Thesis (D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)) / The Fertile Crescent, due to its geographical characteristics, has always been an area troubled with conflict and warfare. The men who participated in these wars, from ca 2000 BCE to 1000 BCE operated from an ethos which was governed by a system of rules, all which were conceived to be the creation of divine will, to which kings and their warriors (keymen) were subject. The cuneiform texts from Mari, Ugarit, Ebla, Amarna and others, have not only thrown light on the political, social, religious and military aspects of those turbulent times, but have also given insight into the formation of armies as well as the commanders who led those armies and the royal officials who governed cities and provinces, all appointed by the monarch in order to effect the smooth running of his kingdom. They also shed light on the formation of coalitions and alliances in order to promote peace, arrange marriages to the daughters of other ruling powers and to promote trade relations. These were no easy tasks, considering the diversity of peoples, the birth and fall of kingdoms and empires, and the ever shifting and changes of loyalties of greedy kings and their men, to attain power and conquest for themselves.. However, these texts also give glimpses of the human side of the king and the close relationships between himself and his men of authority, whilst the women of the court also played their role in some areas of the social field. The responses, of these people towards matters and events, whether they were confrontations, marriage alliances, trade ventures or hunting expeditions, occurred within an ever changing world yet, it was also a world with an ethos of ancient traditions, which did not disappear but instead remained, albeit in adapted or altered form, to be a part of their contextual reality. / Biblical Studies

Parental involvement (PI) in school governance is an international acclaimed worldwide practice and is viewed as a major topic in current educational reforms. This study investigated the management of PI programmes in public schools within the jurisdiction of Bulawayo Metropolitan Province in Zimbabwe. The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework was employed as attempts were made to bring all stakeholders on board in the pursuit of quality education. To achieve this thrust, literature on the historical developments which obtained in the United States of America, China and South Africa on the phenomenon was reviewed. Further to that, the models of PI which influenced the adoption of what has obtained in Zimbabwean public schools were cited too. In the process the legal statutes which mandated PI programmes in operation were explored in detail. Data for this study was obtained by means of a quantitative approach involving questionnaires with precoded responses from a sample of 51 education managers and 47 school governors. The major findings of the empirical investigation was that PI is juridical and the bulk of the parents want to be engaged in both formal and informal academic issues of the school business as long as such engagement is well planned and organised. This collaboration of the minds and efforts does not only enhance the management style of the education manager but also the realisation of academic excellence in schools as both parties collectively embark on a quality conscious crusade. Generally, parents in this province were found to be less meddlesome when it comes to the professional governance of the school system, thus making the bulk of schools in this region “conflict free zones”. Disturbing though was the failure by parents to be engaged in the conception of the school vision and mission statement. Finally, the engagement of parents in the management of PI programmes has been recommended in this thesis as it has been found to be genuine, transparent, human resource oriented, dialogical and accountable if citizen participation in school governance is to be envisaged within a democratic framework. Orientation workshops and seminars can be manned for this purpose if home-brewed PI models meant to enhance ownership, commitment and motivation are to be realised. In that way, a customised educational menu may be approximated. / Teacher Education / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Submitted by Maria Dulce (mdulce@ndc.uff.br) on 2014-01-27T18:42:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos, Nivia-Tese-2013.pdf: 2220246 bytes, checksum: ff0bdc438f37f615d5a1f29fa893bd1d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-01-27T18:42:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos, Nivia-Tese-2013.pdf: 2220246 bytes, checksum: ff0bdc438f37f615d5a1f29fa893bd1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / O final do século XVIII na Europa ficou marcado pelo desmantelamento das denominadas sociedades de Antigo Regime. Os efeitos desta crise – provocada pela atmosfera crítica do pensamento ilustrado nos domínios da moral, da religião, da política, da sociedade e do pensamento econômico –, foram sentidos de modo peculiar pelo Império português. O estudo que se apresenta tem como propósito examinar as tensões e resistências que se revelam do choque entre duas visões de mundo distintas: as tradições e comportamentos típicos de uma sociedade estamental e corporativa versus os ideais da Ilustração presentes, sobretudo, nas atitudes governativas da chamada geração de 1790. Destaque desta geração, o ministro D. Rodrigo de Souza Coutinho (1756-1812), considerado pela historiografia um dos maiores expoentes do reformismo ilustrado português. Sua atuação no centro do poder político, entre os anos de 1796 e 1803, mostra-se privilegiada para a identificação dos pontos nevrálgicos desse embate: no rescaldo da Revolução Francesa, a loucura da rainha, D. Maria I, coloca a monarquia portuguesa sob a turbulenta regência de D. João. Dos bastidores do Palácio de Queluz, emergem oposições cortesãs e intrigas políticas que colocaram em xeque o ideal de um Império luso-brasileiro. Entre jantares ilustrados e políticas reformistas, D. Rodrigo depara-se com resistências corporativas que o impedem de colocar em prática as medidas que acreditava serem fundamentais a modernização do reino de Portugal. Encurralado, o reformismo buscou asilo no mundo ultramarino, encontrado entre governadores e elites ilustradas, mas não a salvo das resistências dos poderes locais, como revelam os casos de Minas Gerais, Pará e Angola. / The late eighteenth century in Europe was marked by the dismantling of Old Regime societies. This crisis – caused by the illustrated thonking and its criticism in the areas of morality, religion, politics, society, and economic thought – caused peculiar resonances in the Portuguese Empire.The present study aims to examine the tensions and resistances that reveal the clash between two different world views: the estate and corporate society’s typical traditions and behaviors versus the Enlightenment ideals, found especially in governmental attitudes by the known generation of the 1790’s. One of the distinguished members of this generation was minister D. Rodrigo de Souza Coutinho (1756-1812), considered by historiography one of the great exponents of the Portuguese Enlightened reformism. His performance at the center of political power, between the years 1796 and 1803, allows the identification of the hotspots of this clash: in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Queen D. Mary I’s madness puts the Portuguese monarchy under the turbulent regency of D. João. In the backstage of Queluz National Palacem courtesan oppositions and political intrigues emerge, challenging the ideal of a Luso-Brazilian Empire. Between enlightened dinners and reforming politics, D. Rodrigo faces corporate resistances that prevent him from putting into practice the measures he believed were fundamental for the modernization of the Kingdom of Portugal. Cornered, reformism sought asylum overseas, which was found among governors and enlightened elites, although it was not immune to the resistance of local authorities, as revealed by the cases of Minas Gerais, Pará and Angola.

