Transit agencies include buffer time in their schedules to maintain stable headways and avoid bus bunching. In this work, a real-time holding mechanism is proposed to dispatch buses on a loop-shaped route, solely based on operating conditions in real-time. Holds are applied at the terminal station to minimize the expected variance of bus headways at departure. The bus-dispatching problem is formulated as a stochastic decision process. The optimality equations are derived and structural properties of the optimal policy are inferred by backward induction. The exact optimal holding policy is then found in closed form, as a function of the expected travel time of buses currently running. A simulation assuming stochastic operating conditions and unstable headway dynamics is performed to assess the expected average waiting time of passengers at stations. The proposed control strategy is found to provide lower passenger waiting time and better resiliency than methods recommended in the literature and used in practice.

Ce travail de thèse concerne les circuits ultra-rapides pour la conversion analogique numérique performante en technologie bipolaire à hétérojonctions sur substrat Indium Phosphore (TBDH/InP). L'étude s'intéresse à la fonction principale qui est l'échantillonnage blocage. Elle a été menée par simulation de l'ensemble des blocs composant cette fonction. En particulier une étude extensive des cœurs des circuits Echantillonneurs/Bloqueurs a été effectuée pour différents paramètres électriques pour aboutir à des valeurs optimales réalisant un compromis entre la bande passante la résolution et la linéarité.Des architectures de circuits Echantillonneurs/Bloqueurs (E/B) avec ou sans l'étage d'amplification à gain variable ont été conçues, optimisées, réalisées et caractérisées et des performances à l'état de l'art ont été obtenues : des circuits E/B de bande passante supérieure à 50 GHz et cadencées à 70 Gs/s ont été réalisés pour les applications de communications optiques et des circuits de bande passante supérieure à 16 GHz cadencés à (2-8) Gs/s ont été réalisés pour la transposition de fréquence. / This thesis concerns the design of high speed circuits in Indium phosphide heterojunction Bipolar technology for High performance analog to digital conversion (ADC).The study focuses on the Track and Hold block (THA) which is the main function of the ADC. The study was conducted by simulating all blocks of the THA circuit. In particular, an extensive study of the THA main block was performed for various electrical parameters to achieve optimal conditions in order to obtain a good tradeoff between resolution bandwidth and linearity. THA architectures circuits with or without Voltage Gain Amplifier stage were designed, optimized and characterized. High THA performances were achieved: THA circuit with a bandwidth greater than 50 GHz at 70 Gs/s were achieved for optical communications and circuits of bandwidth more than16 GHz at (2-8 GS /s) have been realized for down conversion operation.

Submitted by André Fava Pestana (afpestana@gmail.com) on 2014-12-23T22:09:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_AFP_MPFE_VersãoFinal.pdf: 441121 bytes, checksum: d3fd4490be660a716f9368bbf366064e (MD5) / Rejected by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br), reason: Prezado André, Não deve constar números de página nas páginas de 1 á 8. Peço a gentileza de excluir estes números e postar novamente. Lembrando que o Sumário está correto, seu trabalho se inicia na página 9. À disposição para qualquer esclarecimento. Att. Renata Souza Cursos de Pós-Graduação (55 11) 3799-7764 SRA - Secretaria de Registros Acadêmicos on 2014-12-29T11:26:26Z (GMT) / Submitted by André Fava Pestana (afpestana@gmail.com) on 2014-12-29T13:32:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_AFP_MPFE_VersãoFinal.pdf: 442163 bytes, checksum: c1d9e18d4959a2ad10458a4c85047465 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2014-12-29T13:37:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_AFP_MPFE_VersãoFinal.pdf: 442163 bytes, checksum: c1d9e18d4959a2ad10458a4c85047465 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-01-05T11:30:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_AFP_MPFE_VersãoFinal.pdf: 442163 bytes, checksum: c1d9e18d4959a2ad10458a4c85047465 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-19 / Banks, as diligent agents, actively monitor their debtors in order to obtain a precise assessment of their financial position. This monitoring stance usually allows them to access non-public information regarding a firm and its