The present day world has been experiencing rapid technological advancement on the one hand and increasing number of diseases afflicting the human beings on the other. To deal with the later, medical devices are innovated and introduced in to the market (making use of the technological advancements), on a continuous basis across the world. However, taking an innovated medical device to the market poses innumerable challenges and therefore, these have to be clinically trialled before its launch to ensure safety and efficacy. Of late, India has emerged as one of the preferred destinations to carry out clinical studies due to numerous advantages, primarily its diverse human gene pool and cost-competitiveness. However, there is very little understanding on the landscape of medical devices clinically trialled in India. It is to throw light on this critical issue with respect to the selection of participants in the clinical trial process, selection of locations and determination of trial duration that the present study has been carried out. In addition, the role of patents associated with the introduction of new medical devices in relation to the key challenges is examined. Furthermore, we studied the characteristics of clinical trials by industry and non-industry sponsors and between cardiovascular and other disease related trials. The present study has been carried out based on secondary data covering 108 medical device clinical trial registrations accessed from Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) database pertaining to the period 2008-2014. At the outset, the pattern of trials related to the most prominent diseases such as cardiology and cardiovascular diseases and those which are invasive and non-invasive are examined. Our findings indicate that almost 50% of the trials are related to diseases of cardiology, cardiovascular diseases and those which are invasive in nature. For studying the patenting aspect, we proposed a conceptual grouping of sponsors as Incumbent, Potential Entrant and Supporter, based on their patent holdings in the domestic market and in PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) filings. Patents owned by Primary Sponsor (PS) showed significant variations in their clinical trial characteristics particularly the invasiveness of device, disease type, locations and participants. Three quantitative models are developed to identify the factors that influence the selection of number of participants, locations and time taken to execute medical device clinical trials using multivariate statistical techniques. The results of the three conceptual models on number of participants, locations and trial duration showed invasiveness of device and disease type playing significant roles in all the three models. The number of PCTs owned by PS was found to be influential in selecting the number of locations and participants but not the patents owned in IPO (Indian Patent Office). We also observed significant differences between industry and non-industry sponsors in terms of their clinical trial characteristics. The findings of the study formed the basis to understand the medical device clinical trial landscape and other pertinent issues in the Indian context, which enabled us to derive appropriate inferences and policy implications.

