This diploma thesis deals with battery charging. The thesis describes qualities and possi-bilities of lithium battery charging. The charger is independent on the input voltage and recharges batteries carefully. Due to a careful recharging process it is needed to measure the voltage at various cells of the battery and then balance this voltage. Since the charger is to be implemented in a robot, it is needed to switch the operation from an external source and the battery. The first part of the project deals with qualities of batteries and the way of their recharging. In the second part I design an individual blocks charger. In the third part I deal with a communication with a computer charger and data visualization. And in the last part I designed a program for the charger.

This thesis deals with design of inversion pendulum, pole rod balancing on mobile vehicle.In the first part is described projection and realisation of mechanical part of the task, the problems encountered during the projection and eventuallly its final solution. Follows verification of the mechanical and electrical part and testing of possibilities of operating by programated machine.

Submitted by Marcos Samuel (msamjunior@gmail.com) on 2017-02-09T12:08:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Luis Carlos Moreno.pdf: 1851298 bytes, checksum: f9907551df010d1d88bf2f0c7996d153 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vanessa Reis (vanessa.jamile@ufba.br) on 2017-02-09T14:46:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Luis Carlos Moreno.pdf: 1851298 bytes, checksum: f9907551df010d1d88bf2f0c7996d153 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-09T14:46:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Luis Carlos Moreno.pdf: 1851298 bytes, checksum: f9907551df010d1d88bf2f0c7996d153 (MD5) / Para modelar o problema, é usada a abordagem de Euler-Lagrange. A qual se aplicou a um kit experimental nomeado Ball-Balancer, de modo que pudera-se obter um conjunto de equações dinâmicas que representem, no espaço de estados, seu comportamento dinâmico completo. Algumas suposições foram feitas sobre a situação experimental para evitar assim uma excessiva complexidade e ter que lidar posteriormente com fortes não linearidades que tornarem ao modelo num caso de estúdio difícil de aplicar. Um esquema de controle adaptativo direto é aplicado a um kit Ball-Balancer, usado como planta não linear. A estabilidade do sistema em malha fechada, e o seu desempenho no rastreamento são discutidos sob o enfoque de Lyapunov, também a obtenção de uma lei de controle adequada, assumindo parâmetros conhecidos, posteriormente, utilizando a mesma metodologia foi obtido um conjunto de equações de adaptação de parâmetros que procuram precisão no seguimento do sinal, em presença de não linearidades desconhecidas. A aplicabilidade e funcionamento do algoritmo de controle desenvolvido é implementado por meio de simulação, utilizando Matlab e Simulink para executar o controlador não linear sob uma abordagem de Controle Adaptativo por Modelo de Referência (MRAC), obtendo alguns resultados satisfatórios, como a teoria prever.

In the 21th century, we see a trend in which CPU processing power is not evolving at the same pace as it did in the century before. Also, in the current generation, the data requirements and the need for higher speed are increasing every day. This increasing demand requires multiple middlebox instances in order to scale. With recent progress in virtualization, middleboxes are getting virtualized and deployed as software (Network Function (NF)s) behind commodity CPUs. Various systems perform Load Balancing (LB) functionality in software, which consumes extra CPU at the NF side. There are research work in the past which tried to move the LB functionality from software to hardware. Majority of hardware­based load balancer only provides basic LB functionality and depends on NF to provide the current performance statistics. Providing statistics feedback to LB consumes processing power at the NF and creates an inter­dependency.   In this thesis work, we explore the possibility of moving the load balancing functionality to a Smart Network Interface Card (smartNIC). Our load balancer will distribute traffic among the set of CPUs where NF instances run. We will use P4 and C programming language in our design, which gives us the combination of high­speed parallel packet processing and the ability to implement relatively complex load balancing features. Our LB approach uses latency experienced by the packet as an estimate for the current CPU loading. In our design, higher latency is a sign of a more busy CPU. The Latency Aware smartNIC based Load Balancer (LASLB) also aims to reduce the tail latency by moving traffic from CPUs where traffic experiences high latency to CPU that processes traffic under low latency. The approach followed in the design does not require any statistics feedback support from the NF, which avoids the tight binding of LB with NF.   Our experiment on different traffic profiles has shown that LASLB can save ~30% CPU for NF. In terms of fairness of CPU loading, our evaluation indicates that in imbalanced traffic, the LASLB can load more evenly than other evaluated methods in smartNIC­ based LB category. Our evaluation also shows that LASLB can reduce 95th percentile tail latency by ~22% compared to software load balancing.

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There has been limited investigation as to whether a predominantly forage-based diet can provide adequate amounts of limiting amino acids (AA) to horses. The first objective was to determine if AA supplementation of AA believed to be limiting to protein synthesis in forage-based diets would affect measures of whole-body protein metabolism in sedentary mature horses. The effect of forage type (timothy or alfalfa) and AA supplementation (lysine, threonine or histidine) on plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) and AA concentrations and measures of whole-body phenylalanine kinetics were evaluated. There was no effect of either forage type or AA supplement on rates of whole-body protein synthesis (P > 0.05). The second objective was to determine the effects of either timothy or alfalfa hay supplemented with either a high or low protein ration balancer on measures of whole-body protein metabolism in yearling horses. The effect of forage type and the ration balancer protein level on concentrations of PUN, plasma AA and measures of wholebody phenylalanine kinetics were evaluated. There was no effect of treatment on average daily gain (P = 0.18). When horses consumed the alfalfa-based diets, rates of phenylalanine flux, oxidation and use for protein synthesis were greater than when they consumed timothy-based diets (P < 0.05). Phenylalanine use for protein synthesis was not affected by the protein level of the ration balancer (P = 0.3). Yearling horses achieve greater rates of protein synthesis when fed alfalfa-based diets, compared to timothy-based diets, supplemented with a low protein ration balancer.

