Three different B-site additives, Mg1/3Nb2/3, Zr4+, and Cu1/2W1/2, were added to BNT ceramics in varying concentrations. These were abbreviated as BNMN, BNZ, and BNCW, respectively. The compositions were calcined to form a perovskite structure, ground to a fine powder, pressed into tablets and sintered to form dense ceramics. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of the perovskite phase. The electro-mechanical properties of the ceramics were evaluated. There were improvements in the low-field room temperature dielectric constant of 30% with 25% BNMN, 13% with 10% BNZ, and 16% with 2% BNCW. Higher concentrations of the additives degraded the dielectric performance. The conductivity of the BNT ceramics was reduced with very small concentrations (0.25 to 0.5%) of each of the additives. This reduction was maintained at the higher concentrations of the additives, which allowed for higher electric fields to be applied during both the poling process and the strain measurements. Improvements of approximately 30% in the d33 values were found at concentrations of 0.5% of each of the additives, but higher concentrations of the additives degraded the d33 values. The coercive field was affected by the additions to BNT. Increasing concentrations of BNMN reduced the coercive field in bipolar strain measurements. This was accompanied by a reduction in the remanent strain. Small additions (0.5 to 1.5%) of BNZ resulted in an increase in the coercive field by about 12%, followed by a 25% decrease at 5% BNZ. The remanent strain followed the same pattern. All concentrations of BNCW studied reduced the coercive field by about 12%. The remanent strain increased by 25% at 0.5% BNCW, and decreased by 42% at 2.5% BNCW. The electro-mechanical results for the BNMN and BNZ additives were compared to the behaviours of their lead-based counterparts, PMN and PZ. There was no consistent trend in the response of the electromechanical properties to the additions between the current lead-free and the lead-based systems. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-10-03 15:13:24.791

L'objectif de ce mémoire est d'analyser les transactions d'initiés, effectuées sur la Bourse de Toronto, lors de la période 2008-2010. De façon plus spécifique, nous analysons les fréquences de transactions effectuées dans les jours entourant les annonces de surprise de bénéfice net trimestriel (BNT) et la profitabilité de celles-ci. Les études de Sivakumar et Waymire (1994) et Park et al. (1995) ont conclu que les fréquences moyennes quotidiennes des transactions d'initiés américains sont supérieures à la moyenne dans les premiers jours suivant la divulgation de rapports des résultats. L'hypothèse à vérifier, concernant les initiés canadiens, est de déterminer si leurs fréquences de transactions sont différentes de la moyenne lors des premiers jours suivant les surprises de bénéfice net trimestriel. Les résultats obtenus sont en accord avec cette hypothèse.- Selon Fama (1970), la forme forte d'efficience de marché implique que les initiés ne réalisent pas un rendement anormal moyen cumulé (RAMC) significativement différent de zéro. Les études de Basel et Stein (1979), Lee et Bishara (1989) et McNally et Smith (2003) ont tous rejeté l'efficience forte de la Bourse de Toronto. Cependant, Heinkel et Kraus (1987) ne rejettent pas l'efficience forte de la Bourse de Vancouver. L'hypothèse à vérifier concernant la profitabilité des transactions d'initiés est de déterminer si le marché canadien, représenté par la Bourse de Toronto, est efficient selon la forme forte. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé deux méthodologies pour calculer les RAMC, soit le modèle de marché utilisé par Basel et Stein (1979), Heinkel et Kraus (1987) et Lee et Bishara (1989), et le modèle simple utilisé par McNally et Smith (2003). Les résultats obtenus avec la méthode de marché nous permettent de rejeter cette hypothèse contrairement à ceux obtenus avec le modèle simple. Selon Park et. al. (1995), plusieurs études concluent que les surprises de BNT positives (négatives), sont suivies d'un RAMC positif (négatif). Grâce à leur connaissance, il est possible que les-initiés effectuent des transactions à des moments spécifiques entourant les surprises. L'hypothèse à vérifier est de déterminer si les transactions, effectuées à des moments précis relatifs aux surprises, obtiennent un RAMC différent que les transactions effectuées à d'autres moments. En général, les résultats obtenus rejettent cette hypothèse.

