This research explains the role of aligned inter-firm performance measures as a predictor of success in of contractual alliances. Contractual alliances, a popular type of inter-firm relations, are also known as non-equity alliances and often display conflicting objectives in their contractual agreements. This research proposes that the assessment of contractual alliances performance must go beyond the contract’s ability to deliver to its internal performance targets or service level agreements (SLA). The success of contractual alliances lies in the alliance’s capability to contribute to the specific performance objectives of the firms involved as well as to fulfil its internal SLAs. This capability is called alignment and the results of this research show that is critical to the success of inter-firm relationships. The data for the research was gathered from outsourcing contracts between a logistics service provider and 149 users. Each contract includes its SLAs and two years of actual performance measures. The research design considers the firms’ financial measures as a proxy for their performance objectives during the same period of time. The alignment construct was operationalised by creating an inter-firm alignment (IFA) coefficient calculated with mathematical techniques to assess multi-dimensional fit amongst constructs. The three dimensions included in the IFA coefficient are i) alignment of contract’s SLAs and actual performance values, ii) alignment of contract’s SLAs and provider’s performance objectives, and iii) alignment of contract’s SLAs and user’s performance objectives. Success of contractual alliances was operationalised using known measures from the inter-firm management literature, such as longevity, stability, formality and relative profitability of the relationship. Information for all determinants was available in the 149 contracts. The quantitative correlations were specified and calculated using structural equation models (SEM). The results show that aligned inter-firm performance measures are a strong predictor of contractual alliance success. The empirical model supports the positive correlation of longevity and formality as measures of contractual alliance success, as stated in extant literature. The findings dispute the expected positive correlation between formality and stability with alliance success as described in the alliance literature. The results confirm the positive role of renegotiations as stated in the organization learning literature. Additional in-depth interviews were conducted with relationship managers, during the pilot study. The qualitative results support the quantitative findings. This research contributes to theory by: a) conceptualising and measuring the concept alignment to inter-firm performance measures; b) estimating the contribution of relation-specific measures to contractual alliance success, and c) introducing alignment of inter-firm performance measures as a predictor of contractual alliance success. The research and its results fill a substantive gap in managing contractual alliances. It provides the outsourcing industry with a tool that predicts the likelihood of relationship survival based on the degree of alignment of the inter-firm’s performance measures. The quantitative methods employed in the research extend the use of current techniques for assessing ‘fit’ in the strategy literature, into the field of performance measurement systems.

WINDMI is a low dimensional plasma physics-based model of the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations describes the energy balance between the basic nightside components of the system using the solar wind driving voltage as input. Of the eight dynamical variables determined by the model, the region 1 field aligned current and ring current energy is compared to the westward auroral electrojet AL index and equatorial geomagnetic disturbance storm time Dst index. The WINDMI model is used to analyze the magnetosphere-ionosphere system during major geomagnetic storms and substorms which are community campaign events. Numerical experiments using the WINDMI model are also used to assess the question of how much interplanetary shock events contribute to the geoeffectiveness of solar wind drivers. For two major geomagnetic storm intervals, it is found that the magnetic field compressional jump is important to producing the changes in the AL index. Further, the WINDMI model is implemented to compute model AL and Dst predictions every ten minutes using real-time solar wind data from the ACE satellite as input. Real-Time WINDMI has been capturing substorm and storm activity, as characterized by the AL and Dst indices, reliably since February 2006 and is validated by comparison with ground-based measurements of the indices. Model results are compared for three different candidate input solar wind driving voltage formulas. Modeling of the Dst index is further developed to include the additional physical processes of tail current increases and sudden commencement. A new model, based on WINDMI, is developed using the dayside magnetopause and magnetosphere current systems to model the magnetopause boundary motion and the dayside region 1 field aligned current which is comparable to the auroral upper AU index. / text

