O objetivo central desta tese é analisar as transformações da economia urbana londrinense, particularmente de seu circuito inferior, à luz das variáveis que caracterizam o período atual, o período da globalização. Para tanto, dividimos a presente tese em duas partes. Na primeira, analisamos as sucessivas modernizações efetivadas em Londrina e as transformações na divisão territorial do trabalho que redundaram em diferentes especializações produtivas a partir da década de 1930. Na segunda parte, analisamos a organização e o funcionamento de três atividades do circuito inferior da economia urbana: o pequeno comércio estabelecido no Camelódromo de Londrina, o serviço de Mototáxi e o serviço de Entregas Urbanas realizado por motoboys. As conclusões a que chegamos revelam que, no período atual, a dinâmica do meio construído é um dado fundamental da economia urbana. Os fluxos que se efetivam a partir das atividades investigadas envolvem a redefinição dos papéis de intermediação que caracterizam Londrina como uma cidade média da Região Concentrada. O circuito inferior atual apresenta diferenças importantes em relação àquele que se formou em Londrina ao longo dos anos 1970, tais como: as trajetórias dos trabalhadores no mercado de trabalho, a importância dos processos migratórios do campo para a cidade, as escalas de ação de cada circuito, suas formas de integração, entre outras. Estas diferenças são conseqüências das modernizações na economia urbana inerentes à expansão e difusão espacial do meio técnico-científico-informacional. / The central objective of this thesis is to analyze the transformation of the urban economy Londrina, particularly to its lower circuit in the light of variables that characterize the current period, the period of globalization. To this end, we have divided this thesis into two parts. At first, we analyze the successive modernization that happened in Londrina and the changes in the territorial division of labor that resulted in different productive specializations from the 1930s. In the second part, we analyze the organization and operation of three activities of lower circuit of the urban economy: the small business set out in Camelódromo of Londrina, the Moto Táxi service and service performed by Urban Delivery couriers. The conclusions reached show that in the current period, the dynamics of the built environment is a fundamental element of the urban economy. The flows that happen based on the investigated activities involve the redefining of intermediation roles that featuring Londrina city as medium town in the Concentrated Region of Brasil The contemporaneous lower circuit shows major differences when it compares with the lower circuit formed in Londrina in the 1970s, like these: the trajectories of workers in the labor market, the importance of migration from the countryside to the city, the scales of action of upper and lower circuits, its forms of integration, among others. These differences are consequences of modernizations in the urban economy. Besides, theyre inherent at expansion and spatial diffusion of technico-scientific-informational milieu.

