Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides unique advantages such as superior soft tissue contrast, true multiplanar imaging, variable contrast mechanisms, measurement of temperature changes, perfusion and diffusion, and no ionizing radiation. Despite considerable research efforts in the field of interventional MRI, numerous challenges remain including restricted access to the patient, high acoustic noise and a shortage of MRI-safe devices. Novel methods and devices are presented in this thesis with the primary objective of enabling effective MRI-guided interventions, particularly abdominal needle and common catheter-based endovascular interventions. Firstly, a set of MRI-safe devices (guidewires, micro guidewires, catheters and micro catheters) were developed with passive or inductively coupling resonant markers for MRI visualisation. Secondly, a method was implemented for wireless tracking and dynamic guidance of instruments. Thirdly, a framework of technologies was developed for in-room display, wireless MRI remote control and multi-user communication along with a dedicated user interface and imaging protocol. These implementations were assessed in regards to MRI-safety, performance and usability and evaluated for MRI-guided liver biopsies, balloon angioplasty procedures and also for mechanical thrombolysis. Flow phantoms, Thiel soft-embalmed human cadavers with partially re-established perfusion and a porcine model were used for in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo validation, respectively. The results demonstrate that these interventions are experimentally feasible and practical when using the presented developments: automated device tracking and equipment designed for MRI-guided interventions streamlined procedural workflow. Specifically, it was shown that fast and accurate needle placements along complex trajectories were feasible using a wireless interactive display and control device with a dedicated user interface for interventions. Moreover, safe and efficacious balloon angioplasties of the iliac artery were practical using the described framework of technologies along with a dedicated MRI protocol. Finally, it was demonstrated that these developments could be adapted and applied to MRI-guided endovascular mechanical thrombolysis of the middle cerebral artery. The technologies, described in this thesis have been shown to overcome many of the present limitations and should therefore be useful for enabling MRI-guided interventions while not further constraining the operating physician in an already complex environment. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that many crucial issues remain to be solved in the field of iMRI and in the context of the presented research. In particular further device optimisations, improvements of the tracking implementation along with further in vivo evaluations are required before moving towards clinical evaluation. This thesis sets the groundwork for moving ahead with the eventual clinical realisation of optimised MRI-guided interventions.

