Les derniers 22 kans sont marqués par des évènements climatiques rapides, non synchrones entre l‘hémisphère Sud et le Nord. Un mécanisme de bascule des températures polaires, amplifié par la capacité de l‘océan profond à stocker et à restituer une partie du CO₂ atmosphérique en fonction de l‘intensité de la circulation océanique et des upwellings le long de la divergence Australe, a été proposé pour expliquer ces évènements. L‘objectif principal de cette thèse a été de définir quel est le rôle de l‘Océan Austral durant ces variations climatiques rapides à l‘aide de 3 carottes sédimentaires marines, prélevées le long de la marge chilienne, sous l‘influence des fronts océaniques et des vents d‘Ouest. La reconstitution des températures océaniques de surface (SST) ont permis de retracer l‘évolution du gradient latitudinal de SST au cours des derniers 22 kans mettant en évidence des migrations vers le sud du front Subtropical, notamment durant la déglaciation,marqués par des changements faunistiques en foraminifères planctoniques et benthiques suggérant unapport accru de nutriments en surface, et accompagnés par un enrichissement en [O₂] dans l‘eau de fond. Ces évènements sont peut-être liés à un renforcement des upwellings au niveau de la divergence australe induisant un renforcement de la ventilation des eaux intermédiaires antarctiques. Ces variations hydrologiques se produisent durant la hausse de CO₂ atmosphérique enregistrée dans les carottes de glace antarctiques pendant la déglaciation, indiquant un lien intime entre les upwellings, l‘intensité de la ventilation des eaux intermédiaires et le transfert de CO₂ depuis l‘océan profond vers l‘atmosphère. / The last 22 kyr are marked by abrupt climatic events, non-synchronous between the southern and northern hemispheres. A see-saw mechanism of the polar temperatures, amplified by the deep oceanability to store and release a portion of atmospheric CO₂, depending on the intensity of the thermohaline circulation and the large upwellings along the southern divergence, has been proposed to explain these observations. The main aim of this thesis was to assess the role of the southern ocean during these millennial events, by studying 3 marine cores, retrieved along the Chilean margin, under the influence of oceanic fronts and the westerly winds. The reconstruction of the sea surface temperatures (SST) allowed tracing the evolution of the SST latitudinal gradient during the last 22 kyr, highlighting southward migrations of the Subtropical Front, especially during the deglaciation, marked by benthic and planktonic foraminifera faunal changes which can be interpreted as surface nutrients inputs increase, accompanied by an enrichment of the bottom water [O₂] in the bottom water. These events could be related to stronger upwellings at the southern divergence leading to an increase of the Antarctic intermediate waters ventilation. These changes occur during atmospheric CO₂ increases recorded in Antarctic ice cores, marking the deglaciation, and suggesting an intimate link between upwellings, the intensity of the intermediate waters ventilation, and deep ocean-atmosphere CO₂ transfers.

Self-service technologies (SSTs) have grown rapidly and aim to help customers self-serve. Self-service can be facilitated through help centers, which offers information and support. As the demand for on-going support continues to rise, it is important with continuous research of how to assist help centers to match the affordances of current technology to customers’ needs while providing a good User Experience (UX). Therefore, this study investigates how UX design can be used to improve help centers as a tool for self-service for different stakeholders. This study was in collaboration with Nasdaq, where the users’ needs, expectations and concerns when looking for help to use Nasdaq’s products were identified. In an evaluation, the main features of help center’s that influenced users experience and encouraged their use of the technology were measured by a theoretical lens of a revised version of a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The results of this study declare that the major significance in establishing a successful help center lies in ensuring easy accessibility to information through a search function and a well-organized side navigation. Additionally, incorporating a training and getting started page with a combination of videos and text are crucial for advanced products. / Självbetjäningsteknologier (SST) har vuxit snabbt och syftar till att assistera kunder att hjälpa sig själv. Självbetjäning kan underlättas genom ett hjälpcenter, vilket erbjuder information och support. Eftersom efterfrågan på ständig support fortsätter att öka är det viktigt med kontinuerlig forskning om hur man kan skapa hjälpcenter som matchar den nuvarande teknikens möjligheter till kundernas behov samtidigt som man tillhandahåller en bra användarupplevelse (UX). Därför undersöker denna studie hur UX design kan användas för att förbättra hjälpcenter som ett verktyg för självbetjäning för olika intressenter. Denna studie gjordes i samarbete med Nasdaq, där användarnas behov, förväntningar och oro när de söker efter hjälp att använda Nasdaqs produkter identifierades. I en utvärdering mättes huvudfunktionerna i ett hjälpcenter som påverkade användarnas upplevelse och uppmuntrade deras användning av tekniken genom en teoretisk lins bestående av en reviderad version av Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Resultaten av denna studie visar att det viktigaste för att etablera ett framgångsrikt hjälpcenter ligger i att säkerställa lättillgänglighet till information genom en sökfunktion och en välorganiserad sidnavigering. Dessutom är det avgörande för avancerade produkter att införa en tränings- och komma igång-sida med en kombination av videor och text.