Les composés à base du plomb sont très utilisés dans l'industrie microélectronique en raison de leurs propriétés ferroélectriques et piézoélectriques. Cependant, en raison de la toxicité du plomb, la recherche est dirigée vers le développement des matériaux piézoélectriques « écologiques » (sans plomb). L’objectif de ce travail consiste donc à synthétiser par procédé sol-gel un matériau piézoélectrique écologique : le Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT). Les films minces ont été déposés à l’aide d’une tournette sur des substrats de Pt/TiOx/SiO2/Si. Une étape de séchage sur plaque est appliquée à 100ºC après chaque dépôt. L’utilisation du procédé thermique rapide (RTP) permet la densification et la cristallisation de BNT. Ainsi une pyrolyse est appliquée après le séchage pour densifier le film ; la température a été fixée à 200ºC. Enfin un recuit à 700ºC a permis la cristallisation des films dans la structure pérovskite. Les résultats de caractérisations électriques macroscopiques ainsi que les caractérisations à l’échelle locale ont mis en évidence des performances diélectrique, ferroélectrique et piézoélectrique encourageantes. / Lead based materials are widely used in microelectronic industry due to their ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties. However, due to lead toxicity, it has recently desired to develop lead-free piezoelectric materials for environmental protection. The aim of this work is to synthesize a lead-free piezoelectric material by sol-gel method: Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3. BNT films were deposited by spin coating on Pt/TiOx/SiO2/Si substrate. The films were dried at 100ºC on a hot-plate after each layer deposition. Rapid thermal process (RTP) was used for the densification and crystallization of BNT films. Thus a pyrolysis step is applied to densify the dried film; the temperature was set at 200ºC. The film annealed at 700ºC is well crystallized in the perovskite phase. Macroscopic and local electrical characterizations showed promising dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties.

Förmågan att benämna verb och substantiv kan skilja sig åt hos såväl friska vuxna (Strauss Hough, 2007) som personer med afasi (Mätzig, Druks, Masterson & Vigliocco, 2009). Hos personer med afasi har skillnader mellan förmågan att benämna substantiv och verb relaterats till skadelokalisation (Damasio & Tranel, 1993). Vid afasiutredningar används ofta benämningstest för att bedöma framplockningen av ord (Herbert, Hickin, Howard, Osborne & Best, 2008). Action Naming Test (ANT) är ett verbbenämningstest som normerats på svenska (Lindahl & Oskarsson, 2011; Stenberg & Wik, 2013), men inte studerats hos personer med afasi. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka hur verbbenämningsförmågan ser ut hos personer med afasi och expressiva svårigheter, i relation till den svenska normeringen för ANT. Några av orden i normeringen var problematiska, varför en reanalys av data genomfördes av Stenberg och Wik (2013). Resultaten för ANT har i föreliggande studie därför jämförts med normdata framtagen före och efter reanalysen. Deltagarna bedömdes även med Boston Naming Test (BNT), eftersom studien även syftade till att undersöka om det fanns skillnader i förmåga att benämna verb och substantiv. Förutom testning med ANT och BNT besvarade deltagarna även hälsoenkäten Short Form-36 (SF–36), för att undersöka eventuella samband mellan hälsotillstånd och benämningsförmåga. I studien deltog 19 personer (41–83 år, medianålder 68 år) med kronisk afasi och expressiva svårigheter. Deltagarna presterade signifikant bättre vid benämning av verb (ANT) än av substantiv (BNT), både före (p=.007) och efter (p<.001) exkludering av de problematiska orden. De presterade under normvärdet för ANT, både före och efter ordexkluderingen, men majoriteten erhöll ett högre testresultat efter reanalysen. Inga signifikanta skillnader i benämningsförmåga relaterat till kön, ålder, utbildningsnivå eller skadelokalisation återfanns. ANT kan användas vid utredning av benämningssvårigheter vid afasi. Vid jämförelse med normdata bör värden framtagna efter reanalysen användas eftersom deltagarna i förevarande studie presterade signifikant bättre efter exkludering. Deltagarna uppvisade en signifikant skillnad i prestation på ANT och BNT, vilket motiverar att verbbenämningstest bör genomföras. / The ability to name verbs and nouns can differ in healthy adults (Strauss Hough, 2007) and in people with aphasia (Mätzig, Druks, Masterson & Vigliocco, 2009). In individuals with aphasia, differences in ability to name nouns and verbs have been related to location of brain damage (Damasio & Tranel, 1993). Confrontation naming tests are frequently used in aphasia assessments to evaluate the ability to retrieve words (Herbert, Hickin, Howard, Osborne & Best, 2008). Action Naming Test (ANT) is a verb naming test that has been standardized in Swedish (Lindahl & Oskarsson, 2011; Stenberg & Wik, 2013), but no studies have been done on verb naming with ANT in Swedish individuals with aphasia, which is the aim of the present study. Some of the words in the Swedish standardization were problematic and consequently a re-analysis of the data was conducted by Stenberg and Wik (2013). The results of the ANT in the present study were compared with collected standardized data before and after the re-analysis. To investigate whether there were differences in the ability to name verbs and nouns, participants were also assessed with the Boston Naming Test (BNT). Participants were also asked to answer the health survey Short Form-36 (SF‑36), to investigate possible links between health and verb naming ability. The study enrolled 19 subjects (41–83 years, median age 68 years) with chronic aphasia and expressive difficulties. Participants performed significantly better in verb naming (ANT) than noun naming (BNT), both before (p=.007) and after (p<.001) the problematic words were excluded. The sample performed below norm levels on ANT, both before and after the exclusion, but the majority achieved a higher test result after the re-analysis. No significant differences were found in verb naming ability related to sex, age, educational level or location of brain damage. ANT can be used to assess naming ability in people with aphasia. However, when compared with standardized data, values ​​developed after the re-analysis should be used since the participants of this study performed significantly better after exclusion. The participants showed a significantly better performance on ANT than BNT, which supports the view that verb naming tests are of value.