This dissertation is a study of US foreign policy that aims at maintaining its regional hegemonic status and preventing the emergence of another regional hegemon by implementing the offshore balancing strategy. US intervention during the 2003 Iraq War, strained US-Iran relationship, and the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in early 2014 compel a reevaluation of US foreign policy. Two major claims of this dissertation include: (1) US foreign policy is consistent with offensive realist theoretical claims; and (2) US foreign policy is characterized by continuity when it comes to issues related to America's strategic interests. Utilizing a case study and comparative case study methodology, this dissertation outlines the following findings. The first finding of this dissertation is that US foreign policy actions under the Bush Doctrine, which led to the 2003 Iraq War, were dictated by the anarchic status of the international system, the possession by Iraq of military capabilities that could harm or destroy America, fear from and suspicion of Iraq's intentions, the need to ensure survival in an anarchic system, and the need to maximize relative power vis-à-vis other states. All these factors led to three main pattern of behavior: fear, self-help, and power maximization. Because there was no other regional great power capable and willing to balance Iraq, the US was forced to rely on direct balancing by threatening Iraq to take military actions, creating an anti-Iraqi alliance, and maximizing its relative power by destroying Iraq's military capabilities. Second, US foreign policy under the Bush Doctrine was a continuation of the 20th century foreign policy. US foreign policy during the 20th century was dictated by three major patterns of behavior: fear, self-help, and power maximization. In realizing its foreign policy goals, the US had to rely on buck-passing and balancing strategies. Whenever there was no regional great power able and willing "to carry the buck", the US would rely on direct balancing by either threatening the aggressor, creating alliances with other regional states, or utilizing additional resources of its own. Four major presidential doctrines and related occurrences were utilized to test the claim: the Roosevelt Corollary, the Truman Doctrine, the Carter Doctrine, and the Reagan Doctrine. The last finding of this dissertation is that US foreign policy toward Iran constitutes continuity and is dictated by US need to maintain regional hegemony by acting as an offshore balancer. In addition, the US and Iran share mutual strategic interests in several occasions, and a strategic win or loss for one state is a win or loss for the other. Like that of the US, Iran's foreign policy is guided by rationality. The Iran-Contra affair, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and the Russia-Chechnya conflict support the claim that Iran's foreign policy is based on rationality instead of religious ideology as argued by many scholars. Also, the 2001 Afghanistan war, the 2003 Iraq war, and the establishment of the ISIL support the claim that the US and Iran share mutual strategic interests. Cooperation is often desirable and in some cases inevitable. Despite this strong claim, US-Iran relationship has its own limitations because neither the US nor Iran would accept a too powerful other that could establish absolute dominance in the region.

The following master thesis is focused on creation of methodology for optimal usage of load balancing in data center environment. Thesis is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter describes the reasons why to deal with this topic further. The second chapter summarizes the state of load balancing. This chapter is based on research of already elaborated thesis which were focused on load balancing in different ways. The third chapter summarizes load balancing including its key principles. The fourth chapter describes an actual state of load balancing in data center environment. An observation of real usage of load balancing in selected data center was used for the main purpose of this chapter. The fifth chapter consists of analysis of the currently existing methodologies which are used from the infrastructure projects purpose. The sixth chapter deals with creation of methodology for optimal usage of load balancing in data center. The seventh chapter evaluates usage of methodology by applying of this methodology to real practical example of implementation of load balancing. The eighth chapter summarizes all detected conclusions.

This report compares the characteristics of push/pull load balancing techniques usedin the context of a logging system. The logging system is expected to handle a largevolume of events. The load balancing techniques are evaluated with focus onthroughput during high load. The testing scenarios includes the use of a traditionalload balancer (push-based) and the use of messaging queues (pull-based and indirectlycontext aware) in its place. The ultimate goal of the report is to determine the feasibilityof using a messaging queue rather than a traditional load balancer in a distributedlogging system. Tests were conducted measuring the throughput of multiple setupswith different load balancers. The conclusion of this report is that both messagingqueues and load balancing are equally feasible in a logging context. / Rapporten jämför egenskaper hos lastbalanseringstekniker för användning i ettdistribuerat logghanteringssystem. Systemet förväntas hantera stora volymermeddelanden vid hög belastning. Testscenarion som utförs sker med traditionelllastbalansering där event trycks ut, samt med meddelandeköer som är hämtbaserade.Målet med rapporten är att avgöra om kontextbaserad lastbalansering kan ökastabiliteten i ett system avsett för hantering av loggdata. Testerna som utfördesuppmätte mängden data som gick igenom systemet vid en given tidpunkt, testernakördes med flera typer av lastbalanserare. Slutsatsen som dras är att bådemeddelandeköer och lastbalansering är passande för användning i ett loggsystem.