The purpose of this study is to examine two components of a statewide professional development program designed to improve mathematics instruction in Texas: perceptions of train-the-participants and mathematics classroom processes during mathematics instruction. The dissertation utilized a multiple journal article format to explore each component as a stand-alone, yet connected, study using data from an evaluation of the statewide professional development program. The first study explored the impact of the train-the-trainer model used in the professional development program. An online survey was administered to participants to determine their attitudes about a new mathematics curriculum, as well as the potential impact of the curriculum on teacher knowledge and student achievement in mathematics. Descriptive statistics identified the number of trainers who provided professional development in Texas. Independent sample t-tests revealed no statistically significant differences in the attitudes of the participant groups. A content analysis identified themes related to conceptual knowledge, instructional strategies, and classroom interaction as possible impact on teacher content knowledge and student achievement. The second study examined the long-term effects of the statewide professional development program on mathematics classroom processes from one elementary school district in Texas. Quantitative analysis of the systematic classroom observation indicated significant differences in the classroom processes of teachers who participated versus those who did not participate in the professional development program. Descriptive statistics identified the most frequently observed Setting, Instructional Orientation, and Instructional Practice used by teachers, and t-test identified significant different in the classroom processes of teachers who participated versus those who did not participate in the professional development program. The findings from this dissertation have implications on mathematics education research. First, curriculum developers should monitor trainers' attitudes about curriculum materials on an on-going basis to establish differences over time. Second, classroom observations should follow professional development to determine the long term effects of the strategies used by teachers during mathematics instruction.

The mainline railway track between Dublin and Belfast in Northern Ireland was constructed during the 1850's. Substantial lengths of railway embankment were constructed over poor-quality peaty soils. This was accomplished using tree trunk fascines placed directly on the natural ground surface; with poor-quality local peaty soils used as light weight fill.<p>In recent years, Northern Ireland Railways have noticed that these sections of railway track have been deteriorating more rapidly than sections of the track where the foundations are more competent. The magnitudes of displacement of the track under train loading appear to be increasing gradually over time and train speeds have had to be reduced.<p>This thesis is based on the research done to monitor the response of these railway track and embankment structures to dynamic train loading. The displacements were monitored for two different embankments under a variety of loading conditions and for various seasonal conditions. These displacements were recorded using a sensor created for this task. The sensor consisted of a photo-sensitive array mounted on the sleepers and a laser, which was placed outside the area of influence of train loading, and shone on the photo-sensitive array. <p>Analytical (Winkler) modelling was conducted to determine the effects of train speed and the cause of the large train-induced displacements. Analytical and finite element modelling were used to determine the effectiveness of alternative methods of embankment stabilization.<p>The results from the analytical modelling suggest that the deformation of the embankment under train loading was not due to dynamic excitation, but static deformation of the poor-quality fill and soft foundation materials. From both the analytical and finite element modelling of possible remediation techniques, methods that stiffen the embankment and foundation material are shown to be the most effective at reducing the train induced deflection of the embankment.

The presented thesis project is a study on train energy consumption calculation and optimal train driving strategies for minimum energy consumption. This study is divided into three parts; the first part is a proposed model for energy consumption calculation for trains based on driving resistances. The second part is a presentation of a method based on dynamic programming and the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation (Bellman’s backward approach) for obtaining optimal speed and control profiles leading to minimum energy consumption. The third part is a case study for a Bombardier Transportation case. It includes the presentation of a preliminary algorithm developed within this thesis project; an algorithm based on the HJB equation that can be further improved in order to be used online in real-time as an advisory system for train drivers.

