Mixed-frequency testing of induction machines using inverters

This work has concentrated on the testing of induction machines to determine their temperature rise at full-load without mechanically coupling to a load machine. The achievements of this work are outlined as follows. 1. Four distinct categories of mixed-frequency test using an inverter have been identified by the author. The simulation results of these tests as well as the conventional 2-supply test have been analysed in detail. 2. Experimental work on mixed-frequency tests has been done on a small (4 kW) squirrel cage induction machine using a voltage source PWM inverter. Two out of the four categories of test suggested have been tested and the temperature rise results were found to be similar to the results of a direct loading test. Further, one of the categories of test proposed has been performed on a 3.3 kW slip-ring induction machine for the conformation of the rotor values. 3. A low current supply mixed-frequency test-rig has been proposed. For this purpose, a resonant bank was connected to the DC link of the inverter in order to maintain the exchange of power between the test machine and the resonant bank instead of between the main supply and the test machine. The resonant bank was then replaced with a special electro-mechanical energy storage unit. The current of the main power supply was then reduced in amplitude. 4. A variable inertia test for full load temperature rise testing of induction machines has been introduced. This test is purely mechanical in nature and does not require any electrical connection of the test machine to any other machine. It has the advantage of drawing very little net power from the supply.

Étude des relations entre le développement professionnel des enseignants du postsecondaire et leur bien-être psychologique au travail

Réalisé en milieu collégial (cégep)

Advances in Dynamic Modeling and Computation for Count Data

A class of multi-process models is developed for collections of time indexed count data. Autocorrelation in counts is achieved with dynamic models for the natural parameter of the binomial distribution. In addition to modeling binomial time series, the framework includes dynamic models for multinomial and Poisson time series. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and Po ́lya-Gamma data augmentation (Polson et al., 2013) are critical for fitting multi-process models of counts. To facilitate computation when the counts are high, a Gaussian approximation to the P ́olya- Gamma random variable is developed.

Three applied analyses are presented to explore the utility and versatility of the framework. The first analysis develops a model for complex dynamic behavior of themes in collections of text documents. Documents are modeled as a “bag of words”, and the multinomial distribution is used to characterize uncertainty in the vocabulary terms appearing in each document. State-space models for the natural parameters of the multinomial distribution induce autocorrelation in themes and their proportional representation in the corpus over time.

The second analysis develops a dynamic mixed membership model for Poisson counts. The model is applied to a collection of time series which record neuron level firing patterns in rhesus monkeys. The monkey is exposed to two sounds simultaneously, and Gaussian processes are used to smoothly model the time-varying rate at which the neuron’s firing pattern fluctuates between features associated with each sound in isolation.

The third analysis presents a switching dynamic generalized linear model for the time-varying home run totals of professional baseball players. The model endows each player with an age specific latent natural ability class and a performance enhancing drug (PED) use indicator. As players age, they randomly transition through a sequence of ability classes in a manner consistent with traditional aging patterns. When the performance of the player significantly deviates from the expected aging pattern, he is identified as a player whose performance is consistent with PED use.

All three models provide a mechanism for sharing information across related series locally in time. The models are fit with variations on the P ́olya-Gamma Gibbs sampler, MCMC convergence diagnostics are developed, and reproducible inference is emphasized throughout the dissertation.

Wear and its effects on dental topography measures in howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata).

