This thesis deals with a new marketing tool for campaigns to support product sales at the point of sales. Banner can appropriately draw customer's attention and also persuade to unplanned impulsive purchase. It is a plastic pocket that can hold posters to support individual product or brands of companies and also can be changed quite often. Uniqueness of the solution lies in the location of the advertising space. In case an LCD monitor is part of the cash register, the banner is located on the other side directly exposed to the eyes of customers. The aim of the thesis is to present a new marketing tool and ideally prove that the right use of visual communication means is able to encourage impulsive purchases even in the environment of a Czech bank. Even though it was not completely proven that the banner can encourage impulsive purchases in banks, the whole concept has been prepared, it's potential revealed and the possible effective uses for normal practice have been formulated.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects 300 million people worldwide and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. The aetiology of depression, emerging through a gene x environment interaction, is still incompletely understood which prevents tailoring of treatment approaches. In addition to MDD core symptoms, such as anhedonia (a diminished anticipation or experience of pleasure), depressed patients suffer from a plethora of manifestations including cognitive impairments, which occur primarily in the domains of executive function, attention and memory. Patients remitted from affective symptoms of MDD often continue to display cognitive impairments. These cognitive deficits are the longest present residual symptom, predict treatment response and increase risk of relapse. Consequently, cognitive impairments need to be targeted more effectively by antidepressants for complete remission from MDD. Clinically relevant animal models are essential for developing, tailoring and testing such novel, pro-cognitive antidepressants. This PhD project aimed to establish a preclinical screening platform for the testing of pro-cognitive antidepressants, to improve understanding of MDD risk factors and consequent symptom development, and finally, to focus on clinical relevance of the applied techniques. The chronic mild stress (CMS) rodent model of depression was used, known for displaying the core symptom anhedonia, but also for a high construct, face and predictive validity. The environmental MDD risk factor 'stress' induces an anhedonic-like phenotype in a subgroup of exposed rats, whereas another subgroup of rats is resilient, as determined by the sucrose consumption test. The cognitive performance of different rat strains, including CMS anhedonic-like and resilient rats, was assessed employing the touchscreen operant platform, which was developed based on the Cambridge neuropsychological test automated battery (CANTAB) for assessing cognition in humans. Furthermore, a group of anhedonic-like rats was treated with the antidepressant vortioxetine, which acts as both a pro-cognitive and antidepressant treatment. Our results showed that stress exposure induced anhedonia in albino and pigmented rat strains, although stress did not affect cognitive performance of pigmented rats in a simple pairwise discrimination touchscreen task. Applying a more complex pairedassociates learning touchscreen task revealed impaired cognitive performance in the CMS anhedonic-like but not in the resilient phenotype. Furthermore, vortioxetine treatment reversed anhedonia in the CMS model and altered executive functions in treated rats. The expression of genes involved in the stress response, affective disorders and neuronal plasticity was altered in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus owned to treatment and hedonic state. Thus, we have demonstrated that the CMS model exhibits both stress-induced cognitive alterations and depression-associated cognitive impairments in touchscreen tasks. Furthermore, touchscreen testing was sufficiently sensitive to detect alterations in cognitive performance due to pharmacological intervention. Overall, we established a potential platform for pro-cognitive antidepressant drug screening. Furthermore, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), involved in learning and memory, was examined in the context of depression. BDNF is reduced in MDD patients as well as in preclinical models in response to stress. Although this suggests that BDNF contributes to the aetiology of depression, studies including mice heterozygous for BDNF (BDNF+/-) have generated conflicting results. BDNF+/- rats may provide a more suitable model as (1) rats have a greater behavioural repertoire than mice, (2) classical behaviour tests are designed for rats, and (3) rats, like humans, produce peripheral BDNF. We found anhedonia and mild signs of anxiety in BDNF+/- rats, accompanied by prefrontal and hippocampal changes in expression of genes relevant in psychiatric disorders and underpinning learning. Thus, behavioural and molecular findings in BDNF+/- rats complement existing literature and suggest that rats are a more suitable model in BDNF research than mice. Overall, the project uncovered environmental and genetic manifestations of risk factors in translational models and established a novel tool for translational pro-cognitive antidepressant drug screening.

