L'atmosphère et la surface terrestre interagissent en permanence par le biais des échanges d'énergie et de matière. Ces flux jouent un rôle important dans l'étude de l'hydrologie des surfaces ou de l'écologie terrestre, ou bien encore l'étude des phénomènes météorologiques et climatiques. En effet, ils représentent les conditions aux limites des différents compartiments du système Terre et la quantification de ces échanges à différentes échelles spatiales est indispensable pour les modèles de prévision. Les mesures de flux d'énergie sont très répandues pour des mesures très localisées, in situ et au sol. Cependant, peu d'instruments de mesures permettent d'obtenir des flux intégrés sur des distances de l'ordre de la centaine de mètres à quelques kilomètres, c'est-à-dire des distances correspondant à la représentativité des pixels des images satellitaires. On compte parmi eux les scintillomètres, instrument de mesure optique, permettant de calculer les flux intégrés de chaleur sensible à partir des mesures de paramètres caractérisant l'intensité turbulente de l'atmosphère tels que le paramètre de structure de l'indice de réfraction de l'air Cn². La présence de vapeur d'eau dans l'atmosphère peut cependant perturber le signal de ces instruments. L'objectif de ce travail est le développement et la mise en oeuvre d'un scintillomètre optique permettant de mettre en évidence la contribution de l'absorption par la vapeur d'eau sur les scintillations. Les études menées à partir du développement instrumental ne s'orienteront qu'autour de la bande d'absorption à 940nm, longueur d'onde d'émission de certains scintillomètres LAS (Large Aperture Scintillometer). Au début de ma thèse, un prototype de scintillomètre, type LAS, a été conçu de façon à maitriser complètement la technologie : partie optique électronique et le traitement du signal reçu. Celui-ci a ensuite été installé au-dessus d'un site de cultures dans les environs de Toulouse, au cours des années 2007 et 2008. Les résultats obtenus avec ce prototype ont permis d'optimiser le choix de la méthode de calcul H à partir du Cn², en fonction du rapport de Bowen (rapport du flux de chaleur sensible sur le flux de chaleur latente). Les variations de l'intensité lumineuse de l'onde, menant au Cn², sont principalement dues à des effets de réfraction et de dispersion, maissont aussi sensibles à l'absorption de la vapeur d'eau. Afin de quantifier l'influence de 'absorption sur le signal Cn², j'ai utilisé 2 approches : une première approche par filtrage numérique (‘Gabor Transform'), et une seconde, par méthode chromatique. Cette dernière a nécessité de modifier considérablement le système optique du prototype LAS. Les résultats obtenus expérimentalement montrent que la contribution de l'absorption à la mesure du Cn² est en moyenne assez faible, mais qu'elle peut prendre de forte valeur, principalement lors de faibles flux H. La quantification de l'absorption par méthode hromatique est pour l'instant limité au développement technique de l'instrument. / Atmosphere, soil and vegetation are in interactions by the bias of energetic or matter exchanges. This latters have an important impact on hydrology, ecology, meteorology. Actually, they represent the boundary conditions of the Earth-Atmosphere system. Then, the quantification of these exchanges or fluxes is necessary to understand large scales phenomena and to improve forecasting models. Numerous devices are able to quantify these fluxes at local scales, but few are available to measure them over kilometres, which mean at the resolution of remote sensing datas. Amongst them, we can notice the scintillometers that are able to calculate sensible heat fluxes over distances from hundred meters to few kilometres. Actually, these devices are sensitive to variations of the refractive index of air, mainly due to turbulent eddies, defined by the structure parameter of refractive index : Cn². However, this measurement can be altered by the presence of water vapour in the air. Thus, the aim of this work is to design and make a scintillometer which is able to quantify the water vapour contribution on the Cn² measurement. In this thesis, we will focus on this contribution in the 940nm band which is the wavelength of various scintillometers LAS (Large Aperture Scintillometers). At the beginning of my PhD thesis, un scintillometer prototype has been realised in order to master the technology : optics, electronics, signal processing…This latter has been set up over crops at a few kilometres from Toulouse, between 2007 and 2008. Thanks to the results of this scintillometer, we optimize the choice on the Cn² to H algorithm, according to the Bowen ratio ß (ratio of sensible to latent heat flux). Variations of the light beam, leading to the Cn², are mainly due to refraction and dispersion effect. However, absorption can be important. In order to quantify the contribution of absorption on the Cn², 2 methods are suggested : one based on signal processing aspect (Gabor filtering), and the second one on two wavelengths propagation. To realize this latter the optics and electronics of the device have been really modified. Results show that absorption contribution is small, but can be important for low H values. Finally, the quantification of absorption by two wavelengths approach is nowadays bounded to instrumental development.

