本研究乃透過國際間各國之比較，以了解匯率變動對貿易收支與國內產生之效果。共 分成兩大部分，第一部分探討匯率變動對貿易收支的影響。根據傳統的國際收支理論 ，認為在某些情況下，一國匯率的貶值可以改善貿易收支。Miles （１９７９）首先 針對匯率與貿易收支的關係進行實證研究。然而，由於生產與消費有時間落後的現象 ，匯率變動對貿易的效果往往無法立即反映，甚至呈現先惡化再逐步改善的情況，一 般稱為Ｊ曲線效果。針對開發中國家是否存在Ｊ曲線效果，Bahmani-Oskooee （１９ ８５）利用Almon 三階多項分配加以驗證。本文係根據他的模型加以延伸，文中運用 Almon 多項分配方法探討１９７３至１９８７年十個工業國家與十個開發中國家，匯 率變動對貿易收支的影響。為了估計落後期數與多項分配階數，使用兩階段的程序， 首先以Akaike提出的final prediction errer為標準，選擇最適落後期數，然後再檢 定多項分配的階數。第二部分探討匯率變動對產出的影響，依照傳統的理論，匯率貶 值會引起出口增加、進口減少，使國內產出擴充。然而Cooper（１９７１）觀察落後 國家資料，卻發現貶值對國內產出有緊縮效果。Edwards （１９８６）首先使用變異 成分分析開發中國家之匯率變動效果，本文對Edwards 的模型加以延伸，利用Almon 多項分配方法估計，檢視匯率變動是否有Cooper效果，同時比較國際間各國之差異。

The aim of the thesis is to desribe and implement the elliptic curve factorization method using curves in Edwards form. The thesis can be notionally divided into two parts. The first part deals with the theory of Edwards curves especially with properties of elliptic function fields. The second part deals with the factorization algorithm using Edwards form both formally and practically in the way the algorithm is really implemented. The contribution of this thesis is the enclosed implementation of the elliptic curve factorisation algorithm which can be run on a graphic card and which is faster than the state-of-the-art implementation GMP-ECM. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Thesis advisor: Judith Wilt / Experience as an English major, a bookseller, a publishing intern, and a reader has formed questions in my mind about why people read what they do. My interest is focused in two particular "categories" of literature that vie for readers' attention: book clubs and literary awards. Because my skills are in literary interpretation and not societal or industrial analysis, I explored this supposed dichotomy by reading and comparing books from each category. In the "book club" books (My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards), I found a remarkable familial structure at the core: a daughter with a medical condition; a mother struggling to cope emotionally; a father who distances himself through work and offers profound symbolism via a hobby; an older brother who rebels; an outside couple, professionally involved in the action and romantically involved in each other. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winning books, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson and Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, stretch farther with voice, style, and imagery. I found them intellectually and personally more satisfying. In addition pursuing academic interests, I also grew to better understand the variety of purposes for which we read. Though I concluded that if all four novels were to be labeled, they should simply be named "middlebrow," I came to appreciate different writers' strengths — research, personal experience, mastery of language — even when they do not match my personal criteria as a reader. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

"Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems (ECCs) are utilized as an alternative to traditional public-key cryptosystems, and are more suitable for resource limited environments due to smaller parameter size. In this dissertation we carry out a thorough investigation of side-channel attack aware ECC implementations over finite fields of prime characteristic including the recently introduced Edwards formulation of elliptic curves, which have built-in resiliency against simple side-channel attacks. We implement Joye's highly regular add-always scalar multiplication algorithm both with the Weierstrass and Edwards formulation of elliptic curves. We also propose a technique to apply non-adjacent form (NAF) scalar multiplication algorithm with side-channel security using the Edwards formulation. Our results show that the Edwards formulation allows increased area-time performance with projective coordinates. However, the Weierstrass formulation with affine coordinates results in the simplest architecture, and therefore has the best area-time performance as long as an efficient modular divider is available."

When the states of a system can be described by the extrema of a high-dimensional function, the characterisation of its complexity, i.e. the enumeration of the accessible stable states, can be reduced to a sampling problem. In this thesis a robust numerical protocol is established, capable of producing numerical estimates of the total number of stable states for a broad class of systems, and of computing the a-priori probability of observing any given state. The approach is demonstrated within the context of the computation of the configurational entropy of two and three-dimensional jammed packings. By means of numerical simulation we show the extensivity of the granular entropy as proposed by S.F. Edwards for three-dimensional jammed soft-sphere packings and produce a direct test of the Edwards conjecture for the equivalent two dimensional systems. We find that Edwards’ hypothesis of equiprobability of all jammed states holds only at the (un)jamming density, that is precisely the point of practical significance for many granular systems. Furthermore, two new recipes for the computation of high-dimensional volumes are presented, that improve on the established approach by either providing more statistically robust estimates of the volume or by exploiting the trajectories of the paths of steepest descent. Both methods also produce as a natural by-product unprecedented details on the structures of high-dimensional basins of attraction. Finally, we present a novel Monte Carlo algorithm to tackle problems with fluctuating weight functions. The method is shown to improve accuracy in the computation of the ‘volume’ of high dimensional ‘fluctuating’ basins of attraction and to be able to identify transition states along known reaction coordinates. We argue that the approach can be extended to the optimisation of the experimental conditions for observing certain phenomena, for which individual measurements are stochastic and provide little guidance.

