encuentran en estos discursos. Se señala que en nuestra investigación no predominó una figura femenina convertida en un objeto sexual, erótico y sumisa, atributos dados para las mujeres, en los discursos de forró electrónico. Con variaciones en las temáticas algunas juguetones y otras acerca de la traición de la mujer identificamos que, para sorpresa de muchos, incluidos nosotros, el amor romántico fue el que llevó las solicitudes de audiencia durante nuestro período de tiempo y que la figura femenina tiene varias facetas dentro del forró electrónico

Estatística não-extensiva aplicada ao cálculo do calor específico eletrônico em estruturas quasiperiódicas

Systems whose spectra are fractals or multifractals have received a lot of attention in recent years. The complete understanding of the behavior of many physical properties of these systems is still far from being complete because of the complexity of such systems. Thus, new applications and new methods of study of their spectra have been proposed and consequently a light has been thrown on their properties, enabling a better understanding of these systems. We present in this work initially the basic and necessary theoretical framework regarding the calculation of energy spectrum of elementary excitations in some systems, especially in quasiperiodic ones. Later we show, by using the Schr¨odinger equation in tight-binding approximation, the results for the specific heat of electrons within the statistical mechanics of Boltzmann-Gibbs for one-dimensional quasiperiodic systems, growth by following the Fibonacci and Double Period rules. Structures of this type have already been exploited enough, however the use of non-extensive statistical mechanics proposed by Constantino Tsallis is well suited to systems that have a fractal profile, and therefore our main objective was to apply it to the calculation of thermodynamical quantities, by extending a little more the understanding of the properties of these systems. Accordingly, we calculate, analytical and numerically, the generalized specific heat of electrons in one-dimensional quasiperiodic systems (quasicrystals) generated by the Fibonacci and Double Period sequences. The electronic spectra were obtained by solving the Schr¨odinger equation in the tight-binding approach. Numerical results are presented for the two types of systems with different values of the parameter of nonextensivity q

Criação da matéria em cosmologias com velocidade da luz variável e eletrônico não-linear

In this work we obtain the cosmological solutions and investigate the thermodynamics of matter creation in two diferent contexts. In the first we propose a cosmological model with a time varying speed of light c. We consider two diferent time dependence of c for a at Friedmann-Robertson- Walker (FRW) universe. We write the energy conservation law arising from Einstein equations and study how particles are created as c decreases with cosmic epoch. The variation of c is coupled to a cosmological Λ term and both singular and non-singular solutions are possible. We calculate the "adiabatic" particle creation rate and the total number of particles as a function of time and find the constrains imposed by the second law of thermodynamics upon the models. In the second scenario, we study the nonlinearity of the electrodynamics as a source of matter creation in the cosmological models with at FRW geometry. We write the energy conservation law arising from Einstein field equations with cosmological term Λ, solve the field equations and study how particles are created as the magnetic field B changes with cosmic epoch. We obtain solutions for the adiabatic particle creation rate, the total number of particles and the scale factor as a function of time in three cases: Λ = 0, Λ = constant and Λ α H2 (cosmological term proportional to the Hubble parameter). In all cases, the second law of thermodynamics demands that the universe is not contracting (H ≥ 0). The first two solutions are non-singular and exhibit in ationary periods. The third case studied allows an always in ationary universe for a suficiently large cosmological term

Maturidade em gerenciamento de projetos no contexto da gestão estratégica no setor público: análise na Secretaria de Estado da Tributação do Rio Grande do Norte

This paperwork attempts to measure the project management maturity in the State Department of Taxation in Rio Grande do Norte. Project management has shown to be a critical component to any organization success, as the projects are directly related to a set of activities resulting into organizational innovations such as products, services and processes; and its improvement is directly aligned with the strategic management. Methodologically, this paperwork uses both a quantitative and qualitative approach that will be applied to the coordinators, sub-coordinators, and directors of the Regional Offices of the State Department of Taxation. In the theoretical reference it is about the public management and analyzes the strategic management in contemporary public administration. Presents the maturity in project management is by discussing the main models: CMM, Capability Maturity Model; PMMM, Project Management Maturity Model; OPM3, Organization Project Maturity Model and the Prado-MMGP, Modelo de Maturidade em Gerenciamento de Projetos. From this analysis, considering attributes as an aid in taking strategic positioning, access to the model, possibility of benchmarking and continuous improvement, the Prado-MMGP model was the most appropriate for this research process. It has been proved that the State Department of Taxation shows a very low project management maturity level. Regarding the acceptance of the maturity dimensions by the State Department, it is still in an early developmental stage, as one of the dimensions showed a poor performance while the rest showed a regular one. In contrast with similar organizations, the maturity results have shown to be below the national average. The maturity assessment enables in the institution the implementation of a plan for institutional growth with the creation of sector strategic and project management