Automated Guided Vehicles, AGV:er, används i huvudsak som monteringsplattform inom tung fordonsindustri. En AGV kan användas vid montering av motorer, växellådor och chas-sin. AGV:n transporterar produkten genom en slinga i fabriken, där produkten monteras. Idag säljs AGV:n med ett löfte om femfaldig säkerhet mot brott för alla de ingående komponenter-na. AGV:n är konstruerad för att bära upp en last på maximalt 1800 kg, med säkerhetsfaktorn inkluderad. Lastens tyngdpunkt tillåts ligga en meter ut från infästningen som kopplar sam-man AGV:n med lasten. I arbetet illustreras lasten av en fiktiv motor, som väger 1800 kg med tyngdpunkten placerad en meter ut från infästningen. I detta arbete undersöks om konstruktionen av kopplingen, som kopplar samman motorn med AGV:n, lever upp till utlovad säkerhet. De delar som, i huvudsak, utgör kopplingen mellan AGV och motor är fixtur, kamskiva samt adapterplatta. Fixturen och kamskiva är monterade på AGV:n, adapterplattan monteras temporärt på motorn. Adapterplattan har tre klackar som sammanlänkar den med fixturen. För att avgöra hur väl kopplingen lever upp till femfaldig säkerhet mot brott, kartläggs de krafter som verkar i kopplingen. Dessa krafter ligger till grund för de FE-analyser som utreder kopplingens spänningsfördelning. Utifrån FE-analyser och analytiska beräkningar av kopp-lingen bestäms hållfasthetsegenskaperna. Kopplingens komponenter har, generellt, goda hållfasthetsegenskaper som lever upp till fem-faldig säkerhet mot brott. Resultaten visar att vissa komponenter har tiofaldig säkerhet mot brott vid belastning med den 1800 kg tunga motorn. Dock visar beräkningar av skruvför-banden i kopplingen på brister som bör åtgärdas. Skruvförbanden i fixturens klackar understi-ger de krav, som baseras på säkerhetsfaktorn. Under förstudien uppdagas det att fixturen, på vissa AGV:er, monterats med skruvar med lägre hållfasthetsklass än vad som står angivet på ritningsunderlaget. Detta medför en allvar-ligt sänkt säkerhet för kopplingen. Orsaken till att fel skruvar använts är inte känd. Ett arbets-sätt för att förhindra fel skruv vid montering bör finnas. I arbetet studeras Arbetsmiljöverkets föreskrift ”AFS 2008:3 – Maskiner” vilken har legat till grund vid val av säkerhetsfaktor för konstruktionen. Utifrån studien av AFS 2008:3 genom-förs ett försök till att tolka den säkerhetsfaktor som gäller för kopplingen. Resultaten av denna rapport kan ligga till grund för ett fortsatt arbete, då en vidareutveckling av kopplingen blir aktuell. / Automated Guided Vehicles, AGV´s, are mainly used as a mounting platform in the heavy vehicle industry. An AGV is commonly used in the assembly process of; engines, gearboxes and chassis. The AGV transports the product through a predefined trail in the plant where the product is mounted. Today the AGV is being sold with a promise, from the manufacturer, that the construction is engineered with a safety factor five, against fracture, for any component in the AGV. It is engineered to support loads to a maximum of 1800 kg, with this safety factor included. The center of gravity is allowed to be one meter out from the mount that connects AGV with the supported load. This work investigates if the coupling, which connects the supported engine with the AGV, meets safety requirements. The coupling consists three main parts; fixture, cam-disk and an adapter plate. The fixture and cam-disk is mounted on the AGV, and the adapter plate is tem-porarily mounted on the engine. The adapter plate has three so called “heels” that links it with the fixture. To determine how well the coupling meets the safety requirements, the forces acting in the structure, while the AGV is loaded, is calculated. The work load is illustrated by a fictional engine, weighing 1800 kg with its center of gravity placed one meter out from the mount. These forces form the basis for the FE-analyzes, investigating the coupling strength proper-ties. Knowing the couplings strength properties, conclusions if the coupling meets the safety requirements can be adopted. The coupling component has, in general, good strength properties that meet the safety re-quirement of five-times security. The results show that some components have tenfold safety, while the AGV carries a load of 1800 kg. Calculations show that the screw connections of the fixture don’t meet the safety requirement and needs to be further investigated. The pilot study revealed that the fixture, for some AGVs, has been assembled with wrong screws. Instead of 10.9-screws, 8.8-screws were used. This leads to a serious consequence of reduced security for the construction. The cause of why fault screw was used is not known. One approach to prevent wrong screw is highlighted as suggestions for improvement. To understand why such a high security factor as five is chosen, the regulations “AFS 2008:3 – maskiner” that formed the basis for selecting the safety factor is studied. The study has been a basis for the conclusions for this work. The results of this survey may serve as a basis for further work, when further development of the coupling is relevant.