Il y a deux décennies apparaissait le concept de développement durable, popularisé par le Rapport Brundtland, comme un moyen de remédier à la crise écologique mondiale, devenue évidente. Ayant pour mission d'instaurer une vision plus globale de la problématique environnementale, le développement durable est aussi confronté à des conflits d'intérêts entre ses dimensions économique, environnementale et sociale. En effet, la prise en compte de l'environnement et du social dans la poursuite de certaines activités ne se fait pas sans problèmes. La population québécoise a d'ailleurs été témoin de nombreux exemples ces dernières années, qu'il s'agisse des contestations contre la centrale au gaz du Suroît, le prolongement de l'autoroute 25 et la privatisation du Mont-Orford. Le conflit qui a opposé les riverains du sentier Petit train du Nord dans les Laurentides aux clubs de motoneigistes, à la MRC et à l'industrie touristique de cette région en fait foi. En décembre 2004, la Juge Langlois de la Cour Supérieure du Québec a ordonné la fermeture aux motoneiges d'une portion de ce sentier reliant Saint-Faustin-Lac-Carré et Labelle, en raison de la pollution du bruit et de l'air occasionnée par leur passage. Cette décision a engendré de nombreuses réactions de la part de tous les acteurs impliqués. Pour sa part, le gouvernement libéral de Jean Charest a justifié son action par sa volonté de promouvoir le « développement durable de la motoneige ». Par l'examen de ce conflit, cette recherche remplit plusieurs objectifs. Elle souhaite d'abord saisir le positionnement des acteurs du conflit du Petit train du Nord par rapport aux principes du développement durable, les intérêts individuels et collectifs en jeu, les représentations réciproques des acteurs, de même que la réflexion du gouvernement du Québec en matière de développement durable et son action dans le dossier des motoneiges. À la lecture de ce mémoire, il sera possible de prendre toute la mesure de la cristallisation des positions conflictuelles des acteurs et de l'omniprésence des intérêts individuels même lorsque des arguments plus « collectifs » sont mobilisés. L'étude du conflit du Petit train du Nord met aussi en évidence l'instrumentalisation du terme développement durable faite par le gouvernement du Québec dans ce dossier, ce qui amène des éléments supplémentaires permettant d'interroger la pertinence de ce concept. Notre approche qualitative est appuyée par la grammaire des cités de Boltanski et Thévenot. À l'aide de cet apport théorique issu de l'économie des conventions, cette étude rend compte des logiques conflictuelles par l'analyse des justifications des acteurs et leurs difficultés à arriver à un accord. L'application de la grille d'analyse des cités est pertinente dans la perspective où elle met à l'épreuve un nouvel angle théorique de l'exploration du conflit social. Enfin, cette recherche est l'occasion d'appréhender les obstacles à la construction d'une huitième cité, la cité écologique, et les défaillances de la théorie elle-même. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Conventions, Conflit, Développement durable, Économies de la grandeur, Motoneige, Laurentides, Petit train du Nord.

This thesis addresses the problems of phonemic variability and confusability from the pronunciation modeling perspective for an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. In particular, several research directions are investigated. First, automatic grapheme-to- phoneme (g2p) and phoneme-to-phoneme (p2p) converters are developed that generate alternative pronunciations for in-vocabulary as well as out-of-vocabulary (OOV) terms. Since the addition of alternative pronunciation may introduce homophones (or close homophones), there is an increase of the confusability of the system. A novel measure of this confusability is proposed to analyze it and study its relation with the ASR performance. This pronunciation confusability is higher if pronunciation probabilities are not provided and can potentially severely degrade the ASR performance. It should, thus, be taken into account during pronunciation generation. Discriminative training approaches are, then, investigated to train the weights of a phoneme confusion model that allows alternative ways of pronouncing a term counterbalancing the phonemic confusability problem. The objective function to optimize is chosen to correspond to the performance measure of the particular task. In this thesis, two tasks are investigated, the ASR task and the KeywordSpotting (KWS) task. For ASR, an objective that minimizes the phoneme error rate is adopted. For experiments conducted on KWS, the Figure of Merit (FOM), a KWS performance measure, is directly maximized.

The mainline railway track between Dublin and Belfast in Northern Ireland was constructed during the 1850's. Substantial lengths of railway embankment were constructed over poor-quality peaty soils. This was accomplished using tree trunk fascines placed directly on the natural ground surface; with poor-quality local peaty soils used as light weight fill.<p>In recent years, Northern Ireland Railways have noticed that these sections of railway track have been deteriorating more rapidly than sections of the track where the foundations are more competent. The magnitudes of displacement of the track under train loading appear to be increasing gradually over time and train speeds have had to be reduced.<p>This thesis is based on the research done to monitor the response of these railway track and embankment structures to dynamic train loading. The displacements were monitored for two different embankments under a variety of loading conditions and for various seasonal conditions. These displacements were recorded using a sensor created for this task. The sensor consisted of a photo-sensitive array mounted on the sleepers and a laser, which was placed outside the area of influence of train loading, and shone on the photo-sensitive array. <p>Analytical (Winkler) modelling was conducted to determine the effects of train speed and the cause of the large train-induced displacements. Analytical and finite element modelling were used to determine the effectiveness of alternative methods of embankment stabilization.<p>The results from the analytical modelling suggest that the deformation of the embankment under train loading was not due to dynamic excitation, but static deformation of the poor-quality fill and soft foundation materials. From both the analytical and finite element modelling of possible remediation techniques, methods that stiffen the embankment and foundation material are shown to be the most effective at reducing the train induced deflection of the embankment.

