Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de estudar a aplicação, para sistema de frenagem veicular, de uma máquina elétrica sem escovas, de armadura toroidal, e fluxo magnético axial produzido por ímãs permanentes de terras raras, a chamada máquina Torus. A máquina foi construída no LMEAE e estudada inicialmente como motor em outro trabalho. Mas, para que se possa avaliar seu funcionamento em sistema de frenagem, o foco é do ponto de vista da máquina como gerador. São realizados testes dinâmicos e estáticos experimentalmente e modelo numérico pelo método dos elementos finitos com um formato de ímãs permanentes de seção setorial, possibilitando o comparativo com a versão anterior da máquina que empregou ímãs de seção quadrada. Mudanças físicas e no sistema de acionamento da máquina, e ensaios de frenagem dinâmica foram realizados. Modelagem analítica para indução magnética foi desenvolvida utilizando-se da técnica de Transformação Conforme. O trabalho busca apresentar as características da máquina e justificativas que demonstram o seu potencial de aplicabilidade em um subsistema veicular sob frenagem regenerativa e a capacidade de fornecimento de energia a um sistema de armazenamento com uma parte de energia cinética, ou seja, baterias e supercapacitores. / This work is carried out with the aim to study the application, by a vehicular braking system, of a brushless electrical machine with a toroidal armature core, and axial magnetic flux delivered by rare earth permanent magnets, the so-called Torus machine. The machine was built in the LMEAE, and previously studied as a motor by other work. However, in order to assess its performance in a braking system, the focus is the point of view of the machine as a generator. Static and dynamic tests are implemented as well as a numerical model by means of the finite element method, in order to compare the machine with sector poles permanent magnets and with square magnet poles. Physical changes and on the driving system of the machine, and dynamic braking tests are performed. The analytical modelling for the magnetic induction was developed using the technique of conformal transformation. The study aims to present the features of the machine and demonstrates its potential applicability to a vehicular subsystem under regenerative braking and the ability to supply an energy storage system with part of the kinetic energy, i.e. batteries and super capacitors.

Current single molecule localisation microscopy methods allow for multicolour imaging of macromolecules in cells, and for a degree quantification on molecule numbers in one colour. However, that has not yet been an attempt to develop tools capable of quantitative imaging with multiple colours in cells. This work addressed this challenge by designing linker peptides with chemospecific groups to allow attachment of activator and emitter dyes for STORM imaging, and a targeting module. The design ensured a stoichiometric ratio of targeting module to activator and emitter dyes. Peptides with HaloTag ligands attached were labelled with various activator and emitter pairs and used to label HaloTag fusions of S. pombe and mouse embryonic stem cells. These peptides were found to bind non-specifically to various areas of both cell types, and did not localise to HaloTag protein, whereas controls did. Another peptide was also labelled with activator-emitter pairs and attached to expressed anti-GFP and ant-mCherry nanobodies via native chemical ligation. The labelled anti-GFP nanobody was to demonstrate ensemble and single molecule imaging in S. pombe, as well as characterisation on single molecule surfaces in comparison to a conventional randomly labelled antibody. The stoichiometrically labelled nanobody had a more consistent number of photons detected per localisation, number of localisation per molecule and number of blinks per molecule, which implied that it could be more useful than randomly labelled nanobodies for counting experiments. It was also shown to be capable of specific laser activation for STORM imaging with both an Alexa405Cy5 and Cy3Cy5 pairs. These anti-GFP and anti-mCherry nanobodies and peptide linker are new tools for both counting and multicolour imaging in super-resolution, which could be widely applied to constructs that are already tagged with GFP or mCherry.

