The goal for this research was to reduce the current manufacturing cost of the polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) inserts utilized in the natural gas and oil drilling industry while not reducing their current performance. Polycrystalline Diamond is added to the tungsten-carbide (WC) substrates commonly utilized in these applications because of its greater wear and thermal resistance. With the current cube cell design for the high-pressure/high-temperature apparatus, it is necessary to bond an extra WC substrate to the polycrystalline diamond insert to achieve the sizes generally ordered by the customers. The problem of bonding the extra WC substrate was solved by increasing the operating volume of the cube cell assembly and changing the heating pattern within the cell while maintaining the temperature and the pressure required for the successful diamond sintering.The new cell design was proposed and tested. The test data were captured and analyzed to prove the hypotheses. The proposed manufacturing methods resulted in reduced cost, processing time, and reduced the need for equipment and operators without diminishing the performance of the PDC insert.

What role can, or do, children’s literature play in development communication? Recently, neotonous childlike curiosity and creativity has become a research and development strategy and a trendy corporate culture for companies like Google. Including children in decision making and in the search for development solutions – PDC & PR4D – is also being advocated by the U.N. and Plan International especially with regards to issues that affect children.This paper will explore how children’s books open spaces for dialogic communication with children by examining how we define them, how we speak about them, how we speak for them, how we speak to them and how they may talk back through children’s texts.The aim is to relate elements of traditional storytelling to modern forms of dialogic communication and, by extension, to development goals: “helping adults understand children’s issues through their lens” (Commissioner for Children, Tasmania).

Ceramic metal matrix composites (CMMCs) are materials generally created by mixing of hard ceramic particles in a metal matrix. They were expected to combine the ductility and toughness of the metal with the high strength and elastic modulus of the ceramic. MMCs have potential applications in automotive, aeronautical and aerospace industries. Hence, a simple and economical method for fabricating MMCs is an area of intense research. In MMCs, damage evolution starts preferentially at particle matrix interface or at particle clusters in the matrix. This is due to the different physical and mechanical properties of the particle and matrix. Higher local particle volume content leads to higher stress triaxiality making it a preferential site for damage nucleation. Problems with lowering of ductility, fatigue, fracture and impact resistance, agglomeration of ceramic phase and issues related to the predictability of properties of MMCs have been the major issues that have limited their use. In order to overcome some of these shortcomings, the use of nano particles has been attracting increasing attention. The reason is their capability in improving the mechanical and physical properties of traditional MMCs. The dispersion of a nanoscale ceramic phase is needed in order to overcome the problems related to fatigue, fracture toughness, and creep behaviour at high temperatures. However, manufacturing costs, preparation of nano composites and environmental concerns have to be addressed. Agglomeration of nano particles, when produced by the melt stir casting route, the primary route to produce MMCs, is a serious issue that limits the use of nano-particles to produce MMCs with good properties. To avoid agglomeration of the ceramic phase MMCs/nano MMCs have been produced through the powder metallurgy route. Agglomeration is avoided as this is a solid state process. Secondary processing, such as extrusion and rolling are often needed to fully consolidate materials produced in this manner. A high extrusion ratio is often required to get MMCs without porosity. A new method of making nano-ceramic MMC using a polymer derived ceramics (PDC) has been reported. A polymer derived ceramic is a material that converts itself into a ceramic when heated above a particular temperature. In the PDC method a polymer precursor is dispersed in the metal and then converted in-situ to a ceramic phase. A feature of this process is that all the constituents of the ceramic phase are built into the organic molecules of the precursor (e.g., polysilazanes contain silicon, carbon, and nitrogen); therefore, a reaction between the polymer and the host metal or air is not required to produce the ceramic phase. The polymer can be introduced through casting or powder metallurgy route. In the casting route, the polymer powder is directly added to molten metal and pyrolyzed in-situ to create castings of metal-matrix composites. These composites have shown better properties at elevated temperatures but the problem of agglomeration of particles due to Van der Waal's forces and porosity still remains. In the powder method, the organic precursor was milled with copper powder and then plasma sprayed to produce a metal matrix composite. It is reported that these composites retains its mechanical strength close to the melting point of the copper. However, getting a nano sized distribution is difficult through this route as the plasma spray route is a melting and solidification method. Solid state processing by powder metallurgy is possibly a better method to produce well dispersed nano-MMCs. However, powder metallurgy routes are much more expensive and only parts of limited sizes can be produced by this method. Another solid state process Friction Stir Processing (FSP) has successfully evolved as an alternative technique to fabricating metal matrix composites. FSP is based on the principles of Friction Stir Welding (FSW). In FSW, a rotating tool with