Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:39:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3137120 bytes, checksum: 556959305465b524d38a76f856d7ad28 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research aims to reflect on what has been called electronic or digital poetry and if it really is possible to make poetry drawn from signs generated by a computer support (bits and pixels on a computer screen). Are observed characteristics and conceptual ideas that are configured on the subject. Three objects of analysis are discussed (pancircular, of Clemente Padin, Oraculum of Joesér Alvarez and Soneto Digital, of Fernando Aguiar) so that they can apply the theoretical framework in a practical way, which is important for theoretical and conceptual consolidation. The theoretical perspective that underlies the research involves the Semiotics of Culture (Yuri Lótman, Uspênsky, Roman Jakobson, etc.), with incursions by Peircean semiotics. / Esta pesquisa tem como finalidade refletir sobre o que vem sendo chamado de poesia eletrônica ou digital e se realmente é possível se fazer poesia extraída de signos gerados por um suporte computacional (bits e pixels na tela de um computador). São observadas as características e as ideias conceituais que se configuram a respeito do tema. Três objetos de análise são abordados (pancircular, de Clemente Padin, Oraculum, de Joesér Alvarez e Soneto Digital, de Fernando Aguiar) para que se possam aplicar os referenciais teóricos de forma prática, o que é importante para consolidações teórico-conceituais. A perspectiva teórica que fundamenta a pesquisa passa pela Semiótica da Cultura (Iúri Lótman, Uspênski, Roman Jakobson, etc.), com incursões pela semiótica peirceana.

Orientador: Jefferson Nascimento de Oliveira / Resumo: Com o aumento da população mundial e com sua concentração cada vez maior no meio urbano uma gama de problemas vem se apresentando relacionado a esse aumento populacional de maneira direta ou indireta, esse êxodo das pessoas para os grandes centros urbanos vem alterando o espaço geográfico desse ambiente bem rapidamente, principalmente na região do sudeste brasileiro onde os processos de industrialização são mais evidentes. Com essa migração a ocupação e o uso do solo vêm sendo ocupada nem sempre da forma que os planos diretores das cidades recomendam proporcionando na maioria dos casos impactos negativos nos recursos naturais. As alterações antrópicas realizadas nessas áreas, como desmatamento e a urbanização, estão promovendo um desequilíbrio ao meio ambiente afetando áreas drenadas pelas bacias hidrográficas, a complexidade do ambiente urbano e de sua infraestrutura de drenagem tem uma influência inerente no escoamento superficial, este escoamento gera inundações urbanas, que impõe desafios à modelagem, a simulação destes cenarios exigem dados detalhados de elevação. Os problemas acarretados pela ocupação desordenada da bacia vêm sendo abordados em inúmeros estudos de casos que demonstram que o uso e ocupação do solo de forma inadequada e desordenada, muitas vezes, com obras mal dimensionadas, acarretam grandes prejuízos socioeconômicos. O planejamento integrado de uma bacia urbana é o único meio de viabilizar seus usos, sem que isso acarrete em um maior desequilíbrio do me... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Mestre

This work is dealing with issues concerning mathematical and computer modeling of events describable with help of rst and second order differential equations. First part contains summary of basic procedures for searching differential equations using analythical methods, next chapter is focused on software used to solve chosen tasks and demonstration of speci c physics problems.

