For a wide range of people with limited upper- and lower-body mobility, interaction with robots remains a challenging problem. Due to various health conditions, they are often unable to use standard joystick interface, most of wheelchairs are equipped with. To accommodate this audience, a number of alternative human-machine interfaces have been designed, such as single switch, sip-and-puff, brain-computer interfaces. They are known as low throughput interfaces referring to the amount of information that an operator can pass into the machine. Using them to control a wheelchair poses a number of challenges. This thesis makes several contributions towards the design of robotic wheelchairs controlled via low throughput human-machine interfaces: (1) To improve wheelchair motion control, an adaptive controller with online parameter estimation is developed for a differentially driven wheelchair. (2) Steering control scheme is designed that provides a unified framework integrating different types of low throughput human-machine interfaces with an obstacle avoidance mechanism. (3) A novel approach to the design of control systems with low throughput human-machine interfaces has been proposed. Based on the approach, position control scheme for a holonomic robot that aims to probabilistically minimize time to destination is developed and tested in simulation. The scheme is adopted for a real differentially driven wheelchair. In contrast to other methods, the proposed scheme allows to use prior information about the user habits, but does not restrict navigation to a set of pre-defined points, and parallelizes the inference and motion reducing the navigation time. (4) To enable the real time operation of the position control, a high-performance algorithm for single-source any-angle path planning on a grid has been developed. By abandoning the graph model and introducing discrete geometric primitives to represent the propagating wave front, we were able to design a planning algorithm that uses only integer addition and bit shifting. Experiments revealed a significant performance advantage. Several modifications, including optimal and multithreaded implementations, are also presented.

The delivery of tunable millimetre-wave components at 60GHz is of research and development interests with the advent of 5G era. Among applications such as high-data-rate wireless communications, high-precision automotive radars and hand-gesture sensing, variable phase shifters are vital components for antenna arrays to steer an electromagnetic beam without mechanical movement. However, present microwave technology has limited scope in meeting more and more stringent requirements in wavefront phase control and device performance for those cutting-edge applications in the millimetre-wavelength range. Although some existing microwave switchable techniques (such as RF MEMS and solid-state p-i-n diodes) can offer ultra-fast speed for phase modulation, their binary beam-steering nature is resolution-limited and thereby degrades the beam-scanning performance. In response to this, continuously-tunable phase shifting can be realised by using tunable dielectric materials such as ferroelectric BST and liquid crystals (LCs). BST thin films can offer relatively fast switching and modest tunability. However, the increased dielectric loss beyond 10GHz impedes their implementation for higher frequency applications. By comparison, liquid crystals (LCs) have drawn attention in recent years because of their continuous tunability as well as low losses especially at millimetre-wavebands. The principle of shifting the phase continuously is based on the shape anisotropy of LC molecules for variable polarizabilities and hence tunable dielectric constants, which allows wave speed to be controlled with ease by a low-frequency field of only up to 10V. However, LC-based tunable delay lines are not well established in the frequency regime of 60GHz-90GHz because of the limited status of LC microwave technology in which most of the LC based devices have been designed for below 40GHz. It is the aim of this PhD research to bridge the gap and address future societal needs based on our group's focus and experience in developing cutting-edge LC-based agile microwave components. In this work, a liquid crystal (LC) based 0-180˚continuously-variable phase shifter is developed with insertion loss less than -4.4dB and return loss below -15dB across a wide spectrum from 54GHz to 67GHz. The device is driven by a 0-10V AC bias and structured in a novel enclosed coplanar waveguide (ECPW) including an enclosed ground plate in the design, which significantly reduces the instability due to floating effects of the transmission line. This structure screens out interference and stray modes, allowing resonance-free quasi-TEM wave propagation up to 90GHz. The tunable ECPW is optimised by competing spatial volume distribution of the millimetre-wave signal occupying lossy tunable dielectrics versus low-loss but non-tunable dielectrics and minimising the total of dielectric volumetric loss and metal surface loss for a fixed phase-tuning range. A variety of influences affecting the actual device performance are studied, experimented and optimised. Fabricated prototypes exhibit wideband low-loss performance and 0-π continuous tuning with low power consumptions and high linearity compared with the state-of-the-arts. Potentially, the ECPW-fed phased antenna array will be incorporated with advanced beam-forming algorithms to develop compact beam-steering systems of improved performances and targeted for ultra-high-data-rate wireless communications, inter-satellite communications, current road safety improvement, futuristic autonomous driving, and other smart devices such as the hand-gesture recognition.