OBJECTIVES: Three dental topography measurements: Dirichlet Normal Energy (DNE), Relief Index (RFI), and Orientation Patch Count Rotated (OPCR) are examined for their interaction with measures of wear, within and between upper and lower molars in Alouatta palliata. Potential inferences of the "dental sculpting" phenomenon are explored. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen occluding pairs of howling monkey first molars (15 upper, 15 lower) opportunistically collected from La Pacifica, Costa Rica, were selected to sample wear stages ranging from unworn to heavily worn as measured by the Dentine Exposure Ratio (DER). DNE, RFI, and OPCR were measured from three-dimensional surface reconstructions (PLY files) derived from high-resolution CT scans. Relationships among the variables were tested with regression analyses. RESULTS: Upper molars have more cutting edges, exhibiting significantly higher DNE, but have significantly lower RFI values. However, the relationships among the measures are concordant across both sets of molars. DER and EDJL are curvilinearly related. DER is positively correlated with DNE, negatively correlated with RFI, and uncorrelated with OPCR. EDJL is not correlated with DNE, or RFI, but is positively correlated with OPCR among lower molars only. DISCUSSION: The relationships among these metrics suggest that howling monkey teeth adaptively engage macrowear. DNE increases with wear in this sample presumably improving food breakdown. RFI is initially high but declines with wear, suggesting that the initially high RFI safeguards against dental senescence. OPCR values in howling monkey teeth do not show a clear relationship with wear changes.

Frederick Douglass and Ireland, 1845: The "Vertiginous Twist[s]" of an Irish Encounter

Frederick Douglas was a reader of and writer on the nineteenth-century political and social texts and contexts of oppression, which he experienced at home and witnesed while in Ireland and Britain, 1845-47. This thesis is unique in its identification of several surprising lacunae in the research and critical evaluation of Frederick Douglass’ activities of reading and writing and the texts and contexts that supported these activities. This thesis takes Douglass’ relationship with Ireland and the Irish as its starting point, and offers several moments in the transnational space engendered by Douglass’ readerly and writerly experience of the transatlantic axes of Ireland, Britain and America. This thesis draws upon archival research to recover information regarding Douglass’ trip and subjects his reading and writing on Ireland and the Irish to the critical rigours of narratolgical, cultural and discourse analysis. One lacuna is Douglass’ favourite and neglected school primer, the Columbian Orator, which Douglass signified upon across his autobiographical project. The speech by the Irish patriot and exile, Arthur O’Connor, included in the Orator, is crucial to Douglass’ understanding and expression of justice and equality. Genette’s narratological analysis gives theoretical traction to the ways in which, in his autobiographical representations of his British trip, Douglass recalibrates his autobiographies to reflect his changing perspectives on his life and work. Contrary to popular assumptions, Douglass did, in two letters to Garrison address and comment on Irish poverty. This thesis interrogates the strategic anglophilia of these letters. While the World’s Temperance Convention (WTC) refused to discuss African- American slavery, analysis of Douglass’ speech in Covent Garden and of the paratextual apparatus of the published proceedings of the WTC demonstrates the impossibility of separating these closely interrelated reform causes. When a newly discovered poem from Waterford that admonished the city for its disregard for Douglass’ message is juxtaposed with an uncomfortable moment in Cork, we understand that Douglass became a pawn to bolster sectarian rivalries between nationalist and establishment factions. Though Douglass believed imperial politics was the best vehicle for modernity, he recognised that it had failed Ireland: consequently, in Thoughts and Recollections of a Trip to Ireland (1886), he advocates for Home Rule for Ireland.

Étude des relations entre le développement professionnel des enseignants du postsecondaire et leur bien-être psychologique au travail

Réalisé en milieu collégial (cégep)

Difusión teatral del transformismo: El caso de "Les deux Jockos", 1825

Durante el siglo XIX el transformismo irrumpe en el panorama científico, una irrupción cuyas implicaciones filosóficas y sociales se traducen, entre otros, en obras teatrales en las que la temática refleja la difusión de estas nuevas ideas. Les deux Jockos, de 1825, ejemplifica ese grupo de representaciones que ponen en escena el debate transformista en una sociedad todavía dominada por los preceptos fijistas defendidos desde las instituciones y las élites sociales de la época. Así pues, el análisis de la obra permitirá desvelar aquellos elementos relacionados con el nuevo paradigma de naturaleza propuesto, al tiempo que evidencia la capacidad de influencia de la realidad histórica, social y cultural sobre el género teatral.

Restoring function after neuromuscular trauma: novel paradigms for enhancing volitional control of neural activity in untethered environments and vHAB, a gamified therapy platform

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

PRONTUÁRIO ELETRÔNICO DO PACIENTE: Percepção de aceitação e facilidade de uso de profissionais da área da saúde

Esta pesquisa faz parte dos requisitos do Mestrado Profissional em Sistemas de Informação e Gestão do Conhecimento e tem como tema central aceitação de tecnologia e prontuário eletrônico de paciente (PEP). Diversas inovações tecnológicas foram incorporadas no setor de saúde e, em especial, no controle e gestão de informações e ainda quanto à gestão do histórico do paciente. A partir deste cenário, buscou-se contribuir na descrição e análise das variáveis percebidas como geradoras de utilidade e facilidade de uso da tecnologia de prontuário eletrônico a partir do modelo de aceitação de tecnologia. Buscando atender as premissas propostas pelo modelo TAM, no contexto específico de gestão hospitalar, surge o problema de pesquisa: Como usuários de prontuário eletrônico de paciente percebem a utilidade e facilidade desta tecnologia em seu cotidiano? Pretendeu-se desenvolver estudo descritivo onde o objetivo principal foi descrever e analisar as variáveis que influenciam na percepção da utilidade e facilidade de uso de prontuário eletrônico de pacientes sob o ponto de vista dos profissionais da área da saúde da região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. Especificamente, pretendeu-se: descrever a percepção de utilidade; descrever a percepção de facilidade de uso, e; analisar o perfil dos respondentes envolvidos com a tecnologia. Optou-se por utilizar o questionário original proposto por Davis Jr. (1989), somente sendo traduzido e contextualizado ao ambiente da pesquisa. O questionário adotado foi disponibilizado por meio da ferramenta Survey Monkey ® e os respondentes foram profissionais que atuam na área da saúde, sendo o critério de escolha dos mesmos, por meio da técnica de snow ball, a acessibilidade e disponibilidade. A partir das respostas dos profissionais pode-se perceber que a grande maioria relatou utilidade percebida com o uso da tecnologia, sendo que alguns profissionais indicaram que ocorre ainda algumas dificuldades de uso. Os resultados e discussões gerados nesta pesquisa, apesar das limitações, indicam a importância de novos estudos que envolvam a saúde e a importância da tecnologia para a sociedade.

How task format affects cognitive performance: a memory test with two species of New World monkeys

In cognitive tests, animals are often given a choice between two options and obtain a reward if they choose correctly. We investigated whether task format affects subjects' performance in a physical cognition test. In experiment 1, a two-choice memory test, 15 marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, had to remember the location of a food reward over time delays of increasing duration. We predicted that their performance would decline with increasing delay, but this was not found. One possible explanation was that the subjects were not sufficiently motivated to choose correctly when presented with only two options because in each trial they had a 50% chance of being rewarded. In experiment 2, we explored this possibility by testing eight naïve marmosets and seven squirrel monkeys, Saimiri sciureus, with both the traditional two-choice and a new nine-choice version of the memory test that increased the cost of a wrong choice. We found that task format affected the monkeys' performance. When choosing between nine options, both species performed better and their performance declined as delays became longer. Our results suggest that the two-choice format compromises the assessment of physical cognition, at least in memory tests with these New World monkeys, whereas providing more options, which decreases the probability of obtaining a reward when making a random guess, improves both performance and measurement validity of memory. Our findings suggest that two-choice tasks should be used with caution in comparisons within and across species because they are prone to motivational biases.

Avaliação do potencial cancerigénico de microcistinas (cianotoxinas)

Tese de doutoramento em Farmácia (Toxicologia), apresentada à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, 2009.

Lien entre l'efficacité de la consultation organisationnelle et la relation client-consultant selon la perspective du client

Depuis quelques décennies, la consultation en contexte organisationnel constitue une pratique professionnelle importante. L’efficacité de la consultation est l’un des enjeux de la pratique tant pour les clients que pour les consultants. Certains auteurs ont développé des modèles pour comprendre le processus de consultation et ses composantes. La documentation sur l’efficacité de la consultation fait ressortir la contribution de la relation client-consultant comme facteur explicatif. Toutefois, peu d’études se sont penchées sur le lien statistique entre la relation client-consultant et l’efficacité de la consultation comme pratique globale. Cette recherche s’intéresse à la relation client-consultant telle qu’exprimée par ses activités (variable indépendante) et à leurs portées sur l’efficacité de la consultation organisationnelle (variable dépendante) telle qu’évaluée par des clients. Les bases théoriques et empiriques en contextes clinique et organisationnel portent à croire qu’il existe une relation positive significative entre ces deux variables. Ainsi, pour cette étude, une hypothèse est posée : les activités de la relation client-consultant sont en relation de façon positive avec l’efficacité de la consultation telle qu’évaluée par le client. Cette étude a été menée auprès de 88 clients. Les données utilisées pour cette étude ont été recueillies en un seul temps de mesure avec deux instruments combinés dans le questionnaire CERCC-CL édité sur Internet, via Survey Monkey, et crypté pour assurer la sécurité et la confidentialité des données. Les résultats révèlent que la relation se décline en quatre dimensions : 1) entente professionnelle; 2) réciprocité; 3) soutien du consultant et 4) compatibilité personnelle. L’hypothèse est en grande partie corroborée; trois dimensions de la relation, soit (1) entente professionnelle, (2) réciprocité et (4) compatibilité personnelle, influencent la qualité d’une démarche de consultation, l’un des deux critères de l’efficacité et l’efficacité de la consultation dans sa globalité. La compatibilité personnelle (4) influence les résultats à valeur ajoutée, le second critère de l’efficacité. Le score global de la relation client-consultant permet de prédire de façon significative les deux facteurs d’efficacité de la consultation et l’efficacité globale. L’ensemble de ces résultats apporte un premier éclairage sur la contribution potentielle de deux nouveaux questionnaires permettant au client et au consultant de s’évaluer en cours de processus ou à la fin de celui-ci. Les résultats contribuent surtout à la considération et à une meilleure compréhension de l’importance de la relation client-consultant pour expliquer l’efficacité d’une intervention. La relation client-consultant selon la perspective du client, principal acteur à satisfaire, favorise une vision positive du mandat. Pour le consultant, cette étude fait valoir l’importance de miser et de parfaire ses habiletés relationnelles indépendamment de son domaine d’expertise s’il veut être efficace dans sa pratique de la consultation.

Ecological drivers of a vector borne pathogen: distribution and abundance of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and its vector Ixodes ricinus in Scotland

Vector-borne disease emergence in recent decades has been associated with different environmental drivers including changes in habitat, hosts and climate. Lyme borreliosis is among the most important vector-borne diseases in the Northern hemisphere and is an emerging disease in Scotland. Transmitted by Ixodid tick vectors between large numbers of wild vertebrate host species, Lyme borreliosis is caused by bacteria from the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species group. Ecological studies can inform how environmental factors such as host abundance and community composition, habitat and landscape heterogeneity contribute to spatial and temporal variation in risk from B. burgdorferi s.l. In this thesis a range of approaches were used to investigate the effects of vertebrate host communities and individual host species as drivers of B. burgdorferi s.l. dynamics and its tick vector Ixodes ricinus. Host species differ in reservoir competence for B. burgdorferi s.l. and as hosts for ticks. Deer are incompetent transmission hosts for B. burgdorferi s.l. but are significant hosts of all life-stages of I. ricinus. Rodents and birds are important transmission hosts of B. burgdorferi s.l. and common hosts of immature life-stages of I. ricinus. In this thesis, surveys of woodland sites revealed variable effects of deer density on B. burgdorferi prevalence, from no effect (Chapter 2) to a possible ‘dilution’ effect resulting in lower prevalence at higher deer densities (Chapter 3). An invasive species in Scotland, the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), was found to host diverse genotypes of B. burgdorferi s.l. and may act as a spill-over host for strains maintained by native host species (Chapter 4). Habitat fragmentation may alter the dynamics of B. burgdorferi s.l. via effects on the host community and host movements. In this thesis, there was lack of persistence of the rodent associated genospecies of B. burgdorferi s.l. within a naturally fragmented landscape (Chapter 3). Rodent host biology, particularly population cycles and dispersal ability are likely to affect pathogen persistence and recolonization in fragmented habitats. Heterogeneity in disease dynamics can occur spatially and temporally due to differences in the host community, habitat and climatic factors. Higher numbers of I. ricinus nymphs, and a higher probability of detecting a nymph infected with B. burgdorferi s.l., were found in areas with warmer climates estimated by growing degree days (Chapter 2). The ground vegetation type associated with the highest number of I. ricinus nymphs varied between studies in this thesis (Chapter 2 & 3) and does not appear to be a reliable predictor across large areas. B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence and genospecies composition was highly variable for the same sites sampled in subsequent years (Chapter 2). This suggests that dynamic variables such as reservoir host densities and deer should be measured as well as more static habitat and climatic factors to understand the drivers of B. burgdorferi s.l. infection in ticks. Heterogeneity in parasite loads amongst hosts is a common finding which has implications for disease ecology and management. Using a 17-year data set for tick infestations in a wild bird community in Scotland, different effects of age and sex on tick burdens were found among four species of passerine bird (Chapter 5). There were also different rates of decline in tick burdens among bird species in response to a long term decrease in questing tick pressure over the study. Species specific patterns may be driven by differences in behaviour and immunity and highlight the importance of comparative approaches. Combining whole genome sequencing (WGS) and population genetics approaches offers a novel approach to identify ecological drivers of pathogen populations. An initial analysis of WGS from B. burgdorferi s.s. isolates sampled 16 years apart suggests that there is a signal of measurable evolution (Chapter 6). This suggests demographic analyses may be applied to understand ecological and evolutionary processes of these bacteria. This work shows how host communities, habitat and climatic factors can affect the local transmission dynamics of B. burgdorferi s.l. and the potential risk of infection to humans. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in pathogen dynamics poses challenges for the prediction of risk. New tools such as WGS of the pathogen (Chapter 6) and blood meal analysis techniques will add power to future studies on the ecology and evolution of B. burgdorferi s.l.

A crítica às mulheres no fr. 7 de Semónides de Amorgos

O poema de Semónides de Amorgos sobre as mulheres (Fr. 7 West) é o mais extenso fragmento preservado da poesia iâmbica grega da época arcaica. Nele o poeta apresenta uma reflexão pessimista de cariz misógino sobre o carácter feminino, numa narrativa original que cataloga dez tipos de mulher, oito baseadas em modelos animais (a porca, a raposa, a cadela, a burra, a doninha, a égua, a macaca e a abelha) e dois em elementos da natureza (a terra e o mar). Pretende-se demonstrar, neste estudo, que essa caracterização tipológica era inovadora e respondia a uma dupla finalidade: satírica e humorística. Uma vez que o poema se destinaria a um contexto simpótico, um espaço tipicamente masculino, a mulher e a sua natureza constituiriam uma temática que levaria o homem a reflectir, de um modo simultaneamente sério e divertido, sobre a sua própria condição.

Fault Line

FAULT LINE examines the fragile humanity connected to the themes of sexuality, violence, addiction, family dynamics, and death. The book is not broken into sections; rather, as poems build upon one another to explore a narrative arc, FAULT LINE tracks a single speaker’s experience from girlhood to the verge of independent womanhood. The speaker employs formal structures such as the prose poem, sestina, and particularly the list poem to examine the fluidity of inner experience and also the culture at large while challenging the narrow definitions of femininity and masculinity. FAULT LINE works to not only address the question of blame but also the literal breaks in lines of poetry. By looking at a single speaker’s struggle, the book, like life, is both humorous and horrifying.