This thesis analyzes not only the book itself but also the development and transformation of main characters of the novel The House of the Spirits written by Chilean author Isabel Allende. The work deals with an introduction period of the Spanish-American fiction of the twentieth century, with emphasis on magic realism and related spirituality and historical events of the 20th century Chile. The text also focuses on the general theory of characters and plot outlines and structure of the novel. Furthermore, these findings are applied to the fictional character of this work. The conclusion summarizes the results of the investigation carried out and refuted the thesis of literature Isabell Allende. It is concluded that House of the Spirits clearly belongs to the literature of Latin American post - boom and it means much more than just a simple entertaining reading.

La présente étude vise à comprendre le comportement chimico-hydro-mécanique des argiles raides à travers deux formations géologiques, l'argile de Boom et les argiles yprésiennes, qui sont censées être des formations hôtes potentielles pour le stockage de déchets radioactifs en Belgique. Le comportement volumique a été étudié tant à l'état intact qu'à l'état reconstitué, et sous différentes conditions : K0 et isotrope, sous des boucles de chargement - déchargement. Les résultats obtenus montrent que le comportement volumique de ces argiles est gouverné par la compétition entre l'effet physico-chimique et l'effet mécanique, caractérisée par une contrainte seuil qui correspond à la contrainte de gonflement en termes de changements de structure. Une loi de comportement volumique a été ainsi développée afin de décrire cet aspect. La perméabilité a été déterminée, comparée avec les résultats dans la littérature et corrélée avec les paramètres comme l'indice des vides. La variation de la perméabilité avec la profondeur ont mis en évidence le rôle déterminant des macro-pores dans le transfert des fluides. Le comportement volumique et la perméabilité des argiles de Boom et yprésiennes intactes sont aussi influencés par la variation de la composition chimique de l'eau de pore, qui modifie la double couche diffuse et favorise l'agrégation des particules argileuses. Les caractéristiques élastiques, la surface de charge et l'enveloppe de rupture ont été identifiées pour le comportement déviatorique des argiles de Boom et yprésiennes. Un modèle élasto-plastique conceptuel a été développé permettant de tenir compte des effets du gonflement et de la compétition entre l'effet mécanique et l'effet physico-chimique / The present research aims to understand the chemo-hydro-mechanical behavior of stiff clays through two geological formations, the Boom Clay and the ypresian clays which are considered as possible host formations for the radioactive wastes disposal in Belgium. The volume change behavior was studied in both intact and reconstituted states, and under different conditions: under K0 and isotropic loading, under loading/unloading loops. The results show that the volume change behavior is governed by the competition between the physico-chemical effect and the mechanical effect, characterized by a threshold stress which corresponds to the swelling stress in terms of structure changes. A constitutive law was developed to capture this aspect. The permeability was determined, compared with the results in literature and correlated with the parameters as void ratio. The permeability variation with depth shows the important role of macro-pores in fluids' transfer. The volume change behavior and permeability of intact Boom Clay and ypresian clays are also influenced by pore water chemical composition changes which modify the diffuse double layer and give rise to the aggregation of clay particles. The elastic parameters, yield curve and failure envelope of Boom Clay and ypresian clays were identified. A conceptual elasto-plastic model was developed, accounting for the swelling effects and the competition between the physico-chemical effect and the mechanical effect

Student Number : 9713144D - MSc Dissertation - School of Electrical Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / The performance of the Log Periodic dipole array antenna has been characterized, in the form of parametric curves available in most antenna design handbooks and other relevant literature. These characteristic curves are often limiting in scope, as for instance they do not contain parametric curves giving the relationship between the boom-length 'L' and the number of dipole element 'N' for any given bandwidth, even when it is known that these two parameters are the main cost determinants of a LPDA Antenna. The concept of convergence is introduced to aid cost optimization of the LPDA Antenna in terms of number of dipole element 'N'. Although 'N' is used as the minimization criterion, the criteria for establishing convergence encompass all the main electrical characteristics of the LPDA Antenna, such as VSWR, gain and radiation patterns. Lastly, the effects of boomimpedance 'Zo' and length to diameter ration 'Ln/Dn', on the performance characteristics of the LPDA Antenna was investigated with the view to determining if neglecting the effects of these two parameters were responsible for the disparity in the directive gain values obtained by R. L Carrel compared to those obtained by later researchers. The investigation indicates that if an LPDA Antenna is converged, then the effects of Zo and Ln/Dn ratio though significant can not alone account for the fairly large disparity in the gain values. In other to perform these investigations, a modern scientific tool in the form of numerical modeling by method of moments based, Super Numerical electromagnetic code version2 was utilized. The numerical modeling tool was first validated by agreement between measured values and the values as predicted by the modeling tool. Next, simulation of the performance of LPDA antennas under variations of their number of elements was done. Thereafter, the means and standard deviations of the gain were extracted from the simulated numerical models. Trends in the pattern of variation of the means and standard deviations of the gain are used as the basis for deciding the value of number of element at which the antenna can yield acceptable performance (convergence criteria). These are presented as convergence curves, which gives for any given boom-length and operating bandwidth, the minimum number of elements required for the antenna to yield acceptable performance. Finally, the effect of length to diameter ratio and boom-impedance on the gain of optimized LPDA antennas are presented as parametric curves.