The field of guided projectile research has continually grown over the past several decades. Guided projectiles, typically encompassing bullets, mortars, and artillery shells, incorporate some sort of guidance and control mechanism to generate trajectory alterations. This serves to increase accuracy and decrease collateral damage. Control mechanisms for smart weapons must be able to withstand extreme acceleration loads at launch while remain simple for cost and reliability reasons. One type of control mechanism utilizes controllable internal translating masses (ITM's) that oscillate within the projectile to generate control forces. Several techniques for using internal translating masses for smart weapon flight control purposes are explored here. Specifically, the use of ITM's as direct control mechanisms, as a means to increase control authority, and as a means to protect the smart weapons sensor suite are examined. It is first shown that oscillating a mass orthogonal to the projectile axis of symmetry generates reasonable control force in statically-stable rounds. Trade studies examine the impact of mass size, mass offset from the center of gravity, and reductions in static stability on control authority. Then, the topic of static margin control through mass center modification is explored. This is accomplished by translating a mass in flight along the projectile axis of symmetry. Results show that this system allows for greater control authority and reduced throw-off error at launch. Another study, aimed at examining shock reduction potential at launch rather than static margin alteration, also considers ITM movement along the projectile centerline. In these studies, the ITM is comprised of sensitive electronic sensors, and is configured as a first-order damper during launch. Trade study results show that although the mechanism cannot substantially reduce the magnitude of launch loads, it is successful at dampening harmful structural vibrations typically experienced after muzzle exit. Finally, an active control system is developed for the ITM control mechanism using sliding mode methodology. Example cases and Monte Carlo simulations incorporating model uncertainties and sensor errors show that ITM control of projectiles can substantially reduce dispersion error. Furthermore, the novel sliding mode control law is shown to be highly robust to feedback disturbances. In a final study, combined ITM-canard control of projectiles is explored, concluding that ITM mechanisms can serve as a useful supplement in increasing the efficiency of currently-deployed control mechanisms.

Submitted by Izabel Franco (izabel-franco@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-05T12:59:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseVFC.pdf: 9165002 bytes, checksum: bb98f82058344c51fda9b34979b8a524 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-20T18:15:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseVFC.pdf: 9165002 bytes, checksum: bb98f82058344c51fda9b34979b8a524 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-20T18:15:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseVFC.pdf: 9165002 bytes, checksum: bb98f82058344c51fda9b34979b8a524 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-20T18:15:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseVFC.pdf: 9165002 bytes, checksum: bb98f82058344c51fda9b34979b8a524 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-02 / In recent years, manufacturers are increasingly applying automation techniques with the aim of increase their efficiency to remain competitive. The material handling is an essential activity in any process of production and its effectiveness has severe impacts on production costs. Systems of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have become an important strategic tool for factories and automated warehouses. In a very competitive business scenario, they can increase productivity and reduce costs. The management of these AGVs is the key to a transport system that ensures the improvements envisioned by the industry. One of the main problems encountered in the management of AGVs is the dispatch decision. This paper proposes a vehicles dispatch model based on a fuzzy cascade system for consideration of multiple attributes of the factory and a structure based on state space that enables the extraction of information of future states of the industrial production system. The objective is to reduce makespan and tardiness values of the production system. Two factory scenarios are simulated and tests are performed of the model and five other methods of dispatch. A statistical validation is realized of the results in which corroborates with 97% confidence the hypotheses of the work. / Nos últimos anos, as indústrias vêm cada vez mais aplicando técnicas de automação com o objetivo de aumentar sua eficiência para manterem-se competitivas. O manuseio de materiais é uma atividade essencial em qualquer processo de produção e sua eficácia tem impactos severos sobre os custos de produção. Sistemas de veículos autoguiados (AGVs) tornaram-se uma ferramenta estratégica importante para fábricas e armazéns automatizados. Em um cenário de negócio muito competitivo, eles podem aumentar a produtividade e reduzir os custos. O gerenciamento desses AGVs é a chave para um sistema de transporte que garanta as melhorias vislumbradas pelas indústrias. Um dos principais problemas encontrados no gerenciamento dos AGVs é a decisão de despacho. Esse trabalho propõe um modelo de despacho de veículos baseado em um sistema fuzzy cascata para ponderação de múltiplos atributos da fábrica e em uma estrutura baseada em espaço de estados que permita a extração de informações de estados futuros do sistema de produção fabril. O objetivo é reduzir valores de makespan e tardiness do sistema de produção. Dois cenários de fábrica são simulados e são realizados testes do modelo proposto e cinco outros métodos de despachos. É realizada uma validação estatística dos resultados em que se corrobora com 97% de confiança as hipóteses do trabalho

