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In today's world, where globalisation and internationalization becomes part of our daily life, international entrepreneurship turns into a more actual and important issue. The role of law in this system is to set borders and give directions, which reflect the current state of global society. The aim of the diploma thesis Personal status of legal entities in private international law is both to clarify the actual legal situation of determining the personal status of legal entities and to find out the current grade of global legal integration in these aspects, that either encourages or prevents legal entities from international activities. In order to achieve that, firstly, a theoretical definition of the historically evolved theories for determination of personal status of legal entities is given. Subsequently, their main be- nefits and drawbacks are analysed. The first part is concluded with a definition of the scope of the conflict between the two main theories - incorporation theory and real seat theory. Additionally possible ways, how to solve this conflict together with their potential impact, are sought. Further parts of the thesis deal with such terms as recognition of foreign legal entities and cross-border transfer of seat. These all are essential terms that are bound with the per- sonal status of...

Whiplash is a neck injury caused by the sudden differential movement between the head and torso. Whiplash injuries are most commonly reported as a consequence of rear impacts in car accidents. They are regarded as minor injuries, but can still lead to long-term disablement and discomfort in the neck. Whiplash injuries can be mitigated by better car seat designs. For this purpose, head restraint geometry must be improved first, and then the dynamic performance of the whole seat must be assessed at all crash seventies. A biofidelic human-body model is a key requirement in designing whiplash mitigating car seats. This thesis presents the development of a 50th percentile male multi-body human model and several energy absorbing car seat designs. The human-body model is specifically designed for rear impact and validated using the responses of seven volunteers from Japanese Automobile Research Institute (JARI) sled tests, which were performed at an impact speed of 8 kph with a rigid seat and without head restraint and seat belt. A generic multi-body car seat model is also developed to implement various seatback and recliner properties, anti-whiplash devices (A WDs) and head restraints. Using the same driving posture and the rigid seat in the JARI sled tests as the basic configuration, several anti-whiplash seats are designed to allow different types of motion for the seatback and seat-pan. The major findings of this research are: -The human-body model simulates the effects of muscle contraction and its overall response is superior in comparison to the currently used models and dummies. -A criterion called the S-shape index (SSI) is developed based on the intervertebral angles of the upper and lower cervical spine. -The car seat design concepts are able to control and use crash energy effectively with the aid of anti-whiplash devices for a wide range of crash seventies. -In order to reduce whiplash injury risk, this study advocates energy absorbing car seats which can also provide head restraint contact as early as possible.

Title: Influence of horse breed and type of terrain on activation of the abdominal muscles in hippotherapy. Purposes: The aim of the study is to find out if horse breed and type of terrain approaches muscle activation in the position of unassisted sitting Methods: The study is of intraindividual character and incudes theoretical and practical part. The activation of abdominal muscles was measured by using surface electromyography and kinematic analysis. Results: There was differance between muscle activation with a different type of terrain. Horse breed does not influence a muscle activation but the individual biomechanic of each horse. Key words: hippotherapy, hipporehabilitation, horse breed, activation of abdominal muscles, unassisted seat, therapeutic horseback riding, electromyography

Title: Influence of horse breed and type of terrain on activation of the abdominal muscles in hippotherapy. Purposes: The aim of the study is to find out if horse breed and type of terrain approaches muscle activation in the position of unassisted sitting Methods: The study is of intraindividual character and incudes theoretical and practical part. The activation of abdominal muscles was measured by using surface electromyography and kinematic analysis. Results: There was differance between muscle activation with a different type of terrain. Horse breed does not influence a muscle activation but the individual biomechanic of each horse. Key words: hippotherapy, hipporehabilitation, horse breed, activation of abdominal muscles, unassisted seat, therapeutic horseback riding, electromyography

