The dissertation dealt with the interaction between the macro-economy and financial markets. In the first part of the dissertation I laid down a general case for macro-based active asset allocation. In the main part of my dissertation, after a theoretical introduction to term structure models and macrofinance models, I developed a VAR macrofinance model of the term structure of interest rates for the Czech economy based on the dynamic interpretation of the Nelson-Siegel model, and showed the use of such modeling framework in bond-yield prediction and asset allocation.

The aim of this thesis is to introduce the family of A5 algorithm which is used in data encryption and decryption in GSM phones. It is focused on real time cryptanalysis of the stream cipher A5/1. It describes in detail the known plaintext attack published by A. Biryukov, A. Shamir and D. Wagner. Both the attack and the cipher are implemented. The implementation proves that the preprocessing stage of the attack is very time consuming, but the actual attack can be carried out in real time on a single PC. Then the problem of finding a good statistical model for the process of generating tree of predecessors of internal states of A5/1 is studied. We present reasons why the singletype Galton-Watson process is not suitable for the problem and introduce a multitype Galton-Watson process and a macro process. The models are applied to the process of generating predecessors and their predictions are compared with experimental data.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta investigaÃÃo està centrada na anÃlise e descriÃÃo da realizaÃÃo da seqÃÃncia narrativa no gÃnero notÃcia, segundo o esquema prototÃpico narrativo de Adam (1992), e na verificaÃÃo de relaÃÃes existentes entre esse modelo seqÃencial e a estrutura propriamente dita do gÃnero. O corpus desta pesquisa foi constituÃdo por 50 notÃcias, dentre as quais 26 policiais e 24 nÃo-policiais, retiradas dos sites dos periÃdicos jornalÃsticos O Povo e Folha de SÃo Paulo, no perÃodo de setembro de 2005 a setembro de 2006, e submetidos à identificaÃÃo das macroproposiÃÃes narrativas em sua estrutura textual. A anÃlise realizada levou-nos a uma nova classificaÃÃo das notÃcias em narrativas e expositivas, de acordo, respectivamente, com a identificaÃÃo ou nÃo da seqÃÃncia narrativa na sua estrutura. A partir dessa classificaÃÃo, constatamos que a seqÃÃncia narrativa se atualizou predominantemente nas notÃcias policiais, que apresentaram uma forma de realizaÃÃo recorrente: a ocorrÃncia expressiva da seqÃÃncia narrativa, com todas as suas fases, no lead, e a constante repetiÃÃo ou retomada de algumas das macroproposiÃÃes narrativas no corpo da notÃcia, como uma extensÃo do conteÃdo jà exposto, configurando uma caracterÃstica do gÃnero. A seqÃÃncia narrativa funcionou como um importante mecanismo de organizaÃÃo textual das notÃcias narrativas, ainda que sua conformaÃÃo narrativa prototÃpica tenha sido diferente da delineada por Adam. Jà nas notÃcias nÃo-policiais, o rendimento foi baixo. A estrutura composicional recorrente que registramos configurou-se como expositiva e, nesse caso, a analisamos à luz dos pressupostos teÃricos de Bronckart (1999). Acreditamos ter possibilitado uma interessante reflexÃo teÃrica sobre a realizaÃÃo do protÃtipo da seqÃÃncia narrativa de Adam no gÃnero notÃcia e, do ponto de vista aplicado, esperamos ter contribuÃdo para a operacionalizaÃÃo do conceito de seqÃÃncia textual narrativa no tratamento didÃtico de gÃneros nÃo-literÃrios considerados de natureza narrativa, tal como o gÃnero notÃcia. / This research analyzes and describes the realization of the narrative sequences in the genre news of newspaper through the Michel Adamâs prototypical project of narrative sequences (cf. ADAM, 1992) and through the relations between this project and the proper structure of that genre. The corpus was formed by 50 news, being 26 about crimes and 24 about other subjects. They were extracted from the sites O Povo and Folha de SÃo Paulo from September/2005 to September/2006 and later they were submitted to identification of the narrative macro-proposals in its textual structure. After, the news were classified as narrative and expositive according to identification or not of the narrative sequence in its structure. From this classification, we observed that the narrative sequence became predominantly current in the news about crimes, presenting almost always the following form of realization: the expressive occurrence of the narrative sequence in the lead, with all its phases, and the constant repetition of some narrative macro-proposals in the text like a characteristic and an extension of the content of the genre news. So, the narrative sequence functioned as an important mechanism of textual organization of the genre news, although its prototypical conformation is different of that one thought by Adam. About the other kinds of news, the profit was low. Its recurrent compositional structure is expositive, therefore we analyze it with the theoretician proposals of Bronckart (1999). This way, we tried to make possible a theoretical reflection about the realization in the genre news of the prototype of narrative sequence thought by Adam, waiting to contribute for the operacionalization of the notion of narrative textual sequence through the didactic treatment of not-literary genres, but narrative genres such as the genre news.