business, and acquire hold up power in the credit granting activity. This hold up power is believed to allow banks to charge the firm higher interest rates than otherwise would be justified by the company’s credit risk profile through the economic cycle, mainly during recessions. The presence of hold up power is tested on this paper in businesses more or less dependent on bank credit. By comparing the evolution of bank spreads paid by Brazilian public companies with and without access to the corporate bond market and through the economic cycle comprising the 2009 crisis, some insight is gained on the impact of an economic downturn and of holding corporate bonds in reducing the bank’s hold up power and hence the spreads paid by the company. Data from 50 firms for the years 2007 to 2013 were organized in a panel and modeled using the Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS) technique, as an alternative to the classic Least Squares (LS) technique. The dummies, i) access to corporate bond credit, ii) economic recession and iii) interaction of the 2 previous variables were created and tested after controlling for firm specific factors such as credit restriction, firm size, leverage, etc and statistical evidence was found supporting the intuition that having access to the bond market can reduce the bank spreads during recessions. / A concessão de crédito bancário demanda esforço do agente credor que se dedica de forma ativa na obtenção de informações relativas à firma, até então não disponíveis ao público. Dado o hold up power do banco detentor de informações não públicas, este deveria poder cobrar spreads mais altos do que seria justificado unicamente pelo risco de crédito do tomador ao longo dos ciclos econômicos, sendo tal dinâmica mais acentuada em cenários de crise. Testa-se aqui esta hipótese e para isso são comparadas as variações do spread bancário médio da dívida de empresas brasileiras com diferentes composições de endividamento, levando-se em conta sua dependência do crédito bancário. Foram criadas: i) uma variável dummy identificando o acesso ao crédito direto para que se pudesse avaliar o seu efeito nos spreads; ii) outra dummy identificando cenários de recessão que permite avaliar o impacto do ciclo econômico nos spreads e iii) dummy interação que viabilizou o estudo do efeito combinado das duas variáveis anteriores. Fatores de risco individuais da firma, tais como tamanho, nível de alavancagem e sua natureza em termos de restrição a crédito foram controlados na análise. Os dados foram organizados em painel com os quais foi montada regressão linear valendo-se da técnica Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS), alternativa ao Least Squares (LS) clássico. Encontrou-se evidência estatística de que em cenários de recessão econômica o acesso ao mercado direto de crédito traz efeito benéfico sobre os spreads bancários pagos pelas firmas.

Submitted by Izabel Franco (izabel-franco@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-05T19:18:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseCEMac.pdf: 12049463 bytes, checksum: acd65707762e60b912f35a2d267ad5b7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-20T13:40:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseCEMac.pdf: 12049463 bytes, checksum: acd65707762e60b912f35a2d267ad5b7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-20T13:41:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseCEMac.pdf: 12049463 bytes, checksum: acd65707762e60b912f35a2d267ad5b7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-20T13:41:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseCEMac.pdf: 12049463 bytes, checksum: acd65707762e60b912f35a2d267ad5b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-26 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Due to the high capacity of oxygen transfer and versatility, pneumatic reactors have been constantly used in bioprocesses. However, aiming to expand the use of these bioreactors in the industry, as well as increase the understanding of the complex phenomena that occur in these devices, this thesis aimed to evaluate the hydrodynamic, oxygen transfer and shear conditions in three models of pneumatic reactors (bubble column, concentric-tube airlift and split-cylinder airlift) in the scales of 5 and 10 L, using as liquid phase four Newtonian fluids and eight non-Newtonian fluids, and five specific air flow rate (air of 1 to 5 vvm). Related to the hydrodynamic were studied the global gas hold-up (g), the gas hold-ups in the riser (R) and in the downcomer (D), liquid circulation time (tC), superficial liquid velocity