Signal Replacement decisions are often made based on the experience of the Traffic Engineers. These decisions are made while considering the deployment time of the system, the new technology available, and the performance of the system in the given location. However, there is no set of proper guidelines or methods which can quantify the system replacement decision in large scale projects. This thesis presents a methodology that can be applied to determine optimal migration plans for traffic signal controllers. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making technique has been adopted to evaluate various traffic signal controllers. Various controller manuals were studied and information was obtained from the vendors of the controllers. In addition to that, Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used as a tool to evaluate and identify the areas where the traffic signal controllers have to be replaced first. The study considers the budget constraints and the benefits that can be obtained by the replacement of the controllers. This thesis presents the Methodology adopted for the Migration Plan and a case study implementation on the Northern Virginia Region. Finally it presents the conclusions drawn from the research with insights into the scope for further research. / Master of Science

This thesis presents methodologies for the operation of a programming/documentation system for a Texas Instruments Model 530 programmable controller. The methodologies include: 1) a means to store information about the structure of a ladder diagram and display the ladder diagram on a CRT screen, 2) a means to convert the ladder diagram information into its equivalent Boolean code, and 3) a means to convert Boolean code into its equivalent ladder diagram information. / Master of Science

Lors de l’infection par le VIH, les réponses T CD8+ présentent de nombreux défauts fonctionnels d’ordre qualitatif et quantitatif. Les « HIV controllers » (HIC) constituent un rare groupe de patients (0,5%) qui contrôle spontanément in vivo la réplication virale. Des études ont montré que les fortes réponses T CD8+ observées chez les HIC jouent probablement un rôle majeur dans ce contrôle. Par ailleurs, l’activation immunitaire joue un rôle clé dans la déplétion T CD4+ et la progression. En effet, les patients virémiques présentent une forte activation mesurée par la fréquence de lymphocytes T CD8+ CD38+/HLA-DR+ alors que l’activation observée chez les HIC est faible, similaire à celle des patients sous traitements anti-rétroviraux ce qui pourrait expliquer l’absence fréquente de progression chez ces patients. De plus, les HIC sont caractérisés par une activation paradoxale avec une forte proportion de lymphocytes T CD8+ présentant une forte expression de HLA-DR contrastant avec une faible expression de CD38 et donc une fréquence plus importante de lymphocytes T CD8+ exprimant le phénotype particulier CD38-/HLA-DR+ que les lymphocytes T CD8+ des patients ne contrôlant pas le VIH.L’objectif de mon projet de thèse a été de caractériser les réponses T optimales pour le contrôle de la réplication virale chez les patients HIC. En étudiant la sous population CD38-/HLA-DR+, nous avons démontré que cette sous population exprime un phénotype particulier avec l’expression seule de HLA-DR comme marqueur d’activation mais aussi qu’elle possède de très bonnes fonctions effectrices (cytotoxicité) et mémoires (survie, polyfonctionnalité et prolifération). Nous avons par la suite étudié le mécanisme responsable de l’induction de ce phénotype particulier et démontré qu’une activation par de faibles doses d’antigènes induit préférentiellement le phénotype d’intérêt CD38-/HLA-DR+ alors qu’une activation par de fortes doses d’antigènes induit préférentiellement le phénotype CD38+/HLA-DR+.Nous avons par la suite caractérisé les lymphocytes T CD8+ des HIC à l’aide de marqueurs associés à une activité cytotoxique : les facteurs de transcription de la « boîte T », T-bet et Eomes et le marqueur CD57. Nous avons ainsi montré qu’il existe une hétérogénéité de l’expression d’Eomes et que seules les sous populations CD57+/Eomeshi et CD57+/Eomesint présentent ex vivo des capacités cytotoxiques. Il s’avère que les lymphocytes T CD8+ spécifiques du VIH des HIC expriment préférentiellement le phénotype CD57+/Eomeshi qui démontre de bonnes fonctionnalités (prolifération, survie). De plus la fréquence de cette sous population corrèle avec une faible charge virale suggérant que ces cellules CD57+/Eomeshi participent au contrôle de la réplication virale. Cependant, les fortes réponses T CD8+ ne sont pas retrouvées chez tous les patients HIC et il existe un certain nombre de patients, authentiquement contrôleurs in vivo mais dont les lymphocytes T CD8+ ne possèdent pas une activité