Prescriptions de protection incendie en Suisse : étude de leur domaine d'application et de leur respect par l'investigation d'incendies

Avant - Propos Le feu et la protection incendie Quel que soit l'usage d'un bâtiment, chaque étape de la construction est soumise à l'application de normes. Certaines, utilisées par les architectes et les ingénieurs, concernent le gros oeuvre ; en simplifiant leur rôle, elles assurent la solidité et la stabilité de l'immeuble. Si celui-ci est ouvert au public, des aménagements particuliers concernant la sécurité des personnes sont imposés. D'autres comme les prescriptions sur les installations électriques intérieures, précisent la manière de construire une alimentation, le type de matériel utilisable en fonction du courant et de la tension, les sécurités destinées à éviter toute détérioration des circuits et tout risque d'électrocution, etc. Enfin, les prescriptions en matière de protection incendie jouent évidemment un rôle préventif et, dans le domaine judiciaire, servent de références pour qualifier une éventuelle infraction ; elles évitent qu'une source de chaleur installée dans un bâtiment - tel qu'un appareil de chauffage ou des plaques de cuisson - ou susceptible d'apparaître consécutivement à l'usure d'un matériau ou à son vieillissement - disparition d'un isolant thermique, défaut d'étanchéité d'un conduit transportant les gaz chauds de combustion, par exemple - ne communiquent une partie de l'énergie calorifique dégagée à un combustible et ne l'enflamme. Le concept de protection incendie implique d'exposer et de développer les principales notions relatives à l'inflammation d'un matériau, à sa combustion ainsi qu'au transport de l'énergie calorifique. Fréquemment, le milieu dans lequel le générateur de chaleur est installé joue un rôle dans la phase d'allumage de l'incendie. Il est évident que les prescriptions de protection incendie s'appliquent à chaque élément de construction et, par conséquent, doivent être respectées par toute personne participant à la réalisation d'un ouvrage : le chauffagiste, l'électricien, l'installateur sanitaire, le constructeur de cuisine, mais également le maçon qui construit la cheminée, le peintre et le décorateur qui posent des revêtements ou des garnitures inflammables, le menuisier qui utilise le bois pour dissimuler des conduites de fumée, etc. Dès lors, tout sinistre, hormis celui qui est perpétré délibérément, ne peut s'expliquer que par : - le non-respect ou le défaut d'application d'une prescription de protection incendie; - une lacune de la norme qui ignore une source d'échauffement et/ou un mode de transfert de l'énergie calorifique. Le but premier de ce travail consiste à : - analyser les sinistres survenus durant les années 1999 à 2005 dans plusieurs cantons suisses qui ont fait l'objet d'une investigation de la part d'un service technique de la police ou d'un expert ; - examiner les éléments retenus pour expliquer la cause de l'incendie à la norme afin de répondre à la question : « l'application d'une ou de plusieurs directives lors de l'installation ou de l'utilisation du générateur d'énergie calorifique aurait-elle évité à ce dernier de communiquer une partie de la chaleur dégagée à un combustible et à l'enflammer ? » Le second objectif visé est d'apporter une solution à la question précédente : - si la norme existe, c'est un défaut d'installation ou d'utilisation de la source de chaleur qui est à l'origine de l'incendie. Il importe donc de connaître la raison pour laquelle la prescription a été ignorée ou appliquée de manière erronée ou lacunaire; - si la norme n'existe pas, ce sont les prescriptions en matière de protection incendie qui doivent être complétées. Le chapitre suivant abordera ces thèmes en proposant divers postulats destinés à évaluer l'efficacité actuelle du concept de protection incendie en Suisse.

