100 research outputs found
Vers une approche interdisciplinaire et collaborative des sciences citoyennes en santé mentale
No full textUne personne sur quatre dans le monde sera affectée par des troubles de santé mentale à un moment ou à un autre de sa vie, ce qui en fait un problème mondial nécessitant, d'autant plus critique que la qualité et l'accès aux services cliniques sont bien inférieurs à ceux des maladies physiques. Malgré la diversité des approches, des technologies et des initiatives connexes, les efforts de recherche demeurent dispersés, cloisonnés et manquent d'interopérabilité au point parfois de marginaliser le rôle des parties prenantes. La science citoyenne menée par les communautés affectées présente une excellente opportunité favoriser l'inclusion, et la réalisation et d'application. L'objectif général de la thèse est de développer un cadre d'action interdisciplinaire inclusif avec de multiples parties prenantes, et de documenter l'émergence d'une science citoyenne ouverte et collaborative en santé mentale dépassant les frontières géographiques, culturelles et disciplinaires. Plus précisément, je présente un cadre de travail qui permet aux personnes atteintes de maladies mentales, à leurs familles, aux enseignants et aux soignants, aux chercheurs, aux cliniciens, aux thérapeutes, aux ingénieurs, aux étudiants et aux citoyens de générer, explorer et améliorer les méthodes innovative d'évaluation et de suivi. Les résultats d'une série d'études sont présentés, illustrant les modèles de recherche conçus et combinants les aspects théoriques et pratiques de la thèse démontrant l'apport significatif et la portée pratique des outils présentés dans la thèse pour le domaine de la santé mentale et au-delà afin répondre aux Objectifs de Développement Durable fixés par l'ONU. Pour atteindre cet objectif, la thèse se compose des éléments suivants, qui sont interdépendants et complémentaires : 1. Cadres de collaboration dirigés par les étudiants pour la santé mentale - science ouverte : J'ai déployé un programme d'étude intercontinental d'apprentissage par la recherche entre étudiants, destiné aux étudiants universitaires en France et en Inde. Un programme d'études flexible ciblant les méta-compétences de recherche et les compétences du XXIe siècle a été conçu et mis en oeuvre. Les résultats suggèrent que les étudiants ont contribué à l'apprentissage des uns et des autres par le biais de travaux de groupe interdisciplinaires et de projets orientés vers l'action dans le domaine de la santé mentale, ont appris de nouveaux outils de recherche et numériques et ont acquis de nouvelles compétences et méthodologies dans leur propre discipline et au-delà... 2. Base de données ouverte liée à la santé mentale (MHDB) : J'ai conçu et mis en place la base de connaissances MHDB sur les troubles et les symptômes de la santé mentale, les questionnaires, les tâches cognitives, les technologies, les publications de recherche, les projets et les guides de ressources dans une base de données unique à l'usage de tous. Une étude a été menée pour étudier les effets de l'ajout de plusieurs domaines aux mêmes questions de base utilisées dans les évaluations psychiatriques. Il est intéressant de noter que les résultats suggèrent que le contexte est plus prédictif que la fréquence dans la mesure de l'invalidité et devrait être appliqué de manière plus uniforme, et que l'approche "multi-domaines" des questionnaires peut améliorer les inférences sur la santé mentale et les prédictions des résultats fonctionnels. L'intérêt de la construction de la MHDB, ses applications potentielles et ses projets futurs sont également discutés... 3. Plateforme et application de collecte de données MindLogger pour une utilisation interdisciplinaire et des scénarios d'utilisation : J'ai présenté l'importance de la construction de cet outil pour donner aux gens la possibilité de faire leurs propres recherches, et de construire/administrer des enquêtes, des évaluations et des tâches pour collecter et partager des observations, des idées, des données et des solutions.One in four people worldover will be affected by mental health disorders at some point in her/his life, making it a global issue needing urgent attention, all the more critical due to the quality and access of services being far lower compared to physical illnesses. Despite related approaches, technologies & initiatives being on the rise, research efforts have been scattered, siloed & lacking interoperability to the point of sometimes marginalizing the role of even those directly afflicted. Thus, citizen science driven by the mental health community has significant scope to reach higher levels of inclusion, achievement and application in the times to come. The overall aim of the thesis is to develop and study how an inclusive, interdisciplinary framework with multiple stakeholders can drive open collaborative citizen science on mental health that spans geographic, cultural & disciplinary borders. Specifically, I have focused on furthering a framework that will enable people with mental health conditions, their families, teachers & caregivers, researchers, clinicians/therapists, technology developers, students & citizens to explore and improve assessment and monitoring methodologies adding