[pt] Este trabalho especifica um Sistema de Simulação Radar desenvolvido na linguagem de programação C, tendo como aplicação a área militar. Visa a análise, simulação, monitoração e avaliação de sinais na interação de Sistemas Radar e Sistemas de Contra Medidas Eletrônicas (CME). A flexibilidade e a modularidade do Sistema de Simulação Radar proposto objetivam a descrição realista do comportamento de diversos radares modernos. A escolha correta da forma de onda e a definição do modelo de radar mais adequado a uma determinada aplicação são considerados fatores essenciais para a utilização eficaz do Sistema de Simulação proposto. Como abordagem preliminar à implementação do Sistema de Simulação, o presente trabalho apresenta um estudo das formas de onda de radar e de alguns radares modernos de maior interesse. / [en] A Radar Simulation System hás been developed on the C programming Language. Its application is addressed to the military fiels and deals with the analysys, simulation, monitoring, and evaluation of signals in the interaction of Radar and eletronic Counter Measure Systems (ECM). The flexibilitu and modularity of the proposed Radar Simulation System is aimed at the realistic description of the behavior of many modern radars. The choice of the radar waveform and the definition of the appropriated radar model to a specific application are considered essential factors to an effective utilization of the proposed Radar Simulation System. Radar waveforms and modern radars considered of great interest have been presented as an introductory approach to the implementation of the Radar Simulation System.

Cette thèse aborde la composition de services à un niveau « métier » : un processus métier est vu comme une composition de services permettant de réaliser un objectif en tenant compte d’informations contextuelles sur l’environnement. En outre, dans ces travaux de recherche, l’idée de rendre persistante les compositions est développée à des fins de réutilisation et de partage.L’approche PAX propose des modèles de spécification de compositions avec différents niveaux d’abstraction. Au niveau intentionnel, une composition de services est vue comme une composition de buts métier. À un niveau orchestré, une composition de services est spécifiée comme un processus métier dont les activités sont abstraites. À un niveau exécutable, une composition de services est un processus métier pour lequel les activités sont réalisées par des services identifiés. À un niveau trace, une compose de services est vue comme la trace de l’exécution d’un processus métier mis en œuvre par invocation de services.L’approche PAX fournit aussi une démarche flexible et de type co-ingénierie pour la définition de processus métier satisfaisant un besoin métier et basée sur la réutilisation de services et de composition de services. La démarche proposée est flexible dans la mesure où la réalisation de certaines activités est dépendante du contexte de mise en œuvre de l’approche PAX. La démarche est de type co-ingénierie : elle suggère de faire participer les acteurs métier à la conception d’un processus, i.e. d’une composition de services, pendant son exécution. La démarche de type co-ingénierie assure l’alignement entre le besoin métier et le processus permettant de le satisfaire. / This research work deals with the services compositions at a business level: a business process is seen as a composition of services to achieve an objective, taking into account contextual information on the environment. Also, in this research, the idea of considering the compositions as a persistent artefact is developed for reuse and sharing purposes.The PAχ approach offers models of compositions in order to specify compositions at different levels of abstraction. At the intentional level, a composition of services is seen as a composition of business goals. At the orchestrated level, a composition of services is specified as a business process in which some activities and operations are abstract. At the executable level, a composition of services is a business process in which the activities are carried out by identified services. At the trace level, a composition of services is seen as the trace of the execution of a business process implemented by invocation of services. The PAχ approach provides a flexible approach based on co-engineering paradigm for defining business processes which satisfies a business need and based on the reuse of services and composition of services. The proposed approach is flexible because the realization of activities depends of the context in which the PAχ approach is deployed. The approach is based on co-engineering paradigm: it suggests involving business actors to design a process, i.e. a composition of services during execution. Co-engineering improves alignment between business needs and processes to satisfy these needs.

Debates on flexible employment and labour persist in most Western market economies, while being largely absent regarding Saudi Arabia. Increasing unemployment among qualified Saudi citizens remains a major concern, particularly for females, despite a government policy of Saudisation. Notwithstanding incentives for prioritising Saudi citizens, foreign nationals dominate private sector employment. Few empirical studies consider the factors impacting employment of educated Saudi women: further, there are hardly any robust frameworks which offer policy makers, employers, and those championing the employment of this group a clear set of plausible guidelines bearing in mind the socioeconomic context of Saudi Arabia. The research aims, first and foremost, to examine how far "labour flexibility" in Saudi Arabia offers solutions to unemployment among educated Saudi females, exploring interalia the main institutions and regulatory framework of the Saudi labour market, and the effectiveness of these in managing the relationship between employers and employees. It also examines the major labour market and employment policy concerns of government, employers and employees, considering flexible employment forms in Saudi Arabia, and in what context employers and employees do or would consider flexible employment. Following on from this, the second aim is to develop a conceptual framework on key factors impacting the participation of educated Saudi females in the Saudi labour market. The framework that emerges from these analyses also provides some guidance for graduate women who seek labour market entry and participation. iii The study employed quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with targeted participants, returning 1347 usable questionnaires (41% response) augmented by 28 semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data underwent statistical examination by performing descriptive and inferential analysis on the SPSS software, and qualitative data were analysed using summative content analysis. A conceptual framework was developed and validated through interviews with ten representatives of the interviewed sample population, who held senior positions. To improve understanding of key influencing factors for educated women’s participation in the Saudi labour market for key stakeholders. The six factors identified were personal, socio-cultural, educational, legal/political, organisational and economic. The study identifies a relationship between increased flexible work patterns and increased employment of educated Saudi females and suggests a relationship between the challenges Saudi females face within employment practices and numbers employed in the labour market. Similarly, a relationship exists between educational level and employment chances for Saudi women. Recommendations are proffered to the Saudi Government, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Education, industrial sector, organisations, researchers and academia.

