<p>Hypersonic flight causes ultra-high surface temperatures which are most intense on sharp leading edges. One way of reducing the surface temperature is to apply a high emittance ceramic (HEC) on the leading edge, increasing the radiation component of heat transfer. An ideal HEC must have a high emittance, while also possessing a strong ablation resistance. From a scientific standpoint, it would be helpful if emittance could be tailored at different wavelengths. For example, materials with tailorable emittance could be used to improve the efficiency of engines, thermo-photo voltaic cells, and other applications. The approach used to create a ceramic with tailorable emittance was to use two different rare-earth elements, adding them to an ultra-high temperature ceramic (UHTC) in small quantities. The samarium element was added to increase the emittance of the UHTC over a large wavelength range (visible to near infrared wavelengths, consistent with the temperature range expected for hypersonic flight), and the erbium element was added to decrease the emittance at specific wavelength ranges. The goal of this study was to create an UHTC with tailorable emittance while maintaining the required ablation resistance. Therefore, ZBS billets with five different Sm to Er ratios and with a nominal total amount of 3 mol.% dopant incorporated were prepared by sintering in vacuum to 2000 °C. The ablation resistance was evaluated by using an oxyacetylene torch and observing at exposure times of 60 s and 300 s, whereas the emittance was evaluated at the Air Force Research Lab facilities via a laser heating testing. The results for the ablation testing showed that ZrB₂-SiC (ZBS) billets co-doped with Sm and Er formed a beneficial <i>c₁</i>-(Sm/Er)_0.2Zr_0.8O_1.9 oxide scale as the majority phase, which is more thermally stable than the <i>m</i>-ZrO₂ oxide scale typically formed in oxidized ZBS systems, resulting in a more adherent oxide scale to the unreacted material. The crystalline oxide scale and the amorphous phase were formed by a convection cell mechanism where the <i>c₁</i>-(Sm/Er)_0.2Zr_0.8O_1.9 crystalline islands precipitate, grow, and coalesce. Moreover, differences in surface temperatures between ZBS samples with different dopant ratios suggest differences in spectral absorptance/emittance between each of the five compositions evaluated. Despite that the emittance profiles with varying Sm:Er molar ratios were similar because <i>m</i>-ZrO₂ was formed as the major oxide phase, the emittance study showed that the erbium oxide influences the emittance profile, as can be noted by the maximum and minimum emittance peaks. Furthermore, results showed that the emittance varies as a function of dopant(s) molar ratios and temperature at shorter wavelength ranges. These changes in the emittance are caused by the different Sm and Er concentration on the surface. Future work should be focused on producing the beneficial <i>c₁</i>-(Sm/Er)_0.2Zr_0.9O_1.8phase directly from the manufacturing process, and therefore, maximize the effect of varying the Sm:Er molar ratios to tailor the emittance. Nonetheless, this study represents the first generation and reported emittance data of UHTC doping ZBS systems with both Sm and Er elements. </p>

Orientador: Ivan de Godoy Maia / Banca: Celso Luis Marino / Banca: Marcio José da Silva / Resumo: A identificação de promotores com expressão tecido-específica é uma alternativa viável para substituição dos promotores com expressão ubíqua geralmente utilizados em transgenia. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho teve como objetivos caracterizar funcionalmente o promotor de um gene de eucalipto que codifica um transportador de potássio com expressão específica em raiz bem como isolar e caracterizar a região promotora de um gene de eucalipto selecionado como apresentando expressão específica em folha. Plantas transgênicas de tabaco (Nicotiana tabacum SR1) contendo um cassete de expressão composto pelo promotor de raiz fusionado ao gene repórter GUS (que codifica a β-glucoronidase) foram usadas em ensaios histoquímicos e histológicos para investigar a especificidade da expressão determinada pelo promotor em estudo. Os resultados evidenciaram que o promotor investigado dirige a expressão do gene repórter em tecido vascular de folhas e raízes. A expressão em feixes vasculares de folhas e raízes foi confirmada em cortes histológicos. Visando avaliar a resposta deste promotor a baixas concentrações de potássio, duas linhagens da geração T2 foram submetidas à deficiência de potássio, e a expressão relativa do gene repórter GUS foi determinada por PCR em tempo real. Nas linhagens submetidas a estresse de potássio observou-se um aumento da expressão relativa do gene repórter GUS em função da privação do elemento. Em paralelo, um gene selecionado in silico