abstract: The commercial semiconductor industry is gearing up for 5G communications in the 28GHz and higher band. In order to maintain the same relative receiver sensitivity, a larger number of antenna elements are required; the larger number of antenna elements is, in turn, driving semiconductor development. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new method of dividing wireless communication protocols (such as the 802.11a/b/g/n and cellular UMTS MAC protocols) across multiple unreliable communication links using a new link layer communication model in concert with a smart antenna aperture design referred to as Vector Antenna. A vector antenna is a ‘smart’ antenna system and as any smart antenna aperture, the design inherently requires unique microwave component performance as well as Digital Signal Processing (DSP) capabilities. This performance and these capabilities are further enhanced with a patented wireless protocol stack capability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2019

The Buckling Restrained Braced Frame (BRBF) is used in steel structures as a lateral load resisting system for seismic events. In typical design procedure the impact of gravity loads acting on BRBFs is neglected and the beams and columns of the structure are designed to resist all gravity loads. In actuality BRBFs are supporting portions of gravity loads acting on the structure which may be changing the overall performance of BRBFs. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of large gravity loads on BRBF performance. This is done using finite element analysis to test two different structures supporting large gravity loads. The first structure is a seven story structure consisting of different BRBF configurations; the second structure is a three story structure with all BRBFs in an eccentrically braced configuration. Each structure was modeled with applied ground motion simulations with and without gravity loads, and with gravity loads but no applied ground motion simulations. Results indicate that gravity loads have no significant impact on the overall performance of BRBFs for either structure.

Sweden has received critique from international organizations for its discrimination of indigenous rights. Even though there are conflicts taking place on the Swedish side of Sápmi, where the Sami people are fighting for their human rights as an indigenous people, there is at same time little or no research done on conflicts involving the Sami population, especially in the north of Sweden. Located on the Swedish side of Sápmi the Sami village Girjas has filed a lawsuit against the Swedish government for the hunting and fishing rights on the reindeer husbandry area of the Sami village territory. This lawsuit has led to a conflict that has been frequently discussed by the media. By applying Gray’s frame theory; “framebased resistance to collaboration”, this study aims to analyse the different stakeholders’ preferences and to focus on media´s framing of the conflict in order to deconstruct the issue and lay forward the affected stakeholders’ preferences, identity, characterisation and willingness to collaboration. The results of this study show that even though the conflict is being framed as polarized, attempts to reframing in order to aim for successful collaborations are starting to take place in the media. Moreover, the media perspective on the conflict has shifted from fuelling arguments from both sides of the conflict into embracing the Sami perspective by highlighting issues for the Sami population and criticizing discriminating and colonial norms held by the Swedish government and authorities. This result could mean that a postcolonial perspective has stated to dominate the media due to the fact that higher awareness and interest in the  Sami population’s fight for self-determination is developing in the public arena.

Since its publication in 1898, The Turn of the Screw has been the focus of diverse critical interpretation. It has reflected shifts in critical theory that include the Freudian, psychoanalytic, mythological, structuralist, reader-response, linguistic, and new-historical schools. The majority of critical interpretations have focused on the governess's narrative and have excluded the prologue, or frame narrative, that begins the novella. The critics who did examine the prologue overlooked James's departure from the traditional use of frame narration and the importance of the structure of the frame in creating a text of insoluble ambiguity. James departed from traditional frame narration in four ways. By using only an opening frame, the reader is forced to rely on the prologue in order to determine narrative reliability. By creating a condition of reciprocal authority between the unnamed narrator and Douglas, the opening frame denies the possibility of using either character to substantiate the reliability of the other. The condition of reciprocal authority is constructed through a dialogue pattern in which the narrator and Douglas interpret each other's gestures and comments and finish each other's sentences. It is the use of the pattern in the prologue that prepares the reader to accept it in the governess's narrative. The governess repeats the dialogue pattern with Mrs. Grose and Miles. Their discussions appear to validate the governess as a reliable narrator when in fact her reliability is as impossible to determine as the reliability of Douglas or the frame narrator. The result of these departures from traditional frame narration is the construction of a text of insoluble ambiguity.