in the riser (ULR) and in the downcomer (ULD), and the percentage energy losses in the riser (%ER+%EFR), in the downcomer (%ED+%EFD), and in the bottom (%EB) of airlift reactors. The values of g, R, D, ULR and ULD showed increasing behaviour with increase of air and decreasing behaviour with the kinematic liquid viscosity (L) and the rheologic properties (K e n), and observed the opposite for tC. The higher values of g, R, D and tC were obtained for concentric-tube airlift reactor (ACC) and scale of 10 L. With exception of ULR of Newtonian fluids, the others liquid velocity tests resulted in higher values for split-cylinder airlift reactors (ASC) and scale of 10 L. This result was attributed to the greater driving force (R-D) to liquid circulation obtained in the ASC reactors and the higher energy losses in the riser and in the downcomer observed in the ACC reactors. In the bottom of the airlift reactors, the higher values of %EB were obtained to the ASC reactor. To evaluate the mass transfer were studied, the average bubble diameter (Db), the volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient (kLa) and the terms that compose the kLa, the convective mass transfer coefficient (kL) and the specific interfacial area of mass transfer (aL). With the increase of air, L, K and n, the air bubbles were predominantly coalescent in water, presenting distorted shape, and non-coalescent with spherical/elliptical shape in the other solutions. It was observed a similar behavior between the kLa and aL parameters, which were directly proportional to the air and inversely proportional to the L, K and n. In water, the aL values were lower than glycerol solutions due to the higher Db values observed in this liquid. For the kL, it was observed a decreasing behaviour with the increase of the air in the most solutions. The magnitude of kL values was due mainly the oxygen difusivity in the liquid, and the higher values were observed to the water, following by the non-Newtonian solutions. In general, the higher values of the mass transfer parameters were obtained in the ACC reactor and in the scale of 10 L. The proposed method to the estimate the average shear rate velocity based on Kolmogorov’s theory of isotropic turbulence showed results consistent with the literature relative to the behavior and magnitude of this variable, as well as the results obtained by the analysis of the morphological changes of Streptomyces clavuligerus in two models of airlift reactors and two aeration conditions. Were proposed correlations to predict all evaluated parameters. Were obtained in all cases a good fit with the experimental data, with deviations between the calculated and experimental values below 20%. / Devido à alta capacidade de transferência de oxigênio e versatilidade, reatores pneumáticos têm sido constantemente utilizados em bioprocessos. Entretanto, visando ampliar a utilização destes reatores na indústria, assim como aumentar a compreensão dos fenômenos complexos que ocorrem nestes dispositivos, na presente tese teve-se como objetivo avaliar as condições hidrodinâmicas, de transferência de oxigênio e de cisalhamento em três modelos de reatores pneumáticos (coluna de bolhas, airlift de cilindros concêntricos e airlift split-cylinder) nas escalas de 5 e 10 L, utilizando como fase líquida quatro fluidos newtonianos e oito fluidos nãonewtonianos e cinco vazões específicas de ar (ar de 1 a 5vvm). Em termos hidrodinâmicos foram estudadas as retenções gasosas global (g), no riser (R) e no downcomer (D), tempo de circulação do líquido (tC), velocidade superficial do líquido no riser (ULR) e no downcomer (ULD) e as perdas percentuais de energia no riser, no downcomer e na base (%EB) de reatores airlift. Os valores de g, R, D, ULR e ULD apresentaram comportamento crescente com o aumento de ar e decrescente com a viscosidade cinemática do líquido (L) e propriedades reológicas (K e n), sendo observado o oposto para tC. Os maiores valores de g, R, D e tC foram obtidos em reator airlift de cilindros concêntricos (ACC) e escala de 10 L. Com exceção de ULR de fluidos newtonianos, os demais testes de velocidade do líquido resultaram em maiores valores nos reatores airlift split-cylinder (ASC) e escala de 10 L. Tal resultado foi atribuído a maior força motriz (R-D) para circulação do líquido obtida em ASC e às maiores perdas de energia no riser e no downcomer observadas em reatores ACC. Na base dos reatores, os maiores valores de %EB foram obtidos para reator ASC. Para avaliação da transferência de massa foram estudados o diâmetro da bolha (Db), o coeficiente volumétrico de