The ESSnuSB will produce a high intensity neutrino super beam based on the 3 ms long proton pulses at 14 Hz from the ESS linac. With the use of a conventional normal-conducting van der Meer horn, to collect pions from the neutrino target, these 3 ms pulses will have to be compressed to of the order of 1 microsecond in order to avoid overheating of the magnet current conductors. Since this pulse compression requires costly extensions to the accelerator complex a prototype design of an alternative normal-conducting hadron collector scheme that could be operated in DC mode has been studied. The magnet has been implemented in the simulation software FLUKA and extensive research has been made to analyse and maximise the flux of charged pions inside and downsteam of the magnet. Further simulations have been made to asses the flux of on-target neutrinos from the alternative collector scheme in comparison to the corresponding flux of a van der Meer horn. Simulation results from the comparison show that the alternative magnet greatly improved the neutrino flux of a bare source but not to the extent necessary to replace the magnetic horn. A conclusion is presented on the future possibilities of an optimized design that can improve the neutrino flux.

O dioxido de estanho na estrutura rutila (SnO2) é um semicondutor de gap largo e faz parte da classe dos óxidos condutores transparentes (TCO). Possui gap direto de 3,6 eV e condutividade do tipo n, mesmo quando não dopado intencionalmente. Estudos teóricos e experimentais atribuem este comportamento à presença de defeitos intrínsecos. Por outro lado, impurezas de hidrogênio, em sítios intersticiais ou substituindo o átomo de oxigênio, poderiam ser responsáveis pelo caráter n do SnO2. Neste trabalho apresentamos nossos resultados de estrutura eletrônica, a partir de cálculos de primeiros princípios, para o dióxido de estanho puro, assim como levando em conta a presença de defeitos intrínsecos - VO, VSn, Sni, Oi, OSn, SnO, SnO+OSn, Sni+VO - e para vários centros de impureza de hidrogênio - Hi, HO, HBC, Hi-Hi, Hi-HO, Hi-HBC, HBC-HBC, onde V significa vacância e BC a impureza localizada em um sítio entre ligação. Os resultados para a impureza de hidrogênio são confrontados com os dos defeitos intrínsicos. Nossas análises mostram, tanto para o caso das impurezas de H isoladas quanto para os pares complexos H-H, que estes centros apresentam caráter doador. Em todas as configurações, as energias de formação são suficientemente baixas, comparadas com as dos defeitos intrínsecos, mostrando competitividade e sugerindo que a impureza de hidrogênio poderia ser responsável pela característica de condutividade n do cristal SnO2. Apresentamos também resultados de propriedades eletrônicas e magnéticas para impurezas de metal de transição MT (MT = V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Co e Ni) em SnO2 em uma configuração estrutural de baixa concentração. Estes sistemas são denominados semicondutores magnéticos diluídos (DMS - diluted magnetic semiconductor), isto é, ligas diluídas do tipo Sn1-xMTxO2 e Sn1-xMTxO2-y(VO)y. Consideramos neste estudo as concentrações x = 0,04 e y = 0,02, correspondendo a valores experimentalmente possíveis de se obter. Este estudo aponta para a existência de estados magnéticos metaestáveis para estes sistemas e mostra como a vacância de oxigênio afeta este comportamento. Para todos os casos, o estado eletrônico fundamental encontrado apresenta configuraçãoo de alto spin (HS - high-spin) e o fenômeno de spin-crossover para o estado de baixo spin (LS - low-spin) é possível de ocorrer. A metaestabilidade obtida para estes sistemas DMS é estudada em conecção com as relaxações estruturais em torno da impureza, na ausência e na presença da vacância de oxigênio. Por fim, alternando respectivamente camadas magnéticas e não magnéticas de r-CrO2 e r-SnO2, foram estudados sistemas em uma configuração de super-rede (SL - superlattice), do tipo (CrO2)n(SnO2)n, com n = 1; 2; ...; 10 sendo o número de monocamadas. Para todos os valores de n foi observado