This thesis proposes a novel algorithm to optimize multi-modal, nonlinear, black-box objective functions for electric power system design using an electromagnetic transients (EMT) simulator. The algorithm discovers multiple local optimal solutions for a given complex power system, and then generates accurate surrogate models of an objective function around each discovered local optimal solution. These surrogate models represent the local behaviour of the objective function that can be used in the subsequent stages of sensitivity analyses. Using surrogate models instead of intensive transient simulation during sensitivity analysis reduces computational intensity and simulation time. This makes the proposed algorithm particularly suited for optimization of computationally expensive black-box functions. The stages of the algorithm can be implemented independently and hence the computations can be done in parallel. Therefore, the algorithm is implemented in a parallel environment to gain significant speed-up in the design of electric power systems. Comparative studies in terms of objective function evaluation and computation time are provided. Using several multi-modal benchmark objective functions, the superiority of the proposed algorithm compared to other recently developed algorithms is demonstrated. Additionally, the application of the algorithm in the design process of complex electric power system demonstrated through several examples. The case studies show that the parallelized algorithm provides computational savings up to 39 times compared to the conventional sequential approach. / May 2016

Computing system power consumption is a concern as it has financial and environmental implications. These concerns will increase in the future due to the current trends in data growth, information availability requirements, and increases in the cost of energy. Data growth is compounded daily because of the accessibility of portable devices, increased connectivity to the Internet, and a trend toward storing information electronically. These three factors also result in an increased demand for the data to be available for access at all times which results in more electronic devices requiring power. As more electricity is required the overall cost of energy increases due to demand and limited resource availability. The environment also suffers as most electricity is generated from fossil fuels which increase emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In order to reduce the amount of energy required while maintaining data availability researchers have focused on changing how data is accessed from hard drives. Hard drives have been found to consume 10 to 86 percent of a system's energy. Through changing the way data is accessed by implementing multi speed hard drives, algorithms that prefetch, cache, and batch data requests, or by implementing flash drive caches researchers have been able to reduce the energy required from hard drive operation. However, these approaches often result in reduced I/O performance or reduced data availability. This dissertation provides a new method of reducing hard drive energy consumption by implementing a prefetching technique that predicts a chain of future requests based upon previous request observations. The files to be prefetched are given to a caching system which uses a flash memory device for caching. This caching system implements energy sensitive algorithms to optimize the value of files stored in the flash memory device. Through prefetching files the hard drive on a system can be placed in a low power sleep state. This results in reduced power consumption while providing high I/O performance and data availability. Analysis of simulator results confirmed that this new method increased I/O performance and data availability over previous studies while also providing a higher level of energy savings. Out of 30 scenarios, the new method displayed better energy savings in 26 scenarios and better performance in all 30 scenarios over previous studies. The new method also displayed it could achieve results of 50.9 percent less time and 34.6 percent less energy for a workload over previous methodologies.

One of the benefits of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles (HVs) is their potential to recuperate braking energy. Regenerative braking (RB) will minimize duty levels on the brakes, giving advantages including extended brake rotor and friction material life and, more significantly, reduced brake mass and minimised brake pad wear. In this thesis, a mathematical analysis (MATLAB) has been used to analyse the accessibility of regenerative braking energy during a single-stop braking event. The results have indicated that a friction brake could be downsized while maintaining the same functional requirements of the vehicle braking in the standard brakes, including thermomechanical performance (heat transfer coefficient estimation, temperature distribution, cooling and stress deformation). This would allow lighter brakes to be designed and fitted with confidence in a normal passenger car alongside a hybrid electric drive. An approach has been established and a lightweight brake disc design analysed FEA and experimentally verified is presented in this research. Thermal performance was a key factor which was studied using the 3D model in FEA simulations. Ultimately, a design approach for lightweight brake discs suitable for use in any car-sized hybrid vehicle has been developed and tested. The results from experiments on a prototype lightweight brake disc were shown to illustrate the effects of RBS/friction combination in terms of weight reduction. The design requirement, including reducing the thickness, would affect the temperature distribution and increase stress at the critical area. Based on the relationship obtained between rotor weight, thickness and each performance requirement, criteria have been established for designing lightweight brake discs in a vehicle with regenerative braking.

