Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Polled Network'

This research investigates alternate methods of implementing a redundant communications ring for polled network applications. FDDI and a unique solution (the tone method) designed specifically for this application are compared. In polled networks one of the most critical parameters is the time required to interrogate all of the nodes in the network. This parameter, called the poll time, is compared for the two solutions under various operating conditions, including the instances when the ring is intact and when the ring has experienced a failure, causing it to operate in the redundant mode. As expected, the solution designed specifically for this application performed better than FDDI. The tone method, which requires very little overhead and is not limited by distance or number of nodes, is described in detail, as are the results of poll time comparisons.
Master of Science

Approximately 90% of flowering plants depend on pollinators for reproduction. The stability and effectiveness of plant-pollinator interactions are crucial for ecosystem function. Increasing numbers of non-native plants are naturalized in plant communities and may alter pollination success of native plant species. Thus, invasive species have the potential to alter community function and stability. However, the effects of invasive species on community-wide plant-pollinator interactions are poorly understood. While the effects of invasive species on the structure of plant-pollinator networks are well studied. However, these studies have relied on pollinator visitation data that is only one component of the pollination process. Thus, the effects of invasive species on pollen transport and pollen transfer dynamics remain unknown and this may misrepresent the true nature of invasive effects on community-wide plant-pollinator interactions. Pollen transport networks may give more accurate representations of plant-pollinator interactions by providing information on pollen collection by floral visitors. Therefore, in this study I evaluate the effect of the invasive Cirsium arvense on pollen transport networks to improve our understanding of the impact that invasive plants have on community-wide plant-pollinator interactions. Pollinators were collected on one invaded and one non-invaded site once weekly throughout the flowering season (May- August of 2017). Pollen was isolated for each insect and pollen samples were identified with a pollen reference library and counted using a hemocytometer. 154 insect morphospecies were collected carrying 73 pollen species. Preliminary results indicate that Cirsium arvense has no impact on network structure: connectance (0.15 and 0.18), link density (3.01 and 2.23), and weighted nestedness (0.68 and 0.75), for invaded and non-invaded respectively. However, the role of individual species within the network seems to vary between sites suggesting that Cirsium arvense may change community dynamics (identity of species-pair interactions). Future analysis will evaluate invasive species effects at the species level.

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics
Aiming at filling a gap in the literature, which has been concentrated on USA and Western-European Countries, this paper analyzes the Polish corporate network based on interlocking directorates among 125 top companies in the country. To determine the characteristics of the network and its implications for the business system the exploratory Social Network Analysis is conducted. It is found that the Polish network is fragmented and the interlocks appear mainly along companies from financial and chemical sectors. Basing on comparison with Germany it is suggested that the Polish network will be growing in size and density in the future.

Self-incompatibility (SI) is a genetic mechanism which prevents self-fertilisation via the recognition and rejection of ‘self’ pollen. In the self-incompatible species Papaver rhoeas L., rejection of incompatible pollen is achieved through interaction of the female and male S-determinants, PrsS and PrpS, respectively. This interaction results in a Ca\(^{2+}\)-dependent signalling cascade in the ‘self’ pollen, which mediates programmed cell death (PCD). To date, many downstream effects of SI signalling cascade have been identified, including actin depolymerization, the formation of actin foci, and the activation of caspase-like activities. Work presented in this thesis identified the involvement of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Nitric Oxide (NO) in the SI response, and the temporal and spatial patterns were characterized. Other studies identified SI-induced cytosolic acidification as a key step in SI. Moreover, investigation of the role of ROS, NO and H\(^+\) revealed that they all play a role in triggering key features of SI: actin foci formation and caspase-3-like activity. Other studies also provided the first evidence for vacuolar breakdown in SI in this species. Data presented also show the first documentation of SI-induced alterations in phospholipids. Together these data further our understanding of mechanisms involved in the complex SI signalling network.

From the agent-based, correlated random walk model presented, we observe the effects of varying the parameter values of maximum insect turning area, 𝛿max, density of trees, ω, maximum pollen carryover, 𝜅max, and probability of fertilization, P𝜅, on the distribution of pollen within a population of Cornus florida (flowering dogwood). We see that varying 𝛿max and 𝜅max changes the dispersal distance of pollen, which greatly affects many measures of connectivity. The clustering coefficient of fathers is maximized when 𝛿max is between 60° and 90°. Varying ω does not have a major effect on the clustering coefficient of fathers, but it does have a greater effect on other measures of genetic diversity. Lastly, we compare our simulations with randomly-placed trees with that of actual tree placement of C. florida at the VCU Rice Center, concluding that in order to truly understand how pollen is distributed within a specific ecosystem, specificity in describing tree locations is necessary.

Observation of floral visitation is an accepted method to describe plant-pollinator interactions despite potential biases. Collecting pollen from pollinators offers new insights on the structure and function of plant-pollinator communities. Furthermore, the strength and frequency of plant-pollinator interactions can vary across temporal scales. However, within-season and within-day (morning vs. evening) variation in plant-pollinator networks has been little studied. By evaluating variation in network structure across these biologically relevant time scales, we will gain a better understanding of the factors that shape plant-pollinator communities. The objectives of this study are to 1) Compare the structure of plant-pollinator networks built on floral visitation and pollen transport data, 2) Evaluate intra-annual variation in plant-pollinator network structure and 3) Evaluate variation in plant-pollinator structure within a single day (i.e. morning vs. evening). Congruence and Temporal Variation of Floral Visitation and Pollen Transport Networks in Southern Appalachia

Observation of floral visitation is an accepted method to describe plant-pollinator interactions despite potential biases. Collecting pollen from pollinators offers new insights on the structure and function of plant-pollinator communities. Furthermore, the strength and frequency of plant-pollinator interactions can vary across temporal scales. However, within-season and within-day (morning vs. evening) variation in plant-pollinator networks has been little studied. By evaluating variation in network structure across these biologically relevant time scales, we will gain a better understanding of the factors that shape plant-pollinator communities. The objectives of this study are to 1) Compare the structure of plant-pollinator networks built on floral visitation and pollen transport data, 2) Evaluate intra-annual variation in plant-pollinator network structure and 3) Evaluate variation in plant-pollinator structure within a single day (i.e. morning vs. evening). Congruence and Temporal Variation of Floral Visitation and Pollen Transport Networks in Southern Appalachia

In all areas of hydrology, where one or several variables are measured as a function of time, it might be necessary to interpolate the measured variable(s). There is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) called neural networks, which seem to be appropriate for this application. In an environmental project in Bolivia, where, among others, the concentrations of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in the polluted Huanuni river was measured, a data set appropriate for application of the neural network method was available. Several neural networks with different configurations were used to interpolate concentration values of the three sampled metals. The neural networks interpolated concentrations at time steps where actual, measured, values existed so that an estimate of the method’s capacity could be obtained. The neural networks’ interpolating capability were compared to that of linear interpolation and linear equations derived by multiple regression. In the case of cadmium, the linear interpolation was the best method, whereas the neural network method was best at interpolating arsenic and lead concentrations. The conclusions of this study are that the neural network method was the most succesful method; that this method was the most complicated to implement; that this method was not fully optimised; and that, to evaluate the neural network method’s general applicability as an interpolation method in hydrology, further studies have to be conducted.
Inom alla områden av hydrologin, där man mäter en eller flera variabler som funktion av tid, kan det finnas ett behov av att interpolera glesa tidsseriedata. Det finns en form av artificiell intelligens (AI) som kallas för neurala nät, vilken verkar vara lämplig att applicera på detta problem. Genom ett miljöprojekt i Bolivia, där bl.a. arsenik-, bly-, och kadmiumkoncentrationer i den förorenade floden Huanuni mättes, blev data lämpliga för applicering av den neurala nätmetoden tillgängliga. Flera neurala nät med olika konfigurationer användes för att interpolera koncentrationsvärden av de tre metallerna. De neurala näten interpolerade värden längs tidssteg där verkliga, uppmätta, koncentrationsvärden fanns, så att en uppskattning av metodens kapacitet kunde göras. Dess kapacitet jämfördes med kapaciteten hos två andra metoder: linjär interpolation och linjära ekvationssystem härledda med hjälp av multipel regression. Den linjära interpolationsmetoden var bäst i fallet kadmium, medan den neurala nätmetoden var bäst i de två andra fallen. Slutsatserna av den här studien är att den neurala nätmetoden var den bästa; att denna metod var den mest komplicerade att använda; att denna metod inte var helt optimerad, och att det krävs ytterligare studier för att utvärdera den neurala nätmetodens allmänna lämplighet som metod att interpolera glesa hydrologiska tidsseriedata.

Le polymère de sporopollénine est un constituant majeur de l’exine, la partie externe de la paroi du grain de pollen. Son exceptionnelle résistance permet de les protéger des stress environnementaux de nature mécanique ou chimique. Il constitue une des clefs de la colonisation du milieu terrestre par les plantes. Au cours de ma thèse, j’ai caractérisé deux Polykétide Synthases (PKS-A et PKS-B) et deux Tétrakétide α-Pyrone Réductases (TKPR1 et TKPR2) d’Arabidopsis thaliana. Par immunolocalisation, hybridation in situ et des études de microscopie j’ai montré que ces protéines intervenaient dans la synthèse de la paroi pollinique. In vitro, les deux PKS catalysent la condensation de 2 ou 3 molécules de malonyl-CoA sur différents esters de CoA d’acide gras pour former les tri et tétrakétide α-pyrones correspondants, substrat de TKPR1 et TKPR2. In vitro, celles-ci réduisent la fonction cétone en alcool secondaire formant des composés hydroxylés, précurseurs du polymère de sporopollénine. Dans les cellules du tapétum, la synthèse des monomères de sporopollénine se déroule en quelques heures seulement. Par immunodétection et en fusionnant les protéines à la GFP, j’ai montré que ces enzymes se trouvent à la surface du réticulum endoplasmique à l’exception de TKPR2. Des expériences de HIS-pull-down, de FLIM-FRET et de double hybride nous ont ensuite permis de suggérer que ces protéines forment un métabolon. L’identification de gènes homologues dans de nombreuses espèces végétales y compris une mousse révèle que nous avons identifié une voie métabolique très ancienne conservée au sein des angiospermes
.onferes a high degree of resistance to various mechanical and chemical stresses. During the evolution, this properties enabled the plant to adapat to land conditions. We caracterized two Polyketide Sythases (PKSA and PKSB) and two Tetraketide -pyrone Reductases (TKPR1 and TKPR2). By immunolocalisation, in situ hybridization and microscopy analysis we showed those proteins are involved in the pollen wall synthesis.We investigated the in vitro activity of the recombinant proteins and showed that the two PKS catalyzed the condensation of 2 or 3 malonyl-CoA with various fatty acid CoA esters, producing the corresponding tri and tetraketides. We also demonstrated that the tetraketides produced by PKS were substrates of the TKPR1 and TKPR2. In vitro, they reduced the cetone function of the lateral chain to a secondary alcohol forming hydroxylated compounds involved in the polymerization of sporopollenin.In tapetum cells, the synthesis of sporopollenin monomers is achieved in a few hours. To explain the underlying metabolic rate, I studied the cellular organization of the metabolic pathway. By immunodetection and GFP fusion experiments I localized PKSA, PKSB and TKPR1 to the endoplasmic reticulum while TKPR2 was mainly cytosolic. Then, interaction studies by HIS pull-down, FLIM-FRET and double hybride experiments showed the occurrence of a metabolon localized to the ER. Finally, by phylogenetic analysis, we showed the conservation of the genes involved in sporopollenin biosynthesis pathway, from mosses to higher plants

