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An important aspect during the planning of commuter trains is how long they will be waiting at the platform. All travelers must be able to board and get off the train in time while the process cannot take too long. The train’s waiting time is called its dwell time, and this is a study of how the dwell time of the commuter trains in Stockholm behaves with a focus on the larger station Stockholm Odenplan and the smaller station Årstaberg. The duration of the dwell time compared to the stations planned dwell time was analyzed with manual measurements on the stations. The dwell time was analyzed both during and after rush hours. Possible reasons for the dwell time’s length were also analyzed and a potential factor that was in focus was the impact of the removal of train conductors. Train conductors in Stockholm’s rail system are responsible for monitoring the boarding and closing the train’s doors after it is finished. They began to dismantle from the trains Mars 2023 due to efficiency reasons. Half of the trains will run with a train conductor until autumn 2023, where they will disappear entirely. The train drivers will afterwards monitor the travelers with cameras instead. The commuter trains in Stockholm have three routes between Bålsta and Nynäshamn, Uppsala/Märsta and Södertälje and Södertälje and Gnesta. Factors considered when planning their timetables are the system’s capacity, how long the train should wait at a station and how long it takes to drive between stations. 94 % of the trains run on time in the system according to the operator MTR. The analyzed stations Stockholm Odenplan and Årstaberg are in Stockholm and have their separate conditions. Stockholm Odenplan is the second to largest station in the system and is in a central part of the city. The station is underground, and the rails are separated from the platform with platform doors. The doors are shown to cause delays for the dwell time as they are slow. Årstaberg has considerably fewer travelers than Stockholm Odenplan and is in the south parts of the city. The station is over the ground and has no platform doors. There are many theories about the causes behind a train’s dwell time based on the behavior of the passengers. They vary from where they are waiting on the platform, how they are queueing during boarding and the behavior during the boarding. The study shows that the dwell time in Årstaberg stays under its planned 42 seconds, but it is six seconds too long from its planned 60 seconds in Stockholm Odenplan. The dwell time increases during rush hour in Årstaberg and decreases outside of it, while Stockholm Odenplan seems to be largely unaffected by rush hours. Trains with train conductors seem to have a lower dwell time than those without them. The boarding has a shorter duration with train conductors, which shows that they are more efficient than the train drivers using cameras to monitor the boarding. However, it does take a little longer for the train to depart after the boarding is finished when they have a train conductor. Factors causing the dwell time are believed to be related to the flow of passengers and the design of the stations. The platform doors are believed to increase the dwell time in Stockholm Odenplan. Meanwhile, the protection from the weather and the location of the entrance in Årstaberg might impact its dwell time. When the number of passengers increases will the boarding take longer. The boarding will also be concentrated on a few doors in Årstaberg depending on the weather or if the trains are short. The dwell time should be analyzed further for a longer period and during more hours of the day. More stations in Stockholm’s rail system should be analyzed too.

