Certificación energética del edificio de oficinas del sincrotrón situado en Cerdanyola del Vallès

El presente proyecto es un análisis de los mecanismos impulsados por las diferentes administraciones para la evolución de edificios energéticamente eficientes. El principal objetivo, es el estudio energético de un edificio de oficinas singular; cuyo diseño e inicio de construcción, son anteriores a la aprobación de las diferentes legislaciones en materia de eficiencia energética en la edificación, aprobadas a nivel estatal y autonómico en los últimos años. No obstante, el estudio se ha llevado a cabo principalmente bajo las exigencias establecidas por la aprobación del Real Decreto 47/2007 por el que se aprueba el procedimiento básico de certificación energética de edificios de nueva construcción. El edificio también se encuentra bajo el marco del proyecto europeo Energy Networks in Sustainable Cities (POLYCITY) [5] en el cual se establecen unas exigencias mínimas de diseño y abastecimiento energético. Finalmente, la ubicación del edificio dentro del territorio catalán implica la necesidad de comparar las exigencias establecidas en el RD 47/2007 y en el proyecto POLYCITY, con los requerimientos del Decreto 21/2006 aprobado en febrero de 2006 por la Generalitat de Cataluña. Cabe destacar que el edificio también está exento de la obligatoriedad de esta legislación por ser anterior a su aprobación. La primera parte de este estudio corresponde a la verificación del cumplimiento de las exigencias establecidas en el Código Técnico de la Edificación en su documento básico sobre Ahorro energético (DB-HE) mediante la herramienta de cálculo LIDER [2]. Un segundo objetivo del proyecto es presentar la metodología de calificación de un edificio de oficinas, analizando la complejidad y limitación de su aplicación en un proyecto singular. Finalmente, se realiza un análisis de los resultados obtenidos y una comparativa del edificio con las exigencias establecidas en el proyecto POLYCITY y en el decreto de Ecoeficiencia de Cataluña

Ultra-low noise, high-frame rate readout design for a 3D-stacked CMOS image sensor

Due to the switch from CCD to CMOS technology, CMOS based image sensors have become smaller, cheaper, faster, and have recently outclassed CCDs in terms of image quality. Apart from the extensive set of applications requiring image sensors, the next technological breakthrough in imaging would be to consolidate and completely shift the conventional CMOS image sensor technology to the 3D-stacked technology. Stacking is recent and an innovative technology in the imaging field, allowing multiple silicon tiers with different functions to be stacked on top of each other. The technology allows for an extreme parallelism of the pixel readout circuitry. Furthermore, the readout is placed underneath the pixel array on a 3D-stacked image sensor, and the parallelism of the readout can remain constant at any spatial resolution of the sensors, allowing extreme low noise and a high-frame rate (design) at virtually any sensor array resolution. The objective of this work is the design of ultra-low noise readout circuits meant for 3D-stacked image sensors, structured with parallel readout circuitries. The readout circuit’s key requirements are low noise, speed, low-area (for higher parallelism), and low power. A CMOS imaging review is presented through a short historical background, followed by the description of the motivation, the research goals, and the work contributions. The fundamentals of CMOS image sensors are addressed, as a part of highlighting the typical image sensor features, the essential building blocks, types of operation, as well as their physical characteristics and their evaluation metrics. Following up on this, the document pays attention to the readout circuit’s noise theory and the column converters theory, to identify possible pitfalls to obtain sub-electron noise imagers. Lastly, the fabricated test CIS device performances are reported along with conjectures and conclusions, ending this thesis with the 3D-stacked subject issues and the future work. A part of the developed research work is located in the Appendices.Devido à mudança da tecnologia CCD para CMOS, os sensores de imagem em CMOS tornam se mais pequenos, mais baratos, mais rápidos, e mais recentemente, ultrapassaram os sensores CCD no que respeita à qualidade de imagem. Para além do vasto conjunto de aplicações que requerem sensores de imagem, o próximo salto tecnológico no ramo dos sensores de imagem é o de mudar completamente da tecnologia de sensores de imagem CMOS convencional para a tecnologia “3D-stacked”. O empilhamento de chips é relativamente recente e é uma tecnologia inovadora no campo dos sensores de imagem, permitindo vários planos de silício com diferentes funções poderem ser empilhados uns sobre os outros. Esta tecnologia permite portanto, um paralelismo extremo na leitura dos sinais vindos da matriz de píxeis. Além disso, num sensor de imagem de planos de silício empilhados, os circuitos de leitura estão posicionados debaixo da matriz de píxeis, sendo que dessa forma, o paralelismo pode manter-se constante para qualquer resolução espacial, permitindo assim atingir um extremo baixo ruído e um alto debito de imagens, virtualmente para qualquer resolução desejada. O objetivo deste trabalho é o de desenhar circuitos de leitura de coluna de muito baixo ruído, planeados para serem empregues em sensores de imagem “3D-stacked” com estruturas altamente paralelizadas. Os requisitos chave para os circuitos de leitura são de baixo ruído, rapidez e pouca área utilizada, de forma a obter-se o melhor rácio. Uma breve revisão histórica dos sensores de imagem CMOS é apresentada, seguida da motivação, dos objetivos e das contribuições feitas. Os fundamentos dos sensores de imagem CMOS são também abordados para expor as suas características, os blocos essenciais, os tipos de operação, assim como as suas características físicas e suas métricas de avaliação. No seguimento disto, especial atenção é dada à teoria subjacente ao ruído inerente dos circuitos de leitura e dos conversores de coluna, servindo para identificar os possíveis aspetos que dificultem atingir a tão desejada performance de muito baixo ruído. Por fim, os resultados experimentais do sensor desenvolvido são apresentados junto com possíveis conjeturas e respetivas conclusões, terminando o documento com o assunto de empilhamento vertical de camadas de silício, junto com o possível trabalho futuro

