Cette thése traite du contrôle de la formation et du confinement variant dans le temps pour les systèmes multi-agents linéaires invariants avec hétérogénéité en tenant compte des délais d’entrée / sortie constants / variables dans le temps et des perturbations adaptées / incompatibles sous topologie de communication dirigée et fixe. De nouveaux formats de formes de formation variables dans le temps pour des systèmes homogènes et hétérogènes sont proposés. Les contrôleurs, conçus sur la base de techniques prédictives et adaptatives avec une technique d’observation, sont entièrement distribués et peuvent être appliqués à des systèmes à grande échelle. L’application sur les systèmes robotisés multi hétérogènes linéarisés est vérifiée. / This thesis deals with the time-varying formation and containment control for linear time-invariant multi-agent systems with heterogeneity considering constant / time-varying input / output delays and matched / mismatched disturbances under directed and fixed communication topology. New formats of time-varying formation shapes for homogeneous and heterogeneous systems are proposed. The controllers, which are designed based on predictive and adaptive techniques with observer technique, are fully distributed and can be applied to large-scale systems. The application on linearized heterogeneous multi mobile robot systems is verified.

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude de la combinatoire énumérative, plus particulièrement autour des partitions d'entiers et des groupes de Coxeter. Dans une première partie, à l'instar de Han et de Nekrasov-Okounkov, nous étudions des développements combinatoires des puissances de la fonction êta de Dedekind, en termes de longueurs d'équerres de partitions d'entiers. Notre approche, bijective, utilise notamment les identités de Macdonald en types affines (en particulier le type C), généralisant l'approche de Han en type A. Nous étendons ensuite avec de nouveaux paramètres ces développements, grâce à de nouvelles propriétés de la décomposition de Littlewood vis-à-vis des partitions et statistiques considérées. Cela nous permet de déduire des formules des équerres symplectiques, ainsi qu'une connexion avec la théorie des représentations. Dans une seconde partie, nous étudions les éléments cycliquement pleinement commutatifs dans les groupes de Coxeter introduits par Boothby et al., qui forment une sous famille des éléments pleinement commutatifs. Nous commençons par développer une construction, la clôture cylindrique, donnant un cadre théorique qui est aux éléments CPC ce que les empilements de Viennot sont aux éléments PC. Nous donnons une caractérisation des éléments CPC en terme de clôtures cylindriques pour n'importe quel système de Coxeter. Celle-ci nous permet de déterminer en termes d'expressions réduites les éléments CPC dans tous les groupes de Coxeter finis ou affines, et d'en déduire dans tous ces groupes l'énumération de ces éléments. En utilisant la théorie des automates finis, nous montrons aussi que la série génératrice de ces éléments est une fraction rationnelle / This thesis focuses on enumerative combinatorics, particularly on integer partitions and Coxeter groups. In the first part, like Han and Nekrasov-Okounkov, we study the combinatorial expansion of power of the Dedekind's eta function, in terms of hook lengths of integer partitions. Our approach, bijective, use the Macdonald identities in affine types, generalizing the study of Han in the case of type A. We extend with new parameters the expansions that we obtained through new properties of the Littlewood decomposition. This enables us to deduce symplectic hook length formulas and a connexion with representation theory. In the second part, we study the cyclically fully commutative elements in Coxeter groups, introduced by Boothby et al., which are a sub family of the fully commutative elements. We start by introducing a new construction, the cylindrical closure, which give a theoretical framework for the CPC elements analogous to the Viennot's heaps for fully commutative elements. We give a characterization of CPC elements in terms of cylindrical closures in any Coxeter groups. This allows to deduce a characterization of these elements in terms of reduced decompositions in all finite and affine Coxeter and their enumerations in those groups. By using the theory of finite state automata, we show that the generating function of these elements is always rational, in all Coxeter groups

Essa dissertação de mestrado descreve o desenvolvimento de hardwares de colunas para cromatografia líquida capilar. O processo de desenvolvimentos desses dispositivos é descrito gradativamente e os pontos fortes e as limitações de cada modelo de hardware são discutidos. O melhor modelo de hardware desenvolvido apresentou produção simples, fácil conexão ao sistema cromatográfico e resistência a pressões superiores a 900 bar. Sucessivamente ao estabelecimento de um modelo de hardware apropriado, os efeitos dos materiais do hardware na eficiência das colunas foram avaliados. Poucos estudos relatam a influência do hardware nas separações em escala capilar, de forma que essa dissertação contribui para o preenchimento dessa lacuna. Capilares de aço inoxidável e sílica fundida e frits de aço inoxidável e fibra de vidro foram avaliados. Colunas com eficiências superiores a 100.000 pratos por metro foram produzidas. / This master\'s dissertation describes the development of hardware for capillary liquid chromatography columns. The development process of the devices is described gradually and the strengths and limitations of each model of hardware are discussed. The best-developed hardware model presented easy production, practice connection to the chromatographic system and resistance to pressures greater than 900 bar. After the establishment of an appropriate hardware model, the effects of hardware materials on the efficiency of the columns were evaluated. Few studies report the influence of the hardware on capillary scale separations; therefore, this dissertation contributes to fill this gap. Capillaries of stainless steel and fused silica and frits of stainless steel and glass fiber were evaluated. Columns with efficiencies greater than 100,000 plates per meter were produced.

