Maximum likelihood estimation of the concentration parameter of von Mises-Fisher distributions involves inverting the ratio R_nu = I_{nu+1} / I_nu of modified Bessel functions. Computational issues when using approximative or iterative methods were discussed in Tanabe et al. (Comput Stat 22(1):145-157, 2007) and Sra (Comput Stat 27(1):177-190, 2012). In this paper we use Amos-type bounds for R_nu to deduce sharper bounds for the inverse function, determine the approximation error of these bounds, and use these to propose a new approximation for which the error tends to zero when the inverse of R is evaluated at values tending to 1 (from the left). We show that previously introduced rational bounds for R_nu which are invertible using quadratic equations cannot be used to improve these bounds. / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

Finite mixtures of von Mises-Fisher distributions allow to apply model-based clustering methods to data which is of standardized length, i.e., all data points lie on the unit sphere. The R package movMF contains functionality to draw samples from finite mixtures of von Mises-Fisher distributions and to fit these models using the expectation-maximization algorithm for maximum likelihood estimation. Special features are the possibility to use sparse matrix representations for the input data, different variants of the expectationmaximization algorithm, different methods for determining the concentration parameters in the M-step and to impose constraints on the concentration parameters over the components. In this paper we describe the main fitting function of the package and illustrate its application. In addition we compare the clustering performance of finite mixtures of von Mises-Fisher distributions to spherical k-means. We also discuss the resolution of several numerical issues which occur for estimating the concentration parameters and for determining the normalizing constant of the von Mises-Fisher distribution. (authors' abstract)

O mercado é um sistema de cooperação social baseado em transações voluntárias, este sistema abrange uma estrutura institucional (propriedade, contrato, Estado), uma dimensão epistêmica (cálculo econômico, preço e valor) e um complexo motivacional (lucro, auto-interesse, diminuição do desconforto). O mercado, portanto, é um dos temas centrais na obra de Ludwig von Mises. A partir deste pressuposto, o problema de pesquisa é: quais são os fatores que fundamentam o mercado em Ludwig von Mises? Incidindo sobre estas dimensões do mercado temos a influência da liberdade e/ou da utilidade na sua formação. Assim, pretende-se saber se o mercado tem sua fundamentação na liberdade, pois é, segundo Ludwig von Mises, o lugar onde o indivíduo é livre para escolher; ou na utilidade, pois propicia a melhor forma conhecida de organização social com os melhores benefícios possíveis. A conclusão é a de que, tanto o conceito de liberdade, quanto o de utilidade são necessários para a construção do conceito de mercado na sua teoria. Foi utilizado o método sistemático de análise conceitual. / The market is a system of social cooperation in voluntary transactions, this system covers an institutional structure, an epistemic dimension (economic calculation, price and value) and a motivational complex (profit, self-interest, decrease in discomfort). The market, therefore, is one of the central themes in the work of Ludwig von Mises. From this assumption, the research problem is: what are the factors that underpin the market in Ludwig von Mises? Focusing on these dimensions of the market has an influence of freedom and / or utility in their training. Thus, knowing whether the market has its foundation in freedom, for it is, according to Ludwig von Mises, the place where the individual is free to choose; Or utility, because it provides a better known form of social organization with the best possible resources. The conclusion is that both the concept of freedom and utility are necessary for the construction of the concept of the market in its theory. The systematic method of conceptual analysis was used.

abstract: This thesis concerns the role of geometric imperfections on assemblies in which the location of a target part is dependent on supports at two features. In some applications, such as a turbo-machine rotor that is supported by a series of parts at each bearing, it is the interference or clearance at a functional target feature, such as at the blades that must be controlled. The first part of this thesis relates the limits of location for the target part to geometric imperfections of other parts when stacked-up in parallel paths. In this section parts are considered to be rigid (non-deformable). By understanding how much of variation from the supporting parts contribute to variations of the target feature, a designer can better utilize the tolerance budget when assigning values to individual tolerances. In this work, the T-Map®, a spatial math model is used to model the tolerance accumulation in parallel assemblies. In other applications where parts are flexible, deformations are induced when parts in parallel are clamped together during assembly. Presuming that perfectly manufactured parts have been designed to fit perfectly together and produce zero deformations, the clamping-induced deformations result entirely from the imperfect geometry that is produced during manufacture. The magnitudes and types of these deformations are a function of part dimensions and material stiffnesses, and they are limited by design tolerances that control manufacturing variations. These manufacturing variations, if uncontrolled, may produce high enough stresses when the parts are assembled that premature failure can occur before the design life. The last part of the thesis relates the limits on the largest von Mises stress in one part to functional tolerance limits that must be set at the beginning of a tolerance analysis of parts in such an assembly. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Mechanical Engineering 2012

L’objectif de la thèse était de réaliser la première édition critique du manuscrit français 9198 de la BnF attribué à Jehan Miélot et commandité, au XVe siècle, par Philipe le Bon, duc de Bourgogne. Ce manuscrit contient la compilation intitulée : La Vie et miracles de Nostre Dame qui constitue la mise en prose de miracles en vers du XIIIe siècle. D’un point de vue philologique, le but était d’étudier le rapport entre les formes des textes versifiés en ancien français et les formes en moyen français de la compilation. Le travail philologique comprend la transcription du manuscrit, un apparat critique, un glossaire, un index lemmatisé, l’index des noms propres et une analyse grammaticale des traits dialectaux de l’œuvre qui reflètent la phonétique du dialecte picard. La problématique sur laquelle repose cette recherche est double. D’un point de vue philologique, il est question d’éclairer le rapport entre les formes anciennes, qu’offrent les textes versifiés en ancien français du XIIIe siècle, et les formes modernes en moyen français du recueil de Jehan Miélot. En puisant des exemples à la fois dans les récits de miracles versifiés du XIIIe siècle et dans la compilation du XVe siècle, cette étude permet de situer le recueil dans le contexte de la tradition médiévale des récits miraculaires de la Vierge Marie

In translation studies, the short story cycle has been largely overlooked as an object of study in prose translation. This thesis serves as a case study on the practice of translating the short story cycle, using my translation of Suzanne Myre’s 2007 short story collection Mises à mort as a paradigm. The thesis comprises four sections: the first is devoted to a discussion of the short story cycle, a modernist form of the short story collection. It is a hybrid subgenre, balancing elements of both the traditional short story collection, characterized by heterogeneity, and the novel, characterized by homogeneity. In this first section, I examine a few definitions of the cycle, then I discuss the subgenre according to a four-part criteria established by Gerald Lynch: ‘character,’ ‘place,’ ‘theme’ and ‘style or tone.’ In the second section, I provide an analysis of Mises à mort within the framework of short story cycle criteria; an examination of the characters, setting, overarching themes and stylistic parallels serves to demonstrate how and why I ultimately interpreted the collection as a short story cycle. The third section is my complete translation of the work. In the fourth and final section, I discuss what implications my interpretation of Mises à mort as a cycle had for my translation thereof, and what unique challenges it presented. I compare my first draft, produced in the mindset that I was translating a traditional collection, to my final draft, revised to accommodate the cohesiveness of the work. This thesis serves to demonstrate how a translator can accommodate for the dual nature of the short story cycle, simultaneously maintaining the discreteness and interconnectedness of the stories.

La projection est une des techniques utilisées pour permettre de réduire les besoins en terme de taille mémoire nécessaire aux moteurs de requêtes XML (in-memory). L'idée sous-jacente à cette technique est simple : étant donnée une requête Q à évaluer sur un document XML D, au lieu de procéder sur D, la requête est évaluée sur un document D', plus petit que D, construit lors du chargement de ce dernier en mémoire, par élagage des parties de D inutiles pour Q. Le document D', est une projection du document initial D. Il est souvent de taille drastiquement inférieure à celle de D.Alors que cette technique de projection a été étudiée et développée assez largement pour l'interrogation de document XML, à notre connaissance, ce type de technique n'a pas été explorée ni appliquée aux mises à jour de documents XML.L'objet de cette thèse a donc été de proposer une technique d'optimisation de mises à jour de documents au format XML exploitant le typage des documents.La contribution a porté sur la spécification de l'algorithme Merge, c'est-à-dire la fusion des modifications avec le document initial, ainsi que sur le développement d'un prototype sur lequel des tests ont été effectués. / XML projection is one of the main adopted optimization techniques for reducing memory consumption in XQuery in-memory engines. The main idea behind this technique is quite simple: given a query Q over an XML document D, instead of evaluating Q on D, the query Q is evaluated on a smaller document D' obtained from D by pruning out, at loading-time, parts of D that are unrelevant for Q. The actual queried document D' is a projection of the original one, and is often much smaller than D due to the fact that queries tend to be quite selective in general.While projection techniques have been extensively investigated for XML querying, we are not aware of applications to XML updating.This Thesis investigates application of a projection based optimization mechanism for XQuery Update Facility expressions in the presence of a schema. The current work includes study of the method and a formal development of Merge algorithm as well as experiments testifying its effectiveness.

The correlatioin between residual stresses and the global properties from an indentation test, i.e. hardness and size of the contact area, has been studied frequently in recent years. The investigations presented have been based on experimental, theoretical and numerical methods and as a result, the basic features of the problem are fairly well understood in the case of residual equi-biaxial surface stresses. The more general case, when the principal surface stresses are not necessarily equi-biaxial, has received nuch less attention and it is therefore the aim of the present study to remedy this shortcoming. In doing so, qualitative results are of immediate interest in this initial study but possible ways of quantitative descriptions are also discussed for future purposes. The present analysis is based on numerical methods and in particular the finite element method (FEM) is relied upon. Classical Mises elastoplastic material behavior is assumed throughout the investigation.

No description available.

Ce mémoire en recherche-création regroupe une exploration de l’écriture poétique et une étude des transformations permettant le passage du poème vers la chanson dans 12 hommes rapaillés chantent Gaston Miron. La première partie de ce mémoire consiste en un recueil de poèmes, L’absence aura tes yeux, dont l’écriture concorde avec la période la plus active de mon travail de recherche sur Gaston Miron. Dès le début de la rédaction de ce mémoire, j’ai souhaité être attentive à la présence de Miron dans mon travail poétique afin de rendre compte de son influence dans ma démarche créatrice. Mon recueil se veut donc une sorte de témoin de cette relation particulière que j’ai vécue avec le poète et son oeuvre tout au long de mon travail de recherche et d’écriture. En apprivoisant Miron, c’est ma propre expérience de l’écriture que j’ai revisitée, et sa présence a teinté, intimement, ma vision de la poésie et mon rapport personnel à ce genre littéraire. Les passages en italique dans mes poèmes sont par ailleurs des emprunts poétiques à Gaston Miron. L’absence aura tes yeux est le récit de la destruction, celle devant laquelle nous sommes impuissants, mais aussi celle que l’on s’assène à force de rigueur envers soi-même. D’un doux contrepoids, c’est aussi le récit de l’amour incandescent, celui dont la lumière pénètre jusque dans les bas-fonds de l’âme pour réparer les choses que l’on croyait brisées. La deuxième partie de ce mémoire consiste en l’analyse du projet 12 hommes rapaillés chantent Gaston Miron entrepris par Gilles Bélanger et qui a été réalisé à partir des poèmes issus des recueils L’homme rapaillé et Poèmes épars. J’y observe les caractéristiques formelles de la poésie de Miron, mais aussi les manipulations qui ont permis la transformation de certains de ses poèmes en chansons.