Le concept de nationalité des sociétés, qui traduit le rattachement politique d’une société à un Etat, a longtemps semblé impossible à définir, les critères retenus par les juges variant en fonction des décisions. Pour ajouter à la confusion, les juges ne distinguaient pas toujours la nationalité de la lex societatis. En énonçant dans un arrêt Roval de 1990 que la nationalité d’une société se déduisait de la localisation de son siège de direction effective, le juge fiscal a livré de la notion la première définition à portée universelle. La solution n’est cependant pas totalement satisfaisante. D’une part, elle procède d’une lecture erronée de la définition contenue dans la clause conventionnelle de non-discrimination selon la nationalité applicable en l’espèce, qui renvoyait à la loi de constitution de la société. Cette méprise a eu pour effet d’étendre la portée du principe conventionnel de non-discrimination bien au-delà des intentions des rédacteurs du Modèle de convention OCDE, jusqu’à prohiber les différences de traitement selon la résidence des sociétés. La solution mériterait d’être réexaminée. Hors de tout contexte conventionnel, elle conserve sa pertinence. Cependant, si le siège de direction effective se situe, comme l’a jugé le Conseil d’Etat, à l’endroit où les personnes exerçant les fonctions les plus élevées dans une société prennent les décisions stratégiques, ce siège pourrait s’avérer difficile à localiser pour les sociétés les plus internationalisées. Le maniement du concept de nationalité par le juge fiscal et son articulation avec la notion fiscale de résidence seront alors analysés, notamment en lien avec l'application des principes de non-discrimination conventionnel et communautaire qui prohibent les différences de traitement fondées respectivement sur la nationalité et la résidence du contribuable. Il apparaît en effet que le juge fiscal, en butte à l'imprécision des concepts dont il doit faire application, tende parfois à les confondre ou les utiliser de façon simplificatrice. / The concept of nationality of companies, which expresses the political connection between a given company and a State, has long been impossible to define as French judges would resort to different criteria depending on each case. The courts would also frequently mix up the concept of nationality with the notion of « lex societatis », thus creating additionnal confusion. Lastly a 1990 tax case Roval led French Civil Supreme Court to hold that the nationality of a company derives from the location of its effective seat of management. This definition is not totally satisfactory though. It derives from a misinterpretation of the non-discrimination treaty provision applicable to the case, which conveys to this clause a much broader scope than was initially intended by the drafters of the OECD Model convention and indirectly weakens French domestic rules that discriminate among companies depending on their tax residence. The Roval case should be reconsidered in light of the treaty definition of « nationals », which refers to the law of incorporation of the companies. Outside of a tax treaty context, the reference to the effective seat of management concept sounds more suitable. French administrative Supreme Court clarified that such a seat would be where strategic decisions necessary for the conduct of the enterprise’s business are in substance made by the most senior managers. In practise, determining the location of that seat may prove to be quite difficult for certain multinational entities.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-05T12:42:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabricia Pereira Teles.pdf: 3638137 bytes, checksum: b464ac88addd9319cdf7410c77a890f1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-05T12:42:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabricia Pereira Teles.pdf: 3638137 bytes, checksum: b464ac88addd9319cdf7410c77a890f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-26 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This doctorate dissertation, in general, investigates play in the reorganization of the curriculum of a school of early childhood education, located in the city of Parnaíba-PI, before and during the development of a project organized based on social activities (LIBERALI, 2009, 2012, 2015). The research discusses the development of teachers and children’s new ways of acting at school, based on early childhood education central concepts and actions, addressing, in a central way, the play and the social activities in which the children participate, and in this context, approppriate of their culture, take positions and become agents (STETSENKO; HO 2015). The Social Activities curriculum enables teachers and children to grasp historically produced knowledge, as well as new ways of acting that (re) signify life in school and in society. In view of this, two main axes are basic to the theoretical and theoretical-methodological discussion of this essay: playing in the curriculum of early childhood education and the proposal of curricular reorganization through social activities. The discussions about the concept of curriculum are based on Apple (1982), Sacristán and Pérez Gómez (1998), Silva (2011), Kuhlmann Jr (2003), Kramer (2014) Oliveira (2010, 2015), Barbosa and Horn (2008), Barbosa et al. (2016). The concept of play considers the references of Brougère (1998, 2003) and Kishimoto (1994, 1996) to the dialogue centered on the theories of Vigotski (1933/2007), Elkonin (1978/2009) and discussions of Newman and Holzman (2014), Stetsenko (2015, 2016), among others of vigotskiana base. The first axis focuses on the curriculum in relation to the conceptions and values present in the models of practices adopted at school about play in childhood. The second proposal is to overcome a traditional curriculum based in early childhood education presenting a new proposal based on social activities, supported by the assumptions of Socio-Historical-Cultural Theory (VIGOTSKI, 1930/2004, 1934/2007, LEONTIEV, 1972/2004, ENGESTRÖM, 2002, 2013, among others. This study - inserted in the area of Applied Linguistics, which understands language as implicated in social life (MOITA LOPES, 2006), specifically in the school life of adults and children - has the methodological choice of Critical Collaboration Research because it understands the research as an intentional process of understanding and transformation, organized by the contradiction and collaboration movements, which focus on the creation of proximal development zones (VIGOTSKI, 1930/2007). The research data, produced at training meetings, planning, classes and performances (jokes), photographs and videos were analyzed based on the argumentative perspective of language (LIBERALI, 2013) articulated to multimodality (KRESS, 2010). In an attempt to explain and understand the organization and movement of the activity of play, both before and during the project by social activities, the analyzes revealed that the implementation of the project at the Parnaíba-PI early childhood institution provided new ways of acting, conceiving and living the play by adults and children. These aspects guided the transformation of educational practices, made possible by the new understandings about the right to play in school, not as a leisure, but as an important element for purposes of teaching-learningdevelopment with primordial relevance to the respect of childhood. The transformations subsidized, afterwards, the strengthening of the curricular proposal of the institution, context of the research / Esta tese, de modo geral, investiga o brincar na reorganização do currículo de uma escola de Educação Infantil, localizada na cidade de Parnaíba-PI, antes e durante o desenvolvimento de um projeto organizado com base em Atividades Sociais (LIBERALI, 2009, 2012, 2015). A pesquisa discute o desenvolvimento de novos modos de agir de professoras e crianças, na escola, a partir de conceitos e ações centrais para a Educação Infantil, abordando, de modo central, o brincar e as atividades sociais em que as crianças participam e, nesse contexto, apropriam-se da cultura, assumem posições e tornam-se agentes (STETSENKO; HO 2015). O currículo por Atividades Sociais (AS) possibilita que professores e crianças apreendam conhecimentos historicamente produzidos, bem como, novos modos de agir que (re)significam a vida na escola e na sociedade. À vista disso, dois grandes eixos são basilares à discussão teórica e teórico-metodológica desta tese: o brincar no currículo da Educação Infantil e a proposta de reorganização curricular por meio de Atividades Sociais. As discussões quanto ao conceito de currículo são feitas com base em Apple (1982), Sacristán e Pérez Gómez (1998), Silva (2011), Kuhlmann Jr (2003), Kramer (2014) Oliveira (2010, 2015), Barbosa e Horn (2008), Barbosa et all (2016). O conceito de brincar considera as referências de Brougère (1998, 2003) e Kishimoto (1994, 1996) para o diálogo centrado nas teorias de Vigotski (1933/2007), Elkonin (1978/2009) e discussões de Newman e Holzman (2014), Stetsenko (2015, 2016), entre outros de base vigotskiana. O primeiro eixo enfoca o currículo em relação às concepções e valores presentes nos modelos de práticas adotadas, na escola, acerca do brincar na infância. O segundo propõe a superação de uma base tradicional de currículo, na Educação Infantil, ao apresentar uma nova proposta organizada com base em Atividades Sociais, apoiada nos pressupostos da Teoria da Atividade Sócio-Histórico-Cultural (VIGOTSKI, 1930/2004; 1934/2007, LEONTIEV, 1972/2004; ENGESTRÖM, 2002, 2013, entre outros). Este estudo - inserido na área da Linguística Aplicada, que entende a linguagem como implicada na vida social (MOITA LOPES, 2006), especificamente, na vida escolar de adultos e crianças, - tem como escolha metodológica a Pesquisa Crítica de Colaboração (PCCol) (MAGALHÃES, 2012; 2007, 2014), por entender a investigação como um processo intencional de compreensão e transformação, organizada pelos movimentos de contradição e colaboração, que incidem na criação de Zonas de Desenvolvimento Proximal (VIGOTSKI, 1930/2007). Os dados da investigação, produzidos a partir de encontros de formação, planejamentos, aulas e performances (brincadeiras), fotografias e vídeos foram analisados com base na perspectiva argumentativa da linguagem (LIBERALI, 2013) articulada à multimodalidade (KRESS, 2010). Ao buscar explicitar e compreender a organização e o movimento da atividade do brincar, antes e durante o projeto por AS, as análises revelaram que a implementação do projeto, na instituição de Educação Infantil de Parnaíba-PI, propiciou novos modos de agir, conceber e viver o brincar de adultos e crianças. Tais aspectos foram orientadores de práticas educacionais transformadas, viabilizadas pelas novas compreensões sobre o direito de brincar na escola, não exclusivamente como um lazer, mas de relevância primordial à infância e ao processo de ensino-aprendizagemdesenvolvimento humano. As transformações subsidiaram, posteriormente, o fortalecimento prático-teórico da proposta curricular da instituição, contexto da pesquisa

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-25T11:51:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Regina Maria Estonlho.pdf: 1162922 bytes, checksum: 9c8a7b7bd1c6541f9998018e59f55a16 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-25T11:51:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Regina Maria Estonlho.pdf: 1162922 bytes, checksum: 9c8a7b7bd1c6541f9998018e59f55a16 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / English teaching has been characterized by methodological proposals oriented towards standardization and convenience with recipes of how to approach teaching-learning through prescriptive methods and materials, not providing experiences that prepare students to act consciously and critically in the world. This research aims to critically understand playing based on Social Activities in the re-elaboration and implementation of Didactic Units for English classes, as well as its role in the reorganization of teaching-learning and in the strengthening of bonds between school and life. Specifically, it focus on understanding if, how and why play brought opportunities of learning and development to the participants, not only in the appropriation of the English language, but also in new ways of being and acting in the world. This investigation is inserted in the field of Critical Applied Linguistic (MOITA LOPES, 2006, PENNYCOOK, 2006, 2014, FABRICIO, 2006), grounded on the Socio-Historical-Cultural Activity Theory - TASCH (VYGOTSKY, 1934, LEONTIEV, 1977, ENGESTRÖM, 1999; LIBERALI, 2009), as well as on the play-based curriculum (VAN OERS, 2013). Methodologically, it is anchored in the Collaborative Critical Research (PCCol) - (MAGALHÃES, 2011), characterized as interventionist, since it focus on understanding and transforming participants' actions in school contexts. This study was conducted with children between ten and eleven years old at a language school in the interior of São Paulo. Data collection happened through the application of a questionnaire which aimed at discovering the social activities the children were involved in. The corpus is composed by excerpts of audio and video recordings produced during the period of a semester. Data were analyzed and interpreted through enunciative-discursive-linguistic categories (LIBERALI, 2013). The results revealed the importance of creating possibilities for rethinking, re-elaborating and reorganizing the teaching-learning of English through playing in Social Activities in order to constitute, in the classroom, critical-collaborative participants in the appropriation of new repertoires in situations of interaction in English. This dissertation allowed the construction of an approach to teaching English which establishes a relation between school and real life. In other words, the construction of non-encapsulated teaching-learning which relates school contents to their use beyond school walls / A área de ensino de inglês tem sido marcada por propostas metodológicas orientadas para a padronização e conveniência, com receitas de como abordar o ensino-aprendizagem por meio de métodos e materiais prescritivos, não proporcionando vivências que prepararem o aluno para atuação crítica e consciente no mundo. Nesse cenário, esta pesquisa objetivou compreender criticamente o brincar em Atividades Sociais na reelaboração e implementação de Unidades Didáticas para aulas de língua inglesa, bem como seu papel na reorganização do ensino-aprendizagem e no estabelecimento das relações entre a escola e a vida. O foco está em discutir se, como e por que o brincar, nas experiências vividas em sala de aula de