To cope with the increasing demand of a more sustainable mobility, the main Original Equipment Manufacturers are producing vehicles equipped with hybrid propulsion systems that increase the overall vehicle efficiency and mitigate the emission problem at a local level. The newly gained degrees of freedom of the hybrid powertrain need to be handled by advanced energy management techniques that allow to fully exploit the system capabilities. In this thesis we propose an optimal control approach to the solution of the energy management problem, putting emphasis on the importance of accurate models for the reliability of the optimization solution. In the first part of the thesis we address the energy management problem for a hybrid electric vehicle, including the mitigation of the battery aging mechanisms. We show that, with an optimal management strategy, we could extend the battery life up to 25% for some driving cycles while keeping the fuel savings performance substantially unaltered. In the second part of the thesis we focus on the hydrostatic hybrid transmission, a different hybridization solution that is able to fulfill the high power demand of heavy duty off-highway vehicles. Also in this case, we formulate the energy management problem as an optimal control problem, dealing with the complexity introduced by the discrete valve actuations in the framework of mixed-integer optimal control. We show that, using hydraulic accumulators to recover energy from the regenerative braking, we could reduce fuel consumption up to 13% for a typical driving cycle. In the third and last part of the thesis we show how the optimization approach can be used to systematically design and calibrate control algorithms, casting the calibration problem into a Linear Matrix Inequality. We first develop a non-overshooting closed-loop control for the actuation pressure of a wet clutch, proving the effectiveness of the control on an experimental setup. Finally, we focus on the design of a dead-zone based kinematic observer for the estimation of the lateral velocity of a road vehicle. The structure of the observer presents good noise rejection performance, allowing for the selection of a higher observer gain that improves the estimation accuracy.

Questa tesi si propone di dimostrare, tramite il metodo storico-comparativo, la degradazione delia clausola penale quale strumento di rafforzamento delie obbligazioni contrattuali neli 'ambito dei contratti paritari. Ancestral e de lia clausola penal e, la stipulatio poenae dei diritto romano aveva il proposito fondamentale di rafforzare l'adempimento di una obbligazione. Nei corso dei tempo perô tale scopo e stato relativizzato, come si deduce dalia comparazione tra il sistema di common law- che vieta la clausola penal e - e quello di tradizione civilistica - che I' ammette. Attualmente, nei paesi della cosiddetta famiglia di diritto romano-germanico i1 cambiamento di paradigma dalio Stato Liberale alio Stato Sociale ha prodotto varie conseguenze in materia di Diritto Privato, tra le quali il superamento deli 'intangibilità delie convenzioni private. AI giudice viene attribuito il potere-dovere di restaurare, in base ali' equità, I' equilíbrio economico dei contratto e di conformado ai principi di buona fede e della funzione sociale. Con questa visione e che l'intervento giudiziale opera nel c&upo delle pene convenzionali per ridurre la penale manifestamente eccessiva ri guardo ali' obbligazione da quella rafforzata. Emerge anche dali e regole dei Codici Civili italiano e brasiliano che se il danno da inadempimento o da adempimento inesatto dell 'obbligazione supera 1 'ammontare stabilito nelia clausoia penal e, il creditore potrà esigere il risarcimento dei danno eccedente soltanto in presenza di un' espresso patto in questo senso. Evidenziasi, dunque, la degradazione della finalità di rafforzamento propria delia clausoia penale e, inoltre, ii trattamento disuguale alie parti contraenti uguali. Innanzitutto perche non esiste previsione normativa che consenta 1 'aumento della clausoia penal e irrisoria; poi, in virtu de lia possibilità che la clausola penaie operi come clausola di limitazione dei dovere di risarcimento. Nelia comice delie suddette discipline italiana e brasiliana, l'intervento giudiziaie nei domini de