Development of sandwich panels of customized functionalities for the rehabilitation of the built patrimony

Dissertação de International Master in Sustainable Built Environment

Plano de revitalização do centro histórico de Braga

Dissertação de mestrado em Políticas Comunitárias e Cooperação Territorial

Aplicação de princípios e ferramentas lean numa unidade de cirurgia de ambulatório de um hospital

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Industrial

QRS Voltage-Duration Product in the Identification of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

OBJECTIVE - Evaluation of the performance of the QRS voltage-duration product (VDP) for detection of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). METHODS - Orthogonal electrocardiograms (ECG) were recorded in male SHR at the age of 12 and 20 weeks, when systolic blood pressure (sBP) reached the average values of 165±3 mmHg and 195±12 mmHg, respectively. Age- and sex- matched normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats were used as controls. VDP was calculated as a product of maximum QRS spatial vector magnitude and QRS duration. Left ventricular mass (LVM) was weighed after rats were sacrificed. RESULTS - LVM in SHR at 12 and 20 weeks of age (0.86±0.05 g and 1.05±0.07 g, respectively) was significantly higher as compared with that in WKY (0.65±0.07 g and 0.70±0.02 g). The increase in LVM closely correlated with the sBP increase. VDP did not reflect the increase in LVM in SHR. VDP was lower in SHR as compared with that in WKY, and the difference was significant at the age of 20 weeks (18.2mVms compared with 10.7mVms, p<0.01). On the contrary, a significant increase in the VDP was observed in the control WKY at the age of 20 weeks without changes in LVM. The changes in VDP were influenced mainly by the changes in QRSmax. CONCLUSION - LVM was not the major determinant of QRS voltage changes and consequently of the VDP. These data point to the importance of the nonspatial determinants of the recorded QRS voltage in terms of the solid angle theory.

Implementação de Kata de melhoria em serviços administrativos

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Industrial

Estudio, diseño e implementación de un circuito integrado de aplicación específica para registradores en cadenas de frío

Uno de los factores que afectan seriamente la calidad de los productos lácteos es la continuidad de la cadena de frío desde que los mismos salen de la planta hasta que es vendido a los consumidores. El aseguramiento de la antes citada cadena es particularmente importante en la etapa de transporte debido a los períodos muchas veces prolongados que deben transcurrir hasta la llegada de los productos a los centros de consumo, correspondiendo esta responsabilidad a las empresas de transporte. De la importancia de la etapa de transporte se deduce el interés de las industrias de auditar de alguna forma a las empresas encargadas del mismo, de al forma de garantizar la continuidad de la cadena del frío, ya que de llegar a consumirse un producto en mal estado, la productora de lácteos sufriría serios problemas de imagen ante los consumidores que se traducirían en dificultades a la hora de intentar posicionar sus productos en el mercado. De aquí la importancia de control de los transportistas, siendo absolutamente necesario disponer de equipamiento que permita efectuarlo. Dicho equipamiento deberá ser de bajo costo, debido fundamentalmente a la gran cantidad de unidades a controlar, de bajo consumo, totalmente independiente de las instalaciones del equipo de transporte, fácilmente programable y utilizable, de gran confiabilidad, y por sobre todo totalmente inviolable de tal forma de evitar la alteración de los datos contenidos en el sistema. (...) (...) El presente proyecto tiene por objetivo el desarrollo, simulación e implementación de un Circuito Integrado de Aplicación Específica (ASIC), que logre reunir en un solo circuito integrado toda la electrónica asociada a un registrador de temperaturas para control de continuidad de cadenas de frío. Dicho desarrollo se llevará a cabo mediante la utilización de técnicas microelectrónicas que permiten el diseño del ASIC mediante programas de Diseño Asistido por Computadora, su simulación lógica-temporal mediante simuladores eléctricos y finalmente la obtención de las máscaras de fabricación del circuito integrado para su posterior fabricación en el extranjero. (...) Específicamente, durante el período para el cual se solicita el apoyo, se deberán superar las etapas de diseño, simulación, extracción de componentes parásitos del layout, resimulación y obtención del circuito integrado mediante gestión de fabricación en el extranjero. Dicho prototipo deberá ser evaluado para determinar la perfomance del mismo y establecer sus especificaciones. Con posterioridad se construirán tres instrumentos prototipos para su evaluación mediante pruebas en funcionamiento real.