Previous studies of plant-pollinator interactions have relied on the use of floral visitation data. Although, this may be insufficient to fully characterize the diversity and strength of plant-pollinator interactions. By using pollen transport data (i.e. pollen on pollinators), new insights can be gained on the structure and function of plant-pollinator communities. Yet studies that characterize and compare pollen-transport with floral-visitation networks are scarce. Furthermore, the strength and frequency of plant-pollinator interactions can vary across temporal scales. Although, monthly and within-day variation in network structure has been little studied. By evaluating variation in network structure across these biologically relevant time scales we will gain a better understanding of the factors that shape plant-pollinator communities. Here, we build plant-pollinator interactions networks based on floral visitation and pollen transport data by observing, collecting and sampling pollen from floral visitors in a southern Appalachian floral community. We aim to 1) compare the congruence of plant-pollinator networks built on floral visitation and pollen transport data and 2) evaluate within season and within-day variation in plant-pollinator network structure. To assess floral visitation and to quantify pollen transport, four 1x40m transects were set up at the study site. Morning collections were conducted between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM twice per week while afternoon collections took place once per week between 3:01 PM and 5:00 PM over 20 non-consecutive days. All flower visitors observed interacting with a flower’s reproductive structures (i.e. searching for pollen and nectar) were collected.All collected pollinators were processed for surface pollen loads by dabbing the body with a 3x3mm fuschin jelly cube. Each area of the body was dabbed three times to standardize sampling. Identification and quantification of pollen was done using a compound light microscope. Data was then analyzed with the “bipartite” package of R to create bipartite plant-pollinator networks. Procrustes analysis was used to identify differences in network structure. Preliminary results show that the structure of floral visitation and pollen transport networks are significantly different from each other (P <0.01). Pollen-transport network size is almost four times larger (496 links) compared to the floral-visitation network (109 links). Species in the pollen transport network tend to be more connected (connectance = 2.3) and have five times more links per species on average (5.22 links) than floral visitation networks (connectance = 1.1, links = 1.8). Within-season and within-day differences in network structure are currently being evaluated. Our results so far show that pollen transport networks at our study site captured 78% more unique interactions and, thus, provide more accurate network structure. Interpretation of pollen transfer versus floral visitation networks can have important implications for our understanding of community-level functions such as their resilience and stability.

A polinização pode ser entendida ao nível da comunidade ecológica como uma rede de interacções mutualistas entre dois níveis tróficos, já que a maior das plantas utiliza múltiplos polinizadores e vice-versa. Nos últimos dez anos houve um crescente interesse nas redes de polinização e muitas têm sido estudadas e descritas cobrindo uma ampla variedade geográfica e ecológica. Contudo o estudo dos polinizadores nocturnos ao nível da comunidade, tem sido descurado e praticamente não existem redes nocturnas de polinização descritas na literatura especializada. Os Lepidópteros nocturnos são talvez dos mais comuns polinizadores nocturnos e desempenham um papel muito importante nas comunidades biológicas também como presas e herbívoros. Neste estudo descrevem-se dois tipos de redes de polinização: transferência de pólen e visitação floral; também se identificam alguns lepidópteros polinizadores nocturnos e constrói-se a primeira rede nocturna planta - polinizador para Portugal. As propriedades das redes de polinização estudadas revelaram um valor abaixo do esperado para o aninhamento ponderado e um elevado número de ligações por espécies, o que se reflecte nos valores elevados da diversidade e regularidade das interacções. O grau de especialização é elevado no caso da rede de transferência de polén mas muito baixo no caso da rede de visitação floral. A comprensão da ecologia das borboletas nocturnas é muito importante para a sua conservação e também para a preservação da polinização enquanto serviço dos ecossistemas; ABSTRACT:Pollination can be viewed at the level of an entire ecological community as a network of mutualistic interactions between two trophic levels as most plants utilise multiple pollinators and vice versa. Over the last ten years there has been growing interest in pollination networks and pollination webs have been studied covering a variety of geographical and ecological settings. However, nocturnal pollination as a community-level phenomenon has been overlooked and there are almost no published nocturnal pollination networks. Moths are probably the most common nocturnal pollinators and they play a significant role in many communities as they are also herbivores and prey. In this study two types of networks have been described: pollen transfer and flower visitation, nocturnal Lepidoptera pollinators have been identified and the construction of Portugal´s first nocturnal plant-pollinator network has been described. The main properties studied revealed a lower nestedness than expected when compared with other pollination networks, high number of interactions between species reflected on the high values of interaction evenness and interaction diversity; specialization was high for pollen transfer network and low for flower visitation network. Understanding the ecology of moths is important for the conservation of moth and ecosystem services of pollination.

To date, 13168 plant species have been naturalized outside their native range. While invasive plants efficiently compete for resources, they can also disrupt vital mutualisms. Pollination is a crucial mutualism required for 87% of flowering plants to reproduce. Invasive species may disrupt patterns of pollinator visitation, pollen transfer dynamics (conspecific [CP] and heterospecific [HP]), and reproductive success. Furthermore, whether invasive species’ effects depend on scale (site vs. patch) is not known. Thus, it is critical to understand the effects of invasive plants at all stages of pollination and how those effects vary with scale. Here, I investigate pollinator visitation, CP and HP deposition, and pollen tube growth between local flowers in sites and plots invaded by Cirsium arvense. For 7 weeks (June-July), pollinator visits were recorded and styles collected from an invaded and non-invaded floral community. Styles were processed for fluorescent microscopy. The number and identity of pollen grains on stigmas and the number of pollen tubes at style bases were recorded. The invaded site received significantly less visits than the non-invaded site, but the effect varied by species. This variation is not explained by local species’ abundance or floral symmetry. Similarly, invaded plots received significantly less visits than non-invaded plots, and no plot-species interaction was found. The invaded site received more CP and HP while invaded plots received less CP and HP. There was no difference in pollen tube growth between sites or plots. My preliminary results suggest that C. arvense affects pollinator visitation and pollen transfer dynamics in local floral communities, but the effects vary depending on species and scale. Conversely, these effects do not seem to lead to differential reproductive success between invaded and non-invaded communities at any scale.

Dans la dernière décennie, l’extraction du flux de données est devenue un domaine de recherche très actif. Les principaux défis pour les algorithmes d’analyse de flux sont de gérer leur infinité, de s’adapter au caractère non stationnaire des distributions de probabilités sous-jacentes, et de fonctionner sans relecture. Par conséquent, les techniques traditionnelles de fouille ne peuvent s’appliquer directement aux flux de données. Le problème s’intensifie pour les flux dont les domaines sont de grande dimension tels que ceux provenant des réseaux sociaux, avec plusieurs centaines voire milliers de variables. Pour rester a jour, les algorithmes d’apprentissage de réseaux Bayésiens doivent pouvoir intégrer des données nouvelles en ligne. L’état de l’art en la matiere implique seulement plusieurs dizaines de variables et ces algorithmes ne fonctionnent pas correctement pour des dimensions supérieures. Ce travail est une contribution au problème d’apprentissage de structure de réseau Bayésien en ligne pour des domaines de haute dimension, et a donné lieu à plusieurs propositions. D’abord, nous avons proposé une approche incrémentale de recherche locale, appelée iMMPC. Ensuite, nous avons proposé une version incrémentale de l’algorithme MMHC pour apprendre la structure du réseau. Nous avons également adapté cet algorithme avec des mécanismes de fenêtre glissante et une pondération privilégiant les données nouvelles. Enfin, nous avons démontré la faisabilité de notre approche par de nombreuses expériences sur des jeux de données synthétiques
In the last decade, data stream mining has become an active area of research, due to the importance of its applications and an increase in the generation of streaming data. The major challenges for data stream analysis are unboundedness, adaptiveness in nature and limitations over data access. Therefore, traditional data mining techniques cannot directly apply to the data stream. The problem aggravates for incoming data with high dimensional domains such as social networks, bioinformatics, telecommunication etc, having several hundreds and thousands of variables. It poses a serious challenge for existing Bayesian network structure learning algorithms. To keep abreast with the latest trends, learning algorithms need to incorporate novel data continuously. The existing state of the art in incremental structure learning involves only several tens of variables and they do not scale well beyond a few tens to hundreds of variables. This work investigates a Bayesian network structure learning problem in high dimensional domains. It makes a number of contributions in order to solve these problems. In the first step we proposed an incremental local search approach iMMPC to learn a local skeleton for each variable. Further, we proposed an incremental version of Max-Min Hill-Climbing (MMHC) algorithm to learn the whole structure of the network. We also proposed some guidelines to adapt it with sliding and damped window environments. Finally, experimental results and theoretical justifications that demonstrate the feasibility of our approach demonstrated through extensive experiments on synthetic datasets

L’apprentissage statistique relationnel est apparu au début des années 2000 comme un nouveau domaine de l’apprentissage machine permettant de raisonner d’une manière efficace et robuste directement sur des structures de données relationnelles. Plusieurs méthodes classiques de fouille de données ont été adaptées pour application directe sur des données relationnelles. Les réseaux Bayésiens Relationnels (RBR) présentent une extension des réseaux Bayésiens (RB) dans ce contexte. Pour se servir de ce modèle, il faut tout d’abord le construire : la structure et les paramètres du RBR doivent être définis à la main ou être appris à partir d’une instance de base de données relationnelle. L’apprentissage de la structure reste toujours le problème le plus compliqué puisqu’il se situe dans la classe des problèmes NP-difficiles. Les méthodes d’apprentissage de la structure des RBR existantes sont inspirées des méthodes classique de l’apprentissage de la structure des RB. Pour pouvoir juger la qualité d’un algorithme d’apprentissage de la structure d’un RBR, il faut avoir des données de test et des mesures d’évaluation. Pour les RB les données sont souvent issues de benchmarks existants. Sinon, des processus de génération aléatoire du modèle et des données sont mis en oeuvre. Les deux pratiques sont quasi absentes pour les RBR. De plus, les mesures d’évaluation de la qualité d’un algorithme d ’apprentissage de la structure d’un RBR ne sont pas encore établies. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous proposons deux contributions majeures. I)Une approche de génération de RBR allant de la génération du schéma relationnel, de la structure de dépendance et des tables de probabilités à l’instanciation de ce modèle et la population d’une base de données relationnelle. Nous discutons aussi de l’adaptation des mesures d’évaluation des algorithmes d’apprentissage de RBs dans le contexte relationnel et nous proposons de nouvelles mesures d’évaluation. II) Une approche hybride pour l’apprentissage de la structure des RBR. Cette approche présente une extension de l’algorithme MMHC dans le contexte relationnel. Nous menons une étude expérimentale permettant de comparer ce nouvel algorithme d’apprentissage avec les approches déjà existantes
Statistical relational learning (SRL) appeared in the early 2000s as a new field of machine learning that enables effective and robust reasoning about relational data structures. Several conventional data mining methods have been adapted for direct application to relational data representation. Relational Bayesian Networks (RBNs) extend Bayesian networks (BNs) to a relational data mining context. To use this model, it is first necessary to build it: the structure and parameters of a RBN must be set manually or learned from a relational observational dataset. Learning the structure remains the most complicated issue as it is a NP-hard problem. Existing approaches for RBNs structure learning are inspired from classical methods of learning the structure of BNs. The evaluation of learning approaches requires testing datasets and evaluation measurements. For BNs, datasets are usually sampled from real known networks. Otherwise, processes to randomly generate the model and the data are already established. Both practices are almost absent for RBR. Moreover, metrics to evaluate a RBN structure learning algorithm are not yet proposed. This thesis provides two major contributions. I) A synthetic approach allowing to generate random RBNs from scratch. The proposed method allows to generate RBNs as well as synthetic relational data from a randomly generated relational schema and a random set of probabilistic dependencies. Also, we discuss the adaptation of the evaluation metrics of BNs structure learning algorithms to the relational context and we propose new relational evaluation measurements. II) A hybrid approach for RBNs structure learning. This approach presents an extension of the MMHC algorithm in the relational context. We present an experimental study to compare this new learning algorithm with the state-of-the-art approaches

The objective of this master’s thesis is monitoring and management of computer networks via SNMP protocol and its practical application. The main part describes working with SNMPc program in an experimental network through implementation of its parts into the network and configuration of SNMP agents on routers, switch and end station. This thesis includes the results of traffic testing, disconnected links, effects of traffic load on QoS parameters, making longterm statistics, baselines and alarms. The thesis also includes parametres obtained with SNMP protocol from network nodes and end station.

