Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-10-19T12:02:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Nelson Calsavara Garcia Junior.pdf: 2210296 bytes, checksum: 211aeb96ba9a7739fa0af4172d0700e7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-19T12:02:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nelson Calsavara Garcia Junior.pdf: 2210296 bytes, checksum: 211aeb96ba9a7739fa0af4172d0700e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The main objective of this thesis was to analyze the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC), in its first version (2007-2010), using as basis of information the reports made available on the program site. In this material were found several problems that prevented an evaluation, as the lack of macroeconomic data on the reflection of the program in the economy, the absence of a relation and the monitoring of all the works, the lack of identification of which were in charge of the public initiative and private, the deletion of justifications for both delays (and the judicialization, which did not appear in the reports and was also not mentioned in the thesis), as well as works that were not carried out, differences of concept between the management of the program and the Court (TCU), as well as the disagreement between the indicators prepared and the results presented, since the data provided by the government indicated that in the first version 82% of the predicted values were realized and in the second version, the result reached 99, 7%. In order to situate the program, the historical reconstruction of Lula's presidential mandates was chosen. In the first one, there was a mass occupation of party members in the ministries and the reversion of this situation, motivated by the formation of coalition presidentialism, as verified that ministerial reforms were necessary and the base of support was widened. The government had the right international scenario, favored domestic consumption, adopted targeted social policies, increased domestic debt and kept the exchange rate overvalued. In the second term, the political aspect was not addressed, on the understanding that coalition presidentialism had only been intensified. In addition, an expansionist economic policy prevailed, focused social policy and overvalued exchange rates, domestic consumption was favored, domestic debt increased, there was conviviality with deindustrialization and with an economic model different from that adopted by FHC, but favorable to the great capital / O objetivo principal dessa tese foi analisar o Plano de Aceleração do Crescimento (PAC), em sua primeira versão (2007-2010), utilizando como base de informações os relatórios disponibilizados no site do programa. Nesse material foram encontrados vários problemas que impediram uma avaliação, como a falta de dados macroeconômicos sobre o reflexo do programa na economia, a ausência de uma relação e o acompanhamento de todas as obras, a falta de identificação de quais estavam a cargo da iniciativa pública e privada, a supressão de justificativas tanto para os atrasos (como a judicialização, que não apareceu nos relatórios e também não foi citada na tese), como às obras que não foram realizadas, as divergências de conceito entre a gestão do programa e o Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) e ainda a discordância dos indicadores elaborados e dos resultados apresentados, uma vez que os dados disponibilizados pelo governo apontaram que na primeira versão 82% dos valores previstos foram realizados e na segunda versão, o resultado chegou a 99,7%. Para situar o programa, optou-se pela reconstrução histórica dos mandatos presidenciais de Lula, sendo que no primeiro, houve a ocupação em massa de membros do partido nos ministérios e a reversão desse quadro, motivado pela formação do presidencialismo de coalizão, constatado à medida que as reformas ministeriais foram necessárias e a base de apoio foi ampliada. O governo contou com o cenário internacional oportuno, favoreceu o consumo interno, adotou políticas sociais focalizadas, aumentou a dívida interna e manteve o câmbio sobrevalorizado. No segundo mandato, o aspecto político não foi abordado, pelo entendimento que o presidencialismo de coalizão só fora intensificado. Além disso, prevaleceu uma política econômica expansionista, a política social focalizada e o câmbio sobrevalorizado, o consumo interno foi favorecido, a dívida interna aumentou, houve convívio com a desindustrialização e com um modelo econômico diferente do adotado por FHC, mas, favorável ao grande capital

Les futurs réacteurs à neutrons rapides refroidis au sodium (RNR-Na) doivent remplir les critères GEN-IV à savoir présenter des qualités d'économie, de sûreté améliorée, de résistance à la prolifération et de minimisation des déchets. Ce projet de thèse est dédié à l'étude de l'impact des combustibles innovants (spécialement le combustible oxyde sphere-pac chargé en actinides mineurs) sur les performances de sûreté des RNR-Na dédiés à la transmutation.Le code de calcul SIMMER-III, développé à l'origine pour les phases avancées d'un accident grave, est utilisé pour les simulations. Ce code a été étendu dans le cadre de cette thèse afin d'améliorer la simulation de la phase primaire de l'accident, en introduisant le traitement des effets en réactivité liés à la dilatation du cœur et les spécificités du combustible sphere-pac (conductivité thermique, gap). Les transitoires complets (de la phase d'initiation aux phases avancées) sont simulés avec cette version étendue du code. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, les propriétés thermiques du combustible sphere-pac ont été modélisées et adaptées à SIMMER. Une méthodologie innovante tenant compte des effets en réactivité liés à la dilation thermique du cœur dans un maillage Eulérien et dans le cadre de la cinétique spatiale a ensuite été développée. A chaque pas de temps, les dimensions et densités dilatées sont calculées pour chaque cellule suite aux variations de températures. Des facteurs correctifs sont appliqués aux densités dilatées pour obtenir une configuration équivalente (en réactivité) ayant les dimensions non-dilatées et des densités modifiées. De nouvelles sections efficaces sont calculées à partir de ces densités et l'effet en réactivité lié à la dilatation est calculé. Les résultats sont prometteurs pour des dilatations uniformes et non-uniformes. Des limitations dans le cas de dilatations non-uniformes ont été identifiées et des calculs neutroniques ont été effectués en vue de futurs développements SIMMER. Les résultats préliminaires sont encourageants. Enfin, deux cœurs RNR-Na, issus du précédent projet CP-ESFR, ont été modélisés avec des combustibles sphere-pac : le Working Horse et le CONF2 (présentant un plénum sodium élargi pour une diminution de l'effet de vide sodium). Des analyses de sûreté ont été effectuées afin de fournir une première évaluation du comportement du combustible sphere-pac comparé au combustible pastille. Les deux options sont analysées en situation nominale et accidentelle (accident de perte de débit primaire) en début de vie du cœur et après irradiation. Les analyses révèlent deux phases à considérer en début de vie pour le combustible sphere-pac. Au démarrage du réacteur, ce combustible n'est pas restructuré et sa conductivité thermique est très inférieure à celle du combustible pastille. Après quelques heures sous irradiation, il se restructure suite aux importants gradients de température, ce qui améliore sa conductivité. Il se comporte alors de façon similaire au combustible pastille. Ce travail a également permis d'évaluer le comportement accidentel du cœur CONF2 qui subit un transitoire doux, prouvant que le large plénum sodium prévient efficacement de larges insertions de réactivité positive. Cependant, avec l'ajout d'américium ou suite à l'irradiation, des excursions de puissance et de réactivité plus prononcées sont observées. Ce travail a permis de démontrer que le combustible sphere-pac ne semble pas causer de problèmes de sûreté spécifiques comparé au combustible pastille, dans les conditions de simulations actuelles. La prise en compte des effets en réactivité liés à la dilatation du cœur avec cette version étendue de SIMMER retarde et réduit le potentiel énergétique lors d'un accident. Les analyses confirment également l'action atténuante du plénum sodium sur les transitoires conduisant à la vidange du sodium du coeur. Le comportement du combustible sphere-pac dans ces conditions ouvre une perspective à son utilisation en RNR-Na. / Future sodium cooled fast reactors (SFRs) have to fulfill the GEN-IV requirements of enhanced safety, minimal waste production, increased proliferation resistance and high economical potential. This PhD project is dedicated to the evaluation of the impact of innovative