Le sujet de la thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de la rénovation des outils et des méthodes de calculs appliqués aux accidents graves des Réacteurs à Neutrons Rapides refroidis au Sodium (RNR-Na). En particulier, on s'intéresse aux biais et conservatismes liés à la méthodologie de calculs de la phase primaire d'un accident grave. Pour évaluer les conséquences d'un accident de fusion du coeur d'un RNR-Na, une approche déterministe est généralement réalisée en considérant des hypothèses dites "best-estimate". Cette approche repose sur l'utilisation de codes informatiques pour simuler numériquement le comportement du coeur en conditions accidentelles.La phase primaire de dégradation concerne les évènements se produisant tant que les boîtiers inter-assemblages sont intègres. Les assemblages combustibles conservent alors une indépendance les uns par rapport aux autres. Pour cette raison, la simulation de la phase primaire repose sur une approche multi-canaux. Cette approche consiste à regrouper les assemblages semblables en classes d'assemblages appelés canaux. Le modèle thermo-hydraulique en canaux est couplé à un calcul neutronique pour évaluer le niveau de puissance et de réactivité au cours du transitoire accidentel. La méthodologie de calcul de la phase primaire d'un accident grave repose sur des hypothèses fortes en termes de modélisation neutronique et thermo-hydraulique. Après avoir identifié les principales sources d'erreur, la thèse a consisté à développer un nouvel outil de calcul pour la phase primaire en vue d'évaluer les biais et conservatismes méthodologiques. / This project is dedicated to the analysis and the quantification of bias corresponding to the computational methodology for simulating the initiating phase of severe accidents on Sodium Fast Reactors. A deterministic approach is carried out to assess the consequences of a severe accident by adopting best estimate design evaluations. An objective of this deterministic approach is to provide guidance to mitigate severe accident developments and recriticalities through the implementation of adequate design measures. These studies are generally based on modern simulation techniques to test and verify a given design. The new approach developed in this project aims to improve the safety assessment of Sodium Fast Reactors by decreasing the bias related to the deterministic analysis of severe accident scenarios.During the initiating phase, the subassembly wrapper tubes keep their mechanical integrity. Material disruption and dispersal is primarily one-dimensional. For this reason, evaluation methodology for the initiating phase relies on a multiple-channel approach. Typically a channel represents an average pin in a subassembly or a group of similar subassemblies. Inthe multiple-channel approach, the core thermal-hydraulics model is composed of 1 or 2 D channels. The thermal-hydraulics model is coupled to a neutronics module to provide an estimate of the reactor power level.In this project, a new computational model has been developed to extend the initiating phase modeling. This new model is based on a multi-physics coupling. This model has been applied to obtain information unavailable up to now in regards to neutronics and thermal-hydraulics models and their coupling.

