Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

This study is a descriptive analysis of the occurrence of the sociolinguistic variables of pronunciation associated with all forms of ‘there’ and Non-Standard There-tag (NST-tag) in Bathurst English. Participants were interviewed and the occurrences of ‘there’ were obtained through the use of sociolinguistic interviews with 15 speakers. The incidences of ‘there’ were sorted based on grammatical category and pronunciation and were subsequently analyzed based on age and gender. The results indicate that older speakers use non-standard pronunciations of ‘there’ more than younger speakers and they also use NST-tag more than younger speakers. Younger speakers mostly use standard pronunciations of ‘there’ and use NST-tag very little. This may indicate age and gender grading or a change in progress in that vernacular is giving way to more standard speech in this community.

This study is a descriptive analysis of the occurrence of the sociolinguistic variables of pronunciation associated with all forms of ‘there’ and Non-Standard There-tag (NST-tag) in Bathurst English. Participants were interviewed and the occurrences of ‘there’ were obtained through the use of sociolinguistic interviews with 15 speakers. The incidences of ‘there’ were sorted based on grammatical category and pronunciation and were subsequently analyzed based on age and gender. The results indicate that older speakers use non-standard pronunciations of ‘there’ more than younger speakers and they also use NST-tag more than younger speakers. Younger speakers mostly use standard pronunciations of ‘there’ and use NST-tag very little. This may indicate age and gender grading or a change in progress in that vernacular is giving way to more standard speech in this community.

No description available.

The meager offering of online commercial Swedish Automatic Speech Recognition ser-vices prompts the effort to develop a speech recognizer for Swedish using the open sourcetoolkit Kaldi and publicly available NST speech corpus. Using a previous Kaldi recipeseveral GMM-HMM models are trained and evaluated against commercial options toallow for reasoning of the performance of a customized solution for Automatic SpeechRecognition to that of commercial services. The evaluation takes both accuracy andcomputational speed into consideration. Initial results of the evaluation indicate a sys-tematic bias in the selected test set confirmed by a follow up investigative evaluation.The conclusion is that building a speech recognizer for Swedish using the NST corpusand Kaldi without expert knowledge is feasible but requires further work. / En taligenkännare för svenska utvecklas med målet att utvärdera hur en taligenkännareutvecklad med fritt tillgängliga verktyg står sig mot kommersiella taligenkänningstjänster.Verktyget som används är det öppna källkodsverktyget Kaldi och som träningsdataanvänds det offentligt tillgängliga talkorpuset för svenska från NST. De framtagna mod-ellerna jämförs mot kommersielt tillgängliga tjänster för taligenkänning på svenska.Tidiga resultat i jämförelsen indikerar ett systemiskt jäv i den valda testdata, vilketbekräftas av en uppföljande undersökande utvärdering. Slutsatsen av arbetet är attutsikterna att ta fram en taligenkännare för svenska är goda men kräver omfattandearbete.

Η εργασία αυτή σκοπό έχει στην επίτευξη ενός συστήματος,η συμπεριφορά του οποίου καθορίζεται βάσει του ιατρικού πρωτοκόλλου του καρδιοτοκογραφήματος ηρεμίας. Έμφαση δίνεται, στον τρόπο προσέγγισης του εμβρυικού καρδιακού ρυθμού (ΕΚΡ). Επιπλέον, αναπτύσσεται ένα πρόγραμμα που αναγνωρίζει τις τέσσερις βασικές παραμέτρους του ΕΚΡ, οι οποίες είναι:η βασική γραμμή του ΕΚΡ,η μεταβλητότητα του ΕΚΡ,ο αριθμός των επιταχύνσεων και επιβραδύνσεων . / This project is designed to create a system whose behaviour is based on the structure of non stress test (NST) protocol. Emphasis is given on the way of approaching the fetal heart rate(FHR). Moreover ,I would like to submit that a program has been developed for recognition of the four basic parameters of the FHR,which are:the FHR baseline,the FHR variability,the number of accelerations and decelerations.

