Escape Rates and Singular Limiting Distributions for Intermittent Maps with Holes

We study the escape dynamics in the presence of a hole of a standard family of intermittent maps of the unit interval with neutral fixed point at the origin (and finite absolutely continuous invariant measure). Provided that the hole (is a cylinder that) does not contain any neighborhood of the origin, the surviving volume is shown to decay at polynomial speed with time. The associated polynomial escape rate depends on the density of the initial distribution, more precisely, on its behavior in the vicinity of the origin. Moreover, the associated normalized push forward measures are proved to converge to the point mass supported at the origin, in sharp contrast to systems with exponential escape rate. Finally, a similar result is obtained for more general systems with subexponential escape rates; namely that the Ces\`aro limit of normalized push forward measures is typically singular, invariant and supported on the asymptotic survivor set.Comment: To appear in Trans. Amer. Math. So

Conception de transistors MOS haute tension en technologie CMOS 0,18 µm sur substrat "silicium sur isolant" (SOI) pour les nouvelles générations de circuits intégrés de puissance

Les circuits intégrés de puissance combinent dans une même puce des fonctions logiques digitales, obtenues par des circuits CMOS, associées à des interrupteurs de puissance de type transistors DMOS. La demande pour des applications de plus en plus complexes nécessite l'utilisation de lithographies plus fines pour augmenter la densité de composants CMOS. L'évolution des technologies CMOS oblige à développer des composants DMOS compatibles dans les circuits intégrés de puissance. Le travail de cette thèse se concentre sur la conception de transistors LDMOS haute tension (120 V) compatibles avec un procédé CMOS 0,18 µm sur substrat « silicium sur isolant » (SOI). Différentes architectures de transistors LDMOS à canal N et P ont été proposées et optimisées en termes de compromis « tenue en tension / résistance passante spécifique » à partir de simulations TCAD à éléments finis. Les performances de ces structures ont été comparées en termes de facteur de mérite Ron×Qg qui est le produit entre charge de grille et résistance passante spécifique, mais aussi en termes d'aire de sécurité. Les meilleurs transistors STI-LDMOS et SJ-LDMOS (à canal N) et R-PLDMOS (à canal P) affichent des performances statiques et dynamiques comparables voire parfois supérieures à celles des composants de puissance de la littérature. Différentes mesures effectuées sur les transistors LDMOS réalisés par ATMEL et comparées aux simulations ont permis de valider les simulations effectuées dans cette thèse.Power integrated circuits combine on a same ship digital logic functions from CMOS circuits associated with power switches such as DMOS transistors. The demand for more and more complex applications requires finer lithography in order to increase the CMOS components density. The evolution of CMOS technology requires developing new DMOS components compatible with the power integrated circuits. This thesis focuses on the conception of high voltage LDMOS transistors (120V) compatible with a 0.18 µm CMOS process based on a “silicon on insulator” substrate. Several N and P channel LDMOS transistor designs were studied and optimised in terms of “breakdown voltage / specific on-state resistance” trade-off from finite element TCAD simulations. The performances of the structures were compared in terms of figure of merit Ron×Qg, which is the product between the on-state resistance and the gate charge, and in terms of safe operating area. The best STI-DLMOS and SJ-LDMOS (N-type) and R-PLDMOS (P-type) transistors exhibit static and dynamic performances comparable and sometime superior to those of the state-of-the-art power transistors. Different experimental measurements carried out on LDMOSFETs manufactured by ATMEL and compared with simulations, allowed to validate the simulation results performed in this thesis

The blockchain: opportunities and challenges for agriculture

Nathalie Toulon from the AgroTIC Digital Agriculture Chair in France discusses the many ways in which the blockchain can potentially change agriculture, for example by enhancing trust, transparency and efficiency, and several pitfalls to take into account. Like any new technology, the blockchain should not be viewed as a panacea. For it to serve development, it will need to matur

La blockchain : opportunités et défis pour l'agriculture

Nathalie Toulon de la Chaire d'entreprises en agriculture numérique AgroTIC (France), examine les nombreuses manières dont la blockchain pourrait modifier l'agriculture, notamment en renforçant la confiance, la transparence et l'efficacité, ainsi que les différents risques à prendre en compte. Comme toutes les nouvelles technologies, la blockchain ne doit pas être considérée comme la panacée. Pour profiter au développement, elle doit encore évoluer