Les premiers romans de John Dos Passos s’inscrivent dans le courant moderniste et sont caractérisés par une organisation originale des mots sur la page. Le texte n’est pas un bloc monolothique mais il est découpé en sections et ponctué d’épigraphes. Il contient également une multitude de collages présentés dans des styles et des polices variés. Cette observation est le point de départ de cette étude qui propose d’analyser la matérialité du texte dans les premiers romans de John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer et la trilogie USA, publiés entre 1925 et 1938. Ces ouvrages interrogent le regard du lecteur sur le texte, en montrant ce qui est placé devant, autour de l’oeil de celui qui regarde. Ils invitent le lecteur à prendre conscience de ce qui influence sa vision. Le roman exhibe son armature et ses divers seuils, laissant soin à celui qui lit de poursuivre ou non sa lecture, de revenir en arrière et de faire les liens entre les différentes zones de texte. Le roman expose son mode de fabrication, soulignant qu’il est le produit d’un réagencement de textes antérieurs. Cette armature visible est autant faite de pleins que de vides et reflète la tension entre l’ambition de tout dire, tout contenir et la reconnaissance de la difficulté même de raconter. Le jeu avec les espaces blancs, la ponctuation et les indications phonétiques renforcent la dimension écrite du texte tout en essayant de de le faire sortir hors de la page et de résister à toute clôture. / The early novels of John Dos Passos are part of the modernist literary movement. They are characterized by an original organization of the words on the page. The text is no longer a monolithic block, but is divided into sections and its separations are highlighted by a vast paratext. It also contains a variety of collages presented in various styles and in different fonts. These observations are the starting point of this research, which focuses on the materiality of the text in the early novels of John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer and the trilogy USA, published between 1925 and 1938. These novels question the gaze of the reader on the text, showing what is placed in front of and around the eye of the observer. The reader becomes aware of what influences his vision. The novel displays its internal structure and various thresholds, allowing the reader to continue or to stop reading, to go backwards and to create connections between the different sections of the text. The novel displays how it has been constructed, highlighting that it is the product of the rearrangement of previous texts. This visible internal structure is also built out of gaps and empty spaces. It reflects the tension between the ambition to be exhaustive, to contain everything and to acknowledge the difficulty to tell a story. The interplay with the blank space on the page, the use of punctuation and phonetic indicators reinforce the written aspect of the text, while at the same time making the words stand off the page and resistant to closure.

The urge to uncover aspects of human condition permeates my work, from the fundamental curiosity of a child tearing apart their doll to uncover what lies within to continuing a quest in uncovering basic human urges through my puppet animated dramas and tragedies. There is a controversial line between the childlike and the adult-like that can be ambiguous, and at some times more discernible while other times less. I create handcrafted stop-frame puppet animations that explore self-conscious emotions such as embarrassment, shame, and envy within unpredictable life scenarios. These are animations about inner life, attempting to resolve conflicting elements of the human psyche. At first glance, these puppets might appear scary, but upon closer observation the viewer may realize it is the puppet who is scared.

This dissertation examines the effects of issue frames and individual-level mediating factors on attitudes toward same-sex marriage and civil unions. It employs three survey experiments to test both competing and non-competing frame environments, an advance which will clarify the effect of these environments on public opinion. Prior literature on multiple frame environments has failed to reach consensus on the effects of multiple frame environments (MFEs) on public opinion, MFEs may: moderate subject opinion or facilitate stronger connections between subject core values and issue opinions. Results indicate that frame effects vary with framing environment: subjects presented with two persuasive frames advocating the same issue position, or a persuasive frame advocating one position and an unpersuasive frame advocating another, reported opinions closer to the persuasive frames than the control groups. Subjects who received persuasive frames advocating contrary positions reported more moderate positions than the control groups. The magnitude of frame effects also varied by question, with larger effects recorded for the civil unions question than the same-sex marriage question. On balance, these findings support the literature suggesting that multiple frame environments moderate public opinion, although some core value-issue opinion linkages were strengthened by the framed environments. Results for the individual-level political sophistication hypotheses were inconclusive. This thesis extends prior work on MFEs to a salient and divisive issue, with multiple possible solutions. In doing so, it helps resolve a debate in the literature on the effect of MFEs on public opinion. It also provides a first test of individual-level factors, such as respondent political sophistication, which may mediate the reception and processing of these frames by citizens. Finally, this thesis tries to bring both of these literatures into communication with one another to better understand the effects of each in relation to public opinion.