Dans cette thèse sur Hélène Cixous, l’écriture fictionnelle est abordée sous l’angle de son intimité propre. Dans les textes littéraires, l’intimité qui en découle étant en général attribuée à l’écrivain, seul garant du texte, ce travail de recherche met l’accent sur le volet autonome de l’écriture relégué de plus en plus à un rang secondaire au profit d’une renaissance de l’auteur. Or, à regarder de près le processus d’avènement de l’écriture – qui, d’ailleurs, chez Hélène Cixous ne se dissocie pas de l’activité onirique ou de la dynamique pulsionnelle – et à interroger l’acte de lecture, il y a quelque chose qui, tout en se donnant, échappe ou se garde. Ce don et ce retrait invite à traiter de l’intimité de l’écriture eu égard à sa dynamique autonome. L’approche du sujet s’est voulue pluridisciplinaire en allant du champ littéraire à celui psychanalytique. Les premières analyses montrent d’abord un parallèle entre la pulsion et l’écriture avant de finir par identifier une pulsion d’écriture et de s’achever en mettant en crise la notion d’auteur et mettant en évidence un Etre-écriture autonome. L’analyse de la question de l’intimité fait le constat selon lequel, l’intimité est dans les fictions d’Hélène Cixous un espace de communication essentiellement littéraire. Communication qui souligne la structure bipartite de l’intimité de l’écriture. Celle-ci se compose de son intimité propre et prend en compte l’exergue d’intimité de la narratrice écrivaine. L’étude des figures de l’intimité permet de mettre en lumière le jeu de l’écriture et de l’intimité en soulignant que si l’intimité se donne dans les fictions cixousiennes, elle se donne surtout par le biais de l’autre. C’est l’autre, l’écriture qui révèle l’intimité. En fin de compte cette thèse montre que l’écriture d’Hélène Cixous à une intimité propre que le lecteur se doit de séparer de celle de l’écrivaine. Même si son écriture met en exergue des indices autobiographiques, il n’en reste pas moins qu’ils sont pris dans le vertige de la fiction. / In this thesis dedicated to Hélène Cixous, we approach the fictional writing from the perspective of its own intimacy. The resulting intimacy is generally attributed to the writer, the only guarantor of the text. The present research puts the emphasis on the independent component of writing increasingly relegated to a secondary position in favor of the author. Yet, when observing closely the process of writing - which incidentally, is not dissociated from dream or drive in writings of Hélène Cixous - and examining the act of reading, there is something that, even if revealed completely, escapes or holds back. Such "giving" and such "escaping" invite us to address the intimacy of writing with respect to its autonomous dynamic. A multidisciplinary approach to the subject is required. This ranges from literature to psychoanalysis. The early analyses show firstly a parallel between drive and writing before identifying the drive writing and finishing by putting in crisis the notion of authorship by highlighting autonomous "Self-writing". Based on analysis of intimacy we found that, the intimacy in Hélène Cixous´ fiction refers essentially to a literary communication, the communication that emphasizes a bipartite structure of the intimacy of writing. It is composed of its own intimacy of writing taking into account a part of the intimacy of the narrator. The study of figures of intimacy highlights the play of writing and intimacy. Furthermore it emphasizes that the intimacy present in Cixous’ fiction is especially revealed through the writing. Finally, the present thesis shows the intimacy specific to Hélène Cixous’ writings which is to be separated, in reader’s perspective, from that of the author. Although Cixous’ texts affirm autobiographical evidence, it is nevertheless caught up in the dynamic of fiction.

My diploma thesis deals with alternative drive cars that are still more popular these times. Due to limited supplies of oil fields car factories turn their attention to the development of alternative drives, which would be independent of exhaustible resources. The aim of the work will mainly compare the economic efficiency of current alternative fuel vehicles, where belong hybrid drives, electric drives, but also a unit for compressed gas or biofuels, to the current conventional drives. This comparison will be done from the perspective of the end consumer who will decide on the purchase of alternative drive mainly because of its indicating cost savings. Another important part of the evaluation is whether alternative fuels are actually more environmentally friendly and are actually counted all the costs. For this analysis I will provide a variety of specialized studies dealing with the issue of alternative propulsion friendliness to the environment.

Este trabalho consiste na tradução das Instituições de Filosofia Moral: para o uso dos estudantes da faculdade de Edimburgo, de Adam Ferguson. As lições foram publicadas em 1769 com o intuito de servir como um manual de filosofia moral; assim, compreendem os principais conceitos da filosofia britânica. Na introdução, apresentamos de modo geral os temas trabalhados por Ferguson no Um ensaio sobre a história da sociedade civil (1767) e nas Instituições, principalmente no que diz respeito à análise da natureza do homem para a fundamentação da moral. Com a presente tradução das Instituições, pretendemos trazer para o português um importante texto do iluminismo e indicar sucintamente a influência de Ferguson sobre o pensamento de Friedrich Schiller, autor de A educação estética do homem, com a aproximação dos conceitos fergusonianos de propensão (propensity) e de jogo (play) ao conceito de impulso lúdico (Spieltrieb) de Schiller. Por esse motivo, incluímos também, em forma de notas, trechos dos comentários de Christian Garve, cuja tradução das Instituições, de 1772, foi, na época, a mediação à leitura do autor escocês nos círculos intelectuais alemães. / This work is a translation of the Institutes of Moral Philosophy: for the use of students in the College of Edinburgh, by Adam Ferguson. The lessons were published in 1769 in order to be used as a manual of moral philosophy, thus, it comprises the main concepts of the British philosophy. In the introduction, we present the general themes discussed by Ferguson in An essay on the history of civil society (1767) and in the Institutes, especially with regard to the analysis of mans nature to the foundation of morality . With this translation of the Institutes, we intend to bring to the Portuguese an important text of the Enlightenment and briefly indicate Ferguson\'s influence on the thought of Friedrich Schiller, author of The aesthetic education of man, with the approach of Fergusons concepts of propensity and play and Schillers concept of play drive (Spieltrieb). For this reason, we have also included, in the form of notes, excerpts from Christian Garves comments, whose translation of the Institutes of 1772 was at the time the reading mediation of the Scottish authors in German intellectual circles.

Nesta dissertação é realizado um estudo comparativo entre controladores robustos projetados para sistemas lineares em espaço de estado sujeitos a incertezas paramétricas. O objetivo é resolver problemas de acompanhamento de trajetória de robôs. O estudo é realizado em um robô móvel com tração diferencial e em um quadricóptero. Para tal, é aplicado um Regulador Linear Quadrático Robusto no qual engloba em uma estrutura unificada todos os parâmetros de incerteza de entrada e saída de maneira recursiva, útil em aplicações em tempo real. A fim de demonstrar a eficiência do Regulador Robusto, resultados de simulações e de experimentos são empregados comparando-o com controle Η∞ não linear via teoria dos jogos e com um controle Proporcional-Derivativo mais torque calculado. / This work provides a comparative study between robust controllers for linear statespace systems subject to parametric uncertainties to solve trajectory tracking problems. The study is developed in a mobile robot with differential traction and in a quadricopter. A Robust Linear Quadratic Regulator is applied, which encompasses in a unified framework all input and output uncertain parameters, useful in online applications. In order to show the effectiveness of the robust regulator, simulations and experiments results allow the comparison with nonlinear Η∞ control via game theory and with a Proportional- Derivative control plus computed torque.

A presente dissertação inscreve-se no campo das conexões entre a psicanálise e a educação e tem como objetivo problematizar o voto pedagógico de prever, controlar e justificar o que (não) se passa entre adultos e crianças. Para tanto, buscamos na obra de Freud uma rede de conceitos capaz de circunscrever aquilo que insiste irredutivelmente no psiquismo e que resiste às investidas ortopédicas que almejam obter supostos indivíduos \"vencedores, felizes e saudáveis\", \"plenamente desenvolvidos\". Dentre as noções da psicanálise que se arriscam a nomear isso que é inominável, elegemos o infantil como fio condutor de nosso trabalho. Este conceito funciona como um operador que nos guia através de uma investigação a respeito dos (des)encontros que acontecem em uma situação educativa, instigando também uma reflexão crítica a respeito das pretensões (psico)pedagógicas de eliminar qualquer inadequação ou desajuste. Na teoria psicanalítica, o infantil relaciona-se com a sexualidade, com o desejo e com a neurose, além de outras noções fundamentais introduzidas por Freud. Trata-se de um \"resto\" não simbolizado resultante de uma situação traumática na qual o infans experimenta um ameaçador excesso de energia pulsional, com o qual seu psiquismo ainda em formação não é capaz de lidar sem a intervenção de um outro, a mãe. São os traços mnêmicos desse desamparo que permanecem ativos no inconsciente, causando efeitos além do princípio do prazer. Nesse sentido, o que a epistemologia psicanalítica pode provocar é um questionamento das ilusões que, alimentadas por princípios (psico)pedagógicos, aspiram à supressão total dos conflitos próprios de uma ex-istência marcada pela insistência do infantil. Por outro lado, a psicanálise permite que compreendamos certas transformações significantes que a linguagem pode operar no sujeito do desejo, inconsciente, sexual e infantil, esclarecendo os efeitos que as palavras endereçadas por um adulto a uma criança podem ter, ainda que estes sejam sempre impassíveis de serem antecipados pelos planejamentos pedagógicos. / This work belongs to the field of possible connections between psychoanalysis and education. It focuses the pedagogical determination to predict, control and justify whatever happens between adults and children. Based on the concepts provided by Freud\'s legacy, we try to circumscribe the most irreductible thing that insist in the unconscious and that resists the orthopedic actions which aim to obtain \"happy, wealthy winners\" and \"fully developed individuals\". With this purpose, we have chosen to work with the psychoanalytical concept of infantile. This notion guides us through an investigation about the misunderstandings that take place in an educational situation. It also rouses a relevant discussion about the (psycho)pedagogical intentions to eliminate all possible crisis and inconsistencies. In psychoanalisysis, the infantile is related to the concepts of sexuality, desire, neurosis, and other key notions presented by Freud. It is a no symbolized remaining that came from a traumatic situation in which the infans experience an excessive and threatening amount of energy that his psyche (still in constitution) can not deal without the intervention of an other (the mother). These memory traces of helplessness prevail actively in the unconscious, causing effects beyond the principle of pleasure. This way, the psychoanalytical epistemology can provoke the questioning of the illusions that, inspired by (psycho)pedagogical basis, wishes to get rid of all infantile conflicts. On the other hand, psychoanalysis allows us to understand certain transformations that the language can operate on the subject. Psychoanalysis also clarifies the effects that the words addressed by an adult to a child can have, even though these effects can never be foreseen by pedagogical planning.

A relação entre drogas e psicanálise tem um entrelaçamento desde o início do projeto freudiano. A criação da psicanálise se deu logo após o envolvimento de Freud com a polêmica da cocaína e seus decorrentes embates políticos. Nessa época, questões ligadas à moralidade e ao papel da ciência em nossa sociedade começavam a entrar em xeque, por consequência do avanço tecnológico e da preocupação com a gestão dos hábitos de populações que viviam em um mundo imerso em novas possibilidades de satisfação, comercializadas enquanto soluções para o enfrentamento do mal-estar da civilização. Nossa pesquisa busca apresentar quais fatores presentes na constituição do sujeito moderno contribuem para a formação do problema das adicções, assim como mostrar que a abordagem da psicanálise sobre o assunto pode ter ignorado aspectos fundamentais para o enfretamento do problema. Por meio da teoria pulsional de Freud e da teoria de sujeito desenvolvida por Jacques Lacan, realizamos uma leitura crítica das proposições fundamentais da psicanálise sobre as drogas, a saber, a noção de autoerotismo e também a droga como elemento antissocial. Como fundamentação desta crítica, propomos uma leitura do superego presente nas adicções enquanto mecanismo integrante do que Marshall Berman cunhou de desenvolvimento fáustico. A leitura de Berman nos proporciona uma visão na qual os efeitos colaterais do desenvolvimento capitalista repercutem nas adicções enquanto problema social, possibilitando identificar como o papel das drogas em nossa sociedade possui aspectos ignorados pela formulação da teoria psicanalítica até então. Dentre esses aspectos, identificamos os lugares do trabalho e das condições sociais como fatores fundamentais no entendimento das adicções. Como resposta às teorias existentes e como proposição clínica, recorremos à formulação teórica de Nathalie Zaltzman sobre o que a mesma denominou de pulsão anarquista, constructo o qual a psicanalista direciona à clínica de situações limite. Por fim, apresentamos algumas vinhetas clínicas que servem de suporte para as reflexões e rearranjos teóricos na abordagem psicanalítica sobre o tema. Passagens que foram extraídas de experiências de trabalho no âmbito da saúde pública e em atendimentos em consultório particular compõem as modulações transferenciais, categorias que utilizamos para compreender as diferentes configurações de demandas clínicas em torno da questão das drogas e seus possíveis direcionamentos. Com o suporte das vinhetas clínicas, pudemos apontar os limites que se situam entre as drogas e os profissionais que acolhem os pacientes com essa demanda, estabelecendo uma interpretação do fenômeno da fissura, no qual a satisfação tóxica pode até ser imprescindível, mas não é suficiente / The relationship between drugs and psychoanalysis has an interlacing since the beginning of the Freudian project. The creation of psychoanalysis occurred right after the involvement of Freud with the controversy of cocaine and its resulting political clashes. At that time, issues of morality and the role of science in our society began to come into question, as a result of technological advancement and the concern for the management of habits of populations that lived in a world steeped in new possibilities of satisfaction, sold as solutions to face the malaise of civilization. Our research aims to show which factors present in the constitution of modern subject contribute to the formation of the addictions problem, as well as show that the approach of psychoanalysis on the subject may have ignored key aspects to face the problem. Through the drive theory of Freud and the theory of subject developed by Jacques Lacan, we conducted a critical reading of the fundamental propositions of psychoanalysis on drugs, namely, the notion of self eroticism and also the drug as an anti-social element. In support to this criticism, we propose a reading of the superego present in addictions as an integral mechanism that Marshall Berman coined the Faustian development. The Berman reading gives us a vision in which the side effects of capitalist development have repercussions on addictions as a social problem, making it possible to identify that the role of drugs in our society has aspects that were overlooked by the formulation of psychoanalytic theory so far. Among these aspects, we have identified the places of work and social conditions as key factors in the understanding of addictions. In response to existing theories and as a clinical proposition, we used the theoretical formulation of Nathalie Zaltzman about what she called the anarchist drive, construct which the psychoanalyst directs to the limit situations clinic. Finally, we present some clinical vignettes that support the reflections and theoretical rearrangements in the psychoanalytic approach to the subject. Passages that were extracted from work experience in the field of public health and in private practice care compose the modulations transference, categories that we use to understand the different settings of clinical demands on the issue of drugs and their possible directions. With the support of clinical vignettes, we could point out the limits that are among the drugs and the professionals who receive patients with this demand, establishing an interpretation of the phenomenon of craving, in which the toxic satisfaction may even be essential, but is not enough

