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L'objectif de ce mémoire est d'observer directement le comportement d'enfants nés prématurément dans une situation cognitive et sociale. Soixante-deux extrêmes prématurés et 37 contrôles nés à terme âgés de 11 à 12 ans sont observés à partir d'une nouvelle mesure de type écologique: le Rush-Hour©, un jeu de type labyrinthe. L'enfant prématuré ou contrôle doit résoudre le problème du jeu avec trois autres élèves de sa classe. Les résultats démontrent que le niveau d'activité dans le jeu est plus faible pour les enfants nés prématurément que les contrôles nés à terme. Le niveau d'activité corrèle avec l'état de l'enfant à la naissance (indice Apgar). Plus l'enfant prématuré avait un indice Apgar élevé à sa naissance, plus il est actif dans le jeu à 11–12 ans. Les résultats seront expliqués grâce aux hypothèses sociales et neurologiques émises sur la passivité des prématurés à la petite enfance.

La présente étude fait partie d’une recherche longitudinale menée par Line Nadeau Ph. D. et Réjean Tessier Ph. D. (École de Psychologie de l’Université Laval), depuis 1987, auprès d’une cohorte d’enfants nés extrêmement prématurés (moins de 29 semaines de gestation) et de très petit poids de naissance (moins de 1500 grammes). Cette étude spécifique a pour principal objectif de connaître les séquelles à long terme d’une naissance prématurée sur le développement cognitif et social des enfants. Pour ceci, des mesures cognitives, sociales et de performance (en situation de résolution de problème dans un contexte de jeu) ont été réalisées. Les résultats suggèrent que les enfants prématurés ont plus de difficultés dans les fonctions exécutives (planification) et qu’ils sont perçus par leurs pairs comme moins agressifs et hyperactifs et plus sensibles/isolés. Les difficultés socio-cognitives se reflètent par une difficulté à réaliser des séquences complexes dans un jeu qui requiert une bonne capacité de planification (Rush-Hour). Cette séquence complexe, qu’on appelle «la séquence de quatre mouvements et plus » semble compléter les autres mesures et augmente leur sensibilité et spécificité discriminante.

Coney Island, 1881 – In a town built on blood and money, a charming henchman infiltrates a prominent gang to avenge his family, all while Coney Island is on the rise to becoming America’s playground.

A Navy sailor enlists at a mysterious Naval Reserves base to be closer to his dying mother and discovers he’s transporting aliens and an unknown medicine that could potentially save his Mom’s life.

Global climate change is already having a noticeable impact on the environment that threatens the future of all species including humans. Unfortunately, it is currently accelerating and global temperatures will continue to rise in the coming decades mainly due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities in daily life. One of the biggest contributors is emissions from the transport sector which accounts for 32% of Swedish total CO2 emissions. Within the transport sector, freight transportation is more disruptive to traffic flow than personal vehicles because they take up more space on the road and their speed cannot be controlled as nimble as personal vehicles which causes congestion, waste of fuel and greater emissions. Based on the forecast that freight transportation will grow at a faster rate in the next few years, there is a need to manage them more intelligently while keeping up the demand for daily transport. The concept of OHD with the purpose of traffic distribution has recently been proposed and discussed in some academic and pilot projects. By shifting freight transportation from peak hours to off-peak hours, traffic can be alleviated, thus reducing emission from fuel consumption and reducing the timethey and that parts of traffic operate during the day spent on the road.This thesis presents a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of sustainability on theconcept from multiple perspectives and applies the results to the external logistics of Swedish recycling companies. An empirical study was conducted through fourteen semi-structured interviews with researchers, experts within relevant fields and companies with OHD experience. The combination of the empirical and theoretical study concludes that the opportunities and challenges coexist when the industrial companies implement OHD. The most noticeable opportunity provided by the transition is to get rid of congestion which leads to efficiency improvements, fuel savings and reductions in emissions. However, the concept also has a damaging impact as it exposes residents in the surrounding to noise pollution at the time when they need quiet rest. In addition, another challenge in implementing OHD is getting customers’ cooperation which involves the issue of access. / Klimatförändringar har en märkbar inverkan på miljön och hotar framtiden av alla jordens arter. Dessvärre ökar klimatförändringar och de globala temperaturerna kommer att fortsätta stiga under de kommande decennierna, främst på grund av växthusgaser som produceras av dagliga mänskliga aktiviteter. Transportsektorn ansvarar för 32% av den totala svenskakoldioxid utsläppen och är därav den sektorn med mest utsläpp. Inom transportsektorn orsakar godstransporterna fler hinder i trafikflödet än personbilar eftersom de tar mer plats på vägen och har inte den tekniska möjligheten att accelerera, bromsa eller bibehålla hastigheter i samma mån som personbilar. Därav orsakar de trängsel, slöseri av bränsle samt bidrar till ökat utsläpp av koldioxid. Trafikprognoser förutspår att godstransporter kommer att växa i snabbare mån än andra transportmedel under de kommande åren. Därav finns det ett behov av att hantera godstransporten mer effektivt. Konceptet OHD vars syfte är trafikfördelning av trafiken har nyligen erhållit mycket uppmärksamhet både akademiskt i forskning samt praktiskt i pilotprojekt. Genom att flytta godstransporter från högtrafikerade tider till lågtrafikerade tider kan trafiken fördelas, vilket minskar utsläppen, bränsleförbrukning samt ökar trafik effektivitet.Denna avhandling presenterar en omfattande bedömning av hållbarhetens inverkan av OHDkonceptet från flera perspektiv. Det tillämpar resultaten på externa logistikavdelningen av ett återvinningsföretag. En empirisk fallstudie innehållande fjorton semistrukturerade intervjuer med forskare, experter inom relevanta områden samt företag med erfarenhet av konceptet har genomförts. Studien erhöll slutsatserna att återvinningsindustrin kan erhålla flerfaldiga möjligheter och utmaningar orsakad av implementeringen av OHD i deras verksamhet. Där möjligheterna kan sammanställas till effektivitetsförbättringar, bränslebesparingar och minskade utsläpp, utmaningarna kommer vara ljudföroreningar samt övertygande av alla berörande nödvändiga för dess implementering.

