This thesis describes a navigational strategy for automatically guided vehicles and a behavioural control implementation using a modified zero order Sugeno fuzzy inference engine. Animals are examined as a model of intelligent behaviour and behavioural control implementations discussed and compared. The features and the requirements of a behavioural control implementation are identified and modifications to Sugeno inferencing are then described which allow these to be met. A successful implementation is then presented. The navigation task is examined, as are various methods of representing space. Special structural features of constrained spaces are identified. A route based navigation system exploiting diese features is then developed. The strategy combines the representation of space with the task description into an easily communicated message. This navigational strategy is then successfully integrated with the behavioural control implementation presented earlier. The influence of spatial structure on the complexity of the navigation task is investigated with a view to the categorisation of space. A definition of maze-spaces is developed from this. Conclusions are then drawn on the themes of the work, and suggestions made for further investigations.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo contribuir com a atividade de extração de rochas ornamentais, por meio de propostas com recomendações que possam indicar passos a serem seguidos (guidelines) para a sustentabilidade desse setor, utilizando como estudo de caso a região noroeste do Estado do Espírito Santo. Para isso são feitas propostas de planejamento em longo prazo por meio do Processo Prospectivo e, em mais curto prazo, por um esquema de certificação sustentável para a atividade, com vistas à sustentabilidade desse polo produtor, considerando sua importância e os problemas existentes. O Processo Prospectivo, feito mediante a utilização da abordagem inicial do Processo Prospectivo, com a varredura (scanning) do ambiente, e aplicado para a região noroeste do estado do Espírito Santo, apresentou-se como uma ferramenta adequada para atingir os objetivos do presente estudo, principalmente por apontar, a partir dos resultados, além da sua continuidade, também a viabilidade de implementar uma certificação de sustentabilidade para o setor de rochas ornamentais, pela concordância observada nos resultados obtidos, na visão dos stakeholders. Para a proposta de certificação sustentável foi feita uma pesquisa por meio de questionário com stakeholders chave da indústria de rochas ornamentais para identificar a percepção desses com relação à iniciativa, que incluiu tópicos gerais e específicos divididos em três temas principais: sustentabilidade da indústria de rochas ornamentais no Brasil; desafios para a sustentabilidade dessa indústria e deficiências e omissões da regulamentação vigente, relativa a esses desafios; e a viabilidade de um processo de certificação sustentável para a indústria de rochas ornamentais no Espírito Santo e a participação dos stakeholders e de seus órgãos nesse processo. Os resultados obtidos com o desenvolvimento do presente estudo permitem concluir que, na visão dos stakeholders da indústria de rochas ornamentais do Brasil, em especial na visão daqueles do estado de Espírito Santo, a formalização das empresas do setor, aliada a um processo de certificação, tem potencial para gerar benefícios significativos para o desenvolvimento local e/ou regional sustentável, o que coincide com outras experiências apresentadas na literatura vigente. Os resultados também mostraram que ainda há muito a ser estudado antes que uma certificação sustentável seja implementada, mas que há sinais encorajadores para a continuidade do trabalho, pois parte significativa dos stakeholders (sociedade, governo e empresários do setor) respondeu favoravelmente a essa iniciativa para o setor, até mesmo em âmbito nacional. Nesse sentido, é reforçada a importância da cooperação entre o setor, a sociedade e governo federal, estadual e municipal em todo o processo, de modo a se criar uma cultura que possibilite a sustentabilidade efetiva desse setor. Finalmente, o trabalho mostra que, apesar dos desafios existentes, as propostas de continuidade do Processo Prospectivo e de viabilização de um processo de certificação sustentável têm potencial para aprimorar a indústria de rochas ornamentais pela adoção de critérios, que visem não somente as questões de caráter econômico, como aquelas que melhorem a performance social e ambiental para a efetiva sustentabilidade dessa indústria. / This work aims to contribute with dimension stones industry by doing proposals and recommendations of guidelines to the sustainability of this industry, based on northwest region of Espirito Santo State as case study. Long term planning by applying the Foresight and of short term a Sustainability Certification Scheme are proposed in order to achieve the sustainability of