Set within the framework of the newly established field of variational pragmatics (Schneider and Barron, 2008), this study investigates pragmatic variation between two different regional varieties of English, namely American English and Singaporean English. Specifically, the speech act of compliment responses is compared. The data were collected through written discourse completion tasks (DCT) and responses were analysed and coded using an adapted version of Holmes’ (1988) categorization system for compliment responses (CRs). The CRs come from a total of 40 participants and a total of 320 compliment responses were analysed. The DCT was supplemented by an introspective-recall with six participants. The findings demonstrate that the preferred strategy for both groups is in the order of accept, evade and reject. Even so, the Singaporeans use more reject strategies and less accept strategies than the Americans do. Further, the Americans employ more combination strategies than the Singaporeans. The Singaporeans however, employ more non-verbal and paralinguistic cues than the Americans. The results also show differences in the two varieties’ attitudes to and perceptions of compliment responses. In addition, the study suggests that compliments in Singapore might be undergoing a change. The findings are particularly important for pedagogical purposes.

This Diploma thesis focuses on the alignment of regulatory processes to support corporate performance management in the selected retail company. The main objective is the preparation of process maps that serve as a basis for the implementation of a global standard for automatic exchange of financial account information, developed by the OECD, also called as Common Reporting Standard. Additionally, the partial objectives include analysis of existing forms of content-related processes, creating a methodological support to the created processes and the theoretical concepts of regulatory requirements. The theoretical part focuses on the introduction of concepts related to the corporate management performance and also on theory about specific regulatory regulation used. In the practical part is an analysis of the company through the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), followed by the actual design and process description. The main contribution of the Diploma thesis was to perform process optimization, along with some improvements during the creation of these processes. The company will use the outcomes in practice.

Nous abordons le problème de la gestion des chaînes logistiques dans le cadre d’une démarche RSE (Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises). Nous proposons une approche intégrée qui permet d’opérationnaliser l’évaluation de la performance suivant les dimensions économique, environnementale et sociale aux niveaux de décisions stratégique, tactique et opérationnel. Nous déclinons notre approche aux niveaux stratégique et tactique, pour le problème d’internalisation/externalisation « durable » des activités de la chaîne de valeur d’une part (décision stratégique), et pour le problème de la planification stratégique-tactique durable de la chaîne logistique, d’autre part. Nous réalisons dans le premier cas une analyse de la valeur que nous couplons à l’évaluation de la performance en utilisant une méthode d’aide à la décision multicritères agrégative : l’AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process). Dans le second cas, nous formulons le problème comme un programme mathématique multi-objectifs que nous résolvons sur la base d’un cas réaliste issu de l’industrie canadienne du bois d’œuvre. Nous obtenons, à l’issue de la résolution mathématique, plusieurs solutions de compromis (optimums de Pareto) présentant différents niveaux de performances économique, environnementale et sociale, permettant au décideur de choisir la solution qui correspond le mieux à sa stratégie RSE. Cette application illustre la méthode proposée et met en avant la valeur pratique de notre approche. / We address the problem of supply chain management in the context of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). We propose an integrated approach allowing the operationalization of the economic, environmental and social performances at the strategic, tactical and operational decision levels of the supply chain. In particular, we apply our approach to the strategic and tactical levels, for the problem of sustainable insourcing/outsourcing of the activities of the value chain on the one hand (strategic decision), and for the problem of the strategic-tactical planning of a sustainable supply chain on the other hand. In the former case, we combine value analysis with performance measurement using AHP method (Analytical Hierarchy Process), an aggregative multi-criteria technique. In the latter, we develop a multi-objective mathematical program that we apply to a realistic case inspired by the Canadian lumber industry. After solving the problem, we obtain a multitude of compromise solutions (Pareto optimums) presenting different performance levels following the economic, environmental and social dimensions, allowing the decision maker to choose the solution that reflects best his/her CSR strategy. This application illustrates the proposed method and allows us to assess the practical value of our approach.

