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May, Stephen. "Life! Death! Prizes! : resisting generic representation." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2016. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34459/.
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This project contains the novel 'Life! Death! Prizes!' which was published by Bloomsbury in the UK in April 2012 and in the USA in September 2012. 'Life! Death! Prizes!' was later translated into German as Wir Kommen Schon Klar and published by Berlin Verlag in 2013. The novel was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and The Guardian Not The Booker Prize. The commentary which accompanies the novel explores the starting points for the book, which were my dissatisfaction with my work as a television storyliner on Emmerdale and my discovery of the world of story contained within ‘real life’ magazines such as Chat, Bella, Pick It Up, Love It, Take A Break etc. In the commentary I will explore the narrative strategies used to build an accessible literary novel that borrows from the structure of a ‘real life’ magazine story while observing closely the society we are living in. A novel that explores the nature of the contemporary family and what it is to be a young man trying to build a life in 21st century Britain. In the first chapter I look at how my ostensibly realist and voice-driven novel uses the folk tale Hansel and Gretel and techniques borrowed from ancient Greek drama, as well as exploiting the possibilities and challenges offered by the use of both generic instability and unreliable narration. The second chapter investigates more explicitly the politics of the novel. In this chapter I seek to address how the police, education, local government workers, the law and social services are represented in popular culture and how far these representations are supported, critiqued or challenged by the unreliable narration in 'Life! Death! Prizes!' In both chapters I will assess the current landscape of contemporary fiction and describe where my novel fits within it.
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Zeng, Wei. "Living matter generic mechanisms in embryonic tissue morphogenesis /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3167805.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Physics, 2005.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-04, Section: B, page: 1943. Adviser: James A. Glazier. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Nov. 22, 2006)."
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Dawson, Laurence James. "Generic techniques in general purpose GPU programming with applications to ant colony and image processing algorithms." Thesis, Durham University, 2015. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11211/.
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In 2006 NVIDIA introduced a new unified GPU architecture facilitating general-purpose computation on the GPU. The following year NVIDIA introduced CUDA, a parallel programming architecture for developing general purpose applications for direct execution on the new unified GPU. CUDA exposes the GPU's massively parallel architecture of the GPU so that parallel code can be written to execute much faster than its sequential counterpart. Although CUDA abstracts the underlying architecture, fully utilising and scheduling the GPU is non-trivial and has given rise to a new active area of research. Due to the inherent complexities pertaining to GPU development, in this thesis we explore and find efficient parallel mappings of existing and new parallel algorithms on the GPU using NVIDIA CUDA. We place particular emphasis on metaheuristics, image processing and designing reusable techniques and mappings that can be applied to other problems and domains. We begin by focusing on Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO), a nature inspired heuristic approach for solving optimisation problems. We present a versatile improved data-parallel approach for solving the Travelling Salesman Problem using ACO resulting in significant speedups. By extending our initial work, we show how existing mappings of ACO on the GPU are unable to compete against their sequential counterpart when common CPU optimisation strategies are employed and detail three distinct candidate set parallelisation strategies for execution on the GPU. By further extending our data-parallel approach we present the first implementation of an ACO-based edge detection algorithm on the GPU to reduce the execution time and improve the viability of ACO-based edge detection. We finish by presenting a new color edge detection technique using the volume of a pixel in the HSI color space along with a parallel GPU implementation that is able to withstand greater levels of noise than existing algorithms.
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Golics, Catherine. "The conceptualisation, development and validation of a generic health-related family quality of life measure." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2013. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/47576/.
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Chronic conditions have an impact on the quality of life (QoL) of families as well as patients themselves, and the two are often linked; the greater the effect on the patient, the more the QoL of the family members is reduced. Research into family QoL exists in several medical specialties, but studies have usually been focused on carers or families of patients with one specific disease. Currently, there is no generic instrument that can be used to measure the impact of illnesses on the partner or family members of patients. This study describes the development of the Family Reported Outcome Measure (FROM-16)©. The aims of this study were to investigate the impact of disease on family members of patients over a wide range of specialties, identify key impact areas and develop a generic family quality of life measure. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 133 family members of patients from 26 medical specialties. Family members were invited to discuss all the areas of their lives that had been affected by having an unwell relative. Thematic analysis was carried out using NVivo9© software. A preliminary 31-item measure was developed from the content of the interviews with family members. Content validity was assessed using qualitative and quantitative data from expert panels involving clinicians and family members. A separate cohort of 240 family members was recruited for both Rasch analysis and factor analysis to reduce items. A further 120 family members completed the final version of the FROM-16 for full psychometric testing including construct validity and reliability. Most family members interviewed were female (61%), the partner or spouse of the patient (56%) or the parent (22%). The mean age was 56.1 years (range= 21-85) and the mean duration of the patient’s disease was 8.9 years (range= one month to 60 years). 10 key themes of family quality of life were identified from interviews. The median number of themes reported by family members was 6 (range= 1-10). The key themes included: emotional impact (mentioned by 92% of subjects), daily activities (91%), family relationships (69%), sleep and health (67%), holidays (62%), support and medical care (61%), work and study (52%), financial impact (51%), social life (37%), and time planning (14%). Relationships between the themes were identified. A 31-item generic family quality of life instrument, the Family Reported Outcome Measure (FROM)©, with a 5-point Likert response scale was developed. The content validity panel's ratings of each item on a 4-point scale for the four attributes showed either "strongly agreed" or "agreed" (88%), with an ICC value of 0.98 (CI=0.97-0.99) suggesting a high agreement between the panel members' responses. Collapsing response categories, removing misfitting items and combining items with residual correlations produced a good fit to the Rasch model (n=240, Total χ2 = 56.6, df = 48, p = III 0.18). Factor analysis produced a 16-item measure with two factors. The FROM showed high internal consistency (n=120, Cronbach’s α= 0.91), high reproducibility (n=51, ICC=0.93) and a mean completion time of two minutes. Construct validity was proven through the correlation between the FROM and the WHOQOL-BREF total scores (n=119, r=-0.55, p<0.001), and the correlation between the FROM and the patient’s overall health score (n=120, r=-0.51, p<0.001). This large scale multi-specialty study has demonstrated the great, yet similar impact that illness can have on the quality of life of family members of patients. Family quality of life is a previously neglected area of healthcare which needs to be addressed in order to provide better support for the patient and for the family unit. The FROM is both reliable and valid for use in family members of patients. It has a potential for wide use, including clinical (all medical specialties), industrial and social sciences.
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Ponder, Christopher John. "A generic computer platform for efficient iris recognition." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2015. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6780/.
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This document presents the work carried out for the purposes of completing the Engineering Doctorate (EngD) program at the Institute for System Level Integration (iSLI), which was a partnership between the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde. The EngD is normally undertaken with an industrial sponsor, but due to a set of unforeseen circumstances this was not the case for this work. However, the work was still undertaken to the same standards as would be expected by an industrial sponsor. An individual’s biometrics include fingerprints, palm-prints, retinal, iris and speech patterns. Even the way people move and sign their name has been shown to be uniquely associated with that individual. This work focuses on the recognition of an individual’s iris patterns. The results reported in the literature are often presented in such a manner that direct comparison between methods is difficult. There is also minimal code resource and no tool available to help simplify the process of developing iris recognition algorithms, so individual developers are required to write the necessary software almost every time. Finally, segmentation performance is currently only measurable using manual evaluation, which is time consuming and prone to human error. This thesis presents a completely novel generic platform for the purposes of developing, testing and evaluating iris recognition algorithms which is designed to simplify the process of developing and testing iris recognition algorithms. Existing open-source algorithms are integrated into the generic platform and are evaluated using the results it produces. Three iris recognition segmentation algorithms and one normalisation algorithm are proposed. Three of the algorithms increased true match recognition performance by between two and 45 percentage points when compared to the available open-source algorithms and methods found in the literature. A matching algorithm was developed that significantly speeds up the process of analysing the results of encoding. Lastly, this work also proposes a method of automatically evaluating the performance of segmentation algorithms, so minimising the need for manual evaluation.
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Bettiol, Renato Ghini. "Generic properties of semi-Riemannian geodesic flows." Universidade de São Paulo, 2010. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/45/45131/tde-21072010-170243/.
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Let M be a possibly non compact smooth manifold. We study genericity in the C^k topology (3<=k<=+infty) of nondegeneracy properties of semi-Riemannian geodesic flows on M. Namely, we prove a new version of the Bumpy Metric Theorem for a such M and also genericity of metrics that do not possess any degenerate geodesics satisfying suitable endpoints conditions. This extends results of Biliotti, Javaloyes and Piccione for geodesics with fixed endpoints to the case where endpoints lie on a compact submanifold P of MxM that satisfies an admissibility condition. Immediate consequences are generic non conjugacy between two points and non focality between a point and a submanifold (or also between two submanifolds).Seja M uma variedade suave possivelmente não compacta. Estuda-se a genericidade na topologia C^k (3<=k<=+infty) de propriedades de não degenerescência de fluxos geodésicos semi-Riemannianos em M. A saber, provase uma nova versão do Teorema de Métricas Bumpy para uma tal M e também a genericidade de métricas que não possuem geodésicas degeneradas cujos pontos finais satisfazem certas condições. Isso estende resultados anteriores de Biliotti, Javaloyes and Piccione para geodésicas com extremos fixos para o caso onde os extremos variam em uma subvariedade compacta P de M ×M que satisfaz uma condição de admissibilidade. Consequências imediatas são genericidade de não conjugação entre dois pontos e não focalidade entre um ponto e uma subvariedade (ou também entre duas subvariedades).
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Duncan, Kirsty. "The development and testing of a generic musculoskeletal version of the Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale." Thesis, Keele University, 2017. http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/4180/.
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Background: Attitudes and beliefs that healthcare practitioners (HCPs) hold about musculoskeletal (MSK) pain influence their clinical behaviour. The Pain Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (PABS), originally developed for low back pain (LBP), is the most widely used and tested measure of HCPs’ attitudes and beliefs, however further development and testing is indicated. Poor performance of its biopsychosocial orientation scale is attributed to inadequate conceptualisation of the orientation. Aims: To develop a new biopsychosocial orientation scale for the PABS and adapt the original LBP specific version as a measure of HCPs' attitudes and beliefs about common MSK pain. Methods: The research was conducted in six stages. Firstly, a scoping review identified constructs used to quantify HCPs’ attitudes towards common MSK pain. Stage two used a concept mapping methodology to develop a new conceptual framework for biopsychosocial clinical orientation to common MSK pain. This framework was used to generate candidate items for redevelopment of the biopsychosocial scale (stage three) and then included in a national survey of physiotherapists, GPs and chiropractors (stage four) to collect data for initial development and testing (stage five and six). Methods: The research was conducted in six stages. Firstly, a scoping review identified constructs used to quantify HCPs’ attitudes towards common MSK pain. Stage two used a concept mapping methodology to develop a new conceptual framework for biopsychosocial clinical orientation to common MSK pain. This framework was used to generate candidate items for redevelopment of the biopsychosocial scale (stage three) and then included in a national survey of physiotherapists, GPs and chiropractors (stage four) to collect data for initial development and testing (stage five and six). Conclusion: The new version of the PABS (the PABS-MSK) is the most comprehensively developed measure of HCPs’ attitudes and beliefs concerning MSK pain to date. The biomedical scale is robust and while both scales require further validation, the research provides a solid conceptual grounding for further amendments of the measure. The conceptual framework provides a contemporary comprehensive understanding of the biopsychosocial clinical approach to MSK pain.
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Krishnamurthy, Sandeep 1967. "An analytical and experimental investigation of issues in the organization of generic advertising campaigns." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289366.
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Generic advertising campaigns promote the general qualities of a product to customers thus improving the demand of all firms who market that product. Recent national campaigns of this nature include the milk advertising campaign "Got Milk?" and the advertising campaign by florists "Think Flowers." The focus of this dissertation is to study, through analytical modeling and an experimental economics perspective, the strategic issues that arise in the organization of such an advertising campaign. We investigate two mechanisms used in practice--Voluntary Contribution Mechanisms (VCMs) and Mandated Contribution Mechanisms (MCMs). In the former, industry members can decide if they want to participate and if so, how much they wish to contribute. Here, the strategic problem relates to achieving complete participation. Specifically, either "free-rider" or "cheap-rider" equilibria obtain, leading to sub-optimal advertising. In order to overcome this, we propose the Provision Point VCM where the campaign is conducted only if contributions exceed a pre-determined threshold. Here, optimal advertising is always a feasible equilibrium. We experimentally investigated the impact of these two VCMs, face-to-face communication and completeness of information on contributions. Managers with experience in such advertising also participated in our study. The findings from the forty four economic experiments were: (1) Simple VCM led to lower efficiency in comparison to Provision Point VCMs. (2) When the provision point was set at the Pareto Optimum, a high efficiency and provision percentage resulted. (3) Communication always led to gains in efficiency. A weak long-term effect was found in the Simple VCM case and a strong long-term effect was found in the Provision Point VCM case. (4) The efficiency in the complete and incomplete information cases for both Simple and Provision Point VCMs were very similar. This is a surprising result. In MCMs, the government stipulates a payment rule by legislation and all industry members must comply. Firms can reduce their share of the advertising budget only by under-stating privately held information, leading to sub-optimal advertising. We design a mechanism that overcomes this by ensuring that truthful information revelation is the dominant strategy for all firms.
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Bajunaid, Mohammed M. "The effectiveness of co-operative education programmes for developing students’ awareness of the importance of generic competencies." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2008. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/489/.
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The research problem of this study was based on the existing skills gap between education and employment in Saudi Arabia. The Institute of Public Administration like other educational institutions has established Co-operative education programmes (Co-op) in order to build a partnership with the private sector. Co-op was one of the objectives of the state’s sixth development plan (1414 – 1420h), (1995 – 2000) and is used to increase education sufficiency and improving its quality. It is argued that, to meet the future demands for appropriately skilled managers and workers, ongoing collaboration and consultation with industry is required to ensure the goals of all primary stakeholders - students, educators and industry employers - are met (Walo, 2000). The primary objective of the study was to explore the effectiveness of the Co-operative education programmes, which are provided by private sector companies and some government agencies under the supervision of the Institute of Public Administration, in developing the students’ awareness of the importance of generic competencies required for IPA’s Post-secondary Diploma degree for graduates entering the workplace. Through a quantitative and qualitative study, this research compared the perceptions held by employers, teachers and students (before and after particpating in the Co-op) about the importance of the generic competencies required for IPA's post-secondary graduates entering workplace today, and employers’ and teachers’ perceptions of the most important competencies required to be developed in the graduates. A survey questionnaire adapted from the research tool used in studies by Hodges and Burchell (2003) and Lin (2005), based on Spencer and Spencer’s work (1993) was administered to 38 of IPA’s eastern province’s organisations which participated in IPA’s Co-op programme in the last 3 years, 38 teachers from IPA’s Dammam branch, and 99 students from IPA’s Post-secondary programmes (before and after particpating in the Co-op). Employers were interviewed as a further qualitative component to give more depth to the study. The frequency distribution, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA plus post-hoc Seheffe, Kruskal-Wallis test plus post-hoc Mann-Whitney, and ‘Direct Ranking’ statistical methods were used to identify the differences between the participant groups. The findings revealed that there is a good agreement between the four groups on the importance of a broad range of competencies. The study has revealed the impact of Co-operative education programmes. This was clear for example when students (after particpating in the Co-op) joined employers in ranking English language (writing), English language (speaking), and English language (overall) among the ten most important competencies, and their awareness of the importance of competencies remained high across a broad range of competencies. This study has also shown the importance placed on ethical competencies by educators and industrial professionals. The study has also shown that employers’, teachers’, and students’ perceptions of the importance of competencies were affected by their different demographic characteristics. The study showed that all groups perceived both hard and soft competencies as important, and there was consistency between the four groups in favouring soft competencies over hard competencies. The results showed that there was an agreement between employers and teachers in the need to improve IPA’s Post-secondary graduates’ performance in the competency of English language (overall), as a priority as well as some ethical competencies, and the hard competency of computer literacy. The study showed that Post-secondary Programme (PSP) was ranked in first place as the most important source that developed students’ awareness of the importance of competencies, whether in an individual area or under the two categories hard and soft. Second was home/family/community, third came the Co-op Programme, fourth was school, and self-taught came in the last rank The study clearly reflected the effectiveness of IPA’s Post-secondary Programmes in developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies, and the impact of home/family/community in this objective. The study also asserted that Co-operative education programme was effective as well; based on its short-term impact in comparison to the long-term influence expected by other sources. The study revealed a lack of effort in schools directed to developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies. The results in general revealed the positive impact of Co-operative education in developing students’ awareness of the importance of competencies to be closer to the requirements of employers.
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Maglinte, Gregory Anthony. "Generic health-related quality of life measures in the national health measurement study comparing different preference-based scores and deriving U.S. general population norms for the SF-36v2 /." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2009. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1971758851&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Michail, Antonios. "An investigation of the relationship between value chain activities and generic strategies in small and medium-sized enterprises in UK manufacturing." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2011. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/3873/.
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In this study an in depth investigation of successful competitive strategies for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is undertaken. The overall aim of this study is to analyse the strategic orientation of UK Manufacturing SMEs. In the process, it will test Porter’s (1980, 1985) theoretical framework of generic strategies and thus evaluate firms’ preferred strategic synthesis. It will, therefore, test the efficacy of the value chain and develop any specific pattern that relates to a combination strategy. The investigation of the above objectives is undertaken utilising a mixed research methodology with the purpose of examining the applicability of existing competitive strategy frameworks (phase 1) and testing a new theoretical framework that incorporates additional dimensions of strategy (phase 2). During phase 1, Porter’s framework is employed to investigate SMEs’ strategic orientation as a means to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. A semi-structured questionnaire is employed and the analysis is carried out by means of factor and cluster analysis to identify strategic variables currently employed by SMEs. During phase 2, the theoretical framework is operationalised to bridge the gap within the literature and existing empirical research. Its purpose is to identify forms of successful competitive strategies of UK MSMEs as they are formulated and implemented in firms’ value chain activities. The data was collected through a number of semi-structured interviews and the analysis was based on data categorisation. The findings indicate that Porter’s (1980) single generic strategies are not the best option for UK MSMEs for gaining competitive advantage and that the
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Alragum, Sharifah Nasser. "Health-Related Quality of Life In Kuwait: Validation of Generic and Disease-Specific Measures." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2008. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/10277.
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Physical TherapyPh.D.
Chronic diseases such as diabetes have become increasingly prominent around the world. Diabetes care requires a combination of medication, exercise, diet, self-management education, and psychosocial care to reduce the risk of long-term complications. Following this strict regimen can have an adverse effect on the patient's quality of life. Quality of life is a broad concept that is difficult to define and study. This study focused on the health-related component of quality of life. Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in Kuwait. While the incidence of the disease is documented, little is known about its effect on the life of the Kuwaiti population. This is partly due to the lack of valid Arabic versions of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instruments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct validity of two HRQOL measures in a sample of older adults in Kuwait with Type 2 diabetes. The two measures were the Short Form 36-Item Health Survey version 2.0, a generic measure, and the Problem Areas in Diabetes survey, a disease-specific measure. A total of 240 Kuwaiti citizens over the age of 55 years living in Kuwait City participated in this study. Participants were divided into two groups: the Diabetes Group included 120 older adults with diabetes and the Control Group included 120 older adults without diabetes. Three approaches were used to assess the construct validity of the Arabic versions of the SF-36v2 Health Survey and the Problem Areas in Diabetes survey: factor analysis, correlation, and known-group method. The results of this study support the use of the Arabic versions of the two surveys to measure HRQOL of older adults in Kuwait with Type 2 diabetes. Standards for construct validity were well met, with few exceptions.
Temple University--Theses
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Hammar, Alexander. "That Joke isn't Funny Anymore : A Generic Inquiry into the Fundamentals of Old Comedy." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för lingvistik och filologi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-380375.
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Chachapoyas, siesquen Nancy carolina. "Invariants des variétes déterminantales." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014AIXM4100.
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Dans ce travail nous étudions les variétés determinantales essentiellement isolées (EIDS). Ce type de singularité est une généralization de la notion de singularité isolée. La variété determinantale générique $M_{m,n}^t$ est un sous-ensemble des matrices, mxn, tels que le rang est inférieur que t, où t≤m≤n. Une variété X est determinantal si X est définie comme la pré-image d'une fonction holomorphe, $F:\mathbb{C}^N \to M$, sur la variété determinantale générique avec la condition $codim X=codim M_{m,n}^t$.Certains travaux précédents ont étudié les variétés determinantales avec singularité isolée et ils ont défini le nombre de Milnor d'une surface determinantale et la caractéristique évanescente d'Euler.Nous étudions l'ensemble des hyperplans limites d'hyperplans tangents à une surface determinantale en $\mathbb{C}^4$ et 3-variété en $\mathbb{C}^5$ pour donner une caractérisation de ces hyperplans, par le fait que le nombre de Milnor de leur section avec la surface dans le premier cas ou la 3- variété dans le deuxième cas n'est pas minimum.Nous montrons également que, si X est une EIDS, de dimension d et H et H' sont des hyperplans fortement généraux, si $P \subset H$ et $P'\subset H'$ sont des plans de codimension d-2, les nombres de Milnor des surfaces genériques sont égaux.Nous étudions aussi la modification de Nash d'une EIDS et donnons des conditions suffisantes pour que cette transformation soit lisse.Un autre objectif de notre travail est l'étude de l'obstruction d'Euler d Nous obtenons des formules inductives qui relient l'obstruction d'Euler de X à la caractéristique d'Euler évanescente du lissage essentiel de leurs sections génériquesIn this work, we study the essentially isolated determinantal singularities (EIDS). This type of singularities is a natural generalization of isolated ones. A generic determinantal variety $M_{m,n}^t$ is a subset of the space of mxn matrices, given by matrices of rank less than t, where t≤m≤n. A variety X is determinantal if X is defined as the pre-image of $M_{m,n}^t$ by a holomorphic function $F:\mathbb{C}^N \to M$ with the condition $codim X=codim M_{m,n}^t$.Several recent works investigate determinantal variety with isolated singularities and they are difened the Milnor number and the vanishing Euler characteristic.In this work we study the set of limits of tangent hyperplanes to surface in $\mathbb{C}^4$ and 3-variety in $\mathbb{C}^5$ to give a characterization of this set by the fact that the Milnor number of its section with the surface in the first case or the 3-dimensional determinantal variety in the second case is not minimum. We also prove that if X is a d- dimensional EIDS and H and H' are strongly general hyperplans, if $P \subset H$ and $P'\subset H'$ are d-2 linear plans, the Milnor number of the generic surfaces are equal.We study the Nash transformation of an EIDS and give sufficient conditions for this transformation to be smooth.Another aim of our study is the Euler obstruction of essentially isolated determinantal singularities. We obtain inductive formulas associating the Euler obstruction with the vanishing Euler characteristic of the essencial smoothing of their generic sections
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Guner, Dunya Rauf Levent. "Modeling Of A Generic Laser Guided Weapon With Velocity Pursuit Guidance And Its Performance Analysis Using Various Control Strategies." Master's thesis, METU, 2004. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12605386/index.pdf.
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In this thesis, a base for the modeling and analysis of laser guided weapons is constituted. In particular, the effects of several control schemes on the performance of a generic laser guided weapon system are investigated. In this generic model, it is assumed that the velocity pursuit guidance is employed via a velocity aligning seeker as the sole sensor.
The laser seeker is modeled experimentally, based on data obtained by conducting a series of tests. The laser reflection is also modeled. Aerodynamic coefficients of the generic geometry are generated by the software Missile Datcom. A nonlinear, six degree of freedom simulation is constructed incorporating 10 Hz laser sensing, velocity pursuit guidance, seeker model, and multiple control schemes.
The effects of bang-bang, bang-trail-bang, multiposition and continuous control techniques on weapon performance are investigated for stationary and moving targets under ideal and noisy conditions. Flight characteristics like miss distance, range envelope, impact speed, and time of flight are monitored. Weapon’
s maneuverability is investigated and the effect of employing a theoretical down sensor on the performance is demonstrated. In the light of simulation results, comparisons between various schemes are carried out, improvements on them and their flight envelopes are emphasized. It is concluded that the multiposition scheme provides a significant performance increase in most delivery types and can be an alternative to the continuous scheme. It is shown that the continuous scheme can achieve longer ranges only if backed up by a down sensor.
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Rynell, Erik. "Action reconsidered : cognitive aspects of the relation between script and scenic action /." Helsinki : Teatterikorkeakoulu, 2008. http://www.teak.fi/general/Uploads_files/rynell_action_reconsidered.pdf.
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Aziz, Norashid. "Dynamic optimisation and control of batch reactors : development of a general model for batch reactors, dynamic optimisation of batch reactors under a variety of objectives and constraints and on-line tracking of optimal policies using different types of advanced control strategies." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4402.
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Batch reactor is an essential unit operation in almost all batch-processing industries. Different types of reaction schemes (such as series, parallel and complex) and different order of model complexity (short-cut, detailed, etc. ) result in different sets of model equations and computer coding of all possible sets of model equations is cumbersome and time consuming. In this work, therefore, a general computer program (GBRM - General Batch Reactor Model) is developed to generate all possible sets of equations automatically and as required. GBRM is tested for different types of reaction schemes and for different order of model complexity and its flexibility is demonstrated. The above GBRM computer program is lodged with Dr. I. M. Mujtaba. One of the challenges in batch reactors is to ensure desired performance of individual batch reactor operations. Depending on the requirement and the objective of the process, optimisation in batch reactors leads to different types of optimisation problems such as maximum conversion, minimum time and maximum profit problem. The reactor temperature, jacket temperature and jacket flow rate are the main control variables governing the process and these are optimised to ensure maximum benefit. In this work, an extensive study on mainly conventional batch reactor optimisation is carried out using GBRM coupled with efficient DAEs (Differential and Algebraic Equations) solver, CVP (Control Vector Parameterisation) technique and SQP (Successive Quadratic Programming) based optimisation technique. The safety, environment and product quality issues are embedded in the optimisation problem formulations in terms of constraints. A new approach for solving optimisation problem with safety constraint is introduced. All types of optimisation problems mentioned above are solved off-line, which results to optimal operating policies. The off-line optimal operating policies obtained above are then implemented as set points to be tracked on-line and various types of advanced controllers are designed for this purpose. Both constant and dynamic set points tracking are considered in designing the controllers. Here, neural networks are used in designing Direct Inverse and Inverse-Model-Based Control (IMBC) strategies. In addition, the Generic Model Control (GMC) coupled with on-line neural network heat release estimator (GMC-NN) is also designed to track the optimal set points. For comparison purpose, conventional Dual Mode (DM) strategy with PI and PID controllers is also designed. Robustness tests for all types of controllers are carried out to find the best controller. The results demonstrate the robustness of GMC-NN controller and promise neural controllers as potential robust controllers for future. Finally, an integrated framework (BATCH REACT) for modelling, simulation, optimisation and control of batch reactors is proposed.
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Shanes, Joshua. "National regeneration in the Diaspora Zionism, politics and Jewish identity in late Habsburg Galicia 1883-1907 /." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 2005. http://lib.haifa.ac.il/theses/general/001318596.pdf.
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Jabareen, Yousef Taiseer. "Constitutional protection of minorities in comparative perspective : Palestinians in Israel and African-Americans in the United States /." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 2003. http://lib.haifa.ac.il/theses/general/001300803.pdf.
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Prego, Lilach. "Algorithm for directed graph clustering, based on edge weights and the implementation on web graphs /." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 2005. http://lib.haifa.ac.il/theses/general/001344252.pdf.
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Lautin, Julia. "Skriver man en eller skriver en man? : En kartläggning av hur normkritiskt en används på nätet." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Svenska, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-43647.
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Användningen av en istället för man som nominativform för det svenska generiska pronomenet har varit en av den feministiska språkpolitikens stora frågor under det senaste decenniet. Den här studien har undersökt hur användningen faktiskt ser ut på nätet, både genom en diakron delstudie på bloggar under perioden 1998-2017 och genom en synkron jämförelse mellan olika texttyper. Därtill har studien undersökt ifall andelen nominativt en ökar i relation till dess motsvarighet man. Resultatet av dessa undersökningar är att användningen ökar, både över tid och i andelar, men att det går långsamt och att användningen av man fortfarande uppgår till omkring 99% av alla förekomster av det generiska pronomenet i subjektsposition. Olika argument har föreslagits av olika forksare angående hur nominativt en faktiskt kan användas, med begränsningar till vissa kontexter eller till vissa referenter. Resultaten från den sista delstudien i den här uppsatsen visar att en kan användas i samma kontexter och med samma referenter som man. Sedan diskuteras resultaten i relation till tidigare studier vad det gäller hur en och man kan användas.
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Al-Ghamdi, Osama Ahmad. "The genetic basis of low levels of PSA in the general population." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.665488.
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Al-Habsi, Hamdan. "General practitioner and patient perspectives on cancer genetic services in primary care." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.417722.
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Boisvert, Danielle. "Rethinking Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime: A Behavioral Genetic Approach." Cincinnati, Ohio : University of Cincinnati, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1243306307.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Cincinnati, 2009.Advisor: John P. Wright. Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed July 29, 2009). Keywords: low self-control; behavioral genetics; Mx; Gottfredson and Hirschi; general theory of crime; sex differences; biosocial criminology. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.
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Moffat, Anthony F. J., D. J. Hillier, Wolf-Rainer Hamann, and S. P. Owocki. "General Discussion." Universität Potsdam, 2007. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2008/1795/.
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Carrigan, Raymond Sidney John. "General semantics." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/18080.
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Cáceres, Cruz José de Jesús. "Randomized Algorithms for Rich Vehicle Routing Problems: From a Specialized Approach to a Generic Methodology." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/127153.
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El Problema de Enrutamiento de Vehículos (VRP) y sus diferentes variantes básicas son un dominio ampliamente estudiado en la comunidad científica de optimización. Algunos estudios han utilizado combinaciones específicas de restricciones encontradas en la vida real para definir los emergentes VRP Enriquecidos. Este trabajo aborda la integración de heurísticas, probabilidad sesgada, simulación, técnicas de computación distribuida & paralelas, y programación con restricciones. Los enfoques propuestos han solucionado algunas variantes del VRP: en primer lugar, las familias deterministas: VRP con flotas Heterogéneas (HVRP), VRP con flotas Heterogéneas y costo variable (HVRP-V), VRP con flota Heterogénea y Múltiples viajes (HVRPM), VRP con matriz de costo Asimétrica (AVRP), VRP con flota Heterogénea y matriz de costo Asimétrica (HAVRP), VRP con ventanas de Tiempo (VRPTW), y VRP Distancia limitada (DCVRP); en segundo lugar, las familias de naturaleza estocástica: VRP con Demandas estocásticas (VRPSD), y Problemas de Inventario y Enrutamiento de Vehículos con Demandas estocásticas (IRPSD). Una extensa revisión bibliográfica se ha realizado para cada una de estas variantes. Un primer enfoque propone la combinación de una aleatorización sesgada con heurísticas clásicas para la solución de problemas deterministas. Un segundo enfoque se centra en la combinación de heurísticas aleatorias con simulación (Simheuristics) para ser aplicados sobre los problemas estocásticos comentados. Por último, se propone un tercer enfoque basado en el trabajo conjunto de heurísticas aleatorias con programación de restricciones para resolver varios tipos de problemas de enrutamiento. Los algoritmos heurísticos desarrollados han sido aplicados en varios casos de referencia --entre ellos, dos estudios de casos reales de distribución en España-- y los resultados obtenidos son, en general, prometedores y útiles para los decisores.The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a well known domain in optimization research community. Its different basic variants have been widely explored in the literature. Some studies have considered specific combinations of real-life constraints to define the emerging Rich VRP scopes. This work deals with the integration of heuristics, biased probability, simulation, parallel & distributed computing techniques, and constraint programming. The proposed approaches are tested for solving some variants of VRPs, namely, first, the deterministic families: Heterogeneous VRP (HVRP), Heterogeneous VRP with Variable cost (HVRP-V), Heterogeneous fleet VRP with Multi-trips (HVRPM), Asymmetric cost matrix VRP (AVRP), Heterogeneous fleet with Asymmetric cost matrix VRP (HAVRP), VRP with Time Windows (VRPTW), and Distance-Constrained VRP (DCVRP); second, the stochastic nature families: VRP with Stochastic Demands (VRPSD), and Inventory Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands (IRPSD). An extensive literature review is performed for all these variants, focusing on the main contributions of each work. A first approach proposes a biased-randomization of classical heuristics for solving the deterministic problems addressed here. A second approach is centered on the combination of randomized heuristics with simulation (Simheuristics) to be applied on the commented stochastic problems. Finally, a third approach based on the joined work of randomized heuristics with constraint programming is proposed to solve several types of routing problems. The developed heuristic algorithms are tested in several benchmark instances --between these, two real-life case studies in Spain are considered-- and the results obtained are, on average, highly promising and useful for decision makers.
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Demberg, Rebecca. "Linguistic sexism : A study of sexist language in a British online newspaper." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-36871.
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The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of sexist language-use in the British online newspaper The Daily Mail. The material consists of 162 articles that were analysed by using feminist stylistics. The scope of the study was limited to selected features from feminist stylistics at word- and discourse-level. The features of linguistic sexism analysed were the use of gendered generic words, naming of females and males and how female and male characters are described. The gender of the journalists was also analysed to examine if it affected the language-use in terms of sexism. The results show that linguistic sexism is expressed to some extent at both word-level and discourse-level. At word-level linguistic sexism is expressed inthe generic use of some masculine words, the difference of how first name and surname are used to refer to women and men and in the use of titles. At the level of discourse linguistic sexism is expressed in the difference of how women and men are referred to in terms of their relationship to others and in terms of appearance. The gender of the journalist did not show any significance for the language-use in terms of sexism. Considering the limited material of the study, the results might not be suitable for generalisations. The results are nonetheless interesting and it can be concluded that the toolkit of feminist stylistic is relevant to this day and that linguistic sexism exists to some extent in the online version of The Daily Mail.
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Ågren, Linda. "Linguistic sexism in mermaid tales : a study of linguistic sexism involving the mermaid figure in films." Thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad, Sektionen för lärande och miljö, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-11764.
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Gress, Leslie Anne. "Adult Use of Longitudinal Genetic Services." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1336507935.
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Friberg, Lundin Jessica. "Tandvårdsrädsla, generell oro och självkänsla : Dental fear, general anxiety and self-esteem." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Psykologi, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-6317.
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Tanaka, Kenta. "Pollen dispersal and genetic selection in Dipterocarpus tempehes(Dipterocarpaceae)affected by general flowering." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/150054.
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Mancapa, Vusisizwe. "A general genetic algorithm for one and two dimensional cutting and packing problems." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/555.
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Cutting and packing problems are combinatorial optimisation problems. The major interest in these problems is their practical significance, in manufacturing and other business sectors. In most manufacturing situations a raw material usually in some standard size has to be divided or be cut into smaller items to complete the production of some product. Since the cost of this raw material usually forms a significant portion of the input costs, it is therefore desirable that this resource be used efficiently. A hybrid general genetic algorithm is presented in this work to solve one and two dimensional problems of this nature. The novelties with this algorithm are: A novel placement heuristic hybridised with a Genetic Algorithm is introduced and a general solution encoding scheme which is used to encode one dimensional and two dimensional problems is also introduced.
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Lawrence, Barbara. "Gender and general practice: the single-handed woman General Practitioner." Thesis, Aston University, 1987. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/12186/.
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This research examines women GPs' careers, how they run their practices and how they reconcile professional and domestic lives. It looks at the particular experiences of women GPs who practise alone, and at the pressures in past practice experience which have led them to do so. It is argued that many of the problems of group practice which can be identified are attributable to gender. For example, one reason given for entering general practice is a desire to be able to provide the full range of medical care and not to specialise. Women GPs, however, may find themselves seeing more women patients for "women's problems" and children than they would freely choose. Women have not entered general practice in order to specialise in these areas of medicine. Indeed, if they had wanted to specialise in obstetrics, gynaecology or paediatrics they would have had difficulty advancing very far in these male-dominated areas of hospital hierarchy. Other gender related problems exist for women in general practice and practising single-handedly is one strategy that women GPs have used to counter the problems of working in male-dominated practices and partnerships. However, the twenty-four hour commitment of single-handed practice may bring further pressures in reconciling this with responsibility for home life. Out-of-hours cover, which can be viewed as the link between professional and domestic life, where the one intrudes into the other, is also examined in terms of the gender issues it raises. The interaction of gender and ethnicity is also considered for the 11 Asian women GPs in the study. Interviews were conducted with 29 single-handed women GPs in the Midlands. In addition, some cases were studied in greater depth by being observed in their surgeries and on home visits for a day each. A qualitative/feminist approach to analysis has been employed.
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Helgesson, Robert. "Generalized General Logics." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-70127.
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Logic as a vehicle for sound reason has a long and lustrous history and while most developments follow the traditional notions of binary truth and crisp sentences, great efforts have been placed into the problem of reasoning with uncertainties. To this end the field of "fuzzy logic" is now of great importance both theoretically and practically. The present monograph seeks to extend and clarify the treatment of non-classical notions of logic and, more broadly, information representation in general. This is done using two theoretical developments presented with additional discussions concerning possible applications. The first theoretical development takes the form of a novel and strictly categorical term monad that readily allows for a multitude of non-classical situations and extensions of the classical term concept. For example, using monad composition we may represent and perform substitutions over many-valued sets of terms and thereby represent uncertainty of information. As a complementary example, we may extend this term monad to incorporate uncertainty on the level of variables and indeed the operators themselves. These two notions are embodied inthe catchphrases "computing with fuzzy" and "fuzzy computing". The second theoretical development is a direct generalization of the notion of general logics, a successful categorical framework to describe and interrelate the various concepts included under theumbrella term of 'logic'. The initial leap towards general logics was the introduction of institutions by Goguen and Burstall. This construction cover the semantic aspects of logics and in particular, axiomatizes the crucial satisfaction relation. Adding structures for, e.g., syntactic entailment and proof calculi, Meseguer established general logics as a framework capable of describing a wide range of logics. We will in our generalization further extend general logics to more readily encompass non-classical notions of truth such as in fuzzy logics and logics operating over non-classical notions of sets of sentences.Logik är ett gammalt och kraftfullt verktyg för att föra korrekta resonemang och människor har under lång tid studerat och tillämpat olika logiska system. Dessa studier har till stor del fokuserat på logik som innefattar ett binärt sanningsbegrepp, det vill säga logik där en utsaga är antingen sann eller falsk. Givetvis är detta en väldigt begränsad vy då vi i vår vardag ofta måste värdera sanning på en betydligt mer flexibel skala. På samma sätt måste vi ofta resonera och fatta beslut utifrån information som på olika sätt kan vara osäker. En djupare förståelse för dessa otraditionella logiker är därför av stort intresse till exempel i expert-system som mekaniskt föreslår beslut utifrån osäker information. I denna monografi beskriver vi två matematiska ramverk som tillåter oss att beskriva dessa typer av otraditionella logiker och otraditionell representation av information i allmänhet. Dessa teoretiska konstruktioner är kompletterade med diskussioner relaterade till praktiska och vidare teoretiska tillämpningar. Den första av de två teoretiska konstruktionerna är en strikt kategoriteoretiskt definierad termmonad som kan beskriva termer och variabelsubstitution för en mängd olika otraditionella termkonstruktioner. Till exempel, genom monadkomposition kan vi representera flervärda mängder av termer och detta ger oss möjlighet att representera osäker information. Alternativt kan vi konstruera en termmonad som uttrycker osäkerhet på ett mer fundamental sätt genom att termernas ingående variabler och operatörer i sig kan ha associerad osäkerhet. Den andra teoretiska konstruktionen är en direkt generalisering av det matematiska ramverket "generell logik" som axiomatiserar de olika komponenter som ofta faller under logikbegreppet. I generell logik beskrivs dock dessa utifrån en traditionell vy och för att beskriva otraditionella logiker krävs därför ofta obekväma representationer. Den nämnda generaliseringen syftar därför till att förenkla konstruktionen av mer exotiska logiker inom ett ramverk som till stor del liknar generell logik.
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Vakarelov, Orlin. "GENERAL SITUATED COGNITION." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/202751.
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The dissertation is based on four papers that together offer a theory of General Situated Cognition. The project has two overarching goals: (1) to unify existing foundational approaches to cognition by investigating cognition within the framework of the philosophy of information; (2) to characterize the function of cognition and suggest a general (meta-)framework for cognitive architecture. Two of the papers, "Pre-cognitive Semantic Information" and "The Information Medium", deal primarily with the concept of information. They offer a pragmatic and structural account of information, as well as a novel and more general theory of meaning appropriate for simple, non-linguistic organisms - the interface theory of meaning. The papers lay the theoretical and conceptual machinery needed for the other two papers, "The Cognitive Agent: Overcoming Informational Limitations" and "Information Networks: A Meta-architecture for Situated Cognition", which investigate cognition as a general natural phenomenon. They specify the function of cognition as the mechanism in an organism that overcomes informational deficits. They also offer a broad architecture of cognitive systems based on networks of information media, which encompasses, and thus unifies existing approaches to cognition, such as the computational/symbolic approach, the connectionist approach, the dynamicist approach and the ecological embodied approach.
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Montecalvo, Federico. "General covering designs." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.610945.
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Aguinaga, Rafael. "Biotecnología: visión general." Revista de Química, 2013. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/99091.
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Lores, Seijas Alessandra. "Hospital general universitario." Bachelor's thesis, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10757/578643.
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Nichols, S. "General public and general practitioner reactions to screening for colorectal cancer." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.381270.
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Anderson, Mary Jo. "Students with disabilities in general education settings: general education teacher preparation." Diss., Kansas State University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/4619.
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Doctor of EducationDepartment of Special Education
Warren J. White
Historically, the provision of special education has moved from settings isolated from children without disabilities to services in public school classrooms with non-disabled peers. As advocates began to impact civil rights legislation, the educational rights of individuals with disabilities were realized, and laws began to protect them. Public Law 94-142, 1975 and subsequent reauthorizations assured these students a free and appropriate public education and, to the greatest extent possible, with non-disabled peers. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 became law. Its goal is that all children, including children with disabilities, attending public schools in the United States would be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. Consequently, students with disabilities have had an increased presence in general education classrooms. Some leaders in the field of special education imply that teacher preparation might not be keeping up with current trends and that it is their responsibility to make changes to teacher education programs so that beginning teachers are prepared for current job demands. The primary purpose of this study was to determine what is being taught in elementary education teacher preparation programs regarding how to teach students with disabilities who are educated entirely or in part in general education settings. The goal was to provide information to IHE’s considering more comprehensive and specialized training for elementary preservice general educators by making critical program adjustments in order to prepare effective educators in the context of classrooms in which students with disabilities receive some of their education, and importantly, to inform those adjustments. This study explored levels to which preferred knowledge and skills for including students with disabilities in elementary general education classrooms are taught and assessed. It also looked at differences among state licensing and university graduation coursework requirements. The study represented approximately 15,075 preservice teachers from 72 different universities in the United States. It revealed a full range of levels at which skills are taught and assessed. There are notable inconsistencies in special education requirements for general education teacher candidates seeking initial licensure.
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Woltanski, Amelia R. "Views on Religion and Abortion: A Comparison of Genetic Counselors and the General Population." Cincinnati, Ohio : University of Cincinnati, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1179430116.
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Alsadaie, Salih M. M. "Design and Operation of Multistage Flash (MSF) Desalination: Advanced Control Strategies and Impact of Fouling. Design operation and control of multistage flash desalination processes: dynamic modelling of fouling, effect of non-condensable gases on venting system design and implementation of GMC and fuzzy control." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/15924.
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The rapid increase in the demand on fresh water due the increase in the world population and scarcity of natural water puts more stress on the desalination industrial sector to install more desalination plants around the world. Among these desalination plants, multistage flash desalination process (MSF) is considered to be the most reliable technique of producing potable water from saline water. In recent years, however, the MSF process is confronting many problems to cut off the cost and increase its performance. Among these problems are the non-condensable gases (NCGs) and the accumulation of fouling which they work as heat insulation materials. As a result, the MSF pumps and the heat transfer equipment are overdesigned and consequently increase the capital cost and decrease the performance of the plants. Moreover, improved process control is a cost effective approach to energy conservation and increased process profitability. Thus, this study is motivated by the real absence of detailed kinetic fouling model and implementation of advance process control (APC). To accomplish the above tasks, commercial modelling tools can be utilized to model and simulate MSF process taking into account the NCGs and fouling effect, and optimum control strategy. In this research, gPROMS (general PROcess Modeling System) model builder has been used to develop the MSF process model. First, a dynamic mathematical model of MSF is developed based on the basic laws of mass balance, energy balance and heat transfer. Physical and thermodynamic properties of brine, distillate and water vapour are included to support the model. The model simulation results are validated against actual plant data published in the literature and good agreement with these data is obtained. Second, the design of venting system in MSF plant and the effect of NCGs on the overall heat transfer coefficient (OHTC) are studied. The release rate of NCGs is studied using Henry’s law and the locations of venting points are optimised. The results reveal that high concentration of NCGs heavily affects the OHTC. Furthermore, advance control strategy namely: generic model control (GMC) is designed and introduced to the MSF process to control and track the set points of the two most important variables in the MSF plant; namely the Top Brine Temperature (TBT) which is the output temperature of the brine heater and the Brine Level (BL) in the last stage. The results are compared to conventional Proportional Integral Derivative Controller (PID) and show that GMC controller provides better performance over conventional PID controller to handle a nonlinear system. In addition, a new control strategy called hybrid Fuzzy-GMC is developed and implemented to control the same aforementioned loops. Its results reveal that the new control outperforms the pure GMC in some areas. Finally, a dynamic fouling model is developed and incorporated into the MSF dynamic process model to predict fouling at high temperature and high velocity. The proposed dynamic model considers the attachment and removal mechanisms of calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide with more relaxation of the assumptions. Since the MSF plant stages work as a series of heat exchangers, there is a continuous change of temperature, heat flux and salinity of the seawater. The proposed model predicts the behaviour of fouling based on the physical and thermal conditions of every single stage of the plant.
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Egieyeh, Elizabeth Oyebola. "Inter-professional collaboration between general practitioners and community pharmacists: general practitioners’ perspectives." Thesis, University of Western Cape, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/3382.
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Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharmThe global movement towards enhancing inter-professional collaboration in patient care is in light of the increasing potency of drugs and complexity of drug regimens, particularly in the chronically ill where poly-pharmacy is rife, collaborative patient management by general practitioners and community pharmacists, in particular, has the potential to enhance patient therapeutic outcomes in primary healthcare. Literature from other parts of the world has enumerated the advantages of collaboration. South Africa with its unusual quadruple burden of disease and human resource deficient public healthcare system would benefit from collaboration between general practitioners and community pharmacists through expanded roles for community pharmacists to enable them to make more meaningful contributions to primary healthcare regimens. Particularly with the introduction of the National Health Insurance (NHI) programme. This dissertation aims to assess from general practitioners‟ perspectives: the current level and stage of collaboration (using the collaborative working relationship (CWR) model proposed by McDonough and Doucette, 2001) between general practitioners and community pharmacists in patient care, if general practitioners‟ perceptions of the professional roles of community pharmacists in patients‟ care can influence desired collaboration (prospects of enhanced future collaboration) and how do general practitioners envision enhanced future collaboration between them and community pharmacists in patient care, possible barriers to the envisioned collaboration between the two practitioners, and how general practitioners‟ demographic characteristics influence inter-professional collaboration with community pharmacists. Sixty randomly selected consenting general practitioners in private practice participated in a cross-sectional, face- to-face questionnaire study. The questionnaire contained a range of statements with Likert scale response options. Data was initially entered into Epi Info (version 3.5.1., 2008) and then exported to IBM SPSS Statistical software for analysis (version19, 2010). Medians were used to summarize descriptive data and Spearman‟s correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test was used for bivariate analysis. Ethical approval was granted by the Senate Research and International Relations Committee, University of the Western Cape (Ethical Clearance Number: 10/4/29). The results indicated low-levels of current collaboration at stage 0 of the CWR model between general practitioners and community pharmacists. A statistically significant correlation was observed between general practitioners‟ perceptions of the professional roles of community pharmacists and desired collaboration (prospects of enhanced future collaboration), [p=0.0005]. Good prospects of enhanced future collaboration between general practitioners and community pharmacists were observed. General practitioners identified barriers to collaboration to include: the lack of remuneration for collaboration, absence of a government mandate or policy supporting collaboration, inability of general practitioners to share patients‟ information with community pharmacists and questionable professional ethics exhibited by community pharmacists particularly over financial gains. Most general practitioners agreed that joint continuing professional education organized by pharmaceutical companies or other groups will increase interaction and enhance collaboration. Enhanced Inter-professional collaboration between general practitioners and community pharmacists‟ can be possible in the future but hindrances need to be eliminated for this to be achieved. Future research can be aimed at exploring the perspectives‟ of community pharmacists to inter-professional collaboration in South Africa and interventions that will enhance collaboration.
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Ahmadian, Mohammad Réza. "A general strategy for the optimal design of laminated composites by the polar-genetic method." Versailles-St Quentin en Yvelines, 2007. http://www.theses.fr/2007VERS0008.
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La thèse propose une formulation générale de la conception optimale des composites stratifiés, exprimée comme un problème d’optimisation avec contraintes en fonction de tous les paramètres constitutifs du stratifié et en utilisant la méthode polaire. Dans l’approche présentée il n’est pas nécessaire d’introduire d'hypothèses simplificatrices, que ce soit sur les critères de conception ou sur l’espace de recherche. D’autre part, une partie importante de ce travail concerne la production d’une nouvelle version de l’algorithme génétique BIANCA: il s’agit d’un algorithme génétique multi population, capable de résoudre des problèmes difficiles d’optimisation avec contraintes et multi objectif, dont les problèmes formulés pour la conception optimale des composites stratifiés. Dans la dernière partie, l’algorithme BIANCA est testé pour la résolution des problèmes formulés selon l’approche basée sur la méthode polaire; de nombreux cas d'intérêt sont traités en conception de composites stratifiés. Appliquée à une série étendue de cas d'exemple, la méthode polaire-génétique montre son efficacité et sa robustesseIn this thesis, we introduce a new global approach to the optimal design of laminated composites. This method uses the polar representation of plane tensors and the design of laminates is formulated as a constrained optimization problem without any pre-defined simplifying hypothesis. The design variables are all the constitutive parameters of the laminate. The first part of the thesis concerns the creation of a suitable genetic algorithm, BIANCA, able to handle any constrained/unconstrained and multi-objective optimization problems, and which is rich in its architecture and information representation. The genetic algorithm BIANCA is successfully applied to the resolution of optimal design problems for composite laminates, as they are formulated by our polar approach. Several practical cases are treated, and through an extended series of examples, we show the effectiveness and robustness of the polar-genetic method for the optimal design of composite laminates
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Stewart, Scott C. "General aviation reliability study /." Available to subscribers only, 2007. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1328062981&sid=36&Fmt=2&clientId=1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Arizona, University of. "1987-1989 General Catalog." University of Arizona, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/293327.
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Bennett, Bruce. "Cinema and general economy." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.428754.
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von, Fuerst Steven. "General relativistic radiative transfer." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2006. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1444684/.
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In this thesis I explore the radiative transfer process where relativistic effects are important. Strong gravity modifies the observable properties of the light emitted by an object. A photon no longer travels in straight lines, and its frequency is shifted as it propagates. Gravitational lensing may make multiple images of the emitter, further modifying the temporal and spectral properties of its emission. The first part of my thesis investigates the motion of particles in a strong gravitational field (near a black hole). I derive the equations of motion for massive or massless particles acted upon by external forces. Efforts are made to work out self-consistently the structure of the accreting flow around central super-massive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN). I calculate the line and continuum emission from accretion disks and tori around rotating black holes using a ray-tracing method. I also study the effect of line-of-sight absorption, with a model in which the absorbing medium is composed of virialised clouds. The second part of the thesis examines situations where scattering is important. I derive a covariant transfer formulation which uses a basis set of projected symmetric tensors for a series of moments. My formulation is similar, yet simpler than an alternative method which uses projected symmetric trace-free tensors derived by Thorne (1981). I then calculate the emission from accretion tori where electron scattering dominates other radiative processes.
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Manuel, Darrel Trevor Desmond. "General and automatic visualizations." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390166.
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