Dynamic application development in Symbian OS

Diplomityössä tutkitaan, kuinka Symbian-sovelluskehitystä voitaisiin tehostaa. Työssä esitellään Symbian-käyttöjärjestelmä, sekä pohditaan haasteita ja rajoitteita joita Symbian sovelluskehityksessä kohdataan. Myöskin jo olemassa olevia kehitystapoja pohditaan työn tavoitteen kannalta. Symbian-sovelluskehityksessä tehdään toistuvasti samoja asioita. Koska Symbian on avoin käyttöjärjestelmä, sovelluskehittäjiä on paljon. Tehokkaamman kehitystavan löytäminen säästäisi paljon resursseja. Tällä hetkellä perinteiset ohjelmointitavat näyttävät olevan suosituin tapa kehittää sovelluksia. Kuitenkin on jo olemassa useita ratkaisuja, jotka pyrkivät tehostamaan sovelluskehitystä, mikä todistaa tarpeen kehittää tehokkuutta. Työssä toteutettu systeemi ajaa Symbian sovelluksia XML-määrityksen pohjalta. Kun käytetään XML-määritystä C++-koodin sijasta, sovelluskehitys muuttuu. Näiden muutosten täytyy kuitenkin olla myönteisiä, eivätkä ne saa haitata ohjelmiston laatua tai käytettävyyttä.

Modélisation d'une ontologie et conceptualisation d'une application sémantique dédiée au e-recrutement dans le domaine des technologies de l'information

Ce mémoire présente les recherches et réflexions entourant la conception d’une application à base d’ontologie dédiée au e-recrutement dans le domaine des services de dotation de personnel en technologies de l’information à l’ère du Web Social. Cette application, nommée Combine, vise essentiellement à optimiser et enrichir la Communication Médiée par Ordinateur (CMO) des acteurs du domaine et utilise des concepts issus du paradigme technologique émergent qu’est le Web sémantique. Encore très peu discuté dans une perspective CMO, le présent mémoire se propose donc d’examiner les enjeux communicationnels relatifs à ce nouveau paradigme. Il présente ses principaux concepts, dont la notion d’ontologie qui implique la modélisation formelle de connaissances, et expose le cas de développement de Combine. Il décrit comment cette application fut développée, de l’analyse des besoins à l’évaluation du prototype par les utilisateurs ciblés, tout en révélant les préoccupations, les contraintes et les opportunités rencontrées en cours de route. Au terme de cet examen, le mémoire tend à évaluer de manière critique le potentiel de Combine à optimiser la CMO du domaine d’activité ciblé. Le mémoire dresse au final un portrait plutôt favorable quant à la perception positive des acteurs du domaine d’utiliser un tel type d’application, et aussi quant aux nets bénéfices en frais d’Interactions Humain-Ordinateur (IHO) qu’elle fait miroiter. Il avertit toutefois d’une certaine exacerbation du problème dit « d’engagement ontologique » à considérer lors de la construction d’ontologies modélisant des objets sociaux tels que ceux dont le monde du recrutement est peuplé.

Identification d’une architecture à base de composants dans une application orientée objets à l’aide d’une analyse dynamique

Un système, décrit avec un grand nombre d'éléments fortement interdépendants, est complexe, difficile à comprendre et à maintenir. Ainsi, une application orientée objet est souvent complexe, car elle contient des centaines de classes avec de nombreuses dépendances plus ou moins explicites. Une même application, utilisant le paradigme composant, contiendrait un plus petit nombre d'éléments, faiblement couplés entre eux et avec des interdépendances clairement définies. Ceci est dû au fait que le paradigme composant fournit une bonne représentation de haut niveau des systèmes complexes. Ainsi, ce paradigme peut être utilisé comme "espace de projection" des systèmes orientés objets. Une telle projection peut faciliter l'étape de compréhension d'un système, un pré-requis nécessaire avant toute activité de maintenance et/ou d'évolution. De plus, il est possible d'utiliser cette représentation, comme un modèle pour effectuer une restructuration complète d'une application orientée objets opérationnelle vers une application équivalente à base de composants tout aussi opérationnelle. Ainsi, La nouvelle application bénéficiant ainsi, de toutes les bonnes propriétés associées au paradigme composants. L'objectif de ma thèse est de proposer une méthode semi-automatique pour identifier une architecture à base de composants dans une application orientée objets. Cette architecture doit, non seulement aider à la compréhension de l'application originale, mais aussi simplifier la projection de cette dernière dans un modèle concret de composant. L'identification d'une architecture à base de composants est réalisée en trois grandes étapes: i) obtention des données nécessaires au processus d'identification. Elles correspondent aux dépendances entre les classes et sont obtenues avec une analyse dynamique de l'application cible. ii) identification des composants. Trois méthodes ont été explorées. La première utilise un treillis de Galois, la seconde deux méta-heuristiques et la dernière une méta-heuristique multi-objective. iii) identification de l'architecture à base de composants de l'application cible. Cela est fait en identifiant les interfaces requises et fournis pour chaque composant. Afin de valider ce processus d'identification, ainsi que les différents choix faits durant son développement, j'ai réalisé différentes études de cas. Enfin, je montre la faisabilité de la projection de l'architecture à base de composants identifiée vers un modèle concret de composants.

Energy-Efficient Cluster based Routing Schemes for Static and Mobile Sensor Networks

The theme of the thesis is centred around one important aspect of wireless sensor networks; the energy-efficiency.The limited energy source of the sensor nodes calls for design of energy-efficient routing protocols. The schemes for protocol design should try to minimize the number of communications among the nodes to save energy. Cluster based techniques were found energy-efficient. In this method clusters are formed and data from different nodes are collected under a cluster head belonging to each clusters and then forwarded it to the base station.Appropriate cluster head selection process and generation of desirable distribution of the clusters can reduce energy consumption of the network and prolong the network lifetime. In this work two such schemes were developed for static wireless sensor networks.In the first scheme, the energy wastage due to cluster rebuilding incorporating all the nodes were addressed. A tree based scheme is presented to alleviate this problem by rebuilding only sub clusters of the network. An analytical model of energy consumption of proposed scheme is developed and the scheme is compared with existing cluster based scheme. The simulation study proved the energy savings observed.The second scheme concentrated to build load-balanced energy efficient clusters to prolong the lifetime of the network. A voting based approach to utilise the neighbor node information in the cluster head selection process is proposed. The number of nodes joining a cluster is restricted to have equal sized optimum clusters. Multi-hop communication among the cluster heads is also introduced to reduce the energy consumption. The simulation study has shown that the scheme results in balanced clusters and the network achieves reduction in energy consumption.The main conclusion from the study was the routing scheme should pay attention on successful data delivery from node to base station in addition to the energy-efficiency. The cluster based protocols are extended from static scenario to mobile scenario by various authors. None of the proposals addresses cluster head election appropriately in view of mobility. An elegant scheme for electing cluster heads is presented to meet the challenge of handling cluster durability when all the nodes in the network are moving. The scheme has been simulated and compared with a similar approach.The proliferation of sensor networks enables users with large set of sensor information to utilise them in various applications. The sensor network programming is inherently difficult due to various reasons. There must be an elegant way to collect the data gathered by sensor networks with out worrying about the underlying structure of the network. The final work presented addresses a way to collect data from a sensor network and present it to the users in a flexible way.A service oriented architecture based application is built and data collection task is presented as a web service. This will enable composition of sensor data from different sensor networks to build interesting applications. The main objective of the thesis was to design energy-efficient routing schemes for both static as well as mobile sensor networks. A progressive approach was followed to achieve this goal.

Aproximación a la optimización en la planeación y gestión en organizaciones públicas bajo la Teoría de Restricciones (TOC) - caso de estudio - CRC

La gestión pública, tradicionalmente percibida como burocrática e ineficiente, tiende a evolucionar hacia modelos basados en la Nueva Gerencia Pública y el Gobierno Electrónico, que propenden por acercar los Estados a los ciudadanos y desarrollar con mayor eficiencia las actividades operativas a su cargo. En forma paralela, la Teoría de Restricciones, primordialmente aplicada a procesos productivos, busca optimizar los mismos para maximizar los resultados de las empresas, disponiendo de metodologías y herramientas de propósito específico. ¿Es posible entonces optimizar la operatividad de una entidad pública a través del uso de la TOC?. Mediante el presente trabajo se busca dar respuesta a este interrogante, a partir de las aproximaciones teóricas pertinentes y de su aplicación al caso particular de la CRC, entidad pública a cargo de la regulación sectorial de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones en Colombia.

From Smart Meters To Smart Decisions: Web-Based Support For The Water Efficient Household

Smart water metering technologies for residential buildings offer, in principle, great opportunities for sustainable urban water management. However, much of this potential is as yet unrealized. Despite that several ICT solutions have already been deployed aiming at optimum operations on the water utilities side (e.g. real time control for water networks, dynamic pump scheduling etc.), little work has been done to date on the consumer side. This paper presents a web-based platform targeting primarily the household end user. The platform enables consumers to monitor, on a real-time basis, the water demand of their household, providing feedback not only on the total water consumption and relevant costs but also on the efficiency (or otherwise) of specific indoor and outdoor uses. Targeting the reduction of consumption, the provided feedback is combined with notifications about possible leakages\bursts, and customised suggestions to improve the efficiency of existing household uses. It also enables various comparisons, with past consumption or even with that of similar households, aiming to motivate further the householder to become an active player in the water efficiency challenge. The issue of enhancing the platform’s functionality with energy timeseries is also discussed in view of recent advances in smart metering and the concept of “smart cities”. The paper presents a prototype of this web-based application and critically discusses first testing results and insights. It also presents the way in which the platform communicates with central databases, at the water utility level. It is suggested that such developments are closing the gap between technology availability and usefulness to end users and could help both the uptake of smart metering and awareness raising leading, potentially, to significant reductions of urban water consumption. The work has received funding from the European Union FP7 Programme through the iWIDGET Project, under grant agreement no318272.

Identidade territorial em unidades de conservação : ponto de apoio para uma análise epistemológica da questão ambiental

Esta dissertação de mestrado consiste em um estudo epistemológico da questão ambiental, baseado na análise das identidades territoriais das populações habitantes de Unidades de Conservação (UC’s). Tais populações geralmente têm um modo de vida peculiar e muito vinculado com o espaço onde vivem. Além disso, elas também têm outras percepções sobre a questão ambiental e os conceitos relacionados. Estas percepções, entretanto, geralmente são subjugadas em nome da tecnocracia presente nos órgãos e instituições que trabalham com a temática ambiental. Neste contexto, o trabalho realiza um levantamento dos impasses e conflitos existentes a partir das considerações acima expostas, e os relaciona com as visões, sobre a questão ambiental, dos diferentes grupos sociais envolvidos (poder público, setor privado, ONG´s, movimentos sociais e populações tradicionais). A esta análise acrescenta uma (re)leitura dos métodos científicos à luz da epistemologia (positivismo, neopositivismo, materialismo histórico e dialético, fenomenologia, pós-modernismo e anarquismo), e o modo como cada um deles entende os conceitos de natureza e ambiente. Após, relaciona estas concepções metodológicas com as visões dos diferentes grupos, identificando a posição mais ligada a cada um deles. Com isso, as UC’s são questionadas a partir de sua base epistêmica, que reflete a matriz de pensamento ocidental moderno, e que por sua vez tende a dicotomizar homem e natureza. Ao final, são propostas outras leituras, baseadas em outras matrizes epistemológicas, para superar os impasses relativos a este viés da questão ambiental.

Ética na pesquisa em Administração

Ethics on scientific research is approached and often discussed in several areas of knowledge connected to health. In the Administration area there are very few studies which approach the topic of ethics on research. The present paper tried to fill in this gap in the production of knowledge about the topic, investigating how the ethical principles found in the literature and in the codes of conduct are noticed and taken into account in Administration research activities developed by acting researchers in Administration Post Graduation Programs. Theoretically speaking, the study was based mainly on the approaches by Creswell (2007) and Bell and Bryman (2007), which discuss the research ethical principles. Methodologically speaking it was all about an exploratory kind of study, with qualitative research approach. Upon data collection, personal interviews were made aiming at its depth and focus groups were formed. The first stage had interviews with four experienced researchers who took part on a teaching and researching event and on the second stage we used the focus group technique. The focus groups were done in four college institutions along with the post graduation programs in Administration in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Pernambuco, in Brazil. The results suggest the existence of general principles and parameters for the scientific research recommended in the literature and on official resolution. However, in the Administration area, there are only a few recommendations of good practices when it comes to submitting articles for scientific publications but we found no guidance with ethical principles and parameters which cover all the activities in the scientific research and which specifically meet the research particularities in Administration. The main ethical dilemma pointed by the researchers refers to ethical questions which arise at the time of data collection and on disclosing the results. Most researchers do not know the guidelines and the ethical norms on ethics about research that we have in our country neither do they send in their projects to the research ethics committee. When dilemma arises, they decide the ethical question based on their values and common sense. These elements confirm the thesis that the researcher s procedure in the research activities in Administration is predominantly signed by personal values or by common sense and less by ethical principles, whether by not knowing the normative instruments related to ethics or by disagreeing with any disciplining rules on ethical behavior in the research

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS of MESSAGE EXCHANGES INTO WEB SERVICE-BASED APPLICATIONS

Web service-based application is an architectural style, where a collection of Web services communicate to each other to execute processes. With the popularity increase of Web service-based applications and since messages exchanged inside of this applications can be complex, we need tools to simplify the understanding of interrelationship among Web services. This work present a description of a graphical representation of Web service-based applications and the mechanisms inserted among Web service requesters and providers to catch information to represent an application. The major contribution of this paper is to discus and use HTTP and SOAP information to show a graphical representation similar to a UML sequence diagram of Web service-based applications.

A self-healing architecture for Web service-based applications

Web service-based application is an architectural style, where a collection of Web services communicates to each other to execute processes. With the popularity increase of developing Web service-based application and once Web services may change, in terms of functional and non-functional Quality of Service (QoS), we need mechanisms to monitor, diagnose, and repair Web services into a Web Application. This work presents a description of self-healing architecture that deals with these mechanisms. Other contributions of this paper are using the proxy server to measure Web service QoS values and to employ some strategies to recovery the effects from misbehaved Web services. © 2008 IEEE.

Informação e abdução no processo de descoberta científica

Pós-graduação em Filosofia - FFC

Are there sex differences in reaction to different types of sexual infidelity?

Evolutionary theory based research shows that women and men can differ in their responses to sexual and emotional infidelity. However, research has not examined the question of whether men and women react similarly or differently to a partner’s engagement in different types of sexual infidelity. The present research sought to answer this question. Based on the aforementioned prior research, and short term mating desires, sex differences in reactions to different types of sexual infidelity were not expected. Both women and men were expected to report higher levels of upset when a partner engaged in sexual intercourse rather than when a partner engaged in oral sex, heavy petting, or kissing with another person. The results were consistent with the hypothesis. Both men and women were most upset by a partner’s engagement in sexual intercourse with another person. These findings are discussed in terms of prior research.

3D Face Reconstruction from 2D Pictures: First Results of a Web-Based Computer Aided System for Aesthetic Procedures

The human face is a vital component of our identity and many people undergo medical aesthetics procedures in order to achieve an ideal or desired look. However, communication between physician and patient is fundamental to understand the patient’s wishes and to achieve the desired results. To date, most plastic surgeons rely on either “free hand” 2D drawings on picture printouts or computerized picture morphing. Alternatively, hardware dependent solutions allow facial shapes to be created and planned in 3D, but they are usually expensive or complex to handle. To offer a simple and hardware independent solution, we propose a web-based application that uses 3 standard 2D pictures to create a 3D representation of the patient’s face on which facial aesthetic procedures such as filling, skin clearing or rejuvenation, and rhinoplasty are planned in 3D. The proposed application couples a set of well-established methods together in a novel manner to optimize 3D reconstructions for clinical use. Face reconstructions performed with the application were evaluated by two plastic surgeons and also compared to ground truth data. Results showed the application can provide accurate 3D face representations to be used in clinics (within an average of 2 mm error) in less than 5 min.

Voting Power and Probability

Voting power is commonly measured using a probability. But what kind of probability is this? Is it a degree of belief or an objective chance or some other sort of probability? The aim of this paper is to answer this question. The answer depends on the use to which a measure of voting power is put. Some objectivist interpretations of probabilities are appropriate when we employ such a measure for descriptive purposes. By contrast, when voting power is used to normatively assess voting rules, the probabilities are best understood as classical probabilities, which count possibilities. This is so because, from a normative stance, voting power is most plausibly taken to concern rights and thus possibilities. The classical interpretation also underwrites the use of the Bernoulli model upon which the Penrose/Banzhaf measure is based.