a pin and a shoulder is inserted into the material to be joined, and traversed along the line of the joint. The friction between the tool and the work piece result in localized heating that softens and plasticizes the material. During production of MMCs using FSP method, the material undergoes intense plastic deformation resulting in mixing of ceramic particles and the metal. FSP also results in significant grain refinement of the metal and has also been used to homogenize the microstructure. FSP technology has also been used to fabricate surface/bulk composites of Al-SiC, friction stir surfacing of cast aluminum silicon alloy with boron carbide and molybdenum disulphide powders and to produce ultra-fine grained Cu-SiC composites. A major problem in the FSP of MMCs is severe tool wear that results from abrasion with hard ceramic particles. The progressive wear of the tool has been reported to increase the likelihood of void or defect development. This change in geometry has been reported in the friction stir welding of several MMCs. The problems concerning the tool life has become a serious issue in the application of FSP for producing MMCs. In the present work the advantages of the PDC method and FSP have been combined to produce polymer derived nano ceramic MMCs. This method mainly consists of three steps. In the first step, a polymer, which pyrolysis to form a PDC at temperatures lower than the melting point of the metal, is dispersed in the metal by FSP. This step is different from the melt route where the PDC forms at temperatures above the melting point of the metal. In the second step, external pyrolysis of the polymer dispersed material is carried out. Since this is a solid state process at stresses much higher than the shear or fracture of the polymer is expected to get evenly and finely distribution in the metal. This is done by heating the polymer dispersed material to a temperature above the pyrolysation temperature of the ceramic but lower than the melting point of the metal matrix. It should be mentioned that some pyrolysis of the polymer is possible during the FSP process itself. In the third step FSP is carried out on the pyrolised material for removing porosity that would form due to gas evolution during pyrolysis and to get a more uniform dispersion of polymer derived ceramic particles in the matrix. This method will produce nano-scale metal matrix composites with a relatively high volume fraction of the ceramic phase. This method can be extended to big sheets or a particular region in a sheet with no or low wear of tools. The material selected for the present study were pure Copper (99.9%) and Nickel Aluminum Bronze (NAB) copper alloy. The polymer precursor was poly (urea methyl vinyl) silazane, which is available commercially as CERASET. The polymer consists of silicon, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The liquid precursor was thermally cross-linked into a rigid polymer, which was milled into a powder. This powder, having angular shaped particles of an average size of 10 µm, was used as the reinforcement. The polysilazanes convert into a highly refractory and amorphous ceramic upon pyrolysis and is known as polymer-derived silicon carbonitride which consists principally of silicon, carbon and nitrogen. The in-situ process is feasible because copper melts above the temperature at which the organic phase begins to pyrolise. The polysilazanes pyrolise in the temperature range of 973 to 1273 K, which lie below the melting temperature of copper, 1356K.The precursor has a density of approximately 1 gcm-3 in the organic phase and approximately 2 gcm-3 in the ceramic state. In the present work, we seek to introduce approximately 20 vol% of the ceramic phase into copper. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the developed copper-based in-situ polymer derived nano MMCs have been characterized in detail to understand the distribution of particles. The microstructure of the as received, processed as well as the FSP composite material was characterized using Optical Microscope (OM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). OM and SEM microstructural observations show that PDC particles are distributed uniformly with a bimodal (submicron+micron) distribution. In addition, TEM micrographs reveal the formation of very fine PDC particles of diameter 10-30 nm. X-ray diffraction and Thermo-gravimetric analysis confirms the presence of ceramic phase (Si3N4/SiC) in the matrix. Significant improvement in mechanical properties of the FSP PD-MMCs has been observed. This in-situ formed Cu/PDC composites show five times increase in micro-hardness (260Hv - 2.5GPa) compared to processed copper base metal and in-situ NAB/PDC composite shows two times increase in micro-hardness (325Hv- 3.2GPa) compared to NAB matrix. The Cu-PDC composites exhibited better tensile strength at room temperature. In-situ formed Cu-PDC composite’s yield strength increased from 110MPa to 235MPa as compared to processed base metal, where as ultimate tensile strength increases from 246MPa to 312MPa compared to processed base metal at room temperature. This strengthening could be attributed to the presence of in-situ formed hard phases and the concomitant changes in the microstructure of the matrix material such as reduction in grain size and contribution from Orowan strengthening. In the present work, we have observed tool wear by observing tool after each FSP pass and apart from producing a significantly harder material with higher elastic modulus, possibly for the first time, the issue of tool wear has been overcome. This is due to the fact that the composite is made by the polymer route and that the ceramic fractures easily till it reaches the nano-size. Wear studies of this composite was carried out in a pin-on-disc machine by sliding a pin made from the composite against an alumina disc. The wear rate of the FSP PD-MMC composites increased from 1.63×10-5 to 5.72×10-6 mm3/Nm. Improved wear resistance could be attributed to the presence of the in-situ formed hard nano-phase.

Nous présentons dans ce mémoire un modèle d'interaction outil-roche qui calcule les efforts de forage en fonction du déplacement dans la roche d'un outil de forage de type PDC, et permet d'évaluer ses propriétés directionnelles, à savoir, son indice d'anisotropie (steerability) et son angle de walk. Le mouvement de l'outil est défini par une translation suivant trois axes et une rotation suivant deux axes. L'angle de tilt, qui définit l'inclinaison de l'outil par rapport à l'axe du trou en cours de forage, est pris en compte dans le calcul des surfaces d'interactions effectives entre les différentes composantes de l'outil (structure de coupe, garde active et garde passive) et la roche. Ce modèle outil est établi à partir d'une modélisation de la coupe de roche par un taillant. Ce modèle de coupe élémentaire est construit de manière à être applicable aux différentes parties de l'outil. Les efforts élémentaires de coupe sont intégrés sur toute la structure de l'outil de forage afin de calculer ses propriétés directionnelles. Le modèle d'interaction outil-roche est validé à partir d'essais de forage directionnel réalisés sur un banc spécialement conçu pour reproduire le comportement des systèmes de forage dirigé existants. Il constitue un outil d'aide à la décision pour la sélection de l'outil de forage en fonction du système au bout duquel il sera fixé. Ce modèle pourra aussi être intégré dans une boucle de régulation automatique ou semi-automatique de contrôle et de correction de la trajectoire en temps réel. / This work deals with the formulation of global relationships between kinematic variables describing the penetration of a PDC bit into the rock and drilling forces acting on it. This allows us determine the bit directional properties in terms of steerability, which corresponds to the bit lateral aggressiveness, and walk, which describes the bit azimuth displacement with respect to the side force. The bit kinematic quantities are divided into a three-axis penetration vector and a two-axis angular penetration vector. The bit tilt, which describes the angle between the bit revolution axis and the borehole tangent, is used to compute the effective interaction surface between the bit's different components (cutting structure, active gauge and passive gauge) and the rock. A new cutter-rock interface law is set up and experimentally validated in order to compute elementary forces acting on all parts of a drill bit. Bit directional properties are computed after the integration of these elementary forces. The bit-rock interaction model is experimentally validated with directional drilling tests held on a full-scale drilling bench developed to reproduce Rotary Steerable Systems (RSS) directional behavior. Tests and theoretical results enabled us to fully understand the roles of tilt angle, bit design, operating parameters and rock properties in the deviation process of a PDC bit. The bit-rock interaction model is a decision support tool for optimal drill bit selection according to the RSS being used. It could also be embedded in a real-time Closed-Loop Guided Directional Drilling controller in order to correct the drilling direction or follow a planned borehole trajectory.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) represent innate immune cells capable to detect viruses in their endosomal environment via Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Viral nuclear acid recognition leads to the massive production of type I interferon (IFN I) and induction of the antiviral state in uninfected cells. Crosslinking of the surface regulatory receptors, such as BDCA-2, with monoclonal antibodies or with some viruses leads to the activation of MEK1/2- ERK signaling pathway and inhibition of IFN I production in pDC. In this study, the role of MEK1/2 kinase has been highlighted. Its inhibition reversed the inhibitory effect of BDCA-2 crosslinking and its direct activation with PMA led to the inhibition of IFN-α production. Yet an unclear role of pDC in sensing of BK polyomavirus virus (BKV) responsible for kidney transplant rejection was investigated as a major topic of this thesis. Experiments with the pDC cell line Gen2.2 and HRPTEC primary cell line showed that pDCs were not able to detect BKV particles, however, exposure of activated Gen2.2 cells to BKV inoculum dramatically upregulated production of IFN-α. Most importantly, coculture of Gen2.2 cells with BKV- infected HRPTEC cells resulted in IFN-α and TNF-α production, which was prevented by Bafilomycin. These results suggest that BKV-infected...

