A linear covariance analysis is conducted to assess closed-loop guidance, navigation, and control system (GN&C) performance of the Altair vehicle during lunar powered descent. Guidance algorithms designed for lunar landing are presented and incorporated into the closed-loop covariance equations. Navigation-based event triggering is also included in the covariance formulation to trigger maneuvers and control dispersions. Several navigation and guidance trade studies are presented demonstrating the influence of triggering and guidance and study parameters on the vehicle GN&C performance.

Le Modèle Standard fournit une explication satisfaisante des phénomènes subatomiques à basse énergie (<1 TeV). Au-delà, d'autres modèles doivent être envisagés. Parmi eux, la Supersymétrie offre, de manière élégante, des solutions à quelques unes des insuffisances du Modèle Standard.<br />Le travail présenté dans ce document concerne la recherche d'un signal supersymétrique caractérisé par la production de deux stops se désintégrant en deux jets de b, un électron, un muon et de l'énergie manquante. Cette étude a été menée auprès de l'expérience DØ, située sur l'anneau du Tevatron à FermiLab (Chicago, USA) et dont l'énergie dans le centre de masse atteint 1,96 TeV. L'analyse de ce signal porte sur les données collectées pendant la phase IIa du détecteur DØ, d'avril 2003 à mars 2006 (~1fb^-1). L'étude d'un tel signal requiert une bonne maîtrise des différents sous-détecteurs ; aussi bien du calorimètre (électron, jet et énergie transverse manquante) que des détecteurs de muon et des trajectographes.<br />Le Tevatron est un collisionneur hadronique et le nombre de processus du Modèle Standard présentant la même signature que le signal recherché est faible. Le bruit de fond de cette analyse est donc dominé par les processus QCD. Après l'application de critères de sélection permettant de diminuer principalement cette contribution, aucun excès significatif des données par rapport aux prévisions du Modèles Standard n'a été observé. La sensibilité de l'expérience DØ a été améliorée et le domaine d'exclusion dans le plan [m˜_nu,m˜_t1 ] étendu jusqu'à des masses de stop de 170 GeV/c2 et de sneutrino de 105 GeV/c2.<br />De plus, une partie de mon travail préparatoire a consisté dans l'élaboration d'un outil de discrimination des objets calorimétriques au niveau 3 de déclenchement ; ainsi que la calibration des deux chaînes de lecture simulées au niveau 1.

This study concerns simultaneous bilingual acquisition (2L1) of Swedish-Brazilian children growing up in mixed-lingual families in Stockholm, with Swedish as their dominant language. Earlier studies on this language combination were not found. Not even were there any studies considering 2L1 children of the same age group as our main subjects (Anna 7;7,3–9;1,30, Maria 6;1,16–6;11,11). An analysis of their acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) as a weaker language (WL) was carried out in a Generative Grammar approach, mainly through the selective theory of language acquisition. The corpus consists of interviews with 2L1 children in a semi-longitudinal registration of their production. The focus of this analysis lies on the observation of three domains of BP grammar that differ morpho-syntactically from Swedish: verb inflection; VP as minimal responses; NP number and gender agreement. Three main research questions were formulated: 1) Are the simple and robust structures, provided by domestic input enough for triggering the functional categories (FC) of their WL? 2) If the FCs are activated, do they develop in the same sequence as a WL as they would in BPL1? 3) If the 2L1 children show any deviations in acquiring the grammar of their WL, is it possible to distinguish any influence from Swedish? To answer these questions a contrastive study was carried out, comparing the acquisition of BPWL with studies on 2L1 and BPL1 acquisition. The results show that the domestic input is enough for triggering the grammar of the WL, and that it was triggered and developed through a similar procedure to that of BPL1, although delayed. Contact with BPL1 input in Brazil was necessary to activate the children’s oral production. When using VPs for minimal responses it requires more than domestic input, and the influence of Swedish was reflected in the subjects’ use of sim ‘yes’ instead of VPs, as in this case grammar enters the domain of discourse at the syntax/pragmatics interface.