the producer pole by considering its relevance and the existents problems. Foresight was applied for the northwest region using an initial approach of Foresight with the scanning of the environment, and it is presented as an appropriate tool to achieve the objectives of this study, mainly to point out from the results not only its continuity, but also the feasibility of implementing a sustainability certification scheme for the dimension stones industry, by the agreement observed in the results, in the view of stakeholders. For the sustainability certification scheme a survey was conducted with key stakeholders of the dimension stones industry to identify their perceptions regarding to the initiative, which included general and specific topics in three themes: sustainability of the dimension stones industry in Brazil; challenges to the sustainability of the dimension stones industry, and deficiencies and omissions of current regulatory processes regarding these challenges; and the feasibility of a sustainability certification scheme for the dimension stones industry in Espírito Santo State and the participation of entities/bodies/agencies in this process. The results obtained with the development of this study allow us to conclude that, in the view of stakeholders of the dimension stone industry in Brazil, especially the Espírito Santo State, the formalization of companies in the industry, combined with a certification process has the potential to generate significant benefits for local and/or regional sustainable development, which coincides with other experiences presented in current literature. The results also showed that there is still too much to be studied before a sustainability certification scheme is implemented, but there are encouraging signs for the continuity of the work, as a significant part of stakeholders (society, government and industry entrepreneurs) responded favorably to this initiative the industry, even at the national level. In this sense, it is reinforced the importance of cooperation between industry, society and federal, state and local government throughout the process, in order to create a culture that enables the sustainability of this sector. Finally, the study shows that despite the existing challenges, proposals for continuity of the Foresight and achieving a sustainability certification scheme have the potential to improve the dimension stones industry by adopting criteria that not only consider the economic issues of the industry, but also to improve its social and environmental performance for effective sustainability of this industry.

abstract: The presence of distributed generation in high renewable energy penetration system increases the complexity for fault detection as the power flow is bidirectional. The conventional protection scheme is not sufficient for the bidirectional power flow system, hence a fast and accurate protection scheme needs to be developed. This thesis mainly deals with the design and validation of the protection system based on the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) system, which is a bidirectional power flow loop system. The Large-Scale System Simulation (LSSS) is a system level PSCAD model which is used to validate component models for different time-scale platforms to provide a virtual testing platform for the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) system. It is also used to validate the cases of power system protection, renewable energy integration and storage, and load profiles. The protection of the FREEDM system against any abnormal condition is one of the important tasks. Therefore, the pilot directional protection scheme based on wireless communication is used in this thesis. The use of wireless communication is extended to protect the large scale meshed distributed generation from any fault. The complete protection system consists of the main protection and the back-up protection which are both presented in the thesis. The validation of the protection system is performed on a radial system test bed using commercial relays at the ASU power laboratory, and on the RTDS platform (Real Time Digital Power System) in CAPS (Center for Advanced Power System) Florida. Considering that the commercial relays have limitations of high cost and communicating with fault isolation devices, a hardware prototype using the interface between the ADC (analog to digital converter) and MATLAB software is developed, which takes advantage of economic efficiency and communication compatibility. Part of this research work has been written into a conference paper which was presented by IEEE Green Tech Meeting, 2017. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2017