to/creating effective & innovative projects/initiatives. Towards this goal, the thesis involves the following interrelated and complementary components: 1.Student-driven collaborative frameworks for mental health open science: I deployed a cross-continental, student peer-to-peer learning-through-research study program for university students in France & India. A flexible curriculum targeting research meta-skills & 21st century skills was designed and implemented. The results and feedback suggested that students contributed to each others’ learning through interdisciplinary group work & action-oriented projects in mental health, developed research & contemporary skills, learned new research & digital tools and acquired new skills & methodologies within and beyond their own discipline. This component explores themes along the lines of reversing ‘brain drain’ for ‘brain gain’, students mutually benefitting from each other even while learning themselves, and applying their learning with mental health communities. 2.Linked Open Mental Health Database (MHDB): I curated and mapped the MHDB knowledge base of mental health disorders and symptoms, questionnaires, cognitive tasks, technologies, research publications, projects & resource guides in a single database for everyone to use. A research study was conducted investigating the effects of adding multiple domains (frequency, duration, intensity, context & ability) to the same core questions used in psychiatric assessments. Interestingly, the results suggested that context is more predictive than frequency in measuring disability and should be more uniformly applied, and also that the ‘multi-domain’ approach to questionnaires may improve mental health inferences & predictions of functional outcomes. The value of constructing MHDB, its potential applications & future projects are also discussed. 3.MindLogger Data Collection Platform & App for use across disciplines & user scenarios: I presented the significance behind constructing this tool to give people the possibility to do their own research, and build/administer surveys, assessments & tasks to collect and share observations, insights, data & solutions. I also highlighted how MindLogger could involve facilitating the monitoring of symptoms/behaviours, EMAs, trans-cultural data collection, and the improvement of the convenience, consistency, reproducibility & efficiency of data efforts, contributing to its evolution. This component also covers MindLogger’s upcoming implementation in the CMI’s Healthy Brain Network Study & future projects & considerations. Also presented are research studies & models conceived using a combination of the thesis components exemplifying thesis values & themes in the mental health sphere & beyond to meet the UN’s SDGs
Vers une approche interdisciplinaire et collaborative des sciences citoyennes en santé mentale
No full textOne in four people worldover will be affected by mental health disorders at some point in her/his life, making it a global issue needing urgent attention, all the more critical due to the quality and access of services being far lower compared to physical illnesses. Despite related approaches, technologies & initiatives being on the rise, research efforts have been scattered, siloed & lacking interoperability to the point of sometimes marginalizing the role of even those directly afflicted. Thus, citizen science driven by the mental health community has significant scope to reach higher levels of inclusion, achievement and application in the times to come. The overall aim of the thesis is to develop and study how an inclusive, interdisciplinary framework with multiple stakeholders can drive open collaborative citizen science on mental health that spans geographic, cultural & disciplinary borders. Specifically, I have focused on furthering a framework that will enable people with mental health conditions, their families, teachers & caregivers, researchers, clinicians/therapists, technology developers, students & citizens to explore and improve assessment and monitoring methodologies adding to/creating effective & innovative projects/initiatives. Towards this goal, the thesis involves the following interrelated and complementary components: 1.Student-driven collaborative frameworks for mental health open science: I deployed a cross-continental, student peer-to-peer learning-through-research study program for university students in France & India. A flexible curriculum targeting research meta-skills & 21st century skills was designed and implemented. The results and feedback suggested that students contributed to each others’ learning through interdisciplinary group work & action-oriented projects in mental health, developed research & contemporary skills, learned new research & digital tools and acquired new skills & methodologies within and beyond their own discipline. This component explores themes along the lines of reversing ‘brain drain’ for ‘brain gain’, students mutually benefitting from each other even while learning themselves, and applying their learning with mental health communities. 