Technology is the ‘engine of economic growth’ and technological progress is the most important factor driving a nation’s sustained economic growth. New technologies assume significant and long term role in this process of economic development. New technologies can trigger new cycles of economy, provide windows of opportunity for less developed countries to catch up with the more advanced nations and are important from the wealth creation point of view. However for this to happen, the technology should be able to reach society in the form of new products, processes. Nanotechnology is a new and emerging technology that can play important role to promote India’s economic development. Wide ranges of applications are claimed for nanotechnology and it is considered to be the next big wave of technology after information technology and biotechnology. Government of India has started a mission on nanoscience and nanotechnology in May 2007 with an allocation of ~ 200 million USD for 5 years. However, if one looks at the ‘Nanotechnology’ from the wealth creation point of view, then, research efforts alone in this field, are not sufficient. The research efforts should lead to new products, new processes, and new platforms. Management of technology can assume significant role in this process. It is generally agreed upon that management of nanotechnology is necessary to create economic advantage at the national level. However, the macro level understandings namely, policy at the national level, must result in ground level organization performance. In order to facilitate innovation in the field of NST (Nanoscience and Technology), the process of innovation in this field must be well understood. Infrastructure and management of R&D is a key aspect and entrepreneurship is vital for the development of a new technology. The aim of this study is to do the assessment of nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives in India. Emerging technology assessments for nation building to meet societal objectives is an extremely complex task. Challenge lies in understanding complex R&D requirements and likely innovations at the lab level. Further challenge lies in assessing initiatives of the start-ups, individual entrepreneurs and comparing them with the Government research initiatives. Understanding the resource requirements of different research initiatives in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) will greatly assist in facilitating innovation in this field. Further understanding of human, cultural issues, education and training aspects, technical and market uncertainties faced by nanoscience and nanotechnology research initiatives will be an added advantage for the policy makers to facilitate innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST). Review of Literature A critical literature review in the field of Technology Management; Innovation, Technological Innovation; and nanoscience and nanotechnology from a business perspective gave researcher a strong foundation to define nanotechnological innovation and understand the process of nanotechnological innovation. This literature along with the literature on the emergence of a new industry helped identify factors that would facilitate innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. While understanding importance of management in developing nanotechnology to realize its benefits, no study has attempted to link the management processes with the innovation output in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Also, there are very few empirical studies in this area. Thus need to empirically determine various management processes that can facilitate innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology and their causal relatedness to output measures of innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology is identified as a research gap. Aims, Objectives This study aims at conceptualizing the challenges of developing appropriate framework for assessment of emerging technologies in a particular domain. It further aims to use this framework for assessing nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives in India and to come up with set of alternatives for policy makers at the national level. The objectives are 1. To develop a framework for the assessment of a new technology initiative with a view to enable innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. This further gave rise to two objectives viz, a. Measure the innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. b. Identify factors that enable innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. 1 To use developed framework to assess nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives in India. 2 To make suggestions for effective institution building and develop interventions for efficient management of nanoscience and technology research and development initiatives. Conceptual Model The conceptual model links two major aspects viz., output of innovation and factors facilitating innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST). This model is used as a tool to assess nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives in India. Output of innovation is measured at three levels, namely, Focused NST initiative -an initiative where with clear goals, deliverables and resources work on NST project has started. Newness of NST initiative -which measures generation of new products, new processes in the field of NST and Dissemination of NST initiative -which measures publications and patents in the field of NST. Factors facilitating innovation include Organization context, presence of Basic resources, Leadership, Strategic research partnerships, Link with venture capitalists, Technology characteristics and Innovation culture. These factors were thought to be positively linked with the output of innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Methodology Based on a critical literature review, a preliminary study entailing in-depth interviews with strategy experts and a pilot study, a structured questionnaire was developed, to measure constructs and variables in the conceptual model. The main study consisted of data collected from 112 researchers from private as well as public organizations engaged in nanoscience and nanotechnology research and development. Results and Discussion The first part of the analysis began with factor analysis. Based on the factor loadings 31 factors were obtained. These factors were considered to be facilitating innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Similarly output of innovation in the field of NST got loaded onto 3 factors, namely Focused NST initiative, Newness of NST initiative and Dissemination of NST initiative. Non-Hierarchical K-means (K = 2) cluster analysis resulted in two useful clusters among respondents; Cluster 1 primarily represented academic institutes whereas, Cluster 2 mainly represented private sector start-ups in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Factors facilitating innovation and output of innovation were compared across two clusters of the organizations. The student’s t-test was used to compare means of factor scores and items under it across two clusters. Based on the statistical significance of the difference between the factor scores across two clusters, conclusions were drawn as to whether the presence of factors facilitating innovation and output of innovation differ across academic institutes and private sector start-up firms. Significant differences were obtained between the two clusters of organizations with respect to availability of finance, technical and industrial experience of the leadership, strategic research partnerships, market uncertainty and link with the venture capitalists. Output of innovation also differed across two types of organizations, wherein, academic institutes were more active in producing “dissemination” output of innovation and private start-up firms are more active in producing “newness” output of innovation. The next stage of analysis dealt with finding out what among these factors actually contribute to innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Multiple linear regression technique was used to for this purpose. Thus, for three levels of innovation output, three regression models are obtained. Industrial experience of the leaders, Finance, Market readiness of the products are some of the factors facilitating ‘Newness’ output of innovation, whereas, Academic experience and Link with the technical communities are some of the factors affecting Dissemination of NST Initiative. The next stage of analysis dealt with simultaneous estimation of dependent variables. Structural equation modeling in the form of path analysis (AMOS software from SPSS) was used for this purpose. This also helped in explaining how different variables (dependent as well as independent) are related to each other. At an aggregate level, causal model could be fitted between factors facilitating innovation and output of innovation in the field of nanoscience and technology. Chi-square, Normed Fit Index (NFI) and Root mean square error analysis (RMSEA) were the measures used to accept the model. Path analysis also helped to find significant covariances among the independent variables. Concomitant with the quantitative approach of data analysis, qualitative approach using case study was also used to assess nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives in India. Case study was conducted in two different types of organizations; a premier academic institution and a private start-up firm. Case study revealed that private sector organizations indeed struggle to raise finance. However, high entrepreneurial attitude motivates these young engineers. In case of academic institutions it was noted that in an academic environment there is no real motivation for commercialization or taking research to the market. Performance and rewards for faculty depend to a large extent on publications and to a very small extent on patents. Culture of industrial R&D is not very strong in India and not many companies are willing to experiment. Major conclusions of the study Major conclusions of the study pointed out differences between academic institutes and private start-up firms with respect to availability of the resources, leadership of the people, strategic research partnerships. It also pointed out differences in the types of output of innovation produced by these two firms. Causal analysis in the form of regression and path analysis pointed out factors actually contributing to innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Case study analyzed qualitatively challenges faced by researchers from academic institutes and private start-up firms. Major Suggestions to organizations From the data analyzed in the study, it can be seen that private sector firms in India are facing the problem of raising finance as compared with academic institutions. Similarly, analysis of the data shows, significantly less Industry – Government interactions as compared with Academic institutions – Government interactions. Understanding the importance of private industries in developing applications of new technologies, Government needs to come out with appropriate practices to build a good “ecosystem” for nanotechnology innovation. At the national level, efforts are undertaken by the Government to increase and encourage research initiatives in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Substantial investment can be made in developing technology managers and also build technology entrepreneurs who would commercialize the products and build new products from the new technology. Thus, formation of start-up firms can be encouraged. This will absorb the manpower trained by academic research institutes and will enhance technical and market experience among researchers which was noted as a important factor for enhancing ‘newness’ output of innovation. Detailed analysis of various programs initiated by Government of India does show presence of various mechanisms to promote private sector initiatives in field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. However, present study shows that the private sector is finding it difficult to raise finance through various Government schemes. Academic sector is the major beneficiary of Government funding however, the research results stop at publications in these organizations. Private sector is able to bring new products, new processes, however, struggles to raise finance. Thus private sector start-ups could be funded with Government funding mechanisms. These mechanisms can be made less cumbersome for the start-up firms. Academic sector on the other hand should be encouraged by way of incentives for generation of new products. Considering importance of strategic research partnerships, institutional mechanisms could be put into place which will enhance Government – Industry and Industry-Academia research interaction. Contribution of the study The main contribution of this study includes, a conceptual model involving resource based view of innovation. The conceptual model is further used for measuring output of innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) at three levels, namely newness of NST initiative, dissemination of NST initiative and having a focused NST research initiative. Factors which may promote and facilitate innovation in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) are also measured. Comparison is made across different types of organizations to see availability of these enabling factors in Indian nanoscience and nanotechnology initiatives. Using regression analysis and path analysis, factors which actually contribute to innovation in the field of NST are identified. The main implication of the study is towards a better policy formulation in strengthening human resources, organizational capability, increasing funding for research and enhancing academic – industry interaction for better innovative performance. Limitations of the study The present study does not include all the types of organizations in the technology environment, this includes, namely nanoscience and nanotechnology R&D initiatives in large sized organizations and Government research organizations like Defense research and Development Organization (DRDO), Indian Space research Organization (ISRO). These organizations were contacted for data collection for this study, however they denied permission. Directions for future research Present study involved cross section of researchers engaged in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Future studies can be longitudinal that can track changes in leadership, organizational structure and organizational processes. This study provides a conceptual model that can be used for the assessment of other new technologies in India e.g. defence or manufacturing related technologies.

