Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Process Interplay'

Entrepreneurship and start-ups are important factors for economic growth and development. As the surrounding innovation ecosystem is becoming increasingly complex, it gets more difficult for entrepreneurs to find the right path. Incubators are important when it comes to facilitating and supporting new ventures. In this research, we conducted 19 semi-structured interviews of which five were held with public incubators, four with private incubators, nine with incubatees and one with Vinnova (a government authority that plays a huge part within the existence of public incubators) in order to gain an understanding of the interplay of the incubation process and the entrepreneurial process. As for analyzing the collected data we used a thematic analysis with an inductive approach. Throughout the coding process, we extracted the following three main topics: role of an incubator, incubation process and interplay. However, a distinction between public and private incubators was approved as applicable that determines the incubators’ purpose, objectives and operations. Our findings suggest that incubators play an important role in supporting and guiding the start-ups by transferring knowledge and asking the right questions as a fundament for the further entrepreneurial process. Continuous communication and expectation management are shown as crucial throughout the interplay of the two processes. Lastly, the disconnection from the incubatees should be done carefully, e.g. through a non-proactive aftercare.

As an under-researched form of coordination and control, little is known of how collegiality is practiced, especially in for-profit firms. Our thesis has sought to address this research gap by interviewing professionals from two fields which are recognized as collegial, namely lawyers and architects. Our aim was to depict how for-profit firms coordinate and control using collegiality in relation to the traditional modes of governance of bureaucracy and management. We do this by utilizing the concept of institutional logics which focuses on field-level meaning systems and how actors use these systems of values, beliefs and expectations to make sense of their institutional environment. We could observe a clear coexistence of all three modes of governance. Our respondents indicated an awareness of the different logics and demonstrated an understanding of which governance mode was called for in which situation. This interplay was highly contextual and contingent on each situation's institutional demands and expectations. Collegial values were keenly advocated, yet work tasks that were legalized were also bureaucratized. The coexistence of fundamentally contradictory governance modes did not however appear to meet much internal resistance and seemed to rather function peacefully with wide employee acceptance.

Adults aged 50 years and older are a growing segment of the population and are more likely than their younger counterparts to experience significant stressors such as the death of a relative or friend, onset of chronic conditions, and increased health burden. The current studies use Pearlin's stress process model to evaluate the impact of these stressors on outcomes of depression. Study 1 used Wave 1 data from the ORANJ BOWL research panel of 5,688 New Jersey residents aged 50 and older to explore the relationship between relational life events, private religious practices, and depressed mood. Cross-sectional structural equation modeling was used to evaluate these relationships. Results showed that relational life events had a significant positive influence on depressive symptoms and this relationship was partially mediated by private religious practices. Findings indicate that non-personal life events are important sources of stress that may otherwise be overlooked when assessing risk factors among older adults. Study 2 used data from 640 men from the Research on Older Adults with HIV (ROAH) study to evaluate the impact of HIV-related health burden on depressed mood and to assess the mitigating effects of social support adequacy. Structural equation modeling showed that greater health burden was associated with more depressive symptoms; this relationship was significantly partially mediated by emotional support adequacy, which was a measure of unmet social need. Findings indicate that health burden has a cumulative impact on psychological health and programs and supports that target social wellness can improve this relationship. These studies point to the importance of understanding sources of risk and resilience among older people and in an attempt to improve overall health outcomes.
Ph. D.