This thesis examines the doctrine of happiness within the Jonathan Edwards corpus and seeks to understand its function and significance as it relates to Edwards's broader theological project. A close examination of both the internal development and the Early Modern intellectual context of Edwards's thought reveals that spiritual happiness is of central importance to Edwards's 'end of creation' project. Scholars commonly assume that the burden of Edwards's teleological writings is a theocentric defense and promotion of the glory of God in the face of an increasingly anthropocentric Enlightenment. However, this study demonstrates that, notwithstanding Edwards's adherence to the Reformed tradition's high view of God's glory, the early and enduring concern of Edwards's teleological project is the proof and defense of spiritual happiness as ultimate telos from a Reformed perspective. Edwards's purpose to defend the teleological status of happiness is primarily exposed by the development of Edwards's teleology in his Miscellanies notebook and related theological treatises such as Discourse on the Trinity and End of Creation, especially as Edwards engages rival teleological visions that tend to subordinate happiness. While Edwards's teleological conviction regarding happiness is inspired by his own Puritan and Reformed heritage and his early profound religious experience, he subsequently pursues the proof and defense of his Reformed teleology of happiness in response to the increasing tendency of Reformed and non-Calvinist Enlightenment thinkers to subordinate the teleological status of happiness. During the Early Modern period, Reformed theologians frequently subordinate happiness relative to godliness, and especially the glory of God, and Enlightenment thinkers increasingly make practical virtue and usefulness toward the common good the ultimate telos of human existence at the expense of spiritual happiness, which intellectual trends Edwards engages for the sake of defending his Reformed teleology of happiness. The first stage of the development of Edwards's teleology of happiness is marked by his conversion and subsequent profound experiences of spiritual happiness, and by his efforts that follow during the early 1720s to prove happiness as ultimate telos, primarily on the basis of Edwards's doctrine of divine goodness. During the second stage of development, Edwards works to defend happiness as ultimate telos from a comprehensively biblical and Reformed perspective. Edwards spends the rest of his career developing his doctrines of God and the Trinity, the work of redemption, and the glory of God primarily for the sake of defending his Reformed teleology of happiness, which I suggest, significantly influences and shapes Edwards's theology.

Since 1970, Rio Grande wild turkey (Meleagris gallapavo intermedia) numbers in the southern region of the Edwards Plateau of Texas have been declining. Nest-site characteristics and invertebrate abundance were hypothesized as limiting wild turkey numbers in declining regions. Wild turkeys were trapped and fitted with mortality-sensitive radio transmitters on 4 study areas; 2 within a region of stable (northern Edwards Plateau) populations, and 2 within a region of declining populations. Monitoring occurred from February 2001 to August 2003. Nest-site locations were determined via homing during the breeding season. Following nesting attempts/completions, nest fate, vegetation height, visual obstruction, litter depth, percent cover, and cover scores of forbs, grass, litter, and bare ground at each nest site and surrounding area were sampled. This was done to determine if wild turkey hens selected nest sites with vegetative characteristics differing from surrounding habitat. Brood survival was calculated as >1 poult surviving to 2-weeks. Broods were followed for 6-weeks post-hatch or to brood failure. Invertebrates were collected, via sweep-net and D-vac, at each visually confirmed brood location and a paired random site to determine if wild turkey hens selected brood habitat based on invertebrate abundance. Analyses were performed to determine if invertebrate abundance differed between study regions. Turkey hens selected nest sites with greater visual obstruction and more litter depth on both regions of stable and declining turkey abundance. No vegetative differences were detected between stable and declining region nest sites. Frequency of Orthoptera was 3–5 times greater at nest sites on stable regions than declining regions in all 3 years. Orthoptera is a noted food source for young galliformes and comprised the majority of dry mass in invertebrate samples, nest sites and brood locations, on both the stable and declining regions. No differences in total invertebrate dry mass were detected between regional brood locations. Nest-site vegetative characteristics did not alter nest success between regions. The 2 overall objectives of this study were to determine if nest-site vegetation characteristics and invertebrate abundance affected wild turkey numbers in the Edwards Plateau. Regional differences in vegetative characteristics were not detected, thus not likely to be causing differences in turkey numbers between regions. Nest-site invertebrates were found to be 3–5 times greater at stable region nest sites, possibly giving wild turkey poults from stable regions greater initial chances of survival.