A produção de petróleo e gás em campos brasileiros é cada vez mais proveniente de regiões com águas profundas e situadas longe da costa, chegando a distâncias de mais de 100 km, como, por exemplo, na Bacia de Campos ou de Santos. Devido à falta de infra-estrutura e às características do petróleo desses campos, a cadeia de abastecimento e o sistema de exportação da produção possuem grande importância para a indústria offshore. Uma maneira usual para a exportação da produção é através de dutos submarinos, onde o óleo e/ou a gás flui das plataformas diretamente para o continente. Com esta infra-estrutura é possível a utilização de sistemas de produção sem capacidade de armazenamento e, conseqüentemente, torna-se desnecessário o uso de navios para o alívio da produção. No entanto, devido à qualidade do óleo e às distâncias entre os poços e a costa em alguns campos brasileiros, a utilização dos oleodutos mostra-se uma solução pouco viável. Por este motivo, é bastante comum o uso de FPSOs ou semi-submersíveis conectadas a sistemas auxiliares, como o FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading). Nas plataformas, outra característica importante e desejada é tornar viável o uso de um sistema de completação seca (árvore de Natal acima da linha dágua) com o objetivo de diminuir, significativamente, os custos operacionais envolvidos. Esse tipo de completação é utilizado, com excelência, por unidade do tipo TLWP ou Spar, devido ao baixo nível dos movimentos e acelerações observadas nestas plataformas. Entretanto, as condições ambientais severas amplificam as dificuldades para encontrar um sistema com grande capacidade de armazenamento e que permita o uso de completação seca. Neste contexto, pesquisadores e engenheiros estão sendo obrigados a desenvolver novos conceitos capazes de atender a essa demanda. Desta forma, uma nova solução, considerando um FPSO e uma TLWP operando a uma curta distância e trabalhando de forma acoplada com a conexão garantida por cabos sintéticos vem sendo estudada. Essencialmente, o grande atrativo deste conceito é o fato de que toda a produção e o armazenamento são concentrados no FPSO e a TLWP é responsável pela perfuração e extração dos hidrocarbonetos através de risers verticais. Assim o sistema trabalhando de forma conjunta possui capacidade de armazenamento e permite o uso da completação seca. Nesta dissertação, foi realizado um estudo sobre a evolução deste novo conceito, dividido em três fases. A primeira focada no dimensionamento do sistema de conexão e ancoragem das unidades e em uma investigação da interação hidrodinâmica entre as unidades de forma a mostrar a viabilidade do sistema. A segunda fase, focada na validação dos resultados por meio da comparação com os testes realizados no modelo em escala do NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute - Japão). Finalmente, a terceira fase, com foco no redimensionamento do sistema de amarração e no sistema de conexão, com base nos resultados obtidos na segunda fase. / The oil and gas production in Brazilian fields are commonly found in deep water and situated far away from the coast, reaching distances of more than 100 km as, for example, in the Campos Basin or Santos Basin. Due to the heavy oil and lack of pipeline infrastructure found in these fields, not only subsea equipments that must support high pressure but also logistics problems such as supply chain and production exportation system play an important role for the offshore industry. A usual way to export the production is to concentrate it in hubs of submarine pipelines which flows the oil or gas from the platforms to the continent. This infrastructure makes possible the use of no storage production systems and, consequently, releases the use of the shuttle tanks employment. However, due to the quality of the oil and the distances between the wells and the coast, some Brazilian fields do not allow the use of the pipelines to export their production. For this reason, is quite common to use FPSO and semi-submersible aided by auxiliary systems such as the FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading) units. Another important and desired characteristic of production platforms is to make it feasible to install a dry Christmas tree system aiming to decrease, significantly, operational costs involved. This feature is performed, with excellence, by TLWP and Spar units due to the low level of motions and accelerations observed in these platforms. Harsh environmental conditions can bring difficulties to find a solution of a system with both storage and dry tree system capability. In this context, researchers and engineers are being forced to develop new technological systems capable to support this demand. In this way, a new solution considering a FPSO and a TLWP coupled in a short distance by synthetic ropes has being studied. Essentially, the attractive feature of this concept is the fact that the production is performed by the FPSO whereas the TLWP is responsible to support the risers and drilling facilities turning the system coupled, equipped with a dry Christmas tree and with the possibility to storage the production. By now, the concept evolution has been divided in three phases. The first phase concerned about an advanced research focusing on the connection and mooring system development and the hydrodynamic interaction between the units and having in mind the verification of the concept feasibility. The second phase, concerned about the results validation by a comparison with scale model tests performed in the NMRI (National Maritime Research Institute Japan). Finally, the third phase, has the focus in the mooring and connection system resizing based on the results obtained on second phase.

