Menispermaceae é uma família de distribuição pantropical que compreende diversos hábitos, em sua maioria, trepadeiras herbáceas e lianas, além de ervas, arbustos e árvores e onde se faz presente a variação cambial do tipo câmbios sucessivos. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo anatômico do caule e da raiz com ênfase nas lianas e trepadeiras herbáceas. Estudou-se 10 gêneros, 14 espécies e 31 espécimes. Cinco espécies são trepadeiras herbáceas, uma é herbácea (Cissampelos ovalifolia), uma é arbustiva (Abuta grandifolia), e o restante são lianas. As lianas e o arbusto apresentam em seus caules, a variação cambial do tipo câmbios sucessivos, enquanto as trepadeiras herbáceas e a erva não apresentam essa variação estrutural. Demonstra-se na liana Abuta imene, de maneira inédita para a família, que o periciclo origina o tecido conjuntivo, e esse, por sua vez, os câmbios sucessivos. Na análise comparativa do xilema secundário em diversos anéis sucessivos contidos no mesmo caule, destaca-se que o lenho produzido pelos novos anéis vasculares, normalmente, não difere qualitativamente do anel vascular original, no entanto há diferenças quando aos caracteres quantitativos: os diâmetros dos elementos de vasos sofreram aumento estatisticamente significativo no sentido centro-periferia. A análise do caule entre dois hábitos de Abuta grandifolia (liana X arbusto) mostrou que ambos possuem o mesmo padrão anatômico, porém, destaca-se que os diâmetros de elementos de vasos são menores no arbusto. Variações quantitativas ocorrem entre o lenho de caule e a raiz de trepaderias herbáceas e estão relacionadas ao diâmetro e comprimento dos elementos de vasos que são maiores nos caules. Alguns dados são relatados, pela primeira vez, para essa família: (1) Classifica-se o sistema subterrâneo de Disciphania hernandia como raiz tuberosa; (2) Ruptura do raio vascular através da transformação de iniciais radiais em iniciais fusiformes no xilema e floema; (3) A constatação de câmbios sucessivos na raiz da liana Chondrodendron platiphyllum. Apesar da similaridade quanto à estrutura anatômica geral do caule, existem caracteres que separam as trepadeiras herbáceas das lianas, tais como: o tipo de parênquima, morfologia dos cristais, o diâmetro e a distribuição dos elementos de tubos crivados e a transformação das iniciais, tanto fusiformes quanto radiais nas trepadeiras herbáceas. Fornece-se, ainda, alguns aspectos anatômicos do floema secundário no caule. Recomenda-se a padronização de estudos do lenho na família através do primeiro anel. Discute-se a presença de raio medular na família. Conclui-se que os caules das lianas são muito similares, portanto, a identificação das porções do lenho utilizadas em objetos comercializados somente é possível ao nível de família. / The pantropical family Menispermaceae includes several habits, like herbaceous vines, herbs, shrubs, and trees, showing cambial variant of successive type. The present study is an anatomical approach of stem and root of woody and herbaceous vine habits. In the present study, 31 specimens were investigated, sampling 10 genera and 14 species. Of those species, five are herbaceous vines, one is herb (Cissampelos ovalifolia) and one is shrub (Abuta grandifolia), and the rest are woody vines. Stems of woody vines and shrubs show successive cambia, not assigned to herbs and herbaceous vines. For the first time in the family, it is observed in the woody vine Abuta imene that the conjunctive tissue originates from the pericycle, and that the successive cambia, on its turn, originates from the conjunctive tissue. In the comparative analysis of secondary xylem in its several successive rings in the same stem, the wood produced by new vascular rings does not differ qualitatively from the original vascular ring, while there are differences in quantitative characters: diameter of vessel elements show significant increase in centreperiphery direction. The stem analysis between two habits of Abuta grandifolia (woody vine X shrub) shows that both have the same anatomical pattern. However, diameter of vessel elements is smaller in shrubs. Quantitative variation occurs between stem and root in herbaceous vine wood, and are related to diameter and length of vessel elements, which are larger in stems. Some data are described for the family for the first time: (1) The subterranean system of Disciphania hernandia is assigned as root tuber; (2) Splitting of ray by transformation of ray initials to fusiform initials in xylem and phloem; (3) Presence of successive cambia in woody vine root of Chondrodendron platiphyllum. Despite the anatomical general resemblance of stem, there are characters that distinguish herbaceous from woody vines, like: the kind of parenchyma, crystal morphology, diameter and distribution of sieve tube elements, and transformation of fusiform and ray initials in herbaceous vines. Additionally, some anatomical aspects of secondary phloem in stem are shown. The standardization of woody studies in the family considering the first ring is recommended. Discussions are made about the presence of medullary ray in the family. It is concluded that the stem of woody vines are very similar to each other, and thus, identification of woody portions used in commercialized objects is possible only at familial level.