comportamento meio-metal (half-metal) para os sistemas. O estado fundamental é ferromagnético (FM), com momento mangético igual a 2 mu_B por cromo ndependentemente do número de monocamadas. E como o óxido r-CrO2 é instável na temperatura ambiente, porém pode ser estabilizado, quando crescido sobre o r-SnO2, sugerimos que as super-redes (CrO2)n(SnO2)n podem ser aplicadas na tecnologia de spintrônica provendo eficiente polarização de spin de seus portadores. Os cálculos de estutura eletrônica foram realizados levando em conta a polarização de spin, usando o método PAW (Projector-Augmented-Wave) implementado no pacote computacional VASP (Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package), dentro da teoria DFT (density functional theory) utilizando a aproximação local da densidade com correção GGA-PBE (generalized gradient corrections) e aproximação GGA-PBE+U, onde U é a correção on site de Hubbard. / Rutile tin dioxide (r-SnO2) is a wide-band-gap semiconductor and is part of a class of promising transparent conducting oxides (TCO). It has a direct band gap of 3.6 eV and shows n-type conductivity, even when not intentionally doped, which is usually attributed to intrinsic defects. On the other hand, it has been proposed theoretically that in spite of unintentionally doping, hydrogen impurities at interstitial or O substitutional sites could be responsible for the n-type conductivity in SnO2. In this work we report the results of ab initio electronic structure calculatations for pure tin dioxide as well as for some intrinsic defects VO, VSn, Sni, Oi, OSn, SnO, SnO+OSn and Sni+VO and for several H-related defect centers Hi, HO, HBC, Hi-Hi, Hi-HO, Hi-HBC, HBC-HBC, where V means vacancy and BC bond-centered sites. Our H-related results centers are confronted with those obtained for the intrinsic defects. Our findings show, for example, that hydrogen impurity has a donor character for all studied centers and that not only the isolated H, but also some of its complexes, show competitive low formation energies, suggesting that various H-related centers could be responsible for the n-type conductivity observed in the unintentionally doped SnO2. We discuss some results of the electronic and magnetic properties of TM-doped tin dioxide (TM = V, Cr, Fe, Mn, Co and Ni) in a diluted magnetic oxide configurations, i.e., Sn1-xTMxO2 and Sn1-xTMxO2-y(VO)y diluted alloys. As a prototype we will consider x = 0.04 and y = 0.02, which corresponds to a TM content just within the experimental window. Our aim is to analyze the presence of magnetic metastable states in these systems and how oxygen vacancies affect this metastability. For all cases, the ground state corresponds to the expected high spin (HS) configuration and a spin-crossover to the low-spin state is possible. The obtained magnetic metasbility in TM-doped SnO2 is discussed in connection with the structural relaxations around the impurity in absence and in presence of O vacancies. Finally, alternated magnetic and non-magnetic layers of rutile-CrO2 and rutile-SnO2 respectively, in a (CrO2)n(SnO2)n superlattice (SL) configuration, with n being the number of monolayers which are considered equal to 1, 2, ..., 10 are studied. A half-metallic behavior is observed for the (CrO2)n(SnO2)n SLs for all values of n. The ground state is found to be ferromagnetic (FM) with a magnetic moment of 2 µB per chromium atom, and this result does not depend on the number of monolayers n. As the FM rutile-CrO2 is unstable at ambient temperature, and known to be stabilized when on top of SnO2, we suggest that (CrO2)n(SnO2)n SLs may be applied to spintronic technologies since they provide efficient spin-polarized carriers. Spin-polarized electronic structure calculations were performed using the Projector-Augmented-Wave (PAW) method as implemented in the Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP), within the spin density functional theory in the local density approximation with generalized gradient corrections (GGA-PBE) and GGA- PBE+U, where U is the Hubbard correction.

Dentro da área de Ensino de Ciências é possível identificar a existência da linha de trabalho que advoga o ensino de uma Física detentora de valor Cultural dentro de sala de aula. Trabalhos como os de Zanetic (1989) sugerem que a Física, por não ser desprovida de conteúdo ideológico e político seja ensinada nas escolas públicas dentro de um contexto sociocultural. Neste caminho, pretendemos contribuir para o diálogo entre a Física e a Cultura, em especial a Cultura de Massas, apresentando uma análise do potencial didático apresentado pela Leitura de Histórias em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica dentro da sala de aula em um curso de Física. Utilizamos como referenciais para a relação entre Física e Cultura os trabalhos de George Snyders (1988) C.P. Snow (1959) e do próprio Zanetic (1989). A relação entre História em Quadrinhos e Educação foi analisada a partir dos trabalhos do prof. Waldomiro Vergueiro (2009) da ECA-USP e de outros estudiosos da área. Para iluminar o laço entre a Ficção Científica e o Ensino de Física, nos baseamos na teoria de análise dos pólos temáticos desenvolvida por Piassi (2007). Como demonstraremos adiante, o diálogo entre a Física, as Histórias em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica e o período histórico-social que as produz é profundo, fazendo com que a leitura deste material em sala de aula possa fornecer o ponto de partida para o estudo de uma Física detentora de um perfil cultural, cujo domínio é capaz de levar o aluno ao questionamento, resultando em uma ação de mudança social. O recorte temático para estudo adotou as histórias do título em quadrinhos \"Quarteto Fantástico\", publicado originalmente desde 1962 e cujo lançamento pode ser considerado uma resposta cultural as sucessivas derrotas enfrentadas pela sociedade norte-americana no campo da corrida espacial. Exploraremos o panorama geral delineado pelos três números iniciais da publicação, responsáveis pela definição de uma matriz narrativa publicada de forma ininterrupta até os dias de hoje. Para fins de comparação adotamos as três primeiras aventuras de sua versão reformulada para o Século XXI após os eventos de 11 de Setembro de 2001, o chamado \"Quarteto Fantástico Ultimate\". Nosso objetivo é apresentar as relações entre a expressão artística da Ciência e os anseios sociais relacionados às descobertas científicas, apresentadas nos dois títulos. O resultado obtido evidencia que discutir uma História em Quadrinhos de Ficção Científica em sala de aula significa discutir a sociedade que as criou, fazendo com que a leitura crítica de um título possibilite ao aluno o contato com uma Física fruto da construção humana e detentora de um papel cultural. / Within the area of Science Education it is possible to identify a line of work where several studies advocate the teaching of a Cultural Physics in the classroom. Authors such as Zanetic (1989) suggests that physics can be taught in public schools within a sociocultural context, because it is not devoid of ideological and political content. In this way, we intend to contribute to the dialogue between physics and culture, especially the mass culture, presenting an analysis of the didactic potential represented by reading Sci Fi comics during physics class. We used works such as George Snyders (1988) C.P. Snow (1959) and the very own Zanetic (1989) as references for the relationship between physics and culture. The relationship between Comics and Education was analyzed based on the studies of prof. Waldomiro Vergueiro (2009), ECA-USP and other scholars in the field. To illuminate the link between science fiction and physics teaching, we rely on the theory developed by Piassi (2007) for exploration of thematic poles. As we intend to demonstrate further, the dialogue between physics, sci fi comics and the socialhistorical period which produces it is deep, making the reading material in the classroom provide a starting point for the studies of physics with a cultural profile. This domain leads to questioning the student, which may result in an action for social change. The cutout theme adopted for the stories study is the comic book title \"Fantastic Four\", originally published in 1962 and whose release can be considered as a cultural response to the successive defeats faced by the American society throughout the space race, as will be demonstrated below. We explore the big picture outlined by the first three numbers of the publication, responsible for the definition of a matrix narrative published uninterruptedly up until the present day. For comparison purposes we will adopt the first three adventures of a reformulated version for the twenty-first century after the events of September 11, 2001, called \"Ultimate Fantastic Four\". Our goal is to demonstrate the relationship between expressive artistic science and social expectations related scientific findings, presented in both titles. As a result, we expect to demonstrate that discussing a sci fi comic book in the classroom means discussing the society that created them, making the critical reading of a title possible for the students to make contact with detaining physics that hold a cultural result of the human construction.