Submitted by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2018-08-09T18:25:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianaNascimentoMoreiradaSilvaSalgueiroDissertacao2018.pdf: 3463779 bytes, checksum: c92d0cc2bd4fa7139c94db56bfc9c33a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2018-08-09T18:25:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianaNascimentoMoreiradaSilvaSalgueiroDissertacao2018.pdf: 3463779 bytes, checksum: c92d0cc2bd4fa7139c94db56bfc9c33a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T18:25:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AdrianaNascimentoMoreiradaSilvaSalgueiroDissertacao2018.pdf: 3463779 bytes, checksum: c92d0cc2bd4fa7139c94db56bfc9c33a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-22 / The IT Governance (ITG) is known in the public and private sector, to present a group of mechanisms contemplating structures, process and relations that are defined by the Board with the objective of direct the IT actions and exert control about the use of its resources and management, aligning achievements of the strategic goals of organizations. Within the mechanisms referenced in the theoretical framework and identified in the literature review, there is the IT Strategy Committee, known worldwide as one of the most used tools by public or private organizations, enabling the IT Governance in the research for better performance. The present dissertation, through the methodologies of research content analysis and documentary analysis, identified the contribution of literature and the guiding legal apparatus to the foundation and operation of the IT Governance of the Federal Public Administration (APF), confronting them to the firmed purpose on the respective acts who built it. Therefore, this study presents a comparative analysis between twenty-four IT Strategy Committee within the scope of APF, considering the universe of records and documents that were available to this research, by the Brazilian law nº 12.527, of November 18th, 2011( 'Lei de Acesso à Informação – LAI’ ) obtained between the months of August and December 2016. Through the analyzes carried out, it was verified that only the competences associated to the categorization “IT Policies, Principles, Guidelines and Strategies”, covered by the literature, were perceived in the totality of the competences attributed to the IT Strategy Committee in the APF. The topics related to “IT Risks” were verified in the role of these Committees in only 12.5% of the documents analyzed. The guidelines issued by the department responsible for providing a guiding legal apparatus associated with the institution of these IT Governance structures in the APF were not fully observed in the acts that constituted the GTI Committees in the Brazilian direct APF. / A Governança Corporativa de Tecnologia da Informação (GCTI) é reconhecida, tanto no setor público quanto no privado, por apresentar um conjunto de mecanismos contemplando estruturas, processos e relacionamentos que são definidos pela Alta Administração com vistas à direcionar as ações de TI e exercer controle sobre o uso de seus recursos e sobre a sua gestão, em alinhamento à consecução dos objetivos estratégicos das organizações. Dentre os mecanismos referenciados no arcabouço teórico e identificados na revisão de literatura, tem-se o uso dos Comitês de Governança de Tecnologia da Informação (CGTI), reconhecidos mundialmente como um dos instrumentos mais utilizados pelas organizações, sejam elas públicas ou privadas, viabilizadores do exercício da GCTI, na busca por melhor desempenho. A presente dissertação, por meio das metodologias de pesquisa análise de conteúdo e análise documental, identificou as contribuições da literatura e o aparato legal norteador para a instituição e atuação dos CGTI da Administração Pública Feral direta, confrontando-os frente aos propósitos firmados nos respectivos atos que os constituíram. Para tanto, o estudo apresenta uma análise comparativa entre 24 Comitês de GTI no âmbito da APF, considerando-se o universo dos registros e documentos que foram disponibilizados para esta pesquisa, por meio da Lei nº 12.527, de 18 de novembro de 2011 - Lei de Acesso à Informação – LAI, obtidos entre os meses de agosto e dezembro de 2016. Por meio das análises realizadas contatou-se que apenas as competências associadas à categorização “Políticas, Princípios, Diretrizes e Estratégias de TI”, abrangidas pela literatura, foram percebidas na totalidade das competências atribuídas aos Comitês de GTI na APF. A temática relacionada aos Riscos de TI foi verificada no rol de competências desses Comitês, em apenas 12,5% dos documentos analisados As orientações emanadas do órgão responsável por prover aparato legal norteador associado à instituição dessas estruturas de GTI na APF, também não foram integralmente observadas nos atos que constituíram os Comitês de GTI na APF direta brasileira.