Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome is a malformation syndrome characterized by craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities and is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. We distinguish free subtypes on clinical and molecular level - TRPS I, TRPS II, TRPS III. All TRPS patients have sparse hair, a pear-shaped nose, a long flat philtrum, a thin upper lip and protruding ears. Skeletal abnormalities include cone-shaped epiphyses at the phalanges, hip malformations and short stature are present. The subgroups TRPS I and TRPS III are result of the mutated TRPS1 gene, which is maped into the 8q24 region. This gene is situated proximal of the EXT1 gene, both genes are affected in a subgroup of patients with TRPS II. These patients suffer more from multiple (cartilaginous) exostoses and mental retardation. In this work we performed molecular genetic analysis of a sample of 16 patients, 8 probands showed a TRPS phenotype and 8 probands had only isolated exostoses. The peripheral venous blood of patients was used to gain purified DNA, which was subsequently used to investigate the chromosome 8q24 region using MLPA ("multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification"). This analysis revealed a deletion in 1 TRPS patient and 1 patient with exostoses. Sequencing of the TRPS1 gene coding exons in remaining 7 TRPS...

Benefiting from the constant and significant advancement of wireless communication technologies and networking protocols, Wireless Ad hoc NETwork (WANET) has played a more and more important role in modern communication networks without relying much on existing infrastructures. The past decades have seen numerous applications adopting ad hoc networks for service provisioning. For example, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) can be widely deployed for environment monitoring and object tracking by utilizing low-cost, low-power and multi-function sensor nodes. To realize such applications, the design and evaluation of communication protocols are of significant importance. Meanwhile, the network performance analysis based on mathematical models is also in great need of development and improvement. This dissertation investigates the above topics from three important and fundamental aspects, including data collection protocol design, protocol modeling and analysis, and physical interference modeling and analysis. The contributions of this dissertation are four-fold. First, this dissertation investigates the synchronization issue in the duty-cycled, pipelined-scheduling data collection of a WSN, based on which a pipelined data collection protocol, called PDC, is proposed. PDC takes into account both the pipelined data collection and the underlying schedule synchronization over duty-cycled radios practically and comprehensively. It integrates all its components in a natural and seamless way to simplify the protocol implementation and to achieve a high energy efficiency and low packet delivery latency. Based on PDC, an Adaptive Data Collection (ADC) protocol is further proposed to achieve dynamic duty-cycling and free addressing, which can improve network heterogeneity, load adaptivity, and energy efficiency. Both PDC and ADC have been implemented in a pioneer open-source operating system for the Internet of Things, and evaluated through a testbed built based on two hardware platforms, as well as through emulations. Second, Linear Sensor Network (LSN) has attracted increasing attention due to the vast requirements on the monitoring and surveillance of a structure or area with a linear topology. Being aware that, for LSN, there is few work on the network modeling and analysis based on a duty-cycled MAC protocol, this dissertation proposes a framework for modeling and analyzing a class of duty-cycled, multi-hop data collection protocols for LSNs. With the model, the dissertation thoroughly investigates the PDC performance in an LSN, considering both saturated and unsaturated scenarios, with and without retransmission. Extensive OPNET simulations have been carried out to validate the accuracy of the model. Third, in the design and modeling of PDC above, the transmission and interference ranges are defined for successful communications between a pair of nodes. It does not consider the cumulative interference from the transmitters which are out of the contention range of a receiver. Since most performance metrics in wireless networks, such as outage probability, link capacity, etc., are nonlinear functions of the distances among communicating, relaying, and interfering nodes, a physical interference model based on distance is definitely needed in quantifying these metrics. Such quantifications eventually involve the Nodal Distance Distribution (NDD) intrinsically depending on network coverage and nodal spatial distribution. By extending a tool in integral geometry and using decomposition and recursion, this dissertation proposes a systematic and algorithmic approach to obtaining the NDD between two nodes which are uniformly distributed at random in an arbitrarily-shaped network. Fourth, with the proposed approach to NDDs, the dissertation presents a physical interference model framework to analyze the cumulative interference and link outage probability for an LSN running the PDC protocol. The framework is further applied to analyze 2D networks, i.e., ad hoc Device-to-Device (D2D) communications underlaying cellular networks, where the cumulative interference and link outage probabilities for both cellular and D2D communications are thoroughly investigated. / Graduate / 0984 / 0544 / tong1987fei@163.com

