Geração automática de controladores em FPGA integrando animação gráfica

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

A shared-disk parallel cluster file system

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática Pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Using test infrastructures for (remote) online evaluation of the sensitivity to SEUs of FPGAs

This paper proposes an online mechanism that can evaluate the sensitivity of single event upsets (SEUs) of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The online detection mechanism cyclically reads and compares the values form the external and internal configuration memories, taking into account the mask information. This remote detection method also signals any mismatch as a result of a SEU that affects both used and not-used FPGA parts, which maximizes the monitored area. By utilizing an external, Web-accessible controller that is connected to the test infrastructure, the possibility of running the same operation in a remote manner is enabled. Moreover, the need for a local memory to store the mask values is also eliminated.

Automated design of microwave discrete tuning differential capacitance circuits in Si-integrated technologies

A genetic algorithm used to design radio-frequency binary-weighted differential switched capacitor arrays (RFDSCAs) is presented in this article. The algorithm provides a set of circuits all having the same maximum performance. This article also describes the design, implementation, and measurements results of a 0.25 lm BiCMOS 3-bit RFDSCA. The experimental results show that the circuit presents the expected performance up to 40 GHz. The similarity between the evolutionary solutions, circuit simulations, and measured results indicates that the genetic synthesis method is a very useful tool for designing optimum performance RFDSCAs.

Reliability and availability in reconfigurable computing: a basis for a common solution

Dynamically reconfigurable SRAM-based field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) enable the implementation of reconfigurable computing systems where several applications may be run simultaneously, sharing the available resources according to their own immediate functional requirements. To exclude malfunctioning due to faulty elements, the reliability of all FPGA resources must be guaranteed. Since resource allocation takes place asynchronously, an online structural test scheme is the only way of ensuring reliable system operation. On the other hand, this test scheme should not disturb the operation of the circuit, otherwise availability would be compromised. System performance is also influenced by the efficiency of the management strategies that must be able to dynamically allocate enough resources when requested by each application. As those resources are allocated and later released, many small free resource blocks are created, which are left unused due to performance and routing restrictions. To avoid wasting logic resources, the FPGA logic space must be defragmented regularly. This paper presents a non-intrusive active replication procedure that supports the proposed test methodology and the implementation of defragmentation strategies, assuring both the availability of resources and their perfect working condition, without disturbing system operation.

Evidences for direct magnetic patterning via diffusive transformations using femtosecond laser interferometry

The application of femtosecond laser interferometry to direct patterning of thin-film magnetic alloys is demonstrated. The formation of stripe gratings with submicron periodicities is achieved in Fe1-xVx (x=18-34wt. %) layers, with a difference in magnetic moments up to Delta mu/mu similar to 20 between adjacent stripes but without any significant development of the topographical relief (<1% of the film thickness). The produced gratings exhibit a robust effect of their anisotropy shape on magnetization curves in the film plane. The obtained data witness ultrafast diffusive transformations associated with the process of spinodal decomposition and demonstrate an opportunity for producing magnetic nanostructures with engineered properties upon this basis.

Diagnóstico de funcionamento e otimização das ETARs do concelho da Póvoa de Varzim