li' autonomia privata e ammesso unicamente in beneficio dei debitore, in contrasto con il regime deli'istituto in Francia e in Germania. / Esta tese se propõe a demonstrar, através do método histórico-comparativo, a degradação da cláusula penal enquanto instrumento de reforço das obrigações contratuais, no âmbito dos contratos paritários. Ancestral da cláusula penal, a stipulatio poenae do direito romano tinha por propósito fundamental reforçar o adimplemento de uma obrigação. Com o decurso do tempo, porém, tal escopo foi relativizado, como se depreende da comparação entre os sistemas de common law- que veda a cláusula penal- e de tradição civilista- que a admite. Atualmente, nos países da denominada família romano-germânica, a mudança de paradigma do Estado Liberal para o Estado Social produziu diversas consequências no Direito Privado, entre elas a superação da intangibilidade das convenções privadas. Ao juiz é atribuído o poder-dever de restaurar, com base em equidade, o equilíbrio econômico do contrato e conformá-lo aos princípios da boa-fé e da função social. Com esta visão é que a intervenção judicial tem operado no campo das penas convencionais para reduzir o montante da pena manifestamente excessiva em relação à obrigação por ela reforçada. Verifica-se também, a teor de regras dos Códigos Civis italiano e brasileiro, que se o prejuízo causado pelo inadimplemento ou adimplemento inexato da obrigação superar o valor estipulado na cláusula penal, o credor só poderá exigir indenização pelo dano excedente se houver pacto expresso neste sentido. Evidencia-se, portanto, a degradação da finalidade de reforço ínsita à cláusula penal e o tratamento desigual para partes contratantes iguais. Primeiro porque não há previsão de aumento da cláusula penal irrisória; e, segundo, em virtude da possibilidade de a cláusula penal operar como cláusula de limitação do dever de indenizar. Nos moldes das referidas disciplinas italiana e brasileira a intervenção judicial nos domínios da autonomia privada é admitida somente em benefício do devedor, contrastando com o regime do instituto na França e na Alemanha. / The present thesis aims to demonstrate, through the historical-comparative method, the degradation of penalty ciauses as an instrument to reinforce contractual obligations, in the field of paritary contracts. Ancestor to the penalty clause, the roman's law stipulatio poenae had the fundamental purpose ofreinforcing the execution of an obligation. Notwhitstanding as time gone by this scope has been relativisided, as one can deduce through comparison o f the systems of common law - wich forbid penalty clause- and those o f civilian tradition- that enables it. Presently, in the extent of the countries of the so called romanistic-germanic family, the change of the liberal State paradigm to the social State has produced several consequences in the Private Law, among them the superation of intangibility of the private conventions. To the judge is ensured the power-duty of restauring, based on equity, the contract economic balance and shape it to the principies of objective good faith and social function. Such approach has been guiding the judicial intervention in the field of conventional penalties in order to reduce the amount of the penalty unreasonable excessive refering the reinforced obligation. Also is observed trhough the rules of the italian and brazilian Civil Codes that if the damage caused by non-execution or inexact execution of the obligation comes to superate the amount stipulated on the penalty clause, the creditor will be authorized only to demand the indemnity for the excessive damage in case o f existing express agreement in this sense. It is evident therefore, the degradation of the inferred reinforcing purpose of penalty clauses and also the unequal treatment for equal contracting parts. Firstly, because there is not a legal forecast to increase a penalty clause o f insignificant amount; and, secondly, due the possibility o f the penalty clause acts as a limitation clause o f indemnity obligation. As the models of referred italian and brazilian disciplines are concemed, the judicial intervention in the domain o f the private autonomy is only allowed in benefit of the debtor, contrasting to the regime ofthis instituí in France and Germany.

