Experiments with a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model using idealized topographies were run to investigate aspects of the role that the lateral ocean constraints play in the climate. The experiments consider an idealized planet covered with a constant deep ocean, where one-grid-wide land barriers were gradually added. The series of experiments allowed the investigation of many aspects of the coupled system equilibrium and variability, ending with an evaluation of the effects of the Indonesian Throughflow. Rather than to investigate the throughflow\'s impacts in modern climate, which has been largely explored in numerical experiments in the past decades, the throughflow is investigated in an alternative climate, argued as a possible scenario during ice-age periods. It was found that the change in the hemispheric water source of the throughflow affects many aspects of its impact as it is known for modern climate. In summary, the throughflow acts within the inter-basin seesaw in the sense to restore the previous phase of the inter-basin seesaw. / Experimentos com um modelo acoplado oceano-continente-atmosfera-gelo marinho e topografias idealizadas foram empregados para investigar os impactos que contornos laterais nos oceanos desempenham no clima. Os experimentos consideram um planeta idealizado, coberto por um oceano de profundidade constante, onde barreiras com um ponto de grade de espessura foram gradualmente adicionadas. Esta série de experimentos permitiram investigar vários aspectos do sistema acoplado em termos de seu equilíbrio e variabilidade, finalizando com a análise dos efeitos devidos ao Fluxo da Indonésia. Ao invés de investigar os impactos que este fluxo tem sobre o clima atual, o que tem sido bastante explorado em experimentos numéricos nas últimas décadas, a investigação é feita num clima alternativo, que configura um possível cenário durante períodos glaciais. Foi encontrado que a mudança na origem das águas que compõem o Fluxo da Indonésia altera em vários aspectos seus impactos como são conhecidos no clima atual. Em suma, o Fluxo da Indonésia atua dentro de um mecanismo de gangorra inter-hemisférica na circulação termoalina no sentido de reestabelecer a fase anterior desse mecanismo tipo gangorra.

Mots-clés : Compétence(s), curriclum, (socio) constructivismes, inter/transdisciplinarité, enseignement / apprentissage, intégration, déontologie, équité.Panacée, dernière innovation en sciences de l’éducation pour les uns, chimère, « mode » et/ou relais du néolibéralisme pour les autres, l’approche par compétences, auréolée de l’appui d’un certain nombre de bailleurs de fonds, d’organisations éducatives et d’ « experts » internationaux, s’est répandue comme une traînée de poudre dans bon nombre de systèmes éducatifs (BRONCKART, J.-P, 2009). Sa généralisation au nom d’un certain nombre d’idéaux, dont le sacro-saint principe de la lutte contre l’échec scolaire, de l’égalité des chances et de la référence à des valeurs humanistes et citoyennes, n’est toutefois pas sans susciter moult interrogations quant à sa pertinence, sa faisabilité et son efficacité dans certains contextes. Ainsi, à l’épineux volet épistémologique, en raison du statut fragile d’un certain nombre de ses concepts et paradigmes de références, dont la notion de compétence(s) et le constructivisme, entre autres, n’en sont que la parfaite illustration, se greffent voire s’imposent d’autres problématiques et débats d’ordre axiologique mais encore praxéologique. La présente thèse se veut, par l’étude de la mise en place et en œuvre dans l’enseignement du français au niveau secondaire de cette nouvelle « doctrine pédagogique » (HIRTT, N.,2009), une réflexion sur la pertinence et l’efficacité voire la faisabilité de l’APC dans le contexte algérien et par delà un retour réflexif, par une démarche de déconstruction, sur ses soubassements épistémologiques, politico-idéologiques et praxéologiques. Une occasion aussi de renouer avec, relancer, le débat sur l’éthique en didactique des langues étrangères et pointer du doigt un certain nombre de dysfonctionnements liés aux bouleversements engendrés par l’importation/ implantation de ce nouveau « mythe normatif » (TEHIO, V., 2009) dans l’enseignement apprentissage des langues étrangères dans un certain nombre de pays. / Keywords: Competence(y/ies), curriculum, (socio) constructivism, inter/trans-disciplinarity, teaching/learning, integrationBacked up by innovation in research in education on one hand, seen as a chimera, a fashion, and / or a push of neoliberalism on the other hand, Competency Based Approach (es) (CBA), sponsored by various international organisations and education experts, has been implemented within a few years in a considerable number of education