Since the establishment of People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese think tanks have experienced significant development during the transformative process of China's political reform and modernization, and their influence has become more notable than before. However, think tanks historically have been given little attention by the public as well as social scientists in China, so scholarly study on Chinese think tanks is limited. This thesis explores the political roles and characteristics of Chinese think tanks by investigating the transformation and classification of Chinese think tanks from 1949 to the present. Furthermore, through a case study of one of the significant projects in contemporary China—the Three Gorges Project—this thesis examines the performance and influence of three Chinese nonpolitical think tanks—the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) on the process of government policy-making in China. Based on this analysis of Chinese think tanks, I draw the conclusion that professionalism and institutionalization are very urgent requirements for contemporary China's think tanks. / Master of Arts

El proceso de dispersión de solutos en el seno de un medio poroso heterogéneo ha sido el objetivo de numerosas investigaciones en las últimas décadas debido tanto a las limitaciones de las ecuaciones matemáticas que lo describen como a la necesidad de describir y predecir el movimiento de contaminantes en acuíferos reales, con la complejidad derivada de los patrones espaciales de heterogeneidad reales y otras incertidumbres en el conocimiento del medio. Las técnicas de modelación actuales se centran generalmente en un único parámetro para explicar la desviación del comportamiento de un penacho de soluto frente a los resultados predichos por la ADE: la variabilidad de la conductividad hidráulica. En ningún caso se hace referencia o se tiene en cuenta la variabilidad espacial de la dispersividad. La dificultad para medir o estimar este parámetro y su enorme dependencia de la escala de la discretización numérica han limitado esta vía de investigación. Esta tesis presenta el primer intento de modelar la variabilidad local de la dispersividad basándose en un experimento de flujo y transporte de solutos en un tanque de experimentación de escala intermedia (Intermediate Scale Experiment, ISE). En esta investigación, se ha construido un medio poroso artificial inserto en un tanque de experimentación cuasi-2D, cuyos patrones de heterogeneidad estaban basados en datos de conductividad hidráulica procedente de una formación natural altamente heterogénea de características no gaussianas Controlando el potencial hidráulico a la entrada y la salida del tanque, se crearon condiciones de flujo estacionario en las que se llevaron a cabo varios ensayos de transporte de trazadores conservativos. Este tanque, construido en metacrilato, fue monitorizado con una red de transductores de presión de alta precisión y se tomaron fotografías digitales de la evolución del penacho de trazador coloreado. / Sanchez Fuster, I. (2011). Modelación de parámetros físicos de la ecuación de advección-dispersión utilizando un tanque de experimentación de escala intermedia [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/14635

Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy, including ocean waves, tidal current, ocean current and river current, has been recognized as a promising power source due to its full-day availability and high energy potential. At this stage, ocean current energy, tidal energy and ocean wave energy are currently the most competitive sourves among all the categories of MHK. The state of art MHK energy harvesting technology mainly focus on harvesting either ocean wave energy or current energy, but not both. However, a significant amount of ocean waves and tidal/ ocean current coexist in many sites and traditional devices that harvest from a single form of MHK energy, cannot make full use of the coexisting ocean energy. Furthermore, MHK energy harvesting devices need to advance to be cost-effective and competitive with other energy sources. This is difficult to achieve. Ocean wave excitation is irregular, which means that ocean wave height and wave periods are unpredictable and excitation forces on energy harvesting devices can have large variance in amplitude and frequency. Such problems/ restrictions can be possibly addressed by the concept of a hybrid energy converter. In this sense, a hybrid wave-current ocean energy conveter (HWCEC) that simutaneously harvests energy from current and wave with one single power takeoff (PTO) is designed.The wave energy is extracted through relative heaving motion between a floating buoy and a submerged second body, while the current energy is extracted using a marine current turbine (MCT). Energy from both sources are integrated by a hybrid PTO whose concept is based on a mechanical motion rectifier (MMR). In this study, different working modes are investigated together with switching criteria.Simulations were conducted with hydrodynamic coefficients obtained from computational fluid dynamics analysis and boundary element method. Tank tests were conducted for a HWCEC under co-existing wave and current inputs. For comparison, separate baseline tests of a turbine and a two-body point absorber, each acting in isolation, are conducted. Experimental results validate the dynamic modeling and show that a HWCEC can increase the output power with a range between 29-87 percent over either current turbine and wave energy converter acting individually, and it can reduce by up to 70 percent the peak-to-average power ratio compared with the wave energy converter on the tested conditions.Such results demonstrate the potential of the HWCEC as an efficient and cost-effective design. / Master of Science / Ocean energy has been recognized as a promising power source due to its full-day availability and high energy potential. At this stage, ocean current energy, tidal energy and ocean wave energy are currently the most competitive sources among all the categories of ocean energy. The state of art ocean energy harvesting technology mainly focus on harvesting either ocean wave energy or current energy, but not both. However, a significant amount of ocean waves and tidal/ ocean current coexist in many sites and traditional devices that harvest from a single form of ocean energy, cannot make full use of the coexisting energy resource. Furthermore, MHK energy harvesting devices need to advance to be cost-effective and competitive with other energy sources. This is difficult to achieve. Ocean wave height and wave periods are unpredictable and excitation forces on energy harvesting devices can have large variance in amplitude and frequency. Such restrictions can be possibly addressed by the concept of a hybrid energy converter. In this sense, a hybrid wave-current ocean energy converter (HWCEC) that simultaneously harvests energy from current and wave with one single power takeoff (PTO), which consists of ball screw, gearbox, and generator, is designed.The wave energy is extracted through relative heaving motion between a floating buoy and a submerged second body, while the current energy is extracted using a marine current turbine (MCT). Energy from both sources are integrated by a hybrid PTO whose concept is based on a mechanical motion rectifier (MMR). In this study, different working modes are investigated together with switching criteria.Simulations were conducted with hydrodynamic coefficients obtained from computational fluid dynamics analysis and boundary element method. Tank tests were conducted for a HWCEC under co-existing wave and current inputs. For comparison, separate baseline tests of a turbine and a two-body, wave-energy-harvesting structure, each acting in isolation, are conducted. Experimental results validate the dynamic modeling and show that a HWCEC can increase the output power with a range between 29-87 percent over either current turbine and wave energy converter acting individually, and it can reduce by up to 70 percent the peak-to-average power ratio compared with the wave energy converter on the tested conditions.Such results demonstrate the potential of the HWCEC as an efficient and cost-effective design.

Ocean wave as a renewable energy source possesses great potential for solving the world energy crisis and benefit human beings. The total theoretical potential wave power on the ocean-facing coastlines of the world is around 30,000 TWh, although cannot all be adopted for generating electricity, the amount of the power can be absorbed still can occupy a large portion of the world's total energy consumption. However, multiple reasons have stopped the ocean wave energy from being widely adopted, and among those reasons, the most important one is immature of the Power Take-off (PTO) technology. In this dissertation, a self-reactive two-body wave energy point absorber that is embedded with a novel PTO using the unique mechanism of Mechanical Motion Rectifier (MMR) is investigated through design, analysis and testing to improve the energy harvesting efficiency and the reliability of the PTO. The MMR mechanism can transfer the reciprocated bi-directional movement of the ocean wave into unidirectional rotation of the generator. As a result, this mechanism brings in two advantages towards the PTO. The first advantage it possess is that the alternating stress of the PTO is changed into normal stress, hence the reliability of the components are expected to be improved significantly. The other advantage it brings in is a unique phenomenon of engagement and disengagement during the operation, which lead to a piecewise nonlinear dynamic property of the PTO. This nonlinearity of the PTO can contribute to an expanded frequency domain bandwidth and better efficiency, which are verified through both numerical simulation and in-lab experiment. During the in-lab test, the prototyped PTO achieved energy transfer efficiency as high as 81.2%, and over 40% of efficiency improvement compared with the traditional non-MMR PTO under low-speed condition, proving the previously proposed advantage. Through a more comprehensive study, the MMR PTO is further characterized and a refined dynamic model. The refined model can accurately predict the dynamic response of the PTO. The major factors that can influence the performance of the MMR PTO, which are the inertia of the PTO, the damping coefficient, and the excitation frequency, are explored through analysis and experiment comprehensively. The results show that the increase on the inertia of the PTO and excitation frequency, and decrease on the damping coefficient can lead to a longer disengagement of the PTO and can be expressed analytically. Besides the research on the PTO, the body structure of the point absorber is analyzed. Due to the low-frequency of the ocean wave excitation, usually a very large body dimension for the floating buoy of the point absorber is desired to match with that frequency. To solve this issue, a self-reactive two-body structure is designed where an additional frequency between the two interactive bodies are added to match the ocean wave frequency by adopting an additional reactive submerged body. The self-reactive two-body structure is tested in a wave to compare with the single body design. The results show that the two-body structure can successfully achieve the frequency matching function, and it can improve more than 50% of total power absorption compared with the single body design. / Doctor of Philosophy / Ocean wave as a renewable energy source possesses great potential for solving the world energy crisis and benefit human beings. The total theoretical potential wave power on the ocean-facing coastlines of the world is around 30,000 TWh, although impossible to be all transferred into electricity, the amount of the power can be absorbed still can cover a large portion of the world's total energy consumption. However, multiple reasons have stopped the ocean wave energy from being widely adopted, and among those reasons, the most important one is immature of the Power Take-off (PTO) technology. In this dissertation, a novel two body wave energy converter with a PTO using the unique mechanism of Mechanical Motion Rectifier (MMR) is investigated through design, analysis, and testing. To improve the energy harvesting efficiency and the reliability of the PTO, the dissertation induced a mechanical PTO that uses MMR mechanism which can transfer the reciprocated bi-directional movement of the ocean wave into unidirectional rotation of the generator. This mechanism brings in a unique phenomenon of engagement and disengagement and a piecewise nonlinear dynamic property into the PTO. Through a comprehensive study, the MMR PTO is further characterized and a refined dynamic model that can accurately predict the dynamic response of the PTO is established. The major factors that can influence the performance of the MMR PTO are explored and discussed both analytically and experimentally. Moreover, as it has been theoretically hypothesis that using a two-body structure for designing the point absorbers can help it to achieve a frequency tuning effect for it to better match with the excitation frequency of the ocean wave, it lacks experimental verification. In this dissertation, a scaled two-body point absorber prototype is developed and put into a wave tank to compare with the single body structure. The test results show that through the use of two-body structure and by designing the mass ratio between the two bodies properly, the point absorber can successfully match the excitation frequency of the wave. The highest power capture width ratio (CWR) achieved during the test is 58.7%, which exceeds the results of similar prototypes, proving the advantage of the proposed design.