Drilled shaft retaining walls are common earth retaining structures, well suited to urban environments where noise, space, and damage to adjacent structures are major considerations. The design of drilled shaft retaining walls in non-expansive soils is well established. In expansive soils, however, there is no consensus on the correct way to account for the influence of soil expansion on wall behavior. Based on the range of design assumptions currently in practice, existing walls could be substantially over- or under-designed. The goal of this research is to advance the understanding of the effects of expansive clay on drilled shaft retaining walls. The main objectives of this study are to identify the processes responsible for wall loading and deformation in expansive clay, to evaluate how these processes change with time, and to provide guidance for design practice to account for these processes and ensure adequate wall performance. The primary source of information for this research is performance data from a four-year monitoring program at the Lymon C. Reese research wall, a full-scale instrumented drilled shaft retaining wall constructed through expansive clay in Manor, Texas. The test wall was instrumented with inclinometers and fiber optic strain gauges, and performance data was recorded during construction, excavation, during natural moisture fluctuations, and during controlled inundation tests that provided the retained soil with unlimited access to water. In addition to the test wall study, a field assessment of existing TxDOT drilled shaft retaining walls was conducted. The main process influencing short-term wall deformation was found to be global response to stress relief during excavation, which causes the wall and soil to move together without the development of large earth pressures or bending stresses. Long-term wall deformations were governed by the development of drained conditions in both the retained soil and the foundation soil after approximately eight months of controlled inundation testing. To ensure adequate wall performance, the deformations and structural loads associated with short- and long-term conditions should be combined and checked against allowable values. / text

Vast attention has been paid to active continuous-time filters over the years. Thus as the cheap, readily available integrated circuit OpAmps replaced their discrete circuit versions, it became feasible to consider active-RC filter circuits using large numbers of OpAmps. Similarly the development of integrated operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) led to new filter configurations. This gave rise to OTA-C filters, using only active devices and capacitors, making it more suitable for integration. The demands on filter circuits have become ever more stringent as the world of electronics and communications has advanced. In addition, the continuing increase in the operating frequencies of modern circuits and systems increases the need for active filters that can perform at these higher frequencies; an area where the LC active filter emerges. What mainly limits the performance of an analog circuit are the non-idealities of the used building blocks and the circuit architecture. This research concentrates on the design issues of high frequency continuous-time integrated filters. Several novel circuit building blocks are introduced. A novel pseudo-differential fully balanced fully symmetric CMOS OTA architecture with inherent common-mode detection is proposed. Through judicious arrangement, the common-mode feedback circuit can be economically implemented. On the level of system architectures, a novel filter low-voltage 4th order RF bandpass filter structure based on emulation of two magnetically coupled resonators is presented. A unique feature of the proposed architecture is using electric coupling to emulate the effect of the coupled-inductors, thus providing bandwidth tuning with small passband ripple. As part of a direct conversion dual-mode 802.11b/Bluetooth receiver, a BiCMOS 5th order low-pass channel selection filter is designed. The filter operated from a single 2.5V supply and achieves a 76dB of out-of-band SFDR. A digital automatic tuning system is also implemented to account for process and temperature variations. As part of a Bluetooth transmitter, a low-power quadrature direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS) is presented. Piecewise linear approximation is used to avoid using a ROM look-up table to store the sine values in a conventional DDFS. Significant saving in power consumption, due to the elimination of the ROM, renders the design more suitable for portable wireless communication applications.

