This thesis examines the proposed Österskans development in Halmstad, Sweden from the approach of critical urbanism. With a steady increase of population growth for the past decades and despite the income level of the municipality's population being above the national average - the socio-economic segregation in Halmstad is prevalent. The planned development of the Österskans area, a former node of public transport located in the city centre, would see the space refitted to house a large-scale skyscraper complex containing a hotel, an urban market, a restaurant and a rooftop bar. The development and imposed semi-privatisation of the current public place have sparked debate, and a referendum on the matter will take place at the time of the national elections in september of 2022. This study employs the method of critical discourse analysis to investigate how aspects of convivial urbanism embeds the discourse on public space in Halmstad, how the development of public places can be understood through the discourse on shared spatial qualities in the case of Österskans and what implications such qualities could have on segregation. The theoretical framework consists of theory of space and place, critical urban theory on the right to the city, uneven geographical development, the human body as accumulation strategy as well as theory on conviviality. By the examination of 13 texts as qualitatively selected representatives of the discourse, the analysis centered around on how narratives, intertextual relations and structures can be understood. In the analysis, matters of how the narratives on conviviality is positioned, how social sustainability is addressed and avoided, assumptions of who constitutes the public, market value and attractiveness, the portrayal of diversity and inclusion versus the reality of it, the feasibility of achieving togetherness and the potential harmful implications of the development are all discussed. The study concludes that while claims of conviviality clearly do feature, the narratives of the discourse overlooks crucial factors of social sustainability and leaves blind spots of how to tangibly achieve inclusivity - along with the understanding of the inside experience of the consumer being prioritized and that it could negatively impact segregation by imposing an even further further socio-spatial divide.

<p dir="ltr">Burning rate as a function of pressure is one of the primary evaluation metrics of solid propellants. Most solid propellant burning rate measurements are made at a nearly constant pressure using a variety of measurement approaches. This type of burning rate data is highly discretized and requires many tests to accurately determine the burning rate response to pressure. It would be moreefficient to measure burning rate dynamically as pressures are varied. Techniques used to make transient burning rate measurements are reviewed briefly and initial results using a microwave interferometry (MI) technique are presented. The MI method used in tandem with a closed bomb enables nearly continuous measurement of burning rates for self-pressurizing burns, capturing burning rate data over a wide range of pressures. This approach is especially useful for characterization of propellants with complex burning behaviors (e.g., slope breaks or mesa burning). The burning rates of three research propellants were characterized over a pressure range of 0.101-24.14 MPa (14-3500 psi). One research propellant exhibited a slope break at a pressure of 6.63 MPa (960 psi). Using MI in a closed pressure vessel, 14 propellant strand burns resulted in a nearly continuous burning rate curve over a pressure range of 0.41-24.13MPa (60-3500psi) that reasonably matched conventional burning rate measurements. The development of this technique provides an opportunity to quickly characterize the burning rate curve of solid propellants with greater fidelity and efficiency than traditional quasi-static pressure testing techniques.</p>