como apresentando expressão em folha de eucalipto teve seu perfil de expressão validado por RT-PCR. A construção de um cassete de expressão contendo o referido promotor fusionado ao gene repórter GUS foi empreendida visando futuras validações funcionais / Abstract: The identification of tissue-specific promoters is of great value to substitute the ubiquitous promoters generally used in transgenic production. In this context, the present study aimed to functionally characterize the promoter of a Eucalyptus grandis gene encoding a potassium transporter showing root specific expression, and to isolate and functionally characterize the promoter region of an E. grandis gene selected as showing specific expression in leaf. Transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiniana tabacum SR1) harboring a promoter:GUS fusion were used to investigate the expression specificity of the selected root promoter. The results showed that the investigated promoter drives a reporter gene expression in vascular tissues of leaves and roots. The expression in vascular bundles of leaves and roots was confirmed in histological crosssections. To evaluate the promoter responsiveness to low potassium concentrations, two transgenic lines (T2) were submitted to potassium starvation and the relative expression of the GUS reporter gene was determined by real time PCR. An increase in the relative expression of GUS in response to potassium starvation was observed. In parallel, the expression pattern of a gene showing leaf specific expression in Eucalyptus grandis was validated by RT-PCR. The construction of an expression cassette containing this promoter fused to the GUS reporter gene was performed aiming future functional characterization / Mestre

A hipovitaminose D hoje é considerada uma pandemia suas causas e consequências tem sido muito estudadas. Quando a população atendida é de pessoas vivendo com HIV/Aids as comorbidades parecem ser abreviadas tanto pela infecção viral como pela introdução da TARV. A Infecção Pelo HIV, apesar da terapia antirretroviral aumentar a expectativa de vida dos portadores do vírus, novos desafios se impõe no manejo clínico dos pacientes, tais como alterações neurológicas, distúrbios metabólicos como dislipidemias, lipodistrofia, resistência à insulina e osteopenia e osteoporose.. O objetivo foi avaliar a eficácia da suplementação de vitamina D em pacientes infectados pelo HIV, a despeito de tudo que é sabido de complicações e comorbidades advindas da infecção e dos efeitos adversos da terapia antirretroviral. Realizou-se um ensaio clínico controlado, randomizado, duplo cego, onde metade da coorte de 36 PVHA foram suplementadas com vitamina D (grupo 1) por 06 meses e 37 PVHA (grupo 2) com placebo. Como resultado verificou-se que a suplementação de colecalciferol (vitamina D3) foi eficaz, 80% dos pacientes tiveram níveis sanguíneos normalizados em seis meses de uso. Importante destacar a significância que houve em relação aos níveis de vitamina D e fumo, além disso o grupo que suplementou com vitamina teve resultado significativo(p<0,001) em relação ao aumento dos linfócitos TCD4. O Efavirenz pode influir de maneira negativa nos níveis de vitamina D e que a suplementação se faz necessária como um provável coadjuvante na melhora do CD4 e a dosagem adequada resulta na eficácia do tratamento. / Hypovitaminosis D today is considered a pandemic its causes and consequences have been much studied. When the population served is people living with HIV / AIDS, the comorbidities seem to be shortened by both viral infection and the introduction of ART. HIV infection, although antiretroviral therapy increases the life expectancy of HIV patients, new challenges are imposed in the clinical management of patients, such as neurological changes, metabolic disorders such as dyslipidemia, lipodystrophy, insulin resistance and osteopenia and osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in HIV-infected patients, despite the known complications and comorbidities of the infection and the adverse effects of antiretroviral therapy. A double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted in which half of the cohort of 36 PLHA were supplemented with vitamin D (group 1) for 6 months and 37 PLHA (group 2) with placebo. As a result cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) supplementation was found to be effective, 80% of patients had normalized blood levels at six months of use. It is important to highlight the significance of vitamin D and smoking levels, and the group that supplemented with vitamin had a significant result (p <0.001) in relation to the increase in CD4 T lymphocytes. Efavirenz may have a negative effect on vitamin D levels and that supplementation is necessary as a likely adjunct to CD4 enhancement and adequate dosing results in treatment efficacy.

