The ride stability of an A-train 28-foot double tractor trailer when outfitted with different Roll Stability Control (RSC) systems with the same payload and suspension configurations is studied experimentally for various dynamic maneuvers. The primary goal of the study is to determine the effect of different commercially-available RSC systems on the extent of improvements they offer for increasing roll stability of commercial vehicles with double trailers, when subjected to limit-steering maneuvers that can rise during highway driving. A semitruck and two 28-foot trailers are modified for enduring the forces and moments that can result during testing. A load structure is used for placing the ballast loads within the trailers at a suitable height for duplicating the CG height of the trailers during their commercial use. Outriggers and jackknifing arresting mechanisms are used to prevent vehicle damage and ensure safety during the tests. The test vehicle is equipped with multiple sensors and cameras for the necessary measurements and observations. The analog and video data are time-synced for correlating the measurements with visual observation of the test vehicle dynamics in post-processing. An extensive number of tests are conducted at the Michelin Laurens Proving Grounds (MLPG) in Laurens, SC. The tests include evaluating each RSC system with different maneuvers and speeds until a rollover occurs or the vehicle is deemed to be unstable. The maneuvers that are used for the tests include: double lane change, sine-with-dwell, J-turn, and ramp steer maneuver. Both a steering robot and subjective driver are used for the tests. The test data are analyzed and the results are used to compare the three RSC systems with each other, and with trailers without RSC. The test results indicate that all three RSC systems are able to improve the speed at which rollover occurs, with a varying degree. For two of the systems, the rollover speed gained, when compared with trailers without RSC, is marginal. For one of the systems, there are more significant speed gains. Since most RSC systems are tuned for a conventional tractor-trailer, additional testing with some of the systems would be necessary to enable the manufacturers to better fine-tune the RSC control scheme to the dynamics of double trailers. / MS / The safety of driven semi-trailer trucks towing two trailers is analyzed in a study created to examine the behavior of the vehicle and its units during high speed, high maneuvering circumstances. The rolling over of a specific test truck is studied to study the ability of a common large vehicle to succeed in evasive or emergency maneuvers. Focus on the rolling over of a truck is placed in this project, as large freight vehicle rollovers are among the most popular and most dangerous type of accidents on highways today. A semi-trailer truck with two trailers, or double trailer vehicle, is instrumented with sensors and cameras to study several different characteristics associated with vehicle operation and conditions that incite rollover. The behavior of a double trailer vehicle is complicated due to the additional rotation joint between the adjacent trailers, where typical semi-trailer trucks (18-wheelers) only incorporate one: between the towing tractor and the towed trailer. Commercially available electronic appliances called Roll Stability Control (RSC) systems were designed to automatically control and apply the vehicle brakes under rollover conditions, and are installed and used individually to evaluate any improvements on the test vehicle’s ability to stay upright. Information regarding RSC system operation can be found. All vehicle testing is completed at a professional vehicle testing location in Laurens, SC and the same four test maneuvers are used to determine the effectiveness of each of the five RSC systems tested using data collected with the instrumented sensors. Different types of RSC systems exist due to different manners of operation, and are discussed in this document and analyzed. This project develops the conclusion that the five systems used during testing all improve vehicle stability, but provide differing results in doing so, largely due to their different operations. Therefore, commercially available RSC systems are proven to work differently and provide different results. Recommendations for further testing of RSC systems is provided. Although no recommendations are made regarding the tested RSC systems, the collected data show large, double trailer freight vehicles are more stable when using any of the tested commercially available RSC systems, especially during evasive maneuvering or emergency situations. These findings can bring immediate improvements to large freight vehicle operation and safety.

