In this thesis, we investigate methods of finding a local minimum for unconstrained problems of non-convex functions with n variables, by following the solution curve of a system of ordinary differential equations. The motivation for this was the fact that existing methods (e.g. those based on Newton methods with line search) sometimes terminate at a non-stationary point when applied to functions f(x) that do not a have positive-definite Hessian (i.e. ∇²f → 0) for all x. Even when methods terminate at a stationary point it could be a saddle or maximum rather than a minimum. The only method which makes intuitive sense in non-convex region is the trust region approach where we seek a step which minimises a quadratic model subject to a restriction on the two-norm of the step size. This gives a well-defined search direction but at the expense of a costly evaluation. The algorithms derived in this thesis are gradient based methods which require systems of equations to be solved at each step but which do not use a line search in the usual sense. Progress along the Continuous Steepest Descent Path (CSDP) is governed both by the decrease in the function value and measures of accuracy of a local quadratic model. Numerical results on specially constructed test problems and a number of standard test problems from CUTEr [38] show that the approaches we have considered are more promising when compared with routines in the optimization tool box of MATLAB [46], namely the trust region method and the quasi-Newton method. In particular, they perform well in comparison with the, superficially similar, gradient-flow method proposed by Behrman [7].

Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) is a procedure where aircraft descend, at or near idle thrust, from their cruise altitude to their Final Approach Fix without leveling off. By eliminating inefficient leveling off at low altitude, CDA provides benefits such as fuel savings, flight time savings, and the significant noise reduction near airports, but the usage of CDAs has been limited in low traffic condition due to difficulty in the separation management. For the successful CDA without degradation of the runway throughput, air traffic controllers should know the performance bound of the CDA trajectory and control the time of arrival for each aircraft, which is interpreted as Required Time of Arrival (RTA) from the aircraft standpoint. This thesis proposes a novel trajectory optimization methodology to meet RTA constraint. The CDA trajectory optimization problem in the flight management system is modeled as a path constrained optimal control problem of switched dynamical system. A sequential method that performs mode sequence estimation and parameter optimization, sequentially, is proposed to solve this problem. By analyzing the relaxed optimal solution with simplified dynamics, a computationally efficient algorithm to find the optimal switching structure is proposed and applied for the mode sequence estimation. This thesis also proposes a performance-bound analysis methodology using optimal control techniques to help controllers make a feasible schedule for CDA operations at a meter fix. The feasible time range analysis for a wide variety of aircraft is performed by using the proposed methodology. Based on the analysis result, a single flight time strategy is proposed for the application of CDA in high traffic conditions. The simulation with real traffic data has been shown that the single flight time strategy, combined with the proposed fixed RTA trajectory optimization, guarantees the conflict free CDA operation.

The Randomized Gauss-Seidel Method (RGS) is an iterative algorithm that solves overdetermined systems of linear equations Ax = b. This paper studies an update on the RGS method, the Randomized Block Gauss-Seidel Method. At each step, the algorithm greedily minimizes the objective function L(x) = kAx bk2 with respect to a subset of coordinates. This paper describes a Randomized Block Gauss-Seidel Method (RBGS) which uses a randomized control method to choose a subset at each step. This algorithm is the first block RGS method with an expected linear convergence rate which can be described by the properties of the matrix A and its column submatrices. The analysis demonstrates that RBGS improves RGS more when given appropriate column-paving of the matrix, a partition of the columns into well-conditioned blocks. The main result yields a RBGS method that is more e cient than the simple RGS method.

We develop a numerical method for solving singular differential equations and demonstrate the method on a variety of singular problems including first order ordinary differential equations, second order ordinary differential equations which have variational principles, and one partial differential equation.

