System packaging & integration for a swallowable capsule using a direct access sensor

Technological developments in biomedical microsystems are opening up new opportunities to improve healthcare procedures. Swallowable diagnostic capsules are an example of this. In this paper, a diagnostic capsule technology is described based on direct-access sensing of the Gastro Intestinal (GI) fluids throughout the GI tract. The objective of this paper is two-fold: i) develop a packaging method for a direct access sensor, ii) develop an encapsulation method to protect the system electronics. The integrity of the interconnection after sensor packaging and encapsulation is correlated to its reliability and thus of importance. The zero level packaging of the sensor was achieved by using a so called Flip Chip Over Hole (FCOH) method. This allowed the fluidic sensing media to interface with the sensor, while the rest of the chip including the electrical connections can be insulated effectively. Initial tests using Anisotropic Conductive Adhesive (ACA) interconnect for the FCOH demonstrated good electrical connections and functionality of the sensor chip. Also a preliminary encapsulation trial of the flip chipped sensor on a flexible test substrate has been carried out and showed that silicone encapsulation of the system is a viable option.

Development and reliability of a direct access sensor using flip chip on flex technology with anisotropic conductive adhesive

Technological developments in biomedical microsystems are opening up new opportunities to improve healthcare procedures. Swallowable diagnostic sensing capsules are an example of these. In none of the diagnostic sensing capsules, is the sensor’s first level packaging achieved via Flip Chip Over Hole (FCOH) method using Anisotropic Conductive Adhesive (ACA). In a capsule application with direct access sensor (DAS), ACA not only provides the electrical interconnection but simultaneously seals the interconnect area and the underlying electronics. The development showed that the ACA FCOH was a viable option for the DAS interconnection. Adequate adhesive formed a strong joint that withstood a shear stress of 120N/mm2 and a compressive stress of 6N required to secure the final sensor assembly in place before encapsulation. Electrical characterization of the ACA joint in a fluid environment showed that the ACA was saturated with moisture and that the ions in the solution actively contributed to the leakage current, characterized by the varying rate of change of conductance. Long term hygrothermal aging of the ACA joint showed that a thermal strain of 0.004 and a hygroscopic strain of 0.0052 were present and resulted in a fatigue like process. In-vitro tests showed that high temperature and acidity had a deleterious effect of the ACA and its joint. It also showed that the ACA contact joints positioned at around or over 1mm would survive the gastrointestinal (GI) fluids and would be able to provide a reliable contact during the entire 72hr of the GI transit time. A final capsule demonstrator was achieved by successfully integrating the DAS, the battery and the final foldable circuitry into a glycerine capsule. Final capsule soak tests suggested that the silicone encapsulated system could survive the 72hr gut transition.

Holocene precipitation change in different monsoon sub-regions (time-slices and transient data) simulated by different global climate models, with links to model results

The recently proposed global monsoon hypothesis interprets monsoon systems as part of one global-scale atmospheric overturning circulation, implying a connection between the regional monsoon systems and an in-phase behaviour of all northern hemispheric monsoons on annual timescales (Trenberth et al., 2000). Whether this concept can be applied to past climates and variability on longer timescales is still under debate, because the monsoon systems exhibit different regional characteristics such as different seasonality (i.e. onset, peak, and withdrawal). To investigate the interconnection of different monsoon systems during the pre-industrial Holocene, five transient global climate model simulations have been analysed with respect to the rainfall trend and variability in different sub-domains of the Afro-Asian monsoon region. Our analysis suggests that on millennial timescales with varying orbital forcing, the monsoons do not behave as a tightly connected global system. According to the models, the Indian and North African monsoons are coupled, showing similar rainfall trend and moderate correlation in rainfall variability in all models. The East Asian monsoon changes independently during the Holocene. The dissimilarities in the seasonality of the monsoon sub-systems lead to a stronger response of the North African and Indian monsoon systems to the Holocene insolation forcing than of the East Asian monsoon and affect the seasonal distribution of Holocene rainfall variations. Within the Indian and North African monsoon domain, precipitation solely changes during the summer months, showing a decreasing Holocene precipitation trend. In the East Asian monsoon region, the precipitation signal is determined by an increasing precipitation trend during spring and a decreasing precipitation change during summer, partly balancing each other. A synthesis of reconstructions and the model results do not reveal an impact of the different seasonality on the timing of the Holocene rainfall optimum in the different sub-monsoon systems. They rather indicate locally inhomogeneous rainfall changes and show, that single palaeo-records should not be used to characterise the rainfall change and monsoon evolution for entire monsoon sub-systems.

Towards an Ecological Pedagogy: Body Movement for Ecological Consciousness

This paper examines the moving body as a vehicle for raising ecological consciousness. Due to the modern over-preoccupation with the pursuit of rational aims, human interactions with the surrounding environment increasingly lack conscious awareness. Consequently, in the modern world people tend to lack an ecological consciousness. Nevertheless, the human body is a rich reservoir of ecological significance. From birth, humans are woven into tremendous interconnection with the world. However, humans thrive when their sensitivity to the physical world exists in harmony with their ability to pursue their rational aims. It is the combination of these characteristics that enables humans to survive in capricious surroundings and prosper in a wide array of contexts. Today, the human species faces an unprecedented crisis that threatens to collapse the reciprocality of the ecological bonds bolstering the prosperity of all worldly beings. This paper proposes that it is no longer a rational strategy for people to remain inattentive to their embodied ecological resonance, and that the moving body is an adequate pedagogical site for raising ecological consciousness. Ritualized body movements derived from Chinese traditional cultivation systems such as Taijiquan could orient practitioners to reestablish a perceptual intimacy with the larger cosmic world, thereby raising their ecological consciousness.

A solution to the three disjoint path problem on honeycomb tori

In a previous paper we solved an open problem named as the three disjoint path problem on honeycomb meshes. In this paper we extend the technique used to solve the related problem on honeycomb tori. The result gives the minimum possible length of the longest of any three disjoint paths between two given nodes in a torus. The problem has practical benefits in the fault tolerant aspects of interconnection topologies.

A solution to the three disjoint path problem on honeycomb meshes

Recently honeycomb meshes have been considered as alternative candidates for interconnection networks in parallel and distributed computer systems. This paper presents a solution to one of the open problems about honeycomb meshes—the so-called three disjoint path problem. The problem requires minimizing the length of the longest of any three disjoint paths between 3-degree nodes. This solution provides information on the re-routing of traffic along the network in the presence of faults.

A novel methodology for analysis of large scale interconnected power and gas systems

The European Union continues to exert a large influence on the direction of member states energy policy. The 2020 targets for renewable energy integration have had significant impact on the operation of current power systems, forcing a rapid change from fossil fuel dominated systems to those with high levels of renewable power. Additionally, the overarching aim of an internal energy market throughout Europe has and will continue to place importance on multi-jurisdictional co-operation regarding energy supply. Combining these renewable energy and multi-jurisdictional supply goals results in a complicated multi-vector energy system, where the understanding of interactions between fossil fuels, renewable energy, interconnection and economic power system operation is increasingly important. This paper provides a novel and systematic methodology to fully understand the changing dynamics of interconnected energy systems from a gas and power perspective. A fully realistic unit commitment and economic dispatch model of the 2030 power systems in Great Britain and Ireland, combined with a representative gas transmission energy flow model is developed. The importance of multi-jurisdictional integrated energy system operation in one of the most strategically important renewable energy regions is demonstrated.

Statistical Analysis of Wind Power Generation in Europe

Studies have shown that large geographical spreading can reduce the wind power variability and smooth production. It is frequently assumed that storage and interconnection can manage wind power variability and are totally flexible. However, constraints do exist. In the future more and more electricity will be provided by renewable energy sources and more electricity interconnectors will be built between European Union (EU) countries, as outlines in many of the Projects of Common Interests. It is essential to understand the correlation of wind generation throughout Europe considering power system constraints. In this study the spatial and temporal correlation of wind power production across several countries is examined in order to understand how “the wind ‘travels’ across Europe”. Three years of historical hourly wind power generation from ten EU countries is analysed to investigate the geographic diversity and time scales influence on correlation of wind power variations. Results are then compared with two other studies and show similar general characteristics of correlation between EU country pairs to identify opportunities for storage optimisation, power system operations, and trading.

Hierarchical Task Network Planning with Common-Sense Reasoning for Multiple-People Behaviour Analysis

Safety on public transport is a major concern for the relevant authorities. We
address this issue by proposing an automated surveillance platform which combines data from video, infrared and pressure sensors. Data homogenisation and integration is achieved by a distributed architecture based on communication middleware that resolves interconnection issues, thereby enabling data modelling. A common-sense knowledge base models and encodes knowledge about public-transport platforms and the actions and activities of passengers. Trajectory data from passengers is modelled as a time-series of human activities. Common-sense knowledge and rules are then applied to detect inconsistencies or errors in the data interpretation. Lastly, the rationality that characterises human behaviour is also captured here through a bottom-up Hierarchical Task Network planner that, along with common-sense, corrects misinterpretations to explain passenger behaviour. The system is validated using a simulated bus saloon scenario as a case-study. Eighteen video sequences were recorded with up to six passengers. Four metrics were used to evaluate performance. The system, with an accuracy greater than 90% for each of the four metrics, was found to outperform a rule-base system and a system containing planning alone.

The Essay as Art Form

Beginning with Montaigne’s essayistic dictum Que sais je? — ‘What do I know?’ — this PhD thesis examines the literary history, formal qualities, and theoretical underpinnings of the personal essay to both investigate and to practice its relevance as an approach to writing about art. The thesis proposes the essay as intrinsically linked to research, critical writing, and art making; it is a literary method that embodies the real experience of attempting to answer a question. The essay is a processual and reflexive mode of enquiry: a form that conveys not just the essayist’s thought, but the sense and texture of its movement as it attempts to understand its object. It is often invoked, across disciplines, in reference to the possibility of a more liberal sense of creative practice — one that conceptually and stylistically privileges collage, fragmentation, hybridity, chance, open-endedness, and the meander. Within this question of the essay as form, the thesis contains two distinct and parallel strands of analysis — subject matter and essay writing as research. At the core of the study lie two close-readings: Ana Mendieta’s Labyrinth of Venus (1982) and Le Couvent de la Tourette (1959) by Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis. In each case, the writing draws, in its tone and texture, on a range of literary influences, weaving together different voices, discussions, and approaches to enquiry. The practice of essay writing is presented alongside, part and party to, research: a method of interrogation that embraces risk and uncertainty, and simultaneously enacts its own findings as a critical-creative mode of study-via-form, and form-via-study. The thesis is presented as a book-length essay, in which the art in question is equal and intimately connected to the writing used to address it. Method and form are designed to respond to the oft-cited challenge of the essay as fundamentally unmethodical, ranging, and diverse. Research, critical study, writerly description, and storytelling are combined to elucidate and expose each other based not on surface continuity, but on a deep interconnection among ideas that, through language, cohere and become related — imbued with an affinity for one another. The consummate product is the argument, as it works across genres, disciplines, descriptive and critical models, to challenge the narrative structure and language used within contemporary writing about art.

Círculos ao invés de linhas: em busca de valores e princípios estruturantes da gestão social: projeto juventude, participação e autonomia (Instituto Universidade Popular - UNIPOP)

The organizations are characterized as dynamic spaces, they are being revisited and redefined, because they constitute structural human spaces and new vain outlines won expression. As it begins, of the non consensus in its conception, it is explicit the complexity degree that is identified in the plurality and diversity, brought by the people that compose them, characterizing it as accomplishment space, of happiness and also of conflict, of relationships of power and organizational limits and from birth and burial of faiths, values, norms, symbols, knowledge and rituals, therefore, deeply human. In that way, to know the administration of the organization is preponderant condition for the format of the human relationships to be delineated in its living. Like this the work makes an option in knowing the social administration, this work tries to know and analyze the values and beginnings of the social administration; revealling characteristics and specificities of the organizational performance of UNIPOP that contribute to the formation of the conception of Social Administration, it tends as source of the information the managers of the institution; to identify the formative values of UNIPOP that contribute to the youths' partner-political action in the community, tends for reference the current students of the organization and last to evaluate values structurates and supporting that interconnection between the organizational Administration, formation youth's program, participation and autonomy and attendance, starting from the existences gained by the exits, of that program. This way, the research will be qualitative, looking for understanding starting from their documents, the existence of those values

Développement de procédés technologiques pour une intégration 3D monolithique de dispositifs nanoélectroniques sur CMOS

Résumé : Le transistor monoélectronique (SET) est un dispositif nanoélectronique très attractif à cause de son ultra-basse consommation d’énergie et sa forte densité d’intégration, mais il n’a pas les capacités suffisantes pour pouvoir remplacer complètement la technologie CMOS. Cependant, la combinaison de la technologie SET avec celle du CMOS est une voie intéressante puisqu’elle permet de profiter des forces de chacune, afin d’obtenir des circuits avec des fonctionnalités additionnelles et uniques. Cette thèse porte sur l’intégration 3D monolithique de nanodispositifs dans le back-end-of-line (BEOL) d’une puce CMOS. Cette approche permet d’obtenir des circuits hybrides et de donner une valeur ajoutée aux puces CMOS actuelles sans altérer le procédé de fabrication du niveau des transistors MOS. L’étude se base sur le procédé nanodamascène classique développé à l’UdeS qui a permis la fabrication de dispositifs nanoélectroniques sur un substrat de SiO2. Ce document présente les travaux réalisés sur l’optimisation du procédé de fabrication nanodamascène, afin de le rendre compatible avec le BEOL de circuits CMOS. Des procédés de gravure plasma adaptés à la fabrication de nanostructures métalliques et diélectriques sont ainsi développés. Le nouveau procédé nanodamascène inverse a permis de fabriquer des jonctions MIM et des SET métalliques sur une couche de SiO2. Les caractérisations électriques de MIM et de SET formés avec des jonctions TiN/Al2O3 ont permis de démontrer la présence de pièges dans les jonctions et la fonctionnalité d’un SET à basse température (1,5 K). Le transfert de ce procédé sur CMOS et le procédé d’interconnexions verticales sont aussi développés par la suite. Finalement, un circuit 3D composé d’un nanofil de titane connecté verticalement à un transistor MOS est réalisé et caractérisé avec succès. Les résultats obtenus lors de cette thèse permettent de valider la possibilité de co-intégrer verticalement des dispositifs nanoélectroniques avec une technologie CMOS, en utilisant un procédé de fabrication compatible.

Corporate Social Responsibility no sector bancário

Vivemos num mundo globalizado onde as exigências são diversas e constantemente presentes. É impossível analisar a área social, económica ou ambiental de forma isolada. A visão que relaciona o mundo empresarial com a sociedade e que lhe reconhece obrigações e responsabilidades para com a mesma não é nova e tem vindo a obter uma importância e visibilidade crescentes. O conceito corporate social responsibility (CSR) tem sido objecto de grande enfoque, sobretudo desde os anos cinquenta do século passado. Todavia, este conceito não tem permanecido inalterado com o passar do tempo. Desde a referida década até à actualidade verifica-se um desenvolvimento notório da definição de CSR, das suas vertentes, do binómio mundo empresarial e social e de alguns conceitos conexos como sejam corporate citizenship, business ethics e sustainability. Actualmente a maioria da doutrina que versa sobre o tema aceita, de forma pacífica, que o mundo empresarial não se pode fechar sobre si próprio pretendendo alcançar ganhos e visibilidade demitindo-se da responsabilidade para com a sociedade onde se encontra inserido. Compreende-se que a interligação entre a esfera económica, social e ambiental permite às empresas diversos benefícios, nomeadamente a viabilização de projectos a longo prazo, prestígio, notoriedade e a vantagem competitiva face às suas concorrentes. O objectivo do presente trabalho é demonstrar a evolução do conceito de CSR, nas suas várias vertentes, o impacto e os benefícios decorrentes das actuações empresarias compatíveis com este conceito e verificar, no que ao sector bancário respeita, se os clientes destas instituições conhecem os projectos sociais, pelas mesmas desenvolvidos e se a realização destes projectos possuem impacto na relação cliente/banco.

Minimizar o sobrecusto da redução da capacidade de interligação com recurso ao counter-trading

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica Ramo de energia

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF RIBOSOME BINDING ELEMENTS OF THE 3´ UTR IN TWO POSITIVE-STRAND PLANT RNA VIRUSES

Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) and Pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV) are two positive (+)-strand RNA viruses that are used to investigate the regulation of translation and replication due to their small size and simple genomes. Both viruses contain cap-independent translation elements (CITEs) within their 3´ untranslated regions (UTRs) that fold into tRNA-shaped structures (TSS) according to nuclear magnetic resonance and small angle x-ray scattering analysis (TCV) and computational prediction (PEMV). Specifically, the TCV TSS can directly associate with ribosomes and participates in RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) binding. The PEMV kissing-loop TSS (kl-TSS) can simultaneously bind to ribosomes and associate with the 5´ UTR of the viral genome. Mutational analysis and chemical structure probing methods provide great insight into the function and secondary structure of the two 3´ CITEs. However, lack of 3-D structural information has limited our understanding of their functional dynamics. Here, I report the folding dynamics for the TCV TSS using optical tweezers (OT), a single molecule technique. My study of the unfolding/folding pathways for the TCV TSS has provided an unexpected unfolding pathway, confirmed the presence of Ψ3 and hairpin elements, and suggested an interconnection between the hairpins and pseudoknots. In addition, this study has demonstrated the importance of the adjacent upstream adenylate-rich sequence for the formation of H4a/Ψ3 along with the contribution of magnesium to the stability of the TCV TSS. In my second project, I report on the structural analysis of the PEMV kl-TSS using NMR and SAXS. This study has re-confirmed the base-pair pattern for the PEMV kl-TSS and the proposed interaction of the PEMV kl-TSS with its interacting partner, hairpin 5H2. The molecular envelope of the kl-TSS built from SAXS analysis suggests the kl-TSS has two functional conformations, one of which has a different shape from the previously predicted tRNA-shaped form. Along with applying biophysical methods to study the structural folding dynamics of RNAs, I have also developed a technique that improves the production of large quantities of recombinant RNAs in vivo for NMR study. In this project, I report using the wild-type and mutant E.coli strains to produce cost-effective, site-specific labeled, recombinant RNAs. This technique was validated with four representative RNAs of different sizes and complexity to produce milligram amounts of RNAs. The benefit of using site-specific labeled RNAs made from E.coli was demonstrated with several NMR techniques.