Kommunikation als Optimierungskriterium : ein Beitrag zur Systematisierung der Layoutplanung von Produktionssystemen

Manufacturing system, layout planning, facilities location problem, information, communication

Contribuição ao estudo dos Embiídeos: IV. Polimorfismo sexual da região cefálica de Embolyntha batesi Mac lachlan, 1877 (Embiidina, Embiidae)

Em continuação as pesquisas que vimos realizando nos Embiídeos é feito um estudo comparado das peças bucais entre machos e fêmeas de Embolyntha batesi. A cabeça é prognata recoberta por diminutas cerdas. É a região mais resistente do inseto, devido proteger, além de outros órgãos, principalmente, o sistema nervoso. Varia de tamanho nos dois sexos com os índices (comprimento : largura) na fêmea de 1,06 e nos machos de 1,36; a cabeça da fêmea é achatada, enquanto que a dos machos é alongada. Quase tôdas as suturas são visíveis nos sexos, com excessão de algumas, como é o caso da coronal e post-frontal dos machos. De tôdas as suturas, a temporal é a mais interessante, limita a região do vertex com as genas, ao mesmo tempo que origina um sulco profundo, que penetra na cápsula craniana fazendo parte do esqueleto interno da cabeça, e sendo responsável pelo aspecto diferente das mesmas. A sutura temporal, na região ventral, separa as genas das subgenas. A sutura hipostomal, em ambos os sexos, é muito acentuada, e na sua parte mais interna, vêm se inserir os ramos posteriores do tentório, e, ainda lateralmente, as maxilas. O tentório é primitivo, tendo um corpo central, de forma quadrangular e, de cada ângulo parte um ramo; dois anteriores, menores, que se dirigem para a região dorsal onde se bifurcam, indo ter próximo á base das antenas e mandíbulas, e dois ramos posteriores que seguem a direção ventral, indo ter á região hipostomal. As antenas são filiformes, variando o número de segmentos. Os olhos dos machos são reniformes, salientes e grandes, enquanto que os das fêmeas são pequenos, ovais e achatados. O número de omatídeos de macho é 34, e, na fêmea é 41, em uma determinada área. O clípeo quase não se diferencia da fronte, porém encontra-se dividido em anti-clípeo e post-clípeo. A sutura do clípeo-labro é bem acentuada, deixando transparecer, após a diafanização do material, um espessamento da cutícula na sua região mais interna, destinada a implantação dos músculos que movimentam o labro. Na parte ventral o labro apresenta sensilas, que variam quanto a forma, tamanho e estrutura nos dois sexos. As mandíbulas apresentam-se muito diferentes devida sua função, isto é, trituradora nas fêmeas e preensora nos machos. Pela simples morfologia das mandíbulas podemos identificar o sexo nos Embiídeos. Em ambos temos dentes incisivos e molares, porém mais acentuados nas fêmeas. Nos machos a região interna da mandíbula tem a forma côncava, com cutícula...

Leniency programs, antitrust enforcement and multimarket contact : three essays in industrial organization