No presente trabalho fazemos uma revisão da teoria dos fótons virtuais, discutindo em detalhe as hipóteses inerentes ao método e estudando os limites de validade dos cálculos existentes. Estudamos também correções que podem ser aplicadas a esses cálculos a fim de estender a região de validade dos mesmos e usamos os espectros corrigidos para reanalisar medidas existentes da seção de choque ANTPOT. 238 U (e, n) . São apresentadas medidas experimentais das seções de choque de eletrodesintegração do ANTPOT. 63 cu por emissão de um ou dois nêutrons e do ANTPOT 65 cu por emissão de urna partícula alfa, bem como das taxas de produção de fotodesintegração antpot. 63cu (e+, 2n) e ANTPOT. 63 Cu (e+, 2n). Esses resultados são analisados usando o método dos fótons virtuais de forma a estudar a composição multipolar das seções de choque de fotodesintegração dessas reações. Apresentamos, com os resultados das medidas ANTPOT. 63cu (e, 2n) e ANTPOT. 63 Cu (e+ , 2n) , mais um teste do espectro de fótons virtuais de dipolo elétrico e mostramos a consistência do método de análise empregado. Com a análise da reação ANTPOT 63 Cu (e ,n) mostramos que a ressonância isoescalar de quadrupolo elétrico deve decair dominantemente por emissão de um nêutron e, comparando nossos resultados para a seção de choque (y,n) com dadc3 existentes da reação ANTPOT. 63 Cu [(,n) + (, pn)], determinamos a seção de choque ANTPOT. 63 Cu ( ,pn). Do estudo das reaçoes 65 Cu (e,) e ANTPOT 65 Cu (e+ , ), as componentes E1 e E2 da seção de choque (, ) são obtidas e uma comparação com a sistemática existente para núcleos próximos ao cobre é apresentada. / The virtual photon theory is reviewed and the underlying hypothesis are discussed. The limits of validity of the method are assessed along with corrections for nuclear size effects. The results of such corrections are compared with existing data on the 238U(e, n) cross section. Experimental results for the cross sections 63Cu (e, n), 63Cu (e,2n) and 65Cu(e, ) , as well as the electro plus photodisintegration yields for the 63Cu(e+ , 2n) and 65 Cu(e+ , ) reactions, are presented. The results are interpreted in terms of E1 and E2 absorption using the virtual photon method. From the study of the reactions 63Cu (e, 2n) and 63Cu (e+ , 2n) we test the E1 virtual photon calculations and assess the technique employed in the data analysis. From the 63Cu (e, n) measurements we show that the isoscalar E2- resonance must decay dominantly by neutron emission. The (, pn) cross section for this nucleus is obtained by comparing the ( ,n) cross section derived from our measurement with existing data on the 63Cu[( ,n) + (,pn)] cross section. From the 65Cu(e, ) and 6 5cu(e+ , ) measurements, the E1 and E2 components participating in the (y ,a) reaction are obtained, and compared with the existing systematics for nuclei in this mass region.

This dissertation focuses on data analyzed from the Auroral Current and Electrodynamics Structure (ACES) sounding rocket mission. ACES consisted of two payloads launched nearly simultaneously in 2009 into a dynamic multiple-arc aurora. The mission was designed to observe the three-dimensional current system of an auroral arc system. To constrain the spatial-temporal ambiguity, the payloads were flown along nearly conjugate magnetic field footpoints, at various altitudes with small temporal separation. The high altitude payload took in situ measurements of the plasma parameters above the current closure region to measure the input signature into the lower ionosphere. The low-altitude payload took similar observations within the current closure region, where perpendicular cross-field currents can flow. A detailed description of the experimental configuration is presented, including operational details of the fields and plasma instruments flown on both payloads. The methods used to process data from the electrostatic particle detectors and the fluxgate magnetometer on both payloads are presented. Data from the all-sky imager details the auroral configuration at the time of launch. In situ data are presented detailing observations of the electric fields, magnetic fields, and the electron differential energy flux, as the payloads crossed nearly conjugate magnetic field lines. Field-aligned currents were calculated from magnetometer observations on the high altitude payload. These data were combined with electron flux data to show that the high altitude payload traversed regions of upward and downward field-aligned current. The low altitude payload observed signatures in the residual magnetic field components consistent with perpendicular closure current. Ionospheric collisionality is investigated to determine if it is a significant mechanism to explain observed differences in the low energy electron flux between the high altitude and low altitude payload. As a result of increased ionospheric collisionality, the ionospheric conductivity is investigated to interpret the in situ electric field observations. A model of auroral electrodynamics, that is under development, is discussed in the context of interpreting magnetometer data from the low altitude payload. The evolution of precipitating electron flux into the ionosphere and the effect this precipitation has on generating ionization is presented. The electron spectrum produced by the model were fit to the electron flux data observed by the low altitude payload. The height ionization profile, equilibrium electron density, and Hall and Pedersen conductivities were determined from the model electron spectrum incident to the ionosphere. It was shown that the low altitude payload flew just above the peak Hall and Pedersen conductivities, suggesting that the low altitude payload flew directly in the region where perpendicular closure currents were most significant.

Development of an Open Source Prosthetic Hand Platform Scott Garrett In the field of upper extremity prosthetic devices, advancements in technology drive the design of products which are becoming capable of restoring the lost functions of the native hand. While several dexterous devices have been developed to serve this purpose, they remain prohibitively expensive and thus are not a viable option for many upper extremity amputees. To address this problem a prosthetic hand platform was developed utilizing the open source Arduino microcontroller and off-the-shelf electrical components. Using these resources, a novel finger actuation mechanism was developed to show how a prosthetic hand platform could be developed which is capable of individual finger actuation, multiple actuation modes, sensing of forces at the individual fingers, providing force feedback to the user, and control of finger actuation through a variety of control inputs. After going through several iterations of hand’s mechanical components, electronics, and firmware a final prototype was built to showcase the possible capabilities of the open source prosthetic hand platform. This prototype consisted of several groups of subcomponents including an auto-flexing / extending finger design, a modular palm/ servo attachment base, and a wrist section which housed the hand’s electronic components, power supplies, force feedback system. The open source prosthetic hand platform was then verified using a series of tests to quantify several performance characteristics of the final prototype. Battery life and grip strength during continuous use were evaluated and demonstrated that the hand could provide consistent grip force during up two hours of initial continuous use. Also, the grip performance of the hand was assessed through the grasping of spherical objects with varying surface textures, diameter, and weight. Furthermore the hand was tested in various “real life” applications including manipulating and sorting small objects, opening doors, grasping moderately heavy objects such as water bottles, and sensitive objects such as an egg. Lastly, the platform was connected to a myoelectric input circuit to demonstrate compatibility with advanced electro-physical inputs. These tests demonstrated that the platform was capable of performing some of the dexterous tasks performed by prohibitively expensive available robotic upper extremity prosthetic devices. Further developments could be made to the open source prosthetic hand platform including enhancements to the platform’s finger force sensing and feedback mechanisms, consolidation of the electronics, refinement of the auto-flexing / extending fingers, and integration with a silicone covering and patients residual limb socket. These future iterations of this platform could help provide a dexterous prosthetic hand platform at lower cost to a wider patient base.

Tantalum capacitors are electronic components that are widely used in many types of devices. They are particularly valued for their exceptionally high capacitance and volumetric efficiency. One of the most vital performance parameters for this type of capacitor is the ability to handle unwanted AC ripple, since high levels of ripple can lead to overheating and capacitor failure. Yet the actual ripple limit for a capacitor has been historically difficult to quantify, and has been previously provided to customers only in the form of heavily padded estimates. Throughout the capacitor industry there has been significant demand for more realistic ripple ratings. The discussion here describes a new test system that has been designed to meet this demand for ripple characterization of wet tantalum capacitors.