Achieving conservation and equity amidst extreme poverty and climate risk: The Makira REDD+ Project in Madagascar

Achieving forest conservation together with poverty alleviation and equity is an unending challenge in the tropics. The Makira REDD+ pilot project located in northeastern Madagascar is a well-suited case to explore this challenge in conditions of extreme poverty and climatic vulnerability. We assessed the potential effect of project siting on the livelihoods of the local population and which households would be the most strongly impacted by conservation measures. Farmers living in hilly areas must resort to slash-and-burn agriculture (tavy) since a combination of topographic and climatic constraints, such as cyclones, makes permanent rice cultivation very difficult. These are the people who suffer most from conservation-related restriction measures. For practical reasons the project, unfortunately, did not target these farmers. The main focus was on communities with a lower cyclonic risk that are able to practice permanent rice agriculture in the lowlands. To reduce deforestation without violating the principles of equity, REDD+ projects in Madagascar need to better target populations facing high climatic risks and invest in efforts to improve the farmers' agricultural systems. (Résumé d'auteur

The Spark of Rebellion: A play exploring the question, when does protest for female rights become a crime?

Our task was to create an original piece of theatre based on the module themes; Riots, Resistance and Power. At the first pitching session the two concepts that stood out for us were Pussy Riot and The Suffragettes, as they were both strong female groups which had interesting parallels. This made us ask, when does protest for female rights become a crime? Why did women feel it necessary to break the law when protesting? Our initial research consisted of reading contemporary articles and watching documentaries, from which we created verbatim dialogue in our script. We also included naturalistic monologue and dialogue, live ensemble singing, stylised physical gestures, recorded sound and symbolic props. Christabel Pankhurst was the first suffragette to use violence as a form of protest and so we decided to focus on her as our main suffragette. To link Pussy Riot with Christabel we used a prison in an undefined location. We justified this through Rokem’s idea that ghosts can disrupt time and space. Nadya was our present, Christabel was a ghost from the past there to reignite the spark of rebellion in her.   We created a section of immersive theatre that joined our exhibition and performance. We took the audience on a march with us whilst singing The March of the Women, a song written by the Suffragettes. This set the scene and emotion that we wanted to portray and helped engage the audience immediately with our piece. We wanted to ignite the spark of rebellion in the audience and draw attention to the fact that Christabel Pankhurst had anticipated the continued fight for women’s basic human rights

Pre-analytical stability of coagulation parameters in plasma stored at room temperature

Introduction: Haemostasis testing is influenced by many pre-analytical variables, such as storage time and temperature, which can affect the stability of coagulation factors and influence the results of coagulation assays. We investigated the stability of haemostasis tests after storage of aliquoted plasma at RT, including the variability of measurement principle and reagent used for determination. Methods: Blood samples from 20 healthy volunteers were obtained, processed to PPP and aliquoted. Aliquots were stored at RT for 0 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours. PT, aPTT, fibrinogen, D-Dimers and coagulation factors (FII, FV, FVII, FX, FVIII, FIX, FXI, FXII) were determined by STA-R Max (R) and ACL-TOP (R). VWF:Ag and vWF:RCo were determined by AcuStar (R). Clinically relevant changes, compared to the initial measurement, were denoted as a percentage change of > 10% according to the 99% CI. Results: For both analysers, a clinically relevant change of > 10% was observed for FV after 2 hours, FVIII after 4 hours and for aPTT, FII, FVII, FX and FXII after 48 hours of storage at RT. Statistically significant, but no clinically relevant differences were observed after 48-hours storage for PT, fibrinogen and FIX. D-Dimers, FXI, vWF: Ag and vWF: RCo were found stable up to 48 hours at RT. Conclusion: Overall, compared to the limits given by the current CLSI guidelines, for most coagulation parameters investigated in this study a longer storage period could be accepted. Time intervals for FVIII and FV dosage were shorter than recommended by the CLSI guidelines. For PT determination, our findings were consistent