Maximum asset performance is one of the major goals for electric power distribution system operators (DSOs). To reach this goal minimal life cycle cost and maintenance optimization become crucial while meeting demands from customers and regulators. One of the fundamental objectives is therefore to relate maintenance and reliability in an efficient and effective way. Furthermore, this necessitates the determination of the optimal balance between pre¬ventive and corrective maintenance, which is the main problem addressed in the thesis. The balance between preventive and corrective maintenance is approached as a multiobjective optimization problem, with the customer interruption costs on one hand and the maintenance budget of the DSO on the other. Solutions are obtained with meta-heuristics, developed for the specific problem, as well as with an Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. The methods deliver a Pareto border, a set of several solutions, which the operator can choose between, depending on preferences. The optimization is built on component reliability importance indices, developed specifically for power systems. One vital aspect of the indices is that they work with several supply and load points simultaneously, addressing the multistate-reliability of power systems. For the computation of the indices both analytical and simulation based techniques are used. The indices constitute the connection between component reliability performance and system performance and so enable the maintenance optimization. The developed methods have been tested and improved in two case studies, based on real systems and data, proving the methods’ usefulness and showing that they are ready to be applied to power distribution systems. It is in addition noted that the methods could, with some modifications, be applied to other types of infrastructures. However, in order to perform the optimization, a reliability model of the studied power system is required, as well as estimates on effects of maintenance actions (changes in failure rate) and their related costs. Given this, a generally decreased level of total maintenance cost and a better system reliability performance can be given to the DSO and customers respectively. This is achieved by focusing the preventive maintenance to components with a high potential for improvement from system perspective. / QC 20100810

L'organisation des systèmes d'entrées sorties. Les entrées sorties dans le système IBM 360. Présentation de l'UCB. Une application de l'UCB : le module interface-canal du système PIAR. Un logiciel de test pour l'UCB. Améliorations et perspectives.