Rapid advances of computer modeling and simulation tools and computing hardware have turned Model Based Design (MBD) a more viable technology. However, using a computationally intensive, “black-box” form MBD software tool to carry out design optimization leads to a number of key challenges. The non-unimodal objective function and/or non-convex feasible search region of the implicit numerical simulations in the optimization problems are beyond the capability of conventional optimization algorithms. In addition, the computationally intensive simulations used to evaluate the objective and/or constraint functions during the MBD process also make conventional stochastic global optimization algorithms unusable due to their requirement of a huge number of objective and constraint function evaluations. Surrogate model, or metamodeling-based global optimization techniques have been introduced to address these issues. Various surrogate models, including kriging, radial basis functions (RBF), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), and polynomial regression (PR), are built using limited samplings on the original objective/constraint functions to reduce needed computation in the search of global optimum. In many real-world design optimization applications, computationally expensive numerical simulation models are used as objective and/or constraint functions. To solve these problems, enormous fitness function evaluations are required during the evolution based search process when advanced Global Optimization algorithms, such as DIRECT search, Differential Evolution (DE), and Bat Algorithm (BA) are used. In this work, improvements have been made to three widely used global optimization algorithms, Divided Rectangles (DIRECT), Differential Evolution (DE), and Bat Algorithm (BA) by integrating appropriate surrogate modeling methods to increase the computation efficiency of these algorithms to support MBD. The superior performance of these new algorithms in comparison with their original counterparts are shown using commonly used optimization algorithm testing benchmark problems. Integration of the surrogate modeling methods have considerably improved the search efficiency of the DIRECT, DE, and BA algorithms with significant reduction on the Number of Function Evaluations (NFEs). The newly introduced algorithms are then applied to a complex engineering design optimization problem, the design optimization of floating wind turbine platform, to test its effectiveness in real-world applications. These newly improved algorithms were able to identify better design solutions using considerably lower NFEs on the computationally expensive performance simulation model of the design. The methods of integrating surrogate modeling to improve DIRECT, DE and BA global optimization searches and the resulting algorithms proved to be effective for solving complex and computationally intensive global optimization problems, and formed a foundation for future research in this area. / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is to discuss the diffusion of noise inside the personal computer and possibilities of decrease it. The results of this thesis are presented in this work. I used the Ansys FEM program for simulation of the noise diffusion and effectivity of anti-noise equipment.

Thermo-economic modeling refers to the process of estimating the cost and performance of a power plant using cost oriented equations and reference data. In this thesis the fundamentals of cost and performance modeling as well as sensitivity analysis is researched and applied to an existing model in the field of concentrated solar power. The thesis aims to isolate the sources of possible errors and presents comprehensible methods of minimizing the sensitivity these give rise to. The extensive literature study provides the knowledge and methodologies necessary to perform an evaluation of a computer model and these methodologies are applied to the tool DYESOPT developed at the Royal Institute of Technology.   The evaluation highlights the importance of reliable references of operational solar power plants and also the current lack of such data. A particular area suffering from this is the cost estimation, which includes assumptions and requires future revisions. The sensitivity analysis methodologies one-at-a-time and the sensitivity index are used to locate the areas where extra care must be taken in order to minimize error as well as provide an understanding of the internal correlation of critical inputs.   The results show that the accuracy of the model is dominated by three inputs: solar multiple, tower height and storage time, and that certain intervals and combinations of these decide the overall error of the model. By isolating the intervals in which the sensitivity is at its minimum the model error can be roughly quantified with a class system using standard error intervals. For a model such as DYESOPT a minimum error of 20 to 30 percent is a reasonable assumption.

Corrosion-casted capillary systems of the kidney glomerulus were imaged with confocal microscopy because of the fluorescence properties of the casting plastic. Acquisition of a z-series through the glomerular capillaries provided three-dimensional data sets from which surface-rendered models were generated. These models could be rotated and viewed from any angle and also contained quantitative information allowing cast surface area and volume measurements to be calculated. The computer-generated models were also skeletonized to form a one-voxel-thick skeleton of the original model. The skeleton exhibited the three-dimensional topology and network of the capillary bed, and interior capillary relations could also be viewed. Quantitative information such as the total capillary length and number of capillary intersects was calculated from the skeletonized model. Extending this method to noncorroded kidney specimens revealed not only the casted vessels but also cellular features of the adjacent tissues surrounding the capillaries.