Convective snow bands develop commonly over the open water surface of lakes or seas when cold airgets advected from a continent. Enhanced heat and moisture fluxes from the comparatively warm waterbody trigger shallow convection and an unstable boundary layer builds up. Relatively strong wind canorganize this convection into wind-parallel quasi-stationary cloud bands with moving individual cells.Depending on various factors like the horizontal wind, the vertical shear or the shape of the coast, thosecloud bands can form of different strength and structure. When the air mass meets the coast orographicforcing causes horizontal convergence and vertical lifting intensifies the precipitation at the coast. If thewind direction stays constant for several days a single snow band would accumulate its precipitation ina very restricted region and cause locally a significant increase in snow depth. This process leads in thecold season repeatedly to severe precipitation events at the Swedish east coast. Large amounts of snowalong with strong wind speeds can cause serious problems for traffic and infrastructure.Two different cases of convective snow bands in the Baltic Sea area were selected to simulate theassociated atmospheric conditions with a total of five different model systems. The atmosphere climatemodel RCA has been used independently at default settings as well as with increased resolution on avertical and a horizontal scale and furthermore coupled either to the ice-ocean model NEMO or the wavemodel component WAM.Comparing all models the crucial parameters like wind, temperature, heat fluxes, and precipitationvary generally in a reasonable range. However, the model systems show systematical differences amongthemselves. The strongest 10 meter wind speeds can be observed for both RCA models with increasedresolution. The RCA-WAM simulation shows its wind enhancement during the snow band event witha time shift to the other models by several hours. The mean directional wind shear above the Gulf ofBothnia, the snow band’s region of origin, is for all models small. The warmest sea surface temperaturesare reached by the RCA-NEMO simulation, which as a result also stands out for its most intense heatfluxes in both sensible and latent heat. Both high resolution RCA models as well as RCA-NEMO givethe most remarkable local precipitation rates. The original RCA and RCA-WAM simulate significantlyless snowfall. Local comparison with SMHI station measurements show that the models represent thetrend of wind, temperature and precipitation evolution well. However, all models decelerate the air masstoo rapidly when meeting the coast. Moreover, it remains a challenge to simulate the exact time andlocation of the extreme precipitation.The coupling of the atmosphere model with the ice-ocean model as well as the increased resolution ofthe atmospheric component have been observed to show great improvements in the model performanceand are suggested for future research work to be used in combination with each other for the regionalmodelling of convective snow bands in the Baltic Sea area.

ITC/USA 2009 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fifth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2009 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Incorporating network-based telemetry components into a flight test article creates new types of network-based data flows between a test article and a telemetry ground station. The emerging integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) Standard defines new, network-based data delivery protocols which can produce various network data flows. Augmenting existing Serial Streaming Telemetry (SST) data flows with these network-based data flows is crucial to enhancing current flight test capabilities. This paper briefly introduces the network protocols referenced in the iNET Standard and then identifies the various data flows generated by network-based components which comply with the iNET Standard. Several combinations of SST and TmNS data flows are presented and the enhanced telemetry capabilities provided by each combination are identified. Identifying time intervals of unused telemetry network bandwidth explicitly for reallocation to other test articles is also addressed.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur une variable océanographique importante dans le suivi du climat : la température de surface des océans. Au niveau global, les observations de cette température sont fournies principalement par des radiomètres embarqués sur des satellites. Afin de traiter ce flux important de données, un traitement statistique s'impose dans le but de synthétiser l'information en des cartes globales et quotidiennes de notre variable d'intérêt. Pour ce faire, nous proposons un modèle linéaire de type espace-d'état avec des erreurs Gaussiennes. Nous commençons par présenter ce modèle sur des données issues de séries temporelles ayant un échantillonnage irrégulier. Suit un travail d'inférence avec la mise en place d'un schéma d'estimation des paramètres, basé sur la combinaison d'une méthode des moments et du maximum de vraisemblance au travers de l'algorithme EM et des probabilités de filtrage et lissage de Kalman. Nous appliquons enfin cette méthodologie pour estimer les variances d'erreurs et le paramètre de corrélation temporelle à tout l'océan Atlantique. Nous ajoutons ensuite la composante spatiale et proposons une structure d'ordre deux, séparable, basée sur le produit d'une covariance temporelle et d'une covariance spatiale ani- sotrope. Les paramètres de cette dernière sont estimés sur l'océan Atlantique à partir de techniques géostatistiques usuelles et forment un atlas pertinent pour les océanographes. Fi- nalement, nous montrons que l'apport de l'information spatiale augmente le pouvoir prédictif du modèle.