systems all over the world FRATTERCh. (2004). Hence the generalization of CBA, enforced on behalf of a number of principles such as the consecrated fight against school failure, providing equal opportunities and the enhancement of humanistic and citizenship-related values, is nonetheless raising a number of issues relating to its relevance, feasibility and effectiveness in different contexts. The thorny epistemological aspect originating from the fragility of concepts and paradigms like competence (ies) and constructivism on which CBA is based, stands as perfect illustration of issues pertaining to politico-ideological as well praxeological issues. The present thesis aims, through a study of the implementation and the development of CBA as a “new education dogma” for teaching French at the secondary school level, HIRTT, N. (2009), at investigating the relevance, the effectiveness and even feasibility of CBA in the Algerian context. It also, attempts to rethink CBA’s epistemological, politico-ideological, and praxiological underpinnings following deconstruction stance. This provides an opportunity to launch once again the debate on ethics in foreign language education and to shed light on a number of dysfunctions brought about by the implementation of this novel “normative myth” TEHIO,V., (2009) in the teaching/learning of foreign languages in many countries.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:44:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GIZELE GERALDA PARREIRA.pdf: 2379002 bytes, checksum: 01d0be94eb3ac5a05d7a77c4abfeeca6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-10 / O Sentido da Educação em Martin Buber contempla a necessidade de a relação professoraluno na escola atual ir além do campo pedagógico adentrando o campo dialógico, vislumbrando a transformação das salas de aula em pequenas comunidades que ascenderão para uma comunidade maior: a comunidade supra-social. Tal fenômeno poderá ser efetivado por meio do diálogo, que encerra em si os principais elementos do inter-humano: a autenticidade, a presença, a abertura e a conversação genuína. Estes aspectos são constituidores da filosofia dialógica de Buber que trás, em sua essência, uma considerável preocupação com a esfera humana das relações, esfacelada pela coisificação do homem na modernidade. O filósofo do encontro concebe o homem como um ser inerentemente relacional; dentro dessa perspectiva, a atualização da sua existência é efetivada por meio de duas palavras-princípio que traduzem duas formas de o homem se colocar frente ao mundo e frente ao seu semelhante. Na palavra-princípio Eu-Tu o homem entra em relação; na palavra-princípio Eu-Isso ele experimenta o outro ou o mundo em que está. Segundo Buber, não há o predomínio de uma das palavras, visto que ambas são necessárias para a consumação da existência humana. Entretanto, na modernidade, balizada pelo crescente capitalismo industrial, o homem tem objetivado cada vez mais a relações com seu semelhante, ocasionando o distanciamento e a consequente solidão. Para Buber, o homem vivencia um verdadeiro processo de desumanização. Judeu fiel ao hassidismo Martin Buber retira dessa doutrina os elementos para grande parte de suas reflexões. Dessa forma, a relação Eu-Tu é a abertura para a relação com o Tu eterno Deus. De acordo com este pensador a cada orla do Tu o homem vislumbra o Tu eterno. Ideia esta que concebe a existência humana em conexão com o absoluto. Quanto mais o homem se afasta do seu semelhante, mais ele se afasta do Tu eterno, necessitando do reencontro com o outro e, em consequência com o divino, para resgatar sua humanidade. Buber não concebe Deus somente como um princípio nem como uma ideia, mas também como Pessoa que entra numa relação imediata com os homens através de atos criadores, reveladores e libertadores . Assim exposto, na reflexão buberiana a modernidade se caracteriza fundamentalmente, pelo eclipse de Deus, contudo o Tu eterno não desapareceu definitivamente, apenas está oculto em função da objetivação excessiva a que o homem tem sido sucumbido. Na realidade em que se encontra o homem somente poderá ser resgatado por intermédio da conversão, ou por intermédio da formação do caráter. O caráter é o objeto da educação, a função educadora é a formação do caráter e o sentido da educação é a vida na comunidade. Nessa visão, o professor assume um lugar significativamente importante, o de influenciar com sua palavra e com suas ações genuinamente dialógicas, a formação dos caracteres que irão constituir a nova comunidade, cuja finalidade é a verdadeira Vida. A vida na comunidade é maneira pela qual os homens poderão edificar a legítima relação inter-humana isenta de quaisquer interesses que não sejam uma vida vivida comunitariamente.

L’informatique ubiquitaire est graduellement devenue une réalité, nous utilisons divers dispositifs pour travailler et s’amuser (l’ordinateur, le portable, le smartphone). Au-delà des dispositifs personnels, les citoyens obtiennent des informations par les écrans publics qui sont présents partout dans les villes: l’abribus, l’aéroport, le centre commercial, etc. Il semble que la vision de l’informatique ubiquitaire est plus proche, cependant, l’avenir décrit par Mark Weiser est encore loin: «les technologies les plus profondes sont celles qui disparaissent». Actuellement les appareils électroniques ne sont pas assez intelligents et bien intégrés dans le contexte d’une ville. La ville intelligente (smart city) est un concept émergent pour construire une ville utilisant les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC). Ce concept propose d’améliorer la qualité de la vie et d’augmenter l’efficacité des activités dans une ville par les TIC. Il aussi met l’accent sur les savoir-faire des citoyens pour la construction des villes. La ville intelligente est en effet un système ubiquitaire large qui comprend différent systèmes (le système de gestion trafic, le système de transport public, le système de distribution de l’énergie, etc.). Les écrans publics construisent l’une des plus importants systèmes dans une ville. Cependant, ils ne sont utilisés que pour afficher de l’information, ils sont aveugles aux utilisateurs ainsi qu’à leurs dispositifs personnels. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons de construire des écrans publics intelligents basés sur l’interaction proxémique. L’interaction proxémique est inspirée par le terme venant de la psychologie «Proxémique». La Proxémique désigne les espaces virtuels autour des êtres humains pendant la communication. Les espaces sont différents selon la culture, les lieux où l’interaction se déroule. La Proxémique a été introduite à l’interaction homme machine par S. Greenberg en 2011 et il a créé le terme d’interaction proxémique. L’interaction proxémique étudie l’interaction en fonction de la relation spatiale entre les objets. Un écran proxémique peut connaître la distance, la position, l’identité et le mouvement de l’utilisateur. Ces dimensions proxémiques sont mesurées par l’écran comme les signaux de l’interaction implicite. Par ailleurs, il peut détecter les dispositifs mobiles des utilisateurs: il peut distribuer et échanger de l’information avec les dispositifs de l’environnement. Par rapport à un écran traditionnel, un écran proxémique offre des contenus plus personnalisés et ainsi répond aux besoins immédiats des utilisateurs. Ces avantages permettent à un écran public de bien s’adapter aux exigences de la ville intelligente. Notre objectif est d’étudier la façon de relever les défis d’un écran public dans une ville intelligente par l’interaction proxémique. Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous étudions les dimensions de l’interaction proxémique, et puis nous concevons un prototype d’écran proxémique grâce à différents capteurs: Kinect, Leapmotion et Webcam. Ce prototype supporte l’interaction implicite et explicite des utilisateurs pour fournir un contenu plus personnalisé aux utilisateurs, ainsi que des interactions naturelles. En outre, nous avons développé une boîte à outils pour la migration des données entre l’écran public et les appareils mobiles personnels. Avec cet outil, l’utilisateur peut télécharger des ressources à partir de l’écran, et l’écran deviendra un terminal pour recueillir les connaissances des citoyens pour la ville intelligente. Nous discutons les applications potentielles de ce prototype dans la ville intelligente, et nous proposons une application expérimentale qui est un panneau d’affichage proxémique des vols dans un aéroport. Basé sur cette application, nous avons réalisé des études utilisateurs systématiques dans notre laboratoire pour vérifier si l’interaction proxémique peut vraiment améliorer les performances d’un écran public. / Ubiquitous computing is gradually coming into reality, people use various digital devices (personal computer, laptop, tablet and smartphone) in order to study, work, entertain and communicate with each other. A city is actually a ubiquitous society, citizens get practical information from digital public displays that are installed everywhere in a city: bus station, railway station, airport or commercial center, etc. It seems that we are closing to the vision of ubiquitous computing, however, it’s still far from the vision what Mark Weiser described: the most profound technologies are those that disappear, they weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it. That means in nowadays the widespread digital devices are still not intelligent enough and not well integrated, this issue is especially serious under a context of city than for personal usage condition.Smart city is a modern concept of city that seeks to improve the efficiency and quality of life by the information