The empty railcars repositioning strategy generates no income but is crucial for a good service quality, it should then satisfy two main objectives: fullling the customer demand and generating as little expense as possible. Moreover, because of breakdown or heavy traffic, variation on travel times happens to be the main cause of uncertainty in railroad scheduling and must be taken into account to suggest a robust planning. This thesis presents the linear program used in a prototype tool for the optimization of empty railcar repositioning strategy designed for the SNCF¹. The resulting schedule is computed with CPLEX and minimizes moving cost, delay and unfulllment penalties. Substitutions of railcar categories are also permitted and eventually penalized. In addition, uncertainty on travel times is handled by considering the expected cost of a move (regarding delay probability and possible penalties) and by adding slack periods at the end of moves. The robustness can be modulated through the use of a cursor. Finally, the model enforces a decision making process previously dened by the SNCF to ensure that the suggested planning can be easily grasped and trusted by users. Schedules have then been generated based on randomly generated data and simulated. Results show a potential saves of 10% on considered costs and a good range of use of the robustness cursor is suggested. Finally, paths for improvement of this prototype are proposed to meet the eventual schedulers' further needs in order to move forward the production of this tool at the company scale. ¹Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (French National Railways) / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which levels of individuation and separation in adulthood would predict adjustment to the empty nest transition. Two-hundred and twenty-seven adults (M age = 48) who had experienced the empty nest within the last year completed a battery of scales assessing individuation from family of origin, spouse, and children as well as measures of adjustment, role strain, coping, and sex role attitudes. MANOVAS and hierarchical regression analyses suggested that levels of individuation from one's family of origin, spouse, and children differentially affect one's adjustment to, and coping with, the experience of launching of the youngest child from the home. Empty nest parents who are less differentiated from their own parents, from their spouses, and from their children reported a more negative impact of the empty nest in terms of more overall stress and role strain, more negative mood, and less life satisfaction than did empty nest parents who were more differentiated with regard to parents, spouse, and children. Results regarding the impact of individuation on empty nest adjustment regarding sex role attitudes were less clear cut, and may reflect cohort differences in work role opportunities for women and a parallel redefinition of the work role/parent role dichotomy for men. The data also suggest that women and men experience the empty nest transition differently, with women experiencing more distress and negative mood, supporting the notion that women, who define themselves in a context of relationship may experience more distress at a time when significant relationships are in flux. However, additional results which indicated significantly more proactive and adaptive coping strategies for women as compared to men suggest that women can meet the demands of the new definitions of themselves and their relationships in a relatively positive and adaptive way. The results suggest that present as well as past experiences of separation and individuation impact how one experiences and copes with the empty nest. The findings lend support to the importance of early, successful individuation experiences as possible precursors of how successfully individuals negotiate other developmental experiences involving separation and loss.

Microwave filters are essential components in high frequency communication systems. The features required for these devices are increasing due to the increase in frequency, caused by the saturation of the electromagnetic spectrum. Among these features, the need for low cost devices with a reduced mass and volume and the need to integrate them with the current planar technology are highlighted. In addition, it is interested to have reconfigurable devices, that is, they can adjust their frequency response, replacing the need of multiple devices. So far, metallic waveguide filters have been used, but lately Substrate Intregated Waveguide (SIW) technology has appeared, and within this family, the innovative Empty Substrate Integrated Waveguide (ESIW). ESIW technology is empty, so that, it can be filled with liquid crystal (LC). The LC is a dielectric material with variable permittivity, which makes the filter can change its center frequency and bandwidth. There are several commercial tools based on numerical methods that enable to carry out the analysis and design of these structures, but they require a very high computational time during the analysis process. This affects negatively the automated design of these structures. On the one hand, an efficient and accurate analysis tool is developed in the thesis by following a strategy that consists on dividing the device under analysis in simple building blocks: waveguides filled with dielectric material, change of medium, discontinuities between guides and dielectric discontinuities. All of them are canonical structures or sufficiently simple that can be analyzed with modal methods. The Generalized Scattering Matrix (GSM) of each block is obtained, and they are linked in cascade by using an efficient technique. The accuracy and effectiveness of this tool are checked using it to analyze multiple filters, comparing the result with a commercial software. Furthermore, an analysis about how the variation of the permittivity of the liquid crystal affects in the frequency response of the filter is made. On the other hand, a tool for designing filters for high frequency communications is developed, in order to integrate it into a Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool. To do this, the classical techniques for designing waveguide filters are followed by adapting them to the new topology under design. Different synthesis and optimization strategies are implemented. These strategies are based on the synthesis of a starting point, the segmentation of the structure under design and the hybridization of different optimization algorithms. Also, a tool for calculating the values ​​of the permittivity of the LC that allows the reconfiguration of the filter is developed. These new permittivities enable to obtain a new desired frequency response. This tool has been used to design various microwave filters on H plane, using ESIW technology filled with liquid crystal. The accuracy and the effectiveness of this tool are checked. In addition, the reconfiguration tool designed is evaluated. Finally, a study of the manufacturing aspects is done, such as how to feed the filter and the solutions to polarize the liquid crystal. Taking into account all these considerations a prototype is manufactured and measured.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2005. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-45).

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-45).

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-45).

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um diálogo teórico entre as obras O Ato de Leitura: uma teoria do efeito estético (1996, 1999), de Wolfgang Iser, e O Prazer do Texto (2006), de Roland Barthes. Da primeira obra, interessa-nos particularmente a formulação teórica sobre o vazio que, a nosso ver, pode ser articulada a outras elaboradas por Barthes na sua referida obra, sobretudo à delicada distinção entre gozo e prazer. A partir do entretecimento de uma rede teórica fundamentada nesta inter-relação, poderemos propor um ponto de vista concatenador que permita observar o objeto literário simultaneamente sob algumas noções oriundas da Teoria do efeito e outras vindas do pensamento barthesiano. A nosso ver, é possível demonstrar que as noções barthesianas de texto de prazer e textos de fruição ou gozo podem se adequar à observação do texto literário, quando considerado em relação à forma e à abundância dos vazios que eclodem na sua relação dialética com o leitor / This research proposes a theoretical intersection between The Act of Reading: a theory of aesthetic response (1996, 1999), written by Wolfgang Iser, and The Pleasure of the Text (2006), by Roland Barthes. From the first book, our interests reside particularly at the concept of empty spaces, which can be articulated to another notional formulations conceived by Barthes, especially to the subtle distinction between enjoyment and pleasure. As from, we intend to interweave a theoretical net based upon this interrelation, a comprehensive point of view, which allows us to examine literature both under the notion of aesthetic response, and Barthess deconstructionist ideas. We think it is possible to demonstrate that some Barthess notions, such as text of pleasure and text of bliss can fit into the observation of literary texts, if we thought about them under the considerations of form and abundance of the empty spaces that emerge during the dialectic relation between the book and the reader

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho tem como objetivo propor um diálogo teórico entre as obras O Ato de Leitura: uma teoria do efeito estético (1996, 1999), de Wolfgang Iser, e O Prazer do Texto (2006), de Roland Barthes. Da primeira obra, interessa-nos particularmente a formulação teórica sobre o vazio que, a nosso ver, pode ser articulada a outras elaboradas por Barthes na sua referida obra, sobretudo à delicada distinção entre gozo e prazer. A partir do entretecimento de uma rede teórica fundamentada nesta inter-relação, poderemos propor um ponto de vista concatenador que permita observar o objeto literário simultaneamente sob algumas noções oriundas da Teoria do efeito e outras vindas do pensamento barthesiano. A nosso ver, é possível demonstrar que as noções barthesianas de texto de prazer e textos de fruição ou gozo podem se adequar à observação do texto literário, quando considerado em relação à forma e à abundância dos vazios que eclodem na sua relação dialética com o leitor / This research proposes a theoretical intersection between The Act of Reading: a theory of aesthetic response (1996, 1999), written by Wolfgang Iser, and The Pleasure of the Text (2006), by Roland Barthes. From the first book, our interests reside particularly at the concept of empty spaces, which can be articulated to another notional formulations conceived by Barthes, especially to the subtle distinction between enjoyment and pleasure. As from, we intend to interweave a theoretical net based upon this interrelation, a comprehensive point of view, which allows us to examine literature both under the notion of aesthetic response, and Barthess deconstructionist ideas. We think it is possible to demonstrate that some Barthess notions, such as text of pleasure and text of bliss can fit into the observation of literary texts, if we thought about them under the considerations of form and abundance of the empty spaces that emerge during the dialectic relation between the book and the reader

Dual-earner couples raising children face stress that can interfere with marital happiness. Some of these couples seek help from marriage and family therapists, but many therapists claim they are not well trained in the issues facing these couples. In order to determine what might help therapists. researchers in the past have traveled two scholarly paths: (a) studying dual-income couples who still have children at home and are dealing with the stressors of this lifestyle with varying degrees of success, and (b) asking long-term, happily married couples what helped them stay together successfully. This study combined both approaches. Dual-earner couples whose chi ldren were grown and who identified themselves as having great marriages refl ected on strategies that helped them develop and maintain successful and satisfying marriages. Implications for marital therapy are discussed.