A quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) retrodirective array phase modulator (RAPM) was designed and fabricated to characterize its backscatter signal constellation when placed near objects with varying conductivities and relative permittivities. The signal constellations produced when the RAPM was placed near objects were compared to a constellation in free space to determine relative magnitude and phase changes. When conductors and high permittivity dielectrics were placed close behind the RAPM, constellation points were found to shrink in magnitude by up to twenty percent and shift in phase by up to eight degrees. When conductors were placed between the RAPM and an interrogator, the signal constellation was found to collapse, shrinking by up to 95.6 percent. For materials similar to free space, minimal constellation shrinkage resulted, but signal constellation rotation by up to 68 degrees occurred. The power consumption of a RAPM was also characterized and found to decrease as the number of bits per symbol increased. This result demonstrates that in comparison to conventional backscatter tags, which implement one bit per symbol, the RAPM can implement a greater number of bits per symbol, reduce its power consumption, and increase its range in a passive backscatter communication system. To characterize the beamwidth of the RAPM's retrodirective array, a radar cross section (RCS) measurement of the RAPM was performed over a scan angle range of -90 to +90 degrees. The structural component generated by the RAPM's patch antenna ground plane was found to dominate the antenna mode of the retrodirective array. As a result, a novel homodyne receiver based RCS measurement was performed to filter out the structural RCS component and measure the pure antenna mode of the RAPM.

We describe Employees Provident Funds (EPF) Malaysia. We explain about Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit Pension Funds and examine their similarities and differences. We also briefly discuss and compare EPF schemes in four Commonwealth countries. A family of Stochastic Programming Models is developed for the Employees Provident Fund Malaysia. This is a family of ex-ante decision models whose main aim is to manage, that is, balance assets and liabilities. The decision models comprise Expected Value Linear Programming, Two Stage Stochastic Programming with recourse, Chance Constrained Programming and Integrated Chance Constraints Programming. For the last three decision models we use scenario generators which capture the uncertainties of asset returns, salary contributions and lump sum liabilities payments. These scenario generation models for Assets and liabilities were developed and calibrated using historical data. The resulting decisions are evaluated with in-sample analysis using typical risk adjusted performance measures. Out- of- sample testing is also carried out with a larger set of generated scenarios. The benefits of two stage stochastic programming over deterministic approaches on asset allocation as well as the amount of borrowing needed for each pre-specified growth dividend are demonstrated. The contributions of this thesis are i) an insightful overview of EPF ii) construction of scenarios for assets returns and liabilities with different values of growth dividend, that combine the Markov population model with the salary growth model and retirement payments iii) construction and analysis of generic ex-ante decision models taking into consideration uncertain asset returns and uncertain liabilities iv) testing and performance evaluation of these decisions in an ex-post setting.