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are a highly specialized subset of immune cells that sense viral nucleic acids by endosomal toll-like receptors 7 and 9 (TLR7/9). Activation of TLR7/9 leads to the production of type I interferons (IFN-I). Moreover, pDC contribute to the antiviral response by presenting viral antigens to T lymphocytes and link innate and adaptive immunity. pDC need to be properly regulated in order to limit excessive production of IFN-I that is associated with autoimmune diseases. Therefore, pDC possess a battery of regulatory receptors (RR) that limit TLR7/9-mediated cytokine production. This thesis focuses on the mechanism of RR-mediated inhibition of IFN-I production in pDC and explores interactions between pDC and two enveloped viruses, that possess the ability to hijack RR in pDC: hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We showed, that MEK-ERK signaling pathway plays an active role in RR-mediated inhibition of IFN-I in pDC. Our results indicate that in line with other studies of our group, pharmacological targeting of MEK1/2-ERK signaling could be a strategy to re-establish immunogenic activity of pDC. Then, we investigated whether antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a cohort of 21 treatment-naive chronic HIV-infected patients has restored the number and...

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) represent innate immune cells capable to detect viruses in their endosomal environment via Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Viral nuclear acid recognition leads to the massive production of type I interferon (IFN I) and induction of the antiviral state in uninfected cells. Crosslinking of the surface regulatory receptors, such as BDCA-2, with monoclonal antibodies or with some viruses leads to the activation of MEK1/2- ERK signaling pathway and inhibition of IFN I production in pDC. In this study, the role of MEK1/2 kinase has been highlighted. Its inhibition reversed the inhibitory effect of BDCA-2 crosslinking and its direct activation with PMA led to the inhibition of IFN-α production. Yet an unclear role of pDC in sensing of BK polyomavirus virus (BKV) responsible for kidney transplant rejection was investigated as a major topic of this thesis. Experiments with the pDC cell line Gen2.2 and HRPTEC primary cell line showed that pDCs were not able to detect BKV particles, however, exposure of activated Gen2.2 cells to BKV inoculum dramatically upregulated production of IFN-α. Most importantly, coculture of Gen2.2 cells with BKV- infected HRPTEC cells resulted in IFN-α and TNF-α production, which was prevented by Bafilomycin. These results suggest that BKV-infected...

