Press forming a 0/90 cross-ply advanced thermoplastic composite using the double-dome benchmark geometry

A pre-consolidated thermoplastic advanced composite cross-ply sheet comprised of two uniaxial plies orientated at 0/90° has been thermoformed using tooling based on the double-dome bench-mark geometry. Mitigation of wrinkling was achieved using springs to apply tension to the forming sheet rather than using a friction-based blank-holder. The shear angle across the surface of the formed geometry has been measured and compared with data collected previously from experiments on woven engineering fabrics. The shear behaviour of the material has been characterised as a function of rate and temperature using the picture frame shear test technique. Multi-scale modelling predictions of the material’s shear behaviour have been incorporated in finite element forming predictions; the latter are compared against the experimental results

Innovations in design and construction of granular pavements and railways

This paper describes some of the work related with the International Technical Committee TC3 – Geotechnics of Pavements of ISSMGE. For brevity, some topics are selected to be described in some detail, while others are acknowledged for reference purposes. These topics cover: (1) Data Mining tools in transporttation geotechnics showing the capabilities to predict real-value from several attributes and also the possibility to develop a formal updating framework to reduce uncertainty and increase reliability of deformability modulus updating in pavement and rail track structures; (2) Design aspects related with the mechanist approach in the framework of soil mechanics; (3) construction and quality control aspects covering compactor technologies and advanced tools for continuous compaction control and bearing capacity surveys during and after construction. These contributions aim to promote the use of some powerful available tools in the design and construction processes with impacts in the reduction of maintenance costs.International Society for Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical EngineeringThe British Geotechnical Associatio

Introduction for the 1st Proctor Lecture

The Proctor Lecture was first established under the proposal of ISSMGE-TC 202 ‘‘Transportation Geotechnics”, coordinated by Professor António Gomes Correia (2001–2013) and approved at the ISSMGE Board meeting in Paris, September 2013, to commemorate the significant contributions of late Ralph Roscoe Proctor, and to be delivered by the world’s most distinguished achievers in Transportation Geotechnics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

As Potencialidades Turísticas e Preservação Ambiental e Cultural da Cidade Velha

O objectivo deste trabalho não é preservar a memória e nem relembrar o passado. É contribuir para que se tenha uma nova visão em relação à Cidade Velha, hoje Cidade de Santiago, como potencial turístico, fazendo com que as pessoas vejam através das rochas, das águas cristalinas do mar, do sol, do solo agreste, do horizonte montanhoso, dos vales, das encostas; das muralhas antigas e dos sorrisos das suas gentes, atractivos turísticos de grande dimensão a desabrochar. Numa perspectiva histórica e tomando como suporte teórico a corrente inscrita na denominada História Actual ou Imediata defendida pela História Nova, pretendemos que este nosso contributo tenha uma perspectiva actualizante, virada para o futuro. Tendo em conta que o turismo é um sector económico em constante valorização e crescimento no mundo inteiro, não podemos deixar de considerar as ideologias já produzidas pelos doutos como a forma mais correcta de enquadrar o nosso trabalho. Apesar da diversidade de opiniões, começamos pela definição de alguns conceitos cuja versão achamos mais adequada às características da Cidade Velha como potencial área para o desenvolvimento turístico. O meio ambiente é um factor imprescindível para o desenvolvimento do turismo. Assim sendo quisemos demonstrar que o espaço ambiental da Cidade Velha constitui oferta turística muito importante que deve-se preservar, proteger e potencializar. Mas, falar do ambiente como recurso natural inclui o homem que não se valoriza sem a sua obra. Daí que o legado histórico que nos foi deixado obriga-nos a recuar no tempo desde os primórdios da descoberta, do povoamento e colonização para que o homem cabo-verdiano possa ser identificado e, desta forma, analisar o contributo que a Cidade de Ribeira Grande deu para o surgimento e evolução do mesmo e da sociedade cabo-verdiana e, ao mesmo tempo, sugerir propostas de melhorias para que este legado histórico seja potencializado como uma oferta turística. As condições ambientais, geográficas, históricas, económicas e sociais nos persuadem a propor o desenvolvimento dos seguintes tipos de turismo: Turismo do Mar, Turismo do Campo e da Montanha, Turismo Cultural e Religioso. Considerando o carácter interdisciplinar deste sector económico somos obrigados a correlacioná-lo com outras actividades económicas dos mais diversos sectores existentes

