The electrostatic actuation with its several advantages is the main principle for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). One major drawback is the nonlinear behavior, which results into instability, known as the electrostatic pull-in effect. This effect might also push a closed-loop configuration into instability and thus makes a linear time-invariant control inapplicable to the system. The paper investigates the stability of an acceleration sensor in closed-loop operation with this setting. A simplified controller adjustment gives a first insight into this topic. Practical implementations saturate on the quantizer's full-scale value, which is also considered in the stability analysis. Numerical phase-plane analysis verifies the stability and shows further surprising results.

Introduction: Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) belong to cardiovascular diseases and contribute significantly to mortality, morbidity and disability in developed countries. Therefore the aim of current therapy is to reduce the risk of subsequent complications, including early death, and to increase patients' quality of life. For successful therapy it is necessary to follow regimen and dietary principles which are along with pharmacotherapy an integral part of treatment. Therefore sufficient knowledge of these principles by patients is a basic precondition for their successful treatment. Objectives: The aim of the diploma thesis was to assess dietary and regime knowledge in patients diagnosed with ACS. The specific objectives were: to determine an effect of sex or previous education on the knowledge; to describe patients' dietary habits; to specify their knowledge of nutrition; and to identify which knowledge is the most deficient. Methods: The research was carried out as a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was compiled directly for the purposes of this thesis and was approved by the VFN Ethics Committee for use in inpatient wards at II. and III. internal clinics and at the Coronary unit of II. internal clinics of VFN. A total of 80 patients diagnosed with ACS were included in the study....

Title: Strategy of postural stabilisation using unstable surface and water barrel. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the level of muscle actiavtion of choosen muscles during lunge on unstable surface or with using water barrel. Investigation of the postural strategy used during lunge orn unstable surface or with the water barrel and creation of methodology for measurment and data analysis. Methods: Into this pilot study, there were picked 5 people (athletes). Data for outcomes where used from 3 athletes. The measurement of level of muscle activation were done by surface electromyography over gluteus medius muscle and musculi multifidii bilaterally.For data procession was used software Origin 2012 Postural stability was measured through force plates by Kistler and gained data were procesed by using software programmes Bioware, MS Excel and Matlab. For data analysis from EMG measurement was used simple comparasion of outcomes. Stabilometry outcomes were analysed by statistical methode t-test. Results: The results indicate greater level of muscle activation during lunge with aquabag than lunge on unstable surface for most of the measured muscles. The only exception, where level of muscle activity was higher, was multifidi muscle on rear leg. Another outcome proved that the postural...

Title: Strategy of postural stabilisation using unstable surface and water barrel. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the level of muscle actiavtion of choosen muscles during lunge on unstable surface or with using water barrel. Investigation of the postural strategy used during lunge orn unstable surface or with the water barrel and creation of methodology for measurment and data analysis. Methods: Into this pilot study, there were picked 5 people (athletes). Data for outcomes where used from 3 athletes. The measurement of level of muscle activation were done by surface electromyography over gluteus medius muscle and musculi multifidii bilaterally.For data procession was used software Origin 2012 Postural stability was measured through force plates by Kistler and gained data were procesed by using software programmes Bioware, MS Excel and Matlab. For data analysis from EMG measurement was used simple comparasion of outcomes. Stabilometry outcomes were analysed by statistical methode t-test. Results: The results indicate greater level of measured trunk muscles activation during lunge with aquabag than lunge on unstable surface. Another thing which was found is that there was higher activation of Gluteus medius muscle on dominant lower extremity when performin lunge on unstable...