Neste trabalho estudaremos a existência de soluções fracas, pseudo quase periódicas e periódicas, para uma classe de sistemas não autônomo do tipo neutro com retardamento não limitado modelados na forma \' d SUP. dt\' (u(t) + F(t, ut)) = A(t)u(t) + G(t, \'u IND.t\' ), t \'PERTENCE A\' (0, a), \'u IND. 0\' = \'varphi\' \'PERTENCE A\' B, onde {A(t)} ´e uma família de operadores lineares fechados, com um dom´?nio comum D =D(A(t)), a história ut : (-\'INFINITO\'1, 0] \'SETA\' X, \'u IND. t\'(THETA) = u(t+\'THETA\'), pertence a um espaço de fase abstrato B definido axiomaticamente e F,G : [0, a] × B \'SETA\' X são funções apropriadas. Para obter alguns de nossos resultados, precisaremos usar as propriedades da família de operadores de evolução (U(t, s))\'t > OU=\'s, para o sistema u? (t) - A(t)u(t) = 0, t \'Pertencer A\' (0, a), \'u IND.0\' = \'phi\', onde U(t, s) ´e uma fam´?lia de operadores lineares limitados em X / In this work we study the existence of mild, pseudo almost-periodic and periodic solution, concepts introduced be later for a class of abstract neutral functional systems with unbounded delay in the form \'d SUP dt\' (u(t) + F(t, \'u IND.t\')) = A(t)u(t) + G(t, \'u IND. t\'), t IT BELONGS\' (0, a), \'u IND.0\' = \'varphi\' \'IT BELONGS\' , where is a family of closed linear operator in a Banach space X, with a common domain D = D(A(t)), t \'IT BELONGS\' R, densely defined in X; the history \'u IND. t\' : (-\'THE infinite\', 0] \' ARROW\' X, ut(\'THETA\') = x(t+\'THETA\'), belongs to some abstract phase space B defined axiomatically and F,G : I ×B \'ARROW\' X are appropriate functions and I is a bounded or unbounded interval in R. To establish some of our results, we will use the properties of a systems of evolution (U(t, s))\' t IND. > OR =\'s, for a system in the form u? (t) - A(t)u(t) = 0, t \'IT BELONGS\' (0, a), \'u IND.0\' = \'PHI\', where (U(t, s))\'t IND. > 0R =\'s is a family of bounded linear operators on X

This thesis addresses the orbit transfer optimization problem of a spacecraft. The optimal orbit transfer is the process of altering the orbit of a spacecraft with minimum propellant consumption. The spacecrafts are needed to realize orbit transfer to reach, change or keep its orbit. The spacecraft may be a satellite or the last stage of a launch vehicle that is operated at the exo-atmospheric region. In this study, a genetic algorithm based orbit transfer method has been developed. The applicability of genetic algorithm based orbit transfer method has been verified using orbit transfers which are optimal at specific cases. The solution to orbit transfer problem is also searched using steepest descent algorithm.While genetic algorithm can reach the optimal solution, steepest descent algorithm can reach optimal solution when a good initial prediction is provided. The effects of the initial orbital values on the orbit transfer solutions are also studied.

In many modern wireless and wireline communication networks, the interference power from other communication and non-communication devices is increasingly dominating the background noise power, leading to interference limited communication systems. Conventional communication systems have been designed under the assumption that noise in the system can be modeled as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). While appropriate for thermal noise, the AWGN model does not always capture the interference statistics in modern communication systems. Interference from uncoordinated users and sources is particularly harmful to communication performance because it cannot be mitigated by current interference management techniques. Based on previous statistical-physical models for uncoordinated wireless interference, this dissertation derives similar models for uncoordinated interference in PLC networks. The dissertation then extends these models for wireless and powerline interference to include temporal dependence among amplitude samples. The extensions are validated with measured data. The rest of this dissertation utilizes the proposed models to design receivers in interference limited environments. Prior designs generally adopt suboptimal approaches and often ignore the problem of channel estimation which limits their applicability in practical systems. This dissertation uses the graphical model representation of the OFDM system to propose low-complexity message passing OFDM receivers that leverage recent results in soft-input soft-output decoding, approximate message passing, and sparse signal recovery for joint channel/interference estimation and data decoding. The resulting receivers provide huge improvements in communication performance (more than 10dB) over the conventional receivers at a comparable computational complexity. Finally, this dissertation addresses the design of robust receivers that can be deployed in rapidly varying environments where the interference statistics are constantly changing. / text

137 f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-04-25T18:37:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Diana Cardoso.pdf: 643826 bytes, checksum: 24ae80b1e26893a6fc929332fabcefa0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br) on 2013-04-30T20:22:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Diana Cardoso.pdf: 643826 bytes, checksum: 24ae80b1e26893a6fc929332fabcefa0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-30T20:22:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Diana Cardoso.pdf: 643826 bytes, checksum: 24ae80b1e26893a6fc929332fabcefa0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a concepção do professor sobre o TDAH (Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade) na identificação, caracterização e gestão dos comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo dos alunos em sala de aula. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram quarenta professores que lecionam nas classes de educação infantil, ensino fundamental e ensino médio em escolas públicas e / ou particulares da cidade de Salvador, participantes dos cursos ministrados pela mestranda sobre TDAH entre o 2º semestre de 2005 e o 1º semestre de 2006. O referencial teórico foi construído com base em: Barkley (2002), Mattos (2003), Arruda (2006), Vasconcellos (2002), Vigotski (1998) e outros autores. O método adotado foi a análise de conteúdo obtido a partir das informações contidas no instrumento utilizado para a coleta dos dados: um questionário aberto contendo 11 (onze) questões que foram distribuídas em três categorias: a primeira referiu-se a caracterização dos comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo; a segunda dedicou-se ao aspectos social e emocional e a terceira tratou da práxis pedagógica. Diante da análise dos dados, observou-se a semelhança da descrição das características dos comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo, feita pelos professores, com os critérios diagnósticos do TDAH apresentados pelo Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais - DSM IV. Constatou-se, assim, que o conhecimento dos professores sobre o TDAH, consiste apenas em caracterizar os comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo. Os resultados mostraram o desconhecimento e despreparo deles para lidar com o aluno que apresenta estes tipos de comportamento em sala de aula; bem como os sentimentos de impotência, intolerância e incapacidade vivenciados pelo professor. Por fim, evidenciou-se a importância de fomentar discussão sobre o modelo de gestão e metodologia usado em sala de aula, pois o estudo revelou a tendência dos professores em atribuir o comportamento inadequado do aluno a causas familiares, emocionais e sociais, esquecendo de refletir sobre a práxis pedagógica adotada nas escolas. / Salvador

Promouvoir la pratique d'une activité physique (AP) régulière fait partie des priorités de santé publique étant donné la faiblesse des taux de pratique constatée aujourd'hui dans la plupart des pays, malgré ses nombreux bénéfices sur la santé. Les théories dominantes des comportements de santé se focalisent sur les précurseurs « réfléchis » de l'action et supposent qu'il suffit de changer les cognitions conscientes d'une personne pour changer son comportement. Pourtant, les résultats de plusieurs méta-analyses indiquent qu'un changement dans les cognitions conscientes n'est que faiblement associé à une modification du comportement. Ces dernières années, des modèles duaux comme le Modèle Réflexion-Impulsion (MRI ; Strack & Deutsch, 2004) ont suggéré l'existence de précurseurs « impulsifs » susceptibles d'influencer les comportements à côté des cognitions conscientes. La question centrale de cette thèse est de savoir si l'utilisation des tels modèles enrichit la compréhension des mécanismes motivationnels impliqués dans la régulation du comportement d'AP. Prenant appui sur le MRI, un programme de recherche constitué de 5 études a été conduit afin (a) de tester l'intérêt de prendre en compte les processus impulsifs présumés par le MRI dans la prédiction du comportement d'AP, (b) d'examiner l'impact de la tendance impulsive d'approche (vs. d'évitement) des comportements sédentaires (CS) sur les comportements d'AP, (c) d'identifier les patterns de relations (e.g., additifs ou interactifs) qui existent entre les processus impulsifs et réfléchis qui régissent l'AP et les CS, (d) de repérer des variables dispositionnelles, motivationnelles et propres aux caractéristiques du comportement pouvant moduler le poids des processus réfléchis et impulsifs sur les comportements d'AP, et (e) tester plus directement la causalité de la relation entre les processus impulsifs et l'AP en manipulant expérimentalement les tendances impulsives d'approche de l'AP et des CS. Dans ce qu'ils ont d'essentiel, les résultats font apparaître que (a) l'intégration des processus impulsifs augmente le pourcentage de variance expliquée de l'AP (études 1 et 3) ; (b) la tendance impulsive d'approche (vs. évitement) des CS prédit prospectivement et négativement les comportements d'AP (études 1 et 3) ; (c) les processus impulsifs d'approche de l'AP et des CS ont des effets additifs (études 1 et 3) et interactifs (étude 1) qui permettent, entre autre, de mieux saisir les mécanismes par l'intermédiaire desquels un message de santé promouvant l'AP se transforme ou non en comportement véritable ; (d) plusieurs variables modulent le poids des processus réfléchis et impulsifs, comme (i) des différences interindividuelles dans le trait d'impulsivité (qui modulent l'interaction négative entre les intentions de pratique et la tendance impulsive à approcher les CS) (étude 2), (ii) le type de comportement (les AP spontanées de faible intensité sont principalement régulées par le système impulsif) (étude 3), (iii) la nature de la motivation (l'AP sous-tendue par une motivation contrainte est dépendante du système impulsif, ce qui n'est pas le cas pour une motivation autonome) (étude 4) ; et (e) la manipulation expérimentale des tendances impulsives à approcher (vs. éviter) l'AP et les CS provoque à la fois une modification de ces tendances et un temps de pratique plus important d'un exercice physique (étude 5). Pris ensemble, les résultats de ce travail doctoral supportent la validité prédictive des précurseurs impulsifs dans le cadre des comportements d'AP. Ils confirment l'intérêt du MRI pour mieux comprendre la complexité des processus motivationnels – impulsifs et réfléchis – impliqués dans la régulation des comportements d'AP. Au niveau des implications pratiques, ces résultats devraient inciter à développer des interventions ciblant non seulement la composante réfléchie, mais aussi la composante impulsive des AP. / Promoting regular physical activity is part of the public health priorities given its extensive health benefits, but low participation rates still remain (Haskell et al., 2007). The dominant theories of health behaviors focus on reflective precursors of action and assume that changing person's conscious cognitions will engender substantial changes in behavior. However, meta-analyses indicate that changing conscious thought does not, it seems, guarantee PA behavior change. In recent years, dual-process models such as the Reflective-Impulsive Model (RIM; Strack & Deutsch, 2004) have suggested that impulsive processes also exert some influence on health behaviors. The main question of the present dissertation is whether the use of dual-process models enriches the understanding of the motivational mechanism involved in the regulation of PA behaviors. Building on the RIM, a program of research comprising 5 studies was conducted to (a) test the value of taking into account impulsive processes presumed by the RIM in predicting PA behaviors, (b) examine the impact of impulsive approach (vs. avoidance) tendency towards sedentary behavior (SB) on PA behavior, (c) identify the patterns of relationships (e.g., additive or interactive) between impulsive and reflective processes that govern PA and SB, (d) identify dispositional, motivational and specific behavioral characteristics that can modulate the weight of reflective and impulsive process on PA, and (e) test more directly the causality of the relationship between impulsive processes and PA in experimentally manipulating impulsive approach (vs. avoidance) tendencies towards PA and SB. Essentially, results show that (a) the integration of impulsive processes increases the percentage of variance explained (studies 1 and 3); (b) impulsive approach (vs. avoidance) tendency toward SB prospectively and negatively predict PA behaviors (studies 1 and 3); (c) impulsive processes toward PA and SB have additive (studies 1 and 3) and interactive (study 1) effects, which allow, among other, to better understand the mechanisms through which PA-promoting message is effective or ineffective in promoting PA behavior; (d) several variables moderate the relative weight of impulsive versus reflective precursors on behavior determination, such as, (i) inter-individual differences in trait impulsivity (which moderates the negative interaction between intention to adopt PA and the impulsive approach tendency toward SB (study 2), (ii) the type of behavior (Spontaneous PA of low intensity are mainly regulated by the impulsive system) (study 3), (iii) the nature of motivation (activity underpinned by a controlled motivation is dependent of the impulsive system, which is not the case for autonomous motivation) (study 4); and (e) experimental manipulation of impulsive approach tendencies causes changes in the impulsive tendency to approach (vs. avoid) PA and is accompanied by a change in the regulation of PA behavior (study 5).Taken together, results of this dissertation support the predictive validity of the impulsive system in the PA context. They confirm the utility of the RIM to better understand the complexity of the motivational processes – reflective and impulsive – involved in the regulation of PA behaviors. A clear implication of the present findings is that changing PA is likely to be more effective if interventions are designed to target both reflective and impulsive component of AP behavior.

Neste trabalho estudaremos a existência de soluções fracas, pseudo quase periódicas e periódicas, para uma classe de sistemas não autônomo do tipo neutro com retardamento não limitado modelados na forma \' d SUP. dt\' (u(t) + F(t, ut)) = A(t)u(t) + G(t, \'u IND.t\' ), t \'PERTENCE A\' (0, a), \'u IND. 0\' = \'varphi\' \'PERTENCE A\' B, onde {A(t)} ´e uma família de operadores lineares fechados, com um dom´?nio comum D =D(A(t)), a história ut : (-\'INFINITO\'1, 0] \'SETA\' X, \'u IND. t\'(THETA) = u(t+\'THETA\'), pertence a um espaço de fase abstrato B definido axiomaticamente e F,G : [0, a] × B \'SETA\' X são funções apropriadas. Para obter alguns de nossos resultados, precisaremos usar as propriedades da família de operadores de evolução (U(t, s))\'t > OU=\'s, para o sistema u? (t) - A(t)u(t) = 0, t \'Pertencer A\' (0, a), \'u IND.0\' = \'phi\', onde U(t, s) ´e uma fam´?lia de operadores lineares limitados em X / In this work we study the existence of mild, pseudo almost-periodic and periodic solution, concepts introduced be later for a class of abstract neutral functional systems with unbounded delay in the form \'d SUP dt\' (u(t) + F(t, \'u IND.t\')) = A(t)u(t) + G(t, \'u IND. t\'), t IT BELONGS\' (0, a), \'u IND.0\' = \'varphi\' \'IT BELONGS\' , where is a family of closed linear operator in a Banach space X, with a common domain D = D(A(t)), t \'IT BELONGS\' R, densely defined in X; the history \'u IND. t\' : (-\'THE infinite\', 0] \' ARROW\' X, ut(\'THETA\') = x(t+\'THETA\'), belongs to some abstract phase space B defined axiomatically and F,G : I ×B \'ARROW\' X are appropriate functions and I is a bounded or unbounded interval in R. To establish some of our results, we will use the properties of a systems of evolution (U(t, s))\' t IND. > OR =\'s, for a system in the form u? (t) - A(t)u(t) = 0, t \'IT BELONGS\' (0, a), \'u IND.0\' = \'PHI\', where (U(t, s))\'t IND. > 0R =\'s is a family of bounded linear operators on X

Orientador: Maurílio Boaventura / Banca: Adilson Gonzaga / Banca: Eliana Xavier Linhares de Andrade / Resumo: Neste trabalho propõe-se um filtro mediano seletivo e um filtro híbrido para eliminação de ruído impulsivo em imagens digitais monocromáticas. O primeiro é baseado em uma modificação do filtro mediano por meio de um detector de ruído impulsivo. O segundo é obtido combinando-se o filtro mediano seletivo com um modelo de retoque digital. A remoção de ruído impulsivo em uma imagem colorida é realizada por meio da extensão dos filtros propostos para cada canal de cor da imagem. Os experimentos realizados indicam que os métodos propostos são eficazes na restauração de imagens com grandes densidades de ruído. / Abstract: In this paper a selective median filter and a hybrid filter for removing impulsive noise in digital grayscale images are proposed. The first is a median filter modification based on impulsive noise detector. The second is obtained by combining the selective median filter with a digital inpainting model. The noise removal in color image is obtained by extending the proposed filters for each color channel of the image. The experiments indicated that the proposed methods are powerful in restoring images with high densities noise. / Mestre

O presente trabalho apresenta a teoria de sistemas dinâmicos dissipativos impulsivos. Apresentamos resultados suficientes e necessários para obtermos dissipatividade para sistemas impulsivos autônomos e não autônomos utilizando funções de Lyapunov. No que segue, desenvolvemos a teoria de estabilidade para a seção nula de um sistema dinâmico não autônomo com impulsos. Utilizando os resultados da teoria abstrata para sistemas não autônomos com impulsos, apresentamos o estudo da estabilidade de um modelo presa-predador com controle e impulsos. / The present work presents the theory of impulsive dissipative dynamical systems. We present necessary and sufficient conditions to obtain dissipativity for autonomous and non-autonomous impulsive dynamical systems via Lyapunov functions. In the sequel, we develop the theory of stability for the null section of non-autonomous dynamical systems with impulses. Using the results from the abstract theory we present the study of stability for a controlled prey-predator model under impulse conditions.