On the HHT, its problems, and some solutions

Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol.22, Number 6

Soliton-type and other travelling wave solutions for an improved class of nonlinear sixth-order Boussinesq equations

An improved class of nonlinear bidirectional Boussinesq equations of sixth order using a wave surface elevation formulation is derived. Exact travelling wave solutions for the proposed class of nonlinear evolution equations are deduced. A new exact travelling wave solution is found which is the uniform limit of a geometric series. The ratio of this series is proportional to a classical soliton-type solution of the form of the square of a hyperbolic secant function. This happens for some values of the wave propagation velocity. However, there are other values of this velocity which display this new type of soliton, but the classical soliton structure vanishes in some regions of the domain. Exact solutions of the form of the square of the classical soliton are also deduced. In some cases, we find that the ratio between the amplitude of this wave and the amplitude of the classical soliton is equal to 35/36. It is shown that different families of travelling wave solutions are associated with different values of the parameters introduced in the improved equations.

Positive solutions to find a job: Cultural mismatches between companies and employees

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Mathematical and numerical methods for inverse problems using fundamental solutions techniques

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - SFRH/BD/27914/2006

Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea: Issues and Solutions for the 21st Century

A producer of 5.4 M bbl/d, totalling almost half of the consumption of the entire European Union, the Gulf of Guinea is a fundamental lifeline and maritime link between Europe, the Americas and Africa. Geographically positioned as a staging post for transit originating in Latin America and coupled with its relatively porous borders, the region is also the perfect stepping stone for contraband heading to European shores. While blessed with an enviable wealth of marine and mineral resources, the region is also plagued by an ever-increasing spectre of maritime piracy; accounting for around 30% of incidents in African waters from 2003 to 2011. It is for these reasons that this research centres around the issues of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, with a particular focus on the first two decades of the 21st century. This research looks to examine the overall picture of the present state of play in the area, before going on to provide an analysis of potential regional developments in maritime security. This research begins with the analysis of concepts/phenomena that have played a notable role in the shaping of the field of maritime security, namely Globalisation and security issues in the post-Cold War era. The ensuing chapter then focuses in on the Gulf of Guinea and the issues dominating the field of maritime security in the region. The penultimate chapter presents a SWOT analysis, undertaken as part of this research with the aim of correlating opinions from a variety of sectors/professions regarding maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. The final chapter builds upon the results obtained from the abovementioned SWOT analysis, presenting a series of potential proposals/strategies that can contribute to the field of maritime security in the region over the coming years. This research draws to a close with the presentation of conclusions taken from this particular investigation, as well as a final overview of the earlier presented proposals applicable to the field of maritime security during the second decade of the 21st century.

Unilever food solutions new digital CRM platform- what is the combination of tools, processes and content that will help Unilever food solutions grow his business?

Unilever Food Solutions new digital CRM1 Platform - What is the combination of tools, processes and content that will help Unilever Food Solutions grow his business? Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) intend to create a new online platform to enable it to communicate with segments of the markets, which have previously been too difficult to reach. Specifically targeted at Chefs and other food professionals, the aim is to create an interactive website, which delivers value to its intended users by providing a variety of relevant content and functions, while simultaneously opening up a potential transactional channel to those same users.

Towards automated test and validation of SIP solutions

IP networks are currently the major communication infrastructure used by an increasing number of applications and heterogeneous services, including voice services. In this context, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol widely used for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice or video calls over IP networks, thus performing vital functions in an extensive set of public and enter- prise solutions. However, the SIP protocol dissemination also entails some challenges, such as the complexity associated with the testing/validation processes of IMS/SIP networks. As a consequence, manual IMS/SIP testing solutions are inherently costly and time consuming tasks, being crucial to develop automated approaches in this specific area. In this perspective, this article presents an experimental approach for automated testing/validation of SIP scenarios in IMS networks. For that purpose, an automation framework is proposed allowing to replicate the configuration of SIP equipment from the pro- duction network and submit such equipment to a battery of tests in the testing network. The proposed solution allows to drastically reduce the test and validation times when compared with traditional manual approaches, also allowing to enhance testing reliability and coverage. The automation framework comprises of some freely available tools which are conveniently integrated with other specific modules implemented within the context of this work. In order to illustrate the advantages of the proposed automated framework, a real case study taken from a PT Inovação customer is presented comparing the time required to perform a manual SIP testing approach with the one time required when using the proposed auto- mated framework. The presented results clearly corroborate the advantages of using the presented framework.

Annular flow of viscoelastic fluids: Analytical and numerical solutions

This work provides analytical and numerical solutions for the linear, quadratic and exponential Phan–Thien–Tanner (PTT) viscoelastic models, for axial and helical annular fully-developed flows under no slip and slip boundary conditions, the latter given by the linear and nonlinear Navier slip laws. The rheology of the three PTT model functions is discussed together with the influence of the slip velocity upon the flow velocity and stress fields. For the linear PTT model, full analytical solutions for the inverse problem (unknown velocity) are devised for the linear Navier slip law and two different slip exponents. For the linear PTT model with other values of the slip exponent and for the quadratic PTT model, the polynomial equation for the radial location (β) of the null shear stress must be solved numerically. For both models, the solution of the direct problem is given by an iterative procedure involving three nonlinear equations, one for β, other for the pressure gradient and another for the torque per unit length. For the exponential PTT model we devise a numerical procedure that can easily compute the numerical solution of the pure axial flow problem

Analysis of portuguese residential buildings’ needs and proposed solutions

The Portuguese housing sector experienced a significant growth throughout the 20th century, particularly in the last quarter, after the democratic revolution in 1974. In fact, the number of buildings built between 1970 and 1990 is more than one third of the buildings actually existing in Portugal. Therefore most of them were built before the publication of the first regulation concerning the energy efficiency in buildings. Regarding this scenario, it would be expected that rehabilitation activities would represent most of the current construction activities. However, given some remaining barriers from old social policies, this situation is not observed; actually building retrofitting is the least significant sector, accentuating the degradation level of major part of the Portuguese housing stock. Several studies show that the main problems are found in the buildings envelope elements, such as roofs and façades. Based on this context, the aim of this paper is to introduce some examples of building retrofitting systems that, adapted to the Portuguese main needs and requirements may represent sustainable solutions to overcome the identified needs of Portuguese buildings' envelope.

Bacterial vaginosis biofilms: challenges to current therapies and emerging solutions

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common genital tract infection in women during their reproductive years and it has been associated with serious health complications, such as preterm delivery and acquisition or transmission of several sexually transmitted agents. BV is characterized by a reduction of beneficial lactobacilli and a significant increase in number of anaerobic bacteria, including Gardnerella vaginalis, Atopobium vaginae, Mobiluncus spp., Bacteroides spp. and Prevotella spp.. Being polymicrobial in nature, BV etiology remains unclear. However, it is certain that BV involves the presence of a thick vaginal multi-species biofilm, where G. vaginalis is the predominant species. Similar to what happens in many other biofilm-related infections, standard antibiotics, like metronidazole, are unable to fully eradicate the vaginal biofilm, which can explain the high recurrence rates of BV. Furthermore, antibiotic therapy can also cause a negative impact on the healthy vaginal microflora. These issues sparked the interest in developing alternative therapeutic strategies. This review provides a quick synopsis of the currently approved and available antibiotics for BV treatment while presenting an overview of novel strategies that are being explored for the treatment of this disorder, with special focus on natural compounds that are able to overcome biofilm-associated antibiotic resistance.

Existence, multiplicity and behaviour of solutions of some elliptic differential equations of higher order

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Mathematik, Diss., 2009

Optimization-based solutions to constrained trajectory-tracking and path-following problems

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik, Diss., 2012

New solutions for an old challenge : chances and limitations of optical, non-invasive acquisition and digital processing techniques for the age estimation of latent fingerprints

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Informatik, Diss., 2014

Effect of day time on foliar spraying of several levels of nitrogen fertilizer, NPKS solutions and its components, on common bean leaves

An experiment was carried out in order to determine the effect of day time of foliar spraying of several levels of nitrogen fertilizers, N-P-K-S station, and its components on common bean leaves. Results, based on the visual observations, indicated the maximum levels of each fertilizer that did not cause injuries and showed that the foliar spraying early in the morning is the best day time.