Föräldraskattningsformuläret The Swedish Communicative Development Inventory (SCDI-III) är en modifierad form av MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventorys tredje form (CDI-III), och har tagits fram som ett forskningsinstrument för undersökning av språkförmågan hos barn i åldersgruppen 2;6-4;0 år. Det är av stor betydelse att barn i riskzonen för att utveckla en språkstörning upptäcks i tid för att språket ska kunna stimuleras under gynnsamma utvecklingsfaser. Kliniskt verksamma personer har givit uttryck för ett behov av ett material som kan ge en överblick av ett barns språkförmåga inför vidare språkutredning. Behovet av ett sådant material bidrog till att validiteten hos SCDI-III behövde undersökas, vilket utgjorde grunden för föreliggande studie. Syftet var att validera det redan normerade föräldraskattningsformuläret SCDI-III med etablerade språktest för att undersöka om det kan användas för att identifiera barn som ligger i riskzonen för språkstörning. Fyrtioen barn (21 flickor och 20 pojkar) i åldersgruppen 3;0-3;11 med svenska som modersmål, och 41 vårdnadshavare deltog i studien. Barnens grammatiska förmågor undersöktes med valideringsinstrumenten SIT (Språkligt Impressivt Test) och Gramba (Grammatiktest för barn) och deras lexikala förmågor undersöktes med BNT (Boston Naming Test) och PPVT-III (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test). Testningen utfördes på deras respektive förskolor och vårdnadshavarna fyllde i SCDI-III, varefter resultaten jämfördes.  Medelstarka signifikanta korrelationer konstaterades mellan skattningarna på SCDI:s ordproduktionsdel och barnens resultat på BNT respektive PPVT-III, samt mellan föräldrarnas skattningar på formulärets meningsbyggnadsdel och testresultaten på Gramba. Inga signifikanta eller starka korrelationer för meningskomplexitetsdelen i SCDI-III hittades mot något av de fyra testen. Utöver dessa resultat framkom att flickor presterade signifikant bättre än pojkar på Gramba och de äldsta barnen fick signifikant högre resultat än de yngsta på BNT. Resultaten i föreliggande studie tyder på att olika metoder och perspektiv behövs för bedömning av barns språkförmågor. SCDI-III skulle därför kunna vara ett kompletterade verktyg i form av ett samtalsunderlag mellan kliniskt verksamma logopeder och vårdnadshavare, men kan inte användas som enskilt bedömningsinstrument. / The Swedish Communicative Development Inventory (SCDI-III), a parent report instrument, is a modified form of the third version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, and has been developed as a research tool for the investigation of the language ability of children aged 2;6 - 4;0 years. It is of great importance that children who are most at risk of developing a language impairment are identified in time in order to increase the possibility to stimulate their language in favourable developmental phases. Clinicians have expressed a need for a material that can provide an overview of a child’s language ability, prior to carrying out further language assessment. The need of such material has contributed to the need for an investigation of the validity of SCDI-III, which has formed the basis for the present study. The purpose was to validate the already standardized parent estimation form SCDI-III with established language assessments to investigate whether it can be used to identify children who are at risk for language impairment. Forty-one children (21 girls and 20 boys) aged 3;0 - 3;11 years, with Swedish as their mother tongue, and 41 guardians participated in the study. The grammatical abilities of the children were examined using the validation tools SIT (Språkligt Impressivt Test) and Gramba (Grammatiktest för barn) and the lexical abilities were examined using BNT (Boston Naming Test) and PPVT-III (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test). The testing was performed at their respective daycare center, and the guardians filled in SCDI-III, after which the results were compared.   Moderate significant correlations were found between estimations in SCDI’s word production section and the children’s production on the BNT and the result of the PPVT-III, and between parents’ evaluations in the sentence construction section of the questionnaire and the test results on Gramba. No significant or strong correlations in the sentence complexity section of the SCDI-III were found on any of the four SLP assessments. In addition to these results, girls performed significantly better than boys on Gramba and the oldest children had significantly better results than the youngest on the BNT. The results of the present study suggest a need for different methods and perspectives for the assessment of children’s language abilities. SCDI-III could therefore be a complementary tool in providing a basis for discussion between practicing speech-language pathologists and guardians, but cannot be used as an assessment tool by itself.