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:20:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Celso Sanvito.pdf: 916969 bytes, checksum: d57317de2425e73926673401b45206b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-18 / This paper addresses the fundamental rights, social and personality, and his performance in private relationships, with greater focus on employment, in order to verify the possibility of its impact on labor relations, overcoming a labor law purely economic and financial order the prevalence of human dignity, right through fundamental rights. Through a dialectical approach, analyzing by means of reasoning such as inductive, deductive and analogical fundamental rights, legal and historical aspects, this study seeks to demonstrate the resilience of the classical model of labor law, due to the changes that have occurred contemporary society due to globalization, against the imposition and effectiveness of fundamental rights to private, to enable its effectiveness in work relationships, including as a way to limit the directive power of the employer, demonstrating their fundamental rights, both individual and social, by workers / Esse trabalho aborda os direitos fundamentais, sociais e da personalidade, e sua atuação nas relações privadas, com maior enfoque nas laborais, com o intuito de verificar a possibilidade de sua incidência nas relações trabalhistas, superando um direito do trabalho exclusivamente econômico-financeiro, visando a prevalência da dignidade da pessoa humana, exatamente através dos direitos fundamentais. Através de uma abordagem dialética, analisando por meio de raciocínios, como o indutivo, dedutivo e o analógico os direitos fundamentais, seus aspectos legais e históricos, este estudo procura demonstrar a superação do modelo clássico de direito do trabalho, devido às transformações por que passa a sociedade contemporânea decorrentes da globalização para, ante à imposição e eficácia dos direitos fundamentais aos privados, possibilitar sua efetivação nas relações de trabalho, inclusive como forma de limite ao poder diretivo do empregador, demonstrando a titularidade dos direitos fundamentais, tanto individuais quanto sociais, pelos trabalhadores

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:21:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sabrina Durigon Marques.pdf: 4473319 bytes, checksum: 7f43d9ffe638529dda7b38e1c72ec560 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-14 / The aim of this study is to analyze the limits of effectiveness of the Special Zones of Social Interests (ZEIS) as an instrument for democratic management of cities to promote an urban policy that intends to build a plural city, covering both social, ethnic, genre differences, and respecting the right to the city. The ZEIS, which is an urban policy tool and must be provided in the Director Plan or the municipal law, holds an important role at the construction of a more democratic city, since its objective is to ensure that some regions of urbanization admit special rules to accommodate uses that would be irregular in principle, especially when it comes to low-income people, whose occupation of the land in generally performed in a disorderly way, without observing the legal dictates. This occurs as a result of an exclusionary policy whose city planning is based on market rules. From the first step in its territorial delimitation to the point of land urbanization or social interest regularization, there are several situations in which the democratic management of these areas must be granted, whether through public hearings, or through the constitution of an Steering Board. However, these spaces are not always respected, which renders rhetoric all legal provisions of citizen participation in city management. Finally, this paper intends to study the functioning of instruments for democratic management, as public hearing, management council and neighborhood association with a focus on the ZEIS, attempting to identify problems and eventually presenting proposals which contributes to the effectiveness of participation, always looking foward to consolidate the democratization of both access to urban land and the Right to the city / Este trabalho pretende analisar os limites da efetividade dos instrumentos de gestão democrática das Cidades nas Zonas Especiais de Interesse Social (ZEIS) para a promoção da política urbana que vise à construção de uma cidade plural, que contemple diferenças sociais, étnicas, de gênero, e que respeite o Direito à Cidade. A ZEIS, que é instrumento de política urbana e deve ser previsto no Plano Diretor ou em lei municipal, tem importante papel na construção de uma cidade mais democrática, pois seu objetivo é garantir que algumas regiões admitam normas especiais de urbanização a fim de contemplar usos que, a princípio, seriam irregulares, sobretudo quando se trata da população de baixa renda, cuja ocupação dos terrenos em geral se faz de forma desordenada, sem observância dos ditames legais. Isto ocorre