Le projet de recherche s'articule autour du parc linéaire le P'tit Train du Nord, une infrastructure récréotouristique qui parcoure plus de 230 kilomètres et qui traverse 26 municipalités réparties dans 4 MRC au sein de la région administrative des Laurentides. Considérée aujourd'hui comme la « colonne vertébrale » des Laurentides, le P'tit Train du Nord fait aussi partie intégrante de l'identité de la région. L'ancien chemin de fer devenu parc régional représente à la fois un atout pour l'aménagement du territoire qu'un défi considérable pour l'action coordonnée des instances municipales en termes de gestion et de planification. Les enjeux que l'on retrouve sur le parc linéaire sont divers et peuvent varier d'un extrême à l'autre, de la gestion des habitats fauniques dans les sections plus sauvages à des enjeux de zonages urbains dans les centres-villes des municipalités qu'il traverse. Parallèlement à ces problématiques, le P'tit Train du Nord accueille chaque année plus d'un million d'utilisateurs chaque année et constitue un moteur économique de premier plan pour toute la région des Laurentides. Or, lorsqu'on regarde l'importance actuelle du parc linéaire dans la région des Laurentides en tant que vecteur économique et comme infrastructure récréotouristique centrale, tout porte à croire que la « réussite » du P'tit Train du Nord résulte d'un processus de gouvernance régionale. À travers cette recherche exploratoire, nous avons pu observer une évolution du cadre de gestion qui permet aujourd'hui une capacité pour les gestionnaires et décideurs de faire face aux problématiques de coopération et de concertation en ce qui a trait aux questions d'aménagement territorial. De plus, il nous est possible de décrire comment les instances municipales usent de leurs prérogatives pour intégrer d'autres acteurs issus du secteur privé ou d'OBNL dans la gestion du parc linéaire par le biais de projets porteurs transversaux.

This thesis introduces a new model formulation to solve routing and scheduling problems, with the main applications in answering routing and scheduling problems faced by a sea-cargo shipping company and a railroad company. For the work in sea-cargo routing and scheduling, we focus on the tramp shipping operation. Tramp shipping is a demand-driven type of shipping operation which does not have fixed schedules. The schedules are based on the pickup and download locations of profitable service requests. Given set of products distributed among a set of ports, with each product having pickup and download time windows and a destination port, the problem is to find the schedule for a fleet of ships that maximizes profit over a specified time horizon. The problem is modeled as a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Program and reformulated as an equivalent Mixed Integer Linear Program. Three heuristic methods, along with computational results, are presented. We also exploit the special structure enjoyed by our model and introduce an upper-bounding problem to the model. With a little modification, the model is readily extendable to reflect soft time windows and inter-ship cargo-transfers. The other part of our work deals with train routing and scheduling. A typical train shipment consists of a set of cars having a common origin and destination. To reduce the handling of individual shipments as they travel, shipments are grouped into blocks. The problem is that given sets of blocks to be carried from origins to destinations, construct the most cost effective train routes and schedules and determine block-to-train assignments, such that the number of block transfers (block swaps) between trains, the number of trains used, and some other cost measures are minimized. Incorporating additional precedence requirements, the modeling techniques from the shipping research are employed to formulate a mixed integer nonlinear program for this train routing and scheduling problem. Computational results are presented.

Head-up display (HUD) är en beprövad teknik inom flyg och bil, vilken gör det möjligt för piloter och förare att få tillgång till information utan att uppmärksamheten avleds från omvärlden. Liknande fördelar kan uppnås genom installation av HUD i tåg. Syftet med denna studie är att utveckla ett användargränssnitt för HUD baserat på European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). HUD kommer att vara en extra säkerhetsfunktion för tågen för att förhindra förare från att skifta fokus mellan instrumentpanelen och omgivningen, vilket leder till minskad förareutmattning och bättre observation av spåren framåt. Scenario Based Design-metoden har använts för att genomföra projektarbetet och i rapporten diskuteras metodens  fördelar och begränsningar. Användningen av scenarier har gjort det möjligt för designteamet att på djupet förstå de situationer som förarna står inför samt  har hjälpt till att under workshops få en bättre förståelse för drivrutinerna. Dessutom har rekommendationer för hårdvara, installation och framtida arbete beskrivits för fortsatt genomförande av projektet. / Head-up display (HUD) has a proven track record in the aviation and automobile sectors, allowing pilots and drivers to access information without diverting attention from the outside world. Similar benefits may be realized by the installation of HUD in locomotive cabs. The objective of this thesis work is to develop the user interface for HUD based on the ERTMS system. The HUD will be an added safety feature to the trains to prevent drivers from refocusing between the instrument panel and the outside view thus leading to reduced driver fatigue and better observation of the tracks ahead. Scenario Based Design method has been used to implement the project work with discussions regarding its advantages and limitations. The use of scenarios has allowed the design team to understand the scenarios that the drivers face in depth and has aided during the workshops to understand the drivers’ routine better. Additionally, recommendations for the hardware, installation and future work have been provided to support further implementation of the project.