Les systèmes distribués sont au coeur des technologies de l'information.Il est devenu classique de s'appuyer sur multiples unités distribuées pour améliorer la performance d'une application, la tolérance aux pannes, ou pour traiter problèmes dépassant les capacités d'une seule unité de traitement. La conception d'algorithmes adaptés au contexte distribué est particulièrement difficile en raison de l'asynchronisme et du non-déterminisme qui caractérisent ces systèmes. La simulation offre la possibilité d'étudier les performances des applications distribuées sans la complexité et le coût des plates-formes d'exécution réelles. Par ailleurs, le model checking permet d'évaluer la correction de ces systèmes de manière entièrement automatique. Dans cette thèse, nous explorons l'idée d'intégrer au sein d'un même outil un model checker et un simulateur de systèmes distribués. Nous souhaitons ainsi pouvoir évaluer la performance et la correction des applications distribuées. Pour faire face au problème de l'explosion combinatoire des états, nous présentons un algorithme de réduction dynamique par ordre partiel (DPOR), qui effectue une exploration basée sur un ensemble réduit de primitives de réseau. Cette approche permet de vérifier les programmes écrits avec n'importe laquelle des interfaces de communication proposées par le simulateur. Nous avons pour cela développé une spécification formelle complète de la sémantique de ces primitives réseau qui permet de raisonner sur l'indépendance des actions de communication nécessaire à la DPOR. Nous montrons au travers de résultats expérimentaux que notre approche est capable de traiter des programmes C non triviaux et non modifiés, écrits pour le simulateur SimGrid. Par ailleurs, nous proposons une solution au problème du passage à l'échelle des simulations limitées pour le CPU, ce qui permet d'envisager la simulation d'applications pair-à-pair comportant plusieurs millions de noeuds. Contrairement aux approches classiques de parallélisation, nous proposons une parallélisation des étapes internes de la simulation, tout en gardant l'ensemble du processus séquentiel. Nous présentons une analyse de la complexité de l'algorithme de simulation parallèle, et nous la comparons à l'algorithme classique séquentiel pour obtenir un critère qui caractérise les situations où un gain de performances peut être attendu avec notre approche. Un résultat important est l'observation de la relation entre la précision numérique des modèles utilisés pour simuler les ressources matérielles, avec le degré potentiel de parallélisation atteignables avec cette approche. Nous présentons plusieurs cas d'étude bénéficiant de la simulation parallèle, et nous détaillons les résultats d'une simulation à une échelle sans précédent du protocole pair-à-pair Chord avec deux millions de noeuds, exécutée sur une seule machine avec un modèle précis du réseau / Distributed systems are in the mainstream of information technology. It has become standard to rely on multiple distributed units to improve the performance of the application, help tolerate component failures, or handle problems too large to fit in a single processing unit. The design of algorithms adapted to the distributed context is particularly difficult due to the asynchrony and the nondeterminism that characterize distributed systems. Simulation offers the ability to study the performance of distributed applications without the complexity and cost of the real execution platforms. On the other hand, model checking allows to assess the correctness of such systems in a fully automatic manner. In this thesis, we explore the idea of integrating a model checker with a simulator for distributed systems in a single framework to gain performance and correctness assessment capabilities. To deal with the state explosion problem, we present a dynamic partial order reduction algorithm that performs the exploration based on a reduced set of networking primitives, that allows to verify programs written for any of the communication APIs offered by the simulator. This is only possible after the development of a full formal specification with the semantics of these networking primitives, that allows to reason