Environmental awareness and uncertainty about continued supply of fossil fuel has given rise to the renewable energy movement. Wind based power generation has been at the forefront of the motion to integrate distributed energy sources in the traditional power system. Due to various technical restrictions, wide scale penetration of wind generated power has been held back by most utilities. One such restriction is the variability of generation due to the technology’s dependence on Mother Nature. Energy storage devices can complement the wind generators by reducing this variability. These devices can store excess generation for supply during low generation periods. There are several promising technologies for both energy storage and power storage applications. Power storage devices provide short term fluctuation dampening capability while energy storage devices allow longer term storage. Pumped hydro, Vanadium Redox battery and Sodium-Sulphur battery are some of the viable energy storage technologies. This project provides a set of algorithms and guidelines to obtain the optimal configuration parameters of an energy storage device. To verify the efficiency of the algorithms, a model system has been obtained from a local utility. This system represents a typical radial distribution system in rural Ontario. The load demand, wind speed and energy prices for a period of one year have been obtained from utilities and Environment Canada. The main goal in determining the location of the storage device within a distribution system is to minimize the total cost of energy and the total energy loss during the period of analysis. Locating the storage device near the wind turbines or near the largest loads lead to the optimum results. Buses that are located near those elements can be considered as suitable locations for the storage device. The energy storage capacity and charge-discharge rate of the storage device are selected based on four criteria: maximize wind turbines’ load following capability, maximize capacity factors of the wind turbines, minimize system energy losses and minimize system energy costs. A weight based multi-objective optimization algorithm has been proposed to assign various priorities to these criteria and obtain a single solution. The larger the energy storage capacity of the storage device, the better the improvement in system performance. Lower charge-discharge ramp rates provide superior results. The parameters for storage device operating schedule, i.e. charge-discharge trigger levels, have been selected using similar criteria and weighted objective approach as for the capacity selection process. Higher charge trigger levels and moderate discharge trigger levels provide the optimum system performance. Once a set of parameters for the storage device has been selected, bus voltages over the period of study are analyzed. Voltage variations outside certain limits have been identified. Finally, a Monte Carlo based simulation approach is presented to obtain output parameter (system performance) variation ranges for pseudo random changes in input parameters.

Environmental awareness and uncertainty about continued supply of fossil fuel has given rise to the renewable energy movement. Wind based power generation has been at the forefront of the motion to integrate distributed energy sources in the traditional power system. Due to various technical restrictions, wide scale penetration of wind generated power has been held back by most utilities. One such restriction is the variability of generation due to the technology’s dependence on Mother Nature. Energy storage devices can complement the wind generators by reducing this variability. These devices can store excess generation for supply during low generation periods. There are several promising technologies for both energy storage and power storage applications. Power storage devices provide short term fluctuation dampening capability while energy storage devices allow longer term storage. Pumped hydro, Vanadium Redox battery and Sodium-Sulphur battery are some of the viable energy storage technologies. This project provides a set of algorithms and guidelines to obtain the optimal configuration parameters of an energy storage device. To verify the efficiency of the algorithms, a model system has been obtained from a local utility. This system represents a typical radial distribution system in rural Ontario. The load demand, wind speed and energy prices for a period of one year have been obtained from utilities and Environment Canada. The main goal in determining the location of the storage device within a distribution system is to minimize the total cost of energy and the total energy loss during the period of analysis. Locating the storage device near the wind turbines or near the largest loads lead to the optimum results. Buses that are located near those elements can be considered as suitable locations for the storage device. The energy storage capacity and charge-discharge rate of the storage device are selected based on four criteria: maximize wind turbines’ load following capability, maximize capacity factors of the wind turbines, minimize system energy losses and minimize system energy costs. A weight based multi-objective optimization algorithm has been proposed to assign various priorities to these criteria and obtain a single solution. The larger the energy storage capacity of the storage device, the better the improvement in system performance. Lower charge-discharge ramp rates provide superior results. The parameters for storage device operating schedule, i.e. charge-discharge trigger levels, have been selected using similar criteria and weighted objective approach as for the capacity selection process. Higher charge trigger levels and moderate discharge trigger levels provide the optimum system performance. Once a set of parameters for the storage device has been selected, bus voltages over the period of study are analyzed. Voltage variations outside certain limits have been identified. Finally, a Monte Carlo based simulation approach is presented to obtain output parameter (system performance) variation ranges for pseudo random changes in input parameters.

Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) have been widely used in industry in order to determine the form / dimensional tolerances of workpieces with very complicated geometrical shapes. Therefore, CMM is an important tool during the manufacturing and quality control phases. Workpiece to be measured on a CMM is probed via touch trigger probe through its stylus tip. In other words, by virtue of the touch trigger probes CMM can acquire the dimensional data of the workpiece that is to be measured. Therefore the probe has become the most vital and fundamental part of the CMM. In this thesis, a novel type of touch trigger probe / scanning probe is proposed. The proposed probe can also be used as a scanning probe for different applications. The main purpose of this thesis is to develop a novel type of touch trigger / scanning probe that has different kinematic stage and sensing stage than the other probes currently used in the industry. Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors are used for building the sensing stage of the proposed probe. GMR sensors are selected due to their outstanding sensitivity to small disturbances. Furthermore, in order to test the proposed probe / an anvil gauge setup is designed and proposed in this study. Finally, proposed probe is tested on a three-axis computer controlled electrical discharge machine (EDM), and the results acquired from those experiments are discussed.

No description available.

The ATLAS experiment pushes the leading edge of experimental particle physics. Increasingly complex hardware, however, brings increasingly complex problems which manifest themselves not only in the detector, but also within the software which drives the detector. The magnitude of the expected interaction rate, too, adds enormous stress to the detector system and the software trigger. In order to prepare the software for these challenges, various detector quantities are considered which may provide debugging handles and robustness against detector problems arising in the ATLAS calorimeter trigger. The effect of electronics noise suppression on these quantities is studied and a brief study of the software trigger performance is followed by recommendations for the implementation of robustness checks.

OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) est une expérience sur faisceau de neutrino située dans le Hall C du laboratoire souterrain du Gran Sasso (LNGS), en Italie, à une profondeur équivalente à 3.8 km d'eau (correspondant à une coupure en énergie à 1.5 TeV pour les muons à la surface). L'objectif premier d'OPERA est l'observation directe de l'oscillation νμ ➝ ντ dans le secteur des neutrinos atmosphériques par apparition d'événements ντ à 730km de la cible, dans un faisceau (CNGS) quasiment pur en νμ. OPERA est un détecteur hybride contenant une partie cible (~125 000 briques composées d'une succession de feuilles d'émulsion et de plomb) instrumentée et d'un spectromètre. La prise de données a commencé en 2006 et 55 000 événements neutrinos ont été enregistrés à ce jour. Le premier candidat ντ a été observé cette année. Le travail produit pendant cette thèse est axé suivant trois sujets principaux : la définition de règles de déclenchement du système d'acquisition du trajectographe pour les événements neutrinos du faisceau, la synchronisation des éléments du trajectographe et des plans de RPC ainsi que l'implémentation des résultats dans la simulation et l'étude de la faisabilité d'une analyse des oscillations des neutrinos atmosphériques dans les données hors-faisceau. La modification des règles de déclenchement du trajectographe a permis d'atteindre les valeurs proposées dans le proposal d'OPERA, ie une efficacité de déclenchement supérieure à 99%. Cette évolution a été rendu possible par la mise en place de fenêtres en temps en coïncidence avec le faisceau CNGS pendant lesquelles les coupures sont abaissées, permettant de récupérer les événements de basse multiplicité. Une étude poussée de l'intercalibration des détecteurs électroniques a permis la synchronisation de l'ensemble des informations venant des éléments du trajectographe et des RPC. Les résultats de cette analyse sont maintenant inclus dans la simulation du détecteur. Le travail de calibration a permis de produire une étude sur l'oscillation des neutrinos atmosphériques "hors-faisceau" grace à la détection de particules montantes. Les analyses présentées dans cette thèse ont permis une meilleure compréhension du détecteur d'OPERA et démontré sa capacité à observer des phénomènes ne dépendant pas du faiseau CNGS. Des analyses sur la détection des neutrinos atmosphériques et la caractérisation du flux de muons cosmiques (variations saisonnières entre autres) sont désormais possibles grace à la statistique accumulée et la compréhension plus fine des systèmes d'acquisition. Les corrections sur la propagation des signaux dans les détecteurs électroniques sont aujourd'hui utilisées pour la mesure de la vélocité des neutrinos du faisceau / OPERA (" Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus ") is a neutrino beam experiment located in hall C of the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS), in Italia, under a equivalent of 3.8 km water (corresponding to a cut at 1.5 TeV for the muons). The first purpose of OPERA is the direct observation of the νμ ➝ ντ oscillation in the atmospheric sector observing an ντ appearance 730 km away from the target in a quasi pure νμ beam (CNGS). OPERA is an hybrid detector with an instrumented target part (~125 000 bricks made with emulsion and lead sheets) and a spectrometer. The data taking have started in 2006 and 55 000 events have been registred. The first ντ candidate have been observed this year. The work done during this thesis is oriented around three main topics : Define the trigger rules of the target tracker acquisition system for beam neutrino events, synchronise target tracker and RPC elements, implement the results inside the simulation and the study of the feasibility of an atmospheric neutrino analysis using off-beam data. The new trigger rules succeeds to reach the values of OPERA proposal, ie a trigger efficiency greater than 99%. This improvement have been done thanks to coincidence time windows with the CNGS beam during which lower cut are applied, allowing low multiplicity events to be kept. A deep study of electronic detectors intercalibration makes possible the target tracker and RPC data synchronisation. The analysis results are now included in the official simulation. This calibration work have been then used for a study of " off-beam " atmospheric neutrino oscillation thanks to the selection of up-going particles. The analysis showed in the thesis have improved the OPERA detector understanding and demonstrate the feasability of an observation of phenomenoms independant from the CNGS beam. Analysis on atmospherics neutrino detection and muons flux caracterisation (seasonal variations for example) are now possible thanks to the accumulated statistics and the deeper understanding of the acquisition systems. Correction on signal propagation inside the electronic detectors are now used for a neutrino velocity measurement

Context: In healthcare, the decision of patient referral evolves through time because of changes in scientific developments, and clinical practices. Existing decision support systems of patient referral are based on the expert systems approach. This usually requires manual updates when changes in clinical practices occur. Automatically updating the decision support system by identifying and handling so-called concept drift improves the efficiency of healthcare systems. In the stateof-the- art, there are only specific ways of handling concept drift; developing a more generic technique which works regardless of restrictions on how slow, fast, sudden, gradual, local, global, cyclical, noisy or otherwise changes in internal distribution, is still a challenge. Objectives: An algorithm that handles concept drift in surgery prediction is investigated. Concept drift detection techniques are evaluated to find out a suitable detection technique in the context of surgery prediction. Moreover, a plausible combination of detection and handling algorithms including the proposed algorithm, Trigger Based Ensemble (TBE)+, are evaluated on hospital data. Method: Experiments are conducted to investigates the impact of concept drift on prediction performance and to reduce concept drift impact. The experiments compare three existing methods (AWE, Active Classifier, Learn++) and the proposed algorithm, Trigger Based Ensemble(TBE). Real-world dataset from orthopedics department of Belkinge hospital and other domain dataset are used in the experiment. Results: The negative impact of concept drift in surgery prediction is investigated. The relationship between temporal changes in data distribution and surgery prediction concept drift is identified. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm is evaluated and compared with existing handling approaches. Conclusion: The proposed algorithm, Trigger Based Ensemble (TBE), is capable of detecting the occurrences of concept drifts and to adapt quickly to various changes. The Trigger Based Ensemble algorithm performed comparatively better or sometimes similar to the existing concept drift handling algorithms in the absence of noise. Moreover, the performance of Trigger Based Ensemble is consistent for small and large dataset. The research is of twofold contributions, in that it is improving surgery prediction performance as well as contributing one competitive concept drift handling algorithm to the area of computer science.