Les dévellopements récents des faisceaux exotiques, et en particulier avec le dispositif SPIRAL du GANIL, nous ont permis d'initier l'étude, dans l'9He, de l'inversion de couches déjà observée dans les isotone N=7, pour le 11Be et le 10Li. Une partie du travail est consacré à l'étude et au développement d'un détecteur servant aussi de cible (cible active) appelé MAYA, ainsi qu'au développement des outils informatiques nécessaires à son exploitation. l'9He a été étudier par la détermination des propriétés de ses états isobariques analogues (IAS) dans le 9Li. Les caractéristiques de ces états IAS sont obtenues par l'analyse des résonances dans les sections efficaces de diffusion élastique, du système 8He+p entre 2 et 3.9 MeV/n. Une étude rapide des réaction (p,d) et (p,t) est aussi présenté. Cette étude a permis, par la comparaison des résultats expérimentaux et des calculs de diffusion potentielle avec résonances, une assignation de spin et parité pour deux états de l'9He.

No description available.

The research reported in this thesis is concerned with robust precoder and transceiver optimization in multiuser multi-antenna wireless communication systems in the presence of imperfect channel state information(CSI). Precoding at the transmit side, which utilizes the CSI, can improve the system performance and simplify the receiver design. Transmit precoding is essential for inter-user interference cancellation in multiuser downlink where users do not cooperate. Linear and non-linear precoding have been widely investigated as low-complexity alternatives to dirty paper coding-based transmission scheme for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output(MU-MIMO)downlink. Similarly, in relay-assisted networks, precoding at the relay nodes have been shown to improve performance. The precoder and joint precoder/receive filter (transceiver) designs usually assume perfect knowledge of the CSI. In practical systems, however, the CSI will be imperfect due to estimation errors, feedback errors and feedback delays. Such imperfections in CSI will lead to deterioration of performance of the precoders/transceivers designed assuming perfect CSI. In such situations, designs which are robust to CSI errors are crucial to realize the potential of multiuser multi-antenna systems in practice. This thesis focuses on the robust designs of precoders and transceivers for MU-MIMO downlink, and for non-regenerative relay networks in the presence of errors in the CSI. We consider a norm-bounded error(NBE) model, and a stochastic error(SE) model for the CSI errors. These models are suitable for commonly encountered errors, and they allow mathematically and computationally tractable formulations for the robust designs. We adopt a statistically robust design in the case of stochastic error, and a minimax or worst-case robust design in the case of norm-bounded error. We have considered the robust precoder and transceiver designs under different performance criteria based on transmit power and quality-of-service(QoS) constraints. The work reported in this thesis can be grouped into three parts, namely,i ) robust linear pre-coder and transceiver designs for multiuser downlink, ii)robust non-linear precoder and transceiver designs for multiuser downlink, and iii)robust precoder designs for non-regenerative relay networks. Linear precoding: In this part, first, a robust precoder for multiuser multiple-input single-output(MU-MISO)downlink that minimizes the total base station(BS)transmit power with constraints on signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio(SINR) at the user terminals is considered. We show that this problem can be reformulated as a second order cone program(SOCP) with the same order of computational complexity as that of the non-robust precoder design. Next, a robust design of linear transceiver for MU-MIMO downlink is developed. This design is based on the minimization of sum mean square error(SMSE) with a constraint on the total BS transmit power, and assumes that the error in the CSI at the transmitter(CSIT) follows the stochastic error model. For this design, an iterative algorithm based on the associated Karush-Kuhn-Tucker(KKT) conditions is proposed. Our numerical results demonstrate the robust performance of the propose designs. Non-linear precoding: In this part, we consider robust designs of Tomlinson-Harashima precoders(THP) for MU-MISO and MU-MIMO downlinks with different performance criteria and CSI error models. For MU-MISO systems with imperfect CSIT, we investigate the problem of designing robust THPs under MSE and total BS transmit power constraints. The first design is based on the minimization of total BS transmit power under constraints on the MSE at the individual user receivers. We present an iterative procedure to solve this problem, where each iteration involves the solution of a pair of convex optimization problems. The second design is based on the minimization of a stochastic function of the SMSE under a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We solve this problem efficiently by the method of alternating optimization. For MU-MIMO downlink, we propose robust THP transceiver designs