Les peptides et protéines extracteurs de lipides (PEL) se lient aux membranes lipidiques puis en extraient des lipides en formant de plus petits auto-assemblages, un phénomène qui peut aller jusqu'à la fragmentation des membranes. Dans la nature, cette extraction se produit sur une gamme de cellules et entraîne des conséquences variées, comme la modification de la composition de la membrane et la mort de la cellule. Cette thèse se penche sur l’extraction lipidique, ou fragmentation, induite par le peptide mélittine et la protéine Binder-of-SPerm 1 (BSP1) sur des membranes lipidiques modèles. Pour ce faire, des liposomes de différentes compositions sont préparés et incubés avec la mélittine ou la BSP1. L'association aux membranes est déterminée par la fluorescence intrinsèque des PEL, tandis que l'extraction est caractérisée par une plateforme analytique combinant des tests colorimétriques et des analyses en chromatographie en phase liquide et spectrométrie de masse (LCMS). La mélittine fait partie des peptides antimicrobiens cationiques, un groupe de PEL très répandu chez les organismes vivants. Ces peptides sont intéressants du point du vue médical étant donné leur mode d’action qui vise directement les lipides des membranes. Plusieurs de ceux-ci agissent sur les membranes des bactéries selon le mécanisme dit « en tapis », par lequel ils s’adsorbent à leur surface, forment des pores et ultimement causent leur fragmentation. Dans cette thèse, la mélittine est utilisée comme peptide modèle afin d’étudier le mécanisme par lequel les peptides antimicrobiens cationiques fragmentent les membranes. Les résultats montrent que la fragmentation des membranes de phosphatidylcholines (PC) est réduite par une déméthylation graduelle de leur groupement ammonium. L'analyse du matériel fragmenté révèle que les PC sont préférentiellement extraites des membranes, dû à un enrichissement local en PC autour de la mélittine à l'intérieur de la membrane. De plus, un analogue de la mélittine, dont la majorité des résidus cationiques sont neutralisés, est utilisé pour évaluer le rôle du caractère cationique de la mélittine native. La neutralisation augmente l'affinité du peptide pour les membranes neutres et anioniques, réduit la fragmentation des membranes neutres et augmente la fragmentation des membranes anioniques. Malgré les interactions électrostatiques entre le peptide cationique et les lipides anioniques, aucune spécificité lipidique n'est observée dans l'extraction. La BSP1 est la protéine la plus abondante du liquide séminal bovin et constitue un autre exemple de PEL naturel important. Elle se mélange aux spermatozoïdes lors de l’éjaculation et extrait des lipides de leur membrane, notamment le cholestérol et les phosphatidylcholines. Cette étape cruciale modifie la composition lipidique de la membrane du spermatozoïde, ce qui faciliterait par la suite la fécondation de l’ovule. Cependant, le contact prolongé de la protéine avec les spermatozoïdes endommagerait la semence. Cette thèse cherche donc à approfondir notre compréhension de ce délicat phénomène en étudiant le mécanisme moléculaire par lequel la protéine fragmente les membranes lipidiques. Les résultats des présents travaux permettent de proposer un mécanisme d’extraction lipidique en 3 étapes : 1) L'association à l’interface des membranes; 2) La relocalisation de l’interface vers le cœur lipidique; 3) La fragmentation des membranes. La BSP1 se lie directement à deux PC à l'interface; une quantité suffisante de PC dans les membranes est nécessaire pour permettre l'association et la fragmentation. Cette liaison spécifique ne mène généralement pas à une extraction lipidique sélective. L'impact des insaturations des chaînes lipidiques, de la présence de lysophosphatidylcholines, de phosphatidyléthanolamine, de cholestérol et de lipides anioniques est également évalué. Les présentes observations soulignent la complexe relation entre l'affinité d'un PEL pour une membrane et le niveau de fragmentation qu'il induit. L'importance de la relocalisation des PEL de l'interface vers le cœur hydrophobe des membranes pour permettre leur fragmentation est réitérée. Cette fragmentation semble s'accompagner d'une extraction lipidique préférentielle seulement lorsqu'une séparation de phase est induite au niveau de la membrane, nonobstant les interactions spécifiques PEL-lipide. Les prévalences des structures amphiphiles chez certains PEL, ainsi que de la fragmentation en auto-assemblages discoïdaux sont discutées. Finalement, le rôle des interactions électrostatiques entre les peptides antimicrobiens cationiques et les membranes bactériennes anioniques est nuancé : les résidus chargés diminueraient l'association des peptides aux membranes neutres suite à l'augmentation de leur énergie de solvatation. / Lipid-extracting peptides and proteins (LEPs) bind to lipid membranes, extract lipids in the form of smaller auto-assemblies, and ultimately fragment membranes. In nature, this lipid extraction occurs in many different cell systems and causes various consequences, such as a modification of the membrane lipid composition or the cell death. This thesis focuses on the lipid extraction, or fragmentation, induced by the peptide melittin and the protein Binder-of-SPerm 1 (BSP1) on model lipid membranes. To this end, liposomes of different composition are prepared and incubated with melittin