No description available.

Electrical bushings are a type of hollow or solid conductor withinsulation designed to allow a conductor to pass through a conductingbarrier without making electrical contact and are very important forsafe transportation of electricity. The bushings vary in size, but allbushings have a solid or hollow conductor.This project aims to investigate which resistivities of the siliconerubber, in combination with different air conditions for the airsurrounding the bushing (dry, average and humid air) and theirrespective resistivities, to see which combinations allow for anelectrical field that allows the bushing to safely work without beingdamaged. The different air conditions are an important factor since theyall correspond to different absolute humidities present in the air,which have a direct impact on the strength of the electrical fieldsurrounding the bushing. Since this cannot be done by hand, a computersoftware called COMSOL Multiphysics will be used. COMSOL is aMultiphysics software, meaning one can simulate many types of physics atonce. With the help of this software, and a model provided by HitachiEnergy, results could be found stating that dry air overall is the bestcondition of air for the bushing, followed by average (not either dry orhumid) air and lastly humid air.

No description available.

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is showing great potential as an atomic analytical technique. With its ability to rapidly analyze all forms of matter, with little-to-no sample preparation, LIBS has many advantages over conventional atomic emission spectroscopy techniques. With the maturation of the technologies that make LIBS possible, there has been a growing movement to implement LIBS in portable analyzers for field applications. In particular, LIBS has long been considered the front-runner in the drive for stand-off detection of trace deposits of explosives. Thus there is a need for a better understanding of the relevant processes that are responsible for the LIBS signature and their relationships to the different system parameters that are helping to improve LIBS as a sensing technology. This study explores the use of LIBS as a method to detect random trace amounts of specific organic materials deposited on organic or non-metallic surfaces. This requirement forces the limitation of single-shot signal analysis. This study is both experimental and theoretical, with a sizeable component addressing data analysis using principal components analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the data, and quadratic discriminant analysis to classify the data. In addition, the alternative approach of ‘target factor analysis’ was employed to improve detection of organic residues on organic substrates. Finally, a new method of characterizing the laser-induced plasma of organics, which should lead to improved data collection and analysis, is introduced. The comparison between modeled and experimental measurements of plasma temperatures and electronic density is discussed in order to improve the present models of low-temperature laser induced plasmas.

This project investigates the failure of various CMOS circuits as a result of Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB) and explores design techniques to increase the mean time to failure (MTTF) of large-scale circuits. Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown is a phenomenon where the oxide underneath the gate degrades as a result of the electric field in the material. Currently, there are few well documented design techniques that can increase lifetime, but with a tool chain I created called the MTTF Analyzing Program, or MAP, I was able to test circuits under various conditions in order to identify weak links, discover relationships, and reiterate on my design and see improvements and effects. The tool chain calculates power consumption, performance, temperature, and MTTF for a 'real life' circuit. Electric VLSI, an Electronic Design Automation tool, outputs a Spice file that yields parasitic quantities and spatial dimensions. LTspice, a high performance Spice simulator, was used to calculate the voltage and current data. Finally, I created MAP to monitor the voltage, current, and dimension data and process that in conjunction with HotSpot, a thermal modeling tool, to calculate a MTTF for each MOSFET. Analysis of the data from the software infrastructure showed that transistor sizing played a role in the MTTF. To maximize the MTTF of a transistor in a CMOS inverter, the activity of the pull-up transistor should be balanced with the transistor in the pull-down chain, ensuring the electric fields are balanced across both transistors. While it is impossible to completely balance an arbitrary CMOS circuit's activity for an arbitrary set of input signals, circuits can be intelligently skewed to help maximize the MTTF without increasing power consumption and without sacrificing circuit performance. Consequently, attaining a maximum MTTF does not come at a cost as it is possible to design a circuit with a high MTTF that performs better and uses less power than a circuit with low MTTF.

The natural unsteadiness in the post-breakdown flowfield of a 75° sweep delta wing at 40° angle of attack was studied with dual and single point hot-wire anemometry in the Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) Wind Tunnel at a Reynolds number Re = 210,000. Data were taken in five crossflow planes surrounding the wing's trailing edge. Results showed a dominant narrowband Strouhal frequency of St = 1.5 covering approximately 80% of the area with lower-intensity broadband secondary frequencies over 15% of that region. Cross-correlations between a fixed and traversing wire were calculated and phase and coherences mapped to determine the convection speed and trajectory of the helical mode instability. High-speed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was conducted over a 75° sweep delta wing at 40° angle of attack in the ESM Water Tunnel II at Re = 45,000. Data were taken along the axis of the vortex in the breakdown flowfield at a speed of 0.1% of the convective time scale of the flow. Animations of instantaneous streamlines and velocity vectors revealed the impression of a helically spiralling vortex core on the measurement plane. Spectral analysis of the PIV data showed reduced frequencies which confirmed those found with the single-point measurements made in the ESM Wind Tunnel. The effect of four novel control surfaces on the breakdown flowfield of the delta wing was studied with surface pressure measurements along the axis of the vortex in the ESM Wind Tunnel. The apex flap was found effective and delayed vortex breakdown by 8° for a fixed wing. The flowfield was characterized over the delta wing executing a pitch-up maneuver at a reduced frequency of 0.06. Surface pressure measurements were taken in the ESM Wind Tunnel and Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) was employed in the ESM Water Tunnel I as both the unmodified wing and then the wing with an apex flap deployed at an optimal angle <font face="Symbol">b</font> = 15° executed the pitch-up. Both sets of data confirmed the hysteresis of the flowfield. The LDV data, taken in two crossflow planes throughout the maneuver, showed an asymmetric breakdown development. As a practical extension of the study of the breakdown wake flowfield, hot-wire measurements were made over an F/A-18 model to determine the spectral characteristics of the flowfield. Three-dimensional vortex interactions were investigated with helium bubble flow visualization in the VPI Stability Tunnel. / Ph. D.

No description available.

Syftet med studien är att belysa socialsekreterarnas perspektiv på det stöd de kan ge till familjehem samt om de ansåg att det finns stöd som kan motverka sammanbrott. Tidigare forskning vi belyser tar upp familjehemmens perspektiv på stöd. Forskningen visar att de ibland upplever socialsekreterarna som otillgängliga och att de saknar stöd för att klara sitt uppdrag. De centrala frågorna i denna studie är vilket stöd som socialsekreterare kan ge familjehem samt om det finns något specifikt stöd som kan minska risken för sammanbrott. I studien intervjuades tio stycken socialsekreterare från olika arbetsplatser i Stockholmsområdet. Detta är en kvalitativ studie som analyserats med hjälp utifrån Bronfenbrenners utvecklingsekologiska teori. Studiens resultat visar att respondenterna upplever att det stöd som finns är tillräckligt, att de har gott om handlingsutrymme och även att stöd till familjehem går att individanpassa. Enligt respondenterna är det flera saker som behövs för att minska risken för sammanbrott, exempelvis är det viktigt med väl genomförda utredningar av familjehemmen och att en god matchning mellan barnet och det tilltänkta familjehemmet sker. Studien uppmärksammar vikten av att se till helheten för att lyckas med hållbara placeringar. / The purpose of the study is to highlight social workers' perspectives on the support they can provide to foster families and whether they believed that there is support that can prevent breakdown. Previous research highlighted the foster family's perspective on support, showing that they sometimes experience social workers as inaccessible and lack of support to manage their responsibilities. The central questions in this study are what kind of support social workers can provide to foster families and whether there is specific support that can reduce the risk of breakdown. Ten social workers from various workplaces in the Stockholm area were interviewed in the study. This is a qualitative study that has been analyzed using Bronfenbrenner's ecological development theory. The study's results show that the respondents believe that the available support is sufficient, that they have plenty of room for action, and that support to foster families can be tailored to individual needs. According to the respondents, several things are needed to reduce the risk of breakdown, such as well-conducted investigations of the foster family and a good matching between the child and the intended foster family. The study highlights the importance of considering the overall situation to succeed with sustainable placements.

