Thèses sur le sujet « Interface generation »

It is common practice to use web technologies when creating graphical user interfaces for IPTV set-top boxes. The graphical user interface in TeliaSonera’s IPTV service is built with HTML, CSS and Javascript. Lately focus has shifted from just showing video to also provide richer user experiences – coming from requirements of new services and the ongoing shift in resolution from standard definition to high definition. However, the set-top box is a device with very limited resources and it is important to assure good performance while allowing richer user interfaces. Against that background the thesis asks “how can a web-based graphical user interface for IPTV set-top boxes, such as that of TeliaSonera, be improved and prepared for future IPTV services and richer user experiences?” To provide an answer two studies were made; one of web technologies and one of future IPTV services. The technologies were evaluated in a Pugh matrix against a set of criteria (the most important being performance, platform independence, and resolution independence) as well as against the results of the IPTV services study. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) scored best in the evaluation. The SVG renderer performed significantly better on the set-top box than the Mozilla web browser that TeliaSonera currently used. To put the technology to test the HTML based user interface was ported to SVG with expectations of a more responsive and graphically rich user interface. The result was satisfying. Loading times had been halved, the user interface works in both SD and HD resolution and richer graphics were added in form of gradients and a skinning system that allow easy change of appearance. The thesis recommends SVG when building a rich graphical user interface for a settop box.
Grafiska användargränssnitt för IPTV set-topboxar byggs vanligtvis med webbtekniker. Det grafiska användargränssnittet i TeliaSoneras IPTV-tjänst är byggt med HTML, CSS och Javascript. På senare tid har fokus gått från att enbart visa video till att även tillhandahålla en förbättrad användarupplevelse. Detta är en konsekvens av krav som kommer från nya tjänster och den pågående förändringen från standardupplösning till HD-upplösning. Dock har set-topboxen begränsade resurser och det är viktigt att kunna säkerställa bra prestanda samtidigt som användarupplevelsen förbättras. Mot denna bakgrund ställer rapporten frågan ”hur kan ett webbaserat grafiskt användargränssnitt för IPTV set-topboxar, såsom det från TeliaSonera, förbättras och förberedas för framtida IPTV-tjänster och bättre användarupplevelser?” För att svara på frågan har två undersökningar gjorts; en om webbtekniker och en om framtida IPTV-tjänster. Teknikerna utvärderades i en Pughs matris mot en mängd kriterier (de viktigaste är prestanda, plattforms- och upplösningsoberoende) samt mot resultatet från undersökning om IPTV-tjänster. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) fick högst poäng i utvärderingen. SVG-renderaren presterade betydligt bättre på set-topboxen än webbläsaren som TeliaSonera använde för tillfället. För att testa tekniken ytterligare gjordes en portning av det HTML baserade användargränssnittet till SVG, med förväntningar på ett mer responsivt och grafiskt effektfullt användargränssnitt. Resultatet uppfyllde förväntningarna. Laddningstiden halverades, användargränssnittet fungerar i både SD- och HD-upplösning och grafiska effekter lades till i from av gradienter och ett ”skinning”- system som tillåter att enkelt ändra utseende på användargränssnittet. Rapporten avslutas med att rekommendera SVG som teknik för att bygga grafiska användargränssnitt för set-topboxar.

Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references.
In this thesis, a new interface for the generation of procedural content is proposed, in which the user describes the content that they wish to create by using adjectives. Procedural models are typically controlled by complex parameters and often require expert technical knowledge. Since people communicate with each other using language, an adjectival interface to the creation of procedural content is a natural step towards addressing the needs of non-technical and non-expert users. The key problem addressed is that of establishing a mapping between adjectival descriptors, and the parameters employed by procedural models. We show how this can be represented as a mapping between two multi-dimensional spaces, adjective space and parameter space, and approximate the mapping by applying novel function approximation techniques to points of correspondence between the two spaces. These corresponding point pairs are established through a training phase, in which random procedural content is generated and then described, allowing one to map from parameter space to adjective space. Since we ultimately seek a means of mapping from adjective space to parameter space, particle swarm optimisation is employed to select a point in parameter space that best matches any given point in adjective space. The overall result, is a system in which the user can specify adjectives that are then used to create appropriate procedural content, by mapping the adjectives to a suitable set of procedural parameters and employing the standard procedural technique using those parameters as inputs. In this way, none of the control offered by procedural modelling is sacrificed â although the adjectival interface is simpler, it can at any point be stripped away to reveal the standard procedural model and give users access to the full set of procedural parameters. As such, the adjectival interface can be used for rapid prototyping to create an approximation of the content desired, after which the procedural parameters can be used to fine-tune the result. The adjectival interface also serves as a means of intermediate bridging, affording users a more comfortable interface until they are fully conversant with the technicalities of the underlying procedural parameters. Finally, the adjectival interface is compared and contrasted to an interface that allows for direct specification of the procedural parameters. Through user experiments, it is found that the adjectival interface presented in this thesis is not only easier to use and understand, but also that it produces content which more accurately reflects usersâ intentions.

User interface design and development for ubiquitous software applications is challenged by the presence of varying contexts. Context comprises of user'­s computing platform, the environment in which the user is interacting with the application and user characteristics which comprise of user's behavior during interaction and user preferences for interface display and interaction. We present a framework for adaptive user interface generation where adaptation occurs when context changes. This framework introduces three new concepts. First, formalization for representing context is introduced. Our design of context specification is unique since it reflects the association of context with level and nature of user interface adaptation. Secondly, user interface generation life cycle is studied and we define a context model on top of task model to introduce the contextual conditions into user interface generation process. Using the context model, user interface designer can specify contextual requirements and its effect on the user interface. Third, context aware adaptation of user interfaces is achieved by mapping context specifications to various levels of user interface generation life cycle. We designed a specification language called rule specification using which the user interface designer can specify the mapping. With the new design of context representation, context model, and rule specification, we demonstrate how changes in contexts adapts task model which in turn adapts the user interface.
Master of Science

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2001.
Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 61 p.; also contains graphics. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att göra en kvalitativ och komparativ studie genom att närläsa några appar på ett givet tema. Detta har jag gjort med stöd av bilderboksforskning. Jag har valt att se närmare på ABC-appar utifrån att de är designade med en pedagogisk intention.Jag visar genom studien, på ett av många sätt, att se på och förhålla sig till appar. Utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv belyser jag det estetiska begreppet smak, vilket jag ser som en betydelsefull fond till min studie, eftersom jag anser att smak påverkar förväntningen och därmed upplevelsen. Min strävan är att hålla ett kritiskt barnperspektiv, det vill säga att genomlysa de föreställningar om barndom som tas för giv, eftersom barn är en målgrupp för kommersiella intressen.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
The purpose of this thesis is to design and implement a concrete interface generation system. The concrete interface generator is a software system which takes a formal specification as input and generates the specification part of an Ada implementation as output. Attribute grammars and fourth-generation language tools have been used in the implementation of this system. Spec, a formal language for writing black-box specifications for large software systems, was used as the input for the concrete interface generation system. Ada was chosen to be the computer language generated by the system. This thesis implements a subset of the Spec language, discusses the design methodology used in its implementation, and presents guidelines for the mapping of Spec to Ada. Included is a listing of the Spec grammar, the concrete interface generator systems source listing, a sample of input used to tet the system, and resulting output.

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 1990.
Thesis Advisor: Berzins, Valdis. Second Reader: Bradbury, Leigh W. "December 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 1, 2010. DTIC Identifier(s): Computer programs, software engineering, theses, ADA programming language, grammars, specifications, interfaces, installation. Author(s) subject terms: Automatic code generation, formal specifications, attribute grammars. Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-80). Also available in print.