Standard cells are fundamental circuit building blocks designed at very early design stages. Nanometer standard cells are prone to lithography proximity and process variations. How to design robust cells under variations plays a crucial role in the overall circuit performance and yield. This dissertation studies five related research topics in design and manufacturing co-optimization in nanometer standard cells. First, a comprehensive sensitivity metric, which seamlessly incorporates effects from device criticality, lithographic proximity, and process variations, is proposed. The dissertation develops first-order models to compute these sensitivities, and perform robust poly and active layout optimization by minimizing the total delay sensitivity to reduce the delay under the nominal process condition and by minimizing the performance gap between the fastest and the slowest delay corners. Second, a new equivalent source/drain (S/D) contact resistance model, which accurately calculates contact resistances from contact area, contact position, and contact shape, is proposed. Based on the impact of contact resistance on the saturation current, robust S/D contact layout optimization by minimizing the lithography variation as well as by maximizing the saturation current without any leakage penalty is performed. Third, this dissertation describes the first layout decomposition methods of spacer-type self-aligned double pattering (SADP) lithography for complex 2D layouts. The favored type of SADP for complex logic interconnects is a two-mask approach using a core mask and a trim mask. This dissertation describes methods for automatically choosing and optimizing the manufacturability of base core mask patterns, generating assist core patterns, and optimizing trim mask patterns to accomplish high quality layout decomposition in SADP process. Fourth, a new cell characterization methodology, which considers a random (line-edge roughness) LER variation to estimate the device performance of a sub-45nm design, is presented. The thesis systematically analyzes the random LER by taking the impact on circuit performance due to LER variation into consideration and suggests the maximum tolerance of LER to minimize the performance degradation. Finally, this dissertation proposes a design aware LER model which claims that LER is highly related to the lithographic aerial image fidelity and the neighboring geometric proximity. With a new LER model, robust LER aware poly layout optimization to minimize the leakage power is performed. / text

Le présent mémoire vise à faire l’étude des procédés d’explicitation dans les traductions anglais-français de textes spécialisés de l’environnement. Plus précisément, notre but est d’identifier l'éventail de ces procédés d'explicitation, de faire leur analyse, de les classifier et de proposer quelques pistes quant aux causes possibles de l’explicitation dans la traduction. Nous présentons d’abord quelques travaux antérieurs qui ont porté sur l’explicitation dans des corpus de langue générale et dans des corpus spécialisés. Notre recherche a ceci de particulier qu’elle porte sur l’explicitation dans un corpus spécialisé, plus particulièrement dans des textes du domaine de l’environnement. L’explicitation est peu étudiée dans les textes spécialisés et, à notre connaissance, aucune étude n’a porté sur l’explicitation dans des textes environnementaux. Pour notre recherche, nous avons élaboré d’abord un corpus de textes anglais-français portant sur l’environnement. Notre corpus a ensuite été aligné au moyen de l’aligneur LogiTerm Pro. Cet aligneur nous permet de créer un corpus aligné qui est utile pour observer les manifestations d’explicitation. Les stratégies d'explicitation identifiées et classées par Pápai (2004) ont servi de base à notre propre classement. Nous avons découvert que les procédés d’explicitation se produisent à cinq niveaux : des relations logiques et visuelles, lexical et grammatical, syntaxiques I et II, textuel et extralinguistique. Le nombre total de procédés d’explicitation que nous avons identifiés est de 13. Le plus grand nombre de cas d’explicitations (445) se situe au niveau lexical et grammatical. Parmi les cas d’explicitations au niveau lexical et grammatical, le remplissage d’ellipses sémantiques présente le nombre le plus élevé de cas (186) dans notre corpus spécialisé. L’explicitation au niveau syntaxique I s’observe dans 173 cas; l’explicitation au niveau des relations logiques et visuelles s’observe dans 101 cas; l’explication au niveau syntaxique II a été relevée dans 50 cas. Enfin, l’explication se produit au niveau textuel et extralinguistique dans 37 cas. Après avoir observé notre corpus et d’après les résultats obtenus, nous avons pu constater que le nombre et la variété d’explicitations étaient élevés dans les traductions anglais-français de textes spécialisés environnementaux. / This work aims to study the explicitation strategies in English-French translations of specialized texts related to the field of environment. More specifically, our goal is to identify the range of these explicitation strategies, analyze and classify them. We will also offer some explanations of possible causes of explicitation in translation. First, we present some previous work on explicitation in general language corpora and in specialized corpora. A particularity of our own research is that it focuses on explicitation in a specialized corpus, more specifically in texts in the field of environment. Explicitation has seldom been studied in specialized texts and, to our knowledge, no study focused on explicitation in environmental texts. For our research, we compiled a corpus of English-French environment texts. Our corpus was then aligned using the aligner LogiTerm Pro. This aligner allows us to create aligned corpora that are useful to observe the linguistic instances of explicitation. The explicitation strategies identified and classified by Pápai (2004) have served as the basis for our own analysis. We found that the explicitation strategies occur at five levels: logical and visual relations, lexical and grammatical, syntactic I and II, textual and extra-linguistic. The total number of explicitation strategies that we have identified is 13. The largest number of explicitation instances (445) occurs on the lexical and grammatical level. Among explicitation instances on the lexical and grammatical level, filling semantic ellipses present the highest number of instances (186) in our specialized corpus. Explicitation on the syntactic level I was observed in 173 instances; explicitation on the logical and visual relations level in 101 instances; explicitation on the syntactic level II was found in 50 instances. Finally, explicitation occurred on the textual and extra-linguistic level in 37 instances. After observing our corpus and according to the results obtained, we have found that the number and variety of instances of explicitation are high in English-French translations of specialized texts in the field of the environment. / S.O.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Carbon nanotube (CNT) forests have outstanding thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties, which have generated significant interest as thermal interface materials (TIMs). Some drawbacks to using CNTs as TIMs include poor substrate adhesion, high interface resistances inhibiting thermal transport, and lack of electrical insulation in electronic component applications. It is thus useful to be able to modify CNTs to reduce their electrical conductivity while maintaining high thermal conductivity and interface conductance, and high mechanical compliance. A recent report suggests that nanoscale oxide coatings could be applied to CNTs in forests without changing the mechanical deformation behavior of the forests. Oxide coatings could also provide environmental stability as well as better adhesion to the substrate compared to pristine CNT forests. In this study, we investigated thermal and electrical resistance of CNT forests with an oxide coating. Low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) was used to produce CNTs on high-conductivity Si substrates. Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PALD) was used to deposit Al2O3 on individual CNTs in forests. This process was facilitated by O2 plasma pretreatment to functionalize the surface of the CNTs and nucleate oxide growth. Several analytical techniques were used to characterize the CNT-oxide composites, including scanning electron microscopy, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Thermal conductivity and thermal interface resistance were measured using a modified photoacoustic technique. The oxide coating had no significant effect on the effective thermal conductivity of the forests, in contrast to expectations of increased phonon scattering. Electrical resistivity measurements were made and a threefold increase was observed for the oxide-coated forests. This approach could emerge as a promising route to create a viable TIM for thermally conductive and electrically insulating applications.

Les travaux entrepris dans le cadre de la présente thèse portent sur l’analyse de l’équivalence terminologique en corpus parallèle et en corpus comparable. Plus spécifiquement, nous nous intéressons aux corpus de textes spécialisés appartenant au domaine du changement climatique. Une des originalités de cette étude réside dans l’analyse des équivalents de termes simples. Les bases théoriques sur lesquelles nous nous appuyons sont la terminologie textuelle (Bourigault et Slodzian 1999) et l’approche lexico-sémantique (L’Homme 2005). Cette étude poursuit deux objectifs. Le premier est d’effectuer une analyse comparative de l’équivalence dans les deux types de corpus afin de vérifier si l’équivalence terminologique observable dans les corpus parallèles se distingue de celle que l’on trouve dans les corpus comparables. Le deuxième consiste à comparer dans le détail les équivalents associés à un même terme anglais, afin de les décrire et de les répertorier pour en dégager une typologie. L’analyse détaillée des équivalents français de 343 termes anglais est menée à bien grâce à l’exploitation d’outils informatiques (extracteur de termes, aligneur de textes, etc.) et à la mise en place d’une méthodologie rigoureuse divisée en trois parties. La première partie qui est commune aux deux objectifs de la recherche concerne l’élaboration des corpus, la validation des termes anglais et le repérage des équivalents français dans les deux corpus. La deuxième partie décrit les critères sur lesquels nous nous appuyons pour comparer les équivalents des deux types de corpus. La troisième partie met en place la typologie des équivalents associés à un même terme anglais. Les résultats pour le premier objectif montrent que sur les 343 termes anglais analysés, les termes présentant des équivalents critiquables dans les deux corpus sont relativement peu élevés (12), tandis que le nombre de termes présentant des similitudes d’équivalence entre les corpus est très élevé (272 équivalents identiques et 55 équivalents non critiquables). L’analyse comparative décrite dans ce chapitre confirme notre hypothèse selon laquelle la terminologie employée dans les corpus parallèles ne se démarque pas de celle des corpus comparables. Les résultats pour le deuxième objectif montrent que de nombreux termes anglais sont rendus par plusieurs équivalents (70 % des termes analysés). Il est aussi constaté que ce ne sont pas les synonymes qui forment le groupe le plus important des équivalents, mais les quasi-synonymes. En outre, les équivalents appartenant à une autre partie du discours constituent une part importante des équivalents. Ainsi, la typologie élaborée dans cette thèse présente des mécanismes de l’équivalence terminologique peu décrits aussi systématiquement dans les travaux antérieurs. / The research undertaken for this thesis concerns the analysis of terminological equivalence in a parallel corpus and a comparable corpus. More specifically, we focus on specialized texts related to the domain of climate change. A unique aspect of this study is based on the analysis of the equivalents of single word terms. The theoretical frameworks on which we rely are the terminologie textuelle (Bourigault et Slodzian 1999) and the lexico-sémantique approaches (L’Homme 2005). This study has two objectives. The first is to perform a comparative analysis of terminological equivalents in the two types of corpora in order to verify if the equivalents found in the parallel corpus are different from the ones observed in the comparable corpora. The second is to compare in detail equivalents associated with a same English term, in order to describe them and define a typology. A detailed analysis of the French equivalents of 343 English terms is carried out with the help of computer tools (term extractor, text aligner, etc.) and the establishment of a rigorous methodology divided into three parts. The first part, common to both objectives of the research concerns the elaboration of the corpus, the validation of the English terms and the identification of the French equivalents in the two corpora. The second part describes the criteria on which we rely to compare the equivalents of the two types of corpora. The third part sets up the typology of equivalents associated with a same English term. The results for the first objective shows that of the 343 English words analyzed, terms with equivalents that can be criticized in both corpora are relatively low in number (12), while the number of terms with similar equivalences between the two corpora is very high (272 identical and 55 equivalents not objectionable). The analysis described in this chapter confirms our hypothesis that terminology used in parallel corpora does not differ from that used in comparable corpora. The results of the second objective show that many English terms are rendered by several equivalents (70% of analyzed terms). It is also noted that synonyms are not the largest group of equivalents but near-synonyms. Also, equivalents from another part of speech constitute an important part of the equivalents analyzed. Thus, the typology developed in this thesis presents terminological equivalent mechanisms rarely described as systematically in previous work.

Since the end of the Cold War, Sweden’s security strategy has undergone radical changes. Due to recent years deteriorated security situation in Europe, the debate on Swedish NATO-membership has become more prominent. Previous research has mostly focused on the practical/military implications of the choice of security strategy whereas the knowledge about the political ideas and goals that are behind the choice of security strategy is largely unknow. Based on a qualitative approach, this thesis has studied how the Swedish foreign and security policy debate has changed between 1989–2018. Targeting the Social Democratic party, the Moderate Party, the Centre party and the Liberals, this thesis has described and analyzed these parties’ fundamental goals/values and world views from the perspectives of realism and liberalism. This study finds that there has been several changes both in world views and fundamental goals/values, where the earlier period in this study was more influenced by realism, to where liberalism started to become more prominent in the debate from the late 1990s until 2018, although realism has in some degree come back during recent years.

Les mémoires flash sont intégrées dans presque tous les aspects de la vie moderne car leurs uns et zéros représentent les données stockées sur les cartes à puce et dans les capteurs qui nous entourent. Dans les mémoires flash à grille flottante ces données sont représentées par la quantité de charge stockée sur une grille en poly-Si, isolée par un oxyde tunnel et un diélectrique entre grilles (IGD). Au fur et à mesure que les chercheurs et les ingénieurs de l'industrie microélectronique poussent continuellement les limites de mise à l'échelle, la capacité des dispositifs à contenir leurs informations risque de devenir compromise. Même la perte d'un électron par jour est trop élevée et entraînerait l'absence de conservation des données pendant dix ans. Étant trop faibles, les courants de fuite sont impossible à mesurer directement. Cette thèse présente une nouvelle méthode, la séparation du stress aux oxydes (OSS), pour mesurer ces courants en suivant les changements de la tension de seuil de la cellule flash. La nouveauté de la technique est que les conditions de polarisation sont sélectionnées afin que le stress se produise entièrement dans l'IGD, permettant la reconstruction d'une courbe IV de l'IGD à des tensions faibles. Cette thèse décrit également les changements de processus nécessaires pour intégrer la première mémoire flash embarquée de 40 nm basée sur un IGD d'alumine, en remplacement du SiO2/ Si3N4/SiO2 standard. L'intérêt pour les matériaux high-k vient de la motivation de créer un IGD qui est électriquement mince pour augmenter le couplage tout en étant physiquement épais pour bloquer le transport de charge. Comme la flash intégrée au noeud de 40 nm se rapproche de la production, l'approche à prendre dans les nœuds futurs doit également être discutée. Cela fournit la motivation pour le chapitre final de la thèse qui traite de la co-intégration des différents IGD avec des dispositifs logiques ayant les gilles « high-k metal » nécessaires à 28 nm et au-delà. / Flash memory circuits are embedded in almost every aspect of modern life as their ones and zeros represent the data that is stored on smart cards and in the sensors around us. In floating gate flash memories this data is represented by the amount of charge stored on a poly-Si gate, isolated by a tunneling oxide and an Inter Gate Dielectric (IGD). As the microelectronics industry’s researchers and engineering continuously push the scaling limits, the ability of the devices to hold their information may become compromised. Even the loss of one electron per day is too much and would result in the failure to retain the data for ten years. At such low current densities, the direct measurement of the leakage current is impossible. This thesis presents a new way, Oxide Stress Separation, to measure these currents by following the changes in the threshold voltage of the flash cell. The novelty of the technique is that the biasing conditions are selected such that the stress occurs entirely in the IGD, allowing for the reconstruction of an IV curve of the IGD at low biases. This thesis also describes the process changes necessary to integrate the world’s first 40 nm embedded flash based on an alumina IGD, in replacement of the standard SiO2/Si3N4/SiO2. The interest in high-k materials comes from the motivation to make an IGD that is electrically thin to increase coupling while being physically thick to block charge transport. As embedded flash at the 40 nm node nears production, the approach to be taken in future nodes must also be discussed. This provides the motivation for the final chapter of the thesis which discusses the co-integration of the different IGDs with logic devices having the high-k metal gates necessary at 28 nm and beyond.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Jun Li / Nanostructured electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage systems have been shown to improve both rate performance and capacity retention, while allowing considerably longer cycling lifetime. The nano-architectures provide enhanced kinetics by means of larger surface area, higher porosity, better material interconnectivity, shorter diffusion lengths, and overall mechanical stability. Meanwhile, active materials that once were excluded from use due to bulk property issues are now being examined in new nanoarchitecture. Silicon was such a material, desired for its large lithium-ion storage capacity of 4,200 mAh g[superscript]-1 and low redox potential of 0.4 V vs. Li/Li[superscript]+; however, a ~300% volume expansion and increased resistivity upon lithiation limited its broader applications. In the first study, the silicon-coated vertically aligned carbon nanofiber (VACNF) array presents a unique core-shell nanowire (NW) architecture that demonstrates both good capacity and high rate performance. In follow-up, the Si-VACNFs NW electrode demonstrates enhanced power rate capabilities as it shows excellent storage capacity at high rates, attributed to the unique nanoneedle structure that high vacuum sputtering produces on the three-dimensional array. Following silicon’s success, titanium dioxide has been explored as an alternative highrate electrode material by utilizing the dual storage mechanisms of Li+ insertion and pseudocapacitance. The TiO[subscript]2-coated VACNFs shows improved electrochemical activity that delivers near theoretical capacity at larger currents due to shorter Li[superscript]+ diffusion lengths and highly effective electron transport. A unique cell is formed with the Si-coated and TiO[subscript]2-coated electrodes place counter to one another, creating the hybrid of lithium ion battery-pseudocapacitor that demonstrated both high power and high energy densities. The hybrid cell operates like a battery at lower current rates, achieving larger discharge capacity, while retaining one-third of that capacity as the current is raised by 100-fold. This showcases the VACNF arrays as a solid platform capable of assisting lithium active compounds to achieve high capacity at very high rates, comparable to modern supercapacitors. Lastly, manganese oxide is explored to demonstrate the high power rate performance that the VACNF array can provide by creating a supercapacitor that is highly effective in cycling at various high current rates, maintaining high-capacity and good cycling performance for thousands of cycles.