As the robotic industry has matured, the study of animal motion has given rise to many robot designs. Researchers from multiple areas, such as biomechanics, control theory, and machine learning, have spent their energy and efforts making robots more realistic. The intent is that the automatic system can replace real animals and even perform certain tasks in harsh, or even dangerous environments. However, animal motions encompass a wide range of motion that depends on body geometries and various animal behaviors. From human walking to lizards crawling, from dogs running to horses pacing, many studies of motion only focus on one species or a few behaviors. An ever-increasing collection of papers are published that study animal motions for different species and motion regimes, and these are often based on video footage and motion capture data. This is particularly true for human motion research. While there are huge volumes of data acquired from motion capture and video, not many researches as of yet are using dynamical system analysis techniques such as dynamic mode decomposition, extended dynamic mode decomposition, or even Koopman method to understand and compare the motion across different species. Thus, the goal of this thesis is to further develop the methods mentioned above to analyze and characterize animal motion. The algorithms derived should apply regardless the shape of the body or the number of degrees of freedom for the joins. Using strategies from statistical learning theory and Koopman operator theory, several methods are derived and compared. The analysis culminates in a motion approximation, that subsequently could be used in robotic control to emulate an animal motion as much as possible. / Master of Science / As the robotic industry has matured, the study of animal motion has given rise to many robot designs. Researchers from multiple areas, such as biomechanics, control theory, and machine learning, devote their energy and efforts to making the robots more realistic, so that the automatic system can replace real animals and even perform certain tasks in harsher, or even dangerous environment. However, animal motion itself encompasses a wide range of motions that depend on body geometries and various behaviors. From human walking to lizards crawling, from dogs running to horses pacing, many studies of motion only focus on one species or a few behaviors. Many animal motion studies are often based on video footage and motion capture data. This is particularly true for human motion research when researchers are trying to create the gait pattern in medical research. While there are huge volumes of data acquired from motion captures and videos, not many researches as of yet are using dynamical system analysis techniques to understand and compare the motion across different species. Thus, the goal of this thesis is to use dynamical system analysis techniques and further develop the methods to analyze and characterize animal motion. Regardless of the shape of the body or the join types at different locations on the body, strategies from the theories of machine learning and dynamical system analysis are used to derive algorithms which should be applied to all animal motions. Several methods are derived and compared. The analysis culminates in a motion approximation, that subsequently could be used in robotic control to emulate an animal motion as realistic as possible.

Protons with energies ranging from 0.4 to 2.0 MeV were used to measure K-shell vacancy production cross sections (oVK) for N_2, CH_4, C_2H_4, C_2H_6, and CO_2 gas targets under single collision conditions. An electron-ion time-of-flight coincidence technique was used to determind the ration of the K-K electron capture cross section, OECK, to the K-vacancy production cross section, oVK. These ratios were then combined with the measured values of oVK to extract the K-K electron capture cross sections. Measurements were also made for protons of the same energy range but with regard to L-shell vacancy production and L-K electron capture for Ar targets. In addition, K-K electron capture cross sections were measured for 1.0 to 2.0 Mev 42He^_ ions on CH_4.

Dans le cadre de ce travail, nous étudions le financement bancaire des PME en France. Ces dernières ont tendance à s’adresser à plus d’une banque pour leurs financements d’investissements et ce, depuis la fin des années quatre-vingt. Cette multibancarité accrue des PME nous amène à formuler deux interrogations :i) Quels sont les déterminants du choix du nombre de banques des PME? ii) Comment les conditions financières et non financières des contrats de crédits accordés aux PME sont-elles affectées par le choix du nombre de banques ? Pour répondre aux hypothèses théoriques formulées sur ces questions, nous réalisons des tests économétriques portant sur un échantillon de 144 entreprises françaises. Les données utilisées concernent l’année 2009 et proviennent d’une enquête. Ces données sont uniques, récentes, ne sont disponibles dans aucune base de données et sont complétées par des données comptables. Les résultats de l’étude économétrique montrent que le nombre de banques est d’autant plus élevé que le degré d’opacité informationnelle de l’entreprise est faible. Les tests économétriques montrent également qu’il existe un lien positif et significatif entre le nombre de banques et le risque d’exposition au rationnement bancaire. La qualité de l’entreprise semble être un déterminant important du choix du nombre de banques et des conditions de contrat de dettes mais son effet reste ambigu / Our thesis focuses on SMB bank financing in France. This Kind of firms tends to borrow from more than one bank to finance their investments in recent years. The choice of multiple bank relationships by SMB leads us to formulate two questions i) What are the determinants of the choice of number of banks by firms? ii) How the financial and non financial conditions of credit contract are they affected by the choice of the number of banks of SMB? To answer the theoretical assumptions formulated on these issues, we perform econometric tests on a sample of 144 French SMB. The data concern the year 2009 and come from a survey. These data are unique, recent, are not available in any database and completed by accounting data. The results of the econometric study show that the number of banks is even higher than the degree of informational opacity of the firm is low. Econometric tests also show that there is a positive and significant relationship between the number of the banks and the risque of exposure to credit rationing. Firm’s quality seems to be an important determinant of the number of banks and the conditions of credit contract, but its effect remains ambiguous