Conversores A/D do tipo aproximações sucessivas (SAR) baseados em redistribuição de carga são frequentemente utilizados em aplicações envolvendo a aquisição de sinais, principalmente as que exigem um baixo consumo de área e energia e boa velocidade de conversão. Esta topologia está presente em diversos dispositivos programáveis comerciais, como também em circuitos integrados de propósito geral. Tais dispositivos, quando expostos a ambientes suscetíveis a radiação, como é o caso de aplicações espaciais, estão sujeitos à colisão com partículas capazes de ionizar o silício. Estes podem causar falhas temporárias, como um efeito transiente, uma inversão de bit em um elemento de memória, ou até mesmo danos permanentes no circuito. Este trabalho visa descrever o comportamento do conversor SAR baseado em redistribuição de carga após a ocorrência de efeitos transientes causados por radiação, por meio de simulação SPICE. Tais efeitos podem causar falhas nos componentes da topologia: chaves, lógica de controle e comparador. Estes são propagados por todo o estágio de conversão, devido à sua característica sequencial de conversão. Por fim, uma discussão sobre as possíveis técnicas de mitigação de falhas para esta topologia é apresentada. / Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) based on charge redistribution are frequently used in data acquisition systems, especially those requiring low power and low area, and good conversion speed. This topology is present on several mixed-signal programmable devices. These devices, when exposed to harsh environments, such as radiation, which is the case for space applications, are prone to Single Event Effects (SEEs). These effects may cause temporary failures, such as transient effects or memory upsets or even permanent failures on the circuit. This work presents the behavior of this type of converter after the occurrence of a transient fault on the circuit, by means of SPICE simulations. These transient faults may cause an inversion on the conversion due to a transient on the control logic of the switches, or a charge or discharge of the capacitors when a transient occur on the switches, as well as a failure on the comparator, which may propagate to the remainder stages of conversion, due to the sequential nature of the converter. A discussion about the possible fault mitigation techniques is also presented.

For gas turbines, the demand for high-performance, more efficient and longer-life turbine blades is increasing. This is especially so, now that there is a need for high-power and low-weight aircraft gas turbines. Thus, the search for improved design methodologies for the optimisation of combustor exit temperature profiles enjoys high priority. Traditional experimental methods are found to be too time-consuming and costly, and they do not always achieve near-optimal designs. In addition to the above deficiencies, methods based on semi-empirical correlations are found to be lacking in performing three-dimensional analyses and these methods cannot be used for parametric design optimisation. Computational fluid dynamics has established itself as a viable alternative to reduce the amount of experimentation needed, resulting in a reduction in the time scales and costs of the design process. Furthermore, computational fluid dynamics provides more insight into the flow process, which is not available through experimentation only. However, the fact remains that, because of the trial-and-error nature of adjusting the parameters of the traditional optimisation techniques used in this field, the designs reached cannot be called “optimum”. The trial-and-error process depends a great deal on the skill and experience of the designer. Also, the above technologies inhibit the improvement of the gas turbine power output by limiting the highest exit temperature possible, putting more pressure on turbine blade cooling technologies. This limitation to technology can be overcome by implementing a search algorithm capable of finding optimal design parameters. Such an algorithm will perform an optimum search prior to computational fluid dynamics analysis and rig testing. In this thesis, an efficient methodology is proposed for the design optimisation of a gas turbine combustor exit temperature profile. The methodology involves the combination of computational fluid dynamics with a gradient-based mathematical optimiser, using successive objective and constraint function approximations (Dynamic-Q) to obtain the optimum design. The methodology is tested on three cases, namely: (a) The first case involves the optimisation of the combustor exit temperature profile with two design variables related to the dilution holes, which is a common procedure. The combustor exit temperature profile was optimised, and the pattern factor improved, but pressure drop was very high. (b) The second case involves the optimisation of the combustor exit temperature profile with four design variables, one equality constraint and one inequality constraint based on pressure loss. The combustor exit temperature profile was also optimised within the constraints of pressure. Both the combustor exit temperature profile and pattern factor were improved. (c) The third case involves the optimisation of the combustor exit temperature profile with five design variables. The swirler angle and primary hole parameters were included in order to allow for the effect of the central toroidal recirculation zone on the combustor exit temperature profile. Pressure loss was also constrained to a certain maximum. The three cases show that a relatively recent mathematical optimiser (Dynamic-Q), combined with computational fluid dynamics, can be considered a strong alternative to the design optimisation of a gas turbine combustor exit temperature profile. This is due to the fact that the proposed methodology provides designs that can be called near-optimal, when compared with that yielded by traditional methods and computational fluid dynamics alone. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