This work explores if combining information from multiple Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) modalities provides improved interpretation of brain biological architecture as each MR modality can reveal different characteristics of underlying anatomical structures. Structural MRI provides a means for high-resolution quantitative study of brain morphometry. Diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) allows for low-resolution modeling of diffusivity properties of water molecules. Structural and diffusion-weighted MRI modalities are commonly used for monitoring the biological architecture of the brain in normal development or neurodegenerative disease processes. Structural MRI provides an overall map of brain tissue organization that is useful for identifying distinct anatomical boundaries that define gross organization of the brain. DWI models provide a reflection of the micro-structure of white matter (WM), thereby providing insightful information for measuring localized tissue properties or for generating maps of brain connectivity. Multispectral information from different structural MR modalities can lead to better delineation of anatomical boundaries, but careful considerations should be taken to deal with increased partial volume effects (PVE) when input modalities are provided in different spatial resolutions. Interpretation of diffusion-weighted MRI is strongly limited by its relatively low spatial resolution. PVE's are an inherent consequence of the limited spatial resolution in low-resolution images like DWI. This work develops novel methods to enhance tissue classification by addressing challenges of partial volume effects encountered from multi-modal data that are provided in different spatial resolutions. Additionally, this project addresses PVE in low-resolution DWI scans by introducing a novel super-resolution reconstruction approach that uses prior information from multi-modal structural MR images provided in higher spatial resolution. The major contributions of this work include: 1) Enhancing multi-modal tissue classification by addressing increased PVE when multispectral information come from different spatial resolutions. A novel method was introduced to find pure spatial samples that are not affected by partial volume composition. Once detecting pure samples, we can safely integrate multi-modal information in training/initialization of the classifier for an enhanced segmentation quality. Our method operates in physical spatial domain and is not limited by the constraints of voxel lattice spaces of different input modalities. 2) Enhancing the spatial resolution of DWI scans by introducing a novel method for super-resolution reconstruction of diffusion-weighted imaging data using high biological-resolution information provided by structural MRI data such that the voxel values at tissue boundaries of the reconstructed DWI image will be in agreement with the actual anatomical definitions of morphological data. We used 2D phantom data and 3D simulated multi-modal MR scans for quantitative evaluation of introduced tissue classification approach. The phantom study result demonstrates that the segmentation error rate is reduced when training samples were selected only from the pure samples. Quantitative results using Dice index from 3D simulated MR scans proves that the multi-modal segmentation quality with low-resolution second modality can approach the accuracy of high-resolution multi-modal segmentation when pure samples are incorporated in the training of classifier. We used high-resolution DWI from Human Connectome Project (HCP) as a gold standard for super-resolution reconstruction evaluation to measure the effectiveness of our method to recover high-resolution extrapolations from low-resolution DWI data using three evaluation approaches consisting of brain tractography, rotationally invariant scalars and tensor properties. Our validation demonstrates a significant improvement in the performance of developed approach in providing accurate assessment of brain connectivity and recovering the high-resolution rotationally invariant scalars (RIS) and tensor property measurements when our approach was compared with two common methods in the literature. The novel methods of this work provide important improvements in tools that assist with improving interpretation of brain biological architecture. We demonstrate an increased sensitivity for volumetric and diffusion measures commonly used in clinical trials to advance our understanding of both normal development and disease induced degeneration. The improved sensitivity may lead to a substantial decrease in the necessary sample size required to demonstrate statistical significance and thereby may reduce the cost of future studies or may allow more clinical and observational trials to be performed in parallel.