Résumé : Les méthodes de capture-recapture servent à décrire l’état d’une population et les processus qui en sous-tendent la dynamique, lorsque les méthodes d’observation et de détection de cette population sont imparfaites. En surveillance des maladies infectieuses, elles peuvent simplement être utilisées pour estimer la taille totale de la population infectée par un pathogène et estimer quantitativement la sensibilité du système de surveillance de ce pathogène. Bien qu'exploitées très largement dans le domaine de la santé publique pour répondre à cet objectif, l'utilisation des méthodes de capture-recapture (CR) en surveillance des maladies infectieuses animales peut être considérée comme récente. Parce que le contexte de surveillance des maladies animales est nettement différent de celui de la surveillance des maladies humaines, des questions demeurent quant à l'intérêt et aux limites de ces méthodes pour estimer la sensibilité des systèmes de surveillance des maladies animales. Pour tenter de répondre à ces questions, nous avons identifié quatre systèmes de surveillance différents par leur complexité, leur efficacité et leur maladie d'intérêt : nous avons retenu les systèmes de surveillance de la fièvre aphteuse au Cambodge, de l’influenza aviaire hautement pathogène (IAHP) H5N1 en Egypte, de la tremblante ovine en France et de l’IAHP H5N1 en Thaïlande. Pour chacun de ces systèmes de surveillance, nous avons déterminé le modèle de CR le plus adapté compte tenu des données générées (respectivement le modèle de CR à deux sources, le modèle log-linéaire à 4 sources, le modèle de comptage tronqué en zéro et le modèle de comptage enflé en zéro). Pour chaque application, nous avons donc estimé le nombre total d'unités épidémiologiques non détectées par les systèmes de surveillance considérés ce qui nous a permis d’apprécier la sensibilité de chaque système de surveillance considéré. Il est ressorti de ces applications que les méthodes de capture-recapture sont relativement faciles à conduire et qu’elles permettent à faible coût d’estimer l’importance réelle d’une maladie sur un territoire quand celle-ci est surveillée de manière imparfaite. Il semble cependant que les pratiques de surveillance et de contrôle des maladies animales limitent les applications à l’échelle de l’animal, et nécessitent d’élargir l’unité épidémiologique à une échelle supérieure (troupeau, commune, etc…). Cet élargissement introduit de nouvelles contraintes (notamment l’hétérogénéité d’abondance) qu’il est nécessaire de prendre en compte pour ne pas biaiser les estimations finales. Ce travail propose des perspectives d’application en épidémiologie descriptive, ainsi que des perspectives méthodologiques de recherche en statistique et en modélisation. / Abstract: Capture-recapture methods are generally used to describe populations when observation processes are imperfect. In the context of disease surveillance, they can be used simply for estimating the total size of the populations infected by a given pathogen, and hence, estimating quantitatively the sensitivity of the surveillance of this pathogen. Although they are widely used in public health, capture-recapture methods have been barely applied to the surveillance of animal diseases. Because the context of animal health is quite different from the context of public health, some questions remain concerning the benefits and the limitations of such methods for estimating the sensitivity of surveillance systems in animal health. For answering this research question, we identified four animal disease surveillance systems that differ by their complexity, their efficiency and their disease of interest. We selected the surveillance of foot-and-mouth disease in Cambodia, of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in Egypt and Thailand, and of classical scrapie in France. For each surveillance system, we identified the most appropriate capture-recapture approach (respectively the two-source approach, the three-source approach, the zero-inflated approach and the zero-truncated approach). For each application, we estimated the total number of infected epidemiological units that remained undetected, and accessed an estimation of the sensitivity of each surveillance system. From these applications, we highlighted that these models are relatively easy to implement, and that they allow with little additional income to get an unbiased representation of the disease burden in a population when it is monitored with imperfect surveillance processes. However, it seems that practices used for the monitoring and controlling animal diseases tend to limit the applicability of these methods at the scale of the monitored unit. As a consequence, it is often necessary to enlarge the epidemiological unit (holding, commune, etc…) so that it comprises several monitored units. This enlargement introduces new constraints (abundance induced heterogeneity), that need to be taken into account in order not to bias final estimates. Finally, this work proposes surveillance perspectives for descriptive epidemiology, and methodological perspectives in statistics and modeling as well.

