In this thesis basic principles of sound system design are presented. A software simulation in Matlab is written for prediction of sound field with sources of real directivity in both freefield and in a closed room using velocity potential. Reflections are simulated using mirror sources of first and second order. Frequency dependent sound absorption coefficients are implemented in the simulation. There is a GUI designed to operate on most common horizontal configurations. Those are then evaluated and advantages and dissadvantages are demonstrated using the simulation software.

L’évolution des stratégies de croissance des jeunes entreprises<p><p>La recherche sur la croissance des jeunes entreprises s’est fortement développée au cours des trente dernières années. La situation est particulièrement marquée en Europe où le nombre de jeunes entreprises en forte croissance est réduit alors qu’il est admis que ce type d’entreprises contribue à la création d’un nombre important d’emplois. La communauté scientifique reconnaît que la recherche actuellement disponible manque d’intégration, d’ancrage théorique et d’approches longitudinales. De ce fait, elle n’est pas en mesure d’expliquer comment et pourquoi les jeunes entreprises adoptent différentes stratégies de croissance et suivent des trajectoires hétérogènes. L’objectif de cette thèse est de produire un cadre analytique, aussi intégré et dynamique que possible, permettant de mieux comprendre le pourquoi et le comment de la croissance des jeunes entreprises. Pour faire face à ce défi, elle s’inscrit dans la foulée des travaux séminaux de Gartner et Marchesnay respectivement sur le cadre d’analyse de la création d’entreprise et le système de gestion des petites et moyennes entreprises. Elle adopte le paradigme épistémologique du réalisme critique et recourt essentiellement à la méthode des cas. L’approche générale se veut donc longitudinale, qualitative et exploratoire.<p><p>La recherche est développée en trois temps qui correspondent à autant de chapitres présentés sous forme d’articles scientifiques. Le chapitre 1 remonte aux sources de sept grandes approches de recherche qui ont été adoptées pour expliquer la croissance des jeunes entreprises. Il montre que, prise isolément, aucune d’entre elles ne peut expliquer la croissance mais il souligne également à quel point elles se répondent et se complètent. Le chapitre 2 propose une modélisation systémique qui capitalise sur l’approche configurationnelle telle que développée par Miller et Mintzberg et celle par les processus telle que développée par Van de Ven. Ces deux approches permettent en effet d’intégrer de nombreux acquis des recherches existantes. La modélisation développée suggère que les jeunes entreprises adoptent des configurations associées à différentes stratégies qui mettent en cohérence les éléments caractéristiques de la démarche entrepreneuriale (c’est-à-dire l’entrepreneur, les activités, les ressources, la structure organisationnelle et l’environnement) alors que ceux-ci évoluent sous l’influence de multiples processus. Le chapitre 3, rédigé en anglais, s’intéresse plus particulièrement au cas des jeunes entreprises de services informatiques. Il approfondit la modélisation proposée au chapitre 2 dans un contexte où les entreprises sont, entre autres, confrontées au choix de se développer en tant que sociétés de services et/ou ont l’opportunité de se redéployer vers le développement de logiciels. Sur le plan méthodologique, l’approche choisie consiste à développer une typologie de configurations stratégiques déduite des littératures académique et pratique puis à comparer les idéaux-types qui la compose aux configurations réellement adoptées par des entreprises.<p>La modélisation et la typologie sont testées et conceptuellement confirmées par plusieurs études de cas d’entreprises belges. L’ensemble confirme bien que le développement des jeunes entreprises passe bien par l’adoption de configurations successives, associables à différentes stratégies de croissance, sans que celles-ci et leurs séquences soient prédéterminées du fait de l’influence concomitante de plusieurs processus.<p><p>Bien qu’essentiellement conceptuelle, la thèse confirme le bien-fondé de l’adoption conjointe des approches par les configurations et par les processus pour la compréhension du phénomène complexe qu’est la croissance. Elle ouvre également une porte à de futurs travaux de validation quantitative. Au niveau de la pratique, elle permet d’envisager le développement d’outils d’aide à la décision pour les entrepreneurs afin de les sensibiliser aux conditions et implications de différentes stratégies de croissance.<p><p><p>The evolution of the growth strategies of young firms <p><p>Research on the growth of young firms has developed significantly over the last thirty years. The situation is particularly noteworthy in Europe, where there is only a limited number of young firms experiencing strong growth, even though it is widely recognised that this type of firm contributes to the creation of a substantial amount of jobs. The scientific community recognises that the currently available research is lacking in terms of integration, theoretical anchoring and longitudinal approaches. Consequently, it is not able to explain how and why young firms adopt different growth strategies and follow heterogeneous trajectories. The aim of this thesis is to create an analytical framework, which is as integrated and dynamic as possible, so as to make it possible to understand the why and the wherefore behind the growth of young firms. In order to respond to this challenge, the thesis follows in the footsteps of the seminal works of Gartner and Marchesnay respectively, on the conceptual framework for describing new venture creation and the management system of small and medium enterprises. It adopts the epistemological paradigm of ‘critical realism’ and makes use, essentially, of the case study method. The general approach is therefore intended to be longitudinal, qualitative and exploratory. <p><p>The research is developed in three stages, which correspond to the same number of chapters set out in the form of scientific papers. Chapter 1 goes back to the sources of the seven major research approaches that have been adopted in order to explain the growth of young firms. It demonstrates that, when considered in isolation, none of them can fully explain the growth of young firms, but it also highlights the extent to which they respond to, and complete, one another. Chapter 2 proposes a systemic model that capitalises on the configurational approach as developed by Miller and Mintzberg, as well as the process approach as developed by Van de Ven. Indeed, these two approaches make it possible to integrate a large number of elements that have already been established through existing research. The model suggests that young firms adopt configurations associated with different strategies that tie the key elements of the entrepreneurial phenomenon (namely the entrepreneur, the activities, the resources, the organisational structure and the environment), while these elements change under the influence of numerous processes. The third chapter, which has been written in English, places particular focus on young IT services firms. It takes a more in-depth look at the model proposed in chapter 2 in a context in which firms are, amongst other things, faced with the choice of developing as service firms and/or have the opportunity to turn their efforts and attention towards software development. From a methodological point of view, the chosen approach consists in the development of a typology of strategic configurations deduced from academic and practical literature and then to compare the ideal types with the configurations that have been actually adopted by the firms. <p>The model and typology are tested and conceptually confirmed by several case studies of Belgian companies. The overall findings serve to confirm the fact that the development of young firms is achieved through the adoption of successive configurations that are associated with different growth strategies, without these and their sequences being predetermined because of the influence of multiple simultaneous processes. <p><p>Although it is essentially conceptual in nature, the thesis confirms the relevance of the joint adoption of the configurational- and process-approaches in order to understand the complexity of the growth phenomenon. It also opens up the door to quantitative validation research work. In terms of its practical application, the thesis enables us to start the development of a toolbox that may help entrepreneurs in the decision-making process so as to raise their awareness regarding the conditions and implications of different growth strategies. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