about the independency of the communication actions as required by the DPOR algorithm. We show through experimental results that our approach is capable of dealing with non trivial unmodified C programs written for the SimGrid simulator. Moreover, we propose a solution to the problem of scalability for CPU bound simulations, envisioning the simulation of Peer-to-Peer applications with millions of participating nodes. Contrary to classical parallelization approaches, we propose parallelizing some internal steps of the simulation, while keeping the whole process sequential. We present a complexity analysis of the simulation algorithm, and we compare it to the classical sequential algorithm to obtain a criteria that describes in what situations a speed up can be expected. An important result is the observation of the relation between the precision of the models used to simulate the hardware resources, and the potential degree of parallelization attainable with this approach. We present several case studies that benefit from the parallel simulation, and we show the results of a simulation at unprecedented scale of the Chord Peer-to-Peer protocol with two millions nodes executed in a single machine

Desempenho e consumo energético são requisitos fundamentais em sistemas de computação. Um desafio comumente encontrado é conciliar esses dois aspectos, buscando manter o mesmo desempenho, consumindo cada vez menos energia. Muitas técnicas possibilitam a redução do consumo de energia em aplicações paralelas, mas na maioria das vezes elas envolvem recursos encontrados apenas em processadores modernos ou um conhecimento amplo das características da aplicação e da plataforma alvo. Nesse trabalho propomos uma abordagem em formato de Workflow. Na primeira fase, o comportamento da aplicação paralela é investigado. A partir dessa investigação, a segunda fase realiza a execução da aplicação paralela com diferentes frequências (mínima e máxima) de processador, utilizando a caracterização das regiões, obtida na primeira fase da abordagem. Esse Workflow foi implementado em formato de biblioteca dinâmica, a fim de que ela possa ser utilizada em qualquer aplicação OpenMP. A biblioteca possui suporte as duas fases do Workflow, na primeira fase é gerado um arquivo que descreve as assinaturas comportamentais das regiões paralelas da aplicação. Esse arquivo é posteriormente utilizado na segunda fase, quando a biblioteca vai alterar dinamicamente a frequência de processador. O benchmark Lulesh é utilizado como cenário de testes da biblioteca, com isso o maior ganho obtido é a redução de 1,89% do consumo de energia. Esse ganho acarretou uma sobrecarga de 0,09% no tempo de execução. Ao comparar nossa técnica com a política de troca de frequência adotada pelo governor Ondemand do Sistema Operacional Linux, o ganho de 1,89% é significativo em relação ao benchmark utilizado, pois nele existem regiões paralelas de curta duração, o que impacta negativamente no overhead da operação de troca de frequência. / Performance and energy consumption are fundamental requirements in computer systems. A very frequent challenge is to combine both aspects, searching to keep the high performance computing while consuming less energy. There are a lot of techniques to reduce energy consumption, but in general, they use modern processors resources or they require specific knowledge about application and platform used. In this work, we propose a performance analysis workflow strategy divided into two steps. In the first step, we analyze the parallel application behavior through the use of hardware counters that reflect CPU and memory usage. The goal is to obtain a per-region computing signature. The result of this first step is a configuration file that describes the duration of each region, their hardware counters, and source code identification. The second step runs the parallel application with different frequencies (low or high) according to the characterization obtained in the previous step. The results show a reduction of 1,89% in energy consumption for the Lulesh benchmark with an increase of 0,09% in runtime when we compare our approach against the governor Ondemand of the Linux Operating System.

