Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Statistics / Suzanne Dubnicka / Christopher Vahl / Photoplethysmograph sensors use a light-based technology to sense the rate of blood flow as controlled by the heart’s pumping action. This allows for a graphical display of a patient’s pulse wave form and the description of its key features. A person’s pulse wave has been proposed as a tool in a wide variety of applications. For example, it could be used to diagnose the cause of coldness felt in the extremities or to measure stress levels while performing certain tasks. It could also be applied to quantify the risk of heart disease in the general population. In the present work, we explore its use for identity authentication. First, we visualize the pulse waves from individual patients using functional boxplots which assess the overall behavior and identify unusual observations. Functional boxplots are also shown to be helpful in preprocessing the data by shifting individual pulse waves to a proper starting point. We then employ functional analysis of variance (FANOVA) and permutation tests to demonstrate that the identities of a group of subjects could be differentiated and compared by their pulse wave forms. One of the primary tasks of the project is to confirm the identity of a person, i.e., we must decide if a given person is whom they claim to be. We used an equivalence test to determine whether the pulse wave of the person under verification and the actual person were close enough to be considered equivalent. A nonparametric bootstrap functional equivalence test was applied to evaluate equivalence by constructing point-wise confidence intervals for the metric of identity assurance. We also proposed new testing procedures, including the way of building the equivalence hypothesis and test statistics, determination of evaluation range and equivalence bands, to authenticate the identity.

O efeito do reforçamento é apontado como a principal variável para a formação de discriminações condicionais e de equivalência de estímulos. Pesquisas têm se concentrado em analisar outras variáveis que influenciam a formação de discriminações condicionais e de equivalência de estímulos. Tais estudos sugerem que o comportamento verbal pode facilitar a formação do responder discriminativo e da equivalência de estímulos, porém poucas pesquisas tem se concentrado em investigar o efeito do comportamento verbal autoclítico neste responder. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi analisar se uma instrução que orientou o participante a emitir uma resposta verbal vocal com autoclítico qualificador de asserção é, entre a apresentação do estímulo modelo e a escolha do estímulo amostra, em uma tarefa de matching to sample produz efeitos na formação de novas classes de equivalência e influencia na quantidade de tentativas necessárias para a formação do responder discriminativo condicional. Foram utilizados vinte participantes adultos divididos em dois grupos, Grupo Controle e Grupo Experimental. Todos os participantes foram submetidos a três etapas de treino e três etapas de testes. Na primeira etapa foram treinadas as relações A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 e testada a formação de classes equivalência entre os estímulos B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; na segunda etapa foram treinadas as relações A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 e testada à formação de classes equivalência entre os estímulos B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; na terceira etapa foram treinadas as relações A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 e testada à formação de classes equivalência entre os estímulos B1C1, B2C2, B3C3. Cada treino foi composto por doze tentativas, tendo como critério de aprendizagem a ocorrência de 100% de respostas corretas. A instrução foi apresentada apenas aos participantes do Grupo Experimental. Os resultados obtidos não apresentam diferenças de desempenho, entre os grupos na média de tentativas necessárias em todas as etapas de treino, entretanto o Grupo Experimental apresenta um desempenho inicial superior ao do Grupo Controle na média de respostas corretas nas Etapas de treino e um desempenho superior do Grupo Experimental na média de respostas corretas durante todas as etapas de teste do experimento. É possível afirmar que o efeito inicial do autoclítico foi de aumentar a precisão das respostas facilitando a aquisição da discriminação condicional e da formação de equivalência de estímulos. Tal precisão produzida pelo autoclítico pode ter auxiliado o participante a emitir um operante verbal intraverbal que descreve as discriminações condicionais ensinadas e testadas no experimento, já que todos os participantes do Grupo Experimental passaram a emitir a resposta verbal vocal este é este, acompanhado da resposta de escolha correta entre os estímulos condicional e discriminativo / The effect of reinforcement is pointed as the main variable for formation of conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence. Researches have concentrated on analyzing other variables that influence the formation of conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence. Such studies suggest that verbal behavior can facilitate formation of discriminative responding and stimulus equivalence, however few researches have focused on investigate the effect of autoclitic verbal behavior in this responding. The purpose of the present research was to analyze if an instruction that oriented the participant to emit a vocal verbal response, the autoclitic qualifier is, between the presentation of model stimulus and the choice of the sample stimulus in a task of match to sample, produces effects in formation of new equivalence classes and if it influences over the quantity of trials required to meet conditional discriminative responding. Twenty participants were dived in two groups, Control Group and Experimental Group. All the participants were submitted to three stages of training and three stages of tests. During the first stage of training the relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 were trained and were tested the formation of equivalence classes between stimulus B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; on the second stage of training the relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 and was tested the formation of equivalence classes between stimulus B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; on the third stage were trained the relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 and tested the formation of equivalence classes between the stimulus B1C1, B2C2, B3C3. Each training was composed by twelve trials. The learning was 100% of correct. The instruction was presented just for the participants in Experimental Group. The results dont show differences in performance between groups in mean trials required at all stages of training, however, the experimental group has a higher initial performance of the control group in mean correct responses in steps training and superior performance the experimental group the average of correct responses during all phases of the test experiment. It can be argued that the initial effect of autoclitic was to increase the accuracy of responses by facilitating the acquisition of the conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence training . Such precision produced by autoclitic may have helped the participant to issue a verbal operant intraverbal depicting taught conditional discriminations and tested in the experiment , as all participants in the experimental group started to emit vocal verbal response \" this is it\" , accompanied by the answer correct choice between conditional and discriminative stimuli

