Physical education classrooms often have low levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity levels. This is a problem since many young elementary students are not building a foundation of fundamental movement skills necessary to be lifelong participants in physical activities. This study investigated how elementary physical education teachers used auditory modalities in their classrooms. The research question explored the emergence of rhythmic competency in fundamental movement skills to increase overall moderate to vigorous activity levels. This concurrent, mixed-methods, multiple case study used a constructivist paradigm using the schema and dynamic system theories as the underlying motor system theoretical framework. Two research sites were selected: a suburban Maryland public school system and a private liberal arts college located in the same county. The participants included 21 elementary physical education teachers and 6 physical education or exercise science majors from nationally recognized programs. Data were collected from a focus group, interviews, classroom observations, and a 10-item response Likert style survey designed for elementary physical education teachers to recognize current trends in the field of auditory modalities and rhythmic competency. The data were analyzed to identify auditory modality instructional methods for the emergence of rhythmic competencies. The results consisted of a list of best practices for use such as musical rhythms, verbal cues, and sound cues by physical education teachers and specialists. This research promotes positive social change by providing information for successfully planning interventions in the discipline of motor skill and rhythmic development that can lead to overall increased more-vigorous physical activity.

Advances in wireless communication have enabled mobility of personal computing services equipped with sensing and computing capabilities. This has motivated the development of location-based services (LBS) that are implemented on top of existing communication infrastructures to cater to changing user contexts. To enable and support the delivery of LBS, accurate, reliable, and realtime user location information is needed. This thesis introduces a cognitive dynamic system for tracking the position of mobile users using received signal strength (RSS) in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). The main challenge in WLAN positioning is the unpredictable nature of the RSS-position relationship. Existing system rely on a set of training samples collected at a set of anchor points with known positions in the environment to characterize this relationship. The first contribution of this thesis is the use of nonparametric kernel density estimation for minimum mean square error positioning using the RSS training data. This formulation enables the rigorous study of state-space filtering in the context of WLAN positioning. The outcome is the Nonparametric Information (NI) filter, a novel recursive position estimator that incorporates both RSS measurements and a dynamic model of pedestrian motion during estimation. In contrast to traditional Kalman filtering approaches, the NI filter does not require the explicit knowledge of RSS-position relationship and is therefore well-suited for the WLAN positioning problem. The use of the dynamic motion model by the NI filter leads to the design of a cognitive dynamic tracking system. This design harnesses the benefits of feedback and position predictions from the filter to guide the selection of anchor points and radio sensors used during estimation. Experimental results using real measurement from an office environment demonstrate the effectiveness of proactive determination of sensing and estimation parameters in mitigating difficulties that arise due to the unpredictable nature of the indoor radio environment. In particular, the results indicate that the proposed cognitive design achieves an improvement of 3.19m (56\%) in positioning error relative to memoryless positioning alone.

Advances in wireless communication have enabled mobility of personal computing services equipped with sensing and computing capabilities. This has motivated the development of location-based services (LBS) that are implemented on top of existing communication infrastructures to cater to changing user contexts. To enable and support the delivery of LBS, accurate, reliable, and realtime user location information is needed. This thesis introduces a cognitive dynamic system for tracking the position of mobile users using received signal strength (RSS) in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). The main challenge in WLAN positioning is the unpredictable nature of the RSS-position relationship. Existing system rely on a set of training samples collected at a set of anchor points with known positions in the environment to characterize this relationship. The first contribution of this thesis is the use of nonparametric kernel density estimation for minimum mean square error positioning using the RSS training data. This formulation enables the rigorous study of state-space filtering in the context of WLAN positioning. The outcome is the Nonparametric Information (NI) filter, a novel recursive position estimator that incorporates both RSS measurements and a dynamic model of pedestrian motion during estimation. In contrast to traditional Kalman filtering approaches, the NI filter does not require the explicit knowledge of RSS-position relationship and is therefore well-suited for the WLAN positioning problem. The use of the dynamic motion model by the NI filter leads to the design of a cognitive dynamic tracking system. This design harnesses the benefits of feedback and position predictions from the filter to guide the selection of anchor points and radio sensors used during estimation. Experimental results using real measurement from an office environment demonstrate the effectiveness of proactive determination of sensing and estimation parameters in mitigating difficulties that arise due to the unpredictable nature of the indoor radio environment. In particular, the results indicate that the proposed cognitive design achieves an improvement of 3.19m (56\%) in positioning error relative to memoryless positioning alone.