This thesis presents an investigation of arterial travel time and reliability. Specifically an examination of the proposed arterial travel time reliability performance measures detailed in Federal Highway Administration’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on national performance management measures are performed. These measures, including level of travel time reliability and peak hour travel time ratio, are computed and compared to those currently used to quantify congestion and travel time reliability. Within this process several commonly used data sources are evaluated to determine the effects of data quality and data source on performance measure evaluation. The newly created Urban Streets Reliability tool is also evaluated for its ability to estimate the effect of several proposed projects on the travel time reliability of a transportation network. In conclusion, this thesis found that the proposed travel time reliability performance measures show definite differences in estimates of facility reliability as compared with currently used performance measures such as travel time index and planning time index. A variation in the magnitude of this difference was also observed based on a rural vs. urban roadway setting. Finally, further areas of research involving the use of the Urban Streets Reliability tool to estimate the impact of reliability improvements on side streets and the transportation network as a whole are discussed.

This thesis, for the first time in the literature, presents an automatic mode-matching system that uses the phase relationships between the residual quadrature and drive signals in a gyroscope to achieve and maintain the frequency matching condition, and also the system allows controlling the system bandwidth by adjusting the closed loop parameters of the sense mode controller, independently from the mechanical sensor bandwidth. There are two mode-matching methods, using the proposed mode-matching system, presented in this thesis. In the first method, the frequency matching between the resonance modes of the gyroscope is automatically accomplished by changing the proof mass potential. The main motivation behind the first method is to tune the sense mode resonance frequency with respect to the drive mode resonance frequency using the electrostatic tuning capability of the sense mode. In the second method, the mode-matched gyroscope operation is accomplished by using dedicated frequency tuning electrodes that only provides a capability of tuning the sense mode resonance frequency generating an electrostatic spring effect on the sense frame, independently from the proof mass potential. This study mainly focuses on the second method because the proof mass potential variation is not desired during the gyroscope operation since the proof mass potential directly affects the drive and sense mode dynamics of the gyroscope. Therefore, a single-mass fully-decoupled gyroscope including the dedicated frequency tuning electrodes are designed. To identify mode shapes and mode frequencies of the designed gyroscope, FEM simulations are performed. The designed gyroscopes are fabricated using SOI-based SOG process. The fabrication imperfections are clarified during the formation of the structural layer of the gyroscope. Next, the closed loop controllers are designed for the drive amplitude control, sense force-feedback, quadrature cancellation, and mode-matching regarding the phase relationship between the quadrature and drive signals. Mode-matching is achieved by using a closed loop controller that provides a DC tuning potential. The mode-matching system consisting of vacuum packaged sensor, drive amplitude control, sense force-feedback, quadrature cancellation, and mode-matching modules is implemented on a printed circuit board (PCB), and then the system level tests are performed. Tests illustrate that the mode-matching system operates in a desired manner. Test results demonstrate that the performances of the studied MEMS gyroscopes are improved up to 2.6 times in bias instability and 2 times in ARW under the mode-matched condition compared to the mismatched (~200 Hz) condition, reaching down to 0.73 &deg / /hr and 0.024 &deg / /&radic / hr, respectively. At the mode-matched gyroscope operation, the better performance is obtained to be bias instability of 0.87