Cette recherche vise à résoudre un problème particulier du contrôle de vibration des structures intelligentes. Notre objectif est de réduire les vibrations dans une zone spécifique de la structure intelligente avec une perturbation qui couvre une large gamme de fréquences. De plus, dans cette zone spécifique, ni l'actionnement ni la détection ne sont possibles.Ici, nous faisons face à plusieurs défis principaux. Premièrement, nous devons contrôler les vibrations d’une zone spécifique de la structure, alors que nous n’avons accès aux mesures que dans d’autres zones. Deuxièmement, la large bande passante de la perturbation implique que nombreux modes doivent être contrôlés au même temps, ce qui nécessite l'utilisation de plusieurs actionneurs et capteurs. Cela conduit à un contrôleur MIMO difficile à obtenir avec les méthodes classiques de conception de contrôleur. Troisièmement, il faut éviter le problème de propagation, qui consiste à garantir la stabilité en boucle fermée lorsque le contrôleur basé sur un modèle est appliqué à la configuration réelle. Pour relever ces défis, nous étudions deux stratégies de contrôle: le contrôle centralisé et le contrôle distribué.Pour le contrôle centralisé, nous proposons une méthodologie qui nous permet d’obtenir un contrôleur MIMO simple permettant de relever ces défis. Tout d'abord, plusieurs techniques de modélisation et d’identification sont appliquées pour obtenir un modèle précis d'ordre faible de la structure intelligente. Ensuite, une méthode de synthèse basée sur le contrôle H_∞ avec un critère H_∞ particulièrement proposé est appliquée. Ce critère H_∞ intègre plusieurs objectifs de contrôle, y compris les défis principaux. En particulier, le problème de débordement se transforme en un problème de stabilité robuste et sera garanti en utilisant ce critère. Le contrôleur H_∞ obtenu est une solution standard du problème H_∞. Le contrôleur final est obtenu en simplifiant ce contrôleur H_∞ sans perdre la stabilité en boucle fermée ni dégrader les performances. Cette méthodologie est validée sur une structure de poutre avec des transducteurs piézoélectriques et la zone centrale est celle où les vibrations devraient être réduites. L'efficacité du contrôleur obtenu est validée par des simulations et des expériences.Pour le contrôle distribué, on considère la même structure de poutre et les mêmes objectifs de contrôle. Il existe des méthodes visant à concevoir des contrôleurs distribués pour les systèmes spatialement interconnectés. Cette recherche propose une méthode basée sur la FEM, associée à plusieurs techniques de réduction de modèle, permettant de discrétiser spatialement la structure de poutre et d'en déduire les modèles d’espace d'état des sous-systèmes interconnectés. La conception des contrôleurs distribués ne sera pas abordée dans cette recherche. / This research aims at solving a particular vibration control problem of smart structures. We aim at reducing the vibration in a specific zone of the smart structure under the disturbance that covers a wide frequency band. Moreover, at this specific zone, neither actuation nor sensing is possible.Here we face several main challenges. First, we need to control the vibration of a specific zone of the structure while we only have access to measurements at other zones. Second, the wide bandwidth of the disturbance implies that numerous modes should be controlled at the same time which requires the use of multiple actuators and sensors. This leads to a MIMO controller which is difficult to obtain using classical controller design methods. Third, the so-called spillover problem must be avoided which is to guarantee the closed-loop stability when the model-based controller is applied on the actual setup. To tackle these challenges, we investigate two control strategies: the centralized control and the distributed control.For centralized control, we propose a methodology that allows us to obtain a simple MIMO controller that accomplishes these challenges. First, several modeling and identification techniques are applied to obtain an accurate low-order model of the smart structure. Then, an H_∞ control based synthesis method with a particularly proposed H_∞ criterion is applied. This H_∞ criterion integrates multiple control objectives, including the main challenges. In particular, the spillover problem is transformed into a robust stability problem and will be guaranteed using this criterion. The obtained H_∞ controller is a standard solution of the H_∞ problem. The final controller is obtained by further simplifying this H_∞ controller without losing the closed-loop stability and degrading the performance. This methodology is validated on a beam structure with piezoelectric transducers and the central zone is where the vibration should be reduced. The effectiveness of the obtained controller is validated by simulations and experiments.For distributed control, we consider the same beam structure and the same control objectives. There exist methods aiming at designing distributed controllers of spatially interconnected system. This research proposes a FEM based method, combined with several model reduction techniques, that allows to spatially discretize the beam structure and deduce the state-space models of interconnected subsystems. The design of distributed controllers will not be tackled in this research.