An option is a contract between two parties where the holder has the option to buy or sell some underlying asset after a predefined exercise time. Options where the holder only has the right to buy or sell at the exercise time is said to be of European-style, while options that can be exercised any time before the exercise time is said to be of American-style. Asian options are options where the payoff is determined by some average value of the underlying asset, e.g., the arithmetic or the geometric average. For arithmetic Asian options, there are no closed-form pricing formulas, and one must apply numerical methods. Several methods have been proposed and tested for Asian options. For example, the Monte Carlo method isslowforEuropean-styleAsianoptionsandnotapplicableforAmerican-styleAsian options. In contrast, the finite difference method have successfully been applied to price both European- and American-style Asian options. But from a financial point of view, one is also interested in different measures of sensitivity, called the Greeks, which are hard approximate with the finite difference method. For more accurate approximations of the Greeks, researchers have turned to the finite element method with promising results for European-style Asian options. However, the finite element method has never been applied to American-style Asian options, which still lack accurate approximations of the Greeks. Here we present a study of pricing European- and American-style Asian options using the finite element method. For European-style options, we consider two different pricing PDEs. The first equation we consider is a convection-dominated problem, which we solve by applying the so-called streamline-diffusion method. The second equation comes from modelling Asian options as options on a traded account, which we solve by using the so-called cG(1)cG(1) method. For American-style options, the model based on options on a traded account is not applicable. Therefore, we must consider the first convection-dominated problem. To handle American-style options, we study two different methods, a penalty method and the projected successive over-relaxation method. For European-style Asian options, both approaches give good results, but the model based on options on a traded account show more accurate results. For American-style Asian options, the penalty method give accurate results. Meanwhile, the projected successive over-relaxation method does not converge properly for the tested parameters. Our result is a first step towards an accurate and fast method to calculate the price and the Greeks of both European- and American-style Asian options. Because good estimations of the Greeks are crucial when hedging and trading of options, we anticipate that the ideas presented in this work can lead to new ways of trading with Asian options.

Power consumption is one of the main design constraints in today’s integrated circuits. For systems powered by small non-rechargeable batteries over their entire lifetime, such as medical implant devices, ultra-low power consumption is paramount. In these systems, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are key components as the interface between the analog world and the digital domain. This thesis addresses the design challenges, strategies, as well as circuit techniques of ultra-low-power ADCs for medical implant devices. Medical implant devices, such as pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators, typically requirelow-speed, medium-resolution ADCs. The successive approximation register (SAR) ADC exhibits significantly high energy efficiency compared to other prevalent ADC architectures due to its good tradeoffs among power consumption, conversion accuracy, and design complexity. To design an energy-efficient SAR ADC, an understanding of its error sources as well as its power consumption bounds is essential. This thesis analyzes the power consumption bounds of SAR ADC: 1) at low resolution, the power consumption is bounded by digital switching power; 2) at medium-to-high resolution, the power consumption is bounded by thermal noise if digital assisted techniques are used to alleviate mismatch issues; otherwise it is bounded by capacitor mismatch.  Conversion of the low frequency bioelectric signals does not require high speed, but ultra-low-power operation. This combined with the required conversion accuracy makes the design of such ADCs a major challenge. It is not straightforward to effectively reduce the unnecessary speed for lower power consumption using inherently fast components in advanced CMOS technologies. Moreover, the leakage current degrades the sampling accuracy during the long conversion time, and the leakage power consumption contributes to a significant portion of the total power consumption. Two SAR ADCs have been implemented in this thesis. The first ADC, implemented in a 0.13-µm CMOS process, achieves 9.1 ENOB with 53-nW power consumption at 1 kS/s. The second ADC, implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process, achieves the same resolution at 1 kS/s with a substantial (94%) improvement in power consumption, resulting in 3-nW total power consumption. Our work demonstrates that the ultra-low-power operation necessitates maximum simplicity in the ADC architecture.

There is a lack of a unified definition for what “sustainability” means and what is a “sustainable activity”. The EU Sustainability Taxonomy is the EU’s recent attempt in developing “a science-based unified EU classification system for sustainable activities” with the aim to create a “shared understanding of what ‘sustainability’ means”. This study aims to explore the EU Sustainability Taxonomy policy, its functions and history, using public policy process analysis as its framework and method. The EU taxonomy was defined, and its impacts were discussed, the taxonomy was used to define a sustainable activity and demonstrate the taxonomy in action to calculate the taxonomy alignment of a fictional automotive manufacturer. Using the public process analysis the taxonomy was traced back to its origin with the identification and discussion of the key events and milestones, which led to the creation of the EU Sustainability taxonomy. These findings were analysed and explained using the Lindblom (1959) theory of “successive limited comparison” and the theory of incrementalism (Bevir, 2007).