Submitted by Biblioteca de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica BGQ (bgq@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-06-07T18:11:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Rut Díaz.pdf: 2159528 bytes, checksum: 159d73b33fae80ff4ee36bea4366ea74 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-07T18:11:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Rut Díaz.pdf: 2159528 bytes, checksum: 159d73b33fae80ff4ee36bea4366ea74 (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Rio de Janeiro / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Petrobras/CENPES / Agência Nacional do Petróleo / Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Química. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geoquímica, Niterói, RJ / O presente estudo utiliza a geoquímica inorgânica das espécies reduzidas do enxofre, operacionalmente definidas como acid - volatile sulfufide (AVS) e chromium -reducible sulfur (CRS),a composição isotópica ( δ 34 S) do sulfat o da água intersticial, do CRS, e das frações orgânicas (ácidos húmicos, ácid os fúlvicos e resíduo orgânico) para avaliar a diagênese do enxofre ao longo do Holoceno (últimos 12.000 anos cal AP) no Sistema de Ressurgência de Cabo Frio (SRCF) . Também foi usada a morfologia da pirita, considerando a distribuição de tamanho dos frambóides através de microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), com o objetivo de inferir o estado de oxidação do ambiente de formação. Foram coletados quatro perfis sedimentares cur tos (b ox - cores ) e três longos ( kullembers ) em um gradiente “cross - shelf” na plataforma continental de Cabo Frio. A razão C/N e o a composição isotópica ( δ 13 C) da matéria orgânica reflete uma fonte marinha durante a diagênese recente. As diferentes caracter ísticas morfológicas, como as superfícies de oxidação nos microcristais, os processos de crescimento secundário e os poliframboides encontrados nas análises morfológicas da pirita, assim como também a variabilidade na distribuição dos diâmetros dos frambói des evidenciaram uma formação sob condição redox altamente dinâmica. A razão COT/CRS indica que o fator limitante para a formação da pirita é o enxofre , devido as condições de deposição do ambiente as quais favorecem a re - oxidação do sulfeto de hidrogênio. A composição isotópica do sulfato ao longo dos perfis apresenta um valor médio de +23‰, e não foi observado um fracionamento isotópico com respeito ao sulfato da água do mar (+ 21‰), indicando a diagênese do sulfato em um sistema aberto e baixas taxas de sulfato redução. No entanto, a composição isotópica do CRS apresentou sinais altamente empobrecidos em 34 S ( - 45‰ até - 25 ‰), indicando reações de re - oxidação no ciclo do enxofre. A composição isotópica das espécies orgânicas do enxofre apresenta um enrique cimento em 32 S quando comprados com o sulfato da água intersticial , e isotopicamente pesadas comparadas com a pirita. O incremento na razão S/C dos ácidos húmicos e o empobrecimento do sinal isotópico em 34 S com o avanço da profundidade indicam a captura d o enxofre de origem diagenético pela matéria orgânica. Um balanço de massa isotópico indica a predominância de uma fonte biossintética nos ácidos húmicos e diagenética nos ácidos fúlvicos, estes resultados guardam relação com a reatividade da matéria orgân ica em cada fração. No gradiente “cross - shelf” as frações orgânicas da plataforma média apresentam os menores conteúdo de enxofre biossíntetico, indicando a presença de matéria orgânica mais reativa. Estes resultados indicam que a sulfurização da matéria o rgânica e a cumulação de pirita em Cabo Frio foi favorecida pelo ciclo re - oxidativo do enxofre devido a intensas condições óxicas na coluna de água. O processo de diagênese do enxofre ao longo do Holoceno não guarda relação aparente com as mudanças oceanog ráficas registrada na área de estudo, assim sendo, adinâmica do enxofre esteve relacionada com a intensidade dos processos de diagênese / Four box-corer and tree kullemberg were collected in a cross - shelf gradient in the continental shelf of Cabo Frio. The box-corer were used to evaluated the sulfurization of the organic matter during the early diagenesis and also, study the pyrite morphology and size distribution of framboids by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to infer the oxidation state of the environment during the early diagenesis. This study uses the inorganic geochemistry of reduced sulfur species operationally defined as acid-volatile sulfufide (AVS) and chromium - reducible sulfur (CRS), the isotopic composition ( δ 34 S) of pore water sulfate, CRS, and the isotopic composition of difference organic fraction (humic acids, fulvic acids and organic residue to evaluated the sulfur diagenesis during the Holocene (last 12000 years cal AP) in the upwelling system of Cabo Frio. Carbon stable isotopes signatures and C/N ratios of total organic matter evidence a marine source during the early diagenesis. The observed increase in the atomic S/C ratios and t he 34 S depletion in humic acids with increasing depth evidence the diagenetic uptake of reduced sulfur species by organic matter during the early diagenesis. The different morphological characteristics observed, such as surface oxidation in the microcrysta ls, the processes of secondary growth and poliframboides found, as well as the variability in the framboids diameters distribution, show the formation under highly dyna mic redox condition. In the sedi m e nts from the Holocene the COT/CRS ratio indicates that the limiting factor for the pyrite formation is the sulfur. The isotopic composition of sulfate is around +23 ‰ , and without fractionation of sulfate with respect to sea water (21 + ‰) indicating a sulfur diagenesis in a open system and a low net sulfate r eductions. The isotopic composition of the CRS is highly depleted ( - 45 ‰ to - 35‰), indicating oxida tion reactions in the cycle of sulfur . The stable sulfur isotope composition of the organic fractions ( humic acids, fulvics acids and organic res idue ) was sub stantially enriched in 32 S when compared to bottom and pore water sulfate (δ 34 S SO4 2 - ~ +23‰), but isotopically heavier than the co - existing pyrite ( δ 34 S CRS = - 45‰ to - 35‰). The 34 S depletion in humic acids, fulvis acids and in the organic residue with increasing depth evidence the diagenetic uptake of reduced sulfur species by organic matter. A sulfur isotope mass balance indicated a predominance of biogenic sulfur in humic acids and in the organic residue, while the fulvic acids has a predominance of d iagenetic sulfur. In cross - shelf gradient, the organic fractions from the middle shlelf have the lower proportion on biosynthetic sulfur, indicating the presence of more reactive matter. The results evidenced that the sulfurization of organic matter and th e p yrite accumulation in the Cabo F rio sediments was favored by the sulfur re - oxidative cycling due to the intense oxic water conditions . The diageneses process in the sulfur cycle during the Holocene in sediments from the continental shelf don’t have rela tion with the changes in the oceanography conditions. The process of diagenesis of sulfur seem to be a continuous process