Die Herzinsuffizienz ist aufgrund ihrer weltweit ansteigenden Prävalenz und den damit einhergehenden beträchtlichen Kosten im stationären sowie ambulanten Sektor von großer Relevanz für die globalen Gesundheitssysteme. Trotz multipler Möglichkeiten der pharmakologischen und chirurgischen Therapie ist die Mortalität weiterhin hoch. Die Etablierung neuer medikamentöser Behandlungsansätze ist daher von enormer Bedeutung und bedarf der Erweiterung des Verständnisses der pathophysiologischen Grundlagen der Erkrankung. Kardiomyopathien zählen zu den häufigsten Ursachen der Herzinsuffizienz. Dysfunktionen des Ubiquitin-Proteasom-Systems (UPS) wurden bereits in der Progression der Herzinsuffizienz bei Kardiomyopathien diskutiert und setzten einen potentiellen Fokus auf die E3-Ligasen. Diese Hypothese aufgreifend hatte die vorliegende Arbeit das Ziel, erstmalig den kompletten Myostatin/AKT/forkhead box protein (FOXO)-Signalweg und dessen Auswirkungen auf die E3-Ligasen muscle atrophy F-box gene (MAFbx) und muscle ring-finger protein-1 (MuRF1) im fortgeschrittenen humanen Kardiomyopathie-Stadium zu charakterisieren und mögliche neue Ansatzpunkte für die pharmakologische Therapie verschiedener Formen der Kardiomyopathie zu ermitteln. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Myokardproben von 26 Patienten mit ischämischer Kardiomyopathie (ICM), 23 Patienten mit dilatativer Kardiomyopathie (DCM) und 17 Kontrollpatienten molekularbiologisch, proteinbiochemisch und immunhistochemisch analysiert, um Veränderungen der Komponenten der Myostatin/AKT/FOXO-Signalkaskade und der E3-Ligasen MAFbx und MuRF1 zu identifizieren. Aus diesen Untersuchungen resultierten umfangreiche Alterationen des Signalwegs vor allem in DCM-Patienten. In dieser Gruppe war die Gen- und Proteinexpression der E3-Ligase MAFbx und des Transkriptionsfaktors FOXO1 gegenüber der Kontrollgruppe verringert. Weiterhin zeigte sich eine Reduktion von AKT auf der Genexpressionsebene und von Myostatin auf der Proteinebene in der DCM-Gruppe. Die ICM-Patienten wiesen mit Reduktionen der Genexpression von AKT und MAFbx sowie einem verringerten Anteil MuRF1-positiver Zellen in den immunhistochemischen Analysen nur geringe Unterschiede gegenüber der Kontrollgruppe auf. Die limitierten Veränderungen des Myostatin/AKT/FOXO-Signalwegs und der E3-Ligasen MAFbx und MuRF1 in ICM-Patienten lassen auf eine eher begrenzte Relevanz der Signalkaskade in der Pathophysiologie dieser Erkrankung schließen. Im Kontrast dazu stehen die detektierten Alterationen der analysierten Zielmoleküle in der DCM-Gruppe. Diese Divergenzen zeigen Unterschiede in der Pathogenese von ICM und DCM auf der Ebene des UPS. Daher unterstützt diese Arbeit die Hypothese, dass eine Therapieoptimierung dieser beiden Kardiomyopathien durch pharmakologische Adressierung verschiedener molekularer Ansatzpunkte erreicht werden könnte. In dieser Arbeit konnte die simultane Reduktion von MAFbx und FOXO1 in DCM-Patienten gezeigt werden. Durch die Validierung dieser synergistischen Regulation könnte FOXO1 einen potentiellen Angriffspunkt neuer medikamentöser Therapien der DCM darstellen. Unklar bleibt, ob die beobachtete Reduktion von MAFbx Ausdruck eines kardialen Schutzmechanismus oder der Progression des pathologischen Remodelings ist. Daher müssen weiterführende Studien klären, ob die E3-Ligase MAFbx über die therapeutische Beeinflussung des Transkriptionsfaktors FOXO1 herauf- oder herabreguliert werden sollte. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit geben zudem einen Hinweis darauf, dass die Regulation von FOXO1 und MAFbx in DCM-Patienten nicht allein von Myostatin und AKT abhängig ist. Die Betrachtung weiterer Einflussfaktoren von MAFbx und FOXO1 in humanem Herzmuskelgewebe könnte somit ebenfalls Gegenstand zukünftiger Forschungsvorhaben sein. / Disturbances in the ubiquitin proteasome system, and especially changes of the E3 ligases, are subjects of interest when searching for causes and therapies for cardiomyopathies. The aim of this study was to clarify whether the myostatin/AKT/forkhead box O (FOXO) pathway, which regulates the expression of the E3 ligases muscle atrophy F-box gene (MAFbx) and muscle ring-finger protein-1 (MuRF1), is changed in dilated cardiomyopathy of ischemic origin (IDCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy of non-ischemic origin (NIDCM). The mRNA and protein expression of myostatin, AKT, FOXO1, FOXO3, MAFbx and MuRF1 were quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction and ELISA, respectively, in myocardial tissue from 26 IDCM and 23 NIDCM patients. Septal tissue from 17 patients undergoing Morrow resection served as a control. MAFbx and FOXO1 mRNA and protein expression (all p < 0.05), AKT mRNA (p < 0.01) and myostatin protein expression (p = 0.02) were decreased in NIDCM patients compared to the control group. Apart from decreases of AKT and MAFbx mRNA expression (both p < 0.01), no significant differences were detected in IDCM patients compared to the control group. Our results demonstrate that the myostatin/AKT/FOXO pathway is altered in NIDCM but not in IDCM patients. FOXO1 seems to be an important drug target for regulating the expression of MAFbx in NIDCM patients.

Les mémoires non volatiles intégrées représentent une part importante du marché des semi-conducteurs. Bien qu'il s'adresse à de nombreuses applications différentes, ce type de mémoire fait face à des problèmes pour poursuivre la réduction continue de la résolution des technologies CMOS. En effet, l'introduction récente de high-k et de métal pour la grille des transistors menace la compétitivité de la solution Flash. En conséquence, de nombreuses solutions émergentes sont étudiées. L'Antifuse dans le cadre des mémoires OTP est utilisée pour l'identification de puces, la configuration de circuits, la réparation de système ou le stockage de données sécurisées. La programmation Antifuse repose sur la dégradation de l'oxyde de grille de son condensateur sous haute tension. Des travaux antérieurs ont déjà apporté quelques connaissances sur les mécanismes physiques impliqués sur des technologies à oxyde de grille SiO2. De nouveaux défis découlent de l'introduction des nouveaux matériaux de grille. Un examen complet est nécessaire sur les mécanismes de dégradation des oxydes impliqués dans la programmation Antifuse. L'utilisation intensive de la haute tension suggère également d'étendre notre connaissance sur la fiabilité dans cette gamme de tension. Les états pré et post-claquage de l'oxyde de grille sous des mécanismes à haute tension sont donc étudiés dans ce manuscrit se concentrant sur les technologies CMOS les plus avancées. Une loi en puissance type TDDB a été étendue vers les hautes tensions pour être utilisée comme un modèle de temps de programmation Antifuse. L'extension de la fiabilité TDDB nous donne également un élément clé pour modéliser la durée de vie du transistor de sélection. Des paramètres de programmation tels que l'amplitude de la tension, la compliance du courant ou la température sont également étudiés et leur impact sur le rendement en courant de lecture est abordé. Cette étude nous permet de rétrécir agressivement la surface globale de la cellule sans perte de performance ni de dégradation de la fiabilité. Un processus de caractérisation Antifuse est proposé pour être retravaillé et un modèle de programmation de tension-température-dépendante est inventé. Ce manuscrit a également mis l'accent sur la modélisation de courant de cellule programmée comme la fuite d’un oxyde de grille post-claquage. Un modèle compact MOSFET dégradé est proposé et comparé à l'état de l’art. Un bon accord est trouvé pour s'adapter à la large gamme de caractérisations I (V) de la cellule programmée. L'activation de ce modèle dans un environnement de design nous a permis de simuler la dispersion des distributions de courants de cellules programmées au niveau de la taille du produit à l'aide de runs Monte-Carlo. Enfin, cette thèse s'achève autour d'une étude d'investigation OxRAM comme une solution émergente. En combinant le dispositif Antifuse avec le mécanisme de commutation résistif de l'OxRAM, une solution hybride est proposée en perspective. / Embedded Non Volatile Memories represent a significant part of the semiconductor market. While it addresses many different applications, this type of memory faces issues to keep the CMOS scaling down roadmap. Indeed, the recent introduction of high-k and metal for the CMOS gate is threatening the Flash’s competitiveness. As a consequence many emerging solutions are being. The Antifuse as part of the OTP memories is fully CMOS compliant, Antifuse memories are used for Chip ID, chip configuration, system repairing or secured data storage to say the least. The Antifuse programming relies on the gate oxide breakdown of its capacitor under high voltage. Previous work already brought some knowledge about the physical mechanisms involved but mainly on SiO2 gate oxide technologies. New challenges arise from the introduction of the new gate materials. A full review is needed about the oxide breakdown mechanisms involved in the Antifuse programming. The extensive use of high voltage also suggests to extend our knowledge about reliability within this voltage range. Pre and post gate oxide breakdown under high voltage mechanisms are then deeply investigated in this manuscript focusing on the most advanced CMOS technologies. Fowler Nordheim Tunneling has been confirmed as the main mechanism responsible for the gate oxide leakage conduction under high voltage during the wearout phase even-though defect contribution has been evidenced to mainly contribute under low voltage , e.g. the virgin Antifuse leakage current. A TDDB based power law has been extended toward high voltage to be used as a robust Antifuse programming time model. Extending the TDDB reliability under high electric field also gives us key element to model the selection MOSFET time to failure. Programming parameters such as voltage amplitude, current compliance or temperature are also investigated and their impact on the Read Current Yield are tackled. This study allows us to aggressively shrink the bitcell overall area without losing performance nor degrading the reliability. This study also reveals a worst case scenario for the programming parameters when temperature is very low. As a consequence, the early Antifuse characterization process is proposed to be rework and a programming voltage-temperature-dependent solution is invented. This manuscript also focused on the Antifuse programmed cell current modeling as gate oxide post-breakdown conduction. A remaining MOSFET compact model is proposed and compared to the state of the art. Good agreement is found to fit the wide range of read current. Enabling this model within a CAD environment has allowed us to simulate the Read Current Yield dispersion at product size level using Monte-Carlo runs. Finally, this thesis wraps up around an OxRAM investigation study as a serious emerging eNVM solution. Combining the Antifuse device with the resistive switching mechanism of the OxRAM, a hybrid solution is proposed as a perspective.