As fibras naturais estao ganhando espaco no mercado como materia-prima por apresentarem caracteristicas desejaveis para aplicacoes industriais, por ser um material renovavel, biodegradavel e de baixo custo. Neste sentido, a exploracao da celulose vem crescendo, inclusive no estudo de compositos polimericos reforcados com fibras naturais. Este trabalho visa primeiramente a obtencao de hibridos celulose/oxido de niobio hidratado a partir do tratamento e modificacao do bagaco de cana-de-acucar, e posteriormente a geracao de compositos de matriz de polietileno de baixa densidade (PEBD) e carga de celulose modificada. O Nb2O5.nH2O foi gerado pelo metodo da precipitacao convencional, partindo-se de niobio metalico. Os hibridos foram produzidos nas proporcoes de 10, 20, 30 e 40% de oxido e caracterizados utilizando-se as seguintes tecnicas: difracao de raios X (DRX), espectroscopia de absorcao no infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR), termogravimetria (TG), calorimetria exploratoria diferencial (DSC) e microscopia eletronica de varredura (MEV). Os resultados indicam que houve boa interacao entre a fibra de celulose e o oxido de niobio hidratado em todas as proporcoes estudadas. Pelas curvas DSC em atmosfera oxidativa pode-se observar que o Nb2O5.nH2O agiu como um agente retardante a chamas. A proporcao do hibrido definida para a geracao dos compositos foi 90Cel/10Nb2O5.nH2O. Inicialmente foram fabricados os compositos reforcados apenas com celulose branqueada, (x)PEBD/(100-x)Cel, com x = 5, 10, 15 e 20, e realizado o estudo de suas propriedades fisico-quimicas: FTIR, TG, DSC, MEV; e dos testes mecanicos. A partir dos dados obtidos definiu-se a proporcao 5% de reforco para a geracao dos compositos reforcados com o hibrido, 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O, e tambem com a adicao do agente compatibilizante: polietileno modificado com anidrido maleico (PE-g-AM), 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O+5PE-g-AM. A insercao das fibras de celulose a matriz polimerica gera um material mais resistente e rigido e com menor deformacao, assim como a presenca do Nb2O5.nH2O. O PE-g-AM aumenta o valor do modulo elastico. A utilizacao de uma menor granulometria de carga promove uma maior dispersao e uniformidade da celulose da matriz. A dispersao das fibras na matriz dificulta o processo migracao das cadeias moleculares do PEBD, diminuindo o grau de cristalinidade. Os valores de ?Hf mostram que a adicao do inorganico enfraquece a interacao interfacial da matriz com o reforco, diminuindo a ?Hf e a XC. A presenca do Nb2O5.nH2O nos compositos gera um aumento da Tf. / Natural fibers are in prominent position in the researches as raw material for presenting characteristics desirable for industrial applications; it is a renewable material, biodegradable and low cost. Thus, the exploration of cellulose has been growing, including the study of polymer composites reinforced with natural fibers. This study primarily aims to obtain hybrids cellulose/hydrous niobium oxide from the treatment and modification of sugarcane bagasse, and subsequently the generation of composites with matrix of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and modified cellulose as reinforcement. The Nb2O5.nH2O was generated by the conventional precipitation method, starting from niobium metal. The hybrids were produced in proportions of 10, 20, 30 and 40% of oxide and characterized using the following techniques: x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated good interaction between the cellulose fiber and niobium oxide hydrate in all ratios studied. For the DSC curves in oxidative atmosphere can be observed that the Nb2O5.nH2O acted as an agent flame retardant. The proportion of the hybrid set for the generation of composites was 90Cel/10Nb2O5.nH2O. Initially were manufactured composites reinforced only with bleached cellulose, (x)LDPE/(100-x)Cel, with x = 5, 10, 15 and 20, and was conducted the study the physicochemical properties: FTIR, TGA, DSC, SEM; and mechanical properties by the tensile tests. According to this results was defined the percentage of 5% for the generation of composites reinforced with hybrid 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O, and also with the addition of compatibilizing, polyethylene modified with maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O+5PE-g-MA. The inclusion of cellulose fibers to the polymer matrix creates a material more resistant and rigid and with a smaller deformation, as well as the presence of Nb2O5.nH2O. The PE-g-MA increases the value of elastic modulus. The use of a smaller particle size of load promotes greater uniformity and dispersion of the cellulose in the matrix. The dispersion of fibers in the matrix hinders the migration process of the molecular chains of LDPE, reducing the degree of crystallinity. ZHf values show that the addition of inorganic weakens the interaction at the matrix with the reinforcement, decreasing ZHf and XC. The presence of the Nb2O5.nH2O in composites generates an increase in Tf.

Yang, Yaling. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-207). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in Chinese.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2017-08-18T17:45:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Isabel Matos de Fraga.pdf: 5201934 bytes, checksum: 6bbaeba09901aea4cbaa9f69dbb0402e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-18T17:45:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Isabel Matos de Fraga.pdf: 5201934 bytes, checksum: 6bbaeba09901aea4cbaa9f69dbb0402e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-08 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior, CAPES, Brasil. / The researches on recycling of industrial wastes has been stepped up around the world to enhance the quality of the recycled product and provide greater efficiency of the productive system. The recycling of plastic materials has also grown in recent years, with Brazil improving its market position. In this way, this work aimed the development of composite materials using as a matrix, the low density polyethylene recycled (PEBDrec), chemical treated with oxidizing agents and, as fillers, E-cat and waste of scale. The PEBDrec was treated with oxidizing agent in order to cause modifications over its chemical structure and to improve compatibility with the residues of scale and E-cat. Were produced composites of PEBDrec treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and scale; PEBDrec treated with hydrogen peroxide and E-cat; PEBDrec treated with potassium permanganate (KmnO4) and scale and PEBDrec treated with potassium permanganate and E-cat. Were also obtained composites of PEBDrec untreated and mixed with scale or E-cat, to evaluate the action of the oxidizing agent in the compatibility between fillers that were used and the polymer matrix. The results obtained by the analysis of FTIR, XDR, TGA, SEM and mechanicals tests presented that the composites of PEBDrec treated with oxidizing agents showed a good interaction between the dispersed phase and the polymer matrix in comparison to composites PEBDrec without chemical treatment, and this compatibility was better for the lowest proportions. But this good interaction resulted in a decrease of thermal stability of composites in relation to the polymer matrix. It was also observed that the oxidizing agent KMnO4 was more effective in increasing the compatibility between the polymer and the E-cat, while the oxidizing agent H2O2 acted more strongly on increasing the compatibility between the polymer and scale. The composites of PEBDrec untreated, compared to the composites of PEBDrec treated with H2O2 and treated with KMnO4 , had a lower water absorption, indicating that chemical treatment was effective to modify the structure of the polymer, inducing the surface to a greater polarity, giving the chemical treated composites of PEBDrec a higher affinity to water. However a material more mechanical resistant was obtained just with the untreated polymer. The incorporation of the charges in the polymer matrix did not change the density of the material composites, indicating that despite of these materials be crystalline, they present low density, being possible to be used in civil construction. / As pesquisas sobre a reciclagem de res?duos industriais v?m sendo intensificadas em todo o mundo a fim de aumentar a qualidade do produto reciclado e propiciar maior efici?ncia do sistema produtivo. O reaproveitamento de materiais pl?sticos tamb?m tem crescido nos ?ltimos anos, com o Brasil melhorando seu posicionamento no mercado. Nesse sentido, essa disserta??o objetivou o desenvolvimento de materiais comp?sitos utilizando como matriz, o polietileno de baixa densidade reciclado (PEBDrec), tratado quimicamente com agentes oxidantes e como cargas, res?duos de Carepa e E-cat. O PEBDrec foi submetido a tratamento com agentes oxidantes com o objetivo de causar modifica??es na sua estrutura qu?mica e, propiciar uma melhoria na compatibilidade com os res?duos de carepa e E-cat. Foram produzidos comp?sitos de PEBDrec tratado com per?xido de hidrog?nio (H2O2) e carepa; PEBDrec tratado com per?xido de hidrog?nio e E-cat; PEBDrec tratado com permanganato de pot?ssio (KMnO4) e carepa e PEBDrec tratado com permanganato de pot?ssio e E-cat. Tamb?m foram obtidos comp?sitos de PEBDrec n?o tratado misturado a carepa ou E-cat, para avaliar a a??o do agente oxidante na compatibilidade entre a matriz polim?rica e as cargas utilizadas. Os resultados obtidos pelas an?lises de FTIR, DRX, TGA, MEV e ensaios mec?nicos mostraram que os comp?sitos de PEBDrec tratado com os agentes oxidantes apresentaram uma boa intera??o entre a fase dispersa e a matriz polim?rica em compara??o aos comp?sitos de PEBDrec sem o tratamento qu?mico, e essa compatibilidade foi melhor para as menores propor??es. Por?m, essa boa intera??o acarretou em uma diminui??o da estabilidade t?rmica dos comp?sitos, em rela??o a matriz polim?rica. Tamb?m foi poss?vel observar que o agente oxidante KMnO4 foi mais eficaz no aumento da compatibilidade entre o pol?mero e o E-cat, enquanto que o agente oxidante H2O2 atuou mais fortemente no aumento da compatibilidade entre o pol?mero e a carepa. Os comp?sitos de PEBDrec n?o tratado, em compara??o aos comp?sitos de PEBDrec tratados com H2O2 e tratados com KMnO4, apresentaram uma menor absor??o de ?gua, indicando que o tratamento qu?mico foi eficaz para modificar a estrutura do pol?mero deixando sua superf?cie com maior polaridade e conferindo aos comp?sitos de PEBDrec tratado quimicamente uma maior afinidade pela ?gua. Por?m um material mais resistente mecanicamente s? foi obtido com o pol?mero n?o tratado. A incorpora??o das cargas na matriz polim?rica praticamente n?o alterou a densidade desses materiais comp?sitos, indicando que apesar de eles serem materiais cristalinos, eles apresentam baixa densidade, sendo poss?vel suas aplica??es no ramo da constru??o civil.

Future wireless networks will have applications that require many devices to be connected to the network. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising multiple access scheme that allows more users to simultaneously transmit in a common channel than orthogonal signaling techniques. This overloading allows for high spectral efficiencies which can support the high demand for wireless access. One notable NOMA scheme is low-density spreading (LDS), which is a code domain multiple access scheme. Low density spreading operates like code division multiple access (CDMA) in the sense that users use a spreading sequence to spread their data, but the spreading sequences have a low number of nonzero chips, hence the term low-density. The message passing algorithm (MPA) is typically used for multi-user detection (MUD) of LDS systems. The MPA detector has complexity that is exponential to the number of users contributing to each chip. LDS systems suffer from two inherent problems: high computational complexity, and vulnerability to multipath channels. In this thesis, these two problems are addressed. A lower complexity MUD technique is presented, which offers complexity that is proportional to the number of users squared. The proposed detector is based on minimum mean square error (MMSE) and parallel interference cancellation (PIC) detectors. Simulation results show the proposed MUD technique achieves reductions in multiplications and additions by 81.84% and 67.87% with a loss of about 0.25 dB with overloading at 150%. In addition, a precoding scheme designed to mitigate the effects of the multipath channel is also presented. This precoding scheme applies an inverse channel response to the input signal before transmission. This allows for the received signal to eliminate the multipath effects that destroy the low-density structure.