Thesis (MMed)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Introduction: Of the volatile anaesthetic agents, desflurane causes the greatest degree of potentiation of the neuromuscular blocking drugs (NMB). The purpose of this study was to determine whether desflurane prolongs the effects of 3xED95 doses of rocuronium and cisatracurium to the same degree. The two NMB represent potent and less potent classes respectively. Methods: Informed, written consent was obtained from 63 adult patients scheduled for routine surgery. They were randomly allocated to one of four groups to receive either desflurane-sufentanil (end-tidal partial pressure 4.0 kPa) or propofol-sufentanil anaesthesia and either rocuronium (0.9mg/kg) or cisatracurium (0.15mg/kg). All patients received a target-controlled sufentanil infusion (0.5 ng/ml). Neuromuscular blockade was recorded using accelerometry (TOFGUARD ®, Organon) while patients recovered spontaneously to a Train-of-Four ratio of 0.9 (TOFR0.9). Data were analysed using one- and two-way analysis of variance. The main effects were the types of anaesthetic and NMB on indices of recovery. Results: Compared with propofol-sufentanil anaesthesia, mean times to recovery to T125% and TOFR0.9, were prolonged by desflurane-sufentanil (p<0.01). There were no interactions. Mean prolongation of time to TOFR0.9 was 41 min (SD 36) for cisatracurium and 26.6 min (SD 39) for rocuronium. Discussion: Whereas previous studies did not reveal prolongation of the duration of action of rocuronium by desflurane, we demonstrated a statistically significant prolongation of the spontaneous recovery times of both rocuronium and cisatracurium by desflurane. From the data we could not conclude that there was a difference between the two NMB. A power study revealed that in order to detect a difference between times to recovery to TOF0.9, a sample size of 101 subjects per group would be required. Conclusion: Desflurane prolongs the mean time to spontaneous recovery from neuromuscular blockade after 3xED95 doses of both cisatracurium (a potent NMB) and rocuronium (a less potent NMB). There was wide inter-individual variation in times to spontaneous recovery. Any difference in the mean prolongations between the different types of NMB is unlikely to be of clinical importance. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Inleiding Van al die vlugtige narkosemiddels veroorsaak desfluraan die grootste mate van potensiasie van die neuromuskulêre blokkeermiddels. Die doel van hierdie studie was om vas te stel of desfluraan wel die effek van driedubbel die ED95 dosis van rokuronium en cisatrakurium tot dieselfde mate sal verleng. Metodiek Geskrewe ingeligte toestemming is verkry van 63 pasiënte wat voorgedoen het vir roetiene chirurgiese prosedures. Pasiënte is lukraak in een van vier groepe ingedeel om of desfluraansufentaniel (eind-gety parsieële druk 4.0 kPa) of propofol-sufentaniel narkose en of rokuronium (0.9 mg/kg) of cisatrakurium (0.15 mg/kg) te ontvang. Alle pasiënte het 'n teiken-beheerde sufentaniel infusie (0.5 ng/ml). Neuromuskulêre blokkade is waargeneem met behulp van aksellerometrie (TOF-GUARD, Organon) terwyl pasiënte spontaan herstel het tot “reeks-van-vier” verhouding (Engels “Train-of-four” ratio) 0.9 (TOFR0.9). Data analise is gedoen met behulp van een- en tweerigting analise van variansie. Resultate Desfluraan-sufentaniel het die gemiddelde hersteltyd tot T125% en TOFR0.9 verleng in vergelyking met propofol-sufentaniel. Geen interaksies is waargeneem nie. Gemiddelde verlenging van TOFR0.9 vir cisatrakurium was 41 minute (standaardafwyking 36) en vir rokuronium 26.6 minute (standaardafwyking 39). Bespreking Vorige studies kon nie vasstel of desfluraan die werkingsduur van rokuronium verleng nie. Ons het in hierdie studie vasgestel dat desfluraan wel 'n statisties beduidende verlenging in die hersteltyd van beide rokuronium en cisatrakurium veroorsaak. Ons kon egter nie 'n verskil tussen die twee neuromuskulêre agente aandui nie. 