O tratamento das águas residuais é uma matéria de extrema importância para o município da Póvoa de Varzim, não só por uma questão de saúde pública e conservação do meio ambiente como também pela vertente turística deste concelho, que tem na sua orla costeira seis praias às quais foram atribuídas bandeiras azuis pela sua qualidade. O concelho da Póvoa de Varzim engloba doze freguesias e possui quinze estações de tratamento de águas residuais (ETARs), sendo catorze delas compactas. O seu controlo é assegurado pela divisão de saneamento básico da câmara municipal da Póvoa de Varzim. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o diagnóstico de funcionamento das ETARs do município tendo em vista a identificação dos problemas existentes e a sua resolução/otimização. De forma a poder identificar o princípio de funcionamento e a presença de anomalias nas estações de tratamento, foram realizadas várias visitas a cada uma delas ao longo do período de estágio. A recolha de amostras para análises dos diferentes parâmetros foi feita por um funcionário e estas foram enviadas para o laboratório com parceria com a Câmara Municipal. Após uma extensa recolha de informação no local e de um estudo exaustivo de toda a documentação associada a cada ETAR concluiu-se que apenas quatro delas apresentavam problemas revelantes. As ETARs do parque industrial de Laúndos e do centro histórico de Rates apresentam caudais de admissão bastante elevados devido à descarga pontual de camiões cisterna o que faz com que o tratamento não seja eficaz. Como solução sugeriu-se a construção de um tanque de equalização em ambas as ETARs, com agitador e regulador de caudal, de forma a garantir, respetivamente, a mistura e uniformização das águas residuais domésticas e industriais e que apenas será bombeado o caudal adequado para tratamento. As ETARs da Incondave e das Fontaínhas apresentam sobretudo anomalias a nível do equipamento, o que leva a um mau desempenho da instalação. Aconselhou-se o conserto dos equipamentos danificados e uma inspeção mais frequente das instalações para que mal ocorra uma avaria, esta seja reparada o mais depressa possível. O estágio na câmara municipal da Póvoa de Varzim (CMPV) teve a duração de 10 meses, entre Outubro e Julho de 2012 e foi realizado no âmbito da disciplina de dissertação/ estágio do mestrado de tecnologias de proteção ambiental no Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto. Este estágio foi uma mais-valia para mim na medida em que pude consolidar os conhecimentos adquiridos ao longo de todo o meu percurso académico e conhecer a realidade do mercado de trabalho.

Incorporating sustainability into a chemical company’s modus operandi

The intent of this dissertation is to review relevant existing management systems and chemical industry initiatives to identify synergies, overlaps and gaps with Sustainability best practices, to map the barriers to the incorporation of Sustainability and formulate recommendations to facilitate execution of Sustainability practices within existing management systems. A chemical industry Sustainability survey was conducted through APEQ, the Portuguese association of chemical companies, which constitutes the first baseline on the topic for this national industry association. The commonly used international standards and the Responsible Care® (RC) initiative were cross-referenced against the United Nations Global Compact Assessment Tool. Guidance on how to incorporate Sustainability into a company‘s modus operandi was collapsed into Sustainability Playbooks. The survey revealed that 73% of the APEQ member companies that participated in the survey have a Sustainability Plan. Both large and small/medium APEQ member companies see the market not willing to pay extra for ‗greener‘ products as one of the main barriers. APEQ large enterprise see complexity of implementation and low return on investment as the other most significant barriers while small/medium enterprise respond that the difficulty to predict customer sustainability needs is the other most significant barrier. Amongst many other insights from this survey reported to APEQ, Life Cycle Assessment practices were found to have a low level of implementation and were also considered of low importance, thus identifying a very important opportunity in Sustainability practices to be addressed by APEQ. Two hundred and seventy three assessment points from United Nations Global Compact Assessment Tool plus five additional items were cross-referenced with international standard requirements. With the authorization of the intellectual property owners, the United Nations Global Compact Assessment Tool was modified to introduce actionable recommendations for each gap identified by management standard. This tool was automated to output specific recommendations for 63 possible combinations after simply selecting from a list of commonly used management standards and the RC initiative. Finally this modified tool was introduced into Playbooks for Incorporation of Sustainability at two levels: a ―Get Started Playbook‖ for beginners or small/medium size enterprise and an ―Advanced Playbook‖ as a second advancement stage or for large enterprise.