Diagnóstico do usuário no aprimoramento dos serviços de tecnologia da informação: um projeto de intervenção para o Ministério Público do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte

The information tecnology (IT) has, over the years, gaining prominence as a strategic element and competitive edge in organizations, public or private. In the judiciary, with the implementation of actions related to Judiciário Eletrônico, information technology (IT), definitely earns its status as a strategic element and significantly raises the level of dependence of the organs of their services and products. Increasingly, the quality of services provided by IT has direct impact on the quality of services provided by the agency as a whole. The Ministério Público do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (MPRN) deployments shares of Electronic Government, along with an administrative reform, beyond these issues raised, caused a large increase in institutional demand for products and services provided by the Diretoria de Tecnologia da Informação (DTI), a sector responsible for the provision of IT services. Taking as starting point strategic goal set by MPRN to reach a 85% level of user satisfaction in four years, we seek to propose a method that assists in meeting the goal, respecting the capacity constraints of the IT sector. To achieve the proposed objective, we conducted a work in two distinct and complementary stages. In the first step we conducted a case study in MPRN, in which, through an internal and external diagnosis of DTI, accomplished by an action of internal consulting and one research of the user satisfaction, we seek to identify opportunities of change seeking to raise the quality perceived of the services provided by the DTI , from the viewpoint of their customers. The situational report, drawn from the data collected, fostered changes in DTI, which were then evaluated with the managers. In the second stage, with the results obtained in the initial process, empirical observation, evaluation of side projects of quality improvement in the sector, and validation with the managers, of the initial model, we developed an improved process, gazing beyond the identification of gaps in service a strategy for the selection of best management practices and deployment of these, in a incremental and adaptive way, allowing the application of the process in organs with little staff allocated to the provision of information technology services

Uma abordagem sistemática para implementação, gerenciamento e customização de testes de linhas de produto de software

Through the adoption of the software product line (SPL) approach, several benefits are achieved when compared to the conventional development processes that are based on creating a single software system at a time. The process of developing a SPL differs from traditional software construction, since it has two essential phases: the domain engineering - when common and variables elements of the SPL are defined and implemented; and the application engineering - when one or more applications (specific products) are derived from the reuse of artifacts created in the domain engineering. The test activity is also fundamental and aims to detect defects in the artifacts produced in SPL development. However, the characteristics of an SPL bring new challenges to this activity that must be considered. Several approaches have been recently proposed for the testing process of product lines, but they have been shown limited and have only provided general guidelines. In addition, there is also a lack of tools to support the variability management and customization of automated case tests for SPLs. In this context, this dissertation has the goal of proposing a systematic approach to software product line testing. The approach offers: (i) automated SPL test strategies to be applied in the domain and application engineering, (ii) explicit guidelines to support the implementation and reuse of automated test cases at the unit, integration and system levels in domain and application engineering; and (iii) tooling support for automating the variability management and customization of test cases. The approach is evaluated through its application in a software product line for web systems. The results of this work have shown that the proposed approach can help the developers to deal with the challenges imposed by the characteristics of SPLs during the testing process

GT4CCI: uma abordagem baseada em grounded theory para a identificação de interesses transversais em documentos de requisitos

When crosscutting concerns identification is performed from the beginning of development, on the activities involved in requirements engineering, there are many gains in terms of quality, cost and efficiency throughout the lifecycle of software development. This early identification supports the evolution of requirements, detects possible flaws in the requirements specification, improves traceability among requirements, provides better software modularity and prevents possible rework. However, despite these several advantages, the crosscutting concerns identification over requirements engineering faces several difficulties such as the lack of systematization and tools that support it. Furthermore, it is difficult to justify why some concerns are identified as crosscutting or not, since this identification is, most often, made without any methodology that systematizes and bases it. In this context, this paper proposes an approach based on Grounded Theory, called GT4CCI, for systematizing and basing the process of identifying crosscutting concerns in the initial stages of the software development process in the requirements document. Grounded Theory is a renowned methodology for qualitative analysis of data. Through the use of GT4CCI it is possible to better understand, track and document concerns, adding gains in terms of quality, reliability and modularity of the entire lifecycle of software