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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq)
Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES)
A Caatinga ? uma forma??o florestal escler?fila, dec?dua e espinhosa. Situase em uma regi?o semi-?rida, com cerca de 730 000 km2, exclusiva do territ?rio brasileiro. Este ambiente apresenta grande varia??o de tipos de vegeta??o que foram atribu?das ? varia??es em larga escala no clima, padr?es de geomorfologia e diferen?as de pequena escala em relevo e solos. A precipita??o escassa e flutuante das regi?es ?ridas e semi-?ridas, exercem um forte controle sobre: hist?rias de vida, caracter?sticas fisiol?gicas e composi??o de esp?cies de sua biota. Pelo menos 77 esp?cies de morcegos das 178 esp?cies presentes no Brasil s?o encontrados na Caatinga, dos quais 13 s?o frug?voros e cinco nectarivorous incluindo o end?mica Xeronycteris vieirai. Os morcegos s?o conhecidos por desempenharem pap?is importantes no controle de pragas, poliniza??o e dispers?o de sementes. No entanto, pouca informa??o foi gerada sobre o papel ecol?gico dessas esp?cies em um ambiente como Caatinga. Em geral, esse habitat ? o ecossistema brasileiro mais negligenciado em termos de pesquisa e conserva??o da sua biodiversidade. Especificamente no caso dos morcegos, o Rio Grande do Norte possui uma das maiores lacunas de conhecimento no Brasil. Os dados aqui apresentados, representam uma das primeiras pesquisas formais com morcegos na Caatinga do Rio Grande do Norte. Foram geradas informa??es sobre a estrutura aninhada e assim?trica da rede mutual?stica entre morcegos nectar?voros e esp?cieschave de plantas para a manuten??o da comunidade de morcegos nectar?voros nesta regi?o. Al?m disso, a primeira evid?ncia de folivoria de pelo menos 16 esp?cies de plantas pelo morcego frug?voro Artibeus planirostris foi documentada. Isto representa o primeiro registro para um ambiente semi-?rido e o primeiro registro para a esp?cie. Finalmente, o primeiro ?insight? para aspectos biol?gicos do morcego end?mico X. vieirai, incluindo dieta, poleiros e dados de reprodu??o, assim como a extens?o de sua distribui??o a n?vel nacional.
Caatinga is a deciduous thorny woodland and sclerophyllous vegetation, encountered in a semi-arid region of around 730 000 km2 entirely within the Brazilian territory . This environment presents high variation of vegetation types that have been attributed to large-scale variations in the climate, geomorphology patterns, and smallscale differences in topography and soils. The sparse and fluctuation precipitation of arid and semiarid regions is believed to exert strong control over life histories, physiological characteristics, and species composition of their biotas. At least 77 bat species of the 178 species present in Brazil are found in Caatinga, of which 13 are frugivorous and five nectarivorous including the endemic Xeronycteris vieirai. Bats are known play important roles in pest control, pollination and seed dispersal, nonetheless little information has been generated regarding the ecological role these species play in an environment like Caatinga. In general, this habitat is the most neglected Brazilian ecosystem in terms of investigation and conservation of its biodiversity. Specifically in the case of bats, Rio Grande do Norte is one of the biggest knowledge gaps in Brazil. The data presented here represent one of the first formal investigations with bats in the Caatinga in Rio Grande do Norte. Information on the nested and asymmetric structure of the mutualistc network between nectarivorous bats and plants was generated, with data on key plant species for the maintenance of the community of nectar-feeding bats in this region. Also, the first evidence of folivory of at least 16 plant species by the fruit-eating bat Artibeus planirostris was documented, representing the first record for a semi arid enviroment and the first record for the bat species. Finally, the first insight to biological aspects of the endemic X. vieirai including diet, roosts and reproduction data were registered as well the extention of its range distribution at a national level.

Nota: el text d'aquesta tesi és en anglès i castellà

Las especies invasoras son aquellas que transportadas e introducidas por el ser humano en lugares fuera de su área de distribución natural, han conseguido establecerse y dispersarse en la región de destino. Las especies invasoras pueden producir cambios en las poblaciones de las especies nativas e incluso conducir a su extinción local. Las comunidades invadidas por plantas exóticas pueden sufrir diversos impactos, siendo la competencia por los recursos ambientales, los cambios en las propiedades del suelo o en el régimen de perturbaciones los más estudiados. Sin embargo, los efectos sobre otros niveles tróficos han recibido menos atención, aunque cada vez hay más estudios referentes al efecto sobre los herbívoros y los mutualismos. La mayoría de estudios sobre el impacto de las plantas invasoras en las interacciones de polinización han considerado interacciones entre pares de especies. Dado que las plantas suelen interactuar con varios polinizadores y los polinizadores visitar varias especies de plantas, las especies invasoras tienen el potencial de perturbar, no sólo interacciones puntuales, sino toda la red de interacciones. No obstante, se ha realizado poca investigación sobre las repercusiones de las invasiones a nivel de toda la comunidad de polinizadores y plantas. Esta tesis estudia la forma en que los sistemas de plantas y polinizadores se ven afectados por especies de plantas invasoras. Hemos estudiado tres especies de plantas invasoras, Carpobrotus aff acinaciformis, Opuntia stricta e Impatiens glandulifera para caracterizar su integración e impactos sobre la red de interacciones nativa. Los polinizadores nativos, sobre todo aquellos con un espectro de visitas generalistas, proporcionan una vía de integración para las plantas invasoras. Tanto C. acinaciformis como O. stricta dependen de los polinizadores para la reproducción sexual en el área de introducción, aunque C. acinaciformis se ve levemente limitado por el polen. La competencia por los polinizador con las plantas nativas depende de la especie estudiada, así, encontramos competencia con O. stricta, facilitación con C. acinaciformis y no encontramos un efecto en I. glandulifera. En el caso de existir facilitación por las visitas, hemos visto que el polen invasor tiene muy pocas posibilidades de interferir en la reproducción de las plantas nativas al depositarse en muy baja frecuencia en los estigmas de las especies nativas. Finalmente, cuando evaluamos la importancia del paisaje en I. glandulifera, los efectos producidos por la invasión resultan ser independientes del los efectos del paisaje. Las redes planta-polinizador son complejas e involucran una gran cantidad de interacciones, por eso es difícil predecir el impacto de las especies invasoras. Sin embargo, el hecho de que las tres plantas estudiadas estén causando importantes cambios sobre las redes invadidas indica lo importante que es tener en cuenta sus efectos tanto para comprender para la biología de las interacciones mutualistas, como para futuras estrategias de conservación.
Invasive species are species transported and introduced by humans outside their natural range. This species are established and dispersed in the new habitats. Invasive species can produce changes in native species populations and even lead to its local extinction. Invaded communities can suffer different impacts, like competition for environmental resources, changes in soil properties or in the disturbance regime. However, the effects on other trophic levels have received less attention. Most studies on the impact of invasive plants and its interactions with pollinators have only considered interactions between pairs of species. Since plants tend to interact with several pollinators and the pollinators visit several species of plants, invasive species have the potential to disrupt not only particular interactions, but the entire network of interactions. However, there has been little research on the impact of invasions in the community of pollinators and plants. This thesis explores how the systems of plants and pollinators are affected by invasive plant species. We studied three invasive species, Carpobrotus aff acinaciformis, Opuntia stricta and Impatiens glandulifera to characterize their integration and impacts on the network of native interactions. The native pollinators, especially generalists, provide an integration way for invasive plants. Both C. acinaciformis and O. stricta depend on pollinators for sexual reproduction in the introduced area. However, C. acinaciformis is slightly limited by pollen. The competition for pollinators with native plants depends on the context, thus, we found competition processes with O. stricta, facilitation with C. acinaciformis and we did not find any effects on I. glandulifera. In the case of C. acinaciformis that facilitated visits to natives, we saw that the invasive pollen has very little chance of interfering with the reproduction of native plants and is deposited in very low frequency in the stigmas of native species. Finally, when we evaluate the importance of the landscape context in I. glandulifera, the impact of the invasion appear to be independent from the effects of the landscape. Plant-pollinator networks are complex and involve large numbers of interactions, so it is difficult to predict the impact of invasive species. However, the fact that the three studied plants produce major changes in the networks is very significant.
Les espècies invasores són aquelles que transportades i introduïdes per l'ésser humà en llocs fora de la seva àrea de distribució natural, han aconseguit establir-se i dispersar-se en la regió de destinació. Les espècies invasores poden produir canvis en les poblacions de les espècies nadives i fins i tot conduir a la seva extinció local. Les comunitats envaïdes per plantes exòtiques poden sofrir diversos impactes, sent la competència pels recursos ambientals, els canvis en les propietats del sòl o en el règim de pertorbacions els més estudiats. No obstant això, els efectes sobre altres nivells trófics han rebut menys atenció, encara que cada vegada hi ha més estudis referents a aquest efecte sobre els herbívors i els mutualismes. La majoria d'estudis sobre l'impacte de les plantes invasores en les interaccions amb els polinitzadors han considerat interaccions entre parells d'espècies. Atès que les plantes solen interactuar amb diversos polinizadors i els polinizadors visitar diverses espècies de plantes, les espècies invasores tenen el potencial de pertorbar, no només interaccions puntuals, sinó tota la xarxa d'interaccions. No obstant això, s'ha realitzat poca investigació sobre les repercussions de les invasions a nivell de tota la comunitat de polinizadors i plantes. Aquesta tesi estudia la forma que els sistemes de plantes i polinizadores es veuen afectats per espècies de plantes invasores. Hem estudiat tres espècies invasores, Carpobrotus aff acinaciformis, Opuntia stricta i Impatiens glandulifera per caracteritzar la seva integració i impactes sobre la xarxa d'interaccions nadiva. Els polinizadors nadius, sobretot aquells amb un espectre de visites generalistes, proporcionen una via d'integració per a les plantes invasores. Tant C. acinaciformis com O. stricta depenen dels polinizadors per a la reproducció sexual en l'àrea d'introducció, encara que C. acinaciformis es veu lleument limitat pel pol·len. La competència pels polinizadors amb les plantes nadives depèn de l'espècie estudiada, així, vam trobar competència amb O. stricta, facilitacio amb C. acinaciformis i no trobem un efecte en I. glandulifera. En el cas d'existir facilitació per les visites, hem vist que el pol·len invasor té molt poques possibilitats d'interferir en la reproducció de les plantes nadives al dipositar- se en molt baixa freqüència en els estigmes de les espècies nadives. Finalment, quan vam avaluar la importància del paisatge sobre comunitats envaïdes per I. glandulifera, els efectes produïts per la invasió resulten ser independents de l'els efectes del paisatge. Les xarxes planta-polinizador són complexes i involucren una gran quantitat d'interaccions, per això és dificil predir l'impacte de les espècies invasores. De tota manera, el fet que les tres plantes estudiades produeixin importants canvis en aquestes xarxes és molt significatiu.