and communication technologies (ICTs), it as well emphasizes the importance of citizens’ knowledge for the wise management of city. The ICTs of a smart city constructs a large scale ubiquitous system, including traffic control systems, public transportation system, energy control systems, etc. In all the systems, digital public displays are one of the most important viewports that connect citizens with city. However, the public display today is only used as a screen to display information, it’s blind to the presence of users and ambient devices, these result in low efficiency of interactions, and make a city unable to take use of citizen knowledge.In this dissertation, we build an intelligent public display by the theory of proxemic interaction. Proxemic interaction is spatial related interaction patterns inspired by the psychological term: Proxemics, it studies the spatial -related interaction human to device and device to device. A proxemic interactive public display means that it is aware of user’s presence, position, movement, identity and other user related attributes, and takes these attributes as implicit inputs for interactions. Besides, it can sense ambient mobile devices and act as a hub for local deices information flows. Compared with traditional public display, proxemic interactive display can provide specific users with more personal related and instant - need information rather than provide general information to all users. That means to make displays sense users instead of making users explore displays exhaustively. These advantages make a proxemic display more adapt to the prospect of smart city.Our object is to study how to address the challenges of public display in a smart city by proxemic interaction. Towards this object, we study the dimensions of proxemic interaction, and build a prototype of proxemic interactive projected display with Kinect, Leap motion and web camera. This prototype supports implicit and explicit interaction of users to provide more personalized contents to users, as well as natural interactions. Furthermore, we developed a toolkit for data migration between public display and personal mobile devices, so that public display becomes aware of ambient users’ devices, users can download resources from public displays freely, while public displays can be as a terminal to collect knowledge of citizens for smart city.We discuss the potential applications of this prototype under smart city, and build an experimental application of proxemic airport flight information board. Based on this experimental application, we organized a systematic laboratory user study to validate whether proxemic interaction can really improve the performance of public displays

Experiments with a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model using idealized topographies were run to investigate aspects of the role that the lateral ocean constraints play in the climate. The experiments consider an idealized planet covered with a constant deep ocean, where one-grid-wide land barriers were gradually added. The series of experiments allowed the investigation of many aspects of the coupled system equilibrium and variability, ending with an evaluation of the effects of the Indonesian Throughflow. Rather than to investigate the throughflow\'s impacts in modern climate, which has been largely explored in numerical experiments in the past decades, the throughflow is investigated in an alternative climate, argued as a possible scenario during ice-age periods. It was found that the change in the hemispheric water source of the throughflow affects many aspects of its impact as it is known for modern climate. In summary, the throughflow acts within the inter-basin seesaw in the sense to restore the previous phase of the inter-basin seesaw. / Experimentos com um modelo acoplado oceano-continente-atmosfera-gelo marinho e topografias idealizadas foram empregados para investigar os impactos que contornos laterais nos oceanos desempenham no clima. Os experimentos consideram um planeta idealizado, coberto por um oceano de profundidade constante, onde barreiras com um ponto de grade de espessura foram gradualmente adicionadas. Esta série de experimentos permitiram investigar vários aspectos do sistema acoplado em termos de seu equilíbrio e variabilidade, finalizando com a análise dos efeitos devidos ao Fluxo da Indonésia. Ao invés de investigar os impactos que este fluxo tem sobre o clima atual, o que tem sido bastante explorado em experimentos numéricos nas últimas décadas, a investigação é feita num clima alternativo, que configura um possível cenário durante períodos glaciais. Foi encontrado que a mudança na origem das águas que compõem o Fluxo da Indonésia altera em vários aspectos seus impactos como são conhecidos no clima atual. Em suma, o Fluxo da Indonésia atua dentro de um mecanismo de gangorra inter-hemisférica na circulação termoalina no sentido de reestabelecer a fase anterior desse mecanismo tipo gangorra.

