En transports guidés, la localisation précise des trains s’avère vitale pour une exploitation nominale du système de transport. Dans un environnement de propagation tel que celui d’une emprise ferroviaire, un capteur de localisation efficace est complexe à concevoir et à valider lorsqu’il doit opérer en présence de nombreux obstacles fixes et mobiles constitués par l’infrastructure et les trains. Afin de concevoir un tel capteur, nous proposons dans ce travail de thèse l’emploi de techniques innovantes dites de diversité spectrale que l’on retrouve également sous la dénomination de radio Ultra Large Bande (ULB). Dans ce travail, cette dernière est également associée à la technique de Retournement Temporel (RT) afin de tirer partie de cet environnement de propagation complexe. L’objectif visé est d’obtenir une localisation fiable et robuste des véhicules ferroviaires par focalisation de signaux ULB en direction des antennes sol ou trains. Des études théoriques alliées à des simulations ont été effectuées portant sur les propriétés de focalisation d’énergie de la technique de retournement temporel en tenant compte de plusieurs paramètres liés aux configurations antennaires, aux canaux de propagation rencontrés et à l’électronique utilisée. L’apport du retournement temporel sur la précision du système de localisation Ultra Large Bande a été quantifié en comparant le système de localisation ULB conventionnel, sans retournement temporel puis, en associant le RT. Les résultats théoriques et de simulations de la solution proposée ont été validés par des expérimentations menées en chambre anéchoïque ainsi qu’en environnement indoor. / In guided transport, the precise location of trains is vital for nominal operation of the transport system. In a propagation environment such as a railway line, an effective location sensor is complex to design and validate since it must operate in the presence of many fixed and mobile obstacles constituted by the infrastructure and the trains. In this thesis, to design such a sensor, we propose the use of so-called spectral diversity techniques also found under the name of Ultra Wideband radio (UWB). In this work, the latter is also associated with the Time Reversal (TR) technique to take advantage of the complex propagation environment. The objective is to obtain a reliable and robust location of rail vehicles by focusing UWB signals to antennas or ground trains. Theoretical studies combined with simulations were performed on the properties of energy focusing of TR technique taking into account several parameters related to antennal configurations, propagation channels and the railway environment. The contribution of TR on the accuracy of the positioning system was quantified by comparing the conventional UWB positioning system alone and then, combining it with TR. The theoretical results and simulations of the proposed solution have been validated by experiments carried out in an anechoic chamber and in indoor environment.

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Children show large individual differences in numerical skills, even before they begin formal education. These early differences have significant and long-lasting effects, with numerical knowledge before school predicting mathematical achievement throughout the primary and secondary school years. Currently, little is known about the dispositional factors influencing children's numerical development. Why do some children engage with and succeed in mathematics from an early age, whilst others avoid mathematics and struggle to acquire even basic symbolic number skills? This thesis examines the role of two dispositional factors: First, spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON), a recently developed construct which refers to an individual's tendency to focus on the numerical aspects of their environment; and second, mathematics anxiety (MA), a phenomenon long recognised by educators and researchers but one which is relatively unexplored in young children. These factors are found to have independent effects on children's numerical skills, thus the empirical work is presented in two separate parts. The SFON studies start by addressing methodological issues. It is shown that the current measures used to assess children's SFON vary in their psychometric properties and subsequently a new and reliable picture-based task is introduced. Next, the studies turn to theoretical questions, investigating the causes, consequences and mechanisms of SFON. The findings give rise to three main conclusions. First, children's SFON shows little influence from parental SFON and home numeracy factors. Second, high SFON children show a symbolic number advantage. Third, the relationship between SFON and arithmetic can be explained, in part, by individual differences in children's ability to map between nonsymbolic and symbolic representations of number. The MA studies focus primarily on gender issues. The results reveal no significant differences between boys' and girls' overall levels of MA; however, there are gender differences in the correlates of MA. Specifically, boys' (but not girls') MA is related to parents' MA. Moreover, the relationship between MA and mathematical outcomes is stronger for boys than it is for girls. Possible causal explanations for these gender differences are explored in two ways: First, by examining the reliability of the scales used to assess MA in boys and girls. Second, by investigating the relationship between girls' (and boys') mathematics anxiety and their societal math-gender stereotypes. The findings from both sets of studies draw a link between children's emerging dispositions towards mathematics and their early numerical skills. Future research needs to examine how these dispositional factors interact with other (cognitive and non-cognitive) predictors of mathematics achievement.

Doctorado en Psicología / La investigación en Psicoterapia, intensifica el interés por la persona del terapeuta, un tópico frecuente en estudios de variables en psicoterapia y psicología clínica en el último tiempo, tales como los factores comunes en psicoterapia que muestran y realzan variables tales como los clientes, la alianza y/o relación terapéutica y los terapeutas. Por otro lado, el campo de investigación de la Psicoterapia Experiencial -en la cual se basa este estudioha crecido sustancialmente en los últimos 10 años. A partir de este nuevo interés en el área de la psicoterapia y la persona del terapeuta; se abren interrogantes respecto a qué ocurre en la interacción con sus propios clientes y cómo eso afecta su quehacer laboral. Es así como este estudio continúa el estudio de la persona del terapeuta a fin de contribuir en el conocimiento de la teoría y praxis del psicólogo y su calidad de vida y autocuidado. Este estudio exploró el espacio entre sesión y sesión, en el que el terapeuta espera al siguiente cliente después de atender a otro. Esto se efectuó con los registros de los autorrelatos de los psicólogos. Para ello se procedió a través de una modalidad fenomenológica que implementó un método integrando tres niveles de acercamiento al fenómeno, el cual se conceptualizó como Sí mismo. Este método utilizó el focusing en los tres niveles planteados: investigación en primera, segunda y tercera persona. Se recurrió a una metodología cualitativa, de carácter exploratorio-descriptivo, empleándose la grounded theory como forma de análisis de los resultados, que permitió develar categorías que mostraron hallazgos interesantes para el ámbito de la psicología y el quehacer en las relaciones humanas

Age-model derived sediment mass accumulation rates (MARs) are consistently higher than 230Th-normalized MARs in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean during the past 25 ka. The offset, being highest in the Panama Basin, suggests sediment redistribution in this region is prominent. I test the hypothesis that downslope transport of sediments from topographically highs that surround the Panama Basin is the cause of higher-than-expected xs230Th inventories in the deeper parts of the basin. There is little difference in xs230Th inventories between the highest and lowest reaches of the basin suggesting that the topographic highs did not serve as a source of xs230Th. A spatial analysis suggests that there may be an enhanced scavenging of xs230Th closest to the equator in productive waters. To examine whether lateral mixing of productive equatorial waters with adjacent waters delivers xs230Th to the Panama Basin, I measured dissolved 230Th in eight deep-water casts within the Guatemala, Panama, and Peru Basins along a meridional transect at ~86°W. Below 1000 m, the Panama Basin shows the highest deficit (~50%) of 230Th in deep waters assuming a reversible exchange of 230Th between dissolved and sinking particulate matter. Peru Basin waters have a larger range of dissolved 230Th concentrations (7.9-16.5 fg/kg) than that within Panama Basin waters (5.7-7.1 fg/kg). There is a progressive decrease, suggesting advection, in average dissolved deep-water (>1000 m) 230Th concentrations from the southernmost sites in the Peru Basin toward the Panama Basin. My calculations suggest that advected 230Th is between 15-30% of the total 230Th being produced within waters of the Panama Basin itself. In the Panama Basin, the averaged biogenic barium and opal MARs suggest that productivity was greater during the Holocene (0-13000 years) than that during the last glacial (13000-25000 years) suggesting higher productivity during the Holocene. Uauth, however, is higher in sediments deposited during the last glacial than in those deposited during the Holocene, suggesting that low bottom water oxygen contents rather than respiration of organic matter drives Uauth enrichment. This oxygen depletion during the last glacial suggests that bottom waters were enriched in respired carbon, which, in turn, could be a driver of lower glacial atmosphere pCO2 values.

Microfluidic chips have gained wide applications in various fields, including medicine, environmental sciences and forensic investigations. They are used for the separation of proteins, blood, bacterial cell suspensions, antibody solutions, and drugs. Microfluidic chips display significant advantages, which include faster analysis time, reduced amounts of samples and reagents volumes, flexibility in design and increased separation efficiency. Whole column imaging detection (WCID) exhibits significant advantages compared to other detection methods that are widely used for detecting analytes after the separation of these analytes using isoelectric focusing. With these other methods, there is a need to mobilize the focused sample bands past the detector after separation but with WCID, there is no need for mobilization step. The aim of this research is further development of WCID by characterizing microfluidic chips fabricated for the detection system, to enhance its detection so that high efficiency can be obtained. The chips were fabricated using soft lithography technology at the Microfluidic laboratory, University of Waterloo and they were used to perform isoelectric focusing of various proteins in our laboratory. The fabricated chips with straight channel design were used to carry out isoelectric focusing of some proteins and the results obtained were compared with the results obtained using commercial cartridges. The chips with tapered channel design were used to carry out isoelectric focusing of proteins in which thermally generated pH gradient principle was employed. The samples after separation were sprayed into a mass spectrometer using nano-electrospray interface to obtain their molecular masses. Compatible cartridges for nano-electrospray mass spectrometer were developed and these cartridges were used to carry out capillary isoelectric focusing of low molecular pI markers and proteins. These cartridges were also connected to the nano-electrospray mass spectrometer to obtain the mass to charge ratios of some proteins. The fabricated microfluidic chips with straight channel design were also used to investigate the interaction between drugs and protein.

This study has its starting point in physical touch, and I interviewed three health workers; an osteopath, a nurse, and a midwife, about their sense of touch. The data collection method used is the qualitative research interview, with its main emphasis on Eugene Gendlin‟s Focusing (1981), to capture the informant‟s embodied sense of touch. The Constant Comparative Method from Grounded Theory by Strauss and Corbin (1990) is employed to analyse the data, supplied by the descriptive phenomenological method as developed by Giorgi (2009), and inspired by Gendlin‟s Focusing (1968; 1970; 1981). Two main themes and a core theme emerged from the data: 1) "Touch is everything" – The toucher and the touched, 2) "Touch is an art" – The space between and, 3) "It takes courage to be close" – Touch as a meeting between selves. Philosophical theory and humanistic existential counselling psychology theories are at the base of the discussion. This includes Merleau-Ponty (1945), Gendlin (1962; 1996), Buber (1970/1996), Rogers (1961/2004) and Josselson (1996). Theories on body, space, and touch, also in counselling, are represented by Gendlin (1993; 1992), Montagu (1986), Hall (1966/1990), Hunter and Struve (1998), Tune (2001) among others. The study shows that positive touch is important to the person, how touch is more than physical, that the body is more than a physiological machine, and how touch both happens within different types of space and creates a meeting between the selves that reside inside the bodies. It also shows how through providing certain empathic conditions; warmth, acceptance, listening and caring, a health worker or counsellor can ensure a good meeting that can potentially lead to a dialogical I-You meeting. This meeting, based on the empathic conditions provided by a counsellor who is also in tune with him or herself, may also lead to change in the both the counsellor‟s and the client‟s selves.

Microfluidic chips have gained wide applications in various fields, including medicine, environmental sciences and forensic investigations. They are used for the separation of proteins, blood, bacterial cell suspensions, antibody solutions, and drugs. Microfluidic chips display significant advantages, which include faster analysis time, reduced amounts of samples and reagents volumes, flexibility in design and increased separation efficiency. Whole column imaging detection (WCID) exhibits significant advantages compared to other detection methods that are widely used for detecting analytes after the separation of these analytes using isoelectric focusing. With these other methods, there is a need to mobilize the focused sample bands past the detector after separation but with WCID, there is no need for mobilization step. The aim of this research is further development of WCID by characterizing microfluidic chips fabricated for the detection system, to enhance its detection so that high efficiency can be obtained. The chips were fabricated using soft lithography technology at the Microfluidic laboratory, University of Waterloo and they were used to perform isoelectric focusing of various proteins in our laboratory. The fabricated chips with straight channel design were used to carry out isoelectric focusing of some proteins and the results obtained were compared with the results obtained using commercial cartridges. The chips with tapered channel design were used to carry out isoelectric focusing of proteins in which thermally generated pH gradient principle was employed. The samples after separation were sprayed into a mass spectrometer using nano-electrospray interface to obtain their molecular masses. Compatible cartridges for nano-electrospray mass spectrometer were developed and these cartridges were used to carry out capillary isoelectric focusing of low molecular pI markers and proteins. These cartridges were also connected to the nano-electrospray mass spectrometer to obtain the mass to charge ratios of some proteins. The fabricated microfluidic chips with straight channel design were also used to investigate the interaction between drugs and protein.

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