Cette thèse de doctorat en études théâtrales présente la pratique d'artistes que nous nommons auteurs en scène, et propose des outils pour l'analyse dramaturgique des textes qui naissent de celle-ci. Émergeant au tournant du XXIe siècle, et affranchis du débat sur la primauté du texte ou de la scène, les auteurs en scène réunissent les fonctions d'auteur et de metteur en scène, mais ne se contentent pas de les cumuler, il les enchevêtrent jusqu'à les rendre indissociables, jusqu'à ce qu'elles forment une seule activité. Ils conçoivent ensemble écriture textuelle et écriture scénique, mettant en cause la séparation des deux temps de la création théâtrale. Cependant, loin de nier la double existence artistique du théâtre, comme livre et comme spectacle, les auteurs en scène publient leurs pièces, leur accordant la possibilité de survivre à l'événement scénique, et permettant à d'autres artistes de s'en emparer. Identifiant l'empreinte laissée par la création originale sur ces textes, et interrogeant les conditions de leur devenir scénique, cette thèse définit le geste des auteurs en scène, et met en évidence les spécificités dramaturgiques des textes nés de leur pratique. Elle analyse comment la redéfinition de la relation entre le texte et la scène qu'ils opèrent engendre de nouvelles formes textuelles, dont les fondations dramaturgiques – l'espace, le temps, la fiction, l'énonciation et le personnage – sont entièrement structurées par la représentation. Le corpus principal de cette étude se compose d’œuvres de Rodrigo García, Jan Lauwers, Angélica Liddell, et Joël Pommerat. / This doctoral thesis in theatrical studies presents the practice of artists that we choose to call on-stage authors, and offers tools for the dramaturgical analysis of the texts it produces. Appeared at the turn of the 21st century, and freed from the debate on the primacy of text or of stage, the on-stage authors mingle the roles of author and stage director together into a single activity. They compose in a sole movement the text and the performance, thus invalidating the idea of theatre as a two-step art form. However, those artists do not deny the double artistic realization of theatre, as book or as performance. As they publish their texts, they give them the possibility to live beyond the performance and let other artists appropriate them. Revealing signs of the original creative process remaining on those texts, and questioning the conditions of their direction by others, this study defines the action of the on-stage authors, and emphasizes the dramaturgic properties of the texts produced by their practice. It reveals the way redefining the relationship between the text and the stage produces new textual forms dramaturgically based – regarding space, time, fiction, enunciation and the character – on the performance. The main corpus of this study is made of works of Rodrigo García, Jan Lauwers, Angélica Liddell, and Joël Pommerat.

In this work the concept of multistage neural networks is going to be presented. The possibility of using this type of structure for pattern recognition would be discussed and examined with chosen problem from eld area. The results of experiment would be confront with other possible methods used for the problem.

The goal of this Master’s thesis is to create the design of a low power condensing steam turbine. The turbine has a Curtis control stage and a reaction blading. The work also contains the calculation of gland labyrinth seals and the balancing piston, specification of a forces and losses at bearings. Finally, the gearbox and generator are selected and the efficiency at generator’s clamps is specified. The Master’s thesis includes the design drawing of a longitudinal turbine view.