fuels (especially minor actinides bearing oxide sphere-pac fuels) on the safety performance of advanced SFRs with transmutation option. The SIMMER-III code, originally tailored to mechanistically analyze later phases of core disruptive accidents, is employed for accident simulations. During the PhD project, the code has been extended for a better simulation of the early accident phase introducing the treatment of thermal expansion reactivity effects and for taking into account the specifics of sphere-pac fuels (thermal conductivity and gap conditions). The entire transients (from the initiating event to later accident phases) have been modeled with this extended SIMMER version. Within this PhD work, first the thermo-physical properties of sphere-pac fuel have been modeled and casted into SIMMER-III. Then, a new computational method to account for thermal expansion feedbacks has been developed to improve the initiation phase modeling of the code. The technique has the potential to evaluate these reactivity feedbacks for a fixed Eulerian mesh and in a spatial kinetics framework. At each time step, cell-wise expanded dimensions and densities are calculated based on temperature variations. Density factors are applied to the expanded densities to get an equivalent configuration (in reactivity) with original dimensions and modified densities. New cross sections are calculated with these densities and the reactivity of the equivalent configuration is computed. The developed methods show promising results for uniform and non-uniform expansions. For non-uniform expansions, model improvement needs have been identified and neutronics simulations have been carried out to support future SIMMER extensions. Preliminary results are encouraging. In the third part of the PhD, two core designs with conventional and sphere pac fuels are compared with respect to their transient behavior. These designs were established in the former CP-ESFR project: the working horse core and the optimized CONF2 core (with a large sodium plenum above the core for coolant void worth reduction). The two fuel design options are compared for steady state and transient conditions (Unprotected Loss of Flow accident, ULOF) either at beginning of life (BOL) or under irradiated conditions. Analyses for sphere-pac fuel reveal two main phases to consider at BOL. At start-up, the non-restructured sphere-pac fuel shows a low thermal conductivity compared to pellet fuel of same density. However, the fuel restructures quickly (in a few hours) due to the high thermal gradients and its thermal conductivity recovers. The fuel then shows a behavior close to the pellet one. The study also shows that the CONF2 core leads to a very mild transient for a ULOF accident at BOL. The large upper sodium plenum seems to effectively prevent large positive reactivity insertions. However, stronger reactivity and power peaks are observed under irradiated conditions or when americium is loaded in the core and lower axial blanket. This PhD work demonstrates, under current simulation conditions, that sphere-pac fuels do not seem to cause specific safety issues compared to standard pellet fuels, when loaded in SFRs. The accurate simulation of core thermal expansion reactivity feedbacks by means of the extended SIMMER version plays an important role in the accident timing (simulations confirm the expected delay in the first power peak) and on the energetic potential compared to the case where these feedbacks are omitted. The analyses also confirm the mitigating impact of a large sodium plenum on transients with voiding potential. The behavior of sphere-pac fuel in these conditions opens a perspective to its practical application in SFRs.

Les deux premi`eres parties de cette th`ese 'etudient respectivement des estimateurs pseudo-bay'esiens dans les probl`emes de compl'etion de matrices, et de tomographie quantique. Dans chaque probl`eme, on propose une loi a priori qui induit des matrices de faible rang. On 'etudie les performances statistiques: dans chacun des deux cas, on prouve des vitesses de convergence pour nos estimateurs. Notre analyse repose essentiellement sur des in'egalit'es PAC-Bay'esiennes. On propose aussi un algorithme MCMC pour impl'ementer notre estimateur. On teste ensuite ses performances sur des donn'ees simul'ees, et r'eelles. La derni`ere partie de la th`ese 'etudie le probl`eme de lifelong learning (que l'on peut traduire