Reduced gray matter volume in ventral prefrontal cortex but not amygdala in bipolar disorder:significant effects of gender and trait anxiety

Neuroimaging studies in bipolar disorder report gray matter volume (GMV) abnormalities in neural regions implicated in emotion regulation. This includes a reduction in ventral/orbital medial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC) GMV and, inconsistently, increases in amygdala GMV. We aimed to examine OMPFC and amygdala GMV in bipolar disorder type 1 patients (BPI) versus healthy control participants (HC), and the potential confounding effects of gender, clinical and illness history variables and psychotropic medication upon any group differences that were demonstrated in OMPFC and amygdala GMV. Images were acquired from 27 BPI (17 euthymic, 10 depressed) and 28 age- and gender-matched HC in a 3T Siemens scanner. Data were analyzed with SPM5 using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to assess main effects of diagnostic group and gender upon whole brain (WB) GMV. Post-hoc analyses were subsequently performed using SPSS to examine the extent to which clinical and illness history variables and psychotropic medication contributed to GMV abnormalities in BPI in a priori and non-a priori regions has demonstrated by the above VBM analyses. BPI showed reduced GMV in bilateral posteromedial rectal gyrus (PMRG), but no abnormalities in amygdala GMV. BPI also showed reduced GMV in two non-a priori regions: left parahippocampal gyrus and left putamen. For left PMRG GMV, there was a significant group by gender by trait anxiety interaction. GMV was significantly reduced in male low-trait anxiety BPI versus male low-trait anxiety HC, and in high- versus low-trait anxiety male BPI. Our results show that in BPI there were significant effects of gender and trait-anxiety, with male BPI and those high in trait-anxiety showing reduced left PMRG GMV. PMRG is part of medial prefrontal network implicated in visceromotor and emotion regulation.

An Adaptive Quadrilateral Mesh in Curved Domains

An nonlinear elliptic system for generating adaptive quadrilateral meshes in curved domains is presented. The presented technique has been implemented in the C++ language with the help of the standard template library. The software package writes the converged meshes in the GMV and the Matlab formats. Grid generation is the first very important step for numerically solving partial differential equations. Thus, the presented C++ grid generator is extremely important to the computational science community.

Estabilização de órbitas periódicas instáveis utilizando controle por modos deslizantes com compensação adaptativa

The chaotic behavior has been widely observed in nature, from physical and chemical phenomena to biological systems, present in many engineering applications and found in both simple mechanical oscillators and advanced communication systems. With regard to mechanical systems, the effects of nonlinearities on the dynamic behavior of the system are often of undesirable character, which has motivated the development of compensation strategies. However, it has been recently found that there are situations in which the richness of nonlinear dynamics becomes attractive. Due to their parametric sensitivity, chaotic systems can suffer considerable changes by small variations on the value of their parameters, which is extremely favorable when we want to give greater flexibility to the controlled system. Hence, we analyze in this work the parametric sensitivity of Duffing oscillator, in particular its unstable periodic orbits and Poincar´e section due to changes in nominal value of the parameter that multiplies the cubic term. Since the amount of energy needed to stabilize Unstable Periodic Orbits is minimum, we analyze the control action needed to control and stabilize such orbits which belong to different versions of the Duffing oscillator. For that we will use a smoothed sliding mode controller with an adaptive compensation term based on Fourier series.

Contribuições à estratégia de controle sem detecção de harmônicos aplicada a um filtro ativo de potência paralelo

The conventional control schemes applied to Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPF) are Harmonic extractor-based strategies (HEBSs) because their effectiveness depends on how quickly and accurately the harmonic components of the nonlinear loads are identified. The SAPF can be also implemented without the use of the load harmonic extractors. In this case, the harmonic compensating term is obtained from the system active power balance. These systems can be considered as balanced-energy-based schemes (BEBSs) and their performance depends on how fast the system reaches the equilibrium state. In this case, the phase currents of the power grid are indirectly regulated by double sequence controllers with two degrees of freedom, where the internal model principle is employed to avoid reference frame transformation. Additionally the DSC controller presents robustness when the SAPF is operating under unbalanced conditions. Furthermore, SAPF implemented without harmonic detection schemes compensate simultaneously harmonic distortion and reactive power of the load. Their compensation capabilities, however, are limited by the SAPF power converter rating. Such a restriction can be minimized if the level of the reactive power correction is managed. In this work an estimation scheme for determining the filter currents is introduced to manage the compensation of reactive power. Experimental results are shown for demonstrating the performance of the proposed SAPF system.