Dans une société urbaine en ébullition, la capitale normande forme un observatoire privilégié des jeux de pouvoirs et avec l’autorité centrale. Cette thèse interroge fondamentalement le rapport entre l’État et la province, alors que le royaume de France est en proie à la dernière grande révolte d’Ancien Régime. Ainsi, la Fronde bouleverse les équilibres et agit comme un révélateur de la tension quotidienne. Économie, religion, politique et culture citadine se conjuguent pour dévoiler une société du conflit. Rouen catalyse les rivalités qui se rencontrent et éclatent au grand jour au cœur du théâtre urbain. Deuxième ville du royaume de France, la cité normande intègre le monde qui y exporte ses tensions. Rouen est aussi et sûrement une ville en crise au milieu du XVIIe siècle, traversée par une conflictualité qui s’enchevêtre dans le carrefour urbain. / In an exciting society that has become mostly urban, taking a look at Rouen makes it possible to witness power relationships involving the central authority. This thesis looks at the relationship between the State and the regional areas at a time when the Kingdom of France is going through its last major revolt of the Ancien Régime. The Fronde shakes balances and reveals the daily tensions. Economy, religion, politics and urban culture come together and revel and conflictual society. Rouen exacerbates the rivalries at stake. Rouen at the time is the second biggest city of the Kingdom of France, it is a world city and exports its tensions. In the middle of the 17th Century Rouen is also without a doubt a city going through a crisis that is entangled in this urban hub.

In this paper, the energy efficiency and dynamic performance of servopneumatic drivers are studied aiming at the correct sizing of the system components. The study is carried out through a non-linear dynamic model of a servopneumatic system. The simulation data are used along with the operating point method in order to understand the effect of loading conditions in the system performance, which is then used as a tool for component sizing. The results show the effects that the piston area has on the energy efficiency and dynamic behavior of the system. Moreover, the dependency of the servovalve size on the piston area is elucidated. A procedure to design an effective combination of piston area and sonic conductance of the servovalve is presented. A practical case where a servopneumatic system is being designed for the speed governor of a hydraulic turbine is described, evidencing the suitability of the proposed method for servopneumatic systems.

This thesis proposes, validates, and compares low-complexity algorithms for the fast-and-safe charge and balance of Li-ion batteries both for the single cell case and for the case of a serially-connected string of battery cells. The proposed algorithms are based on a reduced-order electrochemical model (Equivalent Hydraulic Model, EHM), and make use of constrained-control strategies to limit the main electrochemical degradation phenomena that may accelerate aging, namely: Lithium plating in the anode and solvent oxidation inthe cathode. To avoid the computational intensiveness of solving an online optimization as in the Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework, this thesis proposes the use of Reference Governor schemes. Variants of both the Scalar Reference Governors (SRG) and the Explicit Reference Governors (ERG) are developed to deal with the non-convex admissible region for the charge of a battery cell, while keeping a low computational burden. To evaluate the performance of the proposed techniques for the single cell case, they are experimentallyvalidated on commercial Turnigy LCO cells of 160 mAh at four different constant temperatures (10, 20, 30 and 40 °C). In the second part of this thesis, the proposed charging strategies are extended to take into account the balance of a serially-connected string of cells. To equalize possible mismatches, a centralized policy based on a shunting grid (active balance) connects or disconnects the cells during the charge. After a preliminary analysis, a simple mixed-integer algorithm was proposed. Since this method is computationally inefficient due to the high number of scenarios to be evaluated, this thesis proposes a ratio-based algorithm based on a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) approach. This approach can be used within both MPC and RG schemes. The numerical validations of the proposed algorithms for the case of a string of four battery cells are carried out using a simulator based on a full-order electrochemical model. Numerical validations show that the PWM-like approach charges in parallel all the cells within the pack, whereas the mixed-integer approach charges the battery cells sequentially from the battery cell with the lowest state of charge to the ones with the highest states of charge. On the basis of the simulations, an algorithm based on a mixed logic that allows to charge in a “sequential parallel” approach is proposed. Some conclusions and future directions of research are proposed at the end of the thesis. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / I examined a panel of all 50 states over a period of 30 years between 1981 and 2010, estimating a random effects model to examine the relationship between the party of a state’s governor and changes in pretax and transfer income inequality. Though the literature has quite consistently shown that income inequality increases more quickly under Republican governors or when policies favored by Republicans are implemented, I find no evidence to support this, though this is perhaps because I did not allow a long enough lag time for new policies to have an effect. I did, however, find that pretax income inequality increases more quickly under Democratic presidents than under Republicans, in spite of the fact that all previous research shows the opposite to be true. I suspect that this unusual finding is the result of a quirk in my 1981-2010 time frame, namely the effects of the shift in welfare policy under the Clinton administration in the 1990s.

The narratives about the postexilic Judean community are an ancient biblical account of the socio-economic and political experiences of the Judeans when they were finally restored back to Judah from Babylonian captivity. Although the Judean restoration was celebrated when they were restored by King Cyrus’ decree, real freedom did not prevail in the Persian province of Yehud; corruption, usury, greed, oppression, enslavement and loss of property impacted negatively on the poor. The leadership expropriated from poor citizens land, vineyards, and houses in exchange for food. In addition, the governors also charged heavy interest on money borrowed by poor members of society. Parents and their children were subjected to enslavement. In response to these corrupt practices, Nehemiah challenged the leadership to stop oppressing the poor. Nehemiah went further to provide food to the starving Judeans and other people from surrounding nations which served as a stimulus to strive towards alleviating poverty and starvation among communities. By employing an approach known as hermeneutics of appropriation, this thesis appropriates the experience of the postexilic Judean community to the post-independence Zimbabwean context. Between the years 1999 and 2008 many people lost their lives due to unemployment and lack of income, shelter, nutrition, and access to health-care facilities because of the economic meltdown following the controversial fast-track land reform programme in Zimbabwe. The majority of people are still experiencing the negative impact of the land reform as people strive to make a living in the absence of jobs and income scarcity. Corruption by the leadership has continued to further exacerbate starvation among the poor until today.This study attempts to employ the biblical Nehemiah’s social justice reforms (Neh 5) to challenge the Zimbabwean leadership to focus on rebuilding the country which was ravaged by a decade of both political and socio-economic crises. Lessons drawn from Nehemiah would be used to stimulate the leadership in the Zimbabwean government and members of society at large, to strive towards helping the poor and alleviating poverty. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)

The narratives about the postexilic Judean community are an ancient biblical account of the socio-economic and political experiences of the Judeans when they were finally restored back to Judah from Babylonian captivity. Although the Judean restoration was celebrated when they were restored by King Cyrus’ decree, real freedom did not prevail in the Persian province of Yehud; corruption, usury, greed, oppression, enslavement and loss of property impacted negatively on the poor. The leadership expropriated from poor citizens land, vineyards, and houses in exchange for food. In addition, the governors also charged heavy interest on money borrowed by poor members of society. Parents and their children were subjected to enslavement. In response to these corrupt practices, Nehemiah challenged the leadership to stop oppressing the poor. Nehemiah went further to provide food to the starving Judeans and other people from surrounding nations which served as a stimulus to strive towards alleviating poverty and starvation among communities. By employing an approach known as hermeneutics of appropriation, this thesis appropriates the experience of the postexilic Judean community to the post-independence Zimbabwean context. Between the years 1999 and 2008 many people lost their lives due to unemployment and lack of income, shelter, nutrition, and access to health-care facilities because of the economic meltdown following the controversial fast-track land reform programme in Zimbabwe. The majority of people are still experiencing the negative impact of the land reform as people strive to make a living in the absence of jobs and income scarcity. Corruption by the leadership has continued to further exacerbate starvation among the poor until today.This study attempts to employ the biblical Nehemiah’s social justice reforms (Neh 5) to challenge the Zimbabwean leadership to focus on rebuilding the country which was ravaged by a decade of both political and socio-economic crises. Lessons drawn from Nehemiah would be used to stimulate the leadership in the Zimbabwean government and members of society at large, to strive towards helping the poor and alleviating poverty. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies)