Glutathione syntethase (GS) is an enzyme that belongs to the ATP-grasp superfamily and catalyzes the second step in the biosynthesis of glutathione. GS has been purified and sequenced from a variety of biological sources; still, its exact mechanism is not fully understood. Four highly conserved residues were identified in the binding site of human GS. Additionally, the G-loop residues that close the active site during catalysis were found to be conserved. Since these residues are important for catalysis, their function was studied computationally by site-directed mutagenesis. Starting from the reported crystal structure of human GS, different conformations for the wild type and mutants were obtained using molecular dynamics technique. The key interactions between residues and ligands were detected and found to be essential for enzyme activity.

This thesis elaborates on design and fabrication of an artificial mechanical upper limb prototype for transradial amputations, i. e. for patients with stump between elbow and wrist joints. The artificial limb is designed for use in a wide spectrum of patients. Therefore, the main components are designed to be applicable to smaller as well as larger hand dimensions. The artificial mechanical limb is designed to be controlled by the other hand of a patient and enables grasping of objects via cylindrical and hook grip. Fingers are driven by tension springs and can be locked in extension. Clenching can be initiated by pressing a button, which unlocks the fingers, thus an object can be grasped. Wrist joint is adjustable when pressed a release button. Forearm joint is locked by preloaded spring. The lock of the forearm joint is released by sufficient torque. New position of the forearm joint is locked automatically when the torque is not being applied. Prototypes of the artificial mechanical upper limb were manufactured by using of rapid prototyping technologies (FDM, SLM) as well as CNC milling machine. All parts of the artificial limb were designed with regard to manufacturability by conventional methods such as casting, injection and the like. The artificial limb prototype had been designed on 3D data basis of a specific patient, who already has tested the prototype. Following materials were used on the prototype: ABS plastic, SikaBlock M940 polyurethane, aluminium and 316L stainless steel.

Orientador: Marcos Julio Rider Flores / Banca: Rubén Augusto Romero Lázaro / Banca: Jose Carlos de Melo Vieira Junior / Resumo: Nesta dissertação de mestrado propõe-se um fluxo de carga não - iterativo para calcular o ponto de operação em regime permanente de um sistema de distribuição de energia elétrica radial ou malhado. No fluxo de carga proposto, as demandas do sistema de distribuição de energia elétrica são modeladas através de aproximações lineares em termos das partes real e imaginária da magnitude de tensão, tendo em conta que os ângulos de fase das tensões do sistema de distribuição se mantém dentro de um intervalo relativamente pequeno e limitado para as condições típicas de operação do sistema de distribuição de energia elétrica. Os coeficientes das aproximações lineares são obtidos a partir do método de mínimos quadrados. O fluxo de carga proposto está composto por três fases: 1) estimação da magnitude de tensão mínima e do ângulo máximo e mínimo de fase das tensões; 2) cálculo do ponto de operação em regime permanente inicial; e 3) correção do ponto de operação obtido na fase 2. O fluxo de carga proposto foi implementado na linguagem de programação MATLAB 7.9.0 (R2009a) e testado usando diferentes sistemas de distribuição de energia elétrica de pequeno e grande porte. A partir dos resultados obtidos observou-se a eficiência e precisão do fluxo de carga proposto quando comparados com os métodos de fluxo de carga existentes na literatura. Tendo em conta estas características, foi resolvido o problema de reconfiguração de sistema de distribuição de energia elétrica utilizando o fluxo de carga proposto com o auxilio da metaheurística GRASP, com o objetivo de mostrar que o fluxo de carga é eficiente e rápido para resolver outros problemas típicos nos sistemas de distribuição de energia elétrica. / Abstract: This dissertation proposes a load flow non-iterative to calculate the operating point in steady state of a radial or meshed electric power distribution system. In the proposed load flow, the demands of the electric power distribution system are modeled using linear approximations in terms of the real and imaginary parts of the voltage magnitude, taking into account that the phase angles of the voltages of distribution system remains within of a range relatively small and limited in the typical conditions of electric power distribution system operation. The coefficients of the linear approximations are obtained from the least-squares method. The proposed load flow is composed of three phases: 1) estimate the minimum voltage magnitude and the maximum and minimum phase angle of voltages, 2) calculation of the operating point in steady state initial, and 3) correction of the operating point obtained in phase 2. The proposed load flow was implemented in the programming language MATLAB7.9.0 (R2009a) and tested using several electric power distribution systems. The results obtained showed efficiency and accuracy of the proposed load flow when was compared with the load flow methods existing in the literature. Given these characteristics, the reconfiguration problem of electric power distribution system was solved using the proposed load flow with the help of the GRASP metaheuristic, aiming to show that the load flow is efficient and fast to solve other typical problems in the electric power distribution systems. / Mestre

Orientador: Marcos Julio Rider Flores / Banca: Antonio Padilha Feltrin / Banca: Walmir de Freitas Filho / Resumo: O problema da alocação ótima das chaves de interconexões nos sistemas de distribuição de média tensão é um problema do planejamento da operação dos sistemas de energia elétrica, de natureza combinatória e sujeito a restrições técnicas e operacionais que derivam em modelos complexos, não-lineares, não determinísticos e, em muitos casos, não analíticos e difíceis de representar matematicamente. Portanto, a melhor opção para obter soluções de boa qualidade em tempo razoável são as técnicas heurísticas modernas. Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia baseada na formulação de modelos matemáticos convexos e resolvida utilizando o algoritmo de busca inteligente GRASP, para gerar soluções de boa qualidade ao problema da alocação ótima das chaves de interconexões. As chaves alocadas pela metodologia fornecem um esquema de restauração eficiente que, em caso de uma falta permanente, possa isolar a zona afetada pela falta e restaurar o serviço elétrico da maior quantidade possível de usuários. Por outro lado, as chaves instaladas pela metodologia proposta, também são aproveitadas para otimizar o ponto de operação em estado estacionário do sistema e os índices de confiabilidade experimentados pelos usuários, ou seja, reduzir as perdas de potência ativa e melhorar probabilísticamente os índices de continuidade da duração e da frequência das interrupções (SAIDI e SAIFI) quando o sistema opera em condições normais. Para demonstrar a eficácia e flexibilidade do algoritmo proposto dois sistemas testes, de 43 e 136 nós, serão utilizados para resolver diferentes instâncias do problema da alocação / Abstract: The optimal switch allocation problem in electrical distribution systems is a combinatorial optimization problem, subject to a set of technical and operational constraints that produces complex, nonlinear, nondeterministic and, in many cases, non-analytical and difficult to represent optimization models. Therefore, the best approach to provide high quality solutions, in reasonable time, is the use of modern heuristics algorithms. This work presents an optimization methodology based on the formulation of convex mathematical models and solved by using a simplified GRASP algorithm, in order to provide high quality solutions to the switch allocation problem. The allocated switches establish an efficient restoration scheme that, in case of a permanent fault, isolates the faulty zone and restores the electrical service of as many users as possible. On the other hand, the switches allocated by the proposed methodology, are also used to optimize the steady-state operating point of the system and the reliability indices experienced by the users, i.e., the active power losses are reduced and the reliability indices, SAIDI and SAIFI, are improved when the system is operating flawlessly. In order to show the efficiency and flexibility of the proposed switch allocation methodology, two test systems have been proposed and different allocation instances have been solved / Mestre

Object manipulation is a complex task for robots. It often implies a compromise between the degrees-of-freedom of hand and its fingers have (dexterity) and its cost and complexity in terms of control. One strategy to increase the dexterity of robotic hands with low dexterity is called extrinsic manipulation and its principle is to exploit additional accelerations on the object caused by the effect of external forces. We propose a force control based method for performing extrinsic in-hand object manipulation, with force-torque feedback. For this purpose, we use a prehensile pushing action, which consists of pushing the object against an external surface, under quasistatic assumptions. By using a control strategy, we also achieve robustness to parameter uncertainty (such as friction) and perturbations, that are not completely captured by mathematical models of the system. The force control strategy is performed in two different ways: the contact force generated by the interaction between the object and the external surface is controlled using an admittance controller, while an additional control of gripping force applied by the gripper on the object is done through a PI controller. A Kalman filter is used for the estimation of the state of the object, based on force-torque measurements of a sensor at the wrist of the robot. We validate our approach by conducting experiments on a PR2 robot, available at the Robotics, Perception, and Learning lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. / Att greppa och manipulera objekt är en komplex uppgift för robotar. Det innebär ofta en kompromiss mellan hand och fingrars frihetsgrader (fingerfärdighet) mot reglersystemets kostnad och komplexitet. Extrinsic manipulation är en strategi för att öka fingerfärdigheten hos robothänder, och dess princip är att utnyttja accelerationer på objektet som orsakas av yttre krafter. Vi föreslår en metod baserad på att reglerakraft för hantering av objekt i handen, genom en återkoppling av kraftmomentet. För detta ändamål använder vi en prehensile pushing action, där objektet puttas mot en yta, under kvasistiska antaganden. Genom att använda en reglerstrategi får vi en robusthet mot parametrars osäkerhet (som friktion) och störningar, vilka inte beskrivs av systemets model. Kraftkontrollstrategin utförs på två olika sätt: kraften mellan objektet och den yttre ytan styrs med en admittance controller medan en ytterligare styrning av applicerad gripkraft på objektet görs med en PI-reglerare. Ett Kalman filter används för att estimera objektets tillstånd, baserat på mätningar av kraftmoment via en sensor vid robotens handled. Vi utvärderar vårt tillvägagångssätt genom att utföraexperiment på en PR2-robot vid KTHs Robotics, Perception och Learning Lab.