Este trabalho analisa a série televisiva The Wire (EUA, 2002-2008) como forma de investigar os conceitos psicanalíticos de sublimação e realidade. The Wire toma como ponto de partida o tráfico de drogas em Baltimore, nos Estados Unidos, para examinar o funcionamento de diversas instituições da cidade: polícia, sindicato de estivadores, prefeitura, escola e imprensa. Primeiramente, situamos The Wire no contexto das séries televisivas norte-americanas e consideramos sua estrutura formal e aspectos narrativos e visuais. Em seguida, procedemos a uma narrativa comentada das cinco temporadas da série, atentando para os modos de organização do tráfico de drogas em cada uma delas. O capítulo seguinte consiste em uma investigação dos conceitos de sublimação e realidade na obra freudiana, dividida em três seções: a constituição do aparelho psíquico, as pulsões e seus destinos e o mal-estar na cultura. Por fim, relacionamos as duas investigações realizadas anteriormente, chegando à noção de uma sublimação que está a serviço de Tânatos, ou seja, da destruição. O alvo dessa destruição, nas sociedades capitalistas atuais, é o corpo humano e o corpo da Terra a natureza, entendida como recurso infinito a ser explorado. Essa sublimação, em que a pulsão de morte associa-se à de dominação, levou-nos a considerar a realidade a partir de um eixo pulsional: há realidades eróticas e realidades tanáticas / This work looks at television show The Wire (USA, 2002-2008) as a means to investigate the psychoanalytic concepts of sublimation and reality. The Wire takes drug trafficking in Baltimore as a starting point to consider the institutions of the police, the stevedores union, the city government, city schools and the press. This dissertation first situates The Wire within the context of US television and considers its formal structure and visual and narrative aspects. It then proceeds to describe and comment on the five seasons of the show, paying special attention to the modus operandi of drug trafficking in each of them. The following chapter is an investigation of the concepts of sublimation and reality throughout Freuds writings, divided into three sections: the constitution of the psychic apparatus, the drives and their vicissitudes and the civilization and its discontents. Lastly, this work connects the studies of The Wire and Freud conducted in previous chapters and advances the notion of a type of sublimation which is at the service of Thanatos, i.e., destruction. The target of such destruction in current capitalist societies is the body of humans and the body of the Earth namely nature, understood as an array of infinite resources to be exploited. This sublimation, in which the death drive is fused with the domination drive, has prompted the consideration of reality from a drive perspective: there are both erotic and thanatic realities