Bakgrund: Global konkurrens och teknologisk utveckling förkortar produkters livscykler och produktutveckling blir därmed ett allt viktigare element inom organisationer. Vid utvecklingen krävs styrning för att säkerställa att de innovationer som skapas är i linje med företagets mål och strategier. Ett av de mer välanvända styrsystemen som används vid produktutveckling har kritiserats för att vara en för linjär process som exkluderar lärande från utvecklingsarbetet. Alternativa metoder har på senare tid dykt upp i både forskning och på företag för att möjliggöra en mer dynamisk utvecklingsprocess. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera hur produktutvecklingsprocessen ser ut i några svenska företag. Vidare ska studien öka förståelsen för hur produktutvecklingsprocessen styrs i dessa företag och även identifiera och analysera de hinder som finns för innovation i denna process. Metod: Detta är en deduktiv flerfallstudie där semistrukturerade intervjuer och dokument har använts för att samla in det empiriska materialet. Slutsats: Utifrån studiens resultat bekräftas en generell produktutvecklingsprocess som presenteras i studiens referensram. Dessa är konceptualisering, prototyputveckling, lansering och uppföljning. Däremot finns det tecken på att företag med agila utvecklingsmetoder inte följer denna standardiserade modell. Vidare beskrivs vilka styrverktyg som används för att styra en produktutveckling. Dessa har kategoriserats efter Malmi och Browns styrpaket. I slutsatsens tredje och sista punkt presenteras hinder mot innovation som har identifierats i produktutvecklingsprocessen. Ett tydligt hinder som har identifierats är att Stage-Gate och kvalitetssäkring bromsar innovation efter tidiga stadier i processen. Ytterligare ett tydligt hinder är att ett fokus på att förkorta “time-to-market” kan göra att vissa innovationer inte hinner inkluderas i produkten. / Background: Global competition and technological advancements have shortened the product life cycle of countless products worldwide. Product development is therefore becoming an increasingly important element in organizations. In the process of product development, management control is required to ensure that new innovation follows the strategy and goals of the organization. The Stage-Gate system is a well-used new product development model that has been criticized for being too rigid and hinders learning in the development process. As of recent years, alternative methods have appeared in studies and in businesses in order to enable a more dynamic process. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the different stages of a product development process at a number of Swedish firms. This study also aims to increase the understanding of how the product development process is being managed in these companies as well as to identify and analyze factors that can hinder innovation in the new product development process. Method: This is a deductive case study with a multiple-case design. Semi-structured interviews and documents have been used for the collection of empirical data. Conclusion: The results of this study settles a general development process as presented in the study’s theory chapter. The development process includes the following phases: concept development, prototype development, market introduction and follow-up. However, there are implications that show that companies who use an agile development model do not follow the aforementioned development process. This study also concludes the elements of a management control system that is used in the product development process at Swedish companies. These elements are categorized by the management control systems package of Malmi and Brown. Lastly, challenges to include innovations to the product is being identified. An obstacle that has been identified is the use of Stage-Gate and quality assurance that hinders innovation in the later stages of the development process. An additional obstacle is that a focus on shortening the time-to-market period may hinder some innovations of a product because of a short deadline.

Företag utvecklar nya produkter för att öka intäkterna och fortsätta vara konkurrenskraftiga. Produktutveckling är ett område det forskats mycket inom och forskningen fokuserar ofta på innovativa produkter. Det ursprungliga problemet för denna uppsats var att göra en undersökning inför utvecklingen av en produkt med låg grad av teknisk innovation. Den tidigare forskningens höga fokus på innovation kombinerat med att uppdragsgivaren inte har några processer för produktutveckling gjorde att uppsatsens omfattning utökades. Denna uppsats presenterar en modell för utveckling av produkter med låg innovation samt en applicering av modellen. Modellen utvecklades genom att studera tidigare litteratur om produktutveckling, främst kring Stage-Gate modeller, och även om kriterier och best-practice inom produktutveckling. Litteraturstudien kombinerades med resultat från intervjuer och resulterade i en modell för utveckling av låginnovativa produkter. Modellen är delad i två delar, den första fokuserar på analys av produktförslaget och den andra fokuserar på att utveckla produkten. Jämfört med tidigare modeller har omfattningen för de olika stegen och gaterna blivit mer fokuserad och tydlig. Den första delen av modellen testades genom att applicera den på det ursprungliga produktförslaget. Testet visade att modellen är passande för den typen av produkter och att de föreslagna generella kriterierna var rimliga. För den specifika produkten visade modellen att produkten var strategiskt passande för företaget och att den är tekniskt genomförbar. De finansiella beräkningarna visade att produkten möjligen inte är tillräckligt attraktiv finansiellt. Några av uppsatsens huvudsakliga slutsatser rör skillnader beroende på hur innovativ produkten är. Processens start skiljer sig signifikant, för innovativa produkter börjar den med en idé och för denna forsknings miljö med ett specifikt förslag. Fokus i finansiella frågor skiljer sig också. Överlag kunde slutsatsen att produktutveckling med en Stage-Gate-metod passar för produkter med låg grad av teknisk innovation dras men det krävs förändringar från tidigare forskning / To increase revenues and continue to stay competitive companies develop new products. Newproduct development is a widely researched field and the focus of the research is often on highly innovative products. The original problem for this thesis was to perform research for the development of a product with a low level of technological innovation. The high focus on innovation in previous research combined with the lack of product development processes in the case company led to a new more extensive scope of this thesis than the original problem. This thesis presents a model for development of products with low level of innovation that has been developed and tested.The model was developed by reviewing previous literature on new product development in general and Stage-Gate models for product development in particular. Literature about criteria and best practices in product development was also studied. The literature review was combined with findings from early interviews and resulted in a development model for low innovative products. The model is divided in two parts, the first focused on analysis of the product suggestion and the second focused on developing the actual product. Compared to previous models, the scope of the stages and gates has been more focused and clear.The first part of the model was tested by applying it to the initial case. The test showed that the model is suitable for a product of that type and that the general criteria proposed was reasonable. For the specific case, the model showed that the product was a strategic fit for the company and that it is technically feasible. The financial calculations showed that the product might not financially attractive enough.Some of the main conclusions of the research are regarding differences depending on how innovative the product is. The starting point differs significantly, with an idea for innovative products and a specific suggestion in the setting of this research. The financial focus also differs. Overall it could be concluded that development with a Stage-Gate approach is suitable for products with low level of technological innovation with some changes from previous literature.