In this dissertation, the vehicle routing problem and one of its variants, the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pick up and deliveries (VRPSPD) are studied. The traditional vehicle routing problem (VRP) consists of constructing minimum cost routes for the vehicles to follow so that the set of customers are visited only once. A lot of effort has been devoted to research on developing fast and effective solution methods for many different versions of this problem by different majors of engineering profession. Thus, a structuring effort is needed to organize and document the vast literature so far has accumulated in this field. Over its lifespan the VRP literature has become quite disjointed and disparate. Keeping track of its development has become difficult because its subject matter transcends several academic disciplines and professions that range from algorithm design to traffic management. Consequently, this dissertation begins with defining VRP's domain in its entirety, accomplishes an allencompassing taxonomy for the VRP literature, and delineates all of VRP's facets in a parsimonious and discriminating manner. Sample articles chosen for their disparity are classified to illustrate the descriptive power and parsimony of the taxonomy. Next, a more detailed version of the original problem, the VRPSPD is examined and a more abstract taxonomy is proposed. Additionally, two other existing classification methodologies are used to distinguish all published VRPSPD papers on their respective research strategies and solution methods. By using well-organized methods this study provides a solid multidimensional identification of all VRPSPD studies? attributes thus synthesizing knowledge in the filed. Finally, a hybrid metaheuristic solution algorithm for the VRPSPD problem is presented. To solve this NP-hard vehicle routing problem a GRASP initiated hybrid genetic algorithm is developed. The algorithm is tested on two sets of benchmark problems from the literature with respect to computational efficiency and solution quality. The effect of starting with a better initial population for the genetic algorithm is further investigated by comparing the current results with previously generated ones. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm produces relatively good quality solutions and a better initial population yields a reduction in processing cycles.

No description available.

Este trabalho aborda o problema multiestágio de planejamento e programação da produção em indústrias cervejeiras. O processo de fabricação de cerveja pode ser dividido em duas etapas principais: preparação do líquido e envase. A primeira etapa ocorre, na maior parte do tempo, dentro de tanques de fermentação e maturação. A segunda ocorre nas linhas de envase, podendo ter início assim que o líquido estiver pronto nos tanques. O tempo de preparação do líquido demora vários dias, enquanto que na maioria das indústrias de bebidas carbonatadas este tempo é de no máximo algumas horas. O objetivo deste estudo é obter planos de produção viáveis que visam otimizar as decisões de programação envolvidas nestes processos. Visitas a cervejarias no Brasil e em Portugal foram realizadas para uma maior familiaridade do processo de produção e dados foram coletados. Modelos de programação inteira mista para representar o problema foram desenvolvidos, baseados em abordagens CSLP (The Continuous Setup Lot-Sizing Problem), GLSP (General Lot Sizing and Scheduling Problem), SPL (Simple Plant Location Problem) e ATSP (Asymmetric Travelling Salesman Problem). Os resultados mostram que os modelos são coerentes e representam adequadamente o problema, entretanto, mostram-se difíceis de serem resolvidos na otimalidade. Esta dificuldade de resolução dos modelos motivou o desenvolvimento de procedimentos MIP-heurísticos, como também de uma metaheurística GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure). As soluções obtidas pelos procedimentos heurísticos são de boa qualidade, quando comparadas ao melhor limitante inferior encontrado por meio da resolução dos modelos matemáticos. Os testes computacionais foram realizados utilizando instâncias geradas com base em dados reais. / This study deals with the multistage lot-sizing and scheduling problem in breweries. The brewing process can be divided into two main stages: preparation and filling of the liquid. The first stage occurs most of the time in fermentation and maturation tanks. The second stage occurs in the filling lines and it can start as soon as the liquid gets ready. The preparation time of the liquid takes several days, while in the carbonated beverage industries this time is at most a few hours. The purpose of this study is to obtain feasible production plans aimed at optimizing the decisions involved in these processes. Visits to brewery industries in Brazil and Portugal were held to a greater familiarity of the production process and data were collected. Mixed integer programming models have been developed to represent the problem, based on approaches for the CSLP (The Continuous Setup Lot-Sizing Problem), GLSP (General Lot Sizing and Scheduling Problem), SPL (Simple Plant Location Problem) and ATSP (Asymmetric Travelling Salesman Problem). The results show that the models are consistent and adequately represent the problem; however, they are difficult to be solved at optimality. This motivated the development of MIP-heuristic procedures, as well as a meta-heuristic GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure). The obtained solutions by the heuristics are of good quality, when compared to the best lower bound found by solving the mathematical models. The tests were conducted using generated instances based on real data.