2.Linked Open Mental Health Database (MHDB): I curated and mapped the MHDB knowledge base of mental health disorders and symptoms, questionnaires, cognitive tasks, technologies, research publications, projects & resource guides in a single database for everyone to use. A research study was conducted investigating the effects of adding multiple domains (frequency, duration, intensity, context & ability) to the same core questions used in psychiatric assessments. Interestingly, the results suggested that context is more predictive than frequency in measuring disability and should be more uniformly applied, and also that the ‘multi-domain’ approach to questionnaires may improve mental health inferences & predictions of functional outcomes. The value of constructing MHDB, its potential applications & future projects are also discussed. 3.MindLogger Data Collection Platform & App for use across disciplines & user scenarios: I presented the significance behind constructing this tool to give people the possibility to do their own research, and build/administer surveys, assessments & tasks to collect and share observations, insights, data & solutions. I also highlighted how MindLogger could involve facilitating the monitoring of symptoms/behaviours, EMAs, trans-cultural data collection, and the improvement of the convenience, consistency, reproducibility & efficiency of data efforts, contributing to its evolution. This component also covers MindLogger’s upcoming implementation in the CMI’s Healthy Brain Network Study & future projects & considerations. Also presented are research studies & models conceived using a combination of the thesis components exemplifying thesis values & themes in the mental health sphere & beyond to meet the UN’s SDGs.Une personne sur quatre dans le monde sera affectée par des troubles de santé mentale à un moment ou à un autre de sa vie, ce qui en fait un problème mondial nécessitant, d'autant plus critique que la qualité et l'accès aux services cliniques sont bien inférieurs à ceux des maladies physiques. Malgré la diversité des approches, des technologies et des initiatives connexes, les efforts de recherche demeurent dispersés, cloisonnés et manquent d'interopérabilité au point parfois de marginaliser le rôle des parties prenantes. La science citoyenne menée par les communautés affectées présente une excellente opportunité favoriser l'inclusion, et la réalisation et d'application. L'objectif général de la thèse est de développer un cadre d'action interdisciplinaire inclusif avec de multiples parties prenantes, et de documenter l'émergence d'une science citoyenne ouverte et collaborative en santé mentale dépassant les frontières géographiques, culturelles et disciplinaires. Plus précisément, je présente un cadre de travail qui permet aux personnes atteintes de maladies mentales, à leurs familles, aux enseignants et aux soignants, aux chercheurs, aux cliniciens, aux thérapeutes, aux ingénieurs, aux étudiants et aux citoyens de générer, explorer et améliorer les méthodes innovative d'évaluation et de suivi. Les résultats d'une série d'études sont présentés, illustrant les modèles de recherche conçus et combinants les aspects théoriques et pratiques de la thèse démontrant l'apport significatif et la portée pratique des outils présentés dans la thèse pour le domaine de la santé mentale et au-delà afin répondre aux Objectifs de Développement Durable fixés par l'ONU. Pour atteindre cet objectif, la thèse se compose des éléments suivants, qui sont interdépendants et complémentaires : 1. Cadres de collaboration dirigés par les étudiants pour la santé mentale - science ouverte : J'ai déployé un programme d'étude intercontinental d'apprentissage par la recherche entre étudiants, destiné aux étudiants universitaires en France et en Inde. Un programme d'études flexible ciblant les méta-compétences de recherche et les compétences du XXIe siècle a été conçu et mis en oeuvre. Les résultats suggèrent que les étudiants ont contribué à l'apprentissage des uns et des autres par le biais de travaux de groupe interdisciplinaires et de projets orientés vers l'action dans le domaine de la santé mentale, ont appris de nouveaux outils de recherche et numériques et ont acquis de nouvelles compétences et méthodologies dans leur propre discipline et au-delà... 2. Base de données ouverte liée à la santé mentale (MHDB) : J'ai conçu et mis en place la base de connaissances MHDB sur les troubles et les symptômes de la santé mentale, les questionnaires, les tâches cognitives, les technologies, les publications de recherche, les projets et les guides de ressources dans une base de données unique à l'usage de tous. Une étude a été menée pour étudier les effets de l'ajout de plusieurs domaines aux mêmes questions de base utilisées dans les évaluations psychiatriques. Il est intéressant de noter que les résultats suggèrent que le contexte est plus prédictif que la fréquence dans la mesure de l'invalidité et devrait être appliqué de manière plus uniforme, et que l'approche "multi-domaines" des questionnaires peut améliorer les inférences sur la santé mentale et les prédictions des résultats fonctionnels. L'intérêt de la construction de la MHDB, ses applications potentielles et ses projets futurs sont également discutés... 3. Plateforme et application de collecte de données MindLogger pour une utilisation interdisciplinaire et des scénarios d'utilisation : J'ai présenté l'importance de la construction de cet outil pour donner aux gens la possibilité de faire leurs propres recherches, et de construire/administrer des enquêtes, des évaluations et des tâches pour collecter et partager des observations, des idées, des données et des solutions
