Pollinator sharing in mixed species communities is expected to significantly contribute to mating patterns in contemporary populations but may also affect the evolutionary trajectory of traits associated with plant mating. In this thesis, I considered how the spring environment and pollinator sharing may contribute to the widespread convergence in traits among spring flowering species using comparative biology. The proposed correlation between a spring flowering phenology and white or light floral colour, fleshy fruits, woody growth forms and understory occupation is confirmed. In addition, I examined the effects of pollinator responses to community and population traits to determine the relative importance of inter- and intraspecific interactions in pollinator mediated reproductive success of a spring flowering species, Trillium grandiflorum. In this study, the reproductive success of T. grandiflorum was pollen limited. However, the magnitude of pollen limitation was influenced only by intraspecific density and varied independently of community diversity. The results of this thesis contribute significantly to our understanding of pollinator-mediated interactions in spring flowering communities but also highlight future avenues of investigation.

Σκοπός της διπλωματικής είναι η μελέτη ενός τηλεπικοινωνιακού συστήματος αποτελούμενου από συνελικτικό κωδικοποιητή, interleaver, qam διαμορφωτή, κανάλι με παρουσία συσχετισμένου Gaussian θορύβου, soft qam αποδιαμορφωτή, deinterleaver και αποκωδικοποιητή Viterbi. Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση δίνεται στην απόδοση του interleaving/symbol παρουσία συσχετισμένου θορύβου. Μελετάται η απόδοση στο BER, η πολυπλοκότητα, το κόστος υλικού καθώς και χρονική καθυστέρηση του παραπάνω συστήματος σε σχέση με ένα αντίστοιχο σύστημα που υλοποιεί interleaving/bit παρουσία συσχετισμένου θορύβου. / The aim of the thesis is to study a telecommunications system consisting of convolutional encoder, interleaver, qam modulator, channel in the presence of correlated Gaussian noise, soft qam demodulator, deinterleaver, and decoder Viterbi. Particular emphasis is placed on the performance of interleaving/symbol presence of correlated noise. Studied the performance of the BER, the complexity, cost of material and time delay of the above system with respect to a corresponding system that implements interleaving/bit presence of correlated noise.

The successful implementation and employment of various cognitive radio services are largely dependent on the spectrum sensing performance of the cognitive radio terminals. Previous works on detection of cognitive radio have suggested the necessity of user cooperation in order to be able to detect at low signal-to-noise ratios experienced in practical situations. This report provides a brief overview of the impact of different fusion strategies on the spectrum hole detection performance of a fusion center in a distributed detection environment. Different decision or detection rule and fusion strategies, like single sensor scenario, counting rule, and linear decision metric, were used to analyze their influence on the spectrum sensing performance of the cognitive radio network. We consider a system of cognitive radio users who cooperate with each other in trying to detect licensed transmissions. Assuming that the cooperating nodes use identical energy detectors, we model the received signals as correlated log-normal random variables and study the problem of fusing the decisions made by the individual nodes. The cooperating radios were assumed to be designed in such a way that they satisfy the interference probability constraint individually. The interference probability constraint was also met at the fusion center. The simulation results strongly suggests that even when the observations at the individual sensors are moderately correlated, it is important not to ignore the correlation between the nodes for fusing the local decisions made by the secondary users. The thesis mainly focuses on the performance measurement of linear decision combiner in detecting primary users in a cognitive radio network.

In this thesis we consider various applications the gauge/gravity duality to study transport in strongly coupled systems. The main content is organized in three parts. In the first part we investigate the interrelation between dimensionality and strength of interactions. It is known that the dynamics of systems in Condensed Matter and General Relativity simplify for high dimensionality. Therefore, in this limit of large dimensionality, analytic results are usually possible. We study the dependence of the conductivity and the entanglement entropy on the space-time dimensionality in two different models of holographic superconductors: one dual to a quantum critical point with spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the other modelled by a charged scalar that condenses at a sufficiently low temperature in the presence of a Maxwell field. In the large dimensionality limit we obtain explicit analytical results for the conductivity at zero temperature and the entanglement entropy. Our results suggest that, as dimensionality increases, the condensate interactions become weaker. In the second part we first investigate the Drude weight and the related Mazur-Suzuki (MS) bound in a broad variety of strongly coupled field theories with a gravity dual at nonzero temperature and chemical potential. We show that the MS bound, which in the context of Condensed Matter provides information on the integrability of the theory, is saturated in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton (EMd) and R-charged backgrounds. We then explore EMd theories with U(1) spontaneous symmetry breaking, and gravity duals of non-relativistic field theories, in which the MS bound is not saturated. Finally, we study the effect of a weak breaking of translational symmetry and we show that the MS bound sets a lower bound on the DC conductivity for a given scattering time. In the last part, we study asymptotically anti de Sitter Brans-Dicke (BD) backgrounds as effective models of metals with a varying coupling constant. We show that, for translational invariant backgrounds, the zero-frequency conductivity (dc conductivity) deviates from the universal result of EMd models. Once translational symmetry is broken, the shear viscosity to entropy ratio is always lower than the Kovtun-Son-Starinets bound, in line with other gravity backgrounds with momentum relaxation. In the BD models studied, we observed insulating like features in the dc conductivity. However, the module and argument of the optical conductivity at intermediate frequencies are not consistent with cuprates experimental results, even assuming several channel of momentum relaxation. We have also included the research carried out in the first year of the PhD as appendices. The topics studied in these appendices lie outside the main framework of this thesis.

The crystal growth conditions of compounds of the series Srn+1IrnO3n+1 (n=1, 2 and ∞) are investigated. It was found that the ratio of IrO2:SrCO3 in the starting mixture is the most important variable in determining the phase formed. Good quality samples of Sr3Ir2O7 were found to have a sharp change in gradient at the Néel temperature of 287.5 K and no secondary T* transition between 230 K and 260 K. All crystals of Sr3Ir2O7 grown were found to be heavily oxygen deficient by EPMA regardless of the crystal growth conditions used with an average stoichiometry of Sr2:87Ir2O6:27. Adding more electrons via replacing strontium with lanthanum causes (Sr(1-x)Lax)3Ir2O7 to become metallic by x=0.072, which also fully quenches the long-range antiferromagnetic order. Heat capacity and resistivity measurements show that metallic (Sr(1-x)Lax)3Ir2O7 is a weakly correlated Fermi-liquid metal. Given that there are only subtle changes to the structure upon lanthanum doping, the metal-insulator transition is a result of electron doping rather than structural distortions. No structural phase transitions were found up to a temperature of 800°C and no additional evidence was found to support the Bbcb space group model of the structure of Sr3Ir2O7. Using crystals five times better in quality than those reported in the literature, SrIrO3 was found to be a Fermi-liquid metal, rather than a non-Fermi liquid metal as previously reported, and no superconductivity was found down to temperatures of 20 mK. A known Pt(III) compound, CaPt2O4, was found to be a weakly correlated metal down to 2 K and a novel Pt(III) based compound, K2CaPt3-δ O6 (δ ≈ 0.4), was discovered. K2CaPt3δ-O6 has a structure consisting of monolayers of edge-sharing PtO6 octahedra separated by layers of ordered K+ and Ca2+ ions in a 2:1 ratio. The structure of K2CaPt3-δO6 was found to be flexible to doping with copper, causing the magnetic properties to change from temperature independent to paramagnetic.

A realização de previsões adequadas nas indústrias oportuniza o correto dimensionamento de diversos aspectos da gestão da produção. Um dos métodos empregados no intuito de melhorar a precisão das previsões é conhecido como combinação de previsões. Ao longo dos anos, foram publicados estudos de combinação a fim de comparar os métodos já existentes e indicar entre estes, qual o mais acurado. No entanto não há unanimidade em suas conclusões. Entre as combinações existentes, o método da média aritmética é reconhecido como um dos mais utilizados, enquanto que o método da variância mínima é por vezes apresentado como mais acurado e permite em sua formulação a consideração ou não da correlação entre os erros das previsões individuais. No intuito de identificar, para previsões em séries reais industriais, se existe diferença entre a acurácia das previsões individuais e de suas combinações é que este estudo está sendo proposto. A modelagem individual abordada é a ARIMA e a RNA e as medidas empregadas para a escolha do método mais preciso são MAPE, MAE e MSE. O trabalho está estruturado em três artigos, nos quais se realizam comparações entre técnicas de previsão individual e suas combinações. O Artigo 1 aborda a comparação entre as técnicas de previsão individual e as combinações por média aritmética e variância mínima simplificada. O Artigo 2, por sua vez, apresenta um estudo comparativo das técnicas de previsão individuais e as combinações por média aritmética e variância mínima, utilizando a correlação entre os erros na obtenção dos pesos de cada previsão. Por fim, um comparativo entre as três combinações que contemplam este estudo é explicitado no Artigo 3. Como principal resultado, destaca-se o desempenho superior obtido por meio dos métodos de combinação por variância mínima, em especial o método simplificado. / The adequate forecasting in industries allows the correct sizing of many aspects of production management. A method used to improve the precision of forecasts is the combination of predictions. Over time, many studies were conducted to evaluate the existent methods and to indicate which one is the most precise. However, there is no unanimity in those studies conclusions. Among the combination methods, the arithmetic average is recognized as the broadly applied, while the minimum variance is sometimes presented as more accurate allowing to consider the correlation between the errors of individual forecasts or not. This study proposes to identify, in real industrial predictions series, if there are differences between accuracy of individual forecasts and their combinations. The individual predictions are performed by ARIMA and ANN models, and the measures used to choose the best method are MAPE, MAE and MSE. This dissertation is structured as three articles, in which a series of comparisons between individual prediction techniques and their combinations. Article 1 addresses the comparison between the individual prevision techniques and the combination methods of mean arithmetic and simplified minimum variance. Article 2 presents a comparative study between the individual prevision techniques and the combination methods of mean arithmetic and minimum variance, considering errors correlated. The comparison between the three combinations presented in the previous articles is explained in Article 3. As main result of the dissertation, it is highlighted the superior performance obtained with the minimum variance combined methods, specially the simplified method.

In this thesis, we study Bayesian games with two players and two actions (2 by 2 games) in realistic settings where private information is correlated or players have scarcity of attention. The contribution of this thesis is to shed further light on strategic interactions in realistic settings. Chapter 1 gives an introduction of the research and contributions of this thesis. In Chapter 2, we study how the correlation of private information affects rational agents’ choice in a symmetric game of strategic substitutes. The game we study is a static 2 by 2 entry game. Private information is assumed to be jointly normally distributed. The game can, for some parameter values, be solved by a cutoff strategy: that is enter if the private payoff shock is above some cutoff value and do not enter otherwise. Chapter 2 shows that there is a restriction on the value of correlation coefficient such that the game can be solved by the use of cutoff strategies. In this strategic-substitutes game, there are two possibilities. When the game can be solved by cutoff strategies, either, the game exhibits a unique (symmetric) equilibrium for any value of correlation coefficient; or, there is a threshold value for the correlation coefficient such that there is a unique (symmetric) equilibrium if the correlation coefficient is below the threshold, while if the correlation coefficient is above the threshold value, there are three equilibria: a symmetric equilibrium and two asymmetric equilibria. To understand how parameter changes affect players’ equilibrium behaviour, a comparative statics analysis on symmetric equilibrium is conducted. It is found that increasing monopoly profit or duopoly profit encourages players to enter the market, while increasing information correlation or jointly increasing the variances of players’ prior distribution will make players more likely to choose entry if the equilibrium cutoff strategies are below the unconditional mean, and less likely to choose entry if the current equilibrium cutoff strategies are above the unconditional mean. In Chapter 3, we study a 2 by 2 entry game of strategic complements in which players’ private information is correlated. As in Chapter 2, the game is symmetric and private information is modelled by a joint normal distribution. We use a cutoff strategy as defined in Chapter 2 to solve the game. Given other parameters, there exists a critical value of the correlation coefficient. For correlation coefficient below this critical value, cutoff strategies cannot be used to solve the game. We explore the number of equilibria and comparative static properties of the solution with respect to the correlation coefficient and the variance of the prior distribution. As the correlation coefficient changes from the lowest feasible (such that cutoff strategies are applicable) value to one, the sequence of the number of equilibrium will be 3 to 2 to 1, or 3 to 1. Alternatively, under some parameter specifications, the game exhibits a unique equilibrium for all feasible value of the correlation coefficient. The comparative statics of equilibrium strategies depends on the sign of the equilibrium cutoff strategies and the equilibrium’s stability. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a unique equilibrium. This necessary and sufficient condition nests the sufficient condition for uniqueness given by Morris and Shin (2005). Finally, if the correlation coefficient is negative for the strategic-complements games or positive for the strategic-substitutes games, there exists a critical value of variance such that for a variance below this threshold, the game cannot be solved in cutoff strategies. This implies that Harsanyi’s (1973) purification rationale, supposing the perturbed games are solved by cutoff strategies and the uncertainty of perturbed games vanishes as the variances of the perturbation-error distribution converge to zero, cannot be applied for a strategic-substitutes (strategic-complements) game with dependent perturbation errors that follow a joint normal distribution if the correlation coefficient is positive (negative). However, if the correlation coefficient is positive for the strategic-complements games or negative for the strategic-substitutes games, the purification rationale is still applicable even with dependent perturbation errors. There are Bayesian games that converge to the underlying complete information game as the perturbation errors degenerate to zero, and every pure strategy Bayesian Nash equilibrium of the perturbed games will converge to the corresponding Nash equilibrium of the complete information game in the limit. In Chapter 4, we study how scarcity of attention affects strategic choice behaviour in a 2 by 2 incomplete information strategic-substitutes entry game. Scarcity of attention is a common psychological characteristic (Kahneman 1973) and it is modelled by the rational inattention approach introduced by Sims (1998). In our game, players acquire information about their own private payoff shocks (which here follows a high-low binary distribution) at a cost. We find that, given the opponent’s strategy, as the unit cost of information acquisition increases a player’s best response will switch from acquiring information to simply comparing the ex-ante expected payoff of each action (using the player’s prior). By studying symmetric Bayesian games, we find that scarcity of attention can generate multiple equilibria in games that ordinarily have a unique equilibrium. These multiple equilibria are generated by the information cost. In any Bayesian game where there are multiple equilibria, there always exists one pair of asymmetric equilibria in which at least one player plays the game without acquiring information. The number of equilibria differs with the value of the unit information cost. There can be 1, 5 or 3 equilibria. Increasing the unit information cost could encourage or discourage a player from choosing entry. It depends on whether the prior probability of a high payoff shock is greater or less than some threshold value. We compare the rational inattention Bayesian game with a Bayesian quantal response equilibrium game where the observation errors are additive and follow a Type I extreme value distribution. A necessary and sufficient condition is established such that both the rational inattention Bayesian game and quantal response game have a common equilibrium.

A realização de previsões adequadas nas indústrias oportuniza o correto dimensionamento de diversos aspectos da gestão da produção. Um dos métodos empregados no intuito de melhorar a precisão das previsões é conhecido como combinação de previsões. Ao longo dos anos, foram publicados estudos de combinação a fim de comparar os métodos já existentes e indicar entre estes, qual o mais acurado. No entanto não há unanimidade em suas conclusões. Entre as combinações existentes, o método da média aritmética é reconhecido como um dos mais utilizados, enquanto que o método da variância mínima é por vezes apresentado como mais acurado e permite em sua formulação a consideração ou não da correlação entre os erros das previsões individuais. No intuito de identificar, para previsões em séries reais industriais, se existe diferença entre a acurácia das previsões individuais e de suas combinações é que este estudo está sendo proposto. A modelagem individual abordada é a ARIMA e a RNA e as medidas empregadas para a escolha do método mais preciso são MAPE, MAE e MSE. O trabalho está estruturado em três artigos, nos quais se realizam comparações entre técnicas de previsão individual e suas combinações. O Artigo 1 aborda a comparação entre as técnicas de previsão individual e as combinações por média aritmética e variância mínima simplificada. O Artigo 2, por sua vez, apresenta um estudo comparativo das técnicas de previsão individuais e as combinações por média aritmética e variância mínima, utilizando a correlação entre os erros na obtenção dos pesos de cada previsão. Por fim, um comparativo entre as três combinações que contemplam este estudo é explicitado no Artigo 3. Como principal resultado, destaca-se o desempenho superior obtido por meio dos métodos de combinação por variância mínima, em especial o método simplificado. / The adequate forecasting in industries allows the correct sizing of many aspects of production management. A method used to improve the precision of forecasts is the combination of predictions. Over time, many studies were conducted to evaluate the existent methods and to indicate which one is the most precise. However, there is no unanimity in those studies conclusions. Among the combination methods, the arithmetic average is recognized as the broadly applied, while the minimum variance is sometimes presented as more accurate allowing to consider the correlation between the errors of individual forecasts or not. This study proposes to identify, in real industrial predictions series, if there are differences between accuracy of individual forecasts and their combinations. The individual predictions are performed by ARIMA and ANN models, and the measures used to choose the best method are MAPE, MAE and MSE. This dissertation is structured as three articles, in which a series of comparisons between individual prediction techniques and their combinations. Article 1 addresses the comparison between the individual prevision techniques and the combination methods of mean arithmetic and simplified minimum variance. Article 2 presents a comparative study between the individual prevision techniques and the combination methods of mean arithmetic and minimum variance, considering errors correlated. The comparison between the three combinations presented in the previous articles is explained in Article 3. As main result of the dissertation, it is highlighted the superior performance obtained with the minimum variance combined methods, specially the simplified method.

