The aim of this study is to examine how inductive and deductive concreteization as a didactic method in mathematics teaching can promote the development of knowledge and learning among students. It is also of interest to hear a number of interviewed teachers perceptions about inductive and deductive concretization as a method in mathematics teaching. The examination is for grades 1-3. Theories dealt with in the study are learning promoting theories such as concretization, proximal development zone, conceptualization and creative reasoning.The study's questions will therefore examine:· How can inductive and deductive concretization as a didactic method in mathematics teaching promote the development of knowledge and learning to students?· What perceptions do teachers in grades 1-3 have regarding inductive and deductive concretization as a method of mathematics teaching? In order to answer the study's questions, qualitative methods have been used through interviews with teachers and observations in classrooms. The conclusions of the analysis of material shows that concretization through inductive and deductive methods helps students to participate in situations where different mathematical didactic consequences arise in the teaching based on the theories.

We propose and investigate several new principles of rational reasoning within the framework of Pure Inductive Logic, PIL, where probability functions defined on the sentences of a first-order language are used to model an agent's beliefs. The Elephant Principle is concerned with how learning, modelled by conditioning, may be uniquely `remembered'. The Perspective Principle requires that, from a given prior, conditioning on statistically similar experiences should result in similar assignments, and is found to be a necessary condition for Reichenbach's Axiom to hold. The Abductive Inference Principle and some variations are proposed as possible formulations of a restriction of C.S. Peirce's notion of hypothesis in the context of PIL, though characterization results obtained for these principles suggest that they may be too strong. The Finite Values Property holds when a probability function takes only finitely many values when restricted to sentences containing only constant symbols from some fixed finite set. This is shown to entail a certain systematic method of assigning probabilities in terms of possible worlds, and it is considered in this light as a possible principle of inductive reasoning. Classification results are given, stating which members of certain established families of probability functions satisfy each of these new principles. Additionally, we define the theory of a principle P of PIL to be the set of those sentences which are assigned probability 1 by every probability function which satisfies P. We investigate the theory of the established principle of Spectrum Exchangeability by finding separately the theories of heterogeneous and homogeneous functions. The theory of Spectrum Exchangeability is found to be equal to the theory of finite structures. The theory of Johnson's Sufficientness Postulate is also found. Consequently, we find that Spectrum Exchangeability, Johnson's Sufficientness Postulate and the Finite Values Property are all inconsistent with the principle of Super-Regularity: that any consistent sentence should be assigned non-zero probability.

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In the past decade, fast advancements have been made in the sequencing, digitalization and collection of the biological data. However the bottleneck remains at the point of analysis and extraction of patterns from the data. We have developed a method that is aimed at widening this bottleneck by automating the knowledge extraction from the biological data. Our approach is aimed at discovering patterns in a set of DNA sequences based on the location of transcription factor binding sites or any other biological markers with the emphasis of discovering relationships. A variety of statistical and computational methods exists to analyze such data. However, they either require an initial hypothesis, which is later tested, or classify the data based on its attributes. Our approach does not require an initial hypothesis and the classification it produces is based on the relationships between attributes. The value of such approach is that is is able to uncover new knowledge about the data by inducing a general theory based on basic known rules. The core of our approach lies in an inductive logic programming engine, which, based on positive and negative examples as well as background knowledge, is able to induce a descriptive, human-readable theory, describing the data. An application provides an end-to-end analysis of DNA sequences. A simple to use Web interface accepts a set of related sequences to be analyzed, set of negative example sequences to contrast the main set (optional), and a set of possible genetic markers as position-specific scoring matrices. A Java-based backend formats the sequences, determines the location of the genetic markers inside them and passes the information to the ILP engine, which induces the theory. The model, assumed in our background knowledge, is a set of basic interactions between biological markers in any DNA sequence. This makes our approach applicable to analyze a wide variety of biological problems, including detection of cis-regulatory modules and analysis of ChIP-Sequencing experiments. We have evaluated our method in the context of such applications on two real world datasets as well as a number of specially designed synthetic datasets. The approach has shown to have merit even in situations when no significant classification could be determined.