Unmanned ground and aerial vehicles (UGVs and UAVs) have strict payload limitations, limited free space affecting on board power availability resulting in limited endurance and operational range. This limitation is exacerbated by the addition of sensors, actuators and other related equipment needed to accomplish mission objectives in diverse applications. Two energy sources are mainly available for mobile applications; batteries and fuel cells. Batteries are a relatively cheap, tested technology with good performance under varying loads. On the other hand, fuel cells offer fast and easy refueling solutions. Furthermore, preliminary studies have shown that a hybrid system can combine the advantages of both technologies offering a superior system. It is true that for most outdoors applications, payload needs, sensor suite utilization and energy requirements are apriori unpredictable. This makes proper sizing of energy storage devices and the prediction of remaining available energy rather difficult tasks. This research proposes an indirect way of improving the operational range for UAVs of Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOLs), since the VTOL vehicle is transported to the mission site without the need to fly. The proposed gimballed platform, which will be a power source itself, rotates around two axes perpendicular to each other, allowing the VTOL to take-off and land, regardless of the position of the UGV, while securing it during transportation. The UGV can also serve as a charging station for the VTOL. Furthermore, this research proposes a Matlab Simulation tool that can simulate the energy and power demand of small to mid-sized robotic vehicles. This model will simulate the power consumption in the motors based on Skid steering, road gradient, linear and angular velocity. With the energy and power requirements estimated, a Matlab optimization tool is proposed to be used to determine the optimal configuration of a power system for mobile applications under constraints relating to capacity/runtime, weight, volume, cost, and system complexity. The configuration will be based on commercially available batteries, and fuel cells to significantly reduce cost and delivery time. The optimization tool can be used for any mobile application. Finally, a new model is proposed for the accurate prediction of battery runtime and remaining energy for single battery discharge. This model reformulates Peukert's equation and achieves higher accuracy by introducing a new concept of variable exponent which is a function of battery capacity and discharge current.

Cancer is responsible for about 25% of deaths in developed countries and for 15% of all deaths worldwide. Cancer is a devastating disease and while there have been great advances in the development of anticancer drugs, off-target toxicity is a major limitation with conventional cancer chemotherapy. The consequence of this form of treatment results in the killing of healthy and rapidly-growing non-cancerous cells including cells in the bone marrow; hair follicles; and cells in the mouth, digestive tract, and reproductive system. In addition to these general effects, certain anticancer drugs can have other associated toxicities. For instance, the anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox), which my research has focused around, has dose-limiting cardiotoxicity. For these reasons, there has been much research focused on improving the selectivity of anticancer drugs in order to lower their toxicity to normal cells and decrease associated side effects. To circumvent the problem of non-selectivity, many methods have been developed to target cancer cells regionally at the site of the tumor. One such method is photodynamic therapy (PDT) which relies on a photosensitizer that is activated using light directed towards the tumor. Once activated, the photosensitizer creates singlet oxygen, which is cytotoxic to the illuminated tumor cells. PDT has shown profound effects in the treatment of many cancers including head and neck, lung, bladder, prostate, and esophagus. As PDT continues to be streamlined, it has the potential to serve as a standalone modality in the treatment and management of cancer at different stages. However, there are many inadequacies in the use of PDT. The fundamental problem lies in the inability of PDT to treat solid, bulky tumors or deep-seated tumors. This is partly due to the fact that current PS used cannot effectively kill cancer cells because with increasing tissue thickness the number of hypoxic cells increases. We have designed a new light based drug delivery which will allow for drugs to be released on the surface of the tumor, allowing the drug to freely diffuse through the tumor without the need of O2 and also, due to the manner our drug is attached, a more potent form the pre-attached drug is released. In this methodology, drug delivery will only be specific to an area of interest and the potential for side effects emerging from chemotherapy should be limited. Here we have shown, for the first time the generation of highly potent drug in a light dependent manner via a photocaging molecule and the commonly used chemotherapy agent Dox. We designed our photocage to generate a latent reactive form of Dox after illumination with UV light. This intermediate reacts in an intramolecular fashion to generate a highly potent form of the drug compared to its previous unattached form. Because of its high potency we have named the cleaved drug Super-Dox. Once the synthesis of the photocleavable drug conjugate was complete and we confirmed the photorelease of Super-Dox, via photolytic assay, and confirmed our drug conjugate is 80% cleaved from its photocage after 30 minutes of irritation with UV light. Next, we performed cell viability assays using MCF7 breast cancer cells to determine the efficiency of our drug conjugate to induce cell death. Our drug conjugate was able to induce significant cell death in the presence of light when compared to the dark. When compared to Dox, our cleaved drug conjugate is 26 folds more potent with light illumination an when compared to toxicity in the dark our drug conjugate was 374 fold less potent when conjugated to the photocage. However, our drug conjugate was not completely benign in the dark due to cell permeability, evidenced by confocal microscopy, we have worked equip our linker with sulfated cell impermeable group that will lower its background toxicity in the dark and allow us to achieve even higher enhancements in activity with light. This type of innovation creates a new avenue into cancer treatment which can limit adverse side effects and improve overall treatment.