Os riachos em trechos de cabeceira são fontes importantes de água, sedimento e biota, apresentam baixa produtividade primária autóctone e são fortemente influenciados pela vegetação ripária, pois nesses trechos, a energia básica para sustentação das comunidades é proveniente do input de matéria orgânica particulada alóctone. Portanto, o desmatamento e o uso inadequado do solo afetam negativamente as condições dos riachos, o que é considerado umas das principais causas de degradação ambiental em países em desenvolvimento. Uma avaliação rápida da qualidade do habitat físico pode prover uma idéia geral das condições dos riachos e detectar alterações antrópicas de maneira rápida, fácil e de baixo custo. A combinação desta ferramenta com a avaliação de outros fatores físicos, químicos e biológicos, especialmente, a composição das assembléias de macroinvertebrados bentônicos, é essencial para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de monitoramento nesses ecossistemas. O objetivo geral do presente estudo foi identificar as principais alterações antrópicas sobre os riachos da APA Embu Verde e selecionar aqueles que apresentaram melhores condições de habitat para a fauna bentônica, a fim de conhecer a composição dessas assembléias e sua relação com o habitat. Para atender os objetivos, primeiramente foram avaliados 23 sítios amostrais, por meio de um Protocolo de Avaliação de Habitat e algumas variáveis relevantes. A partir daí, foram selecionados 4 riachos com base, prioritariamente, na semelhança das características do entorno, pequena variação no nível de degradação ambiental e potencialidade de oferta de habitats para os macroinvertebrados. Procedeu-se, então, à avaliação da vegetação ripária, do canal dos riachos e dos tipos de substratos para melhor compreensão da relação dos macroinvertebrados com o meio físico. A principal alteração antrópica na APA Embu Verde é o desmatamento da vegetação ripária natural, sendo evidenciados indícios de efeitos negativos sobre os riachos, como erosão nas margens e deposição de sedimentos finos. As variáveis que melhor explicaram a variação da fauna estão relacionadas ao porte do riacho, energia cinética de suas águas e aos tipos de substrato. Este último foi determinante para a composição das assembléias de macroinvertebrados bentônicos, pois estas variaram mais entre os tipos de substratos do que entre os sítios amostrais. A família Chironomidae foi dominante em todos os sítios e tipos de substratos. A diversidade e riqueza de família aumentaram com a estabilidade dos substratos inorgânicos / Headwater streams are relevant suppliers of water, sediment, and biota. They support low autochthonous primary productivity and suffer strong influence from riparian vegetation as in these streams the basic energy for communities maintenance has its origin in the allochthonous particulate organic matter. Hence, deforestation and inadequate soil use negatively affect stream conditions, being among the main causes of environmental degradation in developing nations. A rapid assessment of the physical habitat quality can provide a general idea about stream conditions and detect anthropic changes in a rapid, easy and low cost manner. The combination of this tool with the assessment of other physical, chemical and biological features, especially the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage composition, is essential to the development of monitoring strategies in those ecosystems. The general aim of this study was to identify the main anthropic changes on streams of Environmental Protection Area Embu Verde and to select those with better habitat conditions for benthic fauna. So it would be possible to know the assemblages composition and its relation with the habitat. First we evaluated 23 sampling sites using a Habitat Assessment Protocol and some relevant variables. Therewith we selected four streams, grounded primarily on the similarity of the surroundings features, little variation on the environmental degradation level and potential of habitats to macroinvertebrates. Then we made an assessment of stream riparian vegetation and substrate types to improve the understanding of the relation between macroinvertebrates and the physical environment. The major anthropic change in the sampling area is the deforestation of the natural riparian cover, and we observed evidences of its negative effects on streams, as bank erosion and fine sediment deposition. Variables that better explained fauna variations are related to the stream size, water kinetic energy and substrate types. Substrate was determinant to the composition of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages as these ones variate more with the substrates types than with the sampling sites. Chironomidae dominated in all the sampling sites and substrate types. Family diversity and richness increased with the stability of inorganic substrates