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) refers to a group of clinical conditions caused by myocardial ischemia including unstable angina, non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and ST-segmcnt elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Appropriate and accurate diagnosis has life-saving implications and requires a quick but thorough evaluation of the patient's history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, radiographic studies, and cardiac biomarkers. The management of patients with suspected or confirmed ACS continues to evolve as new evidence from clinical trials is considered and as new technology becomes available to both primary care physicians and cardiologists. Low- and intermediate-risk patients have frequently been managed in a chest pain center or in the emergency department. While stress testing with or without radionuclide imaging is the most common evaluation method, a CT angiogram is sometimes substituted High-risk patients are often managed with an early invasive strategy involving left heart catheterization with a goal of prompt revascularization of at-risk, viable myocardium. With the increased availability of cardiac catheterization facilities, patients with STEMI are more commonly being managed with primary percutaneous coronary intervention, although thrombolysis is still used where such facilities are not immediately available. This article provides primary care physicians with a concise review of the pathophysiology, clinical evaluation, and management of ACS based on the best available evidence in 2008.

Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva vilka erfarenheter av självskadebeteende autistiska personer och personer med EIPS har, samt utröna om det finns skillnader mellan dessa grupper. Metod: En litteraturöversikt enligt Polit & Beck. Vetenskapliga artiklar publicerade från 2010 och framåt söktes i databaserna: Cinahl, PubMed och Psycinfo. 12 artiklar inkluderades i arbetets resultat och analyserades enligt Braun och Clark´s kvalitativa tematiska analysmetod. Resultat: I resultatet ingår följande huvudteman: Svårhanterade känslor, strategier mot NSSI eller NSSI som strategi, överbelastade eller domnade sinnen och vården och vårdrelationen. Både likheter och olikheter i erfarenheter hos de båda grupperna synliggörs under dessa teman. Slutsats: Bland autistiska personer var depression den enskilt största riskfaktorn för självskadebeteende medan tomhetskänslor dominerade hos personer med EIPS. Två gemensamma riskfaktorer för självskadebeteende var ångest och alexitymi. Personer med EIPS har ett sjukdomslidande i väntan på bot medans autistiska personer i större utsträckning har ett livslidande som inte kan botas men lindras med anpassningar och stöd. Båda diagnosgrupperna kan drabbas av vårdlidande när omvårdnaden brister. Utbildningsinsatser behövs för att upprätthålla och förnya kunskaperna om självskadebeteende och därmed förbättra omvårdnaden. Fortsatt forskning: Framtida forskning bör fokusera på autism och självskadebeteende / Aim: To describe experiences of self-harm among autistic people and people with EIPS, and to find out if there are differences between these groups. Method: A literature review according to Polit & Beck. Scientific articles published from 2010 onwards were searched in the databases: Cinahl, PubMed and Psycinfo. 12 articles were included in the result part, and analyzed with Braun & Clark's qualitative thematic analysis method. Results: The result included four main themes: Difficulties to manage emotions, strategies against NSSI or NSSI as a strategy, overloaded or numb senses and care and caring relationship. Similarities and differences between the two groups became visible. Conclusion: Two risk factors for self-harming behavior were anxiety and alexithymia. People with EIPS have a suffering related to illness with hope for a cure. Autistic people have a greater extent of suffering related to life, that cannot be cured but alleviated with adaptations and support. Both diagnostic groups can suffer related to care when nursing is deficient. Systematic education is needed to maintain and renew knowledge about self-harming behavior to improve nursing care. Further research: Further research should focus on autism and self-harming behavior.