Using extensive dynamic product lines for listening in on evolving demand
No full textAs companies rush into opening markets in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, and as suppliers everywhere introduce new products in existing markets, they need to decide which and how many versions of the product to offer at the time of market entry and how to change the product line over time. Given the heterogeneity of consumer preferences, the relative newness of the product in the market and/or the consumer's ability to choose from a variety of different versions, and the possibility of complex evolution of demand, traditional market research may not be a reliable guide to product-line design and management. A solution provided by Anirudh Dhebar is to use the product line itself to listen in on evolving demand. For the listening to be effective, the product line must be extensive and dynamic, and it must be based on a systematic experimentation process conducive to learning. The author warns that the product line should not be too extensive or too dynamic; that may inhibit learning and hurt market evolution.
Investigating the role of psychogenic shivers in mental health
No full textThe presence of shivering and psychogenic shivering in mental health was measured using a compiled database including the DSM-5 and a large body of existing assessment tools and technology. We found results for chills, tremors, and temperature. None of the other shiver-related terms (N=9) yielded any results, which suggests that the role of psychogenic shivering in mental health has been largely understudied by physicians and psychiatrists. Based on the results and the data extracted from a complete database of the literature devoted to psychogenic shivers in cognitive neuroscience, we outline the importance of psychogenic shivering in the assessment of mental health in a clinical setting. We discuss how the tools introduced in this article could be developed further to gather new clinical data about both shivers and health
Designing fast and programmable routers
No full textThesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-155).Historically, the evolution of network routers was driven primarily by performance. Recently, owing to the need for better control over network operations and the constant demand for new features, programmability of routers has become as important as performance. However, today's fastest routers, which have 10-100 ports each running at a line rate of 10-100 Gbit/s, use fixed-function hardware, which cannot be modified after deployment. This dissertation describes three router hardware primitives and their corresponding software programming models that allow network operators to program specific classes of router functionality on such fast routers. First, we develop a system for programming stateful packet-processing algorithms such as algorithms for in-network congestion control, buffer management, and data-plane traffic engineering. The challenge here is the fact that these algorithms maintain and update state on the router. We develop a small but expressive instruction set for state manipulation on fast routers. We then expose this to the programmer through a high-level programming model and compiler. Second, we develop a system to program packet scheduling: the task of picking which packet to transmit next on a link. Our main contribution here is the finding that many packet scheduling algorithms can be programmed using one simple idea: a priority queue of packets in hardware coupled with a software program to assign each packet's priority in this queue. Third, we develop a system for programmable and scalable measurement of network statistics. Our goal is to allow programmers to flexibly define what they want to measure for each flow and scale to a large number of flows. We formalize a class of statistics that permit a scalable implementation and show that it includes many useful statistics (e.g., moving averages and counters). These systems show that it is possible to program several packet-processing functions at speeds approaching today's fastest routers. Based on these systems, we distill two lessons for designing fast and programmable routers in the future. First, specialized designs that program only specific classes of router functionality improve packet processing throughput by 10-100x relative to a general-purpose solution. Second, joint design of hardware and software provides us with more leverage relative to designing only one of them while keeping the other fixed.by Anirudh Sivaraman Kaushalram.Ph. D
Anisotropic stars in 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity
No full textWe wish to thank the anonymous reviewer for comments and suggestions. The author T. T would like to thank the financial support from the Science Achievement Scholarship of Thailand (SAST) . A. Pradhan thanks to IUCCA, Pune, India for providing fa-cilities under associateship programmes. The author G. P. thanks the FundacAo para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) , Portugal, for the financial support to the Center for Astrophysics and Gravitation-CENTRA, Chile, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Lis-boa, Portugal, through the Project No. UIDB/00099/2020 and No. PTDC/FIS-AST/28920/2017
