The artistic is always political, even if not overtly so—each work carries with it the histories of the artist, the means of production, the subject matter, and the many art historical precedents that overlap and diverge to constitute the theoretical circumstances surrounding it. Since I began translating my lived experience into artworks, I have become interested in the ways in which my personal politics have affected the choices I have made in material and narrative substance. This is a deconstruction of the politics of representation as a method for better understanding the art historical context in which contemporary materials- and performance-based art work exists and to conceptually develop the work I want to produce in the future.

This research programme explores, theoretically and experimentally, a new liftsystem for Vertical/Short Take-off and Landing (V/STOL) Aircraft. It is based upon an annular wing wrapped around a centrifugal flow generator, potentially creating a vehicle with no external moving parts, reduced vehicle aerodynamic losses compared to previous V/STOL technologies and substantially eliminating induced drag. It is shown that such a wing works best with a thick aerofoil section, and appears to offer greatest potential at a micro-aerial vehicle scale with regard to fundamental performance parameter “lift to weight ratio”. Certain efficiency losses are encountered mainly occurring from annular flow expansion and problems with achieving acceptable blower slot heights. Experimental methods are described along with results, and a comparison shows that the experimental values remain below theoretical values, partly due to flow asymmetry but possibly also other factors. Symmetrical blowing, as initially hypothesised, was found to be impracticable; this suggested use of pure upper surface blowing with Coanda effect. The modified approach was further explored and proved viable. The ultimate goal of this work was to develop an understanding and the facility to integrate the annular-wing into a vehicle to achieve controlled powered flight. To serve the purpose, issues encountered on current and past V/STOL aircraft are being investigated to set a path for further research/development and to validate/justify the design of future V/STOL aircraft. Also, presented is a feasibility study where different physical scales and propulsion systems are considered, and a turbofan has shown to achieve the best performance in terms of Range and Endurance. This privilege allows one to accurately study the V/STOL technologies around.

A transmedial narrative is to tell a story over different mediums. It's a fairly new area that took its start in 2003 by Henry Jenkins. Since then has the interest of this new way to tell a story become more and more popular. But since the access to internet and media makes it possible to reach out to a much younger audience. The research needs to do that aswell. This is a case study that is aiming to find out how a transmedial narrative could be successfully designed for children. Through analysing and comparing two giants of transmedial storytelling who has their main target audience as children. Disney's Frozen and Cars. Through mapping of boths brand’s transmedial ecosystems, then analyse them with transmedial theories, and theories about narratives for children. This paper will in the end come up with four components that all needs to take into consideration when designing successfully a transmedial narrative for children. The four components are the following: World, Content, Characters and Accessibility.

Nanoparticles have potential biomedical applications because of their special physical properties. Multi-scale nanoparticles contrast agents are those particles that provide contrast in different scale imaging modalities. Such particles are of great interest for monitoring anti-cancer drug delivery, allowing investigations of whole body drug distribution as well as that at the microscopic level. Magnetic nanoparticles in particular have been used as contrast agents in MRI and optical techniques such as confocal microscopy and two photon fluorescence (TPF) microscopy to achieve multiple scale imaging. However, confocal microscopy has a limited optical penetration in biological tissue. Moreover, both techniques, confocal microscopy and TPF microscopy, require labelling of the biological tissue which alters the particle distribution and complicates the biological system under-investigation.

Data analysis methods are important to analyze the ever-growing enormous quantity of the high dimensional data. Cluster analysis separates or partitions the data into disjoint groups such that data in the same group are similar while data between groups are dissimilar. The focus of this thesis study is to identify natural groups or clusters of drivers using the data which is based on driving style. In finding such a group of drivers, evaluation of the combinations of dimensionality reduction and clustering algorithms is done. The dimensionality reduction algorithms used in this thesis are Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding (t-SNE). The clustering algorithms such as K-means Clustering and Hierarchical Clustering are selected after performing Literature Review. In this thesis, the evaluation of PCA with K-means, PCA with Hierarchical Clustering, t-SNE with K-means and t-SNE with Hierarchical Clustering is done. The evaluation was done on the Volvo Cars’ drivers dataset based on their driving styles. The dataset is normalized first and Markov Chain of driving styles is calculated. This Markov Chain dataset is of very high dimensions and hence dimensionality reduction algorithms are applied to reduce the dimensions. The reduced dimensions dataset is used as an input to selected clustering algorithms. The combinations of algorithms are evaluated using performance metrics like Silhouette Coefficient, Calinski-Harabasz Index and DaviesBouldin Index. Based on experiment and analysis, the combination of t-SNE and K-means algorithms is found to be the best in comparison to other combinations of algorithms in terms of all performance metrics and is chosen to cluster the drivers based on their driving styles.

