No / While most positional acuity tasks exhibit an age-related decline in performance, the effect of ageing upon vernier acuity continues to be the subject of some debate. In the present study we employed a stimulus design that enabled the simultaneous determination of bisection and vernier acuities in 36 subjects, aged between 22 and 84 years. This approach provided a means for directly testing the hypothesis that ageing affects bisection acuity but not vernier acuity by ensuring that differences in stimulus configuration and in the subject¿s task were kept to an absolute minimum. Optimum thresholds increased as a function of age for both bisection and vernier tasks. Inter-subject threshold variability also increased with age. Issues surrounding the comparison of absolute vernier thresholds across different studies are discussed and two important methodological factors are identified: the precise statistical method used to estimate thresholds, and the magnitude, in angular terms, of the smallest spatial offset of the elements of the vernier stimulus which can be displayed. Comparison with previously published data indicates that the discrepancy between this study and most previous investigations with respect to the effect of age upon vernier performance can be at least partly accounted for by differences in the minimum displayable vernier offset. Vernier thresholds do increase with age. The increased variability of vernier thresholds in older subjects would appear to limit the diagnostic value of the test as a means of enabling normal ageing to be distinguished from visual loss due to pathology of the eye or visual system.

No / To examine the independent contribution of various stimulus characteristics to positional judgements, we measured vernier alignment performance for three types of Gabor stimuli. In one, only the contrast envelope of the upper and lower stimulus elements was offset, with the luminance-modulated carrier grating remaining in alignment. In the second, only the carrier grating was offset. In the third, both carrier and envelope were offset together. Performance was examined over a range of element separations. When both cues are available, thresholds for small separations are dominated by carrier offset information and are inversely proportional to carrier frequency. At large separations, thresholds are governed by the spatial scale characteristics of the envelope. For broad-band stimuli such as lines, bars or dots typically used for vernier acuity, their higher frequency content can be used when separations are small, but as separation increases a smooth transition between the scales that determine threshold results in the continuum known as Weber's law for position. That is, with increasing separation, larger scales must be used, and thresholds increase in direct proportion to 1/frequency.

The rise in popularity of renewable energy solutions, in particular wind energy systems, has resulted in a greater demand for low-speed direct-drive machines. The Vernier machine has inherent properties such as high torque density, sinusoidal induced voltages and low torque ripple which makes it suitable for low-speed direct-drive wind applications. Additionally, its mechanical structure is as simple as a conventional permanent magnet (PM) machine, whilst eliminating the need for a mechanical gearbox. The research problem addressed by this dissertation relates to the assessment of the Vernier permanent magnet (VPM) machine topology for direct-drive wind applications. It aims to outline a sizing, detailed design and analysis approach for a three-phase VPM wind generator. Furthermore, a comparative study is conducted using two different rotor types and two different stator types, namely; spoke-type and surface-mounted and fractional slot and integral slot respectively. Vernier theory is used to size the designs after which 2D Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations are used to analyse and validate the designs. The main outcome of the comparative study is an assessment of the suitability of four topologies for the direct-drive wind application. The design is assessed on parameters which are critical for wind turbine functionality; namely efficiency, torque ripple, torque density and material consumption. The most suitable of the topologies is selected for prototyping. The rotor is made more robust by adding structural features which mechanically secure laminations and PMs to the shaft. The FEA analysis of the prototype showed favourable performance characteristics, albeit with a small cost in power density. The prototype was -thus manufactured with further mechanical reinforcements made to the bearing system. Experimental results reveal the presence of a defect in the windings. Parameters which are dependent on the winding design are much lower than the analytical and FEA values. These parameters include resistance, inductance, and back-EMF. Further work should look into determining the root cause of the prototype defects.