Esta pesquisa consiste na solução do problema inverso de transferência radiativa para um meio participante (emissor, absorvedor e/ou espalhador) homogêneo unidimensional em uma camada, usando-se a combinação de rede neural artificial (RNA) com técnicas de otimização. A saída da RNA, devidamente treinada, apresenta os valores das propriedades radiativas [ω, τ0, ρ1 e ρ2] que são otimizadas através das seguintes técnicas: Particle Collision Algorithm (PCA), Algoritmos Genéticos (AG), Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) e Busca Tabu (BT). Os dados usados no treinamento da RNA são sintéticos, gerados através do problema direto sem a introdução de ruído. Os resultados obtidos unicamente pela RNA, apresentam um erro médio percentual menor que 1,64%, seria satisfatório, todavia para o tratamento usando-se as quatro técnicas de otimização citadas anteriormente, os resultados tornaram-se ainda melhores com erros percentuais menores que 0,04%, especialmente quando a otimização é feita por AG. / This research consists in the solution of the inverse problem of radiative transfer for a participating media (emmiting, absorbing and/or scattering) homogeneous one-dimensional in one layer, using the combination of artificial neural network (ANN), with optimization techniques. The output of the ANN, properly trained presents the values of the radiative properties [w, to, p1 e p2] that are optimized through the following techniques: Particle Collision Algorithm (PCA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) and Tabu Search (TS). The data used in the training are synthetics, generated through the direct problem without the introduction of noise. The results obtained by the (ANN) alone, presents an average percentage error minor than 1,64%, what it would be satisfying, however, for the treatment using the four techniques of optimization aforementioned, the results have become even better with percentage errors minor than 0,03%, especially when the optimization is made by the GA.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:48:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GustavoAS_DISSERT.pdf: 3060399 bytes, checksum: 659289bc757f2443a1b6902094747b13 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-27 / This work approaches the Scheduling Workover Rigs Problem (SWRP) to maintain the wells of an oil field, although difficult to resolve, is extremely important economical, technical and environmental. A mathematical formulation of this problem is presented, where an algorithmic approach was developed. The problem can be considered to find the best scheduling service to the wells by the workover rigs, taking into account the minimization of the composition related to the costs of the workover rigs and the total loss of oil suffered by the wells. This problem is similar to the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), which is classified as belonging to the NP-hard class. The goal of this research is to develop an algorithmic approach to solve the SWRP, using the fundamentals of metaheuristics like Memetic Algorithm and GRASP. Instances are generated for the tests to analyze the computational performance of the approaches mentioned above, using data that are close to reality. Thereafter, is performed a comparison of performance and quality of the results obtained by each one of techniques used / O trabalho em quest?o aborda o Problema da Programa??o das Sondas de Produ??o (PPSP) para atender os po?os de um campo de petr?leo. Embora de dif?cil resolu??o, ele ? de extrema import?ncia econ?mica, t?cnica e ambiental. Uma formula??o matem?tica deste problema ? apresentada, assim como desenvolvida uma abordagem algor?tmica. O problema abordado pode ser considerado como o de encontrar o melhor escalonamento de atendimento aos po?os pelas sondas, levando em considera??o a minimiza??o da composi??o dos custos relativos ?s sondas e da perda total da produ??o de petr?leo associada aos po?os que est?o aguardando por atendimento. Tal problema assemelha-se ao Problema de Roteamento de Ve?culos (PRV), que ? classificado como pertencente ? classe de problemas NP-Dif?cil. O objetivo da presente pesquisa ? desenvolver uma abordagem algor?tmica para resolver o PPSP, utilizando os fundamentos de metaheur?sticas como o Algoritmo Mem?tico e o GRASP. Inst?ncias s?o geradas para a realiza??o dos testes computacionais para an?lise do desempenho das abordagens acima citadas, utilizando dados que se aproximam da realidade. A partir da?, ? realizada uma compara??o de desempenho e qualidade dos resultados obtidos por cada uma das t?cnicas utilizadas