Neste trabalho nós abordamos dois temas da QCD em altas energias. A distribuição nuclear de glúons e a saturação de pártons. As parametrizações da distribuição nuclear de glúons disponíveis atualmente na literatura são bastante diferentes entre si, o que mostra que esta distribuição ainda é bastante incerta. Nós mostramos que é possível vincular a distribuição de glúons no núcleo em altas energias a observáveis nucleares inclusivos, o que facilitará a distinção entre as diferentes parametrizações quando surgirem novos dados experimentais destes observáveis. O segundo tema abordado, a saturação de pártons, é uma questão muito importante atualmente, e a existência ou não deste fenômeno poderá ser definitivamente confirmada no LHC e no futuro eRHIC. No caso da saturação nós mostramos que os observáveis inclusivos não serão úteis para indicar se ocorre ou não a saturação de pártons em altas energias. Nossa conclusão foi a de que para os efeitos da saturação, ao invés destes observáveis devemos nos concentrar nos observáveis difrativos, que são muito mais sensíveis a dipolos de grande tamanho e corresponderão a uma fração significativa dos eventos observados. / In this work we considered two subjects of QCD at high energies. The nuclear gluon distributions and the parton saturation. The currently available parametrizations of nuclear gluon distribution in the literature are very different among themselves. We show that it is possible to relate the gluon distribution in a nucleus at high energies to nuclear inclusive observables. This will allow us to distinguish between the different parametrizations when new experimental data become available. The second subject considered, parton saturation, is currently very important, and the existence or not of this phenomenon will be confirmed at the LHC and at the future eRHIC. In the case of saturation we show that inclusive observables are not very useful to indicate if parton saturation occurs at high energies. Our conclusion was that to detect saturation effects, instead of these observables we must focus on the diffractive observables, which are much more sensitive to big dipoles and will correspond to a significant fraction of the observed events.

Current differential protection principle is superior in terms of sensitivity and speed of operation in comparison with other protection principle used in power systems. From the last five decades, various current differential protection schemes are widely used to protect busbars, transformers, and short-transmission lines. The deployment of high capacity microwave and optical fiber technologies redefined the line protection systems by facilitating the use of current differential protection schemes for long transmission lines. The common application issue of these schemes is mis-operation due to current transformer (CT) saturation during close-in external faults. Moreover, transformer differential protection schemes face mis-trip due to inrush current during energization. The techniques presented in the literature to address those issues, de-sensitize protection function and increase the time of operation. A comprehensive fault discrimination algorithm and an inrush current detection algorithm are highly demanded for current differential protection schemes. The purpose of this dissertation is to optimize the performance of differential schemes applied to protect busbar, transformer and line. This research derives the mathematical model of saturated secondary current of CT and introduces the concept of Partial Operating Current (POC). Based on these mathematical developments, the characteristics of POC are identified for all three types of differential zones like busbar, transformer and line protection. A new inrush current blocking algorithm is developed for transformer differential protection. A new time-domain CT saturation detection algorithm is also proposed. Based on these new developments, three separate differential schemes are designed for busbar, transformer, and line protection, respectively. The proposed schemes provide complete immunity against the mis-operations due to CT saturation during close-in external faults and transformer inrush current without sacrificing the sensitivity for internal faults. The speed of operation is also improved. The model for each scheme is built in Matlab platform and the performance is validated using the test system simulated in Electro-Magnetic Transient Program (EMTP) for all possible fault scenarios. Documented results show the improved performance of the proposed schemes when compared to traditional differential schemes in terms of reliability, sensitivity, selectivity, and speed