This master's thesis deals with the design and the C++ implementation of the Field Programmable Neural Networks (FPNNs) simulator. It briefly introduces the concept of artificial neural networks as it is the base of the FPNN concept. It presents the concept formal definitions and its calculation methods. The thesis also describes the special features of the FPNNs and the differences between the FPNNs and the classic neural networks. Furthermore, it deals with models of fault tolerant FPNNs. All the presented principles are used as the base of the developed implementation and the subsequent experiments.

La pénétration des chlorures dans le béton est l'une des causes principales de dégradation des ouvrages en béton armé. Sous l’attaque des chlorures des dégradations importantes auront lieu après 10 à 20 ans. Par conséquent, ces ouvrages devraient être périodiquement inspectés et réparés afin d’assurer des niveaux optimaux de capacité de service et de sécurité pendant leur durée de vie. Des paramètres matériels et environnementaux pertinents peuvent être déterminés à partir des données d’inspection. En raison de la cinétique longue des mécanismes de pénétration de chlorures et des difficultés pour mettre en place des techniques d'inspection, il est difficile d'obtenir des données d'inspection suffisantes pour caractériser le comportement à moyen et à long-terme de ce phénomène. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de développer une méthodologie basée sur la mise à jour du réseau bayésien pour améliorer l'identification des incertitudes liées aux paramètres matériels et environnementaux des modèles en cas de quantité limitée de mesures. Le processus d'identification est appuyé sur des résultats provenant de tests normaux et accélérées effectués en laboratoire qui simulent les conditions de marée. Sur la base de ces données, plusieurs procédures sont proposées pour : (1) identifier des variables aléatoires d'entrée à partir de tests normaux ou naturels; (2) déterminer un temps équivalent d'exposition (et un facteur d'échelle) pour les tests accélérés; et (3) caractériser les paramètres en dépendants du temps. Les résultats indiquent que le cadre proposé peut être un outil utile pour identifier les paramètres du modèle, même à partir d’une base de données limitée
Chloride ingress into concrete is one of the major causes leading to the degradation of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Under chloride attack important damages are generated after 10 to 20 years. Consequently, they should be periodically inspected and repaired to ensure an optimal level of serviceability and safety during its lifecycle. Relevant material and environmental parameters for reliability analysis could be determined from inspection data. In natural conditions, chloride ingress involves a large number of uncertainties related to material properties and exposure conditions. However, due to the slow process of chloride ingress and the difficulties for implementing the inspection techniques, it is difficult to obtain sufficient inspection data to characterise the mid- and long-term behaviour of this phenomenon. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a framework based on Bayesian Network updating for improving the identification of uncertainties related to material and environmental model parameters in case of limited amount of measurements in time and space. The identification process is based on results coming from in-lab normal and accelerated tests that simulate tidal conditions. Based on these data, several procedures are proposed to: (1) identify input random variables from normal or natural tests; (2) determine an equivalent exposure time (and a scale factor) for accelerated tests; and (3) characterise time-dependent parameters combining information from normal and accelerated tests. The results indicate that the proposed framework could be a useful tool to identify model parameters even from limited

Les xarxes complexes serveixen als ec olegs per a estudiar les interaccions de pollinitzaci o a nivell comunitari. Actualment, es necessari construir xarxes que siguin representacions m es realistes del proc es de pol.linitzaci o per tal d'incrementar la seva utilitat pr actica. Per aix o, aquesta tesi es centra en incorporar a les xarxes la variaci o interindividual i informaci o sobre la magnitud i el signe (positiu, neutre o negatiu) dels efectes de les interaccions sobre la reproducci o de les plantes. Les esp ecies consten de poblacions d'individus amb fenotips, genotips i comportaments diferents, que per tant poden diferir en les interaccions. Aquesta variaci o intraespec ca es rellevant per molts processos ecol ogics i evolutius, per o no s'ha tengut en compte en la majoria d'estudis de xarxes planta-pol.linitzador. En els cap tols 1 i 2 s'estudien les c arregues pol.l niques d'exemplars d'insectes pol.linitzadors en dues comunitats de muntanya a Mallorca i es construeixen xarxes on els nodes dels pol.linitzadors representen individus en lloc d'esp ecies. Aquesta aproximaci o permet considerar la variaci o interindividual i aporta una nova perspectiva sobre l'estructura de les xarxes i els mecanismes que determinen les interaccions. Les xarxes de transport de pol.len a nivell d'individu tenen una densitat d'interaccions, connect ancia, grau d'anidament i diversitat d'interaccions m es baixa que les mateixes xarxes a nivell d'esp ecies, i per contra una modularitat major. Es troben aquestes difer encies perqu e les esp ecies de pol.linitzadors generalistes estan formades per individus especialistes i heterogenis en l' us de recursos. El grau d'especialitzaci o individual est a associat a la intensitat de compet encia inter- i intraespec ca. Per a que les xarxes planta-pol.linitzador representin millor les implicacions funcionals, han d'incloure mesures dels efectes de les interaccions sobre les esp ecies o de la magnitud real en qu e les esp ecies depenen d'aquestes interaccions. La freq u encia d'interacci o es considera una estimaci o v alida de la magnitud de l'efecte del pol.linitzador sobre l' exit reproductiu de la planta, per o no aporta cap informaci o del seu signe. Per exemple, en plantes amb mecanismes de producci o de llavors que no depenen d'insectes (e.g. autog amia, anemog amia), les interaccions poden tenir efectes neutres sobre la reproducci o. En el cap tol 3, per diferents plantes de dues comunitats d'estudi (costa i muntanya) es quanti ca el seu grau de depend encia dels pol.linitzadors, comparant experimentalment la producci o de llavors amb i sense insectes. L'objectiu es determinar si les esp ecies que s on m es depenents dels pol.linitzadors s on tamb e les que estan m es connectades en les xarxes de visites orals, es a dir si tenen major centralitat, nombre i diversitat d'interaccions. Nom es en una de les dues comunitats estudiades es troba aquesta relaci o, fet que suggereix que pot dependre del contexte comunitari. D'altra banda, hi ha interaccions que poden causar m es efectes negatius que positius sobre l' exit reproductiu de les plantes. Aix o pot passar quan els pol.linitzadors depositen pol.len conespec c en els estigmes, per o alhora tamb e pol.len heterospec c. La transfer encia interespec ca de pol.len es relativament comuna, perqu e sovint les esp ecies de oraci o simult ania comparteixen pol.linitzadors, i pot tenir efectes perjudicials per les plantes (e.g. p erdua de pol.len, obstrucci o dels estigmes). En el cap tol 4, s'estudien les transfer encies de pol.len interespec ques en tres comunitats andines al llarg d'un gradient altitudinal. Es construeixen xarxes dirigides representant la transfer encia de pol.len des de les esp ecies donants a les receptores i a cada interacci o de la xarxa s'hi associa un signe per representar l'efecte. Aquest signe s'obt e de la relaci o entre el pol.len conespec c i heteroespec c depositat sobre els estigmes. En totes les comunitats estudiades, les interaccions positives i neutres s on predominants, particularment en la comunitat de major altitud. Aquesta troballa suggereix que la facilitaci o entre plantes d'una comunitat pot augmentar quan les condicions pel servei de pol.linitzaci o es tornen menys favorables.
Las redes complejas sirven a los ec ologos para estudiar las interacciones de polinizaci on a nivel comunitario. Actualmente, para incrementar su utilidad pr actica, es necesario construir redes que sean representaciones lo m as realistas posibles del proceso de polinizaci on. Por este motivo, esta tesis se centra en incorporar a las redes la variaci on interindividual y informaci on sobre la magnitud y el signo (positivo, neutro o negativo) de los efectos de las interacciones sobre la reproducci on de las plantas. Las especies constan de poblaciones de individuos con fenotipos, genotipos y comportamientos distintos, que por tanto pueden diferir en sus interacciones. Esta variaci on intraespec ca es relevante para muchos procesos ecol ogicos y evolutivos, pero no se ha considerado en la mayor a de estudios de redes plantapolinizador. En los cap tulos 1 y 2 se estudian las cargas pol nicas de ejemplares de insectos polinizadores en dos comunidades de monta~na en Mallorca y se construyen redes donde los nodos de los polinizadores representan individuos en lugar de especies. Esto permite incorporar la variaci on interindividual y aportar una nueva perspectiva sobre la estructura de las redes y los mecanismos que determinan las interacciones. Las redes de transporte de polen a nivel de individuo tienen una densidad de interacciones, conectancia, anidamiento y diversidad de interacciones m as baja que las mismas redes a nivel de especies, pero una modularidad mayor. Estas diferencias ocurren porque las especies de polinizadores generalistas est an formadas por individuos especialistas y heterog eneos en la utilizaci on de recursos. El grado de especializaci on individual est a asociado a la intensidad de competencia inter- e intraespec ca. Para que las redes planta-polinizador sean m as representativas de las implicaciones funcionales deben incluir medidas de los efectos de las interacciones sobre las especies o de la magnitud real en que las especies dependen de estas interacciones. La frecuencia de interacci on se considera una estimaci on v alida del efecto del polinizador sobre el exito reproductivo de la planta, aunque no aporta informaci on sobre su signo. Por ejemplo, en plantas con mecanismos de producci on de semillas independientes de los insectos (e.g. autogamia, anemogamia), las interacciones pueden tener efectos neutros sobre la reproducci on. En el cap tulo 3, para diferentes plantas de dos comunidades de estudio (costa y monta~na) se cuanti ca el grado de dependencia de polinizadores comparando experimentalmente la producci on de semillas con y sin insectos. El objetivo es determinar si las especies m as dependientes de polinizadores son tambi en las m as conectadas en las redes, con mayor centralidad, n umero y diversidad de interacciones. S olo en una de las comunidades de estudio se encuentra esta relaci on, sugiriendo que es variable en funci on del contexto comunitario. Por otro lado, hay interacciones que pueden causar efectos m as negativos que positivos sobre el exito reproductivo de las plantas. Esto puede pasar cuando los polinizadores depositan polen conespec co y heterospec co en los estigmas. La transferencia interespec ca de polen es relativamente com un, porque a menudo las especies de oraci on simult anea comparten polinizadores, y puede tener efectos perjudiciales para las plantas (e.g. p erdida de polen, obstrucci on de estigmas). En el cap tulo 4, se estudian las transferencias de polen interespec cas en tres comunidades andinas a lo largo de un gradiente altitudinal. Se construyen redes dirigidas que representan la transferencia de polen desde las especies donantes a las receptoras y a cada interacci on se le asocia un signo mostrando el efecto. Este signo se obtiene de la relaci on entre el polen conespec co y heteroespec co depositado sobre los estigmas. En todas las comunidades estudiadas, predominan las interacciones positivas y neutras, particularmente en la comunidad de mayor altitud. Esto sugiere que la facilitaci on en una comunidad puede aumentar cuando las condiciones para la polinizaci on se vuelven menos favorables.
Ecologists use network analysis to study pollination interactions at a communitywide level. The construction of plant-pollinator networks which are realistic representations of the pollination process is fundamental to increase their usefulness and ecological meaning. For that reason, this thesis focuses on incorporating to such networks individual variation and information about the magnitude and sign (positive, neutral or negative) of interaction e ects on plant reproduction. Species consist of populations of phenotypically, genetically and behaviourally diverse individuals which thus di er in their interactions and foraging decisions. Despite its relevance for many ecological and evolutionary processes, intraspeci c variation has been overlooked in most plant-pollinator network studies. In chapters 1 and 2, pollen loads of insect pollinator individuals are studied in two mountain communities of Mallorca, and networks where pollinator nodes depict individuals instead of species are built. Such approach (network downscaling) permits to account for the variation within species and provides new insights on network interaction patterns and their causal mechanisms. Pollen-transport networks at the individual level had lower linkage density, connectance, nestedness and interaction diversity, than the same networks at the species level, but higher modularity. These di erences occur because generalist pollinator species are composed of heterogeneous specialist individuals in the use of resources. The degree of individual specialization is associated with inter- and intraspeci c competition. Plant-pollinator networks which represent more accurately functional implications should include measures of interaction e ects on species or estimates of the actual degree to which species depend on such interactions. In general, interaction frequency is considered a good surrogate of the magnitude of interaction e ects, although it does not give any information about the e ect sign. For instance, in plant species with mechanisms for producing seeds independently of pollinators (e.g. autogamy, anemogamy), interactions may have a neutral reproductive e ect. In chapter 3, the degree of reproductive dependence on pollinators is quanti ed for several plant species in two study communities (coast and mountain), comparing seed set with and without insects. The objective is to determine whether plant species which depend more on pollinators are also more connected in ower-visitation networks, i.e. have high centrality, number and diversity of interactions. Such relationship is only found in one of the two study communities, which suggests that it is community-context dependent. On the other hand, there are interactions which may cause more negative than positive e ects on plant reproductive success. This may happen when owervisitors deposit both conspeci c and heterospeci c pollen on stigmas. Such interspeci c pollen transfer is common because co- owering plants often share pollinators, and can have detrimental e ects on plant tness (e.g. pollen loss and stigma clogging). In chapter 4, interspeci c pollen transfers are studied in three high-Andean communities along a mountain altitudinal gradient. Directed networks depicting pollen transfers from donor to receptor species are constructed, and a sign is associated to each network link to represent the e ect. This sign is obtained from the study of the relationship between conspeci c and heterospeci c pollen deposited on stigmas. In all study communities, facilitative and neutral pollinator-mediated interactions among plants prevail over competition, particularly in the highest elevation community. This nding suggests that pollination facilitation in communities can increase under less favourable conditions for the pollination service, supporting previous predictions of higher incidence of facilitative interactions in stressful environments.