Controle em modo dual adaptativo robusto aplicado a um sistema de geração de energia elétrica

Synchronous machines, widely used in energy generation systems, require constant voltage and frequency to obtain good quality of energy. However, for large load variati- ons, it is difficult to maintain outputs on nominal values due to parametric uncertainties, nonlinearities and coupling among variables. Then, we propose to apply the Dual Mode Adaptive Robust Controller (DMARC) in the field flux control loop, replacing the tradi- tional PI controller. The DMARC links a Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC) and a Variable Structure Model Reference Adaptive Controller (VS-MRAC), incorpora- ting transient performance advantages from VS-MRAC and steady state properties from MRAC. Moreover, simulation results are included to corroborate the theoretical studies.

Contribuições para estratégia de controle aplicada à geração fotovoltaica interconectada à rede elétrica

Generation systems, using renewable sources, are becoming increasingly popular due to the need for increased use of electricity. Currently, renewables sources have a role to cooperate with conventional generation, due to the system limitation in delivering the required power, the need for reduction of unwanted effects from sources that use fossil fuels (pollution) and the difficulty of building new transmission and/or distribution lines. This cooperation takes place through distributed generation. Therefore, this work proposes a control strategy for the interconnection of a PV (Photovoltaic) system generation distributed with a three-phase power grid through a connection filter the type LCL. The compensation of power quality at point of common coupling (PCC) is performed ensuring that the mains supply or consume only active power and that his currents have low distorcion. Unlike traditional techniques which require schemes for harmonic detection, the technique performs the harmonic compensation without the use of this schemes, controlling the output currents of the system in an indirect way. So that there is effective control of the DC (Direct Current) bus voltage is used the robust controller mode dual DSMPI (Dual-Sliding Mode-Proportional Integral), that behaves as a sliding mode controller SM-PI (Sliding Mode-Proportional Integral) during the transition and like a conventional PI (Proportional Integral) in the steady-state. For control of current is used to repetitive control strategy, which are used double sequence controllers (DSC) tuned to the fundamental component, the fifth and seventh harmonic. The output phase current are aligned with the phase angle of the utility voltage vector obtained from the use of a SRF-PLL (Synchronous Reference Frame Phase-Locked-Loop). In order to obtain the maximum power from the PV array is used a MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) algorithm without the need for adding sensors. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control system.

Aditivo polimérico derivado de fonte renovável para aplicação em cimento asfáltico de petróleo

This study evaluated the effects of incorporating an additive from an agro-industrial residue, after some chemical modification reactions, to petroleum asphalt cement (CAP) through the polymerization reaction of a viscous polyol obtained by bagasse biomass oxypropylation reaction sugarcane with anhydrides. The polyol is obtained by biomass oxypropylation reaction with propylene oxide, the reaction was performed in an autoclave sealed with pressure and temperature control using 25 mL of OP for every 5 grams of biomass 200°C, which time reaction was two hours. The reaction is revealed by varying the system pressure, initially at atmospheric pressure to reach a maximum pressure value and its subsequent return to atmospheric pressure. For the choice of the most suitable reaction time for polymerization of the polyol with pyromellitic anhydride, the reaction was also conducted in an autoclave sealed with temperature controller (150 ° C) using 20 g of polyol, 1 g of sodium acetate (catalyst) and 8 g of pyromellitic anhydride with the times 30 and 60 minutes. The polymerized materials with different times were characterized by determining the relative viscosity and percentage content of extractable in cyclohexane / ethanol. Given the results with the polymerized material 30 minutes showed the lowest percentage content of extractives and an increased viscosity relative indicating that this time is highlighted with respect to time 60 minutes, because the material is possibly in the form of a crosslinked polymer. Given the choice of time of 30 minutes other polymerization reactions were performed with various anhydrides and other conditions employed different proportions by mass of polyol anhydrides we were referred to as condition I (20 g anhydride and 8 g of polyol), II (20 g anhydride and 20 g of polyol) and III (8 g anhydride and 20 g of polyol). The FTIR spectra of polymeric materials with different polymerization conditions used to prove the occurrence of chemical modification due to the appearance of a characteristic band ester groups (1750 cm-1) present in the polymerized material. He chose to work with the condition III, as is the condition which employs a larger amount of polyol, and even with the smaller amount of anhydride used FTIR spectra revealed that the polymerization reaction was performed. Among the various anhydrides (phthalic, maleic and pyromellitic) of the different conditions used that stood out before the solubility test with solvents analyzed was polymerized material with pyromellitic anhydride because the polymerized material likely in the form of a crosslinked polymer because it was insoluble or poorly soluble in the solvents tested. Polymerization of the polyol with pyromellitic anhydride using condition III, that is, BCPP30, CSPP30, PCPP30 e BCPPG30, provided an increase in thermal stability relative to material in the form of polyol. Applicability tests concerning the incorporation of 16% m / m BCPP30, CSPP30, PCPP30 e BCPPG30 additive in relation to the mass of 600 g CAP showed through characterization tests used, softening point, elastic recovery and marshall dosage, it is possible to use BCPP30 as an additive the conventional CAP, because even with the incorporation of this new additive modified CAP met the specifications of the appropriate standard.

Diseño e implementación de una herramienta de visualización para análisis en tiempo real de redes SDN/OpenFlow

Las Redes Definidas por Software (Software Defined Networking) permiten la monitorización y el control centralizado de la red, de forma que los administradores pueden tener una visión real y completa de la misma. El análisis y visualización de los diferentes parámetros obtenidos representan la forma más viable y práctica de programar la red en función de las necesidades del usuario. Por este motivo, en este proyecto se desarrolla una arquitectura modular cuyo objetivo es presentar en tiempo real la información que se monitoriza en una red SDN. En primera instancia, las diferentes métricas monitorizadas (error, retardo y tasa de datos) son almacenadas en una base de datos, para que en una etapa posterior se realice el análisis de dichas métricas. Finalmente, los resultados obtenidos, tanto de métricas en tiempo real como de los datos estadísticos, son presentados en una aplicación web. La información es obtenida a través de la interfaz REST que expone el controlador Floodlight y para el análisis de la información se plantea una comparación entre los valores medios y máximos del conjunto de datos. Los resultados obtenidos muestran gráficamente de forma clara y precisa las diferentes métricas de monitorización. Además, debido al carácter modular de la arquitectura, se ofrece un valor añadido a los sistemas actuales de monitorización SDN.

Diseño, construcción y control de un robot balancín.

Se diseñó, construyó, simuló e implementó un dispositivo robot balancín para la aplicación y estudio de técnicas avanzadas de control. Para esto se realizó el diseño mecánico del dispositivo, de acuerdo a una elección entre dos modelos distintos y cuatro tipos diferentes de transmisión. Luego se instrumentó el dispositivo con encoders de posición , acelerómetro y giróscopo para obtener el estado del dispositivo y controlarlo. Se realizó una placa electrónica para la lectura y procesamiento de señales de sensores con un micro controlador, un regulador de tensión, y un driver para los motores, capaz de obtener las señales de los encoders y el módulo acelerómetro-giróscopo y enviarlas por comunicación hacia una mini-computadora, la cual ejecuta el control, y se comunica nuevamente a la placa diseñada para comandar los motores. Se desarrolló un modelo teórico simplificado en dos dimensiones para facilitar la posterior identificación de planta. Se realizaron experimentos para lograr una identificación de planta. A partir de lo obtenido, se diseñó y simuló el control necesario para mantener la estabilidad. Se implementó posteriormente el control diseñado. Se reajustaron los parámetros correspondientes de acuerdo a la práctica experimental para mejorar la respuesta dinámica del sistema.

Concepções de administração e administrador em tempos de capitalismo flexível: uma abordagem crítica

A tese trata de dois construtos sócio-históricos Administração e Administrador em face do capitalismo em sua fase flexível. Considerando as mudanças do capitalismo, o texto estabelece como objeto de estudo as concepções de Administração e Administrador, para o campo administrativo, na contemporaneidade. A tese é suportada por uma pesquisa de campo cujo objetivo foi compreender criticamente as concepções do campo administrativo sobre a Administração e o Administrador, em tempos de capitalismo flexível. Epistemologicamente, a pesquisa foi conduzida a partir da perspectiva crítica frankfurtiana, fundamentada em três pares categóricos dialéticos: (i) história versus naturalização; (ii) práxis social versus sistema; e (iii) alienação versus emancipação; privilegiando o pensamento crítico vinculado à primeira geração da Escola de Frankfurt. A literatura prevalente da área de Administração foi revisada mediada pelas duas questões ontológicas que suportam a tese: O que é Administração? e O que é Administrador? para autores como Taylor, Fayol, Drucker, Ohno, Deming, Champy e Mintzberg. Metodologicamente, foi realizada uma pesquisa integralmente qualitativa, com uso de três tipos de entrevistas: (i) entrevista narrativa com história de vida; (ii) entrevista com uso de elementos-estímulo; e (iii) entrevista narrativa ficcional. Para compreensão das narrativas, foi utilizada a técnica de análise hermenêutico-dialética. Os resultados indicam o predomínio da concepção pragmática-instrumental, no tocante à Administração, pela qual ela continua a ser pensada e discursada como uma ação tecnológica e teleológica, que utiliza saberes múltiplos e aprendizagens cambiantes como meios para alcance das finalidades do contexto organizacional mutante. Com relação ao Administrador, há a emergência da concepção estética para apresentá-lo, quando vinculado às organizações. Por esta concepção, há a migração do histórico estereótipo do Administrador controlador e vigilante para a representação do Administrador como um profissional performático. O segundo resultado, que se apresenta como o mais relevante em relação ao Administrador, é o da fuga da profissão. A partir dos pares categóricos dialéticos, esta tese propõe algumas sínteses provisórias críticas: (i) história-naturalização: os sujeitos tomam como naturais a organização empresarial e suas demandas, naturalizando as recentes mudanças que, entre outras coisas, reduzem os postos gerenciais; (ii) práxis social-sistema: pela concepção pragmática-instrumental, as experiências dos Administradores são concebidas a partir do confinamento funcionalista em uma organização-sistema; (iii) emancipação-alienação: tanto a forma naturalizada com que especificam as organizações e sua Administração quanto a práxis interrompida velada em uma experiência reificada mostram-se como fenômenos intrinsecamente e subjetivamente alienantes e contraemancipatórios. Por outro lado, através do movimento de fuga da profissão, os entrevistados parecem (re)significar o silêncio fundador da alienação associada à condição de Administrador: a de pensar como capital, e não se pensar como trabalho. Finalmente, o texto propõe que as possibilidades de emancipação deste profissional residem na tomada de consciência de sua condição como integrante da classe trabalhadora, mesmo em tempos de riscos e incertezas. Assumindo-se como trabalhador, o Administrador poderá lutar pelo seu trabalho, repensando-o em novos termos, em que as dimensões pragmáticas-instrumentais que envolvem sua profissão possam ser dosadas e sempre mediadas por conteúdos substantivos e emancipatórios

Diseño, construcción y control de un robot balancín.

Se diseñó, construyó, simuló e implementó un dispositivo robot balancín para la aplicación y estudio de técnicas avanzadas de control. Para esto se realizó el diseño mecánico del dispositivo, de acuerdo a una elección entre dos modelos distintos y cuatro tipos diferentes de transmisión. Luego se instrumentó el dispositivo con encoders de posición , acelerómetro y giróscopo para obtener el estado del dispositivo y controlarlo. Se realizó una placa electrónica para la lectura y procesamiento de señales de sensores con un micro controlador, un regulador de tensión, y un driver para los motores, capaz de obtener las señales de los encoders y el módulo acelerómetro-giróscopo y enviarlas por comunicación hacia una mini-computadora, la cual ejecuta el control, y se comunica nuevamente a la placa diseñada para comandar los motores. Se desarrolló un modelo teórico simplificado en dos dimensiones para facilitar la posterior identificación de planta. Se realizaron experimentos para lograr una identificación de planta. A partir de lo obtenido, se diseñó y simuló el control necesario para mantener la estabilidad. Se implementó posteriormente el control diseñado. Se reajustaron los parámetros correspondientes de acuerdo a la práctica experimental para mejorar la respuesta dinámica del sistema.

Sistema de armazenamento de energia com base em baterias e no ondulador de tensão trifásico

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica Ramo de Automação e Eletrotécnica Ramo de Automação e Eletrónica Industrial

Controladores repetitivos aplicados a filtros ativos de potência sob variações de carga e de frequência da rede

This work presents the development and modification of techniques to reduce the effects of load variation and mains frequency deviation in repetitive controllers applied to active power filters. To minimize the effects of aperiodic signals resulting from the connection or disconnection of non-linear loads is developed a technique which recognizes linear and nonlinear loads, and operates to reset the controller only when the error due to the transition of considerable value, and the transition is from non-linear to linear load. An algorithm to adapt the gain of the repetitive controller, based on a sigmoid function adaptation, in order to minimize the effects caused by random noise in the measurement system is also used. This work also analyzes the effects of frequency variation and presents the main methods to cope with this situation. Some solutions are the change in the number of samples per period and the variation of the sampling rate. The first has the advantage of using linear design techniques and results in a time invariant system. The second method changes the sampling frequency and leads to a time variant system that demands a difficult analysis of stability. The proposed algorithms were tested using the methods of truncation of the number of samples and the method of changing the sampling rate of the system to compensate possible frequency variations of the grid. Experimental results are presented to validate the proposal.

Projeto, implementação e análise de um conversor CC-CC de alto ganho e alto rendimento para aplicações fotovoltaicas

In recent years the photovoltaic generation has had greater insertion in the energy mix of the most developed countries, growing at annual rates of over 30%. The pressure for the reduction of pollutant emissions, diversification of the energy mix and the drop in prices are the main factors driving this growth. Grid tied systems plays an important role in alleviating the energy crisis and diversification of energy sources. Among the grid tied systems, building integrated photovoltaic systems suffers from partial shading of the photovoltaic modules and consequently the energy yield is reduced. In such cases, classical forms of modules connection do not produce good results and new techniques have been developed to increase the amount of energy produced by a set of modules. In the parallel connection technique of photovoltaic modules, a high voltage gain DC-DC converter is required, which is relatively complex to build with high efficiency. The current-fed isolated converters explored in this work have some desirable characteristics for this type of application, such as: low input current ripple and input voltage ripple, high voltage gain, galvanic isolation, feature high power capacity and it achieve soft switching in a wide operating range. This study presents contributions to the study of a high gain and high efficiency DC-DC converter for use in a parallel system of photovoltaic generation, being possible the use in a microinverter or with central inverter. The main contributions of this work are: analysis of the active clamping circuit operation proposing that the clamp capacitor connection must be done on the negative node of the power supply to reduce the input current ripple and thus reduce the filter requirements; use of a voltage doubler in the output rectifier to reduce the number of components and to extend the gain of the converter; detailed study of the converter components in order to raise the efficiency; obtaining the AC equivalent model and control system design. As a result, a DC-DC converter with high gain, high efficiency and without electrolytic capacitors in the power stage was developed. In the final part of this work the DC-DC converter operation connected to an inverter is presented. Besides, the DC bus controller is designed and are implemented two maximum power point tracking algorithms. Experimental results of full system operation connected to an emulator and subsequently to a real photovoltaic module are also given.

Análise e proposição de estratégias de estimação e controle de velocidade para motores de indução trifásicos

This study presents a proposal of speed servomechanisms without the use of mechanical sensors (sensorless) using induction motors. A comparison is performed and propose techniques for pet rotor speed, analyzing performance in different conditions of speed and load. For the determination of control technique, initially, is performed an analysis of the technical literature of the main control and speed estimation used, with their characteristics and limitations. The proposed technique for servo sensorless speed induction motor uses indirect field-oriented control (IFOC), composed of four controllers of the proportional-integral type (PI): rotor flux controller, speed controller and current controllers in the direct and quadrature shaft. As the main focus of the work is in the speed control loop was implemented in Matlab the recursive least squares algorithm (RLS) for identification of mechanical parameters, such as moment of inertia and friction coefficient. Thus, the speed of outer loop controller gains can be self adjusted to compensate for any changes in the mechanical parameters. For speed estimation techniques are analyzed: MRAS by rotóricos fluxes MRAS by counter EMF, MRAS by instantaneous reactive power, slip, locked loop phase (PLL) and sliding mode. A proposition of estimation in sliding mode based on speed, which is performed a change in rotor flux observer structure is displayed. To evaluate the techniques are performed theoretical analyzes in Matlab simulation environment and experimental platform in electrical machinery drives. The DSP TMS320F28069 was used for experimental implementation of speed estimation techniques and check the performance of the same in a wide speed range, including load insertion. From this analysis is carried out to implement closed-loop control of sensorless speed IFOC structure. The results demonstrated the real possibility of replacing mechanical sensors for estimation techniques proposed and analyzed. Among these, the estimator based on PLL demonstrated the best performance in various conditions, while the technique based on sliding mode has good capacity estimation in steady state and robustness to parametric variations.