In Arctic tundra soils pH serves as an important parameter related to several biotic parameters such as, plant and microbial community composition, biodiversity, nutrient dynamics and productivity. Both abiotic and biotic factors, for instance, base saturation (BS) and plant nutrient uptake may exert a control on soil pH, while it is still unclear to what extent different factors can explain soil pH across different tundra vegetation types. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent different abiotic and biotic factors influence soil pH in the humus layer across different tundra vegetation types. To do so, eight different tundra vegetation types of which four were underlaid by permafrost (Arctic Alaska) and four with no permafrost (Arctic Sweden) were studied in detail with regard to different properties affecting soil pH. I found that BS was the main factor controlling soil pH across the different vegetation types regardless if the soil was underlain by permafrost or not. Factors, such as, ionic strength or soil water content could not explain any overall pH variation and did only significantly affect the heath soils. Further, the uptake of the most abundant base cations (Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+) from meadow and heath vegetation revealed a high difference between plant functional groups within the same vegetation types. The higher dominance of slow growing woody species in heath vegetation which had a lower uptake corresponded with a lower BC content (especially (Ca2+), pH and BS in the humus soil relative the meadow meanwhile the content of K+ was more than three times higher in heath. Overall, this study suggests that the degree of neutralization (base saturation) regulates pH either via the influence of bedrock and hydrogeochemistry and/or via plant traits that affects the uptake and turnover of base cations.

This work provides improved procedures for spectrophotometric carbon system measurements. Indicator dyes used for routine spectrophotometric pH measurements in seawater suffer from impurity issues, which introduce vendor-specific systematic errors in pH determinations. The magnitude of these errors for several vendors was investigated for meta Cresol Purple (mCP) and Cresol Red (CR). Flash chromatography procedures were developed to obtain purified mCP and CR on a bulk scale in order to supply the oceanographic research community with the indicators. Easy access to the purified indicators ensures global intercomparability of spectrophotometric pH determinations. Internal consistency of marine inorganic carbon system measurements was studied using datasets obtained on two large coastal ocean acidification research cruises. In both cases, purified mCP was used to obtain the pH measurements, thereby improving accuracy relative to previous studies in which measurements were obtained with unrefined mCP. Based on this internal consistency study, recommendations are made for selecting the parameter pairs used for saturation state calculations. Direct spectrophotometric methods for measuring carbonate ion concentrations in seawater were improved by (a) using a higher concentration of lead as the carbonate indicator and (b) altering the carbonate computational algorithm based on high quality field data. Measurements of DIC and pH (using purified mCP) were used to calculate carbonate ion concentrations for comparison with spectrophotometrically measured carbonate ion concentrations (i.e., via spectrophotometric measurements of Pb(II) spectra in the ultraviolet). Minor changes in the computational algorithm substantially improved agreement between measured and calculated carbonate ion concentrations.

Doctor of Philosphy (PhD) / This thesis describes the work carried out during four treks, each over 10-11 days, from 1400m to 5000m in the Nepal Himalaya and further work performed during several two-night sojourns at the Barcroft Laboratory at 3800m on White Mountain in California, USA. Nineteen volunteers were studied during the treks in Nepal and seven volunteers were studied at White Mountain. All subjects were normal, healthy individuals who had not travelled to altitudes higher than 1000m in the previous twelve months. The aims of this research were to examine the effects on sleep, and the ventilatory patterns during sleep, of incremental increases in altitude by employing portable polysomnography to measure and record physiological signals. A further aim of this research was to examine the relationship between the ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia, measured at sea level, and the development of periodic breathing during sleep at high altitude. In the final part of this thesis the possibility of preventing and treating Acute Mountain Sickness with non-invasive positive pressure ventilation while sleeping at high altitude was tested. Chapter 1 describes the background information on sleep, and breathing during sleep, at high altitudes. Most of these studies were performed in hypobaric chambers to simulate various high altitudes. One study measured sleep at high altitude after trekking, but there are no studies which systematically measure sleep and breathing throughout the whole trek. Breathing during sleep at high altitude and the physiological elements of the control of breathing (under normal/sea level conditions and under the hypobaric, hypoxic conditions present at high altitude) are described in this Chapter. The occurrence of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) in subjects who travel form near sea level to altitudes above 3000m is common but its pathophysiology not well understood. The background research into AMS and its treatment and prevention are also covered in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes the equipment and methods used in this research, including the polysomnographic equipment used to record sleep and breathing at sea level and the high altitude locations, the portable blood gas analyser used in Nepal and the equipment and methodology used to measure each individual’s ventilatory response to hypoxia and hypercapnia at sea level before ascent to the high altitude locations. Chapter 3 reports the findings on the changes to sleep at high altitude, with particular focus on changes in the amounts of total sleep, the duration of each sleep stage and its percentage of total sleep, and the number and causes of arousals from sleep that occurred during sleep at increasing altitudes. The lightest stage of sleep, Stage 1 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, was increased, as expected with increases in altitude, while the deeper stages of sleep (Stages 3 and 4 NREM sleep, also called slow wave sleep), were decreased. The increase in Stage 1 NREM in this research is in agreement with all previous findings. However, slow wave sleep, although decreased, was present in most of our subjects at all altitudes in Nepal; this finding is in contrast to most previous work, which has found a very marked reduction, even absence, of slow wave sleep at high altitude. Surprisingly, unlike experimental animal studies of chronic hypoxia, REM sleep was well maintained at all altitudes. Stage 2 NREM and REM sleep, total sleep time, sleep efficiency and spontaneous arousals were maintained at near sea level values. The total arousal index was increased with increasing altitude and this was due to the increasing severity of periodic breathing as altitude increased. An interesting finding of this research was that fewer than half the periodic breathing apneas and hypopneas resulted in arousal from sleep. There was a minor degree of upper airway obstruction in some subjects at sea level but this was almost resolved by 3500m. Chapter 4 reports the findings on the effects on breathing during sleep of the progressive increase of altitude, in particular the occurrence of periodic breathing. This Chapter also reports the results of changes to arterial blood gases as subjects ascended to higher altitudes. As expected, arterial blood gases were markedly altered at even the lowest altitude in Nepal (1400m) and this change became more pronounced at each new, higher altitude. Most subjects developed periodic breathing at high altitude but there was a wide variability between subjects as well as variability in the degree of periodic breathing that individual subjects developed at different altitudes. Some subjects developed periodic breathing at even the lowest altitude and this increased with increasing altitude; other subjects developed periodic breathing at one or two altitudes, while four subjects did not develop periodic breathing at any altitude. Ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia, measured at sea level before departure to high altitude, was not significantly related to the development of periodic breathing when the group was analysed as a whole. However, when the subjects were grouped according to the steepness of their ventilatory response slopes, there was a pattern of higher amounts of periodic breathing in subjects with steeper ventilatory responses. Chapter 5 reports the findings of an experimental study carried out in the University of California, San Diego, Barcroft Laboratory on White Mountain in California. Seven subjects drove from sea level to 3800m in one day and stayed at this altitude for two nights. On one of the nights the subjects slept using a non-invasive positive pressure device via a face mask and this was found to significantly improve the sleeping oxyhemoglobin saturation. The use of the device was also found to eliminate the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness, as measured by the Lake Louise scoring system. This finding appears to confirm the hypothesis that lower oxygen saturation, particularly during sleep, is strongly correlated to the development of Acute Mountain Sickness and may represent a new treatment and prevention strategy for this very common high altitude disorder.

Ce travail concerne l'étude des machines asynchrones à cage dans les applications de traction automobile, en particulier pour les véhicules hybrides. Nous avons développé des modèles et des méthodes utiles pour analyser et dimensionner de telles machines électriques. Nous avons tout d'abord mis au point un modèle électromagnétique non linéaire de la machine, déterminé à partir d'un nombre restreint de calculs "éléments finis". Ce modèle a ensuite été adapté pour réaliser des études de sensibilités sur quelques dimensions géométriques importantes. Il permet d'adapter rapidement une machine à un nouveau cahier des charges. Nous avons finalement étendu cette méthode de modélisation pour prendre en compte un plus grand nombre de paramètres géométriques. Ce dernier modèle paramétrique a été utilisé pour l'optimisation sous contrainte des dimensions d'une machine. Pour cela, nous avons proposé une nouvelle méthode "d'optimisation à modèle recalé" qui concilie précision, rapidité et simplicité. Cette démarche a été appliquée au cas concret d'un dimensionnement de machine asynchrone avec un cahier des charges typique d'un véhicule hybride.