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine school psychologists' use of evidence- based practices (EBP), in general, and more specifically in the area of social skills training (SST) for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Study participants, consisting of 498 school psychologists from across the nation, participated in an online survey that gathered information about their training, attitudes, and practices. The frequency with which specific EBP practices for social skills training for students with ASD was examined, as was prediction of use of these practices. Multiple-regression analyses revealed multiple independent variables that were predictors for overall use of EBP. Results indicated that over half of the participants provide SST for students with ASD. Although the majority of participants indicated that their graduate program included at least one course with information about ASD and EBP practices, in general, nearly half indicated that their coursework did not include any courses that directly addressed social skills training for students with ASD. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to determine the extent to which the data fit the factor model. Participants' perception of the importance placed on EBP by their school district, scores on the openness subscale of the Evidence Based Practices Assessment Scale, perception of how well their graduate program prepared them in the EBP process, perception of whether they were adequately trained in the area of SST for students with ASD, and having a caseload evenly divided among settings were significant predictors of overall use of EBP.

Although sleep has been linked to changes in positive and negative affect across the lifespan, the prediction of sleep from affect has not been explored completely. As such, the main objective of this study was to examine the association between affect and sleep across the adult lifespan, using a novel gauge of affect, the positivity ratio. Both subjective and objective assessments of sleep were used in analyses. This study was an archival analysis of data collected as a part of the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS-II), with participants ranging from 34 to 83 years of age. Results revealed the positivity ratio to be a significant predictor of self-reported sleep quality and global sleep, but not of objective sleep measures. Additionally, the positivity ratio was found to increase with age and appears to predict better global sleep and sleep quality across all age groups. Implications of the findings are discussed.

In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations have been carried out in order to investigate and improve the performance of the Standard Cirrus glider, using different Navier-Stokes methods and solving the equations for the steady flow. The work has been divided in two parts: First, a study is performed to test the quality of the transition model (Gamma-ReTheta). The two dimensional results of the glider´s airfoil are compared against the results from panel’s methods and the open-source CFD codes: SU2 and OpenFoam. In addition, three dimensional glider´s models are simulated using the transition model with the purpose of creating a validated reference model of the glider’s performance in steady level flight. The simulations are carried out in two dimensions for the outer wing airfoil for a 1.5 e+06 Reynolds number and in three dimensions for the Wing & Fuselage model and Tail & Fuselage model under a range of velocities. Both simulations are validated against experimental data. In the second part of the study, the validated model is used to developed possible improvements in the glider´s external geometry that could produce possible benefits in the performance and handling qualities of the glider.

