In Canada, access to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination is limited with an outcome of long patient waiting time. It is reported that the current median waiting time for MRI examination in Saskatoon is almost double the target for waiting time, which may aggravate the disease. This research is towards reducing the waiting time of patients for MRI examination in Canada by applying an improved management. As a first step of this effort, a comprehensive model of MRI booking and serving system is needed. The city of Saskatoon was taken as an example and the MRI booking and serving system in the city was studied. The common tools (queuing theory, system dynamics (SD) and discrete event dynamics simulation (DES)) were compared and it is found that DES is more suitable, in particular Petri nets (PNs), deemed to be the best choice for the purpose of this thesis. The model in this research was constructed on the basis of Hierarchical Coloured Petri nets (HCPNs), a combination of two extended PNs: Coloured PNs (CPNs) and Hierarchical PNs (HPNs). The model is able to simulate and predict patients' waiting times. Given that the structure of the model developed by HCPNs is still too complex, two extensions to CPNs, Ordered CPNs (OCPNs) and Prioritized HCPNs (PHCPNs), were proposed in this study to reduce the complexity of the model. Validation of the model was performed using the data of Saskatoon Health Region - Royal University Hospital. The results have shown that the proposed model can effectively describe the real system. The model has potential applications in decision-making for the selection of an optimal booking strategy to shorten waiting time and in the prediction of possible waiting time of the system in the future, which may assist MRI administrators in the management of medical resources and may greatly improve the quality of MRI service.

L’hémophilie est une maladie génétique se traduisant par la déficience des facteurs VIII et IX de la coagulation et conduisant à une tendance hémorragique. L’intensité des traitements substitutifs en facteur VIII et IX est définie essentiellement sur le taux basal du facteur déficitaire et non pas sur la capacité propre à chaque patient à générer de la thrombine qui est l’enzyme clé dans la formation du caillot de fibrine. Le test de génération de thrombine pourrait être utilisé pour permettre une individualisation du traitement anti-hémophilique. En effet, le taux de facteur VIII ou IX nécessaire à la normalisation de la génération de thrombine est potentiellement variable d’un patient à l’autre pour une même sévérité d’hémophilie. On peut donc se demander quelle approche expérimentale permettrait de mettre en exergue le lien entre taux de facteur anti-hémophilique et la génération de thrombine. Est-il possible de modéliser mathématiquement la coagulation pour obtenir une relation, soit explicite, soit implicite, entre taux de facteurs et génération de thrombine ? Les modèles existants permettent-ils d'obtenir une telle relation ? Une vaste campagne expérimentale a donc été menée pour mettre en place une base de données qui a permis d’identifier les facteurs déterminants de la génération de thrombine et la relation entre génération de thrombine et taux de facteur anti-hémophilique, de définir leurs valeurs de références, ainsi que d’évaluer et de paramétrer de manière sujet-spécifique des modèles mathématiques de la coagulation. / Haemophilia is a genetic disease corresponding to the deficiency of coagulation factor VIII or IX and leading to a bleeding tendency. The current substitutive treatment is defined essentially by the basal level of deficient factor and not the individual capacity to generate thrombin, a key enzyme of the clot formation. The thrombin generation assay could help in the individualisation of the anti-haemophilia treatment. Indeed, the factor VIII or IX level needed to normalise the thrombin generation vary potentially from one patient to another for a same degree of severity. We can wonder which experimental approach could emphasise the relation between level of anti-haemophilic factor and thrombin generation. Is it possible to mathematically model coagulation to obtain a relation, either explicit, or implicit, between factor level and thrombin generation? Could existing models provide this relation? An extensive experimental campaign was carried out to build a database that has been used to identify the determinant coagulation factors of thrombin generation and the individual relation between thrombin generation and anti-haemophilic factor level, to define their reference values, and also to evaluate and parametrise subject-specifically mathematical models of the coagulation cascade

A maioria dos estudos realizados sobre moonpools existentes em embarcações sempre objetivou a redução das amplitudes de oscilação da água interna a estes, pois sua usual utilização é a passagem de linhas de produção, equipamentos e mergulhadores. Estes estudos mostram que com a mudança da geometria interna do moonpool é possível alterar o comportamento de oscilação da água interna ao mesmo. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o acoplamento entre o movimento vertical da água interna ao moonpool e a dinâmica em heave do corpo flutuante. Os adimensionais que regem o problema são apontados. Através das observações e conclusões em relação aos estudos numéricos e ensaios experimentais realizados, é proposto um modelo massa-mola-amortecedor representando o acoplamento entre o movimento vertical da água interna ao moonpool e a dinâmica em heave do corpo flutuante. / Most published studies related to moonpool existent in vessels always had as it main objective the reduction of vertical oscillation of the water inside the moonpool, as its usual function is the passage of production lines, equipments and divers. These studies show that, through the change of the moonpool\'s internal geometry, it is possible to modify the behavior of vertical oscillation of the water inside the moonpool. The present work has the objective of studying coupling between the vertical movement of the water inside the moonpool and the heave dynamics of the floating-body. The nondimensional numbers that guide the problem are indicated. Through the observations and conclusions in relation to the numerical studies and experimental analysis made, it is proposed a mass-spring-dumper model representing the coupling between the vertical movement of the water inside the moonpool and the heave dynamics of the floating-body.