Le monde des capteurs pour l'automobile est en perpétuelle évolution. Il représente aujourd'hui un tiers du marché mondial des capteurs. Les capteurs peuvent ainsi se retrouver dans toutes les parties de l'automobile, même les plus difficile d'accès. Plus particulèrement les capteurs de position linéaire et angulaire ainterviennent à plusieurs endroits:suspensions, injection, arbre à cames, colonne de direction, phares, sièges... Nous avons étudié un moyen de réaliser une détection linéaire de position. Trois types de réalisation ont été retenus du fait qu'ils présentent une variation intrinsèquement linéaire d'inductance ou de mutuelle en fonction de la position d'un aimant lié à la cible. Ces capteurs ont été modélisés par des réluctances. Les effets fréquentiels des capteurs ont été étudiés afin de prédire l'évolution des paramètres (inductance et résistance) en série.

Cette thèse concerne l'étude des capteurs de courant des disjoncteurs à déclencheur électronique basse tension. La compacité et l'asymétrie de ces capteurs sont à l'origine d'un comportement magnétique complexe dont la modélisation est malaisée. Le travail réalisé a consisté à déterminer un modèle comportemental paramétrable du capteur, compatible avec une optimisation, permettant de prendre en compte son environnement magnétique (autres phases) et sa charge électrique (électronique). Suite à la mise en évidence de l'inadéquation des méthodes "traditionnelles" (schéma électrique ou magnétique équivalent, méthode des éléments finis) avec ce cahier des charges, les travaux ont été orientés vers la méthode des moments magnétiques. Fondé sur cette méthode, un modèle extrêmement simple du capteur a ainsi été mis au point.

L'augmentation exponentiel des performances des lignes de télécommunication optique est en partie du au développement de deux technologie : l'amplificateur à fibre dopée erbium(EDFA) et l'utilisation du multiplexage en longueur d'onde (WDM). Or, combinée, ces des technologies font apparaitre sur les lignes de télécommunication le problème de saturation spectrale du gain (GSHB), un trou se perce dans la bande de gain lorsqu'un fort signal passe dans la fibre amplificatrice.<br />Ce travail de thèse étudie donc ce problème afin de le relier à des grandeurs et des phénomènes physiques connus. Nous avons donc du procédé à des expériences de spectrométrie directement sur fibre optique afin d'effectuer des comparaisons entre les grandeurs mesurée sur échantillons massifs, et en particulier la largeur homogène, celle mesurée sur fibre optique à la fois par des technique comparables (RFLN), et via le trou de GSHB. <br />Nous avons ensuite effectué la première modélisation de l'EDFA qui tient compte des aspects inhomogènes de la répartition de l'erbium dans la matrice hôte, celui-ci rend pour la première fois, compte qualitativement de phénomène lié à l'inhomogénéité tel que le GSHB.<br />Enfin nous avons étudié de nouveaux matériaux utilisables pour l'amplification optique fibré, des matériaux nanostructurés. En effet, contrôler l'environnement de l'erbium indépendamment de la matrice hôte, permettrait d'optimiser à la fois les propriétés de luminescence de l'erbium et les aspects fibrage et guide optique de l'EDFA. Nous avons donc mis en évidence les propriétés particulières de l'erbium dans ces nanoparticules.

Les Tubes à Ondes Progressives (TOP), utilisés pour amplifier des signaux hyperfréquences, présentent un comportement non-linéaire pour des puissances d'entrée élevées, ce qui limite leurs performances. Ce travail vise à améliorer la linéarité des TOP, et propose une solution consistant à injecter, en plus d'une l'onde fondamentale F, sa seconde harmonique 2F, afin d'améliorer la puissance de sortie.<br /><br />Une étude théorique approfondie de la non-linéarité dans les TOP a identifié la "saturation inertielle", comme un aspect essentiel de la saturation de la puissance de sortie. La possibilité d'améliorer la linéarité des TOP par injection d'harmonique a été étudiée à l'aide de modèles analytiques et de simulations numériques, puis validée par des mesures sur des tubes industriels. <br /><br />Ce travail a ouvert des perspectives pour des applications industrielles qui amélioreront le rendement des TOP.