Despite the increasing popularity of hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), few studies have quantified their real-world particle emissions from internal combustion engine (ICE) re-ignition events (RIEVs). RIEVs have been known to occur under unstable combustion conditions which frequently result in particle number emission rates (PNERs) that exceed stabilized engine operation. Tailpipe total PN (5 to 560 nm diameter) emission rates (#/s) from a conventional vehicle (CV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) 2010 Toyota Camry were quantified on a 50 km (32 mi) route over a variety of roadways in Chittenden County, Vermont using the Total On-board Tailpipe Emissions Measurement System (TOTEMS). While HEVs are known to have significant fuel conserving benefits compared to conventional vehicles, less is known about the relative emissions performance of HEVs. This study is the first to characterize RIEVs under a range of real-world driving conditions and to directly compare HEV and CV PNER during driving on different road sections. A total of 28 CV and 33 HEV sampling runs were conducted over an 18-month period under ambient temperatures ranging between -4 and 35 °C. A road classification based upon speed and intersection density divided the route into four different road sections: Freeway, Rural, Urban I and Urban II. Due to the distinct on-off cycling of the HEV ICE, a new operational mode framework (ICE OpMode) was developed to characterize shutdown, off, re-ignition and stabilized HEV ICE operation. Road section was found to affect overall ICE OpMode distribution, with HEV engine-off operation averaging 57%, 36% and 5% of total operation for combined Urban, Rural and Freeway road sections, respectively. Re-ignition frequency was found to range between 11 and 133 events per hour, with spatial density ranging between 0.1 and 5.6 events per kilometer of roadway. A total of 3212 re-ignition events were observed and recorded, and mean HEV PNER during RIEVs, on average, ranged between 2.4 and 4.4 times greater than that of HEV Stabilized operation. Approximately 65% of all re-ignition events resulted in a peak PNER exceeding the 95% percentile for all ICE-on activity in both vehicles (9.3 x 1011 #/s), known as a High Emission Event Record (HEER). RIEV operation made up only 7.4% of total ICE-on operation for both vehicles but accounted for 35.4% of all HEERs. Overall, total particles emitted during HEV operation associated with re-ignition events ranged from 5% for Freeway driving to 60% for Urban I driving. Comparisons between vehicles found an average of 37% and 7% fuel conserving benefits of the HEV during Urban I and Freeway driving, respectively. However, a different effect was found for PN emissions. During Urban I driving, where RIEVs were most frequent, on average HEV PNER was 2.3 times greater than overall mean CV PNER. For Freeway driving, where the HEV operated similar to a conventional vehicle, mean CV PNER was 2.4 times greater than mean HEV PNER. PNER from partial re-ignition events following an incomplete ICE shutdown (no period of prior engine off operation) were on average 1.65 times greater than those occurring when the ICE shutdown for at least one second. The typical fuel consumption benefits of HEVs in urban driving are associated with a tradeoff in PN emissions. The HEV ICE operating behavior has implications for the spatial distribution of PN hot-spots as well as the associated micro-scale modeling of alternative vehicle technology emissions. It is likely that building a model of HEV behavior based upon CV activity will be appropriate, with consideration of a hybridization factor and, as a result of these analyses, a re-ignition factor.

Master of Science / Department of Statistics / Christopher Vahl / Sample size estimation is generally based on assumptions made during the planning stage of a clinical trial. Often, there is limited information available to estimate the initial sample size. This may result in a poor estimate. For instance, an insufficient sample size may not have the capability to produce statistically significant results, while an over-sized study will lead to a waste of resources or even ethical issues in that too many patients are exposed to potentially ineffective treatments. Therefore, an interim analysis in the middle of a trial may be worthwhile to assure that the significance level is at the nominal level and/or the power is adequate to detect a meaningful treatment difference. In this report, the impact of sample size re-estimation on the type I error rate for the continuous end-point in a clinical trial with two treatments is evaluated through a simulation study. Two sample size estimation methods are taken into consideration: blinded and partially unblinded. For the blinded method, all collected data for two groups are used to estimate the variance, while only data from the control group are used to re-estimate the sample size for the partially unblinded method. The simulation study is designed with different combinations of assumed variance, assumed difference in treatment means, and re-estimation methods. The end-point is assumed to follow normal distribution and the variance for both groups are assumed to be identical. In addition, equal sample size is required for each group. According to the simulation results, the type I error rates are preserved for all settings.