Dès les débuts de la conquête spatiale, la tribologie spatiale est considérée comme une discipline à part entière car il s’agit de lubrifier un mécanisme non seulement dans le vide spatial, mais aussi lors des opérations au sol, et ceci dans différents environnements (vide simulé, air sec et humide, azote sec). Un lubrifiant spatial, fluide ou solide, doit donc relever le défi de procurer le comportement tribologique désiré dans ces environnements successifs, mais doit aussi résister aux sollicitations dynamiques induites par le lancement. Dans l’espace, le mécanisme doit y être autonome sans maintenance et sa lubrification doit être maintenue pendant au moins 15 ans (800 millions de cycles pour un roulement) tout en conservant fiabilité et précision de positionnement (µrad). Malgré ces enjeux, la maîtrise tribologique spatiale se limite à de l’empirisme et du conservatisme de solutions techniques, notamment lors de l’emploi des matériaux sources de lubrifiants solides qui font l’objet de cette étude. Dans les faits, seules des recommandations d’utilisation existent sans pouvoir prédire le comportement tribologique des solutions. Cette prédiction nécessite la reconstitution de « la vie des contacts ». Cette dernière nécessite l’évaluation des débits de 1ers et 3ème corps. Ces débits dépendent d’un couplage multi-échelles et multi-physique « forcé » par les sollicitations tribologiques. Pour décrypter ces débits, une démarche expérimentale qui couple des mesures mécano-chimiques en temps réel et des analyses post-essai a été développée (forces, analyse de gaz, visualisation électronique et photonique). La simultanéité des mesures permet d’étudier le couplage entre les phénomènes mécaniques (créations de particules de 3ème corps, déformations plastiques des 1er corps) et physicochimiques (adsorption/désorption, modifications chimiques des 1ers et 3ème corps). La démarche est appliquée à l’étude de deux triplets tribologiques ayant respectivement des 1ers corps en MoS2 et MoS2+Ti dont les comportements tribologiques sous vide et sous air humide sont antagonistes. L’utilisation de leur antagonisme permet de mieux comprendre la réponse des 1er et 3ème corps aux sollicitations tribologiques. La reconstitution de la vie de ces triplets a montré : (1) le rôle bénéfique de la structure colonnaire dans l’obtention d’un facteur de frottement faible et d’une longue durée de vie, non parce qu’elle est intrinsèquement colonnaire mais parce qu’elle localise la production de 3ème corps; (2) le rôle bénéfique des contaminations internes et externes aux 1ers et 3ème corps qui délocalisent l’accommodation du volume du 3ème corps vers les complexes de surface, ce qui explique par exemple que l’environnement N2 sec ne puisse, même pour des raisons économiques, simuler l’ultravide. In fine, ces travaux permettent de spécifier une démarche de conception de « triplets tribologiques » qui sera généralisée ultérieurement grâce à la tribologie numérique / From the very beginning of space exploration, “space tribology” became a specific field of competences in its own right because it implies lubricating a mechanism not only in the vacuum of space but also in several environments (simulated vacuum, dry and humid air, dry N2 environment, etc.) on Earth. Consequently, a lubricant, fluid or solid, must provide the desired tribological behaviour in all those successive environments, but it must also resist to the dynamic loading induced by the launch operations. Once in space, a space mechanism must be autonomous, with no possible maintenance, and its lubrication must be sustained during 15 to 30 years (i.e. up to 800 millions cycles for a ball bearing) in space while sustaining high reliability and great precision (to within a few µrad). Despite those stakes, the mastery of space tribology is limited to empiricism and conservatism of technical solutions, especially when solid lubricants, whose are studied in this study, are used. In facts, only directions for use exist without allowing predicting the tribological behaviour of the solutions. That prediction requires the reconstitution of “the contacts’ life”. The latter requires evaluating the 1st and 3rd bodies flows. Those flows depend on a multiscale and multiphysical coupling effect “forced” by the tribological stresses. To decrypt those flows, an experimental procedure which couples both real time and post-mortem mechano-chemical measurements (friction forces, gas analysis, photonic and electronic visualization,) has thus been developed. The simultaneity in the measure allows studying the relationship between mechanical (3rd body particles creation, plastic deformations of 1st bodies, etc.) and physicochemical (adsorption/desorption, chemical changes of 1st and 3rd bodies, etc.) phenomena. The procedure is applied to two tribological triplets respectively containing 1st bodies comprised of MoS2 and MoS2+Ti coatings whose tribological behaviours in vacuum and humid air are antagonistic. Such antagonism allows better understanding the responses of the 1st and 3rd bodies to the tribological stresses. The reconstruction of the contact life of those triplets allowed showing, among others: (1) the beneficial role of coating columnar structure in the obtaining of both a low friction coefficient and a long wear life. This is not because it is columnar but because such a structure localizes the 3rd body creation; (2) the beneficial role of contaminations, which is either internal or external to the 1st and 3rd bodies, by delocalizing the accommodation from the 3rd body volume to the surface complexes, which explains, for example, that dry N2 environment can not, even for financial reasons, mimic ultrahigh vacuum. In fine, the study allows specifying a procedure for designing “tribological triplets” which will be generalized at a latter stage thanks to the numerical tribology.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering

While changing the connection of the power transformators we have to find out if the powered distribution network can accept this change and if it will fulfil the set conditions. Important is to keep the range of permitted voltage on separate distribution points of this network and to find out proportions on separate circuits. This is connected with a circuit load which cannot exceed its limit (transmission capacity). The network is checked against outages of separate circuits (N-1) and we try to find out if other circuits are not overloaded during the transmission of the outaged circuit’s power. We can also suggest various other possible outages. It is also important to find out whether separate distribution points agree with their short-circuit capabilities. Overall we investigate advantages of this circuit. The theoretical part describes the means of calculation of the network functioning and short-circuit conditions. All the calculated results (dispatcher control system Sinaut Spectrum) for the given circuits of power transformators are processed and evaluated in the practical part of the thesis.

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / This paper describes a method for evaluating error correction techniques for applicability to the flight testing of aircraft. No statistical or math assumptions about the channel or sources of error are used. An empirical method is shown which allows direct “with and without” comparative evaluation of correction techniques. A method was developed to extract error sequences from actual test data independent of the source of the dropouts. Hardware was built to allow a stored error sequence to be repetitively applied to test data. Results are shown for error sequences extracted from a variety of actual test data. The effectiveness of Reed-Solomon (R-S) encoding and interleaving is shown. Test bed hardware configuration is described. Criteria are suggested for worthwhile correction techniques and suggestions are made for future investigation.