A Spiral Peripheral Neural Interface (SPNI) is an electrode array that has been previously presented as a regenerative neural interface capable of receiving information from, and transmitting information to nerves. The SPNI has previously been proven in concept, however, when stimulating nerves in the device, the electrodes areinsufficiently isolated from each other and stimulations can trigger unwanted neural activity in neighbouring channels of the SPNI. Along with this, neural interfaces generally, suffer from chronic viability problems, due to biological rejection. These issues were addressed in this thesis, by the addition of a PDMS silicone membrane, into the structure of the SPNI. Improvements to the understanding and performance of structural, electrical and biocompatibility aspects of the SPNI are addressed, with the addition of the PDMS film, which is used to electrically seal SPNI channels whilst not hindering conductor integrity. The inclusion ofPDMS also provides a platform which may enable drug delivery. This work dramatically improves SPNI performance whilst providing routes to improved biocompatibility. This thesis addresses the main issues previously presented in the SPNI and brings the device up to a new standard which can once again be tested for its viability in vivo.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-80).
Next Generation networks will consist of a number of different access networks interconnected to provide ubiquitous access to the global resources available on the Internet. The coverage of these access networks will also overlap, allowing users a choice of access net-works. Increasingly, mobile devices have more than one type of radio access interface built-in. In current mobile devices, a single primary radio interface performs all communications with the service provider. The availability of multiple different radio interfaces proves most beneficial if all these interfaces can connect with the service provider and carry data in collaboration or individually. This means that a control system is needed to route the correct traffic over each different interface, depending on the requirements of that traffic. Having multiple interfaces available provides the opportunity to aggregate two or more interfaces for faster transfer speeds and can provide redundancy. If one interface is expe-riencing high packet loss or no coverage an alternate interface will be available. Multiple interface schemes aim to enable traditional networks to support devices with more than one interface. This is usually achieved by introducing a new agent into the network architecture that acts as the packet redirection point. Incoming packet flows are routed to the different interfaces of the mobile device by this agent according to the traffic types of each packet flow. In this thesis an evaluation platform is developed to investigate whether the possible functionality of a multiple interfaced device provides useful traffic routing options. The evaluation platform consists of three key components evident in schemes from the literature, namely a Corresponding Node, Mobile Node and Router. The Router is emulated with a script-based routing software and configured as the packet redirection point in the evaluation platform. Four test scenarios emulate traffic travelling over two interfaces of a practical mobile node. A mid-flow handover from one interface to the other is investigated to determine that this process can be seamless under certain conditions. Dual Interface Aggregation shows good performance when the limits of each interface are not exceeded. Distinct improvement in combined packet loss of two lossy links carrying duplicate packet streams shows that two interfaces can provide a reliable link in critical situations where both interfaces have poor performance when used separately. Finally, a Bandwidth-on-Demand scenario shows that having two interfaces can allow automatic bandwidth allocation when data-rate is increased beyond the limits of one interface.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2009.
Advisor: Gordon Erlebacher, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Scientific Computing. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed on Nov. 5, 2009). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 52 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis project investigates an organic heterojunction made by common and largely available inert dyes which can operate in cellular fluid without being toxic for their environment. The heterojunction/electrolyte interface converts light into an ionic current pulse strong enough to depolarize adjacent cells. Indeed, such a photoelectrode is envisioned to act as a building block in an artificial retina. In order to achieve this goal, detailed characterization and understanding of the charge generation mechanism is necessary. To this end I realized two experimental configurations that characterize a photoelectrode made of a p/n junction cast over ITO. In the first configuration, the photoelectrode was studied in a three-electrode electrochemical cell under pulsed LED light stimulation. Using different analytical techniques, I characterized the photoelectrodes impedance and photocurrent transients as a function of a well-defined externally applied potential. In the second configuration I extended the experiment to assess the impact of a more realistic floating photoelectrode operation. In this situation the photoelectrode circuit is closed by a second, passive electrode interface that converts the ionic current back into an electronic one. As a consequence, the potential is no longer defined and I demonstrate that the properties of the passive electrode can be optimized to maximize the capacitive currents and minimize the faradic ones. The following thesis is organized in three main chapters: first an introduction, where I provide an essential background; then methods and materials, where are described the investigated system, the models used for its interpretation and the methods used to take the measurements; then result and discussion, where the measurements made in the non-floating and floating arrangements and their explicative model are presented and discussed, and simulation are performed and compared to the experimental results.

According to current development of internet technology, remote control over the internet becomes a heated discussed topic. Some recent technologies such as Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), web service and ontology offer great opportunity for remote control over the internet and a lot of research has been done into this topic. However, there are still many challenges in architecture design and dynamic user interface generation. Architectures in this research field lack clear description of controlled machine model as well as related knowledge support. Also, there is little system support further control service development. There is little research on web user interface design for remote control system over the internet. The design of web user interface has the challenge of overcoming the limitations of web technology to satisfactorily support different machines, users and control process requirements. This work overcomes the limitations on architecture by offering a SOA based design which allows both multiple users and distributed machine access. The system applies a machine model for the description of the machine structure and functions, which help the system to reason about machine components and their relationships with instructions. With a web service based design, different machines can be connected via the system and execute user commands. Using semantic description and ontology based methods the system can automatically retrieve machine information and generate the structure and function descriptions for different machines. Moreover, the system provides services which can support further development in remote control services. The proposed architecture improves on former designs, and offers a flexible architecture for remote control services over the internet. An intelligent web user interface is also introduced in this work. The design separates the interface data structure from the data representation. Supported by the remote control service development environment, the user interface could adapt to the control sessions. Semantic descriptions are used to describe the page data structure, session context as well as control command. Therefore, control page content can be adapted by the computer to real time control session. At the same time, a session dependent navigation is designed to resolve the problem of changeable requirements for multiple-machine web user interface. With a message driven model and a session dependent semantic data structure, the required machine data can be analysed by the system and categorised according to user s requirements. Compare with other designs, this service offers a method for web user interface generation for different machines, users and can adapt to different control processes. The design is demonstrated in five evaluation scenarios aimed at testing different aspects of the system. Evaluation demonstrates the design proposed in this thesis is feasible. It also shows the design can be applied to different areas and adapted to different control related requirements well.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
PROGRAMA DE EXCELENCIA ACADEMICA
Espera-se que o desenvolvimento de suítes de teste a partir de modelos possa contribuir substancialmente para a redução do esforço humano e aumentar a eficácia dos testes gerados. Entende-se por eficácia (ideal) dos testes o percentual de defeitos existentes encontrados a partir desses testes. Uma grande parte dessas técnicas baseia-se em máquinas de estado e quase sempre estão voltadas para o teste de funcionalidade. Entretanto, existe a necessidade de se poder testar sistemas altamente interativos, tais como smartphones e tablets, a partir de uma descrição de sua interface humano-computador. O objetivo da dissertação é efetuar uma primeira avaliação de uma técnica voltada para a geração de suítes de teste visando o teste de interfaces gráficas. Para tal,desenvolvemos e avaliamos a eficácia de uma ferramenta, chamada Easy, que utiliza casos de uso tabulares e máquina de estados para a geração automática da suíte de testes. Os casos de uso são descritos em linguagem natural restrita. A partir dessa descrição, a ferramenta constrói uma máquina de estado e, a seguir, a utiliza para gerar cenários. Por construção os cenários estarão em conformidade com os casos de uso. Cada cenário corresponde a um caso de teste. Os cenários são apresentados ao usuário em linguagem natural restrita, permitindo a visualização destes antes da geração dos scripts finais de testes. Os scripts gerados são destinados a uma ferramenta de execução automatizada voltada para o teste de interfaces gráficas. Neste trabalho, utilizou-se a ferramenta UI Automation, responsável pela execução de testes em aplicações destinadas ao iOS, sistema operacional de iPhone, iPad e iPod Touch. A eficácia do processo foi avaliada em uma aplicação real, disponível na loja virtual de aplicativos App Store. Além disso, foram realizados testes de IHC afim de avaliar a influência no custo da produção da suíte de teste.
It is expected that the development of test suites from models can contribute substantially to reducing the human effort and to increase the effectiveness of the generated tests. Means for tests’ effectiveness (ideal) the percentage of existing defects found by these tests. Most of these techniques is based on state machines and mostly directed to testing the functionality. However, there is a need to be able to test highly interactive systems, such as smartphones and tablets, from a description of its human computer interface. The goal of the dissertation is to make a first evaluation of a technique aimed to generate test suites for test of human computer graphic interface. For this purpose was developed and evaluated its effectiveness, a tool called Easy, using use cases tabular and state machine for the automatic generation of the suite tests. The use cases are described in natural language restricted. From this description, the tool builds a state machine, and then uses this to generate scenarios. By construction scenarios will be in accordance with the use cases. Each scenario corresponds to a test case. The scenarios are presented to the user in natural language, allowing the visualization of them before the generation of the final scripts tests. The generated scripts are intended to a running automated tool geared to testing graphical interfaces. In this work, we used the UI Automation tool, responsible for running tests on applications for the iOS, operational system for iPhones, iPads and iPod touchs. The effectiveness of the procedure was evaluated in a real application, available in the online store applications App Store. In addition, HCI tests were performed in order to evaluate the influence on the cost of production of the test suite.

L’Intelligence Artificielle (IA) et les Interfaces Homme-Machine (IHM) sont deux champs de recherche avec relativement peu de travaux communs. Les spécialistes en IHM conçoivent habituellement les interfaces utilisateurs directement à partir d’observations et de mesures sur les interactions humaines, optimisant manuellement l’interface pour qu’elle corresponde au mieux aux attentes des utilisateurs. Ce processus est difficile à optimiser : l’ergonomie, l’intuitivité et la facilité d’utilisation sont autant de propriétés clé d’une interface utilisateur (IU) trop complexes pour être simplement modélisées à partir de données d’interaction. Ce constat restreint drastiquement les utilisations potentielles de l’apprentissage automatique dans ce processus de conception. A l’heure actuelle, l’apprentissage automatique dans les IHMs se cantonne majoritairement à la reconnaissance de gestes et à l’automatisation d’affichage, par exemple à des fins publicitaires ou pour suggérer une sélection. L’apprentissage automatique peut également être utilisé pour optimiser une interface utilisateur existante, mais il ne participe pour l’instant pas à concevoir de nouvelles façons d’intéragir. Notre objectif avec cette thèse est de proposer grâce à l’apprentissage automatique de nouvelles stratégies pour améliorer le processus de conception et les propriétés des IUs. Notre but est de définir de nouvelles IUs intelligentes – comprendre précises, intuitives et adaptatives – requérant un minimum d’interventions manuelles. Nous proposons une nouvelle approche à la conception d’IU : plutôt que l’utilisateur s’adapte à l’interface, nous cherchons à ce que l’utilisateur et l’interface s’adaptent mutuellement l’un à l’autre. Le but est d’une part de réduire le biais humain dans la conception de protocoles d’interactions, et d’autre part de construire des interfaces co-adaptatives capables de correspondre d’avantage aux préférences individuelles des utilisateurs. Pour ce faire, nous allons mettre à contribution les différents outils disponibles en apprentissage automatique afin d’apprendre automatiquement des comportements, des représentations et des prises de décision. Nous expérimenterons sur les interfaces tactiles pour deux raisons majeures : celles-ci sont largement utilisées et fournissent des problèmes facilement interprétables. La première partie de notre travail se focalisera sur le traitement des données tactiles et l’utilisation d’apprentissage supervisé pour la construction de classifieurs précis de gestes tactiles. La seconde partie détaillera comment l’apprentissage par renforcement peut être utilisé pour modéliser et apprendre des protocoles d’interaction en utilisant des gestes utilisateur. Enfin, nous combinerons ces modèles d’apprentissage par renforcement avec de l’apprentissage non supervisé pour définir une méthode de conception de nouveaux protocoles d’interaction ne nécessitant pas de données d’utilisation réelles
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Computer Interactions (HCIs) are two research fields with relatively few common work. HCI specialists usually design the way we interact with devices directly from observations and measures of human feedback, manually optimizing the user interface to better fit users’ expectations. This process is hard to optimize: ergonomy, intuitivity and ease of use are key features in a User Interface (UI) that are too complex to be simply modelled from interaction data. This drastically restrains the possible uses of Machine Learning (ML) in this design process. Currently, ML in HCI is mostly applied to gesture recognition and automatic display, e.g. advertisement or item suggestion. It is also used to fine tune an existing UI to better optimize it, but as of now it does not participate in designing new ways to interact with computers. Our main focus in this thesis is to use ML to develop new design strategies for overall better UIs. We want to use ML to build intelligent – understand precise, intuitive and adaptive – user interfaces using minimal handcrafting. We propose a novel approach to UI design: instead of letting the user adapt to the interface, we want the interface and the user to adapt mutually to each other. The goal is to reduce human bias in protocol definition while building co-adaptive interfaces able to further fit individual preferences. In order to do so, we will put to use the different mechanisms available in ML to automatically learn behaviors, build representations and take decisions. We will be experimenting on touch interfaces, as these interfaces are vastly used and can provide easily interpretable problems. The very first part of our work will focus on processing touch data and use supervised learning to build accurate classifiers of touch gestures. The second part will detail how Reinforcement Learning (RL) can be used to model and learn interaction protocols given user actions. Lastly, we will combine these RL models with unsupervised learning to build a setup allowing for the design of new interaction protocols without the need for real user data