that jointly optimize the TH precoder and receiver filters. We consider these transceiver designs under stochastic and norm-bounded error models for CSIT. For the SE model, we propose a minimum SMSE transceiver design. For the NBE model, we propose three robust designs, namely, minimum SMSE design, MSE-constrained design, and MSE-balancing design. Our proposed solutions to these robust design problems are based on iteratively solving a pair of sub-problems, one of which can be solved analytically, and the other can be formulated as a convex optimization problem that can be solved efficiently. Robust precoder designs for non-regenerative relay networks: In this part, we consider robust designs for two scenarios in the case of relay-assisted networks. First, we consider a non-regenerative relay network with a source-destination node pair assisted by multiple relay nodes, where each node is equipped with a single antenna. The set of the cooperating relay nodes can be considered as a distributed antenna array. For this scenario, we present a robust distributed beam former design that minimizes the total relay transmit power with a constraint on the SNR at the destination node. We show that this robust design problem can be reformulated as a semi-definite program (SDP)that can be solved efficiently. Next, we consider a non-regenerative relay network, where a set of source-destination node pairs are assisted by a MIMO-relay node, which is equipped with multiple transmit and multiple receive antennas. For this case, we consider robust designs in the presence of stochastic and norm-bounded CSI errors. We show that these problems can be reformulated as convex optimization problems. In the case of norm-bounded error, we use an approximate expression for the MSE in order to obtain a tractable solution.

Cette thèse examine la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) par les entreprises de secteurs controverses. Dans le premier chapitre, on évalue les stratégies en RSE pour 565 entreprises de secteurs controverses de 1991 à 2013 en estimant la relation compensatoire entre Irresponsabilité Sociale des Entreprises (ISE) et RSE. On montre que ces entreprises tendent à compenser pour leur ISE en s'engageant dans des domaines stratégiques de RSE tels que la protection de l'environnement et le respect des communautés locales avec un manque d'engagement dans d'autres activités telles la gouvernance d'entreprise. Dans le deuxième chapitre, on examine si l'engagement RSE de 499 entreprises de secteurs controverses est susceptible de diminuer leur risque financier. Nos résultats montrent qu'un engagement RSE stratégique réduit le risque idiosyncratique et total pour certaines industries controversées et que le manque d'engagement dans les activités de gouvernance augmente leur risque. Le troisième chapitre examine la divulgation sociétale en tant que mécanisme de reddition de comptes dans le contexte d'un incident environnemental majeur. L'étude de cas des stratégies RSE utilisées par l'entreprise Canadienne En bridge, durant sa réponse a l'incident de déversement de parole en 2010 révèle que ses rapports RSE sont souvent optimistes et ne réussissent pas a décrire son incapacité à faire face aux problèmes de sécurité ayant entrainé l'incident; et ont aussi sous-estime le volume du déversement et la difficulté du nettoyage, ainsi mettant en question l'effet des activités RSE compare à l'effet de facteurs contextuels dans la protection de l'entreprise durant la crise. / This thesis is composed of three chapters that examine corporate social responsibility (CSR) within firms in controversial sectors. In the first chapter, we evaluate patterns of investment in CSR for 565 US publicly traded companies in eight controversial sectors between 1991 and 2013 by assessing the relationship between CSR and Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI). We show that firms in controversial sectors compensate for their CSI by engaging in strategic CSR areas such as environmental protection and community development with a lack of engagement towards other areas, such as corporate governance. In the second chapter, we determine whether engagement in specific CSR activities for 499 US companies in controversial sectors decreases their financial risk. We show that engaging in specific CSR activities considered as strategic reduces idiosyncratic and total risk for some controversial industries; and that poor engagement in corporate governance activities increases firm risk. In the third chapter, we investigate CSR reporting as an important mechanism for stakeholder accountability in the context of an environmental crisis. We perform a case study analysis of the CSR strategies used by the Canadian oil company Enbridge in its response to the July 2010 Kalamazoo spill and revealed that Enbridge's CSR reports were frequently optimistic and failed to describe the company's inability to deal with known safety problems that led to spill; and underestimated both the volume of the spill and the difficulty of the cleanup, thus making it difficult to distinguish the effects of the CSR efforts from the effects of other contextual and external factors.