The aim was to investigate the perception of whiteness in Nordic architecture and analyse the reasonsbehind the pale colour scheme in a public space context. The word pale was used alongsidewith white, since it gave broader possibilities to ponder over the topic. The geographical researcharea was framed to cover Sweden and Finland, although the search for underlying reasons extendedbeyond the borders of the North. Architecture was viewed as an entity, including both exteriors andinteriors. The focus was on reasoning around the question “why” to arouse professional discourseabout the often-unquestioned topic. Analysing the background of a commonly acknowledged phenomenonstrives to make architects more conscious of the background of their aesthetics so thatfuture decisions can be based on a more complex set of knowledge rather than leaning on tradition.Because of the wide demarcation of the research question, the project started with self-formulatedhypothesis, after which they were thoroughly analysed. The formulated pre-assumptions were, thatthe Nordic paleness is, firstly, a consequence of misinterpreted past architecture. Moreover, naturalcircumstances of the North, the symbolism connected to white and the tradition of canonisingmodernism were established as hypothesis. Lastly, architect education, combined with the tendencyof prototyping with white materials were assumed to endorse the pale colour scheme. The misinterpretations’possible implication in the perception of whiteness was also examined as a part of the research.Justification for the hypothesis was found, although broad framing meant that the referencematerial was splintered. Personal reflection was used as a means for cohesion. The paper includes aconcise artistic element in the form of an introductory poem to each chapter. / Batchelor's thesis for Aalto university

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo contribuir com a atividade de extração de rochas ornamentais, por meio de propostas com recomendações que possam indicar passos a serem seguidos (guidelines) para a sustentabilidade desse setor, utilizando como estudo de caso a região noroeste do Estado do Espírito Santo. Para isso são feitas propostas de planejamento em longo prazo por meio do Processo Prospectivo e, em mais curto prazo, por um esquema de certificação sustentável para a atividade, com vistas à sustentabilidade desse polo produtor, considerando sua importância e os problemas existentes. O Processo Prospectivo, feito mediante a utilização da abordagem inicial do Processo Prospectivo, com a varredura (scanning) do ambiente, e aplicado para a região noroeste do estado do Espírito Santo, apresentou-se como uma ferramenta adequada para atingir os objetivos do presente estudo, principalmente por apontar, a partir dos resultados, além da sua continuidade, também a viabilidade de implementar uma certificação de sustentabilidade para o setor de rochas ornamentais, pela concordância observada nos resultados obtidos, na visão dos stakeholders. Para a proposta de certificação sustentável foi feita uma pesquisa por meio de questionário com stakeholders chave da indústria de rochas ornamentais para identificar a percepção desses com relação à iniciativa, que incluiu tópicos gerais e específicos divididos em três temas principais: sustentabilidade da indústria de rochas ornamentais no Brasil; desafios para a sustentabilidade dessa indústria e deficiências e omissões da regulamentação vigente, relativa a esses desafios; e a viabilidade de um processo de certificação sustentável para a indústria de rochas ornamentais no Espírito Santo e a participação dos stakeholders e de seus órgãos nesse processo. Os resultados obtidos com o desenvolvimento do presente estudo permitem concluir que, na visão dos stakeholders da indústria de rochas ornamentais do Brasil, em especial na visão daqueles do estado de Espírito Santo, a formalização das empresas do setor, aliada a um processo de certificação, tem potencial para gerar benefícios significativos para o desenvolvimento local e/ou regional sustentável, o que coincide com outras experiências apresentadas na literatura vigente. Os resultados também mostraram que ainda há muito a ser estudado antes que uma certificação sustentável seja implementada, mas que há sinais encorajadores para a continuidade do trabalho, pois parte significativa dos stakeholders (sociedade, governo e empresários do setor) respondeu favoravelmente a essa iniciativa para o setor, até mesmo em âmbito nacional. Nesse sentido, é reforçada a importância da cooperação entre o setor, a sociedade e governo federal, estadual e municipal em todo o processo, de modo a se criar uma cultura que possibilite a sustentabilidade efetiva desse setor. Finalmente, o trabalho mostra que, apesar dos desafios existentes, as propostas de continuidade do Processo Prospectivo e de viabilização de um processo de certificação sustentável têm potencial para aprimorar a indústria de rochas ornamentais pela adoção de critérios, que visem não somente as questões de caráter econômico, como aquelas que melhorem a performance social e ambiental para a efetiva sustentabilidade dessa indústria. / This work aims to contribute