A determinação de propriedades físicas dos óleos essenciais é fundamental para sua aplicação na indústria de alimentos e também em projetos de equipamentos. A vasta quantidade de variáveis envolvidas no processo de desterpenação, tais como temperatura, pressão e composição, tornam a utilização de modelos preditivos de viscosidade necessária. Este trabalho teve como objetivo a obtenção de parâmetros para o modelo preditivo de viscosidade UNIFAC-VISCO com aplicação do método de otimização do gradiente descendente, a partir de dados de viscosidade de sistemas modelo que representam as fases que podem ser formadas em processos de desterpenação por extração líquido-líquido dos óleos essenciais de bergamota, limão e hortelã, utilizando como solvente uma mistura de etanol e água, em diferentes composições, a 25ºC. O experimento foi dividido em duas configurações; na primeira os parâmetros de interação previamente reportados na literatura foram mantidos fixos; na segunda todos os parâmetros de interação foram ajustados. O modelo e o método de otimização foram implementados em linguagem MATLAB®. O algoritmo de otimização foi executado 10 vezes para cada configuração, partindo de matrizes de parâmetros de interação iniciais diferentes obtidos pelo método de Monte Carlo. Os resultados foram comparados com o estudo realizado por Florido et al. (2014), no qual foi utilizado algoritmo genético como método de otimização. A primeira configuração obteve desvio médio relativo (DMR) de 1,366 e a segunda configuração resultou um DMR de 1,042. O método do gradiente descendente apresentou melhor desempenho para a primeira configuração em comparação com o método do algoritmo genético (DMR 1,70). Para a segunda configuração o método do algoritmo genético obteve melhor resultado (DMR 0,68). A capacidade preditiva do modelo UNIFAC-VISCO foi avaliada para o sistema de óleo essencial de eucalipto com os parâmetros determinados, obtendo-se DMR iguais a 17,191 e 3,711, para primeira e segunda configuração, respectivamente. Esses valores de DMR foram maiores do que os encontrados por Florido et al. (2014) (3,56 e 1,83 para primeira e segunda configuração, respectivamente). Os parâmetros de maior contribuição para o cálculo do DMR são CH-CH3 e OH-H2O para a primeira e segunda configuração, respectivamente. Os parâmetros que envolvem o grupo C não influenciam no valor do DMR, podendo ser excluído de análises futuras. / The determination of physical properties of essential oils is critical to their application in the food industry and also in equipment design. The large number of variables involved in deterpenation process, such as temperature, pressure and composition, to make use of viscosity predictive models required. This study aimed obtain parameters for the viscosity predictive model UNIFAC-VISCO using gradient descent as optimization method to model systems viscosity data representing the phases that can be formed in deterpenation processes for extraction liquid-liquid of bergamot, lemon and mint essential oils, using aqueous ethanol as solvente in different compositions at 25 º C. The work was divided in two configurations; in the first one the interaction parameters previously reported in the literature were kept fixed; in the second one all interaction parameters were adjusted. The model and the gradient descent method were implemented in MATLAB language. The optimization algorithm was runned 10 times for each configuration, starting from different arrays of initial interaction parameters obtained by the Monte Carlo method. The results were compared with the study carried out by Florido et al. (2014), which used genetic algorithm as optimization method. The first configuration provided an average deviation (DMR) of 1,366 and the second configuration resulted in a DMR 1,042. The gradient descent method showed better results for the first configuration comparing with the genetic algorithm method (DMR 1.70). On the other hand, for the second configuration the genetic algorithm method had a better result (DMR 0.68). The UNIFAC-VISCO model predictive ability was evaluated for eucalyptus essential oil system using the obtained parameters, providing DMR equal to 17.191 and 3.711, for the first and second configuration, respectively. The parameters determined by genetic algorithm presented lower DMR for the two settings (3.56 and 1.83 to the first and second configuration, respectively). The major parameters for calculating the DMR are CH-CH3 and OH-H2O to the first and second configuration, respectively. The parameters involving the C group did not influence the DMR and may be excluded from further analysis.