par apprentissage au long cours), o`u de l'information est conserv'ee et transf'er'ee d'un probl`eme d'apprentissage `a un autre. Nous proposons une formalisation de ce probl`eme dans un contexte de pr'ediction s'equentielle. Nous proposons un m'eta-algorithme pour le transfert d'information, qui repose sur l'agr'egation `a poids exponentiels. On prouve une borne sur le regret de cette m'ethode. Un avantage important de notre analyse est qu'elle ne requiert aucune hypoth`ese sur la forme des algorithmes d'apprentissages utilis'es `a l'int'erieur de chaque probl`eme. On termine cette partie par l''etude de quelques exemples: cas d'un nombre fini de pr'edicteurs, apprentissage d'une direction r'ev'elatrice, et apprentissage d'un dictionnaire. / The first two parts of the thesis study pseudo-Bayesian estimation for the problem of matrix completion and quantum tomography. A novel low-rank inducing prior distribution is proposed for each problem. The statistical performance is examined: in each case we provide the rate of convergence of the pseudo-Bayesian estimator. Our analysis relies on PAC-Bayesian oracle inequalities. We also propose an MCMC algorithm to compute our estimator. The numerical behavior is tested on simulated and real data sets. The last part of the thesis studies the lifelong learning problem, a scenario of transfer learning, where information is transferred from one learning task to another. We propose an online formalization of the lifelong learning problem. Then, a meta-algorithm is proposed for lifelong learning. It relies on the idea of exponentially weighted aggregation. We provide a regret bound on this strategy. One of the nice points of our analysis is that it makes no assumption on the learning algorithm used within each task. Some applications are studied in details: finite subset of relevant predictors, single index model, dictionary learning.

The aluminium content of water extracts is an important aspect for the food safety of paper board, as the content indicates the ability of the paper board material to transfer aluminium to the packaged food product. Aluminium intake in humans and its health effects have been discussed for many years as some research has seen potential links between, among other things, high aluminium levels in the brain and the development of hereditary Alzheimer's.BfR's method and recommendation is the one that is generally followed by producers around the world, as there is no common international law. The method involves leaving small pieces of the paper board in Milli-Q water for 24 hours, before a content determination of Al is made in the formed water extract. In 2021, BfR halved its recommended limit for aluminium in aqueous extracts from 2 mg/L to 1 mg/L. For Stora Enso Skoghall, this led to some of their paper board grades not meeting this limit.A specific liquid packaging board grade that previously did not meet BfR's new limit was selected and alum as a flocculant was replaced with PAC, among other things. The aim was to investigate whether the change in flocculation chemical, as well as varying dosages, could affect the Al content in water extracts and whether PAC could possibly result in a lower Al content. The method for the water extracts and their effect on the final Al content have also been investigated further. This is done by performing the BfR method with artificial tap water as well, and then comparing the Al content in these extracts.PAC as a flocculant instead of alum did not result in lower levels of Al in the water extracts. Variations in dosage and production without aluminium-containing flocculants also did not significantly affect the Al content of the extracts. The type of water used in the analysis turned out to play a major role in how much aluminium migrated from the board. All samples extracted in artificial tap water resulted in Al levels less than the 1 mg/L limit. For the majority of the samples extracted in Milli-Q water, the Al levels were instead closer to 2 mg/L. The difference in Al content between the water extracts is believed to be mainly due to differences in pH and thus varying amounts of soluble aluminium.The results showed a relatively large variation between the two external laboratories used. This is believed to be mainly due to variations in method and measuring equipment, but one must also consider the small sample size that was tested and what variations it entails.