A realização de previsões adequadas nas indústrias oportuniza o correto dimensionamento de diversos aspectos da gestão da produção. Um dos métodos empregados no intuito de melhorar a precisão das previsões é conhecido como combinação de previsões. Ao longo dos anos, foram publicados estudos de combinação a fim de comparar os métodos já existentes e indicar entre estes, qual o mais acurado. No entanto não há unanimidade em suas conclusões. Entre as combinações existentes, o método da média aritmética é reconhecido como um dos mais utilizados, enquanto que o método da variância mínima é por vezes apresentado como mais acurado e permite em sua formulação a consideração ou não da correlação entre os erros das previsões individuais. No intuito de identificar, para previsões em séries reais industriais, se existe diferença entre a acurácia das previsões individuais e de suas combinações é que este estudo está sendo proposto. A modelagem individual abordada é a ARIMA e a RNA e as medidas empregadas para a escolha do método mais preciso são MAPE, MAE e MSE. O trabalho está estruturado em três artigos, nos quais se realizam comparações entre técnicas de previsão individual e suas combinações. O Artigo 1 aborda a comparação entre as técnicas de previsão individual e as combinações por média aritmética e variância mínima simplificada. O Artigo 2, por sua vez, apresenta um estudo comparativo das técnicas de previsão individuais e as combinações por média aritmética e variância mínima, utilizando a correlação entre os erros na obtenção dos pesos de cada previsão. Por fim, um comparativo entre as três combinações que contemplam este estudo é explicitado no Artigo 3. Como principal resultado, destaca-se o desempenho superior obtido por meio dos métodos de combinação por variância mínima, em especial o método simplificado. / The adequate forecasting in industries allows the correct sizing of many aspects of production management. A method used to improve the precision of forecasts is the combination of predictions. Over time, many studies were conducted to evaluate the existent methods and to indicate which one is the most precise. However, there is no unanimity in those studies conclusions. Among the combination methods, the arithmetic average is recognized as the broadly applied, while the minimum variance is sometimes presented as more accurate allowing to consider the correlation between the errors of individual forecasts or not. This study proposes to identify, in real industrial predictions series, if there are differences between accuracy of individual forecasts and their combinations. The individual predictions are performed by ARIMA and ANN models, and the measures used to choose the best method are MAPE, MAE and MSE. This dissertation is structured as three articles, in which a series of comparisons between individual prediction techniques and their combinations. Article 1 addresses the comparison between the individual prevision techniques and the combination methods of mean arithmetic and simplified minimum variance. Article 2 presents a comparative study between the individual prevision techniques and the combination methods of mean arithmetic and minimum variance, considering errors correlated. The comparison between the three combinations presented in the previous articles is explained in Article 3. As main result of the dissertation, it is highlighted the superior performance obtained with the minimum variance combined methods, specially the simplified method.

Pollinator sharing in mixed species communities is expected to significantly contribute to mating patterns in contemporary populations but may also affect the evolutionary trajectory of traits associated with plant mating. In this thesis, I considered how the spring environment and pollinator sharing may contribute to the widespread convergence in traits among spring flowering species using comparative biology. The proposed correlation between a spring flowering phenology and white or light floral colour, fleshy fruits, woody growth forms and understory occupation is confirmed. In addition, I examined the effects of pollinator responses to community and population traits to determine the relative importance of inter- and intraspecific interactions in pollinator mediated reproductive success of a spring flowering species, Trillium grandiflorum. In this study, the reproductive success of T. grandiflorum was pollen limited. However, the magnitude of pollen limitation was influenced only by intraspecific density and varied independently of community diversity. The results of this thesis contribute significantly to our understanding of pollinator-mediated interactions in spring flowering communities but also highlight future avenues of investigation.