La stimulation cérébrale profonde (SCP) est actuellement un traitement efficace pour la maladie de parkinson. Cette approche est maintenant fortement envisagée pour le traitement des addictions. Elle consiste à délivrer des impulsions électriques au sein d’une structure cérébrale : le noyau subthalamique. Nous avons montré dans le noyau subthalamique l’existence de signatures associée à la transition vers l’addiction et la prise compulsive de drogue, ainsi que le potentiel thérapeutique de la SCP pour réduire la consommation pathologique et compulsive de cocaïne chez des rats. Nous avons également montré le contrôle spécifique du noyau subthalamique sur la motivation pour la nourriture sucrée et les drogues d’abus. Dans l’ensemble, cette thèse devrait permettre une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes de la SCP, de son potentiel thérapeutique pour les addictions et de ses éventuels effets secondaires. / Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is currently one form of effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease. This approach is currently considered for the treatment of addiction. It consists in the delivery of small electric impulses inside a brain structure: the subthalamic nucleus. We have shown in the subthalamic nucleus the existence of signature associated with the transition to addiction and compulsive drug abuse, as well as the therapeutic potential of DBS to reduce pathological intake and compulsive cocaine abuse in rats. We also established the specific control exerted by the subthalamic nucleus on the motivation for sweet food and drug of abuse. Overall this thesis could allow a better understanding of the mechanisms of DBS, its therapeutic potential in addiction and possible side effects.