Dispatchable low carbon electricity has been identified as a key requirement for low carbon electricity systems because these systems must provide reliable electricity services to an increasing portion of the world’s population while utilising an increasing share of nondispatchable assets such as renewable and nuclear generators. Fossil fuel generators can provide dispatchable low carbon electricity by leveraging post-combustion carbon capture technologies assuming post-combustion capture (PCC) plants can operate in a flexible and efficient manner. This thesis explores the connection between solvent analysis techniques and the optimal operation of PCC plants with a particular focus on process optimisation and control under flexible and transient conditions. The connection between solvent analysis measurements and PCC plant process control and optimisation strategies is established. An ideal set of analysis technique criteria is established for flexible post-combustion capture plants. Currently available solvent analysis techniques are surveyed and evaluated against the ideal set of criteria. Specific weaknesses of current techniques are highlighted and two novel solvent analysis techniques are introduced to address these weaknesses. The first provides continuous amine concentration and CO2 loading measurements at process flow conditions by inferring solvent chemical composition from physical properties. This method was evaluated by deploying an instrument prototype to a post-combustion pilot plant to continuously analyse solvent during a test campaign which simulated flexible plant operation. The measurement results were compared against industry standard solvent analysis techniques and the inferential technique was found to produce sufficient measurement accuracy and sensitivity while providing a faster, lower cost and more robust measurement technique. The second technique combines the strengths of several currently available CO2 loading techniques to measure CO2 gas evolved from an acidified solvent under vacuum conditions. The technique was found to provide superior measurement accuracy and sensitivity compared to currently available methods when measuring lab standard solutions. The integration of these novel analysis techniques into advanced process control systems is proposed and future method improvements are suggested.

This work considers the value of flexible power provision from natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) power plants operating post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture in low carbon electricity markets. Specifically, the work assesses the value of the flexibility gained by varying CO2 capture levels, thus the specific energy penalty of capture and the resultant power plant net electricity export. The potential value of this flexible operation is quantified under different electricity market scenarios, given the corresponding variations in electricity export and CO2 emissions. A quantified assessment of natural gas-fired power plant integrated with amine-based post-combustion capture and compression is attempted through the development of an Aspen Plus simulation. To enable evaluation of flexible operation, the simulation was developed with the facility to model off-design behaviour in the steam cycle, amine capture unit and CO2 compression train. The simulation is ultimately used to determine relationships between CO2 capture level and the total specific electricity output penalty (EOP) of capture for different plant configurations. Based on this relationship, a novel methodology for maximising net plant income by optimising the operating capture level is proposed and evaluated. This methodology provides an optimisation approach for power plant operators given electricity market stimuli, namely electricity prices, fuel prices, and carbon reduction incentives. The techno-economic implications of capture level optimisation are considered in three different low carbon electricity market case studies; 1) a CO2 price operating in parallel to wholesale electricity selling prices, 2) a proportional subsidy for low carbon electricity considered to be the fraction of plant electrical output equal to the capture level, and 3) a subsidy for low carbon electricity based upon a counterfactual for net plant CO2 emissions (similar to typical approaches for implementing an Emissions Performance Standard). The incentives for variable capture levels are assessed in each market study, with the value of optimum capture level operation quantified for both plant operators and to the wider electricity market. All market case studies indicate that variable capture is likely to increase plant revenue throughout the range of market prices considered. Different market approaches, however, lead to different valuation of flexible power provision and therefore different operating outcomes.

