Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Bcc Co'

Magnetický tunelový spoj (MTJ) je spintronická součástka komerčně používaná ve vysoce citlivých čtecích hlavách pevných disků. Počínaje rokem 2007 přispěla k udržení exponenciálního nárůstu hustoty magnetického zápisu. Kromě toho se také stala stavebním kamenem rychlé, odolné, úsporné a nevolatilní magnetické paměti s přímým přístupem (MRAM). Tento nový typ polovodičové paměti, stejně jako je tomu u čtecích hlav disků, využívá tunelové spoje založené na krystalickém oxidu hořečnatém (MgO) spolu s 3d kovovými magnetickými prvky (Fe a Co). Pro zmenšení MTJ a současné udržení dlouhodobé stability paměti proti tepelným fluktuacím je zapotřebí silná magnetická anizotropie ve směru kolmém na rozhraní kov|MgO. V této práci proto nejdříve provedeme analýzu magnetokrystalické anizotropie (MCA) kubického prostorově centrovaného Fe, Co a Ni na MgO pomocí ab initio simulací. Dále bude vyvinut program pro výpočet tvarové anizotropie, která je kromě MCA velmi podstatná, neboť v součtu dávají efektivní anizotropii. Na závěr implementujeme program pro výpočet MCA na základě poruchové teorie druhého řádu. To nám umožní dát pozorované anizotropní vlastnosti do souvislosti přímo s elektronickou strukturou systému (pásovou strukturou a hustotou stavů).

Problem: In today’s business markets companies are faced with new challenges occurring from globalization, new technologies, deregulation, blurring borders between industries, and outsourcing which change the competitive environment in the market. To deal with these challenges organizations are forced to look for new and innovative ways to differentiate themselves from competitors and to satisfy customers’ demands for more customized products and services. Additionally, nowadays customers strive for fulfilling their needs by being more active. Value co-creation, the collaboration between companies and customers, is as a solution of current interest to cope with these challenges. Due to the close linkage between retailers and customers, value co-creation is of high interest for this part of the SC. Hence, this thesis focuses on the retailer-customer context and co-creation in terms of co-designing of bikes. Purpose: The purpose of this Master of Science thesis is to investigate how and why retailers and customers co-create value. Therefore, retailers’ and customers’ potential motivators, the interaction between them and the actors’ potential outcomes are explored. Method: This thesis conducts an exploratory and qualitative investigation of three case companies; Bike by Me, myownbike, and 718 Cyclery. The empirical material is gathered from interviews with the CEOs of the three companies, the retailers’ customers, and potential customers. The findings have been analyzed using a framework developed based on existing literature, stated in the frame of reference, which is improved by this thesis’ findings. Conclusions: Customers and retailers co-create value due to different potential motivators and outcomes. Retailers are motivated by aspects such as increases in competitive advantage, differentiation, customer loyalty, and better understanding of new needs. Customers’ motivators are amongst others the product itself, individuality, and enjoyment. As retailers’ outcomes increased efficiency and effectiveness, new customer acquisition, and the establishment of long-term relationships are identified. Customers’ outcomes are high customer satisfaction, new knowledge, convenience, and financial aspects. Actions between retailers and customers in value co-creation are identified through a learning phase and an innovation phase. The retailer participates through providing information, the platform for co-creation, and suggestions and assistance. The customers collaborate in terms of designing the product, expression of desires and experiences, feedback, and WOM in interaction with other customers.

In this thesis, I seek to understand what shaped the development of television, tracing the technology back to its earliest roots. In existing literature, the history of television in its formative years (before World War II), has largely been presented in technologically deterministic terms, culminating in the ‘goal’ of adding ‘sight to sound’ – producing a wireless set with pictures. Most of the existing literature focuses on ‘hero’ figures such as British inventor John Logie Baird and his electro-mechanical television systems, or on corporate narratives such as that of RCA in the United States in developing all-electronic television. In contrast to such an approach, I will concentrate on the transnational networks linking individuals and companies, and on the common external factors affecting all of them. Some networks could operate simultaneously as rivals and collaborators, as was the case with companies such as Marconi-EMI in Britain and RCA in the United States. Senior managers and researchers such as Isaac Shoenberg at Marconi-EMI and Vladimir Zworykin at RCA played significant roles, but so too did relatively obscure figures such as Russian scientist Boris Rosing and British engineer Alan A Campbell Swinton. I will draw on newly available sources from Russia and the USSR, on over-looked sources in Britain and the United States, and on replicative technology to re-examine the story. The new material, coupled with the transnational networks approach, enables fresh insights to be gained on issues of simultaneity of invention and on contingency in the development and initial deployments of the technology. By using these fresh primary sources, and by re-interpreting some aspects of the numerous existing secondary sources, I will show that the ‘wireless with pictures’ model was not inevitable, that electro-mechanical television need not have been a technical cul-de-sac, and that in Britain at least, it was the political desire to maintain and extend the monopoly of the BBC, which effectively funnelled the technology into the model so familiar to us today.