Magistro tezių tikslas yra sukurti skirtingų programinės įrangos tipų (gatavos arba reikalingos sukurti) įsigijimo valdymo gaires. Tokioms gairėms sukurti pirmiausia reikia apibrėžti programinės įrangos tipus. Kiekvienam apibrėžtam programinės įrangos tipui nustatyti jų įsigijimo keliai ir sudaryti kriterijai, kurie padėtų parinkti tinkamą įsigijimo kelią. Literatūros šaltinių apžvalgoje išanalizavus programinės įrangos įsigijimo modelius bei standartus nustatyti šie programinės įrangos tipai: COTS, MOTS ir naujai kuriama programinė įranga (NKPĮ). Remiantis įsigijamos programinės įrangos tipais ir projekto charakteristikomis nustatyti įsigijimo keliai. Programinės įrangos įsigijimo keliui parinkti sudaryti kriterijai, kurie apibūdina įsigyjamą programinę įrangą, įsigijimo projekto resursus ir aplinkos faktorius. Veiklos, kurios turi būti vykdomos kiekviename programinės įrangos įsigijimo kelyje, nustatytos panaudojant CMMI-ACQ procesų modelį. Procesų veiklos vykdytinos kiekviename programinės įrangos įsigijimo kelyje: nurodoma, kokiu keliu turi būti įsigyjama programinė įranga, kokias veiklas reikia vykdyti, pateikiamos rekomenduojamos pastangos, reikalingos kiekvienam PĮ įsigijimo keliui. / The primary objective of master thesis is to provide guidelines for managing a different types of software acquisition projects. Firstly, to provide guidelines is necessary to define types of software. Secondly, to create the ways of acquisition for each defined type of software and to create criteria that allows to select the right way of acquisition. During the analysis of existing software acquisition process models software types was defined: COTS (Commercial-off-the-shelf software), MOTS (Modified-off-the-shelf software), fully developed software. To have an effective acquisition processes, it is useful to employ an adequate level of formality for those processes according to the characteristics of the acquisition project. The ways of software acquisition was defined in accordance with defined software types and characteristics of acquisition projects. That can be used as a guideline on what level of formality is appropriate for the actual software acquisition project. To select the way to acquire software, there were created criteria that describes the characteristics of acquiring software, acquisition project resources and environment factors. CMMI-ACQ process model was used to define activities of each software acquisition way. Each acquisition way contains suggestions on what activities to perform for the different acquisition project customization.

