Au cours des dernières années, les problèmes multi-agents ont été étudiés de manière intensive par la communauté de la théorie du contrôle. L'un des sujets les plus populaires est le problème de consensus où un groupe d'agents parvient à un accord sur la valeur d'un certain paramètre ou d’une variable. Dans ce travail, nous nous concentrons sur le consensus des réseaux d'agents avec une dynamique non linéaire de poursuite de référence. Nous utilisons des interactions sporadiques modélisées par la détection relative, pour traiter le consensus décentralisé des références. La référence est donc utilisée pour alimenter la dynamique de poursuite de chaque agent. L'analyse de stabilité du système globale a nécessitée l'utilisation d'outils théoriques propre de la théorie des systèmes hybrides, en raison de la double nature de l'approche en deux étapes. L'analyse est effectuée en tenant compte de différents scénarios de topologie et interactions. Pour chaque cas, une condition suffisante de stabilité est fournie, en termes de temps minimum autorisé entre deux mises à jour de référence consécutives. Le cadre proposé est appliqué aux missions de rendez-vous et de réalisation de formation pour les robots mobiles non-holonomes. Le même problème est abordé dans le contexte d'une application réelle sur le terrain, à savoir un système de gestion de flotte pour un groupe de véhicules robotisés déployés dans un environnement industriel à des fins de surveillance et de collecte de données. Le développement d'une telle application a été motivé par le fait que cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre du projet FFLOR, développé par le département de recherche technologique du CEA tech. / Over the last years, multi-agents problems have been extensively studied from the control theory community. One of the most popular multi-agents control topics is the consensus problem where a group of agents reaches an agreement over the value of a certain parameter or variable. In this work we focus our attention on the consensus problem of networks of non-linear reference tracking agents. In first place, we use sporadic interactions modeled by relative sensing to deal with the decentralized consensus of the references. The reference is therefore feeded the tracking dynamics of each agent. Differently from existent works, the stability analysis of the overall system required the usage of hybrid systems theory tools, due to dual nature of the two stages approach. The analysis is carried out considering different scenarios of network topology and interactions. For each case a stability sufficient condition in terms of the minimum allowed time between two consecutive reference updates is provided. The proposed framework is applied to the rendez-vous and formation realisation tasks for non-holonomic mobile robots, which appear among the richest research topics in recent years. The same problem is addressed in the context of a real field application, namely a fleet management system for a group of robotic vehicles deployable in an industrial environment for monitoring and data collection purpose. The development of such application was motivated by the fact that this thesis is part of the Future of Factory Lorraine (FFLOR) project, developed by the technological research department of the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA tech).

Este trabalho apresenta três sistemas de controle distintos para a atuação em sistemas de tração elétrica traseira em veículos de passeio convencionais convertidos em VEHs (Veículos Elétricos Híbridos) 4x4, enfocando o desenvolvimento de um sistema diferencial eletrônico (SDE). As principais arquiteturas de veículos híbridos são apresentadas. O SDE, que atua em tempo de execução nas velocidades angulares dos pneumáticos traseiros em manobras variadas, depende dos sinais de esterçamento e aceleração impostos pelo condutor, considerando as modelagens cinemática e dinâmica do veiculo no cálculo dos valores de referência para o controlador. Controladores PID modificado, neurofuzzy baseado em inteligência artificial e um H-Infinito ótimo são projetados e detalhados. Uma nova arquitetura para o SDE é proposta e apresentada, visando a utilização de sistemas de controle robustos no problema do SDE, traçando-se um paralelo entre o seu desempenho e das arquiteturas convencionais quando o controlador H-Infinito ótimo assume o controle do SDE. O projeto e o desenvolvimento de um mini-VEH, a plataforma HELVIS (Hybrid ELectric Vehicle In low Scale), são apresentados. A implementação de um simulador veicular denominado HELVIS-SIM, inspirado na plataforma HELVIS, é também apresentada. O SDE, que compreende a arquitetura proposta e os controladores, são embarcados e também implementados no HELVIS-SIM. Resultados simulados obtidos no HELVIS-SIM são analisados. Testes experimentais do SDE na plataforma HELVIS são apresentados, considerando apenas testes de bancada sem o contato dos pneumáticos com o solo. / This work presents the development of three distinct control systems to rear electric traction control on conventional touring vehicles converted on 4WD (four-wheel drive) hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), focusing on the design of a EDS (Electronic Differential System). Main HEV architectures are presented. The EDS controls the rear wheels angular speeds as the driver inputs steering and acceleration commands, considering both dynamic and kinematic models of the vehicle and so the actuators on the calculus of the desired rear angular speeds. One modied PID controller, one AI (Articial Intelligence) based controller and one robust optimal H \'infinite\' controller are designed and outlined. A new EDS architecture is proposed and presented, aimming the use of robust controllers to the EDS problem, comparing the use of the H \'infinite\' optimal controller to conventional EDS architectures. The design of a mini-HEV, the HELVIS (Hybrid ELectric Vehicle In low Scale) platform is also presented. The implementation of a parametric vehicular simulator, the HELVIS-SIM, is discussed. The EDS, which represents the controllers and the proposed architecture, is evaluated on the HELVIS platform and on the HELVIS-SIM. Simulated results are rst run in the HELVIS-SIM. Experimental results of the EDS tests are presented exclusively considering the evaluation on a bench test, without any contact of the platform with the pavement.

This article describes the Dana intelligent Twin Steering System designed for mobile vehicles with two steering axles (i.e. with four steering wheels). Current vehicles with four-wheel steering function are typically equipped with a hydraulic configuration where the two steering cylinders are connected in series. This type of connection highlights some limitations on available power, steering comfort and enabling advanced working functions. Dana evolved this type of hydraulic configuration introducing the possibility to disconnect the rear axle from the front one. In this way the rear axle, through the electronic control of its valve block, allows to improve the steering system performance and introduces advanced steering functions compared to the conventional steering systems.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is an interdisciplinary study of various historical novels which dealt to a greater or lesser degree with the Great Trek and were written between the 1840s and the 1930s in Dutch, Afrikaans and English but with particular emphasis on H.P. Lamont's War, Wine and Women and Stuart Cloete's Turning Wheels (1937). The analysis of all these fictional reconstructions focuses on the portrayal of the Voortrekkers found in them. Much attention is also paid to the historical contexts in which the two principal works in question were written and the great controversies which they occasioned because both of their authors had had the temerity to challenge the long-established myth of the heroic Voortrekkers, one of the holiest of the iconic cows in the barns of their Afrikaner descendants. Chapter I, "Introduction", is a statement of the purpose of the study, its place in the context of analyses of the history of Afrikaner nationalism, its structure and the sources on which it is based. Chapter II, "The Unfolding of the Myth of the Heroic Voortrekkers", traces its evolution from the 1830s to the 1930s and explores how both English-speaking South Africans and Afrikaners, especially Gustav PrelIer, purposefully contributed to it. Also highlighted in this chapter is the significance of the Great Trek Centenary and the events leading up to it in the middle and late 1930s in intensifying Afrikaner nationalism. Chapter III, "The Heroic Myth in Early Dutch and Afrikaans Novels about the Great Trek", considers especially how these works were used as vehicles for placing before Afrikaners the historic virtues of their ancestors both to provide models for emulation and to stimulate their ethnic pride. Chapter IV, "Sympathetic English Reconstructions of the Great Trek", deals with two novels, Eugenie de Kalb's Far Enough and Francis Brett Young's They Seek a Country, both of which reproduced the heroic myth to some extent. Chapter V, "Rendezvous with Disaster? The South Africa in Which Lamont Wrote War, Wine and Women" establishes the context of intensifying Afrikaner nationalism which this immigrant from the United Kingdom encountered in the late 1920s when he accepted a lectureship at the University of Pretoria and why this context was hostile to a novel which was critical of Afrikanerdom. Chapter VI, "Wa1~ Wine and Women: Its General Context and Commentary on South Africa" explores how this work, conceived as a "war book" dealing with the 1914-1918 conflict in Europe, depicted both Englishmen and Afrikaners negatively. Chapter VII, "Academic Freedom vs. Afrikaner Nationalism: The Consequential Strife over War, Wine and Women" deals with the hostile reception of Lamont's pseudonymously published novel, the physical assault on him and his dismissal from his lectureship at the University of Pretoria. Chapter VIII, "The Rhetoric of Revenge in Lamont's Halcyon Days in Africa", explores how the author, after relurning lo England, used his pen as a weapon for striking back al his Afrikaans foes in South Africa. Chapter IX, "Stuart Cloete's Portrayal of the Voortrekkers in Turning U'heels", focuses on the portrayal of various ethnic types in his gallery of characters. Chapter X, "The Con troversy over Turning U'heels", handles the hostile and apparently orchestrated reaction to Cloete's book and how it was eventually banned. Chapter XI, "Conclusion: Quod Eral Demonstrandum", summarises several thematic findings which a detailed examination of the novels in their historical context yields. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling is 'n interdissiplinêre studie van verskeie historiese romans waarin daar in 'n mindere ofmeerdere mate op die Groot Trek gefokus word en wat geskryfis tussen die 1840's en die 1930's in Nederlands, Afrikaans en Engels, maar met die klem op H. P. Lamont se War, Wine and Wamen en Stuart Cloete se Turning Wheels (1937) in die besonder. Die analise van al hierdie fiktiewe rekonstruksies fokus op die uitbeelding van die Voortrekkers daarin. Daar word ook in die besonder aandag gegee aan die historiese kontekste waarbinne hierdie twee hoofwerke geskryfis en die groot polemiek daarrondom, omdat beide outeurs die vermetelheid gehad het om die lank reeds gevestigde mite van die heldhaftige Voortrekkers, een van die heiligste ikoniese koeie in die skure van die Afrikanernageslagte, uit te daag. Hoofstuk I, "Introduction", stel die doel van die studie, waar dit staan in die konteks van analises van die geskiedenis van Afrikanernasionalisme, die skruktuur en die bronne waarop dit gebaseer is. Hoofstuk II, "The Unfolding of the Myth of the Herioc Voortrekkers", volg die evolusie van Afrikanernasionalisme van die 1830's tot die 1930's en ondersoek op beide Engelssprekende Suid-Afrikaners en Afrikaners, veral Gustav Preller, doelgerig hiertoe bygedra het. In hierdie hoofstuk word daar ook beklemtoon hoe betekenisvol die honderdjarige herdenking van die Groot Trek en die gebeure wat daartoe aanleiding gegee het gedurende die middel- en laat 1930's, bygedra het tot die versterking van Afrikanernasionalisme. Hoofstuk III, "The Heroic Myth in Early Dutch and Afrikaans Novels about the Great Trek", bespreek veral hoe hierdie werke gebruik is om aan Afrikaners die historiese deugsaamheid van hulle voorvaders voor te hou en wat as voorbeelde moet dien wat nagestreef moet word en om hulle etniese trots te stimuleer. Hoofstuk IV, "Sympathetic English Reconstructions of the Great Trek", bespreek twee romans, Far Enough van Eugenie de Kalb en TheySeek a Country van Francis Brett Young, wat altwee die heroïse mite in 'n sekere mate herproduseer. Hoofstuk V, "Rendezvous with Disaster? The South Africa in Which Lamont Wrote War, Wine and Women" vestig die konteks van groeiende Afrikanernasionalisme wat hierdie immigrant van die Verenigde Koninkryk in die laat 1920's teëgekom het toe hy 'n lektoraat aan die Universiteit van Pretoria aanvaar het, en hoekom hierdie konteks vyandiggesind was teenoor 'n roman wat krities was teenoor die Afrikanerdom. Hoofstuk VI, "Wa1~ Wine and Women: Its General Context and Commentary on South Africa" ondersoek hoe hierdie werk, beskou as 'n "oorlogsboek" wat handeloor die 1914-1918 konflik in Europa, beide die Engelse en die Afrikaners in 'n negatiewe lig gestel het. Hoofstuk VII, "Academic Freedom vs. Afrikaner Nationalism: The Consequential Strife over War, Wine and Women" skenk aandag aan die vyandige ontvangs van Lamont se roman (gepubliseer onder 'n skuilnaam), die fisieke aanval op hom en sy ontslag as lektor van die Universiteit van Pretoria. Hoofstuk VIII, "The Rhetoric of Revenge in Lamont's Halcyon Days inAfrica", ondersoekhoe die outeur, na hy na Engeland teruggekeer het, sy pen as wapen gebruik het in 'n teenaanval op sy Afrikaanse vyande in Suid-Afrika. Hoofstuk IX, "Stuart Cloete's Portrayal of the Voortrekkers in Turning Wheels", fokus op die uitbeelding van verskeie etniese tipes in sy gallery karakters. Hoofstuk X, "The Controversy over Tumng Wheels", bespreek die vyandige en klaarblyklike georkestreerde reaksie op Cloete se boek, en hoe dit uiteindelik verban is. Hoofstuk XI, "Conclusion: Quod Era! Demonstrandum", bied 'n opsomming van verskei tematiese bevindinge aan, wat deur 'n gedetaileerde ondersoek van die romans opgelewer is.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:16:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fatima Daltro de Castro Correia.pdf: 981156 bytes, checksum: c066fd1d35e52db7caca7f986cb0bf9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-09-11 / The increase of the images media exposition of wheels chair bodies promotes the impression to collaborate for the social inclusion of the body that we nominate deficient. However, the action of the nominations consecrated for the press, as of pcd (person with deficiency), operates exactly in the contrary direction, exposing the deficiency, transforming it into a stigma. The images of wheels chair bodies that are spreadon media are always associates to the question of the overcoming of limits, tying those bodies only to the values in circulation in the sport world. The prominence that the Paraolimpics Games occupies in the media inserts there, in the consolidation of the boarding of these bodies with images that congeal around an uniform way of the deficiencies in an only niche, delimited for the adopted concept of efficiency/productivity. A critical reflection regarding this situation becomes necessary to be able to deal with the dance that this body practises outside the narrow limits imposed for this stigma mechanism. For this, we here adopt the Theory Corpomedia (Katz & Greiner), with which if it presents the hypothesis of that the wheels chair body dancer is a complex system and able to breach with the perverse speech that the frozen images produce. The concept of corpomedia, formulated from the study of the communication between body, and its environments, favor the agreement of the paper that the media exploration has when it congeals the images that produce around the deficiency and not of the deficient one with its singularities. The methodology contemplates a Study of Case, Judite wants to cry, but it does not get it! , created for the wheels chair dancer Edu Oliveira; interviews aiming qualitative research; critical analysis of these interviews, carried through after the presentation of the spectacle in two different cities (Salvador and Votorantim); bibliographical revision of the subject of the deficient body; video registers. The bibliographical research allowed a brief historical panoramic sketch of the access of the wheels chair bodies to the world of dance and its social implications. Conclusion is that that the wheels chair dancer is cultural and biologically implied in a system of construction of images that associates him with a poor body and that they feed who it cognitivaly, with ominous consequences for the process of its social inclusion. From there the urgency in promoting actions that can breach with the media action in course. This is the role for the dance in wheels chair has and, to accomplish it, cannot be remained based in the criteria of the sport. The dance in wheels chair needs to discover its poetical, therefore they are who potencializes an effective social insertion / O aumento da exposição midiática de imagens de corpos cadeirantes promove a impressão de colaborar para a inclusão social do corpo que nomeamos de deficiente. Todavia, a ação das nomeações consagradas pela imprensa, como a de pcd (pessoa com deficiência), opera justamente no sentido contrário, midiatizando a deficiência, transformando-a em um estigma. As imagens de corpos cadeirantes que ganham divulgação estão sempre associadas à questão da superação de limites, vinculando aqueles corpos somente aos valores em circulação no mundo do desporto. O destaque que a Paraolimpíada ocupa na mídia se insere aí, na consolidação da abordagem desses corpos com imagens que se congelam em torno de uma uniformização das deficiências em um nicho único, delimitado pelo conceito de eficiência/produtividade adotado. Faz-se necessária uma reflexão crítica a respeito dessa situação para poder tratar da dança que esse corpo pratica fora dos estreitos limites impostos por esse mecanismo estigmatizador. Para isso, aqui se adota a Teoria Corpomídia (Katz & Greiner), com a qual se apresenta a hipótese de que o corpo do dançarino cadeirante é um sistema complexo e apto a romper com o discurso perverso que as imagens congeladas produzem. O conceito de corpomídia, formulado a partir do estudo da comunicação entre corpo, e seus ambientes, favorece o entendimento do papel que a exploração midiática tem quando congela as imagens que produz em torno da deficiência e não do deficiente com suas singularidades. A metodologia contempla um Estudo de Caso, o do espetáculo Judite quer chorar, mas não consegue! , criado pelo dançarino cadeirante Edu Oliveira; entrevistas com fins de pesquisa qualitativa; análise crítica dessas entrevistas, realizadas após a apresentação do espetáculo em duas cidades diferentes (Salvador e Votorantim); revisão bibliográfica do tema do corpo deficiente; registros em vídeo. A pesquisa bibliográfica permitiu um breve esboço panorâmico/ histórico do acesso dos cadeirantes ao mundo da dança e suas implicações sociais. Concluiu-se que o dançarino cadeirante é cultural e biologicamente implicado em um sistema de construção de imagens que o associam ao corpo coitadinho e que são elas que o alimentam cognitivamente, com conseqüências nefastas para o processo de sua inclusão social. Daí a urgência em promover ações que possam romper com a ação midiática em curso. É esse o papel que a dança em cadeira de rodas tem e, para desempenhá-lo, não pode se manter pautada pelos critérios do desporto. A dança em cadeira de rodas precisa descobrir as suas poéticas, pois são elas que potencializam uma inserção social efetiva

This thesis describes the design and realization of a mobile robot with autonomous audio-visual control. This robot is able of movement based on sensors consisting of camera and microphone. The mechanical part consists of components made with 3D print technology and omnidirectional Mecanum wheels. Software utilizes OpenCV library for image processing and computes MFCC a DTW for voice command detection.

This master‘s thesis is presenting the way of the optimization of grinding characteristics when grinding cemented carbides by diamond wheels. There is described the theory of grinding, including grinding wheels and basic characteristics of cemented carbides in the theoretical part. There are defined experimental metering accomplished on the CNC grinding machine Walter Helitronic Power Mini in the practical part. There were tested eight grinding wheels. The grinding rate, surface roughness Ra, theoretic guaranteed storage period of grinding wheel in number of cuts, theoretical capacity of machined material, achievement of grinding machine and behaviour of the wheels when grinding ware evaluated from the reached results.

(Synopsis to introductory statement): An introductory statement to five documentary films made by Ian Lang in Australia between 1981 and 1997 exemplifying  a 'democratising' model of sustainable and ethical documentary film production. This document critically reflects on the production process of these films to accompany their submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Publication at Griffith University. It finds that a contemporary tendency towards 'post-industrial' conditions allows an observational film-maker to negotiate a critical inter-dependence rather than a romantically conceived 'independence' traditional to the genre. [Full thesis consists of introductory statement plus six DVD videodiscs.]