How would future vehicle ownership evolve as car sharing becomes dominant in urban scenario? How may we recreate the sense of emotional attachments to personal vehicles? How can we utilize the car even when it's idle and thus making ownership more sustainable? Imagine a future model of vehicle ownership which challenges the concept of personal vehicle and its role nowadays. This project envisions such a future to inspire the people and spark discussions about the subject. The inspirations of the project is partly the development of autonomous driving technology and the heated discussion of a car sharing future that comes with it. The other part of the it comes from the idea of open source development for creating an ecosystem that facilitates itself in the long run. The author believes the answer to a changing landscape of mobility might not come from within but could be lying in another field. The author took a speculative approach to set the future scenario based on research and interviews. After carefully analysis of the information gathered, a realistic future mobility model was generated, on the base of which the story and the interior design was developed further through the common vehicle design process. The process involves collecting image boards, loops of ideation, sketching, modelling, prototyping as well as feedbacks sessions along the way. The steps were not in chronological order as the validation of the ideas requires some steps to overlap. After the final design freeze, there was also a period of time for the making of the physical model. The result is Volvo Project Mirror - an ecosystem that goes beyond mobility solutions. The main focus is the modular interior concept that’s highly customisable for reflecting personal characteristics, making sustainable incremental updates according to different needs and different stages of life, and more importantly, sharing furnitures and gears in between home space and car to maximize usage, thus blurring the line between the two.

[pt] A proposta da pesquisa é refletir sobre a projeção de valores aos bens de consumo nos discursos da publicidade, adotando como objeto de estudo anúncios impressos de automóveis. Será tomado como pressuposto, primeiro, o consumo como fato social imbricado nas relações socioculturais moderno-contemporâneas; e, segundo, a publicidade como discurso público que valoriza simbolicamente o consumo dos bens nas tramas produzidas em seus anúncios. Dentro desta perspectiva, objetivar-se-á mapear, apoiando-se em entrevistas com informantes- receptores, seis peças publicitárias - duas referenciais e quatro comparativas, lançando com isto um olhar sobre essa forma discursiva de representação do automóvel e, complementarmente, sobre o potencial publicitário de motivar significações ao consumo como parte das orientações culturais na atualidade. / [en] The purpose of this research is to reflect on the projection of values of consumption goods within the speeches of the advertising segment, adopting as this study's object six printed advertisements from the automobile industry. It is taken as presuppositions: first, consumption as a social fact inserted in modern cultural relations; and, second, advertising as a public speech that symbolically values the consumption of goods in the trams produced in its advertisements. Under this perspective, it will be examined, supporting the analyses in interviews with receiving-informers, six distinct advertisements - two used as reference and four used as comparatives, launching with this process a look onto the discursive form of automobiles' portrayal and, complementarily, at the potential of advertising to motivate meanings to consumption as a main part of cultural orientation in the present time.

Esse estudo procura integrar as áreas de termodinâmica, transferência de calor e aerodinâmica no desenvolvimento de veículos de alto desempenho. É proposta uma ferramenta computacional que auxilie a análise de alternativas de trocadores de calor compactos, parte integrante do sistema de arrefecimento veicular. O aplicativo desenvolvido, denominado TROCALC, tem dois modos de uso: para colaborar no projeto de um trocador de calor ou para avaliar o desempenho de um trocador existente. Estruturado por um conjunto de equações e parâmetros com base na metodologia de Kays e London (1984), no primeiro modo esse aplicativo fornece alternativas de trocadores a partir dos dados de rejeição de calor por parte do motor e dos valores de vazão e temperatura dos fluidos envolvidos. Para o modo de avaliação de desempenho, além dos dados de entrada já mencionados, é necessário o detalhamento da geometria de superfície do trocador para calcular a quantidade de calor que o radiador é capaz de remover do sistema e comparar com o valor de fluxo de calor rejeitado pelo motor. É adotado um estudo de caso que considerou um veículo de competição da Fórmula SAE para investigar a eficácia do aplicativo TROCALC na análise de desempenho e na definição de novas alternativas para o trocador de calor dedicado àquele automóvel. Foram realizados ensaios em laboratório com a medição de valores para a rejeição de calor, vazão em massa de ar e perda de pressão no trocador existente. Os resultados validaram a ferramenta computacional e oferecem uma redução de 37% nas dimensões do trocador. Por fim é feita uma análise aerodinâmica para o conjunto duto-trocador de calor, que é uma solução típica utilizada em veículos de competição, integrando este conjunto à geometria da carenagem do veículo. Quatro alternativas, incluindo nova geometria para a carenagem do duto-trocador são investigadas do ponto de vista aerodinâmico com o auxílio de programa de dinâmica dos fluidos computacional (CFD). Nesta investigação, o objetivo é melhorar o comportamento de parâmetros relacionados ao escoamento de ar junto do sistema duto-trocador de calor, mantendo um bom comportamento para o arrasto total do veículo. / This study looks for the integration of thermodynamics, heat transfer and aerodynamics in the high-performance vehicles development. A computational tool that facilitates the compact heat exchanges analysis, part of the vehicle cooling system, is proposed. The application denominated TROCALC has two different modes of use: one for compact heat exchanger design and another one to evaluate existent heat exchangers performance. This program, which is structured by a set of equations and parameters based on the Kays and London (1984) methodology, provides heat exchangers alternatives through the input of the engine heat rejection, fluids temperature and mass flow (air and coolant). The tool is also capable of providing a performance analysis of an existent compact heat exchanger. In this case, besides of the inputs already mentioned, it is necessary to inform the surface geometry data of the actual heat exchanger to calculate the heat rejection capacity and compare to the established value of the engine. The case study of the Formula SAE is proposed in order to investigate the efficiency of TROCALC in performance analysis and definition of new alternatives for the Formula SAEs dedicated heat exchanger. Laboratory tests were performed in order to achieve experimentally the heat rejection, mass flow (air side) and pressure drop values in the current heat exchanger. The results validated the computational tool and offered a reduction of 37% in the heat exchangers dimensions. At last, aerodynamic analyses are performed for the duct-compact heat exchanger system, a typical solution adopted in race cars that is the integration of this set to the vehicles bodywork. Four alternatives are researched from the aerodynamic perspective with the computational fluid dynamics program support (CFD), including a new geometry for the duct. In this research, the aim is the improvement of parameters behavior related to the air flow around the duct-compact heat exchanger system, keeping a good behavior to the total drag of the vehicle.