<p> This dissertation is concerned with establishing the conditions under which planar phase interfaces are morphologically unstable during phase transformations in isothermal ternary systems. First, linear perturbation methods are employed in a detailed treatment of precipitatematrix interface stability for dilute ternary systems. Following this, the stability of the planar interface in a two-phase ternary diffusion couple is examined with the aid of perturbation theory. An experimental investigation into the stability of <alpha>-<beta> phase interfaces in the Cu-Zn-Ni system at 775°C is described. The results of this experimental study are shown to be in good agreement with the earlier theoretical predictions. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstrakt Bakgrund: Stigmatisering bland vårdpersonal gentemot patienter med emotionellt instabilt personlighetssyndrom är ett problem i den psykiatriska vården vilket leder till att patienter med denna diagnos riskerar att utsättas för onödigt lidande. Vårt syfte var att sammanställa kunskap om sjuksköterskors uppfattningar om att vårda patienter med emotionellt instabiltpersonlighetssyndrom i psykiatrisk vård. Design: Integrerad litteraturöversikt. Metod: Systematisk sökning som genomfördes i databaserna PubMed, PsycInfo och CINAHL för att hitta de relevanta primärstudier avseende sjuksköterskors attityder, erfarenheter och uppfattningar gentemot patienter med emotionellt instabilt personlighetssyndrom. Analysen av studierna genomfördes med hjälp av Whittemore &amp; Knafl´s analysmetod. Resultat: Fjorton artiklar inkluderades i studien varav sju kvalitativa och sex kvantitativa studier och en studie med mixad metod. Analysen resulterade i tio teman som presenteras dels i tabell och dels ilöpande text. Resultatet visar på att sjuksköterskor uppfattar denna patientgrupp som krävande och svår att vårda. Det framkommer också att sjuksköterskor har en negativ attityd gentemot dessa patienter och att rädsla och ilska ställs mot en önskan att hjälpa. Ett annat område som identifierats är sjuksköterskors upprepade önskan att få mer kunskap för att öka sina färdigheter att vårda dessa patienter. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskor behöver bli medvetna om sina attityder och få insikt i hur dessa påverkar patienterna. Eventuella ramverk behöver struktureras upp och implementeras i verksamheterna och behovet av utbildning behöver tas på allvar.

This thesis is concerned with nonlinear analyses of BWR stability behaviour, contributing to a deeper understanding in this field. Despite negative feedback-coefficients of a BWR, there are operational points (OP) at which oscillatory instabilities occur. So far, a comprehensive and an in-depth understanding of the nonlinear BWR stability behaviour are missing, even though the impact of the significant physical parameters is well known. In particular, this concerns parameter regions in which linear stability indicators, like the asymptotic decay ratio, lose their meaning. Nonlinear stability analyses are usually carried out using integral (system) codes, describing the dynamical system by a system of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE). One aspect of nonlinear BWR stability analyses is to get an overview about different types of nonlinear stability behaviour and to examine the conditions of their occurrence. For these studies the application of system codes alone is inappropriate. Hence, in the context of this thesis, a novel approach to nonlinear BWR stability analyses, called RAM-ROM method, is developed. In the framework of this approach, system codes and reduced order models (ROM) are used as complementary tools to examine the stability characteristics of fixed points and periodic solutions of the system of nonlinear differential equations, describing the stability behaviour of a BWR loop. The main advantage of a ROM, which is a system of ordinary differential equations (ODE), is the possible coupling with specific methods of the nonlinear dynamics. This method reveals nonlinear phenomena in certain regions of system parameters without the need for solving the system of ROM equations. The stability properties of limit cycles generated in Hopf bifurcation points and the conditions of their occurrence