como consequência de uma política excludente, que baseia o planejamento da cidade nas leis de mercado. Desde o primeiro passo para sua delimitação no território até a urbanização ou a regularização fundiária de interesse social, há diversas situações em que a gestão democrática dessas zonas deve ser garantida, seja por meio da realização de audiências públicas, seja com a constituição do Conselho Gestor. Contudo, nem sempre estes espaços são respeitados, o que torna retórica toda previsão legal que preveja a participação cidadã na gestão da cidade. E este trabalho se propõe a estudar o funcionamento dos instrumentos de gestão democrática, como audiências públicas, conselho gestor e associação de moradores, com foco na ZEIS, tentando identificar problemas e, eventualmente, apresentar propostas que contribuam com a efetividade da participação, sempre buscando consolidar a democratização do acesso ao solo urbano e o direito à cidade

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:22:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aroldo Jose Washington.pdf: 1111071 bytes, checksum: c3dfa89dda56622c055d24ca9a39911a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-20 / This work will be examined in the light of the Theory of Legal Argumentation , the weighting of constitutional principles relating to the Social Security Law . The goal will be to demonstrate that the rural worker flywheel , also called " float - cold ," Social Security is insured , and will seek classification as held Social Security therefore has the worker entitled to Social Security , despite there is no express legal provision , because it does not fit the definition of employee in the definition given by the Labor Law , as it is possible worker . In everyday practice , the employee steering wheel does not collect social security contributions , and consequently face this fact would not be insured framed as Social Security . Will demonstrate that this task is the assignment of borrower services , and therefore fits the employee steering wheel, as insured , with foundations of constitutional principles and rules governing the matter in understanding complied with the administrative and judicial . The research method is worked in a descriptive way , and will be developed with the research of labor and social security doctrines , organized with dogmatic and even search the Jurisprudence of the Courts dealing with this matter, which will bring clarity to the legal loophole which governs the matter / O presente trabalho será analisado à luz da Teoria da Argumentação Jurídica, da ponderação de princípios constitucionais, atinentes ao Direito Previdenciário. O objetivo será demonstrar que o trabalhador rural volante, denominado também de bóia fria , é segurado da Previdência Social; buscar-se-á sua classificação como segurado da Previdência Social: consequentemente, tem o trabalhador, direito ao Seguro Social, apesar de não haver expressa previsão legal, pois o mesmo não se enquadra na definição de empregado, na definição dada pelo Direito do Trabalho, por se tratar de trabalhador eventual. Na prática cotidiana, o trabalhador volante não recolhe a contribuição previdenciária; diante dessa realidade, não estaria enquadrado como segurado da Previdência Social. Demonstrar-se-á que este encargo é de atribuição do tomador de serviços; portanto, enquadra-se o trabalhador volante, como segurado, com fundamentos de princípios e regras constitucionais que regem a matéria entendimento acatado em âmbito administrativo e judicial. O método de investigação é trabalhado de maneira descritiva, e será desenvolvido com a pesquisa das doutrinas trabalhista e previdenciária, com visão dogmática organizada, e ainda pesquisa da Jurisprudência dos Tribunais que tratam desta matéria, pretendendo trazer clareza à lacuna legislativa que rege a matéria

The next generation of intelligent vehicles will evolve from being able to drive autonomously to ones that communicate with other vehicles and execute joint behaviors. Before allowing these vehicles on public roads, we must guarantee that they will not cause accidents. We will apply formal methods to ensure the degree of safety that cannot be assured with simulation or closed-track testing. However, there are challenges that need to be addressed when applying formal verification techniques to cooperative driving systems. This thesis focuses on the techniques that address the following challenges: 1. Automotive applications interact with the physical world in different ways; 2. Cooperative driving systems are time-critical; 3. The problem of state explosion when we apply formal verification to systems with more participants. First, we describe the multiple stack architecture. It combines several stacks, each of which addresses a particular way of interaction with the physical world. The layered structure in each stack makes it possible for engineers to implement cooperative driving applications without being bogged