The Layout of My Thesis This thesis contains three chapters in Industrial Organization that build on the work outlined above. The first two chapters combine leniency programs with multimarket contact and provide a thorough analysis of the potential effects of Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus. The third chapter puts the whole discussion on leniency programs into perspective by examining other enforcement tools available to an antitrust authority. The main argument in that last chapter is that a specific instrument can only be as effective as the policy in which it is embedded. It is therefore important for an antitrust authority to know how it best accompanies the introduction or modification of a policy instrument that helps deterrence. INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 examines the efféct of Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus on the incentives of firms to report cartel activities. The main question is whether the inclusion of these policies in a leniency program undermine the effectiveness of the latter by discouraging the firms to apply for amnesty. The model is static and focus on the ex post incentives of firms to desist from collusion. The results suggest that, because Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus encourage the reporting of a second cartel after a first detection, a firm, anticipating this, may be reluctant to seek leniency and to report in the first place. However, the effect may also go in the opposite direction, and Amnesty Plus and Penalty Plus may encourage the simultaneous reporting of two cartels. Chapter 2 takes this idea further to the stage of cartel formation. This chapter provides a complete characterization of the potential anticompetitive and procompetitive effects of Amnesty Plus in a infinitely repeated game framework when the firms use their multimarket contact to harshen punishment. I suggest a clear-cut policy rule that prevents potential adverse effects and thereby show that, if policy makers follow this rule, a leniency program with Amnesty Plus performs better than one without. Chapter 3 characterizes the socially optimal enforcement effort of an antitrust authority and shows how this effort changes with the introduction or modification of specific policy instruments. The intuition is that the policy instrument may increase the marginal benefit of conducting investigations. If this effect is strong enough, a more rigorous detection policy becomes socially desirable.

Disseny, fabricació i caracterització d'amplificadors de baix soroll per instrumentació

Aquest projecte consisteix en l’estudi, disseny i fabricació d’un amplificador de baix soroll per instrumentació, el qual es basarà en uns requisits de guany, ample de banda i de mides a complir. Un vegada vistos els requisits i fet un estudi previ de la situació, el primer pas serà realitzar el disseny principal de l’amplificador, el qual s’anirà millorant a mesura que avanci el projecte. Un cop dissenyat i avaluat el circuit amb el software ADS, el següent pas serà intentar fer un model de layout, el qual serà fabricat i analitzat, per tal d'intentar aconseguir el resultat esperat de les especificacions. Finalment, es detallaran les conclusions a les quals s’ha arribat desprès d’haver realitzat aquest projecte.

Diseño e implementación de un receptor multifrecuencia basado en muestreo paso banda aplicado al sistema Galileo

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo diseñar e implementar un receptor multifrecuencia requerido para aplicaciones Galileo centradas a realizar correcciones de errores y estudios de la ionosfera. Estas características obligan a buscar alternativas respecto los receptores superheterodinos convencionales dado que para éstos los retardos de propagación entre las diferentes bandas de interés son inaceptables. Por ello, se presenta un receptor basado en la técnica de muestreo paso banda, que permite trasladar el espectro mediante el conversor ADC a través de un aliasing intencionado, eliminando así los retardos de propagación entre bandas de interés, dado que todas se albergan en un mismo canal. En este trabajo nos hemos centrado únicamente en las etapas críticas del receptor presentado, siendo éstas la etapa de filtrado y conversión digital. La etapa de filtrado requerirá filtros muy selectivos, ya que el ruido existente fuera de banda se solapará a nuestra banda de interés, degradando la SNR del sistema a medida que tenga más potencia. Esta etapa se ha realizado mediante una estructura duplexora conjuntamente con dos filtros de líneas acopladas. La etapa de conversión se ha realizado fabricando el layout de un conversor comercial, del cual se ha validado el correcto funcionamiento para la aplicación requerida.

Morphological Studies on the Triatoma brasiliensis Neiva, 1911 (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) Genital Structures and Eggs of Different Chromatic Forms