Orientador: Lutero Rodrigues da Silva / Banca: Alexandre Silva Rosa / Banca: Paulo Ricardo Gazzaneo / Resumo: Quadros de uma Exposição, de Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) é uma suíte escrita originalmente para piano, no entanto, fora transcrita para orquestra por diversos compositores, alcançando a soma superior a 600 transcrições. Diante de tal espólio, concluímos que há muito a ser pesquisado, sobretudo, no que diz respeito ao universo da transcrição orquestral. Para tanto, analisaremos as transcrições do russo Mikhail Tushmalov (1861-1896); do francês Maurice Ravel (1875-1937); e do compositor brasileiro Francisco Mignone (1897 - 1986). A transcrição orquestral de Mignone ainda é pouco conhecida nas salas de concerto e mesmo entre pesquisadores. Diante disso, o estudo minucioso de seu trabalho torna-se necessário tanto para música brasileira quanto para o estudo da orquestração, em virtude da escassez de papéis acadêmicos sobre este objeto / Abstract: Pictures at an Exhibition, by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) is a suite originally written for the piano, it was transcripted to orchestras by assorted composers reaching the amount of 600 transcriptions. In face of many recreations of such piece, we conclude that, there is still a lot to research and to understand about those so distinct orchestrations and what they might bring us in the universe of orchestral transcription. For such purpose, we are going to analyse the transcriptions of the Russian Mikhail Tushmalov (1861-1896); of the French Maurice Ravel (1875-1937); adding the Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone (1897-1986). The orchestral transcription of Mignone is not enough known among concert halls and researchers. Thus, such study involving his works become quite necessary not only to the Brazilian music, but for the orchestration study as well, due to the scarcity of academic papers regarding such object / Mestre

The study in this report mainly focuses on the Internet-based Monitoring and Controlling of a Real-Time Dynamic System interfaced via a dedicated local computer. The main philosophy behind this study is to allow the remote user to conduct an Internet-based Remote Operation (I-bRO) for the dynamic system. The dynamic system has been defined as the system which has its parts interrelated in such a way that a change in one part necessarily affects other parts of the system [I]. In order to achieve this goal, the study has been conducted in a form of an on-line and real-time Virtual Laboratory (VL). Through this form of laboratory, a user can carry out the experiment, perform real-time monitoring and controlling operations of the experiment and collect real and live data from the experiment through the network link as the user was physically in the laboratory. The dynamic system that has been selected for the test-rig of this study is a 3-phase Induction Motor (IM) which is mechanically coupled with a DC-Dynamometer that acts as a variable load to the IM. This system is a common laboratory experiment in the study of the Electrical Engineering for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The study covers both sides of the I-bRO; the hardware and the software. The hardware side includes the design and the development of a load control box that has been used to interface the DC-Dynamometer and consequently control it from the local computer. The software side covers the design and the development of the Virtual Instrumentation System (VIS) that has replaced successfully the physical Measurement and Test (M&T) instruments of the test-rig. Beside that, the software side includes the development of the internet remote front panel for the remote operation. / Furthermore, the software side includes the development of the software that has been used to analyse the system during the I-bRO. In this study, the LabVTEW7 program has been used to design and develop the VIS and the Matlab program has bee used to aualyse the system performance for the remote operations. This study also addresses the issues and problems related to the intranet or the internet to be used as the network for data communication between the test-rig and remote users. This study has been carried out in different stages as follows: 1. Designing and development of the VIS. 2. Interfacing the test-rig apparatus with a local computer. 3. Upload the system from the local computer to the network. 4. Study the performance of the system on the network for the purpose of the remote operations controlled over the internet. The developed system of this study has been used for data acquisition, network communications, instruments monitoring and controlling applications. A user can execute on-line and in the real-time the developed VIS from any point in the university. Due to the fact that the university network is directly integrated to the main internet server. a remote user through the main internet server is able to perform I-bRO of the selected dynamic system. There are many factors associated with the network, the internet or the intranet, and have direct influences on the control system performance throughout the remote operations. The most dominant factors are the random time-delays and the data losses. / These factors among others have to be addressed for a proper application of the I-bRO. For this reason, different cases and scenarios of the I-bRO have been investigated and simulated to study the affection of the network on the control system performance. The system is analysed under two control cases, closed loop with random time-delays and open loop when the internet server is disconnected and no communication between the input and the output of the system. In the first case, the closed loop, the internet server is assumed to be closed and subjected to random time-delays. In the second case, the internet server is subjected to random cut-off and thus opens the control loop. The results of both cases have been analysed and discussed. It has been found that, if the control system without the time-delays is stable, it remains stable even with small time-delays up to twenty seconds. This result is different from what has been shown in the literature.