This present study aimed to: 1) Update and expand the data pool of normal Korean-English speaker’s generative naming task from previous data in Food, Clothes, and Animal categories, 2) analyze the relationship between language proficiencies and total number of words and different categories, and 3) provide easier means of testing Korean-English bilinguals with aphasia through translated standardized tests such as Aphasia Language Performance Scale (ALPS) and Boston Naming Test (BNT). Five additional subjects were added to 25 participants from Kim (2010). The participants were asked to name as many different items as possible in 60 seconds in Food, Clothes, and Animal category in both English and Korean. The participants generated more items in Korean than in English. A significant negative correlation was observed between number of words generated in Korean and Korean proficiency and between number of category doublets produced and language proficiency difference scores. A significant positive correlation was observed between number of words generated in English and English proficiency. Large differences in the number of words generated were observed between the participants assessed and participants from Kim (2010), indicating education level and field of study impacts generative naming ability. / text

The aims of this study were to examine a) whether the family-centered intervention method Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) has had an effect on the levels of empowerment of caregivers of children with CI; and b) whether the parents feeling most empowered have a continual habit of reading frequently with their child and have children who achieve higher scores on lexical-semantic tasks; c) whether the empowerment questionnaire “Att vara förälder” (“Being a parent”) is an appropriate assessment tool to evaluate intervention intending to empower the caregivers of children with hearing impairment. Vocabulary was used as a way to gauge the effectiveness of the method. Perceived empowerment of 23 parents was assessed with “Att vara förälder” (“Being a parent”) along with an informal conversation about the questionnaire. In addition, lexical-semantic ability of 11 children (age 5;1-11;8) was assessed with the BNT and the Semantic Feature Test for evaluation if the level of empowerment would affect vocabulary level. Overall the caregivers reported high levels of empowerment. Duration of intervention (range 6 months – 2 years or more) and levels of empowerment corresponded significantly positive. Further, a more active parent scored higher on empowerment than did the parent less active in intervention, as indicated by the self-reports. Qualitative data from the conversation revealed that many of the parents felt that the AVT intervention had helped them to feel more empowered. The results for lexical-semantic ability showed a large variability in the group, not significantly correlated to parents’ level of empowerment. The children older than eight years performed at stanine 5 and over on the BNT. The younger children did not score above stanine 4. In conclusion, the present study represents a first step towards applying empowerment as an instrument for the evaluation of family-centered intervention. Based on our results we argue that all children receiving a CI and their families would benefit from being provided with the possibility for prolonged intervention periods. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka a) om den familjebaserade interventionsmetoden Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) har haft effekt på känslan av empowerment hos föräldrar till barn med CI; och b) om de föräldrar med högst känsla av empowerment har som vana att ofta läsa för sina barn och har barn som presterar högt på testning av ordförråd; c) om enkäten ”Att vara förälder” är ett användbart verktyg för att utvärdera intervention som har som mål att öka känslan av empowerment hos vårdnadshavare till barn med hörselnedsättning. Bedömning av ordförråd användes som ett sätt att undersöka metodens effektivitet. 23 föräldrar fyllde i en empowerment-enkät ”Att vara förälder” och deltog sedan i ett informellt samtal med författarna till studien. Vidare bedömdes lexikal-semantisk förmåga hos 11 barn (ålder 5;1-11;8) med BNT och Särdragstestet med syfte att undersöka om nivån av empowerment påverkar ordförråd. Överlag hade vårdgivarna en hög känsla av empowerment. Interventions-längd (mellan 6 månader – 2 år eller mer) korrelerade signifikant positivt med empowerment. Därutöver framkom att den i interventionen mer aktiva föräldern erhöll ett högre resultat avseende empowerment, jämfört med den föräldern som varit mindre aktiv, enligt självskattningsdata. Kvalitativa data från det informella samtalet tydliggjorde att föräldrarna upplever att interventionen med AVT har förstärkt deras känsla av empowerment. Resultaten varierade stort vad gällde lexikal-semantisk förmåga, vilket inte korrelerade statistiskt med föräldrarnas nivå av empowerment. Barnen äldre än åtta år presterade stanine 5 eller över. De yngre barnen presterade inte över stanine 4. Sammanfattningsvis representerar denna studie ett första steg i ledet att implementera empowerment som ett utvärderingsinstrument i familjebaserad intervention. Baserat på resultaten i vår studie dras slutsatsen att alla barn som får CI skulle, tillsammans med sina familjer, gagnas av att få möjligheten till en långvarig familjebaserad interventionsinsats.