O objetivo de nossa pesquisa de mestrado é revelar as estruturas do sistema de sucessão patrilinear, segundo o qual o status de membro do grupo é outorgado pelo pai aos seus descendentes do sexo masculino, nas narrativas patriarcais da Torá, no livro de Gênesis. Pretendemos contemplar o lócus que este princípio ocupava no grupo patriarcal. Nossos estudos levantam a hipótese de que a patrilinearidade era decisiva nas relações de parentesco do Israel antigo, sendo esta, também, a viga mestra na qual se apoiava boa parte da estrutura do edifício social dos primeiros israelitas. / This research aims to present an analysis of the patrilineal principles in the Patriarchal narratives of the Book of Genesis. Our goal is to demonstrate how these set of principles mold important aspects of the Patriarchal family and clan and the ancient Israelite society as well , and also how it find expression in the world view of the various writers of the Scriptures. We also emphasize relevant aspects such as the succession process in the extended family and the blessing that confirms the successor in his privileged position.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT OLGA Pereira.pdf: 1621228 bytes, checksum: 959f77634a7d9857c42ebbdc0b27ad29 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-17 / This work makes a call about the need to implement the quota system or inclusive policies at the Instituto Federal de Educação Sul-rio-grandense, Campus Pelotas. It demonstrates, through research, the history of exclusion experienced by black / African descendants from the colonial Brazil until today. It makes a reading and analyzing various laws of the black support in the pre-and post-abolitionist, and a look at the constitution of 1988, emphasizing many of the objectives listed there, such as: inequalities, cultural diversity, human dignity , and guarantees rights, social rights and basic fundamental, as well as the right to education as a fundamental human right for all and, finally, a critical view on the opinions for and against the quota system, its own Statute of Racial Equality, the which has yet to contemplate, with dignity, equal rights for African descendants. Such approaches have enabled analysis more committed against the black / African descent with respect to the inclusion through the Quota System. Thus, it is intended to deepen and scoring difficulties that make the rules guiding support to the black / African descendants in Brazilian society, something which is increasingly distant from the reality experienced in terms of access to higher education / Este trabalho de pesquisa faz um chamamento sobre a necessidade de implantação do Sistema de Cotas ou de políticas inclusivas no Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense, Campus Pelotas. Demonstra, por meio da pesquisa, o histórico de exclusão social sofrida pelo negro/afrodescendente desde o Brasil-Colônia até a atualidade. Faz uma leitura e análise de diversas leis de amparo ao negro no período pré e pós-abolicionista, bem como um olhar sobre o texto constitucional de 1988, procurando enfatizar muito dos objetivos ali elencados, como: desigualdades, diversidade cultural, dignidade da pessoa humana, direitos e garantias, direitos sociais e fundamentais básicos, assim como o direito à educação como um direito humano fundamental a todos e, finalmente, uma abordagem crítica sobre as opiniões favoráveis e contrárias ao Sistema de Cotas e ao próprio Estatuto da Igualdade Racial, o qual ainda não conseguiu contemplar, com dignidade, uma igualdade de direitos para os afrodescendentes. Tais abordagens possibilitaram análises mais comprometidas em relação ao negro/afrodescendente no que se refere à inclusão por meio do Sistema de Cotas. Com isso, pretende-se, aprofundar e pontuar as dificuldades norteadoras que tornam a legislação de amparo ao negro/afrodescendente na sociedade brasileira algo cada vez mais distante da realidade vivenciada em termos de acesso ao Ensino Superior

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-11-28T09:09:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio José da Silva.pdf: 2217621 bytes, checksum: 7944e9292c341d9997fd9992f756f957 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-28T09:09:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio José da Silva.pdf: 2217621 bytes, checksum: 7944e9292c341d9997fd9992f756f957 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-10-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The law 10.639/03, 15 years old in 2018, is not a reality inside classrooms in Brazil, yet. It is an affirmative action policy, thus not universal, aimed at the breaking of the immobility and silence of various decades in the Brazilian teaching/learning system concerning African-descent issues. By means of a speech that there is not any law that forbids the participation of the mentioned ethnic group in the day-by-day of the Brazilian society, it is crystal clear the forms of discrimination, prejudice and yet racism itself, disseminated all over Brazilian society in tacit ways. The idea that Brazilians discriminates against discrimination, designed by Florestan Fernandes, is still a reality. There is silence about the mentioned situation, but there is not the inexistence of racism, as claimed by some Brazilians. The