In the mid-10th century there was an increase of Byzantine coins to the Baltic area alongside the shift from the eastern Islamic dirhems to a western focus on German coins. This thesis sets out to study networks around the Baltic area from a perspective of Byzantine miliaresion minted by Constantine VII and Romanus II, Nicephorus II, John I Tzimisces and Basil II. The material consists of coin finds in foremostly hoards but also some grave finds from Gotland, mainland Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Belarus, Estonia and Finland. This essay will combine the use of two different methods, first a network analysis in Pajek and then a spatial analysis in GIS. With these two methods I want to investigate what the Byzantine coins can tell us about the transition period between the import of Islamic coins and German coins. Together with the Byzantine coins I will use other materials from Gotland such as shorttwig and longbranch runes, a type of metal vessel found in graves and a type of clay vessel with a special mark on the bottom. They will highlight different aspects of the Viking age networks, with a focus on Gotland. The result showes that the import of Byzantine silver coins into the Baltic in the 10th century consists of two phases. The first phase consists of miliaresia minted by Constantine VII and Romanus II, Nicephorus II and John I Tzimisces which were probably imported through Poland. On their way through Poland they mixed with early southern German coins from Bayern and Schwaben on their way to Denmark and Gotland. With the second phase the eastern coin import temporarily gets an upswing. The coins minted by Basil II are more commonly found on Gotland and in Estonia which lead me to conclude that these could have been imported by Gotlandic individuals on their travels east.

The use of remote techniques to capture the geometrical characteristics of rock masses has seen increased use and development in recent years. Apart from the obvious improved Health and Safety aspects, remote techniques allow rapid collection of digital data that can be subsequently analysed to provide input parameters for a variety of geomechanical applications. Remote data capture is a new technique used to collect geotechnical data and little independent work has been done concerning the comparative limitations and benefits of photogrammetry and laser scanning. Photogrammetry and laser scanning produce three dimensional digital representations of a studied rock face which can then be mapped for geotechnical data using specialist software. Research conducted at Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter has focussed on developing robust and flexible methodologies for remote data capture techniques, namely photogrammetry and laser scanning. Geotechnical characterisation for photogrammetry was tested using the CSIRO Sirovision software and laser scanning was used with SplitFX from Split Engineering. A comparative method of assessing the error between orientation measurements was developed based on calculating the pole vector difference between remotely captured and traditionally hand-mapped data. This allowed for testing of the benefits of the remote data capture systems and limitations whilst comparing them with conventional hand-mapping. The thesis also describes the results of detailed comparisons between hand-mapping, photogrammetric and laser scanned data collection for discontinuity orientation, roughness, discontinuity trace lengths and potential end-use applications. During fieldwork in Cornwall, Brighton Cliffs and northern France it was found that remote data capture techniques struggled to collect orientation data from intensely fractured rock masses where features are primarily represented as discontinuity traces. It was found that both photogrammetry and laser scanning produce orientation data comparable to traditionally mapped data, with an average pole vector difference less than 12° from data mapped from the Tremough Campus road cutting to the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus. Set analysis on 151 comparable data points yielded a maximum set pole vector difference of 9.8°, where the closest difference was 2.24°. Testing the accuracy of discontinuity trace orientations captured by photogrammetry using the pole vector difference methods indicate that planar derived orientations are more accurate, with an average difference of 16.67° compared to 37.72°. This thesis contains the reviews and analyses of photogrammetry and laser scanning for use in characterising natural and manmade rock slopes. Improved field and post-processing methodologies have been developed to aid the safe, efficient and suitable geotechnical characterisation of rock fracture networks. The continual development and use of remote mapping techniques, whilst supplementing their unique qualities with traditional mapping, have the capability to revolutionise rock mass mapping. Particular development needed is the implementation of ISRM guidelines to standardise photogrammetric and laser scanning fieldwork and post-processing data analysis.

The thesis deals with the use of neuronal networks for the control of telecommunication network elements. The aim of the thesis is to create a simulation model of network element with switching array with central memory, in which the optimization control switching array is solved by means of the Hopfield neural network. All source code is created in integrated environment MATLAB with the use of Neural Network Toolbox.