inhibitrice ex vivo et que l’on a appelé « Weak Responders » par opposition aux « Strong Responders » qui présentent une forte capacité antivirale. Notre étude a permis de montrer que les réponses T CD8+ sont corrélés aux réponses T CD4+ : les « Weak Responders » présentent de faibles réponses T CD4+ et T CD8+ et les « Strong Responders » présentent de fortes réponses T CD4+ et T CD8+. Ces résultats ont permis de définir deux sous populations T CD8+ probablement impliquées dans le contrôle de la réplication virale in vivo. La faible dose d’antigène et la faible activation des lymphocytes pourraient être impliquées dans l’induction et la persistance de fortes réponses T CD8+ anti-VIH. L’utilisation de faibles doses d’antigènes permettant d’induire des lymphocytes T CD8+ avec une forte capacité d’inhibition de la réplication virale pourrait être envisagée dans de futurs essais cliniques vaccinaux. / Several defects of the immune response have been evidenced during HIV infection, especially CD8+ T cell response. A rare group of patients (0.5%) called HIV controllers (HIC) can spontaneously control HIV infection and studies showed that these patients present high HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses. Moreover excessive activation of CD8+ T cells seems to play a major role since this parameter correlates strongly with disease progression. Indeed, immune activation observed in HIC is lower than in viremic patients and similar as in HAART-treated patients. Furthermore HIC exhibit a peculiar activation phenotype with low CD38 expression and high HLA-DR expression and characterized by a higher frequency of CD38-/HLA-DR+ expressing cells. The aim of these works was to characterize optimal HIV-specific T cells which are implicated in the control of viral replication in HIC. We first studied this subpopulation CD38-/HLA-DR+ and showed that it is characterized by an absence of activation marker expression except for HLA-DR and by efficient effector functions (high cytotoxicity) and good memory functions (better survival, proliferation and higher frequency of polyfunctional cells). We then deciphered the mechanism responsible for the induction of this phenotype and demonstrated that low dose of antigen induce preferentially CD38-/HLA-DR+ phenotype while high dose of antigen induce preferentially CD38+/HLA-DR+. We next characterized HIV-specific CD8+ T cells from HIC by markers associated with cytotoxicity: T-box transcription factor T-bet and Eomes and CD57. We demonstrated heterogeneity of Eomes expression and only CD57+/Eomeshi and CD57+/Eomesint subpopulation exhibit cytotoxic capacity ex vivo. We then showed that HIC exhibited higher frequency of CD57+/Eomeshi expressing HIV specific CD8+ T cells with high functionalities (proliferation, survival). Furthermore frequency of this subpopulation correlated with low viral load suggesting a role of CD57+/Eomeshi in the control of viral replication. Nevertheless, the high CD8+ T cell responses are not found in all HIC and some patients who control viral replication in vivo exhibit low inhibition by CD8+ T cells ex vivo and are called Weak Responders by opposition to Strong Responders who exhibit high inhibition by CD8+ T cells. Our study demonstrated that the CD8+ T cell response is associated with the CD4+ T cells: Weak Responders showed low CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses especially low CD38-/HLA-DR+ frequency and Strong Responders showed high CD4+ and CD8+ T cell response especially high CD38-/HLA-DR+ frequency. We therefore defined two subpopulations which are overrepresented in HIC and which are probably implicated in control of HIV. The low dose and low immune activation could be involved in the induction and persistence of high anti-HIV CD8+ T cell response and might have implications for HIV vaccine strategies.

This thesis deals with the design of multivariable controllers for stable linear time-invariant multi-input multi-output systems, with an unknown mathematical model, subject to constant reference/disturbance signals and actuator saturation constraints. A new controller parameter optimization approach, which can be carried out experimentally with no knowledge of the plant model nor of the order of the system, is proposed. The approach has the advantage that controllers can be optimized by perturbing only the initial conditions of the servocompensator, and that the order of the resulting controller obtained can be specified by the designer. Implementation of the proposed controller design approach is described, and an experimental application study of the proposed method applied to a multivariable system with industrial sensor/actuator components is presented to illustrate the feasibility of the design method in an industrial environment.

