As lesões por esforços repetitivos (Ler) tem-se apresentado como um importante problema de Saúde Pública, tanto por sua alta e crescente incidência, como pela dificuldade de abordagem adequada nos 3 níveis de atenção: preventivo, curativo e reabilitador. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo as LER, descrevendo o significado da doença do ponto de vista do adoecido, investigando-se os possíveis aspectos relacionados à percepção, sentimento, crenças e conduta do paciente em relação a sua doença. Discute-se a importância de se definir o ponto de vista do adoecido como uma contribuição para aumentar a abrangência do conhecimento sobre a problemática das LER, uma vez que somente o adoecido é capaz de informar o que significa vivenciar a situação geradora da lesão, a doença em si e suas conseqüências. Para se atingir o objetivo desse trabalho, utilizou-se a metodologia qualitativa. A partir da coleta de 10 depoimentos de bancárias adoecidas, sua transcrição integral e analise temática, construiu-se o Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC) onde uma adoecida síntese descreve sua relação com a doença e suas diversas implicações. Vários aspectos presentes do DSC são dscutidos a partir do referencial teórico adotado. Aponta-se que o material produzido (DSC) pode ser utilizado no desenvolvimento de atividades educativas que colaborem para o esclarecimento dos diversos aspectos relacionados com a doença entre os atores sociais envolvidos na questão. Espera-se, assim, contribuir para a adoção de ações que levem em conta a complexidade do problema, possibilitando a transformação da situação atual / The Repetitive Trauma Disorders (RTD) has shown to be an important Public Health issue because of both its high and increasingly occurrence as well the difficulty to find the adequate approach for 3 health attention stages: preventing, curing and rehabilitating. This study has the RTD as subject and describes what is disease meaning from the ill person point of view. To achieve this purpose, it was assessed the possible aspects related to the patient perception, feeling, belief and behavior regarding the disease. The study discuss the importance of defining the ill person point of view which can contribute for enlarging the RTD problem knowledge, once that the ill person is the only one able to report precisely how it is to experience the situation which caused the injury, the disease itself as well the its consequences. A qualitative approach was used in order to reach the work objective. It was collected depositions from 10 ill bank workers. After the integral depositions transcription and its thematic analysis, it was built the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD), where a synthesis ill person describes its relationship with the disease and the consequent implications. Many aspects present in the CSD are discussed based on the theoretical referential adopted. It is indicated that the result of this study, the CSD, could be used as a guide line for developing educational activities to help clarifying many issues related to the disease among the social actors. Is is expected as a result a contribution for selecting actions that takes in account the problem complexity transforming the current situation.

As lesões por esforços repetitivos (Ler) tem-se apresentado como um importante problema de Saúde Pública, tanto por sua alta e crescente incidência, como pela dificuldade de abordagem adequada nos 3 níveis de atenção: preventivo, curativo e reabilitador. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo as LER, descrevendo o significado da doença do ponto de vista do adoecido, investigando-se os possíveis aspectos relacionados à percepção, sentimento, crenças e conduta do paciente em relação a sua doença. Discute-se a importância de se definir o ponto de vista do adoecido como uma contribuição para aumentar a abrangência do conhecimento sobre a problemática das LER, uma vez que somente o adoecido é capaz de informar o que significa vivenciar a situação geradora da lesão, a doença em si e suas conseqüências. Para se atingir o objetivo desse trabalho, utilizou-se a metodologia qualitativa. A partir da coleta de 10 depoimentos de bancárias adoecidas, sua transcrição integral e analise temática, construiu-se o Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC) onde uma adoecida síntese descreve sua relação com a doença e suas diversas implicações. Vários aspectos presentes do DSC são dscutidos a partir do referencial teórico adotado. Aponta-se que o material produzido (DSC) pode ser utilizado no desenvolvimento de atividades educativas que colaborem para o esclarecimento dos diversos aspectos relacionados com a doença entre os atores sociais envolvidos na questão. Espera-se, assim, contribuir para a adoção de ações que levem em conta a complexidade do problema, possibilitando a transformação da situação atual / The Repetitive Trauma Disorders (RTD) has shown to be an important Public Health issue because of both its high and increasingly occurrence as well the difficulty to find the adequate approach for 3 health attention stages: preventing, curing and rehabilitating. This study has the RTD as subject and describes what is disease meaning from the ill person point of view. To achieve this purpose, it was assessed the possible aspects related to the patient perception, feeling, belief and behavior regarding the disease. The study discuss the importance of defining the ill person point of view which can contribute for enlarging the RTD problem knowledge, once that the ill person is the only one able to report precisely how it is to experience the situation which caused the injury, the disease itself as well the its consequences. A qualitative approach was used in order to reach the work objective. It was collected depositions from 10 ill bank workers. After the integral depositions transcription and its thematic analysis, it was built the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD), where a synthesis ill person describes its relationship with the disease and the consequent implications. Many aspects present in the CSD are discussed based on the theoretical referential adopted. It is indicated that the result of this study, the CSD, could be used as a guide line for developing educational activities to help clarifying many issues related to the disease among the social actors. Is is expected as a result a contribution for selecting actions that takes in account the problem complexity transforming the current situation.