non-white Brazilian population is victim of both class and race prejudice, discrimination. The non-white woman, in a unique way, is three times a victim: class, race/ethnicity, and gender. This research aimed to present some causes of the mentioned discrimination, prejudice, focusing the daily school activities, inside class- rooms, where such forms of discrimination can be confirmed. It also tries and show how discrimination, prejudice against African-descent culture takes place in the daily school activities. It is a very difficult task, for there is lack of “official” evidences, thus the mentioned law is not a reality in the educational environment. Capturing discriminatory demonstrations was the most difficult task, for they are not explicit. We managed to hear it for the teachers, but we lack of any specific example to bring to the table. We expect that this work brings light to this silent situation that, in a subliminal way, is turning our schools into the everlasting so called “racial democracy / A Lei 10.639/03 completa 15 anos, sem ainda ser uma realidade no interior das salas de aulas. Trata-se de uma política afirmativa, isto é, não universal, que procurar romper com o imobilismo e o silêncio de décadas do ensino brasileiro sobre a questão afrodescendente. Com o argumento que não existe nenhuma lei que proíba a participação deste segmento como cidadão brasileiro na vida cotidiana, é perceptível as formas de discriminação, preconceitos e mesmo racismo que disseminam de forma sorrateira pela sociedade. A ideia de que o brasileiro tem preconceito de ter preconceito, elaborada por Florestan Fernandes, ainda é uma realidade. Existe um silêncio sobre essa situação e não como quer alguns a inexistência de racismo, preconceito e discriminação. A população não branca no Brasil sofre com a situação de classe, mas também, e com muita força, com a questão racial. E neste sentido a mulher não branca sofre de maneira ímpar. Sofre o preconceito de classe, raça e gênero. O objetivo deste trabalho foi apresentar algumas causas dessa situação, procurando focar na questão do cotidiano da escola, ou mesmo da sala de aula, onde essas formas de discriminação são confirmadas. Procuro demonstrar no cotidiano da escola como a discriminação e preconceito contra a cultura afrodescendente acontecem. Trata-se de uma tarefa muito difícil de comprovar, pois não há registros que possam afirmar. Assim, a referida lei não acontece neste ambiente. Captar tais manifestações (do que) foi a tarefa mais difícil a realizar, pois não aparecem de maneira explicita. Foi possível ouvir pela fala dos professores, mas não há uma situação especifica em que podemos apresenta-las. Espero que este trabalho lance luz sobre essa ação silenciosa que está tornando a escola de maneira subliminar, assim como a “democracia racial” o fez ao longo dos anos

"In this thesis, we study distributed statistical learning, in which multiple terminals, connected by links with limited capacity, cooperate to perform a learning task. As the links connecting the terminals have limited capacity, the messages exchanged between the terminals have to be compressed. The goal of this thesis is to investigate how to compress the data observations at multiple terminals and how to use the compressed data for inference. We first focus on the distributed parameter estimation problem, in which terminals send messages related to their local observations using limited rates to a fusion center that will obtain an estimate of a parameter related to the observations of all terminals. It is well known that if the transmission rates are in the Slepian-Wolf region, the fusion center can fully recover all observations and hence can construct an estimator having the same performance as that of the centralized case. One natural question is whether Slepian-Wolf rates are necessary to achieve the same estimation performance as that of the centralized case. In this thesis, we show that the answer to this question is negative. We then examine the optimality of data dimensionality reduction via sufficient statistics compression in distributed parameter estimation problems. The data dimensionality reduction step is often needed especially if the data has a very high dimension and the communication rate is not as high as the one characterized above. We show that reducing the dimensionality by extracting sufficient statistics of the parameter to be estimated does not degrade the overall estimation performance in the presence of communication constraints. We further analyze the optimal estimation performance in the presence of communication constraints and we verify the derived bound using simulations. Finally, we study distributed optimization problems, for which we examine the randomized distributed coordinate descent algorithm with quantized updates. In the literature, the iteration complexity of the randomized distributed coordinate descent algorithm has been characterized under the assumption that machines can exchange updates with an infinite precision. We consider a practical scenario in which the messages exchange occurs over channels with finite capacity, and hence the updates have to be quantized. We derive sufficient conditions on the quantization error such that the algorithm with quantized update still converge."

