The Programmable Logic Array (PLA) has been widely used in the design of VLSI circuits and systems because of its regularity, flexibility, and simplicity. The equivalence problem is typically to verify that the final description of a circuit is functionally equivalent to its initial description. Verifying the functional equivalence of two descriptions is equivalent to proving their logical equivalence. This problem of pure logic is essential to circuit design. The most widely used technique to solve the problem is based on Binary Decision Diagram or BDD, proposed by Bryant in 1986. Unfortunately, BDD requires too much time and space to represent moderately large circuits for equivalence testing. We design and implement a new algorithm called the Cover-Merge Algorithm for the equivalence problem based on a divide-and-conquer strategy using the concept of cover and a derivational method. We prove that the algorithm is sound and complete. Because of the NP-completeness of the problem, we emphasize simplifications to reduce the search space or to avoid redundant computations. Simplification techniques are incorporated into the algorithm as an essential part to speed up the the derivation process. Two different sets of heuristics are developed for two opposite goals: one for the proof of equivalence and the other for its disproof. Experiments on a large scale of data have shown that big speed-ups can be achieved by prioritizing the heuristics and by choosing the most favorable one at each iteration of the Algorithm. Results are compared with those for BDD on standard benchmark problems as well as on random PLAs to perform an unbiased way of testing algorithms. It has been shown that the Cover-Merge Algorithm outperforms BDD in nearly all problem instances in terms of time and space. The algorithm has demonstrated fairly stabilized and practical performances especially for big PLAs under a wide range of conditions, while BDD shows poor performance because of its memory greedy representation scheme without adequate simplification.

Significant research efforts have been devoted to large-scale dynamical systems, with the aim of understanding their complicated behaviors and managing their responses in real-time. One pivotal technological obstacle in this process is the existence of uncertainty. Although many of these large-scale dynamical systems function well in the design stage, they may easily fail when operating in realistic environment, where environmental uncertainties modulate system dynamics and complicate real-time predication and management tasks. This dissertation aims to develop systematic methodologies to evaluate the performance of large-scale dynamical systems under uncertainty, as a step toward real-time decision support. Two uncertainty evaluation approaches are pursued: the analytical approach and the effective simulation approach. The analytical approach abstracts the dynamics of original stochastic systems, and develops tractable analysis (e.g., jump-linear analysis) for the approximated systems. Despite the potential bias introduced in the approximation process, the analytical approach provides rich insights valuable for evaluating and managing the performance of large-scale dynamical systems under uncertainty. When a system’s complexity and scale are beyond tractable analysis, the effective simulation approach becomes very useful. The effective simulation approach aims to use a few smartly selected simulations to quickly evaluate a complex system’s statistical performance. This approach was originally developed to evaluate a single uncertain variable. This dissertation extends the approach to be scalable and effective for evaluating large-scale systems under a large-number of uncertain variables. While a large portion of this dissertation focuses on the development of generic methods and theoretical analysis that are applicable to broad large-scale dynamical systems, many results are illustrated through a representative large-scale system application on strategic air traffic management application, which is concerned with designing robust management plans subject to a wide range of weather possibilities at 2-15 hours look-ahead time.

My work explores the nature of individual perception, and the side of our lives lived entirely within our minds. I do this through the lens of self-reflection, examining the images of my own mental life and translating them into delicately handwoven cloth. These images and their structures become sensory experiences of the intangible, and a meeting place for my internal life and that of my viewer. The cloth I weave is simultaneously familiar and strange. Through woven surface and imbedded imagery, I attempt to illuminate the deep emotions that necessarily isolate us from each other, and the shared experiences of our physical beings, which connect us. The quiet, ritualistic act of weaving expresses an overlapping of mental and physical space: the resulting cloth bears within each line of warp and weft the metaphor of that process.

Cette thèse porte sur des analyses acoustiques et prosodiques du français à partir de grandes masses de données orales illustrant différents styles de parole (préparée et spontanée). Nous nous sommes intéressées aux attributs acoustiques et prosodiques qui pourraient caractériser la prononciation. En français, de nombreuses erreurs de reconnaissance automatique de la parole (RAP) sont dues à des mots fréquents homophones. Pour ces mots, la solution correcte dépend du modèle de langage. Une classification automatique (CA) a été effectuée pour discriminer deux paires homophones (‘et/est’ et ‘à/a’) par des propriétés acoustiques et prosodiques. Les résultats de la CA ont montré que le paire ‘et/est’ était plus dissociable. La CA par des attributs prosodiques et inter-segmentaux (15 attributs) s’est avérée aussi performante que celle utilisant la totalité des 62 attributs. Un test perceptif a été également effectué pour vérifier si les humains utilisaient eux aussi ces paramètres. Les résultats ont suggéré que des informations acoustiques et prosodiques pourraient être utiles pour effectuer un choix correct de mots dans des structures syntaxiquement ambigües. Ensuite, nous avons examiné des propriétés prosodiques globales aux niveaux du nom et du syntagme nominal. La comparaison entre mots lexicaux et grammaticaux a montré que la fréquence fondamentale (F0) montante et l’allongement vocalique de la dernière syllabe caractérisent les mots lexicaux, par opposition aux mots grammaticaux. Ainsi, le profil de F0 moyenne d’un syntagme nominal de longueur n pourrait être différent de celui du nom avec une valeur de F0 basse au début du syntagme. Les profils prosodiques peuvent être utiles pour localiser frontières de mots. Les résultats de ce travail pourront servir à localiser le focus et les entités-nommées par des classifieurs discriminants, et de manière plus générale à améliorer les techniques de localisation des frontières des mots pour la RAP. / This thesis focuses on acoustic and prosodic (fundamental frequency (F0), duration, intensity) analyses of French from large-scale audio corpora portraying different speaking styles: prepared and spontaneous speech. We are interested in particularities of segmental phonetics and prosody that may characterize pronunciation. In French, many errors caused by automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems arise from frequent homophone words, for which ASR systems depend on language model weights. Automatic classification (AC) was conducted to discriminate homophones by only acoustic and prosodic properties depending on their part-of-speech function or their position within prosodic words. Results from AC of two homophone pairs, et/est (and/is) and à/a (ton/has), revealed that the et/est pair was more discriminable. A selection of prosodic and inter-phoneme attributes, that is 15 attributes, performed as good results as with 62 attributes. Then corresponding perceptual tests have been conducted to verify if humans also use acoustico-prosodic parameters for the discrimination. Results suggested that acoustic and prosodic information might help in operating the correct choice in similar ambiguous syntactic structures. From the hypothesis that pronunciation variants were due to varying prosodic constraints, we examined overall prosodic properties of French on a lexical and phrase level. The comparison between lexical and grammatical words revealed F0 rise and lengthening at the end of final syllable on lexical words, while these phenomena were not observed for grammatical words. Analyses also revealed that the mean profile of a n length noun phrase could be different from that of a n length noun with a low F0 at the beginning of a noun phrase. The prosodic profiles can be helpful to locate word boundaries. Findings in this thesis will lead to localize focus and named-entity using discriminative classifiers, and to improve word boundary locations by an ASR post-processing step.

A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo desenvolver, montar e testar um equipamento de grandes dimensões (largura de 1,5 x 1,5 m e altura de 1,2 m) para o ensaio em laboratório de estruturas de pavimentos com materiais, espessuras de camadas e condições de carregamento similares às de campo. Ainda nesta pesquisa analisou-se o emprego de geossintético como reforço da camada de base de novos pavimentos sobre o efeito da variação da umidade do subleito. O carregamento cíclico é gerado a partir de um cilindro pneumático. A instrumentação é constituída de LVDTs, células de carga e de tensão total que permitem o monitoramento das cargas aplicadas, das tensões no interior das camadas, e deformações elásticas e permanentes na superfície do pavimento. O carregamento cíclico, com frequência de 1 Hz, foi aplicado sobre placas rígidas com diâmetros de 300 mm e 216 mm e magnitudes de 40 kN e 20 kN, respectivamente. A partir das bacias de deflexões obtidas, foi possível, por meio de retro-análise, a determinação dos módulos de resiliência dos materiais e a partir das curvas de recalque obter uma equação da deformação plástica em função do número de ciclos de carga. O equipamento apresentou bom funcionamento, atendeu às expectativas e os transdutores forneceram medidas com a precisão exigida. E a utilização de geogrelha como reforço de camada de base mostrou eficaz tanto na redução das deformações permanentes como elásticas. / This research aims at develop, assembly and test of application of large-scale equipment (width of 1.5 x 1.5 m and height of 1.2 m) for the testing in pavement structures laboratory, with materials, thicknesses of layers and loading conditions similar to the field ones. The research still studied the application of geosynthetics as base layer reinforcement to news pavements by effect of variation in subgrade layer moisture. The loading is cyclic and generated from a pneumatic actuator. The instrumentation is constituted of LVDTs, load-cells and soil pressure transducers that permit monitoring the applied loads and the stress distribution in the interior of the layers, as well as plastic and elastic deformations. The cyclic-loading (frequency of 1 Hz) was applied on a 30-mm-diameter and a 26-mm-diameter rigid plate with force of 40 kN and 20 kN, respectively. From the deflection basin obtained, it is possible, by means of back calculation, the determination of the resilient modulus of the materials and from the deformation basin obtained the equation of permanent deformation in function of the cycle number. The equipment showed a good operation, attended to the expectations and the transducers supplied measures with the precision required.

Thesis advisor: Ina V. S. Mullis / TIMSS and PIRLS assess representative samples of students at regular intervals, measuring trends in student achievement and student contexts for learning. Because individual students are not tracked over time, analysis of international large-scale assessment data is usually conducted cross-sectionally. Gustafsson (2007) proposed examining the data longitudinally by analyzing relationships between country-level trends in background constructs and trends in student achievement. Through longitudinal analysis of international large-scale assessment data, it becomes possible to mitigate some of the confounding factors in the analysis. This dissertation extends this country-level approach to subpopulations within countries. Adapting a pseudo-panel approach from the econometrics literature (Deaton, 1985), the proposed approach creates subpopulations by grouping students based on demographic characteristics, such as gender or parental education. Following grouping, the subpopulations with the same demographic characteristics are linked across cycles and the aggregated subpopulation means are treated as panel data and analyzed through longitudinal data analysis techniques. As demonstrated herein the primary advantages of the subpopulation approach are that it allows for analysis of subgroup differences, and it captures within-country relationships in the data that are not possible to analyze at country level. Illustrative analysis examines the relationship between early literacy activities and PIRLS reading achievement using PIRLS 2001 and PIRLS 2011 data. Results from the subpopulation approach are compared with student-level and country-level cross-sectional results as well as country-level longitudinal results. In addition, within-country analysis examines the subpopulation-level relationship between early literacy activities and PIRLS reading achievement, multiple group analysis compares regression coefficient estimates between boys and girls and across parental education subgroups, and mediation analysis examines the extent that partaking in early literacy activities can explain differences between boys and girls in PIRLS reading achievement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

O problema da previsão da resistência ao escoamento em canais tem atraído a atenção dos engenheiros há longo tempo. Durante os últimos decênios a resistência ao escoamento em canais abertos de fundo fixo tem sido amplamente investigada, usando rugosidade artificial nas superfícies de canais experimentais. A adoção do coeficiente de rugosidade para um canal natural significa estimar a resistência de este ao escoamento. A utilização de um valor incorreto deste coeficiente pode ter grandes impactos na estimação da vazão e em conseqüência no dimensionamento dos projetos de obras hidráulicas. Apresenta-se, mediante pesquisa bibliográfica, os métodos de cálculo para avaliação do coeficiente de rugosidade ou coeficiente de resistência, dando ênfase a aqueles desenvolvidos para canais naturais com rugosidade de grande escala, sem os efeitos do transporte de sedimentos. Em modelo físico avaliam-se os efeitos da distribuição, tamanho e forma dos elementos geométricos na resistência ao escoamento. Espera-se que os resultados da pesquisa proporcionem ao engenheiro os critérios necessários para a avaliação do coeficiente de rugosidade. Os métodos diretos de medição de vazões nos rios nem sempre podem ser levados a cabo em rios de montanha , especialmente na época de cheia, devido às grandes declividades (i>1%), material de grandes dimensões no leito (pedras, seixos, matacões), submersão relativa menor do que 1, condições estas de escoamento que podem ser perigosas para os equipamentos de medição. Em tais circunstâncias é necessário o uso de métodos indiretos. A aplicação das relações de resistência ao escoamento em rios de montanha torna-se difícil pelos escassos conhecimentos na avaliação do coeficiente de resistência. Faz-se uma comparação das diferentes formulações existentes da resistência ao escoamento com dados de um rio dos Andes peruanos, determinando-se uma equação de ajuste. / The flow resistance estimation problem in channels has attracted the engineer's attention for a long time. During the last decades the flow resistance in open channels with rigid bed has been research with the use of artificial roughness in bed flumes. Adapting a natural channel roughness coefficient means the estimation of the corresponding resistance to flow. The use of an incorrect value in this coefficient might produce a big impact in the discharge estimation, as well as in the hydraulic work project. The calculation methods to estimate the roughness coefficient or resistance coefficient are showed through this bibliographic research, attaching importance to those developed for channels with large scale roughness; this without the sediment transport effects into account. The distribution, size and shape effects of the geometric elements in the flow resistance are evaluated in a physical model. It is expected that the research results provide the engineer with the required criteria to estimate the roughness coefficient. The direct methods of the discharge measurement in rivers can not always take place in mountain rivers, owing to the following reasons: high gradients (i>1%), big dimension material (cobbles and boulders), relative submergence lower than unit; flow conditions that might be dangerous for the measuring equipment. Under these circumstances it is necessary the use of indirect methods. The application of flow resistance relations in mountain rivers turns very difficult, due to the limited knowledge in resistance coefficient evaluation. In the following research has been made a comparison of the different existing flow resistance equations in mountain rivers, for a river in the Peruvian Andes by establishing a fitting curve.

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo discutir as representações de professores e equipes de gestão a respeito das contribuições dos usos dos resultados do programa AvaliAção para a organização do trabalho pedagógico no cotidiano das escolas. O referencial teórico-metodológico envolveu as contribuições de Henri Lefebvre (1981, 1983, 2001) relacionadas ao conceito de representações, bem como as de autores que abordam a avaliação em larga escala no contexto educacional: Bauer et al. (2015, 2017), Silva, Gimenes e Moriconi et al. (2013), Sousa (2010, 2013), Vianna (2003), Werle (2010), dentre outros. A pesquisa configura-se como qualitativa e utilizou-se como procedimentos metodológicos a análise documental para caracterização das escolas pesquisadas e entrevistas semiestruturadas com professores, equipes de gestão escolar e equipe do comitê de avaliação do programa AvaliAção da Secretaria Municipal de Educação de Ponta Grossa - Paraná. A análise das representações dos sujeitos envolvidos, articulada a dados obtidos em documentos, possibilitou identificar que o programa é utilizado em diferentes dimensões e grandezas como suporte para melhoria das atividades desenvolvidas na escola (formação contínua de professores e de coordenadores pedagógicos; acompanhamento das atividades pedagógicas na escola pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação, pela equipe de gestão escolar e pelos professores; trabalho sobre as dificuldades dos alunos de forma individual; autoavaliação do sistema de ensino e da escola). Contudo, a análise também sugere diversos limites intra e extraescolares para o uso pedagógico desses resultados. Avançar nas possibilidades de utilização mais efetiva dos resultados da avaliação (de qualquer tipo) para a melhoria do ensino e da aprendizagem é tarefa possível de ser trabalhada nas escolas e estimulada pelos sistemas de ensino e, ainda, em cursos de formação inicial de professores. / This research aimed at discussing the representations teachers and management staff have of the contribution of use of school results in the program AvaliAção (EvaluAction) regarding the organization of the teaching work in the schools routine. The theoretical-methodological literature includes the contributions of Henri Lefebvre (1981, 1983, 2001) related to the concept of representations as well as other authors who address evaluation on a large scale in the education environment: Bauer et al. (2015, 2017), Silva, Gimenes and Moriconi et al. (2013), Sousa (2010, 2013), Vianna (2003), Werle (2010), among others. It is a qualitative study employing methodological procedures of document analysis to classify the schools researched and semi-structured interviews with teachers and school management staff and the evaluation committee of the program AvaliAção (EvaluAction) of the Municipal Education Secretariat in Ponta Grossa PR. The analysis of the representations of the subjects involved, articulated with data obtained from the documents, made it possible to identify that the program is used in different dimensions and quantities as a support to improve the activities developed at schools (teachers and coordinators continuous development; follow-up of the teaching activities in the schools by the Municipal Education Secretariat, the school management and teachers; individual remedial work to cater for students difficulties; self-evaluation of the school and the education system). However, the analysis also suggests several intra and extra-school limits for the pedagogical use of these results. Advancing the possibilities of using more effectively evaluation results (of any kind) for the improvement of teaching and learning is a possible task to be worked on in schools and motivated by the teaching systems and also in the teachers initial education courses.

Le modèle de concordance de la cosmologie moderne repose entre autre sur l'existence de matière dite « noire », matière qui n'intéragirait que gravitationellement et qui ne peut donc pas être observée directement. Les vitesses particulières des galaxies, puisqu'elles tracent le champ de gravité, sont des sondes non-biaisées de la matière dans l'Univers. Ainsi, l'étude de ces vitesses particulières permet non seulement de cartographier l'Univers proche (matière noire comprise), mais aussi de tester le modèle ΛCDM via la vitesse d'expansion de l'Univers et le taux de formation des structures. Observationnellement, la mesure de la vitesse particulière d'une galaxie se fait à partir de la mesure de sa distance, mesure très imprécise pour les données extragalactiques. Mal modélisée, cette incertitude conduit à des analyses biaisées des vitesses particulières, et ainsi détériore la qualité de cette sonde cosmologique. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse s'intéresse aux erreurs systématiques statistiques des analyses de vitesses particulières. D'abord en étudiant puis modélisant ces erreurs systématiques. Ensuite en proposant de nouveaux modèles pour les prendre en compte. En particulier, y est développé un modèle permettant, à partir des mesures de la vitesse de rotation des galaxies, de reconstruire le champ de densité de l'Univers Local. Ce modèle s'appuie sur l'analyse des corrélations de vitesse données par le modèle de concordance, et la modélisation de la relation de Tully-Fisher, qui lie la vitesse de rotation des galaxies à leur luminosté. Le modèle développé est appliqué au catalogue de distances extragalactiques CosmicFlows-3, permettant ainsi une nouvelle cartographie de l'Univers proche et de sa cinématique / The cosmological concordance model relies on the existence of a ≪ dark ≫ matter which hypothetically only interacts through gravity. Hence, the dark matter could not be observed directly with standard techniques. Since they directly probe gravity, peculiar velocities of galaxies are an unbiased tool to probe the matter content of the Universe. They can trace the total matter field and constrain the Local Universe’s expansion rate and growth of structures. The peculiar velocity of a galaxy can only be measured from its distance, which determination is very inaccurate for distant objects. If not correctly modeled, these uncertainties can lead to biaised analyses and poor constraints on the ΛCDM model. Within this context, this PhD studies the systematic and statistical errors of peculiar velocity analyses. First by investigating and modeling these errors. Then by building Bayesian models to include them. In particular, a model of the Local Universe’s velocity field from the observations of the rotational velocity of galaxies is presented. This model relies on the ΛCDM’s peculiar velocity correlations and on a Tully-Fisher relation model. The model has then been applied to the CosmicFlows-3 catalog of distances and provides a new kinematic map of the Local Universe

Submitted by Mariana Dornelles Vargas (marianadv) on 2015-05-28T13:56:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 avaliacao_larga.pdf: 1776581 bytes, checksum: 19750bd4826800ef2b12837581323f1c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-28T13:56:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 avaliacao_larga.pdf: 1776581 bytes, checksum: 19750bd4826800ef2b12837581323f1c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-01-03 / Nenhuma / O estudo discute a avaliação em larga escala como subsidiadora da formulação de políticas educacionais frente a mecanismos de gestão democrática contidos nos sistemas municipais de ensino. Os objetivos do estudo têm como princípio a confluência de que estratégias de gestão democrática na educação contribuem para superação de situações desencadeadas pela avaliação em larga escala e políticas educacionais, consistindo em identificar e analisar indicadores de gestão democrática contidos nas leis de Sistema Municipal de Ensino e indicadores e o desempenho dos alunos das redes municipais de ensino na Prova Brasil, nas séries iniciais. O foco incide sobre os municípios da Associação de Municípios do Vale doRio dos Sinos, que optaram por criar leis de Sistemas Municipais de Ensino, situando especificamente o município de São Leopoldo como foco empírico, tendo o município optado pela gestão democrática da educação. A pesquisa descreve como ocorre o processo de aplicação da Prova Brasil e movimentos provocados por esse processo sobre as instituições de ensino. Aponta algumas das ações desencadeadas pelo Plano de Desenvolvimento da Educação da Escola, denominado PDE Escola, destinadas às escolas que ficaram abaixo da média nacional nas avaliações em larga escala. A metodologia possibilita a articulação entre os diferentes aspectos da investigação, a partir da coleta dados em Escolas da Rede Municipal de Ensino, Secretaria Municipal de Educação, Secretaria Estadual de Educação por meio de entrevistas semi estruturadas destinadas aos agentes envolvidos em cada âmbito e consultas a documentos oficiais. O estudo revela que município de São Leopoldo apresentou avanços na gestão democrática, mediante os indicadores, contudo evidenciou características reprodutivistas. No processo de execução da Prova Brasil constatou-se uma grande complexidade envolvida, onde vários atores passam a intervir no cotidiano escolar seguindo diferentes temporalidades. As interveniências e temporalidades provocaram uma articulação na gestão escolar à bem se prepararem para receber a aplicação da Prova Brasil, na edição em 2009. A forma de atuação do planejamento e execução descentralizada das ações desencadeadas pelo PDE Escola implicou em dificuldades a serem superadas pelos sistemas de ensino, perante ausência de processos efetivamente participativos e democráticos no âmbito escolar. Evidenciou-se a falta de políticas educacionais que compreendessem interação entre as diferentes secretarias municipais, instituições de ensino e instâncias superiores no atendimento a comunidades em contextos sociais carentes. / The study discusses the large-scale evaluation as a subsidiary of formulating educational policies facing mechanisms of democratic management contained in the municipal educational systems. The objectives of the study have as principle the confluence of that democratic strategies management in education contribute to overcoming situations started by large-scale evaluation and educational policies, consisting in identifying and analyzing indicators of democratic governance contained in the laws of the Municipal System of Education and the performance of students in municipal education systems, in Brazil Test, at elementary school. The focus is on the cities of the Association of Municipalities of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, which chose to create laws of Municipal Education Systems, specifically situating Sao Leopoldo as empirical focus, considering this city opted for the democratic management of education. The study describes how is the application process of Brazil Test and movements caused by this process on educational institutions. It points out some of the actions initiated by the Education Development Plan School, called PDE School, for schools that were below the national average in large-scale evaluation. The methodology make possible the articulation between different aspects of the investigation, by collecting data in Public Schools of Education, City Department of Education, State Education Department, through semi-structured interviews for agents involved in each area and consultations with official documents. The study reveals that Sao Leopoldo showed made advances in the democratic management, by the indicators, however, it showed reproductive characteristics. In the process of execution of Brazil Test was found a great complexity involved, where several actors began to intervene in school life following different temporalities. The intervention and temporalities led to an articulation in school management and to prepare to receive the application of Brazil Test, at the 2009 edition. The performance of the planning and decentralized execution of actions, started by PDE School, resulted in difficulties to be overcome by education systems, considering the absence of processes effectively participative and democratic in school ambit. It was evident a lack of educational policies that include interaction between the different municipal departments, educational institutions and higher instances in attendance to communities in disadvantaged social contexts.