Le cancer est une maladie du génome. La transformation tumorale résulte de l’acquisition de mutations somatiques via divers processus mutagènes opérant tout au long de la vie du patient. Les mécanismes à l’origine des mutations incluent les erreurs de réplication, les défauts de réparation de l’ADN, les modifications de base spontanées ou catalysées par des enzymes cellulaires, et l’exposition à des agents mutagènes endogènes (ROS) ou exogènes (tabac, UV…). Au cours de ma thèse, j’ai analysé des données de séquençage exome et génome complet de tumeurs hépatiques pour décortiquer les mécanismes à l’origine des mutations dans ces tumeurs, leur interaction avec les facteurs de risque, les processus cellulaires, les gènes drivers, et leur évolution au cours de la maladie. J’ai utilisé des méthodes statistiques existantes et dévoloppé des outils bioinformatiques innovants pour:- extraire les signatures de mutations et de réarrangements structuraux à l’aide de données de séquençage à haut débit- identifier les facteurs de risque et/ou les altérations génétiques à l’origine de chacune- prédire les mécanismes mutagènes à l’origine de chaque mutation somatique- explorer les corrélations entre la densité des mutations et les processus cellulaires comme la réplication et la transcription- reconstruire l’histoire clonale des tumeurs et dater l’apparition des signatures mutationnelles et des aberrations chromosomiques.Ces approches innovantes m’ont permis d’identifier 10 signatures mutationnelles: 5 signatures ubiquitaires à l’œuvre dans toutes les tumeurs hépatiques mais modulées par les facteurs de risque (sexe, alcool, tabac), et 5 signatures sporadiques opérant dans moins de 5% des tumeurs et associées à des étiologies connues (aflatoxine B1, acide aristolochique) ou restant à identifier. J’ai aussi mis en évidence 6 signatures de réarrangements structuraux, notamment des phénotypes duplicateurs et déléteurs, spécifiques de petits groupes de tumeurs. Chaque processus mutagène est modulé différemment par la réplication et la transcription. Les signatures liées à des molécules formant des adducts sur l’ADN (hydrocarbures polycycliques aromatiques, aflatoxine B1, acide aristolochique) sont nettement moins actives dans les gènes fortement exprimés suite à l’action du transcription-coupled repair, alors que la signature 16, liée à l’alcool, présente un motif unique de transcription-coupled damage. Une corrélation étonnante entre la densité des petites insertions et délétions (indels) et l’expression des gènes a été identifiée, conduisant à une accumulation considérable d’indels dans les gènes très forterment exprimés dans les cellules hépatiques. Enfin, l’histoire clonale des tumeurs hépatiques montre l’évolution des signatures mutationnelles au cours du temps et identifie l’accumulation de gains chromosomiques multiples comme un évènement tardif entraînant probablement une croissance de la tumeur jusqu’à une taille détactable en clinique. Ces résultats nous éclairent sur les mécanismes à l’origine des altérations génomiques dans l’histoire naturelle des cancers du foie
Cancer is a disease of the genome. A normal cell goes rogue and is transformed into a cancerous cell due to acquired somatic mutations in its genome. The catalogue of these somatic mutations observed in the cancer genome is the outcome of multiple mutational processes that have been operative over the lifetime of a patient. These mutational processes that have occurred throughout the development of cancer may be infidelity of the DNA replication machinery, impaired DNA repair system, enzymatic modifications of DNA, or exposures to exogenous or endogenous mutagens. Each mutational process leaves a characteristic pattern – a “mutational signature” on the cancer genome. Various genomic features related to genome architecture, including DNA replication and transcription, modulate these mutational processes. During my PhD, I analyzed whole exome and whole genome sequencing data from liver tumors to understand the mutational processes remodeling these tumor genomes, their interaction with risk factors, cellular processes, and driver genes, and their evolution along the tumor histories. For that aim, I used existing statistical methods and I developed innovative computational tools to:- extract mutational and structural variant signatures from next-generation sequencing data- identify risk factors or genetic alterations underlying each process- predict the mutational process at the origin of each somatic mutation- explore correlations between mutation rates and cellular processes like replication and transcription- reconstruct the clonal history of a tumor and the timing of mutational processes and copy-number changes These innovative analytical strategies allowed me to identify 10 mutational signatures: 5 ubiquitous signatures operative in every liver cancer but modulated by risk factors (gender, alcohol, tobacco), and 5 sporadic signatures operative in <5% of HCC and associated with specific known (aflatoxin B1, aristolochic acid) or unknown mutational processes. I also identified 6 structural variant signatures, including striking duplicator or deletor phenotypes in rare tumors. Each mutational process showed