Today mobile network operators utilize IP Packet exchange (IPX) carriers to interconnect their networks with other operators. Mobile network operators are free to choose one IPX carrier for their data traffic and another for their control traffic. This thesis examines the case of control traffic, specifically Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) carrying Diameter protocol traffic arising from users roaming from their home Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to another operator’s LTE network. The thesis project aims to identify a set of SCTP parameter configurations that can provide improved application/service level availability between two Diameter nodes in different network connectivity environments, specifically for IPX carriers who are Diameter service providers. These service providers provide Diameter connectivity for their customers who are mobile network operators. These mobile network operators in turn provide LTE roaming services to their customers. Unfortunately, applying the ‘One size fits all’ configuration recommendations given in the SCTP documentation is unsuitable for different network environments. In addition, the amount of Diameter signaling traffic is growing at a very rapid rate. Therefore, it is valuable to identify suitable parameter selection criteria for Diameter service providers to ensure 100% Diameter connectivity reliability for their customers. In this thesis project, author investigated how tuning SCTP parameter values affect Diameter message transmission in terms of Round Trip Delay and identified its determining parameters for packet loss recovery performance. Both IPX carriers and mobile network operators may use these values as reference when attempting to ensure high availability of Diameter transmissions under reliable, semi reliable, and unreliable network transport conditions. / Mobilnätsoperatörer använder sig av IP Packet exchange (IPX) tjänstetillhandahållare för att koppla ihop sina nät med andra operatörers nät. Mobilnätsoperatörer kan fritt välja en IPX tjänstetillhandahållare för sin datatrafik och en annan för sin kontrolltrafik. Denna uppsats undersöker fallet för kontrolltrafik, specifikt Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) kommunikationsprotokoll för Diameter protocol-trafik vid användares roaming från sitt Long Term Evolution (LTE)-hemmanät till en annan operatörs LTE-nät. Examensarbetet avser etablera en uppsättning av SCTP-parameterkonfigurationer som ger förbättrad applikations-/tjänstetillgänglighetsnivå mellan två Diameter-noder i olika nätmiljöer, särskilt för IPX tjänstetillhandahållare som är Diameter tjänstetillhandahållare.  Dessa tjänstetillhandahållare erbjuder Diameter-konnektivitet till sina kunder, som är mobilnätsoperatörer. Dessa mobilnätsoperatörer tillhandahåller i sin tur LTE-roamingtjänster till sina kunder. Tyvärr är det olämpligt att tillämpa de enhetliga konfigurationsrekommendationer, som ges i SCTP- och Diameter-protokollens dokumentation, i olika nätmiljöer. Samtidigt ökar Diameter-signaleringstrafiken mycket snabbt. Därför är det värdefullt att identifiera lämpliga parameterkriterier för Diameter-tjänstetillhandahållare att säkerställa 100% tillförlitlig Diameter-tillgänglighet för sina kunder. I detta examensarbete har författaren undersökt hur trimning av SCTP-parametervärden påverkar Diameter-meddelandeöverföring vad avser överföringstiden tur- och retur, och identifierat de avgörande parametrarna för återställande av paketförluster. Både IPX tjänstetillhandahållare och mobilnätsoperatörer kan använda dessa värden som referens för att åstadkomma hög tillgänglighet för Diameter-överföring vid tillförlitliga, halvtillförlitliga och otillförlitliga nättransportförutsättningar.