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar o processo de transmissão de conhecimentos em arranjos produtivos locais por intermédio da experiência do aglomerado inter-organizacional calçadista de Birigui (SP). Na estrutura teórico, foram abordados temas referentes à contextualização da formação de redes entre empresas, as concepções de alianças e parcerias, o capital social e a abordagem institucional. Através da formulação de um questionário que compreendeu os processos de transmissão de conhecimentos e abrangeu os elementos necessários para se impulsionar esta transferência, estabeleceu-se um roteiro de entrevista que foi utilizado em pesquisa de campo a fim de se estudar por meio de entrevistas em profundidade a experiência de Birigüi. Os principais resultados obtidos foram de que o caso de Birigüi carece de um aparato institucional capaz de respaldar um ambiente propício à transmissão de conhecimentos e que o tradicionalismo dos empresários da região atua como empecilho para geração de uma consciência de coletividade e de inovação, fatores estes fundamentais para uma transferência de conhecimentos eficiente. / This study has the objective to analyse the knowledge trasmission process in cluster arrangements through the Birigüi?s (SP) shoes arrangement experience. In thetheoretical framework, it was accosted themes related to context of networks formation, alliances and partnerships conceptions, social capital and institutional approach. Through a questionnaire that comprehends the knowledge transmission process and that included fundamental elements to support this kind of transfer, it was set up an interview guide used in field research in order to study by deep interviews the Birigüi?s experience. The main results collected were that the Birigüi?s case lacks an institutional pomp able to support a propitious environment to knowledge transmission and that local managers? traditionalism act as a barrier to the generation of collective sense and innovation, fundamental factors to and efficient knowledge transfer.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:54:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GIZELE GERALDA PARREIRA.pdf: 2379002 bytes, checksum: 01d0be94eb3ac5a05d7a77c4abfeeca6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-10 / The Meaning of Education in Martin Buber addresses the need for the teacher-student relationship in school now to go beyond the educational field entering the field of dialogue, envisioning the transformation of classrooms into small communities that will amount to a larger community: the community-above social. This phenomenon can be accomplished through dialogue, which encompasses the main elements of inter-human: authenticity, presence, openness and genuine conversation. These aspects are constitutor of Buber's dialogic philosophy behind that, in essence, a considerable concern about the human sphere of relationships, shattered by the objectification of man in modern times. The philosopher's meeting sees the man as an inherently relational, within this perspective, the upgrade of its existence is effected through the first two words that express two forms of man is put before the world and ahead on others. In the word-first I-Thou man enters into a relationship, the word-I-it principle he experiments the other or the world they are. According to Buber, there is a predominance of one of the words, since both are necessary for the consummation of human existence. However, in modernity, buoyed by rising industrial capitalism, man has focused increasingly on relations with his neighbor, causing the detachment and the consequent loneliness. For Buber, the man experiences a genuine process of dehumanization. Jewish faithful to Martin Buber Hasidism removes the elements of this doctrine for much of his reflections. Thus, the I-Thou relationship is openness to the relationship with the eternal Thou - God. According to this thinker to each edge of the Tu the man glimpses the eternal. An idea which conceives of human existence in connection with the absolute. The more a man turns away from his neighbor, the more it moves away from the eternal Thou, needing to rediscover each other and therefore with the Divine, to redeem his humanity. Buber not only conceives of God as a principle or as an idea, but as' person 'who enters a direct relation to men "through creative acts, revealing and liberating'. Once exposed, in reflection buberiana modernity is characterized primarily by the eclipse of God, yet eternal You definitely did not disappear, it's just hidden in the light of the excessive objectification that man has succumbed. In fact it is in man can only be redeemed through conversion or through the formation of character. The character is the object of education, the educational function is the formation of character and meaning of education is life in the community. In this view, the teacher assumes a place of considerable importance, the influence of his word and his actions genuinely dialogical, the formation of the characters that will be the new community, whose purpose is the true Life. Life in the community is way by which men can build a legitimate relationship between humans disclaims any interests other than a life lived in community. / O Sentido da Educação em Martin Buber contempla a necessidade de a relação professoraluno na escola atual ir além do campo pedagógico adentrando o campo dialógico, vislumbrando a transformação das salas de aula em pequenas comunidades que ascenderão para uma comunidade maior: a comunidade supra-social. Tal fenômeno poderá ser efetivado por meio do diálogo, que encerra em si os principais elementos do inter-humano: a autenticidade, a presença, a abertura e a conversação genuína. Estes aspectos são constituidores da filosofia dialógica de Buber que trás, em sua essência, uma considerável preocupação com a esfera humana das relações, esfacelada pela coisificação do homem na modernidade. O filósofo do encontro concebe o homem como um ser inerentemente relacional; dentro dessa perspectiva, a atualização da sua existência é efetivada por meio de duas palavras-princípio que traduzem duas formas de o homem se colocar frente ao mundo e frente ao seu semelhante. Na palavra-princípio Eu-Tu o homem entra em relação; na palavra-princípio Eu-Isso ele experimenta o outro ou o mundo em que está. Segundo Buber, não há o predomínio de uma das palavras, visto que ambas são necessárias para a consumação da existência humana. Entretanto, na modernidade, balizada pelo crescente capitalismo industrial, o homem tem objetivado cada vez mais a relações com seu semelhante, ocasionando o distanciamento e a consequente solidão. Para Buber, o homem vivencia um verdadeiro processo de desumanização. Judeu fiel ao hassidismo Martin Buber retira dessa doutrina os elementos para grande parte de suas reflexões. Dessa forma, a relação Eu-Tu é a abertura para a relação com o Tu eterno Deus. De acordo com este pensador a cada orla do Tu o homem vislumbra o Tu eterno. Ideia esta que concebe a existência humana em conexão com o absoluto. Quanto mais o homem se afasta do seu semelhante, mais ele se afasta do Tu eterno, necessitando do reencontro com o outro e, em consequência com o divino, para resgatar sua humanidade. Buber não concebe Deus somente como um princípio nem como uma ideia, mas também como Pessoa que entra numa relação imediata com os homens através de atos criadores, reveladores e libertadores . Assim exposto, na reflexão buberiana a modernidade se caracteriza fundamentalmente, pelo eclipse de Deus, contudo o Tu eterno não desapareceu definitivamente, apenas está oculto em função da objetivação excessiva a que o homem tem sido sucumbido. Na realidade em que se encontra o homem somente poderá ser resgatado por intermédio da conversão, ou por intermédio da formação do caráter. O caráter é o objeto da educação, a função educadora é a formação do caráter e o sentido da educação é a vida na comunidade. Nessa visão, o professor assume um lugar significativamente importante, o de influenciar com sua palavra e com suas ações genuinamente dialógicas, a formação dos caracteres que irão constituir a nova comunidade, cuja finalidade é a verdadeira Vida. A vida na comunidade é maneira pela qual os homens poderão edificar a legítima relação inter-humana isenta de quaisquer interesses que não sejam uma vida vivida comunitariamente.

Previous studies have demonstrated that many existing communication systems can be formulated within a unified multirate filterbank transceiver model. A redundant block transmission system implemented via this unified multirate filterbank transceiver model is usually known as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) system in literature. This dissertation devises an optimum linear block-based precoder and the corresponding equalizer for MIMO systems over perfect reconstruction (PR) channels by exploiting the proposed oblique projection framework. Particularly, two main criteria of interest in a digital communication link with limited transmission power are investigated, namely, average bit error rate (BER) minimization and mutual information rate maximization. The study framework is developed as follows. For a block-based precoder, a received signal model is formulated for the two redundancy schemes, viz., trailing-zeros (TZ) and cyclic-prefix (CP). By exploiting the property of oblique projection, a cascaded equalizer for block transmission systems (i.e., MIMO systems) is proposed and implemented with a scheme, in which the inter-block interference (IBI) is completely eliminated by the oblique projection and followed by a matrix degree of freedom for inter-symbol interference (ISI) equalization. With the available channel state information at the transmitter side, the matrix for ISI equalization of the cascaded equalizer is utilized to design an optimum linear block-based precoder, such that the BER is minimized (or the mutual information rate is maximized), subject to the ISI-free and the transmission power constraints. Accordingly, the cascaded equalizer with the ISI-free constraint yields a cascaded ZF equalizer. Theoretical derivations and simulation results confirm that the proposed framework not only retains identical BER and information rate performances to previous works for cases with sufficient redundancy, but also allows their results to be extended to the cases of insufficient redundancy.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 93 pages. / Thesis (M.S.E.E.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier modulation scheme that provides efficient bandwidth utilization and robustness against time dispersive channels. This thesis deals with self-interference, or the corruption of desired signal by itself, in OFDM systems. Inter-symbol Interference (ISI) and Inter-carrier Interference (ICI) are two types of self-interference in OFDM systems. Cyclic prefix is one method to prevent the ISI which is the interference of the echoes of a transmitted signal with the original transmitted signal. The length of cyclic prefix required to remove ISI depends on the channel conditions, and usually it is chosen according to the worst case channel scenario. Methods to find the required parameters to adapt the length of the cyclic prefix to the instantaneous channel conditions are investigated. / ABSTRACT: Frequency selectivity of the channel is extracted from the instantaneous channel frequency estimates and methods to estimate related parameters, e.g. coherence bandwidth and Root-mean-squared (RMS) delay spread, are given. These parameters can also be used to better utilize the available resources in wireless systems through transmitter and receiver adaptation. Another common self-interference in OFDM systems is the ICI which is the power leakage among different sub-carriers that degrades the performance of both symbol detection and channel estimation. Two new methods are proposed to reduce the effect of ICI in symbol detection and in channel estimation. The first method uses the colored nature of ICI to cancel it in order to decrease the error rate in the detection of transmitted symbols, and the second method reduces the effect of ICI in channel estimation by jointly estimating the channel and frequency offset, a major source of ICI. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Organisations are constantly called on to justify their actions to internal and external constituents. What happens if these constituents have divergent or conflicting opinions of what constitutes misconduct? This thesis uses the case of accountability for publicly financed elderly care performed by private providers to explore this question. The study demonstrates how accountability can be conceptualized as an ongoing process concerned with answering two questions: what constitutes satisfactory or unsatisfactory conducts, and who is accountable to whom? Both the private care providers and the municipal regions that finance them make continuous efforts to shape the answers to these questions by drawing on different forms of accounting information, norms, and influence in the course of their accountability processes. These local processes are affected by and interact with a surrounding network of direct and indirect accountability relationships between national supervision agencies, the media, elderly care clients, clients’ families, and the care providers’ and regions’ own hierarchies. The study argues that the dilemmas created by this network mean that care providers and regions are on the one hand trying to influence their mutual accountability processes to their own advantage, while on the other working as one unit to navigate overlapping areas of accountability, mutual dependency, and the unpredictability of external demands. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Stockholm School of Economics, 2014</p>