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Konzept der radial nicht-oszillierenden, zeitlich stabilen ultrakurzen Bessel ähnlichen Strahlen oder "Nadelstrahlen" ("needle beams"), die zu einer Klasse von optischen hochlokalisierten Wellenpaketen generalisiert werden. Hierbei wird die Theorie über das räumlich-zeitlichen Ausbreitungsverhaltens von nicht auseinanderdriftenden Nadelstrahlen mit Pulsdauern von kleiner als 10 fs näher diskutiert. Dies wird durch eine systematische Darstellung der Methoden zur Generierung und Detektierung von lokalisierten Wellen komplettiert, die ein optischen Drehmoment tragen. Für die Erzeugung von HLWs kommen räumliche Lichtmodulatoren zum Einsatz, die ein flexibles Zuschneiden von Wellenpaketen mit der Dauer weniger Zyklen des EM-Feldes erlauben. Es wird gezeigt, dass solche optischen Pulse sich über beträchtliche Entfernungen ausbreiten, ohne dass sich dabei signifikant der Strahldurchmesser vergrößert oder der Puls zeitlich verbreitert. In variabler Weise werden verschiedene geometrische (z.B. ringförmige) Lichtverteilungen erzeugt. Anwendungspotential findet sich insbesondere in den Techniken der räumlichen Pulsformung und Diagnostik. Als besonders wichtiger Ansatz ist der Zeit-Wellenfront-Sensor zu erwähnen, welcher die nichtlineare, mehrkanalige Autokorrelation, die Wellenfrontdetektion mittels nichtdiffraktiver Teilstrahlen nach dem Shack-Hartmann-Prinzip und eine adaptive Funktionalität miteinander vorteilhaft verbindet. Das enorme Potential solcher Ansätze wird durch die hohe Genauigkeit orts-, winkel- und zeitabhängiger Rekonstruktionen der Wellenpakete nachgewiesen. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht das räumliche Kodieren und anschließende Verfolgen der Teilstrahlen eine wesentliche Verbesserung der Identifikation relevanter Parameter von Verteilungsfunktionen. Schließlich werden erste Schritte zur experimentellen Generation von optischen "light bullets" mit ganzzahligen und fraktalen orbitalen Drehmomenten präsentiert. / This thesis deals with the concept of radially non-oscillating, temporally stable ultrashort-pulsed Bessel-like beams or "needle pulses", which are an example of a highly localized wave packet (HLW). HLWs are the closest approximation of linear-optical light bullets and provide specific benefits compared to conventional Gaussian-like light bullets. The spatio-temporally nonspreading propagation behavior of few-cycle needle beams of less than 10 fs duration will be theoretically discussed in detail. An overview of the generation and detection of localized waves carrying an orbital angular momentum is also given. High fidelity spatial light modulators are used for the generation of HLWs. The flexible tailoring of few-cycle wave packets at near-infrared wavelengths is reported. It is shown that such pulses propagate over a huge depth of focus, neither significantly changing their spot size or nor the pulse duration. Variable geometrical distributions like circular disks, rings, or bars of light are shaped and exploited as building blocks for structures of higher complexity. Another section of the thesis emphasizes the numerous potential applications of related techniques for an optimized two-dimensional spatial pulse shaping and diagnostics (reduce ambiguities) based on localized waves. As a particularly important example, time-wavefront sensing is used to combine nonlinear multichannel autocorrelation with Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing by means of localized sub-beams and adaptive functionality. The capabilities of such devices are illustrated by the results of angular and temporal mapping of few-cycle wave packets. Moreover, spatial encoding and subsequent tracking of individual sub-beams, even at incident angles of up to 50°, enables to significantly improve the spot recognition. Finally, first steps towards the generation of optical light bullets carrying integer or non-integer orbital angular momenta are presented.