Abstrakt Bakgrund: Idag är bröstcancer en av de vanligaste cancerorsakerna för kvinnor i västvärlden. Diagnostisering för att upptäcka patologi i bröstvävnad sker vanligtvis genom röntgenbildtagning av brösten, antingen genom ett nationellt screeningprogram eller genom att patienten själv väljer att besöka en mammografisk mottagning. Proceduren för att ta bröstbilder kan upplevas smärtsam eller obehaglig och flertalet tekniker för att minska dessa obehagskänslor har genom åren framkommit, däribland patientassisterad bröstkompression. Erfarenheter från praktik och arbete vid mammografiska enheter lyfte intresset av metoder som kunde minska patientens obehag, vilket föranledde denna litteraturstudie. Syfte: Att undersöka effekten av patientassisterad bröstkompression vid mammografiska undersökningar på upplevelsen av smärta, obehag och nöjdhet jämfört med traditionell bröstkompression. Metod: Kvantitativ litteraturstudie med bas i åtta studier framtagna från databaserna PubMed och Cinahl.Resultat: Obetydlig effekt på smärtupplevelsen men fördelaktigt resultat på lindring av obehagskänslor och större patientnöjdhet jämfört med vanlig mammografisk bröstkompression. Konklusion: Resultatet tyder på att patientassisterad bröstkompression i mammografisk miljö kan minska upplevelsen av obehag som är associerat med mammografiska undersökningar och bidra till större patientnöjdhet och patientautonomi i enlighet med svensk vårddoktrin.  Nyckelord: PAC, radiografi, smärta, mammografi, obehag, nöjdhet, bröstkompression, patientassisterad, litteraturöversikt / Abstract Background: Today, breast cancer is one of the leading forms of cancer for women in the western world. Mammograms, x-ray pictures of the breast, are usually taken to diagnose pathologies in breast tissue either through a national screening programme, or by remittance from a physician due to patient symptoms. The experience of taking mammographic images are often viewed as painful or uncomfortable and methods to alleviate such feelings have been developed, such as patient-assisted compression. Experiences from work and internship at mammography units gave rise to an interest in methods to decrease patient discomfort, which prompted this particular literature study. Objective: To examine the effect of patient-assisted compression on the patient experience of pain, discomfort and satisfaction compared to traditional breast compression in mammography. Method: Quantitative literature study with basis in eight articles from the PubMed and Cinahl databases. Results: The results show no definitive effect of patient-assisted compression on the patients experience of pain, although there is a favorable result on the experience of discomfort and patient satisfaction compared to traditional breast compression. Conclusion: The result points towards positive effects on lowering patient discomfort and improving patient satisfaction during mammographic breast compressions, and has potential to enhance patient autonomy in accordance with Swedish healthcare doctrine. Keywords: PAC, radiography, pain, mammography, discomfort, satisfaction, compression, patient-assisted, literature review

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Nutrition / Delores H. Chambers / Vegetables are popular among consumers because of their versatility of preparation, unique sensory characteristics, and exceptional health benefits. Trends such as organic farming and breeding to increase nutrition and functional health components have increased interest in understanding the flavor of vegetables, such as leafy greens. A lexicon of thirty-two flavor attributes was created to help describe the flavor of fresh leafy vegetables. This lexicon includes five “green” attributes; mouth feel characteristics such as pungent, bite, tooth-etch, and heat/burn; fundamental tastes including bitter and umami; seven terms that describe unique flavors related to specific vegetables such as cabbage, celery, lettuce, spinach, parsley, beet, and radish leaves; and a group of other terms including citrus, piney, woody, water-like, musty/earthy, floral, sulfur, metallic, soapy, petroleum-like, and overall sweet. In addition, our study encompassed a series of sensory tests which will aid in better understanding the effects of several production variables on the sensory characteristics of pac choi and tomato. Variables evaluated were production systems (i.e. organic and conventional), fertilizer amount (i.e. high, low, and no fertilizer), environment (i.e. field and high tunnel), maturity level (i.e. 2.5, 4.5, and 6.5-week old plants at the time of harvest), and shelf life (i.e. 1, 4, 9, 18 days of refrigerated storage). Samples were grown at the Kansas State University Horticulture Research Center located in Olathe, Kansas. Highly trained descriptive panelists from the Sensory Analysis Center at Kansas State University evaluated the samples. There do not appear to be major sensory differences between organic and conventional products specific to the crops and seasons studied. Furthermore, when differences were present, they generally were quite small and showed no clear trends or patterns favoring one production system over the other even after refrigerated storage. However, it is suggested that differences in flavor and volatile composition between organic and conventional pac choi may be more evident at early stages of growth.