This thesis aims to propose multiple methods for performing a hardware-in-the-loop simulation, providing the hardware and software tools necessary for design and execution. For this purpose, methods of modeling commonly encountered dynamical system components are explored and techniques suitable for calculating the states of the modeled system are presented. Modules and subsystems that enable the realization of a hardware-in-the-loop simulation application and its interfacing with external controller hardware are explained. The thesis also presents three different simulation scenarios. Solutions suitable for these scenarios are provided along with their implementations. The details and specifications of the developed software packages and hardware platforms are given. The provided results illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches used in these solutions.

An Inverted double pendulum is a combination of two individual pendulums which represents an example of a nonlinear and unstable dynamic system and it is also a good example of a physical system which can exhibit chaotic behavior.This document contains a first analysis of the model and the control of this system. Also presented is the installation of the electrical materials needed to control the system contain instrumenting the motor, current measurement system, motor shaft angle sensor, vision systemand MYRIO which is an embedded hardware device created by National Instruments will be used for data acquisition and control the system

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-03-12Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:47:35Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 ferreira_mc_me_sjrp.pdf: 2030782 bytes, checksum: 6be665234f9e1a4c6116708f4f20c11c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Neste trabalho realizamos um estudo de um sistema dinâmico não ideal, constituído por um pêndulo acoplado a um bloco e que oscilam verticalmente. A oscilação é devida a rotação de uma massa desbalanceada e acionada por um motor DC, cuja fonte de energia é limitada. Consideramos situações em que as freqüências do bloco e do pêndulo estão em ressonâncias internas 1:1, 1:2 e 2:1, e analisamos o comportamento do sistema bloco- motor-pêndulo através de simulações numéricas. Uma análise similar e levada a efeito, no caso em que o sistema dinâmico é dotado de uma excitação de suporte ideal horizontal do tipo F cos wt. / In this work we studied a nonideal dynamical system which is constituted by a pendulum connected to a block, and that oscillates vertically. The oscillation is due to the rotation of a unbalanced mass moved by DC motor with limited power supply. We consider situations where the frequencies of the block and the pendulum are in 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 internal resonances, and we analyse the behavior of the block - motor - pendulum system through numerical simulations. A similar analysis is performed in the case where the dynamical system has a periodic horizontal oscillation of type F cos wt.

