abstract: The thesis focuses on cost-efficient integration of the electro-chemical residue sensor (ECRS), a novel sensor developed for the in situ and real-time measurement of the residual impurities left on the wafer surface and in the fine structures of patterned wafers during typical rinse processes, and wireless transponder circuitry that is based on RFID technology. The proposed technology uses only the NMOS FD-SOI transistors with amorphous silicon as active material with silicon nitride as a gate dielectric. The proposed transistor was simulated under the SILVACO ATLAS Simulation Framework. A parametric study was performed to study the impact of different gate lengths (6 μm to 56 μm), electron motilities (0.1 cm2/Vs to 1 cm2/Vs), gate dielectric (SiO2 and SiNx) and active materials (a-Si and poly-Si) specifications. Level-1 models, that are accurate enough to acquire insight into the circuit behavior and perform preliminary design, were successfully constructed by analyzing drain current and gate to node capacitance characteristics against drain to source and gate to source voltages. Using the model corresponding to SiNx as gate dielectric, a-Si:H as active material with electron mobility equal to 0.4 cm2/V-sec, an operational amplifier was designed and was tested in unity gain configuration at modest load-frequency specifications. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2010

Submitted by Marcia Silva (marcia@latec.uff.br) on 2016-10-10T18:53:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Adriana Vidal França de Carvalho.pdf: 2829879 bytes, checksum: 20647d41336cf9b355d364ab38963b35 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia (bee@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-01-26T13:49:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Adriana Vidal França de Carvalho.pdf: 2829879 bytes, checksum: 20647d41336cf9b355d364ab38963b35 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-26T13:49:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Adriana Vidal França de Carvalho.pdf: 2829879 bytes, checksum: 20647d41336cf9b355d364ab38963b35 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-18 / O impacto na qualidade do ar causado pela emissão de poluentes atmosféricos tem sido um problema ambiental crescente, especialmente nos centros urbanos e nas áreas industriais. O ozônio, formado por reações fotoquímicas, é um dos principais componentes do smog fotoquímico. Devido às suas características oxidantes ele é prejudicial à saúde e ao meio ambiente. Por ser um poluente secundário, o controle dos níveis de ozônio na troposfera deve ser realizado a partir da redução dos seus principais precursores: COVs e óxidos de nitrogênio. Refinarias de petróleo são importantes fontes de COVs, especialmente de emissões fugitivas de componentes de linhas de processo e, portanto, são fontes onde há potencial para reduzir estas emissões. Além disso, as licenças ambientais das refinarias também exigem a redução de emissões fugitivas de COVs. A metodologia LDAR, baseada no uso de um analisador portátil para identificação de vazamentos em componentes de linhas de processo, vem sendo utilizada nos Estados Unidos desde a década de 70 para a redução das emissões fugitivas de COVs em refinarias de petróleo. É uma metodologia bastante intensiva em mão de obra e tem custo elevado, uma vez que exige o monitoramento individual de milhares de componentes existentes em uma planta industrial para a detecção de vazamentos. Porém, estudos mostram que o controle com foco nos grandes vazamentos permite uma redução mais efetiva das emissões fugitivas e com menor custo. A metodologia Smart LDAR, que consiste no uso de imagem ótica de infravermelho para visualização de gases, permite a identificação dos grandes vazamentos, que são os que mais contribuem para as emissões fugitivas, sem que haja necessidade de medição de todos os componentes das linhas de processo. O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar as metodologias LDAR (Leak Detection and Repair) e Smart LDAR, utilizadas para o controle de emissões fugitivas de compostos orgânicos voláteis (COVs) em refinaria de petróleo, utilizando o conceito de custo-efetividade. Os resultados obtidos a partir das avaliações realizadas mostraram que a metodologia Smart LDAR tem melhor relação custo efetividade para o controle de emissões fugitivas de COVs em comparação à metodologia LDAR convencional / The impact on air quality caused by air pollutants emissions has proven to be a growing environmental problem, mainly at urban centers and industrial areas. The ozone, formed through photochemical reactions, is the photochemical smog’s major component. Due its oxidizing characteristics, it is harmful to the healthy and to the environment. Due to de fact to be a secondary pollutant, the ozone control in the troposphere must be achieved by reducing emissions from its main precursors: VOCs and nitrogen oxides. Petroleum refineries are significant sources of VOCs, especially of fugitive emissions from process lines’ components, so they are sources with potential to reduce these emissions. Furthermore, the petroleum refineries’ environmental licenses also demand the reduction of VOCs’ fugitive emissions. The LDAR methodology, which is based on the application of a portable analyzer to identify leaks in process lines’ components, has been used in the US since the 70s to reduce VOCs’ fugitive emissions in petroleum refineries. This methodology is quite intensive hand labor and costly, since an industrial plant has thousands of components that must be measured individually to detect leaks. However, studies show that the control focusing on large leaks allows the reduction of fugitive emissions more effectively and with low costs. The methodology known as Smart LDAR, which uses infrared optical image for gas leaks view, has the potential to identify great leaks, that most contribute to the fugitive emissions, without requirement to measure all process lines’ components. The purpose of this research is evaluate the methodologies LDAR (Leak Detection and Repair) and Smart LDAR, used to control volatile organic compounds’ (VOCs) fugitive emissions in petroleum refineries, using the concept of cost-effective analysis. The results obtained from the evaluations of this study showed that the Smart LDAR methodology has the best cost effective relation to control fugitive emissions compared to the LDAR conventional methodology

The current climate changes require a global response immediately. Every year the use of energy increases, which means that more and more greenhouse gases are released. Which in turn helps accelerate global warming. To reduce the energy use will not be an easy task for mankind. Household and service accounts for about 40% of Sweden’s energy use, and office buildings prove to be among the most energyintensive. Previous research shows that heat-, ventilation- and cooling systems along with lightning are the systems that provide the highest energy consumption and that there is also a great savings potential. In this study, the energy use of a property in a Swedish urban area has been investigated and how the energy is being used by the different systems has been identified. The purpose of this research is to see which measures can give the greatest cost-effective savings. Method used is a case study, which was an energy survey, combined with a literature review of relevant information. Data collection consisted of information from the property owner,inspection of the building and electricity measurements. The result shows that there are great savings to be made. If proposed measures are implemented (see section 4.6), energy consumption for heating can be reduced by 144,9 MWh/year or 32,4%. Energy used by lightning can be reduced by 46,8 MWh/year or 40,3%and other measures can be reduced by 41 MWh/year or 53%. Measures that can be performed for free were considered the most cost-effective, such as lowering the indoor temperature or turning off equipment between days. For measures with investment cost, isolation of the attic was considered most cost -effective with a payoff time of 5 years. To invest in sun cells would reduce the bought electricity with 56,8 MWh/yr. Due to lack of information, assumptions and simplifications were made that could have caused sources of error.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / In South Africa, Deaf people communicate with one another and the broader community by means of South African Sign Language. The majority of Deaf people who have access to a mobile phone (cell phone) use Short Message Service (SMS) to communicate and share information with hearing people, but seldom use it among themselves. It is assumed that video messaging will be more accessible to Deaf people, since their level of literacy may prevent them from making effective use of information that is disseminated via texting/SMS. The principal objective of the esearch was to explore a cost-effective and efficient mass multimedia messaging system. The intention was to adapt a successful text-based mass notification system, developed by a local nongovernmental organization (NGO), to accommodate efficient and affordable video mass messaging for Deaf people. The questions that underpin this research are: How should video- streaming mass-messaging methods be compared and evaluated to find the most suitable method to deliver an affordable and acceptable service to Deaf people? What transport vehicles should be considered: Multimedia Message Service (MMS), the web, electronic mail, or a cell phone resident push/pullapplication? Which is the most cost effective? And, finally: How does the video quality of the various transport vehicles differ in terms of the clarity of the sign language as perceived by the Deaf? The soft-systems methodology and a mixed-methods methodology were used to address the research questions. The soft-systems methodology was followed to manage the research process and the mixed-methods research methodology was followed to collect data. Data was collected by means of experiments and semi-structured interviews. A prototype for mobile phone usage was developed and evaluated with Deaf members the NGO Deaf Community of Cape Town. The technology and internet usage of the Deaf participants provided background information. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyse the documents and interviews. All of the Deaf participants used their mobile phones for SMS and the majority (81.25%) used English to type messages; however, all indicated that they would have preferred to use South Africa sign language on their mobile phones if it were available. And they were quite willing to pay between 75c and 80c per message for using such a video-messaging service.Of the transport vehicles demonstrated, most Deaf people indic indicated that they preferred to use the SMS prototype (with a web link to the video) rather than the MMS prototype with the video attached. They were, however, very concerned about the cost of using the system, as well as the quality of the sign language videos. / South Africa

Detaljplaner sätter ramarna och förutsättningarna för vad som legalt kan byggas på en fastighet. Hur de förutsättningarna ser ut har en enorm inverkan på hur kostnadseffektivt det framtida bygget kommer att bli. Att i tidigt skede identifiera och påverka de faktorer som driver byggkostnaderna utan att skapa motsvarande mervärde för de framtida kunderna är en viktig uppgift. I den här studien kartläggs de planbestämmelserna och utformningarna, det ska dessutom inte vara självklart att det finns tillräckligt samhällsnytta för att väga upp kostnaderna. Litteraturen inom området är mycket bristande. Den huvudsakliga metoden för den här studien är intervjuer, totalt genomförs sjutton intervjuer med privata fastighetsutvecklare och kommunalt anställda inom markexploatering och detaljplanering. Det identifieras en rad detaljplansutformningar och fenomen kopplat till detaljplaneprocessen. Allt ifrån det optimala byggnadsdjupet och underjordiska garage till felaktiga betraktelsevinklar för arkitekturen och nya typer av kommunala särkrav som blir allt vanligare. Dessutom hanterar studien samarbetet inom detaljplaneprocessen mellan privata fastighetsutvecklare och kommunen med fokus på byggkostnader, lönsamhet och avvägningarna mellan det enskilda intresset hos fastighetsutvecklaren och allmänna intressen. Fastighetsutvecklare har inflytande under detaljplaneprocessen och kan bidra med mycket. Inom kommuner finns tankar kring vad som är den mest samhällsekonomiskt lönsamma avvägningen för planutformningar där projektets lönsamhet får väga tyngre, men än så länge gäller det främst fram tills en detaljplan är genomförbar och ibland för kommunens egna fastigheter eller bostadsprojekt.

In recent years, the excessive specific conductance (SC) of Appalachian coal mining runoff waters has become a parameter of concern with the EPA due to its negative effect on aquatic life and water quality. In order to comply with the EPA guidance suggesting an effluent SC of 500 µS/cm, the Appalachian Research Initiative for Environmental Science (ARIES) Center at Virginia Tech requested that testing be done to determine the most effective technologies for reduction of SC. Runoff water was collected from two sites in southwestern Virginia and characterized to determine the source of SC in the water. The main contributing ions were determined to be Na⁺, Mg²⁻, Ca²⁺, and SO₄²⁻. Testing was performed to assess the possibility of using the speciation software, MINEQL+, with a set of empirical equations which predict SC using ionic composition for natural waters with a low to medium SC. The physicochemical treatment methods tested were ion exchange, excess lime-soda softening, and the Cost Effective Sulfate Removal (CESR) process. Both cation (H⁺ exchanger) and anion (Cl⁻ exchanger) exchange media were tested separately in batch reactors, which resulted in a higher effluent SC than initial SC. The softening method investigated, excess lime-soda softening, also resulted in increased SC levels because non-carbonate hardness levels were high and carbonate concentrations were low. The CESR process successfully lowered SC from 1,500-2,500 µS/cm to below the proposed EPA limit of 500 µS/cm. The success of this process was due to its ability to remove more than 85% of the calcium, magnesium, and sulfate from the water, which together accounted for more than 90% of ions in the source water. / Master of Science

In the domain of cyber security, machine learning promises advanced threat detection. However, the volume of available unlabeled data poses challenges for efficient data management. This study investigates the potential for active learning, a subset of interactive machine learning, to reduce the effort required for manual data labelling. Through different query strategies, the most informative unlabeled data points were selected for manual labelling. The performance of different query strategies was assessed by testing a transformer model’s ability to accurately distinguish tweets mentioning names of advanced persistent threats. The findings suggest that the K-means diversity-based query strategy outperformed both the uncertainty-based approach and the random data point selection, when the amount of labelled training data was limited. This study also evaluated the cost-effective active learning approach, which incorporates high-confidence data points into the training dataset. However, this was shown to be the least effective strategy. Lastly, the study acknowledges that the computational time taken for each query strategy varies significantly between strategies. Hence, an optimal query strategy selection requires a balanced consideration of F-score performance taken together with time efficiency. / Maskininlärning skulle kunna användas för avancerad hotdetektion i cyberdomänen. Dock utgör behovet av träningsdata tillsammans med den stora tillgången till oannoterad data en utmaning. Detta arbete undersöker huruvida aktiv inlärning, en delmängd av interaktiv maskininlärning, kan minska behovet av annoterad data. Genom olika frågestrategier valdes de mest informativa datapunkterna ut för mänsklig annotering. Resultaten för de olika frågestrategierna utvärderades sedan genom att testa en maskininlärningsmodells förmåga att korrekt urskilja tweets som innehåller namn på cyberhotsaktörer. Resultaten tyder på att när mängden annoterad data var begränsad, presterade den diversifieringsbaserade strategin K-means bättre än både den osäkerhetsbaserade frågestrategin och strategin som väljer ut datapunkter slumpmässigt. Denna studie utvärderade också kostnadseffektiv aktiv inlärning som lägger till datapunkter som modellen redan är relativt säker på till träningsdatamängden. Denna metod visade sig dock vara den minst effektiva strategin. Slutligen visar arbetet att beräkningstiden som krävs för varje frågestrategi varierar avsevärt. För att utse den mest optimala frågestrategin krävs därför ett övervägande av både prestanda och tidsåtgång.

This study was devoted to researching the effectiveness of e-learning, in terms of the reported experiences of the Language Services section employees in Parliament RSA. At present, the internet is seen as a successful and influential educational tool in both academic and corporate institutions. Academically, it has been adopted for e-learning methods of teaching and learning. It is perceived as a cost-effective method of providing lifelong education. It is important to know about the pros and cons of e-learning in adult education and compare them with the experiences of the people who are and have been engaged in adult education. To create an adult education skills development framework that can be used successfully in e-learning, it is important to get information about and from the people concerned regarding their learning experiences. To understand more about the influence of e-learning, this study administered a questionnaire to the employees of the Language Services Section of Parliament who participated in the pilot learning programmes offered by Parliament. The questionnaire was designed to gather structured responses from the participants in the inquiry. The results were studied and applied to draw recommendations for what can be improved in the programme to promote and endorse continuing learning experiences as is the aim of the in-house programme offered by Parliament. The study also has relevance in terms of a discussion of issues that arise in the literature on adult education, which were located as part of the study. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

The fundamental advancement of information technology has given rise to distance education industry hence it has helped to the popularity of distance education among people. However, for employing innovative and advanced tools universities need financial resources. Reaching to these resources is not easy and accessible. Interaction equivalency theorem can be a good solution for overcoming the financial problems but designers are reluctant to utilize it because they think that education quality will decrease due to lack of teacher interaction. This study demonstrated that students’ perception toward interaction equivalency is positive as long as they have high level of interdependency with other students. Without this level of, students are not motivated in order to continue their courses. This study by providing techno-pedagogical design and IS design theory for support of IE helps e-learning practitioners who want to design an acceptable distance educational system with limited financial resources. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

La conception de systèmes embarqués modernes est de plus en plus complexe, car plus de fonctionnalités sont intégrées dans ces systèmes. En même temps, afin de répondre aux exigences de calcul tout en conservant une consommation d'énergie de faible niveau, MPSoCs sont apparus comme les principales solutions pour tels systèmes embarqués. En outre, les systèmes embarqués sont de plus en plus adaptatifs, comme l'adaptabilité peut apporter un certain nombre d'avantages, tels que la flexibilité du logiciel et l'efficacité énergétique. Cette thèse vise la conception sécuritaire de ces MPSoCs adaptatifs. Tout d'abord, chaque configuration de système doit être analysée en ce qui concerne ses propriétés fonctionnelles et non fonctionnelles. Nous présentons un cadre abstraite de conception et d'analyse qui permet des décisions d'implémentation rapide et rentable. Ce cadre est conçu comme un support de raisonnement intermédiaire pour les environnements de co-conception de logiciel / matériel au niveau de système. Il peut élaguer l'espace de conception à sa plus grande portée, et identifier les candidats de solutions de conception de manière rapide et efficace. Dans ce cadre, nous utilisons un codage basé sur l'horloge abstraite pour modéliser les comportements du système. Différents scénarios d'applications de mapping et de planification sur MPSoCs sont analysés via les traces d'horloge qui représentent les simulations du système. Les propriétés d'intérêt sont l'exactitude du comportement fonctionnel, la performance temporelle et la consommation d'énergie. Deuxièmement, la gestion de la reconfiguration de MPSoCs adaptatifs doit être abordée. Nous sommes particulièrement intéressés par les MPSoCs implémentés sur des architectures reconfigurables (ex. FPGAs) qui offrent une bonne flexibilité et une efficacité de calcul pour les MPSoCs adaptatifs. Nous proposons un cadre général de conception basé sur la technique de la synthèse de contrôleurs discrets (DCS) pour résoudre ce problème. L'avantage principal de cette technique est qu'elle permet une synthèse d'un contrôleur automatique selon une spécification des objectifs de contrôle. Dans ce cadre, le comportement de reconfiguration du système est modélisé en termes d'automates synchrones en parallèle. Le problème de calcul de la gestion reconfiguration selon de multiples objectifs concernant, par exemple, les usages des ressources, la performance et la consommation d'énergie, est codé comme un problème de DCS. Le langage de programmation BZR existant et l'outil Sigali sont employés pour effectuer DCS et générer un contrôleur qui satisfait aux exigences du système. Finalement, nous étudions deux façons différentes de combiner les deux cadres de conception proposées pour MPSoCs adaptatifs. Tout d'abord, ils sont combinés pour construire un flot de conception complet pour MPSoCs adaptatifs. Deuxièmement, ils sont combinés pour présenter la façon dont le manager run-time calculé par le second cadre peut être intégré dans le premier cadre afin de réaliser des simulations et des analyses combinées de MPSoCs adaptatifs.