To stay competitive internationally, the Swedish forestry sector must increase its productivity by 2 to 3% annually. There are a variety of ways in which productivity can be increased. One option is to develop remote-controlled or unmanned machines, thus reducing the need for operator intervention. Another option—and one that could be achieved sooner than full automation—would be to make some functions semi-automatic. Semi-automatic operation of the knuckle boom and felling head in particular would create “mini-breaks” for the operators, thereby reducing mental and physiological stress. It would also reduce training time and increase the productivity of a large proportion of operators. The objective of this thesis work has been to develop and evaluate algorithms for simplified boom control on forest machines. Algorithms for so called boom tip control, as well as automatic boom functions have been introduced. The algorithms solve the inverse kinematics of kinematically redundant knuckle booms while maximizing lifting capacity. The boom tip control was evaluated – first by means of a kinematic simulation and then in a dynamic forest machine simulator. The results show that boom tip control is an easier system to learn in comparison to conventional control, leading to savings in production due to shorter learning times and operators being able to reach full production sooner. Boom tip control also creates less mental strain than conventional control, which in the long run will reduce mental stress on operators of forest machines. The maximum lifting capacity algorithm was then developed further to enable TCP path-tracking, which was also implemented and evaluated in the simulator. An evaluation of the fidelity of the dynamic forest machine simulator was performed to ensure validity of the results achieved with the simplified boom control. The results from the study show that there is good fidelity between the forest machine simulator and a real forest machine, and that the results from simulations are reliable. It is also concluded that the simulator was a useful research tool for the studies performed in the context of this thesis work. The thesis had two overall objectives. The first was to provide the industry and forestry sector with usable and verified ideas and results in the area of automation. This has been accomplished with the implementation of a simplified boom control and semi-automation on a forwarder in a recently started joint venture between a hydraulic manufacturer, a forest machine manufacturer and a forest enterprise. The second objective was to strengthen the research and development links between the forestry sector and technical university research. This has been accomplished through the thesis work itself and by a number of courses, projects and Masters theses over the last three years. About 150 students in total have been studying forest machine technology in one way or the other. / QC 20100729

Sonic boom annoyance is an important technical showstopper for commercial supersonic aircraft operations. It has been proposed that aircraft can be shaped to alleviate sonic boom. Choosing the right aircraft shape reflecting the design requirements is a fundamental and most important step that is usually over simplified in the conceptual stages of design by resorting to a qualitative selection of a baseline configuration based on historical designs and designers perspective. Final aircraft designs are attempted by minor shape modifications to this baseline configuration. This procedure may not yield large improvements in the objectives, especially when the baseline is chosen without a rigorous analysis procedure. Traditional analyses and implementations tend to have a complex algorithmic flow, tight coupling between tools used and computational limitations. Some of these shortcomings are overcome in this study and a diverse mix of tools is seamlessly integrated to provide a simple, yet powerful and automatic procedure for sonic boom minimization. A shape optimization procedure for supersonic aircraft design using better geometry generation and improved analysis tools has been successfully demonstrated. The geometry engine provides dynamic reconfiguration and efficient manipulation of various components to yield unstructured watertight geometries. The architecture supports an assimilation of different components and allows configuration changes to be made quickly and efficiently because changes are localized to each component. It also enables an automatic way to combine linear and non-linear analyses tools. It has been shown in this study that varying atmospheric conditions could have a huge impact on the sonic boom annoyance metrics and a quick way of obtaining probability estimates of relevant metrics was demonstrated. The well-accepted theoretical sonic boom minimization equations are generalized to a new form and the relevant equations are derived to yield increased flexibility in aircraft design process. Optimum aircraft shapes are obtained in the conceptual design stages weighing in various conflicting objectives. The unique shape optimization procedure in conjunction with parallel genetic algorithms improves the computational time of the analysis and allows quick exploration of the vast design space. The salient features of the final designs are explained. Future research recommendations are made.

Project (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-153, 51-54).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [137-141]).

Project (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Description based on Print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-153, 51-54).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 1998. / Abstract. This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #064-0046. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [137-141]).

This article focuses in the analysis of the high bureaucracy professional profile (ministers, vice ministers and directors) from the Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MINEM) during the context of the so-called commodity boom (2006 – 2016), a period characterized by the sustai- ned rise in the price of raw materials. In order to achieve this objective, we have elaborated a monitoring database picking up demographic characteristics; educational trajectories and career paths; career stability; employment links; and political party ties from 73 top managers of the MINEM organic units that worked in the period from 2006 to 2016. Thus, this research has as objectives to provide a descriptive professional profile of the high bureaucracy of the MINEM during the so-called boom of raw materials and to analyze and discuss their professionalization from a theoretical framework that relates bureaucratic quality to state capacity. / El artículo se centra en el análisis del perfil profesional de la alta burocracia (ministros, viceministros y directores) del Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MINEM) en el contexto del denominado boom de los commodities (2006-2016), un período caracterizado por el alza sost enida del precio de las materias primas. Para cumplir con este objetivo, se elaboró una base de datos de seguimiento y monitoreo, la cual recoge las características demográficas, trayectorias educaciones y líneas de carrera, la estabilidad en la carrera, los vínculos laborales y los vínculos partidarios de los 73 altos directivos de las unidades orgánicas del MINEM que laboraron entre el periodo 2006-2016. Así, la presente investigación tiene como objetivos brindar de manera descriptiva un perfil profesional de la alta burocracia del MINEM durante el denominado boom de las materias primas, y analizar y discutir su profesionalización a partir de un marco teórico que relaciona la calidad burocrática con la capacidad estatal.