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and Cognitive Radios (CRs) pave the way for next-generation radio technology. They promise versatility, flexibility and cognition which can revolutionize communications systems. However they present greater challenges to the design of radio frequency (RF) front-ends. RF front-ends for the radios in use today are narrow-band in their frequency response and are optimized and tuned to the carrier frequency of interest. SDRs and CRs demand front-ends which are versatile, configurable, tunable and be capable of transmitting and receiving signals with different bandwidths and modulation schemes. Integrating power amplifiers (PAs) with transmitters in CMOS has many advantages and challenges. This thesis deals with the design of an RF transmitter front-end for SDRs and CRs in CMOS. The thesis begins with an introduction to SDRs and the requirements they place on transmitters and the challenges involved in designing them in CMOS. After a brief overview of the existing techniques, the proposed architecture is presented and explained. A digitally intensive transmitter solution is proposed. The transmitter covers a wide frequency range of 750 MHz to 2.5 GHz. The inputs to the proposed transmitter are in-phase and quadrature (I & Q) data bit streams. Multiple stages of up-sampling and filtering are used to remove all spurs in the spectrum such that only the harmonics of the carrier remain. Differential rail-to-rail quadrature clocks are generated from a continuous wave signal at twice the carrier frequency. The clocks are corrected for their duty cycle and quadrature impairments. The heart of the transmitter is an integrated reconfigurable CMOS power amplifier (PA). A methodology to design reconfigurable Class E PAs with a series fixed inductor has been presented. A CMOS power amplifier that can span a wide frequency range with sufficient output power and efficiency, supporting varying envelope complex modulation signals, with good linearity has been designed. Digital pre-distortion (DPD) is used to linearize the PA. The full transmitter and the clock correction blocks have been designed and fabricated in a commercial 130-nm CMOS process and experimentally characterized. The PA delivers a maximum power of 13 dBm with an efficiency of 27% at 1 GHz. While transmitting a 16-QAM signal at 1 GHz, the measured EVM is 4%. It delivers a maximum power of around 11-13 dBm from 750 MHz to 1.5 GHz and up to 6.5 dBm of power till 2.5 GHz. Comparing the proposed system with recently published literature, it can be seen that the proposed design is one of the very few transmitters which has an integrated matching network, tunable across the frequency range. The proposed PA produces the highest output power and with largest efficiency for systems with on-chip output networks.