The possibilities for enhancing ownership of development in Africa: the role of regional integration in the external relations of Africa

Africa has been the neglected continent in world politics. It has also been the subject of aid dependency and policy conditionality, leaving little autonomy of decision-making and ownership of its development policies. The recent economic turn-around and the global rush for resources and commodities have raised the importance of the African continent in the international economic scene. Many African countries are rich in resources and they have seen their development possibilities enhanced by intensified economic relations in particular with the emerging economies but also with their traditional main partners. However, as this is happening at the country level and African countries still have disperse voices in their exchanges with the rest of the world, the possibilities for leveraging this new potential are limited. Through the analysis of the dynamics of regional integration in Africa, this paper explores the hypothesis that increased integration would give a stronger voice, policy space and ultimately ownership of policies to African countries

European responses to Asia’s enhanced role as an aid donor

Asia is affirming itself as a newcomer and strong donor of aid to developing countries. China has been in the spotlight, but also countries such as India or South Korea have been stepping up their efforts at international development cooperation. These new actors, albeit with diverse approaches, challenge Europe’s global weight and leadership role and are driving it to rethink its development aid policies. Europe has developed a highly complex system of disbursing aid to developing countries attaching it to criteria of macro-economic performance and good governance. The principle of ownership as set by the Paris Declaration (2005) affirms that “partner countries exercise effective leadership over their development policies, and strategies and co-ordinate development actions”. European countries have promoted it as a cornerstone principle for aid effectiveness, claiming to give aid recipients the capacity to decide their policies autonomously, in contrast to previous policies of conditionality in aid. Yet, the praxis is far from matching the discourse, as Europe seeks to be deeply involved in the policy process of aid recipients. Asian donors, on the other hand, tend to be less concerned with the normative discourse or with the policy process of aid recipients and more focused on mutual economic gains of the relationship. In this scenario ownership takes on a different frame. This paper explores how Europe is reacting to this new context and to what extent it is adjusting its development aid policies

