The present study investigates the role of the Front-End phase within the context of Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises through the project management lens, focusing on what practitioners can do to manage this phase. Taking a cue from the assumption that the Front-End phase of a project is a very critical and important stage, this study begins with a literature review on innovation and on its role among the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and moves to the identification of the main challengesthat an Innovative Italian Small and Medium Enterprise has to face in the Front-End phase. Particularly, the research focuses on the strategies that a project manager can implement to deal with the fuzzy nature of the Front-End phase, originated by uncertainty, equivocality and complexity. The study has an inductive approach and a cross-sectional time-horizon. A case study strategy has been employed, together with semi-structured interviews as data collection technique, involving six Italian Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises identified through the framework of legal requirements provided by the European Union. Although literature poses on the same level all three elements, results show that there is a general consensus about the main role played by uncertainty. Practitioners identify several strategies to employ in order to deal with uncertainty, while the number of strategies identified to reduce equivocality and complexity is limited. Furthermore, this study identifies a correlation between the size of a company and the type of strategies employed to deal with the fuzziness. The more resource a company allocates on a project, the wider is the range of possible strategies project managers can adapt.

We report contrast measurements of a sodium resonance guide star against the daylight sky when observed through a tuned magneto-optical filter (MOF). The guide star was created by projection of a laser beam at 589.16 nm into the mesospheric sodium layer and the observations were made with a collocated 1.5-m telescope. While MOFs are used with sodium light detecting and ranging systems during the day to improve the signalto- noise ratio of the measurements, they have not so far been employed with laser guide stars to drive adaptive optics (AO) systems to correct atmospherically induced image blur. We interpret our results in terms of the performance of AO systems for astronomy, with particular emphasis on thermal infrared observations at the next generation of extremely large telescopes now being built. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

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Purpose and framing of the question: To study how Aftonbladet’s news values and news selection have changed in the last two decades. Method and material: Quantitative study in form of a coding scheme covering Aftonbladet’s front pages in the month of march of 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. Main result: Both news selection and news value remains in the bigger perspective unchanged, indicating that the newspaper print version is rather unaffected by the change of online journalism. That in turn indicates that the gatekeeper role more or less remains the same for the print version of Aftonbladet.