O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a relação entre a Temperatura da Superfície do Mar (TSM) no Oceano Atlântico Sul (OAS) e a precipitação no estado de São Paulo. Para tanto, adotaram-se as escalas mensal e sazonal. A técnica estatística multivariada, chamada Análise de Componentes Principais (ACP, ou EOF em inglês) foi aplicada para definir as áreas homogêneas do oceano (de \'A\' a \'L\') e as subregiões do continente (de 1 a 7). Além da definição das áreas e sub-regiões, a ACP identificou muito bem os padrões espaciais da precipitação e da TSM em todas as escalas adotadas: mensal contínua, mensal descontínua e sazonal. Na ACP da série temporal sazonal de verão, o primeiro e o segundo modos da precipitação evidenciam a distribuição espacial típica de verão (zonal) para o estado de São Paulo, e a variância explicada por esses dois modos juntos é de 59,79% do total. Esta distribuição espacial já havia sido observada nas análises iniciais a partir das médias sazonais da precipitação, padrão que se explica pelos fluxos de umidade que, nesta estação, devido ao sistema de monções da América do Sul, movem-se mais intensamente em direção ao continente. Já na ACP da série temporal sazonal de inverno, o primeiro e segundo modos da precipitação evidenciam a distribuição meridional, com variância explicada de 39,15 e 17,77%, respectivamente. Os sistemas frontais no inverno agem como responsáveis por uma parcela considerável do total precipitado, o que explica o padrão meridional da chuva. Os coeficientes de correlação linear significativos entre as áreas oceânicas e sub-regiões continentais homogêneas demonstraram que a variabilidade sazonal da precipitação está associada à TSM, sobretudo na porção central da área estudada (próximo ao litoral sul e sudeste do Brasil), nas estações seca (abril a setembro) e chuvosa (outubro a março). Além das variáveis principais (precipitação e TSM), os campos de Radiação de Onda Longa Emergente (ROLE), Pressão no nível do Mar (PNM), e Divergência do ar em 250 e 850hPa auxiliaram na identificação dos padrões atmosféricos e na análise dos eventos extremos. As estações consideradas atípicas, ou seja, as que apresentaram média muito acima ou muito abaixo do desvio padrão, foram separadas em quatro classes: verão chuvoso, verão seco, inverno chuvoso e inverno seco. A partir da análise desses eventos, conclui-se então que a TSM do OAS pode alterar consideravelmente o padrão sazonal de precipitação no estado de São Paulo, principalmente se estiver atrelada a padrões atmosféricos. No inverno, anomalias negativas (positivas) de TSM estão associadas com a precipitação acima (abaixo) da média climatológica nesse estado. Devido a bloqueios atmosféricos no OAS no verão, a diminuição da passagem de sistemas frontais pode intensificar anomalias positivas no oceano, as quais estão associadas aos períodos chuvosos no sul do país e de seca no estado de São Paulo. / The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in the South Atlantic Ocean (SAO) and the precipitation in São Paulo state. So, the monthly and seasonal scales were adopted. The Principal Component Analysis multivariate statistic technic (PCA, and also called EOF) was applied to define the oceans homogeneous areas (from A to L) and the continents sub-regions (from 1 to 7). Besides defining the areas and sub-regions, the PCA has identified very well the spatial patterns of the precipitation and SST in all the adopted scales: continuous monthly, discontinuous monthly and seasonal. In the PCA of the summer seasonal temporal series, the first and the second precipitations mode evidence the summer-typical spatial distribution (zonal) for São Paulo state, and the variance explained by these two modes together is 59,79% of the total. This spatial distribution was already noted in the first analysis from the seasonal precipitation averages, and such a pattern is explained by the flow of humidity, which in the summer, owing to the South America monsoon systems, move more intensely toward the continent. On the other hand, in the PCA of the winter seasonal temporal series, the first and the second precipitations modes evidence the meridional distribution, with a variance explained from 39,15 to 17,77%, respectively. The frontal systems in the winter act as responsibles for a substantial portion of the total of precipitation, which explains the rains meridional pattern. The significative linear correlation coefficients between the oceanic areas and the homogeneous continental sub-regions demonstrate that the precipitations seasonal variability is associated to the SST, mostly in the central portion of the studied area (next to the southern and southeastern Brazilian coast), in the drought season (from April to September) and rainy season (from October to March). Besides the principal variables (precipitation and SST), the fields of Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR), Sea-level Pressure (SLP) and air Divergence in 250 and 850hPa has helped to identify the atmospheric patterns and to analyze the extreme events. The atypical seasons, in other words, those which presented an average too high or too low compared to the standard deviation, were divided in four categories: rainy summer, drought summer, rainy winter and drought winter. With the analysis of these events, it is possible to conclude that the SST of the SAO can change substantially the precipitation seasonal pattern in São Paulo state, mainly if it is linked to atmospheric patterns. In the winter, SSTs negative (positive) anomalies are associated to the overage (underage) climatologic precipitation in this state. Owing to atmospheric blockades on the SAO in the summer, the decreasing transit of frontal systems can intensify positive anomalies in the ocean, which are associated to the rainy periods in the Brazilian South and drought periods in the São Paulo state.