<p>Low-density parity-check codes have recently received much attention because of their excellent performance and the availability of a simple iterative decoder. The decoder, however, requires large amounts of memory, which causes problems with memory consumption. </p><p>We investigate a new decoding scheme for low density parity check codes to address this problem. The basic idea is to define a reliability measure and a threshold, and stop updating the messages for a bit whenever its reliability is higher than the threshold. We also consider some modifications to this scheme, including a dynamic threshold more suitable for codes with cycles, and a scheme with soft thresholds which allow the possibility of removing a decision which have proved wrong. </p><p>By exploiting the bits different rates of convergence we are able to achieve an efficiency of up to 50% at a bit error rate of less than 10^-5. The efficiency should roughly correspond to the power consumption of a hardware implementation of the algorithm.</p>

The unifying theme of this dissertation is the development of new solutions for decoding and inference problems based on convex optimization methods. Th first part considers the joint detection and decoding problem for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes on finite-state channels (FSCs). Hard-disk drives (or magnetic recording systems), where the required error rate (after decoding) is too low to be verifiable by simulation, are most important applications of this research. Recently, LDPC codes have attracted a lot of attention in the magnetic storage industry and some hard-disk drives have started using iterative decoding. Despite progress in the area of reduced-complexity detection and decoding algorithms, there has been some resistance to the deployment of turbo-equalization (TE) structures (with iterative detectors/decoders) in magnetic-recording systems because of error floors and the difficulty of accurately predicting performance at very low error rates. To address this problem for channels with memory, such as FSCs, we propose a new decoding algorithms based on a well-defined convex optimization problem. In particular, it is based on the linear-programing (LP) formulation of the joint decoding problem for LDPC codes over FSCs. It exhibits two favorable properties: provable convergence and predictable error-floors (via pseudo-codeword analysis). Since general-purpose LP solvers are too complex to make the joint LP decoder feasible for practical purposes, we develop an efficient iterative solver for the joint LP decoder by taking advantage of its dual-domain structure. The main advantage of this approach is that it combines the predictability and superior performance of joint LP decoding with the computational complexity of TE. The second part of this dissertation considers the matrix completion problem for the recovery of a data matrix from incomplete, or even corrupted entries of an unknown matrix. Recommender systems are good representatives of this problem, and this research is important for the design of information retrieval systems which require very high scalability. We show that our IMP algorithm reduces the well-known cold-start problem associated with collaborative filtering systems in practice.

In wireless communications, the use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver is a key technology to enable high data rate transmission without additional bandwidth or transmit power. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes are widely used in many wireless standards, allowing higher throughput using spatial multiplexing techniques. MIMO soft detection poses significant challenges to the MIMO receiver design as the detection complexity increases exponentially with the number of antennas. As the next generation wireless system is pushing for multi-Gbps data rate, there is a great need for high-throughput low-complexity soft-output MIMO detector. The brute-force implementation of the optimal MIMO detection algorithm would consume enormous power and is not feasible for the current technology. We propose a reduced-complexity soft-output MIMO detector architecture based on a trellis-search method. We convert the MIMO detection problem into a shortest path problem. We introduce a path reduction and a path extension algorithm to reduce the search complexity while still maintaining sufficient soft information values for the detection. We avoid the missing counter-hypothesis problem by keeping multiple paths during the trellis search process. The proposed trellis-search algorithm is a data-parallel algorithm and is very suitable for high speed VLSI implementation. Compared with the conventional tree-search based detectors, the proposed trellis-based detector has a significant improvement in terms of detection throughput and area efficiency. The proposed MIMO detector has great potential to be applied for the next generation Gbps wireless systems by achieving very high throughput and good error performance. The soft information generated by the MIMO detector will be processed by a channel decoder, e.g. a low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder or a Turbo decoder, to recover the original information bits. Channel decoder is another very computational-intensive block in a MIMO receiver SoC (system-on-chip). We will present high-performance LDPC decoder architectures and Turbo decoder architectures to achieve 1+ Gbps data rate. Further, a configurable decoder architecture that can be dynamically reconfigured to support both LDPC codes and Turbo codes is developed to support multiple 3G/4G wireless standards. We will present ASIC and FPGA implementation results of various MIMO detectors, LDPC decoders, and Turbo decoders. We will discuss in details the computational complexity and the throughput performance of these detectors and decoders.

Heat shock protein (HSP)27 is traditionally described as an intracellular chaperone and signaling molecule, but growing evidence suggests it is released from immune cells where it plays an anti-inflammatory role during atherogenesis. Previously, the O’Brien lab found that overexpression of HSP27 led to augmented HSP27 serum levels in female apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE-/-) mice, attenuated atherogenesis, and inhibited macrophage foam cell formation via physical binding with scavenger receptor (SR)-A. However, the precise mechanism of atheroprotection remained elusive. This thesis sought to ascertain the mechanism(s) by which HSP27 prevents foam cell formation, and determine if SR-A, a key receptor involved in the uptake of lipid into macrophages, plays an important role in HSP27-mediated atheroprotection. Pre-treatment of human macrophages with recombinant HSP27 (rHSP27) inhibited acytelated low density lipoprotein (acLDL) binding and uptake independent from receptor competition effect. Reduction in uptake was associated with attenuation of expression of SR-A mRNA, total protein, and cell surface expression. To explore the signaling mechanism by which HSP27 modulated SR-A expression it was hypothesized that nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB), a major regulator of many atherosclerosis gene programs, is altered by extracellular HSP27. Indeed, rHSP27 markedly activated NF-kB signaling in macrophages. Using an inhibitor of NF-kBsignaling there was an attenuation of rHSP27-induced inhibition of SR-A gene and protein expression, as well as lipid uptake, suggesting that SR-A expression is regulated by NF-kB activation. Lastly, to investigate if SR-A is required for HSP27-mediated atheroprotection in vivo, ApoE-/- and ApoE-/-SR-A-/- mice fed a high fat diet were treated with rHSP25, the mouse orthologue of HSP27, or PBS for 3 weeks. While rHSP25 therapy equally reduced serum cholesterol levels in the mouse cohorts, aortic atherogenesis, assessed using en face and sinus cross-sectional analyses, was attenuated in ApoE-/- mice but not ApoE-/-SR-A-/- mice. In conclusion, rHSP27 inhibits foam cell formation by downregulating SR-A expression. This effect may be associated with NF-kB activation. Reductions in atherosclerotic burden by rHSP27 require SR-A, and are independent of changes in serum cholesterol levels, highlighting the importance of macrophage lipid uptake in atherogenesis. Results presented in this thesis demonstrate that SR-A is a major target for HSP27 atheroprotection in the vessel wall, and provide an impetus for further studies that investigate the potential therapeutic value of HSP27.

The field of proteomics studies the structure and function of proteins in a large scale and high throughput manner. My work in the field of proteomics focuses on identifying interactions between proteins and discovering novel interactions. The identification of these interactions provides new information on metabolic and disease pathways and the working proteome of a cell. Cells are lysed and purified using antibody based affinity purification followed by digestion and identification using an HPLC coupled to a mass spectrometer. In my studies, I looked at the interaction networks of several AD related genes (Apolipoprotein E, Clusterin variant 1 and 2, Low-density lipoprotein receptor, Phosphatidylinositol binding clathrin assembly protein, Alpha-synuclein and Platelet-activating factor receptor) and an endosomal recycling pathway involved in cholesterol metabolism (Eps15 homology domain 1,2 and 4, Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 and Low-density lipoprotein receptor). Several novel and existing interactors were identified and these interactions were validated using co-immunopurification, which could be the basis for future research.

Low-density parity-check codes have recently received much attention because of their excellent performance and the availability of a simple iterative decoder. The decoder, however, requires large amounts of memory, which causes problems with memory consumption. We investigate a new decoding scheme for low density parity check codes to address this problem. The basic idea is to define a reliability measure and a threshold, and stop updating the messages for a bit whenever its reliability is higher than the threshold. We also consider some modifications to this scheme, including a dynamic threshold more suitable for codes with cycles, and a scheme with soft thresholds which allow the possibility of removing a decision which have proved wrong. By exploiting the bits different rates of convergence we are able to achieve an efficiency of up to 50% at a bit error rate of less than 10^-5. The efficiency should roughly correspond to the power consumption of a hardware implementation of the algorithm.