Motion artefact reference sensor study for ECG signals
No full textECG signals captured almost always have motion artefact noise. This noise arises due to relative motion between the ECG electrode and skin. To remove this noise a reference signal is required that correlates to the noise. This thesis presents the design and test results of a prototype system that incorporates various motion sensors into an ECG electrode and finds correlation between the motion artefacts and motion sensors
The techno-economics of the anodic peroxide evolution reaction
No full textThe Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) is usually the go-to reaction for water-based electrolysis processes. However, this reaction can impede the performance and large-scale implementation of such processes due to its sluggish kinetics and the lack of value of its product stream. In order to boost the feasibility of electrochemical processes, research is being conducted on alternative anodic reactions. Even though thermodynamically less favorable, the peroxide evolution reaction yields an added-value product. In this study, the industrial relevance of the anodic peroxide evolution reaction was investigated. The aim of this thesis was to assess the potential for industrial application of this reaction. To do so, the electrochemical parameters of influence and the mechanisms behind the latter were investigated.The evaluation of both economic and technical feasibility of the process was achieved by following three main threads. Firstly, a gross margin model was introduced. This model allowed to define performance targets of the electrolytic process based on viability requirements. Secondly, electrochemical experiments were carried out. Materials fit for large scale implementation were to be identified. Tin oxide- based materials (SnO2, Sn3O4, ITO and FTO) were investigated due to the stability of tin oxide in a large pH window. Carbon-based materials (CFP, PTFE-coated CFP and GDE) were investigated for their high current density responses and high peroxide yield. Once these materials were identified, systematic studies on electrolyte effects were carried out. Finally, product characterization methods were investigated in order to understand the role of ions such as HCO3 – and CO32– in the enhanced electrochemical production of peroxide. Chemical Engineerin
ENMOS: Energy Module for Self-Sustainable Wearable Sensors
No full textThis work focuses on addressing the fundamental limitation on the minimum cold start-up voltage that could be harvested from a thermoelectric element (TEG) for human-body wearable applications. For ultra-low DC voltages, the challenge translates to generating a timed-signal to amplify it up to a value that could be used to drive, say, a boost converter which can then start-up the entire energy module. Contemporary works have, thus, strived to accomplish this using a charge-pump-based or a transformer-based approach, which in turn imposes a limit on the minimum TEG voltage that can be harvested. The solution this work proposes is to decouple the Cold Start-up system from the TEG altogether and instead, use a piezoelectric element (PEH). This element being capable of producing a well-timed (AC) signal for free, based on human body vibrations, can potentially drive a boost converter. To this end, an integrated circuit (IC) is designed that can utilize the voltage from the PEH, amplifying it up to generate a well-controlled signal that could operate the boost converter. At the heart of this IC, is a self-reconfigurable charge pump that arranges its stages in different boosting ratios (without any complex logic or DSP) based on the input voltage, to allow for a maximum harvested power. The proposed self-reconfigurable architecture can potentially lead the charge pump to be load-variation-resistant. It achieves this by providing an almost constant voltage while increasing the power for higher load demands, at the same time maintaining a constant efficiency. Thus, the fully on-chip implementation in TSMC 0.18 um CMOS, can cold start-up the system from 25 mV of thermoelectric voltage to deliver an output voltage of 1 V at 56.5 % converter efficiency, consuming only 240.5 pW of dynamic power (simulation). The minimum Cold Start-up voltage and dynamic power were found to be 18 mV (ΔT = 0.1 K) and 231.6 pW respectively, to supply 1 V at 44 % converter efficiency. Moreover, in order to prove that the fundamental limitation on the Cold Start-up voltage has been addressed successfully, the IC was also simulated to check whether it can further be lowered. In this case, by providing a piezoelectric excitation voltage 73.3 mVRMS higher, the Cold Start-up voltage was found to be reduced to 15 mV to supply a constant 1 V at the load. It was also found that increasing the inductor value in this case, can also allow the energy module to support even lower Cold Start-up voltages.Electrical Engineerin
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