Investments with exit flexibility require decisions regarding both the investment and holding period. Because selling an investment often leads to taxable capital gains, which crucially depend on the duration of an investment, we investigate the impact of capital gains taxation on exit timing under different tax systems. We observed that capital gains taxation delays exit decisions but loses its decision relevance for very long holdings. Often the optimal exit time, which indicates the maximal present value of future cashflows, cannot be determined analytically. However, we identify the breakeven exit time that guarantees present values exceeding those of an immediate sale. While, after-taxes, an immediate sale is often optimal, long holding periods might also be attractive for investors depending on the degree of income and corporate tax integration. A classic corporate tax system often indicates holdings over more than 100 periods. By contrast, a shareholder relief system indicates the earliest breakeven exit time and thus the highest level of exit timing flexibility. Surprisingly, high retention rates are likely to accelerate sales under a classic corporate system. Additionally, the worst exit time, which should be avoided by investors, differs tremendously across tax systems. For an integrated tax system with full imputation, the worst time is reached earlier than under partial or non-integrated systems. These results could help to predict investors' behavior regarding changes in capital gains taxation and thus are of interest for both investors and tax policymakers. Furthermore, the results emphasize the need to control for the underlying tax system in cross-country empirical studies. (authors' abstract) / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

Tax uncertainty is often claimed to be harmful for investments. Capital taxes, such as property and wealth taxes, are particularly exposed to tax uncertainty. Capital tax un- certainty emerges from expected tax reforms, the unclear outcome of future tax audits, and simplified estimates of capital tax bases in investment models. Uncertain returns on investment as well as stochastic taxation contribute to overall uncertainty and may significantly affect investment decisions. Hitherto, it is unknown how capital tax uncertainty affects investment timing. However, it is well known that both uncertainty and capital tax may be harmful for investment and decelerate investment activities. We are the first to study the investment timing effects of stochastic capital taxes in a real options setting with risky investment opportunities. Our results indicate that even risk neutral investors are sensitive with respect to capital tax risk and may react in a surprising manner to a newly introduced stochastic capital tax. As an apparently paradoxical investment e¤ect, we find that increased capital tax uncertainty can accelerate risky investment if such uncertainty is such ciently low compared to cash flow uncertainty. In contrast, high capital tax risk delays high-risk innovative investment projects. To reduce unintended consequences of uncertain tax policy, tax legislators and tax authorities should avoid high levels of cap- ital tax uncertainty. Broadening the capital tax base or increasing the capital tax rate induces ambiguous timing effects. Furthermore, high-growth investments are likely to be postponed if they experience a capital tax cut. Since investment reactions upon tax reforms are well-known to affect income and wealth distribution, reliable estimations of the impact of taxes on economic decisions are necessary. (authors' abstract) / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

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The purpose of this study was to measure flexibility at the hip joint under four techniques of stretching, passive stretch-concentric contraction-passive stretch (PCP), passive stretch-three seconds isometric contraction of hip extensorsconcentric contraction of hip flexors-passive stretch (3-PIeCP) and passive stretch-three seconds isometric contraction of hip flexors-concentric contraction of hip flexorspassive stretch (3-PIfCP) based on proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) and passive static stretch (P). Further, this study was designed to ascertain the effect of cold application (ice) in joint range of motion of the hip extensors measured with the Leighton Flexometer.