Les réseaux sont des modèles qui nous permettent de comprendre les relations entre éléments du monde réel. Une grande quantité de réseaux sont dynamiques, c'est-à-dire que leur connexité change au cours du temps. Comprendre les changements de connexité signifie comprendre les interactions entre les éléments de systèmes complexes: comment se forment les relations sociales et commerciales, comment sont transmis les signaux entre les régions du cerveau, comment s'organisent les réseaux trophiques après des catastrophes environnementales. Au-delà de ce que nous permettent la technologie et les algorithmes d'analyses, l'homme dispose d'une capacité unique pour comprendre et interpréter des informations : la vision et la cognition. Cette thèse développe et examine des moyens pour explorer les réseaux dynamiques d'une manière interactive et visuelle. Je propose des techniques pour déplier la complexité des réseaux, avec le but de les rendre compréhensibles, de les voir à partir de perspectives différentes, d'examiner leurs composantes. Déplier des réseaux est une métaphore, comme la création des cartes bidimensionelles d'objets tridimensionnels comme la Terre: chaque méthode de projection a comme résultat une carte différente qui permet de voir des relations différentes entre la taille des continents et des océans, des distances, etc. Je propose les techniques de dépliage suivantes, implémentées et évaluées dans des systèmes interactifs : (i) une navigation temporelle qui permet de naviguer plus efficacement entre des différents instants, ainsi qu'un feedback visuel qui permet de mieux comprendre les changements dans les réseaux entre deux instants arbitraires. (ii) Des designs permettant la comparaison directe de deux réseaux avec des liens pondérés. (iii) Un modèle de visualisation pour des réseaux denses avec des liens pondérés, ainsi que (iv) la génération de réseaux synthétiques utilisés pour l'évaluation des visualisations. Afin de mieux créer et évaluer des visualisations, nous (v) proposons une taxonomie de tâche pour décrire des tâches accomplies par des analystes des réseaux. Pour compléter, (vi) nous généralisons l'idée de dépliage pour décrire d'autres genres de données temporelles, représentable dans des cubes espace-temps. Cela concerne la visualisation de vidéos, des données multi-variées, ainsi que la géographique. Une telle généralisation a pour but de fournir une base commune pour échanger des techniques de visualisation et de mieux comprendre l'espace de design pour les réseaux dynamiques. Dans cette optique, nous proposons une taxonomie d'opérations génériques qui nous permet de transformer un cube espace-temps en visualisation bidimensionelle, ainsi qu'une description des formes évoquées par les données dans le cube espace-temps. / Networks are models that help us understanding and thinking about relationships between entities in the real world. Many of these networks are dynamic, i.e. connectivity changes over time. Understanding changes in connectivity means to understand interactions between elements of complex systems; how people create and break up friendship relations, how signals get passed in the brain, how business collaborations evolve, or how food-webs restructure after environmental changes. However, understanding static networks is already difficult, due to size, density, attributes and particular motifs; changes over time very much increase this complexity. Quantification of change is often insufficient, but beyond an analysis that is driven by technology and algorithms, humans dispose a unique capability of understanding and interpreting information in data, based on vision and cognition. This dissertation explores ways to interactively explore dynamic networks by means of visualization. I develop and evaluate techniques to unfold the complexity of dynamic networks, making them understandable by looking at them from different angles, decomposing them into their parts and relating the parts in novel ways. While most techniques for dynamic network visualization rely on one particular type of view on the data, complementary visualizations allow for higher-level exploration and analysis. Covering three aspects Tasks, Visualization Design and Evaluation, I develop and evaluate the following unfolding techniques: (i) temporal navigation between individual time steps of a network and improved animated transitions to better understand changes, (ii) designs for the comparison of weighted graphs, (iii) the Matrix Cube, a space-time cube based on adjacency matrices, allowing to visualize dense dynamic networks by, as well as GraphCuisine, a system to (iv) generate synthetic networks with the primary focus on evaluating visualizations in user studies. In order to inform the design and evaluation of visualizations, we (v) provide a task taxonomy capturing users' tasks when exploring dynamic networks. Finally, (vi) the idea of unfolding networks with Matrix Cubes is generalized to other data sets that can be represented in space-time cubes (videos, geographical data, etc.). Visualizations in these domains can inspire visualizations for dynamic networks, and vice-versa. We propose a taxonomy of operations, describing how 3D space-time cubes are decomposed into a large variety of 2D visualizations. These operations help us exploring the design space for visualizing and interactively unfolding dynamic networks and other spatio-temporal data, as well as may serve users as a mental model of the data.

MIMO systems are mainly used in application for wireless communication. Their principle is to use a large number of antennas for transmition and the reception of a signal. The core of these systems is to use space-time coding and either block or trellis space-time code. In the future, it is assumed enormous enlargement MIMO systems in many applications

We study different aspects of perturbatively renormalized quantum gauge theories in the presence of non-trivial background Lorentzian metrics and background connections. First, we show that the proof of nilpotency of the renormalized interacting BRST charge can be reduced to the cohomological analysis of the classical BRST differential. This result guarantees the self-consistency of a class of local, renormalizable field theories with vanishing 'gauge anomaly'' at the quantum level, such as the pure Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. Self-consistency here means that the algebra of gauge invariant observables can be constructed as the cohomology of this charge. Second, we give a proof of background independence of the Yang-Mills theory. We define background independent observables in a geometrical formulation as flat sections of a cohomology algebra bundle over the manifold of background configurations, with respect to a flat connection which implements background variations. We observe that background independence at the quantum level is potentially violated. We, however, show that the potential obstructions can be removed by a finite renormalization. Third, we construct the advanced/retarded Green's functions and Hadamard parametrices for linearized Yang-Mills and Einstein equations in general linear covariant gauges. They play an essential role in formulating gauge theories in curved spacetimes. Finally, we study a superconformal gauge theory in three dimensions (the ABJM theory) which is conformally coupled to a curved background. The superconformal symmetry of this theory is described by a conformal symmetry superalgebra on manifolds which admit twistor spinors. By analyzing the relevant cohomology class of an appropriate BV-BRST differential, we show that the full superalgebra is realized at the quantum level.