Combining Outputs from Machine Translation Systems By Fahim A. Salim Supervised by: Ing. Zdenek Zabokrtsky, Ph.D Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics, Charles University in Prague 2010. Abstract: Due to the massive ongoing research there are many paradigms of Machine Translation systems with diverse characteristics. Even systems designed on the same paradigm might perform differently in different scenarios depending upon their training data used and other design decisions made. All Machine Translation Systems have their strengths and weaknesses and often weakness of one MT system is the strength of the other. No single approach or system seems to always perform best, therefore combining different approaches or systems i.e. creating systems of Hybrid nature, to capitalize on their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses in an ongoing trend in Machine Translation research. But even Systems of Hybrid nature has limitations and they also tend to perform differently in different scenarios. Thanks to the World Wide Web and open source, nowadays one can have access to many different and diverse Machine Translation systems therefore it is practical to have techniques which could combine the translation of different MT systems and produce a translation which is better than any of the individual systems....

Mantle pyroxenites are important components of mantle rocks, because they provide important insights into bulk composition and heterogeneity of the Earth's upper mantle and therefore, direct evidence of mantle evolution throughout the Earth history. Studied pyroxenites from localities Bečváry (the Kutná Hora Complex), Níhov, Nové Dvory, Mohelno, Horní Kounice, Karlstteten and Meidling (the Gföhl Unit of the Moldanubian Zone) occur as dykes and/or layers within spinel and garnet peridotites from the Bohemian massif. Whole-rock concentrations of rare earth (REE) and other trace elements in studied pyroxenites yield extreme variability, which most likely reflect: 1) variable garnet/clinopyroxene ratios in bulk rocks, 2) different degree of fractionation of parental melts and 3) different concentrations trace elements in the source host material. Pyroxenites from locality Mohelno (LREE-depleted) may be derived from depleted or only slightly enriched suboceanic mantle. In contrast, pyroxenites from Karlstetten, Meidling, Horní Kounice and Nové Dvory (LREE-enriched) crystallized from the melts derived from enriched mantle source with possibly significant contribution of recycled crust. Studied pyroxenites are characterized by extremely variable 187 Os/188 Os ratios. While the pyroxenites from Mohelno and...

With the help of modern technology, blindness caused by retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa is now considered reversible. Scientists from various fields such as Neuroscience, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Bioscience have been collaborating to design and develop retinal prostheses, with the aim of replacing malfunctioning parts of the retina and restoring vision in the blind. Human trials conducted to test retinal prostheses have yielded encouraging results, showing the potential of this approach in vision recovery. However, a retinal prosthesis has several limitations with regard to its hardware and biological functions, and several attempts have been made to overcome these limitations. This thesis focuses on the biological aspects of retinal prostheses: the biological processes occurring inside the retina and the limitations of retinal prostheses corresponding to those processes have been analysed. Based on these analyses, three major findings regarding information processing inside the retina have been presented and these findings have been used to conceptualise retinal prostheses that have the characteristics of asymmetrical and separate pathway stimulations. In the future, when nanotechnology gains more popularity and is completely integrated inside the prosthesis, this concept can be utilized to restore useful visual information such as colour, depth, and contrast to achieve high-quality vision in the blind.