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第20764号 / 工博第4416号 / 新制||工||1686(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科合成・生物化学専攻 / (主査)教授 浜地 格, 教授 跡見 晴幸, 教授 秋吉 一成 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Mary T. Copple / The English article system is one of the most difficult and subtle structural elements for EFL learners, and even advanced learners make errors in article use. This research analyzes patterns of use of English articles (a/an, the, zero) in guided conversations with Afghan Dari speakers who are intermediate or advanced English learners and who do have an article system in their primary language, Dari. In this research, six intermediate and six advanced learners participated by discussing similar topics (their first impressions of the USA, their life in Manhattan, their classes, and their future plans). These conversations were recorded and transcribed. The collected data were analyzed on the basis of referentiality, information status, and various properties of nouns. The results indicate that the participants were most accurate in their production of the indefinite article ‘a/an’ in referential and non-referential contexts with new information, the definite ‘the’ in referential contexts with known information, while the zero ‘Ø’ was difficult for both ELP (intermediate) and Post-ELP (advanced) learners mostly in referential contexts.

A structural health monitoring system is desired to monitor the integrity of cylindrical, multi-layer carbon over-wrapped pressure vessels intended to house hydrogen at high pressures. In order to develop the system based on ultrasonic guided wave technology, the interaction between ultrasonic guided waves and defect types of interest must be understood. Finite element models in two and three dimensions are developed to predict guided wave motion in the reservoirs. Key parameters are optimized including frequency range, excited modes, detected modes, and transducer dimensions. A novel baseline subtraction technique in the frequency wavenumber domain is presented to increase lower level detection limits. Some experiments are carried out to corroborate the findings in the finite element environment.

The work presented in this thesis investigates novel transducer implementations that take advantage of directional sensing and generation of acoustic waves. These transducers are conceived by exploiting a Fourier-based design methodology. The proposed devices find application in the broad field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), which is a very active research area devoted to the assessment of the structural integrity of critical components in aerospace, civil and mechanical systems. Among SHM schemes, Guided Waves (GWs) testing has emerged as a prominent option for inspection of plate-like structures using permanently attached piezoelectric transducers. GWs-based methods rely on the generation and sensing of elastic waves to evaluate structural integrity. They offer an effective method to estimate location, severity and type of damage. It is widely acknowledged among the GWs-SHM community that effective monitoring of structural health is facilitated by sensors and actuators designed with ad hoc engineered capabilities. The objective of this research is to design innovative piezoelectric transducers by specifying their electrode patterns in the Fourier domain. Taking advantage of the Fourier framework, transducer design procedures are outlined and tailored to relevant SHM applications, such as (i) directional actuation and sensing of GWs, (ii) simultaneous sensing of multiple strain components with a single device, and (iii) estimation of the location of impact sites on structural components. The proposed devices enable significant reductions in cost, hardware, and power requirements for advanced SHM schemes when compared to current technologies.

The effectiveness of cancer treatment is compromised by the need to reduce the uncertainties originating from a variety of factors including tumor volume delineation, patient setup, and irregular physiologic motion. In particular, effective yet practical tumor motion management remains a major challenge in current external beam radiation therapy. Many strategies such as motion encompassment, breath-hold techniques, and respiratory gating have been proposed in the literature and implemented clinically. These methods have shown success in certain situations with different limitations. With the advent of image guided radiation therapy, real-time tumor tracking methods have become popular in clinics to proactively address the challenge with on-board tumor localization. Nevertheless, such techniques rely on surrogate signals and have been reported vulnerable to errors. In this dissertation, EGRT is proposed as a new modality for effective and practical management strategy of cancer treatment uncertainties. One implementation of EGRT is to use PET emissions in real-time for direct tumor tracking during radiation delivery. Radiation beamlets are delivered along PET lines of response by a fast rotating ring therapy unit consisting of a linear accelerator and PET detectors. A complete treatment scheme with capabilities of accurate tumor tracking and dose planning is proposed to implement this EGRT concept. Simulation studies with physical phantom, 4D digital patient model, and clinical patient datasets are carefully designed to evaluate the feasibility and performance of EGRT. We show that with the capabilities of achieving both tumor tracking and sophisticated intensity modulation, EGRT has the potential to enable an effective implementation of 4D radiation therapy with true biological targeting and other advantages.