This thesis deals with the design of multivariable controllers for stable linear time-invariant multi-input multi-output systems, with an unknown mathematical model, subject to constant reference/disturbance signals and actuator saturation constraints. A new controller parameter optimization approach, which can be carried out experimentally with no knowledge of the plant model nor of the order of the system, is proposed. The approach has the advantage that controllers can be optimized by perturbing only the initial conditions of the servocompensator, and that the order of the resulting controller obtained can be specified by the designer. Implementation of the proposed controller design approach is described, and an experimental application study of the proposed method applied to a multivariable system with industrial sensor/actuator components is presented to illustrate the feasibility of the design method in an industrial environment.

The novel contribution of the thesis is the design and implementation of decentralised output feedback power system controllers for power oscillation damping (POD) over the entire operating regime of the power system. The POD controllers are designed for the linearised models of the nonlinear power system dynamics. The linearised models are combined and treated as parameter varying switched systems. The thesis contains novel results for the controller design, bumpless switching and stability analysis of such switched systems. Use of switched controllers against the present trend of having single controller helps to reduce the conservatism and to increase the uncertainty handling capability of the power system controller design. Minimax-LQG control design method is used for the controller design. Minimax-LQG control combines the advantages of both LQG and H control methods with respect to robustness and the inclusion of uncertainty and noise in the controller design. Also, minimax-LQG control allows the use of multiple integral quadratic constraints to bound the different types of uncertainties in the power system application. During switching between controllers, switching stability of the system is guaranteed by constraining the minimum time between two consecutive switchings. An expression is developed to compute the minimum time required between switchings including the effect of jumps in the states. Bumpless switching scheme is used to minimise the switching transients which occur when the controllers are switched. Another contribution of the thesis is to include the effect of on load tap changing transformers in the power system controller design. A simplified power system model linking generator and tap changing transformer dynamics is developed for this purpose and included in the controller design. The performance of the proposed linear controllers are validated by nonlinear computer simulations and through real time digital simulations. The designed controllers improve power system damping and provide uniform performance over the entire operating regime of the generator.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of control strategies for building energy management systems (BEMS). The controllers considered include the multi PI-loop controllers, state-space designs, constrained input and output MIMO adaptive controllers, fuzzy logic solutions and genetic algorithm techniques. The control performances of the designs developed using the various methods based on aspects such as regulation errors squared, energy consumptions and the settling periods are investigated for different designs. The aim of the control strategy is to regulate the room temperature and the humidity to required comfort levels. In this study the building system under study is a 3 input/ 2 output system subject to external disturbances/effects. The three inputs are heating, cooling and humidification, and the 2 outputs are room air temperature and relative humidity. The external disturbances consist of climatic effects and other stochastic influences. The study is carried out within a simulation environment using the mathematical model of the test room at Loughborough University and the designed control solutions are verified through experimental trials using the full-scale BMS facility at the University of Bradford.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of control strategies for building energy management systems (BEMS). The controllers considered include the multi PI-loop controllers, state-space designs, constrained input and output MIMO adaptive controllers, fuzzy logic solutions and genetic algorithm techniques. The control performances of the designs developed using the various methods based on aspects such as regulation errors squared, energy consumptions and the settling periods are investigated for different designs. The aim of the control strategy is to regulate the room temperature and the humidity to required comfort levels. In this study the building system under study is a 3 input/ 2 output system subject to external disturbances/effects. The three inputs are heating, cooling and humidification, and the 2 outputs are room air temperature and relative humidity. The external disturbances consist of climatic effects and other stochastic influences. The study is carried out within a simulation environment using the mathematical model of the test room at Loughborough University and the designed control solutions are verified through experimental trials using the full-scale BMS facility at the University of Bradford.