Cette thèse a pour objet l’étude du langage intérieur dans la flexibilité mentale et la mémoire à court terme à l’aide de l’électromyographie de surface, une méthode qui a permis d’enregistrer l’activité électrique des muscles laryngés. Pour étudier le rôle du langage intérieur dans la flexibilité, six expériences ont été réalisées en manipulant la complexité des tâches, ainsi que l’âge des participants. Les résultats montrent une sollicitation plus importante du langage avec la complexité des tâches, que ce soit pour encoder les règles en mémoire ou pour classer les stimuli, et ce d’autant plus que les participants sont âgés. Nous discutons ces résultats en rapport avec les études utilisant la méthode de suppression articulatoire. Concernant le rôle du langage intérieur dans la mémoire à court terme, deux expériences ont été réalisées avec pour objectif principal l’étude de l’effet de similarité phonologique. Les résultats montrent une quantité de langage plus importante pour les lettres dissimilaires, qui ont aussi été mieux restituées par les participants. A l’inverse, nous avons observé un meilleur rappel de l’ensemble des lettres pour les participants sollicitant de façon plus modérée le langage intérieur. Ces résultats sont mis en rapport avec les processus d’interférences motrice et auditive qui gouvernent la mémorisation à court terme. / In this thesis, we examined the role of inner speech in mental flexibility and short-term memory using laryngeal surface electromyography, a method for recording inner speech signals. Six experiments manipulating tasks complexity and age of participants were performed to study mental flexibility. Results showed a greater use of inner speech with tasks complexity, either when encoding the rules in memory or while sorting the stimuli, and especially when the participants were older. We discuss the results with reference to articulatory suppression, an alternative method for studying inner speech. To study inner speech in short-term memory, two other experiments were performed with the main objective of studying the phonological similarity effect. Results showed a greater amount of language for dissimilar letters which were also better recalled by participants. On the contrary, we observed a better recall of letters (being similar or dissimilar) by participants who resorted to language moderately. These results suggest that both motor and auditory types of interferences can affect short-term memorization.

Title: The relationship of flexibility and movement in gymnastic sports Aims: The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the importance of flexibility in relation to performance in gymnastic sports - artistic gymnastics, modern gymnastics, trampoline and sport aerobics. Also, said thesis focuses on attributes related to the range of motion in joint connections from the point of aesthetic criteria, the efficient movement technique, and also from the point of medical prevention. Methods: This task is non-experimental, based on the guided interview with different trainers of four gymnastic sports. The personal interviews were led my myself as well as preparing the query. Descriptive statistics are used to sort and analyzed the data obtained and the thesis illustrates the outcomes accordingly. The theoretical part has character of a summarizing study, which comes out of accessible materials research. The purpose is to collect pieces of information, subsequently organize them and interpret them by the form of recommendations in relation to flexibility development issue in gymnastics sports. Results: The results of the thesis are presented in a form of generally valid rules and recommendations in relation to the flexibility development issue overlapping to gymnastics sports. Such as showing how...

Abstract This thesis investigates the reliability of printed conductors on flexible substrates under cyclic bending. The topic is approached by studying the effects of several key design parameters on the bending lifetime of printed conductors under dynamic loading. In this thesis, the test specimens with various cross-sectional geometries were printed on different plastic and paper substrates. The test samples were fabricated with two printing methods, silk screen and roll-to-roll printing, by utilizing three different silver pastes as the conductive material. To evaluate the long-term performance of the printed traces, the test specimens were exposed to cyclic bending and their electrical behaviour during the test was monitored with resistance measurements. The bending test results were analysed by utilizing the Weibull analysis, with a 20% increase in resistance as the failure criterion. This method yielded a characteristic lifetime for a test population, including 10 individual test specimens. When comparing the characteristic lifetimes of all of the fabricated test populations, it was observed that all of the varied design parameters had an effect on the bending reliability of the printed traces. However, within the studied geometries and materials, the substrate was found to have the highest impact on the long-term electrical performance of printed conductors under cyclic bending. The study proves that the bending reliability of printed conductors can be enhanced by proper design choices. This is done by minimizing the strain when the printed trace is subjected to bending. / Tiivistelmä Tässä työssä tutkitaan joustaville substraateille painettujen johdinten luotettavuutta syklisessä taivutuksessa. Aihetta lähestytään tutkimalla useiden tärkeiden suunnitteluparametrien vaikutusta painettujen johdinten elinikään dynaamisessa rasituksessa. Työssä painettiin poikkileikkausgeometrialtaan vaihtelevia testirakenteita erilaisille muovi- ja paperisubstraateille. Testinäytteet valmistettiin käyttäen kahta painotekniikkaa, silkkipainoa ja rullalta rullalle painoa, hyödyntäen kolmea erilaista hopeapastaa johtavana materiaalina. Painettujen johdinten pitkäaikaisen suorituskyvyn arvioimiseksi testinäytteet altistettiin sykliselle taivutukselle ja niiden sähköistä käyttäytymistä monitoroitiin testin aikana resistanssimittauksilla. Taivutustestin tulokset analysoitiin Weibull analyysin avulla käyttäen 20%:n kasvua resistanssissa vikakriteerinä. Tämän menetelmän lopputuloksena saatiin karakteristinen elinikä testipopulaatiolle koostuen kymmenestä yksittäisestä testinäytteestä. Vertailtaessa kaikkien valmistettujen testipopulaatioiden karakteristisiä elinikiä, havaittiin kaikilla vaihdelluilla parametreilla olevan vaikutusta painettujen johdinten luotettavuuteen. Tästä huolimatta, tutkittujen geometrioiden ja materiaalien rajoissa, substraatilla todettiin olevan suurin vaikutus painettujen johdinten pitkä-aikaiseen sähköiseen suorituskykyyn syklisessä taivutuksessa. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa, että painettujen johdinten taivutusluotettavuutta voidaan parantaa oikeilla suunnitteluvalinnoilla. Tämä voidaan toteuttaa minimoimalla venymä painetun johtimen ollessa taivutuksessa.