För att verifiera att komponenter håller under en förväntad livslängd kan en Accelererad Livstids Testning (ALT) användas. En av huvudaspekterna som kan förstöra ett ALT-test av plastkomponenter är om kontakttemperaturen överstiger glasövergångstemperaturen. Detta eftersom det förändrar testkomponentens materialegenskaper. För att förhindra att detta inträffar i en ALT byggdes en testrigg medtemperatursensorer för att övervaka kontakttemperaturen. Om kontaktpunkten modifieras med en temperatursensor förändrar det uppbyggnaden av ytan och gör testet ogiltigt. Metoden som används är istället att mäta temperaturen på ytan på testdelen och simulera kontakttemperaturen med en modell baserad på den Finita Elementmetoden. Denna avhandling jämför de två teknikerna Tunn Film RTD och Tunn Termoelement Tråd Typ T i samband med uppbyggnaden av en värmeöverföring FEM-modell. Det undersöktes också vilken teknologi av IR-enpunkts sensor och Tunn Film RTD som har högst prestanda med avseende på fyra kvalitetsparametrar under användning tillsammans med testriggen. Slutsatserna är att Tunn Film RTD och Tunn Termoelement Tråd av Typ T sensorerna båda ger en liknande precision i mätningar för att bygga en användbar FEM-modell. När de används på testriggen presterar Film RTD:n är bättre än IR-sensorn i tre av fyra områden med avseende på de fyra definierade kvalitetsparametrarna. Tunn Film RTD är den rekommenderade teknologin för denna typ av mätning. / To verify that components last for an expected lifetime an Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) can be used. One of the main aspects that can ruin an ALT of plastic components is if the contact temperature rises above the glass transition temperature, since this changes the material properties of the tested component. To prevent this from occurring in a ALT, a test rig was built with temperature sensors to monitor this contact temperature. If the contact point is modified with a temperature sensor, this will change the surface and make the test invalid. The method is instead to couple surface temperature measurements with a Finite Element Model (FEM) to estimate the contact temperature. This thesis compares the two techniques Thin Film RTD and Thin Thermocouple Wire Type T in conjunction with the building of a heat transfer Finite Element Method (FEM)-model. It also investigates which technology of Non Contact IR Single Point sensor or Thin Film RTD have the highest performance in use with the test rig with regard to four quality parameters. The conclusions are that RTD and the Thermocouple Type T sensors both provide equal precision in measurement to build a useful FEM model. In application on the test rig, the Thin Film RTD is better than the Infrared (IR)-sensor in three out of four areas when compared in the four defined quality parameters. Thin Film RTD is the recommended technology in this application.

O processo de flotação por ar dissolvido antecedendo a filtração, constitui hoje técnica já consolidada para clarificação de água para abastecimento. Apesar de apresentar elevada eficiência de remoção de partículas em suspensão e das diversas vantagens associadas a sua utilização, ainda existem particularidades deste processo pouco conhecidas. Visando compreender melhor a flotação por ar dissolvido e contribuir para a otimização das unidades existentes e também nos projetos de novas unidades, foram utilizadas técnicas de fluidodinâmica computacional para estudar as condições de escoamento entre água e ar observadas numa unidade piloto de flotação. A flotação foi investigada através de simulações em ambiente de CFD, acoplado a experimentos laboratoriais em instalação piloto de flotação por ar dissolvido. Estes últimos compreenderam a execução de ensaios com traçador para obtenção das curvas de distribuição de tempo de residência na unidade em questão e também por testes com sonda do tipo Micro ADV para levantamento do perfil de velocidades de escoamento no interior da unidade piloto. Os resultados das análises experimentais com sonda Micro ADV indicaram a presença de escoamento estratificado na região superior da zona de separação da unidade piloto. As curvas de distribuição do tempo de residência apontaram para escoamento do tipo pistonado. O tempo de detenção observado nos ensaios foi de 19,29 e 18,66 minutos respectivamente para escoamento somente de água e sem recirculação e escoamento entre água e ar. As simulações em CFD confirmaram a presença de escoamento estratificado na zona de separação e também a presença de uma manta de microbolhas de ar na mesma. Os resultados foram sensíveis ao diâmetro de microbolhas testado, com maior concentração de ar na zona de separação quando testados diâmetros de microbolhas menores que 60 µm. As curvas de distribuição de tempo de residência obtidas nas simulações em CFD foram capazes de representar o escoamento entre água e ar. O tempo de detenção hidráulico simulado foi de 14,24 e 18,90 minutos respectivamente para as mesmas condições experimentais testadas. De uma maneira geral, as simulações em CFD foram capazes de reproduzir as condições de escoamento entre ar e água observadas na unidade piloto de flotação, os resultados computacionais são condizentes com aqueles obtidos nos ensaios experimentais. / The dissolved air flotation process preceding filtration, consist in established technique for clarification of water supply. Despite presenting high suspended particle removal efficiency and the various advantages associated with their use, there are still a few particularities of this process slightly unknown. To better understand the dissolved air flotation and contribute to the optimization of the existing units and also in projects of new units, computational fluid dynamics techniques were used to study the flow conditions between water and air observed in a flotation pilot plant. The flotation process was investigated in CFD environment, coupled to laboratory experiments in dissolved air flotation scale pilot plant. The latter comprised running tests with tracer to obtain the residence time distribution curves in the pilot plant, tests with micro ADV probe were also conducted for raising the flow velocity profile within the unit. The results of micro ADV experimental analyzes indicated the presence of stratified flow in the upper region of the separation zone of the pilot plant. The residence time distribution curves pointed to plug flow. The retention time observed in the experiments were 19,29 and 18,66 minutes, respectively for the flow of water only and without recirculation and flow of water and air. The CFD simulations confirmed the presence of stratified flow in the separation zone and also the presence of a microbubble air blanket therein. The results were sensitive to the diameter of microbubbles tested, with bigger air concentration in the separation zone when tested with microbubbles diameters smaller than 60 micrometers. The residence time distribution curves obtained in CFD simulations were able to represent the water and air flow. The simulated hydraulic retention times obtained were 14,24 and 18,90 minutes, respectively, for the same experimental conditions. In general, the CFD simulations were able to reproduce the flow conditions observed between air and water in the flotation pilot plant, the computational results were consistent to those obtained in the experiments.

Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2012

International programmes, namely Framework Programmes 6, 7, and European Research Cooperation Agency (EUREKA), aim supporting national Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to subcontract their research needs to Research and Technological Development (RTD) performers. Main objective of this thesis is to measure level of success of knowledge transfer from RTD performers towards Turkish SMEs within the FP6, FP7 and EUREKA. The thesis proposes a model for knowledge transfer consisting of four stages: initiation, implementation, elaboration, and internalization. Extensive data is collected from sixty projects involved in these programmes via structured survey. The data is analyzed within the context of the proposed model via using the variables selected from the literature. Main findings show that the initiation stage is at a satisfactory level. The national SMEs continue learning from the international partners while they practice the knowledge they acquire, therefore, necessary support should be given to national SMEs to communicate as much as possible in order to receive as much knowledge as possible from their international partners, during implementation process. Level of absorptive capacity is indispensable for elaboration. Therefore, much effort is required to strengthen absorptive capacity of national SMEs. Internalization is the weakest stage. If internalization is not successfully achieved, it is hardly possible to sustain and systematize the knowledge. All stages are mutually exclusive. If the initiation is not based on real needs and expertise of the SMEs, implementation will fail. It will be difficult to elaborate on the knowledge / therefore, improvement of the knowledge will not be at expected level. Since the improvement will not be sustained, internalization of the knowledge will be less, which will undermine successful transfer.

The following thesis demonstrates two isotope tracing experiments that measure oxygen transport through electrochemically polarized solid oxides. Cathode-symmetric ‘button’ cells with yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ) electrolytes and either strontium doped lanthanum manganate(LSM) or composite LSM/YSZ cathodes were studied. The first experiment measured the residence time distributions(RTD) of 34O2. The measured RTDs were compared at different temperatures(700-800°C) and applied potentials(-2 to -8V). Comparisons with simulated RTDs revealed that oxygen transport was laterally heterogeneous. Delamination of the counter electrode is likely the source of the heterogeneity. The second experiment measured a wave of 18O by exposing an interior cross section and applying ToF-SIMS analysis. A depth profile was produced that spans the cathode and electrolyte interface. The depth profile was compared with a variety of limiting oxygen activation scenarios predicted by a simple 1-D model. Comparisons demonstrated that oxygen activation is likely not restricted to the cathode and electrolyte interface.

The following thesis demonstrates two isotope tracing experiments that measure oxygen transport through electrochemically polarized solid oxides. Cathode-symmetric ‘button’ cells with yttria stabilized zirconia(YSZ) electrolytes and either strontium doped lanthanum manganate(LSM) or composite LSM/YSZ cathodes were studied. The first experiment measured the residence time distributions(RTD) of 34O2. The measured RTDs were compared at different temperatures(700-800°C) and applied potentials(-2 to -8V). Comparisons with simulated RTDs revealed that oxygen transport was laterally heterogeneous. Delamination of the counter electrode is likely the source of the heterogeneity. The second experiment measured a wave of 18O by exposing an interior cross section and applying ToF-SIMS analysis. A depth profile was produced that spans the cathode and electrolyte interface. The depth profile was compared with a variety of limiting oxygen activation scenarios predicted by a simple 1-D model. Comparisons demonstrated that oxygen activation is likely not restricted to the cathode and electrolyte interface.

In steel manufacturing, temperature control is a critical parameter,as it is extremely important for the steel quality. In general,disposable sensors are regularly immersed in the melt for temperaturemeasurements. There are commercially available sensors for continuoustemperature measurements. In this study, a refractory cement is used for encapsulation andcarrier of a resistive temperature detector, for continuoustemperature measurements in molten steel. This cement is normallyused for manufacturing of steel melt crucibles. The work in thisstudy is mostly experimental and consist of characterization of thecement and development of the sensor. The characterization includesthe mechanical properties, the thermal shock resistance, the steelmelt resistance and obtainable surface roughness, for differentpowder fractions, water-to-cement ratio, firings and mixing method.Process developments were also done for the manufacturing of thesensor element and its carrier system. The end goal for continuous temperature measurement in molten steelfor more than 60 minutes was not reached. However, functional sensorswere developed where temperatures up to 1000 °C were measured duringcalibrations, and the cement was well characterized. This work has been carried out within the Strategic innovationprogram "Smartare Elektroniksystem", a joint investment of Vinnova,Formas and Energimyndigheten.