<p>This master’s thesis describes the development of a model of the catalystsystem aiming at control by an MPC. A well functioning model, which is suitable in control purpose, is important while emission legislation become more and more hard to fulfill for the car manufacturers. Much research has been done in the field of physical modeling of the system, but in this work a linear adaptive time discrete ARX-model is developed and validated.</p><p>The systems tendency to change its dynamic during usage implies that the model must be adaptive. The developed model proved to be well functioning and shows promising conditions for the MPC design. The system and the model are analyzed in the time- and frequency domains and the model is both implemented and validated in a Saab 9-5.</p><p>The work has been performed both at Saab Automobile Powertrain AB in Södertälje and in Vehicular Systems Dept. of Electrical Engineering at Linköpings University.</p>

<p>Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is one of several sub-types of B-cell lymphomas. The malignancy is very aggressive and average survival time is short. The hallmark of MCL is over expression of cyclin D1, however about 15% of all MCL cases do not display this over expression and are easily misdiagnosed. Recently the transcription factor Sox11 has been shown to be specifically over expressed in the nucleus of MCL-tumour cells, and polyclonal rabbit anti-Sox11 antibodies have been used to successfully identify MCL in both cyclin D1 positive and negative cases. Howev-er, human recombinant MCL-specific antibodies as have several advantages over these polyclonal rabbit antibodies; they can easily be produced in large quantities in vitro, their specificity is constant from batch to batch and they can possibly be used for therapeutic purposes. Because of this, it is desirable to produce human recombinant antibodies against proteins over expressed in MCL. In this study human recombinant IgGs have been produced towards two pro-teins over expressed in MCL, Sox11 and KIAA0882. This was done by cloning of single chain variable fragments (scFvs), previously selected from a large scFv library through phage display selection against Sox11- and KIAA0882-protein epitope signature tag (PrEST), into vectors containing human IgG constant regions followed by expression of human IgG antibodies in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. One IgG clone for each antigen was shown to be functional and specific. Both clones were shown to have overlapping binding epitopes with their polyclonal rabbit antibody counterpart (rabbit anti-Sox11/KIAA0882) through competitive ELISA. The anti-Sox11 IgG was able to detect two bands in cell lysate in Western blot, of which one probably is Sox11 while the other band possibly could be Sox4. However, this needs to be confirmed in future experiments. The affinity of the anti-Sox11 IgG was measured in Biacore and compared to the affinity of its original scFv. This gave a rough estimation of the affinities, but the values are unreliable and the measurements need to be redone. Although more work has to be put into evaluating the potential of the produced IgGs, they compose a promising starting point to an improved understanding and improved diagnosis of MCL.</p>

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Passau, 2000.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Haitham Al-Deek. Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-177).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 107 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-107).

No description available.

Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) is a recently developed (circa 1970) method (in the U.S.A.) to reduce groundwater-pumping stresses by injecting treated wastewater or surface water during periods of low demand into an aquifer followed by its recovery during periods of high demand. This method has been successfully implemented in numerous locations across the U.S.A. and worldwide, mainly due to the cost savings provided by the use of an unlimited reservoir (aquifer) in which to store water compared to the costs to construct surface impoundments and the inherent problems with storing such water for extended periods of time under evaporative atmospheric conditions. "This study describes the use of a highly discretized, three-dimensional, variable-density, numerical model (SEAWAT 2000) that incorporates the vertical variation of hydraulic conductivities, measured foot by foot, from a continuous core collected from the upper Floridan aquifer in southwest Florida, to evaluate the effects of small-scale heterogeneities on a hypothetical ASR system well. In order to compare these effects to the more general case in which average hydraulic parameters are used to characterize flow zones, a model is constructed with average parameters taken from the heterogeneous case. This study attempts to determine whether aquifer heterogeneities influence the performance of ASR systems, compared to assumed homogeneous conditions, by quantifying differences in recovery efficiency, horizontal and vertical flow due to advection and dispersion, plume dimensions, and storage periods. The results of this study indicate that 1) the geometry of the injectate plume under homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions differ significantly; 2) background formation total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations significantly control the quantity of potable water available for recovery; 3) dispersion exhibits a strong control on vertical mixing; 4) multiple injection cycles are required to generate a plume of potable water for long term storage; and 5) the percent recoveries under homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions are generally similar only in low-salinity background concentrations, due to the absence of the effects of buoyancy. Although the percent recoveries of the systems modeled are similar, the success of an ASR well is strongly controlled by the existence of heterogeneities, which essentially determine the degree of horizontal and vertical mixing of the injectate with formation waters. Heterogeneities result in varying groundwater and mass transport paths during injection and recovery periods. Presumably these variations would need to be considered when evaluating potential variations in groundwater quality due to mixing between formation and injected water. Understanding potential variations in groundwater quality and treatment alternatives due to the presence of ASR-associated geochemical conditions, e.g., elevated arsenic concentrations, may also be improved with a detailed heterogeneous numerical model.

In this research the problem of incident congestion on surface street networks is addressed. Microscopic simulation is used to simulate incident scenarios on various corridors in the Tampa Bay area. The effect of the three factors, namely, network, speed and signal strategies on the traffic flow is studied. The network performance is based on Highway Capacity Manual specified measures of effectiveness prepared by the Transportation Research Board. Three inherently different city corridors, high, medium and low volume, are used to test the strategies developed. The strategies investigated include varying speed limits during incidents and using pre-timed and semi-actuated signals that respond to real time traffic volumes. The effectiveness measures are total delay in vehicle minutes, average speed in miles per hour and average travel time in seconds. Different facilities on a network include intersections; both signalized and unsignalized, local highways and arterials. The outputs from the simulation model is used to set up a factorial design to study the interaction between network type, signal strategy and speed strategy with the measures of effectiveness being the response variables. This type of corridor analysis is unique and provides decision support for local transportation planning departments for making corridor enhancements. In most city, state or county planning departments road planning is merely based on projected traffic demand using existing static models and does not factor necessary adjustments for incidents. Another unique aspect of this research is that variable speed limits are tested on surface streets. Such a test is not available in the literature. With dynamic message signs, next generation communication networks for traffic signal control and ITS technologies available, it is possible to implement the strategies suggested in this research.

Product risk is important to firms’ enterprise risk management. This dissertation focuses on product risk in the U.S. life insurance and health insurance industries. In particular, we add new dimensions to the measurement of product risk for these industries, and we explore how these industries manage product risk in a context of other enterprise risks. In this dissertation, we identify new product risks, propose new measures, and study the management of these risks. In the life insurance industry, we identify a new type of product risk, the guarantee risk, caused by variable annuities with guaranteed living benefits (VAGLB). We propose a value-at-risk type measure inspired by the risk-based capital C3 Phase II to quantify the guarantee risk. In the health insurance industry, where the degree of uncertainty varies for different types of health insurance policies, we develop four exposure-based risk measures to capture health insurers’ product risks. Then we study how life and health insurers manage product risks (and asset risks) by using capital in the context of other risks and appropriate controls. We add to the literature in the life insurance industry by examining the relationship between capital and risks when the guarantee risk is accounted for. In the health insurance industry, to our knowledge, no similar research on the relationship between capital and risks has been conducted. In view of the current topicality of health insurance, our research therefore adds a timely contribution to the understanding of health insurer risk management in an era of health care reform. Capital structure theories, transaction cost economics, and insurers’ risk-taking behaviors provide the theoretical foundation for our research. As to methodology, we implement standard capital structure models for the life and health insurance industries using data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annual filings of life/health insurers and health insurers. Simultaneous equations modeling is used to model life and health insurers’ enterprise risk management. And the estimation is conducted by the generalized estimation equations (GEE). We find that both U.S. life/health insurers and health insurers prudently build up capital as they experience more product risk and asset risk controlling for the other enterprise risks. We also find that life/health insurers may be using derivatives as a partial substitute for capital when managing new product risk caused by VAGLB, the guarantee risk. / text