As the digital age matures, we seek to understand the Generation X and Generation Z, precisely their visual perception and emotional responses to the different dimensions of online aesthetics - classical and expressive. The development of digital products and environments with a specific user experience in mind is beneficial for creating the most suitable outcome. Emotional responses to the different aesthetics can have an impact on consumers' behaviour as well as on their opinion and the image of the digital content presented. Previous research has proven that age has an impact on visual perception and online experience, but little is known about differences in needs and approaches between the important web user groups of Generation X and Generation Z when presented with a web interface. Our research focuses on their emotional responses and initial reactions towards website interfaces that have been influenced by a specific aesthetic style and seeks to find observations to improve the online experience of these two generations. The study examined individuals from Generation X and Generation Z by conducting semi-structured interviews. We focused on two aesthetic extremes - classical design and expressive design. Participants were shown websites with high levels of the two contrasting aesthetics and asked to review their feelings caused by the websites and thoughts about the designs. Three categories of sites were used to expand the scope of websites: e-commerce, articles, and portfolios. This study found no major concrete differences between the generations and how they perceived the aesthetic extremes and reacted to them. Both generations preferred web interfaces with classical aesthetics. However, we have identified some critical structural needs that our participants have expressed irrelevant to the aesthetic direction of the page. Pages with entertainment value benefited from a more expressive aesthetic and the sites where functionality is a higher priority benefitted from a more classical aesthetic. We also came to the conclusion that none of the generations preferred a single specific aesthetic direction, therefore, no definite aesthetic preferences for either generation could be drawn. Nonetheless, small differences in emotional responses were defined. Generation Z was more open towards more expressive and visually engaging sites compared to Generation X which sought comfort in their online experience and therefore preferred classical aesthetics.

Mechanically induced (or iatrogenic) bowel injury from the use of laparoscopic instruments can result in devastating effects on patient outcomes both during and after surgery. The aim of this work was to investigate exactly how colonic tissue behaves both mechanically and structurally when it is subjected to a mechanical load. Analysis of force application in laparoscopic surgery is critical to understanding the nature of the instrument-tissue interaction. The development of a novel method of both histological analysis and mechanical analysis (by which the tool-tissue interaction can be characterised) has evolved through this thesis. Mechanical and histological analysis was undertaken to quantify the instrument-tissue interaction in laparoscopic surgery. This was done in both ex vivo and in vivo experiments, using an indentation method and laparoscopic instrument respectively, in porcine tissue. Mechanical stress was applied to the colon by indentation applied using the Modular Universal Surface Tester (MUST) (FalexTM Tribology USA) in ex vivo experiments to mechanically characterise the response of tissue to mechanical loading. Histological analysis was performed to examine the architecture of the tissue after loading. In vivo analysis of colon grasping was then performed to characterise grasper damage both mechanically and histologically. A mechanical measure of energy input into the tissue has been linked to consistent histological damage, above a 50 N grasping force and a loading input of 300 N.s This work has successfully identified specific loading conditions that result in tissue injury and is the first to make a link between the mechanical analyses of tissue manipulation with change to the architecture of the tissue.

3-D Interactive CADAM allows for easier construction, modification, analysis, and display of 3-D geometry surfaces and wire-frames. This research forms a basis for preliminary aircraft geometric design using the CADAM system. The helicopter design program, HESCOMP, originally a batch mode program, was coupled with CADAM via the CADAM data base such that the analysis, design, and redesign of the helicopter geometry and interior equipment geometry can be accomplished interactively. HESCAD, a program which produces the helicopter preliminary design model and enables the interior equipment design process, is developed. It provides a capability to evolve rapidly and refine helicopter configurations generated automatically using output from HESCOMP or interior equipment design by graphically and numerically defining helicopter components through interactive, on line, computer graphic display devices. Helicopter 3-D wireframes are automatically produced for any HESCOMP helicopter geometry output. A method which directs CADAM to analyze the helicopter components and produce weights, centers of gravity, moments and products of inertia and to review the results of the analyses directly on the screen is provided. This research was sponsored by IBM Corporation Federal Systems Division under contract No. 417503-DE. This thesis describes and illustrates the HESCAD program. Detailed graphical results are also presented.
Master of Science
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The popularity of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) has grown in recent years due to their potential performance advantages over sequential software, and as a prototyping platform for application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC). Vendors such as Xilinx offer automated tool suites that can be used to program FPGAs based on a RTL description. These tool suites are sufficient forgeneral users, but they usually don't provide the opportunity to integrate custom computer-aideddesign (CAD) tools into the regular design flow. Xilinx first offered this capability in their ISE tool suite with the Xilinx Design Language (XDL). Using XDL, a Xilinx design could be extracted from the regular CAD flow, run through an external tool, and injected back into the flow. Research tools targeting commercial FPGAs have most commonly been based on XDL. Vivado (Xilinx's newest tool suite) no longer supports XDL, preventing similar tools from being created for next-generation devices. Instead, Vivado includes a Tcl interface that exposes Xilinx's internal design and device data structures. Considerable challenges still remain to users attempting to leverage this Tcl interface to develop external CAD tools. This thesis presents the Vivado Design Interface (VDI), a set of file formats and Tcl functions that address the challenges of exporting and importing designs to and from Vivado. To demonstrate its use, VDI has been integrated with RapidSmith2, an external FPGA CAD framework. To the best of our knowledge this work is the first successful attempt to provide an opensource tool-flow that can export designs from Vivado, manipulate them with external CAD tools, and re-import an equivalent representation back into Vivado.

Electrical and Computer Engineering
M.S.E.E.
During a clinical breast exam, a doctor palpates the breast and uses factors such as estimated size and stiffness of subcutaneous inclusions to determine whether they may be malignant tumors. The Tactile Imaging System (TIS) under development at the Control, Sensing, Networking and Perception Laboratory (CSNAP) is an effort to provide accurate and consistent characterization of inclusions. The sensing principle of the TIS is based on Total Internal Reflection (TIR) of light in a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) optical waveguide positioned in front of a digital camera. When the PDMS is pressed against an object of greater stiffness it deforms, causing some light to escape the waveguide and be sensed by the camera. An algorithm maps the light pattern caused by the deformation and the force applied during the image acquisition to estimate the size, depth and stiffness of the inclusion based on a kernel model. The Third Generation Experimental TIS (TIS 3E) is an effort to improve the performance, repeatability, and usability of the system. Performance is increased through a new graphical user interface (GUI) allowing fine tuning of camera parameters, and interchangeable sensing probes for varying PDMS waveguides. Repeatability is improved with a digitally controlled lighting system, hardware triggered force sensing, and an online PDMS lighting and condition monitoring system, lowering the overall measurement error of the system. Usability is improved by a new chassis, reducing the device size and weight by 50 percent. Accuracy of the TIS 3E is comparable to the maximum accuracy TIS 1E, and exceeded the minimum accuracy of the TIS 1E. The measurement frequency was also increased from 10Hz to 50Hz. The TIS 3E will provide an accurate, consistent data acquisition platform for future Tactile Imaging Research efforts.
Temple University--Theses

This thesis reports an ontology-based approach to automatic generation of highly tailored GUI components that can make customized data requests for the end users. Using this GUI generator, without knowing any programming skill a domain expert can browse the data schema through the ontology file of his/her own field, choose attribute fields according to business's needs, and make a highly customized GUI for end users' data requests input. The interface for the domain expert is a tree view structure that shows not only the domain taxonomy categories but also the relationships between classes. By clicking the checkbox associated with each class, the expert indicates his/her choice of the needed information. These choices are stored in a metadata document in XML. From the viewpoint of programmers, the metadata contains no ambiguity; every class in an ontology is unique. The utilizations of the metadata can be various; I have carried out the process of GUI generation. Since every class and every attribute in the class has been formally specified in the ontology, generating GUI is automatic. This approach has been applied to a use case scenario in meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) area. The resulting features of this prototype have been reported in this thesis.