This thesis aims to find out the effective diffusivity (Deff) of a porous material – γ-alumina, using an unsteady state method with two inert gases at ambient condition with no reactions. For porous materials, Deff is important because it determines the amount of reactants that transfers to the surface of pores. When Deff is known, the apparent tortuosity factor of γ-alumina is calculated using the parallel pore model. The apparent tortuosity factor is important because: (a) it can be used to back-calculate Deff at reacting conditions; (b) once Deff with reactions is known, the Thiele modulus can be calculated and hence the global reaction rate can be found; (c) apparent tortuosity factor is also important for modelling purposes (e.g. modelling a packed-bed column or a catalytic combustion reactor packed with porous γ-alumina in various shapes and monoliths). Experimental measurements were performed to determine the effective diffusivity of a binary pair of non-reacting gases (He in N2, and N2 in He) in spherical γ-alumina pellets (1 mm diameter), and in γ-alumina washcoated monoliths (washcoat thickness 20 to 60 µm, on 400 cpsi (cells per square inch) cordierite support). The method used is based on the chromatographic technique, where a gas flows through a tube, which is packed with the sample to be tested. A pulse of tracer gas is injected (e.g. using sample loops: 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 ml) and by using an on-line mass spectrometer the response in the outlet of the packed bed is monitored over time. For the spherical pellets, the tube i.d. = 13.8 mm and the packed bed depths were 200 and 400 mm. For monoliths the tube i.d. = 7 mm and the packed lengths were 500 and 1000 mm. When the chromatographic technique was applied to the monoliths, it was observed that experimental errors can be significant, and it is very difficult to interpret the data. However, the technique worked well with the spherical pellets, and the effective diffusivity of He in N2 was 0.75 – 1.38 × 10-7 m2 s-1, and for N2 in He was 1.81 – 3.10 × 10-7 m2 s-1. Using the parallel pore model to back-calculate the apparent tortuosity factor, then a value between 5 to 9.5 was found for the pellets.

Submitted by Sandro Camargo (sandro.camargo@unipampa.edu.br) on 2015-05-09T22:22:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 126110018.pdf: 3775876 bytes, checksum: 4a58f20709bf7c39682924a84079246d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-09T22:22:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 126110018.pdf: 3775876 bytes, checksum: 4a58f20709bf7c39682924a84079246d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-08 / Neste trabalho, são apresentadas diferentes técnicas que possibilitam a obtenção de característica dupla-faixa para antenas de microfita especificamente voltadas para aplicações em estações rádio-base de telefonia móvel celular no Brasil. As faixas de frequência de interesse encontram-se no intervalo de 0,824 GHz a 0,960 GHz para a banda inferior e 1,710 GHz a 2,165 GHz para a banda superior. Além de atender as especificações técnicas de faixa de passagem, devem ser atendidos os requisitos de coeficiente de reflexão, polarização, ganho, largura de feixe de irradiação e impedância de entrada na faixa de interesse. Primeiramente, para obtenção de antenas de microfita com característica multibanda, descreve-se a técnica em que são dispostas fendas nos elementos irradiadores, onde são estudadas três topologias de antenas, explicando-se os princípios de funcionamento e destacando-se as particularidades de cada geometria. As três antenas são analisadas e projetadas com o auxílio do software comercial de simulação eletromagnética Ansoft Designer ® , visando levantar os parâmetros elétricos através de diversos estudos paramétricos em função da variação das dimensões das antenas para compreender melhor o comportamento de cada estrutura simulada. A antena com elemento irradiador em forma de H foi a única que cumpriu os requisitos em termos de faixa de passagem e diagramas de irradiação para operação em sistemas de telefonia móvel celular. No entanto, esta geometria resultou em dimensões físicas consideráveis, pois necessita da utilização de múltiplas camadas dielétricas, acarretando em um protótipo de volume considerável e