From September 19th through October 3rd, 2008, Congress debated the largest government bailout in America history—the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA). Those sixteen days generated a vibrant conversation regarding the nature and severity of America’s economic crisis and the proper role of government in responding to such juggernauts. In this dissertation I explore the rhetoric generated by this bill and its context in hopes of illuminating the more general role of rhetoric in mitigating and exacerbating crises in capitalism. My hypothesis is that, in a global capitalist economy increasingly dependent on immaterial production (i.e., finance, the Internet, mass media, etc.), economic crisis rhetoric has become as essential to economic order as monetary and fiscal policy. To explore this claim, I focus on two key rhetorical tensions that drove much of the crisis rhetoric produced. The first of these battles is a rhetorical struggle over the spatial delineation between Wall Street and Main Street, while the second is a conflict between Keynesianism and neoliberalism in a rhetorical contest over the values of government interventionism. By analyzing a variety of policy and expert discourses that constitute the parameters of these discrete areas of debate, I argue that all rely on moral and ethical appeals to substantiate their meaning and validity. At the same time, I contend that these discourses are indebted to logics of institutional form and therefore cannot be abstracted from the financial and political contexts in which they reside. This insight leads me to forward a new theory of economic crisis rhetoric called the economic imaginary. By beginning with real economic events and then taking into account the discursive and extra-discursive forces that “overdetermine” its mediated understanding, the economic imaginary offers us a more empirical and cartographic account of how economic rhetoric actually operates in society. / text

The main problem evaluated in this manuscript is the stabilization of periodic orbits of non-linear dynamical systems by use of feedback control. The goal of the control methods proposed in this work is to achieve a stable periodic oscillation. These control methods are applied to systems that present unstable periodic orbits in the state space, and the latter are the orbits to be stabilized.The methods proposed here are such that the resulting stable oscillation is obtained with low control effort, and the control signal is designed to converge to zero when the trajectory tends to the stabilized orbit. Local stability of the periodic orbits is analyzed by studying the stability of some linear time-periodic systems, using the Floquet stability theory. These linear systems are obtained by linearizing the trajectories in the vicinity of the periodic orbits.The control methods used for stabilization of periodic orbits here are the proportional feedback control, the delayed feedback control and the prediction-based feedback control. These methods are applied to discrete and continuous-time systems with the necessary modifications. The main contributions of the thesis are related to these methods, proposing an alternative control gain design, a new control law and related results.

Inadequate financial allocation for road maintenance is a threat to the impaired rural highways in Atlantic Canada. The conventional means of pavement rehabilitation has been to place a hot mix asphalt concrete overlay on the existing worn out pavement which is only a short term adjustment. The purpose is to provide a smooth wearing surface at a low cost. This traditional way of pavement repair does not fix the damage embedded within the pavement structure. After a certain extent of time the cracks in the original pavement start to reflect to the smooth new wearing surface, causing deterioration on the overlay. The advanced approach which is becoming more popular is the application of Full Depth Reclamation (FDR). This technique helps to repair the extensively defective roads by pulverizing the flexible pavement along with a fraction of the underlying damaged base layer. Thus a damage free base layer can be obtained by stabilizing and recompacting the pulverized materials. FDR is a sustainable and an environmentally beneficial repair method as it re-uses the in-situ materials. FDR process has been used around the world for over 25 years yet confronts some difficulties regarding the fluctuation in the strength of materials in various projects. It is inferred that some of these difficulties are due to the variability and poor quality in the restored materials. The variability in the recycled base layer is a result of currently utilizing a retroactive depth control method to attain a specific blend of asphalt concrete to granular base for the pulverized materials. Two FDR projects applying two different pulverization control methods (conventional retroactive and GPR depth control methods) were analyzed to investigate the improvements in consistency of the restored materials by using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). A wide range of asphalt concrete/base layer blend ratio was detected in retroactive control section, while consistent blend ratio was maintained in GPR survey by mapping the variability in the depth of pavement and sub-dividing the test sections accordingly. A GPR controlled constant blend ratio during pulverization displayed improvements in consistency of materials, physical and mechanical properties and performance as anticipated. The materials obtained by using the conventional retroactive depth control method exhibited higher variability in grain size distribution, optimum moisture content, optimum density, California Bearing Ratio, resilient modulus and shear strength. All materials from both projects exhibited excessive air voids and inadequate fines content as the as-obtained particles acted as conglomerated particles and enough fines were not generated after the pulverization. It is recommended that efficient quality control, precise specifications and appropriate pulverization methods will provide more reliable and impressive FDR pavements. / This thesis contains research on unstabilized full depth reclaimed aggregates properties

