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Submitted by Fernando Souza (fernandoafsou@gmail.com) on 2017-08-21T12:31:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1454502 bytes, checksum: a03fd3df4d29b47b79ab2d8b0d3d9625 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-21T12:31:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1454502 bytes, checksum: a03fd3df4d29b47b79ab2d8b0d3d9625 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / Cooperation in a multi robot system has become a challenge to be overcome and turned into one of the biggest incentives for researchers in this area because communication appears as one of the most important requirements. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of using the distributed simulation environment called HLA (High-level Architecture) in the process of communication between members of a system with three and five computers. It simulates a multi-robot system in order to verify its behavior when one of them is replaced for another with limited processing power. Thus, a new communication approach based on HLA middleware was developed. In this approach, the robots adapt their transmission rate according to the performance of other robots. The accomplished experiments have shown that the real-time requirements of a robot soccer application have been achieved using this approach. It points to a new possibility of real-time communication between robots. On the exposed, in one experiment, a direct comparison was made between RTDB (Real-time database) middleware and the approach presented. It was verified that, in some contexts, the adaptive HLA is about 5 to 12 percent more efficient than RTDB. / A cooperação em um um sistema mutirrobôs tem se tornado um desafio a ser superado e se transformado em um dos maiores incentivos para os pesquisadores desta área, pois a comunicação se apresenta como um dos mais importantes requisitos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi de investigar a viabilidade do uso do ambiente de simulação distribuída chamado de HLA, no processo de comunicação entre membros de um sistema com três e cinco computadores, simulando um sistema multirrobôs, de modo a verificar seu comportamento, quando um deles é substituído por outro com poder de processamento reduzido. Assim, uma nova abordagem de comunicação com base no middleware HLA foi desenvolvida. Nessa nova abordagem, os robôs adaptam sua taxa de transmissão com base no desempenho de outros robôs. Experimentos demonstraram que os requisitos de tempo real de uma aplicação de futebol de robôs foram alcançados usando-se essa abordagem, o que aponta para uma nova possibilidade de comunicação em tempo real entre robôs. Diante do exposto, em um dos experimentos, foi feita uma comparação direta entre o middleware RTDB e a abordagem apresentada. Constatou-se que o HLA adaptativo, em alguns cenários, é mais eficiente entre 5% e 12% do que o RTDB.

Les formes orales de traitements anticancéreux se sont considérablement développées récemment. La question de l’adhésion au traitement devient donc un nouvel enjeu en oncologie. Cette thèse aborde de façon générale le problème de l’adhésion aux traitements oraux en oncologie, et plus spécifiquement celui de la mesure en bases de données médico-administrativesde l’observance et de la persistance à l’hormonothérapie, traitement oral majeur dans le cancer du sein. Le point de vue retenu est celui de la pharmacoépidémiologie, à savoir l’étude des consommations pharmaceutiques en contexte clinique. La première partie de cette thèse fait le point sur les connaissances actuelles concernant l’adhésion à l’hormonothérapie - tamoxifène et inhibiteurs de l’aromatase (IA) - dans le cancer du sein. La seconde partie, reposant sur l’analyse de cohortes de patientes atteintes de cancer du sein sélectionnées à partir de (1) la UK General Practice Research Database et (2) des données de l’Assurance Maladie, a montré que : - Plus de la moitié des femmes de moins de 40 ans au diagnostic ne reçoivent plus de tamoxifène à 5 ans. Il s’agit du groupe de femmes le plus à risque d’arrêt prématuré de traitement. - Chez les femmes âgées de plus de 50 ans au diagnostic, les arrêts de traitement sont moins fréquents pour les IA que pour le tamoxifène. - Les déterminants associés à la non-persistance sont un faible soutien social et la déclaration précoce de non-prise de traitement par la patiente chez les femmes jeunes. Chez les femmes âgées, l’utilisation de médecines complémentaires et alternatives, la présence de comorbidités sont associées à une augmentation du risque d’arrêt de traitement. A contrario, la présence d’une poly-médication est associée à une diminution du risque d’arrêt.