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[pt] Em décadas recentes, renovou-se o interesse no campo da estabilidade estrutural em função das novas aplicações envolvendo estruturas inteligentes e ajustáveis, micro e nano componentes e a mecânica dos metamateriais. Em muito destas estruturas deseja-se um comportamento multiestável, que pode ser obtido por materiais tradicionais ou novos materiais capazes de sofrer grandes deformações elásticas. Neste trabalho o comportamento não linear, estabilidade e vibrações de uma treliça neo-Hookeana que exibe comportamento multiestável é investigada. Neste caso, a teoria de grandes deformações é essencial para modelar as barras da treliça. Muitos trabalhos na literatura investigam a estabilidade de treliças, porém são restritos ao comportamento linear dos materiais. No presente trabalho uma análise paramétrica detalhada de treliças abatidas e não abatidas submetidas à carga estática vertical ou horizontal é realizada, considerando a elasticidade em seu domínio não linear completo para derivar as equações não lineares de equilíbrio e movimento. Imperfeições de carga e geométricas são consideradas. Assim, os caminhos de equilíbrio são obtidos, sua estabilidade é investigada utilizando o princípio da energia potencial mínima, frequências naturais e conceito de bacias de atração. Os resultados demonstram que a presença simultânea da não linearidade do material e geométrica dá origem a novos caminhos de equilíbrio que não são esperados para os materiais elásticos lineares, resultando em várias soluções estáveis e instáveis coexistentes e em uma complexa superfície de energia potencial, esclarecendo a influência do modelo neo-Hookeano nos resultados. Os presentes resultados poderão ajudar no desenvolvimento de novas aplicações na engenharia onde a multiestabilidade é desejada. / [en] Recent decades have seen a renewed interest in the field of structural stability due to new applications involving smart and deployable structures, micro- and nanocomponents and mechanical metamaterials, among others. In many of these structures multistable behaviour is desirable, which can be accomplished by traditional and new materials capable of undergoing large elastic deformations. In this paper the nonlinear behaviour, stability and vibrations of a hyperelastic neo-Hookean truss exhibiting multistable behaviour is investigated. In such case, the large deformation theory is essential to model the truss members. Most papers in the literature dealing with this problem is however restricted to linear material behaviour. In the present work a detailed parametric analysis of shallow and steep trusses under horizontal or vertical loads, considering elasticity in the fully non-linear range is employed to derive the nonlinear equilibrium and motion equations. Then, all equilibrium paths are obtained and their stability is investigated using the minimum energy principle, natural frequencies and the basins of attraction concept. Load and geometric imperfections are considered. The results show that the simultaneous presence of geometric and materials nonlinearities lead to new equilibrium paths which are not expected for linear elastic materials, resulting in several coexisting stable and unstable solutions and a complex potential energy landscape, clarifying the influence of the constitutive hyperelastic model on the results. The present results may help the development of new engineering applications where multistability is wanted.