The use of electronic monitoring (EM) as a tool to supervise high-risk offenders has increased in the field of criminal justice in the state of Texas. Although EM is now widely used to supervise high-risk offenders to prevent them from committing further crimes, it is unclear whether EM has achieved the purpose of reducing reoffenses during parole supervision. Hirschi's social bond theory, which was later developed into social control theory, was used as the framework for this general qualitative study to explore retired parole officers' perceptions concerning whether EM is successful in preventing high-risk offenders from committing additional crimes. Interview data were collected from 10 retired parole officers who supervised high-risk offenders on EM in Harris County, Texas. The findings revealed that the 10 officers perceived EM to be an effective tool, but they perceived the role of capitalizing on positive social bonds was equally important in controlling criminal behavior. Specifically, the officers perceived that their bond with the high-risk offenders on EM could diminish offenders' propensity to commit new crimes. Opportunities for positive social change stemming from this study include recommendations to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to develop policies and training that is consistent with social bond theory, and retrain parole officers to emphasize to offenders positive contacts and relationship with family and continuing employment during the term of parole release in order to reduct opportunities for reoffense and futher victimization to the community.

Variáveis politômicas são comuns em experimentos agronômicos, apresentando natureza nominal ou ordinal. O modelo dos logitos generalizados é uma classe de modelos que pode ser empregada para a análise desses dados. Uma das características deste modelo é a pressuposição de que a variância é uma função conhecida da média e, espera-se, que a variância observada esteja próxima da variância pressuposta pelo modelo assumido. Contudo, quando ela é maior do que a especificada pelo modelo, tem-se o fenômeno da superdispersão. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho objetivou caracterizar o problema da superdispersão associado a dados nominais em estudos \"cross-sectional\". Como motivação apresentam-se dois estudos adaptados da área de ciências agrárias relativos à fruticultura e zootecnia, ambos planejados no delineamento inteiramente casualizado. Verifica-se indicativo de superdispersão nos dados dos dois exemplos e como uma alternativa metodológica utilizou-se o modelo Dirichlet-multinomial. Por meio do gráfico de diagnóstico half-normal plot avaliou-se o ajuste do modelo dos logitos generalizados e do Dirichlet-multinomial. Adicionalmente, foi proposta uma extensão do índice de dispersão para os dados politômicos, com performance avaliada sob simulação. O modelo Dirichlet-multinomial mostrou-se adequado para o ajuste aos dados com superdispersão comparativamente ao modelo dos logitos generalizados. Apesar dos resultados satisfatórios obtidos, ressalta-se que este trabalho é uma introdução ao problema. / Polytomic variables are common in agronomic experiments, presenting nominal or ordinal nature. The generalized logits model is a class of models that can be used to analyze these facts. One of the characteristics of this model is the assumption that variance is a known function of the mean and. It is expected, that the analyzed variance is close to that assumed by the model. However, when it is larger than the one specified by the model, it has the phenomenon of overdipersion. In this context, the present work aims to characterize the problem of overdispersion associated with nominal data in cross-sectional studies. As motivation, it is showed two adapted studies of the agricultural sciences area, related to fruit growing and zootechnics, both planned in the completely randomized design. The Dirichlet-multinomial model was used as a methodological alternative and was indicated as an overdispersion in the facts of the two examples. The model of the generalized logits and the Dirichlet-multinomial model were evaluated using the half-normal plot. In addition, it was proposed an extension of the dispersion index for the polytomic data, with performance evaluated under simulation. The Dirichlet-multinomial model proved to be adequate for the adjustment to the overdispersed fact compared to the generalized logit model. Despite the satisfactory results obtained, it is emphasized that this work is an introduction to the problem.