inglês, trouxe oportunidades de aprendizagem e desenvolvimento aos participantes, não apenas quanto à apropriação da língua inglesa, mas quanto aos novos modos de ser e agir. Este trabalho está inserido no campo da Linguística Aplicada Crítica (MOITA LOPES, 2006; PENNYCOOK, 2006, 2014; FABRICIO, 2006) e apoiado na Teoria da Atividade Sócio-Histórico-Cultural – TASCH (VYGOTSKY, 1934; LEONTIEV, 1977; ENGESTRÖM, 1999; LIBERALI, 2009), assim como nos estudos sobre o currículo baseado no brincar (VAN OERS, 2013). Situa-se no quadro teórico-metodológico da Pesquisa Crítica de Colaboração - PCCol (MAGALHÃES 2009, 2011, 2012), caracterizando-se como intervencionista, visto o foco encontrar-se na compreensão e na transformação de modos de agir dos participantes nos contextos escolares. Este estudo foi desenvolvido com crianças entre dez e onze anos de idade em uma escola de idiomas no interior de São Paulo. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio da aplicação de um questionário e uma conversa informal com as crianças, visando o levantamento das Atividades Sociais diariamente vivenciadas. O corpus é formado por excertos de áudio e vídeo gravações produzidos em um semestre. Os dados foram descritos, analisados e interpretados com base em categorias enunciativo-discursivo-linguísticas da Argumentação (LIBERALI, 2013). Os resultados revelaram a importância da criação de possibilidades de repensar, reelaborar e reorganizar o ensino-aprendizagem da Língua Inglesa pelo Brincar em Atividades Sociais, a fim de formar, em sala de aula, participantes crítico-colaborativos na apropriação de novos repertórios em situações de interação de uso do inglês. Esta dissertação possibilitou a construção da relação escola e vida real na abordagem de ensino desse idioma. Em outras palavras, a construção de um ensino-aprendizagem não encapsulado dos saberes escolarizados, mas que relaciona esses conteúdos ao uso fora dos muros da escola

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-01T11:32:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Carolina Cesarino Pereira.pdf: 1101362 bytes, checksum: 175dcfdc29f0899ed95550d77e371c25 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T11:32:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carolina Cesarino Pereira.pdf: 1101362 bytes, checksum: 175dcfdc29f0899ed95550d77e371c25 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research has as main objective to understand the senses attributed to a teacher of English as a second language for children while playing with them. In order to reach our purpose, we intended to answer the question: What are the senses attributed to play and how are they rebuilt along a process of reflective discussion with the coordinator of this school? Guiding this survey lies vygotskian’s theory concerning play as well as studies focused on the teachers’ education of English in Brazil and the main theories of teaching-learning traditionally applied to teaching the English language. Concerning the Critical Collaborative Research, we herein state that it was chosen to convey this research since we truly believe it acts as a facilitator when creating opportunities for critical reflection which lead to a transformation by getting collaborative elements from all those who took part in this process. The research was done with an active focal member, a teacher of English, together with the school coordinator who is the researcher of this study. Not only were data collected through a semi-structured interview, but also through both reflective discussions performed after classes had been observed and the continuation of the interview. Data were analyzed following specific thematic contents about which we can state that assertions about what is said were made from the semantic universe, thus trying to answer the question as well as understanding the senses attributed to play and its implications in the teaching-learning process. Data suggest an alteration in the construction of senses felt by the participant concerning the meaning of playing and its objective in the teaching-learning process of the English Language / Esta pesquisa objetivou compreender sentidos atribuídos ao brincar por uma professora de inglês que leciona um grupo de crianças em um instituto de idiomas. Para cumprir o proposto, buscamos responder à pergunta de pesquisa: Quais os sentidos atribuídos ao brincar e como eles são reconstruídos no decorrer de um processo de conversas reflexivas com a coordenadora da escola? Norteando o trabalho, está a teoria vygotskyana sobre o brincar, estudos acerca da formação do professor de inglês no Brasil e principais teorias de ensino-aprendizagem tradicionalmente utilizadas no ensino de inglês. A Pesquisa Crítica de Colaboração foi escolhida para a condução desta pesquisa, pois acreditamos que ela favorece a criação de espaços de reflexão crítica que levam à transformação por meio da colaboração entre os participantes. A