down by the details of low-level devices. Having functions arranged in a layered fashion helps us divide the verification of the whole system into smaller subproblems of independent module verification. Secondly, we present a framework for modeling the protocol systems that uses GPS clocks for synchronization. We introduce the timing stack, which separates a process into two parts: the part modeled as an finite-state machine that controls state transitions and messages exchanges, and the part that determines the exact moment that a timed event should occur. The availability of accurate clocks at different locations allows processes to execute actions simultaneously, reducing interleaving that often arises in systems that use multiple timers to control timed events. With accurate clocks, we create a lock protocol that resolves conflicting merge requests for driver-assisted merging. Thirdly, we introduce stratified probabilistic verification that mitigates state explosion. It greatly improves the probability bound obtained in the original probabilistic verification algorithm. Unlike most techniques that aim at reducing state space, it is a directed state traversal, prioritizing the states that are more likely to be encountered during system execution. When state traversal stops upon depleting the memory, the unexplored states are the ones that are less likely to be reached. We construct a linear program whose solution is the upper bound for the probability of reaching those unexplored states. The stratified algorithm is particularly useful when considering a protocol system that depends on several imperfect components that may fail with small but hard-to-quantify probabilities. In that case, we adopt a compositional approach to verify a collection of components, assuming that the components have inexact probability guarantees. Finally, we present our design of driver-assisted merging. Its design is reasonably simplified by using the multiple stack architecture and GPS clocks. We use a stratified algorithm to show that merging system fails less than once every 5 × 10¹³ merge attempts.

O principal propósito deste trabalho é desenvolver e caracterizar o veículo robótico ℏelvis III, para ser usado no desenvolvimento de pesquisas na área de controle e navegação de robôs móveis. O sistema de propulsão foi caracterizado para determinar a velocidade real do veículo em quatro tipos diferentes de terrenos (Asfalto, grama, grama-terra e terra). Também foi caracterizado o sistema de esterçamento mediante o modelo cinemático da bicicleta, onde se obteve a relação entre a posição do servo motor encarregado do esterçamento do veículo e o valor do ângulo de esterçamento de uma bicicleta. Foram determinados os valores dos erros CEP (Circular Error Probability) e SEP (Spherical Error Probability) do GPS (Global Positioning System) embarcado no veículo mediante dois testes: um em São Carlos – SP (Brasil) e outro em Villavicencio – Meta (Colômbia). Nesses testes foi caracterizada a IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) embarcada no veículo, além de verificado o efeito da luz solar no funcionamento do sensor tipo LIDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) embarcado no helvis III. Por último, pode-se definir a dinâmica do veículo à frente, com a determinação seu centro de massa, e é apresentado o comportamento das forças sob as rodas quando o veículo fica parado ou em movimento sobre terrenos que geram uma inclinação em algum dos eixos cartesianos. / The main objective of this work is the development and characterization of a robotic vehicle ℏelvis III in order to use it in the development of researches focused on the fields of mobile robotics control and navigation. Initially the propulsion system was characterized in order to determine the real velocity of vehicle in real conditions (four different kinds of grounds were used). In addition to this, the steering system was also characterized by applying the well-known bicycle kinematic model. During these experimental tests we could find the relation between the position of the servo-motor and the value of steering angle of the bicycle model. The real values of CEP (Circular Error Probability) and SEP (Spherical Error Probability) errors of the vehicle embedded GPS (Global Positioning System) were determined based on two experiments: the first one was carried out in São Carlos – SP (Brazil) and the second one in Villavicencio – Meta (Colombia). During the GPS experiments we could also characterize the vehicle embedded IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). Then we could observe and measure the effect of solar light on the LIDAR sensor (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) performance. Finally, the forward vehicle dynamics is described, with the determination of the center of mass of the vehicle and the observation of the normal forces behavior in the vehicle wheels when it is stopped or moved on an inclined floor.