No / Tank flooding have become major causes of pollution both in residential and industrial areas majorly caused by overflows of water(mostly residential) and volatile poisonous industrial liquids from the storage tanks. An effective way of avoiding this problem will be by deploying some mechanism to monitor liquid level at each point in time and escalating unusual liquid levelsto a pump control circuit or to the relevant authorities for prompt action to avoid a flooding occurrence. This paper presents a low cost power efficient liquid level monitoring technique. Passive RFID tags are designed modelled and deployed, the signal variation from the Alien Reader Software are used to effectively estimate the level of liquid in any surface or underground tank. The experimental set up is presented and an expository presentation is made of the passive tag design, modelled and simulated and adopted for same application.

The developments of advanced non-linear control strategies have attracted a considerable research interests over the past decades especially in process control. Rather than an absolute reliance on mathematical models of process plants which often brings discrepancies especially owing to design errors and equipment degradation, non-linear models are however required because they provide improved prediction capabilities but they are very difficult to derive. In addition, the derivation of the global optimal solution gets more difficult especially when multivariable and non-linear systems are involved. Hence, this research investigates soft computing techniques for the implementation of a novel real time constrained non-linear model predictive controller (NMPC). The time-frequency localisation characteristics of wavelet neural network (WNN) were utilised for the non-linear models design using system identification approach from experimental data and improve upon the conventional artificial neural network (ANN) which is prone to low convergence rate and the difficulties in locating the global minimum point during training process. Salient features of particle swarm optimisation and a genetic algorithm (GA) were combined to optimise the network weights. Real time optimisation occurring at every sampling instant is achieved using a GA to deliver results both in simulations and real time implementation on coupled tank systems with further extension to a complex quadruple tank process in simulations. The results show the superiority of the novel WNN-NMPC approach in terms of the average controller energy and mean squared error over the conventional ANN-NMPC strategies and PID control strategy for both SISO and MIMO systems.