Extreme weather conditions dashboard

Our planet Earth is changing due to the action of Man. Several factors influence the functioning of our planet, such as the constant need for human evolution, population growth and many others. Due to this, more and more we have extreme atmospheric events. There is an increasing need to become aware of this problem and take action both in terms of what we can do to prevent the destruction of our planet and prevent when these extreme events happen. The objective of this thesis is based on this last point. To combat the lack of a system in Portugal capable of helping the general public in extreme weather conditions, we created an atmospheric dashboard. The goals were that this dashboard was simple to use, open to the general public, with high spacial resolution (currently the smallest area used is the municipality, here we use an even smaller geographic area), flexible, and scalable so that new data sources or new variables could be added to the existing ones in the future without affecting the correct functioning of the system. This system uses meteorological data and relates them to other variables such as the age of the population, the thermal conditions of buildings, number of deaths, among others. The combination of all these data leads to the calculation of a risk index associated with each zone. The results show that the application has excellent portability, as it was easily installed on another device thanks to the virtualization offered by Docker. In terms of scalability, although did no tests at this level. However, during the application development, there was the need to add new data sources. Considering that the application is modularised, there was no problem with the existing or new data sources. Users see great potential in the application in terms of usability for prevention by the population during extreme weather events. Another positive aspect was that they liked the layout of the elements in the interface, namely the fact that the map area is the most prominent and most visible area in the dashboard. It also helped us get some feedback on what could be improved, such as using more distinct colors to present the level of risk or even improving the connection between the different views of the application. The results are positive and encourage further development of the application, applying the suggestions obtained from user testing

Aerodynamic Analysis of a Forward–Backward Facing Step Pair on the Upper Surface of a Low-Speed Airfoil

The Long Endurance Electric Unmanned Air Vehicle (LEEUAV) is a project of a green, low-cost, small footprint electric solar UAV which was designed for civilian surveillance applications, such as coast, forest, or border patrol. Therefore, long endurance is desired, which is accomplished by a lightweight airframe design and an electric propulsion system assisted with solar cell arrays. The LEEUAV has an approximated mass of 5 kg, 4.5 m of wingspan and an 8-hour flight endurance. To ease the construction, its wing, in addition to its aerodynamic function, must accommodate the solar cells on its upper surface. Since the solar cells have a finite thickness, they create an offset, with a forward facing step at the beginning of the solar cell array and a backward facing step at its end. These two steps affect the aerodynamic performance of the wing mainly because the forward facing step forces the transition of the flow from laminar to turbulent. The aim of this thesis is to study the influence of these steps in the aerodynamic coefficients of the LEEUAV’s airfoil, having as variables the offset’s position, length, and thickness. To do this, a numerical analysis was performed initially using XFOIL, an interactive program for the analysis of subsonic airfoils, and then ANSYS Fluent, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. First, in XFOIL, a total of 444 combinations of offsets were tested, in order to understand the range of positions that could be more appropriate for placing the solar cells. After this initial study, another analysis was performed to better understand their most appropriate positions, considering their precise thickness and length. Afterwards, a small amount of combinations was chosen to perform a CFD analysis that served to validate and refine the results obtained from XFOIL. Since there was no experimental data regarding the LEEUAV’s airfoil, several turbulence models were initially tested to see which best resembled the XFOIL’s solution. Subsequently, an analysis of the selected combinations was performed and the best position for placing the solar cells, based on the performed analysis, is between 21% and 23% of the airfoil’s chord.O Long Endurance Electric Unmanned Air Vehicle (LEEUAV) é um projeto de um UAV elétrico solar, ecológico e de baixo-custo, projetado para aplicações civis de vigilância, tais como patrulha costeira, florestal ou de fronteira. Portanto, uma grande autonomia é fundamental, para a qual contribui um design de estrutura leve e um sistema de propulsão elétrico assistido por um conjunto de células fotovoltaicas. O LEEUAV tem uma massa aproximada de 5 kg, 4,5 m de envergadura e uma autonomia de voo de 8 horas. Para facilitar a construção, a sua asa, além da sua função aerodinâmica, tem de acomodar as células fotovoltaicas no seu extradorso e, uma vez que as células possuem uma espessura finita, originam um offset (rebordo), com um degrau no início e no fim do conjunto de células fotovoltaicas. Como consequência, estes degraus afetam o desempenho aerodinâmico da asa. O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar a influência destes degraus nos coeficientes aerodinâmicos do perfil alar do LEEUAV, tendo como variáveis a posição, o comprimento e a espessura do offset. Para o concretizar, foi realizada uma análise numérica utilizando, primeiramente, o XFOIL, um programa interativo para a análise de perfis alares subsónicos. E em seguida, utilizando o ANSYS Fluent, um software comercial de dinâmica de fluidos computacional (CFD). Em primeiro lugar, no XFOIL, foi testado um total de 444 combinações de offsets, a fim de compreender a gama de posições que poderia ser mais apropriada para colocar as células fotovoltaicas. Após este estudo inicial, foi realizada outra análise, desta vez considerando a espessura e o comprimento específico das células. Posteriormente, uma pequena quantidade de combinações foi escolhida para realizar uma análise de CFD, que serviu para validar e refinar os resultados obtidos do XFOIL. Como não existiam dados experimentais do perfil alar do LEEUAV, vários modelos de turbulência foram testados, para ver qual o que se melhor assemelharia à solução do XFOIL. Depois, foi realizada uma análise às combinações selecionadas, e concluiu-se que as melhores posições para colocar o início das células fotovoltaicas, com base no estudo realizado, são entre 21% e 23% da corda do perfil alar