or BSP1. The association to membranes is determined by the LEPs intrinsic fluorescence, while the extraction is characterized by a combination of colorimetric phosphorus assays and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses (LCMS). Melittin is a cationic antimicrobial peptide, a very common category of LEP found in living organisms. Cationic antimicrobial peptides are interesting to medicine because they directly target membrane lipids. The action of many of these peptides is described by the carpet-like mechanism, by which they adsorb to membrane surface, induce the formation of pores and then cause the fragmentation of the membranes. In this thesis, melittin is used as a model peptide in order to study the mechanism by which cationic antimicrobial peptides fragment lipid membranes. Results show that the phosphocholine (PC) membrane fragmentation is reduced by a gradual demethylation of the ammonium group. Analysis of the fragmented material reveals that PC are preferentially extracted from membranes, due to a local enrichment in PC near melittin in the membrane. Furthermore, a melittin analogue, for which a majority of its cationic residues were neutralized, is used to investigate the role of the cationic character of native melittin. The neutralization increases the peptide affinity for neutral and anionic membranes, reduces fragmentation of neutral membranes and increases fragmentation of anionic membranes. Despite electrostatic interactions between the cationic peptide and the anionic lipids, no lipid specificity is observed in the extraction. BSP1 is the most abundant protein of the bovine seminal plasma and constitutes another example of important LEP found in nature. Upon ejaculation, it mixes with spermatozoa and extracts membrane lipids, such as cholesterol and phosphatidylcholines. This crucial process modulates the lipid composition of sperm membranes, which would then facilitate egg fertilization. However, a prolonged contact between the protein and spermatozoa could damage the semen. This thesis is looking to deepen our understanding of this delicate phenomenon by studying the molecular mechanism by which this protein fragments lipid membranes. Results of the present work suggest a 3-step mechanism for the extraction: 1) Association to membrane interface; 2) Relocation towards the lipid core; 3) Fragmentation of membranes. BSP1 binds directly to two interfacial PC; a sufficient quantity of PC in membranes is necessary for protein association and fragmentation. This specific binding generally does not lead to specificity in the lipid extraction. The impact of unsaturation of the lipid chains, of the presence of lysophosphatidylcholines, of phosphatidylethanolamines, of cholesterol and of anionic lipids is also studied. The present observations underline the complex relationship between a LEP affinity for membranes and the level of fragmentation it induces. The importance of LEP relocation, from the interface to the hydrophobic core of the membranes, for fragmentation is reiterated. This fragmentation seems to be lipid specific only when a phase separation of the lipids occurs in the membrane, notwithstanding specific LEP-lipid interactions. The prevalence of amphipathic structures in certain LEPs, as well as of the auto-assembled discoidal structures resulting from fragmentation is discussed. Finally, the role of electrostatic interactions between cationic antimicrobial peptides and anionic bacterial membranes is detailed: charged residues lower peptide association to neutral membrane due to an increase of their free energy of solvation.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-11-01T17:05:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Glauce Gomes da Rocha.pdf: 1474752 bytes, checksum: 6de29d4ece622a916cb4c9a54e390b2c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-01T17:05:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Glauce Gomes da Rocha.pdf: 1474752 bytes, checksum: 6de29d4ece622a916cb4c9a54e390b2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-16 / Some methods may be used to identify variables that maintain or limit classes of behaviors. The performance diagnostic tool called Performance Diagnostic Checklist - Human Services (PDC-HS), can be a useful tool in identifying functional variables, as well as indicating possible interventions to be implemented when there are performance problems. This research aimed to (1) Translate and adapt this tool that focuses on the verbal report of the leadership and the direct observations of the applicator, (2) create a team version to be answered by the employees, and (3) their respective applications in a business services company. The method consisted of seven steps, as follows: 1º) first check: students of the fifth year of Psychology, 2º) second check: Application in a pilot class of the company's management, 3º) third check: Appraisers experts in behavior analysis, 4º) fourth check: management team and direction of the company researched, 5º) defining and redefining the performance problem, 6º) fifth check: PDC-HS application of the target group and 7º) analysis. The results of the application of the tools in the different audiences are complementary. After the applications of PDC-HS in the researched company, 14 interventions were indicated in which seven are compatible actions between leadership and employees and seven are actions that would be appropriate based on the verbal report of the employees and that were not indicated on the basis of leadership’s verbal report. For future studies there is the need for customization of the tool, depending on the behavioral description of the performance problem, target audience and institution / Alguns métodos podem ser utilizados para a identificação de variáveis que mantêm ou limitam classes de comportamentos. A ferramenta de diagnóstico de desempenho chamada Performance Diagnostic Checklist – Human Services (PDC-HS), pode ser um instrumento útil na identificação de variáveis funcionais, além de indicar intervenções possíveis de serem implementadas, quando há problemas de desempenho. A presente pesquisa visou à (1) tradução e adaptação desta ferramenta que foca no relato verbal da liderança e nas observações diretas do aplicador, a (2) criação da versão equipe para ser respondida pelos liderados, e (3) suas respectivas aplicações em uma empresa do ramo de serviços. O método consistiu em 7 etapas, sendo elas: 1º) primeira verificação: Quintanistas de Psicologia, 2º) segunda verificação: Aplicação em uma turma piloto de gestores da empresa pesquisada, 3º) terceira verificação: Avaliadores especialistas em Análise do Comportamento, 4º) quarta verificação: Equipe administrativa e direção da empresa pesquisada, 5º) definição e redefinição do problema de desempenho, 6º) quinta verificação: Aplicação do PDC-HS no grupo alvo e 7º) análises. Os resultados das aplicações das ferramentas nos diferentes públicos são complementares. Após a aplicação do PDC-HS na empresa pesquisada, 14 intervenções foram indicadas nas quais sete são ações compatíveis entre liderança e liderados e sete são ações que seriam indicadas com base no relato verbal dos liderados e que não foi indicado com base no relato da liderança. Para futuras pesquisas há a necessidade de customização da ferramenta, a depender da descrição comportamental do problema de desempenho, público alvo e instituição

Face recognition is one of the most natural activities performed by the human beings. It has wide range of applications in the areas of Human Computer Interaction, Surveillance, Security etc. Face information of people can be obtained in a non-intrusive manner, without violating privacy. But, robust face recognition which is invariant under varying pose, illumination etc is still a challenging problem. The main aim of this thesis is to explore the usefulness of smile profile of human beings as an extra aid in recognizing people by faces. Smile profile of a person is the sequence of images captured by a camera when the person voluntarily smiles. Using sequence of images instead of a single image will increase the required computational resources significantly. The challenge here is to design a feature extraction technique from a smile sample, which is useful for authentication and is also efficient in terms of storage and computational aspects. There are some experimental evidences which support the claim that facial expressions have some person specific information. But, to the best of our knowledge, systematic study of a particular facial expression for biometrical purposes has not been done so far. The smile profile of human beings, which is captured under some reasonably controlled setup, is used for first time for face recognition purpose. As a first step, we applied two of the recent subspace based face classifiers on the smile samples. We were not able to obtain any conclusive results out of this experiment. Next we extracted features using only the difference vectors obtained from smile samples. The difference vectors depend only on the variations which occur in the corresponding smile profile. Hence any characterization we obtain from such features can be fully attributed to the smiling action. The feature extraction technique we employed is very much similar to PCA. The smile signature that we have obtained is named as Principal Direction of Change(PDC). PDC is a unit vector (in some high dimensional space) which represents the direction in which the major changes occurred during the smile. We obtained a reasonable recognition rate by applying Nearest Neighbor Classifier(NNC) on these features. In addition to that, these features turn out to be less sensitive to the speed of smiling action and minor variations in face detection and head orientation, while capturing the pattern of variations in various regions of face due to smiling action. Using set of experiments on PDC based features we establish that smile has some person specific characteristics. But the recognition rates of PDC based features are less than the recent conventional techniques. Next we have used PDC based features to aid a conventional face classifier. We have used smile signatures to reject some candidate faces. Our experiments show that, using smile signatures, we can reject some of the potential false candidate faces which would have been accepted by the conventional face classifier. Using this smile signature based rejection, the performance of the conventional classifier is improved significantly. This improvement suggests that, the biometric information available in smile profiles does not exist in still images. Hence the usefulness of smile profiles for biometric applications is established through this experimental investigation.