are of particular interest. Finally, the nonlinear phenomena predicted by the ROM will be analysed in more details by the system code. Hence, the thesis is not focused on rendering more precisely linear stability indicators like DR. The objective of the ROM development is to develop a model as simple as possible from the mathematical and numerical point of view, while preserving the physics of the BWR stability behaviour. The ODEs of the ROM are deduced from the PDEs describing the dynamics of a BWR. The system of ODEs includes all spatial effects in an approximated (spatial averaged) manner, e.g. the space-time dependent neutron flux is expanded in terms of a complete set of orthogonal spatial neutron flux modes. In order to simulate the stability characteristics of the in-phase and out-of-phase oscillation mode, it is only necessary to take into account the fundamental mode and the first azimuthal mode. The ROM, originally developed at PSI in collaboration with the University of Illinois (PSI-Illinois-ROM), was upgraded in significant points: • Development and implementation of a new calculation methodology for the mode feedback reactivity coefficients (void and fuel temperature reactivity) • Development and implementation of a recirculation loop model; analysis and discussion of its impact on the in-phase and out-of-phase oscillation mode • Development of a novel physically justified approach for the calculation of the ROM input data • Discussion of the necessity of consideration of the effect of subcooled boiling in an approximate manner With the upgraded ROM, nonlinear BWR stability analyses are performed for three OPs (one for NPP Leibstadt (cycle7), one for NPP Ringhals (cycle14) and one for NPP Brunsbüttel (cycle16) for which measuring data of stability tests are available. In this thesis, the novel approach to nonlinear BWR stability analyses is extensively presented for NPP Leibstadt. In particular, the nonlinear analysis is carried out for an operational point (OP), in which an out-of-phase power oscillation has been observed in the scope of a stability test at the beginning of cycle 7 (KKLc7_rec4). The ROM predicts a saddle-node bifurcation of cycles, occurring in the linear stable region, close to the KKLc7_rec4-OP. This result allows a new interpretation of the stability behaviour around the KKLc7_rec4-OP. The results of this thesis confirm that the RAM-ROM methodology is qualified for nonlinear BWR stability analyses. / Die vorliegende Dissertation leistet einen Beitrag zum tieferen Verständnis des nichtlinearen Stabilitätsverhaltens von Siedewasserreaktoren (SWR). Trotz der Tatsache, dass in diesem technischen System nur negative innere Rückkopplungskoeffizienten auftreten, können in bestimmten Arbeitspunkten oszillatorische Instabilitäten auftreten. Obwohl relativ gute Kenntnisse über die signifikanten physikalischen Einflussgrößen vorliegen, fehlt bisher ein umfassendes Verständnis des SWR-Stabilitätsverhaltens. Das betrifft insbesondere die Bereiche der Systemparameter, in denen lineare Stabilitätsindikatoren, wie zum Beispiel das asymptotische Decay Ratio (DR), ihren Sinn verlieren. Die nichtlineare Stabilitätsanalyse wird im Allgemeinen mit Systemcodes (nichtlineare partielle Differentialgleichungen, PDG) durchgeführt. Jedoch kann mit Systemcodes kein oder nur ein sehr lückenhafter Überblick über die Typen von nichtlinearen Phänomenen, die in bestimmten System-Parameterbereichen auftreten, erhalten werden. Deshalb wurde im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit eine neuartige Methode (RAM-ROM Methode) zur nichtlinearen SWR-Stabilitätsanalyse erprobt, bei der integrale Systemcodes und sog. vereinfachte SWR-Modelle (ROM) als sich gegenseitig ergänzende Methoden eingesetzt werden, um die Stabilitätseigenschaften von Fixpunkten und periodischen Lösungen (Grenzzyklen) des nichtlinearen Differentialgleichungssystems, welches das Stabilitätsverhalten des SWR beschreibt, zu bestimmen. Das ROM, in denen das dynamische System durch gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen (GDG) beschrieben wird, kann relativ einfach mit leistungsfähigen Methoden aus der nichtlinearen Dynamik, wie zum Beispiel die semianalytische Bifurkationsanalyse, gekoppelt werden. Mit solchen Verfahren kann, ohne das DG-System explizit lösen zu müssen, ein Überblick über mögliche Typen von stabilen und instabilen oszillatorischen Verhalten des SWR erhalten werden. Insbesondere sind die Stabilitätseigenschaften von Grenzzyklen, die in Hopf-Bifurkationspunkten entstehen, und die Bedingungen, unter denen sie auftreten, von Interesse. Mit dem Systemcode (RAMONA5) werden dann die mit dem ROM vorhergesagten Phänomene in den entsprechenden Parameterbereichen detaillierter untersucht (Validierung des ROM). Die Methodik dient daher nicht der Verfeinerung der Berechnung linearer Stabilitätsindikatoren (wie das DR). Das ROM-Gleichungssystem entsteht aus den PDGs des Systemcodes durch geeignete (nichttriviale) räumliche Mittelung der PDG. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass die Reduzierung der räumlichen Komplexität die Stabilitätseigenschaften des SWR nicht signifikant verfälschen, da durch geeignete Mittlungsverfahren, räumliche Effekte näherungsweise in den GDGs berücksichtig werden. Beispielsweise wird die raum- und zeitabhängige Neutronenflussdichte nach räumlichen Moden entwickelt, wobei für eine Simulation der Stabilitätseigenschaften der In-phase- und Out-of-Phase-Leistungsoszillationen nur der Fundamentalmode und der erste azimuthale Mode berücksichtigt werden muss. Das ROM, welches ursprünglich am Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI, Schweiz) in Zusammenarbeit mit der Universität Illinois (USA) entwickelt wurde, ist in zwei wesentlichen Punkten erweitert und verbessert worden: • Entwicklung und Implementierung einer neuen Methode zur Berechnung der Rückkopplungsreaktivitäten • Entwicklung und Implementierung eines Modells zur Beschreibung der Rezirkulationsschleife (insbesondere wurde der Einfluss der Rezirkulationsschleife auf den In-Phase-Oszillationszustand und auf den Out-of-Phase-Oszillationszustand untersucht) • Entwicklung einer physikalisch begründeten Methode zur Berechnung der ROM-Inputdaten • Abschätzung des Einflusses des unterkühlten Siedens im Rahmen der ROM-Näherungen Mit dem erweiterten ROM wurden nichtlineare Stabilitätsanalysen für drei Arbeitspunkte (KKW Leibstadt (Zyklus 7) KKW Ringhals (Zyklus 14) und KKW Brunsbüttel (Zyklus 16)), für die Messdaten vorliegen, durchgeführt. In der Dissertationsschrift wird die RAM-ROM Methode ausführlich am Beispiel eines Arbeitspunktes (OP) des KKW Leibstadt (KKLc7_rec4-OP), in dem eine aufklingende regionale Leistungsoszillation bei einem Stabilitätstest gemessen worden ist, demonstriert. Das ROM sagt die Existenz eines Umkehrpunktes (saddle-node bifurcation of cycles, fold-bifurcation) voraus, der sich im linear stabilen Gebiet nahe der Stabilitätsgrenze befindet. Mit diesem ROM-Ergebnis ist eine neue Interpretation der Stabilitätseigenschaften des KKLc7_rec4-OP möglich. Die Resultate der in der Dissertation durchgeführten RAM-ROM Analyse bestätigen, dass das weiterentwickelte ROM für die Analyse des Stabilitätsverhaltens realer Leistungsreaktoren qualifiziert wurde.

Dans ma thèse, je décris les feuilles stables et instables pour le flot géodésique sur l’espace des géodésiques non-errant de type espace d’un espace-temps de Margulis et je démontre des propriétés de contraction des feuilles sous le flot. Je montre aussi que la monodromie d’un espace-temps de Margulis est une représentation Anosov dans un groupe de Lie non semisimple. En outre, je montre que les applications limites et reparamétrisation varient analytiquement. Enfin, à l’aide de la propriété métrique Anosov, nous définissons la métrique de pression sur l’espace modulaire des espaces-temps de Margulis sans pointes et je démontre qu’elle est définie positive sur les sections d’entropie constante. / In my thesis I describe the stable and unstable leaves for the geodesic flow on the space of non-wandering spacelike geodesics of a Margulis Space Time and prove contraction properties of the leaves under the flow. I also show that monodromy of Margulis Space Times are “Anosov representations in non semi-simple Lie groups”. Moreover, I show that the limit maps and reparametrizations vary analytically. Finally using the metric Ansosov property we define the Pressure metric on the Moduli Space of Margulis Space Times without “cusps” and show that it is positive definite on the constant entropy sections.