Questa tesi si propone di dimostrare, tramite il metodo storico-comparativo, la degradazione delia clausola penale quale strumento di rafforzamento delie obbligazioni contrattuali neli 'ambito dei contratti paritari. Ancestral e de lia clausola penal e, la stipulatio poenae dei diritto romano aveva il proposito fondamentale di rafforzare l'adempimento di una obbligazione. Nei corso dei tempo perô tale scopo e stato relativizzato, come si deduce dalia comparazione tra il sistema di common law- che vieta la clausola penal e - e quello di tradizione civilistica - che I' ammette. Attualmente, nei paesi della cosiddetta famiglia di diritto romano-germanico i1 cambiamento di paradigma dalio Stato Liberale alio Stato Sociale ha prodotto varie conseguenze in materia di Diritto Privato, tra le quali il superamento deli 'intangibilità delie convenzioni private. AI giudice viene attribuito il potere-dovere di restaurare, in base ali' equità, I' equilíbrio economico dei contratto e di conformado ai principi di buona fede e della funzione sociale. Con questa visione e che l'intervento giudiziale opera nel c&upo delle pene convenzionali per ridurre la penale manifestamente eccessiva ri guardo ali' obbligazione da quella rafforzata. Emerge anche dali e regole dei Codici Civili italiano e brasiliano che se il danno da inadempimento o da adempimento inesatto dell 'obbligazione supera 1 'ammontare stabilito nelia clausoia penal e, il creditore potrà esigere il risarcimento dei danno eccedente soltanto in presenza di un' espresso patto in questo senso. Evidenziasi, dunque, la degradazione della finalità di rafforzamento propria delia clausoia penale e, inoltre, ii trattamento disuguale alie parti contraenti uguali. Innanzitutto perche non esiste previsione normativa che consenta 1 'aumento della clausoia penal e irrisoria; poi, in virtu de lia possibilità che la clausola penaie operi come clausola di limitazione dei dovere di risarcimento. Nelia comice delie suddette discipline italiana e brasiliana, l'intervento giudiziaie nei domini de li' autonomia privata e ammesso unicamente in beneficio dei debitore, in contrasto con il regime deli'istituto in Francia e in Germania. / Esta tese se propõe a demonstrar, através do método histórico-comparativo, a degradação da cláusula penal enquanto instrumento de reforço das obrigações contratuais, no âmbito dos contratos paritários. Ancestral da cláusula penal, a stipulatio poenae do direito romano tinha por propósito fundamental reforçar o adimplemento de uma obrigação. Com o decurso do tempo, porém, tal escopo foi relativizado, como se depreende da comparação entre os sistemas de common law- que veda a cláusula penal- e de tradição civilista- que a admite. Atualmente, nos países da denominada família romano-germânica, a mudança de paradigma do Estado Liberal para o Estado Social produziu diversas consequências no Direito Privado, entre elas a superação da intangibilidade das convenções privadas. Ao juiz é atribuído o poder-dever de restaurar, com base em equidade, o equilíbrio econômico do contrato e conformá-lo aos princípios da boa-fé e da função social. Com esta visão é que a intervenção judicial tem operado no campo das penas convencionais para reduzir o montante da pena manifestamente excessiva em relação à obrigação por ela reforçada. Verifica-se também, a teor de regras dos Códigos Civis italiano e brasileiro, que se o prejuízo causado pelo inadimplemento ou adimplemento inexato da obrigação superar o valor estipulado na cláusula penal, o credor só poderá exigir indenização pelo dano excedente se houver pacto expresso neste sentido. Evidencia-se, portanto, a degradação da finalidade de reforço ínsita à cláusula penal e o tratamento desigual para partes contratantes iguais. Primeiro porque não há previsão de aumento da cláusula penal irrisória; e, segundo, em virtude da possibilidade de a cláusula penal operar como cláusula de limitação do dever de indenizar. Nos moldes das referidas disciplinas italiana e brasileira a intervenção judicial nos domínios da autonomia privada é admitida somente em benefício do devedor, contrastando com o regime do instituto na França e na Alemanha. / The present thesis aims to demonstrate, through the historical-comparative method, the degradation of penalty ciauses as an instrument to reinforce contractual obligations, in the field of paritary contracts. Ancestor to the penalty clause, the roman's law stipulatio poenae had the fundamental purpose ofreinforcing the execution of an obligation. Notwhitstanding as time gone by this scope has been relativisided, as one can deduce through comparison o f the systems of common law - wich forbid penalty clause- and those o f civilian tradition- that enables it. Presently, in the extent of the countries of the so called romanistic-germanic family, the change of the liberal State paradigm to the social State has produced several consequences in the Private Law, among them the superation of intangibility of the private conventions. To the judge is ensured the power-duty of restauring, based on equity, the contract economic balance and shape it to the principies of objective good faith and social function. Such approach has been guiding the judicial intervention in the field of conventional penalties in order to reduce the amount of the penalty unreasonable excessive refering the reinforced obligation. Also is observed trhough the rules of the italian and brazilian Civil Codes that if the damage caused by non-execution or inexact execution of the obligation comes to superate the amount stipulated on the penalty clause, the creditor will be authorized only to demand the indemnity for the excessive damage in case o f existing express agreement in this sense. It is evident therefore, the degradation of the inferred reinforcing purpose of penalty clauses and also the unequal treatment for equal contracting parts. Firstly, because there is not a legal forecast to increase a penalty clause o f insignificant amount; and, secondly, due the possibility o f the penalty clause acts as a limitation clause o f indemnity obligation. As the models of referred italian and brazilian disciplines are concemed, the judicial intervention in the domain o f the private autonomy is only allowed in benefit of the debtor, contrasting to the regime ofthis instituí in France and Germany.