- Dans les études précédentes, une proportion importante de femmes reprend son traitement au moins une fois après l’avoir arrêté de façon prolongée. Les arrêts transitoires de traitements ont été pris en compte à l’aide de modèles multi-états. La probabilité d’arrêt de traitement estimée à partir de ces modèles est plus faible que celle mesurée par la méthode de Kaplan-Meier, après la première année de traitement. La non-adhésion à l’hormonothérapie est fréquente. Certains de ses déterminants sont modifiables ou peuvent servir à identifier précocement les patientes à risque de non-observance. La prise en compte des arrêts transitoires de traitement est importante dans la mesure de la persistance. L’adhésion est l’élément clé faisant le lien entre l’efficacité d’un traitement mesuréedans un essai clinique et son impact dans la vraie vie. Il est urgent de prendre conscience de l’importance de la non-adhésion des formes orales en oncologie / The use of oral anticancer therapies has significantly increased in recent years. Adherence to these therapies has therefore become a major issue in the field of oncology. This thesis focuses on the question of treatment adherence in oncology, and more specifically on the use of medical records and administrative databases to estimate adherence and persistence to hormonal therapy—now a major form of oral breast cancer therapy. Our perspective is based on pharmacoepidemiology, i.e. the study of drugs in a clinical setting. The first part of this thesis synthesizes current knowledge on adherence and persistence to hormonal therapy for BC – i.e. tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitor therapies.The second part, which is based on the study of two cohorts constituted (1) from the UK General Practice Research Database and (2) from the French National Health Insurance System, demonstrates that - More than half of women younger than 40 at diagnosis do not receive any tamoxifen at 5years of follow-up. This group of women presents the highest rates of treatmentinterruption. - Among women over 50 at diagnosis, those receiving some form of AI therapy discontinue less frequently than those on tamoxifen treatment. - Determinants of non-persistence identified in the studies under review include low social support and self-reporting of non-compliance among younger women. Among older women, those using complementary or alternative medicine or suffering from comorbidities are more likely to discontinue their treatment, whereas women usingpolypharmacy are less likely to discontinue. - In previous studies, a large proportion of women who discontinued their treatment resumed after a prolonged gap. To account for these temporary treatment discontinuations, we used multi-state models. The probability of being off treatment estimated from these models is lower than that estimated from Kaplan-Meier estimates, after the 1st year of treatment. Adherence to hormonal therapy is largely suboptimal. Some of its determinants are modifiablefactors, while others can be used to identify sub-groups of patients at high risk of non-adherence. Accounting for temporary treatment discontinuation is important when measuring nonpersistence. Adherence is a key element for the translation of efficacy measured in clinical trials into effectiveness in real life. There is an urgent need to acknowledge the problem of nonadherence to oral therapy in oncology

Sistemas multi-agentes devem oferecer recursos suficientes para que seus agentes possam interagir de maneira satisfatória e atingir seus objetivos. Um exemplo de recurso é um conjunto de dados armazenados em algum tipo de mecanismo de persistência, como um sistema gerenciador de banco de dados. O acesso a dados deve ser possível mesmo que eles estejam distribuídos, fato inclusive que também caracteriza os sistemas multi-agentes. Assim, este trabalho apresenta um sistema chamado DASE cujo objetivo é prover a agentes o acesso a dados distribuídos de forma simples e transparente, ou seja, independentemente da complexidade que o ambiente dos agentes possui e das peculiaridades do Sistema de Banco de Dados Distribuído. O DASE suporta qualquer Sistema Gerenciador de Banco de Dados, seja ele centralizado ou distribuído, desde que o mesmo esteja em conformidade com o JDBC. Além disso, oferece recursos importantes como controle de concorrência, suporte a ambientes de dados simultâneos e uso de sentenças de acesso a dados pré-definidas e parametrizadas. Todos os aspectos mais importantes analisados durante o projeto deste sistema estão descritos neste trabalho, evidenciando e justificando o porquê de cada decisão que certamente refletiram no funcionamento e comportamento do DASE. O sistema foi implementado de acordo com o seu projeto, resultando em uma versão funcional e estável, o que foi comprovado através de seu uso em um projeto que envolvia sistemas multiagentes e controle de tráfego aéreo. Além disso, alguns testes de análise de desempenho considerando cenários variados foram realizados. / Multi-agent systems must offer the needed resources to allow their agents to interact and to reach their goals. An example of resource is a set of data stored in any kind of resource manager, such as a database management system. Data access must be possible even if the data is distributed, characteristic that is also present in multi-agent systems. Thus, this work describes a system whose objective is to provide to agents distributed data access in a simple and transparent way, in other words, hiding the agent environment and complexities related to distributed database systems. DASE supports any database management system, centralized or distributed, in compliance with JDBC (Java Database Connectivity). In addition it offers important features, such as concurrency control, simultaneous data environments and stored SQL sentences. All challenges and important aspects overcome in order to design and implement DASE are described, explaining and justifying every decision that in some way had a participation to form DASE set of functions and behavior. The system was implemented following its design, resulting in a functional and stable version, what could be verified through its adoption in a project based on multiagent systems and air traffic control systems. In addition, a plenty of performance tests were done regarding different scenarios.