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-06-15T18:33:41Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Diogo Soares Menezes Samia - 2015.pdf: 4976311 bytes, checksum: 317908c75deb4de1770cd68c544a5190 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-06-28T11:59:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Diogo Soares Menezes Samia - 2015.pdf: 4976311 bytes, checksum: 317908c75deb4de1770cd68c544a5190 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-28T11:59:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Diogo Soares Menezes Samia - 2015.pdf: 4976311 bytes, checksum: 317908c75deb4de1770cd68c544a5190 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Optimal escape theory states that animals should counterbalance the costs and benefits of flight when escaping from a potential predator. However, in apparent contradiction with this well-established optimality model, birds and mammals generally initiate escape soon after beginning to monitor an approaching threat; a phenomena codified as the “Flush Early and Avoid the Rush” (FEAR) hypothesis. Typically, the FEAR hypothesis is tested using correlational statistics and is supported when there is a strong relationship between the distance at which an individual first responds behaviorally to an approaching predator (alert distance; AD), and its flight initiation distance (the distance at which it flees the approaching predator; FID). However, such correlational statistics are both inadequate to analyze relationships constrained by an envelope (such as that in the AD-FID relationship) and are sensitive to outliers with high leverage, which can lead one to erroneous conclusions. To overcome these statistical concerns we develop the phi index (Φ), a distribution-free metric to evaluate the goodness of fit of a 1:1 relationship in a constraint envelope (the prediction of the FEAR hypothesis). Using both simulation and empirical data, we conclude that Φ is superior to traditional correlational analyses because it explicitly tests the FEAR prediction, is robust to outliers, and it controls for the disproportionate influence of observations from large predictor values (caused by the constrained envelope in AD-FID relationship). Importantly, by analyzing the empirical data we corroborate the strong effect that alertness has on flight as stated by the FEAR hypothesis. / A teoria do escape ótimo afirma que os animais devem contrabalançar os custos e benefícios da fuga quando vão escapar de um predador. No entanto, em aparente contradição com este bem-estabelecido modelo ótimo, aves e mamíferos geralmente empreendem fuga logo após inicio do monitoramento do predador em potencial; um fenômeno denominado “Flush Early and Avoid the Rush hypothesis” (a hipótese FEAR). A hipótese FEAR é geralmente testada usando estatísticas correlativas e seu suporte se dá por uma forte relação positiva entre a distância na qual um indivíduo responde comportamentalmente a um predador que se aproxima (distância de alerta; alert distance, AD) e a distância do início da fuga (flight initiation distance, FID). No entanto, o uso de estatísticas correlativas para testar a hipótese FEAR pode levar a conclusões errôneas, já que estatísticas correlativas são inadequadas para análise de relações em envelope (tais como a relação entre AD e FID) e são sensíveis a valores discrepantes (outliers) com elevado efeito de alavancagem. Por isso, nós desenvolvemos o índice fi (Φ), uma métrica não-paramétrica destinada a avaliar a qualidade do ajuste de uma relação 1:1 restrita por um envelope (tal como a observada na hipótese FEAR). Usando simulações numéricas e dados empíricos, nós concluímos que Φ é uma métrica superior às análises de correlação tradicionais porque testa explicitamente a predição da hipótese FEAR, é robusta a outiliers, e ainda controla pela influência disproporcional dos altos de AD (causado pela relação em envelope entre AD e FID). Como predito pela hipótese FEAR, a análise dos dados empíricos corroborou o forte efeito que a distância de alerta tem sobre a decisão de fuga das presas.

The heart is one the most important organs in the human body and many other live creatures. The electrical activity in the heart controls the heart function, and many heart diseases are linked to the abnormalities in the electrical activity in the heart. Mathematical equations and computer simulation can be used to model the electrical activity in the heart. The heart models are challenging to solve because of the complexity of the models and the huge size of the problems. Several cell models have been proposed to model the electrical activity in a single heart cell. These models must be coupled with a heart model to model the electrical activity in the entire heart. The bidomain model is a popular model to simulate the propagation of electricity in myocardial tissue. It is a continuum-based model consisting of non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) describing the electrical activity at the cellular scale and a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) describing