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This thesis consists of two completely separate parts. In Part I, we look at disorder in fastionic conductors, and in Part II we examine the pseudoquadrupole effect in ordered magnets. Part I looks at two aspects of the disordered state in fastionics, where the disorder is due to ions moving off their regular sites to positions close to other regular sites, a feature especially characteristic of the fluorites. The first aspect is how Coulomb interactions could be responsible for the co-operative behaviour of defects which causes the transition to fastionic behaviour. We look at this with a model of charged defects on a lattice, applying techniques involving classical diagrammatic perturbation theory to find the free energy of our model system. Using elementary thermodynamics, we show how this model can predict co-operative behaviour. The second aspect is the nature of the disorder above the fastionic transition. We look at disorder in lead fluoride using a molecular dynamics simulation with an interionic potential that we obtained. We use the simulation to examine the distribution of anions in both real space and k space. Simulations have been made on the other fluorites CaF₂ and SrCl₂ and it is possible that the high dielectric constant of lead fluoride might lead to qualitatively different behaviour. Our results show that this is not the case and we find defect concentrations similar to those obtained from CaF₂ and SrCl₂. Our Is space analysis however gives defect concentrations an order of magnitude larger, in approximate agreement with experiment. In Part II we set up a theory for the pseudoquadrupole effect in cubic ferromagnets and show that it is related to the difference in longitudinal and transverse magnetic susceptibilities. Model calculations are performed for a Heisenberg ferromagnet using molecular field theory near the critical temperature t_c, and spin wave theory at low temperatures; and the itinerant model at absolute zero and t_c. We find that the pseudoquadrupole effect in iron and nickel and at impurities in these metals appears to be very much less than measured quadrupole effects. We also look at the effect in GdAl₂ and show that it can not explain a temperature dependent quadrupole interaction seen experimentally We therefore conclude that the observed quadrupole effects are due to real electric field gradients.

This thesis provides an 'immanent' critique of the moral dimension of Hayek's political theory. The concept of morality that Hayek advances is epistemologically founded. That concept is concerned with the recognition and respect of the natural limits of human knowledge and is incompatible with the idea of objective value judgement. The moral dimension of Hayek's theory is based on the methodological implications of his epistemologically founded concept of morality. That dimension consists of the ideas of social spontaneity and cultural evolution and is incompatible with any concept of objective liberal values. The moral dimension of Hayek's theory excludes but also requires substantive politics. The moral exclusion of substantive politics' undermines freedom and equality in catallaxy while, at the same time, it relativises commutative justice and legitimates the minimal state only from the point of view of its legality. Substantive politics is morally required for preserving and promoting institutions such as catallaxy and commutative justice in terms of liberalism. It is argued that the moral exclusion of substantive politics is due to the epistemological premises of Hayek's theory. Those premises form the praxeological presuppositions of social spontaneity and cultural evolution. In terms of them, substantive politics cannot be morally explained. Substantive politics is grounded on a normative/evaluative conception of a social good. That conception depends on critical reason in terms of which objective liberal values can be "recognised and respected. The moral requirement of substantive politics is due to the fact that the process of social spontaneity and cultural evolution cannot by itself be safeguarded against coercion, inequality and injustice.

As the rapid evolution in semiconductor technology, transistors’ feature size has reached to 22nm and below, which brings great impact to analog and mixed-signal circuits. As the significant bridge connecting the analog world and digital system, data converter suffers from nonlinearity resulting from mismatch among its unit components. The smaller transistors are, the larger relative mismatch among them becomes. However, using larger transistors leads to more area cost and power consumption. Therefore, researchers have been working hard on how to alleviate the mismatch issue. In recent years, Dynamic Element Matching (DEM) becomes a popular approach that can significantly improve linearity, especially Spurious-free Dynamic Range (SFDR), of a data converter system. The basic idea of DEM is to shuffle the usage pattern of unit elements so that the mismatch error is no longer correlated to the input signal. Thus, DAC’s linearity will be improved. Generally, DEM Nyquist-rate DAC does mismatch scrambling, which smooths distortions resulting from mismatch into white noise. DEM Delta-Sigma DAC does mismatch shaping, which pushes distortions away from the signal band, typically lower frequencies. In this thesis, we focused on mismatch-shaping Delta-Sigma DACs. Two of those various algorithms are implemented logically and physically. With placement and routing information, we got more accurate result on the speed and power dissipation. The comparison shows the tradeoff among number of quantization levels, mismatch-shaping order, and hardware complexity. / text

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Political communication scholars aim to understand the effect of messages on political attitudes and behavior. Past scholarship has identified three sources of influence in forming attitudes and behavior: affective, cognitive, and personality factors. While much attention has been paid to the impact of each single factor, little research has attempted to integrate them. Using the Affective Intelligence model as a theoretical point of departure (Marcus, & MacKuen, 1993; Marcus et al., 2000), this dissertation explored the simultaneous--and, in some cases, interactive relationships--between these attitudinal and behavioral influences. An experiment was conducted to answer three questions: first, do the causal claims made by Marcus and colleagues regarding the impact of emotion on political attitudes and behavior hold-up outside the realm of survey research? Second, what role does cognitive appraisals of messages play in the political persuasion process? Finally, does political efficacy moderate the relationships between induced emotional response, cognitive appraisals of messages, and political attitudes and behavior? Alternatively stated, does political efficacy link these factors together?The results of this study should be carefully interpreted as the causal instrument underlying manipulated attitudes was not transparent. The desired experimental manipulation--induced anxiety--was not unidimensional. While inductions did induce negative affect, they simultaneously induced positive affect. Within the confines of this document, this result is discussed at length and numerous possible explanations are offered.Structural equation modeling indicated that affect had a small impact on political attitudes and behavior. Likewise, the impact of cognitive appraisals of messages on attitudes and behavior was small. Alternatively, internal efficacy had a substantial main effect--not an interactive effect--on political attitudes and behavior.In summary, the results demonstrated the power of personality in predicting political attitudes and behavior. By trait, some individuals are more politically efficacious than others. Those with higher levels of internal efficacy tended to identify experimental messages as relevant to the attitudes they held, indicating that confidence in one's ability to comprehend politics and understand political happenings leads to identifying message content as applicable or appropriate. Additionally, these same individuals were likely to seek out more information about politics.

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