A combination of geological and hydraulic techniques represents the most sensible approach to flood hazard analysis on alluvial fans. Hydraulic models efficiently yield predictions of flood depths and velocities, but the assumptions on which the models are based do not lead to accurate portrayals of natural fan processes. Geomorphological mapping, facies, mapping, and hydraulic reconstructions of past floods provide data on the location, types, and magnitude of flood hazards, respectively. Geological reconstructions of past floods should be compared with the results of hydraulic modeling before, potentially unsound, floodplain management decisions are implemented. The controversial Federal Emergency Management Agency procedure for delineating flood-hazard zones underestimated the extent, velocity, and depth of flow during recent floods on two alluvial fans by over 100, 25, and 70 percent, respectively. Flow on the alluvial fans occurs in one or more discontinuous ephemeral stream systems characterized by alternating sheetflood zones and channelized reaches. The importance of sheetflooding is greater on fans closer to the mountain front and with unstable channel banks. Channel diversions on five alluvial fans repeatedly occurred along low channel banks and bends where the greatest amount of overland flow is generated. Channel migration occurs through stream capture whereby overland flow from the main channel accelerates and directs erosion of adjacent secondary channels. The recurrence interval of major channel shifts is greater than 100 years, but minor changes occurred on all five fans during this century. Small aggrading flows are important, because they decrease bank heights and alter the location of greatest overland flow during subsequent floods. The results of this study demonstrate that (1) geological reconstructions of past floods can check the results of hydraulic models, (2) the character of flooding on alluvial fans can vary significantly in the same tectonic and climatic setting due to differences in drainage-basin characteristics, and (3) flood-hazard assessments on alluvial fans must be updated after each flood, because the location and timing of channel diversions can be affected by small floods.

Depuis l’élection de Jean Charest en 2003, nous constatons que les dogmes issus du discours idéologique néolibéral (déréglementation, privatisation, libéralisation et réduction des dépenses publiques) ont régulièrement et fortement inondé tous les domaines de l’espace public québécois, tant chez les élus que chez les grands conglomérats de médias écrits et audiovisuels. Nous cherchions à savoir qui exerçait une si grande influence pour que rayonnent ces idées conservatrices dans les discours publics au Québec. Nos recherches nous ont menée à un Think Tank québécois : l’Institut économique de Montréal. L’élite intellectuelle qui compose cette organisation a su user d’une influence importante auprès de certains médias écrits, notamment ceux de Gesca, qui, grâce à l’étendue de son puissant réseau social et à son adhésion aux stratégies d’influence de ses pairs, les Think Tanks partisans, a relayé les idées néolibérales de l’IEDM à l’intérieur du discours public québécois. Ce Think Tank a ainsi fait rayonner ses idées dans les pages des quotidiens parmi les plus lus par les Québécois francophones. De jeunes Think Tanks comme l’IEDM jugent primordial l’accès aux médias pour façonner l’opinion et les politiques publiques. Leur objectif est de réussir à influencer la mise à l’agenda et le cadrage des médias afin qu’ils favorisent leurs propositions et leurs idées. L’analyse de trois cas a permis de montrer, qu’à trois moments différents, l’IEDM a influencé la mise à l’agenda des quotidiens de Gesca et que le cadrage s’est révélé favorable aux propositions de l’IEDM dans une proportion importante. / Since the election of Jean Charest in 2003, we notice that the neoliberal’s ideas (deregulation, privatization, liberalization, and reduction of government expenditures) have regularly inundated all public exchange of ideas in Quebec, from elected politicians to media conglomerates. The author tried to determine how conservative ideas became part of the public discourse in Quebec. Our research lead us to a Quebec think tank: Montreal Economic Institute. The managers of this organization used its important influence with written media, particularly Gesca. Thanks to its large, powerful social network and its influence strategy, the Montreal Economic Institute think tank was able to transmit its neoliberal ideas. In this way, this think tank has spread these ideas in the pages of the most read Quebecois daily newspapers. Young think tanks, such as Montreal Economic Institute, believe that access to the media is essential to shape public opinion and public policy. Their purpose is to influence the setting of the agenda and the framing of discourse in the media to favor the respective think tank’s propositions and ideas. The author analyzed three different cases, at three different times, in which she demonstrates that the Montreal Economic Institute has influenced the agenda setting of Gesca, and that the framing was largely favorable to the Montreal Economic Institute’s propositions.

Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como objetivo fundamental a apresentação de análises e comparações, que visam fazer parte do processo de aprimoramento constante do método numérico de simulação de unidades flutuantes produtoras de petróleo, chamado TPN Tanque de Provas Numérico. Para tanto, foram executados ensaios com modelo em escala reduzida, cujos resultados foram comparados com o modelo numérico do TPN. A unidade padrão utilizada nos ensaios foi a plataforma semi-submersível ITTC-SR192, escala 1:105, ensaios estes realizados no tanque de provas do IPT Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo. Por meio de comparação com os resultados dos ensaios, foram verificadas as habilidades do TPN em reproduzir os movimentos do casco, a tração no topo das linhas de produção e o amortecimento induzido pelas mesmas. Importante destacar que os parâmetros verificados tiveram a finalidade adicional de confrontar os resultados numérico-experimentais com foco na investigação da influência das linhas de produção na própria dinâmica do sistema flutuante. Tendo em vista esse objetivo complementar, todos os ensaios foram realizados com e sem a presença de linhas de produção, no texto referenciadas apenas por risers, modeladas como um grupo de estruturas bastante flexíveis e de grande diâmetro, a fim de prover um aumento significativo no amortecimento do sistema. Sendo assim, o comportamento dinâmico dos casos com e sem risers foram comparados buscando observar as diferenças nos movimentos do sistema em ondas e correnteza. Além disso, utilizando o método recomendado pela API, referência [3] , doravante denominado apenas por método Near and Far, a tração de topo de um dos risers foi simulada numericamente com a imposição de movimentos obtidos nos experimentos, dando assim meios para comparação dos critérios de projeto, considerando a influência das linhas conectadas nas plataformas de petróleo. / This research aims to present analysis and comparisons, intended to make part of the constant improvement of the oil platform analysis software, called Numerical Offshore Tank (Tanque de Provas Numérico - TPN). For this purpose, small-scale model tests were performed, and the results compared with the numerical model in TPN. The standard unit used in these model tests was the semisubmersible ITTC-SR192, at scale 1:105, and the tests were performed at IPT (State of São Paulo Institute for Technological Research) towing tank. By means of the model tests results comparisons, the ability of the TPN in reproduce the hull motions, the risers top tensions and damping induced by these lines was evaluated. Importantly, these parameters were verified with the further purpose of comparing the numerical and the experimental results, focusing on the influence of the production lines in the dynamics of the floating system. Taking into account this additional objective, all the model tests were performed with and without production lines, i.e. risers, modeled as a group of highly flexible and large diameter structures, in order to provide a significant increment in the damping of the system. Thus, the dynamic behaviors of the cases with and without risers were compared, giving means to observe motion differences in waves and current. Moreover, using the method recommend by API, reference [3], hereinafter called Near and Far, the top tension of one riser was numerically simulated with the imposition of the motions obtained in the experiments, giving means to compare the riser design criteria, considering the influence of lines attached to the oil platforms.

Um tanque de provas do tipo reboque permite a realização de ensaios hidrodinâmicos com modelos em escala, sua presença é importante devido à possibilidade de obter características hidrodinâmicas que dimensionam a potência e qualidade do comportamento dos navios durante a sua operação, otimizando os projetos de forma particular ou geral, tanto para a navegação marítima, lacustre ou fluvial. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa é estudar e propor uma metodologia para o dimensionamento e concepção de um tanque de reboque para o Serviço Industrial da Marinha (SIMA PERU), principal estaleiro do Peru, de maneira que possa realizar os ensaios hidrodinâmicos correspondentes aos diferentes tipos de embarcações produzidas pelo SIMA PERU. Como propósito de estudo será desenvolvido uma análise de um tanque de reboque que permitirá ensaiar modelos de diferentes tipos de embarcações, levando em consideração as diferentes condições ambientais e climáticas relacionadas ao litoral peruano em toda sua extensão, isto é, uma condição marítima equivalente a uma escala Beaufort 5. Estas são as condições que foram requeridas para atuar na costa peruana. Será proposto um tanque de reboque com características próprias, baseado no razoável dimensionamento dos modelos reduzidos e nas necessidades e requerimentos de ensaio de acordo às recomendações apresentadas pela Conferência Internacional de Tanques de Reboque (International Towing Tank Conference- ITTC). / A towing tank allows hydrodynamic testing with scale models, their presence is important because allows to obtain hydrodynamics characteristics that they measure the power and quality of behavior during the operation, optimizing the designs in general or particular form of vessels for sea, lake or river. The main objective of this research is to study and propose a method for sizing and development of a towing tank for the Naval Industrial Service; SIMA - PERU, main shipyard from Peru, so it carry out hydrodynamics tests corresponding to different types of vessels produced by SIMA - PERU. The purpose of study will be developed analysis of a towing tank that will test models of different types of vessels, taking into account the different environmental and climatic conditions related to the Peruvian coast, in other words, sea conditions equivalent to a Beaufort \"5\". These are the conditions that were required to act on the Peruvian coast. Will be offered a towing tank with its own characteristics, needs and requirements based on the consistent sizing of reduced models and according to the recommendations made by the International Towing Tank Conference - ITTC.