'n onderskeidingsvermoëstudie het getoon dat ten minste 101 pasiënte per groep benodig sou word om 'n beduidende verskil tussen die hersteltye tot TOFR0.9 te verkry. Gevolgtrekking Desfluraan verleng die gemiddelde hersteltyd tot spontane herstel van neuromuskulêre blokkade na driedubbele ED95 dosisse van beide cisatrakurium en rokuronium. Daar was egter groot interindividuele variasie ten opsigte van spontane hersteltyd. Enige verskille in die gemiddelde verlenging is onwaarskynlik van kliniese belang.

Die Methoden der Netzwerktheorie erfreuen sich wachsender Beliebtheit, da sie die Darstellung von komplexen Systemen durch Netzwerke erlauben. Diese werden nur mit einer Menge von Knoten erfasst, die durch Kanten verbunden werden. Derzeit verfügbare Methoden beschränken sich hauptsächlich auf die deskriptive Analyse der Netzwerkstruktur. In der hier vorliegenden Arbeit werden verschiedene Ansätze für die Inferenz über Prozessen in komplexen Netzwerken vorgestellt. Diese Prozesse beeinflussen messbare Größen in Netzwerkknoten und werden durch eine Menge von Zufallszahlen beschrieben. Alle vorgestellten Methoden sind durch praktische Anwendungen motiviert, wie die Übertragung von Lebensmittelinfektionen, die Verbreitung von Zugverspätungen, oder auch die Regulierung von genetischen Effekten. Zunächst wird ein allgemeines dynamisches Metapopulationsmodell für die Verbreitung von Lebensmittelinfektionen vorgestellt, welches die lokalen Infektionsdynamiken mit den netzwerkbasierten Transportwegen von kontaminierten Lebensmitteln zusammenführt. Dieses Modell ermöglicht die effiziente Simulationen verschiedener realistischer Lebensmittelinfektionsepidemien. Zweitens wird ein explorativer Ansatz zur Ursprungsbestimmung von Verbreitungsprozessen entwickelt. Auf Grundlage einer netzwerkbasierten Redefinition der geodätischen Distanz können komplexe Verbreitungsmuster in ein systematisches, kreisrundes Ausbreitungsschema projiziert werden. Dies gilt genau dann, wenn der Ursprungsnetzwerkknoten als Bezugspunkt gewählt wird. Die Methode wird erfolgreich auf den EHEC/HUS Epidemie 2011 in Deutschland angewandt. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass die Methode die aufwändigen Standarduntersuchungen bei Lebensmittelinfektionsepidemien sinnvoll ergänzen kann. Zudem kann dieser explorative Ansatz zur Identifikation von Ursprungsverspätungen in Transportnetzwerken angewandt werden. Die Ergebnisse von umfangreichen Simulationsstudien mit verschiedenstensten Übertragungsmechanismen lassen auf eine allgemeine Anwendbarkeit des Ansatzes bei der Ursprungsbestimmung von Verbreitungsprozessen in vielfältigen Bereichen hoffen. Schließlich wird gezeigt, dass kernelbasierte Methoden eine Alternative für die statistische Analyse von Prozessen in Netzwerken darstellen können. Es wurde ein netzwerkbasierter Kern für den logistischen Kernel Machine Test entwickelt, welcher die nahtlose Integration von biologischem Wissen in die Analyse von Daten aus genomweiten Assoziationsstudien erlaubt. Die Methode wird erfolgreich bei der Analyse genetischer Ursachen für rheumatische Arthritis und Lungenkrebs getestet. Zusammenfassend machen die Ergebnisse der vorgestellten Methoden deutlich, dass die Netzwerk-theoretische Analyse von Verbreitungsprozessen einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Beantwortung verschiedenster Fragestellungen in unterschiedlichen Anwendungen liefern kann.