Desempenho de barreiras acústicas : dois métodos de avaliação

Em Portugal tem-se verificado um crescimento exponencial da colocação de barreiras acústicas, como meio de resposta às exigências de qualidade ambiental definidas pela Comunidade Europeia. Este facto tem como consequência a necessidade de verificação do desempenho destes dispositivos, particularmente do isolamento sonoro aéreo. Assim, no presente artigo apresentam-se as orientações da Norma Europeia CEN/TS 1793-5:2003, relativa ao método de ensaio para determinar o isolamento sonoro aéreo dos dispositivos de redução do ruído, e uma metodologia expedita, que poderá ser usada como indicativa do desempenho destes dispositivos. Para as duas metodologias apresenta-se o princípio e procedimento de ensaio, o equipamento e a forma de avaliação do desempenho. Apresenta-se ainda a avaliação do desempenho de 3 barreiras acústicas, constituídas por materiais diferentes, feita através do método expedito. Finalmente, são feitas algumas considerações quanto aos métodos apresentados, prevendo-se que a metodologia preconizada na norma europeia seja de difícil execução in situ, especialmente em zonas de relevo acidentado. A avaliação do desempenho das barreiras acústicas com o recurso a estas metodologias, em diferentes fases do seu ciclo de vida, poderá constituir uma solução vantajosa e fiável

Ultrasonic Fatigue Analysis on Steel Specimen with Temperature Control : Evaluation of Variable Temperature Effect

Non peer reviewe

Shakespeare's Shrew: Orthodoxy and Carnival

Although the Shakespearean comedies have been analysed as festive plays, and more recently even his historical plays and tragedies have been viewed in the light of Bakhtin's theory of Carnival and the carnivalesque, The Taming of the Shrew has been systematically ignored. It would appear that this situation is a result of the misogynist issues the play raises. In seeing The Taming of the Shrew as a carnivalized drama in addition to the other Shakespearean plays already placed in this category, the aim of this thesis is to show that this early comedy is perhaps even more representative of what Bakhtin termed as carnivalized literature than any other play to be found in Shakespeare's canon. This, I would suggest, is related to the intertextual qualities of a text which has interwoven in its three-plot structure popular oral tradition, elements of the Italian commedia, and the domestic clowning conventions. All these three elements are saturated with a system of images appropriate to the culture of Carnival. As a result of this, the text goes deeply into the Carnival grotesque realism described by Bakhtin. Seeing the play form as dialogic in the same way as the Bakhtinian polyphonic novel is, I argue here that The Taming of the Shrew is a dialogue of voices, in which the patriarchal one is dominant. However, the patriarchal voice is not the only one to be heard. The opposing voices threaten the patriarchal authority, even when they seem to agree with it. The play's carnivalesque open-endedness affied to its 'metatheatrical' qualities reveals the contradictions of the dominant ideology. With respect to the controversial issue of the relationship between Shakespeare's The Taming of The Shrew and The Taming of a Shrew, the anonymous text is analysed here as a parody of its sources rather than as a ‘plagiarism' or a 'compilation' of Shakespeare's and Marlowe's works. The similarities and differences between these two texts are seen positively rather than dismissively