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We model different nonlinear systems, analyze their nonlinear aspects and discuss their applications. First, we present a semi-analytical, geometrically-exact, unsteady potential flow model is developed for airfoils undergoing large amplitude maneuvers. Towards this objective, the classical unsteady theory of Theodorsen is revisited by relaxing some of the major assumptions such as (1) flat wake, (2) small angle of attack, (3) small disturbances to the mean flow components, and (4) time-invariant free-stream. The kinematics of the wake vortices is simulated numerically while the wake and bound circulation distribution and, consequently, the associated pressure distribution are determined analytically. The steady and unsteady behaviors of the developed model are validated against experimental and computational results. The model is then used to determine the lift frequency response at different mean angles of attack. Second, we investigate the nonlinear characteristics of an autoparametric vibration system. This system consists of a base structure and a cantilever beam with a tip mass. The dynamic equations for the system are derived using the extended Hamilton's principle. The method of multiple scales is then used to analytically determine the stability and bifurcation of the system. The effects of the amplitude and frequency of the external force, the damping coefficient and frequency of the attached cantilever beam and the tip mass on the nonlinear responses of the system are determined. As an application, the concept of energy harvesting based on the autoparametric vibration system consisting of a base structure subjected to the external force and a cantilever beam with a tip mass is evaluated. Piezoelectric sheets are attached to the cantilever beam to convert the vibrations of the base structure into electrical energy. The coupled nonlinear distributed-parameter model is developed and analyzed. The effects of the electrical load resistance on the global frequency and damping ratio of the cantilever beam are analyzed by linearizion of the governing equations and perturbation method. Nonlinear analysis is performed to investigate the impacts of external force and load resistance on the response of the harvester. Finally, the concept of harvesting energy from ambient and galloping vibrations of a bluff body is investigated. A piezoelectric transducer is attached to the transverse degree of freedom of the body in order to convert the vibration energy to electrical power. A coupled nonlinear distributed-parameter model is developed that takes into consideration the galloping force and moment nonlinearities and the base excitation effects. The aerodynamic loads are modeled using the quasi-steady approximation. Linear analysis is performed to determine the effects of the electrical load resistance and wind speed on the global damping and frequency of the harvester as well as on the onset of instability. Then, nonlinear analysis is performed to investigate the impact of the base acceleration, wind speed, and electrical load resistance on the performance of the harvester and the associated nonlinear phenomena. Short- and open-circuit configurations for different wind speeds and base accelerations are assessed. / Ph. D.

En aquest treball s'ha estudiat la dinàmica dels làsers de classe A i de classe B en termes del potencial de Lyapunov. En el cas que s'injecti un senyal al làser o es modulin alguns dels paràmetres, apareix un comportament moltmés complex i s'estudia el conjunt de bifurcacions.1) Als làsers de classe A, la dinàmica determinista s'ha interpretat com el moviment damunt el potencial de Lyapunov. En la dinàmica estocàstica s'obté un flux sostingut per renou per a la fase del camp elèctric.2) Per als làsers de classe A amb senyal injectat, s'ha descrit el conjunt de bifurcacions complet i s'ha determinat el conjunt d'amplituds i freqüències en el quals el làser responajustant la seva freqüència a la del camp extern. 3) S'ha obtingut un potencial de Lyapunov pels làsers de classe B, només vàlid en el cas determinista, que inclou els termes de saturació de guany i d'emissió espontània.4) S'ha realitzat un estudi del conjunt de bifurcacions parcial al voltant del règim tipus II de la singularitat Hopf--sella--node en un làser de classe B amb senyal injectat.5) S'han identificat les respostes òptimes pels làsers de semiconductor sotmesos a modulació periòdica externa. S'han obtingut les corbes que donen la resposta màxima per cada tipus de resonància en el pla definit per l'amplitud relativa de modulació i la freqüència de modulació. / In this work we have studied the dynamics of both class A and class B lasers in terms of Lyapunov potentials. In the case of an injected signal or when some laser parameters are modulated, and more complex behaviour is expected, the bifurcation set is studied. The main results are the following:1) For class A lasers, the deterministic dynamics has been interpreted as a movement on the potential landscape. In the stochastic dynamics we have found a noise sustained flow for the phase of the electric field. 2) For class A lasers with an injected signal, we have been able to describe the whole bifurcation set of this system and to determine the set of amplitudes frequencies for which the laser responds adjusting its frequency to that of the external field. 3) In the case of class B lasers, we have obtained a Lyapunov potential only valid in the deterministic case, including spontaneous emission and gain saturation terms. The fixed point corresponding to the laser in the on state has been interpreted as a minimum in this potential. Relaxation to this minimum is reached through damped oscillations. 4) We have performed a study of the partial bifurcation set around the type II regime of the Hopf-saddle-node singularity in a class B laser with injected signal. 5) We have identified the optimal responses of a semiconductor laser subjected to an external periodic modulation. The lines that give a maximum response for each type of resonance are obtained in the plane defined by the relative amplitude modulation and frequency modulation.

Les neurones sont des cellules excitables capables de coder et transmettre l’information sous forme d’oscillations du potentiel membranaire. Cette activité électrique est produite par une modification des flux ioniques transmembranaires. Les neurones constituent un exemple d’oscillateur cellulaire dont la dynamique non linéaire permet l’apparition d’une activité électrique complexe. Dans ce système, les ions calciques sont des messagers intracellulaires importants. Ils servent de médiateur entre un signal électrique et un signal chimique, par une modulation de l’activité enzymatique de certaines protéines. Ils interviennent dans de nombreuses fonctions neuronales, dont l’excitabilité électrique. Un des mécanismes mis en place par les neurones pour contrôler l’homéostasie du calcium intracellulaire provient de protéines cytoplasmiques capables de lier les ions calciques. Ces protéines jouent un rôle de « tampon » du calcium. Cependant, toutes leurs fonctions n’ont pas encore été mises en évidence. C’est l’objectif de notre travail. Nous avons voulu comprendre le rôle joué par une protéine « tampon » particulière, la calrétinine, sur le mode de décharge électrique d’un neurone où elle est exprimée en abondance, le grain cérébelleux. Pour cela, nous avons utilisé une approche théorique et expérimentale. Au niveau théorique, nous avons élaboré un modèle mathématique de l’activité électrique du grain cérébelleux, prenant en compte la chélation du calcium intracellulaire. Il permet de clarifier le rôle de la chélation du calcium intracellulaire sur les oscillations du potentiel membranaire. La modélisation de l’activité électrique du grain cérébelleux repose sur le formalisme développé par Hodgkin et Huxley pour l’axone géant de calmar. Dans ce contexte, l’application de la conservation de la charge au circuit équivalent de la membrane cellulaire fournit un système d’équations différentielles ordinaires, non linéaires. Dès lors, notre modèle nous a permis d’étudier l’impact des variations de la concentration de chélateur calcique sur les oscillations du potentiel membranaire. Nous avons ainsi pu constater qu’une diminution de la concentration en chélateur calcique induisait une augmentation de l’excitabilité électrique du grain cérébelleux, sans altérer le régime d’oscillations. Par contre, en augmentant fortement la concentration en chélateur calcique, nous avons montré que le grain cérébelleux changeait de dynamique oscillatoire, montrant des transitions d’un mode de décharge périodique régulier vers des oscillations en salve du potentiel membranaire. Au niveau expérimental, nous avons vérifié les résultats prévus par le modèle théorique. Nous avons ainsi montré que des grains de souris transgéniques déficientes en calrétinine présentaient une excitabilité électrique accrue par rapport aux grains contrôles. Puis, en restaurant un niveau de chélation calcique normal dans ces grains, par perfusion intracellulaire de chélateur calcique, nous montrons qu’ils retrouvent un niveau d’excitabilité normal. Ensuite, nous avons introduit dans des grains cérébelleux de souris sauvages, une forte concentration en chélateur calcique exogène. Conformément aux résultats théoriques, nous avons pu observer des transitions vers des oscillations en salve du potentiel membranaire. Enfin, nous avons montré que l’absence de calrétinine affecte les paramètres morphologiques du grain cérébelleux des souris transgéniques déficientes en calrétinine. En conclusion, ces résultats suggèrent que le mode de décharge des cellules excitables peut être modulé d’une façon importante par les protéines liant le calcium. De ce fait, des changements dans le niveau d’expression et/ou dans la localisation subcellulaire des protéines liant le calcium pourraient aussi jouer un rôle critique dans la régulation de processus physiologiques contrôlés par l’excitabilité membranaire. De plus, les mécanismes que nous avons mis en évidence pourraient être à l’origine d’un nouveau principe de régulation de la signalisation dans les circuits neuronaux et pourraient jouer un rôle fonctionnel dans le contrôle du codage de l’information et de son stockage dans le système nerveux central.