L’étude des pratiques de prévention en santé publique laisse voir que les innovations basées sur des données probantes ne sont pas toujours les plus utilisées (Ringwalt et al. 2002, Wandersman et Florin 2003). Dans la volonté de mettre de l’avant non seulement une innovation basée sur des données probantes, mais aussi une innovation réellement utile à la communauté que le Centre de liaison sur l’intervention et la prévention psychosociale (CLIPP) a mis sur pied en 2006 le programme de formation par agents multiplicateurs «Agir en milieu de garde» ayant pour principal objectif la prévention des mauvais traitements chez les jeunes enfants. La présente étude vise à décrire l’implantation de ce programme dans les services de garde en milieu familial du Québec et à examiner les processus qui ont influencé cette implantation. Les résultats exposent le niveau d’implantation sur deux plans : le dosage et la fidélité. L’étude des processus d’implantation permet de documenter l’influence sur le niveau d’implantation de quatre types de facteurs : individuels, organisationnels, communautaires et propres à l’innovation ainsi que l’influence des interactions entre ces différents facteurs. / The study of Public Health prevention practices suggests that evidence-based innovations are not always the most widely used (Ringwalt et al. 2002, Wandersman and Florin 2003). In 2006, in a strong desire to put forward not only an innovation based on evidence, but also an innovation really useful to the community, the Centre de liaison sur l’intervention et la prévention psychosociale (CLIPP) created “Agir en milieu de garde”, a trained-the-trainers program based whose primary objective was prevention of infant abuse. The present study’s goal is to describe the program’s implementation in home day care centers in Quebec and examine the processes that have an influence on this implementation. The results establish the level of implementation on two specific aspects : dosage and adherence. By studying implementation processes, the present study was able to document how the level of implementation is influenced by four different types of factors :individual, organizational, community and specific to innovation. This study also looked at how the interactions between these four types of factors can influence the implementation.

Energy consumption reduction is one of the priorities of metro operators, due to financial cost and environmental impact. The new signalling system Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) is being installed in new and upgraded metro lines to increase transportation capacity. But its continuous communication feature also permits to improve the energy performance of traffic operation, by updating the control command of the Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system at any point of the route. The present research addresses two main topics. The first is the design of efficient CBTC speed profiles for undisturbed train trajectory between two stations. The second takes into account the interaction between two consecutive trains under abnormal traffic conditions and proposes a tracking algorithm to save energy. In the first part of the research an off-line methodology to design optimal speed profiles for CBTC-ATO controlled trains is proposed. The methodology is based on a new multi-objective optimisation algorithm named NSGA-II-F, which is used to design speed profiles in such a way that can cover all the possible efficient solutions in a pseudo-Pareto front. The pseudo–Pareto front is built by using dominated solutions to make available a complete set of feasible situations in a driving scenario. The uncertainty in the passenger load is modelled as a fuzzy parameter. Each of the resulting speed profiles is obtained as a set of parameters that can be sent to the ATO equipment to perform the driving during the operation. The proposed optimisation algorithm makes use of detailed simulation of the train motion. Therefore, a simulator of the train motion has been developed, including detailed model of the specific ATO equipment, the ATP constraints, the traction equipment, the train dynamics and the track. A subsequent analysis considers the effect in the design of considering the regenerative energy flow between the train and the surrounding railway system. The second part of the research is focused on the proposal and validation of a fuzzy tracking algorithm for controlling the motion of two consecutive trains during disturbed conditions. A disturbed condition is understood as a change in the nominal driving command of a leading train and its consequences in the subsequent trains. When a train runs close enough to the preceding one, a tracking algorithm is triggered to control the distance between