Codes can be represented by edge-labeled directed graphs called trellises, which are used in decoding with the Viterbi algorithm. We will first examine the well-known product construction for trellises and present an algorithm for recovering the factors of a given trellis. To maximize efficiency, trellises that are minimal in a certain sense are desired. It was shown by Koetter and Vardy that one can produce all minimal tail-biting trellises for a code by looking at a special set of generators for a code. These generators along with a set of spans comprise what is called a characteristic pair, and we will discuss how to determine the number of these pairs for a given code. Finally, we will look at trellis dualization, in which a trellis for a code is used to produce a trellis representing the dual code. The first method we discuss comes naturally with the known BCJR construction. The second, introduced by Forney, is a very general procedure that works for many different types of graphs and is based on dualizing the edge set in a natural way. We call this construction the local dual, and we show the necessary conditions needed for these two different procedures to result in the same dual trellis.

In the last few years, many more women than before have entered the labour force. Consequently, employed women are confronted with demanding aspects at work and at home and experience difficulty in combining obligations in both of these domains. The pressure of the demands in their work place and family lives combined with managing the responsibilities from their work and personal lives can have a negative impact on the health of employed females. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of work characteristics, borne characteristics and negative work-home interaction on the ill-health of employed females in South Africa. An availability sample (N = 500) was taken from six provinces of South Africa, including the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, the North West and Western Cape. A job characteristics questionnaire, a home characteristics questionnaire, the 'Survey Work-Home Interaction Nijmegen' (SWING), and an ill health questionnaire were administered. Exploratory factor analyses were used to determine the construct validity of the questionnaires, Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the reliability, while multiple regression analyses were used to identify significant predictors of ill-health. The results indicated that physical ill health could be predicted by a lack of role clarity and pressures at home. Predictors of anxiety were work overload, a lack of support from colleagues, uncertain roles in the workplace, home pressure as well as negative Work-home interaction (WHI) and negative Home-work interaction (HWI). Fatigue was predicted by work pressure, work overload, a lack of autonomy at work, a lack of instrumental support at work, a lack of role clarity, pressure at home and negative WHI. Predicting factors of depression were found to be job insecurity, a lack of autonomy and clearly defined roles at work, pressure at home, a lack of autonomy at home as well as negative HWI. / Mini-dissertation (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Combustion instabilities (thermo-acoustic pressure oscillations) have been recognised for some time as a problem limiting the development of low emissions (e.g., lean burn) gas turbine combustion systems, particularly for aviation propulsion applications. Recently, significant research efforts have been focused on acoustic damping for suppression of combustion instability. Most of this work has either been experimental or based on linear acoustic theory. The last 3-5 years has seen application of density based CFD methods to this problem, but no attempts to use pressure-based CFD methods which are much more commonly used in combustion predictions. The goal of the present work is therefore to develop a pressure-based CFD algorithm in order to predict accurately acoustic propagation and acoustic damping processes, as relevant to gas turbine combustors. The developed computational algorithm described in this thesis is based on the classical pressure-correction approach, which was modified to allow fluid density variation as a function of pressure in order to simulate acoustic phenomena, which are fundamentally compressible in nature. The fact that the overall flow Mach number of relevance was likely to be low ( mildly compressible flow) also influenced the chosen methodology. For accurate capture of acoustic wave propagation at minimum grid resolution and avoiding excessive numerical smearing/dispersion, a fifth order accurate Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory scheme (WENO) was introduced. Characteristic-based boundary conditions were incorporated to enable accurate representation of acoustic excitation (e.g. via a loudspeaker or siren) as well as enable precise evaluation of acoustic reflection and transmission coefficients. The new methodology was first validated against simple (1D and 2D) but well proven test cases for wave propagation and demonstrated low numerical diffusion/dispersion. The proper incorporation of Characteristic-based boundary conditions was validated by comparison against classical linear acoustic analysis of acoustic and entropy waves in quasi-1D variable area duct flows. The developed method was then applied to the prediction of experimental measurements of the acoustic absorption coefficient for a single round orifice flow. Excellent agreement with experimental data was obtained in both linear and non-linear regimes. Analysis of predicted flow fields both with and without bias flow showed that non-linear acoustic behavior occurred when flow reversal begins inside the orifice. Finally, the method was applied to study acoustic excitation of combustor external aerodynamics using a pre-diffuser/dump diffuser geometry previously studied experimentally at Loughborough University and showed the significance of boundary conditions and shear layer instability to produce a sustained pressure fluctuation in the external aerodynamics.

My Diploma Thesis has a theoretical character. I dealt with fairy tales as a genre. I worked only with the folkloric fairy tales that are different from the modern ones in the way of universality. In the first part I looked for characteristic features of these stories from the literary and psychological point of view. I focused on time and place expression and how the fairy tale deals with the identity of characters and typical phenomenon of the good and the bad. Through these principles children can easily identify with the heroes of stories and therefore they help to solve specific developmental crisis and also to reach individual autonomy and integrity. For me, the theoretical basis was psychoanalysis and thus I followed the fairy tales theory of Bruno Bettelheim. I used this theory in the second part of my thesis as well. The interpretation of four fairy tales: Litte Red Riding-hood (Červená Karkulka), Jack an Jill (Perníková chaloupka), The Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Sněhurka) and Hrnečku, vař! are given. It is about the determination of the main topic and the interpretation of individual motives. Besides the different options how to interpret it I also compared the different versions of these stories. At the end I tried to have a critical view on Bettelheim's approach and also to find...

Master of Science / Department of Clinical Sciences / Rose M. McMurphy / Hypoventilation (PaCO2 > 45 mmHg) and large P(A-a)O2 gradients due to V/Q mismatch and shunt, are common during isoflurane anesthesia in horses. A fraction of inspired oxygen < 50% has been shown to improve ventilation and decrease intra-operative atelectasis in humans and some animals. The study compared the effects of two different fractions of inspired oxygen, 50% versus > 95%, on ventilation, respiratory pattern, and P(A-a)O2 gradient in isoflurane anesthetized horses. Eight mature horses were sedated with IV xylazine (1.0 mg/kg) and anesthetized with diazepam (0.05 mg/kg) and ketamine (2.2 mg/kg) twice. Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane (ET1.5 vol%) in either 50 or > 95% oxygen for 90 minutes. Both treatments were randomly assigned to each horse with a one week interval in between treatments. Horses were positioned in dorsal recumbency, connected to a preloaded circle breathing system and allowed to spontaneously ventilate. Measurements included inspiratory and expiratory peak flow and time, tidal volume, respiratory frequency, ETCO2, CO2, O2, PaO2, PaCO2, pH, SaO2, heart rate, and arterial blood pressure. Calculated values included PAO2, P(A-a)O2, P(A-a)O2 rate of change, and physiologic dead space. FiO2 of 50% resulted in a lower PaO2, SaO2, PAO2, and P(A-a)O2. No significant change in PaCO2, ventilatory pattern, or any remaining measured variables was observed (p<0.05). The use of 50% oxygen and nitrogen as the carrier gas did not significantly change the ventilatory characteristics or improve oxygenation in isoflurane anesthetized horses. Repeatable respiratory rhythms characteristics were observed for horses while inspiring 50% and > 95% oxygen. A high A-a oxygen gradient with an equal rate of change overtime was still observed during both treatments.

Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are periods in Earth's history when oceans were depleted in dissolved oxygen and characterized by deposition of organic-rich sediments. The Oceanic Drilling Program (ODP) has drilled through OAEs in a number of areas worldwide, collecting core and borehole log data. This project attempts to identify a characteristic signature from known ODP OAE sections using these data and to apply the signature to identify OAE intervals in Gulf of Mexico wells where cores are lacking. Additionally, pseudo density curves were generated from ODP logs and compared to bulk density logs to determine if the deviation between the two would aid identification of OAE intervals. A general, though not fool proof, signature of high gamma ray, uranium, neutron porosity and low density was seen in nearly all of the ODP holes. Using this signature 20 potential OAE intervals were identified in the Gulf of Mexico.

Although a superconductor has zero resistivity when carrying a direct current, losses do occur when it is exposed to an alternating magnetic field and/or is carrying an alternating current. The magnitude of these so-called AC losses depends on the operating temperature, the amplitude and the direction of the magnetic field, the transport current, and the frequency. Therefore, the use of high-temperature superconductors, HTSs, in electric power components such as cables, transformers or reactors, requires knowledge of the AC losses. This thesis deals with the development of AC loss models for HTSs, mainly for Bi-2223 tapes. In particular, the orientation of the applied magnetic field is taken into account in the modelling. The basis for the models is the results of experimental investigations. The basic concepts of HTSs with special emphasis on the modelling of AC losses are presented. These can be broken down into several components. Their sources and natures are described. One of the components is the hysteretic loss and it is the dominating loss in AC applications at power frequencies. Therefore, the other loss components are neglected in the modelling. Models are presented and the associated parameters are investigated with respect to their dependence of the magnetic field as well as the temperature. The AC losses for parallel and perpendicular magnetic field with respect to the wide side of the tape are calculated numerically. Moreover, a semi-empirical model for intermediate angels of the applied magnetic field is proposed. The comparisons show good agreement with experimental results. Keywords: High-temperature superconductors, AC loss modelling, hysteresis, E-J characteristic. / <p>QCR 20161026</p>

This thesis is focused around Edgeworths expansion for aproximation of distribution for parameter estimation. Aim of the thesis is to introduce term Edgeworths expansion, its assumptions and terminology associeted with it. Afterwords demonstrate process of deducting first term of Edgeworths expansion. In the end demonstrate this deduction on examples and compare it with different approximations (mainly central limit theorem), and show strong and weak points of Edgeworths expansion.

O objetivo deste trabalho é o desenvolvimento de \"software\" para proteção digital das linhas de transmissão. Com esse propósito são implementados relés de distância com características quadrilaterais e adaptativas. Um \"software\" básico para este fim consiste de várias etapas como: detecção da falta, filtragem digital, classificação da falta, cálculo da impedância aparente e verificação das zonas de proteção. Na etapa de filtragem digital das ondas, é utilizada a Transformada Discreta de Fourier (TDF) para a extração dos componentes fundamentais de tensão e corrente. A característica quadrilateral mostra-se eficiente para determinadas condições de operação fixas do sistema, mas seu desempenho é comprometido quando ocorrem mudanças das mesmas. Para solucionar este problema, é introduzida a teoria de relés adaptativos onde a característica de abertura do relé digital muda com as alterações nas condições de operação do sistema, mantendo-se assim a eficiência da proteção. / The objective of this work is the development of a software for digital protection of transmission lines. For this purpose relays of distance with Quadrilateral and Adaptive characteristics are implemented. A basic software with this aim consists of several steps such as: detection of the fault, digital filtering of the faulted waves, classification of the fault, impedance calculation and verification of the protection zones. For the digital filtering purpose, the Fourier Discret Transform, is used in order to extract the fundamental phasors of voltages and currents. Quadrilateral characteristcs are shown to be effective under certain operation conditions of the system, but its performance is not so efficient when those conditions are changed. In order to solve these problems, the theory of adaptive relays was introduced whereby the characteristic of digital relay changes according to the alterations in the conditions of the system operation, and by these means the protection is kept efficient.

As equações de diferenças desempenham papel fundamental na modelagem de problemas em que o tempo é medido em intervalos discretos, por exemplo, horas, dia, mês, ano. Elas têm aplicações em Matemática, Física, Engenharia, Economia, Biologia e Sociologia. O objetivo desse trabalho é estudar as equações de diferenças lineares de ordem superior, focando aspectos teóricos, métodos de determinação das soluções destas equações e análise da estabilidade de soluções de equações de diferenças de 2a ordem com coeficientes constantes. Exemplos e aplicações ilustram a teoria desenvolvida. É apresentada uma proposta didática relacionada ao tema para ser trabalhada no ensino médio. / The difference equations play a key role in shaping problems in which time is measured in discrete intervals, e.g., hour, day, month, year. They may be applied to Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Economics, Biology and Sociology. The aim of this work is to study the higher-order linear difference equations, focusing on the theoretical aspects, on the methods used to determine the solutions of these equations and also on the analysis of the stability of 2nd-order difference equations with constants coefficients. Examples and applications depict the developed theory. In addition, a didactic proposal related to the topic to be worked on high school is presented.