This dissertation examines how contentious collective action in two post communist states, Poland and the Czech Republic, has broadened to include European and international actors. It identifies the emergence of new opportunities for contention brought about by recent episodes of institutional change, specifically EU accession, and questions how they benefit materially or politically weak NGOs. With the intention of determining how three interrelated processes, democratization, Europeanization and internationalization, affect the nature and scope of contentious politics, this dissertation carries out an investigation of several concrete episodes of political mobilization and contention. As shown these 'contentious events' involved a myriad of national, European and international actors, mobilizing to challenge national policy. Data from NGO questionnaires, interviews and newswire/newspaper archives are used to discern the nature and scope of contentious collective action. This dissertation assesses the extent to which transnationalization of advocacy politics has disrupted existing power arrangements at the national level between NGOs and government. Hypothesizing that European Union accession in 2004 changed the nature and scope of contentious collective action in post communist Europe, this dissertation undertakes a comparative empirical examination of three sectors, environment, women and Roma, and twenty-nine representative NGOs. My research identifies three important developments in the Polish and Czech nonprofit sector: first, European advocacy networks and institutions are helping national NGOs overcome power disparities at the national level; second, issues once confined to national political space have acquired a European dimension, and; third, despite Europeanization, a few notable policy issues (i.e. reproductive rights, nuclear energy and domestic violence) remain firmly under national jurisdiction. This dissertation contributes to existing collective action/post communist scholarship in three ways. It applies established theories of contention/collective action to several recent episodes of political mobilization; it confirms that post accession institutional change does offer new political opportunity structures to national NGOs, and finally; it presents new empirical research on post communist collective action.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul
This study aimed to determine the details of the offer and quality of floral resources in Bauhinia forficata Link, native species of Seasonal Deciduous Forest in Rio Grande do Sul, and how they influence the attraction and interaction with the flower visitors and other plant species. It sought to further determine the ecological mechanisms that are established from the plant interactions / animal that can be used as a theoretical basis for the creation of ecological restoration strategies. The work was conducted in the municipality of Santa Maria, central region of Rio Grande do Sul. Were selected 11 matrices based on the environmental quality of the fragments their surroundings and morphophysiological and phytosanitary characteristics of individuals, of which was evaluates the phenology, volume and concentration of nectar instanding crop (NID), pollinic viability, suitability for autogamy, floristic diversity of the surrounding areas, diversity, intensity and behavior of diurnal and nocturnal flower visitors and ditrophic networks of plant-pollinator interaction. The variables were tested by comparison of means, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and correlation analysis. The average volume of NID observed for the species was 40.3 μl and the mean concentration was 0.265 mg / μl. The average pollen viability was 81.43%, and the species has proved unfit to autogamy. The average number of floral visitors was 18.24 per matrices and the average intensity of interaction was 59.94%. Were accounted for 730 floral visitors belonging to 29 morphospecies, 657 at the diurnal monitoring and 73 at nocturnal monitoring. The main order observed was Lepidoptera. The suborder Rhopalocera was the most abundant between diurnal visitors (30.43%), and the suborder Heterocera the most abundant among the nocturnal visitors (50%). Proved to be effective pollinators of Bauhinia forficata the bumblebee (Hymenoptera) morphospecies, gray-moth (Pyrgus sp.) (Lepidoptera: Heperiidae) and orange-black-butterfly (Helyconius sp.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). The functionally effective pollination systems for Bauhinia forficata in the study area are the Psychophily (butterflies) and Melittophily (bumblebees). In the analysis of floristic diversity were found 34 species, the Shannon diversity index ranged between 1.46 and 2.43 between plots. The Bauhinia forficata species, Acacia velutina and Strychnos brasiliensis have the greatest relative densities, respectively, 10.97%, 10.42% and 8.78%. It can be concluded that both the supply and quality of resources influence at the attraction of visitors, as the interaction of visitors with flowers interfered at the availability of resources. The quantity, quality and plasticity of the offered floral resources, the generalist attraction of visitors, the time and intensity of flowering, the inability to autogamy and geitonogamy, high rates of pollen viability and the high degree of connectance of ditróficas webs, are responsible for initiate important ecological mechanisms between this and other ecosystem agents, being them: compensation mechanisms, of species coexistence, induction of gene flow and competition and partilhamento of the resources. These results demonstrate that Bauhinia forficata is an important energy source for the diet of a wide range of pollinators and acts as an inducer of ecological processes and gene flow in the study area.
O presente estudo teve por objetivo determinar as características da oferta e qualidade dos recursos florais em Bauhinia forficata Link, espécie nativa da floresta Estacional Decidual do Rio Grande do Sul, e a forma como estas influenciam na atração e na interação com os visitantes florais e com as demais espécies vegetais. Buscou-se ainda determinar os mecanismos ecológicos que se estabelecem a partir das interações planta/animal que possam ser utilizados como base teórica para a criação de estratégias de restauração ecológica. O trabalho foi conduzido no Município de Santa Maria, região central do Rio Grande do Sul. Foram selecionadas 11 matrizes com base na qualidade ambiental dos fragmentos de seu entorno e nas características morfofisiológicas e fitossanitárias dos indivíduos, das quais se avaliou a fenologia, volume e concentração de néctar instantaneamente disponível (NID), viabilidade polínica, aptidão à autogamia, diversidade florística das áreas adjacentes, diversidade, intensidade e comportamento de visitantes florais diurnos e noturnos, e teias ditróficas de interação planta-polinizador. As variáveis foram testadas por comparação de médias, Análise de Componentes Principais (PCA) e análise de correlação. O volume médio de NID observado para a espécie foi de 40,3 μl e a concentração média foi de 0,265 mg/μl. A viabilidade polínica média foi de 81,43%, sendo que a espécie demonstrou ser inapta à autogamia. O número médio de visitantes florais foi 18,24 por matriz e a intensidade média de interação foi 59,94%. Foram contabilizados 730 visitantes florais pertencentes a 29 morfoespécies, sendo 657 no monitoramento diurno e 73 no monitoramento noturno. A principal ordem observada foi Lepidoptera. A subordem Rhopalocera foi a mais abundante entre os visitantes diurnos (30,43%) e a subordem Heterocera a mais abundante entre os visitantes noturnos (50%). Demonstraram serem polinizadores efetivos da Bauhinia forficata as morfoespécies mamangava (Hymenoptera), mariposa-cinza (Pyrgus sp. (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) e a borboleta-laranja-preta (Helyconius sp. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)). Os sistemas de polinização funcionalmente efetivos para Bauhinia forficata na área de estudo são a Psicofilia (borboletas) e a Melitofilia (mamangavas). O grau de conectância total das teias ditróficas foi de 53,47% para as redes de visitantes diurnos e de 44% para as redes de visitantes noturnos. Na análise da diversidade florística foram encontradas 34 espécies, o índice de diversidade de Shannon variou entre 1,46 e 2,43 entre parcelas. As espécies Bauhinia forficata, Acacia velutina e Strychnos brasiliensis apresentaram as maiores densidades relativas, respectivamente, 10,97%, 10,42% e 8,78%. Foi encontrada correlação entre a concentração do néctar e diversidade florística, entre volume de néctar e diversidade de visitantes e entre a viabilidade polínica e volume e concentração do néctar. Pode-se concluir que tanto a oferta e a qualidade dos recursos influenciaram na atração dos visitantes, quanto a interação dos visitantes com as flores interferiu na disponibilidade dos recursos. A quantidade, qualidade e plasticidade dos recursos florais ofertados, a atração generalista de visitantes, a sincronia e intensidade de floração, a inaptidão à autogamia e geitonogamia, as altas taxas de viabilidade polínica e o alto grau de conectância das teias ditróficas, são responsáveis por desencadear importantes mecanismos ecológicos entre esta e os demais agentes do ecossistema, sendo eles: mecanismos de compensação, de coexistência de espécies, indução do fluxo gênico e de competição e partilhamento de recursos. Tais resultados demonstram que Bauhinia forficata é uma importante fonte energética para a dieta de uma vasta gama de polinizadores e atua como indutora dos processos ecológicos e do fluxo gênico na área de estudo.

A network structure is becoming an omnipresent determinant in the organization of social and economic life. In a sense, a network outlines, encompasses, structures, and arranges the space of data, information, services, goods, things and people, and how they flow. However, a network is not able (neither is its aim) to organize a given space in the traditional, vertical arrangement. It is not an equivalent of flat structures, either; it is rather an energy and information entity applied in a given space (the territory, the area, the logistics of an enterprise) which, by playing on continuities and non-continuities, accelerates the exchange and commercialization of ideas (innovations, research, cooperation, joint services, projects and ventures). In the era of the multiplication of various network entities, it is more and more difficult to identify them, e.g. according to the criteria of key values. In addition, we more and more often deal with the phenomenon of pullulating overlapping pervasion, a takeover and interference of networks which for an average citizen gives a very blurred picture of reality (e.g. Tesco, IKEA, OBI, Kaufland; and their own-brand products which do not have the name of an individual manufacturer). This paper has the model character and presents a model of a Knowledge-based Opole Tourism Cluster (OKTW) as a network proposal for arranging the “knowledge-based” space of the Opole region in Poland. So far it hasn’t been possible to do empirical researches because OKTW is still in the process of creation.

This study analyses the administrative and economic career of Francesco De Gratta (1613–1676) as Royal Postmaster, Royal Secretary, and trader within the postal and fiscal systems of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This investigation focuses mainly on his network and career strategies and is based on various sources from a number of European archives and libraries, mainly those situated in Italy, Poland and Germany. The study presents the family De Gratta and the familial social actions that Francesco used in order to root his children and family in the Polish-Lithuanian noble culture. Next, the analysis shows that the career of Francesco De Gratta was inextricably correlated with the establishment of the early modern royal postal system in Gdańsk (the city of Gdańsk fulfilled an important bridging role within the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth) as well as his close contacts with different Polish kings and queens. The career followed distinct stages, tying him ever closer with the Crown, the nobility as well as the merchants in Gdańsk. It all started with his position as Head Postmaster in Gdańsk, in 1654. In 1661, he became Postmaster General of Royal Prussia, Courland, Semigallia and Livonia. After these initial steps, Francesco immersed in creditor activities and close contacts with the Royal Prussian cities, royal authorities, and not the least different Polish mint masters. He also got involved in the potash trade with his later son-in-law Jan Wawrzyniec Wodzicki, first as his factor and later as a co-owner of Wodzicki’s company. The study finally traces his social and economic advancement by the analysis of Francesco De Gratta’s legacies and their importance for his heirs’ social status. The summary compares the career of Francesco De Gratta with that of other postmasters and mint masters of Italian origin in Poland-Lithuania.
Denna studie analyserar Francesco De Grattas (1613-1676) ekonomiska och administrativa karriär som kunglig postmästare, kunglig sekreterare och köpman i det polsk-litauiska samväldet. Denna undersökning är främst inriktad på nätverks- och karriärsanalys och bygger på olika arkivkällor från en rad europeiska arkiv och bibliotek, främst från Italien, Polen och Tyskland. Studien presenterar familjen De Gratta och de familjära sociala strategier som Francesco använde för att förankra sin familj i det polsk-litauiska samväldets adelskultur. Därefter visar analysen att De Grattas karriär kan förstås mot bakgrund av upprättandet av det tidigmoderna kungliga postsystemet i Gdańsk (Gdańsk hade en viktig överbryggande roll inom Polen-Litauen), liksom hans nära kontakter med olika polska kungar och drottningar. Hans karriär följde olika distinkta steg som möjliggjorde för honom att närma sig kronan, adeln och köpmännen i Gdańsk. År 1654 blev han huvudpostmästare i Gdańsk och 1661 fick han ämbetet som huvudpostmästare för Kungliga Preussen, Kurland, Semgallen och Livland. Senare utvecklade Francesco De Gratta sin kreditverksamhet parallellt med utbyggnaden av sitt kontaktnätverk med kungliga preussiska städer, kungliga myndigheter och inte minst olika polska myntmästare. Han blev också involverad i handel med pottaska (kaliumkarbonat) tillsammans med sin svärson Jan Wawrzyniec Wodzicki, först som hans agent och senare som delägare i Wodzickis företag. Slutligen spårar studien Francesco De Grattas sociala och ekonomiska framåtskridande genom en analys av hans arv och dess betydelse för hans arvingars sociala status. Sammanfattningsvis jämförs Francesco De Grattas karriär med andra postmästare och myntmästare av italienskt ursprung i Polen-Litauen.
Information Infrastructure in the Baltic Area. Nodes, News and News Agents, c. 1650 - 1700