with dimension stones industry by doing proposals and recommendations of guidelines to the sustainability of this industry, based on northwest region of Espirito Santo State as case study. Long term planning by applying the Foresight and of short term a Sustainability Certification Scheme are proposed in order to achieve the sustainability of the producer pole by considering its relevance and the existents problems. Foresight was applied for the northwest region using an initial approach of Foresight with the scanning of the environment, and it is presented as an appropriate tool to achieve the objectives of this study, mainly to point out from the results not only its continuity, but also the feasibility of implementing a sustainability certification scheme for the dimension stones industry, by the agreement observed in the results, in the view of stakeholders. For the sustainability certification scheme a survey was conducted with key stakeholders of the dimension stones industry to identify their perceptions regarding to the initiative, which included general and specific topics in three themes: sustainability of the dimension stones industry in Brazil; challenges to the sustainability of the dimension stones industry, and deficiencies and omissions of current regulatory processes regarding these challenges; and the feasibility of a sustainability certification scheme for the dimension stones industry in Espírito Santo State and the participation of entities/bodies/agencies in this process. The results obtained with the development of this study allow us to conclude that, in the view of stakeholders of the dimension stone industry in Brazil, especially the Espírito Santo State, the formalization of companies in the industry, combined with a certification process has the potential to generate significant benefits for local and/or regional sustainable development, which coincides with other experiences presented in current literature. The results also showed that there is still too much to be studied before a sustainability certification scheme is implemented, but there are encouraging signs for the continuity of the work, as a significant part of stakeholders (society, government and industry entrepreneurs) responded favorably to this initiative the industry, even at the national level. In this sense, it is reinforced the importance of cooperation between industry, society and federal, state and local government throughout the process, in order to create a culture that enables the sustainability of this sector. Finally, the study shows that despite the existing challenges, proposals for continuity of the Foresight and achieving a sustainability certification scheme have the potential to improve the dimension stones industry by adopting criteria that not only consider the economic issues of the industry, but also to improve its social and environmental performance for effective sustainability of this industry.

Ao constatar a complexidade e a especificidade dos processos organizacionais em universidades, a tese procurou responder à questão central de como ampliar a capacidade de análise, interpretação e explicação do processo estratégico ocorrido quando da criação e implantação da Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH), na Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Para tanto, o objetivo geral foi elaborar um esquema analítico capaz de estruturar os elementos intervenientes e propiciar significados aos pesquisadores e aos estrategistas sobre o processo ocorrido na EACH. Propunha-se, de forma específica, responder questões tipo: como caracterizar o processo estratégico, quais os agentes, os recursos organizacionais e as relações contextuais envolvidos e de que forma se combinaram nas ações. A estratégia foi analisada como uma construção social, na qual o ser humano é um potencial agente de transformação social. A tese fundamentou-se nas teorias sociológicas de Giddens (2003) e Sztompka (2005) e nos estudos organizacionais sobre processo. Ainda no campo da estratégia, explorou tipologias de formação e implementação. Utilizando metodologia interpretativa procurou identificar as contradições dialéticas geradas pela interação de agentes em eventos delimitados, imersos em uma realidade histórica, social e cultural. Foram realizadas entrevistas, pesquisa documental e técnicas de observação durante dois anos para a obtenção dos dados da pesquisa. O esquema analítico foi elaborado a partir de três dimensões principais: agentes, contexto e sistemas organizacionais. Na sua aplicação, foram analisados dois eventos constituintes do episódio de criação e implantação da nova unidade: 1) elaboração do projeto da EACH e 2) elaboração do curso de mestrado em sistemas complexos. Os resultados podem ser assim resumidos: a) o esquema analítico mostrou-se capaz de captar e retratar a complexidade do processo na EACH; b) o processo estratégico, nos eventos analisados, caracterizou-se