Les Interfaces Cerveau Ordinateur Actives (ICOs) permettent à une personne d'exercer un contrôle direct et volontaire sur un système informatique par interprétation de son activité cérébrale : certains signaux du cerveau sont capturés afin que le système reconnaisse des actions imaginées spécifiques (mouvements, images, concepts). Les ICOs actives et leurs utilisateurs doivent être entrainés. Cet entraînement rend les signaux plus aisés à reconnaître par le système.Cependant, à l'heure actuelle les ICO servent principalement dans un contexte médical pour aider les personnes en situation de handicap (moteur, ou empêchant complètement la communication avec le monde extérieur) et se trouvent rarement en dehors de laboratoires spécialisés.Les ICO ont de nombreuses limitations :• La variabilité dans les signaux: les signaux sont différents d'une personne à l'autre voire même chez un même individu à des moments différents.• Des sessions d'entraînement longues et répétitives: entre dix minutes et deux mois, sont ennuyantes et désengagent les utilisateurs du processus d'apprentissage.• Un feedback limité: les systèmes actuels proposent un feedback unimodal élémentaire qui est inadapté pour les nombreux utilisateurs. la communication est unidirectionnelle dans le sens où le système donne des instructions que l'utilisateur doit exécuter.L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer des solutions aux problèmes sus décrits afin d'obtenir une architecture consistante qui rendra les ICO plus compatibles avec les applications d'IHM. L'idée principale est l'implantation du co-apprentissage dans la boucle ICO et l'exploration de la manière dont les utilisateurs et le système peuvent mutuellement se donner du feedback dans le but de l'amélioration de l'utilisabilité des ICO.Cette thèse se structure autour de trois innovations portant sur la boucle ICO :• Une architecture générale basée sur les principes des ICO asynchrones et sur l'entraînement incrémental combinés avec une séparation aveugle des sources et un classifieur à distance minimum. Nous évaluerons l'architecture sur une tache de pilotage de drone au long d'un mois et concluons qu'elle est en adéquation avec les besoins d'une utilisation quotidienne ludique.• Une modalité de visualisation plus intuitive pour les résultats de classification ainsi que pour les caractéristiques de distance sur la base d'une projection en coordonnées de Wachspress pour un nombre arbitraire de classes. Nous combinons la visualisation avec un feedback direct des utilisateurs leur permettant d'interactivement changer la marge de classification, le type de distance où encore de trier et de gérer les signaux d'entraînement en temps réel. Nous évaluons cette contribution sur un jeu de tir simple et découvrons qu'il y a une bonne synergie entre la modalité de visualisation et le feedback direct des utilisateurs et qu'une telle combinaison est bien plus agréable à utiliser qu'un entraînement d'ICO standard.• Enfin, nous développons une ICO fonctionnelle à base d'imagerie conceptuelle à l'aide de notre architecture ainsi que de nos systèmes de visualisation et de feedback, ce qui permet une interaction plus agréable au travers de l'imagination de catégories sémantiques et de concepts. Nous démontrons que ce type d'ICO détecte plus aisément les catégories sémantiques éloignées plutôt que les catégories sémantiques proches. Pour terminer, nous créons un nouveau protocole d'entraînement implicite pour les ICO à base d'Imagerie Conceptuelle basé sur l'amorçage sémantique et conceptuel, ce qui permet d'intégrer l'entraînement dans le scénario et l'environnement d'une jeu vidéo sans que l'utilisateur n'en soit conscient. Notre protocole mène à une meilleure immersion et à meilleur sentiment de flot vis à vis du jeu
Active Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) allow people to exert direct voluntary control over a computer system: their brain signals are captured and the system recognizes specific imagined actions (movements, images, concepts). Active BCIs and their users must undergo training. This makes the signals easier to recognize by the system. This acquisition can take from 10 minutes up to 2 months. BCIs can thus be applied to many control and interaction scenarios of our everyday lives, especially in relation to entertainment (Wolpaw et al., 2002).BCIs are mostly used by disabled people in a medical setting and seldom leave the lab. First of all, high-grade equipment is expensive and non-portable. Although there are commercial ventures proposing BCI acquisition equipment to the general public, the quality is still insufficient to build accurate and robust BCIs.BCIs also suffer from numerous limitations:• Variability of the signals: signals different across people or within the same individual at different times.• Long and repetitive training sessions: between 10 minutes up to several months, disengage and bore users.• Limited feedback: simple unimodal feedback ill adapted for many users. Feedback is unidirectional and the user just has to follow instructions.All these issues limit the adoption of BCI, the lack of widespread commercial success and the use of BCI from human computer interaction applications.The objective of the thesis is to propose solutions to the above problems so as to obtain a consistent architecture that will allow BCIs to be better suitable to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) applications. The idea is to implement co-learning in the BCI loop and to explore how users and system can give feedback to each other in order to improve BCI usability.This thesis is structured around three innovations surrounding the BCI loop:• A general architecture based on asynchronous BCI principles and on incremental training combined with an unsupervised blind-source separation filter and a minimum distance classifier. This architecture allows producing BCIs with minimal training session. We evaluate the architecture on a drone piloting task over a month and find that it is suitable for use in daily recreational applications.• A more intuitive visualization modality for classification outcomes and distance features using Wachspress coordinate projection for an arbitrary number of classes. We combine the visualization with direct feedback mechanism where users can interactively change the classification margin, change the types of features as well as edit the training trials in real-time. We evaluate our contribution on a simple shooter game and find there is a good synergy between our visualization modality and direct user feedback and that the combination is much more enjoyable to users than a standard BCI training.• Finally we develop an operational Conceptual Imagery BCI based on our architecture, visualization and feedback system that allow for more natural interactions through the imagination of sematic categories and concepts. We show that this type of BCI is more effective at detecting distinct semantic categories rather than close ones. Then, we build on this conceptual BCI to propose a smart home control system for healthy and disabled users. Finally we invent a new seamless training protocol for Conceptual Imagery that uses conceptual and semantic priming in order to integrate the training in the narrative and environment of the game without the realization of the user. Our technique leads to better flow and immersion of users in the game. We believe this training protocol can be extended to many tasks outside of games or even of Conceptual Imagery

In today's business, organizations are working with external stakeholders to develop a better product. Customers are one such stakeholder with whom organizations collaborate to develop a product fulfilling their needs. This process of Co-Creation facilitates organizations to get closer to their customers. Also in the study made in the year 2016 for the 19th annual global CEO survey, 90% of the CEOs have claimed Customers to be their main priorities. Further in the literature has also debated the process of customer co-creation being complex and studies have been made to understand the Ups and Downs of the process. Problem Background: Based on the opportunity in the field of Co-Creation growing rapidly and literature arguing on both Success and failure of the process, we in our thesis aim to address the gap of identifying the factors that influence the Customer Co-Creation Process. The Purpose of our thesis was to Identify the Factors for Organizations that Influence the process and suggest to imply those factors during the process of Co-Creation for a better result.  To answer our research question we chose a qualitative approach by interviewing a total of 5 members from different organizations and different businesses in a semi-structured interview format. We chose to do research from both Customer and Organizational perspective, we formed 2 cases out of the 4 interviews and one as an expert in the field of New Product Development. The main findings of our research shows 6 Main Influencing Factors and 12 Sub Factors within 6 main factors that enrich the process of co-creation. The factors are Communication (Feedback & Highlighting the need to Customer), Management (Environment, Relationship Management, Flexibility /Exploratory, Leadership, Rewards/Incentives, Selection of Customer), Transparency, Commitment & Trust (Secrecy Concern, Sharing of IP), Consistency, Training (Employee and Customer). Our research shows the factors on the application during the co-creation process can influence the process to a better output. We have suggested the organizations in our Organizational Implications on how these factors can influence the process to a better output. Thus, answering our research question.

Das Internet mit immer neuen Kommunikationsdiensten hat das Potenzial, völlig neue Strategien des Unternehmens an der Schnittstelle zu seinen privaten Kunden einzuleiten. Der Kunde nimmt in Zukunft nicht mehr allein die Rolle eines passiven Käufers ein [Homburg, Gruner 96]. Stattdessen entwickelt er sich zu einem aktiven Partner des Unternehmens, was potenziell zu einer neuen Gestaltung der Unternehmensorganisation führt sowie zu neuen strategischen Optionen, z. B. zur Generierung von Wettbewerbsvorteilen. Ein Beispiel dieser Entwicklung ist die Customer Integration, die Einbindung des Kunden als Co-Worker in Wertschöpfungsprozesse eines Unternehmens.

Das Internet mit immer neuen Kommunikationsdiensten hat das Potenzial, völlig neue Strategien des Unternehmens an der Schnittstelle zu seinen privaten Kunden einzuleiten. Der Kunde nimmt in Zukunft nicht mehr allein die Rolle eines passiven Käufers ein [Homburg, Gruner 96]. Stattdessen entwickelt er sich zu einem aktiven Partner des Unternehmens, was potenziell zu einer neuen Gestaltung der Unternehmensorganisation führt sowie zu neuen strategischen Optionen, z. B. zur Generierung von Wettbewerbsvorteilen. Ein Beispiel dieser Entwicklung ist die Customer Integration, die Einbindung des Kunden als Co-Worker in Wertschöpfungsprozesse eines Unternehmens.

L'objectif de ces travaux de recherche est l'étude et le développement d'un système ICM embarqué en utilisant la méthodologie de conception conjointe afin de satisfaire ses contraintes spécifiques. Il en a découlé la constitution d'un système ICM complet intégrant un système d'acquisition OpenBCI et un système de traitement à base de FPGA. Ce système pourrait être utilisé dans des contextes variés : médicale (pour les diagnostiques précoces des pathologies), technologique (informatique ubiquitaire), industriel (communication avec des robots), ludique (contrôler un joystick dans les jeux vidéo), etc. Dans notre contexte d’étude, la plateforme ICM proposée a été réalisée pour assister les personnes à mobilité réduite à commander les équipements domestiques. Nous nous sommes intéressés en particulier à l'étude et à l'implémentation des modules de filtrage adaptatif et dynamique, sous forme d'un coprocesseur codé en HDL afin de réduire son temps d'exécution car c'est le bloc le plus critique de la chaine ICM. Quant aux algorithmes d'extraction des caractéristiques et de classification, ils sont exécutés par le processeur Nios-II sous son système d'exploitation en ANSI-C. Le temps de traitement d'un trial par notre système ICM réalisé est de l'ordre de 0.4 s/trial et sa consommation ne dépasse guère 0.7 W
The main purpose of this thesis is to study and develop an embedded brain computer interface (BCI) system using HW/SW methodology in order to satisfy the system specifications. A complete BCI system integrated in an acquisition system (OpenBCI) and a hardware platform based on the FPGA were achieved. The proposed system can be used in a variety of contexts: medical (for early diagnosis of pathologies, assisting people with severe disabilities to control home devices system through thought), technological (ubiquitous computing), industrial (communication with Robots), games (control a joystick in video games), etc. In our study, the proposed ICM platform was designed to control home devices through the thought of people with severe disabilities. A particular attention has been given to the study and implementation of the filtering module, adaptive and dynamic filtering, in the form of a coprocessor coded in HDL in order to reduce its execution time as it is the critical block in the returned ICM algorithms. For the feature extraction and classification algorithms, they are executed in the Nios-II processor using ANSI-C language. The prototype operates at 200 MHz and performs a real time classification with an execution delay of 0.4 second per trial. The power consumption of the proposed system is about 0.7 W

R??sum?? : La douleur lombaire (DL) est l???une des conditions musculosquelettiques les plus fr??quentes et co??teuses au Canada. La pr??valence annuelle de DL aig??e varierait de 19 % ?? 57 %, et un patient sur quatre souffrirait de r??currence dans la m??me ann??e. La pr??sente ??tude vise donc ?? produire une analyse descriptive de l?????pid??miologie de la DL r??currente ?? l?????chelle de la population. Une nouvelle approche m??thodologique est propos??e afin d???optimiser l???identification de vrais cas incidents de DL r??currente ?? partir d???une analyse secondaire de donn??es administratives. Puisque 10 % des patients ayant de la DL seraient responsables de 80 % des co??ts qui y sont associ??s, nous avons ??galement d??termin?? la tendance s??culaire des co??ts d???interventions m??dicales des patients r??currents incidents entre 2003 et 2008. En utilisant le fichier des services m??dicaux r??mun??r??s ?? l???acte de la R??gie de l???assurance maladie du Qu??bec, des cohortes pr??valentes ont ??t?? construites ?? partir de 401 264 dossiers de patients ayant consult?? au moins trois fois pour de la DL entre 1999 et 2008. Onze ans d???historique m??dical des 81 329 patients de la cohorte de 2007 ont ensuite ??t?? analys??s afin d???exclure les patients ayant eu des consultations ant??rieures de DL. Une valeur pr??dictive positive et un coefficient de Kappa ??lev??s ont permis d???identifier une clairance optimale pour r??cup??rer les cas v??ritablement incidents. Les co??ts de consultations ont ensuite ??t?? calcul??s pour tous les patients incidents de 2003 ?? 2007 ?? partir des manuels de facturation. Nous avons observ?? une pr??valence annuelle de la DL r??currente de 1,64 % en 2000 chez les hommes diminuant ?? 1,33 % en 2007. Cette baisse a majoritairement eu lieu dans le groupe d?????ge des 35-59 ans. Les femmes ??g??es (> 65 ans) ??taient 1,4 fois plus ?? risque de consulter un m??decin de mani??re r??currente que les hommes du m??me ??ge. L???incidence annuelle de la DL en 2007 ??tait de 242 par 100 000 personnes. Les hommes de 18 ?? 34 ans ??taient 1,2 fois plus ?? risque que les femmes de d??velopper un premier ??pisode r??current et les personnes ??g??es 1,9 fois plus ?? risque que les jeunes. L???incidence annuelle a diminu?? de 12 % entre 2003 et 2007 pendant que les co??ts totaux augmentaient de 1,4 %. La m??diane des co??ts ??tait la plus ??lev??e chez les femmes ??g??es et tendait ?? augmenter dans le temps. Ces analyses secondaires sugg??rent de s???int??resser particuli??rement ?? la DL chez les personnes tr??s ??g??es, et de d??terminer si la baisse de fr??quence de consultations r??currentes observ??e dans le temps est li??e ?? une meilleure gestion de la DL ou ?? un probl??me d???accessibilit??. Les co??ts devraient faire l???objet d???un suivi continu pour limiter les hausses. // Abstract : Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most frequent and costly musculoskeletal health conditions in Canada. Annual prevalence was found to vary between 19 % and 57 % and likely one out of four patients experience a LBP recurrence within one year. The body of knowledge on the prevalence of recurrent LBP is still limited. This study sought to present a descriptive analysis on the epidemiology of recurrent LBP in a medical population. A new methodology is also proposed to identify true cases of incident recurrent LBP. Since 10 % of LBP patients have been reported to generate 80 % of the costs, we will sought to determine the secular trend of medical costs for the incident cohorts of 2003 to 2008. Using the Canadian province of Quebec medical administrative physicians??? claims database, 401 264 prevalent claims-based recurrent LBP patients were identified between 1999 to 2008 for having consulted at least three times for LBP in a period of 365 days. The medical history of 81 329 prevalent patients in 2007 was screened for a retrospective period of 11 years. High positive predictive values and Kappa statistics were used to determine the optimal clearance period for capturing true incidence cases among patients with no prior encounters for LBP. Physicians??? claims manuals were then used to apply a price for every intervention provided to LBP incident patients in their index year and follow-up years. We observed a decrease from 1.64 % to 1.33 % in the LBP annual prevalence between 2000 and 2007 for men. This decrease was mostly observed between 35 and 59 years of age. Older women (??? 65 years) were 1.4 times more at risk to consult a physician for LBP in a recurrent manner than older men. The annual incidence in 2007 of adult claims-based recurrent LBP was 242 per 100 000 persons. Males of 18 to 34 years of age were found 1.2 times more at risk than their counterparts. Altogether, elderlies were 1.9 times more at risk than young adults to consult in a recurrent manner for LBP. The annual incidence decreased by 12 % between 2003 and 2007, while the direct costs increase by 1.4 %. The median cost for consultations was highest for elder women and increasing in time. These secondary analyses emphasize the importance to keep the watch on the elders in regards to LBP, and to determine if the timely decrease in morbidity is related to improvements in LBP management or to a medical accessibility issue. Also, costs will need to be surveyed on a regular basis to limit the impact of future increases.

En vue d’aider les opérateurs mobiles avec la gestion de leurs réseaux d’accès radio, trois modèles sont proposés. Le premier modèle est une approche supervisée pour une prévention des anomalies. Son objectif est de détecter les dysfonctionnements futurs d’un ensemble de cellules en observant les indicateurs clés de performance considérés comme des données fonctionnelles. Par conséquent, en alertant les ingénieurs et les réseaux auto-organisés, les opérateurs mobiles peuvent être sauvés d’une dégradation de performance de leurs réseaux. Le modèle a prouvé son efficacité avec une application sur données réelles qui vise à détecter la dégradation de capacité, les problèmes d’accessibilités et les coupures d’appel dans des réseaux LTE.A cause de la diversité des technologies mobiles, le volume de données qui doivent être quotidiennement observées par les opérateurs mobiles devient énorme. Ce grand volume a devenu un obstacle pour la gestion des réseaux mobiles. Le second modèle vise à fournir une représentation simplifiée des indicateurs clés de performance pour une analyse plus facile. Du coup, un modèle de classification croisée pour données fonctionnelles est proposé. L’algorithme est basé sur un modèle de blocs latents dont chaque courbe est identifiée par ses composantes principales fonctionnelles. Ces dernières sont modélisées par une distribution Gaussienne dont les paramètres sont spécifiques à chaque bloc. Les paramètres sont estimés par un algorithme EM stochastique avec un échantillonnage de Gibbs. Ce modèle est le premier modèle de classification croisée pour données fonctionnelles et il a prouvé son efficacité sur des données simulées et aussi sur une application réelle qui vise à aider dans l’optimisation de la topologie des réseaux mobiles 4G.Le troisième modèle vise à résumer l’information issue des indicateurs clés de performance et aussi des alarmes réseaux. Un modèle de classification croisée des données mixtes : fonctionnelles et binaires est alors proposé. L’approche est basé sur un modèle de blocs latents et trois algorithmes sont comparés pour son inférence : EM stochastique avec un échantillonneur de Gibbs, EM de classification et EM variationnelle. Le modèle proposé est le premier algorithme de classification croisée pour données fonctionnelles et binaires. Il a prouvé son efficacité sur des données simulées et sur des données réelles extraites à partir de plusieurs réseaux mobiles 4G
In order to help the mobile operators with the management of their radio access networks, three models are proposed. The first model is a supervised approach for mobile anomalies prevention. Its objective is to detect future malfunctions of a set of cells, by only observing key performance indicators (KPIs) that are considered as functional data. Thus, by alerting the engineers as well as self-organizing networks, mobile operators can be saved from a certain performance degradation. The model has proven its efficiency with an application on real data that aims to detect capacity degradation, accessibility and call drops anomalies for LTE networks.Due to the diversity of mobile network technologies, the volume of data that has to be observed by mobile operators in a daily basis became enormous. This huge volume became an obstacle to mobile networks management. The second model aims to provide a simplified representation of KPIs for an easier analysis. Hence, a model-based co-clustering algorithm for functional data is proposed. The algorithm relies on the latent block model in which each curve is identified by its functional principal components that are modeled by a multivariate Gaussian distribution whose parameters are block-specific. These latter are estimated by a stochastic EM algorithm embedding a Gibbs sampling. This model is the first co-clustering approach for functional data and it has proven its efficiency on simulated data and on a real data application that helps to optimize the topology of 4G mobile networks.The third model aims to resume the information of data issued from KPIs and also alarms. A model-based co-clustering algorithm for mixed data, functional and binary, is therefore proposed. The approach relies on the latent block model, and three algorithms are compared for its inference: stochastic EM within Gibbs sampling, classification EM and variational EM. The proposed model is the first co-clustering algorithm for mixed data that deals with functional and binary features. It has proven its efficiency on simulated data and on real data extracted from live 4G mobile networks

Les travaux menés dans le cadre de cette thèse proposent de tirer profit des nouvelles technologies disponibles pour répondre aux besoins de la montée en fréquence et de la miniaturisation des systèmes de communication tout en améliorant le niveau des performances. Les études se sont axées vers la conception d'une structure à mélangeur de réjection de fréquence image permettant de relâcher les contraintes sur les structures critiques de filtrage amont. L'intégration des parties actives et passives de ce système, a ainsi été menée avec comme objectifs de tirer au maximum partie des potentialités de chaque technologie, de proposer des solutions techniques pour palier aux inconvénients de chaque technologie, et d'optimiser l'architecture globale en partitionnant le système suivant les contraintes technologiques et/ou techniques. La première partie des travaux a ainsi porté sur le développement en bande K d'une nouvelle topologie de mélangeur à base de transistors à hétérojonction Si-SiGe à linéarité améliorée. Se basant sur une compréhension des phénomènes intrinsèques du circuit, des topologies modifiées ont de plus été proposés afin de repousser l'ensemble des performances atteignables sur cette technologie. La seconde partie des travaux concerne la conception de coupleurs passifs, toujours en bande K, avec pour objectif la miniaturisation maximale de ces fonctions. Une méthodologie de conception a, dans ce cadre, été développée et validée par une intégration sur une technologie spécifiquement développée au LAAS-CNRS et compatible avec une future intégration avec les circuits actifs. Nous avons ainsi obtenu des performances optimales (à l'état de l'art) avec un gain d'intégration d'un facteur 2. Enfin, en amont et en aval de ces travaux, une étude sur l'architecture globale du système de mélangeur à réjection de fréquence image a été conduite, et sans cesse raffinée, afin de partitionner les contraintes de performances entre les différents blocs et de vérifier l'obte ntion des performances.

Background: Although clinicians encounter antimycobacterial treatment in Human mmunodeficiency (HIV)-infected children as one of the most common treatments coadministered with antiretroviral treatment (ART), quantitative data on the extent of antimycobacterial treatment among HIV-infected children at the time of commencement of ART and at different times during ART is scarce. The baseline risk factors associated with being on both ART and antimycobacterial treatments are not known and it remains to be elucidated how the different exposure factors impact on the antimycobacterial treatment-free survival of children who begin ART without antimycobacterial treatment.Objectives: To describe the prevalence of antimycobacterial treatment among children at the time of starting ART and the antimycobacterial treatment-free survival after starting ART. Design: A retrospective cohort study based on record reviews at the Harriet Shezi children&lsquo
s clinic (HSCC).Population: HIV-infected children less than fifteen years of age presumed ART naï
ve started on ART at HSCC.Analysis: A descriptive analysis of the prevalence of antimycobacterial treatment at time of start of ART was done. Kaplan Meier (KM) survival curves were used to determine the antimycobacterial treatment-free survival and logistic regression was used to analyze the association between baseline factors and future antimycobacterial treatment among children who had no antimycobacterial treatment at time of start of ART. Results: The prevalence of antimycobacterial treatment at the time of starting ART was 518/1941 (26.7%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 24.7-28.7). Among children who started ART without antimycobacterial treatment, the KM cumulative probability of antiretroviral and antimycobacterial (ART/antimycobacterial) co-treatment in the first 3 months of starting ART was 4.6% (95% CI: 4.1- 5.2), in the first 12 months it was 18.1% (95% CI: 17.0-19.2) and in the first 24 months of starting ART it was 24% (95% CI: 21.9-25.1). Survival analysis suggested that children with high baseline viral load, advanced World Health Organization (WHO) stage of disease, very low normalized weight for age (waz) and very young age (less than one year) at start of ART had significantly reduced antimycobacterial treatment-free survival (log rank p <
0.05) in the first two years of starting ART. In the logistic regression model, age less than one year {Odds ratio (OR): 3.7 (95% CI: 2.2-6.0
p <
0.0001)} and very low weight for age Z-score (waz <
-3) {OR
2.2 (95% CI: 1.4-3.6
p = 0.0015)} were the two critical risk factors independently associated with future antimycobacterial treatment. Conclusions: Antimycobacterial treatment is extremely common among HIV-infected children at the time of starting ART and early after starting ART and the incremental risk of being on ART/antimycobacterial co-treatment decreases with time on ART. The results emphasize the need for a heightened and careful alertness for mycobacterial events especially among children starting ART with severe malnutrition and those who start ART at age less than one year. The results further suggest that it is probably optimal to start ART in children before their nutritional status has deteriorated severely in the course of the HIV disease so that they get protection against mycobacterial events by early ART.

Dans ce travail un modele original de calcul des champs elastiques des reseaux hexagonaux de dislocations d'hetero-interfaces est propose en elasticite anisotrope. Les conditions aux limites sont les suivantes: a) les dislocations sont intrinseques et n'engendrent pas de contraintes a longue distance. B) la condition de raccordement des deux milieux a l'interface est representee par un deplacement relatif lineaire a l'interieur d'un hexagone, et discontinue le long de ses cotes. Les champs des deplacements et des contraintes sont etablis et calcules numeriquement par des programmes fortran. Une formule analytique, obtenue par integration, est etablie pour determiner l'energie elastique stockee par unite de surface du joint. Elle est appliquee dans les cas suivants: a) hetero-interface cu/fe, b) hetero-interface cosi#2/si, c) hetero-interface gamma/gamma dans les superalliages, d) joints de torsion dans les metaux cfc

博士
國立中央大學
機械工程研究所
98
The present study focuses on hydrogen storage alloys, with particular emphasis on Ti-V-based bcc and Mg-Co-based alloys, as they have the potential to be some of the most promising clean hydrogen sources for use in fuel cell vehicles or hydrogen storage applications. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the micro-alloying effects on the hydrogen storage properties of Ti-V-Cr and Ti-V-Cr-Mn bcc alloys; develop a novel route for synthesizing Mg2CoH5 hydride by mechanical alloying (MA) without leaving residual Co, and enhance the absorption-desorption properties of Mg-Co alloy by adding Ni and Mg2Ni, combining the effects of alloying and grain-refining on hydrogen storage properties. Ti33V33Cr34 ingots with 0-3 at% Pd were prepared by argon arc melting. X-ray diffraction results reveal that all of these alloys are single bcc phases, and vary only slightly in their lattice parameters, which range from 3.0297 to 3.0726Å. Ti-V-Cr alloy that contains 0.5 at% Pd exhibits a high hydrogen absorption capacity of up to 3.42 mass% at 80℃. Pd-containing (0.05-3 at% Pd) alloys have a higher rate of absorption than alloy that does not contain Pd. The plateau pressure increased slightly with Pd content in the range 0.05 to 0.5 at%; in particular, the desorption plateau pressure of the (Ti33V33Cr34)99.5Pd0.5 alloy increased significantly after the 50th absorption-desorption cycling test. Ti-V-based alloys typically exhibit a low desorption plateau pressure under ambient conditions. Therefore, various amounts of Al, Cu and Al-20wt%Sc master alloy are added to Ti-V-Cr based alloys, and the structural characteristics, hydrogen absorption-desorption properties and cycling properties of Ti-V-Cr-Mn alloy are investigated. The addition of trace Al, Cu and Al-20wt%Sc to Ti-V-Cr alloy improves its absorption and desorption properties. The addition of Al-20wt%Sc (&lt; 2 at%) to Ti-V-Cr alloy apparently increases the desorption plateau pressure without reducing its hydrogen storage capacity. Furthermore, the fine-grain (Ti33V33Cr24Mn10)99 (Al-20wt%Sc)1 alloy produced by rapid solidification exhibits a low decline of reversible desorption capacity after cycling test. The authors’ group proposed a novel method for producing Mg2CoH5 hydride by comparative short-term mechanical alloying (MA), using 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture as the starting material. 2Mg-Co and 3Mg-MgCo2 mixtures are prepared by MA, and their hydrogen storage properties are examined. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that the main phase Mg2CoH5 can be synthesized from a 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture by 50h ball milling and hydrogenation under 5 MPa hydrogen atmosphere at 400℃ for 15h. An ball-milled 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture has an absorption capacity of up to 1.5 mass% at 115℃, and a desorption capacity of over 2.0 mass% hydrogen in 20 min at temperatures from 300 to 350℃, which represents a higher desorption rate than that achieved, according to the literature, by preparation using a combined milling and sintering procedure. Pure Ni and Mg2Ni catalysts are added to 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture to enhance its hydrogen storage capacity and improve its kinetics of hydrogen absorption and desorption. A novel route was utilized to synthesize Mg-Co-based alloys by mechanical alloying, using 3Mg-MgCo2, 3Mg-MgCo2-10wt%Ni, 3Mg-MgCo2-10wt%Mg2Ni and 3Mg-MgCo2-20wt%Mg2Ni mixtures as the starting materials. X-ray diffraction of the hydride products reveals that Mg2CoH5 was the dominant hydride phase in all of these alloys. The results of temperature-programmed decomposition (TPD) reveal that the de-hydriding temperature of 10wt%Ni-containing 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture was around 35℃ lower than that of the ball-milled 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture. Additionally, adding 10wt% Mg2Ni to the 3Mg-MgCo2 mixture significantly improved both the hydrogen absorption capacity and the hydrogen absorption rate; the latter was especially improved at low temperature (115 ℃). The absorption capacity and absorption rate of the alloy 3Mg-MgCo2-10wt% Mg2Ni at 350℃ were 3.0 mass% and over 2.5 mass% in 5min, respectively. TEM analysis indicates that the ball-milled 3Mg-MgCo2-10wt%Mg2Ni mixture had a body centered cubic (BCC) structure.

BC Transit, a provincial Crown Corporation operates and administers conventional, fixed-route public transit services in British Columbia's major metropolitan centres of Vancouver and Victoria and in 24 smaller communities across the province. BC Transit service is available to 76% of the province's residents. BC Transit has been successful in providing innovative services that respond to community needs. Some of these innovations include the introduction of lift-equipped and low-floor buses to improve accessibility, the use of bike racks and lockers to integrate transit with cycling, the integration of school bus and transit services to build transit ridership and improve efficiency, and the targeting of the post-secondary student market with special services and discounted fares. The introduction of innovative services to the non-metropolitan areas of the province has been facilitated by BC Transit's Municipal Systems Program and the three-way partnerships between BC Transit, local governments, and operating companies that it provides. Much of the planning for this program is done by BC Transit staff in Victoria, allowing for the easy transfer of experience between systems. A key area for future transit innovations in B.C. is in the creation of a provincewide public transportation system with integrated services and information. This would involve the creation of regional transit services in areas where development is coalescing into continuous corridors, rather than in discrete settlements. Although BC Transit has been successful in introducing a range of innovative services around the province, questions remain as to whether BC Transit's general service provision strategy is as cost-effective and accountable as possible. The current funding and governance arrangements in the province have created a situation that is weak on local accountability and which may perpetuate the provision of uneconomic services. Further research is needed to fully address this issue.

碩士
國立清華大學
服務科學研究所
101
With the rise of internet and social networks, businesses are increasingly becoming dependent on cumulative knowledge of customers to get access to external ideas and solutions in recent years. IT tools have been seen as consumer empowerment instruments to engage customers and encourage them to participate in service and product development processes. However, there is a high failure rate of online B2C co-creation because companies fail to stimulate customer’s interest in producing quality contributions. These difficulties have evoked the attention of researchers’ and practitioners’ on how to effectively use empowerment technology in online co-creation. In the extant literatures, empowerment technology had mostly been seen a single perspective – a self-design tool kits (i.e., design IT). In contrast to this traditional view, this study highlights the importance of social dimensions of empowerment IT (i.e., social IT) and our experimental study proved that design IT and social IT are significantly different. In particular, this research proposes a joint view of empowerment theory and self-determination theory to analyze why people participate in co-creation and pay for co-designed products and services. Our results suggest that social IT has increases intrinsic and extrinsic motivations by creating a sense of relatedness to the company and to other users. In contrast, design IT increases intrinsic motivation and extrinsic meaning by improving people’s sense of self-efficacy and company relatedness. Customers’ co-creation intentions were influenced by intrinsic motivation, extrinsic meaning, and self-efficacy, while willingness to pay is only influenced by extrinsic meaning.

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2017
A solubilidade de substâncias activas e de excipientes em água é um dos parâmetros mais importantes no que concerne formulações para formas farmacêuticas para administração oral. Estima-se que 40% dos fármacos aprovados e cerca de 90% daqueles em desenvolvimento possuem fraca solubilidade. Para resolver este problema diversas abordagens têm sido estudadas e reportadas na literatura como técnicas de incremento da solubilidade de fármacos pouco solúveis. O recurso a modificações químicas tais como prófarmacos, sais e alterações do pH do meio são já métodos aplicados de forma rotineira. Outras modificações, de carácter físico, podem também ser efectuadas nesse sentido, nomeadamente através da redução do tamanho de partículas do fármaco, de processos de complexação, da utilização de tensioactivos, da dispersão do fármaco em transportadores e de modificações da rede cristalina. A formação de partículas amorfas e co-amorfas é uma abordagem física promissora para promover o incremento da solubilidade de fármacos pouco solúveis (BCS – classe II). Estes podem ser obtidos por técnicas de condensação de vapor, arrefecimento de massas fundidas (método de fusão e método de extrusão por fusão), disrupção mecânica da rede cristalina (moagem com bolas e moagem criogénica), precipitação a partir de uma solução (evaporação do solvente, secagem por aspersão, liofilização, electrofiação e recurso a fluidos supercríticos) ou outras técnicas (extrusão por ultrassons e impressão a jacto). A escolha de um destes métodos em detrimento de outros irá depender das características do fármaco. No entanto, qualquer análise das diferentes técnicas de produção não estaria completa sem mencionar os diferentes parâmetros que permitem caracterizar a formulação final obtida. A cristalinidade, o arranjo molecular, a dissolução e a previsão da estabilidade são os parâmetros mais importantes a analisar relativamente à caracterização de formas farmacêuticas amorfas e co-amorfas. Técnicas como a difracção de raios-X, a calorimetria de varrimento diferencial (DSC), a espectroscopia de Raman e a espectroscopia de infravermelho podem ser empregues nesse sentido. Independentemente das inúmeras metodologias já existentes, novos esforços têm que continuar a ser feitos de forma a permitir encontrar soluções mais optimizadas para a formulação de fármacos amorfos, que contribuam, simultaneamente, para um aumento da solubilidade do fármaco e também para um aumento da sua estabilidade.
The solubility of active substances and excipients is one of the most important parameters relating to formulations for oral administration. It is estimated that 40% of approved drugs and about 90% of the molecules in development have poor solubility. To solve this problem several approaches have been studied and reported in the literature as techniques for expanding the solubility of poorly soluble drugs. The use of chemical modifications such as prodrugs, salts and the modification of the pH of the formulation are already routinely applied methods. Other modifications of a physical nature may also be applied such as the reduction of the particle size of the drug, complexation of the drug, use of surfactants, dispersion of the drug in carriers and modifications of the crystal lattice. The formation of amorphous and co-amorphous drugs is a promising chemical approach to promote increased solubility of poorly soluble drugs (BCS - class II). It can be obtained by vapour condensation techniques, cooling of a melt (fusion method and melt extrusion method), mechanical disruption of the crystal lattice (ball milling and cryo-milling), precipitation of a solution (solvent evaporation, spray-drying, freeze-drying, electrospinning and the use of supercritical fluids) or other techniques (ultrasound extrusion and inkjet printing). Choosing one of those methods over others depends on the physicochemical properties of the drug. Additionally, any analysis of the different production techniques would not be complete without mentioning the different parameters that allow to characterize the final formulation. Crystallinity, molecular arrangement, dissolution and prediction of stability are the most important parameters to be analysed for the characterization of amorphous and co-amorphous dosage forms. Technologies such as X-ray diffraction, DSC, Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy may be employed in this regard. Regardless of the many existing methodologies, new initiatives should continue to be made to allow to obtain more optimized solutions for amorphous drug formulations, which simultaneously contribute to an increase in drug solubility and an increase in its stability.

碩士
國立中央大學
應用材料科學國際研究生碩士學位學程
106
Abstract Oxides Ba_(1-x) Ca_x Co_0.2 Fe_0.8 O_(3-δ) (x=0,0.5,0.6,0.7) were prepared and their structures, propertied were studied in this thesis. These oxides were employed to fabricate the cathodes for the proton-transport solid oxide fuel cell (P-SOFC) to explore their performance. Modification of the cathodes by infiltration of copper oxide was also investigated. The powders were synthetized by a glycine/nitrate combustion process under a control of pH value in the nitrate solution. The combustion ashes were collected and subjected to calcination at different temperatures to find out best crystals of the related phases according to X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Surface morphology of the powders was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). All powders were pressed in two different molds and sintered at 1100°C to make samples for measurement of their ohmic resistance and thermal expansion behavior. Each kind of Ba_(1-x) Ca_x Co_0.2 Fe_0.8 O_(3-δ) powders was mixed with the binder to make a paste. Then the paste was screen-painted on one side of an electrolyte (i.e., 〖Ba Ce〗_0.8 Zr_0.1 Y_0.1 O_3) and the Pt-paste on other side of it to make a single cell. The power density and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for the single cell of Pt/〖Ba Ce〗_0.8 Zr_0.1 Y_0.1 O_3/Ba_(1-x) Ca_x Co_(0"." 2) Fe_0.8 O_(3-δ), and for that of Pt/〖Ba Ce〗_0.8 Zr_0.1 Y_0.1 O_3/Ba_0.3 Ca_0.7 Co_(0"." 2) Fe_0.8 O_(3-δ) infiltrated with CuO were tested at 800°C. The flow rates of air inlet on cathode was at 200 c.c./min and that of hydrogen on anode at 450 c.c./min. The results indicated that the power density of the cell increased with increasing the calcium content from x=0.5 to x=0.7 in the cathode made from Ba_(1-x) Ca_x Co_0.2 Fe_0.8 O_(3-δ). Copper oxide particles (CuO) infiltration (with mass ratio CuO/Ba_0.3 Ca_0.7 Co_(0"." 2) Fe_0.8 O_(3-δ) =1/1) does not have any significant effect on power density and increased polarization resistance.