Impedance has been used as a tool for cardiac research since the early 1940’s. Recently there have been many advances in this field in the diagnosis of human heart failure through the measurement of pacemaker and ICD coupled impedance detection to determine the state of pulmonary edema in patients through drops in lung impedance. These new detection methods are far downstream of the initial changes in physiology, which signify heart failure risk, namely, an increased left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume (also known as preload). This dissertation presents the first formal validation of the complex admittance technique for more accurate blood volume measurement in vivo in mice. It aims to determine a new configuration of admittance measurement in a large scale animal model (pigs). It also aims to prove that “piggybacking” an admittance measurement system onto previously implanted AICD and bi-ventricular pacemakers is a feasible and practical measurement that will serve as an early warning system for impending heart failure through the measurement of LV preload, which appears before the currently measured drop in lung impedance using previous techniques. / text

Ultra-slow spreading ridges have a full spreading rate of less than 20 mm/yr, and show deviations from the fundamental characteristics identified at faster spreading rates; however, they are poorly studied compared to faster spreading ridges. In this thesis we aim to build on previous studies in order to further characterise the unique processes occurring at the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian ridge (SWIR). This is an exploratory study utilising novel and existing bathymetry, gravity, video imagery data to understand tectonic and volcanic processes along the ridge crest from triple junction to triple junction. We conduct a series of studies which focus on the axial valley morphology, large seamount morphology, the distribution of small seamounts and large seamounts on the ridge, and admittance studies. We show that the long wavelength trends in geophysical data, geochemical data, and axial valley morphology are well correlated. These variations reflect along-axis changes in the crustal and mantle structure, governed by the thermal structure of the ridge. Seamounts provide important morphological evidence of the volcanic and tectonic processes beneath the Earth's surface. We use detailed morphological investigations to show that volcanic and erosional processes on six large seamounts are controlled by the local faulting and melt migration mechanisms. We investigate the distribution of seamounts on the ridge using a numerical algorithm, and demonstrate a lower seamount density than faster spreading ridges. We show that the seamount population statistics vary along the ridge due to changes in the degree of partial melting, magma conduit availability, and melt focussing mechanisms; the locations of three proximal hotspots coincide with increases in the estimated magmatic flux. Finally, best fit elastic thicknesses are determined using a 3D windowed admittance technique, which was tested using synthetic data. We construct a combined convection-flexure model to account for misfits between the observed data and existing flexural theoretical models. The average elastic thickness varies between 7 km and 12 km, and we show a strong dependence on spreading rate.

Isostatic equilibrium is commonly defined as the state achieved when there are no lateral gradients in hydrostatic pressure, and thus no lateral flow, at depth within the lower viscosity mantle that underlies a planetary body's outer crust. In a constant-gravity Cartesian framework, this definition is equivalent to the requirement that columns of equal width contain equal masses. Here we show, however, that this equivalence breaks down when the spherical geometry of the problem is taken into account. Imposing the "equal masses" requirement in a spherical geometry, as is commonly done in the literature, leads to significant lateral pressure gradients along internal equipotential surfaces and thus corresponds to a state of disequilibrium. Compared with the "equal pressures" model we present here, the equal masses model always overestimates the compensation depth-by similar to 27% in the case of the lunar highlands and by nearly a factor of 2 in the case of Enceladus. Plain Language Summary "Isostasy" is the principle that, just as an iceberg floats on the water, crustal rocks effectively float on the underlying higher density mantle, which behaves essentially like a fluid on geologic timescales. Although there are subtle inconsistencies among the various ways isostasy can be defined, they have not been historically problematic for bodies like the Earth, where the crust is thin compared with the overall radius. When the thickness of the crust is a nonnegligible fraction of a planetary body's radius, however, it becomes important to take the spherical geometry into account. In this case, the inconsistencies in the definitions can lead to significant discrepancies. Here we argue that one of the most commonly used approaches, which requires equal width columns to contain equal masses, always results in overestimating the crustal thickness. In particular, we suggest that the lunar and Martian highlands crustal thickness may have been overestimated by similar to 27% and similar to 10%, respectively, and that the ice shell thickness for Saturn's small icy moon Enceladus may have been overestimated by nearly a factor of 2.