O bom desempenho dos descendentes de japoneses em matemática não é novidade para a maioria das pessoas. As interpretações sobre as causas desse resultado podem, no entanto, ser divergentes. Com a intenção de desmistificar algumas concepções sobre tal tema iniciamos esta pesquisa. Para fundamentar tal intenção, buscamos inicialmente um levantamento de dados estatísticos que caracterizassem nosso ponto de partida, recorrendo aos bancos de dados de instituições responsáveis pelos vestibulares de duas das maiores universidades públicas do país a USP e a UNESP (respectivamente, a FUVEST e a VUNESP). Tal levantamento confirmou amplamente a sensação inicial, no que se refere ao desempenho diferenciado dos descendentes de japoneses. A partir daí, partimos em busca dos motivos que poderiam justificar os fatos observados. Nossa hipótese foi a de que os fatores culturais envolvidos seriam decisivos na interpretação de tal desempenho. Mesmo tendo tal perspectiva como ponto de partida, transitamos por variados territórios, em que a discussão sobre características genéticas ou inatas se fazia presente, amealhando argumentos que justificassem a hipótese inicial. Em tal busca, Keith Devlin e seu livro O Gene da Matemática desempenharam um papel fundamental. Tendo por base os fatos apresentados nesse livro, perceberemos também que não se trata de desconsiderar as capacidades biológicas inatas, e sim de entender que, no caso da aprendizagem de matemática, tais capacidades são partilhadas por todos os seres humanos, de modo análogo ao que ocorre com a competência para aprender a língua materna. Voltando-nos então para a discussão sobre a influência da cultura sobre o processo cognitivo, buscamos entender o modo como os elementos culturais influenciam a valorização da educação, favorecendo especificamente a relação entre os estudantes e a matemática. Em sua vida escolar no Japão, ou transcendendo fronteiras, como no caso dos descendentes de japoneses que vivem no Brasil os alunos educados segundo tais princípios desenvolvem sentimentos e relações afetivas favoráveis com a escola, revelando uma grande influência da cultura na formação pessoal. Na história do Japão, buscamos o modo como certos fatores, como a fragilidade geográfica e os parcos recursos naturais, foram importantes elementos que contribuíram para a valorização da educação. No caso específico dos descendentes nipo-brasileiros, podemos perceber que alguns elementos culturais originais, como o respeito à hierarquia, a ética do débito, a religiosidade, que aparecem fortemente na constituição do ser japonês, apesar de transformados pela assimilação de traços característicos da cultura brasileira, ainda apresentam resíduos importantes em seus descendentes. Complementarmente, um novo fator aparece fortemente como motivador dos alunos descendentes de japoneses, no Brasil: a busca da ascensão econômica, e conseqüentemente profissional, por meio da educação faz com que esses alunos atuem com bastante empenho em prol desse projeto de vida. Tais sentimentos impulsionam os alunos no sentido de valorizar o esforço, a vontade, a dedicação ao enfrentarem as naturais dificuldades encontradas em seu percurso escolar. Concluímos nosso percurso com a expectativa de haver evidenciado o peso decisivo dos elementos culturais na interpretação dos resultados diferenciados obtidos entre nós pelos descendentes de japoneses. / The good performance of Japanese descendents in mathematics is not new to most of the people. Nevertheless, the interpretations about the causes of this result can be divergent. We start this research in order to demystify some conceptions about this theme. To base this intention, at first we looked for a collection of statistical data that characterized our starting point, we fell back upon the data banks of institutions responsible for the entrance examinations of the two largest public universities in the country USP and UNESP (FUVEST and VUNESP, respectively). Such collection widely confirmed the initial sensation regarding the differentiated performance of the Japanese descendents. From this, we started the search for the reasons that could justify the facts observed. Our hypothesis was that the cultural factors involved would be decisive in the interpretation of such collection. Even having such perspective as starting point, we moved through varied territories where the discussion about the genetic or innate characteristics was present, building arguments that justified the initial hypothesis. In such search, Keith Devlin and his book The Math Gene performed a fundamental role. Having as base the facts presented in this book, we will also realize that it is not the question to disregard the innate biological capacities but to understand that in the case of the mathematics learning, such capacities are present in all human beings, in an analogue way to what occurs with the competence to learn the mother tongue. Turning to the discussion about the culture influence on the cognitive process, we tried to understand the way how the cultural elements influence the valorization of the education, promoting, specifically, the relationship between students and the mathematics. In their school life in Japan, or overseas, as the case of the Japanese descendents who live in Brazil the students educated according to such principles develop feelings and favorable affective relations with the school, revealing a great influence of the culture in the personal upbringing. In the history of Japan, we searched the way how certain factors, as the geographical fragility and the scarce natural resources were important elements that contributed to valorization of the education. In the specific case of the Nipo-Brazilian descendents, we can apprehend that some original cultural elements, such respect to the hierarchy, the debt ethics, the religious disposition which strongly appear in the constitution of the Japanese being, despite changed by the assimilation of characteristic traits of the Brazilian culture, they still present important remnants from their descendents. As a complement, a new factor appears strongly as motivation of the Japanese descendent students, in Brazil: the search of economic ascension, and consequently, professional, by means of education make these students act with much devotion on this project of life. Such feelings stimulate the students in the sense of value the effort, the will, the dedication when facing the natural difficulties found in his school life. We concluded our study with the expectative of having shown clearly the decisive weight of cultural elements in the interpretation of the differentiated results obtained among us by the Japanese descendents.