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

This thesis firstly presents a nonlinear extended deterministic Susceptible-Infected (SI) model for assessing the impact of public health education campaign on curtailing the spread of the HIV pandemic in a population. Rigorous qualitative analysis of the model reveals that, in contrast to the model without education, the full model with education exhibits the phenomenon of backward bifurcation (BB), where a stable disease-free equilibrium coexists with a stable endemic equilibrium when a certain threshold quantity, known as the effective reproduction number (Reff ), is less than unity. Furthermore, an explicit threshold value is derived above which such an education campaign could lead to detrimental outcome (increase disease burden), and below which it would have positive population-level impact (reduce disease burden in the community). It is shown that the BB phenomenon is caused by imperfect efficacy of the public health education program. The model is used to assess the potential impact of some targeted public health education campaigns using data from numerous countries. The second problem considered is a Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) model with two types of nonlinear treatment rates: (i) piecewise linear treatment rate with saturation effect, (ii) piecewise constant treatment rate with a jump (Heaviside function). For Case (i), we construct travelling front solutions whose profiles are heteroclinic orbits which connect either the disease-free state to an infected state or two endemic states with each other. For Case (ii), it is shown that the profile has the following properties: the number of susceptible individuals is monotone increasing and the number of infectives approaches zero, while their product converges to a constant. Numerical simulations are shown which confirm these analytical results. Abnormal behavior like travelling waves with non-monotone profile or oscillations are observed.

In everyday situations individuals make decisions. For example, a tourist usually chooses a crowded or recommended restaurant to have dinner. Perhaps it is an individual decision, but the observed pattern of decision-making is a collective phenomenon. Collective behaviour emerges from the local interactions that give rise to a complex pattern at the group level. In our example, the recommendations or simple copying the choices of others make a crowded restaurant even more crowded. The rules of interaction between individuals are important to study. Such studies should be complemented by biological experiments. Recent studies of collective phenomena in animal groups help us to understand these rules and develop mathematical models of collective behaviour. The most important communication mechanism is positive feedback between group members, which we observe in our example. In this thesis, we use a generic experimentally validated model of positive feedback to study collective decision-making. The first part of the thesis is based on the modelling of decision-making associated to the selection of feeding sites. This has been extensively studied for ants and slime moulds. The main contribution of our research is to demonstrate how such aspects as "irrationality", speed and quality of decisions can be modelled using differential equations. We study bifurcation phenomena and describe collective patterns above critical values of a bifurcation points in mathematical and biological terms. In the second part, we demonstrate how the primitive unicellular slime mould Physarum Polycephalum provides an easy test-bed for theoretical assumptions and model predictions about decision-making. We study its searching strategies and model decision-making associated to the selection of food options. We also consider the aggregation model to investigate the fractal structure of Physarum Polycephalum plasmodia. / <p>Fel serie i tryckt bok /Wrong series in the printed book</p>

Soit une famille de couples (ft,Xt)t∈J , où J est un intervalle, ft est une fonction lisse à valeurs réelles définie sur une variété lisse et compacte V , et Xt est un pseudo-gradient associé à la fonction ft. L’objet de ce mémoire est l’étude des bifurcations subies par les complexes de Morse associés à ces couples. Deux approches sont utilisées : l’étude directe des bifurcations et l’approche par homotopie. On montre que finalement ces deux approches permettent d’obtenir les mêmes résultats d’un point de vue fonctoriel. / Let (ft,Xt)t∈J be a family of pairs, where J is an interval, ft is a smooth real-valued Morse function defined on a smooth compact manifold V , and Xt is a pseudo-gradient field associated to ft. The purpose of this master thesis is to study the bifurcations undergone by the associated Morse complexes. Two ways are used to reach this result : the direct study of the bifurcations and the continuation method. We prove that the two methods produce the same results from a functorial point of view.