Les travaux de cette thèse portent sur l'intégration d'un système à pile à combustible hybride dans un tracteur agricole. Dans notre travail, plusieurs architectures de réseaux électriques embarquées et de stratégies de gestion de l'énergie sont envisagées. Une modélisation du système complet est mise en place sous Matlab Simulink afin de pouvoir simuler les différents scénarii envisagés, de même qu'un banc de test permettant de valider les résultats issus des simulations purement numériques. L'objectif premier de ce travail est d'optimiser les flux énergétiques relatifs aux diverses sources et charges constitutives du système et ainsi de réduire la consommation du véhicule pour des cycles de mission agricoles. Cette thèse découle d'un projet de recherche commun entre le G2ELab, le CEA Grenoble et l'entreprise AGCO, implémenté en France à Beauvais qui commercialise des machines agricoles sous quatre marques : Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Valtra et Challenger.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.

In 1998, it was proved by Ben-David and Litman that a concept space has a sample compression scheme of size $d$ if and only if every finite subspace has a sample compression scheme of size $d$. In the compactness theorem, measurability of the hypotheses of the created sample compression scheme is not guaranteed; at the same time measurability of the hypotheses is a necessary condition for learnability. In this thesis we discuss when a sample compression scheme, created from compression schemes on finite subspaces via the compactness theorem, have measurable hypotheses. We show that if $X$ is a standard Borel space with a $d$-maximum and universally separable concept class $\m{C}$, then $(X,\CC)$ has a sample compression scheme of size $d$ with universally Borel measurable hypotheses. Additionally we introduce a new variant of compression scheme called a copy sample compression scheme.

Ce travail s'inscrit dans l'effort d'optimiser l'utilisation des ressources énergétiques en valorisant des rejets thermiques industriels à basse température tels que ceux trouvés dans les alumineries québécoises. Deux systèmes de valorisation de chaleur sont détaillés et analysés. Le premier système est constitué de deux échangeurs de chaleur, l'un situé à la source de chaleur et l'autre à la charge, et d'une boucle intermédiaire dans laquelle circule un fluide caloporteur chargé de transférer la chaleur d'un site à l'autre. Le deuxième système est constitué d'un cycle de Rankine organique (ORC), qui produit de l'électricité, et d'une pompe à chaleur (PAC), qui consomme de l'électricité et produit de la chaleur. La question fondamentale à laquelle ce travail essaie de répondre est: Quel est le meilleur système ? Quatre critères ont été utilisés pour répondre à cette question: 1) le rendement énergétique, 2) le rendement exergétique, 3) l'attrait économique et 4) l'impact sur l'environnement. Concernant le rendement énergétique, le système 1 est plus attrayant avec un rendement de 70% contre 21% pour le système 2. Concernant le rendement exergétique, le système 1 est également plus attrayant avec 30% contre 9% pour le système 2. Le système 1 semble légèrement plus intéressant que le système 2 pour l'attrait économique avec un coût d'investissement plus faible se traduisant pour un taux de rendement interne (TRI) sur 15 ans de 10.9% contre 7.5%. L'analyse économique est toutefois sensible aux hypothèses émises, qui peuvent varier grandement d'un site à l'autre. L'analyse du cycle de vie démontre de manière non équivoque que le système 1 est plus dommageable pour l'environnement, notamment en raison de la quantité de béton nécessaire à sa construction. Ce travail contient deux articles de conférence et un article de journal (soumis, mais non accepté à la date de dépôt de ce mémoire). L'analyse à l'aide de nombres sans dimension du système 1 permet d'identifier les variables non-dimensionnelles qui ont le plus d'influence sur les indices de performance de ce système. La méthode des moindres carrés est utilisée pour développer des corrélations entre chacun des indicateurs de performance et les variables non-dimensionnelles, et l'application de ces corrélations pour la conception d'un tel système est démontrée par un exemple qui utilise un algorithme génétique qui détermine les conditions maximisant l'efficacité exergétique.