Microbial-Induced Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) Precipitation (MICP) is a biological process in which microbial activities alter the surrounding aqueous environment and induce CaCO3 precipitation. Because the formed CaCO3 crystals can bond soil particles and improve the mechanical properties of soils such as strength, MICP has been explored for potential engineering applications such as soil stabilisation. However, it has been difficult to control and predict the properties of CaCO3 precipitates, thus making it very challenging to achieve homogeneous MICP-treated soils with the desired mechanical properties. This PhD study investigates MICP at both micro and macro scales to improve the micro-scale understandings of MICP which can be applied at the macro-scale for improving the homogeneity and mechanical properties of MICP-treated sand. A microfluidic chip which models a sandy soil matrix was designed and fabricated to investigate the micro-scale fundamentals of MICP. The first important finding was that, during MICP processes, phase transformation of CaCO3 can occur, which results in smaller and less stable CaCO3 crystals dissolving at the expense of growth of larger and more stable CaCO3 crystals. In addition, it was found that bacteria can aggregate after being mixed with cementation solution, and both bacterial density and the concentration of cementation solution affect the size of aggregates, which may consequently affect the transport and distribution of bacteria in a soil matrix. Furthermore, bacterial density was found to have a profound effect on both the growth kinetics and characteristics of CaCO3. A higher bacterial density resulted in a quicker formation of a larger amount of smaller crystals, whereas a lower bacterial density resulted in a slower formation of fewer but larger crystals. Based on the findings from micro-scale experiments, upscaling experiments were conducted on sandy soils to investigate the effect of injection interval on the strength of MICP treated soils and the effects of bacterial density and concentration of cementation solution on the uniformity of MICP treated soils. Increasing the interval between injections of cementation solution (from 4 h to 24 h) increased the average size of CaCO3 crystals and the resulting strength of MICP-treated sand. An optimised combination of bacterial density and cementation solution concentration resulted in a relative homogeneous distribution of CaCO3 content and suitable strength and stiffness of MICP-treated sand. This thesis study revealed that a microfluidic chip is a very useful tool to investigate the micro-scale fundamentals of MICP including the behaviour of bacteria and the process of CaCO3 precipitation. The optimised MICP protocols will be useful for improving the engineering performance of MICP-treated sandy soils such as uniformity and strength.

<p>Upotrebom 50% etanola i superkritičnog ugljendioksida kao ekstragensa izvr&scaron;ena je ekstrakcija različitih vrsta pečuraka. Nakon određivanja prinosa suvih ekstrakata, u njima su određeni: sadržaj ukupnih fenola i ukupnih flavonoida, sadržaj makro- i mikro-elemenata, sadržaj adenozina, kao i sadržaj karakterističnih komponenata pistilarina i variegetične kiseline. Najveći sadržaj ukupnih fenolnih jedinjenja određen je u suvom ekstraktu pečurke <em>C. pistillaris</em>, najveći sadržaj ukupnih flavonoida u ekstraktu <em>D. confragosa</em>, a najvi&scaron;e esencijalnog cinka i selena sadrži suvi ekstrakt pečurke <em>B. edulis</em>. U odnosu na ostale suve ekstrakte ekstrakt pečurke <em>L. saccatum</em> sadrži nekoliko puta veću količinu adenozina. Antioksidativno delovanje suvih ekstrakata analizirano je primenom spektrofotometrijskih i EPR metode. Ekstrakti <em>C. pistillaris, B. edulis </em>i <em>A. mellea</em> pokazali su se kao najefikasniji skevindžeri najopasnije slobodnoradikalske vrste hidroksil radikala, dok se efikasnim u prevenciji lipidne peroksidacije mogu smatrati ekstrakti <em>B. edulis, A. mellea </em>i<em> L. saccatum</em>. Nakon određivanja prinosa supekritičnih ekstrakata ispitivanih pečuraka, u njima je analiziran sastav masnih kiselina i detektovana jedinjenja sterolnog tipa. U ispitivanim ekstraktima dominantna je nezasićena linoleinska kiselina, a značajan je udeo i oleinske nezasićene masne kiseline. Dominantno jedinjenje sterolne strukture u gotovo svim ekstraktima je ergosterol. Ispitan je uticaj superkritičnih ekstrakata pečuraka na fluidnost membrane eritrocita i na osnovu dobijenih rezultata zaključeno da bi značajnu ulogu u antihipertenzivnoj ishrani mogle imati pečurke <em>A. mellea </em>i<em> M. procera</em>.</p> / <p>Using 50% ethanol and supercritical carbon dioxide different mushroom extracts were prepared. After analysis of extraction yield, content of total phenols and total flavonoids, content of macro-elements and micro-elements, as well as content of adenosine and characteristic compounds (pistilarin and variegatic acid) were determined. Highest content od total phenols was determined in <em>C. pistillaris</em> extract, highest content of total flavonoids in<em> D. confragosa</em> and highest content of essential zinc and selenium in B. edulis dry extract. In comparsion to other extracts <em>L. saccatum</em> posses few time higher content of adenosine. Antioxidat activity was analysed by spectrophotometric and EPR methods. Extracts of <em>C. pistillaris</em>,<em> B. edulis</em> and <em>A. mellea</em> have been showed as a most efficient in scavenging of dangerous OH˙ radical. In lipid peroxidation prevention significant were mushrooms extracts of<em> B. edulis</em>, <em>A. mellea</em> and<em> L. saccatum</em>.<br />After determination of mushrooms supercritical extraction yield, fatty acid composition and sterol components were analysed. Dominant unsaturated fatty acid in investigated mushroom extracts was linoleic acid. Content of oleic fatty acid was also significant. Dominant compound of sterol structure, in almost all supercritical extracts, was ergosterole. Influence of supercritical mushroom extracts on eritrocite membrane fluidity was investigated. Acording to obtained results, mushrooms <em>A. mellea</em> and <em>M. procera</em> could have significant role in antihypertensive diet.</p>

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Mecânica. Área de Especialização de Energia Térmica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2012

Capacitive crosstalk noise can affect the delay of a switching signal or induce a glitch on a static signal causing timing violations or chip failure. Crosstalk noise depends on coupling parasitics, driver strength, signal timing characteristics, and signal transition patterns. Layout level crosstalk analysis techniques are generally pessimistic and computationally expensive for large designs due to lack of design flexibility at lower-levels of design hierarchy. The architectural decisions such as type of interconnect architecture, number of storage and execution units, network of communicating units, data bus width, etc., have a major impact on the quality of design attributes such as area, speed, power, and noise. To address all these concerns, we propose a high-level synthesis framework to optimize for worst-case crosstalk patterns on coupled nets, a floorplan driven high-level synthesis framework to minimize coupling capacitance, and an on-chip technique to dynamically detect and eliminate worst-case crosstalk pattern on bus-based macro-cell designs. Due to Miller coupling effect, the switching activity pattern on adjacent nets may increase the effective capacitance seen by a victim net and thereby it may cause a worst-case signal delay on the victim net. However, signal activity pattern on coupled nets are dependent on data correlations which in turn depend on resource sharing. The resource sharing in turn depends on scheduling, allocation, and binding during high-level synthesis flow. Therefore, we propose a Simulated Annealing (SA) based design space exploration of HLS design subspace, bus line re-ordering, and encoding subspaces to optimize for worst-case crosstalk pattern in bus-based macro-cell designs. We demonstrate that the proposed framework will aid layout level techniques in eliminating false positive violations. We also propose an SA based algorithm to explore floorplan and HLS subspaces to optimize coupling capacitances in bus-based macro-cell designs. We have integrated an RTL floorplanner in HLS flow to estimate coupling capacitances between bus lines. Crosstalk analysis using Cadence Celtic shows that the designs generated by the proposed framework results in less number of crosstalk violations compared to designs generated through traditional ASIC design flow. We also propose an on-chip crosstalk detection and elimination technique that dynamically detects and eliminates worst-case crosstalk pattern with minimum area penalty compared to other layout level techniques reported in the literature.