Les feuilles des plantes sont des organes importants pour la production de biomasse dans la nature car elles sont le siège principal de la photosynthèse, qui permet de transformer la matière minérale en matière organique. Identifier les mécanismes responsables de la morphogenèse, i.e. la genèse de la forme pendant le développement, est donc une question d'intérêt. Pour être analysée, la morphogenèse doit être appréhendée tout au long de la croissance car la forme finale d'une feuille est le résultat de mécanismes coordonnés dans l'espace et le temps. Pour comprendre ce type de processus complexes, la modélisation est une approche de choix. L'objectif de cette thèse était donc de développer des stratégies de quantification et de modélisation de la morphogenèse pour mieux comprendre le développement des feuilles. Pour quantifier la morphogenèse, ma première contribution a été de développer des méthodes pour dater précisément l'apparition des feuilles sur la plante et celle des dentelures sur la marge foliaire, ce qui permet de recaler dans le temps et comparer différentes feuilles en croissance. En calculant les trajectoires de croissance de feuilles moyennes, il est alors possible de préciser où et quand le développement de feuilles peuvent différer, au niveau global ou des dentelures, pendant la croissance. En analysant des feuilles de formes différentes de la plante modèle Arabidopsis thaliana, j'ai ainsi pu montrer que malgré des différences importantes en taille et forme globale, il y a une similarité dans le développement des dentelures. Ces résultats suggèrent qu'il existe des processus identiques qui gouvernent l'apparition et la croissance des dentelures. J'ai ensuite proposé un modèle de développement des feuilles, à partir duquel il est possible de simuler la croissance d'une feuille. Il est basé sur des mécanismes biologiques qui on été identifiés comme étant importants dans la mise en place de la forme. Pour paramétrer le modèle, une approche d'optimisation a été mise au point pour déterminer les paramètres optimaux du modèle. Les résultats obtenus montrent que l'apparition séquentielle des dents ainsi que certains paramètres morphologiques peuvent être bien reproduits par le modèle. / Plant leaves are important for the production of biomass in nature, because they are the main site of photosynthesis, They have various shapes and it has been shown that their morphology influences photosynthesis efficiency. Identifying the mechanisms responsible for morphogenesis, i.e. the genesis of the shape during development, is therefore a matter of interest. To be analyzed, morphogenesis must be apprehended throughout the whole growth because the leaf final form is the result of coordinated mechanisms in space and time. To understand this type of complex processes, modeling is an approach of choice. Consequently, the objective of this thesis was to develop strategies for the quantification and modeling of morphogenesis to better understand leaf development. To quantify morphogenesis, my first contribution was to develop methods to precisely date the appearance of the leaves on the plant, and of the serrations at the leaf margin, allowing to register in time and to compare different growing leaves. Besides, based on mean growth trajectories, it is possible to specify where and when the developments of different leaves differ, at global and serration scales, during growth.By analyzing the development of leaves of the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana that have different shapes, in wild type or in mutants, it has been shown that, despite significant differences in leaf size and shape, there is a similarity in the development of all serrations. These results suggest that there are identical processes that control the appearance and growth of serrations. I proposed two leaf development models, based on biological mechanisms that have been identified, in the literature, as important for the leaf shaping, and also on the quantification of leaf morphogenesis performed in this work. The simulation module, that generates growth trajectories from the model, makes it possible to compare simulated and real developments. To parameterize the model, an optimization approach has been proposed to determine optimal parameters, which minimizes the differences between simulation and real growths. The results showed that the sequential appearance of the teeth as well as important morphological characteristics can be well reproduced by the models.

In order to preserve the acoustics of the Salt Lake Tabernacle after the seismic renovation of 2005-2006, it was necessary to characterize these acoustics immediately preceding the renovation. This thesis discusses the characterization process that began with the measurement of hundreds of impulse responses for five different source positions and several receiver locations throughout the hall seating areas. The acoustics were further characterized by deriving various parameters from these responses that correlate with subjective preferences for music and speech. Impulse responses were also generated by a CATT-Acoustic™ computer model of the Tabernacle for the same purpose. The parameter values were then mapped over diagrams of the seating areas of the hall to show the spatial variation of the acoustics. To further investigate the variation, statistics were calculated for each parameter and an algorithm was developed to determine the minimum number of receiver locations necessary to adequately characterize the hall. Computer models were also used to investigate focusing effects of the curved ceiling and historical comments made about the improvements to the acoustics with addition of the balcony in 1870.

Structural engineering is heavily dependent on the use of computers. When creating a building model using structural analysis software, it is required that the designer have an understanding of the system behavior and the modeling program capabilities. Some engineers in the Southern California region are taking steps towards incorporating the Dywidag ductile connector (DDC) and super hybrid systems into building practice due to the advantages found in these systems’ construction methods and seismic performance. As the DDC and super hybrid systems reach industry, the design engineer will need to model these systems using structural analysis programs. This report describes two DDC specimens that were each modeled two ways: (1) using elastic members in conjunction with nonlinear rotational hinges (lumped plasticity model), and (2) using finite elements (fiber model). The experimental pushover curve for each test specimen was compared to the corresponding analytical backbone curves. The fiber modeling focuses on providing a means to study the joint behavior as the parameters of the system change. The lumped plasticity model provides the design engineer with a means for modeling a three-dimensional DDC building in order to get acceptable global demand values. This project offers modeling suggestions for both the fiber models and the lumped plasticity models used to predict the seismic behavior of the DDC precast concrete system.