Questa tesi si propone di dimostrare, tramite il metodo storico-comparativo, la degradazione delia clausola penale quale strumento di rafforzamento delie obbligazioni contrattuali neli 'ambito dei contratti paritari. Ancestral e de lia clausola penal e, la stipulatio poenae dei diritto romano aveva il proposito fondamentale di rafforzare l'adempimento di una obbligazione. Nei corso dei tempo perô tale scopo e stato relativizzato, come si deduce dalia comparazione tra il sistema di common law- che vieta la clausola penal e - e quello di tradizione civilistica - che I' ammette. Attualmente, nei paesi della cosiddetta famiglia di diritto romano-germanico i1 cambiamento di paradigma dalio Stato Liberale alio Stato Sociale ha prodotto varie conseguenze in materia di Diritto Privato, tra le quali il superamento deli 'intangibilità delie convenzioni private. AI giudice viene attribuito il potere-dovere di restaurare, in base ali' equità, I' equilíbrio economico dei contratto e di conformado ai principi di buona fede e della funzione sociale. Con questa visione e che l'intervento giudiziale opera nel c&upo delle pene convenzionali per ridurre la penale manifestamente eccessiva ri guardo ali' obbligazione da quella rafforzata. Emerge anche dali e regole dei Codici Civili italiano e brasiliano che se il danno da inadempimento o da adempimento inesatto dell 'obbligazione supera 1 'ammontare stabilito nelia clausoia penal e, il creditore potrà esigere il risarcimento dei danno eccedente soltanto in presenza di un' espresso patto in questo senso. Evidenziasi, dunque, la degradazione della finalità di rafforzamento propria delia clausoia penale e, inoltre, ii trattamento disuguale alie parti contraenti uguali. Innanzitutto perche non esiste previsione normativa che consenta 1 'aumento della clausoia penal e irrisoria; poi, in virtu de lia possibilità che la clausola penaie operi come clausola di limitazione dei dovere di risarcimento. Nelia comice delie suddette discipline italiana e brasiliana, l'intervento giudiziaie nei domini de li' autonomia privata e ammesso unicamente in beneficio dei debitore, in contrasto con il regime deli'istituto in Francia e in Germania. / Esta tese se propõe a demonstrar, através do método histórico-comparativo, a degradação da cláusula penal enquanto instrumento de reforço das obrigações contratuais, no âmbito dos contratos paritários. Ancestral da cláusula penal, a stipulatio poenae do direito romano tinha por propósito fundamental reforçar o adimplemento de uma obrigação. Com o decurso do tempo, porém, tal escopo foi relativizado, como se depreende da comparação entre os sistemas de common law- que veda a cláusula penal- e de tradição civilista- que a admite. Atualmente, nos países da denominada família romano-germânica, a mudança de paradigma do Estado Liberal para o Estado Social produziu diversas consequências no Direito Privado, entre elas a superação da intangibilidade das convenções privadas. Ao juiz é atribuído o poder-dever de restaurar, com base em equidade, o equilíbrio econômico do contrato e conformá-lo aos princípios da boa-fé e da função social. Com esta visão é que a intervenção judicial tem operado no campo das penas convencionais para reduzir o montante da pena manifestamente excessiva em relação à obrigação por ela reforçada. Verifica-se também, a teor de regras dos Códigos Civis italiano e brasileiro, que se o prejuízo causado pelo inadimplemento ou adimplemento inexato da obrigação superar o valor estipulado na cláusula penal, o credor só poderá exigir indenização pelo dano excedente se houver pacto expresso neste sentido. Evidencia-se, portanto, a degradação da finalidade de reforço ínsita à cláusula penal e o tratamento desigual para partes contratantes iguais. Primeiro porque não há previsão de aumento da cláusula penal irrisória; e, segundo, em virtude da possibilidade de a cláusula penal operar como cláusula de limitação do dever de indenizar. Nos moldes das referidas disciplinas italiana e brasileira a intervenção judicial nos domínios da autonomia privada é admitida somente em benefício do devedor, contrastando com o regime do instituto na França e na Alemanha. / The present thesis aims to demonstrate, through the historical-comparative method, the degradation of penalty ciauses as an instrument to reinforce contractual obligations, in the field of paritary contracts. Ancestor to the penalty clause, the roman's law stipulatio poenae had the fundamental purpose ofreinforcing the execution of an obligation. Notwhitstanding as time gone by this scope has been relativisided, as one can deduce through comparison o f the systems of common law - wich forbid penalty clause- and those o f civilian tradition- that enables it. Presently, in the extent of the countries of the so called romanistic-germanic family, the change of the liberal State paradigm to the social State has produced several consequences in the Private Law, among them the superation of intangibility of the private conventions. To the judge is ensured the power-duty of restauring, based