Percepção e ações educativas em ambientes escolares: enfoques aos documentos legais determinantes em área de proteção ambiental

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Técnicas baseadas em etnografia e prototipagem no Design de interface de aplicativo mobile para gerenciamento acadêmico

Baseado na metodologia de design participativo, este artigo relata o processo de pesquisa e desenvolvimento de uma versão mobile de um sistema já existente para desktop e amplamente utilizado para o compartilhamento de informações acadêmicas em uma universidade federal do Brasil. A pesquisa foi realizada em duas etapas. Na ‘Etapa I’ foram realizados estudos baseados em etnografia envolvendo docentes e discentes: Grupo de Foco, Análise Contextual, Avaliação Heurística Participativa e Avaliação Cooperativa. Por meio dos resultados foi possível identificar funcionalidades e requisitos desejáveis, problemas de usabilidade de uma versão mobile já em processo inicial de desenvolvimento, bem como e elaboração de uma nova interface gráfica. Na ‘Etapa II’ foram avaliados modelos de interação por meio de protótipos especificamente projetados para testes no mecanismo de lançamento de frequência do sistema mobile que, em seguida, foram avaliados através de testes de usabilidade e questionário de satisfação do usuário.

Transporte eletrônico e propriedades termodinâmicas de nanobiomoléculas

We use a tight-binding formulation to investigate the transmissivity and the currentvoltage (I_V) characteristics of sequences of double-strand DNA molecules. In order to reveal the relevance of the underlying correlations in the nucleotides distribution, we compare theresults for the genomic DNA sequence with those of arti_cial sequences (the long-range correlated Fibonacci and RudinShapiro one) and a random sequence, which is a kind of prototype of a short-range correlated system. The random sequence is presented here with the same _rst neighbors pair correlations of the human DNA sequence. We found that the long-range character of the correlations is important to the transmissivity spectra, although the I_V curves seem to be mostly inuenced by the short-range correlations. We also analyze in this work the electronic and thermal properties along an _-helix sequence obtained from an _3 peptide which has the uni-dimensional sequence (Leu-Glu-Thr- Leu-Ala-Lys-Ala)3. An ab initio quantum chemical calculation procedure is used to obtain the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) as well as their charge transfer integrals, when the _-helix sequence forms two di_erent variants with (the so-called 5Q variant) and without (the 7Q variant) _brous assemblies that can be observed by transmission electron microscopy. The di_erence between the two structures is that the 5Q (7Q) structure have Ala ! Gln substitution at the 5th (7th) position, respectively. We estimate theoretically the density of states as well as the electronic transmission spectra for the peptides using a tight-binding Hamiltonian model together with the Dyson's equation. Besides, we solve the time dependent Schrodinger equation to compute the spread of an initially localized wave-packet. We also compute the localization length in the _nite _-helix segment and the quantum especi_c heat. Keeping in mind that _brous protein can be associated with diseases, the important di_erences observed in the present vi electronic transport studies encourage us to suggest this method as a molecular diagnostic tool

Gerenciamento ambiental das fazendas de camarão do Rio Grande do Norte

The present dissertação had as objective to study the ambient management in the Farms Saint Rita, Tahim Agropesca and Agropesca Rigomoleiro, in the Great River of the North. For this we use as theoretical tool some fundantes concepts of geographic science, the space, and as concepts auxiliary of ambient management, of estuaries as the half natural one and of manguezais as ecosystem. The study if it gave taking in consideration a model of flow of activities of a typical farm following the way of the residues produced since the beginning until its final destination, in a suitable script of SCHERER (1999). The considered flow established a sequence activities where it is identified the material of entrance, the process of management, the residues of exit and the destination of the residues to the long one of the phase of culture of the shrimp. From it was there had been elaborated a series of managemental pictures with the data raised in the three farms, of different transports and concludes that the ambient management of these farms does not follow the formal standards of a system of typical ambient management. Collating with the system of considered by norm ISO14000 the study it disclosed that all the companies are in a situation of not conformity and that the impacts on the environment continue being many significant ones. However, it is possible to implant norm ISO14000 because some procedures implanted for the farms are correct of the point of view of the ambient management