Os índices de evasão e fracasso escolar no ensino fundamental no Brasil, nos dias atuais, ainda são alarmantes. Torna-se importante o planejamento de procedimentos que minimizem as dificuldades envolvidas no aprendizado da leitura e escrita e potencializem a aquisição dessas habilidades. Nessa direção, vários grupos de pesquisadores têm focado seus estudos, através do paradigma de equivalência, visando identificar as variáveis relacionadas com a formação de classes de equivalência e suas relações com a leitura, trazendo nítidas implicações educacionais. Porém, quando a leitura com compreensão é adquirida, não significa necessariamente que o leitor esteja sob controle das unidades verbais menores do que a palavra. O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar variáveis relevantes no processo da emergência do controle por unidades mínimas e, portanto, da leitura recombinativa, com cinco crianças pré-escolares. Foi utilizado o programa EQUIV, em que foram ensinadas as relações entre palavra ditada e palavra impressa correspondente (AC); em seguida testadas a leitura de novas palavras, formadas pela recombinação das unidades menores presentes nas palavras ensinadas previamente. O programa era constituído de vinte fases, que se dividiam em cinco tipos básicos de procedimentos: Pré-Teste, Pré-Treino, Treinos, Testes e Pós-testes. Os dados demonstraram que três participantes apresentaram desempenhos próximos de 100% nos Testes de Leitura Recombinativa, indicando transferência das funções discriminativas das unidades mínimas das palavras de treino para as novas palavras. Nos pós-testes todos os participantes foram capazes de nomear palavras e sílabas as quais não eram capazes de nomear anteriormente. Nos testes de Equivalência realizados ao final do programa, os mesmos três participantes obtiveram desempenhos próximos de 100%, o que indica leitura com compreensão. Os resultados do presente estudo indicam que a ausência dos treinos das relações entre palavra ditada e figuras (AB) e dos Testes de Equivalência, não impediram a emergência do controle por unidades mínimas, sugerindo um procedimento mais econômico para a obtenção da leitura recombinativa. Portanto, o ganho de se instalar o controle por unidades mínimas mais rapidamente, suscita questões teóricas e sugere pesquisas futuras nessa direção. / The percentage of drop outs in Brazilian primary school is still alarming. It is important, though, to arrange procedures that minimize difficulties in reading and writing and maximize the acquisition of these abilities. In this direction, many groups of researchers have focused in studies in which through equivalence paradigm they identify variables related with the formation of equivalences class and its relations with reading comprehension. But when reading comprehension is acquired, it does not necessarily means that the reader is under the control of minimal verbal units of the word. The present study aimed to investigate the relevant variables in the process of emergence of minimal unit control and recombinative reading, with five preschool children. Using EQUIV software, relations between oral and printed word (AC) were taught; afterwards, textual behavior of novel words were tested, which were composed by minimal units of the words taught previously. The program consisted of twenty experimental phases, divided into four basic types: Pretest, Pretraining, Training and Post- Test. The results showed that three participants presented recombinative reading closer to 100% correct performances, indicating transfer of discriminative functions of the minimal units trained to new words. In Post- Tests, all participants developed repertoire of naming oral words and syllables that werent able to name before. In Equivalence Tests applied in the final phase, the same three participants obtained performance closer to 100%, indicating reading comprehension. The results of the present study point that the absence of training relations between oral word and picture (AB) and Equivalence Tests, didnt inhibit the emergence of control by minimal units, suggesting economy in the procedures of recombinative reading. Hence, the quicker installment of minimal verbal units control than previous studies generates theoretical questions and suggests future researches in this direction.

O efeito do reforçamento é apontado como a principal variável para a formação de discriminações condicionais e de equivalência de estímulos. Pesquisas têm se concentrado em analisar outras variáveis que influenciam a formação de discriminações condicionais e de equivalência de estímulos. Tais estudos sugerem que o comportamento verbal pode facilitar a formação do responder discriminativo e da equivalência de estímulos, porém poucas pesquisas tem se concentrado em investigar o efeito do comportamento verbal autoclítico neste responder. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi analisar se uma instrução que orientou o participante a emitir uma resposta verbal vocal com autoclítico qualificador de asserção é, entre a apresentação do estímulo modelo e a escolha do estímulo amostra, em uma tarefa de matching to sample produz efeitos na formação de novas classes de equivalência e influencia na quantidade de tentativas necessárias para a formação do responder discriminativo condicional. Foram utilizados vinte participantes adultos divididos em dois grupos, Grupo Controle e Grupo Experimental. Todos os participantes foram submetidos a três etapas de treino e três etapas de testes. Na primeira etapa foram treinadas as relações A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 e testada a formação de classes equivalência entre os estímulos B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; na segunda etapa foram treinadas as relações A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 e testada à formação de classes equivalência entre os estímulos B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; na terceira etapa foram treinadas as relações A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 e testada à formação de classes equivalência entre os estímulos B1C1, B2C2, B3C3. Cada treino foi composto por doze tentativas, tendo como critério de aprendizagem a ocorrência de 100% de respostas corretas. A instrução foi apresentada apenas aos participantes do Grupo Experimental. Os resultados obtidos não apresentam diferenças de desempenho, entre os grupos na média de tentativas necessárias em todas as etapas de treino, entretanto o Grupo Experimental apresenta um desempenho inicial superior ao do Grupo Controle na média de respostas corretas nas Etapas de treino e um desempenho superior do Grupo Experimental na média de respostas corretas durante todas as etapas de teste do experimento. É possível afirmar que o efeito inicial do autoclítico foi de aumentar a precisão das respostas facilitando a aquisição da discriminação condicional e da formação de equivalência de estímulos. Tal precisão produzida pelo autoclítico pode ter auxiliado o participante a emitir um operante verbal intraverbal que descreve as discriminações condicionais ensinadas e testadas no experimento, já que todos os participantes do Grupo Experimental passaram a emitir a resposta verbal vocal este é este, acompanhado da resposta de escolha correta entre os estímulos condicional e discriminativo / The effect of reinforcement is pointed as the main variable for formation of conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence. Researches have concentrated on analyzing other variables that influence the formation of conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence. Such studies suggest that verbal behavior can facilitate formation of discriminative responding and stimulus equivalence, however few researches have focused on investigate the effect of autoclitic verbal behavior in this responding. The purpose of the present research was to analyze if an instruction that oriented the participant to emit a vocal verbal response, the autoclitic qualifier is, between the presentation of model stimulus and the choice of the sample stimulus in a task of match to sample, produces effects in formation of new equivalence classes and if it influences over the quantity of trials required to meet conditional discriminative responding. Twenty participants were dived in two groups, Control Group and Experimental Group. All the participants were submitted to three stages of training and three stages of tests. During the first stage of training the relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 were trained and were tested the formation of equivalence classes between stimulus B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; on the second stage of training the relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 and was tested the formation of equivalence classes between stimulus B1C1, B2C2, B3C3; on the third stage were trained the relations A1B1, A2B2, A3B3 e A1C1, A2C2, A3C3 and tested the formation of equivalence classes between the stimulus B1C1, B2C2, B3C3. Each training was composed by twelve trials. The learning was 100% of correct. The instruction was presented just for the participants in Experimental Group. The results dont show differences in performance between groups in mean trials required at all stages of training, however, the experimental group has a higher initial performance of the control group in mean correct responses in steps training and superior performance the experimental group the average of correct responses during all phases of the test experiment. It can be argued that the initial effect of autoclitic was to increase the accuracy of responses by facilitating the acquisition of the conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence training . Such precision produced by autoclitic may have helped the participant to issue a verbal operant intraverbal depicting taught conditional discriminations and tested in the experiment , as all participants in the experimental group started to emit vocal verbal response \" this is it\" , accompanied by the answer correct choice between conditional and discriminative stimuli

D'après le travail de Rickard, nous savons que deux anneaux possèdent la même catégorie d´erivée s'il existe un complexe basculant, construit à partir de modules projectifs sur le premier anneau de telle sorte que le deuxième anneau soit l'anneau des endomormorphismes de ce complexe basculant.<br />Dans cette thèse je décris, sous certaines conditions, l'anneau des endomorphismes de complexes à n termes à partir de l'anneau des endomorphismes d'une structure plus élémentaire, les homologies des complexes.<br />Le cas de complexes basculants à 2 termes sur un ordre de Gorenstein tel que les homologies sont sans torsion a été fait par S.König et A.Zimmermann.

A great majority of children in Canada and the United States from Grades 2-6 fail to solve equivalence problems (e.g., 2 + 4 + 5 = 3 + __) despite having the requisite addition and subtraction skills. The goal of the present study was to determine the relative influence of two variables, instructional focus (procedural or conceptual) and use of manipulatives (with or without), in helping children learn to solve equivalence problems and develop an appropriate understanding of the equal sign. Instruction was provided in four conditions consisting of the combination of these two variables. Students in Grade 2 (n = 122) and Grade 4 (n = 151) participated in four sessions designed to assess the effectiveness of four instructional methods for learning and retention. Session 1 included a pretest of equivalence problem solving and three indicators of understanding of the equal sign. In Sessions 2 and 3 instruction was provided in one of the four instructional conditions or a control condition. Students were tested for their skill at solving equivalence problems immediately following instruction and at the beginning of Session 3 to assess what they had retained from Session 2. In Session 4, one month later, children were re-tested on all of the tasks presented in Session 1 to assess whether instruction had a lasting effect. All four instructional groups outperformed the control group in solving equivalence problems, but differences among instructional groups were minimal. Performance on indicators of understanding, however, favoured students who received conceptually focused instruction. Preliminary evidence was found that children’s understanding of problem structure and attentional skill may be associated with the ability to benefit from instruction on equivalence problems. Children clustered into four groups based on their performance across tasks that are consistent with the view that children’s understanding of the equal sign develops gradually, beginning with learning the definition. These findings suggest that a relatively simple intervention can markedly improve student performance in the area of mathematical equivalence, and that these improvements can be maintained over a period of time and show some limited generality to other indicators that children understand equivalence.

This thesis proposes a systematic, hierarchical, optimization based semi-formal equivalence checking methodology for large analog/mixed signal systems such as phase locked loops (PLL), analog to digital convertors (ADC) and input/output (I/O) circuits. I propose to verify the equivalence between a behavioral model and its electrical implementation over a limited, but highly likely, input space defined as the Constrained Behavioral Input Space. Furthermore, I clearly distinguish between the behavioral and electrical domains and define mapping functions between the two domains to allow for calculation of deviation between the behavioral and electrical implementation. The verification problem is then formulated as an optimization problem which is solved by interfacing a sequential quadratic programming (SQP) based optimizer with commercial circuit simulation tools, such as CADENCE SPECTRE. The proposed methodology is then applied for equivalence checking of a PLL as a test case and results are shown which prove the correctness of the proposed methodology.

Due to the unidirectional nature of propagation and predictable delays, optically pipelined buses have been gaining more attention. There have been many models proposed over time that use reconfigurable optically pipelined buses. The reconfigurable nature of the models makes them capable of changing their component’s functionalities and structure that connects the components at every step of computation. There are both one dimensional as well as k –dimensional models that have been proposed in the literature. Though equivalence between various one dimensional models and equivalence between different two dimensional models had been established, so far there has not been any attempt to explore the relationship between a one dimensional model and a two dimensional model. In the proposed research work it is shown that a move from one to two or more dimensions does not cause any increase in the volume of communication between the processors as they communicate in a pipelined manner on the same optical bus. When moving from two dimensions to one dimension, the challenge is to map the processors so that those belonging to a two-dimensional bus segment are contiguous and in the same order on the one-dimensional model. This does not increase any increase in communication overhead as the processors instead of communicating on two dimensional buses now communicate on a linear one dimensional bus structure. To explore the relationship between one dimensional and two dimensional models a commonly used model Linear Array with a Reconfigurable Pipelined Bus System (LARPBS) and its two dimensional counterpart Pipelined Reconfigurable Mesh (PR-Mesh) are chosen Here an attempt has been made to present a simulation of a two dimensional PR-Mesh on a one dimensional LARPBS to establish complexity of the models with respect to one another, and to determine the efficiency with which the LARPBS can simulate the PR-Mesh.

Abstract The aim of this essay is to find out what kinds of adaption are necessary when translating an English text from a specialist book into a text that will suit Swedish students in upper secondary school. In order to obtain the data needed for the study I translated a part of a chapter from the book North American Indian Wars by Richard H. Dillon. The analysis focuses on how to make the target text as clear and unambiguous as possible for the intended readers and what methods can be used to reach this aim. The analysis shows that one kind of adaption that had to be made during the translation process mainly consisted of additions and omissions. The additions were made in order to clarify certain passages in the source text that otherwise could have been difficult for the target readers to understand. The omissions, on the other hand, were often made due to the fact that some of the words or phrases in the source text are very specific and may refer to things that may be unknown to the target readers. In some cases such words or phrases could be omitted without making the target text lose any vital information, and in some cases they had to be exchanged with an explanation or a word that would be easier for the intended readers to understand. Apart from addition and omission of information, Vinay and Darbelnet’s procedures of modulation and equivalence were used in order to make the target text accessible to the target readers. The analysis shows that obligatory modulation had to be used due to differences in point of view between English and Swedish, whereas optional modulation was used to suit the target readers’ level of attainment. The analysis also shows that Vinay and Darbelnet’s procedure of equivalence was very useful when translating idioms, metaphors and similes in order to make the target text easy to understand for the target readers.

Interest in biodiesel has piqued with advent of stringent emissions regulations. Biodiesel is a viable substitute for petroleum diesel because biodiesel produces significantly lower particulate and soot emissions relative to petroleum diesel. Higher nitric oxide (NO) emissions for biodiesel, however, are of primary concern in biodiesel-fueled engines. Search for an in-cylinder technique to reduce NO emissions for biodiesel has motivated studies to gain an improved understanding of fundamental factors that drive increase in NO emissions with biodiesel. Potential factors include fuel-bound oxygen, fuel-bound nitrogen and post-flame gas temperature. The role of fuel-bound oxygen however is debated in the literature. The research objective of this study is to computationally determine if biodiesel and petroleum diesel yield equivalent concentrations of NO with the same oxygen equivalence ratio in a 0-D homogeneous reactor, to explain the role of fuel-bound oxygen in biodiesel on increases in NO emissions with biodiesel. The results from this study indicate that the biodiesel surrogate yields higher NO emissions than the n-heptane because of its lower oxygen consumption efficiency. The lower oxygen consumption efficiency for biodiesel is likely because of the slower decomposition of the individual components and the blending ratios of the biodiesel surrogate blend. The relative differences in combustion efficiency of individual components of the biodiesel blend suggest this conclusion. The more efficient burning of the methyl esters relative to the n-heptane in biodiesel surrogate perhaps indicates the favorable role of fuel-bound oxygen in the fuel’s combustion. The low utilization of oxygen by the biodiesel surrogate could not be explained in this study. The dominance of NO2 H ↔ NO OH and N NO ↔ N2 O mechanisms during biodiesel combustion however explain the high NO emissions for the biodiesel surrogate relative to the n-heptane. The biodiesel may yield lower NO emissions than the petroleum diesel if the blending ratios for the biodiesel are adjusted such that combustion efficiency of biodiesel and petroleum diesel is same or the NO2 H ↔ NO OH and N NO ↔ N2 O mechanisms are suppressed during biodiesel combustion.