Resource allocation in wireless networks is one of the most studied class of problems. Generally, these problems are formulated as utility maximization problems under relevant constraints. The challenges posed by these problems vary widely depending on the nature of the utility function under consideration. Recently, the widespread prevalence of wireless devices prompted researchers and engineers to delve into the security issues of wireless communication. As compared to the wired medium, ensuring security for the wireless medium is more challenging mainly due to the broadcast nature of the transmission. But the ongoing research on physical layer security promises robust and reliable security schemes for wireless communication. Contrary to conventional cryptographic schemes, physical layer security techniques are impregnable as the security is ensured by the inherent randomness present in the wireless medium. In this thesis, we consider several wireless scenarios and propose secrecy enhancing resource allocation schemes for them in the first few chapters. We initially address the problem of secure transmission by following the conventional approach in the secrecy literature|secrecy rate maximization. Needless to say, in these chapters, secrecy rate is the utility function and the constraints are posed by the available power budget. Then we consider a pragmatic approach where we target the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of participating nodes and ensure information secrecy by appropriately constraining the SNRs of those nodes. In those SNR based formulations, SNR at the destination is the utility function and we are interested in maximizing it. In the last two chapters, we study two scenarios in a non-secrecy setting. In one of them, end-to-end data rate is the utility, whereas, in the other one, two utility functions|based on revenue generated|are defined for two rational agents in a game-theoretic setting. In the second chapter, we study parallel independent Gaussian channels with imperfect channel state information (CSI) for the eavesdropper. Firstly, we evaluate the probability of zero secrecy rate in this system for (i) given instantaneous channel conditions and (ii) a Rayleigh fading scenario. Secondly, when non-zero secrecy is achievable in the low SNR regime, we aim to solve a robust power allocation problem which minimizes the outage probability at a target secrecy rate. In the third, fourth and fifth chapters, we consider scenarios where the source node transmits a message to the destination using M parallel amplify-and-forward (AF) relays in the presence of a single or multiple eavesdroppers. The third chapter addresses the problem of the maximum achievable secrecy rate for two specific network models: (a) degraded eavesdropper channel with complex channel gain and (b) scaled eavesdropper channel with real-valued channel gains. In the fourth chapter, we consider the SNR based approach and address two problems: (i) SNR maximization at the destination and (ii) Total relay power minimization. In the fifth chapter, we assume that the relay nodes are untrusted and to counter them, we deliberately introduce artificial noise in the source message. For this model, we propose and solve SNR maximization problems for the following two scenarios: (i) Total power constraint on all the relay nodes and (ii) Individual power constraints on each of the relay nodes. In the sixth chapter, we address the problem of passive eavesdroppers in multi-hop wire-less networks using the technique of friendly jamming. Assuming decode-and-forward (DF) relaying, we consider a scheduling and power allocation (PA) problem for a multiple-source multiple-sink scenario so that eavesdroppers are jammed, and source-destination throughput targets are met. When channel state information (CSI) of all the node are available, we intend to minimize the total power consumption of all the transmitting nodes. In the absence of eavesdroppers CSI, we minimize vulnerability region of the network. In chapter seven, the problem of cooperative beamforming for maximizing the achievable data rate of two-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) network (in the absence of eavesdropper(s)) is considered. Along with an individual power constraint on each of the relay nodes, we consider a weighted sum power constraint. To solve this problem, we propose a novel algorithm based on the Quadratic Eigenvalue Problem (QEP) and discuss its convergence. In chapter eight, we study a Stackelberg game between a base station and a multi-antenna power beacon for wireless energy harvesting in a multiple sensor node scenario. Assuming imperfect CSI between the sensor nodes and the power beacon, we propose a utility function that is based on throughput non-outage probability at the base station. We find the optimal strategies for the base station and the power beacon that maximize their respective utility functions.