Atualmente têm-se valorizado o aproveitamento das características das aglomerações, como os arranjos produtivos locais - APLs e a necessidade de cooperação entre as empresas. Neste contexto, a avaliação de desempenho em relação a um referencial externo e a identificação de melhores práticas, como proposto pelo benchmarking, pode ser de grande valia. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um sistema de informações para benchmarking com acesso via web e sua aplicação piloto. O trabalho de campo contou com a participação de 29 empresas de até médio porte, que fazem parte dos APLs de Ibitinga (confecções de bordados) e de Jaú (calçados femininos). A partir desta aplicação, discute-se a viabilidade operacional de tal sistema, os estímulos e resultados para as empresas usuárias e as relações de tal sistema com os agentes de governança dos APLs. A avaliação do processo de implementação, realizada essencialmente por meio de observações da pesquisadora (de caráter qualitativo), aponta para a necessidade de um mecanismo que possibilite a adesão e participação de um número elevado de empresas em um curto espaço de tempo ou com participação vinculada a outras iniciativas, a fim de que uma base robusta de dados seja criada, eliminando a principal razão para que as empresas percam o estímulo em participar. Outras alternativas de abordagem também são discutidas a fim de melhorar os benefícios deste sistema para empresas e para a governança, como a formação de grupos de empresas (mesmo de setores diferentes) interessados em trocar experiências em uma determinada área ou mesmo a troca de experiência entre instituições de governança. / Nowadays, the clustering approach and the development of joint actions have gained acceptance. In this scenario, performance assessment against an external reference and the identification of best practices, as proposed by benchmarking, can be very useful. This study presents the development of a web-based benchmarking information system and its pilot application. The fieldwork was developed with the participation of 29 small and medium-sized companies from the clusters of Ibitinga (garment for use in the house) and Jaú (female shoes). The objective is to discuss the operational viability of such system, the incentives and results for the users and the relationship of this system with the cluster governing agents. The assessment of the implementation (of qualitative features), points to the need of an organization that enables a high number of companies to participate in a short period of time, like binding the participation to other initiatives, in order to create a strong database, removing the main reason for the incentive missing. Other approaches are discussed aiming to increase the benefits to the companies and to the governing, e.g. experience exchange by groups of firms (even from different industrial sectors) interested in a specific area or by governing institutions.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-10-03T12:30:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Scheid_.pdf: 1316185 bytes, checksum: 82e933449d1319408b251dc78485aee2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-03T12:30:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernando Scheid_.pdf: 1316185 bytes, checksum: 82e933449d1319408b251dc78485aee2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-18 / Nenhuma / Este trabalho tem por objetivo realizar umestudo sobre o conhecimento e a utilização de bases de dados em pesquisas por parte dos alunos da graduação e pós-graduação do Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense Câmpus Charqueadas, tendo como cenário principal a Biblioteca com a finalidade de compreender o perfil de pesquisa desses usuários. A metodologia utilizada foi um estudo de caso e como instrumentos de coleta de dados, dois questionários: o primeiro questionário com questões fechadas incluindo comentários e sugestões e outro questionário, posteriormente, com perguntas abertas. Após a análise da coleta de dados chegou-se à conclusão de que muitos usuários desconhecem ou não utilizam bases de dados (51%) para realizarem suas pesquisas, porém as bases de dados mais conhecidas são Scielo, Portal de Periódicos da Capes e Web of Science. O curso de pós-graduação utiliza mais esses recursos em relação aos cursos de graduação, apesar de 19% afirmarem que desconhecem ou não utilizam bases de dados. Entre os sites de busca na internet o Google teve o maior destaque, com 65%. Como sugestão dos usuários está a realização de capacitações e treinamentos para que essas fontes de informação possam ser utilizadas com maior frequência. Por fim, esta pesquisa apresenta dois produtos: o diagnóstico com relação ao conhecimento e utilização de bases de dados em pesquisa pelos alunos do IFSul Câmpus Charqueadas e a proposta de um projeto de tutorial relativo à utilização de bases de dados em pesquisas para ser disponibilizado na página da Biblioteca, a fim de qualificar a busca por informações a partir de fontes online, oferecendo outra possibilidade de acesso a acervos. / This work aims to carry out a study about the knowledge and usage of data bases in researches done by the Graduation and Post-Graduation students of the Federal Institute Sul-rio-grandense, Campus Charqueadas, having the Library as the main scenario to understand the research profile of those users. The methodology used was a case study and the instruments of data collection were two questionnaires: the first questionnaire with closed questions including comments and suggestions and another questionnaire, used later, with open questions. After analyzing the data collection, it was concluded that many users are unaware or do not use databases (51%) to carry out their researches, but the most well-known databases are Scielo, Periódicos Capes and Web of Science. The postgraduate course uses these resources more in relation to undergraduate courses, although 19% state that they do not know or do not use databases. Among the search engines on the internet, Google had the biggest highlight, with 65%. As a suggestion of the users, the execution of training courses about these sources of information can be used more frequently. Finally, this research presents two products: the diagnosis regarding the knowledge and use of databases in research by the students of IFSul Campus Charqueadas and the proposal of a project of tutorial on the use of databases in researches to be available in Library website in order to qualify the search for information from online sources, offering another possibility of access to collections.

Sistemas multi-agentes devem oferecer recursos suficientes para que seus agentes possam interagir de maneira satisfatória e atingir seus objetivos. Um exemplo de recurso é um conjunto de dados armazenados em algum tipo de mecanismo de persistência, como um sistema gerenciador de banco de dados. O acesso a dados deve ser possível mesmo que eles estejam distribuídos, fato inclusive que também caracteriza os sistemas multi-agentes. Assim, este trabalho apresenta um sistema chamado DASE cujo objetivo é prover a agentes o acesso a dados distribuídos de forma simples e transparente, ou seja, independentemente da complexidade que o ambiente dos agentes possui e das peculiaridades do Sistema de Banco de Dados Distribuído. O DASE suporta qualquer Sistema Gerenciador de Banco de Dados, seja ele centralizado ou distribuído, desde que o mesmo esteja em conformidade com o JDBC. Além disso, oferece recursos importantes como controle de concorrência, suporte a ambientes de dados simultâneos e uso de sentenças de acesso a dados pré-definidas e parametrizadas. Todos os aspectos mais importantes analisados durante o projeto deste sistema estão descritos neste trabalho, evidenciando e justificando o porquê de cada decisão que certamente refletiram no funcionamento e comportamento do DASE. O sistema foi implementado de acordo com o seu projeto, resultando em uma versão funcional e estável, o que foi comprovado através de seu uso em um projeto que envolvia sistemas multiagentes e controle de tráfego aéreo. Além disso, alguns testes de análise de desempenho considerando cenários variados foram realizados. / Multi-agent systems must offer the needed resources to allow their agents to interact and to reach their goals. An example of resource is a set of data stored in any kind of resource manager, such as a database management system. Data access must be possible even if the data is distributed, characteristic that is also present in multi-agent systems. Thus, this work describes a system whose objective is to provide to agents distributed data access in a simple and transparent way, in other words, hiding the agent environment and complexities related to distributed database systems. DASE supports any database management system, centralized or distributed, in compliance with JDBC (Java Database Connectivity). In addition it offers important features, such as concurrency control, simultaneous data environments and stored SQL sentences. All challenges and important aspects overcome in order to design and implement DASE are described, explaining and justifying every decision that in some way had a participation to form DASE set of functions and behavior. The system was implemented following its design, resulting in a functional and stable version, what could be verified through its adoption in a project based on multiagent systems and air traffic control systems. In addition, a plenty of performance tests were done regarding different scenarios.