Sandwich panels comprise a thick, light-weight plastic foam such as polyurethane, polystyrene or mineral wool sandwiched between two relatively thin steel faces. One or both steel faces may be flat, lightly profiled or fully profiled. Until recently sandwich panel construction in Australia has been limited to cold-storage buildings due to the lack of design methods and data. However, in recent times, its use has increased significantly due to their widespread structural applications in building systems. Structural sandwich panels generally used in Australia comprise of polystyrene foam core and thinner (0.42 mm) and high strength (minimum yield stress of 550 MPa and reduced ductility) steel faces bonded together using separate adhesives. Sandwich panels exhibit various types of buckling behaviour depending on the types of faces used. Three types of buckling modes can be observed which are local buckling of plate elements of fully profiled faces, flexural wrinkling of flat and lightly profiled faces and mixed mode buckling of lightly profiled faces due to the interaction of local buckling and flexural wrinkling. To study the structural performance and develop appropriate design rules for sandwich panels, all these buckling failure modes have to be investigated thoroughly. A well established analytical solution exists for the design of flat faced sandwich panels, however, the design solutions for local buckling of fully profiled sandwich panels and mixed mode buckling of lightly profiled sandwich panels are not adequate. Therefore an extensive research program was undertaken to investigate the local buckling behaviour of fully profiled sandwich panels and the mixed mode buckling behaviour of lightly profiled sandwich panels. The first phase of this research was based on a series of laboratory experiments and numerical analyses of 50 foam-supported steel plate elements to study the local buckling behaviour of fully profiled sandwich panels made of thin steel faces and polystyrene foam core covering a wide range of b/t ratios. The current European design standard recommends the use of a modified effective width approach to include the local buckling effects in design. However, the experimental and numerical results revealed that this design method can predict reasonable strength for sandwich panels with low b/t ratios (< 100), but it predicts unconservative strengths for panels with slender plates (high b/t ratios). The use of sandwich panels with high b/t ratios is very common in practical design due to the increasing use of thinner and high strength steel plates. Therefore an improved design rule was developed based on the numerical results that can be used for fully profiled sandwich panels with any practical b/t ratio up to 600. The new improved design rule was validated using six full-scale experiments of profiled sandwich panels and hence can be used to develop safe and economical design solutions. The second phase of this research was based on a series of laboratory experiments and numerical analyses on lightly profiled sandwich panels to study the mixed mode buckling behaviour due to the interaction of local buckling and flexural wrinkling. The current wrinkling formula, which is a simple modification of the methods utilized for flat panels, does not consider the possible interaction between these two buckling modes. As the rib depth and width of flat plates between the ribs increase, flat plate buckling can occur leading to the failure of the entire panel due to the interaction between local buckling and wrinkling modes. Experimental and numerical results from this research confirmed that the current wrinkling formula for lightly profiled sandwich panels based on the elastic half-space method is inadequate in its present form. Hence an improved equation was developed based on validated finite element analysis results to take into account the interaction of the two buckling modes. This new interactive buckling formula can be used to determine the true value of interactive buckling stress for safe and economical design of lightly profiled sandwich panels. This thesis presents the details of experimental investigations and finite element analyses conducted to study the local buckling behaviour of fully profiled sandwich panels and the mixed mode buckling behaviour of lightly profiled sandwich panels. It includes development and validation of suitable numerical and experimental models, and the results. Current design rules are reviewed and new improved design rules are developed based on the results from this research.

Peas dominate New Zealand grain legume production and they are a major export crop. However, weeds are a major problem particularly under organic production, where the use of synthetic chemicals is prohibited. To address this limitation, a research program to study weed control in peas was done to provide both conventional and organic farmers a sustainable weed management package. This was done through three field experiments over two growing seasons, 2006/07 and 2007/08. Experiment 1, (2006/07) evaluated the effect of 50, 100 and 400 plants m² on crop yield, and weed growth of Aragon, Midichi or Pro 7035 with and without cyanazine. Experiment two explored the physiology of two pea genotypes, the leafed (Pro 7035) and the semi leafless (Midichi) sown at three dates. A herbicide treatment was included as a control. In the third experiment Midichi, was used to investigate the effect of different pea and weed population combinations and their interaction on crop yield and weed growth. All crops were grown at Lincoln University on a Templeton silt loam soil. In Experiment one, herbicide had no effect on total dry matter (TDM) and