This critical study unveils the ideological underpinning of contemporary network series narratives through a thematic approach combined with the analysis of the strategies of representation that support the ideological inclination of the series/Cette analyse critique dévoile l'idéologie sous-jacente des séries télévisées contemporaines des networks américains par une approche thématique combinée à une analyse des stratégies de représentations qui appuient la tendance idéologique de ces séries / Doctorat en Langues et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Motivated by the increasing demand for higher data rates, coverage, and spectral efficiency, current and next generation wireless systems adapt transmission parameters and even who is being transmitted to, based on the instantaneous channel states. For example, frequency-domain scheduling(FDS) is an instance of adaptation in orthogonal frequency division multiple access(OFDMA) systems in which the base station opportunistically assigns different subcarriers to their most appropriate user. Likewise ,transmit antenna selection(AS) is another form of adaptation in which the transmitter adapts which subset of antennas it transmits with. Cognitive radio(CR), which is a next generation technology, itself is a form of adaptation in which secondary users(SUs) adapt their transmissions to avoid interfering with the licensed primary users(PUs), who own the spectrum. However, adaptation requires channel state information(CSI), which might not be available apriori at the node or nodes that are adapting. Further, the CSI might not be perfect due to noise or feedback delays. This can result in suboptimal adaptation in OFDMA systems or excessive interference at the PUs due to transmissions by the SUs in CR. In this thesis, we focus on adaptation techniques in current and next generation wireless systems and evaluate the impact of CSI –both perfect and imperfect –on it. We first develop a novel model and analysis for characterizing the performance of AS in frequency-selective OFDMA systems. Our model is unique and comprehensive in that it incorporates key LTE features such as imperfect channel estimation based on dense, narrow band demodulation reference signal and coarse, broad band sounding reference signal. It incorporates the frequency-domain scheduler, the hardware constraint that the same antenna must be used to transmit over all the subcarriers that are allocated to a user, and the scheduling constraint that the allocated subcarriers must all be contiguous. Our results show the effectiveness of combined AS and FDS in frequency-selective OFDMA systems even at lower sounding reference signal powers. We then investigate power adaptation in underlay CR, in which the SU can transmit even when the primary is on but under stringent interference constraints. The nature of the interference constraint fundamentally decides how the SU adapts its transmit power. To this end, assuming perfect CSI, we propose optimal transmit power adaptation policies that minimize the symbol error probability of an SU when they are subject to different interference and transmit power constraints. We then study the robustness of these optimal policies to imperfections in CSI. An interesting observation that comes out of our study is that imperfect CSI can not only increase the interference at the PU but can also decrease it, and this depends on the choice of the system parameters, interference, and transmit power constraints. The regimes in which these occur are characterized.