Triatoma brasiliensis is considered one of the most important Chagas disease vectors being a widespread species in semiarid areas of northeastern Brazil. The species displays distinct chromatic patterns of the cuticle in different localities. Four populations were analyzed in this study: 1-Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, it will be called the brasiliensis population; 2-Espinosa, Minas Gerais, the melanica population; 3-Petrolina, Pernambuco, the macromelasoma population, and 4-Juazeiro, Bahia, the darker one in overall cuticle coloration, the Juazeiro population. In order to differentiate the four populations of T. brasiliensis, a comparative morphological analysis of external genital structures and of eggs were carried out. The analysis of the male genital structures evidenced minor individual structural variations that did not correlate with chromatic differences or the geographical origins, emphasizing the importance of examining sufficiently large and representative samples before using minor genital variations for taxonomic diagnosis. By scanning electron microscopy of the egg exochorion, each chromatic population presented a distinct ornamentation pattern. The melanica population differed mainly from the other populations studied since it had about 40.6%, 69.6% and 76.6% more perforations, on each cell exochorion, than the brasiliensis, the Juazeiro and the macromelasoma populations respectively. In the melanica population the perforation layout is also peculiar, with densely distributed perforations over all the egg surface. Morphometric measures of the eggs showed statistically significant differences: the macromelasoma population presented the longest length (2.43 mm) while the shortest was recorded in the brasiliensis population (2.29 mm).

Tintin, oui mais avec modération. Les tâtonnements de la bande dessinée en Suisse romande

L'arrivée des aventures de Tintin dans la presse illustrée helvétique ne se fera pas sans heurts. Au-delà de l'habituelle réappropriation nationale du héros belge, d'importants réaménagements sont pratiqués par l'hebdomadaire catholique genevois L'Écho Illustré, et ce surtout pendant les années 1930. En analysant cette réadaptation, cet article tente de questionner le rapport à l'image distrayante d'un magazine confessionnel qui souhaiterait y voir figurer une portée éducative et morale. D'autre part, le contexte de la presse suisse pendant cette période est encore relativement peu enclin à accueillir la publication de bandes dessinées. Il s'agit donc d'observer de quelle manière ce nouveau média s'intègre dans un support déjà bien établi comme la presse illustrée de la Suisse de l'Entre-deux-guerres. The way Tintin becomes part of the Swiss illustrated press is at least eventful. Beside the usual re-nationalization of the Belgian hero, the catholic weekly magazine from Geneva, L'Écho Illustré, realizes important changes in the comics layout, mostly through the Thirties. By analyzing these readjustments, we would like to explore the link between a confessional magazine and entertaining images, considering that this kind of press would like these images to achieve an additional educative and moral goal. Moreover, the Swiss press's context studied here is still relatively unresponsive to publish comics. The aim of this paper is finally to observe how a new media is integrated into an already well-established framework such as the illustrated press in Switzerland during the inter-war years.

La prima storia del cristianesimo

Come Luca progettò la sua storia raccontata nel Vangelo e negli Atti? Come identificare le unità letterarie e teologiche? Uno studio critico di alto livello che affronta le problematiche connesse alla stesura del testo degli Atti degli Apostoli in parallelo al Vangelo di Luca, identifica le ambivalenze e le questioni teologiche della Chiesa primitiva, delinea la fisionomia dei protagonisti (Paolo, Barnaba, Pietro, Timoteo e gli altri) concentrando l'attenzione in modo particolare su At 5,1-11 e At 9; 22 e 26 come passaggi critici e illuminanti.

Ant queens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are attracted to fungal pathogens during the initial stage of colony founding

Ant queens that attempt to disperse and found new colonies independently face high mortality risks. The exposure of queens to soil entomopathogens during claustral colony founding may be particularly harmful, as founding queens lack the protection conferred by mature colonies. Here, we tested the hypotheses that founding queens (I) detect and avoid nest sites that are contaminated by fungal pathogens, and (II) tend to associate with other queens to benefit from social immunity when nest sites are contaminated. Surprisingly, in nest choice assays, young Formica selysi BONDROIT, 1918 queens had an initial preference for nest sites contaminated by two common soil entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium brunneum. Founding queens showed a similar preference for the related but non-entomopathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum. In contrast, founding queens had no significant preference for the more distantly related nonentomopathogenic fungus Petromyces alliaceus, nor for heat-killed spores of B. bassiana. Finally, founding queens did not increase the rate of queen association in presence of B. bassiana. The surprising preference of founding queens for nest sites contaminated by live entomopathogenic fungi suggests that parasites manipulate their hosts or that the presence of specific fungi is a cue associated with suitable nesting sites.