Nas últimas décadas foram desenvolvidos estudos que associaram a coordenação das braçadas do nado crawl, expressa pelo índice de coordenação (IdC), ao desempenho de nadadores. Outro conjunto de estudos apontou que, em comparação à condição de apneia, a respiração afeta o desempenho dos nadadores. No entanto, não se sabe se a coordenação entre respiração e braçada está associada ao desempenho, e de que maneira isto ocorre. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a associação entre a coordenação e o desempenho de nadadores no nado crawl, considerando a coordenação entre braçadas e, de forma original, a coordenação entre a braçada e a respiração. Participaram 30 nadadores do gênero masculino com idade média de 14,1 anos (±0,99). A tarefa consistiu em nadar a distância de 100 metros utilizando o nado crawl no menor tempo possível, distribuída em quatro parciais de 25 metros, simulando uma prova de 100 metros. Foi utilizada como medida de desempenho a velocidade média (Vm); como medidas complementares, a frequência de braçadas (FBr) e o comprimento de braçada (CBr); e, de coordenação, o índice de coordenação (IdC) e o índice de respiração (IdR). A análise de variância de medidas repetidas foi utilizada para detectar diferenças nas medidas de desempenho, complementares e IdC entre as quatro parciais de 25 metros. Para verificar as diferenças no IdR entre a segunda e a quarta parciais de 25 metros foi utilizado o teste t de Student. O teste de correlação de Pearson permitiu a análise das relações do IdC e do IdR com as medidas de desempenho. Determinou-se como significância estatística alpha<=0,05. Os resultados mostraram que, para nadar 100 metros crawl no menor tempo possível, os nadadores são mais velozes (Vm) na parte inicial da prova simulada; mantêm FBr e CBr inalterados e IdC em oposição nas quatro parciais de 25 metros; mantêm a coordenação entre braçada e respiração (IdR), mas, qualitativamente, mudam de em atraso na segunda parcial para simultânea na quarta parcial. Em relação ao objetivo do presente estudo, os resultados permitem concluir que: 1) Há associação entre a coordenação da braçada com a respiração (IdR) e o desempenho (Vm): os nadadores que realizaram a inspiração após a empurrada, foram os que apresentaram velocidade mais baixa para nadar a quarta parcial de 25 metros; e 2) Há associação entre coordenação de braços e desempenho: semelhante aos resultados parciais de um estudo com nadadores de baixa velocidade (SEIFERT et al., 2007), os nadadores que realizaram maior IdC, foram os que apresentaram velocidade mais baixa para nadar os 100m, a primeira, terceira e quarta parciais de 25 metros. Portanto, além da coordenação entre braços, a coordenação entre braçada e respiração está associada ao desempenho de nadadores. Em estudos futuros, o conhecimento sobre a coordenação entre a braçada e a respiração e sua associação com o desempenho deve continuar a ser objeto de investigação / In the last decades, studies have been developed associating the coordination of front crawl strokes, expressed by the index of arm coordination (IdC), to the performance of swimmers. Another set of studies indicate that, compared to the apnea condition, breathing affects swimmers performance. However, it is unknown whether and how the coordination between breathing and stroke is associated with performance. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between coordination and performance of swimmers in the front crawl, considering the coordination between strokes and, in an original way, the coordination between stroke and breathing. Participants were 30 male swimmers with an average age 14.1 (± 0.99) years. The task consisted of swimming the distance of 100 meters using the front crawl in the shortest possible time, distributed in four parts of 25 meters, simulating a 100 meters race. As a performance measure, the average speed (Vm) was used; as complementary measures, stroke frequency (FBr) and stroke length (CBr); and, as coordination measures, the index of arm coordination (IdC) and the index of respiration (IdR). The analysis of variance of repeated measurements was used to detect differences in performance measures, complementary and IdC among the four partials of 25 meters. To verify the differences in the IdR between the second and fourth partials of 25 meters the Student\'s t-test was used. The Pearson\'s correlation test allowed the analysis of the relations of IdC and IdR between the performance measures. Statistical significance was defined as alpha <=0.05. The results showed that, in order to swim 100 meters front crawl in the shortest possible time, swimmers are faster (Vm) in the initial part of the simulated race; they maintain FBr and CBr unchanged and IdC in opposition in the four partials of 25 meters; they maintain the coordination between stroke and breathing (IdR), but, qualitatively, they change from delayed in the second partial to simultaneous in the fourth partial. Related to the aim of the present study, the results allow to conclude that: 1) There is an association between arm and breathing coordination (IdR) and performance (Vm): the swimmers who carried out the inspiration after the push were the ones who presented lower speed to swim the fourth partial of 25 meters; and 2) There is an association between arm coordination and performance: similar to the partial results of a study with low speed swimmers (SEIFERT et al., 2007), the swimmers who performed the highest IdC were the ones who presented the lowest speed to swim the 100m, the first, third and fourth partials of 25 meters. Therefore, in addition to arm coordination, the coordination between stroke and breathing is associated with the performance of swimmers. In future studies, knowledge about the coordination between stroke and breathing and its association with performance should continue to be investigated

Numerical simulation of cell motility is one of the difficult problems in computational science. It belongs to a class of problems which involve moving interfaces between flowing or deforming media. Different numerical techniques are being developed for different application areas and in this work an attempt is made to apply two popular numerical techniques used in the field of computational multiphase flows to a cell motility problem. An unsteady cell motility problem is considered to simulate numerically based on a two-dimensional mathematical model. Two important numerical methods, the Level set method and the Front tracking methods are applied to the cell motility problem to study several cases and to verify the convergence of the solution. With the assumption of no mechanical or physical obstructions to the cell, the results of the numerical simulations show that the domain shapes converge to a circular shape as they reach the steady state condition. The final steady state velocities with which the domains move and the final steady state area to which they converge are observed to be independent of domain shapes. Moreover all shapes converge to exactly same radius of circle and move with same velocity after reaching steady state condition.