The aim of this study is to examine high school students’ perceptions of Christianity,Islam and their followers. This is performed with the purpose of raising awareness of students’ authentic understandings of religion – so that their perceptions, and perhaps prejudices, could actively and effectively be addressed during school hours.The data was collected through interviews in focus groups, where a total of 10 students were asked questions about their perceptions of Christianity and Islam. The results show that a majority of the students have a negative attitude towards traditional religious beliefs in general, and that most them, consequently, have strong preconceptions regarding both Christians and Muslims. However, the findings display that there are some evident differences between the ways students view Christian and Islamic faith. These dissimilarities mainly seem to revolve around the idea that Christians typically are born within “rational and modern societies” – and therefore “should know better” than to believe in God. In contrast, there is a strong notion that Muslims generally are born in “less fortunate societies”, and thus cannotbe held accountable for their “illogical” beliefs. The study concludes that there is an alarming need for schools to pay attention to, and thereafter challenge, students’religious preconceptions.

Los requerimientos técnicos contenidos en el presente documento tratan sobre la calidad de materiales y mano de obra para movimiento de tierras, diseñados por Knight Piésold para la construcción del re-crecimiento del depósito de relaves Nº 4, propiedad de cía. de minas buenaventura S.A.A. – unidad OrcopampaA “CMB” se le denomino como el propietario, cía. de minas buenaventura S.A.A., o cualquiera de sus representantes autorizados. Al “administrador de la construcción” se le denomino a CMB. Al “ingeniero” se le denomino a Knight Piésold consultores S.A. y Buenaventura Ingenieros S.A. o cualquiera de sus representantes autorizados. Por “contratista” se entendió la parte que ha celebrado un contrato con CMB y que llevo a cabo el movimiento de tierras descrito en el contrato, tal como se describió en las especificaciones y modificaciones y tal como se detalló en los planos.

Overweight and obesity in U.S. children has reached epidemic proportions, affecting one in three of children and adolescents (ages 2 to 19). Chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, previously linked with adult obesity, are now observed in youth. Early intervention is key to reversing this trend. However, successful translation of clinical obesity prevention interventions to the broader community remains a major challenge, in part, due to ineffective adaptation of interventions from controlled clinical settings to more diverse settings. A process evaluation framework - RE-AIM - was used to guide "real world" translation of a family-focused diabetes prevention trial at the YMCA for overweight and obese 9-12-yr-olds (E.P.I.C. Kids), with particular attention paid to factors influencing adoption, implementation, and maintenance by the program by this established community organization. Preliminary evaluation suggested a moderate to high potential for successful implementation and dissemination of the E.P.I.C. Kids program on a larger scale, thereby laying the foundation for replication in other community settings.

Master of Science / Department of Statistics / Christopher I. Vahl / Estimation of sample size is an important and critical procedure in the design of clinical trials. A trial with inadequate sample size may not produce a statistically significant result. On the other hand, having an unnecessarily large sample size will definitely increase the expenditure of resources and may cause a potential ethical problem due to the exposure of unnecessary number of human subjects to an inferior treatment. A poor estimate of the necessary sample size is often due to the limited information at the planning stage. Hence, the adjustment of the sample size mid-trial has become a popular strategy recently. In this work, we introduce two methods for sample size re-estimation for trials with a binary endpoint utilizing the interim information collected from the trial: a blinded method and a partially unblinded method. The blinded method recalculates the sample size based on the first stage’s overall event proportion, while the partially unblinded method performs the calculation based only on the control event proportion from the first stage. We performed simulation studies with different combinations of expected proportions based on fixed ratios of response rates. In this study, equal sample size per group was considered. The study shows that for both methods, the type I error rates were preserved satisfactorily.

This thesis, or storytelling journey, examines the stories of four First Nations adults who survived cross-cultural adoption into non-First Nations families and reunification with their birth families and/or communities. The methodology utilized for this research is Storytelling. The purpose and passion for storytelling in First Nations traditions are acknowledged and explained, helping to outline why storytelling methodology is a logical choice to honour and respect the storytellers’ messages included in this thesis. An overview of the traditional First Nations family system and the impacts of genocidal government policies on such traditional family systems are explicated, specifically in relation to First Nations children adopted out of community in a cross cultural manner. -Tákem nsnek’wnúk’w7a (All my relations) / Graduate