Green synthesis of 2-Oxazoline-based polymers with antimicrobial activity using scCO2

Using a green methodology, 17 different poly(2-oxazolines) were synthesized starting from four different oxazoline monomers. The polymerization reactions were conducted in supercritical carbon dioxide under a cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) mechanism using boron trifluoride diethyl etherate as the catalyst. The obtained living polymers were then end-capped with different types of amines, in order to confer them antimicrobial activity. For comparison, four polyoxazolines were end-capped with water, and by their hydrolysis the linear poly(ethyleneimine) (LPEI) was also produced. After functionalization the obtained polymers were isolated, purified and characterized by standard techniques (FT-IR, NMR, MALDI-TOF and GPC). The synthesized poly(2-oxazolines) revealed an unusual intrinsic blue photoluminescence. High concentration of carbonyl groups in the polymer backbone is appointed as a key structural factor for the presence of fluorescence and enlarges polyoxazolines’ potential applications. Microbiological assays were also performed in order to evaluate their antimicrobial profile against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus NCTC8325-4 and gram-negative Escherichia coli AB1157 strains, two well known and difficult to control pathogens. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC)s and killing rates of three synthesized polymers against both strains were determined. The end-capping with N,N-dimethyldodecylamine of living poly(2- methyl-2-oxazoline) and poly(bisoxazoline) led to materials with higher MIC values but fast killing rates (less than 5 minutes to achieve 100% killing for both bacterial species) than LPEI, a polymer which had a lower MIC value, but took a longer time to kill both E.coli and S.aureus cells. LPEI achieved 100% killing after 45 minutes in contact with E. coli and after 4 hours in contact with S.aureus. Such huge differences in the biocidal behavior of the different polymers can possibly underlie different mechanisms of action. In the future, studies to elucidate the obtained data will be performed to better understand the killing mechanisms of the polymers through the use of microbial cell biology techniques

Genetic and functional analysis of the bacillus subtilis BSP1 gam cluster

Mannans (linear mannan, glucomannan, galactomannan and galactoglucomannan) are the major constituents of the hemicellulose fraction in softwoods and show great importance as a renewable resource for fuel or feedstock applications. As complex polysaccharides, mannans can only be degraded through a synergistic action of different mannan-degrading enzymes, mannanases. Microbial mannanases are mainly extracellular enzymes that can act in wide range of pH and temperature, contributing to pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, food and feed, oil and textile successful industrial applications. Knowing and controlling these microbial mannan-degrading enzymes are essential to take advantage of their great biotechnological potential. The genome of the laboratory 168 strain of Bacillus subtilis carries genes gmuA-G dedicated to the degradation and utilization of glucomannan, including an extracellular -mannanase. Recently, the genome sequence of an undomesticated strain of B. subtilis, BSP1, was determined. In BSP1, the gmuA-G operon is maintained, interestingly, however, a second cluster of genes was found (gam cluster), which comprise a second putative extracellular β-mannanase, and most likely specify a system for the degradation and utilization of a different mannan polymer, galactoglucomannan. The genetic organization and function of the gam cluster, and whether its presence in BSP1 strain results in new hemicellulolytic capabilities, compared to those of the laboratory strain, was address in this work. In silico and in vivo mRNA analyses performed in this study revealed that the gam cluster, comprising nine genes, is organized and expressed in at least six different transcriptional units. Furthermore, cloning, expression, and production of Bbsp2923 in Escherichia coli was achieved and preliminary characterization shows that the enzyme is indeed a β-mannanase. Finally, the high hemicellulolytic capacity of the undomesticated B. subtilis BSP1, demonstrated in this work by qualitative analyses, suggests potential to be used in the food and feed industries

Latent growth mixture modeling: an application in the aeronautic training environment