Tese de Doutoramento em Arquitetura com a especialização em Teoria e Prática do Projeto apresentada na Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Doutora.
No contexto urbano português mais precisamente nas últimas seis décadas, a procura de soluções inovadoras de organização do espaço urbano gerou soluções de inserção, cuja característica principal consiste em, por um lado promover a permeabilidade, e por outro lado em conectar diferentes polos atractores na cidade por meio dos Edifícios em Rede. Os Edifícios em Rede poder-se-ão categorizar em quatro géneros: os que por si só se definem como polos de atração; os que conectam polos de atração; os que criam polos de atração; e por fim, os falsos edifícios em rede, edificações que nos indicam um atravessamento, uma possível ligação entre espaços urbanos mas que na realidade não são mais que barreiras intransponíveis. Deste modo, investigação tem como principal objetivo a identificação e análise das diferentes características concetuais e das eventuais conexões estabelecidas pelos Edifícios em Rede no modo de promover a mobilidade e de conectar locais de convívio ou de uso quotidiano na cidade de Lisboa.
ABSTRACT: In the urban context portuguese more precisely in the last six decades, the search for innovative solutions to urban space organization solutions generated insertion, whose main characteristic is, on one hand promote permeability, and secondly in connecting different poles attractors in the city buildings through the network. The buildings in the power network will be categorized into four types: those alone define themselves as poles of attraction; connecting the centers of attraction; those who create poles of attraction, and finally, the false buildings networked buildings that indicate one crossing, a possible link between urban but in reality are nothing more than insurmountable barriers. Thus, research has as main objective the identification and analysis of different characteristics Conceptual and any established connections by building a network in order to promote mobility and connect meeting places or everyday use in the city of Lisbon.
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As firmas estão imersas em um ambiente altamente dinâmico, onde as transformações ocorrem em velocidades crescentes. Essas transformações derivam de uma continua capacidade de inovação que tem levado a um processo de constantes mudanças da lógica produtiva e concorrencial estabelecida, reduzindo o ciclo de vida de muitos produtos e levando ao colapso de muitas indústrias. A fim de manter-se competitiva, é preciso capacidade de inovar e se adaptar às mudanças, o que pressupõe a necessidade de criar mecanismos que lhe permitam absorver novos conhecimentos, internaliza-los e utilizá-los. A capacidade absortiva, portanto, mostra-se como um requisito fundamental para a sobrevivência e competitividade das firmas. Dada a importância do desenvolvimento dessa capacidade, esse trabalho teve por objetivo compreender o papel das redes sociais para o processo de constituição da capacidade absortiva das firmas imersas no Polo de exportação de melão de Mossoró e baixo/médio Jaguaribe. Para atingir o objetivo geral proposto, foi realizado um estudo de caso, de cunho qualitativo. Nesse sentido, buscou-se compreender, primeiramente em relação ao processo de formação do Polo, ao longo dos anos 1980, 1990 e 2000, em que medida as redes sociais permitiram a aquisição de novos conhecimentos pelas firmas que ali se estabeleciam, com consequências diretas para o processo de constituição de suas capacidades absortivas. Posteriormente, dado a sua atual estrutura, a pesquisa procurou investigar o papel das redes para a aquisição de novos conhecimentos externos ao Polo e, considerando a inserção desses novos conhecimentos na região, buscamos analisar de que forma a rede, que conecta os diversos atores ali imersos, permitiu o fluxo e dispersão desses conhecimentos, possibilitando sua aquisição, a partir do qual se dá o processo de constituição da capacidade absortiva das firmas ali estabelecidas. O estudo de caso foi desenvolvido por intermédio de entrevistas semiestruturadas, com perguntas abertas e um roteiro pré-determinado. Essas entrevistas foram gravadas, transcritas e posteriormente analisadas em acordo com a técnica de análise de conteúdo. Já os dados secundários foram analisados através da técnica de análise documental. Nossos resultados demonstraram que as redes sociais funcionaram como uma importante via para a aquisição de novos conhecimentos pelas firmas desde início da formação desse Polo. Esse processo deu-se inicialmente através do estabelecimento das grandes empresas precursoras que, principalmente através de laços fracos, foram capazes de adquirir importantes tecnologias que posteriormente difundiram-se pelo Polo. Nesse sentido, verificamos que foi através das grandes empresas, em especial da MAISA, que se inicia, por um lado, o processo de constituição de uma rede que conecta os principais atores que hoje atuam nesse Polo. Ademais, foi também através dessas grandes empresas que se deu muito do aprendizado e acumulo de conhecimento inicial nessa atividade. Esses conhecimentos, disseminados através de uma rede que conectava os diversos atores desse Polo, transbordaram para além das fronteiras dessas grandes firmas fundamentalmente através de laços fortes, o que foi decisivo para a formação de novas empresas de médio porte ao longo da década de 1990 e para a constituição da capacidade absortiva dessas firmas. Assim como observamos no seu processo de formação, nossos dados nos mostraram que, considerando a atual estrutura do Polo, a aquisição de novos conhecimentos oriundos do ambiente externo deriva em grande parte do estabelecimento de laços fracos, permitindo a inserção em redes que conectam essas firmas a atores externos. Uma vez que esses conhecimentos adentram o Polo, nossa pesquisa pôde diagnosticar que um ponto nevrálgico para compreendermos o atual papel da rede para a difusão do conhecimento e, consequentemente, para o processo de constituição da capacidade absortiva dessas firmas, está relacionada aos laços fortes que se estabelecem no nível hierarquicamente abaixo dos proprietários: trabalhadores das empresas que atuam no Polo, como agrônomos, técnicos, encarregados, dentre outros. Os dados primários nos mostraram que, ainda que se tente evitar transbordamentos, os conhecimentos acabam fluindo por intermédios desses atores em função de diferentes laços relacionais que os conectam. A consequência mais aparente desse processo é que esse passou por grandes incrementos tecnológicos ao longo das décadas, derivado de incrementos no processo de constituição da capacidade absortiva das firmas ali instaladas. Outro aspecto observado é que essa evolução não se restringiu às empresas exportadoras: também os pequenos produtores, com produção destinado ao mercado nacional e regional, conseguiram incrementar suas capacidades absortivas em função da inserção nessa rede, ainda que perifericamente. A partir dos resultados apresentados, essa Tese traz importantes contribuições teóricas, ao avançar sobre uma lacuna de pesquisa relativa ao papel desempenhado pelas redes sociais no processo de constituição da capacidade absortiva das firmas.
Firms are embedded in a highly dynamic environment where changes occur at increasing speeds. These changes stem from the growing capacity to innovate, which has led to constant variations in the production and competitive standard, reducing the life cycle of many products and leading to the collapse of many industries. To remain competitive, firms must be able to innovate and to adapt to these changes, what presupposes the need to create mechanisms that allow it to absorb new knowledge, internalize and use it. The absorptive capacity, therefore, appears as a fundamental requirement for their survival and competitiveness. Given the importance of the development of this capacity, this study aims to understand the role of social networks for the process of absorptive capacity constitution of firms embedded in the Export Pole of melon from Mossoró and low/medium Jaguaribe, in Northeast from Brazil. To achieve the proposed general objective, a qualitative case study was developed. In this way, we sought to understand, firstly analyzing the process of development of the Polo, during the decades of 1980, 1990 and 2000, to what extent the social networks allowed the acquisition of new knowledge by firms established in this Pole, with consequences on their absorptive capacities constitution. Later, given its current structure, the research sought to investigate the role of networks to acquire new knowledge outside the Pole and, considering the insertion of this new knowledge in the region, we seek to analyze how the network that connects the various actors involved in Pole, allowed the flow and dispersion of this knowledge, permitting its acquisition, from which starts the process of absorptive capacity constitution of the firms established there. The case study was developed through semi-structured interviews, with open questions and a pre-determined script. These interviews were recorded, transcribed and later analyzed according to the technique of content analysis. Secondary data were analyzed using the documentary analysis technique. Our results demonstrated that social networks functioned as an important way for the acquisition of new knowledge by firms since the beginning of the formation of this Pole. This process, as we could observe during this study, was initially achieved through the establishment of large precursor companies which, mainly through the establishment of weak ties, were able to acquire important technologies that later spread through the Pole. In this sense, we verified that it was through the large companies, especially MAISA, that the process of constitution of a network that connects the main players that currently operate in this Pole starts. In addition, it was also through these large companies that much of the learning and accumulation of initial knowledge in this activity was given. This knowledge, disseminated through a network that connected the various actors of this Pole, spillover beyond the borders of these large firms fundamentally through strong ties, what was critical for the constitution of new medium-sized companies throughout the decade of 1990. Thus, as we observed during its development process, our data showed that, considering the current structure of the Pole, the acquisition of new knowledge from outside the Pole derives in large part from the establishment of weak ties, allowing these firms access networks that connect them to external actors. Once this knowledge enters the Pole, our research diagnosed that an essential point to understand the current role of the network for the diffusion of knowledge and, consequently, for the process of these firm’s absorptive capacity constitution, is related to the strong ties established at the hierarchical level below the owners: workers from the companies of the Pole, such as agronomists, technicians, among others. The primary data showed that, even if managers try to avoid knowledge spillovers, the knowledge inevitably flows through these actors due to the relational ties that connect them. The most apparent consequence of this process is that this Export Pole has undergone great technological increases throughout the decades derived from gains in the absorptive capacity of the firms established there. Another aspect that can be observed is that this evolution was not restricted to the exporting companies: also the small producers, with production destined to national and regional market, were able to increase their absorptive capacities due to the insertion in this network, although peripherally. From the results presented, this thesis brings important theoretical contributions, in advancing on a research gap regarding the role played by social networks in the process of constituting the absorptive capacity of the firms.

This Master’s Thesis includes introduction the field programmable logic and their NetFPGA platform developed in the context of its use for routing using neural networks. Current routing protocols and routing methods. Furthermore, the issue of neural networks with a focus on the Hopfield network for data network routing.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Cleveland State University, 2009.
Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jan. 27, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-203). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center and also available in print.

The main fokus of this D thesis consists in the creating of horizontal points in Lešná village that is closed to Valašské Meziříčí, part Vysoká. Sixty five points of horizontal control (PPBP) were located and set in Vysoká. The network adjustment was done with the help of the method of lest squares and coordinates were counted with the G-NET/Mini programme.

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This work is a case study based on Bel?m Jewelry Pole, whose main issue is to understand how the social network (which the Pole is inserted) influences on innovation process on this area. The main objective is to analyze how interorganizational networks impacted/impact on the potential for innovation, creating both limits and opportunities for the companies development. The adopted method analyzed the historical jewelry industry trajectory since the beginning of mineral extraction in the city of Itaituba (in the Par? State) until nowadays. Primary and secondary data were used allowing the view of the dynamics of the network during transformation periods of the main involved actors in the process. The prospect of embeddedness structural as analysis technique allowed verifying the quality of interactors ties, as well as the visualization of their structures. During the jewelry industry trajectory was verified a change in the quality of social relations, modifying the information flow, trust and associations of various links in the production chain. Both direct and indirect ties facilitated the access to remote networks entering new information related to new products, processes and market aspects. This interaction has led to raising the innovation potential causing a qualitative and quantitative improvement in competitiveness of organizations. Some embedded ties allowed the formation of partnerships bringing various economic earnings for those involved in the relationship. Thus, it is understood how aspects related to the position, architecture and quality of ties in a wide social network influenced on the innovation process and eventual jewelry industry trajectory
Este trabalho consiste em um estudo de caso no P?lo Joalheiro de Bel?m, cuja problem?tica central est? em compreender como a rede social onde est? imerso o P?lo, influencia no processo de inova??o do setor. O objetivo central est? em analisar como as redes interorganizacionais impactaram/impactam no potencial de inova??o, criando tanto limites, como oportunidades para o desenvolvimento das organiza??es. O m?todo adotado analisou a trajet?ria hist?rica do setor desde o in?cio da extra??o mineral, no munic?pio de Itaituba-PA, at? os dias de hoje. Dados prim?rios e secund?rios foram utilizados possibilitando a visualiza??o da din?mica da rede nos per?odos de transforma??o dos principais atores envolvidos no processo. A perspectiva da imers?o estrutural como t?cnica de an?lise permitiu verificar a qualidade dos la?os interatores, assim como, ? visualiza??o de suas estruturas. No decorrer da trajet?ria do setor se verificou uma mudan?a na qualidade das rela??es sociais modificando o fluxo de informa??es, a confian?a e o associativismo dos diversos elos da cadeia produtiva. Tanto la?os diretos como os indiretos facilitaram o acesso a redes distantes inserindo novas informa??es relacionadas a produtos, processos e aspectos mercadol?gicos. Essa intera??o propiciou uma eleva??o no potencial de inova??o provocando um salto qualitativo e quantitativo na competitividade das organiza??es. Alguns la?os imersos possibilitaram a forma??o de parcerias trazendo diversos ganhos econ?micos para os agentes envolvidos na rela??o. Assim, se percebeu como os aspectos relacionados ? posi??o, arquitetura e qualidade dos la?os em uma rede social ampla influenciaram no processo de inova??o e conseq?ente trajet?ria do setor joalheiro.

