The purpose of this study was to determine the potential contribution of vocational and technical education to the future social-economic development of Albania. To achieve this purpose, a panel of experts was involved in the formulation of statements and the determination of each statement's value as a contributor to future social-economic development. This study was conducted using a Modified Delphi Technique to identify and prioritize statements generated as part of this research methodology. The study was accomplished through solicitation of responses from a 17 member panel of experts. The panel consisted of individuals representing government service, non-government organizations, Albanian educators, and international educators involved in different educational projects in Albania in the last ten years. Each of the experts was asked to identify statements that vocational and technical education can contribute to the future social-economic development of Albania. Responses provided by the panel members and the statements added by the researcher were edited and organized into a list with 71 statements. The panel of experts was asked to rate this list and means and standard deviations were calculated for each statement. The criterion to determine the importance of statements was defined as a mean being equal or higher than 3.5 on a 5-point Likert scale. The criteria employed to determine panel consensus was defined as a standard deviation being equal or less than 1.00. From the list of 71 statements, 68 were concluded to have been important and have reached consensus by the panel. The 68 statements on which the panel of experts reached consensus were rank ordered according to their means.A content analysis of the ranked statements revealed that statements clustered around common themes. These themes included VTE's Planning Procedures and Policy, Program and Institutional Development, Values and Work Ethics, Productivity, Communication and Analytical Skills, and Linkages.From these results, it was concluded that the process for the development of an effective VTE program that will contribute to the social-economic development of Albania will be long and complex. This process will involve many people, agencies, and organizations all working together. Hence, it was recommended that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs take the lead in this process. / Ph. D.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Takashi Ito / This research was focused on understanding how external stimuli affect the permeability of the chemically modified electrodes, and how the materials used in modifying the working electrodes respond to the changes in the surface charge. We adopted a voltammetric type electrochemical sensor to investigate the permeability effects induced by pH and organic solvents. The working electrodes used in this research were chemically modified with thioctic acid self assembled monolayer (TA SAM), track etched polycarbonate membranes (TEPCM) and PS-b-PMMA nanoporous films (polystyrene-block-polymethylmethacrylate). We studied the permeability behavior of each of the material upon application of external stimuli. In chapter 3, the permeability changes induced by change in surface charge of thioctic acid SAM was investigated. The surface charge of the monolayer was tuned by changing pH of the medium, which resulted in decrease of redox current of a negatively charged marker due to deprotonation of the surface –COOH groups of TA SAM. Decrease in redox current reflected a decrease in the reaction rate, and by using closed form equations the effective rate constants at several pKa values were extracted. In chapter 4, permeability changes induced by pH in TEPCM were investigated. We assessed the surface charge of these membranes via cyclic voltammetry generated for neutral and charged redox molecules. Limiting current of charged markers were affected by the surface charge induced by pH, where as the redox current for the neutral marker was not affected. Experimental redox currents were larger than the theoretical current, indicating that redox molecules preferentially distributed in a surface layer on the nanopore. Organic solvent induced permeability changes of PS-b-PMMA nanoporous films were investigated via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and AFM. Higher response of pore resistance in the presence of organic solvents indicated either swelling of the nanoporous film or partitioning of organic solvents in the pores. However AFM data revealed that the permeability changes are due to partitioning of the solvents rather than swelling of the porous film, since there was no appreciable change if the pore diameter in the presence of solvents.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / In GPS receiver the acquisition process generates two important parameters: the initial carrier frequency and the initial phase of the C/A code. In this paper two different methods for acquisition are mainly discussed: serial search in the time domain and FFT search in the frequency domain. Frequency domain acquisition involves using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to convert the GPS signals into the frequency domain. One fast and easy-to-implement algorithm for averaging correlation is implemented and explained in detail. The FFT search method is both simulated in Matlab and evaluated in Altera Stratix DSP development board.

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Science can define what is practicable, what can be done, but it cannot determine which developments it is right to pursue- this is largely an ethical judgment attempting to answer ‘ought we to do it’? The most sensible approach to making an ethical assessment is to try and weigh up the benefits of a novel technology against its potential to do harm. Deciding whether GM technology is acceptable in ethical terms involves a judgment about both the plausibility and moral weight of competing sets of claims, beginning with an assessment of the possible benefits and risks. Using four main guiding principles as the basis of my discussion and point of evaluation, I focus firstly on the principle of general welfare to examine the debate what would amount to an adequate safety assessment of GM foods and its possible ecological risk. The right of consumers to freedom of choice is addressed by exploring both the arguments against and for labelling. The principle of justice then questions the claims whether food security can indeed be improved by using GM technology and how patents, bioprospecting and biopiracy can be judged ethically justifiable. Finally the ethical status of the natural world is raised by attempting to answer whether modern biotechnology could be considered blasphemous and whether it is ethically permissible to breach the natural integrity of the species. Using these guiding principles do not make such as assessment straightforward as they cannot be rigidly applied in an abstract way to reflect absolutes on what is right or wrong and their operation depends on context. My approach is normative and presented in a way to stimulate dialogue as an explorative ethical travel through the genetically modified zone with the recognition that the debate remains inconclusive and controversial. Keywords: GM; Genetically Modified Foods; GM Technology; Transgenic.

Orientador: Edméa Cássia Baptista / Banca: Vanusa Alves de Sousa / Banca: Leonardo Nepomuceno / Resumo: Este trabalho propõe uma abordagem que utiliza uma associação dos métodos de barreira modificada e da Lagrangiana aumentada para a resolução do problema de fluxo de potência ótimo. Para isso, foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico que explicitou os métodos de Newton-Lagrangiano, de barreira modificada e da função lagrangiada aumentada. Na abordagem proposta, as restrições canalizadas são desmembradas em duas desigualdades. Estas são transformadas em igualdades a partir do acréscimo de variáveis de folga ou de excesso positivas, as quais são tratadas pela função barreira modificada. As restrições de igualdade originais do problema são tratadas pelo método da função Lagrangiana aumentada e as igualdades restantes através da função Lagrangiana. As condições necessárias de primeira ordem são aplicadas resultando num sistema não linear o qual é resolvido pelo método de Newton. A eficiência do método foi verificada utilizando um exemplo matemático e em problemas de fluxo de potência ótimo / Abstract: This work proposes an approach that uses an association of the modified barrier method and augmented Lagrangian method for the solution of the optimal power flow problem. On this purpose, a bibliographical review was accomplished the methods Newton-Lagrangian, modified barrier and augmented Lagrangian function. In this approach, the bounded constraints are transformed in equalities by additing the non-negative slack variables. Those slack variables are handled by the modified barrier function. The original equality constrains of the problem are handled by the method of augmented Lagrangian function and the remaining equalities are handled by the Lagrangian function. The first order necessary conditions are applied resulting a nonlinear system which is solved by Newton's method. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been examined by solving a mathematical example and optimal power flow problems / Mestre