Un nouveau concept de stockage inter-saisonnier par absorption de l'énergie solaire pour l'habitat est développé dans cette thèse. Le processus est présenté et décrit. L'étude de la capacité de stockage, du rendement, de la pression de fonctionnement, du besoin de température pour l'énergie solaire, de la température possible pour le chauffage du bâtiment, des critères de sécurité et du coût des matériaux de sept couples d'absorption: CaCl2/H2O, Glycérine/H2O, KOH/H2O, LiBr/H2O, LiCl/H2O, NaOH/H2O et H2O/NH3 est effectuée à l'aide d'une simulation statique. Un prototype de démonstration de la faisabilité de ce concept innovant avec le couple CaCl2/H2O a été conçu, dimensionné et construit. Il est issu d'une optimisation minimisant le nombre de composants du système. Des expérimentations ont été effectuées à différentes conditions de fonctionnement. Les performances thermodynamiques et les différents problèmes du prototype sont analysés. Comme les résultats expérimentaux sont influencés par plusieurs facteurs tels que la présence d'air dans le système (en particulier pour la phase d'absorption), la précision des capteurs et des facteurs humains lors de l'opération, pour une meilleure compréhension du processus, une simulation dynamique est développée. Le fonctionnement optimal du prototype est alors étudié. Une simulation globale annuelle est effectuée afin d'étudier le fonctionnement annuel du système de stockage inter-saisonnier en lien avec un système solaire et un bâtiment. Les modèles du système de stockage, d'un capteur solaire, d'un bâtiment et des conditions météorologiques sont couplés. Les caractéristiques : pressions, températures, masses, fractions massiques, puissances échangées, rendements, capacités de stockage, etc. du système de stockage sont présentés et analysés.

<p>The academic subject of mechatronics has been definedpreviously in numerous publications. This study aims atanalyzing mechatronics by using categories developed within theeducational science of Didactics. The result of the analysis,that relies on data from mechatronics education at KTH andother universities, shows that the identity of mechatronics canbe described as thematic, and the legitimacy as functional,which gives implications for the questions of communication andselection: what should be taught, and how. This is combinedwith a study of the evolution of the subject of mechatronics,where it is possible to see the gradually changing identity,from a combination of a number of disciplinary subjects to onethematic subject.</p><p>The first part of the thesis concludes that mechatronics isautonomous, thematic and functional. Teaching and learningmechatronics according to the identity and legitimacy of thesubject benefits from collaborative, experimental andinternational settings. The functional legitimacy todayrequires the collaborative and the international setting,meaning that the mechatronics employer requires these skillswhen employing a mechatronic engineer. Further, an exemplifyingselection requires the experimental setting, in particular whencomparing a representative selection with the reproduction ofknowledge, and an exemplifying selection with the creation ofknowledge.</p><p>To conclude, there are a number of important aspects to takeinto account when teaching and learning mechatronics. Three ofthese aspects, collaborative, experimental and internationalare suggested as important, and also a direct consequence ofthe identity of mechatronics. This thesis shows that thesethree aspects are indeed possible to integrate intomechatronics education, which will benefit greatly fromthis.</p> / QC 20100609

Les matériaux composites sont des matériaux nouveaux qui possèdent une grande déformabilité et une grande raideur. Les structures de bâtiment qui requièrent ces deux propriétés sont peu nombreuses et les gridshells en sont un bon exemple. En effet, ces structures à double courbure sont obtenues par déformation élastique puis rigidification d'une grille plane sans raideur en cisaillement. Les grands déplacements et les grandes rotations qui surviennent durant la phase de montage de ces structures élancées précontraintes nécessitent la prise en compte de non-linéarités géométriques importantes. Un outil numérique spécifique reposant sur la méthode de la relaxation dynamique est donc développé et validé. Il permet une nouvelle approche de la forme des gridshells et la mise au point d'une méthode de recherche de forme originale. Il est également utilisé pour l'étude géométrique et l'analyse structurelle de prototypes de gridshells en matériaux composites construits sur le site de l'École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Past literature has indicated that jury instructions are not written in ways that result in optimal juror comprehension, and can be improved through various ways of simplification. Prototypes of the insanity defense have also been found to influence juror decision-making. Additionally, individual factors such as attitudes toward and myth endorsement of the insanity defense can influence verdict. The following study explored these effects of jury instruction format, insanity defense consistency, and participant factors on jury understanding and decision-making. Three hundred and eighty jury eligible community members were recruited online for this study. Participants were first asked questions pertaining to attitudes and myths about the insanity defense. Afterwards, each participant read one of two vignettes (an insanity defense consistent case and an insanity defense inconsistent case), and then read one of three jury instructions (traditional, simplified, or flow-chart versions). The participants then reached individual verdicts and answered factual questions about the insanity defense and their perceptions on the defendant. Results indicated that simplified instructions increased participant knowledge over the traditional and flow-chart instructions, but did not influence verdict selection overall. Consistency, myth endorsement, attitudes, and perceptions of the defendant were also all found to contribute to the verdict. These results contribute to the current research on comprehension of jury instructions, especially in the context of an insanity defense case, and may provide additional information for attorneys to consider during the voir dire process.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Rapid prototyping is a method of software system development that is gaining much support presently. Rapid prototyping allows the designer to quickly produce a model of a system or part of a system which the user can see and thus verify if his requirements have been met. The prototype specifications can then be efficiently converted to an accurate set of program specifications that the programmers can implement as a final working system. The computer aided prototyping system (CAPS) is a rapid prototyping system that will automate many of the processes of prototyping such as code generation of prototype modules and searching for reusable components. One of the many components of CAPS is a language translator which translates a prototype specification written in the Prototype System Description Language (PSDL) into a set of Ada procedures and packages. The Ada procedures and packages, when executed in proper order, will effectively execute the prototype. This thesis demonstrates an implementation of the translator component of the CAPS. An attribute grammar tool, Kodiyak, is used to build a translator which implements the major constructs of PSDL and produces Ada code to implement PSDL operators according to their control constraints. / http://archive.org/details/implementationof00alti / Lieutenant, United States Navy

This paper analyzes the link between relative market value of representative subsets of athletes in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and individual wages. NBA athletes are categorized with respect to multiple performance characteristics utilizing the k-means algorithm to cluster observations and a group's market value is calculated by averaging real annual salaries. Employing GMM estimation techniques to a dynamic wage equation, we find a statistically significant and positive effect of one-period lagged relative market value of an athlete's representative cluster on individual wages after controlling for past individual performance. This finding is consistent with the theory of prototype heuristic, introduced by Kahneman and Frederick (2002), that NBA teams' judgment about an athlete's future performance is based on a comparison of the player to a prototype group consisting of other but comparable athletes. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Critical Design uses designed artifacts as a critique of consumer culture. However, the complex nature of these artifacts prompted designers to focus on the artifact and present it in an informative, but relatively isolated fashion.The theoretical framework for this thesis is drawn from a similar, yet more recent, design criterion called Design Fiction. The artifacts of Design Fiction are called Diegetic Prototypes: fictional prototypes that function in the social sphere of a film’s structure. This research develops a method for analyzing and creating artifacts, in reference to psychoanalysis theories on the human psyche and perception of objects. It then explores scenarios for presenting these artifacts as diegetic prototypes by exploring and integrating the disciplines of systems/parametric design, digital fabrication, music, animation and film. The scenarios function as micro-narratives. These micro-narratives created through the prototypes will inform the larger narrative structure of the film.

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / Wireless Sensor Network industrial and civilian applications have been moved closer to us since they were originally developed for defense applications. They have been or will be widely used in industrial process monitoring and control, earth quake monitoring, healthcare applications, construction health monitoring, home automation, traffic control, and space exploration. The IEEE802.15.4 standard defines the PHY and MAC layers for low power wireless sensor networks. However, applications and research of wireless sensor networking are centered on battery powered devices. To remove the battery from the system is the ultimate goal of this research by using Energy Harvesting technology, which will largely reduce the wireless sensor network maintenance cost, increase the option open to application environments and push the speed of wireless sensor network industrialization. This thesis tackles the problem of RF link budget and PHY layer design for Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Network Nodes, through a modification to PHY/MAC layers. To this end, a prototype of energy harvesting radio is developed that hinges on burst-communication and solar cell energy harvesting techniques. The choice of operating frequency is considered relative to transmission range, antenna technology and RF link budget, and quantified by propagation measurements at four unlicensed frequencies in the VHF through UHF spectrums. A short preamble, PHY payload protocol frame structure and synchronization method are also proposed in order to support long sleep period duty cycle necessary in Energy Harvesting Radio systems. Some related work has recently begun under a standardization effort known as 802.15.4f. It is hoped that this thesis will contribute to this effort.