Aplicações de captura e acesso exploram o paradigma de computação ubíqua --- que consiste em popular o ambiente com aplicações e dispositivos computacionais a fim de auxiliar transparentemente as pessoas na realização de suas atividades --- para dar apoio à captura automática de informação em experiências ``ao vivo' e à correspondente geração de documentos passíveis de armazenamento, recuperação, visualização e extensão ao longo do tempo. Devido à sua natureza distribuída, à heterogeneidade dos dispositivos computacionais envolvidos e à diversidade nas funcionalidades providas, essas aplicações são difíceis de se construir e requerem infra-estruturas e serviços de software que auxiliem o desenvolvedor nessa tarefa. Este trabalho investiga a construção e o uso de aplicações de captura e acesso por meio do desenvolvimento da xINCA, uma infra-estrutura estendida baseada em componentes de software reutilizáveis que englobam as funcionalidades recorrentes nessa classe de aplicações. A xINCA é uma extensão da infra-estrutura INCA --- uma infra-estrutura de baixo nível que provê abstrações de comunicação para aplicações de captura e acesso. Complementares, as infra-estruturas INCA e xINCA provêem um modelo simplificado para o desenvolvimento de aplicações de captura e acesso, considerando aspectos de projeto, implementação e reuso. Associada ao modelo de armazenamento do serviço StRES, a xINCA tem ainda papel na estruturação da informação capturada com o uso de XML e tecnologias correlatas. / Capture and access applications explore the ubiquitous computing paradigm --- that basically consists on populating the environment with computational devices and applications to transparently assist people on their activities --- to support the automatic capture of information on live experiences and generate corresponding documents that can be further stored, retrieved, visualized and extended. Due to their distributed nature, heterogeneity of involved devices and variety of provided functionalities, capture and access applications are hard to build and require software infrastructures and services that help the developer out on his task. This work investigates the building and use of capture and access applications through the development of xINCA, a component-based software infrastructure comprising the most common func-tio-na-li-ties present in such a class of applications. xINCA is an extension of INCA --- a low-level infrastructure that provides communication abstractions for capture and access applications. Complementary, INCA and xINCA provide a simplified model for the development of capture and access applications, concerning design, implementation and reuse aspects. Allied with the StRES storage model, xINCA also plays an important role on the structuring of captured information by using XML and corresponding technologies.

Sinais caóticos são determinísticos, aperiódicos e apresentam dependência sensível às condições iniciais. Esta dependência significa que o estado de dois sistemas caóticos idênticos, iniciados com condições cuja diferença seja arbitrariamente pequena estarão distantes no espaço de fase depois de um tempo finito. Estes sinais podem ser interessantes para algumas áreas da Engenharia de Telecomunicações por apresentarem espectro de Fourier plano, dificuldade de previsão e serem facilmente confundíveis com ruído. Devido à sensibilidade às condições iniciais pode parecer que o sincronismo de dois sistemas caóticos seja impossível. Porém, Pecora e Carroll mostraram que este sincronismo é possível desde que os sistemas obedeçam a certas condições necessárias e suficientes. Este resultado deu um grande impulso para a geração de muitos trabalhos sobre sistemas de comunicação com detecção coerente utilizando sinais caóticos. Regra geral, eles apresentam um subsistema transmissor que gera um sinal caótico a partir do sinal de informação a ser transmitido e um subsistema receptor que consegue produzir um sinal sincronizado com o do transmissor e recuperar o sinal de informação. A literatura mostra que estes sistemas funcionam perfeitamente em condições ideais. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é estudar de forma teórica e numerica o critério de sincronismo de Pecora e Carroll e alguns dos sistemas de comunicação utilizando sinais caóticos propostos na literatura, sobretudo o seu desempenho quando há introdução de ruído branco gaussiano na transmissão e o canal é limitado em freqüência, casos pouco estudados. Mais especificamente, são analisados com certo detalhe os sistemas de comunicação analógica propostos por Cuomo e Oppenheim, por Wu e Chua e o sistema digital Chaotic Phase Shift Keying (CPSK) proposto por Ushio. Mostra-se que nas condições não-ideais citadas, esses sistemas têm desempenho muito pobre no que diz respeito à relação sinal-ruído na saída do receptor. Neste trabalho é apresentada uma solução para este problema no caso de transmissão em canal limitado em banda e é analisada uma proposta de melhoria para o caso de ruído no canal. Conclui-se que, apesar de todas as propriedades interessantes do ponto de vista de comunicações que os sinais caóticos possuem, ainda é necessária muita pesquisa e desenvolvimento para que os sistemas com detecção coerente baseados neles possam concorrer, em situações práticas, com os sistemas em uso atualmente. / Chaotic signals are deterministic, nonperiodic and exhibit sensitive dependence on initial conditions. This dependence means that the states of two identical chaotic systems started with two conditions whose difference is arbitrarily small will be distant in the phase space after a finite time. These signals may be interesting in some Telecommunication Engineering fields because their Fourier spectrum is plane, they are difficult to predict and they are noise-like. Due to the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, it may seem that the synchronism of two chaotic systems is impossible. However, as Pecora and Carroll have shown, this synchronism is possible if the systems satisfy some necessary and sufficient conditions. This result has inspired the development of many communication systems based on coherent detection of chaotic signals. In general, they are composed of a transmitter subsystem that generates a chaotic signal depending on the information to be transmitted and a receptor subsystem that can generate a chaotic signal synchronized with the one on the transmitter and can recover the information signal. These systems are known to work well under ideal conditions. The main objective of this work is to study, theoretically and numerically, Pecora and Carroll's criterion and some of the communication systems using chaotic signals proposed in the literature, specially their behavior when additive white gaussian noise is added to the transmitted signal and the channel is band-limited. Specifically, the analog communication systems proposed by Cuomo and Oppenheim, by Wu and Chua and the Chaotic Phase Shift Keying (CPSK) system proposed by Ushio are analyzed in some detail. We show that when the mentioned non-ideal conditions are present the above systems have poor performance when considering the signal-to-noise ratio at the output of the receiver. In this work a solution is presented for the case of transmission over a bandlimited channel and a method for improving the results in the case of noisy channels is analyzed. We conclude that, regardless all the potential properties chaotic signals may have for communication applications, research and development are still necessary so that systems based on them can surpass in practical situations the usual systems used nowadays.

Chen, Yanmin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-160). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Magnetic and ferroelectric materials have both had a very important impact in our society, not only because of the fascinating science behind the two phenomena, but also as a result of their use in many technological applications. The coupling and coexistence of these two order parameters within the same material opens the door to exiting new functional devices. Materials where magnetism and ferroelectricity coexist are known as multiferroic materials. In this thesis, muon spectroscopy and other complementary experimental techniques, including neutron scattering and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy, are used to investigate two di↵erent multiferroics. Muon and total neutron scattering studies have been performed on BiFeO3, one of the most studied multiferroic materials. Muon measurements reveal an anomaly in the temperature region of 200 - 220 K with a sudden and abrupt change in the muon’s precession frequency that corresponds to a process of muon di↵usion throughout the entire sample. The pair distribution function, calculated from total neutron scattering experiments on the compound, suggest that a change in the local structure of the material involving the bismuth-oxygen bond, in the same temperature region as the muon di↵usion sets in, is a strong indicative that there is a link between two in terms of the muon di↵usion being triggered by these local changes. Also, an extensive analysis and characterisation of the magnetic and ferroelectric properties of Ba4Dy0.87Nb10O30, an entirely new tetragonal tungsten bronze magnetoelectric material, is given. Neutron scattering and dielectric measurements are used to show that this material becomes ferroelectric below 470 K. We use muon spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements to investigate the magnetic properties of the material. Muon measurements under an applied electric field indicate that there is a strong coupling between the magnetism and ferroelectricity in the material. Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy is use to investigate whether the source of this coupling could be related to strain e↵ects. Magnetic neutron scattering measurements show that there is no long range ordering in the material.

Today a paradigm shift in the field of organisation and management theories is no longer disputed and the need to switch from the Command-and-Control to the Leaming Organisation Paradigm (LOP) in the area of organisational theory is well understood. However, it is less well appreciated that learning organisations cannot operate effectively if supported by centralised databases and tailor-made application programs. LOP emphasises adaptability, flexibility, participation and learning. It is important to understand that the changes in organisational and management strategies will not on their own be able to produce the desired effects unless they are supported by appropriate changes in organisational culture, and by effective information systems. This research demonstrates that conventional information system strategies and development methods are no longer adequate. Information system strategies must respond to these needs of the LOP and incorporate new information systems that are capable of evolving, adapting and responding to the constantly changing business environment. The desired adaptability, flexibility and agility in information systems for LOP can be achieved by exploiting the technologies of the Internet, World Wide Web, intelligent agents and intranets. This research establishes that there is a need for synergy between organisational structures and organisational information systems. To obtain this desired synergy it is essential that new information systems be designed as an integral part of the learning organisational structure itself. Complexity theory provides a new set of metaphors and a host of concepts for the understanding of organisations as complex adaptive systems. This research introduces the principles of Complex Adaptive Systems and draws on their significance for designing the information systems needed to support the new generation of learning organisations. The search for new models of information system strategies for today's dynamic world of business points to the 'swarm models' observed in Nature.