abstract: Admittance control with fixed damping has been a successful control strategy in previous human-robotic interaction research. This research implements a variable damping admittance controller in a 7-DOF robotic arm coupled with a human subject’s arm at the end effector to study the trade-off of agility and stability and aims to produce a control scheme which displays both fast rise time and stability. The variable damping controller uses a measure of intent of movement to vary damping to aid the user’s movement to a target. The range of damping values is bounded by incorporating knowledge of a human arm to ensure the stability of the coupled human-robot system. Human subjects completed experiments with fixed positive, fixed negative, and variable damping controllers to evaluate the variable damping controller’s ability to increase agility and stability. Comparisons of the two fixed damping controllers showed as fixed damping increased, the coupled human-robot system reacted with less overshoot at the expense of rise time, which is used as a measure of agility. The inverse was also true; as damping became increasingly negative, the overshoot and stability of the system was compromised, while the rise time became faster. Analysis of the variable damping controller demonstrated humans could extract the benefits of the variable damping controller in its ability to increase agility in comparison to a positive damping controller and increase stability in comparison to a negative damping controller. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2019

<p> This work presents theoretical calculations of some of the most important electrical characteristics of thin film, insulator-dominated semiconductor devices. Solutions of prespecified accuracy for an a.c. transmission line model of the semiconductor in such configurations as the MIS (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor) structure and the SIS (Semiconductor-Insulator-Semiconductor) structure are given. Together with an accurate solution of the d.c. bias problem, exact C-V (Capacitance-Voltage) and G-V (Conductance-Voltage) characteristics can be found at any frequency. SRH (Shockley-Reed-Hall) impurity centres and surface states have been included in both the d.c. and a.c. solutions. In addition, accurate studies of the low temperature dopant impurity response can be made since the d.c. solution uses full Fermi integrals over arbitrary densities of states with the impurity dopant band treated like an SRH centre for the a.c. solution.</p> <p> In non-equilibrium situations, such as those which occur with the application of light or carrier injection by tunnelling, the a.c. solution requires active elements in the transmission line model but the transmission line can still be solved to a prespecified accuracy provided an accurate solution of the d.c. bias problem can be found. In this thesis the d.c. solution for the case of light-induced pair production is considered under the assumption of bulk controlled d.c. quasi Fermi level shifts. Thus the accuracy of the related a.c. conductance and capacitance solutions is dependent on the reliability of this assumption.</p> <p> The detailed treatment of the a.c. admittance of the MIS structure is justified by its technological importance and fundamental insight gained on impurity centre and surface state effects.</p> <p> The other work presented in this thesis is devoted to a study of a new thin film device structure, the SIS diode. First, the a.c. admittance characteristics for the thick insulator case are predicted to a prespecified accuracy. Then a simple treatment for part of the SIS d.c. tunnelling problem is done to qualitatively predict the effects of such parameters as doping density, temperature and insulator thickness on current-voltage characteristics. Finally, a simple generalization of the a.c. transmission line to include the effects of tunnelling is given which allows accurate solution for the a.c. admittance of tunnelling SIS diodes if the complete d.c. non-equilibrium problem can be accurately solved.</p> <p> Practical application of the thick-insulator SIS diode will undoubtedly stem from its wide range of interesting low and high frequency response characteristics. Among the most interesting of these characteristics is a bell-shaped high frequency C-V response previously unobserved in other two terminal devices.</p> <p> An interesting negative resistance feature, which partly resembles the negative resistance region of the p-n junction tunnel diode, is analyzed for the degenerate SIS p-i-n thin insulator structure. While the thick insulator SIS device has recently been fabricated and the bell-shaped high frequency response experimentally observed, experimental verification of the tunneling characteristics of the SIS diode has as yet not been fully realized.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

Cette thèse se place dans un contexte médical de traitements oncologiques, plus particulièrement en protonthérapie robotisée. L’objectif de cette thèse, réalisée sous contrat Cifre avec la société LEONI CIA Cable Systems, est le développement d’une commande en co-manipulation sûre dédiée à un robot médical sériel. Cette commande doit permettre à un opérateur de manipuler intuitivement et précisément un robot de grande inertie positionneur de patients. Les contributions portent sur deux axes, d’une part le développement et l’implémentation sur le robot Orion de l’entreprise LEONI CIA Cable Systems d’une commande en admittance ainsi que la comparaison de trois dispositifs haptiques, et d’autre part le développement d’un mécanisme de détection de collisions proprioceptif permettant l’amélioration de la sécurité de fonctionnement. À partir d’une revue de la littérature concernant les commandes compliantes, nous avons développé et implémenté une commande en admittance dédiée au robot Orion en tenant compte de la discrétisation de la commande par le contrôleur spécifique de ce robot. Une expérience de comparaison sur le robot nous a permis d’identifier le dispositif haptique le mieux adapté au cas clinique considéré. Après une étude de l’état de l’art des mécanismes de détection de collisions, une approche fréquentielle de la modélisation du couple axial prenant en compte les rapports de réduction élevés et de technologie différente du robot a été proposée. Elle permet de modéliser finement le couple théoriquement fourni par les moteurs ; celui-ci est ensuite comparé avec la mesure du couple réellement produit afin de détecter une éventuelle collision. / This PhD thesis takes place in a medical context of oncological treatments, more particularly in robotised protontherapy. The objective of this thesis, carried out under a CIFRE contract with LEONI CIA Cable Systems, is the development of a safe comanipulation control dedicated to a serial medical robot. This control law should allow an operator to intuitively and precisely manipulate a robot of high inertia for accurate patients positioning. The contributions of this thesis focus on the development and implementation of an admittance-controlled Orion robot from LEONI CIA Cable Systems and the comparison of three haptic devices, and on the other hand, on the development of a proprioceptive collision detection mechanism allowing the improvement of operational safety. Based on a review of the literature on compliant controls, we have developed and implemented an admittance control approach dedicated to the Orion robot, taking into account the discretization of the control by the controller specific to this robot. A comparison experiment on the robot allowed us to identify the haptic device best suited to the clinical case considered. Based on a state of the art of collision detection mechanisms analysis, a frequency approach of the modeling of the axial torque taking into account the high reduction ratios and different robot technology has been proposed. It allows us to finely model the torque theoretically provided by the motors ; The latter is then compared with the measurement of the torque actually produced in order to detect a possible collision.

The object of the principle of material truth is to assure the certainty of facts in order to be able to issue a ruling as close to reality as possible. The principle has an intimate relationship with the limitation periods which, as regulated in our Tax Code, are only established as minimum terms in which the tax debt or has to comply with the administration’s requirements, without specifying any maximum. The author explains how it is that the terms regarding the presentation of documents have to be fixed considering the civilian’s interestand not against it. He affirms that, as long as the collection procedure of a certain period has not concluded, the debtor has the faculty to offer information and arguments to the administration in order to sustain his statement, allowing him to discuss the objections formulated against him. / El principio de verdad material tiene por finalidad arribar a la certeza de los hechos para poder emitir un pronunciamiento lo más cercano posible a la realidad. Está vinculado con los plazos de preclusión que, en nuestro CódigoTributario, sólo están establecidos como plazos mínimos para que el deudor tributario cumpla con lo solicitado por la administración, sin señalar un plazo máximo. El autor explica cómo los plazos para presentarlos documentos deben ser fijados según el interés del administrado y no en perjuicio de éste; mientras no concluya el procedimiento administrativo de fiscalización por el período y ejercicio fiscal correspondiente, el deudor tributario se encuentra plenamente facultado para ofrecer la información y los argumentos que sustenten sus descargos, pudiendo levantar de ese modo que los reparos que se le han formulado.