The objective of the thesis is to provide a better understanding of the safety conditions inurban environments, particularly related to those found in transport nodes, in this case,underground stations, and surrounding areas1. First, the study starts with an analysis of theoverall city, identifying concentrations of crime in the urban fabric and then focusing on thecriminogenic conditions at and around underground stations. The analysis combines the useof Geographical Information Systems (GIS), statistical techniques and data of different typesand sources. Regression models were used to assess the importance of the environmentalattributes of underground stations on crime rates. Findings show that violent and propertycrimes show different hotspots at different times. Crime patterns tend to follow people’sscheduled patterns of routine activity. The socio-economic composition of the surroundingenvironment of the stations has a significant impact on crime at these transport nodes, butmore important were attributes of the physical and social environment at the stations. Forinstance, low guardianship and poor visibility at the stations together with mixed land-usesin the surrounding areas induced crime rates at the stations. It is therefore suggested thatintervention to improve safety conditions at the stations should focus on a holistic approach,taking into account the station and surrounding areas, but also being aware of crimevariation on specific places at specific times. / <p>QC 20130207</p> / Safety in transport nodes: the influence of environmental attributes on crime and perceived safety

The demand for computational tools that are capable to reliably predict the behavior of a nuclear reactor core in a variety of static and dynamic conditions does inevitably require a proper qualification of these tools for the intended purposes. One of the qualification methods is the verification of the code in question. Hereby, the correct implementation of the applied model as well as its flawless implementation in the code are scrutinized. The present work concerns with benchmarking as a substantial part of the verification of the three-dimensional, multigroup neutron kinetics model employed in the transient code POLCA-T. The benchmarking is done by solving some specified and widely used space-time kinetics benchmark problems and comparing the results to those of other, established and well-proven spatial kinetics codes. It is shown that the obtained results are accurate and consistent with corresponding solutions of other codes. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is carried out with the objective to study the sensitivity of the POLCA-T neutronics to variations in different numerical options. It is demonstrated that the model is numerically stable and provide reproducible results for a wide range of various numerical settings. Thus, the model is shown to be rather insensitive to significant variations in input, for example. The other consequence of this analysis is that, depending on the treated transient, the computing costs can be reduced by, for instance, employing larger time-steps during the time-integration process or using a reduced number of iterations. Based on the outcome of this study, one can finally conclude that the POLCA-T neutron kinetics is modeled and implemented correctly and thus, the model is fully capable to perform the assigned tasks.

This dissertation explores the application of Silvester's space-time block code to the multi-index CPM called "ARTM CPM" in the IRIG 106 standard to solve the "two antenna problem"---the use of two transmit antennas to provide full spatial coverage on an airborne test article and the accompanying self interference due to different delays between the two transmit antennas and the ground-based receive antenna. A symbol-level encoding scheme is derived that allows the burst-based space-time block code to operate in a continuously streaming mode. The results show that the space-time block code can solve the two antenna problem with differential delays, but that the differential delays generate a substantial increase in the computational complexity of the detector. Complexity-reducing techniques are applied and analyzed. The results show that the complexity reductions required to produce a practically realizable detector render the bit error probability performance sensitive to the differential delay. Numerical results are presented to quantify the performance loss due to the differential delay. The use of space-time coded ARTM CPM to solve the two-antenna problem in aeronautical mobile telemetry requires estimates of the parameters that define the propagation environment. The maximum likelihood estimator problem is defined and used to motivate reduced-complexity estimators suitable for use in a real system. A modified gradient descent algorithm performs the search required to find the delay parameters. An "inner" phase lock loop operating with an "outer" frequency lock loop computes decision-directed estimates of the frequency offset. Computer simulations were used to assess the impact on bit error rate performance introduced by the estimators. The simulation results show the combined joint estimator for the delays, channel gains, and frequency offset imposes a 1.15 dB loss in performance. This loss is approximately the same as the 1.1 dB loss due to the complexity-reducing techniques used by the decoder/detector.