como racional e formal, em determinados momentos, e como um processo negociado e em construção permanente; c) gestores e professores foram agentes principais, sendo influenciados por valores como autonomia e legitimidade; d) fatores organizacionais como cultura da USP, formas de liderança, poder e estruturas formais e não-formais mostraram-se muito influentes, assim como, o contexto histórico e social; e) constatou-se que os modelos organizacionais de análise da universidade conseguem captar apenas partes da complexidade do processo. São apresentadas proposições para a USP no intuito de contribuir para a efetivação do projeto. Espera-se que a tese contribua para ampliar o campo de pesquisa integrando os estudos educacionais aos estudos organizacionais. / After finding the complexity and specificity of organizational processes in Universities, this paper intends to answer the main question of how to increase the capacity of analysis, interpretation and explanation of the strategic process, that took place when the Arts, Science and Humanities School - EACH - was created and implanted in São Paulo University. In order to achieve that purpose, the main goal was to elaborate an analytical schema, capable of structuring the elements involved, and also to give meanings to strategy researchers and to strategists about the process that took place at EACH. It also intends to answer questions such as: how to characterize the strategic process, the agents, the organizational resources and the contextual relations involved, and how they would match in action. The strategy was analyzed as a social construction, in which the human being is a potential agent of social transformation. The thesis is based on the sociological theories of Giddens (2003) and Strompka (2005), so as on organizational studies about processes (1992; 1995). It also explored types of training and implementation. Making use of interpretative methodology, there was an effort to identify the dialectical contradictions created by the agents\' interaction in delimited events, located on a historical, social and cultural reality. Interviews, documentary research and observation techniques were made during the period of two years in order to acquire data for the research. The analytical schema was formulated based on three main dimensions: agents, context and organizational systems. On the usage of the scheme, two events which are part of the process of creation and implementation of the new unit were analyzed: 1) building the EACH project and 2) building a master course based on complex systems. The outcomes can be summarized as follows: a) the analytical scheme proved to be able to capture and to portray the complexity of the process in EACH; b) the strategic process on the analyzed events, was characterized as rational and formal, in certain moments, and as negotiated and ongoing; c) managers and professors were agents being influenced by values such as autonomy and legitimacy; d) organizational factors as forms of leadership, power and formal and non-formal structures proved to be influential, as well as, the historic and social context; e) it was found that the organizational models of analysis of the university can capture only parts of the complexity of the strategic process. Propositions to USP are here presented as an attempt to contribute to the effectiveness of the project. It is expected that a research area can be improved being able to integrate the educational studies to the organizational studies.

A commonly noted problem in the simulation of warm season convection in the North American monsoon region has been the inability of atmospheric models at the meso- scales (10 s to 100 s of kilometers) to simulate organized convection, principally mesoscale convective systems. With the use of convective parameterization, high precipitation biases in model simulations are typically observed over the peaks of mountain ranges. To address this issue, the Kain-Fritsch (KF) cumulus parameterization scheme has been modified with new diagnostic equations to compute the updraft velocity, the convective available potential energy closure assumption, and the convective trigger function. The scheme has been adapted for use in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF). A numerical weather prediction-type simulation is conducted for the North American Monsoon Experiment Intensive Observing Period 2 and a regional climate simulation is performed, by dynamically downscaling. In both of these applications, there are notable improvements in the WRF model-simulated precipitation due to the better representation of organized, propagating convection. The use of the modified KF scheme for atmospheric model simulations may provide a more computationally economical alternative to improve the representation of organized convection, as compared to convective-permitting simulations at the kilometer scale or a super-parameterization approach.