de elevado custo de produção. Outra técnica estudada foi a sobreposição de elementos irradiadores, porém a mesma não é investigada detalhadamente em função de o custo de produção da antena ser mais elevado em comparação a topologias coplanares. Em seguida, uma técnica com irradiadores em fenda anelar e dupla alimentação é proposta. A antena é projetada considerando-se duas portas independentes, uma para cada banda de operação, formando uma antena de dois acessos altamente isolados. Simulações com o software HFSS TM mostraram que é possível satisfazer as especificações para operação em estações rádio-base de telefonia móvel celular. A grande vantagem desta estrutura é a possibilidade de utilização de apenas um laminado de micro-ondas, o que reduz o custo de produção em comparação a outras topologias. Protótipos foram construídos e caracterizados experimentalmente para validar o projeto realizado no simulador eletromagnético. Constatou-se a presença de discrepâncias entre os resultados simulados e medidos. Após simulações paramétricas, verificou-se que o processo de construção alterou a geometria do protótipo em relação ao modelo de simulação. Após a inclusão das imperfeições do processo construtivo no modelo, foi possível estimar as mudanças necessárias no protótipo. Após os devidos ajustes realizados em bancada, os resultados medidos exibiram boa concordância com a previsão teórica. Por fim, realizou-se um estudo de viabilidade da utilização da antena em fenda anelar dupla-faixa para composição de uma rede de antenas para estações rádio-base. A análise teve como principal objetivo verificar a possibilidade de síntese de diagramas de irradiação em forma de cossecante ao quadrado em ambas as bandas de operação. Excelente resultado foi obtido para a banda inferior, enquanto que algumas limitações foram encontradas na banda superior. / In this work we present different techniques for achieving the dual-band feature for microstrip antennas aimed to be used in the mobile communication base stations of Brazil. The focused frequency range for lower and higher bands is in the 0.824-0.960 GHz and 1.710-2.165 GHz intervals, respectively. In addition to comply with the technical specifications, the solution is also supposed to meet the requirements of return loss, polarization, gain, beamwidth radiation and input impedance in the focused frequency range. Initially, in order to obtain microstrip antennas with dual-band characteristic, we describe the technique in which slots are placed in the irradiating elements. Three antenna topologies are analyzed in its operation principles, emphasizing the particularities of each geometry. The antennas are designed with support of Ansoft Designer ® , a commercial software that simulates electromagnetic features, in order to find out the electrical parameters through parametric studies and to better understand the behavior of each simulated structure. These studies considered the variation in the dimensions of antennas. The H-shaped microstrip antenna was the only one able to fulfill the requirements of bandwidth and irradiation diagrams for operation in mobile communication. However, this geometry originated an antenna of considerable physical dimensions, because it requires the use of multiple dielectric layers, resulting in a prototype of considerable volume and high production cost. Another technique studied was the stacking of irradiating elements. However it isn’t investigated in detail because of the production cost of the antenna, which is higher than the ones of coplanar topologies. After all that, we propose a technique based in annular-slot antennas and double feed. The antenna is designed considering two independent ports, one for each band of operation, making an antenna of two highly insulated accesses. Simulations by the HFSS TM software have shown that it’s possible to comply with the specifications for operation in base stations of the mobile communication. The biggest advantage of this structure over other topologies is that it may be made of only one microwave laminate, reducing the production cost. Prototypes were built and measured to validate the design in the electromagnetic simulator. It was noted the discrepancies between the simulated and measured results. After running parametric simulations, we found out that the building process of the prototype changed the geometry of the simulation model. We included these imperfections in the model and it was possible to estimate the necessary changes in the prototype. After inclusion of the adjustments, the measured results behaved just alike the theoretical prediction. Finally, we’ve done a feasibility study on the use of the dual-band annular slot antenna for making an array of antennas for base stations. The study aimed to verify the suitability of synthetizing squared-cosecant shaped pattern in both operation bands. We got excellent results for the lower band, although some limitations were found for the higher band.