seed yield (overall mean seed yield 673 g m²). There was also no significant difference in mean seed yield among the pea genotypes, Aragorn, Pro 7035 and Midichi, (overall mean, 674 g m²). The lowest average seed yield, 606 g m² was from 400 plants m² and the highest, 733 g m², from 50 plants m², a 21% yield increase. A significant herbicide by population interaction showed that herbicide had no effect on seed yields at 100 and 400 plants m². However, cyanazine treated plots at 50 plants m² gave 829 g m² of seed. This was 30% more than the 637 g m², from plots without herbicide. In Experiment 1 pea cultivar and herbicide had no significant effect on weed counts. In Experiment 2 the August sowing gave the highest seed yield at 572 g m². This was 62% more than the lowest yield, in October. Cyanazine treatment gave a mean seed yield of 508 g m², 19% more than from unsprayed plots. There was a significant (p < 0.05) sowing date x genotype interaction which showed that in the August sowing genotype had no effect on seed yield. However, in September the Pro 7035 seed yield at 559 g m² was 40% more that of Midichi and in October it gave 87% more. Weed spectrum varied over time. Prevalent weeds in spring were Stachys spp, Achillea millefolium L., and Spergular arvensis L. In summer they were Chenopodium album L., Rumex spp, Trifolium spp and Solanum nigrum L. Coronopus didymus L., Stellaria media and Lolium spp were present in relatively large numbers throughout the season. In Experiment 3 seed yield increased significantly (p < 0.001) with pea population. Two hundred plants m² gave the highest mean seed yield at 409 g m² and 50 plants m² gave the lowest (197 g m²). The no-sown-weed treatment gave the highest mean seed yield of 390 g m². This was due to less competition for solar radiation. There was no difference in seed yield between the normal rate sown weed and the 2 x normal sown weed treatments (mean 255 g m²). It can be concluded that fully leafed and semi-leafless peas can be sown at similar populations to achieve similar yields under weed free conditions. Increased pea sowing rate can increase yield particularly in weedy environments. Early sowing can also increase yield and possibly control problem weeds of peas (particularly Solanum spp), which are usually late season weeds. Herbicide can enhance pea yield but can be replaced by effective cultural methods such as early sowing, appropriate pea genotype and high sowing rates. Additional key words: Pisum sativum L., semi-leafless, fully leafed, cyanazine, pea population, weed population, sustainable, TDM, seed yield, weed, weed counts, sowing date, weed spectrum, seed rates.

Des voitures complètement automatisées pourraient circuler sur les routes dans les décennies à venir. Elles permettraient aux automobilistes d’être conduits dans leur véhicule par un système informatique. Une telle innovation pourrait engendrer une révolution qui affecterait le rôle du conducteur et ses activités pendant le trajet. Actuellement, ces véhicules ne sont pas encore accessibles au grand public, et il demeure difficile de prédire précisément quand cela se produira, et quelles seront leurs caractéristiques techniques finales. Dans ce contexte, un des objectifs de cette thèse a été d’étudier dans quelle mesure la conduite complètement automatisée sera acceptée. Bien que l’automobiliste soit conduit par son véhicule, il pourrait être amené à en reprendre le contrôle manuel dans différentes circonstances. En effet, cette manœuvre pourrait être effectuée en situation d’urgence ou de manière anticipée par le conducteur alors qu’il pourrait être engagé dans une autre activité que la conduite. La réalisation de cette reprise de contrôle manuel pourrait être plus ou moins difficile selon la situation et l’expérience d’interactions avec le système complètement automatisé. Nous avons examiné la manière dont cette manœuvre pourrait être apprise par des conducteurs, en testant l’effet de différentes formes d’entrainement sur la performance et la sécurité (temps de réponse et qualité de la reprise de contrôle). L’acceptabilité et la confiance, les attitudes des conducteurs, les intentions d’utilisation du système de conduite complètement automatisée et l’impact de ces variables sur les comportements dans le véhicule ont été mesurés. / Fully automated cars could possibly be on the road in the decades to come. They will allow drivers to be driven by an informatics system in their own vehicle. Such an innovation could lead to a revolution that would change the driver’s status and its activities during the trips, but also the infrastructure, freight, some professions, etc. Nowadays, these vehicles are not available for sale yet, and it is difficult to forecast accurately when they will be, and also what their features will be. Considering this, one of the aims of the present thesis is to examine to what extend fully automated driving will be accepted. Even though the driver is driven by its vehicle, he could have to resume manual control in different circumstances. Indeed, this maneuver could be performed in an emergency or in an anticipated situation while he could be engaged in a non driving-related activity. Performing a manual control recovery could be more or less difficult according to the situation and the experience with the fully automated system. The way this maneuver could be learned by drivers has been examined, testing the impact of different kinds of training on performance and safety (response time and control recovery quality). Acceptability, trust, drivers’ attitudes, intentions to use the fully automated driving system and the impact of these variables on behaviors inside the vehicle have been assessed.