A presente dissertação ancora-se na Linha de Pesquisa História e Filosofia da Educação do Mestrado em Educação da Universidade de Caxias do Sul e problematiza os processos de avaliação escolar em uma perspectiva genealógica. O problema de pesquisa questiona as formas pelas quais a avaliação escolar vem funcionando como um dispositivo na produção de modos de subjetivação. Como referencial teórico, são tomados, principalmente, os conceitos de dispositivo e subjetivação desenvolvidos por Michel Foucault. A investigação está circunscrita a documentos que legislam sobre os processos de educação e, mais especificamente, que regulam o processo de avaliação escolar. O primeiro documento utilizado na análise é datado de janeiro de 1828; a partir dele, apuram-se os enunciados sobre o processo de avaliação até a última LDB (Lei n. 9.394/96) e os pareceres e decretos decorrentes. Os documentos foram obtidos, na maior parte, em um acervo de leis e documentos denominado Base Legis. Nos documentos, buscam-se as condições de possibilidades de um discurso de avaliação em cada formação discursiva. Salienta-se que as análises não operam com juízos a respeito dos processos de avaliação, mas com as condições históricas de seu funcionamento. Diante disso, considera-se o pressuposto de que avaliação vem a ser um determinado dispositivo tecido em diferentes relações de poder e saber, na produção de determinados modos de subjetivação. A análise é produzida a partir da noção de descontinuidade da história. Procura-se pôr em evidência os deslocamentos de discursos que produzem rupturas nos modos de funcionamento, aqui circunscritos na produção – via dispositivo da avaliação – de ―bons cristãos‖ e ―bons cidadãos‖, de um modelo de exclusão e outro de inclusão, bem como a produção da lógica disciplinar na avaliação, atravessada nos sujeitos da escola. A análise não é forjada de modo a caracterizar uma história global, nem mesmo uma forma linear de história, mas a partir da noção de descontinuidade da história. O que se tentou produzir foi uma problematização acerca da constituição desse sujeito da educação pelo processo de avaliação, e isso só foi possível com o rompimento da noção de um sujeito identitário, unitário e autônomo. Interessa a constituição dos modos de ser, em suas relações de poder e saber. Entende-se, assim, a avaliação com um dispositivo – que engloba e coloca em funcionamento os sujeitos, como uma rede que se tece nas arquiteturas das escolas e fora delas; passa pelos comportamentos convencionados, pela dinâmica de circulação; está presente na valoração dos valores morais, nos enunciados científicos, nas legislações, nas organizações espaçotemporais, enfim, nos meandros do que se é, do que se faz e do que se fala. Dessa forma, pode-se afirmar que o dispositivo está inscrito numa linha de força, ligado a configurações de poder que efetivam determinados modos de subjetivação, os quais, nesse processo, produzem os cidadãos, os incluídos e os disciplinados e normatizados que cobrem todo corpo social. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-09T16:12:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Fernanda Bertoldo.pdf: 2497917 bytes, checksum: 893044e524dc4683c30e7daf8e5adcf9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-09T16:12:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Fernanda Bertoldo.pdf: 2497917 bytes, checksum: 893044e524dc4683c30e7daf8e5adcf9 (MD5) / This master‘s thesis is anchored on the research line for History and Philosophy of Education at the Master‘s Program at the University of Caxias do Sul and it discusses the processes of school assessment under a genealogical perspective. The research problem questions the ways through which school assessment has been functioning as a device in the production of modes of subjectivation. As theoretical references, the concepts for devices and subjectivation developed by Michel Foucault are the main support. The investigation is confined to documents that legislate on processes of education and, more specifically, that rule the process for school assessment. The first document used in the analysis is dated January 1828; from it the statements regarding the process of assessment up to the latest LDB (Lei n. 9.394/96) and the stated opinions and decrees resulting from it. The documents were obtained – in its majority – at a document collection called Base Legis. In the documents, conditions for the possibilities of a discourse on assessment in each discourse formation are investigated. It is pointed out that the analyses do not operate based on judgements regarding assessment processes, but on the historical conditions of its functioning. Hence, the assumption that assessment turns out to be a certain device woven in different relationships of power and knowledge, in the production of certain ways of subjectivation. The analysis starts from the notion of historical discontinuity. There is an attempt to highlight the dislocations in discourses that produce ruptures in the functioning, here limited to the production – via assessment – of ―good Christians‖ and ―good citizens‖, from a model of exclusion and one of inclusion, as well as the production of disciplinary logic in assessment going through the subjects of school. The analysis is not forged in such a way as to characterize a global history, not even a linear history, but from the notion of discontinuity of history. What has been attempted was to produce a problematization about the constitution of that subject of the education by the assessment process, and that was only possible with the rupture of the notion of an identity subject, which is unitary and autonomous. There is an interest on the constitution of the ways of being, in their relationships with power and knowledge. Thus, assessment is understood as a device that encompasses and sets up the subjects as a network that is woven in the architecture of schools and out of it; going through behaviors agreed upon, the dynamic of circulation; it is present in the valuation of moral values, in scientific utterances, in legislations, in timeline organizations; in short, in the entanglement of what one is, of what one says, and what one does. That way, it is possible to state that the device is inscribed in a line of power, connected to configurations of power that can put into effect certain ways of subjectivation, which in this process produce citizens, the included, disciplined and standardized ones who cover the entire social body.