The goal of the research was to develop best practices for image signal processing method for InSAS systems for bathymetric height determination. Improvements over existing techniques comes from the fusion of Chirp-Scaling a phase preserving beamforming techniques to form a SAS image, an interferometric Vernier method to unwrap the phase; and confirming the direction of arrival with the MUltiple SIgnal Channel (MUSIC) estimation technique. The fusion of Chirp-Scaling, Vernier, and MUSIC lead to the stability in the bathymetric height measurement, and improvements in resolution. This method is computationally faster, and used less memory then existing techniques.

In 2010, a donation was given to the University of Victoria Robotics and Mechanisms lab by Roper Industries. It was a Flight Telerobotic Servicer (FTS) Right Finger training tool. This is an electro-hydraulic robotic arm, approximately eight feet long, weighing in excess of four hundred pounds. This arm was designed and built in the late nineteen eighties as part of a program in support of the Space Station Freedom project. The intention of the arm was to assist in the training of astronauts in the use of an end effector which would be mounted at the distal end of the Canadarm©. The end effector would have right and left fingers, as well as a thumb (used for stabilization, not grasping). Unfortunately, the robot did not come with any of the control hardware, software, manuals, or functional descriptions, and the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were not able to share any information regarding the nature of the controls. The focus of the present work is to re-animate this arm without additional feedback, operating the arm only by hand-eye control, using currently available electronics and hardware. Also, investigate the absolute position sensors. These are described as near-infinite resolution analog absolute position sensors. Investigation was also conducted on an alternate solution (Vernier Optical Encoder), which was finally were abandoned. Strain-gauge type torque feedback sensors were found to be functional, and can be used without further work on future experimentation. The outcome of the research and assembly is a fully functional electro-hydraulic robotic arm, which is digitally controlled using an XBOX© game controller, using only visual feedback for position. The position sensor work was not as fruitful, with no working position sensors available. The torque feedback sensors are functional, but not utilized in the final work. / Graduate

Jitter is generally defined as a time deviation of the clock waveform from its desired position. The deviation which occurs can be on the leading or lagging side and it can be bounded (deterministic) or unbounded (random). Jitter is a critical specification in the digital system design. There are various techniques to measure the jitter. The straightforward approach is based on spectrum analyzer or oscilloscope measurements. In this thesis an on-chip jitter measurement technique is investigated and the respective circuit is designed using 65 nm CMOS technology. The work presents the high level model and transistor level model, both implemented using Cadence software. Based on the Vernier concept the circuit is composed of an edge detector, two oscillators, and a phase detector followed by a binary counter, which provides the measurement result. The designed circuit attains resolution of 10ps and can operate in the range of 100 - 500 MHz Compared to other measurement techniques this design features low power consumption and low chip area overhead that is essential for built-in self-test (BIST) applications.

Thèse no 2891 sc. EPF Lausanne, 2003. / Bibliogr.

Le développement de capteurs pour la détection de molécules présentes en très faible concentration est un enjeu sociétal et économique. Il permet de répondre à des besoins de mesure d’analytes dans les secteurs de la santé, de la défense ou encore de l’environnement. Les capteurs optiques intégrés possèdent plusieurs avantages permettant de répondre à ces problématiques. Dans cette thèse, des capteurs optiques intégrés à base de deux micro-résonateurs sont développés. Ils fonctionnent dans le domaine du proche infrarouge et permettent de détecter des molécules d’intérêt présentes en très faible quantité dans un échantillon biologique. Dans un premier temps, les critères de performances comme la sensibilité ou la limite de détection de micro-résonateurs seuls sont définis et optimisés. Puis, l’intérêt de transducteurs à base de deux micro-résonateurs cascadés ou insérés dans une structure interférométrique de type Mach-Zehnder permettant d’utiliser l’effet Vernier est mis en avant. Un algorigramme permettant d’optimiser la conception des transducteurs à effet Vernier est mis en place. Son efficacité est démontrée par la fabrication d’un transducteur à effet Vernier en matériaux polymères qui possède des performances dans l’état de l’art. Ensuite, des transducteurs en matériau silicium poreux sont étudiés. Ce matériau poreux permet d’augmenter la sensibilité du capteur en facilitant le greffage des analytes dans la structure. Les guides en silicium poreux pour la réalisation de micro-résonateurs simples sont optimisés théoriquement. L’avantage de l’utilisation conjointe de guides en polymères et en silicium poreux couplés sur la même puce intégrée, qui permet à la fois de réduire les pertes de propagation optique et d’augmenter la sensibilité du transducteur, ainsi qualifié d’hybride, est détaillé dans ce manuscrit. Les performances en sensibilité et limite de détection de transducteurs à effet Vernier hybride fabriqués à l’aide de guides en silicium poreux et en polymères sont étudiées théoriquement afin de prédire les performances de ces dispositifs. Enfin la mise en œuvre et les premiers essais de fabrication de transducteurs hybrides avec des guides en polymères et en silicium poreux sont détaillés. / The development of biosensors for the detection of extremely low concentration analytes is an economic and societal challenge. It ensures the needs to detect analytes in the economic fields of healthcare, defense and environment. Integrated optical sensors have several advantages to address these challenges. In this thesis, near infrared integrated biosensors for detection of low concentration molecules in biological samples are developed. They are based on two integrated micro-resonators transducers. Firstly, performances criterions such as sensitivity and limit of detection are defined and optimized for single micro-resonator biosensors. The advantage of micro-resonator transducers based on the Vernier effect are presented. To do so, a flowchart is developed in order to optimize the design of Vernier effect integrated transducers based on cascaded micro-resonators or micro-resonators positioned in a Mach-Zehnder interferometric structure. The efficiency of the design procedure is tested by the fabrication of a polymer transducer based on the Vernier effect with state of the art performances. Then, transducers based on porous silicon material are studied. This porous material eases the penetration and the grafting of the analytes in the sensor. Porous silicon waveguides are theoretically optimized for the fabrication of single micro-resonators. The interest of the implementation of polymer and porous silicon waveguides coupled on the same integrated chip, in order to reduce optical propagation losses and to increase sensor sensitivity, is demonstrated. The performances in sensitivity and limit of detection of hybrid porous silicon and polymer waveguides Vernier effect transducers are theoretically studied in order to estimate the performances of these integrated biosensors. Eventually, the design and the first fabrication trials of hybrid porous silicon and polymer waveguides transducers are presented.

Title: Using dataloggers in physics teaching (focused on Vernier experimental system) Author: Petr Kácovský Department: Department of Physics Education Supervisor: Mgr. Pavel Böhm Supervisor's e-mail address: pavel.bohm@mff.cuni.cz Abstract: Modernizing equipment enables schools to involve advanced computer- aided systems in physics teaching. This work especially focuses on systems capable of recording and storing measured data for later evaluation - the dataloggers. The introduction of this work is devoted to a survey among physics teachers that should investigate what form of instructions they prefer; then a brief search of existing ma- terials follows. The main part of the work consists of newly created instructions for experiments with dataloggers of the Vernier experimental system, primarily designed to serve tea- chers to implement physics experiments in their teaching. The instructions always include a description how to prepare and undertake the measurement, how to process the measured data and what questions and tasks for students can be connected with this part of physics. Experiments described in this work mainly focus on secondary school thermodynamics (or more precisely on molecular physics and thermals) and their thematic intersection is energy, its forms, transmission and conservation.

The aim of this thesis is to summarize already published tutorials for experiments with the Vernier lab system and to write new tutorials respecting requirements and specifics of the Czech educational system. Six new detailed tutorials were prepared. All of them were, or would be, published on the Internet web site of The Framework Education Programmes (www.rvp.cz). Following tutorials were written: Bulb flickering, Warm-up of a compact fluorescent lamp, Relation between illumination and distance of the light source, Relation between illumination and number of filters, Why is salt used in the winter on the roads, Photochromic glasses. Each experiment is accompanied by a classification with respect to The Framework Education Programmes and by requirements for The State High School Leaving Exam (``maturita'').