In the 1949 play The Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller depicts a man that goes through life without ever really understanding his own place in it. Willy Loman spends his life chasing a dream yet lacks the ability to achieve it. Instead of trying to learn about himself, his abilities, and find goals more suited for him, he stubbornly insists on chasing grand and misinterpreted dreams woven by others. He commits his life to fantasies and coerces his family to follow him on a course towards failure and tragedy. This thesis seeks to analyze the behavior of the lead character of the play with the help of the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan. The analysis seeks to explain how Willy’s behavior affects the lives of his family members as well as his own, with a focus on the language of the play.

Nanopositioners have been developed with electrostatic, piezoelectric, magnetic, thermal, and electrochemical actuators. They move with as many as six degrees of freedom; some are composed of multiple stages that stack together. Both macro-scale and micro-scale nanopositioners have been fabricated. A summary of recent research in micropositioning and nanopositioning is presented to set the background for this work. This research project demonstrates that a dual-stage nanopositioner can be created with microelectromechanical systems technology such that the two stages are integrated on a single silicon chip. A nanopositioner is presented that has two stages, one for coarse motion and one for fine motion; both are fabricated by surface micromachining. The nanopositioner has one translational degree of freedom. Thermal microactuators operate both stages. The first stage includes a bistable mechanism: it travels 52 micrometers between two discrete positions. The second stage is mounted on the first stage and moves continuously through an additional 8 micrometers in the same direction as the first stage. Two approaches to the control of the second stage are evaluated: first, an electrical input is transmitted to an actuator that moves with the first stage; second, a mechanical input is applied to an amplifier mechanism mounted on the first stage after completing the coarse motion. Four devices were designed and fabricated to test these approaches; the one that performed best was selected to fulfill the objective of this work. Thermal analysis of the actuators was performed with previously developed tools. Pseudo-rigid-body models and finite element models were created to analyze the mechanical behavior of the devices. The nanopositioners were surface micromachined in a two-layer polysilicon process. Experiments were performed to characterize the resolution, repeatability, hysteresis, and drift of the second stages of the nanopositioners with open-loop control. Position measurements were obtained from scanning electron micrographs by a numerical procedure, which is described in detail. The selected nanopositioner demonstrated 170-nanometer resolution and repeatability within 37 nanometers. The hysteresis of the second stage was 6% of its full range. The nanopositioner drifted 25 nanometers in the first 60 minutes of operation with a time constant of about 6 minutes. The dual-stage nanopositioner may be useful for applications such as variable optical attenuators or wavelength-specific add--drop devices.