Anti-vibration gloves and the forearm efforts during tools operations

The objective of this paper is to analyze the forearm muscular contraction levels associated to the use of anti-vibration gloves, by comparing the contraction levels with gloves and without gloves. Two different vibration tools were used in a simulated work environment: (1) A compact Duty Multi-Cutter Bosch and (2) and a Percussion Drill with a drill bit Ø20 mm. Standard operations were performed by each subject in the following materials: (1) Performing cross- sectional cuts in 80x40 mm pine section and (2) performing 20 mm diameter holes in a concrete slab 2 x 2 m, 70 mm thick. The forearm contraction level were measured by surface electromyography in four different muscles: Flexor Digitorum Superficialis (FDS), Flexor Carpi Ulnaris (FCU), Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus (ECRL) e Extensor Carpi Ulnaris (ECU). For the flexor muscles (FDS, FCU), an increase tendency in muscular contraction was observed when the operations are performed without gloves (2-5% MVE increase in the FDS and 3-9% MVE increase in the FCU). For the extensor muscles ECU a decrease tendency in muscular contraction was observed when the operations are performed without gloves (1-10% MVE decrease). Any tendency was found in the ECRL muscle. ECU was the muscle with the highest contraction level for 79% and 71% of the operators, during the operations respectively with the multi-cutter (P50= 27-30%MVE) and with the percussion drill (P50=46-55%MVE). As a final conclusion from this study, anti- vibration gloves may increase the forearm fatigue in the posterior region of the forearm (ECU muscle) during operations with the mentioned tools

ALS-Sence: sistema de aquisição e processamento de electromiogramas para pacientes com ALS

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Eletrónica e Computadores

Business micro-location: factors, preferences and indicators to assess the influence factors

The paper presents a study on business micro-location behaviour as well as corresponding factors of influence, conducted in two metropolitan areas, Bucharest-Ilfov (Romania) and Greater Porto (Portugal). By business micro-location we refer to a specific site such as a building or facility, accommodating a business within a small, compact geographical area (e.g. metropolitan area). At this geographical scale, the macroeconomic layer factors were excluded, applicable when discern between regions or countries. The factors derived from location theory and previous empirical studies were surveyed, completing a cross-sectional analysis in order to find out the specific weights of the location factors and preferences, by region and by industry. Based on already established firms’ feedback on location, the specific weights were granted by each industry to the main location factors, types of areas, and types of accommodation facilities. The authors also suggested a model to integrate these results into a Geographical Information System (GIS).

Run-time defragmentation for dynamically reconfigurable hardware

Reconfigurable computing experienced a considerable expansion in the last few years, due in part to the fast run-time partial reconfiguration features offered by recent SRAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which allowed the implementation in real-time of dynamic resource allocation strategies, with multiple independent functions from different applications sharing the same logic resources in the space and temporal domains. However, when the sequence of reconfigurations to be performed is not predictable, the efficient management of the logic space available becomes the greatest challenge posed to these systems. Resource allocation decisions have to be made concurrently with system operation, taking into account function priorities and optimizing the space currently available. As a consequence of the unpredictability of this allocation procedure, the logic space becomes fragmented, with many small areas of free resources failing to satisfy most requests and so remaining unused. A rearrangement of the currently running functions is therefore necessary, so as to obtain enough contiguous space to implement incoming functions, avoiding the spreading of their components and the resulting degradation of system performance. A novel active relocation procedure for Configurable Logic Blocks (CLBs) is herein presented, able to carry out online rearrangements, defragmenting the available FPGA resources without disturbing functions currently running.