Front crawl (FC) and back crawl (BC) are similar in terms of having alternating contributions of the arms combined with a six beat kick. However, the reason for the faster swimming times of FC than BC has not yet been established. There have been several studies in which the energy expenditure (Ė) of FC and BC were investigated. However, few researchers have compared Ė between the strokes. Also, although there have been some studies for FC using 3D motion analysis, few researchers have applied 3D motion analysis for BC. There have also been some studies in which the relationship between isokinetic torque produced on an isokinetic dynamometer and FC performance has been investigated, however, the relationship between isokinetic torque and BC performance is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine why FC is faster than BC by investigating physiological and biomechanical differences between FC and BC. Ten Portuguese male national level swimmers were recruited for this study. Three studies were conducted to achieve the aim. In the first study, Ė of FC and BC at the same testing speed below the anaerobic threshold were investigated by measuring swimmers’ oxygen uptake. Kinematic variables of FC and BC below the anaerobic threshold were also measured by 3D motion analysis in the first study. In the second study, 3D motion kinematics of FC and BC at the same selected speeds were investigated. In the third study, kinematic differences between FC and BC at the same exercise intensities, and correlations between the kinematics and isokinetic muscular torques of the swimmer in FC and BC and their differences were assessed. Below the anaerobic threshold, Ė of the swimmers in BC was significantly greater than that in FC at the same speed although there were no differences in stroke frequency (SF), stroke length (SL) and stroke index (SI). Swimmers also had significantly higher Froude efficiency (ηF) in FC than in BC. Differences in several kinematic variables (range of motion of the foot, duration of non-propulsive phases, and intra-cycle velocity variation) suggested that swimmers expended greater energy in BC than in FC. Differences in other kinematic variables (body roll angle, hand speed/acceleration, yaw angle fluctuation, centre of mass displacement, and hand/foot displacements) suggested the possibility of resistive impulse being larger in BC than in FC during the stroke cycle. Thus, FC is more economical and efficient than BC because swimmers lose less energy to the water during the non-propulsive phase, and possibly have smaller resistive impulse in FC than in BC at speeds below the anaerobic threshold. At the same selected speeds above the anaerobic threshold, ηF in BC was significantly lower than that in FC, which was due to faster mean 3D hand speed during the stroke cycle in BC than in FC. The faster mean hand speed in BC than in FC was due to the faster 3D hand speed during the pull phase, and longer relative duration of the release and above-water phases in BC than in FC. SI was also larger in FC than in BC, which was due to longer SL in FC than in BC. The longer SL in FC than in BC was due to the longer duration of propulsive phases and probably smaller resistive impulse during the stroke cycle in FC than in BC. At the same selected exercise intensities, FC was faster than BC because of higher SF. The higher SF in FC than in BC was due to the longer duration of the above-water phase in BC than in FC, longer hand path distance during non-propulsive phases in BC than in FC, earlier timing of the hand entry in relation to the underwater phase of the other hand in FC than in BC. SF in both FC and BC was significantly correlated with shoulder adduction isokinetic torque of the swimmers, however, the effect of shoulder isokinetic torque on the difference in swimming performance between FC and BC required further investigation. In conclusion, FC is faster than BC because swimmers can achieve higher SF in FC than in BC, and FC is more economical and efficient than in BC with indirect evidence that resistive force are greater in BC than in FC.