Il y a à l’heure actuelle un grand besoin d’antennes reconfigurables dans la bande des 60 GHz pour des applications de télédétection et de télécommunication sans fil. Les solutions traditionnelles de reconfiguration sont basées sur des semi-conducteurs ou des composants RF-MEMS conventionnels dont le coût, la complexité et les pertes croissent avec la fréquence.Dans cette thèse une approche originale a été développée : elle est basée sur la reconfiguration mécanique d’antennes et de dispositifs sur substrat élastomère souple PDMS et l’utilisation d’actionneurs MEMS grand déplacement.L’histoire et le contexte de la télécommunication sont abordés pour faire comprendre l’intérêt récent pour la communication à 60 GHz ainsi que la nécessité de la reconfiguration et l’avantage de la reconfiguration mécanique à cette fréquence. Le PDMS, polymère ultra-souple de choix est ensuite étudié en détail. Il est caractérisé mécaniquement et diélectriquement. Sont ensuite présenté les applications développées par cette approche : des antennes accordables en fréquence ainsi que des dispositifs permettant un balayage de l’espace. Différents mode d’actionnement (pneumatique, magnétique, interaction électro-fluidique) sont explorés. / There is an increasing need for tunable antennas in the 60 GHz band for remote sensing application and wireless communication. Traditional tuning solutions are based on semiconductor or conventional RF-MEMS but these component face cost, complexity and losses issues at millimeter waves. In this thesis, an original approach was developed: it is based on the mechanical reconfiguration of millimeter wave microstrip antennas and devices printed on ultrasoft elastomeric PDMS substrate, thanks to large displacement MEMS actuators.First, a quick history and context on the telecommunication explain the recent interest toward the 60 GHz band for telecommunication and the need for tenability and advantage of mechanical tenability at this frequencies. The ultrasoft polymeric PDMS is then studied. It is caracterised both mechanically and dielectrially. Then the different applications developed during this thesis are presented: frequency tunable antenna and beam steering systems. Different actuation solution (pneumatic, magnetic, electro-fluidic interaction) are explored.

<p>The essay treats religion teachers’ planning and how this is affected, from the perspective of three different aspects: steering documents, pupils and colleagues. Through interviews with a number of upper secondary school teachers, thoughts and opinions concerning these aspects impact on the planning, both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, have been raised. The steering documents have proved to have the strongest influence on planning, while pupils’ and colleagues’ opinions have come second. The authors are in their closing discussion surprised to see the domination of the steering documents and the lack of cooperation between pupils and teachers as well as between teachers when planning.</p> / <p>Uppsatsen behandlar religionslärares planering och hur denna påverkas utifrån tre aspekter: styrdokument, elever och kollegor. Författarna har genom intervju med ett antal gymnasielärare tagit del av tankar och åsikter angående dessa tre aspekters kvantitativa och kvalitativa påverkan på planeringen. Styrdokumenten har visat sig vara den starkaste kraften i planeringen, medan elevernas och kollegornas åsikter kommit i andra respektive tredje hand. Författarna är i sin slutdiskussion förvånade över styrdokumentens starka roll i planeringen och den brist på samarbete mellan både elever och lärare och lärare emellan som blir synliggjord.</p>