This thesis studies State-of-Charge (SOC) method for widely used lead-acid batteries and the most prospective lithium-ion batteries. First, the relationship between the battery capacity and the open-circuit-voltage under different charging/discharging currents is investigated based on the equivalent circuit. Experimental results indicate that the open-circuit-voltage of the lead-acid battery varies regularly with the charging/discharging current and the duration of time for the battery disconnected from the load. Accordingly, a dynamic open-circuit-voltage method in considerations the open-circuit-time and the previous operating current is capable of precisely estimating the battery capacity in a shorter time. As for the lithium-ion batteries, their charging/discharging characteristics reveal that the Coulomb/Ampere-Hour Counting method is capable of yielding accurate estimations. Finally, through the experiments that emulate practical operations, the SOC estimations of batteries are verified to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed methods.

Objetivos: Avaliar a associação entre a dismotilidade esofágica, caracterizada como Motilidade Esofágica Ineficaz (MEI), com a presença de refluxo ácido patológico avaliado pela pH-metria de 24 horas, controlando por Esfíncter Esofágico Inferior (EEI) estruturalmente defeituoso, Hérnia Hiatal (HH) e Esofagite, em pacientes em investigação de Doença do Refluxo Gastroesofágico. Métodos: Foram estudados 311 pacientes referenciados para investigação de DRGE em laboratório de motilidade esofágica. Os pacientes foram submetidos à Endoscopia Digestiva Alta (EDA), Manometria Esofágica, pHmetria Esofágica de 24 horas e a uma entrevista sobre os sintomas clínicos apresentados. Foram comparados os grupos de pH-metria negativa com o de pH-metria positiva quanto à presença dos fatores de risco – MEI, EEI defeituoso, HH e Esofagite. A associação entre MEI e pH-metria positiva foi primeiramente avaliada através de análise univariada e, posteriormente, através de análise de regressão logística (multivariada). Resultados: Do total de 311 pacientes estudados, 208 preencheram os critérios de inclusão. A idade média foi 47 anos, com 88 pacientes apresentando pH-metria normal e 120 pH-metria positiva. Após a análise univariada, foi observado que a ocorrência de MEI, EEI defeituoso e HH foi significativamente maior no grupo de pH-metria positiva. Após análise de regressão logística, a ocorrência de MEI e EEI defeituoso permaneceram significativamente maior no grupo de pH-metria positiva. Conclusões: MEI está associada à presença de refluxo ácido anormal, avaliado através de pH-metria esofágica de 24 horas, independentemente da presença de EEI defeituoso, HH ou Esofagite. / Objectives: To assess the association between esophageal dysmotility, characterized as inefficient esophageal motility (IEM), and the presence of pathological acid reflux due to a structurally defective lower esophageal sphincter (LES), hiatus hernia (HH), or esophagitis in patients suspected of having gastroesophageal Reflux reflux disease (GERD). Methods: Three hundred and eleven patients referred for GERD diagnostic procedures in a gastroesopahgeal motility laboratory were included in the study. Patients underwent upper endoscopy (UE), esophageal manometry, 24-hour esophageal pH-metry and an interview regarding their clinical symptoms. The following risk factors of patients in the negative pH-metry group were compared to those in the positive pH-metry group: IEM, defective LES, HH, and esophagitis. The association between IEM and positive pH-metry results was first assessed by means of univariate analysis and later determined with logistic regression analysis (multivariate). Results: Of the total 311 patients studied, 208 met the inclusion criteria (mean age 47 years); 88 had normal pH-metry reslults and 120 had positive pH-metry results. Univariate analysis revealed that the occurrence of IEM, defective LES, and HH was significantly greater in the positive pH-metry group. Following logistic regression analysis, the occurrence of IEM remained significantly greater in the positive pH-metry group. Conclusions: IEM is associated with the presence of abnormal acid reflux, as assessed by 24-hour esophageal pH-metry, regardless of the presence of defective LES, HH, or esophagitis.