Submitted by Sandro Camargo (sandro.camargo@unipampa.edu.br) on 2015-05-09T23:05:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 117110020.pdf: 13178438 bytes, checksum: f29a9ebb8c16cd912a974177b062c58e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-09T23:05:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 117110020.pdf: 13178438 bytes, checksum: f29a9ebb8c16cd912a974177b062c58e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-04 / Neste trabalho é apresentado um estudo de redes lineares de antenas com elementos isotrópicos e projetos em tecnologia de microfita, com diagrama de irradiação conformado e controle dos lóbulos secundários. A especificação a ser cumprida éa de uma antena para estações rádio-base operando na frequência alocada par a tecnologia 4G no Brasil. O trabalho descreve ferramentas computacionais que auxiliem na síntese de redes de antenas. Como resultado do processo de otimização, os coeficientes de excitação dos diversos elementos que compõem as redes de antenas são obtidos. Primeiramente é descrito o sistema de telefonia móvel celular, apresentando os principais pontos de interesse neste trabalho, tais como evolução dos sistemas de comunicação sem fio, conceito de reuso de frequência, capacidade do sistema, interferência co-canal e posicionamento das estações rádio-base no sistema celular, além das principais características elétricas das antenas utilizadas atualmente no atendimento aos assinantes. Em seguida, considera-se a existência de uma linha de visada entre a estação rádio-base e o usuário, possibilitando a obtenção do nível aproximado de potência recebida à medida este se afasta da torre. Como meta, deseja-se a distribuição uniforme da potência até o limite da célula, que resulta em um diagrama de irradiação para a antena na forma de cossecante ao quadrado. Além disso, busca-se a minimização da interferência co-canal e a redução do percentual de energia irradiada na região do horizonte. Métodos de síntese de diagrama são estudados e implementados em Matlab visanado a obtenção do diagrama desejado a partir dos coeficientes de excitação dos elementos da rede linear, tais como, método da Transformada de Fourier, de Woodward-Lawson e dos mínimos quadrados. Apesar destes métodos serem vastamente utilizados, não foi possível obter uma síntese adequada do diagrama desejado. Desta forma, métodos de otimização iterativos foram investigados visando ao controle dos lóbulos secundários e a conformação do diagrama. Optou-se pela combinação do algoritmo genético com a programação quadrática sequencial, empregado para a busca de um mínimo local tendo como partida a melhor solução encontrada pelo algoritmo genético. Tal combinação permitiu rápida convergência na obtenção dos coeficientes de excitação da rede. Em seguida uma rede de antenas de microfita foi projetada no software HFSS para reproduzir o diagrama na forma de cossecante ao quadrado quando excitadas pelos coeficientes calculados com a ferramenta computacional. Durante o processo de síntese, todos os efeitos observados em uma rede de antenas foram considerados, tais como acoplamento mútuo e efeito de borda. Após conhecidos o coeficientes de excitação, projetou-se um sistema alimentador em tecnologia de microfita para fornecer os respectivos valores de correntes às antenas que compõem a rede. Por fim, é realizada a comparação entre o diagrama sintetizado e o obtido, o que permitiu a validação da ferramenta computacional. / In this work, the development of a computational tool that performs the synthesis of linear antenna arrays is presented and extensively discussed. The main intended applications is the design of an antenna suitable for radio-base stations of mobile communications systems, whereby uniform power distribution should be achieved inside the cell. The present work starts with the presentation of a review about mobile communication systems, whereby the main aspects are briefly discussed. An analysis is carried out to derive an expression that relates the antenna radiation pattern to the uniform power distribution inside a cell. This feature is achieved if the radiation pattern of the transmitting structure exhibits squared-cosecant shaped. Classical methods for pattern synthesis have been implemented in Matlab and have tested for the case of a squared-cosecant shape. Neither the Fourier Transform nor the Woodward-Lawson techniques could synthesize such a pattern satisfactorily. Thus iterative methods have been studied and implemented. The first iterative technique was based on the minimization of least-square errors, which has been used successfully for beamforming purposes. However, this technique proved to be unsuitable for the synthesis of squared-cosecant shaped patterns. Acceptable results could only be obtained by means of a genetic algorithm-square quadratic programming combined approach, which allowed obtaining fast convergence of the optimization of the excitation coefficients for the linear array elements. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of the developed tool, two microstrip antenna arrays that operate in the frequency band allocated for the Brazilian 4G systems have been studied. The embedded radiation pattern of each array element has been taken into account during the synthesis of the squared-cosecant shaped pattern. This approach allowed mutual coupling, as well as the truncation of the ground plane, to be compensated during the optimization process. The synthesized pattern enabled to reduce the power radiated above the horizon, as well as the co-channel interference. In order to validate the technique, a complete array including the power divider has been designed using the electromagnetic simulator HFSS. Good agreement has been obtained between the synthesized pattern and the simulated one in HFSS.

This thesis presents methods for the wafer-level integration of shape memory alloy (SMA) and electrostatic actuators to functionalize MEMS devices. The integration methods are based on heterogeneous integration, which is the integration of different materials and technologies. Background information about the actuators and the integration method is provided. SMA microactuators offer the highest work density of all MEMS actuators, however, they are not yet a standard MEMS material, partially due to the lack of proper wafer-level integration methods. This thesis presents methods for the wafer-level heterogeneous integration of bulk SMA sheets and wires with silicon microstructures. First concepts and experiments are presented for integrating SMA actuators with knife gate microvalves, which are introduced in this thesis. These microvalves feature a gate moving out-of-plane to regulate a gas flow and first measurements indicate outstanding pneumatic performance in relation to the consumed silicon footprint area. This part of the work also includes a novel technique for the footprint and thickness independent selective release of Au-Si eutectically bonded microstructures based on localized electrochemical etching. Electrostatic actuators are presented to functionalize MEMS crossbar switches, which are intended for the automated reconfiguration of copper-wire telecommunication networks and must allow to interconnect a number of input lines to a number of output lines in any combination desired. Following the concepts of heterogeneous integration, the device is divided into two parts which are fabricated separately and then assembled. One part contains an array of double-pole single-throw S-shaped actuator MEMS switches. The other part contains a signal line routing network which is interconnected by the switches after assembly of the two parts. The assembly is based on patterned adhesive wafer bonding and results in wafer-level encapsulation of the switch array. During operation, the switches in these arrays must be individually addressable. Instead of controlling each element with individual control lines, this thesis investigates a row/column addressing scheme to individually pull in or pull out single electrostatic actuators in the array with maximum operational reliability, determined by the statistical parameters of the pull-in and pull-out characteristics of the actuators. / QC20100729

Radars, as the name suggests, were traditionally used for Radio Detection and Ranging. Nevertheless, advances in high resolution electromagnetic simulations, Ultra Wide-Band sources, signal processing and computer technologies have resulted in a possible perception of radars as sensors for target discrimination. In this thesis, the feasibility of discrimination between targets even with minor variations in structure and material composition on the basis of radar echoes is effectively demonstrated. It is well-known that the echoes from any target are affected by its natural frequencies which are dependent only on the shape and material composition of the target, and independent of the aspect angle or the incident waveform. The E-pulse technique is based on the fact that incident waveforms can be designed that uniquely annihilate the echoes from chosen regions of a target, and forms the basis of the method of discrimination proposed in this thesis. Earlier methods reported in the literature, effectively discriminated only between different classes of targets with substantial variations in the overall dimensions of the body. Discrimination of targets of the same class with a minor structural modification or with a material coating on specific areas was rather difficult. This thesis attempts and successfully validates a method which comprehensively addresses this problem. The key idea of this method is to use the higher frequency resonances (which characterise the finer details of a target) in the E-pulse technique. An obviously important aspect of target discrimination is therefore that of precisely estimating the natural frequencies for each target and understanding the changes in these frequencies, and their associations with the changes in structure and material composition. Current approaches to determine these frequencies are either based In the time or frequency domains. While the latter approach comprises the computation of the roots of a related determinantal equation, in the time domain, the natural frequencies are extracted from the response of a target to an impulse. Such a response can either be generated from actual experiments or by simulating the scattering response using Computational Electromagnetic (CEM) techniques. In this work, the impulse response is obtained from the frequency response of the scatterers in the frequency range of interest. Since no single CEM technique can effectively cover the entire range of frequencies needed for the E-Pulse synthesis. The Method of Moments and Physical Optics have been used for low and high frequency scattering respectively. The results obtained using the latter technique are validated by comparing with those obtained using Method of Moments at the transition frequencies and Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (GTD). The natural frequencies (i.e., poles of a corresponding transfer function) are extracted from the impulse response using Prony's algorithm. One of the parameters in this method is the number of such