Le problème de restauration d'images dégradées par des flous variables connaît un attrait croissant et touche plusieurs domaines tels que l'astronomie, la vision par ordinateur et la microscopie à feuille de lumière où les images sont de taille un milliard de pixels. Les flous variables peuvent être modélisés par des opérateurs intégraux qui associent à une image nette u, une image floue Hu. Une fois discrétisé pour être appliqué sur des images de N pixels, l'opérateur H peut être vu comme une matrice de taille N x N. Pour les applications visées, la matrice est stockée en mémoire avec un exaoctet. On voit apparaître ici les difficultés liées à ce problème de restauration des images qui sont i) le stockage de ce grand volume de données, ii) les coûts de calculs prohibitifs des produits matrice-vecteur. Ce problème souffre du fléau de la dimension. D'autre part, dans beaucoup d'applications, l'opérateur de flou n'est pas ou que partialement connu. Il y a donc deux problèmes complémentaires mais étroitement liés qui sont l'approximation et l'estimation des opérateurs de flou. Cette thèse a consisté à développer des nouveaux modèles et méthodes numériques permettant de traiter ces problèmes. / The restoration of images degraded by spatially varying blurs is a problem of increasing importance. It is encountered in many applications such as astronomy, computer vision and fluorescence microscopy where images can be of size one billion pixels. Variable blurs can be modelled by linear integral operators H that map a sharp image u to its blurred version Hu. After discretization of the image on a grid of N pixels, H can be viewed as a matrix of size N x N. For targeted applications, matrices is stored with using exabytes on the memory. This simple observation illustrates the difficulties associated to this problem: i) the storage of a huge amount of data, ii) the prohibitive computation costs of matrix-vector products. This problems suffers from the challenging curse of dimensionality. In addition, in many applications, the operator is usually unknown or only partially known. There are therefore two different problems, the approximation and the estimation of blurring operators. They are intricate and have to be addressed with a global overview. Most of the work of this thesis is dedicated to the development of new models and computational methods to address those issues.

One of the major applications of wireless sensor networks is to sense accurate and reliable data from the physical environment with or without a priori knowledge of data statistics. To extract accurate data from the physical environment, we investigate spatial data correlation among sensor nodes to develop data accuracy models. We propose three data accuracy models namely Estimated Data Accuracy (EDA) model, Cluster based Data Accuracy (CDA) model and Distributed Cluster based Data Accuracy (DCDA) model with a priori knowledge of data statistics. Due to the deployment of high density of sensor nodes, observed data are highly correlated among sensor nodes which form distributed clusters in space. We describe two clustering algorithms called Deterministic Distributed Clustering (DDC) algorithm and Spatial Data Correlation based Distributed Clustering (SDCDC) algorithm implemented under CDA model and DCDA model respectively. Moreover, due to data correlation in the network, it has redundancy in data collected by sensor nodes. Hence, it is not necessary for all sensor nodes to transmit their highly correlated data to the central node (sink node or cluster head node). Even an optimal set of sensor nodes are capable of measuring accurate data and transmitting the accurate, precise data to the central node. This reduces data redundancy, energy consumption and data transmission cost to increase the lifetime of sensor networks. Finally, we propose a fourth accuracy model called Adaptive Data Accuracy (ADA) model that doesn't require any a priori knowledge of data statistics. ADA model can sense continuous data stream at regular time intervals to estimate accurate data from the environment and select an optimal set of sensor nodes for data transmission to the network. Data transmission can be further reduced for these optimal sensor nodes by transmitting a subset of sensor data using a methodology called Spatio-Temporal Data Prediction (STDP) model under data reduction strategies. Furthermore, we implement data accuracy model when the network is under a threat of malicious attack.

No description available.

Visual tracking is a computer vision problem where the task is to follow a targetthrough a video sequence. Tracking has many important real-world applications in several fields such as autonomous vehicles and robot-vision. Since visual tracking does not assume any prior knowledge about the target, it faces different challenges such occlusion, appearance change, background clutter and scale change. In this thesis we try to improve the capabilities of tracking frameworks using discriminative correlation filters by incorporating scene depth information. We utilize scene depth information on three main levels. First, we use raw depth information to segment the target from its surroundings enabling occlusion detection and scale estimation. Second, we investigate different visual features calculated from depth data to decide which features are good at encoding geometric information available solely in depth data. Third, we investigate handling missing data in the depth maps using a modified version of the normalized convolution framework. Finally, we introduce a novel approach for parameter search using genetic algorithms to find the best hyperparameters for our tracking framework. Experiments show that depth data can be used to estimate scale changes and handle occlusions. In addition, visual features calculated from depth are more representative if they were combined with color features. It is also shown that utilizing normalized convolution improves the overall performance in some cases. Lastly, the usage of genetic algorithms for hyperparameter search leads to accuracy gains as well as some insights on the performance of different components within the framework.