Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly experience reading difficulties, especially in reading comprehension. Children with ASD also commonly experience deficits in cognitive processes, including attention, executive functions, inferencing, among other cognitive abilities. In particular, there is evidence that attention and EF abilities are important for reading proficiency and that such deficits in ASD may contribute to reading difficulties in this population, although this area is understudied. The Integrated Model of Reading Comprehension (IMREC) conceptualizes comprehension as the product (i.e., a coherent mental representation of text in the reader’s mind) of automatic (e.g., the availability of recently processed information in working memory) and strategic (e.g., effort for predicting and monitoring text for meaning) processes. As such, it outlines cognitive contributors to reading comprehension, thus making it potentially valuable in the conceptualization of reading comprehension in ASD. The aim of the current study was to investigate underlying cognitive components associated with reading comprehension in children with ASD, as informed by the IMREC model. A systematic review of the association between cognitive variables and reading comprehension in individuals with ASD was conducted. The review included articles published between 2000 and 2020. 1,430 articles were initially screened, and 22 articles met study inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. Results indicated that working memory, intelligence, and verbal memory are important for reading comprehension in ASD, though there is much research to be done in the area, especially around factors such as inference and attention allocation. Future research should utilize more clearly defined samples, theoretically-based cognitive variables, and theoretically-based study design. / Graduate

Currently there are urgent water related problems, such as use of groundwater and surface water resources, which need a more integrated view on the hydraulic cycle and how the different processes interact with each other. This has led to new ways of thinking in management of watersheds, which sparked the creation of new integrated tools for flow characterization. Characterization of a watersheds flow is an important step in future research regarding water quality and climate change issues. The Krycklan catchment, located in the northern part of Sweden, has been under research for many years. With a great deal of measurements regarding stream water chemistry as well as climate measurements (evaporation, transpiration and temperature), the catchment has great potential regarding solute transportation and climate change investigation. This thesis was made to aid in future research by characterization of the catchments groundwater and surface flow, by the use of an integrated model software tool, MIKE-SHE. The model have been calibrated and validated with the help of real time observed measurements at Krycklan combined with model data from SMHI:s HYPE-model. Throughout the calibration it was discovered that the hydraulic conductivities were important for the surface and groundwater interaction, regulating base flow as well as peak flows. The shape and timing of the spring flood was also affected by the snow melt while the summer peaks for the upstream rivers, probably due to the relatively large difference in topography elevation, were more affected by the representation of the topography created by the grid size. A smaller grid-size resulted in a finer representation of the topography, which resulted in a quicker runoff to the upstream rivers without an increase of base flow. This gave better fitted hydrographs of the flows in the upstream rivers compared to observed measurements. The final model created was able to capture the discharge-hydrograph and groundwater fluctuations with small error and high correlation coefficients compared to observed data and model data from SMHI. The results as well as the calibration process helped with a deeper understanding of the modeling tool itself as well. Future improvements that can be considered are to introduce new calibration data and the use of an even smaller grid size. This can improve the understanding of the catchment as well as the representation of the flow in the upstream rivers. However, the effects of a smaller grid size must be reflected upon. The model will most likely become more unstable and the run time of the model will greatly increase. One suggestion to solve this issue is to look into a sub-catchment to reduce these complications.

Current design models, approaches and theories are highly fragmented, have seldom been compared with one another, and rarely attempted to be consolidated. Novelty is a measure of creativity of engineering products and positively influences product success. Using physical laws and effects for designing can improve the chances of creativity but they cannot be used directly owing to their inadequate current representations. It is important to address activities, outcomes, requirements and solutions in designing. Conceptual design is an early phase in engineering design and needs to be supported better. A systematic approach for designing often increases effectiveness and efficiency. Thus, the broad objective of this thesis is to develop and validate a comprehensive understanding of how designing occurs during the conceptual phase of engineering design, and to support variety and novelty of designs during this phase. The approach followed is: (a) formulate and validate an understanding of novelty and its relationships to the designing constructs, in current designing, and(b)develop and validate a support, founded on the current designing, to improve novelty. The understanding and the support are addressed, respectively, through an integrated model and a systematic framework for designing; the model and the framework comprise activities, outcomes(including laws and effects), requirements and solutions. An integrated model of designing, GEMS of SAPPhIRE as req-sol is developed by combining activities(Generate, Evaluate, Modify, Select– GEMS), outcomes (State change, Action, Parts, Phenomenon, Input, oRgans, Effect–SAPPhIRE), requirements (req) and solutions (sol), identified from a comprehensive survey of existing design models and approaches. Validation of SAPPhIRE model with existing systems indicates that the model can be used to describe analysis and synthesis, both of which together constitute designing. Validation of the integrated model using existing videos of design sessions, to check if all its constructs are naturally used in designing, reveals that:(a) all the constructs are naturally used;(b) not all the outcomes are explored with equal intensity;(c) while high numbers of action and parts are observed, only low numbers of phenomenon, effects and organs are found. Empirical study using another set of design sessions to study the relationships between novelty and the outcomes reveals that novelty of a concept space depends on the variety of the concept space, which in turn depends on the variety of the idea space explored. Novelty and variety of a concept space also depend on the number of outcomes explored at each abstraction level. Thus, phenomena and effects are also vital for variety and novelty. Based on the above, GEMS of SAPPhIRE as req-sol framework for designing is proposed. The framework is divided into: Requirements Exploration Stage(RES) and Solutions Exploration Stage(SES). In RES and SES, requirements and solutions respectively at all the abstraction levels including SAPPhIRE are generated, evaluated, modified and selected. The framework supports task clarification, conceptual and early embodiment phases of designing, and provides process knowledge. Comparison of the framework against existing design models, theories and approaches reveals that:(a) not all existing models, theories and approaches address activities, outcomes, requirements and solutions together;(b) those that address all these constructs together do not make a distinction between requirements and solutions; and(c) no model or approach explicitly addresses novelty. The usability of the framework and Idea-inspire is assessed by applying them in an industrial project for designing novel concepts of lunar vehicle mobility system. The use of this combined support enables identification of critical requirements, development of a large variety of ideas and concepts. One of these concepts is physically and virtually modelled, and tested, and is found to satisfy all the requirements. A catalogue of physical laws and effects is developed using SAPPhIRE model to provide assistance to designers, especially for phenomena, effects and organs. Observations found during this development are reported. A comparative validation of the framework and the catalogue for their support to design for variety and novelty is done using comparative observational studies. Results from the observational studies reveal that the variety and the novelty of concept space improve with the use of the framework, or with the frame work and the catalogue, as compared to variety and novelty with no support.

L’objectif du travail de thèse est d'œuvrer au développement et à l’application d’un modèle hydrologique intégré pré-existant (Pan et al., 2015; Weill et al., 2017) : Normally Integrated Model (NIM). La spécificité de ce modèle est d’intégrer l’équation d’écoulement souterrain 3D sur la direction perpendiculaire au substratum, de façon à se ramener à un problème en deux dimensions. Il en résulte un gain substantiel en termes de temps de simulation, et une économie du point de vue de l’espace mémoire requis. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, NIM a été entièrement recodé et optimisé. Un module de ruissellement 2-D a également été implémenté, ce qui a permis d’appliquer le modèle en situations réelles sur deux bassins versants distincts. En sus, la validité des simulations issues de NIM et l'efficacité du modèle en termes de temps de calcul ont été évaluées sur de nombreux cas tests synthétiques. / This works aims at contributing to the development and application of a pre-existing integrated hydrological model (Pan et al., 2015; Weill et al., 2017) : Normally Integrated Model (NIM). The specificity of this model is to perform an integration of the 3D groundwater flow equation over the direction perpendicular to the substratum of the aquifer, so that the problem becomes 2D. It results in a substantial gain both in calculation time and required memory. During this thesis, NIM has been fully rewritten and optimized. Besides, a 2D overland flow module has been implemented, which enabled to apply the model in real cases on two distinct watersheds. Furthermore, the validity of NIM simulations and their efficiency as regards computation times have been assessed on numerous synthetic test cases.

¡@¡@Business strategy may lead the organization and people to achieve the strategy goals and let the stakeholder know the reason why the organization exists and the motive why people fight for missions. Therefore, business strategy management should be able to describe the business strategy clearly in order to assist to consolidate each point of view and enable business strategy achieve synergy effects. ¡@¡@The strategy map, adopting word, graphic and process languages, is used to describe the business strategy. However, the implementation and consolidation of these languages have problems that they cannot integrate business organization¡¦s ¡§Structure View¡¨ and ¡§Process View¡¨ together. ¡@¡@This research uses Strategy Architectural Description Language (SADL) to construct an Business Strategy Architecture-Oriented Integrated Model (BSAOIM) which utilizes the ¡§Union of Structure View and Process View¡¨ to enhance the insufficient description capability of the strategy map. ¡@¡@The result of the study shows that BSAOIM is from the huge view to the microcosmic, from whole to some merger strategy thinking. By SADL to consolidate business exclusive Strategy Architectural Diagram (SAD), The SAD integrates organizational structure and business process closely and provides various points of views to transform implicit into explicit knowledge, which is a paramount description tool that can transform the abstract concept into real system and enable the organization and people, under the instruction of strategy, implement strategies successfully.

The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) requires research for models and algorithms tracing the vehicle assignment incorporating PEVs in the transportation network so that the traffic pattern can be more precisely and accurately predicted. To attain this goal, this dissertation is concerned with developing new formulations for modeling travelling behavior of electric vehicle drivers in a mixed flow traffic network environment. Much of the work in this dissertation is motivated by the special features of PEVs (such as range limitation, requirement of long electricity-recharging time, etc.), and the lack of tools of understanding PEV drivers traveling behavior and learning the impacts of charging infrastructure supply and policy on the network traffic pattern. The essential issues addressed in this dissertation are: (1) modeling the spatial choice behavior of electric vehicle drivers and analyzing the impacts from electricity-charging speed and price; (2) modeling the temporal and spatial choices behavior of electric vehicle drivers and analyzing the impacts of electric vehicle range and penetration rate; (3) and designing the optimal charging infrastructure investments and policy in the perspective of revenue management. Stochastic traffic assignment that can take into account for charging cost and charging time is first examined. Further, a quasi-dynamic stochastic user equilibrium model for combined choices of departure time, duration of stay and route, which integrates the nested-Logit discrete choice model, is formulated as a variational inequality problem. An extension from this equilibrium model is the network design model to determine an optimal charging infrastructure capacity and pricing. The objective is to maximize revenue subject to equilibrium constraints that explicitly consider the electric vehicle drivers’ combined choices behavior. The proposed models and algorithms are tested on small to middle size transportation networks. Extensive numerical experiments are conducted to assess the performance of the models. The research results contain the author’s initiative insights of network equilibrium models accounting for PEVs impacted by different scenarios of charging infrastructure supply, electric vehicles characteristics and penetration rates. The analytical tools developed in this dissertation, and the resulting insights obtained should offer an important first step to areas of travel demand modeling and policy making incorporating PEVs. / text

Reproducing moisture retention behavior of the upper and lower vadose zone in shallow water table settings provides unique challenges for integrated (combined surface and groundwater) hydrological models. Field studies indicate that moisture retention in shallow water table settings is highly variably affected by antecedent state and air entrapment. The theory and vertical behavior of a recently developed integrated surface and groundwater model (IHM) is examined through comparisons to collected field data in West-Central Florida. The objectives of this study were to (1) Identify important considerations and behavior of the vadose zone for reproducing runoff, ET and recharge in shallow water table settings; (2) Develop a conceptual model that describes vertical soil moisture behavior while allowing for field scale variability; (3) Test the model against observations of the vertical processes; (4) Investigate the sensitivity of model parameters on model vs. observed vertical behavior, and (5) offer recommendations for improvements and parameterization for regional model application. Rigorous testing was made to better understand the robustness and/or limitations of the methodology of the IHM for upper and lower vadose zone. The results are also generally applicable and useful to the upper zone and lower zone conceptualization and parameterization of stand alone HSPF and perhaps other surface water models. Simulation results indicate IHM is capable of providing reasonable predictions of infiltration, depth to water table response, ET distributions from the upper soil, lower soil and water table, and recharge while incorporating field scale variability of soil and land cover properties.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-10-10T13:38:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 flavianesouzasantiago.pdf: 1175303 bytes, checksum: 8aa6022443bccadbc2719ad31e7ff906 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-10-11T15:52:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 flavianesouzasantiago.pdf: 1175303 bytes, checksum: 8aa6022443bccadbc2719ad31e7ff906 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-11T15:52:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 flavianesouzasantiago.pdf: 1175303 bytes, checksum: 8aa6022443bccadbc2719ad31e7ff906 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-18 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho desenvolveu um modelo de previsão de longo prazo da demanda de combustíveis no Brasil baseado na integração de um modelo econométrico de séries temporais com um modelo de insumo-produto híbrido. Os dados utilizados para estimar o modelo econométrico foram às séries históricas anuais dos componentes da demanda final (PIB, consumo das famílias, investimento, exportações, gastos do governo e importações) produzidos pelo Sistema de Contas Nacionais do IBGE. Para a construção do módulo de insumo-produto híbrido, foi utilizada a matriz nacional de insumo-produto do Brasil para o ano de 2005, estimada pelo IBGE, e os dados de uso de combustíveis derivados do petróleo (gasolina, óleo diesel, óleo combustível e álcool, medidos em “tep”) disponíveis no Balanço Energético Nacional de 2008. Na construção do modelo econométrico, verificou-se que as séries temporais além de não estacionárias são também cointegradas. Portanto, foram estimados modelos de correção de erros vetoriais para as variáveis originais e em uma versão alternativa com as mesmas transformadas em log. Para selecionar o melhor modelo, aplicou-se um teste preditivo sobre os modelos estimados para os anos de 2004 a 2007, concluindo-se que o modelo com variáveis em log apresentou o melhor desempenho. De forma análoga, foi também realizado um teste preditivo no mesmo período para verificar a capacidade de previsão do modelo integrado com relação ao consumo dos combustíveis. Posteriormente, o modelo integrado foi então usado para se fazer previsões futuras no período de 2008 a 2017. Foram considerados dois cenários para as variáveis exógenas: um refletindo uma duração curta para a atual crise mundial e outro uma duração longa para a mesma. Em ambos os casos, as projeções indicaram um aumento na demanda de combustíveis para os próximos 10 anos. / This work developed a model for long run forecasting the demand for fuels in Brazil based on the integration of a time series econometric model with a hybrid input-output model. The data used to estimate the econometric model were the annual time series of of final demand components (GDP, household consumption, investment, exports, government spends and imports) produced by the System of National Accounts of the IBGE. The development of the hybrid input-output module made use of the national input-output matrix of Brazil for the year 2005, estimated by IBGE, and the data on petroleum derivatives (gasoline, diesel oil, combustible oil and alcohol, measured in “tep”) consumption available in the National Energy Balance of 2008. In the construction of the econometric model, it was verified that the time series in addition to not being stationary are also cointegrated. Thus, Vector Error Correction models were estimated for the original variables and, in an alternative version, for those variables transformed in log. To select the best model, a predictive test was performed on the models for years 2004 to 2007 and the conclusion was that the model with variables in log presented the best performance. In a similar fashion, it was also undertaken a predictive test at the same period to evaluate the forecasting ability of the integrated model with regard to fuels consumption. Afterwards, the integrated model was then used to generate future forecasts in the period 2008 to 2017. Two scenarios for the exogenous variables were considered: one featuring a short duration for the current world crisis and another featuring a long duration. In both cases, the projections indicated an increase in the fuels demand for the next 10 years.

Analysis of the company using internal and external analysis, integrated management model. Description of the competitive environment, market size and existing marketing activities. Outline the trends and developments in the industrial sector. Result of this work is optimize the financial issues, analysis of the internal state of the company and the possibility of change, proposal of company strategy.

No description available.