Depuis un demi-siècle, le développement de la traction électrique ferroviaire en courant monophasé en France s'est appuyé sur les progrès réalisés aussi bien au niveau des installations fixes de traction qu'au niveau du matériel roulant. Toutefois, au cours des deux dernières décennies, l'augmentation du trafic et l'introduction de locomotives avec des chaines de traction innovantes ont été à l'origine de phénomènes électriques qui se sont avérés néfastes pour l'exploitation du système. Les premiers phénomènes observés ont été à l'origine de dégâts matériels à bord de locomotives. Il s'agissait de surtensions résultant d'une interaction défavorable entre l'impédance interne de l'infrastructure et les harmoniques générés par les engins moteurs équipés de redresseurs à thyristors. Plus récemment, suite à l'introduction massive d'engins équipés de redresseurs à absorption sinusoïdale de courant, un phénomène de modulation très basse fréquence de la tension caténaire est apparu et a provoqué la mise hors tension des locomotives voire la disjonction de la sous station alimentant le secteur concerné. Ceci constitue aujourd'hui un obstacle majeur à l'utilisation généralisée de la nouvelle technologie à bord des engins. Ces perturbations affectent l'exploitation du système en entrainant généralement des retards voire des annulations de circulation. Elles peuvent aussi dégrader la qualité d'énergie du réseau d'électricité amont à un niveau tel que la sous-station d'alimentation doit être déconnectée. La direction de l'ingénierie de la SNCF a donc pris des dispositions pour comprendre puis éviter l'apparition des phénomènes observés. Une collaboration interne entre le centre d'ingénierie du matériel et la division des installations fixes de traction électrique ainsi qu'un partenariat avec le LAPLACE ont été mis en place. Le présent document est le fruit de cette collaboration. L'objectif de cette thèse est donc d'étudier et de modéliser les interactions entre les engins et les installations fixes de traction sur le réseau français 25kV/50Hz. Ce manuscrit comporte deux parties principales qui s'organisent ainsi : La première partie est consacrée à l'étude du phénomène de modulation très basse fréquence de la tension caténaire. Les modèles des deux principaux composants du système sont d'abord présentés. Les études ainsi menés permettent de comprendre l'origine du phénomène, puis ensuite de développer une méthode de caractérisation des engins permettant de retrouver les limites de stabilité dans les secteurs problématiques du réseau ferré. Ceci nous a conduit à proposer une représentation générale des locomotives modernes sous forme d'une matrice admittance qu'il est possible d'obtenir par une mesure directe sur des engins réels. La deuxième partie concerne l'étude des interactions harmoniques à l'origine de surtensions sur la caténaire. L'analyse systématique du phénomène est basée sur des outils de simulation de circuits électroniques de puissance utilisant une bibliothèque de modèles élémentaires. La première étape consiste à développer un modèle « moyenne fréquence » du réseau d'alimentation afin de mettre en évidence les fréquences de résonance de l'ensemble ligne/sous-station. La deuxième étape consiste à modéliser les locomotives afin de prendre en compte leur réponse harmonique. Au final, il devient possible de savoir si un engin donné va générer des déformations de la tension en vérifiant si l'une des composantes harmoniques du courant absorbé coïncide avec une des résonances caractéristique du circuit d'alimentation. Pour compléter cette deuxième partie, une modélisation plus fine, intégrant l'effet de peau et l'effet de proximité est abordée. Elle s'appuie sur la caractérisation expérimentale en moyenne fréquence d'un transformateur 50Hz. Ceci nous permet de vérifier l'influence de ces phénomènes sur le comportement fréquentiel du réseau d'alimentation. / For a half a century, the increasing development of AC electrical traction railway networks in France relied on the progress made in the infrastructure power supply an in the rolling stock. However, over the past two decades, increased traffic and the introduction of modern locomotives were the cause of electrical phenomena that have proven harmful to the operation of the railway network. The first events that occurred induced serious faults on board locomotives. It was overvoltages resulting from unfavourable interaction between the internal impedance of the infrastructure and the harmonics generated by the electrical vehicles using thyristor controlled rectifiers. More recently, with the massive introduction of active front-end locomotives, problems of low frequency oscillations and instability were observed causing power off locomotives or disjunction of the sector sub-station. The objective of this thesis is to study and model the interactions between locomotives and fixed installations for electric traction on the French rail network 25kV/50Hz. This script has two main parts, which organized as follows: The first part is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of very low frequency modulation of the catenary voltage. The models of the two main components of the system, namely the single-phase power and the active front-end locomotives are first presented. Studies conducted this way, help to understand the origin of the phenomenon and then to develop a method to characterize the vehicle to find the stability limits in problems sectors of the rail network. This led us to propose a general representation of modern locomotives as an admittance matrix that can be obtained by direct measurement on real machines. The second part is the study of harmonic interactions causing overvoltages on the catenary. Systematic analysis of the phenomenon is based on simulation tools of power electronics circuits using a collection of specific elementary models. The first step consists in developing a “medium frequency” model of the power network in order to highlight the resonance and anti-resonance frequencies of the line/sub-station set. The second step is to model locomotives to take into account their harmonic response. In the end, it becomes possible to know whether a particular machine will generate deformations of the catenary voltage, by checking if any of the harmonic components of the consumed current coincides with one of the characteristic resonances of the traction electric circuit. To complete the second part, a more detailed model is discussed incorporating physical phenomena that occur with an increasing frequency (skin effect in the insulted conductors or proximity effect between conductors).It is based on the experimental characterization on medium frequency of a 50Hz transformer. This allows us to check the influence of these phenomena on the frequency behaviour of the supply network.

Rapid implementation of universal newborn hearing screening programs has exposed a need for a reliable test of middle ear function for timely identification of middle ear pathology and for differentiation between true sensorineural and conductive hearing losses. Use of higher probe tone frequencies for the assessment of immitance measures have proven to be more reliable and accurate in identifying MEE in infants. However a lack of classification-guidelines and age specific normative data exists. This study investigated the characteristics and normative values of high frequency tympanometric and acoustic reflex results for infants (n = 936 ears). Participants were 510 infants (262 male, 248 female) aged 0 – 12 months (mean age = 12.8 weeks) recruited from primary health care and immunization clinics in a South African community. A three-part procedure was performed on each test ear: 1) OAEs were recorded and pass results served as control variable for normal middle ear functioning; 2) 1000 Hz probe tone admittance, susceptance and conductance tympanograms were recorded and analysed in terms of shape, tympanometric peak pressure and maximum (peak) admittance; 3) 1000 Hz probe tone acoustic reflexes, measured with a 1000 Hz ipsilateral stimulus, were recorded and thresholds determined. Significant associations were observed between tympanogram shape, and OAE pass or fail results. 93% of ears with an OAE pass result displayed peaked tympanograms, while 79% of ears with absent OAE’s displayed flat tympanograms. Single peaked tympanograms were recorded in 782 ears (84%), double peaked tympanograms in 41 (4%) ears and flat sloping tympanograms in 112 (12%) ears. Admittance (Ya) tympanograms for the total sample displayed a mean admittance value of 2.9 mmho, with a standard deviation of 1.1 mmho. The 90th percent range was determined at 1.5 mmho (5th percentile) to 4.9 mmho (95th percentile). Mean tympanometric peak pressure in Ya tympanograms was 0.1 daPa, with a standard deviation of 61 daPa. The 90th percent range was -110 daPa to 90 daPa for the 5th and 95th percentiles respectively. Gender specific norms indicated a higher admittance for male ears. Age specific norms indicate a gradual increase in admittance indicating the need for age specific normative classification systems. Ipsilateral 1000 Hz stimuli acoustic reflex measurement proved successful with a 1000 Hz probe tone and present reflexes were recorded in 84% of ears tested. Significant association between acoustic reflex presence, OAE pass and peaked tympanogram results were observed. The normative tympanometric values derived from the cohort may serve as a guide for identification of middle ear effusion in neonates. High frequency tympanometry in combination with acoustic reflexes proves a useful measure for verifying middle ear functioning in young infants. / Dissertation (M (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / M (Communication Pathology) / unrestricted