This thesis compares two methods of designing grid-tie inverters. The first design topology is a traditional two stage approach consisting of an isolated DC-DC converter on the input followed by a high switching frequency SPWM (Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation) stage to produce the required low frequency sine wave output. The novel second design approach employs a similar DC-DC input stage capable of being modulated to provide a rectified sine wave output voltage/current waveform. This stage is followed by a simple low frequency switched Unfolding Stage to recreate the required sine wave output. Both of the above designs have advantages and disadvantages depending on operating parameters. The following work will compare the Unfolding Output Stage and the SPWM Output Stage at various power levels and power densities. Input stage topologies are similarly examined in order to determine the best design approach for each output stage under consideration.

The 2010's have seen many changes happening in the launcher world: private players have emerged increasing competition for the traditional launch operators and the development of reusable launcher allowing a decrease in launch cost. The satellite market has also evolved with the appearance of nano-satellites and the development of satellite constellations. ArianeWorks is a joint initiative between CNES and ArianeGroup aiming at accelerating European innovation in the launcher field. Within this framework, Themis, a reusable first stage demonstrator, is currently built and tested. This thesis presents the evaluation of a mini-launcher that would use a derivative of Themis as a first stage. To do so, a set of software tools has been developed and evaluated. These tools make it possible to evaluate various launcher architectures, and to carry out system loops in order to refine the design choices and associated performances. The first results of design and performance from the tools are also presented. / Under 2010-talet har många förändringar skett i bärraketvärlden: privata aktörer har dykt upp och ökad konkurrensen för de traditionella operatörerna. Utvecklingen av återanvändbara bärraketer möjliggör en minskning av uppskjutningskostnaden. Satellitmarknaden har också utvecklats med uppkomsten av nanosatelliter och utvecklingen av satellitkonstellationer. ArianeWorks är ett gemensamt initiativ mellan CNES och ArianeGroup som syftar till att påskynda europeisk innovation inom bärraketområdet. Inom detta ramverk byggs och testas för närvarande Themis, en återanvändbar demonstrator för ett första raketsteg. Den här uppsatsen presenterar utvärderingen av en ministartare som använder en del av Themis. Inom detta arbetet har en uppsättning mjukvaruverktyg utvecklats och utvärderats. Dessa verktyg gör det möjligt att utvärdera olika bärraketutformningar och utföra systemloopar för att förfina utformningsval och tillhörande prestanda. De första resultaten av utformningen och prestandan presenteras.

End-stage renal disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, is a serious illness with significant health consequences and high-cost treatment options. Since the early 1980s, the number of Canadians with ESRD has more than quadrupled (CIHI, 2001), leading to questions about the current and future impact of the disease on public health, quality of life, health spending, and patients’ productivity. Using an economic burden of illness approach, this thesis estimates ESRD’s “direct” health care costs and “indirect” costs, such as productivity losses due to premature death and short- and long-term disability. It also projects future results under various alternative assumptions using a multi-state discrete time Markov model. The analysis suggests that, although less than 0.1% of Canadians have ESRD, it generated direct health care costs of $1.3 billion in 2000 or $51,099 per person with ESRD. That compares to $3,183 per capita for Canadians overall (CIHI, 2002b). Adding indirect morbidity and mortality costs brings the total to $1.9 billion. Rising ESRD numbers suggest higher costs in the future. Further analysis explored the effect of various assumptions about drivers of past trends, such as population growth, changes in the age structure, and the prevalence of conditions known to cause ESRD (e.g. diabetes). Projections were most sensitive to assumptions about the rate at which new cases are diagnosed. If current trends continue, the total economic burden of the disease can be expected to reach $7.9 billion by 2015 (year 2000 dollars). On the other hand, if the rate of new cases in 2000 were maintained, the economic burden of illness would be $5.7 billion in 2015. Nevertheless, under this and many other assumptions, there is likely to be a significant gap between available organs for transplant and the demand for transplantation. The likely effects of various options for addressing this gap are also explored. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)