Development and testing of an analytical framework for immunization program planning in Canada

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Development and Testing of the Elderly Social Vulnerability Index (ESVI): A Composite Indicator to Measure Social Vulnerability in the Jamaican Elderly Population

Over the last two decades social vulnerability has emerged as a major area of study, with increasing attention to the study of vulnerable populations. Generally, the elderly are among the most vulnerable members of any society, and widespread population aging has led to greater focus on elderly vulnerability. However, the absence of a valid and practical measure constrains the ability of policy-makers to address this issue in a comprehensive way. This study developed a composite indicator, The Elderly Social Vulnerability Index (ESVI), and used it to undertake a comparative analysis of the availability of support for elderly Jamaicans based on their access to human, material and social resources. The results of the ESVI indicated that while the elderly are more vulnerable overall, certain segments of the population appear to be at greater risk. Females had consistently lower scores than males, and the oldest-old had the highest scores of all groups of older persons. Vulnerability scores also varied according to place of residence, with more rural parishes having higher scores than their urban counterparts. These findings support the political economy framework which locates disadvantage in old age within political and ideological structures. The findings also point to the pervasiveness and persistence of gender inequality as argued by feminist theories of aging. Based on the results of the study it is clear that there is a need for policies that target specific population segments, in addition to universal policies that could make the experience of old age less challenging for the majority of older persons. Overall, the ESVI has displayed usefulness as a tool for theoretical analysis and demonstrated its potential as a policy instrument to assist decision-makers in determining where to target their efforts as they seek to address the issue of social vulnerability in old age. Data for this study came from the 2001 population and housing census of Jamaica, with multiple imputation for missing data. The index was derived from the linear aggregation of three equally weighted domains, comprised of eleven unweighted indicators which were normalized using z-scores. Indicators were selected based on theoretical relevance and data availability.

An R-package for the Estimation and Testing of Multiple Covariates and Biomarker Interactions for Survival Data Based on Local Partial Likelihood

When we study the variables that a ffect survival time, we usually estimate their eff ects by the Cox regression model. In biomedical research, e ffects of the covariates are often modi ed by a biomarker variable. This leads to covariates-biomarker interactions. Here biomarker is an objective measurement of the patient characteristics at baseline. Liu et al. (2015) has built up a local partial likelihood bootstrap model to estimate and test this interaction e ffect of covariates and biomarker, but the R code developed by Liu et al. (2015) can only handle one variable and one interaction term and can not t the model with adjustment to nuisance variables. In this project, we expand the model to allow adjustment to nuisance variables, expand the R code to take any chosen interaction terms, and we set up many parameters for users to customize their research. We also build up an R package called "lplb" to integrate the complex computations into a simple interface. We conduct numerical simulation to show that the new method has excellent fi nite sample properties under both the null and alternative hypothesis. We also applied the method to analyze data from a prostate cancer clinical trial with acid phosphatase (AP) biomarker.

Evaluation and Testing of a Lightweight Fine Aggregate Concrete Bridge Deck in Buchanan County, Iowa, TR-648, 2016

Internal curing is a relatively new technique being used to promote hydration of Portland cement concretes. The fundamental concept is to provide reservoirs of water within the matrix such that the water does not increase the initial water/cementitious materials ratio to the mixture, but is available to help continue hydration once the system starts to dry out. The reservoirs used in the US are typically in the form of lightweight fine aggregate (LWFA) that is saturated prior to batching. Considerable work has been conducted both in the laboratory and in the field to confirm that this approach is fundamentally sound and yet practical for construction purposes. A number of bridge decks have been successfully constructed around the US, including one in Iowa in 2013. It is reported that inclusion of about 20% to 30% LWFA will not only improve strength development and potential durability, but, more importantly, will significantly reduce shrinking, thus reducing cracking risk. The aim of this work was to investigate the feasibility of such an approach in a bridge deck.

Economic competence and financial literacy of young adults. Status and challenges

This book will concentrate on economic competence and financial literacy of young adults in the US, Europe and South America. The subjects of the research are mainly individuals who have begun an apprenticeship or university education. Economic competence and financial literacy are of special interest for this group because they are usually in the unique position of being responsible for managing their own financial affairs autonomously, often for the first time. Furthermore, economic competence is key to social participation and active citizenship. (DIPF/Orig.)

The young, educated, minorities and the poor move out from south central Ethiopia

High population growth fragmented rural landholdings leading to low harvests and crop yields per acre per annum creating surplus labour that may resort to migration as a coping mechanism in least developing countries including Ethiopia. The main aim of the study is to assess trends and differentials of out-migration in south central Ethiopia. The Butajira demographic surveillance system database from 1987 to 2008 was used to conduct event history analysis. There were 3.97 out-migrations per 100 person years. Probability of out-migration was higher among males, teenagers, the youth, completed primary and secondary plus education; not in marital union; Christians, urbanites; lived in rented and owed house compared to their respective counterparts. The higher chances of out-migration among these groups may have social and economic significance.

Councellors' Experience During Training and Home Based HIV Councelling and Testing in Zomba District, Malawi

Introduction In 2007, St Luke’s Mission Hospital initiated a district-wide Door to Door HIV counselling and testing (HCT) programme in Zomba district. The intent of the programme was to provide quality HCT services to people in their homes and effectively those found to be HIV positive referred to appropriate services. Methodology This was a cross sectional study using a questionnaire consecutively administered to a sample of 105 counsellors who had resided in the community for a period of over one year. The questionnaire sought to establish, knowledge gained, experiences and recommendations on how the programme has been implemented and assist running of similar future programmes. Data analysis was done manually using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Results We report that nearly 23% of the counsellors thought that during their training as a door to door HTC councelor they had benefited in learning to working with communities; an aspect they found to be highly applicable in discharge of their duties. The major setbacks during the training were lack daily allowances, less amount of time spent on understanding child councelling and the manual used was diffucult to follow. Over 32% of the councellors were satisfied with the participation of their clients during pre-test counselling sessions, however, the major challenge they had was the misconception that they were blood suckers, a view reported by nearly 17% of the counsellors. Close to 72% reported not to have met any problems during post-test counselling compared to 24% who reported to have found challenges. Conclusion The study has revealed that there is a need to re-look child children counselling especially in training door to door HCT counsellors. It has also revealed the prevalent allowance culture despite the benefits of training. The common challenges were refusal of test Results and failure to understand discordance. Misconceptions may still exist in the community regarding anything dealing with removing blood. There is still need for more information regarding discordance especially among couples in the community.

Development and testing of a Fourier trasform based experimental system for Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis tests

Altough nowadays DMTA is one of the most used techniques to characterize polymers thermo-mechanical behaviour, it is only effective for small amplitude oscillatory tests and limited to a single frequency analysis (linear regime). In this thesis work a Fourier transform based experimental system has proven to give hint on structural and chemical changes in specimens during large amplitude oscillatory tests exploiting multi frequency spectral analysis turning out in a more sensitive tool than classical linear approach. The test campaign has been focused on three test typologies: Strain sweep tests, Damage investigation and temperature sweep tests.

Towards a smart semi-active prosthetic leg: preliminary assessment and testing

This paper presents a development of a semi-active prosthetic knee, which can work in both active and passive modes based on the energy required during the gait cycle of various activities of daily livings (ADLs). The prosthetic limb is equipped with various sensors to measure the kinematic and kinetic parameters of both prosthetic limbs. This prosthetic knee is designed to be back-drivable in passive mode to provide a potential use in energy regeneration when there negative energy across the knee joint. Preliminary test has been performed on transfemoral amputee in passive mode to provide some insight to the amputee/prosthesis interaction and performance with the designed prosthetic knee.

Design, production and testing of innovative key components of HEV/BEV powertrains

Through modelling activity, experimental campaigns, test bench and on-field validation, a complete powertrain for a BEV has been designed, assembled and used in a motorsport competition. The activity can be split in three main subjects, representing the three key components of an BEV vehicle. First of all a model of the entire powertrain has been developed in order to understand how the various design choices will influence the race lap-time. The data obtained was then used to design, build and test a first battery pack. After bench tests and track tests, it was understood that by using all the cell charac-teristics, without breaking the rules limitations, higher energy and power densities could have been achieved. An updated battery pack was then designed, produced and raced with at Motostudent 2018 re-sulting in a third place at debut. The second topic of this PhD was the design of novel inverter topologies. Three inverters have been de-signed, two of them using Gallium Nitride devices, a promising semiconductor technology that can achieve high switching speeds while maintaining low switching losses. High switching frequency is crucial to reduce the DC-Bus capacitor and then increase the power density of 3 phase inverters. The third in-verter uses classic Silicon devices but employs a ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching) topology. Despite the in-creased complexity of both the hardware and the control software, it can offer reduced switching losses by using conventional and established silicon mosfet technology. Finally, the mechanical parts of a three phase permanent magnet motor have been designed with the aim to employ it in UniBo Motorsport’s 2020 Formula Student car.

Development and testing of innovative methodologies for modelling and control of normal and knocking combustion and implementation of novel rapid prototyping solutions

The thesis work deals with topics that led to the development of innovative control-oriented models and control algorithms for modern gasoline engines. Knock in boosted spark ignition engines is the widest topic discussed in this document because it remains one of the most limiting factors for maximizing combustion efficiency in this kind of engine. First chapter is thus focused on knock and a wide literature review is proposed to summarize the preliminary knowledge that even represents the background and the reference for discussed activities. Most relevant results achieved during PhD course in the field of knock modelling and control are then presented, describing every control-oriented model that led to the development of an adaptive model-based combustion control system. The complete controller has been developed in the context of the collaboration with Ferrari GT and it allowed to completely redefine the knock intensity evaluation as well as the combustion phase control. The second chapter is focused on the activity related to a prototyping Port Water Injection system that has been developed and tested on a turbocharged spark ignition engine, within the collaboration with Magneti Marelli. Such system and the effects of injected water on the combustion process were then modeled in a 1-D simulation environment (GT Power). Third chapter shows the development and validation of a control-oriented model for the real-time calculation of exhaust gas temperature that represents another important limitation to the performance increase in modern boosted engines. Indeed, modelling of exhaust gas temperature and thermocouple behavior are themes that play a key role in the optimization of combustion and catalyst efficiency.

Modelling, control and testing of internal combustion engines to minimize consumption and pollutant emissions

The objective of the PhD thesis was to research technologies and strategies to reduce fuel consumption and pollutants emission produced by internal combustion engines. In order to meet this objective my activity was focused on the research of advanced controls based on cylinder pressure feedback. These types of control strategies were studied because they present promising results in terms of engine efficiency enhancement. In the PhD dissertation two study cases are presented. The first case is relative to a control strategy to be used at the test bench for the optimisation of the spark advance calibration of motorcycle Engine. The second case is relative to a control strategy to be used directly on board of mining engines with the objective or reducing the engine consumption and correct ageing effects. In both cases the strategies proved to be effective but their implementation required the use of specific toolchains for the measure of the cylinder pressure feedback that for a matter of cost makes feasible the strategy use only for applications: • At test bench • In small-markets like large off-road engines The major bottleneck that prevents the implementation of these strategies on mass production is the cost of cylinder pressure sensor. In order to tackle this issue, during the PhD research, the development of a low-cost sensor for the estimation of cylinder pressure was studied. The prototype was a piezo-electric washer designed to replace the standard spark-plug washer or high-pressure fuel injectors gasket. From the data analysis emerged the possibility to use the piezo-electric prototype signal to evaluate with accuracy several combustion metrics compatible for the implementation of advanced control strategies in on-board applications. Overall, the research shows that advanced combustion controls are feasible and beneficial, not only at the test bench or on stationary engines, but also in mass-produced engines.

Design and testing of innovative, artificial intelligence-based techniques to model and control the combustion process and to reduce the Co2 emissions in modern, high-performance, gasoline direct injection engines

This work deals with the development of calibration procedures and control systems to improve the performance and efficiency of modern spark ignition turbocharged engines. The algorithms developed are used to optimize and manage the spark advance and the air-to-fuel ratio to control the knock and the exhaust gas temperature at the turbine inlet. The described work falls within the activity that the research group started in the previous years with the industrial partner Ferrari S.p.a. . The first chapter deals with the development of a control-oriented engine simulator based on a neural network approach, with which the main combustion indexes can be simulated. The second chapter deals with the development of a procedure to calibrate offline the spark advance and the air-to-fuel ratio to run the engine under knock-limited conditions and with the maximum admissible exhaust gas temperature at the turbine inlet. This procedure is then converted into a model-based control system and validated with a Software in the Loop approach using the engine simulator developed in the first chapter. Finally, it is implemented in a rapid control prototyping hardware to manage the combustion in steady-state and transient operating conditions at the test bench. The third chapter deals with the study of an innovative and cheap sensor for the in-cylinder pressure measurement, which is a piezoelectric washer that can be installed between the spark plug and the engine head. The signal generated by this kind of sensor is studied, developing a specific algorithm to adjust the value of the knock index in real-time. Finally, with the engine simulator developed in the first chapter, it is demonstrated that the innovative sensor can be coupled with the control system described in the second chapter and that the performance obtained could be the same reachable with the standard in-cylinder pressure sensors.