Evidências empíricas contábeis não só destacam o papel do controller nas empresas, como também salientam situações organizacionais que criam tensões como conflito e ambiguidade de função. Nesse contexto, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo identificar com que intensidade o conflito e ambiguidade de função percebida pelos controllers brasileiros incidem sobre a satisfação no trabalho. A amostra foi composta por 114 controllers das maiores empresas do Brasil segundo a base de dados da revista M&M. A coleta dos dados foi viabilizada por meio de questionário online. O instrumento utilizado para a mensuração das variáveis conflito e ambiguidade de função foi o desenvolvido por Rizzo et al (1970), e, para satisfação no trabalho, foi utilizado Job Satisfaction Index apresentado no trabalho de Tarrant (2008). Para a análise dos dados, foi utilizada a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais (SEM-PLS) bem como estatísticas descritivas. Não foram rejeitadas as duas hipóteses de estudo, demonstrando, com base em evidências estatísticas, que o conflito e a ambiguidade de função são percebidos pelos controllers brasileiros e, de fato, incidem negativamente sobre a satisfação no trabalho. Ademais, a amostra sustenta que o conflito de função afeta menos a satisfação no trabalho do que a ambiguidade. Além disso, os dados suportam que a falta de clareza sobre os objetivos e responsabilidades do controller acarretam em maiores níveis de ambiguidade de função e que o conflito percebido, aumentava em situações nas quais o executivo tinha que ignorar ou deixar de considerar uma regra ou política organizacional a fim de desempenhar alguma das suas funções. Finalmente, foi constatado que, apesar dos controllers perceberem esses dois tipos de tensão, em geral, eles se sentem satisfeitos com sua atual situação de trabalho. Uma das situações que menos contribuiu para a satisfação no trabalho dos controllers brasileiros foi a remuneração. / Empirical accounting evidences not only highlight the role of the controller in the companies, but also emphasize organizational situations that create stresses like role conflict and role ambiguity. In this context, this research aims to identify in what extent the role conflict and role ambiguity, perceived by Brazilian controllers, have an affect on job satisfaction. The sample comprised 114 controllers of the largest companies in Brazil, obtained from M&M magazine database. Data collection was conducted through a online questionnaire. The instrument used to measure the variables role conflict and role ambiguity was developed by Rizzo et al (1970), and to job satisfaction, was used the Job Satisfaction Index presented on Tarrant\'s (2008) work. We used the technique of structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) as well as descriptive statistics for data analysis. The two study hypotheses were not rejected, demonstrating, based on statistical evidence, that role conflict and role ambiguity, perceived by Brazilian controllers, surely affect negatively on job satisfaction. Moreover, the sample sustains that the role conflict function affects less job satisfaction than role ambiguity. Furthermore, the data supports that the lack of clarity about the controller\'s goals and responsibilities, lead to higher levels of role ambiguity, and the perceived conflict increased in situations where the executive had to ignore or fail to consider a rule or organizational policy in order to perform any of its functions. Finally, it was found that despite the controllers realize these two types of stress, in general, they feel satisfied with their current employment situation. One of the situations that less contributed to the Brazilian controllers\' job satisfaction was the remuneration.

by Chiu Wai Tak. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-55). / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES --- p.vi / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.vii / CHAPTER / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / The Microcontroller Market --- p.1 / About National Semiconductor Corporation --- p.3 / Project Objectives --- p.4 / Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.7 / Market Research and Data Collection --- p.7 / Literature Review --- p.9 / Chapter III. --- MARKET ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS --- p.11 / The OTP Microcontroller Market --- p.11 / Customer Profile --- p.16 / Competition Profile --- p.17 / National's Microcontroller Profile --- p.21 / SWOT Analysis --- p.24 / Chapter IV. --- MARKETING STRATEGY --- p.29 / Marketing Objective and Value Proposition --- p.29 / Product Strategy --- p.30 / Pricing Strategy --- p.32 / Distribution Strategy --- p.33 / Promotional Strategy --- p.35 / Chapter V. --- LIMITATIONS --- p.40 / About the Research --- p.40 / About the Marketing Plan --- p.40 / Chapter VI. --- CONCLUSION --- p.42 / Chapter APPENDIX I: --- TYPICAL MICROCONTROLLER APPLICATION --- p.44 / Chapter APPENDIX II: --- EXPERIENCE SURVEY PROCESS --- p.45 / Chapter APPENDIX III: --- REASONS FOR PROJECTS WON AND LOST --- p.46 / Chapter APPENDIX IV: --- BENEFITS OF COP8SA's FEATURES --- p.47 / Chapter APPENDIX V: --- COP8SA PRESS RELEASE --- p.48 / Chapter APPENDIX VI: --- GLOSSARY --- p.52 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.54