a different relationship with replication and transcription. Signatures of bulky DNA adducts (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aflatoxin B1, aristolochic acid) strongly decreased in highly expressed genes due to transcription-coupled repair, whereas the alcohol-related signature 16 displayed a unique feature of transcription-coupled damage. A striking positive correlation between indel rate and gene expression was observed, leading to recurrent mutations in very highly expressed tissue-specific genes. Finally, reconstructing the clonal history of HCC revealed the evolution of mutational processes along tumor development and identified synchronous chromosome duplications as late events probably leading to fast tumor growth and clinical detection of the tumor. Together, these findings shed new light on the mechanisms generating DNA alterations along the natural history of liver cancers

The payment of bridewealth is a near-universal cultural practice among the Igbos of SouthEast Nigeria. Bridewealth used to be a symbolic legitimator of marriage. However, its symbolism has been distorted by expensive items on marriage lists. In this context, bridewealth payment provides an excellent analytical tool for the structure-agency debate, which has, in varying degrees, engaged academic interest for centuries. Underlying this debate is the extent to which institutions determine human behaviour and its attendant power relations. While structure refers to the self-replicating, complex elements that sustain institutions, agency refers to the volitional, purpose-driven nature of human activities. In this debate, the structuralfunctionalist-Marxist view, symbolic interactionism, and complementarity view are prominent. From these views, this dissertation develops a needs-based approach to structure-agency interaction, arguing that a focus on the primacy of structure or agency obscures their underlying motivations. It posits that the structure-agency interaction is both the process and product of logical assessments and dialogue, which are driven by socio-economic needs. In the context of this framework, it explored one central question: In what ways do power relations play out in the negotiation process of bridewealth payment in South-East Nigeria? Using literature review, non-participant observation of bridewealth negotiations, and in-depth interviews of 47 key informants, it reveals an interdependent, complex web linking the custodians of culture with agentic tools such as wealth, religion, and education. Despite cultural inhibitions in spousal selection and bridewealth negotiation, prospective spouses have a range of creative tools for reducing exorbitant items on marriage lists, thereby deconstructing high bridewealth. These agentic tools are driven by socio-economic elements such as desire to marry, economic coercion, cohabitation, threat of extramarital pregnancy, and religious values. The study concludes that bridewealth negotiation reflects socio-economic dynamics within hybrid cultural spaces in which potential couples and their parents may navigate the powerful constraints of tradition or sustain tradition through their inaction. These socio-economic dynamics are so powerful that they produce widespread disregard for legislation limiting bridewealth amounts. The study’s findings demonstrate the ineffectiveness of a top-down approach to law, the value of policy sensitivity to people’s lived realities, and the importance of in-depth consultation in the formulation of legislation.

This study contributes to the IS literature with a distinctive explanation of the process of institutionalisation of technology in organizations. The research analyses the role of micro level processes of interplay in embedding an intranet in the formal functioning of an organisation and in the habits and routines of its employees. Findings identify two types of processes of interplay underpinning this process of institutionalisation. The first operates at the level of constitutive expectations and refers to mutual changes to the governance, policy and control mechanisms which foster the perception that the intranet is part of the expected formal functioning of the organisation. The second operates at the level of background expectations and refers to mutual changes that make the intranet look more familiar, functional and easier to use, fostering its embedding in the routines and habits of the employees. The study unravels processes of mutual transformation to an intranet and its hosting organisation, a bank in the UK, by following their evolution over a period of five years. It uses the single longitudinal case study research strategy and is informed by Markus (1983) to support the longitudinal reconstruction of the intranet in the bank. Institutional-based trust theory (Zucker 1986) is used to inform the interpretation of data. This theory is enhanced by the work of Schutz (1962) in developing the concept of background expectations and Garfinkel (1967) in developing the concept of constitutive expectations. The study aims to motivate more research on institutionalisation as a micro level process of ongoing interplay and gradual development of institutionalised behaviour.

En ésta tesis se estudian 2 aspectos de la toma decisiones. Primero, se investiga la forma en que las personas categorizan atributos numéricos. Se presenta y se prueba experimentalmente un modelo del proceso mental que usan las personas para trasformar una cantidad en una categoría verbal. Bajo ciertas condiciones situacionales, el modelo es capaz de predecir conceptualizaciones verbales. Segundo, se exploran las interconexiones entre la información cognitiva y emocional durante la decisión. Se elaboran y se prueban experimentalmente cuatro modelos de la forma en que se combina la información cognitiva y emocional durante el proceso de elección, para determinar el valor de una alternativa. Los modelos muestran una alta capacidad de predicción. Esta varía en función de (1) la interacción de la información verbal y numérica con la capacidad cognitiva situacional del individuo y (2) la correlación entre los juicios cognitivos y las reacciones emocionales.
The present dissertation investigates two aspects of decision making: First, I study the way in which people understand and categorize numerical attributes of products. I develop and experimentally test a model of the mental process people use to transform a quantitative attribute into a verbal category. Under certain environmental conditions, the model is able to predict the verbal conceptualization of people. Second, I explore the interconnections of cognitive and emotional information during the process of decision making. I propose and experimentally test four different models of the way cognitive and affective information is combined during the decision making process in order to determine the value of an alternative. The models display a high predictive power. Their performance is influenced by (1) the interaction of verbal and numerical information with the situational cognitive capacities of the individual and (2) by the correlation of cognitive judgments and affective reactions.

This thesis examines the processes of the peace negotiations in Cambodia (1987-1993) and El Salvador (1989-1993) in order to address the following question: What does the interplay between the national factions and the external interveners in peace negotiations tell us about their chances of achieving their goals? By using the concept of ‘interplay,’ this study reinterprets the negotiation processes as the negotiating actors’ exchanges of strategic moves. In particular, it explores how the negotiating actors’ attitudes towards the core negotiation issues changed in the two cases and how the changes affected their counterparts’ negotiating strategies. There are two aspects to the findings of this thesis, one descriptive and the other explanatory. First, this study has investigated the characteristics of the negotiating actors’ strategies and the pattern of the interplay between them. As for the interveners’ strategies, this thesis finds that impartial third parties generally employ diplomatic intervention methods, while advocate states enjoy a wider range of options. In addition, national factions’ behaviour is generally affected by three factors: their fundamental goals, the domestic resources under their control, and the incentives or pressure from external interveners. It is also observed that the stronger the intervention becomes, the more that national factions’ provisional strategies are inclined to be receptive towards the intervention. Nevertheless, the national factions rarely fully accepted proposals that they deemed harmful to the achievement of their fundamental goals. Second, based on the descriptive findings, this thesis highlights the importance of mutual understanding between national factions and external interveners. The case studies of Cambodia and El Salvador show that the effectiveness of a particular intervention depends not so much on the type of method employed but on the context in which it is applied. An intervention is more likely to be effective when it is used in a way that national factions can understand and is supported by the consistently strong attention of external interveners. In addition, it is observed that actors’ ethnocentric perceptions on core concepts of conflict and negotiation as well as their lack of an effective communication capability are some of the common causes of the misunderstandings that arise during negotiation processes.

Durante il Permiano Inferiore, l’evoluzione post-Varisica dell’attuale regione Alpina è stata caratterizzata da una importante estensione crostale combinata con intensa attività magmatica, che ha favorito lo sviluppo di bacini estensionali intra-continentali con deposizione di sedimenti vulcanoclastici (e.g. Bacino Orobico). Nel settore centrale delle Alpi Meridionali, l’apertura di questi bacini era controllata da complessi sistemi di faglia, attivi contemporaneamente con l’intrusione di plutoni e l’attività vulcanica in superficie. Il seguente progetto di dottorato si focalizza sullo studio di queste caratteristiche, con l’intento di approfondire i processi geologici attivi durante il Permiano. Diverse faglie di età Permiana sono state indagate nel Bacino Orobico, con particolare enfasi sul riconoscimento dei loro tratti originali, poiché esse sono eccezionalmente sfuggite alla deformazione Alpina. Nel passato, l’architettura dei bacini Permiani era stata descritta con strutture a horst-graben, formatesi in risposta ad una tettonica transtensiva controllata da una zona di taglio che ha portato alla trasformazione da Pangea B a Pangea A. Tuttavia, studi più recenti hanno indicato un diverso setting di faglie che hanno controllato l’apertura dei bacini Permiani: si tratta di una combinazione di faglie normali a basso e alto angolo. Le faglie normali a basso angolo identificate lungo il Bacino Orobico rappresentano il miglior luogo in cui osservare l’interazione tra attività tettonica e magmatismo, poiché i loro nuclei di faglia sono caratterizzati da cataclasiti sigillate da livelli di tormaliniti. Queste ultime testimoniano la circolazione di fluidi arricchiti in boro e incanalati lungo importanti zone di faglia correlate all’apertura del Bacino Orobico. Simili brecce a tormalina affiorano anche in Val Trompia (BS): molti autori hanno suggerito che le tormaliniti delle Alpi Orobie, quelle della Val Trompia unitamente alla mineralizzazione di uranio del distretto di Novazza-Val Vedello potrebbero essere geneticamente correlate. Esse potrebbero essere correlate ad un sistema idrotermale di alta temperatura su ampia scala, coevo con l’attività tettono-magmatica del Permiano Inferiore che è responsabile anche della messa in posto di svariati depositi di minerali metalliferi nelle Alpi Meridionali. Tuttavia, la genesi delle tormaliniti non è mai stata dettagliatamente caratterizzata e la loro connessione con i giacimenti di U finora non è mai stata investigata. Le faglie tormalinizzate sono state riconosciute in molte località del settore centrale delle Alpi Meridionali quando ancora non era nota l’importanza delle faglie normali a basso angolo. In questa tesi di dottorato, vengono caratterizzate tutte le aree con i ritrovamenti di tormaliniti, ricercando la causa dell’idrotermalismo regionale nel contesto di estensione durante il Permiano Inferiore. Inoltre, per via del possibile link con i giacimenti di uranio, lo studio dei borosilicati viene proposto come strumento per meglio caratterizzare la genesi delle mineralizzazioni. Nuove osservazioni di terreno su tormaliniti sono combinate con lo studio della geochimica dei minerali e della roccia totale, insieme alla geocronologia, a studi microstrutturali e analisi isotopiche del B, con lo scopo finale di definire l’origine di questi fluidi arricchiti in boro. I risultati ottenuti da questa ricerca dimostrano che le tormaliniti e il magmatismo Permiano sono in stretta correlazione temporale e genetica. Inoltre, i dati geochimici sugli elementi in tracce forniscono maggiori indizi su una diretta connessione tra tormaliniti e la mineralizzazione a U dell’area di Novazza-Val Vedello. Tutti questi dati, per concludere, sono discussi nel contesto di interazione di processi tettonici, magmatici e di formazione di giacimenti che hanno interessato l’attuale settore centrale delle Alpi Meridionali durante il Permiano Inferiore.
During the Early Permian, the post-Variscan evolution of the present-day Alpine region was characterized by crustal extension combined with strong magmatic activity at different crustal levels, which finally led to the development of intracontinental extensional basins filled with volcanoclastic sediments (e. g. the Orobic Basin, N Italy). In the central Southern Alps (cSA), the opening of these basins was controlled by complex fault system that were active at the same time of plutons intrusion and volcanic activity at the surface. Relationships among magmatism, tectonics and hydrothermal activity related to the formation of ore deposits in the Early Permian so far have been only briefly addressed. This Ph.D. research project focuses on the investigations of the above described features, trying to consider the geological processes active in the Early Permian in an integrated scenario. Several Early Permian faults of the Orobic Basin have been investigated with special emphasis on the recognition of their original features, as they have exceptionally escaped most of the Alpine deformation. In the past, the architecture of Permian basins was described as horst-and-graben structures, formed in response to wrench tectonics developed during the activity of a megashear zone that led to the Pangea B to Pangea A transformation after the collapse of the Variscan orogen. However, thanks recent studies, a different fault architecture has been suggested to had controlled the opening of the Permian basins: a combination of Low-Angle Normal faults and High-Angle Normal Faults. The identified LANFs of the Orobic Basin represent the best site to study the interplay among tectonics and magmatism, as they are characterized by cataclastic bands sealed with cm to dm thick layers of dark, aphanitic tourmalinites. These latter are proof of fluids circulation channelled along higher permeability fault zones related to opening of the Orobic Basin. Such tourmaline breccias also crop out in the Trompia Valley (BS): several authors suggested that tourmalinites from Orobic Alps, tourmalinites from Trompia Valley together with uranium mineralization of Novazza - Vedello Valley are genetically linked. They are seen as products of a large-scale high-temperature hydrothermal system coeval with the Early Permian plutonic-volcanic activity and tectonism, which was also responsible for the emplacement of various types of magmatic-hydrothermal ore deposits in the Southern Alps (Sn-W, U-Mo-Zn, Fe carbonates, sulphides, quartz). However, their genesis has never been fully characterized and the connection between tourmalinites and U ore bodies has also not been deeply investigated so far. The tourmalinized faults were first noted in various sites of the cSA during the 90’s, when the tectonic importance of LANFs was not yet recognized. In this thesis, all the occurrences of tourmalinites are characterized, looking for the cause of the regional hydrothermalism in the context of intracontinental extension during the Early Permian. Furthermore, due to the likely connection with U ore deposits, the borosilicate study is proposed as tool for better understanding the genesis of the mineralizations. New field based structural analysis are combined with mineral and whole-rock geochemistry, geochronology, microstructural studies and boron- isotopic analysis of tourmalinites from different sectors of the study area, in order to evaluate the origin of these fluids. Results coming out from this study demonstrate, together with B isotope ratios, a temporal and genetical relationship between tourmalinites and Early Permian magmatism in the cSA. Furthermore, the geochemical data on trace elements provide more clues on a direct connection between tourmalinites and the U-mineralization. All these results are finally discussed in the frame of the interplay between tectonic, magmatic and ore generation processes that interested the present day cSA area in the Early Permian

Le « Quilted Stratum Process » (QSP®) est un procédé qui utilise des patchs de préimprégné thermoplastique placés stratégiquement pour former une pièce composite. L'utilisation de patchs préimprégnés introduit des particularités par rapport au formage classique, comme l'impossibilité d'utiliser un cadre serre-flanc, la possibilité de grands déplacements des patchs préimprégnés pendant le formage et la présence d’écoulement de compression pendant la phase de consolidation, en particulier pour les patchs unidirectionnels. Un nouveau modele semi-empirique de contact est développé dans le code commercial d'Altair RadiossTM pour prendre en compte l'adhesion inter-pli. Il a permis une amélioration de la prédiction des positions des patchs et des orientations des fibres dans les plis. Un nouvel élément de coque à intégration complète est développé en modifiant l'élément de coque existant dans Altair RadiossTM base sur l’hypothèse de contraintes planes. Le nouvel élément permet de calculer les contraintes normales dans l’épaisseur. Il est enrichi par une méthode d’ajout artificiel et sélectif de masse pour réduire les temps de calcul. Un modèle constitutif élasto-plastique de la nouvelle coque est développé afin de modéliser le comportement du polymère thermoplastique pendant la phase de la consolidation. Une méthode d’identification du modele est proposée. Enfin, en utilisant l’ensemble de ces développements, une approche unifiée est proposée pour la modélisation numérique du formage et de la consolidation. Elle est validée sur une pièce industrielle
‘Quilted Stratum Process’ (QSP®) uses strategically placed thermoplastic prepreg patches in its stack to form a part. Thus, even though it shares several features with the standard composite thermostamping process; there are some additional challenges that arise due to the usage of prepreg patches, along with the inability to use a blank holder, possible long distance sliding of prepreg patches and the transverse squeeze flow occurring duringconsolidation especially for UD patches. A novel semi-empirical contact mechanism to model the interply adhesion is developed in the commercial code of Altair RadiossTM which has improved the prediction of patch positions and fibre orientations significantly. A new full-integration shell element with the capability of transverse normal stress and selective mass scaling is developed by modifying the shell element in Altair RadiossTM for the numerical modeling of consolidation where the classic shells cannot be used due to their plane-stress assumption. An elasto-plastic constitutive model for the new shell element is developed in order to model the behavior of the melt thermoplastic polymer during consolidation. A practical method for its characterization is proposed. Finally, using these developments, a unified approach is developed for the numerical modeling of forming and consolidation. It isvalidated on an industrial part and results are found to be in good agreement with the experimental observations