Im Laufe der 70er, 80er und 90er Jahre nahm die Frauenerwerbsbeteiligung in Europa zu bei gleichzeitiger Abnahme der Männerbeschäftigung. Jedoch, und trotz des Politikwan-dels in Richtung eines „adult worker model“, sind Frauen weiterhin von diskontinuierliche-ren Erwerbsbiographien betroffen als Männer. In meiner Dissertation gehe ich der Frage nach, welche Faktoren die Erwerbsdiskontinuität von Frauen in den 90er Jahren beeinflus-sen. Dabei wird der Übergang von der Erwerbstätigkeit in die Hausfrauentätigkeit in Westdeutschland, Italien und Spanien untersucht. In den 90er Jahren waren Westdeutschland und Italien in der Kinderbetreuung explizit fa-milialistische Wohlfahrtsstaaten, während Spanien implizit familialistisch war. Frauen wa-ren jedoch in Spanien und Italien kontinuierlicher erwerbstätig als in Westdeutschland. Anhand dieses Ländervergleiches wird in der Dissertation deutlich, dass die familienpoliti-schen Rahmenbedingungen einen Einfluss haben, jedoch nicht ausreichend zur Erklärung der Erwerbsdiskontinuität von Frauen sind. In beiden südeuropäischen Ländern hat eine hohe Bildung einen relativ starken negativen Effekt auf den Übergang in die Hausfrauentätigkeit, der nicht in Westdeutschland vorhan-den ist. Ebenfalls zeigt die Zugehörigkeit zu unterschiedlichen Berufsklassen in beiden südeuropäischen Ländern signifikante Effekte, die nicht in Westdeutschland zu finden sind. Aufgrund der statistischen Kontrolle des Einkommens können die Ergebnisse von Bildung und von der Berufsklasse nicht ausschließlich auf materielle Gegebenheiten zu-rückgeführt werden. Die Erwerbsdiskontinuität von Frauen wird durch Ressourcen, Oppor-tunitäten und Restriktionen beeinflusst, aber auch durch kulturelle und Identitätsprozesse, die mit der Zugehörigkeit zu einer bestimmten Klasse oder mit einem bestimmten Bil-dungsniveau verbunden sind. Dem Arbeitsmarkt kommt in Italien und Spanien ebenfalls eine zentrale Bedeutung zu. Obwohl in allen drei Ländern befristete Arbeitsverhältnisse sowie die Erwerbstätigkeit in einem kleinen Unternehmen den Übergang von Frauen in die Hausfrauentätigkeit positiv beeinflussen, ist der Einfluss in Westdeutschland nicht so stark ausgeprägt wie in Italien und Spanien. Die Teilzeitarbeit beeinflusst ausschließlich in den beiden südeuropäischen Ländern positiv den Übergang. In Italien spielt die Beschäftigung im öffentlichen Sektor außerdem eine zentrale Rolle: sie beeinflusst negativ den Übergang in die Hausfrauentä-tigkeit. Die Analyse zeigt ebenfalls Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen allen drei Ländern. Die Episoden der Hausfrauentätigkeit beeinflussen in allen drei Ländern den Übergang in die Hausfrau-entätigkeit positiv. Sie gehören zum Lebenskonzept erwerbstätiger Frauen und weisen auf geltende traditionelle Wertvorstellungen bezüglich der Geschlechterrollen hin. Die Anwe-senheit eines Ehepartners zeigt ebenfalls in allen drei Ländern positive Effekte auf den Übergang, während das Erwerbseinkommen negativ den Übergang beeinflusst. Aufgrund der statistischen Kontrolle des Anteils des eigenen Einkommens am Haushaltseinkommen hat der positive Effekt der Anwesenheit eines Ehepartners weniger mit der Ressourcenver-teilung innerhalb des Haushalts als mit traditionellen Geschlechterrollen und Wertvorstel-lungen in der Ehepartnerschaft zu tun. Sowohl das Einkommen als auch die Episoden der Hausfrauentätigkeit zeigen in Westdeutschland stärkere Effekte als in Italien und Spanien. Diese Ergebnisse werden als Hinweis für die traditionellere Geschlechterrollenvorstellung westdeutscher erwerbstätiger Frauen als von erwerbstätigen italienischen und spanischen Frauen interpretiert. Dies wird durch eine deskriptive Analyse über die Einstellung er-werbstätiger Frauen bezüglich der Geschlechterrollen in allen drei Ländern bestätigt. In den drei Ländern wurde außerdem ein zusätzlicher Übergang untersucht. Während in Westdeutschland dem Übergang in die Hausfrauentätigkeit bei gleichzeitiger geringfügiger Erwerbstätigkeit eine wichtige Bedeutung zukommt, ist in Italien und in Spanien der Übergang in die arbeitslose Hausfrauentätigkeit von Bedeutung. In allen drei Ländern konnten unterschiedliche Ergebnisse festgestellt werden, je nachdem ob die Hausfrauentä-tigkeit mit einer Nicht-Erwerbstätigkeit, oder mit einer geringfügigen Erwerbstätigkeit in Westdeutschland beziehungsweise mit einer Arbeitslosigkeit in Italien und Spanien kom-biniert wird. Dies weist auf die Notwendigkeit einer präzisen Beschreibung der Hausfrau-entätigkeit hin.

Law and development mainstream conceptions of labour market policies, while still marked by long-dominant views of contract law as economically superior to any labour regulation, have recently incorporated certain specific labour (human) rights. Core labour rights are thus accepted by global policy-makers, on the basis of their radical distinction from non-core labour standards and their rationalization according to certain foundational principles. This thesis criticizes the prevailing dichotomies between core labour rights and non-core standards, on the one hand, and contract law and regulation, on the other, bringing to bear the post-legal realist idea of legal indeterminacy. It argues that the organizing legal concepts that justify these dichotomies contain gaps and ambiguities that often lead to contradictory and indeterminate outcomes. It thus suggests that the core/non-core labour standards and contract/regulation distinctions are unproductive and should be rejected if a better conception of labour governance is to come to fruition.

Law and development mainstream conceptions of labour market policies, while still marked by long-dominant views of contract law as economically superior to any labour regulation, have recently incorporated certain specific labour (human) rights. Core labour rights are thus accepted by global policy-makers, on the basis of their radical distinction from non-core labour standards and their rationalization according to certain foundational principles. This thesis criticizes the prevailing dichotomies between core labour rights and non-core standards, on the one hand, and contract law and regulation, on the other, bringing to bear the post-legal realist idea of legal indeterminacy. It argues that the organizing legal concepts that justify these dichotomies contain gaps and ambiguities that often lead to contradictory and indeterminate outcomes. It thus suggests that the core/non-core labour standards and contract/regulation distinctions are unproductive and should be rejected if a better conception of labour governance is to come to fruition.

This research brings the thought of Emmanuel Levinas into play in attempting to understand the responsibility of a group of educators of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal heritage working amidst the tensions of ethno-cultural difference in an inner city public high school in Western Canada. The concept of ‘welcoming’, that is born in the words of Levinas, and that I further fashion into an interpretation framework while relying on the writings of Jacque Derrida and Sharon Todd, is employed in articulating this research. The research involves exploring: if, how and to what extent the responsibility of these educators might be understood as a welcoming of the Other and; if, how and to what extent the notion of welcoming itself, and particularly the thought of Levinas, might be potentially helpful in understanding the responsibility of educators? This study articulates a philosophical hermeneutic that is an interpretation of participants’ stories developed through a close examination of Levinas’ philosophy aided by insight from Derrida, Todd and other writers. This research articulates how educators revise and reenact their responsibility wherein their success and that of their students involves the establishment of a non-coercive relationship educators believe is fundamental and crucial to any other form of success their schooling context. This study offers examples and insight concerning how educators are interrupted by the difference of others; how educators realize their vulnerability to others and respond to others where their relationships with others change from merely being-with others to a “being-for” the Other; how educators negotiate the difficult tension of being an hôte or a guest in one’s own situation and; how educators receive the gift of learning from the Other or learn what their responsibility demands of them as they seek to serve others in amidst ethno-cultural difference. This research is helpful in offering an alternate way to approach how educators’ understand and enact their responsibility amidst ethno-cultural difference and does this by offering an atypical consideration of what is ethical, where responsibility is reconceived as a welcoming of the Other. In this pursuit insight is offered into the helpfulness and use of Levinas’ philosophy with the suggestion that his writings remain challenging to decipher as well to apply, offering few if any specific guides for action. Despite this, I suggest that Levinas’ philosophy when refashioned as welcoming, relying on scholars such as Derrida and Todd, can be helpful in prompting us as educators to think differently about our responsibility and therefore to perhaps act differently. In this capacity this study is potentially helpful to educators in assuring them that what is ethical is not necessarily defined within the confines of convention, legal codes and rules nor is what is ethical solely determined within such confines, but rather in our attentiveness to others and our attentiveness to our attentiveness, where we realize the welcoming nature of responsibility and what is actually demanded of us in being responsible to the Other.

Malgré la diversité des recherches sur la parentalité adolescente, l'analyse des trajectoires parentales et des facteurs qui peuvent moduler l'effet de cet événement sur la scolarité demeure peu documentée. C'est précisément sur cet aspect que se penche la présente étude. L'objectif général de ce mémoire est de voir dans quelle mesure les différentes trajectoires adoptées par les jeunes parents sont associées à l’obtention des diplômes scolaires. Évidemment, les parents adolescents forment un groupe qui est plus à risque de ne pas avoir obtenu de diplôme secondaire vers 20 ans. Cependant, nous soutenons que la trajectoire parentale est différente pour chaque individu et qu'elle peut modifier la probabilité d’obtention des diplômes secondaire et postsecondaire. Les résultats des analyses de régression sur les données de l'Enquête auprès des jeunes en transition nous montrent que ce n’est pas le simple fait d’être parent qui influe sur la scolarité des jeunes, mais plutôt le type de trajectoires scolaires empruntées par ces derniers. Ainsi, certaines trajectoires parentales moins stables et plus précoces ont plus d’impact sur la non obtention d’un diplôme d’études secondaire, que les trajectoires parentales stables, qu’il s’agisse de monoparentalité ou de famille cohabitante. La précocité est donc un facteur d’influence différencié selon le type de parcours conjugal. De plus, nous observons que cette association entre certaines trajectoires parentales et l’obtention d’un diplôme s’observe également chez les hommes même si le type de trajectoire parentale est globalement moins explicatif que pour les femmes. Finalement, les variables reliées à la performance scolaire à 15 ans médiatisent en partie l’impact des trajectoires parentales sur le statut scolaire à 23 ans, ce qui suggère que l’association peut s’interpréter aussi comme un effet de la scolarité sur la parentalité. / Although many studies on teenage parenthood have been realized, little research examined the effect of parental trajectories on school graduation. The aim of this study is to better understand how teen parents' life trajectories influenced the probability of getting a diploma. Obviously, young parents have higher risk of not being graduated of high school before their 20 years old. However, we support that teen parents' life trajectories are different for each. In consequence the probability of getting a diploma can be modified. Based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey collected between 2000 and 2007, our results from regression analyses suggest that the simple fact of being a teenage parent does not explain all consequences on school graduation. The probability of getting a diploma would rather be influenced by teen parents' life trajectories. Additionally, results suggest that instable and early parenthood contribute to the likelihood of not being graduated at 23 years old. Our result shows that early parenthood has to be analyzed differently and a combination between precocity and instability help to better understand the effects of adolescent parenthood on diplomation. An association between academic performances at 15 years old and the level of education at 23 years old was also found, which may explain why this association may influences the probability of getting a diploma.