Expansive clays undergo a large swell when they are subjected to water. Thus, expansive clay is one of the most abundant problems faced in geotechnical engineering applications. It causes heavy damages in structures, especially in water conveyance canals, lined reservoirs, highways, airport runways etc., unless appropriate measures are taken. In this thesis, Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS), GBFS - Lime combinations and GBFS Cement (GBFSC) were utilized to overcome or to limit the expansion of an artificially prepared expansive soil sample (Sample A). GBFS and GBFSC were added to Sample A in proportions of 5 to 25 percent. Different GBFS-Lime combinations were added to Sample A by keeping the total addition at 15 percent. Effect of stabilizers on grain size distribution, Atterberg limits, swelling percentage and rate of swell of soil samples were determined. Effect of curing on swelling percentage and rate of swell of soil samples were also determined. Leachate analysis of GBFS, GBFSC and samples stabilized by 25 percent GBFS and GBFSC was performed. Use of stabilizers successfully decreased the amount of swell while increasing the rate of swell. Curing samples for 7 and 28 days resulted in less swell percentages and higher rate of swell.

經濟理論認為，長期持續的財政赤字將會因貨幣融通而造成通貨膨脹，而且通膨越高的經濟體越容易受到赤字的影響。本文依照Catao and Terrones (2005)的理論模型，以狹義貨幣衡量財政赤字的規模，並據此檢驗1960到2006年間91個國家赤字與通貨膨脹的關係。本文使用Lin (2010)的分量迴歸方法，藉以估計在不同通膨水準下赤字的影響，並且允許兩者之間的動態調整。實證結果發現：當通膨越高，赤字造成的影響將越嚴重；若通膨在低水準，赤字則影響很弱、甚至不會造成任何影響。因此，當通膨越高的時候，維持財政紀律將越能有效達成物價穩定。這層赤字與通膨間關係不會因為考量了其他變數而有所改變。此外，赤字通常在開發中國家影響較強，尤其是在高通膨的時候。最後，在1990到2006年間，卻沒有發現赤字具有任何的通膨效果。 / In economic theory, sustained fiscal deficits might cause inflation by means of money creation, and the economy in a higher inflation level would be more strongly impacted by an increase in deficits. Following the theoretical model of Cat\~{a}o and Terrones (2005), I scaled fiscal deficits by narrow money stock and examined the deficit-inflation relationship in 91 countries from 1960 to 2006. A dynamic panel quantile regression of Lin (2010) was employed, which can estimate the impact of fiscal deficits at various inflation levels and allows for a dynamic adjustment. The empirical results show that fiscal deficits will be more serious as inflation rises, and weakly or not related to inflation if it is at a low level. Therefore, fiscal consolidation would be more effective in price stabilization the higher the inflation. Moreover, the results remain robust while taking other possibly inflation-related factors into consideration. Furthermore, the impact of fiscal deficits on inflation is generally greater in developing countries, particularly when inflation is at a high level. Finally, the inflationary effect of deficits is not detected over 1990--2006.

Aquesta tesi analitza l'aprenentatge de coneixement especialitzat a partir d'una proposta teoricometodològica, de base lingüística i conceptual, centrada en l'àmbit del dret de família català. L'anàlisi empírica se centra en l'estudi de les definicions d'estudiants universitaris sobre nou conceptes concrets al llarg de dos tests amb les mateixes definicions: un test a l'inici del període d'instrucció explícita i un altre al final. L'objectiu principal és determinar si es produeix increment i precisió de coneixement en els tres mesos d'instrucció explícita de l'assignatura. L'anàlisi de les dades confirma que es produeix una estabilització del coneixement més que no pas un increment. Aquesta estabilització s'ha de relacionar directament amb el període considerat i amb el fet que el coneixement previ (no especialitzat) dels conceptes sembla estar fortament arrelat en els estudiants i, per tant, en un període tan breu d'instrucció explícita és difícil d'assolir el canvi conceptual a la manera dels especialistes. / This Doctoral Dissertation deals with specialized knowledge acquisition having a theoretical and methodological orientation of a linguistic and conceptual nature. Empirical analysis is devoted to Catalan Family Law and, more precisely, to the definitions provided by university students regarding 9 concepts throughout two tests with the same definitions. The first test is given at the beginning of the period of explicit instruction and the second at the end.The main goal is to determine whether increase and precision of knowledge is achieved or not after the three months of explicit instruction. Data analysis tells that there is knowledge stabilization rather than knowledge increasing. This stabilization can be put down to the considered period, together with the fact that previous knowledge of concepts seem to be firmly rooted in students, which leads to state that conceptual change (i.e., that of specialists) is difficult to attain within such brief period of instruction.