The effect of Intra-pixel sensitivity variation (IPSV) in charge-coupled devices (CCDs) can be important in astronomical applications. This thesis studies the IPSV in a front-illuminated three-phase EEV05-20 CCD used in the Automated Patrol Telescope (APT), from multiple points of view. To explore the detailed sensitivity variation within pixels, the CCD was scanned using a 4 \mu meter diameter light beam in four colour bands: B, V, R and I. The resulting images clearly show the IPSVs due to the CCD electrode structure, and its dependence on wavelength. Unexpected ghost images appear in the scan images that are most likely due to the charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) of the CCD. A correction procedure for the CTI effect is presented. Using the pixel response function (PRF) which was derived from the CCD scans, instrumental point spread functions (iPSFs) were calculated from dithered images observed by the APT. The accurate iPSFs allowed us to generate a variety of simulated images of APT observations, enabling us to analyse in detail the effect of IPSV on astronomical observations. One of the astronomical impacts of IPSV is on photometry. The IPSV effect on the precision for estimating star fluxes was studied using both observed and simulated images. The IPSV effect can be expressed as magnitude estimation error maps plotted against the fractional part of a star's coordinates. The IPSV effect introduces \pm 4% errors in star fluxes for observed images with the APT in V band. Another astronomical impact of IPSV is on astrometry. IPSV influences the precision for estimating star coordinates, and this was studied using a number of simulated images. The IPSV effect can be expressed as coordinate estimation error maps plotted against the fractional part of a star's coordinates. The IPSV effect introduces \sim 0.02 pixel errors in RMS for images observed with the APT in V band. The appearance of the unexpected ghost images in the CCD scans suggested that CTI might also affect observed images. We examined the effects on PSFs and photometry. The CTI effect does affect the shapes of PSFs, but only to a small fraction. Its effect on photometry is negligible.

This thesis is focussed on extending the use of phased array radiofrequency (RF) coils for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Phased arrays are very useful as receiver coils and have been used over the last 15 years or so to improve receiver coil coverage and to speed up image acquisition. These arrays have almost invariably been constructed and used at mid- to highfrequency (&lt128 MHz), thus there is clearly an opportunity to increase the operating frequency of the phased array and also use these systems in transceive mode. Using phased array coils in transceive mode has the advantage of gaining better spatial specificity of excited regions. Also as the operating wavelength in high field strength is shortened by the dielectric properties of the patient and approaches the size of conventional transmitter coils, there are distinct advantages in using the smaller coils in the phased array system for transmission. In addition, with the ability to independently control the magnitudes and phases of the transmission power on each element of a transceiver phased array system, RF focussing or shimming can be performed during RF transmission. The research work presented in this thesis is therefore, primarily focussed on designing and analysing high frequency phased array coils for MRI applications with transceive and RF focussing capability and investigating the possibility of using focussing transceive phased array coils to ameliorate image distortions that appear in high field MR images. The second major area of work concerns evaluation of the performance of partial parallel imaging when used at high field strength and the compatibility with transceive phased array systems. Common to both areas are investigation into other approaches for the design of high field RF coils, exploring the possibility of new mutual decoupling techniques and the consideration of other numerical computational methods that can assist in designing future high frequency phased array coils and help evaluate the complex field-tissue interactions at high field strength.

Cette thèse cofinancée par le CNRS et Framatome a porté sur l'étude d'une cavité supraconductrice de type spoke et de son coupleur de puissance associé. Les résultats ont été utilisés dans le cadre du 5ème PCRD et notamment pour l'accélérateur linéaire de protons de forte intensité(6mA) du projet de réacteur hybride XADS. La cavité (F=352MHz, BETA=0.35) a été testée à 4K et 2K. Ses performances à 4K donnent des marges confortables par rapport au cahier des charges XADS, ce qui est utile pour la fiabilité de l'installation. A 2K le champ accélérateur maximum est de 16MV/M ce qui est une référence mondiale.Le port de couplage de la cavité a été optimisé : sa position et son diamètre ont été modifiés pour diminuer les pertes HF sur l'antenne et limiter les risques de multipacting. Pour minimiser les pertes HF le mode de couplage avec la cavité choisie est électrique.Différents types de fenêtre céramique ont été étudiés afin de rendre fiable ce point critique du coupleur : disques coaxiaux avec ou sans chokes ou cylindrique creux coaxial . L'optimisation a porté sur la puissance réfléchie, les pertes dans la céramique, et le champ électrique de surface. Le disque muni de choke a également été modélisé et a fait l'objet d'une étude grâce à la théorie des lignes. L'ensemble des fenêtres a été étudié de manière systématique en fonction de différents paramètres géométriques. Le disque sans chokes semble un bon candidat pour notre application. La source de puissance sera un amplificateur état solide. Un coupleur entièrement coaxial est réalisable et sera fabriqué et testé prochainement.