Issues related to global warming and weather changes have forced people start to pay attention to energy saving. We expect that Smart Home Energy Management (SHEM) would be an important development over the next decade. In some environments cost is important, in other environments living quality is important and in other environments a tradeoff between cost and living quality is important. SHEM means being able to manage electrical loads so as to meet different purposes in homes. In this thesis, we develop a SHEM to curtail some electrical loads at peak time to meet predefined circuit level demand limits while minimizing the effect on users¡¦ living quality. The core of our SHEM is an electrical control loop which is developed based on heuristic modifications through lots of case studies and trials. To this end, we study several utilization characteristics of household loads including air conditioning, water heaters clothes dryers, and electric vehicles and model their behaviors through computer simulations. Finally, we implement the whole ideal of our SHEM in LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench). Several simulations are conducted to verify the robustness and efficiency of our SHEM. keyword : Quick Charge,Load Priority,Convience Preference,Severity Indices,Duration Indices.

ABSTRACT WUTHERING HEIGHTS BY BRONT&Eacute / AND A HERO OF OUR TIME BY LERMONTOV Hacizade, G&uuml / nel M.A., Department of English Literature Supervisor: Dr. Deniz Arslan November 2008, 118 pages This study aims to make a comparative analysis of the Russian novelist Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov&rsquo / s A Hero of Our Time and the English novelist Emily Bront&eacute / &rsquo / s Wuthering Heights in the light of the narratological model introduced by G&eacute / rard Genette in Narrative Discourse. Through an analysis of the narrative methods employed in both A Hero of Our Time and Wuthering Heights, this study offers a discussion of the characterization of the protagonists, Pechorin and Heathcliff, who belong to different cultures and whose stories have nothing in common, and shows how similar narrative strategies used in both novels play an active role in the formation of similar character traits. Pechorin and Heathcliff are complex characters inspiring contradictory feelings, which is possible due to the complex mechanism provided by fractures in time, changes in distance and perspective, and multiple narrators. Both protagonists are superior in their passions and powers to the average man, but they do not possess heroic virtues. Lermontov and Bront&eacute / &rsquo / s characterizations of their protagonists create various reactions to and feelings about them in the reader. The reader becomes fascinated by the protagonists despite their repulsive deeds. The thesis presents the narratological analysis to find out whether similar narrative methods in their novels form similar character traits in the protagonists and to reveal the impact of these methods on the reader&rsquo / s reactions to the protagonists.

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ABSTRACT The problem of interest rate risk exposure has become increasingly important for financial institutions. There is a direct relation between the duration of life insurance products and its present value sensitivity to changes in market interest rates. This article describes the historical development of duration and its application in the study of life insurance products. This study examines the interest rate risk exposure of life insurance products.

Determination of an extender protocol which will enhance the viability of frozenthawed bovine spermatozoa will allow producers to obtain higher conception rates due to the increased survival rate of the spermatozoa. Ejaculates of six Brangus bulls (age=18 months) were evaluated for spermatozoal motility, acrosomal integrity, and morphological characteristics (collectively called spermatozoal viability) in two experiments to test our hypotheses that (1) the treatment combination of a 4 hr cooling duration and a 2 hr equilibration with glycerol will result in optimum spermatozoal characteristics after freezing and thawing and (2) rank of three selected extenders relative to their effects on spermatozoal viability after freezing and thawing will be egg yolk-citrate (EC), egg yolk-tris (IMV), and skim milk (milk). In experiment 1, an ejaculate from each bull was partially extended and cooled to 4 ºC for either 2 or 4 hr and then allowed to equilibrate with the glycerolated extender for 2, 4, or 6 hr. Spermatozoal viability was assessed at 0, 3, 6, and 9 hr after thawing. In experiment 1, 4 hr of cooling resulted in a higher percentage of motile spermatozoa than did 2 hr of cooling. The 2 hr equilibration with glycerol yielded lower percentages of motile spermatozoa, acrosomal integrity, and morphologically normal spermatozoa than 4 and 6 hr equilibration durations with glycerol. In experiment 2, we observed a decrease in spermatozoal viability for all three extenders upon freezing and thawing. Viability of frozen-thawed spermatozoa extended in the milk was reduced for all incubation durations, and the IMV extender had a higher percentage of motile spermatozoa than the EC extender at 6 hr of incubation. A higher percentage of intact acrosomes was observed with the IMV extender; however, the EC extender had a higher percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa than the IMV extender. Our results indicate that at cooling duration of 4 hr and a 4 hr equilibration with glycerol provide the highest level of spermatozoal viability post-thaw of the treatments evaluated and that the IMV extender enhances the percentage of spermatozoa with an intact acrosome for frozenthawed spermatozoa over the EC and skim milk extenders.

In recent years, the music has become more popular due to the evolution of the technology. Various kinds of music around us become more complexity and huge. This explosive growth in the music has generated the urgent need for new techniques and tools that can intelligently and automatically transform the music into useful information, and classify the music into correct music groups precisely. The rhythm query is the fundamental technique in music genre classification and content-based retrieval, which are crucial to multimedia applications. Recently, Christodoulakis et al. has proposed the CIRS algorithm that can be used to classify music duration sequences according to rhythms. In the CIRS algorithm, a rhythm is represented by a sequence of ¡§Quick¡¨ (Q) and ¡§Slow¡¨ (S) symbols, which corresponds to the (relative) duration of notes, such that S = 2Q. In order to classify music by rhythms, the CIRS algorithm locates the MaxCover which is the maximum-length substring of the music duration sequence, which can be covered (overlapping or consecutively) by the rhythm query continuously. During the matching step, one S symbol in the rhythm query can be regarded as two consecutive Q symbols in the duration sequence, but the two consecutive Q symbols in the rhythm query can not be combined as one S symbol in the duration sequence. This definition causes the difficulty for designing the algorithm. The CIRS algorithm contains four steps and repeat Steps 2, 3, and 4 to get local MaxCover for each different duration value of the music duration sequence. Finally, the global MaxCover is computed. We observe that it will generate unnecessary results repeatedly among Steps 2, 3, and 4. Therefore, in this thesis, to avoid repeatedly processing Steps 2, 3, and 4 for each different duration value, we propose the JMC (Jumping-by-MaxCover) algorithm which provides a pruning strategy to find the MaxCover incrementally, resulting in the reducing of the processing cost. In fact, we can make use of the relationship between the MaxCover MX founded by a different duration value X, and use the duration sequences cut by such a different duration value X to reduce the unnecessary process for the other different duration value Y , where Y < X. To make use of this property to reduce the processing time, we propose a cut-sequence structure and update it incrementally to compute the final global MaxCover. In this way, we can skip many steps and find the same answer of the CIRS algorithm. From our simulation results, we show that the running time of the JMC algorithm could be shorter than that of the CIRS algorithm. When the largest different duration value is uniformly distributed in the duration sequence, the running time can be reduced hugely, which is the best case of our proposed JMC algorithm.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Florida, 2005. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 74 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

High power conversion efficiency is desirable in power supplies. Design optimization of on-line power converter is presented in this thesis. High efficiencies over a wide load range, for example 20%, 50% and 100% load, are often required. It is a challenge for on-line pulse-width modulation (PWM) converters to maintain good efficiencies with light load as well as full load. A two-stage multi-objective optimization procedure is proposed to optimization power converter efficiencies at 20%, 50% and 100% load. Two-FET forward prototype converters are built to verify the optimization results. The LLC (abbreviation of two resonant inductor L and one resonant capacitor C ) series resonant converter can provide high power conversion efficiency because of the resonant nature and soft switching. The design of LLC resonant converter is more difficult than that of PWM converters since the LLC resonant converter has many resonant modes. Furthermore, the LLC resonant converter does not have analytical solution for its resonant operation. In this thesis, a systematic optimization procedure is proposed to optimize LLC series resonant converter efficiency. A mode solver technique is developed to solve LLC resonant converter operations. The proposed mode solver employs non-linear programming techniques to solve a set of LLC state equations and determine the resonant modes. Loss models are provided which serve as the objective-function to optimize converter efficiency. Optimization results show outstanding efficiency performance and experimental agreement with optimization. The optimization work extends to the LLC resonant converter with power factor correction (PFC) circuits where the effect of LLC converter input voltage variation cased by the PFC circuit is considered. Detail comparisons of PWM converter and LLC resonant converter loss profiles are also presented. The reasons that LLC resonant converter has higher efficiency are given and supported by quantitative data. Converter lifetime is highly related to component losses and temperature. The lifetime analysis is presented. The analysis reveals that the LLC resonant converter output capacitor is the weakest component concerning life. / published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation presents the results of a study conducted on the speech of male and female students training to become Drill Instructors (hereafter DIs) in the United States Marine Corps. Both high amplitude and low pitch are reported to be important characteristics of the DI Command Voice; these characteristics are also strongly associated with masculinity (Hicks 1997). However, previous research argues that female DIs do not view these qualities as the most important characteristics of the Command Voice. They focus instead on being "direct" (Hicks 1997, Hicks Kennard 1999). The question I address is whether or not the Command Voice taught in DI School is used differently by female and male DI students in authoritative speech.The data were recorded at the DI School in Parris Island, South Carolina. Six subjects participated in the study. The two factors considered were sex and speech style, which included: 1) teachback: high-amplitude recitations of training procedures, 2) locker-box discussion: a speech style used in academic settings, 3) interviews, and 4) a reading sample. Both vowel duration and peak pitch measurements were done in each speech style; measurements on larger thirty-second "chunks" of discourse were taken for mean pitch, standard deviation of pitch, range of pitch, and speaking rate for each speaker in each speech style. There was a significant main effect on vowel duration for all subjects except for one male and a significant main effect on peak pitch for all subjects. For discourse measurements of pitch, there was a significant main effect for mean pitch, standard deviation of pitch, and pitch range.Pair-wise comparisons resulted in significant differences in peak pitch for all subjects in all speech styles. Both females and males exhibited the same pattern for both vowel and discourse pitch measurements, from highest to lowest pitch: teachbacks, lockerbox discussion, reading sample, and interview. However, females' vowels were significantly longer in the most authoritative speech style--precisely where males had their shortest vowel duration. This difference suggests that in authoritative speech, females use vowel duration as part of the "directness" in authority, where males do not.

The purpose of this paper is to find some features about how long the surplus will stay below zero and how to reduce time surplus being negative.