both trains. The following train receives the LMA (limit of movement authority) via radio, which is updated periodically as the preceding train runs. The aim of the proposed algorithm is to take actions in such a way that the following train could track the leading train meeting the safety requirements and applying an energy saving driving technique (coasting command). The uncertainty in the variations of the speed of the preceding train is modelled as a fuzzy quantity. The proposed algorithm is based on the application of coasting commands when possible, substituting traction/braking cycles by traction/coasting cycles, and hence saving energy. Both algorithms were tested and validated by using a detailed simulation program. The NSGA-II-F algorithm provided additional energy savings when compared to fixed block distance-to-go configurations, and giving a more even distribution of the solutions. The fuzzy tracking algorithm provides energy savings with a minor impact on running times while improving comfort, because of the reduction of the inefficient traction/braking cycles. / <p>QC 20170216</p>

Cette thèse aborde les problèmes de variabilité et confusabilité phonémique du point de vue des modèles de prononciation pour un système de reconnaissance automatique de la parole. En particulier, plusieurs directions de recherche sont étudiées. Premièrement, on développe des méthodes de conversion automatique de graphème-phonème et de phonème-phonème. Ces méthodes engendrent des variantes de prononciation pour les mots du vocabulaire, ainsi que des prononciations et des variantes de prononciation, pour des mots hors-vocabulaire. Cependant, ajouter plusieurs prononciations par mot au vocabulaire peut introduire des homophones (ou quasi-homophones) et provoquer une augmentation de la confusabilité du système. Une nouvelle mesure de cette confusabilité est proposée pour analyser et étudier sa relation avec la performance d’un système de reconnaissance de la parole. Cette “confusabilité de prononciation” est plus élevée si des probabilités pour les prononciations ne sont pas fournies et elle peut potentiellement dégrader sérieusement la performance d’un système de reconnaissance de la parole. Il convient, par conséquent, qu’elle soit prise en compte lors de la génération de prononciations. On étudie donc des approches d’entraînement discriminant pour entraîner les poids d’un modèle de confusion phonémique qui autorise différentes facons de prononcer un mot tout en contrôlant le problème de confusabilité phonémique. La fonction objectif à optimiser est choisie afin de correspondre à la mesure de performance de chaque tâche particulière. Dans cette thèse, deux tâches sont étudiées: la tâche de reconnaissance automatique de la parole et la tâche de détection de mots-clés. Pour la reconnaissance automatique de la parole, une fonction objectif qui minimise le taux d’erreur au niveau des phonèmes est adoptée. Pour les expériences menées sur la détection de mots-clés, le “Figure of Merit” (FOM), une mesure de performance de la détection de mots-clés, est directement optimisée. / 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.

Com o crescimento da população, os países, estados e cidades identificam a necessidade de realizar investimentos em infraestrutura, transporte e outros. A proposta do presente trabalho é apresentar uma ferramenta, utilizada para atender a demanda de um edital de licitação, expondo à Companhia de Trens Metropolitanos de São Paulo, um exemplo da parte de um edital internacional para aquisição de um meio de transporte rápido e eficiente. Para tal finalidade, são analisadas e filtradas as informações contidas no edital para realizar a simulação de marcha de uma composição ferroviária, através de um software específico. Por fim, na forma gráfica ilustram-se os cálculos cinemáticos e elétricos do comportamento que o sistema de potência irá desempenhar, mostrando que atende aos requisitos do edital de licitação. / With growing of population, countries, states and cities have identified the necessity to perform investiments in infrastructure, transportation, among others. The purpose of this dissertation is to present a tool, used to meet the request of a bidding document, presenting to Metropolitan Train Company of São Paulo one example of part of an international bidding to an acquisition of a rapid and efficient transportation. For this purpose, information of bidding document are analised and filtered to make a running simulation of a train composition throught a specific software. Finally, one application of this method is presented in a graphical form containing kinematic and electrical calculations of the behavior that power system will perform, showing that system meets the requiriments of bidding document.