transferência de oxigênio (kLa) e os termos que o compõe, coeficiente convectivo de transferência de massa (kL) e área interfacial específica de transferência de massa (aL). Bolhas de ar, com o aumento de ar, L, K e n foram predominantemente coalescentes em água, apresentando formato distorcido e nãocoalescentes com formato esférico/elíptico nas demais soluções. Observou-se um comportamento análogo entre kLa e aL, com relação direta à ar e inversa à L, K e n. Em água, os valores de aL foram inferiores às soluções de glicerol em virtude do maior Db observado neste líquido. Para kL, observou-se um comportamento decrescente com o aumento de ar na maioria das soluções. A magnitude dos valores de kL obedeceu principalmente a difusividade do oxigênio no líquido, sendo os maiores valores observados para água, seguido das soluções não-newtonianas. De maneira geral, os maiores valores dos parâmetros de transferência de massa foram obtidos em reator ACC de 10 L. O método proposto para estimativa da taxa de cisalhamento com base na teoria de turbulência isotrópica de Kolmogorov apresentou resultados condizentes com a literatura em termos de comportamento e magnitude desta variável, assim como com os resultados obtidos pela análise das alterações morfológicas de Streptomyces clavuligerus em dois modelos de reatores airlift e duas condições de aeração. Para todos os parâmetros avaliados foram propostas correlações para sua predição, sendo obtidos em todos os casos bons ajustes aos dados experimentais com desvios inferiores à 20%. Palavras-chave: reatores pneumáticos, retenção gasosa, kLa, diâmetro da bolha, velocidade

Auswertung von 1300 Messern aus deutschen, niederländischen, skandinavischen, baltischen; nordrussischen und polnischen archäologischen Ausgrabungen, die über ein eigens dafür entwickeltes Klassifizierungsmodell von Klingen- und Griffformen erfolgte. Ausgewertet wurden Maße, Formen, Verzierungen und Marken. Die Ergebnisse werden zunächst in Diagrammen dargestellt und im beschreibenden Teil der Arbeit ausführlicher diskutiert. Die Entwicklung der Griffkonstruktionen und ihrer damit einhergehenden Formen werden exemplarisch dargestellt. Dabei wird besonders auf das Auftreten und die Verbreitung der Griffzungenkonstruktionen eingegangen, als Beispiel einer technischen Innovation mit römisch-kaiserzeitlichen Wurzeln, die im späten Mittelalter ihre Hochblüte erreichte. Verzierungselemente an Griffangel- und Griffzungenkonstruktionen werden als Übersichten getrennt nach Materialien sowie in besonders aussagekräftigen Einzelbeispielen näher spezifiziert dargestellt. Mittelalterliche Personendarstellungen auf beinernen Vollgriffen (Hilzen) oder die zeitgleiche Griffplättchentechnik als Beispiel einer auf Metall basierenden Verzierungsart werden in ihrem historischen Kontext behandelt. An Messerklingen werden Verzierungselemente und Marken separat diskutiert. Die Verteilung verschiedener Gruppen von Klingenformen innerhalb unterschiedlicher Fundorte ist ein Versuch, soziologische Bedingungen in offenen und geschlossenen bzw. befestigten Siedlungen unterschiedlicher Regionen an Beispielen der materiellen Kultur nachzuzeichnen. Nach Exkursen zu völkerwanderungszeitlichen Messern und Falt- oder -Klappmessern wird abschließend zu den Themen Herstellungsverfahren und Funktionszuweisung Stellung genommen, wobei das Messer als archäologische Quelle in naturwissenschaftlichen /(metallurgischen) Analysen ebenso dargestellt wird wie im Vergleich mit kunsthistorischen / (bildlichen) Quellen bzgl. einer Annäherung an Aussagen zu Funktion und Gebrauch im Untersuchungsraum.

The effectiveness of using commercial polyethylene flashing and stainless-steel mesh in CLT wall systems as the termite barriers were evaluated in a short-term field test. American Wood Protection Association (AWPA) E21's visual ratings ranged from 10 to 9 in the specimens showing little damage when no physical barriers were used. Termites were able to crawl beyond the physical barriers in few specimens showing the necessity of further research on height and installation method of physical barriers. On the second part, the effect of decay caused due to Postia placenta, a brown-rot fungus, on the structural performance of hold-down brackets connected to CLT walls was evaluated using monotonic and cyclic loadings. An increase in moisture content reduced the strength of the connection system but increased the initial stiffness. Decay caused delamination of CLT laminate perpendicular to the grain, a different failure pattern, compared to the wet control and dry control specimens.

No description available.