The purpose with this study is to examine how the media coverage of the train accidentoutside Kimstad, on the night of September 12th 2010, was framed in one local (Norrköpingsnyheter) and one national newspaper (Expressen) and how the coverage of the accident wasdifferent in the local newspaper compared to the national newspaper.The material is 12 articles within a fixed time limit which is from September 13th toSeptember 15th. The material consists of six articles from each newspaper.The method we use a qualitative text analysis with its basis in medialogic, news value andframing theory.In the essay’s analysis we show a synthesis of both newspapers coverage of the train accidentoutside Kimstad and how they stand in relation to the theory of news value and we end with aterminative comment about the results.The conclusion shows that the coverage of the event was different in many ways. Expressenuses a more dramatic framing and a more sensational language which describes the eventmore badly than it was. NT uses a more informative and objective information which almosttrifles the event but which informs about relevant information for the locals. Expressen mostlyturns to civil persons and the passengers on the train for quotes while NT turns to governmentpeople and cites them. Expressen also used personalization more than NT, but NT simplifiedtheir stories more than Expressen.We could also see that the crisis could be marked by the definitions of a crisis made byUlmer, Sellnow &amp; Seeger. We could also relate the crisis event to the coverage of the crisis.They were both short and sudden.Earlier research has shown that national newspapers have a tendency to dramatize news morethan what local newspapers do.

There are many advantages of Epicyclic gear type automobile transmissions. It is composed more densely and weights lighter. It provides higher gear ratio and can transmit power differentially. Therefore, this type of transmissions are applied to almost every automobiles in recent years. However, the design process of an Epicyclic gear type automobile transmission is more complicated than Counter shaft type one. In the world, there are just two kinds of 8-speed Epicyclic gear type automobile transmission in production. This study introduced a design methodology of Parallel epicyclic gear type automobile transmission by decomposing and recomposing of Lever diagram. First we drew the Lever diagram from given rotation speed ratios. Next we listed all 3-point lever diagrams which are decomposed from the original Lever diagram, and deleted those with unreasonable value of K. Then we listed all combinations of 3-point lever diagram which composed the original Lever diagram, and we got all feasible epicyclic gear train mechanisms. After choosing feasible epicyclic gear train mechanism, we set up necessary clutches and breakes in clutch graphs. Finally, based on the clutch graph, we draw the schematic diagram of mechanisms, and embodies out results. Methodology of this study is better than old ones because our methodology based on Lever diagram did not need to find the usable mechanisms from the catalog of epicyclic gear train mechanisms. Thus, the new methodology simplifies the process of designing a epicyclic gear type automobile transmission.

In current years, renewable energy is an important topic due to the energy crisis and the environments protection issue. One of the renewable energies, wind power has the advantage of high popular rate, convenient, and clear. But there are disadvantages can be improved. The generator has a low quality of output because the variety of wind speed, and it needs electronic equipment to maintain the quality of energy output. According to the research results of Dr. Hwang, using the independently controllable transmission mechanisms that has a controllable output could improve the quality of generator output in Wind Turbines. In this study, the tests platform of independently controllable transmission mechanisms will be fabricated. And analysis the kinematics and dynamics by experimental results to demonstrate the feasibility in wind turbine applications of independently controllable transmission mechanisms.

In this thesis we use pulse shaping system to generate pulse train. Using empirical mode decomposition(EMD) and short-time Fourier transform(STFT) to analyze the signal of terahertz radiation. we use pulse shaping system to modulate the amplitude and phase of light which provide for pulse train generation. Compare with other method, first, our method will improve the stability of time delay control. Second this method is easier to control the time delay and number of pulse in the pulse train. In the past, people find the occur time of high frequency by observed the time domain of terahertz radiation directly, but if the occur time near the time of the peak power of terahertz radiation, we can¡¦t find out the occur time of high frequency. Using STFT can find out the relationship between intensity and time, but if the modes in signal have different width of frequency STFT have to use different time window to get the best frequency resolution and time resolution. However the time window with different width will have different frequency resolution, and the relationship between intensity and time will change with different frequency resolution, therefore using different frequency resolution will get different result, so we need a new signal analysis method. To solve this problem we use EMD to decompose different mode in the signal of terahertz radiation into different intrinsic mode function(IMF), and analyze the signal of terahertz by STFT to find the occur time of high frequency of terahertz radiation. Because the modes are separated in to different IMF, we can use STFT with the same time window. We expect this method applied to narrow-band frequency-tunable THz wave generation will be better.