No description available.

No description available.

Introduction: Annually, an estimated 2.5 million traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur in the United States, of which, over 50,000 result in deaths. Currently, 5.3 million Americans are living with neurological dysfunction secondary to TBIs leading to a $60 billion dollar cost in medical expenses and productivity losses. To date, there are limited treatments available to cure or ease the morbidity of TBI. Despite preventative efforts, traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur at a staggering rate and it is estimated that 15-20% of survivors develop persistent post-traumatic neurological impairment. The purposed source of neurological dysfunction is a result of circuit reorganization when the brain rebuilds itself. After diffuse TBI, rodents have been shown to develop a late-onset, gain-of-function sensory sensitivity to whisker stimulation; similar to phonophobia and photophobia experienced by human TBI survivors. This morbidity coincides with evidence of post-TBI circuit reorganization, however the etiology of post-traumatic neurological impairment remains largely unknown. Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and thrombospondin-2 (TSP-2) are heavily expressed during pediatric neuronal synapse development. Expression of TSPs, however declines with age. Mechanistically during development, TSP mediates synaptogenesis via bindingα2δ-1 subunit of the voltage-gated calcium channel receptor (α2δ-1). After neurological insult, re-expression of TSPs has been demonstrated and experimental modulation of the TSP/α2δ-1 interaction has led to changes in morbidity. We therefore hypothesize that experimental diffuse TBI will result in re-expression of TSPs, which will be synchronous with increases in synaptic markers in the thalamocortical whisker circuit. Methods: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent sham or moderate midline fluid percussion brain injury. At multiple time points over 2-months post-injury, expression of TSPs and synaptic markers were quantified from thalamocortical circuit (ventroposterior medial thalamus (VPM), primary somatosensory barrel fields (S1BF)) biopsies using qPCR and automated capillary westerns, respectively. Results: TSP-1 gene expression and protein levels increase in the VPM during the first week after injury. Gene expression of TSP-1 did not significantly change over time in the S1BF, however, there was a significant increase in protein levels in the first and second weeks after injury. No significant changes were demonstrated in synaptic markers in the VPM over the time course. TSP-1 protein levels demonstrated a similar multimodal response to synaptic markers in the S1BF.Conclusion: Re-expression of TSP-1 and synchronous changes in synaptic marker supports a role for TSP-1 mediated synaptogenesis after experimental diffuse TBI in the S1BF. These data positions us for future investigation of pharmacological inhibition of TSP-mediated synaptogenesis after TBI; which may represent a prophylactic strategy against circuit reorganization and neurological dysfunction after TBI.

A method is described for the computer-aided layout of printed wiring boards. The type of board considered is a single sided board containing discrete components. The required input for the layout algorithm is coded from the relevant circuit diagram, together with a description of the component dimensions. This information is then stored within the computer in a data structure. The circuit components and their interconnections are represented by a set of nodes and branches. The principles of graph theory are used to construct an abstract model of the layout. A number of the nodes and branches of the circuit are first used in the construction of a planar graph. A method is then described for inserting the remaining branches into the graph to form a "pseudo planar graph". This represents a set of components and conductor paths which can be laid out on a single sided board without intersections. The number of conductor crossings is thus minimised before the actual layout commences. An algorithm is then described for automatically constructing a board layout from the pseudo planar graph. The relative interconnections are already known so the placement of components and routing of conductor paths can proceed simultaneously. The layout is therefore constructed in a series of logical steps working across from one edge of the board to the other. This approach contrasts with the more usual methods of layout in which components are placed first, followed by a search for conductor routes. The layout algorithm is also provided with facilities for man-machine interaction by means of a graphical display and light pen. Interaction allows the user to alter the positions of components during the construction of the layout. Thus the skill and experience of the user can be combined with the speed and accuracy of the automatic algorithm. Interaction also enables special conditions to be incorporated into the layout which would otherwise entail considerable programming effort. Three different circuits are used to test the layout algorithm. The results are shown for layouts constructed both automatically and by the use of interaction. One layout is also compared with a manually-produced layout of the same circuit. The results show that a feasible method has been developed for the layout of printed wiring boards by computer. Comparable results are produced in considerably less time than normal layout methods.