Many bridges are handling heavier loads than those expected at design, making it increasingly necessary to strengthen existing members or conduct repairs on damaged structural members. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) materials have been broadly used to repair and strengthen reinforced concrete structures. Using CFRP materials as the strengthening material is an excellent solution because of their mechanical properties. CFRP has properties of high strength, corrosion resistance, and light weight. CFRP materials are being widely used for shear and flexural strengthening. Most studies have focused on uni-directional layout of CFRP strips in high shear regions of beams. Recent shear tests on full-scale I-girders have shown that the use of bi-directional CFRP layouts with CFRP anchors led to much higher shear strength increases than when using uni-directional layouts. The objective of the study is to determine the mechanism that governs shear strengthening of bridge girders using bi-directional CFRP and, in doing so, demonstrate the feasibility of using bi-directional CFRP for shear strengthening of large bridge I- and U-beams. Small-scale panel tests have been conducted to investigate parameters that influence the shear strength provided by bi-directional CFRP layouts. Panels were tested under compressive forces to simulate the compression struts that develop in the webs of I-beams. The applied loads generated bottle-shaped compressive struts. CFRP anchors were used to prevent early failure due to CFRP strip delamination from the panel surface. The panels, while not fully reproducing the boundary condition of girder webs, were tested ahead of full-scale girders to investigate a wide range of parameters in a cost-effective manner. The variables considered include the amount of CFRP and steel reinforcement, the inclination of CFRP fibers, and the layout and spacing of CFRP strips. The panel tests provide qualitative comparisons between the influence of the various parameters. The relative strength contributions of CFRP strips, steel stirrups, and concrete were evaluated. / text

Relationen mellan bi och människa är så pass gammal att man inte helt säkert kan säga när den uppkom, men man vet säkert att honungsbin varit tämjda av människan i minst 4000 år. Under hösten 2006 och våren 2007 skedde dramatiska förluster av honungsbin i USA och Kanada. Colony Collapse Disorder, (CCD) kallades syndromet och snart kom det även oroande rapporter från europeiska länder om ovanligt stora vinterförluster. Kontentan är att förlusten av biologisk mångfald är något som borde oroa hela samhället och när pollinerande insekter försvinner är det särskilt oroväckande, då detta i sin tur kan ha en negativ inverkan på växters reproduktion. Detta projekt utgår från frågeställningen: Hur kan jag som designer inbjuda till en kroppslig upplevelse av problematiken kring bidöden?  Projektets ledord är skörhet och ‘det stora i det lilla’ och artefaktens primära funktion är att synliggöra och undervisa i känslan av vad bidöden kan medföra, snarare än att vara kommersiellt gångbar eller förhålla sig till en tydlig målgrupp. Artefakten utgår inte heller från ett rum eller en från början bestämd kontext, utan konceptet har varit det styrande och form- och materialbeslut har fått växa fram genom att förhålla sig till konceptet. Resultatet är en möbel på vilken människan kan vila sin tyngd vars sittyta består av bomullstrådar som en metafor till ‘det stora i det lilla’.  “Genom att gå samman kan de enklaste varelser uppnå det omöjliga”

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Some texts in Chinese. Includes bibliographical references (leave 50-52). Also available in print.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / Managerial decision-making has always involved the use of numerous distinct information resources. Modern managerial decision-making processes require a wealth of information that is enhanced and transformed into knowledge in order to take effective action. Mobility in business is increasingly exercising influence on core business processes of organisations. The shift to wireless technologies coupled with the rapid growth of mobile devices in business has led to a new era in business computing. Mobile Business Intelligence (Mobile BI) is a system that has been conceived to assist, accelerate and to enhance the managerial decision-making processes. This thesis focuses on the e ect of Mobile BI on managerial decision-making. This thesis was able to answer the research question and to meet the research objectives through an extensive study of literature on the two most important spheres of influence i.e Business Intelligence and Managerial decision-making. Moreover, the objectives were met through the implementation of practical empirical research. The latter was carried out through a survey research design using questionnaire method of data collection. This research produced an number of ndings. The results indicated that Mobile BI played an important influencing role in the way managers make decisions. This study found that Mobile BI improved the quality of decisions made by managers used it for decision support subsequently improving performance of the organisation. Overall, four factors were found to be the predictors of Mobile BI for managerial decision making in organisations: Perceived Ease of Use of Mobile BI, Attitudes towards Use of Mobile BI, Perceived Value of Mobile BI with Behavioural Intention to Use of Mobile BI emerging as the most important predictors of Managerial Organisational decision-making.