La recherche dans le domaine des communications sur fibres optiques avance à un rythme rapide afin de satisfaire des demandes croissantes de communications à débits élevés. Les principaux moteurs de ces avancements sont la multitude de degrés de liberté offerts par la fibre permettant ainsi la transmission de plus de données: l'amplitude, la phase et l'état de polarisation du champ optique, ainsi que le temps et la longueur d'onde sont déjà utilisés dans les systèmes de transmission optique déployés. Pourtant, ces systèmes s'approchent de leur limite fondamentale de capacité et un degré supplémentaire: "la dimension spatiale" est étudié pour réaliser un saut qualitatif majeur en termes de capacité de transmission. Cependant, l'insertion de plusieurs flux de données dans le même canal de propagation induit également des pertes différentielles et de la diaphonie entre les flux, ce qui peut fortement réduire la qualité du système de transmission. Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur les systèmes de transmission optique de type MIMO basés sur un multiplexage en polarisation ou en modes de propagation. Dans les deux cas, nous évaluons la dégradation de la performance provoquée par une interférence inter-canaux non-unitaire et des disparités de gain entre les canaux engendrées par des imperfections dans les composants optiques utilisés (fibres, amplificateurs, multiplexeurs...), et proposons pour les combattre, de nouvelles techniques de codage pour les systèmes MIMO nommées "codes Spatio-Temporels" (ST), préalablement conçues pour les systèmes radios multi-antennaires. / Research in the field of optical fiber communications is advancing at a rapid pace in order to meet the growing needs for higher data rates. The main driving forces behind these advancements are the availability of multiple degrees of freedom in the optical fiber allowing for multiplexing more data: amplitude, phase and polarization state of the optical field, along with time and wavelength are already used in the deployed optical transmission systems. Yet, these systems are approaching their theoretical capacity limits and an extra dimension "space" is investigated to achieve the next capacity leap. However, packing several data channels in the same medium brings with it differential impairments and crosstalk that can seriously deteriorate the performance of the system. In this thesis, we focus on recent optical MIMO schemes based on polarization division multiplexing (PDM) and space division multiplexing (SDM). In both, we assess the performance penalties induced by non-unitary crosstalk and loss disparities among the channels arising from imperfections in the used optical components (fibers, amplifiers, multiplexers...), and suggest novel MIMO coding techniques known as Space-Time (ST) codes, initially designed for wireless multi-antenna channels, to mitigate them.