Orientador: Luis Guillermo Bahamondes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-14T21:06:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Canteiro_Renata_M.pdf: 1520573 bytes, checksum: 430ed31c6f7893af060873188cd2b55a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Introdução e objetivos: O dispositivo intrauterino (DIU), apesar de ser um método contraceptivo altamente eficaz e adequado para a maioria das mulheres, nem sempre é recomendado para mulheres nuligestas. Alguns artigos apontaram para taxas de expulsão e gravidez aumentadas neste grupo de mulheres e outros sugeriram a adoção de DIU menores para nuligestas. Esta discussão tem se tornado mais evidente devido ao grande número de gravidezes indesejadas entre adolescentes (as quais, em sua maioria, são nuligestas), evidenciando a necessidade de métodos contraceptivos adequados a este perfil de usuárias. Restam dúvidas sobre a necessidade de novos DIU menores ou de formatos diferentes. Além disso, a avaliação do comprimento da cavidade uterina com o ultrassom, método mais moderno e preciso que o histerômetro, pode orientar para a necessidade de modelos de DIU diferenciados para nuligestas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o comprimento da cavidade uterina em mulheres nuligestas e com gestação prévia através da histerometria e do ultrassom. Sujeitos e métodos: Foram avaliadas 570 mulheres (17 a 52 anos) distribuídas em 260 nuligestas e 310 com gestação prévia. Resultados: A diferença entre os valores médios obtidos pela histerometria e pelo ultrassom foi de 0,28cm. O comprimento da cavidade uterina em nuligestas e mulheres com gestação prévia foi 3,84 ± 0,03 e 4,25 ± 0,03, respectivamente, (p < 0,001) pela histerometria e 3,70 ± 0,03 e 3,84 ± 0,03 (média ± EPM), respectivamente pelo ultrassom (p = 0,006). Conclusões: O comprimento da cavidade uterina, avaliado por ambas as técnicas, foi maior entre as mulheres com gestação prévia que entre nuligestas. Esta foi em média maior que 3,6cm, que é o comprimento da maioria dos DIU disponíveis atualmente (TCu 380A) e o sistema liberador de levonorgestrel (LNG-IUS; 3,2cm). Entretanto, um terço das mulheres apresentou valores abaixo dessa medida. Isto permite especular que há poucas razões para o desenvolvimento de novos DIU com comprimento menor, embora exista a possibilidade de um terço das mulheres não se ajustar ao tamanho atual. / Abstract: Introduction and objectives: Due to the controversies about the necessity of new shorter intrauterine devices (IUDs) for nulliparous women in order to reduce expulsion rate, the length of the endometrial cavity was measured in women with different parities by uterine sound and ultrasound. Materials and methods: We evaluated 570 women (17 to 52 years old) distributed on 260 nulliparous and 310 parous. Results: The difference between mean values obtained by the uterine sound and by ultrasound was 0.28 cm. The length of the endometrial cavity on nulliparous and parous women was 3.84 ± 0.03 and 4.25 ± 0.03, respectively (p < 0.001) when assessed by the uterine sound and 3.70 ± 0.03 and 3.84 ± 0.03 (mean ± SEM), respectively when assessed by ultrasound (p = 0.006). Conclusions: The endometrial cavity length evaluated by the two techniques showed a mean value greater than 3.6 cm which is the length of the most worldwide available IUD (TCu380A) and the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS). This allows us to speculate that there is no rationale to develop new IUDs with shorter length, because the actual models are fitted to most of the women, including nulliparous. / Mestrado / Ciencias Biomedicas / Mestre em Tocoginecologia

This work is an investigation of how a software architecture can be changed in order to improve the support of the creation of a customised user interface. The parts of Symbian OS that are of interest for the work are described in detail. Then a comparison of the user interfaces of four different mobile devices is made, in order to get a picture of what the interfaces of such devices could look like. Also presented in the work is a modified reference architecture that supports customisation of all the features that have been identified in the comparison. Finally, the authors discuss how well the new architecture supports customisation of the user interface compared to the original Symbian OS architecture.

This thesis describes the implementation of microprocessor controlled single-phase and three-phase inverters for UPS applications. A carrier frequency of 18 kHz is employed in both cases, and the PWM pulses are generated directly by the microprocessor using the regular-sampled symmetric PWM strategy. Single-edge modulation as well as double-edge modulation has been implemented for single-phase and three-phase systems. Since in general, software implementation of PWM strategies require precalculated pulse width values, a scheme is proposed which enables the large quantity of such data to be handled efficiently. The scheme involves the use of a small program for calculating and transferring the data to the memory of the controller.