L'énergie est une ressource clé dans les réseaux de capteurs sans fil (WSNs), en particulier lorsque les nœuds capteurs sont alimentés par des batteries. Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le contexte de la réduction de la consommation de l'énergie d'un réseau de capteurs au niveau application construite au-dessus de ce réseau, grâce à des stratégies de contrôle, en temps réel et de façon dynamique. La première stratégie de gestion de l'énergie considérée s'appuie sur le contrôle prédictif (MPC). Le choix de MPC est motivé par les objectifs globaux qui sont de réduire la consommation d'énergie de l'ensemble des nœuds capteurs tout en assurant un service donné, nommé mission, pour le réseau de capteurs. En outre, un ensemble de contraintes sur les variables de contrôle binaires et sur les nœuds capteur doit être rempli. La deuxième stratégie de gestion de l'énergie au niveau de l'application utilise une approche de contrôle hybride (HDS). Ce choix est motivé par la nature inhérente du système WSN qui est par essence hybride, en particulier lorsque l'on s'intéresse à la gestion de l'énergie. La nature hybride vient essentiellement de la combinaison de processus physiques continus tels la charge et décharge des batteries des nœuds; tandis que la partie discrète est liée à la modification des modes de fonctionnement et l'état Inaccessible des nœuds. Les stratégies proposées sont évaluées et comparées en simulation sur des différents scenarios réalistes. Elles ont aussi \'et\'e mises en œuvre sur un banc d'essai réel et les résultats obtenus ont été discutés. / Energy is a key resource in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), especially when sensor nodes are powered by batteries. This thesis is investigates how to save energy of the whole WSN, at the application level, thanks to control strategies, in real time and in a dynamic way. The first energy management strategy investigated is based on Model Predictive Control (MPC). The choice of MPC is motivated by the global objectives that are to reduce the energy consumption of the set of sensor nodes while ensuring a given service, named mission, for the sensor network. Moreover, a set of constraints on the binary control variables and on the sensor modes must be fulfilled. The second energy management strategy at the application level is based on a Hybrid Dynamical System (HDS) approach. This choice is motivated by the hybrid inherent nature of the WSN system when energy management is considered. The hybrid nature basically comes from the combination of continuous physical processes, namely, the charge / discharge of the node batteries; while the discrete part is related to the change in the functioning modes and the Unreachable condition of the nodes. The proposed strategies are evaluated and compared in simulation on a realistic test-case. Lastly, they have been implemented on a real test-bench and the results obtained have been discussed.

Orientador: Masayoshi Tsuchida / Banca: Reyolando M.L.R.F. Brasil / Banca: Maurílio Boaventura / Resumo: Neste trabalho realizamos um estudo de um sistema dinâmico não ideal, constituído por um pêndulo acoplado a um bloco e que oscilam verticalmente. A oscilação é devida a rotação de uma massa desbalanceada e acionada por um motor DC, cuja fonte de energia é limitada. Consideramos situações em que as freqüências do bloco e do pêndulo estão em ressonâncias internas 1:1, 1:2 e 2:1, e analisamos o comportamento do sistema bloco- motor-pêndulo através de simulações numéricas. Uma análise similar e levada a efeito, no caso em que o sistema dinâmico é dotado de uma excitação de suporte ideal horizontal do tipo F cos wt. / Abstract: In this work we studied a nonideal dynamical system which is constituted by a pendulum connected to a block, and that oscillates vertically. The oscillation is due to the rotation of a unbalanced mass moved by DC motor with limited power supply. We consider situations where the frequencies of the block and the pendulum are in 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 internal resonances, and we analyse the behavior of the block - motor - pendulum system through numerical simulations. A similar analysis is performed in the case where the dynamical system has a periodic horizontal oscillation of type F cos wt. / Mestre

Epiroc Drilling Tools is a manufacturing company that produces tools for rock mining and excavation. The company adopted the principles and framework of Lean Product Development in their R&D department with few practices of an agile framework called Scrum. These agile practices are used in the pre-study phase or the knowledge value stream of their lean product development. Hence, this research is limited to the knowledge value stream within the R&D department. The use of agile project management in manufacturing industry is unique and majority of the agile frameworks are specifically designed to suit the needs of software development companies. Several theories like Scrum, Lean, Kanban and DSDM were studied by the researchers to scrutinize the current framework of the department. The challenges and the similarities of the currently used framework with several other agile frameworks and the companies are discussed. Several qualitative research methods were adopted to know the viewpoints of the working employees in the department which are compared with other companies like Volvo Cars, ABB, LShift, EnergySoftware and from another division of Epiroc called Rocktec Automation who faced some similar challenges while practicing agile project management. After further research on the theories and comparison of the process, roles of the working employees and documentations within the knowledge value stream, DSDM had more similarities with the currently used framework than Scrum. This allowed to recommend ways that can fill the missing gaps using practices of DSDM without altering the existing working procedure in the knowledge value stream. This ensures that the improvement in the knowledge value stream remains continuous. On the contrary, a brief discussion is included on whether there is a need to be agile for manufacturing industries or is it just a changing trend in the field of project management.