propagation of electricity at the tissue scale. Because of this multi-scale, ODE/PDE structure of the model, splitting methods that treat the ODEs and PDEs in separate steps are natural candidates as numerical methods. First, we need to solve the problem at the cellular scale using ODE solvers. One of the most popular methods to solve the ODEs is known as the Rush-Larsen (RL) method. Its popularity stems from its improved stability over integrators such as the forward Euler (FE) method along with its easy implementation. The RL method partitions the ODEs into two sets: one for the gating variables, which are treated by an exponential integrator, and another for the remaining equations, which are treated by the FE method. The success of the RL method can be understood in terms of its relatively good stability when treating the gating variables. However, this feature would not be expected to be of benefit on cell models for which the stiffness is not captured by the gating equations. We demonstrate that this is indeed the case on a number of stiff cell models. We further propose a new partitioned method based on the combination of a first-order generalization of the RL method with the FE method. This new method leads to simulations of stiff cell models that are often one or two orders of magnitude faster than the original RL method. After solving the ODEs, we need to use bidomain solvers to solve the bidomain model. Two well-known, first-order time-integration methods for solving the bidomain model are the semi-implicit method and the Godunov operator-splitting method. Both methods decouple the numerical procedure at the cellular scale from that at the tissue scale but in slightly different ways. The methods are analyzed in terms of their accuracy, and their relative performance is compared on one-, two-, and three-dimensional test cases. As suggested by the analysis, the test cases show that the Godunov method is significantly faster than the semi-implicit method for the same level of accuracy, specifically, between 5 and 15 times in the cases presented. Second-order bidomain solvers can generally be expected to be more effective than first-order bidomain solvers under normal accuracy requirements. However, the simplest and the most commonly applied second-order method for the PDE step, the Crank-Nicolson (CN) method, may generate unphysical oscillations. We investigate the performance of a two-stage, L-stable singly diagonally implicit Runge-Kutta method for solving the PDEs of the bidomain model and present a stability analysis. Numerical experiments show that the enhanced stability property of this method leads to more physically realistic numerical simulations compared to both the CN and Backward Euler (BE) methods.

L’intégration des fibres naturelles cellulosiques de plantes annuelles ou de résidus agricoles ou agro-industriels dans l’élaboration de matériaux de structures composites et le développement de nouveaux liants biosourcés sont aujourd’hui un domaine de recherche d’intérêt croissant. La thèse s'est déroulée dans le cadre du programme « Eco-panneaux », dont les deux objectifs principaux furent tout d'abord de valoriser les fibres végétales d’origine tunisienne comme l’alfa, le jonc et les folioles de palme et ensuite d'évaluer le potentiel d'espèces végétales tunisiennes dont les écorces sont riches en tannins (fruit de grenade, racines du sumac et tronc de pin d’Alep). Les études de caractérisation des fibres ont montré que leurs masses volumiques sont inférieures à 1. Le calcul du point de saturation des fibres (FSP) montre des valeurs majoritairement comprises entre 60 et 100 %. Nous avons également pu caractériser la cinétique d'imprégnation d'eau pour chacune des fibres. L’imprégnation se stabilise après 24 h d’immersion. Riches en minéraux (concentrations supérieures à 1 %), les fibres ont montré des teneurs en cellulose, en lignines et en hémicellulose comparables à celles généralement rencontrées avec les fibres de bois. L’analyse thermogravimétrique (ATG) a permis de constater que les matrices végétales étudiées sont thermiquement stables pour des températures inférieures à 200°C. Le dosage colorimétrique pour étudier la composition en polyphénols des matrices tannifères, l’analyse infrarouge et l’étude structurale de l’extrait des tanins, ainsi que le calcul du « Stiasny number » , montrent la forte teneur de l’écorce de grenade en tanins hydrolysables et la richesse des écorces du tronc de pin d’Alep et des racines du sumac en tanins condensés. L’étude des propriétés thermiques des extraits de tanins par ATG montre que les tanins de pin d’Alep et du sumac sont thermiquement plus stables que ceux de la grenade. La colle formulée à partir d’hexamine et de tanins de pin d’Alep présente un module d’élasticité élevé. Alors que la colle à base de tanins de grenade forme le réseau le moins dense. Ces résultats ont été confirmés par l’étude de la résistance au cisaillement. L'étude réalisée sur les composites fibres-plâtre (mise en œuvre et