O projeto de um sistema de freios a tambor é altamente especializado, por este motivo é um produto terceirizado ou black box, onde os fornecedores investem em pesquisas e detém patentes de sua construção e materiais. Porém, cabe a montadora definir os requisitos do produto, propor o plano de validação do projeto do freio à aplicação no veículo ao qual se destina e interpretar os resultados para aprovação. Parte da execução deste plano é delegada ao fornecedor (DFMEA, simulações numéricas, ensaios acelerados em bancada), enquanto as partes de certificação governamental, desempenho e durabilidade em veículo são de responsabilidade da montadora. A metodologia existente para desenvolvimento de freios a tambor destina-se ao desenvolvimento conjunto de um novo carro e um novo sistema de freio completo. Assim, além das incertezas sobre parâmetros do projeto de veículo que influem no projeto do freio, existe uma maior facilidade de se alterar os sistemas de interface do freio a tambor, uma vez que ainda não existem ferramentais produtivos. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia para o desenvolvimento de um novo fornecedor de freios traseiros a tambor para veículos já em produção, sob o ponto de vista da engenharia de produto. A metodologia proposta pretende atender as necessidades das montadoras de automóveis instaladas no Brasil, uma vez que estas necessitam buscar alternativas no fornecimento de sistemas automotivos de grande responsabilidade, com qualidade e custos globalmente competitivos. Esta metodologia é destinada à substituição do fornecedor (e portando no projeto) do freio a tambor, visando especialmente redução de custos, para veículos já em produção, procurando manter inalteradas as peças de interface, além de preservar ou, se possível, exceder os parâmetros de qualidade, durabilidade e desempenho do sistema ao qual virá a substituir. Para comprovar a metodologia apresentada, esta é aplicada a um caso real para um veículo de passeio pequeno, e então são apresentados os resultados parciais. / The project of a system of drum brakes is highly specialized, for this reason is a third part product, so-called black box product, where the suppliers invest in research and withhold patents of its construction and materials. However, the car OEMs define the requirements of the product, propose the validation plan for the brake project to the application in the vehicle it destines and evaluate the results for approval. Part of the execution of this plan is delegated to the supplier (DFMEA, numerical simulations, speed up bench tests), while steps of governmental certification, performance and durability in vehicle are of responsibility of the OEMs. The existing methodology for drum brake development destines to jointly development of a new car and a complete new brake system. Thereby, beyond uncertainties on parameters of the vehicle project that influence in the project of the brake, it is easier to modify the systems of interface with the drum brake, therefore productive tooling not yet exists. The dissertation purpose is to propose a methodology for development of new supplier of rear drum brakes for vehicles already in production, under the point of view of the product engineering. The methodology proposed intends to attend the needs of the car manufacturers installed in Brazil, once those are searching alternatives of suppliers of great responsibility automotive systems, with globally competitive costs and quality. The methodology proposed is destined to replace the supplier (and also the project) of the drum brake, aiming for cost reduction specially, for vehicles already in production, looking for keeping parts of interface unchanged and to maintain or, if possible, to exceed the parameters of quality, durability and performance of the system which it will come to substitute. To confirm the proposed methodology, this is applied to a real case for a small passenger vehicle and then the partial results are shown.

Veículos autônomos terrestres são um tipo de veículo motorizado guiado de forma autônoma por um sistema computacional, sem necessidade de intervenção humana. Esta pesquisa analisa a Tomada de Decisão autônoma necessária para este tipo de veículo, assim como os processos de navegação e as estruturas de dados que a suportam. Sobre esta análise propõe-se uma arquitetura de Tomada de Decisão para navegação autônoma baseada em dois ideias principais: a sistematização das fontes de dados com as quais o veículo deve interagir em sua navegação em uma hierarquia de prioridades de tratamento e o desenvolvimento de uma estrutura de dados chamada de Grade de Prioridades que permite definir para qual região do ambiente o veículo deve se locomover. Para suportar a arquitetura, formaliza-se um conjunto de processos recomendados de navegação robótica (percepção, posicionamento, planejamento e estratégia de movimento), organizados para suportar a integração com recursos de outras pesquisas do segmento da Robótica Móvel. Para validação da arquitetura, desenvolve-se um sistema de navegação robótica, integrada à uma plataforma robótica real, e realiza-se um conjunto de testes para simular o comportamento da arquitetura em situações de navegação específicas. / Autonomous ground vehicles are a type of motor vehicle autonomously guided by a computer system without human intervention. This research analyzes the autonomous decision making required for this type of vehicle as well as the processes of navigation and data structures that support it. On this analysis, is proposed an architecture of decision making for autonomous navigation based on two fundamental ideas: the systematization of data sources with which a vehicle must interact in their navigation in a hierarchy of priorities and the development of a special data structure called Grid Priorities that defines which region of the environment the vehicle must be moved. Supporting the architecture, a set of processes for robotic navigation (perception, positioning, planning and motion strategy) are proposed and organized to support integration with other research resources in the segment of Mobile Robotics. For validate the architecture, is developed a system of robotic navigation, integrated with a real robotic platform, and is performed a set of tests to simulate the behavior of the architecture in specific situations of navigation.