Among researchers within the design area, role play is often spoken about in a positive manner. This study aims to discover the limitations with role play as a tool for experiential learning. This is done by evaluating a prototype of an early-stage concept of a role play-tool. The tool is aimed for Swedish SMEs to raise awareness and create curiosity of guanxi, which is a vital part of Chinese business culture. The tool is compared to another experiential-based tool, Experience Map, with the same purpose but based on real scenarios rather than simulated scenarios. Prototype testing with intended users identified the difficulty of giving instructions on cultural behaviour as one limitation. This limitation is especially difficult in settings where the participants have no previous knowledge within the area, which is the case for this study. Another limitation is the challenge of giving enough instructions for the players to act on, without interrupting the exploration aspect of the tool. Besides, the target group seem to prefer more hands-on tools that are more relevant for their specific business and less time-consuming. The main difference between the tools is that the experience map which is based on real scenarios, creates a greater interest among participants and a higher level of the participants’ willingness to use it.

O envolvimento do usuário no processo de desenvolvimento do produto (PDP) é uma abordagem que visa que os produtos desenvolvidos atendam às necessidades dos usuários e que proporcionem maior segurança para os usuários. Por meio de protótipos a equipe de desenvolvimento e os usuários conseguem se comunicar de forma mais eficiente, facilitando a interação entre essas partes. Formas e técnicas de desenvolvimento de protótipos são fortemente discutidos na literatura, no entanto falta uma discussão profunda para auxiliar as empresas a utilizarem protótipos como forma de envolver o usuário. Os desafios e barreiras inerentes ao envolvimento do usuário também limitam o potencial do uso de protótipos, principalmente no desenvolvimento de produtos da saúde. O desenvolvimento desses produtos é particular por possuírem um maior número de usuários que interagem de diferentes maneiras com os produtos, terem uma exigência regulatória atrelada às questões de usabilidade e serem produtos que impactam na segurança e integridade de seus usuários. Assim, surge a seguinte questão de pesquisa: Quais são os propósitos e benefícios da utilização da prototipagem como meio de envolver o usuário no PDP do setor da saúde? O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi desenvolver uma referência para a equipe de desenvolvimento refletir e se apoiar para extrair todo o potencial do uso de protótipos na interação com usuários. Por meio de um estudo de múltiplos casos baseado em evidências, foram analisados 46 casos de projetos que utilizam o protótipo para o envolvimento do usuário. Como principais resultados foram identificados os propósitos recorrentes do uso de protótipos, os benefícios atingidos durante o envolvimento e os tipos de protótipos utilizados. Foi elaborado um framework para envolvimento do usuário utilizando protótipos. O framework, validado por meio de técnicas de mineração de textos, deve ser utilizado pela equipe de desenvolvimento para o planejamento do processo de envolvimento dos usuários. A rica descrição dos propósitos do uso de protótipos tem por objetivo assegurar que tanto os desenvolvedores de produtos experientes bem como os novatos possam atingir melhores resultados com o uso de protótipos. / User involvement in the product development process (PDP) is an approach that aims to develop products that meet the needs of users and provide greater security for users. Through prototypes, the development team and users can communicate more efficiently, facilitating interaction between these parties. Forms and techniques of prototype development are strongly discussed in the literature, however a profound discussion is lacking to help companies to use prototypes as a way of involving the user. The challenges and barriers inherent in user involvement also limit the potential of using prototypes, particularly in the development of health products. The development of these products is particular because they have a greater number of users who interact in different ways with the products, have a regulatory requirement linked to usability issues and are products that impact on the safety and integrity of its users. Thus, the following research question arises: What are the purposes and benefits of using prototyping as a means of involving the user in the health sector PDP? The aim of this research was to develop a reference for the development team to reflect and to support to extract the full potential of the use of prototypes in the interaction with users. Through a multiple case study based on evidence, we analyzed 46 cases of projects that use the prototype for user involvement. As main results were identified the recurrent purposes of using prototypes, the benefits achieved during the involvement and the types of prototypes used. A framework for user engagement using prototypes was developed. The framework, validated through text mining techniques, should be used by the development team to plan the user engagement process. The rich description of the purposes of using prototypes is intended to ensure that both novice and experienced product developers can achieve better results with the use of prototypes.