The electromagnetic resonance became irreplaceable tool for wirelessly transfer energy and information. Since long this effect is widely used in communications but recently it is deeply studied and applied at the contactless transfer of energy. The electric?hybrid car battery charging is an urgent need and the knowledge about the resonant contactless transfer became very important. The study of the Series Loaded Series Resonant converter shows it as well suitable for the contactless energy transfer. The idealized Series Resonant Power Converter is used as a base for defining the best (most efficient) modes of operation. Based on the magnetic parameters of the loosely coupled transformer (magnetic link), the characteristics of the contactless power converter are described in approximated form, thus permitting an easier and faster calculation of the converter variables. This is used for instantaneous control of the converter, free from previously known defects.

This dissertation tries to track the route of power production from photovoltaic sources. A worldwide look into the photovoltaic solar power production is given. The theory behind the PV cell and its application in PV power modules is presented. The DC ? DC power converters usually associated with solar PV panels are showed. The main maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are also showed. A solar PV system was dimensioned using the theoretical models and the solar PV modules (BS ? 40) available at the Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica (DEE). This system was used as a reference for designing a simulator implemented in MatLab?Simulink. This simulator includes all the components needed to test the different MPP tracking algorithms. Those components are: A PV solar module, which can be associated with others to form a solar panel; A Flyback DC ? DC power converter and a classic perturb and observe (P&O) tracking algorithm. A solar power meter that gives values in W?m2 was built in order to validate simulation values of the solar PV modules. Measuring the solar module characteristics (tension ? current) and knowing the solar irradiation at that given time it is possible to check if the simulated values and the measured ones agree. With the data collected in the simulation a new MPP tracking algorithm was presented. This is based in the classic P&O algorithm, but using modules that try to overcome the local maxima problem. It also tries to minimize the control oscillations in the converter?inverter, this is done in order to minimize losses and to maximize power production.

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Research activities at European level on the concept of new working environments offers considerable attention to the challenges of the increased competencies of people working together with automated technologies. Since the decade of 1980 the development of approaches for the humanization of work organization, and for the development of participative organizational options induced to new proposals related to the development of complex and integrated automated systems. From such parallel conceptual development emerged the concept of “anthropocentric robotic systems” and quickly it covered also other fields of automation. More recently, the debate also covers issues related to working perception of people dealing with autonomous systems (e.g. Autonomous robotics) in tasks related to production planning, to programming and to process control. In fact, today one can understand the wider use of the anthropocentrism concept of production architectures, when understanding the new quality of these systems. In this chapter the author analyses the evolution of these issues related to governance of ICT applied to manufacturing and industrial services in research programmes strengthening very much the ‘classical’ concept of anthropocentric-based systems. It is emerging a new value of the intuitive capacities and human knowledge in the optimization and flexibilization of the manufacturing processes. While this would be a pre-condition to understand the human-robot communication needs, there is also a need to take into consideration the qualitative variables in the definition and design of robotic systems, jobs and production systems.

Nowadays, among the available transparent semiconductors for device use, the great majority (if not all) have n-type conductivity. The fabrication of a transparent p-type semiconductor with good optoelectronic properties (comparable to those of n-type: InOx, ITO, ZnOx or FTO) would significantly broaden the application field of thin films. However, until now no material has yet presented all the required properties. Cu2S is a p-type narrow-band-gap material with an average optical transmittance of about 60% in the visible range for 50 nm thick films. However, due to its high conductivity at room temperature, 10 nm in thickness seems to be appropriate for device use. Cu2S thin films with 10 nm in thickness have an optical visible transmittance of about 85% rendering them as very good candidates for transparent p-type semiconductors. In this work CuxS thin films were deposited on alkali-free (AF) glass by thermal evaporation. The objective was not only the determination of its optoelectronic properties but also the feasibility of an active layer in a p-type thin film transistor. In our CuxS thin films, p-type high conductivity with a total visible transmittance of about 50% have been achieved. (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Nowadays, among the available transparent semiconductors for device use, the great majority (if not all) have n-type conductivity. The fabrication of a transparent p-type semiconductor with good optoelectronic properties (comparable to those of n-type: InOx, ITO, ZnOx or FTO) would significantly broaden the application field of thin films. However, until now no material has yet presented all the required properties. Cu2S is a p-type narrow-band-gap material with an average optical transmittance of about 60% in the visible range for 50 nm thick films. However, due to its high conductivity at room temperature, 10 nm in thickness seems to be appropriate for device use. Cu2S thin films with 10 nm in thickness have an optical visible transmittance of about 85% rendering them as very good candidates for transparent p-type semiconductors. In this work CuxS thin films were deposited on alkali-free (AF) glass by thermal evaporation. The objective was not only the determination of its optoelectronic properties but also the feasibility of an active layer in a p-type thin film transistor. In our CuxS thin films, p-type high conductivity with a total visible transmittance of about 50% have been achieved. (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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A newly discovered dinosaur track-assemblage from the Upper Jurassic Lourinha˜ Formation (Lusitanian Basin, central-west Portugal), comprises medium- to large-sized sauropod tracks with well-preserved impressions of soft tissue anatomy, stegosaur tracks and tracks from medium- to large-sized theropods. The 400-m-thick Lourinha˜ Formation consists of mostly aluvial sediments, deposited during the early rifting of the Atlantic Ocean in the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian. The stratigraphic succession shows several shifts between flood-plain mud and fluvial sands that favour preservation and fossilization of tracks. The studied track-assemblage is found preserved as natural casts on the underside of a thin bivalve-rich carbonate bed near the Tithonian–Kimmeridgian boundary. The diversity of the tracks from the new track assemblage is compared with similar faunas from the Upper Jurassic of Asturias, Spain and the Middle Jurassic Yorkshire Coast of England. The Portuguese record of Upper Jurassic dinosaur body fossils show close similarity to the track fauna from the Lourinha˜ Formation.

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