Insignificance and Minor Architecture

The fragmented condition of our everyday brings us closer to the risks of hyper-expression. Against it two positions unfold to help us face a world that escapes our capacities: familiarity and poetic recognition. In the latter it is crucial the role of the insignificant as dynamic and relational instigator of a conscious threading of reality through the actions of the Poeta Faber and his careful look onto the world. / The production of the common as the material and symbolic fabric of the city, unstable reality in a perpetual becoming, leads us to a new and much needed reconsideration of the public/private division born from the modern state. Immersed in the confusion between public and common, we have not perceived that through the expropriation of the first we have been prepared for the willing surrendering of the second. / From insignificance to rebellion as affirmative going into action related to the idea of minor architecture as common and intensely political production, born from the inside of a society that has no more outsides.

On the hardware and software architecture of the robuter mobile platform: a hands-on approach

The Robuter is a robotic mobile platform that is located in the “Hands-On” Laboratory of the IPP-Hurray! Research Group, at the School of Engineering of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Recently, the Robuter was subject of an upgrading process addressing two essential areas: the Hardware Architecture and the Software Architecture. This upgrade in process was triggered due to technical problems on-board of the robot and also to the fact that the hardware/software architecture has become obsolete. This Technical Report overviews the most important aspects of the new Hardware and Software Architectures of the Robuter. This document also presents a first approach on the first steps towards the use of the Robuter platform, and provides some hints on future work that may be carried out using this mobile platform.

Scale-free networks and scalable interdomain routing

Trabalho apresentado no âmbito do Mestrado em Engenharia Informática, como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Recursive neuro fuzzy techniques for online identification and control

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Topography of aligned PNIPAm nanogels determines cell motility and cytoskeleton architecture

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Engenharia Clínica)

The shared allelic architecture of adiponectin levels and coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE: A large body of epidemiologic data strongly suggests an association between excess adiposity and coronary artery disease (CAD). Low adiponectin levels, a hormone secreted only from adipocytes, have been associated with an increased risk of CAD in observational studies. However, these associations cannot clarify whether this relationship is causal or due to a shared set of causal factors or even confounding. Genome-wide association studies have identified common variants that influence adiponectin levels, providing valuable tools to examine the genetic relationship between adiponectin and CAD. METHODS: Using 145 genome wide significant SNPs for adiponectin from the ADIPOGen consortium (n = 49,891), we tested whether adiponectin-decreasing alleles influenced risk of CAD in the CARDIoGRAM consortium (n = 85,274). RESULTS: In single-SNP analysis, 5 variants among 145 SNPs were associated with increased risk of CAD after correcting for multiple testing (P < 4.4 × 10(-4)). Using a multi-SNP genotypic risk score to test whether adiponectin levels and CAD have a shared genetic etiology, we found that adiponectin-decreasing alleles increased risk of CAD (P = 5.4 × 10(-7)). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that adiponectin levels and CAD have a shared allelic architecture and provide rationale to undertake a Mendelian randomization studies to understand if this relationship is causal.

Digital beamforming and moving target indication for future spaceborne synthetic aperture radar

During the last decade the interest on space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) for remote sensing applications has grown as testified by the number of recent and forthcoming missions as TerraSAR-X, RADARSAT-2, COSMO-kyMed, TanDEM-X and the Spanish SEOSAR/PAZ. In this sense, this thesis proposes to study and analyze the performance of the state-of-the-Art space-borne SAR systems, with modes able to provide Moving Target Indication capabilities (MTI), i.e. moving object detection and estimation. The research will focus on the MTI processing techniques as well as the architecture and/ or configuration of the SAR instrument, setting the limitations of the current systems with MTI capabilities, and proposing efficient solutions for the future missions. Two European projects, to which the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya provides support, are an excellent framework for the research activities suggested in this thesis. NEWA project proposes a potential European space-borne radar system with MTI capabilities in order to fulfill the upcoming European security policies. This thesis will critically review the state-of-the-Art MTI processing techniques as well as the readiness and maturity level of the developed capabilities. For each one of the techniques a performance analysis will be carried out based on the available technologies, deriving a roadmap and identifying the different technological gaps. In line with this study a simulator tool will be developed in order to validate and evaluate different MTI techniques in the basis of a flexible space-borne radar configuration. The calibration of a SAR system is mandatory for the accurate formation of the SAR images and turns to be critical in the advanced operation modes as MTI. In this sense, the SEOSAR/PAZ project proposes the study and estimation of the radiometric budget. This thesis will also focus on an exhaustive analysis of the radiometric budget considering the current calibration concepts and their possible limitations. In the framework of this project a key point will be the study of the Dual Receive Antenna (DRA) mode, which provides MTI capabilities to the mission. An additional aspect under study is the applicability of the Digital Beamforming on multichannel and/or multistatic radar platforms, which conform potential solutions for the NEWA project with the aim to fully exploit its capability jointly with MTI techniques.

Evaluation of the State Highway System and Road Use Tax Fund (RUTF), 2003

This report was prepared by a committee of city, county and state representatives. The committee met throughout 2002 with the purpose of reviewing and making recommendations to improve the efficiency and operation of Iowa's road and street system. This report is referenced in SF 451 and in Code Section 306.8A.

State power and protected areas: Dynamics and contradictions of forest conservation in Madhya Pradesh, India

The traditionally coercive and state-controlled governance of protected areas for nature conservation in developing countries has in many cases undergone change in the context of widespread decentralization and liberalization. This article examines an emerging "mixed" (coercive, community- and market-oriented) conservation approach in managed-resource protected areas and its effects on state power through a case study on forest protection in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The findings suggest that imperfect decentralization and partial liberalization resulted in changed forms, rather than uniform loss, of state power. A forest co-management program paradoxically strengthened local capacity and influence of the Forest Department, which generally maintained its territorial and knowledge-based control over forests and timber management. Furthermore, deregulation and reregulation enabled the state to withdraw from uneconomic activities but also implied reduced place-based control of non-timber forest products. Generally, the new policies and programs contributed to the separation of livelihoods and forests in Madhya Pradesh. The article concludes that regulatory, community- and market-based initiatives would need to be better coordinated to lead to more effective nature conservation and positive livelihood outcomes.

Maternal and Child Health Services Title V Block Grant State Narrative for Iowa Application for 2013 Annual Report for 2011

Key factors that provide context for the state's Maternal and Child Health (MCH) annual report and state plan are highlighted in this overview. This section briefly outlines Iowa's demographics, population changes, economic indicators and significant public initiatives. Major strategic planning efforts affecting development of program activities are also identified.

State Plan for Library Program under Library Services and Construction Act, as amended, 1966

This document includes the general provisions and regulations of the Iowa Sate Traveling Library under the Library Services and Construction Act. It also includes information of appropriations of funds available for expenditure, authority of local agencies to administer and state agency to supervise local administration and certification.

Maternal and Child Health Services Title V Block Grant State Narrative for Iowa Application for 2015 Annual Report for 2013, September 21, 2014

Key factors that provide context for the state's Maternal and Child Health (MCH) annual report and state plan are highlighted in this overview. This section briefly outlines Iowa's demographics, population changes, economic indicators and significant public initiatives. Major strategic planning efforts affecting development of program activities are also identified.

Transcriptome diversity among rice root types during asymbiosis and interaction with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Root systems consist of different root types (RTs) with distinct developmental and functional characteristics. RTs may be individually reprogrammed in response to their microenvironment to maximize adaptive plasticity. Molecular understanding of such specific remodeling-although crucial for crop improvement-is limited. Here, RT-specific transcriptomes of adult rice crown, large and fine lateral roots were assessed, revealing molecular evidence for functional diversity among individual RTs. Of the three rice RTs, crown roots displayed a significant enrichment of transcripts associated with phytohormones and secondary cell wall (SCW) metabolism, whereas lateral RTs showed a greater accumulation of transcripts related to mineral transport. In nature, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis represents the default state of most root systems and is known to modify root system architecture. Rice RTs become heterogeneously colonized by AM fungi, with large laterals preferentially entering into the association. However, RT-specific transcriptional responses to AM symbiosis were quantitatively most pronounced for crown roots despite their modest physical engagement in the interaction. Furthermore, colonized crown roots adopted an expression profile more related to mycorrhizal large lateral than to noncolonized crown roots, suggesting a fundamental reprogramming of crown root character. Among these changes, a significant reduction in SCW transcripts was observed that was correlated with an alteration of SCW composition as determined by mass spectrometry. The combined change in SCW, hormone- and transport-related transcript profiles across the RTs indicates a previously overlooked switch of functional relationships among RTs during AM symbiosis, with a potential impact on root system architecture and functioning.