ITC/USA 2015 Conference Proceedings / The Fifty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2015 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / The performance of telemetry systems may be strongly affected by diverse sources of perturbations. Among them, multipath channels and transmission noise are the most critical. While the effects due to the multipath channels can be attenuated thanks to equalization, the effects of the noise are limited if forward error correction is used. This paper first proves that the combination of blind equalization and forward error correction can strongly improve bit error rates. The other objective of the paper is to show that reasonably powerful codes like Reed-Solomon codes are sufficient to enable quasi-error free transmissions in a large majority of propagation channel scenarios.

This thesis examines the use of tax incentives to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) in Thailand and the issues arising out of the way in which the Thai revenue system has chosen to implement these incentives. Thailand experiences sporadic political unrest, and has been affected by regional and global economic crises. Since FDI appears to increase economic growth and help the host country to achieve sustainable development, the Thai government has a clear policy to encourage FDI. Tax incentives have become a significant weapon in the Thai government’s arsenal for encouraging this aim. This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the tax incentives and the mechanisms used for their implantation. Analysis reveals that, unfortunately, the Thai government has also chosen to deliver the administration of tax incentives in to the hands of two separate bodies ─ the Revenue Department and the Board of Investment (BOI). This strategy is problematic because it creates unnecessary difficulties and uncertainty in the administration of incentives and promotes confusion among foreign investors. The jurisdictional problems inherent in the system of the dual allocation of tax incentive powers are highlighted in the landmark Minebea case, which involved conflicting interpretations by the Revenue Department and the BOI. In addressing these jurisdictional problems, this thesis examines norm conflict resolution principles in general and the lex specialis in particular, and argues that the Investment Promotion Act of 2001 (IPA 2001), being a special law, and so overrides the more general provisions of the Revenue Code. Two solutions are suggested in order to tackle the current problem: 1) to amend the IPA 2001 to specify methods of tax calculation and clearly define problematic terms and 2) to incorporate the tax incentive provisions provided for BOI-promoted companies into the Revenue Code. This is based on the premise that all tax matters, including tax incentives provisions, should be administered only by the revenue authority, i.e. the Revenue Department.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / abstract / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This dissertation considers repetition phenomena in Hindi-English bilingual discourse. Through analysis of everyday Hindi-English conversations, I demonstrate that code-switching and related bilingual phenomena systematically expand options bilingual speakers have for structuring discourse, managing interactions, and making linguistic and social meaning. The systematicity and strategy of Hindi-English code-switching are particularly apparent in what I term bilingual repetition. In bilingual repetition, the semantic content of an utterance in one language is repeated in another language, usually in close proximity to the first occurrence. Bilingual repetition is encountered throughout South Asian multilingual contexts ranging from casual conversations to printed advertisements to Bollywood dialogues. I also consider repetition as a discourse-level areal feature of South Asia. Both monolingual and bilingual repetition phenomena offer an opportunity to investigate alternatives for making meaning both within and across languages due to the side-by-side presentation of semantically and formally related messages. Ultimately, code-switching and repetition in Hindi-English bilingual discourse emerge as practices that both create and reflect linguistic and social simultaneity. / text

This study casts the code-switching patterns observed among Spanish-English bilinguals in Bayside, Texas within the framework of Bell’s (1984) theory of audience design, which is claimed to apply to both monolingual style-shifting as well as bilingual code-switching. The latter part of this claim has been little explored. The intent of this study, then, is to determine if the explanatory power of audience design, as demon¬strated in studies on style-shifting, does indeed hold when applied to cases of language alternation. Analysis of the data from Bayside generally supports Bell’s theory as it shows speakers adjusting their use of Spanish and/or English to suit their audience. The study will highlight a less frequently analyzed aspect of Bell’s model, i.e., the role of the auditor, and will call for the auditor to be classified as a primary influencer of lin¬guistic choice in bilingual contexts, alongside the addressee. The code selection patterns exhibited by a pair of Bayside residents in a series of interviews and in conversations videotaped at the local general store will be com¬pared to illustrate the effects of addressee and auditor. A qualitative analysis will dem¬onstrate that differing determinations regarding the linguistic repertoires of the auditors led to contrasting linguistic choices on the part of the study’s subjects. The data collected will show that, when selecting a language of communication, as opposed to a register, style, or dialect, a speaker may be more greatly affected by an auditor than by the addressee. The methods used in collecting the data will also support an expan¬sion of Bell’s model to include an additional participant category suitable for capturing the effect of the recording device, as per Wertheim (2006). / text