caractérisation physico mécanique des composites) a montré que les fibres locales pourraient constituer une alternative aux fibres d'importation utilisées actuellement. Une première caractérisation de la conductivité thermique des panneaux isolants élaborés à partir des fibres locales et de colles de tanins montre une conductivité thermique moyenne de 0,106w/K.m. / The integration of natural cellulosic fibers from annual plants and agricultural residues and agro-industrial materials in the development of composite structures and the development of new bio-based adhesives, are now a research field with growing interest. The thesis was conducted within the framework of "Eco-panels" program, which its two main objectives were firstly, to enhance plant fibers of Tunisian origin as alfa, rush and palm leaflets and then to evaluate the potential of Tunisian plant species whose bark is rich in tannins (pomegranate fruit, sumac roots and Aleppo pine trunk). The characterization studies of fibers showed that their densities are less than 1. The calculation of the fiber saturation point (FSP) shows values mostly between 60 and 100 %. We were also able to characterize the impregnation kinetics of water for each of these fibers. The impregnation stabilizes after 24 h of immersion. Rich in minerals (concentrations greater than 1 %), the fibers showed levels of cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose comparable to those generally encountered with wood fibers. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the plant matrices are thermally stable for temperatures below 200 ° C. The colorimetric assay of the polyphenolic composition of tanniferous matrices, the infrared analysis and the structural study of the tannins extract, as well as the calculation of "Stiasny number" show the high content in hydrolysable tannins for pomegranate barks and richness of Aleppo pine trunk barks and sumac roots barks in condensed tannins. The study by TGA of the thermal properties of tannins extracts shows that Aleppo pine and sumac tannins are thermally more stable than those of pomegranate. The formulation made from hexamine and Aleppo pine tannins has the greatest elasticity modulus. While the formulation prepared from pomegranate tannins forms the least dense network. These results were confirmed by the study of the shear strength. The study conducted on fiber-plaster composites (implementation and physico-mechanical characterization of composites) showed that local fiber could be an alternative to imported fibers used currently. A first characterization of the thermal conductivity of insulation panels made from local plant fibers and tannins adhesives shows an average conductivity of 0,106 W / Km.

Coleanthus subtilis ist eine durch die FFH-Richtlinie geschützte, weltweit sehr seltene Art, welche periodisch trockenfallende Standorte in Flussauen (Primärhabitate) bzw. durch den Menschen geschaffene Staugewässer (Sekundärhabitate) besiedelt. Die Erarbeitung der aktuellen Verbreitungsbilder der Art in Sachsen und ihrer Besiedlungshistorie waren Ausgangspunkt für die Analysen zur Ökologie dieser Art. Anhand von Analysen zu den Ausbreitungsmechanismen, Standortansprüchen und Reaktionsmöglichkeiten von C. subtilis wurden grundlegende Beiträge zum besseren Verständnis der Strategien dieser Art erbracht. Die Arbeit gibt Hinweise für eine artenschutzgerechte Bewirtschaftung der Staugewässer insbesondere für die Regulierung von Zeitpunkt, Dauer, Intensität und Häufigkeit von Wasserstandsabsenkungen sowie hinsichtlich einzelner Praktiken im Zusammenhang mit einer fischereilichen Nutzung. Weiterhin zeigt die Arbeit auf, wie C. subtilis auf bestimmte, von den durchschnittlichen Wasserstandsschwankungen abweichende, Bedingungen reagieren kann. Damit sind nun wichtige Grundlagen zum nachhaltigen Schutz und zur Förderung von C. subtilis, insbesondere in Sekundärhabitaten, vorhanden. / Coleanthus subtilis is a globally rare species protected by the European Union Habitats Directive. This grass establishes on periodically drying sites in river floodplains (primary habitats) but also in man made ponds and reservoirs (secondary habitats). The identification of the present distribution patterns as well as the reconstruction of the colonisation history of C. subtilis in Saxony were the basis for analyses about the ecology of this species. By analysing dispersal mechanisms, habitat demands and response traits of C. subtilis fundamental contributions to a better understanding of the strategies of this species are given. The thesis provides information about optimum time, duration, intensity and frequency of water level reductions and about the consequences of different management practices particularly with respect to fishery in ponds and reservoirs inhabiting C. subtilis. Further the thesis shows how C. subtilis can cope with deviations from mean water level fluctuations. In summary important fundamental knowledge for the sustainable conservation and promotion of C. subtilis, particularly in secondary habitats, has been established.

