Parameter estimation in the presence of auxiliary information

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutora em Estatística e Gestão de Risco, Especialidade em Estatística

The impact of changing the transportation cost structure of a food retail company

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

PV systems linked to the grid: parameter identification with a heuristic procedure

This paper focuses on a PV system linked to the electric grid by power electronic converters, identification of the five parameters modeling for photovoltaic systems and the assessment of the shading effect. Normally, the technical information for photovoltaic panels is too restricted to identify the five parameters. An undemanding heuristic method is used to find the five parameters for photovoltaic systems, requiring only the open circuit, maximum power, and short circuit data. The I–V and the P–V curves for a monocrystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous photovoltaic systems are computed from the parameters identification and validated by comparison with experimental ones. Also, the I–V and the P–V curves under the effect of partial shading are obtained from those parameters. The modeling for the converters emulates the association of a DC–DC boost with a two-level power inverter in order to follow the performance of a testing commercial inverter employed on an experimental system.

The changing distribution of malaria in the Brazilian Amazon, 2003-2004 and 2008-2009

Introduction More than half of the malaria cases reported in the Americas are from the Brazilian Amazon region. While malaria is considered endemic in this region, its geographical distribution is extremely heterogeneous. Therefore, it is important to investigate the distribution of malaria and to determine regions whereby action might be necessary. Methods Changes in malaria indicators in all municipalities of the Brazilian Amazon between 2003-2004 and 2008-2009 were studied. The malaria indicators included the absolute number of malaria cases and deaths, the bi-annual parasite incidence (BPI), BPI ratios and differences, a Lorenz curve and Gini coefficients. Results During the study period, mortality from malaria remained low (0.02% deaths/case), the percent of municipalities that became malaria-free increased from 15.6% to 31.7%, and the Gini coefficient increased from 82% to 87%. In 2003, 10% of the municipalities with the highest BPI accumulated 67% of all malaria cases, compared with 2009, when 10% of the municipalities (with the highest BPI) had 80% of the malaria cases. Conclusions This study described an overall decrease in malaria transmission in the Brazilian Amazon region. As expected, an increased heterogeneity of malaria indicators was found, which reinforces the notion that a single strategy may not bring about uniformly good outcomes. The geographic clustering of municipalities identified as problem areas might help to define better intervention methods.

Adductor policis muscle: a new anthropometric parameter

PURPOSE: To measure the thickness of adductor pollicis muscle in healthy adults. This measurement will be used as a nutritional anthropometric parameter in further studies. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Four hundred and twenty-one healthy adults were studied, 209 men and 212 women, with ages ranging from 18 to 87 years, living in Rio de Janeiro. The adductor pollicis muscle was also studied in the human anatomy lab as well as in normal healthy volunteers using CAT scans and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to ensure that only the adductor pollicis was included in measurement of muscle thickness with a Lange caliper. To standardize the measurement, the methodology was detailed, with subjects sitting with the dominant hand dangling over the homolateral thigh and the elbow bent at approximately a 90° angle. The Lange caliper was applied at a pressure of 10 g/mm², pinching the adductor pollicis muscle at the vertex of an imaginary angle between the thumb and the index finger. The average of 3 consecutive measurements was considered to be the muscle thickness. RESULTS: This study provides the first estimates of adductor pollicis thickness in normal healthy subjects as an anthropometric parameter. The normal values in the dominant hand for men were 12.5 ± 2.8 mm (mean ± SD), median 12 mm, and for women were 10.5 ± 2.3 mm, median 10 mm.

Simulation of humidity fields in concrete: experimental validation and parameter estimation

The moisture content in concrete structures has an important influence in their behavior and performance. Several vali-dated numerical approaches adopt the governing equation for relative humidity fields proposed in Model Code 1990/2010. Nevertheless there is no integrative study which addresses the choice of parameters for the simulation of the humidity diffusion phenomenon, particularly in concern to the range of parameters forwarded by Model Code 1990/2010. A software based on a Finite Difference Method Algorithm (1D and axisymmetric cases) is used to perform sensitivity analyses on the main parameters in a normal strength concrete. Then, based on the conclusions of the sensi-tivity analyses, experimental results from nine different concrete compositions are analyzed. The software is used to identify the main material parameters that better fit the experimental data. In general, the model was able to satisfactory fit the experimental results and new correlations were proposed, particularly focusing on the boundary transfer coeffi-cient.

Caught between changing tides: Gender and kinship in Cape Verde

Gender ideologies in Cape Verde are shifting. Individuals find themselves caught between changing tides, pushed and pulled in opposite directions by divergent gendered expectations. The article examines the different ways in which young women and men take recourse to tactics in response to the tensions that arise as they deal with changing gender ascriptions in the midst of their relations with community and kin. Women, in particular, are unevenly affected by traditional demands and expectations whilst they cross the boundaries of traditional gender roles in their pursuit of enhanced education and more sexual freedom. Yet, their actions are not characterized by an outright rejection of traditional gender ideologies, but rather by piecemeal tactical manoeuvres to plot a route through the centrifugal forces at play. keywords

Performance assessment of electrically small antennas for implantable microsystems with wireless power and communications

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Eletrónica Médica)

Search for flavour-changing neutral current top quark decays t → Hq in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for flavour-changing neutral current decays of a top quark to an uptype quark (q = u, c) and the Standard Model Higgs boson, where the Higgs boson decays to bb¯¯, is presented. The analysis searches for top quark pair events in which one top quark decays to Wb, with the W boson decaying leptonically, and the other top quark decays to Hq. The search is based on pp collisions at s√=8 TeV recorded in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and uses an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Data are analysed in the lepton-plus-jets final state, characterised by an isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. The search exploits the high multiplicity of b-quark jets characteristic of signal events, and employs a likelihood discriminant that uses the kinematic differences between the signal and the background, which is dominated by tt¯→WbWb decays. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found, and observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits of 0.56% (0.42%) and 0.61% (0.64%) are derived for the t → Hc and t → Hu branching ratios respectively. The combination of this search with other ATLAS searches in the H → γγ and H → WW *, ττ decay modes significantly improves the sensitivity, yielding observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the t → Hc and t → Hu branching ratios of 0.46% (0.25%) and 0.45% (0.29%) respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the |λ tcH | and |λ tuH | couplings are 0.13 (0.10) and 0.13 (0.10) respectively. These are the most restrictive direct bounds on tqH interactions measured so far.

Estudo de betumes modificados recuperados de misturas produzidas pelo método húmido e pelo método seco

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Civil

Avaliação do desempenho ambiental do aglomerado negro de cortiça

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Civil

Parameter identification of the fermentative production of fructo-oligosaccharides by Aureobasidium pullulans

In this study, a mathematical model for the production of Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) by Aureobasidium pullulans is developed. This model contains a relatively large set of unknown parameters, and the identification problem is analyzed using simulation data, as well as experimental data. Batch experiments were not sufficiently informative to uniquely estimate all the unknown parameters, thus, additional experiments have to be achieved in fed-batch mode to supplement the missing information. © 2015 IEEE.

Modellierung und Simulation polydisperser Wassernebel in der Brandbekämpfung unter Berücksichtigung stochastischer Parameter

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Verfahrens- und Systemtechnik, Diss., 2011

Entwicklung einer Impulsmethode zur Ermittlung thermodynamischer und reaktionskinetischer Parameter in der heterogenen Katalyse

Heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous catalysis, adsorption equilibrium, reaction kinetics, impulse method, hydrolysis of methyl formate, production of formic acid