Avaliação da eficiência energética e optimização de uma unidade de trigeração

Portugal é um país dependente da energia do exterior, devido à elevada percentagem de consumo de energia a partir de fontes primárias, como por exemplo o gasóleo. Para colmatar este cenário, têm vindo a criar-se incentivos para o uso de energias renováveis e para intensificação de medidas de eficiência energética, como os sistemas de cogeração, de forma a tornar os processos industriais nacionais mais autónomos e mais competitivos. O presente trabalho, centra-se na determinação do potencial térmico disponível na central de trigeração da empresa Monteiro, Ribas-Indústria, SA, com a finalidade de identificar a quantidade de energia não utilizada, com vista ao aproveitamento dessa mesma energia nos processos mais problemáticos da empresa. Verificou-se que a água líquida era a fonte de maior energia não aproveitada, representando cerca de 30%, relativamente à energia disponível na água de refrigeração que é de 1890 kW. Assim, perante este facto, fez-se um estudo em dois setores autónomos da empresa, o setor dos revestimentos e o setor dos componentes técnicos da borracha. Pretendeu-se propor medidas para melhorar os seus processos produtivos, aproveitando essa energia. Para o efeito foi projetado um permutador de calor de placas com necessidade energética de 131,4 MWh, no setor dos revestimentos e um permutador compacto no setor de produção de placas de borracha, necessitando de uma energia de 335,2 MWh. Face à energia disponível na central de trigeração, de 161,9 MWh, verifica-se que esta apenas poderá ser aproveitada no setor dos revestimentos. Para tornar este objetivo real, a empresa Monteiro, Ribas- Indústria, SA necessitaria de efetuar um investimento no total de 49.390€. Além disso, foi contabilizado o rendimento das caldeiras da central térmica e da cogeração, ambas pelo método direto, apresentando estas os valores de 72% e 42%, respectivamente.

Experimental study of the mechanical properties and durability of self-compacting mortars with nano materials (SiO2 and TiO2)

Resumo: Cement, as well as the remaining constituents of self-compacting mortars, must be carefully selected, in order to obtain an adequate composition with a granular mix as compact as possible and a good performance in the fresh state (self-compacting effect) and the hardened state (mechanical and durability-related behavior). Therefore in this work the possibility of incorporating nano particles in self-compacting mortars was studied. Nano materials are very reactive due mostly to their high specific surface and show a great potential to improve the properties of these mortars, both in mechanical and durability terms. In this work two nano materials were used, nano silica (nano SiO2) in colloidal state and nano titanium (nano TiO2) in amorphous state, in two types of self-compacting mortars (ratio binder:sand of 1:1 and 1:2). The self-compacting mortar mixes have the same water/cement ratio and 30% of replacement of cement with fly ashes. The influence of nano materials nano-SiO2 and nano-TiO2 on the fresh and hardened state properties of these self-compacting mortars was studied. The results show that the use of nano materials in repair and rehabilitation mortars has significant potential but still needs to be optimized. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The detrital origin of the Moncorvo ordovician ironstones

The Moncorvo Ordovician ironstones in northeastern Portugal consist of iron ore sedimentary horizons frequently interbanded with psamites and quartzites. Ore reserves may probably exceed 1 000 million tonnes and this makes Moncorvo the largest iron ore deposit in the European Union. Compact poorly banded massive layers may exceed 90 meters in thickness which is quite an extraordinary feature for a Phanerozoic deposit. If the thickness of Precambrian deposits may reach a few hundred meters, the thickness of Phanerozoic deposits never exceed a maximum of 15 meters generally forming a number of comparatively thin layers confined to a particular member of a sedimentary sequence. A detailed microscopic analysis of the ores revealed that initially a compact magnetite/quartzite layer, detrital in character (the magnetite occasionally showing chromite cores), was deposited by entrapment in near shore lagoons where rivers debouched, rather than in the open sea. This stage was followed by oscilating and transgressive shore lines which gave rise to breaks in sedimentation in combined river delta and shallow water marine environment where detrital material and fine iron oxide and clay suspensions were deposited in fluctuating environments. These events gave rise to layers of both magnetite (martite) and specularite intergrown with quartz, silicates and phosphates. Textural and mineralogical studies show that the deposits consist of ferruginous clastic sediments and are not chemically deposited cherts. Field, geological and palaeontological evidence also supports a detrital origin, the facies being typical of zones rich in oxygen and close to the feeding continent. The uncommon huge development of Moncorvo was due to the fact that the deposits occur in restricted basins on a continental platform were clastic sediments were predominantly deposited. Not only morphologically but also chemically the deposits are more similar to Precambrian iron formations than to Phanerozoic ironstones.