In the past five years, global interest regarding the development of renewable energy technologies has significantly increased. The conventional electric power generation methods sourced from fossil fuels is now problematic, from both the supply and emission points of view. Fossil fuels are non-renewable limited resources that have taken millions of years to form; eventually they will be exhausted and the current cost of automotive fuel is evidence of them becoming diminished. The carbon dioxide emissions created through the energy conversion process are causing an increase in the overall atmospheric concentrations, which through global warming may have serious consequences for humanity.Natural sources of energy production can be derived from the Sun through the use of solar and wind generation methods. Converting these sources to electricity requires the technology of power electronics, the central area of research for this dissertation. Solar energy can most easily be harnessed through the photo-electric effect which creates DC electricity. However, the majority of electric loads and transmission require AC electricity. The inverter is the electronic device required for this power conversion. Wind turbines usually create variable voltage and frequency AC that is rectified to DC and then converted to grid type AC through an inverter.Voltage source inverters, their topologies and control are investigated within this dissertation. Voltage control methods are adopted for both stand-alone and grid connected techniques where control of active and reactive power is required. Current control techniques in the form of PI and hysteresis are applied to allow novel interfaces between generation sources to be achieved. Accurate control of the power electronics allows an enhancement in the power production from the renewable energy source. The power electronic device of the DC-DC converter, either buck or boost is controlled to allow the renewable resource to operate at its optimum power point. The control aspects and algorithms of these converters are central to this research. The solar algorithms of perturb and observe, and incremental conductance are developed with the latter being more favourable to changing levels of irradiation. The author draws a parallel between rapidly changing solar conditions with normally changing wind states. This analogy with an understanding of the mechanics of PMSG allows a novel wind MPPT algorithm to be developed which is simulated in PSIM. Methods to analyse the usefulness of the algorithm are developed and general conclusions are drawn.Another aim central to the research is the efficient combination of renewable energy sources into a single reliable power system. This forms the multi-function aspect of the research. The interconnection of the sources on the AC or DC sides is investigated for both stand-alone and grid connected topologies. A requirement of the stand-alone system is to provide power when no renewable resources are available causing some form of energy storage to be utilised. Conventional batteries are used, causing the VC-VSI to become bi-directional allowing charging. This is simulated in PSIM and demonstrated as part of the Denmark and Eco Beach projects. Many differing topologies of stand alone, grid connected and edge of grid systems are developed, simulated and some are demonstrated.While investigating the currently used topologies the author invents the novel complimentary hybrid system concept. This idea allows a single inverter to be used to feed energy from either the wind or solar resource. With careful engineering of the PV array and wind turbine characteristics only a small loss of energy is caused, deemed the crossover loss. This original concept is mathematically modelled, simulated and demonstrated with results presented from the Denmark project. The strength of this idea is from the quite complimentary nature of wind and solar resources, for only a small proportion of the year are high solar and strong wind conditions occurring simultaneously.Compared to a solar resource, the wind resource is much more complicated to model. An analysis of readily available wind source data is presented with a statistical analysis of the scaling methods; a novel box and whiskers plot is used to convey this information. New software is presented to allow a more accurate and digital model of a power curve to be recreated, allowing a more precise annual energy generation calculation. For various wind turbines a capacity factor analysis is presented with its disadvantages explained. To overcome these issues the concepts of economic efficiency and conversion efficiency are explained. These prevent some of the typical methods to enhance the standard capacity factor expression. The combination of these three methods allows selection of the most suitable wind turbine for a site.The concept of a mini-grid is an isolated power generation and distribution system, which can have its renewable energy sources, centralised or decentralised. The methods used to coalesce conventional generation with renewable energy technology forms another key piece of this research. A design methodology for the development of a hybrid power system is created with examples used from projects attributed to the author. The harmonising of the renewable energy sources with the conventional generation while providing a stable and robust grid is explained in detail with respect to the generator loading and control. The careful control of the renewable resource output is shown to allow a greater overall penetration of renewable energy into the network while continuing network stability. The concept of frequency shift control is presented, simulated and demonstrated with reference to the Eco Beach project. This project epitomises much of the research that has been presented in this dissertation. It combines centralised and decentralised inverters, with battery storage and the control of diesel generators. An overall controller dictates the optimum times to charge or draw from the battery based upon the local environmental and time of day variables. Finally, the monitoring aspects of this project are representative of a future smart grid where loads may be shed on demand through under frequency or direct control.

Recent rapid advancements in mobile communication and emerging demands for complicated multimedia content and services over mobile systems have caused a dramatic increase in research interest in this area. Among the topics covering multimedia service performance over the wireless interface, the quality of received multimedia content is an important issue. With the increase of visual media in mobile services, user opinion acquired through perception of received image quality will play an increasingly important role in determining the effectiveness of such services. The work documented in this thesis is motivated by the general lack of published work on software test beds for Third Generation Mobile Network (3G) and in particular for investigating mobile environment multimedia quality degradation. A 3G multimedia quality analysis system is presented, subjecting the input multimedia stream to the simulated 3G radio activities and measuring its degradation in terms of human perception. This approach takes a new and different model of multimedia quality measurement in a wireless communication domain, showing the possibility of a more effective approach that can be applied in many cases for assisting service quality assurance research across this area. The development of this software system is covered in detail together with in-depth analysis of multimedia image quality over a simulated 3G radio interface. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is the 3G standard chosen for study in this work. The suggested test bed simulates a single Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) downlink UMTS Territorial Radio Access (UTRA) channel, where the received media's image analysis is performed using a Human Vision System (HVS) based image quality metric. The system aims to provide a multipurpose and versatile multimedia 3G test bed for use in testing of various solutions for protecting multimedia data across a 3G radio interface. Furthermore, it produces effective human vision oriented feedback on visual media degradation, providing a new and efficient method to address effectiveness of solutions in multimedia delivery over a mobile environment. This thesis shows the ability of HVS-based image quality metric in analyzing degradation of visual media over a noisy mobile environment. This presents a novel direction in the area of telecommunication service multimedia quality analysis, with potential user quality perception being considered on top of data or signal-based error measurements. With such a new approach, development of multimedia protection solutions can be made more effective. Effective feedback provided by considering quality measurement with strong correlation to human perception allows close analysis of user visual discrimination across an image. An example of the usefulness of this information is especially visible if considering development of a content-based multimedia data protective system that provides different levels of protection, depending on the importance of visual media. An apparent potential application of this thesis is in the testing of a multimedia/image protection protocol in a downlink channel. Future work might aim to extend the current system by adding network level traffic simulations and further addition of dynamic network control components, further considering network traffic conditions.

Recent rapid advancements in mobile communication and emerging demands for complicated multimedia content and services over mobile systems have caused a dramatic increase in research interest in this area. Among the topics covering multimedia service performance over the wireless interface, the quality of received multimedia content is an important issue. With the increase of visual media in mobile services, user opinion acquired through perception of received image quality will play an increasingly important role in determining the effectiveness of such services. The work documented in this thesis is motivated by the general lack of published work on software test beds for Third Generation Mobile Network (3G) and in particular for investigating mobile environment multimedia quality degradation. A 3G multimedia quality analysis system is presented, subjecting the input multimedia stream to the simulated 3G radio activities and measuring its degradation in terms of human perception. This approach takes a new and different model of multimedia quality measurement in a wireless communication domain, showing the possibility of a more effective approach that can be applied in many cases for assisting service quality assurance research across this area. The development of this software system is covered in detail together with in-depth analysis of multimedia image quality over a simulated 3G radio interface. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is the 3G standard chosen for study in this work. The suggested test bed simulates a single Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) downlink UMTS Territorial Radio Access (UTRA) channel, where the received media's image analysis is performed using a Human Vision System (HVS) based image quality metric. The system aims to provide a multipurpose and versatile multimedia 3G test bed for use in testing of various solutions for protecting multimedia data across a 3G radio interface. Furthermore, it produces effective human vision oriented feedback on visual media degradation, providing a new and efficient method to address effectiveness of solutions in multimedia delivery over a mobile environment. This thesis shows the ability of HVS-based image quality metric in analyzing degradation of visual media over a noisy mobile environment. This presents a novel direction in the area of telecommunication service multimedia quality analysis, with potential user quality perception being considered on top of data or signal-based error measurements. With such a new approach, development of multimedia protection solutions can be made more effective. Effective feedback provided by considering quality measurement with strong correlation to human perception allows close analysis of user visual discrimination across an image. An example of the usefulness of this information is especially visible if considering development of a content-based multimedia data protective system that provides different levels of protection, depending on the importance of visual media. An apparent potential application of this thesis is in the testing of a multimedia/image protection protocol in a downlink channel. Future work might aim to extend the current system by adding network level traffic simulations and further addition of dynamic network control components, further considering network traffic conditions.

The coarse mesh radiation transport (COMET) code uses response functions to solve the neutron transport equation. Most nuclear codes used today have a very steep learning curve; COMET is no exception. To ease the user's onus of learning how to create correctly formatted COMET input-files, a graphical user interface (GUI) was created. The GUI allows the user to select values for all the relevant variables while simultaneously minimizing the errors a typical new user would make. To this end, the GUI creates all of the input files required to run COMET. The GUI also provides a visualization tool that the user may use to check the problem geometry before running COMET. The GUI is also responsible for post-processing the COMET output for visualization with TecPlot. In addition to the GUI, multi-group cross section libraries were generated as part of the MHTGR-350 (Modular High Temperature Gas Reactor) benchmark problem under development at Georgia Tech. This project aims to couple COMET with a thermal hydraulics code to best model the true physics of the reactor design. In order for this goal to be actualized, six-group cross sections were generated over the operational temperature range of the MHTGR using the current coupling and collision probability code HELIOS.

This dissertation studies the surface chemistry of water and charged molecules using phase-sensitive sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy. The studied molecules include surfactants, polyelectrolytes, bitumen, and ionic liquid, which are related to technological processes, such as surface modification, catalysis, and bitumen production. Interactions of the polyelectrolyte partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide with water and cations at air/liquid interfaces were studied. The polyelectrolyte caused water molecules to re-orient with the hydrogen pointing toward the air. The addition of Na⁺ counteracted the negative charges of the polyelectrolyte. Divalent cation Ca²⁺ formed a polymer-ion complex with the polymer and completely destroyed the ordered water structure. The addition of polyelectrolytes to a surfactant solution caused a complex behavior of the surface tension. SFG studies showed that the complex surface tension behavior was the result of a surface charge reversal. A better ordered interfacial molecules produced low surface entropy, which counteracted the surface enthalpy decrease and kept the surface tension nearly unchanged at a low surfactant concentration. The ordering of water was found to play a role in surface tension. Four types of surfactants were studied: nonionic, zwitterionic, anionic, and cationic surfactants. Particularly, ionic surfactants decreased the surface entropy to near zero or even negative, which was associated with a surfactant-induced ordering of surface water molecules and an increase in hydrogen bond formation. Both effects lead to the reduction of water’s surface entropy. Studies of bitumen/water interfaces using phase-sensitive SFG showed that the bitumen surface carried negative charges, which induced a well-ordered water structure at the bitumen/water interface. The presence of salt neutralized the surface charge and nearly destroyed the ordered water structure. Both anionic and cationic surfactants interacted with the bitumen surface. Finally, the water structure at the air/1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate aqueous solution interface was studied. The orientation of water molecules indicated that a charge reversal occurred at the interface when the concentration of the ionic liquid (IL) changed. The imidazolium cations resided at the water surface at a low IL mole fraction. However, with an increased IL mole fraction, the surface number of anions increased making the surface negatively charged.
Science, Faculty of
Chemistry, Department of
Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009.
Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-102). Issued in print and online. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.

A geração automatizada de Interfaces de Usuário (IU) é objeto de estudo há muitos anos. Desde a década de 80, dezenas de projetos foram desenvolvidos e várias soluções apresentadas ao mercado. Entretanto, mesmo com os avanços obtidos neste cenário, inúmeras dificuldades ainda continuam presentes no dia-a-dia dos desenvolvedores de sistemas. A necessidade de processos, sintaxes e linguagens proprietárias associado ao elevado esforço de configuração e à baixa reutilização de tecnologias são os principais problemas nessa área. Objetivando sanar essas dificuldades, este trabalho propõe uma solução diferenciada para o problema, a qual reutiliza e integra-se à maioria das tecnologias comumente presentes nos ambientes de desenvolvimento e que conta com um exclusivo sistema de configuração, capaz de minimizar o trabalho de geração das IU. Sendo um típico gerador baseado em modelos, o software proposto é chamado MERLIN, e objetiva automatizar completamente a geracão de interfaces CRUD, as quais estão presentes em até 30% dos sistemas que operam sobre banco de dados. Para alcançar este objetivo, o software aposta no uso intensivo de heurísticas e na formação de uma estrutura auto-contida e realimentada de configurações, a qual reside unicamente nas classes compiladas da aplicação. Completando a sua arquitetura, um processo de geração em tempo de execução inibe a produção de qualquer linha de código-fonte, o que evita a necessidade de refatoração ao longo da evolução dos sistemas. Com esses elementos em evidência e focando inicialmente a plataforma Java, sinaliza-se uma solução diferenciada, apta para ser utilizada em ambientes profissionais de desenvolvimento.
The automated generation of User Interfaces (UI) has been the object of study for many years. Since the 1980s, dozens of projects have been developed and various solutions presented to the market. However, even with the advances obtained under this scenario, innumerable difficulties still continue to present themselves in the daily routine of system developers. The demands of proprietary methodologies, syntaxes and languages, the high level of effort needed for configuration and low reuse of technologies are the main problems in the area. With the object of rectifying these difficulties, this work proposes a solution specific to the problem, which reuses and combines the majority of the technologies already existing in development environments and relies on an exclusive configuration system, capable to minimize the work of generating the UI. Being a typical model based generator, the software under consideration is called MERLIN, and has as its objective to completely automate the generation of CRUD interfaces, which are present in up to 30% of the systems that interact with data bases. To achieve this objective, the software relies on the intensive use of heuristics and the creation of a self contained configuration feedback structure, which exists solely in the compiled classes of the application. Completing this architecture, a process of execution time generation eliminates the need for any source code, which significantly reduces the costs of refactoring the code throughout the evolution of the systems. With these elements in evidence and focusing initially on the Java platform, indicates that this distinguished solution is ready for use in professional development environments.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 27-30, 1997 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
There is a wave of change coming. It started in the industrial automation community and it is slowly and surely working its way into aerospace, satellite and telemetry applications. It’s called the PC, and its not just for simple quick-look data anymore. Using state-of-the-art commercial hardware and software technologies, PC-based architectures can now be used to perform self contained, reliable and high performance telemetry data acquisition and processing functions – previously the domain of expensive, dedicated front end systems. This paper will discuss many of the key enabling technologies and will provide examples of their use in a truly next generation system architecture based on the Microsoft® Windows NT Operating System and related features.

Organic photovoltaics have shown much promise as an alternative photovoltaic technology for application in low-cost, large-scale and flexible solar cells. The application of metal oxides in organic solar cells (OSCs) and the impact of the properties of metal oxide/organic hetero-interfaces on cell performance have attracted a lot of attention. The metal oxide/organic interfaces have a crucial impact on interfacial charge transfer, charge collection and the overall device performance. This thesis is aimed at clarifying the principal interfacial phenomena occurring at the metal oxide/organic hetero-interfaces as well as effective engineering of those interfacial properties in OSCs. Photo-generated electrons and holes undergo different recombination processes, e.g., bimolecular recombination and trap-assisted recombination, before being collected by the electrodes in OSCs. Light intensity-dependent current densityvoltage (JV) characteristics of OSCs were analyzed to study the effect of recombination on charge collection efficiency. Effect of metal oxide/organic hetero-interfaces on charge transfers at organic/electrode interface was analyzed using transient photocurrent (TPC) measurements. Light intensity-dependent JV characteristics and TPC characteristics were applied to explore the charge recombination dynamics in OSCs with a metal oxide interlayer. This project concentrated on an in-depth investigation of the physics and the interface phenomena such as interfacial exciton dissociation, charge recombination processes, charge collection and interface engineering for high performing OSCs. The fundamentals about light intensity-dependent J-V characteristics for OSCs were summarized. The relationship between the charge recombination dynamics and light intensity-dependent J-V characteristics in OSCs were developed. Light intensity-dependent JSC, VOC and FF in OSCs made with different bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) systems of PTB7:PC70BM, PTB7-Th:PC70BM and PNB4:PC70BM were investigated. It is found that bimolecular recombination is the most prominent factor limiting the performance of OSCs. For freshly made OSCs fabricated based on the commercial polymers, e.g. PTB7 & PTB7-Th, and the new polymer PNB4 synthesized in-house, the trap-assisted charge recombination process in the BHJ active layer plays a relatively small role. This suggests that reducing the bimolecular recombination in OSCs through selecting proper materials and device structures is crucial for enhancing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OCSs. In this work, device structures which enable reducing bimolecular recombination in OSCs were investigated. The effect of ZnO interlayer at the interface between BHJ and Al cathode on the performance of PTB7:PC71BM based OSCs was studied by a combination of theoretical simulation and experimental characterization techniques, e.g., using light intensity-dependent JV characteristic and TPC measurements etc. It shows that ZnO interlayer has a profound effect on the performance of the PTB7:PC70BM-based OSCs, although it does not have a significant influence on the maximum absorptance in the active layer. The origin of the improvement in the cell performance is associated with the efficient charge collection due to the favorable exciton dissociation at the electrode/active layer interface. It is shown that the presence of the ZnO interlayer allows using a thinner active layer without moderating the absorption in the optically optimized control OSCs without the ZnO interlayer. OSCs with a ~10 nm thick ZnO interlayer are found to be favorable for the efficient charge collection, and thereby improving the cell performance. The TPC measurements also reveal that the dissociation of excitons at the metal/organic interface of regular OSCs hinders the electron collection. The unfavorable interfacial exciton dissociation can be removed by interposing a ZnO interlayer at the Al/organic interface, thus bimolecular recombination at the electrode/active layer interface can be reduced for improving the charge collection efficiency. PCE of the OSCs using ZnO interlayer was 6.5%, which is about 20% higher than a control cell (5.4%), having an identical device configuration without a ZnO interlayer. Solution-processed anode interlayer, a mixture of solution-processed MoOX and PEDOT:PSS, was adopted for application in inverted PTB7:PC71BM-based OSCs. The ratio of MoOX to PEDOT:PSS in the mixed solution was optimized for achieving the best cell performance. A PCE of 7.4% was obtained for OSCs with an optimal MoOX-PEDOT:PSS based interlayer, interposed between the BHJ active layer and Ag anode, which means 10% enhancement over the PCE of control cell made with an evaporated MoOX interlayer. Light intensity-dependent JV characteristics implied that the bimolecular recombination in OSCs with a MoOX-PEDOT:PSS interlayer was reduced. TPC measurements showed that the favorable exciton dissociation occurs at the organic/MoOX interface for the inverted OSCs. The favorable interfacial exciton dissociation generates an electrical field within a very small space near the interface, contributing significant additional photocurrent when the effective bias across the active layer in the OSCs is low, and thereby assisting in an efficient charge collection at the organic/electrode interface. In addition to the improvement in the cell performance, the solution-processed MoOX-PEDOT:PSS interlayer does not require a post-annealing treatment, which is beneficial for application in solution-processed tandem and flexible OSCs.

Adsorption layers of soluble surfactants enable and govern a variety of phenomena in surface and colloidal sciences, such as foams. The ability of a surfactant solution to form wet foam lamellae is governed by the surface dilatational rheology. Only systems having a non-vanishing imaginary part in their surface dilatational modulus, E, are able to form wet foams. The aim of this thesis is to illuminate the dissipative processes that give rise to the imaginary part of the modulus.

There are two controversial models discussed in the literature. The reorientation model assumes that the surfactants adsorb in two distinct states, differing in their orientation. This model is able to describe the frequency dependence of the modulus E. However, it assumes reorientation dynamics in the millisecond time regime. In order to assess this model, we designed a SHG pump-probe experiment that addresses the orientation dynamics. Results obtained reveal that the orientation dynamics occur in the picosecond time regime, being in strong contradiction with the two states model.

The second model regards the interface as an interphase. The adsorption layer consists of a topmost monolayer and an adjacent sublayer. The dissipative process is due to the molecular exchange between both layers. The assessment of this model required the design of an experiment that discriminates between the surface compositional term and the sublayer contribution. Such an experiment has been successfully designed and results on elastic and viscoelastic surfactant provided evidence for the correctness of the model.

Because of its inherent surface specificity, surface SHG is a powerful analytical tool that can be used to gain information on molecular dynamics and reorganization of soluble surfactants. They are central elements of both experiments. However, they impose several structural elements of the model system. During the course of this thesis, a proper model system has been identified and characterized. The combination of several linear and nonlinear optical techniques, allowed for a detailed picture of the interfacial architecture of these surfactants.
Amphiphile vereinen zwei gegensätzliche Strukturelemente in einem Molekül, eine hydrophile Kopfgruppe und ein hydrophobe, meist aliphatische Kette. Aufgrund der molekularen Asymmetrie erfolgt eine spontane Adsorption an der Wasser-Luft Grenzfläche. Die Adsorptionsschicht verändert die makroskopischen Eigenschaften des Materials, z.B. die Grenzflächenspannung wird erniedrigt. Amphiphile sind zentrale Bauelemente der Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung, die Phänomene, wie Schäume ermöglichen.

Eine Schaumlamelle besteht aus einem dünnen Wasserfilm, der durch zwei Adsorptionsschichten stabilisiert wird. Die Stabilität der Lamelle wird durch die Grenzflächenrheologie entscheidend geprägt. Die wesentliche makroskopische Größe in diesem Zusammenhang ist das so genannte Grenzflächendilatationsmodul E. Es beschreibt die Fähigkeit des Systems die Gleichgewichtsgrenzflächenspannung nach einer Expansion oder Dilatation der Adsorptionschicht wieder herzustellen. Das Modul E ist eine komplexe Größe, in dem der Imaginärteil direkt mit der Schaumstabilität korreliert.

Diese Arbeit widmet sich der Grenzflächenrheologie. In der Literatur werden zwei kontroverse Modelle zur Interpretation dieser Größe diskutiert. Diese Modelle werden experimentell in dieser Arbeit überprüft. Dies erfordert die Entwicklung neuer experimenteller Aufbauten basierend auf nichtlinearen, optischen Techniken. Mit diesen Experimenten konnte eines der Modelle bestätigt werden.

Adaptivity is a process by which a numerical solution is improved by changing the discretisation according to some criterion based on the value of the field variable. The criterion is frequently an estimate of the error, and the improvement is frequently done by regenerating the mesh. In this work 2D error estimation and mesh regeneration schemes are described for both heat transfer and fluid flow analyses, covering both steady-state and time dependent problems. In addition, several schemes based on criteria other than error estimation are presented. Casting is an application area which has most of the features that make adaptivity worthwhile, complex geometries, time dependency, moving fronts and high gradients. Examples exhibiting these features are given, showing that solutions can be obtained at moderate computational cost and, importantly, without user interference. The generation of meshes for an adaptive casting analysis required flexibility, robustness speed and an ability to work automatically. An implementation of the advancing front 2D mesh generation method, implemented in C, is described that achieves these objectives. Some methods for improving robustness and mesh quality are outlined, as well as a description of the main data structure used to facilitate fast searching. Several examples show the ability of the generator to cope with complex geometries of the type found in casting problems. Although adaptivity can allow the major part of the solution process to be carried out automatically, an experienced operator is still required to define the analysis domain, set boundary and initial conditions, set analysis parameters and examine the results. In an effort to make casting analysis available to those with foundry, as opposed to numerical, experience, a graphical user interface has been designed and implemented. This has been done with the benefit of a considerable amount of foundry feedback, as well as recourse to the literature of human-computer interaction. The interface is currently being used successfully in a number of UK foundries.

This dissertation analyzes the ways in which the Spanish Generation X writers José Ángel Mañas (b. 1971), Lucía Etxebarria (b. 1966), Gabriela Bustelo (b. 1962), and Pedro Maestre (b. 1967) represent Madrid and other late twentieth-century cityscapes in their respective novels Ciudad rayada (1998), Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes (1998), Veo veo (1996), and Matando dinosaurios con tirachinas (1996). These novels sketch an alarming social portrait of youth dissent in Spain's nascent democracy, which had relatively recently joined social, political, and economic arms with the rest of Western Europe. I read the representations of Madrid, Edinburgh, Elda, and Alcoy in these narratives as antagonistic and anthropomorphic spaces that stalk, coerce, and then attack the first-person narrators who scurry about them, rat-like. But these characters demonstrate impressive instincts that protect them from death and emotional destruction and strengthen their identities in the face of a postauthoritarian society enmeshed in the forces of global capitalism. These Generation X authors introduce their characters to a discordant physical environment, one that works against the grain of the image Spain sought to show the world in 1992 as Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics, Seville held the Universal Exposition, and Madrid was recognized as the European Union's Capital of Culture. Spain was trying to show the world that it had resurrected itself from the ashes of dictatorship to become a modern democracy worthy of a seat at Europe's table. But Mañas, Etxebarria, Bustelo, and Maestre do not accept that line of thinking. In their renderings, Spain does not emerge as successful in international political and economic arenas but as a highly conflictive nation.

Ce travail de thèse vise à combler le fossé entre les domaines de la sémantique du Web et de la physique des particules expérimentales. En prenant comme cas d'utilisation un type spécifique d'expérience de physique, les expériences d'irradiation utilisées pour tester la résistance des composants au rayonnement, un modèle de domaine, ce qui, dans le domaine de la sémantique du Web, est appelé ontologie, a été créé pour décrire les principaux concepts de la gestion des données des expériences d'irradiation. Puis, en s'appuyant sur ce type de formalisation, une méthodologie a été conçue pour réaliser automatiquement la génération de systèmes de gestion de données fondés sur des ontologies ; elle a été utilisée pour générer des interfaces utilisateur pour l'ontologie IEDM introduite précédemment. Dans la dernière partie de ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes penchés sur l'utilisation des préférences d'affichage des interfaces-utilisateur (UI), stockées en tant qu'instances d'une ontologie de description d'interfaces que nous avons développée pour enrichir IEDM. Nous introduisons une nouvelle méthode d'encodage de ces données, instances d'ontologie, en tant que vecteurs de plongement (``embeddings'') qui pourront être utilisés pour réaliser, à terme, des interfaces-utilisateur personnalisées
This thesis work aims at bridging the gap between the fields of Web Semantics and Experimental Particle Physics. Taking as a use case a specific type of physics experiments, namely the irradiation experiments used for assessing the resistance of components to radiation, a domain model, what in Web Semantics is called an ontology, has been created for describing the main concepts underlying the data management of irradiation experiments. Using such a formalisation, a methodology has been introduced for the automatic generation of data management systems based on ontologies and used to generate a web application for IEDM, the previously introduced ontology. In the last part of this thesis work, by the use of user-interface (UI) display preferences stored as instances of a UI-dedicated ontology we introduced, a method that represents these ontology instances as feature vectors (embeddings) for recommending personalised UIs is presented

In this thesis, detailed studies are presented into self-assembled, noncentrosymmetric, optically active films. Second harmonic generation (SHG) is used to measure the second order nonlinear optical susceptibility (?(2)) of ionically self-assembled monolayer (ISAM) thin films. Conventional ISAM films are fabricated by alternately immersing a substrate into oppositely-charged polyelectrolyte solutions. The polyelectrolytes bind electrostatically to the oppositely-charged substrate, and thus reverse the charge of the substrate. The charge reversal limits the amount of adsorbed material and primes the substrate for the next layer. During the deposition of the nonlinear optical (NLO) active layer, the chromophores are attracted to the oppositely-charged surface, which results in net orientation of the chromophores. Some of the net orientation is lost during the deposition of the next NLO-inactive layer as this layer orients some of the chromophores away from the substrate. A disadvantage of the polymer ISAM deposition method is that although there is a net orientation toward the substrate, a large number of chromophores are randomly or oppositely oriented. This reduces the nonlinear optical response. To overcome this problem, two alternative methods with a better net orientation are discussed: hybrid covalent / ionic deposition and multivalent monomer deposition. In both deposition methods, the NLO-active material is a monomer instead of a polymer. In hybrid covalent / ionic deposition, the NLO-inactive polymer is deposited using electrostatic attraction while the NLO-active monomer is deposited covalently. This forces alignment of the chromophores. The multivalent method uses chromophores with multiple charges on one side of the molecule and one charge (same sign) on the other. The difference in electrostatic attraction causes a preferential orientation of the chromophores during deposition. Attempts have been made to further improve the net orientation by complexation of the monomers with cyclodextrins (cone shaped organic molecules), so far with only limited success. The SHG response of NLO-active layers near the glass and air interfaces is much stronger than the SHG response of layers in the bulk of the film for all deposition methods and NLO-active materials investigated in this thesis. For larger number of bilayers (the bulk regime), the square root of the SHG signal increases linearly with the number of bilayers as expected for a uniform chromophore orientation. We isolated the interface effects through use of buffer layers of NLO-inactive polymers. The glass interface effect extends roughly one bilayer deep for all investigated materials. The air interface effect is different for polymers and monomers. For monomers, this effect extends only one bilayer deep, while it extends multiple layers deep for polymers. Using glass cells to contain the polyelectrolyte solutions, we were able to measure the SHG signal in situ, which proved to be a powerful tool to monitor the deposition rate as a function of chosen parameters. All depositions were rapid, on the order of one minute or less. Provided that a minimum concentration is met, the deposition rate and final SHG values are independent of concentration. Bulk layers deposit at the same rate as layers near the interface. For polymer NLO-active layers a secondary, slower growth of SHG is observed that is presumably due to reorganization of the adsorbed polymer layer. This secondary growth is not observed in the deposition of NLO-active monomers.
Ph. D.

Les Interfaces Cerveau-Ordinateur basées sur l’Imagerie Mentale (IM-ICO) permettent auxutilisateurs d’interagir uniquement via leur activité cérébrale, grâce à la réalisation de tâchesd’imagerie mentale. Cette thèse se veut contribuer à l’amélioration des IM-ICO dans le but deles rendre plus utilisables. Les IM-ICO sont extrêmement prometteuses dans de nombreuxdomaines allant de la rééducation post-AVC aux jeux-vidéo. Malheureusement, leurdéveloppement est freiné par le fait que 15 à 30% des utilisateurs seraient incapables de lescontrôler. Nombre de travaux se sont focalisés sur l’amélioration des algorithmes de traitementdu signal. Par contre, l’impact de l’entraînement des utilisateurs sur leur performance estsouvent négligé. Contrôler une IM-ICO nécessite l’acquisition de compétences et donc unentraînement approprié. Or, malgré le fait qu’il ait été suggéré que les protocolesd’entraînement actuels sont théoriquement inappropriés, peu d’efforts sont mis en oeuvre pourles améliorer. Notre principal objectif est de comprendre et améliorer l’apprentissage des IMICO.Ainsi, nous cherchons d’abord à acquérir une meilleure compréhension des processussous-tendant cet apprentissage avant de proposer une amélioration des protocolesd’entraînement afin qu’ils prennent en compte les facteurs cognitifs et psychologiquespertinents et qu’ils respectent les principes issus de l’ingénierie pédagogique. Nous avonsainsi défini 3 axes de recherche visant à investiguer l’impact (1) de facteurs cognitifs, (2) de lapersonnalité et (3) du feedback sur la performance. Pour chacun de ces axes, nous décrivonsd’abord les études nous ayant permis de déterminer les facteurs impactant la performance ;nous présentons ensuite le design et la validation de nouvelles approches d’entraînementavant de proposer des perspectives de travaux futurs. Enfin, nous proposons une solution quipermettrait d’étudier l’apprentissage de manière mutli-factorielle et dynamique : un systèmetutoriel intelligent
Mental-imagery based brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCIs) enable users to interact with theirenvironment using their brain-activity alone, by performing mental-imagery tasks. This thesisaims to contribute to the improvement of MI-BCIs in order to render them more usable. MIBCIsare bringing innovative prospects in many fields, ranging from stroke rehabilitation tovideo games. Unfortunately, most of the promising MI-BCI based applications are not yetavailable on the public market since an estimated 15 to 30% of users seem unable to controlthem. A lot of research has focused on the improvement of signal processing algorithms.However, the potential role of user training in MI-BCI performance seems to be mostlyneglected. Controlling an MI-BCI requires the acquisition of specific skills, and thus anappropriate training procedure. Yet, although current training protocols have been shown tobe theoretically inappropriate, very little research is done towards their improvement. Our mainobject is to understand and improve MI-BCI user-training. Thus, first we aim to acquire a betterunderstanding of the processes underlying MI-BCI user-training. Next, based on thisunderstanding, we aim at improving MI-BCI user-training so that it takes into account therelevant psychological and cognitive factors and complies with the principles of instructionaldesign. Therefore, we defined 3 research axes which consisted in investigating the impact of(1) cognitive factors, (2) personality and (3) feedback on MI-BCI performance. For each axis,we first describe the studies that enabled us to determine which factors impact MI-BCIperformance; second, we describe the design and validation of new training approaches; thethird part is dedicated to future work. Finally, we propose a solution that could enable theinvestigation of MI-BCI user-training using a multifactorial and dynamic approach: an IntelligentTutoring System

Thesis (PhD (Physics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Silicon/silicon dioxide (Si/SiO2) interface is widely used in microelectronics as the gate between the drain and source of most metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs). The functionality, reliability and electrical properties of such transistors are strongly dependent on the quality of the Si/SiO2 structure forming the gate. Characterization of the Si/SiO2 interface is important in understanding device degradation therefore the Si/SiO2 interface is a subject of intensive investigation. Research studies of Si/SiO2 interfaces using optical methods have been reported by many groups around the world but to date many open questions still exist. The physics of photoinduced trap or defect generation processes and the subsequent trapping of charge carriers, the precise role of photoinduced interfacial electric field in altering optical properties of the Si/SiO2 interface and its role in affecting the second harmonic (SH) yield measurements are not well understood. In this work a commercial near infrared femtosecond (fs) laser source [1.55 eV, 75 ± 5 fs, 10 nJ, 80 MHz] is used to study native Si/SiO2 interfaces of free standing single crystalline Si membrane and bulk Si. Optical second harmonic (SH) generated at the Si/SiO2 interfaces of a Si membrane in reflection and for the first time in transmission is demonstrated as well as stationary, single colour, pump-probe reflectivity measurements from the Si/SiO2 interface of bulk n-type Si. The experimental setups for the second harmonic generation (SHG) and pump-probe techniques were designed and implemented, and measurements were recorded by a computer controlled data acquisition system. Free standing Si membrane samples were successfully produced at the Institut f¨ur Photonische Technologien (IPHT) in Jena, Germany from bulk Si using a chemical etching process and were characterised using the z-scan technique. The penetration depth of light with a photon energy of 1.55 eV in silicon allows transmission of the fundamental fs laser pulses through the Si membrane (∼ 10 μm in thickness) and this is exploited to generate a SH signal in transmission from the Si/SiO2 interfaces of the Si membrane. In the presence of sufficiently intense fs laser light defects are created at the interfaces and populated by multiphoton transfer of charges from Si to SiO2 where they are subsequently trapped. The transfer of charge establishes interfacial electric fields across the interfaces of the Si membrane and this enhances SHG. This phenomenon is called electric field induced second harmonic (EFISH) generation. To our knowledge, EFISH measurements from interfaces of Si membrane performed in transmission are demonstrated for the first time in the present study. The demonstration of EFISH in transmission revealed new results which allowed us to provide additional perspectives on the EFISH generation process at Si/SiO2 interfaces never reported before. The temporal response of SH signals from virgin spots were recorded at different incident laser powers for both reflection and transmission geometries. The SH responses measured in transmission were observed to be time dependent and show an increase during irradiation of the sample corresponding to EFISH process. A series of SH measurements were recorded at different laser powers to compare the magnitudes of SH yield in each detection geometry for a single Si/SiO2 interface. The magnitude of the SH yield measured in transmission was higher than expected and surpassed the SH yield measured in reflection. The expectation is based on the fact that the local intensity of the fundamental beam at the second interface where the SH in transmission is generated is low compared to the local intensity at the first interface where the SH in reflection originates. A physical model is developed to consistently interpret the experimental results obtained in this study. In this model we established the origin of EFISH signals in each detection geometry, explain the unexpected high SH signals measured in transmission and provide an analysis of the time constants extracted from SH response in transmission and reflection. In addition, we also report for the first time stationary pump-probe reflectivity measurements from bulk n-type Si(111) samples with native oxide. A strong pump beam was focused on the same spot as a weak probe beam from the same fs laser source. The change in reflectivity of the Si(111)/SiO2 system was recorded by monitoring the change in intensity of the weak reflected probe beam. The temporal evolutions of the reflectivity of the material were recorded at different pump powers. The reflectivity of the material increases over several minutes of irradiation and reaches steady-state after long time irradiation. The change in reflectivity of the material is attributed to a nonlinear process called Kerr effect, and the temporal response arises from the photoinduced interfacial electric field across the Si(111)/SiO2 interface caused by multiphoton charge transfer from bulk Si(111) to the SiO2 layer. The results reported in this study contribute to the understanding of the photoinduced interfacial electric field caused by charge carrier separation across buried solid-solid interfaces. They also reveal nonlinear optical processes such as the Kerr effect caused by charge dynamics across the interface in addition to the well known SHG process.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die silikon/silikon dioksied (Si/SiO2) skeidingsvlak word algemeen gebruik in mikro-elektronika as die hek tussen die put en die bron van die meeste metaaloksied halfgeleier veld-effek transistors (MOSFETs). Die werkverrigting, betroubaarheid en elektriese eienskappe van sulke transistors word grootliks bepaal deur die kwaliteit van die Si/SiO2 struktuur wat die hek vorm. Karakterisering van die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlak is belangrik om die degradering van die transistor te verstaan en daarom is die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlak die onderwerp van intensiewe ondersoek. Ondersoek van die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlak deur van optiese metodes gebruik te maak is geraporteer deur verskeie internasionale groepe, maar daar bestaan tot vandag toe nog n groot aantal onbeantwoorde vrae. Die fisika van die fotogenduseerde generering van defekte en van posisies waarin ladings gevang kan word, asook die daaropvolgende vasvang van ladingsdraers, die presiese rol van die fotoge¨ınduseerde elektriese veld oor die skeidingsvlak in die verandering van die optiese eienskappe van die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlak en die grootte van die tweede harmoniek (SH) sein word nog nie goed verstaan nie. In hierdie werk word n kommersile naby-infrarooi femtosekonde (fs) laserbron [1.55 eV, 75 ± 5 fs, 10 nJ, 80 MHz] gebruik om natuurlike Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlakke van vrystaande enkelkristallyne Si membrane en soliede Si te bestudeer. Optiese tweede harmoniek (SH) wat by die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlakke van ’n Si membraan gegenereer word - in refleksie en vir die eerste keer in transmissie - is gedemonstreer, asook stasionˆere, een-golflengte pomp-toets refleksiemetings op die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlak van soliede n-gedoteerde Si. Die eksperimentele opstellings vir die tweede harmoniek generering (SHG) en pomp-toets tegnieke is ontwerp en uitgevoer en metings is opgeneem deur ’n rekenaarbeheerde dataversamelingstelsel. Vrystaande Si membraan monsters is suksesvol by die Institut f¨ur Photonische Technologien (IPHT) in Jena, Duitsland vervaardig uit soliede Si deur ’n chemiese etsproses en is gekarakteriseer met behulp van die z-skanderingstegniek as deel van hierdie studie. Die diepte waartoe lig met ’n fotonenergie van 1.55 eV in silikon indring laat die transmissie van die fundamentele fs laserpulse deur die Si membraan (met ∼ 10 μm dikte) toe en dit word ontgin om ’n SH sein van die Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlakke van die Si membraan in transmissie te meet. In die teenwoordigheid van fs laserlig met voldoende intensiteit word defekte by die skeidingsvlakke geskep en bevolk deur meer-foton ladingsoordrag van die Si na die SiO2 waar die ladings daaropvolgens vasgevang word. Die oordrag van ladings skep elektriese velde oor die skeidingsvlakke van die Si membraan en dit versterk die SHG. Hierdie verskynsel word elektriese veld ge¨ınduseerde tweede harmoniek (EFISH) generering genoem. Sover ons kennis strek is die meting van EFISH seine van skeidingsvlakke van Si membrane in transmissie vir die eerste keer in hierdie studie gedemonstreer. Die demonstrasie van EFISH in transmissie het nuwe resultate opgelewer wat ons toegelaat het om bykomende perspektiewe op die EFISH genereringsproses by Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlakke te verskaf waaroor nog nooit vantevore verslag gedoen is nie. Die tydafhanklike gedrag van die SH seine van voorheen onbestraalde posisies is gemeet by verskillende drywings van die inkomende laserbundel vir beide die refleksie en transmissie geometrie¨e. Die gedrag van die SH sein in transmissie is waargeneem om tydafhanklik te wees en ’n toename te toon gedurende bestraling van die monster in ooreenstemming met EFISH prosesse. ’n Reeks van SH metings is opgeneem by verskillende laserdrywings om die groottes van die SH opbrengste in elke meetgeometrie vir ’n enkele Si/SiO2 skeidingsvlak te vergelyk. Die grootte van die SH opbrengs wat in transmissie gemeet is was ho¨er as verwag is en het die grootte van die SH opbrengs in refleksie oortref. Die verwagting is gebaseer op die feit dat die lokale intensiteit by die tweede skeidingsvlak waar SH in transmisie gegenereer word relatief laag is in vergelyking met die lokale intensiteit by die eerste skeidingsvlak waar SH in refleksie ontstaan. ’n Fisiese model is ontwikkel om die eksperimentele resultate wat in hierdie studie verkry is op ’n konsekwente wyse te interpreteer. In hierdie model het ons die oorsprong van EFISH seine in elke meetgeometrie vasgestel, die onverwagte ho¨e SH seine wat in transmissie gemeet is verklaar en ’n analise van die tydkonstantes wat uit die SH gedrag in transmissie en refleksie afgelei is gedoen. Verder rapporteer ons ook vir die eerste keer stasionˆere pomp-toets reflektiwiteitsmetings van soliede n-gedoteerde Si(111) monsters met ’n natuurlike oksied. ’n Sterk pompbundel is gefokus op dieselfde posisie as ’n swak toetsbundel van dieselfde laserbron. Die verandering in reflektiwiteit van die Si(111)/SiO2 stelsel is gemeet deur die verandering in die intensiteit van die swak weerkaatste toetsbundel te monitor. Die tydevolusie van die reflektiwiteit van die mate riaal is gemeet by verskillende pompdrywings. Die reflektiwiteit van die materiaal neem toe gedurende etlike minute van bestraling en bereik ’n stasionˆere toestand na ’n lang tyd van bestraling. Die verandering in reflektiwiteit van die materiaal word toegeskryf aan ’n nielini ˆere prosess, naamlik die Kerr effek, en die tydafhanklike gedrag ontstaan as gevolg van die fotoge¨ınduseerde elektriese veld oor die Si(111)/SiO2 skeidingsvlak wat veroorsaak word deur meer-foton ladingsoordrag van die soliede Si(111) na die SiO2 laag. Die resultate wat in hierdie studie gerapporteer word dra by tot die verstaan van die fotoge ¨ınduseerde elektriese veld oor die skeidingsvlak wat veroorsaak word deur die skeiding van ladingsdraers oor die bedekte kristal-kristal skeidingsvlak. Dit lˆe ook nie-liniˆere optiese prosesse soos die Kerr effek bloot wat veroorsaak word deur die dinamika van ladings oor die skeidingsvlak, bykomend tot die bekende SHG proses.

Questa tesi si riferisce principalmente al lavoro di design, sviluppo, produzione e validazione di una nuova scheda PCIe, chiamata Pixel-ROD (Pixel Read Out Driver), come naturale prosecuzione della precedente serie di schede di readout, oggi montate nel Pixel Detector di ATLAS. In modo particolare, questa scheda è stata pensata come evoluzione per l’elettronica off-detector presente ad ATLAS, la quale è principalmente composta da schede VME, conosciute come Back Of Crate (BOC) e Read Out Driver (ROD). Inoltre, tutte le schede ROD sono state commissionate e disegnate dal Laboratorio di Progettazione Elettronica dell’INFN e del DIFA a Bologna. Il progetto della scheda Pixel-ROD è cominciato due anni fa, poichè il trend generale per l’evoluzione dell’elettronica off-detector di LHC è quello di abbandonare la più vecchia interfaccia VME, per passare a quelle più nuove e veloci (come il PCIe). Inoltre, poichè i rivelatori di ATLAS e CMS saranno accomunati dallo stesso chip di readout che interfaccerà i futuri Pixel Detector, la Pixel-ROD potrebbe essere usata non solo per l’evoluzione di ATLAS ma anche per altri esperimenti. La caratteristica principale della Pixel-ROD è la possibilità di utilizzo sia come scheda di readout singola, sia in una catena reale di acquisizione dati, che si interfaccia con dispositivi di terze parti. Il lavoro che ho svolto in questa tesi si concentra principalmente sul design, lo sviluppo e l’ottimizzazione della scheda prima della sua fabbricazione. Dopo questa fase, utilizzando i prototipi prodotti, mi sono concentrato sul lavoro di test e validazione dei singoli componenti e delle singole interfacce montate sulla scheda. Questa fase non è ancora terminata e richiede molto tempo per essere svolta, a causa della complessità dell’elettronica che è presente sulla Pixel-ROD.

This thesis is part of the on going work at BTH (Blekinge Technical University) to develop a remote lab for Sound and Vibration Experiments. The aim of this undertaking is to develop a Spectrum Analyzer that can simultaneously take inputs from 10 sensors and be able to measure the Power Spectral Density, Cross correlation, Frequency Response Functions (FRF) and coherence. The Interface and analysis algorithms are developed inLabview programming language. The thesis starts by introducing the overall aim of the project and its scope, the place of this particular thesis in the whole picture and the algorithms used for analysis are introduced. In the second part of the thesis the development of the software is explained and the main aim is to thoroughly document the software. This part of the thesis explains Labview programming concepts in detail to make it easier for other students who want to undertake theses to continue this work and who may not have experience of Labview programming.Two versions of the spectrum analyzer were developed. The third part explains theexperimental set up and results obtained and compares measurements to those obtained using other spectrum analyzers. An accurate Spectrum Analyzer Virtual Instrument has been developed and tested during this thesis project and it can be used as a component of the proposed Sound and vibration analysis laboratory and also for general Spectral Analysis tasks.
Good guide to learn Labview and sound and vibration analysis..
fkul08@gmail.com Is my email and i can be contacted via messenger usually at farooq_kifayat@hotmail.com And i can also be contacted via skype using farooqkifayat as my name. I move around a lot so i have no permanent address that stays longer than half a year .

From being a fictional element in sci-fi, voice control has become a reality, with inventions such as Apple's Siri, and interactive voice response (IVR) when calling your doctor's office. The combination of radio’s strength as a hands-free medium, public radio’s mission to reach across all platforms and the rise of voice makes up a relevant intersection; voice controlled public radio in Sweden. This thesis has aimed to investigate how radio listeners wish to interact using voice control to listen to on-demand radio content. Additionally, what does public radio need to consider when implementing the UX for voice control? A questionnaire, Google Analytics-data from Sveriges Radio’s mobile app and website, and an interview with National Public Radio were used to determine four initial functions voice controlled on-demand. The functions were turned into four scenarios, used as the basis for a workshop and brainstorming session. Three of these scenarios were then selected to be the foundation for a Wizard of Oz-prototype, which six users evaluated. The results indicate that to create a viable voice user interface (VUI) for radio, there needs to be a profile for the user to create a personalized experience, with filtered searches created by user behaviour and preference settings. The VUI also needs to allow synonyms for program names, as well as keyword tag material for clustering similar material and to enable personalized user searches. This keyword-system can further be utilized to give user recommendations based on behaviour and preferences. A companion application with a graphical user interface (GUI) can be used for such functionality as settings, help, queuing and creating playlists. Finally, the system needs to ensure that the users are taken care of and guided. A radio host can be used as a basis for the system's persona, to create a consistent and familiar interface. Aspects to examine in the future are more extensive user testing for the VUI design, filter bubbles, ensuring that the user data is not misused or leaked, dimensions of the system's persona, the future of radio and the progress of IPAs.