De nouveaux modes d’élaboration de pièces composites à matrice thermoplastique sont actuellement étudiés, par le milieu aéronautique, afin de remplacer le procédé autoclave, qui est coûteux et limite les cadences de production. Ainsi cette thèse a pour objet l’étude des phénomènes de consolidation interpli dans le cas d’élaborations basse pression. Dans ce but, deux systèmes de fabrication sont développés : l’un en étuve et l’autre sur plateau chauffant. Ces deux dispositifs permettent à la fois de définir les paramètres procédés optimaux pour assurer une bonne consolidation interpli, et de réaliser un suivi d’élaboration grâce à des mesures de variations d’épaisseur, de gradient thermique et de pertes de charges. Les matériaux utilisés sont des pré-imprégnés unidirectionnels thermoplastiques haute performance (PEKK/fibres de carbone). Une partie de ce travail est consacrée à la caractérisation de la matrice, peu étudiée dans la littérature, et à l’influence des paramètres matériau sur la qualité de l’élaboration. Deux événements de consolidation interpli sont identifiés au cours de cette étude : l’un à la température de transition vitreuse (Tg) et l’autre à la température de fusion (Tm). Ils sont respectivement associés aux phénomènes de mise en contact des plis et d’écoulement de l’ensemble fibres/matrice. Une simulation de ces étapes de consolidation est également proposée. La mise en contact des plis est notamment décrite par une évolution de la résistance thermique de contact et par un aplanissement des aspérités de surface. L’écoulement à Tm permettant la réduction du taux de porosité aux interplis est, lui, modélisé à partir des propriétés rhéologiques du matériau déterminées expérimentalement
New manufacturing technologies of thermoplastic composite parts are being developed in order to replace the autoclave molding which requires higher manufacturing costs and longer processing time. In this context, the subject of this thesis is the study of the vacuum-bag-only (VBO) consolidation for thermoplastic (PEKK)/carbon fibers laminates. In this work, two kinds of heating method are considered: the one in an oven and the other on a heating plate. Firstly, we investigate the influence of the process on the consolidation quality. The second step of this thesis is to understand and interpret the interlaminar consolidation phenomena. For that purpose, an in-situ monitoring system has been developed to record the evolution of the laminate thickness, of the temperature gradient and of pressure losses during the whole consolidation cycle. Using these systems two major consolidation phenomena have been identified. The first one takes place at the glass transition temperature and corresponds to the establishment of intimate contact between the adjacent layers. The second one happens at the melting temperature and is associated with the flow of the molten material. The final third step is the integration of these consolidation phenomena into a FEM model. The intimate contact establishment is simulated by an improvement on the thermal contact resistance at the interlayers and by a flattening of the prepreg asperities. The melted composite behavior is described by a Carreau fluid which parameters have been experimentally identified

Leadership is a process occurring within a broad social system with followers in an organizational setting. However, leadership research has failed to deeply explore how leaders, followers and contexts combine to produce organizational outcomes. Aiming to contribute to the study of these overlooked questions, we developed four studies. The first study predicted that job autonomy buffers the relationship between abusive supervision, psychosomatic symptoms and deviance. The second study suggests that task characteristics moderate the association between abusive supervision, distributive justice and job satisfaction. The third study proposes that proactive personality acts as a leadership substitute in the relationship between ethical leadership, emotions and OCBs. Our fourth study showed that followership schema and top management openness determine the LMX quality, with consequences for employee behaviors. Our findings suggest that follower characteristics, organizational practices and contextual variables constitute important boundary conditions for the impact of leader behaviors on employee outcomes.

Since its beginnings, psychological science has frequently used dichotomous categories to describe behavior and mental phenomena. The most traditional dual models have impactfully equipped both the scientific and folkloristic psychological vocabularies of such dichotomies (e.g., conscious vs. unconscious, logic vs. creative, rational vs. emotional). However, while offering an affordable account of how the human cognitive system works, these models appear too simplistic. Substantially, they are grounded upon the findings obtained in decades of results in almost all the psychological fields, from perception to social processes, which have been later merged into a broad systemic theory of human cognition. However, this dual-system theory, which proposed to unify all cognitive dualities into System 1 (automatic, unconscious, fast, effortless, intuitive, and so on) and System 2 (controlled, conscious, slow, effortful, rational, and so on) entities, lacks a systematic investigation of its basic assumptions: for instance, that the features are aligned within and complementary between the two systems. These properties are essential for the tenets of the theory since a systemic theory should postulate the interdependence and interrelation of the elements constituting a system. In this view, the central thread linking all the experimental contributions in the present work is that the dual-system theory should resist when investigating cognitive performance either at low- and at high-level of complexity (complexity defined as the variety of mechanisms implicated in the phenomena of interest). Through seven studies conducted in three research lines, addressing temporal attention, task-switching, and decision-making, the interaction between automatic and controlled features in each process has shown to be the rule rather than the exception. Thus, the results presented in this work support the idea that the dual-system theory current formulation has a weak explanatory power, suggesting that decomposition approaches aimed at disentangling the contribution of qualitatively and quantitatively different mechanisms in each cognitive process are needed to advance or put aside dual-process theories.

碩士
國立交通大學
電子工程系
87
Recently, it is reported that more reliable dielectrics grown on the polysilicon can be obtained by using deposited instead of thermally grown dielectrics. Since defects located in the polysilicon are not incorporated into the deposition dielectric and the surface of the polysilicon layer is not roughened (due to no polysilicon consumption)[1]. Hence, the deposition dielectric potentionally has a defect density relatively independent of the bottom polysilicon. Among all the CVD process, the decomposition of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) is reported to be the simplest and safest without any dangerous media in the process as compared with the Silane-based CVD. In this thesis, we investigated the properties of TEOS interpoly dielectric layers with N2O/N2 rapid thermal anneal and characteristics of fluorinated TEOS interpoly dielectrics through ion implantatiom into bottom polysilicon electrode. In order to obtain good data retention characteristics for nonvolatile menory, the interpoly dielectrics with low conductivity and high breakdown fileds have long been sought. Therefor, the characteristics of interpoly dielectrics deposited by pyrolysis of tera-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS) instead of conventional thermal oxide layers with N2O or N2 RTA treatment have been investigated. The dielectrics were subjected to viscous rapid thermal N2O or N2 annealing temperature. Experimental results showed that the dielectrics with N2O or N2 RTA treatment exhibit desirable properties such as lower leakage current, higher breakdown field (Ebd), lower electron trapping rate, and higher charge to breakdown (Qbd). These improvements were due to the incorporation of nitrogen into polyoxide and at the polyoxide/polysilicon interface[2-11]. Moreover, the improvement is more dramatic on samples that received N2O-RTA treatment than those that received N2-RTA treatment. This is believedto be due to oxygen atoms available in N2O RTA tratment can also repair the dangling bonds and strained bonds. The effects of fluorine-incorporation through ion implantation on TEOS dielectric characteristics were investigated, also. It was found that the fluorine-implanted polyoxides had a lower leakage current and a higher electrical breakdown field for both positive and negative bias [12-18]. The improvements were due to the incorporated fluorine could passivate the danging bonds and breakdown the strained Si-O-Si bonds to form stronger Si-F bonds in the polyoxide and at the polyoxide/polysilicon interface [18-20] . This relaxes the local stress in the dielectric and makes the polsilicon/polyoxide interface morphology more smoother. However, they exhibited higher trapping rate. This implied that fluore-implanted polyoxides had higher electron trapping rate during constant current injection. Athough fluorine-implanted polyoxides had higher trapping rate, but they still exhibited higher charge to breakdown. This may be due to stronger Si-F hardly breakdown.