La coopération internationale par l’échange de renseignements fiscaux, question classique si bien que marginale, s’est renouvelé dans l’acuité pour devenir l’une des matières les plus sensibles du droit fiscal international contemporain. Malgré tous les efforts politiques et juridiques déployés ces dernières années, et leurs véritables avancées sur le plan de la technique juridique et de l’efficience administrative, il y a raisons de craindre qu’elle rencontre encore des différents limites pour fonctionner efficacement au niveau planétaire. Cette thèse s’occupe d’identifier l’existence d’un régime juridique général des échanges de renseignements fiscaux, assez homogène en matière de contenu et d’application, en contemplation des principaux modèles normatifs non communautaires disponibles à l’actualité, y compris ceux automatiques. Ensuite, la thèse examine la portée de ce régime général, afin d’encadrer les limites à l’échange de renseignements fiscaux et de proposer solutions juridiques pour les dépasser. / International co-operation through the exchange of tax information, a classical but marginal issue, has been renewed to become one of the most sensitive subjects of international tax law. Despite all the political and legal efforts made in recent years, and despite the fact that these efforts are real advances in legal technology and administrative efficiency, there are reasons to believe that international tax co-operation still faces different limitations to operate in a worldwide level. This thesis aims to identify the existence of a general legal regime for the exchange of tax information, fairly homogenous in terms of content and application, in view of the main non-EU normative models available nowadays, including those of automatic exchange. Afterwards, the thesis examines the scope of this general regime in order to frame limits to the exchange of tax information and to propose legal solutions to overcome them.

La gestion, la manipulation et le stockage de données sont aujourd’hui de réels challenges. Pour supporter cette réalité, le besoin de technologies mémoires plus efficaces, moins énergivores, moins coûteuses à fabriquer et plus denses que les technologies actuelles s’intensifie. Parmi les technologies mémoires émergentes se trouve la technologie mémoire résistive, dans laquelle l’information est stockée sous forme de résistance électrique au sein d’une couche d’oxyde entre deux électrodes conductrices. Le plus gros frein à l’émergence de tels dispositifs mémoires résistives en matrices passives à deux terminaux est l’existence d’importants courants de fuites (ou sneak paths) venant perturber l’adressage individuel de chaque point de la matrice. Les dispositifs complementary resistive switching (CRS), consistant en deux dispositifs OxRRAM agencés dos à dos, constituent une solution performante à ces courants de fuites et sont facilement intégrables dans le back-end-of-line (BEOL) de la technologie CMOS. Cette thèse a permis d’apporter la preuve de concept de la fabrication et de l’intégration de dispositifs CRS de façon 3D monolithique dans le BEOL du CMOS. / In our digital era, management, manipulation and data storage are real challenges. To support this reality the need for more efficient, less energy and money consuming memory technologies is drastically increasing. Among those emerging memory technologies we find the oxide resistive memory technology (OxRRAM), where the information is stored as the electrical resistance of a switching oxide in sandwich between two metallic electrodes. Resistive memories are really interested if used inside passive memory matrix. However the main drawback of this architecture remains related to sneak path currents occurring when addressing any point in the passive matrix. To face this problem complementary resistive switching devices (CRS), consisting in two OxRRAM back to back, have been proposed as efficient and costless BEOL CMOS compatible solution. This thesis brought the proof of concept of fabrication and 3D monolithic integration of CRS devices in CMOS BEOL.

In March 2022, OECD published a public consultation document entitled Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and Amendments to the Common Repoting Standard (CARF). This doucment proposed new and amended requirements covering reporting and exchange of information of crypto-assets as well as containing broader revisions to the existing Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exhange of informaiton (AEOI) between countries. In recent years, there has been a mass adoption of crypt-assets for a range of invesment and financial activities. OECD believes that the use of crypto-assets threatens the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) since crypto-assets can be easily transferred without a central administrator and held inaccessbile crypto "wallets." In reponse, OECD drafted CARF in an attempt to retrofit regulations made for traditional financial institutions, a regulatory "choke point model," onto the nascent and quickly developing crypto-asset space. The thesis argues that CARF is flawed in several ways. First, the CARF's requirements deviate from CRS for unexplained reasons created extra costs and administrative burden for cryto-asset service providers (CASPs). Second, as crypto-assets are more in the nature of moveable assets, CARF's inartful attempt to retrofit CRS is onto the crypto-asset space is likely stifle innovation and technological development, especially critical for the developing world and shifting power away from banks and other large financial institutions back to individual consumers and merchants. Finally, CARF may not even materially meet its goal of increasing tax revenues and ensuring tax compliance.