This thesis explores reasons and disagreement in ethics, and their connection to personal identity. I begin by arguing that reasons are open; what gives them direction is how they feature in my life and weigh with me. Of course, this does not tell us what reasons are available to a person when they act. In this connection I argue against Bernard Williams’ internal reasons thesis, showing that there are occasions when we will want to say someone has a reason to act even though they are unable to see it. Continuing with Williams, I explore moral necessity, drawing also on the works of Winch, Rhees and Cordner, arguing that Williams too readily conflates psychological with ethical limits. In particular, the possibility of recanting what we took to be necessary should inform our view of moral necessity, since it can show that I had misconstrued the nature of the limits I took myself to have reached. Following this use of recantation, I explore narrative in detail, arguing that my narrative is partly constitutive of who I am. My agency is therefore interpretive. This has ramifications for thinkers such as Christine Korsgaard and Jonathan Dancy, whose work I explore in two excursuses. In different ways, both fail to appreciate the significance of our interpretive identities.

Memento Mori, Latin for “remember thy death,” implores us to be mindful that death is both inevitable and inescapable. What of the records created during the process of dying and about death? Based upon wide-ranging archival research into primary documents, this thesis explores the rich sources of both official, public records, and personal, private ones, relating to mortality on the small-town Canadian frontier before 1950. The community of Red Lake, Ontario, which was established on the frontier as the result of the Red Lake gold rush of 1926, is the subject of a case study. Rather than merely cataloguing sources, this thesis illustrates that by adapting aspects from such archival appraisal methodologies as macroappraisal and documentation strategy, one is able to make available to researchers a wider range of sources relevant to the themes of dying and death. Specifically, by employing a documentation strategy methodology to identify and illuminate the records of human activities surrounding the functions of dying and death, archivists can offer to researchers the opportunity to locate relevant records wherever they may physically be. Since this is an Archival Studies thesis, it does not provide an historical analysis of dying and death, but is an archival study of the types of records related to the theme of mortality on the Canadian frontier: how those records were created, their character, and their capture and preservation in a small community. This thesis is organized into three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One explores some relevant trends in the secondary literature of three fields: archival appraisal and description, small town or local development on the frontier, and dying and death as human activities. Chapter Two sets the context in which the thesis analyzes mortality on the frontier by outlining the relevant history of the Red Lake District of Northwestern Ontario and its pioneers. The focus is especially on the gold-mining boom years from the mid-1920s until shortly after the Second World War. The heart of the thesis, Chapter Three, is a case study of the various records creators, human activities, and resultant records related to mortality. It is organized according to three phases or functional categories surrounding dying, death, and memorialization. The conclusion summarizes the usefulness of the case study, in light of the literature review in Chapter One. It also suggests areas of further research, including aspects not covered herein, of the records of dying and death on the Canadian frontier. The documentation strategy, adapted from the original methods employed by archivists Helen Samuels and Richard Cox, was found to work best when deployed as a research and descriptive tool for exploring and documenting the records of mortality, more so than its original purpose as an acquisition tool. The strategy has wide-ranging usefulness discovering and then describing a “virtual” documentation universe relating to record-generating human functions and activities. / February 2008

Memento Mori, Latin for “remember thy death,” implores us to be mindful that death is both inevitable and inescapable. What of the records created during the process of dying and about death? Based upon wide-ranging archival research into primary documents, this thesis explores the rich sources of both official, public records, and personal, private ones, relating to mortality on the small-town Canadian frontier before 1950. The community of Red Lake, Ontario, which was established on the frontier as the result of the Red Lake gold rush of 1926, is the subject of a case study. Rather than merely cataloguing sources, this thesis illustrates that by adapting aspects from such archival appraisal methodologies as macroappraisal and documentation strategy, one is able to make available to researchers a wider range of sources relevant to the themes of dying and