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:33:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lediany Freitas de Campos.pdf: 3464899 bytes, checksum: 6b61a4fce28905968ba8f24bbfed3c8c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study aims to analyze the impact of trade barriers on the inclusion of Paraná s agriculture in foreign market in the period 2000-2011, with emphasis on the effects of the international crisis of 2008. For the development of the research object, one opted for a quantitative approach, using descriptive statistical method and the gravity model. It was found that Paraná has, on average, about 50% of its exports based on agricultural products and it increased to 64.01% in 2011. Twelve major products represent around 90% of agricultural exports and in 2011 were responsible for 56.42% of general exports. Over the last decade, the target markets migrated from the European Union to Asia, with great emphasis to China. As for trade barriers, it was found that the agriculture of Paraná faces tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB) by all importing countries analyzed. The tariff applied varies greatly in relation to the country and products. The NTB faced are diverse, and the most frequently applied are sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, followed by technical barriers. Agricultural subsidies applied by OECD countries have high variance around the average and tended to decrease over the period. In the year immediately following the 2008 international crisis, its repercussions were: declines in agricultural exports by volume and value of exports; declines for 10 of the top 12 products analyzed; variations in tariffs, both for more and for less; increase in agricultural subsidies; and the incidence of more BNT on agricultural products. By gravitational model, one evidenced that there is a negative relationship of Paraná s agricultural exports with trade tariffs, converging with the theory of international trade. A trade liberalization through tariffs, as a tariff reduction of 1%, would be positive at 3.7% for greater inclusion of state agriculture in the foreign market. / Este estudo tem por objetivo analisar a incidência de barreiras comerciais sobre a inserção da agricultura paranaense no mercado externo, no período de 2000 a 2011, com destaque para os reflexos da crise internacional de 2008. Para o desenvolvimento do objeto de pesquisa, optou-se por uma abordagem metodológica quantitativa, utilizando o método estatístico descritivo e o modelo gravitacional. Constatou-se que o Paraná tem, em média, cerca de 50% das suas exportações baseadas em produtos agrícolas, tendo aumentado para 64,01% em 2011. Doze principais produtos representam em torno de 90% da exportação agrícola e em 2011 foram responsáveis por 56,42% da exportação geral. Ao longo da última década, os mercados de destino migraram da União Europeia para a Ásia, com grande destaque para a China. Quanto às barreiras comerciais, constatou-se que a agricultura paranaense enfrenta tarifas e Barreiras Não Tarifárias (BNT) por parte de todos os países importadores analisados. O valor da tarifa aplicada varia muito em relação ao país e aos produtos. As BNT enfrentadas são diversas, sendo que as mais aplicadas são barreiras sanitárias e fitossanitárias, seguidas das barreiras técnicas. Os subsídios agrícolas aplicados pelos países da OCDE têm alta discrepância em torno da média e apresentaram tendência de queda ao longo do período. No ano imediatamente posterior à crise internacional de 2008, os seus reflexos foram: quedas nas exportações agrícolas, em volume e valor exportado; quedas para 10 dos 12 principais produtos analisados; variações nas tarifas, tanto para mais quanto para menos; aumento nos subsídios agrícolas; e a incidência de mais BNT sobre os produtos agrícolas. Pelo modelo gravitacional, evidenciou-se uma relação negativa das exportações agrícolas paranaenses com as tarifas comerciais, convergindo com a teoria do comércio internacional. Uma liberalização comercial por meio de tarifas, como uma redução tarifária de 1%, seria positiva em 3,7% para maior inserção da agricultura paranaense no mercado externo.