poles (i.e.. the order of the transfer function) present in the response, and the accuracy of the computed pole values depends on this assumed order. Here, the Hankel singular values of a transfer function is used to estimate the number of poles. This in turn implies that a specific norm of the error between a transfer function corresponding to the frequency response generated earlier, and a transfer function with an assumed order obtained using Prony's method is minimised. In the thesis, a wide range of target shapes are considered for purposes of illustration: wires, cylinders, spheres, plates and complex bodies such as aircraft, and the discrimination capability is demonstrated by introducing minor perturbations in their shape and/or material composition. .The following cases are considered here: (a) Wires: Conducting wires with a protrusion in one segment; conducting wire from another coated with a dielectric in a segment, (b) Cylinders: Conducting cylinders with one perturbed; conducting cylinders with a portion scrapped off in the middle, (c) Plates: Conducting plates with a elongation on one comer; conducting plate with another one with a hole in the centre, (d) Spheres: Conducting spheres with different radii; conducting spheres with Radar Absorbing Material coated spheres with different coating thickness; conducting spheres with chiral coated spheres with varying coating thickness, (e) Aircraft: Canonical model of MiG-29 aircraft from a similar one with stores placed under the wing.

DISERTAČNÍ PRÁCE Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická fakulta Ústav pro dějiny umění Studijní program Dějiny výtvarného umění Jan Mergl Výtvarný vývoj produkce Harrachovské sklárny v Novém Světě 1850-1940 Art Development of the Production of the Harrach Glassworks in Nový Svět 1850-1940 Abstract Vedoucí práce: Doc. PhDr. Jana Kybalová, CSc. 2014 ABSTRACT Highly regarded throughout the world, Bohemian glass is also acknowledged as a cultural phenomenon in its own right and the Harrach glassworks in Nový Svět in Krkonoše indisputably ranks among the most accomplished companies that have had a determining influence on the world renown of Czech glassmaking. First documented in the early 18th century, the glassworks has been in existence for three hundred years. However, its prominent status among Bohemian producers of glass is not only due to its long history. What makes it noteworthy is its traditionally outstanding craftsmanship and technological facilities, and mainly its foresighted efforts to employ and further enhance diverse techniques in working with crystal and coloured glass. Thus, the factory was able to readily respond to the changes in the styles of glass as these developed from the 18th to the 20th centuries. This work is the outcome of long-term, focused research of archival sources, especially...

This study investigated integrated learning at a Christian university, the Christian Bilingual University of the Congo (UCBC) with the view to improving higher education practice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which is tasked with addressing social problems. Higher education in the DRC is shaped by its colonial legacy and a teacher-centred approach focused on theory, typical of a banking-type learning and a lack of integration. These factors stifle critical thinking and initiative in students and prevent them from developing into service-oriented agents for change in their communities. The advent of Christian universities has heralded a quest for holistic training to foster character and produce civic-minded and service-oriented citizens. A qualitative study using a phenomenology as methodology investigated the lived experiences in integrated learning and service in the community of twelve purposefully selected UCBC alumni. Data was obtained through semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Findings indicated that integrated learning is holistic education which engages mind, heart, soul and body; it combines practice and theory in training and prepares students to contribute to national welfare. It occurs in a multiple component and dimensional context and is characterized by learner-centeredness, active learning and constant interaction among the school community members. It is focused on the building of the inner person of the learner. Further, participants understood transformation as part of personal development, a lifelong process that moves a person to act differently in community after his personal assumptions have been deeply revised through his encounter with integrated learning. Its impact is character development as foundation for bold action in the community, the rediscovery of one’s identity, the development of servant leadership, team work and social networking and dependence on God. Findings revealed that transformed learners initiated a change of mentality and experienced culture conversion in their communities through confronting problems and modelling servanthood. It also established the enactment of integrated learning as a contributor to personal and community transformation as a result of students’ ‘echoed words’ and actions as learning-teachers. Based on the findings recommendations were made for the strengthening of integrated learning in Christian universities. / Educational Foundations / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

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