death. Specifically, by employing a documentation strategy methodology to identify and illuminate the records of human activities surrounding the functions of dying and death, archivists can offer to researchers the opportunity to locate relevant records wherever they may physically be. Since this is an Archival Studies thesis, it does not provide an historical analysis of dying and death, but is an archival study of the types of records related to the theme of mortality on the Canadian frontier: how those records were created, their character, and their capture and preservation in a small community. This thesis is organized into three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One explores some relevant trends in the secondary literature of three fields: archival appraisal and description, small town or local development on the frontier, and dying and death as human activities. Chapter Two sets the context in which the thesis analyzes mortality on the frontier by outlining the relevant history of the Red Lake District of Northwestern Ontario and its pioneers. The focus is especially on the gold-mining boom years from the mid-1920s until shortly after the Second World War. The heart of the thesis, Chapter Three, is a case study of the various records creators, human activities, and resultant records related to mortality. It is organized according to three phases or functional categories surrounding dying, death, and memorialization. The conclusion summarizes the usefulness of the case study, in light of the literature review in Chapter One. It also suggests areas of further research, including aspects not covered herein, of the records of dying and death on the Canadian frontier. The documentation strategy, adapted from the original methods employed by archivists Helen Samuels and Richard Cox, was found to work best when deployed as a research and descriptive tool for exploring and documenting the records of mortality, more so than its original purpose as an acquisition tool. The strategy has wide-ranging usefulness discovering and then describing a “virtual” documentation universe relating to record-generating human functions and activities.

Memento Mori, Latin for “remember thy death,” implores us to be mindful that death is both inevitable and inescapable. What of the records created during the process of dying and about death? Based upon wide-ranging archival research into primary documents, this thesis explores the rich sources of both official, public records, and personal, private ones, relating to mortality on the small-town Canadian frontier before 1950. The community of Red Lake, Ontario, which was established on the frontier as the result of the Red Lake gold rush of 1926, is the subject of a case study. Rather than merely cataloguing sources, this thesis illustrates that by adapting aspects from such archival appraisal methodologies as macroappraisal and documentation strategy, one is able to make available to researchers a wider range of sources relevant to the themes of dying and death. Specifically, by employing a documentation strategy methodology to identify and illuminate the records of human activities surrounding the functions of dying and death, archivists can offer to researchers the opportunity to locate relevant records wherever they may physically be. Since this is an Archival Studies thesis, it does not provide an historical analysis of dying and death, but is an archival study of the types of records related to the theme of mortality on the Canadian frontier: how those records were created, their character, and their capture and preservation in a small community. This thesis is organized into three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One explores some relevant trends in the secondary literature of three fields: archival appraisal and description, small town or local development on the frontier, and dying and death as human activities. Chapter Two sets the context in which the thesis analyzes mortality on the frontier by outlining the relevant history of the Red Lake District of Northwestern Ontario and its pioneers. The focus is especially on the gold-mining boom years from the mid-1920s until shortly after the Second World War. The heart of the thesis, Chapter Three, is a case study of the various records creators, human activities, and resultant records related to mortality. It is organized according to three phases or functional categories surrounding dying, death, and memorialization. The conclusion summarizes the usefulness of the case study, in light of the literature review in Chapter One. It also suggests areas of further research, including aspects not covered herein, of the records of dying and death on the Canadian frontier. The documentation strategy, adapted from the original methods employed by archivists Helen Samuels and Richard Cox, was found to work best when deployed as a research and descriptive tool for exploring and documenting the records of mortality, more so than its original purpose as an acquisition tool. The strategy has wide-ranging usefulness discovering and then describing a “virtual” documentation universe relating to record-generating human functions and activities.