Orientador: José Geraldo Trani Brandão / Coorientador: José Benedito Oliveira Amorim / Banca: Jose Elias Tomazini / Banca: Renato Rocha / Banca: Carlos Eduardo Sanches da Silva / Banca: Eliel Soares Orenha / Resumo: O dentista pertence a uma categoria que apresenta um alto índice de doenças osteomusculares associadas à sua prática, o que justifica o grande número de aposentadoria precoce. Ela traz consigo uma alta estatística de problemas localizados na coluna lombar, pescoço e ombros. Estes problemas estão associados com a postura estática, com a posição sentada adotada pela maioria dos dentistas e com a precisão visual e manual inerentes à tarefa que executam. Devido a esta necessidade de aproximação do campo operatório, o encosto do mocho odontológico deixa de cumprir seu principal papel de suporte para a coluna lombar. Tendo em vista este contexto, esta pesquisa objetivou desenvolver um novo conceito de mocho odontológico com apoio frontal (AF) a fim de verificar a influência deste na atividade elétrica dos músculos longuíssimos torácicos direito e esquerdo (LD e LE) e trapézios superiores direito e esquerdo (TD e TE) e na força aplicada nas partes do mocho. Para tanto foi projetado um AF para um mocho odontológico industrializado e o mesmo foi instrumentado com células de carga nas partes anterior e posterior do assento, no encosto e no AF. A partir disto foi verificada a distribuição da força no mocho odontológico simultaneamente à atividade elétrica dos músculos LD, LE, TD e TE através da eletromiografia (EMGS) durante um procedimento clínico realizado em um manequim odontológico. Participaram deste estudo 10 voluntários do sexo feminino, com idade média de 25,3 anos (±3,3), índice de massa corporal 22,3 kg/m² (± 2,4), sendo 9 destras e 1 sinistra. Durante o experimento as voluntárias realizaram o procedimento clínico restauração classe II de Black. Os resultados apontaram uma diferença estatística (p<0,05) para os músculos TD, TE e LD quando foi inserido o AF... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Dentists belong to a category that presents a high index of osteomuscular disorders associated with the practice, which justifies the large number of professionals who retire early from the profession. It brings with it high statistics of problems in the lumbar spine, neck and shoulders. These problems are associated with the static posture of the seated position adopted by most dentists along with visual and manual precision inherent to the task they perform. Because of this need to be close to the operative field, the backrest of the dental stool fails to fulfill its main role: to support the lumbar spine. Given this context, the research aimed to develop a new concept of a dental stool with a front support (FS) in order to verify it's influence on the electrical activity of the right and left longissimus thoracic muscles (RL and LL) and the right and left upper trapezius muscles (RT and LT), as well as the force applied to parts of the stool. In order to do so, an FS was designed for the dental stool and it was instrumented with load cells in the front and back of the seat, the backrest and the FS. From this, the distribution of force in the dental stool and the electrical activity of the RL, RT and LT muscles using electromyography (sEMG) were simultaneously verified during a medical procedure performed on a dental dummy. The study consisted of ten female volunteers, with an average age of 25.3 (±3.3), a body mass index of 22.3 kg/m² (±2.4), nine of whom were right-handed and one who was left-handed. During the experiment the subjects performed a Class II BLACK restorative procedure. The results pointed out a statistical difference (p<0.05) for the RT, LT and RL muscles when the FS was inserted. This result indicated that with... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Práce vystihuje teoretické poznatky z oblasti teorie hromadné obsluhy a simulace a následně jsou aplikovány poznatky do praxe. Pro případovou studii je využíván simulační software Simul8 a podpůrný program Crystal Ball, pomocí nichž je vytvořen model. Cílem je navrhnout nejlepší řešení daného problému a zhodnotit systém z hlediska struktury a funkčnosti. S modelem je provedeno několik experimentů a následně je posouzena vhodnost či nevhodnost použití jednotlivých variant.

Transparent conductive oxides are an essential part of technologies that require both large-area electrical contact and optical access in the visible portion of the light spectrum. SnO2 doped with Fluorine (SnO2: F) and In2O3 doped with tin (ITO) are the most popular choices of front contacts for CdTe solar cells. In this thesis, CdS/CdTe devices were fabricated with SnO2: F (MOCVD) and ITO (sputtering) as front contacts without a high resistivity (resistivity relatively greater than front contact) buffer layer. The device characteristics of these devices were low but improved considerably after the inclusion of an intrinsic SnO2 (SnO2-i) deposited by MOCVD as buffer. Thus having emphasized and demonstrated the benefits of a buffer layer in these devices, the use of reactively sputtered SnO2 (intrinsic), SnO2 doped with Zinc (5% and 10% Zinc) and In2O3(intrinsic) as buffer layers in SnO2:F/buffer/CdS/CdTe devices were explored. Experiments were also carried out on the photovoltaic active layers of SnO2:F/SnO2-i/CdS/CdTe Solar cells. Namely, the effect of window layer thickness was studied by making a series of devices in which the CdS thickness was progressively reduced and the effect of substrate temperature (Tsub) during the deposition of the absorber layer was also studied by increasing Tsub > 600°C during CdTe CSS. In order to determine the effectiveness of In2O3 as a buffer layer, a series of ITO/In2O3/CdS/CdTe cells were fabricated with varying thickness of In2O3 (250 to 2000 Ǻ) and also the CdS thickness was reduced in steps (~800 Ǻ to~500 Ǻ) in these devices. ITO/ In2O3 device with efficiency greater than 14% (Voc: 820 mV, FF: 72% and Jsc: 24 mA/cm2 ) was fabricated for an In2O3 thickness of 250 Ǻ and CdS thickness of ~ 600 Ǻ. However the best efficiency of 14.7% (Voc: 830 mV, FF: 77%, Jsc: 23 mA/cm2 ) was achieved for SnO2:F/SnO2-i/CdS/CdTe device. ITO films with resistivity as low as 1.9X10-4 Ω-cm, mobility 32 cm2V-1s-1 and average transmission ~ 90% in the visible region were obtained for carrier concentration in the order of 1.1X1021 cm-3.