Knowledge transferred during meetings is often ephemeral in nature and thus must be captured if it is to be retained. Ideally, a capture solution should be able to 1) accommodate any number of screens without sacrificing image quality and 2) allow dynamic access to a complete media capture while the capture is taking place. Both students and employees can benefit from the information captured during the lectures and meetings for enhanced discussion and afterward for knowledge retention. Current systems do not support multiple screen capture well, and no system supports dynamic access to the active meeting capture during the meeting. We built a central display server that manages communication to all participants and presenter, manages what is shown on each display, captures all media sent to it and allows playback of that capture on the fly. Static media (images, video, and audio) can be referenced, along with dynamic media (desktop sharing), by any participant's notes in order to initiate and direct playback of the meeting capture – in other words, rewind the presentation. We validated the functionality of our tool by simulating a three screen class lecture where each student performed tasks requiring them to access the capture both during and after the meeting. With basic training, all participants successfully engaged in the rewind interaction and review process.

Flexible carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to play a significant part in the decarbonisation of electricity generation portfolios which have significant penetration from intermittent renewable sources. Post-combustion capture (PCC) with amine solvents is a mature technology and is currently the state-of-the-art for CO2 emissions reduction from power stations. However, knowledge of the dynamic capture process is currently limited due to a dearth of dynamic datasets which reflect real plant operation, lack of a robust in-situ solvent analysis method for plant control and uncertainty about how changing plant design affects the response to dynamic operations. In addition, the nature of interfacial gas-liquid dynamics inside the absorber column are not well known and rely on correlations for effective mass transfer area and liquid holdup which may have uncertainties of up to +/- 13%. This could result in absorption columns being improperly sized for CCS operations. Two pilot-scale test campaigns are implemented in order to gain an understanding of how the capture plant responds to dynamic operations, the first on natural gas combined cycle (NGCC)-equivalent flue gas, the second on pulverised coal (PC)-equivalent. Changes in flue gas flow rates and steam supply which are designed to be representative of PCC operation on real NGCC and PC plant are implemented, using 30%wt monoethanolamine (MEA) as absorbent in both cases. Dynamic datasets are obtained for 5 scenarios with NGCC and 8 with PC flue gas. The test campaigns are carried out using two separate pilot-scale facilities and highlight the effect of plant design on hydrodynamics and hence, the response of the capture plant to dynamic operations. Finally, a novel solvent sensor is used to demonstrate, for the first time, control of the capture facility using in-situ measurements of solvent composition, combined with knowledge of test facility hydrodynamics and response times. Results from the pilot-scale test campaign are then used along with a mathematical NGCC capture plant scale up to investigate the potential effects of dynamic operations on total yearly CO2 emissions and the associated environmental penalties, depending on CO2 price. Manufacturers of column internals for CCS often rely on computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software tools for design, but existing commercial codes are unable to handle complex two-phase flows such as those encountered in the absorber column of a CO2 capture plant. An open-source direct numerical simulation (DNS) tool which will be capable of rigorously modelling two-phase flow with turbulence and mass transfer has been developed and could eventually replace the empirical methods currently used in packing design. The DNS code requires validation by experiment. For the purpose of validation a dual-purpose wetted-wall column is constructed, which in addition to mass transfer measurements can be used to determine liquid film thickness using an optical method. Measurements of average film thickness, wave amplitude, frequency, velocity and growth rate are provided for three liquid flow rates of fresh 30%wt MEA solution. Wave measurements are made with quiescent, laminar and turbulent gas flow, with and without mass transfer. These measurements can be used to validate the DNS code at its existing level of complexity, and in the future when turbulence and mass transfer are added.