No description available.

Toll plaza operation is a critical component of roadway operations throughout the United States, as tolls provide both revenue for expansion and opportunity for demand management. Originally cash or physical currency based, tolling has morphed to meet the twentieth century demand in terms of throughput and efficiency in the form of electronic toll collection. Electronic tolling has introduced a new form of driver decision making at toll plazas due to the additional payment choice. Despite the user convenience these facilities provide to consumers, this form of collection has not come without safety and operational concerns. Confusion at the toll plaza, unsafe merging maneuvers, and the unexpected behavior has actually increased certain crash patterns at toll plazas in some electronic tolling facilities. Building upon existing research, further work was completed to quantify the related impacts of electronic toll collection on traffic operations through a microsimulation model, and static evaluation study. While in Massachusetts overall toll plaza crashes are a minimal portion of 200,000 crashes each year in the Commonwealth at less than 0.1 percent of all crashes some toll plazas have higher crash rates than the state wide urban interstate average. Interchange 14 in Weston, Massachusetts had the highest crash rate among state toll plazas. Rear-end and same direction sideswipe collisions accounted for the highest crash numbers between the years 2010 and 2012. Microsimulation of various lane configurations derived from static evaluation feedback on driver decision making created six alternate configurations. Current plaza configuration was verified by the validated VISSIM microsimulation model to be the highest performing in terms of efficiency. A lane configuration with grouped payment lanes provided the best overall performance for alternatives with less than 1 percent difference from the current West Springfield interchange configuration. Static evaluation and microsimulation results pointed to increased efficiency and safety benefits with combination lanes. Additionally, drivers tended to avoid following heavy vehicles through plaza lanes. Motorists were willing to make up to 3 lane changes to avoid queues and may avoid combination lanes as an electronic toll customer if they anticipate a greater delay than an adjacent dedicated electronic lane. Recommendations for future research include: 1) further microsimulation modeling to examine traffic flow and safety impacts at toll plazas under varying traffic conditions and demand with open road tolling lanes strategies; and 2) developing enhancements to VISSIM to address parameter limitations associated with discrete choice modeling at toll plazas.

A reform to a digitized public sector is underway. The purpose of this is to offer a simpler, more open, and more efficient service to all citizens. To create solutions that meet all the needs of citizens, public participation should be included in the development process. Public participation requires different competencies and means different things depending on the configuration of participation that takes place. The study examined how common public participation is, how those who work with participation interpret this, and what participation looks like in practice. In the study, a questionnaire was used to collect quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence in the form of likert-type scales and free text responses which were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The result showed that participation from the public in digitization projects is relatively uncommon, where the user and citizen configurations were the most common. There were tendencies for the configurations to be used casually without being defined. About the same number of respondents felt that their design process most strongly related to the statement “design for people” as “design with people”, and the methods of participation used were most strongly linked to the customer and user configurations, within which participation often had power in decision-making. / En reform till en digitaliserad offentlig sektor är pågående. Syftet med detta är att erbjuda en enklare, öppnare och effektivare service till alla medborgare. För att kunna skapa lösningar som tillgodoser medborgares alla behov bör ett offentligt deltagande inkluderas i utvecklingsprocessen. Offentligt deltagande kräver olika kompetenser och innebär olika saker beroende på vilken konfiguration av deltagande som äger rum. I studien undersöktes hur vanligt förekommande offentligt deltagande är, hur de som arbetar med deltagande tolkar detta, och hur deltagandet ser ur i praktiken. I studien användes en enkät för att samla in kvantitativ och kvalitativ empiri i form av likert-typ-skalor och fritextsvar vilka analyserades med hjälp av deskriptiv statistik och tematisk analys. Resultatet visade att deltagande från allmänheten inom digitaliseringsprojekt är relativt ovanligt, där konfigurationerna användare och medborgare var vanligast förekommande. Det fanns tendenser till att konfigurationerna användes slentrianmässigt utan att definieras. Det var ungefär lika många respondenter som ansåg att deras designprocess starkast relaterade till påståendet ”design för folk” som ”design med folk”, och metoderna för deltagande som användes hade starkast koppling till konfigurationerna kund och användare, inom vilka deltagande ofta hade makt i beslutsfattande.

<p> Some experiments designed to test the validity of the edge-spread function (ESF) model for neutron radiographic image formation are described; in addition the experiments are meant to illustrate the application of ESF methods to two areas of practical concern. First, the prediction of optical density curves for specified material and geometric configurations is considered; then, the use of ESF methods in dimensioning irradiated reactor fuel elements is examined. Overall, the results indicate that within the framework of assumptions which ESF theory is based upon, the correlation between theory and experiment is excellent. The results also suggest that in situations which deviate from the theoretical ideal, the ESF method may serve as a good first approximation to more complex models. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

<p> This study deals with applied research in the field of environmentai noise problems, specifically the measuring of noise patterns near Mount Hope Airport originating from subsonic jet aircraft using the present runway facilities. Based on actual measurements the results have been analyzed and reduced to simple contour lines. </p> <p> An attempt has been made in this study to relate the concept of community noise in the vicinity of the airport to specific runway configurations, traffic density and patterns, and to provide a comparison between the noise levels due to the existing operations and those which may result due to the proposed expansion. Versatile computer programs have been developed in this study to simulate an airport model, compute and construct the noise contours for any combination of design requirements such as runway orientation, flight procedure, type of aircraft, etc </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

In this thesis, we examine how Emergent Configurations are formed to manageThings and People for the purpose of achieving the user’s goal of repairing a coffeemachine in the dynamic environment of a smart office. We develop an architecturein the form of requirement and design artifacts as well as a realization of the GoalManager component in the Emergent Configuration Manager which is responsiblefor the forming of Emergent Configurations, using the novel Emergent ConfigurationIoT system engineering approach. To demonstrate the capability of the realizationwe developed multiple case scenarios which correspond to the context dynamicity ofa smart office environment. The results of this study introduce an architecture forthe Goal Manager component and demonstrate that the novel engineering approach,Emergent Configuration, is a feasible way of managing IoT systems in the smart officecategory.

Sexuality education in public schools in the US is a set of curricula geared toward sexual health, sexual identities, sexual acts, associated values, as well as intimacy and relationships (Naz, 2014). Taught under the curricular umbrella of family life education in the present study, it is governed by state and federal legislation and shaped by community values. It is also uniquely controversial both politically and personally (Drazenovich, 2015; Giroux, 2011). In this study, I developed research questions grounded in Sexual Configurations Theory (SCT): a contemporary, comprehensive theory of sexual identities and behaviors (van Anders, 2015). I also used the theory of legitimate peripheral participation, which is a well-established theory of social interaction that can explain how learning occurs within and around a community (Lave and Wenger, 1991). I analyzed the curriculum of two rural public school divisions in the southeastern US to identify salient categories of curricula relevant to the research questions. I also interviewed 29 school personnel and community partners involved in the curriculum development and guest lectures. I aimed to identify differences in their perceptions of the curriculum as well as how students may have learned about sexuality in out-of-class contexts (for example, the internet, pornography, peer-to-peer, in households, etc.) (Charmaraman, Lee, and Erkut, 2012; Tight, 2016). Results indicated that participants perceived adolescents engaging in informal learning about sexuality elsewhere. The participants reported trying to help adolescents bridge these gaps in instruction with community partnerships, guest lectures from health professionals, and referrals to resources inside and outside of the school. I conclude that curriculum, context, and community are overarching principles in teaching and developing sexuality education. The evidence gathered and interpretations presented provide a rich description that drives implications for stakeholders interested in increasing curricular comprehensiveness. / Doctor of Philosophy / Sexuality education (or sex ed, also sometimes called family life education) in US public schools is a course that teaches adolescents about sexual identities, sexual activities, values, and relationships. It is a controversial topic due to its history, the politics associated with it, and differing values surrounding it across communities. In this study, I looked at the sexuality education curriculum of two rural school divisions in the southeastern US. I also interviewed 29 school personnel and community health partners involved with the curriculum and guest lectures, paying special attention to different perspectives that were raised about the topic. Results showed that participants were perceived that adolescent students would search for information on sex (such as among their peers, at home, on their phones, and watching pornography) when not given the information they wanted in the classroom. Participants also perceived concern that adolescents would engage in sexual behaviors as a result of out-of-class learning, and they attempted to provide referrals to in-school and community resources to bridge the gap between what was taught in the classroom and what was learned out of class. The research also uncovered different views on opting out of sexuality education, abstinence, pregnancy, disease (STI) prevention, and use of technology and apps.

Currently, a sustainable energy transition is underway to reduce CO2 emissions. To meet the targets outlined in international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol, a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, particularly photovoltaic (PV) systems, is underway. Due to photovoltaic technology's rapid development and integration, reliable testing and evaluation methods are essential. This master's thesis is dedicated to developing a PV system simulator to study the PV systems. PV simulators serve as precious tools due to their capacity to control and replicate the environmental conditions experienced by PV panels. Consequently, these simulators facilitate thorough research, design refinement, and PV system performance assessment. The developed PV system simulator is essentially a PV remote lab, offering the capability to monitor, gather data, and evaluate the performance of the PV system remotely. The proposed system's flexibility and scalability enable its application to study various types of PV installation. The PV remote lab is expected to be a training centre for students and industry professionals. A comprehensive literature review on photovoltaic technology has been undertaken. Following the literature review, the different components that form a PV system have been defined and selected. The system will have a communication block to achieve a flexible and scalable PV remote lab. In this way, different configurations of the PV panels and different system outputs can be implemented. This commutation block can be remotely controlled using an Arduino, and an interface can be designed where the desired PV panel configurations and system outputs can be selected. In this interface, visualising the tests' results will also be possible. / För närvarande pågår en hållbar energiomställning för att minska koldioxidutsläppen. För att uppfylla de mål som fastställts i internationella avtal som Kyotoprotokollet pågår en snabb utbyggnad av förnybara energikällor, särskilt solcellssystem (PV). På grund av solcellsteknikens snabba utveckling och integration är tillförlitliga test- och utvärderingsmetoder av avgörande betydelse. Denna masteruppsats handlar om att utveckla en solcellssimulator för att studera solcellssystem. PV-simulatorer är värdefulla verktyg eftersom de kan kontrollera och återskapa de miljöförhållanden som PV-panelerna utsätts för. Följaktligen underlättar dessa simulatorer grundlig forskning, designförbättring och bedömning av PV-systemets prestanda. Den utvecklade PV-systemsimulatorn är i grunden ett fjärrstyrt PV-labb som gör det möjligt att övervaka, samla in data och utvärdera PV-systemets prestanda på distans. Det föreslagna systemets flexibilitet och skalbarhet gör att det kan användas för att studera olika typer av solcellsinstallationer. PV-fjärrlabbet förväntas bli ett utbildningscenter för studenter och yrkesverksamma inom branschen. En omfattande litteraturgenomgång om solcellsteknik har genomförts. Efter litteraturgenomgången har de olika komponenterna som bildar ett solcellssystem definierats och valts ut. Systemet kommer att ha ett kommunikationsblock för att uppnå ett flexibelt och skalbart PV-fjärrlabb. På så sätt kan olika konfigurationer av solcellspanelerna och olika systemutgångar implementeras. Detta kommutationsblock kan fjärrstyras med en Arduino och ett gränssnitt kan utformas där de önskade konfigurationerna av solcellspaneler och systemutgångar kan väljas. I detta gränssnitt kommer det också att vara möjligt att visualisera testresultaten.