L’échange d’informations entre périphériques variés et sur internet soulève de nombreux problèmes par le volume et l’hétéroclisme des données échangées. La plupart de ces échanges utilisent le format XML. Afin de les faciliter, des traitements intelligents, comme la classification et la transformation automatiques, ont été développés. Le but de cette thèse est double : proposer un framework d'apprentissage pour la classification de documents XML et étudier l'apprentissage de transformations de documents XML. Le choix d’utiliser la Programmation Logique Inductive a été fait. Même si les méthodes d'apprentissage ont alors un surcoût algorithmique non négligeable (certaines opérations deviennent NP-dures), la représentation relationnelle semble adaptée aux documents XML de par son expressivité. Notre framework pour la classification fait suite à l'étude de familles de clauses pour la représentation de structures arborescentes. Il repose sur une réécriture des opérations de base de la PLI que sont la theta-subsomption et le moindre généralisé [Plotkin1971]. Nos algorithmes sont polynomiaux en temps dans la taille de leur entrée là où ceux standards sont exponentiels. Ils permettent une identification à la limite [Gold1967] de nos familles de clauses. Notre seconde contribution débute par la modélisation d’une famille de clauses dans la lignée des programmes fonctionnels [Paulson91]. Ces clauses sont une adaptation à la PLI des scripts d'édition et prennent en compte un contexte. Elles permettent la représentation de transformations de documents XML. Leurs apprentissages sont possibles grâce à deux algorithmes de type A*, approche courante en PLI (HOC-Learner [Santos2009]). / The recent proliferation of XML documents in databases and web applications rises some issues due to the numerous data exchanged and their diversity. To ease their uses, some smart means have been developed such as automatic classification and transformation. This thesis has two goals:• To propose a framework for the XML documents classification task.• To study the XML documents transformation learning.We have chosen to use Inductive Logic Programming. The expressiveness of logic programs grants flexibility in specifying the learning task and understandability to the induced theories. This flexibility implies a high computational cost, constraining the applicability of ILP systems. However, XML documents being trees, a good concession can be found.For our first contribution, we define clauses languages that allow encoding xml trees. The definition of our classification framework follows their studies. It stands on a rewriting of the standard ILP operations such as theta-subsumption and least general generalization [Plotkin1971]. Our algorithms are polynomials in time in the input size whereas the standard ones are exponentials. They grant an identification in the limit [Gold1967] of our languages.Our second contribution is the building of methods to learn XML documents transformations. It begins by the definition of a clauses class in the way of functional programs [Paulson91]. They are an ILP adaptation of edit scripts and allow a context. Their learning is possible thanks to two A*-like algorithms, a common ILP approach (HOC-Learner [Santos2009]).

This master thesis introduces a new technology applicable to nearly all mobile and portable electrical devices since all of them need energy to operate. This thesis attempts to cut the last wire - this one the wire to the primary power source. In other words, fast and efficient wireless energy transference through a strong, focused near magnetic field whose fast attenuation will avoid interference with surrounding communication systems or human harm. This energy is transferred to and will be stored inside the mobile device where nothing but a small and simple secondary circuit has been placed. The thesis project began by creating an initial SPICE computer model, providing an easy and rapid way of testing both convergence and feasibility of the topology as the design evolved from the well-known and widely used Switch Model Power Supply technology through to the detailed design and implementation of the prototype, including supporting the iterative process of testing and optimizing, all stages are carefully described in the document. The thesis shows both theoretically and practically that this idea is feasible and capable of power transmission. / Detta examensarbete introducerar en ny teknologi som är applicerbar till de flesta mobila och portabla elektriska apparater då dessa behöver energi för att fungera. Detta arbete försöker klippa den sista ledningen den som leder till den primära kraftkällan. Med andra ord, är denna teknik en snabb och effektiv trådlös energiöverföring genom ett starkt, fokuserat närbeläget magnetfält. Tack vare magnetfältets kraftiga dämpning undviks interferens med intilliggande kommunikationssystem eller personskador. Denna energi är överförd till, och lagras inuti en bärbar apparat där endast en liten och enkel sekundärkrets har placerats. Examensarbetsprojektet påbörjades med skapandet av en inledande SPICE datormodell. Modellen möjliggjorde ett enkelt och snabbt sätt att testa både konvergens och genomförbarhet av topologin samtidigt som designen utvecklades från den välkända och vitt använda Switch Power Supply-teknologin till den detaljerade designen och implementationen av prototypen. Modellen stöttade samtidigt den iterativa processen av test och optimering. Alla faser är utförligt beskrivna i rapporten och arbetet visar både teoretiskt och praktiskt att denna idé är genomförbar och möjliggör kraftöverföring.