In our thesis work, we analyze the performance analysis of a power domain NonOrthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) system in which the closer user acts as fullduplex relaying to forward the signal to farther user. Because Nakagami-m distribution is a generalized case including the two common fading distributions as specialcases: Rayleigh distribution (m=1), Rician distribution (m>1). We assume that thesystem experiences Nakagami-m fading. Then, we have to analyze outage probabilityof NOMA system. Numerical results are provided for outage probability to show theeffect of system parameters on the performance of the NOMA system in full duplexrelaying over Nakagami-m fading.

В работе представлен патентно-литературный обзор по теме «нетрадиционные методы волочения». Описан процесс производства труб в трубоволочильном цехе. Разработана усовершенствованная методика расчета маршрутов изготовления труб волочением через две волоки. Приведен расчет энергосиловых параметров волочения, технологических ограничений и маршрутов изготовления труб. Представлены результаты промышленного опробования технологии. / This work presents a patent-literature review on the theme "nontraditional methods of drawing". The manufacturing process of pipes in the shop-drawing is described. An improved method of calculation routes for the manufacture of tubes by drawing through two dies is designed. The calculation of energy-power parameters of the drawing, technological restrictions and routes of pipe production are given. The results of industrial testing of the technology are presented.

Over-budget projects have become more common lately in the construction industry. This can lead to negative effects such as disputes between construction operators, closure of projects and reduced construction activity. In addition, increased construction costs risk financial strain for the entrepreneurs, which can lead to bankruptcy and a lower number of entrepreneurs in the market. With the recent large cost variations for, among other things, various building materials and fuels, it is of great interest as an entrepreneur to be able to protect yourself against cost increases. Therefore, it is important that an entrepreneur knows which financial instruments are available and what an effective financial risk management process can look like.The purpose of the study is to investigate which financial instruments are available that can protect a contractor against increased costs during the contract period. In addition, the study aims to investigate how the research believes that financial risk management should look like, both in tender phase and in the construction phase.The study's theory deals with which financial instruments an entrepreneur can use to protect themself against cost increases in a contract and how financial risk management should look like. The methods that the study covers are budget contingency, index regulation, General Regulations and the impact of inflation. The study also describes the Successive Principle as a method for managing uncertainties in a project. The study's theory regarding financial risks deals, among other things, with the four steps of identification, assessment, pricing and management of risks in the tender phase. In addition, how to deal with extern risks and risks in the construction phase are described.In order to compare the theory of the study linked to the research questions, BDX Företagen AB has been studied as a case company to see how a company in the industry works regarding financial risk management and protection against cost increases. In addition, interviews with the Swedish Transport Administration have been conducted to get the client's view on the matter. After the completed case study, some shortcomings were discovered with the methods described in the theory section, as well as opportunities for improvement regarding the case company's risk management and use of protection against cost increases. These are described as findings in the study. Some of the findings of the study are:-       A better index will be needed in the industry for an entrepreneur to be able to leave a fixed price.-       The Swedish Construction index is to be shut down and there is currently no substitute.-       There is no standardized way to interpret the General Regulations, which means that the assessment will be different from project to project.The study presents a number of recommendations the case company and other similar companies in the construction industry can make use of. The recommendations are based on the theory section and the shortcomings discovered in the case study. Some of the recommendations are:- Consider inflation when calculation projects.- Implement the Successive Principle when assessing risk and opportunities.- Develop a routine to transfer the risks from the tender phase to the construction phase.Financial risk management and protection against cost increases are of great importance to an entrepreneur in the construction industry. If these things are not taken into account, the entrepreneur risks financial losses, which in the worst case can lead to bankruptcy.

<p dir="ltr">A loss of a job or relationship are a few examples of unexpected reward loss. Life events such as these can induce negative emotional reactions (e.g., anxiety and stress) which have been associated with increased drinking and in turn, an increased risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). The present study used a consummatory successive negative contrast (SNC) procedure to demonstrate unexpected reward loss reactivity in two lines selectively bred to consume high amounts of ethanol, alcohol preferring (P) and high alcohol drinking (HAD) rats. Following this reward loss, animals were given free access to ethanol to determine if ethanol consumption would increase to negate any negative emotional reaction provoked by this loss. P rats demonstrated a longer contrast effect than HAD rats, indicated by a longer recovery time following the downshift in reward. Conversely, HAD males did not demonstrate a contrast effect following this downshift in reward. Surprisingly, P rats who experienced a loss of reward consumed significantly less ethanol than animals who did not. Lastly, an individual measure of contrast size, or shift ratio, was significantly associated with greater ethanol consumption in HAD males only, who did not display a contrast effect. These data indicate different reactivity to SNC between these two lines and sexes, suggesting different genetic and sex-related mechanisms underlying sensitivity to an unexpected loss of reward.</p>