Evidence suggests that the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) is an effective method of providing verbal behavior training to individuals with developmental disabilities, and previous research indicates that BST can be used to train staff in its implementation. Video modeling is a modification to BST that can decrease the amount of resources necessary to provide instruction without limiting the effectiveness of the training. This study evaluated the effectiveness of using video modeling for teaching direct care staff how to implement the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System (PEAK) using a multiple baseline across participants design. All participants showed improvement in PEAK implementation with video modeling treatment; one required the addition of a checklist to achieve mastery. Implications for further research are discussed.

Tout individu extrait de ses informations sensorielles des invariants directionnels lui permettant de percevoir sa propre situation spatiale ainsi que celle des objets qui l'entourent. Dans les situations habituelles, les traitements relatifs à l'orientation spatiale s'effectuent à partir de référentiels relativement redondants. Cette redondance autorise à la fois la mise en place d'une sensibilité individuelle préférentielle à l'égard d'un de ces référentiels ainsi qu'une large flexibilité dans le choix du référentiel. Lors de ce travail nous avons voulu tester deux hypothèses principales. La 1ère est que les différences interindividuelles observées lors de tâches de perception d'orientation spatiales dépendent du choix du référentiel. La 2nd hypothèse est que l'un des facteurs explicatifs de la variabilité interindividuelle lors de tâches de perception d'orientation spatiale se situe au niveau des règles d'intégration multisensorielle utilisées par les individus. Les résultats montrent que l'ensemble des cadres de références semblent pris en compte par les individus rejetant ainsi la 1ère hypothèse selon laquelle les différences interindividuelles s'expliqueraient par la capacité de certains sujets à exploiter le "bon" cadre de référence. Les résultats montrent que l'un des facteurs explicatifs des différences interindividuelles se situe dans la manière dont le système nerveux central combinerait les différentes informations, certains sujets (DC) semblant incapables de minimiser l'influence des "mauvais" cadre de référence (les moins appropriés, les plus biaisés) en diminuant leur poids respectifs. / Each person extract from sensory information directional invariant which allow him to perceive his spatial situation as well as those of objects surround him. In usual situations, processing relative to spatial orientation is carried out from relatively redundant reference. This redundancy allows both the setting up of preferential individual sensibility regarding those reference and important flexibility in choice of reference. Durant this work, we tested two main hypotheses. The first one is that observed interindividual differences during spatial orientation perception task depend on reference choice. The second one is that one of explanatory factors of interindividual differences during spatial orientation perception task be set in multisensory integration rules level used by the person. Results show that all frame of reference seem to consider by the people rejecting the first hypothesis according to which interindividual differences be explained by the ability of some subjects to exploit the "good" frame of reference. Results show that one of explanatory factors of interindividual differences is set in the way of central nervous system combine several information, some subjects (DC) seems unable to minimize "wrong" frame of reference influence (the least appropriate, the most biased) by reducing respective weight.

Relational Frame Theory provides an analysis of verbal behavior involving a focus on the development of relational operants which are seen as a basis for language. From this basis, a framework is provided for establishing relational networks in individuals who lack derived relational ability. Establishment of relational frames may increase the probability of responding relationally to novel instances and use of the specific relational frames during social interactions; therefore, training verbal relations in accordance with an RFT approach may enhance intraverbal responding and facilitate the emergence of untrained responses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emergence of specific relationships in the context of intraverbal responding as a collateral effect of training on relational networks in four children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Two participants demonstrated mastery of derived relational responding (DRR) without training, one participant demonstrated mastery of DRR following training, and a fourth participant demonstrated mutual entailment and some combinatorial entailment. Increases in vocal verbal behavior during generalization probes were observed, although increased use of all target relations was not observed in all participants. Further research is needed to evaluate specific deficits in derived relational responding among individuals with ASD, as well as the correlation between DRR and language ability.