Departing from humanist models of American intellectual history, this dissertation proposes an alternative posthumanist approach to the thought of Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Charles Sanders Peirce. Beginning with Perry Miller’s influential scholarship, American thought is often cast as a search for “face to face” encounters with the unaccountable God of Calvinism, a figure that eventually evolves to encompass Romantic notions of the aesthetic, imagination, or, most predominately, individual human feeling. This narrative typically culminates in the pragmatism of William James, a philosophy in which human feeling attains priority at the expense of impersonal metaphysical systems. However, alongside and against these trends runs a tradition that derives from the Calvinist distinction between a fallen material world and a transcendent God possessed of absolute sovereignty, a tradition that also anticipates posthumanist theory, particularly the self-referential distinction between system and environment that occupies the central position in Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. After systems theory, the possibility for “face to face” encounters is replaced with the necessary self-reference of communication and observation, an attribute expressed in Edwards, Emerson, and Peirce through, respectively, the figures of “true virtue,” an absent and inexpressible grief and, in its most abstract form, Peirce’s concept of a sign. In conclusion, Edwards, Emerson, and Peirce represent an alternative posthumanist genealogy of pragmatism that displaces human consciousness as the foundational ground of meaning, communication, or semiosis.

In dryland regions, where water is a limited resource, land use/land cover has undergone and continues to undergo significant change mainly due to human activities. The nature of runoff from dryland regions and the influence of land use/land cover change are largely not quantified. The objective of this study is to examine runoff dynamics and the influence of land cover in drylands of western Texas across multiple spatial and temporal scales. The study consists of four major components: (1) an experimental study at Honey Creek upland catchment (19 ha) to assess vegetation treatment effects on runoff by hydrometric and isotopic methods; (2) a hydrochemical evaluation of hydrologic linkage between the upland and bottomland at the second-order Honey Creek watershed; (3) a detailed precipitation-streamflow analysis at North Concho River basin to assess long-term and large-scale precipitation-streamflowvegetation dynamics; and (4) a comparison of streamflow in North, Middle, and South Concho River basins and a regional streamflow trend analysis for the entire western Texas. The study indicates runoff production in the drylands of western Texas is dominated by a few large runoff-producing events. The small catchment experiment indicated that runoff increased about 40 mm per year when 60% of woody plants were removed. This effect may relate to the presence of a baseflow component, but was not verified in regional trend analysis for the Edwards Plateau region where most rivers are spring-fed. The decrease in streamflow in North Concho River basin after the 1950's is in large part related to the enhanced infiltration capacity from reduced grazing pressure and improved vegetation cover. Regional streamflow trend analysis suggests some headwater areas outside the Edwards Plateau region experienced patterns of streamflow change similar to those in North Concho River basin, although artificial impoundments complicated the analysis. The study has broader application in ecohydrological research beyond specific geographic areas and specific vegetation types when evaluating the impact of ecosystem structure change on hydrology and water resources.

To accommodate for human population growth along the Texas I-35 corridor, land is becoming increasingly urban and decreasingly pervious, modifying the infiltration and runoff rates in the Edwards Aquifer, especially to its spring fed Upper San Marcos River (USMR). Contaminants like heavy metals and organic chemicals can accumulate on impervious surfaces and with runoff, enter into the USMR at potentially harmful levels. The objective of this study was to determine how the population of an endangered Edwards Aquifer species, the fountain darter (Etheostoma fonticola), might respond to potential water quality changes associated with urbanization. I developed a stochastic, sex and stage-structured population dynamics simulation model that represents the relationships between urbanization, springflow variations, contamination levels, and natural history of the fountain darter. Future fountain darter population trends (2008-2040) were simulated under 10 treatments of nine scenarios. A simulation scenario (n=50) corresponded to one of three variations of springflow (random, high and low flow) and one of three variations in percentage of runoff entering the river (100, 50 or 30). The 10 treatments were variations on water quality: uncontaminated (1), contaminated by Cu (2), Zn (3), Cd (4), Cr (5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (7), bifenthrin (8), carbaryl (9) and dicamba (10) and an additive affect of Cu, Cr, Cd, and Zn (6). Simulating ideal conditions, the average darter population from 2008-2040 was 54155+2969 (mean+SE) individuals. Contaminant treatments that caused a significant (p<0.001) decline in the population by 2040 under 100% runoff conditions were the all metal (650 plus/minus 640), Cu (3141 plus/minus 265), PAH (4621 plus/minus 475), Zn (6169 plus/minus 5406), and Cd (27987 plus/minus 6751) scenarios. With 50% runoff, the all metals (15740 plus/minus 5455), Cu (16815 plus/minus 6263), PAH (19675 plus/minus 995), and Zn (15585 plus/minus 3097) treatments simulated significantly lower populations (p less than 0.001). At 30% runoff, Cu (23976 plus/minus 6787), the all metal (25853 plus/minus 7404) and PAH (28167 plus/minus 1194) treatments decreased the population significantly (p less than 0.001). Over all scenarios, copper, zinc and PAHs caused >50% decline in the population. Assuming 100% or 50% of all San Marcos sub-basin runoff is directly entering USMR, there could currently be levels of Cu, Zn, and PAHs higher than what darters can withstand.