Fuel cells are known for their high efficiency and have the potential to become a major technology for producing clean energy, especially when the fuel, e.g. hydrogen, is produced from renewable energy sources such as wind or solar. Currently, the two main obstacles to wide-spread commercialization are their high cost and the short operational lifetime of certain components. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells have been a focus of attention in recent years, due to their use of hydrogen as a fuel, their comparatively low operating temperature and flexibility for use in both stationary and portable (automotive) applications. Perfluorosulfonic acid membranes are the leading ionomers for use in PEM hydrogen fuel cells. They combine essential qualities, such as high mechanical and thermal stability, with high proton conductivity. However, they are expensive and currently show insufficient chemical stability towards radicals formed during fuel cell operation, resulting in degradation that leads to premature failure. The incorporation of durability improving additives into perfluorosulfonic acid membranes is discussed in this work. iv Cerium oxide (ceria) is a well-known radical scavenger that has been used in the biological and medical field. It is able to quench radicals by facilely switching between its Ce(III) and Ce(IV) oxidation states. In this work, cerium oxide nanoparticles were added to perfluorosulfonic acid membranes and subjected to ex-situ and in-situ accelerated durability tests. The two ceria formulations, an in-house synthesized and commercially available material, were found to consist of crystalline particles of 2 – 5 nm and 20 – 150 nm size, respectively, that did not change size or shape when incorporated into the membranes. At higher temperature and relative humidity in gas flowing conditions, ceria in membranes is found to be reduced to its ionic form by virtue of the acidic environment. In ex-situ Fenton testing, the inclusion of ceria into membranes reduced the emission of fluoride, a strong indicator of degradation, by an order of magnitude with both liquid and gaseous hydrogen peroxide. In open-circuit voltage (OCV) hold fuel cell testing, ceria improved durability, as measured by several parameters such as OCV decay rate, fluoride emission and cell performance, over several hundred hours and influenced the formation of the platinum band typically found after durability testing.

No description available.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden Strömungen räumlich begrenzter Strahlen untersucht. Zum einen wurde die Ausströmung eines runden Strahls in ein Rohr betrachtet, der sog. begrenzte Strahl. Zum anderen wurde die Ausströmung von 7 hexagonal angeordneten runden Strahlen in ein Rohr betrachtet, das sog. hexagonale Strahlbündel. Die Motivation zur vorliegenden Arbeit ergab sich aus der Entwicklung von Durchflussmessgeräten, die als Bypassapparaturen ausgeführt sind und stromabwärts des Staudruckkörpers ein Strömungsgebiet mit begrenzten Strahlen aufweisen. Dafür wurden mit Hilfe der Ähnlichkeitstheorie die zugrundeliegenden Kennzahlen bestimmt. Besonderes Augenmerk lag auf der Charakterisierung der instationären bzw. turbulenten Strömungseigenschaften für Reynolds-Zahlen zwischen 1.000 und 20.000. Es wurden die selbstähnlichen Eigenschaften der Strömungen untersucht, wobei sich insbesondere für den begrenzten Strahl wichtige Erkenntnisse ergaben. Für das hexagonale Strahlbündel wurden mit Hilfe der numerischen Strömungssimulation die grundlegenden Eigenschaften des Strömungsfeldes untersucht. Dabei weisen die Geometriekennzahlen einen dominierenden Einfluss auf. So konnten in Abhängigkeit zum Durchmesserverhältnis und Strahlabstand drei Strömungsformen identifiziert und experimentell mittels Laser-Doppler Anemometrie nachgewiesen werden. Eine wesentliche Fragestellung bestand in der Anwendung der numerischen Strömungssimulation, des RANS-Ansatzes und des SST-Turbulenzmodells. Dazu wurde die Anpassung der Modellkoeffizienten untersucht, wobei für den begrenzten Strahl ein allgemein gültiger Satz gefunden wurde. / In the present work flows of spatially limited radiation were investigated. On the one hand, the outflow of a round jet into a pipe was considered, the so-called confined jet. On the other hand, the outflow of 7 hexagonal arranged round jets into a pipe was con-sidered, the so-called hexagonal jet array. The motivation for the present work arose from the development of flowmeters which are designed as bypass apparatures that have a jet array flow downstream of the dynamic pressure body. For this purpose the underlying similarity parameters were determined. Special attention was paid to the cha-racterization of transient and turbulent flow properties for Reynolds numbers between 1,000 and 20,000. The self-similar properties of the flows were investigated with im-portant findings in particular for the confined jet. For the hexagonal jet array the basic properties of the flow field were investigated by using computational fluid dynamics. The geometric similarity parameters have a dominant influence. Thus, depending on the di-ameter ratio and jet distance ratio, three flow patterns could be identified and experimen-tally detected by the use of laser Doppler anemometry. An important question was the application of the computational fluid dynamic method, the RANS approach and the SST turbulence model. For this purpose a generally valid set of model coefficients was found for the confined jet flow.