on equity, the contract economic balance and shape it to the principies of objective good faith and social function. Such approach has been guiding the judicial intervention in the field of conventional penalties in order to reduce the amount of the penalty unreasonable excessive refering the reinforced obligation. Also is observed trhough the rules of the italian and brazilian Civil Codes that if the damage caused by non-execution or inexact execution of the obligation comes to superate the amount stipulated on the penalty clause, the creditor will be authorized only to demand the indemnity for the excessive damage in case o f existing express agreement in this sense. It is evident therefore, the degradation of the inferred reinforcing purpose of penalty clauses and also the unequal treatment for equal contracting parts. Firstly, because there is not a legal forecast to increase a penalty clause o f insignificant amount; and, secondly, due the possibility o f the penalty clause acts as a limitation clause o f indemnity obligation. As the models of referred italian and brazilian disciplines are concemed, the judicial intervention in the domain o f the private autonomy is only allowed in benefit of the debtor, contrasting to the regime ofthis instituí in France and Germany.

Porous carbons are promising anode materials for next generation lithium batteries due to their large lithium storage capacities. However, their highsloping capacity during lithiation and delithiation as well as capacity fading due to intense formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) limit their gravimetric and volumetric energy densities. Herein we compare a microporous carbide derived carbon material (MPC) as promising future anode for all solid state batteries with a commercial high performance hard carbon anode. The MPC obtains high and reversible lithiation capacities of 1000 mAh g 1 carbon in half cells exhibiting an extended plateau region near 0 V vs. Li/Liþ preferable for full cell application. The well defined microporosity of the MPC with a specific surface area of >1500 m2 g 1 combines well with the argyrodite type electrolyte (Li6PS5Cl) suppressing extensive SEI formation to deliver high coulombic efficiencies. Preliminary full cell measurements vs. nickel rich NMC cathodes (LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2) provide a considerably improved average potential of 3.76 V leading to a projected energy density as high as 449 Wh kg 1 and reversible cycling for more than 60 cycles. 7Li Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy was combined with ex situ Small Angle X ray Scattering to elucidate the storage mechanism of lithium inside the carbon matrix. The formation of extended quasi metallic lithium clusters after electrochemical lithiation was revealed.

Future robotic systems will be pervasive technologies operating autonomously in unknown spaces that are shared with humans. Such complex interactions make it compulsory for them to be lightweight, soft, and efficient in a way to guarantee safety, robustness and long-term operation. This set of qualities can be achieved using soft multipurpose systems that combine, integrate and commute between conventional electromechanical and fluidic drives, as well as harvest energy during inactive actuation phases for increased energy efficiency. Recent research work has shown that dielectric fluids with specific properties, can be combined with stretchable or flexible shell structures made of polymeric dielectric/electrode composite films, to implement a novel type of soft electrically-driven fluidic transducers with self-healing and self-sensing capabilities that take the name of Liquid-based Electro-Active Polymer transducers (LEAPs). These devices are similar to dielectric elastomer transducers in regards to their electrostatic working principle, but they can potentially produce larger displacements due to their lower mechanical stiffness. In this thesis a novel electrostatic transducer is presented; the transducer is made of thin polymer films and liquid dielectrics, combined with rigid stiffening elements to form a circular electrostatic bellow muscle (EBM) unit capable of out-of-plane contraction. These units are easy to manufacture and can be arranged in arrays and stacks that can be employed as contractile artificial muscles, pumps for fluid-driven soft robots, or as energy harvesters. As artificial muscles, EBMs of 20 - 40 millimeters in diameter can exert forces of up to 6 newtons, lift loads over a hundred times their own weight, and reach contractions of over 40 per cent with strain rates over 1200 per cents per second, with a bandwidth over 10 Hz. As pump drivers, EBMs produce flow rates of up 0.63 liters per minute and maximum pressure head of 6 kilopascals, whereas as generators, they reach a conversion efficiency close to 20 per cent. The compact shape, low cost, simple assembling procedure, high reliability and large contractions make the EBM a promising technology for high-performance robotic systems.