The flow distribution in the primary circuit of the pressurized water reactor was studied with experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The main focus was on the flow field and mixing in the downcomer of the pressure vessel: how the different factors like the orientation of operating loops, the total loop flow rate and the asymmetry of the loop flow rates affect the outcome. In addition to the flow field studies the overall applicability of CFD methods for primary circuit thermal-hydraulic analysis was evaluated based on the CFD simulations of the mixing experiments of the ROCOM (Rossendorf Coolant Mixing Model) test facility and the mixing experiments of the Paks NPP. The experimental part of the work in work package 3 included series of steady state mixing experiments with the ROCOM test facility and the publication of results of Paks VVER-440 NPP thermal mixing experiments. The ROCOM test facility models a 4-loop KONVOI type reactor. In the steady-state mixing experiments the velocity field in the downcomer was measured using laser Doppler anemometry and the concentration of the tracer solution fed from one loop was measured at the downcomer and at the core inlet plane. The varied parameters were the number and orientation of the operating loops, the total flow rate and the (asymmetric) flow rate of individual loops. The Paks NPP thermal mixing experiments took place during commissioning tests of replaced steam generator safety valves in 1987-1989. It was assumed that in the reactor vessels of Paks VVER-440 NPP equipped with six loops the mixing of the coolant is not ideal. For the realistic determination of the active core inlet temperature field for the transients and accidents associated with different level temperature asymmetry a set of mixing factors were determined. Based on data from the online core monitoring system and a separate mathematical model the mixing factors for loop flows at the core inlet were determined. In the numerical simulation part of the work package 3 the detailed measurements of ROCOM tests were used for the validation of CFD methods for primary circuit studies. The selected steady state mixing experiments were simulated with CFD codes CFX-4, CFX-5 and FLUENT. The velocity field in the downcomer and the mixing of the scalar were compared between CFD simulations and experiments. The CFD simulations of full scale PWR included the simulation of Paks VVER-440 mixing experiment and the simulation of Loviisa VVER-440 downcomer flow field. In the simulations of Paks experiments the experimental and simulated concentration field at the core inlet were compared and conclusions made concerning the results overall and the VVER-440 specific geometry modelling aspects like how to model the perforated elliptic bottom plate and what is the effect of the cold leg bends to the flow field entering to the downcomer. With Loviisa simulations the qualitative comparison was made against the original commissioning experiments but the emphasis was on the CFD method validation and testing. The overall conclusion concerning the CFD modelling of the flow field and mixing in the PWR primary circuit could be that the current computation capacity and physical models also in commercial codes is beginning to be sufficient for simulations giving reliable and useful results for many real primary circuit applications. However the misuse of CFD methods is easy, and the general as well as the nuclear power specific modelling guidelines should be followed when the CFD simulations are made.

The goal of the work described in this report was the experimental investigation of the mixing of coolant with different quality (temperature, boron concentration) in nuclear reactors on the way from the cold leg through the downcomer and lower plenum to the core inlet in a systematic way. The obtained data were used for the clarification of the mixing mechanisms and form a data basis for the validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. For these purposes, experiments on slug mixing have been performed at two test facilities, modelling different reactor types in scale 1:5, the Rossendorf and Vattenfall test facilities. The corresponding accident scenario is the start-up of first main coolant pump (MCP) after formation of a slug of lower borated water during the reflux-condenser mode phase of a small break loss of coolant accident (LOCA). The matrices for the experiments were elaborated on the basis of the key phenomena, being responsible for the coolant mixing during pump start-up. Slug mixing tests have also been performed at the VVER-1000 facility of EDO Gidropress to meet the specifics of this reactor type. The mixing of slugs of water of different quality is also very important for pre-stressed thermal shock (PTS) situations. In emergency core cooling (ECC) situations after a LOCA, cold ECC water is injected into the hot water in the cold leg and downcomer. Due to the large temperature differences, thermal shocks are induced at the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) wall. Temperature distributions near the wall and temperature gradients in time are important to be known for the assessment of thermal stresses. One of the important phenomena in connection with PTS is thermal stratification, a flow condition with a vertical temperature profile in a horizontal pipe. Due to the fluctuating character of the flow, this may cause thermal fatigue in the pipe. Besides of thermal fatigue, a single thermal shock can also be relevant for structural integrity, if it is large enough, especially in the case, that the brittle fracture temperature of the RPV material is reduced due to radiation embrittlement. Therefore, additional to the investigations of slug mixing during re-start of coolant circulation, the mixing of slugs or streams of water with higher density with the ambient fluid in the RPV was investigated. The aim of these investigations was to study the process of turbulent mixing under the influence of buoyancy forces caused by the temperature differences. Heat transfer to the wall and thermal conductivity in the wall material have not been considered. Experiments on density driven mixing were carried out at the Rossendorf and the Fortum PTS facilities.

The identification of personality adequacy includes complete research of a person. There are various psycho diagnostic testing methods for such researches. The most testing methods are being created abroad, therefore it takes a lot of time to evaluate the results and to adapt them to the Lithuanians situation. This means that the psychologist have to make a lot of tests of different patient’s groups as well. At the moment, there is no program in Lithuania, which would be helpful by creating computerized version of tests and able to collect all data related to the patient and to the process of theinvestigation. Such program would be able to computerize confidential methods as well. All data related to the patient and the method of research, has to be protected. The information system of personality adequacy identification gives a possibility for the psychologists to register the investigative persons and the process of this investigation. It also helps to create textual and visual tests, to test the investigative persons, to accumulate the diagnosis and the experience of the applied methodic. The created system of programs helps the psychologists to work more efficiently and to generalize the date of Lithuanian’s patients groups as well. This program is going to ensure the required grade of confidentially and security of tests data.