Data security plays a central role in the design of Internet of Things (IoT). Since most of the "things" in IoT are embedded computing devices it is appropriate to talk about cryptography in embedded of systems. This kind of devices is based on microcontrollers, which have limited resources (processing power, memory, storage, and energy). Therefore, we can apply only lightweight cryptography. The goal of this work is to find the optimal cryptographic solution for IoT devices. It is expected that perception of this solution would be useful for implementation on “limited” devices. In this study, we investigate which lightweight algorithm is better to implement. Also, how we can combine two different algorithms in a hybrid scheme and modify this scheme due to data sending scenario. Compendex, Inspec, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Springer Link databases are used to conduct a comprehensive literature review. Experimental work adopted in this study involves implementations, measurements, and observations from the results. The experimental research covers implementations of different algorithms and experimental hybrid scheme, which includes additional function. Results show the performance of the considered algorithms and proposed hybrid scheme. According to our results, security solutions for IoT have to utilize algorithms, which have good performance. The combination of symmetric and asymmetric algorithms in the hybrid scheme can be a solution, which provides the main security requirements: confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. Adaptation of this scheme to the possible IoT scenarios shows the results acceptable for implementation due to limited resources of hardware.

Since the definition of the wiretap channel by Wyner in 1975, there has been much research to investigate the communication security of this channel. This thesis presents some further investigations into the wiretap channel which improve the reliability of the communication security. The main results include the construction of best known equivocation codes which leads to an increase in the ambiguity of the wiretap channel by using different techniques based on syndrome coding. Best known codes (BKC) have been investigated, and two new design models which includes an inner code and outer code have been implemented. It is shown that best results are obtained when the outer code employs a syndrome coding scheme based on the (23; 12; 7) binary Golay code and the inner code employs the McEliece cryptosystem technique based on BKC0s. Three techniques of construction of best known equivocation codes (BEqC) for syndrome coding scheme are presented. Firstly, a code design technique to produce new (BEqC) codes which have better secrecy than the best error correcting codes is presented. Code examples (some 50 codes) are given for the case where the number of parity bits of the code is equal to 15. Secondly, a new code design technique is presented, which is based on the production of a new (BEqC) by adding two best columns to the parity check matrix(H) of a good (BEqC), [n; k] code. The highest minimum Hamming distance of a linear code is an important parameter which indicates the capability of detecting and correcting errors by the code. In general, (BEqC) have a respectable minimum Hamming distance, but are sometimes not as good as the best known codes with the same code parameters. This interesting point led to the production of a new code design technique which produces a (BEqC) code with the highest minimum Hamming distance for syndrome coding which has better secrecy than the corresponding (BKC). As many as 207 new best known equivocation codes which have the highest minimum distance have been found so far using this design technique.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Agriculture is the chief economic activity in many rural communities and women who make up the majority of the rural dwellers play a focal role in this sector. Despite efforts aimed at promoting women’s rights and ensuring gender equality in development, researchers have shown that women are still marginalised and have less access to productive resources needed for effective agricultural production. Using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, the research investigated the nature and the extent of women’s participation in agricultural production at Marange Irrigation Scheme in Marange Communal Land, Zimbabwe. The participatory development theory was employed to guide the research. Data collection tools utilised in this study were a well structured questionnaire, semi-structured individual interviews and observation. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data was done using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis respectively. The results of this study showed high level of women’s participation in most farm activities but low participation in extension programmes. The socio-economic variables considered for Pearson’s correlation tests – age, household income, education, land size and number of dependents – showed no significant relationship with the level to which women participate in agricultural activities. The findings of this study revealed that the key factors constraining women’s participation in agricultural activities were lack of capital, limited agricultural inputs, market constraints and water shortages. In addition, the research showed that farmers were not fully involved in every step of the irrigation development project. Consequently, women’s agricultural productivity was low and the sustainability of the project was uncertain. Despite these challenges, the results of this study revealed that participating in farming can instil a sense of ownership, enhance capacities and improve livelihoods. The level of women’s participation in farm decision-making was found to be high. This study advances that addressing women’s agricultural needs and improving their access to agricultural productive resources could result in effective participation of women in agriculture and meaningful agricultural productivity. In line with the participatory development theory, the study further contends that the full participation of women, as well as other intended beneficiaries, in the development process could be the key to sustainable rural development initiatives. This could help bring the much needed transformation in rural areas.