Given a set of n points P ⊂ R2, the Delaunay graph of P for a family of geometric objects C is a graph defined as follows: the vertex set is P and two points p, p' ∈ P are connected by an edge if and only if there exists some C ∈ C containing p, p' but no other point of P. Delaunay graph of circle is often called as Delaunay triangulation as each of its inner face is a triangle if no three points are co-linear and no four points are co-circular. The dual of the Delaunay triangulation is the Voronoi diagram, which is a well studied structure. The study of graph theoretic properties on Delaunay graphs was motivated by its application to wireless sensor networks, meshing, computer vision, computer graphics, computational geometry, height interpolation, etc. The problem of finding an optimal vertex cover on a graph is a classical NP-hard problem. In this thesis we focus on the vertex cover problem on Delaunay graphs for geometric objects like axis-parallel slabs and circles(Delaunay triangulation). 1. We consider the vertex cover problem on Delaunay graph of axis-parallel slabs. It turns out that the Delaunay graph of axis-parallel slabs has a very special property — its edge set is the union of two Hamiltonian paths. Thus, our problem reduces to solving vertex cover on the class of graphs whose edge set is simply the union of two Hamiltonian Paths. We refer to such a graph as a braid graph. Despite the appealing structure, we show that deciding k-vertex cover on braid graphs is NP-complete. This involves a rather intricate reduction from the problem of finding a vertex cover on 2-connected cubic planar graphs. 2. Having established the NP-hardness of the vertex cover problem on braid graphs, we pursue the question of improved fixed parameter algorithms on braid graphs. The best-known algorithm for vertex cover on general graphs has a running time of O(1.2738k + kn) [CKX10]. We propose a branching based fixed parameter tractable algorithm with running time O⋆(1.2637k) for graphs with maximum degree bounded by four. This improves the best known algorithm for this class, which surprisingly has been no better than the algorithm for general graphs. Note that this implies faster algorithms for the class of braid graphs (since they have maximum degree at most four). 3. A triangulation is a 2-connected plane graph in which all the faces except possibly the outer face are triangles, we often refer to such graphs as triangulated graphs. A chordless-NST is a triangulation that does not have chords or separating triangles (non-facial triangles). We focus on the computational problem of optimal vertex covers on triangulations, specifically chordless-NST. We call a triangulation Delaunay realizable if it is combinatorially equivalent to some Delaunay triangulation. Characterizations of Delaunay triangulations have been well studied in graph theory. Dillencourt and Smith [DS96] showed that chordless-NSTs are Delaunay realizable. We show that for chordless-NST, deciding the vertex cover problem is NP-complete. We prove this by giving a reduction from vertex cover on 3-connected, triangle free planar graph to an instance of vertex cover on a chordless-NST. 4. If the outer face of a triangulation is also a triangle, then it is called a maximal planar graph. We prove that the vertex cover problem is NP-complete on maximal planar graphs by reducing an instance of vertex cover on a triangulated graph to an instance of vertex cover on a maximal planar graph.