In this thesis a novel guidance method for a 3-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator arm in 3 dimensions for Improvised Explosive Device (IED) disposal has been developed. The work carried out in this thesis combines existing methods to develop a technique that delivers advantages taken from several other guidance techniques. These features are necessary for the IED disposal application. The work carried out in this thesis includes kinematic and dynamic modelling of robotic manipulators, T-space to C-space conversion, and path generation using Graph Theory to produce a guidance technique which can plan a safe path through a complex unknown environment. The method improves upon advantages given by other techniques in that it produces a suitable path in 3-dimensions in close-proximity environments in real time with no a priori knowledge of the environment, a necessary precursor to the application of this technique to IED disposal missions. To solve the problem of path planning, the thesis derives the kinematics and dynamics of a robotic arm in order to convert the Euclidean coordinates of measured environment data into C-space. Each dimension in C-space is one control input of the arm. The Euclidean start and end locations of the manipulator end effector are translated into C-space. A three-dimensional path is generated between them using Dijkstra’s Algorithm. The technique allows for a single path to be generated to guide the entire arm through the environment, rather than multiple paths to guide each component through the environment. The robotic arm parameters are modelled as a quasi-linear parameter varying system. As such it requires gain scheduling control, thus allowing compensation of the non-linearities in the system. A Genetic Algorithm is applied to tune a set of PID controllers for the dynamic model of the manipulator arm so that the generated path can then be followed using a conventional path-following algorithm. The technique proposed in this thesis is validated using numerical simulations in order to determine its advantages and limitations.

Beams of light carrying orbital angular momentum, such as vortex beams, have many applications in imaging and micromanipulation. We focus on applications in communication, in particular for quantum key distribution, where the security of communication channels is enhanced with the laws of quantum mechanics. However, this procedure requires superpositions of vortex beams. We want to generate such beams using integrated optics components due to their small size and their advantages in scalability and stability. Angular gratings, which are ring resonators with an embedded Bragg grating, are integrated structures known to generate vortex beams. We propose that a ring resonator with two embedded Bragg gratings, each on the inner and outer sidewalls, would generate a superposition of vortex beams. We verify this claim through analytical models, simulations and experiments.

The latest development in the measurement techniques has resulted in fast improvements in the instruments used for measurement of various electrical quantities. A common problem in such instruments is the automation of acquiring, retrieving and controlling the measurements by a computer or a laptop. In this study, nodal resistance measurement (NRM) system is developed to solve the above problem. The purpose of this study is to design and develop a compact electronic board, which measures electrical resistance, and a computer or a laptop controls the board. For the above purpose, surface nodal points are created on the surface of the sample electrically conductive material. The nodal points are connected to the compact electronic board and this board is connected to the computer. The user selects the nodal points, from the computer, between which the NRM system measures the electrical resistance and displays the measured quantity on the computer.