Der Begriff Infrastruktur und die mit ihm beschriebenen materiellen, sozialen und kommunikativen Bedingungen des Zusammenlebens sind seit den 2000er Jahren verstärkt von verschiedenen Wissenschaften kritisch untersucht und seit kurzem auch zum Gegenstand künstlerisch-kuratorischer Arbeiten geworden. Die Veränderungen von und Verschiebungen in Infra-Strukturen - sichtbare und unsichtbare, von der globalisierten Ökonomie gesteuerte oder von unten, aus lokalen Communities betriebene - wurden in Fallstudien und strukturellen Analysen herausgearbeitet. Der Beitrag folgt dem Diskurs in den Bereichen Sozialwissenschaften/Anthropologie, Medienwissenschaften sowie Kunstwissenschaften/curatorial studies und untersucht die dort fokussierten Aspekte auf ihre Relevanz für ein aktualisiertes Verständnis von kultureller Infrastruktur. Auch hier: nicht verstanden als allein staatlich etablierte, geförderte und damit auch kontrollierte Infrastruktur, sondern um die Infra-Strukturen einer vielfältigen Praxis von unten, deren Bewegungen und daraus resultierenden neuen Formen des Institution-Werdens ergänzt.

Recent advancements in time-optimal trajectory planning, control, and state estimation for autonomous vehicles have paved the way for the emerging field of autonomous racing. In the last 5-10 years, this form of racing has become a popular and challenging testbed for autonomous driving algorithms, aiming to enhance the safety and performance of future intelligent vehicles. In autonomous racing, the main goal is to develop real-time algorithms capable of autonomously maneuvering a vehicle around a racetrack, even in the presence of moving opponents. However, as a vehicle approaches its handling limits, several challenges arise for online trajectory planning and control. The vehicle dynamics become nonlinear and hard to capture with low-complexity models, while fast re-planning and good generalization capabilities are crucial to execute optimal maneuvers in unforeseen scenarios. These challenges leave several open research questions, three of which will be addressed in this thesis. The first explores developing accurate yet computationally efficient vehicle models for online time-optimal trajectory planning. The second focuses on enhancing learning-based methods for trajectory planning, control, and state estimation, overcoming issues like poor generalization and the need for large amounts of training data. The third investigates the optimality of online-executed trajectories with simplified vehicle models, compared to offline solutions of minimum-lap-time optimal control problems using high-fidelity vehicle models. This thesis consists of four parts, each of which addresses one or more of the aforementioned research questions, in the fields of time-optimal vehicle trajectory planning, control and state estimation. The first part of the thesis presents a novel artificial race driver (ARD), which autonomously learns to drive a vehicle around an obstacle-free circuit, performing online time-optimal vehicle trajectory planning and control. The following research questions are addressed in this part: How optimal is the trajectory executed online by an artificial agent that drives a high-fidelity vehicle model, in comparison with a minimum-lap-time optimal control problem (MLT-OCP), based on the same vehicle model and solved offline? Can the artificial agent generalize to circuits and conditions not seen during training? ARD employs an original neural network with a physics-driven internal structure (PhS-NN) for steering control, and a novel kineto-dynamical vehicle model for time-optimal trajectory planning. A new learning scheme enables ARD to progressively learn the nonlinear dynamics of an unknown vehicle. When tested on a high-fidelity model of a high-performance car, ARD achieves very similar results as an MLT-OCP, based on the same vehicle model and solved offline. When tested on a 1:8 vehicle prototype, ARD achieves similar lap times as an offline optimization problem. Thanks to its physics-driven architecture, ARD generalizes well to unseen circuits and scenarios, and is robust to unmodeled changes in the vehicle’s mass. The second part of the thesis deals with online time-optimal trajectory planning for dynamic obstacle avoidance. The research questions addressed in this part are: Can time-optimal trajectory planning for dynamic obstacle avoidance be performed online and with low computational times? How optimal is the resulting trajectory? Can the planner generalize to unseen circuits and scenarios? At each planning step, the proposed approach builds a tree of time-optimal motion primitives, by performing a sampling-based exploration in a local mesh of waypoints. The novel planner is validated in challenging scenarios with multiple dynamic opponents, and is shown to be computationally efficient, to return near-time-optimal trajectories, and to generalize well to new circuits and scenarios. The third part of the thesis shows an application of time-optimal trajectory planning with optimal control and PhS-NNs in the context of autonomous parking. The research questions addressed in this part are: Can an autonomous parking framework perform fast online trajectory planning and tracking in real-life parking scenarios, such as parallel, reverse and angle parking spots, and unstructured environments? Can the framework generalize to unknown variations in the vehicle’s parameters and road adherence, and operate with measurement noise? The autonomous parking framework employs a novel penalty function for collision avoidance with optimal control, a new warm-start strategy and an original PhS-NN for steering control. The framework executes complex maneuvers in a wide range of parking scenarios, and is validated with a high-fidelity vehicle model. The framework is shown to be robust to variations in the vehicle’s mass and road adherence, and to operate with realistic measurement noise. The fourth and last part of the thesis develops novel kinematics-structured neural networks (KS-NNs) to estimate the vehicle’s lateral velocity, which is a key quantity for time-optimal trajectory planning and control. The KS-NNs are a special type of PhS-NNs: their internal structure is designed to incorporate the kinematic principles, which enhances the generalization capabilities and physical explainability. The research questions addressed in this part are: Can a neural network-based lateral velocity estimator generalize well when tested on a vehicle not used for training? Can the network’s parameters be physically explainable? The approach is validated using an open dataset with two race cars. In comparison with traditional and neural network estimators of the literature, the KS-NNs improve noise rejection, exhibit better generalization capacity, are more sample-efficient, and their structure is physically explainable.

The tax system in South Africa makes provision for every South African citizen to contribute to a greater or lesser extent to funding the National Health Insurance (NHI), either through VAT or PAYE. However, as a result of the high unemployment rate, a large gap exists between tax and non-tax contributors. The question can now be asked whether it is fair that just a small percentage of taxpayers are responsible for the total funding of the NHI. Furthermore, it could be asked whether the taxpayer is aware of the additional tax burden the NHI will impose on him/her. The purpose of this research was to investigate three countries, namely, Brazil, Spain and Germany, where some form of NHI is in operation, in order to find a possible appropriate funding model for South Africa's NHI and, ultimately, to make conclusions and recommendations based on the outcomes. It was subsequently found that, although the taxpayer should be more heavily taxed in order to fund the NHI, there are a few other possibilities for distributing the tax burden more evenly. However, the impact of the proposed adjustment to increase VAT could have a negative impact on the non-taxpayer and might contribute to greater poverty in South Africa. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The tax system in South Africa makes provision for every South African citizen to contribute to a greater or lesser extent to funding the National Health Insurance (NHI), either through VAT or PAYE. However, as a result of the high unemployment rate, a large gap exists between tax and non-tax contributors. The question can now be asked whether it is fair that just a small percentage of taxpayers are responsible for the total funding of the NHI. Furthermore, it could be asked whether the taxpayer is aware of the additional tax burden the NHI will impose on him/her. The purpose of this research was to investigate three countries, namely, Brazil, Spain and Germany, where some form of NHI is in operation, in order to find a possible appropriate funding model for South Africa's NHI and, ultimately, to make conclusions and recommendations based on the outcomes. It was subsequently found that, although the taxpayer should be more heavily taxed in order to fund the NHI, there are a few other possibilities for distributing the tax burden more evenly. However, the impact of the proposed adjustment to increase VAT could have a negative impact on the non-taxpayer and might contribute to greater poverty in South Africa. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014