FU, Diss.--Zugl.: Berlin, 2004. / Literaturverz. S.143-155.

Thesis (doctoral) - Freie Universität, Berlin, 2004. / "with 12 figures and tables". Includes bibliographical references ( p. [143]-155).

Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετήθηκε το πρόβλημα της σταθεροποίησης συστημάτων αναερόβιας χώνευσης σε συνθήκες μεγιστοποίησης του παραγόμενου βιοαερίου, υπό την παρουσία διαταραχών στην είσοδο του συστήματος. Εξήχθη ένα απλοποιημένο μοντέλο δύο καταστάσεων, για χρήση του για τους σκοπούς της ρύθμισης της διεργασίας. Για την παρακολούθηση της διεργασίας κατασκευάσθηκε ένα περιβάλλον παρακολούθησης σε LabView, με τη μέτρηση να είναι ο ρυθμος παραγωγής του βιοαερίου. Για τη σταθεροποίηση του συστήματος, αναπτύχθηκε ένας αναλογικός, ως προς τη μέτρηση του βιοαερίου, νόμος ανάδρασης εξόδου. Ο νόμος ανάδρασης σταθεροποιεί τη διεργασία σε μία μεγάλη περιοχή γύρω από τη βέλτιστη μόνιμη κατάσταση, χωρίς να οδηγεί στην έκπλυση της βιομάζας. Αυτή η ικανότητα του ρυθμιστή, δοκιμάσθηκε τόσο σε επίπεδο προσομοιώσεων όσο και σε πειραματικό επίπεδο. Αναπτύχθηκε, επίσης, θεωρία σχεδιασμού μη γραμμικών παρατηρητών, οι οποίοι χρησιμοποιούνται για την εκτίμηση των άγνωστων καταστάσεων και παραμέτρων της διεργασίας, που δεν μπορούν να μετρηθούν, καθώς και για την ανίχνευση πιθανών διαταραχών και υπολογισμό του μεγέθους τους. / The present work studied the problem of stabilization of anaerobic digesters in maximum biogas production rate conditions, under the effect of disturbances in the feed. A two state, simplified model was developed for control purposes. For monitoring of the process, a LabView monitoring environment was developed, with the biogas production rate being the measured output of the system. For stabilizing the system of the anaerobic reactor, a proportional with respect to the measured methane production rate output feedback control law was developed. The control law stabilizes the process in a very large region around the optimal steady state without driving the system towards washout of the biomass. This ability of the controller was tested both with simulation and experimentally. Also a nonlinear observer theory was developed. The designed nonlinear observer was used for estimating the unknown states and parameters of the system that cannot be measured and for the detection of the potential presence and magnitude of a disturbance.

A key lesson learnt from the 2007-2009 global financial crisis was that central banks focused too much on price stability and monetary policy. Financial stability and macroprudential policy were the missing pillars to ensure proper supervision of the financial system. This study examines the challenges faced by central banks in implementing macroprudential policies, while having limited experience as to the effect on their economies. The countercyclical capital buffer is generally considered to be one of the main macroprudential policy instruments. Using South African data, the study furthermore calculates the credit gap which serves as early warning indicator of excessive credit growth and is used to determine the point at which a countercyclical capital buffer should be activated for banks. The calculation of the countercyclical buffer indicates that the credit gap remains below the lower threshold of the buffer add-on. Hence, there is no reason to consider a capital add-on for South African banks as yet. Despite the overall reliability of the credit gap, concerns remain on its reliability under certain circumstances. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)