A presente dissertação ancora-se na Linha de Pesquisa História e Filosofia da Educação do Mestrado em Educação da Universidade de Caxias do Sul e problematiza os processos de avaliação escolar em uma perspectiva genealógica. O problema de pesquisa questiona as formas pelas quais a avaliação escolar vem funcionando como um dispositivo na produção de modos de subjetivação. Como referencial teórico, são tomados, principalmente, os conceitos de dispositivo e subjetivação desenvolvidos por Michel Foucault. A investigação está circunscrita a documentos que legislam sobre os processos de educação e, mais especificamente, que regulam o processo de avaliação escolar. O primeiro documento utilizado na análise é datado de janeiro de 1828; a partir dele, apuram-se os enunciados sobre o processo de avaliação até a última LDB (Lei n. 9.394/96) e os pareceres e decretos decorrentes. Os documentos foram obtidos, na maior parte, em um acervo de leis e documentos denominado Base Legis. Nos documentos, buscam-se as condições de possibilidades de um discurso de avaliação em cada formação discursiva. Salienta-se que as análises não operam com juízos a respeito dos processos de avaliação, mas com as condições históricas de seu funcionamento. Diante disso, considera-se o pressuposto de que avaliação vem a ser um determinado dispositivo tecido em diferentes relações de poder e saber, na produção de determinados modos de subjetivação. A análise é produzida a partir da noção de descontinuidade da história. Procura-se pôr em evidência os deslocamentos de discursos que produzem rupturas nos modos de funcionamento, aqui circunscritos na produção – via dispositivo da avaliação – de ―bons cristãos‖ e ―bons cidadãos‖, de um modelo de exclusão e outro de inclusão, bem como a produção da lógica disciplinar na avaliação, atravessada nos sujeitos da escola. A análise não é forjada de modo a caracterizar uma história global, nem mesmo uma forma linear de história, mas a partir da noção de descontinuidade da história. O que se tentou produzir foi uma problematização acerca da constituição desse sujeito da educação pelo processo de avaliação, e isso só foi possível com o rompimento da noção de um sujeito identitário, unitário e autônomo. Interessa a constituição dos modos de ser, em suas relações de poder e saber. Entende-se, assim, a avaliação com um dispositivo – que engloba e coloca em funcionamento os sujeitos, como uma rede que se tece nas arquiteturas das escolas e fora delas; passa pelos comportamentos convencionados, pela dinâmica de circulação; está presente na valoração dos valores morais, nos enunciados científicos, nas legislações, nas organizações espaçotemporais, enfim, nos meandros do que se é, do que se faz e do que se fala. Dessa forma, pode-se afirmar que o dispositivo está inscrito numa linha de força, ligado a configurações de poder que efetivam determinados modos de subjetivação, os quais, nesse processo, produzem os cidadãos, os incluídos e os disciplinados e normatizados que cobrem todo corpo social. / This master‘s thesis is anchored on the research line for History and Philosophy of Education at the Master‘s Program at the University of Caxias do Sul and it discusses the processes of school assessment under a genealogical perspective. The research problem questions the ways through which school assessment has been functioning as a device in the production of modes of subjectivation. As theoretical references, the concepts for devices and subjectivation developed by Michel Foucault are the main support. The investigation is confined to documents that legislate on processes of education and, more specifically, that rule the process for school assessment. The first document used in the analysis is dated January 1828; from it the statements regarding the process of assessment up to the latest LDB (Lei n. 9.394/96) and the stated opinions and decrees resulting from it. The documents were obtained – in its majority – at a document collection called Base Legis. In the documents, conditions for the possibilities of a discourse on assessment in each discourse formation are investigated. It is pointed out that the analyses do not operate based on judgements regarding assessment processes, but on the historical conditions of its functioning. Hence, the assumption that assessment turns out to be a certain device woven in different relationships of power and knowledge, in the production of certain ways of subjectivation. The analysis starts from the notion of historical discontinuity. There is an attempt to highlight the dislocations in discourses that produce ruptures in the functioning, here limited to the production – via assessment – of ―good Christians‖ and ―good citizens‖, from a model of exclusion and one of inclusion, as well as the production of disciplinary logic in assessment going through the subjects of school. The analysis is not forged in such a way as to characterize a global history, not even a linear history, but from the notion of discontinuity of history. What has been attempted was to produce a problematization about the constitution of that subject of the education by the assessment process, and that was only possible with the rupture of the notion of an identity subject, which is unitary and autonomous. There is an interest on the constitution of the ways of being, in their relationships with power and knowledge. Thus, assessment is understood as a device that encompasses and sets up the subjects as a network that is woven in the architecture of schools and out of it; going through behaviors agreed upon, the dynamic of circulation; it is present in the valuation of moral values, in scientific utterances, in legislations, in timeline organizations; in short, in the entanglement of what one is, of what one says, and what one does. That way, it is possible to state that the device is inscribed in a line of power, connected to configurations of power that can put into effect certain ways of subjectivation, which in this process produce citizens, the included, disciplined and standardized ones who cover the entire social body.

abstract: A model of self-heating is incorporated into a Cellular Monte Carlo (CMC) particle-based device simulator through the solution of an energy balance equation (EBE) for phonons. The EBE self-consistently couples charge and heat transport in the simulation through a novel approach to computing the heat generation rate in the device under study. First, the moments of the Boltzmann Transport equation (BTE) are discussed, and subsequently the EBE of for phonons is derived. Subsequently, several tests are performed to verify the applicability and accuracy of a nonlinear iterative method for the solution of the EBE in the presence of convective boundary conditions, as compared to a finite element analysis solver as well as using the Kirchhoff transformation. The coupled electrothermal characterization of a GaN/AlGaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is then performed, and the effects of non-ideal interfaces and boundary conditions are studied. The proposed thermal model is then applied to a novel $\Pi$-gate architecture which has been suggested to reduce hot electron generation in the device, compared to the conventional T-gate. Additionally, small signal ac simulations are performed for the determination of cutoff frequencies using the thermal model as well. Finally, further extensions of the CMC algorithm used in this work are discussed, including 1) higher-order moments of the phonon BTE, 2) coupling to phonon Monte Carlo simulations, and 3) application to other large-bandgap, and therefore high-power, materials such as diamond. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2020