L'apprentissage des connaissances spatiales ne figure pas dans les curriculum d'enseignement, au delà du cycle 2. Il est remplacé par celui de la géométrie des figures élémentaires. Cette absence laisse enfants et adultes démunis dans de nombreuses situations nécessitant l'usage ou la production de représentations spatiales de la vie courante ou professionnelle. Par ailleurs, l'enseignement de la géométrie au collège constitue pour un trop grand nombre d'élèves un obstacle à l'apprentissage des mathématiques.<br />La thèse est une étude des liens entre ces deux phénomènes et une tentative pour ouvrir des voies de solution à ce problème. <br />L'étude montre comment le contrat didactique de l'enseignement de la géométrie repose sur la fiction culturelle de la transparence des rapports spatiaux dans l'apprentissage de la géométrie élémentaire ; il appartient à l'élève seul de se constituer et de mettre en oeuvre les connaissances nécessaires à la compréhension de la géométrie enseignée; or ces connaissances ne sont pas « naturellement » acquises dans notre société par les interactions usuelles avec l'environnement spatial ; en cas d'échec cette fiction ne permet à l'enseignant que des remédiations inefficaces et/ou le conduit à en rejeter la responsabilité sur l'élève. <br /> L'étude théorique s'appuie sur la théorie des situations didactiques développée par G Brousseau. <br /> Les auteurs proposent de distinguer trois principaux types de rapports à l'espace appelés problématiques : la problématique pratique, la problématique de modélisation « spatio-géométrique », la problématique géométrique (déductive ou théorique). Ils montrent par de nombreux exemples comment l'absence de prise en compte ou d'articulation de ces problématiques dans l'enseignement les constitue en obstacles à l'apprentissage.<br />Pour construire des situations d'enseignement permettant le dépassement de la problématique pratique, les auteurs reprennent et étendent l'analyse des représentations de l'espace introduites par G. Galvez et G. Brousseau, micro, meso, et macro-espaces..<br />Ils développent à cet effet plusieurs processus expérimentaux, sur l'enseignement des plans, sur l'enseignement des angles et de leur mesure, sur l'introduction des raisonnements sur les figures élémentaires, et une analyse comparée de plusieurs situations d'introduction à la démonstration au collège.

Le contexte général de cette thèse se situe dans le domaine de la synthèse RTL (Register Transfer Level). Une spécification initiale en termes de transferts de registres décrite dans un langage de haut niveau (VHDL, Verilog) définit l'ordre des opérations. A partir de cette spécification, le système de synthèse RTL génère une description structurelle fonctionnellement équivalente interconnectant des portes de base et des macro blocs de la cible technologique. Le langage de description considéré ici est le langage VHDL standardisé par le groupe IEEE en 1987. Ce choix est justifié par une étude comparative entre différents langages. Les principales caractéristiques du langage VHDL ainsi que les améliorations apportées par la nouvelle norme de 1992 sont évoquées. Dans une seconde partie, les limitations du langage VHDL pour son utilisation en synthèse et le flot de conception à partir d'une spécification RTL sont présentés. Plusieurs modèles VHDL d'éléments simples et de macro blocs sont décrits pour la synthèse. Le flot général de conception utilisant ces macro blocs est analysé et détaillé pour deux cas pratiques: l'utilisation des générateurs XBLOX de Xilinx et ACTgen d'Actel dans le logiciel de synthèse ASYL+. La dernière partie s'attache plus précisément à la modélisation d'éléments de bibliothèques en vue de leur utilisation en synthèse. Un format de bibliothèque, permettant de décrire tout aussi bien des portes simples que des macro blocs, est défini. Le nouveau format de bibliothèque standard VITAL est analysé ainsi que ses perspectives d'utilisation en simulation et en synthèse. La norme LPM qui définit un ensemble d'éléments standards indépendants de la technologie est également présentée. Cette dernière partie a conduit à la définition d'un nouveau flot de synthèse unifié utilisant les macro blocs et à la mise en place de plusieurs optimisations basées sur la notion de dérivation