Plusieurs études expérimentales et théoriques ont montré la capacité des structures de type zéolites (zeolitic "imidazolate, triazole" frameworks ou ZIFs) à capturer le CO2. Dans cette étude, nous nous intéresserons à l’interaction de CO2 avec une sous entité des ZIFs i.g. les complexes entre l’imidazole et le zinc (Im-Zn+q; q = 0,1,2) ou le triazole sans Zinc. Divers sites d'adsorption ont été examinés..Les calculs électroniques ont été effectués par les programmes GAUSSIAN et MOLPRO. Les optimisations de géométrie sur les petites structures (avec ou sans CO2) ont été réalisées avec les méthodes ab initio MP2, CCSD(T)-F12 et les bases atomiques aug-cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVTZ. Pour comparer les résultats, et assurer la continuité de notre travail, ces structures ont été aussi étudiées à l’aide de la DFT, en utilisant les fonctionnelles PBE, PBE0, M11 et M05-2X avec la base 6-311++G(d,p). La correction de dispersion empirique de Grimme (DFT-D3) est également incluse.Nos résultats montrent que leurs structures stables sont formées à la fois par des liaisons covalentes fortes (liaisons chimiques des ligands organiques) et des liaisons de nature plus faibles (liaisons van der waals, liaison hydrogène). Les deux types sont en compétition. Ceci nous a permis de mieux comprendre les observations expérimentales. / Several experimental and theoretical studies have shown the ability of zeolitic-imidazole frameworks (ZIFs) materials to capture the CO2 gas. In this study, we have focused on the interaction of CO2 with one of the sub-unit of ZIFs ie the complex between the imidazole and zinc (Im-Zn+q, q = 0 ,1, 2) or triazole without zinc. Various adsorption sites are examined for these complexes.The calculations were performed using ab initio methods MP2; CCSD(T)-F12 and density functional theory with PBE PBE0, M1 and M05-2X functionals with different basis set (aug-cc-pVDZ, aug-cc-pVTZ and 6-311++G(d, p), tightly integrated in GAUSSIAN and MOLPRO packages. The Grimme corrections for dispersion forces description (DFT-D3) are also included.Our results shows that the stability of our complex structures is achieved by the presence of strong covalent bonds (chemical bonds of organic ligands) and also by Van der Waals and hydrogen weak bonds. Both types of bonding are in competition. This allowed us to better understand the experimental observations.

Ce travail porte sur la neutralization résonnante d’ions Li+ sur des métaux et agrégatsmétalliques supportés. La neutralization sur Pd(100) a été étudié, pour différentsparamètres. La neutralisation s’avère très efficace sur cette surface avec un travail desortie grand et est en contradiction avec ce qu’on attend dans le cadre des modèlestraditionnels. Il est proposé qu’une description du processus RCT modifié, issued’études précédentes sur des métaux nobles, doit être utilisé. Dans celle ci desprocessus de neutralisation survenant à des distances atome- surface faible ont lieu etaussi un comportement adiabatique du système aux faible énergies de collisions mèneà une neutralization efficace.Les résultats de l’étude des processus de transfert d’électrons lors de l’interactiond’ions de Li+ avec des agrégats d’or supporté sur HOPG avec Al2O3 sont présentés etdiscuté. L’imagerie STM pour les agrégats d’or supporté sur un substrat HOPG viergeet aussi un substrat de HOPG bombardé par des ions de AR sont présentés. Lesobservations révèlent que agrégats d’or forment préférentiellement des chaines 1D lelong des marches sur HOPG vierge. Dans le cas de HOPG bombardé, la taille et lahauteur des agrégats sont dépendants des défauts de surface.Nous avons trouvé que la neutralisation est très efficace sur les petits agrégats et engénéral est beaucoup plus grande que sur des surfaces de cristaux d'or. Nous montronsdes effets liés à la nature du substrat, comme dans le cas de l’alumine ou le cas desdifférences observées sur des chaines d’agrégats sur HOPG vierge et les agrégatsformés sur des défauts / The present work investigates the neutralization of Li+ ions on metals and supportedmetal clusters. Neutralization on a transition metal surface Pd (100) for differentparameters was studied. Highly efficient neutralization on this surface with a highwork functions was observed and contradicts our traditional views on resonant chargetransfer (RCT) mechanism. A modified RCT picture involving new neutralizationprocesses occurring at a short atom-surface distance and an adiabatic behaviourleading to efficient neutralization at large distances, that has emerged from previousstudies on noble metal surfaces appears in qualitative agreement with our data.The experimental results on the dependence of the Li neutralization on the Auclusters supported on different substrates are reported and discussed. As acomplement to this, a STM study into the morphology of Au nanoparticles on apristine HOPG substrate as well as Ar+ ions sputtered HOPG substrate has beenperformed. The observations reveal that Au clusters preferentially form onedimensional chains along steps on pristine HOPG. In the case of Ar+ ions sputteredHOPG substrate, the size and height of cluster are dependent on surface defects.We found that neutralization is very efficient on small clusters and in general muchlarger than on surfaces of gold crystals. We demonstrate existence of strongdifferences as a function of cluster support type as in case of alumina supports orcluster chains on HOPG and clusters on defects on HOPG terraces.