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The purpose of this research project is to qualitatively investigate the patterns of activity (modalities) in which entrepreneurs engage to create value for their customers. Proceeding from observations made by Claude Levi-Strauss (1962), who identified distinct modalities in which people of all cultures interact with the world around them, which are engineering, art, bricolage, and to a lesser degree craft, this research uses grounded theory to build a typology of entrepreneurial work and investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial categories, financial performance, longevity of the created ventures, and organizational form. Based on interviews and extensive field work observing 23 entrepreneurs, this study found evidence to support the presence of the four original modalities as well as a fifth -brokerage. The results of this study support a new theory of entrepreneurial work that offers: a) a new five-category typology of how entrepreneurs pattern their work, specifically based on their use of methods, tools, and resources to create value for their customers, and b) propositions suggesting relationships between each of the five modalities, entrepreneurial success, and organizational form. The new five-category typology consists of: 1) art, 2) craft, 3) engineering, 4) bricolage, and 5) brokerage. Among the five patterns of entrepreneurial activity, engineering and brokerage were found to have achieved the highest levels of financial success; however, none of the modalities appeared to be related to the longevity of the ventures. The category of engineering also seemed to be the most closely associated with organizational growth and formal hierarchical structures, while entrepreneurs who relied exclusively on bricolage experienced little growth and flat organizational structures. The implications from these observations are that patterns of activity are consequential for organizational growth and that financial success, while helpful and desirable, is not necessary for entrepreneurial ventures to survive for long periods of time.

Wireless charging of the EVs offers a convenient, reliable, and automatic charging of the autonomous vehicles without user interference. The focus of this thesis is the design and optimization of new structures for stationary EV wireless charging applications. The fundamentals of the Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) system and its main components including the magnetic couplers, transmitter and receiver power converters, and control methods are studied in depth. The requirements of the EV wireless charging application and design criteria are discussed in detail. The advantages and disadvantages of each topology are highlighted, and possible candidates for EV wireless charging applications are selected. Optimization of the resonant networks in terms of maximum efficiency and misalignment tolerance is studied. Different resonant topologies are studied in detail and their sensitivity functions are extracted. For each topology, an efficiency model is presented that includes the inverter, resonant capacitors, resonant inductor, diode-bridge, and core and conduction losses. Each topology is optimized with two different objective functions and the results are compared through the simulation and experiments. According to the optimization results, suitable topologies for the EV wireless charging application are selected. In order to increase the power density of the wireless charging system, and save ferrite material, integrated inductors into the magnetic couplers are proposed. In this structure, the DC-DC inductor is integrated into the receiver main coil and the resonant inductor is integrated into the transmitter coil. This integration introduces new challenges to the design of the resonant network and magnetic coupler due to the unwanted cross-coupling effect. To address this issue, the fully integrated magnetic structure is optimally designed to have minimum cross-coupling. Moreover, the resonant network is designed based on an optimization problem that includes the cross-coupling into the system equations to ensure maximum efficiency. The proposed fully-integrated magnetic structure is built and experimental tests are presented to validate the performance of the proposed magnetic structure and its optimization method. To reduce the implementation cost, size and weight a PCB-based magnetic coupler is proposed to replace the Litz wire in the magnetic coupler of the WPT system. Moreover, the proposed PCB-magnetic coupler increases the repeatability of the design and reduces manufacturing errors. The PCB-based magnetic coupler is studied through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to minimize the AC resistance of the coil. Different parameters such including the number of the PCB layers, copper cross-section, and layer thickness are studied in detail to evaluate their effect on the coil resistance. Thermal analysis is performed to ensure the feasibility of the design under different loading conditions. A 3.3 kW/85 kHz wireless charging system is built and experimental tests are presented. A novel modular resonant topology for fast wireless charging is proposed. A modular structure offers reliability, scalability, and better thermal management. The proposed topology is made by multi-parallel inverter legs connected to an LCC resonant network. The outputs of the resonant networks are connected in parallel to feed the transmitter coil with a high excitation current. The proposed modular system is compared with a conventional system and it showed superior performance in different aspects. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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