Since the frantic race towards the Shannon bound [1] commenced in the early 1950’s, linear block codes have become integral components of most digital communication systems. Both binary and non-binary linear block codes have proven themselves as formidable adversaries against the impediments presented by wireless communication channels. However, prior to the landmark 1974 paper [2] by Bahl et al. on the optimal Maximum a-Posteriori Probability (MAP) trellis decoding of linear block codes, practical linear block code decoding schemes were not only based on suboptimal hard decision algorithms, but also code-specific in most instances. In 1978 Wolf expedited the work of Bahl et al. by demonstrating the applicability of a block-wise Viterbi Algorithm (VA) to Bahl-Cocke-Jelinek-Raviv (BCJR) trellis structures as a generic optimal soft decision Maximum-Likelihood (ML) trellis decoding solution for linear block codes [3]. This study, largely motivated by code implementers’ ongoing search for generic linear block code decoding algorithms, builds on the foundations established by Bahl, Wolf and other contributing researchers by thoroughly evaluating the VA decoding of popular binary and non-binary linear block codes on realistic narrowband and wideband digital communication platforms in lifelike mobile environments. Ideally, generic linear block code decoding algorithms must not only be modest in terms of computational complexity, but they must also be channel aware. Such universal algorithms will undoubtedly be integrated into most channel coding subsystems that adapt to changing mobile channel conditions, such as the adaptive channel coding schemes of current Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), 3rd Generation (3G) and Beyond 3G (B3G) systems, as well as future 4th Generation (4G) systems. In this study classic BCJR linear block code trellis construction is annotated and applied to contemporary binary and non-binary linear block codes. Since BCJR trellis structures are inherently sizable and intricate, rudimentary trellis complexity calculation and reduction algorithms are also presented and demonstrated. The block-wise VA for BCJR trellis structures, initially introduced by Wolf in [3], is revisited and improved to incorporate Channel State Information (CSI) during its ML decoding efforts. In order to accurately appraise the Bit-Error-Rate (BER) performances of VA decoded linear block codes in authentic wireless communication environments, Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), flat fading and multi-user multipath fading simulation platforms were constructed. Included in this task was the development of baseband complex flat and multipath fading channel simulator models, capable of reproducing the physical attributes of realistic mobile fading channels. Furthermore, a complex Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) system were employed as the narrowband communication link of choice for the AWGN and flat fading channel performance evaluation platforms. The versatile B3G multi-user multipath fading simulation platform, however, was constructed using a wideband RAKE receiver-based complex Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Multiple Access (DS/SSMA) communication system that supports unfiltered and filtered Complex Spreading Sequences (CSS). This wideband platform is not only capable of analysing the influence of frequency selective fading on the BER performances of VA decoded linear block codes, but also the influence of the Multi-User Interference (MUI) created by other users active in the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system. CSS families considered during this study include Zadoff-Chu (ZC) [4, 5], Quadriphase (QPH) [6], Double Sideband (DSB) Constant Envelope Linearly Interpolated Root-of- Unity (CE-LI-RU) filtered Generalised Chirp-like (GCL) [4, 7-9] and Analytical Bandlimited Complex (ABC) [7, 10] sequences. Numerous simulated BER performance curves, obtained using the AWGN, flat fading and multi-user multipath fading channel performance evaluation platforms, are presented in this study for various important binary and non-binary linear block code classes, all decoded using the VA. Binary linear block codes examined include Hamming and Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes, whereas popular burst error correcting non-binary Reed-Solomon (RS) codes receive special attention. Furthermore, a simple cyclic binary linear block code is used to validate the viability of employing the reduced trellis structures produced by the proposed trellis complexity reduction algorithm. The simulated BER performance results shed light on the error correction capabilities of these VA decoded linear block codes when influenced by detrimental channel effects, including AWGN, Doppler spreading, diminished Line-of-Sight (LOS) signal strength, multipath propagation and MUI. It also investigates the impact of other pertinent communication system configuration alternatives, including channel interleaving, code puncturing, the quality of the CSI available during VA decoding, RAKE diversity combining approaches and CSS correlation characteristics. From these simulated results it can not only be gathered that the VA is an effective generic optimal soft input ML decoder for both binary and non-binary linear block codes, but also that the inclusion of CSI during VA metric calculations can fortify the BER performances of such codes beyond that attainable by classic ML decoding algorithms. / Dissertation (MEng(Electronic))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted