International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) is a form of Continuous Phase Modulation (CPM) whose spectral occupancy can be easily tailored to the available channel bandwidth by a suitable choice of signal parameters. The constant envelope of the GMSK signal enables it to corporate with saturated power amplifier without the spectral re-growth problem. This paper provides a quantitative synopsis of binary GMSK signals in terms of their bandwidth occupancy and coherent demodulation performance. A detailed account of how to demodulate such signals using the Viterbi Algorithm (VA) is given, along with analytical power spectral density (PSD) and computer simulated bit-error-rate (BER) results for various signal BT products. The effect of adjacent channel interference (ACI) is also quantified. Ideal synchronization for both symbol time and carrier phase is assumed.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / An all-digital high data rate parallel receiver architecture developed jointly by Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is pre- sented. This receiver utilizes only a small number of high speed components along with a majority of lower speed components operating in a parallel fre- quency domain structure implementable in CMOS, and can process over 600 Mbps with numerous varieties of QPSK modulation, including those incorpo- rating precise pulse shaping for bandwidth eÆcient modulation. Performance results for this receiver for bandwidth eÆcient QPSK modulation schemes such as square-root raised cosine pulse shaped QPSK and Feher’s patented QPSK are presented, demonstrating the great degree of exibility and high performance of the receiver architecture.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / In this paper, orthogonal wavelets are employed to produce multiscale signaling. It is shown that signaling using these functions is bandwidth efficient compared other signaling schemes, including SFSK and GMSK. For signaling in Rician fast fading channel, it is also shown that scaling functions is superior in term of achieving low level of probability of error. Even for multiscale signaling, the level probability of error achieved by using wavelet is lower than conventional flat-top signaling. The benefits are largest for channels with small B(D)T , in which the degradation due to fading is most severe.

The production of pulp and paper is associated with the generation of large quantities of wastewater that has to be purified to avoid severe pollution of the environment. Wastewater purification in pulp and paper mills combines sedimentation, biological treatment, chemical precipitation, flotation and anaerobic treatment, and the specific combination of techniques is determined by the local conditions. Wastewater treatment generates large volumes of sludge that after dewatering can be incinerated and thus used for bio-energy production. Sludge is currently viewed as biofuel of poor quality due to its high water content, and some mills treat it solely as a disposal problem. Two strategies have been identified as feasible options to improve the energy efficiency of sludge management. One is drying using multi-effect evaporation followed by incineration. The other is anaerobic digestion of the wet sludge to produce methane. This thesis explores the energy balances of sludge management strategies in pulp and paper mills with special focus on anaerobic digestion. The first part consists of a system analysis, used to evaluate some wastewater treatment processes and sludge management, and the second part of empirical studies of anaerobic digestion of pulp and paper mill sludge. It was shown that the use of energy for aeration in aerobic biological treatment should be kept to the minimum required for acceptable quality of the processed water. Additional aeration for reduction of the generated sludge will only result in reduced energy generation in a subsequent methane generation stage. In the second part of the thesis, it is shown that anaerobic digestion is a feasible option for sludge management as it leads to production of high value biogas. Co-digestion with grass silage, cow/pig manure or municipal sewage sludge should then be used to counteract the low nitrogen content of pulp and paper mill sludge.

The drive train components and the machine control system significantly influence the fuel consumption of mobile machinery. The demonstrator vehicle “Green Wheel Loader” developed within the joint research project “TEAM” combines the most promising drive concepts currently available for mobile machines with an innovative operating strategy. The developed drive and control system proved its functionality and performance under realistic operation conditions in a gravel pit. Reference test showed 10 – 15 % fuel savings of the prototype vehicle compared to a state-of-the-art series machine.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 27-30, 1997 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper describes the status of the Edwards Digital Switch (EDS) [1] and the success of the Digital Switch Sustainment Program (DSSP); a multi-service program aimed at cost-effective means for providing maintenance and development of an advanced digital switching system. This digital communications switching system is deployed at the mission control centers of Edwards AFB, Eglin AFB, and China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC). Each system provides the test ranges with mission-critical voice communications and Time Space Position Information (TSPI) switching. Through user-friendly Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), the switch provides exceptional resource management of radios, telephones, user positions, secure communications, radars, trackers, 4-wire Ear & Mouth (E&M) devices, subscriber services, and other equipment. Developed using commercial equipment, such as the Lucent Technologies Digital Access and Cross-Connect System (DACS) II, the digital switch can integrate and interface with the technologies of other test ranges and customers. The DSSP sustaining engineering contract, a $10M contract awarded in 1997, is a multi-service effort in supporting cost effective maintenance and enhancement for the systems’ software and hardware. Eglin and China Lake have agreed to participate in a Digital Switch Working Group (DSWG) to ensure that this configuration management is in place and that all players follow the same system migration path. These ranges and other interested ranges that agree to purchase systems off the contract and participate in the working group will continue to derive benefits by reducing overhead and eliminating the duplication of effort involved in separate endeavors.