SENA FILHO, Edvalter da Silva. Finitude para pares de germes de aplicações Bi-K-bi-Lipschitz equivalentes. 2016. 61 f. Tese (Doutorado em Matemática)- Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2016. / Submitted by Rocilda Sales (rocilda@ufc.br) on 2017-01-11T16:36:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_tese_essenafilho.pdf: 507783 bytes, checksum: 757aea745e363acfffd93d083b635d07 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rocilda Sales (rocilda@ufc.br) on 2017-01-12T12:51:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_tese_essenafilho.pdf: 507783 bytes, checksum: 757aea745e363acfffd93d083b635d07 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-12T12:51:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2016_tese_essenafilho.pdf: 507783 bytes, checksum: 757aea745e363acfffd93d083b635d07 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / In this paper, we analyze the behavior of equivalence classes provided by the relation Bi-K-bi-Lipschitz. We show that when we are working with germs pairs of polynomial applications (f; g) : (Rn; 0) ! (Rp Rq; 0), with degree of f1; :::; fp; g1; :::; gq less than or equal to k 2 N, we have only a fi nite number of equivalence classes. We will also show in this work that the sets of equivalence classes with respect to strongly bi-lipschitz relation is fi nite. / Neste trabalho, iremos analisar o comportamento das classes de equivalência, fornecida pela rela ção Bi-K-bi-Lipschitz. Mostramos que, quando estamos trabalhando com pares de germes de aplica ções polinomiais (f; g) : (Rn; 0) ! (Rp Rq; 0), onde o grau de f1; :::fp; g1; :::; gq s~ao menores ou iguais a k 2 N, temos apenas uma quantidade fi nita de classes de equivalência. Tamb em mostraremos neste trabalho que o conjuntos das classes de equivalência com respeito a rela ção fortemente bi-lipschitz e fi nito.

SAMPAIO, José Esdon. Regularidade Lipschitz, invariância da multiplicidade e a geometria dos cones tangentes de conjuntos analíticos. 2015. 56 f. Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Ceará, Centro de Ciências, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Matemática, Fortaleza-Ce, 2015 / Submitted by Erivan Almeida (eneiro@bol.com.br) on 2015-05-29T18:27:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_jesampaio.pdf: 1161657 bytes, checksum: 388d75dfad46f85ce32ce24b79963987 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rocilda Sales(rocilda@ufc.br) on 2015-06-01T10:56:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_jesampaio.pdf: 1161657 bytes, checksum: 388d75dfad46f85ce32ce24b79963987 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-01T10:56:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_jesampaio.pdf: 1161657 bytes, checksum: 388d75dfad46f85ce32ce24b79963987 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / In this paper, it is shown that definable sets bi-Lipschitz homeomorphic have tangent cones bi-Lipschitz homeomorphic. Furthermore, in the case of complex analytical sets, Lipschitz regularity or strong topological regularity implies analytical regularity. It is also done a complete study on regularity of real analytic sets. Furthermore, it is given a complete classification for complex analytical curves in space and are shown some results about invariance of the multiplicity. In particular, it is shown that the multiplicity of real analytical sets is invariant mod 2 under diffeomorphisms. / Neste texto, é mostrado que conjuntos definíveis bi-Lipschitz homeomorfos tem cones tangentes bi-Lipschitz homeomorfos. Além disso, no caso de conjuntos analíticos complexos, regularidade Lipschitz ou regularidade topológica forte implica em regularidade analítica. Também é feito um estudo regularidade de conjuntos analíticos reais. Ademais, é dada uma classificação completa para curvas analíticas complexas no espaço e são apresentados alguns resultados sobre invariância da multiplicidade. Em especial, é mostrado que a multiplicidade mod 2 de conjuntos analíticos reais é invariante por difeomorfismos.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T15:33:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_4141_.pdf: 1818467 bytes, checksum: c5ab298abcaaed9ba910c91cbc9e8982 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-31 / A tarefa de reconhecimento facial é uma das tarefas mais corriqueiras e naturais executadas pelos seres humanos. Apesar de simples para nós, esta tarefa tem se mostrado um grande desafio para pesquisadores nas áreas de inteligência artificial e visão computacional. As pesquisas na área de detecção e reconhecimento de objetos, e mais especificamente aquelas voltadas à face humana, têm aumentado muito nos últimos anos principalmente devido à sua aplicabilidade em áreas tais como: segurança pública, controle de acesso, autenticação continua em redes de computadores, entre outras. Nesta dissertação, investigamos a viabilidade de um sistema para controle de acesso que usa unicamente a biometria da face como chave de acesso. Neste caso, o controle de acesso deixa de ser baseado em algo que o individuo tem ou algo que o individuo sabe e passa a ser baseado no próprio indivíduo.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnologico / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-08T16:48:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 81185.pdf: 2346116 bytes, checksum: 5a03735b7707061d9b0c603e7a13bb1a (MD5) Previous issue date: 1990 / O presente trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para a solução de escoamentos bi-dimensionais sobre corpos de geometrias arbitrárias, em coordenadas generalizadas usando variáveis co-localizadas. O uso de variáveis co-localizadas não tem recebido a adequada atenção dos analistas numéricos que usam volumes finitos devido as dificuldades inerentes ao acoplamento pressão-velocidades presente nas equações de Navier-Stokes. Se por um lado o uso de variáveis desencontradas introduz o adequado acoplamento entre a pressão e a velocidade para escoamentos incompressíveis, introduz também a necessidade de diferentes volumes de controle para as variáveis dependentes. Para situações tridimensionais, empregando-se coordenadas generalizadas, isto acarreta o armazenamento de um grande número de informações geometricas para cada volume de controle, o que torna inviável o uso de variáveis desencontradas. Associada ao maior armazenamento está a necessidade de um número maior de operações algébricas, como por exemplo, no cálculo dos fluxos mássicos nas interfaces do volume de controle, ocasionando um maior tempo de computação. Neste trabalho é desenvolvido um modelo numérico empregando variáveis co-localizadas que apresenta excelente desempenho quando comparado com o modelo que emprega variáveis desencontradas. O modelo emprega uma linearização do tipo Newton-Raphson para o fluxo de massa, o que permite resolver problemas para escoamentos de alta e baixa velocidades. Para a validação do modelo são analisados problemas bi-dimensionais em coordenadas cartesianas e generalizadas. Em coordenadas cartesianas são analisados os problemas do escoamento a baixa velocidade na região de entrada de um duto constituído de placas paralelas e o problema do escoamento supersônico sobre um anteparo plano, enquanto que em coordenadas generalizadas são analisados os problemas de escoamento sobre o perfil NACA 0012, sobre a parte frontal do VLS, sobre um cone, sobre uma cunha e sobre a região do VLS onde se encontram os boosters, admitindo uma situação bi-dimensional.

The main objective of the thesis is to propose complex business intelligence and data warehouse architecture on the Oracle platform respecting current best-practice and recommendations. Part of the thesis is focused on selecting the right components for data warehousing and business intelligence, as well as on evaluating their suitability within the proposed business intelligence architecture and incorporating of these components into the complex business intelligence architecture. My thesis consists of four parts. The first part is dedicated to more general description of business intelligence and data warehousing subject and it represents entry level specification of BI on the Oracle platform. The second part describes individual software and hardware components of business intelligence solution based on the Oracle platform. In the third part I am proposing a complex business intelligence solution, based on particular Oracle components. There I also compare some individual components, determine their suitability in respect of proposed architecture and introduce some other recommendations. The last part of my thesis briefly describes economic and non-economic benefits of business intelligence solution based on the Oracle platform.

Dramatic increasing of amount of data in running a business has been consireded a typical phenomenon of the last decade. This fact, however, has its impact on the business planning and decision making. The area, which deals with this problematics, is called Business Intelligence (BI). The problem lies in the implementation of applications directing to the BI, because it is often oriented only on isolated projects, so they cause only partial effect. In such cases, BI cannot fulfil the expected role, but still preserves the negatives instead. By saying negatives, it is meant: complicated searching for analytical outputs, significant dete-rioration of their output data, cost increase in administation of BI systems, and others. The solution can represented by integration of partial BI systems and by transfer of their BI metadata into a single informational system, serving as an "entering gate" for all the business workers. From the whole company perspective, there exist also benefits in the metadata managament, such as: determination of quality and usage of reports, prolonging of the life cycle, cooperative forming of the knowledge basis, consolidation of the terms in the business, more efficient way of browsing in the system and comprehensibility of analytical system's outputs. The aim of this diploma thesis is formation of a metadata presentation and its realization into a preselected information system, together with meeting of the advantages resulting from applying business metadata.