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo el desarrollo de la metodología de diseño óptimo de procesos de separación con membranas líquidas selectivas en su aplicación a la separación de mezclas multicomponentes con recuperación selectiva del componente de interés. Para ello se ha investigado la separación selectiva y concentración de cromo(VI) presente inicialmente en un acuífero subterráneo contaminado por acción de la actividad industrial desarrollada a nivel superficial y donde a su vez, coexisten otras especies aniónicas competitivas (sulfato y cloruro mayoritariamente) presentes por las propias características del acuífero y por su localización en una zona litoral. Tras la selección de Alamine 336 (amina terciaria) y NaOH como agentes de extracción y reextracción respectivamente, se caracterizaron experimentalmente las reacciones químicas responsables de la etapa de extracción, así como la cinética del proceso de separación-concentración cuando se emplea la tecnología de pertracción en emulsión (EPT) en contactores de fibra hueca. Finalmente, se desarrolló un modelo matemático multicomponente y se determinaron los parámetros característicos del mismo con el fin de llevar a cabo el diseño óptimo del proceso mediante técnicas de optimización matemática.
This work aims at the development of the methodology for the optimal design of selective liquid membrane processes as efficient alternatives for the separation and selective recovery of raw materials and valuable compounds from multicomponent systems. For this purpose, the proposed methodology has been applied to the remediation of polluted groundwater containing hexavalent chromium as a consequence of effluent leaking from surface deposition of industrial wastes. Furthermore, other competitive anionic species (mainly sulphate and chloride anions) were also present in the groundwaters due to the specific location being close to the shore.After selecting Alamine 336 (tertiary amine) and NaOH as the best extraction and back-extraction agents respectively, a careful experimental design was performed in order to analyse the chemical equilibria involved in the extraction step. Once the emulsion pertraction technology (EPT) was selected as the most suitable separation-concentration process configuration, the experimental kinetic analysis and mathematical modeling of EPT were carried calculating the values of the design parameters. Finally, the proposed multicomponent model was employed to carry out the optimal process design by means of mathematical optimization techniques.

Ultra narrow-band filters and the use of two loops in a cascade configuration dominate current clock conditioners based on phase-locked-loop (PLL) schemes. Since a PLL exhibits a low-pass transfer function with respect to the reference clock, the noise performance at very close-to-carrier offset frequencies is still determined by the input signal. Although better cleaning can be achieved with extremely narrow loops, an ultra low cut-off frequency could not be selected since the stability of the configuration deteriorates as the filter bandwidth is reduced. This fact suggests that a full-spectrum clock conditioning is not possible using traditional PLL architectures, and an alternative scheme is necessary to attenuate the very-close-to-carrier phase noise (PN). In addition, ultra-narrow loop filters can compromise on-chip integration because of the large size capacitors needed when chosen as passive. Input signal attenuation with relaxed bandwidth requirements becomes the main aspect that a comprehensive clock cleaner must address to effectively regenerate a reference signal. This dissertation describes the Band-Reject Nested-PLL (BRN-PLL) scheme, a modified PLL-based architecture that provides an effective signal cleaning procedure by introducing a notch in the input transfer function through inner and outer loops and a high-pass filter (HPF). This modified response attenuates the reference-signal PN and reduces the size of the loop-filter capacitors substantially. Ultra narrow loops are no longer required because the notch size is related to the system bandwidth. The associated transfer function for the constitutive blocks (phase detectors and local oscillators) show that the output close-to-carrier and far-from-carrier PN sections are mainly dominated by the noise from the inner-PLL phase detector (PD) and local oscillator (LO) located in the outer loop, respectively. The inner-PLL PD transfer function maintains a low-pass characteristic with a passband gain inversely proportional to the PD gain becoming the main contribution around the carrier signal. On the other hand, the PN around the transition frequency is determined mainly by the reference and the inner-PLL LO. Their noise contributions to the output will depend on the associated passband local maxima, which is located at the BRN-PLL transition frequency. Hence, in this region, the inner-PLL LO is selected so that its effect can be held below that of the outer-PLL PD. The BRN-PLL can use a high-Q MEMS-based VCO to further improve the transition region of the output PN profile and an LC-VCO as outer-PLL LO to reduce the noise floor of the output signal. In particular, two tuning mechanisms are explored for the MEMS-VCO: series tuning using varactors and phase shifting of a resonator operating in nonlinear regime. Both schemes are implemented to generate a tunable oscillator with no PN-performance degradation.

This diploma thesis deals with the method which are useful for analysis of reliability in specific circuit applications. It also deals with fault analysis in frequency, time and DC domain. Methods for these domains are described in other chapter of this thesis. Finally methods for diagnostics analog circuit are evaluated based on simulation and practical testing of selected methods.

This master's thesis describes process of design and development of the system for calculating the coverage of wireless networks, it is implemented as a web portal and written in the Java programming language. The text of the thesis describes the work with the used platforms, a description of the ITU-R calculation method P.1812, which is used for calculation electric field strength and basic information about electromagnetic waves. The main function of the system is to calculate and display coverage of wireless networks and customer management information.

The aim of the thesis is to verify synergy of genetic programming and neural networks. Solution is provided by set of experiments with implemented library built upon benchmark tasks. I've done experiments with directly and also indirectly encoded neural netwrok. I focused on finding robust solutions and the best calculation of configurations, overfitting detection and advanced stimulations of solution with fitness function. Generally better solutions were found using lower values of parameters n_c and n_r. These solutions tended less to be overfitted. I was able to evolve neurocontroller eliminating oscilations in pole balancing problem. In cancer detection problem, precision of provided solution was over 98%, which overcame compared techniques. I succeeded also in designing of maze model, where agent was able to perform multistep tasks.

Este trabalho aborda as oscilações eletromecânicas de baixa frequência, relativas a modos interáreas, pouco amortecidos, avaliando o seu impacto no desempenho de redes elétricas multi-máquinas com o objetivo de elevar o amortecimento destes modos com equipamentos TCSC. Os locais apropriados para instalação destes equipamentos são escolhidos com a análise dos resíduos de funções de transferência e o ajuste de parâmetros, para o projeto coordenado de controladores, utiliza o método de imposição de polos. O sistema não linear de equações, obtido com a aplicação do método de imposição de polos, supondo coeficientes de amortecimento pré-estabelecidos, é resolvido utilizando-se o método de Newton Raphson. Adicionalmente, avalia-se a possibilidade do método auxiliar na análise de interações entre controladores e identificação de acoplamentos, por meio da análise dos termos que compõem as equações de imposição de polos.
This work deals with low frequency oscillations related to inter-area modes, evaluating their impact on the performance of multi-machine electrical networks with the aim to increase the damping of these modes using TCSC. The best places to install these devices are chosen with the analysis of the residues of transfer functions and the parameter fitting for coordinated application of stabilizers is performed with the pole placement method. The nonlinear system of equations, obtained with the pole placement method, assuming specified damping factors, is solved with the Newton-Raphson method. The method is also used in the analysis of control interaction among stabilizers through the evaluation of individual parcels of the pole placement equations, as an additional feature of the approach.

This diploma thesis deals with methods used to determine the temperature field distribution within an electric machine. The first part is focused on methods of temperature measurement, generation and transfer of the thermal energy within the electric machine, asynchronous motor in particular. The thesis describes classical methods of temperature measurement and it also deals with ANSYS Workbench finite element method for thermal analysis of the motor. The final part of the thesis is focused on a comparation of all discussed methods with respect to results of thermal test for real asynchronous motor and concludes the most proper method.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
The popularity of social networks have attracted attention of companies. The growing amount of connected users and messages posted per day make these environments fruitful to detect needs, tendencies, opinions, and other interesting information that can feed marketing and sales departments. However, the most social networks impose size limit to messages, which lead users to compact them by using abbreviations, slangs, and symbols. Recent works in literature have reported advances in minimizing the impact created by noisy messages in text categorization tasks by means of semantic dictionaries and ontology models. They are used to normalize and expand short and messy text messages before using them with a machine learning approach. In this way, we have proposed an ensemble of machine learning methods and natural language processing techniques to find the best way to combine text processing approaches with classification methods to automatically detect opinion in short english text messages. Our experiments were diligently designed to ensure statistically sound results, which indicate that the proposed system has achieved a performance higher than the individual established classifiers.
A popularidade das redes sociais tem atraído a atenção das empresas. O crescimento do número de usuários e das mensagens enviadas por dia transforma esse ambiente em uma rica fonte de informações para descoberta de necessidades, tendências, opiniões e outras informações que podem auxiliar departamentos de vendas e marketing. Contudo,a maioria das redes sociais impõe limite no tamanho das mensagens, o que leva os usuários a usarem abreviações e gírias para compactarem o texto. Trabalhos na literatura demonstraram avanço na minimização do impacto de mensagens ruidosas nas tarefas de categorização textual através da utilização de dicionários semânticos e modelos ontológicos. Com a aplicação destes, as amostras são normalizadas e expandidas antes de serem apresentadas aos métodos preditivos. Assim, nesta dissertação é proposto um comitê de máquinas de classificação utilizando técnicas de processamento de linguagem natural para detectar opiniões automaticamente em mensagens curtas de texto em inglês. Os resulta-dos apresentados foram validados estatisticamente e indicaram que o sistema proposto obteve capacidade preditiva superior aos métodos preditivos isolados.

碩士
國立中興大學
資訊管理學系所
106
Pollen grains is widely used in many fields. For example, bee pollen has high nutritional value and contributes to the beauty and health of human beings, pollen may cause pollen allergies, pollen fossils can be used to study the reconstruction of paleoenvironment and present a variety of paleoclimate features. The above application shows that the pollen grains have a very high research value.The classification of pollen grains is traditionally artificial. However, manual classification not only requires experts to classify pollen grains, showing that the classification of pollen grains requires high proficiency and cost, but also when the dataset is more than 1000 images, the classification task will become time-consuming. Therefore, the concept of automatic classification of pollen grains is generated. Generally, for the classification of pollen grains, the image processing method is used to extract features at first, after obtaining features, the next step is to classify with machine learning methods, the accuracy rate is approximately between 64% and 95%. As we mentioned, feature extraction is time consuming. Above all, if the appropriate features are not extracted, the accuracy of the classification will be affected. In recent years, due to the vigorous development of deep learning, Convolutional neural network(CNN) has also been applied to the study of pollen grains. Because the convolutional layer of the CNN has the feature extraction function, it is able to eliminate the need for complex pre-processing steps and achieving high classification accuracy. Daood et al. classified the pollen grains with CNN in 2016, reaching an accuracy of 89.95% after data augmentation and transfer learning. This study used a dataset containing a total of 805 images, 23 classes. The results of the experiment include two phases. In the first phase, 805 images were divided into grayscale and RGB with CNN classification of three different architectures. The best accuracy is RGB images with Simple CNN achieving 81.55%, which is a significant improvement over [1] using the same data set. The second part using general data augmentation augmented the images to 8714 by rotating, resizing, and shearing, and then using Simple CNN to establish a predictive model, the experimental results have achieved an accuracy of 95.95% and a precision of 96.09%. Compared with the research using deep learning, there is not much difference in the accuracy of 89.95% obtained from [2] containing 30 types of dataset, also, our research collected 9 classes of pollen grains and combined with original dataset, following the research flowchart, the 32 classes dataset reached 95.67% of accuracy, proving the generalization of Simple CNN. Because the traditional feature extraction method can explain the importance of the extracted pollen features, this study also observed the features of the pollen grains through visualization of the convolution layer, and found that the same type of pollen grains, the locations of filters will be similar and different types of pollen grains can be distinguished by their different color features, texture features or shape features.

This Masters Final Assignment has the following purposes: (1) to review the assumptions of business network theory and entry modes, (2) to examine how these concepts can interfere in an industrial inter-firm relationship, and (3) to illustrate such insights with a case documented during an internship in KG International. This study attempts to explain why some firms, even after a failure in the process to enter a foreign country, do not give up or replace that target country with another.