This thesis studies different aspects of firm decisions by using a dynamic model. I estimate a dynamic model of the firm based on the trade-off theory of capital structure that endogenizes investment, leverage, and payout decisions. For the estimation of the model I use Efficient Method of Moments (EMM), which allows me to recover the structural parameters that best replicate the characteristics of the data. I start analyzing the question of whether target leverage varies over time. While this is a central issue in finance, there is no consensus in the literature on this point. I propose an explanation that reconciles some of the seemingly contradictory empirical evidence. The dynamic model generates a target leverage that changes over time and consistently reproduces the results of Lemmon, Roberts, and Zender (2008). These findings suggest that the time-varying target leverage assumption of the big bulk of the previous literature is not incompatible with the evidence presented by Lemmon, Roberts, and Zender (2008). Then I study how corporate income tax payments vary with the corporate income tax rate. The dynamic model produces a bell-shaped relationship between tax revenue and the tax rate that is consistent with the notion of the Laffer curve. The dynamic model generates the maximum tax revenue for a tax rate between 36% and 41%. Finally, I investigate the impact of financial constraints on investment decisions by firms. Model results show that investment-cash flow sensitivity is higher for less financially constrained firms. This result is consistent with Kaplan and Zingales (1997). The dynamic model also rationalizes why large and mature firms have a positive and significant investment-cash flow sensitivity.

The use of statistical analysis has been prevalent in the sports gambling industry for years. More recently, we have seen the emergence of "adjusted statistics", a more sophisticated way to examine each play and each result (further explanation below). And while adjusted statistics have become commonplace for professional and recreational bettors alike, little research has been done to justify their use. In this paper the effectiveness of this data is tested on the most heavily wagered sport in the world – the National Football League (NFL). The results are studied with two central questions in mind: Does the market account for the information provided by adjusted statistics? And, can this data be interpreted to create a profitable betting strategy? First, the Efficient Market Hypothesis is introduced and tested using these new variables. Then, a betting model is built and tested.

VO2-based films are thermochromic and exhibit high or low infrared transmittance when the temperature is below or above a critical temperature. The thermochromic switching is passive and reversible, and therefore VO2 based films are promising for energy-efficient window appli­cations. However the practicaluse of VO2 for energy-efficient windows has long been hampered by low luminous transmittance and low solar energy transmittance modulation. The main goal of this dissertation work is to address these issues. The first half of the work proposes the concept of nanothermochromics for simultaneous improvement of luminous transmittance and modulation of solar energy throughput. nanoth­ermochromics considers VO2 nanoparticle composite layers, whose optical properties were modeled by effective medium theories. Calculations on VO2 spheroids have shown that VO2 nanoparticles, especially nanospheres, can offer dramatically improved luminous transmittance and solar transmittance modulation that are not possible for films. Calculations done on coreshell nanoparticles showed comparable improvements and offer an opportunity to reduce the material costs. It was also found that the composite of In2O3:Sn (ITO) and VO2 can yield moderately high luminous transmittance, solar transmittance modulation and low-emittance properties. In the second half of the dissertation work, Mg-doped VO2 films were sputter deposited. Their band gaps and Mg-content were investigated by means of optical absorption measurement and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, respectively. The band gaps of VO2 were found to increase by ∼3.9±0.5 eV per unit of atom ratio Mg/(Mg+V) for 0<Mg/(Mg+V)<0.21. Computations based on effective medium theory were done to estimate the performance of Mg­-doped VO2 films and nanoparticle composite layers. The results suggest that moderately doped VO2 films with 0<Mg/(Mg+V)<0.06 perform better than un-doped films and that the perfor­mance can be further enhanced with one layer of antireflection coating. The best results were achieved by un-doped VO2 nanospheres, closely followed by the VO2 nanospheres with low Mg-content. Furthermore, the an experimental study on sputter deposited VO2 nanorods has identified the geometry of the oxygen gas inlet, the type of substrate, the substrate temperature and the layer thickness as important factors that influence the growth morphology. Taken as a whole, nanothermochromics offered by VO2 nanoparticles was shown to be the best solution for VO2 based thermochromic energy-efficient window coatings.

This research evaluates the factors that caused unprecedented high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Chinese banks and the measures that have been taken to deal with them. In examining the surrounding issues recommendations are made, which might resolve or at least ameliorate China's non-performing loans problem. An extensive literature is drawn upon and a systematic examination of the factors that were responsible for China's NPLs is presented. The research aims and objectives, and the subsequent research themes were identified after conducting field research in Chinese banks. Six managers in Chinese banks were interviewed and their views on non-performing loans in their respective banks were obtained. These banks included: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the State and Development Bank and Citic Bank. The results of the interviews were used to design the questionnaire, which was distributed to 16 different banks. These banks are broadly representative of the main types of bank within China and include four state-owned commercial banks, seven joint-stock commercial banks, three foreign banks, one policy bank and one city commercial bank. Content analysis and descriptive statistical techniques were used to analyse the data and the findings revealed that lending managers generally lack adequate incentives to make efficient lending decisions. Moreover, although political interference in bank lending is quite widespread within China, it is not the only issue and certainly not the major issue in explaining why managers have a tendency to select inefficient projects. The measures taken to deal with NPLs in Chinese banking are also examined and the findings suggest that these have not been totally effective in resolving the problem.