Switching of shunt reactors and capacitor banks is known to cause a very high rate of rise of transient recovery voltage across the circuit breaker contacts. With improvements in circuit breaker technology, modern SF6 puffer circuits have been designed with less interrupter per pole than previous generations of SF6 circuit breakers. This has caused modern circuit breakers to operate with higher voltage stress in the dielectric recovery region after current interruption. Catastrophic failures of modern SF6 circuit breakers have been reported during shunt reactor and capacitor bank de-energisation. In those cases, evidence of cumulative re-strikes has been found to be the main cause of interrupter failure. Monitoring of voltage waveforms during switching would provide information about the magnitude and frequency of small re-ignitions and re-strikes. However, measuring waveforms at a moderately high frequency require plant outages to connect equipment. In recent years, there have been increasing interests in using RF measurements in condition monitoring of switchgear. The RF measurement technique used for measuring circuit breaker inter-pole switching time during capacitor bank closing is of particular interest. In this thesis, research has been carried out to investigate switching transients produced during circuit breaker switching capacitor banks and shunt reactors using a non-intrusive measurement technique. The proposed technique measures the high frequency and low frequency voltage waveforms during switching operations without the need of an outage. The principles of this measurement technique are discussed and field measurements were carried out at shunt rector and capacitor bank installation in two 275 kV air insulated substations. Results of the measurements are presented and discussed in this thesis. The proposed technique shows that it is relatively easy to monitor circuit breaker switching transients and useful information on switching instances can be extracted from the measured waveforms. Further research works are discussed to realise the full potential of the measuring technique.

L'objet de ce travail est d'analyser l'évolution du processus de deuil lors d'une grossesse suivant une interruption médicale de grossesse (IMG). 8461 enfants sont nés sans vie en France en 2012 et 59 à 86% des femmes démarre,t une nouvelle grossesse dans les 6 mois suivant la perte; le deuil périnatal constitue un problème de santé publique puisque 25% évoluent vers un deuil pathologique. Le statut de l'objet perdu et la représentation que s'en font les mères participent du destin de ce foetus perdu; l'évolution des pratiques favorisant l'humanisation du foetus et l'objectalisation de ce dernier est critiquée par certains auteurs. Nous relevons un maque de consensus dans la littérature sur l'impact de cette nouvelle grossesse sur le processus de deuil; selon certains, elle pourrait interrompre le travail de deuil, pour d'autres au contraire favoriser une reprise élaborative. Ces grossesses suivantes, teintées du deuil, semblent représenter un facteur de risque dans l'attachement prénatal avec des conséquences sur le lien à l'enfant puîné. Nous interrogeons donc la relation entre le processus de deuil périnatal et le processus d'investissement de l'enfant à venir lors d'une grossesse suivante. Méthodologie utilisée: suivi longitudinal de 7 femmes enceintes lors d'une grossesse suivant une IMG après 15 SA, aux 3 trimestres de la grossesse et aux 3 mois de l'enfant suivant, selon une analyse qualitative au moyen d'entretiens de recherche clinique et une analyse quantitative de la dépression (EPDS), anxiété (STAI), deuil périnatal (PGS) et attachement prénatal (PAI) au moyen d'autoquestionnaires. Les résultats qualitatifs, traités de façon singulière selon une analyse psychodynamique, sont regroupés ensuite en fonction de nos hypothèses. Les résultats quantitatifs sont intégrés dans un corpus plus large pour permettre une analyse statistique des données. Résultats: entre le normal et le pathologique, les affects, les émotions, les représentations oscillent sur ce continuum, au fil de la grossesse, des termes et dates anniversaires, des manifestations sensorielles éprouvées. La grossesse suivante permet de revisiter la grossesse précédente; elle donne l'opportunité aux mères endeuillées de mettre en mots les affects brutes consécutifs à la perte, de mettre du sens pour inscrire cet événement traumatique dans l'histoire individuelle, conjugale et familiale. Certaines patientes, pour qui le travail de deuil pouvait sembler figé, ont pu mettre la transparence psychique de cette nouvelle grossesse à profit pour ré-élaborer la perte précédente et donner une juste place à chacun des deux bébés. L'actualisation du processus de deuil lors de la grossesse suivante sera fonction de la structure psychique des patientes; la dépression et l'angoisse sont également des marqueurs de l'élaboration de la perte et de la place faite à l'enfant puîné. L'analyse quantitative des données statistiques montre la présence d'anxiété particulièrement au début de la grossesse suivante. / The objet of this work is to analyze the evolution of the process of mourning during a pregnancy following a termination of pregnancy (TOP). 8461 children were born dead in France in 2012 and 59 to 86% of women start a new pregnancy in the six months following the loss; the perinatal mourning constitutes a problem of public health because 25% lead to a pathological mourning. The status of the lost object and maternal representations participate in the fate this lost foetus. The evolution of the practices favoring the humanization of the foetus and the objectalisation of the latter is criticized by some authors. We find a lack of consensus in the literature on the impact of this new pregnancy on the process of mourning. According to certain authors, she could interrupt the work of mourning, for others on the contrary, favor a elaborative resumption. These following pregnancies, tinged with the mourning, seem to represent a risk factor in the prenatal attachment with consequences on the link to the puisne child. We thus question the relation between the process of perinatal mourning and the process of investment of the child coming during a following pregnancy. Used methodology: longitudinal follow-up of seven pregnant women during pregnancy following a TOP after 15 weeks, three times during the pregnancy and at three months after the birth of the subsequent child according to a qualitative analysis (interview of clinical research) and a quantitative analysis of depression (EPDS), anxiety (STAI), perinatal mourning (PGS) and prenatal attachment (PAI) by means of auto-questionnaires. The qualitative results, treated in a singular way according to a psychodynamic analysis, are then included according to our hypotheses. The quantitative results are integrated into a wier corpus to allow statistical analysis of the data. Results: between the normal and the pathological, affects, feelings and representations oscillate on this continuum, in the course of the pregnancy, the terms and anniversaries, the proven sensory demonstrations. The following pregnancy allows to revisit the previous pregnancy; she gives the opportunity to the mothers saddened to put into words the gross affects consecutive to the loss, to put of the sens to register this traumatic event in the individual, conjugal, and family history. Somme women,for whom the work of mourning could seem motionless, were able to put the psychic transparency of this new pregnancy in profit to redevelop the previous loss and to give a just place to each of both babies. The updating of the process of mourning during the following pregnancy will be function of the psychic structure of the woman. The depression and the anxiety are also markers of the elaboration of the loss and the place made for the puisne child. The quantitaive analysis of the statistical data shows the presence of anxiety, particularly at the begining of the following pregnancy.

This study will argue that visual art and the making of images share much With other languages. If writing can be deoonstructed, visual Imagery can be deconfigured, for figuring an image is much like structuring a sentence. The process of deconfiguration however relies on repetition. DeconflguratiOn therefore denies any claim of a primary creator. It will be argued though that deconfiguratlon remains creative as it engages the imagination in a process of transference and through association. Moreover, deconfiguration shows how binary opposites are essential In the making of artworks. The repetitive process takes place when the artwork Is made and continues during the appreciation and/or interpretation of the artwork. For the interpretation to really deconfigure, it would mean that the image constituted by the artist has metaphorical, allegorical and even symbolical implications. The interpreter will thus always remain a partidpant in the creative process suggested by the artwork. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)