A casa itinerante: uma solução de habitação para uma sociedade em mudança

Dissertação de Mestrado integrado em Arquitectura (área de especialização em Cultura Arquitetónica)Este trabalho de investigação propõe uma solução alternativa para a habitação contemporânea comum. Reconhecendo a importância que o tema da mobilidade humana tem na sociedade actual, desenvolve-se a Casa Itinerante como um estudo téorico e um projecto de arquitectura para uma solução habitacional que pode mudar de lugar. Para se adaptar às necessidades imprevisíveis do habitante contemporâneo, repensa-se a casa, ancorada nos conceitos de flexibilidade, racionalidade e conforto. Na primeira parte do trabalho estuda-se o enquadramento existente para a proposta de uma casa móvel - são exploradas referências do passado da arquitectura e é analisada a situação actual. A década de 1960 é destacada como um período relevante para a arquitectura recente, marcado pelo inconformismo dos jovens da época e por novos ideais que procuravam uma alternativa à arquitectura convencional - os projectos apresentados nas publicações Archigram são as referências mais aprofundadas. Desenvolve-se depois -uma análise da sociedade contemporânea, focando-se na situação particular de Portugal. Estuda-se num primeiro passo a evolução recente das características e potencialidades da mobilididade humana. Num segundo passo aborda-se com mais atenção o caso português. As suas circunstâncias revelam a pertinência da proposta de uma casa móvel. Na segunda parte deste trabalho desenvolve-se uma resposta teórica e prática para a casa itinerante. Através de uma narrativa que vai ganhando complexidade, o projecto vai ganhando forma e significado. Exploram-se em capítulos consecutivos os conceitos que ancoram e definem o caracter da casa - é genérica, flexível, racional, confortável e sem lugar. Estudam-se também os raciocínios construtivos e apresentam-se os desenhos do projecto de arquitectura. A casa itinerante pretende adaptar-se a um mundo em mudança privilegiando a liberdade de deslocação. É uma solução habitacional que pretende dar ao seu habitante a capacidade para transformar a própria casa, segundo a sua vontade e as suas escolhas, inspirando-o a desenvolver a sua vida - e a desenvolver a casa com ela.This research work proposes an alternative solution to the common contemporary housing. Recognising the importance that the subject of human mobility has on today's society, the itinerant home is developed as a theoretical study and an architecture project for a housing solution that can change its place. To adapt to the unpredictable needs of the contemporary inhabitant, the home is rethought, anchored on the concepts of flexibility, rationality and comfort. On the first half of this work the existing framework for the proposal of a mobile home is studied - exploring past references of architecture and analysing the current situation. The 1960's are highlighted as a relevant period for recent architecture, marked by the discontent of the youth of that era and by new ideas that were searching for an alternative to conventional architecture - the projects presented on the Archigram publications are the references looked at with more depth. An analysis of contemporary society is then developed, focused on Portugal's current situation. On a first step the recent evolution of the characteristios nd potential of human mobility are studied. On a second step, the portuguese case is approached more carefully. lts circumstances reveal the relevance of a proposal for a mobile home. On the second part of the work a theoretical and practical answer for the itinerant home is developed. Through a narrative that increases in complexity, the project takes shape and meaning. In consecutive chapters the concepts that explore and define the home's character are explored - it is generic, flexible, rational, comfortable and without a place. The constructive reasoning is also studied and the architecture project's drawings are presented. The itinerant home aims to adapt to a changing world by privileging the freedom to move. lts a housing solution that aims to give its inhabitant the abilily to transform his own home, according to his will and his choices, inspiring him to develop his life - and develop the home with it