From local to global importance measures of uncertainty propagation in composite structures

The influence of uncertainties of input parameters on output response of composite structures is investigated in this paper. In particular, the effects of deviations in mechanical properties, ply angles, ply thickness and on applied loads are studied. The uncertainty propagation and the importance measure of input parameters are analysed using three different approaches: a first-order local method, a Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) supported by a variance-based method and an extension of local variance to estimate the global variance over the domain of inputs. Sample results are shown for a shell composite laminated structure built with different composite systems including multi-materials. The importance measures of input parameters on structural response based on numerical results are established and discussed as a function of the anisotropy of composite materials. Needs for global variance methods are discussed by comparing the results obtained from different proposed methodologies. The objective of this paper is to contribute for the use of GSA techniques together with low expensive local importance measures.

Local e tipo das refeições realizadas por adultos em cidade de médio porte

OBJETIVO : Descrever as refeições realizadas por adultos quanto ao local e tipo de preparação consumido em cidade de médio porte, do sul do Brasil. MÉTODOS : Estudo transversal, de base populacional, na cidade de Pelotas, RS, em 2012. A amostragem foi realizada em dois estágios, tendo os setores censitários do Censo Demográfico de 2010 como unidade amostral primária. Foram coletadas informações sobre o local das refeições (em casa ou fora de casa) e sobre o tipo de preparação consumida em casa (comida caseira, lanches, comida de restaurante) nos dois dias prévios à entrevista, utilizando-se questionário padronizado. RESULTADOS : Participaram do estudo 2.927 adultos: 59,0% mulheres, 60,0% com idade abaixo de 50 anos e 58,0% estava trabalhando. Foram obtidas informações sobre 11.581 refeições nos dois dias anteriores à entrevista, sendo 25,0% delas realizadas fora de casa, no almoço, e 10,0% no jantar. Quanto às refeições realizadas em casa, a maioria dos participantes referiu ter consumido comida preparada em casa, tanto no almoço quanto no jantar. A maioria das refeições fora de casa (64,0% no almoço e 61,0% no jantar) foram realizadas no local de trabalho, majoritariamente preparadas em casa. As refeições fora de casa foram realizadas principalmente por pessoas do sexo masculino, jovens, com alta escolaridade. Quanto à ocupação, os grupos que tiveram refeições mais frequentemente em restaurantes foram trabalhadores do comércio, empresários, professores e profissionais de nível superior. CONCLUSÕES : Apesar das mudanças que vêm sendo registradas nos padrões de alimentação do brasileiro, adultos residentes em cidades de médio porte ainda se alimentam majoritariamente em casa e de comida caseira.

Accessibility and Local Development: Interaction between Cross-border Accessibility and Local Development in Portugal and Spain

One of de EU major concerns is cohesion and cross-border regional development. Usually cross-border regions are less dynamic, acting as bottlenecks mainly in peripheral territories. This paper is focused on the Portuguese-Spanish border using socio-economic and accessibility data. It considers Spatial Econometrics to produce statistical evidence on the relationship between accessibility and development at a local scale. A pilot study is conducted on North and Center region using variables such as population age, graduation characteristics, migrations, unemployment and daily accessibility to main towns in future this evaluation will be applied to the entire cross-border area between Portugal and Spain.

Consolidating preservative-treated wood: Combined mechanical performance of boron and polymeric products in wood degraded by Coniophora puteana

When timber elements in heritage buildings are moderately degraded by fungi and assuming underlying moisture problems have been solved, two actions can be taken: i) use a biocide to stop fungal activity; ii) consolidate the degraded elements so that the timber keeps on fulfilling its structural and decorative functions. The aim of this work is to investigate the mechanical performance of maritime pine wood degraded by fungi after being treated with a biocide followed by impregnation with a polymer product. Three commercially available products were used: a boron water-based biocide, an acrylic consolidant and an epoxy-based consolidant. Treated and consolidated specimens were subjected to mechanical tests: axial compression test (NP 618), static surface hardness (ISO 3350) and bending test (NP 619). Sets of replicates were subjected to an evaporation ageing test (EN 73) after application of the products and also tested for mechanical behaviour. An increase in mechanical strength was observed for both consolidants with no significant influence from the previous use of biocide product. The specimens subjected to ageing showed a slightly better general mechanical performance.

Self-adaptive combination of global tabu search and local search for nonlinear equations

Solving systems of nonlinear equations is a very important task since the problems emerge mostly through the mathematical modelling of real problems that arise naturally in many branches of engineering and in the physical sciences. The problem can be naturally reformulated as a global optimization problem. In this paper, we show that a self-adaptive combination of a metaheuristic with a classical local search method is able to converge to some difficult problems that are not solved by Newton-type methods.

Aspectos a considerar para a avaliação de riscos no caso da aplicação do óleo descofrante

Mestrado em Higiene e Segurança no Trabalho.

Exposição ocupacional a compostos orgânicos voláteis e a matéria particulada na limpeza automóvel em parques de estacionamento

Mestrado em Segurança e Higiene no Trabalho

Filament wound products made with thermoplastic matrix towpregs

Cost-effective glass-reinforced thermoplastic matri x towpregs produced by a powder coating line were used to manufacture composite pipes by fi lament winding. A conventional 6 axes filament-winding equipment was adapted for processi ng such structures. The influence of the filament winding speed and mandrel temperature on t he composite final properties was studied in the present work. An optimized processin g window was established by comparing the composite theoretical expected mechanical prope rties with the experimentally obtained ones. The final properties determined on the produc ed pipes and structures and the technological changes introduced to the conventiona l filament-winding equipment will be presented and discussed. Besides the processing des cription and conditions, it will be presented the relationship between processing condi tions and mechanical properties.

Contributos para uma comparação de metodologias entre a agenda 21 local e a rede social

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ordenamento do Território e Planeamento Ambiental

A genetic algorithm for the job shop scheduling with a new local search using Monte Carlo method

This paper presents a methodology for applying scheduling algorithms using Monte Carlo simulation. The methodology is based on a decision support system (DSS). The proposed methodology combines a genetic algorithm with a new local search using Monte Carlo Method. The methodology is applied to the job shop scheduling problem (JSSP). The JSSP is a difficult problem in combinatorial optimization for which extensive investigation has been devoted to the development of efficient algorithms. The methodology is tested on a set of standard instances taken from the literature and compared with others. The computation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The DSS developed can be utilized in a common industrial or construction environment.

Combining global tabu search with local search for solving systems of equalities and inequalities

This papers aims at providing a combined strategy for solving systems of equalities and inequalities. The combined strategy uses two types of steps: a global search step and a local search step. The global step relies on a tabu search heuristic and the local step uses a deterministic search known as Hooke and Jeeves. The choice of step, at each iteration, is based on the level of reduction of the l2-norm of the error function observed in the equivalent system of equations, compared with the previous iteration.

A Logic and tool for local reasoning about security protocols

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

A Web-Based geographical information system prototype on Portuguese traditional food products

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Global localization with non-quantized local image features

In the field of appearance-based robot localization, the mainstream approach uses a quantized representation of local image features. An alternative strategy is the exploitation of raw feature descriptors, thus avoiding approximations due to quantization. In this work, the quantized and non-quantized representations are compared with respect to their discriminativity, in the context of the robot global localization problem. Having demonstrated the advantages of the non-quantized representation, the paper proposes mechanisms to reduce the computational burden this approach would carry, when applied in its simplest form. This reduction is achieved through a hierarchical strategy which gradually discards candidate locations and by exploring two simplifying assumptions about the training data. The potential of the non-quantized representation is exploited by resorting to the entropy-discriminativity relation. The idea behind this approach is that the non-quantized representation facilitates the assessment of the distinctiveness of features, through the entropy measure. Building on this finding, the robustness of the localization system is enhanced by modulating the importance of features according to the entropy measure. Experimental results support the effectiveness of this approach, as well as the validity of the proposed computation reduction methods.

Expropriações: dos impactes dos planos municipais de ordenamento do território à identificação local das áreas a expropriar

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciência e Sistemas de Informação Geográfica