L'histoire du Rythme, l'histoire de l'Art et l'histoire de la Psychanalyse, c'est aussi l'histoire de la mémoire du Corps, surface d'inscription incarnée et surface incarnante immatérielle. Le corps comme matière informante. Du Chaos à la Forme, mouvant. Nous proposons une considération du rythme dans une perspective psychanalytique à l'épreuve de la clinique de la création artistique. La théorie du rythme, arrimée à différents champs, nous a conduite à l'analyse d'une revue restreinte de la littérature théorique élargie permettant d'en confronter les apports afin d'enrichir la réflexion psychanalytique. Ainsi, le rythme trouve un centre à l'endroit d'une quête de l'origine, vers l'originaire. Quête d'une mise en sens de la cosmogonie et du corps pulsionnel. Le rythme se voit conférer une dimension civilisatrice et historisante au sein du socius, au travers de la langue et de l'histoire des corps. La création est étudiée comme paradigme privilégié du rythme qui se compose via une traversée mouvante et simultanée des trois coffrets du maternels. Nous postulons d'un rythme subjectif, interface corps-psyché. Le rythme informe et forme la matière-sensible corporelle autant qu'immatérielle, au travers de la langue. Inscription sensible des corps en présence autant qu'inscription sur la matière support. Ainsi le lieu de l'art, celui de la forme artistique, se fait surface d'inscription externe d'un engramme corporel effractant. La quête d'une forme est quête de lieu pour le non-lieu de la mémoire. Cette thèse repose sur une double méthodologie de recherche : celle de la rencontre clinique et celle de l'analyse pathographique de l’œuvre d'art, éprouvée au travers d'une étude qualitative et casuistique, au recours d'une lecture clinique du sensible de l'immatérialité de la parole et du discours latent. L'étude de cas met en évidence un vécu d'effraction du fantasme et le recours à l'éprouvé sensoriel informant le langage et l'expression artistique. La confrontation à la sexualité génitale, dans l'après-coup, révèle sa potentialité traumatique, conduisant à une réactualisation de l'archaïque à l'aune de la relation objectale, source d'une aliénation spatio-temporelle interne. Par le travail du rythme, l'œuvre artistique se fait lieu d'inscription déterritorialisé de l'informe, sans pour autant endiguer la trace primitive, à l'inverse ; mais cependant lui confère une reconfiguration spatio-temporelle. Du point de vue intrapsychique, le rythme est envisagé comme élément non-langagier concourant au système représentationnel. D'un point de vue dynamique, le rythme dispose une forme mouvante au service de la dialectique liaison-déliaison, visant un départage du temps et de l'espace interne non-advenu, vecteur de lien et d'historicisation. L'étude du rythme s'ouvre comme perspective sur la clinique de la parole sensible du corps-affecté. / The history of Rhythm, the history of Art and the history of Psychoanalysis are also the history of the memory of the Body, the surface of incarnate inscription and the immaterial embodying surface. The body as the matter of information. From Chaos to Form, changing. With this research we will consider an analysis of Rhythm from a psychoanalytical point of view put to the clinical test of artistic creation. The theory of rhythm connected to different fields, has led us to analyse a limited inspection of broad theoretical literature enabling us to compare the contributions in order to enhance and refine psychoanalytical contemplation. Thus, rhythm finds itself in the middle of the quest for the origin, towards the origin-point. A quest for making sense of the cosmogony and the instinct of the body. Rhythm is given a dimension of enlightenment and history within socius and through the history of bodies. Creation is studied as a the privileged paradigm of rhythm. We postulate a subjective rhythm, an interface between the body and the psyche. Rhythm informs and forms the sensitive matter both bodily and also immaterial, through language. Sensitive inscription of bodies present as well as inscription on the support matter. Thus the place of art, that of artistic form, becomes to the surface of the external inscription of an invasive bodily engram. The quest for form is the quest for place for a nonsuit of the memory. This thesis rests on a dual methodology of research : that of the clinical meeting and that of the pathographic analysis of the work of art, tested with a qualitative and casuistic study, calling upon a clinical reading of the sensitivity of the immateriality of speech and latent discourse. The case study highlights experience of invasion of fantasy and the necessity to resort to sensorial testing informing language and artisitic expression. Confrontation with genital sexuality, after the event, reveals its traumatic potentiality, leading to a renewal of the archaic in terms of object relationship, a source of internal spatiotemporal alienation. By working with rhythm, the artistic work becomes the place of the deterritorialized inscription of formlessness, without however curbing the primitive trace, on the contrary ; but confers a spatiotemporal reconfiguration. From an intrapsychic point of view, rhythm is seen as a non-linguistic element which competes however with the representational system. From a dynamic point of view, rhythm has a changing form serving the liaison-dissociation dialectic, aiming to separate time from internal non-existant space, vector of bonds and historicisation. The study of rhythm opens the perspective for a clinic of sensitive speech of the affected body.

Le Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) aéroporté permet d’obtenir des images hautes résolutions, en compensant un déphasage lié au déplacement de l’avion. Il n’est cependant pas adapté à l’imagerie des cibles mobiles, celles-ci introduisant un déphasage supplémentaire, dépendant de leur vitesse et de leur accélération. En utilisant un système SAR multivoies, il est cependant possible de réaliser des traitements adaptés aux cibles mobiles, dont les principes sont proches du Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP). Le Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) aéroporté permet d’obtenir des images hautes résolutions, en compensant un déphasage lié au déplacement de l’avion. Il n’est cependant pas adapté à l’imagerie des cibles mobiles, celles-ci introduisant un déphasage supplémentaire, dépendant de leur vitesse et de leur accélération. En utilisant un système SAR multivoies, il est cependant possible de réaliser des traitements adaptés aux cibles mobiles, dont les principes sont proches du Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP). / Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides high-resolution images, by compensating a phase shift linked to the platform movement. However, this processing is not suited for imaging moving target, for they introduce an additional phase shift, depending on their velocity and acceleration. By using a multichannel SAR system, it is possible to correctly process moving targets. Such a processing is closely related to Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) principles. Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides high-resolution images, by compensating a phase shift linked to the platform movement. However, this processing is not suited for imaging moving target, for they introduce an additional phase shift, depending on their velocity and acceleration. By using a multichannel SAR system, it is possible to correctly process moving targets. Such a processing is closely related to Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) principles.