pesquisa foi realizada em um instituto de idiomas com uma participante focal, professora de inglês, juntamente com a coordenadora da escola, aqui pesquisadora. A coleta de dados se deu por meio de uma entrevista semiestruturada, intermediada por conversas reflexivas que aconteceram após a observação das aulas. Os dados foram analisados segundo os conteúdos temáticos em que, a partir do universo semântico, são feitas asserções sobre o que é dito, buscando responder à pergunta de pesquisa e compreender sentidos atribuídos ao brincar e suas implicações no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Os dados sugerem uma mudança na atribuicao de sentidos da participante acerca do que é o brincar e qual sua finalidade no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de língua inglesa

Atualmente, uns dos grandes desafios para a indústria automobilística é aumentar o desempenho do conjunto mecânico responsável por selar a câmara de combustão interna de motores automotivos e também reduzir os seus custos de obtenção. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de tratar termicamente insertos de assentos de válvulas (do inglês valve seat insert, VSI) obtidos pela rota de metalurgia do pó. Esta técnica possibilitou a substituição do cobalto e do chumbo, devido ao seu elevado custo e efeito toxicológico, respectivamente. Ao longo do trabalho foram avaliados VSI obtidos com três misturas de pós diferentes, sendo que os elementos comuns nestas três misturas foram os pós de ferro, sulfeto de manganês, carboneto de nióbio, grafite, estearato de zinco e cobre. Em cada uma destas misturas variou-se apenas os tipos de pós de aços rápidos e aço ferramenta utilizado, sendo estes o aço rápido AISI M3:2 (Mistura 1), aço rápido AISI M2 (Mistura 2) e aço ferramenta AISI D2 (Mistura 3). Os tratamentos térmicos aplicados aos VSI consistiram em têmpera ao ar e têmpera ao óleo, ambas seguidas de duplo revenimento em sete temperaturas equidistantemente diferentes, variando de 100 °C a 700 °C. Os ciclos dos tratamentos térmicos foram determinados por meio da utilização de termopares do tipo k acoplados à um sistema de aquisição de dados. As propriedades físicas e mecânicas dos VSI foram determinadas através da dureza aparente, densidade aparente e resistência à ruptura radial. A caracterização microestrutural foi realizada utilizando-se a microscopia óptica e microscopia eletrônica de varredura. A composição química foi determinada por meio da análise elementar e por espectrometria de fluorescência de energia dispersiva de raios X. Os melhores resultados em relação às propriedades mecânicas dos VSI foram obtidas para os insertos temperados ao ar e duplamente revenido a 600 °C para a Mistura 1 e Mistura 2, e a 500 °C para Mistura 3. Já para a têmpera ao óleo, as melhores respostas foram para os VSI obtidos com a Mistura 1 duplamente revenida a 400 °C e a, 300 °C para os componentes obtidos com a Mistura 2 e Mistura 3. / Currently, one of the biggest challenges for the automobile industry is to increase the performance of the mechanical set responsible for sealing the internal combustion chamber in automotive engines and reduce its cost of production. The aim of the present work was to heat treat valve seat inserts (VSI) obtained through the powder metallurgy route. This procedure made possible the substitution of cobalt and lead, due to its high cost and toxicological effect, respectively. Throughout the work, it was evaluated VSI obtained with three different types of powders mixtures, and common elements at the three different powders mixtures were iron powder, manganese sulfide, niobium carbide, graphite, zinc stearate and copper. In each of these powders mixtures, it was changed only the type of high-speed steels and tool steel, consisting of high-speed steel AISI M3:2 (Mixture 1), high-speed steel AISI M2 (Mixture 2) and tool steel AISI D2 (Mixture 3). The heat treatments applied to the VSI were air quenching and oil quenching, both followed by double tempering at seven different equidistantly temperatures, ranging from 100 °C up to 700 °C. The heat treatments thermal cycles were determined using a thermocouple type k attached to a data acquisition system. The physical and mechanical properties of the VSI were measured in terms of apparent hardness, apparent density and crush radial strength. Microstructural characterization was performed using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The chemical composition was determined using gas analysis and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The best results regarding the mechanical properties of the VSI were obtained for the VSI air-quenched and double tempered at 600 °C for the powder Mixture 1 and Mixture 2, and at 500 °C for Mixture 3. For the oil quenching, the best response was reached for the VSI obtained with Mixture 1 double tempered at 400 °C, and at 300 °C for the components obtained with Mixture 2 and Mixture 3.