This dissertation focuses on the modelling, identification and the parameter estimation for the co-infection of HIV-1 and M. tuberculosis. Many research papers in this field focus primarily on HIV, but multiple infections are explored here, as it is common in many individuals infected by HIV. Tuberculosis is also responsible for the highest number of casualties per year in the group of HIV-infected individuals. A model is proposed to indicate the populations of both pathogen as well as key information factors, such as the overall infected cell population and antigen-presenting cells. Simulations are made to indicate the growth and decline in cell-type numbers for a specific individual. Such simulations would provide a means for further, well-founded investigation into appropriate treatment strategies. One previous such model developed by Kirschner is used to obtain a nominal parameter set. Furthermore, the nominal set is then used in conjunction with real-world samples provided by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, to solidify the credibility of the model in the practical case. This is achieved via simulations and employs parameter estimation techniques, namely the Nelder-Mead cost-function method. An identifiability study of the model is also done. Conclusions drawn from this study include the result that the treatment of M. tuberculosis does not affect the course of HIV-1 progression in a notable way, and that the model can indeed be used in the process of better understanding the disease profile over time of infected individuals. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / unrestricted

This thesis is concerned with characterizing the quality of Hidden Markov modeling when learning from limited data. It introduces a new perspective on different sources of errors to describe the impact of undermodeling. Our view is that modeling errors can be decomposed into two primary sources of errors: the approximation error and the estimation error. This thesis takes a first step towards exploring the approximation error of low order HMMs that best approximate the true system of a HMM. We introduce the notion minimality and show that best approximations of the true system with complexity greater or equal to the order of a minimal system are actually equivalent realizations. Understanding this further allows us to explore integer lumping and to present a new way named weighted lumping to find realizations. We also show that best approximations of order strictly less than that of a minimal realization are truly approximations; they are incapable of mimicking the true system exactly. Our work then proves that the resulting approximation error is non-decreasing as the model order decreases, verifying the intuitive idea that increasingly simplified models are less and less descriptive of the true system.

No description available.

<p>Among all additive manufacturing processes, material jetting, or inkjet 3D printing, builds the product similar to the traditional inkjet printing, either by drop-on-demand or continuous printing. Aside from the common advantages as other additive manufacturing methods, it can achieve higher resolution than other additive manufacturing methods. Combining its ability to accept a wide range of functional inks, inkjet 3D printing is predominantly used in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. A height profile model is necessary to achieve better estimation of the geometry of a printed product. Numerical height profile models have been documented that can estimate the inkjet printing process from when the droplet hits the substrate till fully cured. Although they can estimate height profiles relatively accurately, these models generally take a long time to compute. A simplified model that can achieve sufficient accuracy while reducing computational complexity is needed for real-time process control. In this work, a layer-to-layer height propagation model that aims to balance computational complexity and model accuracy is proposed and experimentally validated. The model consists of two sub-models where one is dedicated to multi-layer line printing and the other is more broadly applicable for multi-layer 2D patterns. Both models predict the height profile of drops through separate volume and area layer-to-layer propagation. The layer-to-layer propagation is based on material flow and volume conservation. The models are experimentally validated on an experimental inkjet 3D printing system equipped with a heated piezoelectric dispenser head made by Microdrop. There are notable similarities between inkjet 3D printing and inkjet image printing, which has been studied extensively to improve color printing quality. Image processing techniques are necessary to convert nearly continuous levels of color intensities to binary printing map while satisfying the human visual system at the same time. It is reasonable to leverage such image processing techniques to improve the quality of inkjet 3D printed products, which might be more effective and efficient. A framework is proposed to adapt image processing techniques for inkjet 3D printing. Standard error diffusion method is chosen as a demonstration of the framework to be adapted for inkjet 3D printing and this adaption is experimentally validated. The adapted error diffusion method can improve the printing quality in terms of geometry integrity with low demand on computation power. Model predictive control has been widely used for process control in various industries. With a carefully designed cost function, model predictive control can be an effective tool to improve inkjet 3D printing. While many researchers utilized model predictive control to indirectly improves functional side of the printed products, geometry control is often overlooked. This is possibly due to the lack of high quality height profile models for inkjet 3D printing for real-time control. Height profile control of inkjet 3D printing can be formulated as a constrained non-linear model predictive control problem. The input to the printing system is always constrained, as droplet volume not only is bounded but also cannot be continuously adjusted due to the limitation of the printhead.  A specific cost function is proposed to account for the geometry of both the final printed product and the intermediate layers better. The cost function is further adjusted for the inkjet 3D printing system to reduce memory usage for larger print geometries by introducing sparse matrix and scaler cost weights. Two patterns with different parameter settings are simulated using model predictive controller. The simulated results show a consistent improvement over open-loop prints. Experimental validation is also performed on both a bi-level pattern and a P pattern, same as that printed with adapted error diffusion for inkjet 3D printing. The model predictive controlled printing outperforms the open-loop printing. In summary, a set of layer-to-layer height propagation profile models for inkjet 3D printing are proposed and experimentally validated. A framework to adapt error diffusion to improve inkjet 3D printing is proposed and validated experimentally. Model predictive control can also improve geometric integrity of inkjet 3D printing with a carefully designed cost function to address memory usage. It is also experimentally validated.</p>

A power system stability is essential for maintaining the power system oscillation frequency within a small and acceptable interval around its nominal frequency. Hence, it is necessary to study and control the frequency for stable operation of a power system by knowing the characteristics within a power system. One approach is to understand the effectiveness of frequency and damping characteristics of generators in power systems. Hence, the simulation analysis of IEEE 118-bus power system is used for this study. The analysis includes theoretical analysis with a mathematical approach and simulation studies of swing equation to determine the characteristics of damped single-machine infinite bus, which is represented as a generator connects to a large network system with a small signal disturbance by line losses. Additionally, mathematical derivation of Prony analysis is presented in order to estimate the frequency and damping ratio of the simulation results. In the end, the results demonstrate that the frequency and damping characteristics of generators are highly dependent on the system inertia constant. Therefore, the higher inertia constant is a critical factor to ensure the system is more stable. / Master of Science

Cette thèse se consacre à l'étude de décodeurs itératifs, pour des codes correcteurd'erreurs binaires et non-binaires à faible densité (LDPC). Notre objectif est de modéliserdes décodeurs de complexité faibles et de faible latence tout en garantissantde bonne performances dans la région des très faibles taux d'erreur (error floor).Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous étudions des décodeurs itératifssur des alphabets finis (Finite Alphabet iterative decoders, FAIDs) qui ont étérécemment proposés dans la littérature. En utilisant un grand nombre de décodeursFAIDs, nous proposons un nouvel algorithme de décodage qui améliore la capacité decorrections d'erreur des codes LDPC de degré dv = 3 sur canal binaire symétrique.La diversité des décodeurs permet de garantir une correction d'erreur minimale sousdécodage itératif, au-delà de la pseudo-distance des codes LDPC. Nous donnonsdans cette thèse un exemple detailé d'un ensemble de décodeur FAIDs, qui corrigetous les évènements d'erreur de poids inférieur ou égal à 7 avec un LDPC de petitetaille (N=155,K=64,Dmin=20). Cette approche permet de corriger des évènementsd'erreur que les décodeurs traditionnels (BP, min-sum) ne parviennent pas à corriger.Enfin, nous interprétons les décodeurs FAIDs comme des systèmes dynamiques etnous analysons les comportements de ces décodeurs sur des évènements d'erreur lesplus problématiques. En nous basant sur l'observation des trajectoires périodiquespour ces cas d'étude, nous proposons un algorithme qui combine la diversité dudécodage avec des sauts aléatoires dans l'espace d'état du décodeur itératif. Nousmontrons par simulations que cette technique permet de s'approcher des performancesd'un décodage optimal au sens du maximum de vraisemblance, et ce pourplusieurs codes.Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, nous proposons un nouvel algorithmede décodage à complexité réduite pour les codes LDPC non-binaires. Nous avonsappellé cet algorithme Trellis-Extended Min-Sum (T-EMS). En transformant le domainede message en un domaine appelée domaine delta, nous sommes capable dechoisir les déviations ligne par ligne par rapport à la configuration la plus fiable,tandis que les décodeurs habituels comme le décodeur EMS choisissent les déviationscolonne par colonne. Cette technique de sélection des déviations ligne parligne nous permet de réduire la complexité du décodage sans perte de performancepar rapport aux approches du type EMS. Nous proposons également d'ajouter une colonne supplémentaire à la représentation en treillis des messages, ce qui résoudle problème de latence des décodeurs existants. La colonne supplémentaire permetde calculer tous les messages extrinséque en parallèle, avec une implémentationmatérielle dédiée. Nous présentons dans ce manuscrit, aussi bien les architecturesmatérielles parallèle que les architectures matérielles série pour l'exécution de notrealgorithme T-EMS. L'analyse de la complexité montre que l'approche T-EMS estparticulièrement adapté pour les codes LDPC non-binaires sur des corps finis deGalois de petite et moyenne dimensions. / This thesis is dedicated to the study of iterative decoders, both for binary and non-binary low density parity check (LDPC) codes. The objective is to design low complexity and low latency decoders which have good performance in the error floor region.In the first part of the thesis, we study the recently introduced finite alphabet iterative decoders (FAIDs). Using the large number of FAIDs, we propose a decoding diversity algorithm to improve the error correction capability for binary LDPC codes with variable node degree 3 over binary symmetric channel. The decoder diversity framework allows to solve the problem of guaranteed error correction with iterative decoding, beyond the pseudo-distance of the LDPC codes. We give a detailed example of a set of FAIDs which corrects all error patterns of weight 7 or less on a (N=155,K=64,Dmin=20) short structured LDPC, while traditional decoders (BP, min-sum) fail on 5-error patterns. Then by viewing the FAIDs as dynamic systems, we analyze the behaviors of FAID decoders on chosen problematic error patterns. Based on the observation of approximate periodic trajectories for the most harmful error patterns, we propose an algorithm which combines decoding diversity with random jumps in the state-space of the iterative decoder. We show by simulations that this technique can approach the performance of Maximum LikelihoodDecoding for several codes.In the second part of the thesis, we propose a new complexity-reduced decoding algorithm for non-binary LDPC codes called trellis extended min sum (T-EMS). By transforming the message domain to the so-called delta domain, we are able to choose row-wise deviations from the most reliable configuration, while usual EMS-like decoders choose the deviations column-wise. This feature of selecting the deviations row-wise enables us to reduce the decoding complexity without any performance loss compared to EMS. We also propose to add an extra column to the trellis representation of the messages, which solves the latency issue of existing decoders. The extra column allows to compute all extrinsic messages in parallel, with a proper hardware implementation. Both the parallel and the serial hardware architectures for T-EMS are discussed. The complexity analysis shows that the T-EMS is especially suitable for high ratenon-binary LDPC codes on small and moderate fields.

O presente trabalho teve o objetivo de elaborar um modelo de análise do jogo de futebol baseado em uma referência dinâmica de descrição do jogo. A elaboração deste modelo foi feita com base no modelo semântico de Lamas (2012) e na linguagem de descrição dos eventos de Seabra (2010). A partir da proposta de Lamas (2012) foi elaborado um modelo com maior resolução conceitual inspirado na categorização de tarefas de Bayer (1986), específico ao jogo de futebol. Depois disso, este modelo com maior resolução conceitual foi adaptado à linguagem de descrição dos eventos de Seabra (2010). Com o modelo adaptado foram elaboradas categorias de segmentos (classes de dinâmicas) a partir da decomposição do jogo em segmentos elementares e posterior reagrupamento destes em classes maiores que representam as transições entre as fases do modelo. A frequência de ocorrência destes segmentos foi o objeto de análise. Foram criadas três tipos de comparações entre classes a partir das frequências: classes principais, subclasses de penetração e subclasses de penetração que resultam em finalização. A aplicação do modelo na mesma unidade amostral de Seabra (2010) demonstrou que as classes de comparação são eficientes na discriminação da forma de jogar das equipes. Entretanto, o modelo final apresenta ainda muitas simplificações que diminuem seu potencial descritivo. Em virtude disto, ainda é necessário aprimora-lo para potencializar a descrição dos eventos jogo / The aim of this study was to create model soccer analysis based dynamic model. The preparation this model was based on semantic model of Lamas (2012) and events description language of Seabra (2010). A model with greater resolution inspired by the conceptual categorization tasks of Bayer (1986), specific to soccer game was elaborated from semantic model of Lamas (2012). After that, this conceptual model with higher resolution was adapted to events description language of Seabra (2010). From the adapted model, categories of segments (dynamic classes) were created from the decomposition of the game in elementary segments and subsequent reunification of these segments into larger segments classes that represent the transitions between the stages of the model. The frequency of these class was the central point of analyze. It was create three types of comparisons from class\' frequencies: main classes, penetration subclasses and finalization subclasses penetration. The application gave strong indications that the classes should be efficient in predicting the form of the teams playing. However, the final model has many simplifications that reduce its descriptive potential. For this reason, it is still necessary to improve the model to enhance the description of the game events