Durante o verão austral, diversas regiões do Brasil, como a Sudeste, porções das Regiões Sul e Nordeste e o Brasil central, sofrem períodos de intensa precipitação, geralmente associados à Zona de Convergência do Atlântico Sul (ZCAS), o que ocasiona sérios problemas econômicos e sociais nessas regiões. Assim, o objetivo geral deste trabalho foi estudar as principais características da ZCAS, sendo que, do ponto de vista de modelagem numérica, pretendeu-se estudar as influências da temperatura da superfície do mar (TSM) e da umidade do solo (US) principalmente na precipitação associada ao sistema. Esse estudo foi realizado através de simulações com o modelo regional BRAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System with Brazilian Developments), para dois casos de ZCAS, ocorridos em 1998 e 1999, períodos, respectivamente, com TSMs do Pacífico leste e central anomalamente quentes (El Niño) e anomalamente frias (La Niña). Através de índices estatísticos foi verificado o desempenho do modelo, usando TSMs com resoluções espaciais e temporais diferentes, na previsão de precipitação nas regiões que compõem a ZCAS (oceânica, costeira e amazônica). O pior e o melhor desempenhos do modelo BRAMS se deram quando do uso de TSMs com resoluções espacial e temporal menos e mais refinadas, respectivamente, para o caso de ZCAS de 1998. Para o caso de 1999 não foram observadas diferenças significativas no desempenho do modelo. Grande parte do erro do modelo na previsão de chuva é devida ao viés do próprio modelo, que é melhor em identificar a ocorrência/não-ocorrência de chuva do que em localizar núcleos mais intensos. No entanto, o BRAMS apresenta alto skill no que se refere à quantidade de chuva. Com respeito à simulação de precipitação nas regiões que compõem a ZCAS, o melhor e o pior desempenhos do modelo se deram nas regiões amazônica e oceânica, respectivamente. Com relação à US verificaram-se as influências da condição de solo mais seca possível, aplicada às regiões de ZCAS continental, em características do sistema como convergência de umidade e precipitação. De maneira geral, a quantidade de precipitação acumulada nas regiões onde se aplicou a condição seca foi maior do que no experimento controle devido à convergência de umidade, que é transportada das regiões circunvizinhas para a região de solo mais seco por circulações de meso e grande escalas geradas por heterogeneidades na superfície. Analisaram-se ainda diferenças nas características da ZCAS observada e simulada em diferentes fases do El Niño-Oscilação Sul (ENOS). Os casos de ZCAS de 1998 e 1999 se apresentaram mais alongado sobre o Atlântico e predominantemente continental, respectivamente, o que confirma que períodos de El Niño (La Niña) favorecem a ocorrência de ZCAS oceânica (continental). Nos testes de sensibilidade do BRAMS à US foi observado provável efeito do ENOS sobre a ZCAS simulada, uma vez que o movimento ascendente na ZCAS amazônica foi menos intenso do que na costeira em 1998, ocorrendo o oposto em 1999. A fase quente (fria) do ENOS favorece a subsidência (ascendência) na região amazônica, podendo ter contribuído para enfraquecer (intensificar) o movimento vertical nessa região em 1998 (1999). / During austral summer, several regions of Brazil, as Southeast, portions of South and Northeast Regions and central Brazil, suffer periods of intense precipitation, generally associated with South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), which causes serious economic and social problems in those regions. Notwithstanding, the general objective of this work was to study the main features of SACZ, and in terms of numerical modeling, it intended to study the influences of the sea surface temperature (SST) and of the soil moisture (SM) mainly upon the precipitation associated with the system. This study was carried out through simulations with BRAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System with Brazilian Developments) regional model, to two SACZ cases, occurred in 1998 and in 1999, periods, respectively, with SSTs of Eastern and central Pacific abnormally warm (El Niño) and abnormally cold (La Niña). Through statistical indices it was verified the model performance, using SSTs with different spatial and temporal resolutions, upon the precipitations forecasting in the regions that compound SACZ (oceanic, coastal and Amazon). The worst and the best performances of BRAMS model occurred when using SST\'s with less and more refined spatial and temporal resolutions, respectively, to the SACZ case of 1998. To the case of 1999 it was observed no significant differences in the models performance. Much of the models error in rains forecasting is due to the bias of the model itself, which is better in identifying the occurrence/non-occurrence of rain than in locate more intense nuclei. However, the BRAMS has high skill regarding to the amount of rain. About the precipitations simulation in the regions that compound SACZ, the best and the worst models performances occurred in the Amazon and oceanic regions, respectively. Concerning the SM it was verified the influences of the driest possible soil condition, applied to continental regions of SACZ, upon systems features such as moisture convergence and precipitation. In general, the amount of rainfall in regions where the dry condition was applied was higher than in the control experiment due to the moisture convergence, which is transported from surrounding regions to the one of drier soil by meso and large scale circulations generated by heterogeneities on the surface. It was also analyzed differences in the characteristics of observed and simulated SACZ at different phases of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The SACZ cases of 1998 and of 1999 were presented more elongated over the Atlantic and predominantly continental, respectively, confirming that periods of El Niño (La Niña) favor the occurrence of oceanic (continental) SACZ. In the BRAMS sensibility tests to SM it was observed probable effect of ENSO upon simulated SACZ, as the upward motion in Amazon SACZ was less intense than in the coastal one in 1998, occurring the opposite in 1999. The warm phase of ENSO favors the subsidence (rising) on Amazon region, which may have contributed to weaken (intensify) the vertical motion on the region in 1998 (1999).