The application of growth mixture modeling to longitudinal data offers an important extension of conventional modeling tools, enabling the identification of different patterns in growth, by accounting for population heterogeneity. The main goal of this study is to analyze the shape of the learning process in pilot training (Latent Growth Modeling), as well as to recognize different patterns in growth due to population heterogeneity (Growth Mixture Modeling). Moreover, the research intends to identify predictors that explain that variability and the pattern of growth. The object of study is the performance in flight training of ab-initio pilot applicants (n=297) to the Portuguese Air Force Academy (evaluated through six repeated measures). The results showed the existence of unobserved heterogeneity in the population and the best fitting model is a 2-class mixture model. Psychomotor coordination (SMA) showed a significant effect on the intercept (initial status) and the prognostic of General Adaptability (Personality and Motivation dimension) depicted a significant effect on the intercept (initial status) and on slope (development). The latent class 1 (66% of the sample) presents the highest initial flight performance, a positive significant effect of the General Adaptation on the intercept and the best results in the tests performed in the psychological phase. The latent class 2 (34% of the sample) presents the worst initial flight performance, and a positive significant effect of General Adaptation on the slope.A aplicação de modelo de mistura com crescimento latente a dados longitudinais oferece uma generalização importante dos modelos de crescimento convencionais, permitindo a identificação de diferentes padrões de crescimento, tendo em conta a heterogeneidade da população. O principal objectivo deste estudo consiste em analisar o processo de aprendizagem no treino de pilotos (modelos com crescimento latente), identificar diferentes padrões de crescimento resultantes da heterogeneidade existente (modelo de mistura com crescimento latente), e identificar as variáveis explicativas da variabilidade e do padrão de crescimento. O objecto de estudo é o desempenho no treino de pilotos ab-initio (n=297), candidatos à Academia da Força Aérea Portuguesa (avaliados em seis medidas repetidas). Os resultados obtidos demonstram que existe heterogeneidade não observada na população e que o modelo mais adequado é um modelo de mistura com crescimento latente de duas classes. A coordenação motora (SMA) demonstrou um efeito significativo no intercepto (estado inicial) e o prognóstico de Adaptabilidade Geral (dimensão Personalidade/Motivacional) demonstrou um efeito significativo quer no intercepto (estado inicial) quer no declive (aprendizagem). A classe latente 1 (66% da amostra) caracteriza-se por apresentar uma performance em voo superior no estado inicial (intercepto), um efeito significativo da Adaptabilidade Geral no intercepto, e melhores resultados nos testes realizados na fase de avaliação psicológica. Por sua vez, a classe latente 2 (34% da amostra) apresenta piores resultados relativos ao estado inicial da performance em voo, e um efeito significativo da Adaptabilidade Geral na aprendizagem (declive)

Equity research - Puma SE

Mestrado em FinançasEste Trabalho Final de Mestrado exibe uma análise financeira da PUMA SE entre 2015 e 2018, proporcionando ainda estimativas sobre o futuro da empresa até 2025. O objectivo deste projecto é fornecer um preço credível para as acções da PUMA SE para o ano de 2020. A indústria do calçado tem mostrado desenvolvimentos nos últimos anos, sendo impulsionada pela procura cada vez maior de calçado desportivo. A PUMA, que tinha perdido terreno para alguns rivais como a Under Armour, aproveitou este desenvolvimento para recuperar o estatuto de terceira maior empresa deste mercado. A mudança de estratégia por parte da PUMA de forma a atingir os seus objectivos foi a razão por detrás da minha decisão de escolher esta empresa como tema do meu Trabalho Final de Mestrado. Com base nas informações que se encontravam disponíveis até Junho de 2019, foi realizado o Método dos Fluxos de Caixa Descontados, apoiado pelo Método do Valor Presente Ajustado e pelo Método do Fluxo de Capital, obtendo um preço por acção de 719,14€ que representa um potencial positivo de 68,42% face a 2018. Este resultado permite concluir que as acções da empresa estão a valorizar-se e, por essa razão, o projecto sugere uma recomendação de "COMPRA".This Masters Final Work displays the financial analysis of PUMA SE between 2015 and 2018 and offers estimations regarding the future of the company until 2025. The goal of this project is to provide a valid price for PUMA SE's shares by the end of 2020. Footwear market has been showing positive signs in recent years driven by the growing demand of athletic footwear. PUMA, which has fallen behind some competitors as Under Armour, took advantage of this momentum to recover its place as the third largest brand in this industry. The change of strategy by PUMA in order to reach its objectives was the reason behind my decision to choose this company as my subject of the Equity Research Project. Based on information available until June of 2019, the Discounted Cash Flow Method (DCF) was performed, supported by the Adjusted Present Value Method (APV) and the Flow to Equity Method (FTE), obtaining a price target of 719,14€ which represents an upside potential of 68,42% compared to 2018. This result shows the company's shares are appreciating and, therefore, the project suggests a "BUY" recommendation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio