L'agriculture biologique se développe rapidement au Québec comme partout dans le monde. Si les motivations des agriculteurs et l'évolution des marchés biologiques sont assez bien identifiés, le processus de formation des prix des produits biologiques reste peu traité dans la littérature. Afin, entre autres, d'améliorer la compréhension globale du secteur et de mieux informer les acteurs, notre mémoire analyse le processus de formation des prix de quatre filières de produits (pommes, carottes, œufs de consommation et poulet entier). Cette décomposition du prix a pour objectif de déterminer comment les marges brutes se répartissent entre les acteurs des filières de produits biologiques du Québec comparativement aux produits non certifiés. Dans une logique exploratoire sans prétention à l'exhaustivité, une reconstitution des prix à chaque passage entre les maillons, de la production à la consommation, est effectuée pour les produits biologiques sélectionnés et comparée aux produits conventionnels. Environ 60 entretiens ont permis de compléter les données de prix recueillies en magasin et sur le web. Au final, l'analyse des données montre que la répartition des marges brutes varie selon le circuit de commercialisation emprunté (circuits courts de vente directe ou de vente indirecte et circuit long). La répartition entre les acteurs semble plus « équitable » lorsque le produit est biologique et vendu en circuits courts. Selon les données récoltées en circuit long, les marges brutes absolues sont similaires ou supérieures pour les intermédiaires commercialisant les produits biologiques. Si l'on connaît la nature des coûts plus élevés liés à la production, peu d'informations ont permis d'expliquer la nature de ces écarts pour la transformation ou la distribution. Il est donc possible de conclure que la répartition des marges entre les acteurs dans les diverses filières biologiques du Québec varie selon le produit et le circuit de commercialisation emprunté par ce dernier. / Organic farming is developing rapidly in Quebec as well as throughout the world. If the motivations of farmers and the evolution of organic markets are well identified, the process of price formation of organic products remains rarely addressed in literature. In order, among other things, to improve the overall understanding of the sector and to better inform stakeholders, our research analyzes the price formation process of four food product sectors (apples, carrots, table eggs and whole chicken). The purpose of this price breakdown is to determine how gross margins are distributed among players in Quebec's organic food product sectors compared to non-certified food products. In an exploratory logic without pretension to completeness, a reconstruction of prices at each passage between the links, from production to consumption, is carried out for the selected organic food products and compared to conventional food products. About 60 interviews were used to complete the price data collected in store and on the web. In the end, the analysis of the data shows that the distribution of gross margins varies according to the marketing circuit used (short direct or indirect sales circuits and long circuit). The distribution between the players seems more « equitable » when the product is organic and sold in short circuits. According to the data collected in long circuit, the absolute gross margins are similar or higher for the intermediaries marketing organic food products. While the nature of the higher costs associated with production is known, little information has been provided to explain the nature of these differences for processing or distribution. It is therefore possible to conclude that the distribution of margins among the players in the various organic sectors of Quebec varies according to the product and the marketing circuit used by the latter.

This study documents the integration and testing of a new variety of unsteady surface temperature gages designed to operate in high speed flow. Heat flux through the surface of the test article was determined from the unsteady temperature by applying a 3D reconstruction algorithm based on a Green's function approach. The surface temperature gages used in this work were 1.59 mm inserts designed to maximize material matching with the test article, in this case 316 stainless steel. A series of benchtop experiments were first performed to understand the individual properties of the gage and determine measurement uncertainty. Prior to testing, all temperature gages are calibrated using an environmental chamber. Gages were installed into slugs of several materials and subjected to a heated jet with a total temperature of 620 K to examine the effects of material mismatch. A shock tube with a notional operating Mach of 2.6 was used to determine the thermal response of the gages as a function of time. In both tests, reference Medtherm Schmidt-Boelter gages ensure consistent heat fluxes are applied across all runs. The time response of the entire electrical system was determined by subjecting the gage to a nanosecond scale laser pulse. Two experimental campaigns were conducted in Virginia Tech's Hypersonic Wind Tunnel. First, gages were integrated into a flat plate test article and subjected to a notionally 2D Mach 3 flow. Tunnel total pressures and temperatures ranged from 793-876 kPa and 493-594 K, respectively. A reference 3.18 mm Medtherm Schmidt-Boelter gage was also installed for comparison. All temperature data are reconstructed using the algorithm to determine heat flux. The second test campaign utilized a flat-faced cylindrical test article in a notionally axisymmetric Mach 6 flow environment. Flow total pressures and temperatures ranged from 8375-8928 kPa and 485.5-622 K. respectively. The Fay-Riddell analytical method was applied to the resulting temperature traces in order to infer the heat flux at the stagnation point for comparison with the reconstructed heat flux. This experiment was complimented with steady, 3D CFD in order to understand the temperature variation across the test article. Both campaigns demonstrate good agreement between the heat flux reconstructed from surface temperatures measured using the new gage, reference measurements, and simulations/analytical methods. The importance of material matching is highlighted during this study. The performance of this gage is shown to exceed the current state-of-the-art, opening the possibility for future analysis of phenomenon present in high-speed flow. / Doctor of Philosophy / At very fast speeds, it is important to understand how the temperatures of surfaces change with time. Traditional devices which can measure surface temperatures have a number of weaknesses, and to address these a new type of surface temperature device has been designed. By using computational methods, one can determine how much energy is being transferred through the surface by measuring how the surface temperature changes over time. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted to understand how this new instrument compares to the current state-of-the-art. Two experimental campaigns were then conducted to test the temperature gages. The first experiment used a simple flat plate geometry in a flow 3 times the speed of sound to serve as a benchmark test case, as the flow over a flat plate is well understood. The second test utilized a flat-faced cylindrical test article in a flow 6 times the speed of sound. The results of this test was compared to exact solutions and flow simulations. The result of this study is a well quantified tool to study how energy flows through a body subjected to very high speed flow, which will enable further study of the complicated thermal environments experienced at high speeds.

Urban energy systems are often studied in a very similar way in the sense that the characteristics of the underlying physical infrastructure are weighted as the main determinants of energy use predictions, while the behavior of the human population in relation to this systemthe so-called ``energy consumers''in time and urban spaces is effectively neglected. The spatial and temporal variations in infrastructure-population interactivity greatly complicate urban energy systems; the unremitting growth in population and advances in technology mean that the dynamic interrelationship between the population and urban environment will continue to grow exponentially, resulting in increasing uncertainties, unreliable predictions and poor management decisions given the inadequacy of existing approaches. In this dissertation, I explore the interdependencies of spatiotemporal fluctuations of human mobility as an indicator for human activities and energy use in urban areas in three main studies. First, I show that the fluctuations of intra-urban human mobility and energy use have an underlying structure across both time and space, and that human mobility can indeed be used as a predictor for energy use in both dimensions. Second, I examine how one of the dominant drivers of this structure, namely individuals' location-based activities, influence patterns in energy supply and demand across building types (i.e. residential and commercial buildings) and show how variations in the human mobility networks of two distinct urban populations (the so-called returners and explorers) can explain fluctuations in energy use. Third, I introduce an integrated approach for predicting urban energy use across time and space by incorporating these interdependencies. Generating predictive models that capture the spatiotemporal variations in these determinants in urban settings, as suggested in this research, will contribute to our understanding of how variations in urban population activities for particular times and locations influence can be applied to estimate energy use patterns in surrounding areas. / PHD / Today’s cities are the most complex built environments in human history, containing 54% of the world population and responsible for up to 80% of the world’s total energy consumption. As a result of population growth and advances in technology, the interdependencies between infrastructure, services, and individuals in urban spaces continue to increase, presaging an ambiguous future with challenges we are not yet aware of. In this research, I developed the concept of <i>urban spatiotemporal flux</i> to study the interdependencies between energy use and human activities using human mobility at various spatial and temporal scales to address the urgent need to incorporate the resulting fluctuations in energy use into future energy predictions. Intra-city human activities change more rapidly and exhibit higher levels of dynamic characteristics than the simple physical locations identified in current master plans. Previous research has tended to focus on predicting energy consumption at different spatial levels as a function of the physical characteristics of buildings or cities, often relying on sensor-based data-driven approaches. There has been some effort to explore the predictability of human mobility by building human mobility-based predictive models across applications such as traffic and travel demand predictions, human activity predictions, next place locations, epidemics and the spread of viruses, and air pollution. The two perspectives are rarely in conversation with each other, however, with only minimal integration of our understanding and predictions for different urban spatial and temporal scales. The technology that has become an integral part of everyday life in today’s smarter urban environments now allows us to use human beings as “sensors” that provide useful data for predictions of energy use. Using tens of millions of yearly individual positional records across thousands of spatial divisions, along with millions of corresponding measures of energy use from energy meters in Greater London and the City of Chicago, I discovered that fluctuations in urban energy consumption are likely governed by the structure of human mobility networks and are dominated by certain populations and buildings types, among other factors. Intra-urban human mobility and energy use are not spatially randomly distributed across urban settings; instead, there is an underlying structure that explains their dependency. Temporal manifestations of these fluctuations suggest a continuous spatiotemporal relationship between human mobility and energy use, which confirms that the values observed in one location depend to some extent on what is happening at adjacent locations at around the same time. This dependency represents a strong connection with the returner populations’ mobility and residential buildings’ energy use and there is an associated spatial spillover effect. Future energy efficiency strategies should thus reflect these spatiotemporal dependencies, enabling planners to create new and more effective ways for both different building types and the mobility networks of the urban population to play major roles in energy related strategies, as well as helping to identify the fluctuating determinants that represent additional evidence of a spatiotemporal structure.

À ce jour, quelques biocapteurs ont été proposés pour mesurer rapidement et facilement les caractéristiques et les propriétés des microrganismes individuels membres d'une population hétérogène, mais aucune de ces approches ne s'est avérée être adéquate pour effectuer des mesures directement sur le terrain. Les biocapteurs pour les organismes microscopiques nécessitent généralement une sensibilité ou une spécificité extrême, qui sont difficiles à combiner avec un dispositif général portatif. Cette étude propose un dispositif portatif basé sur la cytométrie de flux d'impédance qui peut détecter et quantifier le diamètre de microbilles de tailles supérieure à 50 µm directement sur le terrain, tout en présentant un faible coût, une taille réduite, une basse consommation de puissance, et une simplicité de conception et d'opération qui maximise le potentiel de l'impression 3D et de la fabrication industrielle de circuits imprimés. Un exemple est offert afin de démontrer les capacités du capteurs pour de larges échantillons, avec un jeu de données contenant 2380 microbilles détectées de tailles entre 50 µm et 90 µm. / To this day, a couple of biosensors have been proposed to quickly and easily measure the features and properties of individual microorganisms member of an heterogeneous population, but none of these approaches were adequate candidates to perform measurements directly in the field. Biosensors for micron-scale organisms generally require extreme sensitivity or specificity, which are difficult to combine with a portable general device. This study proposes a portable device based on Impedance Flow-Cytometry that can detect and quantify directly in the fields the size and velocity of microbeads of size bigger than 50 µm, while boasting a low cost, low size, low power, and simplicity of design and operation utilizing the potential of 3D-printing and industrial PCB fabrication. An example is provided for a Big Data application from a sampled dataset containing 2380 successfully detected microbeads of sizes between 50 µm and 90 µm.

Pour les limnologistes étudiant les écosystèmes nordiques, les premiers indicateurs des changements climatiques apparaissent au bas de la chaine trophique : notamment dans les populations phytoplanctoniques. Une des techniques fréquemment utilisées pour caractériser cette frange du microbiome aquatique est la cytométrie en flux, une approche qui permet de caractériser individuellement la réponse optique, en fluorescence ou en diffusion, des cellules dans un échantillon. Malheureusement, ces instruments sont généralement très mal adaptés aux conditions que l'on peut retrouver en régions éloignées, notamment en raison de leur volume, leur poids et la sensibilité de leur alignement optique. De ce fait, les échantillons doivent généralement être préservés à −80°C puis être analysés au retour dans les laboratoires dans le sud. Ainsi, nous avons proposé de développer un cytomètre en flux portable optimisé pour la mesure optique de la fluorescence des pigments photosynthétiques des phytoplanctons et des cyanobactéries dans la gamme de taille de 0,2 à 2,0 µm (pico). Pour ce faire, un dispositif miniaturisé incorporant les structures microfluidiques nécessaires à la focalisation hydrodynamique des cellules ainsi que des fibres optiques permettant d'acheminer la lumière d'excitation et d'extraire la fluorescence avec un alignement robuste a été développé. Avec ce dispositif, un coefficient de variation de 9,5 % a été obtenu pour des particules de 2,0 µm de diamètre. Ensuite, un système intégrant ce dispositif dans un format portable a été développé. Ce système permet pour l'instant la mesure en laboratoire sur trois canaux, soit en diffusion à 633 nm et en fluorescence de la phycocyanine et de la chlorophylle-a, respectivement à 648±5 et 685±10 nm. Finalement, le dispositif microfluidique et le système ont été utilisés conjointement pour caractériser des échantillons de cultures de picophytoplanctons. Il a été possible de distinguer deux souches, une culture de picoeucaryotes (prasinophyceae RCC2335 ) et de picocyanobactéries CASES 2002 ) avec une efficacité de 91,3 %.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper will present techniques for accurately measuring the power flux density (PFD) of interfering signals at telemetry receiving stations. The solar power flux density is measured daily by radio astronomers and will be used as a calibration signal. The electromagnetic spectrum is being used more intensely as time marches on so being familiar with interference measurement techniques is becoming more important because more interfering signals are present.

While it is not the most abundant greenhouse gas, a significant portion of the greenhouse effect is caused by methane. The amount of methane in the atmosphere is increasing, indicating that there is a continuous source of methane to the atmosphere. One significant source of methane is freshwater lakes, even though they cover only a small portion of the Earth’s surface. Because of this, it is important to monitor methane fluxes from lakes in order to understand the processes which affect the magnitude of these fluxes. Methane is produced in the sediment at the bottom of the lake, and transported through the water by ebullition, diffusive flux, storage flux, or plant mediated emission. This study looked to examine the amount of methane transmitted to the atmosphere by these processes on Lake Erken in eastern Sweden. Using the eddy covariance method, we can study the methane flux with good spatial and temporal resolution. Regular sampling of lake water, both from the surface and depths of 5 and 10 meters, also helps us to understand the amount of methane dissolved in the lake. These measurements can help us to better understand the transfer velocity, or the efficiency of the exchange between water and air, as well as the amount of methane transported from lakes to the atmosphere. Water sampling showed that there is very little variation in methane concentration between different parts of the lake. Concentrations at four surface locations are nearly identical. These surface measurements are also similar to concentrations at different depths. Over time, the concentrations generally stayed the same, with isolated high and low concentration events. The amount of methane emitted by the lake was studied with the lake divided into a shallow water area, and a deep water area. The magnitude of fluxes from both areas was very similar, but the area of shallow water had a higher total flux. The fluxes were well correlated with wind speed; higher fluxes coming during times with higher wind speed. This relates well to the transfer velocity theory, and the bulk flux approximation. However, there was no clear diurnal cycle in methane fluxes. The fluxes during the night were similar to daytime fluxes. Atmospheric pressure also had an impact on fluxes, with greater fluxes coming at times of lower pressure. A large seasonal variation was clear. More methane escaped the water in autumn and winter than in spring or summer. This is due in part to the fluxes from when the lake freezes over/thaws and the water in the lake turns over, bringing methane rich water from the lake’s bottom to the surface. As expected, the waterside concentration of methane also had a strong correlation with the fluxes. The main conclusions of this study are: 1) Methane fluxes are variable with wind speed, waterside concentrations, and the seasons 2) Water depth and diurnal cycles do not affect methane fluxes as strongly. Keywords: methane, transfer velocity, flux, waterside concentration, eddy covariance

Flux is continually emerging on the Sun, making its way from the solar interior up into the atmosphere. Emergence occurs on small-scales in the quiet Sun where magnetic fragments emerge, interact and cancel and on large-scales in active regions where magnetic fields emerge and concentrate to form sunspots. This thesis has been concerned with the large-scale emergence process and in particular the results from previous solar flux emergence modelling endeavours. Modelling uses numerical methods to evolve a domain representing simplified layers of the Sun’s atmosphere, within which the subsurface layer contains magnetic flux. The flux is initialised such that it will rises towards the surface at the start of the simulation. Once the flux reaches the solar surface, it can only emerge into the atmosphere if a magnetic buoyancy instability occurs, after which it expands rapidly both vertically and horizontally. The aim of this thesis is to test the robustness of these general findings from simulations to date upon the seed magnetic field. More explicitly, we have used three-dimensional numerical simulations to investigate how variations in the subsurface magnetic field modify the emergence process and the resulting atmospheric field. We initially consider a simple constant twist flux tube for the seed field and vary the tube’s magnetic field strength and degree of twist. Additionally, we have examined the effects of using non-constant twist flux tubes as the seed field by choosing two different profiles for the twist that are functions of the tube’s radius. Finally, we have investigated the effects of increasing the complexity of the seed field by positioning two flux tubes below the solar surface and testing two different configurations for the tubes. In both cases, the magnetic fields of the two tubes are such that, once the tubes come into contact with each other, reconnection occurs and a combined flux system is formed. From our investigations, we conclude that the general emergence results given by previous simulations are robust. However, for constant twist tubes with low field strength and twist, the buoyancy instability fails to be launched when the tubes reach the photosphere and they remain trapped in the low atmosphere. Similarly, when the non-constant twist profile results in a low tension force throughout the tube, we find that the buoyancy instability is not initialised.

La synchronisation des flux physiques a reçu une importante attention dans la littérature. Si le non flux physique a reçu une attention toute particulière dans des domaines tels que le SCM, le pendant financier a longtemps était délaissé. Plus inquiétant, les délais de paiement ont longtemps été perçus comme un moyen de réduction du besoin en fonds de roulement des grandes entreprises. La crise des Subprimes a eu de lourdes conséquences sur le financement des entreprises les plus modestes, mettant en danger l’existence même de ces dernières. Notre travail initial de synchronisation des flux physiques et financiers instruits dans la cadre d’un partenariat CIFRE visait à trouver des solutions à ces problématiques en proposant des modèles d’optimisation sous contraintes. Néanmoins, notre volonté de mettre en œuvre nos travaux fut vaine et notre sujet a progressivement drifté vers la découverte de l’échec du déploiement d’un système ERP. Notre enracinement au sein d’une grande entreprise du secteur de la défense française nous a permis de mettre en œuvre une recherche action canonique en trois phases distinctes et a débouché sur la production d’un modèle de diffusion de l’innovation appliqué à l’ERP. Ce modèle en 6 phases, décrits les étapes successives du déploiement, en mettant en exergue l’impact des forces politiques au sein de l’organisation. / Synchronization of physical flows received significant attention in the literature. If the non-physical flows received special attention in areas such as SCM, financial for a long time was helpless. More worryingly, payment delays have long been seen as a means of reducing the need for working capital for large firms. The subprime crisis has had a serious impact on the financing of the smaller companies, endangering the very existence of the latter. Our initial synchronization job physical and financial flows educated in the context of a CIFRE partnership aimed at finding solutions to these problems by proposing models of optimization under constraints. However, our commitment to implement our work was in vain and our subject has gradually drifted to the discovery of the failure of the deployment of an ERP system. Our roots in a large enterprise sector French defense allowed us to implement an action research canonical three distinct phases and resulted in the production of a model of diffusion of innovation applied to the ERP. This model into 6 phases, described the successive stages of deployment, highlighting the impact of political forces within the organization

Le nettoyage en place des membranes en industrie agro-alimentaire est une opération cruciale qui, outre les exigences de sécurité sanitaire des installations et des produits traités doit permettre de restaurer les performances de la filtration (sélectivité, flux) en éliminant le colmatage formé pendant l'étape de production. Malheureusement cette étape repose encore sur des bases empiriques et non optimisées. A cause d'un manque de notions fondamentales, elle est encore pressentie comme un frein à l'utilisation massive des procédés membranaires. Une démarche originale a été menée dans le cadre de cette thèse incluant la réflexion sur l'incidence des paramètres hydrodynamiques des conditions de production sur la cohésion du dépôt colmatant et plus particulièrement de sa fraction irréversible, dont la nettoyabilité est étudiée. Pour fonder cette démarche, une étude comparée du colmatage et du nettoyage au flux limite et au flux critique a été réalisée en intégrant le rôle de la physico-chimie et de l'hydrodynamique pendant la phase de production. cette étude s'inscrit dans un cadre d'éco-conception de procédé, avec une analyse de cycle de vie réalisée afin d'estimer l'impact environnemental de l'étape de nettoyage via divers scénarii simplifiés. / The cleaning in place of membranes in food-processing industry is crucial operation which, besides the requirements of sanitary safety of the installations and the treated products allows to restore the performances of the filtration (flux, selectivity) by removing the fouling formed during the production step. Unfortunately, this cleaning step still rests on empirical and not optimized bases. Because of a lack of fundamental notions, it is still anticipated as a brake in the massive use of the membrane processes. An original approach is led within the framework of this thesis including the reflexion on the incidence of the hydrodynamics parameters of the conditions of production on the cohesion of the fouling deposit and more particularly its irreversible fraction which this cleanability is studied. To establish this approach, a study compared by the fouling and by the cleaning with the limiting flux and with the critical flux is realized by integrating the role of the physic-chemistry and the hydrodynamics during the production step. This study joins in a frame of eco-design of process, with an analysis of life cycle realized to estimate the environmental impact of the cleaning step by diverse scenarios.