Numerical methods and tangible interfaces for pollutant dispersion simulation

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia do Ambiente, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Untitled: connecting layers of confusion, sensation and transformation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Arte e Ciência do Vidro

Brain-computer interface (BCI): a methodological proposal to assess the impacts of medical applications in 2022

Based on the report for “Project IV” unit of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment (Doctoral Conference) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 2011). This thesis research has the supervision of António Moniz (FCT-UNL and ITAS-KIT) and Armin Grunwald (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-ITAS, Germany). Other members of the thesis committee are Mário Forjaz Secca (FCT-UNL) and Femke Nijboer (University of Twente, Netherlands).

Atomic force microscopy assisted with electron and ion beam microscopy for the direct measurement of biostructures and DNA samples

Dissertation to obtain a Master degree in Biotechnology

Improvements on the KNN classifier

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Interactive acquisition of spatial information from images for multimedia applications

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática

Things we see: Portuguese anthropology on material culture

Part of the objects that anthropologists can now find in Lisbon result from the existence of networks with rather diverse historical, social and cultural origins, linking Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Brazil and Portugal, as well as the countries which have attracted all these countries’ diasporas. The publishing of papers by Portuguese and Brazilian anthropologists in this dossier dedicated to consumption might come to generate a productive collaboration between researchers from both countries, which for over five centuries have seen arriving from the other side of the Atlantic strange objects that, in turn, have taken the routes of the diasporas mentioned above, from luxurious and whimsical items as the indigenous leaders’ feathers and the carriages of the Portuguese royalty, to common and irreplaceable goods as the havaianas.

Video interaction using pen-based technology

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática

Um antropólogo fazedor de objectos

Texto publicado nas versões portuguesa e inglesa do catálogo da exposição retrospectiva - série don't look back - da obra de Fernando Brízio, realizada no quadro da bienal de 2011 da experimentadesign.

The influence of off-screen landmarks on user orientation

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

Constituição e transcendência: os casos dos regimes comunitários do entre-guerras

Tede de Doutoramento, na especialidade de Ciências Políticas apresentada à FDUNL

Haptic robot-environment interaction for self-supervised learning in ground mobility

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Eletrotécnica e de Computadores

Amorphous silicon e 3D sensors applied to object detection

Nowadays, existing 3D scanning cameras and microscopes in the market use digital or discrete sensors, such as CCDs or CMOS for object detection applications. However, these combined systems are not fast enough for some application scenarios since they require large data processing resources and can be cumbersome. Thereby, there is a clear interest in exploring the possibilities and performances of analogue sensors such as arrays of position sensitive detectors with the final goal of integrating them in 3D scanning cameras or microscopes for object detection purposes. The work performed in this thesis deals with the implementation of prototype systems in order to explore the application of object detection using amorphous silicon position sensors of 32 and 128 lines which were produced in the clean room at CENIMAT-CEMOP. During the first phase of this work, the fabrication and the study of the static and dynamic specifications of the sensors as well as their conditioning in relation to the existing scientific and technological knowledge became a starting point. Subsequently, relevant data acquisition and suitable signal processing electronics were assembled. Various prototypes were developed for the 32 and 128 array PSD sensors. Appropriate optical solutions were integrated to work together with the constructed prototypes, allowing the required experiments to be carried out and allowing the achievement of the results presented in this thesis. All control, data acquisition and 3D rendering platform software was implemented for the existing systems. All these components were combined together to form several integrated systems for the 32 and 128 line PSD 3D sensors. The performance of the 32 PSD array sensor and system was evaluated for machine vision applications such as for example 3D object rendering as well as for microscopy applications such as for example micro object movement detection. Trials were also performed involving the 128 array PSD sensor systems. Sensor channel non-linearities of approximately 4 to 7% were obtained. Overall results obtained show the possibility of using a linear array of 32/128 1D line sensors based on the amorphous silicon technology to render 3D profiles of objects. The system and setup presented allows 3D rendering at high speeds and at high frame rates. The minimum detail or gap that can be detected by the sensor system is approximately 350 μm when using this current setup. It is also possible to render an object in 3D within a scanning angle range of 15º to 85º and identify its real height as a function of the scanning angle and the image displacement distance on the sensor. Simple and not so simple objects, such as a rubber and a plastic fork, can be rendered in 3D properly and accurately also at high resolution, using this sensor and system platform. The nip structure sensor system can detect primary and even derived colors of objects by a proper adjustment of the integration time of the system and by combining white, red, green and blue (RGB) light sources. A mean colorimetric error of 25.7 was obtained. It is also possible to detect the movement of micrometer objects using the 32 PSD sensor system. This kind of setup offers the possibility to detect if a micro object is moving, what are its dimensions and what is its position in two dimensions, even at high speeds. Results show a non-linearity of about 3% and a spatial resolution of < 2µm.

Heritages, Identities, and Policy in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon

In a world that has moved away from narratives based on the idea of progress, the past has established itself as a place of reference: confirming to ourselves that what we were is indispensible for sustaining what we think we are. The recovery of the past is thus one of the most common symbolic instruments used in negotiating identities. The cultural practices that have recourse to representation mechanisms that call on the past in order to consider the present always end up translating themselves, insofar as they fragment, reorganize and interpret it in their transformation, or, to use a formula that has become unavoidable, in their “invention”. Patrimonialization is one such practice. It associates the notion of heritage – which is not a given fact, but rather a socially constructed classification, and therefore one that is constantly being negotiated – with specific objects that come to serve as cultural representations of the groups who consider themselves to be their rightful owners. In the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, as in other ethnographic contexts, patrimonialization encompasses things as diverse as landscapes, monuments, popular architecture, handicrafts, local feast days/processions/pilgrimages and people; all things that can, once transformed into material representations of the past, serve as arguments for the identity fictions of the people who inhabit them.

Cellulose nanorods in liquid crystalline elastomers for improved actuators

Nanotechnology plays a central role in ‘tailoring’ materials’ properties and thus improving its performances for a wide range of applications. Coupling nature nano-objects with nanotechnology results in materials with enhanced functionalities. The main objective of this master thesis was the synthesis of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCCs) and its further incorporation in a cellulosic matrix, in order to produce a stimuli-responsive material to moisture. The induced behaviour (bending/unbending) of the samples was deeply investigated, in order to determine relationships between structure/properties. Using microcrystalline cellulose as a starting material, acid hydrolysis was performed and the NCC was obtained. Anisotropic aqueous solutions of HPC and NCC were prepared and films with thicknesses ranging from 22μm to 61μm were achieved, by using a shear casting technique. Microscopic and spectroscopic techniques as well as mechanical and rheological essays were used to characterize the transparent and flexible films produced. Upon the application of a stimulus (moisture), the bending/unbending response times were measured. The use of NCC allowed obtaining films with response times in the order of 6 seconds for the bending and 5 seconds for the unbending, improving the results previously reported. These promising results open new horizons for building up improved soft steam engines.